THE INHERITANCE
[p. 287] THE INHERITANCE
Joshua 18: 7; Joshua 13: 14, 33; Joshua 14: 3 - 5
In reading these scriptures I have in mind to show that the inheritance which God gives to His people culminates in Himself; His great end being that He may be all in all. In detailing what He has for His people under the heading of ‘Inheritance’. He has in mind the normal expectation of men, and that in accepting the gospel there is something tangible — something that the human heart can regard as its own. God takes account of this, and comes down to the lowest level of such desires on the part of those who believe.
When Peter made inquiries from the Lord Jesus as to what place he and his fellow disciples should have — they having left all — the Lord specified what they should have, but left out the greatest thought: that is, that they should have God. He left that out designedly, for it would not have added anything to the value of the inheritance in the minds of Peter and his fellow disciples at that time. He said, “There is no one who has left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my sake and for the sake of the gospel, that shall not receive a hundredfold now in this time [that is, it would be immediate, having also with it persecutions] ... and in the coming age life eternal”, Mark 10: 29, 30. And so it is that, in commissioning Paul, the Lord said that the believer should receive an inheritance among the sanctified — that is an immediate thing; not something in the distance, but an immediate inheritance. Indeed, such is needed for the deliverance of the soul from its position and status in this world, all of which stand in the way of the believer; and divine consideration leaves nothing out in providing what is calculated in any degree to aid the believer in his deliverance from, and his exit out of, the world. For deliverance out of the [p. 288] world is contemplated, not as a mere theoretic thing, but that each one should emerge in a satisfied way, understanding that he has recompense.
Paul again, in writing to the Corinthians, brings forward this side that there are things which “eye has not seen, and ear not heard, and which have not come into man’s heart, which God has prepared for them that love him”, and that they are “revealed to us by his Spirit”, 1 Corinthians 2: 9, 10. The Holy Spirit has revealed them, who, as it is further said, searches “the depths of God”. Thus, dear brethren, you can see how God comes down, as we believe, to our level, however low it may be, and graciously and tenderly furnishes us with every item — every legitimate thing that may be useful in our deliverance and in our maintenance and preservation in running the race that is set before us. Later in the christian experience, God becomes entirely regarded as an inheritance; and, when I say ‘later’, I do not mean necessarily a great number of years, for in the progress of souls, some are much more rapid than others. Indeed, God looks for quick results; I do not think He has any pleasure in the slothfulness of some of us; not that He does not appreciate any little bit of movement in our souls, but He indicates that, if room is made for Him, He can bring about quick results in us.
We have, for instance, in the Thessalonians, remarkable results after a few weeks, and so in many other instances that one might furnish. God looks for quick results, and, where they are found, He does not fail to notice them and to approve and reward by a sense of His pleasure in those who are moving on rapidly, but steadily. When I say rapidly, beloved brethren, I would speak especially to the young; God looks for regular, steady proportionate movement, not only in intelligence but in affection and in the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ. He looks for perfection, which implies that all the senses spiritually are developed.
Well now, to further illustrate what I am speaking [p. 289] of as to the slothfulness of the saints in coming to the great end that God has in mind, namely, that He is to be all in all, I would refer to Abraham, the great father of believers. As Jehovah said to him, “I am thy shield, thy exceeding great reward” (Genesis 15: 1), immediately Abraham says, “Lord Jehovah, what wilt thou give me?” And God got down to his side at once. He will never fail to respond to any legitimate claim on our side, whatever it be, and we ought to take notice of this, especially young christians. Indeed, God would not shrink to take the ground of obligation towards us; He loves to be tested in that way, and, as I said, comes down to the lowest level of faith — not lower than that. And so He takes Abraham out and asks him to look at the stars. I suppose no astronomer ever got such a view as Abraham did; God was beside him, not to occupy him with the great orbs and their distance from one another — they are there just provisionally for us, and when the need is over they will be disposed of, and astronomy will cease to be of any use. But He says, “number the stars, if thou be able to number them”. It is God graciously getting down alongside the man of faith, and He says virtually, ‘If I am not enough for you, then I will give you something that you will value, some legitimate thing’: and the legitimate thing was a great posterity, plenty of it. God never stints us in things that are legitimate, although guarding us from what might damage us; but He gave promise to Abraham of plenty of what he saw — He said, “So shall thy seed be!”
