NOTES OF A READING
[p. 89] NOTES OF A READING
Rem Last week we saw how the hunger was met (chapter 16), this week it is the thirst.
CAC Do you not think it is good to see that the people come into circumstances of testing and discipline by divine leading? That is, not in consequence of their own missing their way; they “journeyed ..., according to their journeys, at the command of Jehovah” (verse 1).
Rem There is a great deal of difference between the two.
CAC Quite so, and it intimates to us that it is often God’s way to put us into positions of difficulty. Sometimes the question is raised with us as to whether we have been moving right, but sometimes there is a divine reason why we should come into testing. It was certainly so in the case of the blessed Lord. “But Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan, and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness forty days, tempted of the devil” (Luke 4: 1). And in Mark 1: 12, “And immediately the Spirit drives Him out into the wilderness”. It seems there that the Spirit of God was urgent that He should be tested in the fullest possible way. In His case it only brought out the perfection that was there. If we come into testing by the leading of God it is that we might learn the divine resources that are available for us. That is the end in view. We do not learn them till we feel the need of them. This exercise belongs to the second month (chapter 16: 1).
Ques What do you mean by that?
CAC There are months in the spiritual year. Certain exercises pertain to different months. The passover, the Red Sea, Marah and Elim belong to the first month. The manna and the water from the rock belong to the second month.
It says of the Lord as the Tree of life, “Producing twelve [p. 90] fruits, in each month yielding its fruit” (Revelation 22: 2). That intimates the spiritual year and a special knowledge of Christ belonging to each month. Each month enables us to bring more to God in the way of praise and worship as we increase in the knowledge of Himself. There is a special offering on every day of the new moon. Each month of spiritual history gives enlargement to serve God with praise. It is important to take account of what month of the year we are in.
Ques Do “months” belong to the wilderness?
CAC They have a place in the land and also in the world to come as we see in Revelation 22: 2. There is a spiritual year in the holy city.
Ques What do you understand by “the second month”?
CAC The exercises of the manna and the water from the rock belong to the second month. In the first month there is a good deal of exercise relating to coming out of Egypt — the passover, the Red Sea, Marah and Elim.
Ques Is it the relief side?
We come out of the life of Egypt- sheltered by the blood,
- fed on the Lamb roast with fire,
- as passed through the Red Sea, learning God as strength, song and salvation, and
- at Marah take up the kind of life where nothing ministers to our old tastes, drink bitter water and have it made sweet for us.
It takes some believers a long time to get out of Egypt but there is no reason for this on the divine side.
Ques Is all this true for us on the divine side?
CAC I think we learn the resources that are available in grace in these chapters particularly; therefore all is seen to be purely on God’s side. There is nothing to commend the people; they tempt God and contend with Moses. Their character is revealed in the names Temptation (Massah) and Contention (Meribah). God gives the Spirit entirely from His own side in pure grace. It is the first distinct type of the gift of [p. 91] the Spirit.
Ques Does it correspond with Romans 5?
CAC It is not typical of the moment when the believer receives the Spirit but when he recognises the Spirit. It is not possible to be in the experience answering to the redemption song (Exodus 15) without having the Spirit. Elim suggests spiritual refreshment and shelter. In the song they are brought “unto the abode of thy holiness” (verse 13) which supposes the gift of the Spirit.
In Romans you get no particular point as to when the believer gets the Spirit. He is not definitely recognised until Romans 5. There is a moment when the Spirit is recognised as being present. The believer comes consciously to the recognition of the Spirit (Exodus 17) — a very important moment in the soul’s history.
Rem I suppose there has been no conflict with the flesh before.
CAC No conflict with Amalek. The moment something is brought about in the people of God definitely suggesting the Spirit, the enemy’s hostility breaks out; it is against what is of the Spirit of God. God raises the question of the Spirit definitely for every soul. All of us who have been converted know that God has raised that question with us. He first presents Christ to us, “delivered for our offences ... raised for our justification ... . Therefore ... we have peace towards God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 4: 25; Romans 5: 1). We know how we stand in righteousness with God “through our Lord Jesus Christ” — that is the first month.
