THE SAINTS PUBLICLY OWNED BY GOD
[p. 320] THE SAINTS PUBLICLY OWNED BY GOD
Zechariah 12:7 - 14; Zechariah 13:1 - 9
I had it before me tonight to seek to show from this scripture how God operates amongst His people, as having departed from Him, so as to bring about conditions in them enabling Him to enter into public relations with them. It is His thought to have a people on earth whom He can own publicly and with whom He can establish and maintain right relations. I am not assuming that this can ever happen in our dispensation, as it shall happen in connection with God’s earthly people; but I do say, and desire to make it clear, that God does intend to own us publicly. It would be discouraging service in these last days did one not know this, did one not know that every bit of service rendered is in view of what is to be public; that it is not merely to maintain the saints for the moment, but that there might be an entering into that which God will own publicly. We have assurance of this.
The Lord says to Philadelphia, “I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie; behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee”, Revelation 3:9. That is said to the assembly at Philadelphia, the last but one addressed by the Lord. He commends it, for He finds in it what corresponds with Himself. He can commend nothing save what corresponds with Himself but, however little there may be in us to correspond with Christ, He will not fail to take note of it and to commend it. He commends everything good in every one of the churches. He says, “I know”. One of the sweetest things in apostate times is that the Lord says “I know”, and He knew all about Philadelphia.
[p. 321] He knew of the brotherly love; He knew that His name was revered there. He knew there was a little strength; He knew, in fact, that there was present almost every feature, however minute, of the assembly. There was sufficient there to enable Him to speak of the assembly as a whole, and no one who loves the Lord would have it otherwise than that. If He can approve you, He connects you with the whole assembly.
You do not want to be isolated or to regard yourself as a unit, which would lead you to the position of Elijah in the wilderness, when he said, “I only”. 1 Kings 19:10. If the Lord approves you, He connects you with all that is of Him on the earth, and so what He finds in Philadelphia He clothes the assembly with, and thus He intimates plainly that the assembly is to be owned; it is not said that it loves Christ, but that Christ loves it — a greater thing. What can be so great in that sense, beloved, as the fact that Christ loves the assembly? I suppose the apostle Paul said one of the greatest things in regard of himself when he spoke of the Son of God, saying, “Who loved me, and gave himself for me”, Galatians 2:20. And so the believer, as approved of Christ, identifies himself with that which Christ loves supremely. True enough, He loves you as Paul said, but there is that which He loves supremely — the assembly.
It is the letter to the Ephesian believers that discloses to us fully what the assembly is to Christ. One can understand the fittingness of the disclosure in that epistle, that Christ loved the assembly and gave Himself for it, that He might present it, through the washing of water by the word, to Himself. I do not expect to be presented specially to Christ. I expect to be in that which is to be presented to Christ. It is a greater thing. If I love Christ, I want to think of what meets His mind, His heart. As God said of Adam, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him” Genesis 2:18;
[p. 322] that is, his like, his counterpart. I want to be in that; you want to be in that; and if Christ approves you He connects you with that. True enough, as I said, I know His love to me, as we all do, but then I think of that for which He gave Himself that He might, through the washing of water by the word, present it to Himself a glorious assembly, without spot or wrinkle, or any such thing. I hope to be in that, and I hope we all shall. It is a wonderful expectation to be in that which He presents without spot or wrinkle — a glorious assembly.
Well, now, He intimates to the Philadelphian assembly that she is to be owned by Him. He will cause those of the synagogue of Satan who say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie, to come and worship before her feet, that they may know that He has loved her. She knew it already but He will make others know it, and so, to carry the thought further, you find in Revelation the idea of the wife — “the marriage of the Lamb is come”, it says, “and his wife hath made herself ready”. Revelation 19:7. You will see what I am aiming at — that what we are going on with is not to culminate in nothing. What we are going on with, as we are going on with God, is to culminate in that which shall be publicly owned by God. The very consideration of it lifts the mind of the saints from the littleness of our position outwardly to the glorious future; and so His wife makes herself ready. She is doing it; she is making herself ready. It says, “it was given to her that she should be clothed in fine linen, bright and pure; for the fine linen is the righteousnesses of the saints”, Revelation 19:8. The saints there, I apprehend, include all the saints that form the Lamb’s wife.
