2 CHRONICLES 3 (NOTES OF A READING)
2 CHRONICLES 3 (NOTES OF A READING)
CAC It has been brought before us on past occasions that the primary thought of the house is that God dwells there, His name is there, with a view to His being expressed in grace to men. There is also the thought of God being approached, which is a corresponding thought, but the first is the greater. The means of approach are set forth in chapter 4; but in chapter 3 it is the construction of the house. Thus at the present time God is giving great extension of what was presented to men in His beloved Son. That is, He is giving extension to it in the way of testimony, and one might say it is an extension of His pleasure.
Ques Is that connected with the thought of “the greater house” (verse 5)?
CAC Yes, as we move outward, things are extended, not as to their perfection and power and fulness, for that was all set forth in Christ Himself, but things are extended as to the scope of testimony and the sphere of divine pleasure. Things are vastly extended, for the house extends all over the world now.
Rem And that would be consequent on the ascension of Christ and the gift of the Spirit.
CAC I thought so; things are immensely extended on earth through Christ being glorified.
Ques Would it be the aspect of the house in 1 Timothy, or in both 1 and 2 Timothy?
CAC I think specially in 2 Timothy. I think you get the porch in 2 Timothy, and the behaviour in the house in the first epistle. The porch is the prominent thing in the house. At the beginning of Acts the one hundred and twenty towered far above the temple and all its ritual. The Holy Spirit sent down from heaven gives the true elevation of the porch. There was a great extension in the one hundred and twenty, and more in the three thousand, and then in the five thousand, and then in the myriads, as it says in Acts 21: 20.
Rem In 1 Timothy it says, “Who desires that all men should be saved” (chapter 2: 4), and “Who gave himself a ransom for all” (verse 6).
Rem “From the rising of the sun even unto its setting my name shall be great among the nations” (Malachi 1: 11).
CAC That is the result — the response. But the response could never be equal to the coming out, because the coming out is God. The response is of the creature and that could never be so great.
Ques “Boldness and access in confidence by the faith of him” (Ephesians 3: 12). Is that the response?
CAC This is the construction of the house which takes its character from Solomon’s foundation all through.
Ques We have often heard it said that ‘the response is equal to the revelation’. How would it be not equal to it?
CAC Well, that is true in Christ, that is the measure, the full standard. When we think of what God is in His nature and what His attributes are and then how He can come out in grace, that is transcendent. The city comes down from heaven, with the glory of God. Well, where did she get that? I only wish to distinguish between what is infinite with God and what is limited with the creature. God would have His people set together collectively as His house for the expression of Himself to men; it is the greatest of all.
Rem “The glad tidings of the glory of the blessed God” (1 Timothy 1: 11).
Rem The approach of God is connected with the house, but must be greater than the house itself.
CAC Yes, and afterwards the cloud came down and filled the house. The cloud was greater than the house. It was the Shekinah.
The saints are qualified by the work of the Spirit and as formed in the divine nature to give a just expression of God, and that is the thought of being covered with gold. Very little is made of the material in this book. In Kings, which gives the heavenly side, more is made of the cedar, the olive-wood and stones for building, but here more is made of the gold with which it is covered. It is a question of men being taken up, and taken up so that they may be covered with gold by the work of the Spirit.
Rem That is men in general, not taking account of exercise, or large or small.
CAC I think the material is emphasised in Kings because it regards saints as of heavenly origin. The prominent thought here is what they are overlaid with, the gold. The process is going on this minute for I assume that we have the Spirit. The work goes on as we refuse the flesh and give place to the gold. It should increase every year; every year there should be more gold on us.
Rem It is the prominence given to God’s side.
CAC What is prominent is what is effective as the result of the gift of the Spirit, which is not the end as we are inclined to think, but the beginning. The gold is the best, the most excellent quality.
Rem Much is made of God in the gospels which record the miracles of Christ as Man. It says, “All were astonished at the glorious greatness of God” (Luke 9:43).
CAC It is a wonderful statement. Oh, that we could make that impression on people!
Rem That comes out in Luke 9 at the foot of the mount of transfiguration after the deliverance effected from Satan.
CAC The whole point is that God may have good pleasure in man; what was in Christ extended in men.
Rem The Lord “manifested his glory; and his disciples believed on him”, it says in John 2: 11.
CAC Yes, it is the full declaration of God in the Son, and that is to be extended in the saints. It is the Spirit’s work that covers them with gold.
Rem The Lord asked, “Which is greater, the gold, or the temple which sanctifies the gold?” (Matthew 23: 17).
CAC It is a little different there perhaps; that is, the Jews and Pharisees were more occupied with what was outward, but then the great thing was that the temple was there; the spiritual reality of God’s name being there was the great thing. We are all more apt to think of the outward than of the inward.
Rem The great climax of everything is that God will “be all in all” (1 Corinthians 15: 28).
CAC Yes, I think that is the end of it.
Ques Would the gold here represent the work of God in relation to the saints?
CAC Yes, it is the thought of being constructed, it is the responsible side. It does not come upon us without exercise, but by refusing the flesh and going on with the Spirit. So the thought is that nothing appears but the work of the Spirit. The house was decorated too with palms and chains and cherubim, which I think falls into line with what we have been saying. Palms speak of victory, of overcoming. Gold is only acquired on the principle of overcoming. If what is of God is to come into practical power in our souls, we must refuse the world and the flesh, so that overcoming is vital.
