Gideon's Victory: Jehovah-Shalom - The Lord Send Peace
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Gideon's Victory: Jehovah-Shalom — the Lord Send Peace: No. 1
Surely there is a word from the Lord, at this time, to us in the history of Gideon. (Judg. 6; 7; 8)
Israel at that time, through failure and departure from God, was in a similar condition to the state of Christendom now. Yet God heard the cry of His people. "And it came to pass, when the children of Israel cried unto the Lord because of the Midianites, that the Lord sent a prophet unto the children of Israel, which said unto them, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, I brought you up from Egypt, and brought you forth out of the house of bondage" &c. They had grievously departed from God, but He ever acts towards His people on the sure basis of redemption. Let us well remember this, both in His dealings with Gideon, and with ourselves.
If some timid, doubting child of God should read this paper, let him remember that God his Father would speak to him on the ground of redemption; yes, on the sole ground of that one work which has been accomplished on Calvary's cross. The enemy was in terrible power. When the angel of the Lord appeared unto Gideon, he was found threshing wheat behind the wine-press to hide it from the Midianites. There was one peculiarity, however, about this young man, one of great value in the judgment of the Lord. It was this, as we shall soon see—he was nobody in his own eyes. In after times, and having fuller light, this remains equally true. "For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called: but God hath chosen the foolish things of the world, and things which are despised hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to naught things that are; that no flesh should glory in his presence." (1 Cor. 1:26.) H And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him, and said unto him, The Lord is with thee, thou mighty man of valor." (Judg. 6:12.) Was not the word of the Lord enough," The Lord is with thee?" Ought we not also to think it enough for every believer in this day, come what will, since our blessed Lord says, " Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them?" Unbelief hesitates and reasons. "Gideon said unto him, Oh, my Lord, if the Lord be with us, why then is all this befallen us? and where be all his miracles which our fathers told us of, saying, Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt? But now the Lord hath forsaken us, and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites."
It is beautiful to see how he identifies himself with the whole nation. Thus will faith now recognize the whole church of God. The Midianites were outside enemies. They came in multitudes to devour the land. u They came as grasshoppers for multitudes." Is it not so now? Is not the world and worldliness, Satan's world, eating up, and eating out, the spirituality of the church? Look where you will, there they are, like grasshoppers. The question is, how is this vast army of worldlings and worldliness to be met? So do they swarm in the professing church, and such is the power of Amalek in fashion, that many a Christian scarcely dares to be seen reading the word of God, but, like Gideon, creeps into a corner to thrash his wheat.
It is well to mark the way of our God at such a time. He does not take up the high priest, or one of the four-and-twenty, or some mighty captain of the host. Neither does He take up one from the college of the prophets. No, in divine, sovereign grace, God takes up this exercised son of an Abiezrite sunk in idolatry. Gideon was an exercised soul. He remembered "his miracles which our fathers told us of." He compared the days of a Moses, and a Joshua, with the sad condition of Israel, then in the hands of the enemy. And he said, "Why then has all this befallen us?" Has our reader ever been thus exercised? Have you ever compared the condition of the church, as God first formed it by the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven, as seen in the second and fourth chapters of Acts, with the sad worldliness in which it is now sunk? An enemy hath done this. Have you ever in an exercised heart said, " Why then has all this befallen us?"
Let us notice a sovereign act. "And the Lord looked upon him, and said, Go in this thy might, and thou shalt save Israel from the hand of the Midianites: have not I sent thee?" This is close, searching, personal work with the Lord Himself. There be many who say they are authorized servants of the Lord, who have never known this dealing of the Lord. But Jesus says to others, "Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit." This was the kind of ordination Gideon had. Thus, blessed Lord, again appoint thy servants! Wonderful words—"Have not I sent thee?" And will this true call and ordination puff up the heart with pride? Let us hear the young man speak. "And he said unto him, Oh, my Lord, wherewith shall I save Israel? behold, my family is poor in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father's house." A true mark of one of God's chosen instruments. Another still more honored servant could say, "Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ." "And he said unto him (Gideon), Surely I will be with thee, and thou shalt smite the Midianites as one man."
