THE MORNING AND EVENING LAMBS
[p. 151] THE MORNING AND EVENING LAMBS
Ephesians 5:18 - 19; Numbers 28:1 - 8; John 20:19 - 22
It will be observed from the first passage read, that I have in mind to dwell upon the subject of spirituality, implying that we are to be filled with the Spirit. The other scriptures illustrate how this may be maintained, for it is a daily experience representing how our years are to be filled up, and that if the evening is not equal to the morning there is sure to be decline until perhaps there is no morning at all. So I had in mind that we might be helped in considering the morning and evening lambs, the evening lamb being equal to the morning lamb. That is to say, our lives being made up of days we maintain the spiritual level that is proper to Christians in seeing to it that the evening is not less than the morning.
The idea of the day, as you will all remember, came in in Genesis 1, God having worked by the day — a very touching suggestion. You will remember how Job cursed his day, as if others did not have to do with it, as if God did not work on that day, but He was working then as He is now every day. The Lord said, “My Father worketh hitherto”(John 5:17), not at certain times only, but always, for we cannot think of God being inactive in the presence of sin in this world. Job disregarded that fact as we are all likely to do in our narrowness and pettiness, but Job’s folly could not interfere with God’s activities.
We have an allusion to His activities in grace in His word to Noah. He says, “My spirit shall not always plead with Man; for he indeed is flesh; but his days shall be a hundred and twenty years”. Genesis 6:3. How full those days would be from God’s side, every day of those hundred and twenty years; and with no result in the way of conversions as far as we know!
[p. 152] There was testimony — an important matter. It was not simply the handing out of tracts and the like, but appeals and strivings every day. Man’s thoughts were only evil every day, but that did not interfere with God’s thoughts nor His activities. They were all God’s days and He showed they were His days when striving with men in them, even although there was no result.
Another idea of work on God’s part is in Noah sending out the dove. He sent out a raven but it does not say he sent it out from him, but he sent out the dove from him. It is a type of the Spirit, not now as striving, but under the emblem of a dove; well known to some of us, for the Spirit of God came down from heaven as a dove on the Lord Jesus. Matthew tells us the Lord saw the Spirit as a dove descending on Him, and Mark says the same, but John says that John the baptist saw the Spirit coming down as a dove, and Luke says that He came down in bodily shape as a dove, so that there should be no doubt as to what the dove means. But I speak of it now because of its relation to the day. The raven did not return to Noah; but the dove did return “to him”. It came to him and he took it in “to him”, such were the typically precious relations, as we may say, between the Father and the Spirit, between divine Persons. There was nothing about a day in the first sending out, but at the second sending out it reads “the dove came back at eventide”; that is to say, there was a day’s work, but not a fruitless one, pointing to our own times. She brought back in her beak an olive-leaf plucked off, typical of life out of death. Death was still there, the waters had not quite dried up, but there was life as symbolised in the olive-leaf. That is our position as far as I understand. The Holy Spirit today is working by the day, bringing in these results for God, not a floating olive-leaf, but one plucked off, showing that it was connected with its source when the dove found it, and she brought it back at eventide; it was a fruitful day’s work; it represented [p. 153] typically something for God. There was no suggestion of fatigue, but energy, as if the dove would spend the day fully and bring back some result.
In keeping with all that, I want to show from Numbers 28 how God looks for this very thing in the continual burnt-offering. He provides food for us in abundance, and these chapters — 28 and 29 — which run together, deal with what he expects — daily, and weekly, and monthly, and yearly. That is how the matter stands. The last great offering is the feast of tabernacles, which diminishes in the number of bullocks from thirteen down to seven, but not below that. That is to say, the millennial state of things implies that God will have His portion although it may diminish. It is a sorrowful thing to have to admit diminution in our givings God-ward, but God bears with it provided it does not go below the spiritual thought of seven, provided it does not go below what is the outcome of perfect exercise. All above that is excess which God delights in, but I am speaking only of the daily, because if the daily experience be not maintained, the weekly will drop, and the monthly will drop, and the yearly will drop, and in all probability we shall lose our mornings, we shall become darkened. As Peter says, “But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins”, 2 Peter 1:9. It was because of that very thing, not attending to the daily sacrifices.
So we have a yearling lamb, a beautiful type of Christ. A yearling lamb is not just a little lamb. There are two words for “lamb” in the New Testament, the one indicating a full-grown creature, and the other a tiny thought. It is the former that is in view in the yearling, so that God’s offerings contemplate maturity and not infancy. Scripture makes provision for infancy, for God takes care of the infants; the Lord Jesus took infants into His arms, but you can hardly expect an infant to make a daily offering; it has to be cared for.
[p. 154] Offering to God is priestly; it contemplates a certain maturity, and so there are the two yearling lambs, one in the morning and the other in the evening.
