THE THINGS BEFORE GOD
[p. 214] THE THINGS BEFORE GOD
Address by F.E.R.
Hebrews 1: 1 - 14; Hebrews 2: 1 - 4 It is a great thing for us to get an apprehension of those things which God has before Him. There are many things in this world before men, politics and many other things; but the great point is to apprehend what is before God. You get the thought of these things foreshadowed in the Old Testament when God gave Moses directions concerning the making of the tabernacle. God brought before him, in type, what He had before Him. I do not suppose that Moses understood very much the meaning of it all, or anybody at that time, but there it was set forth in type and shadow in the tabernacle. All was typical of what has in large measure now come to pass, and it is presented to us in a very definite way. The most explicit instructions were given to Moses concerning the tabernacle, and Moses could not deviate, from the directions a hair’s breadth. We are told he was faithful as a servant in all God’s house; he set up all according to God’s mind. In the directions in Exodus given to Moses, the first thing that God spoke of was the ark of the covenant and the mercy-seat; and these represent what God had before Him. I say what was before Him, because when the tabernacle was set up they were hid from man, and no one dare go into the holiest except Moses, for God communicated to him from the mercy-seat. To go into the holiest would have been death except according to God’s order. Now all that is gone by, I refer to it because there was the figure and type of things to come. Now we have the realities and God has been pleased to make known to us what is before Him, the reality [p. 215] of things. No longer the shadow, no longer an ark with the tables of the covenant inside it, but the truth of that which is before God in Christ, and that is what I want to dwell upon at this time.
It is the privilege of faith to apprehend what is before God, and you may be confident that what is before God will stand. I will not answer that that which is before man will stand. No one can foretell the disruptions which may occur in this world; but we know that what is before God will stand, because it all rests on moral foundations. Whatever is based on moral foundations will stand. God is ever occupied with the moral, and in His ways and dealings the material is subordinate to the moral, and in a sense follows the moral; material changes depend largely on moral causes, because being what He is, the first thing with Him must be the moral.
Now in the chapter before us we have the true ark of the covenant and the mercy-seat. Christ is both. Both types are fulfilled perfectly in Him; and I think I can make that point plain by the grace of God; and further, the establishment of the ark of the covenant and the mercy-seat means salvation to man. The voice of it is salvation, and hence you get the admonition in the beginning of the second chapter, “How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him”, that is, the apostles. You will bear in mind that this is an admonition addressed, not to unbelievers, but to those who were professedly christians. “How shall we escape?” I would not preach that to unbelievers, but to those who are in profession christians; I would ask them, “How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation?” The Hebrews were in danger of letting slip, and the apostle puts this to them.
I spoke of Christ being the mercy-seat — I think He comes out thus in the first chapter. The mercy-seat,
[p. 216] as I understand it, is where God addresses Himself to man. People often have a notion that they come to the mercy-seat. I do not think that is the idea of it in Scripture. God spoke to Moses from off the mercy-seat. It is where God speaks to or for man. And we have Christ as the mercy-seat, and connected with it Christ in another character, as the ark of the covenant. It is these two points I desire to present to you.
To put it in another manner, there are two things before God in Christ at the present time; He is apostle, and He is Lord, that is, there is the throne. There is communication to man by Christ, and there is a throne established; it is that that is before God in Christ. The way of God’s communication to man at the present time is no longer prophets or angels; angels had been employed in connection with the law. But it is not now angels or prophets, but the Son; He is the One in whom and by whom God communicates to man, and hence, as I understand it, He is the mercy-seat. You get the thought in Romans 3, “Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood”. It is the death of Christ that speaks to us as from God at the present time; that is, the voice of God in the Son comes to us in the death of Christ, and declares the love of God. That is God speaking to us by the Son. God spoke to Israel by law, and law meant the assertion of the claims of God on man. Then He spoke by prophets to recall the people to allegiance; they had forsaken God, and God sought to recall them to Himself. A striking instance of that is Elijah; he sought to recall the people to allegiance, and thought he had done it at mount Carmel, but they did not return to God, and Elijah was grievously disappointed. The result is that God comes to him and he is superseded, and Elisha made prophet in his stead. I do not think Elijah was quite in the secret of God; he had thought that by [p. 217] some striking act of judgment on the part of God the people were to be recalled to God. Yet I doubt if he knew the hardness of the heart of the people, though he thought himself the only one who was true to God; but God says to him. “I have left me seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed to Baal”. I refer to that to show what was the spirit of a prophet; he sought to recall the people to allegiance to Jehovah. But when God speaks to men by the Son, it is not law or prophets, it is not demand on man, but God making known to man His love; that was the voice of the Son when He was here upon the earth. “God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish but have everlasting life”. It was that which the Son presented. He said “The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live”. The Son had His own distinctive voice, and it was the declaration of the love of God, whatever it may be hereafter. That is what the apostle begins with here. God “hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son”.