One would have thought Gideon would have taken the bare word of the Lord—"Surely I will be with thee." Are we not equally slow to accept the truth of the abiding presence of the Holy Ghost with the church, and to act upon it? And is it not quite true, before there can be real service, there must be divine certainty as to the grace of God? Ø '
Does God our Father thus speak to us? "And he said unto him, If now I have found grace in thy sight, then show me a sign that thou talkest with me." It is well to look to the foundations. There must remain no " if," there must be no uncertainty, as to our standing in the free favor of God. Surely it is only in that free favor that we can bear to hear the voice of the Lord. How graciously the Lord waited upon Gideon; and so He does upon us. Yes, He said, I will tarry. So Gideon made ready his kid of the goats, and his unleavened cakes, and presented his offering. "And the angel of God said unto him. Take the flesh and the unleavened cakes, and lay them upon this rock, and pour out the broth. And he did so."
There on that rock look at God's sign to Gideon. You see that kid, and those unleavened cakes. Now turn from that to this, look back to Calvary's cross; you sec that Lamb of God, the unleavened, holy, holy One: the sign of God, the token, the revelation of the righteousness and love of God.
He must needs suffer; He must die for our sins according to the scriptures. "And the angel of the Lord put forth the end of the staff that was in his hand, and touched the flesh and the unleavened cakes; and there rose up fire out of the rock, and consumed the flesh and the unleavened cakes. Then the angel of the Lord departed out of his sight." Could there be any doubt now? Surely this was the power of God. Yea, God accepting by fire the offering. A little time before there was on that rock the kid and the cakes. But they are not there, they are gone. Now let us look at Calvary. On that cross there was our Sin-bearer; the unleavened, the holy One, bearing our sins. Oh, that awful cry, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" Look again; is He there now? Is He still bearing our sins? Come into this garden—look into that sepulcher. Is He there? Surely every victim consumed by fire pointed to this one sacrifice. He has endured the judgment due to our sins; but where is He? Has not God, who accepted Gideon's offering, accepted that once bleeding Sin-bearer nailed to the cross? No longer bearing our sins, but having purged them; now seated at the right hand of the Majesty on high.
This was a solemn moment for Gideon. Now he knows himself in the presence of God. "Gideon said, Alas, Ο Lord God! for because I have seen an angel of the Lord face to face." Have you been thus face to face with God? You must be, either now, or when it will be forever too late to know His grace. Now what was the first word the Lord spake to Gideon to soothe, yea, to banish his fears after this figure of the death and resurrection of Christ? "Peace he unto thee." The very first words that Jesus spake to His disciples after He rose from the dead. Yes, "Jesus stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace he unto you. And when he had so said, he showed unto them his hands and his side." "Then said Jesus to them again, Peace he unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you." (John 20:19.) The Lord said to Gideon, " Peace be unto thee; fear not: thou shalt not die." He said in resurrection to His disciples, yea, He says to us, "Peace unto you." "Why are ye troubled? and why do thoughts arise in your hearts? Behold my hands mid my feet, that it is I myself." (Luke 24:36-39.)
Was it, then, more certain to Gideon that the fire of God had risen out of that rock, and consumed his offering, than it is to us that God hath raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead; who was " delivered for our offenses, and was raised again for our justification?" And have we not the testimony of the word of God, that as Abraham was accounted righteous on the principle of faith, so we, believing God, are accounted righteous before Him? "Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God, through our Lord Jesus Christ." (Rom. 4; 5)
Now the effect of believing the sure testimony of the word of God is worship. The only altar that Gideon had known, before this moment that God spake peace to his soul, was the shameful altar of Baal.
Dear reader, you may not have known it, but the only worship you can have known, before God speaks peace to your soul, is the worship of Babylon: the church and world confusion around.
