GUIDANCE OUTWARD AND INWARD
[p. 145] GUIDANCE OUTWARD AND INWARD
Numbers 9:15 - 23; Psalm 73:13 - 20
I have before me to speak about guidance, present guidance for the saints in its two features, inward, and outward. I speak first of the outward and so have read from Numbers; this being a wilderness book is thus marked by the means of guidance for the saints in the antitypical sense, and applying from the outset of the dispensation. Hence it refers not only to the early chapter of the Acts, but to Paul’s ministry. That is to say, it is pure guidance for the saints according to God, not including judaism, but ignoring it as having dropped to the level of the world. Guidance was needed as to it, to get out of it, and so now that christendom has become like judaism, like paganism too, but particularly like judaism, we need guidance to get out of it morally. We were in it, but if we are out of it, we need to keep out of it.
Numbers contemplates this dispensation and gives us guidance in a typical sense. The name of the book primarily was ‘In the Wilderness’, which is in a sense the right name, for in truth we are in the wilderness where there is no way according to God. Of course there are highways of the world, on the seas and on the land, on which we are dependent in our journeyings; on which Paul was dependent too. Undoubtedly he valued the great Roman highways which we know something of now, and he took these ways in his journeys. No one knew better the meaning of journeys than he. He says: “I, from Jerusalem, and in a circuit round to Illyricum, have fully preached the glad tidings of Christ”; Romans 15:19; it involved considerable travel. Indeed he takes pains to tell us some of his journeys, to depict them. We are now in a time of travel and we value of course the mercies of God in the highways, and the vessels that are available [p. 146] in which to travel, but the book of Numbers does not help on these lines at all. It is a question of guidance that comes out of heaven; that is really what is in mind in the book of Numbers; and the personnel charged with doing the work are heavenly persons, with heavenly ways; they know, too, something of divine Persons. God has greatly helped us, and is ready to help us more as to the divine Persons, so that we might know how to name Them, and to use Their names in relation to divine service, and to be governed by the Persons governing that service.
The Kohathites are particularly in mind, for the charge of the truth relative to the divine Persons was upon them; this is set forth in the things they were to carry. They are mentioned in the family of Levi according to their birth, and then they are mentioned according to sovereignty in Numbers 4, so that God is taking care of His own rights and the honour that is due to Him in His services, and we have to look into this matter, particularly in Numbers.
The Merarites, too, are especially to be thought of, because it is still a question of persons. The Kohathites of course had to do with things as well as persons, and so, too, all the Levites, but the Merarites are concerned specially about the persons of the brethren, persons whose names are cherished above. Luke informs us as to what is above, and I believe bears greatly on the book of Numbers because it relates to persons. The Lord, after having sent out twelve persons, sent out seventy persons. In regard to these seventy the names are not given, but what is stated by the Lord is that their names are written in heaven. The collection of names is therefore important in the history of those seventy persons; they come into the book of Numbers; the twelve, too, of course. Luke referring to the seventy tells us that the Lord spoke to them about the son of peace, chapter 10: 6, because the time had about come for peace in heaven, chapter 19.
[p. 147] In the beginning of Luke it was peace on earth, but the time had come for peace in heaven, and so the Lord in Luke is seen as going up to heaven. In Luke 9:51, we read that “the days of his receiving up were fulfilled”. The days of His receiving up are the most important days, because they allude to the heavenly side coming into view; they are in view of christianity, in view typically in the book of Numbers. The heavenly side came into view, and following this the Lord said to the seventy in Luke 10:20, “rejoice not, that the spirits are subjected to you”; that was important, of course, but we are apt to attach more importance to the subjection of the demons in our ministry than to the importance of heaven. So that heaven comes into the midst of Luke, on the mount of transfiguration in chapter 9; and chapter 10 tells us that the names of the seventy were registered in heaven, and they were to rejoice in this. They were to be heavenly missionaries, full of buoyancy, discerning the joy that is up there in their ministry, that their ministry becomes the occasion of it; “joy in heaven for one repenting sinner”. Luke 15:7.
