THE TABERNACLE OF DAVID RAISED UP - A WORD AS TO LOCAL TROUBLES
[p. 255] THE TABERNACLE OF DAVID RAISED UP - A WORD AS TO LOCAL TROUBLES
Amos 1: 1 - 3; Amos 7: 7 - 9; Amos 9:1; Amos 9:9; Amos 9:11
The prophets, dear brethren, have a peculiar voice in our day. One suggestion in this book has particular significance, that is, that the Lord Jehovah will do nothing save as He reveals it to His servants, the prophets; so that there are those who are in His mind. Whilst no one takes the place of being a prophet officially today, there are those through whom God reveals His mind to His people, and there is a peculiar link between Him and them. He takes them into His confidence; indeed it is the privilege of the assembly to be in the divine confidence. It is the depository, characteristically, of the mind of God, but in view of the outward ruin of the assembly, overcomers (see Revelation 2 and 3), come into the privileges belonging to the whole body, and among these privileges is that of being in the mind of God about current and future events.
That is what He does; it is what God does that matters, and He does nothing, it says in this book, save that He reveals what He does to His servants, the prophets, affording an immense advantage to us. This advantage is open to all, as I said, on the principle of overcoming: so that we are not taken by surprise in what happens. We see that God is forestalling all the movements of the enemy: there is nothing happens against the testimony that takes God by surprise. You will recollect how the movements of the Syrians of old were known to Elisha, and these movements were all frustrated, God making them known to His servant. This thought should give assurance to us; and it should induce overcoming, the consequent result of nearness [p. 256] to God. We have thus understanding of the times and know what Israel ought to do.
In keeping with all this, the prophet opens with the period of his ministry, and who he was, a man of no consequence religiously, according to current religious appraisement. He was a herdman, no prophet, as he tells us, nor the son of a prophet, but still he was a prophet. He tells us of the period of his service, so that we might know the conditions — “in the days of Uzziah king of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel”. In the ministries of the prophets the dates are usually given so that we might compare the ministry with the current state of those to whom they ministered. Ministry must take account of the state of the persons ministered to.
Amos says that Jehovah “roareth from Zion”, as you will observe from the second verse, “and uttereth his voice from Jerusalem”. That is, God is not moving away from His base of operations. The enemy will never be allowed to ‘outflank’ God, to use a military term, nor will the doings of His people interfere with the ground of the principles on which He acts. “Jehovah roareth from Zion, and uttereth his voice from Jerusalem”. The mention of these great spiritual names ought to bow the hearts of God’s people, for they remind us of our beginnings. If we have had beginnings with God, we know that He has acted towards us on the principle of sovereign mercy — that is Zion — and He continues to do that; our conduct does not alter this. He may act judicially, but He always remembers mercy. He asserts this, as it were, with a roar; in the roar there may be the most scathing denunciations and reproof, but they are in keeping with Zion. There is hope behind them; love is behind them.
He also “uttereth his voice from Jerusalem”. We know what Jerusalem means. It is the place of God’s authority, the city of the great King. The idea of a king in Scripture is that he is absolute: in Christ it is absolute, but in Him that idea is magnified by the word ‘great’. Then we understand that God does not alter His mind in regard to authority, or public order. For Jerusalem stands for these things; it signifies the authority of the great king — not the Assyrian king who styled himself thus, the great King is Jesus.
It is said in 1 Chronicles that they made Solomon king a second time, meaning obviously that they were satisfied with him; that they did not wish another; and that is normally the attitude of every true Christian; he is satisfied with the rule of Jesus. If he moves away from it in self-will and God works with him, he will come back, and, as it were, make Him King again, showing that he had not found another like Him. Other lords may have had dominion over him in the meantime, but he returns to Jesus. Jerusalem represents His place; it is the place of His authority, and He asserts His rights there. He uttereth His voice from Jerusalem. That voice calls upon all His own, calls upon us to be subject, not only that it is right to demand subjection, but our blessing is bound up with subjection. As in the beginning, so it is now, and so it will ever be, dear brethren — our blessing is bound up with the recognition of the voice of Jesus, from His own city, the seat of His authority.
