LUKE 19
We have seen that in chapter 18 the Lord secures a man in Jericho with vision and that man follows Him; He becomes the great object for those who have vision. Then in Zacchaeus the Lord secures a house. The Lord knew there was a house [p. 232] where He would be welcome in Jericho. The Lord was going to Calvary — death, and the blind man got sight and followed Him in the way, in that way; he was going out of the whole present system in company with Jesus. Zacchaeus had a place where the Lord came to be entertained, and where He could abide and bring salvation. The work of God was there in Zacchaeus and he sought to see Jesus, and while he felt himself very unworthy and did not expect more than a look from the Lord, yet there was a house there held in relation to the Lord. These two incidents represent two important exercises: the ability to see what is altogether outside the present system of things, and then the privilege of having a house where the Lord can be entertained in the midst of present conditions.
The testimony of the Lord resides largely in the households of the saints, so that what goes on in the meetings depends much on what goes on in the households. I do not think we shall ever get anything of spiritual quality in the meetings that goes beyond what is found in the households of the saints. In the new meat-offering the wave loaves were brought out of their dwellings; it is a wonderful thing to have the millennium set up in the households.
We have been noticing how the Lord in passing through brought to light in souls the work of God; there was a work in the blind man and in Zacchaeus. Zacchaeus was a son of Abraham, a true believer as we would say; he was of the faith family and was under reproach as being a tax-gatherer, but he had not really brought reproach on God. The reproaches of those who murmured were not justifiable. I suppose Zacchaeus referred to his past life when he stood and said, “The half of my goods I give to the poor, and if I have taken anything from any man by false accusation, I return him fourfold”. The fact that Zacchaeus had been behaving in such a way indicated that there was a work of God in him; his course was such as to avoid bringing any reproach on God — that is a great mark of the work of God. This did not take away from Zacchaeus the sense of needing God’s salvation. The Lord spoke of Himself as having come to seek and save that which was lost, and He spoke of salvation coming to Zacchaeus’s house; that is, He was received there as God’s salvation. Zacchaeus felt the need of salvation like Cornelius in Acts 10. Cornelius was an exemplary man, his prayers and alms went up as a memorial before God, and he did not resent being told that [p. 233] Peter would tell him words whereby he and his house should be saved. The more we are concerned to act worthily of God, the more we welcome the greatness of His salvation. This involves complete deliverance from the present system of things. Christ is God’s salvation, and in receiving Him salvation is ours in all its completeness.
The household was to be the sphere where divine salvation would be found. Salvation comes to a house, not merely to individuals; one saved person in a house brings the salvation of God to that house. That would apply not only to the head of the house. Zacchaeus was the New Testament Rahab; there was a house in Jericho where the salvation of God was received. Rahab had a father; she was a subordinate member of the family, but she secured blessing for her father and for all her kindred. If God converts one person in a family He indicates that He has entered that family for blessing. We should regard it in that way, whether it is a parent or a child. God comes to a house for blessing; it is a rare thing that God is content to have only one. Salvation for the house is a great principle all through Scripture.
These movements in Jericho are significant in connection with the former triumphs of God there. The Lord brought to light the work of God wherever He moved; He was passing through on His way to take up the kingdom and the inheritance, and on His way He was bringing to light the joint-heirs. What was of God in all its fulness and blessedness as found in Jesus was brought into Zacchaeus’s house; something entirely of God was brought in and that meant salvation from everything not of God. Salvation comes by the blessedness of what is of God coming in, so the soul is delivered from what is not of God.
Righteousness was the evidence that Zacchaeus was governed by what was worthy of God — his very name means pure. As the result of the work of God in Zacchaeus God was being honoured and no reproach was brought on Him by Zacchaeus’s behaviour. People were reproaching the Lord and Zacchaeus was standing up for Him. It is a great thing to see a holy jealousy for the Lord so that we would not like to bring any reproach or see any reproach brought on His name.
The parable that follows (verses 11 - 27) would show what we are saved for. We are saved in order to handle the Lord’s goods in a worthy manner as good bondmen.
