THINGS WRITTEN FOR OUR ADMONITION (ADDRESS)
[p. 162] THINGS WRITTEN FOR OUR ADMONITION (ADDRESS)
There are some parts of Scripture that are attractive to the hearts of all believers because they present the grace of God or the Person and love of Christ in a special way. It is always a joy to the servants of the Lord to speak on such scriptures. The verses I have read can hardly be said to have this attractive character, but they are nevertheless deeply important.
If that which is of God is to be built up in the souls of His people it is often necessary to pull down things which are contrary to God in order to make way for what is spiritual. The ground has to be cleared. If we do not get on spiritually it is because there is some hindrance at work; a scripture like this calls our attention to the hindrances that we may judge them and get rid of them.
The apostle reverts to the history of the children of Israel to point out the solemn possibility of there being a great contrast between the dispensation of God and the condition of those who are brought into the benefits of that dispensation. Christianity is, on God’s part, the most wonderful dispensation of blessing ever brought near to men and it subsists here in the power of the Holy Spirit. Everyone who has acknowledged Jesus as Lord and come into the christian profession has come within the circle of that dispensation. The apostle is pointing out that it is possible to be externally in a great system of blessing, and yet, as to our condition, to be displeasing to God. It is very solemn to think of this.
Five features of God’s dispensation are mentioned, and then five characteristics of the condition of the people are alluded to by way of contrast. The condition of the people was entirely out of harmony with the dispensation of God in the outward benefits of which they were found. This drew down judgment upon them: “they were strewed in the desert”. We are told that “all these things happened to them as types, and have been written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages are come”. This is very solemn and instructive.
Let us first look a little in detail at what I have spoken of — for want of a better word — as the dispensation of God. I mean by this the way by which God had made Himself known to the people, and in which He had acted for their blessing. Certain things were true on God’s side; He acted on His part in the fulness of grace, and all the people came, in an outward way, into the benefit of His attitude towards His people.
First, “all our fathers were under the cloud”. It is very striking that this should be the first statement. Paul does not begin by saying that they were under the blood, but “under the cloud”. He begins at the point when Israel first learned that God was for them. God would not only provide a shelter from deserved judgment, but in presence of all the power of the enemy He would cover them with the cloud of His power and love. God was for His people, let them be what they were. In His love and in His pity He redeemed them to make Himself an everlasting and glorious Name. In His everlasting love He overshadowed the people with the cloud of His presence. He knew what they were and what they would prove themselves to be, but He also knew His own thoughts concerning them, and, regarding them according to those thoughts and on the ground of the blood of the Lamb, He overshadowed them with the cloud of His glory.
If we want to know God’s thoughts concerning His people we may learn them in the words of Balaam at a later date in Israel’s history: “He hath blessed, and I cannot reverse it. He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither hath he seen wrong in Israel”, Numbers 23: 20, 21. It is good thus to see the disposition of God’s heart towards His people. He is for them in the most absolute way; they are under the guardian cloud of His power and love.
Second, we read that they “all passed through the sea”. They passed through that which was typical of the death of Christ on to entirely new ground before God. It is by redemption that God secures His people for Himself. He takes them up, not according to what the flesh is, but according to the value of the death of Christ, according to the efficacy of that in which the flesh has been judged and ended before God. And if God takes up His people on that ground it becomes a necessity that they should by faith occupy that ground before Him. Hence we read, “By faith they passed through the Red sea as through dry land”, Hebrews 11: 29. Death is the place where man has no footing, but in the death of Christ God has turned the sea into dry land, so that there is solid ground on which we may walk by faith into an entirely new place with God where Christ risen is known as our righteousness. The gospel of the grace of God makes known the blessed fact that the believer is justified before God and that Christ is his righteousness. This is the simple and blessed truth of christianity. It is the mind of God concerning those who believe. So the apostle could say to the Corinthians, “But ye have been washed, but ye have been sanctified, but ye have been justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God”, 1 Corinthians 6: 11.
Third, “All were baptised unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea”. With an evident allusion to christian baptism the apostle speaks thus. Outwardly, and in the most significant way, the people were committed to the control and leadership of Moses. They were identified with him in the most singular and impressive way. The christian is baptised unto Christ; he is identified with Christ in the mind of God, and in baptism he is identified with the name and lordship of Christ in this world. He may not be true to his baptism; he may fail to realise what is involved in it, but that is the character of it. Every baptised person is on the ground of obedience to Christ as Lord.
Fourth, “All ate the same spiritual food”. The reference here is undoubtedly to the manna, and it seems probable that the Lord’s supper is in the mind of the Spirit who is seeking to show that there might be outward participation in things which expressed the favour of God to His people without any real answer to His pleasure. The Lord’s supper is surely a very great expression of divine favour, but the fact that we partake of it is no guarantee that we really answer to His pleasure.
