SINGING IN THE WILDERNESS
[p. 209] SINGING IN THE WILDERNESS
Hosea 2:14,15; Exodus 15:1; Numbers 21:17,18
I have in mind to say something about singing, and have selected these three scriptures with a view to speaking of the first as initial to my subject, the second as arising from victory, and the third as arising from the Spirit. The Spirit is, in truth, the only proper source of service, and especially of singing. Singing is an important part of the service of God, and the Spirit is the power of it. The apostle Paul says, “I will sing with the spirit” and “I will pray with the spirit”, 1 Corinthians 14:15, as if to suggest that singing is on a level with prayer and ought to be so regarded, not only because of what it yields to God, but because of what it yields to ourselves. We are enjoined to be filled with the Spirit; “speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and chanting with your heart to the Lord; giving thanks at all times for all things to him who is God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ”, Ephesians 5:19,20. We are to sing to ourselves in that sense.
Now the first scripture is from the prophets, and it alludes to Israel. I have selected it because it fits in with what I had in mind, those circumstances of trouble, circumstances of sorrow, which have been in great measure poured out on the people of God, as well as on all men; but I am speaking now of the people of God. They are sharing in these matters. There is, however, the difference that Israel is here viewed as needing allurement, and other things, as I wish to show. She is evidently disconsolate, as many of us are apt to be, to say the least, and in that state we can hardly serve God, or even please God, and our scripture encourages us that there is such a thing as allurement out of these discouraging circumstances, circumstances into which we [p. 210] may have helped ourselves. So we get here in the verse read, “behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfortably unto her”, Hosea 2:14 or, in other words, ‘speak to her heart’, for that is the real meaning of the passage. One ventures to believe that we all need something like this allurement on the divine side, and a word spoken to our hearts. Then the scripture holds out hope in the condition of discouragement, for every heart knows its own bitterness, and there is much to cause bitterness and sorrow, and perhaps, regret; and so the need for relief coming to us, and that is the end in ministry; it supplies this need, it meets the situation, and indeed every exigency arising, from whatever cause, so that it is met divinely.
We have here an allusion to the wilderness, not exactly to a geographical wilderness as contemplated in the book of Exodus and the book of Numbers, but what may be a wilderness at the present moment in our circumstances, and the want of what the land yields; I mean, the land of promise. That is another thing I would stop to speak of, that in times such as we have been through, such as we are in, and such as we are likely to continue in to some extent, the Lord would remind us of the idea of promise. We have, in connection with it an oath on the part of God, that by two immutable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we may have strong consolation. God swore by Himself as to promise, and I would stop to speak of that as a matter of the greatest importance, that we take hold of the promises. There was no need for God to swear; there would be no need for God to swear to those who love Him. Those who love Him trust Him, believe what He says; but at the same time, as I said, we are apt to get disconsolate and discouraged, and to forget what God is to us; that He is the Same, that there is no change with Him; and so the need of being kept up by the idea of promise, and to this end God has been pleased to have [p. 211] recourse to an oath. He has a right to do that, especially if it be a means of stirring up and encouraging our weak hearts, perhaps unbelieving hearts, and so I would urge the idea of laying hold of the promises.
You remember how Abraham, when he offered up Isaac, returned to his young men, and they rose up and went together to Beer-sheba, and Abraham dwelt at Beer-sheba, Genesis 22:19. God had sworn to him just then, He had sworn to him concerning things He would bring to pass, and Abraham, as it were, said, We had better go down and live where these oaths can be made good. It is as if you were to present your cheque to God, it would be honoured at Beer-sheba. That is a most important matter, especially for the young people.
Well, now we see here how Israel was to be allured into the wilderness and her heart spoken to, then what the land yields is proposed. It says, “I will give her her vineyards from thence”; Hosea 2:15, that is what belongs to us. God, we are told, has anointed us, that is to make us distinguished and useful and dignified in what we are doing for Him, and He has sealed us; that is, has placed His mark of ownership upon us, we belong to God; and then, He has given us the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts. He has given us that; what a gift is yours and mine! So the word says that her vineyards are hers. Whatever God has given us in Christ, is ours. He has given us the Spirit, the great gift of God through redemption, but also through asking. He has given it to us, and it is yours, it is mine, and so her vineyards are her own. There is much we are accredited with, which God has given to us as ours; even though it be through redemption it is gift. Even if we are not enjoying it, if we are real, God is holding it for us in reserve. And so He says, “I will give her her vineyards from thence, and the valley of Achor for a door of hope”, Hosea 2:15, meaning that something has happened that is causing trouble, because Achor means “trouble”, and trouble probably [p. 212] as arising from something in ourselves, some misdoing, some misdeed. But God is drawing near, as you are here to hear His word, you are in the place of gift, in the divine realm. All is different now. In a hail like this full of saints, our presence involves the divine realm, God’s realm, where are the saints of God, and the sense of His giving, His benevolence, His faithfulness, His forgiveness, all these things belong to a place like this. The whole matter is changed.
