2 CHRONICLES 3 AND 4 (NOTES OF A READING)
2 CHRONICLES 3 AND 4 (NOTES OF A READING)
2 Chronicles 3: 15 - 17; 2 Chronicles 4: 1 - 8
CAC From what we have been reading, I suppose we should gather that things were moving outward, that is, we have had the holy place and the most holy, but now we get what is “before” the temple.
This portion, I should gather, has reference to the saints as set up in the place of testimony.
Ques Is there any connection between the two pillars before the house and what we get in Timothy, “The pillar and base of the truth”?
CAC I wondered whether that might be a reference or allusion to Jacob’s pillar.
Ques Is it the saints in testimony; is that why there are two pillars?
CAC Well, I should think so. Two is a number that is connected with testimony in Scripture. I wondered whether the thought was that God would set up His saints in such a way that there might be attraction to His house, that people might be attracted to what they see in the pillars. They were before the temple and the thought of ornamentation on them would indicate something attractive. I think we come to that thought in this section. After leaving what is inside the house we are enabled to take up, or rather God would set us up as, an attractive testimony to Himself in this world.
Ques Would the chains suggest divinely wrought links, and the pomegranates the unity of the fellowship? The pomegranates were placed on the chains.
CAC Yes, that is interesting and helpful, say a little more.
Rem The chains suggest distinctly the thought of links and the pomegranates what is compacted in divine affections. The fruit is of that nature, full of numerous and closely packed seeds. It is fellowship in love that binds together. The chains are golden and forged for eternity.
CAC Yes, so that there might be divine features.
Ques Were there attractive features seen in the temple when the lame man was there, and the apostles said “Look on us” (Acts 3: 4)?
CAC Yes, I think they were seen in those two servants.
Ques What had you in mind with regard to Jacob’s pillar?
CAC I thought that Timothy was going back to the basic thought of the house of God.
Ques Is there the thought of dignity attaching to the height of these pillars?
CAC I think so. I wondered whether we could expect saints to come to us apart from being attractive. It should be an exercise to us that those who fear God and value His things should be able to take account of us as different from all around us; so that there should be attraction towards the temple.
Rem “Of the rest durst no man join them” (Acts 5: 13). It attracts what is of God and repels what is not of God, would you say?
CAC Yes, I think there is a repellent power about what is of God, repelling what is contrary to itself.
Ques That should be found among us in our local gatherings, would you say?
CAC Yes, it is the divine thought. The pillars represent a certain prominence, they were lofty pillars, and it is God-given prominence. There are two great principles clearly connected with them. Jachin means, “He will establish”, and Boaz, “In Him is strength”. That is, these pillars would represent the saints as divinely established in Christ and finding all their strength in God. So that things are not only set up but maintained. They are twin pillars, one is not without the other.
Rem There is no mention of the material the pillars are made of. Would it suggest more what the saints are as in Christ; is it in that connection?
CAC Yes, I should think so, that is, as established by God.
The epistle to the Romans is for that purpose. Paul says, “That I may impart to you some spiritual gift to establish you” (Romans 1: 11). It is a great epistle to pray over if we want to be established, and it closes, “Now to him that is able to establish you, according to my glad tidings and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery”. The Lord is able to establish us, not only in the elements of things, but in the fulness of what is in His own mind. Then we want strength to be maintained in what is of God; and these two thoughts are clearly set forth in these two pillars.
Ques Is there the thought of adornment in the pillars?
CAC I think so; so that we find at the end of Romans the long list of salutations and the different features in connection with the saints, which brings out how they adorn the position. What God would establish us in is all that came out for His pleasure in Christ. God is never going to change His mind in what pleases Him. He has brought it out fully in Christ, and now it is to be extended. That thought is prominent in connection with the temple; things take a larger form, they are extended and multiplied.
Ques Why are things higher here than in Kings?
