April 5, 2025 • 54 mins
John Brereton continues this Part 2 of 4 Parts from the late 1970's on these truths found from 'cover to cover' in the scriptures regarding as to how, where and Whom to meet unto.
Romans 15:4: “For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope.”
We find here the God-given authority to turn to that which was written aforetime — to that which was written before the Book of Romans was written — indeed to go back to the earliest parts of the Word of God, because we are told that they have been “written for our learning.” When we minimize or turn away from the truth contained in pictures and principles found in the Old Testament, we are turning away from that which was written for our learning.
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Mark (00:00):
We now come to the second part in a four-part series on a
truth in the Scripture calledthe"Divine Ground of Gathering"
given in the late 1970's by JohnBrereton.
In this address John continuesin the Old Testament on these
principles and continues intothe early days of our Lord Jesus
in the gospel.
Grab your Bible and yournotebook and pray through these
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scriptures as John lays them outover the next few minutes.
John Brereton (00:25):
Before turning to the Old Testament once again, to
follow in our meeting thisafternoon, the outline of the
truth concerning meetingtogether in the name of our Lord
Jesus Christ.
I would like to turn first ofall to a verse in the book of
(00:49):
Romans chapter 15 and verse 4.
For whatsoever things werewritten aforetime were written
for our learning, that wethrough patience and comfort of
the Now, beloved brethren, wefind here the God given
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authority to turn to that whichwas written aforetime, to that
which was written before thebook of Romans was written,
indeed to go back to theearliest parts of the Word of
God, because we are told thatthey have been written for our
(01:42):
benefit.
And when we discount or turnaway from the truth contained in
pictures, in types, inprinciples, contained in the Old
Testament, we are turning awayfrom that which was written for
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us.
Now, I'd like to turn toDeuteronomy chapter 12.
Deuteronomy chapter 12, and wemight begin reading at verse 8.
Ye shall not do after all thethings that we do here this day
(02:24):
every man whatsoever is right inhis own eyes.
For ye are not as yet come tothe rest and to the inheritance
which the Lord your God givethyou.
But when ye go over Jordan anddwell in the land which the Lord
your God giveth you to inherit,and when he giveth you rest from
(02:47):
all your enemies round about, sothat ye dwell in safety, then
there shall be a place which theLord your God shall choose to
cause His name to dwell there.
Thither shall ye bring all thatI command you, your burnt
(03:08):
offerings and your sacrifices,your tithes and the heave
offering of your hand, and allyour choice vows which ye vow
unto the Lord.
And ye shall rejoice before theLord your God, ye and your sons
and your daughters and yourmenservants and your
maidservants, and the Levitethat is within your gates, for
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as much as he hath no part norinheritance with you.
Take heed to thyself that thouoffer not thy burnt offerings in
every place that thou seest, butin the place which the Lord
shall choose in one of thytribes.
(03:54):
There thou shalt offer thy burntofferings, and there thou shalt
do All that I command theebrethren, we noticed last night
that in the 22nd chapter ofGenesis, God introduced us to
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the concept, to the idea thatthere would be a place chosen by
to which he would lead the manof faith.
And there, in response to thelove shown out in the gift of
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the Son by the Father, the manof faith could be led of God to
the place where he would findthe ram caught in a thicket by
his horns, that picture of theLord Jesus Christ, and there
enjoy the privilege of worship.
(05:01):
Worship in the very presence ofthe Lord Jesus.
Now, when we come to the book ofDeuteronomy, we find the
direction that God givesconcerning that place.
As I said, in Genesis 22, we aresimply told that Abraham, the
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man of faith, was led by God tothe place.
Now we're given instructionconcerning the place, and we
find that, first of all, thereis a distinct warning given
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against every man doing thatwhich is right in his own eyes.
We are told specifically at theend of verse eight,"Ye shall not
do after all the things that yedo here this day,"Every man
whatsoever is right in his owneyes." In other words, beloved
(06:10):
brethren, The concept of everyman deciding for himself Without
reference to the instructionthat God gives is condemned at
the start.
We are not left to our owndevices.
(06:31):
There is direction.
The next thing we are noticedhere is that it is the Lord who
will choose.
So we're told in the 11th verse,"Then there shall be a place
which the Lord your God shallchoose to cause His name to
(06:56):
dwell there." We're not toldhere where that place was to be,
but we are told that there wasto be a place.
And it would be characterized bythe name of the Lord being
there- cause his name to dwellthere.
(07:20):
And the children of Israel weretold that was where they were to
come.
Now, you know the history of thechildren of Israel, that there
were twelve tribes.
When the land of Israel wasdivided.
It was divided into twelveportions, and each one of the
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tribes was given a portion ofthe land.
I have no doubt that each one ofthose twelve tribes would have
very much liked to have had theplace in their area of the
country, but they were givennothing to do concerning the
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choosing of the place.
And when we come down to the13th verse, it says,"take heed
to thyself that thou offer notthy burnt offerings in every
place that thou seest.
But in the place which the Lordshall choose in one of thy
tribes, in one of the tribes,there would be one place chosen
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of God in one of the tribes, andthey were all as one nation to
acknowledge that one place thatthe Lord had chosen to put His
name there.
"And so the word says, take heedto thyself." Oh, brethren, how
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much we need that instructiontoday to take heed.
It seems that we live perhaps ina day like never before.
When the popular thing is forevery man to do that which is
right in his own eyes.
Freedom of choice.
(09:20):
We have it actually included inthe Constitution.
Every man has freedom ofreligion.
And he's free to choose how he'sgoing to worship.
Beloved brethren, it is true.
And we thank God for it thatfreedom is extended in this land
as far as not being repressed.
(09:44):
But you and I are not given byGod the freedom or the right to
make our own choice.
He has given us, as he gave thechildren of Israel, the most
explicit directions.
And when he gave thesedirections to the children of
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Israel, let us remember what weread in Romans, chapter 15.
That what was written beforehandwas written for our learning.
The Old Testament is not, Irepeat, not a Jewish history
(10:25):
book.
It is the Word of God that hasbeen written for your learning
and for mine.
And here we're told, take heed,a place for Israel.
And in God establishing thisplace, this instruction for
Israel, He was speaking to you,and He was speaking to me.
(10:51):
So He says, take heed to thyselfthat thou offer not thy burnt
offerings in every place thatthou seest.
But, in the place which the Lordshall choose in one of thy
tribes.
Now would you turn on, in thebook of Deuteronomy, to chapter
(11:14):
15 for a moment.
Just a portion I would like toread here.
I don't intend to comment muchon it this afternoon, but
perhaps we'll refer to it againtonight.
Chapter 15 and verse 8.
But thou shalt open thine handwide unto him, and shalt surely
(11:34):
lend him sufficient for his needin that which he wanteth.
Beware that there be not athought in thy wicked heart,
saying, The seventh year, theyear of release, is at hand, and
thine eye be evil against thypoor brother, and thou givest
him not.
And he cry unto the Lord againstthee, and it be sin unto thee.
(11:55):
Thou shalt surely give him, andthine heart shall not be grieved
when thou givest unto him,because that for this thing the
Lord thy God shall bless thee inall thy works, and in all that
thou puttest thine hand to.
For the poor shall never ceaseout of the land, therefore I
command thee, saying, Thou shaltopen thine hand wide unto thy
(12:17):
brother, to thy poor and to thyneedy.
One of the characteristics ofthese ones who were going to
enter into the land was a careone for another- a care.
Now if you'd go on to the 16thchapter and the 16th verse.
(12:43):
Three times in a year shall allthy males appear before the Lord
thy God in the place which Heshall choose.
In the Feast of UnleavenedBread, and in the Feast of
Weeks, and in the Feast ofTabernacles, and they shall not
appear before the Lord empty.
(13:07):
The seventeenth chapter, and thefifth verse.
Then shalt thou bring forth thatman or that woman which hath
committed that wicked thing untothy gates, even that man or that
woman, and shalt stone them withstones till they die.
At the mouth of two witnesses,or three witnesses, shall he
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that is worthy of death be putto death.
But at the mouth of one witnesshe shall not be put to death.
The hands of the witnesses shallbe first upon him to put him to
death.
And afterward the hands of allthe people, so thou shalt put
the evil away from among you.
(13:51):
If there arise a matter too hardfor thee in judgment, between
blood and blood, between pleaand plea, and between stroke and
stroke, being matters ofcontroversy within thy gates,
then shalt thou arise and getthee up into the place which the
Lord thy God shall choose.