"Then Gideon built an altar there unto the Lord, and called it Jehovah-Shalom." You will see the meaning of this word is translated in the margin of your Bibles, "the Loud send peace." His heart bowed in grateful worship and thanks giving; but linked with his people the whole Israel of God in their sad condition. The moment he tastes the joy of peace with God in his own soul, he says, a Jehovah send peace," yea, this is the name of his altar, this the character of his worship. Is it ours? Thousands of the children of God around are like Israel then. Linked with the world; its politics, its worship, its pursuits, its pleasures. Oh, is the cry of our hearts, Jehovah-Shalom? Lord, send peace! Lord, send peace! Surely it should be so, for Jesus said, " Peace unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you." Does not this raise in our hearts the cry, "Even so, Jehovah-Shalom. The Lord send peace?" Did not the Father send Him to make peace by the blood of His cross? And has He not made peace by the blood of His cross, "and came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh?" (Col. 1:20; Eph. 2:14-17.) Let us, then, not only worship because He is our peace, but in our hearts ever cry, Jehovah-Shalom. How truly wonderful! As He sent His beloved Son to make peace, and to proclaim it; so He now sends us, as His messengers of peace to all around—yea, to the whole church of God. For Gideon's commission was for all Israel.
Well, if there is to be an onslaught on this vast system of worldliness in which the church is sunk, where would the Lord have us begin? Let us see where Gideon was to begin? At home. "And it came to pass the same night that the Lord said unto him." Yes, there was peace to him and worship, and the cry of peace to flow out to others; but that very night the Lord spake to him. We are always without the word of the Lord if our first thought is to correct others. Begin at home. "Take thy father's young bullock, even the second bullock of seven years old, and throw down the altar of Baal that thy father hath, and cut down the grove that is by it." And not only so, but the altar to Jehovah must be built on the rock, in the ordered place. And there must be worship there, and offer a burnt sacrifice. Yes, if you have been turned to God, it must be unsparing destruction of all idolatry. Tumble down the altar of Baal, every idol which the heart, which nature, which thy father hath. Christ is all—on that rock the altar of worship must be permanently built. There may be timidity—there was with Gideon, he did it in the night. But it must be done: down, down with the altar of Baal at home. All this the Lord said unto him. What does the Lord say to us? Does He say we are not of the world, even as He is not of the world? Then down with the altar; come out from among them, and be ye separate. Above all things let the true altar be built; that is, let the one sacrifice of Christ have its permanent place. Here we can truly worship, sanctified by the will of God, through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once. " For by one offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified." (Heb. 10) Yes, the altar must be built on the rock. Very wonderfully did God own the faithfulness of Gideon in thus beginning at home.
Gideon's Victory: Jehovah-Shalom — the Lord Send Peace: No. 2
We have seen how the Lord took up this timid man who was nothing in his own eyes, the least in his father's poor house, to give peace, and deliverance to God's people Israel: and how God gave him the assurance that He would be with him. How He also patiently gave him a sure token of His grace, in that He accepted his offering, which pointed to God's acceptance of our Sin-bearer when He raised Him from the dead for our justification. Then, Gideon's offering being accepted, fear fell upon his soul at the conscious presence of Jehovah. How the Lord spoke peace to him. This produced worship, and then arose the cry, Jehovah-Shalom, the Lord send peace. That very night the testing came. This will be the case with us, even as Jesus speaks to us in resurrection "Peace unto you." Believing God, we are accounted righteous before Him, and being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Having peace with God, we worship God, but never till then. This produces the earnest desire to be the messengers of peace to others. But if the great camp of the Midianites (to us of worldliness), is to be attacked, where must we begin? With Gideon, we have seen, it was at home. The young bullock must be killed, and his father's shameful altar to Baal must be thrown down.
