ANGELIC APPEARINGS
[p. 228] ANGELIC APPEARINGS
Judges 2: 1 - 5; Judges 6:11 - 21; Judges 6:24 - 26; Judges 13:3 - 5; Judges 13:15 - 20
I am thinking this evening of divine or heavenly appearings. These date from Abraham’s time according to the well-known utterance of Stephen, who said, “The God of glory appeared unto our father Abraham”. Acts 7:2 From that point onwards we have continuous appearings. A most interesting subject as you will readily own, and these appearings imply that the people of God were not simply to be possessed of knowledge and light but that they were to take on of the divine and heavenly character, and that this was to be maintained in freshness; hence the continuation from Abraham right through. The apostle Paul, as you will remember, specially dwells on the appearings of the Lord Jesus after His resurrection, the object obviously being to impress His own according to the features in which He appeared to them; and this continues in a spiritual way, not in the miraculous manner of Old Testament times, or even of New Testament times, but in a spiritual, but not less real, manner; so that the saints of God should take on the divine and heavenly in continued freshness. Now this will appear, as you may have time to look into it, in all the typical books, and I might say right through, but particularly in the typical books and those immediately following. And so I have selected these three scriptures in Judges as illustrative of what I have said. They present to us angelic or, in principle, divine appearings. The first is in the chapter I read, chapter 2, and as you might expect these appearings have to do with recovery. If there is to be recovery from a position into which the people of God may have descended or fallen, it is on the principle of something better than that from which they fell.
[p. 229] God would impress us with what is superior — with superior things. You will all be conversant with the greatness of the word ‘better’ in the epistle to the Hebrews, an epistle that corresponds to this book. It is a recovering epistle and on the principle of there being better things. To illustrate what I mean, dear brethren, I refer to the gospel of Luke. You will remember how angelic appearings and communications are stamped on the early chapters of Luke, as if God in introducing the gospel as He does in that book in a unique way, would impress us, not simply with the terms of it, but with the company or realm into which the gospel is intended to introduce us. The gospel is intended not only to deliver us through the power of the kingdom from this world and keep us from evil in it, but to introduce us into what is heavenly, so that we really need to read Ephesians with Romans. Luke goes much beyond Romans. And so, immediately you have in Luke as shepherds were abiding with their flocks by night — while others were occupied with worldly things in the cities and towns — the angel of the Lord is there by them as if to say, ‘You are here unselfishly engaged with your flock, and we will give you excellent company, we afford you heavenly company. Others are enjoying themselves, the mass, in the towns and cities; you are here unselfishly and I will afford you heavenly company!’ That is virtually what the angel implied, and then the glory of the Lord shines around. What glory in any town or city in the world would compare with that? So that the very best thing, you see, is introduced at once by Luke, what God has for man — heavenly companionship, heavenly communications and heavenly glory shines round about. And then a multitude, as it says, suddenly a multitude of the heavenly host were there, and what they were saying! What could the orations or the entertainments in any city of the empire be compared with what they were [p. 230] saying? Think of the language of angels, the manner of angels’ communications, how they would speak and then what they were saying, what was engaging them — “Glory to God in the highest” Luke 2:14; that is to say the greatest possible elevation. What was going on and what is going on in the cities today, as then, is the depths of moral degradation, whereas they were occupied with the heavenly, the highest. One could say much more about these opening chapters of Luke, but what I have said serves to indicate how God would encircle us not only with heavenly light but heavenly companionship.
