POWER IN RELATION TO THE TESTIMONY OF GOD
[p. 33] POWER IN RELATION TO THE TESTIMONY OF GOD
1 Corinthians 2: 3 - 5; Proverbs 30: 29 - 31; Numbers 23: 21; Numbers 24:7; Numbers 24:17-19
I wish to call attention to the great importance of power if we are to be effective in the testimony of God; and in speaking of power from this point of view one is reminded of the secret of it as indicated in the book of Joshua. The Israelites ere they undertook any enterprise in the testimony were to begin with Gilgal, where they were typically shorn of all that marks the flesh, reminding us that the flesh profits nothing in the service of God; and so many of us, if not all, who have been in any way effective have under the government of God had to taste death. Any one who essays to undertake the service of God apart from tasting it will prove his error sooner or later.
The apostle Paul, I believe, stands out in the New Testament as a model for us; he saw in the life and service of Christ true leadership in service; as of old, Gideon said to his three hundred men, “Look on me, ... as I do, so shall ye do”, Judges 7: 17. What he did was to break his pitcher, and the three hundred had to do likewise or the victory would have been jeopardised; but they did likewise, and the victory was complete. The apostle Paul, in outlining the character of his ministry, and of himself as a minister, calls attention to the discipline through which God had caused him to pass; indeed before he wrote his second letter to the Corinthians he tells them that in Asia he had despaired even of living; 2 Corinthians 1: 8. God was preparing him to write the second epistle. It was a question of winning the confidence of the Corinthians.
[p. 34] Ministry today has to be carried on in relation to those most of whom have little or no confidence in the ministers. I am not speaking of those who walk with us in the fellowship; but ministry is not for them alone; ministry is for the whole assembly. It does not say that God has set certain in fellowship, but that He has set certain in the assembly; 1 Corinthians 12: 28. He has set the gifts in the assembly and their ministry has the whole assembly in view; but most of those who form the assembly have little or no confidence in those who are walking in the truth, and who are seeking to minister it. Ministry, therefore, is extremely difficult at the present time, and we shall prove this to our sorrow if we undertake it lightly, if we undertake it in natural effort or ability. We have to learn from our great Leader, if we are to minister effectively. The Lord Jesus Christ had to carry on His ministry amongst those who had little or no confidence in Him, but He was not daunted. We find Him in John’s gospel ministering in Jerusalem, for John would present to us the most sterile soil, as corresponding with that with which we have to do; so the Lord is seen in this gospel ministering in Jerusalem where there was little or no sympathy with Him. We have to learn, beloved friends, to minister after this fashion.
I need not go over the incidents in John’s gospel which illustrate the ministry of Christ; they are well known; I just refer to them as bearing on Paul’s ministry. He had his eye on his great Leader, and as Jesus went down into death to serve those whom He came to serve, notwithstanding their want of sympathy and interest, so every minister has to learn how to serve without sympathy, and even without interest. The apostle Paul was helped by discipline to write this second letter, by which he intended to secure the confidence of his Corinthian brethren; he had lost it to a great extent, not [p. 35] through his fault surely, but through theirs, and so he says, “I shall most gladly spend and be utterly spent for your souls, if even in abundantly loving you I should be less loved. But be it so”, 2 Corinthians 12: 15. He had despaired even of living — such were the straits into which he had come under the discipline of God in his ministry; but he says, “We had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead; who delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver”, 2 Corinthians 1: 9, 10. So that he comes up out of death — a veritable death — to write this letter, and in it he calls attention to the breaking of the pitcher.
And so, as we serve, the Lord would have us to serve after Himself as a pattern, and after the pattern of him who came nearest to Himself, even Paul. He says: “Always bearing about in the body the dying of Jesus” — what a mighty fact in a man’s history! — “that the life also of Jesus may be manifested in our body”, and then he says, “We who live are always delivered unto death on account of Jesus, that the life also of Jesus may be manifested in our mortal flesh”. So he goes on, “We ... believe, therefore also we speak”. What power would mark the speaking of one who was thus characterised as a broken pitcher, as one who bore about in his body the dying of Jesus!
Now it was on that principle that Paul ministered at Corinth from the beginning, although it was greatly accentuated in his second letter; hence he was a fit vessel to bring in the new covenant — to bring it in in power, in the spirit of liberty, in the spirit of the Lord, as he says, “Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty”. There was the power of a king in him in that epistle, against whom there is no rising up.
