Will you follow with me
thoughtfully through a number of places and passages in the Word
of God, beginning in the book of Exodus chapter 32 at verse 25: “And
when Moses saw that the people were broken loose, (for Aaron had
let them loose for a derision among their enemies) then Moses
stood in the gate of the camp, and said, Whoso is on the Lord's
side, let him come unto me. And all the sons of Levi gathered
themselves together unto him.”
In the book of Numbers, chapter
8 at verse 9: “And thou shalt present the Levites before
the tent of meeting: and thou shalt assemble the whole
congregation of the children of Israel: and thou shalt present
the Levites before the Lord. And the children of Israel shall lay
their hands upon the Levites: and Aaron shall offer the Levites
before the Lord for a wave-offering, on behalf of the children of
Israel, that it may be theirs to do the service of the Lord. The
Levites shall lay their hands upon the heads of the bullocks: and
offer thou the one for a sin-offering, and the other for a
burnt-offering, unto the Lord, to make atonement for the Levites.
And thou shalt set the Levites before Aaron, and before his sons,
and offer them for a wave-offering.”
In the first book of the
Chronicles, chapter 15 verse 2: “Then David said, None
ought to carry the ark of God but the Levites: for them hath the
Lord chosen to carry the ark of God, and to minister unto him for
ever.” Verse 12: “And said unto them, Ye are
the heads of the fathers' houses of the Levites: sanctify
yourselves, both ye and your brethren, that ye may bring up the
ark of the Lord, the God of Israel, unto the place that I have
prepared for it. For because ye bare it not at the first, the
Lord our God made a breach upon us, for that we sought him not
according to the ordinance. So the priests and the Levites
sanctified themselves to bring up the ark of the Lord, the God of
Israel. And the children of the Levites bare the ark of God upon
their shoulders with the staves thereon, as Moses commanded
according to the word of the Lord.”
Prophecies of Malachi, chapter 2
verse 4: “Ye shall know that I have sent this
commandment unto you, that my covenant may be with Levi, saith
the Lord of hosts. My covenant was with him of life and peace;
and I gave them to him that he might fear; and he feared me, and
stood in awe of me.” Chapter 3: “Behold, I
send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and
the Lord, whom ye seek, will suddenly come to his temple; and the
messenger of the covenant, whom ye desire, behold, he cometh,
saith the Lord of hosts. But who can abide the day of his coming?
and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a refiner's
fire, and like fuller's soap: and he will sit as a refiner and
purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi, and
refine them as gold and silver; and they shall offer unto the
Lord offerings in righteousness.”
Book of the Revelation, chapter
1 verse 2: “...who bare witness of the word of God, and
of the testimony of Jesus Christ...” Verse 5: “...from
Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead,
and the ruler of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loveth us,
and loosed us from our sins by his blood; and he made us to be a
kingdom, to be priests unto his God and Father; to him be the
glory and the dominion for ever and ever.” Verse 9:
“I John, your brother and partaker with you in the
tribulation and kingdom and patience which are in Jesus, was in
the isle that is called Patmos, for the word of God and the
testimony of Jesus.”
If you have been thoughtful in
passing from one passage to another, through them all you will
have discerned a common link and basis in every one. In the Old
Testament: the links in the chain of the history and ministry of
the Levites in relation to the Lord’s testimony; none but
the Levites ought to carry the ark of the testimony. Those
passages lead us over into the New Testament and right at the end
we find ourselves once more in the presence of this central thing
of God’s mind and interest: the testimony of Jesus. And it
is significant and important to be noted that we pass straight on
from chapter one of the Revelation into what is in chapter two
and three concerning the overcomers; a message to every church
and in every case the issue is: “to him that
overcometh.”
It seems perfectly clear that
this whole matter right through the Scriptures is the matter of
that service of peculiar importance and value to the Lord: the
bearing of His testimony. It is that which is called ‘the
service of God’. If we want to know what the Levites really
are in representation and spiritual significance, that is made
perfectly clear for us in the first three chapters of the book of
the Revelation. The churches were brought into being by God for
the testimony of Jesus. That is, I think, beyond dispute. They
are, wherever they are, meant to be the vessels of that
testimony. But here in these representative churches of the whole
dispensation, in these first chapters of the Revelation, we find
the churches, in general, failing in the matter of the testimony
of Jesus.