You all remember how the Lord Jesus came to the disciples where they were. In John 20 they were in the upper room, and He came to them, and so we are here, a good many of us, and He comes here, He has come. And so it is a divine realm where the most blessed things are current. You are conscious, that you are in the divine realm, not simply that things are said by someone, but that what is of God impresses the mind and heart; and so we may use such an expression as, “It is good we should be here”. Matthew 17:4. God loves to have us, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, but being together as we are now. So, as I was remarking, He says, “I will give her”, “hope”. Hosea 2:15. I believe hope is the scarcest thing amongst us. Even love is more plentiful, or more to be felt than hope. You say to me, Well, faith, hope, love, the greatest of these is love; but, notwithstanding the greatness of love, I venture to say that hope is scarce amongst the brethren.
Israel has got what we spoke of; that is, trouble; and who of us is not aware of trouble that is his own, something in which he has part, something which he has caused? Well, God is saying to us, I will give you hope to lift you out of that; I will turn it into hope! So He says, “I will give her”, “the valley of Achor for a door of hope”. Hosea 2:15. A door is something into which we enter, and Achor, this trouble, is here viewed as a door into hope, and we know that “hope does not make ashamed”. Why? “because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit”, Romans 5:5 [p. 213] the blessed Comforter here for everyone of us. Whatever it be, these matters that I am speaking of, whichever of them it is or all of them, the Holy Spirit is here to help us in regard of them. The terrible things that have happened are calculated all the time to affect us. There is much on which to reflect; there is much involved, and there are also the losses incurred, which are colossal. I need not say that. Those here know better than I what are the losses that are being incurred by all men, and by the brethren, these losses bringing about distress, maybe, depriving us of our joy, depriving us of our song. “Will a man rob God”? Malachi 3:8. Well, he may do it because of his own poverty, and God is aiming, in what I am saying, to bring about better conditions. I have no hesitation in saying that my effort tonight is calculated to better the conditions amongst the brethren, including myself, of course, and to encourage hope. Things might be far worse than they are.
So the trouble is turned into hope, because it is God’s matter. God has done it. He would say today, ‘It is My matter; I have done this’. That makes a great difference. Who could have done it but God? You may say, The devil had to do with it, but even with Paul, though the thorn in the flesh was from the devil, the Lord had sent it. I say again, Who could have brought about this terrible disaster in the world but God? and who could change it but God? and He has changed it in measure, but not altogether, and perhaps He will not change it. Perhaps we need to carry it, the brethren in each locality, and He is telling us that He gives us the door of hope, that the very sorrow, the very trouble is to be a door of hope. Following on that we have in verse 15: “And she shall sing there, as in the days of her youth, and as in the day when she came up out of the land of Egypt”. Hosea 2:15.
Now I am going to link on the prophet with Exodus, but I do urge that “hope does not make ashamed, because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts” Romans 5:5 (a [p. 214] remarkable expression) but not any further. The abroad refers to our hearts, not other hearts, and no other organs in us either. The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts, and by no less an Agent than the blessed Spirit of God Himself; “shed abroad”, “by the Holy Spirit which has been given to us”. Romans 5:5. He is ours, and that is one of His services, to keep the love of God burning in our hearts, and the word abroad refers to the limits of our hearts, and nowhere else. So that we have to understand (”he that reads let him understand” Matthew 24:15) what the passage means, and make application of it. Take it home to ourselves, as our own property, and use it.
Here in Hosea the word is, “she shall sing there”. Hosea 2:15. You say, It is not the wilderness of Sinai. No, but it is the wilderness. It is called “the wilderness”. You remember John the baptist was brought into the deserts, meaning that his was a desert life for the sake of the testimony, for the sake of his service. Desert is necessary, wilderness is necessary, and God is pleased, it may be, to turn our circumstances into a wilderness; and that wilderness becomes His servant, so that now she sings there, as if she was a wilderness person and could sing in the wilderness. She has been brought into the wilderness position with the power to sing in her heart; that is, you overcome the pressure of the desert.
‘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)That is God, the God we have, not another God, but our God. See how He turns circumstances and brings them right to us, just what we most need. With the result that she is able to sing there. That word “there” in verse 15, covers all that is said in verse 14. One would dwell a little further on the thought of singing in the wilderness, in the circumstances that have come about [p. 215] and how God can turn them into a place of song; not the land, but, nevertheless, power known in the soul to sing. “She shall sing there”. Hosea 2:15.
