Los Angeles Conference: 1977
Table of Contents
The Lord's Guidance of His People
Address—G.H. Hayhoe
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I'd like to turn to the book of Numbers in the 9th chapter, Numbers Chapter 9.
What I had in mind to speak of is the way the Lord guided his people in their wilderness journey. So I'd like to read this part of the 9th chapter and also part of the 10th chapter.
Numbers 9, verse 15.
And on the day that the Tabernacle was reared up the cloud.
Covered the Tabernacle, namely, the tent of the Testimony, and it even there was upon the Tabernacle, as it were the appearance of fire until the morning, so it was always the cloud covered it by day, and the appearance of fire by night. And when the cloud was taken up from the Tabernacle, then after that the children of Israel journeyed, and in the place where the cloud of bowed, there the children of Israel pitched their tents at the commandment.
Of the Lord The children of Israel journeyed, and at the commandment of the Lord they pitched. As long as the cloud abode upon the Tabernacle, they rested in their tents. And when the cloud carried long upon the Tabernacle many days, then the children of Israel kept the charge of the Lord, and journeyed not. And so it was when the cloud was a few days upon the Tabernacle, according to the commandment of the Lord, they abode in their tents, and according to the.
Commandment of the Lord they did. And so it was when the cloud abode from even unto the morning, and that the cloud was taken up in the morning, then they journeyed. Whether it's by day or by night that the cloud was taken up, they journeyed, or whether it were two days or a month or a year, that the cloud tarried upon the Tabernacle, remaining thereon, the children of Israel abode in their tents and journeyed not.
And when it was taken?
Up they journeyed, at the commandment of the Lord they rested in the tents, and at the commandment of the Lord they journeyed. They kept the charge of the Lord at the commandment of the Lord by the hand of Moses.
And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Make thee 2 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. And when they shall blow with them, all the assembly shall assemble themselves to thee at the door of the Tabernacle of the congregation. And if they blow but with one trumpet, then the Princess, which are heads of the thousands of.
Israel shall gather themselves unto thee.
When he blow an alarm, then the camps that lie on the east parts shall go forward. When he blow an alarm the second time, then the camps that lie on the South side shall take their journey. They shall blow an alarm for their journeys. But when the congregation is to be gathered together, he shall blow, but ye shall not sound an alarm. And the sons of Aaron the priest shall blow with the trumpets, and they shall be to you. For.
Ordinance forever throughout your generations, and if you go to war in your land against the enemy that oppresseth you, then ye shall blow an alarm with the trumpets, and ye shall be remembered before the Lord your God, and ye shall be saved from your enemies.
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 sacrifices of your peace offerings, that they may be to you for a memorial before your God. I am the Lord your God.
And we'll tie to the 29th verse.
And Moses said unto Hobab the son of Ragawali, Midianite Moses, father-in-law, we are journeying unto the place of which the Lord said, I will give it you. Come thou with us, and we will do thee good. For the Lord hath spoken good concerning Israel. And he said unto him, I will not go, but I will depart to mine own land, and to my kindred. And he said, Leave us not, I pray thee.
For as much as thou knowest how, we are to encamp in the wilderness, and thou mayest be to us instead of eyes, and it shall be if thou go with us. Yeah, it shall be that what goodness the Lord shall do unto us, the same will we do unto thee. And they departed from the mount of the Lord three days journey. And the ark of the covenant of the Lord went before them in the three days journey to search out a resting place for them.
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And the cloud of the Lord was upon them by day, when they went out of the camp. And it came to pass, when the ark set forward, that Moses said, Rise up, Lord, and let thine enemies be scattered, and let them that hate thee flee before thee. And when it rested, he said, Return Lord, unto the many thousands of Israel.
Well, it's very lovely here to see the provision that God made to guide his people through the wilderness. And surely we can say Israel's God is ours and how he delights to guide us in our pathway to. And he has been made known in a much fuller way because now God has fully come out and revealed himself. The veil has been ranted. We can go into the very holiest of all and God has come out and as it tells us in Second Corinthians.
Chapter 3. We all with open face, beholding the glory of the Lord, that is, there is no veil between now what a blessed place is ours in Christianity. But the principles on which God guided his people of old, I believe apply today, and I believe if we consider them, they can be a special blessing to our own souls.
No, at this time of year, I suppose many of us think as we face a new year and that we do desire, and I'm sure every true child of God has an evening desire, and that we would be preserved and kept. The world is growing rapidly worse. We can see the decline of everything committed into the hands of man, whether it be in government, whether it be in the home, or, alas, even in God's assembly.