[p. 234] The kingdom of God has not yet been manifested, because it was in the mind of God that His Son should be honoured and glorified in heaven before He was honoured on earth. The disciples were under a certain misapprehension: “they thought that the kingdom of God was about to be immediately manifested”. The Lord gives them and us the light of His present, heavenly position, which is a most important thing for us to apprehend. When the Lord takes up the kingdom or the inheritance He takes it up from the heavenly side. The whole of Luke’s gospel from chapter 9 turns on the Lord’s being received up. He was about to receive His kingdom, not on earth but in heaven. The “high-born man” had not received what was due to him — publicly He had the suffering of the cross, but the Lord gets all due to Him in heaven. We are just in this peculiar moment. The Lord is enthroned in heaven and He is coming back to take up His rights here, but in the meantime He has set us up in business on His account; He has given us capital to trade with.
The Lord has brought here something that was never here before; that is, the knowledge of God in supreme grace; and our great business is to handle that. The Lord has put it all in our hands and we have to trade with it; there is a spiritual commerce to be carried on — that is our real business. What we do for our living on earth is not our real business at all; our true business is to handle what we have received from the Lord in such a way that it increases, so that it is not the same with us now as it was two years ago. Luke puts things together morally, and the connection with the previous incident is that we are saved in order to take up what Christ has brought to us and put in our hands.
In Matthew 25 — the parable of the talents — the thought is sovereignty, taking account of different abilities; all do not receive the same. One gets more than another because the Lord sees the ability there is to handle it. Here we all have alike; from the point of view of this chapter I have just the same as the apostle Paul. It is a question of responsibility here and on that line we have all received the same; Paul, or Peter, or John had nothing more than we all have, that is, the knowledge of God in supreme grace as brought out in Jesus. It is not possible to have any more and it is not possible to have any less, so the test is now, What use are we making of it? Are we good bondmen or otherwise? We all have the same [p. 235] capital to work with. This parable gives an entirely new character of responsibility; the fact that there are ten servants and ten pounds would suggest the thought of responsibility, but responsibility of a new character conditioned by what we have received from Christ. The supreme grace of God revealed to us in this precious gospel is the same for all. On the ground of what has come to us from God in Jesus we are on a level with the apostles, and they are on a level with us.
Trading brings out whether we are good bondmen or not; we have a new kind of responsibility to take up. We are left here in the absence of Christ to deal with His goods, with things which have precious value to Christ and which He intends to be increased in our hands. It is a spiritual commerce, trading. Think of the diligence of Paul in trading; he turned the capital over as often as he could.
If we shut ourselves up to ourselves we do not increase. There is a great danger of taking up the grace of this precious gospel as if it were intended for our comfort, assurance and happiness, shutting it up in our hearts; that is not trading. It is all given to us for trading, but we are all more given to hoarding what we can get. It is possible to go to meetings with the idea only of what we can get. Laying our pound up in a towel represents holding the truth correctly, but unproductively; it is inoperative. Orthodox Christendom holds the truth correctly and formally, would stand up for God’s truth, but it is unproductive, If a brother keeps quiet who ought to take part, it is impoverishing himself. If he has something from Christ that is of universal value, and it is not traded with, there is no increase. The thought is that what is of God should increase, and it will not increase without trading. It is a great matter that what is of the Lord is to increase with us; we must turn the stock over.
We do not realise the value of things in the estimation of Christ. Each of us should have the sense of receiving something which is of the greatest value to the Lord Jesus Christ, and now we have to trade with it. The two things go together: our own personal diligence in regard to it, and then the turning it over in the way of trading; the spiritual commerce has to be carried on so that the capital may increase. The result of trading brought to light the diligence of each servant in regard to what was entrusted to him. It has nothing to do with gift; it has to do with what is common to all. Paul says to the Corinthians, “As fellow workmen, we also beseech that ye receive not the grace of God in vain” (2 Corinthians 6: 1), and then he goes on to tell them in that wonderful chapter about his own trading; he brings out what had characterised him in the handling of the responsibility of grace. He gives a long list of the way he had behaved himself and the different characteristics of his service and labours: “in everything commending ourselves as God’s ministers, in much endurance, in afflictions, in necessities, in straits, in stripes, in prisons, in riots, in labours, in watchings, in fastings, in pureness, in knowledge, in long-suffering, in kindness, in the Holy Ghost, in love unfeigned, in the word of truth, in the power of God; through the arms of righteousness on the right hand and left, through glory and dishonour, through evil report and good report: as deceivers, and true; as unknown and well known; as dying, and behold we live; as disciplined, and not put to death; as grieved, but always rejoicing; as poor, but enriching many; as having nothing, and possessing all things”. There is a man trading, and all this is for the ministry, he is handling Christ’s goods in such a way that they are not in vain. Grace was powerful and operative, and enabled him to go on in faith; it involved every kind of discipline and suffering, but he goes undauntedly forward, so that the treasure should be multiplied and that as many as possible should get the benefit. We are all to enrich one another; no one could say he has no capital. The wicked servant did not know anything about it, showing that it is possible to have the responsibility of receiving wealth which Christ has brought and left here without having any vital interest in it.
