DIVINE SECRETS AND THE TEMPLE OF GOD
[p. 503] DIVINE SECRETS AND THE TEMPLE OF GOD
Daniel 2:13 - 23; 1 Corinthians 3:16,17
I have in mind at this time to speak of mystery. The greatest thought in the ministry, next to what relates to divine Persons, is the mystery of the assembly, and the hope is, that we shall all be impressed with the need of our knowing something of mystery, and that if we minister the word of God, in preaching or teaching, we should convey that mystery is involved.
The apostle Paul speaks of the mystery of piety, which leads on to what I have been saying, for piety is essential to our understanding of the truth, not mere learning as men speak, but the learning of piety. And so the apostle writes to Timothy so that he or anyone should know how to behave himself in the house of God, “which is the assembly of the living God, the pillar and base of the truth”, 1 Timothy 3:15. And then “the mystery of piety (or godliness) is great. God has been manifested in flesh, has been justified in the Spirit, has appeared to angels, has been preached among the nations, has been believed on in the world, has been received up in glory”, 1 Timothy 3:16. That is a passage that indicates peculiarly what I have in mind; it was written to a young man, one who laboured with Paul and of whom Paul said that he had no one like him, in that he cared with genuine feeling how the saints got on. Hence we may understand that Paul in writing about the truth to his child in the faith, Timotheus, would not fail to include the thought of mystery; not only the mystery of the assembly, but the thought of mystery otherwise seen. As christians, we should not be content to be, as it were, ordinary, for we have what the world has not, and what it does not know, and cannot know. The natural mind of man cannot know the things [p. 504] of God, for they are foolishness to him, but the believer can know. Indeed, what the apostle says, concerning our minds, is to show that we have not ordinary ones; we have the physical faculty involved in thinking, even as all men have, more or less, but “we have the mind of Christ”, 1 Corinthians 2:16. Christians, therefore, are capable of taking in things according to that mind, and speak of them and think of them according to it; which is an immense matter for us. “We have the mind of Christ”, (1 Corinthians 2:16) which involves the kind of thinking faculty that Christ has. So we can understand how we can rise above the ordinary level in treating of matters; even if they be ordinary matters we can treat of them differently to natural men. Our minds are different, and not only different, but holy, and pure. These are words used in designating the mind of the believer, as Peter says, “stir up your pure minds”, 2 Peter 3:1. He said that, as he was about to put off his tabernacle; that is, about to die. He wished to stir up the pure minds of the Jewish christians, for his ministry was to the Jews, as Paul’s was to the gentiles. Not that either was confined to his particular ministry, because Paul ministered to the Jews, he wrote the epistle to the Hebrews undoubtedly, and Peter ministered to the gentiles too. So that they were not bound to their respective ministries, they were free, as Christ had set them free, in intelligence; they would know what to do, as the need for ministry arose.
The thought before me is that our minds should become accustomed, if not so already, to move on higher levels. As I was saying, Peter speaks of our “pure minds”, and hence regards them as above the ordinary way of dealing with matters. We need to avoid letting things out that are sacred and holy, allowing them to run in the current of the natural mind. We see the result of this in Samson, a remarkable servant, I need not say, but one marked by looseness in his service. The Spirit of God moved him, we are told, in the camp of Dan, which [p. 505] was his camp, for he belonged to the tribe of Dan; the Spirit of God moved him, which is something that every young brother and sister ought to know, at least, to some degree; to know what it is to be moved by the Spirit of God. The first move is never to be forgotten, when you are consciously moved by the Spirit of God, you will desire another and another, and so, as I said, Samson was stirred or moved, very powerfully too, we are told, in his own camp, the camp of Daniel Much, of course, could be said of him, but I am referring to him now rather to show what should be avoided, and that is looseness of thought and speech, and the tendency of being drawn under the influence of the natural mind. It was his wife (it is a question whether she ever became his wife actually, but she is called his wife) that influenced him considerably for seven days, because he had uttered a riddle which was a mystery. As I have said before, such things, that is, mysteries are not to be scarce with us, or wholly absent with any of us. We should certainly know something about mysteries, the mysteries of God, and if we do know, we should be careful that we do not speak of them in a natural sense and make them the subject of ordinary conversation, for we shall in doing so cause damage by thus reducing them to what is just ordinary, whereas the things of God are not ordinary.
