2 CHRONICLES 5 (NOTES OF A READING)
2 CHRONICLES 5 (NOTES OF A READING)
CAC This is evidently the climax of the instruction contained in these chapters. The bringing of the ark of the covenant into the most holy place would, I think, set forth how God would have the saints of the assembly to enter in a very full and blessed way into the thought of Christ as in relation to Him.
Ques Is that an advance on the ark in the holiest in the tabernacle system in the wilderness?
CAC We hardly get the thought of the saints bringing it in there; it is Moses who puts it in its place, and so it is looked at from the divine side. But in this type what is suggested is that the saints are able to bring Him into His place. It is not here that God brings Him into His place, but the saints bring Him into His place. There are priests who are able to bring Him into His place in “the oracle of the house”, a word to be much noticed, because the oracle signifies that the mind of God is made known there. And that being connected with the most holy place would intimate to us that we get the fullest possible making known of what is the mind of God and that in reference to the place that Christ has before Him.
Ques Is it “accepted in the Beloved”?
CAC It is thinking of what He is to God.
Ques Is it ‘’Tis Jesus fills that holy place Where glory dwells’?
CAC Yes, but here we get the ability to bring Him there to the delight of God. That is the exercise of this scripture. Can we bring Him there for the delight of God? All christians would say He is worthy of the best and highest place, but it is another thing to minister to the pleasure of God, to bring Him into the place He rightly holds in relation to God. It is the highest part of the service of the assembly.
Ques Does “If ye loved me ye would rejoice that I go to the Father” (John 14: 28) touch it? But that is His own movement, of course.
CAC Yes, that is His own movement.
Ques When you spoke of the difference between the ark in Zion and in the holiest, would that be the passing over?
CAC Yes. One is the kingdom and the other the house. The kingdom must come first. The Lord reigns in Zion before He gets His place in the house.
Ques The ark brought “into its place”, is that significant?
CAC Yes, say a little more.
Rem If we can bring the ark into its place, would it give us capacity to apprehend what Christ is for God?
CAC And I think that brings in the overshadowing by the cherubim. I think it would be of spiritual advantage if we understood the place of Christ as the ark of the covenant, as the One who makes known and secures all that is for man in the heart of God. All that is overshadowed by the cherubim.
Rem And it is that secured in His people.
CAC Yes, God’s pleasure is secured by the saints moving in accord with Him. It is not exactly that it is secured in Christ, if you understand me, but it is really secured by the saints moving in accord with the greatness of Christ. Then He gets His pleasure in His people. “Jehovah taketh pleasure in his people” as we get in Psalm 149: 4. This overshadowing thought was the primary thought in connection with the incarnation. The angel said to Mary, “The Holy Spirit shall come upon thee, and power of the Highest overshadow thee, wherefore the holy thing also which shall be born shall be called Son of God” (Luke 1: 35). That is, He is seen in relation to God. The principle of overshadowing runs right through and, I believe, into the eternal state.
Rem God says, “Thou art my beloved Son”, and we are accepted in the Beloved.
CAC Our blessing is our side of it; it is not the terminus, though it is a good step on the way. This is not in Ephesians 1 but in Ephesians 3, “Glory in the assembly in Christ Jesus unto all generations of the age of ages”. That is the glory filling the house as we get in this chapter.
Ques As when Moses and Aaron go into the tent, by themselves, presenting all the excellencies of Christ, is that the idea?
CAC That is very important in connection with it, but it seems to me that what is suggested here is an advance on that; there is ability in the saints in their affections to bring Christ into His own proper place before God for His own delight.
We should not leave the thought of the cherubim without saying a little more about what is involved in it. I would suggest reading a verse in Psalm 91 as giving a kind of clue to it. “He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty”, in verse 1, and in verse 4, which speaks of Christ, “He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou find refuge”. It is the place of Christ in relation to God. If we are able to bring Him affectionately into His own place, we must understand what it is. We have it there and in such verses as we get in Psalm 22: 9, 10, “Thou didst make me trust, upon my mother’s breasts. I was cast upon thee from the womb”. He is under the overshadowing from His very birth. It is what He is for God, not what He is for man. So all through there is what answers to the overshadowing of the cherubim. When need required it the cherubim made their appearance. On the holy mount Peter wished to make three tabernacles. The glory came down and overshadowed and would not admit this defective thought of Peter’s. The revelation made to Peter was, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God”. It is Christ in relation to God. It is nothing about what He is in relation to me, but what He is to God.
