THE TREASURIES OF GOD
[p. 474] THE TREASURIES OF GOD
2 Timothy 1:14; 1 Chronicles 28:11,12; Isaiah 39:1 - 6
My remarks, dear brethren, will relate to treasuries, that is, as the word indicates, receptacles for treasures, and I hope to show, by the Lord’s help, that the divine intent is that each believer in Christ, as receiving the Holy Spirit, is a treasury. I read from 1 Chronicles 28, because we have the word in the plural there — “treasuries”, as you will observe in verse 11, “the treasuries thereof”, and then in verse 12, “the treasuries of the house of God”, and “the treasuries of the dedicated things”. The word “treasuries” being so much stressed in the pattern of the house which David had by the Spirit, and which he gave to Solomon, is to call attention to the saints; it is a type of the saints as containing the precious things of God.
The more we are reminded of what we are in the divine thought, the more dignified we become. If God says, “ye are all God’s sons by faith in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:26), the reception of this statement in the soul conveys a sense of dignity to us; and so if we are regarded as treasuries in the house, we begin, if we are upright, to look about and see whether doors are left unlocked, so to speak, whether the enemy has access, or whether we are letting things out thoughtlessly, which he can use in his imitative operations, for this is, in a very large measure, his way of opposition (2 Timothy 3:8). We see in the second letter to Timothy, that the mode of opposition was imitation; Jannes and Jambres are alluded to as withstanding God in Moses by imitation, and any clue they might get from Moses or Aaron, or those about Moses and Aaron, as to their mode of operations, would be turned against the service of God.
[p. 475] This epistle, among many other things, introduces the thought before me at this time. The verse should read, “Keep, by [p. 484] the Holy Spirit which dwells in us, the good deposit entrusted”. That is a remarkable statement, obviously not for Timothy alone, but for all who are included in the assembly, in which, as the mystery, are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. The mystery itself suggests the idea of a treasury, and the idea necessarily attaches to us as forming it; for the assembly, to be very simple, is formed of ourselves — I mean christians. The thought should never be, initially, at least, very distant from us or difficult to understand, for in truth it is a question of a believer understanding himself, and to understand oneself, one has to be analytical; the great gospel epistle, Romans, teaches us how to be analytical, both as to ourselves and the truth generally (compare chapter 7).
The believer is to be a receptacle of divine things and, to this end, he is to have all the compartments, as it were, of his moral being, including, indeed, his physical being, under his control. One of the most important fruits of the Spirit, as in the believer, is “self-control”, and in this “to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honour” (1 Thessalonians 4:4), to have his “fruit unto holiness” (Romans 6:22). So that the inner chambers are holy, and as holy, available to the Lord for the great things He has, not only for our relief and enjoyment, but to be kept by us, deposited in us, at it were, to be kept securely until that day. The apostle Paul speaks about himself and those with him as having “this treasure in earthen vessels” (2 Corinthians 4:7). What he alluded to was the ministry of the new covenant. How great would be the accession to any company of christians among whom the apostle would sit down, for instance, at the Lord’s supper! He had the treasure, which he had been speaking of, as the ministry of the new covenant. It would be there, it would be present [p. 476] as he sat amongst his brethren, and it is quite obvious that the more there were like him, or nearly like him, the greater would be the wealth of the company. He says, “we have this treasure in earthen vessels”; he is alluding to his body. Weak though it would appear to be, as if at any time it might be destroyed, the enemy being ready to take any advantage he could to destroy that great vessel — it was weak, it was earthen, meaning that it was fragile; nevertheless, there he was, day after day, year after year, maintaining the ministry in freshness and power. He carried about the treasure and maintained it in integrity, and so, throughout his ministry, he indicates to us the idea of the treasury. If his body were frail, if the enemy apparently might break it at any moment, he says, “that the surpassingness of the power may be of God, and not from us” (2 Corinthians 4:7), that is to say, God kept him in his fragility. He was kept in accordance with the divine thought until the last moment of his service down here; the enemy did not succeed in taking away one moment from his life; his service was completed.