We will now trace the effects of this faithfulness at home. Is it not remarkable that this act of obedience to the Lord was used of God in converting Gideon's father, so that he said that the altar of Baal was a shameful thing? And is it not a shameful thing for a Christian to be linked with this world, and with Satan the god of it? and especially to be linked with the world's false worship?
If there be, however, true faithfulness to God, the hatred of the world will be aroused. "Then all the Midianites and the Amalekites and the children of the east, were gathered together." Yes, as surely as you enjoy peace with God, and your heart in worship cries, u Lord send peace;" this giving energy to throw down the altar of Baal, at whatever cost; then buckle on your armor, the whole armor of God, and look out. Satan will bring the power of the world to destroy, if possible, at least all enjoyment of peace, worship, and testimony. "But the Spirit of the Lord came upon Gideon." The sealed believer has more than this; for his body is the temple of the Holy Ghost. "And he blew a trumpet, and Abiezer was gathered after him." Now what a reward is this; he blew the trumpet, and the very men that wanted at first to kill him, are the first to be gathered by the sound of that trumpet. You say that was the power of the Spirit, true it was. The servant of the Lord now, having the same blessed Spirit dwelling in him, may sound the gospel trumpet in faith; and count on God bringing the greatest enemies of that truth to obey the call of salvation. Oh, how much there is in this to encourage the servants of the Lord!
And now, having taken the true place of humility, and entire dependence on the Lord, and in the power of the Spirit, he sent messengers to Manasseh, Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali; and they came up to meet them. Again, there is exercise of heart in this servant of Jehovah. He says " if" again. The moment we look at ourselves we may well say "if." But God bore in grace with His exercised servant. The dew was caused to fall on the fleece, and it was dry round about; and again it was dry in the fleece, and the dew round about. Many of God's servants have known similar experiences. Sometimes one may experience overflowing blessing in one's own soul; and yet it be dry to those around. And again we may seem like Gideon's dry fleece, and yet divine blessing to souls around. Thus we may learn the lesson, u He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord."
We now come in chapter vii. to a very interesting point in Gideon's history, and the people that were with him. "They rose up early and pitched beside the well Harod." Now it is a serious matter to "be pitched" in decided testimony for the Lord. We might here ask the reader in the midst of the heaving confusion of these very last days, have you yet pitched for and with the Lord? Here is a feeble man, and those with him, beside the well, and there is the host of Midian. What a picture of the church by the well on the one side, and the world on the other. Are you with the Lord, or with the Midianites, that is, the enemies of the Lord? Has God spoken peace to your soul? that is one thing; and are you also pitched, in separation from the world, with the Lord? Can there be a more deeply solemn question, Are you really at this moment with the Lord or with the world? You may say the whole church of God is not thus pitched or gathered to the Lord. Many are devoured with worldliness—its politics, its wealth, its cares, or its pleasures. It was precisely so with Israel; many were devoured by the Midianites; they had scarcely time or place to eat a bit of bread; like many a Christian in this day.
But here was a large company who had taken the ground of testimony for Jehovah. Yes, the Lord said to Gideon there were too many. " The people that are with thee are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hands, lest they vaunt themselves," &c. They were all of the tribes of Israel. That is not the point. They were too many for the testimony of the power of God, using utter human weakness. They had not learned the lesson that "God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty," yea," things which are not, to bring to naught things that are; that no flesh should glory in his presence." It is very sweet to hear the soft sounds of the peace-giving gospel trumpet. But when we rise up early and see the whole world against us, like the vast host by the hill of Morah; ah, then? how many pause and tremble, and fear to pitch in decided testimony to Christ! Yes, how many are afraid to remain gathered alone to Christ, like the company gathered to Gideon! But what saith the Lord? "Whosoever is fearful and afraid, let him return and depart early from mount Gilead." And how many went back? "There returned of the people twenty and two thousand, and there remained ten thousand." They were not excommunicated, but they returned to their tribes. It was not a division, but they gave up the testimony of Gideon when they saw the consequences. Some now living can remember this history repeating itself. Many were gathered to the testimony of Christ in these last days. The world was gathered by Satan against them, like the hosts of the Midianites, and many fearful Christians went back. They did not cease to be Christians, anymore than the tribes ceased to be Israelites. They failed to remain pitched with Gideon. And many have failed to remain gathered alone to the Lord Jesus Christ.
