THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN, THE RULE OF THE WORD OF GOD
[p. 237] THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN, THE RULE OF THE WORD OF GOD
I have been endeavouring to bring before you the blessings peculiar to the christian. What we have in this scripture is that though Christ has been rejected here, yet His rule is still on the earth. It is not the rule of the King; that you must bear in mind, but the rule of the word of God. Hence you get in the first parable that the sower sowed the seed, the word of the kingdom; there were four different kinds of soil, but only one brought forth fruit to perfection. Next, there are six similitudes of the kingdom of heaven (the first parable, that of the sower, is not called a similitude); three of them are public, and three are private. Three describe the word of God as appropriated by man, with the most painful result, and this is the only way to account for the state of things in christendom. Man has interpreted the word of God to exalt himself. Nothing can be plainer than that the man who appropriates most from the word of God while retaining the natural man has a preponderating influence with men. Peter can receive great light, and yet be so human in his feelings that the Lord calls him Satan. It has been said, and it is a lamentable statement, that it is not the world which has spoiled christianity, but it is christianity which has spoiled the world, because man has been made pretentious and preposterous by the light of it. What could be worse than to assume to be a christian when one is not? To be so self-deceived that one appropriates to himself the greatest position in which God has set a man?
I will now refer to the first three similitudes. The first is that of the wheat and the tares; the wheat was of God; and the bad seed sown by the devil were mere [p. 238] professors, assuming to be equal with the wheat, the work of God. The servants wanted to root up the tares, but they are in the field, that is the world - not in the church. In christendom the field is supposed to be the church, and that the real and the professors are mixed up in the congregation. It is sad to find some real saints thus mixed up with worldly professors. The second similitude is the monstrous position christendom obtains in the world. A little grain of mustard seed becomes a great tree, and the fowls of the air lodge in it; so powerful and extended is the system formed by man’s interpretation of the word of God, that even the powers of the world seek for the countenance of the hierarchy. This is the present state; but eventually the beast, which is the Latin power, will carry the harlot, the apostate church, a system reared up by man’s interpretation of the word of God. The third similitude is the leaven hid in three measures of meal. There is not a pure sentiment in man’s religion (though the word of God be quoted) you cannot rely on it. I do not say that you cannot rely on man’s words, but I say that the human idea, however based on the word of God, is not to be trusted. I do not know a single doctrine of theology which is fully according to the mind of God. This appears to be a strong statement, but you will find it is correct, because man’s mind has reduced the word of God to its own level. And the unfailing mark of human interpretation in any statement is that God is not paramount in it. It is a human sentiment, though doubtless there is a measure of truth in it. If I adduce the gospel in christendom, it is that if you believe, you will be saved and go to heaven; not one word as to God’s part in that gospel, it is a human appropriation of it. I fully admit that souls are blessed, but they seldom or never are brought to God. I am trying to point out the nature of the rival (if I may use the expression) that we have to contend with.
[p. 239] Any learned man in christendom could discern the first three similitudes; he could understand them. But in verse 36 the Lord sends away the crowd and goes into the house; and when His disciples come to Him, He explains about the tares and the wheat, and tells them of three other similitudes.
We now come to the greatest blessing peculiar to christians during our Lord’s rejection; we are His, sustained here for Himself, now at the right hand of God. These three similitudes set forth how the word of God effects that which is according to the heart of Christ on earth. First, He sets forth that His treasure is here, where His rule is by the word of God. The treasure was not only hid in the field, but He hid it. The church is His treasure, where His heart is set. it is not visible to the world. Next, “the pearl” expresses the beauty of the church in His eye. The third is the net, and now is set forth the work of the fishermen, who know Christ’s estimate of the church. They separate the good fishes from the bad ones; they put the good into vessels. Here many a laborious servant has failed through ignorance of his Lord’s mind; he did not separate the good from the bad; he did not see the importance of separation in order to suit the Lord. “Come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing”.
I desire now to draw your attention to the assembly, the circle of Christ’s interest on the earth. I could not bring before you a subject of greater importance. He has been rejected, and I have been presenting to you, in the previous addresses, the varied blessings which come to us from Him as exalted to the right hand of God; and now we come to the assembly, which is exclusively His, and for Him on the earth. As yet, He has nothing else on this earth; as He says, “I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me”. Now as shut in with the Lord, apart from the [p. 240] crowd, we should learn the assembly as it is to Him. The subject ought to arrest each of you. We are in a world where our Lord was refused; and now there is only one circle which is exclusively His. I am not speaking of His purposes or thoughts or counsels about things, but of the circle that belongs to Him, as He Himself calls it in Matthew 16, “My assembly”. It was consequent on His rejection by the Jews that He revealed the assembly. His own would not receive Him, but the assembly is His own building, and all the powers of hell cannot prevail against it. The Lord grant that each one of you may leave this room with a deeper sense of Christ’s interest in the assembly.
