Numbers 6
The First Adam Condition
When death to sin is not seen, there can be no real separation from the world, especially what is called the religious world. Hence we may often be surprised to see godly men mixing with the world and helping on its plans and improvements. But the whole system of self-occupation, of seeking to improve the first Adam condition of man, of seeking to attain complete sanctification in the flesh, is judged by the simple truth that the Christian died to sin in Christ’s death and that in his baptism he owns this and is bound to walk as one already and always dead to sin.
A. Miller
In looking through Scripture, we find many passages setting forth the intense spirit of separation which ought ever to characterize the people of God. Whether we direct our attention to the Old Testament, in which we have God’s relationship and dealings with His earthly people, Israel, or to the New Testament, in which we have His relationship and dealings with His heavenly people, the church, we find the same truth prominently set forth, namely, the entire separation of those who belong to God. Israel’s position is thus stated in Balaam’s parable: “Lo, the people shall dwell alone, and shall not be reckoned amongst the nations.” Their place was outside the range of all the nations of the earth, and they were responsible to maintain that separation. The same is true, only upon a much higher ground, in reference to God’s heavenly people, the church — the body of Christ—composed of all true believers. They, too, are a separated people.
Pharisees or Saints
We shall now proceed to examine the ground of this separation. There is a great difference between being separate on the ground of what we are, and of what God is. The former makes a man a Pharisee; the latter makes him a saint. If I say to a poor fellow-sinner, “Stand by yourself; I am holier than you,” I am a detestable Pharisee and a hypocrite, but if God, in His infinite condescension and perfect grace, says to me, “I have brought you into relationship with Myself in the person of My Son Jesus Christ; therefore be holy and separate from all evil; come out from among them and be separate,” I am bound to obey, and my obedience is the practical manifestation of my character as a saint — a character which I have, not because of anything in myself, but simply because God has brought me near unto Himself through the precious blood of Christ.
It is well to be clear as to this. Pharisaism and divine sanctification are two very different things, and yet they are often confounded. Those who contend for the maintenance of that place of separation which belongs to the people of God are constantly accused of setting themselves up above their fellow-men and of laying claim to a higher degree of personal sanctity than is ordinarily possessed. This accusation arises from not attending to the distinction just referred to. When God calls upon men to be separate, it is on the ground of what He has done for them upon the cross, and where He has set them, in eternal association with Himself, in the person of Christ. But if I separate myself on the ground of what I am in myself, it is the most senseless and vapid assumption, which will sooner or later be made manifest. God commands His people to be holy on the ground of what He is: “Be ye holy, for I am holy.” This is evidently a very different thing from “Stand by yourself; I am holier than you.” If God brings people into association with Himself, He has a right to prescribe what their moral character ought to be, and they are responsible to answer thereto.
Humility or Pride
Thus we see that the most profound humility lies at the bottom of a saint’s separation. There is nothing so calculated to put one in the dust as the understanding of the real nature of divine holiness. It is an utterly false humility which springs from looking at ourselves — yea, it is in reality based upon pride, which has never yet seen to the bottom of its own utter worthlessness. Some imagine that they can reach the truest and deepest humility by looking at self, whereas it can only be reached by looking at Christ. “The more Thy glories strike mine eye, the humbler I shall be.” This is a just sentiment founded upon divine principle. The soul that loses itself in the blaze of Christ’s moral glory is truly humble, and none other.
No doubt we have a right to be humble, when we think of what poor creatures we are, but it only needs a moment’s just reflection to see the fallacy of seeking to produce any practical result by looking at self. It is only when we find ourselves in the presence of infinite excellence that we are really humble.
A child of God should refuse to be yoked with an unbeliever, whether for a domestic, a commercial or a religious object, simply because God tells him to be separate, and not because of his own personal holiness. The carrying out of this principle in matters of religion will necessarily involve much trial and sorrow; it will be termed intolerance, bigotry, narrow-mindedness, exclusiveness and such like, but we cannot help all this. Provided we keep ourselves separate upon a right principle and in a right spirit, we may safely leave all results with God.
