THE PROPHETS
[p. 67] THE PROPHETS
Isaiah 24:20-23; Isaiah 24:25
I feel that I need to make an apology for what I am now about to bring before you, because it will be on prophetic ground, and that is in itself hardly a part of Christian ministry; but the point with me is not to open up prophecy, but to take it up as one great part of the testimony of the Lord. That must be my justification. I shall have to pass over the ground very rapidly because prophecy is a large subject. I only seek to give a general idea. My point is to show what is stated in Revelation 19: 10 that “the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy”. You will never understand prophecy if you do not take that into account. It is a saying of the Spirit of God, not of man. All that I have taken up hitherto has been in connection with the testimony of our Lord. I have sought to show that the testimony of the Christ is that which prevails through the entire Scriptures: not simply of Christ personally, or of what He is in relation to us, but in relation to “all things”. “He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things”. I have taken up this thought in connection with the books of Moses, and with the Psalms, now I want to show the same thing in the prophets. I hang all on the expression, “the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy”. I would offer a remark in regard to the meaning and power of the name Jesus. The angel, in announcing His birth, told Joseph “his name shall be called Jesus”; and the reason given for it was “for he shall save his people from their sins”. The meaning of the name is “Jehovah, saving”. You have to bear in mind that the name carries that import.
There are three great principles which appear in the Old Testament. The first definite thought on the part of God is that of blessing. It came out at the beginning, and much more definitely with Abraham. The character of the promises to Abraham was blessing. The way by which God would accomplish the blessing came out only dimly, but God made known His purpose. Then in connection with Israel we get two great thoughts, first that God would dwell; we have had that before us previously, in connection with the tabernacle of the testimony and the ark of the covenant. There must be some mediatorial means by which God could dwell, and the tabernacle set forth what that would be. Then the third great thought, in connection with David, is the throne of God. You will see that these three thoughts are taken up pretty much in the prophets. It is curious that in the prophets there is as much or more about God dwelling than about God reigning. The general idea in the prophets is that God is going to assume the kingdoms for Himself, but in view of God dwelling. The way in which God comes in to bless is really by dwelling. If God dwells, it cannot be otherwise than that there should be blessing. So, at the present time, if we know anything about the house of God, it is a place of blessing, and a man ought to know how to behave himself in it. God does not dwell really in the universe until the curse is removed. When the curse and death are removed then God takes up His abode to bless. At the present time Jew and Gentile are built together for a habitation of God by the Spirit. If we realised the true character of the house of God in the present time, if there were a full recognition of the presence of the Spirit, we should be very conscious of the [p. 69] blessing of God. God dwells in order that He may make us conscious of the reality of His favour. Blessing means God bringing Himself near to man that His favour may be known. There will be what is spoken of in the Psalms — a night in God’s anger, but a lifetime in His favour.
I just refer for a moment to what has already come before us, that is, that the great central point in the books of Moses is Exodus 25, where God gave directions in regard to the construction of the tabernacle, that God might dwell among Israel. I think it is the first time that you really get a complete idea of the testimony. You get many things leading up to that. It has been said that Genesis is a book of roots, of which you get the full-blown fruits in the Revelation, Scripture begins with the roots, but it brings before us the fruits. We get detail in Genesis, parts of God’s purpose, but no complete setting forth of the testimony of God until the ark of the covenant, then we have an idea of the testimony of God in its completeness, and a very wonderful thing it is. That there should be a universe in which God will dwell, and which God will fill with blessing, is a wonderful conception. The means by which God will do it are seen in the ark of the covenant and the mercy seat.
