THE RICHNESS OF THE LAND
[p. 191] THE RICHNESS OF THE LAND
Deuteronomy 8:7 - 10; Deuteronomy 10: 5 - 9; Colossians 2:1-4 Colossians 2:8-10
These scriptures speak of the richness of that into which we are brought, namely, the land, the word ‘land’ being used seven times in those verses in chapter 8 to call attention to the richness, the wealth, of that into which we are brought, not that into which we shall be brought merely, but that into which we are brought, for the land typifies our present portion. It is not exactly a type of heaven literally, that into which we shall be brought when the Lord descends from heaven, as we are told, and raises the saints from the dead, from sleeping, and changes us who are alive and remain; the land of promise is rather what we are brought into now, something to be understood, a place of great richness, a land which requires no imports. No nation in the world can be spoken of in this way, scarcely any nation, if any, is independent of the products of other nations. Our land is, as I hope to show in detail; there is no need of importations of commodities.
Now, in speaking thus, it is but right morally that I should refer to the one who tells us these things, for the Spirit of God loves to enhance in our eyes the vessels He uses, that we may have them in esteem if they be living, and hold them in reverential memory if they be gone; we are to remember them — “Remember your leaders”, Hebrews 13:7 whose faith we are to follow. Moses, in a sense, is unique in this respect, whether we view him typically or personally, for the Spirit of God presents him to us in this double way, what he was personally and what he was typically. Scarcely anyone in the Old Testament more agrees personally with what he was typically and officially than Moses does — faithful, as we are told, in all God’s house, one [p. 192] of whom Stephen, in his address, says, “This is he who was in the assembly in the wilderness”, Acts 7:38. For forty years he bore with the manners of Israel in an adverse scene, a provocative scene, for the wilderness is provocative of our proclivities, it tends to irritation and complaint and revolt, even apostasy; hence the tribute to Moses, he was in the assembly in the wilderness, and retained his freshness and sympathies and love until the last moment of his life of 120 years. This book is written when he was about to die, and it is perhaps a fact unparalleled that he could write such a book, as you will observe the date given in chapter 1:3, “in the fortieth year, in the eleventh month, on the first of the month, that Moses spoke to the children of Israel, according to all that Jehovah had given him in command to them” Deuteronomy 1:3 — he spoke according to orders. It is not here the oft-repeated, “The Lord spake unto Moses, saying ...” — it is the general outline of all that the Lord had commanded him to give unto them, in the eleventh month of the fortieth year — as I apprehend, the last month of his life. What a man he was! and what an example for elder brethren, to retain all that they have received in their ministries from the outset, so as to bring it forward as needed at the end; nothing to recall, nothing to cancel, all pervaded by the true spirit of ministry to the saints, so that his speech remained to distil as the dew, it came down as the small rain at 119 years and 11 months. We may well take note of this, dear brethren, so that the elder may not discourage the younger, but rather enhance the ministry, enhance christianity indeed in themselves, in their own enjoyment of it; unsullied in their appreciation of what they have received from the Lord in earlier days, able to review it to the end, as the apostle Paul alludes to himself, “being such an one as Paul the aged”, Philemon 9 simply such an one as Paul the apostle — he was that in surprising [p. 193] degree, as he tells us, nothing behind the chiefest — “laboured more abundantly than they all”, 1 Corinthians 15:10 he says, and so he addresses a beloved brother, “being such an one”, he says, “as Paul the aged”. No allusion to any decrepitude of old age, for that could but discredit him, but “being such an one”, he retained his freshness and affection such as had always been manifested in him.
Well now, thus are Moses in the Old Testament, and Paul in the New, examples for elder brethren to encourage forward the younger. Moses knew he was about to depart, for honoured servants are not taken by surprise if dissolution come, he was apprised beforehand indeed by Jehovah; and buried honourably, no one had such a burial as Moses, as we may say, God Himself was the undertaker, speaking reverently — dug his grave, I suppose; Jehovah buried him, no one knows where — such is the honour conferred on this great servant. We may well listen to him, especially young ones, listen to his description of the Land.