Having said all that so that you might see clearly what I have in mind, I come to the book of Joshua, which is the great inheritance book for faith; and I have in mind to show that the Levites are just all the saints, only viewed as refined; quality taking the place of quantity — that is the idea. That is to say, Judah is Levi; Reuben is Levi — and so all the tribes, as in Deuteronomy 33; Benjamin, Joseph, Zebulun, Issachar,
[p. 290] Gad, Dan, Naphtali and Asher — they are all Levi. In other words, God has in His mind that a refining process is to proceed, and it is to the end that He will be all to us. The Lord Jesus, having brought about subjection, delivers up the kingdom to Him who is God and Father, so that God may be all in all (1 Corinthians 15: 28). He Himself, beloved — wonderful to say — takes the place of subjection, the Lord Jesus, the Son indeed, that God may be all in all. And God is never diverted from that, never for one moment is He diverted: in all His activities amongst us from Pentecost till now, that is what He is working for. As I said, He comes down to the weakest of us, the shallowest, and assures us that He has plenty for us, that no legitimate desire will be left ungratified, but all the time He is adopting His own way by the Spirit that, after all, He Himself should be the supreme inheritance of the soul.
To refer to the book of Joshua, I may say — as no doubt many of you know — that the inheritances given to the tribes, with the exception of Levi, are what I might call territorial. I use that word so as to help you to follow what I have in mind, and you will see, I think, before I have done, that the more you come to the knowledge of God the less territorial you are — the less geographical you are. I find it extremely difficult to get rid of geography; in one sense, we should not; in another sense, we should. I have used the word ‘territorial’ — the Spirit of God indicates it — so that the brethren can follow intelligently. The territorial inheritance comes under three heads: first, what Moses gave — which every true believer has — [p. 291] to the two and a half tribes. This typically is what comes under the authority of Christ, it alludes to the kingdom, and involves His lordship.
Persons who are a bit refractory and who prefer to retain certain things in this world, status and the like, God may get down alongside them and accede to their wish; but, in acceding to the wish of such, as Moses did to the two and a half tribes, Moses maintained that the unity must never be broken, forty thousand of them must go over — and they did go over, so that the twelve tribes were represented in an unbroken way in the twelve stones at Gilgal. Yet, sorrowful to say, these forty thousand, having been subject to Joshua, returned to their own territory; territorial inheritance was everything to them, neither Jehovah nor His house were first with them, nor were they governed by love of the inheritance amongst the brethren, in its true spiritual significance — yet God gave them an inheritance.
Then, the second is what Joshua and Eleazar gave at Gilgal; the great territorial inheritance of Judah and Joseph comes under that head, meaning, I apprehend, that believers who are deeper in their apprehension of divine things go over Jordan, not to return. There are believers like that, whose living associations are to be where God is, where God’s house is, and they know something about Jordan. Would that the Lord might help us to a little better knowledge of Jordan! — in itself the most remarkable of rivers; but think of what it is spiritually! What it is to have a place with Christ in the bottom of it and to come up thence and to have a place at Gilgal with the brethren; it is there the reproach of Egypt is rolled away, and one is clear of every stigma, so that he can lift up his head in that world where God is, as belonging to it; as in a sense indigenous to it, as Christ is, for “as the heavenly one, such also the heavenly ones”, 1 Corinthians 15: 48. What a wonderful thought, beloved! How can any christian think of going over there and returning? It is the divine sphere, the sphere that divine love has prepared for us.
So Judah and Joseph — the half tribe of Manasseh with Ephraim — obtain their inheritance from Joshua and Eleazar at Gilgal. You can understand, dear brethren, without my saying much more as to that, what preparations, what adjustment marked these tribes, and [p. 292] what comes out in both of these tribes is an appreciation of the inheritance — they valued it. We have in Caleb that element of faith and intelligence that would have what was promised, nothing less; however great the difficulties in making it good, he would have it, and he obtained it; and his daughter comes in as a beautiful model for young sisters, who would have, not only the south land, most pleasing as was the aspect, but she must have springs of water — and she has the upper springs and the nether springs. And then, in the case of the daughters of Zelophehad, they had a similar claim, as it were, a claim that God respects with the utmost pleasure. “The daughters of Zelophehad”, He said, “speak right”: it was pleasing to God that they wanted an inheritance among their brethren. Well, that is how the matter stands.
