THE LEVITES: THEIR REDEMPTION, CLEANSING, INHERITANCE AND DEVOTEDNESS
[p. 162] THE LEVITES: THEIR REDEMPTION, CLEANSING, INHERITANCE AND DEVOTEDNESS
There are four things very distinctly prominent as to the Levites, of which I may speak as their redemption, their cleansing, their inheritance and their devotedness. And by the Lord’s gracious help I should like to bring these things before you.
There was a marked difference between the twelve tribes of Israel and the Levites. The twelve tribes took their place in connection with the declaration of their pedigree; that is, they got their place by natural descent, and the Levites were not numbered among them. They got their place on another ground altogether; peculiarly on the ground of redemption, and if I may so say they traced their pedigree to the passover. You find it distinctly stated in Numbers 8: 18, “And I have taken the Levites instead of all the firstborn among the children of Israel”. You see, God had secured the firstborn for Himself by putting them beneath the shelter of the blood and now He takes the whole tribe of Levi in place of the redeemed firstborn; so that they had their place and privileges in a peculiar way on the ground of redemption; they traced their pedigree to redemption. Beloved friends, that is where we start.
There was no difference whatever between the Egyptian’s firstborn and the Israelite’s firstborn; the extreme penalty had passed alike upon them both, and the only difference between them was that which God made. As we are told in Exodus 8: 23, “And I will put a redemption between my people and thy people” (see note).
[p. 163] The death of Christ is the amazing witness to the righteousness of God. I may say the very first element of the divine work in our souls is to impart a conviction that God must be righteous in all His ways. There is nothing for the evangelist, who preaches the gospel, to work upon until that reaches the soul. The death of Christ is the vindication of the righteousness of God. There could never have been a testimony of God’s hatred of sin as there was when Christ died to bear its judgment. We see it declared in such a way that he is left righteously free to extend His grace to a world of sinners! He might have vindicated His righteousness by universal desolation, but now pardon can be proclaimed to the perishing millions of Adam’s race. Not even the devil can raise any question as to the righteousness of God. What a mighty, what an amazing thing this is to start with! We are convinced that God must be righteous in judging sin and we fall in with God’s righteousness. Have you fallen in with God’s righteousness? Are you so convinced of the necessity of His judgment — that it must come upon sin — that you are glad to fall in with the fact that God has judged it in the death of Christ? Then you will see the righteousness of God is in your favour. Oh! that precious blood! Thank God, it is available for every sinner here tonight; that which declares God’s righteousness is available for you. The blood of the Lamb secures everything for you.
The Levite was taken on the ground of the value of the blood, but we must remember, although as I have been saying the blood secures everything for the one who is beneath its shelter, that was not the chief thought God had in view — His chief thought was to have a people for Himself. Every sheltered firstborn son was also sanctified, as we read in our chapter, verses 17, 18. It is a people for God. What a dignity this imparts to every one that is beneath the shelter of the blood! We are set apart to be a people for God; it is an immense thing! Now, can you declare your pedigree? Any pedigree that is not traced to the value of that blood is worthless now [p. 164] and for eternity; and every soul that is beneath the shelter of that blood is secured for God. The blood settled everything, that God might have a sanctified people for Himself. That is the first thing.
The second thing is a necessary consequence, and what we have brought before us in this chapter is the second stage — the cleansing of the Levite. He has his place on the ground of redemption and now he had to be cleansed; although the blood has settled everything on God’s side there is an absolute necessity that those who are brought under the shelter of that blood to God should be in moral suitability to God. So Moses is commanded to take the Levites from among the children of Israel and cleanse them.
There are three things in the cleansing as you get in verse 7, “And thus shalt thou do unto them, to cleanse them: sprinkle upon them water of purification from sin; and they shall pass the razor over all their flesh, and shall wash their garments, and make themselves clean”. This is a figure of the way in which the redeemed company is morally fitted to be a people for God. There is no other way for us than the way set forth in type and figure here. We have got to be cleansed so as to be in suitability to the God who has sanctified us for Himself.