I have been diverted in a way to speak about Luke and the seventy. I am speaking about Numbers and guidance in Numbers, but I must speak about the missionaries those who go out and journey, and those who meet the devil, who have power over him and overcome him, and then that they should be buoyant and rejoice more in the fact that their place is in heaven, that they are known in heaven. As soon as I come into the light of the fact that I am known in heaven I think less and less of what the brethren think of me. Not that I do not value their appreciation, but it is a question of one’s own value of himself, if he can trust it, and, if he has found he can trust it, he knows what to think of the ofttimes too much praise that is offered to those who minister. We have to value each other, and each is to value himself. The book of Leviticus tells us how to do that, how heaven does it [p. 148] too. It is important to have a right valuation each of himself, to have a measure of faith, as it is said; to apply the right measure in valuing oneself. Hence to know just how much appraisement of the brethren is to be regarded, so as to be balanced. I believe that Leviticus affords that balance, but Numbers affords the way of guidance, general guidance, outward and inward, the means of outward guidance, and the means of inward guidance.
The tabernacle is intended for that. Light comes out of the tabernacle; from that I exclude judaism, and all that is like it, from the light that is afforded in Numbers. Thus I would speak a little of the tabernacle according to chapter 9. One was struck with the great reference to the cloud, and then, of course, second to that, the tabernacle, the tabernacle of testimony as it is called, and how the presence of God is expressed in it. So the tabernacle and its movements, but the movements of the cloud particularly, have a great place in the passage read. In view of accuracy and real practicalness I would say that what the tabernacle represents is seen in the early chapters of the Acts, but only partially. It is a question of what comes about among the brethren; what did come about in the days of the apostles; how that the light that shone became named, and the persons representing the things became named; and so gradually we have the idea of public guidance, things we can see publicly as guides. So in Acts 2 we get the great service of Peter. In Matthew the Spirit of God assigns him the first place, and we are to follow the light and guidance, and to see what was named, and what forms began to acquire currency amongst the saints, what ways of doing things, what terms in teaching, so that we can name what has been done. The book of Numbers will become more intelligible to us as we look into it from this point of view, and we can gauge what we are going on with now.
What took place in Acts 2 was that saints took on names, and particularly the apostles. The three thousand [p. 149] converts began to feel things and to act on their feelings, so that they spoke to Peter and the others calling them “Men and brethren” and saying, “What shall we do”? They did not go to the high priest in Jerusalem, nor did they go to the temple, they instinctively turned to the apostles, and the apostles are said to have teaching, to have doctrine, and to have fellowship; and also they had the breaking of bread, and they had prayer; so that we gradually see, by analysing what we have in the early chapters of Acts, how christianity took form publicly, and we can discern by comparison whether the forms then agree with the forms now, or whether we are adding something, or whether we are subtracting something, for perhaps the subtractions or additions may imply misguidance, so that we are losing our way to some extent. We all know how the two going to Emmaus lost their way, but it was not serious as it turned out. The Lord is gracious too. Where should we have been during the past fifty, or seventy-five, or one hundred years had not the Lord stood by. Things have happened that should never have happened amongst us, but the Lord stood by and saved us from very real difficulty. I am alluding to what many of us here know, but am not naming it. I am thinking of the importance of adhering to apostolic authority. They persevered in the teaching and fellowship of the apostles and were saved in a right way. The last paragraph of Acts 2 indicates what I am saying. What a beautiful picture it presents. It is heaven come down, but heaven come down in public ways, not in what was held exactly, but in public ways; in what the brethren did. The word in Acts 1:1 is “which Jesus began both to do and to teach”. In Acts 2 it is what the apostles began both to do and to teach, the doing was the testimony, the teaching, of course, supported it, but the doing was the point, and it reflected what was in heaven, the beauty of heaven was shining out in Jerusalem, although the temple was retained in a certain respect, yet it was gradually “disappearing” as Paul says later. The greater thing came to light; that is to say, what was patterned in heaven came to light, and there was guidance in that for anyone who wished to come into the fellowship.
Now I am very briefly going over what I had in mind, hoping that the brethren are following. Perhaps some here have never entered inside the door, most have I am sure, but I am endeavouring to make clear to all, including myself, that Numbers contemplates what is in heaven for the guidance of the people of God in the wilderness; so that the name of the book at the beginning was quite right; that is, In the wilderness, as we often sing: —
‘In the desert God will teach thee
What the God that thou hast found —
Patient, gracious, powerful, holy:
All His grace shall there abound’. (76:6)It is what abounds in the wilderness. So as the first resting place is mentioned in the scripture read our attention is called to the “tabernacle of the tent of testimony”, Numbers 9:15, but especially it brings to our attention the cloud which is mentioned a remarkable number of times in the passage. It was there even before they crossed the Red Sea, but after they crossed the Red Sea Numbers takes the matter up and therefore it is a guide for all of us, especially as to fellowship, because Numbers teaches us how to walk.
