SOVEREIGNTY AND MUTUALITY
SOVEREIGNTY AND MUTUALITY
Luke 24:33 - 45; 1 Chronicles 12: 38 - 40
There is a certain relation between the gospel of Luke and the book of Chronicles. Taken together they trace the testimony from the beginning. Chronicles begins with Adam and leads us on to David, who restored the priestly service under twenty-four courses. A man who thus restored the priesthood in that extended way, provides for the service of God, and he is concerned that all that is connected with God should be in accord with Him. Now Luke takes up these twenty-four courses of priesthood in introducing Zacharias, who belonged to one of these courses, and his wife Elizabeth, who was of the daughters of Aaron; so that we have in the opening of Luke the priestly feature emphasised, and throughout his narrative we find that he keeps in view that there should be that here in this world which would be according to God — that in which the service of God should be maintained in a priestly way, and that the testimony of God should go forth in suitable dignity.
Hence the Lord said to His apostles, before leaving them, that they should remain in the city of Jerusalem until they were clothed with power from on high. Repentance and remission of sins should be preached to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem, but it should be preached by suitable preachers — such as should be in accord with such a message to men; that is to say, they should be clothed with power from on high — not with the habiliments that belong normally to professed servants. It is not a question of material clothes, but of spiritual clothes, and all who essay to [p. 28] preach the gospel of repentance and remission of sins should see to it that they have these clothes. They are distributed from heaven. They are of heavenly material, and have, so to speak, the heavenly cut, so that even the apostles, wonderfully instructed as they were by the Lord, were to remain in the city of Jerusalem until they should be clothed with power from on high — not simply power — but power from on high.
And then we find the same persons, as if to confirm this great point of view in Luke, continually in the temple. The great High Priest Himself had lifted up His hands and blessed them, and as He blessed them He was parted from them and carried up into heaven. The kind of service He had rendered on earth as divinely presented by Luke, was such as heaven had pleasure in. We must never forget in our service that we have to say to heaven in regard to it. It is true that those who listen are to judge, but we have to say to heaven. We have to take account that heaven has to be pleased with it. If it be otherwise, we miss divine approval. And so Luke presented the personal service of Christ, and after He finishes His service on earth He is carried up. Heaven is so pleased with Him that He is carried up. It is not in Luke a question of His dignity as a divine Person, but as a man here in the service of God. And His service is so delightful, so simple, and heavenly in its character that heaven claims Him, and He was carried up into heaven. And then the disciples return to Jerusalem, it is said, with great joy, and were continually in the temple praising and blessing God.
Well now, I want to show you from these verses in chapter 24, as I proceed by the Lord’s help, what was intended to be set out in the assembly, in other words, in those gathered, for Luke emphasises the idea of gathering. He alone presents to us the disciples in this way. They were gathered together. I [p. 29] read from Chronicles to show you the correspondence with Luke in this regard. In the chapter I have read, David has become the gathering point. The Holy Spirit in that book, as I have said, begins with Adam, and leads up to David. In chapter 12 David is the centre of gathering. Jacob had said in his remarkable blessing of the tribes, that the sceptre should not depart from Judah until Shiloh came, and unto him should be the gathering of the people; that is to say, Christ was to be the centre of gathering. And as He becomes the centre of gathering, the house is set in order for God. So that in the next chapter to that which I have read in Chronicles, David consults with every captain and every leader, and appeals to all Israel that they should be assembled together to bring up the ark of God. If you have got the divine centre, and if you are gathered to that centre, then you will see how consideration that is according to God is obtained for the ark. David considered for the ark, for he said, “I will not give sleep to mine eyes, or slumber to mine eyelids, until I find out a place for the Lord, an habitation for the mighty God of Jacob”. Psalm 132:4,5. Then he says, too, “We heard of it at Ephratah; we found it in the fields of the wood”. Psalm 132:6. Many of us hear of it, but few of us find it. It is one thing, beloved, to hear a thing, but it is another thing to find the thing; as Philip said, “We have found him”. John 1:45. David heard of the ark and found the ark, and he would find a habitation for it — no less than that — a place in which God could rest, one in which there would be no disturbing element. That is what David had in his heart, so that he was a remarkable type of the Lord Jesus in that respect, who would not give sleep to His eyes or slumber to His eyelids, who could say, too, “the zeal of thine house hath eaten me up”. Psalm 69:9. If the Lord took sleep, it was when need was not present, but when sinners were around Him, He was awake and active; and so David was [p. 30] a fitting representative of Him. He consults with the captains and the leaders, and with all the people, and he assembled all Israel. In the principle of gathering, we must have in view every believer; sectional or party lines are not divine lines. You gather with the people, for Shiloh includes all the people.