One is reminded of the gospel of Luke; it is a peculiarly buoyant gospel, indeed to be evangelical we must be buoyant, or we shall discredit the gospel — dolefulness ill-becomes a preacher of the gospel. Luke 15 is, I suppose, one of the best known scriptures, and one of its leading features is buoyancy: the shepherd rejoicing and calling others into the joy; the woman who lost the silver piece finding it, rejoicing, and calling others into the joy; the father of the prodigal rejoicing — others brought into it — “It was meet that we should make merry, and be glad”. Luke 15:32. And this is merry-making, as it were, that is to continue, for the house is turned into a dancing hall, God, by His Spirit, graciously coming down to the thoughts of young believers to wean them away from the world’s spheres of pleasure, to show how infinitely greater is the pleasure proposed in the gospel — pleasures for evermore. “As well the singers as the dancers shall say, All my springs are in thee” Psalm 87:7, that is to say, in the sphere of the pleasure — Zion, the place of it. Barzillai had no taste for it, a warning to old brothers and sisters — lover of Christ indeed, lover of David, for he maintained him in the wilderness the other side of the Jordan and came over the Jordan with him, but returned back. He had grown too old, he said, for such enjoyment — what will he do in heaven? He will have to change his mind — no doubt he has. We have to anticipate, dear brethren, and not to come short now of what we anticipate; to show that what we anticipate is real, that we have the earnest of it, the Holy Spirit is the earnest of the inheritance. So that, when we go to heaven, there shall be no great change — there should not be. ‘There no stranger-God shall meet thee’ (76:10) — that heavenly scene, heaven literally, I mean, surely should not be strange to us. Beyond anything perhaps we may have anticipated, but in character what we anticipate, for we anticipate what we enjoy in principle now by the earnest; hence the music and the dancing. The elder brother had no interest in it at all, he was in the field, his heart full of envy, marked by inability to take in that holy scene of love. The word ‘dancing’, as I said before, is God graciously using a human term to win our hearts, to show us that He has everything the world can give, but in an infinitely superior way and of an infinitely superior kind. David is the leader in this kind of thing, dancing with all his might, but clothed with a linen ephod, he was perfectly sober, although you might say, in another sense, beside himself, but he knew what he was doing, the linen ephod means priestly sobriety — I know what I am doing; like the elders in Revelation, I always give an account of what I am doing, I know what I am doing, I give the reason for it. That is the sort of thing that begins [p. 195] now with full-grown people, and Deuteronomy contemplates such, it contemplates growth; we are at the confines of Canaan and we see the great servant with all his feelings and affections, and chapter after chapter brings before us the wealth of the land, but, on the other hand, warning us as to what prevents its enjoyment.
And so these four verses in chapter 8, perhaps more than any others in the book, depict this wealth, this wealthy land, the word, as I said, being used seven times, so as to fix our minds upon it. It is not a shifting scene, it is not the sands of the desert, it is this land, it is a fixed thing; and so he says to us, “Jehovah thy God bringeth thee into a good land, a land of waterbrooks, of springs, and of deep waters, that gush forth in the valleys and hills; a land of wheat, and barley, and vines, and fig-trees, and pomegranates; a land of olive trees and honey, a land wherein thou shalt eat bread without scarceness; where thou shalt lack nothing; a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose mountains thou wilt dig copper. And thou shalt eat and be filled, and shalt bless Jehovah thy God for the good land which he hath given thee”. You will see here, dear brethren, that spiritually there is no need of any impartation, in that land we are sustained, self-sustained. The epistle to the Colossians is intended to preclude importations, telling us that there is no need of them — philosophy and vain deceit — no need of them — very appealing as they are to the modernist, the scientific man. All the creeds of christendom are, in some measure, leavened with philosophy; Colossians is to preclude all that, it is simply foreign merchandise, so to speak, which is utterly unneeded in the land. The apostle says, “I would have you know what combat I have for you ... and as many as have not seen my face in flesh”. Colossians 2:1. One would be comforted with the thought that, in a generous way like the Lord Himself, the [p. 196] apostle looked down the history of the assembly, and included ourselves; certainly the Lord did; “them also which shall believe on me through their word” John 17:20 were included in His prayer. The apostle says, ‘I combat for you’. What is needed in this respect, dear brethren, is, as it says, that your “hearts may be encouraged, being united together in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the full knowledge of the mystery of God; in which are hid all the treasures of wisdom and of knowledge” — hidden from the gaze of the natural man, but to be entered into and enjoyed by us who believe, for whom he prayed. They are enjoyed in a certain practical state amongst us, a state of affection, a knitting together in love, and an understanding of the mystery of God in which is hid all these things, the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Wisdom and knowledge are stressed because of the danger that beset these christians, the insidious character of human wisdom and knowledge, “philosophy”, as it says, “and vain deceit”. ‘Now’, he says, ‘you do not need those things’. He said that so that they should not be deceived; that is, he reminds them of his prayer for them, and all the treasures, “all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” — all of them. The greatest Greek knew nothing of these things, they belong to the hidden wisdom, beloved brethren, “which God had predetermined before the ages for our glory” — think of that — “our glory”. “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”, 1 Corinthians 2:9,10. This is what is in mind.
