RULE BY INFLUENCE
[p. 329] RULE BY INFLUENCE
Reference to the household at a meeting like this is most appropriate, because it is in mind in the covenant which has just been entered into by our brother and sister. The prevalence of references to it in the gospels and epistles only confirm its importance: the house of Chloe and the house of Stephanas, for instance, manifestly buttressing the assembly at Corinth. The allusions to these households by the apostle in his first letter to Corinth, would show how important a place the thought had in foundational times; and the work at Corinth was foundational. The letter was written not much more than two years after the work began, therefore the house had clearly a great place in foundational teaching; so much so that Paul, in disclaiming having received commission to baptise, nevertheless said, “Yes, I baptised also the house of Stephanas” (1 Corinthians 1:16); he would stress the thought of the baptism of the household of Stephanas; and the allusion to that same house at the end of his first letter would show that its baptism was not in vain. Household baptism is a foundational thought, and the truth of it was confirmed in Corinth in due course; for those of that household had devoted themselves to the saints for service; they were persons of spiritual influence; persons to be submitted to.
I thought that what has been read from Genesis and the Psalms would support this thought; for in the very solar system we have the household suggested in the sun, the moon, and the stars. We do not get the names of the two great luminaries in the first chapter of Genesis, but rather what they are, the one is the “greater light”, and the other the lesser. Both lights enter significantly into the idea of the household and marital relations;
[p. 330] in later scriptural instruction they represent husband and wife. Polygamy was not in God’s original thought as to marriage, nor was it in His thought at all. So that the greater light, the lesser light, and the stars are suggestions of the household. We know that the Spirit of God used them in one of the dreams of Joseph just in this sense. Genesis 37:9,10. The second dream, which called forth the envy of Joseph’s brethren, involved the household. His father understood the reference and rebuked his son for it; nevertheless he “kept the saying”. And that is the true way to get at the truth: to observe things as they appear. We may reject them at first; many a person has been rebuked for things said, and those who have done it came to accept what they had refused. Jacob kept the saying of Joseph, so that it became part of his spiritual treasury. The truth of the household is strikingly seen throughout his generations. We are told in Exodus, that the heads of the tribes came with him into Egypt. “With Jacob had they come, each with his household (Exodus 1:1)”. Let no one, if he holds the true idea of the household, admit of its being broken up. Noah prepared an ark for the saving of his house, and Israel’s houses in Egypt were strikingly preserved of God. Not only was the firstborn saved through the blood, but the houses were delivered, Exodus 12:27. So the patriarchs, the sons of Jacob, came down into Egypt, each with his household, and the houses were preserved. In entering Egypt they were not to become part of that country; they were maintained in distinctness apart from it. God said to Pharaoh, “I will put a separation between my people and thy people”, Exodus 8:23.
So, as I said, the Spirit of God places this thought in the heavens into which everybody that has eyes can look, and does look. There is the greater light, and the lesser light, and the stars also. They are lights. The influence is below, but it is a family circle in type, as Joseph’s dream proves. So the application is to our brother and sister entering on the marriage relation. Most of us here have been long in it, and no doubt, each would have to admit how poorly he has set out the divine thought in it. The full divine thought is Christ and the assembly in public display. It will come, for no thought of God can fail or become merely partial; it must find itself fully expressed in Christ and the assembly.
In Israel, as seen in Revelation 12, we have a remarkable allusion to the same thing. She is clothed with the sun; she has taken on that great idea; and the moon is under her feet, another great thought — subordinate authority; and then a crown of twelve stars. So that the thought alluded to has expression, not only in Christ and the assembly, but also in Israel. The idea of clothing is that a thing is put on, or taken on definitely. One idea entering into this meeting is really that we might clothe ourselves with thoughts attaching to us in the divine mind, as thus presented to us by the Spirit. So our dear brother may well clothe himself with the suggestion in “the greater light” in this first chapter of Genesis. The sun is referred to elsewhere as a bridegroom. The Spirit of God in David says that God has set a tent in the heavens for the sun, Psalm 19:4. He cherishes the thought; the sun must thus involve a great thought spiritually, being worthy of a tabernacle. It obviously refers to Christ. In this sense. He is not to be concealed; He comes forth as a bridegroom out of His chamber, and rejoices as a strong man to run the race. Our dear brother may have a long race before him; our dear sister may have a long race before her also, God knows; but this is the principle. All the felicitous features of the bridegroom in his vigour and strength are seen there; he goes forth as a strong man, he is not to be an idler and sit down, but to run a race, and the whole house or domain in which [p. 332] he is comes under his influence; such an influence as is conveyed in the sun as seen in this remarkable Psalm.
So that we see how God brings great thoughts into a time like this and would fill us with them. There would be something for those who have been long on the marital pathway, those who have just come into it, and those who may be about to enter into it. It is a divine thought; indeed, we are enjoined that every man is to have his own wife. There are, of course, exceptions, as the chapter I allude to stresses, 1 Corinthians 7, but this is the general thought. So marriage is peculiarly of God, and as in it, we are to be clothed properly, invested with right thoughts; hence we see here, how influential the sun is as seen in the character of a bridegroom. And then the moon, the lesser light, but relatively a great light, and suggestive of great power; making a circuit, according to the way we speak: she is to rule, too. The idea is, I apprehend, not arbitrary rule, but rule by influence; indeed, that is the divine way; that is the most effective way — rule by influence. The sun has inherent power to do this. The moon has not; she is dependent, taking her light from the sun; yet she is classified as a light with power to rule. So that our brother and sister as set in the marriage relation are, it seems to me, seen here in type, and the suggestion of radiated glory, seen in these orbs, is to be carried in them into the new sphere of things, the new household now formed. Reference is sometimes made to one’s brightest day, as though it is a matter of history, but why may I not have a brighter one? Is it not possible? The scripture says, “the word that I covenanted with you when ye came out of Egypt, and my Spirit remain among you (Haggai 2:5)”. That, as realised, would make our days even brighter. Why not? More is an important word in scripture. We are to attain to what is “more excellent”; that is, more so than anything hitherto reached.
These heavenly bodies, as we have said, convey the [p. 333] idea of light and rule, and every added household “in the Lord” is a new sphere for the exercise of these great services. It is an extension of divine borders. The husband and wife are to function in this way. It is the extension of what is of God, affording testimony to Him in the most practical way. “And the stars also” — they have their influence, too. God calls the heavenly bodies by name, we are told. Each has its own significance; he alludes to the “bands of the Pleiades” — an allusion to a family cluster. The constellations of the heavens are better understood by others than I apprehend them, but they are studded with divine thoughts, and by the Spirit of God we are to see how they apply to us. Are we reflecting light and rule as set by God in this great city? Do we answer to it personally and in our households? Is there radiation of light, the light of life there? Cities are full of the influences of unbelief: corrupt things that the enemy would bring into our houses. God is speaking to us about these things — that our houses should be the extension of divine influence. Every marriage in the Lord is therefore of advantage to us, because it means expanse of divine influence, of service, too, for there is protection and enjoyment there in the way of hospitality.
That was all I had in mind: just to keep the thought of the sun and other heavenly bodies in our minds as illustrative of rule in our households. Deborah said, “Let them that love him be as the rising of the sun in its might”, Judges 5: 31. May the Lord help us all that there may be a greater reflection of these things with us individually, and in our households.