SPIRITUAL DESIRES
SPIRITUAL DESIRES
Numbers 27: 1 - 7; Joshua 14: 6 - 15; Judges 1: 12 - 15
It is laid upon my heart tonight, dear brethren, to say a word about spiritual desires, for I think that if there is one thing that these meetings that we have been together in relation to these three days should do, it is to awaken and revive spiritual desires. It may be that we have never had them before, or it may be that we have had them before but the desires have waned somewhat with us, but what I have to say tonight I have to say to all of us, that as we return to our gatherings we shall return with renewed spiritual desires, I have chosen these passages in the Old Testament, which is so rich and so full in figurative and typical language and always serves to amplify the truth; and in all the passages I have read, there is a peculiar expression of desire. In regard to Achsah, that delightful young sister, whose name is so honourably mentioned, she says, “Give me a blessing,” and not just content with that she says “Give me also”; oh, that word ‘also’; it is interesting to see the different ways it appears in Scripture. She says “give me also springs of water.” That is, Achsah is in full accord with the mind and heart of God, which is always more and more. And then the daughters of Zelophehad whom we often refer to, they say “Give unto us a possession.” What courage these beloved women had, without fear, in the holy boldness that faith imparts, and that belongs to those who have the Spirit, because Numbers 21 has been passed, “they stood before Moses and before Eleazar the priest, and before the princes and the whole assembly, at the entrance of the tent of meeting.” And they say, “Give us a possession among the brethren of our father,” verse 4.
And then that delightful passage we have read in Joshua 14 - just the very reading of it is spiritually exhilarating - we see the delightful, wonderful brother Caleb. What a lesson, what a model he is to all of us, how he says, “And now give me this mountain.” He is very clear, although he is an old brother as we would speak, but his mind is very clear as he covers the ground, and remembers things and calls attention to certain promises. We might refer to them as the promises of God, because that is how they would apply in our case. His mind is very clear. He is not just reminisencing, as some of us may do, ‘there was a day when we were so bright, so keen.’ He was not living in the days when he was once bright and was once keen in spiritual desires. He was the same then as he was before, he gives us a wonderful illustration of a consistent person in divine things right up to the end, and I am sure that the older brethren will bear the exhortation tonight as we would speak respectfully in regard of their years in the testimony, that heaven is very pleased to see sustained desire right up to the end as we shall see in Caleb.
Now, I go back to Achsah in this setting in Judges. The fact that we get two references to this incident is not without note, the repetition would show how pleased heaven is about the matter, so that it is put on record twice. I would like to say in opening out now what is in mind in the Scriptures I have read, that in regard to every one of us, and especially would I encourage the younger brethren, that in relation to spiritual progress in divine things, divine Persons will take us as far as we are prepared to go. Now let that sink into your mind and heart. Divine Persons are not arbitrarily forcing us into the realm of what is so choice, so holy, and so glorious, so abiding and so eternal, but they are ready, and by wondrous grace indeed would serve us in every possible way, to take us as far and as high as we want to go, and I would say, as we return to our gatherings, that the Lord has been suggesting to us that we should lay ourselves out more to be taken on by divine Persons, and that we should allow divine Persons to take us as far as they want to, because they will take us to wonderful heights of glory, they will take us to wonderful realms of spiritual wealth and fulness, so that we shall never need to have a regret as to the journey, and as to the point to which, in their taking of us, we may have reached.
Now this matter of Achsah appearing in the book of Judges; she appears in the book of Joshua, and as those who are intelligent in regards of the Scriptures know, Joshua is the book of victory, victory on the side of the people of God, it is victory all the way generally speaking - There may be defeat as at Ai necessary to prove something to the people, but generally over the book of Joshua can be written “Thanks to God, who gives us the victory.” Under the spiritual leadership of Joshua, with Gilgal as the base of operations, the people go forward in relation to victory after victory in entering on the inheritance that God has marked out for them. But the book of Judges presents a different viewpoint. The book of Judges contemplates what we have to view in our time, a broken state of things. The book of Joshua contemplates the days of the Acts, speaking after a certain manner, when the people under the spiritual leadership of Christ, typified in Joshua, and also the leadership of the Spirit typified in the man with the drawn sword, went forward in relation to the great thoughts of God, and nothing could stand before the power of Christianity; in the days of the Acts everything had to give way.
