THE INTERCESSION OF CHRIST AS MAINTAINING THE SAINTS IN THE ORDER OF THE WILL OF GOD
[p. 176] THE INTERCESSION OF CHRIST AS MAINTAINING THE SAINTS IN THE ORDER OF THE WILL OF GOD
Hebrews 7: 25; Numbers 17: 6 - 10; Numbers 20:7-11; Numbers 20:14; Numbers 20:17-20; Exodus 28: 15 - 21
I have been thinking, dear brethren, of the intercession of Christ, basing my thoughts on the passage in Hebrews in which it is said, “he is ... always living to intercede” for those “who approach by him to God”. I would stress the words “Always living”.
The idea of life is emphasised in Hebrews. Indeed it is so in all the scriptures addressed to Hebrew believers, and particularly in regard to the priesthood. The corresponding types are in Numbers. The idea of life is not stressed earlier, but rather relationship, as with Moses — “Aaron ... thy brother”, Exodus 4: 14; but in Numbers, life in the priestly family comes specially into evidence as meeting rebellion; so that it has peculiar application now since the revolt in the public body, which involved the clerical system, assuming such official rights as, from the very outset, militated against the result for the people of God, of the priestly office of Christ in heaven.
What I wish to show, beloved brethren, is that Numbers 20 enlarges on the result of the priesthood of Christ in heaven, as coming to the people of God in spite of the official class. So that any blessing flowing out from God, from the time of the revolt I have alluded to down to the present time, is not because of the state of the official class, but in spite of it. Otherwise, where should we be? We should not be allowed to be here as we are tonight. So that any blessing from God accredited in a public way [p. 177] throughout the history of the assembly, is in no sense to be credited to the official class, nor is it in the smallest way a guarantee that the official or leading class is approved. Those who lead are apt to clothe themselves with the credit, but this requires proof other than their claims. What we get in this chapter affords the clearest evidence that the greatest and most accredited officials may at times stand athwart the blessing of God, but that nevertheless the blessing comes; so that the history of this remarkable occurrence affords the deepest instruction. It cannot be regarded simply as a historical account of the failure of great servants. God has no pleasure in advertising the failure of His servants; He rather hides it.
So that this occurrence where Moses, acting in obedience and taking the staff “from before Jehovah, as he had commanded him” verse 9 — Aaron’s staff, the staff that had budded and blossomed and yielded almonds — in order to speak to the rock as God had directed him, yet strikes the rock twice with his staff — an unwarrantable and unexpected action from this great servant — must have far more in it, as a type, than the mere evidence of the possibility of failure in the greatest servants. It has in it — and I believe you will agree — a typical allusion to the history of the assembly, that is, the great revolt against true priesthood by those who, like Korah, had merely a levitical place. Whilst acting in nominal obedience — for Moses took the staff that he was directed to take — being orthodox, yet in practice they deny what they recognise as scriptural.
Now, this is a matter that is of the last importance to us; because there is the recognition of the Scriptures and of certain principles in them, and to that extent there is obedience to the mind and will of God, and yet there is utter disregard for them in practice. This element may find itself in the smallest [p. 178] of our companies, as it is seen abroad in all the great religious bodies of today. So that, in meeting through Moses and Aaron, the earlier rebellion of Korah, Dathan and Abiram, God introduces this undeniable evidence of His priest, in the idea of life in the staff of Aaron. It is taken from the others, and the staff of Aaron for the house of Levi is laid up before Jehovah. We may thank God for that. The position of Christ in heaven as ever living to make intercession for the saints, for those “that come to God by him”, has remained throughout the ages, and is in effect today.
