DIVINE INSPECTION AND ESTIMATION.
[p. 334] DIVINE INSPECTION AND ESTIMATION.
Exodus 39:42,43; Leviticus 27:1 - 3; Mark 11:11; Mark 12:41 - 44
What I have before me is to say a word about the principle of inspection and appraisement in the things of God. The scriptures I have read will suffice to show that it exists, and, inasmuch as it exists, it necessarily becomes a question of responsibility on our side, and we are reminded that the whole of our life comes under the eye of the Lord.
Now the principle of inspection goes far back. We are told in Hebrews 1:2, that the worlds were made by the Son; “by whom also he made the worlds”. He wrought by weight and measure in that service, there was wonderful accuracy, so that we have perfect poise in the different bodies. “Where wast thou”, says Jehovah to Job, “when I founded the earth?”, Job 38:4. It is well to have our attention called to the wonderful handiwork of Christ seen in these stupendous bodies that are visible to us, and others that are not visible. And more than that, to see that what He made He upholds; as it is said, “upholding all things by the word of his power”, Hebrews 1:3.
Then we are brought down, in the Scriptures, to the things with which we are more conversant, the earth and its immediate environment. In these, His handiwork is nearer to us. Whilst there is no time given for the creation of the worlds, yet the creation of what we are more immediately interested in, is divided into time, six days: and the principle of inspection is introduced, as if God in making things, in creating and making, would have no flaws. “God saw everything that he had made, and behold it was very good”, Genesis 1:31. God looks upon His own work and He says that it is good. He passes upon it.
[p. 335] So that at that early date in the Scriptures, in Genesis 1, we have the principle of inspection, not in regard of man’s work, but in regard of God’s work. It was good. And in ceasing from His labours He blesses the seventh day and sanctifies it. He rested there.
Well now, when we come on to Exodus, you have God designing, not a material world, but a moral world, a moral order of things, an order of things in which He should dwell. He had created the material world without employing man, but now He is pleased to lay it upon His people to build a habitation for Him. There is nothing said about dwelling in Genesis 1, but now, having a people out of Egypt, on the ground of redemption, He would dwell with them. They were to build a sanctuary in order that He should dwell amongst them. It is a wonderful thought that God should have it in His heart to dwell amongst us. In Exodus it is more than simply to rest from His labours. One might rest from one’s labours without entering his home. The sabbath was not His home. He rested on that day, we are told in this book of Exodus, and was “refreshed”. Moses did not use that word in Genesis. Referring to the sabbath in Exodus, he says that Jehovah rested on it and was refreshed. In Genesis, as I said, there was no habitation, whereas in Exodus He desires a habitation. God says, “They shall make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them”, Exodus 25:8. For that there had to be material, and this the people were to supply.
I desire just to pass over the book by a remark on one or two points. The people were to give a “heave offering” to Jehovah. One who can give a heave offering has a heart that is touched by the divine interest and love shown in redemption. It is God that has done it. It is He who has seen your affliction and has come down to deliver, and He has [p. 336] effected it, and now your heart is touched. You are a lover of God. “The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by [the] Holy Spirit which has been given to us”, Romans 5:5. It is the heart God seeks. Out of it are the issues of life. Hence the Spirit must go there and shed abroad in it the love of God. If He secures that He has the man. Hence, if the Holy Spirit is in the heart, making the love of God real, there is a heave offering for God.
In Romans 5, we are told of the shedding of the love of God in the heart; in Romans 8 is its upspringing. “All things work together for good to those who love God”, Romans 8:28. God takes account of the heart. “He who searches the hearts knows what [is] the mind of the Spirit, because he intercedes for saints according to God”, Romans 8:27. God searches the hearts. “Look not”, He says to Samuel, “on his countenance, or on the height of his stature ... man looketh upon the outward appearance, but Jehovah looketh upon the heart”, 1 Samuel 16:7. Jesse had called all his sons except David; but David had to be called. God’s eye was resting on the heart of that young man, as he was caring for the sheep. He was much more interested in him than in all the other sons of Jesse, and so David arrives. He must come. Samuel says, “we will not sit at table till he come hither”, 1 Samuel 16:11. It is a very fine thing in a meeting when the saints refuse to sit down, so to speak, until Christ comes. Do not sit down till He comes. You will understand me. There should be deep exercise till He is known in the midst. David arrived and the Spirit of God tells us about his beauty, for he was ruddy, and besides of a lovely countenance and beautiful appearance. The energy of life was there. The love of God was in his heart. The ark was the object of his affections. And the Spirit says “Arise, anoint him; for this is he”, 1 Samuel 16:12. And the meeting now proceeds! The anointed of God is there. I have enlarged [p. 337] somewhat on the love of God in the heart, and God taking account of it; it is needful.
And so the one who loves God, is exercised about preparing a habitation for Him. There is a heave offering (see Exodus 25), and this implies that there is a supply of material for the dwelling place of God. The house of God on earth is the outcome, from the subjective side, of hearts touched by and filled with the love of God. Now Paul triumphantly speaks of the love of God in Romans. We should read Romans with Corinthians. Romans is triumph. It is the triumph of God in Christ. Let us not detract from it in any way. Paul triumphantly says, after enumerating many things, that nothing can separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus. It is there tonight as it was then, unchanged by any occurrence in men or in the world. It is in Christ and no one can separate us from it. “The love of God, which [is] in Christ Jesus, our Lord”, Romans 8:39. It is there, but it must be in my heart too. It was in Paul’s heart, for he was a lover of God. And so, beloved friends, a lover of God has got supply, a heave offering. It is the heaving up of the heart, so to speak, Godward.
Well, the people in Exodus 35 come forward willingly, and they offered gold, silver, and brass, and what was required. So it is said here in Exodus 39:42, “According to all that Jehovah had commanded Moses, so had the children of Israel done all the labour”. Not now Bezaleel alone, or Moses, but “the children of Israel”. God has the saints before Him as providing for the houses not the ministers merely. Even Solomon in all his glory was put on the throne, on account of the love of Jehovah for Israel, 1 Kings 10:9.
Do you think God gives you a gift to make much of you here? Never! As a matter of fact you cannot be added to, by a gift. A man in Christ is greater [p. 338] than a gift, and that is what each true Christian is. If a brother have a gift, it is on account of the great love of God for the saints and everyone who has a gift should so regard it, and so use it. Bezaleel is not mentioned here. It is the children of Israel that did the work. What I have is yours. “All are yours” says Paul, “whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or [the] world, or life, or death, or things present, or things coming”, 1 Corinthians 3:22. Who then is Paul, who Apollos? Ministering servants. To whom did they minister? The Corinthians. Let us understand that ministers are not greater than the congregation. They are ministers of the congregation, although they are the Lord’s servants and responsible to Him, and what they do is accredited to the congregation. We would not have it otherwise. The more one loves the saints the more one delights to think that all is the heritage, the dowry, of the assembly. “God has set certain”, says the apostle, “in the assembly” (1 Corinthians 12:28); not to rule over it. They are really assets in the assembly. They belong to it. How lovely that here the children of Israel do the work [p. 339] according to the commandment of the Lord, and they bring it to Moses. That is the point I want you to notice. It says: “According to all that Jehovah had commanded Moses, so had the children of Israel done all the labour. And Moses saw all the work, and behold, they had done it as Jehovah had commanded — so had they done it; and Moses blessed them”. What is there in these meetings? Has there been anything done? The saints have done it through God’s grace. It is so accredited to them. Of course it is true that each servant is rewarded according to his faithfulness. “And Moses blessed them” May He do it tonight, dear brethren. He will, too. “Your toil”, says the apostle, “is not in vain in [the] Lord”, 1 Corinthians 15:58. How wonderfully encouraging! The work is done and done according to the commandment of the Lord, perfectly answering, as stated in the scripture before us, to the measure of responsibility devolving upon the people, and as a consequence, Moses blessed them.
Well now, in Leviticus we get a vow, not a work. The tabernacle is completed, but persons are wanted. So it says: “Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying: Speak unto the children of Israel and say unto them, when any one devoteth anything by a vow, the persons shall be for Jehovah according to thy valuation”. God appreciates what we may give. “But of doing good and communicating [of your substance] be not forgetful, for with such sacrifices God is well pleased”, Hebrews 13:16. But God is seeking persons; He seeks ourselves. Now what about your person? That is one thing that is always available, however rich or however poor in this world’s goods, one has always, so to say, himself. The Lord graciously allows that, although, in another sense, I am His. He has bought me with a price, but here, as it were, He allows me to regard myself as my own property. Maybe you regard yourself in that light. Now what are you doing with your person? How are you using your body? You come to the Lord, have you in any way made a singular vow? You will understand me. I use these expressions in a Christian sense. A singular vow is a resolve of the heart. Deborah’s song speaks of “great resolves of heart” (Judges 5:15) in the divisions of Reuben, but in what did it issue? They did not come to the battle, in spite of their resolves.
If you make a vow, as we have said today, “defer not to pay it”, Ecclesiastes 5:4. The Lord has heard what you said. In Numbers 30:7, we read that if a woman makes a vow in the presence of her husband and he is silent, her vow stands, never to be revoked. Now the Lord Jesus Christ has never forgotten your vows and He is your true Husband. He has never forbidden it. Hence every one of them stands. But what about [p. 340] the fulfilment of them? What about the discharge of the obligation that is assumed? It is a serious matter, because the principle of inspection is ever present. And then there is the appraisement. Now, as you come with your vows before the Lord you resolve in your heart to be for Christ; you are to be on His side and to be for Him. Your body is the Lord’s. You yield it up to Him for His use, and He appraises it. “The persons” it says here, “shall be for Jehovah according to thy valuation”; Moses typifies Christ.
