THE WILDERNESS
THE WILDERNESS
JT I thought that perhaps we might see how the believer enters into the wilderness; and I think this chapter enables us to see that.
TMG What is the idea connected with the wilderness?
JT Well, in a general way there are three leading features of it. The wilderness is the place of testing, as we all know; but it may be divided into three sections; the first is that which appears in the book of Exodus, where they are under pure grace; that is, from chapter 15 to chapter 18 inclusive, they were under the rule of pure grace. The next section views the believer in relationship with the tabernacle, where God’s rule and God’s order are seen. Then there is the section which views the believer in relation with the Spirit, which comes in after Numbers 21.
TMG After the brazen serpent.
JT I thought it would be helpful if we were to consider a little what the wilderness involves in that way, especially for young people; that it might be understood that God takes us up as believing in Christ, and as committing ourselves to Him in baptism. God takes us up and deals with us at the outset on the principle of pure grace. Whatever we may do He has no answer for us but grace; so that the murmurings up to chapter 18 are answered by grace; there is no judgment as yet. This chapter in the light of the anti-type really suggests that the believer loves God; and the song is a celebration of what God has done for them. They speak specially of His “right hand”. We read in the book of Proverbs “A man’s heart is at his right hand”. God acted for them in love. His right hand is at the [p. 114] disposal of His heart, and they recognise that in their song. So that it is clear that at the outset of the believer’s career, there is love. God takes account of it in their song, however little of it may be discernible. God speaks of it in that way. He tells us what we were in the wilderness. Israel was “holiness to the Lord, the first fruit of his increase”. God takes account of that, and He would foster it; He would promote that in us. Hence what follows is the palm trees, the sweetening of the waters, and all that is to promote affection for God.
Ques Would you say that we enter the wilderness with singing?
JT Yes. I think there is the recognition in the soul of what God has done for us in Christ. So that in Romans 6 we read: “as many of you as were baptised unto Christ”; that is, you have regard for Him, hence you are baptised to Him; but the passage goes on to say, “as many of you as were baptised unto Christ were baptised unto his death”. That marks you off here.
TMG That would answer to across the sea.
JT I think so. Romans 6 corresponds with that; but it is to be noted, that “as many of you as were baptised unto Christ”; it is to the Person, and that supposes that you have regard for the Person. You love Him, and you have committed yourself to Him; but the death side comes to light in the wilderness.
TMG You must be in the good of the affection side before you accept the death side.
JT That is what I thought. So that they were baptised unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea.
The sea is the mark of separation.
Ques What do you say the cloud is?
JT Well, it was, for that moment, that in which God was.
Ques What would answer to the cloud [p. 115] now?
JT I think, in a sense, the Spirit. It is thus that God is known.
TMG God was with them in that way.
Ques What is the thought in the acceptance of the wilderness? Is it that the soul confesses the Lord?
JT ’Tis the treasure we’ve found in His love. That has made us now pilgrims below.
But then there must be the public identification with the Lord in His death. You may be identified with Him in your heart, but that is not for testimony.
TMG You own Him as your Lord. They were baptised unto Moses as their leader.
JT Quite so. So here Moses led them. If you take up each book by itself you get in the opening portion the point of it. The book of Exodus is an account of the names of the children of Israel who went into Egypt, their numbers and their names. In the opening of Leviticus God is speaking to Moses out of the tabernacle. So it is a question of what God was in the tabernacle. In Numbers Jehovah spake to Moses out of the tabernacle in the wilderness; the point of view there is the tabernacle in the wilderness, and the relation of the people to it. In Deuteronomy, the land is in view. The people are regarded typically as having the Holy Spirit, and there is a second covenant in chapter 29: 1.
TMG Deuteronomy would be, I suppose, Romans 8.
Ques As to Exodus and the names of the children of Israel who went down into Egypt; what is in mind?
JT It indicates how God takes account of the people in those circumstances. Moreover, Egypt was the scene of bondage. What lies behind it all is the love of God; and the Spirit opens with an account of the names of those who went down into Egypt. They are in the mind of God; His love is behind it [p. 116] all; He is going to intervene for them: but He says at the outset that He knows them all.
