"For I would not,
brethren, have you ignorant, how that our fathers were all under
the cloud, and all passed through the sea; and were all baptized
unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea; and did all eat the same
spiritual meat; and did all drink the same spiritual drink; for
they drank of a spiritual rock that followed them; and the rock
was Christ. Howbeit with most of them God was not well pleased:
for they were overthrown in the wilderness" (1
Corinthians 10:1-5).
In our consideration of the
greatness and glory of Jesus Christ as represented by the ark of
the covenant in Israel, we have reached that point where the ark
led the way through Jordan into the promised land. That was one
of the greatest crises in the history of Israel. It was a great
forward movement, for at that point the people were entering into
that which had always been in the mind of God for them. We have
seen that God spoke to Abraham hundreds of years earlier about
this very day and had told him that his posterity would be in the
land of Egypt for four hundred years, what would be happening
during those four hundred years, and that at the end of that
period the people would come into this land. So at this time,
marked by the first chapters of the Book of Joshua, that promise
is being fulfilled and that purpose is actually beginning to be
realized. God said it was to be, and even though He has to wait
four hundred years, or four thousand years, what He says will
come to pass. We know the terrible story of how Pharaoh tried to
prevent it. Well, let Pharaoh do all that he can do - so much the
worse for Pharaoh! God had intended it, and be there a thousand
Pharaohs, it is going to happen.
Then we know the long story of
the difficulties in the wilderness; those forty years during
which Israel wandered in the wilderness. The difficulties then
were not with Pharaoh and Egypt: they were with the people
themselves. Well, whether it be difficulties in the world, or
difficulties in the people of God, God's purpose will be
realized.
These first five chapters of
the Book of Joshua see the movement into the thing which God had
purposed for so long. If we look at the ark of the covenant as
the illustration, we see it is an ark which is always seeking to
move further on. It has been constantly moving during the earlier
years, but when it came to Kadesh-barnea its progress was
arrested and it had to wait. But that was not God's idea. As soon
as He can get the conditions that He needs, He will start going
forward again.
We look from the ark to what
the ark represents, for we are quite sure now about this matter -
that the ark is a type of Jesus Christ, and what John calls the
testimony of Jesus. When we come to our own time the same truth
holds good concerning the Lord Jesus as was true of the ark: the
Lord Jesus in the midst of His own people is always wanting to go
further on. He does not desire nor intend that there shall be any
delay in the spiritual progress of His people. If there is any
delay, it is not His will nor His fault - it is the fault of His
people. The true Christian life, in fellowship with the Lord
Jesus, should always be progressive. The Lord does not believe in
spiritual standing still or stagnation.
Now we have seen that the ark
meant three things. In the first place, it meant spiritual
government, and in our case that means the absolute government
and lordship of Jesus Christ. The Lord desires that every aspect
of our lives should be governed by the Lord Jesus.
Here is something very
important and very helpful: If you look at the ark of the
testimony you will see that - in its normal course - it was
always just where it was because the Lord wanted it there, and
where the ark was the people had to be. Therein is a very
important lesson for our lives. If we are truly under the
government of the Lord Jesus we cannot say where we would like to
live. To put that in another way: We cannot just go and live
where we would like to live. I expect all of you know quite well
where you would like to live. I certainly know where I would like
to live - but that is not the point. Where does the testimony of
Jesus require that I should live? My place of living, my place of
working, under the government of the Lord Jesus, must be decided
by Him, and if we are living somewhere where we choose to live
and not the Lord, we shall have missed the way. It is the ark
that always chooses the place where we are to be. There is a
definite statement about this: "The ark of the covenant of
the Lord went before them three days' journey, to seek out a
resting place for them" (Numbers 10:33). Our lives, in every
respect, are to be governed by the interests of the Lord Jesus,
and we must be quite sure that we are where we are serving the
highest interests of the Lord Jesus. The ark, then, as a type of
the Lord Jesus governs everything, and by prayer, and humility,
and obedience we must always keep our eye on the Lord Jesus. On
the one side that is the surrendered life, and on the other side
it is the fruitful, or victorious, life.
The second thing that we have
seen about the ark is that it governs the matter of intelligence.
Every movement of the ark meant that the people came to some
fresh knowledge; that is, the ark was not only moving from place
to place, but it was bringing the people into a deepening
knowledge of the Lord. Every movement of the ark became a new
experience for the people of God.
Now you understand that I am
not just talking about geography. It may, of course, apply to the
town in which we live, or even to the country where we live. It
may even mean the very street and house in which we live. That
may come under the government of the Lord, but I am speaking also
about spiritual geography. What I mean is this: You may have
lived in the same house for fifty years and yet have moved
hundreds of miles. I must try to explain this very clearly.
