PURCHASE FOR DIVINE PURPOSES
[p. 201] PURCHASE FOR DIVINE PURPOSES
Matthew 13: 44 - 46; 1 Chronicles 21: 18 - 25; Genesis 23: 11 - 19; Revelation 3: 18
I wish to speak at this time about purchase. The idea of buying and selling is very old, but I wish to dwell upon purchasing as divinely introduced. In this respect it came in with Abraham. It was in the world before, for the Lord tells us that they builded and planted in Sodom and bought and sold; that is how the world went on. Merchandising had a great place, and has more now perhaps than at any time. It belongs to the world, the realm represented in Tyre. Christians in business have to be on their guard as to the mercantile spirit, lest they make it an object, lest rather than a means of livelihood, it becomes a pleasure; it may thus be classified with sport. Therefore, a believer has to watch lest he be drawn into the current of buying and selling as affording him satisfaction. The apostle enjoins us to be as “they that buy, as not possessing”. Otherwise we shall be on the level of the man who said, “Soul, thou hast much good things laid by for many years” (Luke 12: 19), and pull down our barns and build larger ones, and buy our houses accordingly, and our cars.
All this is a snare, and there can be no doubt it marked the Sodomites, great sinners as they were, but they did in this respect what was in itself legitimate. “They ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; but on the day that Lot went out from Sodom, it rained fire and sulphur from heaven, and destroyed all of them” (Luke 17: 28, 29). That happened in Sodom, which in that sense represents the industrial field, the mercantile field, besides the wickedness that goes with money-making. “The love of money is the root of every evil” we are told, and industrial occupations largely [p. 202] afford the means for the acquirement of wealth. The antediluvians were pleasure-loving, social people (compare Luke 17: 26, 27) and sociability must have been in Sodom too. Mere social relations may readily merge into what is actually in opposition to the people of God, and we have to be wary of them. Of course, we must be considerate of men as such, for they are creatures of God as we are. While refusing their worldliness, we have to clothe them in this sense. So you find in the heavenly man, that is, in Abraham, good terms existing between him and the inhabitants of the land; although he knew from the divine promise that the land would all be his; he was also heir of the world. What a different outlook on the world this fact would give to Abraham! And in truth, as the gospel was preached to Abraham, who is the father of all believers, he would learn in some degree to clothe men and women with creative thoughts. They belonged to God as the Creator. We need to do this, otherwise we shall not be in their confidence.
I mention all this in a prefatory way. The antediluvians, as I was saying, must have had great social facilities for families, such as that of Methuselah and others. “They ate, they drank, they married, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and the flood came and destroyed all of them” (Luke 17: 27). So much for the social and industrial or commercial side of human affairs; the christian has to be on his guard as to both, and see how God came in with the idea of purchase, in a most interesting manner. Why should He have to purchase anything through His people, as Abraham and David, when He created everything? The cattle on a thousand hills are His. Why then should He have to go into the market to buy cattle? Why should He have to buy land, or why should He have to buy persons? Well, these [p. 203] are important questions which I hope will be somewhat answered in what I have to say, for I believe it is important that our souls should be instructed in this matter of divine purchase. It is set out in the clearest manner in the passage in Matthew 13. Verse 44 introduces the thought of a treasure found. It was hidden. The man found the treasure, as you will observe, hidden in a field, “and for the joy of it goes and sells all whatever he has, and buys that field”. There is joy in the matter, this matter of divine purchase. The Lord here likened Himself to a man, and incidentally it may be remarked that whilst the Lord felt everything as no one else could feel the weals and woes of mankind, also the disregard of the rights of God everywhere, yet He would be by no means doleful or depressed. An incident of this kind shows what marked the Lord. There are many others, too, of course, to help us in this respect, but this one shows the readiness with which joy came into His heart — the joy of the treasure. Why should He have to buy the field? He was the Creator of it. He owned it creatorially. Why should He have to buy it? Well, that is what He did. Buying is sometimes difficult, especially if the article or commodity desired is not on sale, not specially on sale. There is no evidence that this field was advertised to be sold, yet the Lord had the joy of the treasure which He found in the field, and the purchase must be made.
The seller is not in view here, yet the Lord in the type, in the parable, would buy the field. There is something in it which causes Him joy. Think of that! How it should appeal to us! He had us in mind in this matter, dear brethren. I suppose the thought of finding alludes historically to what He found in Peter, and John, and James, and Bartholomew, and Mary of Bethany, and many others. He found in them what He loved. David never found [p. 204] such interest, such joy in men. He had his men; Solomon had his; but they never found such joy in men as the Lord did. Solomon was a figure of Christ in this respect, for he had a wonderful heart; God gave him a wonderful heart. He was a man of great affection. But think of Jesus, the Creator of everything! He created Adam. There was not one thing done that He did not do. He created Eve. It was not a mere matter of workmanship, for His heart was in it; and now He has Peter, and James, and John, and many others, and they are wonderful in His eyes. He saw something beyond what others saw. He names it — a treasure, and He introduces the idea of purchase, not to purchase the treasure, but the field in which it was; that is, it belonged to the field, as the trees belonged, in Abraham’s mind, to the cave of Machpelah. So this treasure belonged to the field; it was greater than the field. But He would have the field, and would sell all that He had in order to buy it.
