GLORY IN THE ASSEMBLY
[p. 240] GLORY IN THE ASSEMBLY
2 Corinthians 8:23; Ephesians 3:21; Judges 1:12 - 15
I want to say a word about glory; glory is a very great and blessed subject, so great indeed that one could not undertake to deal with it in an address in any comprehensive way. I only wish to touch on it as seen in the assembly; that is, as it is seen in ourselves. It is always well, in speaking of the assembly, not to be too abstract. In some connections we have to be abstract, but we should also have the concrete thought of the assembly ever in view; especially when in some sense it is available in that way. So that, in speaking of glory as connected with the assembly, I speak of it as connected with ourselves. Indeed, in the passage in 2 Corinthians the glory of Christ is connected with two or three brothers who were engaged in carrying the bounty of the assemblies to meet need where it existed amongst God’s people. We can, therefore, readily connect the thought with the saints.
Now one desires for a moment to refer to glory according to its source. God is said to be the God of it, the God of glory. “The God of glory”, (Acts 7:2) we are told, appeared unto Abraham; and in Isaiah 51: 2 we read that God said, “I called him alone, and blessed him”, showing how God can take up one as a vessel of glory, but He had much more than that one in His mind. I like to think of God saying to Abraham, Now look at the stars, can you number them? Your seed shall be like the stars for multitude. And “one star”, Paul says, “differeth from another star in glory”. (1 Corinthians 15:41) Think of the variety in that respect! We read of astronomers finding the stars, this one and that one, and giving them names, but God knows all the stars by name; He knows them all so that one is led to contemplate a vast variety of glories as one thinks of them. He that turns many [p. 241] to righteousness has such a glory as is seen in the stars. “And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever”, (Daniel 12:3). The stars have their varied glories, one star differing from another star in glory; and the aggregate is seen by David in connection with the whole firmament. “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament showeth his handywork”, (Psalm 19:1). You can see, therefore, what a subject the glory of God is, how diversified, and yet how it is seen, as one might say, relatively in one star.
The God of glory appeared to Abraham; He called him alone and blessed him. God can connect His glory with one or with myriads, and hence with the assembly, with which God specially connects His glory. In saying that, I am not overlooking that it had a peculiar place in connection with His earthly people. The apostle Paul, in speaking of his love for Israel, says “Who are Israelites; to whom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises”, (Romans 9:4). These things were not partially connected with Israel; they were connected with Israel in completeness, for the article precedes each of them. But although the glory pertained to Israel, alas! Israel was not a vessel suited to it.
The book of Ezekiel becomes a very instructive study for the believer in this respect. It is the book of the son of man, and he has visions of God, and these visions are mainly connected with the glory. He sees the glory, but he sees it ascending from the city, lingering over it before it left, and we have pictured to us the image of jealousy. The city had become idolatrous. The glory had been there, it had come in as in the tabernacle, it had come into Solomon’s temple and filled it; but now the hearts of the people were turned away from Jehovah, and [p. 242] the prophet is taken in the visions of God to Jerusalem, and there he sees all this dreadful wickedness. And though the glory lingered over the city, it had to leave it. But the glory pertained to Israel, and Ezekiel pursues the subject until he sees it returning from the way of the east, and entering again into the city and into the house in Jerusalem. God has not given up His thoughts in regard of His earthly people, for the glory pertains to them and on the ground of redemption, will yet return to them. But Ezekiel has to see it ascending from the city. The prophet John sees it coming down not to a city but in one; indeed, the city as it descends is said to have it; a very beautiful reference to the abidingness of the glory, to the permanency and fixedness of it in the assembly.
Well now, having said so much as to its relation with Israel, I want to show how it is connected with the assembly which is the glory of Christ, and in speaking of the assembly, as I said at the beginning, we are speaking of ourselves. Now glory is first of all a question of subjection to Christ. The woman is said to be the glory of the man, and on that account she is to have a mark of subjection. Dear brethren, may I ask where we are in regard of subjection to Christ? The assembly is subjected to Christ; God has placed her in that position. The man was not “created for the woman; but the woman for the man”, (1 Corinthians 11:9). The assembly was made for Christ. Do I know that in my soul; that I am set here in subjection to Christ in relation to all the saints? The assembly is subjected to Christ; that is her place, and to move away from that place is to be lawless, for that is the place in which God has set her. That is the first principle of the assembly’s position. How is she to be held there? The Lord nourishes and cherishes her; that is His side, for she is to be held there through her affections. Hence,
the Lord’s supper is the full expression of the love of Christ for the assembly: “This is my body, which is for you”; it is His devoted love for the assembly. He has given Himself for her, and in the Supper He sets before us in a continuous way a testimony to that unchanging love. It is what He is to her. He would hold her in the relation in which God has set her, for God gave her to Him. God has given us to Christ.