Now, having referred to Colossians, I just dwell for a moment on these elements or products of the land so that we may have them before us, knowing them [p. 197] and enjoying them, becoming rigidly exclusive of all else because of them, because of their sufficiency, because of the variety of them, furnishing us fully, as the apostle further says, “ye are complete in him”. In whom? In Christ. Who is Christ in Colossians? It is a question of the Person. The “image of the invisible God”, Colossians 1:15 he says in chapter 1, “for in him all the fulness of the Godhead was pleased to dwell” Colossians 1:19 — all the fulness. That is to call attention to the Person, to the greatness of the Person — that is chapter 1. In chapter 2 it is what all that is to us, that is, it is within our range, it is all the fulness of the Godhead, of the Deity — bodily, meaning that it is within our range. As John the apostle says, “that which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes; that which we contemplated, and our hands handled” 1 John 1:1, referring to the Lord Jesus down here, referring to Him bodily; that all that God is is there, there to be available to us. What else do we need? Whatever wisdom there is is of God, it comes from God, and it has come within our range in that blessed Man, that blessed divine Person who became incarnate — “in him dwells all the fulness of the Godhead bodily; and ye are complete in him”. Hence we are fortified in the enjoyment of these precious things against all that is outside — it is extraneous, we do not need it. Bad it may not be — that is not the point, it is that it is unneeded by us, the land into which we are brought furnishes us with everything.
So that the first thing is “a land of waterbrooks”. How refreshing waterbrooks are! what beauty, what attractiveness they lend to a landscape! — a land of waterbrooks, that is the Holy Spirit manifestly moving, so that one does not need to draw things out from the brethren, the Spirit’s activity is manifest. How attractive such a district or town where the saints are! — a land of waterbrooks, a land of such refreshments. And a brook has not only refreshment,
[p. 198] as suggested by water, but a sound to it; there is something about it that is peculiarly attractive and enhancing to a landscape. A land of springs of water, that is to say christians full of the Spirit, where things are not superficial, as the Lord teaches us in John 4. A land of deep waters, as the word ‘depths’ means — deep waters. They are indefinite, but the characteristic being ‘deep’, there is plenty there; the depths of God, we may say, searched out. How exclusive that is, as understood, of all that man can supply, the infinite resources of God in the Spirit. And, as it further says, “of springs, and of deep waters, that gush forth in the valleys and hills”. The word is ‘gush’ — the richness, the volume, gushing out of the valleys and the hills, for God is the God of the valleys, as He is of the hills, and the water gushes out; no pumping needed, no drawing things with labour from the brethren. Well, that is the thought. Valleys are fertile — the saints viewed, I suppose, in that way, the action of the sun upon them; and the hills or mountains — the same people viewed as towers of strength; in either case the waters gush out, no hardness, no exaction, no taxation, there all is in liberty, all is furnished in richness and fulness. Such, dear young people, is that into which you are brought if you have eyes to see and ears to hear, and sensitiveness. Such is the wealth of the land, and, as I said, it is a stable state of things — such is its wealth. Then we have fruit, too — “fig-trees, and pomegranates; ... olive-trees and honey”. An address could be given perhaps on each of these items, the subject is inexhaustible. We are dealing with spiritual matters, with what we need spiritually, too, the rich supply.
Then the Spirit of God runs on, referring to the saints — a land of stones; they are stones — but what kind? They are of iron, they have strength in them; and we dig brass out of the hills, that is, we do that. Enjoying all these things — the means of judgment,
[p. 199] the element of judgment, is not wanting — we do that, we dig brass out of the hills. The land is not wanting in that. So that we eat to the full, we are satisfied, and the normal effect is that we bless, we become worshippers, we bless the One who gives it; that is, we are land worshippers, so to speak. There is worship in the wilderness, but there is worship also in the land. Worship in the land is out of the richness we have tasted, of the joy lavishly supplied by the hand of love. It is very attractive, where faith is, it is drawing in its effect; for ministry can only be to faith, without faith, the most spiritual ministry must fail, as it were. Where faith is in any little way in the saints, this is attractive.
