DIVINE MEASURE
DIVINE MEASURE
Ephesians 4: 13; Romans 12: 3; 2 Corinthians 10: 12, 13; Revelation 21: 15 - 17
These scriptures speak of measure, in the first place as regards Christ, and then as regards the assembly, the measure of which corresponds to Christ. The question of measure is first seen in connection with material things. The whole creation was formed according to divine measure and weight, but in these scriptures we find that measure is applied to persons. We may say in truth that all men come under divine measuring. In Romans 3 it says: “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God”. God has in Christ brought in a standard, and all are measured according to this, and, according to their natural condition, all come short before this standard. In spite of this, God has determined to bring men into correspondence with this standard (see Ephesians 4: 13). It is to this end that Christ, since He has gone up on high, has given gifts. “And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ”.
We see thus that God has before Him a perfect or full-grown man; that is to say, a man who corresponds to His thoughts. It could never be said about Adam that he was full-grown, for there is nothing said about his growing. He was evidently created perfect, so that we have no thought of growth in Adam. Nor could we in a moral sense [p. 2] speak of growth or development in Christ. In His Person, as represented here in testimony, He sets forth for us in a perfect way what man ought to be before God. The four gospels give us a fourfold and perfect presentation of Christ, and the epistles have in view to bring us to the same measure, so that growth has to do with our side. Therefore we find stressed in the epistles the need of growth. In 1 Peter 2 we are exhorted to desire earnestly the sincere milk of the word that we may grow. Like new-born babes we should be desirous of it, so that we by it might grow unto salvation. In all the epistles great stress is laid on the need of growth, and this is evidently because we commence as little children. We begin thus and grow up into manhood, and for this we need the service of the gifts, so that we together should reach the same measure of stature.
There ought in a spiritual sense be none undeveloped among the children of God. Christ as ascended into heaven has in view a perfect presentation of Himself in the saints as a whole. Therefore it says: “Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ”. And in the same epistle it says that the assembly is the fulness of Christ, which we see coming out in Revelation 21. It is no shame to be a little child to start with, since one has been born; that is to say, after our conversion, but it is a shame to be as little children when we have been converted a year. The secret of so much uncertainty and lack of satisfaction among the people of God is owing to the lack of growth.
When Abraham desired to get certainty regarding the fulfilment of the promises, God told him to present an offering, a heifer of three years old, and a she-goat of three years old, and a ram of three years [p. 3] old. He gave him to understand that if he desired to enjoy certainty, it was of moment to increase in growth. That these animals should be three years old implies that they were full-grown. This does not give the idea of a childish state in the believer. If we do not desire the sincere milk of the word, we shall remain little children. The Corinthians were babes and thus exposed to influences in this world; they were not in possession of the joy of salvation, because they had not grown to it. It says of some in Hebrews 5 that they were babes, when for the time they ought to be teachers. I believe, dear brethren, that if we should take up this question in earnest, each one of us should say of himself, ‘I have been a babe for a long time; it is high time for me to be able to present a lamb of a year old’. We read of a day of extreme weakness in Israel when Samuel sacrificed a sucking lamb. This indicated an acknowledgement before God that the people were just like sucking children. What is there in babes that can defend and promote the testimony? What is there in such to save us from the sleight of men and cunning craftiness whereby they lie in wait to deceive, as it says in Ephesians 4?
The passover lamb was to be a year old, not a sucking lamb. This gives us the thought that when the Israelite left Egypt, or in other words, when a believer leaves the world behind him, he has grown somewhat. We ought to ask ourselves how much we have grown since we were converted. One has seen believers who have been converted twenty years, and who have not reached further in their souls than to a condition characterised by babyhood. We remember how Hannah every year when she went up to worship, brought with her a little coat for the boy Samuel. As the child grew he needed a larger coat. In a similar way as I draw near to God my sacrifice will be greater; that is to say, two or three [p. 4] years old, as I increase in my soul. The bullock that Gideon sacrificed was to be seven years old, which shows that in a special case like that of Gideon, there was something more needed beyond ordinary maturity.
Now let us look at Romans 12. The epistle to the Romans is an epistle for the little children. I do not mean that any of us could ever do without this epistle, but that it contains what the little children are in need of. It was written by the apostle through divine inspiration to instruct believers in the truth of the gospel. We sometimes think that the gospel is for the unconverted only. It is for the unconverted surely, but Romans was not written for them, but for believers. It was written to the saints in Rome, who were hardly more than little children, and to the end that they might be instructed in the fundamental principles of the gospel, in order that they should be no more babes, but should grow up to Christ “from whom the whole body, fitted together, and connected by every joint of supply ... works for itself the increase of the body to its self-building up in love”. The apostle desired that the saints in Rome should grow in the truth of the assembly, and that is why he wrote this wonderful epistle.
