GOD’S VIEW OF THINGS
N. J. Henry
Revelation 21: 9–14; Acts 9: 1–12; Deuteronomy 33: 3; 34: 1–6; 2 Timothy 2: 21; Acts 18: 9, 10
God is God and God’s view belongs to God. It is not essential for Him to explain what He does; He has His own rights in what He does. Even the apostle speaks about it, “O depth of riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God!”, Romans 11: 33. In other words God, in His being, is not answerable to anybody. According to the prophet no one
gave Him counsel; God is God, but He desires to bring men into His view of matters and I have thought a little about that in these scriptures. For instance there are many things which are shrouded by mystery. Mystery only applies to time. For the redeemed who are with God there will be no mystery then in the presence of God, save what is beyond us as to God Himself that has not been revealed, but mystery will be done away with; it will no longer apply. We might say God protects truth by mystery; God has that right to do it. He also had His rights when the Lord was here to convey things in parables, that things were not necessarily understood, yet the truth was conveyed in them. At the moment there is the mystery of lawlessness which already works. I would love for the brethren, especially our younger brethren, to get some impression of what that is, “the mystery of lawlessness already works” (2 Thessalonians 2: 7), because that would clear in their minds many difficulties that surround us. When we look at the papers and everything that feeds the minds of men, you would be stumbled and lose your way, at least in your enjoyment of things, if you did not realise what the mystery of lawless is; it already works.
What I want to speak about now is that there are certain mysteries, things which are shrouded or protected by God, because God does not minister to the mind of man in the flesh. The mind of the flesh is death itself; that is what it says, “the mind of the flesh is death”, Romans 8: 6. It is going to end, that form of mind, that outlook, “but the mind of the Spirit is life and peace”. I just had a feeling that all of us need to be more settled in the times we are in, and I address myself in saying that, we need to be more patient, more restful in the times we are in, both as to what is happening abroad, but especially among the saints. For instance, at the end of Revelation 1 the Lord Himself speaks about the mystery of the stars, and the stars speak of the responsible element in the local assembly, that is, the angels. The Lord puts it that way but He wanted John to come into some understanding of what was in His mind, and that is why I say that divine Persons protect what They have. God desires that “all men should be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2: 4), but He is not feeding unrepentant persons with the understanding of the mysteries. That is a wonderful thing; that is how holy God is, how perfect He is in His wisdom and in His ways.
So He is addressing John here, and at the end of the book John gets this insight into what God’s thoughts were as to the assembly, the city. John is the only one of the twelve who saw the final top stone; all were related to the foundation of the city but John got the insight by the Spirit into the whole matter coming down from God “having the glory of God”. What a view he had. You say, Did God bring it down to his level? No, John was taken up to that level. Before he saw the great and high wall he was taken up to a great and high mountain. He was taken up, you must be elevated. When the three were taken up to the mount of transfiguration they had to go up to the mount which is referred to later as the “holy mountain”, 2 Peter 1: 18. It served a purpose for these three; they call it the “holy mountain” because of the purpose of elevation, so they could see the glory of Christ in that exalted and heavenly place on the mount of transfiguration. Here John had seen the false church, the false city in Revelation 19. It says he was taken in the spirit and saw the mystery, great Babylon, in chapter 17, but when you come to God’s thoughts about the city the Holy Spirit comes into it; John was carried away in the Spirit. It is wonderful to get some impression that God would give you, a view of the assembly.
Dear brethren, we are just on the very threshold of seeing the city complete. In an instant, in the twinkling of an eye we will see the assembly complete when the Lord comes. If you know the Lord is coming, say He was coming in three months’ time, how would you act in the three months? Would you not devote yourself to communion, to the truth, to the Scriptures, to ministry, to testimony, what is within your reach to use? Well, we may not have three months to go; we need to rise up. “Wake up, thou that sleepest, and arise up from among the dead”, Ephesians 5: 14. That is the light of Ephesians, our light, that we are to awaken out of sleep. We need our young and we need our old to go on in the light of Ephesians, assembly light. So here John has the final view and he sees the city coming down; what a city! There was never anything like it. In all that he had seen before there was nothing like this city coming down and it says, “Come here, I will shew thee the bride, the Lamb’s wife”. Was there going to be a deficiency in it?—never! Was there going to be a lack of brilliance?—never! Was there going to be only what was reflected in it?—no. Her shining, there is something solid taken in by the city, taken in and absorbed and come out. What a city. What a view!