In Luke’s gospel we find the Lord praying; He is alone praying (Luke 9: 18). What about? I believe that the disciples might be able to discern what He was to God, so as He rises from prayer He says, “Who do the crowds say that I am?” and then, What do you say? and the answer is, “The Christ of God” — what He is to God. Then you get the overshadowing of the ark.
Ques Who is it referring to in Psalm 91: 1, “He that dwelleth in the secret place”?
CAC It is the general principle that the one who dwells in the secret place of the Most High abides under the shadow of the Almighty. Evidently Christ was the only One that ever did. The Spirit of God is diligent to bring it out. We are so spiritually selfish. Most of our lives are spent in thinking about what Christ is to ourselves. We shall never bring the ark into its place on that line.
Rem You get the two sides in Romans in speaking of the resurrection. He “has been raised for our justification” (chapter 4: 25), and, “Christ has been raised up from among the dead by the glory of the Father” (chapter 6: 4) — it brings in the glory of the Father there.
CAC I am glad you mentioned that, it brings it out.
Even in death the cherubim overshadowed Him. There is the overshadowing in death, and it brings Him out in resurrection. “In that he lives, he lives to God” (chapter 6: 10). If only we thought more about this and prayed more, it would transform us. He would say to each of us here tonight, ‘This is My beloved Son; I want you to be concerned about what He is to Me’.
Rem “Let thy hand be upon the man of thy right hand” (Psalm 80: 17).
CAC Yes, a Man in a most wondrous relation all the time down here. The cherubim overshadowed Him all the while, in His birth, in death, in resurrection and in ascension. He was a unique Person. As sons we shall never be what He was as Son. As we think of Him in the eternal state, as we all know, He is going to be subject. “Then the Son also himself shall be placed in subjection to him who put all things in subjection to him” (1 Corinthians 15: 28). I take that along with the overshadowing of the cherubim. He is eternally in subjection.
I have often thought that the first chapter of John’s gospel begins by telling us He was God, but that also He was with God, intimating to us that He could be regarded even in the eternity past as having a place with God, indicating that He is going to have a place with God eternally. “Father, as to those whom thou hast given me, I desire that where I am they also may be with me, that they may behold my glory which thou hast given me, for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world” (John 17: 24).
Now God’s thought is that we should be able to bring Him into the place that properly belongs to Him — His own proper place with God; and if we do that we shall please God very much. That is the instruction of this chapter as I see it. We have degraded the Psalms by bringing them down to ourselves. Psalm 91 is not true of christians. You may fall ill and die tomorrow; how does it apply? We must put things in the proper setting in the proper time. The devil wanted Christ to apply this scripture at the wrong time. If a saint said, ‘This is true of Christ’, he has added immensely to the Psalm and gets very much more comfort from it than if he said, ‘It is true of me’.
Rem He speaks of “the glory which I had along with thee before the world was” (John 17: 5).
CAC He is speaking of His place with the Father before the world was, what was unique to Himself, but as the truth is developed in the Lord’s prayer He speaks of another glory the Father has given Him which the saints can behold. “They also may be with me, that they may behold my glory which thou hast given me, for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world”. That is very like bringing the ark into its place. I think it is an immense thing to see His place with the Father. That would help us greatly to understand this chapter. To be with Me to behold My glory, that is, He brings His own to contemplate a glory which was in keeping with the Father’s love to Him before the world began. What a great service in the assembly for the saints to bring Him in their affections into the place that He has in the Father’s love. This is the highest point in the Old Testament and it will only be reached by saints of the assembly. No other family will go into the holiest to begin with: so it is now or never.
It is important to notice that the staves are covered as well as the ark.
Ques What is suggested in that?