Bearing all this in mind, we shall see that the teaching of this book is most applicable to our time. We have the indication that God in the presence of Israel’s rebellion, which is depicted in the book, had an eye outside the sphere of these activities, and so when anything which corresponds to Israel’s conduct occurs in the assembly, God looks far afield. Indeed, the bearing of the conduct is very wide, for Israel was set in “the garden of God”, in the midst of [p. 258] nations, and the mind and order of God was to be spread abroad from Israel among the nations; and so it is, whether it be a local meeting or a district, or the assembly as a whole, the mind of God is there, and its bearing is also general; and so conversely, if the mind of man works, the bearing of it is local as well as general. But then the adjacent territory is not immune. However guilty Israel may be, the guilt of others is not ignored, for two wrongs will never make a right. And so Jehovah reminds the nations that He had been taking account of their transgressions as well. Applied to ourselves, this means that He looks around at the adjacent meetings. “For three transgressions of Damascus, and for four”, He will not revoke the judgment. “For three transgressions and for four”, “of Gaza”, and “of Tyre”, etc. His eye moved round the centre, and from the centre to the circumference of Israel and the nations around them. There was Damascus in the north and Gaza in the south, Tyre in the west, as I may say, and Moab, Ammon and Edom in the east — all these countries came under the survey of the holy eye of God. A solemn reminder that where God has to judge something directly, whether Israel of old or a local assembly today, He is not going to allow the adjacent countries or meetings to glory over them, or to assume that they are immune. If one meeting sins, others are involved. The bearing is indeed universal, and so we are not to assume, however distant, that we are irresponsible or immune as to the judgment. It is a most heart-searching time; God is taking notice of all. Although God may have to deal directly with some, in a special way others are under His eye, whether near or far away.
Tyre was, as I may say, in Israel’s territory, and so was Gaza, denoting that they are very near, and their sins are noted. Let them search their hearts and see what is there: whether the three transgressions [p. 259] or four have been fully judged; for we have no moral right to deal with others, or take on administration in regard of others, save as matters are settled with God in our own localities, or in our own individual hearts. But then, as I said, God had His eye upon Israel and Judah; they were the very centre, according to Ezekiel, “of the garden of God;” a position indeed that may be said to attach to any company of God’s people set up in testimony. “You only have I known”, He says, so that He deals with us specially because of our great privileges. Think of being here, even in a little way, representative of God! But how jealous God is as to our conduct, and how faithful He is so that everything wrong may be dealt with, that we may resume our privileges according to Himself. He must be the arbiter, He must determine what is suitable to Himself; we must be with Him on His terms, not on ours — surely that is obvious.
Thus, in chapter 7, the prophet sees certain threatened disasters. God shows the prophet the locusts about to destroy the latter growth after the king’s mowings, and so on. To prevent this the prophet intercedes with Jehovah. “How shall Jacob arise?” he says, “for he is small”. How beautiful the spirit of Christ is as interceding for the saints! and it applies today. Amos said, “O Lord Jehovah, cease, I beseech thee! How shall Jacob arise? for he is small. Jehovah repented for this” (Amos 7: 5, 6). We may be sure, dear brethren, that where matters occur which are displeasing to God, He is open to intercession. I need not remind you of our Intercessor: we have a great Priest on high, and a Patron with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And if we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and cleanse us from all unrighteousness; 1 John 1: 9. Every time the high priest went into the [p. 260] holiest he had the breastplate on, with the names of all the saints written upon it (represented by the tribes of Israel), and so it is that our Lord Jesus represents us and intercedes for us in heaven. But then, God is God, and there are limits: love indeed imposes limits. God will not go beyond what is right, what is in keeping with His own holiness; nor is it for our blessing for Him to allow things to continue that are dishonouring to Him. It is neither in keeping with His own glory, nor for the advancement of His work in us, and so He intervenes.
The prophet further says, verse 7, “Thus did he show unto me; and behold, the Lord stood upon a wall made by a plumb-line, with a plumb-line in his hand”. God is reminding us in this that whatever we have been doing, however we have been throwing down or damaging, God in His operations never moved away from His own principles. So that, as I have pointed out, He roars from Zion, and uttereth His voice from Jerusalem; but now He says, in effect, I am building, but building according to the exactness of a plumb-line. God is building; today is the building time — the assembly is being built. The idea of the building of the assembly is not theoretic, it is actual — concrete. And the building goes on — a very comforting thought: God is building in the very midst of the devastation.
