THE NEED OF MOVEMENT

R. Taylor

Numbers 10: 28, 33–36; Joshua 1: 10, 11; 3: 1–4, 17

I seek help, dear brethren, from these scriptures, to speak of the need of movement. It is something that there is need of, and it may even be the Lord would use the occasion to stir us up. It is so easy to settle down in comfortable surroundings. Maybe one of the greatest tools the enemy is using today is to cause us to settle in our surroundings that are not exactly unrighteous, but they are short of what God has prepared for those that love Him. It is so easy to do when there is no need, and we do not have the trials that some of our parents had. There is plenty to keep you from poverty or want, and the enemy would just cause us to settle in comfortable surroundings. You can see that in some of these people we read of, they were taking their ease. The Lord said about Moab that he had not been emptied from vessel to vessel (Jeremiah 48: 11). They did not want exercise, they did not want to be troubled, they just wanted to please themselves.

It is also a very easy thing to want to attach God to our circumstances, but God wants us to come into His arrangements. It is a very easy thing to do, we all know our own heart. We just say, Well, we are not unrighteous and love the Lord, and we say the Lord will be with us and help us; these things trip very easily from our lips. But the Lord wants us to move into His surroundings. God speaks about the land that He has prepared, that should entice us. What a thing He was doing with these people. It says here that they set forward. We used to be told that a Christian was like a man on a bicycle, if you stopped pedalling then you fell off. You are either going forward or you are going back, there is no standing still. We read about these people going forward to that heavenly land. It was a long journey and many

lessons had to be learned in it. A beautiful company here, they had kept the passover in an earlier chapter. I believe that was foundational to their movement. God said about the passover, “This month shall be unto you the beginning of months”, Exodus 12: 2. That means that they were feeding on the sufferings of Christ, on the way that this lamb had gone. It was not only the blood being put on the doorpost. It is a very interesting thing that prosperity in the Old Testament in Israel depended on the place the passover had in their affections and in their lives. You will see that in the recovery books. They were recovered to hold the passover. They had forgotten about it, and time and again God says, “I am Jehovah who brought you out of the land of Egypt”, Leviticus 22: 33. What an appeal to our hearts.

In Egypt, where they were slaves to the power and bondage of sin, in type, God came in His own delivering power in the blood of that lamb, to bring them out. We need to be revived about that, dear brethren, “I am Jehovah who brought you out of the land of Egypt”. He would say, What are you doing now? You are living in your own wainscoted houses, you are pleasing yourselves, your own things are dominating your lives. But He says, “I am Jehovah who brought you out of the land of Egypt”, not to leave you in the wilderness. As there was recovery to the passover there was great celebration. The silver trumpets were blowing, (that was earlier in the chapter) and here it says they went forward, according to their hosts—what a company. God saw that, it says, “they set forward from the mountain”. That is the base from which they went forward, they were committing themselves to God and to the resources of His grace and love. They set forward from the mountain and went three days’ journey.

You will see in the sections of the chapter I have read, ‘three days’ are very important. ‘Three days’ means it is a serious matter to be here for the Lord and in the testimony. Three days is not just an hour or a passing day, three days is a complete period; it is to regulate our life, dear brethren. ‘Three days’ journey’ was not just an afternoon outing. They set forward on a three days’ journey and the ark of the covenant of Jehovah went before them.

Normally the ark was in the centre, and that is the public position today. Christ’s name needs to be protected. And as that was attended to, they kept the passover and were looking after Christ’s interests. This verse reminds me of that word in the Songs, “Come with me”, Song of Songs 4: 8. The ark rose up—beautiful expression—there was nothing like it before in the scriptures, showing God’s pleasure in His people. It says that the ark rose up and went before them three days’ journey to search out a resting-place for them. Have you ever known something of the Lord coming into an occasion or circumstances, saying, ‘Come with Me’? Are you ready to go? No going back, saying, Oh I have to see to this, I have to see to that; the passover and the commandments are all underlying this. The Lord said, I will go before you.