In the Psalms I touched on two main points: the one, Christ coming down, and the other Christ going up; each has its own particular significance. In Psalm 40 we have the thought of Christ coming down: “I come to do thy will”. “A body hast thou prepared me”. “Thy law is within my heart”. The law which Israel broke was in the heart of Christ that He might make that law, on the ground of mercy, to be the law of the universe. The covenant is made good in Christ. The ark of the covenant really becomes the new covenant. Then in Psalm 68 we get another thought, and that is, “Thou hast ascended on high, thou hast led captivity captive: thou hast received gifts in man”. It is not Christ coming down or out, but going up on high. So too in Psalm 110, “Sit thou at my right hand”. The two things are brought together in Christ, the Ark of the Covenant and the Priest. Hence we have the pledge of blessing, not only revelation but approach, and the approach is equal to the revelation. Christ has come out to reveal God to us in the purpose of His love, and now through Jesus “by one Spirit we have access to the Father”. All that is foreshadowed in the Psalms. It is on the lines of the tabernacle of the testimony. I come now to the prophets, and I am obliged to take up so much detail that I feel in a sense ashamed. I want to give you two or three main thoughts in connection with the prophets. The first I speak of is the destruction of the Babylonish world system. That is one thought which prevails through the prophets, “The Lord shall punish the host of the high ones on high, and the kings of the earth upon the earth”. This takes in not only the world system in its ramifications, but that by which it is governed. There cannot be a doubt that the present world system is maintained by the power of evil which exists in heaven. We are told who is the god and prince of the world, but God intends to break to pieces the whole system from top to bottom; that is one thing in prophecy. But I speak of another point: God intends to reconstitute the world according to Himself. He intends to make Jerusalem the centre and joy of the earth. He intends to establish Mount Zion, and to make Judah and Israel the vessel of blessing in the midst of the earth; that is another great point. Jehovah is coming in to reign Himself, to assume the kingdom, not only the kingdom in regard to Israel, but as King of the whole earth. In connection [p. 71] with that there is another important point, and that is, that God will dwell; and as I said before, that is a thought almost more prevalent in the prophets than even that of God reigning. If God did not reign you can understand that He could not dwell. Everything on earth must be subject to divine rule if God is to dwell, that is evident; but if God dwells then He commands blessing. His dwelling will command universal blessing. It says in Psalm 133, “There the Lord commanded the blessing, even life for evermore”. I call your attention to these three main points in the prophets.
I touch for a moment on the three great prophets — Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel. The great thought in Isaiah is that God in His faithfulness reverts, after her warfare, to Jerusalem. Then in Jeremiah the thought is that God establishes the new covenant. That brings in Christ, as the expression of His mercy. Israel will come in, as we are told in Romans 11, on the ground of mercy, through redemption. Ezekiel shows the quickening power of God. This must come in in regard of Israel, as it has come in in regard to us. Where would we have been except for the quickening power of God. And the same will be true in regard of Israel. They must live by the quickening power of God. These three points I take up, and refer to a scripture or two in the three prophets. In Isaiah 24: 21 - 23, we read, “And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall punish the host of the high ones that are on high, and the kings of the earth upon the earth. And they shall be gathered together, as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and shall be shut up in the prison, and after many days shall they be visited. Then 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”. Then there is the answer to it in the next chapter. “Thy counsels of old are faithfulness and truth”. God exhibits His faithfulness, and reverts to Zion and Jerusalem. This involves the blessing of the nations. God is not content with blessing Israel, but provides for the blessing of the nations in connection with Israel. I dare say the song of Simeon will occur to you, that Christ was to be a light for the revelation of the Gentiles and the glory of God’s people Israel. So we get here, “And in this mountain shall the Lord of hosts make unto all people a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined. And he will destroy in this mountain the face of the covering cast over all people, and the veil that is spread over all nations. He will swallow up death in victory”. That takes place after the resurrection from the dead, as we see from 1 Corinthians 15. So we get the punishment of the high ones on high, the breaking up of the whole Babylonish world system and God reverting to Zion and Jerusalem, and in connection with that the nations coming into the view of God for blessing, and death swallowed up in victory. You could hardly get anywhere a better idea of that which God will effect in the world to come.
