REALITY IN PRIESTHOOD
J. G. Chalmers
A study of these opening chapters of Chronicles is rewarding spiritually. One thing we can trace in them is the vital, unbroken line of the testimony. There are many names mentioned and here and there the Holy Spirit makes comments as to certain persons who are worthy of our consideration for they are full of spiritual meaning, as, for instance, what He says as to Jabez and others in chapter 4, and as to Judah and Joseph in chapter 5. Each comment provides much food for thought. In this section He is going over the sons of Kohath, and He mentions the names of a number of persons well known in the history of the testimony, but when He comes to Azariah He makes this most interesting comment, “He is it that exercised the priesthood in the house that Solomon built in Jerusalem”. Here is a man exercising the most dignified service in the most dignified surroundings possible and the Spirit says of him, “He is it”. He would arrest our attention by this statement and cause us to consider what it means. He could have said simply, ‘He exercised the priesthood’, but He says designedly, “He is it”, for He would impress upon us what the man is in reality, what he is substantially, morally, and spiritually.
The burden of the reading today was reality in view of the Supper and the service of God, and we see this feature set out in Azariah. Morally and spiritually he was equal to the great service he was fulfilling in the glorious circumstances in which he was fulfilling it. He was it, the real thing. In this matter, of course, as in all else, our thoughts would turn to the Lord Jesus for in all things He must have the first place; in all things He must be the Standard and Model. In John 8, that great chapter of conflict, His opposers question Him, “Who art thou?”—He answered, “Altogether that which I also say to you”. The footnote there reads, ‘His speech presented Himself, being the truth’. The Lord Jesus was what He said He was, and He was what He was wherever He was. It was morally impossible for Him to be anything else than what He was. We can understand then that this feature of reality is very attractive to Him. He appreciates it and He is looking for it amongst us. As we read the gospels we can see how reality appealed to His affections, as, for example, the woman of Luke 7. He called the attention of Simon, that pretentious Pharisee, to that woman who was the real thing. He virtually says, ‘She is it’. If we appear to be the real thing when amongst the brethren and are something else when not amongst them, that is just hypocrisy. The strong language that the Lord uses as to hypocrisy shows what He thinks about it, and His judgment must be ours. If there is any element of hypocrisy with any of us, let us judge it unsparingly in the light of the Lord’s judgment of it and in the light of what it cost Him to deal with it, those untold sufferings on the cross.
We can see right down through the history of the testimony how the Lord Jesus is attracted to what is real. In these days when we are surrounded by what is depicted in Thyatira, Sardis, and Laodicea, there is that in Philadelphia that appeals to the heart of Christ, for Philadelphia is a state of reality in persons that gives Him great pleasure. He speaks about persons “who say that they are Jews, and are not, but lie” (Revelation 3: 9), that is, persons who profess to be the real thing but are not. O, dear brethren, let us be wholly free from that! Feeding on the passover Lamb and the unleavened bread will keep us free of hypocrisy, lying, and all that kind of thing, and bring about in us a state of sincerity and truth, of reality and transparency, that is so delightful to the heart of Christ. In Revelation 11 John is told to measure the temple of God, and the altar, and them that worship in it, but not to measure the court for it represents mere profession, an unreal state of things displeasing to Christ. But the temple (the shrine itself), the altar, and the worshippers are measured because they represent conditions of reality secured spiritually by God in faithful persons at a time when evil is reaching a climax in Jerusalem.
Well, Azariah is a man who has come under the measuring reed and the Spirit’s assessment is, “He is it”. My earnest desire is that He may be able to say of each one present, ‘He (or she) is it’. This man was a prince. He was one of Solomon’s princes (see 1 Kings 4: 2). Indeed, all the men in high office in Solomon’s regime were princes, that is, they were men of moral worth and spiritual stature, personalities formed by the Spirit. The office did not make these men for, morally and spiritually, they were at least equal to, if not greater than, the office they filled, hence the effectiveness of their administration. In the world princes are born and a man carries the title ‘prince’ no matter how weak he may be morally, even though he be a good-for-nothing. God makes His princes (see Psalm 45: 16). The history of Jacob in Genesis shows us the making of a prince. This involves much secret history with God, going over matters in deep soul exercise alone with Him. Then He disciplines us in various ways as part of the making process.
Thank God, He is over the refining process Himself for He knows the end He wants to reach in us (see Malachi 3: 3). Israel was “formed”, Isaiah 43: 1. What a prince Jacob was when he went in to the presence of the greatest earthly potentate of the day and blessed Pharaoh! Beyond all gainsaying, the inferior was blessed by the better. Israel, the prince of God, outshone Pharaoh morally. So, dear brethren, let us not seek after earthly glory for it is passing and will come to nothing, but rather let us submit ourselves to the will of God in His dealings with us in view of making us princes for His realm. In Numbers 7, at the dedication of the altar, we see the greatness of God’s princes and the wealth of their offerings. What is stressed is the weight of the vessels and the quality of the substance in them, which shows that these were men of moral weight, full of spiritual substance, and their offering gave God so much pleasure that, as we have been taught. He caused them to be spread over twelve days, giving each prince a day to himself, and then He takes account of the aggregate. Well, dear brethren, as we go over these things it is to encourage us to be like this man Azariah, princely, the real thing.
