THE WAY TO THE CITY
[p. 515] THE WAY TO THE CITY
Ecclesiastes 10:15; Jeremiah 50:4,5; Deuteronomy 19:2 - 7
The verse in Ecclesiastes is the basis of what is to be said, applying as it does to many at the present time. It says, “they know not how to go to the city”, (Ecclesiastes 10:15) and their labour “wearieth them”. The idea of the city is well known in Scripture and is applicable to what is in mind now, because it denotes what is systematic and orderly, and what is available to men; available in the sense of protection suitable and usable for human needs and services. Hence the application of it to the assembly.
The assembly is “the city of the living God, heavenly Jerusalem”, (Hebrews 12:22) and all other cities according to what there is for God in them must be regarded in the light of it, for it says indeed, “Jerusalem above…is our mother”, Galatians 4:26. She is the great metropolis in a moral way of all, and so we can understand how the Spirit of God says, “Ye have come…to the city of the living God, heavenly Jerusalem”; (Hebrews 12:22) a very great fact, and one that should be searched out by each of us, so that we may know how to get to it and how to have part in it, have a share in it, and how to thus be systematic, spiritually at least. She is called, as I said, “the city of the living God, heavenly Jerusalem”, (Hebrews 12:22) so that her identity is very noticeable, and the wonderful fact is to be added that she comes down from God out of heaven, “having the glory of God”, (Revelation 21:11) and that she comes down both as the new Jerusalem, and as the city of the living God.
In Revelation 21:2 and 3 there is very little said as to the heavenly city, but in the second part, that is to say, from verse 9, that part which refers to the millennium, we have much about administration, more indeed than we have anywhere else, and so it is helpful and in accord [p. 516] with the moment to consider this, not that it was in mind primarily. We see there what is now imminent, that is, the introduction of the millennial world, that in which we shall all have part; what is called “the world to come”. It has not come yet, save in the sense in which it is understood in the assembly; we have come to it there, but if we have not, then the question is whether we have found the way to it, or whether we are wearying ourselves, and failing to enter. The Spirit of God says “Blessed are they that wash their robes, that they may have right to the tree of life, and that they should go in by the gates into the city”; Revelation 22:14. Those of us who understand can say, We have come to “the city of the living God, heavenly Jerusalem”, Hebrews 12:22. Many do not understand that, and they do not find their way into the city, and the Spirit of God tells us, in the passage I have read, “The labour of fools wearieth them, because they know not how to go to the city”, Ecclesiastes 10:15. Others know! We have our Bible readings, ministry meetings, and addresses, and our private readings, morning readings, studies, meditations, all to the end that we should know how to go into the city, and to have part in it. It is the divine thought that every one of us should have part in it. In the second part of Revelation 21, there are many references to the number twelve, in which is wrapped up the administration of love, and hence skill in administration, because wisdom is the handmaid of love, and wisdom implies skill, so that no one need weary himself fruitlessly in endeavouring to get to the city; the way is manifest.
Now Jeremiah 50 in this sense is an awakening. “In those days, and at that time, saith Jehovah, the children of Israel shall come, they and the children of Judah together, going and weeping as they go, and shall seek Jehovah their God. They shall inquire concerning Zion, with their faces thitherward, saying, Come, and let us join ourselves to Jehovah in an everlasting covenant that shall not be forgotten”; Jeremiah 50:4. Now at such moments as these we usually say we want to speak to the young. I am not always moved in that direction. The middle-aged are more in mind, as far as I am concerned, usually; the sheep, those that have arrived at the sheep stage, not the lambs, but the sheep. They are the ones that need shepherding. The youth need feeding. As a rule they go where the food is, and so the Lord says to Peter, “Feed my lambs”; “Feed my sheep”, too, He said, but “Shepherd my sheep”, John 21:15-17. There is great need of shepherding; there is plenty of food, I might say, in one sense, thank God, but very little shepherding; hence the value of the remarkable gift spoken of in Ephesians 4; “shepherds and teachers”. That is, one person having both gifts; that is to say, able to shepherd and able to feed. It is most exhilarating to look into the faces of as many as are here today. Heaven looks into our faces, and is looking into our faces now. We must not think that heaven is any less active than we are, because what is in us, normally, in those who minister, reflects what is in heaven. And so the looking into the faces, old and young, is most exhilarating to the minister, but it is really in a sense more so to heaven itself. What is going on in heaven, is one of the greatest inquiries one can make. What is going on in heaven now? What will go on we may work out from prophecy, but for what is going on now we may look into ministry and see how heaven is reflected, and how heaven regards the saints of all ages, in all the variety of ages that are amongst us.
