IN STEP
Paul Devenish
Numbers 9: 1-3, 6-11; Mark 5: 21-23; Luke 22: 31, 32, 55-57, 61, 62; 24: 34; John 20: 24-28; 1 Thessalonians 4: 15-18
God has graciously made provision for us that we might keep in step together. Numbers is a very interesting book involving the movements of the children of Israel from one encampment to another. You get the introduction in the earlier chapter of Eleazar, the prince of princes of the Levites (ch 3: 32); Eleazar, the son of Aaron in chapter 4. Aaron was still the priest in those days officially, but Eleazar is introduced, the priesthood viewed spiritually as having oversight over the levitical families in view of everything being carried through intact. He is called a prince, the prince of princes; the thought of what is princely is accentuated, no doubt alluding to Christ. But then the character of things seen in Eleazar is to be amongst us. He would be concerned that everyone is carried through with no losses; that everything is carried through without deterioration. So he would have charge of the families of the Kohathites and the Merarites and the Gershonites, the Kohathites having to do with the precious things of God, the ark, that there should be no depreciation of the precious things of God. Someone told us years ago that Timothy was a Kohathite, Titus was a Gershonite and Philemon was a Merarite. Paul had the oversight, you might say, as Eleazar. We need to be concerned that these things are carried through untarnished and that everyone is in step. In the Song of Songs it says, “Who is this, she that cometh up from the wilderness …?” (ch 3: 6), and then later, “Who is this, that cometh up from the wilderness, leaning upon her beloved?” (ch 8: 5). The first reference involves that she is unaffected by the wilderness journey. “Like pillars of smoke, perfumed with myrrh and frankincense, with all powders of the merchant?”, a lovely suggestion of the assembly coming through the wilderness journey, coming up out of the wilderness in freshness and power, unaffected by the long, tedious journey that the wilderness implies. The element of spiritual priesthood and princeliness is to be found amongst us. So as we come up, whether immediately on the morrow, or finally, when the Lord comes for us, we come up in freshness and power, not affected adversely by the wilderness journey.
I have read about certain persons who, because of certain circumstances, were hindered from holding the Passover in the first month. But there was a desire with them. They said to Moses, Why are we kept back? Jehovah makes provision for them. If they could not hold the Passover in the first month, they could hold it in the second month; that is, there is provision made for the desire that was in their hearts to hold the Passover, but it was to be with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. Of course their holding the Passover would involve an appreciation of the sufferings of Christ: Paul says “For also our Passover, Christ, has been sacrificed; so that let us celebrate the feast, not with old leaven, nor with leaven of malice and wickedness, but with unleavened bread of sincerity and truth”, 1 Cor 5: 7,8. We do not have the literal Passover now: we have its moral meaning, but we have the Lord’s supper. Do you have a desire to remember the Lord Jesus? He says, “This do in remembrance of me”, 1 Cor 11: 24. You say, Well, my circumstances are not right at the moment, but I would tell you that the Lord has made provision for you so that you can keep the feast. But there needs to be with us a readiness to take it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. So it says in Corinthians as we were saying, “not with old leaven, nor with leaven of malice and wickedness, but with unleavened bread of sincerity and truth”. You see how the Lord has made provision for our desire to come up to the Supper and to remember the Lord Jesus. A wonderful thing! There is no doubt that Jehovah took account of the desire of the hearts of these men and provided for them.
