THE POSITIVE FEATURES OF CHRISTIANITY
[p. 381] THE POSITIVE FEATURES OF CHRISTIANITY
Numbers 10:5,6; Numbers 10:11 - 21; Philippians 3:12 - 14; Philippians 4:8,9
In view of this meeting these scriptures came to mind as setting out what is positive in christianity; firstly, as governing us in movement; and, secondly, as governing us generally; so that there may be in us in all circumstances what is representative of God. The idea of representation always enters into God’s testimony, and if God is to be represented in any measure, this positive side of things must mark us, especially as moving or as professing to move spiritually.
If we are not moving, stagnation is sure to set in, especially in such a town as this, where people in the world come to make the best of their remaining days to die. That thought is apt to lay hold of God’s people. We know how the thought of dying instead of living enters into our minds, as in the widow of Zarephath (1 Kings 17:12); and what saves us from the natural view is to die before one comes to such places — as Lazarus is called “the dead man” (John 12:1), and yet the one whom Christ raised from among the dead; otherwise we shall only fit into the current outlook in such places. So that, as dead in the sense of “the dead man Lazarus”, but raised on the principle of divine power — for it is said that we are raised with Christ according to the working of God (Colossians 2:12) — our outlook is life and glory. If there be dissolution, as there may be, it is glory; for what could be more glorious morally than the outgoing of Stephen? In his case it was from glory to glory: whether angelic, or ministerial, or as a martyr, or as yielding up his spirit to Christ, it was from glory to glory.
And he saw the greatest glory of all and speaks of it — the glory of God above and Jesus standing at the right hand of God — a glory not yet completed, for while Jesus is standing, there is something more to be added. He says to His Father, “Glorify thy Son, that thy Son may glorify thee” (John 17:1); that is going on now, and has been since the days of Stephen. It is all on the positive line; and as in such light, dear brethren, our outlook is not death, that is past; our outlook is glory, “We ... rejoice in hope of the glory of God” (Romans 5:2), a most stimulating statement, and one that is the normal outcome of the gospel being received; for it is what is received that is effective in us, not what we hear only; it is said to the Corinthians: “which also ye have received” (1 Corinthians 15:1).
Numbers fits into this position; and Numbers in the types is the book of movement, regulated by divine commandment. This commandment implies a preference, for God reserves this right. Hence Judah has the first place in this movement, not Reuben. The book is therefore stamped in this way: it is “in the wilderness”, and as in the wilderness we are with the God with whom we have to do. Whatever character He may take, He is “our God”, even though it be in the severest discipline, we say, “Our God is a consuming fire” (Hebrews 12:29); we rest in that knowledge. Where fire is essential, where fire prevents disaster, we welcome it, and especially in our God. So He reserves the right of selection; and those who love Him will never quarrel with that, for they say, Love will do its best!
This thought of love enters into the tenth chapter peculiarly, not only love in God, but love in the saints; for it would seem that God would have it so; as if, when movement should begin, He would say, It must not be simply the outcome of direct commandment, but also of love. Hence, although according to chapter 9 everything was ready for movement, chapter 10 brings in, not simply authority, but the rights of love, namely, the silver trumpets. It is as if God were to say: The people are all ready for the march, but they need this last touch! It is ever so; the touch of love, though it be the first one, it must also be the last. We are to [p. 383] walk in love, to serve in love — love at the beginning, and at the end, and all the time. On God’s side it is always so, and if He has His way with us, it is so on our side, too; as the Lord says, “By this shall all know that ye are disciples of mine, if ye have love amongst yourselves” (John 13:35). It is a question of a community, as indeed marked christians at the very outset; the Spirit of God loves to portray it, as He does in Acts 2.
These silver trumpets are to be used not only for marching, but for other things, to stamp the whole position with the rights of love, as over against what marks man — the rights of the sword, the rights of the navy, the army, and of the aircraft. The whole position in christianity is stamped with the rights of love: whenever we come together, whether for a meeting for care, for prayer, or for ministry, or as in assembly, these rights must always mark us. It makes the position correspond with heaven, so as to be a reflex of what is there; and, really, nothing less than this will do for God.
So the blast of the trumpets is to bring out the marching spirit, the moving forward. Although there is the principle of divine preference and ordering, we are to move together; but the silver trumpets denote the rights of love; and the next question is whether those who do march are corresponding. Hence, as seen in the first verses I read, the first blast is for the camp of Judah, though Judah is not mentioned: it is “the camps that lie eastward”. God is saying to us, You are to move as in correspondence with love in Me according to all its provisions; and it is perfect love. Love on God’s side and on Christ’s is perfect love; it casts out fear. The blast of alarm need not cause alarm in regard of God: He is love; thus we are not to be afraid in conflict. Much is said of that throughout the Scriptures. Joshua was assured, as the man with the drawn sword said to him, “No; for as captain of the army of Jehovah am I now come” (Joshua 5:14) — at the time [p. 384] when he might be fearful, and, no doubt, Joshua was. The Lord says, “... am I now come”; He comes in at the right time to dispel the fear; so we should be, according to the word to Joshua, “very courageous” (Joshua 1:7).