The water of purifying here spoken of is the water of purification for sin which we find in chapter 19. The heifer was taken and burned outside the camp, and cedar wood, hyssop and scarlet were cast into the burning of the heifer, and when all was consumed the ashes were gathered up and mingled with water and it was a water of purification for sin. It was the remembrance, brought home to the soul, of a fully executed judgment. The heifer and all that went with it had been absolutely consumed and this was applied in the running water (which was a type of the Spirit) in power to the soul.
If you want to get in the New Testament what answers to it I will turn you to Romans 8: 3, “For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God, having sent [p. 165] his own Son, in likeness of flesh of sin, and for sin, has condemned sin in the flesh”. It is when the value of the blood is perfectly known by the soul that another kind of exercise begins; that is, we begin to find that, although we are completely clear before God in all the efficacy of the blood, there is a great deal connected with ourselves that will not do for God — nay, I can go further than that — that will not do even for ourselves! I suppose there is not a person in this room who has not been in a greater or lesser degree dissatisfied with himself. Even in the world this is so — I heard of Professor Huxley saying the other day that if some great power would engage to make him always think right and do good, on conditions of being turned into a kind of clock to be wound up every morning, he would instantly close with the offer.
The Christian is not merely like the man of the world, irritated at being lowered by what he finds in himself, but he feels the shame, the sorrow and gravity of what it is in the eye of God; he has a capacity to judge it in a divinely given way. Beloved friends, we have to learn that sin attaches itself to the very life we possess; it is interwoven with every fibre of our moral being as children of Adam! This is a truly solemn discovery to make. Do you know what it is to be a partaker of sinful flesh? SINFUL! It is an awful thing to think of, that what sin is was never fully expressed in the devil — he dare not express what sin is. The awful thing is that he has taken possession of man and made a plaything of him and led him to express the awful horror of what sin is in a way he dare not express it himself! He dare not have struck the Son of God in the face, or lifted a hand to drive in one of those nails. It is man that has shown what sin is, and when I see that awful crime of Calvary — the creature raising his impotent hand against the Creator — I see man rid himself of God, and I say that is SIN! And because sin has come out in man, it has been completely judged in him; the blessed Son of God has come in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin. But beloved friend, have you really learnt it? Oh! I feel it is the question [p. 166] at issue today especially for the young saints — that our very life as children of Adam can only be rejected of God, condemned by Him.
Many times when I have been speaking to young Christians I have asked them ‘Have you an ideal — some lovely ideal in your mind — of what you would like to be?’ I pity the man that has not an ideal; such a man is not worth his salt. You say, ‘Oh! if I were only this or that’. You have your ideal and you are not happy because you cannot come up to it.
Suppose by your own effort you could rise by self-examination and self-denunciation to your ideal, what would it be? Beautiful SELF! Oh! how satisfied you would be with yourself, and although you might ascribe it to the grace of God, yet it would be the grace of God making YOU into a wonderful person, and I am afraid a great many Christians are not any further than that. I say that is not Christ. All that might be a credit or an ornament to me must go.
The cedar wood, man in his greatness; the hyssop, man in his littleness; and the scarlet, man in his glory, must all go. Why are not believers happy? Because they have not something they can glory in. If they could only have something attached to themselves in which they could take a pride, but they cannot. God intends you should learn in the language of Romans 7: 18, “For I know that in me, that is, in my flesh, good does not dwell”. And when you come down to that you are prepared to see that the whole thing must be condemned — root and branch. Everything that constitutes your life as a child of Adam must go. Are you content that it should? That you should not have a single vestige that you can boast of in yourself? Oh! it must all go. Thank God, it has gone in the cross, “God, having sent his own Son, in likeness of flesh of sin, and for sin, has condemned sin in the flesh” (Romans 8: 3). It is gone! gone! And the sprinkling of the water of separation is the application of that to your soul in the power of the Spirit, and that is the first element in moral cleansing. All that I am is gone, and henceforth I am not seeking to find a [p. 167] single germ of anything in myself to which I can turn in self complacency.