I want now to show you that the book of Numbers, in the section from which I have read, is based on the [p. 36] gift of the Spirit. Chapter 21 records that in their experience the people had come to Beer, to the well of which it is said, “Spring up. O well; sing ye unto it”. The princes of the people digged the well with their staves, by the direction of the lawgiver. Note that; that is to say, the Spirit as received into our souls is in relation to the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ. We are not given power to be exercised at our own wills; we are given power to be exercised under the direction and control of the Lord Jesus, so that it is at the direction of the lawgiver. We are to move here within those limits; there is no room for the exercise of our own wills. Simon Magus would have paid a high price in money for the Spirit. Why? It would have given him greater power than he had ever wielded, although he had wielded power. He had astonished people with his magic arts, but he sees in the Spirit a power greater than that, but he was in the bond of iniquity, and so is any one who would use the power of the Spirit at his own will. The Spirit is given in relation to the authority of the Lord Jesus, and it is to be wielded here in subjection to Him, and as thus wielded we take on the character of the king.
So I wish to connect these verses in Proverbs with the passages in Numbers. First we have three things which go well, yea, four that are comely in their going. I want to show, beloved brethren, how we arrive at the thought of power, which the thought of a king represents. It is not a question here of an official king, but of one who has moral power, and that is what God intends to be developed primarily in the assembly. He looks for the development of moral power in us, and so these four stately things culminate in the one — that is in the king, against whom, as it is said, there is no rising up.
Now the first is a lion, and I believe that the features of the lion appear as the Holy Spirit is recognised as received in the believer’s soul. There were four things that disquieted the earth — four odious things which are easily compared with conditions with which we have to do at the present time; and then there were four little or weak things which, as we all know, correspond with the position of God’s people at the present time. We do not occupy, nor do we seek a place of conspicuousness in this world; “wise”, but “weak” things surely describe the people of God in this day. But then there are the stately things, and these refer to the saints in their service in the testimony of God. It is well to accept our littleness and our weakness, but at the same time it is also well to see that the possession of the Spirit of God involves power, and power against which there is no rising up, against which all the power of the world combined cannot raise up its head.
I want to make that clear, and to make clear too how we come into this power, for without it our testimony cannot be effective. So the first feature — the lion — should, I believe, appear in the youngest believer who has the Spirit, and who confesses the Lord Jesus. Many are in soul difficulties because they do not confess, but in confessing the Lord you raise your standard, you are not afraid of the face of man, you have come into the light of the Lord Jesus in heaven, you have come into the light of the great fact that the Holy Spirit has been sent down by Him, and that the Holy Spirit is greater than the world power, “Greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world” (1 John 4: 4), and thus you confess the Lord Jesus, and that is the act of a lion. You are not to underrate what that may involve; it will involve conflict, but no one is of any value until he faces the enemy. As you face him and confess the Lord Jesus, you realise that you have got more power than the enemy; he flees from you; he has no power against you as you confess boldly the Lord Jesus Christ. “The righteous are bold”, it says, “as a lion” (Proverbs 28: 1), and so is the youngest believer as he apprehends the gospel, as he apprehends righteousness, and confesses the Lord boldly and finds he has power; he turns not away from any. I speak thus for young ones, because it is the commencement of spiritual power when you begin to realise what you are possessed of, as you openly and courageously confess the Lord Jesus in your home circle, and particularly in your business circle.
Then the next thing which has a stately step is the war-horse. He represents aggressiveness. The lion stands his ground, he turns not away from any, but the horse according to Job is aggressive: “He ... cannot contain himself at the sound of the trumpet ... and he smelleth the battle afar off, the thunder of the captains, and the shouting” (Job 39: 24, 25); he is not deterred. He goes forward notwithstanding the sword and the spear; “he mocketh at fear and is not affrighted”. He knows the issue, and he is present whenever a conflict is on for the truth; he is never away in the background; he discerns that the issue is the truth, and he comes forward: “He paweth in the valley and rejoiceth in his strength”. It is the believer consciously possessed of the Spirit. He knows the power he has, he knows what he has received it for, and he is not afraid to use it; so he is present in power for the maintenance of the truth of God, for that is the issue — there is no other. The world may have its issues, but for him there is no issue other than the truth; it is a question of the truth, and no one who loves Christ will fail to use every bit of power that he has for the maintenance of what belongs to Him.