Perhaps we have not been
sufficiently impressed with this fact: that the book opens with
the emphasis upon the testimony of Jesus. Really, the
introduction to the whole book is that very phrase. John tells us
quite clearly that he was where he was, and that means that what
he saw and what he set down in writing in Patmos related to the
testimony of Jesus. He says that quite emphatically and quite
clearly: it was for the testimony of Jesus. That phrase governs
this book on its first page, and runs right the way through the
book. You can only understand the whole of the book of the
Revelation if you see that everything there is centered
in this that is called the testimony of Jesus. That is the
explanation. Everything is accounted for by that. Then, when that
is laid down as the foundation and the introduction to the whole
book, the first movement of the Spirit, “I was in the
Spirit”... the first movement of the Spirit is to the
churches which, as we have said, were brought into being for the
testimony of Jesus. That is what the Levites came into being for.
Their whole history right the way through, related to the
testimony; in type and figure of course, in the Old Testament as
represented by the Ark of the Covenant, or the ark of the
testimony. In spiritual meaning it’s the same in both
Testaments. They came into being as a people right at the very
centre of the Lord’s people in relation to the Lord’s
testimony.
You want to know what the
essential service of the Lord is? It is that; it is the
bearing and maintaining and carrying forward of the testimony
of Jesus in the history of this world. I repeat: the Levites
came right in for that very purpose, and it is that that explains
their existence and their history. I go back again and if you
want to know what the Levites represent in this dispensation, in
our own day, they are presented to us in those who overcome.
If it is true that the purpose
of the churches was to be vessels of the testimony of Jesus
wherever they are, then when the churches are approached, and in
every case, in every case, the final word is: to him
that overcometh. It is, I think, unmistakably clear and obvious
that it is in such people, those who overcome,
that you have the Levitical principle, service, and purpose
carried on, carried forth. They are the people who are
put in trust with the testimony. That is clear in both Old and
New Testaments. They are the people who, in the first place and
in the last place, are the people who react against all departure
from what is called ‘the testimony of Jesus.’ They are
the people in whom God’s full thought concerning
His Church is represented.
Saying these things I am saying
a great deal supported and backed up by the Word of God.
Whenever the Lord was going to take a new step, whenever a crisis
was reached in the onward march of God in eternal history, the
Lord called for the Levites to come to the fore and to sanctify
themselves. They are the people of the crisis and of the crises,
all the way through. We could say that the Lord was at a loss and
a disadvantage when the Levites were out of their place and out
of their condition. The Lord was unable to go on until the
Levites came into their place and sanctified themselves. That, I
think, is clear if I only touch on one or two of the instances of
which we have read.
We do recognize that a very
serious crisis was reached there at Sinai. Moses was in the Mount
and, as we have read, the people broke loose. And that is a
tremendously impressive bracketed sentence: “...they would
be made a derision among their enemies”. You can
see through that, we can see through that. There is one thing
that the enemy and all the hosts of enemies in the heavenlies are
set upon, which is to make the church a derision in this
universe. A derision. The universe could sneer at it saying,
“That’s your church, is it? That's your church.”
When they had broken loose,
everything in that onward march of God from Egypt to the land was
brought to a standstill and the crisis turned upon the Levites,
the prospect opened up through the Levites. There could be no
movement forward, everything was in suspense until the Levites
came forward and took up this issue of a derision among their
enemies. They took responsibility to answer that challenge, to
deal with that thing and get it out of the way, that the people
of God should go on.
Passing over all those centuries
to the time of David, another crisis in the onward movement of
God has been reached. The testimony is to be brought to
Jerusalem. We know of David’s unfortunate, impulsive action,
forgetfulness... making the Philistine cart for the testimony,
creating a very link with this world and opening the door to
death and everything is again brought to a standstill. The Ark was
in the house of Abinidab a long time, all was weakness. But then
David was exercised before the Lord about this whole thing when
he had got over his offendedness with the Lord. Dear friends, the
Lord’s dealings with us sometimes can bring about a
controversy between us and the Lord and until we get through
that, there's nothing going to happen. The Lord does not do
things without a reason, does not bring everything up short and
bring in judgment and discipline without a very good reason. And
very often we take the whole thing personally and are disaffected
toward the Lord: “David was grieved with the Lord that
day.” Well, David, you will have to get rid of that, however
long it takes, before the Lord will move on. However, David,
being the man that he was with a heart for God, searched the
matter out and had a right kind of exercise about it all and
found it in the Word. We shall always find it in the Word;
somewhere it is there; it is there – the answer to all our
difficulties and problems and controversies – it is there
somewhere, clear and straight. And as David was exercised before
the Lord, turning over the pages of the Word, he came on it, came
right on it; the answer to everything: “None ought to bear
the Ark save the Levites.” When the Levites came into their
place, were sanctified and resumed their work, things went on.