I speak of the way the treasure was kept, the power of keeping, and I believe Paul represents the idea perhaps as much as any person mentioned in Scripture. For instance, as he approached Corinth to serve, he had the understanding of what was needed, and kept back from them what could not profit them because of their state. What power of restraint there was in that vessel; He says, “And I, brethren, have not been able to speak to you as to spiritual” (1 Corinthians 3:1); so he kept back what they could not receive. Not that he could not have spoken, for he says, “we speak God’s wisdom in a mystery, that hidden wisdom which God had predetermined before the ages for our glory”, (1 Corinthians 2:7). He could keep all that within the recesses of his treasury. It was a [p. 477] question of the keeping, the hiding power, of the great minister. He is an example to us in this, as in all else, and it is intended to apply to us at the present time, so that the testimony we have received, in the wonderful consideration of God for us, should be kept intact, that we should heed the Lord’s word, “Give not that which is holy to the dogs, nor cast your pearls before the swine”, (Matthew 7:6). How little conception there is of the divine thought in the treasuries of God! — treasuries of the house and the treasuries of the dedicated things. They must be kept, dear brethren, and unless they are, we practically cease to have part in the mystery.
So you find, in the New Testament, persons such as Mary, the mother of the Lord; who is one of the greatest examples. We have it in the Old Testament in persons such as Daniel, who, having a vision as to the gentile monarchies, especially the fourth one, that with which we have to do today, says, “I kept the matter in my heart”, (Daniel 7:28). It was not to be kept there for ever, but it was wise to keep it, and he kept it in his heart until the time arrived for its disclosure. And so it was with Mary as things came to her; the wonderful things about the Babe that was to be born of her. She had received instruction as to Him beforehand, but then other things arose. She might have thought to herself; I must keep what Gabriel said to me, I must cherish that but these shepherds, what they say is a matter of comparatively little consequence. But, no; what they said was for her, and Scripture says, she “kept all these things and pondered them in her heart” (Luke 2:19). Through whomsoever they may come, through Gabriel, a shepherd, or a wise man from the East, whatever the medium through which the mind of God comes, the treasure is to be kept; it is valuable. It must not be allowed loose, as it were, as something common. We are to recognize that God’s things are [p. 478] holy, that they are to be kept in holy vessels. And so Mary kept the things she heard about Christ and pondered them.
We get this principle early in the Scriptures, in Jacob, a man of very great consequence spiritually. The early dreams of Joseph — what treasures they were! He had spoken of his sheaf standing upright, and his brothers’ sheaves all round doing obeisance to his sheaf. This drew out the hatred of his brothers, but Jacob “kept the saying”, (Genesis 37:11). What does that keeping by the patriarch mean, but that the thing was of value? Jacob later says, “I wait for thy salvation, O Jehovah”, (Genesis 49:18). He looked forward to the salvation of God, and Simeon said later, “mine eyes have seen thy salvation”, (Luke 2:30). And so it was with every treasure, from Adam onwards, for the treasures of God began early. As the Lord says, “For this reason every scribe discipled to the kingdom of the heavens is like a man that is a householder who brings out of his treasure things new and old”, (Matthew 13:52).
Think of the treasures of the Old Testament! What “the ancient mountains” (Deuteronomy 33:15) yield, for instance! The divine thoughts given utterance to; treasured in living hearts and carried down until God’s salvation arrives, when everything is taken up and maintained and carried through intact to be displayed in the future, to the praise and glory of God! It is a great privilege to have part in this treasure-keeping. In Jacob’s treasury there was first in Joseph’s dreams the thought of resurrection, the sheaf cut down and standing upright and others doing obeisance. It did not fall to the ground. Many of us, as we look back on our histories, can see that things of the greatest value have come to our ears, and they have slipped away from us immediately, and thus were lost, as far as we are concerned. We have failed to be [p. 479] treasuries. The truth is to be preserved as having its part in the great system called the mystery, in which are hid, as it says, “all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge”, (Colossians 2:3). In the second dream of Joseph there is another beautiful and great thought. He says he saw the sun, moon and eleven stars bow down to him (Genesis 37:9). This great thought was kept by Jacob. Joseph’s dreams were carried down among the treasures of the family of faith. The thought of the resurrection of Christ, of His honour among His brethren and His heavenly exaltation was thus preserved.