The next is the he-goat. The goat is a creature that can isolate himself, and does. I have no doubt he represents the believer here as able to retire into the presence of God. Many of us began well, we made [p. 39] a good confession and came out in the conflict, but if we fail to retreat into the presence of God, we fail to maintain a secret relation with God by prayer, and hence we lose our power, and thus come under the influence of men. Many have suffered thus — living with the brethren merely, living in the presence of the brethren, living in the success of our service, eating, as it were, our own fat, and as a consequence have lost our power. Whereas the he-goat is a stately thing.
Moses, I suppose, is one of the best illustrations of what is set forth in the he-goat; he was on the mount with God; Aaron was with the people; Moses came down from the mount from being with God. What an experience was his! He was forty days with God, and he neither ate nor drank; what room there was in him for God! Down in the valley the people were eating, and drinking, and playing, and making the golden calf — all these things go together. Moses neither ate nor drank, he lived by God. “Man shall not live by bread alone”, the Lord said, “but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God”. And what words were proceeding out of the mouth of God as Moses was with Him there upon the mount! never had a man heard such words. There were portrayed before him by the words of God Himself all the things in the heavens and the things upon the earth; all were opened up to him; he lived upon them. And as he was with God his very being, as I may say, was saturated with the thoughts of God. How wonderful! What a man he was as he descended that mount! How he besought the Lord his God for the people! He interceded for them with God before he entered the camp; but when he did enter no one could stand before him. There were possibly two millions of people there, but there was not one that could rise up in the presence of Moses; he is the king, for the goat culminates in the king — [p. 40] the man of moral power. He ground the calf into powder and strewed it upon the water, and compelled the people to drink of it as from the brook. Such was Moses; such is a king according to God; no one can rise up against him.
Now that is the beginning of what we have developed in Balaam’s prophecy; from that point Moses advances and goes forward until it is said that he is king in Jeshurun, when the heads of the people and the tribes of Israel were gathered together; Deuteronomy 33: 5. It was not a question of his being made or crowned king; he was never made a king; he was a king morally by being with God, and the shout of a king was with him. How we need that, dear friends. The Holy Spirit is brought in figuratively in chapter 21, and Balaam looks at the people, and note that in his prophecies it is of the people he is speaking. As one thinks of the companies of the Lord’s people, one is entitled to look at them from the standpoint of the possession of the Spirit. We can only look at them according to God as we look at them from that standpoint — from the top of the rocks. We must dismiss from our minds for the moment what they may be according to the flesh, and look at them from the standpoint of the Spirit. And so as one thinks of the Lord’s people, moving about among them, as one has the privilege to do, one thinks of what there is there.
First we have the shout of a king: “The shout of a king is among them”. A shout expresses victory. We all know how it was said at Jericho, “Shout; for the Lord hath given you the city”. They had only to shout, all the rest was done by God. So Balaam here sees the people from the standpoint of the Spirit and the shout of a king is among them. It is for us to consider, dear brethren, whether in our several localities there is the shout of a king among us. What I have said indicates how such a thing is [p. 41] reached. It is a question of the Spirit, the Spirit being recognised. But more than that, for the first prophecy of Balaam refers to the separation of the people — “The people shall dwell alone, and shall not be reckoned among the nations”. The admission of worldly influences deadens the power of the Spirit. If we are to have the shout of a king, there must be the rigid refusal of worldly principles and associations. Severe isolation from the world is the secret of this of which I speak.
So the second prophecy contemplates the power which is the result of this: The shout of a king is among them “... he hath as it were the strength of an unicorn”. So as one has part in any local meeting where there is separation, where the Spirit is recognised, where the flesh is refused, you find the strength of a unicorn — you find power; whereas where worldly principles are admitted, where separation is not maintained, where the Spirit is not recognised, you will find things limited and hampered, and no results. So that it is a question for us in our localities as to whether there are the evidences of power among us.
Then in the third prophecy we have, “His king shall be higher than Agag”, that is to say, the power that is amongst us is not built up after the flesh. Agag represents the flesh. I have no doubt that the systems around us are marked by their Agags — their men of power, for it is undeniable they have men of great power, as it is said elsewhere, “There were giants ... in those days”. These mighty men, men of renown, sprang from an unholy alliance — from the sons of God and the daughters of men. We cannot deny the power that exists around us from such alliances; but the power of the Spirit is greater. Not one of them can hold his ground in the presence of Israel’s king — “His king shall be higher than Agag”. We see the superiority the Holy Spirit gives us as we recognise Him. The apostle Paul fought with [p. 42] beasts at Ephesus; he fought with them, but he was not overcome by them. No one could stand in the presence of Paul; he had power by him to bring down strongholds and everything that exalted itself against Christ; he was higher than Agag. He had weapons of warfare, mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds, and the casting down of every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God.