So the book of the Acts corresponds with Joshua in that way, especially reaching in Paul’s ministry the heavenly side of the truth which the book of Joshua has particularly in mind. But then we are not in the days of the Acts, we are in the days of 2 Timothy when everything is so difficult, and when there is such public confusion abroad in Christendom which renders things difficult, so that it is a great matter that we should see the setting of Achsah in the book of Judges - I have deliberately chosen Judges because Judges contemplates what is analogous to our own time, so that none of us might say it was alright in the days of the Acts when the Spirit was operating in the church in the conditions of pristine power and glory that belonged to the church in those days. None of us can say that from the standpoint of the book of Judges, because Judges presents Achsah over against the dark background presented in that book where things were so difficult, I think it is important that this book opens with a young sister manifesting and expressing a desire for the truth. What about the young women here in this gathering now, and in these gatherings for the three days we have been together? Have they got spiritual desires like Achsah? Have they got the desire to go in for divine things, to go in for the blessing, and to get the Spirit, and all the gain of what lies in the Spirit? “Give me also springs of water,” verse 15. Let us face the matter tonight, because this book is specially helpful in showing us how the enemy is out to get the young sisters. If he can ensnare them in the world system, all the better from his standpoint, because the young sisters are needed for the carrying on of the testimony as well as the brothers. Deborah, that delightful woman of worth knew that, and she discerned it, and she brought it up in her song; she refers to what the mother of Sisera was saying, and to the strategy in the enemy’s camp, and to the counsel of the enemy, and you remember in chapter 5 we get the language that is going on in the enemy’s camp. “Have they not found, divided the booty, a damsel, two damsels,
to each?” Judges 5: 30. The enemy knows what he is after, he is not just after anything, he has specific designs, and especially on the damsels. I would appeal to the young sisters tonight to steel your heart against the artifices of the devil, If he can get you into the world, and to be engrossed with its fashions, so that the most of your time is spent on how you fare publicly in the world and on how you dress, then he has gained a victory over your soul. The divine design is that all your outlook, your exercises, and your concern should centre around the blessing connected with the realm of God’s selective choice, and your thoughts should centre round the gift of God, the outstanding gift of the dispensation, the springs of water, which speak of the Holy Spirit. Reference is made in Numbers 21 to the well which princes digged, which the nobles of the people hollowed out at the word of the lawgiver, with their staves. The gain of the Spirit comes to us as in the type, through the word of the lawgiver. Moses is the great lawgiver. He is a type of our Lord Jesus Christ who has led in the matter of our complete emancipation from the world, typified in Egypt with all its thrall and spell which the enemy would cast over our minds and hearts in relation to it. He has led us forth morally by the Red Sea and broken the power of Satan in our souls, but that is not all. The word of the lawgiver, the digging of the well in Numbers 21 suggests how concerned our blessed Saviour and Deliverer is that we should get the gain of heaven’s best, the gift of the Spirit to carry us onwards in the path of the sun-rising, in the path of life in which there is no death, right on and over the Jordan into the realm of God’s inheritance, and we may say, our inheritance too.
Beloved young sisters, may there be awakened in your hearts tonight desires in relation to what we have had together, “Give me a blessing,” very specific, “Give me a blessing.” “What wouldest thou? and she said to him, Give me a blessing; for thou hast given me a southern land, give me also springs of water. And Caleb gave her the upper springs and the lower springs.” We have been in the southern land these days, we have had that given to us, the rain of heaven has been falling upon us, the favour of God has been shining upon us. God has given us the southern land these days, blessed be His name. And now she says, “Give me springs of water,” as if to say that as we return to our localities we cannot go on in the truth without the power of the Spirit to carry us through, and I commend the word to the young sisters.