Well now, I just want to show how, in chapter 10, there is movement in the light of all these things; that is the next thing. Colossians means prohibition; not simply heavy taxation on commodities, but absolute prohibition. Commodities are not allowed in at all, no such imports are allowed, they are rigidly refused. Now in chapter 10, as I said, the children of Israel took their journey (verse 6), that is to say, Moses here refers back to the second writing of the law in which there is no mistake made or discrepancy — no need to break the tables. The ark is there, Christ is there; everything now is there and we can afford to move, there is no breakdown again. That is the principle — we can afford to move; and they did move, and what comes out is that they move “to Jotbath, a land of rivers of waters”, that is where the journey led to. I fit in this, dear brethren, with what I have been speaking of in chapter 8, which is the Spirit’s description of the land; chapter 10 is my coming to it. How do I come to it? Well, it is a question of the shining of the glory — of the covenant. It fits into the Lord’s supper, to the saints in assembly; it fits in in a general way, too, that is “perfect love casts out fear” 1 John 4:18 — the covenant is perfect love. The [p. 200] tables are in the ark, and Moses says, “They are there ...” Deuteronomy 10:5 — there they are, there is no change. And then there is a parenthesis, these two verses (6 and 7) are properly a parenthesis. This parenthesis anticipates, for us, some thirty-eight years; it is the principle of anticipation, like Ephesians 2 where it is said, we are “raised up together”, and made to “sit down together in the heavenlies”, Ephesians 2:6 not we shall be, but we are, that is, the future brought into the present — that is a great thought, it can only be realised by the Spirit; in the power of the Spirit the future is brought into the present, and I know I am in it. The passage begins with Sinai and Horeb, which was just a year (or maybe less) after Israel came out of Egypt. The parenthesis is at least thirty-eight years later. Why is this? It is that the glory has moved us, the shining of the glory in the face of Jesus has moved us — that is the covenant. “We all, looking on the glory of the Lord, with unveiled face, are transformed according to the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Lord the Spirit”, 2 Corinthians 3:18. That is movement — “glory to glory” — one glory after another. What a way that is, what a shining way that is! “They go from strength to strength:” we are told elsewhere, “each one will appear before God in Zion”, Psalm 84:7. It is a shining way. We walk through the valley of Baca, we make it a well-spring, the rain fills the pools. It is the perfect love of God coming into the heart, the glory shining, and I begin to move. Well now, God says, ‘You have begun to move. I will bring in the new priesthood, I will antedate things for you’. It is a heavenly matter now. You say, ‘It is a wilderness matter’. Yes, but a heavenly matter; it is a question of reaching the land of waterbrooks, that is the heavenly land. Whatever the geography may be, it is the heavenly land, that is the character of things, so that you get the waterbrooks. It is not a question [p. 201] of the sympathy of Christ in the wilderness now. Aaron dies, and the Spirit of God brings it in now to show us how much God thinks of a movement towards Him. That is the land of Canaan; God will have you in His own land; He says, Aaron dies. The chapter begins with Horeb — notice Aaron did not die at Horeb, he died at mount Hor; but he dies here; that is, the Spirit of God anticipates, for God would have us to get on to the line of the new heavenly priest, Christ in heaven, in other words, Christ having died and risen and gone into heaven. “Such a high priest became us, holy, harmless, undefiled, separated from sinners, and become higher than the heavens”. Hebrews 7:26. That is the priest, as if God would say, ‘That is My thought. The wilderness is only a tentative thing, it is only My ways with you; My thought is what can be reached in a few days’. God says, ‘I am helping you; there is a heavenly priest to sustain you there’. That is the thought, dear brethren, so that the thing should not be deferred, but I should enter now in the power of the new priest, the heavenly priest, by the power of the Spirit, into a land of waterbrooks. Then it says God took over the levites at that time, that is at Horeb, but all in connection with the heavenly position, for it is God’s inheritance in the levites, and they have no other inheritance but God. So you see, dear brethren, the reality of Canaan may be reached at any moment we are ready for it; it is a land to be entered into, God would have us to know we are sustained there, it has all we need and more, so that there is no lack of enjoyment.
May God bless these thoughts to us.