A CLEAN MAN AND A CLEAN PLACE
R. H. Brown
Numbers 19: 1–7, 9, 14, 15, 18–20; 8: 5–7, 10, 11, 13–19
In our opening hymn (No.256) we sang that the grace that sought and found us alone can keep us clean. I wanted, with the Lord’s help, to say something about a clean man and a clean place. Both are referred to in Numbers 19: 9. The world in which we live is physically very filthy. We are each of us aware that we constantly have to keep clean. It is quite refreshing to come up here and breathe what to us is quite fresh air, but the very air that we breathe is polluted. The atmosphere is polluted, the earth is polluted, the food that we eat contains pollutants, and we know that we have to keep clean. We have to wash ourselves, we have to wash our clothes constantly. What a filthy place it is in which we live, but it was not always thus. When God created it and looked upon it He saw that it was good.
What has brought in the difference of course is fallen man. The Lord pointed out that it was not eating with unwashed hands that defiled the man but it is what comes out of the heart of man that defiles and corrupts. So it is no surprise to find that in man’s world there is not only physical pollution but there is moral pollution of the worst kind. But God has made provision for that. Such is His desire to dwell with men, to have His place here on earth in the hearts of His own without surrendering any of His holy attributes, that He has made provision for those of us who are dirty by nature and constantly in contact with what is filthy, to be clean, because He makes plain that He cannot go on with us as unclean. The word was, “touch not what is unclean, and I will receive you”, 2 Corinthians 6: 17. Is that a precious promise to you to be received by God Himself? “I will be to you for a Father”, He says. “Having therefore these promises, beloved”, the apostle says, “let us purify ourselves from every pollution of flesh and spirit”, 2 Corinthians 7: 1. That is the first point I wanted to draw attention to, we have a responsibility to purify ourselves. God has provided the means.
This passage in Numbers 19, that speaks of the water of purification, conveys to us typically the immense cost to God to provide the means for me to be suitable to His presence. The Spirit of God lingers lovingly over the features of this red heifer, not because He is interested in the animal, but because of what it speaks of as under the eye of God. It speaks to us of the perfection of Jesus, who could never be defiled—holy, harmless, undefiled. It speaks of His distinctive character, a red heifer without blemish. Everything that was offered to God had to be without blemish. He has not changed in that regard, the dispensation has changed, but God has not changed. Jesus was without blemish. There was testimony as to that from the most unlikely, quarters; “this man has done nothing amiss” said the poor thief (Luke 23: 41); “I find no guilt in this man”, said the judge (Luke 23: 4). What testimony God had from the most unlikely quarters. The Spirit of God tells us that He did no sin, He knew not sin, and in Him sin was not; there was no blemish.
But it says more than that. It does not just say that it was to have no blemish, but it says, “wherein is no defect”. You might think that that was redundant but I think it points to the moral perfection, the graces that were there under the eye of God. Everything that God looked for in man, everything that He desired, was found in its abundance in Christ. Had anything been lacking, had anything been missing, there would have been a defect, but “wherein is no defect”. Think of God saying through the prophet, “Behold my servant whom I uphold, mine elect in whom my soul delighteth!” (Isaiah 42: 1)—no defect there. One who was never anything other than a source of joy and satisfaction to His Father. What a contemplation it is for our hearts, dear brethren, to think of Christ. It is a busy world we live in as well as a polluted one but think about Christ and His perfections. The Spirit of God has helped men to bring out the distinctiveness of Christ. One is reminded as I speak of that book of Mr. J. G. Bellett, ‘The Moral Glory of the Lord Jesus Christ’, a book that was written by a man who evidently contemplated Christ, and had taken account of His moral glory.
Then it says, “upon which never came yoke”. These things distinguished Christ. He never came under yoke. He never curried in His service the favour of men like politicians are wont to do, nor was He ever intimidated from speaking the truth through the fear of man; He never came under yoke. You think of God taking account of that, the only Man among men of whom these things could be said, no blemish, no defect, and He never came under yoke.
