THE SPIRIT OF REVERENCE
THE SPIRIT OF REVERENCE
Malachi 1:12-14; Ezekiel 1:15-18, Ezekiel 1:22; Genesis 28:16-19
One has felt dear friends, that the atmosphere surrounding us in the world always calls for help from God, so that we should be preserved from it; for one of the greatest dangers we have to face lies in the moral conditions through which we pass.
It is evident from the Apostle’s word to Titus as to the Cretans, that unless they gained by the rebuke of the word, they would be sure to take character from what surrounded them. You remember that he said, “The Cretans are alway liars,” etc., that is what marked them — “rebuke them sharply.” I do feel that we need to remember, that we are in intense danger of that which surrounds us.
The feature that is particularly on my mind is, the almost complete lack of reverence that marks men today. The spirit of reverence has largely gone from the world. You have only to walk down the street to see it; the titles of books and plays, and the language that is used by men, all betray the fact that the fear of God has gone from their souls,
and it is important for us to see that this presents a real danger; so that I believe God’s work shines out in its power, in maintaining us in the exact opposite to what marks the world. The work of God would have produced in His own in Crete, conditions opposite to those which marked the Cretans, so that instead of being always liars they would be marked by truth, always speaking truth; so that God’s work would shine out in contrast.
In this way one desires to speak and to encourage our hearts to be maintained and increased on the line of holy reverence for God, having in mind that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom — the beginning of it (Psalm 111: 10). There is no entrance at all into the path of wisdom, except as the fear of the Lord is maintained every day — all the day. I think the Psalmist speaks of being in His fear every day — all the day; not only when we set out, or in our family readings. The Psalmist desired to be in the fear of the Lord all the day. With the departure from the fear of God by men, wisdom is further away than ever it was. The awful folly and darkness that is spreading and sweeping through the earth, has its root in the absence of the fear of God, whereas the recovery and enjoyment of what is of God, the fountain of life, lies in the maintenance every day of the fear of the Lord.
Now I would like to indicate in a few words that which calls for reverence from our hearts, and first of all it must be the name of God; the scriptures we have read indicate that. The absence of the fear of God and of the recognition of the greatness of God in their hearts, marked Israel in Malachi, while drawing near to Him with their lips. This led them to bring anything as an offering to God, who nevertheless was a great King. Scripture says “the King eternal.” One delights in this blessed title of God — the King eternal. As we see thrones disappearing, the ruling powers shaken, there stands out above all, the King eternal — the One whose throne is for ever and ever; and Israel, though outwardly recovered, were bringing the lame, the halt and the blind as offerings to the King eternal. Reverence of God had gone from their hearts.
I am sure this is a challenge to us — it is to me — as to what we are really offering to God. Have we maintained in our hearts the sense of the greatness of God and His eternal majesty, so that we bring the best? One would think of the beloved young brethren — brothers and sisters and indeed the children. God is entitled to the best. His name is so great and glorious that we would not offer to Him the fragments of our lives. Would we? Pursue our own ends and our own path, until our days are closing and then hope He may accept just the end of our lives. Surely such a King is entitled to the best, and the fear of His great name would lead us to offer the best.
He tells His people Israel through the prophet that His name is dreadful. That, of course, does not mean dreadful as we use it. It means that His name is to be reverenced, His name is a name that should be reverenced in every heart, and the sense of the greatness of His majesty should lead us always to recognise that the very best we have should be devoted to Him — the best of our time — the best of our affections — the best of everything we possess on earth should certainly go to this great and glorious King. God resented greatly what Israel brought to Him. He said, “offer it now unto thy governor.” Would he accept it? They would not offer it to men. God said, “I am a great King ... and my Name is dreadful.”
Then further the Lord Jesus Christ is to be reverenced — is He not? We are brought very near to Him, we belong to that wonderful company that is His bride, and indeed it says His wife. The very nearest place to His heart that can be conceived. His wife has made herself ready. We are also in another setting, His brethren. He said “My brethren”. What a place of nearness, but let us not overlook that, the Lord Jesus Christ is now, and ever will be, an object of holy reverence to our hearts. One feels that there is a danger of familiarity with the things of God, lest we should lose the sense of reverence, but He is to be reverenced — He is worthy of it. The thought of reverence has been ruined in this world by those who claim the title. Those who claim to be reverenced have destroyed the reverence of men’s hearts. They, alas, are not at times even worthy of respect, whereas they claim that to which God is entitled, to which the Lord Jesus Christ is entitled. The blessed Lord Jesus is the One that every believer’s heart reverences, though He has come down so wonderfully near to us.
