THE SILVER TRUMPETS

^[p. 238] THE SILVER TRUMPETS

1 Thessalonians 1:7,8; Numbers 10:1 - 10; Numbers 31:5,6

JT I have in mind the sounding out of the testimony, and these verses in 1 Thessalonians show what is meant in the sounding out, and how it marked the early christians, especially these young ones. They furnish us with the thought in the New Testament, and then the verses in the Old Testament serve to show how it works out. The thought of the sounding out of the testimony began early. It is not only that we speak often one to another, as we do, but there is a sound. There was the sound of the trumpet at Sinai, and at Jericho, and on many other occasions in the Old Testament. Then at Pentecost there was a sound from heaven as the Holy Spirit came down. So that the Lord would perhaps use these scriptures, and what we may have to say on them, to stir up the brethren as to sounding out the testimony; as it says here, “the word of the Lord sounded out from you”. There is the general thought, and then the kind of vessels or instruments to be used. There were two kinds in the Old Testament, there were the trumpets of horns and those made of silver, as in this chapter in Numbers, the latter being formally prescribed to furnish us with instruction as to what is required in public testimony. According to the New Translation, they were beaten: “of beaten work shalt thou make them”; and the general purpose was “for the calling together of the assembly, and for the journeying of the camp”.

Ques Is it a principle with God that we should hear before we speak? So the apostle speaks of the gospel having been brought to them and after that, something goes out from them. Would there ^[p. 239] thus be a spreading abroad of what we have received from God?

JT Quite so, and beginning with a sound. The apostle speaks about distinction of sounds (1 Corinthians 14:7). The sound is to attract attention, and then there is what may be said.

PSP Why do you emphasize that the trumpets were of beaten work? Would it suggest it is not the natural man that God uses, but a disciplined man?

JT These holy instruments, as they are called elsewhere, refer to persons, not persons who may qualify according to current religious requirements but who come under discipline. We see that principle in all the servants that God uses, such as Peter and Paul; they certainly were disciplined men — answering to the “beaten work”.

Ques Would Paul and Silas in the prison suggest the beaten work? It says, “the prisoners listened to them” (Acts 16:25).

JT That is a good illustration of it. They had been much beaten even before they entered that prison. It is a word for all who seek to serve, indicating that we must come under the hand of the Lord to be fitted; the material — silver — denoting His rights over us through redemption. There are not only His rights, but we belong to Him, too, so that He can use us, take us in hand and discipline us according to His own mind. He has a free hand with us.

EJMcB I wondered when you emphasized the word “sound” whether you were distinguishing between what we would call the manner of life and utterance, the latter being what is heard?

JT Yes; so that here we have, “the word of the Lord sounded out from you”. Whatever the means might have been, there was a sound from the Thessalonians throughout all the region spoken of. The report of their faith toward God was included in ^[p. 240] the testimony.

HH Would the thought of influence go with that? It is distinct from actual preaching. It is supported by piety, bringing God into everything and everyday life, so that the saints became a testimony.

JT That is an important feature of our testimony, surely. Even in regard to the material creation — the heavens as in Psalm 19 — the sound is alluded to: “their sound went into all the earth”, (Romans 10:18). It seems to be a great principle with God in His testimony that there should be a sound. According to the type, when the high priest entered the sanctuary there were the bells on the skirts of his garments; there was a sound. So when the Lord Jesus went up into heaven, there was a sound in Jerusalem answering to His place on high.

Rem The sound is heard from living people; the dead cannot praise, but the living. So the very movements of the high priest indicated to those outside that he was a living person active in service.

JT Quite so, the bells were but types of the living power for sound in the Lord’s people here on earth.

Rem The beaten work was very much in evidence with the Thessalonians; they had “accepted the word in much tribulation” (chapter 1:6), and therefore the word of the Lord sounded out from them.

JT It is a question, therefore, for our brethren, as connected with different localities, whether there is a sound going out, whether any attention is called to what is of God in our localities?

EJMcB You mean that the local company ought to be heard where it is.

JT That is what it is there for.

