Ron D Plant
Psalm 132: 8, 9, 13, 14
2 Chronicles 5: 6-10
John 8: 3-6
I have had a thought since the Lord’s day, beloved brethren, as to Christ’s place. I think in its way that each one of these scriptures, gives some indication of Christ‘s place. God is jealous, we may say, of what is due to Him. You may remember on the mount of transfiguration when Peter suggested that there should be three tabernacles, for the Lord one, and for Moses one, and Elias one, that the voice came out of heaven: “This is my beloved Son, in whom I have found my delight”, Matt 17: 5. Think of the immediacy of the answer from heaven in relation to that. I believe that heaven is insistent upon the place for Christ, the chief place, the first place, the central place.
I read these scriptures because the first one, we may remember, gives David’s experiences in relation to the ark. I think it is a very wonderful Psalm. It speaks about how he found the ark, how he heard of it. It really answers to all of our experiences as to the Lord Jesus. He says, “Behold, we heard of it at Ephratah, we found it in the fields of the wood”, v 6. I suppose that would be the experience of most here, of all here perhaps. We have heard of the Lord Jesus, heard about His work, heard about His preciousness, and then that next important step that I am sure most, if not all, here have taken, not only heard about Him, but found Him “in the fields of the wood”. We may remember the history, how the ark was in the house of Abinadab on the hill and so on, and how all of David’s life became transformed. He was transformed by Christ typically. Everything he did even through the struggles in his life and his affliction and, towards the end of his life, in his affection, was devoted to one thing and that was that the place for the ark might be improved here; that the place for Christ typically, might be improved, that there might be a better place for Him. It would be like the exercises of the believer as having found the Saviour, as having found for themselves the preciousness of Christ, as having proved His saving grace through the glad tidings, and going on, you may say from that, so that Christ becomes everything to them. I think that is like Zion. It says here, “Arise, Jehovah, into thy rest, thou and the ark of thy strength. … For Jehovah hath chosen Zion; he hath desired it for his dwelling: This is my rest for ever”. Think of the delight of the blessed God, beloved brethren, in the place that Christ has in the hearts of the saints. Think of how here, on this earth, in which man is pursuing his own way and corruption is everywhere, there are those to whom Christ has the chief place, whose lives are a reflection of the fact that their chief interest, their only interest, is in relation to Him; that His place might be the first place, His place might be the best place. That is a wonderful thing. I think, beloved brethren, that that is mount Zion: “This is my rest for ever”. There are persons here to whom there will never be another One; there will never be another Christ. The danger at Corinth was that they might listen to another Jesus (2 Cor 11: 4), but for the true believer, there will never be another One: “This is my rest for ever”. God has secured that which treasures the Lord Jesus in the hearts of the saints. I think that is mount Zion, “the mount Zion which he loved”, Ps 78: 68. Just to put a word to it, I think Psalm 132 is Christ for me; Christ for me, and the effect that that has on a life.
Now on Lord’s day we read in Chronicles and there you get the ark brought into the temple when “all the work was finished that Solomon made”, 2 Chron 5: 1. It is a very interesting thing. I think this is somewhat different. In Zion when the ark was brought in in Psalm 132, there is no reference to the staves being drawn out, for instance. This seems to be final; there is something very blessed about this. Even the language is glorious: “into the oracle of the house, into the most holy place, under the wings of the cherubim”. This is the ark being brought into the “most holy place”. I think, beloved brethren, that that is beyond what Christ is to me. I think that is what Christ is to God. I think 2 Chronicles 5 is what the ark is to God. The interesting thing is that it is not exactly God that brings in the ark here, but it is in the affections of the people: “And king Solomon, and all the assembly of Israel, that were assembled to him before the ark, sacrificed sheep and oxen which could not be counted nor numbered for multitude”, and they brought the dedicated things. I think it is in the ordering of God that the understanding, not only of what Christ is to me - that is mount Zion - but what Christ is to God is something that is to be shared by the saints. It is to be known. In John’s gospel, at the end of John 17, the Lord Jesus, speaking to His Father, says, “Father, as to those whom thou hast given me, I desire that where I am they also may be with me, that they may behold my glory which thou hast given me”, v 24. I think this is something of which in the precious ways of God we might be given some glimpse, not only of what Christ is to us, beloved brethren, but what Christ is to God. I suggest 2 Chronicles 5 might be what Christ is to God. That is an even greater thing than what Christ is to me; this is the “most holy place”.
Just finally, you may think it strange that I read of the woman in John 8. You might say, ’I cannot see the connection’. This was a problem. This was an issue, you may say, amongst the people of God. Here we are in the responsible week, and we know what it is that sometimes issues come up which are difficult to solve. What they did here - and I do not want to speak about the particular details - is to “set her in the midst”. I think the midst belongs to Jesus, beloved brethren. I would suggest that even in matters where there is concern and exercise - and matters have to be met and matters have to be dealt with - if we put the matter, the issue, in the midst and constantly fix our eyes only on that, we may find difficulty. I believe in any matter Christ is to have the pre-eminence. The first matter you would think of, even in relation to difficulties among the saints, is what is due to Christ. The place in the midst belongs to Christ.
That is just my simple impression: what Christ is for me; what Christ is for God; and, even in the simple issues that we have to confront, let us make sure, beloved brethren, that in everything Christ has the pre-eminence. And if, sadly, we have things which we have to adjust, let us make sure we do it as keeping our eyes fixed upon Christ. The issue itself will be resolved, but let it not be the central thing. Let Christ be the central thing in everything we do! For His Name’s sake.
Edinburgh
14th June 2011