Well now, that is the principle in all these appearings, and so what we find in chapter 2 is the movement of the first angel mentioned. He comes up from Gilgal. That is a matter of immense moment in view of the conditions depicted in the first chapter. It meant that the angel said virtually, ‘You have gone and I am coming’, for God will not give up His people even although they depart from a great spiritual position. Gilgal was a great spiritual position. It is indeed, for it is the very key to the position, the holding, the maintenance of heavenly ground. There were at it the symbols of Israel’s unity, not as they came out of Egypt, but as they came out of death. What we want to see, beloved, is an Israel out of death, as the apostle says, “the Israel of God”. Galatians 6:16 Circumcision avails nothing nor uncircumcision but new creation. There are those who walk by this law, peace be unto them. The Israel of God is the spiritual, the saints viewed spiritually come up out of death, as I might say, and come down from heaven. That is what really enters into Gilgal, for not only are we as the antitype of Gilgal a risen people but a heavenly people, for it is there the reproach of Egypt is rolled away, and they take on the heavenly; they belong to the land; they eat heavenly food, the old corn, what had been there, they take on that and the [p. 231] reproach of Egypt is rolled away. The position was therefore supremely spiritual, but they had left it and God is not going to stay there alone. Such is His consideration for His people. He would pursue them, but to a point. Bochim signifies weeping, as you will know. And so the angel comes up from Gilgal to Bochim and he reminds them of the love of God. Why should we move away from a position assigned to us by the love of God? “I will never break my covenant with you”. God is God. His gifts and calling are without repentance, but His very love implies that He must be severe, and so in His government, you see, He allows to remain as chastisement what they in their negligence and fleshly feelings and desires retained. He reproaches them with what they had not done. They had not thrown down the altars of the Canaanites or the people of the land and He says, ‘Now they will remain with you’. God will turn, you see, in His love, to good effect the fruits of our own negligence and carelessness; the things which we should have dealt with remain as thorns in our sides; but God remains. It does not say the angel left. They called it Bochim. It was the place of weeping. They had wept there. They spoke of what they had done but it was not Gilgal. I may weep and God accepts my tears, but they may not fully express what is required, but there it is, you see. The angel went from the one point to the other point and reminded the people of their negligence, what they had not done, and the consequence of it was that they are forced to dwell with the Canaanites who had become the occasion of discipline in the hand of divine love.
Well now, the next appearing is that to Gideon, for these three appearings are beautifully constructive. God is on the up line. He has got some better thing. Now Israel is again in straits through the Midianites, not now the inhabitants of the land but another foe,
[p. 232] an ancient foe, but retaining his power and his multitude for they overran the land. The people were nigh destruction for want of food, and so God sent a prophet, but a prophet is not an appearing. A prophetic ministry is invaluable; thank God for it. It is God convicting the conscience, but not an appearing. So you see in the chapter God sent a prophet to reproach the people again, but an angel of Jehovah sat under the terebinth; that is another matter. It is Jehovah Himself as the passage shows. “Jehovah”, it says, “looked upon” Gideon — the presence of personality. No one stood out in chapter 2 in the passage I read. All Israel were there — no one stood out to lead in anything. We may thank God for the general effect. It is a very fine thing, the general effect of an appearing. All Israel were in view and all Israel were affected. They all wept. But now we come to personality. Weeping is not enough. Tears may quickly dry and never come again. Under certain influences we weep, but we want that steadiness which belongs to manhood and that is what Gideon presents to us. He presents manhood. At the present time what is needed among the people of God universally is just that; it is maturity. We have here, to illustrate what I say, a bullock, the second. The young bullock he is called and yet he is the second and he is seven years of age, which literally is not a young bullock. It is a remarkable combination, a young bullock, the second bullock, seven years. What is it, beloved, but a combination of maturity, of fully developed maturity, seven, and yet youthful freshness and added to that divine sovereignty. He is the second; he is divinely selected. Now you see what we are in the presence of in this appearing, and how essential these things are, the recognition of divine sovereignty in selection, leadership and what is required in leadership, full maturity, not simply one year as the passover lamb nor three years as in Abraham’s offering in Genesis 15, but seven. Seven is complete exercise in the way of maturity, for seven years in a bullock means much more than in a man. And so we find in the book of Exodus the three great leaders whom God set before His people, Moses, Aaron and Miriam. Moses and Aaron are said to be eighty and eighty-three years of age respectively and as far as the record shows Miriam must have been much older, and yet in Moses there was right to the end of his course freshness. His eye was not dim nor his natural force abated. The unabatement of natural force signifies full physical power; he retained that. But you have here, in the grouping of these features, recovery in view, a very great personality, an extraordinary personality. Gideon shines in this book above all others for personality. The brothers who are like him, all of them are said to have been as the children of a king. That is personality — persons with great moral force and presence before whom there was no rising up. That is what is needed throughout the world, ever needed for recovery and for the maintenance of the mind of God. And so, the angel sat there as if he had come to stay. It is not a passing thing. He is greatly interested in this matter. Things must be put right and he sits down.