Now, dear brethren, this is intensely practical, because unless we attend to it our special convocations must be impoverished and God denied His part. “Will a man rob God?” it says in Malachi, which is, as you might say, the evening book of the Old Testament. It is a challenge. It is a sorrowful thing to be classified with robbers. “Will a man rob God?” “Wherein do we rob thee?” “In tithes and heave-offerings”, (Malachi 3:8) is the answer. We do not want to be classified thus. To meet that situation God urges them to bring the tithes into the treasure house and He would open the windows of heaven and pour out a blessing that they could not contain. It is contingent on bringing the tithes, so that we may not be found robbers of God. We may not think of it as serious, but it is equally serious to robbing men, for God has rights, and His rights surely come first. So that the morning lamb denotes how we begin the day. I desire to be simple, because what I have in mind is that we should be filled with the Spirit, and that this should be maintained, and if it be maintained, the evening lamb will be equal to the morning lamb. As I said, God requires a yearling lamb, with a meat-offering mingled with beaten oil, and in addition to that a drink-offering. The word “strong drink” is found in this passage. How do I begin my day therefore? What have I, to speak reverently, to stimulate the heart of God? This is what is meant by strong drink. It was not for man; it was for God, and it was to be poured out in the sanctuary. If we go back to Exodus 25:29, we will find that the table was furnished with vessels with which to pour out. The believer has something for God in the morning; he has his lamb and what accompanies it, denoting that he is appreciating the Lord Jesus.
[p. 155] One could say much about that. It is not simply a living creature, but the kind of humanity as indicated in the oblation — fine flour measured. We are far too loose in our relations with God and with one another, as if any measure will do, but God requires a certain measure. What we get here is that everything is to be in proportion, that it is not simply a matter of light, not simply a question of what Christ is objectively as offered up in death for me, but the kind of humanity, which is of course what I should have. The relation between the lamb and the fine flour is what Christ is as offering Himself in death, and what He is in the holy nature of His humanity in which believers partake. It is of the divine nature, as seen in Christ that we partake. Then the oil is in proper measure, that is to say, the recognition of the Spirit; all to show that I am spiritually proportionate, and then the strong drink which means that if God is to be affected I am to be affected. Think of God being affected by my being affected, that my attitude of heart in regard of Christ affects God!
To illustrate what I am saying, I might refer to Mary of Bethany. You will remember the difference between her and Martha. We often compare them, but in John 11 they are brought near together spiritually. Martha met the Lord outside the town; she went out to meet Him, but she did not move anybody. Nobody wondered where she went. An unspiritual person is not likely to influence people Godward or Christward. Yet she was going out to meet the Lord, and she did meet Him and she got light from Him. She said, “Yea, Lord: I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of God, who should come into the world”(John 11:27). She got that light from the Lord, and immediately she goes off to her sister. She was affected; her spiritual stature had increased, and as our spiritual stature increases through our acquaintance with Christ this will be manifest to the brethren. She went off to her sister; but there is no [p. 156] idea with her of assuming to know more than Mary. The measure of my stature is seen in the way I regard the brethren. She went to her sister secretly and said, “The teacher is come and calls thee”(John 11:28). That is very beautiful in Martha’s case. She grew rapidly; she is not complaining now; had she been fleshly she would have said, I am more ardent than Mary; I came out to meet you, she did not. But, no, she went off and told her sister secretly, and said, “The teacher is come and calls thee”. Scripture does not say the Lord told her to say that, but she did. Then Mary moves, and those that were present move too. They said, “She goes to the tomb that she may weep there”(John 11:31), and they went after her. That shows the influence that a spiritual person has; but what I am coming to is this, that when she came to where the Lord was — and He remained where Martha met Him — she fell at His feet, and said partly what Martha said, but she wept, and the Jews wept, and when the Lord saw her weeping and the Jews weeping. He wept. Now that illustrates what I was saying, that God is affected as I am affected. If Christ commands my heart so that like Himself I rejoice in spirit, that affects God too.
That is what I understand to be the typical meaning of strong drink; it is what affects God, His people are so affected that He is affected. Can any one doubt it? His delight and our delight is in His beloved Son! That is what He is looking for. He has brought His Son in here, and He has indicated from heaven His pleasure in Him, and now He is waiting for us to indicate ours. That is what is going on, the Holy Spirit bringing us to the appreciation of the Lord Jesus so that we are affected. One could illustrate it in many ways, how people came to the Lord throughout the gospels and were affected, and every time they were affected God was affected. God is delighted with our delight in Christ and that is what goes on normally in the assembly.
[p. 157] So that there is to be strong drink in the morning, and I would suggest, dear brethren, that our morning family readings require these things, that they are not mere routine or perfunctory matters, but that Christ comes before us so that we are affected. God is pleased with that. We begin the day thus; we are yielding to God, for God has His part in it if we have ours. It is intended to yield to God. But how often the wear and tear of the household duties and the business — I need not enumerate them — tend to diminish, or it may be, to efface altogether the impressions of the morning, and that is where the enemy works; if possible he will catch away every impression that strengthened you and made you happy. The drink-offering is to be poured out, it says, in the sanctuary. Numbers 28:7. This is priestly service. It is not fleshly effervescence but holy appreciation of Christ, and God accepts it. It is part of His day. God enters into the days, but what is seen here involves the assembly.