Ques Is that the reason why Macedonia and Achaia are mentioned where the word was sounded out?

JT Yes; they were much in the mind of heaven at that time. If God is with a company of believers ^[p. 241] in a town, heaven has the town in its mind. That section of Europe was much in the mind of heaven at that time; the apostle, as has been remarked, was beaten at Philippi, and the testimony sounded out there in an unmistakable way. Then he came to the Thessalonians and the sound from them extended out. He had come into Macedonia under divine direction, that area was in the mind of heaven; and if God set such servants in Philippi or Thessalonica, as He did, He had the whole district in His mind. Much is made of those parts in the Acts. If God has set us in our respective localities He has in His mind that there should be a sound from us.

Ques What form would this sound take under present conditions?

JT I think it ought to issue from every one of us in our ordinary walk and ways; something that people will take notice of. Then it involves the preaching; the word of the Lord is preached, it is spread abroad.

Ques Would Luke 15 fit in there, the music and dancing?

JT Just so. That had a sound of its own, and called attention to what was inside. It is a very important sound for young christians specially, that there is something in the house for them; there is enjoyment there, it is not a lifeless state of things. There is melody and joy and dancing in the house of God.

HH Is not this what God has in a place in contrast to the apostate movements of the present time? There is what God is maintaining by the Spirit in different localities. Is it not to meet the dead state of things?

JT That is what I am thinking. That is the mind of God, and the question is whether it is being answered to. In the so-called churches around us natural or worldly entertainments are provided to hold the people, spiritual enjoyment being lacking.

^[p. 242] Ques Do you think we should be exercised as set together that in our homes and conversation young people should get the impression that there is joy, and that the testimony is taken up by those livingly in the position?

JT Yes. In the end of Matthew 12 we have the idea of one house, a house in which current religion had its place, and with that would be associated what today would be regarded as attractions for the young. The poverty of christendom is seen in the uses made of the basements of their so-called churches and church houses, where efforts are being made to meet the needs of the young with natural amusements. The house of God is entirely apart from this. The Lord left one house (Matthew 13:1), and went into a ship and spoke about sowing, and then He entered into another house. That other house is furnished, and as we take up the thought throughout the gospels, we shall see that Luke 15 is a sort of climax from the standpoint of enjoyment; there is music and dancing there. I believe the Lord would lay that upon us, that in our meetings and houses there should be that which answers spiritually to the music and dancing for the young; that things are not dead, but there is a living state of things. It says that the elder brother heard the sound of music and dancing and inquired about it, but he would not go in. If young people do not go in for that, it is evident they are not subjects of the work of God; but if they are honestly the subjects of the work of God, they will be attracted by the sound of heavenly merry-making.

Rem That is important, because the natural tendency would be to think that if they are not attracted by the music and dancing, we should cater for their tastes and lower the standard.

JT If the work of God is there and there is uprightness with them, they will respond to the music and dancing in the house of God. The Lord said,

“^[p. 243] We have piped to you, and ye have not danced” (Luke 7:32) — that is the natural young person, but in the house those who are the subjects of the work of God will respond. Then the sound at Pentecost was of a rushing mighty wind, so that we need not be afraid; there is no power in this world as great as the Spirit of God. It is an irresistible power; that is the kind of sound. Young believers sometimes quail before modernism and that kind of thing, but if we understand the sound from heaven we are stimulated to overcome. There is nothing to compete with what that involves, and it enters into the whole dispensation.

Ques Do you think we get the thought of sound in Revelation 22:17 “The Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that hears say, Come”?

JT That is right. It is a distinct voice, not only sound, but a word plainly spoken, the word “Come”. The Lord values that from us.

JJ Do you think it is essential that God should get His portion first? In 2 Chronicles 5, the trumpeters were all there to make one sound to be heard in thanking and praising God — and then prayer went out afterwards for the stranger.

