THE WORK OF GOD (7)
THE WORK OF GOD (7)
WH Would you kindly say a few words regarding what was before us this morning, for the benefit especially of those who were unable to be present then.
JT It had reference to the family of God, as seen in the book of Genesis; the parental thought being presented in Abraham, and set before his immediate succeeding generations. Isaac and Jacob; he would express parental feeling and affection in dwelling with them in tents; Jacob’s family, however, although of one father, had several mothers, and hence the need for adjustment. The ministry of Joseph brought that about, so that his father’s family was brought together under the influence of Joseph. And Jacob himself, blessing Joseph’s sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, in the family, indicated the Father, as in Ephesians, of whom every family in the heavens and on the earth is named. We noticed that the daughters of Zelophehad, who are mentioned in Numbers 27, were direct descendants of Joseph. It is said: “The children also of Machir, the son of Manasseh, were brought up upon Joseph’s knees”, Genesis 1: 23. These women were the descendants of Machir, and showed in their appreciation of their inheritance that they were true children of Joseph, Jacob, Isaac, and Abraham.
It is to be noted that in Numbers 26 the people are numbered for the inheritance as a new generation. Those that came out of Egypt falling in the wilderness, it is a new generation that is to inherit; that is, as we may say, a spiritual generation. And the appreciation of what is inherited is seen in these five women. But then Moses said to the Lord: “Let Jehovah, the God of the spirits of all flesh, set a man [p. 359] over the assembly, who may go out before them, and who may come in before them, and who may lead them out, and who may bring them in; that the assembly of Jehovah be not as sheep that have no shepherd”, chapter 27: 16, 17. This desire on the part of Moses fits in with the progress made. It was the God of the spirits of all flesh he addressed. And then Jehovah says: “Take thee Joshua, the son of Nun, a man in whom is the Spirit, and thou shalt lay thine hand upon him”.
So that we are now in the presence of, not what is external, but what the saints are spiritually; and hence Joshua is put forward, not by Moses, but by Jehovah Himself, as the man to lead. The new order of things being brought forward, as we may say, a spiritual order of things — not now what is external, but what we are before God — God demands His portion. He says, “Command the children of Israel, and say unto them, My offering, and my bread for my sacrifices made by fire, for a sweet savour unto me, shall ye observe to offer unto me in their due season”, Numbers 28: 2.
FHB That seems to be the counterpart to the faith of these women; they claimed their portion of God’s inheritance, and now God gets His — the response on their part.
JT “God is a spirit, and they who worship him must worship him in spirit and truth”, John 4: 24. We are in the presence now of spiritual things.
FHB All this follows upon the brazen serpent.
JT That is important, and perhaps you would say a little more about it.
FHB I thought that in the brazen serpent we have, typically set forth, God’s judgment of man after the flesh; that order of man having utterly broken down, proving himself unable to appreciate God’s inheritance. And then we have the springing well, the gift of God’s Spirit in the believer, the power of life.
Rem The flesh had been fully exposed.
JT “We are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God”, Philippians 3: 3. What one feels is the great need among us of spirituality; people want things brought down to their level, which often means that they are without exercise. Of course God would meet every measure of intelligence that may exist, but we should all be exercised about understanding spiritual things.
WH Emphasis is laid here on His portion “my offerings” — what He should get.
JT Yes. Then to bring that into our own time; as we heard last night, God is a Spirit; we must learn to dismiss from our minds material things in regard to God. The Jewish system was set up in regard to material things, and Christendom has lapsed into similarity to it. “God is a spirit”. John emphasises that, and he says: “That which is born of the Spirit is spirit”, John 3: 6. That lies at the bottom of Christianity.
WH We feel we need to be strengthened on the spiritual side, because we are so material.
JT Yes; well, I thought this chapter might help us.
RWG Would you not say that in a general way God gets His portion from His people, but the question for each one to ask himself is, does He get it from me?
JT Yes. We read in Peter, “To whom coming, a living stone”. There has never been such a thing known in natural things as a living stone. So we need to have spiritual understanding to take in the thought. “Yourselves also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ”, 1 Peter 2: 4, 5.
WH [p. 361] One needs to be in the hands of the Holy Spirit to understand it.
PSP Is your thought that Joshua comes in as one who would lead the people into what is typically a spiritual region?
