Streams Of Divine Purpose (2)

by T.W. Fullerton, Melbourne | Category: Streams Of Divine Purpose | Sept 1975

In the days of Hezekiah, king of Judah, messengers were sent throughout the land of Israel pleading with them to turn again to the Lord their God, to the place of the Name and the altar of the Lord (2 Chron. 30). While some mocked the messengers and the message there were

others who humbled themselves, laying aside their national pride and going up to Jerusalem to keep the feast of the passover and unleavened bread.

It is appropriate here to give a brief outline of Samaritan history. After the Assyrians repopulated the land of Israel, the king of Assyria brought back one of the priests of Israel to "teach them the manner of the God of the land". The result was a hybrid religious system: "they feared the LORD, and served their own gods" (2 Kings 17:33); "So these nations feared the LORD, and served their graven images, their children likewise and their children's children, as did their fathers, so did they" (V.41). It was almost one and a half centuries later that the remnant of Judah returned from Babylon to build again the temple of the Lord. Certain Samaritans then approached the builders asking to be permitted to build with them (Ezra 4:1-3). This being refused, the breach between Jews and Samaritans widened. At a later date the Samaritans ceased many of their idolatrous practices, confined their worship to Jehovah and followed the teaching of the Pentateuch. But they rejected the prophetical writings and built a temple on Mount Gerizim, claiming this to be the place which the Lord had chosen, the 'place for "the altar of the LORD". This temple was destroyed about 109 BC, but the Samaritans continued to worship on the mountain and refused to go up to Jerusalem. Yet because of their close association with Israel, they had a prominent place in the heart and purposes of God, and very early in the history of the New Testament we find many of them being brought into the mainstream of His purposes under the terms of the New Covenant (see Acts 1:8; 8:4-25).

The mainstream of God's purposes under the New Covenant

Under the New Covenant there is no geographical centre, nevertheless we believe that the same principle, "The place which the LORD shall choose" applies. For children of God by faith in Christ Jesus, that which corresponds to the law of Moses is "the Faith which was once for all delivered unto the saints" (Jude 3). In the Acts of the Apostles we find believers in the Lord Jesus all being taught the same things, and gathered into churches of God, the pattern of which is found in Acts 2:41,42. These churches formed one Fellowship or Community (1 Cor.

1:9). Fitly framed together, they formed the temple or house of God (Eph.

2:21,22). They were "built up a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God through Jesus Christ" (1 Pet. 2:5). Their place of worship was the "holies" (Heb 10~19) We have

seen that under the Old Covenant the mainstream of the purposes of God was associated with His dwelling-place among men. Under the New Covenant we believe it to be the same. Men have set up their "church" systems, in many cases bearing no resemblance whatever to that which is found in the New Testament. Tradition and antiquity, not the word of the Lord, hold many children of God therein.

There are, undoubtedly, in the religious systems of Christendom divinely gifted men, even though these systems may be far removed from the original pattern of the churches of God. There were, as we have seen, many among the ten tribes who practised what was far removed from the pattern of things given through Moses. In His sovereignty God raised up Elijah and Elisha, using them to restrain the drift further from Himself. But the mainstream of the purposes of God was never associated with the ten tribes from the time that they forsook the place of God's choice and His dwelling-place. In the light of these facts we can only conclude that, under the New Covenant, the mainstream of His purposes is associated with His house and those who are found therein. In our generation there are those who have returned to serve Him according as they find it written in that which for us corresponds with the law of Moses, "the Faith which was once for all delivered unto the saints".

We are often asked the question, If the mainstream of His purposes is to be found in association with His house and the churches of God, why does He use His word to the blessing and salvation of men amongst systems so far removed from the original pattern? We believe that the answer is to be found in the record of His dealings with His people Israel, some of which we have drawn attention to in this article. However far Israel strayed from Him, and multiplied altars, the word of the Lord remained unchanged, "In the place which the LORD shall choose... there shalt thou offer... and there thou shalt do all that I command thee".

T.W. Fullerton, Melbourne | Sept 1975
Streams Of Divine Purpose