JT Just so. There were 120 priests sounding, and when the sound became as one, the glory filled the house. The silver trumpets ought to be specially noted in this setting, because we are so prone to rely on natural ability in the service. Silver, as we all know, is suggestive of redemption. “Do ye not know that ... ye are not your own? for ye have been bought with a price”, (1 Corinthians 6:19,20). The Lord has rights over us and will take us on in His service, but on His own terms.

Ques Do you connect the outgoing of the testimony with the gathering of the assembly?

JT The great thought in the testimony is that people should believe and be gathered. The Lord Jesus said, “I, if I be lifted up out of the earth, will draw all to me” (John 12:32); and He died that He might “gather together into one the children of God who were scattered abroad”, (John 11:52). The blowing of the trumpets, as in Numbers 10, is to that end, both the gathering of the assembly and the journeyings. That is, as gathered together we are not settling down in this world but journeying.

Ques Do you connect formation with gathering?

JT The idea is that the vessel through whom the testimony goes out is a model, he is, so to speak, “beaten” silver. Like Enoch, he is a disciplined man; he is not a self-assertive man; he represents Christ, not only as gifted, but characteristically. There is divine formation in him, and as the message goes out through him, those who receive it discern this, and that formation is necessary in those who receive the message, too. The Thessalonians were said to be models; it says, “ye became our imitators and of the Lord, having accepted the word in much tribulation with joy of the Holy Spirit, so that ye became models to all that believe in Macedonia and in Achaia”. Receiving the word in tribulation and joy in the Holy Spirit is the thing.

JJ What is the difference between the silver trumpets and the rams’ horns?

JT The rams’ horns give a joyful or jubilee sound, as the original is said to imply, ‘the reverberating blast of the horn’ (note New Translation, Leviticus 25:10). The beauty and power of the creature is seen in the horns, and hence, no doubt, the place such trumpets had in the capture of Jericho. The world is brought down as believers hearken and are attracted to Christ, that is, the world is brought down in our hearts as He becomes attractive in His beauty and power.

HH Applying the thought of a model to younger believers, it would necessitate their being in the confession of Christ personally, so that they get the support of the kingdom; and also that they break ^[p. 245] bread, that is to say, they are committed definitely to the testimony. One feels in moving about what a lack there is with young people, in not committing themselves definitely in that way.

JT With such the word is not received, as we have it here, in much tribulation: it says, “having accepted the word in much tribulation with joy of the Holy Spirit, ... ye became models”. You can see how those who received the word through a beaten vessel, so to speak, were affected accordingly. God orders it that their circumstances are marked by tribulation. The word received in tribulation is like the fertilizing of the soil and then joy in the Holy Spirit. There is a state for moulding, so that as we receive the message we become like the person through whom it comes to us. The apostle had been in excessive tribulation in Philippi; he refers to it later, and God ordered it that the conditions in Thessalonica enhanced what he presented, so that the Thessalonians received the word in much tribulation and in joy of the Holy Spirit. Paul, we are told in Acts, had gone in amongst them for three sabbath days, so that they could take account of him and see him as he was. If necessary they could easily see the marks of the jailor’s stripes; he bore in his body the brands of the Lord Jesus, and his words would carry weight in the power of that suffering. The Thessalonians had received the word through such a competent vessel and were themselves in circumstances similar, for tribulation had arisen; but the tribulation is balanced by the joy of the Holy Spirit. They had received the word in those circumstances and themselves became models.

Rem In Romans 5 tribulation is, in a sense, the occasion of all that follows, culminating in joy in God.

JT It works patience, and in connection with that “the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit” (verse 5). All this is to bring the ^[p. 246] recipient of the word into accord with the vessel through whom it comes to him; and God’s design is that the vessel is disciplined.

JJ He speaks of the Lord’s coming in this epistle. They were suffering in such a way that he presented the other side, the glory to follow.

Rem Have you some of these features in Gideon? He knew what it was to be in reproach; he threshed wheat in the wine-press, indicating pressure, and when the Lord brought him forward he was known as one who could be followed. He could say, “Look on me, and do likewise”, (Judges 7:17). He became a model to them, and all of them are associated with the trumpet sound.