In speaking of those of the middle-aged I have in mind that they are the ones that normally carry responsibility and are able to; they have energy, as we may say; that is, the forties or fifties or sixties. These are the ages that need attention, and heaven is attentive to them. Things rest on them, although the hope ultimately will be in the youth, for “One generation passeth away and another generation cometh”, Ecclesiastes 1:4. Thank God for that other. Will you [p. 518] take account of it, and see what will develop in it, because the youth have to be watched over? Well now, this matter that I am speaking of is of vast importance to them, old and young and middle-aged. I do not speak of the very old, because one would assume that they are all fixed, as it were, as John the apostle says, “I write to you, fathers”, 1 John 2:13. He has nothing more to say than that they have “known him that is from the beginning”, (1 John 2:13) so that these very old brethren, including myself, may be left, as it were; not that one would assume that one is perfect, far otherwise. The apostle says he laboured to “present every man perfect in Christ”, Colossians 1:28; every man, old and young, because God has no less a thought before Him than that. Then let us make up our mind, dear brethren, for this, that God has His mind about this, and that mind is to be perfect to “present every man perfect in Christ”, Colossians 1:28.
Well now, the matter that I have mentioned is of prime importance to all, that we should be sure about the city, and not be wearying ourselves; “ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth”, 2 Timothy 3:7. There should be the knowledge of the truth amongst us, and if the Spirit of God is amongst us there will be that. We are not to be ever learning and never coming, but ever learning and learning, because there is constant need of learning and enjoyment goes with the learning. It would be a poor thing if christianity had no enjoyment: and hence the apostle says, “Rejoice in the Lord always: again I will say, Rejoice”, Philippians 4:4. I have been thinking of that for one is not to be doleful, but buoyant, and cheerful, and lighting up the countenances of the brethren, if possible, because they need it. We have been through a terrible time. Some of us have not been literally through it, but have been through it in spirit, so that we are all in it, and we all need to be brightened. Whatever there be in the way of buoyancy, it should be available and it should shine in each of us, but it will not shine in a person who [p. 519] is spending his time in seeking to find the city and not finding it. What is said here in Ecclesiastes is that “the labour of fools wearieth them, because they know not how to go to the city”, Ecclesiastes 10:15. The way is knowable, as I have shown from the last chapter of the Bible, for those that wash their robes have a right to go in, they have a right to enter into the city, and to partake of the tree of life; the precious fruits of the tree of life are available to all celestials, and true christians are heavenly, we all belong to heaven. We are not there yet, but we have come to the thought, we have come to the heavenly city, and as having come to it, it ought to be known by us. The gates ought to be known, and who are the guards, the caretakers, so to speak. Angels are said to be at the gates, on which are written the names of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel.
Now the way is open to us, but the question is, as to knowing what it is that hinders us; what it is that keeps us out. It is manifest that we are not in if we are wearying ourselves in endeavouring to find the way, and never coming “to the knowledge of the truth”; (2 Timothy 3:7) attending the meetings, reading the ministry, so to speak, reading the Bible and never arriving at a full, clear knowledge of the truth. These things ought not to be, dear brethren, but they are, not that I am accusing anybody (I hardly know anybody here), only that I do know that in a company such as are here, I am likely to be speaking to someone who is affected, and I would urge you to get to know the way to the city. I would urge as a further thought that the epistles to the Corinthians afford us the way in. The apostle, speaking there of the Holy Spirit who is here to guide us into the truth, and of His activities, says further of the saints, “so also is the Christ”, 1 Corinthians 12:12. The Christ there is inclusive of the saints, and they afford through the Spirit’s presence, the means of guidance. The Spirit of God chooses the saints as the means of our arriving at divine things, the means of understanding, the means [p. 520] of checking up our growth and learning, and of being serviceable. Hence it is, that the first epistle to the Corinthians has a great abstract view of love; not a concrete view, because the concrete idea will not be there, when we have not reached it. If we only rely on terms or words, then we have not reached the truth, we have not reached the concrete thing, and the great concrete thing to keep in mind is love. “Love never fails”, and it will not fail us if we want to get into the city. The great thing is to get there, and we shall enjoy the city when we get there, and we shall have part in its administration.
