MANHOOD ACCORDING TO GOD
Numbers 12: l-8
I desire to speak about the Man Christ Jesus, the man Moses and the man Mordecai. It is remarkable how the Spirit of God speaks about these men, each of them as ‘the man’. Of course, in the case of the Lord Jesus it is unique. Moses and Mordecai, great men though they were, were but men; men in whom God had wrought, and in whom wonderful results for God appeared. But the Lord Jesus is infinitely more than man, though we thank God that He is truly Man, and retains manhood eternally. So we must always think of Christ as distinct and unique, and that needs to be preserved in our minds. It says here that “God is one, and the mediator of God and men one, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself a ransom for all”. That marks out His distinctness in an outstanding way; there is not only the distinctness of His Person, but the distinctness of what He has done. He has done what no one else could have done; He “gave himself a ransom for all”. That helps us to hold the personal distinction and moral excellence of Christ in a special way in our minds.
So we have first of all the Man Christ Jesus; He is the “mediator of God and men”. A mediator is one who can, as Scripture says, lay his hand upon both, Job 9: 33. He can represent God, and he can represent man, and he can in that sense so to speak, bring the two together, that is the great value of a mediator. We do not have to do with God direct. “No one has seen God at any time”, John 1: 18. He dwells in unapproachable light whom no man has seen nor is able to see, and therefore, when we have to do with God, there is the need of a mediator. And so we have a mediator in the Person of Christ and He becomes commended to us by the fact that He “gave himself a ransom for all”. Not simply that He was willing to give Himself, that is wonderful, but that He was competent to do it. There is no one else in the universe competent to do it, and hence we always need to keep in our minds the personal uniqueness of Christ.
God’s pleasure from the beginning has been in men; that is the matter of His sovereignty. I do not think we could say why, save that it is according to the good pleasure of His will. Wisdom’s delights “were with the sons of men”, Prov 8: 31. God has nothing less in mind
for men than that they should be sons. We do not know anything about the creation of angels, but a time came when God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness” (Gen
1:26); showing clearly that He had the thought of men before Him. Angels had been created long before, but when man was created, they were there, as subsidiary, you might say, to man. And they serve to bring out the greatness of Christ; because when God brings in the first-born into the habitable world He says, “And let all God’s angels worship him.” (Heb 1:6)—all of them. I suppose that refers to the coming day, when He brings Him into the world, in the world to come. It has been connected with the birth of Christ, and the celebration of it by a multitude of the heavenly host, but I think the real allusion is to His bringing Him in, in the day of His glory, in the world to come, according to Psalm 97, and in that day all God’s angels are to worship Him.
So we have the Man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself a ransom for all; what a wonderful thing that is. You can see that on the one hand God has been pleased to approach us in a Man, and He has in mind that man should approach Him, and both the approach and the answer to it are before us in Christ. When the Lord first appeared in human condition, it was not as a full grown man, it was as a babe. Wonderful thing when you think of it; who would be afraid of a babe? God dispels all fear at the outset. Of course, He had to grow up to full manhood before there could be the full expression in a
Man, of what God’s thoughts are towards men, but still that is how God proceeded; He approached us in a babe, one lying in a manger too; wonderful thing. If He had lain in a palace, you might have said we cannot approach, so God said, He shall be laid in a manger. No one could be afraid to approach a manger. Well now, that is some indication to us of what God is like, how He would approach us in a way intended to dispel all fear. Yet on the other hand we are never to forget that He is God, and that holiness becomes His house for ever. It says, “Thy testimonies are very sure: holiness becometh thy house, O Jehovah, for ever”, Ps 93: 5. Whatever form the house of God took at any time, whether it was the tabernacle, or the temple, or whether, as now, it is the church, whatever form it took, “holiness becometh thy house, O Jehovah, for ever”. So holiness befits us in our relations with God. Peter discerned that Jesus was the “holy one of God”. You will remember how the Lord said to the twelve, “Will ye also go away?” Peter says, “Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast words of life eternal; and we have believed and known that thou art the holy one of God”, John 6: 68-69. That is what Peter discerned in Jesus as he took account of Him in His relations with God; as he took account of Him in His relations too with themselves, they got the sense that He was “the