(14:12):
And thou shalt come unto thepriests, the Levites, and unto
the judge that shall be in thosedays, and inquire, and they
shall show thee the sentence ofjudgment.
And thou shalt do according tothe sentence which they of that
place which the Lord shallchoose shall show thee.
(14:34):
And thou shalt observe to doaccording to all that they
inform thee, according to thesentence of the law which they
shall teach thee, and accordingto the judgment which they shall
tell thee, thou shalt do.
Thou shalt not decline from thesentence which they shall show
thee to the right hand or to theleft.
(14:57):
And the man that will dopresumptuously, and will not
hearken unto the priest thatstandeth to minister there
before the Lord thy God, Or untothe judge, even that man shall
die, and thou shalt put away theevil from Israel.
And all the people shall hear,and fear, and do no more
(15:21):
presumptuously.
Now brethren, if you perhapsrecall last evening, a comment
was made as to how often in theWord of God- the number three
comes up in connection with thetruth that God gives us
(15:42):
concerning how his people shouldmeet together collectively to
worship Him.
We noticed how it was on thethird day that Abraham came to
that place that the Lord wasleading him to.
And now we find That when Godgave Israel instruction
(16:07):
concerning the place that Hewould choose where He would put
His name, three specific thingsare given us in connection with
that place.
In the 16th chapter ofDeuteronomy, we have the first,
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and that is worship.
We find that Israel was toldThat three times in the year
they were to go up to the placethat the Lord would choose.
You notice the language that'sused in the 16th verse.
(16:53):
Three times a year shall all thymales appear before the Lord thy
God in the place which He shallchoose.
Three times.
The Feast of Unleavened Bread.
The Feast of Weeks and the Feastof Tabernacles.
(17:14):
Now, the Jew, the Israelite, Ishould say, was given no choice.
He was specifically forbidden tomake his own selection as to
where he was to go.
He was not to do what was rightin his own eyes.
And now he is told that when hehad these offerings, these
(17:38):
sacrifices, these feasts tokeep, that were particularly
connected with offering up theworship that was belonged to
God, he was to go to the placethat the Lord should choose
(17:59):
brethren written for our.
The next thing we notice is inthe 17th chapter.
First of all, we are shown howthat holiness becomes those who
would be identified with thatplace and name.
(18:20):
And so they are told of how theyare to act concerning evil.
It is to be judged and to be putaway.
And then we are told in the 17thchapter that when matters arose
that were too hard for them,they didn't know what to do.
(18:44):
They didn't know what the answerwas.
What were they to do?
They were forbidden.
They had for every man to dowhat was right in his own eyes.
But now the Lord makes provisionfor an orderly settlement of
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difficulties.
They were to go, says in theninth verse, thou shalt come
unto the priests, the Levites,and unto the judge that shall be
in those days, and inquire.
And they shall show thee thesentence of judgment.
Where were they to go for thissentence of judgment?
(19:27):
Why, the end of the eighth versesays, Get thee up into the place
which the Lord thy God shallchoose.
There was to be a place chosenof God.
This same place where His namewould be.
Where binding decisions could berendered.
(19:54):
I say binding- because we aretold specifically in the
eleventh verse according to thesentence of the law which they
shall teach thee and accordingto the judgment which they shall
tell thee.
Now, beloved brethren, God didnot, He never has, and He never
(20:15):
will.
Apart from the man Christ Jesus,God never has given to man
infallibility.
Men make mistakes, but what Hehas conferred upon man is
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authority.
And we see it very graphicallypictured to us here for Israel.
They were to go to the placewhere the Lord had chosen to put
His name.
There they were to present theproblem.
And the decision that wasrendered was binding upon them.
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They would be shown.
Now, the instruction was giventhat it should be according to
the law, that is, according towhat is revealed in the word.
But the decision was bindingupon all those who recognize
that the center Where the Lordhad placed his name was the
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place where binding decisionswere rendered.
Brethren, this was written forour learning.
Now, I would like you to turnover with me, if you will, to
first Kings chapter.
When we come to 1 Kings chapter8, Solomon has built the temple.
(21:51):
You remember how last night wewere noticing that Abraham was
led to the land of Moriah, andthe temple was built on Mount
Moriah, that Lord had decidedwhere it was that this place
should be, where His name shouldbe, and where the children of
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Israel should go.
And that place was Jerusalem.
The temple has now been built bythe time we come to 1st Kings
chapter 8.
But we still have onecharacteristic of the place that
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we have not dealt with yet.
You remember how we mentionedthat there are three.
The first is worship.
The second is binding decisionsrendered in the name of the
Lord.
And thirdly, in 1 Kings chapter8 and verse 29, that thine eyes
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may be opened toward this housenight and day, even toward the
place of which thou hast said,My name shall be there, that
thou mayest hearken unto theprayer which thy servant shall
make toward this place, andhearken thou to the supplication
(23:28):
of thy servant, and of thypeople Israel, when they shall
pray toward this place, and hearthou in heaven thy dwelling
place, and when thou hearest,forgive.
Now, beloved brethren, here wasthe place.
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Jerusalem, where the Lord hadchosen to place His name.
In one of the tribes, and allIsrael was responsible,
according to Deuteronomy chapter16, to make that journey up to
Jerusalem.
First of all, worship.
(24:11):
Secondly, binding decisions.
And thirdly, we find prayeridentified with that place.
To me, this is most important.
I trust we'll remember it inconnection with what I hope to
have before us tonight, if theLord will.
Because the very same pattern isbrought forward into the New
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Testament.
Worship, binding decisions, andprayer.
Three things connected withwhere the Lord has placed His
name.
Well, Solomon's prayer was thatas they prayed toward that
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place, as they acknowledged thatplace, that the Lord had chosen.
That the Lord would hear andanswer their prayer.
Now, beloved brethren, the Lorddid not leave it to man to
choose.
The Lord was the one who fromthe very beginning back in
(25:20):
Genesis The Lord comes to dwellthere amongst His people on the
basis of redemption, and therethey have in that cloud the
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evidence before their eyes.
That the Lord is there.
Their responsibility was toacknowledge what the Lord had
chosen, what the Lord had done,where the Lord had placed His
name.
(26:05):
Now, I'd like you to turn overto First Kings chapter 12 for a
moment- verse 25, then Jibalbuilt Secum in Mount Eum.
And dwelt therein, and went outfrom thence, and built Penuel.
And Jeroboam said in his heart,now shall the kingdom return to
(26:27):
the house of David.
If this people go up to dosacrifice in the house of the
Lord at Jerusalem, Then shallthe heart of this people turn
again unto their Lord, even untoRehoboam, king of Judah, and
they shall kill me, and go againto Rehoboam, king of Judah.
(26:47):
Whereupon the king took counsel,and made two calves of gold, and
said unto them, It is too muchfor you to go up to Jerusalem.
Behold thy gods, O Israel, whichbrought thee up out of the land
of Egypt.
And he set the one in Bethel,and the other put he in Dan.
And this thing became a sin, forthe people went to worship
(27:11):
before the One.
And he made a house of highplaces, and made priests of the
lowest of the people, which werenot of the sons of Levi.
And Jeroboam ordained a feast inthe eighth month, on the
fifteenth day of the month, likeunto the feast that is in Judah.
And he offered upon the altar,so did he in the Bethel,
(27:36):
sacrificing unto the calves thathe had made.
And he placed in Bethel thepriests of the high places which
he had made.
So he offered upon the altarwhich he had made in Bethel the
fifteenth day of the eighthmonth, even in the month which
he had devised of his own heart,and ordained a feast unto the
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children of Israel.
And he offered upon the altarand burned incense.
And behold, there came a man ofGod out of Judah by the word of
the Lord unto Bethel.
And Jeroboam stood by the altarto burn incense, and he cried
against the altar in the word ofthe Lord.
Now brethren Solomon has died.
(28:21):
The kingdom of Israel has becomedivided.
Ten tribes have followed thisman called Jeroboam.
And two tribes have remainedfaithful to the house of David.
And they continue to recognizethat God's center is at
Jerusalem.
(28:42):
The Lord had not moved His name.
The Lord had not establishedother centers, even though
Israel was in a divided state.
But Jeroboam was what this worldwould call a wise man.
(29:02):
And Jeroboam, as he says here,reasoned in his heart.
And this was how he reasoned.
He said if this nation, if theten tribes that had followed
him, were to continue to go upto Jerusalem, If they were to
continue to recognize that God'scenter was at Jerusalem.
(29:29):
The effect would be that beforelong they would all be back
together again.
And he would have lost hisposition as king over the ten
tribes.
This is what he specificallysays in the 27th verse.
If this people go up to dosacrifice in the house of the
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Lord at Jerusalem, then shallthe heart of this people turn
again unto their Lord, even untoRehoboam, king of Judah.
And they shall kill me and goagain to Rehoboam, king of
Judah.
Beloved Brethren, simply put,the principle is this.
The recognition of one centermakes for publicly the having of
(30:20):
one people.
Publicly, the having of onepeople.
It wasn't that they were not thechildren of Israel.
But the act of Jeroboam inestablishing two more centers of
his own devising at Bethel andat Dan was to perpetuate the
(30:46):
division of the people of God.
Instead of having one centerwhich would bring them together
again, Jeroboam now says thereare three.
And he even establishes a formof worship.
It's been most striking to one'sown soul in meditating upon
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this, as to why Jeroboam chosetwo golden calves.
Perhaps another brother here cantell me afterwards and explain
to me something about this as tohow he feels that Jeroboam came
to this conclusion, but what hasstruck one's own soul is simply
this, that Jeroboam already hada precedent to follow.
(31:30):
He could look back and say,Israel did this once before,
when they were in the wildernesson the way to Canaan, to the
promised land.
And with such a important man asAaron, they had worshipped a
golden calf.
And Jeroboam has a precedentthat he can follow.
Regardless of the reason thatled him to choose two calves, he
(31:53):
gives the people of Israel, theten tribes that had followed
him, two more centers.
But they were not given of God.
No suggestion that the Lord'sname was there, no suggestion
that God had ordained them, butwe are specifically told, over
(32:16):
and over again.
The twenty ninth verse, he setup the one in Bethel.
The twenty first, thirty firstverse, he made an house of high
places.
The thirty second verse,Jeroboam ordained a feast in the
eighth month.
The end of the thirty secondverse, sacrificing unto the
calves that he had made, heplaced in Bethel the priests of
(32:40):
the high places which he hadmade.
So he offered upon the altarwhich he had made in Bethel the
15th day of the 8th month.
Now brethren, there was alreadya feast of Jehovah identified
with God's center at Jerusalemon the 15th day of the 7th
month.
All Jeroboam did was to copy it.
He says, we'll have ours on thefifteenth day of the eighth
(33:01):
month.
But it was all man made, manestablished.
It was man centered, and notGod's.
Now, beloved brethren, God senta prophet.
The thirteenth chapter in thefirst verse, God sent a prophet
from Judah, and he came up toBethel.
(33:25):
And he says at Bethel.
And he cried against the altarin the word of the Lord.
You can read the 13th chapter atyour leisure if you choose to.
But it tells us veryspecifically there that God
would deal in his own time withthis center that Jeroboam had
(33:46):
made.
But the truth of the matter isthat it lasted for 300 years
before what God said wouldhappen to that center happened.
The point for you and I trust,to profit by this afternoon is
that it was a man made center,not of God, and the effect was
(34:12):
to perpetuate the division thathad come in amongst the people
of God.
Now if you would turn over to2nd Kings for a moment.
2nd Kings chapter 10.
Almost a hundred years has goneby since what we read of in 1st
(34:35):
Kings chapter 12.
The centers have gone on.
Even though God showed veryclearly that they did not have
His sanction.
Now we come almost a hundredyears later to 2 Kings chapter
10 and verse 29.
It's speaking of a king here ofIsrael by the name of Jehu.
(34:58):
And it says, how be it from thesins of Jeroboam the son of
Nebat, who made Israel to sin,Jehu departed not from after
them, to wit, the golden calvesthat were in Bethel, and that
were in Dan.
And the Lord said unto Jehu,because thou hast done well in
(35:19):
executing that which is right inmine eyes, and hast done unto
the house of Ahab according toall that was in mine heart, thy
children of the fourthgeneration shall sit on the
throne of Israel.
But Jehu took no heed to walk inthe law of the Lord God of
Israel with all his heart for hedeparted not from the sins of
(35:42):
Jeroboam, which made Israel tosin.
Now, brethren, Jehu did muchthat met with God's approval.
He carried out a programconcerning his enemies, the
house of Ahab.
He carried out a program thatGod had instituted and God
(36:05):
commended him for it.
But we are given to see that onehundred years had not in any way
diminished in the eyes of Godthe significance, the sin of
establishing those more centersat Bethel and Dan with their
(36:31):
golden calves that simply keptthe people of God apart.
And after telling us that Jehuhad not turned away from the
sins of Jeroboam, andspecifically identifying what
(36:52):
the sin was.
Those golden calves at Betheland at Dan.
Those centers, man made,established by Jeroboam.
He then tells us of the goodwork that Jehu had done.
Of the reward that Jehu wasgoing to have for the good work
that he had done.
(37:14):
And then reminds us, but, hestill went on with those centers
at Bethel and Dan, and they arecalled, specifically, He
departed not from the sins ofJeroboam, which made Israel to
(37:35):
sin.
Oh, beloved brethren, thesethings are written for our
learning.
I'd like you now to turn with meto the book of Ezra.
By this time, approximately 300years has gone by.
The ten tribes that had followedJeroboam, had gone into
(37:57):
captivity in Assyria, and as faras man's records are concerned,
they have disappeared.
We sometimes speak of them asthe lost tribes of Israel.
Then, the two tribes that hadremained true to the house of
David, that had continued toacknowledge God's center at
Jerusalem, they too had goneinto captivity in Babylon, under
(38:22):
Nebuchadnezzar.
And then, 70 years had passed,and God had determined that His
people should now return to theland of promise, to the land of
Canaan.
Jeremiah had said that theywould be a captive in that far
off land for 70 years.
(38:44):
And now the 70 years is over.
God has raised up a man by thename of Cyrus, a man I might say
whose name is given to us onehundred and fifty years before
he was born.
And Cyrus was raised up of Godto grant deliverance to the two
(39:04):
tribes and enable them to returnto the land of promise.
But brethren, where are theygoing to go?
They are forbidden according toDeuteronomy chapter 12, from
doing what is right in their owneyes.
So what do they do?
If you look at the Ezra chapterthree and verse one, and when
(39:25):
the seventh month was come andthe children of Israel were in
their cities, the peoplegathered themselves together as
one man to Jerusalem.
Jerusalem, oh God- centered.
The place that God had chosen toput his name there.
And they go to Jerusalem.
(39:48):
The third verse.
And they set the altar upon hisbases, for fear was upon them
because of the people of thosecountries.
And they offered burnt offeringsthereon unto the Lord, even
burnt offerings morning andevening.
The sixth verse.
From the first day of theseventh month began they to
(40:08):
offer burnt offerings unto theLord.
But the foundation of the templeof the Lord was not yet laid.
The 11th verse, And they sangtogether by course in praising
and giving thanks unto the Lord,because he is good, for his
mercy endureth forever towardIsrael.
And all the people shouted witha great shout when they praised
(40:28):
the Lord, because the foundationof the house of the Lord was
laid.
But many of the priests andLevites and chief of the
fathers, who were ancient men,that had seen the first house,
when the foundations of thishouse was laid before their
eyes, wept with a loud voice,and many shouted aloud for joy,
(40:50):
so that the people could notdiscern the noise of the shout
of joy from the noise of theweeping of the people.
For the people shouted with aloud shout, and the noise was
heard far off.
The foundation of the temple islaid.
Where?
At Jerusalem.
Solomon's temple had beendestroyed.
(41:11):
And now the ancient men thathave been brought back to
Jerusalem, they see thefoundation of the temple laid
and they weep because theycompare it with Solomon's temple
and it seems such a poor, feeblereflection of the temple that
(41:32):
they had known.
But, beloved brethren, therewere those- the young ones who
shouted for joy, because therewas to be a temple.
It may be a feeble thing.
It may be a feeble testimony.
It was a feeble company.
But they had come back to wherethe Lord had placed His name.
(41:56):
And they built the temple againwhere the Lord had placed His
name.
Nothing left up to theirimagination.
God's center was at Jerusalem.
Daniel had acknowledged it fromBabylon.
When he opened his windowstoward Jerusalem.
And had prayed as Solomon haddirected in 1 Kings chapter 8
(42:23):
towards Jerusalem.
Now they've come back toJerusalem.
And this house was finished onthe third day of the month Adar,
which was in the sixth year ofthe reign of Darius the king.
And the children of Israel, thepriests and the Levites and the
rest of the children of thecaptivity kept the dedication of
this house of God with joy andoffered at the dedication of
(42:46):
this house of God and a hundredbulls, 200 rams, 400 lambs, and
for a sin offering for allIsrael 12"he goats" according to
the number of the tribes ofIsrael.