David had that in view in order to bring up the ark, and then the place is prepared — he spread a tent there.
Referring again to chapter 12, I shall go back to show you how David the king became the centre of gathering in three distinct connections. The first was in Ziklag, the second was in the wilderness, and the third was in Hebron. If we understand what it is to be gathered to the Lord, dear brethren, we have to analyse this twelfth chapter, and see what these different positions signify for us. A very great weight of responsibility attaches to us — I mean to the assembly. As I was saying, in Chronicles the testimony begins with Adam and comes on to David. David had a true estimate of responsibility attaching to him, and so in regard to the building of the temple, he passes on the sense he had of the responsibility devolving upon him. If you read the closing chapters, you will see how perfect he was in the sense of responsibility. No one is of worth or moral value in the house of God save he who has the sense of responsibility. In the fourteenth chapter of 1 Corinthians — a part of Scripture bearing directly on ourselves — the apostle says, “The things that I write unto you are the commandments of the Lord”. 1 Corinthians 14:37.
David cherished the principle of gathering, and he passed on to Solomon the whole burden of responsibility in regard to the testimony. There is the principle of passing on responsibility; and it has now come to us. Now, let no one shirk that. It is in seeing and accepting responsibility as to the testimony,
[p. 31] that you come into divine power. Divine power is available to support those in this responsibility, “upon whom the ends of the ages have come”, 1 Corinthians 10:11. There may be someone here who has never faced responsibility. There is the responsibility of the sinner, as having to say to God about his sins, but redemption has been accomplished, and so, beloved, the Lord Jesus has taken up that responsibility and settled it for eternity for those who believe. Jerusalem had its opportunity in the Lord coming to it, but it refused it, and so it has come in for the awful responsibility of all the righteous blood shed upon the earth from Abel to Christ; and so that city is suffering today — wrath having come upon them — the Jew — to the uttermost. The assembly began in Jerusalem free from all this, for God had dealt with the sin of its members. The members of the assembly were set up free from all such responsibility; but then the responsibility of the testimony has come to us: all that God has set out from Abel onward has come on us, and it has to be preserved by us until the Lord comes and takes it up again Himself. At the present time, the obligation of it rests with us.
But to refer again to chapter 12 David is bound up with the three positions indicated there. The first is in Ziklag. Certain ones came to him there, that is to say, certain of us come to Christ, so to speak, at Ziklag. Thus we have come into the light of Romans. Ziklag signifies that everything that was lost is recovered. We all know how the Amalekite invaded the land and took everything that was in the city. It was a disaster — nothing less. David wept until he had no more power to weep, but then he encouraged himself in the Lord his God, and in that encouragement and in that strength he recovered all. Now that is written in view of the Lord. The Lord Jesus coming into this world felt the state of things. He could not but have felt, as no one else could, the [p. 32] awful disaster that has come to the race. All was ruin — all was seemingly irretrievably lost. I have no doubt that the weeping of David is a type of the Lord’s own feeling even unto death — “My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death”. Matthew 26:38. He felt as no one could the awfulness of what had come in, for He knew the divine thoughts for man, but He recovered all. It is a great thing for you young people as gathered, as come into fellowship, to get that light into your souls. If the enemy seems to be triumphing, this light will stand by you, and the Lord Himself will stand by you; He will always do it, as we trust in Him.
Then, the next point of gathering is in the stronghold in the wilderness. That is another feature, and a very comforting one. In coming into fellowship you are being made conscious of hostile power. You are sure to be attacked. The enemy will never let you alone. He never does, and hence the need of the stronghold in the day of trouble, and that stronghold is where the Lord is, in the fellowship of the people of God, and it is the sphere of protection. I want you to note that the more you proceed on this line, the more encouraged you are, and the more recompensed you are. You find in the assembly that everything is recovered, nothing is lost, and then you find too in it a place of security. There are walls, and so it is a stronghold in the wilderness. But then you have to accept the wilderness. Ziklag is not exactly the wilderness; it represents, as I said, the recovery of everything for God, and for us, in Christ. But the wilderness is what the world has become to us. There is opposition in the wilderness, and we have to accept that, and in the accepting of it, we come to Christ for protection, so there is this sphere of protection-the stronghold in the wilderness.
