THE LITTLE SANCTUARY
F.C.Mutton
This scripture has a bearing upon us for we also are in a time when some of those who are our brethren in Christ are making such claims. In our scripture those who dwelt in Jerusalem were telling the rest of their brethren, the whole house of Israel, to remove: "Get you far from Jehovah: unto us is this land given for a possession"; that is to say, they were claiming as their own special and private property the inheritance which belonged to the whole house of Israel. In the face of that claim the word of Jehovah comes. In verse 16 He refers to His government, and we would accept, I am sure, beloved brethren, that we have been, and indeed still are, under the government of God. "Although I have removed them far off among the nations, and although I have scattered them among the countries". There has been a scattering and God's government has entered into that. But the scattering in no sense means that God has forsaken His people or His thoughts for them. So at the end of verse 16 we have a most affecting and precious promise, a divine promise to the scattered saints: "yet will I be to them as a little sanctuary in the countries whither they are come". It must be one of the most precious, powerful, and profound promises of God. It is not 'I will provide a little sanctuary', but 'I will be to them as a little sanctuary'. What a remarkable expression! - as if (one would speak carefully) God adapts Himself to the circumstances of littleness and scattering. This is not a great, pretentious, or publicly impressive sanctuary; it is "a little sanctuary"; yet it is a sanctuary, and as regards its holiness, privilege, richness and favour, in no sense inferior to the earlier sanctuary that God had established. Indeed, if the word of God says "I will be to them as a little sanctuary", it must be a sanctuary of the richest kind, because God Himself is the sanctuary. I believe we should ponder this, dear brethren, the greatness and yet the condescension of it, God coming into small circumstances . I think it opens up a great field of enquiry. We can think of the ark, that small item of tabernacle furniture, with its half-cubit measurements; but God was there. It speaks of Christ as entirely delightful to Him and securing all His will. The brethren here have been enquiring into the beginnings of the gospels. In Matthew we have "the little child" and in Luke the Babe, but God was there. We think of the Holy Spirit descending in a bodily form as a dove. These aspects of (if we may use the word) compression in relation to divine Persons are very affecting - that God, for the effecting of His own glorious ends, has been prepared to come into the very smallest circumstances. The manger would convey that to us - "the babe lying in the manger", Luke 2:16.
Here in Ezekiel, against a background of scattering, divine government and the arrogance of those in Jerusalem, God is prepared to be a little sanctuary. How wonderful it is! And it is meant to afford us the greatest comfort, that where there are right conditions, and the fear of God, God is prepared to come into small circumstances. We get that again in Matthew 18: 20; "where two or three are gathered together unto my name, there am I in the midst of them". It is the Lord Jesus graciously coming to the very smallest number where there are suitable conditions. This is open to us. Who would not desire to take advantage of the fact that God Himself is thus available to us as a sanctuary? It is a very rich word. No doubt it would be a realm of peace and protection, but it would also be a place where the richest thoughts of God are treasured and opened up, all being upheld and sustained in Christ, as they were in the sanctuary of old, as suggested in the furnishings of the holy place and the holiest.
Then there is this precious promise: "I will even gather you from the peoples and assemble you" - two very fine thoughts, dear brethren: first, gathering; that is, rescue from the scattering, and secondly, "I will... assemble you", which clearly is an assembly expression. It says in Acts 20: "we being assembled to break bread" (v 7). We are assembled tonight, not many of us, but it is a great privilege to assemble, not just to be together, not just to come to a meeting, but to assemble in the light of the assembly, in the fear of God, and in dependence on Christ and on the Holy Spirit. This is a matter of great dignity and reality; God Himself both gathers and assembles His scattered people, and it is a precious matter to Him to see them assembled.
Then Jehovah says "I will give you the land of Israel" . What a remarkable thing! Those at Jerusalem were claiming everything as their own and God says, in these small circumstances, where there were conditions pleasing to Him, "I will give you the land of Israel"; that is, the whole inheritance. It is like Paul's word to the Corinthians; "All things are yours" (1 Cor 3: 21) - not one thing is withheld in the richness of divine giving. Then there is a moral clearance: "And they shall come thither, and they shall take away from thence all its detestable things and all its abominations". We are to come to God's judgment of these things. These are very strong words; there are things that God detests and that are an abomination to Him. We are to share His judgment of them, have done with them, and depart from them; but then. "I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take away the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them a heart of flesh". It is like Paul's ministry as to the new covenant and the writing by the Spirit of the living God on the fleshy tables of the heart (see 2 Cor 3: 3). What wonderful operations these are! God in His mercy has delivered us and would restore to us a heart of flesh, involving sensitive feelings; power to receive divine impressions and to be subject to them; to receive them in humility and work them out, things being thus written upon us by the Spirit.
The end in view is "that they may walk in my statutes, and keep mine ordinances, and do them". This is a moral basis for what is for God's pleasure. It must be so, dear brethren; we would all recognise that there can be no conditions suitable to God unless His principles, statutes, and ordinances are kept; as Paul says, "If anyone think himself to be a prophet or spiritual, let him recognise the things I write to you, that it is the Lord's commandment", 1 Cor 14: 37. You might say, Well, it is enough that Paul writes it; he is an apostle. That would be true; but he says also that it is the Lord's commandment, and love would delight to walk in His statutes and keep His ordinances. Thus we can be rightly regulated and conditions be maintained among us which are suited to God Himself. On that basis He says "they shall be my people, and I will be their God". What a message of cheer this must have been to the scattered saints! - this way back to nearness, this way back to God, God having His inheritance in His people and delighting to claim them as His own. Then, "I will be their God". On the basis of repentance and recovery He becomes known in that way as our God. That is the greatest possible blessing, beloved brethren. What infinite resource we have in God - in the Father, in the Son, and in the Holy Spirit - our God. May God bless these impressions to us, for His Name's sake.
Word in meeting for ministry
CHRISTCHURCH NZ
18 September 1979