The second thing is, “And they shall pass the razor over all their flesh”. You see, it is very evident if the whole thing has gone in judgment from before God (and I am glad that it should go) I cannot go on tolerating it. It is monstrous. The razor must pass over. Everything that is the natural outcome of the flesh must be cut down in judgment. “If ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live”, Romans 8: 13 (Authorised Version). It has got to be cut down in the power of the Spirit. You get it in Galatians 5: 24: “They that are of the Christ have crucified the flesh with the passions and the lusts”. And in Colossians 3: 5, “Put to death therefore your members which are upon the earth”. The razor must pass over the flesh, there must be the judgment. And this is the practical test as to whether the water of purification has been sprinkled upon us. The measure of self-judgment in the power of the Spirit is the measure in which the water of purification has been sprinkled upon us. There is to be no toleration of that which is evil. God has condemned it and I fall into line with Him.
The flesh is a crucified thing; it is not to have any place or recognition, and I put to death my members which are upon the earth.
And then there is the third thing, “And shall wash their garments, and make themselves clean”. The washing of the clothes is a figure of the Christian coming out in a new character altogether. If you want it in the epistle to the Romans you get it from chapters 12 to 15. You find he comes out in a totally new character. If you would like to see him in four different spheres you might read the last verse of Romans 12: “Be not overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good”. That is in relation to those that are against you. There will be a good deal against you if you are really set to be for God. So in relation to your enemies you overcome evil with good.
Then as to all the lawfully constituted powers, “Let every [p. 168] soul be subject to the authorities that are above him. For there is no authority except from God; and those that exist are set up by God” (Romans 13: 1). The duty of the believer is clear — it is one of subjection. There is no instruction to the believer as to how he should record his vote because by doing so he would be taking a place as “ruler”.
Then go on to verse 14: “But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not take forethought for the flesh to fulfil its lusts”. This is as to one’s personal character. If it is an enemy we are to “overcome evil with good”. If it is the powers of this world we are to be in submission, and if it is our own personal character, we are to put on the Lord Jesus Christ. What a complete change of character! It is like washing the clothes, and if we do not put on this character what is the good of taking a place in service for God? You see you are not cleansed. This finds us out in the home circle: many a man can be nice in the meeting and perhaps speak unkindly to his wife.
Then in chapter 14: 19, “So then let us pursue the things which tend to peace, and things whereby one shall build up another”. This is amongst your brethren. In every circle, whether it is in the presence of the enemy or of the powers of this world, in my own personal character; or in the assembly amongst my brethren, everywhere the believer comes out in a new character. This is the way of the cleansing, and the effect of all this is that there is a people for God.
So, to go back to Numbers you find that the Levites were brought and were offered to God (chapter 8: 11). “And Aaron shall offer the Levites as a wave-offering before Jehovah from the children of Israel, and they shall perform the service of Jehovah”. They are taken up and presented to God, this company of Levites, to be altogether for God. They are received in the efficacy of the sin-offering and in the sweet savour of the burnt-offering. It is a blessed thing to know that when we are presented to God it is in the absolute clearance of the work of Christ and it is in the infinite acceptance of the sweet savour of His death, and we are then appropriated by [p. 169] God — as He says in the end of verse 14, “That the Levites may be mine”, and in verse 16, “For they are wholly given unto me”, and in the end of that verse, “Have I taken them unto me”. God appropriates this company altogether for Himself. If you want it in the epistle from which I have been reading (Romans) you get it in chapter 12, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the compassions of God, to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your intelligent service. And be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God”. There is a company of Levites and they are all presented to God now for His satisfaction and pleasure. Beloved, have you got that idea of christianity? I do not say it is the highest platform; but it is a wonderful thing that God has wrought in His grace, and the great object He had in view was that we might be a company altogether for Himself. You find in chapter 15: 16 he brings the Levites and waves them before God. “For me to be minister of Christ Jesus to the nations, carrying on as a sacrificial service the message of glad tidings of God, in order that the offering up of the nations might be acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit”. The great thought Paul had in going out to preach was to bring a people to God: when the apostle was preaching he was going as a priest to find a company of Gentiles that he might bring them to God as a wave offering. It greatly elevates the thought of the gospel if we bear this in mind: God wants a people here in this world for Himself. The Lord was the true Levite here absolutely for God; now He is gone and what is there left? Well, a company of Levites, and I trust most here have the Spirit-wrought desire to be a person here for God.
