OUTWARD AND INWARD GUIDANCE
[p. 359] OUTWARD AND INWARD GUIDANCE
Numbers 9:15 - 23;Numbers 10:29 - 36; Psalm 73:11 - 20
It came to me that a word on guidance would help us; first, outward guidance and then inward. Perhaps the word ‘guidance’ never applied more definitely both within and without than it does now and it behoves us as the children of God to have an eye to what is outward, to what affects men as of the nations, as forming the nations, so that our prayers may be intelligent and feeling; that the enemy may not succeed in bringing about a renewal of the disturbance that there has been of recent years. It is within our range to do this, for we are enjoined to pray for all men; for kings and such as are in authority; and it is to the end that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty; not simply that the nations should be in peace and prosper in the sense in which they regard prosperity, but that the saints should prosper and thus be saved from the enemy’s machinations to hamper the work of God. Indeed, we know that there is that which hinders the elements of disturbance, so that we may be encouraged to pray to that end. God will put it upon us and give us to understand that He is paying attention to our intelligence. He will honour it. As was said in the prophets, “And we shall know, — we shall follow on to know Jehovah”, Hosea 6:3. The same prophet said that his people were destroyed for lack of knowledge; hence God prizes the knowledge that His people acquire and especially now in what I am remarking on, that we should know the conditions abroad and pray against what is sinister. Pray against what is sinister. God will hear us, because He knows what we mean by it, and He will promote in us, too, entire freedom from mere national sentiment which can only ruin us if we imbibe it.
[p. 360] Well now, I have spoken of guidance; first, what is outward and then what is inward, but I have more in my mind as to what is outward than I have as to what is inward, although they act and react on one another. The outward stands, as I understand it, in relation to the tabernacle. The inward stands in relation to what is inward. That is what is suggested in the Psalm I read, Psalm 73. Asaph had a great disturbance but he turned inward. He said, “Until I went into the sanctuaries of God; then understood I their end”. Only that should not be limited to the Psalms, but it is a remarkable passage as bearing on what has been said. The epistle to the Ephesians really enlarges on it, where we are spoken of as being affected by the Spirit of the Father in the inner man. But I am just touching on that now. I want to go back to the book of Numbers, because it is peculiarly apropos of the moment. The book of Numbers may be well designated the book of trouble; but before we have trouble we are well fortified in peace, and that is why I read the verses in chapter 9. The whole book up to chapter 9 may be regarded as prefatory in the sense in which I am speaking of it: that is, the establishment of an order of things that is according to God in military connections: persons of mature age in the military and men of mature age in the ministry. The military ensures a way for the ministry. And so, a state of things contemplated, which is the wilderness, is met in both branches of what we may call the divine service: that is, the military and the ministry and the ministers. This section that I am alluding to — the early section enlarges on order based on what I have been saying; maturity in age and experience, and order, too, in the ministry; not only that, but energy in the ministry, remarkable terms being used for the service of the Levites, that service being provided for in the fact that the Levites were of not only mature age [p. 361] but as affording physical endurance, physical ability and endurance; because it is quite obvious from the outset that the duties imposed on the military and on the service, on the Levites, would be very onerous. Holiday-making is out of the question. It is a question of work, work, and work again. So that when we come to this section of the passage I read, we have an account of what proceeded, not simply at the outset but right through; as we may say, right through the dispensation; everything foreseen and seen active, too, actually active. So that there are no discrepancies to face, but then, as it were, God allowing the enemy to operate, in a sense letting him loose, we have the trouble. Chapter 11 brings in the trouble; chapter 12 brings it in; chapter 13, and right through. It is right that I should enlarge a little on this, dear brethren, because of the trouble that exists; that we might get back to the beginning. I allude to the verses read in chapter 9 as covering the whole dispensation, for really it is so; what happened. It might be written after, it might be written before, prophetically, but after it was written historically that certain things happened and wonderful things, there is a sense of order, thoughtfulness, so that it is God, I believe, fortifying His saints against what should come or telling them how wonderfully He had provided for them after it happened. What a book is the book of Numbers! Indeed, it may be well said, as it was in earlier days, that the name of the book was “In the wilderness”. That is to say, in the scene of trouble. And so, we may well ask one another, Do we come peaceably to one another? If we approach each other at all, do we come peaceably? Or is there war in our hearts? It is an awful suggestion, but we may as well face it. War is abroad in the world and it is in the assembly.