Then it says he “exercised the priesthood”. Notice it does not say, ‘He was priest’. The writer of Chronicles views things from the standpoint of the breakdown and the recovery, hence he does not call attention to what is official but rather to moral qualities in persons, so that he speaks about the man and what he is doing. These are days for doing things, as Paul says to Timothy, “Do the work of an evangelist”, 2 Timothy 4: 5. This is the same principle here; the man is doing the work, exercising the priesthood. He is not only taking up the privilege but accepting fully the responsibility of furnishing what would minister to God’s pleasure, and also maintaining all that is due to God in His dwelling-place. O, dear brethren, that is the greatest service that has been entrusted to us—to provide in a priestly way what is for the pleasure of God and to maintain holy conditions in His sanctuary. Let us then keep by the Holy Spirit what has been committed to us. Things in christendom are at a very low ebb generally but let us not lower the standard in any way.
The state of things in the priesthood was very low in the opening chapters of 1 Samuel. Eli, the official priest, was lethargic and apathetic, and his sons had made themselves vile, yet in the midst of such conditions a man of God reminds Eli of the true function of the priesthood (see 1 Samuel 2: 27, 28). First of all he reminds him of God’s sovereignty, that He chose Levi out of all the tribes of Israel to be His priest. The fact that God sovereignly selected us to serve Him as priests should make a powerful appeal to all our hearts. Why did God choose me and not someone else? Why did He take me up on the ground of redemption? Surely it was to consider for Him and for His pleasure, “to offer upon mine altar”. When we read through the offerings we are impressed with the great amount and the large variety—daily offerings, offerings on the sabbath, offerings on the set feasts, besides the voluntary offerings. It was the priests’ responsibility to offer the continual offerings. So today, beloved, it is our responsibility to offer to God what gives Him pleasure. What a responsibility—but what a privilege!—to provide sacrificially what means so much to the heart of God, “to burn incense”. This was to be done every day and it involved the priest going in to the altar of incense in the holy place.
One thought in regard of incense is that it is the prayers of the saints (see Revelation 5: 8). It is right to pray for our own needs, but burning incense is rather giving ourselves to praying for divine interests, to praying for the saints in relation to God’s thoughts for them. The prayers of Paul in Ephesians 1 and 3, and in Philippians 1, are examples of this. We might think ‘That is Paul’, but the Spirit calls attention to the prayers of Epaphras in Colossians 4: 12. There is a local brother functioning as a priest at the golden altar, and his prayers are fragrant to God. The Spirit would help us to maintain our prayers at this level, as Paul says, “prayer and supplication in the Spirit”, Ephesians 6: 18.
Then the word to Eli was that the priest was “To wear the ephod before me”. The ephod is the priestly garment, and God looks for those who draw near to Him to be characterized by features that are suited to His presence. Those who serve God must be characterized by practical righteousness and holiness. Then, to comment further on that section in 1 Samuel 2, we read, “I gave unto the house of thy father all the offerings by fire of the children of Israel”. Think of that—the food that God Himself feeds upon, reverently speaking, becomes the food of the priests. We have had before us today the passover, the unleavened bread, and the bread in the Supper as food, but what food this is, as Mr. Darby says,
‘His Father Thou, and ours through grace,
We taste the same delight’. (Hymn 26)
It is wonderful that God shares with His priests the delight that He finds in Christ, for all the offerings speak of Christ, and as we feed on Christ it brings about in us correspondence to Him.
Well, Azariah was the real thing and he exercised the priesthood in the house that Solomon built in Jerusalem. Solomon is a type of Christ in glory and the house he built is a type of the assembly in its heavenly relations with Christ. We might speak of it as Paul’s assembly, the assembly as presented to us in Ephesians. Corinthians is the assembly in the wilderness, the abode of God’s holiness. The tabernacle in the wilderness was anointed, having in mind power and dignity in the testimonial position, but this house was not anointed, for it represents the assembly in its intrinsic worth. The Lord’s references to the “treasure” and the “pearl” in Matthew 13, and Paul’s words “the assembly of God, which he has purchased with the blood of his own” (Acts 20: 28), bring before us the assembly in its intrinsic worth.
Do we really value the grace that has given us a part and place in such a glorious vessel, where God is served, where there is glory to God? Do we really value the great ministry of the first half of this century which bore so much upon Christ and the assembly and the service of God? David said that the house must be exceeding great in fame and in beauty (see 1 Chronicles 22: 5). What tremendous wealth he provided so unselfishly for it, in his affection, in his affliction, and according to all his power. Solomon said that the house was to be “great and wonderful”, 2 Chronicles 2: 9. The assembly, this glorious heavenly vessel, is great and wonderful. It is so because it is the vessel of God’s purpose, because of what Christ gave for it—He gave Himself—and because of the vast expenditure of the Holy Spirit in relation to it in His unremitting service of tireless love all these years since Pentecost. Well, beloved brethren, it is ours now to minister to the pleasure of God in such a vessel, and to maintain fully and faithfully all that is due to Him in it as real persons. May it be so, for His name’s sake.
Address at Cullen
19 May 1979