HOW DIVINE CIRCUMSTANCES ARE IMPROVED
[p. 342] HOW DIVINE CIRCUMSTANCES ARE IMPROVED
Psalm 132:1 - 10; 1 Chronicles 17:1 - 13
JT These scriptures call attention to how saints may desire to improve the circumstances of God down here. David is one selected by the Spirit to bring this side of the truth before us, but it is intended to affect all, not only leading men like David, but all the saints. For it is a question of desire which may be found in the youngest or in sisters, and desire that works out into accomplishment under God. Stephen sums up David’s thought in that way, that he desired to build, but Solomon built God a house. Before Solomon was born there was the desire with David, and Solomon carried it out. So there is encouragement for us all to take up this desire to improve the divine circumstances. That is the way the truth is put here. It is all desire, and desire that would be carried out by the person who had it; to some extent it was carried out, but the full result was not carried out by David, yet he never ceased to do what he could. Although in the ordering of God others may carry it out fully, He values the desire.
CAC It is to minister to the will of God in one’s generation, is that the thought?
JT You mean like what was said of David. Yes, he began early, this may be said for young ones; but in his remarks in the Psalm he attaches afflictions to his thought. The desire for the improving of divine circumstances here on earth involves affliction. When he alludes to the vow, the committal, he “vowed unto the Mighty One of Jacob: I will not come into the tent of my house, I will not go up to the couch of my bed; I will not give sleep to mine eyes, slumber to mine eyelids, until I find out a place for Jehovah”. Then he adds: “Behold, we heard of [p. 343] it at Ephratah, we found it in the fields of the wood”. Part of the instruction is to remind us that we may be in better circumstances than God as regards the position down here; this is incongruous, and David felt it.
LDM Is that what Paul felt at Corinth? He spoke of their reigning as kings.
JT That is the sort of thing. David’s house was better than God’s, that is what I was thinking. The ark was under curtains; that is, not only the divine Beings personally, but the testimony, the ark of the testimony; that is, what God is morally down here in His testimony. What are the circumstances in which it is set?
CCS Is that why it is the God of Jacob? Was this in connection with the vow of Jacob?
JT Well, it is the Mighty God of Jacob. David apprehends the mighty God; that is, with the desire you have, you apprehend God as able to accomplish it, bring it about, for we can do nothing without Him: unless He build, the builders labour in vain. I think that the Mighty God of Jacob will be with you in the accomplishment of your desire. So that the desire will not fall to the ground, it will not remain a desire, it will go through: but then affliction comes in in connection with it. Jacob is alluded to as the first one that thought on these lines; he is the first one that mentioned the house of God. Well, that was the beginning of a great thought, and David links with it. If you genuinely desire on any line, you go back to the beginning of that line; which brings out another thing, namely, whether we are acquainted with the truth governing any line. So that Stephen speaking brings in David in this respect — the idea of desire, but desire according to God.
EuR Should we all be concerned in our generation to leave the circumstances of the testimony better than we found [p. 344] them?
JT Well, and better than our own, do you not think?
EuR I was thinking of Haggai’s word, “Ye ... dwell in your wainscoted houses, while this house lieth waste” (Haggai 1:4).
JT Just so. To pass on with David’s desire, he was serving his own generation, as Mr. C. remarks, but he kept the desire alive, it was not just something that he could refer back to as Paul did, “I have wished” (Romans 9:3), but he kept it alive and energetic; so that Solomon comes in in the full activity. David, as coming into an increased knowledge of God, at the threshing-floor of Oman the Jebusite, said: “This is the house of the Lord God” (1 Chronicles 22:1). Not that it is going to be, but it is consciously so to him; not yet a magnificent palace for God, but the idea is there, This is the house of God.
SJBC Did David utter this psalm after he had brought the ark up on a new cart? Do we get here his exercises after that or was it before?
JT He had gone through that and more and had learned his lesson, but he had actually brought the ark up in a proper way according to due order. He had done his best. The previous chapter shows how he had brought it up and composed a suitable ascription of praise to God in the bringing in of the ark. He had done his best but he says, I have not done enough. Things are not yet what they should be, and who can say they ever will be what they should be down here? So there is to be no cessation of this exercise. Is it in our localities as it should be? Certainly not! So the exercise is never to cease. It is not to be an abstract thought or a mere desire but a practical thing.