The first great type of the assembly is very wonderful. God Himself discerned the necessity for Eve; Adam did not ask for her. God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him”, (Genesis 2:18). Then He brought her to the man and Adam named her. God set her in relation to Adam, but how could Adam hold her in that relation? The next chapter only too sorrowfully details how she lent her ear to the tempter; exactly what the apostle feared in regard of the Corinthians, in regard of the whole assembly. He says, “I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ”, (2 Corinthians 11:3). Eve lent her ear to the tempter, and left her place. As in her place she was Adam’s glory, but she left it, and the result was that Adam’s glory was gone. What a dreadful result, dear brethren, especially as it applies to the assembly! The assembly moving away from the place given her by God in relation to Christ has resulted in the Lord for the moment losing His glory in her. Christendom presents a terrible picture; we do well to ponder it; that which had been set in relation to Christ, subject to Him, has moved away. Is it because there is anything wanting in the Lord? Ah, He remains, as the word says, “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and for ever”, (Hebrews 13:8). The Lord’s supper remains as that which witnesses to His unchanging love. Now,
[p. 244] dear brethren, are we subject to Christ? It is in subjection to Christ that His glory shines in us for in subjection to Christ we come into all the benefits of His ministry, the service of His love, so that we are nourished and cherished.
The assemblies of which the apostle speaks in this second letter to the Corinthians were in accord with Christ; that is why I read the passage. Certain needs existed elsewhere, and the saints were moved by the love of Christ to render help. They sent money by the hands of certain brothers, and the apostle said, If any inquire about these brothers they are “messengers of assemblies, Christ’s glory”; that shows that the principle of giving which is the outcome of love can be taken account of as the glory of Christ. The assembly, as set here in His absence, was intended to reflect what He was; and so the apostle said to the Ephesian elders, “Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive”, (Acts 20:35). Giving is the reflection of Christ; that is to say, the exercise of love towards one another is the reflection and the glory of Christ.
Now, I want to show at this point how, that in the picture we have in Othniel and Achsah, the intelligence of the assembly at the beginning is foreshadowed. I apprehend that Achsah is a type of the assembly in her Ephesian aspect. She comes in in the body of the book of Joshua, as many of you will remember, and the book of Joshua corresponds with the epistle to the Ephesians. It is the book which describes the people entering into and taking possession of their inheritance; and in no case is the interest greater than when Caleb takes possession of his allotment. The history of Caleb is intensely interesting as representing the intelligent faith that marked the assembly at the beginning. So he takes Hebron, dislodging the giants, and then he says, “He that [p. 245] smiteth Kirjath-sepher, and taketh it, to him will I give Achsah my daughter to wife”; and Othniel, his nephew, undertakes to take the city, and he succeeds.
There can be no doubt that Othniel represents the prowess of Christ in the way in which he overcame the world of books, for Kirjath-sepher (city of the book) represents that. Books have had a great deal to do with the downfall of the assembly; they have a great deal to do today with the corruption of the people of God. There are good books, for Daniel understood by them, and had divine knowledge by them. And the New Testament contains books, and John said he supposed that if all that Christ did were written down “even the world itself could not contain the books which should be written”. (John 21:25) There is plenty of material for books of a good kind, and we may thank God for every one of them, those that nourish and instruct the saints. But Othniel took a city which speaks of books of a bad kind, and I have no doubt that there is a strong connection between that incident and the triumph of the gospel in the city of Ephesus. It was there that books were brought by their owners, not confiscated, but brought by their owners, and burnt. Evidently the truth had laid hold of their minds and eclipsed, for them at least, the contents of the books. The books were brought and burnt; they were not sent to second-hand stores; they were not fit to be sold or read by any one. If a Christian cannot read a book profitably, then no one can read it profitably; let it be burnt.
Othniel undoubtedly foreshadowed the great triumph of God by His apostle in the city of Ephesus, and in that city the assembly came out in its heavenly character. The assembly in Ephesus represented that which was according to the desires of the Lord. He unfolded all His mind to the Ephesian saints; as the apostle said, “I have not shunned to declare [p. 246] unto you all the counsel of God”, (Acts 20:27). In other words, he disclosed to her all the divine thoughts. What a heritage! But the question then was as to continuance, and when I say continuance, I mean not only in intelligence, but in freshness; and to this I want your particular attention. Achsah, we are told, moved her husband to ask of her father a field, but she alights from the ass herself and says to her father, “Give me a blessing, for thou hast given me a south land; give me also springs of water”. That is what the assembly needed, dear brethren, springs! for the point is to continue in freshness, in youthfulness, to continue in the energy of life.
Now, on that point, I may remark that the heavenly city, at the end of a thousand years, is as fresh as she was at the beginning. She is seen coming down, and she is called New Jerusalem. That is after a thousand years, but she is still “as a bride adorned for her husband”. (Revelation 21:2) She has lost none of her youth, none of her freshness; she is still without “spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing” (Ephesians 5:27); that is what she is in heaven. You may depend on it that the vital element is there. But how about it now, dear brethren? What about Ephesus? The Lord, when writing to her afterwards, having spoken of all that He could commend, her works, labour, patience, how she had tried those who said they were apostles and were not, and had found them liars, said, “I have against thee that thou hast left thy first love”, (Revelation. 2:4). She was true to the doctrine, but she had lost her love; she had left her first love; that is, the freshness and vigour of it; she had lost that. Why? Ah, she had not used the springs. Achsah had asked for springs, and that is what we need; we need that which maintains us in freshness. I commend that word to you. The Lord looks for freshness. There are the upper springs and the nether ones; it is for us to find out what these are [p. 247] in a spiritual way. Whether they are upper or nether, they produce freshness, or rather they maintain us in freshness, and the Lord looks for that.