holy one of God”. Now that is a wonderful thing, because that means that He is the One in whom all that God looks for in man is perfectly found. There is nothing at all incongruous, nothing out of keeping with what God is in His nature, and in His desires, nothing out of keeping with that in Jesus. And so the Lord presents Himself in that light to Philadelphia; He presents Himself as “the holy, the true”, Rev 3: 7. I might say that what we have said as to the holy One of God comes in the sixth chapter of John’s gospel. In the seventh chapter of John’s gospel, we get “the true”. The Lord says, “He that speaks from himself seeks his own glory; but he that seeks the glory of him that has sent him, he is true, and unrighteousness is not in him”, John 7: 18. And so you have the ‘Holy’ in chapter six and the ‘True’ in chapter seven. The ‘Holy’ is what He is in His manhood Godward, the ‘True’ is what He is in His manhood in testimony manward, and in both you have perfection. The Lord presents Himself to Philadelphia as “the Holy, the True”, showing that the intention is not that we should be affected so much by the official positions and titles of Christ, but rather by what He is morally, so that we might learn God. God is said to be “the Father of compassions, and God of all encouragement”, 2 Cor 1: 3. That is how Paul presents God to us in the second epistle to the
Corinthians. How often in the gospels we read that the Lord had compassion; think of God coming out in that way, evincing His compassions as Christ moved amongst men in His creation.
So as I say God has approached us in a Man. You have the two sides in Jesus, first of all the One in whom God has approached us, and then on the other hand the answer to that, you might say, in a Man; that is the Lord sets out in Himself, as Man perfectly, all that God looks for in man. You can understand therefore at His baptism how the heavens opened to Him and there was a voice from heaven saying, “Thou art my beloved Son, in thee I have found my delight”, Luke 3: 22. That was just when He accepted baptism before entering on His service. Then at the end of His service practically, when “he stedfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem” (Luke 9: 51), again we get the voice from heaven, on the mount of transfiguration, expressing the Father’s delight in Jesus. Between the time of the baptism of Jesus and the time of the transfiguration, there had been the three and a half years, in which the Lord was here in public testimony, and again, at the end of that time, you get a voice out of the cloud saying, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I have found my delight”, Matt 17: 5. On the one hand God has approached us perfectly
in Man, in Christ; on the other hand, in Christ, He sets out perfectly all that He looks for in man, all that answers to His heart. We can rest in this with deep satisfaction in the sense that in Christ, God has before Him now, in His immediate presence, a Man who in every way has answered, and does answer, to all that He desires in men. If then we have that apprehension of Christ surely it will have the effect of promoting a desire in us to learn from Him and take character from Him too. To learn from Him, as the Lord says in the gospel of Matthew, “Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am meek and lowly in heart; and ye shall find rest to your souls”, Matt 11: 29.
Is any one of us meek naturally, is any one of us lowly naturally? I do not think so. If we take on any features of meekness at all, if we take on any features of lowliness at all, lowliness of mind, we can only do so as learning from Christ. So the Lord says, “Take my yoke upon you”. That is to be a definite thing with us. Are any of the dear brethren restless, not knowing what rest of soul is, not knowing what contentment with present circumstances is? If so the Lord says, “Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am meek and lowly in heart; and ye shall find rest to your souls”. Paul says that he had learned, it had not come to him naturally, “I have learnt in those circumstances in which I
am, to be satisfied in myself” (Phil 4: 11); not exactly to be content with the circumstances, that is not the point, but in whatever circumstances he was, he had learnt to be content in himself. Now what is the secret of that? I believe the secret of that is what the Lord speaks of in John 4, “the water which I shall give him shall become in him a fountain of water, springing up into eternal life”, John 4: 14. Paul says he had learnt to be content in himself; it was what he had in himself that provided him with contentment; it was what the Spirit was to him as springing up in him unto eternal life, holding him in his thoughts and affections in relation to Christ, and in relation to the saints and that as a present reality.