How we see anything committed to man, he fails in.
But God has not failed. He is faithful and He has made full provision for us. And so as He guided His people, He is willing to guide us. But there were certain things that were necessary for them to remember if they would be guided by Him. And so we can see perhaps there were three things here. There was the cloud that moved for their journeys.
There was the blowing of the silver trumpets.
Then there was the ark of the testimony and perhaps when we think of the moving of the cloud, there are two things that are mentioned. They had to look up to see that cloud move. And it also says at the commandment of the Lord they journeyed. So we can see perhaps two things in the first one and would they represent to us reading and prayer. Now that is having the light of God's Word and also turning to Him for guidance.
Perhaps when we think of the silver trumpets, they represent to us the Lord's claims over us. And surely He does have a claim upon us, as it tells us in First Corinthians chapter 6. He are not your own. He are bought with a price. Therefore glorify God in your bodies. And we know where the silver was obtained from. It was the redemption money, the children of Israel in order to be numbered.
The people of God had to pay that half shekel of silver after the shekel of the sanctuary. That is, they were to recognize that they were not their own. The rich were not to give more and the poor were not to give less. As I is doesn't matter. Rich or poor, there is one cost of our redemption. We are not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold, but with a precious blood of Christ, and we should never make.
In our lives, without recognizing that we are not our own, the world says do your own thing, go your own way. The child of God who has been taught of God, He desires at all times to recognize that there is One who has a right over us. Indeed, we might say this is what it means to own Jesus as Lord.
We often hear the expression, well, no one's going to tell me what to do.
But I often say there is one person who has a right to tell me what to do and everything, and I'm glad to let him have that right because I know he loves me and I know that his direction is always the best. And so this perhaps would be represented in the silver trumpets. And then in the last one, we have the ark that was the center around which God's people were to be gathered, because you know that the Tabernacle.
Was in the midst, and all the tents were pitched round about it. And so isn't a blessed thing that the Lord said to Moses, Make me a Tabernacle, that I may dwell among them. Now that is what a privilege it is to be gathered according to His own word around himself, and surely this ought to be considered in all the movements of our lives.
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That this would be the greatest loss to be any place doing.
Anything where we couldn't recognize such a blessed person as our gathering center, the one around whom we delight to meet, and especially as we think of the privilege that is ours to remember Him and his death. Well, I just mentioned these three things as a sort of outline of what I believe is brought before us in the way the Lord guided the people.
And this, as we find, is the very day that the Tabernacle was reared up, that this instruction was given. And that is the moment the Lord, so to speak, took His place among His people. Immediately He showed them how He wanted to direct them, how He desired to do them good, and to ever seek their good and their blessing. And so let us settle this in our minds that the Lord delights in.
Yeah, when the very foundations of the earth were laid, it says his delights were with the sons of man. And you know he's not going to be satisfied until he has with himself and those who are the fruit of that toil and victory. Creation was marvelous, but redemption is far greater. We know how man spoiled the creation.
It was a simple matter if one can speak in this way.
Faith for God to create everything by the word of His mouth. He spake and it was done. He commanded and it stood fast. But redemption is a far greater thing. There was no other way that one of us could be fitted to be in His presence if the Lord Jesus had not left the glory on high and done that great work which glorified God and which met our need. So I say this was the beginning of the journey after the Tabernacle.
Ankle was set up, and if you and I have known His grace in the way that He has provided to approach into His presence, let us stop and think. Are we recognizing Him as the One who guides us in our lives? In all thy ways, acknowledge Him and He shall direct thy paths. Notice that little word in all thy ways.
Sometimes we come to a big decision in life.
And we say, Oh, I want the Lord to guide me in this. I wouldn't want to make a mistake in this, but it says, in all thy ways acknowledge him. And the Psalmist 2 And the 27 Psalm said, that I may dwell in the House of the Lord all the days of my life, to inquire, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in his temple. So may the Lord help us, each one, to recognize this as the very starting.
Point of blessing for us and as we begin a new year, what a privilege this is for us.
To know that such provision is made. Well, there, when the Tabernacle was set up, they could look up and there was the glory cloud. There was the fire by night and the shade by day. Well, surely, as we think of our passage through this great and terrible wilderness, all the things that beset us in this world through which we passed, which has now become a wilderness to us because we belong to Christ.
Why?
