THE SHOUT OF A KING
[p. 215] THE SHOUT OF A KING
Numbers 21:16 - 18; Numbers 23:9,10; ; Numbers 23:21-24; Numbers 24:7-9; Numbers 24:17-19
What I have in view tonight is to speak about the Spirit as the fruit of His work is seen among the saints collectively. I have in mind a passage in the book of Proverbs, well known to many of us, but which illustrates what I have in mind to develop out of these scriptures I have read.
In Proverbs 30:29 - 31, it is said there are four things that are “comely in going”. The first is a lion, “which turneth not away for any”; and the second is “a greyhound”, or perhaps more correctly a warhorse, who would be aggressive, who “smelleth the battle afar off, the thunder of the captains and the shouting”, Job 39:25. Then there is “an he-goat also; and a king, against whom there is no rising up”. These are features that the shrewd observer in that chapter takes account of. He had also been speaking of four things that disquiet the earth, under which indeed the earth cannot bear up; which four things are visible today in a marked way to all those who have spiritual discernment. Then he speaks about four things which are little but “exceeding wise”, answering to the present work of the Spirit in the people of God bringing about a sense of our outward smallness, and yet a state of wisdom. “They are exceeding wise”. Then the writer says there are four things which are marked by stateliness in their going, and I wish to speak particularly of them.
I wish to point out something of the features of these four stately creatures from these scriptures I have read in Numbers; they are the product of the Spirit of God; for no one save one who is trained under Christ and knows bow to use the Spirit will stand up against all comers. “Who turneth not away for any”, it says. So the warhorse, who, instead of avoiding the conflict, smells it afar off and is ready for it. He is ready even to be aggressive if necessary in the interests of Christ. Then the he-goat speaks of one who can be isolated, who can be apart from the influences of this world, who can retire and be with God; indicating his complete independence of this world, and who is thus wholly free from its influence, and hence comes out in the moral authority and power of a king. No one can rise up against him.
These are features, dear brethren, that the Holy Spirit would develop amongst us. I read the passage in Numbers 21 because it speaks about assembling. The Lord said to Moses, “Assemble the people, and I will give them water”, Numbers 21:16. It is the Spirit coming in as available in the company. Last evening we dwelt on the Spirit as seen in Joshua, who is spoken of as a man who had the Spirit — a man — one who has attained, we may say, to spiritual manhood. But when we turn to this passage, what is in view is not what is individual, but what is collective. So that it is, “Assemble the people, and I will give them water”.
God Himself had the thought of His people assembling. So we see in Acts 1 the Lord assembled with His disciples, and He charged them by the Spirit. He then set before them how the Spirit was to be employed, to speak reverently. He had enjoined His disciples that they should wait until they received the Spirit. They were to tarry in the city of Jerusalem until they were clothed with power from on high. If they were to be His representatives they were to be clothed with power from on high. They were in themselves weak, but they were to be here in the same power in which He executed His service in this world. It was no less than that;
indeed He said, “Greater works than these shall he do because I go to my Father”, John 14:12.
Well now, I want to show you, dear brethren, if I can, with the Lord’s help, how these thoughts work out in the passages I have read, and what I would say first of all is that we should learn how to assemble. If we are to go in for this power, the power that worketh in us, the power that is greater than he that is in the world, we must begin by assembling. That is, we must dismiss from our minds independence. The spirit of individual independence is wholly incompatible with the idea of assembling. We have to learn to come together in subjection to Christ, and not only to Christ, but in subjection to one another. You cannot have the assembly without subjection to Christ and subjection to one another. We have the idea in Peter of the younger being subject to the elder; and then we have following, “All of you bind on humility towards one another”, 1 Peter 5:5. When a thing is bound on it is intended to remain, not to be worn on special occasions only; it is to remain, it is bound on.
So we find here in Numbers that they sing; the people sing, “Spring up, O well; sing ye unto it”, As the principle of assembling is accepted, and we are together in assembly, the Spirit of God is recognised. He is not only recognised doctrinally, he is recognised feelingly. The idea of singing is feeling. “I will sing with the Spirit”, 1 Corinthians 14:15 the apostle says; that means that I sing feelingly. So they sing to the well; the Spirit is, so to speak, feelingly recognised. “Spring up, O well; sing ye unto it”.
Then it says, “The princes digged the well, the nobles of the people digged it, by the direction of the lawgiver, with their staves”. I want to dwell on that for a moment, for young ones have to learn what the lawgiver means. Many of us are puzzled; many of us are inquiring as to whether we have the [p. 218] Spirit. Let us begin by inquiring as to whether we are absolutely subject to Christ; if so we are sure to get the Spirit. “The princes digged the well”. These are men who have acquired power and renown among the saints. They employ their staves; suggestive, I apprehend, of their experience. But they dig the well under the direction of the lawgiver, for however influential a brother may be through the exercise of his gift, however much moral weight he may have acquired among saints, he has to come back to the lawgiver.
