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Scripture Reading: Num. 1:1-4, 17-18, 52-53; 2:1-2; 4:3; 8:23-26; 26:1-2, 52-56, 63-65
We have seen many things regarding the entering of the good land. They are all related to the enjoyment of Christ, starting with the enjoyment of Him as the passover lamb to the enjoyment of Him as the Ark enlarged with the tabernacle, including the offerings and the priesthood. At this point in our experience, we are rather matured; thus, we are in the position to assume some responsibility. It is at this stage that we are able to function in the priesthood, which means that to a certain degree we can serve God.
Everything in the book of Exodus is presented in a progressive way. From the starting point of enjoying Christ as the Passover lamb, the children of Israel went on until one day the tabernacle was raised up among them. It was then that they enjoyed Christ as the testimony of God, and at that stage they could take responsibility for God as priests. This is the book of Exodus.
Following Exodus, we come to Leviticus, where Christ is seen as so many offerings to be enjoyed. God’s people may thus enjoy Christ in a much fuller way than before. They can then bear the full responsibility of the priesthood and realize all the divine regulations concerning the holy life. We have seen that in Leviticus there are three portions: the first deals with the offerings, the second with the priesthood, and the last with the divine principles of the holy life.
After Leviticus we come to Numbers. Most expositions and commentaries on this part of the Bible declare that Numbers is a book wholly occupied with the numbering and the wandering of the children of Israel. Apparently, this is true, but in essence it is not. Although this element exists, principally and spiritually it is a book of glorious records. It is a book that records the formation of the divine army. Only at this point, after the experiences of Exodus and Leviticus, is it possible for the people of God to be formed into an army to fight the battle for Him. It is indeed glorious that a group of the Lord’s children could be formed into an army for the Lord on this earth. And it is further glorious that these very people are those who will take possession of the land. Those who are able to fight the battle for God are those who will divide and take possession of the land.
In the book of Numbers the people of Israel were numbered twice. They were numbered the first time to be formed as an army to fight the battle. They were numbered the second time, not only as an army for the warfare but also as a people to divide and inherit the good land. Those who share the land are those who fight the battle. In this book, therefore, we may realize not only the numberings or the wanderings but the glorious fact of being formed as an army and designated to inherit the good land.
What then is the way to possess the good land? It is not so simple. Let us enumerate and review the steps. First of all, we must enjoy Christ as the redeeming Lamb. We must receive Christ as our Savior. We must pass the judgment of God. This is the first step. If we have done this, we can put a check here; the first item has been passed. What is the second step? We must leave Egypt and enjoy Christ as our daily manna, as our daily life supply. Of course, we cannot take food without drinking water, so at the same time we must enjoy Christ as the rock with the living water flowing forth. We enjoy the manna, and we enjoy the rock with the living water. Do you have such an experience day by day? Many of you can boldly say that you do. Every day you enjoy Christ as your food and as your drink. Otherwise, you could not live, you could not go on, you could not maintain your life as a Christian. Day by day we must enjoy Christ as our daily food and our living water; we must have something to eat and something to drink. Whenever we meet in the morning, instead of greeting one another with, “Good morning,” let us ask, “Have you eaten?” I do prefer such a greeting. Have you eaten this morning, brother? Have you drunk something this morning, sister? Some of you can answer that you have had three good meals today. Praise the Lord! We must tell people that day by day we are feeding on Christ. We are eating Christ, and we are drinking Christ. If we have this experience, we can check this also.
Now let us come to the third step. Do you have a tabernacle where you live? And do you enjoy Christ as the center, as the testimony of God among you? Do you really experience Christ as the manifestation and the explanation of God in a solid way, as well as the expansion of Christ, the tabernacle, as His real expression among you? Do you have this experience in the locality where you live? Do you have a tabernacle with such a Christ, not only as the Lamb or as the daily manna but as the testimony of God? Or is there some problem at this point? In other words, is there a group of people in your city who experience Christ as the manifestation of God with the increase of Himself, the church, as His real expression? What is your answer? Perhaps some are beginning to have this experience. If so, praise the Lord. Perhaps many must confess that they have nothing in this way.