And the Lord said, "There are yet too many." Is not this the very opposite of all human thought? Man seeks to be prominent and eminent, and boasts of numbers. When do you hear men say with the Lord, "There are yet too many"? This second testing was even more remarkable than the first. The whole of the ten thousand were to be brought down to the waters. There was to be no human choice of persons. The Lord said, "Whom I say unto thee, this shall go with thee, the same shall go with thee; and of whomsoever I say unto thee, this shall not go with thee, the same shall not go." Now this testing is the more to be observed by us, as it may be the very sifting through which all gathered to Christ may be passing at this very time. Let us look then at the testing of the ten thousand men of Jehovah-Shalom. "So he brought down the people unto the water: and the Lord said unto Gideon, Everyone that lappeth of the water with his tongue, as a dog lappeth, him shalt thou set by himself, likewise every one that boweth down upon his knees to drink." Oh how few out of ten thousand were content to just take what was necessary, and stand in their ranks ready for service and victory! And how many kneeled down, seeking their own gratification to the full? Not one case escaped the eye of the Lord. "And the Lord said unto Gideon, By the three hundred men that lapped will I save you, and deliver the Midianites into thine hand: and let all the other people go every man unto his place."
Now let every soul professedly gathered to Christ pass before His eye. Not one escapes that eye. He knows how many to a man are pitched in decision for Him, content to take what is necessary, but ready for service and victory over the whole world. And He knows how many are seeking their own personal gratification to the full—living for self. If we look at the worldliness that has come into the very camp professedly gathered to Christ, can we wonder that the Lord is saying of many, Let them go every man unto his own place? Is it not sad when the world is the own place of a Christian? Has not our Lord Jesus said of us to the Father, "They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world"? How could the company with Gideon have possibly mixed with the host of Midian? Think of one of the three hundred going to vote at an election in the camp of Amalek! " Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers, for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwelt in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be ray people. Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing, and I will receive you, and will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty." (2 Cor. 6:14-18.)
Friendship with Midian must be enmity to Gideon. "Know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever, therefore, will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God." (Jas. 4:4.) "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him," &c. (1 John 2:15-17.)
Thus there are three companies. The little company pitched with Gideon, the vast host of Midian and those with them, and the Israelites in their own place. In one of these is found every reader of these lines. Do you say it is a very serious thing to be with so few, and the whole world against you? It is, and if you are not quite sure it is the testimony of God, and that He is with you, far better never take such a solemn place of testimony. Nothing could have been more ridiculous in the eyes of men than this little company. The first thing named of them is this, "so the people took victuals in their hands, and their trumpets." Think of such a company meeting the French, the German, or the Russian armies! It would be evident, unless the power of God be with them, they would perish quickly to a man.
Yes, it must be just so with those who would serve Christ with purpose of heart. They must take their victuals in their hand. "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly." It is only as they feed on Christ, by His Spirit's teaching through the word, that they can sound the trumpet of salvation, and of judgment in this evil world.
In our next paper we hope to look at the question of complete victory over the world. Here we would pause a moment and contemplate this feeble company gathered to Gideon. Does it not point to that feeble company gathered in the closing days of Christendom to the name of the Lord Jesus, " He that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of David, he that openeth and no man shutteth, and shutteth and no man openeth"? Small indeed was the power of Gideon's little army. Three things were true of them. They had not denied Gideon, and returned to their place in the tribes. They had their victuals in their hand and their trumpets. Three things Jesus says of the approved little company gathered to Him who is the holy and the true. He says, "Thou hast a little strength." Yes, all boasting, all seeking of eminence, all self-importance, is far, very far from the approval of Christ; "and hast kept my word." Have we thus got our victuals in our hand? Can we say, "Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart; for I am called by thy name?" (Jer. 15:16.) Are His words unto us more than our necessary food? "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom." And again, Jesus says of the approved little company, 'and hast not denied my name." (Rev. 3:18.)
