CHRIST THE ANSWER TO EVERY CIRCUMSTANCE
CHRIST THE ANSWER TO EVERY CIRCUMSTANCE
Exodus 15:22-27; 2 Kings 4:38-44; Acts 28:1-6; Numbers 15:32-36
We were speaking in the reading of enjoying heavenly things in the company of Christ where He is. No doubt it is an exercise for all of us as to whether we have the heart for it, whether we have the desire for it. Of course, we are still in the wilderness with all its tests and trials. I have read these scriptures and seek help to speak a little of the difficulties that they speak of, and how in type they were met by Christ, by a ministry of Christ. I wondered too if we might make reference to the writings of the beloved apostle Paul in relation to these scriptures. We are exhorted to read the Old Testament in the light of the New; it is often a picture of the teaching of the New Testament, but we approach it through the New Testament and I think, particularly for us, through the writings of the apostle Paul. The New Testament would bring in help about any difficulties that might be encountered by us.
The children of Israel here had just passed through the Red Sea, they had been delivered from Egypt and eaten the passover. They had known what it was to be secure, a type of our being safe from judgment under the precious blood of the Lord Jesus. I trust that each one here has the certainty and the conviction of that, knowing that they are free from God’s judgment because of the blood of the Lord Jesus, the precious Lamb of which we spoke a little in the reading, the Lamb that was slain not on His own account but for us. Those having the blood on the doorpost and on the lintel were safe, and they passed through the Red Sea, of which the New Testament tells us, “of which the Egyptians having made trial were swallowed up”, Heb.11:29. So God’s judgment came upon them, but the children of Israel were preserved. It is a wonderful thing to know deliverance from the world, although it is a question whether we can say very much as to it. It is a very attractive place to us naturally. The children of Israel had hard labour in Egypt but they were delivered. Scripture tells us that Christ died for our sins to deliver us out of this “present evil world”, Gal.1:4. No doubt that is what the children of Israel experienced, but then it says that Moses brought them from the Red Sea “and they went three days in the wilderness, and found no water”. That must have been a test to them. They must have wondered why God had done so much for them and now there was no water. Then they came to Marah and found water, but they could not drink it because the waters were bitter. It brought out murmuring; I suppose it exposed what the flesh is.
We might be under the shelter of the blood, we might be delivered from the world, but we still have the flesh in us and it brings out murmuring. What is the answer? It says Moses “cried to Jehovah”. I wondered if that is a little like the exercises of Romans. We spoke about deliverance a week or so back in Witney. It is a bitter thing to find that we have no power in ourselves to deal with the flesh. However much we try, we fail. It is a bitter experience, but it says, “Jehovah showed him wood”. Paul says, “O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me out of this body of death? I thank God, through Jesus Christ our Lord”, Rom.7:24,25. I wonder if that would be what the wood represents; Jehovah showed it to Moses. It seems to me in the way that it is put that not only did Jehovah show him the wood, but it typified God’s feelings about His Son, that blessed Man, that Man of another order, a heavenly Man. It seems to me that the wood is a type of God’s delight, God’s pleasure in that Man, expressed in the words, “This is my beloved Son” as He was seen at the waters of baptism (Matt.3:17), and then again on the mount of transfiguration (Matt.17:5). The wood speaks of a different order of man altogether who never sinned, never had the struggles that we have with the flesh.
But Jesus was tempted in the wilderness. It says He was “led by the Spirit in the wilderness forty days, tempted of the devil”, Luke 4:1,2. What came out – murmuring? No, never. What came out was perfect obedience, perfection that withstood every temptation whatever the devil brought, whatever it might be – “the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life”, 1 John 2:16. Jesus withstood it all, He was impervious, we might say. He could say, “the ruler of the world comes, and in me he has nothing” (John 14:30), but He was led by the Spirit in the wilderness for forty days. We see the perfection of a dependent Man, a Man of another order but here in the same condition as you and me, in flesh and blood but sin apart (Heb.4:15); a heavenly Man. “He who comes from above is above all” (John 3:31), the Baptist could say; and Jesus said Himself, as we said in the reading, “the Son of man who is in heaven”, John 3:13.
