THE SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD
THE SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD
JT The thought is especially to dwell on the second half of the book of Isaiah, beginning with chapter 40. It would be very helpful if we could get more clear on the sovereignty of God. I think it might be found that all God effects, He effects on the ground of His sovereignty, and that what He effects sovereignly is for the accomplishment of His counsels. The prophet begins, “thy counsels of old are faithfulness and truth”, and then what is enlarged upon in the chapter is, that all that God does He does in connection with a certain centre, and that centre is mount Zion. Mount Zion stands for God’s sovereignty. He selects that spot.
The previous chapters, from 13 to 23, are engaged with God’s judgment with regard to the different nations; then in chapter 24 we have a summary of it all. The world is turned upside down, and God punishes “the host of the high ones on high, and the kings of the earth on the earth”. He does all that, and then the Spirit of Christ in the remnant, in those who have faith, celebrates what He does, and they recognise that what He does is in connection with His counsels of old, which are faithfulness and truth.
BTF Does this chapter look forward to what we get established in Zion?
JT Yes, God effects everything on earth in connection with Zion, but what He effects is His counsels of old.
BTF How would you draw a lesson from this for the present [p. 437] moment?
JT We stand in that connection, we stand on the ground of God’s sovereignty.
CB “We have come to mount Zion”.
JT I think it would be well to know and to have very clearly before us what God’s sovereignty involves. He allowed much to occur in the history of the world in connection with man’s responsibility, but that is only to bring into full light that man after the flesh is worthless, and hence the necessity for a new beginning.
BTF Saints as taught by the Spirit can enter into God’s sovereignty, can they not? You would not present that side to the world.
JT No, it is for the elect, but still it is an element of the testimony of God that has to be understood, that everything that is effected by God is effected on the ground of His sovereignty. God acts from Himself, and for Himself; and I think that the point in introducing mount Zion is simply that God selected that spot, and nothing can divert Him from it.
WLP What would correspond with that now?
JT I think mount Zion represents a principle.
JS And the Gentiles are brought in under that principle.
JT It will be seen that the Jewish position in the future depends upon that principle, but what man objects to continually is the sovereignty of God. Even if men admit that God is to act, they would like to have some part in it.
AFM Is there a division in that verse 21 of chapter 24; would the “high ones” refer to heavenly places?
JT Yes, satanic agency has been centred on high and on earth. This chapter has reference to what God will do for Himself. We have to distinguish between what God will do for Himself in carrying out His own counsels, and what He will do for us.
[p. 438] It is a very precious thought that He acts for His people. He acts primarily for the carrying out of His own counsels so that He punishes the satanic hosts on high, and the kings of the earth He punishes also. There is a complete overthrow, and then it says, “the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed, when the Lord of hosts shall reign in mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before his ancients gloriously”; chapter 24: 23. That is what God has in His mind, Christ is to reign in mount Zion gloriously, and all natural light shall be confounded. So that the divine end is reached there; and then in chapter 25 there is a song, so that that chapter takes the form of the celebration of God’s intervention.
I think chapter 24 shows what God effects from Himself with a view to Christ sitting on mount Zion, and then it shows that all this is in accordance with His counsels of old, and that He effects His counsels on principles of sovereignty; and then at the end of chapter 35 we find that there is complete deliverance for the people. There, I think, we get the people brought into the good of what is stated in chapter 24. God has His own thoughts of Christ.
The second half of the book, beginning with chapter 40, takes up another line of thought. It is largely occupied with God’s servant, which is an intensely interesting subject for us; that is, what Christ was here in the midst of an idolatrous world.
AFM We are slow to accept the sovereignty of God. Will you indicate what is the point reached when we accept it?
JT We accept it when we come to an end of our own resources, when we are made to feel our complete powerlessness to effect anything.
AFM Is there not an illustration of what you are saying in Israel’s history? They were not prepared to move into the land until [p. 439] the flesh was exposed and set aside typically in the brazen serpent.
JT I think that where the flesh is felt to be utterly wanting, then the sovereignty of God is accepted.
ANW Is that also seen in Romans 3?
JT I think it is. I think the mercy seat involves the sovereignty of God: all the world is guilty before God, and He acts in sovereign mercy.
WS “I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy”.
Rem The mercy seat in Romans 3 is placed there more on God’s behalf than on man’s.
JT Certainly, the mercy seat is the means by which God carries out His designs.
WLP I do not understand how God acts for Himself apart from His people.