Isn't that a good thing for us to have the constant habit of looking up and to know that there is one who is looking down who cares for us? So here was a dark night and they could look up. An Israelite could wake up in some perhaps sickness or other thing that caused him to be wakeful and look. And there was the reminder to invisibly that the Lord was.
There looking down caring for his people well, as we know that now we walk by faith, not by sight, but it's just as really. So there's a man at the right hand of God. There's one who is there making intercession for us and it says he ever liveth day or night and so in that dark night he could look up and there was the appearance of the Lord's presence and then in the day when perhaps the.
The sun was oppressive and there was shade, and there are times when pressure is very great. We do feel the heat of the days. That is, things seem to mount up in these times and we can't help in this present generation to feel the pressure of things. As we read in Daniel, the attempt of the enemy in these last days is to wear out the Saints of the Most High. Isn't he doing it too? You just get.
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Out with all the pressures, all the things that constantly seem to press upon us. And you just like sometimes to say, I'd like to run away from all these pressures. So in the hot, hot day, the Israelites could look up and there was the shelter, a shade by day for them, a place where such a person feeling the oppression of the day could look up and there.
There was that cloud.
And that's mentioned again when God brings blessing to the earth, that it says over every dwelling place in Mount Zion, and there will be this cloud and this flame of fire for their protection. Well, this ought to encourage us then to look up for us. I believe it represents prayer and that we form this habit of looking up, just like we mentioned the other day Nehemiah did.
In his work, hardly knowing how to handle a situation, wasn't it nice that just instantaneously he could look up and I think he saw in figure he saw the shade by day he saw the one who was able to undertake for him.
And it says so it was always. And we read in another place. He took not away the cloud by day, nor the pillar of fire by night. It never ceased. Oh, you only have to read the history of the people to see how they murmured. They complained, they sinned, they did so many things that must have grieved the heart of the Lord, but He didn't take it away.
And we have done so many things in our lives that have grieved.
The Lord and we murmured and we complained, and yet they looked up and there it was just the same. The Lord hadn't changed. We sing, we change. He changes not. Our Christ can never die. His love not ours, The resting place, His truth, not ours, the tie.
Well then it tells us too in the.
17th verse. In the latter part of the verse, and in the place where the cloud abode, there the children of Israel pitched their tents. Now, that is, they didn't want to get out of the place where the Lord's presence was. And so with us. This ought to be the desire of our hearts to live consciously in the enjoyment of His presence. Now we read in this chapter that.
Sometimes the cloud would stay for two days.
Sometimes a month, sometimes a year. Notice how there were different periods of time and this must have kept each one on constant alertness. Now that is, can't you imagine an Israelite waking up in the night? And probably the first thought that would come into his mind is, I wonder if the cloud has moved because it says whether by day or by night they had to take their journey.
And perhaps it involves getting everything together.
Pulling down the tent and getting all ready for the move. We don't like these things that come, do we? We don't like changes. We like things to remain kind of settled. But this world is a place of change, constant change. And the the children of Israel were not to ask themselves whether they wanted to move, whether the place they were going to was a little more pleasant. That wasn't the point at all. There's no mention whatever of that. The only thing.
That seemed to be their proper consideration was as the cloud moving. Is that what the Lord is saying? Well, doesn't it speak to us? We so often make choices on our own feelings, based on our own ideas and thoughts, instead of doing what the Israelite was to do, to look up and as I say, might wake up in the night and there he could look up and see. And doesn't this remind us of.
These times when we might wake up in the night, the 16 Psalm says my reigns also instruct me in the night seasons. So very often when we're alone with the Lord, we can commune with him upon our beds, the Scripture tells us, and we can look up to Him and how often he has given us some instruction, perhaps lying there upon the bed.
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His instruction for our pathway.
And then in the daytime, no matter how busy their occupations kept them. Why? I can just imagine an Israelite who had a desire to please the Lord, not just looking up once in the morning and once at night. But can't you imagine how often a godly Israelite must have looked up to see what was happening to that cloud and whether it was moving? In other words, the choice was altogether.
The Lords it also mentions here in the 18th verse. At the commandment of the Lord the children of Israel journeyed, and at the commandment of the Lord they pitched.
I mentioned this because the two things go together, reading and prayer. The Lord will never guide us contrary to His word. Sometimes we hear people say, well, the Lord told me to do this. And yet when you compare what they're doing with the word of God, you find that it doesn't, it doesn't add up. It's not according to His Word. And so the Lord will never guide us contrary to His word He has given us.
