CONDITIONS FACILITATING THE WORK OF GOD
[p. 505] CONDITIONS FACILITATING THE WORK OF GOD
2 Timothy 2: 20 - 22; Ezra 1: 7 - 11; Ezra 7: 6 - 10; Ezra 8: 32 - 36
Thinking of this great city, the work of God came into my mind. In view of this, the divine hands should not be hampered in their operations, and if this is to be so, certain conditions must obtain, and these require vessels or instruments of service. So I have read these passages, containing, as they do, the idea of vessels. They are symbols of believers; for believers in Christ, as having the Holy Spirit and formed accordingly after Christ, are the vessels now employed by God, in His service. He of old directed Jeremiah the prophet to go down to the house of the potter, where He would speak to him. He could have spoken to him where he was; but it is one of God’s ways, to place us in the circumstances concerning which He would speak to us; this is to the end that we may understand His mind more clearly. The potter made the vessel and it became marred in his hands. He made another vessel as it pleased him to make; referring obviously to God; He being the Potter, and the house the sphere of His operations. From the outset God had in mind that He should have a vessel such as pleased Him, such as He could use according to His mind.
The vessel was the order of man set out in Christ. Christ is said to have been “made of a woman” (born of a woman), which means that in that way, He became incarnate. The idea of making does not otherwise refer to Christ, for He is a divine Person, having equal part in the Deity with the Father, and with the Spirit; but as Adam was a figure of Him that was to come, so God maintained that thought, and although Adam became marred in His hands. He immediately made another vessel, that is, He began in Abel; Abel setting [p. 506] out the great principle of righteousness. He had the testimony that he was righteous, which is the great fundamental thought in all vessels of service in God’s hands. Aside from righteousness, God cannot use us according to His mind; although He has used unconverted persons and even the lower creatures, but He has in mind to have vessels according to His own heart, and that is what is conveyed in the voice from heaven at our Lord’s baptism. As Jesus, being about thirty years of age, was baptised, and came up out of the water, heaven was opened upon Him and the voice came, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I have found my delight”. That is the divine order of man, and He began that order of man in Abel. It is a long formation, extending right down to Christ as the great Model of what is according to the mind of the Potter, and what pleases Him. Abel represents the first great idea — righteousness; and then Enoch — a man who walked with God; and then Noah, who was perfect in his generations. Abel had no generations. Enoch had generations, but he is not said to have been righteous in them. Noah also walked with God. And so throughout Hebrews 11 we have different features of Christ worked out in those mentioned who are said to have had faith.
It is a long history, but God works patiently, especially when it is a matter so near to His heart, as the order of man which is to dwell with Him for ever. Into man’s condition, sin apart, He came in Jesus; who being in the form of God thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but emptied Himself, taking on a bondman’s form. So that you can understand how near to God’s heart was the work of the forming of a vessel for His service. The idea was in His mind from the outset, and in the incarnation it became manifest, and all believers are to be according to the perfect Pattern seen in Christ. In Him there is One entirely according to God’s mind and heart. One who will do,
[p. 507] as He said, all His pleasure. In no way were the divine hands hampered in that One. We have thus the divine idea. But what I am speaking of now is that believers are to be formed after Him, so that God’s operations may go on unhinderedly. The Lord said, “My Father worketh hitherto”, and that work is to go on. But there must be conditions and instruments for it.
In taking Israel out of Egypt, God intended to operate according to His mind, but He proposed conditions, and these work according to measure and weight and personality; for personality has a great deal to do with what I am speaking of. Personality came out particularly in Aaron, for personality must enter into the service of God. The divine thought thus being expressed, I need only refer to the history of the wilderness to show the result. The people turned aside quickly, and hence God had to work in spite of adverse conditions; and at the end the testimony was, “What hath God wrought?” And in subsequent history — I need only refer to the history in Kings and Chronicles to show how God had to work generally in spite of adverse conditions, in spite of wicked kings, such as Ahab; but He worked, and so right through to the end of the old dispensation.