CAC They are certainly higher than when referred to at the beginning of Kings: see 1 Kings 7: 15, 16. Here the pillars are thirty-five cubits and the capitals another five cubits, which make forty cubits altogether. All this brought out in remnant times gives enlargement of thought to counteract the tendency to look upon it merely as a day of small things. God would counteract that by His word and get us to take an enlarged estimate of things.
We read in Ezra that the temple in that time was actually three times the size of Solomon’s; so saying it was nothing was simply a delusion of their unbelief. God’s things do not diminish, they increase. It is a fixed principle that does not alter.
Rem James and Peter and John are referred to as being conspicuous as pillars and they gave to Paul and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship to go to the nations and they to the Jews, so that all help together in the assembly.
CAC Yes. We have to learn to look at things according to God. The day in which we are living is probably the greatest day of all, just before the translation of the saints of the assembly. God’s thoughts are being learnt by thousands of saints all over the world, in ministry giving the greatness of God’s thoughts in Christ, and the possibilities there are in the Spirit. So that when Paul is shut up in prison and in chains more is expanded in God’s wisdom than when he was free.
Rem “I have strength for all things in him that gives me power”, Paul said (Philippians 4: 13).
CAC I think that is just what it is. We have strength in God to enable us to maintain the things in which He has established us. We are weak things we must confess, but it is because we are not established in Romans. God would establish us in Christ and in the Spirit. It brings all that out; but we need the “Boaz” as well as the “Jachin”.
Rem I notice Solomon made a new brazen altar for the temple. This is not the one he used at Gibeon.
CAC And it was a very much larger one, which I think brings out the sacrificial principle. This great altar, twenty cubits square, shows that the sacrificial principle is to be very great in relation to the house of God. God has brought out the principle in its greatness in Christ; but the altar here refers to the extension of it in the saints.
Ques Is the brazen altar here for God, or for blessing to men?
CAC It refers to what is offered to God. Christ has introduced the offering period, He has offered up Himself. But the principle of offering is to continue, that is, there is to be a bringing to God of what pleases Him, and at some personal cost.
Rem It seems to suggest to me here what God finds His complacency in, even in the cherubim.
CAC I think, of course, the offering on the altar is particularly the burnt-offering, and that is delightful to God as a sweet odour of Christ, but it has cost something to get it, which gives it a sacrificial aspect.
Rem “By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise continually to God” (Hebrews 13: 15).
CAC Yes, it all costs us something. The knowledge of God in our hearts costs us something; we did not come by it easily. God bears with what does not please Him at Gibeon, but the altar is what ministers to the pleasure of God, and every sacrifice has been acquired through exercise.
Rem The saints will never lose the sense of sacrifice throughout eternity.
CAC It takes a great deal of its value from the force of contrast now. We are to act Godward on the principle of sacrifice, that is, what a brother says in praise to God that has cost him nothing is of no value. What we have had through exercise and anguish of heart, and been broken to pieces over so that we can value Christ, we can bring as appreciating Christ, to God.
Then it is the same of giving; it works both ways. Paul says to the Philippians, “Having received ... the things sent from you, an odour of sweet savour, an acceptable sacrifice, agreeable to God”. Well, that enters into the sacrifice on the altar too. It is a wonderful thing that this altar privilege is open to us. Christ has opened the way for us. It has been offered in the fullest possible way in Christ.
Rem Ephesians 5: 2 says, “Walk in love, even as the Christ loved us, and delivered himself up for us, an offering and sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savour”.
CAC Yes, it is brought in in a practical way in the walk of the saints. It all takes on an altar character; how we walk together is really a sacrificial thing. If it were understood, we should be more ready to give up our self-importance and all that hinders love. And the sea comes in to help us in that connection. It shows the extensive provision for purification; three thousand baths is an immense quantity of water. And the sea is for the priests to wash in; there is no sacrificial service apart from it. The priests wash in it, so it is really connected with altar service. It involves the patient and persistent service of Christ as set forth in the three hundred and twelve bullocks.
Ques Where does it say three hundred and twelve?