JT I think you must distinguish between God acting for Himself in carrying out His designs, and His acting for us. He acts for us in love. I think the former is the greater of the two, and therefore the chapters previous to this one show how God effects clearance of the world, so as to establish His own thoughts. That is celebrated in what takes place in chapters 25 and 26; and then, I think, you have how God acts on us, leading up to Hezekiah, who is a type of Christ in death and resurrection. In chapters 36 and 37 Hezekiah’s identification with the nation is made clear, and then we have, “Set thine house in order: for thou shalt die and not live”, chapter 38: 1. I think Hezekiah’s relation to Israel is involved. God grants him life. In this way we see how God effects everything for us. All for us is secured through death and resurrection, and we celebrate it. “The living, the living”, says Hezekiah, “shall praise thee”. God secures His portion in the saints on the ground of death [p. 440] and resurrection,
BTF The primary thoughts in these chapters are in regard to Israel.
JT There is nothing that the natural heart quarrels with more than the sovereignty of God, and that is the point in mount Zion. God selected that mountain, He does not tell us why, but He wants to emphasise the fact that He can act where and how He pleases. He says. He has desired Zion.
We have in the first part of Isaiah the idea of the Son, “unto us a child born, unto us a son is given”, but in the second part it is Christ fulfilling God’s will here. There is nothing more interesting than to see how Christ was here carrying out God’s will.
ARS Men quarrel, with God’s sovereignty. It seems to me it is very helpful to see that God’s counsels are faithfulness and truth. Israel and the church have been unfaithful, but God is faithful.
JT In the end it will be seen that His faithfulness and truth are made good in Israel. His counsels of old are carried into effect on the ground of His sovereignty. He has given man every possible opportunity of showing whether he is qualified to be used of God in the working out of His counsels. The trial brought out man’s utter failure, and hence God had recourse to His sovereign rights, and effects His counsels on this principle, without explaining why He chose mount Zion, and Judah, and David.
WBr Everything had failed which God had previously established in Israel.
JT If possible God would have used Israel. We read in Exodus 19 that He proposed to make them a “kingdom of priests, and a holy nation” on the ground of their obedience; then chapter 20 relates how He gave the law, which represented His rights over them. If they had answered to it they would have been a nation of priests. God would work out His designs in connection with the people [p. 441] if this were possible, but the material was not there. Moses was called up to the mount, and God begins at once to speak about the ark of the covenant. If Israel could keep the law there would be no need for the ark.
ARS Shiloh had been set aside, and now God has chosen mount Zion, which abides for ever, and is never given up.
JT Mount Zion is a principle which we have come to. God acts according to His sovereign rights, and for this another order of man was needed.
JS It is brought in in connection with the king.
JT It stands connected with David and the ark. Saul’s attention had been called to the hill of God, but he had no appreciation of it, and this fact intimates clearly what his character was. David understood the mind of God; that is, that God would act in connection with a certain centre on earth; hence directly he is anointed king he goes to Jerusalem and takes it, and following on that the ark is brought in. Faith says “on this mountain”; faith recognises that God acts in connection with that spot. Man quarrels with that idea, but God will not be diverted from it.
JS So we must have the king established before there is a place for Christ in our hearts.
JT Peter says that the stone (the Man) which the builders rejected is made the head of the corner. Christ proves Himself to be in every way suitable to God. He was God’s elect. The Jews regarded Him as an imposter, but God made Him “head of the corner”. In Acts 4 when the saints were assembled in prayer they cited Psalm 2, for God had accomplished His purpose in spite of man’s rage.
PHP When did God begin to work for Himself?
JT Really when Christ rose from the dead, or more directly when He went into heaven. God’s sovereignty is a great principle to get hold of; it [p. 442] makes nothing of man. When you recognise that there is nothing in man, and that everything is of God, there is no more occasion of quarrel.
BTF What do you mean by quarrel?. Is it that man disputes God’s right to do so and so?
JT Yes, and God insists that He has right to do what He pleases, when He pleases, and where He pleases. Every soul that comes into blessing has to bow to this. The Man whom God anoints is the Man whom He selects. “Yet have I set my king on my holy hill of Zion”.
Rem Man’s will rejects God’s centre. The Samaritans had a place of worship in opposition to Jerusalem.
JT Yes, the Lord said “salvation is of the Jews”. All the precious things spoken of in Isaiah 25 are involved in the gospel, but the point here is that they are all brought to pass on that mountain. If you want these things you must recognise God’s sovereignty in them. The Spirit of Christ spoke through the prophet. The prophets did not understand what they wrote half so well as we do now. They had not the Spirit of God indwelling, so that they could not understand fully what they uttered by the Spirit.
BTF Did not Isaiah look forward in this passage to the restoration of God’s people?
JT Yes, but he had not the Spirit as we have, and so could not fully understand. Peter says that they “searched what or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify”. It was revealed to them that the things they ministered were for us, not for themselves.
BTF In coming to mount Zion you come to things which cannot be shaken.
WBr Would you say that a believer who has reached mount Zion in his soul is delivered from the world [p. 443] system?
JT Certainly, for he is not governed by the principles of this world. There can be no doubt that what God does is done in perfect wisdom, but you must begin with the thought that God has a perfect right to do what He pleases.