The first item, of course, is easily passed. Concerning the second, there may be some doubt. With the third, however, there is a considerable problem. The experience of the Ark with the tabernacle is rare indeed. What then can we do? Brothers and sisters, we must pray. You who live together in a certain city must come together to pray for this matter. Pray that the Lord will reveal to you and cause you to experience Christ, the very testimony of God, as your center as well as the church, the enlargement of Himself, as His expression. This is not a teaching to be stored in your mind. You must realize your actual situation before the Lord and deal with Him about this matter. You must pray that a spiritual tabernacle be raised up where you are, that there will be a new beginning. This is not a small thing; it is an entirely new start. At a certain point something new must be started among you. Formerly, all you have enjoyed has been Christ as the lamb, as the manna, and at the most as the rock with the living water. Now you must enjoy Christ in a new way, in a new stage, so that there will be a new start of the Spirit among you. You must come to “the first day of the first month...in the second year” that the tabernacle, the church, might be raised up (Exo. 40:2, 17). This is a new beginning in the second stage. You have already begun in the first year in the first stage. Now you must start the second year in the second stage. You must go on to have Christ as your center and the tabernacle as His expression raised up in your locality.
Let us come now to the fourth item. Suppose we have the tabernacle here. Then we must go on to experience Christ in a much richer way. We must experience Him as all the offerings — as the trespass offering, as the sin offering, as the peace offering, as the meal offering, and as the burnt offering.
The fifth item is the experience of Christ as the High Priest so that we can assume the priesthood. What about this? Can you say that you have a real priesthood in your locality? Perhaps you have been able to check all the items so far. But can you check this one? This is a deeper experience.
The thought, or line, of the Holy Spirit in the record of the Scriptures is always progressive, is always improving. From the first to the second, to the third, to the fourth, and now to the fifth, there is a steady improving, solidifying, and deepening. But if most of you speak honestly before the Lord, you must confess that it is rather difficult to pass this fifth item. Not many groups of the Lord’s children ever realize the priesthood. Is there a priesthood in your city? Take time to consider all these items one by one. Then you will know where you are.
At the present time one can hardly find a group of the Lord’s people who have come to this stage, who have enjoyed Christ as the High Priest to such an extent that they have taken up the priesthood. In our prayers we say, “O Lord, You are our High Priest.” But this is just words; we do not have the experience. We have not experienced very much regarding Christ as the High Priest, so we are not able to assume the priesthood. We must know what the priesthood means to us and to God.
Now we come to the sixth item. We must be formed into an army. This is a further development. We as a group of the Lord’s children must be formed into an army to fight the battle for Him on the earth. This is tremendous. If this strikes fear in you, you may turn back. This is indeed a matter of universal significance.
Brothers and sisters, you must take all these matters most seriously. You must pray together: “Lord, do we know something of experiencing You as the Ark, the testimony of God, with its expansion as Your expression?” Check with the Lord, and learn by His grace to apply Christ in this very aspect. Then ask the Lord, “Do we have some experience of You as the High Priest so that we are able to assume the priesthood among Your people?” By the grace of the Lord, learn it and experience it; apply Christ as the priesthood life.
Then, following the priesthood, we need the formation of the army. By the assuming of the priesthood, we can be formed into a spiritual army to fight for the Lord’s interest on this earth. Some qualifications, however, are required whereby we may be formed into such an army. First, to be formed into an army, everyone must give his pedigree, his genealogy — not physical, of course, but spiritual. No physical genealogy will suffice for this. We must have a spiritual genealogy. The children of Israel had to state their pedigree. They had to declare their father and to what family and tribe they belonged. If they could not make such a declaration, if they could not give their pedigree, they must stand back; they could not be formed into the army. You must have spiritual life. Are you born again? Then give us your pedigree. At least you must tell the name of your father. This means that you must check your rebirth. Do you have the assurance that you have spiritual life? Are you a real Israelite? We must be assured that we are born again.