You need light as to the assembly. God protects it but it is available. If you want it, ask for a view of the assembly. Get your view past the small gathering you may be with and see the whole thing. That is the view to get, “the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of the heaven from God, having the glory of God”. It is not exactly what it absorbs in that short time between the rapture and the appearing, but it is what has been worked out in this dispensation. Think of thread after thread of that garment, righteous acts; do not give up, do not get despondent. Dear older brother and sister, every righteous act will have its own colourful touch in the display of her clothing. Here it is the city coming down, a different thought but relating to the same glorious vessel. O that it would fill our hearts. The apostle says, “This mystery is great, but I speak as to Christ, and as to the assembly”, Ephesians 5: 32. We just need our hearts filled with it, beloved brethren. Just stop in your tracks. Recently I was looking down a street in America and I saw many people going off to work. They were all just like sheep, going their own way, and then back at night again. What empty lives unless Christ had entered into them, unless they have part in this city. The world wants you to go tread the same path of an empty life, and not have your heart filled with this city that is coming down from God.
The city is worthy of God; it comes down from God “having the glory of God”. The stamp of God is in the city; what a vessel it is. O that my own heart was filled with it all the time. The city comes down, there is not a trace of the world in it. We read today, “the men whom thou gavest me out of the world” (John 17: 6), the Lord was looking forward to it. What the Spirit would form in the dispensation comes out in that city, not a worldly element in that city, it is coming down. Satan will fall to make room for it, that is really what will take place, but the city comes down, the grace of the city you might say in controlled descent, because she is conscious of the love of Christ. Is that not wonderful? Does it not fill your heart? Do you not want more of the love of Christ? So it says, “coming down out of the heaven from God, having the glory of God”. And then it says, “having a great and high wall”. You might say, What can get into it? Well, God is just showing the peculiar exclusivity of the city. Others will come into it, Abraham, Moses, David, think of all these great men, and many others will come into the city. They will not be part of it but they will come into it. Think of walking down the street of gold, think of these men coming in—O what a city, worthy of these men to come in, and lie down in the kingdom and enjoy the wealth of the city. What a concept! Never has a place in man’s mind; that is why God protected it from the mind of man. He says, I will bring you into some understanding of it, so He did that.
So in Acts 9, I think these are precious hours and days after the conversion of Saul of Tarsus and his mind and outlook was changed by God; do not doubt it for a minute. Did he spend three days thinking of all he was before? I think that was dealt with so quickly, not only what he was in himself, what he pursued, but his links with Judaism were dealt with, and when he prayed I think he was thinking of the “me”, thinking of God’s view of the assembly. I am not going on to what Ananias said because Ananias was at least three days behind in what he had heard. I think Saul of Tarsus had the view of the assembly and that was filling his prayers. He was thinking of those he had beaten maybe, but he thought of the “me”. “Why dost thou persecute me?” That man’s eyes were no longer on himself. I think that is what hinders, our eyes being too much on ourselves and we do not make progress. Saul of Tarsus’ progress was extraordinary. He got clear of his links with Judaism, he got clear of everything of himself and all that he thought of was the Man. He had been affected by the light that shone round about him out of heaven. The Lord spoke to him; what a change to that man, and he got a different view than he ever had before. He was ready to be taken by the hand to Damascus, he was ready to see the saints in Damascus; what progress he made because he was finished with everything bar Christ. O that we could have that! O that we could finish with everything bar Christ!
This man made progress and he was praying, and the Lord says, “behold, he is praying”. Not that he prayed, not that it was past, or that he was about to kneel down. It says, “And he was three days without seeing, and neither ate nor drank”. The Lord says to Ananias, “Rise up and go into the street which is called Straight, and seek in the house of Judas one by name Saul, he is of Tarsus—for, behold, he is praying”. It was characteristic now. He had a vision while he was praying, and he saw the good side of Ananias. He did not hear what Ananias said to the Lord. He saw in a vision “a man by name Ananias coming in and putting his hand on him, so that he should see”. There was no option for Ananias; he was named already to the object that he was to serve; there was no way round it. The Lord tells Ananias he was named. He does not say, Well, whoever it is I will get someone in Damascus to do the job, but someone by name Ananias coming and putting his hand on him that he may see. His eyes were blinded with the light and now he sees. Is that not wonderful? Young brother and sister, lay aside things that hinder you and be characterised by prayer.
Now when you come to the end of Deuteronomy what a man Moses is. He was told to carry the people in his bosom and he did well, but there comes a time when he has to suffer for calling them rebels. God will not have that; God will not have His view of His people spoiled. Dear brother and sister, remember how God views the brethren. When people speak against the brethren they are on dangerous ground, and here he says, “Yea, he loveth the peoples”. I think Moses comes to this view in chapter 34, he sees the land stretched before him. He sees the land anticipating the saints in it, all the saints. Pray for all the saints. The higher you go in the epistles the further you see, Ephesians, Colossians, all the saints. If you are on the ground you do not see so many but the higher you go the more you see. Here Moses gets a view of the people, a view of the land. What a man he was. He was an honoured servant. He did call the people rebels and he had to carry the punishment of that. God is fair, but it is a serious matter having to do with God, and here He is having to do with Moses at the end of his life.