CAC In that connection, how does the making of David’s house come in? The making of David’s [p. 345] house was evidently to precede the making of the house of God.
JT Does not Hiram, who was ever a lover of David, come into that, Mr. C.? Perhaps you have something in your mind.
CAC It seems that the making of a house for David must come first. I was wondering whether there was anything on our part that needs to be wrought of God in order that His house may be built.
JT It says in chapter 14:1, “Hiram king of Tyre sent messengers to David, and timber of cedars, with masons and carpenters, to build him a house”.
LOL How is Hiram worked out in type for us?
JT That is what I thought we might get at in connection with the remark made. It says in 2 Samuel 5:11, “Hiram king of Tyre sent messengers to David, and timber of cedars, and carpenters, and masons; and they built David a house”, and the same thing is stated in chapter 14 of this book; we are told how Hiram “always loved David” (1 Kings 5:1). I suppose there is something, would you not say, in the apprehension of Christ in David that is a lesser thought than the apprehension of Jehovah that David had? I suppose that truth here in chapter 17 is to bring out what an apprehension David had of Jehovah. As he receives Nathan’s message, he knows how to value and carry out in his own soul a divine message. So he went in and sat before Jehovah, and spoke to Him most richly. There are many who have an apprehension of Christ in David that does not rise to the full thought of the Deity, the full thought of God. To make provision for Christ, for the Lord, does not rise to the full thought that David had. Would you think that?
CAC Would the thought of the seed and the son come in in [p. 346] that connection?
JT I think so; the full divine thought; that is, David’s exercise leads to the bringing out of sonship, and I believe that is exactly what has been in our own time. It is the exercise that brethren have had for years about the assembly, but somewhat imperfect and clouded. I think God has taken account of the exercise and sent us a message as the Lord sent a message by Mary Magdalene. David takes account of the message and moves in it; that is, the message involves the son — the son is to do things in regard of God’s habitation. There is much that precedes that, a habitation for David. But this involves the Deity, God and what is suitable to Him. I think that is pretty much how the truth stands in these passages.
CAC Then does the thought of what the Son does as the Builder precede the thought of what we do? Is it an enlargement?
JT I thought that we are learning how to let the Lord do things, to take things in hand, to have them His own way. That seems to be the way the Lord is leading us in view of the end. He would have His own way with us. So David is model here; he had the best possible desire, but it was not carried out, the son did it.
Ques Would Psalm 27:4 bear on it? “One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to enquire in his temple”.
JT Quite so, to dwell in the house of the Lord and enquire in His temple. As to creation, things are done by the Son too, that is in Person: but when you come to the house, it is the Son in manhood, God taking Him on, “He ... shall build me a house”. So we learn to be still and see what the Son does. This book I think enters into the current exercises of the saints more than any other in the Old [p. 347] Testament. This book, 1 Chronicles, presents David with the greatest exercise as to the house, but having to sit back and see another do it, and he happily sets him on the throne beside himself.
CAC So does it need the spirit of devotion to the house to qualify us to enter into the perfection of what Christ does as the Builder?
JT That is what I was thinking, and how it affects you to see what He is doing, every feature of it is what He is doing.
Rem In chapter 22 David spoke to his son that his son should do it.
JT I think that is representative, he had the light. But what will help us is to see the value of right desire and God gives you a message in relation to desire. God says, as it were, ‘I know what is in your mind, but there is much more in Mine’. David received the message and quietly went in and sat down before Jehovah to contemplate the grandeur of what God’s thoughts are. Another desire was to be in the house to “behold the beauty of the Lord, and to enquire”, to get His mind about things.
EuR Would the idea of affliction link on with an afflicted and poor people who trust in the name of Jehovah? Although things are outwardly small they link on with David.
