DIVINE RESOURCES IN THE WILDERNESS
DIVINE RESOURCES IN THE WILDERNESS
CAC Shall we continue to look at divine resources for the wilderness, in view of our being identified with God’s testimony? God’s thought in furnishing people for the wilderness was that His testimony might be in their midst, and that their affections might be distinctly linked with the testimony. Would it be profitable to take up this line?
Our attention was called this afternoon to the fact that it is God’s pleasure and intention that we should walk in newness of life, an entirely new manner of life, and that is Christ’s life. His life was one of absolute dependence on God, God perfectly confided in, and a life of absolute obedience to God, God known and loved. We are very poor things to face a life of that kind. Well, we have resources, grace from [p. 110] heaven, the manna, and no one could say the grace of heaven was insufficient to carry us through. Then we have the Spirit; the resources in the Spirit are very great and wonderful. The people came to Elim where there were twelve wells of water. The effect of accepting the will of God would be that we should find ourselves in God’s assembly. If man’s will disappeared and only God’s remained, you would have no sects or systems; you would have the saints in God’s assembly, in all the good of the blessed administration of the Spirit. The will of God is the only thing to control us, and if we are set for God’s will, we shall find our place in God’s assembly, because it is there that God’s will is valued and known. The assembly is in contrast to this world; it is composed of those who have heard God’s will and done it; they are Christ’s brethren morally.
Rem A great deal of our weakness flows from our not listening to Christ’s ministry. He came to reveal God. The great supper and discipleship, in Luke 14, fit in with what you were saying. Christ was here teaching men and making communications from God, and yet He has to speak of those who do not value the grace that He brought. God wants to fill His house.
CAC And God’s intention is to dwell in testimony; the end in view is the testimony of the Lord in the wilderness. In Exodus 15 there are two ends in view: the ‘abode of God’s holiness’, verse 13, that is the wilderness; and ‘the mountain of His inheritance’, verse 17, that is the land. We might speak of what is brought about in the wilderness; we are not perhaps up to the land.
God, in teaching us the new manner of life, teaches us what He is in Himself, in the boundlessness of His grace. That is the lesson of Exodus down to chapter 18. If the people are hungry, they are fed; if they murmur for food, they are fed; if they murmur for drink, they are given water. God is making Himself known in grace. He says: ‘I am determined your murmurings shall only manifest My grace’. We [p. 111] may find bitterness in our hearts because of God’s ways with us; it is natural, and these exercises come up, but everything that arises on the people’s part only serves to bring out what God is. God says: ‘I am trying to prove to your heart what a good thing it is to be on covenant terms with Me’. “I have borne you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself”. Then He proposes to them, to have a covenant. His object was that they should take hold of a covenant. It is a crucial moment with us when we take hold of God’s covenant. In Isaiah we are told of the blessedness of the man who takes hold of the covenant (Isaiah 56: 4, 6). It means that with our heart and soul we fall in with the terms God proposes, and they are, that His will is to be everything. His will is a will of blessing, and when we see that, we take hold of the covenant. The Israelites put themselves under the covenant in a wrong way, and God has set that before us so that we should come into the covenant on terms of grace. See what grace God has shown us! We have all been subjects of His grace, He has brought us to Himself, and He has given us to prove what He is for us. He would encourage us to prove what He is more and more.
Rem He delights in being for the benefit of His people.
CAC God speaks of “thousands of them that love me”. What a delight to Him to have a people that love Him! He brought them where there was nothing but Himself; it was not to the wilderness He brought them, but to Himself. We get not only food (that is strength) in the manna, for we could not take a step without the strength that comes to us, but we also get the water. There are the twelve wells, the smitten rock, and the springing well. Water suggests the thought of refreshment in the affections. We need not only grace, but if we are to be kept bright and happy, we must be refreshed in our affections. There is nothing the saints need more than this; there is a real need of being refreshed in our affections. We settle down to a matter-of-fact sort of christianity, orthodox doctrine and correctness of [p. 112] walk.
