RESPECT FOR THE BORDERS OF THE LAND

N. T. Meek

Numbers 34: 1–12; Matthew 15: 21–I would like to say a simple word about the borders of the land which God marked out; God Himself defined them, not Israel, not even Moses; it was God who did it, which I think is important in principle to understand. Things that are defined by God require our utmost respect. This is a typical scripture but we can carry the import of the teaching further, and weigh its bearing on ourselves. Most of us have some idea of the general shape of Palestine and probably most of us have a map of it in the back of our Bibles. It may be profitable to follow it at your leisure, actually to study the map and look at the four borders.

God was putting His people in that land, the choicest land that He could find. It corresponds with what we have in the New Testament as to the riches of God’s thoughts. What He has brought into Christianity is of course greater than what He introduced into Judaism. But the principle remains the same in Christianity, that He defines for us the area of blessing.

Therefore it is so great. If you and I defined it, of necessity it would be pitched only at the level of our own apprehension; but if He defines it, He pitches it at His own level, and what a wonderful level it is! If you read Ephesians you get some idea of the level at which God has pitched the riches of that land that you and I might enjoy it, that we might walk through according to the length of it and according to the breadth of it. You can walk both ways and the scenery is grand both ways. It is a wonderful land. I would encourage all of us, even young ones, to read the great epistles and get some idea of the riches of divine favour, the wonderful wealth of our inheritance.

But what was in one’s mind was that we might be helped to recognize the borders. There are two long, and two short borders, a long border on the west side, and another long border on the east side, a short border on the north and a short one on the south. Now let us start with what is simple, that is, the west border, which is defined very clearly and concisely in verse 6, “As west border ye shall have the great sea and its coast. This shall be your west border”. The west border was entirely water. It was the sea, and I think you might call it the evangelical border, because in the sea you will find the fish; it is the great sea. “Yonder is the great and wide sea”, the psalmist says, “therein are moving things innumerable, living creatures small and great”, Psalm 104: 25. Now a believer is to have an outlook toward the west border and pray for it, pray for blessing on the gospel. It is an outlook that looks towards mankind, and what can be secured—not only to relieve need, but what can be secured for God’s heart from the west border, and it is wide open to us. There is no restriction given in verse 6. You say you want to be evangelical, then you have a wide field. You can go down from the land anywhere to the edge of the water and go out with the preaching.

It is wide open to you, on the streets, in the hospitals and the lodging houses, if there are such places nowadays, persons can carry the gospel. The border is wide and there is no restriction.

There is not intended to be any restriction, only we have to bear in mind the teaching of all the borders. It was never intended, dear brethren, that we should specialize in one part of Christian truth. It was intended that the man of God should be complete. It means complete as to qualification. It infers that he can tackle any job. I think perhaps in these days we may be learning how to do that. Most of us who are brothers have to take a turn at the preaching. We do not assume we are preachers, but we take a turn at it. We have to be what they call all-rounders, and you can play behind the wicket, or you can bowl, or you can be long-stop, and one day you are this and another day you are that. It is a great thing to be an all-rounder, especially when numbers are small. When numbers are few we need persons who can fill all sorts of positions. So you say, I cannot really preach but I will try. Out of love for Christ, love for the children, and anyone else who comes to hear the gospel, I will try.

Well, the border is wide open, and if you feel you can go into the open air, that border is wide open too. I do not think anyone will stop you doing that. I would be perturbed if I heard there was a limit being put on the preaching of the gospel. Only, as I say, we do have to respect all the borders. A good churchman will preach effectively because he knows the borders all round, and he does not make over-much of one border and neglect another. In a certain sense as soon as you get out of your front door you are touching water, and there is a great field for the gospel. That is the west border.

I would like to speak next about the east border, and the definition here is longer. But what comes up especially is that there is water there too, and it is largely defined by the Jordan.

Now is it not very good of God to define the borders so carefully, as He does with the edge of the sea, or the bank of the river? It is part of God’s goodness that He does not leave us uncertain or anxious in relation to those two borders. What is the intended effect, what is the meaning, of the east border with the Jordan? Well, I think it must relate to the teaching of the death of Christ; including the teaching of our death with Him. The apostle Paul says as to the cup, “Is it not the communion of the blood of the Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of the Christ?” 1 Corinthians 10: 16. He puts it in the form of a question. It involves fellowship. The east border involves the fellowship, the fellowship of His death. “Is it not the communion of the blood of the Christ?” That must involve His death.

The fellowship involves His death.