And they set the priests intheir divisions and the Levites
in their courses for the serviceof God which is at Jerusalem, as
(43:10):
it is written in the book ofMoses.
And the children of thecaptivity kept the Passover upon
the fourteenth day of the firstmonth.
The house is finished.
There is joy.
Where are they?
At Jerusalem! They are now tooffer their sacrifices.
But brethren, there are reallyonly two tribes there.
(43:35):
It's true there were some fromothers, as we'll notice later
on.
But, the fact remains thatbasically there were only two.
It was a poor, feeble companycompared to the children of
Israel that had entered thatland of promise so many years
before.
But they were at God's center.
(43:55):
They were where He had chosen toplace His name.
The temple was built.
And now it comes time to offerthe sin offering.
Are they going to offer the sinoffering for their two tribes?
No, they offer it for allIsrael.
Beloved brethren, what wasoffered there that day,
(44:17):
presented before God- allIsrael.
Twelve"he goats"- according tothe number of the tribes of
Israel.
Is that important?
Yes, beloved brethren, it isvery important.
What that little company, whatthey represented, what they
(44:40):
acted upon, what they presentedbefore God, was that they were
there on behalf of Israel- atGod's center, and they
acknowledged it in the sacrificethat they offered.
If you go on to the seventhchapter and the eighth verse, we
(45:03):
now read about Ezra.
I just want to refer to thesetwo verses very quickly in
passing.
The eighth verse of the seventhchapter.
And he, that is, Ezra, came toJerusalem in the fifth month,
which was in the seventh year ofthe king.
The eighth chapter and thethirty first verse.
(45:24):
Then we departed from the riverof Ahava on the twelfth day of
the first month to go untoJerusalem.
And the hand of our God was uponus, and he delivered us from the
hand of the enemy, and of suchas lay in wait by the way.
And we came to Jerusalem andabode there three days.
You remember how it says in theprevious chapter, the temple was
(45:47):
finished on the third day.
Here we find that Ezra has come.
This is perhaps 60 or 70 yearsafter the children of Israel.
Had come back.
Now Ezra comes up.
Where does he go?
Why, brethren, he goes to whereGod's center is, at Jerusalem.
(46:09):
It wasn't left to him to choosewhere to go.
It wasn't left to him to choosewhere he thought things would be
better.
Perhaps to feel that if he went,he was a very godly man.
And if he went to some otherplace, he might be able to start
something that would be moregodly.
God's center was at Jerusalem,and that's where He went.
(46:30):
And it tells us again, we cameto Jerusalem, abode there, three
days.
Oh, I believe, my brethren, inmy own heart, God uses this
third day, three days, threethings, over and over again, to
remind our hearts that thefoundation of all that we have
before us in these meetings isthe death and resurrection of
(46:51):
Christ.
You turn over with me to thebook of Nehemiah, for one verse.
The second chapter.
And the eleventh verse, Nehemiahnow comes along, another godly
man, perhaps not a man of faithto the extent that Ezra was, for
(47:12):
there is a decline, I believe,in going from Ezra to Nehemiah.
But the fact remains thatNehemiah now has an exercise to
go back to the land.
He gets permission from theking.
And where does he go?
The eleventh verse of the secondchapter.
So I came to Jerusalem and wasthere three days.
(47:35):
Three days.
Again- Nehemiah! Oh, if you readthe book of Nehemiah, you'll
find things weren't orderly atall at Jerusalem.
There was all sorts of failure.
But God's center was atJerusalem.
That was where Israel wasbeating together.
Acknowledging in theirsacrifices that they were one
(47:56):
nation before God.
And Nehemiah can do nothing lessbut to go to God's center at
Jerusalem.
To God's center at Jerusalem.
Now I would like you brethren,if you would, to turn over with
me to the book of Luke.
Our time is gone, if you'll bearwith me for just a few moments.
(48:19):
I would like to read just a fewverses in Luke's gospel.
Chapter 2.
Approximately 500 years has goneby, and where is God's center
still?
It is at Jerusalem, 500 yearslater.
And brethren, I just wouldmention in passing, as we read
(48:42):
these passages, It has been animmense comfort to my own soul
to realize that God maintained atestimony at Jerusalem.
It got to be very feeble, aswe'll find here.
But God maintained a testimonyat Jerusalem until the Lord
(49:05):
Jesus came, until he presentedhimself there.
Luke chapter 2 and verse 21.
And when eight days wereaccomplished for the
circumcising of the child, Hisname was called Jesus, which was
so named of the angel after Hewas conceived in the womb.
And when the days of herpurification according to the
(49:27):
law of Moses were accomplished,they brought him to Jerusalem to
present Him to the Lord.
Oh, couldn't they present him tothe Lord back in Bethlehem?
Why not in Nazareth?
God's center was at Jerusalem.
That was where the Lord hadplaced His Name.
And Joseph and Mary come toJerusalem and present Jesus
(49:54):
before the Lord there.
The twenty fifth verse.
And behold, there was a man inJerusalem whose name was Simeon,
and the same man was just anddevout, waiting for the
consolation of Israel, and theHoly Ghost was upon him, and it
was revealed unto him by theHoly Ghost that he should not
(50:15):
see death before he had seen theLord's Christ, and he came by
the Spirit into the temple.
Brethren, was Simeon where heshould be?
He was at Jerusalem.
The Holy Ghost told him that hewould see the Lord Christ.
And the Spirit brought him intothe temple to see Jesus.
(50:38):
Oh, beloved brethren, what awonderful picture this is.
We can read here, and we see sovery few, that we're looking for
redemption in Israel.
That we're looking for theMessiah to come.
But they were there, and theywere acknowledging God's center
at Jerusalem.
The 36th verse.
And there was one Anna, aprophetess, the daughter of
(51:01):
Phanuel of the tribe of Asher.
Oh, I love this.
It's as if God, as it were, saysto your heart and mine, I want
you to know that the ten tribeswere represented in that feeble
little company that was left.
Here was a representative fromthe tribe of Asher.
She was of a great age and hadlived with a husband seven years
from her virginity.
(51:21):
And she was a widow of aboutfourscore and four years, which
departed not from the temple,but served God with fastings and
prayers night and day.
And she coming in that instancegave thanks unto the Lord, and
spake of Him to all them thatlooked for redemption in
Jerusalem.
The thirty seventh verse says ofAnna, which departed not from
(51:42):
the temple, but served God withfastings and prayers night and
day and day.
Where did she remain from?
The tribe of Asher, the 10.
One of the 10 tribes.
Oh, my friends, my belovedbrethren here is a woman of
faith.
She has remained true to God'scenter at Jerusalem, and she
(52:04):
departs not from it night orday.
Now, if you'll allow me to readjust the 41st verse to the 46th
verse.
Now, his parents, that is theparents of the Lord Jesus went
to Jerusalem every year at theFeast of the Passover.
And when he was twelve yearsold, they went up to Jerusalem
(52:27):
after the custom of the feast.
And when they had fulfilled thedays as they returned, the child
Jesus tarried behind inJerusalem, and Joseph and His
mother knew not of it.
But they, supposing him to havebeen in the company, went a
day's journey.
And they sought Him among theirkinfolk and acquaintance, and
(52:50):
when they found Him not, theyturned back again to Jerusalem,
seeking Him.
And it came to pass that afterthree days they found Him in the
temple.
There's our three days again.
What has happened?
Brethren, the Lord remained herein this little picture that the
(53:12):
Lord, by His Spirit, bringsbefore us.
Joseph and Mary left Jerusalem,but Jesus remained there.
And they didn't realize, oh, howtragic it is to think of it.
They didn't realize that in thepath that they started out on,
(53:33):
they left the Lord behind.
They went without Jesus.
Oh, they sought Him amongsttheir acquaintance and their
kinfolk.
And how often this can be withus.
We can start off in doing thatwhich seems right in our own
eyes.
And we don't realize that theLord has been left out.
(53:53):
That in taking that path, wehave left the Lord behind.
He remained at Jerusalem.
And how could they find Himagain?
Not among their kinfolk andacquaintance.
They had to go back toJerusalem.
Back to Jerusalem.
And there at Jerusalem.
(54:14):
They found Him after three days.
Oh, beloved brethren, God haswritten these things for our
learning.
I trust now if the Lord tarriesthat this evening we will be
able to go into the NewTestament and follow this truth
as it appears in the NewTestament, but the principles
(54:37):
that we have found in the OldTestament, I trust we will find
remain true in the New.
