GOD RULING
[p. 403] GOD RULING
Genesis 11: 1 - 9; Matthew 21: 1 - 11; Revelation 21: 1 - 27; Revelation 22: 1 - 5
We get three very distinct thoughts in connection with the heavenly city, in the passages which I have read from the Revelation (1) that the city is the dwelling-place of God; there is no temple there, but “the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it” (chapter 21: 22); (2) that there is a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and the Lamb (chapter 22: 1); then (3) that there is no more curse (chapter 22: 3). I refer to these three points because they connect themselves with what I have spoken of on previous occasions as the three great testimonies of God which are prominent in Scripture, and which at last reach their climax, and find their rest in the heavenly city. The first testimony I referred to was God’s purpose to bless, the second His purpose to dwell, and the third His purpose to rule, and what comes out in this chapter is that the church is the vessel in which all the testimonies are displayed. It is seen as the medium of blessing, and the consequence is, there is no more curse. It is the place where God dwells, and it is therefore the seat of heavenly rule, and the throne is seen and the pure river of water of life flowing out of it. Such is the blessed consequence of God’s ruling; instead of government being the source of defilement and moral death, as is seen in the previous chapter, it is vivifying. The tree of life is also seen in the city yielding its fruits, and the leaves for the healing of the nations, and if you have read the book of Revelation you will have seen how much the nations will need to be healed, after all that which they have passed through.
But to refer to the thought of God’s ruling: I think that all would admit that this is an absolute necessity.
[p. 404] Evil has come in, and if God’s purposes are to be established on earth, there must be rule, and the object of God’s rule is the subjugation of every enemy both of God and man, and thus I judge in the eternal state there will not be the thought of reigning, because when every enemy has been put down the kingdom will be given up to the moral supremacy of God, which will be fully established, so that God may be all in all.
I would call your attention for a moment to the place and importance which cities have in Scripture. I think a city in Scripture is the symbol of imperial rule, of a power which rules over kingdoms; so in the book of Revelation, Babylon is viewed as a great city which reigneth over the kings of the earth; and in blessed contrast to it we have the heavenly city, and that too is imperial, for the throne of God and the Lamb are in it. You will find too in Scripture that when one city is in the ascendant, another city is out of sight for the time being; for instance, when Jerusalem was in the ascendant, Babylon had no place; on the other hand, when Babylon was in supremacy, Jerusalem was in a state of ruin and desolation.
God never allowed the two cities to be prominent at the same time. In the history of the church we can see the same principle. When the church will be in the ascendant, Babylon will have no place — her place will not be found at all.
But I return to the passage I read in Genesis 11. The thought of man, even at that early time, was imperialism. Man intended to have a city, and the principle which budded then came out fully afterwards in Babylon. Babel was the definite assertion of man’s will, and the principles which you get in the book of Genesis, although small as a grain of mustard seed, come out in full in the book of Revelation. You see them there in their tremendous development.
There have been from time to time men in the world who have betrayed a remarkable capability of utilising to [p. 405] their own promotion a state of things existing at the moment. Napoleon would probably not have come to the front in the way that he did if there had not existed in the providence of God a state of things favourable to him; and I believe that this principle is seen in Revelation 6, in which the four horses and their riders are presented: God allows certain conditions of things to come to pass, and a man or men rise up who can turn them to account — in fact, who can ride on them.
But I want to shew you that that which follows close upon these things has been testified of God all through Scripture, and I would press the fact that every testimony of God has now been brought to a point of rest, to the glory of God, and that all that remains is the display of His purpose. We have come to the great vessel of testimony — to the heavenly city (Hebrews 12: 22) — where all is displayed. It is a wonderful moment in the history of the soul, when it sees that every testimony centres in the heavenly city, in that Jerusalem above which is free, and is our mother. We then take our character from it, as a child takes character from its mother; when we come to the heavenly city we find that there is nothing in it but Christ. In the first place you get full blessing. “There shall be no more curse”: this is the full accomplishment of God’s long-standing purpose. God has been bent upon blessing from the outset, but at the time when this was first made known there was no resting place for the blessing; no vessel competent to carry it, but yet Abraham saw Christ’s day and was glad, and “he looked for a city which hath foundations” — a city in which the testimony of God could rest. The important point now is that what Abraham looked for we have come to, and we are the children of it.