Another point I want to speak of a little, is the inheritance of the Levites, and I turn you to Deuteronomy 18: 1, 2, “The priests, the Levites, and the whole tribe of Levi, shall have no portion nor inheritance with Israel: Jehovah’s offering by fire, and his inheritance shall they eat, but they shall have [p. 170] no inheritance among their brethren: Jehovah, he is their inheritance, as he hath said unto them”.
Now I have often had to say that one can see very distinctly how the children of this world are wiser than the children of light. The man of the world knows his portion and he goes in for it, and yet, alas, many of God’s children do not; they do not go in for it; the result is they do not enjoy it. Unless we go in for it we shall not enjoy it.
If you want a verse from the New Testament in connection with this I would like to read Romans 5: 5, “And hope does not make ashamed, because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit which has been given to us”; also verse 11, “And not only that, but we are making our boast in God, through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom now we have received the reconciliation”. I read these verses because here it is we touch the source of all blessing; and not only touch it, so to speak, but the source is positively put into our hearts. So that it is not like something at a distance from me, but the love of God is shed abroad in my heart. How wonderful that He should give me His Spirit in order that my heart might have a capacity and capability to taste of His love. How could I taste divine love if His Spirit were not given? Impossible! Oh! beloved friends, I confess to you I feel how little my soul oftentimes is in the joy, power and blessedness of the gospel as it is revealed here. Oh! the overwhelming blessedness of it. The little sense of it that one may get occasionally breaks over the heart like a flood of divine joy! We joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ. This is the Levite’s portion. Not that he is getting on a little better in this world, not that his circumstances are changed, but he is brought to God and joys in what is the outflow from that Source.
In 1 Corinthians 2: 9, 10 it says, “Things which eye has not seen, and ear not heard, and which have not come into man’s heart, which God has prepared for them that love him, but God has revealed to us by his Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God”. Now we come to the out [p. 171] flow. If I have found the source of all blessing in the heart of God Himself, what is the outflow from that Source? There are things that eye has not seen, nor ear heard, and they are revealed to us by the Spirit. That is our inheritance. What is it but an outflow from the heart of God? Oh! the blessedness of being brought into it; brought into the things that come out from the heart of God. And what is the response? Ah! there is a response on our side, you may be sure, if we know what it is to reach that source. You get it in Colossians 3: 1 - 3: “If therefore ye have been raised with the Christ, seek the things which are above, where the Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God: have your mind on the things that are above, not on the things that are on the earth; for ye have died, and your life is hid with the Christ in God”. Where are the things that God has prepared for them that love Him? They are in another world, in that world where Christ sits at the right hand of God; they are hidden. We need to take it to heart that the believer’s life is a hidden life — it is not in manifestation at all. So if I want to know really what it is to enter into my life, to live in my inheritance, I must seek the things that are above. We only practically have the enjoyment of our life as we seek the things that constitute it. It is hidden. Just as the glory of the Son of Man is hidden — we are told in John 13: 32 that He is glorified in God. There is not a ray of His glory seen in this world. Ah! it is not in manifestation. If we know the source and the outflow does it not awaken our hearts to seek the things that belong to our inheritance, and that we may really seek to take possession and be attracted to that place where our inheritance is at God’s right hand?