In speaking of purification the Spirit of God would draw our attention to perfection in Christ but if you and I, who are so imperfect, are to be cleansed that Holy One had to be made a sin-offering. The way the burning of the red heifer is spoken of is very drastic, it is very severe. This animal was taken outside the camp, away you might say from man’s arrangements, the place where man exalts himself, and there it was burned in its entirety—skin, flesh, blood, dung. It speaks to us of the severity of the judgment of God falling upon the One who was made sin. “Him who knew not sin he has made sin”, and he adds those precious words “for us”, 2 Corinthians 5: 21. You say, Well we hear that every week in the preaching, but have you become hardened to it, that God should make Him sin and upon His head should fall unmitigated the wrath of God against Him. The blood of the sin-offering was sprinkled before the mercy-seat in order that God could be with men, but the ashes of the red heifer are available for purification. It is not now exactly the matter of atonement but it is what is available for me as I pass through a polluted scene, and come into contact with what is defiling. How can we fail to come into contact with what is defiling! You cannot walk down the street without encountering what is corrupt and defiled, but the remedy is available. The ashes, the water of purification was sprinkled upon the unclean. He became identified with that great offering.
This passage brings out that he was responsible to purify himself. Each one of us is responsible to do that. We are responsible to take account of these things that were cast into the midst of the burning, the cedar wood, the hyssop and the scarlet. They represent things that distinguish man in his greatness or in his mock humility, which in the sight of God are abominable. It is a shocking thing to come to that, to discover that what in man’s world is so highly thought of is an abomination in the sight of God. He brings us the sense of that as we contemplate the One in whom He has found His delight. What a thing it is to identify these features in myself which necessitated the death of Christ and in the light of that death to judge them, to free myself of them in order that I might be clean; because if I remain unclean, if I remain marked by fleshly features that necessitated the
judgment of God against Christ, then am I not only unclean myself but I pollute the company of those in whose fellowship I walk. What a solemn thing that is—“touch not what is unclean”, 2 Corinthians 6: 17. If I touch it, if I keep on touching it, perhaps in some secret way, I become unclean, and those that are clean will no longer be able to touch me as far as fellowship is concerned. The scripture says that the man that is unclean and does not purify himself hath defiled “the sanctuary of Jehovah”. How that would elevate to us what the saints are as convened, “the sanctuary of Jehovah”, a clean place on the earth where the presence of God is known. “I will dwell among them, and walk among them”, 2 Corinthians 6: 16. What precious promises they are that God should dwell, that He should take up residence in His house, His dwelling-place here on the earth. He is in movement—“walk among them”. He looks for these clean conditions with me and with us all.
There is reference in this passage too to the tent and what is unclean when one dies in it, and I mention in passing the reference to an open vessel. In verse 15 it says, “And every open vessel, which hath no covering bound upon it, shall be unclean”. Those who are older amongst us will remember that the brethren had help from that verse and others as to the matter of television and radio when they came in amongst the saints of God. There was of course a time when these technologies were not available but when they became available that verse among others was one that was used, “an open vessel”. It was said, if I have in my house a direct link with the world’s system I am an open vessel. Into my mind, into my heart, affecting my spirit, can come all the filth and contamination of the environment outside; I am
“an open vessel”. We need to have a covering bound upon us. I venture to suggest too in humility that, although the technology has changed—there are things coming in amongst us and into the homes of the brethren that are essentially defiling. I do not wish to go into it but there is a great potential available in computers and the internet for accessing things that I should think to many of our dear brethren are unimaginable in their filth and degradation. What I see is that, whereas in times past the enemy of our souls sought to introduce error in doctrine to mislead simple souls from the path of the truth, what he is seeking to do now is to pollute “the sanctuary of Jehovah”, so that there might be an outward form of piety but no real power in it at all because the presence of God is not known in any conscious sense. I think that is what he has set his heart upon, but as he seeks to come in like a flood the Spirit of God valiantly lifts up a banner against it, and I think, dear brethren, this reference to the open vessel is there for us to contemplate. There is so much uncleanness around, should I be a receptacle for it? In the passage in Leviticus that speaks of the unclean creatures and the clean ones, it speaks of the crawling things that crawl upon the earth, how they might fall into a vessel, and how everything upon which they crawled and everything into which they fell was unclean. If it was an earthen vessel there was no remedy for it, it had to be broken.
