It is a wonderful thing to see the way in which, through the overruling power of God, the efforts of Satan against the people of God only bring them out the more distinctly in their own place of blessing.
We find in these chapters the connection of the name of God with the power of Satan. Some of the instruments which he uses may be, and some of them may not be, conscious that it is Satan’s power which actuates them. Nothing could be greater confusion than that which here passes between Balaam and Balak.
Balaam, we know, was a thoroughly wicked man. (See Rev. 2:1414But I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balac to cast a stumblingblock before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to commit fornication. (Revelation 2:14); 2 Peter 2:15,1615Which have forsaken the right way, and are gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Bosor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness; 16But was rebuked for his iniquity: the dumb ass speaking with man's voice forbad the madness of the prophet. (2 Peter 2:15‑16); Jude 1111Woe unto them! for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Core. (Jude 11)) Nothing could exceed the wickedness and perverseness of his ways. And yet he is called a prophet, as it is said, “who loved the wages of unrighteousness, but was rebuked for his iniquity: the dumb ass, speaking with man’s voice, forbade the madness of the prophet.” We know that he was acquainted with, and used, enchantments (chap. 24:1); and yet when he comes to Balak he says, “Lo, I am come unto thee: have I now any power at all to say any thing? the word that God putteth in my mouth, that shall I speak.” (Chapter 22:38) Balak was looking for the power of evil against the children of Israel, God’s people, and yet looking for it from God. (Chapter 23:27) There was a sort of looking to the power and intervention of God, although God was not known, and thus all was confusion.
And so in the world, even where Satan is working, and where in those who are intelligent in evil he is looked to as working, there is often a certain vague looking to God. Thus there is complete confusion -man’s will being Satan’s will, and yet with a certain owning of God.
Chapter 22:1-6. We see the enmity of the world against the people of God brought out, and especially against the power of the people of God. God’s power was with His people, and this drew out the enmity of Satan. When the Son of God came into the world, the whole energy of Satan’s power and enmity was directed against Him; so afterward against the apostles, those who had “turned the world upside down.” (Acts 17:66And when they found them not, they drew Jason and certain brethren unto the rulers of the city, crying, These that have turned the world upside down are come hither also; (Acts 17:6)) But God’s power was with and for His people. See the song of Moses (Ex. 15:14-1614The people shall hear, and be afraid: sorrow shall take hold on the inhabitants of Palestina. 15Then the dukes of Edom shall be amazed; the mighty men of Moab, trembling shall take hold upon them; all the inhabitants of Canaan shall melt away. 16Fear and dread shall fall upon them; by the greatness of thine arm they shall be as still as a stone; till thy people pass over, O Lord, till the people pass over, which thou hast purchased. (Exodus 15:14‑16))—God had redeemed his people with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm from the power and bondage of Satan, and had brought them to himself. (Ex. 19:44Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles' wings, and brought you unto myself. (Exodus 19:4)) When this is the case, Satan seeks to force others into an open opposition to the people of God. Their presence becomes intolerable to their enemies. But the effect of it all is to bring out God’s people as being under His eye and care. The very wish that God should curse Israel only brought out the more God’s distinct blessing upon them: “And he” (Balaam) “took up his parable, and said, Balak the king of Moab hath brought me from Aram, out of the mountains of the east, saying, Come, curse me Jacob, and come, defy Israel. How shall I curse, whom God hath not cursed? or how shall I defy, whom the Lord hath not defied? For from the top of the rocks I see Him, and from the hills I behold Him: lo, the people shall dwell alone, and shall not be reckoned among the nations.” (Chapter 23:7-9) Here we find the effect of Satan’s opposition was to bring out into the clearest manifestation that they were not of the world.
So long as Israel were living in Egypt there was nothing at all that drew out the thoughts and feelings of Balak and Balaam against them, or that made them intolerable to the world; but the chief point of this testimony to their blessing is, that they were a peculiar people, separated from all other people unto God, according to that word, “The Lord hath avouched thee this day to be His peculiar people.” (Deut. 26:1818And the Lord hath avouched thee this day to be his peculiar people, as he hath promised thee, and that thou shouldest keep all his commandments; (Deuteronomy 26:18))
Verse 11 and onward. Balaam at the suggestion of Balak seeks to curse Israel from “another place.” He tells Balak, “Stand here by thy burnt-offering, while I go and meet yonder.” He does not seem to know whom he was going to meet. It is all the most thorough and perfect confusion. He says, “While I go and meet yonder.” But there the Lord meets him, and puts a word in his mouth, proving the firmness of God’s purpose concerning His people. “God is not a man, that He should lie; neither the son of man, that He should repent: hath He said, and shall He not do it? or hath He spoken, and shall He not make it good? Behold, I have received commandment to bless.” Balaam would gladly have altered this testimony of God, but he says, “He hath blessed; and I cannot reverse it.”
Then comes the testimony to the completeness of God’s justification of His people: “He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither hath He seen perverseness in Israel.” This is not a mere abstract statement of truth. Israel had acted so failingly and unbelievingly during their wilderness journey as to bring out from Moses, the meekest man upon the face of the earth, the expression, “Ye have been rebellious against the Lord from the day that I knew you.” (Deut. 9:2424Ye have been rebellious against the Lord from the day that I knew you. (Deuteronomy 9:24)) The result of the judgment of the man of God about them, after forty years’ experience, was that they were a stiff-necked and rebellious people; but the judgment of God in reference to their justification was altogether opposite to his judgment of the moral condition of the people.
