2 CHRONICLES 31 (NOTES OF A READING)
2 CHRONICLES 31 (NOTES OF A READING)
Rem The last verse of the preceding chapter is a striking climax to all that had gone before.
CAC Yes, it would appear to set forth in a striking way the taking up of the true position which belonged to them as before God, answering in our day to the taking up, after many years of departure, of the true place and privilege of the assembly.
Rem It is striking that it says, “Their prayer came up to his holy habitation”; the Lord’s name is not mentioned, as though there was no occasion for it.
CAC It was all so definite in relation to Him that His name did not need to be mentioned, as in “Tell me where thou hast laid him” (John 20: 15).
Rem Numbers 6 says, “Speak unto Aaron and unto his sons, saying, On this wise ye shall bless the children of Israel” (verse 23).
CAC He is always delighted when He gets an outlet for His heart.
Rem This is spiritual intuition rather than order, as understanding the mind of God.
Rem It “came up to his holy habitation, to the heavens” (chapter 30: 27).
CAC Yes indeed, so that the service should not only be a happy one for us but minister to the pleasure of God. They held the passover to Jehovah in the previous chapter, and all the service of the assembly would be robbed of its value if it were not done to the Lord and to God. Unless divine Persons are before us and They get satisfaction, the object of the service is not reached; and tasting the blessedness of that God would bring us to judge all that is round about us in christendom. That is the standpoint, He would have it judged by those in the enjoyment of divine blessedness. It is a great matter for divine Persons that what is displeasing to Them should be judged; it may be negative, but it is an important matter.
Rem “God has judged your judgment upon her”, it says of Babylon (Revelation 18: 20).
CAC I was thinking of that. God is pleased to bring it about that the saints judge as He does; and it is from the standpoint of assembly privilege and blessedness that these things are judged.
Ques What would the “columns” (verse 1) represent?
CAC They would represent all the things in christendom that hinder God being known and apprehended; an idol takes the place of God. But these things are only truly judged by those who taste the privileges of the assembly. Having tasted what is true and of God, there is with them an intuitive horror of everything contrary to it; the saints feeling with God’s feelings about it, and that is no small thing with God. So, as in Corinth, we hate all these things in ourselves and are morally apart from them. So conditions came about for the service to be taken up in the appropriate order.
Rem There must be the judgment of what is contrary to God first.
CAC Yes, there is liberty, and every brother and sister here is set at liberty in the service of God. If I do not take part it is entirely my own fault. We are set free from all that diverts from the service, each to serve in his place and according to his appointed service.
Ques It says every man returned to his possession. I wondered if there is a movement marking them by the judgment of certain things and then an individual movement to their own possession; do we not need to be exercised in what is under our individual control before we can enter on the service of God?
CAC Yes, so that the enjoyment of the inheritance must come first before the service of the priests and Levites can be taken up. The inheritance contributes to the house of God by what was ministered in that way as we see in the chapter.
Rem Our households must be in order.
CAC I think that is most important. So that we cannot get the service carried on by individual brothers independent of the general state. We have to learn that the spiritual prosperity of the saints generally is essential to priestly and levitical service. There is liberty for each to serve and give thanks and praise in the gates of the courts of Jehovah. It is a wonderful moment of privilege; we hardly realise the restrictions there are in christendom. All should be carried on in liberty, in order of course, but it is a scene of beautiful liberty. So every brother and sister is free; we all come together in assembly to contribute and not to listen only, though we all do listen; and what is expressed depends on what I bring.
Ques What if a man brings nothing?
CAC I am faced with a very serious matter, because God says, “None shall appear in my presence empty” (Exodus 23: 15). God has no pleasure at all in empty people.
Ques Is there the element of conscription to it?
CAC Yes, I think so, and it is beautiful that in the more formal part the substance was supplied by the king, that is, the king charges himself with the supply; and have we not to take account of Christ as the One who supplies everything for the service? So if I am empty, I had better get to Him about it. Nothing goes up in sweet savour to God that is not of His substance for we are all enriched by His substance, so a saint can hardly be empty when He has Christ. Why do people come, why do they want to break bread, if they do not appreciate Christ? One such would say, ‘It is because I think highly of Christ, and that is my company, and I want to be with them’. And the Supper enriches us. If we come empty we are greeted at the very outset by the words, “This is my body which is for you”. Now if we take that in, we are not empty.
Rem The very object of the Supper is that we appropriate all that has come to us in the incarnation of the Son, and are set at liberty with God in the power of Christ’s blood. It is all supplied by the King. Oh! the assembly is a wonderful company. Mr Stoney used to say, ‘It is the most august company on earth’, and so it is.
Ques We do not get filled until we have partaken, would you say?
CAC I think that the Lord in His love provides a filling when we do come, but surely we have the privilege of anticipating it.
Ques Would all the substance have burnt-offering character?
