Surely there is contained in the account of Balaam’s prophecy (Numbers 22-24) a very solemn consideration for those who are now used in the service of God. To be a prominent servant and a useful one in the greatest of all works is no proof even of conversion. No zeal or success in preaching can compensate for the absence of life. There are those who will say in a coming day, “Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Thy name? and in Thy name have cast out devils? and in Thy name done many wonderful works?” (Matt. 7:22). The Lord’s answer to such reveals the sad and solemn fact that their activity in such labor and zeal was without the knowledge of the Lord, and as without this saving knowledge, all their labor and zeal was nothing else than the work of iniquity. “I never knew you: depart from Me, ye that work iniquity” (Matt. 7:23). There is only one ground of salvation (and indeed for acceptable service), that as lost sinners we are saved only by Christ — by faith in Him. The great apostle himself had no other plea but this, the common ground of all. “This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief” (1 Tim. 1:15).
Three times the enemy tried and failed in his attempt. Now Satan in the person of Balak, king of the Moabites, appears in more open opposition and seeks as if he would be revenged upon his helpless servant Balaam, for Balak here is but the mouthpiece of Satan. He had his rewards for the prophet, but they were offered in vain. In anger and disappointment, he tells Balaam to flee to his place. “I thought to promote thee unto great honor; but lo, Jehovah hath kept thee back from honor.” It is against Jehovah that Balak speaks; it was against His will that the king now openly declares himself.
The Answer to Righteousness and Grace
It was a question between righteousness and grace. Satan was not ignorant of the demands of righteousness, and he knew that Israel deserved to lose the promised inheritance. But he knew nothing of the purposes of grace or how these purposes could be fulfilled without setting aside the demands of righteousness. He is, as it were, challenging God, whether He can bless a people hitherto rebellious. And wondrously have the Wisdom and the Power (1 Corinthians 1) met the challenge. The great question is settled before God, though the time was not then come for the public setting forth of Christ Himself as the propitiatory for sin (Rom. 3:25). It is in view of the cross that God can declare Israel blessed. The book of types and shadows had been unrolled before Israel, but unread by them. The true Light had not to them illuminated the page, but all was before God, and the people who most deserved to be cut off are those to whom the highest and greatest (earthly) blessings are assured. Nor could Satan read the record any more than man could; he never knew it till the great fact of atonement was accomplished. God did not make Satan the depositary of His counsels. But on the cross Christ was lifted up as the answer to all Satan’s charges, as well as to assure every believer, and then Satan knew how God could be just and the Justifier of the ungodly.
Satan and the Star
Now though Satan was the prime mover in the attempt to curse Israel, stirring up the evil in the hearts of these two men to accomplish his purpose, yet after all it was not so much the people, as the fearing and hating Him who was to come from them. Satan knew the meaning of the first word given in Eden. The Lord who was to come should crush his head. The word was renewed to Abraham: Satan saw that it was connected somehow with Israel. If he could destroy Israel, the promised Seed could not come. But the counsel of God as to His Christ is eternal, and “hath Jehovah spoken, and shall He not make it good?” (Num. 23:19). Satan was vanquished and disappears. His two servants, Balak and Balaam, may each go their way. Nay, not yet; God has not done with Balak; this great controversy is not to be left so. God, as it were, now takes the initiative, and the curse Balak sought for Israel is pronounced upon himself. “Come, I will advertise thee what this people shall do to thy people in the latter days” (Num. 24:14). And now it is not Israel, but the STAR out of Jacob that is before the eye of God. It is in Him and by Him that the future victories and greatness of Israel will be achieved. Moab and every other power of the world that has stood up against Christ and His people shall be subdued under His mighty power. The ships of the West may afflict Asshur and Eber, but their leader shall perish. It is the judgment of the living at the end of the age, even then and thus pronounced.
The scene closes; the curtain drops upon this wonderful drama: Satan for the time is vanquished, and the everlasting counsels of grace stand firm in the power of God, which is yet to make all good for Israel.
Did Israel know how wondrously God, their Jehovah, was maintaining their cause, yea, His own sovereign right of grace against the enemy? Nay, they, unconscious, dwelt at ease in their tents, while the battle was fought and won upon the high places of Moab.
R. Beacon