Referring to the verses read in Jeremiah 50, it says, “In those days, and at that time, saith Jehovah, the children of Israel shall come, they and the children of Judah together, going and weeping as they go, and shall seek Jehovah their God. They shall inquire concerning Zion with their faces thitherward, saying, Come, and let us join ourselves to Jehovah in an everlasting covenant that shall not be forgotten”, Jeremiah 50:4,5. The passage mentions the word covenant, but I am not going to tell you that this refers to the Lord’s supper, because it does not. The Old Testament is full of the idea of covenant. It was the child’s time, the children’s part, but when the time of full age comes, then we emerge from that and graduate into the higher classes, for this is the time of sonship. “Faith having come” (Galatians 3:25), the full thought of manhood is come. That means that we understand, we know love, for we are sons, we are no longer children. “When I was a child,…I reasoned as a child”, but “when I became a man, I had done with what belonged to the child”. 1 Corinthians 13:11. Manhood is seen in those who love. In the first epistle to the Corinthians it is, as it were, the picture on the wall, a beautiful picture, but it is only a picture, it is not a person. Love is not explained in a person in that chapter; it is explained, of course, but it is the abstract idea, the persons are not brought in. If love is present in persons, then we shall see those persons walking and talking and [p. 521] speaking to one another, as it says in that verse we often quote:
‘Nor what is next Thy heart can we forget;
Thy saints, O Lord, with Thee in glory met’. (160:8)When we meet each other there in glory, it will no longer be the abstract idea, we shall have the positive thing, love will be there. And that is what I am seeking to bring out now, to give these thoughts to the brethren, so that love is seen. It is the power for manhood. “The fulness of the time”, (Galatians 4:4) the time for manhood is when the children are taken out of the nursery; that is the thought in Galatians, “the period fixed by the father”, Galatians 4:2. It is then that they come into the full liberty of the house; their place in the drawing-room, so to say, in the best part of the house. I am speaking figuratively. We belong to the house of God, we belong to heaven, to the heavenly Jerusalem, which comes down from God out of heaven. There is no idea of youth there, or children, or any lack, because of youthfulness, but sonship is the idea — manhood. And so it is; “ye are all God’s sons by faith in Christ Jesus”, Galatians 3:26. It is a faith matter.
And so, dear brethren, the inquiry in Jeremiah 50, about the city is by men, they are on the way to it; their faces are thitherward; that is to say, they want to be where the brethren are, not just congregating with young people, making their companions among the young, but with the elder ones, where the men are. The Lord says to His Father, “The men whom thou hast given me”. That is the position, dear brethren, and I speak of it so that the youth here might have it before them to belong to the men class, so to speak, those who are men, those who are mature, those who know love, in other words. And so it says in Galatians 4, “because ye are sons”, (Galatians 4:6) that is the abstract idea, “because ye are sons, God has sent out the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, Abba, Father”, Galatians 4:6. That is to say, the practical or concrete thing is [p. 522] there. In the mind of God it is there, but, even when the child’s time existed, in the mind of God the idea of sonship was there, because we have in Psalm 2:7, “Thou art my Son; I this day have begotten thee”, It means that the idea of sonship was in the mind of God in the time of children, in the time covered by the Old Testament, in the time of covenant, when they needed covenant, but it is not in Ephesians, not in Colossians, nor in any of the epistles applicable to us, who live by the Spirit of God. We do not need it, dear brethren, we know God, and so, we may say, we do not want God to take an oath to us, to make a covenant with us. We live of Him, “because ye are sons, God has sent out the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, Abba, Father”, Galatians 4:6. That is manhood; manhood in principle. The Spirit in the heart makes you a real man, with power to love, power to act in love, and power to serve; this is most needed, for there is much to be done, and things are to be done on the level of sonship. In the world needed things are not being done, it is marked by idleness. It should not be so with us. God is intending to show that what He has is not what the world has. What He has is sonship, and sons will do what is to be done, they know how to get into the city.