It is a matter of consequence. I cannot go into the details, but Gideon replies in a measure of unbelief and ignorance, but it says that Jehovah looked upon him. What delight there was at least potentially for God in that man. God knows the end from the beginning, as in the case of David, the Spirit of God says, “Arise, anoint him; for this is he”. 1 Samuel 16:12 Jehovah looked upon him. It is personality. There is a great difference in the New Testament in material for the assembly as in Peter. “Thou art Peter”. Matthew 16:18 That is not his name; that is what he was, whereas in John’s gospel the Lord looked upon him and said, “Thou shalt be called Peter”. That is personality, persons,
[p. 234] not individuals, and that is what is in view here, that if we think of one another, what is that brother, what is that sister, it is a question of personality. If I bring into the assembly any personality I may have in this world I bring in extraneous material which is sure to work damage. The point is to acquire my personality inside, and so the Lord, after the great fact of material has been brought to light in Matthew 16, selected three men and took them up into the mount to see Him, not as they knew Him before but transfigured. He would show them His Person and His majesty in His own surroundings, as Peter says later, “we ... were eyewitnesses of his majesty” 2 Peter 1:16 that is personality. So that, dear brethren, when coming into fellowship, the thing is to leave all personality that I may have acquired in learning or by reading or money or natural ability — to leave that outside because it is no use to God. I have got to leave it sooner or later. “No longer live, I”, says one. “I am crucified with Christ”. Galatians 2:20 You see the personality of Paul in that sense had gone. So that the thing is as coming into fellowship, as we speak, to get an idea of Christ. He will show Himself to you. “I ... will manifest myself to him”. “He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him”, John 14:21 as if He would say, ‘I want you to get personality, to see Me and to take on of My greatness’, for that is the idea. “As is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly”. 1 Corinthians 15:48 We come to that sooner or later. It is well worth while to begin to take on that personality, for without it I shall be poor in heaven. Well, that is what you get here. Jehovah looked upon him and He says, “Go in this thy might”. Whether actually or potentially he was to be a mighty man, a man of war, one of the most striking in history. Well, that is the appearing here [p. 235] and so now Gideon begins to take on the heavenly at once. He begins to show that he understands. Well now, he says, ‘Accept a present from me’, and the angel actually says, ‘I will wait here for you’. You see how heaven takes notice of you. Think of being waited on by heaven. Think of the king here, suppose he waited on me outside. The thing is inconceivable, and yet it is not inconceivable with God. The three persons who came to Abraham actually waited there until he brought the kid. Jehovah Himself with His companions visiting the patriarch there, actually waited on him. And so the angel here — it is Jehovah Himself — says, ‘I will wait for you’, and He does. Now you have a man who knows how to do things. He knows how to act in relation to heaven, to God. He goes in and prepares the meat and the unleavened cakes and the broth. See how well he does things. It must have taken considerable time; he would not do so in a few minutes; and the angel waited all that time; and all that time Gideon was working away with a sense that the angel was waiting on him. What an effect that would have on him! He would never forget it. How often he would recall the experience of preparing the meal for this great heavenly personage. He brings it out and he presents it, and then the angel says, ‘Put the flesh and the bread on this rock — this one, and pour out the broth’. You see it is not simply a question of a little bit of meat and a little bit of bread and broth. It is a heavenly matter — God come down. Think of the simplicity of Jesus as here upon earth, God Himself come down, how He went in and out amongst men, sat down to their tables, ate and drank of what they had. What experience Mary His mother had of Him. It was this so infinitely amplified in the life of Jesus and do you think the Holy Spirit is leaving this out? The Holy Spirit knows how to take care of all those things. Not a thing is lost of all these wonderful [p. 236] impressions — God in Christ among men. So the angel shows Gideon — more, he takes his staff and he touches the flesh and the cakes, as if Gideon is to learn how things are done in heaven — absolute obedience — nothing is left to me in that sense. The fire comes out of the rock and the flame comes up and consumes the meat and the bread. The lesson of the thing remains for Gideon and the angel departs. Now what would Gideon do? He rears his altar to Jehovah Shalom, God of peace. Peace has entered his soul, and that same night there is a word for the man’s mind, the word of God. He is directed to take this bullock. You see that is the point. This bullock is to be in the forefront, that is to say what God had in His mind is to be in front. The point is Gideon is to be a man, not a babe, not to be carried about with this tale and that tale and every wind of doctrine, but having the mind of God and knowing what to do, firmly and courageously to do it as a man, as Paul says, “Quit yourselves like men; be strong”. 1 Corinthians 16:13 That is what you find — manhood. And so he is to take the bullock, even the second one, seven years old, and he does it. Well now, I cannot say any more about Gideon, although much could be said.
I pass on to chapter 13 to show you that God in these appearings is on the up line. God has never anything below His own standard for His people, that is, the heavenly character here. And now, He is about to bring in something. There is no man there; no person that He could appeal to. Manoah is not there. He is away. His wife is there and she is simply to be the mother of him who is to be a deliverer. The maternal is stressed, as if the Holy Spirit would remind us of collective things, that there are such things as collective things, maternal instincts, and that God out of barrenness would bring in life, a Nazarite, who begins to deliver Israel. That is, it is what God can do, not simply in sovereignty but in sovereign [p. 237] power, almighty power. We had sovereignty in Gideon, but here it is a question of the sovereign power of God. “The exceeding greatness of his power ... which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead”. Ephesians 1:19 - 20 That was what was made known to Abraham, that God is almighty. That is a reference to the truth brought out in Genesis, that God brings in by power what is lacking by nature. Manoah’s wife was barren like Sarah, but none of these things hinder God — what is impossible with men is possible with God. What we have before us here is the almighty power of God. Is that not valuable? It is. That we might know it! One of the great prayers of the apostle in Ephesians is that we might know the exceeding greatness of His power to usward who believe, according to the working of His mighty power which He wrought in Christ, and another prayer is that we might be strengthened with power by His Spirit in the inner man, according to the riches of His glory; so he says, “For this cause I bow my knees”. That is to say, the exercise deepens. In the first chapter he does not bow his knees. In chapter 3 it is “For this reason I bow my knees to the Father ... of whom every family in the heavens and on earth is named, in order that he may give you according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with power by his Spirit in the inner man; ... in order that ye may be fully able to apprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height; and to know the love of the Christ”. Ephesians 3:14 - 19 What power is that? The power that worketh in us, as he says, He “is able to do far exceedingly above all which we ask or think, according to the power which works in us”. Ephesians 3:20 It is not something at a distance; it is a question of what God will do, not by bringing in a new power, but by the power that worketh in us. It is one of the most marvellous things we get in Scripture, the power that worketh in us, what God can do, what is to come outside of nature — “exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us”. Ephesians 3:20 The woman is to be abstemious from all wine and unclean things — all that is of nature; that is if there is to be any product from faith by the power of God there must be that collectively — in the company, for that is the idea in the maternal side. And so, you see, Manoah is absent on both occasions. Why should he be absent? He was absent when the angel came the first time, and the second time although he prayed that the man might come, he was not honoured. It is not now a question of leading brothers, of those responsible, it is a question of the whole company. It is God coming in to operate through the whole company, so that there might be some product acceptable to Himself that He can use as a Nazarite for the deliverance of His people. Manoah is very interested in this personage. His wife sends for him when he comes the second time. God would show it is not the responsible element; it is the whole