WHAT GOD PREPARES
Address on 5th June 1954
I would like to speak about what God prepares. Preparation implies that something is thought of beforehand, and we can receive impressions from God as we consider how He prepares everything. Before this, dear brethren, I would like to say that Christ becoming Man was a great turning point in the ways of God. Of course, He always had this in mind. But it is important to see, as Christ became Man, not only that God was fully seen in Christ, but also that man could now be in perfection before God in Christ. As this is the case, God has nothing less in mind but conformity with Christ, because He takes us up in view of blessing us. It is good for us to have before our eyes that God works in view of conformity with Christ. It says, “he has also predestinated to be conformed to the image of his Son, so that he should be the firstborn among many brethren”, Rom 8: 29. The heart of God delights in the thought that He will be surrounded by millions of men in sonship, who are made fully in accordance with the image of the Son. As this is before God, then God has much work with us. Each one of us comes into this workmanship in His hand, and God goes the whole way with us in view of reaching His end. But this should not make us careless.
Jonah is presented as one that was marked by self-will. First it was said to him to go towards the east, but he quickly turned his face to go towards the west. But God would not allow him to go any further. The history of Jonah is remarkable in connection with what God provided. It says here, He prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. After this He prepared a gourd, then He prepared a worm and after that a sultry east wind. It is very impressive to see how God brings in the power of creation in all its great diversity so that He can undertake to break down one self-willed person in order to bring him into correspondence with Himself. Consider for instance the difference between a great fish and a worm, and the difference between the gourd and the sultry east wind. It is all what God prepared. He also saw to it that all this took place at the right time; because God had in mind to release one single self-willed person. We do not need to say that there was no self-will with Jesus. Also, there is no self-will in heaven. But Jonah was taken up by God. He was taken up as a servant, as a prophet. God made all these efforts and prepared all these things. God has wonderful resources in His creation. If we were more sensitive and more attentive, we would see how near God is to us. The heavens testify that God can bring out vast dimensions of glory. The little creatures testify that God can go down and use what is little. He draws our attention to the ant. So full is the creation that God is able to use for us. A little creature like the ant is connected with wisdom, it says. If we are too sluggish to desire wisdom, then says God “Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways”, Prov 6: 6. Thus, we get an impression of God and all the precious resources He has. He can prepare all that is needed for the moment to complete and promote the work that goes on in us. One does not need to be occupied with Jonah’s history any more. God bore with Jonah. He even bore with his anger. He says, “Doest thou well to be angry?” and Jonah is bold enough to say, “I do well to be angry, unto death”. Yet God bore with this and reached His end with Jonah. It was once said by someone, ‘in spite of all, Jonah allowed God to have the last word’. There is no doubt that the writer of the book is Jonah himself, and at the end Jonah steps totally aside. God alone is now before us with His feelings in relation to His creatures. Thus, we see that Jonah doubtless came into accord with God. But we also see what God had to prepare to reach this.
