The Book of Numbers gives the history of the testing and total failure of man, looked at as walking in the wilderness, and thus in responsibility; while it also unfolds the fullness of the grace of God, which takes up His people’s case and brings them through in spite of themselves, so to speak, into the and where God had purposed they should be. Even Moses himself fails here, and is shut out. After two years in the wilderness the people were to go up and possess the land; they are filled with unbelief and fears, and will not go up, and they are turned back to wander for forty years in the wilderness; God in the most touching way turns back and becomes a wanderer with them for the rest of the forty years. This book is not like Joshua, fighting God’s battles in heavenly places, (Canaan). It is the history of the wilderness where we learn our own hearts; as we read, “Thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee these. forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart,” and “To do thee good at thy latter end.” (Deut. 8:2,162And thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or no. (Deuteronomy 8:2)
16Who fed thee in the wilderness with manna, which thy fathers knew not, that he might humble thee, and that he might prove thee, to do thee good at thy latter end; (Deuteronomy 8:16)). There we are tried and tested, and pulled to pieces; and very good for us it is so, for there we learn not only our own faithlessness, but the infallible faithfulness of God. He acts on the immutability of His own eternal counsels and grace; and it is well for us it is so. This is so exquisitely seen when Israel won’t go up and possess the land (Num. 13;14), and then they go to destruction (Hormah), in seeking to go up’ and possess it without God. God turns, in ch. 15, to His own immutable—counsels, and gives directions as to certain things to be observed “When ye be come into the land of your habitations, which I give unto you.”
Only two of those who came out of Egypt as men ever went into the land—Caleb and Joshua. In the 14th chapter we get the complete picture. On the one hand we get two witnesses, Caleb and Joshua, to the faithfulness of God in supporting those who followed Him fully and wholly, (men of “another spirit;”) and on the other, the fact that in spite of their failure and themselves, He would bring in the “little ones” to the land which they despised. The case of Caleb and Joshua shows us, as that of Paul in the epistle to the Philippians, the energy of faith which God meets and supports, and which runs right through to the end.
There are two things we should ever remember, and which are never confounded in Scripture, 1st. If we look at ourselves as in heavenly places in Christ-united to Him, there is no responsibility at all; and no “if” in any Scripture that looks upon us them: and 2nd. there is always an “if” when we are seen as walking down here in the wilderness. But at the same time we invariably find that God’s faithfulness in, holding up and lifting, up, runs alongside the responsibility of man as walking here below. God’s holding and keeping us, go alongside our responsibility; just as if my child in my arms was looking over a precipice; I tell him, If you fall over you’ll be killed, but I’ll hold you; so don’t struggle to get out of my arms. He lies still and does not take himself out of my hands, and is kept.
There is nothing people are so afraid of in Scripture as an “if,” yet you always find the other goes with it, and it is never used to enfeeble the stability of the place that sovereign grace has given us on high, “in Christ.” As Paul says to the Corinthians when they were. going on badly, and where an “if” was needed, and comes in; “Who shall confirm you unto the end, that ye may be blo meless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful.” He does not even say He
will preserve you “safe,” but “blameless.”
In Numbers you find those deeply touching traits of His grace. God had in the beginning (ch. 2, 3.) directed the tribes as to the order of their march, to surround the tabernacle where He chose to dwell. He was there in their midst to be cared for and ministered to by them. But as soon as the Camp set out on its journey, (ch. 10 the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord left its ordered place in the camp, outside the order He had given, and in the most touching grace went three days’ journey in advance of the tribes to seek out a resting place for them, not in the land, but in the wilderness. Thus becoming their servant in the place of need, before they came. to the place where He will serve them in the joys of heaven. Blessed to think of possessing them, but far more so to think lie ministers them to us. Then “He shall gird himself and make them to sit down to meat, and come forth and serve them.” Now “When he putteth forth his own sheep he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice.”
‘Tis in this book too we find the provisions of the Rod of priestly grace—Aaron’s rod that budded—to lead a failing people through the wilderness, where the rod of authority can only smite them in asserting its power. It was the resource of grace when the people had totally failed, that God might carry out the purposes and counsels of His grace, and lead them through.
At the close of the journey we find another thing. Miriam dies. She represented the joy of victorious power which had triumphed in redemption at the first dawn of their eventful history. It will be remarked in Ex. 15, that while Moses’ song embraced grace and glory, her’s only celebrated the triumph of grace. The remembrance of this first joy now passes away, and Miriam dies. Next we find that Aaron dies. The service is now closing, and the journey nearly complete. Service assumes another character besides that of leading an unfaithful people with patience thro’ the wilderness. Here it is turned against the foe. Enemies and difficulties are to be met and overcome, and wisdom is needed to know with whom to “fight,” and from whom to “turn away.”
