Not only was Jehoshaphat restored from his wanderings and sad affinity, “he returned to his house in peace to Jerusalem.” But we read further, “Jehoshaphat dwelt at Jerusalem.” What grace and mercy, not only to be restored to the true place, gathered to the blessed Person of Christ, the only Center—as Jerusalem was the only place where the Lord’s name was then recorded. But to dwell there. Beloved reader, do you dwell there? Do you sit beneath His shadow with great delight? Is His fruit sweet to your taste? Has He brought you to His banqueting house, and is His banner over you Love? Have you heard His words, “For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them?” Do you dwell there? This is the only dwelling-place the Lord can really own. Yes, “And Jehoshaphat dwelt at Jerusalem.” Happy place of rest from all the war, and toil, and danger, of following the lying words of the king’s prophets.
Having found peace and rest, did he now sink in indolence? Far from it, “he went out again through the people... and brought them back unto the Lord God of their fathers.” Now would it not be most blessed to arise and do likewise. Can anything be more pleasing to the great Shepherd than to go out and seek to bring back the whole flock to Himself the Lord? It is not bringing them to this party or to that, but to the Lord. Perhaps nothing has discouraged those thus gathered back to the Lord more than the trouble which often arises in cases of discipline. Let us then attend most carefully to Jehoshaphat’s instructions in this very matter. “He set judges in the land, throughout all the fenced cities of Judah, city by city.” Surely this points us to what the Lord has done in this matter. Offenses do come. But has He not appointed the few or many gathered to Himself to judge? Has He not by His presence with them, in whatever city or place, made their judgment binding? (Matt, 18:18-20.) He is with them, and thus what they bind on earth is bound in heaven.
This seems foreshadowed in the striking words of Jehoshaphat. “And he said to the judges, Take heed what ye do: for ye judge not for man, but for the Lord, who is with you in the judgment.” Oh, how often this is forgotten in the discipline of the assembly! If we saw the Lord present, should we act as we do? Or should we sow discord by calling in question the solemn judgment of the assembly, or the few truly gathered to the Lord, who is with them in the judgment?
Next to truly owning the Lord present in the judgment, is the state of our own souls. “Wherefore now let the fear of the lord be upon you; take heed and do it.... And he charged them saying, Thus shall ye do in the fear of the lord, faithfully and with a perfect heart.” We remember a case where an assembly was nearly broken to pieces by man’s self-will in a case of discipline. At the very climax of their trouble and forgetfulness of the Lord’s presence, an aged brother said, “Shall we read Isaiah 11:33And shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord: and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears: (Isaiah 11:3)? ‘And shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord,’” &c. Immediately the Person of the blessed Lord when down here was brought before them. If He was of quick understanding in the fear of Jehovah, what state of soul ought they to be in? The wiles of Satan were broken: that assembly was delivered by that verse of scripture. They bowed together in the fear of the Lord, and were forthwith all of one mind. These are much needed lessons at the present time.
How striking the order of this chapter. As Jehoshaphat returned to Jerusalem so we must personally return to the only true Center, the Lord Himself, and that in peace. How perfect that peace which He gives us! And we must abide there; dwell in His presence, in perfect rest and peace. We must in faith go out among the Lord’s people, and bring them back to the Lord. We must own His very presence, with the two or three gathered to His name. We must remember in all cases of discipline He is with us in the judgment. All must be judged in the fear of the Lord faithfully, and with a perfect heart. “There must be no partiality. And now “Deal courageously, and the Lord shall be with the good.” He will make manifest what He approves.
The reader may say, That is most instructive in cases of internal difficulties and discipline; but what is so perplexing is this: If you are truly brought back to the Lord, the only true Center, and in His fear seek only to do those things that are pleasing to Him and in His name, you find there are great numbers arrayed against you, and against the blessed place of rest and peace God has given you. These also profess to be the children of God as well as you; yet their opposition is most determined. Is not this very perplexing?
This question will very properly bring us for an answer to chapter 20. Here we have the very picture of what you find. We have seen Jehoshaphat restored in rest to the only center God owned on earth—Jerusalem. “It came to pass after this also, that the children of Moab, and the children of Ammon, and with them other beside the Ammonites, came against Jehoshaphat to battle.” There was a very great multitude. And they were the natural relations of Israel. As we see, they were the children of Ammon and Moab, and mount Seir, or of Esau—children of the flesh; but bitter, most bitter enemies of Israel. If you are truly gathered to Christ, and own Him as the only Center, as in the first ways of the Church, just as Jehoshaphat was restored to Jerusalem, God’s center, then assuredly a great multitude will come against you. This is so in every part of the world at this moment, but those that come against you are the very persons who ought to be with you—yea, the opposition extends to those who have a name to live, and are dead; all will be against the truth of the Lord’s presence with those gathered to His name. It is a fact that cannot be denied, that every sect or party on earth is opposed to this inestimable privilege—the saints of the Lord gathered to Himself. Sometimes the heart is ready to faint at the sight of so many Ammonites, children of Moab, and of Mount Seir, all, all against you. What are we to do? What did Jehoshaphat? “And Jehoshaphat feared, and set himself to seek the Lord, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah.” He did not rush into battle. The flesh is always ready for contention: pamphlet for pamphlet, railing for railing. Not so the Spirit. Does the fear of the Lord rule our hearts? Have we set ourselves to seek the Lord? Oh, that was beautiful! May we thus set ourselves, more and more, to seek the Lord. We are deeply convinced this is the real question at issue—Do we, or do we not, own the Lord?