There was no burial like that of Moses. It has been said in ministry that God was his undertaker and God dug his grave. God knew that a challenge would be made, and when the devil demanded the body of Moses. Michael the archangel disputed with him. Dear brother and sister, if you are the Lord’s the devil will never get your body. Remember that. The bodies of the saints are precious and they are needed in view of resurrection. As to Moses, the undertaker as I say was God and He dug his grave, and no one knows where he was buried. That body was needed. God brought him there on the mount of transfiguration. No man knows the sepulchre of Moses, that is all God’s matter. Moses and Elias were there on the mount. God reserves the rights over the bodies of the saints. Do not allow temporary enjoyment of sin and give the enemy an advantage, devote yourself.
We have to acquire a taste for the truth, and I say start with a little, and then the next day a little more, and you will find that you acquire a taste. Every time I open a book I just wonder, it just quickens my affections. The Scriptures first, and every help in ministry, quickens your affections. What life comes out of it because the Spirit helps you in reading right material.
In Acts 18, Paul comes to Corinth. Paul’s way was a suffering way; extraordinary suffering including martyrdom. He says to Timothy, “what sufferings happened to me in Antioch, in Iconium, in Lystra”, 2 Timothy 3: 11. He had suffered but the Lord gave him a touch here. He gave him a little insight into His mind. He says, “I have much people in this city”. He must have thought about it many times when He had to do with Corinth, the mixture, the corruption that entered into the city and even at the end of the second epistle many had not judged it. He must have thought of the Lord’s word, “Fear not, but speak and be not silent; because I am with thee, and no one shall set upon thee to injure thee; because I have much people in this city”. The servant was protected and given an insight into God’s mind for that city. You need to get some impression of what God’s mind is for your city, where you are local. There is some impression you get from God as to our own cities. I come from a very dark city amongst men. God’s mind must be secured as to that city. Now here the Lord says, “speak and be not silent”. We were noticing on Wednesday night in Acts 5 that the testimony was that they stood and spoke, and then those of the opposition that were against the testimony admitted that the men that they had put in prison were standing and speaking. They were not overcome by the opposition, they were not apologetic, they stood and spoke.
Now finally I just want to touch in 2 Timothy 2, in the light of public breakdown, dear brother and sister, the little gem that came to my own heart through it was this word, “he shall be a vessel”. I thought, is that not wonderful? There is first of all the vessels, gold and silver, wooden and earthen, but then it says, “he shall be a vessel”. Have you considered what you are as an individual in a broken day? Are you overcome by the difficulties, the wave of corruption that is going through the world and the deceit of it? It is the craft of the devil that is in the world today that has an appearance of rightness and yet far from the truth. It says, “he shall be a vessel”. It is no longer all those who were in the great house but it says that of the individual. You cannot take yourself out of it exactly but you learn to act in it as a vessel, you are usable. It says “to honour, sanctified”. These two things, honour and sanctified. That is the Lord’s mind for you today, every one in this room, a “vessel to honour, sanctified”. That is God’s view of the individual. There is no company position recognised, individual faithfulness is called for today and it says, “sanctified, serviceable”, to whom? Yourself? No, “serviceable to the Master, prepared for every good work”.
That is, as I understand it, a little bit of the curtain of mystery removed, we get the Lord’s mind for us in the broken day we are in, so that each one of us may be more honourable, more sanctified, serviceable to the Master. How precious. Then you find what is collective. As we know the great house in 2 Timothy is not the house of God in the first epistle. The house of God in the first epistle remains, while its public character is not the same. We have to admit that. The public character has changed but the house of God still remains, it exists; but the great house in 2 Timothy is what things have become in the hands of man; confusion and all mixture in the public profession, what is real and unreal is in the public profession, and therefore it comes down to the individual. You anticipate the vessel, the assembly coming down and then you look at the individual. Do you appreciate it? Do you despise it or do you appreciate one vessel?—it is most important. Looking at the individual we learn to value the brethren, and it says, “to honour, sanctified, serviceable to the Master, prepared for every good work”. What an encouragement to us. May these words just encourage us a little and help us to see a clear way through. The will of God is directing us out of the world. The steps of Christ were out of the world and the steps of the assembly are following that too. May it be so, for His name’s sake.
Address at Grangemouth
15 September 2007