THE DIVINE VIEWPOINT
D.J.Hutson
Numbers 23: 3,14 (to "Pisgah"), 18-23
One has been struck, beloved, by this reference to the top of Pisgah. It seems to be a place from which we get the divine view of things, which surely is very important for us at the present time. We have it in the 21st chapter, after the springing well. They were able for getting to the top of Pisgah, which looks over the surface of the waste. I do not think that they would have been occupied with the carcasses that were strewn in the desert, but with the sovereign mercy of God which had brought them through and the resources which had been for them all the way – the rock which followed them, and so on; the way they had walked through with 'garments fresh and foot unweary' (hymn 76). How they would look back and see all the way that God had brought them. Then Moses was, at the end of Deuteronomy, taken to the top of Pisgah, and as we have often been reminded, he saw the land and the tribes in it.
But here in Numbers the enemy is active. I was struck that it says "thou shalt see only the extremity of them and shalt not see them all". I think the enemy would occupy us with that, beloved. It is all that we can see today – as it were, "the extremity of them". How little do we know of what there is on earth at the present time of the body of Christ, that which is here which in a coming day will have part in that vessel of glory which comes "down out of the heaven from God, having the glory of God" (Rev 21: 10); and in any case, when we think of the centuries that are past, most of the saints already departed to be with Christ. Then what scattering there has been in our day, reduction in numbers, the small gatherings. I think the enemy would occupy us with the smallness of things, the outward weakness. As I say, what can we see but the extremity of what God has and what He will have in the assembly?
I speak not of Balaam in detail. We have later that he is "the man of opened eye... who heareth the words of God" (chap 24: 3,4) and I believe that is what comes out here in his parable. The word of God would remind us, beloved, in such a day as that in which we are, that "God is not a man, that he should lie..: Shall he speak and not make it good?" Think of what He has done in relation to the assembly, how Paul could speak of it: "the assembly of God, which he has purchased with the blood of his own", Acts 20: 28. Is He going to let it go, beloved? Is He going to fail? Is He going to go back on His purpose in relation to the assembly? Think of what is going to be seen in a coming day! I suppose that from where he was John on Patmos could actually see hardly the extremity of it, and yet he was taken to that great and high mountain. It would be like taking him to the top of Pisgah, to get the divine view of the assembly, "coming down out of the heaven from God, having the glory of God". What a comfort it would have been to him; and it is very near, beloved, very near. We are right at the end of this time, just as the people here were at the end of the journey. We have arrived at the end of the journey, and soon all that God has wrought is going to be revealed in glory. "I have received mission to bless; and he hath blessed, and I cannot reverse it". Is it merely doctrine with us, beloved, to read that He "has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies in Christ", Eph 1: 3? This is true; we experience it, we experience the blessing as we come together in assembly, even though in the smallness of the conditions in which we find ourselves. These are real things.
Then think of the victory: "the shout of a king is in his midst. ... there is no enchantment against Jacob". "Hades gates shall not prevail against it", Matt 16: 18. It is going through, and soon, as I have said, it will be displayed in glory. So it says "At this time it shall be said"; at this time; not at that time but at this time. How wonderful that is, beloved, that "At this time it shall be said,... What hath God wrought!" As we see the way that beloved saints are sustained in the twos and threes, as assembly service is maintained, as the testimony in relation to the assembly is maintained in the twos and the threes, surely we can say that there is something very precious to God, something very dear to the heart of the Lord Jesus. It could not stand if it was man's work; it is what God has done, beloved. "What hath God wrought!" It will indeed be said in a coming time, when it comes down having the glory of God, but what about this time?
How do we take account of it as we see the extremity, as it were, as we see the conditions as they are at the present time? Are we depressed by it, or can we get to this view point, this peak, as I believe the word means, and get the divine viewpoint, see what God hath wrought, what there is for Him at the present time, and what through infinite grace we have our part in? Well, may we just hold these things in our hearts. May we commit ourselves, that we may be strengthening that which is here. It can only be as we depend upon the present resource in the Holy Spirit, and as we maintain our links with our Lord Jesus Christ, our glorious Head in heaven. But may we be encouraged, as I say, that the enemy may not occupy us with the smallness of things outwardly, but as we take account of what there is at this time may we be occupied with what God is bringing through and what He is soon going to bring out in glory, for His Name's sake.
LONDON
15 April 1986