2 CHRONICLES 35 (NOTES OF A READING)
2 CHRONICLES 35 (NOTES OF A READING)
Rem We were remarking of this recovery last week, that not only is attention called to what was written in the law of Moses, but to what was written by David concerning the service of song.
CAC And I suppose it was peculiarly pleasurable to God as the product of His recovering grace and mercy.
Rem It says, “There was no passover like to that holden in Israel from the days of Samuel the prophet”. It was a remarkable recovery.
CAC Yes, it is encouraging for us in a day like the present.
Rem We see the importance of what is written in verse 4, and again in verse 12: “According to the writing of David ... and according to the writing of Solomon his son”, and “as it is written in the book of Moses”. It emphasises what is written.
CAC This is very important, because what was written gave the mind of God in its completeness, just as we have the ministry of the Lord Himself and of His chosen servants, in which the true character of the present position of the service of God is developed. We could not judge of it by tracing out the history of the church for it never carried it out. The historical church never stood in the truth of the gospel or of the mystery, but God saw to it that it was written. The tendency in the religious world is to go back as far as they can to what the church was at the beginning so that people get taken up with antiquity, and they can follow the public history of the church a long way back, but the furthest point is still marked by corruption and departure. So the safe thing is to go back to what is written in the Scriptures.
Rem The Lord says several times, “It is written”.
CAC The great matters of the truth remain in the Scriptures.
Rem We have the authority of those who wrote, it remains in Scripture today.
CAC So that we can remain on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, and we have a great deal more than Pentecost. So Moses inaugurated the old system but David filled it out. The system of truth and blessing and the knowledge of God was inaugurated at Pentecost, but then Paul’s ministry and John’s ministry came in after to fill it out, which is something like David’s ministry, coming in after.
Rem The ministry of the twelve apostles gives the foundation, and then Paul fills in the spiritual side.
CAC Yes.
Rem And the recovery of the truth during the last century has largely hinged on the spiritual appreciation of the Scriptures, the reading of the word.
Rem In the case of cavillers, it is not the word of man versus man, but the authority of God.
CAC The more simply we hold to that ground the more effective we shall be in testimony, do you not think? And see how the truth of the service of God has been developed during the last hundred and more years, for there was little thought of it for a number of centuries. The thought of the assembly as the place of divine service was revived and much detail came out as to divine service.
Rem One thinks of the labours of J. N. Darby so that what is written is in a more exact form.
CAC And I suppose really the precious truth of the death of Christ and all that is involved in it has come out as never before. As to the passover, it is as the death of Christ has been appreciated that the whole truth has come to light, do you not think?
Rem There is the infinite variety of the types, and those in the appreciation of it can take up the death of the Lord.
CAC Really the passover was the basis of sonship. The thought in God’s mind was sonship, and the passover was really the righteous and holy ground on which God could have His son: “Let my son go, that he may serve me” (Exodus 4: 23). That is, God has the thought of sonship generally, but on the ground of the death of Christ. The old order has been closed up, and the new order brought in, so that saints have been learning that a new order has come in, what it is to be in Christ, and in Christ I have a new status, and that involves sonship and new creation.
Rem So that we come on the ground of the passover: Mark and Matthew say, “As they were eating” (Mark 14: 22; Matthew 26: 20).
CAC The Lord could link all that was in His mind with what they were doing. The passover is the greatest offering, because it is the basis on which all the other offerings were brought. The thought of eating comes in so that persons are formed inwardly by the appropriation of Christ.
Ques Is there any thought why it goes back to Samuel? Hezekiah’s goes back to Solomon, does it not?
CAC It seems to be that every revival is better than the one before it. In Nehemiah it goes back to Joshua.
Rem In Nehemiah 8: 17, it is the feast of tabernacles that is brought to mind, the climax of the feasts. Here it is the passover. The priests, the responsible elements, are there to maintain the service in its fulness.
CAC As the days grow darker the spiritual light grows brighter.
Rem The present recovery of the truth brought in the greatness of the Person, the greatness and deity of the Lord, as never before.
CAC Like in this chapter, “the holy ark” is brought back to its place (verse 3). It was somehow taken out of its place, we are not told how. Really, everything has turned on that and we might say the value of the passover depends on the Person.
Ques Is it significant that this is the last place the ark is spoken of historically in the Old Testament? It is the aspect of it on the last occasion that I know of.
