THE SPEAKING AND THE BLESSING OF GOD
[p. 166] THE SPEAKING AND THE BLESSING OF GOD
Zechariah 12:1; Zechariah 12:7 - 14; Zechariah 13: 1
There are three points that I have on my mind to speak to you about. The first is the title that God has to address men; the second that He blesses on the ground of sovereignty, and the third is the means by which He blesses. The title that God has to speak to men in this chapter is founded on very great things. Firstly, that He stretched out the heavens; secondly, that He laid the foundations of the earth, and thirdly, that He formed man’s spirit within him. No one has such title to speak as that. So we would be encouraged to bring forward these great thoughts, for the things that God refers to here are witness to Him.
One cannot enlarge on the points; but the stretching out of the heavens is a very interesting thing. It has reference, I suppose, to house-furnishing, as the foundation has reference to building, whereas the spirit of man being formed refers to the inmates, to those who are to dwell in that which is built and furnished and ornamented. So that God in laying the foundation of the earth has wisdom by Him. I do not know that the foundation was laid by pattern; I do not think so, for where you come to pattern you come to moral things. Christ is pattern of everything in the moral system. The physical is very much like the scaffolding of a building, that is, it is that by which God brings about a system that is to abide. And when the moral structure is builded, the scaffolding will be removed. But then the scaffolding is very wonderful, and indeed, as one may say, it was a sort of prefigurement of the spiritual. The tabernacle was to represent all things and He who builds all things is God. But I do not suppose there is anyone who has [p. 167] got eyes and ordinary intelligence but who admires the wonderful sight that the heavens present; when the clouds disappear and one looks up into the firmament, the sight is indeed glorious, the infinite variety of bodies, denoting this wonderful stretching out that is alluded to here, by the hand of God. David admired it in a spiritual way. He says, “When I see thy heavens, the work of thy fingers” (Psalm 8: 3), and, “In them hath he set a tent for the sun, and he is as a bridegroom going forth from his chamber; he rejoiceth as a strong man to run the race”, Psalm 19: 4, 5. This wonderful curtain, as one might say, stretched out, as it is said elsewhere, “By his Spirit the heavens are adorned”, Job 26: 13. That is the first point. God is here addressing men, every one of whom can see that He has a right to speak to them on the ground of this. Then as regards the foundation of the earth what a wonderful conception it must have been, from the standpoint of height and measure. Think of the wonderful poise by which God has manipulated all these uncountable bodies, and the earth that is prepared for the children of men! He brought it forward in speaking to job, and when He had finished His address to Job on the ground of His creatorial power and rights, Job put his hand upon his mouth; he had no more to say.
What is puny man, dear friends, as one looks at these things, as one sees the sun in perfect regularity, and the earth, all moving according to infinite accuracy of time! Who in his senses could doubt the intelligence that is behind it all? But when you come to man, you come to what is poor physically as compared with all these things, and yet of him alone it is said that he is “fearfully, wonderfully made”; he is the divine masterpiece! The “potter” is the allusion that the apostle makes to God, who takes a piece of clay and forms it; that was Adam, God making a vessel. It is one thing to make these great orbs in [p. 168] the heavens, and the earth, but to make a vessel which He is to use for His pleasure, which He is to have in His house, is something different. And what a vessel! His countenance denoted the intelligence that God had placed within, his very physical structure suggested that he was to look into the countenance of God, that as God looked down, man could look up, for that was the divine design. God could come into the garden, and He sought man in the cool of the day. I have often remarked that Adam was never a boy; he was formed, but the passage here does not speak of the physical formation of Adam, but of the spiritual. God formed man’s spirit within him. It is God’s portion of the man. The body returns to dust, but the spirit to God who gave it. You have got a spirit, even in your unconverted days, formed in you by God. You did not get that from your parents, for the man’s spirit is derived from God; God gives it to him, and that returns to God, and in that he is responsible to God. Hence there is that in me that answers to God, even beyond my parents. If I derived my spirit from my parents, then I would be responsible to them, but I get my spirit from God, and hence I am responsible to Him and that responsibility remains for ever; you can never escape it, it is with you in your unconverted days and your converted days. God warns you in regard of it; on account of that spirit you have an intelligence that the lower animal has not, and so you are responsible for whatever you do now. The remarkable thing is that God in giving man a spirit also gave him a conscience. One may speak of three things in a man: his spirit and his soul and his conscience. The conscience, I suppose, is bound up in the spirit of a man. Of course there is the body, too, “spirit, soul and body” is the formula that the Spirit uses; but in the spirit that He has formed, He has set a conscience, and that conscience, if left to itself, is a constant accuser of the man. If [p. 169] you take Romans 2: 15, the thoughts of heathen are “accusing or else excusing themselves”; that is, in the Greek philosopher, his thoughts either accused or else excused him. The conscience continually accused, for God had that witness there. Thank God for that; were it not for the witness that God has set down here in men, what would the world be! In the darkest parts of the earth there is some recognition of God. So that God has an avenue by which He approaches man with His message.