It is the path that the Saviour has trod that has made us pilgrims below. Your eye is on the goal, He would say, I will give you some insight, some opening up of what there is before us. It does not say where they went; no territorial description could describe this experience. It says it went before them, the cloud of Jehovah was over them by day when they went forward and the ark set forward. Think of the Lord taking the initiative, helping you fulfil your responsibilities. The passage in the New Testament comes to mind, “If ye love me, keep my commandments”, John 14: 15. And He says, “we will come to him”, John 14: 23. That is what is happening here. He came to them because they had kept the charge, and they had fulfilled their responsibility laid upon them, in the Spirit’s grace. Now He says, I will take you into My surroundings. He gave them here a view of the land. (I know it does not say that but I believe that is what happened). How else did Moses know about the land the way he did, he had never been in it. You read in Deuteronomy of how Moses describes the land. The ark had come before to show him something of that good

land over Jordan. How Moses could speak about it. He knew the heights, the depths, the fruits, he knew all about it. They are typically the things that God has prepared for them that love Him. The ark went before of its own volition; there was no prescription for this. Now the Lord comes in and gives us some insight, not yet in actuality, but it is very real. It was very real to Moses what he saw, and it was very real to Caleb.

I would like to speak about Caleb. In that three days’ journey he saw something of the purpose of God. Dear brethren, that is what we need, some insight in the Spirit’s grace into the purpose of God, who chose us in Christ before the world’s foundation. Did you ever rest your soul in that in the exercises of the path today? As I have said before, as another has said,

‘I was a saint in purpose before ever I was a sinner in practice’. Caleb knew something of the purpose of God. When trouble came into his life, everybody against him, he said, “If Jehovah delight in us, he will bring us into this land”, Numbers 14: 8. He had no doubt that God delighted in His people. Have you some sense of that, dear brother and sister? If you only live in your circumstances, you will prove divine help and grace and mercy, that is very true, but the Lord wants to bring you into His circumstances, to know something of the heights and depths and the fruit of the land. That was in the three days’ journey, the ark going before. Not one of them stayed back, they were attracted to that ark that had won their affections. It says it set forward of its own volition, no doubt it was carried but it does not say that—it says the ark set forward of its own volition.

Thinking about this section, I can see it all in John’s gospel from chapter 13 onwards. The Lord says, “Rise up, let us go hence”, John 14: 31. He had dealt with other things earlier in the gospel, He had fed the five thousand, He had dealt with all their needs, He had shown them His great power in the miracles. From the thirteenth chapter He is inside and then He says, “Rise up, let us go hence”. Where was He leading them? He was leading them to the Father’s house. That was the ark going before. Do you ever give the Spirit some of your time to allow Him to show you something of the great blessings, the great things that God has prepared for them that love Him. He is more ready to show them to you than I am to take time to expand on them, of that I am verily sure. He is ever ready to show you something of the great thoughts of divine purpose, and how much He loves you. This was not a movement of prescription, it was a movement of love. Dear brethren, Lord’s day morning is to give us some touch of this. The passover is behind us, and we gather together in sincerity and truth. These are the kind of persons that are ready to follow in sincerity and truth, with the unleavened bread; that is all lying behind us as we gather for the Supper. The Lord Jesus said, “This is my body which is for you”, 1

Corinthians 11: 24. It shows us what lengths He has gone to meet us where we were, and now we can be gathered in a right way for the Lord’s supper. The Corinthians were not gathering in a right way for the Lord’s supper. We know only too well in our own hearts that is very possible; but, as gathered together in a right way for the Lord’s supper, He says, Come with Me. You have been faithful in these days, you have attended to the responsibilities, now there is something fresh, something living, something special for our hearts that He would bring us into.

I know in my own mind, how wandering it is, but the Lord is ever ready to bring us into some of these great thoughts of His purpose from before the world’s foundation. They are undamaged through the length of time, and retain all their sweetness and blessedness. I think that is what Caleb got a touch of in that journey when the ark went before. He was able then to stand in the testimony. I do not think we make enough room for the things the Lord would show us on that three days’ journey. I do not think we make enough room for what He may leave when He comes in. Is my heart open to receive the ministrations of His love as He would bring us

into the things which He has prepared. That is what He was doing in John’s gospel; He says, “I go to prepare you a place”, John 14: 2. Do you know anything about it? Mr Darby says,

‘My soul in secret follows

The footsteps of His love;

I trace the Man of sorrows,

His boundless grace to prove’.