Think of the righteousnesses of Peter, of John, of Paul, of the myriads of saints that form the assembly! It is granted unto her that she should be arrayed in all [p. 323] this — a wonderful robe! It is not yet a question of adornment exactly but of purity — the fine linen, clean and white, the righteousnesses of the saints. You see the greatness of it, and then, following upon that, the book of Revelation occupies us specifically with her. One of the angels that had the vials of wrath takes John to a high mountain. Before that he had been taken by one of the same angels into the desert to see the great Babylon, the great whore, the corruptress of the earth. It is remarkable that the angels who are occupied with the vials of wrath should be so expressly concerned that John should see the false bride — she that says, “I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow” Revelation 18:7. She was filled with the abominations of the earth.
It is remarkable that the prophet should be ‘shown’. The word ‘show’ is used in connection with the false church and the true. It is well, dear brethren, that we should have our eyes opened, for the idea of ‘showing’ is that attention is called to things. It is of God that we should be shown the false thing — not, indeed, to be occupied with it, but the prophet was carefully shown it in its various features. It had come to remembrance before God. Terrible moment for it! The thing comes up in remembrance before Him, the awful history from its inception. As all the righteousnesses of the saints shall form the holy, pure garb of the bride, so this wicked thing is held responsible for all the wickedness of the earth, and it comes up in remembrance before God. He deals with it according to its guilt. It has mounted up to heaven, and God will strike it and it shall be found no more at all. It shall be completely erased from the universe. There shall not be a trace of it left, but then the prophet is taken to a high mountain to see the glorious assembly coming down from God out of heaven, having the glory of God. That is what we have before us.
The prophet Zechariah, allied with Haggai, ministered [p. 324] in times like ours, and they lay stress on the great future. They are occupied with a day of small things immediately, but they stress the great future, the “latter glory” of the house. Haggai speaks of the latter glory of the house, which shall be greater than the former, and Zechariah tells us that he who laid the foundation of the house shall put on the top stone.
Zechariah is a type of Christ. In the book of Haggai he is the governor — a word for us. The Lord is pleased in His grace to be our Governor in a day of small things. In the book of Zechariah, Zechariah is the builder. Governing and building go together, and he who laid the foundation shall lay the top stone, saying, “Grace, grace unto it”. Zechariah 4:7. One sees that the top stone is being put on. Who is putting it on? He who laid the foundation. It is the work of Christ. The word to Zechariah was: “Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord of hosts”, Zechariah 4:6 and so, as Zechariah had laid the foundation, he should put on the top stone, the crown of everything, saying, “Grace, grace unto it”. You see how great the conceptions are in the day of small things.
Well now, I wanted to show you from these passages how God works to effect this. He says that He saves the tents of Judah first. The house of David, it says, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem should not magnify themselves over Judah. Judah represents, I apprehend, the family. The family thought is the primary thing with God, and Judah is the first of the tribes. He acquired that place, and so he fits in here as representing the family, for God will have His love flow out. He will have that in which His love flows. The greatest thing of all is to belong to the family of God, so He saves the family first. What is it? As many as received Him to them gave He title to take the place of the children of God; John 1:12. Every true believer belongs to the family of God. If there is a believer here who does not think so, let me [p. 325] assure you that you are one of the brethren. Do you wish to sever yourself from them? Do you wish to remain severed from them? God would save you from that tonight; He saves the tents of Judah first. If there is one here tonight who has never known the blessedness of brotherly relationship, I would say to you, God would save you first. The tents of Judah were to know what the family was, so that the house of David (the kingly, the official class) should not magnify themselves over Judah. Were I an apostle, I would not be greater than a brother. You see, Paul says of himself, we are all yours, “Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas ... all are yours”, 1 Corinthians 3:22. The gifts are to serve the saints. All is to promote family interests, family affections: that is the thought of God. A feeble one shall be like David. Let no one be hindered by his weakness. “And the house of David shall be as God, as the angel of the Lord before them”. These are great things, and there need be no fear in your heart, for God is operating on these lines. He is operating to save the family.
