Reading: Psalm 132
Then Solomon
began to build the house of the Lord at Jerusalem on
Mount Moriah, where the Lord appeared unto David his
father, which he made ready in the place that David had
appointed, in the threshing-floor of Ornan the
Jebusite 2 Chron 3:1
There is much related
Scripture which we ought to read, but must only refer to
as we proceed, because of our limited space.
It needs no arguing
amongst us, I think, that the centre of Gods
presence among men, namely, the house of God, is a matter
of first importance. I have said the centre of Gods
presence, for the house of God embraces and relates to
every thing else which is of concern or interest to the
Lord. The house of Lord is within a wider range of
Gods interests and concerns. Ultimately, there will
be wide ranges to which it ministers, to which God
manifests Himself through it. It is the centre of His
presence.
From a consideration of
its great type here in the Old Testament, the temple, we
are able to learn something of the principles which
constitute the foundation and basis of that central
dwelling place of God.
The
Triumph of Faith and Obedience
The passage which we
have just read is a key to so much, both historically and
spiritually. I begin by pointing out again that the first
principle of the house of God, the dwelling place of the
Lord, is the triumph of faith and obedience when all else
has been brought down to the dust. All Abraham's hopes
and expectations, and the promises of God and the
covenant of God with him, centred in Isaac. Beyond and
apart from Isaac, Abraham had nothing. And then God said,
Take now thy son ... Isaac...and offer
him...for a burnt offering (Gen 22:2). In the
words from Job: Lay thou thy treasure in the
dust (Job 22:24) And the writer to the Hebrews
makes a point of that - that he in whom all the covenant
and promises were centred was being offered up by Abraham
(Heb 11:17,18). Looked at from one side only,
Abraham was severing the very arteries of life, parting
with everything of hope, prospect, possibility; all was,
from that stand point, brought to ashes. But for the
intervention of God, Isaac would very soon have been
reduced to ashes. In effect he was. So far as
Abrahams heart attitude and obedience were
concerned, Isaac was already in ashes. The wood was there
for kindling, the altar and the knife were ready. But
faith triumphed through obedience, and that very mount
Moriah subsequently became the site of the temple, the
house of God. The house of God is built on that sort of
thing.
This foreshadows
Calvary. From purely earthly standpoints Calvary was the
end of all hope. It was a laying of treasure in the dust;
it was ashes; it was an end. We know how it was for those
around that Cross: it seemed the end of everything. But
on the part of the one central figure of that great
universal drama it was faiths obedience unto death,
yea, the death of the Cross; and the house of God was and
is built upon that. It is a principle. It is the great
reality, the great doctrine of Christ. But it is of
practical application, namely, that the house of God can
only be grounded and founded and built as that sort of
thing goes on.
The
Laying Down of Life
A related principle is
the continuous laying down of its own soul by the Church,
letting go of its own life in obedience and in faith,
when all is dark, when all seems hopeless beyond. Some
course of obedience is required, calling for us to do
that which seems to be without prospect or hope, and
which involves, therefore, the laying down of our lives,
of our souls. It is the way of building. It has ever been
like that.
When young men and women
have given up all the prospects of this world and laid
their treasures in the dust and gone forth at the command
of the Lord, they have laid everything in ashes so far as
this worlds hopes and prospects are concerned. The
Church has been built in that way. Even when it is not
like that in great acts of lifes vocation, it is a
daily thing, a letting go of our own interests in
obedience to the Lord, in faith in the Lord. It is thus
the building goes on. I could work that down to very fine
points and show how often the house of God is delayed and
arrested in its progress by the withholding of something
on which the Lord has laid his finger and said I
want that.
However there is the
general principle, the triumph of faith through obedience
when all is in the dust. Abraham believed God, and that
great triumph provided God with the site for His temple,
the great example and type of that spiritual house which
is central to the fulfillment of all His purposes. God
dwells in that sort of thing. But that central thing has
to go through the depths. That which is the very heart of
Gods presence, to which He commits Himself, has to
know stripping more than others. This involves a deep
work where faith is brought to perfection through very
deep testing.
Fellowship
With God in His Sacrificial Love
Alongside of that (very
deep testing) there is that factor of perfect fellowship
with God in His sacrificial love. We have often made that
point when speaking of Abrahams great step into the
heart of the One who withheld not His Son, His
Well-beloved, but freely gave Him up for us all. It was
indeed a movement right into fellowship with the
sacrificial nature, the giving unto cost, of the love of
God. That is the only way in which the house of God is
established. There has to be a giving unto cost because
of love. It is quite evident that Abraham loved God more
than he loved Isaac, dear and important though Isaac was.
Abraham saw that to obey was of greater importance than
even to keep this tremendous treasure; and that is love.
That is what the Bible calls the fear of the Lord - that
element of fear in love.
I am sure you know what
that means. If there is someone of great account to you,
and whose love you esteem very highly, you are always
very sensitive about causing that one disappointment.
That is the nature of the fear of the Lord. Abraham
feared God. The house of God is built upon that kind of
fear. It is of very practical and every day meaning - the
love of God in our hearts leading to costliness in our
sacrifice, our giving.
The
Glory of Man Abased
Then passing from
Abraham to David; this threshing floor of Ornan, the site
of the temple, represented and stood for the undercutting
of Satans man-glorifying work and the deep
abasement of man himself. You remember that Satan incited
David to number Israel - a thing which even a carnal man
like Joab could see through, for he said, The
Lord make His people a hundred times as many as they are:
but, my Lord the King, are they not all my Lords
servants? why doth my Lord require this thing? why will
he be a cause of guilt unto Israel? (1 Chron. 21:3).
