FOOD

J.A.Petersen

Judges 6: 11-21; Leviticus 2: 1-3

I wanted to say a word in relation to food in the time of Gideon, especially having in mind the many young people that are with us today. Reports have it that the young people are finding their way to the three-day occasions and other gatherings of the saints and the Lord is observing it. A brother told me in Sweden a week or two ago that there were 55 at their three-day meetings (we are in small times) but that, out of 55, 30 were young people from various parts. It is very encouraging to think of that because Gideon was a young man. It says "his son Gideon threshed wheat in the winepress". They were exceedingly difficult times, and I would say that in the experience of most of us the time in which we are outwardly is as difficult as any the testimony has been in. Some of it has been brought about by the failures of Christians, failures of brethren too, but in it all God is observing: it says in this passage that Jehovah looked upon Gideon. In Malachi it is noted that He observed His people (see chap 3: 16). He is looking at us today. We could have been elsewhere but we came here. In other places believers are gathered and God is noting it with pleasure.

Thus Jehovah looked at Gideon, a young man, and He is looking at the young people here. He looked at me when I was young and at others, and He has never lost sight of us. Sometimes we lose sight of one another, but we are not to be drawers back. What God saw in Gideon was very attractive, and I believe He sees that in the brethren here today. This young man was engaged in a very good work concerning the food supply. We were on a farm yesterday in Spaldwick and it was wonderful to see the crops God has given and the people reaping them, and they have storehouses too. Have you ever thought of the storehouses that are in the testimony at the present time? You young men and young women, have you looked into the storehouses - the books of ministry that we have? In the scripture read in Leviticus 2 it says ''the remainder of the oblation shall be Aaron's and his sons”. We find that in our reading meetings, as we speak of the glory of the Lord Jesus, there is offered up to God in the hearts of the saints, but then there is something left for Aaron and his sons, that is ourselves, to feed upon, to feed upon Christ, that Man who is out of death. The hymn says that His death is the point of severance from this world (No.192); it takes a long time practically to come to that in our experience. Our Saviour is not here, He has died out of the world, has been buried and been raised again, Christ the first-fruits. That is what Gideon was engaged with here, the fruits of resurrection - Christ firstly, then ourselves. It is a wonderful thing to feed on the Lord Jesus out of death, and to think that the brethren are out of death too. The wheat-harvest is not the first harvest, the barley-harvest is that. Gideon was engaged in type with Christ risen and the saints. We sing sometimes in the morning meeting, ' 'Tis as risen, Lord, we hail Thee' (No.422), and we are with Him in that. Through faith of the working of God we have been raised with Him from among the dead (see Col 2: 12). It is by faith, so that we are engaged with what is on the other side of death. We have come out of our ordinary circumstances, and God is pleased with that. Jehovah looked at Gideon; He is looking at you and thinking of you in regard to how, He may use you in His testimony, dear brother and sister. The need is great at the present time for heavenly-minded people, which Gideon represents. If you need help in the New Testament as to Gideon, read the fourth chapter of second Corinthians: ''we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the surpassingness of the power may be of God, and not from us" (v 7). Gideon was the man whom God used in the conflict through the broken vessels; when the vessels broke the light shone. Some of the vessels of our dear brethren are breaking; then the light is to shine out - Christ is to come out. So we thank God that if we do have some frailties - and we all have them - in those frailties Christ is to become everything to us, so that we may not be overpowered by the human condition in which we are at present. God has seen fit to put His testimony in earthen vessels; Paul could have said 'our bodies', but it is earthen vessels; then as the vessel breaks the light shines out and the enemy is overthrown. The earthen vessel brings out in the Christian dependence on God for everything; we are needing mercy every day. The Psalmist could say, "I will sing aloud of thy loving kindness in the morning", Ps 59: 16. How great are His mercies! That is what we have to come to as we get older, the mercy and loving-kindnesses of God. God is observing us as we get older too, but He is especially observing young people, and He would He would like to assure you of His interest in you, and to speak to you, and He has these storehouses, the grain has been gathered. We saw at that farm storehouses where the grain is kept, not only moved from the fields into the market-places but where it is stored, a most important matter! Think of these books we have, these ministries we have, beloved. Men laid down their lives for us. Some of them stood in this room and laid down their lives for us, and sisters served then as they do now and took the notes so we could have it all, and we only have to look into it to see how it is helping us in the current time.