How long have you been living
in the house where you are now? Perhaps some of you have been
there ten, twenty, thirty or forty years. Are you in just the
same spiritual position today as you were when you first went
into that house? Well, that would be a miserable existence! You
ought to be moving with the Lord continually, and moving with the
Lord means coming into an ever-growing experience of the Lord,
and growing in knowledge of the Lord. That place where the Lord
puts you ought to be the place of experiences which bring you
into an ever-growing knowledge of the Lord.
We have said that experience is
the only true way of education, and it is possible for us to say:
'Now in this place where I have been living so long I have had
many deep experiences. There have been sorrows and there have
been joys. There have been many trials and many conflicts, but
all these have brought me into a fuller knowledge of the Lord.
Because the Lord has governed my life, it has been a way of a
growing knowledge of Himself.'
That is how it was with Israel
in relation to the ark. This week the ark will be here and the
people will be learning something, but perhaps next week the ark
will have moved on and the people will be learning something
else. And that goes on until the ark comes to Jordan - and what a
tremendous discovery of the Lord the Jordan was!
Before we come to that, let us
mark the third thing about the ark. We have said that the ark was
always the occasion of conflict. It seemed that the very movement
of the ark involved the people of God in difficulties. As that
ark went forward the enemies noted it and came out against the
Lord's people. We can say that the ark led the Lord's people into
battle. Indeed, the time came when the people would not go into
battle without the ark.
This may not be a very
comforting idea, but our relationship to the Lord Jesus always
means that we are going to be involved in conflict. However, it
was by way of conflict that the people came nearer and nearer to
the fullness of God's purpose. The purpose of God is a full
inheritance for His people, but we can see with the ark that it
was through conflict that they came into the inheritance. All
those of us who know anything about spiritual life know quite
well that if we have anything of the Lord we have got it through
battle. It has come into our possession by way of adversity. That
is very true, is it not? We are not going to get to the Lord's
end by a joy-ride and a picnic. We are only going to get there by
terrible conflict, and we are going to discover that every step
nearer to God's purpose is going to be challenged by the enemy.
That is undoubtedly why we always have trouble in these
conferences - because the Lord has a purpose in them. I want,
therefore, to say to everyone here, and especially to the young
Christians, that God wants us to be always moving on in our
spiritual life.
What was the greatest enemy
that Israel had against their getting into the land? Was it the
enemies on the outside? Amalek came against them, but he was
disposed of. Did other nations come against them? Well, again, so
much the worse for the other nations! It reminds me of the first
steam engine that was made in England. It could go at such a
terrible pace that it travelled at four miles an hour! All the
people were terribly frightened of this thing, and some good
ladies said to Stephenson, the maker: 'Supposing a cow gets in
the way?' Stephenson simply looked at them and said: 'So much the
worse for the cow!'
Well, let it be Amalek or
anyone else, while the people's hearts were in the right
direction it did not matter about the enemies on the outside, but
there came a time when their progress was arrested and they were
turned back into the wilderness, where they had this great
experience about which we have read in 1 Corinthians 10, where it
says: "Howbeit with most of them God was not well pleased:
for they were overthrown in the wilderness." No outward
enemy did that. What was it that brought that terrible tragedy
into the life of this people? Of course, it says here that it was
unbelief, but what did that mean in their case? It means that
they did not have a heart to go on. You will remember that when
they did go over into the land it was because Joshua and
Caleb, who had a heart for the Lord, led them there. That
generation which perished in the wilderness only had a heart for
itself. Self-interest was their greatest enemy, and it manifested
itself even in relation to the things of God. But the generation
that went on and went in had the Lord alone as its
interest. Joshua and Caleb had said: "If the Lord delight in
us, then he will bring us into this land" (Numbers 14:8). It
was all a matter of the Lord's delight.
It is a matter of the spirit in
us, that is, our spiritual disposition. What a rich and full
inheritance the Apostle Paul has left for the people of God! Why
was his life so full, so rich and so fruitful? It was because of
the disposition in him. Hear what he says in one of the last
Letters that he ever wrote, at the time when he could say that
his journey was just finishing: "Not that I have already
obtained, or am already made perfect: but I press on, if
so be that I may apprehend that for which also I was apprehended
by Christ Jesus. Brethren, I count not myself yet to have
apprehended: but one thing I do, forgetting the things which are
behind, and stretching forward to the things which are before, I
press on toward the goal unto the prize of the high calling of
God in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 3:12-14).
The second generation came into
the land because they had a spirit like that - and we need to
have a spirit like that. We need to be wholly and utterly
committed to the Lord and His interests. If that is true of us He
will bring us into the fullness to which He has called us, and we
shall come to know more and more of the greatness and the glory
of the Lord Jesus.
We will leave it there for the
time being. May all the young men and young women have a heart
like this for the Lord, and may none of us older people ever
settle down to think that we have already attained! The testimony
of Jesus is always wanting to move forward and bring us more and
more into that fullness for which we have been chosen.