SPEAKING AND HEARING
A.J.E.Welch
These occasions, beloved brethren, have their challenge to us as to speaking and hearing. The great matter of communication, which so fruitfully occupied us some months ago, I feel encouraged to come back to, to think of the great extent of what this prophet is given, embracing such a variety of evidences of God's might and power and glory. We have the governmental side which is going on all the time, the hand of God upon it, His providential ways behind it, and we have in later chapters, as we know, the house, a divine dwelling, a prince and his glorious, suggestive movements. And in the midst of it all we have the suffering side, and the side of bereavement, in the beloved prophet himself. All this is taking place and communications are reaching him, and he is, in turn, setting them forward for the prospering of the people of God in spite of the captivity conditions, which he so feelingly accepts, but which do not hinder him in the prophetic communication of what is given him by the Spirit of God. His links with the Spirit are remarkably brought out in this book; he is a man who could be lifted up by a lock of his hair, a man who can be shown great things, things of which sometimes the bearing in detail is not at once apparent but which are all suggestive of God proceeding with what is before Him in the might of power, assuring His people so loved, in the midst of the existing conditions of captivity, that they are kept by way of such a prophet in the current of His own mind.
The vision which he records in this first chapter reaches a kind of climax in the verses read, and we should note the word 'above', "above the expanse that was over their heads was the likeness of a throne, as the appearance of a sapphire stone; and upon the likeness of the throne was a likeness as the appearance of a man above upon it". The appearance of a man! as if the prophet is being reminded that God's thoughts of dominion in relation to the created order of things stand related to man. We can see for ourselves how it looks on to Christ, Christ exalted, set in the place of supremacy, of power. I wonder, dear brethren, in the midst of conditions which, taken in their broad sense, are so mixed in our time, whether we have a view of Christ in what we could speak of as total pre-eminence upon the throne. How much the prophet apprehended of what this would for us look on to would be another matter, but he presents this to us, and it affects me tonight: "the appearance of a man above upon it"; that is to say, God has His throne unchallenged and unchallengeable, but He has a Man - how glorious that Man! how glorious in His Person! - who is totally competent to fill the throne and to exercise, as we may say, the functions of dominion which belong to the throne. This is a very great comfort in such days as we live in. And the prophet is communicating these things to us. We are challenged as to how much we can apprehend of the figures that he uses through the book and whether we can, so to say, intelligently assemble the many matters that he communicates to us, but it is opening up what is glorious on God's side in the midst of conditions which themselves are testing and occasion suffering and bereavement, and he is showing the wide scope, the glorious scope, of divine dealings. We are not to be narrow, dear brethren, in our apprehension of God in His supremacy but see the glorious scope of divine dealings and the precision with which every detail is, so to say, put into its place. I believe it just is designed to strengthen us in our apprehension of divine glory, to disentangle our minds and occupation with things which belong to a scene out of which Christ has gone by way of death and engage us with the great scene of divine supremacy which is brought into view for us in the Person of Jesus, a Man in total pre-eminence.
Then we have the side of the fire (not that I would seek to touch the detail); that is to say, the rights of God in judgment are to be seen and are to be maintained. For us again they call attention to Christ, what He has sustained in judgment, the resolving of every matter that reflects upon the divine glory in the work of God's Son. Could I say, the awfulness of His death and yet the decisiveness of it as presenting to us the matter of judgment which, as we apprehend Christ, has reached the point of completion for us; that is to say, the side of divine judgment is there and is disclosed to us and we see the necessity for it (as we have often remarked, judgment is the necessity of divine love, that love might have the scene in which its rest and its satisfaction can be); but then, with the fire, there is the brightness round about. How wonderful the presentation of the matter to keep us in the sense of every unholy thing being put away - a fire! And we are to realise this, dear brethren. How much there is that needs to be just put away. How much we need the promotion of the holy feelings, the holy sensibilities, the holy discrimination, which is of God, to reject what is not of Him. But we see how blessed it is, the brightness round about is "As the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud in the day of rain", reminding us of the covenant-keeping God, of God in the depths of His thoughts for men which never change; a covenant-keeping God, if I could use that expression, to be seen there, to assure our hearts, to keep us steady, to keep us in the realisation that, whatever is taking place, divine government is proceeding in the midst of a scene where everything that is unholy appears and has to be seen to be what it is; and we have God in the blessedness of what He is as a covenant-keeping God, going back to a time when He was guarding, so to say, man for His pleasure.
So let us enter into these things, dear brethren, in the sense of divine glory, a glory which has necessitated the side of judgment; but in the introducing of all that has seen perfectly secured in Christ there is the evidence, and not only the evidence but the glorious reality, of God toward us for blessing and the communication of His choicest thoughts. The prophetic scene of things here involves great pressure, great suffering for the prophet. We know how the sufferings of Christ have been spoken of on the basis of what this prophet presents to us, but lying behind all, and disclosed to the prophet, and disclosed by the prophet to those whom he serves, is the divine glory, and especially the Man above upon the throne. Let us get a view of Christ in supreme dominion and let us realise the assembly's place with Him according to the end of Ephesians 1, in respect of His dominion, and let us see the Man above upon the throne.
So the prophet is strengthened. He said unto me "Son of man, stand upon thy feet, and I will speak with thee". What a comfort, dear brethren! "Stand upon thy feet"; that is to say, it is not a time to be relaxing exactly; be ready, as it were, for whatever the divine communication may involve. "And I will speak with thee. And the Spirit entered into me when he spoke unto me, and set me upon my feet; and I heard him that spoke unto me". Dear brethren, I believe our faithful God in all His love will sustain this speaking till the end; as we continue in faithfulness, He would assure us that He will speak with us, He will communicate to us. "I will speak with thee". Remember how that word 'with' came into those occasions in October. "I will speak with thee", as if God would have us with Him, and would assure our hearts that He delights to have us with Him, in the midst of this great scene, involving the pre-eminence and supremacy of Christ, the judgment of every unholy thing, the shining out of glory in God Himself as a God who keeps covenant and would assure us of all that is accomplished for blessing in Jesus.
May we be ready for communications, not only to receive them but to convey them, to carry forward in these wonderful closing moments what relates to the glory of the God whom we know. We know Him as Ezekiel never knew Him in the sense that this glorious day of the Spirit involves great fulness in the knowledge of God; so let us go in for that and be ready to speak and ready to hear, for His Name's sake.
LONDON
26 June 1979