Now that raises the question as to the position at the present time. Our chapter tells us what the field is. A field suggests the idea of a sphere of workmanship; but it is not the thought of a tilled field here. The time for that is coming; the Lord Jesus as the true Solomon will speak of everything relating to the earth, so that it will be understood why Solomon spoke of all the living things on earth. David spoke of heavenly things. The day is coming when Christ will speak of everything here below. How suitable everything here will be in its own setting! as He said of Nathanael, “an Israelite, in whom there is no guile”. He will grace the coming world with such persons — guileless persons, who can name the Lord Jesus in reverence and affection, saying “thou art the Son of God, thou art the King of Israel” (John 1: 49). Such persons will adorn the coming earth; but in the meantime He is not purchasing [p. 205] the field for that, He is purchasing it because of this treasure. And this treasure is not Jewry, nor is it the nations as such. It is an unnamed treasure here. The Lord hides it, so that we are in a Colossian position. It alludes to ourselves, the Lord has hidden us, but He has the field, and has right-of-way, in order to get each of us.
That brings in the question of the earth and what is going on at the present time: whatever interferes with the Lord’s rights of purchase on the earth must not be, for He has His people in it; He has His treasure in it. Here we are in this hall tonight, and there are many more of the Lord’s people in this city, unknown to us, but known to Him. He has some of us, perhaps all — He is already valuing us as belonging to this treasure. We read in this chapter of a man who brings out of his treasure things new and old. The scribe of the kingdom of the heavens does that. The Lord is speaking about the treasure in the parable, and anyone instructed in the kingdom of the heavens will understand what He means.
As I said, we are here tonight belonging to this treasure. Let us take the thought into our hearts. We are hidden. We do not want newspaper advertisements. The world does not know us, because it knew Him not, and faith accepts that. We would be in correspondence with Christ in everything. But still, the Lord has much people in this city, as in Corinth. He said to Paul, “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” (Acts 18: 9, 10). What a great thing to realise that in our service no one shall set upon us to injure us! “I have much people in this city”, the Lord said. The Lord had right-of-way in Corinth.
[p. 206] The next verse brings in enlargement of the thought. It is no longer that He has found something, but He is looking for something, for the thought became enlarged, as I may so say, in the blessed Lord’s mind. He is looking for something; that is, if we were in the treasure, then He would look for us in another point of view — a pearl, as a merchantman seeking goodly pearls. The Lord is now seeking something. Well, I believe that enters into this. The Lord has the assembly in His mind, and He has sought it and bought it, and it is “one pearl of great value”. The context shows that it is an advance in thought — it is the thought of superiority, a superlative idea. We read of approving “the things that are more excellent”. That is what the Lord has in mind for us at the present time. We have entered upon the time of translation, and things are pressed forward by the Spirit of God in a peculiar way, and the end in view is that the saints should be ready when the moment arrives. It is very beautiful in that sense; it brings us all into it. “But ... of that hour no one knows ... but the Father”. So that the saints are to be aglow with anticipation and desire that as the Father’s moment comes, the translation will take place — the coming of the Lord, too, into public glory.
I want to show now from David and Abraham how this worked out: everything is presented perfectly in Christ. The idea of purchase is in the epistles, but in Matthew 13 we see it in a beautiful setting in these parables. You will understand that they were spoken inside the house (verse 36). It is a private matter. The Lord is going on with us in this way. It is a secret position, involving the mystery. “To you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of the heavens”. Well, the Lord would impress us with the greatness of it, so that we might value the things involved in the mysteries of the [p. 207] kingdom of the heavens. When we come to the assembly it is not mysteries, but mystery — the great divine thought transcending all others, the mystery.