Fifth, “All drank the same spiritual drink, for they drank of a spiritual rock which followed them: (now the rock was the Christ;)”. All participated in the favours which God was dispensing to His people, but the Holy Spirit calls our attention to this to point out that there was no pleasure for God in most of those who did thus participate in His mercy and favour. “Yet God was not pleased with the most of them, for they were strewed in the desert”. Intensely solemn words! They are words not to be neglected by us, for we are expressly told that “these things happened as types of us, that we should not be lusters ...”.
The manifestations of divine grace in christianity are wonderful. There is no poverty, no lack of blessing. In a coming day God will give effect in power and glory to His [p. 166] own thoughts about His people, and it is a comfort to think of this in presence of all the failures of today. But the great thing is that the thoughts of God should lay hold of our souls now. If His grace and purpose dwell in our hearts they will necessarily displace what is of the flesh. If what is of God comes into our hearts it must displace the flesh and the world. But the solemn thing is that we may be in the circle where all God’s favour and blessing is made known without our being morally affected and formed by it.
God does not call upon us to originate anything; what He looks for is response. There is nothing good in man save that which responds to God, the outcome of His own grace in man. God rolls down a full tide of blessing on His people and He looks for response. If there is no response to God there is no life. It shows that people are identified in their affections with the world and the flesh rather than with the thoughts of God. We are either identified in heart with what is of God, or with what is under God’s judgment. The people who identified themselves with the flesh “were strewed in the desert”. Many of the Corinthian assembly were not really responding to God, and many among them were falling in the wilderness: “On this account many among you are weak and infirm, and a good many are fallen asleep”, 1 Corinthians 11: 30. Flesh was in activity and it was being dealt with in judgment by the Lord. In this matter it is impossible to maintain neutrality. If we do not respond to God we most surely respond to the flesh and the world.
In sad and painful contrast with all the privileges of the people was their practical condition. The apostle brings forward five characteristics of that condition.
First, “That we should not be lusters after evil things, as they also lusted”. I conceive that the reference intended here is to what we find recorded in Numbers 11.
[p. 167] The people had been more than a year in the wilderness: more than a year they had experienced God’s gracious ways with them. At the end of this time we find them first complaining and then lusting. I have observed that a complaining spirit is the sure precursor of further evil. A satisfied heart would not be likely to turn towards Egypt. And solemn indeed is the cause of their complaint: “There is nothing at all but the manna before our eyes”, Numbers 11: 6. Alas, alas! when the perfect grace of Christ, seen in perfection in the steps of His blessed pathway of humiliation here and now ministered by Him from glory to His own in wilderness circumstances here, becomes distasteful to the heart and mind of the believer! It is not exactly discontent with circumstances here, but distaste for what comes from heaven.. It is but a short journey from this point to lusting after evil things, the things of Egypt, the fish, cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic. It has often been remarked that these things were the food of slaves in Egypt. They typify the things which appeal to the taste and appetite of the flesh.
There are things in the world which are most gratifying to the flesh, and there is always danger of the taste for them being revived. As it has been remarked, the reminiscences of Egypt are a fruitful source of danger. And a very solemn thing in connection with this is that, as a rule, God allows us to have what we lust after. Eve, Lot, Achan, David and many others bear witness to the general truth of this, and it is plainly stated in the words of Psalm 106: 15 “He gave them their request, but sent leanness into their soul”. God does not restrain His people in an arbitrary way, as a general principle, for we read in Hebrews 11: 15, “If they had called to mind that from whence they went out, they had had opportunity to have returned”. If we sow to the flesh we shall surely of the flesh reap corruption. “Jehovah smote the people [p. 168] with a very great plague. And they called the name of that place Kibroth-hattaavah; because there they buried the people who lusted”, Numbers 11: 33, 34.
Second, “Neither be ye idolaters, as some of them; as it is written, The people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play”. It was in the absence of Moses that this idolatry took place. It was thus at a moment which is typical of that in which our lot is cast. Christ is on high, and many who profess His name might well say, “We do not know what is become of him”, Exodus 32: 1. How suggestive it is that Aaron, the religious leader of the people, is the one to cause them to err. It has been thus in the history of christendom. An unseen Person on high, having His interests maintained by an unseen Person here, would have no hold upon the mind of the flesh.
Men have craved something visible, either as an object of worship or as an aid to worship, and their leaders have furnished them with pictures, images, crucifixes, magnificent buildings, music and a sacramental system with a visible priesthood which is well qualified to meet every desire of the religious mind.