False principles in His word, not to every decision that we might like to make, but He has given us some principles to guide us. Perhaps we could say intentionally. He has left certain things so that we have to be close to Him to learn His mind. I know that at home our children knew very definitely. There were some things we didn't want them to do. We told them so. We made that very clear.
But there were other things that we didn't say. The children became acquainted with us, and they got to know what we desired from them. And, you know, there are decisions that we have to make. For instance, there might be a general meeting. You decide whether you go or don't go, whether you can't find a definite scripture to tell you whether you should go to such and such a general meeting.
But you do find principles in the Word, but it's nearness to the Lord.
That enables us in many of the small matters of life to discern his mind and he says in his Word. Now be not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is will never guide us, contrary to His Word. And if we are close to Him, we discover in communion with Himself, even though small decisions, and what He would have us to do. Now this is very blessed. So the two are linked together.
Inseparably linked together because I believe it's very important.
Here sometimes remark, well, I prayed about it. Well, don't forget not only to pray, but seek the light of God's word, for it was at the commandment of the Lord as well as the moving of the cloud, and then it tells us here.
In the.
19th Verse. And when the cloud tarried long upon the Tabernacle many days, then the children of Israel kept the charge of the Lord, and journeyed not. I suppose sometimes that they must have felt rather restless when the cloud remained a long time, and this expression they kept the charge of the Lord, they might have felt, Well, what are we doing here so long? We don't see anything that we're accomplishing here.
But it says they kept.
Accept the charge of the Lord. And there are times that come in our lives when it's just a question of waiting upon the Lord. Wait on the Lord, Be of good courage, and He shall strengthen thine heart. Wait, I say, on the Lord. I think it's the hardest thing for us by nature when we want to do something, just to have to wait until the Lord gives positive direction for our pathway.
So there were times when they had to move when perhaps they would much rather have remained more than two days in the place. Any of us who have homes know that if we had to take up all our belongings after settling down in two days, we might feel a little bit concerned that this was just too much. But so it was with them two days a month, a year, or perhaps there were longer times.
Everything was ordered and arranged by the Lord.
And as I read this, it does seem almost like a repetition, doesn't it? It says so it was alway, and it repeats as though it were saying the same thing over two or three times. Why is this? Well, I'm sure we don't need to ask why. We do have to be reminded, our impetuous natures and all that we are for making our own plans.
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Something like Jacob would like to make our plans and then say Lord.
Lord bless them. And this chapter has more repetition than the 10th chapter because this is the part where we're so impetuous, waiting for the commandment of the Lord, waiting for the cloud to move, or perhaps it moving at a time when we would much sooner stay. This is when the impetuousness of our nature comes out. And so God repeats it. And I'm afraid he's had to repeat it to me several times. And perhaps.
You have found the same in your life that we do have to have these things brought before us like Peter said, so that we wouldn't forget.
And so this was the first thing that God set before them, that looking up, that waiting for the commandment of the Lord. And this surely is the first and most important thing with all of us in our lives. But now this brings us to the 10th chapter.
And here we find the Lord telling Moses to make 2 trumpets of silver of a whole piece. Shalt thou make them?
Well, as we remarked before, the silver represents to us redemption, shows us the Lord's claim over us.
So that if anyone hesitated to move.
Then you had the Lord had a claim over them, and He has a claim over us. It's a claim of love. It says in Two Corinthians 5, The love of Christ constraineth us, because we thus judge that if one died for all, then we're all dead, that we which live should not henceforth live unto ourselves, but unto Him Now we belong to him then.
And so these two trumpets were made out of one piece.
Perhaps that represents to us what we have in Matthew, where it says, if thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. What does it mean to have a single eye?
Well, did you ever try to look at two things at the same time? Well, you don't see they're one of them clearly, but if you put your attention on one thing, you can see it much more clearly than trying to look at 2 objects at the same time, especially if they're far apart. And so if you and I would be guided, we need to have a single eye for the Lord, for His glory, for His will.
And so these two trumpets were made out of one piece of silver, and it says there were two trumpets. Perhaps this represents to us testimony. And so God has given abundant testimony as to that blessed work that has been accomplished.
And the blessed truth that we belong to Him. And so these trumpets were used. It says first of all for the calling of the assembly. So when the cloud moved, then there was this trumpet that was blown by which the people were called together. And it says in the third verse, And when they shall blow with them.
All the assembly shall assemble themselves.