JT We do not accept affliction much. Affliction is a thought running through the Psalms. It is here. “Jehovah, remember for David all his affliction”. These are the people that are in accord with Christ; the zeal of Jehovah’s house consumed Him when He was here and He would bring us into that. What are the divine circumstances down here? Can I improve them? Are they better than mine? Certainly if we have the desire God comes in and helps us; He is the Mighty God. So in chapter 22:14 David speaks about his affliction to Solomon. It says, “And behold, in my affliction I have prepared for the house [p. 348] of Jehovah a hundred thousand talents of gold”. If anyone can estimate what that is he will see what an immense amount of wealth it is, but secured in affliction, not as an ordinary millionaire gets his wealth; the thought is spiritual, it is not that he was a gold digger down at Johannesburg! The idea is spiritual, the immensity of the wealth. Then he speaks later on of quality of provision. “And moreover, in my affection for the house of my God I have given of my own property of gold and silver, for the house of my God, over and above all that I have prepared for the house of the sanctuary: three thousand talents of gold, of the gold of Ophir, and seven thousand talents of refined silver, to overlay the walls of the houses; gold for things of gold, and silver for things of silver, and for all manner of work by the hands of artificers. And who is willing to offer to Jehovah this day?” (1 Chronicles 29:3 - 5). That is the idea of this reading, to bring the saints into this. That is what David had in mind in chapter 29.
Ques Would affection be the basis for entering into affliction for the house?
JT I think so; we speak of affection for Christ and affection for one another, but “affection for the house of my God” is a very beautiful phrase.
Ques Why is it habitations in Psalm 132?
JT The plural idea is usually to convey the whole thought. “That I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to enquire in his temple”.
AMP Would faithfulness in the house always involve affliction, leading on to the thought in Hebrews 3, Moses was faithful in all His house?
JT You may serve in the gospel without so much affliction, but if you want to serve in the house in relation to the mystery, you must suffer. It is remarkable how much it connects with the house.
Rem It is worth while to pursue the desire.
JT [p. 349] It is brought within the range of every one of us. The order in which we are speaking is really the truth, God comes in on the line of desire and gives you a message, then you move in that.
LOL Is David spoken of as a man after God’s own heart in that respect?
JT I should think so.
Rem So do we suffer affliction in relation to the house and not so much the gospel?
JT If the gospel is linked up with the house you will, suffer with it, too, but in modern times the gospel is separated from the house. Paul had the ministry of the gospel and the ministry of the mystery, too; then it brings affliction, but if you detach it from the house Satan does not attack much. What we call conversions by the thousand does not mean the house added to at all; it does not mean that the dwelling place for God is added to at all, that is what Satan hates.
SJBC It has been said, If you want to fill your heart with joy, preach the gospel, but if you want it broken, serve the saints.
JT It depends on the object in view, a true evangelist will provide better conditions for God.
Ques I was wondering whether that was exemplified in Paul from Acts 9 onward.
JT I suppose it was.
SJBC Did Paul know something of the afflictions of the house when he said that all those in Asia had turned away from him?
JT I suppose so; his imprisonment would lead people to say that things must be out of the way with Paul or he would not be detained so long. It was personal opposition.
Rem He had not given up the truth.
JT I suppose Satan wrought in Ephesus to seek to undermine him.
Ques How is this affection brought about?
JT David says, ‘We heard of it and found it’. He found it in circumstances that were not right, in the fields of the wood. That is no place for God. The house would provide the circumstances that are suited to it. The perfect consonance between the house and the ark is what is so morally beautiful, I think. David had the light of that. What a time he had as he sat before Jehovah! How he was enlarged in his affections, and in his mind too! You get no such group of titles anywhere as you get here. How delightfully his heart would be entranced there!
EG Would 2 Corinthians 11 show the afflictions of Paul and then in the next chapter he shows how he loved the Corinthians?
JT Quite so.
PHH Was it the impressions that David had of the greatness of God that led him to prepare for the house of Jehovah and the service of Jehovah as related in chapter 23?
JT I should say that. What is normal to a man of faith is increase in the knowledge of God. The first place that you get the title ‘Jah’ is in Exodus 15; it alludes to spiritual insight that faith has. I suppose David had it peculiarly. Not simply the general thought but what He is, that is, the greatness of God, not only His greatness as Creator but what He is. As sitting before Jehovah here you can see he has insight into what God is. That is I am sure the idea, that there should be a suitable place. The greater my apprehension of God the greater sense I have of the disparity of the circumstances in which I am as compared with His. How little of our time and affections are really given up to this matter of divine circumstances down here!
EuR Does the end of the first scripture suggest the bringing to pass of a priestly company who would consider for divine circumstances? Is that the thought of the priests?
