THE GATES OF ZION
[p. 100] THE GATES OF ZION
In turning to this scripture, it is my desire to set out, in so far as I am enabled to do so, that system of things in connection with which the gospel stands, and is presented to men. In using the word gospel, as seeking to preach it, the heart is touched, for it is that which prominently marks the present time.
The Lord, standing up in the synagogue at Nazareth, having spoken of the things that He had been anointed to do, in the preaching of the gospel, ends by saying, “to preach the acceptable year of the Lord”, (Luke 4:18,19). In the acceptable year, the mind is directed to time. The period of grace, on the part of God, extends for a whole year spiritually. A year is a long period in contrast to an hour, or a day, or a week, or a month. It is the longest period of time that is regulated by the sun, and it is my privilege to say to you tonight that, although the acceptable year is running out, we are still in it — it yet remains. I may say at this point, that all the happenings in this world under the government of God, have this year of acceptance in view, as though God would accentuate it. By allowing woes to come into human circumstances, He intends to impress men with their need spiritually, and as they discover their need, they find that they are still within this glorious year, called “the acceptable year of the Lord”. Thus I would remind you that, although it is fast running out, it has not yet run out, it still remains, and as your soul turns to God now, you find that He is prepared to accept you, having devised (as He alone could) a means for your returning to him. When you do return, you will find Him ready to accept you. That is what marks the acceptable year of the Lord. Much history has taken place from man’s point of view, but from God’s point of view it has continued to be an acceptable year.
I desire, first of all, to speak about His foundation. “His foundation is in the holy mountains”. We are not told in the passage what the foundation is, the point is, where it is, and the soul is at once assured as to this; it is “in the holy mountains”; in other words, “the foundation of God is sure”. Do you understand it? When Luke wrote to Theophilus, his apology for writing was that Theophilus might be sure about the things in which he had been instructed. We can thank God for every bit of instruction that comes to us in regard to Him. If as little ones, we are brought up under Christian influence, and if we are instructed by our parents in the things regarding Christ, we may, I repeat, thank God for every bit of such influence, and such instruction. God would have parents bring up their children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Children ask questions, and Scripture provides for their questions. In the books of Moses you find that parents are furnished in view of the questions of their children, so that they should know how to answer them. Luke discovers spiritually what Theophilus needed; he needed to be sure about the things that he had already received, and in which he had been instructed. Now are you sure in regard to those things? Have you a settled sense of security in regard to God? Are you sure in regard to judgment to come?
Luke and John are the only evangelists who explained why they wrote. John says, “these are written that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God”. One hears of young souls being converted to God lately. Thank God for every one such. As converted they believe something. It may be in the forgiveness of sins. Thank God [p. 102] for that! I have often said when talking to souls, that even a handful of meal (referring to the type) is sufficient to give a soul a status with God. The handful of meal typifies the smallness of faith that one may have in the Person of Christ, but it is a real faith. A real faith in Christ’s Person suffices for God, but then God has not done with such believers. John says, “These are written that ye may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing ye might have life in his name”, (John 20:31). He wants you to have, not only forgiveness, but life.
We have been speaking of David being ruddy when he came into the midst of his brethren. He was not ill-fed, there was in his countenance the evidence of life. Look out for that! A believer in Christ has life. You do not need the life that this poor world affords you, if you have life in Christ. It is said of the wicked woman in the book of Proverbs that “her house inclineth unto death”, (Proverbs 2:18). Hence the great necessity for young believers to know something about life. The gospel not only announces forgiveness; it also announces life and so John says “that ye might have life in his name”. My natural life down here is held in regard to the will of God, but then I hold spiritual life in the Name of the Lord Jesus. I am not to be deprived of it; and it is further said, it is in Christ. I commend this to young Christians. I want to see a ruddy countenance (the evidence of spiritual life), and that you have a constitution for God. I have often thought of that in connection with Jairus’ daughter. The Lord raises her up, and delivers her to her parents, commanding that something should be given her to eat. As converted, as forgiven, as having the Spirit, you need to eat; you have life, and that life must be sustained.
I turn to God’s foundation: “His foundation is in the holy mountains”. The foundation, as I remarked, stands, it is sure. Are you sure, I ask again, in regard to God? Are you sure that the foundation on which you are resting for eternity is immovable? It cannot be shaken, not only is it laid in the mountains, but in the “holy mountains”. The Lord Jesus, hanging on the cross, said to God, “Thou art holy”. He recognised that the holiness of God necessitated His being there. He was there that you should never come into judgment. His being nailed there involved a foundation which should be immovable, for it involved the righteousness of God being fully met. The Lord Jesus Christ as bearing the judgment, looks up to God and says, “Thou art holy”. The holiness of God against sin required that Jesus should hang on the cross. He died there, He laid down His life, and all your sins and mine were attached to Him by God. He was made sin, and He died a sacrifice for sin. He laid the foundation of God, as it were, in the holy mountains. The foundation is laid in that which is immovable.