According to the gospel of Mark we see how the Lord Jesus in His first preaching said, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel”. I am to believe first, and then I discover how much there is found in it. When we receive the gospel it is as if we received the promise of an inheritance. Romans shows me how rich the inheritance is. Now we can understand what the Lord meant when He said, “Believe the gospel”. I say that I believe it, but I wish to know all that it implies, what riches are found in it. I freely admit that little children are very lovable; we see in them a freshness of life, as [p. 5] is evident in the Thessalonians when Paul wrote to them. While we all will admit that such young believers are lovable, we do not wish them to remain undeveloped. In a family undeveloped children are a cause of sorrow and anxiety; it is the same in the family of God, and those who have stopped growing are a cause of sorrow to God, and anxiety to His people.
In order to grow, we need the sincere milk of the word, and fresh air; that is, the atmosphere that is found among the people of God, where the Spirit of God is at liberty. I also need light. These things come out in Romans. Beside other things we find in Romans the thought of measure. “For ... through the grace given unto me, ... as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith”, Romans 12: 3. Although Christ is the subject of the gospel, we find in these scriptures that I begin to look at myself. I have listened to the gospel, but the question is, Have I grown in my soul? Have we ever measured ourselves with Christ? The gospel presents Christ to me. It is God’s glad tidings about His Son. I have listened to the gospel, but have I grown in my soul? I am perhaps familiar with the truth of the gospel and its mode of expression, but it may be only an outward knowledge, in the same way as one knows history.
There are those who study the Bible in the same way as they study history. At the universities this study is considered as a science, but such a study is not the means by which we grow in our souls. Christ is the measure of the soul’s growth, and when I look at Christ, this involves much more than a mere knowledge of the doctrine. I am thinking of all the precious moral features that shine forth in Christ as He is presented in the four gospels. The meaning here is that when I think of myself I ought to think soberly and be wise, as God has dealt to me the [p. 6] measure of faith. God gives us faith, and this involves more than to have knowledge of certain doctrines. The thought of measure here is the measure of faith.
It is not a question of being converted on such and such a day, or that you go to the meetings regularly, but I ask, What is your measure of faith? God gives each one a measure. Have you had to do with God in order to get this measure of faith? In the same way as when God created all things according to measure, He even now works in our souls according to measure; it is therefore important that I should ask myself, Have I received this measure of faith? In Matthew’s gospel the Lord speaks of a little faith and of a great faith, and even of those who had no faith at all. “Without faith it is impossible to please him”. We do not wish to be characterised as those who have little faith, but we ought to desire faith which is according to the divine measure for us.
We have a scripture in Exodus which is of help for us in this. We read of the measure of manna that every Israelite gathered daily (Exodus 16: 18). This is very practical, for the measure of what a man eats in a spiritual sense shows in a significant way what his or her growth is. God has dealt to each the measure of faith, and He deals the measure for us to eat. He has a measurement for us each one, and I believe that the measure of faith in Romans 12 corresponds to the measure of manna that each one was to eat according to Exodus, the measure of what I can eat, what I can digest.
In 2 Corinthians 10 we see that the Corinthians were not characterised by this divine measure, for it says they were “measuring themselves by themselves”; we can understand how far they had departed from the divine principles which are given to us in Romans 12. If I measure myself with my [p. 7] brethren or they compare themselves with me, we all have a wrong measure, and this is what they did at Corinth. It was as if a brother should say, ‘I know just as much as this brother, or I can speak better than he’. We can understand how such measuring only gives cause for jealousy and degrades the people of God to the level of the world, for that is what they do in the world, they measure themselves by themselves. Now the apostle had a measure, he shows how he served according to the measure God had given to him; he served “according to the measure of the rule which the God of measure has apportioned to us”, 2 Corinthians 10: 13.
The last scripture we read from Revelation shows us how God reaches the end which is set before us in Ephesians. We find here that the reed was of gold; the measurement is wholly divine. God reaches here the result of the work which He has carried out during all these centuries. The reed was for measuring the city and its gates and wall. John goes on to say that “the city lies four-square, and its length is as much as the breadth”. Looked upon from this point of view it was a quadrangle. That is to say, a measure which has length and breadth. So that from this point of view the city represents God in the universal attitude which He has taken up towards all men.
First of all the city is four-square; this is like the sheet that descended unto Peter and was knit at its four corners, indicating that the gospel is for all men, a thing that is true even of the assembly at this time. We ought in our minds to correspond to this measure which has length and breadth, the square measure. I believe God will help us to think of all men in an evangelical way and with compassion. We have length and breadth; this is the square measure. After having spoken of the length and breadth of the city, he now speaks of its height. We [p. 8] have here the thought of a cube, or what we call cubic measure. It says — “and he measured the city with the reed, twelve thousand furlongs. The length and the breadth and the height of it are equal”. We may, through grace, in our minds have reached so far as to the square measure, but when we come to think of the height we must feel ashamed. It is thus we find from the book of Revelation that the full result of the work of God includes the height; the city is a cube; that is to say, it has six sides which shows that it is a measure which contains something; it is not only universal in its bearing, but it is filled with that which is of God, and that which is of His nature. It is very encouraging for us to consider this wonderful result of all the work of God. It encourages us to always abound in the work of the Lord, as Paul says: “knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord”. If I consider the city according to its cubic measure I find that my work is not in vain in the Lord, for every little bit I can do contributes to fill up the whole.