HOW PROPHETIC MINISTRY AFFECTS THE SERVICE OF GOD
[p. 221] HOW PROPHETIC MINISTRY AFFECTS THE SERVICE OF GOD
1 Corinthians 14:22 - 25; 2 Samuel 12:25;2 Chronicles 29:25; 1 Chronicles 25:1
My discourse at this time will have the service of God in mind, to show particularly how prophecy affects it. There can be no doubt that the current sorrowful international conditions are intended by God to bring His people into the reality of the light vouchsafed to them. One man, David, who had a great place in the service of God, as I hope to show, both as inaugurator and as actively engaged in the service, said, “in pressure, thou hast enlarged me”, (Psalm 4:1), so that we are not to evade any pressure divinely brought about. We may occasion pressure upon ourselves, and have to reap of our own sowing, but if God bring on the pressure, either directly or indirectly, it is not to be evaded, it is to be accepted, and in the acceptance of it we shall profit by it, so that our part in the service of God shall be more effective. God will obtain more from us.
One of the last things said by God in the Old Testament, according to the arrangement of the books is, “Will a man rob God?” (Malachi 3:8). God shows in that book that His people were indeed robbing Him in tithes and offerings, and He directs them to bring the tithes into the storehouse, and they would see what He would do. He would open the windows of heaven and pour out a blessing which they would not be able to contain. Such is the attitude of God in a day of small things. And in that same book, that is, Malachi, Jehovah shows how He values those who fear Him. They that feared the Lord spake often one to another and He hearkened. We are not told what they were saying, but they feared Him. We may be sure they were not always [p. 222] talking about the weather, the markets, or the like — although they may have had to touch those things. They were speaking in a holy way, as in our own day, those who fear the Lord, calling upon Him out of a pure heart, would speak of “things above”. They set their minds on things above, and speak of those things, for in truth a wonderful range of things opens up to us, as by the Spirit we set our minds on them. The word above is relative; it implies moral elevation, and thus the constitution of the saints becomes enhanced. They are not absorbed in the ordinary common talk of men and women, what is often small and even corrupt. God would remind us of our dignity and our capabilities, and the Spirit, we are told, searcheth all things, even the depths of God. He searches them as in us, and in relation to us, not on His own account, for as God He knows all; and believers as having Him know all things, 1 John 2:20. He searches the things of God as in us so as to bring out the reserves, the wonderful things of God, things that were before this world: “Things which eye has not seen, and ear not heard, and which have not come into man’s heart, which God has prepared for them that love him”. (1 Corinthians 2:9). He has great regard for those that love Him — of course, those whom He loves, too.
So with all this in view I read in 1 Corinthians; not because it is a specially heavenly epistle; it is a wilderness epistle, intended to regulate us as in the wilderness. It gives us the position of the assembly in the wilderness, and the behaviour proper to it, and how God is to be served in it. We have commandments; indeed, it would seem as if the whole first epistle is one commandment; headed up under the words “commandment of the Lord”. “If any one thinks himself to be a prophet or spiritual, let him recognise ... that it is the Lord’s commandment”, (1 Corinthians 14:37). The verses I have read are, therefore, included in the [p. 223] commandment, that is, that there should be meetings for prophetic ministry. What is said in those verses leads to greater things; indeed, the whole chapter refers to greater things. “I will sing”, for instance, “with [p. 234] the spirit, but I will sing also with the understanding”, (1 Corinthians 14:15).
One would love to have heard the apostle sing. There is not a verse of a hymn sung by the apostles now extant, as far as is known, but heaven used to hear them — beautiful tones, we may be sure, and beautiful words, too! So that Paul said, “I will sing with the Spirit, but I will sing also with the understanding (1 Corinthians 14:15)”. You may be sure he could sing, as well as David and Moses. The Spirit of adoption in us, the Holy Spirit viewed in that way, indites the true songs; songs of Zion; songs of the assembly. We read of a song in heaven; it is said to be a “new” one, in wonderful tones, “as a voice of many waters, and as a voice of great thunder”, (Revelation 14:12); and yet it was the voice of harpers harping with their harps. Those who formed the assembly are being trained now to have part in that wonderful service above in immense volume, and yet in distinct symphony, and with the highest kind of musical instruments, namely, harps; symbolically, the most refined notes issue from them. Prophetic ministry bears on all this, as our chapter shows.