But now when a man is converted, or rather, when a man is born anew, it is not only that he has a conscience, the conscience remains, the spirit remains, but he is born. Mark, it is not only something in him; it is something in him, but it is not only that; the man is born; every fibre of his being comes under the influence of the new birth. It is not simply that the natural man receives light and makes up his mind to confess Christ; it is not that; the natural man is unable to discern what is of God; he is unable to take it up, although the conscience accuses him. It is only as I become a subject of new birth that I have got divine sensibilities. Now, if there is one here tonight who has been brought up under light, I would appeal to you as to whether you are conscious of divine sensibilities. You may enquire what I mean by divine sensibilities. Well, are you happy with the Lord’s people? Is the fear of God before your eyes? Do you pray secretly? All these things, if they are found with you, are an evidence that God has been there, and so there is hope for you. I say that for your encouragement. If you have got these divine sensibilities, they are not to the flesh, they are a fruit of the work of God. So that as God formed man’s spirit at the beginning, He works again in a man. “The wind”, says the Lord to Nicodemus, “blows where it will”, John 3: 8. Man cannot effect it; all the legislation in the world could not change the [p. 170] course of the wind. Hence, it is a suggestion of the sovereignty of God. Man cannot interfere with it. That is one of the greatest comforts that we can have as engaged in the service of God. “The wind blows where it will, and thou hearest its voice, but knowest not whence it comes and where it goes: thus is every one that is born of the Spirit”. That is, he is born of something that man cannot account for; it is outside the range of man, nevertheless the effects of it are apparent. The effects are seen in the way of divine sensibilities. There is a sense of sinfulness before God; there is a desire to be near God, and to be near the people of God, and so the gospel is for you; you may be one of the elect, but you are not to rest there.
Well now, in the next passage that I read it says, “Jehovah shall save the tents of Judah first”. If He has wrought in my soul sovereignly, then He saves me, and He does it according to His sovereignty. If there is one thing next to what I have been speaking of that encourages, it is the thought of God’s elect.