I refer now to Jeremiah 33: 14 - 21. “Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will perform that good thing which I have promised unto the house of Israel and to the house of Judah. In those days, and at that time, will I cause the Branch of righteousness to grow up unto David; and he shall execute judgment and righteousness in the land. In those days shall Judah be saved, and Jerusalem shall dwell safely: and this is the name wherewith she shall be called, The Lord our righteousness. For thus saith the Lord; David shall never want a man to sit upon the throne of the house of Israel;
[p. 73] neither shall the priests the Levites want a man before me to offer burnt offerings, and to kindle meat offerings, and to do sacrifice continually. And the word of the Lord came unto Jeremiah, saying, Thus saith the Lord; If ye can break my covenant of the day, and my covenant of the night, and that there should not be day and night in their season; then may also my covenant be broken with David my servant, that he should not have a son to reign upon his throne; and with the Levites the priests, my ministers”. You must remember that this was written a great many years after David was dead, so that it cannot refer to him personally. It must refer to the true David. If you study these chapters (31 to 33) you will see that the ground on which God is acting is that of the new covenant. He cannot revert to the old covenant because Israel has no footing under it, but God makes a new covenant. You cannot understand the ways of God if you do not apprehend that the new covenant is Christ. That is the pledge and expression of divine mercy. We stand on the ground of divine mercy now. So too will Israel in the future. But Israel was part of a great system — of a world. Israel was bound up with a system of nations, and these nations were bound up with Israel.
It is a mistake to limit the dealings of God of old to Israel. It has a most important place as a centre, but it was a centre. There were nations around Israel which formed the world that God governed. Moab was one of them. When God brought judgment upon Israel He would not leave the nations unpunished. Judah came under judgment by Nebuchadnezzar. Then God allowed all the nations to come under Nebuchadnezzar, and that world was broken to pieces by the judgment of God. It was swallowed up by Nebuchadnezzar, and in Babylon there was the beginning of the great [p. 74] world system which exists at the present time. But in regard to the future it says, “Yet will I bring again the captivity of Moab in the latter days, saith the Lord”. Then you get the same thing in regard of Ammon in chapter 49, and in verse 39 as to Elam. If you read these chapters you will find that while they speak of the destruction of all these nations, they speak of their restoration in the latter days, that is, when Israel is reconstituted and the throne of Jehovah is established.
In the prophecy of Ezekiel one point of interest is, that the prophet is shown a valley full of dry bones. Then the Lord puts the question to him as to whether the bones could live. Well, he could not tell, but what came to pass was that the bones came together; sinews and flesh and skin came up upon them, and breath came into them. It was a vision of the moral or spiritual state of Israel which seemed to make it impossible for them to live. If you look abroad at the Jew in the present day it seems almost impossible that he should be made to live spiritually, but it is not impossible with God. The great point in Ezekiel is the quickening power of God. He will revive the dead bones of Israel, and they will be made to live nationally upon earth. But you get another point, that is, “I will set my glory among the heathen”. “The heathen shall know that the house of Israel went into captivity for their iniquity”. If Jehovah sets His glory among the heathen, God has not lost sight of the nations. You get in Isaiah the removal of the veil that covers the nations; in Jeremiah the captivity of certain nations is to be reversed in the latter day, and here God sets His glory among the nations; God has a world in view, of which Israel will be the light and the centre. The twelve tribes of Israel will dwell in unity according to Psalm 133. There will be the candlestick, the light of the earth;
[p. 75] they will be qualified for that by their knowledge of God.
I have just touched on the three great prophets, now we may turn to Daniel 7: 27, “And the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him”. I refer also to verses 13 and 14; “I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. And there was given him dominion and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed”. Verse 27 would seem to indicate that Israel will have a dominion in connection with Christ. Israel are probably the people of the saints of the most High. The kingdom under the whole heaven is in view, not the kingdom of Israel. There is a passage in Revelation 11: 15 which refers to the same thing. It says, “The kingdom of the world of our Lord and of his Christ is come”. It is a peculiar expression. There is a world of our Lord and the kingdom of it, and the dominion under the heaven is given to the people of the saints of the most High. The saints in heaven will reign with Christ above. We get the idea of that in the heavenly city. But there is the people of the saints of the most High who will take their dominion from Christ, but previous to that there is the smashing from top to bottom of the whole Babylonish system. In the vision that God gave to Nebuchadnezzar the whole image from top to bottom was in the end broken to powder. God is going to punish the host of high ones on high, and the kings of the earth upon the [p. 76] earth. I refer to Hosea 2: 19 - 23 to show you the connection of the heavens and the earth. Jehovah says, “I will hear the heavens, and they shall hear the earth; and the earth shall hear the corn, and the wine, and the oil; and they shall hear Jezreel”. This evidently indicates connection between heaven and earth. Jezreel is a symbolic name given to Israel.