What about the young brothers? Of course, they are not out of this, I am referring to them too. They come into this matter and are essential for the continuance of the testimony, and so we have Othniel here. What a wonderful man Othniel was, and what a link he had with Achsah! It is a great thing, dear young people, when we form right links. There is nothing like bad links to hinder us spiritually. Othniel was the kind of young brother that heaven took account of, and saw that he got a right link in the marital relation. And I would say to you young men, because the marital relation is a normal relation, and a very blessed relation, some of us can speak of it experimentally, and we can thank God for the wives who have been given to us, and who have been a great help and balance to us in the truth - it is a wonderful thing to get a wife like Achsah, a wife who will help you in the truth. And, young sisters, what a wonderful thing to get a husband like Othniel! A brother who will help you in the truth, too.
I am being very simple about this matter because the matter of marriage has just come into one’s mind in proceeding, and it is a very real affair. Some young sisters get so disappointed over this matter that they are prepared to go out of fellowship to get a husband, I would counsel any who might by any chance be thinking along that line. It is disastrous, If your heart is right and if your desires are right, God will provide for you, and you may rest assured of that.
And Othniel, what does it say about Othniel? Well, a suggestion was made in regard of the truth and Othniel took it up. I wonder if the young men here, the young brothers are taking up suggestions in the field of the truth? Othniel might have said, “I will not bother my head about it, let someone else take it up,” but the point is that Othniel was thinking about what was set out by Caleb, “He that smites Kirjath-sepher and takes it, to him will I give Achsah my daughter as wife,” verse 12. Notice, not only smites it, but takes it. Now, I commend that to the younger brothers; Kirjath-sepher, what does it mean? We have often referred to it - the city of the book. Now that is a great test to overcome the city of the book, the city of education, the city of literature. It is a real test in these days. Libraries are so prolific and so much is available. Do you not notice how easy it is to make room for natural desires, and to read a lot of literature that really does not help you? It does not help us in the truth; it may be legitimate. It may be you say to your father or mother, “I have to do it to help me in my school studies”; the enemy sometimes helps us to say things like that, but sometimes it is not to help us in school studies at all. Sometimes it is just to satisfy mere desire naturally, whereas it may damage us spiritually, I want to encourage you all to overcome the city of the book; it is a great matter not to let learning and education overcome any of us, a certain education may be needed to obtain employment, and God will help you so far as it is necessary to carry on, but do not get immersed in the thing to the extent that your soul is damaged, your spiritual desires are damaged, your interest in the truth is taken away, your interest in Christ and the assembly is lost. A great thing is to face it like Othniel on the line of overcoming having in mind the idea of the assembly as in Achsah, and that is our salvation. The idea is that Othniel had Achsah before him, therefore he overcame the city of the book, and it says “And Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother, took it; and he gave him Achsah his daughter as wife.”
As to the sisters, do you urge your husbands on in regard of divine things? Or do you say “do not be too extreme, do not go too far, take things easy”? Achsah was not that kind of a sister, she stood behind her husband, she knew what was best and urged him to ask of her father a field. She could have asked herself, but she wanted Othniel to come into the matter, so she urges him to ask. You see the recognition of headship, comeliness in the matter. She urges him to ask of her father, and then it says, “Caleb said to her.” How delightful, dear brethren, that is in the application of the truth. “Caleb said to her, what wouldest thou? And she said to him, Give me a blessing; for thou hast given me a southern land; give me also springs of water. And Caleb gave her the upper springs and the lower springs.” Think of the Lord saying to you tonight, “What wouldest thou?” What do you want tonight? What are you looking for tonight? Achsah got not only what was necessary for continuance here below, in the wilderness and all that constitutes it, but she represents one who got what was necessary for maintaining her in the heavenly position in the light of the assembly, and the assembly’s links with Christ as united to Him. And we need the Spirit for that, and we will get the Spirit, the upper springs, to help us into the upper levels of the truth.