JT Quite so; that is what the apostle alludes to in 2 Corinthians 4:7 - 9, “But we have this treasure in earthen vessels ... cast down, but not destroyed”. The earthen vessel was fragile but it was not destroyed; “disciplined and not put to death”. Treasure was in it, so that the more the pitcher was broken, so to speak, the more the light shone. Thus an example is set, in those who minister, for those who are ministered to, that there should be conformity to Christ in taking on the character of the person who immediately ministers. So of the Thessalonians it says, “ye became our imitators, and of the Lord”; they followed the apostle, but then they followed the Lord. The apostle was no party man; they could see in him what Christ was; he bore the brands in his body, meaning that he was the Lord’s in the evidence of suffering.

Rem So that the Lord produces the same effect in every one who is the subject of discipline, as with Gideon’s men; they had all passed the same tests and arrived at the same position through exercise.

JT The idea works out in Gideon’s brethren, that is, they were all like him.

Ques Is that why you are pressing what happened at Philippi in relation to the Macedonians?

^[p. 247] JT Yes. They had a great advantage in that the apostle had been to Philippi first, because he had been down to the depths of suffering. What power there would be in his ministry at Thessalonica, as he came from Philippi, after all that terrible suffering!

PSP Is your suggestion that a person’s testimony is not so much what he says but what he is?

JT Yes. The great primary thought is seen in Christ: “Learn from me” (Matthew 11:29), He says. But then a believer hears you preach, gets blessing through you, and he naturally thinks of you; light has come to him through you and therefore he is apt to take on your character. So the point is for the preacher to be like Christ; “ye became our imitators, and of the Lord”. That is, Paul was their model to begin with, but Christ was their model, and there was no difference, in principle, because Paul was like Christ in suffering.

EJMcB A servant may leave an impression that is not complete. The apostle had to ask at Ephesus whether certain disciples had received the Holy Spirit when they had believed; the gospel they had was imperfect. A servant may leave behind him converts that need further light, but he ought to have gone on further himself. I thought that was the value of the model coming first and the sound coming afterwards.

BGR The model with these illustrations was involved in the fact that they “turned to God from idols to serve a living and true God, and to await his Son from the heavens” (verses 9,10). The work of God in them was apparent, and they became a testimony.

JT That is right, only the immediate vessel through whom the testimony came to them was Paul, and he was so like Christ that they immediately became followers of Christ after having become followers of him. So that the preacher has to see to it that he does not set out a wrong example. It is a serious matter if there be anything about him that would be a fall-trap for his converts.

^[p. 248] Now the general thought of these trumpets is that the testimony is to be for gathering, for the calling together of the assembly. Much preaching goes on in christendom today, but generally there is no thought of gathering in it; it is simply a question of getting people to confess the Lord Jesus, which so far is good, but there is no idea of gathering. They give them tickets to go to this or that church, the principle being to go to some church, but there is no idea of leading them to find their places in the assembly. The first great thought in the testimony of these trumpets is for the gathering of the people, and the next thing is for their journeying, for if I am gathered according to God, it is not for this world; I am moving out of it as called to another world. That is what is in view in the journeying. I belong to Canaan. Then there are details added to this general thought. God says to Moses that, if they blow with one trumpet, “then the princes, the heads of the thousands of Israel, shall gather unto thee”.

BGR Your remarks as to gathering would shut out altogether the idea of individuals acting in service in the gospel without the fellowship or sanction of the assembly. The gospel in its proper form should go out from the assembly and bring back to it.

JT That is the thought exactly. There must be the gathering, even if a brother goes out like Philip when he went down to Samaria and preached the Christ. It does not say he was sent, but he preached the Christ, and there were good results from his preaching. Now the next thing is, what about the assembly? Are those converts material for the assembly? Are they to be left in Samaria to drift along as best they can? What comes out is that they are amenable to help from others. Peter and John were sent down to Samaria by the apostles at Jerusalem, and they prayed over them and they received the Holy Spirit, and then the converts were ^[p. 249] formally included in the assembly. There is no other thought in Scripture than that. So the first great principle is gathering, and the next thing is journeying after the converts are brought into fellowship. We are not gathered for this world, we are going out of this world, and the testimony sounded out was in order that saints might move out from it.

