"IT IS NOT GOOD THAT THE MAN SHOULD BE ALONE"
“[p. 471] IT IS NOT GOOD THAT THE MAN SHOULD BE ALONE”
You will observe here that in treating of God s order in connection with creation, the Spirit of God presents the man and the woman, ending with this, that “all things are of God”. So that in result, when the counsels of God are consummated, the man and the woman will appear accompanied by this, that “all things are of God”. God is the sovereign Source of all things.
I have read these verses because they present to us the man and the woman. My thought is to speak of Christ and the assembly, and in approaching the subject I would say that the gospels give us the Man, whereas the epistles present the woman. The masculine side is seen in the gospels, the feminine side in the epistles; and I need not add that the assembly comes under the feminine idea in Scripture.
Now we have been dwelling on the Lord as Man, and one has the assurance that it has not been without profit. At any rate, if there has been in our souls the inquiry that the reading of Isaiah 53 produced in the heart of the eunuch, we shall not be without profit. You will remember how interested he was; “of whom speaketh the prophet this? of himself, or of some other man?” (Acts 8:34) The beauty of the Man delineated in the chapter excited his interest, and he inquired as to who the Man was who was so delineated, the prophet himself or another. Had he read chapter 6, he would have readily concluded it was not the prophet, for Isaiah 6 tells us that the prophet was a man of unclean lips; he therefore, was not the Man depicted in chapter 53. But his interest was excited: “of whom speaketh the prophet this?” (Acts 8:34) Beautiful speaking!
[p. 472] The Spirit of God tells us in commenting on it elsewhere, that “these things said Esaias, when he saw his glory, and spake of him”. (John 12:41) His glory; a humbled, despised, persecuted Man! Yet he saw His glory. “These things”. What things? The fifty-third chapter of Isaiah. “He saw his glory”. No one can speak rightly of Jesus who has not seen His glory. If it be a mere historical narrative of the Nazarene such as we often hear of, it is no true narrative. Only one who has seen His glory can speak of Him aright. Now Luke saw His glory. Luke was imbued with the idea of the glory of the Man. His gospel goes far beyond Isaiah. He saw His glory. I am not saying that the Scripture says Luke saw it. His gospel proves that he saw it. He saw Christ’s glory and spake of Him. What a delineation of the Man! Hence the evangelist Philip begins at Isaiah 53 and preached to him the Man.
What a moment for the Ethiopian eunuch! His heart was captivated by the Man whose “life is taken from the earth”. (Acts 8:33) Do you ever miss the life of Jesus here? His life is taken from the earth. What a life it had been! A life ever verdant. The prophet sees Him growing up. Growing up, how? We fathers know what it is to see children growing up. We sorrow sometimes, but here is One growing up — how? As a tender sapling. “As a root out of a dry ground”. (Isaiah 53:2) He drew nothing from the soil about Him, but He grew in wisdom and stature; that was what Jesus was here. You know what green is to the eye. It is divinely intended in the creation for man’s eye to rest upon. That is what Jesus was for God. God’s eye rested on the green. The Lord Himself definitely calls it green. “Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me, but weep for yourselves, and for your children ... For if they do these things in a green tree, what shall be done in the dry?” (Luke 23:28,31) Till [p. 473] He died, there it was for the eye of God, but that life was taken from the earth.
Now in the eunuch we see the principle by which the assembly is being formed here; that is, by attraction to the Man. The Lord foresaw this in the gospels and in Matthew 13 He said: “the kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field;” (Matthew 13:44) it was something that a man found. In the next parable we find a man seeking for goodly pearls. In the first instance, it is a treasure found; without evidently any effort to discover it, it is found. In the second instance, the merchantman is seeking something; goodly pearls. He finds what he seeks and he buys it, but the treasure he hides in the field. How precious the disciples were to Jesus! “Ye are they which have continued with me in my temptations”; (Luke 22:28) He said to them. They were His companions in sorrow. They were with Him, and the thought of it, the joy that He had in that favoured band, excited His supreme interest; He hid the treasure and bought the field. In other words, the Lord established incontestable right to all humanity in order to have the treasure. No one could question His right to the treasure for He bought the field, the treasure went with it. Only He could value it, and none could dispute His title to it. The Lord Jesus surrendered all that He had to secure the field; and who can recount what He had, for as Man here on earth, He was Heir to everything.
