Redemption being complete, the Christian is looked upon in three distinct conditions, which are never confounded, in the Word of God.
First: he is seen as possessor of eternal life in Christ; “God hath given unto us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.” This gift of God is founded on the fact, that all his guilt is put away; his sins and iniquities are remembered no more. Death is no more for him the wages of sin, but the entrance upon his eternal rest. But with all this he is down here on earth; he has no new place with God; he has received a nature suited to that new place; but not that place itself.
Second: he is also brought into heavenly places in the Person of Christ: He hath “quickened us together with Christ; and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus” (Eph. 2:66And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: (Ephesians 2:6)). In this he has a new place with God.
Third: there is a journey between these two points. A race to be run: a goal to be reached; though reached already if he looks at himself as in Christ. He has so to run meanwhile, that he may attain; to run with patience the race set before him, looking unto Jesus. He must press towards the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. To labor to enter into God’s rest. To hold fast the beginning of his confidence steadfast unto the end (compare Phil. 3; Heb. 3; 4; 12.; &c.). He has no present but what is future, in looking at this triplex condition in which he is seen.
To understand this triplex view of the christian state, is of great importance in the understanding the Scriptures, and rightly profiting by their teachings. There are warnings, and exhortations addressed to him while in the race, which would not apply to his standing before God. These warnings and “ifs” of Scripture try his heart if unsettled in redemption, as they would seem to him to make the end far from sure.
Israel had this triplex condition too. But they did not begin as we, with a new place with God; they had to reach it at the close. We have already begun with this new place, in Christ in heavenly places: yet we run to reach the goal, and the fruition of all. We are seated in heavenly places in Christ Jesus; yet we are running the race to win Christ, and be found in Him! This is our heavenly calling of which we are partakers, as holy brethren in the Lord.
Israel was brought by redemption, out of Egypt; and he was brought into Canaan. But he had also to pass through the Wilderness to his rest. The book of the Wilderness (Numbers) unfolds this journey as many are aware. The New Testament, speaking generally, is for the most part occupied with that journey, onwards to the end: the Epistle to the Ephesians only, leading into the having Canaan as a present thing in Christ. This is assumed however, in all the Epistles, as true of every true Christian. The Epistles to the Hebrews, and those of Peter are occupied with the pilgrimage, and the journeyings of the people of God, in a special manner.
Before the journey commenced (compare Num. 10:1111And it came to pass on the twentieth day of the second month, in the second year, that the cloud was taken up from off the tabernacle of the testimony. (Numbers 10:11)), Moses was commanded to make Two Trumpets of Silver: “Make thee two Trumpets of Silver: of a whole piece shalt thou make them: that thou mayest use them for the calling of the assembly, and for the journeying of the camps” (Num. 10:22Make thee two trumpets of silver; of a whole piece shalt thou make them: that thou mayest use them for the calling of the assembly, and for the journeying of the camps. (Numbers 10:2)). The visible and open guidance of God by the Pillar of the cloud and of fire, was there by day and by night continually. This all could behold. Even the most unspiritual in the Camp beheld the constant unvarying presence of the God of Israel. Then came the testimony of His word in this type before us, rendered as occasion needed, by those who received the communications and were near enough to be in the secret of His mind, as then revealed. This was given through those Silver Trumpets, by the varied notes which were sounded. Then again, the Ark of the Covenant went before the camp, to seek a resting place for them in the Wilderness.
Those three things expressed the guidance of God to Israel — “At the commandment of the Lord they journeyed” as directed by the movements of the Pillar of the Cloud. His “Word” sounded on more special occasions, by means of the Trumpets of Silver. There Himself, as the true Ark of the Covenant; and he that followed would “not walk in darkness but have the light of life.” These are seen in the antitype in 1 John 2:4-64He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. 5But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him. 6He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked. (1 John 2:4‑6). First we have His commandments; then His Word; and then Himself.
But there was more in the Silver Trumpets than all this. In this book of Numbers, we find that they are the only Instruments which the Lord directed to be made in this Book, in the Wilderness journey. They were made of Silver; while in Exodus, the things which were made there were all of Gold or of Brass. The former presenting God’s essential righteousness; the latter, that righteousness when it dealt with man in responsibility. The sockets of the boards of the Tabernacle, with some fillets and hooks, were made of silver, and they only. I believe we must always interpret by the context, in seeking to know the meaning of these typical things. It will not do to lay down one hard line in such cases, and insist that each must mean, in all places, and books of Scripture, the same. To do so we would suffer much loss in the lessons of the Word. The silver may point, as some say, to redemption, when the book in question treats of such. But in Numbers where it is the journey that is before us, and these Trumpets the means by which the God of Israel communicated with His people; the Silver Trumpets present to us — first, the “Trumpet” is the testimony of His Word: while the “Silver” is the immutability of His ways. This is echoed in the Wilderness book of Hebrews. 1st. The word of God, confirmed by His oath; and 2nd. The immutability of His ways. “Wherein God, willing (counseling) more abundantly to show unto the heirs of promise, the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath,” &c. (Heb. 6:1717Wherein God, willing more abundantly to show unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath: (Hebrews 6:17)). The Silver here then has this meaning — the immutability, or unchangeableness of His ways; so abundantly proved during their eventful journey. This was the basis of His actings, and His command, testified by Aaron and his sons, by means of those Silver Trumpets.