There are a few words I would like to add as to the Levite’s devotedness. Exodus 32: 26 - 28 says, “And Moses stood in the gate of the camp, and said, He that is for Jehovah, let him come to me. And all the sons of Levi gathered to him. And he said to them, Thus saith Jehovah, the God of Israel: Put every man his sword upon his hip; go and return from gate to gate through the camp, and slay every man his brother, and every man his friend, and every man his [p. 172] neighbour. And the sons of Levi did according to the word of Moses; and there fell of the people that day about three thousand men”. Now just a few verses from Deuteronomy 33: 8 - 10, “And of Levi he said, Thy Thummim and thy Urim are for thy godly one, Whom thou didst prove at Massah, With whom thou didst strive at the waters of Meribah; Who said to his father and to his mother, I see him not, And he acknowledged not his brethren, And knew not his own children; For they have observed thy word, And kept thy covenant. They shall teach Jacob thine ordinances, And Israel thy law: They shall put incense before thy nostrils, And whole burnt-offering upon thine altar”.
It was a terrible day for Israel in Exodus 32 — Moses had gone up to the top of the mount, was in the glory above, and forgotten by the people below: practically forgotten. All allegiance to Moses and to Moses’ God was thrown off by the people. And in the presence of that all-devouring fire and clouds and thick darkness you see a man on his knees modelling a golden calf! Who is that man? Aaron, the only man named in Scripture as a saint (Psalm 106: 16). The people strip themselves of their ornaments and give their glory to a calf. They had forgotten Moses and the God of Moses. Beloved friends, is it not so today? Our Moses has gone on high and oh! how much He is forgotten! And what is the effect? When Moses is forgotten the people of God must have something to look at, something on earth if their hearts lose sight of that object in heaven. The great mass of the hosts of Israel today have before them an object on earth other than the Object that is in heaven, and that is idolatry.
It was an awful day. Do you not think it meant a violent wrench of many natural ties, a violation of much that was dear to nature, when they went through the hosts and slew every man his brother? Ah! it was a stern business. I will tell you this, if you are set to be on the Lord’s side you will find it will be incumbent on you to violate natural ties; you will have to go in the face of those who are dear to you, and with the sword drawn where you least expect it.
[p. 173] If you cannot draw the sword against that which has the strongest natural hold upon your heart you will never know what it is to be in the position of the true Levite. It is not that you are insensible to the natural tie, but when it is a question of the will of God and of being on the Lord’s side, the sword must be drawn and no natural susceptibilities must be allowed to sway the heart. The Lord said, “I have not come to send peace, but a sword” (Matthew 10: 34).
I heard only the other day of a lady who had been turned adrift by her husband and children, simply because she would not acquiesce in that which would be dishonouring to the Lord. It is a deep reality, beloved friends; we are to be tested. If we profess to be out and out for the Lord, sooner or later the test will come. May we have purpose of heart at such a time. But we are not always killing our brethren; the great thing is uncompromising fidelity to the Lord and decision for Himself. The effect is, “Thy Thummim and thy Urim are for thy godly one”. The Urim and Thummim were that by which God made known His mind. If you are swayed by natural influences you cannot have the knowledge of His mind.
The second thing is, “They shall teach Jacob thine ordinances, and Israel thy law”. They become a real help to God’s people in the knowledge of His mind. It is lamentable to think that out of the vast number of Christians today how few there are able to help their brethren in the knowledge of their Lord’s mind! Then, “They shall put incense before thy nostrils, And whole burnt-offering upon thine altar”. A people like that was a pleasure to God, to come near to Him. Is it not something to covet? Nothing could be such an attractive object to the devoted heart than to think that my going to Him is a positive pleasure to Him!
May we better understand what God’s thought is — He wants a people for Himself for His own pleasure.