Now having secured the field, He sends Paul out into it in order that every bit of the treasure should be secured. What a faithful searcher Paul was! He went into houses to find it. The Spirit of the Lord searches us out at the present time; it is a question of searching after straying ones, of separating the precious from the vile. Believers have strayed, but the Spirit of God searches for them. Paul’s thought was that the saints should be instructed and formed, as members of Christ’s body. He recognised the loneliness of Jesus. Bereft of Israel, as Isaac of old of His mother, Jesus was alone. He needed a companion and Paul was used to bring her to Him. The field was wide, and the sheet from heaven in Acts 10 indicated the whole field. Think of Paul let out into that field with a commission from Christ in regard to the assembly. His mission was similar to that of Abraham’s servant of old. What a zealous man he was! I have often likened Paul to the valiant men of David who heard him sigh: “Oh that one would give me, drink of the water of the well of Bethlehem!” (2 Samuel 23:15) They heard that and they went and drew it; they secured it for David. Consider one so devoted to Christ let out into the field with the full knowledge of the redemption-rights of his Master. Paul did not tread on Roman ground timidly, but in the sense of the rights of Christ. He was the commissioner of Christ. The territory was Christ’s. It was His incontestably and Paul searched it for the treasure, and he did it by presenting Christ in the gospel.
Now I want to show you that in the divine thought the Man would not be without the woman. In every position He occupies, whether official or otherwise, the woman is associated with Him. You remember how the subject is introduced in Scripture; “It is not good that the man should be alone”. (Genesis 2:18) Now that principle runs right through Scripture in regard to Christ and the assembly, and, I desire, by the Lord’s help, to point out to you from the Old Testament types, how that in almost every position the assembly is associated with Christ. He had to go into death, of course, alone. There was no man in the tabernacle but Aaron, when the atonement was effected, but in every other position, we may say, whether official or personal, subsequent to His death, the assembly is seen. “It is not good that the man should be alone”, (Genesis 2:18) is a word that refers to Christ. It does not always refer to us, for evidently it was good for Paul. It refers to Christ. That is the divine thought.
Now Adam is the first great type of Christ, and he was head of creation, a wonderful man he must have been. You will all remember the record given to us in Genesis 2. “It is not good that the man should be alone”. (Genesis 2:18) One is to be made his like, to be a companion. I only touch on it to say that as Head of the creation the Lord Jesus associates the assembly with Himself. She is of Him. He was not created for her, but she was created for Him. She is of Him and she is for Him as Head of God’s creation. The Lord Jesus associates us with Himself in that wonderful position that He has in God’s counsels. He is the beginning, the Head of God’s creation. Think of that. Is it not worth while belonging to that which is the companion of Christ as Head of God’s creation?
When we come to the next great figure of the assembly, she is presented to us as the companion of the heavenly man. You all remember Isaac and Rebekah. Isaac appears in Scripture as the heavenly man. It is in connection with him, as far as I remember in Scripture, that you first have a communication “out of heaven”, Genesis 21:17. I quite admit that the immediate object of it was Ishmael, but it is after the birth of Isaac, typically the heavenly man, that we have communications out of heaven. That accords with the gospel of Luke, In Genesis 22 the angel of the Lord twice calls out of heaven, and on each occasion it is in regard to Isaac. He is the object of heaven’s interest, and directly he arises from the dead in figure, we have the genealogy of Rebekah; it is in the same chapter. Genesis 22:20 - 23. Directly he is risen, the genealogy of his spouse is given to us. And what a genealogy, typically! She is not made from one of his ribs.
[p. 476] That is not the idea in Rebekah. That is Eve, who was of the man, created for him. Rebekah is equal to him. She is of the same family, the same stock; and it was of great moment in the mind of the Spirit that as Christ is risen from the dead, the assembly seen in figure in Rebekah should appear in her dignity. The point in the passage was to show that she sprang from the same stock. It says nothing of her person, but that she sprang from Nahor, Abraham’s brother, so that now the heavenly man has a companion; he is not to be alone. Do you ever think of that?
