THE DIVINE PRESENCE IN THE ASSEMBLY
[p. 353] THE DIVINE PRESENCE IN THE ASSEMBLY
Exodus 40: 17 - 38; 2 Chronicles 5: 11 - 14
These scriptures treat of the divine Presence here on earth, that is, in the sense of God coming in and dwelling. In one sense God’s presence is universal, and always has been. The apostle speaks of all living and moving, and having their being not by God only, but in God; a fact that is hardly noticed save by believers. In creating, God intended to keep His hand on all things. And indeed, without this, the universe could not subsist, for although it may appear to be self-contained and self-acting, in truth it is not. It is kept going by God. Even the fulness of the earth, vegetables, trees, fruits, all have their origin directly from God. The apostle says of a grain sown, it may be of wheat or one of the rest of the cereals, that God gives it a body. And that makes God very near, which intelligent believers recognize and profit by. We pray to Him in relation to material things, the rain, the weather, as of Him. This makes Him very near to us even in ordinary affairs. The apostle says He is “not far from every one of us”. And he was speaking to unbelievers — Athenians.
God creatorially viewed thus calls forth the worship of His children. We must not leave out His creatorial glory. It is not all, of course, but He is a faithful Creator. And the Preserver of all men, too, however much they disregard Him; He is the Preserver especially of believers. We have always something distinctive. And hence piety in believers brings in the Creator. Every creature of God is good, to be received with thanksgiving, sanctified by the word of God and prayer. Sanctified, so that the meals, the clothes, the houses of believers thus held are different in this sense from the meals, the [p. 354] houses and clothes of unbelievers. These things are sanctified to us by the word of God and prayer. They are not sanctified to those who disregard the word of God and prayer.
I intend speaking now of God coming in, not creatorially, but on the ground of redemption. He alone, being Creator, had the right to take up redemption, and He took it up. And in taking it up, He discharged all the liabilities that lay upon us and, I may say, upon the whole universe. He discharged them in the death of Christ. His redemptive rights He takes up as a Saviour God. As believers we know it is good for us to allow Him full liberty with us in this respect. The more liberty that God has with us, the better. And what is a greater blessing than God known dwelling in us? For God dwells in those who love Him, and they dwell in Him. God has thus a right of way in us. He has a right of way everywhere, but to secure it He has to use force at times; He will do so in the future, to clear the ground of lawlessness. Sometimes He has to use force with believers in the way of discipline, to make a way in our hearts. A solemn thing: but God is faithful and wishes to dwell in us, and so if He has to resort to severe measures it is in love He does it, for He will assert His redemptive rights, and what He has in view is to dwell. And what can be greater than that, that God Himself should desire to have an abode in us? So that He brings it about that he that dwells in love dwells in God, and God in him. We must have this balance.
The New Testament abounds with references to these facts, and of course it is, I might say, the first and the last word for christians, but it has no greater authority than the Old Testament. Some think it has, but the Lord would teach otherwise. He said, “Destroy this temple”, meaning His body, “and in three days I will raise it up”. And it is said that [p. 355] after He was raised from the dead, His disciples believed the Scripture, and the word that Jesus had said; John 2: 22. That is, the Scripture comes in before what Jesus had said. The “Scripture” refers to the whole of the Old Testament. John 2 shows that the Scriptures have equal authority with the words of Jesus, and the whole New Testament. But there is this difference, and believers are apt to stop in it, that the New Testament is written in our own language, as it were, whereas the old is not; it is generally written in typical language. It is thus neglected and here much is missed. The Lord expounds to two wayward believers, “beginning at Moses and all the prophets”, the things concerning Himself.
What I have been speaking of abounds in the New Testament, but the references to the divine dwelling in the Old exceed even those in the New. And I would say further, that the divine dwelling is not only blessed as a matter of enjoyment, but it has a distinguishing feature referring only to those who are fellow-citizens of the saints and of the household of God. Mere light may distinguish us, but it is not the divine Presence: this cannot be imitated or outdone. As God says, I will send My angel. Moses says, We want Thee. I wonder if that is the language of our hearts, dear brethren, that we want God with us. Moses says, How shall we be distinguished save that thy presence go with us? They had the tabernacle, and all that went with it, but that is not what is in Moses’ mind. He says, “Is it not by thy going with us? so shall we be distinguished, I and thy people”. And God gave them His presence in answer to His servant’s wish.