But, while that is His thought, God makes it very plain to us that what must underlie everything is genuine repentance. You see the necessity of it, hence it says that God pours out “upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications”; so that you begin to repent, and here repentance is coupled with affection. Everything must have the element of affection in it if God is working, therefore they mourn a great mourning in the land. It is not now a question of a few individuals; the land is moved and they mourn as a man mourns for his only son. Why do they mourn? They look on Him whom they pierced. You may think of what you have done to the brethren, or what they have done to you. How does your conduct affect Christ? What effect has it on the heart of Christ? “They shall look up on me whom they have pierced”
— [p. 326] no less than God Himself; and then, it says, they shall wail because of Him. The pronoun is changed from “Me” to “Him”, for God ever thus brings Christ in. He is His fellow, but He is nevertheless a Man. It was Christ they pierced, but in piercing Christ they pierced Jehovah. You see how far-reaching sin is. They pierced Jehovah — “they shall look on me whom they pierced and they shall mourn for him” — the Man down here, the lowly Jesus, whom they pierced literally.
In order that the thing should be thorough, the family, the natural relationships, must be faced. The occasion of departure and difficulty amongst the people of God almost invariably arises in families, and particularly the wives (bear with me, sisters). The wives here in every case are separated, not only from their husbands, but from their families — every family apart and their wives apart. You know, wives find it very difficult to isolate themselves and deal with God. They either hide themselves behind their husbands (Lot’s wife looked back from behind her husband) or behind their children, and hence the great want of power in the wives and in the mothers.
You will pardon me for being plain, but there is a very great shallowness in the work of God in this country. I am not despising what there is — far from it. One has had to do with it and one does not exempt oneself at all, but there is a great shallowness amongst the people of God in this land, and there are large districts, large centres of population, that have never been touched by the testimony, I mean the testimony as we know it, and God would lay it upon us. You see that His thought is recovery. He is working on those lines and He would have His people with Him in it, and in order that we should be with Him our roots have to go deeper than they have gone hitherto. There is the taking root downwards and bearing fruit upwards. That is God’s way and this comes [p. 327] about by the process here, by the segregation of the members of the family and each having to do with God Himself about these matters.
Self-judgment existing, the provision is presented: “In that day” there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness. We have already dwelt a little on the distinction that has to be made between sin and uncleanness. Sin is the action of the will against God, in whatever form it may be expressed. Sin is lawlessness, but uncleanness may not be so apparent, so that God provides for sin and uncleanness in the death of Christ. Moral rather than judicial cleansing is in view in the passage before us, for it is a fountain (water) that is opened up. At the brazen altar sin was dealt with, and that is the basis of all, but the laver was by it. It is remarkable that the laver was made of the looking glasses of the women that assembled at the door of the tabernacle. We do not have to go far to know what that means, for looking-glasses are much used now, and this means self-occupation. You cannot have cleansing while you are occupied with yourself. You see looking-glasses all over the world. They are surrendered, as it were, as self-judgment takes place, as the wives of the families judge themselves. Instead of looking at ourselves, we look at Christ “we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord”. 2 Corinthians 3:18. You see the glory of the Lord, a very different thing from your glory. So they made of these things the laver whereat the priests washed in order to serve.
Then in Solomon’s day we have what is called a ‘sea’, meaning, I apprehend — in keeping with the great system that he was setting up — that there was plenty of water. And so there is now plenty of it, and what comes out is, that it is supported by oxen. The oxen were an integral part of the sea; they were cast as it was cast. Need I remind you of the patience
[p. 328] of God in Christ waiting upon us and providing for us the means of cleansing? How patient God is with us! But He is patient that He might lead us to judge ourselves and cleanse ourselves, so that you see the fountain here for sin and for uncleanness. Then God cuts off idols. We are to keep ourselves from idols, and God is acting to cut them off, and not only to cut off idols, but to cut off false prophets. Some of us older ones know something about these things. When the people of God judge and cleanse themselves God acts in a wider way. He cuts off the idols and the false teachers. And such a state of things comes about that the father and mother of a false teacher take sides against him. How much there has been of the retention of false teaching in order to retain the teacher on natural or party lines! It may be a local company; it may be a district. We may easily fall into the snare of supporting a local teacher, making more of him than of the truth. Thus parties have arisen and thus divisions have taken place, and the saints have been misguided. But, as God works, as we see here, the prophet himself is ashamed; Zechariah 13:4.