So these verses deal with prophecy. They enjoin meetings for prophecy, not in an arbitrary way, but the epistle shows how important they are, and how superior to other meetings. They are superior, at least in this sense that they bring about education in a person who is ignorant, or an unbeliever, even, and that education leads to self-judgment, and it involves that all present judge. We are not to be afraid of the saints’ judgment. We cannot trust our own. Not that one may not judge oneself thoroughly, but we have to be on the watch, for our hearts are so deceptive. It is wholesome,
[p. 224] at times, to hear of the judgment of others as to us, and not to underestimate it. Not that such judgment may not sometimes be unfair, but at the same time, it is safe to listen to what others say about us.
The word judgment is a key-word of this epistle, both as to ourselves and as to others, for we are not only to prepare for the singing in heaven, but also be in the light of the judgment-seat of Christ. How great are our prospects! “Do ye not know that we shall judge angels?” (1 Corinthians 6:3), and the world, too; but how shall we ever attain to that, save as we learn to judge ourselves in the very roots of our being, and to ask others, too, as to what they think? For normally our brethren are in accord with what scripture teaches and are worthy of our confidence. So we are to confess our faults one to another and pray for one another, and, of course, to confess our faults to God. It is a great advantage to confess our faults to the Lord’s people. And, of course — according to their character, as scripture indicates — certain sins should be confessed to the assembly, its judgment of them being necessary.
So these verses contemplate prophetic ministry, such as brings about self-judgment in a person, even if it be an unbeliever; and I may say that the Christian assemblies are in this public sense open to all. God is there, and even an unbeliever may be reached by the word. Let no one say he cannot go in. The door is there and so, according to the passage, an unlearned man, or an unbeliever, might go in, and the prophesying is going on, and he comes under the power of it, and is convicted in his own soul and is convicted of all present. For such is the wonderful organism of the assembly. The whole assembly is affected by what happens. There is no part dark. If people do not understand me, why is it? If I am convicted they should know, but if they do not know, then I should let them know; there is something I have to confess to them. So that he is [p. 225] convicted of all and judged of all, and he falls down, we are told, and he worships God. That is the point I have in mind in the verse. It alludes to the worship of God. The immediate result of this man’s conviction is that he worships God, and not only so, but he goes out to his house and his friends and his acquaintances, and tells them God is in that assembly. He will report, says the apostle, “that God is in you of a truth”.
Now having said all that, I want to go to the Old Testament to show how this matter of prophecy is integrally linked up with the service of God. You will observe that the great leaders of song in 1 Chronicles 25 are said to be prophesying as well as singing, prophesying on harps Three of them, Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun, were really prophets. Two of them are called the king’s seers, and that leads me to speak about Nathan and Gad. These two prophets are presented in scripture as serving David, and Solomon his son. Not that one would undertake to say that they did not serve others, but why is it that David should have two prophets? In fact, as far as I can see, there are four prophets of his, Nathan and Gad, Jeduthun and Heman. The last two are called his seers. Nathan is called a prophet. Heman and Jeduthun are called the king’s seers, and the facts as to Nathan show that he served David exclusively; the Spirit of God is stressing the importance of prophecy in relation to the service of God, and David represents this par excellence, in the Old Testament. Indeed he is, we may say, the inaugurator of it “the sweet psalmist of Israel (2 Samuel 23:1)”. He inaugurates the service and maintains it. How valuable then is the service of these prophets! What would have happened to David without them? Nathan’s service is especially to be noted; and as David needed such ministry, so do we all. The most spiritual of us is capable of sin. David, one of the most exalted men indeed, one of the most spiritual men in the Old [p. 226] Testament, fell under the power of Satan in the most grievous way, and on more than one occasion; and Nathan and Gad were used of God for his deliverance. But I am speaking now of aid in the service of God. These prophets had their part in the service of song; they augmented the service of song as David’s prophets, or seers.
Well, what I have said indicates the need of prophetic ministry in the service of song, and the question should arise with each of us as to whether he is contributing anything among the saints in this sense. I believe that enters into the verses I read. David had seers, and hence the question rightly arises as to any gathering. Are there any seers there? Have the saints any seers, those who prophesy on harps, prophesy, as it were, as they sing?