In the present dispensation the Lord Jesus took up certain men, numbering twelve, wrought with them personally, making them the greatest of men, the greatest of servants. The Holy Spirit came down, and the work proceeded, and proceeded with marvellous power and intelligence and results. The book of Acts is a remarkable credit to the apostles, the Holy Spirit taking account of what they did, making little or no reference to what they were told to do. Of course they were in principle divinely directed as to what they did, but one point in the book is to bring out what men they were, and how God’s work was facilitated in them. We do well to dwell on the Acts from that point of view. But the drop from the high standard they set, beginning [p. 508] with the immediate period that followed, is lamentable. Nevertheless, the work of God has continued right down to the present time. God’s work has gone on; but see how unsympathetic the general conditions have been! God has wrought in the most adverse circumstances. The conversion and deliverance of us all and myriads more is a touching testimony to this and to His wonderful patience.
The scriptures that I have read show how He has come in and released His vessels. Not all of them, alas! although He continues His work of deliverance every day, and will continue. He has opened the door for these vessels, as it were, to return from Babylon. He has need of them. He said of the colt in the gospels, “The Lord has need of it”. If one had the ear of every christian, one would like to say to him, The Lord has need of thee, as a vessel. The word implies not only a containing vessel, but an instrument, that is, such as God can use. The Lord has need of thee. The history of Israel will show you how God was forced — how loth He was — to allow His people to be carried away captive. Because of their conduct, He is obliged to let His people come under a foreign yoke; but as soon as the captivity occurs He has in mind that it should be reversed, for He delights not in judgment. He has no pleasure in His people being at a distance from Him. His thought of them is, “a people near unto him”, Psalm 148: 14.
That was His thought about Israel, and not only did He indicate that there should be recovery, but also that there should be a man — Cyrus — prepared for this purpose; and the book of Ezra shows how Cyrus answered to the mind of God. These verses in chapter 1 tell us that the vessels which Nebuchadnezzar took from Jerusalem were handed back by Cyrus. There are those even now, it may be, that are still in Babylon. Well, the mind of God as indicated in Cyrus is that you should not be there. Cyrus is more than a mere [p. 509] earthly monarch here. He is definitely charged by God to build Him a house at Jerusalem, involving the release of God’s vessels; and if there is one here who is still in Babylon, the mind of God is that you should not be there. He says in verse 2, “Thus saith Cyrus king of Persia, The Lord God of heaven hath given me all the kingdoms of the earth; and he hath charged me to build him an house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah”. That is a word for the moment. Why should any christian be in Babylon? He is one of the divine vessels. Think of the degradation of the vessels as in Babylon. Think of that banquet hall of Belshazzar, when the vessels of Jehovah were desecrated. There are many like it. Many of our brethren have been in the banquet halls of this world; how painful to the heart of God! But here we have a Cyrus, not Belshazzar. We have a man prophesied about, that God would raise up to open the door to His people, that they might not remain in Babylon, but return to Jerusalem. He says, “Whosoever there is among you of all his people, his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem”. And then, confirmatory of their being the persons, comes in the idea of the vessels. There were 5,400 vessels of gold and of silver. The Spirit of God gives us the number. Cyrus “brought forth the vessels of the house of the Lord, which Nebuchadnezzar had brought forth out of Jerusalem, and had put them in the house of his gods; Even those did Cyrus king of Persia bring forth by the hands of Mithredath the treasurer, and numbered them unto Sheshbazzar, the prince of Judah”, Ezra 1: 7, 8.
Now I want to show you that certain instruction enters into the mention of “the prince of Judah” here; the release of God’s people from Babylon implies that they are put into God’s hands. It is not leaving one system of religion to go into another. Many change about, and make their preferences of religious systems, but that is not the idea at all. The vessels are handed [p. 510] over to the prince of Judah; in no other hands are they safe. Need I suggest who the Prince of Judah is? It is a reference to Christ. He is more than the Prince of Judah. He is the Lion of the tribe of Judah. He is Shiloh to whom the gathering of the people is to be (Genesis 49: 10). Let us not gather to any other; let us not place ourselves in any other hands than His. And another thing to note is, it is Sheshbazzar here, not Zerubbabel; the same person, but the Spirit of God would separate him from all Babylonish relations. “Zerubbabel” implies his connection with Babylon, but “Sheshbazzar” would signify his link with Persia, the country of Cyrus. This is obviously important, Cyrus being a type of Christ. Here it is the prince of Judah with this name. Some think it means the ‘joy of tribulation’, and surely tribulation awaits us if we have to forsake the renowned religions of this world; but our Sheshbazzar, the Prince of Judah, will protect us. It is said indeed that the idea “protection” enters into the name. We need protection, as going forth unto Him without the camp. We should be ridiculed, we should suffer reproach; but as David said to Abiathar, “with me thou art in safe keeping”.