In 1 Chronicles 28, we see how all this is provided for, as I said. David had the pattern by the Spirit — somewhat different from the pattern of the tabernacle. The pattern of the tabernacle was received on the mountain. The idea is that Moses was withdrawn from the ordinary level to be with God, to be outside of natural conditions and needs, and we are told the thing was shown to Moses. No one could really build the tabernacle but Moses. The specifications are given, but Moses alone saw the pattern; he accordingly built the tabernacle and set it up. But it does not say he got things by the Spirit; nor does it say there was a treasury in the tabernacle. The treasury belongs to the temple, what is fixed or immutable. It is a saint taking account of himself in his heavenly relations; it is a man in Christ, that is the idea. The apostle Paul was caught up into the third heaven, as he tells us, to hear unspeakable things, things that could not be uttered, but he said nothing about this great occurrence for fourteen years. You see thus what a treasury he was, as already remarked. You see in him the idea, how the heavenly man understands that things are to be kept. And so the believer understands that he is to keep things in view of the great display. In the meantime they are in mystery.
[p. 480] My impression is that very few of us understand the idea of mystery. If you look through the New Testament you will be impressed with the idea of mystery. The apostle Paul says that he was a steward of the mysteries of God. He kept them all, and used them advisedly; thus it is that God would have us to be treasuries, those who value the things that have come to us, and in valuing them, to keep them and ponder them. These mysteries are not to be paraded to add to ourselves, surely not, but that they should be brought out, when necessary, where they can be of use, and, as it were, put back again as something to be valued and kept for eternity.
That is what is in mind in the pattern that David had by the Spirit. This and the following are wonderful chapters. We have David standing on his feet, and, although 1 Kings would intimate that he was at this time a very weak old man, 1 Chronicles does not present him in this way. He is here a man of power and he brings in these thoughts by the Spirit — the treasuries of the house of God, the treasuries of the dedicated things. The first statement alludes to the place that the believer has as in the house of God, and the second alludes to his capability of receiving and retaining dedicated things. The idea of dedicated things as in this particular book is important. The person who dedicated some of them may himself have failed, alas! it is so, but not one dedicated thing is to be lost. The treasury of the dedicated things will retain every such thing. Whoever dedicated it, it must be preserved. But, you say, that brother went astray years back. Yes, but he dedicated something before, and God does not forget it. It means that the believer in spiritual power is able to discriminate and say: Yes, alas! he has failed and gone, but earlier he had dedicated something; however little, it must be preserved. It is a way of keeping in mind the work of God. One who is in the power of the Spirit [p. 481] and vigilant as to what God has been doing and what He is doing, will not forget what that brother did, but will see that his dedicated things have a receptacle in the house of God.
Having said so much, I want to show you the converse of all this in a remarkable case, that is Hezekiah. You will all recall, in the chapter that precedes the one from which I read, the experience that Hezekiah had. It is said that he turned his face to the wall; that is to say he knew when he reached a point beyond which he could not pass, and he cried to God. Here is a man that is contributing to the house of God. He cried to God and he shed tears. Did it ever occur to you that tears belong to the treasuries of God? He keeps them in a bottle — a suited vessel. The apostle Paul also kept them in his bottle. He remembered Timothy’s tears, as he said (2 Timothy 1:4). Few of us shed many tears worth bottling, I admit that as to oneself. As I may say, the bottling chamber is in the house; that is where people who feel the sorrows of the testimony are valued. Some current events amongst the people of God should call forth the deepest feelings of sorrow, but, alas! most of us are very local. We only know what transpires in our locality or immediate district, whereas the more spiritual we are, the more extended our outlook, the more we shall see occasions for the deepest sorrow. How many such there are! One could tell of many crises occasioning sorrow, and these sorrows cause tears, and these tears are treasures, kept in the divine bottle. How great a thought that is! Has one ever supplied a tear for the bottle of God? He keeps them — they are all there; and, as I said, one who is a true treasury of God among the saints will not forget the prayers, will not forget the tears, will not forget the sighs of the saints.