I want to show from Exodus and the early part of Numbers how we come in for it. The latter part of Numbers is very like John’s ministry; it brings in the great principle of life. Every Christian would understand what the Lord says to John — “I became dead, and behold, I am living to the ages of ages” (Revelation 1: 18), but to say that “he ever lives to make intercession” is another matter — yet this intercession has gone on, uninterruptedly, from the time that Christ went into heaven. We are here in the power of it tonight; “he ever lives to make intercession”. On the other hand, the official element is still standing athwart the blessing that flows out from it; but is God to be limited by that? No. God will not pass by those whom He uses unless He is forced to — but they force Him to at times. Moses and Aaron gathered the congregation together before the rock; Moses was to have the staff of priesthood, for that is the only effective one under the circumstances — the living Christ in heaven — and Moses and Aaron were to speak to the rock; “and thou shalt bring forth to them water out of the rock, and shalt give the assembly and their beasts drink” Numbers 20: 8. What an opportunity! This passage indicates the opportunities God affords to those He qualifies to minister to His people. God loves to use [p. 179] those whom He puts forward; but then, how sorrowful if a hand is lifted up to strike the rock when there should have been a speaking to it. But is God limited by that? No; the water flows out in the very presence of Moses and Aaron, in spite of the lawless action. Can they take credit for it? Not at all. God takes the credit; it is to His praise that the blessing flows — and continues to do so.
You will remember that in the earlier reference to the rock, Moses was to go before the people and take the “elders of Israel” — not the people — and Jehovah was to stand before him on the rock, and Moses was to smite it with his own rod; Exodus 17: 5, 6. But there is nothing said about their drinking there. Of course, they drank, but the point is, it was the death of Christ; that was essential, so that the water should flow. The smiting was “before the eyes of the elders of Israel” — there was testimony to the judgment of God executed on Christ. But in Numbers 20 the people are all there. How God loves to have His people drawn together! — the word “assembly” is used, verse 8. He says, “Take the staff, and gather the assembly together”. He will give them drink, let leaders do what they may. God is God, and the water flows for His people and their cattle: “and the assembly drank, and their beasts”. That is God. No one can tie His hands. We have this evidence today of God’s superiority over human interference in the continuance of ministry. I want to stress that: what God is, in spite of the great hierarchical systems that exist. He acts in favourable conditions and it is for us to make the conditions favourable, for He will use such conditions to further the testimony; but unfavourable conditions cannot shut God out. He continues; so that the people drink, and their cattle; and then there is an appeal to the brethren; Edom is tested.
Properly speaking, we should accept all Christians [p. 180] walking outwardly in the truth as our brethren, until, as tested, they prove themselves otherwise. I think that is a fair way of putting it. It makes our position very wide in its bearing; I speak of the position of those who drink, who benefit from the outflow of the Spirit and the ministry of grace, in accord with the wonderful dispensation in which we are. Otherwise, of course, includes participation in human religious associations. The position is Christendom-wide, and those who keep the Lord’s commandments become a test to those who take the place of brethren. The position today is extremely different from what it was fifty or seventy-five years ago, because the test has been proceeding all those years. Edom has come into evidence and has shown his hand, as it were: but then, those who, like Israel as seen in our chapter, are drinking of the ministry of grace, are not deterred. You will observe that Moses begins, but it is Israel that speaks to his brother Edom; verse 14. What a fine opportunity for Edom! It is an overture. Is there the spirit of a brother in Edom? No; Israel had to take another road; Edom refused his brother’s request and came out against him with force. And Israel turned away from Edom. It is not the time to quarrel with our brethren. If our brethren will not let us pass through, we will go another way. Abraham took this attitude with Lot; “Let there be no contention ... for we are brethren” Genesis 13: 8. We are sorry if we cannot obtain brotherly recognition, but those who have the Spirit of Christ will not force their way under these circumstances. They will proceed by a way involving more hardship, but nevertheless divinely ordered and leading into the land of promise. The Lord says to Philadelphia, “I have set before thee an opened door, which no one can shut” (Revelation 3: 8). In his appeal Israel assured his brother that he would not touch his fields, vineyards, or wells: “We will go by the king’s road”,
he says. The “Israel of God” can surely say that. There is no lawlessness in him. I speak of such as drink — those who are spiritual, those who are subject to Christ, recognising the Spirit of God. They would take the highway, but will Edom allow it? No, not even the king’s road is to be traversed; the true brethren cannot pass that way.