The Psalmist further says, “The Lord loveth the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob”. Now the gates are very suggestive here, and they remind one of what is presented in the book of Acts on the day of Pentecost. God, as it were, opened the gates of Zion. I am speaking of them, not as that through which you go into privilege, but as that in which blessing is administered. The Lord Jesus says, “If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith unto thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water”, (John 4:10). Jesus was administering divine bounty, and so, on the day of Pentecost, Peter stands up, as one might say, in the gates of Zion, and announces the gospel. He says, “having received of the Father the promise [p. 104] of the Holy Spirit, he hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear”, (Acts 2:33).
What a moment it was! “The Lord loveth the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob”. There is administered that which is wholly according to His own heart — the gift of the Holy Spirit through the finished work of Christ. How God loves to pour blessings into your soul! Zion refers to God’s sovereign mercy, for blessing is poured into our souls on that principle. How it humbles one! Are you humbled as you receive the mercy of God? I love Mary’s word, “Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word”, (Luke 1:38). And so with every one of us, as we rightly receive what is administered through the gates of Zion. It humbles us, and that is God’s desire; we are not inflated, for we do not deserve it. “According to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour”, (Titus 3:5,6). The more the gospel is understood, the more the soul is humbled in the presence of God and of Christ. One would desire to be in accord with the gates of Zion when announcing the gospel. It makes nothing of me, and everything of God and of Christ. Everything on the principle of sovereign mercy humbles one, and the more humbled one is, the more blessing one receives. God is a giving God; He loves to give, and He loves “a cheerful giver”. Let us, who are Christians, remember that! Do I understand that I am linked up with the city of God, the city whose gates are marked by blessing, on the principle of sovereign mercy? How humbling and yet how blessed! The Lord loves those gates, He loves to see the administration of bounty, as it is received on the part of men down here. What a desire on the part of God, that in this acceptable year of the Lord there should be these gates of [p. 105] Zion, through which He administers His sovereign bounty!
The Spirit of God now turns to speak of other cities and countries, Rahab, Babylon, Philistia, Tyre, Ethiopia. He speaks about birth-places, for in Scripture it is not only the day, but the place of one’s birth. The Scriptures attach importance to both time and place. For the moment I only speak of place. Where have you been born as a Christian? Under what influence? Many true Christians are deformed and they are devoid of spiritual dignity. They are deformed because of the circumstances of their birth, they are wanting in dignity because of ignorance of their parentage and the place of their birth. The Spirit says, “I will make mention of Rahab and Babylon to them that know me; behold Philistia, and Tyre, with Ethiopia; this man was born there”, (Psalm 78:4). Do you talk about being an Englishman, or a German, or an American? Is there anyone here who has such a thought in his mind? There were heroes in Rahab, Philistia, Tyre. In Scripture the king of Tyre is likened to Satan himself; he must have been a very notable man in his day.
And so, as one scans the history of the nations, certain men stand out prominently in connection with each, and the nations make much of them. You will find in every country memorials of the heroes of that country. But, “of Zion it shall be said, this and that man was born in her; and the highest himself shall establish her”. Paul was born there, and Peter was born in her. I have seen in a museum the memorials of the great men of the world, including Peter and Paul, and the Lord Himself. His Name put up alongside that of wicked man! But He is not accredited to this wicked world. The sixth verse of our Psalm refers, I believe, to Christ; He is accredited to this great system in which God [p. 106] delights, and in which He administers His bounty. “This man was born there”. May I not rejoice in spirit, as I think of the blessed fact, that I am connected with that in which He is the living Head?. When the full result of redemption is seen, it shall be said of Him, “That he hath done this”, (Psalm 22:31). Do you understand that as a believer you are born there? “The Lord shall count, when he writeth up the people”. Think of that for a moment. God is going to make a census!
There is a book called the “Who is Who” book. You will find it on the Atlantic steamers. It is a book in which the names and particulars of people of note are written. God has got His “Who is Who” book, God writes up the people. Think of my name being put down by the blessed God! Think of your name being written, young Christian! You may be counted as nothing and despised because you believe in Christ. Your fellow workers may look upon you with scorn. Just think how your name is to be written up! “The Lord”, it says, “shall count”. Shall He omit one? He will not omit one; even the hairs of your head are numbered. What a glorious system the Christian belongs to! The Lord stands related to you, and “He upholds all things by the word of his power”. He “was born there”. I say this so that you might be encouraged in starting out on your Christian path. “As well the singers as the dancers shall say, All my springs are in thee”. There is enjoyment in Zion, for there are the “singers” and the “dancers”. You will remember how the elder brother in Luke 15 heard the music and dancing. God has everything in this blessed system for the satisfaction of the saints. The singers and dancers say, “All my springs are in thee”. They do not draw from the world’s source, they find all their springs in Zion. The springs originate in Him who established Zion.
[p. 107] I would commend these things to you for your encouragement, that you may see, that as you begin you are to proceed, and to be instructed in the gates of Zion. “Every good gift, and every perfect gift comes down from above, from the Father of lights, with whom is no variation nor shadow of turning”, (James 1:17). He is “the same yesterday, and today and for ever”, (Hebrews 13:8). And so we receive of His heavenly bounty “good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over”. (Luke 6:38) It is all within the reach of the believer, and you belong to a system which is associated with the glorious Name of Christ. The soul is detained in His presence. In Hebrews 12, it is said that “ye have come ... to Jesus, the Mediator of the new covenant”, the One who will make it good in our souls.
May the Lord bless His word, for His Name’s sake!