One loves to read the words of the great apostles, to see the sense of reverence of Him they had. You take the apostle Peter. I believe in scripture, the great address of reverence is, “Lord Jesus.” Lord Jesus is the approach of hearts that hold Him in reverential affection, who not simply love Him, but love with the love wherein is reverence, and I think “Lord Jesus” denotes that distinctly. The apostle Peter as he thinks of one that should replace Judas who never reverenced the Lord, speaks of one who had been with them all the time “the Lord Jesus” went in and out among us; he is thinking in His heart of the presence of the Lord with them, as He came in and out, being so near them, being in His company and he speaks of Him as “the Lord Jesus.” All the time the Lord Jesus came in and went out among us. The great apostle Paul as he introduces the Lord’s supper, he not only brings with it the touch of those blessed affections that are in the hearts of His own, but he brings with it the reverence that is due and so he says, “The Lord Jesus the same night in which He was betrayed took bread.” The Lord Jesus. The Apostle, as he thinks of the introduction of the supper, has in his heart the reverence and affection that is due to that blessed One. Then the apostle John as he thinks of the moment when that blessed One is coming, when we shall see Him, and when He will come to have His rights, he says, “Even so, come, Lord Jesus.” As we think of the triumph of His coming, the Lord would maintain in our hearts that reverential love to which He is always entitled. If we think of Stephen about to leave this scene, about to depart and be with Christ, his last words are, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” He goes out, with that expression of reverential love for the blessed “Lord Jesus” whom he reverenced and loved.
The church as one, though so wonderfully near to His heart and eternally so, is in mind when the Apostle says, “and the wife see that she reverence her husband.” Why? because that is what is proper from the church towards Christ. The church will be maintained in nearness for ever, not only in holy affection for Christ, but in holy reverence for Him, for the man was not made for the woman but the woman for the man. It is well to see it. The man was not made for the woman but the woman for the man. That is to say, that the man is the greater, but the help-meet is suitable in every way, and the Lord will not abase her, He will recognise and delight in her, and love her, as Isaac loved Rebecca, finding in her just the features that his heart delighted in. Nevertheless the wife is to reverence her husband.
I had a thought to refer to another feature of reverence, which I believe we need, and that is the reverence of God’s government as set forth in the wheels in the book of Ezekiel. You remember that the prophet is looking at them, speaking of them, and he said their height was dreadful. Think of the rims of the wheels that he saw. “So high that they were dreadful and their rings were full of eyes,”
and the appearance was as a wheel within a wheel. As he stood and looked at them, they filled his heart and mind with reverence, with that dread, that is proper in relation to God’s government. He saw it again and he heard this word. “O wheel!” Just that ejaculation, “O wheel”, Ezekiel 10: 13.
One desired to present from this a thought as to God’s unswerving government. These wheels go straight forward, and nothing can divert them. As they go round they see everything, for the rims are full of eyes, nothing whatever escapes and the height is so great, that as they turn they will take everything into account. They will touch everything in the whole universe. They may move slowly, for God is long-suffering, the God of endurance, but as they turn the height is so dreadful that nothing and no one escapes, from Satan to the most insignificant human being on earth. If Satan says “I will ascend,” as the wheels turn he will go into the bottomless pit, and if he aspires to have God’s place, then as the wheels turn he will go into the lake of fire.
Those wheels touch every nation. No nation escapes. You read this book further on and the book of Jeremiah and Isaiah — God takes up Moab, Ammon, Egypt, Edom in His government, and He sees everything.
God says of Edom that when He dealt with his brother Jacob, He observed that Edom said, “Aha, Aha”. These wheels touch individuals too though God waits patiently. Think how He waited on Nebuchadnezzar — yet though He waited, as the wheels turned that man was dealt with, indeed, Nebuchadnezzar says, that “those who walk in pride he is able to abase”. God says to Job, “Look on every one that is proud and bring him low.” Anyone in the world, in the companies of God’s people, in our homes, in business, every trace of pride, the eyes of these wheels see. God says, “Look on every one that is proud and bring him low.” No doubt in the government of God, the movements of these wheels account for the present position on the earth. The wheels and the eyes in the rims have seen the arrogance and the pride of men’s hearts, from the highest to the lowest, and the wheels are going round and touching everything. We need to realise it, that the height is dreadful.