Jeremiah 50:4 says, “In those days, and in that time, saith Jehovah, the children of Israel shall come, they and the children of Judah”, notice that love is active among them, they are “together, going and weeping as they go, and shall seek Jehovah their God. They shall inquire concerning Zion”. They are not wearying themselves to get there, they are asking the way. There is a way to it, and they are just asking. That is the point. We often say, “how much rather shall the Father who is of heaven give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him”? Luke 11:13. Why should anyone be without the Holy Spirit; none will get to the city without the Spirit. The Spirit enables you to get into the city; that is, to get into the assembly, into all its blessings and privileges. Why should we be outside? That is a [p. 523] very fair question. The persons contemplated in Jeremiah are asking the way to Zion, “with their faces thitherward”, Jeremiah 50:5. You can see how they move. They are looking towards Zion. Now you will remember how in the Lord’s own history here, in Luke, certain Samaritans did not receive Him, because His face was towards Jerusalem. Why was it towards Jerusalem? Not that He did not know the city; He was going to die there, and that is the basis of all I am saying, dear brethren, for His going there was love. “Hereby we have known love, because he has laid down his life for us”, 1 John 3:16. His face was in that direction; it was the face of love. He went down from the mount of transfiguration to Jerusalem, and I believe we might say that in the way down He went to Jerusalem, we see the dying of Jesus. He was going to die. He was laying down His life; in principle that is what He was doing. It was only a question of miles, or yards, until He got to Jerusalem, and then He would die. “It must not be that a prophet perish out of Jerusalem”, he said in Luke 13:33. Jerusalem was so bad that a prophet should not die elsewhere, but there, so that He must die there. So that we are in a love system, the love realm, and if it be the love of Christ, it is the love that was manifest in His dying, the dying of Jesus, because He died in love. Wonderful to think of!
We are told in Mark 9:8, that as Moses and Elias departed from the mount, and the vision disappeared, the three disciples saw no one, but “Jesus alone with themselves”. All the glory attaching to Moses and the transfiguration had disappeared, not that it could not come back, it will, but it was “Jesus alone with themselves”, (Mark 9:8) and so it is. It was a journey of love. He went down with them from the mount and died in Jerusalem. A prophet should not suffer outside of Jerusalem. He died there. And so it is that the Lord’s supper is celebrated there, not on the mount of Olives; they went to the mount of Olives after the Supper was instituted. It is the [p. 524] place of spiritual power, but Jerusalem is the place of love, the place where the Lord died in love. “This is my body”, He says, “which is for you”, 1 Corinthians 11:24. It is our portion. Those of us who have to do with the Lord’s supper, have that portion; we understand the love of Christ. It passeth knowledge, but we understand it. It is understandable to love, dear brethren. And the disciples went down with Him, and He went with them, and He died at Jerusalem. The city was there, but the Lord did not need to search it out.
As I was saying, John the evangelist says, “I write to you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning”, 1 John 2:13. Those of us who have known Him that is from the beginning, we know love and we know how He died, dear brethren, and how His love enters into the Lord’s supper, and that is for us. We know that it is our portion; it is not for anybody else, but for ourselves. “This is my body, which is for you”, 1 Corinthians 11:24. He says. I want the dear brethren to have it in their hearts to understand the Lord’s supper. The fathers do not ask for a covenant; they understand love; they know Him that is from the beginning. They know all about the Lord in that sense; not all, of course, because He is inscrutable, but still there is that which is knowable, that is, “him that is from the beginning”, 1 John 2:13. I would say again that the Lord’s supper is only intelligible fully, to those who love, to those who know Him that is from the beginning. Love is there from the very beginning, the beginning of Christ; a phrase that will be understood. The Lord’s supper is for us; “this is my body, which is for you”, 1 Corinthians 11:24. He says, so that we understand, that we are having to do with Him who loves. In Ephesians it is that ye may “know the love of the Christ, which surpasses knowledge”, Ephesians 3:19. There are many other things we are to know, according to that chapter, but there is this one thing that is beyond us, beyond all creatures, and yet it is available to us; we have part in it; that is, the love of Christ. We have part in it in the sense [p. 525] in which it is intelligible to us in the Lord’s supper; it is for us. The Lord would say that. It is for you.
