DIVINE URGENCY
[p. 282] DIVINE URGENCY
Luke 14: 21 - 23; Acts 10: 44; Haggai 1: 2 - 4; Haggai 2: 5
I have in mind, dear brethren, the divine urgency which has a great place in Scripture, sometimes bearing against what is evil, as we read in Timothy: “The Spirit speaketh expressly”, and sometimes in relation to the development and maintenance of the truth. The Holy Spirit became urgent, indeed we are reminded of that very fact that there should always be an ear open to what the Spirit says, and we should not be forgetful of what is said or has been said. What He says is necessary to the understanding of what He has said, in keeping with the principle in Revelation indicated in the reference to Christ as, “He who is, and who was, and who is to come”. He who is is first: what He was and what He will be, become intelligible as we understand what He is.
So the Spirit is speaking: the enemy would always be bent on clouding, or shutting out, or deafening our ears to what the Spirit says. We must never assume He is silent; He is always saying something, and our safety lies in hearing what He says. So He speaks “expressly” as it is the more urgent. Therefore, whatever the evil, and the enemy is specially against the service of God, you may be sure the Spirit will say something immediately. But I have in mind to speak of divine urgency in regard of the church, that is, what is positive. The Lord has His feelings and affections and desires, dear brethren, and they are never interfered with; He is patient in reaching His ends, but He is urgent, and He would have us to understand what He says.
So I read that well-known chapter in Luke because of the urgency of the second mission of the servant. It is just one servant in this chapter, whilst in Matthew 22 [p. 283] there are servants, more than one. The service is in that way more concentrated, evidently in such worthy hands, but there is great urgency that the house may be filled. Now that refers to the gospel, but what I have in mind refers to the mystery of the gospel. In asking for the prayers of the saints, the apostle Paul stresses that they should pray for him particularly, indeed entirely, that he might open his mouth with boldness to speak of “the mystery of the gospel”, something wrapped up in the gospel involving a secret, involving what God’s heart cherishes; that is to say, the assembly was unfolded as it was to take form, as its service Godward should develop. That is what is so urgent in the apostle’s request, in his prayer on the part of the brethren. The words that he uses indicate plainly enough that it was a difficult matter to unfold the mystery of the gospel. It was not that he could not put it into words or write it down, but that it should find an intelligent acceptance in the saints. The hearing was poor in that regard, and it required special power to make known the mystery of the gospel, what God would have for Himself.
So you find as it is relative to the incoming of the gentiles it is marked with urgency; no delay should be allowed, and what comes out in Luke 15 is that the father of the prodigal runs immediately. One person is in view there, whereas in chapter 14 the servant was to go out into the streets and lanes of the cities, the ways and the fences; and there is nothing said as to the qualities or qualifications in the persons that are to be brought in. But in Luke 15 qualifications are discerned, the movements of the prodigal were seen; they were the movements not of a prodigal but of a repentant sinner; the movements of a prodigal are not evident but to call forth sorrow, but there are the returning movements of a repenting sinner! Even at a distance they call forth admiration, and that [p. 284] admiration becomes intensified as the footsteps of the repentant sinner came nearer and nearer to God, until he is actually inside. That is what I wish to dwell on, dear brethren, the pleasure in one, not in the number from the streets and lanes of the city, the ways and fences of the world, but in the quality of one: first, a repentant sinner, then a confessing sinner (these things make the person’s movements most interesting to God), and then the caress, where divine love begins to find its satisfaction: “His father ... covered him with kisses”. I cannot say it was literal, but it shows how complacent the father was in the whole person, for it is no less than that. The mystery involves the whole person being secured, in spirit, soul and body, so that the body of the person is covered. It is not now the atoning work of Christ; surely he is covered in regard of that; he knows the blessedness of covering in relation to forgiveness, but he knows too the unspeakable blessedness of what it is to be covered with kisses.