And God has a place, and Heseeks- by His Spirit- to lead us
there.
We now come to the second part in a four-part series on a
truth in the Scripture calledthe"Divine Ground of Gathering"
given in the late 1970's by JohnBrereton.
In this address John continuesin the Old Testament on these
principles and continues intothe early days of our Lord Jesus
in the gospel.
Grab your Bible and yournotebook and pray through these
(00:21):
scriptures as John lays them outover the next few minutes.
John Brereton (00:25):
Before turning to the Old Testament once again, to
follow in our meeting thisafternoon, the outline of the
truth concerning meetingtogether in the name of our Lord
Jesus Christ.
I would like to turn first ofall to a verse in the book of
(00:49):
Romans chapter 15 and verse 4.
For whatsoever things werewritten aforetime were written
for our learning, that wethrough patience and comfort of
the Now, beloved brethren, wefind here the God given
(01:13):
authority to turn to that whichwas written aforetime, to that
which was written before thebook of Romans was written,
indeed to go back to theearliest parts of the Word of
God, because we are told thatthey have been written for our
(01:42):
benefit.
And when we discount or turnaway from the truth contained in
pictures, in types, inprinciples, contained in the Old
Testament, we are turning awayfrom that which was written for
(02:03):
us.
Now, I'd like to turn toDeuteronomy chapter 12.
Deuteronomy chapter 12, and wemight begin reading at verse 8.
Ye shall not do after all thethings that we do here this day
(02:24):
every man whatsoever is right inhis own eyes.
For ye are not as yet come tothe rest and to the inheritance
which the Lord your God givethyou.
But when ye go over Jordan anddwell in the land which the Lord
your God giveth you to inherit,and when he giveth you rest from
(02:47):
all your enemies round about, sothat ye dwell in safety, then
there shall be a place which theLord your God shall choose to
cause His name to dwell there.
Thither shall ye bring all thatI command you, your burnt
(03:08):
offerings and your sacrifices,your tithes and the heave
offering of your hand, and allyour choice vows which ye vow
unto the Lord.
And ye shall rejoice before theLord your God, ye and your sons
and your daughters and yourmenservants and your
maidservants, and the Levitethat is within your gates, for
(03:32):
as much as he hath no part norinheritance with you.
Take heed to thyself that thouoffer not thy burnt offerings in
every place that thou seest, butin the place which the Lord
shall choose in one of thytribes.
(03:54):
There thou shalt offer thy burntofferings, and there thou shalt
do All that I command theebrethren, we noticed last night
that in the 22nd chapter ofGenesis, God introduced us to
(04:14):
the concept, to the idea thatthere would be a place chosen by
to which he would lead the manof faith.
And there, in response to thelove shown out in the gift of
(04:36):
the Son by the Father, the manof faith could be led of God to
the place where he would findthe ram caught in a thicket by
his horns, that picture of theLord Jesus Christ, and there
enjoy the privilege of worship.
(05:01):
Worship in the very presence ofthe Lord Jesus.
Now, when we come to the book ofDeuteronomy, we find the
direction that God givesconcerning that place.
As I said, in Genesis 22, we aresimply told that Abraham, the
(05:26):
man of faith, was led by God tothe place.
Now we're given instructionconcerning the place, and we
find that, first of all, thereis a distinct warning given
(05:47):
against every man doing thatwhich is right in his own eyes.
We are told specifically at theend of verse eight,"Ye shall not
do after all the things that yedo here this day,"Every man
whatsoever is right in his owneyes." In other words, beloved
(06:10):
brethren, The concept of everyman deciding for himself Without
reference to the instructionthat God gives is condemned at
the start.
We are not left to our owndevices.
(06:31):
There is direction.
The next thing we are noticedhere is that it is the Lord who
will choose.
So we're told in the 11th verse,"Then there shall be a place
which the Lord your God shallchoose to cause His name to
(06:56):
dwell there." We're not toldhere where that place was to be,
but we are told that there wasto be a place.
And it would be characterized bythe name of the Lord being
there- cause his name to dwellthere.
(07:20):
And the children of Israel weretold that was where they were to
come.
Now, you know the history of thechildren of Israel, that there
were twelve tribes.
When the land of Israel wasdivided.
It was divided into twelveportions, and each one of the
(07:43):
tribes was given a portion ofthe land.
I have no doubt that each one ofthose twelve tribes would have
very much liked to have had theplace in their area of the
country, but they were givennothing to do concerning the
(08:08):
choosing of the place.
And when we come down to the13th verse, it says,"take heed
to thyself that thou offer notthy burnt offerings in every
place that thou seest.
But in the place which the Lordshall choose in one of thy
tribes, in one of the tribes,there would be one place chosen
(08:37):
of God in one of the tribes, andthey were all as one nation to
acknowledge that one place thatthe Lord had chosen to put His
name there.
"And so the word says, take heedto thyself." Oh, brethren, how
(09:00):
much we need that instructiontoday to take heed.
It seems that we live perhaps ina day like never before.
When the popular thing is forevery man to do that which is
right in his own eyes.
Freedom of choice.
(09:20):
We have it actually included inthe Constitution.
Every man has freedom ofreligion.
And he's free to choose how he'sgoing to worship.
Beloved brethren, it is true.
And we thank God for it thatfreedom is extended in this land
as far as not being repressed.
(09:44):
But you and I are not given byGod the freedom or the right to
make our own choice.
He has given us, as he gave thechildren of Israel, the most
explicit directions.
And when he gave thesedirections to the children of
(10:05):
Israel, let us remember what weread in Romans, chapter 15.
That what was written beforehandwas written for our learning.
The Old Testament is not, Irepeat, not a Jewish history
(10:25):
book.
It is the Word of God that hasbeen written for your learning
and for mine.
And here we're told, take heed,a place for Israel.
And in God establishing thisplace, this instruction for
Israel, He was speaking to you,and He was speaking to me.
(10:51):
So He says, take heed to thyselfthat thou offer not thy burnt
offerings in every place thatthou seest.
But, in the place which the Lordshall choose in one of thy
tribes.
Now would you turn on, in thebook of Deuteronomy, to chapter
(11:14):
15 for a moment.
Just a portion I would like toread here.
I don't intend to comment muchon it this afternoon, but
perhaps we'll refer to it againtonight.
Chapter 15 and verse 8.
But thou shalt open thine handwide unto him, and shalt surely
(11:34):
lend him sufficient for his needin that which he wanteth.
Beware that there be not athought in thy wicked heart,
saying, The seventh year, theyear of release, is at hand, and
thine eye be evil against thypoor brother, and thou givest
him not.
And he cry unto the Lord againstthee, and it be sin unto thee.
(11:55):
Thou shalt surely give him, andthine heart shall not be grieved
when thou givest unto him,because that for this thing the
Lord thy God shall bless thee inall thy works, and in all that
thou puttest thine hand to.
For the poor shall never ceaseout of the land, therefore I
command thee, saying, Thou shaltopen thine hand wide unto thy
(12:17):
brother, to thy poor and to thyneedy.
One of the characteristics ofthese ones who were going to
enter into the land was a careone for another- a care.
Now if you'd go on to the 16thchapter and the 16th verse.
(12:43):
Three times in a year shall allthy males appear before the Lord
thy God in the place which Heshall choose.
In the Feast of UnleavenedBread, and in the Feast of
Weeks, and in the Feast ofTabernacles, and they shall not
appear before the Lord empty.
(13:07):
The seventeenth chapter, and thefifth verse.
Then shalt thou bring forth thatman or that woman which hath
committed that wicked thing untothy gates, even that man or that
woman, and shalt stone them withstones till they die.
At the mouth of two witnesses,or three witnesses, shall he
(13:30):
that is worthy of death be putto death.
But at the mouth of one witnesshe shall not be put to death.
The hands of the witnesses shallbe first upon him to put him to
death.
And afterward the hands of allthe people, so thou shalt put
the evil away from among you.
(13:51):
If there arise a matter too hardfor thee in judgment, between
blood and blood, between pleaand plea, and between stroke and
stroke, being matters ofcontroversy within thy gates,
then shalt thou arise and getthee up into the place which the
Lord thy God shall choose.
(14:12):
And thou shalt come unto thepriests, the Levites, and unto
the judge that shall be in thosedays, and inquire, and they
shall show thee the sentence ofjudgment.
And thou shalt do according tothe sentence which they of that
place which the Lord shallchoose shall show thee.