JT David’s exercises run on as to detail; he says, “We heard of it”, and so forth, then, “Let us go into his habitations, let us worship at his footstool”. You do not get people talking about that much in giving thanks, the footstool of God. “Arise, Jehovah, into thy rest, thou and the ark of thy strength. Let thy priests be clothed with righteousness, and let thy saints shout for joy”. So that he has got the priests, and the saints are right, that is, in salvation: Jehovah sees to that. Those that have part in all this must be righteous people. That is what David had in his mind that pleased God. The Lord Jesus says, “Thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness” (Matthew 3:15). The Lord loves it. God would say to us, ‘Do not forget righteousness; it is no good talking about My house if you do not think of righteousness’.
TCF Would the thought of houses have local companies in view?
JT Of course there were compartments in the house. God is great enough to come into the court; many do not see Him in any other way. The Lord’s supper is in the court, I apprehend. Many do not go beyond that, but then the holiest of all is where God is seen, too. The idea, I think, would be the whole thought; God says, If it is only the threshold of My house, I regard that.
TCF Local companies would have that in view.
JT They are just the entrance.
CAC The drawing near would cover it all, would it? The progress from the court to the holiest.
JT Do you not think Hebrews has that in mind? Any part of the house is the house, God recognised that; but He would say, ‘Why do you not go further?’. So that chapter 10 says, “Having therefore, brethren, boldness for entering into the holy of holies by the blood of Jesus, the new and living way which he has dedicated for us through the veil, that is, his flesh, and having a great priest over the house of [p. 352] God, let us approach with a true heart, in full assurance of faith, sprinkled as to our hearts from a wicked conscience, and washed as to our body with pure water” (Hebrews 10:19 - 22). That is the whole thought, why should it be less?
DC Would you say a word as to worshipping at His footstool?
JT We begin there; we do not begin with language that is not our own, we begin with our own exercises.
ESH Solomon made the throne of ivory overlaid with gold and the footstool of gold fastened to the throne (2 Chronicles 9:17,18).
JT That is a more exalted thought, but wherever His feet are resting, wherever His feet are, you begin there. We read in the gospels of people who were at His feet, and it is a humble and needful attitude to take up in our worship.
CAC Is that the side of things that refers to the earth? “The earth is my footstool” (Isaiah 66:1). Must that be right before we can touch the heavenly and spiritual side?
JT That is what I was thinking; we have it in Romans, having things right before you ascend.
HWS Would you say a little more as to the Supper being in the court, and what follows being on a higher platform?
JT We begin there, and the Lord comes in; there is room for Him, but it is in view of what is beyond. The service of God is the whole thought. The Minister of the sanctuary has it before Him, but we begin at the footstool, “Let us worship at his footstool”. His habitations are in mind, as it says, “Let us go into his habitations, let us worship at his footstool”. There is the whole thought, I think, in the plural, but we begin right where we should begin, that is, at [p. 353] His footstool.
GCS Is that the thought of “In my Father’s house there are many abodes” (John 14:2)?
JT That is the plural, abodes for us on the divine side. Jehovah’s habitation has, so to say, compartments. God will meet us in the court, in the holy place and in the holiest, or you meet Him there.
LDM Is that the thought in verse 8? “Arise, Jehovah, into thy rest”.
JT That is God in His fulness, because the word ‘Jehovah’ features so much in Scripture after it is introduced. In as far as faith could go then, it is to make full room for God, for the Deity. It is God, not simply known in the covenant, but God in Himself. I believe that ought to be kept before us. “Arise, Jehovah, into thy rest, thou and the ark of thy strength”. The ark is to be taken account of as representative more of what God is here in the testimony, and He Himself in it too in the Spirit, but that is not the whole thought. Perhaps Jah is the nearest thought to absoluteness in the Old Testament.
LDM Does it link with the Lord’s words, “My Father and your Father, ... my God and your God” (John 20:17)?
JT I think that conveys the whole divine thought for the dispensation; “my God” is last. The message sent before the Lord came in was, I think, to prepare them for what we are talking about.
PHH With regard to the footstool being linked with the earth, what would you say as to what was under His feet in Exodus 24, the “work of transparent sapphire”? Would that correspond with the understanding of the names of God that David had in this chapter?