Then there are all the movements until the returned one is inside; it is within that love is complacent, not only is there the kissing but the atmosphere is pervaded with love, love in activity, love in a scene that expresses what heaven is; the very best is there. There is the music and dancing to show what is inside, where the Father can express Himself as to what is heavenly. You can understand, therefore, dear brethren, the urgency that there is in regard of what is hidden, in order that the house may be filled. So that the incoming ones synchronise with divine counsel, coming from all quarters, from the streets and lanes of the city, from the ways and fences, and inside they discover divine interest, and the nearer they draw to God the more sensitive they are of divine interest. Inside too they find their names are in the book of life, and not only in the book of life but in the counsels of God, foreknown to Him. Their names are known to the [p. 285] Father in the sweet counsels of eternity, the counsels of love. So that there are those suited to the place, and clothed in all the dignity of the place, set free in freedom, indwelt by the spirit of adoption, and capable of sharing in the very best; for this wonderful chapter describes divine lavishment! Love is telling itself out, what it can do for its own satisfaction! So the house comes into view, and the music and the dancing. Well now, I want to show you how this fits in with Acts 10, indeed Acts 10 is the historical fulfilment of this parable. I had in mind to show that the quality indicated in the returning prodigal appears in the house of that Roman officer in the city of Caesarea. It is a well-known chapter of many, forty-eight, verses, full of interest. We have from the very outset of the chapter the beautiful avenue leading up to the great event; much of the chapter is preliminary but verse 44 is the great event. The great apostle Peter is active; if he is treading the avenue, he will tread it with suitable steps, suitable affection, suitable intelligence, he will be prepared.
First of all we get the centurion himself, Cornelius, and how remarkable is divine wisdom that it should select one, a military officer! A military man is brought forth to show forth this supreme act of God, but such is the divine thought; God’s thoughts, beloved, are not ours, as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are His thoughts higher than ours. But He knows His man, for from eternity are all His works as all those with whom He works. God’s work is all of one great piece, beloved, with one great end in view, the satisfaction of His own heart. He knows His man, and makes no mistake; so He takes up a military officer, the centurion of Caesarea, and prepares him so that the work should proceed, that it should proceed with the divine stamp on it.
So the chapter runs on from one event to another; an angel comes down to the Roman officer as he [p. 286] prayed, for it says he was known to pray and give alms; a soldier servant is employed; then there is the great apostle on the house-top; a sheet is let down from heaven thrice; then there are the messengers at the door. Peter was illumined by the sheet and by the voice, and he journeys to Caesarea in company with six brethren and the messengers-what a company! What delight to heaven was every move and every step in that shining way, until Caesarea and the house of the officer, the centurion, are reached. Then Peter and the centurion enter together, conversing on equal terms; Peter has ceased to be the Jew in any sense; he is now one man with another, both of them subjects of God’s work, brethren in that sense. Then inside, what a company is gathered! We may be assured that the dignity and the ceremony connected with an officer are not in evidence. It is a divine scene, a scene indicating divine operations, far transcending anything that ever happened in Caesar’s palace! Then Peter opened his mouth and preached; no-one could do better! God had pleasure in his speaking and He is not deprived of that pleasure. Let the speaking go on; let nothing interfere with the pleasure of God, that nothing else should take place. No! the preaching goes on, but something besides happened. What happened? “While Peter was yet speaking ... the Holy Spirit fell upon all those who were hearing the word”. It was nothing less than the word of God. It was no doubt a remarkable address for the occasion; it was the word of God, and they were listening to the word and God knew the effect of the word on them; their ears were opened, they were hearing and the Holy Spirit fell on them. He did not wait; the matter was urgent; not that Cornelius and his company could not have waited, but it was urgent from the divine side. On another occasion there was not the same urgency; that was when Peter and John had to come down [p. 287] from Jerusalem to Samaria so that Philip’s converts might receive the Spirit. Urgency was not their need, therefore, but the divine need; just as the caress received by the prodigal was not a question of the prodigal’s need but of the Father’s heart, the Father’s need. It was urgent, so here it was urgent, not to meet the need of the hearers, but to meet the divine necessity that the Holy Spirit might fall upon them.
So the Holy Spirit fell on them; it is the same word as is used to describe the action of the father with the prodigal. It expresses profound interest and affection; that now they were coming into the mind of God for time and all eternity, for the completion of the assembly. Not that the assembly had not existed at the coming of the Spirit at Pentecost, but it is the assembly in another setting. Pentecost is not the assembly exclusively as it appears later. In Revelation 20 and 21 we have the exterior, a greater glory surely, but as to the interior the city is the glory. That is not an external idea but an internal form. It is through Paul’s ministry that the love of God is fully known. That is where John and Paul meet. It came out of the death of Christ, the ministry of the new covenant. It is through Him that he had come to understand that the love of God is brought in here, and it becomes a known thing in our hearts, that is the ministry of the new covenant. That is what is internal and that is the secret of the city having the glory of God. As the assembly has been developed in Paul’s ministry, the Lord’s supper being a simple thought in it, these affections are being developed and divine urgency is required; nothing can interfere with or impede these developments. So the gentiles coming thus into view on that occasion brought out this urgency on the part of God; so that the Holy Spirit, we are told, fell on all those who heard the word. It was a divine action. It was not merely a mediatorial thing-the Holy Spirit is God. It was God’s action: it was not less than that. It is a marvellous thought, dear brethren, God Himself acted in this way, this energetic way so that He might have His heart fully satisfied, and that with the assembly. That is the beginning, the basis, of all that follows in the wonderful ministry of Paul.
