2 CHRONICLES 7 (NOTES OF A READING)
2 CHRONICLES 7 (NOTES OF A READING)
Ques What connection is there between the glory filling the house of Jehovah here, and the glory filling the house of God at the end of chapter 5?
CAC It would seem to be instructive to notice the difference. In chapter 5 the glory fills the house in connection with the ark being brought into its place, and the singers and trumpeters being as one in connection with this great spiritual movement. If one might so say, it is a greater movement than what we get here, because it is connected with what is inward, with the ark getting its place in the holiest of all; it is the inward thought. But we are still in the outward position in chapter 7, with things connected with the earth. Is that not the difference?
Ques How does that apply to christianity?
CAC I think it does. The court is certainly outward. It is more in relation to things here and all the vessels in the court are made of brass as we have often noticed. That is, the brazen altar, the lavers and the pillars all have to do with what is moral, with the place where the question of good and evil has to be raised and settled.
Ques Would it correspond with the Lord’s day morning and the prayer meeting?
CAC That is what I thought. It is an outward position here. We no longer have the wonderful place connected with the most holy place, but an outward place where moral questions have been settled by the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus; and the glory comes in in connection with that thought. It is lower ground; it has to do with a place which is characterised by brass. Brass is certainly inferior to gold. It has to do with the whole scene in which we have to find our way in connection with Solomon’s prayer, and we should be entangled in some evil if we did not go in dependence. If we do get entangled we are dependent on the blessed God to disentangle us. So we are all on the line of calling on the Lord out of a pure heart. It is the only way we can go on in a scene like this.
Rem How wonderful the realisation of the end of chapter 5 must be, when the ark is brought to its place.
CAC God expects the saints, in the type in chapter 5, to be able to bring Christ to His proper place in the presence of God. Chapter 5 is inward, the seventh is outward. Hence the importance of sacrifices. They do not belong to the inward position; but to the court.
Ques Why does it say that the priests could not stand there?
CAC I think it suggests there is an order of things that surpasses what is priestly. The priests were not equal to the glory any more than the Israelites were when Moses’ face shone. The glory has a different effect now; it brings about correspondence instead of disparity. There is something greater than service after all. There is nothing said about the service of the prodigal in the father’s house. Worship is greater because sons can serve on the line of appreciating all that God is as known to them in love. There is a higher thought. “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” (John 17: 24). That is greater surely than any thought of service.
Ques Will that not impel worship?
CAC Surely. The wonderful thing about eternity and the eternal state is “God all in all”. You do not think of service there, it is God filling all in all. This is a little pattern of it; the service is displaced, and there is nothing there but the glory. And the blessing of the saints is that they will be in the presence of the glory of God and be filled with it; this is greater than any service.
Here it is the question of the altar and the sacrifice. It is on the ground of accepted sacrifice that the glory fills the house. It is the great public evidence, the fire coming down to consume the sacrifice, and wherever you get that, it necessitates that an offering of infinite acceptability has been presented and accepted, so that there is nothing left but the glory, and this is the footing we are on tonight.
Rem Our acceptance comes in here.
CAC Let us leave our acceptance out of it; the sacrifice has been accepted; that is the point here. The sacrifices are all presented on the altar, and when Solomon’s prayer is finished the fire comes down in acceptance; and on that ground glory fills the house. There is no reason now why the glory should not fill the house. What delights God is that He has accepted the sacrifice. Many have doubts and fears all their lives as to whether God has accepted them. That is not the point. The point is, has God accepted the sacrifice? The glory comes in purely on God’s side here.
Rem Solomon prayed on a brazen footstool put in front of the sacrifice, so that fire coming down on the sacrifice would imply his prayer was heard.
Ques Is Solomon in his prayer a type of Christ?
CAC I think Solomon in his prayer more represents the suitable exercises on the part of the people of God. In connection with prayer, it seems to me that David is more a type of Christ than Solomon. The end of the prayer would rather suggest that.
I suppose this enters into all our assembly service. I think what is set forth in the acceptance of the sacrifice has its place in the Lord’s supper. The emblems distinctly speak of the great sacrifice He has made, for He has given His body and His blood has been poured out, and we are in the full consciousness that it has been accepted as done for the saints of the assembly. There has been an offering made of infinite sweet savour. There is, of course, very much in the Supper suggesting the Lord’s personal love to the assembly, but then it was love expressed sacrificially.
Ques Was the sin-offering ever a communal matter except on the day of atonement?