CAC It says so. There was “the similitude of oxen”, ten in a cubit; and it was thirty cubits round, so that there were three hundred small and twelve large oxen, all suggesting the patient and persistent service of Christ. It belongs to His service that the washing of water by the word should go on, so that we are in suitability for altar service. If it does not go on we are disqualified.
The three hundred oxen, ten in a cubit, set forth how the service of Christ operates in detail. Then the twelve bullocks, north, west, south and east, represent the universality of the service. It is very interesting to think of the patient service of Christ in feet-washing, so that we are fitted for the service of the assembly every time, so that we get freshly washed every time that we go up.
Ques Would you say that it takes place in your own room?
CAC Yes, or when you meet any brother or sister that may influence you so that a cloud or anything over you is removed. It ought to be done, of course, before we come together.
Ques Do the lilies on the brim represent the standard of purity required?
CAC Yes, they show a purity that will satisfy all the exigencies of the nature of God.
Ques Why are all the measurements given here multiples of ten? There is only one twelve. The city is multiples of twelve. Is there a significance in that?
CAC Yes, because it has in view the weakness that marks the saints in relation to responsible service.
Rem There is provision for the priests for cleansing.
CAC Well, that is His consideration. He is full of consideration for us, and He measures the need of our cleansing service far more than we do. It has to do with the saints as in conditions of weakness. How much we need the service of Christ in detail. There are many things we take no notice of that are grieving to the heart of Christ, and He takes notice of them that they should be cleansed. He would not have anything unsuitable about us for His service. The priests washed themselves,
suggesting exercise on their part. Sometimes a large adjustment is required to answer to the large oxen, like the clerical or sectarian principle; it is a big thing that positively hinders the service of God, requiring the large oxen. Then there are little details in our lives which need to be cleansed before we can possibly approach the altar.
Kings gives the heavenly side. Chronicles is more occupied with what is worked out here on earth and therefore applies more in its fulness to the millennial time; but it applies to us now and is to be worked out now.
There is great extension, ten lavers, ten candlesticks and ten tables here. Everything prepared for the burnt-offering is to be rinsed, a more particular application of the water than the washing of the priests. Each part of the offering has to be rinsed.
Ques How does that work out?
CAC In every offering of praise there should be a careful elimination of anything that is of the natural man. Each offering passes under the purifying of the ten lavers. It indicates the refined character of sacrifice: the principle of cleansing is to be applied to every offering. If you do good and communicate, it must be washed or there might be a feature of vainglory in it; for it is not fit for the altar if it is marred by vanity or self-consideration.
The thoughts set out in the tabernacle are here very much extended. The light is not centralised in one, but diffused through ten candlesticks. The Lord is looking for that now. The light is not for one or two, it is to be worked out in and to pervade the whole company of the saints. This number ten suggests that the thing is to be worked out in responsibility. So the principle of purification is applied to all the details of service.
Then the light is diffused. It used to be that there were two or three enlightened persons in a meeting, but God wants the light diffused, so that saints as a whole are marked by ability to diffuse the light.
Rem It says “there were many lights in the upper room” in Acts 20.
CAC Yes, I think the Lord is deeply interested that there should be a development of light amongst us.
We often hear temple light spoken of, but we shall not get temple light, save as we all get into it, and into the spirit of enquiry. If there were a hundred persons all in the spirit of enquiry there would be a great accession of light. We must all be in it. I think the Lord feels it when we are not interested enough to enquire. There are ten tables, not one: the thing is extended for the pleasure of God, and there is a much greater supply of bread. So that God has more pleasure in the saints; there is more purifying, more light and more spiritual food. We should not be satisfied with anything less than that.
Rem Would it lead to an increase of gatherings by expansion?
CAC We read later on there were so many offerings that the brazen altar was not great enough to hold them all. A brother said that in a certain meeting there was not time for the brothers to take part that wanted to, and there must be an extension of the assembly. That is what we want to see, so many wanting to serve that there is not time for all.