This is a very interesting point; the epistle to the Hebrews does not mention any human apostle, no name is given, and for the simple reason that the Lord is the apostle. The apostle was the speaker, like as in the old covenant Moses was apostle. Aaron was priest and Moses apostle. The Son is now the speaker and hence it is you have the voice of the Son. It is a great thing to get a sense of whose voice you hear, of who the speaker is. What comes to saints now is the voice of the Son of God; Christ has gone up on high, and led captivity captive and given gifts unto men; the voice that is heard by the Holy Spirit at the present time is that of the Son of God.
I come now to another point which is more connected with the ark of the covenant. I want to speak [p. 218] on the name which Christ has inherited. We first get the greatness of the speaker in contrast with angels, then the name which He has inherited. The name is what was prophetically predicated. There are different quotations here now that the name is taken up. What I understand by name is renown, that is a sufficiently good interpretation of it. Christ has obtained a renown greater than angels, and that is gone into, so I will dwell on it a little in detail. It brings in the thought of the throne, that is, the rule of grace. The point of time is marked by “when he had by himself purged our sins”. No prophet could purge our sins, and in that is made known to us the love of God. The Son came to purge our sins, that we might be brought into the presence of divine love without our sins, but that was not all He came for; it was to make God known. The light of God has come to us in the death of Christ; that same blood which purged the sins is the expression to us of the love of God. The Son came to make God known, and at the same time He is for God. These two things are true of Christ. He is of God and for God. “Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee”. This quotation refers to Christ being born into the world, and is followed by, “I will be to him a Father, and he shall be to me a Son”. This word in the Old Testament strictly refers to Solomon, but the thought never had its fulfilment until Christ came, and then God could say, “I will be to him a Father”. Thus we have the first element of the kingdom, that is, it is established in One who is both of God and for God. It is the kingdom of the Son of His love. That came out on the mount of transfiguration; there came a voice out of the cloud which said, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased”. The Son is of God, declaring God’s love, and Himself the object of it. So it is, “I will be to him a Father, and he shall be to me a Son”. When Christ sits, as He will sit, on [p. 219] the throne of David, there will be the combination of Jehovah’s kingdom and David’s kingdom, and the word will be fulfilled in David’s seed, “I will be to him a Father, and he shall be to me a Son”. The kingdom will be Jehovah’s, but Jehovah in the Son. This is the first principle of the kingdom, and if you catch my thought, you will apprehend what must be the character of the kingdom when God is brought out in that way in affection — when the kingdom is held in One who is not only of God, but for God, and there is the mutuality of affection expressed in “I will be to him a Father, and he shall be to me a Son”. What peace, blessing, and happiness must exist when the kingdom is held in One who has that place in the presence of God. There will be no evil occurrent in that day.
Now we get the contrast of angels, verses 6 and 7. In the kingdom everything is put in its proper place. You do not get the devil assuming authority, all that is of the past. All the angels of God are to worship the Son; on the other hand, God makes His angels spirits; they are attendant, and His ministers a flame of fire. I think, in a sense, they are the guardians of the heavenly city and have a place in connection with the kingdom as attendant on the Son of man. It is a great thing to see everything and everybody put into their place. The Son has His proper place in reference to the Father, begotten of God, and the angels have their assigned place. The angels have not all retained their place, but when the First Begotten is brought into the world the holy angels will be found in their place. Satan, too, will be found in his proper place in relation to the Son. When Nathanael confessed Christ as Son of God, in John 1, the Lord replied, “Hereafter ye shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man”. This fulfils what is quoted here, “let all the angels of God worship him”.
[p. 220] Now we come to the next quotation, verses 8 and 9, “Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever”. Do you understand the reason of its perpetuity? It is because it is a throne of grace. There will be a throne of iniquity in the earth, but it is not for ever. We read, “Shall the throne of iniquity have fellowship with thee, which frameth mischief by a law?” In the Son is set up the throne of grace, the rule of God in grace, and this is enduring, for grace reigns through righteousness unto eternal life. “The sceptre of thy kingdom is a right sceptre”. You find that grace is intolerant of sin, it reigns through righteousness. The application of this to us is that we have to walk here in self-judgment or we may come under discipline, because grace will not tolerate man’s will. So when Christ reigns, though it will be the reign of grace, the sceptre of that kingdom is a right sceptre, intolerant of sin. Now the basis of the kingdom is this, “Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity”. The One who occupies the throne has been tested. He has been in this world discerning between good and evil.
His proved moral perfection is the ground on which He is anointed with the oil of gladness above His fellows. He will have companions in the kingdom, I suppose, both in heaven and on earth, but whoever the companions may be, He Himself is anointed with the oil of gladness above His companions. He has His place in righteousness, they have theirs in grace.
Now we come to one more quotation, verses 10 - 12, which brings before us the link with eternity. The expression “Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever” hardly carries us beyond the limit of time. The idea is of an everlasting kingdom in contrast with kingdoms that have passed away. I doubt if the term “for ever and ever” goes beyond the dispensation of the fulness of times, but Christ is Himself the link with eternity, and it is a great point, in regard to the kingdom to see the link with eternity in the Person of the King.