I do not know them. In the second epistle to Timothy the apostle is exercised about them, and one is encouraged to believe that that is what should be upon our hearts now, the principle of a lighted candle, sweeping the house in order to find the lost piece; that is the elect: “For the sake of the elect”, says Paul, “that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory”, 2 Timothy 2: 10. What a thought he had! Not simply ‘Some lone place within the door’, but “Eternal glory”. And so here, God says, ‘I will save the tents of Judah first’. Judah in the Scriptures stands for God’s sovereignty, for God’s counsels, and so, if you have got these sensibilities of which I have spoken, you are a subject of divine grace; God has begun with you. But then He presents to you the light, the gospel, and as Paul says, “For Moses lays down in writing the righteousness [p. 171] which is of the law, The man who has practised those things shall live by them. But the righteousness of faith speaks thus: Do not say in thine heart, Who shall ascend to the heavens? that is, to bring Christ down; or, Who shall descend into the abyss? that is, to bring up Christ from among the dead. But what says it? The word is near thee, in thy mouth and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach: that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth Jesus as Lord, and shalt believe in thine heart that God has raised him from among the dead, thou shalt be saved”, Romans 10: 5 - 9. Mark you, the word being in your mouth and in your heart will not save you. What saves you is that which becomes active in you, that which produces an effect in you, so that you use your mouth. The word being “in thy mouth” is a negative idea; it is just there, you are not saying it; and “in thine heart”, it has not taken root there; you have got to confess. If you are to come into salvation you must confess. “For with the heart is believed to righteousness”. God has wrought in you sovereignly. He has put the word in your heart; He has put it in your mouth; what are you going to do with it? You say, ‘You are preaching works’. No, I am preaching from the scripture and the scripture says, “If thou shalt confess ...”. That is public. Let your christianity be public. The Lord Jesus Christ suffered publicly. He died for you publicly, and He looks for you to make a public confession. “For with the heart is believed to righteousness; and with the mouth confession made to salvation”. The apostle is referring to what was going on in those days, and what, thank God, is going on now. Men are believing unto righteousness, and they are confessing the Lord Jesus publicly. “God has made him ... both Lord and Christ”, Acts 2: 36. That leads to baptism. But everyone is baptised in these countries, you may say. That will not do. It has become a [p. 172] dead letter, there must be more than that. Baptism is not with your mouth; in fact, you do not baptise yourself at all; somebody else does it. Nevertheless you are committed to the death of Christ in it. But you must confess with your mouth besides that.
Let me appeal to the young people here tonight. Have you confessed with your mouth? Do you say, Must I tell the Lord Jesus? Yes, I do mean that, but tell your parents, tell your friends, make the thing known publicly, but be sure that you believe with your heart. As I speak to you tonight, God is looking into your heart, not into your countenance simply, although I love to look into your countenance, and so does God, but He searches the heart. He says, ‘I have put My word into your heart; I want to know whether you are believing it’. What use are you making of the light you have got? Believing with your heart and confessing with your mouth, you come into salvation. So He says, ‘I will save the tents of Judah first’. The principle of priority is a great principle with God. It cuts across all human thoughts; it is not what you expect; it is what God does. As I said, you are conscious of divine sensibilities; these are not of the flesh, but of the Spirit, for that which is born of the Spirit is spirit; that is, it is naturally so. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and you can do nothing with it at all. God has shown that in the Old Testament, so that now He has brought a new principle into man, and that is the principle of spirit. I am not now speaking of the spirit that every man has; but a principle that is brought in in the new birth that that which is born of the Spirit is spirit, and it answers to God; so that if you are conscious of divine sensibilities there is great encouragement for you, you belong to the tents of Judah and God is going to save ‘you first’; He is going to save you now; I suppose “first” was that very minute, it is not tomorrow; there shall be many saved before tomorrow, that I am [p. 173] assured of. God is prepared to save you now; there is no waiting with God really; it is the swiftness of the eagle with God when work has to be done, and work has to be done if you have not yet confessed Christ with your mouth and believed in your heart that God has raised Him from among the dead. So that He saves on these principles.
I have anticipated somewhat what may be the next part of what I had in my mind, namely, the pouring out of “the spirit of grace and of supplications”; that is what God does too. He stretches out the heavens; He lays the foundations of the earth; He saves the tents of Judah and now He pours out the spirit of grace and supplications on the house of David and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem. It is not universal. If God did this universally, then I suppose everybody would be saved, but God works on the principle of sovereignty, and, at the same time, He addresses Himself to all men. The “righteousness of God” is “towards all, and upon all those who believe”, Romans 3:22. The principle of sovereignty is behind it, so He pours out the spirit of grace and supplications on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem. Has He poured it out on you. It is an additional thought to the new birth. It seems to me that God has to give a man a spirit to enable him to judge himself. I would urge you to ask God to help you to judge yourself. You need to judge yourself, as I do, and one is really not able to do it without the help of God. So He pours out the spirit of grace and supplication. The spirit of grace, that is a very good expression and alongside of that is the thought of supplication, that is to say one turns to God. And now the judgment is in regard of Christ. How have you been treating Christ? Every time you refuse the offer of salvation in the name of Christ, you have ill-treated Christ; you have despised and disregarded Him. “They shall look on me whom they [p. 174] pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for an only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn”. You may have turned a deaf ear to His ministers, but how have you been treating Christ? The spirit of grace and supplications which God gives you enables you to recognise not only that you have been depriving yourself of the blessings of the gospel, but that you have been ill-treating Christ; and so you judge that.