The Lord says, “Thou hast been faithful in that which is least”. That which is great is connected with purpose, our names written in heaven, our calling, and nothing can invalidate it. It has nothing to do with being over cities; it has to do with being in heaven, a place in the Father’s house, being Christ’s brethren and joint-heirs — that is the greatest side. The responsible side is the least side. For instance whatever you could do in the way of service is a small matter compared with the place you have according to the purpose of everlasting love. You do your business diligently, whatever as to the grace of God has been committed to you by Christ. The bank would suggest that, if we have not energy to do business on our own account, we might help someone else to do it. But this man [p. 237] had no interest in the matter; he did not know his lord; he slandered him. Responsibility is a test of love. “If ye love me, keep my commandments” — that is, everything that has the character of commandment, and I suppose all responsibility has that character, but it becomes a test of love. That found out the man who did not love his lord. The point was that he did not love him; he made a lame excuse. When people make excuses they always become the ground of their condemnation — that is a divine principle from Genesis 3 right through to the end. The man who wrapped his pound in a towel did not love his lord; he saw nothing to love in him, only an austere man, exacting unduly: his apprehension of his lord was not such as to make him a lover. The question with us is, What sort of apprehension have we of the Lord? Such a One is enough to make us ardent lovers, but what is He to me? How do I view Him? That determines the whole position. If we have an unworthy thought of the Lord we shall be unworthy in everything.
If we apprehended God’s purpose of grace given to us in Christ before the ages of time, if we saw that we are chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world, that the Father “has marked us out for adoption through Jesus Christ to himself” — it would give a wonderful impetus to everything on the responsible side. The more we are confirmed in all connected with divine purpose the more we shall be strengthened for responsible service here; but it does not do to confound the two things. When the seventy disciples came back and said to the Lord, “even the demons are subject to us through thy name”, the Lord says, “Yet in this rejoice not ... but rejoice that your names are written in the heavens”. If I could do the most wonderful service, even to casting out demons, healing the sick, preaching the gospel so that thousands were converted, yet the Lord would say, Do not rejoice in that, but because you have a place in heaven. This adjusts us spiritually so that we know the difference between what is greatest and what is related to the least. It knocks a good deal of self-importance out of us, for we can get very self-important sometimes in regard to our responsibility. We have to remember that the responsible side is least, but it is important because it determines our place in the kingdom, though not in the Father’s house. We must not give up service; we come out from our secret place to more service. What I know of [p. 238] God is to work out in the responsible life; it is to govern everything. If you are faced with a difficulty your first thought would be, My business in this matter is to be governed by the way I know God in grace. If it were so, there would never be anything uncomely in our relations with men or with the brethren. It would cost something, because we would have to give up the natural. But when we give the grace of God its proper place in our hearts there is great increase in our souls, so it pays to allow grace to govern us.
There are two sides to Christian responsibility. One side has to do with the reception of the grace of God, and then it becomes a responsibility not to receive the grace of God in vain, but that it should work out in trading. The other side is that the rights of Christ are to be maintained in testimony during the period of His absence; that is seen in the incident of the colt. In trading with the Lord’s spiritual wealth, the knowledge of God in grace which He has committed to us, we must never forget as faithful bondmen that our Lord has gone away to receive the kingdom. His rights have been denied Him here, but He has gone to a place where all His rights are accorded to Him, and those rights have to be maintained in testimony; they are in abeyance, but as to testimony they have to be fully maintained. “The testimony of our Lord” is really the glad tidings, and the glad tidings not only include all that is for the glory of God in grace, but also involve the recognition of all divine rights.