JT That is the qualification God Himself mentions. It is remarkable; Moses might have nominated Joshua, but God did it Himself, saying he had the Spirit.
PSP There was a certain spirit that animated Moses to make this request of God — the spirit of a shepherd. “That the assembly of Jehovah be not as sheep that have no shepherd”. Do we not see these characteristics that marked Moses and Joshua, i.e., shepherd and leader, represented in Christ — Moses, shepherding Jehovah’s flock in the wilderness, and Joshua leading them into the land?
JT Yes. Moses is introduced in Exodus as having “led the flock to the back side of the desert, and came to the mountain of God, even to Horeb”, Exodus 3: 1. That was a good place to lead them to — the mount of God! It was at the mountain of God he encamped with the people later; Exodus 18: 5. As there they had opportunity of knowing God.
JM'G Why is the continual burnt offering brought in first in order here?
JT As representing what Christ is expressly for God. The more spiritual you are, the more you will appreciate what is for God. What also strikes one here is the uniformity of the offerings. In Leviticus you have the burnt offering, the meat offering, the peace and sin offerings, but you get them combined here; that is to say, the offerer has a uniform view of Christ, he is spiritual; in other words, he has a uniform apprehension of Christ. The sin offering is not much in evidence, as the chapter presents [p. 362] what is for God.
RWG What do you mean by a uniform apprehension?
JT Well, in Leviticus you look at Christ from various viewpoints. We know in part. But then as you learn in part you develop into a full-grown man.
RWG And you are then able to view these offerings as a whole.
JT Yes; when you are formed by the truth from the various sides in which it is presented, you are not liable to be carried away by the wiles of cunning men. Ephesians 4 contemplates the gifts that Christ has given from on high: “Some apostles, and some prophets, and some evangelists, and some shepherds and teachers, for the perfecting of the saints; with a view to the work of the ministry, with a view to the edifying of the body of Christ; until we all arrive at the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, at the full grown man, at the measure of the stature of the fulness of the Christ”. You see Him from every side, and you are not going to listen to anything contrary. A babe is different from that; he is not uniform, he is liable to be one-sided.
FHB A spiritual man would appreciate Christ in that way — what He is for God; not simply what He is to us. Think of what Christ is to God!
JT And, in considering this scripture, you, as a full grown man, see what there was for God in Him, what was for God in “the life of Jesus”, when He was here.
JH Is that why the burnt offering comes first each time in the list of the offerings?
JT I think so. “Lo, I come to do thy will”, Hebrews 10: 9.
FHB And the meat offering was always offered with the burnt offering, and also the drink offering — the three went together.
JT And all according to the divine requirements;
[p. 363] the perfect measure in each case. It is not left to your discretion, the divine requirement is all perfectly met in Christ.
WH I suppose there is advancement in these offerings?
JT Yes; there are weekly or monthly offerings. In fact in the next chapter we see that the whole millennial period is included — what there should be for God from the time Christ came in until the end.
Ques What is meant by “My offering and my bread for my sacrifices made by fire”?
JT I think it is God urging His claim. In Leviticus it is left to the offerer to bring what he can — “if his offering be”, etc.; as if God would leave it to us to indicate what the fruit of His grace would bring about. Things are not left in that way here; God has His own specific rights, and He lays claim to them. I think Ephesians is on that line; it recognises the full rights of God, and these are secured in those who have arrived at the stature of the full grown man. Compare chapter 5: 1, 2.
PSP Where would this have its answer at the present moment?
JT It would be in the assembly, but, I think, in its Ephesian aspect God could not get it at Corinth.
PSP It would not exactly come out in the individual, but rather in the assembly?
JT The obligation would rest on each individual, but it is seen fully in the assembly. The apostle has to refer in Corinthians to a man in Christ that he knew; apparently they did not know him. He urges that they should be no longer babes, but grown men.
JM The apostle John writes to the fathers who “have known him that is from the beginning”; one would look for God getting His portion from such.
JT Yes. We are on the highest level in the four gospels; you look at the Lord from four standpoints,
or sides. The “fathers” know Him in this way.
WH What we have in the chapter before us was set forth in Him perfectly.
JT Yes; this is what God saw in Him, but He wants you to grow up, through the knowledge of Him, until you arrive at the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ.
RWG So that you may be able to present Christ before God, to God’s delight.