We see in Malachi that God prepares a day. It speaks of those who feared Jehovah. That is their character outwardly, publicly in the presence of evil persons, of those that did not fear God. It is often a test for believers to move on in the fear of God. They experience more tests, and exercises come along with it. Asaph, who is also referred to as a prophet, felt it difficult to go on with God in the fear of God. In Psalm 73 he speaks of his feelings according to his outward experiences of evil persons being allowed to progress whilst he who was marked by fearing God, had to go through many tests and exercises. But then it says: “Until I went into the sanctuaries of God”, v 17. Then he saw all in its true light. We are also able to go into the sanctuaries of God in this way. It is remarkable that the word there is in the plural—“sanctuaries”. While we always have immediate access to the presence of God in the sanctuary, these “sanctuaries” relate also to the hosts of believers we are able to enter in with; for when we are among the saints we see everything in its true light. We remember when God brought His people out of Egypt, they first came to Elim. There were the twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees. At this place they received an impression of the perfect resources there are in the Holy Spirit, especially in the twelve springs of water. It is a constant supply of spiritual service in view of what is required. There were also the seventy palm trees. That would be the saints marked by victory. In such an environment you would be confirmed and strengthened. In the prophecy of Malachi it says, “They that feared Jehovah spoke often one to another” (chap 3: 16, 17); further on it says, “and Jehovah observed it, and heard, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared Jehovah, and that thought upon his name”. I have often thought of that when we come together in our readings. When we speak as those that fear the Lord and think upon His Name, then the Lord observes it all and respects it all. A book of remembrance will thus be written. If we would hold on to this in our thoughts, then our readings would reach a higher level. God takes a special interest in such people. He says, “And they shall be unto me a peculiar treasure, saith Jehovah of hosts, in the day that I prepare”. The day is not yet prepared, but God is about to prepare it. He intends to make such a day, in which everything which He has prepared in this evil world will be fully justified. Scripture speaks of “Jesus Christ’s day”. That is of course the day to come, the world to come. It is the day when this Man Jesus Christ comes to light fully. He is now counted worthless and rejected by men, but chosen and precious with God. At the day of Jesus Christ, He will be publicly vindicated and justified, and in that day believers that have been faithful will also be justified. Jehovah says, “And they shall be unto me a peculiar treasure … in the day that I prepare”. It is wonderful to think of this, that God prepares a day, not only when Christ is justified, but also all that have been pleasing to Him at the present time. He says: “I will spare them as a man spareth his own son that serveth him”. How God values service from sons! When He sees this the love of the Father will be set in movement. On the day when evil persons will be judged, each one that fears God will come into blessing in public justification. Those that have served Him would be recognised as such as the Father has spared as His own sons.
In the next chapter it alludes once again to the day that God prepares. It is a day of great glory. It is a day of which it says that the Sun of righteousness arises. The present time is more the time when the morning star is shining. It may not be right to call it day, as it is really night. The morning star is not as large as the Sun of righteousness, but it is shining very brightly and is most precious. The morning star has arisen in our hearts; it is Christ, as being the great joy of our hearts, the One who is ready to introduce the day of the pleasure of God. Here God says to His people, “And unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise”. That is Christ in His universal glory. Nothing is hid from the heat of the sun, says Psalm 19: 6. When the Lord Himself rises as the Sun of Righteousness, then the whole universe will be brought into righteousness, and the godless will be brought under judgment. That is the day that God prepares. These references to what God prepares show us that He thinks of everything. He thinks thus of each of us. He is also prepared to usher in that day for us. It will extend, as we know, over a thousand years, in which not only Christ shall be vindicated, but in which righteousness shall reign. All those who have loved righteousness shall then be vindicated too.
Thus everything is fixed and assured. It is all in the hands of God as a divine preparation. In Corinthians, the apostle is concerned to bring the Corinthians forward. He sheds tears over the awful conditions amongst the Corinthians. He said he had great things in mind to speak about. He had in mind to speak about the mystery, about the wisdom of God in a mystery. This means he would have done this if the conditions in Corinth had allowed it. So sorrowful were the conditions in Corinth that he was not free to speak about these matters. They had not fully appreciated the cross of Christ. That is why the flesh was active there. The things that God had prepared for those who love Him could not be reached by them. For when I allow the activity of the flesh then the question can be raised if I really love God, because I go on living in what God sent His Son to die for. It says, “God, having sent his own Son, in likeness of flesh of sin, and for sin, has condemned sin in the flesh”, Rom 8: 3. If I go on with what He has condemned, for what reason did He send His Son to condemn it in Him and not in me? How can