DIVINE SOVEREIGNTY
[p. 132] DIVINE SOVEREIGNTY
Matthew 11: 25, 26; Matthew 15: 13; Matthew 16: 17; Ephesians 3: 14
I had before me this evening to speak about divine sovereignty as it enters into the various positions in which the believer is seen in the Scriptures, and in speaking of this sovereignty I have in mind, as you will readily understand, the Father’s activities. The verse that is specially in my mind in that connection is one in John 5, in which the Lord says, in answer to His opponents, “My Father worketh hitherto and I work”. The Lord brings forward, beloved brethren, the great fact that the Father had been working hitherto, that there had been no lapse or negligence or indifference in regard of the conditions which the existence of sin in the world had involved. The Father had been operating and now the Son works as well; “and I work”, He said. The Lord had taken up the work and so the matter stands for us.
The Lord, coming in as He does in this gospel, as the son of David, the son of Abraham, did not fail to work in connection with His relation to David and to Abraham, the latter being the depository of the promises, and the former, David, being the administrator of them. The Lord coming again on that line, did not fail to work. From the time of His baptism and anointing by the Spirit, He wrought in relation to the promises. For every promise of God was in Him the yea, not only in the way of light, but in actual fulfilment. Thus there was in Him, in the earlier chapters of the gospel, the substantiating, in so far as it was then possible, of the promises. Every promise was at least in principle in that service yea, in Him was yea! Not yea and amen, but yea is in Him. So that every Israelite would recognise that there was divine intervention in Christ, not as yet the Amen for that involved death and resurrection.
[p. 133] You could have no Amen to the promises save through death and resurrection, but the yea was there, as I said, but there was no subjective result in Israel. “We have mourned unto you and ye have not wept, we have piped unto you and ye have not danced” was His word to them. How very solemn that comment on the result of the wonderful service that He had rendered. The time had not yet come, “when all the people shall say ‘amen’”. In Him risen there was the Amen to every promise, but not as yet in the people. So the Lord has to wait for that.
Hence, beloved brethren, we have here a new beginning, and as ever, it is on the ground of divine sovereignty. Indeed in one’s own history, there are such chapters, and I would mention that by the way for our profit, that at the beginning of each, we have to recognise divine sovereignty. In other words, it is now the question of the Father, what He will do? We have to look for that, dear brethren, what He will do! We need not fear but what He will act. It is therefore for us to wait at the end of each chapter in our history for Him. As the Messiah said, “He would wait for Jehovah”. So here, the Lord, as it were, waits, and at the end of this solemn chapter in His service, He prays to the Father. “At that time”. I wonder, dear brethren, whether we understand this model at the end of our chapters, for truly our spiritual histories are made up of such. One raises the question as to how much we understand of turning to God? The Lord, “at that time”, it is said, at that time. The time that involved the deepest consideration on His part. “At that time”, He said, “I praise thee Father Lord of heaven and earth because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent and hast revealed them unto babes”. How perfectly clear everything was in His holy soul, how utterly free from the faintest misgiving! He thinks of the Father and in speaking to Him, He praises Him [p. 134] as the Lord of heaven and earth. In other words, the ground is clear for a wholly new beginning. He is the Lord of heaven and earth; and so the next thing is, “thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent and revealed them unto babes”.
Now I only want to dwell on this passage in order to bring in the babe thought, how it is well for us in the beginning of a new chapter in our history to accept this. “Thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent and revealed them unto babes”. I am persuaded, dear brethren, that the secret of all failure lies in the assumption of wisdom and prudence on natural lines. That there is wisdom and prudence with the people of God, it is true, but not of a human kind, and the assumption of light is the secret of failure in the assemblies’ history. The revelation is to the babes. It is not here an undeveloped state that is in view, it is not babes in contrast to young men and fathers, it is babes in contrast with the wise and prudent in this world. Those who make no pretence to the learning of man, those who are not sapped by the world’s principles and tenets, it is to such, beloved brethren, that the Father reveals His things. We are not told exactly what the things are, the point is not to occupy us with the things but the persons, the kind of persons to whom the, things are revealed. It is obvious, therefore, that the babe state in this regard shall be maintained in our souls. In other words, I have to learn everything from the Father. It was pleasing in the Father’s sight. How precious that thought is, dear brethren, that what the Father does is pleasing in His sight! In the first of Genesis we have the days of God’s operation in creation and we have His “very good”! God pronounced His approval of His own handiwork! Here we have the Lord taking account of what the Father was doing, He says, “It is pleasing in thy sight”. It is pleasing in the Father’s sight, what He [p. 135] is doing! Such are the features of the position at the opening of this wonderful chapter in Matthew’s gospel. The Father is Lord of heaven and earth, He is revealing His things to the babes and what He is doing is pleasing in His sight! We are to rest in that.
