2 CHRONICLES 9 (NOTES OF A READING)
2 CHRONICLES 9 (NOTES OF A READING)
Rem You gave us help last week as to the materials used, the gold and sandal-wood, perhaps you would say a word about the ivory?
CAC I do not know that I could give the precise meaning of ivory as a symbol, save that it represents material that has passed through death.
Ques You refer to the animal being killed in order to procure it?
CAC Yes, a wonderful suggestion surely in connection with the throne.
Ques How do you connect the thought of death with the throne?
CAC It suggests it was in the thought of God that supremacy should be taken up by One who has passed through death. It is almost the last thing Solomon is said to have made, and it was no doubt the crown of the typical teaching; it was clearly symbolical.
Ques Is there any connection with Psalm 45? There is a throne in connection with ivory there, and a quotation from that psalm in Hebrews, where the throne is brought in in connection with the death of Christ?
CAC In the psalm it would seem to be in relation to the saints, for it says, “Out of ivory palaces stringed instruments have made thee glad”, that is, the saints as ministering to the joy of Christ are really material that has come out of death, which brings in the thought that the King has companions, and as He has passed through death in order to have companions, the companions have also passed through death in the appropriation of His death, and also in the experimental realisation that death is upon themselves. Is it not so?
Ques Is it more in connection with the stability of His thoughts?
CAC Yes, it goes back to the original thought of God in creating man. God’s original thought comes out in Genesis 1: 26: “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the heavens, and over the cattle, and over the whole earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth on the earth”. The thought of God in creating man was that he should have dominion. But as we know, instead of the first man maintaining the place, he came under the dominion of sin and death himself; and from that moment it became necessary, if God’s great thought was to be carried out, that Another should come in, so there should be a Son of man who could take up for God everything the first man had failed to maintain.
Rem We get that in Psalm 8. So Adam would be a figure of Him that was to come.
CAC Yes, and it is well to remember Psalm 8 is quoted in Hebrews 2 and the Spirit of God adds something to the psalm for He adds the thought of the Son of man being made inferior to angels on account of the suffering of death, showing that in the ways of God death must come in as the ground on which the Son of man takes up universal supremacy. I think that is symbolically made known to us by the Spirit of God from the fact that the throne is made of ivory.
Rem It says “A great throne”.
CAC Yes, it must necessarily be that when we think of the greatness of the Person who is to occupy it. He is not only Son of man, able to take up all God’s thoughts as to man and bring them to fruition, but in order to do so He must needs be a divine Person. So it is evident in the reference to the Son of man that none could take that place but a divine Person, as suggested by the ivory covered by pure gold. The Lord seemed to cherish the title of Son of man specially. In the gospels He refers many times to this title; but He makes it clear that He was a divine Person for He speaks of the Son of man ascending up where He was before. He is a divine Person because He was a divine Person before He came. The witness was that they should see the Son of man sitting at the right hand of power (Matthew 26: 64), so He appropriates to Himself what belongs to Jehovah. These thoughts are essential to any divine conception of the throne. It is occupied by the Son of man who is clearly a divine Person and it is due to Him in every way that He should have the place of supremacy in the universe of God; and He is the One we look upon as now crowned with glory and honour. It is characteristic of the dispensation that we should look upon Him in all His suitability and fitness to occupy the universal throne. I think Stephen is the pattern; his confession was that he saw “the Son of man standing at the right hand of God”. You see these thoughts are stupendous and yet we cannot think rightly of the throne in a divine sense without taking them in. I have often considered christians as a whole do not think enough of the Son of man. We are very much more familiar with the thought of Him as the Son of God. I am including ourselves, and myself in particular. Do you not think so?
Rem I am afraid I must confess to that.
CAC It is important we should not allow one or even more aspects of the truth to obscure other aspects of the truth. Satan has from the beginning, I suppose, used certain parts of the truth to obscure other parts.
Ques Why do we get the title Son of man frequently in Ezekiel?
CAC Well, because Ezekiel was chosen to be a minister of the glory.
Rem There seems to be a marked correspondence between Ezekiel and the gospel of John.
Rem The Lord speaks more of Himself in John as Son of man than as Son of God.
CAC So that in John, where we see Him most in His glory as Son of God, we see Him in His positional glory as Son of man. We see the importance of dwelling on every character in which the Lord is to be known; and in connection with the throne it is particularly as Son of man. It is important for us to apprehend Christ in that character; it is the particular character in which He exercises judicial functions in regard to the assemblies. It is as the Son of man that He walks in the midst of the assemblies; that is, in standing in relation to the assembly we have to do personally and directly with the Son of man. So it is not a past title, but a present title; and it is a future title, for it says, “The Son of man shall sit down upon his throne of glory” (Matthew 19: 28). But we have to do with Him now as Son of man — this minute. He is walking in the midst of the candlesticks exercising discrimination in the assemblies. He exercises the function of the throne in relation to the assemblies. It is essential to the whole position. And the throne in connection with Solomon is spoken of as the throne of judgment. We are told in Kings that he built a porch of judgment. It is not with the thought of punishment, but of divine appraisement, of appraising things at their true value. So that He appraises all He can in the assembly. This presents the function of Christ in relation to the assembly. At the same time He says what does not please Him, and we have to do with the Son of man in that character.