CAC That is very striking. I wondered if God would have us cherish it in that light, having learnt to appreciate its value to God.
Ques Does it secure for the Lord the place that is truly His on the basis of the passover exercise; that is, His place in glory? It is His place there in Solomon’s day. And there is to be the sense that there is no place for any but Christ among the saints, and that is His place in the glory scene.
CAC And everything is measured by who He is.
Ques Does verse 17 bring us to “let us celebrate the feast” (1 Corinthians 5: 8)? If all the assembly is endowed with is to be maintained, it must be all on this basis.
Ques What would you say the passover is for us?
CAC I think you would say it is the application in self-judgment of what we have learnt in Christ and His death, so that the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth characterises the saints. We are to be true to Christ and to His death. What right have we to speak of Christ and of His death unless there is a genuine desire on our part to be in keeping with it? It is true we are only alive to God as in Christ Jesus. If this is how we live Godward there must be what corresponds with it in the walk and ways and spirits of the saints. The unleavened bread comes in there, the kind of humanity where there is no puffing up or self-exaltation. Some of us have learnt through a course of many years how even God’s truth can puff us up.
Ques Unless the old man is judged, how could Christ be offered?
CAC The thought of what is priestly and levitical is large in this chapter. It is the service of God taken up spiritually in hearts that truly and only desire that Christ should be magnified before God and before man. In verse 18 the royal and priestly and serving features that the passover secures are seen, that which God delights in. I suppose the idea of Judah is a vessel of praise, and of Israel it is a priestly people, who can be trusted in responsibility.
Ques What do we learn by the end of Josiah’s life? “After all this”, it says, and emphasises the glories of what we have been speaking about.
CAC Yes, the end of some of these good kings is very exercising. After experiencing this great favour from God and acting in so much faith himself, there came a time when he could not discern what came out of the mouth of God. We are apt to be lifted up even by divine favour. Paul tells us that having been caught up to paradise would have become an occasion to be exalted above measure if the Lord had not sent him a protection by the thorn for the flesh (2 Corinthians 12: 7). We are tested sometimes whether we can discern what comes out of the mouth of God. It may come out of the mouth of an ungodly man like Necho.
Rem It was a defection from the higher line of God and His interests.
CAC Yes, he mixed himself up in a conflict that did not belong to him.
Rem It is a word to us today, not to get mixed up in the world’s affairs.
CAC No, we have not been entrusted with that responsibility; we have quite enough to attend to in minding our own business. It is important not to get engrossed with what is going on around us, though our heart aches as we see the distress and miseries of humanity, enough to break anybody’s heart. We cannot be too tender-hearted over the sorrows of men, but we must not be drawn into the current of what is going on. If we are outside of it we can help in the matter. You would not like to discuss the war with a man of the world, would you? You would be likely to come down to his level. I have felt the need of wisdom lately more than ever for there are such opportunities, people are so ready to speak. Have we the word of wisdom, for we may easily stumble people?
What Necho said was from the mind of God. If Josiah had been in a spiritual condition he would have discerned it, but he fell in the conflict in which he had no business to be involved. It does not mean that his course was bad. It was a subject of great lamentation. It is interesting that the book of Lamentations was written because of the great sorrow Jeremiah had over the fall of Josiah. It gives a sweet touch to the book of Lamentations, does it not? It is really the breathings of the Spirit of Christ over the failure of a beloved servant of God at the close of his days. These things make me tremble, because I am getting on towards that point myself.
Rem The interests of God would preserve us.
CAC Yes, if we are absorbed in the interests and service of the house we shall be preserved, and I do not know that anything else will preserve us. It shows that if we have much light which we cherish, we must go on with it; we must not let anything divert us, or we and the service will suffer.
Rem In the Lord and in the Spirit there is adequate to help us to fulfil our responsibility, if we are near to Him.
Ques I have wondered why the feast of tabernacles does not follow here?
CAC The feast of tabernacles would show how God has harvested all His great thoughts in Christ glorified, and it is in that connection the Spirit is given. J.B.S. said, ‘If we were occupied with Christ in glory, we should walk like Him down here’.
Ques In James 1: 5 and James 3: 15, 17, these features which were seen in the Lord are open to each one of us, are they not?
Rem The last mention of the ark in the New Testament is as seen in heaven (Revelation 11) and would suggest Christ in glory.
CAC Very good.