2 CHRONICLES 23 (NOTES OF A READING)
2 CHRONICLES 23 (NOTES OF A READING)
Ques When God’s anointed appears it brings out opposition, would you say?
CAC Yes, and the enemy is also exposed. That is one side of the matter, but the saints’ coming together to eat the Lord’s supper and to extol and exalt Him is really God’s exposure of the whole corrupt state of things that marks the christian profession. It may seem a very small thing for a few insignificant persons to come together as commemorating the Lord’s supper, and to praise Him, but it is God’s rebuke to the whole corrupt system of christendom. We have been learning in this chapter that God has His own way of securing a place for His beloved Son, of securing what is due to Him. We say sometimes, ‘All the rights to Him belong’, and God has His own way of securing His praise, and that is subject to hostility.
Ques Your reference to the Lord’s supper would be the public position?
CAC Yes.
Rem So that it needs courage as well as affection.
CAC Yes, every man has his weapon on, which reminds us that the scene around is hostile, and there is that in ourselves we have to use it against. It is an exercise to ourselves that we should not come to the Supper in a formal way, that we should not fall into current christianity. The Lord expects us to come on a very different footing from that. It is a public announcement which shows the public character of it. We find it is the noise of the people running and praising the king that should be heard, saints breaking forth in praise to the Lord because they cannot help it; for that is the character of the service when we have eaten the Supper. It leaves us with a blank, and there is nothing but Christ to fill it. How could anyone of us do anything else but break forth in praise? It would be nice if we had the reputation here that we come together to eat the Lord’s supper, and that we praise the Lord in a way that He is not praised anywhere else, that is, praise going up from loyal hearts that honour Christ in a way He is honoured nowhere else. That calls forth the cry of “Conspiracy”. It is really a most treasonable thing in the sight of the religious world that people actually praise Him without religious accessories and from full hearts. In verse 18 they sing intelligently; you find that intelligent praises are addressed to the Lord and to the Father; first to the Lord.
Rem The word really means ‘a symphony’.
CAC That really marks the praises of the assembly, so that something is wrong if every heart does not vibrate in symphony. Thank God, generally it does. When God is praised and exalted and what He has done is told out in praise, surely every heart must respond. The world cares nothing for Christ being praised, and is exposed in its hollowness and emptiness. So Athaliah cries, “Conspiracy”. It has opened the way for the devil to bring in all this formalism and officialism, but it displaces Christ.
Ques Last week we were speaking about the crowning; also Jehoiada and his sons anointed Joash, and then later on he is enthroned. How is that answered to by the saints?
CAC Well, those are beautiful features of the way the saints love to honour Christ as the women anointed Him in the gospels. They perceive that He is God’s Anointed, and so He must be my Anointed too.
Ques What would be the thought that they gave him the testimony (verse 11)?
CAC That is a very interesting question. It seems to suggest that it is according him this wonderful place, that all God’s testimony is in his hand; not only that it is so, but the saints accord him that place.
Rem F.E.R. said that God always gives testimony to what He is going to bring in in a coming day.
CAC I think that is true, and the saints recognise it is all committed to Christ; the full testimony of what is in God’s mind and heart is committed to Christ. “The Father ... has given all things to be in his hand” (John 3: 35). And the saints say, ‘We are in accord with that’ — how we love to accord it to Him! It is not simply that God gives it to Him, but the saints give it to Him. It is the same with the crowning and so on, it is our delight. It all begins in secret as we saw in the end of chapter 22 by divine teaching in secret. The secret appreciation of Christ is developed and then there is the public assembling together and the Supper, because of His worthiness.
Ques Does it bring out the trustworthiness of the saints, because we gather, not quite in the sense of failure, but in the sense more of loyalty?
CAC Do you think that in Jehoiada being prominent in all this, it is by the priestly leading and support of the Lord that we come into all this in a practical way? Each Lord’s day should be a coronation day for Christ. The saints are going to own Him afresh. We cannot eat His supper or praise Him without His support. If we have not His support it is almost a certainty that things would become gradually formal.
Ques In the Song of Songs the spirit of the assembly would be like this?
CAC From that point of view everything opposed to the honour of Christ is exposed. Athaliah is exposed, she is judged, she is killed. Everything contrary to Christ is condemned in our estimation.
Rem Verse 13 would suggest order in the saints; all the movements are in order.
CAC I think that is very suggestive in this chapter, for you see the order right through, from the moment that he is secretly cherished to everything being in order as regards the position.
Ques Is there any suggestion that “such as taught to sing praise” (verse 13) could give a lead in praises?
CAC Yes, there is the blowing with trumpets and the singers with instruments of music and such as taught to sing praises. See how the Lord has been helping in the last hundred years. I believe I have the first hymn book that was compiled among brethren. If we compared it we should have to confess that the Lord has been teaching the saints, that is, by ministry (the trumpets) and the Spirit has been moving in the affections of the saints to praise Him in the way He is wishing to be praised in hymns expressive of the truth. The next time the hymn book is revised it will be greatly improved. It shows that the singing must depend on the ministry; we cannot go beyond. We ought to be exercised that the praise is up to the ministry; we must praise in accord with that.