company, sisters and brothers together; but then the responsible ones are called and they come; they are not without influence, never are. He wants the angel to tell him his name and he wants to offer a sacrifice. That is, he would do more than the generality of the saints, so to speak. She was nearer the mark than he, for it says that Manoah did not know that he was an angel of the Lord. That does not say much for him. Leading brothers are so apt to be in their own importance that they miss the thing. That is perfectly obvious to the very youngest in the meeting. They want to see and they want to know. He was a man with remarkable intelligence but he knew not that he was an angel. It is a poor thing if I do not know an angel from an ordinary person. He does not get much honour conferred on him. Now Manoah would do this and he would do that, and the angel says, ‘If [p. 239] you would do anything honour God; if you would offer anything, offer it to God’, for he did not know that he was anything more than some distinguished person, but he has got to learn. Manoah has to learn, that is to say the responsible element has to learn. They have got to be brought into line with what God is doing in the mass, for it is what God has in His mind to operate with all the saints. That is a principle in Colossians and Ephesians. Let them all be brought into it. They will develop motherly instincts and discerning instincts and very often the leading brothers have to come into line. And so the offering has an altar. Thank God he knows about the altar, but it is a question of a rock again. Things have to be founded on solid ground. They were to have the rock. They were to be on sure ground. Now he offers his offering, and the angel says to him, “How is it that thou askest after my name, seeing it is wonderful?” It may be I have not been accustomed to the wonderful. If I have been with God in my soul I am accustomed to the wonderful. If I am comparing myself with my brethren I have not come into the wonderful. “They ... comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise”. 2 Corinthians 10:12 We need to get into the realm of the wonderful and that is the realm of the divine and the heavenly. “His name is called Wonderful, Counsellor, Mighty God”. Isaiah 9:6 Think of being brought into that sphere, of Him who dwelleth in light unapproachable, whom no man hath seen nor can see. How can I take that in? That One has come out, you see, and He has acted before our eyes. He has done wonderfully. We want to get into the realm of the wonderful, and we shall feel how little we are in the presence of the wonderful. And so you have the wonderful here. God is doing wonderful things if we had only eyes to see them. So that the angel not only announces his name but he does wondrously. He shows that he is what he is and that is final. In Gideon’s case the angel departed in connection with the offering but in this case the angel goes up in it. It is a question of going into heaven. We often speak of the Lord coming at the rapture; but think of what going into heaven means. How are you going to go? There is such a thing as the way in, and that is what you get in Luke both in his gospel and in the Acts. In the end of his gospel Jesus is carried up. Well, you get some idea of going to heaven — carried up. I cannot convey in a moment just what appeared when He was carried up, but there were those who saw, and in the Acts it was specially mentioned, “This same Jesus ... . shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven” Acts 1:11; and then as they beheld Him He went, as if the impression was conveyed to us that they actually saw the manner; and is it not important that we should have that before us — how we go. It is a spiritual matter. And so here the angel, you will observe, as the offering went up he went up. “For it came to pass, when the flame went up toward heaven from off the altar, that the angel of the Lord ascended in the flame of the altar. And Manoah and his wife looked on”. That is what one would impress upon us that there is that idea in this book of God leading up to a point, what is in His mind for His people — for these things are all written for us — ascending in the flame from off the altar and the saints looking on. Why should they be seen looking on, if not to convey to us the importance of looking on, so that we might become conversant with the altar and see that our place is not here but it is ascending, might I say? Glory to God in the highest, as we have in Luke. That is what God has in His mind — ascension, and if it is literal it should be moral now, so that we should be occupied with the most exalted things, the most morally exalted things, heavenly things, things in the highest.