Think of the footsteps of His love, not only those weary movements only through Palestine, but these movements to His Father’s house where He says, “I go to prepare you a place”.

Would that we sought more to explore it, dear brethren, the door is opened. It says about the Lord so beautifully that He has gone “into heaven itself, now to appear before the face of God for us”, Hebrews 9: 24. We often sing, ‘Yon heaven is our home’ (Hymn 7). Well, these are the things in that three days’ journey, the ark went before, typifying the counsels of God and the thoughts of His love. Moses must have been affected by it when the ark set forward. He said, “Rise up, Jehovah, and let thine enemies be scattered”.

Nothing can intrude, when the Lord moves everything has to give way. Think of Him in the garden as they come to take Him, the enemies fell to the ground. “Rise up, Jehovah, and let thine enemies be scattered; And let them that hate thee flee before thy face”. That is the way He went, “And when it rested, he said, Return, Jehovah, unto the myriads of the thousands of Israel”. Oh what a resting-place in the wilderness amidst all the exercises of the path. Had they appreciated this they would have been in Canaan very soon. It would not have taken them another thirty-eight years. We have to note that in our own histories, and feel how many things have hindered us and kept us back.

He went there to find a resting-place, not yet in Canaan, but they would have known something about it if their hearts had been opened. Caleb’s heart was opened; he was still speaking about it forty years after this. That shows how real it was to him, he says, as my strength was then, even so it my strength now”, Joshua 14: 11. He was enjoying it day by day. The Spirit has come and, through vessels, has told us something of the blessedness of the Father’s house. One dear brother wrote,

In that bright home of love divine,

The Father’s house on high,

There the full rays of glory shine

In Him who stooped to die’. (Hymn 144)

Fine to know something of Christ in His own environment. Largely, the Jesus that is known today is historical. Who of us can speak of Jesus in His own domain?

That is what this journey shows, in type, Christ in His own glory. You get a touch of it on the holy mount, that same One who was called Jesus of Nazareth, there He is, the glorious Son of God, His face shining, His garments white. What a glory they were brought into. Peter says about it, “such a voice being uttered to him by the excellent glory—This is my beloved Son”, 2 Peter 1: 17. It would be an exercise of every godly saint to know more of the Father’s appreciation of Christ. Caleb had something of that in his soul which sustained him.

Everyone else in that generation, apart from Caleb and Joshua died, what a solemn position, but they were maintained in the joy of the purpose of God. In Exodus 15 God says, I will bring them in. Here the same God that brought us out in His mighty power, shows the same power exercised towards us to bring us in.

In Joshua, I should have read verse 3 of chapter 1, “Every place whereon the sole of your foot shall tread have I given to you”; as much as you want, put your foot on it and make it your own. That is what He is saying, every place whereon the sole of your foot treads, not only what you have in your mind. You may be full of good intentions, but where the sole of your foot goes, that is your own possession. You can see how Paul firmly put his foot down, how firmly he trod that path; what things were gain to him, he counted loss on account of the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus his Lord. He was claiming it. There is enough for everybody to claim. Well, dear brethren, how little we put our feet on. Caleb had put his feet firmly on it, and those fruits that he brought back, he was enjoying them the whole of the journey.

But here we have the ark again and God is speaking to them. This is God bringing them in. In Egypt He brought them out but here they are going in, the door is open and nothing can keep them out from the enjoyment of the land. It says, “When ye see the ark of the covenant of Jehovah your God ... then remove from your place, and go after it”. You may say it has been a fine word; how many times we have said that about the meetings, but have you moved?

Dear brethren, there is no prosperity without taking stock of our position. After thirty-eight years in the wilderness, the people were in the same position as before. God rebuked them for that and that generation died. Joshua says, “remove from your place”. It does not say it was an unrighteous place, but it was not the place that God had prepared for them. Men speak about realising their potential. There is a need for that, dear brethren, by the Spirit, to realise your potential, the liberty of sonship. “Remove from your place, and go after it”, no longer speaking historically, go after it. He was leading over the Jordan.