This man Gideon represents a current-time Christian, not living in the old world wishing that he lived forty years ago, but in the present time, and the scripture uses that expression “the present time"; Rom 3: 26. This young man Gideon was in his father's house, without the full sympathy of his father it may be, but he was threshing wheat in the winepress, which is the side of tribulation; that is what we get in Romans 5 (v 3). The Christian comes into that through faith, and "tribulation works endurance; and endurance, experience; and experience, hope; and hope does not make ashamed, because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit which has been given to us". That is what Gideon was getting into, the spiritual line of things through faith, through tribulation, and learning through it; not among those who never came to the knowledge of the truth, but coming to something in his soul, and God was observing. It says of this angel that he "came and sat under the terebinth that was in Ophrah". He came to sit, and we are sitting here today with great interest in what is going on in the testimony. This young man was engaged with the food supply - one of the most important matters at the present time, including the printed ministry. In our localities it is not only expositions of doctrine imparted to us but food for the souls of the brethren, which is Christ here, Christ buried, Christ raised again, Christ at the right hand of God; that is the food for the brethren, and to keep that before them. Then to keep before the saints that we are raised through faith and the working of the power of God who raised Him from among the dead. These are matters to be reached in our souls. And then here God himself comes into the matter. First an Angel of Jehovah came and sat; then God comes into the matter: "And the Angel of Jehovah appeared to him, and said to him, Jehovah is with thee, thou mighty man of valour". First it is an angel of Jehovah, then it is the Angel of Jehovah. This is how the Lord Jesus comes into the meeting, I would venture to say, how He comes into the gathering. The angels help us: "Are they not all ministering spirits, sent out for service ...?", Heb 1: 14. They helped us to get here. Then it is the Angel of God; Jehovah comes in and He is looking at the brethren. The Lord Jesus is looking at the brethren, and He is looking at each one of us, taking account of the work of God.

We were speaking earlier today about the Lord Jesus and how He came into certain circumstances and noticed things that no-one else noticed, and that is what we want to do, we want to notice what is spiritual and good among our brethren. You have a privilege that is very wonderful - to come up to the gatherings of the Lord's people and to see God's work in them, and to value that work. So this meeting, we may say, with Gideon was enlarged. I hope the meetings today will enlarge us all and that we understand that God has an interest in our being here; He is looking at us, is evaluating us, and wants us for His service. He was pleased that this young man was engaged in the food supply. That is the urgent matter at the present time, how to recover our brethren, how to recover men to the light of the glad tidings and the truth of the assembly. Naomi and Ruth were recovered to the food supply: they heard that there was food in Israel (see Ruth 1: 6), and that is the thing at the present time, are we valuing enough what the Spirit is saying to the saints? It is food for the soul. It is barren outside, it is barren in Christendom, although it may be that God moves the water, as the man in John 5 experienced once a year. There may be something, but there is a continual supply of help by the Holy Spirit amongst us and we want to value it and not be unduly critical of those who are helping us. And so this meeting (Judges 6) is enlarged, I would suggest, and God is coming into it. God looked upon Gideon and said, "Go in this thy might, and thou shalt save Israel"; and God calls him a mighty man of valour. It is the only time in Scripture that a man who was not a military man is called a mighty man of valour. If you are engaged in the food supply in your locality, God would say to you that you are a mighty man or mighty woman of valour. All the spurs are not won on the battlefield. It says ''the king himself is dependent upon the field" (Eccles 5: 9); that is that the great ordering of things in the assembly involves the food supply. We might have a fine city in London but it is dependent on what is in such places as Spaldwick, the crops. And as it is among men, so it is among us, that we are dependent upon the food supply. Gideon secured it at great cost and suffering. There are men who stood in this room that suffered for Christ to bring us the truth of eternal life, to bring us into the truth of the assembly, to bring us the truth of Christ in heaven and His body here. They suffered, were criticised, were maligned for that, eventually being separated from by some for these precious things that are in our storehouses. Just think of the sufferings of our brethren. So we would certainly value the Lord's servants who were the mighties in the revival, and we have in consequence these storehouses and can draw on them to learn a little about eternal life and the atmosphere that is proper to the assembly.