But there is a closing scene which touches the heart more than all! It is that where God and Satan are face to face about His people. The enemy tries to curse them, and to keep them out of the land. The principles of the scene apply to the Church, altho’ primarily the facts did to Israel. It touching now in the last days to think of it.
Israel was in their tents, weak and weary of the way, on the plains of Moab; the Jordan flowing between them and the land of promise. They were encamped “on the plains of Moab, on this side Jordan, by Jericho.” They were perfectly unconscious of their danger, while murmuring in their tents below, that on the high places of Baal, God and Satan’s instrument were there. Unasked He had taken their case in hand. He forces Satan’s instrument to pronounce the blessing of His people with his own lips a blessing that could not be reversed, because of the faithfulness of Him who had spoken it. How it brings out the infallible faithfulness of God; the irreversible security of the people that God has given to Christ. It is the crown to all the grace and faithful love which we find in the other parts of the book. It has been observed that at the same moment when God was forcing Satan to pronounce the unchangeable blessing of His people on the heights of Pisgah, He was Himself speaking to the people by the lips of Moses, in the plains beneath, and saying, “Thou art a stiffnecked people.” (Deut. 9) This brings out the fact that the judgment of God for us is always the opposite of that of the judgment of the Holy Ghost in us. If it is a question of the enemy accusing, God says, “I don’t see a spot or a stain.” If He is dealing with ourselves, He will pass over nothing. Blessed that it is so.
The blessing of the people is fourfold; giving a complete summary of their calling and justification; their order and beauty in His eyes; and their hope. It is useful for us to see them with the vision of the Almighty. The heart would be utterly disheartened if it were not so at times; for when we look at then) as they are in themselves, how distressing: worldliness, and selfishness, and ugly traits of every kind are to be seen; and the heart would be tempted either to be satisfied with the evil and look for nothing beyond what we see, or to be totally discouraged in seeking to serve them as His. When we see with His “vision” it corrects this, and all is changed. Paul could break his heart when he looked at the Galatians, and “stand in doubt” of them; but the moment he lifts his heart up to Christ he says, “I have confidence in you through the Lord.” He sees with His vision, and thinks of His faithfulness, and it changes everything.
The wonderful thought is that it was not when the victorious song of redemption was going up to the Lord, in the beginning of their course, that He pronounces their blessing and beauty in His eyes; but when all their failures had come out fully when there was not one redeeming feature to be seen in them, as they were in themselves—’tis then He chooses to unfold His thoughts of them as He saw them according to His purposes, and their comeliness in His sight. They are separate from all people. “Lo the people shall dwell alone, and shall not be reckoned among the nations.” Why? Because God dwells among them As Moses said, “Wherein shall it be known here that I and thy people have found grace in thy sight? Is it not in that thou goest with us? so shall we be separated, I and thy people, from all the people that are upon the face of the earth.” (Ex. 33, 2 Cor. 6:16-1816And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 17Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, 18And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty. (2 Corinthians 6:16‑18).)
The people are justified-they have not to wait for this, and not only so, but “it is God” who has done it. “It is God that justifieth, who is he that condemneth.” He does not repent. He has spoken, and will make it good. Balaam says, “I have received commandment to bless, and he hath blessed, and I cannot reverse it! He has not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither seen perverseness in Israel! Wonderful! The very people whose neck was like an iron sinew, when He deals with themselves, when the enemy comes up He refuses to see a spot or a stain! If God had brought them up from Egypt, He thinks of His own, work, not theirs. And if He has wrought, He has wrought well! In man’s eye they were weak and faint and weary. In God’s they “shall rise up as a great lion.” So far their separation, and justification, that none could reverse.
Now, when Balaam sought no more for enchantments, but turned his face towards the wilderness, where Israel still was—they were not in the land; he sees with “the vision of the Almighty.” He beholds the order and beauty and freshness of the people, as gardens planted by the river of God; drinking from God’s refreshing streams which flowed in their midst, they could invite the thirsty to drink those streams of grace. The Church can say, I have drunk of the water; I know what it is” whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.” And God is the strength of their hearts, and their portion. “God brought him forth out of Egypt.” This was the pledge that He who had begun a good work in them would perform it unto the day of Jesus Christ. God’s power was pledged for them, and the coming of Christ (ch. 24:17, 19), would consummate the blessing, and make good all the purposes of His heart.
The prophecy has only been touched upon, but it is lovely in the extreme. God thus declaring His own thoughts and confounding the malice of the enemy. He sees aright, and according to the value of His people as cleansed and purchased with the blood of Christ! Such is grace. The enemy is confounded and cannot gainsay it.
The Lord give us to rise to His thoughts about His people. It is that which sustains the heart when the human eye can only judge by what it sees. We need “the vision of the Almighty” for this, and communion with the heart of Christ about the Church which He loves; for which He gave Himself, that He might sanctify, having purged it, with the washing of water by the word, and that He might present it to Himself glorious, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing.