GOD'S FOOTSTOOL

GOD’S FOOTSTOOL

1 Chronicles 28: 1 - 3; 1 Chronicles 29: 1 - 9

I wish with the Lord’s help, to speak of God having a footstool here on earth. One feels that there is something very attractive in the words of David, “As for me I had in mine heart to build an house of rest for the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and for the footstool of our God.” I know; of course, that it was also the house of God and the temple, the dwelling place for God here, but he says as well, that it was to be a footstool for our God, and that is the thought in my mind.

When God created the heavens and the earth, He intended the heavens to be His throne in the mediatorial sphere, the place where He sits in government as King eternal; and what a throne that is! He says “Heaven is my throne”. How little we know physically and materially about heaven. It is infinitely greater than anything on earth. There is as much difference between heaven and earth as there is between a throne and a footstool. David had a great sense of God, he speaks of God with reverence and adoration. I believe God desires to have a greater appreciation of Himself from our hearts. David had his own greatness, he was a king on the earth, and had made all countries round about him tributary, under his control; but he lifts up his eyes to heaven and says, “Thine, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory, and the victory and the majesty, ... thou are exalted as head above all”.

David also says of God, that He clothes Himself with light as with a garment, and spreads out the heavens as a curtain (a tent curtain), the clouds are His chariot, He walks on the wings of the wind and He sets the pillars of His upper chambers in the waters. There are upper chambers in heaven. The Spirit of God speaks of them in the plural. He is God, and His throne is in heaven, and, carrying on that thought in Revelation 4, we are told that the throne is set in heaven and that One sat on it.

He is the King eternal, He sits on the throne, and around the throne were twenty-four other subsidiary thrones, taking all their direction and control from the throne of God. Around the throne and in the midst of the throne were four living creatures; and seven lamps burnt before the throne, which are the seven spirits of God. There was also a rainbow like an emerald round the throne, and from the throne there proceeded lightning, voices and thunder. It is a vision of the wonderful throne of God. And in the midst of the throne was a Lamb as it had been slain. Ezekiel speaks of this throne and sees a Man above upon it (Ezekiel 1: 26) — the Man Christ Jesus.

David desired that there should be on earth a footstool for our God, for this is why God made the earth at the beginning, to have a footstool where His feet could rest. We know little or nothing about it! There came a time after the creation of the earth, when it was said the earth was empty and waste. There was not a living thing on the earth, it was barren. The living God could not find a footstool for His feet in an empty waste earth! So He proceeded to fill the earth. He filled the earth with living things. He said to Adam, “Be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth”. It was to be His footstool; but instead of finding a footstool for His blessed feet, a condition arose through sin which grieved Him in His heart that He had ever made man on the earth. Later on He was grieved with the children of Israel — His chosen people on earth. He could not find in them His footstool.

Now the Lord Himself provided an answer to all that. I would not speak of Him as representing the thought of the footstool of God, for while He was on earth He was also in heaven, “the Son of man who is in heaven”, John 3: 13; nevertheless how perfectly He ministered to the rest of God as a blessed Man on earth, so that the Holy Spirit descends as a dove and remains on Him. The dove was a symbol of rest, looking for a place for the sole of its foot and finding an eternal resting place there.

One desires to look into these scriptures, which indicate to us the kind of materials that make a footstool for God, having in mind particularly that every thought of God which refers to the assembly universally, can be worked out locally. You will find this is true. There is not one feature that belongs to the assembly in general, but is to find its expression locally. The house of God, which is the church of the living God, is also found in local expression, so that you have the church of God in Corinth. You have not only the church in its wide character, but you have also the same features in a locality, “the body of Christ.” This applies to all Christians, “by one Spirit are we all baptised into one body,” and that body is for the expression of Christ. The Apostle says “Ye are the body of Christ”, and “Know ye not that ye are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?” All this is said to the church at Corinth.

God would have a footstool in every city. We would all desire that there should be a footstool for God, for His blessed feet, that He may find rest on earth, pending the day when the whole earth will be His footstool. The whole earth will then be under the sway of Christ “from the river unto the ends of the earth”, Psalm 72. One would like to commend this to our hearts. David said to all present, “who then is willing to consecrate his service this day unto the Lord?” I believe God is making His people willing today. “Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power”, and God is making us willing now to provide positive living material for the footstool of God.

David indicates what would be suitable for the footstool of God, for anything would not do. Nothing would do that was not in accord with the throne, that would not be consistent with His majesty. He is King of kings, the King eternal, and He desires to have a footstool on earth; what material would He have? The Spirit of God confided to David what material was suitable for the footstool of God.

Gold is the first material. God’s blessed feet could not rest on anything in which the gold was lacking. What kind of gold? Not any gold, not Egypt’s gold. The kind of gold God uses is such as this earth has never seen. Nobody has ever seen gold as “transparent glass”. There is no such thing in the world. That is the kind of gold that must come into His footstool. It is “love out of a pure heart”, love that has not one single impure motive in it. This is the sort of material for His footstool. It is love towards Himself and towards one another. As God indicated at the outset, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart”; love out of a pure heart, that has no other object but Himself. The Apostle says also, “By love serve one another.” What for? If to get a name for oneself, then you provide no material for the footstool. Love is the gold that God uses. What a wonderful thing to have some of that in our localities. What God wants is gold like transparent glass. A love that springs from what He Himself is. He wants that kind of love from the hearts of His own in every place.

Then there is silver. What an enormous amount of silver was needed to make the footstool. Why is that? It is the recognition that we have been redeemed. Silver speaks of redemption; it is the acknowledgment that we have been redeemed. Do we all acknowledge that? — There would be no will at work anywhere if we recognised that we are the property of the Lord. He has bought us,

redeemed us, we are His. If we recognise that there will be no self-will. There is no self-will in the footstool of God; if there had been God could not put His blessed feet on it. We have ceased to do as we like, for the silver is there in such abundance. As redeemed, we are at the disposal of the Lord, to do as He likes — a blessed feature in His footstool.

Then we get brass — brass in enormous quantities, to make His footstool. Brass can stand the fire of God’s holy judgment. “Our God is a consuming fire.” The brass can be where the fire is. Before His throne there are those living creatures that cease not day or night to say, “Holy, holy, holy”. One character of God is His infinite holiness. Now David recognised that God must have brass for His footstool. There is judgment of evil, of anything that does not correspond with the holiness of God. Evil is judged; it is rejected as God rejected it, and condemned as God condemned it.

Now we come to iron. The quantity of iron was wonderful. Very little else but gold was seen in the temple. What was to be done with all this iron? It was for nails. What are nails for? The footstool is made up of many parts, but it is one footstool, and therefore there must be many nails, the structure must be held together at every point. There must be many nails. Do you want to disturb the footstool? To disturb the blessed rest of God by bringing in your own will and your own thoughts? David says we must have nails. The footstool must be held together in strength and power. Iron speaks thus of strength to hold all together in unity. The footstool must be one — locally or generally.

Then he says wood. Wood for things of wood. One loves the thought of the wood. It is a great joy to see the wood. For this is a great feature in the material that David gathered up. He gathered up cedar trees innumerable. You could not count these great trees. What is this great tree — the kind of cedar that goes into God’s footstool? It is true greatness in men. The cedar tree is the truly great man or woman — brothers and sisters who are marked by true greatness in the sight of God. David got a great number of them, they all came into the footstool. What is the mark of a great man? He is ready to serve anyone. “He that is greatest,” said the Lord, “shall be your servant.” The biggest cedar is one who is prepared to serve all, great and small, rich and poor, wise and unintelligent; the cedar is ready to serve anybody. David got as many cedars as he could, indeed innumerable. Such would minister to God’s pleasure. They are brothers and sisters who serve one another, who serve all. True greatness in men is seen in the service of one to another without favouritism. The cedar does not have any favourites. Nothing disturbs the footstool like having special friends. The cedar is the servant of all.

Then there were the fir-trees. What a splendid tree that is! They all were for the footstool. Where that timber came from the trees were always green. What a refreshment they are! We can be like fir trees, always fresh and living. The same in prosperity as in adversity, in joy and sorrow. God can find His pleasure, His rest where such a feature exists.

Then there is the olive tree, to form part of the footstool. The olive wood speaks of spiritual men and women. You cannot have the footstool without olive wood. Thank God they are here! They are found in the footstool of God. Spiritual persons. What marks a spiritual man is that he never trusts his own heart. As the Apostle says, “Ye which are spiritual restore such an one in the spirit of meekness considering thyself”. The olive wood goes into God’s footstool that His blessed feet may rest here. No footstool can be complete without olive wood. How much we owe to it!

Then the onyx stones. What marks the onyx stone? You can engrave upon it the names of the people of God. It is the kind of stone that will stand engraving and what is impressed remains there. Some stones would break to pieces if you engraved them, but on the onyx you can write the names of the people of God. The high priest carried this stone on the breastplate and on his shoulders. This is a feature of great value for the footstool. Brothers and sisters who carry livingly the names of the saints on their hearts in prayer to God. Not only generally but individually. Paul’s prayers are wonderful. He prayed night and day for Timothy, night and day for Philemon, and continually for the assemblies he had visited and for those he had not; he was in combat, and for those who had not seen his face in the flesh. Brothers and sisters who do not speak against one another but pray for one another. I would encourage all to take on the character of the onyx.

Then there are glistering stones and of divers colours. They all come into this wonderful footstool. Solomon’s footstool was wonderful and made of gold, but it did not come up to this. This is a footstool for our God. Each of these stones has received and retains a colour. What colours! There is the emerald, the ruby, the amethyst, and the sapphire. One cannot speak of them all, but they represent the expression of divine glory. Blue speaks of the character of God. What a wonderful stone a sapphire is to place in the footstool. Some brothers and sisters always express the blue whatever happens. They love you the same even if you speak against them. They are not affected at all by what others think of them, they are like God who “sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust”. They are not occupied with what they get for themselves, they are simply expressing the blue of heaven. How little one knows of the blue! Then the emerald speaks of what is living. The green shines out under all conditions. Then the sardius or the ruby, glistening red. The red of the ruby is true greatness in men. It is seen in the ram’s skins dyed red. God loves that, and would have it in His footstool. All these divers colours seen in the glistering stones are rays of precious light emanating from Christ.

Marble is that which speaks of stability. There is nothing stronger and more stable than marble. We think of the Lord, how stable was His blessed walk through this scene! John looked at Him as He walked, His legs as pillars of marble. David gathered marble in great abundance, speaking of stability. It is those who are not moved by every wind of doctrine,

but steadily seeking only God’s will. Unmoved by what is going on, providing marble for the footstool of our God.

David finished outlining what was required for the footstool of God and then called upon all who were willing of the people to contribute to the great work. Only the willing come into this. If we contribute to the tinsel of this world we do not listen to David. We are not obliged to offer. God loves a cheerful giver. Could there be anything more blessed than to provide a little of the material for God’s footstool?

While the condition of the world and the professing church in its outward character gets worse and worse, let us seek to provide a special place where the blessed feet of God can find a resting place. The Lord encourage us on this line.