It is not good for you to be alone without Him, depend upon that, but it is not good that He should be alone without us. Does it not appeal to your heart? To the disciples He said: “Ye are they which have continued with me”. (Luke 22:28) There is a wonderful meaning in that word with. Where are you in regard to the people of God who are in affliction? Where are you in regard to Christ to whom you owe everything? It is not good for Him to be alone. And so Abraham understood how Isaac needed a companion, and the servant is sent out and a companion is brought. You will remember the Spirit of God tells us that Isaac was alone in the field. He needed her. His mother had just died and she was buried and we are told that he was meditating, or it may be rendered praying. About what do you think he was meditating? What is the Lord thinking about at the present time? He is not engaged with the government of the world, He will be ere long. About whom is He concerned? His members here, who think nothing or little about themselves. The Lord Jesus is thinking about us. Isaac is meditating. It raised the exercises of his heart. The heavenly man must have a companion and he receives a companion.
Now I pass on to Joseph. Joseph was rejected by his brethren, but he was accepted and glorified amongst the Gentiles. That is another position of [p. 477] Christ; rejected by the Jews, He pursues them in grace with the gospel, in the Acts. The Spirit of Christ in Paul pursued the Jews, his brethren after the flesh, to Rome, he sent for them and talked to them the whole day long. They left Paul disputing with one another. They did not accept the Messiah. From Jerusalem to Rome it was one continuous series of rejections in spite of the faithful presentation of the Man Christ Jesus; the true Messiah, to the Jews. So Paul, having quoted Isaiah 6, says: “the salvation of God is sent unto the Gentiles, and ... they will hear it”, (Acts 28:28) In other words, the testimony of Christ was accepted amongst the Gentiles, and He is glorified amongst them, and if so, He is to have a Gentile bride. That is Asenath. She represents the assembly associated with Christ at the present time, as rejected by Israel, but glorified amongst the Gentiles. You may ask me, Where is He glorified amongst the Gentiles? In your heart, if you are a Gentile, in the hearts of believers. He is held in regard there.
Now, the next great type of Christ in Scripture is Moses. He is ruler of the house of God; as such, he has a companion. He ends that series of types. I only say a word about Moses, which I think is important, and that is in regard to his selection of a bride. Miriam and Aaron spake against him on account of her, saying: “Hath the Lord indeed spoken only by Moses?” (Numbers 12:2) Moses really suffered for his weakness. He said he could not speak, and so the Lord took up Aaron. The Lord would have spoken everything through Moses, but he made room for Aaron and for Miriam, and they now put up the pretension that they were equal with him, but there was no equal to Moses. He was a man with whom Jehovah spoke mouth to mouth, not in a vision, and Moses had a perfect right to select a bride. The Lord Jesus has a perfect sovereign right to select His bride. Do not [p. 478] we rejoice in it? It is in His sovereignty that He selected us, and who dares to question that right? He is going to associate us with Himself according to sovereign selection, and who can dare to question it? You may say she is an Ethiopian and her skin is black. It is Moses’ selection. He is a better judge than Aaron or Miriam. He knows what he does. So does the Lord Jesus. He makes no mistakes. He presents the bride to himself a glorious assembly, no black spots, no Ethiopian skin there.
I have no doubt the eunuch in Acts 8 was a coloured man, as we speak; he will not be coloured in heaven. The Ethiopian will change his colour there. You cannot bring it to pass down here. Christ will present the assembly to Himself a glorious assembly. Were we not black as the Ethiopian? Look at the bride in the Song of Songs. She says: “Look not upon me, because I am black”. (Song of Songs 1:6) She was equal to the Ethiopian, but she does not remain black. She comes out in glorious attire, perfect in beauty, so the assembly is to be presented as the handiwork of the Lord Himself, “not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing”. (Ephesians 5:27) Aaron and Miriam knew nothing of that, of the transforming power of Christ.
Now I pass on to another series of types comprising two; Ruth and Abigail go together. They are both connected with David. David is the king. In Ruth we have a type of the assembly, she is in many respects a very remarkable one. To be practical in regard to Ruth, she sacrifices what might be regarded as propriety, for him who is the type of Christ. Have you ever done that? How often it is that souls are despised because they go out of the way to reach Christ! They sacrifice what may be deemed in common etiquette, propriety. Now she went to the threshing-floor of Boaz at an unseemly hour to reach him. She learned his wealth and power, and more she learned his kinship. She was intelligent.
[p. 479] She had light as to redemption, and she sacrificed propriety to reach Christ. Do not be afraid of doing violence to etiquette. It is sure to stand in your way, especially if it be religious etiquette. Ruth did violence to natural propriety, but she gained the desire of her heart. She was redeemed and her inheritance was redeemed and she became the spouse of her redeemer.