Samson, as I said, allowed himself to be influenced by his wife; it was in regard to some thirty garments, or shirts. The matter was of small consequence, in one sense, and yet in the eyes of the Philistines of much consequence, showing what the natural man is, old and young. The Philistines threatened to burn her father’s house and her too, if she dared not to disclose what Samson’s riddle meant. She eventually came into possession of the secret, and saved her life and her father’s life for the moment, but Samson was lost through disclosing the secret. He made a precious thing a common thing, which we, as I said before, should [p. 506] carefully avoid. We are to learn to be spiritual, to be holy, to be pure in our minds; learn to know something of the mysteries of God. We shall, as we cultivate the knowledge of these, be more useful in our services, in our Bible readings and the part we take in them. And so it was that Samson further disclosed his secret to another person, worse than the first, still a Philistine, and he lost his eyes for it, one night in fact he lost his life; God turned it into victory, but still the fact is, that he lost his eyes and lost his life literally, by careless talking, by bowing or submitting to natural influences. However near the persons that influence us, if they are only natural, we must avoid them, or they will damage us. And so I have read this passage in Daniel to work out this thought, and to show that we are within the range, as believers, of spiritual mysteries, which belong to us; and it is for each of us to awake, if we have not awakened, to the fact that we have part, as christians, in these spiritual mysteries, and we are not left to ourselves, because God is pleased to give us companions. We must not be without companionship, but see to it that they are spiritual; otherwise we shall rue it, we shall drop to their level if they are natural, and lose what we have already reached; hence the importance of spiritual companionship.
Now I wish to work out the thought of companionship into the great matter of fellowship. Fellowship is a word that has acquired a great place among spiritual people, a place that it hardly has at all among unspiritual people, and now that it has acquired this place, the thing is to develop it, and see to it that we have suitable companionship. Daniel had companions; he was one of a number, but they are called his companions, and I would now speak to young ones here, and urge the importance of spiritual companionship. If you are to rise to these spiritual levels of which I have spoken, you must have spiritual companions; they too rising with you to the level to which we are called. Paul, as it is said of him,
[p. 507] came through the upper districts, to Ephesus, which would mean that he was working on a higher level than Apollos. Apollos was at Corinth, we are told, and Paul was at Ephesus. They were both serving in ministry, but one was occupied with the lower, and the other with the higher levels. The lower in that case was itself rising, as also was Paul, but he came to Ephesus on a higher level. Daniel fits in peculiarly with what I am saying; he is the prophet of the last days, the great prophet of the four monarchies which we are dealing with yet; he was a man greatly beloved; heaven said he was greatly beloved. He is tenderly spoken of in his earlier days, holily, tenderly, spoken of; he took care as to his food; he would not be defiled by the king’s meat; that is to say, he maintained a level unto which he was called, and so, instead of being among the slain, which he would be if the king had his way, he and his companions were saved.
I speak now of the thing that I have already spoken of, the importance of spiritual companionship, and the keeping with it, not getting below it, but even getting above it. If you set the pace, God will help you, and maintain it; because it is a question of purity and holiness, involving intelligence. So, as I was saying, as to Daniel, it is said that “the decree went forth that the wise men were to be slain…Then Daniel answered with counsel and prudence to Arioch the chief of the king’s guard, who had gone forth to slay the wise men of Babylon; he answered and said to Arioch the king’s captain, Why is the decree so rigorous from the king? Then Arioch made the thing known to Daniel”, Daniel 2:13 - 15. This is what I wanted to read, dear brethren — “And Daniel went in, and requested of the king that he would give him time, and that he might shew the king the interpretation. Then Daniel went to his house, and made the thing known to Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, his companions”, Daniel 2:16,17. I want you now, dear brethren, to follow this, as I am seeking in a simple way to bring before us what is [p. 508] involved in this matter of companionship, spiritual companionship. And the same day he “went to his house”, he had companions there, “and made the thing known to Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, his companions; that they would desire mercies of the God of heaven concerning this secret; that Daniel and his fellows” or companions “should not perish with the rest of the wise men of Babylon”, Daniel 2:17,18. Now I am endeavouring to keep before us this point of companionship, and to show how it may result in the salvation, not only of one of us, or of a few, but the whole testimony of God, because God has not anything less than that in mind. By careful handling of our companionship and all else that goes with it, we may save the position. It needs to be saved, for terrible influences are at work abroad in the world, and they are aiming at the youth. The youth are in mind in what is developing, and so we need such as Daniel and his companions.