Thee at the door of the Tabernacle of the congregation. Here we find a meeting together of the people of God and to a person, for it says, they shall assemble themselves to thee. And no doubt this represents the Lord, for Moses was a picture of the Lord, and this was the call to assemble together. Perhaps it makes us think a little of that verse in Matthew 18 and 20 because there were two trumpets.
And it says where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them. So when they heard these trumpets blown, now this was perhaps a confirmation. There had already been the moving of the cloud. Now they listened and they were to respond to this call. And it says.
All the assembly. Well, isn't it lovely to know that God has a ground?
Sat before us in His Word for all His people to be gathered together around the Lord Jesus. Yes, He has a ground for it. Man has brought in confusion and we have to hang our own heads and acknowledge our part in the confusion of what? God still has a gathering Center for His people. And the ground to be scriptural must be the ground that represents every member of the body of Christ.
There was one meeting place for all, the assembly of the congregation and every willing heart. And when they heard those trumpets blown, they were to gather together.
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To Moses at the door of the Tabernacle of the congregation. Well, this speaks to all of us here. And I like to think of it that when perhaps we could say when Lord's Day morning comes, it's just as though we heard the call to come.
And gather around the Lord. It's just as if the Lord were saying, I have a claim over you. You're 1 of mine, I have a place for you. And so love was to respond to that call and to gather and then to it was it says the eighth verse. And the sons of Aaron, the priest shall blow with the trumpets. I believe the sons of Aaron represent the church.
As a worshipping company, isn't this very blessed too, that we have the privilege of being gathered as holy priests around the Lord?
And there's not only the privilege of remembering the Lord, but there is also the gathering together for prayer. There is also the gathering together over His word. And perhaps we could speak of this gathering together as representing what is spoken of as the assembly meetings. It was the whole assembly, and an assembly meeting is when we are gathered by the Spirit to the Lord.
As an assembly and gathered around.
The Lord in the liberty of the Holy Spirit. So here we find these trumpets used for this purpose. And just one little thought that I'd like to mention also in the seventh verse.
But when the congregation is to be gathered together, ye shall blow, but ye shall not sound an alarm. Now when the children of Israel went out to war by them there had to be an alarm sounded. If they were going to make a journey, they had to be an alarm sounded, and we'll speak of that in a moment. But when they were gathered together to Moses at the door of the Tabernacle of the congregation, there was no alarm that was sounded.
Does not make you think of the Lord Jesus. When he came and stood in the midst of his own, and they were afraid, did he sound an alarm? Oh, isn't it lovely? He said, peace be unto you. And when he had so said, he showed unto them his hands and his side. And Paul writes in First Corinthians 14, God is not the author of confusion, but of peace.
As in all the churches of the Saints, and my father used to make a little comment we.
Never introduce into the assembly anything to disturb its peace unless it's absolutely necessary for God's glory. So there was no, there was no alarm to be sounded when they gathered together as an assembly. And this speaks to each one of us because how lovely it is to be gathered in the peace that has been made through that blessed work that we speak of.
Not silver and gold, but the precious blood of Christ that has given us access to.
An approach into his presence. So these instructions were given the the trumpets were for the gathering together where they were to assemble, who were to blow the trumpets and then the manner in perfect peace. It was not to be a time of alarm. And isn't it lovely for us as we do gather to know that peace has been made? We can meet in the very presence of the one who is holy and true and know that.
We have been feted for his presence.
Then it says in the fourth verse, And if they blow but with one trumpet, then the Princess, which are the heads of the thousands of Israel, shall gather themselves unto thee.
And just suggest a little thought here, when it was just the one trumpet that was blown, it says the heads of the thousands of Israel were together. Well, I just suggest this little thought that when the brothers come together in connection with that which concerns the people of God. Now let us never forget in such meetings that we belong to the Lord.
That we have been redeemed, you know, sometimes in such occasions.
There might be a little feeling that we can be a little more free to speak, and perhaps things might be said that are not always the best on such occasions. But I think if the silver trumpet was sounded just before we started to talk, even in the care meeting, it might have an effect on each one of us. That is, we, We are his, we belong to Him.
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It's a serious thing to think of this, and to think of seeking to act for the good.
And blessing of the people of God. Well, I just suggest this little thought in connection with the the ones who gathered together, not as an assembly, but as those who were responsible helpers, leaders in the assembly for the good of God's Saints.