There is immense gain for us in the fact that Christ has become Man, and that you have perfection there. He has all the sympathies and affections of a man. He is there before us now as pattern; we have not to strive after
something; He is simply there as pattern, and the Lord says, “learn from me”. The more we do so the more we shall come up to what God intends which is to secure His pleasure in men. The church, the body of Christ, is to be the full expression of it. The church is a wonderful thing, and it is nearly complete now; it has been in the process of formation for nearly two thousand years. How many believers compose
it? I suppose no one but God knows, but a wonderful thing the body of Christ will be. A vessel composed of creatures, those who are only creatures, a creature vessel, but able to express Christ, without anything being lacking; that is what the body of Christ will be, a marvel of divine workmanship. We can understand, if God has wrought for nearly two thousand years, the Spirit having been active all that time, what a vessel is going to be the result of it. We shall see it soon; in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye we shall see it. Even the Lord has not seen it yet (I speak reverently), but in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, it will come into view, the church, the body of Christ. And then, in due course, it will come down out of heaven from God having the glory of God. What great things we are connected with! How important this time of formation is. We should see that we do not waste time, do not allow things to distract us from the things of the Lord.
The Man “Christ Jesus, who gave himself a ransom for all”, is the subject of testimony. “He ... has also ascended up above all the heavens, that he might fill all things”. It is the descending One who has gone up above all the heavens: it says, “But that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended into the lower parts of the earth? He that descended is the same who has also ascended up above all the heavens, that he
might fill all things”, Eph 4: 9-10. It is the descending One who has gone up above all heavens. If there is any desire with us to exalt ourselves, any tendency in that direction in our thoughts, let us always remember that it is the descending One who has gone up above all heavens, that He might fill all things. He is going to fill all things with the descending spirit. So that when the saints come down out of heaven they descend; they are not said to be sent, they descend; it is a wonderful movement, so to speak, that they have learned and taken on from Christ; they come down in the spirit and power of His movements.
Well, one need not say more about the Man Christ Jesus, although I am conscious that I have said very little really. But that is the great standard of ‘Manhood’; the “Man Christ Jesus”, and what Scripture says about Him is that He gave Himself a ransom for all, the testimony to be rendered in its own times. What that means only God knows. “A ransom for all”. Think of the accumulation of guilt that attached to all; think of the power of death as having dominion over all; He gave Himself a ransom for all.
Well now we come to Moses, and Moses is a remarkable and most encouraging man. In this chapter 12, he is being spoken against by his own sister and brother, his sister apparently
taking the lead. Miriam and Aaron “spoke against Moses because of the Ethiopian woman whom he had taken”, and they say, “Has Jehovah indeed spoken only to Moses?” and it says “Jehovah heard it”. That is a very significant statement; let us remember it; “Jehovah heard it”. He is taking very serious notice of it. It says, “Then Jehovah spoke suddenly to Moses, and to Aaron, and to Miriam”; He puts them in their proper order. “Miriam and Aaron” it says at the beginning of the chapter, “spoke against Moses”; that is the wrong order. God puts them in the right order. He is putting Miriam in her place, and He is, so to speak, reminding Aaron that he is the man, and that he is responsible to take the lead. The Lord knows how to adjust us in all these things. “Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses ... they said, Has Jehovah indeed spoken only to Moses? has he not spoken also to us? And Jehovah heard it”. Then it says, “the man
Moses was very meek”, (or ‘lowly’, ‘humble’)
“above all men that were upon the face of the earth”. How did Moses become meek? He certainly was not born meek; none of us is born meek, I am quite sure we could say that. But Moses was “very meek”, it says, “very meek above all men that were upon the face of the earth”. And what God says about him as He takes up his cause is “my servant Moses ... is