These persons in Jeremiah have their faces towards Zion. “They shall inquire concerning Zion with their faces thitherward, saying, Come, and let us join ourselves to Jehovah in an everlasting covenant that shall not be forgotten”, Jeremiah 50:5. I would turn aside here to explain a little as to the word covenant, and I do not need to repeat what I said, but there is the idea of assurance that enters into christianity. It is a question of the knowledge of God, dear brethren. The knowledge of God gives assurance; nothing can give greater assurance. He does not need to make a covenant; the knowledge of Himself gives assurance. And so it is, that as one thinks of those on their way to the city, the young people come up in one’s mind. Many do not know the city, they do not know how to get into it; maybe they are half-hearted; maybe there is something in their minds that must happen before they come into the idea, and take on definitely. The Lord is not pleased with that, it is a half-hearted matter. This passage says, “they shall inquire concerning Zion with their faces thitherward”, Jeremiah 50:5 They are not looking in another direction. They are moving in that direction, and it is most encouraging to all of us, especially to those who serve in the Lord’s work, to see persons who are looking in the right direction, and who are definite in it, and want to get into the city. They are not going to be turned aside. They are thankful to get every bit of light there is, and every bit of food too, to strengthen them in the position, because they will need it in the city. This city affords all the pleasures that God can give us; which He can give by His Spirit in the “heavenly Jerusalem”. It is a remarkable expression.
As I said before, Revelation 21 should be studied carefully. There is the first coming down of the persons as “the holy city, new Jerusalem”, and it is “prepared as a bride adorned for her husband”, Revelation 21:2 She is ready [p. 526] for Christ; the most interesting of all to the Lord Jesus is the bride, the “bride adorned for her husband”, Revelation 21:2. She thinks of Him; she thinks of the adornment that is suitable for her, and so there is nothing about administration. I mean to say there is nothing said about the number twelve; you get much of that in the next section, commencing at verse 9, but in the earlier section it is a question of the tabernacle of God, and the city coming down from God out of heaven, and all that she is as adorned, as a bride for her husband. I cannot think of anything more interesting for our souls, or, I might say, more interesting to the Lord Jesus, nothing can be in a way more interesting than the bride adorned for Him, adorned for her husband. Reverting to the word in Jeremiah are our faces in that direction, the right direction?
Now I will just refer to Deuteronomy 19, in order to confirm this matter of cities. These cities are to be in threes; three more to be added if necessary. They are to be available, not now to persons who have been specially interested in cities, but who are specially interested in finding a refuge; there is something they need refuge from. There are many like that. Something has happened and a man is in a plight; things have happened that will cause a shade on the person, and some of the brethren are very concerned about him. They are not throwing stones at him, but would make a way, make it as short as possible, take away all the impediments, all that might hinder him, so that he might be recovered, as quickly as possible. And so the Israelites, or the brethren, if I may use that figure, are ready to help you, if there be anything in the way of shadow on you. Transparency is what marks the assembly, and what marks the brethren generally; not any shades there. There may be cause for the shadow, and the brethren know and are ready to serve you, they are ready to help, but the way may be long, there are further difficulties that have to be avoided,
[p. 527] and so many things may happen. These things that I am now speaking of refer to persons with whom there is a shade, in spite of themselves, they are in circumstances of question.