Recently, I had a talk with a young brother. I asked him how old he was, and he answered that he was thirteen years of age. Then I asked him when he was saved, and he replied that he was saved when he was nine. “How do you know you were saved?” I asked. “Because I met the Holy Spirit; when I was nine years of age I met the Holy Spirit.” He could give me something as a spiritual pedigree to prove that he had been born again. He had the life of a real Israelite. He had the start. This is the first condition for being formed into the army.
Now we come to the second qualification. You have the birth, you have the life, but you must have a certain amount of growth; you must be twenty years of age (Num. 1:3). A soldier must be someone with a matured life. Babies cannot be sent to war. We must be spiritually matured to twenty years of age. This is the growth and maturity of the spiritual life. Can you say that there are some among you who are truly matured, who can stand up to fight the battle for the kingdom of God? In many places there are many Christians, but it seems that they are just like children playing with spiritual things. They are so young. They can give you their spiritual pedigree, but they have not grown. To make matters worse, although they are infants, in their estimation they are the greatest.
One day the granddaughter of a brother said to me, “Don’t call me ‘baby.’ I am big!” She was just three years of age, and she loved to think how big she was. Can you send a child like that to war? Ridiculous. We must grow in the spiritual life. We must grow up to a certain standard that we may be formed into an army to fight the battle for the kingdom and the testimony of God.
Allow me to repeat that this is not a teaching. You must pray about this matter. Pray and remember that you must grow to a certain standard. The standard can never be lowered. We must grow up to it. I say grow up, not grow old. If you become old, you will be discharged; you will be retired from spiritual service. You must only advance; you must never deteriorate. You must stand in the army from the age of twenty to the age of sixty. You must be full of experience but void of deterioration. Some, indeed, have not yet grown up, but they are already old. They are old young ones. We must grow to a certain stage of life to be formed into the army. This is the second qualification.
The third qualification is that all the people of Israel must be under their own standard according to their houses. This means they have no choice. If you are from San Francisco, you must remain under the standard of San Francisco. If you are from Los Angeles, you must remain under the standard of Los Angeles. You have no option. Perhaps you were born in Los Angeles, but you feel unhappy with the brothers and sisters in that city. You would like to move. You think you would be more happy with the brothers and sisters in San Francisco. But the Lord says, “Go back. Return to your father’s house; return to the standard of that house.” This means your personal tastes, your personal desires, and your personal choices must be dealt with. There are no personal choices among the people of God. I cannot say that I am of the tribe of Judah but I do not like this tribe; I prefer Benjamin. I must remain under the standard of Judah. My own desire must be limited.
Look at the situation today among the Lord’s children. How much confusion there is! Those from the tribe of “Judah” have come under the standard of “Benjamin,” and those of the tribe of “Benjamin” have moved to “Manasseh.” Everything is in a state of chaos. It is impossible for an army to be formed in such a situation. We must have the life, we must have the growth, and we must be limited by the standard of our father’s house. This is a strict lesson for us to learn.
Fourth, we must be in order. Consider the picture of the children of Israel. In the center was the Ark with its enlargement, the tabernacle. Around the tabernacle were encamped the Levites, family by family. Then surrounding them, all the other twelve tribes were positioned and encamped. They kept the order. There was a place for every tribe. Certain tribes were ordained to camp on the east, certain tribes on the south, others on the west, and some on the north. The order of the Lord involves the matter of submission. If we would keep the order, we must learn the lesson of submission. We must submit ourselves to somebody; otherwise, there is no possibility for the army to be formed. When we grow in life to be formed as the army of God to fight the battle for His kingdom, we will spontaneously be submissive. Every one of us will be submissive to others. There will be a divine order among us; hence, an army will be formed.
This is the way for us to possess the good land, the all-inclusive Christ. You can take no other way. The only way is to enjoy Christ as the lamb, as the manna, as the rock with the living water, as the Ark with the tabernacle, as the offerings, as the priest in order to assume the priesthood, and last to grow up to be formed into an army.
