Aspects of the City — T. Austin-Sparks

Solomon’s House and the Heavenly City

A few verses from two places, one in the Old and one in the New Testament. The Old, the first book of the Kings, first book of the Kings, chapter 7, he was building his own house thirteen years. He finished all his house.

For he built the house of the forest of Lebanon. The length thereof was a hundred cubits, the breadth thereof fifty cubits, the height thereof thirty cubits, upon four rows of cedar pillars, with cedar beams upon the pillars.

It was covered with cedar above, over the forty and five beams that were upon the pillars, fifteen in a row. And light was over against light in three ranks. And all the doors were in prostration. Light was over against light in three ranks.

The porch above was fifty cubits, the breadth thereof thirty cubits, and a porch before them, and pillars and thick beams before them. He made the porch of the throne where he might judge, even the porch of judgment.

And it was covered with cedar from floor to floor. And his house where he might dwell, the other caught within the porch, was of the light work. He made also a house for Pharaoh's daughter, whom Solomon had taken to wife, like unto this porch.

All these were of costly stones, even of hewn stones, according to the measure, sawed with saws, within and without, even from the foundation unto the coping, and so on the outside unto the great cause.

The foundation was of costly stones, even great stones, stones of ten cubits, stones of eight cubits. Above were costly stones, even hewn stone, according to measure, and cedar wood. The great court round about had three rows of hewn stone, and a row of cedar beams, like as the inner court of the house of the Lord, and the porch of the house.

In the New Testament, book of the Revelation, chapter 21, knew Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. Verse 10, he carried me away in the spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed me the holiest city, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, having the glory of God.

Her light was like unto a stone most precious, as it were a jasper stone, clear as crystal, having a wall great and high, having twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and names written thereon, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel.

The city lieth four square. The length thereof is as great as the breadth, and he measured the city with the reed. Twelve thousand phalons. The length and the breadth and the height thereof are equal.

Verse 19, the foundations of the wall of the city were adorned with all manner of precious. Both of these representations, that which is symbolic, the Lord delights purposes to be greater than Solomon, building his house, a house also for his bride.

Endurance as the Substance of God’s House

The king of the holiest city, we can clearly discern three outstanding characteristics. Second of that, in which the Lord for these things, he wants application to have them. Expression of his own in Solomon's building, mighty stone, weighty of leaven.

All the precious secure of those stones, they have might be impossible to trace the beginning of those stones. That rock-like substance goes back a long way and has a long history. Those cedars of Lebanon were not planted yesterday.

They speak of many a testing storm, many a long year of growth. There's nothing superficial about these things, nothing light and fancy about them. Nothing will be able to carry them away, they'll endure.

They are the embodiment of the very principle of endurance, eternity in their very constitution. Many tempestuous, they are here in the house because of that. The king will, they have been, they have never been coddled to all the force could destroy.

Adversity and the Formation of Spiritual Weight

Look at that mighty city, 12 ,000 furlongs does not convey very much to our minds until we begin to sit down and remember that this is a cube. You sit down and think about it, and I leave it to the mathematicians to work it out.

Today, day by day, we're almost shocked to hear of thousands of millions of pounds or miles. This city, if you work it out, runs into thousands of millions of cubits. Thousands of millions of cubits, just mention it.

In order to emphasize this pact of weightiness, the enduring, hardly say anymore, your minds are interpreting and applying, as I speak, isn't this the history of the people of God? Is it not? The Lord does not put us in glass houses to grow us, to be his trees.

The Lord does not protect us, the adversities. He exposes us to the bitter winds, the scorching suns of adversity and trial. He is working in us that which is according to his own nature. Eternity, the enduring, the everlasting God, that which will not be easily or hardly carried away, he is putting substance in.

We fear that the appeal to become Christians is so often in terms of having an easy or a good time, being happy and enjoying yourself. Well, thank God for all divine joy. But this is true to the house, to the city, that the first thing the Lord is working toward and seeking to work into his people is that substantial, steadfast, enduring faithfulness that is according to his own nature.

We don't need coddling and nursing and running after all the time to get them to go on or stand up. Men and women like cedars are never like the hewn. I can only remind you again of what a large place that has in the word of God.

Strength in the Lord and Through Trial

Be strong in the Lord, strength of his might. Be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. Think again. Want to understand why the winds are allowed to blow so fiercely? The storms from that natural easy-goingness or cheapness, lightness, make us protesting as much which is going to be carried away in the last.

Therefore, trial and adversity is the only way to deepen us, caliber into us more of it. Beauty, not stay to say much about it, but it's so evident in these representations, isn't it? Beauty. The Lord is also at work in this matter.