I think the Lord would raise with us the question as to our vessels and the environment in which we find our life, because there is an environment where the atmosphere is healthy, where you can fill your lungs spiritually to the full. We read of that gift of living water that becomes in the receiver of it a fountain springing up into eternal life, springing up into another realm altogether, where you can live and move and have your being without any contamination at all, where you can breathe the atmosphere of the love of God as it has been expressed in Christ, where you can take account of Christ in His own position before the Father. As one of the worthies said, you can take account of Him as indigenous to heaven, the One who belongs there. He was once as a root out of dry ground but now we can take account of Him as the tree of life in the paradise of God, giving life and freshness and joy and happiness over the scene that He fills and sustains for the pleasure of God. You can move in that world without fear of contamination, you can drink abundantly of the resources of that sphere without fear. God intends that we might all find our life and joy there, that we might not have the craving for what defiles.
The passage in Numbers 8 speaks about the cleansing of the Levites and again the water of purification is mentioned, not now so much the question of contracting defilement in a wicked scene, but it is a question of persons that are going to be employed with what is holy, with what is sacred. That is our portion, dear brethren, because we are all called to levitical service. The brothers may sit on the front row of the platform but we are all called to have part in the handling of the holy precious things of God. All of us have been taken up for that purpose. God speaks in this chapter of how He claimed the Levites in place of the firstborn, which takes us back to the great matter of redemption, how the passover lamb was slaughtered in order that the life of the firstborn might be spared; the judgment of God fell on another. The firstborn was spared, but in a house where the passover lamb was not slaughtered, he was killed. God said in lieu of the firstborn I am going to claim the Levites. It is the redeemed company God claims as His own, and they are to be cleansed with the water of purification. May we be deepened, dear brethren, in the sense of what the red heifer speaks of, the intrinsic preciousness of Christ to God and that Holy One becoming a sin-offering for us.
But then it says that they were to take a razor. Not only was the water of purification to be sprinkled upon them but they were to take a razor over all their flesh. Everything that emanates from the flesh in me personally is to be removed. It is a responsibility upon us all. We think of the holy things that await us if we are left here upon the morrow, the responsibility is to pass the razor over all the flesh, that any propensities that mark the man that necessitated the judgment of God may be removed. Sometimes we are not aware of them, sometimes we need to ask the Lord to show us the propensities of our own hearts, to show us the features of the flesh that are predominant in us, and then as He would help us to identify them. He would help us to judge them, that there might be no expression in His holy presence of the man that was removed in judgment at the cross of Christ. The razor had to be passed upon all the flesh in order that they should be clean, in order that they should be a wave-offering to Jehovah. What a touching reference that is, not only secured for holy purposes but the saints themselves in the hands of Christ becoming an offering to God.
We have been affected by that locally, how the saints are used, one might say reverently, by divine Persons in the reciprocal blessedness of divine love. The Lord says to the Father, “They were thine, and thou gavest them me”, John 17: 6. They were Thine, God says of them, They are Mine. The Lord says, “thou gavest them me”. You were the Father’s in His purpose, in His counsel before the foundation of the world, and in the sovereignty of His grace He moved, He chose, He selected and His sovereign grace fell upon you. Oh to enjoy the blessedness of that, that you belonged to Him; but you were given to Christ, and as given to Christ what does He do? He leads those who are given to Him in praise to God, “in the midst of the assembly will I sing thy praises”, Hebrews 2: 12. The high praises of God are in our mouths. That is how the psalm speaks of them, “the high praises of God”, Psalm 149: 6.
James tells us how we need to watch our mouths and our tongues, “Therewith bless we the Lord and Father, and therewith curse we men made after the likeness of God. Out of the same mouth goes forth blessing and cursing”, James 3: 9, 10. The high praises of God will be in our mouths if we are left here tomorrow; the greatest possible activity that man could be engaged in. I know of nothing more exalted than to have part in the praises of God in the assembly where there will be glory to God throughout all generations of the age of ages. To have part in that under the leadership of Christ must be the greatest, the most exalted occupation for the creature. But it carries its responsibility that I should be suitable for it, that the razor should be applied to the propensities of the flesh so that there is nothing to mar the wave-offering.