Yes, let us proclaim a fast; let us refuse the natural resources of war. What so mighty as real faith in God? And Jehoshaphat was not alone: “And Judah gathered themselves together, to ask help of the Lord; even out of all the cities of Judah they came to seek the Lord.” Oh, ye children of God in every part of the world, is not this a word to us? Let us neither fight, nor be discouraged. More than ever let us gather together unto the Lord, to seek help of the Lord.
Now look at Jehoshaphat as he stood in the congregation of Judah and Jerusalem, in the house of the Lord. All the twelve tribes were not with him. Their brethren after the flesh were coming against them, if possible to destroy Jerusalem. The whole professing church of Christ is not with those gathered to Christ; and a multitude are determined to destroy the true center of gathering unto, and really owning, the Lord present. Many we little expected are seeking to destroy what they once professed. Now, can you say that you are standing in the congregation of, however few, the only true Jerusalem now on earth? For is there anything on earth the Lord fully owns but those truly gathered to Him, and thus standing? If you are quite sure this is your standing-place, then listen to the prayer of faith: “ Ο Lord God of our fathers, art not thou God in heaven? and rulest not thou over all the kingdoms of the heathen? and in thine hand is there not power and might, so that none is able to withstand thee? Art not thou our God, who didst drive out the inhabitants of this land before thy people Israel, and gavest it to the seed of Abraham, thy friend, forever? And they dwelt therein, and have built thee a sanctuary therein for thy name, saying, If, when evil cometh upon us.... we stand before this house, and in thy presence (for thy name is in this house), and cry unto thee in our affliction, then thou wilt hear and help. And now, behold, the children of Ammon, and Moab, and Mount Seir, whom thou wouldest not let Israel invade when they came out of the land of Egypt, but they turned from them, and destroyed them not; behold, I say, how they reward us, to come to cast us out of thy possession which thou hast given us to inherit. Ο our God, wilt not thou judge them? For we have no might against this great company that cometh against us; neither know we what to do: but our eyes are upon thee.”
Have we thus been brought before God? Do we know Him thus as our God and Father? Can we thus speak to Him? Can we, in intelligent faith, say, Thou hast driven out our enemies, and given us, in Thy pure grace, Thy free favor, a blessed sanctuary in Thy presence, in these last days? Are we conscious of the unspeakable security of those words, whatever evil may assail us, the blessed safety, “in thy presence”? In that presence can we not, like Jehoshaphat, tell the Lord our God of all that are gathering, like a cloud, against us? Is it not against Him? They come also to cast us out of our place of privilege— “Thy possession.” This is what evil spirits are binding men and leading them to do. It was very fine for a man who had an army of eleven hundred and sixty thousand men ready prepared for war (chap, 17), to hear him say, “We have no might against this great company that cometh against us; neither know we what to do; but our eyes are upon thee.” Instead of relying on the army, “All Judah stood before the Lord, with their little ones, their wives, and their children.”
Oh, ye children of God throughout the whole world, is not this your only true place, to stand before the Lord? Faith alone can take such a place of dependence. What a contrast: on the one hand there was the great multitude of Moab, Ammon, and Mount Seir, ready to destroy them; on the other, all Judah stood before the Lord. It was not the Philistines or the Syrians; that is, it is not the enmity of the world that threatens, but those much nearer to us. An activity and opposition to the all-important fact of the presence of the Lord with those gathered in grace to Him is as distinctly manifest at this moment, as was then shown in the determination to destroy God center at that time. Is not that place of blessing—His presence—of God? Has He not, in His grace, given that place and center to all who hear His voice? Will He not defend it? Is it of God, or is it not? Is it His will that we should be mixed with the confusion and human will around, or truly separated unto Him? Did He make Jerusalem His only center, and would He not defend it? Has He now made the being separated from all around unto Himself the only center? and will He not preserve and defend His own?
In our next we hope to hear what God said, and see how He delivered all Judah who stood before the Lord, and in this learn how He will surely deliver all those truly gathered to Him in this day.