And then they were blown for their journeys. Why was it necessary to blow? And differently, they sounded an alarm for their journeys. Why was it an alarm for their journeys? Well, you know, any change that we make, any move that we make brings a new set of circumstances, a new environment, and we all know how.
This is a very, very important time in life.
Young people perhaps brought up in the shelter of home and they're in a place where the claims of Christ have been acknowledged, but perhaps they leave to go to another town. They leave to go to a job. And you know, there's a lot of danger connected with these changes. We've often seen it's either for good or otherwise. It's either the beginning of perhaps more devotedness to the Lord.
Or perhaps it can be a turning point that will be a positive hindrance.
In a young person's life, perhaps some of us who are older, we moved to another assembly, a new community. And how important it is that we realize that the way we reinstate ourselves in those new surroundings, in that new employment, in that new assembly is so important. We need to really be alarmed that we might say or do something that will spoil the very commencement because very often.
Commencement has so much to do with the way we act afterwards. I'm sure some of us can think of times in our lives, perhaps a new job. We just didn't commence right? We did the wrong thing and it was so hard to afterwards try and correct it well. So every time they took a journey they sounded an alarm. There were enemies in the way, there were those who were going to hinder their progress if they possibly could.
And saw the trumpets being sounded would show that they felt this danger and that they were truly cast upon the Lord, that they might be preserved from their enemies. For we have three enemies. The world with all its attractions for our hearts, the flesh within us, and the devil who's ever lurking to try and trip us up and spoil our testimony.
Oh, how needful this is. Let's not forget this, every one of us. I say it to myself.
Sound and alarm we get into news surroundings, we're so apartment to jump into something quickly and then be sorry afterwards that we did something just without stopping to say I belong to the Lord, I'm his. I desire to do his will because I'm not my own. He's bought me with a price.
And then it tells us here in the ninth verse.
And if he go to war in your land against the enemy that oppresseth you, and then ye shall blow an alarm with the trumpets, and ye shall be remembered before the Lord your God, and ye shall be saved from your enemies. Here was a special time of conflict. As someone has said, we're always in warfare, but we're not always in conflict. We all know that there are times when it just seems the devil comes out with all his guns to try.
At us, and I'm sure we've all experienced this at just some time when something happens and if we're not alert, if we're not before the Lord, if we're not recognizing his claims, oh, how easily it is in this time when the enemy makes attack for us to find ourselves totally unprepared. Well, I say again.
We're always in warfare, but we're not always in context.
Conflict and we need to be prepared. So the children of Israel, they needed to prepare for the battle and you and I need to and God has provided the armor for us. But this blowing of the trumpets would remind us now that we can't handle these difficult situations. Perhaps there's something happened in your office, there's something happened in your home, there's something happened in the assembly and it's just just more than you can take and you say.
So difficult. Well, isn't this lovely? Ye shall be remembered before the Lord your God. He knows our frame, He knows our weakness. He knows all about us. And the blowing of these trumpets was acknowledging the Lord's claim, and the result was He came in to deliver.
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Then there's another thought here in the 10th verse also in the day of your gladness, and in your solemn days, and in the beginning of your months.
Well, there are all kinds of situations arise in life. There are days of gladness and there are solemn days.
Quite a few of us were gathered yesterday and it was a day of gladness. It was a time that was a very happy occasion when two young people in the Lord were united. This, this was a day of gladness. But can we just kind of throw aside restraint and say, well, after all, this is a wedding. We just don't have to. We don't have to act the same way, or we can acknowledge the Lord's claims and the way we conduct a wedding.
Last night was New Year's Eve. Can we acknowledge the Lord's claims and the way we act on New Year's Eve? Does it make any difference and that we can sort of lay aside his claims because that's a day of gladness?
No, it says, in their days of gladness they were to blow the trumpets. And I say to myself and to each one, now let us watch this. We the little hymn says, No joy, we know.
Apart from thee. And to try and have any fun or pleasure or gladness where the Lord is left out is not true gladness at all. No, dear young people, and those of us who are older too, there is no occasion in our lives when we can just say, well, I'm going to throw off the armor and have a good time. No, the days of gladness are made much sweeter when we blow the silver trumpets, when we acknowledge His.
Claims. And then in the solemn days, there are some days that are really solemn days. They're depressing. We get bad news. Isn't it lovely to be able to accept even these things from the Lord and know that He doesn't afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men? And that when we have the tendency to get right down to the bottom over some news that we got or something that happens, that we can on such an occasion blow the trumpet?
