2 CHRONICLES 6 (NOTES OF A READING)
2 CHRONICLES 6 (NOTES OF A READING)
Ques Would you say a word as to the cloud at the end of the previous chapter, and later on there is the glory?
CAC What is your thought?
Rem That in general it is the symbol of the divine presence.
CAC I think we connected it with the thought of “glory in the assembly in Jesus Christ unto all generations of the age of ages”, a point being reached where there is nothing in evidence but divine glory. I think that should be before us as a spiritual ideal in regard to the assembly.
Ques Does the glory bring about the cloud?
CAC Yes, I suppose it was the cloud of glory; not the darkening cloud, but a cloud permeated with the radiance of divine glory.
Ques In verse 14, why does it speak of “the glory of Jehovah” and “the house of God”?
CAC I suppose the name “Jehovah” would suggest the personal way in which God is known by His saints. In reading the scripture we have the present time in view, and we regard “Jehovah” in that light. Jehovah was the special name by which God was known to His people. The thought of His name is prominent in the verses we have read this evening and there is that which answers to it in the present period, so that according to God’s name so is His praise. We are concerned as to what the Spirit will give us as light as to the house at the present day.
That was only the shadow; now we have the substance.
Rem “The priests could not stand to do their service”.
CAC When the divine presence is there the service takes on a more intimate character. You would hardly think of the son with the best robe upon him and the ring and the shoes, brought into the father’s house, serving as a priest.
Rem It says they “could not stand to do their service”. You could consider it would be a moment of worship; they were bowed in the presence of this cloud.
CAC Yes. When the Father seeks worshippers who can worship Him in spirit and truth, there is the thought of great nearness, which surpasses anything official. In the intimate presence of the glory all that is official is left behind and souls are filled with the blessedness of God. It is possible to reach that point. We sing sometimes,
‘And filled with Thee, the constant mind
Eternally is blest’. (178:3)
Souls filled with God are not in official service. The cloud indicates that conditions are brought about that are absolutely to His satisfaction; so that priestly service is not needed. His saints are restful too in His having carried out the purposes of His love to His entire satisfaction. I suppose restfulness will mark the Father’s house rather than service. It is more the thought of “place” — the blessing of the place. “That where I am ye also may be”, as much as to say: ‘That is all you will want’. And that is all the Father wants; His pleasure is to have them there. “That where I am”, the Son says, “ye also may be”. And the Father’s glory rests there, we might say. And this is to show that the highest possible point can be reached by the saints when they are ready for it. It requires preparedness, but it shows that it is possible. Moses said, “Let me, I pray thee, see thy glory”. He wanted to look at it. You do not think of service when you are beholding divine glory; you are thinking purely of the blessedness of the Father and the Son. I feel I know little of it, but this I do know: it is a reality and to be known, and to be regarded as the climax of assembly privilege.
Rem God said to Moses, “Thou shalt see me from behind: but my face shall not be seen” (Exodus 33: 23 ).
CAC The great teaching of that is that God only can be known when He has passed by. Then it becomes the privilege of faith and love to see the wonderful way He has passed by in incarnation, in death and resurrection, and in ascension.
Moses saw the whole system of divine glory bound up in the types of the tabernacle, so it was no new thing for him when he appeared in the glory on the mount; he was somewhat familiar with it. The glory is “the excellent glory”, Peter tells us, and Paul is in fellowship with Peter when he says it is “surpassing glory”; that is, we have to do with a glory that exceeds everything. It is the undimmed light of the blessed God, not an obscured light. It is a cloud radiated with divine glory; it is the divine glory.
Rem Hebrews 1 speaks of “the effulgence of his glory”.
CAC Hebrews 1 tells us He is that, and the exact expression of God’s substance. It is a remarkable word meaning that the substance of God has come into full expression without any diminution; that is, there is no dimming of the light as seen in the Son. There may be that expressed in the Son which is beyond creature apprehension, but all that God is essentially and substantially is expressed by the Son.
I hope we shall not get away from the thought that this is a present object of realisation and this is the crown.
We cannot go back over the last two month’s readings, but you have to put it all together to get a condition of things into which the cloud of glory can come. It is a beautiful picture of the assembly viewed as the product of divine workmanship, so that the glory can come in and fill the scene. It is a brief experience. It was a brief experience then, and I am sure it is a brief experience now, partly depending on whether we are interested. How many of us pray that we may see the glory of God when together on the first day of the week? Do we desire it?
Rem Caleb and Joshua had the land always before them.
CAC Israel were hundreds of years in the land before they built the house. It is the climax of all that is typically presented in the Old Testament, the crowning point, and it was brought out in remnant times having in mind these very days in which we are living, that we might aspire to know the reality of this in spiritual experience.
Ques Is it a touch of what will be, God all in all?
CAC Yes, for a brief moment.
The thought in chapter 6 is much more general and has to do with the public position. We have been speaking of the most spiritual elements in the christian position and privilege; but then the house can be viewed in its public position. That is what we get in chapter 6. Here he marks the contrast in verses 1 and 2. I think verse 1 is very much like the verse, “No one has seen God at any time; the only-begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him”, in John’s gospel. There is the contrast. And in the epistle he applies it to the saints: “No one has seen God at any time: if we love one another, God abides in us, and his love is perfected in us” (1 John 4: 12). That is, God has a present dwelling in His saints. God has a “settled place” on earth which corresponds with His settled place in heaven.
Solomon says, ‘I have built Thee a settled place here on earth’. That is clearly the thought of the house of God in its public aspect. God has a settled dwelling on earth.
Ques Is what we have been having more the Corinthian idea of the house and this more the Ephesian side, which answers today to the public position?
CAC God dwelling in His people so as to be expressed there, is that not a public matter? As in Timothy where suitable behaviour is called for, and in Ephesians where Jew and gentile are “built together for a habitation of God in the Spirit”. God is bringing His people back to the thought that He has a settled place on earth. One divine Person took up His residence there, so that the divine Persons have free course. So God is to be expressed continually amongst His people. Our meetings ought to be an evidence of this, so that, as Scripture says, a man coming in reports “that God is indeed amongst you” (1 Corinthians 14: 25). The presence of God on earth is a thing that is to be publicly known. The Lord said to His disciples, He (the Holy Spirit) “shall be with you for ever”. “He abides with you, and shall be in you”. That is, there is a settled dwelling place of God on earth, and He has no thought of giving it up.
Ques Has prayer a great place in it?
CAC Yes, it is brought out here. An imperfect state of things is in view, not at all like what we have been looking at. It is the public position, and our public testimony is of no value unless it gives the impression and has the mark of God dwelling here.