Now I turn to the second scripture, which is directly linked with what I am saying, and we have another adverb. “Then sang Moses and the children of Israel this song”. Exodus 15:1. We are not told what song Israel sang in Hosea. It was simply singing, and being able to do it in the wilderness; but here “this song” is unto the Lord. You will see, dear brethren, that I am seeking to build up something in my word so that it is all one matter; indeed, I think all ministry should thus have a definite end in mind. You marvel at the material there is for ministry, how day after day, week after week, year after year, ministry goes on. You marvel at the freshness, the variety of subjects; but it is not to be marvelled at really, because we are dealing with what is of God. God is the source of all that we are going on with. It is understood here that the time for this song came — “this song”. It is a question for each of us, how we are going to use our time so that it should yield to God, and that God should have His portion; and so, as I said, it was the time for “this song”; that is, the time of victory. Now God has granted victory. I do not mean now what has been celebrated all around, in a sense, rightly. I am speaking now of the moral victory that has come about in the Lord’s people being able to suffer so much and glorify Him and carry on His service notwithstanding, and I would encourage the brethren to go on in the service and increase. The material is here for it.
Moses had to do with this song, and Miriam, and the women of Israel. Israel was equal to it; they had progressed. They had not only overcome, but they had progressed in overcoming, and were able to sing, and so it is, “Then sang Moses and the children of Israel”. Exodus 15:1. So that the service of God is here, I would say, formally begun among the people of God. The question is whether [p. 216] we are joining in it. There is time for everything, and there is time for a song like this, so, in every service we have, as the weeks come round. Time belongs to God; He is the Maker of time, and He has the power to use it; He is using it now, and the Lord Jesus is using it. The servant whom He loves, speaks of “the Lord’s day”, so that it affords time for what belongs to the Lord. Persons are called out for the Lord, for His use, and He is pleased to use a day; pleased to use time, to select a day for His purposes, and one of His greatest lovers was “in the Spirit on the Lord’s day”. Revelation 1:10. He knew how to use the day, not for earning larger wages, but for the Lord; and that is the point, dear brethren, at the present time. Genesis is past, and following Genesis we find that the books of the Bible begin with “And”. It means that something is following which corresponds with what has already been presented; so this song comes in; it was there, it was a production. “Then sang Moses”. Now this is a song built up in words, but built up for God, and the time for it had come and it was there. Moses was there; he had to do with it. Miriam had to do with it, and others. The whole of Israel had to do with it; but I am stressing now the fact it was there.
When the first day of the week comes, and there should be a song, have we got it? It is not a ready made service we are dealing with. Christianity does not imply that. It implies that the saints are the singers, the musicians; “the instruments which I made”, 1 Chronicles 23:5, said David. Christ Himself being the Chief Musician, the time for service is when the first day arrives. The question is whether we have the service. It is not a question of what we find in our books, or in the meeting-room, but what we may bring. It is a question of freshness as we sit down together, what have we? We have already alluded to what we come into in the way of discipline, as in Hosea; but the service of God results from what we have. You have a Singer in heaven; we have the Lord Jesus there and the [p. 217] Spirit here, constituting the saints as singers too, and now I am endeavouring to show that the time had come for it, because this particular song really refers to the beginning of the divine service. Not only was Israel to be delivered and have victory as entering the wilderness, and as brought out of Egypt, but the service of God should start; should be begun and continued, and, of course, we need the material for it. You will understand, that lam not shutting out the Lord or the Spirit. I am bringing Them in, but endeavouring to show you that the thing is in the saints. Especially the singing now I am dealing with, so that there is what God can use, what resounds in heaven. Let us link ourselves with heaven, for it is a question of the true tabernacle. Some of us have been speaking about the expanse in Genesis 1, which is called “heaven”. God made that. God had in mind what He would have in that expanse. The devil got into it, we know, and the devil is getting in now among the brethren in measure; but that is only to prepare us to shut him out and to keep him out, to be in the Spirit as John said; that would keep the devil out. So the devil got into the expanse of God. God made it; and it was added to what was there before. The word expanse means it is something wide, affording room for the operations of God, scope for the things of God. That is the position, and song is the great matter, one of the greatest matters; and hence, as I said, when the time came for the beginning of the service of God, there was this song. “Then sang Moses and the children of Israel this song”. Exodus 15:1.
