Among the distinguishing marks by which the children of Israel were to be known from the rest of mankind, perhaps none were more significant personally than “the ribband of blue” upon the fringes of the borders of their garments. Nor are we left to conjecture its import and value, either to the eye of Him who commanded it, or to the thoughts of those who wore it for, in truth, Jehovah’s nation then, or the church of God now, are a peculiar people, from the first step of their calling to the last. Precious stones, gold, silver, and the ribband of blue, designated the people that God called out. “to make them a nation on the earth.” Added to ‘those personal pledges were the visible proofs by day and night, in the pillar and the cloud, that every movement of the camp was to be at the bidding of Him who was guiding them to “His holy habitation.” This favored nation was also to be God’s witness to the nations around; the people, therefore, were to be exempt from those diseases which were the common lot of mankind. Besides this, their land was to yield its increase and nothing to be barren in their midst— “five of them were to chase a hundred, and a hundred of them were to put ten thousand to flight.”
“The “ribband of blue,” which thus marked off this people outwardly in the flesh, witnessed of their moral nearness maintained by obedience to the law given them for their ethication, as well as to His statutes and judgments for their political government. Indeed, a closer examination of this scripture tells us so, and that the ribband was designed to be —admonitory and commemorative— “it shall be unto you for a fringe, that ye may look upon it, and remember all the commandments of the Lord, and do them.” The admonitory character of this scripture is too obvious to need confirmation, and the reasons self-evident to an exercised conscience, who judges what sin is in the flesh. Yet while much of the ministry of Israel, and in later times necessarily all the ministry of the prophets, was admonitory, because failure had come in—still there was the service of Aaron and the priesthood, which embraced what was commemorative, like the Passover and the earlier feasts of the Lord—and what was anticipatory, like the blowing of the trumpets and the yet later feasts of Lev. 23. When the conscience of the people was thus awakened and exercised towards God, on the promise of recovery by obedience (“thou shalt remember and do”), their faith was also confirmed by priesthood and sacrifices, upon the ultimate ground of sovereign grace and blessing—forever and an on God was wont to proclaim Himself, “I am the Lord your God which brought you out of the land of Egypt, to be your God. I am the Lord your God.”
This identification of God with his people, was indeed their proper peculiarity, and it is the first thing to be recognized and borne in mind by us likewise, as we travel onward to meet Him. When the Israelite looked upon “the ribband of blue,” it was the abiding witness to him of Jehovah’s faithfulness, though conscious ofttimes of his own failure in not walking up to its character and claims. If the people judged themselves by this heavenly blue in the light of Jehovah’s love (of which it was the token) they would seek conformity to His mind in a fuller obedience to His statutes and laws. If, on the other hand, they discovered distance and contradiction by only looking at themselves, and snatched this ribband from their garments, it would be a denial of the unfailing grace of the God who bade them wear it. What a moment for the soul when conscious of its shortcoming!
But we must also add the prohibitory character of this ribband of blue, “that ye seek not after your own heart, and your own eyes, after which ye need to go a whoring.” Here it is that the ax is laid at the root of the tree; for the flesh, the nature itself is now in question—the heart and eyes.
Solemn lessons are thus brought to light, as those best know who are now called to learn what the “truth is in Jesus,” and who “have put off the old man with his deeds, and have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him.” Judaism could only detect indwelling sin and put the guilt of it upon the conscience, and point to the incoming remedy, “the faith which should afterward be revealed.” Christianity teaches another lesson and begins with Christ; and for us to reach conformity to Him must be by death to the flesh through His cross, and redemption by His blood. Believers now are born again— of the Spirit, that they may bring forth fruit unto God and walk as children of the light. What a privilege to. justify God (however humbling it be to man in the flesh) in what He has so lovingly and patiently brought to light, that in “the fullness of time” He might bring in His Son and turn every eye to Him, as the embodiment of all that is heavenly bright and blue.
Prohibitions or lessons, both commemorative and admonitory, though equally witnessed by the ribband of blue, were seen and understood by a people in the flesh under Moses—but only to make the painful discovery that the roan who wore it on his garment needed something more: “for if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law... But the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe. Nevertheless, the ribband could witness and point faith onward to a future day, when Israel will be brought under the new covenant and under Christ as their Mediator, when all around and in them shall be alike consistent with this heavenly color and character in their bright history of millennial glory. “Though ye have lien among the pots, yet shall ye be as the wings of a dove covered with silver, and her feathers with yellow gold.” In the meanwhile, it is for Christians, as such men knowing their heavenly standing and calling, under the anointing of the Holy Ghost—to “ put on the Lord Jesus Christ.”
The natural life of man, surrounded by all that God had given, and watched over as Israel nationally was in Canaan, gave way, and the people, alas, broke down under the weight of the blessing! “The ribband of blue” is now dispensationally hid, as between Jehovah and His earthly people, and they are no longer His witnesses on account of their unfaithfulness. When John the Baptist came as the forerunner of Christ to the nation of Israel, he was in the wilderness, and “his raiment was of camel’s hair, and a leathern girdle about his loins.” What a contrast! So when the Messiah Himself came into their midst, He was there as the “man of sorrows and acquainted with grief,” and had not where to lay His head. When He served them in His ministry of love, it was by healing their sick, opening the eyes of the blind, casting out devils, and preaching deliverance to the captives. Again what a contrast! Finally, He wept over Jerusalem, saying, “Ye shall not see me henceforth till ye shall say, Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord.”
While the nation continues in its impenitence, and the vail is upon their hearts instead of the ribband of blue upon the fringes of their garments—while the Messiah is hidden in the heavens waiting the latter day of earthly glory, when the land shall again be married—what is God doing? Another race of people is called out to know this rejected One at the right hand of God, as the head of His body, the church. What is the new characteristic of this people? They “bear about in their body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus may be made manifest in their body.” This is the new badge and token of identification with Christ— “for which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.”
May we understand better than ever the ribband of blue of earlier days-only accepting the antitype, as we are now taught to connect it with Christ, our rejected Lord, and wear it in his absence, the token that we “are not of the world, even as” He was “not of the world”—till He comes, and we are changed into His likeness. B.