JT What is in mind in that chapter is to show what His circumstances were up there. The chapter begins with Moses, Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel going up. It is not [p. 354] His footstool exactly, it is what is under His feet; as has been pointed out, the earth is His footstool. Stephen calls attention to that, “The heaven is my throne and the earth the footstool of my feet: what house will ye build me?” (Acts 7:49). But when you go up there it is like the body of heaven in its clearness. In Revelation they celebrate the God of heaven, but God is saying in Revelation, ‘The earth is Mine, too’; but if you go up, He would like to show you His circumstances up there, and the more you apprehend them, the more you want to have them down here, or to improve what is here, anyway. These chapters are really progressive, he goes back to having heard of the ark and having found it; but he is not yet satisfied as to the divine circumstances, and God says, I like that.
EuR Would Ezekiel be another man who was not satisfied with the divine circumstances? But God encourages him by that verse you referred to, “Son of man, this is the place of my throne, and the place of the soles of my feet, where I will dwell in the midst of the children of Israel for ever” (Ezekiel 43:7). That is down here.
JT Quite so, you can see how that would answer his exercises. Ezekiel is not simply a priest like Jeremiah, he is the priest.
EuR Coming in in Luke, the Lord “stood in their midst” (Luke 24:36).
JT Quite so, in their midst, that could be improved. John 20 is the other side, abstractly they were perfect; John 20 indicates the kind of circumstances that are suitable.
EuR The body of heaven in its clearness.
SJBC They went up, and ate and drank; that is more than the Supper, is it not?
JT Quite so, we do not eat the Supper in heaven. “Perfect love casts out fear” (1 John 4:18).
SJBC What does it mean for us?
JT You are able to enter the heavenly places in happy liberty.
LDM Is it important that Solomon uses the words that David does? “And now, arise, Jehovah Elohim, into thy resting-place, thou and the ark of thy strength: let thy priests, Jehovah Elohim, be clothed with salvation, and let thy saints rejoice in thy goodness” (2 Chronicles 6:41).
JT That shows it is one thought, he is inviting Jehovah into better circumstances; it is the same thought. We do not want to give up the desire, we have abundant means; if the affliction be there, and the affection be there, we shall have the wealth.
Ques Are the afflictions and the affections seen in Ephesians 3? “Built together for a habitation of God in the Spirit” (Ephesians 2:22). Then, “That the Christ may dwell, through faith, in your hearts” (Ephesians 3:17). And then, “But to him that is able to do far exceedingly above all which we ask or think, according to the power which works in us”.
JT That is a good connection. Ephesians enters into what we are saying because in the prayer in chapter 1 the apostle is exercised that their hearts should be enlightened; then in chapter 3:15,16 it is a question of the Father, “Of whom every family in the heavens and on earth is named, in order that he may give you according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with power by his Spirit in the inner man”. That is all to the end that there might be conditions.
LOL In view of what you said about the Lord taking things in hand, coming in as Son following on the exercise of David in his affliction and affection, is it that the Lord comes in and helps us?
JT Your desire will be carried out better than you could carry it out — it is finality and goes on [p. 356] into eternity — the Son works it out. It is an immense thing to be able to sit down and grasp the divine thought; I believe Ephesians is given for the person who can do that.
LOL Is that why the ministry of Solomon is so expansive in wisdom?
JT I am sure that is here, the great volume of wisdom.
Ques Does the poor widow in Mark’s gospel with her two mites give out of her affliction and affection?
JT That is good; we have often remarked about that; the Lord as much as says, ‘That woman’s thought is too great for this building of stone’, so He proceeds to say, as it were, ‘All that will be taken down so that there should be a place equal to that woman’s thought’.
Rem “The place where Thy glory dwelleth”, the glory is there.
JT The glory came into the tabernacle where the circumstances were not quite so good as in the temple, but it was the glory in both cases. Jehovah says in this chapter, I have been walking in tents; He accepts it; that is, circumstances were not quite so good, but now David has a desire to improve them and He takes it on. The idea of desire is so important, and to keep it alive as much as you can to carry it out.
EuR So if God sends this message to His people as to sonship, can we expect the next generation to be more responsive to it?
JT Quite so, the thing for us is to keep it alive, and the young ones will catch on to the thought. It is remarkable how the young men and women are being brought into the truth, it is not so much through what is said but what they see in others.
CAC This great unfolding would work out practically in this great result for God.
JT [p. 357] That seems to be the thought. As we draw near to the end, the discrepancy between heaven and ourselves will not be so great; that is the divine thought.
SJBC What has been brought out has enhanced the divine thought of sonship.