I think in Numbers we are on a journey. It says in Deuteronomy, “Remember what Amalek did unto thee on the way, when ye came forth out of Egypt; how he met thee on the way, and smote the hindmost of thee, all the feeble that lagged behind thee, when thou wast faint and weary, and he feared not God”, Deut 25: 17,18. If we lag behind we become vulnerable to the attacks of Satan through the weakness of the flesh. We know what that is, all of us know what that is. But the Israelites were on a journey. We are on a journey, beloved, and we are to go in rank; you might say it is a military idea in Numbers. In Exodus the people moved family-wise. What a wonderful thing that is to consider, at the time of the Passover the people moved family-wise! If one household was not great enough for the lamb it was to be shared – it speaks about one lamb for a house, “And if the household be too small for a lamb , let him and his neighbour next unto his house take it according to the number of souls”, Exod 12: 4. I suppose we would all say we are perhaps too small for the lamb, we need the brethren, we need one another. “Your lamb” – a beautiful reference to Christ – “shall be without blemish”. I think they went out family-wise from Egypt. That is a fine thing to think about, beloved, that we go out family-wise from Egypt; not one was to be left behind. The little ones are not to be left behind. Let us just think about that, think of our households. Some of us must think about them with sorrow. But let us have it before us that we go out family-wise and that we have those with whom we can share the lamb, “your lamb”. Let us feed upon the Lamb in our households and go out family-wise. In Numbers it is more a military operation.
In Mark’s gospel it is the family. Jairus says, “My little daughter”. He besought Him, he says, “My little daughter”. In Mark it is the way, it is the Christian way really, it goes on to the Acts. They followed Him in the way, it says, the way of suffering. But you might say in this section we want the little daughter to be with us, “My little daughter”. The Lord was thinking about the way and persons being restored and recovered in view of being in the way. It says about the blind man Bartimaeus that he followed Him in the way, Mark 10: 52. It is a way involving suffering. But let us not leave the little daughter behind, let the little daughter be brought into the way. It says later in the chapter, “And having laid hold of the hand of the child, he says to her, Talitha koumi, which is interpreted, Damsel, I say to thee, Arise. And immediately the damsel arose and walked, for she was twelve years old. And they were astonished with great astonishment. And he charged them much that no one should know this; and he desired that something should be given her to eat” (vv 41-43). But it says she walked, that is she was ready to come into the way, the suffering way. Let us leave Egypt family-wise and let us not leave the little daughter behind. Do not leave the little ones behind. That is one thing that Moses said, he would not leave them behind. Let us not leave them behind. So it says she walked, “and he desired that something should be given her to eat”. We may say this would involve food in the household but may be we could apply it to the Lord’s supper. Mark stresses the thought of eating: “Jesus having taken bread … said Take this”, Mark 14: 22. It gives us strength for the way, for the suffering way, out of the world, going out of the world in Exodus, out of the world with the little ones. Let us not leave them behind; “My little daughter”. I can just understand and feel how the longing of his heart would come into that expression, “My little daughter”, I do not want to leave her behind. We are in the way, we are in the way with Christ, it is a suffering way, let us take the little ones with us. He besought Him. I think that is a crying out on the part of a father that loves his little daughter. The Lord understands. And so she walked with them in the way.
I now allude to Peter. The Lord anticipated Peter’s need; we might speak of it as his defection, when he denied the Lord. The Lord said, “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has demanded to have you, to sift you as wheat”; that would be all the disciples, but then He says, “but I have besought for thee that thy faith fail not”. Priestly service comes to light in this gospel. Peter was not to be left behind; he was to be in the front rank; first Peter. You see him in the Acts standing up in power with the eleven. The Lord in His priestly service is praying for him; He says, “I have besought for thee”, the feelings of Christ entering into His priestly intercession. No one of us should lose our way in the testimony of the Lord. The Lord had a remarkable place in mind for Peter in the testimony and He personally serves him. “I have besought for thee” -think of the Father taking account of the beseeching of the heart of Jesus for Simon; “I have besought for thee that thy faith fail not”. Then He looks at him. Peter finds his place in the house of the high priest; it says he followed afar off. How sad when persons follow afar off! How vulnerable they are! We spoke about that – Deuteronomy 25; the feeble that lagged behind were vulnerable. We are vulnerable, beloved, if we follow afar off. Then it says, “And they having lit a fire in the midst of the court and sat down together, Peter sat among them. And a certain maid, having seen him sitting by the light, and having fixed her eyes upon him, said, And this man was with him. But he denied him, saying, “Woman, I do not know him”. See how far we can get away? I would urge the young and all of us to keep near to Christ. If something comes in let us quickly get back to Him. That is what we sang in our hymn:
