A Great Work

by David Smith, Lerwick | Category: General | Mar 1980

When Abraham obeyed to go out of Ur of the Chaldees, he believed what God had said: "I will make of thee a great nation" (Gen. 12:2); a nation destined to be greater than all other nations. Eventually Abraham's descendants were redeemed from the bondage of Egypt and arrived at Mount Sinai. Here God spoke to them out of the cloud and the thick darkness, and they said, "Behold, the Lord our God hath shewed us His glory and His greatness" (Deut. 5:24). Although a nation in their own right, yet they did not qualify to be a "holy nation" and a "peculiar treasure" to God on the strength of their numbers. Moses reminded them in the plains of Moab, "The Lord did not set His love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people; for ye were the fewest of all peoples: but because the Lord loveth you" (Deut. 7:7,8).

Astounding grace indeed that the great God of glory did not choose a numerous people to build for Him a dwelling-place becoming His presence, but He chose the "fewest of all peoples". He commanded the law of His covenant, which they instantly accepted, saying "we will hear it, and do it" (Deut. 5:27), whereupon God commissioned them to undertake the most remarkable exercise in their long and eventful history. "Let them make Me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them. According to all that I shew thee." (Exod. 25:8,9) and so, to a divine pattern, the Tabernacle was made. According to all that the Lord had commanded Moses, so the children of Israel did all the work. What a noble work to engage that dedicated people as they waited in the desert of Sinai! God's approval of their work was confirmed when "the glory of the Lo~ filled the tabernacle". Thus the God of glory, content to dwell within curtains in a portable structure, took up residence among His covenanted people; so Moses could say in truth "the Lo~ thy God is in the midst of thee, a great God and a terrible".

When Israel eventually reached the land of Canaan, Shiloh in Ephraim was chosen as the Place of God's Name. God still dwelt in the same tent of curtains and sought no loftier building. Never once did He say, "Why have ye not built Me an house of cedar?" (1 Chron. 17:6). Sad to relate however, Israel little appreciated the divine Presence in their midst. When the Philistines approached in battle during the days of Eli, his wicked sons foolishly removed the ark from its divinely appointed place and the glory departed.

Although the removal of the ark was temporary, not until the days of David was it again given a resting place, this time in Jerusalem where David had pitched for it a tent. It is clear from his words to Nathan that David was not satisfied with this: "Lo, I dwell in an house of cedar, but the ark of the covenant of the Lord dwelleth under curtains". Although the Lord said, "Thou shalt not build Me an house to dwell in" (1 Chron. 17:1,4), He approved David's desire, and gave him a pattern for a temple of amazing grandeur. The Lord also gave him a son, Solomon, to arrange the construction of the wonderful building which was, in popular usage, to bear Solomon's name.

From the beginning Solomon realized the immensity of the task assigned to him. "The house which I build is great: for great is our God". Could it be that God, whom the heaven of heavens cannot contain, would dwell with men on the earth? To this question God gave the answer when "the glory of the Lord filled the house" and He said, "Now have I chosen and hallowed this house" (2 Chron. 7:16). Solomon finished building the house and also the wall round about Jerusalem, which was equally important, as it enclosed the city and formed a rampart.

But sad days were to come upon Israel. After 416 years the Chaldeans, sent in judgement by the Lord, "burnt the house of God, and brake down the wall of Jerusalem" (2 Chron. 36:19) and carried away the residue of the people to Babylon.

70 years later a small remnant of the captivity returned to build God's

house. They knew that the LORD hath chosen Zion and desired it for His habitation (Psa. 132:13). Although Jerusalem was in ruins it was still the divine centre for the people of God, and there only could they do the will of God in a collective capacity. All the glory of Babylon could not substitute for the glory of God associated with the house of God. They could not sing the songs of Zion in Babylon. "How shall we sing the LORD's song in a strange land?" (Psa. 137:4), they said, realizing that the house of God is the appointed place for the praise and service of God's people.

Back in Jerusalem the remnant proceeded in much weakness to build the house of God and to resume the service of Jehovah, but progress was impeded by adversity and indifference. When the report reached Nehemiah, who was in Shushan, that "the remnant that are left of the captivity there in the province are in great affliction and reproach: the wall of Jerusalem also is broken down", he quickly and humbly sought unto God: "I beseech Thee, O Lo~, the God of heaven, the great and terrible God" (Neh. 1:3-5). Although evil had befallen Israel, God was still the same. It was the great God as known in former times who prospered Nehemiah in his desire to come to Jerusalem and to "build up the wall". But very soon the subtle hand of the adversary, in the sinister forms of Tobiah and Sanballat, was at work to frustrate and confound Nehemiah's endeavour. When they learned that the wall had been built and "there was no breach left therein" they sent an invitation, "Come let us meet together". Nehemiah very wisely regarded this with suspicion, replying, "I am doing a great work so that I cannot come down". The greatness of his work was not in the measure of the wall but rather in the purpose for which he laboured, and the value of his work in the sight of God. For God esteems highly any effort made to provide Him a dwelling-place in the midst of his gathered people, however small it might be.

Today many dear Christians sincerely believe that the preaching of the gospel is the greatest work in which they can engage, and anything further such as baptism and church fellowship they regard as a hindrance to that work. God, however, has not left us to decide what is the most important aspect of His work or what to ignore as unimportant. For the Lord Jesus was explicit in the instructions He gave to His disciples before returning to heaven. "Go ye therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit: teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I commanded you (Matt. 28:19,20). Clearly these words imply a great deal more than the preaching of salvation by faith. And the Acts and Epistles confirm that those who at the beginning of the present dispensation believed the gospel were baptized in water and added to a church of God, which as a local unit continued in "the apostles' teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread and the prayers" (Acts 2:41,42).

When Paul said, "I planted, Apollos watered" (1 Cor. 3:6) he referred to the church of God in Corinth which he had been instrumental in planting. It was "God's husbandry, God's building", fitly framed together with the other churches of God extant in that particular period. These formed "a holy temple in the Lord" (Eph. 2:21). This was a spiritual building, as truly God's dwelling-place on earth as was the tabernacle in the wilderness and the temple in Zion. The pattern for this spiritual house is found in the New Testament and is still relevant.

Although there may be but a small remnant of believers who aspire to conform to this pattern God places a high value on such an endeavour. Apposite are the words of encouragement God gave to the remnant who left Babylon, "Build the house; and I will take pleasure in it, and I will be glorified" (Hag. 1:8).

David Smith, Lerwick | Mar 1980
General