TMG You find the same thing in Numbers. It is very interesting to see that everyone is taken account of by God.
JT Yes; God spake to Moses out of the tabernacle in the wilderness; then first of all Moses and Aaron are to number them by their armies. Then with them there was to be a man out of every tribe in the nation, every one a head of the house of his father, indicating the principle of local responsibility, like first Corinthians. Then, as numbered, each man was to pitch by his own standard, with the ensign of his father’s house. There again you see the same principle of local responsibility. Then the tribes were divided into four companies, so you have everything in perfect order;, and the tabernacle was to be carried between the companies, two before and two after, surrounded by the Levites. So that, in the book of Numbers you get the order of God in connection with His testimony; and every Christian has to be in relationship with that. But in the book of Leviticus you have the sanctuary; and there it is a question of how God has to be approached; it is not a question of the Levites, but of the priests. So that we are to learn what we are now as having to say to God in the sanctuary; whereas, in Numbers, it is more what we are publicly in relationship with the testimony.
TMG Yes, the Levite character. Then Leviticus would answer more to the epistle to the Hebrews?
JT Yes, I think so.
Ques Do you get the thought in Numbers of the gospel of Mark?
JT Yes, the gospel of Mark would go with it.
TMG The testimony.
JT I think it is of all moment that we should see first of all how it is that we come into the wilderness.
[p. 117] It is one thing to come into it, and another thing to get out of it. The Spirit of God shows us how we get out of it, too. I believe many have the thought that the wilderness is only something we want to get through as fast as possible. That is true; but we have to see that it is the sphere in which God sets forth His testimony.
Ques You made a remark at the beginning of the reading, that in Exodus it was pure grace first. There was no dealing with them on account of their murmurings. Would you unfold that a little?
JT Well, that is what you find in chapters 15 to 18. There you will notice the bitter waters are made sweet for them; then they have the shelter of the palm trees; and besides that they have the twelve wells of water which is the means of refreshment.
All that is divinely provided.
TMG The twelve wells and the seventy palm trees mean shelter and refreshment.
JT Yes, but for us they point to the ministry of the Spirit. That is God’s provision for us; we have to bear that in mind. If He sends a little gift among us it is that we might be nurtured, and if there is the energy of the Spirit, it is that we may be refreshed. Then the enemy comes forward, but if you have Amalek’s attacks, you have Joshua; and finally in chapter 18 you have Moses the king in Jeshurun. So that any difficulty you may have in your soul you go to him with it; they came to Moses with their difficulties.
Rem And it was later on that God dealt with them for their murmurings.
JT I think it is when you accept definitely a position under His rule, that He deals with you in discipline.
TMG It was not until they had accepted the law that He took account of their murmurings.
JT Yes; they put themselves formally under it.
[p. 118] They had said that they would build a habitation for Him, and now He puts them to the test as to whether they would do that. At the outset of your Christian career God is before you, you are happy and enjoying the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, and you would do anything for Him. You would devote yourself entirely to the Lord; and then God, in wondrous grace, takes you up on that ground and nurtures that spirit in you. He does not bring you to the wilderness of Sinai all at once; it is the wilderness of testing. I do not know if you have noticed that there are different wildernesses here; the wilderness of Shur, the wilderness of Sin, and the wilderness of Sinai. They were fully two months in the wilderness before God said anything to them about law, I mean before He proposed the ten commandments to them; and they were a full year in the wilderness before they were set up in relationship with the tabernacle. It took nearly nine months to get the tabernacle in order; and nearly three months till the giving of the law. So that you have, figuratively, a full year; a year and a month, really, according to Numbers 1, before you are set up in connection with the testimony.
TMG That is very interesting as showing how the soul is led on.
JT There is nothing, I believe, that we are so defective in as the knowledge of God. How considerate He is of His people! If He sees there is love in your heart, He sets you in circumstances where that is nurtured. He does not call for the north wind all at once. That comes afterwards: “Awake, O north wind”, but that is when you are able to bear it.
