Mr. Charles Stanley read from Numbers 22:1-61And the children of Israel set forward, and pitched in the plains of Moab on this side Jordan by Jericho. 2And Balak the son of Zippor saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites. 3And Moab was sore afraid of the people, because they were many: and Moab was distressed because of the children of Israel. 4And Moab said unto the elders of Midian, Now shall this company lick up all that are round about us, as the ox licketh up the grass of the field. And Balak the son of Zippor was king of the Moabites at that time. 5He sent messengers therefore unto Balaam the son of Beor to Pethor, which is by the river of the land of the children of his people, to call him, saying, Behold, there is a people come out from Egypt: behold, they cover the face of the earth, and they abide over against me: 6Come now therefore, I pray thee, curse me this people; for they are too mighty for me: peradventure I shall prevail, that we may smite them, and that I may drive them out of the land: for I wot that he whom thou blessest is blessed, and he whom thou cursest is cursed. (Numbers 22:1‑6) and then said:
We see in this chapter the last march and the last pitching of the tents of Israel on this side Jordan. The Lord has laid it on our hearts that what He is speaking to us now, He is speaking at the close of the journey, and there are principles here brought out that seem to me encouraging to our hearts at this moment. The intense opposition of Satan was seen at the end of the journey, immediately before Israel passed into Canaan. The policy and craft of Satan were seen, and it was at the close of Israel’s history that Balaam was hired against the people of the Lord. But the eye of Jehovah was upon him, and the eye of the Lord is on His people now. At the close of the journey GOD IS FOR us. If we look at this very moment, this precise period of Israel’s journey, we shall see, in Deuteronomy there the Lord coming down reproving, rebuking. and declaring to them their departure from Himself. I receive every word our beloved brother, who has just sat down, has said to us. It is our Deuteronomy. It is not for our own worthiness that God is for us. We have failed. We will bear timely rebuke, because at the close of our journey. But was there ever a time when God so wrought for His chosen? God was so infinitely above the apprehension or intention of the people, that if you go down to the plains of Moab you find the whole of the congregation in ignorance of what was transpiring on the heights above.
The opposition of Balaam was very much of the character we have to encounter now. It was on the Jannes and Jambres’ principle, a perfect imitation, with its seven altars, oxen, and rams, but it was the intense opposition of Satan behind all. Let us not be ignorant, that the opposition is not merely of Balaam, of Moab, of the world, it is not merely of man; but we have come to the last days, we have come to the trials when that which professes to be of God is most intense in its opposition, but behind the whole is Satan, who knows we are about to enter the glory; and while we bow to the rebuke — the voice of the Lord unto us — let us rise up to the blessed fact, it was at that time, when Israel knew nothing about it, that God was for them and with them. Was there ever a more glorious vindication of His people? Oh, what were Israel in God’s sight! The righteousness of God shines out — God the Justifier. It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again. He has suffered for our sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God. He has glorified God. Oh, that foundation ground... The Holy Spirit is with us. Notwithstanding all our failures I take courage, beloved brethren; if this be our last march, if this be our last assembling together, let us carry it home with us that God is for us!
Let me read a few words that God may use in strengthening the heart of His people. Let even Balaam speak. God will make even them that are of the synagogue of Satan to come and do homage at the feet of His weak ones. After all their failures, their stiff-neckedness, He says (O blessed be the Lord it is true for us today): “How goodly are thy tents, O Jacob, and thy tabernacles, O Israel! As the valleys are they spread forth, as gardens by the. river’s side, as the trees of lign aloes which the Lord hath planted, and as cedar trees beside the waters” (Num. 24:55How goodly are thy tents, O Jacob, and thy tabernacles, O Israel! (Numbers 24:5)). The Lord send us to our homes with these, His thoughts about the assemblies He has planted on the earth. In His sight they are as gardens. If our leaf is not as green, the River is the same. The Holy Spirit is the same. May that well of water spring up! May we awake to the sense of what His saints are in God’s account! “As trees of lign aloes which the Lord hath planted.” Do you know the sweet perfume of the lign aloes? that there is no wood more fragrant? Do you know what the saints are to God? Do you know His thoughts of every assembly? These are His thoughts — and His thoughts after all our failures. His thoughts at the close of the journey, and more than these. “As cedar trees beside the waters,” O what power the soul has if the Holy Spirit abide in — him! O what power for good in the assemblies which the Holy Spirit maintains here for Christ! And yet we look at ourselves as if we were not here?
“He shall pour the water out of the buckets.” May God use every saint present in pouring out the living waters! He is with us still: God is for us. Do not, for a moment, suppose there is a clash in the ministry of the word by His Spirit. We need every word, and may God by His Spirit fix it in our hearts! He is with us. Go forth, my brethren, as buckets the Lord has filled. May God do it, and do it by all, to the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
From The Bible Herald, 1877, pp. 47-49.