SERVING ONE ANOTHER
Numbers 3:33-37; 4:29-33; Ezra 8:15-20; Philippians 2:19-21
We have been occupied in the reading meeting with the care of the Lord Jesus for His own. How wonderful divine care is: we prove it day by day. We are told to “cast all your care upon him, for he cares about you”, 1 Pet.5:7. We can look back on our histories and say that we have proved divine care individually and in our local meetings. I seek help now to speak about care in relation to what we have part in: we are to care for one another.
We have read about the Merarites. There were three families of Levites: the Kohathites, the Gershonites and the Merarites, and they were distinct in Israel. The priesthood was distinct and the Levites were distinct; but in Christianity, each believer who has the Spirit is a priest, is a Levite, is an ordinary Israelite, and is numbered for military service. Each believer is also a Nazarite – we are told about the special vow of the Nazarite in Numbers 6; there was special commitment. But what was extraordinary in Israel is normal in Christianity, so there are not classes of persons now as there were of old. Every believer who has the Spirit is constituted spiritual and is therefore a priest.
We read about the Merarites and their service, and their service was in relation to the boards of the tabernacle and these other things, which speak of persons. The boards speak of persons, and the work of the Merarites therefore suggests care in relation to believers. The Kohathites carried the ark, the most precious things, speaking of Christ and His testimony. You might say that John’s gospel was written by a Kohathite. The priesthood underlies what is Levitical1. John the evangelist was a spiritual man. He loved the Lord Jesus and he could say that the Lord Jesus loved him. He writes of himself as “the disciple whom Jesus loved”, John 21:20. He knew nearness to the Lord Jesus. What a wonderful gospel John wrote; he is a contemplator: “we have contemplated his glory” (chap.1:14). He wrote his gospel from that point of view; what a wealth of understanding he had, because he loved the Lord Jesus. And because he was a spiritual man he was able in what he wrote to convey the glories of the Person of Christ. That would be the service of a Kohathite, able to speak about “the Word”, the deity of Christ, the sonship of Christ, able to write that wonderful gospel. How attractively John does so. The third family was the Gershonites. They carried the hangings and the veil, things that speak of divine principles.
The Merarites carried the boards, suggesting as I said care for persons. In speaking about the Merarites I do not want to discount what the service of the Kohathites and the Gershonites represents, not at all; but what is in mind is the Merarites and what they carried. They were heavy things, these boards were ten cubits in length, about fifteen feet, and made of acacia wood overlaid with gold, so they would have been heavy, suggesting that care for the saints involves exercise, but it is done in love. We care for one another because we love one another. The Ephesians could be commended because they had love “towards all the saints”, Eph.1:15. What a commendation! The saints are precious, we get a sense of the value of what believers are to God, what the saints are to Christ. These boards were substantial, all true believers are substantial, they are of value. The ark was made of acacia wood, the boards were of the same wood, suggesting that morally the saints are like Christ. How wonderful that is. The boards were covered in gold, speaking of the righteousness of God. We sang that in our hymn:
‘Thine, through redemption’s precious blood,
Which cleansed, which brought us nigh to God
In righteousness divine’ (Hymn 180)
The boards were covered in gold – clothed, you might say, in ‘righteousness divine’. They also had silver tenons that fitted in the sockets of silver. Silver in scripture speaks of redemption. I trust that everyone here is redeemed, and knows what it is to shelter under the precious blood of the Lord Jesus. What a Saviour He is! We have spoken of His care. He loves you, dear friend, He has died for you, but still you need to accept Him. He has done everything, there is no work that you need to do, or can do. That man on the Jericho road in Luke 10 – there was nothing that he could do to help himself. All that is required of us is to believe. Scripture speaks of “righteousness of God by faith of Jesus Christ towards all”, Rom.3:22. The love of God to secure your righteousness is towards you. Then it adds, “and upon all those who believe”. There is the righteousness of God and the love of God from God’s side, and on our side: “repentance towards God, and faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ”, Acts 20:21. The boards stood up in the sockets of silver. Is that like you, dear friend? When you put your faith and trust in Christ, you become someone of value in God’s things – a believer, a saint. You do not have to die to become a saint. Believers are saints, by divine calling (see 1 Cor.1:2 and footnote). What dignity! Do we really appreciate the dignity of Christianity, the dignity of believers in the Lord Jesus? I trust that we may get a sense of that, because when we care for one another we are caring for what is valuable in God’s sight.