Still sweet ‘tis to discover
If clouds have dimmed my sight,
When passed, eternal Lover,
Towards me, as e’er, Thou’rt bright. (Hymn 51)
How wonderful! The Lord is the same and He is serving us in a priestly way. And we should be moving with the encampments. It is wonderful to move with the encampments. In Numbers chapter 10 the ark goes before to bring them into rest. You would not want to miss that. So it says, “The Lord, turning round”. Have you ever had that experience, the Lord turning round and looking at you? I suppose the expression in His face would be one of compassion. Perhaps of reproach, but His look would be full of love and compassion. It broke the heart of Peter and brought him back; it says, “going forth without, wept bitterly”. In chapter 24 the Lord is bringing forward the fact that Simon is a recovered man. Such grace in this verse, “the Lord is indeed risen and has appeared to Simon”. Would the brethren say that Peter denied the Lord? I think they would have some sense of the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, I think it would flood into their souls as these words were being said, “The Lord is indeed risen and has appeared to Simon”. Simon was to have his place in the movements of the testimony, in the encampments in the Acts. He would have a distinguished place. It says, first Peter, in the movements of the testimony in the Acts. He was not to be out of rank, he was to be in rank, he was to be in step and he was a testimony to the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Well, I would commend that to us.
I read about Thomas. He missed this wonderful gathering. It says, “Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came”, not that he was not there – someone said that years ago – not that he was not there but he was not with them when Jesus came. I think the disciples missed him too. It says, “The other disciples therefore said to him, We have seen the Lord”. They did not criticise him, Why were you not at the meeting? You missed the meeting. Why did you miss the meeting? No. What did they say? “We have seen the Lord”. How Thomas would, I suppose, feel the concern and the love of the brethren, the other disciples. But still he was unbelieving. Oh, beloved, do not hold yourself aloof from the sufferings of Christ, put your hand in there. Of course he represents the Jew, we know that, but it also says he was one of the twelve, showing that these verses are for our edification, we of the assembly, those who are seeking to walk in the light of the assembly. It says, “Thomas, one of the twelve”. I think we want to see that the Lord would graciously give us the experience that Thomas experienced. I think we often hold ourselves aloof. The Lord Jesus says to him, “Bring thy finger here and see my hands”. Think of that! Mr. Taylor said about Colossians 2 verse 14 – “having effaced the handwriting in ordinances which stood out against us, which was contrary to us, he has taken it also out of the way, having nailed it to the cross” – there may be an allusion to the hands of Jesus in that, “having nailed it to the cross”; the nails that were put into His hands. “Having nailed it to the cross” involves the sufferings of Christ, involving the hands of Jesus being nailed to the cross. Well, let us not hold ourselves aloof from the sufferings of Jesus. We would affect our hearts deeply. I think He affected Thomas’ heart deeply; “bring thy hand and put it into my side; and be not unbelieving, but believing. Thomas answered and said to him, My Lord and my God”. What wonderful words that poured out of Thomas’ mouth, “My Lord and my God”.
One just suggests these scriptures that we might be all together. In this wonderful scripture in Thessalonians we are all together. As we are looking for the Lord to come, whether to come for us or to come tomorrow; we look for that; a wonderful occasion, the Lord’s supper, we want to be together, unified, hearts that are marked by sincerity and truth, persons that have eaten the Passover and have been profoundly affected by the sufferings of the Lamb roast with fire, and have eaten the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth, and have eaten the bitter herbs involving self-judgment. We are keeping step, we are in rank. If we have fallen out the Lord has made provision for our recovery and restoration to be with them when Jesus comes. Well, just a suggestion that the Lord may encourage our hearts. In the name of the Lord Jesus.
NEW YORK
20 March 1999