Rem And in that moving you would be concerned that the brethren might move together; there is no thought of any going on away from the rest. You want to get every brother and sister journeying at the sound of the trumpet.

JT Quite so. The next thing in the general thought is, “if they blow with one, then the princes, the heads of the thousands of Israel, shall gather unto thee”. That is, there are those in authority, who have moral weight. They are specially noticed because if the gathering is to be maintained and the journeying, there must be government in the house of God, and it is important therefore to have the princes called together. They are to be “gathered unto thee”, that is, unto Moses — or unto Christ now. The same thing applies to the whole assembly.

JJ To what do you liken the gathering of the princes today?

JT The care meeting and the like. The idea is to place responsibility upon us, that the saints need to be cared for, and although you may be a prince, or a head of a tribe, you need to get to the Lord about it; you have to pray about every matter relative to the assembly; the Lord would assert His right in the thing. You are not retained as a bishop for life, the Lord has to say to you and the things you are responsible for every day, and He asserts His rights in this one blast of the trumpet. If one or two brothers take it in hand to do everything in the meeting, the Lord would sound the trumpet and say, as it were, Let all those in responsibility ^[p. 250] in this respect come to Me about this. It is a very important thing that the government of God should be maintained amongst His people, not in any arbitrary way, but as inclusive of all fitted to have part in it, and of bringing the Lord into it.

Rem So what the people hear is the voice of the Lord’s authority in the trumpet. They are under government and they recognize that what is said to them is from the Lord.

JT Then, when movement is to take place, it says, “And when ye blow an alarm”. That is, if we are to move forward in the truth — and we have had some little experience of that — it involves danger. As soon as there is a move forward the enemy is sure to attack. When the alarm is blown those on the east side move: “the camps that lie eastward” — they are the ones to lead.

EJMcB I was wondering whether they were more in the thought of God?

JT Yes; Judah was the leading tribe. He represents the sovereign selection of God, that is, God has His leaders and those whom He selects sovereignly, and they are the first to move forward. We are not to be like Zacchaeus running before the Lord.

EJMcB In regard of this alarm have you in mind that as the testimony goes forward it will meet with increased opposition from the enemy?

JT Yes; therefore let the persons most qualified to meet it, take the lead. Sometimes a truth is given out or suggested and someone takes it up and is extreme about it and would put out a tract on it, or something like that, and perhaps he is going before the Lord in the thing; he is not waiting for this blowing of an alarm. There is an enemy ahead; there are likely to be enemies ahead under those circumstances, and every inch of the way is contested. Well, we do not want to be at a disadvantage; the ^[p. 251] thing is to move according to the sound of this alarm.

AW Do you think Hebrews 13:17 would come in there? “Obey your leaders, and be submissive; for they watch over your souls as those that shall give account”.

JT Yes. In a movement forward the greatest care is needed. Judah represents royalty and sovereign selection for leadership, his camp was on the east of the tabernacle, which was the leading position.

Rem It does not appear to be the princes who blow the trumpets but the priests.

JT It is the priest in every case; it is a priestly sound, and therefore might be in one who is inconspicuous.

Ques Have you an alarm in Acts 15: there is controversy at Antioch, and the apostles and elders at Jerusalem come together to consider the matter?

JT Quite so, and then those sent up from Antioch to Jerusalem — Paul and Barnabas — were men who would carry conviction to every one who was right minded. At Jerusalem they had liberty to relate to the saints what God had wrought through them among the nations. This would produce an excellent atmosphere, facilitating the settlement of the difficulty according to the mind of God.

Rem It is interesting in that connection that, although there was a burning subject upon their hearts, a subject of difficulty and likely to cause distress, all the way on their journey they spoke of the wonderful works of God, and it says, “they caused great joy to all the brethren” (verse 3). Evidently they did not occupy the brethren with the difficulty, but the work of God.