If only king Saul had seen these wheels in his soul what a different history he would have had. One has been struck lately with the way they touched him. God brought the Philistine face to face with Saul, and instead of trusting God and dealing with him, Saul fled. He failed to take up the issue that God brought to his door and deal with it, and the Philistine smote him at the end in accordance with the movements of the great wheels. Then David is playing the harp in the presence of Saul, and Saul took his weapon and threw it at David to slay him. He did not judge it and as the wheels go round Saul falls on a sword, according to those unerring movements. He gave David Michal for wife and secretly hoped to kill David behind the scenes. He did not judge it, and so the great wheel goes round and an arrow from the archers, from behind the scenes, pierces his armour and causes his end, according to the unalterable government of God.
I would just present that, dear friends, to our hearts and consciences. God’s government is such that if we do not judge an issue that He raises with us, it will destroy us. Do not think you will escape. The wheel is too high for any to escape, and the eyes are too many for God to miss anything. If He brings an issue to our door, individually, collectively — judge it — deal with it in the light of God, and He will support us; refuse to look it in the face, and face it out to its end, and there is nothing more certain than that it will result in our overthrow. The wheel is so high that it is dreadful, and we need to recognise that it is dreadful. It is to be reverenced with all the reverence of our hearts, that God’s almighty wheel of government goes on, and what we will not judge, will come under His government sooner or later. Saul might have dealt with these things. David had to pass the same way, but he said, “against thee only have I sinned”, and though the wheel of government went on in regard of David, the movements of the wheel taught him to know God more than ever. It did not destroy him. He had used arrows behind the scenes in regard to Uriah, but he judged it. He came right out into the open. He says, “Search me and know me, and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting”.
So one desires very much, that with the reverence we have for God, and His great and dreadful name, and the reverence for the blessed person of the Lord Jesus, both from every heart individually, and from the whole church, that there should be reverence for God’s great and mighty wheels, so that as we look at them like Ezekiel did, we hear the word “O wheel”. Oh, that that expression might come into our hearts, and command us, “O wheel”. Paul was thinking of the wheel when he said, “Be not deceived, God is not mocked for whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap, for he that soweth to his flesh, shall of the flesh reap corruption, but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting”. So as the wheels go round, not only is that seen which has not been judged, so that it comes under the government of God, but everything is seen, the good as well as the evil is seen. One feels how often we think of the negative, but the positive is also seen by this wheel. David said, “I have been young and now am old, yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken nor his seed begging bread,” I have not seen it. God’s government does not allow this, it takes account of what is according to God, and the governmental consequences of that are as certain as the governmental consequences of sowing to the flesh.
The last passage we read, is a most important passage because it is the first reference in scripture to the house of God. This is the place where Jacob comes, into living contact with God in heaven and where earth is in contact with heaven. There was a ladder which reached from the earth to heaven, God was at the top of the ladder and the angels of God were ascending and descending, and that spot where heaven and earth were in touch with each other Jacob describes as the house of God. He said, “how dreadful is this place”. That word dreadful does not mean dreadful as we use it often. It means the same as reverence. How we should reverence this spot, how we should stand in awe of it. Then he says it is the gate of heaven, truly a wonderful place. It is the one spot on earth where heaven is in touch with the earth, where there are communications between earth and heaven, where there are messengers going up and coming down. It is the spot on earth where what God desires should come down from heaven reaches earth. It is the house of God — a wonderful place. David knew something about it. “How amiable are thy tabernacles O Lord of hosts. My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth for the courts of the Lord,” and he says, “A day in thy courts is better than a thousand, I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than to dwell in the tents of wickedness”.