Along with all this, licence is given to men to enjoy everything that is in the world. There is no mourning an absent Christ, no confession of the sad state of the world that has rejected Him, no simple and true confession of His blessed name. The theatre, the ballroom, the racecourse and all the ten thousand frivolities of modern society are held to be quite consistent with regular attendance at church! In such cases the actual object of worship is man’s lusts and pleasures, and the fact that a certain form of godliness is maintained at the same time in no wise changes the actual character of it in the sight of God. Such persons are idolaters. While we see this so conspicuously in christendom let us not forget that the very essence of this idolatry is self-indulgence in the [p. 169] absence of Christ. One may travel a long way on that road without going to the extreme lengths of which I have spoken. It is a serious question for everyone who calls on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ as to how far we are living a life of self-indulgence and self-gratification. It is possible to be doing so in a very quiet and orderly way, and with a line strictly drawn at certain things which we are pleased to designate as worldly. Yet, withal, it may be true that we get on very comfortably and enjoyably in the world, and as to any practical place that Christ holds in the heart it might be said, “We do not know what is become of him!”
It is no time for self-indulgence, for joining in the merriment of fools. Woe betide the christian who descends to traffic in the unholy mirth of the ungodly, who sits down to eat and drink the world’s fiction and its foolish jests! It is no time to be frivolous, for amid the almost universal pleasure seeking, a voice sounds clearly out as of old, “Who is on the Lord’s side”, Exodus 32: 26 (Authorised Version) Moses would recognise no neutrality. He called for pronounced and uncompromising loyalty, loyalty that would be prepared to gird on the sword and to “slay every man his brother, and every man his friend, and every man his neighbour”, Exodus 32: 27. This is no holiday amusement, no easy-going path of self-indulgence, but it is a divine picture of the path of discipleship today.
It is interesting to note that it was in connection with this same idolatry that the tent came to be pitched outside the camp. We are told “it came to pass that every one who sought Jehovah went out to the tent of meeting which was outside the camp”, Exodus 33: 7. What follows this is most interesting, for we see, in perfect contrast to the idolatry of the people, Moses admitted to the most intimate nearness to Jehovah. “Jehovah spoke with [p. 170] Moses face to face, as a man speaks with his friend”, Exodus 33: 11. Encouraged by this favour Moses prays, “And now, if indeed I have found grace in thine eyes, make me now to know thy way, that I may know thee”, (verse 13), and then later he says, “Let me, I pray thee, see thy glory”, (verse 18). It was all over with the people on the ground of responsibility, and therefore it became with the man of faith entirely a question of what God was.
There is something profoundly interesting in all this; it is lovely in its moral beauty and perfection. But we must not dwell longer upon it at present or it will take us too far away from our present theme.
Third, “Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed fornication, and fell in one day three and twenty thousand”. It is very solemn to note that this occurred just at the end of the wilderness, “by the Jordan of Jericho”, Numbers 26: 3. It was Satan’s last assault upon the people before they crossed the Jordan. They had had to do with him as the oppressor in Egypt, and as the destroyer (Amalek) in the wilderness, but now they fall into his power as the crafty seducer. It was by the counsel of Balaam (Numbers 31: 16) that they were taken in this snare and it is expressly said by Jehovah, “They have harassed you with their wiles, wherewith they have beguiled you”, Numbers 25: 18.
There are many who can endure a great amount of opposition and pursue this way in spite of many difficulties, who fall before the seducing power of the world. Hence the apostle John in writing to those who were strong and had the word of God abiding in them and had overcome the wicked one, exhorts them to “love not the world”. We might apply to the world the solemn warning of the wise king, “Let not thy heart decline to her ways, go not astray in her paths: for she hath cast down many wounded, and all slain by her were strong”, Proverbs 7:25 - 26.
[p. 171] The world is presented in Scripture as the great rival to God in the affections of His people. To be a friend of the world is to be an enemy of God. There is a peculiar power in the world to displace God from the hearts of His people. It may often seem very fair and attractive, and it often allures by things which seem innocent enough, but there is a terrible power in it to displace God in the hearts of men. When we see this it helps us to understand the language which is used in connection with that part of Israel’s history which is now before us. Jehovah says of Phinehas, “He was jealous with my jealousy among them, so that I consumed not the children of Israel in my jealousy”, Numbers 25: 11. If on the one hand it is very blessed that God is jealous as to the affections of His people, on the other hand it is intensely solemn. “Jealousy is cruel as Sheol: The flashes thereof are flashes of fire, Flames of Jah”, Song of Songs 8: 6.
God cannot tolerate a rival in the affections of His people. If we admit the world into our hearts we admit something that God will have to burn up some day. He will assuredly destroy that which loves the world. I have no doubt the Corinthians had been guilty in large measure of this spiritual fornication. They were entangled in all kinds of unholy and worldly associations and God was practically destroying the flesh by discipline which had extended in many cases as far as death itself. “Many among you are weak and infirm, and a good many are fallen asleep”, 1 Corinthians 11: 30.