That is in a general way what is in mind, and I now wish to speak a little more about Nathan. He is the one specially in view — a remarkable man. He represents all the prophets in a sense, for his name signifies gift, a suitable name for such a man. His first appearance is in 2 Samuel 7, and the result there is to bring to light the sonship of Christ typically. One of the greatest results in ministry is to make clear the sonship of Christ. God has greatly helped the brethren on that point, and Satan has sought to rob us and is still seeking to rob us of the gain of the inquiry and the exercises; but it belongs to Nathan in the historical books to bring this truth into evidence. That is why I read in 2 Samuel 12, because he is employed there to name Solomon. Solomon has two names there, but one of them is given by Nathan; not of himself; he is sent to give this name to Solomon — Jedidiah — it is an addition to the name David. David is the beloved, Jedidiah is the beloved of Jehovah, and Nathan is used of God to give that name to Solomon — to him who typifies Christ as Son. Let us allow the name to come into our souls — [p. 227] the beloved of Jehovah. It is not used again. This may be suggestive of the want of spirituality. In the New Testament we have more than its equivalent applied to Jesus in the voice from heaven: “Thou art my beloved Son, in thee I have found my delight (Mark 1:11)”. Nathan is used to designate Solomon here as an object to divine love, bringing in the suggestion of sonship in regard to the service of God.
As regards Nathan’s service to David, recorded in 2 Samuel 7, we can hardly say it was perfect. David said, “I dwell in the house of cedars, and the ark of God dwells under curtains 2 Samuel 7:2”. Nathan immediately says, “Go, do all that is in thy heart; for Jehovah is with thee”, 2 Samuel 7:3. How often we, in our little bit of ministry, speak to please someone present! That is a great danger, if some particular person or persons are present you would like something to please them. No prophet will do it, if he is in the spirit of prophecy. He would rather speak to their consciences than to their natural feelings. Nathan said to David, “do all that is in thy heart, for Jehovah is with thee (2 Samuel 7:3)”. That was saying a good deal, committing Jehovah to all that was in David’s heart. God took Nathan in hand that night. David was not to build a house for Jehovah. He had it in his heart to build it, and we learn later that it was good that he had it in his heart, but it was not God’s mind that he should build it, and David had to accept that. We do well in our ministry not to flatter anyone. Elihu says, “For I know not how to flatter; my Maker would soon take me away”, (Job 32:22). Nathan effectively delivers his message to David after God spoke to him and he tells him he is not to build the house. Let David’s feelings be what they may, the word from Jehovah is that he is not to build His house. To be limited in that way causes humiliation. It ought to: I have gone beyond the mind of God, in what is in my heart. Well, if I have gone beyond the mind of God in [p. 228] my heart, I had better be curtailed a bit and learn to retrace my steps, and learn there is some good reason for the message. David bows, thank God! He went into the house of the Lord and said the most wonderful things. I do not know of things fully equal to them earlier, but the burden of the message was that Solomon should build the house. His name was not mentioned, but Jehovah says, “It is he who shall build a house for my name ... I will be his father, and he shall be my son”, (2 Samuel 7:13,14).
That was the first message, the first bit of ministry of Nathan, according to the record in that chapter. He committed himself too freely at the beginning, but he did not miss Jehovah’s mind, as Jehovah conveyed it to him; he faithfully delivered his message. One of the most important things in ministry is to be sure you have the message and then to deliver it without fear, without flattering anybody. That is what Nathan did, and so he is appointed to name this son. David named him Solomon, peaceful. You can understand how that, at that time, the great warrior David, who had had so many wars, would value peace. All true believers do, rightly. Through the reception of the gospel we have peace with God, and the mind of the Spirit in us is life and peace, and the abiding peace on earth is coming. It is peace in heaven now, Luke 19:38, not on earth yet. Hence the idea of entering into God’s rest: “we enter into the rest who have believed”, (Hebrews 4:3). It belongs to us. We can understand how David fostered the thought of peace when he called the second child born of Bath-sheba by the name of Solomon. But, as I said, Nathan was used to call him Jedidiah, namely, the beloved of Jehovah. How the heart rests with satisfaction in the appearance of Christ in type in that remarkable way! You can hardly get another example like it, a child to be designated beloved of Jehovah. How much is to be expected from him! But we transfer our thoughts [p. 229] to the greater than Solomon, namely, the Son of God, that glorious One whom we are called upon to believe. As the Lord Himself said to the blind man whose eyes had been opened, “dost thou believe on the Son of God?” (John 9:35). He said, “who is he. Lord, that I may believe on him?(John 9:36)” May God help us to believe in Him, not because the Scriptures say that He is the Son of God, but to grasp the idea!