Jehovah said in Hosea, I “taught Ephraim to walk”. Hosea 11:3. Young people need to be taught to walk and to please God, and that is one point in my mind, dear brethren — Numbers is intended to teach us how to walk. Nothing could be more interesting for study than the book of Numbers from this standpoint, and what we are dealing with as we begin the journey is what comes out of heaven. All else is given up, and repudiated, and hence christendom as it stands publicly is repudiated. We have to learn to repudiate things, to be very severe in our judgment,
[p. 151] keeping in our minds that we are dealing with what is from heaven. The Lord Jesus has gone into heaven, angels and authorities and powers being made subject to Him. He has been received up there again, received up in glory. Luke would impress upon us, that He made haste to go to heaven, meaning not exactly that He wanted to be there for enjoyment, but to set out what was in the mind of God for the people of God down here, to set out the great matter that was to be unfolded in the doctrine of the apostles, and their ways; the doctrine developed amongst them, the breaking of bread and prayers, and out of these two thoughts what have we not to rejoice in, in our own time? But then the twelve set out what was in the mind of God. The Lord had gone up into heaven.
Luke emphasises the matter of going up into heaven. He begins in chapter 2 by telling us that an angel came down from heaven to the shepherds and presently there was “a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good pleasure in men”. Luke 2:13,14. That is what they were saying, and it was to furnish light for the moment, and the earth was in mind for great things, and it is yet in mind for great things. God has not given it up, His thought is that His will is to be done on earth as it is in heaven. So the angels were engaged with earth in their sayings, and a “multitude” too. We are not told how many, but a multitude, and they were saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good pleasure in men”; Luke 2:14; not in man but in men, it is the plural idea, the whole race of man is in mind. Christ had become Man, and it was a celebration of the incarnation, the most wonderful thing, the incarnation of the second Person of the Godhead; He had become Man, and the angels were occupied with it, and it was in their minds. It involved great things for men, however few or many, there was a great future for men, and so [p. 152] Luke 2 has that in mind. But the angels departed, as much as to say, that part is settled, heaven has announced its mind as to man, and presently we have the Lord Jesus, who had become a Babe, and would become a Boy, a holy Boy, substantially holy. He became a Man presently, and so was baptised. We are told He was about thirty years of age; the allusion is to full manhood; it is levitical.
Then the wonderful service, as chapter 4 records what happened at Nazareth, that He was anointed; “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me”; Luke 4:18; gracious words were coming out of the mouth of Jesus. Then He is led in the wilderness, not into it, but in it. That is what Numbers contemplates, not that He was led into it, but He was in it. He was led in it, and we are in it, and the point now is as to whether we are being led. He was led in it — terrible thought — to be tempted of the devil. Then came, as I said, the preaching in Nazareth. What a picture of the gospel! The Lord Jesus here full of all that was in heaven for men, good pleasure in men. God could speak of that already, because Christ had become a Man, what pleasure there was in that blessed Man as heaven looked down. It was the complete heavenly ideal in manhood, and so the service went on. Chapter 4 gives the preaching at Nazareth, and how immediately they would have led Him to the brow of the hill on which their city was built and cast Him down headlong. What can be done now with earth if that is the attitude of earth? It is, let us not forget it. As led in the wilderness when we break bread, whether it be in a large city, or a small one, or a village, it is a city of the world; it is the city of hostility to Christ; a city of this world representatively, whether it be a village, or a town, or a city, with the hatred that was there in Nazareth which expressed itself in their leading the Lord Jesus to the brow of the bill on which the city was built to cast Him down headlong.