We are in safe keeping in the hands of the Prince of Judah. The vessels are counted as given into his hands. So that, as the Lord Jesus says, “I know ... my sheep”, “neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand”. He knows everyone. We are under His hand. We are in sure and safe keeping and nowhere else can we regard ourselves as safe. There is no protection elsewhere. The most renowned religious organisation does not afford protection to the saints. We must be under the hand, so to speak, of Sheshbazzar, the Prince of Judah. As soon as one is outside, as he leaves that wherein the rights of the Lord Jesus are not respected, the Lord finds him. He is watching you. You will all remember the man in John 9. He was cast out, but why was he cast out? — because of faithfulness to [p. 511] the truth. And when the Lord heard he was cast out He found him and said, “dost thou believe on the Son of God?” — He is more than the Prince of Judah. He is the Son of God. And the man said, “Who is he, Lord, that I might believe on him?” And He said, “Thou hast both seen him, and it is he that talketh with thee”, and he said, “Lord, I believe”, and worshipped Him. True worship is seen outside the camp.
To amplify this a little, I want to show you subsequent movements, answering to the testimony through Cyrus. In chapter 7 it is said, “This Ezra went up from Babylon”. The second movement is a priestly one. Ezra, the priest, is the leader of it. We have his genealogy given back to Aaron. It is a great priestly movement. Christ is the “great priest over the house of God” (Hebrews 10 :21), and Ezra is typically a priest of that order. His genealogy is traced right back to the great head of the priesthood. That is a great matter, and hence we must pay attention to it. There is no priesthood recognised in heaven that cannot be traced to Aaron, that is, to Christ. All others are spurious. Ezra represents priesthood in the true sense. Verse 6 says, “This Ezra went up from Babylon; and he was a ready scribe in the law of Moses, which the Lord God of Israel had given: and the king granted him all his request, according to the hand of the Lord his God upon him”. That is to say, with this priestly movement, we have the law. As the Lord says, “He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me”. Every true priest will insist on that — what the Lord Jesus has said, I must be governed by that. The most renowned creeds, although they contain much of the letter of the truth, are not what the Lord has said. If anyone, Paul says, is spiritual among you, let him recognise this, that what I write unto you are the commandments of the Lord. Every true priest of God would recognise that the things that Paul wrote to the Corinthians and in his other epistles are the commandments [p. 512] of the Lord. Another point I just wish to touch on — verse 9 says, “upon the first day of the first month began he to go up from Babylon”. The word “began” there, in the margin reads “was the foundation”. That is the foundation of the going up. It is a great thing to make a good start. There was determination with Ezra and his company. In the better translation it is the determination to go up on a certain day. In such holy movements the difficulty is that some are irresolute; they admit the commandments of the Lord, but are irresolute as to them, and move tardily or do not move at all; but here is a definite determination on a certain day to go up out of Babylon, and they went up, and they reached Jerusalem.
Yet another thought is the arrival. It is spoken of in chapter 7, but it is again referred to in chapter 8. Verse 32 says, “And we came to Jerusalem, and abode there three days”. Not they came, but we came. One loves to hear something like this experience. How many of us can say, We came to Jerusalem? It is a spiritual thought. We have to arrive at Jerusalem. It is the great central position spiritually. As soon as you arrive here you are determined to stay. They were determined to go up, and they came up, and it says, “we arrived”; and they spent three days before they did anything. A very important matter — that we should be careful in what we are doing, to take God into account in everything. Ezra with his company comes laden with precious vessels, carried through with the hand of God upon them, to Jerusalem, and they abode there three days, “Now on the fourth day was the silver and the gold and the vessels weighed in the house of our God, by the hand of Meremoth the son of Uriah the priest; and with him was Eleazar, the son of Phinehas; and with them was Jozabad, the son of Jeshua, and Noadiah, the son of Binnui, Levites. By number and by weight of every one, and all the weight was written at that time”. Some may say that certain brethren are too [p. 513] particular, but the Spirit of God records all these things, not because these priests were too particular, but because they were particular. We must be particular, if we are to have to do with the things of God, if we are to be priests in the house of God. And the question of vessels arises every day: when persons seek to walk with us we must see that they are weighed, as it were, for the wealth of a company of believers consists not only in its number, but in the weight spiritually of those who form it. Now these are very practical things. There are those, as I say, who complain and talk about exclusivism and so forth, but what do they mean? Looseness is behind what they say. It means that persons are considered before God’s principles. His rights; and the result is that we have His hands hampered. There are not conditions suitable to His operations. That He operates is true, but it is in spite of conditions, as I said earlier, instead of the conditions being favourable.