Divine Grace and the Beauty of Maturity

He wants that which in place he is making for himself, his own habitation, to be attractive, to be admirable, something to be wondered. The one word that covers this whole sphere of beauty is the word grace.

Suffering is unto strength, is unto beauty. If you and I have a true apprehension of divine grace, real heart, appreciation of the meaning of divine grace, there will be something about us that is not ugly, repulsive, something beautiful, something mellow.

Beauty is not fierce. Beauty is not cruel. Beauty is not hard. It is in the right sense. Perhaps mellow is the best. You and I, as we go on with the Lord under his hand, ought to be losing our natural hardness of judgment, of word, of attitude, and taking on more and more of the mellowness.

Look again at these descriptions. Perhaps particularly that of the city. How outstandingly is this characteristic of beauty. It's a mighty thing. An almost overawing thing in it. Who is this to enjoy and stand and get?

It's one of those wonderful things about the Lord, the Lord Jesus, and it's one of those wonderful things about anything or anyone in whom he fulfills his purpose. It's a combination of strength and beauty.

The Balance of Strength and Beauty in Christ

The balance of strength and beauty. It's not all strength, and it's not all softness. Marvellous balance in the Lord Jesus. Look at him. Two things brought together, and that is what the Lord would have.

Costliness and Spiritual Value

And finally, costliness. How costly was Solomon's building of Ophiuchus? Great, great cost bound up with those houses that he built. But the city? Foundation of the wall? All manner of cost. Something very valuable to the Lord.

Here there is nothing cheap in what is of God. Everything that is of God is costly. It has a great price. Nothing here means the embodiment of suffering. It is that on these twelve foundations are the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.

And the first was Josper. Who was the first of the apostles? Simon, Peter, Josper, Clear, all the mixtures going out. Transparent, clear. Look at him. He went out and wept bitterly. Peter in his letters has quite a lot to say about fiery trial.

He's a tester. Peter knew suffering. You see, it produced something very precious, valuable. Was it not Peter who used that word unto you that believe is the precious? Again, think of the Lord's ways with us.

The Cost of Producing Spiritual Treasure

You cannot fail to see that the Lord is prepared to use a lot of time and a lot of energy and a lot of money in order to get essential spiritual value. Those of you who have read the life of Madame Curie, the discoverer of radium, will remember the tons and tons and tons that men would call rubbish.

Heaped into that backyard there, collected, collected, tons of it. You might say mountains of it. Out of which to get the tiniest grain of radium. When it's all reduced, it's just this little fragment of radium out of time.

The cost of radium in those days. Look at the power, the virtue in radium. The Lord seems like that. He's prepared to use tons and tons and tons of this essential nature of himself. There's something about the nature of the Lord which is tremendous.

Potency of truth, potency of love. While the Lord wants us to be scrupulously careful about money, our use of money, our care of money, never for a moment be sympathetic toward carelessness in that realm.

He himself sometimes seems to draw upon the resources, the material resources and the financial resources, so fully, so deeply in order to turn to account for some spiritual measure. And this is what I'm trying to say to you.

You and I must look at everything in the light of spiritual value. That's how he looks at it. Nothing with the Lord is of any value only in so far as it results in something of himself. You may have your millions.

Don't suppose any of you have. But if you had your millions, that with the Lord is nothing. He says, how much does that represent of me? You may have your little and have to look at every shilling that you spend.

But there may be in your use of it something of the Lord, for the Lord. And so the Lord looks upon a widow's mite in the light of spiritual value, while he looks upon the tariff. That's everything in the light of spiritual value where the Lord is concerned.

God’s Patient Work Through Time and Suffering

Think of the matter of time. What a lot of time the Lord takes. How we get upset over this matter of time. It's one of our big problems that the Lord is so slow. Waits so long. Takes so much time. That's real trouble with us, isn't it?

Always trying to hurry the Lord. No, if it requires time to get what he's after, you'll take eternity to get it. You'll take a lifetime to get it. You see, the whole thing with the Lord is just real value.

The cost. We could speak much about suffering. Much about suffering. How much the people of God know. It's a problem, the sufferings of the Lord's people. But if Paul is right, here's the answer. Our light of fiction, which is that for a moment, and you can only talk like that if you can see the other.

The rest. Walketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. Eternal weight of glory. The object. The goal. Our light of fiction. It isn't light at all. It's very heavy affliction. Unless we can see what the Lord is after.

And then perhaps we'll be seen in a different way. Well, here we are. Costliness. The Lord is after this true, and when he gets these characteristics, when he gets them, beauty will be fully justified.