Earlier, in Egypt, He had distinguished the people by many occurrences, but He does not refer to any distinguishment of them until the plague of gnats is mentioned. That is, until life came in, that out of [p. 356] the dust living things were made. These were felt by the Egyptians, man and beast, to be a positive evidence of the power of God. That is a principle of God, and of that plague God gave no notice to Pharaoh, as He did of the other plagues. It meant that God Himself was coming in in living power, and that meant the overthrow of Pharaoh. So the scribes and magicians say, “This is the finger of God”. Those who try to imitate life proceed no further. They cannot imitate it. No one can produce life but God. And hence those who live spiritually are distinct. That is the first great distinguishing feature of the people of God, that they are made to live. But that was not enough for Moses. He wanted the presence of God, and God granted it to him.
Now I want to show from these scriptures the two leading thoughts entering into this great subject. Exodus corresponds with Romans and Corinthians 1 and 2; 2 Chronicles corresponds with Colossians and Ephesians. Christians ought to understand these things if we are to understand the assembly. For the dwelling of God certain conditions are necessary, such as the coming in of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost involved; it was God coming into suitable conditions. That is what I want to speak about.
Acts 1 and 2 furnish the conditions, things being inaugurated permanently. The disciples seen in chapter 1 were the handiwork of the Lord, the material He provided. They were all gathered in one place while the feast was running its course. The feast of Pentecost is, in the type, not bounded by time at all, as the other feasts were, it is unlimited, and I believe the feast of Pentecost therefore runs on, in a spiritual sense. So they were together in one place, they were all there. I want you to notice that word all, for it bears on our local companies. Meetings should be attended; if we are to [p. 357] get anything of what I am speaking of, there must be the recognition of assembling ourselves together; “not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is”. Hebrews 10. So that it says they were all there — as if that was a condition — as if the absence of one or two would mar the condition. They were all there.
Being all there with one accord, they heard a sound. When we are gathered together in assembly we should wait for the sound from heaven, to shut out all others; at Pentecost it was “as of a rushing mighty wind”. That is, the Holy Spirit came in under those circumstances; and it says, “it filled the house”. Who can afford to be absent when there is such filling as that? The Lord Jesus is gone into heaven that He might fill all things. He is now filling believers — the assembly. And so the Holy Spirit was sent down by Him. And there appeared unto them “parted tongues, as of fire, and it sat upon each one of them”. How great was that occasion!
I am not suggesting for a moment that we have Pentecostal times, but we may have something in the way of correspondence, but this depends on suitable conditions. And so earlier, the Lord came amidst His disciples as conditions warranted it. The two who had been going to Emmaus came back and found the eleven, and those who were with them, gathered together. That is Luke’s point of view; he has the assembly in his mind. And some were saying the Lord was risen, and further that he had appeared to Simon, one who had just denied him. In other words, they were full of the thought of the resurrection of Christ, and of the grace that marked Him — He had appeared to failing Simon. Those from Emmaus said that He was made known to them in the breaking of bread. That was the conversation of the brethren on the day of resurrection. And as they were saying these things Jesus Himself [p. 358] stood in the midst. These were the conditions, and [p. 359] He came and stood in the midst and said, “Peace be unto you”.
John records an appearing, but he mentions different circumstances. He says it was in the evening of the first day of the week, and the Lord came where the disciples were. The authorised version says, “where they were assembled”, but it should read, “where the disciples were”, that is where the persons were. It is well to be alive to the greatness of believers as indicated here. John speaks of one hundred and fifty-three great fishes; undoubtedly there is an allusion there to the greatness of the saints which is in keeping with John’s line; it is personality. So the Lord came to persons. What were the conditions? The doors were shut. What did they have inside? Well, not much as men reckon. They had no college training there. John does not make much of apostles, he never emphasises the official side; he calls them the twelve just twice, but he never mentions apostles. So he is not speaking of officialism, but the greatness of the persons as having believed on Jesus. “This beginning of signs did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and manifested his glory; and his disciples believed on him”. These are the ones, believers through the manifestation of the glory.
Besides being believers, they had just been ennobled by the Lord’s message through Mary. “Go to my brethren and say to them, I ascend to my Father and your Father, and to my God and your God”. That was the message. Think of the dignity of these people as that message came into their souls, as they understood that they were His brethren, the brethren of this wonderful Person! He was ascending to His Father and their Father. His God and their God. They had this inside, and He came and stood in the midst, and said, “Peace be to you”.