This reminds one of a most serious case in Matthew 8: 28. The two demoniacs were so fierce that “no one was able to pass by that way”. I do not, of course, imply that what Edom represents today is governed by demons, the similarity is in the way being barred by Edom, the brother who will not let his brethren pass by, who will not accede to a reasonable request. Edom would suffer no loss. Israel’s request was reasonable and within the bounds of what was brotherly. Normally, it should appeal to a brother’s heart: “Thy brother Israel”, Moses said. Israel further says, “I will ... go through on my feet”. Thank God, those who drink of grace can go through on their own feet, and go through they will, though it be by another way. That is the principle. Edom was obdurate, and would not let his brother pass by — that is the position. It exactly synchronises, as a type, with our own times; it is the position abroad in Christendom. The appeal from those who drink of the river of grace is Christendom-wide. At least, it should be. If Edom is a brother nominally, cannot we go his way? Cannot we go through his territory? That is the test. As brethren, our territory should be common. Paul says in Galatians 4: 12, “Be as I am; for I also am as ye, brethren”. True brethren are alike, and should yield to each other. “We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren” (1 John 3: 14).
The real priesthood of God has come into evidence in these last days, as over against the official class that falsify the dispensation. Moses here falsifies [p. 182] the whole position; and that marks the official class throughout. Not that one is here to denounce current religious systems, but rather to point out that the official class as typified in Moses lawlessly smiting the rock twice, falsify the whole position, even calling the people “rebels”. How much of that there has been for the last eighteen hundred years! The saints of God have been hunted like partridges on the mountains, as rebels and heretics, by the official class. One is ashamed to put Moses alongside of them, but he has to suffer for the sake of the type, that God may have a means of rebuking evil at the present time. Scripture is profitable “for reproof”. At this very moment, what I have mentioned is the attitude of the leading clerical class. They regard those who, as loving God, keep His commandments, as being outside their pale as rebels and heretics.
Well now, true priesthood having been brought into evidence through life, and the water flowing, I want to show how in the priesthood of Christ this is to be carried on. It is to be sustained, for that is what His intercession for us effects. He ever lives to make intercession for those that come unto God by Him. I want to show from the breastplate, a well-known item of the priestly habiliments, how this intercession of Christ, before God, is carried on. It is one of the most touching things that we can take into our souls, that the Lord Jesus never appears before God without the breastplate. For that is what the type means. Whenever Aaron, or the high priest, went in, the breastplate had to be there. What did Jehovah read as He looked at the breastplate? You will observe that there were four rows of stones, each having three names, on the breastplate. Now, comparing those four rows of names engraven on precious stones, with the two onyx stones on the shoulder pieces, on each of which were six names engraved according to birth — by comparing the two [p. 183] sixes with the four threes, we arrive at the manipulation of divine love as to our position here, and our position in heaven. Our position there is exactly in accord with our position here. What God saw inside as the priest approached in the holiest exactly corresponded with the tribes as ordered around the tabernacle.
I wish you to follow this especially, for it is of immense interest and importance if we are to understand how we are to obtain the good of the intercession of Christ, because it must be according to the will of God. What we get in Romans is that the Spirit intercedes for us. So important is this matter, that the two of the divine Persons who, in love, have taken a mediatorial position, are occupied in this service of intercession, and the Spirit makes intercession for the saints “according to God” (Romans 8: 27). It being the Spirit here on earth, what is impressed upon us is that God has firsthand knowledge of our state and circumstances. Then we read in Romans 8: 34 of Christ “who is also at the right hand of God; who also intercedes for us”. That is Christ is there, and the Spirit is here. That you get in Romans. Now, in Hebrews 7: 25 you have: “always living to intercede for them”. So that, as the priest went into the presence of God in the tabernacle, there were those four rows of names, not according to their birth, but according to the order of the tribes.
What you find in the early part of Numbers, is that the tribes were arranged according to the will of God. As in the family of God, on the shoulders, I have not a doubt that every Christian in the world comes in for something, even although he may not be in the position of she will of God; but as God looks at the breastplate, He sees Judah [p. 184] and his two tribes lying on the east of the tabernacle; Rueben and his two tribes lying on the south of the tabernacle; Ephraim and his two at the rear of the tabernacle; and Dan and his two at the north of the tabernacle. Is that nothing to God? God had that order before Him, and every time the priest went in He saw those names, according as He had ordered them in keeping with His sovereign counsel. Why should Judah be first? If I look at the shoulder pieces, Reuben is first; if I look at the breastplate, Judah is first. Why is that? That is God; that is the good pleasure of His will. Can I quarrel with the will of God? If I do, I quarrel with the intercession of Christ, and rob myself of the good of it. The intercession of Christ as seen in the breastplate, is to keep me in the position designed for me in the will of God. Can I move away? If I do, I interfere with the whole realm of God, with the arrangements of His love and that is surely a serious matter.