Rem It takes different testings to teach us what we are ourselves, and what God is to us.
JT I think so. Up to Numbers 21 that is seen. The flesh is fully exposed. But then, I think, what has not been noticed by us as it should have been, is [p. 119] the place the tabernacle holds. If it was simply a question of taking the people out, and bringing them in, there would have been no need for that; it would only have been a few days’ journey. The tabernacle contemplates what is adverse; and its maintenance here is a testimony to God’s power. He can maintain what is really of Himself.
Ques Referring to what you have said just now as to the nurture that the young Christian, the new born soul, gets, do you think there is any significance in the fact that the good Samaritan stayed a night at the inn before he took his departure?
JT Well, that is very suggestive; and then, moreover, he made provision for the man that had been found among the thieves. He undertook to be responsible for all his expenses.
TMG The whole way through.
Rem You connected the thought of power with that.
JT Think of what we are! Take the beginning of Acts, for instance. In Acts, we get the anti-type of the tabernacle. There in the company of poor people, in the midst of the most renowned religious city in the world, God introduced an order of things that He has in His mind for the whole universe; and it was also in His mind that it should be maintained in them, and yet they were men in flesh and blood here. That is a testimony to God’s power; and the more you consider it the more wonderful it is.
Rem Was it the answer to Matthew 16? “Upon this rock I will build my assembly; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it”.
JT But the first thing they propose to do here is to build a habitation for God. Now, He did not ask them to do it immediately. He gave them time, so that they might learn Him and His grace. Afterwards He proposed that they should build the habitation. So Moses is to take a [p. 120] heave-offering.
TMG The heave-offering is an answer from the heart.
JT But the believer at the beginning has hardly any idea of what a dwelling place for God involves here; so it is of all moment that young believers should be nurtured in grace. God’s desire is to bring them into a sphere where there is shelter and refreshment. The apostles were divinely prepared to be a shelter for those who would come in afterwards; and that there should be refreshment for souls. If our meetings are anything, there should be refreshment in them for souls, and they should have the sense that there is protection for them. The apostles were divinely prepared for it, so that the three thousand souls that were converted on the day of Pentecost came into that in which divine shelter and refreshment were. I believe souls are stunted because of the want of these things.
Rem There is not sufficient consideration for the young.
JT There ought to be that in which they could take root; “rooted and grounded in love”. You must have the love for that. You see the idea in Christianity is not that you should climb up, but that you should grow up. In christendom people get into a position of eminence by climbing; now, the Lord’s idea is that they are to grow up. Take Balaam’s prophecy. He sees the tents of Israel: and he says, “How goodly are thy tents, O Jacob, and thy tabernacles, O Israel! As the valleys are they spread forth, as gardens by the river’s side, as the trees of lign aloes which the Lord hath planted, and as cedar trees beside the waters”. Trees are for shelter. In Exodus 15 they were to shelter Israel in their youth, coming in to the wilderness. At the end of the wilderness the young become trees themselves, they have grown up. If there is not the soil in which souls are to grow there is sure to be climbing, because [p. 121] naturally we look for eminence; and if you climb as sure as possible you will have a fall.
Rem The young should be attracted.
JT Yes, they should be taught how to love. The Lord has taught us how to love; we should never have known otherwise. In John 13 the Lord teaches us how to love. The difference between the Lord’s last supper and other suppers is this, that in the last supper He provided for a continuance of the feast in His absence. He had other suppers before that. You cannot have a love feast without love: now, the Lord provided for the continuance of the love feasts; and He did it by His own service. He laid aside His garments and girded Himself. If you have not the service you cannot have the love feast. Now, the service is seen in going down. A Christian’s stature is seen in his ability to go down. The more a man descends, the more he shows that he is great.
Ques Then you would say it is of more importance that young believers should have the shelter of the assembly than that they should come out in testimony?
JT Surely. They ought to grow. You will find the Israelites had to be twenty years old to be taken account of in Numbers.