Now that is something one has to respect. One has to respect the Lord’s death, and in defining the east border you would be faced with that very matter. The fact that my Lord has died is a profound matter. It is intended to have a very profound effect upon the believer’s life, the fact that his Lord died, and he is in the fellowship of His death. The fellowship, from this point of view, is not the fellowship in its dignity as you get it in 1 Corinthians 1, the fellowship of God’s Son. It is rather the Jordan defining the east border of the land. As we said earlier, we have to regard all the four borders together. Thankfully, the east border is pretty well defined, perhaps not quite so explicitly as the west, but it is defined, and if you read through the Scriptures I think you will find indications as to how the east border runs. Now in saying these things I am seeking to draw attention to their bearing on practical matters that come up amongst us, and thankfully Scripture and ministry help us in knowing the borders.

When we come to the north and south borders they are not so easy to follow, but if we approach them by way of those that are easily followed, then we learn something which will help us to define the north and south borders. As you study the map you will see that they go to one place and down to another, and they finish elsewhere. This requires deeper exercise as to what is involved. Practical matters rise up constantly and we often find it difficult to define just what is to be done. What will help us? One thing that may help us is the development of spiritual judgment, or priestliness, if one could use that word, which we have learned by testing the two main borders. The more familiar we get with those two main borders—those two great principles of the outgoing of the glad tidings to all men, and yet respect to what is due to God in His house—the more you can define those two, the better furnished you will be to define these difficult questions as to the north and the south. Thank God, they are not long borders. In other words, they will not tax you too much, nevertheless they do tax us, and in a certain sense we learn by experience, and we learn by having, regard to those two main ones, in defining where our feet shall go, how far they shall go.

There is a story, I suppose it is true, of a lady who wanted a coachman. She advertised the job and out of those who applied she selected three for interview. She said to the first one, ‘If we go around such and such a mountain, you know where the ground breaks away; how close to the edge do you think you could take the coach?’ He said, ‘Two feet’. She asked the second one the same question, how far he could venture towards the edge. He replied, ‘One foot’.

Then she asked the third one the same question. He replied, ‘I would keep as far from the edge as I could’. And she said, ‘You have got the job’.

Now that is not a bad way of approaching these questions; it is not how close you can go to evil, but how far away you can keep from it. It is not how near you can sail to the world, but how far you can keep out of it. These things are very testing, are they not? They test us in many practical matters. They test parents with their children as to what they should go to, and what they should be kept from. They affect us all in our relations to men and our relations to our brethren. We are very much tested by them. But the Lord would help us to learn; He would teach us. He would delineate matters for us. Probably if we studied them a little more carefully and learned how principles work out and how we are able still to work them out in 2 Timothy days, we would be more clear. I am sure the Lord would help us. As we said at the beginning, God Himself has defined the borders. They are not determined by my decision, but by God’s.

I read those verses in Matthew to bring out the fact that when the Lord was here He had respect for the borders. That is a very touching thing. The Lord Jesus went up as far as the parts of Tyre and Sidon. Mr. Darby’s note is helpful. It says, ‘Not necessarily within the territory, but in that neighbourhood’. How skilfully and commendably the Lord moved here! This was the area from which the material came for the house which Solomon built. And the Lord no doubt thought of this when he went into that north corner of the country. He looked over the border; it does not look as if He actually went across it, according to Mr. Darby’s note, but He looked over it and He saw the sort of material that would be built into the assembly. He saw it in this woman. It is a most touching thing. It must have refreshed His heart as He saw it, but the main point I wanted to make is how the Lord here in manhood respected the border. Well, He is the great Model for us, the great Example for us. Do you not want to please Him? Yet you often find you want to please yourself too, and that is when the problem comes. We know in our hearts that we will never find satisfaction outside of Christ. He is the One to keep in affection before us.

I just commend these simple thoughts to us, dear brethren, that we may be helped in the working out of our exercises; Let us keep within the borders. You can speak to anybody, whatever nationality he is; you can speak to anybody in the gospel. At the same time we always have to keep in mind what is due to the fellowship, and what God Himself has defined that might be difficult for us quite to apprehend, but you always have to move in God’s fear, I am sure the Lord would help us and I am sure He will strengthen every right desire. May we prove it to be so, for His name’s sake. Amen.

Address at Melbourne
7 April 1990

Published by F. C. Mutton, 22 Christchurch Road, Ilford, Essex, IG1 4QY, England Printed by Crystal Stationery, 22 Western Road, Billericay, Essex, CM12 9DZ, (T) (0277) 6506