Now is it not striking how the Holy Ghost does gather a feeble few to the name and person of the Lord Jesus, in the midst of the worldliness of Christendom, just as this feeble but ready-for-service little company was gathered to Gideon? There they stood with their victuals and their trumpets, when thousands had gone back to their tribes and their own places.
Very beautiful was their decision for Gideon. Oh ye children of God who may read these lines, do we answer to this picture? Are we thus decided for Christ? Are we bowing down to drink, seeking our own mere gratification, with the nine thousand seven hundred? or, receiving strength by food to pass on for service and testimony for God, are we still gathered to the Lord Jesus with the word of God in our hands, and the trumpet ready to sound as He shall bid?
Let us not be deceived. Surely there can be no holy separation to Christ if we are yoked with the world. Would the three hundred have been true to Gideon, if seeking the pleasures, the politics, or the wealth of the hosts of Midian? No more can we be true to Christ, if our minds are set upon the things of the world.
What is then the path of the feeble few who desire to know and do the will of the Lord? We do not see how the three hundred could be charged with division because they remained true to Gideon, when thousands went back. Neither do we see how those can either, who, however few they may be, are still kept faithful to Christ. The Lord search our hearts by His holy word, and keep us by the power of the Holy Ghost.
Gideon's Victory: Jehovah-Shalom — the Lord Send Peace: No. 3
We now come to Gideon's victory. "And the host of Midian was beneath him in the valley." (Judg. 7:8.) It is important for the man of faith to know that, however vast the host of the enemy may be, it is "beneath him in the valley." We must not expect victory unless we know our dead and risen position in Christ. Greatly increased was the host of Midian. "And the Midianites, and the Amalekites, and all the children of the east lay along in the valley like grasshoppers for multitude; and their camels were without number, as the sand by the sea-side for multitude." Great the power and ever increasing the worldliness of Christendom. But all were beneath Gideon in the valley. What is your stand-point? Are you in the worldliness, like Lot in Sodom? Or are you consciously in Christ, and the world beneath you, like Abraham, when he looked down on the doomed plains beneath him? and like Gideon, as he looked down on the hosts below? It is written, " For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith."
The faith of Gideon was in God. In himself there was great weakness; it is so with us. The first step must be according to his position.
The Lord said unto him, " Arise, get thee down unto the host; for I have delivered it into thine hand."
How important, then, it is to be in our right place. How can we get down, if we are down? If of the world, how can we be used in testimony, any more than Lot was? Had he not to be pulled out of it? How little is real separation to Christ understood in this day? And perhaps quite as little the true place of the believer, as dead and risen with Christ.
"Get thee down unto the host; for I have delivered it into thy hand/' Now mark the secret of the Lord. Not by might, nor by power. There lay the vast hosts of the enemy. Gideon was bidden to go down, and hear what they say. " And when Gideon was come, behold there was a man that told a dream unto his fellow, and said, Behold, I dreamed a dream, and, lo, a cake of barley bread tumbled into the host of Midian, and came unto a tent, and smote it that it fell.....And his fellow answered and said, This is nothing else save the sword of Gideon, the son of Joash, a man of Israel; for into his hand hath God delivered Midian, and all the host." This is God's way -His principle. "God hath chosen the weak things of this world to confound the things which are mighty." It was not the thunder of an eighty-ton gun that affrighted the hosts of Midian. It was "a cake of barley bread."
