THE DEW

THE DEW

Deuteronomy 32: 1 - 3; Daniel 4: 33 - 37; Micah 5: 7 - 9

I desire to engage our thoughts for a few moments with the immense power that is available to the saints in what is represented as the dew. Amongst the weapons of our warfare (which are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds) perhaps one of the greatest weapons available is the dew. One feels how often we fail to realise what can be accomplished with dew.

The scripture I read in Deuteronomy 32, speaking no doubt of the Lord Jesus pre-eminently, says, “My doctrine shall drop as the rain, my speech shall distil as the dew.” The dew, I take it, refers to the gracious, gentle, blessed influences of heaven; it is the dew of heaven. Joseph is blessed with “the precious things of heaven ... the dew.” The Lord Jesus Christ, the true Joseph, and the true Moses, was down here in this world covered with dew. It did not descend upon Him; He corresponds with Mount Hermon; of which it is said, “The dew of Hermon.” That is to say, the Lord Jesus Christ, as a blessed Man upon earth, morally was so exalted, He extended into heaven itself; the dew was native to His blessed Person. It descends as the dew of Hermon that descended upon the mountains of Zion, and the Lord Jesus Christ towered up into heaven as He walked through this world, and the dew was upon Him everywhere. It was a mighty power; it came out particularly in His doctrine and in His words. Just listen to some of His doctrine: “Blessed are the poor in spirit.” That doctrine fell upon the ears and hearts of those that listened to it as the very rain from heaven; it rained upon them because He Himself was the expression of what He said, hence the power of it.

With what gracious influence of heaven His doctrine would fall upon those that heard! who so poor in spirit? He adorned the doctrine. What a wonderful thing the apostle refers to in Titus, that the doctrine looks better with us attached to it than without us, that the doctrine would not look so well if we were missing. Is that so? “Adorn,” it says, “the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things.” The Lord Jesus adorned His doctrine. Who so poor in spirit as He was; His whole pathway was marked by perfect dependence upon God, never a movement of self-complacency or self-sufficiency;

He was dependent to the last, going down even unto death as poor in spirit: “Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.” He went there confident, in dependence upon God even to the grave.

What blessed words the Lord utters in another of His doctrines: “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.” The doctrine came down as the gracious, gentle influence of heaven supported by the meekest Man in all the earth. What do you think of meekness such as this: All sin and blasphemy against the Son of man shall be forgiven. Think of it, He says that for those who blaspheme His blessed name there is forgiveness. Never before was meekness like that! The Lord Jesus in His doctrine supported it by what He was, and it dropped down, not as arbitrary commands, not as doctrinal statements, which must be obeyed, but it dropped down as rain into every heart that appreciated it.

And then it says, “My speech shall distil as the dew.” Think of His speech, think of His gracious words coming into the souls of men like the dew. The Lord stood up in Luke 4, with all the dew of heaven upon Him when “He began to say” (Luke never tells us that He finished). He stood up with the dew of heaven upon Him, and every word distilled as the dew. We cannot touch on all His words — every one of them infinitely precious — but one would turn in thought to one or two occasions when He spoke. Think of the Lord drawing near to the city of Nain, and His saying to the woman, “Weep not.” He brought the influence of heaven into the soul of that poor woman — His words distil as the dew. And when Simon Peter stood in the house of the high priest, a self-confident heart, a man who did not know his own heart, who approached evil in confidence instead of fear and trembling, who denied with oaths and curses that he knew the Lord, it says, “Jesus looked upon him,” and carried into his soul the very grace, the very gentleness of heaven, so that it broke his heart, for it says, “he went out, and wept bitterly.” And then think of His words on the cross. In that dark and terrible scene, indescribably dark, encompassed by the hatred of the human heart, the dew of Hermon descends upon it all — “My speech shall distil as the dew” He says, “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do”; the dew of heaven, so powerful in its mighty effect that a man who had lived all his life in sin and darkness and evil is turned right about. The malefactor says, “We indeed justly” (he judged himself under the power of the dew), “but this man hath done nothing amiss.” “Lord,” he says, “remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom.” One calls attention to this because the dew is to come upon the mountains of Zion, that is to say, upon each one of us; we are all mountains of Zion. We have all been set up in relation to Christ on the principle of sovereign mercy, and the same blessed dew of Hermon is to descend on the mountains of Zion, and our doctrines are to drop as the rain. If our doctrines drop in any other way, they will not accomplish anything; there will be no power in them. We may speak ever so correctly of doctrine, but does it come down upon the saints as the rain, the gentle, blessed, gracious influence of heaven? It will accomplish much like that. And our words, do they distil as the dew? What are the words we use towards one another? “My speech,” says the Lord, “shall distil as the dew.” What was true in such blessed pre-eminence in Him is also to be true in the mountains of Zion.

