THE WORK OF GOD
[p. 430] THE WORK OF GOD
Numbers 23: 23; 2 Corinthians 4: 18; 2 Corinthians 5: 1 - 5
My thought is to say a word on the work of God, and in using that expression I have in mind all the operations of God in regard of His people, and I selected the passage in Numbers because it contemplates a people who typically have the Spirit already. In this book the people are viewed from chapter 21 not only as having the Spirit, but as recognising that they have the Spirit. As possessing the Spirit and recognising Him in a definite way we become of peculiar interest to God, so that God undertakes for us in every connection. I want you to take notice of these points. God has a special pleasure in a people who recognise the presence of the Spirit and this book from chapter 21 so regards them. In this chapter there is a formal recognition on the part of the people of the presence of the Spirit; they sang to the well. In Exodus 15 they sang to Jehovah and Miriam led the refrain, but in Numbers 20 she dies, but in chapter 21 we have the new song. It is a formal recognition of the presence of the Holy Spirit by the people. What follows in chapters 22 to 24 refers to special divine care manifested towards such a people as that. The more spiritual power you manifest the greater will be the difficulties raised up against you, there is no relenting on the part of the enemy. In the time of adversity his efforts increase as your increased spiritual power is manifested. Take note of that. As having the Spirit and recognising the Spirit, Satan will attack you, but not on the old line. In Numbers 21 you get wonderful exploits, “the wars of Jehovah”. Every victory in the power of the Spirit, every conflict is recorded in the wars of Jehovah. As an example of the exploits [p. 431] of the saints you have in Rahab’s speech to the spies: “We have heard that Jehovah dried up the waters of the Red Sea before you ... and what ye did ... to Sihon and to Og, whom ye utterly destroyed” (Joshua 2: 10). Tidings of their achievements had reached her ears. What they did, speaking of them typically, was by the Spirit. I point that out that you may recognise the importance of having and of recognising the Spirit.
The people had destroyed Sihon and Og, but Satan’s activity takes another form. He is a terrible foe to contend with, and in that connection I would dwell upon Balaam as showing the kind of opposition a people who recognise the Spirit have to contend with. The New Testament affords us certain facts which are not found in the Old. In the comments of the New Testament you have the Spirit’s view of facts in the Old. The Old Testament gives the historical account but the new gives the Spirit’s view. Balaam is alluded to by Peter, Jude, and by the Lord Himself. Peter speaks of the folly of the prophet; “the dumb ass speaking with man’s voice forbad the folly of the prophet” (2 Peter 2: 16). Jude speaks of him as an avaricious man; his error lay there, he hired himself against the people of God for money. But the Lord in His address to the assemblies in Revelation does not refer to Numbers 21 to 23, but to chapter 25. Peter and Jude lay bare the motives of Balaam, but the Lord refers to the doctrine of Balaam. The doctrine of Balaam is most wicked and vicious, far more injurious than his avariciousness. I say that because an evil doctrine is not only harmful because untrue, but because it legalises evil. The whole system of Christendom is built up upon evil doctrine, and as that doctrine is accepted evil is legalised, to men’s consciences, and they practise evil with a good conscience. It is a most deadly evil, for it establishes a standard, and according to that [p. 432] standard people can practise lawlessness with a good conscience. We see men letting themselves out to hire in opposition to the word of God and they formulate evil so that the professed people of God can practise evil with a good conscience.