Then, finally, there is Hebron. If you come to Christ in the light of Hebron, you get into the light [p. 33] of the counsels of God. You find as you proceed in the gain of fellowship that you have come into a line of things that is outside of this world. Have we understood this? It is a new world, yet it is older than the present one, for it goes back to the counsels of God. Years in the realm of decay are one thing, but years in the realm of light, of life are another. Hebron is not years in the realm of decay. We have to do in this world with what is old, with what is decayed. In this world years are spent in the realm of darkness and death, but in Hebron we have what was before the world, as the apostle says in Corinthians, “The hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory”. 1 Corinthians 2:7. It antedates this world, and as I said, has never come into the realm of death and darkness or of decay. Peter speaks of divine things as in relation to a world of suffering, but Hebron is what is before the world; the wisdom that God ordained before the world. What do we know of that, dear brethren? The wisdom of this world comes to nought, but the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the world to our glory is what we have part in, that is, as we understand the reality of what it is to be gathered to David in Hebron — to Christ in the light of divine purpose.
What we read is that all these men who had gathered to David come with a perfect heart — perfect in unison to make David king. David’s men are not thinking of themselves, they are thinking of David, and what you find is that there is abundance; as it says in the passage, “And there they were with David ... .. eating and drinking”. You see in it the thought of the assembly as gathered in one place — come together for mutual contribution, and edification, and even an unbeliever is not excluded. We read as to those who came to Hebron, that “their brethren had prepared for them”, and they were there eating and drinking for three days.
[p. 34] Now I want you just to note all that, as I wish to connect it with Luke 24. We have already noted that in the gathering in Chronicles, there is mutual contribution — the place of gathering is the place of plenty, and being the place of plenty, it is the place of joy. There was great joy in Israel, and that is what we want in our meetings. Now in Luke 24 I want to show you how all this fits in and is worked out from the two principles of mutual confidence and sovereignty; because these are the principles that meet, in the place of gathering. Sovereignty in Chronicles is seen in David and in Judah. “For Judah prevailed above his brethren, and of him came, the chief ruler”, 1 Chronicles 5: 2. It was a question of sovereignty, but then there was mutual confidence, and I want, by the Lord’s help, to just say a word in a practical way on these two features. If we are to have spiritual plenty and joy, we must combine these things. Now in Luke 24 you have the two things brought in — the honeycomb, and broiled fish. The former I take to be a suggestion of mutual contribution. Those who understand anything about bees, know that the feature that marks them is mutual contribution. On the other hand, there is the fish, and fish I take to represent sovereignty — sovereign resources. I understand the waters of the ocean, covering as they do about two-thirds of the earth’s surface, represent divine resources. Only God knows what they contain. Man may know what is on the surface of the earth. A census of people can be made, but no one can make a census of fish. I believe that in Scripture they represent divine resources. Now it is in the combination of these two things that I believe we shall get spiritual plenty in variety, and as a result spiritual joy. It is a poor thing if our meetings are not marked by these things — spiritual abundance in variety and spiritual joy. Now I think that these two things are brought out in the first [p. 35] epistle to the Corinthians. In chapter 12 you have the figure of the human body, and that illustration is the basis of the teaching there. It is a question of mutuality. The apostle says, “In the power of one Spirit we have all been baptised into one body ... and have all been given to drink of one Spirit”. 1 Corinthians 12:13. Hence, having been baptised into one body in the power of one Spirit, and having been given to drink of one Spirit, that produces in the most positive way what is mutual, and so as I said the human body is the figure employed to emphasise this, for there are not diverse interests in that connection. Diverse interests in a gathering are sure to lead to personal feelings, and such feelings lead to division. We have all been made to drink of one Spirit. We are thus preserved in community of interest. But as baptised in the power of one Spirit, I am merged — we are all merged into one body. And then we have all been made to drink into one Spirit, we all join in drinking of the same thing. As we partake of the Lord’s supper, which is, I believe, the symbol of this, we are all drinking into the same thing. So that drinking is mutual interest. There is no independency on the one hand, and there is no clericalism on the other hand. There is the binding power of having been made to drink into one Spirit.