One word more as to what the dew can accomplish. The influence of heaven creates a condition for the manna to fall upon; you can never get manna until you have the dew. The manna does not fall upon the earth, and it does not fall upon hearts engulfed in business,

and it does not fall in newspapers either, it falls upon the dew. Where you have the gracious, blessed influence of heaven, there you have the manna. You will get the manna morning by morning. Under the blessed influence of heaven we can get the bread of the mighty, so that we can proceed on our way through the wilderness energised by the bread of heaven, by the food of the mighty. Think of Caleb, he ate that bread to such an extent that when he was an old man he said he was just as he was forty years before. Of Moses, too, it is said his strength remained in him, he never got weak. The influence of heaven in this town, in every place, makes room for the manna to fall, makes room for that wonderful food, so small, so round, so white, like coriander seed, tasting of the sweetness of honey. But if we have not the influence of heaven — the dew — no manna can come. Let the influence of heaven be present, and the manna can fall each morning, so that we move through this wilderness in correspondence with the manna; we become small, we become round — no jagged, awkward corners — we become white, we feed upon the sweetness of the grace of God.

What wonderful provision the dew is for every one of us. Who would leave the influence of heaven and run to feed upon the sink of corruption in this world? Who would go there when they can have the manna by abiding under the influence of heaven?

One would pass on in order that we might get a little sense of the immense power of the dew in the case of Nebuchadnezzar. But first of all it might be well to refer to Gideon. Gideon had to face conflict with the Midianites and the Amalekites and the children of the East. The Midianite is a terrible man, he trades in the things of God. He is prepared to buy and sell Joseph; he is prepared to barter in the things of God for his own gain. He is a terrible enemy, and Gideon is called upon by the Lord to meet him in conflict. Gideon was the least in his father’s house, and one who had no idea of personal greatness, no sense of what he could accomplish; and it says the Lord looked upon him, delighted to find a man like that. I wonder if the Lord can look upon us like that? And He says, “Go in this thy might”; and so he is to face the enemies.

Gideon is very anxious that he should not move a step towards the camp of the enemy till he is perfectly satisfied he knows where the dew is; he must know where the dew is before he will move, because if he is going to move, he must move in accordance with the dew. He cannot go on until he is quite sure he has the influence of heaven with him. Is that how we approach conflict? Have we got some difficulty to face, some question of the rights of the Lord? Never move at all until you are quite sure the dew is with you. With the dew with us we are sure of victory, because we have the influence of heaven; we shall not be using carnal weapons, we shall be moving in the power of the dew.

Now I would like to indicate what wonderful things can be done with the dew if we can wait for the dew to work. Think of Nebuchadnezzar, lifted up in pride and self-will and cruelty, prepared to cast men into burning fiery furnaces; there he is against the people of God, against God, and what will God do with that great adversary, that immense difficulty that exists, how will it be met? God says, I will bathe him for seven years with the dew, that will alter him. Have we sought to meet our difficulties like that? Dear brother or sister, have you a difficulty with any one? Try bathing them with the dew; do it for seven years; that is how God acts. It will break down a Nebuchadnezzar. Under the gracious, gentle influence of heaven for seven years, his understanding returned to him, and he moved on the rest of his days magnifying and honouring the King of heaven. His greatness, his position, his enmity to God had gone,

his hostility to the people of God is over. “Now I Nebuchadnezzar praise and extol and Honour the King of heaven.” Who would ever have thought that the dew could do that, who would have contemplated that it was possible that seven years of bathing with the dew of heaven would transform that hard, bitter man into one of the servants of God? Let us try it; wonderful things have been done before today by approaching a difficulty with the dew; by gathering it from Christ — that is the test.