JT They were answering to what we have been saying as to the camp of Judah. They were moving as those selected in the sovereignty of God. They were equal to the leading position. So it says that ^[p. 252] Titus was there and he was not required to be circumcised: “but neither was Titus, who was with me, being a Greek, compelled to be circumcised” (Galatians 2:3); that is, there was such manifest power in them and in the way the truth in question was presented that opposition was overcome. All this is most important when movement in the truth is to be made.

EJMcB What a comfort it must have been to the gentiles who had come in at that time, that Titus was not compelled to be circumcised!

JT Titus was an unchallengeable testimony to the work of God among the nations, and the judaisers were utterly defeated. Then, as you will observe, the next movement is, “when ye blow an alarm the second time, the camps that lie southward shall set forward”. That is the next camp in the advance; people who are in the favour of God, not only the subjects of sovereign selection, but who are in His favour, because the south is the favourable aspect. These are the only two camps said to move, the others are left. Brothers and sisters who are happy in the truth, who are satisfied in the enjoyment of divine favour, cannot easily be overcome.

Ques Is there any relation between the blowing of the trumpets and the cloud moving?

JT Well, there is. The cloud was the great general thought of guidance; it was the symbol of the presence of God. The trumpets are specific things to call attention through the ear. Instead of what you see, it is what you hear.

EJMcB It is a very important point when some fresh light is given to the brethren and they begin to move with it. Those that are in the enjoyment of divine things rise to it, and it becomes evident to the brethren generally that the thing is of ^[p. 253] God.

JT Exactly. You will always find that if there is something of God, those who are in the light of the sovereign selection of God, like Judah, will move with it. A brother who is neutral may say, Nothing should be said about this. A man like that should keep out of sight; neutrals — men or women — are those who cause trouble.

PSP Is it supposed that those on the west and the north would follow as a matter of course?

JT You have to be careful of those not mentioned here — the west and the north. Those on the west side are apt to be a little dejected, and Dan on the north, may be affected by the north winds. We had better beware of those.

JJ But if the movement is right and according to God it spreads.

JT The camps of Ephraim and Dan would move subsequently. An alarm has danger in view; well, do not let a neutral be in the front, nor a Zacchaeus, one who runs ahead before the Lord. There is just one thought: keep on sounding out the testimony. As we read, “And if ye go to war in your land against the enemy that oppresseth you, then ye shall blow an alarm with the trumpets; and ye shall be remembered before Jehovah your God, and ye shall be saved from your enemies. And in the day of your gladness, and in your set feasts, and in your new moons, ye shall blow with the trumpets over your burnt-offerings and over your sacrifices of peace-offering”. That is to say, the testimony is to be kept up all the time.

But then, chapter 31 has something that is very distinctive: “And Moses sent them to the war, a thousand by the tribe, them and Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest, to the war, and the holy instruments, even the alarm-trumpets in his hand”. This is a remarkable chapter, speaking of the selection of a thousand out of each tribe for the war with ^[p. 254] Midian; all the saints are brought into it and with Phinehas with those holy instruments of God, even the alarm trumpets in his hand. If we read through this chapter we shall see it was one of the most signal victories recorded in the Bible. There was not a man lost, and there was enormous spoil, enriching, as the end of the chapter shows, the sanctuary of God. It is a war with Midian, that is, persons who claim the status and who are outwardly relatives of the saints. It refers, I believe, to the organized state of things around, including the hierarchy, who have, or had, the precious things of God in their possession, but now they are taken away and placed in their proper setting. The spoil is enormous; that is, God, in the great revival, in which we are participating, has recovered all these things, the things that belong to the testimony. The place that these trumpets have in the hands of Phinehas, is of immense importance to understand; it is the priesthood par excellence, the priesthood in Phinehas. Only such a priesthood could succeed under those circumstances, and it succeeded well, so that we have in the end of the chapter, as you will observe, “(The men of war had taken spoil each one for himself.) And Moses and Eleazar the priest took the gold of the captains of thousands and of hundreds, and brought it into the tent of meeting, as a memorial for the children of Israel before Jehovah”.