But here it is not war, though the “alarm” might suggest it; for, indeed, they were in the wilderness, and who could tell what emergencies might arise, Satan being ever active? It is a question of love and the camps on the east. God is saying, Be cheerful in your movements; do not be discouraged! The east suggests hope, stimulation; as “we ... rejoice in hope of the glory of God” (Romans 5:2), we are looking toward the east. We are to “rejoice evermore”; and Paul says, “again I will say, Rejoice” (Philippians 4:5). It is one of the most important elements to keep with us and near us, never to be lost; the joy of the Spirit is for us in relation to the prospect of the coming of the Lord, and His entering into His rights; and then, too, the joy of the Lord: “The joy of the Lord”, we are told, “is your strength” (Nehemiah 8:10).
So the first blast is to bring out this movement of hope. The second blast is to bring out the movement of those toward the south. The trumpet blast is referred to in connection with these two camps only; for the one is full of hope, and the other is restfulness in privilege, in favour. The south suggests favourableness. The chapter contemplates that all are to move, for the camps of Ephraim and Dan are mentioned later; but those on the east and on the south only are affected by the trumpet blasts. It is, as I said, as if God would have us move in hope. Paul is full of this; he speaks of “the God of hope” (Romans 15:13). He would instil hope into our souls, in view of the dark gloom around, dispelling fear from our hearts. Thus we must not fail to move as under divine direction; it is a question of the rights of God’s love.
The silver trumpets refer, as we have said, to God’s rights — an additional thought coming in before [p. 385] actual movement begins. The position is enriched by these silver trumpets. It is a question of the testimony of the rights of love. The Lord’s supper, dear brethren, as under the Lord, is enriching the saints as in assembly every week; it is intended to do so. These two camps, moving according to the divine trumpet blast, correspond. What you see is that as the camp of Judah moves, love is acting, so that there is a change from the order hitherto prescribed in the movement of the sanctuary; it is typically consideration for Christ, as I hope to show. It is as if Judah, and the three tribes in his camp, were to say, We must think for Christ; that must be the key-word of our movements; we are not to think for ourselves! So the Levites — the Gershonites and the Merarites — take down the tent. This action should have come later; it should have come after the second movement, according to the original prescription; although the Kohathites awaited the movement of the second camp. According to the original instruction (Numbers 2:17), the three families of the Levites, the Kohathites, the Gershonites, and the Merarites, were to move together; but the Kohathites came last here. At times order is stressed, and at times love for Christ is stressed; it is the latter here. It is a question of the saints making provision for Christ rather than for their comfort, it is love operating so that the Lord, in type, should not be as it were exposed to the wilderness. The tent is set up before the ark and the sanctuary come. The inner parts, the holy things that refer to Christ and the Spirit, must not be exposed. We must not be careless as to this. Love will not be careless; love will think for Christ all the time; and hence the tent must be set up as the Kohathites come with the ark and the other inner things of the sanctuary, so that they can all be housed at once. This would correspond to the words uttered by David in a later day: “I will not give sleep to mine eyes, slumber to mine eyelids, until I find out a place for [p. 386] Jehovah, habitations for the Mighty One of Jacob” (Psalm 132:4,5).
Now the charge of the Gershonites, as I understand the types, refers to principles, principles which are to guard the sacred things of God, so that human principles should be shut out — “the doors ... shut for fear of the Jews” (John 20:19), the “Jews” referring to that religious element which will intrude into what relates to the holy things of God. The Gershonites had to do with the curtains, corresponding, as I said, to the maintenance of right principles. There must be the rigid exclusion of all human principles; for every admission of them is a door open to the devil.
The Merarites were to have in their charge things typical of the saints themselves — persons. You cannot have a divine habitation without persons, nor can you have it without right principles; they go together. So we are concerned about principles in our movements — not simply talking together about movement, but marked by real spiritual movement. You cannot move rightly without principles, and, of course, spiritual movement involves persons, and these in principle include all the saints. Any christian who says he can get on by himself is out of accord with the book of Numbers. The instructions show in the plainest way that all the people were taken account of and placed under obligation to move in relation to the tent of the testimony.
You will observe that it says of Merari, in chapter 4, that the things they were to handle were to be named. Typically, the allusion would be to persons; and, no doubt, we have the antitype in Acts 1 in the one hundred and twenty names, every one distinguishable, so that in meeting them I know how to speak to any particular person. Maybe it is a very sensitive brother or sister; I must be careful about that, so as not to irritate, knowing the kind of person he or she is. I am not saying that the tendency to irritation affords any renown, but if it [p. 387] exist in one it is important to keep this in mind in our relations with him. I believe, therefore, dear brethren, that it is important to have a right estimate or judgment of each person whom one knows. The judgment, of course, is to be in love, not in rivalry; but to know his value in relation to the tabernacle; whether he is under the influence of the Merarite family, and therefore ready to be set up in his place. As a board in the structure he is ready to receive and preserve the testimony, to keep it intact; so that when the Kohathites come, they can set the ark where it should be; that is, it is to be set in its place and held in love: “Christ in you the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27).