Nathan does not appear at all in the reconstruction period of which we spoke last night, but he does appear when there is a danger to Solomon. I wish you to notice particularly how he comes to the rescue, and stimulates the weakened monarch, David, so that he might not allow Adonijah to be king instead of Solomon. Solomon must be king, or there will be disaster. It is now a question of sonship, sonship in the supreme place. You can understand it is irrevocable from God’s side, but it may not be so in my soul and in the gathering in which I am. Let us get the thought of sonship, and sonship in the supreme place, and everything goes well.
Well, now you see how Nathan is used afresh. I need not turn to the passage in 1 Kings 1, but it is very striking how skilfully Nathan proceeds to get David right, and Bath-sheba right, and finally Adonijah put out of the way. He got David to judge him and remove him, and place Solomon on the throne. He has to do with the very enthronement of the son. Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet are directed to anoint Solomon. How pleased the prophet must have been, for while he served David, he serves Solomon! His great service now is to see that Solomon is on the throne. That is the kind of prophetic ministry that is needed, to see not only that Christ is exalted at the right hand of God, but that the Son is on the throne, and Nathan is used to do it. He has the actual doing of it, to anoint the son Jedidiah under the name of Solomon. Zadok the priest [p. 230] and Nathan the prophet anoint him king. The work is done. His great mission is done in that, but then there is the service of God, and so we find what we do not get earlier, that is, in 2 Chronicles 29, Nathan and Gad are engaged in the holy service of God themselves. You will see this, if you will turn to the passage again, verse 25. Hezekiah is king, “And he set the Levites in the house of Jehovah with cymbals, with lutes, and with harps, according to the commandment of David, and of Gad the king’s seer, and of Nathan the prophet; for the commandment was of Jehovah through his prophets”.
You see there, dear brethren, how Gad and Nathan are themselves actually engaged in the service of God. They merge, as you might say, in David. It brings out how exalted is this service of prophecy. The more you look into it, the more impressed you are. As Peter stands up and speaks in the power of the Spirit freshly come down from heaven, he calls attention to what Joel foretold, and which now had come to pass. God having poured out His Spirit, “your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your elders shall dream with dreams; yea, even upon my bondmen and bondwomen in those days will I pour out of my Spirit, and they shall prophesy”, (Acts 2:17,18). Is it not attractive? Does the question not arise in each one’s heart. Have I any part in this? It is God calling us to a more exalted line of things than we have hitherto been engaged with. Not simply one giving a word, but prophecy with harps, as it were. What does that mean? Take such hymns as the twelfth and fourteenth, and many others like them in our hymn book — they prophesy. They not only serve for song in the service of God, but for prophesying. They bring God to our souls, and if God is in the singing we shall not allow any natural sentiment in it. Natural sentiment is like the dead fly in the ointment. If God comes into the singing, if there be [p. 231] prophesying in it, we shall be preserved, and the trend will be toward heaven. God is leading on the saints in this way. The Spirit of God is here and active in the assembly at the present time, in view of the end, and that God should be worshipped in spirit and in truth. He is also promoting bridal affection for Christ, the most exalted kind, and we do not want to be out of this, dear brethren. Prophesying will help us to get into it, to judge ourselves, even in the singing. Is there ever a time that a brother or sister has not to judge himself or herself? When a brother sings the most spiritual hymn, when he gives thanks to God, he has to continue judging himself. It is God coming into the matter, God looking into our hearts. He searches the hearts. Think of that! The Spirit makes intercession with groans that cannot be uttered, but it is in our hearts, and God is looking into our hearts and reading our hearts; for it is a question of what is in our hearts. So that God will have the best from us. Will a man rob God? That is the question. He says to Israel, You have done it. Let us not do it. The scripture shows the way not to rob Him, Malachi 3:10 - 12. Then He says, “Three times in the year shall all thy males appear before Jehovah thy God”, (Deuteronomy 16:16). It is not disparaging the sisters at all, because in Christianity they have a part in this. It is a spiritual way of speaking. The males represent our best. Anna the prophetess, who did not depart from the temple, serving night and day with fastings and prayers, had part in it. Coming into the temple, Christ, as a Babe, being there, she gave praise to God. Mary, the mother of our Lord, also praised God. She could distinguish between her soul and her spirit. That is the idea, we are searched inwardly, and we know the feelings that are coming up. They are not spurious, they are feelings according to God, they are the product of the Spirit; the Spirit not being grieved in us.