The fifth qualification is that we must always be fresh and young. Whenever we begin to get old, we must be renewed. By the time of the second numbering, all those from the first numbering had grown old. Thus, they must be numbered again. The old ones passed away, and the new ones came in. Those who can be formed into an army among the children of God and share the good land are those who are continually young and fresh.
Indeed, not all the people of Israel were formed into the army. There were those who did not qualify because they were women. A woman in the Scriptures means a “weaker, female vessel” (1 Pet. 3:7). They typify the weak ones among the Lord’s children. And there were those who were below the age of twenty, the immature. Not all, by any means, are qualified for the army. Do not expect that all the brothers and sisters among you will be included in the army. There may be just two or three, four or five, nine or ten. There may be just a small group as a nucleus. But praise the Lord, as long as there are a few who truly have the growth of life, you may take the ground to be formed as an army. You may tell the Lord that you are there in that city to be an army to fight the battle for Him.
We must be clear, however, that before we can be an army, we must first assume the priesthood. Look at the picture. In the center is the Ark with the tabernacle. Then around the tabernacle is the priesthood. Next, surrounding the priesthood is the army. We must move from the center to the circumference. If we do not know how to keep the fellowship with the Lord, we will be unable to fight. Spiritual fighting always depends upon spiritual fellowship. By maintaining the priesthood, we will be able to fight the battle. If we lose our fellowship with the Lord, we can do nothing with the enemy; we will be defeated.
In Numbers 4:3, 30, 35, 39, and 43 the word service, related to the service of the priesthood, is the same word in Hebrew as military service in Numbers 26:2, related to the warfare of the army. The priests must perform their service in the tabernacle, but their service is referred to as a warfare. While they are serving, they are fighting the battle. In other words, the priestly service is the warfare. If we are really in the priesthood today, we will simultaneously be the army. To be out of the priesthood is to be out of the army. To maintain the priesthood is to maintain the warfare. The army is always kept by the priesthood.
Do we have the spiritual pedigree? Do we have the adequate growth of spiritual life? Do we take the limitation to our personal tastes, our personal desires, and our personal choices among the Lord’s children? If we can answer yes, then we must keep the order with submission, and we must always be fresh. Then we will be enabled to assume the priesthood and be formed into an army.
Brothers and sisters, how short we come! By checking item by item, it seems that when we come to item five concerning the priesthood, we cannot get through. If we cannot get through with item five, we certainly cannot get through with item six. We must pray. We must seek to apply Christ as the High Priest and learn to assume the priesthood. Then we can make some advance in being formed as the army of the Lord to fight the battle for the kingdom of God.
We must notice one further matter. The requirement for service in the army is twenty years of age, while the requirement of the priesthood is thirty years of age. The duration of service in the army is from twenty to sixty years of age, while in the priesthood it is from thirty to fifty years of age. In both the army and the priesthood there must be full growth without any kind of deterioration. Both the priesthood and the army depend upon the growth in life. We must take this seriously. We must grow; otherwise, there will be no priesthood and no army among us. How the Lord’s children need to grow! May the Lord open our eyes and show us how much we need the growth of life. Only by growing to a certain standard can we assume the responsibility of the priesthood and be formed into an army. Only then can we be spiritually organized into a people with the Ark as the center, the tabernacle as its enlargement, and everyone kept in order with submission. It is a beautiful picture. Then we will be ready to cross the river Jordan and take possession of the land.
We have been speaking very much about the all-inclusive land, the all-inclusive Christ. This is the way to possess it; this is the way to enter in. All the records of these three books — Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers — deal with the steps to possess the good land. We may say that there are six steps. The first two are comparatively easy to pass. It is the last four that pose a great problem — the tabernacle with the Ark as the center, the offerings, the priesthood, and the formation of the army. Let us pray and be deeply exercised before the Lord that we might advance in the spiritual life, that we might go on from the experience of Christ as the lamb all the way to the priesthood and the army.