[p. 221] He created all things in the beginning, and is going to fold them up. Do you think it is any difficulty with God to fold things up — to fold up the heavens and set aside the earth? “Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the works of thine hands”. To fold them up is not a difficulty to the One who made them. “But thou remainest”. The One in whom the grace of God is enthroned is the link with eternity, and when all material things have been changed, He abides. “But thou art the same and thy years shall not fail”.
It is important to apprehend the link between time and eternity which is involved in the fact of the Son having become incarnate. The Creator of the universe has become Man, and of necessity in His Person there is a link maintained between time and eternity. He will have the kingdom for time, but the kingdom is a means to an end, it is not eternal in the strict sense of it. When the kingdom has served its purpose for God, the Son delivers up the kingdom and He Himself is subject; but at the same time He is the link between time and eternity, because He never ceases to be a man. You get the effects of time coming into eternity in the Person of the Son in whom God has spoken in the last days. The beginning is that He is of God, and the end that He is for God, the object of angel worship. He has an eternal throne not to be set aside, and the One who occupies the throne is the link between time and eternity, for He never ceases to be a man. We pass into eternity in connection with the Son.
In the book of Revelation you get the heavenly city first described in connection with eternity, then in connection with the millennium. It belongs to eternity; the Bride, the Lamb’s wife, is first shown to John in that connection; then the angel who had shown to the apostle the seven last plagues shows him also the heavenly city in its connection with the [p. 222] kingdom, and the throne of God is there. When the city is presented in connection with eternity, there is no throne spoken of. The kingdom will be given up, but it is a blessed thought that there is a connection between time and eternity maintained in the One who is acknowledged the King. The Bride gets her place with the Son in eternity.
We get a very interesting point in verses 13, 14, and it is this, that all the things of which I have spoken are hidden for the moment at the right hand of God, they are not manifest. We have the testimony of them by the Holy Spirit, but the kingdom is yet mystery, the King is at the right hand of God. God has said to Him, “Sit on my right hand until I make thine enemies thy footstool”, as it was in the case of Abraham, he could not inherit the land because the iniquity of the Amorites was not yet full. So Christ sits at the right hand of God because things have to ripen on the earth, and when the harvest and the vintage are ripe, then it is He takes things in hand. Men who are interested in politics are occupied only with what is transpiring on earth, but before anything momentous can happen on earth there must be a movement at the right hand of God. When I see a movement there I know there will be a movement on earth. Christ sits at the right hand of God until the time appointed for His foes to be made His footstool. We get the thought in Timothy as to the coming, “Which in his times he shall show, who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords”. You have to wait for His times; the present time is the time appointed for the gospel, but there is a time appointed for the coming of the Lord, and God will show it in its own time. Meanwhile Christ is hid at the right hand of God. The ark of the covenant is there at the present time. But God has made known to us by the Spirit all that is established in Christ. The ark of the covenant and the [p. 223] mercy-seat are no longer in type, but before God in Christ at the right hand of God.
God speaks to us in Him; speaks to us of grace which has procured for us salvation. God’s grace is made known to us, and the authority and sway of grace established in order that we may be in the enjoyment of salvation from God’s enemies. “The grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men”. It speaks of the reign of grace through righteousness, securing salvation to man from this present evil world, and translation into the kingdom of the Son of God’s love. Surely it is a better thing to be in the kingdom of the Son of God’s love than in the authority of darkness. A man of the world does not know where he is going, whatever he may have in this present world; he is in darkness and walks in darkness, and does not know where he is going, because darkness has blinded his eyes. It is a better thing to be in the light of God on the mount with Christ, than to be in darkness and under the authority of the god and prince of this world.
I have only one further word to say: God has given to us salvation, He has brought us out of darkness into His marvellous light. One is not afraid of death, for the power of death has gone for saints; they see that death is the way of life. If I die I go to be with the Lord. If I leave everything here, I have everything with Christ. But if God has given to you salvation, you have to turn it to account. If a man of the world has capital he does not neglect it, if you have spiritual capital, salvation, do not neglect it. You are to turn it to account, to work it out, “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling”; work it out into result and manifestation here, because it is God that worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure. You have to accept the position that if God has brought you into salvation, you are here not for your own will, but for His will. That is a solemn [p. 224] word, which many christians neglect practically. The grace of God has brought salvation to you that you may no longer be in terror of death, but may be here in peace and liberty of heart; but if such is the case, it is that you may be here for His will, and He works in you to will and to do of His good pleasure; and it is in being here for His pleasure that you turn your salvation to account. You do not neglect the great salvation. The Lord began to speak of this when He was here on earth. It has been confirmed to us and God has borne witness by the voice of the Holy Spirit, to accentuate and give force to the great salvation which He has given to men in making known His grace. Now we have to yield up our bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, to prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. That is the path of the christian, and it is the path of peace and happiness and security.
The path of man’s will is exceedingly tortuous and dark, but the path of God’s will is the path of the just which shineth more and more unto the perfect day.