I want to point out how God deals with this. The book of Numbers refers to the present dispensation, it could not have been written for Israel, for it was written after they had passed through these circumstances, and they will never be in these circumstances again. It was written for ourselves. It is a testimony of grace; grace is the most elementary thing in Christianity and yet the least understood. In chapter 21 Aaron’s rod was to be taken and Moses was to speak to the rock; that rod represented the testimony of grace in the present dispensation, so that our hearts may be established in grace. You cannot conceive a more wicked man than Balaam was; he was ready to curse the people of God, and he hired himself to do it. I want to point out the attitude we should show in such a case. We are children of God and should act like God. Here is a man setting out on his ass to curse such a people as these, a people typically having God’s Spirit. You miss the point if you forget this. Balaam went to curse a people who had the Holy Spirit; that is, those in whose hearts praise to God is welling up; that is how it is typically presented to us. What an undertaking! God meets with him, and twice the angel retreats from before Balaam. Peter was not of this spirit when he said “Here are two swords” and smote the servant of the high priest; the Lord’s intent was to preserve the truth. What is of God must stand, and if that stands the brethren must stand with it. The angel twice retreats before Balaam and finally speaks to him in grace by the ass with a man’s voice. Just as Elihu says to Job, “I am a man as thou art”. It was a most humbling [p. 433] thing to Balaam that God should speak to him through an ass; and that voice forbad his folly. The angel did not smite him. “Shall I smite them?” was the question put to Elisha by the king of Israel. The answer was, “Set bread and water before them”. It was not the day for smiting. So the angel instead of smiting speaks with a man’s voice. What a moral victory when we are content to be as a dumb ass in men’s eyes in order to rebuke the folly of men who set out to curse the people of God. That is moral victory according to the spirit for the present moment. God shows in this treatment of His enemy how we are to act. He could have slain him, but there is no moral victory in that. There is no spoil in a dead man; you have no spoil if you have not your man. Paul in chains saved all the men in the ship. If ever a man appreciated grace it was Paul, and there was the triumph of his victory, all that were in the ship the Lord gave to him. They cared nothing for Paul, but the Lord gave all in the ship to him. It is a wonderful thing to get the people. The truth must stand; that comes first, but the Lord preserves not only the truth, but the people.
Well, the heart of Balaam remains unchanged. That is the test for us. But if unchanged he can be chained. God takes Balaam’s mouth and turns the man who set out to curse His people into a blesser of them. That is the God with whom we have to do! We must read these chapters in the light of Romans 8, which is like mount Nebo. Did you ever get up there? It is the point from which you look into the land and if you want to look into the land you are not left to do so according to your own ability; the Lord will show it to you. In the end of Deuteronomy the Lord took Moses up to mount Pisgah to die; he did not die of weakness, he was in the full vigour of manhood; he died at the Lord’s commandment,
[p. 434] but before he died he saw the land, because God showed it to him. It was shown to him, miraculously; how could he see all Canaan to the Mediterranean with natural sight? So in Romans 8 we are able to look over to the land. Balaam looked from the same point, but he looked on the people. I do not know what view could be greater. Let us not speak of the Lord’s people as a poor lot. Balaam said a great deal more than Moses did at this point, for indeed Moses said nothing. Read these chapters in the light of Romans 8; there you learn that everything is working together for your good. Is not this a victory? “All things work together for good to those who love God” (Romans 8: 28), to whose who have the Spirit; everything is for us. What victory there is in that! If you are in the light of that chapter there is no discouragement. I would suggest that we live in the things which are in our favour, and every time we count these we discover one more; do not live in discouragement. Discouragement is usually anticipated, but everything is in our favour in Romans 8. Here, the man who set out to curse becomes a blesser. Who makes him that? God. Cannot God lay hold of all the evil agents around us? It is an everyday occurrence, God is turning the things which seem to be the darkest, into blessing. Would that we knew Him better! So the apostle says triumphantly: “We do know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to purpose” (Romans 8: 28).