Now the assembly recognises the redemption-rights of Christ. That dismisses for ever any rights that we might have. The Lord Jesus has all the rights that belong to you. He has purchased them and He is the best One to hold the title-deeds. They are secure in His hands. Do you recognise the Lord in that light? The assembly does. She recognises that the title-deeds as to every right are held by Christ on the ground of redemption. She is espoused to Him who bought her and all that belonged to her. In other words, Christ has redeemed the inheritance and has bought her with it. All this has a practical bearing. Your rights are all merged in Christ.
There is one other thought, and this Abigail represents. When you come to David, you come to the king, and there is no one to come after him, hence we get in Abigail the last type of the assembly, and I would like to look at it. I just want you to ponder over this remarkable personage. She appears at an epoch marked by the death of Samuel, recorded in 1 Samuel 25; that is to say, at a time when the link between God and the established order is severed. Samuel dies. I may say in passing, for the benefit of anyone here who may be hankering after an established religious order in the world, that there is no link whatsoever between that and God. The link is severed and till you acknowledge it you will never come into the benefits of assembly privilege. You must acknowledge that the link between God and the established religious order in [p. 480] the earth, is broken. Samuel was that link in his day, and he died, and in the death of Samuel is evidence that the link is broken between God and the people, between God and the outwardly established order of things.
Now David is in rejection, and Abigail is presented to us. She is the wife of a man called Nabal. He was churlish, and the Spirit records other that she was “of good understanding, and of a beautiful countenance”. (1 Samuel 25:3) The chapter is most interesting, and it ends with “David sent and communed with Abigail, to take her to him to wife”. (1 Samuel 25:39) He has thus secured a companion in his royalty, equal, not as a matter of lineage, but as a matter of intelligence and beauty. She has a good understanding. That is one of the greatest things. What is said in the prophet is that God’s people were destroyed for lack of knowledge. They were not acquainted with things. Think of all that is opened up to us now that Christ is in heaven; all that is opened up to us in the ministry of Paul! Paul as in the light of it and the blessedness of it, bows his knees in prayer. What does he pray about? First of all, that the saints might have “the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him”; (Ephesians 1:17) that is, of God. God wishes us to be intelligent. If we take up the truth of God and pray over it, the Lord will give us understanding.
Now the assembly will appear in the future in this capacity, as possessed of a good understanding. There is not anything with which she is not acquainted. She comes out of heaven with intelligence as to all that is required of her in the way of government, and then, she has a beautiful countenance. Where did she get the beauty? The beauty of the Lord is upon her. The Spirit has graced her with the beauty of Christ, so that in the assembly there is the reflection of Christ, both in regard to a good understanding and in regard to beauty. In this last great type of [p. 481] the assembly we have her viewed as the companion of the King, Him whose right it is to rule. She is His companion and she is equal to the position, because she has good understanding. She is a queen in intelligence and beauty. That is how the assembly will appear in connection with Christ in the government of the world. He whose right it is to rule, has a companion whose understanding is good and whose beauty is perfect.
Now you will see in what I have been saying, that the divine thought is that the Man is not to be alone in any position, and therefore I connect all I have had to say with those verses in 1 Corinthians, “For the man is not of the woman; but the woman of the man. Neither was the man created for the woman; but the woman for the man. For this cause ought the woman to have power on her head, because of the angels. Nevertheless neither is the man without the woman, neither the woman without the man, in the Lord. For as the woman is of the man, even so is the man also by the woman; but all things of God”. So you see that in the mind of the Spirit, it is the man and the woman; and in the end, Christ and the assembly. The assembly appears as His companion, whose right it is to rule.
The principle being stated it is for us to recognise what is implied in the word “It is not good that the man should be alone”. (Genesis 2:18) Do we recognise that we are essential to Christ? If there is anything that I treasure in my heart, it is that I am essential to Christ. I am no more essential to Him than you are, every member is essential. The Lord knows each one and the question for our hearts is this: Where are we in regard to Him? He seeks companionship. I do not know any word in the Scriptures that carries more with it in this connection than the word with. “Quickened ... together with Christ”. (Ephesians 2:5) “Ye are they which have continued with me in my temptations”. (Luke 22:28)
“[p. 482] Father I will, that they also, whom thou has given me, be with me where I am”. (John 17:24) In these scriptures, and in many more, you will see the desire of the Lord’s heart, and the question is as to whether we are answering to it at the close of this period, and when He is about to appear. Are we with Him so that we shall be ready to join Him in reality when the assembling shout is heard?