JT That is it. If you are occupied with the Lord as Saviour, and do not know Him beyond that, God will accept that, of course; but it does not come up to this. He has respect for the tiniest vessel.
RWG I suppose in that way the continual burnt-offering comes in here with each offering; it is prominently before your heart in approaching God.
FHB One striking thing about it is its continuity — day by day.
WH Is there any difference between the burnt offering on the sabbath, on the first day of the month, and the continual burnt offering every day, in the presentation of it to God?
JT I think the sabbath and monthly offerings would bring in excess. These were not to replace the daily offering, they were to be additional. Sometimes you see the Lord’s people staying at home from the ordinary meetings because there are going to be special ones; well, there is not much in that for God; there might as well not be any special ones so far as they are concerned.
JS I was wondering if it was God’s intention that, in the complete range of gifts which He has given, there might be a complete presentation of Christ from us.
JT I think that is a very good suggestion. The order in Ephesians 4 is the order in which the testimony was established — apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds, and teachers. The apostle brings in the [p. 365] authority of Christ, which is the first great thing; the prophet brings in the mind of God; the evangelist has the love for souls by which there is increase; and the “shepherd and teacher” (one person), cares for the saints, brings them food and teaches them too “for the perfecting of the saints; with a view to the work of the ministry, with a view to the edifying of the body of Christ; until we all arrive at the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, at the full grown man, at the measure of the stature of the fulness of the Christ”.
WH It is striking how all the gifts have a part in it.
FHB “Until we all arrive” at it; one cannot go beyond that.
JT So that you have a living organism, the body, to move in, and in that way you are saved from “every wind of that teaching which is in the sleight of men, in unprincipled cunning with a view to systematised error; but holding the truth in love, we may grow up to him in all things, who is the head, the Christ”, Ephesians 4: 14, 15.
Rem There is no effort in all this; it is the outcome of satisfied hearts.
JT God, having wonderfully enriched us, asks us to give Him His share; He greatly desires to have it from us. “My bread for my offerings by fire of sweet odour to me, shall ye take heed to present to me at their set time”.
Rem Even the gospel is spoken of as a continual offering, “whom I serve in my spirit in the glad tidings of his Son” (Romans 1: 9), says the apostle Paul. Did it not go up as a sweet savour?
JT The apostle says, “We are a sweet odour of Christ to God in the saved and in those that perish”, 2 Corinthians 2: 15.
FHB He carried on his work as a priest. In Romans 15 Paul speaks of “the grace given to me [p. 366] by God, for me to be minister of Christ Jesus to the nations, carrying on as a sacrificial service the message of glad tidings of God, in order that the offering up of the nations might be acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit”.
EH Have we not got the same idea in connection with the incident of the Lord’s interview with the woman at the well (John 4)? He who created the water, asked her for a drink of it.
JT “Of thine own have we given thee!”
PSP The whole nation here is viewed as responding to God.
JT Yes, a great spiritual company, led by a spiritual leader; this is the setting in which God’s claim for His offerings appears.
JM The spring, or movement God-ward, is according to the place the Lord has in our affections when together.
JT Joshua would take note of this charge. He is already in view a leader.
JM Do you not think we need to intelligently recognise the light that should govern us on an occasion such as is contemplated here, so that the Father might get His portion?
EP All these things are the outcome of a spiritual state in the saints. I was thinking of Leviticus 23. The feasts of the Lord would give occasions for these precious results for God.
Rem One observes that the majority of those who listen to the gospel are impressed by what they are going to get; whereas in John 4 the Lord had worshippers of the Father in view.
Rem We have great wealth contemplated in this chapter. What have I to give to God? Christ! whose beauties and perfections come before the soul so blessedly. Then again, in the next chapter, we have what speaks of great wealth; thirteen bullocks offered at [p. 367] once!
JT There is no thought of poverty here, no “turtle doves” or “young pigeons”. These two chapters present what God looks for in His people as endowed with a rich inheritance — blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies.
FHB I was going to ask, what does the drink offering set forth?
JT I think it is what delights the heart of God in Christ. Drink in Scripture is usually satisfaction, or pleasure.
FHB Would it be the joy of Christ in thus devoting Himself to God’s will and pleasure? “I delight to do thy will, O my God”, Psalm 40: 8.