You say, How can I do it? None of us can do it of ourselves, but the dew descends from Hermon to the mountains of Zion. Surround that blessed Man, dear brethren, keep in touch with that blessed One, and the dew descends. It is not native to us, not to any of us, but if we are near to Him in our affections wonderful things can be done with the dew of Hermon which descends upon the mountains of Zion. Brethren can be together in unity there, “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!” We dwell together in unity where the dew descends from heaven to the mountains of Zion. “There the Lord commanded the blessing, even life for evermore.” Now the scripture in Micah shews us that there may come a time when the dew is not effective. The Lord Jesus knew the power of the dew. He moved through this world bedewing people’s souls with the very grace of heaven, and, indeed, the dew was equally applied to Judas, but that man was unresponsive to it. One marvels at the infinite patience of the Lord with Judas. He never exposed him during the three and a half years. The disciples at the end had no idea who it was that should betray Him; the Lord had treated him in the same gracious, blessed way that He had treated them all. So we learn the divine order in Micah. Jacob is first of all to be as dew. “The remnant of Jacob shall be in the midst of many people as a dew.” If that is not effective then the remnant of Jacob shall be as a lion. That is exactly what happened, and the Lord eventually had to roar at Judas as a lion. He had to reject him, but the dew had been refused, the blessed influence of heaven had not been responded to. But mark the patience first.

Now in the Book of Daniel the same principle is observed. The dew breaks the heart of Nebuchadnezzar and his will, but Belshazzar his son, who knew of it, was not affected by it, and the judgment of God fell upon him. But the thing to be observed by us all is that the remnant of Jacob shall be as the dew among many people. Let us first of all meet every difficulty with the dew. I do not say there may not be a time when we shall have to be as a lion, but the point for each one of us to lay hold of is the immense power that is in the dew to bring in the gracious, blessed influence of heaven.

The Lord Jesus when He went up to heaven still had the dew, and from heaven He bedewed the soul of Saul of Tarsus until it broke his heart. Saul of Tarsus corresponds with Nebuchadnezzar, breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, an insolent, overbearing man. Have we a difficulty like that to meet? The Lord bedewed his soul with the dew of heaven, and it broke his heart and his will. He surrendered under the power of the dew, and he says, “I beseech you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ.” We can trust that weapon to do almost anything if only we will use it. Difficulties between brethren and between sisters will vanish if the mighty weapons of the meekness and gentleness of Christ are laid hold of, but how it tests where we are. The dew is there upon Hermon; it is to be had by nearness to Christ. There is no difficulty about getting the dew. The Lord Jesus is blessed with the blessings of the dew. He has got them, but we have to go to Him for them. The apostle had to roar as a lion in regard to one of the Corinthians; the dew had not affected him, and he says, “Put away that wicked person,” but in regard to them as a people he bedewed their souls with the grace of heaven. He made clear to them that whatever they did to him, whether they spake against him, or contrasted him with other apostles, it did not alter his love for them. Thus he says, “I will very gladly spend and be spent for you; though the more abundantly I love you, the less I be loved.” That mountain of Zion was so near to Hermon that he met things in the grace of Christ.

One greatly desires that we might get a sense of what can be done with the dew. If Saul of Tarsus can be converted, and if Nebuchadnezzar can be transformed into a servant of God, magnifying and honouring the King of heaven, then what can the dew not do? The difficulty is that we know so little about waiting. God was prepared to go on bedewing Nebuchadnezzar for seven long years before He would give him up. If we are prepared to follow the divine example we can accomplish wonders in the power and influence of the grace of heaven.

May the Lord help us then to really appreciate what is possible if we attack difficulties in the grace of heaven, the weapons of our warfare, and we shall find there is mighty power to break up the hard clods with the dew. The hard hearts that have been unmoved by the repetition of right statements and correct doctrine, the grace of heaven will break such hearts and transform them for the service of the Lord.