(14:34):
And thou shalt observe to doaccording to all that they
inform thee, according to thesentence of the law which they
shall teach thee, and accordingto the judgment which they shall
tell thee, thou shalt do.
Thou shalt not decline from thesentence which they shall show
thee to the right hand or to theleft.
(14:57):
And the man that will dopresumptuously, and will not
hearken unto the priest thatstandeth to minister there
before the Lord thy God, Or untothe judge, even that man shall
die, and thou shalt put away theevil from Israel.
And all the people shall hear,and fear, and do no more
(15:21):
presumptuously.
Now brethren, if you perhapsrecall last evening, a comment
was made as to how often in theWord of God- the number three
comes up in connection with thetruth that God gives us
(15:42):
concerning how his people shouldmeet together collectively to
worship Him.
We noticed how it was on thethird day that Abraham came to
that place that the Lord wasleading him to.
And now we find That when Godgave Israel instruction
(16:07):
concerning the place that Hewould choose where He would put
His name, three specific thingsare given us in connection with
that place.
In the 16th chapter ofDeuteronomy, we have the first,
(16:31):
and that is worship.
We find that Israel was toldThat three times in the year
they were to go up to the placethat the Lord would choose.
You notice the language that'sused in the 16th verse.
(16:53):
Three times a year shall all thymales appear before the Lord thy
God in the place which He shallchoose.
Three times.
The Feast of Unleavened Bread.
The Feast of Weeks and the Feastof Tabernacles.
(17:14):
Now, the Jew, the Israelite, Ishould say, was given no choice.
He was specifically forbidden tomake his own selection as to
where he was to go.
He was not to do what was rightin his own eyes.
And now he is told that when hehad these offerings, these
(17:38):
sacrifices, these feasts tokeep, that were particularly
connected with offering up theworship that was belonged to
God, he was to go to the placethat the Lord should choose
(17:59):
brethren written for our.
The next thing we notice is inthe 17th chapter.
First of all, we are shown howthat holiness becomes those who
would be identified with thatplace and name.
(18:20):
And so they are told of how theyare to act concerning evil.
It is to be judged and to be putaway.
And then we are told in the 17thchapter that when matters arose
that were too hard for them,they didn't know what to do.
(18:44):
They didn't know what the answerwas.
What were they to do?
They were forbidden.
They had for every man to dowhat was right in his own eyes.
But now the Lord makes provisionfor an orderly settlement of
(19:05):
difficulties.
They were to go, says in theninth verse, thou shalt come
unto the priests, the Levites,and unto the judge that shall be
in those days, and inquire.
And they shall show thee thesentence of judgment.
Where were they to go for thissentence of judgment?
(19:27):
Why, the end of the eighth versesays, Get thee up into the place
which the Lord thy God shallchoose.
There was to be a place chosenof God.
This same place where His namewould be.
Where binding decisions could berendered.
(19:54):
I say binding- because we aretold specifically in the
eleventh verse according to thesentence of the law which they
shall teach thee and accordingto the judgment which they shall
tell thee.
Now, beloved brethren, God didnot, He never has, and He never
(20:15):
will.
Apart from the man Christ Jesus,God never has given to man
infallibility.
Men make mistakes, but what Hehas conferred upon man is
(20:37):
authority.
And we see it very graphicallypictured to us here for Israel.
They were to go to the placewhere the Lord had chosen to put
His name.
There they were to present theproblem.
And the decision that wasrendered was binding upon them.
(20:59):
They would be shown.
Now, the instruction was giventhat it should be according to
the law, that is, according towhat is revealed in the word.
But the decision was bindingupon all those who recognize
that the center Where the Lordhad placed his name was the
(21:24):
place where binding decisionswere rendered.
Brethren, this was written forour learning.
Now, I would like you to turnover with me, if you will, to
first Kings chapter.
When we come to 1 Kings chapter8, Solomon has built the temple.
(21:51):
You remember how last night wewere noticing that Abraham was
led to the land of Moriah, andthe temple was built on Mount
Moriah, that Lord had decidedwhere it was that this place
should be, where His name shouldbe, and where the children of
(22:17):
Israel should go.
And that place was Jerusalem.
The temple has now been built bythe time we come to 1st Kings
chapter 8.
But we still have onecharacteristic of the place that
(22:38):
we have not dealt with yet.
You remember how we mentionedthat there are three.
The first is worship.
The second is binding decisionsrendered in the name of the
Lord.
And thirdly, in 1 Kings chapter8 and verse 29, that thine eyes
(23:05):
may be opened toward this housenight and day, even toward the
place of which thou hast said,My name shall be there, that
thou mayest hearken unto theprayer which thy servant shall
make toward this place, andhearken thou to the supplication
(23:28):
of thy servant, and of thypeople Israel, when they shall
pray toward this place, and hearthou in heaven thy dwelling
place, and when thou hearest,forgive.
Now, beloved brethren, here wasthe place.
(23:49):
Jerusalem, where the Lord hadchosen to place His name.
In one of the tribes, and allIsrael was responsible,
according to Deuteronomy chapter16, to make that journey up to
Jerusalem.
First of all, worship.
(24:11):
Secondly, binding decisions.
And thirdly, we find prayeridentified with that place.
To me, this is most important.
I trust we'll remember it inconnection with what I hope to
have before us tonight, if theLord will.
Because the very same pattern isbrought forward into the New
(24:36):
Testament.
Worship, binding decisions, andprayer.
Three things connected withwhere the Lord has placed His
name.
Well, Solomon's prayer was thatas they prayed toward that
(24:58):
place, as they acknowledged thatplace, that the Lord had chosen.
That the Lord would hear andanswer their prayer.
Now, beloved brethren, the Lorddid not leave it to man to
choose.
The Lord was the one who fromthe very beginning back in
(25:20):
Genesis The Lord comes to dwellthere amongst His people on the
basis of redemption, and therethey have in that cloud the
(25:43):
evidence before their eyes.
That the Lord is there.
Their responsibility was toacknowledge what the Lord had
chosen, what the Lord had done,where the Lord had placed His
name.
(26:05):
Now, I'd like you to turn overto First Kings chapter 12 for a
moment- verse 25, then Jibalbuilt Secum in Mount Eum.
And dwelt therein, and went outfrom thence, and built Penuel.
And Jeroboam said in his heart,now shall the kingdom return to
(26:27):
the house of David.
If this people go up to dosacrifice in the house of the
Lord at Jerusalem, Then shallthe heart of this people turn
again unto their Lord, even untoRehoboam, king of Judah, and
they shall kill me, and go againto Rehoboam, king of Judah.
(26:47):
Whereupon the king took counsel,and made two calves of gold, and
said unto them, It is too muchfor you to go up to Jerusalem.
Behold thy gods, O Israel, whichbrought thee up out of the land
of Egypt.
And he set the one in Bethel,and the other put he in Dan.
And this thing became a sin, forthe people went to worship
(27:11):
before the One.
And he made a house of highplaces, and made priests of the
lowest of the people, which werenot of the sons of Levi.
And Jeroboam ordained a feast inthe eighth month, on the
fifteenth day of the month, likeunto the feast that is in Judah.
And he offered upon the altar,so did he in the Bethel,
(27:36):
sacrificing unto the calves thathe had made.
And he placed in Bethel thepriests of the high places which
he had made.
So he offered upon the altarwhich he had made in Bethel the
fifteenth day of the eighthmonth, even in the month which
he had devised of his own heart,and ordained a feast unto the
(27:58):
children of Israel.
And he offered upon the altarand burned incense.
And behold, there came a man ofGod out of Judah by the word of
the Lord unto Bethel.
And Jeroboam stood by the altarto burn incense, and he cried
against the altar in the word ofthe Lord.
Now brethren Solomon has died.
(28:21):
The kingdom of Israel has becomedivided.
Ten tribes have followed thisman called Jeroboam.
And two tribes have remainedfaithful to the house of David.
And they continue to recognizethat God's center is at
Jerusalem.
(28:42):
The Lord had not moved His name.
The Lord had not establishedother centers, even though
Israel was in a divided state.
But Jeroboam was what this worldwould call a wise man.
(29:02):
And Jeroboam, as he says here,reasoned in his heart.
And this was how he reasoned.
He said if this nation, if theten tribes that had followed
him, were to continue to go upto Jerusalem, If they were to
continue to recognize that God'scenter was at Jerusalem.
(29:29):
The effect would be that beforelong they would all be back
together again.
And he would have lost hisposition as king over the ten
tribes.
This is what he specificallysays in the 27th verse.