I am urging attention to what one man may do, or can do, under God, and what his companions and he, by themselves, can do, not only he himself but with his companions, so God has given us companions. The companions are the brethren; these companions are Christ’s too; He calls them His companions; He is anointed with “the oil of gladness above thy companions”, Hebrews 1:9. You can see what is involved in the Lord Jesus and His companions, and so as it works down to any one of us, and our companions. It is for us to consider how much we are making of each other, because, to speak plainly and simply, God needs us, He needs every one of us. He can do things, of course, as He did in the creation, by Himself, but what He is doing now is not by Himself. You will understand what I mean. God has established a system in the universe, and He has established a Head to it; the headship of Christ is involved in it, and the Spirit of God is involved in it, and not only are the divine Persons needed in it, but to [p. 509] speak simply and rightly, the saints are needed in it, the companions of Christ are needed in it, and so it is a question of what we make of each other. The fellowship becomes a great matter, as we see that we are companions and partners of each other. One of the most baneful things today, and what has been so for many years, is what we rightly speak of as mixed marriages; they disregard this matter of right companionship, and of the holiness that belongs to it; that is, christian companionship, involving the companions of Christ, and our own companions.
Now Daniel, we are told, “went to his house and made the thing known to Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, his companions; that they would desire mercies of the God of heaven concerning this secret; that Daniel and his fellows” or companions “should not perish with the rest of the wise men of Babylon”, Daniel 2:17,18. I hardly need repeat what I have said, that terrible things are being developed, on the principle of unionism, of systematised unionism. Labour is put on the top of everything. I say that advisedly, and where are we going to be? What is to become of us, dear brethren? Unless we have recourse to this matter of christian companionship, and the absolute refusal of what the devil is building up, we will be down, down and down to miry clay. Whatever men may say about it, I am saying what I know to be so, and it is put to us to refuse the companionship that is abroad in this world. On the other hand, God has those that are His own. We read of the Lord Jesus, having “his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end”, John 13:1. However few, He loved them to the end, and He is going to love them still. He is loving us still, but He is looking for what I am saying. He has His companions, He has made His selection, He is securing those whom He will regard as His companions, and He is looking for us all to be in that circle. Of Daniel it is said that he asked his companions to “desire mercies of the God of the heavens concerning this secret”, Daniel 2:18.
[p. 510] Now this secret is what I am speaking of; it is what is in the fellowship, what belongs to Christ’s companions, what is involved in the mystery; as over against the mystery of iniquity there is the mystery of piety. There is the mystery called “the assembly”, the mystery of God, the mystery of Christ; these are outstanding facts, that we have part in, and it is a question of what use we are making of the part we have in them, and whether we recognise the possibility of overcoming; that is, of keeping the secret, keeping the truth in the sense of mystery; not parading it abroad, as men will, but keeping it in a holy sense, a mysterious sense, and keeping it within the confines of the companionship to which we are called. And so, as I said, Daniel and his companions “desired mercies of the God of the heavens concerning this secret, that Daniel and his companions should not perish with the rest of the wise men of Babylon”, Daniel 2:18. It is a question of a secret, and how we are holding the thing in the fellowship; is it according to God? It is the fellowship of God’s Son. Let us think of the magnificence of that. It is the fellowship of His death, and it is the fellowship of the Holy Spirit. These are the three great fellowships spoken of in the two letters to Corinth, and we are all in them, dear brethren. But the point is, what we are making of them, with the end in view that we defeat what the devil is doing. Not that we should set out to be in any public way against what is current in the world but to hold the secret of the thing, to hold it in holiness, as having part in it. As a result of the desires of Daniel and his companions, “Then was the secret revealed unto Daniel in a night vision. Then Daniel blessed the God of the heavens”, Daniel 2:19.
Now I want to refer to Daniel’s beautiful tribute to God, because it is a time of such tributes, to be rendered by us in the holy fellowship into which we are called. Daniel, I might say, is in the temple of God. He has prayed to God, and that is the point; it shows, that they [p. 511] have part in the temple of God. “Do ye not know that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you”? 1 Corinthians 3:16. We can have hope as proceeding thus and be certain too, of reaching this result, that the secret will be made known, the truth that is to be held by us. Daniel having sought out his companions, acquired what was needed, and as soon as he acquired it, he praised God; and the praises that he rendered are as follows, “Blessed be the name of God for ever and ever; For wisdom and might are his. And it is he that changeth times and seasons; He deposeth kings, and setteth up kings; He giveth wisdom to the wise, And knowledge to them that know understanding. It is he that revealeth the deep and secret things; He knoweth what is in the darkness, and the light dwelleth with him. I thank thee, and I praise thee, O God of my fathers, who hast given me wisdom and might, And hast made known unto me already what we desired of thee; For thou hast now made known unto us the king’s matter”; (Daniel 2:20 - 23) that is, to Daniel and his companions.