Now in chapter 15, the Lord introduces an agricultural simile, and again you have the elements of divine sovereignty. In the presence of religious corruption and human traditions, replacing the commandments of God, the Lord says, “Every plant which my heavenly Father hath not planted shall be rooted up”. If He is Lord of heaven and earth, He will have His way in the heavens and on the earth. Planting obviously refers to the earth, and no plant which the Father has not planted shall remain. Am I one of the Father’s planting? Have I through religious effort and manipulation found a place of conspicuousness for myself? I am not the Father’s planting. It is for each to answer in his soul as to the position he occupies, is it of the Father? He is Lord, as Jesus said, of heaven and earth. And not a plant of all the plants on earth which He has not planted shall remain. The point therefore for each is to determine in his own soul before God as to whether the Father hath planted him? The Father, being the sovereign Ruler shall have His way on the earth, and so He sees to the planting. You will recall how He planted a garden eastward in Eden, He did it Himself, and so, beloved, He continues to plant. The Lord grew up before Him as a tender plant, as a root out of dry ground, He grew up before Jehovah.
Well now, another thought, dear brethren, if one is so planted, where are one’s roots? There is the element of sovereignty in the position I occupy. God has given it to me and to you. To complain against what God does to you is to complain against Him. It is the Father’s planting ! But now, dear brethren, what about the roots? The roots are to [p. 136] be in love. You see what I am speaking about are elements which bear on the great truth of chapter 16. Where are my roots? Our roots are to be in love. “Rooted and grounded in love”. The roots involve the sap which ministers to the growth of the plant and it enables you to stand against every adverse wind and all is in love. If I love the brethren, if my roots are in love, if I am grounded in love the enemy will not uproot me nor detach me from the brethren. I am grounded; the Father’s plants hold their position and all others shall be rooted up. It does not say how, it is only the fact is stated that they shall be. Hence, dear brethren, the importance of being sure in our souls that we are plants of divine planting. As the apostle said to the Corinthians, they were God’s planting. Paul had planted but what he had planted was of God. He went to Corinth, the Lord told him that he had much people in that city. Paul had planted, Apollos watered, but the plants were God’s. They were God’s planting, let us not interfere for God will have His way there.
And so when you come to chapter 16, you have the well — known passage all of which I did not read for I only want to occupy you this evening with the Father. The Lord refers to the Father’s revelation as being different from what is known to flesh and blood. I think, dear brethren, that we need to be reminded that there is such activity, there is such service as a service that is outside flesh and blood. “Flesh and blood”, said the Lord, “hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven”. In other words, the Father’s work in this instance refers to a spiritual, an wholly spiritual structure. And I dwell on that side because of the need of the saints advancing on spiritual lines, for we naturally tend to the flesh and blood side. I suppose what we see about us in Christendom is built up on the lines of flesh and blood. I need not seek to emphasise that [p. 137] unconverted, unspiritual persons know nothing else. Hence, dear brethren, the importance of apprehending this revelation to Peter. In other words, in this chapter, we have the Father in relation to a stone. In chapter 15 it is the Father in relation to a plant. We have the planting in Corinthians and we have the building in Corinthians.
Now the Father is connected with the idea of a stone in chapter 16 and I want to emphasise that which is spiritual, that the building is altogether spiritual. The Father begins to work by introducing the foundation. This is not the foundation that Paul laid exactly; what he laid was in keeping with it. What he was aiming at in his service was to shut out the natural man, hence he says, “other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ”. The order of man that is to be in the structure is after Christ; no other is admitted, but the Father had introduced the thought of the Christ, not Jesus Christ, as Paul said, but the Christ the Son of the living God. What light in the soul of Peter! and in a way there is hardly anything that one can speak about more important at this moment than this light, a wholly spiritual thought! in regard of Christ, that He is the Christ, He is the One in whom God accomplishes all His will. What light that is in the soul in view of the religious activities around us! The Christ is to do everything, and then He is the Son of the living God. He is entirely outside of death, He has annulled it and brought life and incorruptibility to light, there is no corruption in this foundation. Such, dear brethren, is the foundation upon which the structure is to be reared up and the Father Himself introduces it. Therefore we have the sovereign act of the Father in connection with every stone in the building.