It is most important, in applying this to ourselves, to draw the distinction clearly between these two things—the judgment of the Spirit of God within us, as to the evil of the flesh, and the testimony of the Spirit, as to our being before Him in Christ. (2 Cor. 5:1717Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. (2 Corinthians 5:17)) God sees all who have received pardon through faith in the blood of Christ (Rom. 3:2525Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; (Romans 3:25)), “justified from all things” (Acts 13:38,3938Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins: 39And by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses. (Acts 13:38‑39)), “perfected forever” (Heb. 10:1414For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified. (Hebrews 10:14)), “meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light” (Col. 1:1212Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: (Colossians 1:12)), yea, more, as to His purpose in Christ, He sees them already glorified. (Rom. 8:3030Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified. (Romans 8:30)) Now this could not be true of all who are “the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus” (Gal. 3:2626For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. (Galatians 3:26)), if God at any time imputed sin to them. (Rom. 4:88Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin. (Romans 4:8)) “If any man sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous” (1 John 2:11My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: (1 John 2:1)); and “if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:99If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9)) He likewise says He will remember His people’s sins no more (Heb. 10:1717And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. (Hebrews 10:17)); and “whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for His seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.” (1 John 3:99Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. (1 John 3:9))
We often find the soul forming a righteous judgment about itself, and forgetting that the ground on which it stands before God, the resting-place of faith, is what He has wrought for us in the Lord Jesus. The Spirit of God judges sin in me by virtue of its character as seen in the light of the holiness of God, but He makes me know that I am not to be judged for it, because Christ has borne the judgment for me. It is no question of examining the details of either good or evil that we find in ourselves; it is altogether a question of the efficacy and value of Christ’s work, and of His acceptance. We either stand under the broad condemnation of God, sinners dead in trespasses and sins, or are “accepted in the Beloved.” Although it is most important that we should judge ourselves, as it is said, “If we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged,” (1 Cor. 11:31,3231For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. 32But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world. (1 Corinthians 11:31‑32)); yet this is quite a distinct thing from the judgment which God forms about us through the work of Christ. At the end of a long course of failure in the children of Israel, after their perverseness has been fully proved, God “hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither hath He seen perverseness in Israel.” Where the soul of a believer confounds the judgment of the Spirit within and about himself, with the judgment of God through the work of Christ for him, there can be no peace.
“God brought them out of Egypt; He hath as it were the strength of an unicorn”— “I dare not meddle with them” (Balaam says); “I have too much understanding of what they are to do so; they are connected with God, with His strength and power.”
“Surely there is no enchantment against Jacob, neither is there any divination against Israel: according to this time it shall be said of Jacob and of Israel, What hath God wrought?”
According to what time? the time when Israel was faint and weak, discouraged by reason of the length of the way, and none of their enemies on the other side of Jordan conquered. Their enemies were much mightier than they (Deut. 7:11When the Lord thy God shall bring thee into the land whither thou goest to possess it, and hath cast out many nations before thee, the Hittites, and the Girgashites, and the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and mightier than thou; (Deuteronomy 7:1)), and yet he says, “What hath God wrought! Behold, the people shall rise up as a great lion, and lift up himself as a young lion: he shall not lie down until he eat of the prey, and drink the blood of the slain.” The moment he sees them under the eye of God he says that.
“And Balak said unto Balaam, Neither curse them at all, nor bless them at all. But Balaam answered and said unto Balak, Told not I thee, saying, All that the Lord speaketh, that must I do? And Balak said unto Balaam, Come, I pray thee, I will bring thee unto another place; peradventure it will please God that thou mayest curse me them from thence. And Balak brought Balaam unto the top of Peor, that looketh toward Jeshimon.”
“And when Balaam saw that it pleased the Lord to bless Israel, he went not, as at other times, to seek for enchantments, but he set his face towards the wilderness. And Balaam lifted up his eyes, and he saw Israel abiding in his tents according to their tribes; and the Spirit of God came upon him. And he took up his parable and said,” (Chapter 24:1-9). He now begins to look at the people of God themselves, and sees Israel abiding in their tents, in their own proper loveliness. The sight of the fairness of God’s people thus is the occasion of the Spirit of God speaking as He does (vs. 5, and onwards) — “How goodly are thy tents, O Jacob, and thy tabernacles, O Israel! as the valleys are they spread forth.” He looks at the people of God themselves, and sees their beauty in the vision of the Almighty.
There were Israel occupied with their own foolish thoughts below, and this scene was going on above.
So is it with us, beloved friends; we are occupied with our own ofttimes foolish thoughts, the accuser is speaking against us, and yet nothing can prevail, because God works for us. I am not now speaking of God justifying us, but of much more, and that is the beauty of the order, and the never-failing source of refreshment of God’s people— “All my fresh springs are in thee.” God brings this out most fully through the evil desire of Balak and Balsam.
We see in these chapters man working according to Satan’s will, and yet looking to the power and the intervention of God. Hence all is confusion, and it will ever be so. But the moment the children of God get into their right place before God there is no confusion, no perplexity; the path is as simple as possible.
May the Holy Spirit enable us to realize as our own that peculiar feature of the church of God, and that which is the power of their holiness, and of their comfort too— “The Lord their God is with them, and the shout of a King is among them.”