As I was saying, the boards were heavy, so that it involved exercise to carry them. The whole tabernacle system was carried through the wilderness in affection. The ark was carried by the priests, and it was carried in the affections of the people. The Lord Jesus is in the affections of His own. That is a wonderful thing. Now we might think of Merarite service as being somewhat less than the other services, such as carrying the ark. We have spoken of John’s gospel being written by someone who was really a Kohathite, but in John’s gospel we also get wonderful Merarite service spoken of as well. I want to touch on that, to elevate our view of what this service is. The Lord Jesus Himself, in John’s gospel, was exhibiting His care for His own. We spoke earlier about this, and reference was made to John 13, where we read of the Lord’s care for the disciples. It has been said that the setting of the Lord’s service there is Merarite2. The Lord does not ask us to do anything He has not done Himself. What a Person He is! He gives us an example, as we have in verse 15 of that chapter, “as I have done to you”. The Lord stooped down and washed His disciples’ feet. A brother once said to me that the Person who is in Himself God – “the Word became flesh” (John 1:14), the One of whom it is said, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (v.1) – in His becoming flesh He came into a condition in which He could stoop down and wash my feet. What a service! What a service in love, beloved brethren! How attractive the Lord’s service is to us.
John 17 is one of the greatest chapters in scripture, because it gives us the Lord’s own words. The Lord’s speaking in that chapter has been referred to as the priest at the golden altar3, the Lord speaking to His Father, and He does not speak of His work for us (wonderful as that is, it is more connected with the brazen altar), but the Lord at the golden altar suggests that precious fragrance ascending to the Father, speaking of the worth of the Person, the worth of the Lord before the Father. What delight the Father had in that. What was the Lord speaking to the Father about? He was speaking about His own, and that included you and me (v.20). Is that not wonderful? That would elevate our view of the care that the Lord Jesus takes of those who believe in Him. We also think of Him in resurrection, and the care He showed for His own: how blessed! What a precious object the Lord Jesus is to our affections, and that is to stimulate us in care for one another.
Those of whom we read in Numbers 3 were numbered from a month old and upwards. It is obvious that a baby of a month old cannot do anything, but this scripture shows the divine side; God was claiming these Levites, and He is claiming you. If you put your faith and trust in the Lord Jesus, He has claimed you. It is all potential in chapter 3; where we read in chapter 4 it is from thirty years old and upward. That means that spiritual formation has taken place. In our last scripture, there is a reference to caring how the saints get on. When we are in our local meetings, we see the brethren weekly, at least, but when we visit a place where perhaps we have not been for a year or two, we can see progress with the brethren. Of course it happens locally too, but maybe we do not take account of it in the same way. We would expect to see growth and progress; it is how the saints are getting on.
In Numbers 8, we find that the service starts and God reduces the age from thirty to twenty-five, as though He is so pleased, He wants everyone in His service. He wants you in it, dear friend; He wants me in it. We are left here to serve, and the Lord is the perfect Servant. He set out everything in perfection, and He has done things that we are not asked to do and could not do; but we are to care for one another.
Numbers 3 gives the scope of the service of the Levites, and chapter 4 provides more detail. The thought of what is precious comes in: “by name ye shall number to them the materials which are their charge to carry”. Nothing is missed, and no one is missed. The Lord knows those that are His (2 Tim.2:19), and every one is precious in His sight. The Merarites had care of these boards: persons need to be cared for. Then you have the pillars and also the bars; these had to be carried too. The bars linked all the boards together (Exod.26:26-30), so we are not independent of each other, but are brought into this wonderful system. The bars might suggest the activities of the Holy Spirit, these bars that ran between the boards to hold them all together as one. It is like “using diligence to keep the unity of the Spirit”, Eph.4:3. The unity of the Spirit is fixed and eternal, and cannot be broken, but we are exhorted to use diligence to keep the unity of the Spirit. We are to help one another in relation to these things.
Then there are the pegs. When a peg is in use, most of it is not seen, it is in the ground. It might remind us of a believer who is laid aside, but they are praying. There are brethren who are happy to be like one of these pegs, out of sight, not prominent and perhaps out of sight, but praying. What a valuable feature! We are all able to pray, and how the Lord values that. He values someone who is suffering and is praying and thinking of others, caring about how the saints are getting on. There has been prayer in relation to this meeting for fellowship, to promote the enjoyment of the truth together. Such meetings are to encourage us, to help us and to set us forward in the truth and in affection for Christ and for one another, in affection for the assembly.
There are also the cords. What Paul says in 2 Corinthians 11:28 came before me. It speaks about the “cares ... of all the assemblies”. Well, none of us has part in that like Paul had. He goes over a whole list in that chapter, all the things he had passed through. Then he says, “Besides those things that are without” – all those other things were outside, surrounding him – “the crowd of cares pressing on me daily, the burden of all the assemblies. Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is stumbled, and I burn not?” (vv.28,29). Paul felt things: “the burden of all the assemblies”. The bearing of such a burden might be like a cord. Cords need to be taut, and there is strength in these cords. Well, how strong are the cords in scripture: “I drew them with bands of a man, with cords of love”, Hos.11:4. How strong these cords are, but think of these cords of Paul, carrying the cares, the burden of all the assemblies.