Athaliah is killed; all she represents should be absolutely slain amongst those honouring the Lord. “Her children will I kill with death; and all the assemblies shall know that I am he that searches the reins and the hearts” (Revelation 2: 23) is said of Jezebel. This is one of Jezebel’s children. The Lord is not going to have anything of that sort in His assembly. It is just in this connection we see the wonderful favour of God to us, because Jezebel and Athaliah have turned the Lord’s supper into an idolatrous institution in christendom.
Ques In regard to your reference to the singing and the hymn book, I was wondering whether there should not be an exercise as to whether means should not be made available in the way of new and suitable hymns?
CAC I think it is spiritually natural to us to consider how the Lord should be praised, and how God should be praised. Now what part can I contribute vitally to the praises of the assembly? If I cannot contribute anything, I might just as well be a block of wood; I might just as well be the seat I am sitting on; that is, it is dead for God. The effect of God being praised out of glad hearts is that there is a movement Godward, so that a covenant is made on behalf of Jehoiada and all the people and the king, that they should be the people of Jehovah. They begin to rejoice in being in relation with God. It is a further point that they should be the people of Jehovah, and that is how the service moves on to that which is in relation to God, like the hymn we sang at the beginning of our meeting there is the taking up of covenant relations with God. It is a very suitable hymn for our meeting.
Rem In Hebrews 9: 19 - 22, I thought the reference to the sprinkling of blood there was definitely for the people; a people is secured for the service of God by the covenant. Then the vessels of service and the tabernacle are sprinkled.
CAC Yes, I think so. It is very interesting to see how these things follow one upon the other. If Christ gets His place in our praises and joy, it leads on to that in which God is praised.
Ques Why is it “the people and the king” in verse 16?
CAC The king is really Jehovah’s king, so that in rising up to the thought of their being the people of Jehovah, there is reached a further thought in the service. I think that is just the point, not only is Christ the pre-eminent One in our praises — that comes first — but we move on to the fuller thought that we are in association with Him in the presence of God.
It is evidently true that if we happen to be the people of God no element of idolatry must be left unjudged. The house of Baal represents the whole idolatrous system that is round about us today. So christendom proclaims that anyone baptised is a child of God and an inheritor of the kingdom of heaven. It is the blackest lie that was ever found on the earth, it is simply idolatry. The christian ordinance is turned into idolatry; see how people worship a piece of bread. It all belongs to the house of Baal and it is all to be broken down in our hearts and minds through giving God His place. Everything that comes between the soul and God is judged and set aside, and then the service can go on.
Ques Does that spring out of known relationship with God — our link with God?
CAC Yes, quite so. It is the only way to get rid of idolatry, to have the heart filled with God. We sing,
‘And, filled with Thee, the constant mind
Eternally is blest’. (178:3)
If the mind is filled with God, there is no room for anything but God. The offices of the house of Jehovah are appointed under the hand of the priest, and the order as written in the law of Moses represents that beautiful order set up under the hand of the Lord. So you see religious service generally goes on whatever the state of the worshippers may be. We are in one sense therefore at a disadvantage, if you can say so, because the service depends on the spiritual state and history of every person in the assembly; we cannot make it go on apart from the spiritual history of the saints.
Rem So that the introduction of a litany, an ordered service, had to be because of a corrupt state.
CAC If there was nothing in the service but what was living, there would not be much in a great deal which is just of man; but all that counts is living. Then as the service is set in order, there is the necessity in the doorkeepers that nothing unclean should enter in. Moses represents the principle of commandment; certain things like the Lord’s supper are not optional. In David we get the spiritual side of things which comes from Christ as Head, which is suggestive to us of spirituality. We all know what will take place up until the time in the meeting when the basket goes round, but we do not know afterwards, and all the refined part of the service is connected with the Lord’s headship, and nothing is more precious than getting an impulse received from the Head. If we hold the Head we shall bring into the service the evidence to God that we are holding Him as Head, and getting impulse and instruction and direction from Him as Head. That is really the climax of the service, so if you got a perfect meeting how delightful it would be to know that what was going up to Him was the direct impulse flowing from Christ as Head.
Rem Verse 18 says, “to offer up Jehovah’s burnt-offerings”.
CAC Yes, the burnt-offering was the climax of the offerings and represented the highest point of the sacrificial service, and that has its place in the service, what Christ is to God and in glorifying God in sacrifice. But David inaugurated the service of praise. First we learn Christ in connection with Moses, then in connection with David.
Ques One depends on the other?
CAC Yes. In connection with Moses great intelligence as to the death of Christ has its place. He has unfolded to us in marvellous detail the preciousness and value and sweet savour of the death of Christ. There is no book like Leviticus in the whole of Scripture for such detail of the death of Christ. That must be the unaltered basis of all the service; but then we do not stop there. The more we realise the character of the service of the assembly, the more jealous we should be of doorkeeping; the more jealous we should be that nothing unclean should come in. The porters are in charge of the house; it is a constant service and we must watch in ourselves that nothing unsuitable comes in. I am entirely out of my orbit if I do anything unsuitable during the week that disqualifies me. Then there is care for others; one great part is that anything unsuitable to God shall be dealt with, whatever it is.
Rem We are told that doorkeepers were the same number as the singers.
CAC Yes, and we ought to realise we are in a place of care. It was said by J.B.S. that anyone who came into fellowship should feel under more strict scrutiny than in a monastery or nunnery; that is right in principle.