RESPONSE TO THE MINISTRY OF CHRIST
[p. 357] RESPONSE TO THE MINISTRY OF CHRIST
2 Samuel 6:12 - 16; Song of Songs 6:10 - 13; Revelation 22:16
What I wish to say is in the nature of an inquiry as to how far the presentation of Christ affects our hearts. My thought is, if you will suffer it, a word of exhortation, and to speak to you in the form of an inquiry, as to how far our souls are affected by the presentation of light, by the presentation of Christ?
Ministry, to be effective, must be a presentation of Christ; and therefore ministry is of necessity light. It may come to us in gracious words, according to the measure of the minister, but of itself it is light. The true measure of ministry, I need not remind you, is the Lord Himself. He is the Minister. As anointed by the Spirit, you will remember in Luke 4, that His hearers marvelled at the words of grace that proceeded out of His mouth. The light vouchsafed in the ministry of Christ, as it reached souls was clothed with the grace of Christ; His lips were anointed. And so, beloved friends, the exercises of the minister would be to commend the ministry; but the object of the minister is to produce a response.
Now, the Lord’s ministry was such as He Himself describes as “piping”; He says, “We have piped unto you, and ye have not danced”. (Matthew 11:17) Now, that is the thought in my mind. I believe there has been, in some degree, a measure of “piping” by the Spirit. There has been ministry, and the inquiry is, What is the response to it? The passages I have read from the Old Testament, you will have observed, allude to “dancing”. It is very remarkable that the Spirit should take up such a figure. Indeed, in the parable of the father and the prodigal in Luke 15, the Lord sets forth as figures the two things; there [p. 358] was not only music; there was that which is responsive to the music, namely, dancing; that is what goes on within the father’s house.
The Lord’s ministry when here was equal to the music within the house, but there was no response to it outside. Anointed by the Spirit, He stands up in the midst of Israel, and His ministry was most wonderful heavenly music! He says, “We have piped unto you, and ye have not danced”. (Matthew 11:17) Did not the Lord feel it? Surely He did. Many in Israel doubtless thought they patronised the Lord by listening to Him; did they? At the end the Lord takes them to account. Do you not think the Lord will take us to account for every bit of ministry that He gives us? He will, beloved friends. He says, “We have piped to you, and ye have not danced”. (Matthew 11:17) Did he not feel that Israel had not danced to His piping? He did feel it. But then, there is the music within the house; the son has returned; the lost one is found; the dead one is alive and is within the house; the music is there and the dancing is there. What the Lord’s ministry did not secure outside in Israel is secured within the Father’s house.
Well now, to revert to the second book of Samuel; in chapter 6 is a picture of recovery. And what was recovered? The great central feature of the recovery was the ark installed in Zion. The true king was there. What was in the heart of David before he was a king? He says, “We heard of it at Ephratah;” “we heard of it”, (Psalm 132:6); he had not found it, but he heard of it. What did he hear of? He heard of the ark. He had heard, doubtless, of many sorrowful things in connection with the reign of Saul; he knew many sorrowful things, but he alludes not to these, save that they were the occasions of his afflictions. The psalmist says, “Lord, remember David and all his afflictions: how he sware unto the Lord and vowed unto the mighty God of Jacob,
‘[p. 359] I will not give sleep to mine eyes or slumber to mine eyelids until I find out a place for the Lord; an habitation for the mighty God of Jacob’.” Then he says, “Lo, we heard of it at Ephratah”. (Psalm 132:1,2; Psalm 132:4-6) There the ark, the great central object in Israel in the mind of David was. He says further, “we found it in the fields of the wood”; (Psalm 132:6) in Kirjathjearim, I suppose.
Now I ask, have you “heard” of Christ? Light as to the Lord Jesus comes to us in the gospel. The Lord sees to that. Tidings of the ark moved David. The ark was the great controlling principle of his life. Light as to it came into his soul at Ephratah, doubtless when he tended his father’s sheep in the wilderness; but he not only heard about it, he found it. Light as to the Lord Jesus has come into your soul; but have you found Him? For twenty years the ark of the covenant had remained at Kirjathjearim, and David himself declares it had not been inquired after all the days of Saul. Now, if you ask what does that signify, what I would say is, that while the will of man rules, Christ as the Ark of the covenant has no place, whether in the individual or in the company; whilst your will is admitted there is no place for the Ark. The Ark of the covenant and man’s will are utterly incompatible; you cannot put them side by side. Now, David had the light of it; and directly he had the opportunity he found it. I pass over for the moment his error in putting it on a new cart. I do not excuse it, of course, but the desire was there in the heart of David to take it to mount Zion.
I appeal to you whether you are affected by the ministry which the Lord gives through His servants. We never think for a moment that we are doing God a favour if we get the benefits of the rain and the sunshine. God is favouring us in giving us rain and sunshine, and ministry is His divine favour. What, then, about the reckoning day? It is coming; in [p. 360] the history of every soul here tonight there is a reckoning day. See the history of Christendom; see the moral wrecks that are strewn along the coast, from disregard of ministry, disregard of the voice of the Lord. The Spirit says, “To-day if ye will hear ... harden not you hearts”. (Hebrews 4:7) To-day God is speaking. I am not now referring to any particular ministry, but as to what the Lord graciously favours us with. What is the effect of it? The divine effect of it would be that you find a place for the Lord. Every other consideration is secondary to that, even the sleep which the body needs. Think of the energy a man like David, refusing his eyes sleep, or his eyelids slumber until he found a place for the Lord!