Well, that brings me to the first Scripture I read. It is the New Testament parallel to what we find in Ezra, and is as I might say the mandate for the people of God today, just as the decree of Cyrus was the mandate for the people of God in that day. It is a question of whether we have taken it up. In a great house there are vessels of such and such material, some to honour and some to dishonour. The allusion is very sorrowful, beloved friends, that the Spirit of God has to use the idea of a great house, for what had been called earlier the house of God. It is not called the great house of God; it is just great in the sense of bigness, in the sense which men would think of greatness in a religious way, but nevertheless, there are vessels to honour. For we cannot get out of the great house except by apostasy. We have to accept it, and in it there are vessels to honour. Then the point of the passage is, if a man shall separate himself from these (that is vessels to dishonour) he shall be a vessel to honour, sanctified and meet for the Master’s use, and prepared unto every [p. 514] good work. Now that is the position. In a few verses, we have the parallel to Ezra. There are vessels to honour, that is to say those who separate from vessels to dishonour. Earlier, it was said, “Let every one who names the name of the Lord withdraw from iniquity”. Iniquity is found in persons, but here it is what is more systematic. We withdraw from that, if we keep the commandments of the Lord; but vessels are individuals — persons marked off as dishonourable persons, it may be who deny the deity of Christ, persons who deny the inspiration of Scripture, and many other such things. They are proving themselves to be vessels to dishonour, and if we are to be vessels unto honour, we have to separate ourselves from them. And thus, dear brethren, you have the conditions, for divine operations, that is, you have vessels to honour, sanctified and meet for the Master’s use, and prepared unto every good work. There are those who take on certain work, or certain parts of the work, but a true vessel is ready for every good work.
These vessels or persons thus qualified, together follow righteousness, faith, love, and peace. They do this, as calling upon the Lord out of a pure heart. And that brings me to assembly formation, for the assembly today is what the temple was in Ezra’s day. You will see in the book how great stress is laid on the building of the temple; and the Spirit of God is endeavouring constantly to bring the idea of the assembly home to the mind and the heart of every christian. There is no greater thought, besides that of divine Persons, than that of the assembly; and the Holy Spirit is stressing it constantly with a view to getting the saints to lay hold of it. It is a heart matter. It is those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart, and so in localities, like this great city and others, where the saints are, the Holy Spirit is operating to bring about assembly conditions. It is not simply that I am outwardly in fellowship; I may be outwardly in the fellowship, but inwardly not.
[p. 515] I may belong to a certain party, for instance, I may be preferential in regard of the saints, maintaining an alliance with certain ones. All such things are simply hampering God’s hands in His operations. The appeal is for those that call on the Lord, not simply out of their hearts, but out of pure hearts. The word pure is rarely applicable, one has to admit, but it is the word given here. It would mean that all special preferences, to say nothing of outward worldliness, are repudiated in the heart. We are to get at each others hearts. It may seem difficult, but the Lord helps in this as in all else. As frank with our brethren as we meet them, we shall find out the state of our hearts, the Lord, as I said, helping. In this epistle it is said that He gives understanding in all things (2 Timothy 2: 7).
That is what I had in mind both for myself and for all; that the work of God should proceed, and that there should be conditions suitable for it. He should not be obliged to be working in spite of conditions, but with favourable conditions, so that the original features of the assembly should mark the closing days, as regards the work of God, and so we will go on always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that our labour is not in vain in the Lord.