What comes out in connection with the colt indicates how the Lord would secure the testimony of His rights. He would not do it in the way of pomp or of anything impressive; He rides on an ass’s colt. The prophetic word said that the King was to come, just and having salvation — that is like the beginning of this chapter; but then He is lowly. We have to remember that the Lord is lowly at this present time, not personally, but in the character of His testimony. We need to remember that, for the higher up we get in this world, and the finer rooms we have and all that sort of thing, the more we get away from the true character of the testimony; it is a lowly testimony. I do think we should give heed to that. It is the character of the testimony that the King is lowly. Though He is exalted above all heavens as to His place on high, yet as to His place here He is the lowly One. His testimony is marked by lowliness. He spoke to Saul of Tarsus [p. 239] from the glory as Jesus of Nazareth. He appropriated that lowly name. The Lord selects lowly material for the testimony. The testimony of the rights of Christ is an important subject and derives its character very much from the kind of material that is taken up to carry it. The blessed God is looking for the sort of material that will glorify Him, so He does not call the great, the wise, or the noble, but the calling is marked by a calling of persons of no account. Not that the wise and noble are excluded, because Paul says in I Corinthians I, “not many wise, not many noble”. Lady Huntingdon said that she was saved by the letter M. But it is not the character of the testimony, for God chooses the poor of this world. He is looking for persons of broken spirit, of humble and contrite heart — those are the ones who are attractive to Him. That character of person lends itself to the testimony; what is great and pretentious and proud does not suit the testimony.
Luke presents the two sides we have been speaking of: there is the full expression of the grace of God to man coming down in condescending gentleness to make him great; but on the other side all the rights of God in Christ are to be maintained. As the scripture says, “He shall sit upon the throne of his father David”.
This colt was retained specially for the purpose, and each one of us has been specially retained for the purpose of carrying the testimony of the rights of Christ. He puts His claim on us, and we are to answer to His claims and to recognise that we are born into the world with that in view. Paul said, “God, who set me apart even from my mother’s womb, and called me by his grace” — God had that in view from the outset. This colt had never been broken in; it had never found its right place until it was requisitioned for the use of the Lord, and none of us are in our right place until we are subdued to Him. We were destined for that purpose from our birth. There is a certain protective restraint exercised over all those who are marked out to carry the Lord in testimony; a restraint is put upon them in the ways of God so that they are held. The ways of God do not begin with us when we are converted; there comes a moment when the Lord requisitions us. As we have often seen in this gospel, it is not so much that man needs God but that God needs man. So here the Lord had need of the colt; it was requisitioned for a special purpose. The colt was subdued — who would trust himself to ride on an unbroken [p. 240] colt? The fact that the Lord rode on an unbroken colt intimates that the power by which He is able to subdue all things to Himself has already subdued that which can carry Him in testimony.
In Bethphage and Bethany we have the contrast to Jerusalem and the nations at large, because both mean the house of figs, intimating that, if both Jerusalem and Israel were barren fig trees, there was a village, an obscure place, where the Lord did find fruit and where His rights were recognised. The masters immediately recognise the rights of the Lord and, one might say, the colt recognised His rights without any human breaking in; he is subdued for the Lord of glory to ride upon. Bethphage and Bethany were little places, but there was a testimony there; there were those there who did recognise the rights of the Lord. Jerusalem very much corresponds with the state of the Christian profession where the rights of the Lord are refused, but the Lord does secure something; He has His Bethany and His Bethphage, and His colt as well.
These two little villages stand literally at the foot of the mount of Olives, which signifies a spiritual and heavenly region. The Spirit has come down from heaven so that there is a region on earth that is imbued with the heavenly atmosphere and heavenly appreciation of Christ; it is fine to be in such a region as that. All the fatness of the olive tree is there — “the root and fatness of the olive tree”. The fatness is that peculiar richness and wealth which is found in the Spirit — He would bring us in our thoughts and affections into concert with the mind of heaven, and then we shall feel what a privilege it is to be singled out — requisitioned to carry in testimony the rights of Christ in a scene where those rights are despised and rejected on every hand. The colt was reserved for the Lord, like the guest chamber.
