A CLOUDLESS DISPENSATION
A CLOUDLESS DISPENSATION
Acts 1: 9; Acts 4: 15; Acts 7: 55, 56; 2 Corinthians 4: 3 - 7
My thought was to dwell on the fact that we are living in a cloudless dispensation, in contrast to the previous one which, as we all recognise, was marked by the presence of a cloud. The first mention we have of a cloud is, I think, in Genesis 9. It is a very simple thought that a cloud has the tendency to shut off the light and influence of the sun, yet in that passage, although there may be the shutting off from the creation of the light of the sun, there is at the same time in the presence of the cloud the testimony to God’s faithfulness. Although the shining of His face — the shining of His glory in the face of Christ — was for the moment hidden, there was at the same time the testimony to His faithfulness; that is, there was an indication in the face of the cloud of what was concealed behind it. Abraham was called out from the midst of the gentiles by the God of glory; that is, glory was in the mind of God in calling him out. But that glory was to be concealed. Hence when God takes up the people in His faithfulness, the cloud disappears, that is to say, God’s glory was there. His glory existed, I need not say. Glory is not an afterthought with God. Glory refers to what God is in His nature, and His glory was present at all His operations; but in calling out Abraham, God indicated that there should be a particular family in connection with which that glory should be displayed, and in undertaking to bring to pass that which He had in His mind in calling out Abraham, the cloud is apparent. The cloud appeared even before the people left the land of Egypt, there was the presence of the divine glory — only God had arranged a means [p. 2] of concealing it. He had arranged His own means for concealing that glory, but it was there. It was there as a guide to the people, and it was there as a protector of the people: its effectiveness on their behalf was fully demonstrated to them. And then they were baptised to it. They were baptised unto Moses, we are told, “in the cloud and in the sea”. 1 Corinthians 10:2 That is what God intended the people for; they were to be His glory, and they were baptised to it. They were baptised in it, we are told. Well now, as thus committed to it, it becomes their guide in the wilderness until they had opportunity to show their appreciation of it. What I mean by showing their appreciation of it is that they should build something for it, that they should prepare an abode for it. As we read of David, who fully expresses the sentiments of God’s people in regard to His glory, “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 And then he invited Jehovah to enter into His rest, He and the ark of His strength. Now that was exactly what the people undertook to do in the wilderness.
Nothing can be more interesting to us than the wilderness position. The wilderness is divided into three sections, as I understand it. The first section has reference to pure grace; God establishes on the banks of the Red Sea an economy of pure grace. The people, in the full sense of the deliverance that has been achieved for them, celebrate Jehovah as a man of war, and they set out to journey in the wilderness under pure grace. They murmur; there is no complaint on the part of Jehovah. The next section has reference to the divine system; the believer is in the wilderness in connection with God’s system of things. A system of things is established here in which divine order is to be displayed, and in which the will of God must be supreme. That is,
[p. 3] the children of Israel are here in relation to the tabernacle. And then, finally, the believer is seen in relation to the Spirit. From Numbers 21 to the Jordan refers to a people here as possessing God’s Spirit.
The people, now, as set up in presence of the glory in the cloud — baptised unto Moses in it — and in the full appreciation of Jehovah as their Deliverer, would build Him an habitation. You will never effect anything for God unless your heart is established in grace. Unless you apprehend that God has intervened for you in the Lord Jesus Christ — in the death and resurrection of Christ, and in the gift of the Spirit — you will never really effect anything for God. As in the light of His grace, your heart at liberty in the presence of what God has done for you, then you are able to do something, and the people proposed to build God a habitation. He accepts the proposition — He accepts their offer, and they build a habitation. What I want to point out is, the material was all provided by the people. Moses did not bring down from Sinai any of the material; all he brought down were the tables of the covenant; all the material for the structure had to be provided by the people. Moses brought down the pattern of the tabernacle, he brought down the light — the mind of God. That is what the apostles did. The mind of God has been brought to us by the apostles, but you must have the operation of the Spirit if you are to have the material. As I said, Moses did not bring down the material. He brought down the light, the pattern of the structure, and the people supplied the material willingly, as we are told.
The people having now supplied everything that was requisite for the building of the tabernacle, everything was formed according to the pattern, and by the hand of one divinely endued with wisdom. So the structure was made in accordance with God’s [p. 4] mind, and reared up, and then, we are told, the cloud rested upon it. That is, God is pleased to connect His glory with the structure. The delight God had in it was such that He filled it in such wise that even Moses could not go inside the tabernacle.