I then maintain the ground that I love God? These are great things, that God has prepared for them that love Him. You need not prepare anything; it is already prepared. It is all in the hands of the Spirit, that we might be acquainted with these things. God’s wonderful thought is that Christ became Man and accomplished redemption and was raised from among the dead. A wonderful world of glory opens up for faith. It says in Colossians 1: 18 that He is “the beginning, firstborn from among the dead”. We should know Christ as the firstborn from among the dead; then we begin to grasp the world of glory that is in the mind of God. The question is, how much do we know of this? It says that these things are revealed to us by the Spirit. It also says, “the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God”. When Christ as Man is apprehended by us, then the light of the assembly starts to shine in us. We then have Christ as a type of what is seen in Adam in Genesis 2: 18. We also know that God said there; “It is not good that Man should be alone”. He said that to Man whom He had set over all the things that He had made. Adam is a picture of Christ in this chapter. Christ is the great anointed Head over all that God has in mind. In this connection God says: “I will make him a helpmate”. This means the assembly must come to light, and that includes all of us. Do we have God’s impression of the assembly? She is not just a local matter as we referred to this afternoon but a great entity, that consists of all believers from all nationalities united through the work of God and formed according to Christ, and through one Spirit baptised into one body. God presents her to Christ as Man. Not only this, but Christ also loves her. It says, “Christ so loved the assembly, and has delivered himself up for it”, Eph 5: 25. He has focused His love on her, and nothing pleases Him more than that believers should, to a certain extent, be conscious of being united with Him. Think of this, what possibilities there are for God in this, that believers in the unity of the Spirit are conscious of being brought to union with Christ to share His own place before the Father and move according to His own desires. We noticed this afternoon how jealously the Lord guards the answer to God, having the assembly consciously in His love and in His hand. She is aware that His place before the Father is her place. What possibilities are given to praise God. We could not possibly come closer than we are now, apart from making progress in this as we appropriate it the more. That is what the Spirit has got in hand. It is not only the great vessel, answering to the grace of Christ, but formed in features of Christ, a vessel which is about to come down out of heaven from God to manifest what God has revealed in Christ. When we contemplate these things, we see how wonderful God is, as He desires and as He has also planned and brought it about. And we ourselves have our part in this. The Spirit is able to give us understanding in this and to enable us to move on in a way pleasing to God. This is something that God has prepared for them that love God and it raises the question with each one of us, if we really belong to them that love God. If I am one that loves God, then I also will love what He loves, and hate what He hates. That is why the question is: Do we love God? A most deep question for us if we are among them. It says in Romans 8: 28: “that all things work together for good to those who love God”. When we belong to them that love God, then all that God has accomplished is to our benefit. When we are marked by self-will as with Jonah, then it can happen that God must work against us. Jonah got a wonderful impression of the goodness of God, yet what a hopeless position finding himself in the belly of the fish! He felt there what man's self-will lead to. But when I love God, then all His ways are in my favour. His ways with me, His ways in the world, His ways with the nations, all work for good for them that love God. He is the great ruler in this world, and He loses no control over any matter, and all things without exception work for good for those that love God. Those who love God are now His interest.
In the scripture we read in John’s gospel the Lord spoke of His Father’s house. That corresponds with what we already have spoken of, although it leads on further than Christ and the assembly. His Father’s house is the widest thought we can have. It includes the whole world of glory that God has in mind. It includes the heavenly families and the earthly families. They are all named by the Father. That is why the Lord shows us the greatness of things before us. Then he says: “In my Father’s house there are many abodes; were it not so, I had told you; for I go to prepare you a place”. That is a most attractive statement, as He also says: “where I am ye also may be”. The place, as I understand, is already prepared, because Christ has taken the place as Man in the presence of the Father. He is in the immediate presence of the Father, and He is the centre of love. The portion of the assembly is with Him in this position. We can see the dimensions which the Father has in mind, as He once said to Abraham, he should look to the east, west, north and south. But our position is in the centre of all this, it is in Christ. This place is already prepared. These thoughts will turn us away from all that is around us down here. It says, “the world is passing and its lust” (1 John 2: 17), but the things that Christ has prepared and God has prepared remain. These things are unseen for the moment, yet most real. They are in the hands of the Spirit to make us more acquainted with them. The question is, therefore, how much room we give to the Spirit. We can be assured of God’s pleasure when He sees the saints having an interest in these things that are before Him.
May the Lord help us to go in for these things more for His Name’s sake.
___________________