These things correspond to the passages I read. You will have observed in the verses in Exodus the repetition of the words “as the Lord commanded Moses”. You might have said it would be enough to say that once; but not enough for the Spirit of God. If I know the treachery of my own heart, I know the need to have that drilled into me. Is there anything in our meetings contrary to what the Lord commands? The next thing is that Moses takes each item of the tabernacle furniture and places it, after setting up the tabernacle. He takes the ark and puts the testimony into it, and takes it inside into the holiest of all. That is its position, and it is functioning, it has the testimony in it. It is not a mere piece of furniture, there is something there, the testimony is in it. The testimony is where it will be taken care of. That is the principle. This is needed today where the Person of Christ is attacked; and the testimony of God is somewhere where it can be taken care of. It must be inviolate. Then the veil, that covers the ark. Then the table — is it a mere piece of furniture? No, the loaves are on it. That is, every piece is in its place, and functioning as in its place. There is no room for my will, but the will of God. He set up the candlestick, and lighted the lamps before the Lord; the table on the north, the candlestick on the south. He places the altar of incense, and burns incense on it. Nothing is idle. I am speaking of the local meetings, for these things are of little value unless we answer to them. The present economy of the assembly is in each locality where the saints are walking in the truth, each being in his place and, as in it, doing something. Not what he wished to do, but what is proper to him. Each is to know what he is to do. Exodus is most explicit as to what each item is for.
[p. 360] Then he hangs up the curtain of the door where it renders service and outside that, he places the altar. Is that a mere religious symbol? No, it is to be used. Nothing is in the assembly but there is a purpose for it. He offered up upon it burnt offerings and meat offerings, “as the Lord commanded Moses”. And the laver is in its place with water in it, and Moses, Aaron, and Aaron’s sons washed in it; it is used. All these things are of the utmost importance in every local company, if that local company is to realize the divine Presence.
And Moses finished the work. The tabernacle was anointed with oil; this must permeate all. The excellency of the power of these things is to be of God and not of us. All is functioning and answering to the mind of God. Moses finished the work. If one thing is important in Scripture it is completion, this principle runs through. God finished His work on the sixth day, He rested on the seventh. The Lord said to Sardis, “I have not found thy works complete”. A good deal goes on that is not finished. Moses finished the work, and then it says, “the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of Jehovah filled the tabernacle”. Look at that, beloved! God had really come in, it was Himself: the glory of Jehovah, as it says, filled the tabernacle. As at Pentecost, they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they all functioned; they began to speak of the great things as the Spirit gave them to speak. They were all doing it. What a wonderful day when those one hundred and twenty were speaking of the things of God, in the power of the Spirit come down from heaven!
“Moses could not enter into the tent of meeting, for the cloud abode on it, and the glory of Jehovah filled the tabernacle”. If I make application to the assembly when convened, it applies to the first part, answering to “the assembly of God which is in Corinth”. This is a question of the Lord’s authority, but as Moses ceases to minister, the thought of authority drops out, the glory filling the whole scene.
That is, the public or authoritative side merges in the spiritual, which is seen more fully in Chronicles. Some of us may not have followed the teaching of 1st and 2nd Chronicles but that is our loss. That is the difficulty one often has in seeking to help believers from the Old Testament; by many it is not studied. But it is written for us. The material for the building spoken of in Chronicles is not exactly as from all the people; that is the point of view of Exodus; the outcome of God known in the covenant. Every believer knowing the love of God, provides something; the love of God being shed abroad in the heart. But in Chronicles it is David dedicating things; and Solomon and other distinguished persons give, but the great volume of the material is from David himself; one hundred thousand talents of gold, one million talents of silver: it is Ephesians, it is the unsearchable riches of Christ; He is building a house with those riches. You do not get “of thine own have we given thee” in Exodus, this is the point of view of Chronicles. Today it is from Christ. David speaks of what he brings in relation to his affection for the house. That is how matters stand in Chronicles, so you have a building of immense wealth and glory, to be exceeding magnifical. The Lord says, “On this rock I will build my assembly, and hades’ gates shall not prevail against it”.
In 2 Chronicles 5 it says, “it came to pass when the priests were come out of the holy place ... when the trumpeters and singers were as one, to make one voice to be heard in praising and thanking Jehovah ... the priests could not stand to do their service because of the cloud; for the glory of Jehovah filled the house of God”. This is the final thought, beloved brethren. One could say a good [p. 362] deal about this wonderful type, but I had in mind to show that it is the Ephesian side, the side of God doing all through Christ: and the magnificence of it. It is not now merely a question of Moses being shut out, but of priestly service even being stopped. Why should it be stopped? If God comes in under these circumstances He says, I want the whole scene to Myself. Is He not worthy of it? And if He has the whole scene, what will He not do! He will fill it Himself. It is God Himself coming in this wonderful way. It is not a question of everyone being in his place, but of living voices with cymbals and trumpets; one hundred and twenty priests with the choicest of the Levites all praising Jehovah. As they were as one in praising Jehovah, then the house of Jehovah was filled with a cloud, and the priests could not stand to do their service because of the cloud; for the glory of Jehovah had filled the house of God. This passage, dear brethren, is wonderful. It presents what may be realized as we are “in assembly” — the fulness and blessedness of the divine Presence. Here, God is “all in all”.