In 2 Timothy we are told that the foundation of God stands, and what a foundation! But here it is not simply a foundation, it is a wall, a wall built on the principle of a plumb-line. God will never deviate one iota from His thought; the building must go on according to Him. The apostle says, “As a wise architect, I have laid the foundation, but another builds upon it. But let each see how he builds upon it” (1 Corinthians 3: 10). The foundation is firm. In Ephesians it is that we are builded together for a habitation of God in the Spirit. There is no [p. 261] chief corner stone mentioned in Corinthians, but the foundation is mentioned, the chief corner stone is in Ephesians. The state of the assembly at Ephesus enabled the apostle to present the full thought in his epistle. And the headstone will be laid on. Let us be assured of that for it is God’s work. Even in “a day of small things”, Zerubbabel shall bring the headstone with shoutings: Grace, grace unto it! 1 Corinthians contemplates our part in the work, and we are warned as to this; how dreadful if we are pulling down or corrupting instead of building according to God!
When trouble arises in a locality no one knows more about it than the Lord, and no one is more gracious and more ready to help. We may think this brother and that one is gracious, but none of them is more gracious than the Lord; day and night He is occupied with these things. Look at Nehemiah in Shushan — he wept till his countenance was altered in the presence of the king. There was no one more concerned about Jerusalem than Nehemiah; and as he arrived at Jerusalem he went out to view the ruins at night. And what devastation! — there was no room for his beast to pass; such was the disordered condition of the beloved city that met the sorrowing eye of this feeling man: but he had it in his heart to do something for Jerusalem. So today, as trouble arises in a meeting, the Lord is there, and He surveys all with accuracy and feeling. Nehemiah was there to start building; he purposed to build the wall and set up the gates, and he and the people completed this great work, and they dedicated the wall with a service of song. Nehemiah is but a foreshadowing of what Christ is today; day and night He is thinking of these matters: “He that keepeth Israel” (not simply He that watches over Israel, but He that keepeth Israel) “will neither slumber nor sleep” (Psalm 121: 4). Nehemiah arose and [p. 262] saw a terribly distressing sight, but still the work went on. Think of the sorrow of Nehemiah as he looked on the devastation. The Lord is here tonight in the same way; in this I am not saying too much; it is His thought that we should be here tonight on His behalf — as really as Nehemiah was in Jerusalem on that night, riding upon a beast through the valley; but he was not daunted; nor is the Lord daunted. The Lord is ready, as we truly own before Him the occasion of the sorrow, to make a way for us that the building should go on.
The Lord in chapter 7 is standing on the wall with a plumb-line in His hand; we may as well make up our mind that the plumb-line is to stand, everything must come to that plumb-line. The Lord is able to do it. Are we stronger than He? He asks the prophet what he sees, and there is no mistake, it is “a plumb-line”. And the Lord said (verse 8), “Behold I will set up a plumb-line in the midst of my people Israel: I will not again pass by them any more”. Now this is very solemn, because it means that whilst He had listened to the intercession of the prophet and stayed the judgment, this had a limit because of the obduracy of the people. How beautiful was the intercession of Amos! “How shall Jacob arise? for he is small”. It was the spirit of Christ, the spirit in which the Lord Jesus Christ went into death and came out of it. How shall Israel ever arise apart from the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus? but Jacob will arise and come into glory beyond anything ever known by Israel. The Lord Jesus will raise up Israel, He will raise up the tribes however small they are: “All Israel shall be saved” — all the tribes. Answering the intercession of Amos, God repented twice — but not this time: He says, “I will not again pass by them any more”. This means that He would execute judgment. We do not want that [p. 263] to happen, dear brethren, not passing by here, means that judgment would be executed.
The Lord will go on with His work, and we cannot afford to be left out! He would warn us that He is not going to stop, not going to be hindered by any of us. He will go on and let us take note that it is a question of the “high places of Isaac”. The fact that we are holders of high truths and supporters of the latest ministry is no shield. It says, “the high places of Isaac shall be desolated, and the sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid waste; and I will arise against the house of Jeroboam with the sword”. Well, dear brethren, it is very solemn; but God bears long in His grace and patience, but beyond a certain point He will not go. Where there is persistent refusal to bow to His will and own His word He acts judicially. This has taken place, alas, with many! The Lord goes on and many are passed over; for this is often the form His judgment takes now. In spite of what may be regarded as truth that others have not got — “the high places of Isaac” — He shows His resentment of disregard of His will, and the principles and spirit that should govern us in our relations with one another.