I often think of that passage in 2 Timothy 3 where the apostle speaks of the features of the last days, “men shall be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant ... without natural affection ... of unsubdued passions” (2 Timothy 3: 2, 3), a great list of ugly features to which the razor needs to be applied. Then in that same chapter he says, “But thou hast been thoroughly acquainted with my teaching, conduct, purpose, faith” (2 Timothy 3: 10). I think you get an example there of a man to whom the razor had been applied, to whom the water of purification had been applied. He could speak of his teaching, but he could speak of his conduct. A man who knew him intimately, knew that there was a conduct with the apostle that was not inconsistent with his teaching. That is the great weakness if the razor is not applied, if the water of purification is not applied, I may have a grasp of the teaching, I may be able to set it out in its terms but I shall effectively deny its power and damage its effect unless I am morally consistent with it. This is the appeal in these verses that there should be Levites who are morally consistent and expressive of their service. So he speaks in Titus of those who adorn the teaching. We think of bondmen referred to like that, “that they may adorn the teaching which is of our Saviour God in all things”, Titus 2: 10. You think of the teaching being adorned by those who are expressive of it. It has little value simply in its terms; the great power of the teaching is that it is expressed and retained, not simply in books or in the letter, but in the lives of men and women who have been affected by the sufferings of Christ, the immense cost involved in their purification. One feels the edge of these things for oneself and the precious privileges that are before us.
As we approach the Supper the word is, “let a man prove himself, and thus eat of the bread, and drink of the cup”, 1 Corinthians 11: 28. Not to be deterred from taking up the privileges, because they are what we have been taken up for, what we have been take possession of for.
The thought is that we might take possession of them. We are to take up the holy privilege as suited to it and become in the hands of Christ an instrument for the gratification of the heart of God. Could anything be more glorious than that the creature in the hands of Christ and under His leadership should minister to the heart of God Himself? These are very exalted things and the privilege of them and the glory of them is to be matched in a preparedness to be suited, that we might come up in heavenly and holy trim to have part in that for which we have been taken up. May the Lord bless the word.
Address at Grangemouth
22 January 2000
THE IMPORTANCE OF TIME
T. D. Beveridge
2 Corinthians 4: 16–18; Philippians 1: 21; Malachi 3: 16, 17
I would seek help to speak very briefly about time. We have begun to read in Genesis in our local meeting and that is one of the first things God introduced, the matter of time. How important a matter it is. Some of the persons in early Genesis lived for nearly a thousand years, and then that time was cut back to about one hundred and twenty years, and then in our time it has come down to about seventy years—three score years and ten. God measures things out in time, and He is working things out in time. We sometimes refer to this time that we are in as the dip into time. The blessed
God is greater than time; He is greater than creation. The blessed God with whom we have to do, is taking account of persons who are in time. I would like to say at the beginning of the meeting, that Satan also is very interested in time. At the point we have reach in this dispensation I think, beloved brethren, he would seek to use our time to take us away from the blessed God. You can see in the lives of our fellow men how they want to make the full use of time for their own ends. Now, God is taking account of that, and He sees you and me as believers, and He sees how we are committed in relation to matters that are temporal. He sees and knows if you wish to spend more time on the things that are temporal, or whether you are interested in the things that are eternal. Now this is very vital in our lives because Satan has power to come into men’s lives, and even the Christian’s life, to take him away from his whole-hearted and full committal to the Lord Jesus.
The first scripture, which is the one really bearing on my mind, speaks of the things that are not seen. But it speaks first of all about our outward man and our inward man. There would be no use speaking to an unconverted man about the inward man because he would not know what you were talking about. The outward man takes account of the human things of life, the things surrounding us, where we live, eat, sleep and so on, that is the outward man. But then there is the inward man, and the inward man can, by the Spirit, see the things that are eternal.
So this scripture speaks of the outward man being consumed. Now we see that before our very eyes; we have seen some of our brethren become aged, and the Lord Jesus has taken them; we had two brethren taken from our locality within a year. God can speak very loudly in the death of His saints. Let it not pass by without having some bearing on us. These things happen in time, the outward man is being consumed. It does not matter if you are ten years old or ninety years old, the outward man is being consumed. But with the believer there is the inward man of whom it speaks here, “Wherefore we faint not; but if indeed our outward man is consumed, yet the inward is renewed day by day”. Do you find that, beloved brother, or beloved sister, that the inward man is being renewed? Are the things that are unseen but are eternal becoming more real to you in your life, or do the seen things loom large? I challenge my own heart. The seen things are often more real to us than the unseen things; but God desires the unseen things that are eternal should become real to us. I know some aged brethren who are ready for the Lord to take them. How wonderful that is, that His work should reach such a stage, the inward man so renewed that he is ready to be taken to be with the Lord.