The next thought in mind, dear brethren, is very simple but it is very profound, that is food for God. When we come together in our gatherings, not only on Lord's day morning, there is to be something for the heart of Christ. It says of David he "longed, and said, O that one would give me to drink of the water of the well of Bethlehem," 2 Sam 23: 15. Those mighty men interpreted David's feelings and affections and secured the water for him. The Lord Jesus is coming in; according to Psalm 110, "He shall drink of the brook in the way" (v 7). He is with the saints in the testimony, and He is looking Himself - a divine Person, a real Man in glory - for some satisfaction from His beloved people. He is with us in the way, and would you not like to refresh the Lord Jesus? It is not too much to say these things, dear brethren. This man Gideon was very hospitable. He says "If now I have found favour in thine eyes, shew me a sign that it is thou who talkest with me. Depart not hence, I pray thee, until I come unto thee, and bring forth my present". Is it not wonderful to come to a meeting with your local brethren, and say that we would like to detain divine Persons, to give Them a present, to give Them food? We think of food in relation to ourselves, but "My food", the Lord Jesus said in John 4 (v 34). "I have food to eat which ye do not know" (v 32). That is the line that we are on at the present time, and what is that food for Him? It is the will of God accomplished in the saints; that is His food. "My food is that I should do the will of him that has sent me", John 4: 34. Now the food of divine Persons is to enjoy in the saints who are fulfilling the will of God at the present time; it is food and satisfaction to Their hearts.

This man brought forth something. Hospitality is a great thing, and Gideon was hospitable, as was Abraham. Gideon would not let this man go; he was very deferential, very careful; he says "and bring forth my present, and set it before thee. And he said, I will tarry until thou come again. And Gideon went in, and made ready a kid of the goats, and an ephah of flour in unleavened cakes" - that is a young person maintaining separation from the world, maintaining himself or herself in selfjudgment. The "unleavened bread of sincerity and truth" (1 Cor 5: 8) underlies the Lord's supper. That is the food of the locality, to feed on the unleavened bread and the passover, and all that Jesus did for us, His precious blood shed. Let us ever hold that in our hearts, even when we speak to the Father in the service of God, never forget that it is through the redeeming blood of Jesus. We feed on that Man and what transpired on the cross, and to be maintained in the unleavened state means that we are judging ourselves. The heart is wretched, just as wretched today as whenever you and I were converted, but the Spirit has taken up His abode in us, and He is recalling us constantly to Christ and to communion. This young man Gideon was a selfjudged man, and he brought this to God, an offering corresponding to the death of Christ. Then he was subject to God: the Angel told him how the offering should proceed. We need to get into these storehouses, beloved, and see how the service of God ought to proceed - not just the motions of it but the reality of it. "Take the flesh and the unleavened cakes, and lay them on this rock "; that is, God is in control of the local gathering. We not only have to offer to God what is right, but it is how we offer. This passage is taken up with how Gideon must lay this out before the Angel of Jehovah. How careful we need to be in the things of God, in regard to His service, to be in accord with our worship and our praise, and that we are subject persons. "And he did so". That was Gideon's locality so to speak - this rock. There was the rock that followed them which was the Christ (see 1 Cor 10: 4). Now Gideon is established on that rock. "On this rock" (Matt 16: 18): that is where you are, your stability. The stability of the rock is Christ, but then it is "on this rock I will build my assembly," and that the service of God properly is always in the assembly. People have tried to take the Supper to themselves: they go off and do other things, and say that they still love the Lord, but are they under this regulation? So it is commendable in this young man, Gideon, that he is under regulation and listening to God telling him how the offering is to take place. Then it is accepted, and how it is accepted. "The Angel of Jehovah put forth the end of the staff that was in his hand, and touched the flesh and the unleavened cakes; and there rose up fire out of the rock, and consumed the flesh and the unleavened cakes. And the Angel of Jehovah departed out of his sight". What a time it was! Very confirming! Gideon was a brother who looked for confirmation. I do the same. We are not too old to look for confirmation that we are in the right place at the right time, and that God is helping us. How often the servant in Genesis 24 was concerned, step by step, that divine support and leading was coming in that he might in type secure the bride for the Lord Jesus.