You may say, you do not know how trying my circumstances are. Ephraim at the rear of the tabernacle, the point of the compass where the sun was setting, might complain in that way; but there must be testing experiences, in the ordering of the will of God, down here. For mark, it is a question of the wilderness; Numbers has the wilderness in view. It is not Exodus, it is Numbers; it is not Leviticus, it is Numbers; and Numbers begins with this, that the Lord spoke unto Moses “in the wilderness”, as if He were to say, I know all about it; I know what the wilderness is; I know that London is a difficult place, or New York, or any other place in this world; I know the west is not so cheerful as the east; I know Judah’s camp is toward the sun-rising; he has that advantage; whereas Ephraim’s is towards the setting sun. But will Ephraim suffer? Will Ephraim suffer if he is keeping the position that God has assigned to him? Will not God make up the difference? He will. And so it is that Ephraim,
[p. 185] Manasseh, and Benjamin will know that God is called upon to stir up His strength for them according to the Psalms. If my circumstances are trying, the intercession of Christ will bring out the strength of God on my behalf. God is called upon, the God who sits between the cherubim, to shine forth, to “stir up thy strength, and come to our deliverance” (Psalm 80: 1, 2). How encouraging that would be! So, in the ordering of God, whatever the circumstances, whatever the difficulties, however objectionable things may appear, my blessing lies in accepting the position. In facing the consequences I shall prove the strength of God, the shining forth of God in His love — and that is worth more than all the sufferings of a rearguard position!
Well, the position in Numbers 2 is most interesting, as I said. Two things I would specially note: they were to be all around the tabernacle, but they were to pitch “afar off” from it; verse 1. Thus in the wilderness position, there is respectful distance maintained in regard of the dwelling-place of God; but then God is there, and I am within sight of the tabernacle; I am within sight of the cloud by day and that pillar of fire by night. Ephraim at the rear could see it as easily as Judah in the front. Yea, Ephraim and Manasseh and Benjamin were really nearer to God than any of the tribes, for they were immediately behind where the ark lay in the holiest of all! How comforting as one looked out of one’s tent door — there may be a cause of an alarm in the night — to see the pillar of fire there, the witness of God’s presence near by. What harm could come to them? None; the cloud during the day and the pillar of fire during the night continually witnessed to the presence of Him who loved Israel. “Yea”, it says, “he loveth the peoples” (Deuteronomy 33: 3). That probably means “the tribes”. Numbers 24: 2 would confirm that Israel seen in the tribes is [p. 186] contemplated in this passage. God regarded them as set around His dwelling, according to divine wisdom and counsel. As God looks out He loves the tribes. Does one wish to move away from one’s assigned place? No! God looks out in love upon you where you are, and He give you to know that you are the beneficiary of all the intercession of Christ with Him. How God would look out in love on those tribes! As He looked out upon Judah and the two other tribes with him, how He loved Judah! There was Judah occupying his place, and so with all the others. Dan, in the north where the cold winds blow, would come in for the special grace that he needed. Thus they were round the tabernacle; and as they decamped they moved in the same order. Judah and his two tribes first, then Reuben and his two, and then the tabernacle taken down and the ark; and then Ephraim, Manasseh, and Benjamin, and then Dan and his two, and thus they moved on. Is one tribe going to stay behind? I do warn the brethren against hesitating to move on with the people of God. It means disaster. God is moving on, and the tribes are moving on, and so, “They shall set forth first;” “They shall set forth second;” “They shall set forth third;” “They shall set forth last”. It is the ordering of God, the God who loves the tribes. May we not take our place, dear brethren, according to the divine appointment? However difficult, God will support us, and we shall come in for that grace, as I said, that flows out from the intercession of Him who “ever lives” to make it for us.