Well now, I want to show how the Old Testament confirms this. Haggai bears on our own time and illustrates the great value of the Old Testament. This little book serves in a very striking way to illustrate the value of the Old Testament to us. So we have here the idea that is so prevalent today: that saying, “The time is not come, the time that Jehovah’s house should be built”. Think of that! The time had come in the days of Moses, how many years back I am not prepared to say-hundreds and hundreds of years before. The time had come. Had God altered His mind? No, beloved, He had not altered His mind. In those days of small things in regard of His house, He was as in earnest as when He spoke to Moses on the mount after Israel had come out of Egypt. So He is as urgent in regard of the assembly today as He was at Pentecost. Be the day small, as Zechariah tells us, “a day of small things”, be it so, that does not interfere with divine urgency as to the assembly.
“The time is not come” they say. How bold! How deceptive too! How darkening! The time is long and the house of Jehovah is not built. The Lord resents our tardiness and the darkening influence of our words. We may think our words are of little account, but they are either darkening or enlightening. We have to watch our words and the motive behind them. How much criticism is there of what God is doing? You may be criticising those who serve; the work and who is doing it. He resents it; He says, “Consider your ways”. You do not speak thus of your ceiled houses, but God’s house lays desolate,
and you say, “The time is not come”! “Consider your ways”.
Well now, it is not criticising but I touch on one thing that we may say. It is what they say; they were not doing anything, but they were justifying their indifference to the house of God in their words and the Lord resents it.
But it is very delightful to see how the scene changed. In the course of five or six weeks this message by Jehovah’s messenger brought about a great change, and the people began to work and to work with a will. When God rouses us, dear brethren, the time has come. The time is continuing and God is calling for energy. It is urgent from His side. So He urges them to go up to the mount in this chapter; that means exercise; that means strenuousness; that means putting aside carelessness and criticism of the people of God. They went to work and the verses beautifully present it that we might be in the work, that there might be an incentive to be in it. The house is going to be filled with the glory of God, filled with it! What glory? Not the glory of this world but Jehovah’s glory! It reminds us of what He had covenanted with us from the outset: the disposition of His heart towards us; that remains. That is what He says in these verses: the disposition of His heart, the kisses of the prodigal, that energetic action of the Spirit at Caesarea all involve the love of God; that remains, there is no change. “He who is, and who was, and who is to come”.
‘My covenant’, He says, ‘remains with you’. One of the striking features of the ministry for many years back, forty years or so especially, is that the Holy Spirit has insisted on the disposition of God towards us in Christ: “The love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord”. It is in Him and He brings it into our hearts, for He is the great Administrator of it. “The Lord is the Spirit, but where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty”. How precious is the thought that remains with us? “Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty” and then “We all, looking on the glory of the Lord, with unveiled face, are transformed ...”. We are reminded in these verses of what remains, and remains with you. “The word ... and my Spirit, remain among you”. Think of the patience of God in leaving the Holy Spirit among us! “Among you”, He says. That blessed Comforter the Lord sent down “abides with you and shall be in you”. He remains among us and is the guarantee for the glory. It will fill the house of God. It is not now filling the people but filling the house with glory, marvellous word!
Some of us may say, “How is it that the former days were better than these?”. We do not speak intelligently, if we say that. It is not that we make little of the former times, for Pentecost means much in volume and filling power too. But then let us not say, “The former days were better than these”, because it means we are not enjoying the Lord Jesus now; we are not enjoying Him who is. If the former days were better than these there is something the matter. “He who is” is here; God is here by the Spirit, and indeed, that is one of the great features of the gentile position. “Ye also are built together for a habitation of God in the Spirit”. The habitation of God! God Himself is the glory, what can be greater than that? Is it not urgent? It is! It is most urgent. That is the great testimony, the presence of God here in the Spirit.
So He goes on; He challenges those who saw the house and He says, “The latter glory of this house shall be greater than the former”. There are not two houses. In that day the house began with Moses; indeed I might say with Jacob, but properly with Moses; it is the same house. The latter glory of it will be greater. Now the conditions of the house [p. 291] should correspond with divine urgency! What about our ceiled houses? Can they hold the great divine thought, a love to be filled with glory? The glory of the latter is to exceed the glory of the former.
Well, that is all I had to say; I am sure the dear brethren will recognise that it is something; although known before to some extent, perhaps not in the same way, as indicative of divine urgency for conditions for the satisfaction of God’s heart.