There are two aspects of the assembly: one is the house, the other is the body, and I will try to explain the difference presently. I often say to myself, Well, there is one thing to solace me in this evil world, and that is that Christ’s treasure is here and not in heaven; it is hid in the field, but the heart in concert with Christ knows that it is here, and that it is His object. It is marvellous that Christ’s treasure is in the very place of His rejection; He purchased the field, He sold all that He had; as has been said, all that He was entitled to as Messiah He gave up for the church; the church is His treasure.
Christ’s desire for the church on the earth, I briefly refer to. In John 13 to 17 you get it detailed. You are first in seclusion with the Lord (chapters 13 and 14). Next you are fruit bearing (chapter 15); next you are witnesses of Christ in heaven (chapter 16). Finally in chapter 17, as has been said, He first presents us as Himself in the presence of the Father, and then presents us as Himself in the presence of the world. I believe it will be fulfilled in the new Jerusalem in Revelation 21. John presents the house in its fulness, and Paul the body. These are the two aspects of the assembly.
I turn now to speak of our introduction into these [p. 241] things. If you desire to be taught of God in the matter you find instruction as to it in Matthew 14. In this chapter, the Lord accepts that He is rejected because John the baptist was beheaded, as we read in verse 10. Hence, being rejected by Israel, the Lord enters on new ground. In order to join Him, you must come to Him on this new ground. He has taken new ground. He walks on the water. It is interesting to know that Matthew 14 and John 6 occurred at the same time. You have both the divine side and the practical side. The first step, and one of deep interest, is to be of the assembly. Of course you must first be converted; but being so you are to be of His assembly; you must be of Him to join Him there; you cannot get there of yourself. Like Peter you leave the ship, all that suits man naturally, and you join Him; you come to this “living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious”; and you are built in. The Lord, in Matthew 8, in the storm, was superior to it; but now (chapter 14) He is walking on the sea, He is supreme, He is the Son of God with power; He is above all the power of evil. This is His new place. When by faith you join Him there, you are in the presence of the Son of God - Son over God’s house.
The first pattern of the assembly you get in John 20; the Lord comes into their midst and says, “Peace be unto you”. No believer can come in unless he has peace; he could not meet the risen Christ unless every disturbing element had been removed. And besides pronouncing peace, He breathes on them, saying, “Receive the Holy Spirit”. They are now on altogether new ground; He was with them, though they did not know much. This is a pattern; there He was in the midst; and also, you see here the state necessary for every one in company with the risen Christ. Hence, in the epistle to the Hebrews, where the saints are looked at as the congregation of God,
[p. 242] Christ, as Son, speaks even with relation to us in our infirmities: “Having therefore a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast the confession”. Beloved friends, the real defect is that souls are more occupied with Christ on the cross, as the sacrifice for sin, than as the glorified Man at the right hand of God - “the Son of God with power ... by the resurrection from the dead”.
I ask you to give the Lord His place - the One “disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious”. Having come to Him, you, “as living stones, are being built up”, etc. Many, I fear, do not enter into the deep reality of, “In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit”. Take the case of a young christian; according to John 20, when he comes into the assembly, he comes to the One who has accomplished peace, who has risen from the dead, out of all our ruin and misery, and is now in the glory of God. If you begin incorrectly, you will suffer much loss and delay until you retrace your steps and begin rightly. “That which is crooked cannot be made straight”. How many are still suffering from this!
I would dwell upon the momentous blessedness of the assembly. A godly man in Psalm 73 went into the sanctuary of God. The effect on him was wonderful; you have much more. Our great priest is “a minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man”. In the tabernacle there was only a cloud of glory, but you have Christ in glory; you come to the Son of God, crowned with glory and honour in the holiest of all, of which He Himself is the antitype. I desire to present to you a great attraction. If a godly Israelite, puzzled by the state of things here, could, in the sanctuary of his day, receive such wonderful help and light, how much more should you find in the presence of Christ,
[p. 243] on whom all the glory of God rests. If this were accepted in faith, how blessed our meetings would be! Little as one may know of it, it is an immense comfort to the heart to pass from all the difficulties and sorrows here, and find a spot where the Lord is present in His own power, where He rules, though He is not reigning yet on the earth. The world has refused Him, but He is Son over God’s house; there His interests are known; there He makes known His mind, and gives gifts for the edifying of the body.