Well now, this section, as I said, and particularly in those verses, contemplates the cloud. I am referring [p. 362] now to the means of guidance, and the cloud is the predominant feature in the verses read; a very great suggestion as to what may be relied upon. The cloud may be relied upon. It is said in the book of Acts, and I believe it is a touch of Numbers brought into the book of Acts, that the Lord having said certain things to the disciples was taken up; “they beholding him, and a cloud received him out of their sight”, Acts 1:9. He would be, as it were, in wonderful care, to use that word in regard to divine Persons, for, indeed, the word is used. The Lord was taken up, we are told, carried up into heaven. He was leaving a disturbed world. What a world! As He says to His Father, “Of the world, righteous Father!” (see note to John 17:24). There is an exclamation when the idea of the world came into His mind. “Righteous Father! — and the world has not known thee, but I have known thee”, John 17:25. And so the cloud received Him out of their sight. We cannot assume that the cloud was inactive after that. Not that the present is a cloud period; it is a cloudless period really, but it was there at the beginning, a sure token of heaven’s guardianship, and it is our token today as to ourselves: the divine guardianship involved in the cloud. It runs right through the whole period. You analyse these verses. Whether we view them prophetically as indicating what would happen, or historically, what has happened, we may see it that it is unfailing. It is mentioned more often in these few verses that I have read in chapter 9 than it is mentioned in the whole book of Numbers, so that it certainly deserves our attention and our encouragement, too. It tends to make us restful, for the Spirit of God was already warning of the trouble to come right along; one chapter after another telling of the lawless elements that were springing up to endeavour to overcome or overwhelm, if possible, what was of God and the blessed system [p. 363] that God had set up in the tabernacle, what He set up now in the assembly; Christ being in heaven.
So that these verses, as I said, are full of it, and they are full of the guidance that it implies, and that is my point; the guidance. We may say, it has been often said, Keep your eye on the ark of the testimony, but, Keep your eye on the cloud. The cloud is the predominant feature. The cloud was there before the ark of the testimony, and we might say, it is after. The cloud denotes the divine presence; but it enveloped, as I might say, the ark of the testimony. Not exactly the ark, but the tent of the testimony. There are two words or expressions that have to be noted. The tent of the testimony is also called the tent of meeting, meaning what we have here tonight; the brethren are met together for a purpose, of course, but still met. It will be no imaginary thing as soon as we start to speak to one another and greet each other. I do not know if I have ever known of a meeting in which the brethren know each other better than the meetings in this section. It is a great matter, too, a matter of great importance. It is a measure of fortification against the thing I am speaking of: the terribleness of the readiness there is to disturb and complain and attack instead of peace.
Well now, I have spoken of outward guidance and this implies what is seen and what is heard. The second feature that I spoke of is what is inward; but the outward is what I had in mind particularly, dear brethren, and that is what I would urge on the brethren, to pay attention to what is to be observed. It speaks of peace; it speaks of heaven; it speaks of spiritual prosperity; it speaks of love one for another, and many other things I can mention. These are the things to observe for guidance. Where are they? If you know where they are, be guided by the fact. Keep as near as you can to those who have these things, because that is the idea. This [p. 364] section — the verses that I read in this chapter and the few verses in chapter 10 contemplate what is observable. What is observable answers to the idea here of the tent of meeting or the tent of testimony. They are two features of the same thing. The tent of meeting is where we meet, where we find love, where we find enjoyment. We are glad to be there. The tent of testimony is where the testimony is. They are very near in thought, but the testimony is more elevated; it is what is witnessed to, formally witnessed to; but then, love should be formally witnessed to. If it cannot be formal, let it be informal. The informality of love is a most beautiful phrase. We may have it at a dinner table, at a lunch table; we may have it in each other’s houses, and in many ways we may have it. It is observable. These things are observable. They are not earth-born; they are not world-born; they are heaven-born. Love is heaven-born. It is out of heaven. Christianity, beloved, is out of heaven; not exactly in it, but out of it. In fact, the same expression is found as to the Lord: out of heaven. The second Man is out of heaven, 1 Corinthians 15:47. The Father is of heaven. It is the same idea. All the qualities, the attributes that flow out from the divine presence may be so designated. They are of heaven; they are out of heaven; they are here to influence what is here. The terribleness, the wickedness that has been displayed in the last few years still simmers and grows and yells. That is not out of heaven. These things are from the pit, whereas Christianity is out of heaven. So there is that which affords guidance in these verses. The term ‘cloud’, as I said, is more often found in those few verses than in the whole book of Numbers, or at least as often, and what is it for? It is a concentrated description of what the dispensation affords for us. Let us explore it, extending over many years; we might say, thousands of years; but certainly many years.