Then it says of the wood that Moses “cast it into the waters”; I suppose that would speak of the Lord Jesus going into death but amenable to the will of God. The apostle says, “obedient even unto death, and that the death of the cross”, Phil.2:8. It says, “the waters became sweet”. The only way the waters become sweet for us is if we realise that the Lord Jesus went into them, tasted death “for every thing”, Heb.2:9. In that sense, death for the believer becomes sweet. I thought about Hezekiah; what a man he was, there was no king like him in Judah before or after him (2 Kings 23:25). He faced death in actuality, but he said, “instead of peace I had bitterness upon bitterness; but thou hast in love delivered my soul from the pit of destruction; for thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back”, Isa.38:17. We realise, as we consider the death of the Lord Jesus, that it brings out the love of God. Paul says, “God commends his love to us, in that, we being still sinners, Christ has died for us”, Rom.5:8. That is the sweetness, I believe, that we can taste. It says, “the waters became sweet”, and then it says, “There he made for them a statute and an ordinance; and there he tested them”. So we are to be like Christ, we are to be subject persons, we are to be obedient persons whatever it may cost, subject to the Lord, subject to the brethren, subject to one another; it is a statute and an ordinance. It says, “If thou wilt diligently hearken … and do what is right in his eyes … I will put none of the complaints upon thee that I have put upon the Egyptians”. Indeed God will provide the springs of water and the seventy palm trees – speaking of refreshment for the soul and victory.
Paul says, “I thank God, through Jesus Christ our Lord … There is then now no condemnation to those in Christ Jesus”, Rom.7:25; 8:1. What a wonderful note of triumph was in the apostle’s heart as he said those words, “no condemnation to those in Christ Jesus”. There are the twelve springs of water – adequate, abundant, full supply – and seventy palm trees; it says, “and they encamped there by the waters”. There is in Christ refreshment for the soul and for the sustenance of the believer.
Well, that was one test; we might think of the exercises of Romans as something that we have to go through individually, individual exercises no doubt. There is no mention of the assembly in Romans; it is individual truth for the believer although it is the basis of course for what Paul speaks of as the body in chapter 12. But I thought that this scripture in 2 Kings brings in what is collective. It speaks of “the sons of the prophets”. It says “Elisha came again to Gilgal”; Gilgal speaks of circumcision of the flesh. Elisha frequented Gilgal, and it is well for us to do so, but it says that “there was a famine in the land”. We could look at this great pot in many ways; I wondered if the meal represents the ministry of the Spirit. It speaks of Christ too, but particularly the ministry of the Spirit nullifying what comes in of the mind of man. There was a wonderful beginning in the book of the Acts when the Spirit came and the assembly was formed. What powerful testimony went out through the twelve apostles and the apostle Paul, but how soon the mind of man came in. How soon man began, perhaps with very good intentions, to seek to enhance or add to or improve what God had set up, but it will not do, brethren. The mind of man can only bring in death. You think of those centuries from after the time of the apostles through what we speak of as the ‘Dark Ages’; we could say that there was much death in the pot. Think of the great system of Rome and how it held believers in bondage; they were not even allowed to read the Bible. Well might we speak of “death in the pot”. But then what happened? Martin Luther received light from God. The Spirit worked in the soul of that man, and the great truth of justification by faith was recovered. I think that was the Spirit beginning to nullify the death that was in the pot.
Then there came the time when many believers were recovered to the truth, when God used Mr Darby and many others to bring out the great truths that had been covered up – the Lord Jesus as our Head in heaven and His body here on earth, and many others. It all nullified the mind of man and the thoughts of man that had brought death into the pot, and it was the Spirit’s work. The Spirit moved not only in Mr Darby but He moved at the same time in many hearts to bring to light what His thoughts were and to recover believers, true believers to the truth of Christ and the assembly. We might speak of what happened then as a public thing, but what about our localities, beloved brethren? We might be like these sons of the prophets sitting before Elisha. Their desire, the intention, was to bring food. How necessary it is that there should be pottage, so to speak, for the sons of the prophets. They are not always seen in a good light, the sons of the prophets, and that might be an exercise for those of us who have been brought up in Christian fellowship with good parents and good teaching, whether we are really in the good of it. Sometimes they were, it seems, and sometimes they were not. Here it seems they were in a favourable place, and the pot was set on, then it says, “one went out into the field to gather herbs”. Perhaps that might be me; I might bring something into the local meeting that should not be there, something of my own thoughts, my own imagination. It says, “they did not know them”, so there was a certain laxity on the part of the company about these wild colocynths. This man “shred them into the pot of pottage; for they did not know them. And they poured out for the men to eat”.