The apostle says here, “while we look not at the things that are seen, but at the things that are not seen”. The things that are seen are for time. If you consider some of the great servants we have had amongst us, and the books of ministry that have become available through their service, you wonder how they had time to work and also serve the beloved brethren. How they must have valued time, and how they spent it. I would challenge my own heart as to how I spend time. How do you, beloved brother or sister, spend your time? Is it in the pursuit of family interests? Is it in the pursuit of business that things may become greater here? Or are there other interests outside of the Lord Jesus Christ? Beloved brethren, let us get a view of the things that are eternal and yet unseen. I am afraid I cannot say much about them, but I can see there is great value in having a view of the unseen realm of eternal life, and sonship, and all these great things that the blessed Spirit would enable us to enter into. Let them be before our hearts, and not the things that are for a time. Men talk about having a long range view; so let us have a long range view, looking at the things that are unseen, but which we can see by the Spirit.
I read in Philippians because the apostle there says, “For for me to live is Christ”. Now that is a very challenging verse. Could you say that? Could I say that?—“For for me to live is Christ”. The Lord Jesus said regarding the Father, “I do always the things that are pleasing to him”, John 8: 29. What a life there was in this world as seen in the person of the Lord Jesus—everything that He did was pleasing to the Father. How perfect Jesus was! Now here is a man, Paul, and he can say, “For for me to live is Christ”. I think we sometimes see in the beloved elder brethren how they live in relation to Christ, and in relation to the saints. That was the word to Paul when he was converted—“Saul, Saul, why lost thou persecute me?”, Acts 9: 4. You can see in some of the older saints how they love the “me”. Do you love what is of Christ? You may say, It is a very small company, there is not much to encourage me. I would, say, Love it and learn to be attached to what is of Christ here and live. If you want to live find your place amongst those who love Christ and are living in relation to Him. Know the joy of having living relations with that blessed Man, and that in the time of His rejection. This is the time of His rejection. In the eternal day everything will be just as God wishes to have it. There will be no need for exercises to be faced or difficult problems to be solved; these things will be finished. When we see Him we shall be like Him. That is the truth. How wonderful that is! it would stimulate our hearts to think of that, but we are now in a time scene, and He is looking for persons to live and, like Paul, to say, “For for me to live is Christ”. Now Satan is against that; he never attacks the side lines. Satan does not go for side lines, he goes for the main line.
If God is setting something on Satan will go for that. Let us commit ourselves to the Spirit to be found here livingly for Christ.
In Malachi, it says, “Then they that feared Jehovah”. If there is one thing missing in this world in which we are, it is the fear of God. It says, “they did not think good to have God in their knowledge”, Romans 1: 28. That is how our fellow men have become, largely indifferent to the fact that there is a blessed God. I ask each one of us, Do you fear God? Or do you indulge in the pursuits that you enjoy without remembering that you have to deal with the blessed Holy Spirit of God of whom we have spoken already?
Do you not fear God? I think God would look for persons who fear Him. In fact this scripture would support that thought—“they that feared Jehovah spoke often one to another; and Jehovah observed it, and heard”. God sees everything we do. It is always good when you are young to remember that. It is always good to remember that whatever you do, God knows about it; He observes, He takes account of everything. That is in the time scene in which we are. Everything that we do, or commit ourselves to, or engage in, may it be such that it does not take us away from Christ. Let it be that everything we do is done in the fear of God.
So these persons feared God, and they spoke often one to another. Maybe it was just like the meetings we have, or in our households, where we speak often one to another; so “Jehovah observed it, and heard”. Think of Him hearing what you say. Perhaps you will have said things you wish no one else had heard; I am sure I have. The blessed God knows everything we say, there is nothing hidden from this Observer. So it says, “Jehovah observed it, and heard, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared Jehovah, and that thought upon his name”. I have not much more to say, but time is obviously very important. Peter speaks about the time past. We cannot do anything about that, beloved brethren, in the sense that it is past; maybe we could learn from it, but we cannot change it.
He also speaks about the rest of our time. Now we have all got that before us. No matter how old we are or how young, we have the rest of our time, however brief it may be. Let it be that we live it in relation to this blessed God we are speaking of, for His name’s sake.
Address at Kirkcaldy
13 February 1999
Edited and Published by J. Strachan, 59 Frederick Street, Dundee, DD3 9DE, Scotland Printed by Crystal Stationery, 22 Western Road, Billericay, Essex CM12 9DZ, (T) (01277) 650661