Abroad in what is called Christendom there is power, no one can deny it; we thank God for it. We are not to interfere with it, for as the Lord said, “He that is not against us is for us”. Mark 9:40. But then what about the lawgiver? If you claim to have power, I am entitled to raise the question with you as to what place the lawgiver has in connection with your power, for one great principle with God in the exercise of power is that it must be under law. If power is not regulated by law we are sure to come to disaster. That is true in physical things as it is in spiritual things.
If I take the physical creation, the physical universe, and take away the law that governs it, what would happen? The answer is obvious. So in regard to the power that is exercised here in this world in the Lord’s name; unless there is the recognition of the lawgiver we are sure to come to disaster. Hence the princes here, although in power, respect the lawgiver. That is to say, the Spirit, as known collectively, is known in those who observe the lawgiver. “At the direction of the lawgiver” they digged the well.
So in this chapter, the Spirit thus recognised, we have “the book of the wars of the Lord” — a remarkable book. One would not like to shine in any other; one would not like to have one’s name [p. 219] inscribed in any other book of wars save the book of the wars of the Lord. So that as the Spirit is recognised, then the record is made of the Lord’s wars. They are only Jehovah’s wars as they are carried on under the direction of Christ, for He is the “captain of the army of Jehovah”. Joshua 5:14.
Another thing comes out in this chapter which is worthy of note, and that is the saying of the poets. While the Spirit is thus recognised collectively you have the book of the wars of the Lord and the saying of the poets. We may thank God for the spiritual poetry that we possess: it is not to be despised, but it should never replace the poet; the poetry should never replace the spirit of the poet amongst us. The Psalmist says, “I speak of the things which I have made touching the king”. Psalm 45:1. That is what is to be preserved — it is what the poets say; that is, those who speak to God feelingly. There are “psalms and hymns and spiritual songs”. Ephesians 5:19. These all fit in with the recognition of the Spirit.
Well, now I want to show how the goat character comes into evidence in chapter 23, for it is seen not only in individuals, but in companies. Israel, he says, “shall dwell alone, and shall not be reckoned among the nations”. We know how, as young nations develop, they greatly seek to be reckoned as one of the nations, to be on an equality with the nations. That is natural to us all. We know how Israel, alas, when declining, sought to have a king like the nations.
When we seek to be conformed to what is around in the world we are declining. But here, in the prophetic language of Balaam, he says, “the people shall dwell alone, and shall not be reckoned among the nations”. ‘Oh’, you say ‘that means exclusivism’. Yes, it means exclusivism. You say ‘It is narrow-mindedness’. No, that is not the word at all; that word is misused. The apostle Paul had not in his [p. 220] mind narrow-mindedness when he said to the Corinthians, “Be ye also enlarged”. 2 Corinthians 6:13. How were they to be enlarged? Not to have fellowship with unrighteousness; not to have communion with idols; not to be linked with unbelievers; this is being enlarged. What you call narrowness is enlargement. In other words, it makes room for the Spirit.
“The people shall dwell alone, and shall not be reckoned among the nations”. I hear a young one say, ‘If you proceed upon those lines you will have a very small company’. Never mind; God’s ways do not fit into one day, nor into one year, nor into one decade, nor into one century, nor even into a millennium. God’s ways are very extended. We have to wait for the full fruition of them; and so, as one often thinks, it is for us to see to the principles, and God will see to the people. If God lays down principles for us to go by, our wisdom is to go by them and leave results with Him.
“Who can count the dust of Jacob, and the number of the fourth part of Israel?” We shall have numbers enough, beloved, but numbers of the kind that we can love, whose fellowship, whose company we can enjoy. Israel “shall dwell alone, and shall not be reckoned among the nations”; he is thus distinguished. So, as I said, and I repeat it designedly, if we take care of the principles that God has laid down for us we may be assured that He will bring in the people, and so it is immediately added, “Who can count the dust of Jacob, and the number of the fourth part of Israel?”
Well now, you see in this the goat character; you see in accepting the isolation that God designs for us, there is increase according to Him. One has heard of a certain nation enjoying a ‘splendid isolation’. It was a boast. There are very few nations who can afford this, because the maintenance of nations as they are depends on alliances. But here [p. 221] is what one may call a splendid isolation, and the recognition of it means that there will be power. Hence in the next vision that is recorded, it says, “The shout of a king is among them”. However few the people may be through the observance of divine principles, through keeping the commandments of the Lord, as those who love Him, the shout of a king shall be in their midst.
Mark you, it is to be all on the side of Jacob and Israel. It is not a question of Christ personally here; that is spoken of elsewhere. It is here what is known among those who are separate and recognise the Spirit. “The shout of a king is among them”. One often has proved, as the principle of separation was maintained, the sense of power in the shout of a king.
