PARENTAGE RESULTING IN ORNAMENTATION
[p. 359] PARENTAGE RESULTING IN ORNAMENTATION
Matthew 1:1; Genesis 22:2; Genesis 24:1-4; 1 Chronicles 28:9,10; Proverbs 1:8,9; Proverbs 31:10,11; Proverbs 31:26-28
I have before me to speak about parentage, and to show that the effect of it, as presented in Christ, is seen in the ornamentation of the house of God. The idea of ornamentation, as most of us know, has a great place in Scripture, and in no connection is it more interesting than in the divine family. We know, from observation, that the physical creation is wonderfully ornamented. This is also verified by Scripture; for it is said that God garnished the heavens, by His Spirit; Job 26:13. They not only serve men on the earth by way of light, rule and guidance, but are wonderfully ornamented. The earth too is ornamented with all that which is pleasing to the eye of man, as created by God, who, at the beginning of man’s history, provided a spot for him in Eden; in which there were all manner of trees planted by His hand. It is not simply that the earth was to “bring forth”, as in chapter 1 of Genesis, but the Lord God planted the garden eastward in Eden; and then the four-headed river flowing out of Eden to water the garden, suggests the same idea of ornamentation.
But when we transfer this thought into the spiritual realm, how much greater must the ornamentation be, for we are told that “the God of glory appeared to our father Abraham”, Acts 7:2. It is quite obvious that the God of glory in taking up the great progenitor of the spiritual family, had in mind that there should be ornamentation of the highest possible order; so the book of Proverbs, which is intended to represent to us the teaching and training of the [p. 360] family of God by the Son of the Father’s love, abounds with references to ornamentation. The first is that found in the passage I read in chapter 1, which flows from the believer, or member of the family of God, hearkening to the instruction of his father and not forsaking the law of his mother. It should be an ornament of grace on his head and a chain about his neck. Now in order to unfold this for our profit, I shall dwell on the two patriarchs that Matthew introduces at the outset of his gospel. They present the parental idea. It says, “Book of the generation of Jesus Christ, Son of David, Son of Abraham”. These two great patriarchs are mentioned because of what is set out in them respectively, for what is set out in them is but the reflection of God Himself. The idea of father necessarily originates with God, and it is presented in Abraham and David. The Spirit of God intends us to gather from them God’s thoughts of fatherhood, so that we as saints should learn to be sons unto Him. Jesus is said to be the Son of the Father’s love, and we believers are said to be translated into His kingdom (Colossians 1:13), and as in that kingdom, we are to learn how to be sons. It is a wonderful thing to be one of the sons of God; as it says, “Ye are all God’s sons by faith in Christ Jesus”, Galatians 3:26. It is one thing to have the light of the wonderful relation in which we are set to God, but it is quite another thing to be in that relation as consistent with it. Solomon was qualified to speak to us, as he does, in this book, for he was consistent. “I was a son unto my father”, he says; Proverbs 4:3. He behaved as a son; and what a comfort he must have been to his father! How he foreshadowed the greater than Solomon in so doing! In every movement of the heart of Christ, in every thought, word, and act He was a Son unto His Father. “I do always”, He says, “the things that are pleasing to him”, John 8: 29. It was, as it were,
[p. 361] His very life, He ever considered what pleased the Father. “I was a son”, says Solomon, “unto my father”. Proverbs 4:3. I suppose the Old Testament affords no child like Solomon. He was the second child of Bathsheba, as you will remember, and it says when he was born that Jehovah loved him, and He sent by Nathan the prophet and called his name Jedidiah, as if to point to the Lord Jesus, the true Son of His love. David and Bathsheba would have in their minds, in the training of that child, what he was to God. He grew up in the tenderest affections; so that in the midst of a house in which disaster followed disaster, there was one who was a son unto his father. As Absalom arose, in usurpation of right and slew his brother, how David would revert to this precious child who had been marked out as the object of God’s affections; then, as Absalom later rebelled, stealing away the hearts of the men of Israel from David, how he would revert to Solomon’s constant heart, which was not stolen away, which no attraction could steal away! He says, “I was a son unto my father”, Proverbs 4:3 and as such, he qualifies (as foreshadowing the Lord Jesus), to address young men and young women, and indeed, all of us, as to the importance of hearkening to the instruction of a father, and not forsaking the law of a mother.
