Jottings

by J. Miller | Category: Jottings | Jun 1962

What was the ground of gathering and the foundation of the collective life of the people of God, the children of Israel, in a past dispensation? And what is the ground of gathering of God's people now? Such questions are of great and vital importance both as to the past and the present. The answers are similar, subjection and obedience to the authority of Jehovah, the God of Israel, as vested in the law which was given by Moses, on the part of the Israel people, and subjection and obedience to the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ as expressed in the Faith which was once for all delivered unto the saints, for which they were to contend earnestly (Jude 8). The law of Moses was to Israel what the Faith of our Lord Jesus Christ is to us now.

In the face of disaster which seemed about to fall on Judah in the confederacy of Israel and Syria, who were about to attack Judah in the days of Ahaz, we have the promise made to that king of the Lord's birth of a virgin, whose name was to be Immanuel (Isaiah 7.18, 14; 8.8, 10). So in chapter 8.11-20, we have a new people envisaged who were to take the place of Israel, of both houses of Israel, Judah and Benjamin. Verses 12 and 13 are clearly identified in 1 Peter 3.14, 15, where we have a free rendering of words in verses 12 and 18 of Isaiah 8. In Isaiah the exhortation not to fear is linked with the words, "The Lord of hosts, Him shall ye sanctify," whereas Peter's words are, "But sanctify in your hearts Christ as Lord." In Peter's thoughts the Lord of hosts was none other than the Lord Christ. The same Person was to be a Sanctuary (a place of safety) to the faithful, but for a Stone of stumbling, and for a Rock of offence to both houses of Israel. See Romans 9.88, and 1 Peter 2.8, where they are linked with Isaiah 28.10 and also with Psalm 118. 22, and in each case they have specific reference to the Lord Jesus. Israel, as both Isaiah 8.15 and 1 Peter 2 clearly show, was appointed to stumble at Christ, nationally, and to fall and be broken, as the Lord also stated in Matthew 21.44.

In contrast to what would be true of the houses of Israel, when they would be nationally set aside, as they have been during the long weary years of this dispensation for them, we have the new people envisaged of the Lord's disciples, in connexion with whom it is said,

"Bind thou up the testimony, seal the law among My disciples. And I will wait for the LORD, that hideth His face from the house of Jacob" (Isaiah 8.10, 17).

Words could not portray more graphically and clearly the change over from Israel to the Lord's disciples. The testimony and the law were not to be found in Israel when the dispensational change took place, but among the disciples. The law of Moses, which God wrote with His finger on the tables of stone, was also called the testimony; it was also called the covenant. It was the agreement or covenant drawn up by Jehovah, the God of Israel, and on their confession of obedience, they became God's peculiar people, a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. It was the law which regulated Israel's behaviour toward God and toward men. It was also the testimony, and Israel was to bear witness to men as to the divine standard which God had given, and by this standard came the knowledge of sin.

In this dispensation of grace the testimony was to be found among the Lord's disciples. Of this Paul wrote to Timothy, "He not ashamed therefore of the testimony of our Lord" (2 Timothy 1.8). Earlier he wrote to the Corinthians, "In everything ye were enriched in Him, in all utterance and all knowledge; even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you" (1 Corinthians 1.5, 0). And John, in old age, is found writing to the seven churches in Asia,

"I John, your brother and partaker with you in the tribulation and kingdom and patience which are in Jesus, was in t4e isle that is called Patmos, for the word of God and the testimony of Jesus" (Revelation 1. 9).

Subjection to the Lord and obedience to His word form the foundation on which saints should be gathered. In this way and in no other can there be a divine unity. This is how we manifest our love to God. "For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments" (1 John 5.8).

Thus the law and testimony, even the word of God and the testimony of Jesus, form the ground of gathering of God's saints, as is elsewhere stated in

Matthew 28.18-20 and Acts 2.41, 42.

Some time ago I received the following anonymous note by post, but owing to illness I have been unable to do anything with it. The following is what it says:

"With love from a fellow-member of the Body of Christ. Scriptures for our mutual meditation. Psalm 18.85; 2 Samuel 22.86; 1 Corinthians 13.The answer as to how unity may be obtained, re your article. (Signed) Wayfarer."

I presume the article to which this correspondent refers is one of three which appeared in Needed Truth in the months of February, March and April, 1961. In these articles we sought to set before our readers fundamental principles in connexion with divine unity amongst such as have tasted that the Lord is gracious. It may be that "Wayfarer" differs from what we wrote, and many others may also differ from him and from us, but who or what is to settle such differences? The Lord at His coming will wipe away all such differences between believers. Believers will be glad to see the man-made differences go in His presence. But is there not even now that which will settle differences and resolve doubts? Surely the inspired Scriptures are sufficient to reveal and remove wrongs, and to bring about a oneness amongst believers, that is, the Scriptures applied by the Holy Spirit to good and honest hearts who are willing to re-examine the foundations on which their community life has rested in times past.

But you may ask, What do the scriptures say which were cited by our correspondent? Here they are:

"Thou hast also given me the shield of Thy salvation:

And Thy right hand hath holden me up,

And Thy gentleness hath made me great" (Psalm 18.35).

"Thou hast also given me the shield of Thy salvation:

And Thy gentleness hath made me great" (2 Samuel 22.80).

The third scripture is 1 Corinthians 13, the chapter on love, well-known to all Bible readers. What these scriptures have to do with the principles of gathering of God's people in the Old and New Testaments is more than I can conceive.

David had much to do ere he looked abroad on a united nation in terms of Psalm 133, the first verse of which says,

"Behold, how good and how pleasant it is For brethren to dwell together in unity!"

"Together in unity" is rendered in the Hebrew by Yachad, and in the LXX, the Greek version of the Old Testament, by "Epi to auto," as I pointed out in Needed Truth, page 89, March, 1961.

David reigned over Judab in Hebron for seven years and six months, we are told.

Did David continue to reign in Hebron? No, there was something higher in David's mind, even to find a place for the LORD, whom he ever recognized as the supreme and true King of Israel. Herein lay the fundamental and tragic failure of Saul and of Israel in his day. David found that Zion was the place of God's choice (see Psalm 132), and thither he with the thousands of God's people brought the Ark from the house of Abinadab. He said, "Let us bring again the Ark of our God to us: for we sought not unto it in the days of Saul" (1 Chronicles 13.8). What a reflection this is upon the days of Saul! Saul never sought a place nor a house for God, nor did he seek the Ark and the law of God. David was different. His earliest move was to reach Zion, the place of the Name, and to bring the Ark thither, in which was the law of God.

A people without law is a mob. Among such every man will do what is right in his own eyes (Judges 21.25). There were laws in the Old Testament and there are laws in the New. Now from the inspired Scriptures they are to be written by the Spirit in the hearts and minds of God's people, not on tables of stone.

"I will put My laws into their mind,

And on their heart also will I write them"

(Hebrews 8. 10; 10.15, 10).

These laws were and are the ground of gathering of a people of and for God.

J. Miller | Jun 1962
Jottings