The House of God as Reached through Discipline - JT, Sr.

THE HOUSE OF GOD AS REACHED THROUGH DISCIPLINE

Romans 5:1 - 10; Genesis 30:25; Genesis 33:1 - 7; Genesis 35:6

I have in mind to speak a word about the house of God, and particularly to seek to show how believers are put there suitably to God and to His house; and what occurs to me in approaching a subject so familiar to us, is that entrance into the house of God stands in relation to discipline. No one is in it according to God apart from discipline. Discipline is not incidental; it is a fixed part of the curriculum, as I may say, of God's teaching; and it is quite obvious to us all that no one can be in His house apart from His teaching, and no one teaches like Him. "Who teacheth like him?" Elihu says. The apostle reminded the Thessalonians that they were taught of God, and the Lord, speaking to the Jews, says, "It is written in the prophets, And they shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me". Those who are divinely taught come to Christ. He is over the house, and He gives us our place in the house, and He is concerned that in occupying that place we should do so as divinely taught, for if we do not know how to behave ourselves now in the house of God, how should we in the future? All our education enters into the present time, and a great feature of it is discipline.

We find the house, as it comes to light in the Old Testament, stands pre-eminently connected with two men, in whom the discipline of God is also seen pre-eminently -- Jacob and David. The house of God came into view in Jacob's history as he was fleeing from the wrath of his brother; and the foundation of the house came into view in David's history as the sword of the angel, which was stretched out over Jerusalem to destroy it, was sheathed. David had had the choice of his retributive discipline, as I may call it, for his sin in numbering the people, a sin which we are all liable to fall into, for we like numbers -- we like large meetings. David desired to know the population of his kingdom; the making of a census is very common in our day. David was not enjoined to count the people; he undertook to do it obviously in order to determine how extensive his kingdom was, so as to glorify the flesh. Large meetings tend to minister to fleshly pride; not that one would for a moment desire that the saints should be fewer in number, but that it should be left with God to number them. He knows each name, He knows what each one cost, all are enregistered in heaven, and we can well afford to leave it there; they are registered there in their dignity -- "the assembly", it says, "of the firstborn who are enregistered in heaven".

In counting after man, we would be disposed to include some whose names may not be written in heaven, and then, when the time of translation comes, we should have the shame of seeing those left behind; so it were better to leave the numbering with God. David found to his bitter cost that he had better have done so, and that he had but indulged his pride. But now he humbles himself, and thinks of the people, saying, "These sheep, what have they done?" Worthy words indeed, penitent words! He invited the stroke on himself, and on his father's house, and, in result, he is directed to go to the threshing-floor of Ornan the Jebusite, and to rear up an altar there, and the Lord answered from heaven by fire, and the sword of Jehovah, stretched over the beloved city, is sheathed. Discipline has had its effect. David has learned through it, and so he says, "This is the house of the Lord God", 1 Chronicles 22:1.  He arrived at it on the line of discipline, and so did Jacob, and so does every one who is in it, if he is in it as Jacob was in it, and as David was in it.

No one can read the closing chapters of 1 Chronicles without being profoundly affected by the intelligence and affections of David, and the way they centred in the house. Even Solomon's greatness was subservient to David's, as David had had the house in view from the outset, and now arrives at it, as was said, through discipline. So Solomon was to devote all his resources, intelligence, and energy to the building of a house in keeping with Him who would dwell there. David said, We heard of the ark at Ephratah, but where did they find it? In the fields of the wood. That was no place for Jehovah; he had found it in circumstances wholly unsuitable to it. God should have something more from a people whom He had brought out of Egypt, a people whom He had enriched and taught, whom He had beautified and exalted to a kingdom, than that He should be in the fields of the wood. So David's great purpose and service of love was to find out a place for the Lord, an habitation for the mighty God of Jacob; an habitation in keeping with the One who was to dwell there and that was to be "exceeding magnifical". But as I remarked -- and that is why I referred to David -- he arrived at the site of it by way of discipline.

Now in the Epistle to the Romans we get the fundamental principles of everything; the germ of all that follows as superstructure is found in this letter. It begins with the Son of God, "The gospel of God concerning his Son ... and declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead". He is marked out Son of God in power by resurrection of the dead. It is in the apprehension of the declaration that we lay hold of what follows. The declaration is not simply that He is announced from heaven to be Son, it is that He raised the dead. Paul went about preaching Him, as he says, "The Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us, even by me and Silvanus and Timotheus, was not yea and nay, but in him was yea". He went into the Gentile world with his companions and preached One who was declared to be the Son of God; they preached that Person; they preached Him at Corinth -- the Son of God, Jesus Christ -- known to be that, not merely through the heavenly announcement, great as that was, but by the resurrection of the dead. He was known through Paul's preaching as One who takes things entirely out of the range of man and of his world. That is the One whom Paul preached -- the One who lifted the basis of operation out of the range of the natural man, and did so in such wise as to be completely victorious in it. He was declared to be Son of God in power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by resurrection of the dead. The element of holiness predominated as the Lord lifted the sphere of His operations entirely outside the range of man's natural, polluted mind to a world of His own. What has man's mind to say to what the Son of God is doing? Nothing.