The word is, in Deuteronomy 19:2 - 3, “Thou shalt separate three cities for thyself in the midst of thy land, which Jehovah thy God giveth thee to possess. Thou shalt prepare thee the way”, that is, the believer, the saints, let us look out that we prepare this way. Let us see that there are no barriers raised up that might interfere, or cause a person to be inconvenienced by something that he has no control over. The government of God, of course, goes on, and no one who loves God would want to interfere with that, and yet love has its way among the saints. So it is, “Thou shalt prepare thee the way, and divide the territory of thy land, which Jehovah thy God giveth thee to inherit, into three parts, so that every slayer may flee thither. And this is the case of the slayer, who shall flee thither, that he may live”. Deuteronomy 19:3,4. That is the question, dear brethren, of the person being alive, or living. The shade may so discourage him as to wear him out, the thing may do damage to him, and yet he may be relieved, and if he is to be relieved, if he is to get into the city of refuge, then we must not put barriers in the way. “Prepare thee the way”, (Deuteronomy 19:3) so that the path is made easy for the man-slayer, so that he may live and not die, dear brethren. We want to live ourselves, but we want others to live. One asked the Lord, “Lord, teach us to pray”, Luke 11:1. He did not say, ‘Teach me to pray’. If he wished to get on better in the truth, or in the ministry than any others, he might have said, ‘Teach me to pray’, but he said, “Teach us to pray”, Luke 11:1. It was a love matter in this man’s mind, and he wanted all the brethren to pray. So if there be anything good, let it be for us all. If anything is good for me, it is good for all the saints. Let us look that way, think that way, so that we become a circle of love, because that is the idea of christianity, a circle. The Lord looked “[p. 528] around in a circuit at those who were sitting around him”; (Mark 3:34) that is the principle. There is the idea of a square, of course, four square, and of a cube, but the idea generally in God’s realm is of a circle. We may know that from the heavens, and the earth too, most things are on the principle of a circle, as far as I can see. We have to take notice of that, for we have to begin there.
And so it is, that if there be any persons under a cloud and who may suffer damage by it, let them get to the city of refuge; let them get released as soon as possible. We know how many are seeking release from the Army now; we are all praying for them. It is their matter, but it is our matter too. We want our brethren with us, we want them where love is; it is not in the Army, it is where the saints are. And so the word is, “Prepare thee a way”, Deuteronomy 19:3. How much can I do for the brethren, to get them out of the difficulties and into the circle where love is? It is the way to heaven, because the city is, you might say, the counterpart of heaven, the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and the way is there. So that those that wash their robes have a right to enter by the gates, not clandestinely, but by the gates. There is liberty in doing it. They enter by the gates into the city, and have part in the tree of life, the celestial tree which belongs to heaven. It bears fruit monthly, and the leaves are “for healing of the nations”; (Revelation 22:2) but its fruit belongs to us, and we do not want to keep any brother, in any sense out of that, we want to make a way for him. And so it goes on, “This is the case of the slayer, who shall flee thither, that he may live: he that smiteth his neighbour unwittingly”, (now this is the thing that causes the shade on the person) “whom he hated not previously; as when he goeth into the wood with his neighbour to hew wood, and his hand fetcheth a stroke with the axe to cut down the tree, and the iron slippeth from the handle, and lighteth upon his neighbour, that he die; such an one shall flee unto one of these cities, and live”, Deuteronomy 19:4,5. You see his life is bound up with [p. 529] the cities whatever one it is, whatever one of those three. Then, “if Jehovah thy God enlarge thy border…then shalt thou add three cities more”, Deuteronomy 19:8,9. That is the appointment; increase the life position, and it is a question of increasing the love position. “By this shall all know that ye are disciples of mine, if ye have love amongst yourselves”; (John 13:35) said the Lord. That love will make the way to the city of refuge where the person fleeing is set at full liberty; the liberty of sonship seen there in persons who love. The word goes on to say, “lest the avenger of blood pursue the manslayer, while his heart is hot, and overtake him, because the way is long”, Deuteronomy 19:6. We do not want to make the way long; make it as short as possible; love will do that, and remove hindrances in doing so, because if the way is long, the avenger may slay him. He is in great danger; and so the utmost care is to be taken so that there is no barrier in the way, for “he was not worthy of death, since he hated him not previously”, Deuteronomy 19:6. Well, that is what I had to say, dear brethren, and I think it will be intelligible to us all. Let us see that love may have free course and be glorified.