They went through the Red sea; the experience of death was very real there, His death for them. Christ died for our sins; He gave Himself to meet our liabilities. Christ died for our sins, but here in the Jordan they are passing over, with their eye on the ark. This way He has gone we are to follow. When ye remove from your place, go after it; go after it worshipfully.

It says there will be a distance, we could never compass the love, shown in the movements of Jesus, the way that He went. We often quote that verse on Lord’s day morning, “What ailed thee, thou sea, that thou fleddest? thou Jordan, that thou turnedst back?”, Psalm 114: 5. There was the enemy fleeing. When the feet of the priests who bore the ark touched the Jordan the waters had to turn back.

‘Death had on Thee no claim,

Thou sinless One!’ (Hymn 152)

He who had the power and might of death exercised it on our behalf, He vicariously bore all the penalty that was due to us, He bore it all. He went Himself through death. He was in the heart of the earth three days and three nights; that is the length to which the Saviour went.

These things are on our minds as we go over. He went that way, but He alone was raised, glorious triumphant rising. We see Him here in all His vitality holding it back, opening the door that we may remove from our place, and go after Him into those heavenly courts that are opened up.

It says, “ye have not passed this way heretofore”. It was a new experience to come into the blessedness of that dwelling-place. So it says, they stood firm on dry ground. The Lord Jesus says, he that believes on Me will not even taste death; the sky not the grave is our goal. All Israel went over on dry ground, until all the nation had completely gone over the Jordan. Two and a half tribes did not completely go over. I remember reading Mr Coates where he says that they were prepared to fight for it, but they were not prepared to live in it (see ‘An Outline of the Book of Deuteronomy’ p.268)—solemn word. It is a test to live in it, but also a privilege to live in it, and He has made the way to completely go over. As I said, those two and a half tribes fought for it, but they went back and what was the result? They built a memorial—they did not know much about the living movements of Christ, and their place in the Father’s house. They had a memorial, they could speak of times past, they could speak about what God had done in the forgiveness of their sins, but they were like those I spoke about earlier, they settled in their own sphere of things; they had no shortage of money, they had plenty of food, plenty of possessions, nice family life, but it was not the Father’s house.

They built a memorial but that did not save their children. It is an interesting thing, there were six cities of refuge for the whole of Israel, and three of them (that is half of them) were for the two and a half tribes. It shows the danger of living short of the purpose of God.

The cities of refuge were not for sins, they were for accidents, for things that might arise; there is more chance of them arising on the wrong side of Jordan. There were only three in that land over Jordan, all in the hill country. When we live in the things down here, there is more danger of damage, more danger of things happening unexpectedly, than if we are living in the height of His purpose. When the children of Israel were not journeying what were they doing? They were complaining, they were murmuring, raising all kinds of anxieties, when what He has prepared is the Father’s house.

May we be helped to journey forward, to follow all these movements of His love. In John 20 the Lord says to those people who had moved, and would shut the door—“I ascend to my Father and your Father”, John 20: 17. Did they not follow Him? You can see in the ministries of Peter and John and the other apostles that they followed Him. “I ascend to my Father and your Father”, there are the ascending movements. What a company we are brought into, an area of relationships of love. I do not think the two and a half tribes knew much about that, save the words of it; the experience of it was for those who followed the ark completely.

I love to think of those three women at the cross, one of them got the message. It is very interesting to follow the histories of some people. One of the most interesting histories is the history of Mary of Magdala out of whom seven demons were cast. Into that same heart where the demons were cast out, there was that message given, “I ascend to my Father and your Father”. Oh what love, what grace, what an incentive to move from our place to follow in secret the footsteps of His love.

May we be encouraged, dear brethren, to move from our place. There are all sorts of things happening today to make the place here comfortable for the flesh, but may we be encouraged to follow those holy movements, to come into the enjoyment of His purposes, that we may be in the joy of living in His love, for His name’s sake.

Address at Brechin
19 April 2008