I pass on to Joel. The heathen are judged, and, according to what we get in Matthew, the goats are separated from the sheep. But there is the idea that Jehovah will dwell. “I am Jehovah your God dwelling in Zion”. The practical result is that living waters go out from Jerusalem. You get the same thought in the prophet Ezekiel. Now if you look at Amos 9: 11: “In that day will I raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen, and close up the breaches thereof; and I will raise up his ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old”. I refer to Amos because it brings in again the thought of the heathen — there are the heathen who are called by Jehovah’s name, they are to be possessed by Israel. Israel is to have the kingdom, as we read in Daniel. The passage is quoted by James, Acts 15. In Micah the nations, instead of being marked by self-assertion, are brought into their true place in relation to Jehovah. Then in regard to Israel, “He will turn again, he will have compassion upon us; he will subdue our iniquities; and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea. Thou wilt perform the truth to Jacob, and the mercy to Abraham, which thou hast sworn unto our fathers from the days of old”. Then in Zephaniah prominence is given to the thought of Jehovah dwelling. “Jehovah thy God in the midst of thee is mighty”.
I pass on for one moment to what are called the post-captivity prophets. In Haggai 2: 9 we read,
“[p. 77] The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former”. The verse should read, “The latter glory of this house”. I might have read verses 3, 6, 7, 8: not only the earth but the heavens shall be shaken; not only the desire of Israel but the desire of all nations shall come. It presents this to us in connection with the rebuilding of the temple in that day — the people had been slack — the admonition comes to build, to go on with the work. The prophet presents the idea of the latter glory of the house, and that Jehovah would dwell there, and His presence would insure peace. Now in Zechariah you get a different point; the presence of Jehovah will be the great test of the nations (Zechariah 14: 16, 17). If they do not go up to the feast of tabernacles they get no rain. Rain is looked upon in Scripture as a mark of God’s favour, and the nations get no mark of God’s favour unless they acknowledge Jehovah reigning in Zion. Haggai brings in the thought of God’s dwelling, and the latter glory of the house, but His presence is the test of the nations in Zechariah. One more thought in Malachi 4: 2, “But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall”. This is the crown. There is one thought to which I should have referred in the prophet Micah 4: 1 - 4. It is a very important passage showing what Jerusalem will be to the nations: they will go up to Jerusalem to learn the law of Jehovah, and the result will be peace and blessing and security upon earth. But in the last three prophets it is interesting to see that in two the great point is the dwelling of Jehovah, and in the last one, Malachi, it is the Sun of righteousness. Christ will come in as the true Ark of the Covenant. Now we anticipate all that I have spoken of, the fact of God dwelling and reigning; and the blessing [p. 78] in connection with the dwelling of God is made good to us by the Spirit of God in the midst of a very contrary world, where everything is confusion and perverseness. The Spirit brings in all the good of what is to come that we may become acquainted with God and with His ways and purposes, for the righteous are to shine as the sun in the kingdom of their Father; that is the place of the church; it is going to exercise the greatest influence in regard to all that is here upon earth; the heavens will hear the earth, they are to be brought into conjunction, the heavenly city is to be the light of the whole earth, the nations will walk in the light of it, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory and honour unto it. We want understanding in the testimony of our Lord; to get a comprehensive view of Scripture, we need the gracious service of the Lord to open our understanding that we may see that the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. It is a wonderful thing to think of there being a time when God will take in hand the whole universe, when it will be illuminated by the light and glory of God; and by the very fact of His dwelling God will command blessing, then all evil will be subjugated — death will be swallowed up in victory. But I should be sorry to occupy the attention of Christians with prophetic truth. Prophecy is a light shining in a dark place until the day dawn and the day-star arise in your hearts. What we want is that which will enable us to understand anything and everything, that is, Christ dwelling in our hearts by faith. Then we shall have our feet firmly planted in the testimony of our Lord. May God grant that we may be according to Christ here. If the righteous are to shine as the sun in the kingdom of their Father, we ought to be shining morally now; the only way in which that can be attained is by Christ dwelling in our hearts.