Was it not so when destructive famine was about to devastate Egypt and the countries around? A cake of barley bread was placed in the court of Pharaoh. A poor despised young man, forgotten and cruelly wronged, lay in one of Egypt's prisons. That was the cake of barley bread whom God made lord of all Egypt—the deliverer, Joseph. In a later day, when the children of Israel groaned in bitter bondage, a little helpless babe was heard crying in a basket of rushes, exposed on the banks of the Nile. That little babe was the cake of barley bread tumbled again into the court of Pharaoh. That little babe was the chosen instrument by which God overthrew the hosts of Egypt, and delivered His people. Again, when Philistine hosts defied the trembling armies of Israel, a ruddy youth was tending his father's sheep. This young David was the cake of barley bread tumbled into the valley of Elah. David was the chosen deliverer of God's people. Again, who is that cake of barley bread in the mighty court of Assyria? Daniel, the captive of Judah. But all these disappear when we contemplate the lowly path of the Eternal Son of God made flesh. Though God over all, blessed for evermore, yet He made Himself of no reputation. The perfect expression of humility and dependence. Not one atom of Satan's usurped world would He accept.
And when He had accomplished redemption^ risen from among the dead, ascended to glory and sent down the Holy Ghost, who were the men chosen, and sent forth as His ambassadors into the world? Again, it is still the cake of barley bread tumbled into the camp of Midian. Poor fishermen, who had no artillery but the sword of the Spirit, the word of God. What a picture of this was Gideon's little army! "And it was so, when Gideon heard the telling of the dream, and the interpretation thereof, that lie worshipped, and returned into the host of Israel, and said, Arise; for the Lord hath delivered into your hand the host of Midian." Beloved reader, is this the effect on you? If the Spirit give you the interpretation thereof, you will see that it is not by outward show, by numbers, by learned books, learned scholastic lectures, or by great and learned men; but that God is glorified in using the feeblest instruments, the nobodies. Does the interpretation thereof bow our hearts in worship? It is no question with Gideon as to numbers: the little company of three hundred are to faith the host of Israel. The Lord hath delivered; this was enough for faith. Strong in faith, "he divided the three hundred men into three companies, and he put a trumpet in every man's hand, with empty pitchers, and lamps within the pitchers." Every eye was then to be fixed on himself—as he did, so were they to do. "When I blow with a trumpet, I and all that are with me, then blow ye the trumpets also on every side of all the camp, and say, The sword of the Lord and of Gideon."
Thus they brake the pitchers, and held their lamps, and they cried, The sword of the Lord and of Gideon. "And they stood every man in his place.' In the judgment of man nothing could be more contemptible. Yes, these three hundred are a striking picture of the chosen servants of the Lord Jesus Christ, of that ministry and testimony which is truly of God. The apostle says," For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord..... For God, who commandeth the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us." (2 Cor. 4:5-7.) Now is this our position, gathered to the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, like they were to Gideon? Are our eyes fixed on Him, not of the world, even as He is not of the world? Are we as separate from this world as they were separate from Midian? Are we every man in his place? Are you in yours, am I in mine? Not of a tribe or sect of our own choosing, are you sure you are where God has placed you? Each believer was so in the church as the Holy Ghost formed it, (1 Cor. 12)
We would call special attention to these words, u For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord." That devoted servant of Christ, Paul, could thus speak, satisfied to be less than nobody. But what Gideon's pitchers were on that dark night, and as he commanded the light to shine from those broken pitchers, those earthen vessels; so now, in this dark world, are we, who have this treasure in earthen vessels. What a treasure, what a light in a dark place—the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. And the power of this testimony is the Holy Ghost dwelling in us. What a picture this is of the utter weakness of man and the mighty power of God! A broken earthen vessel. But the light shines, the trumpet sounds. The victory was complete; "and all the host ran, and cried? and fled."