Thus we have in view the One who builds the house. As the light of the Son of God is received into our souls -- and it comes through the gospel -- we apprehend One who builds on a sure foundation, and it is thus we become stable. We learn to live as Abraham lived, by the oaks of Mamre; we learn to live in relation to what is stable.

Then in chapter 5 we have the thought of tribulation. Many of us overlook the fact that the kingdom is entered by tribulation. Everything comes through Christ, and among the things we get tribulation. He loves us too well to deny us that, for tribulation is one of the most effective workers that He deputes to minister to us; it is divinely deputed as a minister for the education and well-being of those who are trained to be in the house. So that we get, "Not only so, but we glory in tribulations also; knowing that tribulation worketh patience; and patience, experience; and experience, hope". One speaks with a measure of fear, knowing well that he may be put to the test in relation to anything he advances, so if one presses the importance of tribulation, he has to expect to experience it. In this chapter we are told we glory in it, for tribulation worketh patience; and patience, experience. Of what practical value is anyone in the house if he has not experience? Sometimes, when there is the thought of a new meeting being established, we inquire about elders; but we do not look for the elders first, they are not needed unless there is an assembly. In the Acts it was when assemblies were formed that elders were ordained. The elders are appointed for assemblies, but unless you have assemblies what need is there for elders? Elders come by experience. So we have three great workers, first tribulation, then patience, then experience. The Lord sees to that. My salvation, my tribulation, my patience, my experience, and my hope are all divinely linked together, so we may rely on the effectual working of these agencies to bring about what is needed in the way of education.

Then hope follows, for surely my experience is not in view of my adornment and exaltation in this world. If my object is to be something among the people of God, I have my reward, and I have no need of hope; but if I am living in hope I am not living in this scene; "and hope maketh not ashamed, because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit which is given unto us". That is what I am to live in; if not living in that, I am enclosed in my own fat, so to speak, I am living in what I may be, or think I may be, here, whereas the divine thought is that I have something to live in with God, and that is in His love.

Therefore, in order to be in the house according to God, I have to learn to live in His love, and so the first great function of the Spirit is to shed abroad the love of God in my heart. Coming into us, the Spirit does not occupy us with Himself -- wonderfully blessed Servant! He brings in the love of God. I do not know anything more interesting or more practical than this first service, ministered to us by the Spirit, that is, the shedding abroad in our hearts the love of God, and He renders it in order that I might learn to live in this love. All that preceded is to bring me up to this point. We each have a little of it, as much as the heart can contain in its present environment, as much as it can at present hold. The Spirit of God sees to it, and that in view of my learning to live in it, and it never fails.

But there is more than that. The Holy Spirit occupies us also with Christ, and that is why I read the passages in Genesis 30 and 33. You find that in Padan-aram, when Joseph is born, Jacob begins to move. No doubt he already knew something of God, for he had faith. Jacob was one of the most remarkable children ever born, indeed there was no babe like him recorded in Scripture, for even before he was born he was actuated by divine instinct, and immediately he is born, he takes his brother by the heel. The prophet Hosea comments on this later (Hosea 12:3), and he does not refer to it as anything blameworthy. The circumstance is introduced rather as a rebuke to Jacob's posterity who had turned to idols. Hosea said in effect to those of his day, Jacob did not do this. He took his brother by the heel; he had supplanted Esau, the man after the flesh whom they were indulging. Jacob was marked from the outset by spiritual instincts, and by his strength he had power with God. When he became a man he wrestled with God; "Yea, he had power over the angel and prevailed; he wept, and made supplication unto him". What a man he was!

I refer to all this so that you might see what a man Jacob was, how that in the very beginning -- from the womb -- spiritual instincts were there, and how greatly they developed as he proceeded. And so we find him at Bethel (chapter 35) -- the culminating result of all his history. He had, as I said, some knowledge of God at Padan-aram, but there are those who have a measure of light as to God who do not know Christ. So it was when Joseph was born -- Christ typically -- that Jacob moves; and though he lingered, God kept him to it, and says to him in the next chapter, "Return unto the land of thy fathers". Christ in figure had come into his vision. That stage in Christians is set forth in Romans 5; the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts, and we must know who made that love possible. Christ made it possible. Is He then to be left out? No. He is to stand out in our souls in holy dignity as dying for us; so "when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly", and in dying He commends the love of God to us. So we see how the covenant is bound up with Him who is the Mediator of it. Christ died; that was His part; God gave Him, but Christ died, and so, "if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life". So that Christ makes God stand out in His blessed distinctiveness and love. In the symbol of the Lord's supper, "this cup is the new covenant in my blood", He would make God known, so that He might be in our hearts accordingly.