The disciples represent a company, a multitude, in concert with the mind of heaven, so they placed the Lord on the colt. They knew what they were doing in putting Him on the colt; they put their clothes on the colt. Everything that would distinguish themselves was subordinate now to the glory of Christ. What a wonderful picture! If there is anything that would give me a place and character and respectability in the world, I have this great privilege of subordinating it to His honour in testimony. Putting their garments on the colt would refer to what was done for the Lord Himself, but spreading [p. 241] the garments in the way would indicate more the course of the testimony. The testimony was going to take a definite course. The disciples are seen as contributing on the principle of surrender and self-abnegation; they are subordinating themselves to the way the testimony was taking. Many have missed their way by not being able to discern how the testimony was moving. The clothes had to be laid down in advance, implying that the disciples knew the way the Lord was about to move. The real test for us is to know intuitively beforehand the way the testimony is about to move. Sometimes it moves in a way we do not expect and we get altogether upset.
The priests in the wilderness did not keep their eyes on the tabernacle but on the cloud; and the cloud moved before the tabernacle. If we have not priestly vision we have to wait until there is movement of the tabernacle to see how things are going. A true priest would be able to see the movements of the cloud even before the tabernacle was moving. There are three distinct things. First, the priest had his eye on the cloud; he saw it move and saw it taken up. Then, secondly, the priest sounds the trumpet, and the sound of the trumpet sets the camp in movement. Thirdly, the Levites take the tabernacle down; each takes charge of his particular burden, and then the whole camp moves. There are three stages: the cloud moves, then the trumpets sound — the ministry goes forth, and then the testimony moves.
How do we know what will be involved in the testimony of the rights of Christ during the next five years? I believe if we were spiritual enough and priestly enough we could perceive beforehand by observing the movements of the cloud, and know which way the testimony was going to move in the maintenance of the rights of Christ. That is a purely spiritual thing. Then we should not be surprised when the time came for the tabernacle and camp to move; we should have seen the cloud move first. I say this to wake us all up to the privilege of it, so that we should be prepared to subordinate anything that would distinguish us here, take our clothes and lay them down in the way He is going. That way involves self-abnegation, the laying aside of my glory, anything that would distinguish me. I am prepared to put it down because that is the way in which the testimony of the rights of the Lord is going; He is moving that way.
[p. 242] His sovereign rights are maintained by the multitude; it is not the little flock here, but all the multitude of the disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice. We have seen the multitude of the heavenly host in chapter 2, but now the character of that host is seen in a multitude of men here upon earth. The heavenly host in chapter 2 celebrate peace on earth: they look on to the ultimate result of the coming in of Jesus the Son of God; but the multitude in this chapter understand the peculiar character of the present moment, so they do not say ‘Peace on earth’; they speak of peace in heaven. They are intelligent about the fact that all His rights are refused Him here. Jerusalem was not going to accord Him His rights, so the city that might have had peace has repudiated all the things that would have been for her peace. Peace is in heaven, and this multitude is in accord with the mind of heaven while the Lord is publicly despised and rejected. It is a most beautiful scene, an absolute necessity for God. If He could not find a multitude of disciples, He would make the very stones speak. It is an absolute necessity for God that His royal Son should be praised in His kingly glory.
I have referred before now to the three women who were martyred at Wigtown. On their monument it says, “They died to maintain the rights of Christ in the assembly”. I do not know that anything more noble could be said of any saint than that. God does not keep people in the dark who want to move with Him. 2 Timothy would go with this, the maintenance of the rights of Christ. If we name the name of the Lord, we are to withdraw from iniquity or unrighteousness. Everything that does not maintain the rights of Christ is unrighteousness. The religious world does not maintain the rights of Christ; many profess His name but only to dishonour it. Now in contrast to that we are to “follow righteousness, faith, love, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart” — a company with pure affections.
The course of the testimony is determined by what the Spirit says to the assemblies at any particular moment. It is wonderful to think of all this having a present bearing so that we are called in grace to participate in such a celebration. Jerusalem ignores the Lord and derides Him, but there is a wonderful celebration of His glory going on. It is carried on by a people poor, despised and of no account, a people whose origin on the natural side was that they were born as wild asses’ colts, but they have been subdued to Christ and requisitioned for His testimony, detained for it, and set for it in their affections. One longs to be on that line a little more.