Rem In Hebrews 1: 18 it says, “A sceptre of uprightness is the sceptre of thy kingdom”. The whole kingdom is to be administered and held according to God.
CAC And it is going to be so actually. What a comfort that is as we look around at the confusion in the world; because the moral confusion is greater than the material confusion, terrible as that is, and we should feel it. The moral state of man away from God and under Satan’s rule and under death is a dreadful thing. We need to feel not only the political confusion, but the moral confusion. Now who can adjust this moral state? The Son of man, who will sit on His throne of glory. The first thing He will do will be to adjust every moral question; and He is doing that now in the assembly, it is a present action now by the Son of man.
Ques Will you explain what the steps are?
CAC I think there is nothing more beautiful than to think of the steps up to the throne. There are six steps, indicating that the One who occupies the throne has reached it by a certain progress, by certain stages He has had to pass through to get there; and it endears and magnifies Him to our hearts, so that we worship Him.
Ques What about the seventh step?
CAC It requires the seventh step to complete it. The throne is the seventh step.
Rem God reaches His end in it.
CAC The end God has in view upon the earth is the Son of man upon His throne, and He will reach the throne because the throne here is not occupied. The steps fall into a certain setting in my mind. To speak very simply, God has introduced Christ into the world by prophetic testimony, that is, I think, the first step. It covers the Old Testament. The others follow quite simply, though they are stupendous in their character. The next is incarnation; it is an immense step. The Old Testament prophecies bring out His character, His sufferings and death, and His glory, but what a wonderful step up this is, and all in view of the throne, of His being in the place of supremacy. The incarnation is the beginning of the working of it all out in manhood, “taking his place in the likeness of men, and having been found in figure as a man” (Philippians 2: 7, 8). He could not have been Son of man otherwise, for His humiliation here was on the way to the throne; we must never forget that. His lowly pathway of obedience led to the throne. Then there was His death, His accomplishment of redemption, that was most essential; He could never have been Son of man without that. Then His resurrection and His ascension. These are all steps to His throne. I do not think that is fanciful; they are divinely laid-out steps to the throne. And there is one step left to come, and that is His coming again, the sixth step. It seems clear to me that all that is presented in the Scriptures indicates the steps by which the Lord Jesus is going to reach the place of supremacy in the universe of God.
Rem It says He will take the throne of His father David.
CAC But the title Son of man is unlimited, it extends to the whole human family. I think the Spirit of God would have us ponder these things. It has pleased God to give them to us symbolically so that we may take them in better; because it fixes it upon us as interesting our minds as well as captivating our hearts.
Ques Will you say more about the throne being unoccupied?
CAC It was left to us to put the only Person upon it who could fill it.
Ques Why is the footstool of gold fastened to the throne?
CAC I think the throne and footstool go indissolubly together, which is important to notice. We have various scriptures which speak of the Lord’s enemies being made His footstool. He is sitting at the right hand of God until His enemies are made His footstool; is that not what marks the present period? That is, anything which refuses His rights will have to submit; and that is a principle applying to you and me, so everything that rebels in our flesh now will be made His footstool. We must learn to make every action of the flesh subjugated to His footstool. Until this is brought about, as the psalm says, there can be no thought of worshipping at His footstool. It is a mockery to talk of worshipping Him unless I am subjugated to Him.
Ques The throne is the centre of the whole realm. Which is greater, this or the ark?
CAC Oh, well, the ark is greater, I think, if we can venture to compare divine things, because the ark is fully on the divine side. The great thought in the ark is that there God speaks, “There will I ... speak with thee” (Exodus 25: 22). That God should speak to us and reveal Himself to us is greater than the throne. But we must not weaken the character of the kingdom; it is the superlative character of the kingdom; there was not anything made so great in any kingdom. In all the precious types there are no duplicates. Every type stands in its own majestic solitude; it has its own voice; we must not mix them up. The ark is the inside position, and the throne is the outside. The thought of supremacy is connected with the throne and I think we need to cherish the thought; we are so apt to lose sight of it. And yet we see all this carried through with unassailable divine power. We see by the lions a power that cannot be defeated or turned aside from its object.
God would have us deeply impressed with the thought of the majesty of Christ. Peter says,
“We ... having been eyewitnesses of his majesty”. We like to think of His power, His grace and His love to poor sinners, but we need to ponder His majesty; it is connected with the throne. I think Matthew’s gospel gives us the thought of the throne; He is born King in Matthew. How much the Spirit of God can compress into a few sentences. These are matters for enquiry, and He expects us to be sufficiently alert to enquire into them, so that we can move on in the intelligence of these great and wondrous things.
Ques Arms were on each side of the seat; would it suggest the idea of rest? The Lord has arrived at that place and nothing more is required.
CAC Yes, that is good. Both the arms and the footstool would suggest a restful position.