The next testimony of God was His purpose to dwell, and this came out, as we previously said, in connection with the giving of the law. When the law is written in the hearts of Israel, and man thus becomes morally the reflex of God, then it is that God will fulfil His purpose [p. 406] of dwelling among men.
In its application to ourselves, we see that God writes now by the power of the Holy Spirit upon the fleshy tables of the heart, and Jew and gentile are built together for a habitation of God by the Spirit. But further, the building fitly framed together is growing unto a holy temple in the Lord. The two things overlap here, but we have anyway reached the resting place of God’s testimony in the heavenly city, where God and the Lamb will be.
Now I come to the next point, which is God’s purpose to rule. This comes out in connection with David. It is clear that the last testimony is essential to the other two, because if God is to bless and to dwell, then everything contrary to it must be put down. He must by His power subjugate all that is not according to His mind. This is foreshadowed in David. In Psalm 78 we find that God turned away from Shiloh, but He chose Zion, and took David from the sheepfold to be the ruler of His people. Jerusalem is called the “city of the great King”. Christ, not Solomon, was the true Son of David; so when you come to the beginning of the New Testament you see how carefully the genealogy of Christ is traced down, and the Lord Jesus is presented as the seed of David after the flesh. In Matthew 21 we find that the Lord rode into Jerusalem as David’s Son according to prophecy, and by doing so He claimed the kingdom, and it is a point of vital moment that the Lord here claims the kingdom in testimony. The result of His rejection was that Jerusalem was destroyed, and from that time has been trodden down by the gentiles, and Babylon is in ascendancy. But to faith another thing has come into view, and that is the heavenly city — a sure proof that Babylon will have to go. The heavenly city is the place where God’s purpose to rule has found its rest. Now we have come to it (Hebrews 12), and as we apprehend it we are formed for rule. As an illustration, take the Prince of Wales; it is according to the established course of things that he will in time [p. 407] become king, and therefore he has been trained in view of it. So too in regard of the saints, they are to reign with Christ, and they are subjected to a course of training here which will qualify them to reign: and what do you think will qualify for reigning? It is suffering: “If we suffer, we shall also reign with him”. Peter and the eleven founded by their testimony the heavenly city, and the burden of that testimony was a glorified Christ at God’s right hand, and saints suffered down here. We are left here, I believe, to claim by testimony the inheritance, and I believe we ought to do this by allegiance to Christ — the acknowledgement of His lordship and glory. It is now the great day of man’s glory, but we are called to the path of suffering and testimony to the Lord. At the same time, in regard of the powers that be we are called to subjection, to honour the king and render all that is due to those who rule, but not to render adulation to man, because we are left here to honour and to confess Him as Lord.
While the testimony is here, the vessel of rule is being formed by the Spirit of God, and we apprehend thus our true place down here. I see no king with divine right except Christ, and if we understand His present session at God’s right hand, then we can wait with patience till He reigns. The apostle Paul reproached the Corinthians because they were reigning as kings before the Lord reigned.
Although the heavenly city is being formed, yet Babylon is still in the ascendant, but we are able by the Spirit of God to judge its character, and we must remember that in whatever way it may alter its face, its character does not alter. What it was, so it is; it is shewn in its nakedness to the apostle John by the angel as the great whore. The whole character of christianity has been falsified by it; the church has become what God never intended it to become. The great harlot is still in the place of power, yet soon the heavenly city will come down from God out of heaven; it will not be long [p. 408] before the dragon, the harlot, the beast, and the antichrist will be put down, and then the throne of God and of the Lamb will be seen.
When Christ came to earth, John saw Him as the Lamb of God, and in the Revelation He is still seen in that character, but the throne is His, and out of the throne comes the pure river of water of life, all the blessed influences of life issuing thence, and the seven spirits of God sent forth into all the earth.
May God give us to see that His successive testimonies, all that He has purposed to establish, are secured, and that we have come to the point where they rest to His glory, and may we understand the work of the Spirit in us so that we may be fit to share in all that will come out in the Lord Jesus Christ!