faithful in all my house”. What a commendation that was, what an encouragement to us to seek to be faithful in relation to the Lord’s interests. When Moses is spoken against God enters into the lists, you might say, in support of him, and He says, “Moses … is faithful in all My house”. I am inclined to think that refers not only, but very largely, to his faithfulness in the construction and ordering of the tabernacle: because Exodus 40 goes over the ordering of the tabernacle in great detail, and time after time it says, “as Jehovah had commanded Moses”. I believe the faithfulness on the part of Moses in all God’s house refers largely to his faithfulness in the construction and ordering of the tabernacle. The tabernacle, of course, was God’s house; it was His dwelling place amongst the people, and Moses was particularly careful to see that every detail of what God required in His house was provided for. So that it is a matter for all of us in our local companies to see that things are according to the mind of God. Moses was faithful in all His house. Of course, he was particularly faithful too, in the matter of the golden calf as we know. He stood in the gate of the camp, and he said, “He that is for Jehovah, let him come to me”, Exod 32: 26. But my impression is, that when God says, “he is faithful in all my house”, He is especially
referring to the faithfulness with which every detail connected with the tabernacle was cared for by Moses. All that God required in His habitation was maintained by Moses. Faithfulness in God’s house is something that God approves of; we may all covet to be characterised by it.
So He says “the man Moses was very meek”. What made him meek? I asked that question a few minutes ago. Well I have often thought of it, and I have ventured to think it was because he had, on two occasions, forty days and forty nights on the mountain with God, Exod 24: 18; 34: 28. God showed him the pattern of the tabernacle, Exod 25: 9; 39: 32. He would no doubt explain it all to him; He would show him what the ark was to be; He would tell him what the ark was going to typify; He would tell him it was going to typify Jesus. He would say to Moses, ‘Jesus will not be the kind of man that you are, Moses, He will be meek, He will be lowly, He will be obedient, He will not have any of the features that are natural to you’. I do not think I am imaginative or speculative in suggesting that God would show Moses with great interest all the detail of the tabernacle. Moses records it by the Spirit of God in Exodus, and I have no doubt He would tell Moses what it all meant; and when He came to speak about the ark, He would tell Moses what kind of man
the ark typified. I have no doubt Moses would feel, ‘if that kind of man is the centre of God’s system, then the sooner I take on the features of that man the better’. Anything out of keeping with it, would be out of keeping with that system. And so Moses, I feel sure, would become meek because he had spent so long with God, and because God would show him what He thought of Christ. So it says, “the man Moses was very meek, above all men that were upon the face of the earth”.
“Then Jehovah spoke suddenly to Moses, and to Aaron, and to Miriam, Come out ye three unto the tent of meeting. And they went out, they three”. It is remarkable how the Spirit of God records it. Miriam moved first at the beginning of the chapter, and she was all wrong, and
Aaron apparently allowed himself to be influenced by her, and he was all wrong and now God is putting them right, “come out ye three”, Moses and Aaron and Miriam. “And Jehovah came down in the pillar of the cloud ... and called Aaron and Miriam; and they both came forth. And he said, Hear now my words: If there be a prophet among you, I Jehovah will make myself known to him in a vision, I will speak to him in a dream. Not so my servant Moses: he is faithful in all my house. Mouth to mouth do I speak to him openly, and not in riddles; and the form of Jehovah doth he behold.
Why then were ye not afraid to speak against my servant, against Moses?” That is how God vindicates Moses. In the previous chapter Moses had been marked by a certain measure of weakness; he had expressed doubts as to whether God could feed the six hundred thousand men that were amongst Israel at that time, and keep them fed. “And Jehovah said to Moses, Hath Jehovah’s hand become short?”, Num 11: 23. If God asks us a question like that it is just to subdue us and to make us feel how small and foolish we are. “Now”, He said, “shalt thou see whether my word will come to pass unto thee or not”. But then while Moses is marked by a measure of weakness in chapter 11, God is not going to allow Miriam and Aaron to speak against him in chapter 12. He says ‘No, he is My servant’, “he is faithful in all my house”. ‘I will stand by him’. But it says, “the man Moses was very meek, above all men that were upon the face of the earth”. Well that was a great feature that marked Moses, ‘meekness’. Of course, every feature of moral perfection is seen in Jesus. Meekness is there peculiarly, and many other things too, faithfulness too, but meekness particularly, “I am meek and lowly in heart;” but every feature of moral excellence of course is found in Jesus.