I close with the thought in Leviticus 2. Moses' ministry, the first five books of the Bible, would be a great storehouse, one of the storehouses of God. How often the Lord Jesus, and the apostles later, drew on the five books of Moses, this great servant, in their ministry. "Mouth to mouth do I speak to him": that is what God said about him. It is fulness in the offering in Leviticus 2 in the type, nothing unleavened here, but fine flour. That is the Lord Jesus, the oblation to God: "his offering shall be of fine flour''. That is what we talked about this morning, the Man that was here, the Man of the gospels, the Man of John 8 that Mr Bellett spoke about. The gospels speak about that Man; He is the fine flour. This is the present that we are offering up to God. What Moses has given us in his writings we see the fulfilling of in the Lord Jesus. Then the Holy Spirit came on the Lord Jesus (the offerer here refers to that): "and he shall pour oil". The priest would know that, that what was here under the eye of God in Jesus the Spirit came upon Him, restfully, complacently. For the first time the heavens opened on that Man who was here and glorified God and did God's will. What a wonderful sight for heaven! The fine flour was there and the oil poured on it – the priest would understand. The Spirit came upon Him. Then, dear brethren, it says "and put frankincense thereon." It does not say who put that on, but I think that is what the lovers of Jesus do. The Lord says of a woman in Matthew's gospel, when she was criticised for anointing Him, "she has wrought a good work ", chap 26: 10. That is our appreciation of Christ, the frankincense. It does not say who put that on here, but Mary anointed the feet of the Lord, and the woman in Simon's house anointed the Lord - His head in one gospel, His feet in another. "Yea, he is altogether lovely": that is what the saints are saying. They put the frankincense on. God sent his Spirit to dwell upon his Son, the Spirit came upon Him Himself, but the frankincense is some measure of our appreciation that we have in order that the house may be filled with the odour of the ointment. The Lord Jesus said "She has done it for my burying". It was not an ordinary matter, He accepted that anointing, it was some appreciation of the Man who was there and was about to go into death. "She has done it for my burying" - that was the divine appraisal. The Spirit came upon Him - that is a divine matter - but how wonderful that He should be anointed among His brethren and above His brethren. That is what we do, in that sense. God has done it, the saints are meeting that with acclaim, about the greatness of this blessed Man. And so it says, "And he shall bring it to Aaron's sons, the priests; and he shall take thereout his handful of the flour thereof, and of the oil thereof, with all the frankincense thereof".

You see, beloved young person, you do not need to have an understanding of everything, you have a handful. That is what is offered up, a handful, just what you and I can take account of in our small way: "line upon line; here a little, there a little", Isa 28: 10. We cannot say everything in our readings, we cannot bring all the doctrine in; the question is what is the Lord saying tonight in our localities? It is a handful, just get enough and then there is what is offered to God. It says inverse 3 "And the remainder of the oblation shall be Aaron's and his sons': it is most holy". These men who have been fathers in the revival have illuminated to us what the fine flour means. We have a little of it in our hearts, so that we are not just quoting the ministry but only to strengthen this matter of the storehouses that we have and to draw upon them. Then the frankincense - what was put on Jesus when He was here, what that woman put on. She represents the affections of the saints for Christ, and oh dear sister, I do believe the closing ministry of Mr Taylor should be revived amongst us in this particular aspect, and that is the importance of the sisters amongst us. We have more than sixty hymns written by sisters. It was not the apostles who poured the ointment on the Lord; it was a woman who did it, unnamed in some gospels. It is what you and I can do, that we bring in the fragrance that alone should adorn Himself, and it is connected with the Spirit. That is a marvellous matter, that the Lord Jesus should take that into account and give us some understanding as to what that woman did was for His burial. He not only died on the cross, e was buried, and that body was anointed for burial, and He lay there for three days and three nights and God raised Him up, and now we are coming into the joy of these things. Remember this: the remainder is for us. The gospels have been given to us that it might be for us, that we may dwell on all that is precious in Christ to God, and all that is precious in Him to us as Saviour. We dwell on it, the remainder is for Aaron and his sons to enjoy. You belong to a family, it is not a one man matter, we are in the family, that is John's ministry, and the result of the family in a right way is regulated by the Lord Jesus, so that the house was filled with the odour of the ointment.

LONDON

17 August 1991