I want now to show how David (who is mentioned first in Matthew), had come, through discipline, to the full patriarchal thought. You will remember that in his first great gospel address, Peter refers to David as a patriarch. Reviewing the history of his house, however, we should have to agree with him in his last words that he failed as a father; he says, “Although my house be not so before God” (2 Samuel 23:5); but at the end of his life he had come, through discipline, to the patriarchal thought, and so fixes his mind and heart on Solomon. Nature, as ever, had been untrustworthy; David had said, “Oh,
[p. 362] my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom! would God I had died in thy stead”, 2 Samuel 18:33. Very far was he removed from the true, divine patriarchal instinct in bemoaning the one who typically was antichrist! But now he comes to Solomon, whom he had always loved, but comes definitely to him. It is thus that a believer develops that state, in which he is representative of God. One of the greatest things in Scripture is divine representation. God works in His people in order to bring them to a state in which they can represent Him fully; so in David’s history he comes, as he is about to die, to the full representation of God. As Solomon was a son unto David, so now David is a father to Solomon. He has before his eyes, in David, a true representation of divine Fatherhood, brought near to him in his own father after the flesh. God had said that He would take Solomon to be his son. David is in entire accord with God in these closing chapters of 1 Chronicles. It is most important that young people should have in their parents after the flesh, a true representation of God. Parents are to represent God, and His discipline, in their families, to the end that He should be brought near to their children in them. Thus the children are encouraged to be true sons; Solomon says, “I was a son unto my father”. Proverbs 4:3. David says, “And thou, Solomon, my son, know the God of thy father”, 1 Chronicles 28:9. You see how truly in line he is with God. The One who is thus presented to Solomon in the patriarch, as the words that follow show. He says, “Serve him with a perfect heart and with a willing mind; for Jehovah searches all hearts, and discerns all the imaginations of the thoughts. If thou seek him, he will be found of thee; but if thou forsake him, he will cut thee off for ever”. There is no provision, in the least degree, for the flesh now. Solomon has been given to understand that he has to do with God, and that David his father after the [p. 363] flesh, is but a representative of God to him. What an advantage to Solomon, that the divine thought in parentage should be brought near to him, in the father whom he had known all his life!
What I want now to show is that this patriarchal idea has in view the great conception of the house of God. God had told David He would build him a house, that He would take Solomon to be His son, that he would be a Father to him; but now David is thinking of God’s house; not of his own house. The nearer fathers get to God, the more they are concerned that their houses should be contributory to the house of God. Generally men think of themselves, of their own glory, in connection with their families, but David is concerned about the house of God. I would beg every parent here to take account of this, that David had come to the true patriarchal idea, and was thinking of his son in relation to the house of God. What a wonderful contribution Solomon was! It says here: “Jehovah has chosen thee to build a house for the sanctuary: be strong and do it”, 1 Chronicles 28:10. I beg fathers to take account of this, for it conveys in the plainest manner that our sons and our daughters are to be contributory to the house of God; they are not intended to build up this world, nor adorn it. Think of a son of a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ being trained up for this world, so as to be fitted to adorn and build it up! It is contrary to the true patriarchal thought. David here is thinking only for God, and affords a pattern for us.