CAC Does it not suggest that all that is of sweet savour to God is of Christ? We come together as thinking nothing of ourselves, but all engaged with the blessed thought that Christ is the Son of the Father’s love and that He is so delightful to God, and we realise we are in Him before the Father’s face. What could be more blessed than that? There is great liberty in coming together and we enjoy our portion in Christ very much more when together. As individuals it is mixed up with personal exercises, and in the assembly we drop all that and we merge in the company which is blessed in Christ according to the purpose of divine love. As we look around, the saints represent the whole company to us and we view them according to their calling. Well, that is liberty. When we get on to that plane, our hearts are free to praise and give thanks (verse 2).
Rem The Supper was to secure the service of praise.
CAC It was intended to unify the saints in their appreciation of the Lord. You have no other Person before you; otherwise you are not paying attention to what is going on. “This is my body which is given for you” and “My blood, which is poured out for you” (Luke 22: 19, 20). That excluded every other person. The great subject of this chapter is really that we are all to contribute to what is priestly and levitical. The privilege is extended to all the people; they bring the firstfruits and all the tithes.
Rem It is “all Israel”.
CAC When the Lord said “for you”, He had the whole assembly in view. We get limited if we think of what is local. It is very striking, the abundance; they brought “heaps”, it says.
Rem It must have been theirs.
CAC But they realised now it was their privilege to bring of the very best for the strengthening of what was priestly and levitical. Every spiritual acquisition is intended to strengthen and enrich what is priestly and levitical, first in myself, and then in the brethren, so that those elements may be enlarged and strengthened in the assembly. There is a kind of moral order in it. All that caused departure must be judged, but in the light of what is positive. You can hardly think of anyone enjoying the assembly and going back to formal religion; you could hardly conceive of it. There is a great deal of spiritual wealth that is latent, but it was liberated on this occasion and brought. So there is a great store of dedicated and consecrated things for the support of all that is priestly and levitical. If a meeting goes heavily sometimes you wonder if the tithes and firstfruits have been brought in.
Ques What is to be done with what is left?
CAC It is to be drawn upon at need. Think of what has been accumulated in the assembly during the last hundred years.
Ques How can we bring to light what is latent?
GAC I suppose the light of the service of God rises in our hearts so that we long to contribute. The feeblest believer is attracted by the thought that God can be served for His pleasure. The widow did not have much, but she had two mites and she put them in the treasury. She had the thought of the service of God, had she not?
Rem Everything has come to us through that blessed Person.
CAC And that understood in a number of hearts unified in the appreciation of it acquires great value before God.
Ques Is that what constitutes the foundations of the heaps?
CAC Yes, quite so. There were four months of acquiring these heaps; so Hezekiah was moved to bless Jehovah and His people when he saw them.
Ques What do all these things suggest in verses 5 and 6?
CAC Everything was the result of the blessing of God in the inheritance and is now brought to enhance His service.
Ques Why is honey brought into it?
CAC It is a part of the wealth of the land. It says, “A land flowing with milk and honey” (Exodus 3: 8).
Rem It would be the product of what is mutual.
CAC It speaks of great mutuality in contribution. Every bee brings its load to the hive, which is really a beautiful figure of the assembly; each bringing what it finds to the general store. These things set forth all that is connected with our portion in Christ. The land is typical of all we partake of in common in Christ; all is part of the inheritance.
Rem If a bee does not bring any honey, it is drastically dealt with by the others.
CAC There is no room in the hive for an unproductive bee.
Ques Why is there no honey in the offerings?
CAC Because, I suppose, it represents there the sweetness of nature, it is not acceptable, it cannot be offered as sweet savour. There is much natural affection and kindness shown in the family and amongst the brethren that is comforting, but is not of spiritual value; it is of no sacrificial value. Here it is of value. Paul prays that we may be knit together in love so that we have the full assurance of understanding, as if to say, ‘We will not understand anything unless first knit together’.
Rem In Ephesians, our inheritance is spoken of before God’s inheritance. “In whom we have also obtained an inheritance” (chapter 1: 11).
CAC Yes, there is nothing for God unless we cultivate our inheritance. There is the possibility of ministering to what is levitical in a fleshly way whereas we have the privilege of ministering to those who serve in a priestly way. It is clearly the will of God that we should think of those that serve; and we care for them, not in a partial or limited way; we regard them as representative of the levitical service; we do not think of criticising. We are highly favoured of God to further it; it is a privilege not an exaction. We regard them all in the light of verse 18: “For in their trust they hallowed themselves to be holy”. That is how we regard the servants. It would be an unworthy thought of any servant of the Lord to think that he had not hallowed himself to be holy. We are assured that what we give will be used unselfishly and sacrificially in exactly the same sense in which the saints give it. It is part of the privilege of the assembly and we want to dismiss from our minds all unworthy thoughts which Satan would suggest to us. If so we render our gift valueless. The widow did not wait to think of those in charge of the treasury, her affections were stirred (she had very little — just two mites); she had nothing before her but the worthiness of Jehovah. We are very limited in what we do in this way, but that is the principle. The Lord takes account of all that is given affectionately for His name, because of His worthiness. If a brother has not the character we have been speaking of, we should not think of ministering to him.