What opportunity there is, dear brethren, for service in this way! God has respect for it. There [p. 482] will be more speedy recoveries as we feel the losses more. And so you find the living creatures in Revelation and the elders having vials, receptacles for prayers — not to offer prayers, no one can offer the prayers of others to God save Christ, He is the only offering Priest in that sense. In Revelation 5, we have the receptacles for the prayers of the saints, and how well they are kept there! They are full of odours, it says, odours for the nostrils of God, held in creature hands, the prayers of the saints. In chapter 8, verse 3, these same prayers are presented; the prayers of all saints ascend in all the efficacy of Christ at the golden altar before God, but the living creatures and elders have vials full of odours which are the prayers of the saints. How beautiful it is to see, as we sit together in our meetings for prayer, that brothers and sisters alike can retain in their hearts the spiritual utterances of the priests of God — that is the idea — so that there is a sustained odour for God, not only in the prayer meeting but continually.
Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and he wept bitterly, and God says, “I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears”, (Isaiah 38:5). They are taken account of. They were, as it were, put into God’s bottle; whatever Hezekiah thought, that was God’s way of speaking. Chapter 39 of Isaiah also contemplates treasure, but Hezekiah failed as a treasury. He had the treasure but not the treasury. The treasure he had was exposed to the unholy view, the gaze of the Babylonians. We see, therefore, how mixed we may be, the most spiritual of us, and while we have precious things from God, and are able to speak of them in the readings and in addresses, yet they are held loosely, they are held in an unholy way, and the Babylonian eye sees them; they become desecrated. The king of Babylon sends messengers [p. 483] to Hezekiah, and he is very pleased. How deceptive our hearts are!
Spiritually we know what Babylon means. What can it ever be generally, but opposition to the people of God? And it is for us who have light, as we are able, to speak of the holy things of God and minister them to the assembly; it is for us to see to it that we are looking after the treasure, that we have the keys of the treasury, that we regard the contents as holy, that we give not that which is holy to the dogs, nor cast our pearls before swine. That is the lesson for us, that there should be integrity of heart in the appreciation of the things that God is ministering to us; that they should be kept, not only in books, but in the hearts of the saints, as treasure beyond price, belonging, not to this world, but to “that world and the resurrection” (Luke 20:35). We are going on to that, and now is the time of gathering up things and keeping them until that day, when they shall shine resplendently in relation to Christ.
Are the treasures that have come to us being kept thus in a holy way so that the enemy may not use them against us? We are surrounded by imitation; it is the great mode of the enemy’s opposition. The more the enemy can get at the real treasure of the saints, the greater his power of imitation, and that is exactly what has built up Babylon. God said to Hezekiah, “What said these men? and from whence came they to thee?” We do well to listen, for God challenges us in this way. Like Hezekiah we may have served well, we may have contributed to the treasury; but now the question is, Who are those that came to you? To whom were you talking the other day? Who was the person? What were you saying? We are challenged in this way. You become loose and free and commonplace in your conversation, and you have lost power. And so the word to us is, “Keep, by the Holy Spirit which dwells in us, the good deposit entrusted”, (2 Timothy 1:14). Consider that great thought, “the Holy Spirit which dwells in us”. The Spirit is here as power so that we might keep “the good deposit”. In this way the young brethren are kept, and the old brethren are kept; we are kept in a mysterious sort of way. We are “unknown”; the spiritual is discerned of no one (1 Corinthians 2). An air of mystery attaches to the spiritual man. There is in him testimony, of course, and this is in measure intelligible to men. The gospel has this character. We have the gospel for men; that must not be kept back from them, but there is “the mystery of the gospel” (Ephesians 6:19) — you keep that back until they are ready for it.
The sinner who is truly converted through the preaching of the gospel says to himself and to God: That brother has more than he said to me, I want to get something from him. The normal result of the work of God is that a man comes forward and asks questions, and finds that the brother has more, and still more, than he says to him, but he has the power of self-control and of treasuring. He values the treasures, and he lets them be seen as they are appreciated. Only to an appreciative eye are certain things to be shown; otherwise they may be used against the truth as imitated.