Now we come to Esther, and we have the man Mordecai—“the man”; we have the Man Christ
Jesus, that is unique; and the man Moses, his meekness is the thing which the Spirit of God enlarges upon, and his faithfulness to God in all His house. These are the features of real manhood, meekness and faithfulness to God, two features of moral excellence which can be found in men, and these things are put before us, so that we should desire to take them on. Well now, in the book of Esther we have this man Mordecai. And it says in chapter 9 that he became continually greater; “the man Mordecai became continually greater”. Now what was the feature about Mordecai? The feature about him was that he would not bow to Amalek. He would not bow to Haman; Haman was an Amalekite, and God had said that He would have war with Amalek from generation to generation. God has no respect for Amalek; He is not going to tolerate Amalek. Amalek typifies sin working in the flesh. The flesh is that which Satan can work on, and God is not going to tolerate it; He says He will have war with Amalek from generation to generation.
Mordecai was true to that; Haman was an Agagite, an Amalekite, and the king had raised him to a position of great honour, and the king had commanded that every one should bow to Haman; and Haman was very keen to see that every one did bow before him too, for that was the character of the man. In the presence of
these things Mordecai simply refuses to bow to him; he maintains God’s judgment of the flesh. Now that is an important thing, dear brethren. I am saying this as much to myself as to you all, but I am sure we have all recognised that that is an important thing, that we do not allow the flesh, that we do not make provision for it. It says, “But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not take forethought for the flesh to fulfil its lusts”, Rom 13: 14. That is what Scripture says, “put on the Lord Jesus Christ”, it is a deliberate action of mind on your part, that we “put on the Lord Jesus Christ”. His Lordship implies His authority; Jesus Christ is the kind of Man that He is, and we take it on; it is for us to take it on. Now Mordecai was one such; he would not bow at any price to Haman. Haman was the Amalekite and Mordecai was of a definite mind that cost what it might he would not bow to Haman.
Well now, we know the history of Mordecai; we know how the Lord supported him; we know how near the enemy got to him. We know that Haman got the length of actually having a gallows fifty cubits high constructed and made ready to hang Mordecai on it; it got as near as that, a gallows actually prepared on which Mordecai was to be hanged, but it got no
further. In the end Haman was hanged on it, and Mordecai was exalted. It says the “man
Mordecai”; he just represents that feature of true manhood, that would not under any circumstances surrender to the flesh.
It is a constant exercise to us all, while we are here, because the flesh is with us all the time. The Spirit is against the flesh, and the flesh against the Spirit. But God has given us His Holy Spirit and therefore why should we make provision for the flesh to satisfy its lusts? The great thing is that in the power of the Holy Spirit we have liberty to move toward God at any moment, at any time; we have ability to appreciate Christ; we have ability to appreciate the things of God. Wonderful things are open to us in the Spirit of God, and therefore we want to be careful that we do not in any way grieve the Holy Spirit. It says, “And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with which ye have been sealed for the day of redemption”, Eph 4: 30. And so true manhood for a believer lies in this among other things at any rate, that he does not allow the flesh, and that is what Mordecai stands for pre-eminently, and it says, “the man Mordecai became continually greater”.
Well, that is all I have to say; it is a question of manhood, learnt first of all, and supremely, in Christ, but then we get these other examples; “the man Moses”, and “the man Mordecai”, and if it is put that way, it is intended to impress us
with the features of manhood which shine in those persons.
May the Lord bless His word to us.
This address is taken from a periodical, ‘Living Waters’, in which the place and date when it was delivered are not given.
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