Truth and Grace
In Nehemiah we read, “The seed of Israel separated themselves from all strangers, and stood and confessed their sins, and the iniquities of their fathers” (ch. 9:2). This was not Pharisaism, but positive obedience. Their separation was essential to their existence as a people. They could not have enjoyed the divine presence on any other ground. Thus it must ever be with God’s people on the earth. They must be separate, or else they are not only useless, but mischievous. God cannot own or accompany them if they yoke themselves with unbelievers, upon any ground, or for any object whatsoever. The grand difficulty is to combine a spirit of intense separation with a spirit of grace, gentleness and forbearance, or as another has said, “to maintain a narrow circle with a wide heart.” This is really a difficulty. As the strict and uncompromising maintenance of truth tends to narrow the circle around us, we shall need the expansive power of grace to keep the heart wide and the affections warm. If we contend for truth otherwise than in grace, we shall only yield a one-sided and most unattractive testimony. And, on the other hand, if we try to exhibit grace at the expense of truth, it will prove in the end to be only the manifestation of a popular liberality at God’s expense — a most worthless thing.
The Means and the End
Then, as to the object for which real Christians usually yoke themselves with those who, even on their own confession and in the judgment of charity itself, are not Christians at all, it will be found in the end that no really divine and heavenly object can be gained by an infringement of God’s truth. “That the end justifies the means” can never be a divine motto. The means are not sanctified by the end, but both means and end must be according to the principles of God’s holy Word, or else all will lead to confusion and dishonor. It might have appeared to Jehoshaphat a very worthy object to recover Ramoth-Gilead out of the hand of the enemy, and, moreover, he might have appeared a very liberal, gracious, popular, largehearted man, when, in reply to Ahab’s proposal, he said, “I am as thou art, and my people as thy people; and we will be with thee in the war.” It is easy to be liberal and largehearted at the expense of divine principle, but how did it end? Ahab was killed, and Jehoshaphat narrowly escaped with his life, having made total shipwreck of his testimony.
Thus we see that Jehoshaphat did not even gain the object for which he unequally yoked himself with an unbeliever, and even if he had gained it, it would have been no justification of his course. Nothing can ever warrant a believer’s yoking himself with an unbeliever, and therefore, however fair, attractive and plausible the Ramoth expedition might seem in the eye of man, it was, in the judgment of God, “[helping] the ungodly, and [loving] them that hate the Lord” (2 Chron. 19:2).
The truth of God strips men and things of the false colors with which the spirit of expediency would deck them and presents them in their proper light, and it is an unspeakable mercy to have the clear judgment of God about all that is going on around us. It imparts calmness to the spirit and stability to the course and character, and it saves one from that unhappy fluctuation of thought, feeling and principle which so entirely unfits him for the place of a steady and consistent witness for Christ. We shall surely err, if we attempt to form our judgment by the thoughts and opinions of men, for they will always judge according to the outward appearances, and not according to the intrinsic character and principle of things. Provided men can gain what they conceive to be a right object, they may not care about the mode of gaining it. But the true servant of Christ knows that he must do his Master’s work upon his Master’s principles and in his Master’s spirit. It will not satisfy such a one to reach the most praiseworthy end, unless he can reach it by a divinely-appointed road. The means and the end must both be divine. I admit it, for example, to be a most desirable end to circulate the Scriptures — God’s own pure, eternal word — but if I could not circulate them save by yoking myself with an unbeliever, I should refrain, inasmuch as I am not to do evil that good may come.
I would press upon my fellow-believer that he should exercise judgment as to those with whom he yokes himself in all matters, including matters of religion. If he is at this moment working in yoke or in harness with an unbeliever, he is positively violating the command of the Holy Spirit. He may be ignorantly doing so up to this, and if so, the Lord’s grace is ready to pardon and restore, but if he persist in disobedience after having been warned, he cannot possibly expect God’s blessing and presence with him, no matter how valuable or important the object which he may seek to attain. “To obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams” (1 Sam. 15:22).
C. H. Mackintosh, selected
from The Christian Friend, 3:57-64