Then the remaining seven tribes get their inheritance from Joshua and Eleazar at Shiloh, that is, in the house of God. I mention these general facts so that you can see, dear brethren, how the matter stands. A territorial inheritance, that is, that which you wish, that which you claim, that which you see is for you and which God gives to you with pleasure, comes under these three heads; it is for us to see under which head we range. I myself prefer to be amongst those who get their inheritance at Gilgal.
Having said that, I want to come back to what I said as to Levi. You have in him the idea of spiritual refinement: quantity given up — surrendered, as I may say — for quality. Not that God will not have numbers; I believe that the numbers of the blest are a matter of counsel. There is nothing haphazard with God, beloved; in God’s counsels everything is perfected, and I believe, if there are to be many brethren, amongst whom the Lord Jesus is to be the Firstborn, there will be no more and no less than divine counsels purposed. But there will be many — and, when God speaks of many, there will be many — and they will be entirely according [p. 293] to the requirements of God, they will be all conformed to the image of His Son, they will be all after His quality too, I am making full allowance for His deity, which is ever to be guarded, but, viewing Him as Man, the sons will be all like Him, and He will be the Firstborn amongst them; there will not be a shade of disparity between the glorious Firstborn of God and His brethren — the Son and the many sons.
Well now, I want to show you that Levi represents this side. Whilst God’s counsels cannot fail, yet the work of God will proceed. Ministry is very largely to show how it proceeds, so that what hinders might be removed, and that the Holy Spirit might be ungrieved and unhampered in His service towards us. In the well-known passage in Hebrews 12, we are said to have come to many things, amongst them “the assembly of the firstborn ... registered in heaven”. I have selected that one item of the list in that remarkable passage because I think, beloved brethren, it fits in at the end of the days. It is next to God Himself, as you will notice, in the passage, and alludes to the very best in heaven. You say, I would like to examine all this and see these people. Beloved brethren, what God is seeking to do today is to show that we all belong to these people, every one of us, as having faith, young and old; and the more we see it the less we shall be occupied with numbers in themselves — not that every soul is not delightful to God, however many there may be — but we are occupied with refinement, and with what is great in God’s account, what is entirely according to His mind, that is, persons, every one of them a firstborn. You could never get that in an ordinary family, it is reserved for the family of God. There will be others, for every family in heaven and earth is to be named of the Father, but the first one, as mentioned in Hebrews 12 — which comes next to God Himself — is the assembly of the firstborn ones enregistered in heaven — we have come to that. We are not to think [p. 294] we are far away. Indeed, I do not think we should think we are far away from any of the items in that wonderful list of things we have come to.
I have been speaking of Levi, and it is to Levi that allusion is made, in this assembly of firstborn ones, and one would challenge oneself. What do I know of those people? Who are they? Whence are they? How have they been formed? Ah, that is the secret of this wonderful dispensation, and it ought to thrill our hearts. We shall see in that coming day the great handiwork of God as He brings out His best — this assembly of firstborn ones “registered in heaven”. Presently we shall enter that realm literally, the Lord Jesus is about to come, as the Scripture says: “the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord”, 1 Thessalonians 4: 16, 17. All will be entirely according to the mind of God, every one a firstborn, every one able to lift up his head in the dignity of a firstborn.
Well now, dear brethren, I want to just show briefly, from the four passages in Joshua, what attaches to the movements of the Levites, that is, ourselves, viewed as having the priesthood. The first shows that the inheritance is the priesthood, and the question arises, who will take it up? You will notice that Levi, in the book of Joshua, is almost synonymous with priesthood, indeed, the only service of the Levites, I might say, in the book of Joshua, is in connection with carrying the ark; and what a glorious position to be found in; carrying the ark in the presence of the power of evil closing in around us on every hand! In Joshua the ark is the power of God; what else will stand by us, beloved brethren? We read in chapter 8 that as they bore the ark, all Israel and their elders and their judges were on [p. 295] this side and on that side of the ark. May the Lord bring us to that position, delivering us from all partisan feeling to take up our position on this side and on that side of the ark. What can overwhelm us? What can harm us? The ark in our midst is the power of God; we are all, as it were, around it — what can touch us? But the priests the levites are bearing the ark; not only are we round about it, but we are supporting it, as it were — that is the position.