And say, well, the Lord cares, He knows, He understands. And so in the days of gladness, on their solemn days, they blew the trumpets. And in the beginning of your months, we spoke of how there are changes, there are moves in our lives. And then over their burnt offerings and over the sacrifices of your peace offerings. This is sweet, too. It's in connection with our worship, I believe.
And how lovely this is too, when.
When we come together, how could we come week after week and never, never feel that the Lord likes to hear our voices in praise and Thanksgiving? You know, sometimes we know of dear brothers and they'll sit in the meeting month after month and you never hear their voice giving out a hymn of praise, thanking the Lord. Isn't this a loss?
They were to blower their trump with their trumpet. And it's.
Says in First Corinthians 14, How is it then, brethren, when you come together, everyone of you hath A Psalm, hath a doctrine, hath an interpretation. And then too it tells us in the Song of Solomon, let me hear thy voice, let me see thy face, for thy voice is sweet, and thy countenance is comely. He might have said, well, we offered the burnt offering, we offered the peace offering, but they had to, there had to be.
Something audible, and there was the blowing of these trumpets, which was away, as I say, of acknowledging the Lord's claims. When we think of his love as we sang in the little hymn, love that transcends our highest powers, demands our soul, our life, our all. So it says that they may be to you for a memorial, perhaps a little suggestion of the remembrance of the Lord.
For your God, I am the Lord your God. I just mentioned here that the burnt offering is really that which especially before us in worship, it's presenting Christ to God in all the excellence of His person and His work. And then a peace offering is the communion offering. Now that is entering into and enjoying the very thoughts of God.
00:45:07
Well, this is a special privilege in connection with worship.
Well then I didn't read the verses that intervened here. It told the way that God had planned that they should order the movement of the camps. And if I had read it carefully, you'll notice in the 21St verse and the koothites set forward bearing the sanctuary, and the other did set up the Tabernacle against they came.
So it appears that God's plan and the movement of the tribes through the wilderness was that.
The the sanctuary, that is that which represented worship in the holy place, those things were carried by the koothites, and they were right in the very center. There were two groups behind and two groups ahead and right in the center, which of course, as we know, represents so beautifully the.
Position the Lord delights to take among his people, he says, where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them and as we remarked before, the.
Tents were all pitched round about, and the Tabernacle was in the midst. It was to be the same way when they made their March. It was to be that arrangement. But we find here, when we come to the 29th verse, that for Moses, when he thought of marching through the wilderness, his heart failed him, and he said to Hob the son of Raguel the Midianite, Moses, father-in-law.
Law he suggested that he would come with them and he says in the end of the 31St verse and thou mayest be to us instead of eyes. You notice that little comment. It's it's most striking, isn't it? And yet there's a there's a sadness connected with that because when we were talking at the beginning, did God intend that hobab was to be instead of eyes? Hadn't he provided that glory?
And they were to look up there for the direction, and they were to wait for the commandment of the Lord. But Moses thought, oh, but how are we going to know the way? This wilderness, there are no roads, You can't get Rd. maps. How are we going to know our way? Here's somebody who knows the way. Here's someone who can act as our guide. And doesn't it speak to your heart and mind surely speaks to mine. God had given this.
Full instruction about the cloud. He had told them that there would be the commandment. He had told them about the blowing of the trumpets. He had arranged the way the March was to be made. And for all that Moses said, all that we need some human prop, we've got to have someone to show us the way. And don't we often do exactly the same? After all the abundant provision the Lord has made, we always.
Tend to lean upon an arm of flesh. We always tend to say, oh, there's just somebody that would give me good advice always. I could just lean on him. Somebody that would be to us instead of us who wouldn't have to look to the Lord. We wouldn't have to have the direction of his word. Somebody that would just say, well, this is the thing to do well.
This was sad indeed, but it's so much like ourselves and some.
Sometimes too, perhaps there's a little bit of this that it was a relative you notice here, it was Moses, father in law's son, it appears, whom he suggested. And sometimes the ties of nature or the very thing that hinder us some, some loved one that we allow to take over, just like Abraham when God called him to leave her the Chaldees, who did he let take over?
He allowed.
His father to take over. And it wasn't until his father died that he came into the land where the Lord wanted him to do, to be. And we're just so much like that. We're just like Abraham. We're just like Moses. And even dear John in the Book of Revelation, after the Lord had revealed all these wonderful things to him through his servant, what did John do? He fell down at the feet of the Angel. He fell down.