CAC It was when the whole congregation sinned; but the great thought was the day of atonement, when the blood was carried in and sprinkled upon and before the mercy-seat, showing it had been accepted in the fullest possible way, so that the glory could come in. The Lord as the Mediator of the new covenant and as the Spirit of the new covenant can bring all the glory in. The house looked at from the divine side is filled with glory. It is the moral side — the glory of His will and of His love and what He is in grace. What He is morally fills the house.
Ques Should it have place in the Supper?
CAC I thought so. The appreciation of all that is what qualifies us to offer sacrifices, is it not? Our sacrifices now are the appreciation of what Christ has done for God and for us, and that brings a sweet savour with it. What a great volume of sacrifice there is here! We find later in the chapter that the number of sacrifices is not quite so extensive as in chapter 5, but so great that the brazen altar is not large enough to receive them. That shows what God expects, that there should be so many sacrifices that it has to be seriously considered as to whether another piece of the court should be hallowed. That is a great exercise today, for when there are more than fifty in a gathering there ought to be so many sacrifices that the altar overflows.
Rem Twice over in this chapter we get “For he is good, for his loving-kindness endureth for ever”. He is the source of all.
CAC It is the highest note in the Old Testament, and you really cannot get beyond it, everything flows out of His blessed nature, and nothing is ever going to change Him. You can see how important it is that the sacrificial side should be very large with us all the time, that is, a deep sense of what Christ has done for the glory of God and to secure every blessing for us; and we bring our appreciation of it to God. God loves to have Christ praised. Every word of praise addressed to the Lord is of profound delight to God. Every bit of praise offered to the Lord has a sacrificial character. God is listening to all that we say to the Lord, to all the praise that goes out in connection with the loaf and the cup. He loves that there should be a very large measure of it. It is all connected with what came here in His Son, and with the offering of Himself.
The thought of the instruments of music for the service of song is clearly distinguished by the Spirit of God from the sacrificial service. The one follows on the other. David makes the instruments and praises by means of them; and the Levites carry on with the instruments of music; it is part of the abiding service. It is the thought of continuing the service inaugurated by David. The trumpets show that the service can be stimulated and helped on by ministry. Things are not put in Scripture without a meaning. We have been reminded lately of ministry in the assembly which would stimulate the service of song. It invigorates the service which is connected with David.
He is the great singer in the Old Testament. He wrote psalms, and skill is required for instrumental music. So the scope of praise in the assembly is very great. It covers everything contained in God being known; all that is brought in by Christ and known by Christ, and as this is brought into the assembly it is of infinite delight to God.
Ques What is suggested in the different attitudes of the people? They fall down first; then it says they stood. The priests and the people stood.
CAC Yes, I suppose it suggests they are standing in service, all linking themselves on with what was offered. So everyone would feel, ‘That dear brother is saying just what I was waiting to say’. It applies to both sides, only the service of song is more extensive. It really embraces all that is known of Christ and of the blessed God, all He has purposed, promised and done. All is the expression of His nature, so He is going to show “the surpassing riches of his grace in kindness towards us in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2: 7) in the ages to come. All is the fruit of His loving-kindness. It is a kind of standing note, the highest note that can be reached. David brings it in in the Psalms. Why is there such a thing as a sacrifice? It is the outcome of His loving-kindness. Why has He called His elect, called us in sonship? It is all the outcome of His loving-kindness. It cannot come to an end if all the saints are completely filled with it. So there is a blessed satisfaction for God in seeing that He Himself fills all things. That is, that God should see that He fills my heart, which is much more to Him than anything I can say, so God is all in all. There is nothing then but Himself; so that is the most profound rest of God. He fills all things according to the blessedness of the revelation He has made. Everything will be responsive to Him, because He fills everything. The God who is all in all is the God who has been revealed in Jesus in redemption in the value of what is sacrificial. It is the God that is known in Jesus. I think really that is the thought of the glory filling the house.
Ques Does the fat suggest what is wholly for God?
CAC Yes, the sense that there is in the Lord Jesus, the Son of God, that which surpasses everything that the creature could possibly enter into, that comes out in the fat.
Ques The fat was burnt in every offering?
CAC Yes. It is a wonderful thing to realise that God is good. A young man with hard questions got them all answered in going to J.N.D., till the latter thought it might not be very profitable. So when he came with a knotty point the next time, he answered, ‘I don’t know. I only know one thing, God is good’. I do not know that we bring that in as often as we should.
Rem “Let the redeemed of Jehovah say so” (Psalm 107: 2).
CAC That is good instruction for us.