Well, the ark is taken to Zion, and one loves to dwell upon the exercises of David’s heart in the presence of it. It was now in its own place; and faith is never satisfied until it sees Christ in His own rightful place. What is His rightful place at, the present time? What does God think about Jesus? He has placed Him at His own right hand in heaven. That is God’s estimate of Jesus now, and that which the Lord is entitled to, is His rightful place, in your heart; and true love for Him is never satisfied until it sees Christ in His own rightful place, and that place is in the heart of the saints.
Then the ark is taken to Zion, and when it is there David dances before it, and, we are told, he did so “with all his might”. I need not dwell upon Michal’s attitude. She is but Saul reduced to narrow limits. It is a very great mercy that what was expressed in Saul when he was all-powerful was reduced to narrow limits. We can thank God for that. Man’s will had been powerful; the ark of the covenant had no place; but, thank God, the day arrives when Saul is no more; but he is represented by Michal; reduced, as I said, and the more reduced the better, if not wholly eliminated. All Michal can [p. 361] do is to despise David in her heart. Thank God that is all she can do. It is a bitter thing to be despised, and the man who delighted in the ark is despised by the daughter of Saul. That is all she can do, and she is childless to the day of her death; there is no issue. The principle which marked Saul becomes extinct for ever; and the house of David continues, not only for the moment, nor for a generation, nor for many generations, but for ever; the house of David is established for ever. You have to see that the will of God is established in your heart, that your own will does not rule or intrude. Your will in religious things is like Saul; you must see that that will is reduced, is nullified in you by the power of the Spirit.
Well, now, Solomon is the great issue from David. Solomon is a man of peace; and Solomon is the great love-singer of Scripture. That is seen in the Song of Songs; it is really a love song. We have often dwelt upon that. The house of David becomes powerful. There was no adversary nor evil occurrent. Such is the position Solomon is in, and in that condition of things he becomes the great love-maker, and so he is a type of the Lord in the way in which He will woo Israel in the latter days. One need not enlarge upon the conditions that will be found in Israel in the last days, but the spirit of grace and supplications will be poured upon them, and they will repent, every family apart, and their wives apart, and they will mourn for Christ. Divine sensibilities will arise in their hearts, and they will remember the lowly Nazarene. We read in Zechariah 12 that “they will look upon me whom they have pierced”. (Zechariah 12:10) They will mourn for Him as a man for his only son. Think of the affection that will be begotten in them. The result will be, that a formative principle takes place in them, and the Lord will see His own character gradually formed in the remnant, only in a feminine way, speaking [p. 362] figuratively. The Shulamite is, I understand, the feminine of Solomon; it is the counterpart of Solomon. What the assembly, the heavenly bride, will be in a heavenly way, Israel will be in an earthly way; she will be His counterpart here upon earth. Well, I do not intend to dwell upon it; I only allude to it to make the position clear. The Shulamite is called up to “return”, Song of Songs 6. She is ennobled by the name. Solomon, as it were, imparting his own name to her, in that way dignifies her. That is the point we all come to; in Christ’s name we are ennobled.
The next thing is, she is called upon to return. He gives you great boldness and confidence in returning when you are ennobled by His name. The word “return” is used four times, twice before her name, and twice after, showing how intensely it is in the mind of the Spirit that Israel should return to the Lord: “Return, return, O Shulamite; return, return, that we may look upon thee”. “Before I was aware, my soul set me on the chariots of my willing people”. He is in the chariots of His willing people. Now, what will you see in the Shulamite? It is, “As it were the dance of two camps”, David danced before the ark.
Now, Judah and Israel will be re-united; but how? In the dance. What a remarkable testimony to unity; they are united in the dance. You remember how the elder brother of the prodigal refused to have any part in the music and the dancing of the father’s house; he would not come in even, in spite of his father’s entreaties. But in the latter days Israel will be brought so under the influence of Christ, through whatever means it may be, that they will be united in the joy of the dance. I scarcely can conceive of a figure so expressive. It is unity enjoyed, in the exquisite delight that is produced in our hearts by the presentation of Christ to us. It is the “dance of two armies”. I am sure the Lord delights in the dance. He says, “We have piped to you and ye have not danced”. (Matthew 11:17) Now the two armies dance. What a triumph for Christ! That which He was denied when He was here personally, He will receive not only in Judah, but in the whole of the tribes of Israel.
I will just go on to one point further: He says, “How beautiful are thy feet with shoes, O prince’s daughter”. (Song of Songs 7:1) What a name! It is really, How beautiful are thy footsteps. It refers, doubtless, to what He saw in the dance. The Lord first takes account of our feet, I believe, for if the feet do not move there is no movement at all. The Lord takes account of our feet first; but then in what a glorious connection! “How beautiful”, He says, “are thy footsteps, O prince’s daughter”. (Song of Songs 7:1)
Now, I would appeal to you as to the effect of the presentation of Christ to your hearts in the ministry of the Spirit. What a pleasure to His heart it is to see the effect of His gracious dealings with us. How patiently He deals with us and ministers to us in one way and another, so that He may get His own rightful position in the affections of His people. “The chariots of my willing people” is His rightful place; and as the heart that loves Him gives Him that place it dances, as it were, before Him.
Pages 364 - 482 — “Jesus Christ come in Flesh”.
Indianapolis, January, 1914 (Volume 20)