Now a word as to the passage in Numbers, and the daughters of Zelophehad. In chapter 27 it says, “Then drew near the daughters of Zelophehad.” Notice the adverb ‘then.’ It is very important because in the previous chapter God had been giving instructions in regard to the numbering in view of the land. It is an important thing to be amongst those who are numbered in relation to the inheritance, those who are going forward in relation to the choice things of God. Numbers 26, while it is a glorious chapter in one way, is a most solemn one in another way. There are three deaths mentioned in Numbers 26 where the numbering is in view of the inheritance, and none of them are natural deaths, they all took place in the government of God, as if to remind us all that in this matter of the truth and the light of the heavenly position it does not do to trifle with it, it does not do to play fast and loose with the truth and with the Lord’s rights. You who read the Scriptures carefully will find as you look into Numbers 26 that the death of Korah, Dathan and Abiram is alluded to. “This is the Dathan and Abiram summoned of the assembly, who contended against Moses and against Aaron in the band of Korah, when they contended against Jehovah. And the earth opened its mouth, and swallowed them up together with Korah when that band died, when the fire devoured the two hundred and fifty men,” Numbers 26: 9, 10. They withstood the sovereign rights of God in Moses. It is a very important thing to notice the rebellion in Christendom in relation to the rights of God in their sovereignty, and none of us wants to be found allied with that kind of thing. Then in verse 19 of that chapter “Er and Onan died in the land of Canaan.” If you read Genesis you will find that Jehovah slew them; on what account? Because they were not prepared to give their support to the continuance of the testimony. If you look into it you will find that it is true. When it comes to the continuance of the line of the testimony, one was wicked, and the other was not prepared to support it, and God was so displeased with the matter that He slew them, showing how serious it is not to be prepared to support the line of the testimony in its continuance. Then we get in the closing part of the chapter, verse 61, “Nadab and Abihu died, when they presented strange fire before Jehovah.” They did not die a natural death, but the judgment of God came in upon them because of their offering of strange fire, and these things appearing in Numbers 26 are to remind us that profanity, lightness, carelessness in the realm in which we have to do with God will not do. If we are on that line we will be only courting divine displeasure, whereas over against that we have the numbering in view of the inheritance as if God is showing that despite these humbling disastrous things, the overcomers are going forward right into the realm of what is choice, what is marked out in Christ before the world began, and now on the basis of redemption and the incoming of the Spirit. God is seeking to lead us forward in relation to that.
So it says, “Then drew near the daughters of Zelophehad”; that is in the light of all that has taken place, and notice it says in verse 2, “And they stood before Moses, and before Eleazar the priest, and before the princes and the whole assembly, at the entrance of the tent of meeting.” They did not take Moses aside, or send a note to say they would like a private interview. No, they came right up in front of Moses and the princes of Israel, and the whole assembly at the entrance of the tent of meeting; and they have a sober judgment of the whole moral question; and it is a great thing that we should have a sober judgment of the moral question. They are very decided and discerning as to it all. They say “Our father died in the wilderness, and he was not in the band of them that banded themselves together against Jehovah in the band of Korah; but he died in his own sin, and he had no sons. Why should the name of our father be taken away from his family because he has no son? Give unto us a possession among the brethren of our father.” That is the fourth death, and these things are very humbling, but we have to face them on the moral line in relation to the history of sin and shame, but we can do it in the light of the clearance wrought for us through the death of Christ. As we sometimes sing,
“How by dying Thou hast freed us
From the man of sin and shame.” (161:4)
That is a point that every one of us must face, the history of sin and shame, but face it in the light of the wonderful deliverance that has been wrought for us. All question of moral stain has been resolved, and we can go forward. “Why should the name of our father be taken away from his family because he has no son? Give unto us a possession among the brethren of our father.” These women were not married apparently, at this point, for the word in the last chapter is, Let them marry whom they please but in their own tribe. They were not thinking of husbands here, they were thinking of the inheritance, “Give us a possession.” The inheritance territorially is in their minds, for us in the type, divine territory marked out before time for us in Christ that we should be holy and blameless before God in love, and accepted in the Beloved. These choice thoughts were in their minds. Think of the ministry of the past years in this time of revival; thoughts that have been in the mind of God before time was. Think of the progress in the service of God as ray after ray of spiritual heavenly light has come to us enriching the service, enhancing the service. Is it our desire to be like the daughters of Zelophehad and get a possession of that kind, and in that realm? “Give unto us a possession among the brethren.” What a wonderful company the brethren are! How can we do without them? How could we go out of fellowship? We need to have our souls rooted and grounded in love. Leaving the brethren really means leaving the Lord. Some people try to tell us that you can still go on with the Lord and leave the brethren, but you cannot go on with the Lord and leave the brethren, because the Lord is amongst His people, and if it comes to a question of leaving the fellowship, it comes to a question of leaving the Lord. He would say to us here tonight, “Will ye also go away?” Plenty are departing from the truth in Christendom, but the Lord would say to us tonight, “Will ye also go away?” “Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast words of life eternal,” John 6: 68. That is what is going to help us.