JT These offerings, as seen here together, present Christ in His perfection as Man; the offerer as apprehending Him thus and formed accordingly would be balanced, he would be in accord with what is of God. The more we know of the Lord, the more perfectly balanced we are.
RWG The offerer would be affected by what he offered.
JS I suppose Jacob was so affected when he came out of Padan-Aram; he poured out a drink offering. He did not do that on the occasion of his previous visit to Bethel. Compare Genesis 28 and Genesis 35.
JT That helps, but go on.
JS I thought it helpful to see the variety here. Each occasion seemed to afford a special opportunity of taking up Christ in a distinct way before God. For example, we have the different meetings, and our family altars, meal times, and so forth. We should present Christ in a distinct way in connection with each occasion.
Rem Christ was the fine flour mingled with oil. The Lord was without prominence, everything for God blended in Him perfectly, and we should be [p. 368] similar.
JT That is an important point; apprehending Christ in the perfect evenness of His holy character here leads to correspondence with Him in us. We are “According to Christ”, Colossians 2: 8.
JM I suppose the different gospels would help us in that.
JT God will not have anything else, because He designs that all shall be conformed to the image of His Son. There was a class of workmen in Solomon’s day called “Stone squarers”; they would make the stones fit in; 1 Kings 5: 18.
FHB Do you think we need some stone squarers now?
JT Well, one feels that.
JM Would that be the effect of the presentation of the truth?
JT Yes, you have a model before you, for Christ is the truth.
EH I suppose in the Lord’s most prominent servants, even a Paul, a Peter, or a John, there was some quality in excess coming out; but, as you say, in Christ everything was balanced perfectly.
JT Observe the wonderful balance of the Lord in the last moments of His life; when all the pressure was brought to bear upon Him. He never swerved one hair’s breadth. The majesty of that position bows one’s heart.
Rem That is why the meat offering is always offered with the burnt offering.
JM In the burnt offering going up to God, there would be an appreciation in His people of what that blessed One was in His life here. It is not simply the burnt offering, apart from the appreciation in the soul of what He was in the meat offering.
JT You will observe that it is not the details as to the action at the altar so much; the mind is more on the offerings themselves.
In Ephesians 5 we have, I think, a direct reference,
in the word, “Be ye therefore imitators of God, as beloved children, and walk in love, even as the Christ loved us, and delivered himself up for us, an offering and sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savour”.
JM So in entering into this there would be no sense of need, but rather the great wealth of all that Christ is in different aspects to God.
EH In that chapter in Ephesians to which you have referred, God looks for a repetition in His people, as they walk in love, of what was so precious to Him in Christ when on earth.
FHB Is anything greater, in the expression of God’s grace to us, than that we should be made capable of participating in His satisfaction in Christ, and that we should have communion with God in it; creatures like ourselves have been taken up and made capable of this?
Ques What did you mean by your reference to the four gospels?
JT Well, they view Christ from four different sides, or aspects; a complete view, as given to us by the Spirit.
This 28th chapter refers to the saints of the present dispensation, and there is no diminution or decline contemplated. In verse 26 we read: “And on the day of the first-fruits, when ye present a new oblation to Jehovah, after your weeks, ye shall have a holy convocation: no manner of servile work shall ye do. And ye shall present a burnt offering for a sweet odour to Jehovah: two young bullocks, one ram, seven yearling lambs; and their oblation of fine flour, mingled with oil, three tenth parts for one bullock, two tenth parts for the ram, one tenth part for each lamb of the seven lambs; and one buck of the goats, to make atonement for you”, verse 26 - 30. But then you have in the 13th verse of the next chapter, thirteen young bullocks to commence with,
[p. 370] and you go down gradually to seven in that chapter, showing that decline is contemplated.
F.H.B. Why?
JT I think it is the millennium.
JM Is it that the church is first?
JT Yes, and decline is not contemplated there. The millennium is a perfect state of things; it is, however, greater at the beginning than at the end. The bullocks do not go below seven — a perfect number.
Rem So the assembly would indicate more the eternal order of things; there is no diminution.
Ques Why does the sin offering come in three times in the chapter?
JT The sin offering comes with the full presentation of Christ. While we are here that must be; you could not come to God apart from that, however wealthy you may be.
JM It is the recognition of what we are as in accord with Christ; there is no sense of need.
FHB It is the delighting in that side of the offering that has met every need to the glory of God. It is a fine thing if we are up to it.