Now I pass on to the last chapter; it is full of encouragement. I would point out that the Lord is here seen standing upon the altar, which is reassuring, and points to very great results, although still there is judgment. The position He occupies has its own voice. He roars out of Zion, and uttereth His voice from Jerusalem, He stands upon a wall made by a plumb-line, and now He stands upon the altar. There is hope there, however bad things are, for the altar denotes that there is to be sacrifice. He is recognising the altar, and Jehovah is His name (verse 6). It is a peculiar position to occupy, especially as judgment is directed from it, but very suggestive that a way of blessing will be found. It is an extraordinary [p. 264] state of things, and what extraordinary conditions arise among the people of God! God speaks again of judgment, as I said, but He goes on to say, “For behold, I command, and I will shake the house of Israel to and fro among all the nations, like as one shaketh corn in a sieve; yet shall not the least grain fall upon the earth”. That is most encouraging, especially as there are young people and others involved in these cases of local difficulty, that do not know their right hands from their left. The Lord thinks of them: He is not unmindful of the youngest, in these circumstances, that are causing such sorrow, they have not led in the failure. He refused to destroy Nineveh because of the hundred and twenty thousand that did not know their right hand from their left, and because of the cattle. We cannot but feel for the young people who are thus found with no leaders, no food, for they are peculiarly exposed to the enemy. Is the Lord not concerned about them? He is, and He would assure us that not one should fall. He will find a way for them, it is for them to look to Him and wait upon Him; He would enable them, too, to form a right judgment as to the issues that may be involved in the confusion that has arisen. The meek will He guide in judgment and teach His way.
The Lord goes on to say, verse 11, “In that day will I raise up the tabernacle of David which is fallen, and close up the breaches thereof; and I will raise up its ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old”. Now, dear brethren, let this come home to us. Let us allow the Lord to have His way with us; this is the way He is moving; I am not saying it merely in regard to matters local to this district, but generally, in the whole of Christendom, this is the line He is on. You will remember how this verse is cited by James on that memorable occasion in Jerusalem, at what we may call the last [p. 265] council of the church that God owned in Acts 15. James, in summing up, cites this passage; what God was doing among the Gentiles was in keeping with it. The point for us now is that God rears up the tabernacle of David which is fallen. The word used for tabernacle here is not a very dignified word, it is in the nature of a hut — something small; and it is well for us to bear in mind that in our day things are small, but the Lord will raise up the tabernacle of David.
The tabernacle of David stands over against certain current leaders. Jeroboam was then king of Israel, his tabernacle would not be raised up. We may be certain that where disruptions exist among the saints partisanship also exists. God will not maintain any groups or parties. Such tabernacles will not be raised up. You know how in Corinth the idea of leaders sprang up: “I am of Paul, and I of Apollos, and I of Cephas, and I of Christ” (1 Corinthians 1: 12). Not that these were actually the persons, it was a question of the local leaders — each of the leaders might be said to have his own tabernacle — where they met and had councils on party lines. This is the first evil the apostle deals with in his letter, the first thing he rebukes. Peter had said on the mount, “let us make three tabernacles”, there was only to be one tabernacle, and that one was not only Christ, but the saints with Him, the disciples themselves, for they entered into the cloud; the cloud was over the tabernacle; today it is the assembly. The first epistle to the Corinthians was to assert the rights of the Lord; it is a question of His rights and not the rights of any local leaders. When a local company has passed into the hands of local leaders, we must say, “Your house is left unto you”, Luke 13: 35. Yet if God comes in, He will raise up the tabernacle of David: that is His own tabernacle, it is for Himself, and it must be on His own terms. If I am [p. 266] to be used in the raising up of the tabernacle of David, it is a question of material, and if I am not in accord with His material, I am simply left out. If there is insubjection to Christ I will be left out. In these local dislocations the tabernacle of David generally falls; but we may look for recovery, for its rebuilding, so to speak.
We can thank God for instances in which in His grace, He came in and raised up the tabernacle of David when it had fallen. That is what is in view here, and it is most encouraging to me, and it ought to be to every true lover of Christ, that as there is true contrition and acknowledgement of the conditions, He will come in and raise up again the tabernacle of David that is fallen down. The material for this will be those who as judging before God and their brethren the guilt involved, and their part in it, are morally clear of it. We may as well make up our minds as to that. Our God is a consuming fire, and will deal unsparingly with what is contrary to Him; He will by no means clear the guilty, but will show mercy to thousands of them that love Him. Where there is the evidence of this, in practical righteousness, in the submission to His will, God will not fail to come in for us; He will raise up the tabernacle which is fallen. The prophet Amos renders a powerful testimony as to current conditions; may we all have grace to give heed to it.