[p. 365] And so we have, for instance, if the cloud stays a day or a month or a year or many days, stay there, too. Stay where the cloud is; be it however long, stay where it is. It is God’s provision. Look out for it, as I said, among the brethren, at the lunch table, at the houses, but above all at these meetings. Thank God for the number of them: the description and repeatedness of them — what we call special meetings. It is a very good thought that special meetings increase. It means increase in wealth, increase of means; and it is also a better thought that the brethren attend them. Why? Because of what they find; just as I was saying in these verses from 15 to the end — what they find. We go, we will say, on a Saturday afternoon — almost everyone of them there is something of the kind — what do we find? Well, we find love. I should not go if I did not find love. That is my own estimate of the thing. I regard that as greater than the ministry. “The greater of these is love”. Prophecies fail; they come to an end, but love never. Therefore, seek out the love. Where it is, be there. The cloud — there it is; it is there. It is simply there. The idea is dwelling really, as if God is saying it is a lovely place to be in. God is Himself the Author of love, but He loves those who have it; and God has His part in all these places, and the best evidence of that is that the cloud is always there. But any little movement — we get in the next chapter a movement — perhaps resented on the part of God. It happens; certain things happen among us and God resents them. He is not there. But generally He is with us. As far as I am concerned, I can say freely that for half a century I cannot recall where brethren did not find enjoyment in those special meetings. It is constant. It is just what I am saying. God is saying, I am there. The cloud is there. But then there is the tabernacle. Do not forget the tabernacle. It cost a great deal to [p. 366] build, to prepare, and it is a part of the guidance. That is to say, what the brethren are as built, as united together. The word ‘build’ is the best; builded together for a habitation of God, Ephesians 2:22.
Well, these are great facts, these are grand facts that I am speaking of now; not simply things we might refer to academically as in this chapter. I am not speaking of that at all. I am speaking of what I know to be great facts, and I am urging on the brethren to go in for them more and more. Think of the cloud; think of God every time He used the word ‘cloud’. He is there, every time, all the time, as I may say. But then that beautiful tabernacle, too. That is not to be ignored. And when I say ‘beautiful’, I am referring to the brethren. If there are no beautiful men and women among the brethren, there are none at all. I mean brethren; I mean Christians, when I say ‘brethren’. There are none at all if they are not among them; but they are there. The brethren are beautiful; the saints of God are. “Let the beauty of Jehovah our God be upon us”, Psalm 90:17. And it is. The Spirit of God is putting it on all the time. And so, the verses I read fit — the beauty of the brethren, and that beautiful structure called here the tent of meeting where the brethren meet together, or the tent of testimony where the testimony is worked out and spoken of. It is either one or the other, or both. Therefore, there is guidance; guidance is there in these things. So, as I said, the beautiful wording as to the time; the description of the whole period. “And on the day that the tabernacle was set up, the cloud covered the tabernacle of the tent of testimony; and at even it was upon the tabernacle as the appearance of fire, until the morning. So it was continually”. Notice that. “So it was continually; the cloud covered it, and at night it was as the appearance of fire. And when the cloud rose from the tent, then the children [p. 367] of Israel journeyed; and at the place where the cloud stood still, there the children of Israel encamped”. The note says the cloud ‘dwelt’ or ‘abode’, and then the children of Israel pitched their tents. They did it. There is no flaw at all in these verses. They are simply a description either prophetically or what they were historically. And so, “And when the cloud was long upon the tabernacle many days, then the children of Israel kept the charge of Jehovah, and journeyed not”. That is what they did. They did not journey. They were obedient. You can see how heaven would keep the record, as I might say abstractly, up there. There are no defections up there; the thing is perfect. Christianity is a perfect idea. We can only reach that by the idea of abstraction, that there is a perfect state of things. Why not? It is a question of the Spirit of God, the work of God.