The glory filled it, but it was a glory cloud. It was not manifested glory; it was concealed glory. But the glory was there. And when we come to the New Testament, when He appeared, He was in His own Person the Tabernacle — for that was really what Christ was; in His own Person He represented all that God had in His mind to establish — on the mount of Transfiguration, when Peter would have made three tabernacles: one for Christ, one for Moses, and one for Elias, God, as it were, says, ‘There is only one Tabernacle’ and the cloud immediately appears. God intimated that He could not connect His glory with Moses or Elias, as such; if the glory cloud is to appear, if it is to rest upon anyone, it must be upon the Son. The Son, Christ, is the true Tabernacle. Under God’s eye, He represented the tabernacle in the wilderness, and hence, the cloud appears. This time it was a bright cloud, pointing, I daresay, to the unique situation; that is, the Son was there. But with all that, though the Lord Jesus Christ Himself was present, the glory was still concealed; the cloud was there. It was a bright one, as I have said, but nevertheless a cloud.
The Father was within that cloud. Not now Jehovah’s voice, but the Father’s voice is heard, intimating the supreme thought in the glory, namely, that God revealed, is revealed as a Father with a Son. That is the idea of the revelation of God. “No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him”. John 1:18 The revelation of God signifies that He is to be known in the character of a Father with a Son. That relationship was spoken [p. 5] of in the cloud. The relationship was there, but nevertheless it was shrouded in a cloud.
The cloud idea continued until every link was broken with Israel. The Person of Christ here drew the Father’s voice out of the cloud, the relationship was there; but the cloud remained. And so, as the Lord was about to ascend to heaven, you might say, surely the cloud period is now over, but no, it is not. There was one element in God that had to be vindicated, and that was His patience. Hence the cloud still remained, so that when Christ goes up from Bethany — or rather from Olivet — we are told, a cloud receives Him. A cloud — that is, He is cut off from the view of Israel by a cloud, pointing to the fact that God in patience lingered with Israel, that He would still hold out His hand to Israel, the universal character of the testimony had to be held in abeyance; the full universal display of God’s own mind had to be held in abeyance. So you find that while Christ is hidden by the cloud, the twelve continued the ministry in Israel. They continued it to Israel on account of Israel’s privileges, and while the special national privileges of Israel were recognised, you could not have the full, clear shining of the sun, because if the sun shines full it must influence all the creation below, not a part of it.
Psalm 19 speaks about the tabernacle set in the heavens for the sun, and he comes out of his chamber, we are told, as a strong man to run a race. And the race is the circuit of the heavens, and all the creation below is affected by it. But if a cloud comes in, there is only a partial shining. There may be a total cutting off of the sun’s light, or a partial shining. Now I take it that Israel as it stood was itself the cloud. The recognition of Israel’s national privileges, as giving it priority over all other nations, necessarily prevented the shining of the sun. We all know what an eclipse is, or a partial eclipse, and what I understand by Israel’s position, as it stood in the early part of the Acts, is that it partially eclipsed the full shining of God in Christ; but God’s overtures to Israel, His lingerings in grace, only brought out the wonderful character of His patience. The patience of God is a great testimony of the Old Testament. The prophets stand for His patience. And so His patience lingered in His overtures to Israel through the ministry of the twelve.
Now, what I wanted to show is that in the ministry of Stephen you have the way made clear for the full shining of the light. In the end of Acts 5 you find the ministry of the twelve continued in the temple, and from house to house — the house — to — house character having reference to the activity proper to christianity, but at the same time the link maintained with Israel in the temple. When you come to Stephen you come to one who is not an apostle, he had not special ministry to Israel. What marked Stephen was that he was full of the Holy Spirit. He was full, and if you get a man full of the Holy Spirit there is no part of that man dark at all; Stephen, as filled with the Spirit, was not in any way darkened by the influence of his national relationship. He was full of the Spirit, and what marks a man that is full of the Spirit? He is luminous; there is no part dark. Mat a great many of us suffer from is partial eclipse. If you recognise a nation or a section of a nation — if you recognise anything on earth, if you give anything on earth a special preference, there is a partial eclipse; for God has no connection with anything earthly. I could enlarge upon that in regard to Jerusalem, but all I wish to emphasise is that in the death of Stephen every link was cut with the nation. And it was the death of one who was filled with the Spirit; in Stephen there was a perfect ministry of the Spirit. If you get a vessel full, it is full, and Stephen was filled with the Spirit. And his face shone, it was [p. 7] as it were, a full moon. A full moon signifies that the moon is in the full light of the sun, there is nothing interfering between it and the sun. Now, I take it that Stephen was in the full light of Christ in heaven. You may ask, Why with Christ in heaven? Because the face of Stephen was a heavenly face. It was not the reflection of any of the glory set in Jerusalem; it was as the face of an angel. An angel represents several thoughts, but there is one thought that the idea of an angel stands for, that cannot be denied, and that is, he is a heavenly being. The fact is that the term ‘heavenly’ is used to designate angels. We read of “a multitude of the heavenly host”, Luke 2:13 meaning a multitude of angels — praising God at the birth of Christ. Now, Stephen’s face was like the face of one of these. The cloud has gone as far as Stephen is concerned. The Holy Spirit had come out of heaven; and Stephen was full of the Holy Spirit and his face shone like the face of an angel.