Then in the fourth prophecy we have a Star and Sceptre spoken of. I need not remind you of the progress thus made. As the Spirit is recognised there is the shout of a king, then there is superiority over men of this world, however great — higher than Agag; and then there is the Star and Sceptre. “There shall come a Star out of Jacob”. The Star suggests much to us. It suggests the reflection of light. There is not only power, there is the radiation of light. The light that is radiating at this present time is the light of the coming day — a day we are on the very threshold of. This is a development that every servant, every Christian should have before him — that there should be the radiation of light, the light of a star. It is the reflection of Christ thrown in on the present darkness, the harbinger of a day that is nearing. How important to see what God is leading up to, what great thoughts He has, and how they are worked out in the recognition of the Spirit! We see what is before us, what we may reach under the hand of God as we are content to let the flesh go. There is the Star; we see things in the light, the light of Christ is brought in on everything. It is now a question of Christ; everything must be regulated by Him. It is a question of the light of Christ being brought in in the star. That light which is about to burst on this world is already radiating in those who recognise the Spirit. It is a wonderful thing the idea of the Star, and then there is the Sceptre. “A Sceptre shall rise out of Israel”. The sceptre suggests the principle of the rule of Christ; it is not simply that we have His commandments; it is that He is influencing us, so that all is dominated by Him.
And then He disposes of the corners of Moab “shall smite the corners of Moab”. It is not now a question of defence, but of aggression. He deals with the pride of this world, and again with the children of Sheth, or the sons of tumult of which the world is full; but we are in the light of Him who is to dispose of all that. He “shall destroy all the sons of tumult”. As a matter of fact, this fourth prophecy is the solution of what is called the Eastern question. Taking it prophetically, it refers to what the Lord will do in the latter days. He will dispose of Moab and Edom and all these ancient enemies of Israel, until we see the ships of Chittim afflicting Asshur and Eber for their destruction. It is the solution of the Eastern question.
I do not, however, wish to speak of prophecy, but it is well to see how the Lord Himself will come in through Israel, for it is Israel’s king that is in view, and the exploits of Israel as having the Spirit. Through Israel He will deal with all the ancient enemies of Israel which were in immediate proximity to them. The Western powers are dealt with otherwise, and so is the Northern power, but the Star and the Sceptre dispose of all the immediate surroundings of Israel, so that Israel will triumph.
With ourselves, the star is the light of Christ being reflected at the present time. I wish I could make this point clear. It is a Colossian suggestion. Romans and Corinthians synchronise as unfolding the authority, the commandments of Christ, but Colossians is Christ Himself; it is being in the light of Christ; “As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord”, it says, “so walk ye in him”. It is Himself — [p. 44] it involves headship. So in this fourth prophecy, I apprehend, the Star contemplates the light of Christ radiating in His people, and the Sceptre is His own direct influence; it may be through His people, nevertheless, it is Christ, and the more we advance in the truth, the more we look for the direct influence of the Lord. We come back, therefore, to the assembly as it was set up by Paul; we have come back to our Head and we His members, so that the light of Christ is reflected in His body. In the sceptre there is the rule of Christ, but I would very much prefer to be ruled by His influence, than by His commandments. I begin with His commandments, but I want to come under His influence — the influence of Christ. “In his shadow have I rapture and sit down”, Song of Songs 2: 3. It is the direct influence of Christ.
How important it is to learn to be restful under that influence. Perhaps one of the greatest needs amongst us is the keeping of the Sabbath, so to speak, the coming under the influence of Christ, so that we are restful in His presence. “In his shadow have I rapture and sit down”. I am not to live in my service, however successful; I am to live under the immediate influence of Christ — His left hand under my head, and His right hand embracing me. How immediate it all is, and so there is the Star and the Sceptre, the reflection of Christ and the rule of His influence. Thus, I believe the Lord would set out what is before us, what is attainable as we proceed on the line of the Spirit and disallow the flesh. We arrive at kingly power and the light of Christ radiating as from the star in these dark days.