[p. 232] Now, the verse in 1 Chronicles 25 is what I wish to close with. What I am presenting now is not only to meet conditions in this city, but for each of us, and for every gathering represented, for God is looking for better things. Why should He be robbed? I believe that is why He specifies the males to appear before Him three times in a year; not any given time of their own choice, but on the feast of unleavened bread, the feast of weeks, and the feast of tabernacles. These feasts are to be in the minds of the males as they come up. In this God is saying, I want the very best in Israel. I am entitled to it. Why should you rob Me? Why should the service of God be a light, trivial thing to any of us? Why should we come to the meetings and sit as mere members of a congregation? Why should not our hearts be full of holy matter? Although they cannot speak, yet every sister can sing; and the singing is, in a way, the leading thing in the service of God, even in heaven. Think of that wonderful song I have already alluded to. Why should I be without holy matter in my soul, so as to sing for God’s pleasure? If I have it, when a hymn is proposed, I am with it, and join with it in a holy substantial way, my heart searched by the prophetic spirit, it may be in the very hymn itself. God is looking for this. He wants the very best you have, the work of your hands. You will be fully joyful, but so shall He. “He will exult over thee with singing” He says, (Zephaniah 3:17). I am quoting scripture, and endeavouring to draw the brethren into the current of God’s mind as to this matter. He rejoices over us with singing. It is well to inquire how God sings. That is what the scripture says. We have to understand, but there it is.
In this verse in 1 Chronicles 25, we have, “Moreover David and the captains of the host separated to the service of the sons of Asaph, and of Heman, and of Jeduthun, who should prophesy with harps, with [p. 233] psalteries, and with cymbals: and the number of the workmen”, and so forth. Then we are told in verse 7, “So the number of them, with their brethren that were instructed in the songs of the Lord, even all that were cunning, was two hundred and four score and eight (1 Chronicles 25:7)”. That is twice a hundred and forty-four — twenty-four times twelve. You see how the Spirit of God brings the divine thoughts into these matters. Here are military men, David and the captains of the host have to do with these matters. You may say. This is not a military matter. Is it not? Everything has to converge on the service of God, even a battle. God must have something out of everything; from all our exercises; so now we have the military man looking after the service of song, and three men brought into evidence — Asaph, Jeduthun, and Heman. Great family men, for the family thought enters into it as also into the hundred and forty-four thousand in the book of Revelation. The idea of twelve enters into it. Here there were two hundred and eighty-eight, and they were instructed, skilled in the service of song. They prophesy — at least these three men did. They prophesy with harps, as we are told, and with psalteries and with cymbals. Is it not most attractive that with my harp, with my psaltery, or my cymbal I am thinking of God, of what He is, what is due to Him in the service, that He may have the very best there is? The full result of the work of my hands is seen in the feast of tabernacles, where we are made “wholly joyful”; not with mere natural sentiments in the tones, but all the hymns and all the words of the service of God make us joyful and He is joying over us Himself.
Thus we are serving God acceptably at the present time, and also we are in preparation for the rapture. That is what God would effect and have continued in His people. It is no mere theory with us, but a matter of understanding. The apostle says, “I will sing with the spirit, but I will sing also with the understanding”, (1 Corinthians 14:15). If we proceed on these lines we shall understand, and we shall be expecting the Lord and be ready for Him when He comes. We speak about the Lord’s coming, but if we proceed on these lines we will be in the atmosphere of it anticipatively, and thus will be ready for the actuality of the great event, not taken by surprise. Philip will not be surprised in the rapture; he was raptured in his service. Acts 8:39. Those who know ecstasy will not be surprised; those who experience being “in the Spirit on the Lord’s day (Revelation 1:10)”. It is a question of spiritual power in our souls and spiritual intelligence. So that we are ready for the great and glorious occasion of the coming of the Lord, and our introduction into our heavenly portion, to continue as we have been doing in a little way down here; but then without hindrance in that eternal day.