In the second month the question of the Spirit is raised. God gives the Spirit as soon as He can. He raises the question of the Spirit as soon as the soul is settled in divine peace. It is not raised before Romans 5: 1. All that is through the blessed work of Christ, not by the Spirit, but by faith. As soon as the soul knows that, God raises the question of the Spirit — at an early stage of the soul’s history, at the second month.
Ques What is Horeb? (verse 6).
CAC Horeb is the place of the covenant, typical [p. 92] of where God is known in love. The great expression of the love of God to believers is that He gives the Spirit. It is a question of how we think of the Lord Jesus Christ. How do I think of the Lord Jesus Christ? In the first month as the One who “bore our sins” — all the judgment due to us — and is “raised again for our justification”. He is with God in perfect suitability to that resurrection world into which He has entered. The believer is as clear as Christ is. He is Himself our righteousness. We have to learn now to accept suffering here, i.e. reproach. Marah is reproach — bitter water. We ought to feel reproach. The Lord could say, “Reproach hath broken my heart”. He came not to please Himself but to bear the reproach of God. Christ came here not to have a good time. When we see Christ’s path it makes reproach sweet; it becomes a path of companionship with Christ. That is the first month.
Rem It is said of Moses in Hebrews 11, “Esteeming the reproach of the Christ”.
CAC Moses faced it. You learn to accept what is naturally most distasteful to you, but when you see it to be the path of your Saviour and Lord, then it is sweet.
“Christ, then, having suffered for us in the flesh, do ye also arm yourselves with the same mind” (1 Peter 4: 1). Your mind is to suffer in flesh but to be here for God’s will. It cost Christ everything that a heart could suffer in relation to God.
Ques Do we get an example of such a one in John 9?
CAC He goes through to the knowledge of the Son of God. And the Son of God is He who baptises with the Holy Spirit.
In the second month it is Christ in connection with the Spirit. We want to think of the Spirit in relation to the Person who gives the Spirit, not so much in relation to the one who receives the Spirit. The Lord Jesus is introduced to us at the commencement of each gospel as the One who would “baptise with the Holy Spirit”. It is the first presentation of Him but we do not come to it till the [p. 93] second month.
Ques. What is Gilgal?
CAC Gilgal is circumcision (Joshua 5). “Jehovah said to Joshua, This day have I rolled away the reproach of Egypt from off you” (verse 9). If we learn it and come to it in mind, the last vestige of the reproach of Egypt is rolled away.
Ques Do you connect “and to finish his work” (John 4: 34) with the gift of the Holy Spirit?
CAC We begin to think of the death of Christ from a new point of view. God’s object, in His grace and love, was to give us His Spirit. In the death of Christ God has enabled Himself to give the Spirit to those who before were sinful creatures. On the divine side God can now give the Spirit on account of the death of Christ. Water flowed from the rock in answer to the smiting. The rod had been previously stretched over the river (verse 5), typical of the life of Egypt; judgment had come on it.
In the death of Christ-the smiting-we see- the manifested judgment of God on the whole life of this world. “One died for all, then all have died” (2 Corinthians 5: 14).
- God’s object in grace to give the Spirit to men.
In the death of Christ all the rebellion, etc., of the flesh was judged — smitten in the death of Christ — that God might give the Spirit so that we may move through the wilderness in vigour of soul in spite of the dryness around.
Ques Is this seen in John 7: 37 - 39?
CAC The Lord presents Himself very much in John as the One who gives the Spirit. John 4: 10, 14, “If thou knewest the gift of God ...”, and John 7: 37 - 39, “Let him come to me ...”. There is an immense thought of plenitude connected with the Spirit as a divine Person — “rivers”, “a fountain springing up”, “baptises with the Spirit” — not only a little drop to drink, but enough to immerse us in “the river of God which is full of water”.
Rem “Waters to swim in” (Ezekiel 37:5).
CAC And Titus 3: 5, 6, “Renewal of the Holy Spirit, which He poured out on us richly”. What a plenitude there is! “Be filled with the Spirit” (Ephesians 5: 8). There is enough and more than enough to fill you, to fill every corner of your being.