Well now, I would refer to what Balaam says. You will remember there are four great prophecies of Balaam, all the utterances of a man whose eyes were opened and looking upon the people of God. “Lo, it is a people that shall dwell alone and shall not be reckoned among the nations”. That is a principle, “alone;” but they are not to remain alone; “Who can count the dust of Jacob, and the number of the fourth part of Israel?” First there is the principle; stand by that. You cannot stand with those who are contrary to God, who are defiled; the people of God have no enrolment among the nations. How many shall they be? Are things to be small? “Who can count the dust of Jacob, and number the fourth part of Israel?” That is what Balaam is forced to say of the people who have the Spirit. What I would refer to particularly is the work of God. The possession of the Spirit is not the work of the Spirit. Having the Spirit must not be confused with God’s work. Having the Spirit, God can take account of us as in the Spirit: “Ye are not in flesh but in Spirit, if indeed God’s Spirit dwell in you” (Romans 8: 9). That is, your state is equal to your standing before God, but having the Spirit must not be confused with God’s work. “At this time it shall be said ... What hath God wrought!” What time? The end. It is a wonderful thing to consider the work of God. The work of God is going on day by day in every one of us. I look at the saints in that light. As I look at your faces I take account of you as those in whom the work of God is being carried on. And in the future, at that time, it shall be said, “What hath God wrought!” Do you believe in stature. The mere possession of the Holy Spirit does not give that, it gives you state. In Numbers 24 the people are looked upon as cedars, trees of tall stature. How did they get their stature? They grew. You cannot add to your stature one cubit, but God can do it, and is doing it, and in the end it shall be said: “What hath God wrought?” It is a great thing to take account of the saints in that way. The point for us is to make room for the work of God within us. What about exercise? Everything depends upon it. Without exercise of heart and conscience the Spirit is grieved and the work ceases. Make room for God’s work, and there will be scope [p. 436] in your soul. Day by day, and year by year, you will constantly increase in stature; so that in the end it will be said; “What hath God wrought”. There will be a mighty achievement of God during centuries of working out His own thoughts, till we are conformed to the image of His Son. He never lets us alone. God goes on patiently with His end in view till He brings us all to the measure of the stature of the fulness of the Christ. What a mighty achievement! when it can be said, “What hath God wrought!”
It is not simply having the Spirit, but rather the result of it. When we come to the New Testament we see the work of God presented in regard of what we are inwardly, but also of what we shall be outwardly. I want to dwell on that. In 1 Corinthians 15 we see God’s work in regard of the bodies of the saints: they are sown in corruption, raised in incorruption; it is said sown and raised in regard of the body four times. In 2 Corinthians 5 we see the work of God also in regard of the bodies of the saints; but that does not apply to our bodies for the moment. In chapter 4 we see what applies to us now, we are renewed in the inner man but the outer is consumed. The work of God now is in regard to the inner man; that is chapter 4, but in the next chapter we have the work of God in regard to the bodies of the saints which we await: “if our earthly tabernacle house be destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens” (2 Corinthians 5: 1). The work going on now in the inner man renders us greater than our present bodies. The tabernacle of old was not outwardly imposing, but within it was what was infinitely precious; it could be taken down at any moment. Our present bodies are like that. In chapter 4 it says, “we have this treasure in earthen vessels;” fragile things which can be broken in a moment; “the outward man perishes” and yet there [p. 437] is a wonderful treasure in it. Presently we shall have a heavenly body, a house from God, eternal in the heavens. Think of that! The work of God in us at the present time is in connection with eternity for “while we look not at the things that are seen, but at the things that are not seen” we are being wrought “for this very thing” by God Himself. That work in our souls has reference to eternity. Think of it! Already by the work of God in our souls we are linked up with eternity. A wonderful house He will give us; there will be no disparity between us and our house, a building from God, and we will occupy it suitably. Think of the dignity in which Paul will appear in his heavenly house. “Where is the house, that ye build unto me?” God said to His people; and Stephen says, “the most High dwells not in places made with hands” (Acts 7: 48). Let us think of God who forms us for houses in heaven, to be eternally there. It is not a question of resurrection, but of what is heavenly, houses builded by God Himself. When we are translated our bodies will be governed by that which regulates eternity, not by the conditions that exist now, they will not be earthly, governed by what is physical and natural, but will be outside of it all. The heavenly city comes down from God out of heaven, governed by entirely different laws from those which govern earth. The Lord Jesus in resurrection came through closed doors into the midst of His disciples. It is the work of God I would engage you with; our houses are to be the work of God and He is now forming us for them. So the workmanship is distinct from the Spirit indwelling. “He that has wrought us for this very thing is God, who also has given to us the earnest of the Spirit” (2 Corinthians 5: 5). The earnest of the Spirit is a foretaste of eternity. The world to come has reference to time; what is eternal comes into it, but the Holy Spirit brings into our souls now what is eternal. “He that has wrought us for this very thing is God”.
I would beg you to dwell upon the work of God in souls, a far greater work than creation. God is patiently carrying on a work which shall result in “At this time it shall be said ... What hath God wrought!”