Now David in type helps us through his failure. He is used to help us. I do not believe any of these failures of the great servants of God would be recorded save to help us; they are written for our learning, and everything happened as types for us. David had committed a great sin, but his sin resulted in this wonderful end, the purchase of the site of the house of God. I speak of it now as to how it works out in believers, for one observes great want of definiteness of purpose in the brethren. I have taken up this matter of purchase or buying, because it contemplates a very definite transaction, that one has something in his mind. One has begun to be definite, to set value on things, to appraise things in their true value; and having appraised them in their true value, then we want to have part in them, something that we can call our own, and if so, the price has to be paid. In this sense, we are not so much looking for gift. One is assured of one’s own disposition, which I suppose is natural to us all, to want gift. God is a Giver. The idea of gift is infinite in Him. “If thou knewest the gift of God” the Lord says, and again, “It is more blessed to give than to receive”. Gift for service is attractive, but it is apt to be a snare; it is to be desired, and God gives it; but there is the thought of suitability for it, which must be acquired. Thus gift is rightly valued and used as received from God.
David is offered the threshing-floor as a gift, the threshing-sledges for wood, and the wheat for the oblation, but he would not offer to Jehovah what cost him nothing. He would buy all for “full money”. But Ornan, who would give all to David, was a remarkable man; he was not a man to be [p. 208] despised. He had four sons too. Why should they be mentioned? He is going to be honoured in this matter. He is already honoured because he is offering for the house of God. The two men are honoured — the purchaser and the seller, the seller because he wishes to make a gift, and the purchaser because he will not offer to God what cost him nothing. His four sons are with their father. They are threshing wheat. They are real workers and workers for a purpose — the staff of life, wheat.
Well, the prophet Gad had said to David that he should go up and rear an altar to Jehovah in the threshing-floor of Ornan the Jebusite. That was the message, and I hope each of us will place himself in the position to receive a message at this time. It is a prophetic time we are living in. Some of us were noticing that Gad and Nathan were David’s prophets; Gad particularly was David’s seer. And now he serves him as before, in this matter of the house. “The angel of Jehovah commanded Gad to say to David, that David should go up and rear an altar to Jehovah in the threshing-floor of Ornan the Jebusite. And David went up at the saying of Gad, which he had spoken in the name of Jehovah”. Observe that! Speaking of prophecy, it is not simply that a brother has a word, he speaks in the name of Jehovah. Those who listen are to judge. Is it indeed in the name of the Lord? Is it indeed a commandment? If it be, it is on the level of 1 Corinthians, and do we not need imperative words, dear brethren? We shall get them if we are ready for them. Notice that David went up at the saying of Gad which he had spoken in the name of Jehovah. So that our prophetic meetings become of great importance, but then speaking in the name is not enough. I must be worthy of the name; one has to go to the meetings in the name of the Lord. Think of the import of the name of the Lord! This would [p. 209] affect a man as he leaves his house if he is to be used publicly at a prophetic meeting; what sobriety, what sense of responsibility would mark him!
The angel’s word is short: it is prophetic. The circumstances were disturbed and peculiar, for David had just sinned, and sins cannot be fully dealt with in a second, you know. After denying the Lord, Peter was not set up until the Lord had probed him (John 21); and David had to go through his exercises for this sorrowful sin, but he obeys the divine word immediately. Immediately the word came from the angel to go up, he went up. He was subject. “David went up at the saying of Gad, which he had spoken in the name of Jehovah”. How important it is that we have an ear for what is in the name of the Lord and are subject to it! We discern it has come to us in the name of the Lord.
David is now imbued with the idea of purchase. He understands what is needed. No doubt he had read Genesis. Men of faith would read books God provided. The Scriptures are a wonderful provision for us. There can be no doubt that David read this chapter in Genesis, and indeed, I believe the Psalms are constructed on similar lines to the Pentateuch: each has five books. The Spirit of God through the psalmists would carry forward into the Psalms the great divine thoughts in the Pentateuch. The idea of purchase enters into them, as here. David is not behind Abraham. He used the very same words, “full money”. It is a true man that says that sort of thing. He is not bargaining for a lower price. It is a question of uprightness.
The idea of manhood enters into all divine transactions, and certainly any one of us who is in any way in the service of God, and every one of us is called into it, should be marked by manhood. So David says that he will pay the full price. So we are told in the passage that David gave to Ornan for [p. 210] the property six hundred shekels of gold by weight. There is weight and measure. It was the weight of six hundred shekels, for coins are apt to be adulterated, but gold by weight is the pure metal, and that is what David gave. And observe that he bought the place. He would make full room for the house of God and for all that pertained to it.