CAC It is the end of the wilderness, beyond Exodus 17, but shows how the thought of the Spirit is before the mind of God. He would bring it before our minds. God’s intent was to give His Spirit. Christ died that God might be clear to give me the Spirit. It is Christ’s glory to give the Spirit. It is the greatest thing that my Saviour in glory has done for me.
Ques Is it the giving of God?
CAC What is in the heart of God.
We all know what it is to have had our expectations disappointed and sometimes even to be on the line of unbelief. “Is Jehovah among us, or not?” ‘Am I really converted, or not?’ ‘Have I got a definite link with God with such unsatisfactory experiences?’ In that way God makes room with us for the recognition of the Spirit. “Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock on Horeb: and thou shalt strike the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink” (verse 6). God’s great delight is to set us up in the Spirit. But when the Spirit has been recognised it is very important that we do not return to the flesh. We have now to move with the Spirit. Rebecca “rode upon the camels, and followed the man” (Genesis 24: 61). “Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God” (Ephesians 4: 30). “Walk ... according to Spirit” (Romans 8: 4).
Every one who has believed has some of the good of the Spirit. The “blessedness” of Romans 4: 6 - 8 is there by the Spirit. God gives the Spirit as soon as He can; there is no delay on His part. Take Scripture. See Acts 2: 38: “Repent, and be baptised, each one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for remission of sins, and ye will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit”. He puts it very simply. Again, (Acts 10 and 11) baptism was not necessary prior to the reception of the Holy Spirit. Peter says, “As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell upon them”. And what was he saying? “To him all the prophets bear witness that every one that believes on him will receive through his name remission of sins”. ‘I was just saying that (says Peter) and the Holy Spirit fell on them all’.
Ques Do you not get the same word in Luke 15, “His father fell upon his neck”?
CAC In the parable, that is the gift of the Spirit, the father falling on his neck. But when did he do it? When the prodigal had said, “Father, I have sinned”, when he was in that state of mind. There was no running on the part of the prodigal, but of the father. There was self-judgment with the prodigal and running on the part of the father. That is the blessed God that we know. The kiss put on the repentant son — the caressing embrace — God delights to do it. What was pent up in his heart all those years? Those kisses — just as the best robe was retained. God delights to give the Spirit. The devil tells believers sometimes that they have not or cannot have the Spirit; it is all a mistake.
Rem “How much rather shall the Father who is of heaven give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him” (Luke 11: 13). And, as you have said, if we are filled with the Spirit the house is not unoccupied (verse 26).
CAC It is a great source of strength to us to know that we have received the Spirit. He is said to be given (1) to those who believe, (2) to those who obey, (3) to those who love, and (4) to those who repent. It is put in many different ways, not cut and dried.
The Spirit gives assurance in the heart of the love of God as revealed in the death of Christ — the death of Christ as the great evidence of the love of God. He thus pours out the love of God into my heart. We have a present sense by the Spirit of the love of God. Nothing that happens in the wilderness affects it. There is nothing so satisfying as the love of God.
Rem Jehovah says, “I will stand there” — the death of Christ. [p. 96] Wonderful fulness!
CAC That is how God would present Himself to us in this wonderful type. Satan harasses us as to our condition and worthiness. The gift of the Spirit is the most stupendous thing conceivable — the fruit of that stupendous work that the Lord Jesus accomplished on the cross. God’s appreciation of that is so great that He is free to give the Spirit to every repentant and believing sinner.
Rem “That the people may drink” (verse 6) — not one is excluded.
CAC The water is given in spite of what we are. ‘Temptation’ and ‘Contention’ — there was no merit or reason in the people why they should have the water.
Ques Would you say something as to “covered him with kisses”?
CAC It expresses the great plenitude there is in the Spirit. Very great things are to be expected. It is a great thing to recognise the Spirit. I have used this illustration before now. Say a man has a farm in South Africa. Every now and then he picks up little nuggets of gold on it — certain joy and pleasure in believing, the sense of forgiveness, etc., all the gain of the Spirit. But tell the farmer, ‘Your whole farm has a gold reef under it’. Would it not awaken wondrous anticipations, etc? Our anticipation of things in our christian life begins to be coloured by the stupendous fact that one has the Spirit, to be used and enjoyed, just as the mine has to be worked out.