We read in Ezra, which was written in a day of recovery. Judah had gone into captivity because of their unfaithfulness, and then there was recovery in Ezra’s time. Some were coming back from Babylon, because there had been a great release. It might make us think of the recovery to the truth that began in the nineteenth century, and what has come down to us now. It says that the house was finished (chap.6:15). Later it says that the house is to be beautified (chap.7:27). In that chapter, Ezra himself comes to light. Ezra is a priest and a spiritual man, perhaps suggesting that what is needed is increasing spirituality for the house to be beautified. Applying it to the present time, the building continues, it goes on. The building in this dispensation is to continue; believers are to be built up. But when Ezra comes into view, what is particularly in mind is beautification, so the time of Ezra might suggest a recovery within a recovery.
Other features come to light as represented by Ezra, and he leaves Babylon, he leaves the captivity. Ezra is making this journey to Jerusalem, which involves exercise, and he “gathered them together at the river that runs to Ahava”. The river must represent in some way the operations of the Spirit, and Ezra is exercised that he is in accord with the Spirit’s operations. Then he surveys the people. He finds that there are none of the sons of Levi there. Now there were Levites in the initial recovery at the beginning of the book. That was perhaps in view of the establishment of things initially, the truth as to the Lord’s person, the principles relating to fellowship, these essential truths were recovered. But in chapter 8 there were no Levites with them. That leads to exercise as to what is to be done, and there are these sons of Levi brought to light, and they are Merarites. That suggests that the beautification of the house needs persons who love the Lord Jesus, and who also love divine principles. We have often been told that principles are not just what is written on a page, but they are upheld by persons. The Merarites come to light in chapter 8 in view of the beautification of the house, its adornment and its refinement – what is for God’s pleasure. We are in a refining time, and may we seek help in relation to it.
What an encouragement it must have been for Ezra when these Levites – and they are named – were sent to him. As well as the Levites there were two hundred and twenty Nethinim. They have been linked with those who followed Israel through the wilderness, and they came to have a part in what was for God: David gave them a part in the service of song. Perhaps we feel that we cannot do very much. Well, dear young person, as a believer in the Lord Jesus you can visit an older brother or sister who is, perhaps, not able to be at meetings. That is not beyond anyone. You might be able to help to take someone to the meeting; these are all practical things. The service of the Nethinim, I think, involves what is practical. Mr. Darby, when he translated the bible, described himself as a hewer of wood and a drawer of water (not that we would call him that). That is what the Nethinim were, they subserved the Levites (see 1 Chron.9:2 and footnote). They did not think of it as a high service, wonderful as it was, but there are things that you can find to do in your local meeting in love for the Lord and in love for His saints. The Lord would point out something simple that you can do. All that is involved in the beautification of the house.
We read in Philippians; it is not a doctrinal epistle. It is a lovely epistle: the Philippians were getting on, so this is not a corrective epistle like Corinthians or Galatians, although there were two who needed some adjustment (chap.4:2). If we feel that we do not need adjustment in the local meeting, the danger is that we become Laodicean (Rev.3:17). Exercises like this lead to the working out of things together and to dependence on God; they also give us opportunity to care for one another. Paul was not visiting Philippi, but he was concerned about them, so he says, “I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timotheus to you shortly, that I also may be refreshed, knowing how ye get on”. He had written to them, he loved them, he had also been in the prison there, where the gospel came into Europe (Acts 16:12-40). We are thankful for that, that the testimony turned in that direction. We have all come into the benefit of that.
Paul knew the saints in Philippi and he had confidence in them, but he cared how they were getting on. Paul knew that it would bring refreshment if he sent Timotheus to them, who had his feelings for them: “For I have no one like-minded who will care with genuine feeling how ye get on”. “How yet get on” would relate to the state of believers, both individually and in the local meeting. Paul was exercised about how the saints were getting on, and in Timothy he had someone who cared. That is open to each one of us, to care for one another. We are to care for one another, because each one is very precious. Paul speaks in Corinthians about certain things you would not do because of a weak brother, because you have consideration for him. He speaks of him as “the weak one, the brother for whose sake Christ died”, 1 Cor.8:11. What value each believer has. May we appreciate it more.
May we be helped in relation to caring for one another and caring for the Lord’s things. He is going to come for us, we are looking forward to that, and then the time of care and carrying and burdens will be over. But it is a wonderful privilege to have part in caring for those who belong to the Lord at the present time. May we be encouraged in it, beloved brethren, for His name’s sake.
Address at Colchester
1 March 2025
Bill Lovie