And so, as I was reading, it goes on in verse 20, “And if it were so that the cloud was a few days upon the tabernacle, according to the commandment of Jehovah they encamped, and according to the commandment of Jehovah they journeyed. And if it were so that the cloud was there from the evening until the morning, and that the cloud was taken up in the morning, then they journeyed”. They went by the divine rule, “or a day and a night, and the cloud was taken up, they journeyed; or two days, or a month, or many days, when the cloud was long upon the tabernacle, dwelling upon it, the children of Israel remained encamped, and journeyed not; but when it was taken up, they journeyed. At the commandment of Jehovah they encamped, and at the commandment of Jehovah they journeyed: they kept the charge of Jehovah according to the commandment of Jehovah through Moses”. Just think of all that, dear brethren, taking place in this terrible world, this wicked world. All this so beautifully described here actually happened and is happening [p. 368] today, too; and surely the wisdom of each of us will be in seeking out where it is happening and staying by it. That is where the safety lies. That is where the guidance lies; abandoning all that goes with the natural man, the stirring up of discord; but maintaining love — the heavenly elements come down, for that is the idea: Christianity come down. Christianity is what has come down out of heaven, and what is going back up into heaven. There is not much more to say; there is not much more time, but just to point out in chapter 10 where we have the concrete thing. The thing has happened. We have a defect in Moses; a very slight one in a way, but still he was influenced by his father-in-law. I am just pointing out the danger of natural relationships and how they mar all this. I think more of my people, than of how the brethren link on together, and how much of the natural there is, continually spreading abroad, and the danger of preference, of preferential relationships and dealings lurking in it all the time. And so it is that Moses thought he had a great helper in Hobab. I should have to stop, perhaps, to go into the matter as to who this man is; and, of course, when we come into the realm of natural relationships you have to think. Who is he, anyway? Is he the father of his wife, or the son? It is not easy to keep track, to follow up the lines. But still, we are obliged to do it to be safe, and safety lies in not allowing the natural to dominate the matter of the tabernacle. Moses permitted, he allowed the idea of his father-in-law to come into his mind. It is left open. It does not say that Hobab refused Moses, but the inference is he did. He is going to stay with his own people. He is very definite; and God is saying the ark is going to leave. Let the father or grandfather or great grandfather or whatever it be — leave all that out. If it is a question of guidance, leave all that out. That is [p. 369] the lesson. And so the result is very beautiful. We are not told just what Hobab did, but the inference is he did not go. He was decided about it, that he was not going to go with them. And then, as if God were to say, Well, Moses must be mourning, regretting that his father-in-law is not going with him — in fact, he says to him, “We are journeying to the place of which Jehovah said, I will give it unto you: come with us, and we will do thee good; for Jehovah has spoken good concerning Israel. And he said to him, I will not go”. I breathe freely when I read those verses. Thank God he did not go. Let us just face this matter of naturalness governing us, even to the extent of putting a man into a position of being a guide or eyes to the tabernacle of God. It will not do. Disaster awaits it if it is attempted. It does not say here that Hobab went the whole way. Moses said, “Leave me not, I pray thee, because thou knowest where we are to encamp in the wilderness”. One could say more about this, but I just read it. “Thou knowest where we are to encamp in the wilderness, and thou wilt be to us for eyes”. It would look to me as if Moses meant this man to be above them all; that he could do more for them than any man in the camp or all together. That shows, dear brethren, what this natural element, if we allow it a place in the service of God, will do for us. But, thank God, as I said before, nothing came out of it; nothing ill came out of it. Moses goes on to say, “And it shall be, if thou come with us, that whatever good Jehovah doeth unto us, so will we do to thee”. He is bargaining with him.