Well, as I said, the wear and tear of the day’s work are sure to affect us, and the point is, can I maintain my spirituality in spite of these adverse things? God has provided that I may. That would lead me into other channels of truth, but in [p. 158] the wondrous system into which we are brought we are baptised to the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, and divine Persons are active on our behalf, and that activity extends throughout the whole day. The provision is that the spiritual level should be maintained until the evening, that there should be no diminution. It may be that something happens to disturb you and affect your conscience. Some things do happen and you are not released of them until the evening: “He shall be unclean until the evening” (compare Leviticus 11). That is, you have to go through the remaining part of the day in a certain sense of bitterness, but there is relief in the evening. The allowance of the flesh involves that you go through a certain process for cleansing, but in the wondrous system into which we are introduced there is relief; there is the water of purification, there is the Priest, there is the confessional (compare 1 John 1:9 and 2:1). There is nothing lacking that is requisite for our maintenance spiritually. Everything is available so that the spiritual level should not be dropped, and when I come to the evening I offer to God what I offered in the morning, the same yearling lamb, the same oblation with the oil, and the same drink-offering. The level is maintained, and if that level be maintained during the six days, you may depend that on the first day of the following week there will be wealth. Mark that in making the weekly and monthly offerings, we are never to omit those two offerings. It means that I keep up the level of spiritual power in all circumstances. So that we are to be “filled with the Spirit”, as the scripture which I read says, “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.
In closing I want to draw your attention to the evening of John 20. It is a special record; it is not a repetition of any of the others. It is by itself, and it stresses what happened in the evening, and the word is said to mean that it was late in the evening, that is, when we might be worn out or fatigued. I want to show how the Lord sets the example here of the maintenance of spiritual vigour. It was a busy day, but a wonderful day for the Lord — the first day of the week. It is mentioned twice in the chapter. It was the day on which the Lord rose, the day of the “hind of the morning”. That is the heading of Psalm 22 as you will know. It is a feminine idea, so that it was not only Christ’s activity but the activity of those who loved Him. Of course He was active, but it is to bring out the activity of His lovers; that is, it is for us. Mary [p. 159] Magdalene is the example; she is very early there and she runs, but the chapter is to show that on that day which began with the “hind of the morning” the activity of the morning is there in the evening.
What I think the chapter indicates among many other things is that it was a heavy day’s work for the Lord — for I may so speak of Him — and certainly a heavy day’s work for the disciples, for events that affect our minds tax us as manual labour does. It was a day of great events. Peter and John had run to the tomb, as you know. It was a long day because the movements began very early, and now it is late in the evening. I am seeking to show you that the chapter confirms all I have been saying, that the evening is in keeping with the morning; the “hind of the morning” is the hind of the evening, that is, the agility and the energy are still there. There is no criticism, not a word of reproach in the narrative as regards the disciples although Thomas was absent. In this section it is a question of the saints being looked at as spiritual. There is no reference to Simon’s sin here; it is the disciples and where they were. It is a question of what they are to Jesus, and He came in, the doors being shut where they were, and stood in the midst and spake peace to them, and they were glad. They were not drooping; they were not depressed; they were not perturbed; there is nothing of that kind in this record. It is an abstract view, no doubt, but it brings out what is possible, and what God looks for, that the evening is equal to the morning. It is not here an individual matter, but an assembly matter, and one may go so far as to apply it to the evening of the dispensation, that God will bring out the vitality and the energy, however obscure, that marked the morning. I believe He will. I believe He is doing it, and we do not want to be out of it, and if we are to be in it there must be the maintenance of the daily sacrifices, as I have been saying. The morning family reading and prayer and what may [p. 160] come in in the evening to correspond are of the greatest importance, because if we neglect these things we shall be impoverished in the special convocations. But if we do not neglect them, when we come to the sabbath and the other feasts, speaking anti-typically, we shall be enriched and have all that is required for the service of God.
That is what I had on my heart. I believe you will recognise its importance, and it is very beautiful in this section of John to notice that the Lord said, “Peace be to you” twice, and they are glad when they see Him. The spirit of holy buoyancy marks this occasion; they are all awake and on the alert, and ready for what the Lord brought in. The conditions were so suitable that He could speak peace twice; for after they rejoiced He says, “Peace be to you” again, and He has such confidence in them that He says, “As the Father sent me forth, I also send you”, John 20:21.
He cannot trust us if we are not spiritual; there is no one really reliable who is not spiritual, and alas! We have to admit that all are not. The apostle says to the Galatians, “Ye that are spiritual ...”, which plainly intimates that some are not spiritual. The Corinthians were not spiritual. It is the spiritual that are reliable, and so the thought of the Lamb’s wife refers to what is spiritual. She is His wife; it is the evidence that she is trustworthy: “The heart of her husband confideth in her”, (Proverbs 31:11). The Lord here says, “As the Father sent me forth, I also send you”(John 20:21), and then He breathes on them and says, “Receive the Holy Spirit”; thus they were rendered trustworthy in view of the great service committed to them.
Well, that is what is needed. If there is to be a representation of Christ it is a question of spirituality, and that maintained. May God help us as to all this!