May we be preserved, beloved brethren, from bringing anything in amongst us that is not according to the mind of heaven, anything that we might, even with very good intentions, seek to bring in to add to what might be there. It brings in death. “The mind of the flesh is enmity against God” (Rom.8:7), Paul says; “the mind of the flesh is death; but the mind of the Spirit is life and peace”, Rom.8:6. I believe that is what Elisha represents; the mind of the Spirit, the Spirit of Christ. How the Holy Spirit would bring in the meal, again speaking of the humanity of our blessed Lord. The meal was something quite insignificant and yet how powerful it was to nullify what was in the pot that was bringing in death. Elisha cast it into the pot, speaking perhaps of the amenability of the Lord Jesus to the will of God. We would covet to be like Elisha, to know what to do and how to do it if there is anything in the local meeting that needs adjustment. “Pour out for the people, that they may eat”.
Then what a result there was here when this man from Baal-shalishah came, in principle, from heaven, from the realm where Christ dwells, and he brought “bread of the first-fruits, twenty loaves of barley, and fresh ears of corn”. These things might represent the Lord Jesus in some way. It says he had the loaves “in his sack”. The man who had gathered the wild colocynths had them in “his lap”, he was fairly unrestrained; but this man had a vessel in which he could bring what was for the nourishment and for the blessing of the local brethren. Elisha said, “They shall eat, and shall have to spare”. So whatever the need, whatever the appetite, there is enough and to spare. It says, “they ate and left thereof according to the word of Jehovah”; again it brings in the authority of the word of Jehovah. The attendant of Elisha questioned it; “How shall I set this before a hundred men?” but Elisha repeats what he said, “Give the people that they may eat; for thus saith Jehovah …”. These things are testing, but encouraging too, as we see what resulted from one man who knew what to do. It speaks in principle of what can be brought in under the power and the control of the Holy Spirit to nullify what might have come in of the mind of man, perhaps accidentally, something that would have brought in death.
Now I come to Paul, a slightly different setting perhaps, but I was thinking about these sticks. We thought of the wood being cast in. As an aside, the Authorised Version speaks of a tree, but Mr Darby uses the word “wood”, something that perhaps in men’s eyes is insignificant and yet speaking of the humanity of our blessed Lord, as did the meal too. But here it is sticks. I suggest that it speaks of Paul’s ministry amongst the brethren. He could speak of the authority he had for building up, not for overthrowing (2 Cor.13:10). He was gathering the sticks together in a bundle. That would be always Paul’s desire, Paul’s intention, Paul’s labours, to gather the saints together in a bundle. Conditions might be cold and wet, as they were, but the fire had been kindled and it needed to be fed. So in our local meetings the fire needs to be kept going. Proverbs says, “Where no wood is, the fire goeth out”, Prov.26:20. But Paul was gathering the sticks together in order that the fire might be kept going, and I think it represents the way in which he gathered the saints together in his ministry.
I do not suppose the Corinthians thought of themselves as sticks – they were more like trees walking. The Corinthians looked at one another, they compared themselves with themselves, and they measured themselves by themselves (2 Cor.10:12). If you compare yourself with someone as bad as yourself, then there is nothing wrong, there is no problem. But how about comparing yourself with the Lord Jesus, beloved brother, beloved sister. What if I compare myself with Him? When the iron fell into the river, it says Elisha “cut down a stick, and cast it in thither, and made the iron to swim”, 2 Kings 6:6. That has been likened to the Lord Jesus, cut down, cast into the waters of death1. Think of the life that the Lord Jesus has brought to light, He has “brought to light life and incorruptibility by the glad tidings”, 2 Tim.1:10. Just a stick, you might say, something that men would despise, something that we see in our next scripture may be lying about on the ground. Think of how Paul would gather them together. Where there might be division, where there might be persons at sixes and sevens, he would gather them together in a bundle.