CAC It suggests to me that not only was Christ personally overshadowed by the cherubim, but the saints as carrying Him in testimony are overshadowed by the cherubim. Think of what is in the mind of God, that what Christ is in relation to Him should be carried for two thousand years in this world, for that is the divine thought, and that is overshadowed. Then in the holiest the staves are drawn out, the carrying service is over. It is the place of permanent rest for the ark. It is not forgotten that it has been carried. The staves are left there so that anybody in the holiest could see them, not put away in a box somewhere. That is, it is never to be forgotten that Christ has been carried in testimony for almost two thousand years. It is a sanctuary matter. The understanding of all this is a sanctuary matter, not a public one. We have to remember that this is the mind of God; it is the oracle. You may say, ‘Where can we see it? I do not know a company that has been doing it’, but that is the mind of God.
Ques What is the idea of overshadowing?
CAC I think it is protection as being delightful to God. The cherubim in the temple looked outward, as if to say, God’s outlook on the universe is the standpoint of what Christ is to Him. We are brought to the very centre of God’s moral universe when we see the ark in the holiest. This carrying in testimony was faithfully performed by the apostles. They actually did it. And they did not break down in their testimony. The Lord prayed that their faith might not fail. If we had the apostles with us next Lord’s day, we should find they were men who could bring the ark into its proper place with God.
Ques What is the purpose of the cherubim?
CAC It is God looking out to the universe from the great standpoint of Christ. There are authorities and principalities and mighty beings we know nothing about, but they will have to come to it that Christ is their Head, and God is working at the present moment that this might become a reality before the church is translated. And that is why He had these two books of Chronicles written, to show it is possible for it to be realised in remnant times. There is something that surpasses the Davidic order of service. The service by courses has to give place to something wider. We find in verse 11 all the priests had come out, and the Levites, the singers and the priests were all joining together “to make one voice to be heard” (verse 13).
Ques Why is there the omission of the courses?
CAC Oh, I think something larger is coming into view. The service by courses would imply the brothers taking part by turns in the morning meeting, but then there is something better than that. What is suggested in the verses here is that you come to a movement which is properly assembly service, that is the whole assembly moves as one in the service. I do not know that we know much about it, but it is the divine idea. We should always have it before us, Christ being brought into His place, and then the whole assembly moves. It is not saying ‘Amen’ to what one brother says. There is an assembly movement, all in a most blessed unity. And then the glory comes in.
Ques It might be unexpressed?
CAC It might be so, but there is such a thing as the heart of the saints being so unified, so absorbed in the joy of what Christ is to God, that they are charmed. It is a collective movement, and then the glory comes in. God loves collective movement.
Ques Would that bring all together into one voice expressing what the Lord has brought us to?
CAC I think that is right. That brings us to a point where priestly service ends; and we should like to reach that point sometimes.
Rem “That ye may with one accord, with one mouth, glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 15: 6).
CAC That is the end, that is the thought. He is brought by His people before God, and then there is a unifying of all hearts into one voice, and the glory comes in and the priests go out. What is priestly has no more place.
Rem The part referring to the priests is bracketed.
CAC Part of verse 11 and the whole of verse 12 are bracketed to show how they were all brought into unity until they were all one. “It came to pass when the trumpeters and singers were as one, to make one voice to be heard in praising and thanking Jehovah; and when they lifted up their voice with trumpets, and cymbals, and instruments of music, and praised Jehovah: For he is good, for his loving-kindness endureth for ever; that then the house, the house of Jehovah, was filled with a cloud, and the priests could not stand to do their service because of the cloud; for the glory of Jehovah had filled the house of God”. The glory comes in; all that is offered is ended.
Rem There is no further room for service. God is all in all.
CAC That is the idea. In John we have “I go to prepare you a place; and if I go and shall prepare you a place, I am coming again and shall receive you to myself, that WHERE I AM (mark that, the ark in its place), ye also may be” (John 14: 3). You do not get the thought of priesthood there. There is a great difference between the temple and the Father’s house.
So when you come to the holy city, John saw no temple in it. “The Lord God Almighty is its temple, and the Lamb” (Revelation 21: 20). The temple drops and it is divine Persons, it is God and the Lamb; and the saints are filled with the glory of God, as has been said, God all in all. It is every vessel filled with God, and nothing can be added; you have reached finality. Is it possible for it to be reached in the assembly now?
Rem It would not be suggested if it could not be reached.
CAC That is what I think.
‘When all things filled by Thee are wholly blest,
And God’s deep love eternally shall rest
In that which ever speaks to Him of Thee,
Thy greatness, Lord, the universe shall see’. (293:5)