From the days of the apostles to this moment, it will be found, that the spiritual power of the church, or the remnant out of what arrogantly calls itself the church, has been in proportion to its weakness. The barley cake in the host of Midian has ever been repeated. What a path was that of Paul's! A broken earthen vessel. In stripes, in labors, in prisons, in deaths oft; beaten, stoned, shipwrecked. And what perils, what weariness and painfulness, what watchings, hunger, thirst, fastings, cold, nakedness. (2 Cor. 11) And in history how God did use the poor men of Lyons, as they were called—the poor sufferers of the valleys; and in this country, when Wycliff sent out the poor priests to preach Christ through the length and breadth of the country.
Surely we are in great danger at this time in forgetting the cake of barley bread. It is evident, just as we seek to be, and become prominent, we fail in the testimony of God. Let God decide as to numbers, the question for each soul is this, Do I answer to these devoted three hundred? Am I in my place, gathered to Christ, my eye fixed on Him, seeking to walk as He walked? Have I the light in the pitcher, oil in the vessel? No wonder, where persons take the place of profession, like the foolish virgins without oil, without Christ, that they should become one with Midian. Surely this is the closing scene of the dark night of a worldly Christianity. Now, are you a light in this dark place? Oh, let us awake, for "the night is far spent, the day is at hand."
What is the watchword of victory? "The sword of the Lord and of Gideon." If we are truly gathered to Christ, what have we? The sword of the Spirit; that is, the word of God and the Holy Ghost.
Gideon pursued the host to Jordan, the well-known figure of death and judgment. This is the great principle of the Christian's victory over the world, and every lust of the flesh. "Know ye not that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ, were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him in baptism unto death; that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even we also should walk in newness of life." This is the true killing-place of the lusts of the flesh, and all the worldliness that has come in. Whatever temptation may assail, pursue it to Jordan. No prince or king lust must be spared; death to it. For sin has been judged on the cross. Our very sin has been forever judged in the person of Christ on the cross. Shall we live, then, in that which has been put to death on the cross? But we are not only reckoned dead with Christ, but we are also risen with Christ. "Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness which is idolatry." (Col. 3:1-5.)
Though, as we see, this principle of death is our very profession in baptism, yet how little it is owned in practice! The Lord give us grace to judge everything inconsistent with our place, as dead and risen with Christ. What can be so offensive to God as to take this place, and then follow the fashion and practices of the world? Jordan was the place of Gideon's victory. Death is the Christian's victory. Dead to sin, dead to law, dead to the world; crucified with Christ, risen with Christ. Header, there must be reality in all this. These are the last days. There must be decision for Christ, our true Gideon, our true center.
Gideon failed after all this in the matter of the ear-rings. The Captain of our salvation never tails. We may fail, He never fails. Twenty thousand of us may fail, and go back—ah, and ten thousand more; but God's word remains the same. Christ is the same. Like Gideon's army numbers may have to be less, but as they all looked at Gideon, and did as he did, so may we have our eyes fastened on Christ, God over all blessed for evermore. Yes, what a path of humiliation! " He made himself of no reputation." Can we be doing as He did if we seek the opposite of this? Have we not done so? Instead of taking the lowest place, yea, of being nothing, have we not assumed to be important, and in various ways sought prominence? Blessed be God for coming in to humble us. Oh, to be the barley cake again. If each believer was like one of the lamp-bearers in his place- everyone in his place—what an effect it would have! If each who professes to be in the testimony of God were so, what an effect it would have in this dark night! "Among whom ye shine [or shine ye] as lights in the world, holding forth the word of life." Do we hear this word from the Lord? He expects each one to be a light-bearer,, and to shine in the world. The darker the night, the brighter the light. Only, not self, but Christ I Gideon's victory was blessing and peace for all Israel. Let us never forget this: though called to take the most decided stand for Christ and with Christ, like Gideon's little army, yet it is that the heart of Christ may flow out in its infinite love to the whole church of God. Thus keep us, dear Lord, and thus use the least of Thy saints, in Thy boundless love to all. And thus grant that we may be as separate from the world, and all its ways, as Gideon's little army was separate from the host of Midian! What a thought, that He desires each believer to be a light in this dark night!