For who has stood in the counsel of the Lord, and has perceived and heard His word? Who has marked His word and heard it?….But if they had stood in My counsel, and had caused My people to hear My words, then they would have turned them from their evil way and from the evil of their doings. (Jeremiah 23:18,22)
When considering the council of God, it seems hard to reconcile that there is a place where man can indeed stand in the Council..and yet that is so. Consider the verse above, the word* for “counsel” is the same as for “council’ and does speak of the gathering of people as in a ‘council’ of people.
[* H5475: סוד (sode); from 3245; a session, i.e. company of persons (in close deliberation); by implication, intimacy, consultation, a secret:–assembly, consel, inward, secret (counsel).]
Time and again pictures of this are revealed in the Bible, perhaps to encourage us in the endeavour. (See Luke 22:14, 29,30; Matt. 17:1-5; Acts 7:55,56; Ex. 19:17-20; 1 Kings 22:19; Job 1:6; Isaiah 6:1-3,8; 11:2).
Of course, the place is one that comes only through the sure knowledge that in Christ we have entrance in to the throne room of God. For those who call on His name, are made right before Almighty God, and in the righteousness of Christ we can boldly enter in to this place.
But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. (Ephesians 2:6)
But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect, to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel. (Hebrews 12:22-24)
It is one thing to observe the Council, another to participate in it…well so it would seems. First your eyes need to be open to it, secondly the wisdom and revelations of God need to be your source, and essentially a humble and broken heart is the true character of the ones who sit at this table. In truth, by the grace of God this is the place reserved for all those found in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. (Hebrews 4:16)
When we consider again the “counsel/council” of God, we see somethings just as profound. This same word has at its root^, the sense of God’s foundation.
[^ H3245: יסד (yaw-sad’): a primitive root; to set (literally or figuratively); intensively, to found; reflexively, to sit down together, i.e. settle, consult:–appoint, take counsel, establish, (lay the, lay for a) found(-ation), instruct, lay, ordain, set, X sure.]
You can see this understanding reflected in these most interesting passage…
And I have put My words in your mouth; I have covered you with the shadow of My hand, that I may plant the heavens,
Lay the foundations of the earth, and say to Zion, ‘You are My people.’(Isaiah 51:16)
Indeed My hand has laid the foundation of the earth, and My right hand has stretched out the heavens; When I call to them, they stand up together. (Isaiah 48:13)
The fact that a council of saints and heavenly hosts with God forms a foundation of creation is thus revealed, and perhaps most clearly illustrated in the picture of the New Jerusalem.
And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me the great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, having the glory of God. Her light was like a most precious stone, like a jasper stone, clear as crystal. Also she had a great and high wall with twelve gates, and twelve angels at the gates, and names written on them, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel: three gates on the east, three gates on the north, three gates on the south, and three gates on the west. Now the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the names[i] of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. (Revelations 21:10-14)
Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious, you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. Therefore it is also contained in the Scripture, “Behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone, elect, precious, and he who believes on Him will by no means be put to shame.” (1 Peter 2:4-6)
We are indeed living stones that form an essential part of His creation as we come in to the counsel of God, and gather to our Lord….a real mystery of heaven. (See also 1 Chron. 9:22; Zech. 8:9).
So, come to the Lord, and join in His council, and be part of the foundation of His creation.
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