2 CHRONICLES 7 (NOTES OF A READING)
2 CHRONICLES 7 (NOTES OF A READING)
CAC Now it appears in the verses read that the dedication of the house stands in direct relation with the keeping of the feast of tabernacles. It is instructive for us to see that what is due to God and belongs to His house has been secured, and the full blessedness of the saints also.
Ques What is the significance of there being two feasts, the dedication of the altar and the feast of tabernacles? They kept the dedication seven days.
CAC No, the dedication of the altar is hardly a feast. I think it shows that as the communion of the saints is divinely secured, the enjoyment of the inheritance will surely follow. It is the question of the fellowship of the assembly in this chapter. The twenty-two thousand oxen and one hundred and twenty thousand sheep were all peace-offerings. They represent how the people of God are brought into communion with the altar. So that while this immense number of sacrifices is presented to God, yet the result was that the people all participated in them. It is a participation in the common joy of the people of God and suggests the fellowship. I think really the truth of the fellowship has been set aside and broken by association with the world. So that at Corinth one would suppose there would be very few peace-offerings. It is universally deplored by all true christians that there is so little true fellowship.
In this we think of something that God could participate in; the offerer had his portion too. There is a common portion in Christ on the sacrificial line, the great results of Christ going down into death enjoyed in common which is all connected with the altar. The sacrificial side is greatly stressed in this chapter. There are the sacrifices and the fire that consumes them, and then God says, “I have chosen for myself this place for a house of sacrifice”. So the sacrificial side is very prominent. All our relations with God have a sacrificial basis and the seven days of the dedication of the altar would in principle cover the whole assembly period so that the keeping of the feast is contingent on the sacrifice (1 Corinthians 5: 7, 8). The enjoyment of the inheritance depends on the dedication of the altar. God would fill this whole assembly period with a deep appreciation of the sacrificial side, that is, with a deep sense of what it has cost divine Persons as foreshadowed in this type. A hundred years ago the first move towards this was the liberty of the Lord’s supper, before there was any sense of the assembly. It led to a great development of things and the truth of fellowship.
The altar is the climax in relation to the house. We must see that the cost to God and to Christ is immense, the sacrificial thought permeating all the thoughts of God. The brother who hands me the bread is one who appreciates it, and I appreciate it, and I hand it on to one who appreciates it. That is the fellowship. We must connect it with the altar. It is the body and blood of Christ and that is the fellowship. There are no differences in your mind, it is a company of persons thinking all exactly alike about the sacrificial value of Christ. It is the body of Christ and His blood poured out. I am only glad if you have a greater conception of it than I, because it helps me. A brother stands up to share everything that he has of Christ, and all the brethren are delighted. We want to get rid of religious ideas and get to the real essence of the Supper and see what the fellowship really is. Millennial conditions are clearly not in view here; it is for the present time, a time when all these things are available, but may not be valued, and if so will be lost. Many have lost it permanently, and never will know it. How sad to think of. All this shows that if we are true to the fellowship there is positively no limit to our enjoyment (see Deuteronomy 16: 13 - 15).
Rem The people can reach God’s end in Christ on the sacrificial basis.
CAC The fact is that the thought of the sacrifices is limited to what Christ accomplished here upon the earth; it is not resurrection nor ascension. It so clears the ground that we can enter into our inheritance in a glorified Christ. I am afraid it is largely looked at from our side, and not from the altar side, that is God’s side. But if people value Christ sacrificially there is something for God to work upon, so that they may burst their bands and come into the large liberty of the people of God.
Ques The fellowship of the blood of the Christ, does that take you into resurrection?
CAC No sacrifice was ever raised, that is the simple fact, except Isaac in figure. The whole point was what was accepted in death, and we must begin there. It is our privilege to enter into communion with God and one another by what was effected by the coming into manhood of God’s blessed Son, and what He effected by going into death.