If this people go up to dosacrifice in the house of the
(29:51):
Lord at Jerusalem, then shallthe heart of this people turn
again unto their Lord, even untoRehoboam, king of Judah.
And they shall kill me and goagain to Rehoboam, king of
Judah.
Beloved Brethren, simply put,the principle is this.
The recognition of one centermakes for publicly the having of
(30:20):
one people.
Publicly, the having of onepeople.
It wasn't that they were not thechildren of Israel.
But the act of Jeroboam inestablishing two more centers of
his own devising at Bethel andat Dan was to perpetuate the
(30:46):
division of the people of God.
Instead of having one centerwhich would bring them together
again, Jeroboam now says thereare three.
And he even establishes a formof worship.
It's been most striking to one'sown soul in meditating upon
(31:07):
this, as to why Jeroboam chosetwo golden calves.
Perhaps another brother here cantell me afterwards and explain
to me something about this as tohow he feels that Jeroboam came
to this conclusion, but what hasstruck one's own soul is simply
this, that Jeroboam already hada precedent to follow.
(31:30):
He could look back and say,Israel did this once before,
when they were in the wildernesson the way to Canaan, to the
promised land.
And with such a important man asAaron, they had worshipped a
golden calf.
And Jeroboam has a precedentthat he can follow.
Regardless of the reason thatled him to choose two calves, he
(31:53):
gives the people of Israel, theten tribes that had followed
him, two more centers.
But they were not given of God.
No suggestion that the Lord'sname was there, no suggestion
that God had ordained them, butwe are specifically told, over
(32:16):
and over again.
The twenty ninth verse, he setup the one in Bethel.
The twenty first, thirty firstverse, he made an house of high
places.
The thirty second verse,Jeroboam ordained a feast in the
eighth month.
The end of the thirty secondverse, sacrificing unto the
calves that he had made, heplaced in Bethel the priests of
(32:40):
the high places which he hadmade.
So he offered upon the altarwhich he had made in Bethel the
15th day of the 8th month.
Now brethren, there was alreadya feast of Jehovah identified
with God's center at Jerusalemon the 15th day of the 7th
month.
All Jeroboam did was to copy it.
He says, we'll have ours on thefifteenth day of the eighth
(33:01):
month.
But it was all man made, manestablished.
It was man centered, and notGod's.
Now, beloved brethren, God senta prophet.
The thirteenth chapter in thefirst verse, God sent a prophet
from Judah, and he came up toBethel.
(33:25):
And he says at Bethel.
And he cried against the altarin the word of the Lord.
You can read the 13th chapter atyour leisure if you choose to.
But it tells us veryspecifically there that God
would deal in his own time withthis center that Jeroboam had
(33:46):
made.
But the truth of the matter isthat it lasted for 300 years
before what God said wouldhappen to that center happened.
The point for you and I trust,to profit by this afternoon is
that it was a man made center,not of God, and the effect was
(34:12):
to perpetuate the division thathad come in amongst the people
of God.
Now if you would turn over to2nd Kings for a moment.
2nd Kings chapter 10.
Almost a hundred years has goneby since what we read of in 1st
(34:35):
Kings chapter 12.
The centers have gone on.
Even though God showed veryclearly that they did not have
His sanction.
Now we come almost a hundredyears later to 2 Kings chapter
10 and verse 29.
It's speaking of a king here ofIsrael by the name of Jehu.
(34:58):
And it says, how be it from thesins of Jeroboam the son of
Nebat, who made Israel to sin,Jehu departed not from after
them, to wit, the golden calvesthat were in Bethel, and that
were in Dan.
And the Lord said unto Jehu,because thou hast done well in
(35:19):
executing that which is right inmine eyes, and hast done unto
the house of Ahab according toall that was in mine heart, thy
children of the fourthgeneration shall sit on the
throne of Israel.
But Jehu took no heed to walk inthe law of the Lord God of
Israel with all his heart for hedeparted not from the sins of
(35:42):
Jeroboam, which made Israel tosin.
Now, brethren, Jehu did muchthat met with God's approval.
He carried out a programconcerning his enemies, the
house of Ahab.
He carried out a program thatGod had instituted and God
(36:05):
commended him for it.
But we are given to see that onehundred years had not in any way
diminished in the eyes of Godthe significance, the sin of
establishing those more centersat Bethel and Dan with their
(36:31):
golden calves that simply keptthe people of God apart.
And after telling us that Jehuhad not turned away from the
sins of Jeroboam, andspecifically identifying what
(36:52):
the sin was.
Those golden calves at Betheland at Dan.
Those centers, man made,established by Jeroboam.
He then tells us of the goodwork that Jehu had done.
Of the reward that Jehu wasgoing to have for the good work
that he had done.
(37:14):
And then reminds us, but, hestill went on with those centers
at Bethel and Dan, and they arecalled, specifically, He
departed not from the sins ofJeroboam, which made Israel to
(37:35):
sin.
Oh, beloved brethren, thesethings are written for our
learning.
I'd like you now to turn with meto the book of Ezra.
By this time, approximately 300years has gone by.
The ten tribes that had followedJeroboam, had gone into
(37:57):
captivity in Assyria, and as faras man's records are concerned,
they have disappeared.
We sometimes speak of them asthe lost tribes of Israel.
Then, the two tribes that hadremained true to the house of
David, that had continued toacknowledge God's center at
Jerusalem, they too had goneinto captivity in Babylon, under
(38:22):
Nebuchadnezzar.
And then, 70 years had passed,and God had determined that His
people should now return to theland of promise, to the land of
Canaan.
Jeremiah had said that theywould be a captive in that far
off land for 70 years.
(38:44):
And now the 70 years is over.
God has raised up a man by thename of Cyrus, a man I might say
whose name is given to us onehundred and fifty years before
he was born.
And Cyrus was raised up of Godto grant deliverance to the two
(39:04):
tribes and enable them to returnto the land of promise.
But brethren, where are theygoing to go?
They are forbidden according toDeuteronomy chapter 12, from
doing what is right in their owneyes.
So what do they do?
If you look at the Ezra chapterthree and verse one, and when
(39:25):
the seventh month was come andthe children of Israel were in
their cities, the peoplegathered themselves together as
one man to Jerusalem.
Jerusalem, oh God- centered.
The place that God had chosen toput his name there.
And they go to Jerusalem.
(39:48):
The third verse.
And they set the altar upon hisbases, for fear was upon them
because of the people of thosecountries.
And they offered burnt offeringsthereon unto the Lord, even
burnt offerings morning andevening.
The sixth verse.
From the first day of theseventh month began they to
(40:08):
offer burnt offerings unto theLord.
But the foundation of the templeof the Lord was not yet laid.
The 11th verse, And they sangtogether by course in praising
and giving thanks unto the Lord,because he is good, for his
mercy endureth forever towardIsrael.
And all the people shouted witha great shout when they praised
(40:28):
the Lord, because the foundationof the house of the Lord was
laid.
But many of the priests andLevites and chief of the
fathers, who were ancient men,that had seen the first house,
when the foundations of thishouse was laid before their
eyes, wept with a loud voice,and many shouted aloud for joy,
(40:50):
so that the people could notdiscern the noise of the shout
of joy from the noise of theweeping of the people.
For the people shouted with aloud shout, and the noise was
heard far off.
The foundation of the temple islaid.
Where?
At Jerusalem.
Solomon's temple had beendestroyed.
(41:11):
And now the ancient men thathave been brought back to
Jerusalem, they see thefoundation of the temple laid
and they weep because theycompare it with Solomon's temple
and it seems such a poor, feeblereflection of the temple that
(41:32):
they had known.
But, beloved brethren, therewere those- the young ones who
shouted for joy, because therewas to be a temple.
It may be a feeble thing.
It may be a feeble testimony.
It was a feeble company.
But they had come back to wherethe Lord had placed His name.
(41:56):
And they built the temple againwhere the Lord had placed His
name.
Nothing left up to theirimagination.
God's center was at Jerusalem.
Daniel had acknowledged it fromBabylon.
When he opened his windowstoward Jerusalem.
And had prayed as Solomon haddirected in 1 Kings chapter 8
(42:23):
towards Jerusalem.
Now they've come back toJerusalem.
And this house was finished onthe third day of the month Adar,
which was in the sixth year ofthe reign of Darius the king.
And the children of Israel, thepriests and the Levites and the
rest of the children of thecaptivity kept the dedication of
this house of God with joy andoffered at the dedication of
(42:46):
this house of God and a hundredbulls, 200 rams, 400 lambs, and
for a sin offering for allIsrael 12"he goats" according to
the number of the tribes ofIsrael.