What a wonderful testimony to that council! There was the servant of Christ full of the Spirit — full of the Spirit — without a thought of animosity in his heart; without any vindictiveness at all; he was there in the full energy of the Spirit of Christ, in the presence of the council. I say what a speaker he was, but what an unappreciative audience he had! There was not an atom of sympathy there. There was one of the most perfect addresses conceivable, and it received not an atom of sympathy. But there he stood, the representative of a heavenly Christ, in the presence of an earthly council — a council that represented the government of God from the Red Sea onward to that moment. It represented all that had been deposited in Israel; it had the responsibility of it. And there was Stephen, the representative of a heavenly Christ, bearing testimony. And what kind of testimony? He says, “the God of glory”. That was his text. He began with God, the God of [p. 8] glory. That is, the glory had been there from Abraham onward (though veiled in a cloud) and Stephen outlines the history, as it were, of that glory in its relation with Israel, and faithfully depicts the inveterate character of their hatred, from start to finish, to everything of God. Take Joseph, or Moses — each person represented the activities of the glory. Although not displayed, although hid behind the veil, nevertheless the glory was there, and Israel refused it, until finally it appeared in the Person of Christ, “Of whom”, he says, “ye have been now the betrayers and murderers”. Acts 7:52 That was his address. That was his testimony. “And they gnashed on him with their teeth ... and cast him out of the city”. Acts 7:54 They stoned Stephen, but then, what kind of man did they stone? A man whose face shone like the face of an angel; a man who called on the name of the Lord; a man who prayed for them even while they stoned him.
But now I want to dwell on the well — known passage, that he “looked up stedfastly into heaven”. There is no idea of a cloud now. The cloud no longer conceals the Lord from Stephen. The cloud received Him out of the apostles’ sight, we are told, but Stephen looks right through the heavens, “and saw the glory of God”. That glory in the cloud, through God’s patience and long — suffering, had been with Israel, but is now in heaven, and in the company of Jesus. “He, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up stedfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God”. That is what Stephen saw, and he dies. Stephen succumbs to the stones of his murderers, but the light reflected — that wonderful heavenly light reflected in his face and in his spirit — remains upon earth. There was one standing by, holding the clothes of the murderers, a young man. God takes up young men; and here was one who was holding the clothes of the murderers [p. 9] of a martyr of Jesus; he saw what happened, and I take it, the impression never left him. I think the Lord alluded to that when He said, “it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks!” Acts 9:55. I think that the Lord alluded to the effect of the light which had entered Saul’s heart. He was resisting it, but he was to become, ere long, a witness to it. Hence, I have referred to Stephen as making way for the present situation.
Now it is most important at the present time that our souls should be established in the full light of the present economy. The present economy — the christian economy — was not properly established until Paul’s ministry was fully developed. Until the link was finally severed with Israel, as I said, there was the cloud state of things where the light was shining, but where nevertheless, it was not complete; there was not the full shining of the sun. When you come to Paul’s ministry you have the establishment of what I call the world — wide christian economy. It is a wonderful economy into which we gentiles have been introduced. Peter admitted the gentiles into the christian system, but now, what was it into which he admitted them? Acts 9 shows us a heavenly kingdom established in the Person of Christ, and chapter 10, the four — cornered sheet let down from heaven, representing the mind of heaven — that the mind of heaven is sympathetic with the whole race of man. Peter is brought in sympathy with that, and he opens the door to the gentiles. He opens the door formally, by baptism, and admits them into the heavenly system. He admits them into all that is unfolded in chapters 9 and 10, and then we have Paul’s ministry. It is very interesting to see that, in opening this subject to the Corinthians, he introduces it in connection with himself as a minister. What was called in question at Corinth was the minister. The best possible way, let me say [p. 10] to discredit the ministry is to discredit the minister; if you discredit the minister, you will discredit the ministry without opposing it. Now that is what they were doing at Corinth, and what the apostle establishes is that what his ministry was, he was. And who made him that? Jesus could say of Himself when asked as to His Person, I am “altogether that which I also say to you”. John 8:25 In His own Person He was altogether what He said, and Paul can say, “God ... hath made us able ministers of the new testament”. 2 Corinthians 3:6 That is to say, Paul does not assume to be what he said in himself; but God had made him a competent minister of the new covenant, and the Corinthians were to understand that. They did not see that what the enemy was aiming at was the ministry; he was aiming at Christ. The enemy would not dare to oppose Christ at Corinth, but he did dare to oppose Paul; the enemy did not dare to discredit the Person of Christ, but he did dare to discredit Paul.