[p. 153] We have to think of this in the meetings God is affording us, when we come to the first day of the week. The devil would blot out the days of the week, confuse our minds in regard to them, as in Russia, for instance, although there may be some little change there now. God helps His people to carry out the mind of heaven, and to carry out the mind of heaven we break bread. We say in the words of the sons of Korah as in the second book of Psalms, where they are cast out of their land, even as Jesus has been cast out; “I remember thee from the land of the Jordan” and beyond it, Psalm 42:6. Whatever city it be in which we break bread, its character is spiritually Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified; Revelation 11:8. Let us not forget that. It is intended to come into our hearts as we break bread, that our Lord was crucified in Jerusalem, or whatever city we may name, the spirit of crucifixion and of murder against Christ is there. I would not say anything to distress the saints, but whether it be London or Washington, or Paris, or the smallest village, it is the same; there is that murderous opposition to Christ, however it may work out. It is for us to bear it in mind in the wilderness where we break bread, for it is in the wilderness we break bread if we are guided aright. We used to say we broke bread in the land, but the truth is, that we break bread in the wilderness, and Numbers contemplates the conditions in which we break bread externally. Think of what the breaking of bread means in the midst of all this.
I have been speaking of the tabernacle of testimony; there it is in the cities of the world; in the wilderness. There is a little room, and a brother comes in in love, and lays the table, as we say; places the cloth on it, thinking of the Lord’s words, and the disciples’ thoughts where they were to prepare for the Lord to eat the passover. The Lord never ate of His own supper, the Supper is for us to eat, but He did eat the passover, and that is what is in mind when the idea of supping is [p. 154] spoken of in regard of the cup, “after having supped”. Luke 22:20, it is the passover, not His own supper. He desired that the brethren should sup, and if there is anyone here who is not taking the Lord’s supper, not drinking the cup of the Lord, then I would say it is for you to think of it. “Drink ye all of it”, Matthew 26:27, the Lord says.
I am speaking of the tabernacle of witness in the wilderness. Here is a little room in a large, or small town. I am describing the conditions in which the Lord’s supper is celebrated. It is to be on the Lord’s day, a day having another name which is endeared in our hearts, referring to the day in which He rose. The Father raised Him by His glory — a wonderful thought. The Lord’s day is the first day of the week, the beginning of days for us. I am seeking to describe the scene of the celebration of the Lord’s supper. You say, Well you have begun with Numbers, a great book full of typical teaching, but you are coming down to a little room somewhere where the Lord’s supper is celebrated. That is just my thought. I want to fit in the position of Numbers, the tabernacle of witness, of testimony, nothing less than that. What is it? Somebody comes in maybe with some interest, and he sits down; there are a few brothers and sisters sitting there reverentially, respectfully, thinking of the Lord as absent. We have to learn to think of Him as absent. He is our absent Lord. He has been cast out of Jerusalem; He suffered without the gate, we are told. Now in this little village where the saints come together, you say, the people are mostly christians, but yet there is some element there that would murder Christ. I do not want anyone to think I am severe, for what I am saying is the exact truth of the position, and what we are to be in it, and what guidance there is for us in it. So that the Lord’s supper is “as often as ye shall eat this bread, and drink the cup, ye announce the death of the Lord, until he come”. 1 Corinthians 11:26.
Now the inward guidance is in the breaking of the [p. 155] bread and the drinking of the cup. It is a question of what is inward, what we enjoy inwardly, but I am speaking now of what is outward. What we enjoy inwardly is one thing, and what we see and enjoy outwardly is another. That is the order the Lord Himself has inaugurated in setting up His supper for His people to remember Him, and to show forth His death in their eating and in their drinking. The little room I have alluded to, and the service and the following things that happen, are the idea of the testimony, a reflection of heaven, what is according to God in the circumstances. The circumstances, of course, will cease, but they have not ceased yet; we are still in the wilderness, and these things happen.
One could say a great deal on this point as to what is external, what was set up by the apostles inclusive of Paul, because Numbers contemplates Paul. We have not christianity properly without Paul. Of course christianity was established when the Spirit came, but not until Paul came in “an elect vessel to me”, Acts 9:15, have we the full thought of christianity, especially the assembly. The assembly was there, but not understood. It was reserved for Paul to bring out as he calls it, the mystery, and that is where the public matter is to be seen, the saints coming together in assembly. What were they doing? They were assembled to break bread; that is a testimony, a public matter, it is a reflection of heaven, something that is not to be in the millennium, it is only for this time; in the time of the rejection of Christ this wonderful conception has taken form and continues, and the brethren are affected by it. The Lord’s supper is intended to affect us; and that is a testimony.