Well now, the dear brethren here will know perhaps as well as I do, that the next verse is God coming in, showing what He can be to us in these circumstances. It is said, “And they set forward from the mountain of Jehovah and went three days’ journey; and the ark of the covenant of Jehovah went before them in the three days’ journey, to search out a resting-place for them”. You can see that that is where our safety lies, but that is where our comfort lies, and our blessing lies in adhering to the right thought, the right principle, and disregarding the wrong principle although it be a Moses that suggested it. And so the right thought is God coming out of His place; God Himself coming out of His place; undertaking the burden of leading His people. The ark, it is said, went before. “And the ark of the covenant of Jehovah went before them in the three days’ journey, to search out a resting-place for them. And the cloud of Jehovah was over them by day”. The cloud is maintaining them; it is not to leave; it is there — “when they set forward out of the camp. And it came to pass when the ark set forward, that Moses said”,Now let us look at the note of triumph: may it be with us. “Rise up, Jehovah, and let thine enemies be scattered; and let them that hate thee flee before thy face. And when it rested, he said, Return, Jehovah, unto the myriads of the thousands of Israel”.
I am about to finish, but I just want to say a word as to Psalm 73, because it is the inward side of the subject. One might link it on with Ephesians, as I was saying, and Hebrews, because both these books treat of the inward. Ephesians is the book of the opened heavens. It is not simply what comes out of heaven, but what is seen up there, as Stephen saw it. He saw the heavens opened through, he said. That may be included in the passage I read from Psalm 73. And then in Hebrews we have the sanctuary. I was saying that Ephesians is the book of the opened heavens, and so it is, because it is what we see up there, what is up there. It is the heavenly. God has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies, Ephesians 1:3. That is where we are, raised up together and made to sit down together in the heavenlies in Christ [p. 371] Jesus. That is Ephesians. You can see as you sit down and go up with the brethren. That is the principle of Ephesians. We are all made to sit down together and go up with the brethren — what we shall see and hear — and how despicable all that is here below!
And so if I just read again the verses in Psalm 73 we shall see the suggestion of despisement of what is of man. It is said in verse 17, “Until I went into the sanctuaries of God; then understood I their end”. That is the wicked ones. “Truly thou settest them in slippery places, thou easiest them down in ruins. How are they suddenly made desolate! they pass away, consumed with terrors. As a dream, when one awaketh, wilt thou, Lord, on arising despise their image”. Think of what has happened within our own memories; the terribleness of what has happened to the leaders of wickedness in this world. That is in this very verse. “Truly thou settest them in slippery places, thou easiest them down in ruins”. This is what the man that has been in the sanctuaries can say. It is not now the tabernacle. It is what is inside the tabernacle. It is not the external; it is the inside. And so it says, “Thou castest them down in ruins. How are they suddenly made desolate!” Think of what has happened. I am not speaking of past history but more of current history: what happens and how it calls for faith — what has happened and what may happen.
So it is here; the man that has been into the sanctuaries says, “How are they suddenly made desolate! they pass away, consumed with terrors. As a dream, when one awaketh, wilt thou, Lord, on arising despise their image”. That is what the man in the sanctuaries can say. What monuments there are representing men, men of this world. But what do they mean? They represent images. “As a dream, when one awaketh”, that is, when the Lord [p. 372] Jesus Christ awakes up and this world has to go and all its leaders; I mean, the builders of the world. Seven thousand names of men, we are told, were destroyed at once. Names. These are leaders — men who made a monument for themselves and who got monuments. And so it is, as I was remarking, that the man who was going into the sanctuaries can speak in this way. He says, “As a dream, when one awaketh, wilt thou, Lord, on arising despise their image”. What are they to God — the myriads of images? That is the idea. They represent something. The world is full of them, of man’s doings. The works therein shall be burned up and the workers; the builders of the world shall have to go; but the sanctuaries of God disclose what God thinks of it all.
And so we have guidance. We know ultimately that nothing stands but what is set up in Christ; nothing at all. All has got to go, and the man who enters into the sanctuaries understands. “Then understood I their end”. Then he discloses what God thinks of those who have been troublers, Oh, let us beware of troubling the saints in any sense at all. It is a time of peace. God is saying, The sons of peace. He says to His missionaries, Seek out sons of peace and stay there; stay in their houses. You say, They may not ask me; but they will. They are characteristically persons who will take you into their houses. They are characteristically that. And so, dear brethren, one would urge all this because of the saints abroad on the earth, the world, and in the assembly. One has great hope that God is going to do something for the assembly.