And they set the priests intheir divisions and the Levites
in their courses for the serviceof God which is at Jerusalem, as
(43:10):
it is written in the book ofMoses.
And the children of thecaptivity kept the Passover upon
the fourteenth day of the firstmonth.
The house is finished.
There is joy.
Where are they?
At Jerusalem! They are now tooffer their sacrifices.
But brethren, there are reallyonly two tribes there.
(43:35):
It's true there were some fromothers, as we'll notice later
on.
But, the fact remains thatbasically there were only two.
It was a poor, feeble companycompared to the children of
Israel that had entered thatland of promise so many years
before.
But they were at God's center.
(43:55):
They were where He had chosen toplace His name.
The temple was built.
And now it comes time to offerthe sin offering.
Are they going to offer the sinoffering for their two tribes?
No, they offer it for allIsrael.
Beloved brethren, what wasoffered there that day,
(44:17):
presented before God- allIsrael.
Twelve"he goats"- according tothe number of the tribes of
Israel.
Is that important?
Yes, beloved brethren, it isvery important.
What that little company, whatthey represented, what they
(44:40):
acted upon, what they presentedbefore God, was that they were
there on behalf of Israel- atGod's center, and they
acknowledged it in the sacrificethat they offered.
If you go on to the seventhchapter and the eighth verse, we
(45:03):
now read about Ezra.
I just want to refer to thesetwo verses very quickly in
passing.
The eighth verse of the seventhchapter.
And he, that is, Ezra, came toJerusalem in the fifth month,
which was in the seventh year ofthe king.
The eighth chapter and thethirty first verse.
(45:24):
Then we departed from the riverof Ahava on the twelfth day of
the first month to go untoJerusalem.
And the hand of our God was uponus, and he delivered us from the
hand of the enemy, and of suchas lay in wait by the way.
And we came to Jerusalem andabode there three days.
You remember how it says in theprevious chapter, the temple was
(45:47):
finished on the third day.
Here we find that Ezra has come.
This is perhaps 60 or 70 yearsafter the children of Israel.
Had come back.
Now Ezra comes up.
Where does he go?
Why, brethren, he goes to whereGod's center is, at Jerusalem.
(46:09):
It wasn't left to him to choosewhere to go.
It wasn't left to him to choosewhere he thought things would be
better.
Perhaps to feel that if he went,he was a very godly man.
And if he went to some otherplace, he might be able to start
something that would be moregodly.
God's center was at Jerusalem,and that's where He went.
(46:30):
And it tells us again, we cameto Jerusalem, abode there, three
days.
Oh, I believe, my brethren, inmy own heart, God uses this
third day, three days, threethings, over and over again, to
remind our hearts that thefoundation of all that we have
before us in these meetings isthe death and resurrection of
(46:51):
Christ.
You turn over with me to thebook of Nehemiah, for one verse.
The second chapter.
And the eleventh verse, Nehemiahnow comes along, another godly
man, perhaps not a man of faithto the extent that Ezra was, for
(47:12):
there is a decline, I believe,in going from Ezra to Nehemiah.
But the fact remains thatNehemiah now has an exercise to
go back to the land.
He gets permission from theking.
And where does he go?
The eleventh verse of the secondchapter.
So I came to Jerusalem and wasthere three days.
(47:35):
Three days.
Again- Nehemiah! Oh, if you readthe book of Nehemiah, you'll
find things weren't orderly atall at Jerusalem.
There was all sorts of failure.
But God's center was atJerusalem.
That was where Israel wasbeating together.
Acknowledging in theirsacrifices that they were one
(47:56):
nation before God.
And Nehemiah can do nothing lessbut to go to God's center at
Jerusalem.
To God's center at Jerusalem.
Now I would like you brethren,if you would, to turn over with
me to the book of Luke.
Our time is gone, if you'll bearwith me for just a few moments.
(48:19):
I would like to read just a fewverses in Luke's gospel.
Chapter 2.
Approximately 500 years has goneby, and where is God's center
still?
It is at Jerusalem, 500 yearslater.
And brethren, I just wouldmention in passing, as we read
(48:42):
these passages, It has been animmense comfort to my own soul
to realize that God maintained atestimony at Jerusalem.
It got to be very feeble, aswe'll find here.
But God maintained a testimonyat Jerusalem until the Lord
(49:05):
Jesus came, until he presentedhimself there.
Luke chapter 2 and verse 21.
And when eight days wereaccomplished for the
circumcising of the child, Hisname was called Jesus, which was
so named of the angel after Hewas conceived in the womb.
And when the days of herpurification according to the
(49:27):
law of Moses were accomplished,they brought him to Jerusalem to
present Him to the Lord.
Oh, couldn't they present him tothe Lord back in Bethlehem?
Why not in Nazareth?
God's center was at Jerusalem.
That was where the Lord hadplaced His Name.
And Joseph and Mary come toJerusalem and present Jesus
(49:54):
before the Lord there.
The twenty fifth verse.
And behold, there was a man inJerusalem whose name was Simeon,
and the same man was just anddevout, waiting for the
consolation of Israel, and theHoly Ghost was upon him, and it
was revealed unto him by theHoly Ghost that he should not
(50:15):
see death before he had seen theLord's Christ, and he came by
the Spirit into the temple.
Brethren, was Simeon where heshould be?
He was at Jerusalem.
The Holy Ghost told him that hewould see the Lord Christ.
And the Spirit brought him intothe temple to see Jesus.
(50:38):
Oh, beloved brethren, what awonderful picture this is.
We can read here, and we see sovery few, that we're looking for
redemption in Israel.
That we're looking for theMessiah to come.
But they were there, and theywere acknowledging God's center
at Jerusalem.
The 36th verse.
And there was one Anna, aprophetess, the daughter of
(51:01):
Phanuel of the tribe of Asher.
Oh, I love this.
It's as if God, as it were, saysto your heart and mine, I want
you to know that the ten tribeswere represented in that feeble
little company that was left.
Here was a representative fromthe tribe of Asher.
She was of a great age and hadlived with a husband seven years
from her virginity.
(51:21):
And she was a widow of aboutfourscore and four years, which
departed not from the temple,but served God with fastings and
prayers night and day.
And she coming in that instancegave thanks unto the Lord, and
spake of Him to all them thatlooked for redemption in
Jerusalem.
The thirty seventh verse says ofAnna, which departed not from
(51:42):
the temple, but served God withfastings and prayers night and
day and day.
Where did she remain from?
The tribe of Asher, the 10.
One of the 10 tribes.
Oh, my friends, my belovedbrethren here is a woman of
faith.
She has remained true to God'scenter at Jerusalem, and she
(52:04):
departs not from it night orday.
Now, if you'll allow me to readjust the 41st verse to the 46th
verse.
Now, his parents, that is theparents of the Lord Jesus went
to Jerusalem every year at theFeast of the Passover.
And when he was twelve yearsold, they went up to Jerusalem
(52:27):
after the custom of the feast.
And when they had fulfilled thedays as they returned, the child
Jesus tarried behind inJerusalem, and Joseph and His
mother knew not of it.
But they, supposing him to havebeen in the company, went a
day's journey.
And they sought Him among theirkinfolk and acquaintance, and
(52:50):
when they found Him not, theyturned back again to Jerusalem,
seeking Him.
And it came to pass that afterthree days they found Him in the
temple.
There's our three days again.
What has happened?
Brethren, the Lord remained herein this little picture that the
(53:12):
Lord, by His Spirit, bringsbefore us.
Joseph and Mary left Jerusalem,but Jesus remained there.
And they didn't realize, oh, howtragic it is to think of it.
They didn't realize that in thepath that they started out on,
(53:33):
they left the Lord behind.
They went without Jesus.
Oh, they sought Him amongsttheir acquaintance and their
kinfolk.
And how often this can be withus.
We can start off in doing thatwhich seems right in our own
eyes.
And we don't realize that theLord has been left out.
(53:53):
That in taking that path, wehave left the Lord behind.
He remained at Jerusalem.
And how could they find Himagain?
Not among their kinfolk andacquaintance.
They had to go back toJerusalem.
Back to Jerusalem.
And there at Jerusalem.
(54:14):
They found Him after three days.
Oh, beloved brethren, God haswritten these things for our
learning.
I trust now if the Lord tarriesthat this evening we will be
able to go into the NewTestament and follow this truth
as it appears in the NewTestament, but the principles
(54:37):
that we have found in the OldTestament, I trust we will find
remain true in the New.
And God has a place, and Heseeks- by His Spirit- to lead us
there.
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