And then the Lord Himself comes in in spirit. He says, “I am no prophet”. Zechariah 13:5. The prophet who judges himself for his false teaching refuses to wear a hairy garment to deceive. How many there are abroad wearing garments to distinguish them as prophets or servants, only to deceive! The Lord says, “I am no prophet, I am a tiller of the ground; for man acquired me [as bondman] from my youth” Zechariah 13:5. Think of the humility of Christ! And He would bring about the same thing in us — no pretension to be a prophet with a hairy garment, but just “a tiller of the ground”. Such is the lowliness of Christ, of Him “who is over all, God blessed for ever”. Romans 9:5. May we develop in this humility, dear brethren. Great power is needed to sustain one in the service of God,
[p. 329] without any show of clericalism. Nothing of the ‘cloth’, nothing to mark you off as peculiarly addicted to the ministry in that way. You do not wear a hairy garment to deceive.
How delightful to see a spirit like that in those who minister — no pretension at all! But this is not all: “What are those wounds in thy hands?” You see, the hairy garment that deceives honours me in the world, for the world makes room for religion, and the religionist has his place; he is bowed down to in many lands. But he has no wounds in his hands. The Lord had wounds in His hands, and so will everyone who pretends to nothing, as faithful to Christ. The wounds will come. Where do they come from? He says, “Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends”. We have alluded to that today. Those who claim to be the friends of Christ have shot at Him. They have wounded Him, so to speak, and they are doing it now. Those who serve Him in the humility described here will not escape the wounds. “If they have persecuted me”, John 15:20 the Lord says, “they will persecute you”. But there is also the judgment of God. I am bringing all these things in because they apply at the present time — a day of small things looking on to the great time when we shall be owned of God. It is worth our while to go through them.
The judgment of God is the next great element. “Awake, O sword, against my Shepherd, and against the man that is my fellow, saith the Lord of hosts; smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered”. The Lord Jesus went through all that from God. He was humbled in His ministry; He received the wounds in the house of His friends, but He had to undergo the judgment of God for us. We shall never undergo it, but nevertheless there is the element of divine judgment entering into our present circumstances. It is a constant thing. If we are to be here [p. 330] according to God, there must be the recognition of the government of God. “Our God”, says the writer to the Hebrews, “is a consuming fire”. Hebrews 12:28. Let no one forget this — “Wherefore ... let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear”, Hebrews 12:28. We have to do with God. As Paul says, we must all appear before the judgment-seat of Christ. Everything in our responsible life has to be looked at from that point of view. There are other features. Two-thirds are cut off. Numbers have to be reduced. Alas! It has happened amongst us, and it may happen again. God forbid, but it is a serious thing, as in responsibility to have to do with God. Here are two-thirds cut off and one-third left; and they have to come under severe discipline, as it says, “I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried; they shall call on my name, and I will hear them; I will say, It is my people”. Is it not worth the while? I would not discourage anybody, but one does feel like laying it upon the consciences of brethren that we have to do with God. God is not mocked, and if we are to come into relationship, publicly owned on His part, these things have to be accepted.
“And they shall say, The Lord is my God”. That is the end of it. They shall call on His name. They refuse all other names; and God says, “It is my people”. How delightful is the prospect! We are in it already secretly, but it is going to come about publicly, when God will own us. God will own us as His people and we shall say, “My God”. Christ’s Father is our Father, Christ’s God is our God. We have learned to say that by the Spirit. He has sent “The Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, Abba, Father”. Galatians 4:6. “He that overcomes shall inherit these things, and I will be to him God, and he shall be to me Son”, Revelation 21:7.