Now these are facts, as we have them today, and we have part in them, they belong to us, and we are called upon now to come into them and support them; I want you to note in all this, that the companions come into it. The most distinguished in the Lord’s service may come into it more, but whatever he has he gladly shares with the companions. It is a question of what we have together in holy fellowship to share with our companions, even as Daniel embraces the other three, in saying, “for thou hast made known unto us the king’s matter”, Daniel 2:23. The safety of the brethren, the safety of the testimony, hinges on the secrecy that we maintain in regard to the truth; the accuracy too, but the secrecy of it. You may think I am making too much of the idea of secrecy, but it is the truth. We are not to cast pearls before swine, they will rend us if we do. We shall fail in the thing, and be useless. God is making much of the fellowship, very much of it, because of what is possible in it, as we hold together in the fellowship of God’s Son, the fellowship of Christ’s death, the fellowship of the Spirit, and finally, as stated in John’s epistle, the fellowship with one another. It is in these features of fellowship that the position is made safe for God’s pleasure in view of the end. If otherwise, there will be nothing but the apostasy, but the apostasy is not coming until He that now hinders is taken out of the way, 2 Thessalonians 2:7. There will be hindrances to the end; and remember that each one of us has part in the hindrance, so that the apostasy should not burst upon us, in all its evil character, its full result in the man of sin.
I am endeavouring to bring home to every one what is available and possible in the fellowship, and in the companionship into which we are brought by the Spirit of God; and so I venture to add a word as to the passage in 1 Corinthians 3:16 - 17. “Do ye not know that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If any one corrupt the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, and such are ye”. The present form of the temple, which is a provisional form, will presently be changed into a holy temple in the Lord; it is going to be changed into that. Now it is a temple, and in the sense in which our attention is called to it here, it is holy, that in which secrets are told and revealed, and as brethren moving together in the fellowship, we come into the idea of temple, not only the fellowship, but the temple. “Ye are the temple of God”, 1 Corinthians 3:16. The temple implies what is holy, it implies the secrets of God. The secrets of God are with them that fear Him, and it is within our reach to know these secrets of God, and promote what is meant in the idea of the temple as in 1 Corinthians. It is a present thing, but I might say hardly used, and the reference to it in 1 Corinthians indicates that the brethren there were hardly capable of working out the idea of the temple. The apostle has to say, “Do ye not know that ye are the temple of God”? 1 Corinthians 3:16. You can hardly think that they had worked it out in their Bible readings, where it should be [p. 513] worked out. We do not need to go to any metropolitan centre, because the temple of God is a local matter; the local brethren are it, and they should not have to be told that they are it, because if they have been working it out they know that they are it, and thus they understand the Scriptures. What is contained in the epistle to the Ephesians is the greater thought, in a sense, because it is not a provisional thought. Ephesians 2:21, speaks of what “increases to a holy temple in the Lord”. That would show, I apprehend, how the Ephesian christians were using the temple; for it is a question of usage. We have to ask ourselves whether it is dormant, although abstractly it is there, or whether we are using it. Now at Ephesus, I apprehend they were using the temple. Those that went to the school of Tyrannus would soon learn what was available to them through the temple, and that it was not only local, but that it was growing to a “holy temple in the Lord”, Ephesians 2:21 which would be the millennial idea, but still the same people forming it.
It is stimulating to think of it, that we shall have to do with the ordering of the coming world, the millennium, when the assembly will be “a holy temple in the Lord”, Ephesians 2:21. It is under the Lord, and the saints have their part in it, one over ten cities, and one over five, each one able to tell others what is to be told, what is to be known, so that the millennial day will not be marked by ignorance; for the knowledge of the Lord will cover the earth as the waters cover the sea. Everybody will be taught of God; that is the idea, and the temple of God, which is now growing, is to function in the millennium, and from it will be made known secrets, which the millennial people would never know except they were communicated to them from the temple above, the holy temple, as it is called, in the Lord.
There is a good deal more could be said, but I cannot say it now, because there is no time, only I would urge on the dear brethren to lay hold of what is available. Do [p. 514] not leave the temple unused; for it is usable. As to its eternal character, it will function in regard to the millennial world, so that the inhabitants will not be in the dark; things will be known to them, but they will not be known as we know them; it is a great mistake to think that they will be. Certain things will be established in the millennial day that are not established now; there will be a temple on the earth then; there is not now; the temple now is in persons, in the saints. Paul says, “Ye are the temple of God”, 1 Corinthians 3:16. That is to say, the saints in any locality are the temple of God there, and so it is that the brethren have more light than is obtainable elsewhere in the world. Although we may be few, all the light of God is available to us where we are, in the Spirit, where we recognise the Spirit of God and the fellowship.