At the close of the chapter the Lord is seen weeping over Jerusalem; it is most touching. He was coming as the most blessed King to His royal city, but it had no eyes to see Him, and it awakened in His heart those deep emotions which found expression in tears. It would suggest to us the kind of feelings that there are in the heart of the Lord at the present time — right through the period of testimony those are His feelings even to those who harden themselves. In the end of a day of peculiar privilege, a day that is distinctly the season of visitation, the tender feelings of the Lord come out. They come out to Laodicea: He says, “Behold, I stand at the door and am knocking” — there is a spirit of entreaty about it. This should find expression in His saints at the present time, for whatever attitude the Lord takes up in regard to things is a very safe one for us to take up. If we know what is near to men and the terrible consequences of not knowing it, we should weep. There is no hardness of spirit in the rejected King.
Weeping would seem to be a right feature at the end of a dispensation. Jeremiah in his Lamentations closes his dispensation with tears, weeping for the people. These would be the feelings of Christ when things have to be set aside. There is a danger of getting hard in thinking of God’s rights being set aside and Christ rejected. We see the abounding wickedness of men, but the Lord would not have that feeling dominant with us, but rather the thought of what is there for them and the awful sadness of the eyes blind to it. Jerusalem was very much in the place that Christendom is in now, having a wonderful day, a season of visitation, but having no eyes to see the things belonging to its peace. The heart of God was never more compassionate than at the present moment, knowing the full blessedness of what His grace has brought near, and seeing the terrible state of men’s hearts in relation to it; it moves divine compassions deeply. So the Lord in dealing with Laodicea is still faithful to His own love. “As many as I love I rebuke and discipline” — it is a slighted Lover but a Lover still. And if Paul his to speak of the enemies of the cross of Christ, he does it weeping. We often become hard in speaking of enemies. We may know a great deal and understand the times of the dispensation and tell people very [p. 244] earnestly that judgment is just about to fail, but it needs nearness to Christ to be able to tell them so with tears. When we see things wrong, we become indignant, and that is right at times, but it is easier to be indignant than it is to weep.
The spirit around us today is boastful, arrogant and needing nothing, but the Lord does not leave things at that. At this point He enters into the temple, intimating that, notwithstanding all, He would maintain a temple character of things, that in which the mind of God could be known. All that is suitable to God, beginning with prayer, divine teaching, authority and what is due to God in relation to all great subjects, is to be maintained when the outward profession shows itself blind and indifferent to all that is of God. It is our privilege to resort to the temple. Indeed I think Luke’s object in writing his gospel was to make us temple-dwellers; it is reached in the last chapter, where the disciples were continually in the temple, praising and blessing God, and having light as to the mind of God. The Lord will maintain that to the end; whatever becomes of the outward profession, all that is of temple character will be preserved.
“Entering into the temple he began to cast out those that sold and bought” (verse 45) intimates that it was the kind of thing He would go on with; the casting out of what was unworthy of God would be a continual service. It does not just say He did it, but He began to do it, intimating a continuance of it. Those who sold and bought were animated by selfish motives; they were corrupting the temple, taking away its true character. It was a mercenary and self-seeking spirit that is only too common. In contrast to this the first element of temple instruction that God would give us is the free-giving of God and how readily things can be obtained from Him. His house is a house of prayer. We cannot buy, but we can ask; things are freely given there. Prayer would be the condition of dependence which would make room for divine teaching. It is important for us to come to the simple fact that prayer is the secret of getting things.
We should pray for more light. We often give thanks for the light we have, but it does not often dawn on us that there is a great deal more that we might have; we want the spirit of enquiry in His temple. If that spirit is not with us and we are not seeking more light we shall not make good use of what we have. The secret of all the decline and departure around us [p. 245] is that the people of God have ceased to enquire in the temple. There is always a tendency to think that we have reached finality. They thought they had at the Reformation and so they settled down to the light they had. There is always that tendency if God gives light, and then the spirit of enquiry in the temple dies, and there is no fresh light; the light received loses all its power.
The full revelation of God came out in Christ, and by His taking His place at the right hand of God and the Spirit coming down everything is complete. On the divine side everything is absolute and according to divine measure, but on our side things are limited and there is constant need for adjustment and accession of divine light. While it has all shone out it has not all shone in. In the epistles we see in the dealing of God with saints how incomplete things are, and how much has to be added and built in, and how development has to be promoted from every point of view.