Well now, just a word in regard of the Ephesians. He is the Father who names the families. I belong,
[p. 138] as a believer, to one of the families of God and I have to see that there is a principle of sovereignty in that relation. The Father names, says the apostle, every family in the heavens and in the earth. Now, dear brethren, do we understand the families? In referring to families, I would for a moment speak of the tribes of Israel. They form one whole; “sons of one father”. I suppose that must be taken to indicate the position of all the families in the universe of God, there is only one Father. There may be more than one mother in a sense, but the Father names all the families. I suppose it is to the discredit of Eve spiritually that the names of her first two sons proceed from her. Adam should have given them their names. He had given her hers, and he had named all the creation and lower creatures; he represented God. But the Father names all the families. And so, “we be sons of one father” was the confession. But now, dear brethren, what about our mother? “We brethren”, says the apostle, “as Isaac was, are sons of the free woman”. And that peculiarly gives us our status as a family. There are great liberties, dear brethren, in the assembly’s position. It marks her off as heavenly that she can enter into time limitation according to 1 Corinthians. Indeed the Lord Himself did that in grace, He came into the limitations of time in order to make God known. But as regards Himself He was the Son of man who is in heaven, the way back was always open to the Son. Indeed His ascent to the mount of transfiguration was the testimony to it, as Peter said, “We heard such a voice from the excellent glory”. As if to show what the glory thought of Christ, “when”, he said, “we were with him on the holy mount”. The whole scene was sanctified in the thought of the apostle. The way back was always open to the Son, but as I said, He entered into time limitations in grace.
John said, “The Word became flesh and dwelt amongst us”, and he said, “we contemplated his glory as of an only begotten with a Father”. That was His personal glory. There was no limitation to that! And so, dear brethren, in regard to the assembly, it marks her off according to the ribbon of blue, as heavenly, that she keeps the commandments of God. It marks her off as in complete correspondence with Christ, for He kept the commandments of God. He loved the law, He had it in His heart, He magnified it and made it honourable. And so the assembly being free can carry out every divine ordinance and commandment here. It is her law. Let us not conceive for a moment, dear brethren, that one iota of divine ordinances or commandments is to be given up. It is our glory to keep them, it marks us off as heavenly to keep them. The very thought in Ephesians requires that the saints should be wholly for the will of God; we are told, man did eat angels’ food. What is that? It is the food that sustains obedience to God in heaven. Christ down here was the One who did the will of God under every circumstance, and that is the food, dear brethren, of the saints in the wilderness. It is the food that sustains us in obedience; it is a heavenly portion. But then the assembly is free; we are the children of the free woman, and the free woman is seen coming down from God out of heaven; it does not say that she falls, but that she comes. It is her own act of grace. Think of the inner springs of liberty, dear brethren, that are there! Think of the liberty involved in sonship that can be enjoyed inwardly in that holy vessel as she descends from God out of heaven. Will the Father name her? Yes, she is named of the Father and the name will describe what she is in relation to Christ, but He is the One before God to whom every family must conform. So the sons of Jacob, as was I saying, said, “we be sons of one father”. That was just one thought! In the Psalms you have the tribes going up, they go up, they do not go down. The principle is ascending in the Songs of Degrees, Jerusalem is the city compacted together whither the tribes go up. Beautiful expression, let us learn more what it means! The saints in the order in which God has set them, the order in which they are maintained in family affection! The tribes of the Lord. Balaam sees them, untrammelled now by the influence of Balak, God holds him and fills his mind and opens his eyes, and he sees the tribes. Wonderful vision, the tribes of the Lord!
“As valleys are they spread forth, as gardens by the river’s side, as the trees of lign aloes which the Lord hath planted, and as cedar trees beside the waters”. Such, dear brethren, is the divine view, through human eyes, of the saints of God. Have we had such a view? Such a view is the divine view, as Balaam said, “The man whose eyes are open hath said”. If we have had such a view the saints are very different from us now, they are one of the families of the Father. And so you see how the Father is connected with us in sovereignty in His love in setting us finally in families. “He sets the solitary in families”. He sets us in our own family and names us according to our relation, our spiritual relation with Christ.
May God grant these truths to us!