Well, there is much more to be said, but I have said enough to show you that there is a structure in the subject I am speaking of, and there is such a thing as the beginning and the middle and the end of it. That is the divine way. God finished all His work on the sabbath and He rested; but He was refreshed in His rest, and so God is working on these lines, looking for refreshment, and it may be in the songs of the saints, the contribution at [p. 218] any time that is available for God for His refreshment. All is to lead up to God, and so this song was the beginning of the divine service; the first song in the Bible. You may say, Well, the morning stars sang together. We do not hear of angels singing; the stars were the singers, and angels were the sayers. The saints are the singers, dear brethren. We are constituted singers, and this is the beginning, and hence the adverb “Then”; “Then sang Moses”, Exodus 15:1, and not only Moses, but Miriam and all Israel. Moses and the children of Israel. It is a time of victory. However much there may have been in the way of loss that can be spoken of, and it is colossal; I admit that, but the moral result is to be seen in us. Are we any better as christians? I would say so, I am encouraged to say it, and my effort is to better things, make them better, and to encourage the brethren to go in, and go on, and go in for more, and especially on the line of song, that with which God is so pleased. As the Lord Jesus Himself says, “in the midst of the assembly will I sing thy praises”. Hebrews 2:12. He is the great Singer, the chief Singer, our Leader, and every first day of the week is to bring out what there is in our souls, and what we can join in together, and hence this particular passage is a passage of victory. It is a song in connection with the victory of God.
I go on to the last passage. In Numbers 21, we read, “Then Israel sang this song, Rise up, well! sing unto it. Well which princes digged, which the nobles of the people hollowed out at the word of the lawgiver, with their staves”. Numbers 21:17,18 There we have the suggestion of the lawgiver, and that our contributions must come under that, our singing must come under that. It is a question, also, as I said, of what we have, because the service of God is begun. We have not begun it in our day; we have come into it. Whatever we have we have come into; we do not inaugurate anything, we do not pretend to. We are persons added. Christians of the present time are added to something, and that something began at Pentecost.
[p. 219] The word add is the point at the end of Acts 2. It is what was added; it does not say the assembly. We come into what was, and so as to singing, it is a question of what there is, and what there has been. It is true, that we have very little in the way of composition from the earlier days of christianity, but we have the Spirit, we have the means of continuing what there is. You find in the Old Testament this is the beginning of things for Israel. The service of God was inaugurated and others took it up. The different singers, such as David, did not inaugurate the thing. It was there. Indeed, as it is said, “The word that I covenanted with you when ye came out of Egypt, and my Spirit, remain among you”, Haggai 2:5. The whole matter was there, and the whole matter is here, dear brethren; it has come down to us. The Holy Spirit has kept it; He is the custodian of everything. The Bible is with us, thank God, the truth is in it, but the Spirit of God is here in connection with the service of God; hence when we come together in assembly on the first day of the week and sit down as brethren, there is no occasion like it. The idea of brethren is confined to those who love God; “now are we children of God”. 1 John 3:2. It is not what we shall be, but we are that, that is real christians. It is a precious fact, but we begin with the accepted fact that we are that, and that there is a ministry of God, and a service of God to which we are added, and it is the obligation of everyone born again to see that he also is added. Even if one has not the Spirit, he is God’s and he is something; as we were saying, Cornelius did something for God; his alms and his prayers ascended up to heaven for a memorial, before he had the Spirit. You may say, You are applying it somewhat to persons without the Spirit. I am not really, for I have in mind that the Spirit is the power for everything in the full sense. At the same time, a person who is born again has something; he is “born again”, but not exactly “born of God”. The expression “born again” is [p. 220] an initial act of God in bringing us into the divine realm. I am speaking of what may be called initial things. They are most important. If anyone here is not born again, I warn you, you have no part or lot in the matter. The word means, born throughout from the top down to the bottom, born again in the moral sense.
So I come now to the finish; that is, to this matter of singing in the wilderness at a certain time. It is a continuation of what began in Exodus, “Then sang Israel this song, Rise up, well!, sing unto it”. Numbers 21:17 The “it” is something — the well — and the well is a type of the Spirit, no less than that, and the Spirit is in mind, in that sense in our song. He is a divine Person, and He is worthy of our acclamation in that sense. So the song rises from the wilderness in Hosea, and to the Spirit of God in the book of Numbers, as developing the truth from the first to the last. Numbers refers to Israel as knowing how to walk and how to sing with a leader, Moses; but here it is Israel. “Then Israel sang”; that is to say, the people of God as such are singing, and they are recognising the Spirit in what they are doing. I am only going that far just to show the Spirit of God as a theme for the moment, so that He has a place objectively among the saints for the service of God. That is the position here. It is persons who have the Spirit typically who are Joining in it. I urge the thought of progressing on this line in view of what we have been through, and proving what God can be to us, and that His service can continue as from the very beginning at Jerusalem. We read in Acts 2:1, that “the day of Pentecost was now accomplishing”, it was running its course, and the very breathings of God, referring to the coming in of the Holy Spirit, were felt in the upper room, and the sound filled the house where they were sitting. Christianity is to be carried on in power and freshness, on that very principle, in the power of the Spirit of God.
May God bless these thoughts to us all.