Ques What is the water in John 4?
CAC John 4 corresponds with the springing well; it is in view of going up to the land, that our affections may flow in the direction of the land, but Elim is for the wilderness.
We have a great tendency to get dull in spiritual affection, the effect of business and the humdrum of life; God knows all about it, and has provided for the refreshment of our affections; this is of vital importance. In the assembly in the wilderness, set forth by Elim, you get the administration of the Spirit. If you think of the assembly according to God, the Spirit is there, and it is all for the refreshment of the affections of the saints. Our tendency is to become orthodox and correct, but it will not do for a living God; He looks that there should be a living spring in the affections of His saints.
I covet this, the blessed action of the Spirit, keeping our affections living.
Rem We get the love of God “shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit”.
CAC Yes, Romans 5 is the water from the smitten rock. The Spirit there is presented as coming to you in direct connection with the death of Christ, and He refreshes your heart with that. The water from the smitten rock suggests that the death of Christ becomes the means of our having the Spirit, and the effect of the Spirit is a living spring of the love of God in our hearts, so that the love concentrated in Christ’s death is now diffused in millions of hearts.
Now suppose we had been converted in the first century, hearing the gospel from Peter or Paul, what would be the first thing we should do? To come together in assembly. The converts clave to Paul and Barnabas, and in their cleaving to these men, you see the assembly in principle. There was a company of persons cleaving to those who brought the good news of God, and then in the assembly you find the Spirit administering, and distributing to each severally as He will.
You see in twelve wells perfect administration; one speaking, another praying, another prophesying, and the affections of the saints [p. 113] being refreshed.
Ques What do the palm trees signify?
CAC The triumph of God. I have often thought that 1 Corinthians is the firmament of His power; and the assembly, properly speaking, is the place where you would get the firmament of His power; an unbeliever coming in would see His power. They say in the world, so many men and so many minds, but in the assembly you have, as at Pentecost, three thousand men and only one mind; that is God’s triumph. It is not people agreeing to differ, but thousands of people and one mind.
Ques What do you understand by the firmament of His power?
CAC The expanse in which God works. There is a great deal about power in 1 Corinthians: Christ is the power of God, the cross is the power of God, the Spirit is the power of God, resurrection is the power of God. The administration of the Spirit is all in connection with God’s power.
Then we have the water from the smitten rock; that is the direct fruit and answer of the death of Christ, “the love of God shed abroad in our hearts”. There is a living spring in the affections, and they are kept bright. The idea of God’s assembly is that you have a people of one heart and one mind, one affection and one thought.
Ques What about the sanctuary? You said that 2 Corinthians was the sanctuary.
CAC Every bit of the sanctuary came out of the affections of God’s people, so we must first have the way God secures and refreshes the affections of His people. The blessed work of grace goes on refreshing our affections; how is it done? By all that has come to light in Christ. If I have a bit of Christ, that is a bit of gold, or a precious stone for the sanctuary. All here (Exodus 25) is figurative of Christ as become the possession of His people’s affections. Each one brings his bit; that is, every saint has some particular impression of Christ. One Israelite had a stone, another a piece of gold, or silver, or brass, and under the distribution of the Spirit each saint has some impression of Christ in his [p. 114] affections. Now put that all together, and let it come under the ordering of Moses, and it will all be fitted together in divine testimony. The whole system of divine glory in Christ is not in display yet, but it is made good now in the affections of millions of saints. We see the whole system of glory made good, a tiny bit in me, and a large piece in you; it is distributed in the affections of the saints. Testimony is God giving light amid darkness; there will be no testimony in heaven. The ark is not spoken of as the ark of the testimony after the crossing of Jordan; after that it is called the ark of the covenant, or the ark of the Lord, which shows that testimony is connected with the wilderness. Testimony belongs to what is antecedent to display, to what is not in display yet. I am not connected with the testimony, save as it lives in my affections.