Ques But would you discourage a young person who wanted to go out in service?
JT Ah, well, we have to take things in the Spirit, and not in the letter. You require strength for testimony.
Rem The young have tender shoots; if you put anything heavy upon them you may break off the shoots.
JT Whereas the tall cedar will stand a good deal. You may depend upon it there is nothing that will stand but love. The Lord enjoined it saying, “have love among yourselves”.
TMG Philippians 2.
JT Yes. “Let this mind be in you that was also in Christ Jesus”.
Rem “Faith and hope shall cease, and love abide alone”.
JT I do not know anything more interesting and more blessed than a love feast. In the Scriptures, Jude speaks about them, “these are spots in your love-feasts”. Now, it is quite impossible to have a love feast unless you have the love; and where are you to get it? You must have it, and I must have it, if we are to enjoy the love feast.
Rem As you say, it is not provided by one.
JT A brother may invite a good many of the saints to his house, and set a feast before them in temporal things; but, then, you cannot do that in a love feast. The Lord alone could do that.
Ques I think you will have to explain more about the love feast.
JT It is clear you cannot have a feast without something to partake of, no matter what kind of a feast it is; and if you are to have a love feast it is quite clear you must have love. I believe John 13 is the means the Lord presents to us for a continuance of the love feast. He rises from supper; the love feast. Well, now, how are you to have the next? That is the point. The fact that you have had one will not guarantee that you will have another.
Ques Is that implied in “I have given you an example?”
JT That is the point in it. If the service is not continued the love feasts will not continue.
Ques What do you mean by saying, if we have not the service we shall not have the feast?
JT The Lord rises from supper; that was the termination of the feast, and He lays aside His garments, and washes the disciples’ feet. If that service does not go on you will not have another feast. We [p. 123] have to do with the world, and are consequently dulled and perhaps defiled; and if this service is wanting amongst us the feasts will be wanting.
WK You mean the Lord’s service?
JT “If ye know these things happy are ye if ye do them”. The happiness is not in the knowledge of them, but in the doing of them.
WK Do you call the doing of them the feast inside?
JT No, I call it the means by which the feast is perpetuated.
TMG Because it must be a question of part with Him for the feast.
Ques Is this service carried out as we come together?
JT I think it is carried out through the week. If you see anything in your brother that is not right, you go to him; if you do not, you have a spot at the love feast. There was a spot at the last supper, Judas was there; and the light was so great that he went out in to the darkness.
Rem You would not be taking into account your standing in the meeting.
JT No; if you do you are likely to regard some services as beneath your dignity. So the Lord said, “Ye call me Master and Lord, and ye do well, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet, ye also ought to wash one another’s feet”. The twelve refused to be deacons. I am not criticising these men, but there are the facts, they refused to be deacons. Stephen superseded them, so the Spirit gives us the history of Stephen; and the apostles are in the second place. Now, Paul, instead of refusing the work of a deacon, took it up, and he regarded it as glory to serve the saints even in that way. See 2 Corinthians 8: 23. So that true love will stop at nothing for the good of the saints.
TMG Well, that is the principle of washing one another’s feet. It is not a question of seeing a spot upon your brother, but I suppose it would be practically carried out if Christ has His place with me, and I am occupied with Him. If I come in contact with you, you will be made to feel it; that should be the effect of it.
JT If you see a spot upon your brother you cannot expect him to have water to remove it, you must bring the water.
TMG But you may do that, though perhaps unconscious of any spot upon your brother; you may by being occupied with Christ yourself and in coming in contact with your brother have that effect upon him.
JT It is what is of Christ in you, the grace and humility, that is effective.
TMG Quite so. “I have given you an example”, the Lord said.
JT I believe if there were more faithfulness amongst us in that way there would be much more spiritual power in the meetings, but things are allowed to drag on; and the Spirit is grieved; therefore we do not have the love feasts.
TMG We may have the feast, but not the love feast.
Rem And we may be like the Jews; they had their own feasts.