Now, I would refer to this, “Moses brought their cause before Jehovah.” “And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying, the daughters of Zelophehad speak right; thou shalt surely give them a possession of an inheritance among their father’s brethren; and thou shalt cause the inheritance of their father to pass to them. Their cause, a delightful word. What they speak is right, not only what they think, so dear sisters, it is a time for speaking in regard of these matters, and for expressing yourselves in your desires to go on. If you are not fully committed to things, express yourself and you will get help. God is listening, and God has interest. God loves to hear the language of the sisters on this line of desire, and He will honour the sisters on this line.
Now, I would close with an allusion to that delightful man, Caleb. Would to God we were all like him. Just a literal reading of the passage is spiritually exhilarating. He would put many of us to shame, and he lived in a dispensation when they did not have the Spirit as we have Him. Notice how the children of Judah came near, “Then the children of Judah came near to Joshua in Gilgal.” They did not stand afar off while others were going on in the truth, and we want to all come into it, and go back to our localities with awakened desire to draw near and ask and go in for the truth. The children of Judah came near to Joshua in Gilgal. That is a very testing place for it means the complete cutting off of the flesh and that is why a lot of people do not get on with the brethren, but we have to face the question of Gilgal where the sharp knives of circumcision come into view and the reproach of Egypt is rolled away. There are two things that go together, the reproach of Christ and the power of the Spirit as F.E.R. pointed out in that address of his at Quemerford. Why so many saints in the systems around do not know the power of the Spirit is because they have not accepted the reproach of Christ, they are powerless to deal with evil. So they drew near to Gilgal, and Caleb gives a lead, and it is always good to have someone who can give a lead, “Thou knowest the word that Jehovah spoke to Moses the man of God, concerning me and thee in Kadesh-barnea. Forty years old was I when Moses the servant of Jehovah sent me from Kadesh-barnea to search out the land; and I brought him word again as it was in my heart... But I wholly followed Jehovah my God.” What an unjealous man Caleb was! What a judgment he had of Moses the man of God. How he had loved Moses and appreciated him for what he was in his moral power and authority; then he says, “concerning me and thee” - that is delightful “me and thee.” Sometimes we like to centre things on ourselves alone. We like to narrate things which make much of the wrong man, but Caleb in the true spirit of fellowship takes Joshua into full account. Joshua and Caleb were wonderful brethren who went on together in an unjealous way in the truth. “Forty years old was I” - he is marking out the divisions of time, he was a comparatively young man, forty years old. Now the time has gone, but I finish with a word about verse 11, “I am this day eighty-five years old, I am still this day strong as in the day that Moses sent me; as my strength was then, even so is my strength now, for war.” For war, there is no retiring in this conflict, it is a question of going on right till the glory is reached. And here Caleb, old man as he was, says “give me this mountain.” Dear brethren, what a desire! He is assured that God will be with him, and may God help us to make room for spiritual reviving and awakening of desires. Paul said to Timothy, “Rekindle the gift of God which is in thee,” 2 Timothy 1: 6. Let there be a reviving in spiritual energy and power in the midst of the darkening state of things abroad. May God help us all for His name’s sake.
Kingston, Jamaica.