How searching that is, and yet how blessed that one is under the eye of Christ and valued by Him. Paul says, “It is the very smallest matter that I be examined of you, or of man’s day”, 1 Corinthians 4:3. We have to leave all that. Our brethren value us in various ways. Their estimation is usually low; you may as well accept that; but the Lord Jesus estimates us rightly. “Thy valuation shall be fifty shekels of silver, after the shekel of the sanctuary”, the currency of the sanctuary. That is how estimations are made by Him. Alas, with us, the currency of the sanctuary is but little taken account of. We do not estimate each other correctly, but Christ does. He estimates me according to the currency of the sanctuary. One would not have it otherwise. We must not think more highly than we ought to think, but as the apostle says to the Romans, “to think soberly”. We must avoid mock modesty. We ought to be simple. One loves to hear and see simplicity in the Lord’s people. Paul says: “By God’s grace I am what I am”, 1 Corinthians 15:10. He was something. Sometimes Christians are regarded as noughts on the right hand of the numeral one, which is Christ, but that is not the idea at all. You are something.
We were speaking this afternoon about a stone. It is not only that you are called a stone. You are a stone. “Thou art Peter”, the Lord said to Simon.
[p. 341] The Lord knows just how long that stone is, and how broad, and how deep. He measures, we may say, every stone that comes. “To whom coming” as Peter says. It must be, because there is a place for you which you must fit. He has destined you for it, and it is according to His measure. Paul says he did not care for man’s judgment. What about their measure? They might worship me as a god today and stone me tomorrow. So with the Lord, they would make Him a king at one time and cast Him down headlong from the hill on which their city is built at another. One wants to be just what one is under the eye of Christ, and we may as well admit it, because He orders, that in the government of the house of God your measure comes into evidence. If you have not love you are “nothing”. Your measure is your love for God and the saints. It is said there that “the persons shall be for Jehovah”. Are we all for the Lord? May I challenge our hearts tonight? “The persons shall be for Jehovah according to thy valuation”. Are we here for God in regard of His house according to His estimation?
I now want to say a word about Mark, who, as you know, is the evangelist who brings forward the Workman in the New Testament. He presents Christ to us as the perfect Servant, and hence you would look for the very things that are recorded in these two passages. He comes into the temple and it says He looked around on all things. Suppose the Lord Jesus were to personally come down to earth tonight. He would look around. Christendom geographically is a very wide area, but the Lord would look around upon it; one is assured of that. In fact it is so. Chapters two and three of the Revelation state it. Although He is a Judge He is not on the bench; He is clothed in judicial garb, but He is walking. Now that is a very serious matter,
[p. 342] because He comes to you. He is walking in the midst of the churches. Samuel, you remember, had a judicial circuit. He went around the circuit year by year and judged Israel. His house was at Ramah. It is the same with the Lord. There is no part of Christendom that is not visited, so to speak, by the Lord. He looked around in the temple, but He did not stay there. Could He stay where you are? That is a very serious question; and can you stay where He could not?
There are multitudes of God’s people today, in associations in which Christ could not be. He could not be there, but He looks around and sees you there. That is a serious matter. He sees you. How sad to be found where He cannot be. Alas, how dreadful are the things His holy eye sees in that which professes His Name on earth? It says, “having looked round on all things, the hour being already late, he went out to Bethany with the twelve”. Now that is the situation. He could not rest in the temple one might say. It was eventide and He went out with His companions, the twelve, to Bethany, where there was affection for Him. The twelve are with Him. We may regard the scene as a picture of what exists at the present moment. He takes account of everything that bears His name, but He can only abide where there is separation from evil and love for Himself. Through His grace there are those with whom He can thus be, even in this day.
Now, there is just one other thought. In Mark 12:41, we read “Jesus sat down opposite the treasury”. He was not seeking the money. He sat down opposite the treasury, and He “saw how the crowd was casting money into the treasury”. He beheld how they did it. The Lord takes account of the motives that may be behind what we give. He sees how the thing is done and He reckons, not by the amount that is [p. 343] put in, but by the amount that is kept back. That is how the Lord reckons. So He says of this widow, she has “cast in more than all who have cast into the treasury: for all have cast in of that which they had in abundance, but she, of her destitution has cast in all that she had, the whole of her living”. That was how she did it.
Now I do not desire to occupy you with the material, but the spiritual, and I would close with an appeal, in saying to every young person, that the Lord is looking on “opposite the treasury”. What are we casting in, beloved brethren? May the Lord impress us that He is looking for supply from us; I mean a spiritual supply. No matter how little you are able to do, it is taken account of by Him who sits over against the treasury. May the Lord put it upon our hearts that we may have something to give. There is one little word, in this same evangelist, about the woman that anointed the Lord’s head in the house of Simon the leper, that is worth quoting; “What she could she has done”, Mark 14:8. That was enough. She could do no more, she did all she could. May God grant that every one of us may do that.
Pages 344 - 458 — “As is the Heavenly”. Chicago, January, 1918 (Volume 38).