Then the next thing that one would point out is that this king is higher than Agag. Agag is the king after the flesh; kingly power developed on fleshly lines. Amalek had a great place in the world, as we are told; but now, by the recognition of the Spirit, we have arrived at what is higher than Agag. I would that we should become more accustomed, dear brethren, to elevation — spiritual elevation. I suppose that in the history of the world human power has never been so developed as at the present time. We are arriving at number 666, the superman.
It is important that we should understand the nature of human development — what power man is acquiring. How is it to be met? Are we to cower before it? No; “his king shall be higher than Agag”. In other words, the power that is known amongst the people of God is not expressed by number 6, but by number 7. Number 6 is a wonderful development; it is a development of evil. I do not say the number is always evil, because it appears with Solomon; but it is one more than human power.
[p. 222] Human strength is measured by 5, whereas 6 is one more. Hence it is a spiritual power added to what is human. On every hand today there is a development of spiritual power. You do not find blatant infidels to the same extent as in earlier days. There are no great leaders in that evil, because men have been brought to recognise spiritual power.
The leaders of the world are advocating the idea of spiritual power; but what power? Is it the power of the Holy Spirit? No, beloved friends, it is not that; it is an unholy spirit. Men pretend to dip down into hades and connect with the unseen world. Think of that! Who has the keys of hades? Jesus has the keys. Is it likely He will hand them over to these pretenders? They have no access to hades; it is all a lie. There is spiritual power in it, but it is of an unholy spirit. Nevertheless it is a spiritual power; it cannot be denied.
But what we come to here is found among those who are separate, who dwell alone, who refuse to link themselves up with the nations. Their King is higher than Agag. We are not baffled or confused; we need not cower before them; we have a power that is higher than theirs, and we know it. They attack the book of Genesis; the Spirit of God brings it out into greater prominence and lustre as divine. And so throughout, the Holy Spirit has met every attack; and so we have proved that there is among the saints what is higher than Agag. Let us then, dear brethren, understand this great power that we have. It is realised as we maintain separation; first, recognition of the authority of the Lord; and second, separation — the goat. The king comes in after the goat in Proverbs 30, “against whom there is no rising up”. Proverbs 30:31.
Now I want to come to the third scripture before closing. Balaam says, “I shall see him, but not now; I shall behold him, but not nigh. There cometh [p. 223] a Star out of Jacob, and a Sceptre shall rise out of Israel, and he shall cut in pieces the corners of Moab, and destroy an the sons of tumult”. That is how it should read. We have not only supremacy in the King that is higher than Agag, but we have the Star and the Sceptre. We are now bordering on the conditions of the millennium; we are on the very threshold of it, beloved; and we have this testimony of the Star and the Sceptre; it is about to appear. The Star carries with it most interesting suggestions which I cannot go into now, but it is a harbinger of a bright day. Stars appear when the sun is hidden. The sun is about to break forth over this dark world, but this Star has already arisen. As on every hand proprietary claims are put forth on this earth, we see that the Lord Jesus is about to intervene and assert His rights. He has power, so that He destroys the four corners of Moab.
Now we have aggressive power. The corners of Moab would, I apprehend, refer to the limits of pride. The pride of man has ascended, we may say, up to the heavens; the pride of his discoveries, of his powers; the pride that he has in the world he has built up, or he hopes to build up. The Star arises out of Jacob and the Sceptre arises out of Israel, and He smites the corners of Moab. All that power and pride shall come to nothing; the Lord shall deal with it.
But we have already in the Spirit, dear brethren, the testimony to all this, and that is what I wanted to impress. It goes on to say, “Edom shall be a possession, and Seir a possession — they, his enemies; but Israel will do valiantly”. I apprehend that the aggressive power intimated here looks on to the millennium. So it goes on right down and deals with all the eastern powers. In Israel there shall be power to deal with what we know as the eastern world, Asia; and then the ships of Chittim come,
[p. 224] pointing to the Western powers. These shall be dealt with in their own time. There shall be power in Israel to deal with the east. The book of Revelation shows us how the west shall be dealt with.
The prophecies of Balaam unfold to us how the eastern matter is to be adjusted. It is to be settled by power in Israel. The ships of Chittim refer to the Romans. They come in, but Israel shall do valiantly. It is to him the right is given to conquer the eastern world. I refer to that only in a prophetic way. My thought is, dear brethren, to impress upon us that in the recognition of the Spirit collectively you have power higher than Agag, and the Star and the Sceptre invoking sufficient power to conquer and adjust the eastern world.
May God help us to recognise the Spirit. That is what I had impressed upon me in these two addresses — that individually we might be vessels for the Spirit, and that collectively we might prove the power of the Spirit in its completeness here. Any one of us can express the Spirit in his measure, but the assembly is the vessel in which the complete power of the Spirit is expressed. It is the vessel in which the Holy Spirit is here personally, and acting personally; acting indeed sovereignly as a divine Person. So it says, “greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world”. 1 John 4:4.