Then I wanted to show you that whilst that is poured out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem only, yet it has to take a regular form — you have to judge yourself alone. “The land shall mourn, every family apart: the family of the house of David apart, and their wives apart; the family of the house of Nathan apart, and their wives apart; the family of the house of Levi apart, and their wives apart; the family of Shimei apart, and their wives apart”. The royal family, the prophetic family, the priestly family, the levitical family all have to come in before God separately. The husband and wife are not to come together. The father and child are not to come together; each one is to do it for himself, that is the divine order, and so it was when Peter preached in Acts 2 on the day of Pentecost. The thought of this comes into the heart of the listeners. I suppose God had poured out the spirit of grace and supplications, and so they were pricked in their hearts, a remarkable way to put it. I suppose the pricking was through the conscience, but the point was that they had put that blessed Man to death, and that is what many are doing in principle today, and so they say “What shall we do, brethren?”. You are talking about ‘doing’, you say. Scripture talks about doing. The element of responsibility in a man necessarily raises the question: Peter did not say to his hearers, ‘You must not say that’; he says, “Repent, and be baptised, each one of you”. That is what you [p. 175] have to do. And then he says, “For remission of sins, and ye will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit”. Have you got remission of sins tonight as you sit there? As a known thing in your soul? and have you got the gift of the Holy Spirit? These are realities. I am not speaking of something that is merely theoretical. One knows what it is to be forgiven by and through the blood of Christ, and one knows what it is to have the love of God in the heart by the Holy Spirit. These are wonderful realities, and they are presented to you now in the gospel.
Think of a man going about the streets of London with the consciousness in his soul that God has forgiven him all his sins! What do you mind what the world thinks about you? The Spirit witnesses that our sins and iniquities are remembered no more; you have the consciousness in your soul that you are forgiven through the blood of Christ, and you have the consciousness at the same time that His love is in your heart. It is wonderful that one’s heart is actually receptive of the love of God by the Spirit, and so in the first verse of the next chapter, it says, “In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness”. Whether it is what one may call primary cleansing or whether it is the effect of the death of Christ on one daily, there it is, a fountain is opened.
Now all this is from the divine side: the stretching out of the heavens, the laying of the foundation of the earth, the spirit of man formed within him. He saves the tents of Judah first; He pours out the spirit of grace and supplications and He opens a fountain; all that is done by God on our behalf through the death of Christ and it is available. Now our side is that the thing is brought by God Himself into your mouth, the testimony of it, that is, and into your heart; now what are you going to do with your mouth and with your [p. 176] heart? God says: I want both. I want your heart to be receptive of My love; and I want your mouth to be a witness to it. Are you prepared for that? God grant that you may be! He wants the vessel. Paul says, We are “vessels of mercy”, fitted for glory. The answer to that is that one has a treasure in one’s heart, the love of God in Christ, and one has to be a witness of that, and confess Christ as Lord. I put these things before you, especially the young; because I notice in moving about that the enemy is especially after the young; he was of old, when the people were about to leave Egypt; Pharaoh proposed to Moses that they should go and leave the young behind. That is Satan’s proposal. No right-minded father and mother is prepared to leave his or her young in the enemy’s land. The Spirit of God is working with the young so that not a hoof should be left behind; we want all gathered in. We have reached the borderland of the “world to come”, the coming of the Lord, and we do not want a single hoof to be left behind. We want all gathered in. This chapter speaks about families, every family apart; the families must all be saved. I may tell you frankly that I much prefer hearing about the blessing of a child of a Christian than even those outside. One wants everybody; everyone who loves God wishes that men should be saved. But I regard a child of Christian parents going into the world as a double triumph of the enemy. It is very serious if you have been brought up in the light, and the word is in your mouth and in your heart; it is for you to use that heart and to use that mouth for God.
May God bless you!