But how soon the enemy attacks that. He brought the legality of the law into the Galatian assemblies (Gal.3:2); he brought philosophy and vain deceit into Colosse (Col.2:8). But think of the labours of the apostle to meet those things, to nullify them, to help the brethren to overcome them. Paul could speak of the saints having been set “free in freedom”, Gal.5:1. He could speak of the wonders of the moral glory of the Lord Jesus, “holding fast the head” (Col.2:19), all these things, and he could speak to the Corinthians of approaching them knowing nothing among them but “Jesus Christ, and him crucified”, 1 Cor.2:2. What a lowly service Paul rendered, even this practical service here; how ready the apostle was. He could say to the Ephesian elders, “these hands have ministered to my wants, and to those who were with me”, Acts 20:34. He could speak about moving about “with all lowliness, and tears, and temptations, which happened to me through the plots of the Jews … for three years, night and day, I ceased not admonishing each one of you with tears … I have coveted the silver or gold or clothing of no one … ”, then he brings in another precious thought; he says, “I have shewed you all things, that thus labouring we ought to come in aid of the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that he himself said, It is more blessed to give than receive” Acts 20:19-35.
I think the apostle showed the saints the wood. God showed Moses wood; I think the apostle Paul in his labours showed the brethren the wood. He showed it in himself, as he said, “Be my imitators, even as I also am of Christ”, 1 Cor.11:1. Who could say that but a man who was so taken up with the Lord Jesus that he could say, “for me to live is Christ”, Phil.1:21? Who of us could say that? But may we be encouraged to be more like the apostle, more like the Lord Jesus, to be His imitators, to gather the saints together and not bring in what might divide. Paul speaks very severely about such. May we be those that would gather the saints together, as Abigail said to David, “in the bundle of the living with Jehovah thy God”, 1 Sam.25:29. May we be encouraged in these things.
Now as to the last scripture, I hesitate to say much about it, beloved brethren, but I feel it is laid upon me. “They found a man gathering sticks on the sabbath day. And … brought him to Moses”. The man spoken of here is so different to the apostle Paul. It says that Israel were in the wilderness; it does not say when it was, it could have been at any time. Brethren may know the teaching of the section; Mr Coates said that this man’s intention was to light a fire2, which was expressly forbidden: “Ye shall kindle no fire throughout your dwellings upon the sabbath day”, Exod.35:3. He was a lawless man no doubt. It is a rather negative scripture, but if this man had been doing this the day before or the day after, it would not have mattered. My simple impression about the application of this scripture, I just suggest to my brethren, is that what might be perfectly legitimate and right in its setting is not appropriate for the Lord’s day. We have the Lord’s day before us tomorrow, beginning with the breaking of bread, moving on to the service of praise and then the reading meeting, and the gospel preaching. May we always bear in mind what we might speak of as the sanctity of the Lord’s day. As we come up to take the Supper, may we have no other motive or action or intention other than to remember the Lord Jesus in the breaking of bread and to engage in the service of praise, and then to fill out the day for the glory of God that He might have His rest. The sabbath no doubt speaks of what is secured in Christ, and may we not bring in anything that would mar it, beloved brethren.
I trust what I have said will commend itself to the brethren: the fact that in the difficulties of the wilderness, the answer was Christ – Christ as it were cast into the waters of death to make them sweet; then the meal perhaps representing the ministry of the Holy Spirit working to nullify anything that would bring in death, whether it be in the local meeting, whether it be in the assembly at large. Then to be like the apostle Paul who was intent on bringing in in his labours what would, as it were, warm the saints up, keep them in life, keep them bright in their testimony until the Lord Jesus comes.
May the Lord bless the word, for His name’s sake.
Maidstone
7 March 2020
Phil J Walkinshaw