At the end of the chapter the apostle changes the word from ‘body’ to ‘assembly’ so we read, “God has set certain in the assembly: first apostles, secondly prophets; thirdly teachers”. 1 Corinthians 12:28. Now there is sovereign choice. Mutual interest is one thing, but what God does is another thing, and God has been pleased to give gifts in sovereignty. It is not then a question of mutuality, but of divine resources; these are infinite, and we may rely upon them. God has set certain in the assembly, as set forth in the apostle’s teaching, and that is a question of divine sovereignty — of divine wisdom. Now the more mutual we are the more we [p. 36] enter into the mutual side — the more we shall make room for gift; for gift is an evidence of divine resource and is additional to what is mutual. Hence, dear brethren, we must make room for this additional truth, that of divine resources. If there are gifts in our midst, we want to make room for them, for the preaching belongs to them; the teaching belongs to them; prophecy belongs to them. There are certain things that hinge on gift, and if we do not make room for it, we shall miss the blessing. We do not want to preach without gift. Preaching is made to hinge on gift, and so we read of “Peter standing up with the eleven”. Acts 2:14. I have known of meetings where brethren preach one after another. The assembly does not preach, the assembly does not teach. Preaching and teaching are made in Scripture to hinge on gift, and gift is the fruit of divine resource. The more room you make for it, the fresher you will be. But then you want to be sure that it is gift, and that God has set it there. God has set certain in the assembly; it does not say in the body, for the idea of the body is the mutual thing. All the saints come into that, but the idea of gift is divine resource, and the more room you make for divine resource the freer will be the meeting. It says of the Lord in Ephesians, “He has led captivity captive, and has given gifts to men” Ephesians 4:8; He has sent them forth and these gifts are for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, and as Paul says, “All are yours”. 1 Corinthians 3:22. Nevertheless they are for the work of the ministry, and room must therefore be made for the gifts.
Well now, I take these two things set forth in doctrine by the apostle in 1 Corinthians 12 to be seen in this passage in a figurative way. Let me ask you here, in this meeting, have you got a mutual tie — where everyone contributes for the mutual help, and where there is plenty in variety? What came out in this particular instance was, “They gave him a piece of a broiled fish, and of an honeycomb”. It was not simply fish; that we get elsewhere, but it was broiled. It was brought under exercise. It had been brought through the fire. They gave Him that and of an honeycomb, and He ate both. They were made to realise in His eating how real a man He was. We know that He is God over all, but it is as man that He is Head of the assembly. If we are to understand His headship we have to understand Him as Head of His body, the assembly. Well, I wished specially to dwell on these two features — the mutual and the sovereign. We must make room for both features, if we are to have plenty in variety, and if we are to have great joy.
Now just another word. The Lord, after this, says to them, “These are the words which I spake unto you ... which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me”, verse 44. Now I want to say, dear brethren, that these scriptures bring in what greatly helps. Without them we cannot have these two features I have spoken about, so the Lord opens the scriptures here showing that they are in support and in keeping with the new position. For us the scriptures have to be unfolded by the Spirit. Here it is the Lord who calls attention to what is written, and I repeat we cannot have the two features without what is written. Everything must be according to what is written, and then later we read that “He opened their understanding to understand the scriptures”, and thus they got the gain of what was written. The scriptures give the divine limitations — they are the guard as to the truth. In what we say in the assembly it is a question of what is written. The Lord divides what is written under three heads: the law representing the rights of God, the prophets, the patience of God, and the psalms, the experiences of the saints. They are [p. 38] records divinely given — records of the rights of God in the law, of the patience of God in the prophets, and of the experience of the saints in the psalms. And they are written — no room being left for conjecture — and He gives us understanding. The disciples understood them, so that the assembly was thus set up in pattern. However studious we may be, we may make up our minds that we can only understand the scriptures as our understandings are opened by the Lord. “Then opened he their understanding that they might understand the scriptures”.
May the Lord help us, dear brethren, to greater desire that there should be mutuality among the saints, and that thus we may reap the consequence of it — there being great joy among the saints.