ORDER
[p. 56] ORDER
The Spirit of God is intolerant of disorder. He is aware of its existence universally. He not only recognises the dreadful confusion in the church, He is fully cognisant of disorder in the entire moral universe, and abhors it. God abhors it and will not rest till it is replaced by order. This is the line He has ever been on since the introduction of disorder into His creation. He had brought order out of chaos in creating the physical universe, but there was not only a physical universe brought into being; a moral one was also formed. There was the idea of headship and government in man, the lower creation recognising this; and kindred beings (Adam and Eve) enjoying mutual affection, and these also holding a measure of intercourse with the Creator above. All this presents a very blessed system, and one in which divine order was apparent. The physical system presented the most minute order, and this it ever retains; sin has not interfered with it. The heavenly bodies move on still in their regular courses with infinite precision. They abide in their places. But this alas! cannot be said of the moral system; disorder, as already said, marks it everywhere. A lion meets a man in the field and slays him; this is disorder. It is violence no doubt, but it is also disorder. Had the beast been regulated by his appointed law he could not have slain a man. On the other hand, a man worships a reptile; here also is disorder, he has left his appointed place. Or he puts away his wife and so on. In every thread of the fabric disorder and chaos are visible.
In the church at the outset there was a certain recovery of order; at least as far as men were concerned. Christ had become law to the church, and this law governed it. For a time it abode in Christ.
[p. 57] This however is no longer visible in the public body; it has veered from its orbit, so to speak, and become a wandering star, shooting off to destruction. Hence here confusion and lawlessness are found as elsewhere.
Now all this is serious in the extreme, and is so regarded by every divinely taught person. The intelligent Christian is very serious about it. He instinctively looks for order and peace, but in quest of these his eye meets with but disappointment everywhere he turns. Happily for him he can retreat into the secret of God’s purpose within the veil, and there his eye, by the Spirit, may rest with unwearied gaze on the Prince of Peace, the Blessed One by whom order and peace will so soon be established universally. This is the Christian’s privilege, and his joy and strength, as well as his discernment, will be in proportion to the frequency of his visits there.
Now no person with divine sensibilities can fail to be deeply concerned by the prevailing condition of things; and proportionate to this will be his resentment of the foul influence that has brought all to pass. He feels there can be no rest till God’s universe is cleared of every trace of satanic power. Of course the time for this has not yet arrived, but at the same time it is involved in the testimony of the church; and further, I believe the next movement of the tent of testimony will be in that direction, The tent of testimony has now remained, so to speak, a long time stationary; the cloud has not been lifted really for well nigh twenty centuries (”many days”, an indefinite period, Numbers 9: 22) as far as one can judge. But we can well understand the long delay: the nature of God explains it: “the long suffering of our Lord is salvation”. 2 Peter 3: 15. Its present position involves that in which God delights — mercy. Hence we should not be over impatient for a change. It bodes good for man that the tent of the testimony should remain [p. 58] where it is. This long period is what scripture calls “the well accepted time”, “the day of salvation” 2 Corinthians 6: 2 — day of greatest possibilities for humanity; wrath and judgment do not belong to it. I believe God is loath to turn away from it. But God will revert to wrath, and this will mean a very decided movement of the tent of testimony. Indeed there will be movement till the divine purpose to head up all things in Christ is finally reached. Then order and peace will be established everywhere, and God will rest in His love.
It is evident in Scripture that Christ will be the active agent in all this; He will be the great regulating force in that day. His purging the temple (John 2:14 - 17) was an indication of this. He† begins at the top and expunges disorder and lawlessness from the heavens by casting out thence the Devil and his angels. Then He proceeds to the scenes below. Here the wine press of the fury of God is trodden, and the beast and false prophet are cast alive into the lake of fire. Satan himself is also bound. We can thus well understand the force of the scripture, “the zeal of thine house hath eaten me up” John 2: 17.