I would like to speak now of Abraham and of the burials of the brethren. If we are in our graves, our spirits are with Christ. If we are in our bodies here, we are in the house of God. That is the position. David is, in type, looking after the saints in their bodies, making plenty of room for them. The early chapters in Acts show how room was there: there was great increase in the number of persons. But the saints have to be looked after in view of their disembodiment. Both Peter and Paul contemplated putting off their tabernacles. Provision had to be made for this. The apostle Paul says, “those who have fallen asleep through Jesus”, a most beautiful expression. The Lord sees to our falling asleep, and to our burial. Devout men carry us to our burial, all under the Lord. The Lord is saying by the Spirit in Genesis 23 that He is providing with the greatest care for the burials of His people. Does not love enter into it? It does indeed. Abraham was in the presence of his dead when he said this. It is not until he makes the purchase in the most formal manner that we are told in verse 19 “after this, Abraham buried Sarah his wife”. “After this;” and every burial since that time is “after this”, that is after this care of love has been expended, this precious interest in the burials of the saints. It is a matter of faith. Nothing is more a matter of faith. It is the father of the faithful who buys this burying ground. Jacob takes it up in the most definite way, and would [p. 211] be buried there. He was carried over into Canaan to be buried in this cave.
We read that the cave was in a field, and I think that this thought of a field is worthy of note, for do not the saints need room for the expression of love in our burials? They are not cold affairs, such as we find with the unbelieving. I do not know that I have ever been at the grave of an unbeliever, but I conceive it would be a cold matter. God forbid that anyone here should be an unbeliever! The unbeliever keeps death as far away from his mind as possible, but not so the believer. Paul enters into this matter, saying, “to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better”. Of course, that would mean his burial. We are not told of his burial. It is remarkable how little is made of the burials of christians, but the general thought is stated in the Acts as clearly as possible. Stephen’s burial, and the burials of Ananias and Sapphira — the latter two erring ones, and yet such are provided for, as it were, in this field, in this cave. The love of Christ follows up everyone, even such persons as are under the discipline of the assembly, under the discipline of God, are buried. I think it shows the genuineness of their christianity, that they were both buried.
So Abraham secures the field and the trees — the whole position. It is an actual transaction, and that is what I am aiming at — to show you that buying means a definite transaction to get something that faith sees is needed for the Lord’s people. Let nothing be omitted that is needed for the care of the Lord’s people, whether in life or in death. Love would see to that as in Abraham and in Paul, and in the Lord Himself. How wonderfully He acted at the grave of Lazarus! “Where have ye put him?” How touching that is! “Jesus wept”. However, I am speaking now of this matter of purchase, that we should understand that we should be definite.
[p. 212] We have things in our minds, we know what is needed, and we get them. It is a matter of purchase. If it costs me something then I value it ever after. If it does not cost me something, then I am likely to think lightly of it. It is not a question of salvation or redemption, but I am speaking of things that are needed, and faith will purchase them, will pay for them, so that they might be secured and available for the Lord’s people.
I would refer finally to the Laodiceans. The Lord says, “I counsel thee to buy of me gold purified by fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white garments, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness may not be made manifest” (Revelation 3: 18). That is a very remarkable word and in keeping with the last address to the assemblies. The Lord tells the overcomer here that He has sat down with His Father in His throne. He is there tonight, and hence the gospel is going forth, and who can interfere with His rights in His field? As to these Laodiceans, the Lord had written to them through Paul, and he tells the Colossians to have their letter, that is the epistle to the Colossians, read in Laodicea; and that the letter to Laodicea was to be read to the Colossians. Had they taken heed to it they would not have needed this counsel, for it combated the evil and ceremonialism of philosophy. It was the admission of philosophy and vain deceit into the professing body, that made it rich in its own account — higher criticism and all that. Now we see the result of this epistle to the Colossians being unread and unaccepted in practice as divine truth. Philosophy, vain deceit, and ceremonialism are what mark the professing body today. It thinks it is rich, but the Lord says, “thou art the wretched, and ... poor”. “I am about to spue thee out of my mouth”. Yet He says, “I counsel thee to buy of me”. It is a transaction [p. 213] with Him that the Lord urges. You will remember that the foolish virgins were told to go and buy from those who sold, but before they could buy, the Lord had come, and they were left outside. The Lord would not open to them, although they wished that He would. Here the Lord is telling the Laodiceans to buy of Him. It is a peculiarly touching word, that the Lord is counselling such people. He was about to spue them out of His mouth, but in the meantime, He is giving them counsel, and that is, that they should come to Him and buy. He is not offering anything for nothing: they are past that. They have been investigating and found out things that nobody had known before, they think. They are not trying to get things for nothing.
Although He is the great Giver, the Lord says He is ready to sell. “I counsel thee to buy of me gold purified by fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white garments, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness may not be made manifest”. The Lord is counselling them, and indeed ourselves, to buy the requisites. If we say, We are rich and increased with goods, the Lord says, as it were, None of the things that you have are requisite; the idea is, that you buy the requisites for an entrance “into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ”. What are the requisites? Gold tried in the fire, and white raiment. In this book and elsewhere there are those spoken of who wash their robes, but now you can see that it is a question of having needed things, of coming to Christ, as He counsels, and buying the things you need.
May God bless these thoughts to us.