I am dwelling long upon this, because, if your beginning is faulty, there can be no divine progress until you are set right.
The first thought is, like Peter, to join Christ, apart from this world, outside of all that man is constructing with his interpretation of the word of God, where Christ is supreme, and where the Spirit unfolds the word of God.
Now I would present to you briefly the church as it is to Christ. You begin with the assembly as God’s house on the earth. That came first in order according to Acts 2 the Holy Spirit filled all the house where they were sitting, and filled each one of them. That is the assembly in the house aspect; there is nothing yet about the body. I do not find in the Acts any mention of an assembly knowing the mystery. Many pious men now believe that the Spirit of God is with us, and they look to be led by Him; and yet, as it was at Corinth, they do not know the mystery. Where the mystery is not known, the most devoted servant may be led more by his own state at the time than by the Spirit in the assembly: as it is termed, ‘I have it on my heart’. It might be on your heart for yourself, as a hymn or a scripture would be on the heart of a sister; but that would be no authority to give it to the assembly. The more Christ is before the servant, the more he will edify the assembly, and give what is so essential - “meat in due season”.
[p. 244] I turn now to Colossians 3. The Colossians were a faithful company; they had faith in Christ Jesus, and love to all the saints, but they did not know the mystery. Now if you have accepted that in coming to Christ in the assembly, you come to Him outside of the world which refused Him, you will be prepared for another step, even that you come from Him. You not only come to Him, the “living stone”, but as members of His body you come from Him. The Colossians, as I have said, did not know the mystery, hence the apostle tells them that he had great conflict for them. There would not be a great conflict if there had not been a great opposition. As far as I know, I do not think there is much knowledge of Christ as Head, which is the part of the mystery referred to here.
The Colossians were an exemplary company, but they did not know Christ as Head. I must not speak beyond my measure, but I believe the consciousness of Christ as Head cannot be surpassed - even that you have parted with your own head, and hence you are “dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world”, and are risen with Him: “Ye are dead [or have died], and your life is hid with Christ in God”. And what then? When you accept the circumcision effected in Christ, you are where no human voice is heard, where “there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all”. Now you know Him as Head. Many can say Christ is chiefest, but can you say He is everything? You must be outside of every human voice in order to know Him as everything. Blessed indeed is the moment when you are assured that He dictates to you outside and apart from all of the old man - that He is now consciously your Head. The effects will follow: “bowels of mercies, kindness”, etc. There are many christians who would not accept the pope or the sovereign as the head of the church, and assert that they own Christ only as the Head, who [p. 245] I fear regard Him so merely in the sense of the head of a family. According to Scripture, “Holding the Head” is individual; you have parted with your own head, and you hold another Head common to all christians; be they five hundred or five million, each has the same Head; but alas! all are not “holding the Head”. If there were an assembly where each one was holding the Head, every ministration then, be it hymn, prayer, or teaching, would be done under the dictation of Christ. Most blessed truth! You do not apprehend Christ’s rights in the church until you know Him as Head.
Finally, when we are in conscious union with Christ we enter into His interest in the church, and it is then only that we can know Himself in His fulness. In Ephesians 1: 19 you have conscious knowledge of the power that wrought in Christ; by the Spirit’s power you rise to the place where Christ is. Now union with Him is known, and you are here in the power of the heavenly Man. You cannot be in heavenly power but by union with Christ in heaven. The fact is that every believer is united by the Spirit to Christ: “Now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him”; but every one does not know that he is united, and is not in the power of it. If the knowledge of the Head was made known to the assembly in Acts 2, they would have gained immensely: every one ordered by the Head. Now add to that the knowledge of union with Christ, and that assembly will be here in heavenly power; every one not only has the Spirit of God, but is in heavenly power, because united to Christ in heaven. You come out in the power and grace of the heavenly Man in every ordinance of God. Under the law there was no direction about the family, except about children obeying their parents; but for a heavenly man there is direction as to his own house as well as the house of God.
[p. 246] If we were walking in divine consciousness of Christ’s supremacy in the assembly in the world where He has been refused, how emboldened and encouraged we should be to do His pleasure. You can see in Revelation 21 that we shall be the new Jerusalem, a most blessed prospect; and every assembly now is called to have the same traits. Though we are in such feebleness, yet we are called to this great position; and the day will come, as we read, that “the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it”, where Christ - blessed be His name! now rules in all the might of His word.
May the Lord grant that each of us may have a deeper and more comprehensive idea of what the church is to Him, and be able to apprehend the greatness of His power and interest in it, for His name’s sake.