We read of four distinct blasts or notes of these Trumpets in Num. 10; and we find these notes echoed by the Spirit in the Epistle to the Hebrews. Here, the people were under the leadership of Moses and Aaron, the Apostle and High Priest of Israel, in their earthly calling. There, the Christian assuredly is under the leadership of Christ — the Apostle and High Priest of the holy brethren — Partakers of the heavenly calling.
The first note of the Trumpets in Numbers was “For the calling of the Assembly” of Israel; when they were to be gathered together for the varied exigencies of that day. In Hebrews this finds its antitype in the words, “Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another, and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching” (Heb. 10:2323Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;) (Hebrews 10:23)).
The second blast was “For the journeyings of the camp.” “At the commandment, of the Lord they rested in their tents, and at the commandment of the Lord they journeyed.” How blessed to know that no movement was undertaken; or no halting place was chosen in the desert, but “At the commandment of the Lord,” clearly and distinctly announced in their ears. How few of His people can clearly say, “I am as certain of my path here, or there; or I am as sure I have halted in the very spot indicated, ‘by the commandment of the Lord,’ and not by the desire of my eyes, or the longing for change, or the slothfulness of nature, emanating from my own deceitful heart.” No matter where the direction of the journey pointed, “at the commandment of the Lord,” or how much delay there seemed to be, till another order for the march was sounded from the resting place; Canaan alone was the goal! “For the journeying of the camps” the note was sounded, and it had this end alone in view; just as those antitypical blasts of the Trumpets are re-echoed in Hebrews: “Let us labor therefore to enter into that rest”; “Let us run with patience the race set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of faith.”
The third occasion on which we read of the sound of the Trumpets is “an alarm” — They have translated this word in Psalm 89:1515Blessed is the people that know the joyful sound: they shall walk, O Lord, in the light of thy countenance. (Psalm 89:15), as “The joyful sound.” But it was both. For it was heard both when the enemy was astir, and to the accustomed ear it was a “joyful sound”: the Lord of Hosts was with His people: no enemy could take them unawares. But it was “an alarm” too, for it stirred up the faithful to the need of vigilance against a watchful foe: and to the enemy it was the “alarm” of impending defeat and ruin.
Who of the saints has not quailed before the warning of Hebrews? How often have we seen the exercised soul trembling and uneasy as the “alarm” sounded in those solemn verses in Hebrews 6 and 10. The sound of the Silver Trumpet was echoed in the conscience of the questioner; and yet the “alarm” when explained and interpreted by the mind of the Spirit, proved to be but a “joyful sound” to the weakest faith: though fatal to unbelief.
“Also in the day of your gladness, and in your solemn days, and in the beginnings of your months, ye shall blow with the Trumpets over your burnt offerings, and over the sacrifice of your peace offerings, that they may be to you for a memorial: I am the Lord your God” (Num. 10:1010Also in the day of your gladness, and in your solemn days, and in the beginnings of your months, ye shall blow with the trumpets over your burnt offerings, and over the sacrifices of your peace offerings; that they may be to you for a memorial before your God: I am the Lord your God. (Numbers 10:10)). This was the fourth “blowing of Trumpets” in the desert — the “days of gladness” were there marked; and over the “Burnt-offerings” and “peace-offerings” the sound was heard. How full is the end of Hebrews (ch. 9 — 12) of the worth of Him in whom all the offerings found their answer “once” and “forever”! It is a day of gladness we are called to there, to “Eat the fat, and drink the sweet; to send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared: for the day is holy unto our Lord; neither be ye sorry; for the joy of the Lord is your strength” (Neh. 8:1010Then he said unto them, Go your way, eat the fat, and drink the sweet, and send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared: for this day is holy unto our Lord: neither be ye sorry; for the joy of the Lord is your strength. (Nehemiah 8:10)). Or as the Epistle to the Hebrews would put it — “To do good and to communicate forget not; for with such sacrifices God is well pleased (Heb. 13).
Thus we find the Numbers with its types, and the Hebrews with its interpretations, fitting themselves together with the perfection of God’s communications to our souls. “The things which happened to them happened for types, and are written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the ages are met” (1 Cor. 10:1111Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come. (1 Corinthians 10:11)).
The Trumpet then, characterized the starting point of the journey of the people of God. O, if they had hearkened to its joyful sound they would have known the “Blessedness of the people that knew” this; “They shall walk,” says the Psalmist, “O Lord, in the light of thy countenance” (Psa. 89:1515Blessed is the people that know the joyful sound: they shall walk, O Lord, in the light of thy countenance. (Psalm 89:15)).