The Lord, at Sychar, spoke about a spring, a fountain. It is very remarkable that that should be found in John and in none of the other evangelists. I think it is intended especially for us. “The water”, says the Lord, “that I shall give him shall be in him a fountain of water”. (John 4:14) One recognises, in the presence of the Holy Spirit in one’s own soul, a continuous spring, “springing up into everlasting life”. In the recognition of that there is continuous freshness, and I would urge upon you and upon myself the necessity of taking account of the Holy Spirit in that relation as the means of maintaining us in freshness for Christ, in freshness of spiritual affections. One would greatly deprecate in one’s ministry, or in one’s speaking to God, anything stereotyped. I recognise spiritual customs, but I would urge the necessity for freshness.
As I remarked, there is a continual presentation to us in the Lord’s supper of the love of Christ in all its infinite depths towards us, and now He looks for the freshness of affection that can only be the product of the Holy Spirit. Every true believer has the Spirit and must see to it that the affections that he gives expression to are fresh and vigorous; that the words are truly the expression of genuine response of heart to Christ. Achsah discerned that that was what was necessary, and so it is remarkable that you have this incident not only in the body of the book of Joshua, but in the beginning of the book of Judges. Any man of faith afterwards would look back to this remarkable woman, and see the necessity of continual freshness. You see that things began to wane when the old men died. “Israel served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders that outlived Joshua”, (Joshua 24:31). However [p. 248] long they may have lived, in the end they died. We cannot rely on the elders; what we need to look for, while respecting the elders as long as they live, is the fountain in each one, which maintains continuance of affection and continuous fruit for God. I would, therefore, commend to you the desire of this remarkable woman for these springs. She says, “Give me also springs of water. And he [Caleb] gave her the upper springs, and the nether springs”. What I have been speaking of has reference, I think, to the nether, although I do not attempt to define it.
Now I want to refer to Psalm 87, “As well the singers as the dancers shall say, All my springs are in thee”, that is, in Zion. In other words, in the assembly. The reference is an exclusive one, if you understand me. The assembly is very exclusive, and those who form it are exclusive, and particularly the singers and the dancers; that is, those who say this were supplying the music. We do not draw from the world, all our springs are in Zion. Do you understand that? Any one going out into the world for his supplies soon vitiates his music; it loses its touch. We have to draw upon the resources of Zion; there is enough there; the singers and the dancers say, “All my springs are in thee”. The Lord has placed in the assembly all that is necessary; it is for us to use what is there, and as we do so there will be the continual song, and the continual dancing. In Luke 15 we have music and dancing; that was as things were at the beginning. In 1 Corinthians 10 we have a reference to Exodus 32, in which it is said that the people were practising idolatry. They “sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play”. Their springs were not in Zion; their energy had its source elsewhere. I would urge the importance of recognising where our springs are; all our springs for singing and for dancing are in Zion; they are in the assembly, and they are exclusive of other [p. 249] elements. I would commend that word to you. If all our springs are there, then we exclude the world; we do not recognise it nor any of its arts or devices.
Now just a word in regard of the glory of God in the assembly. I have been speaking of the assembly as Christ’s glory, and how there is continuance of freshness as we are subject to Christ in the light of the Supper, feeding on His affections and recognising the Holy Spirit. But now the epistle to the Ephesians speaks of the assembly as the vessel of God’s glory, and it is not exactly what is displayed, but what it is to God. The apostle, having bowed his knees to the Father, ends with this. He bursts out into what may be called worship in the light of what the assembly is intended to be and shall be. “To him be glory in the assembly in Christ Jesus unto all generations of the age of ages. Amen”, (Ephesians 3:21). What a thought that is to have before our souls! It is one of the many rich thoughts that this wonderful letter affords for the saints, and, in remarking on it, I would urge the importance of reading Ephesians; it is the inheritance. The book of Numbers enjoins that the inheritance should be divided mutually, and, as we enter into what is presented in this wonderful letter, how we love to divide it! The more we are in Ephesians, the more we shall embrace every saint of God in our hearts. I would like, if I could, to tell every saint on the earth what I know of Ephesians, and I only know very little of it. I should love to divide the inheritance with them, and I believe many here would love to do the same. The assembly in Christ Jesus is to afford glory to God for ever and ever. Think of that, what a thought it is to feed upon! I would like to tell every saint on earth, You belong to that in which God’s glory shall be secured, and in which He shall have it for ever and ever.
May God bless the word.
Pages 250 - 347 - “The King in His Beauty”, Detroit, 1920 (Volume 48).