THE fifteenth of Numbers, a chapter full of instruction to the children of Israel about their conduct when in Canaan, concludes with a command to bind a riband of blue upon the borders of their garments, as a token of whose they were, and whom they should serve.
Blue was the color of the sanctuary, and the hue of the high priest’s robe. It symbols what is heavenly, and is emphatically the heavenly color. And thus the riband of blue most appropriately connected the daily life of the Israelites with the sanctuary of Him, who had redeemed them from the nations es the world, to dwell in His good land as a holy people unto Himself.
But, Christian reader, this typical ordinance has a voice to us, the people of God, as partakers of the heavenly calling. We have entered into a better, even the heavenly Canaan, and should therefore show forth the virtues of Him who hath called us out of darkness into His marvelous light. Born from above, we are citizens of the heavenly city, and heaven is our fatherland. Once we were dead in trespasses and sins, but God in His rich mercy quickened us together with Christ, and having quickened us together with Him, He raised us up together in the power of this life, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. United in indissoluble union to an ascended Christ, we share all the blessings of His glorious position; for God, who chose us in Him, has accepted us in Him, and blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places IN HIM; and the instructions of the Word of God concerning our walk are always addressed to us from our full Christian standing. God ever speaks to us as His children, as united to His Son, and as inheritors of the heavenly land. It is only from the enjoyment of our relationship that suitable conduct in walking worthy of God can proceed. To know our high calling is the secret of power, of devotedness, and of all practical Christian life.
But having established this, let us remember that this high calling must be brought to bear upon all the details of our Christian walk, if we would glorify Christ. Like the riband of blue, the heavenly character must appear on the lowest borders of our garments―on those circumstances in our daily life which seem the nearest to earth.
We are to look upon the lowest border, and remember that our God is watching to see us exhibit there that heavenly principle which shall link the action with Christ in heaven.
We need not seek for any service noble in itself, wherewith to glorify the name of the Lord Jesus, for His name puts honor upon the humblest. Sweet truth! Our various relationships below are so many channels through which the perfections of the heavenly Man, the Lord Christ, can by the power of the spirit be exhibited, and each act through the lay should lead others to take knowledge of us that we belong to Christ in heaven.
The Lord give His people to know where He has set them, that the heavenly light of the risen life of the last Adam, the Lord from leaven, may adorn, like a fringe of blue, the lowest borders of their earthly circumstances!