Chains are expressive of holding power. ‘Captives in the chains of love’, as we often sing. The bridegroom in the Song of Songs says his heart has been ravished “With one chain of thy neck” (chapter 4: 9). It is really by being brought under the captivating power of divine love that things are effected. Whole-heartedness is the product of being captivated.
Rem I was thinking yesterday that it says, “Daniel purposed in his heart” (Daniel 1: 8), and of Moses, “It came into his heart to look upon his brethren” (Acts 7:23).
CAC God exercises a captivating power in the house. The hymn puts it in the future rather, but we would like it in the present. Saints moving on this line will be in personal harmony with the government of God. There would be nothing to conflict with His government.
The seraphim are more connected with His divine nature; the cherubim more with the attributes of God and are suggestive of things marking the saints as the construction goes on. Let us not forget that it goes on now, and it moves on these lines so that there may be a proper expression of God here on earth in His house. And God is dealing with each one individually to set aside what interferes with that.
Rem Both the cherubim turned inwards in the tabernacle (Exodus 37: 9), here they “were toward the house”.
CAC It think that shows that God in His government is protecting holy things. It is a new and additional feature. Now you get the thought of these large cherubim which are looking outward. I think it indicates the sense that saints get in the holiest of the protecting government of God. If it were not for that we should not be here any more. The outward outlook is towards all nations, and so the government of God exercises a protecting influence so that we have the precious things of God.
Rem There are the “precious stones” (verse 6), a different kind of ornament from the palm-trees and chains.
CAC They would represent saints as having distinctive impressions of Christ. The divine nature is marked by similarity in the saints, all gold. Their exercises give some distinctive feature of Christ that becomes their beauty. It was so with the apostles, and so they are found in the wall of the city (Revelation 21:14; Revelation 21:19,20). Mr Stoney used to say, ‘We first admire, then accept, and finally, we adopt’. That is, the work will always begin with admiration; we admire what we see in Christ. Then we accept that is the only thing that will do for us, and the will of God; and finally, we adopt it. Do you not think that the adornment comes actually when we adopt it? We are apt to stop at admiring the features of Christ, without adopting them.
Rem In the gospel I have been noticing how the Lord ‘sends out’ His disciples. “As the Father sent me forth, I also send you” (John 20: 21) and other passages.
CAC Quite so. Now the construction work depends on spiritual diligence. It does not go on by listening to ministry. We first learn objectively, and we admire. Then there is a point when we accept; nothing else will do. The thing that is true in Him is true in me. Then we adopt the thing, by the grace of God.
The cherubim being on the walls (verse 7) shows the saints are to harmonise with the government of God. Either we are against it, it grates on us and checks us and we chafe at it, or we are in harmony and find it always working in our favour.
Rem “All things work together for good to those who love God” (Romans 8: 28).
Rem What a lot of chafing it would save us if we could see this.
Rem The palm-trees and chains seem linked together.
CAC Yes, I think so. It is a little remarkable that the “upper chambers” (verse 9) are brought in along with the “house of the most holy place” (verses 8, 10). They are covered with gold. The three storeys we get in Kings do not appear here.
Ques What meaning do you attach to that?
CAC I wondered if the “upper chambers” do not come out in the gospel of John, particularly in chapters 13 - 17.
Rem They certainly seem upper-chamber chapters.
CAC Would you say they go along with Ephesians? There you have got the elevation of the divine thought.
Rem “Jesus said these things, and going away hid himself from them” (John 12:36). Chapters 13 - 17 are said in secret.
CAC He is going to the Father, but linking them with Himself; they are His own in the world, and they are to have part with Him. It is often said that the “many abodes” (John 14: 2) refer to the chambers of the house, but the place is where He is.
Rem The length was according to the breadth in the most holy place (verse 8). What is the thought there?
CAC Yes, it is just the same measure as the altar. As we have often been told, the altar is equal to the holiest, speaking of God being glorified with regard to the question of sin.
Rem “Now is the Son of man glorified, and God is glorified in him” (John 13: 31).
CAC It is in every sense equal to the holiest. That is why the saints can have to do with the holiest, because of the death and sufferings of the Son of man.
Rem I wondered why Solomon made another brazen altar (chapter 4: 1).
CAC I think the principle is enlargement in the temple. Things are all multiplied and extended. It all bears on this thought that God is extending things in His house. On the basis of God being glorified as to the question of sin, we can have to do with the holiest. And yet there is a veil in Chronicles still, showing that the teaching applies to the present time. There is no veil in Kings.
Ques. Would you say more?
CAC Kings gives the heavenly side of things. You would not expect it in Colossians or Ephesians. If reconciled in the body of His flesh through death, there is suitability to the holiest. Reconciliation fits the saints for the holiest. But then we are not altogether in that region yet. We are living still in flesh, and to enter the holiest we must go through the veil. There must be the personal going in through the death of Christ, and through the value of His blood. That is, “Within the veil” is a purely spiritual region; so that in order to reach it we leave our responsible life and we go through the death of Christ into a purely spiritual region. So it requires exercise to do it.
Rem There is no mention of scarlet here in the veil as in the tabernacle, but crimson (verse 14).
CAC It brings out the varied glories attached to the Person of Christ, but then He had to go into death that we might go through the veil into the holiest. We cannot go in as natural men and women, we must go “through the veil”.
Ques What is the thought of the nails?
CAC It is an interesting subject of enquiry, why the nails should be found only in the most holy place. It shows the necessity for things to be held together in the power of the divine nature. It is an extraordinary weight of gold that covers the most holy place, showing that what pertains to the most holy place requires an extraordinary measure of divine development, things in that region being held together by the nails, which is necessary in order to touch the things that are most holy.