Rem Love is what makes everything fit together. We see that in 1 Corinthians 13, nothing profits if we have not love.
CAC Yes; we see diversity of gift and operation in chapter 12, unity of affection in chapter 13, and unity of mind in chapter 14. What we are to each other is the testimony. God has set a certain system of affection in movement among His people. “By this shall all know that ye are disciples of mine, if ye have love amongst yourselves” (John 13: 35). The testimony is rendered by our being in right relation to one another. The assembly properly is the place where all that is divine and glorious is known. What Christ is Godward, and what Christ is manward and officially, is held in the affections of a company of people in this world.
Rem The man who brings the white linen is himself the white linen; he has something ministered of Christ to himself, and he has appropriated it.
CAC Exactly; that is most blessed.
Rem For instance, we are not to talk of being meek, but we are to show the meekness of Christ.
CAC It is a great thing to have substance; it is not what I know. Paul could say to the Corinthians, “The testimony of Christ is confirmed among you”. He was telling them that to [p. 115] exercise them; everything was set up in Corinth, but it had to be entered on with reality. You might have someone so poor that he could only bring a pin for the tabernacle! No one in the assembly, no sister need hold back and think, ‘I am no good’. The sisters all have power. We ought to be more concerned as to what we bring; we bring something in our affections, an impression of Christ. One need not hold back because one has so little; it is precious, and it is necessary to the testimony. I might be less than the least of all saints, but supposing one pin were missing in the tabernacle, or if one pin were not in its right place, there would be disorder, and things would not be according to God.
Rem Just as in 1 Corinthians 12, we have the body, and if one finger were short, the body would be incomplete.
CAC We ought to feel that we cannot do without the smallest of our brethren.
Rem We are not called to judge of our own importance.
CAC We think if a man has a gift, or even if he can talk, he is of some importance, but perhaps some bedridden old saint may be of more importance to God. The thing is, we ought to covet to minister much, not to content ourselves with little, but to covet earnestly to bring something that would be positive enrichment to the saints, and would give glory to the testimony.
Rem So, importance is not measured by what part people take orally.
CAC Quite so. What we bring to the assembly is there, and if I bring Christ, it is power, and we should all get a greater measure of liberty and power.
Ques What makes the difference in meetings?
CAC Well, what makes the difference in people? It is a question of how much we have taken hold of the covenant; it all comes back to that. We see what God can effect; there is a picture of it here; the people brought so much that it was said they brought “much more than enough” (Exodus 36: 5). We have, in David’s time, another example of how enormously the people gave (1 Chronicles 29).
[p. 116] There is an expression, used twice in Scripture, which is very remarkable. In Genesis 6, God says, “Every imagination of the thoughts of man’s heart is only evil continually”; and David when the people gave so enormously, said: “keep this for ever in the imagination of the thoughts of the heart of thy people” (1 Chronicles 29: 18). Man in the flesh is all evil, but man in the Spirit is all devoted to God. If you read Jeremiah, chapters 24 to 32, you will see what God will bring out in the affections of His people in a coming day; and all that He is looking to bring about in our hearts now.
If souls are not free in a meeting, there is often anxiety that something should be done, and it lacks life. We should bring power. A brother who takes part ought to be carried by what is in the meeting, and we have often experienced that a brother gets up and is carried quite beyond himself; he ought to be carried beyond himself by the unseen power of affection in the saints. In taking part everything is measured by edification. I ought not to take part except for edification; we use our judgment as to this. If there is a long pause, I should take part if I were free, because long pauses are not for edification. I should take part because I have something of God before my heart, and then that is edification. The assembly is not a place where we come together to sit and wait. No assembly of men comes together to be in silence; they come together for business to be transacted. If there are exercises in our hearts, they should be gone through before we come together, so that if we have something of what we have been speaking about in our souls, we should be able to bring it out for the good of the assembly.