Feet of the Angel, all brethren, we need to be delivered from man, as it says. See she from man whose breath is in his nostrils, For wherein is he to be accounted out? Now I don't mean that the Lord can't use someone, but let no person be the substitute for His word, for communion with him.
00:50:11
So Moses then wanted to have his father-in-law or his father in law's son, be the one who would be instead of eyes, and he made fair promises to him. He said, well, we'll do you good and we'll see that you share in all this. He, he was really willing to recompense him in the Lord's way, as he thought for all that he was going to do for them.
But God allowed what must.
Seemed like a disappointment to Moses, His father in law's son said. No, he said I'm going back to my own country.
Is there somebody that you've leaned on, somebody that you said, well, all that person was such a help in my life. I don't know how I can get along without that person. He always was. It was so nice to be able to go to him and seek his advice because he had a lot of experience. And then the Lord removed that person and you said, how am I going to get along? Maybe the Lord just removed the person's soul that you would be just like Moses had to be. And that is.
That he would learn this wonderful lesson that the Lord is to be our guide. He is the captain of our salvation, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of faith. And as one of the writers has said, it just seemed as though the Lord came out of the place that was normally to be His in the midst of the people, and he went before them.
Isn't it gracious how faithful God is? We make so many mistakes.
We change, he changes not he's faithful. And when Hobab said no, the Lord said yes Moses, I won't fail you. You didn't ask me first, but I'll still guide you. Oh how gracious on the part of God. It says here in the 33rd verse. And they departed from the mount of the Lord three days journey and the ark of the covenant of the Lord went before them in.
Three days journey to search out a resting place for them. Isn't this whole little scene so touching? The three days journey, What does that remind you of? Doesn't it remind you of the cross? Does it make you think of the precious Savior? Where did He go to search out a resting place for us? Oh, He went that three days journey. He took our place. He bore our judgment. He was buried and He rose the third day and He's gone back.
What for? To search out a resting place for us. And he says he's going to come again and receive us unto himself. Can we count upon such a guide? Can we say that he is faithful? And so it tells us that Moses looked up, and it says in the cloud of the Lord was upon them by day when they went out of the camp. Isn't this lovely?
God hadn't changed and the cloud was still there. And Moses, who had been looking at his father, now now looks up and he sees how the Lord is still willing to guide his people. And perhaps we can think of mistakes that we've made. I'm sure I can. And how nice it is to know that we have such a faithful God, one that we can count upon, one that we can turn to. And so there was the cloud. And Moses heart was touched and listened to what he says.
And it came to pass when the ark set forward, that Moses said Rise up, Lord, not rise up habab, rise up, Lord.
And let thine enemies be scattered.
And I then would hate thee, flee before thee. In other words, he counted totally upon the Lord's direction, on the Lord's protection. Someone has said safety is not the absence of danger, but in the Lord's keeping as thy blessed. And Moses learns that here. And so he sees that he can look up, he can see the Lord as the guide of his people.
And when it rested, he said, Return, O Lord, unto the many thousands.
Of Israel. Well, I just suggest from this last verse how it brings before us what we wait for. We don't seek our resting place here, but we seek it where He's guiding. He's going to return, and when he returns, then He is going to come and claim all his own. He has sought out a resting place. He's going to take us to that resting place.
He said, I will come again and receive you unto myself.
00:55:00
That where I am, there He may be also. Well, isn't it blessed, brethren, to see how perfect and how full was the provision that the Lord made for His people? And I say, He is still willing to make that for us too. And let us, I trust in some measure, learn from the way He guided His people, that He is still willing to do this for us, and that we can turn to Him. So let's not forget these things.
In all the decisions of life.
Life to look to Him in prayer and everything by prayer and supplication with Thanksgiving. Let your requests be made known unto God. Then seek the direction of His word. Then to acknowledge that we're not our own, we belong to Him. He has the claim of love over us. And then to know too that He has a meeting place for His people, that He delights to bless His people and even when we have failed.
He is faithful and He still wants us to come to Him and prove. And if we have been looking to someone else other than him, may He grant that if there's been a disappointment and you found the other person failed, for every arm of flesh does fail eventually, that we will look up to Him and find that He is still the same Jesus Christ, the same yesterday and today.
And forever. Well, what a blessed hope he is coming again.
And then we'll fully understand He is leading. Where is He leading? Well, He's leading to the rest that He has prepared. Our resting place is not here, but in His presence, His eternal rest. And in the meantime, He knows our walking through this great and terrible wilderness.
Living Water