I must go on to the verses in Philippians. We need the so-called “New Translation” to help us. It would not be out of place to say that this “New Translation”, so called, is a provision of God, enabling us, in dealing with what the Scriptures present, to stand on our feet with assurance, so that renderings of the original may not give way under our feet, that thus we have the mind of God in the text. The Spirit of God is ready to enable us to make use of it. The apostle in Philippians 3 is speaking of himself and his movement, in the light of the land of Canaan, the land of promise, in order to reach that. The movements of the tabernacle in the wilderness, and of the Israelites’ camps, were not merely to reach the land of promise; that was in view, of course; but there was testimony from God’s point of view in every stage of the journey. That is not what the apostle had in mind here. He is leading the way for us in heavenly exercises, with a heavenly objective, but already in mind laying hold of it. He had to say he had not yet obtained the prize, but he steadily pursued, as one in a race, with the goal in view. He must have had great enjoyment, though great exercise also, in this matter, for the Holy Spirit would be with him in his exercises and in his prayers. So the reading is, in the New Translation: “Not that I have already [p. 388] obtained the prize, or am already perfected; but I pursue, if also I may get possession of it” — that is, the prize — “seeing that also I have been taken possession of by Christ Jesus. Brethren, I do not count to have got possession myself; but one thing — forgetting the things behind, and stretching out to the things before, I pursue, looking towards the goal, for the prize of the calling on high of God in Christ Jesus”. This is individual movement: it is a description of one, at least, in the movement. His face is toward heaven. There is a goal; there is a finish. We shall not be always pursuing, dear brethren. There is a comforting word of the Lord: “he shall go no more out” (Revelation 3:12). In the meanwhile, it is for us to go out, and to come in; for going out and coming in is a great principle. Some go out, and never come back; but one going out actuated by love, will come back like Noah’s dove. But this goal is to be reached, and there will be no more going out; it is finality, finality in the best that love can do, according to the counsels of divine love. We were thought of before the world was; we were in the counsels of divine love; and here is one man who had a conception of the goal, and of the prize, at the end of the race. The goal is one thing, and the prize another; the two ideas run together. The goal is finality; the prize is something permanently ours; so he is said to be “looking towards the goal, for the prize of the calling on high of God in Christ Jesus”. This will never be lost. We have reached the finish, but the prize is the eternal enjoyment — “the calling on high of God in Christ Jesus”.
Then, in order to give the truth a practical bearing for every one of us in regard of our position here below, chapter 4 furnishes us with another set of things — not a goal, not a prize, but, as generally in the creation of God, a great balancing principle. One has been looking over the nations, and one has ventured to regard some of them as balancing nations, taken up of [p. 389] God to keep balance until the testimony gets through. So we need to be balanced. Evil arises, and one has painfully to admit that in the gatherings there are current issues unsolved; evil raising up its head, and, in some instances, inability to meet it; participation in worldly associations, radios, and mixed marriages. These are decoys of the devil to distract and defile the brethren; and God would call upon us to gird up our loins, and face these things with others like them; and what is needed, among other things, is positive balance; positive things that will maintain us in balance. “For the rest, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are noble” — that word may mean what is respected, venerable, as the note says — “whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are amiable” — or “lovable”, not simply “lovely”; of course, what is lovely is lovable; but the New Translation gives it “amiable” — “whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue and if any praise, think on these things”. They furnish balance.
How important, dear brethren, to go to the care meeting, as we call it, charged in one’s mind with the good things described here! We shall need the balance they afford, the steadiness that they give. Although we may be dealing with bad things, there are good things; and there are more good things among the brethren than bad things; the bad things are deplorable, but it is in the possession and power of the good that we can meet them. Hence the importance of making the most of the good; that is what helps most; that is our ammunition, as it is said, “Overcome evil with good” (Romans 12:21); not by argument and controversy, although spiritual reasoning may be necessary at times; but the thing here is the possession of good; all that comes of love is good; and the apostle is pleased by the Spirit to name these good things for us.
[p. 390] So we are furnished, on the one hand, with heavenly exercise and prospect, the goal surely before us, and the prize consequent on reaching it; and then the everyday position down here being poised, we have power, not only in the Spirit — these things lie in the Spirit — but these positive things taken item by item, furnish strength to the soul. So, as I say, there are bad things, but there are good which outnumber the bad; hence we can go on in the assurance that the good in us in the power of the Spirit will overwhelm the bad, so that we may move on in a balanced way, and in the sense of the love set forth in the silver trumpets, that regulates everything for us, so that God is with us, and in us of a truth.