David is mentioned first in order in Matthew, because Matthew introduces the King; but the patriarchal thought in regard to royalty is not simply that there should be a King, but that the kingdom should lead to the house. In other words, the assembly which is the house of God, is in view in Matthew. Those of us who understand Matthew [p. 364] will be aware that he presents the Lord Jesus ministering in houses more than any of the other gospel writers; and he develops the idea of a house-holder, because his thought is to furnish believers so as to have part in the house of God. If we understand Matthew, we can understand why it is that David is mentioned first, because it is a question of the King; the King considers for God, and provides Him a house! It is in Matthew that you find the Lord Jesus speaking of His assembly. God intended to have the assembly as His house. As the apostle Paul says, “God’s house, which is the assembly of the living God, the pillar and base of the truth”, 1 Timothy 3:15. In other words, the true patriarch in Scripture takes account of Christ and the assembly; therefore, every parent should be enlightened in regard to the mind of God in relation to the assembly. If you read through Matthew, in that light, you will be impressed with the importance of having your house according to God, for the Lord took up houses in which to set out His ministry in that evangelist.
I wish to go on to Abraham now, because we find the same thought developed in him. I read in Genesis 22 because it says that Abraham loved Isaac: “Take now thy son, thine only son, whom thou lovest, Isaac”. You can see thus how the introduction of Abraham, in Matthew, bears on the relation of God to Christ. David brings in the King and the house, Abraham brings in the Son and the bride. Abraham loved Isaac and, as loving him, he would secure Rebecca for him. You see therefore, how the patriarchal thought in these two great men works out in result in Christ and the assembly. The one is the King’s Son, as one may say, who builds the house; and the other is the Son of the Father’s love who has the assembly as His bride. Abraham sent the chief servant of his house, who ruled over all that he had, to secure a wife for his son, saying to him, “Swear ... that thou take not a wife for my son of the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I am dwelling; but thou shalt go to my land and to my kindred, and take a wife for my son Isaac”, Genesis 24:3,4. That was the mark of a true father. By way of emphasising what I say, note the recurrence of the word ‘Abraham’, in the opening of that chapter. Scripture never uses a word needlessly or incidentally; and if a word is repeated, as here, it is to call our attention to what it conveys. Abraham means ‘great father’; the great patriarch not only thinks of his son personally, but of his wife; and it is the suitability of the wife that is before us here. She is to be in every way suitable to such a son and must be of his lineage. Abraham’s concern as to this emphasises the patriarchal thought: it works out not only in regard to Christ but in regard to the assembly. Rebecca typifies the assembly as she is known now; Christ as rejected by Israel, finds “comfort” in Rebecca. It means that the saints, being of the same family as Christ, as being born of God and having the Spirit of Christ, are thus fit to comfort Him who loves us. Isaac loved Rebecca. The first mention of love in Scripture is attributed to Abraham, he loved Isaac; the second reference is to Isaac, he loved Rebecca. We thus have brought in here through practical consideration and care, a circle of affection, the affection of the father for his son, and the affection of the son for his bride. These are striking thoughts, worked out in these two great progenitors of Christ according to the flesh, presented to us in the beginning of Matthew.