Hence, as I was saying, Joseph comes into Jacob's horizon, and he moved; it may be in a small way, nevertheless it caused Jacob to move.

Now in chapter 32 Jacob receives the Spirit typically, and in chapter 33 Joseph comes definitely into view in a most striking manner, in a manner that points to his personal distinctiveness in a peculiar way. Leah with her children passed before Esau, she is first; then it says, "and after came Joseph near and Rachel" -- not Rachel and Joseph, but Joseph and Rachel. Joseph is first. The point is, we are getting nearer to the house, and it is meet that Christ should be acquiring a greater place with us. That is what is going on at the present time. What the Holy Spirit is labouring at is to establish in our souls Christ's distinctive place as the One who died in order to make the love of God known, so that in all things He might have the pre-eminence.

What we are speaking of is on the line of experience, and it is very remarkable that the facts cited in Hebrews 1 to establish the Deity and greatness of Christ are all taken from that part of scripture (the Psalms) which is full of the experience of the saints; God thus uses these scriptures to testify to the greatness of Christ. We are in a position as knowing Christ as the One who died for us, to be called in to bear witness to His greatness; that is Hebrews 1. We can understand how this leads to the house, and I would remark that the book of Psalms speaks more of the house of God than any part of the Old Testament. One can understand, too, that those who, by experience, arrive at a knowledge of Christ would value the house. To have Christ in one's heart soon dissipates nature.

And now rapid progress is made, and Jacob arrives at the house; he comes to Bethel; chapter 35. But how? As a disciplined man, for while this chapter is the crown of his glory, it is a chapter of burials, and burials mean discipline. The idols are buried, Deborah is buried, Rachel is buried, and Isaac is buried. What a chapter of discipline! All intended to dissipate the hopes and aspirations of the flesh -- all are buried from that time. But see the recompense! A man standing beside God in the house of God, and God speaking to him. There are two distinct presentations of these facts: one from the side of Jacob's experience, ending with the death and burial of Deborah (verses 6 - 8), and the other presented from the divine side -- God coming in Himself in all His majesty into His house and talking with Jacob (verses 9 - 13). Think of God speaking to us, beloved! Sometimes one hears of believers attending assembly meetings without their Bibles, taking their hymn books only. The hymn book is not the word of God. The Bible is the means by which God conveys His thoughts to us. If I am in God's house, I expect God to speak, it is His assembly; and I must take my Bible. God speaks in it, and nothing can be greater than God speaking to us. He talked with Jacob; we are told, indeed, what He said to Jacob: "Thy name shall not be called any more Jacob, but Israel shall be thy name". God knights him, so to speak; God is in His house. He is supreme there, and confers honours there. And then after thus ennobling him, He endows him with wealth. He says, "A nation and a company of nations shall be of thee, and kings shall come out of thy loins". You are to be the progenitor of kings. What a nobleman in the house of God! In Psalm 45 we read, "Instead of thy fathers shall be thy children, whom thou mayest make princes in all the earth". Think of the dignity, the ennoblement conferred upon us as we are in the house according to God! We are there as disciplined, as having learned what is becoming to God, and Christ has come into our vision; we know Him as Son over God's house, and abiding in it for ever, and we are free there.

Well, beloved, that is what I had in view; my thought is that in learning to be in the house according to God and seeing the benefits and honours that are conferred there, and as enjoying them, we may be able to look down on the world. It is a wonderful favour to be able to look down on what God has condemned. In chapter 28 God is in heaven, and Jacob on the earth, but in chapter 35 God stood beside Jacob on earth, and Jacob set up a pillar in the place where God talked with him; the place was well worthy of commemoration. It was the greatest day that Jacob ever experienced when God talked to him in His house. He had surrendered all that was out of keeping with the house and with the blessed God Himself, and in the drink offering he says in principle, God is delighted with me, He loves me. Think of the experience, the consciousness of being for the pleasure of God! Like the prodigal who was clothed with the very best that there was. One would raise the question, Have we had the experience of the love of God in His house and God companying with us there? All discipline is to the end that we might be partakers of His holiness, for we cannot be in His house without holiness, "Holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord". Jacob in anointing the pillar with oil would say, God loves me, I know it and I mean to preserve the consciousness of it, so he set up the "pillar of stone, and he poured a drink offering thereon, and he poured oil thereon". What a testimony in this world -- anointed by the Spirit to witness of that love!