The feast of tabernacles is connected for us with Jesus glorified. It was on the last, the great day of the feast that Jesus stood and cried, “If any one thirst, let him come to me and drink” and “This he said concerning the Spirit ... for the Spirit was not yet, because Jesus had not yet been glorified” (John 7: 37, 39). That is, our feast of tabernacles is connected with Jesus glorified,
and He brings in the thought of the Spirit as linked with Him, for the great ingathering is all harvested in a glorified Christ. The inheritance is for man. The indwelling Spirit sets you up here to serve. The Lord would not take His place until the last day of the feast, which is connected with eternity. He comes publicly to the front on the last day, that is the eighth day and is connected with 2 Chronicles 7: 9. For us Pentecost and the feast of tabernacles coalesce, you might say. So we anticipate the millennium, and something better. There is no limit of time to Pentecost, so the feast is still accomplishing. We are now in the feast of Pentecost this minute. And the Spirit is the Earnest of the inheritance. “In whom we have also obtained an inheritance” (Ephesians 1: 11), that is in a glorified Christ. And our joy depends upon our taking possession.
Rem Colossians secures us for Ephesians.
CAC That puts in a nutshell what I was thinking. Our enjoyment of the feast of tabernacles depends upon our spiritual diligence; are we gathering things up? It is a feast of ingathering. Very much depends on how we are walking together locally. Are we laying ourselves out that the very greatest advantage may come to all the brethren? Are we all co-operating so that they may enjoy the inheritance a little more this week than they did last week?
Rem And so we leave our associations.
CAC I think I see the typical force of it plainly, that is, the eighth day you give up all thought of dwelling in booths. There is no dwelling in booths in 2 Chronicles, and none in Deuteronomy 16. You have to go back to Leviticus 23 to get booths. It was to get the people to see, when in the land, that they once dwelt in booths, that is, there is to be remembrance of God’s will and ways when we are in the inheritance. The eighth day is a thought of absolute rest and fulness of joy without any thought of the wilderness. The moment we touch what is eternal all thought of the wilderness drops out of the mind. We find it so practically when in the assembly. All thought of the wilderness and God’s ways drops out of our minds, and we touch an eternal order of things. We sing, ‘Eternity’s begun’. A blessed thing if it has. It connects us with God’s eternal thoughts in Christ, and we get completely outside the wilderness and all connected with it. Booths are connected with God’s wilderness ways and very temporary circumstances. The boughs of trees lasted six days at the most and then they were done with. If we could look at things that way, we should not be so concerned about little things, should we?
Rem It was the fruit of beautiful trees that was selected (Leviticus 23: 40).
CAC They are beautiful things. You can contemplate God’s care and protection as a very beautiful thing. As an illustration we could admire the shelter of God’s providential care last week, that we were not touched: it is very beautiful. When we come together on Lord’s day morning we touch eternal things, and should forget all that happened in the wilderness, even God’s providential care.
Ques How do we understand their returning to their tents?
CAC You go from the assembly to enjoy all you have enjoyed in your household. That is the real blessing of the christian’s condition. We return to our tents, very happy to keep up the enjoyment there of the joy we have had together. So it is extended all the week in our households. We are looking forward to the time when we shall not have to part. We pray and praise in our households. David and Solomon are linked together. It shows that in all that God is doing, He is thinking of Christ. It is a question of what God is doing for Christ; He is doing wonderful things for Christ at the present time. What a wonderful thing to talk about in our households, what God is doing for Christ.
Rem “And to Israel his people”.
CAC That is very good, but comes in second. Why is there such a thing as the body, the assembly? Why has it come about? Surely because it was meant for the glory of Christ. God is doing it for Christ. Why the church as the wife? Well, for the happiness of Christ, that He should have a wife. It is for Christ. God gives the sheep to His shepherd Son for His gain, and so with everything. If the King makes a marriage feast, it is for His Son. God is doing wonderful things for Christ. So the saints are beloved of God. In view of these things we should be provoked to more love and more diligence, so that the saints should enjoy the inheritance more. In Romans the saints mutually contribute. There is the same thought in Colossians, ministry flows through the joints and bands; it is a co-operating affair. I wish we were more on that line. So the body in Ephesians is self-edifying.
Ques Would that be fellowship?
CAC That is how we come to enjoy the fellowship. It is a little further than the fellowship. In 1 Corinthians 12 you get the mutual co-operation of the members to secure the enjoyment of the fellowship within.