Having thus disposed of the bad the Lord sets to work to put the good into order according to its various parts. Here again He begins at the top; He begins with the church. The church is assigned its place; then the tribes of Israel are raised up and set as the centre of what is terrestrial. The nations also come into view; at His bidding they enter the kingdom prepared for them from the foundation of the world. They are the blessed of His Father and walk in the light of the holy city. All here is on the footing of resurrection. This not only refers to the church, it holds good as to Israel and the nations as well. All is established on the principle of “life
†If Michael be not Christ (Revelation 12) he undoubtedly acts under the Lord’s direction.
from among the dead”. Israel is dead nationally, and the nations of those that are to be saved are also dead at the present time. It would be futile to attempt to locate either the one or the other. They are in the purpose of God and will be revived in due time by Christ. The fact is that all that is to be displayed on the part of God is entirely hidden at the present time. It is like a perfectly formed statue, but veiled. It will remain so till the fulness of time arrives, when it will be unveiled in rapid order. For this the Christian longs, but in patience still waits. He knows there will be no external change till the tent of testimony moves, and so contents himself with filling out the will of God amid the present sorrowful condition of things.
While the Christian groans with the rest of the creation, feeling the pressure of things; while he shares fully the sentiments expressed in the lines: -
“We look for Thine appearing,
Thy Presence here to bless
We greet the day that’s nearing,
When all this woe shall cease”, (200:4)
yet order and peace may be preserved and richly enjoyed inwardly. Let us seek to discover how this is effectuated.
It must be evident that if Christ is to be the great regulator of the universe in the coming age, He also must regulate individuals at the present time; that is, if any are to be regulated. Now chaos prevailed everywhere when the Lord came into the world, and the disciples formed part of this as much as others. He did not remove the chaos; He changed nothing externally, but He delivered them from it. As He moved about, one and another came to Him, and each one coming found himself set right. He found the divinely appointed centre; One who was to become law to him. He was no longer to do what was right in his own eyes; henceforth he would [p. 60] be governed by Christ. This is very simple and evident, and nothing can be more interesting than to note the manner in which it came to pass during the Lord’s ministry. While the intelligence of the disciples was meagre, yet it is not difficult to perceive that Christ was supreme and everything to the little band that followed Him. It was the one spot, as it were, where the eye of God could rest amidst the prevailing din of confusion, and strife. It was, however, broken up for a moment by His apprehension and death, but only to be taken up again on the footing of resurrection.
It is wonderful to note how the Lord held the saints (there was of course much weakness and failure on their part), and as a consequence, the order and peace that obtained among them - His ascension to heaven did not change this: the coming of the Holy Spirit established it. Hence in the early chapters of Acts the wonderful spectacle is witnessed of a company of men and women moving with perfect precision in relation to a Man in heaven! This is order. Let the reader inquire as to whether he is in it. The church alas! did not remain long in this blessed position. Hence it ceased to reflect Christ here and its recovery is no longer to be entertained. Recovery for individuals is, however, possible, and thank God, verified in many. It simply means that Christ has gained a footing in your heart and mind. It has dawned on you that He is great and divinely attractive, and hence you have learnt to prefer Him to yourself and all others. You have learnt to love Him, and to move about in this world as His and for Him. You are recovered; you are in order; peace fills your heart and you reflect Him here.
But this has to be maintained. We constantly require regulation; even the most advanced do. The tendency with us all is to become run down and out of order. Hence we need to be regulated [p. 61] almost continuously — at least once in the week. There can be no doubt that the Lord’s supper was instituted to this very end, The Lord is brought to our minds morally in the simple memorial. The charms of this heavenly grace and simplicity fill our souls (we are glad when we see the Lord) as He is thus before us. All sense of self-importance and harsh feelings toward other believers vanish in the presence of such grace and affection as are brought afresh to our attention. In this way we get a fresh start on the first day of the week, the Lord’s day, and are set forward on our journey, having been brought afresh into touch with the Lord and His people by the Spirit.
May the moral greatness of Christ thus presented in the supper affect His people profoundly, and may we in this way be delivered from counter influences, and held and controlled by Him alone till the end!