The Lord has done very much, and will do more, but
do not begin to count heads, to take account of how big
your resources are and to glory in the greatness of your
kingdom.
Joab was a carnal man,
but it seems that some carnal men sometimes see more than
Christians do as to principles. But David set aside
Divine wisdom and good human wisdom, and insisted on the
numbering of Israel. You know the result. All came from
Satans prompting of David to do something which
would glorify man and make much of his resources and
achievements. The Lord came out and smote it hip and
thigh, and that Satanic work of glorifying man was
undercut and man was deeply abased. David was a sorry
picture when he came to the threshing floor of Ornan. Oh,
that man is now humbled to the dust!
This has to be done
before there can be any building of Gods house.
Satans work to make much of man has to be
completely undercut. The glory of man, and mans
desire for any kind of glory for himself, have to be
abased. This is a house for the name of the Lord and for
no other name in heaven, in earth, or in hell.
My glory, says the Lord, will I not
give to another (Isa. 42:8).
The Lord does that all
the time. Oh, the horrible display of human flesh in the
realm of Divine things! Oh, the reputations made in the
realm of what is of God! Oh, the delight to have a place
in the Church! Oh, how often this flesh is active for its
own pleasure and gratification! The Lord is hitting it
hard all the time, driving hard blows -to ensure that His
house is on the right foundation, not on any thing that
is of ourselves. It does come home to us.
Lord remember
for David all his humiliations (Ps. 132:1). That
last word is more accurate than the one used in our
translation. Afflictions is the word in the
text, but that does not convey the true meaning unless
you add other words and say, The afflictions with
which he afflicted himself. He is saying, How
I humiliated myself! I would not allow my eyes to have
sleep, I would not allow my bed to entice me, I would not
enjoy my own house; I humiliated myself, deprived myself,
in order to find a place for the Lord. And the Lord
does require that humiliation. He brings about this
breaking down of man in order that the house should be
rightly based. That explains His dealings with us. He
will not let us be anything.
If we are really to be
the dwelling place of God, then we are to be nothing in
ourselves. Do not look for reputation, do not try to make
an impression, do not stand on your own dignity, do not
do any of those things in any way whatever which will
give you prominence with people and make them think
something of you. It will not pass with the Lord.
So let us get rid of it,
every bit of it, and recognize what we are in Gods
sight. He is going to bring that about; so if we try to
make people think we are other than we are in order to
get an advantage, we are contradicting the principle of
the house of God. All self-importance must go, and all
desire for recognition. All that sort of thing has to be
wiped out. The house of God is not founded on that. God
will not have it. Man is abased, and all the other is the
devils work. It comes from him in whose heart pride
was found.
The
Meeting of Mercy and Judgment
Then let me
remained you that the threshing floor of Ornan, the site
of the temple was the place where judgment and mercy met.
We sing
With
mercy and with judgment
My web of time He wove.
There must
be judgment. It was so in the case of David. But judgment
is only one side. Judgment and mercy met on that
threshing floor that day and kissed each other, and the
temple resulted. Judgment has to begin at the house of
God, but, thank God, it is not judgment unto utter
destruction. It is mercy mingled with judgment, and the
end is the triumph of mercy over judgment . That is
Calvary, that is the house of God. We shall find it like
that all the time. There will be judgment; it has to be;
we know it quite well.
The Lord
does not let pass things that are contrary to the
principles of His house. If we only knew it, as Paul
tried to make the Corinthians know it, many are suffering
today in numerous ways because they are not observing the
principles of the house of God (1 Cor. 11:30).
There is that side; it goes on. But oh, God only does
that in order to have mercy. It is mercy that is His end.
So He founds and so He builds His house.
God
Under No Debt to Man
No indebtedness to man
is allowed to be represented by Gods house. How
insistent David was, how alive now to Divine principles!
The refining fires wake us up to principles. It was so
with David on another occasion. You remember how the ark
was put on the cart. David had forgotten the Scripture.
He went through a time of suffering until at last he came
to see the Divine principle in the Word of God and put
things right (1 Chron.13 & 15). Here he is
alive to principles again. When Ornan wanted to give
David the threshing floor, David said, No, I will
pay you in full. No man shall ever say that the house of
God is in debt to men; no other shall ever be able to say
afterward, Yes I gave God that; the site of that
temple is my gift.
No Ornan is brought out
of all holding. Man has no place as a creditor in the
house of God; there is no debt to man, he is brought
right out. You can apply that.
The
Threshing of the Corn
This was a
threshing-floor, the place where all is threshed out
before the Lord. No chaff here; nothing that is not real,
genuine, true, solid; nothing that will not contribute to
building up. It must be the true corn. God is always
seeking to do this. The house of God is a
threshing-floor. All our chaff, our vanity, our
emptiness, is being got rid of, all that really does not
count. God is after that which builds His house, or, to
change the metaphor, the Body. He is after the corn. The
chaff must go. In our very relationship to the Lord
amongst His people, as forming His house, we find He is
winnowing, threshing, getting rid of our vanity, our
unreality, our chaff. But in so doing He is getting
reality. He is getting what is solid, what will stand,
what will feed. This is the basis of His building.
All that we
have said should work out in very practical ways. The
figures employed are but types and symbols, but the
realities are in the hands of the Holy Spirit, and He
will unceasingly press for their fulfillment in the lives
of Gods people. Let us see to it that as He works
in our case He has our full co-operation.
First published in "A Witness and A Testimony" magazine, Nov-Dec 1951, Vol 29-6.