JS In the next chapter there is also a celebration.
JT When you come to chapter 26 you have the city. That is another celebration: “We have a strong city; salvation will God appoint for walls and bulwarks”. That is an additional thought; and then you find in the following chapters that certain woes are announced. “Woe to the crown of pride, to the drunkards of Ephraim”; “Woe to Ariel, to Ariel, the city where David dwelt”; “Woe to the rebellious children ... that walk to go down into Egypt”. Ariel means ‘Lion of God’. The allusion no doubt is to those who prided themselves in their strength; on the other hand there were those who leaned on Egypt, the arm of flesh.
Ques Is the Christian’s mount Zion heavenly?
JT No, I think the heavenly thing is the city, but mount Zion represents the principle on which everything rests.
WBr Do you make a distinction between mount Zion and the city?
JT The mount is the principle, the city refers to the people that are connected with it. The city of the living God is the heavenly Jerusalem. I think the occasion of the woes shows the conditions with which the remnant will have to contend. The crown of pride, Ephraim, has reference to the pride of the first-born. To arrogate to ourselves divine privileges apart from the state suitable to them is abominable to God, We cannot presume when our state is bad to have privileges which belonged to the church when her state was good.
Rem “I will spue thee out of my mouth”.
JT Ariel is the Lion of God. That is an assumption [p. 444] to have strength when, as in Samson’s case, God has really departed. The power of God was in Jerusalem in David’s day, but it had departed. They were going down to Egypt for help. All this has come to pass in the history of the church.
JS What is the meaning of chapter 30, verse 1; “Woe to the rebellious children who take counsel but not of me”?
JT It is turning to men for help instead of turning to God. It is what we all do when we lose the sense of the support of God. If you endeavour to go on with God and the things of God you have the support of God. If you make an alliance with any, even a brother, that is the principle of going down to Egypt for help.
Ques What do you mean by entering into an alliance with a brother?
JT I have seen many times an understanding between brothers in reference to things. If you are leaning on the Lord you will refuse to make any alliance with anyone in order to support anything.
Ques Can you not work in harmony with your brother?
JT Surely, but you recognise his support as from the Lord, “I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills; ... my help cometh from the Lord”. In seeking support from a brother your thought may be right, but you are depending on man to support you. The people who are addressed here needed counsel, and needed help, but why did they not go to God for it? All these political parties are on this principle. Egypt is the world of the flesh; man’s power in the flesh. “The Egyptians are men and not God, and their horses flesh and not spirit”. Babylon is the world system, governed by wicked influences in heaven. It is the religious world.
PHP Chapter 32 opens very beautifully with the king.
JT [p. 445] In such passages in the book we see what will be the stay of the remnant in the future.. “A king shall reign in righteousness, and princes shall rule in judgment”. Then it is stated, that “a man shall be as an hiding place from the wind, a covert from the tempest”. The remnant will find all this in Christ.
AFM Why are these woes introduced?
JT To express God’s judgment against the prevailing wickedness, and in this there is light for the remnant; those who are on the line of God’s sovereignty, as seen in chapter 25. How important that they should be on their guard against all these things!
Rem They can thus pass their judgment on what is around them.
JT “Behold I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation; he that believeth on him shall not make haste”, chapter 28. In chapter 25 we have the principle of sovereignty, but here we have a structure, and in chapter 28 we have the corner stone laid in Zion. It is Christ as presented in the gospels. He inspires confidence where there is faith. “He that believeth on him shall not make haste”. There is no natural activity, all is accomplished by the power of God. I think chapter 32 is very beautiful as a resource of faith. We have to do with kings who do not rule in righteousness; here is the announcement that a king shall reign in righteousness. Such announcements sustain the faith of the remnant. They say in chapter 33: 2, “O Lord be gracious to us, we have waited for thee”. Then to the end of chapter 35 there is every possible encouragement for them. I think, that in the chapters preceding chapter 25 God was more acting for Himself, for the accomplishment of His own designs, but in these later chapters He is rather acting for the people.
[p. 446] Zion occasioned the controversy, and now the day of reckoning had come; see chapter 34: 8. The host of heaven shall be dissolved, and the heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll. The same things are alluded to in chapter 24, but here it is God acting for His people. Chapter 35 is the end of the series; the remnant of the Lord shall return.
JS Is it God acting for the people to bring them in in accord with Himself?
JT Yes, you see the great result of it here. God acts for Himself so as to bring in Christ. When this takes place the moon shall be confounded and the sun ashamed; chapter 24. Then the people are brought in, chapter 35. They come with everlasting joy to mount Zion.
AFM Everything is contributory to the glory and pleasure of God.
BTF Primarily, of course, this has reference to Israel, but in the church we have what is analogous.
JT That is very important, otherwise these scriptures would be of no value to us.
AFM It shows how we can anticipate things spiritually before we reach them actually.