In the second epistle the apostle is quite in accord with the mind of the Lord about them: he is the Phinehas of the New Testament. “I am jealous as to you with a jealousy which is of God; for I have espoused you unto one man, to present you a chaste virgin to Christ. But I fear lest by any means, as the serpent deceived Eve by his [p. 172] craft, so your thoughts should be corrupted from simplicity as to the Christ”, 2 Corinthians 11: 2 - 3.
A very sad indication of declension in Pergamos is pointed out by the Lord when He says, “Thou hast there those who hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balak to cast a snare before the sons of Israel, to eat of idol sacrifices and commit fornication”, Revelation 2: 14. May God give us wisdom to discern the snare of worldly associations, and grace to keep clear of them!
Fourth, “Neither let us tempt the Christ, as some of them tempted, and perished by serpents”. It is of interest to note that there were two Meribahs in the wilderness: we read of one in Exodus 17, and of the other in Numbers 20; that is, one was at the very beginning of the wilderness and the other was at the end. I think the two are connected in the mind of the Spirit in this verse in 1 Corinthians 10. They serve to show that the flesh is the same all through. Forty years experience of the goodness and mercy of God made not the slightest difference in the disposition of the flesh. They tempted the Lord at the beginning and they tempted Him at the end. “Give us water, that we may drink!” was their cry to Moses in Exodus 17: 2. “And Moses said to them, Why do ye dispute with me? Why do ye tempt Jehovah?” And in verse 7 we read, “He called the name of the place Massah, and Meribah, because of the contention of the children of Israel, and because they had tempted Jehovah, saying, Is Jehovah among us, or not?” (Massah means ‘temptation’ and Meribah ‘contention’).
It is in reference to this that we get the solemn word in Deuteronomy 6: 16, “Ye shall not tempt Jehovah your God, as ye tempted him in Massah”. This again is the very scripture used by the Lord to silence the devil in Luke 4. To put God to the test argues great lack of confidence in Him. If we know Christ we do not need to put Him to the [p. 173] test. To tempt Christ would be the outcome of a selfish and self-seeking spirit upon which Satan could work. It may be that there was something very much akin to this in the way in which the Corinthians were using their divine gifts. It was divine grace used by them to minister self-importance. This was distinctly Satanic in its origin and no doubt it opened the way for Satan’s ministers to get among the Corinthians as ministers of righteousness. There was that already amongst the saints which was akin to the character of their ministry. So far as we can learn from Scripture (Luke 4), to tempt God or Christ is peculiarly a form of evil suggested and inspired by Satan and a judgment comes on it which marks its character: they “perished by serpents”.
Fifth, “Neither murmur ye, as some of them murmured, and perished by the destroyer”. This feature of the condition of the people, though not the last historically, is the last, one may say, morally. It was when the spies brought their report of the land that the murmuring arose which is here alluded to. They were almost on the threshold of the land, but the spies’ evil report so discouraged them that they wished they had died in the land of Egypt or in the wilderness, and they proposed to make a captain and return to Egypt. When Joshua and Caleb would have encouraged them to go up to possess the land they said that they should be stoned with stones. But for the intercession of Moses — blessed type of Christ in this respect — the people would have been destroyed; but on the ground of his intercession God pardoned, though, at the same time, pronouncing judgment upon the evil generation which had seen His glory and His miracles and yet did not hearken to His voice: “In this wilderness shall your carcases fall”, Numbers 14: 29.
God says in 1 Corinthians 10 that some of them murmured. With the exception of Moses and Aaron we read [p. 174] of two only who did not murmur, Joshua and Caleb. They were the only two who did not perish by the destroyer (see Numbers 26: 63 - 65).
It is sad to think how people despise the pleasant land today, and lose sight of God’s power to bring them into it. If heavenly things, the things connected with divine love and purpose, are put before them they look upon them merely as beautiful sentiments of no practical value, and as quite inaccessible to all but perhaps a very few. They do not respond to the love and purpose of God and they do not count on His power. They are very much in the same mind as those who were strewn in the desert.
Moses had power as an intercessor because he connected God’s glory with His people. He says, as it were, ‘They are a miserable set of people, but Thou hast connected Thy glory with them’. This is how faith ever looks at things; and the man who connects God’s glory with His people is always a man of spiritual power both with God and for God. God pardoned, but in His holy government all that generation fell in the wilderness. Flesh must fall in the wilderness, either as being judged and practically set aside in the saint or as destroyed under the governmental hand of God.
The things we have been looking at are very serious realities. “Now all these things happened to them as types, and have been written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages are come. So that let him that thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall”. May God give us grace to accept these wholesome admonitions and to be warned by them!