Well now, the priesthood is the first thing I had in mind as to inheritance. It is an inheritance for every brother and sister here and everywhere. Mark you, it is an inheritance — it contemplates present and millennial conditions. Priesthood is a mediatorial thought; when there is no evil to contend with, no corruption, priesthood will be no longer in view; but for the moment it is an inheritance, and it is to be valued. The saints are viewed as having this great function as over against a territorial inheritance. Do we all take it up, beloved? God is urging it. He is urging that the service should continue whatever the external conditions, and it can only continue as Levi accepts his inheritance, that is, the priesthood: it belongs to every christian.
Then the next I would mention are the sacrifices of Jehovah made by fire. We do not feed on priesthood, but we do feed on the sacrifices, and what a great thing it is, dear brethren, to feed on the food that God feeds on — that is the idea — and we thus become accustomed to God, and thus our constitutions are built up after God, and we find ourselves at home with Him, and strong in His inheritance; for we are living on the sacrifices of God made by fire, that is, the sacrifices ascending to God in all the savour of Christ. It is the side of the inheritance that furnishes food. If we are to function as priests, we must partake of priestly food, and priestly food is that on which, speaking reverently, the blessed God feeds. It is a question of Christ, of the [p. 296] offerings made by fire, and what goes up in sweet savour to God from the altar.
Finally, in the end of the thirteenth chapter, we have the statement that the Lord God of Israel is the inheritance of Levi. Now that is the great end, dear brethren, that I have in mind. In addition to this, in the next chapter, He gave them cities, it says, to dwell in. Whilst we have no territorial inheritance, there are dwelling-places: some of us can happily speak of these dwelling-places; they are for the moment provisional, but they are very happy dwelling-places; as we move about, beloved brethren, we find cities to dwell in. The more we apprehend our heavenly calling, the more will our houses be, as it were, dwelling-places for the levites, and the more will the local companies, our gatherings, be happy spiritual dwelling-places for the saints — cities to dwell in, provisional indeed, but heaven brought down; the levites represent what is heavenly. They had cities to dwell in, cities suitable to God. The cattle were outside, as it reads, “suburbs for their cattle and for their substance”. The two and a half tribes on the other side of the Jordan thought more of their cattle than themselves; not so the levites of God, their cattle have no part here. God provides for the cattle and the substance: the dwelling-places of the levites, the cities, are spiritual realms, places where heaven is brought down; so that as there, we become accustomed, dear brethren, to heaven, and when we get there we are not away from home. One longs for the experience of the place designed in eternal counsels, where one shall be quite at home, no stranger; and I believe all this is brought about as we understand that the “cities to dwell in” are just provisional, but no less in principle than what we are coming into, for the blessed Spirit of God here is the earnest of all that is above — our inheritance. Then what is above? Let us learn to dismiss material thoughts and to be spiritual. The thought of heaven requires the greatest attention by [p. 297] the brethren, for I am persuaded — and I know it in my own mind and heart — that we are extremely material. And so the understanding of the assembly in its present provisional constitution is to qualify us for a realm that is entirely spiritual, where God is all and in all.
In the thirty-third verse of Joshua 13 it says, “Jehovah the God of Israel is their inheritance”. Have we come to that, dear brethren, in the assembly? When the tabernacle was set up, and anointed, the glory filled it and the cloud covered it. What was that glory? Who could define it? No one, it is beyond us. It is God saying to us, I want all this place for Myself. Not that He shuts the saints out — it is that God may be all and in all. There is nothing to intrude, and God would say, I want the whole sphere, and He fills it; the glory filled the tabernacle, and the temple too; for as the temple was finished the ark was brought in, and the priests sounded with the trumpets to make one sound, and the glory filled the temple, and the priests could not enter. You say, Why could not the priests enter? It is just this, dear brethren, as I understand it, that the official side is unnecessary where God fills all. If God fills us completely there is nothing official needed; God is all and He fills all — that is the great thought. So that it says, “that ye may be filled even to all the fulness of God”, Ephesians 3: 19. Marvellous thought! There is no need for authority to be brought forward there (not that it is not there), and there is no need for the official priesthood. God is there; He is there as the supreme object of the heart and mind, and He fills all — God is all: as it says, “that God may be all in all”.
That is what I had in mind, dear brethren, that the Lord might help us forward as regards the service of God “in assembly”, that we might see the end in view and be less occupied with what we are given and more occupied with the Giver — with God: “For of him, and through him, and for him are all things: to him be glory for ever. Amen”.