Why did David want to go there? Because of all that was in that house. There is a constant stream of praise in the house of God, everyone that dwells there is praising — constantly praising, the only spot on earth where you will always hear praise. You go to the markets, you do not hear praise there, you go into politics, there is not much of it today, go into the mere religious world and there is the praise of men, but in the house of God everyone is always praising God. No wonder David desired to live there. There is any amount of soul food, no restricted supply I can assure you in the house of God. They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of Thy house. Think of what God can put on His table by means of His servants, the wealth of heaven is in the house of God. It is the house of prayer, the one place where nationalism does not enter. You pray in the house of God for all nations, because heaven does not stand in relation merely to England or Russia or Germany. When you think of heaven it stands in relation to the whole earth. There is not a separate heaven for England or Russia, there is the heaven and the earth and God is in the heavens and He sends down to the earth all that is in His mind to be enjoyed on earth, and He would have His house the house of prayer for all nations.
The first impression that Jacob had was that it is a place that should be reverenced. He said, “How dreadful is this place”. It should be reverenced in all our hearts. Why? Because the time is come, that judgment should begin at the house of God. Things are not left in the house of God. God often leaves things in the world for the present. Many an issue is not yet taken up with the world, though ultimately the wheel will take up everything;
but things are not left in the house of God, they are dealt with. The time has come that judgment begins at the house of God, therefore, we need always to have reverence, we need the spirit of reverence lest we bring into the house of God that which must be judged. Things are not allowed to be hidden you know; God may permit the thing to be hidden for a little while, giving space for repentance as indeed even to Jezebel, but in the house of God things come out. You see Ananias and Sapphira discovered that. They made an arrangement, they agreed together secretly to bring into the house of God a lie. Who is to know? Who is to know what this man and wife agreed to in secret? So they bring a lie into the house of God, but the time is come for judgment to begin there, and the lie cannot be hidden — it cannot be hidden, because God is there, and His house is dreadful. I would urge all of us to seek help from the Lord to live transparently. If things come up that belong to darkness, face them and judge them. The apostle Paul had turned his back on them. He did not handle the word deceitfully, but commended himself to every man’s conscience in the sight of God.
A word on the passage I read in Ezekiel in regard to the terrible crystal. Over the head of the living creature was the terrible crystal. It means, I believe, that every single thing that ever happens is reflected in the crystal. That is what happened in regard to Ananias and Sapphira, it had all been settled in the secret chamber, but they forgot about the terrible crystal, that up in heaven there was the vast expanse of terrible crystal, everything that had happened on earth was portrayed in this terrible crystal. You see that all through scripture. It started with Cain. He rose up and slew his brother. He slew him. Nobody saw him, but God says, “Where is Abel thy brother?” He said, “I know not, am I my brother’s keeper?” God says, “What hast thou done?” What he had done had all been reflected in the crystal. It cannot be hidden. Jezebel sends the message that Naboth is to be stoned as one who blasphemed God and she comes to Ahab and says “take possession”. It is all over, nobody knows, but God said to Elijah, “Arise go down to meet Ahab and speak unto him saying, ‘Thus saith the Lord ... In the place where dogs licked the blood of Naboth shall dogs lick thy blood’ and ‘dogs shall eat Jezebel by the wall of Jizreel.’ “All had been seen in the crystal — the terrible crystal.
So one desires for every one of us that we should have the sense of these things, that there should be truth in the inward parts. We are shortly to enter into the holy city. That is absolutely transparent. Read the account of the holy city, there is not a dark element there. Every single feature of the holy city is transparent, not an element of darkness enters into it. The street is pure gold, like transparent glass, the river is as clear as crystal, its walls are like jasper, as crystal, the rays of its light are most precious, as crystal-like jasper stone. Everything in it is free of the dark elements of deception and what is hidden. It is composed of those who have lived on earth in the fear of the terrible crystal. The terrible crystal is above the living creatures.
The Lord would have it above us constantly in the reverence of our hearts. Also the reverence that is due to God, as God — the King eternal, invisible, immortal, only wise God to whom be glory for ever and ever, Amen. The reverence for the blessed Lord Jesus so that the language of our hearts might really be “Lord Jesus”, and as we come together as part of the assembly, we should see that as the wife is to reverence her husband, so we reverence Him, not only love Him but reverence Him. Then there is that wheel, whose height is dreadful, and the terrible crystal, and the house of God so blessed, but still so dreadful.
The Lord help us to be maintained in relation to these things, as the awful profanity of this world increases, where the Lord’s name is abused, where it becomes the song of the drunkard and is treated with such contempt; that there might be in our hearts the true spirit of reverence to the end.