I go on now to Psalm 73 to show what the inward thing is: I have endeavoured to point out the public situation of the Lord’s supper, the service of God accurately carried out in the power of the Spirit, in measure, in the meetings of the Lord’s people at the present time. I have no hesitation in saying that it [p. 156] affords guidance for every one who wishes to be in the mind of heaven at the present moment. Now the Psalm is to show how faith was affected in times of testing. Psalm 73 is a psalm of Asaph, it is in the third book of Psalms, and refers really to the service of God. The whole book has the service of God in mind, and hence the place Asaph has in it. He was a great servant in the days of David celebrating the service of song in the temple of God. Asaph was distressed by the world even in those days, the character of the world was so oppressive, and he depicts it in the verse read: “Truly I have purified my heart in vain, and washed my hands in innocency. For all the day have I been plagued, and chastened every morning. If I said, I will speak thus; behold, I should be faithless to the generation of thy children. When I thought to be able to know this, it was a grievous task in mine eyes; until I went into the sanctuaries of God”. Psalm 73:13 - 17. It is a full priestly allusion, although Asaph was not exactly a priest, he was one of the Levites. He understood the sanctuary, using the word in the plural, so he says: “until I went into the sanctuaries of God; then understood I their end”. Psalm 73:17.
I now appeal to the brethren in seeking to bring out the idea of guidance, as to our being guided spiritually, not simply by public forms that look good, but by what is taught spiritually, being guided by spiritual impressions, and these impressions are typically seen in the holiest; that is, in the sanctuary. There were certain physical things there, things that depicted that which was spiritual, and Asaph was not under the power of them for the moment. He was a leading singer, but even he, with all his power of song, got into trouble in his soul. That is the way with many of us. We break bread, and one is thankful that so many do in any given place, but what about the troubles that come into the soul? Although there may be a respectable exterior the soul may not be in order, not just right, not in the intelligence [p. 157] of what is in heaven, because that is my point, what is in heaven. Numbers involves what is in heaven, heavenly things, the centre of which was the tabernacle, but the tabernacle not only had an external appearance; it had an internal appearance. So the question is now in the breaking of bread as to whether our souls are equal to the externals. The emblems are there and laid rightly; even the box is there, but then what about the internal state? That is one point I had in mind in reading this psalm, how Asaph was troubled, although he was a great singer, and had a great place in the service of God, he had great trouble because of external conditions, and even his own state of soul. He said, “I was as a beast with thee”. Psalm 73:22. That is a solemn matter. The state is to be
‘Not a cloud above, not a spot within‘ (22:1)How about that? God is taking account of the within. He made provision for the within as well as the without.Numbers does not help on this line, the Psalms do. They are spiritual experiences and we get ideas from them as to what should be, and is. As we think of the glory that is brought in as the Lord Jesus comes in among us; for He has promised to come, and I urge the brethren, as I have often done before, to count on the promises. He has promised to come in, saying, “I will not leave you orphans, I am coming to you”. John 14:18. The question is how we receive Him, whether there is any movement with us when it happens, whether we can discern Him when it happens, or whether we take it for granted; others think so and you think the same, and you go out of the morning meeting as you come in. It should not be so; there should be a great change. There are movements in heaven all the time. The impressions that flow from the Lord Jesus in heaven cannot be numbered. He comes with these, they are brought down here, and when He does come it is a real thing, not corporeally, though that is not to be excluded. The Lord will presently come down corporeally; “every eye shall see him”, Revelation 1:7, at His appearing. But I am thinking now of the private appearances of the Lord; they are ours. We look for His coming, it is to be a private coming for us, the corporeal appearance of the Lord; He came corporeally at the beginning, as we see in Acts and 1 Corinthians, so He will do it again. We look for it, and He counts on our loving it too, to love His coming for us. He loves us to think of His coming with us; that is the great and glorious end He has in mind, when He comes down with the assembly, with His bride. What a thought, dear brethren!
I do want to press this matter of spiritual impressions involving inward guidance, so the apostle says: “For this cause I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom every family in the heavens and on earth is named, in order that he may give you according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with power by his Spirit in the inner man”. Ephesians 3:14 - 16. That is all inward. We are to understand what it is to be affected by spiritual impressions, and thus the Lord’s supper becomes real, the assembly becomes a real fact when we are together; we are dignified in this way, outwardly guided and inwardly guided. I stress the idea of inward guidance, the Spirit of the Father affecting us, that we might know the breadth and length and depth and height and enjoy the love of Christ. We are in limited circumstances, but we are to know certain things. Paul said he knew the mystery, and said it so that others might know it, and it is for us now to know the mystery.