Let us now look at the verses in Proverbs 31. The virtuous woman, presented at the end of the chapter, is a divine delineation of the assembly. It is what the assembly is, as seen in the mother. I need not enlarge further upon the father; this chapter gives us the mother. She is a woman of worth, such as [p. 366] Rebecca was. She is confided in by her husband: “Her husband confideth in her”. Then you get a description of her in her various fields, which I cannot touch on now, save to dwell, for a moment, on what proceeds from her mouth: “Upon her tongue is the law of kindness”. The assembly is to reflect her husband, Christ. What He is, she is. It is indeed Christ femininely, that is the divine conception of the assembly, so that the believer in coming into the assembly, is impressed with her grace and consideration. There is a reflection of Christ, and of heaven itself, in that circle. So that you have the law of kindness. How the saints who form the assembly, as in subjection to Christ, and as having the Spirit of Christ, care for those who come in! There is the law of kindness, for such it is. Think of this in contrast with that which assumes to be the spouse of Christ, that wicked, worldly system, of which we all know something, how different is that from the law of kindness found with the assembly! So her children rise up and call her blessed. She has children, believers are accredited to her. They are brought in as the result of her exercises and prayers, and the preaching of the gospel; they call her blessed. The Lord says of Jezebel, “Her children will I kill with death”, Revelation 2:23. How dreadful to be the children of that wicked system; of her who calls herself prophetess! The Son of God says of Thyatira: “Thou permittest the woman Jezebel, she who calls herself prophetess, and she teaches and leads astray my servants to commit fornication and eat of idol sacrifices. And I gave her time that she should repent, and she will not repent of her fornication”, Revelation 2:21,22. He says, “Her children will I kill with death” (Revelation 2:23); that is how He regards her. But how does He regard the true wife? Her children call her blessed, for divine instruction is there in her teaching, in her mouth is the law of [p. 367] kindness, and then her husband praises her. You see the sharpest contrast between Jezebel and the virtuous woman, the woman of worth, the true assembly of God. She is formed of true believers, who love Christ and who are united by the Spirit to Christ. She is the true mother, as the apostle Paul says, “Jerusalem above is free, which is our mother”, Galatians 4:26. We not only have a Father but we have a mother. Gideon, as you remember, enquired of the kings of Midian what sort of men they were that they slew at Tabor. They said, “As thou art so were they; each one resembled the sons of a king”, Judges 8:18. Gideon says, “They were my brethren, the sons of my mother” (verse 19). He says nothing about his father. It is quite obvious that Gideon’s mother formed her children according to God. They were patterned after Gideon, and so were like him. Gideon had to throw down the altar in his father’s house. He had also to take the second bullock (not the first), and offer it up in obedience to Jehovah’s word. Nothing is said about his mother in these instances. It was what his father had and was responsible for. In his reply to Zebah and Zalmunna, Gideon praised his mother, in accrediting to her the likeness which existed between his brethren and herself. He says, “They were my brethren, the sons of my mother”. How dreadful that they should be slain! The slaying of them was the condemnation of the Midianitish kings, as the slaying of the Lord’s people will be the condemnation of the world. The murder of those that are like Christ is equally condemnatory as the murder of Christ Himself. I refer to this to get the thought of the character of the assembly, the sons of the mother. So we listen and receive the instruction of the Father, the Father as presented to us in Christ, as I have been endeavouring to show, in Abraham and David, to bring out in detail the divine idea of fatherhood. We are enjoined to hearken to the [p. 368] instructions of our father and not to forsake the law of our mother, to the end that there shall be a garland of grace on our head, and a chain about our neck. I suppose the garland on the head denotes the dignity of intelligence, the dignity imparted by divine intelligence; and the chain around the neck suggests the adornment of affection that comes from the mother.
There is a further thought in chapter 25. It says, “As apples of gold in pictures of silver, is a word spoken in season”. Proverbs 25:11. How much mere nonsense is spoken amongst us; which the apostle Paul speaks of as “Foolish talking, or jesting, which are not convenient” (Ephesians 5: 4); it is not ornamental; whereas a word fitly spoken is. If one goes through the four gospels, how many gems we shall find which came from the lips of Christ! They were “As apples of gold in pictures of silver”. The apples of gold refer to what is of God, which came out thus, from the lips of Christ, and was made good through His work of redemption; so that the ‘picture’ is complete. Then it says, “An ear-ring of gold, and an ornament of fine gold, is a wise reprover upon an attentive ear” Proverbs 25:12. These ornaments are seen in those who as divinely intelligent, know how to speak a word in season, like the Lord, whose ear was wakened morning by morning, to hear as the instructed; Isaiah 50:4. As knowing God, we are able to reprove. Perhaps one of the most difficult things is to reprove. You are almost certain to arouse resentment by a reproof, but a wise reprover on an attentive ear is like an ear-ring of gold, and an ornament of fine gold. Thus you see, we learn from the father and the mother how to be ornamental according to God, in the house of God.