The apostle seizes the opportunity and without aggrandising himself he shows that God had made him a competent minister. But he was not a minister in the letter, that is, he was not a minister in the first covenant; he was not a minister according to the letter, he was a minister of the spirit of the covenant. It is a wonderful thing to get a hold of the spiritual import of all that happened in the incarnation and death of Christ. What we want to become accustomed to is to get spiritual ideas. Paul says, “Not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life”. 2 Corinthians 3:6 And then he says, “the Lord is the Spirit, but where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty”. 2 Corinthians 3:17 That is, where the Lord has His place, Judaism and Jewish principles have no power; they gender to bondage, the Spirit of the Lord genders to liberty. And what does that liberty involve? Why, that we have liberty to love one another! Surely the spirit of the covenant [p. 11] is love. Analyse John 13 — what a spirit that was! That was not the letter, it was the Spirit. It was the new commandment. The new commandment is the new commandment; that is, it is something wholly new. The true light is the activity of love amongst us, so that, where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty to love one another and to care for one another. But there is more; there is liberty of access to God. Now that is the greatest privilege that could possibly be accorded to a people upon earth. You remember the two things that Moses desired; the first was that he might see Jehovah’s glory, and that was denied him, and the second was that he might enter the land of Canaan, and that was denied him. Now, these two great privileges are given to us. We have liberty of access to God, and have liberty to enter Canaan. We have liberty to approach God in His holy nature, and we have liberty to be in His sphere, in His home, in the family circle.
Reverting for a moment to the types, there was not only the cloud over the tabernacle in which the glory was, but even when the high priest was admitted once a year to the holiest of all, he had to go in in a cloud of incense, “that he die not”. Leviticus 16:13 That is to say, all that which spoke of God revealed in Christ — all that spoke of the Person of Christ, the ark of the covenant, and the cherubim, and so on — all had to be shrouded with thick smoke — with incense — with a cloud; otherwise the high priest would have been smitten. What you now see is that the cloud is no longer required. “Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh ... let us draw near”. Hebrews 10:19 The difficulty now is, that with us the spirit of Moses is absent. If Moses were amongst us, what a [p. 12] delight it would be to him to see the way open into the holiest! It is dedicated by His blood, but remember it is a living way. You may say it is through the death of Christ, but it is not only that, it is a living way; to enter the holiest requires power. It requires power, but there it is; the door is open and the apostle exhorts us to draw near. You may say, what do we draw near to? To God. We have liberty to draw near to God, and as we draw near, what do we find? By the Spirit, we are enabled to see and understand the means by which God brings to pass every thought of His. That is what I understand by it, that already the assembly is in the secret of the means by which God effects all His purposes. You see not only that God is Almighty, as He declared Himself to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, but you see in Christ the means by which all is brought to pass. Hence, if you want to be enlightened as to the mind of God, you have to draw near to God. You see that it is all carried out in holiness. Unflinching holiness was to mark everything within the veil.
All I want to bring out is that christian liberty is toward one another, and there is liberty toward God. We are not now bound by Jewish principles, we are in the full light of the heavenly system; so that the apostle says, “We all, looking on the glory of the Lord, with unveiled face”. 2 Corinthians 3:18 That is really the holiest. The glory is to be beheld; it is all there in the face of Christ. Stephen saw it, “and Jesus”. All the divine glory is in the countenance of a Man — it is a wonderful thought, not of an angel, but in the countenance of a Man. Beholding that, we “are transformed ... from glory to glory, even as by the Lord the Spirit”. 2 Corinthians 3:18 What I wish to add is, the apostle shows in chapter 4 that what he preached was really that. He preached the glory of God; not simply the God of glory, but the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. In other words, the gospel that Paul preached [p. 13] was the full shining out of God’s nature in the Person of Christ. He says the enemy blinds the minds of the unbelieving “so that the radiancy of the glad tidings of the glory of the Christ, who is the image of God, should not shine forth for them”. The gospel that has come to us has come from Paul and it is the gospel of the glory — not simply a partial shining of the glory, but the full shining out of God’s nature; and that is seen in the Person of Christ. And Paul can say that it has shone into our hearts — it is a wonderful place for it to shine into — “for the shining forth of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ”.