I just take those two instances,
which are sufficient to indicate this, that every forward
movement, every fresh advance in the great purpose of God is
bound up with this Levitical idea, principle and people. You will
not challenge me, I am sure, on this matter of the churches in
Revelation. Was there a crisis? The Lord was saying, in effect,
quite definitely and positively: “I can’t go on any
further with you. Indeed, I will have to remove your lampstand
out of its place; we just cannot go on. We have come to a
crisis. We have come to a standstill. We can go no further.”
If there is to be any future, it
will be with those who take up the Levitical principle of sanctification,
of holiness amongst the Lord’s people. And with
them the future rests: “To him that overcometh will I,
will I, will I.” You see the “towardness” of
the Lord is there and I feel that we are right in saying those
who are in those chapters referred to as “those who
overcome”, are the people who spiritually and actually step
right into the place and meaning and service of the Levites. So
let us make it perfectly clear before we go any further that
while in the old dispensation the Levites were a tribe, were a
people by themselves, a separate community, in a sense they only
embodied as all other things in the old dispensation embodied: a
spiritual truth which belongs to all the dispensations
and which is the law of all God’s movement forward to His
end.
Today the Levites are not a
separate class, a separate people, an association, an
institution, a fellowship or anything like that. Today the
Levites are those people of God who do what the Levites of the
Old Testament did in a spiritual way. They are the people who are
the embodiment of all that thought and purpose of God,
and whose hearts are given to that and who are prepared to react
against everything that threatens that, that assails that and it
is usually, as we find in the Old and the New, it is usually a
matter of corruption. Corruption! Constantly in the Old
Testament the Levites had to sanctify themselves. Look in the
book of Ezra for instance, how the Levites had to sanctify
themselves for the service of the Lord: a sanctified
people.
It’s impressive, I think
significant again, that John the Baptist was said to go before
the face of the Lord and that the result of his ministry would be
to prepare a people sanctified for the Lord. To prepare
a people or that there should be a prepared people for the Lord.
Now that is the principle of the Levites.
The Old Testament and the New
Testament meet in John the Baptist. The book of the prophecies of
Malachi, “My messenger, sent before my face to prepare my
way before me” has, on the authority of our Lord Himself,
its fulfillment in John the Baptist. “This is Elijah, this
is Elijah if you will receive it”, going before the face of
the Lord, preparing the way of the Lord, and the preparation of a
people or securing of a people prepared for the Lord.
And then what? In Mark’s gospel Jesus began to be. At thirty
years of age He is, so to speak, precipitated onto the
platform, onto the stage. Jesus began to be, about thirty years
of age entering on His ministry, it was the year of the age of
the Levite beginning his ministry. You see how we gather around
this in all directions, in all connections, to make it clear as
it needs making clear, that the Lord’s testimony, the onward
movement of God, the reaching of His full end, rests with a
people who embody all that is meant by the Levites. Well, if we
have got that background we are able to go on.
The, the thing which
the Levite or Levites in all time represent is a people
sanctified for the Lord, set apart for the Lord, wholly
the Lord’s. And when the general mass of the Lord’s
people who are the Lord’s people are not like that, the Lord
cannot go on until He has got in the midst of them a people like
that. He must have that which does represent His mind.
He is not going on, He is not going on unless He has something
that answers to His mind, though it be in the midst of His
people. That is where He will go on; He demands that: a people
set apart for the Lord. That opens up one line of very
instructive teaching right through the Scripture. It introduces
us to that whole course of God reacting, reacting to situations
by the Levite, or by this principle of the Levite. You see where
they first came in, as we have read in Exodus 32; see what had
happened. Moses, gone up into the Mount, was away too long for
the people’s patience and, as it is put, they broke loose,
they cast off restraint. They evidently, under the counsel or
instruction of Aaron, made that calf. Of what? The golden calf.
The gold that was to be for the sanctuary in which God was to
have the whole place. There broke in that day the evil powers
which said, in effect, God shall not have that place, we will
have it and we will take the very gold which was intended for God
and make it the basis and instrument of our worship. It’s
very difficult, dear friends, to fail to see that behind all
this, is this persistent breaking in from that evil world, the
powers of evil against God’s throne, against God having
everything, at cost, if needs be, and to draw it away from God;
take it from Him.
Well, it was the Levites who
took the stand over that. Who, whether they understood all that
it meant or not, we don't know, but it was the Levites who in
effect said, “No, no, we will not permit anything to be
taken from the Lord. The Lord is to have His rights in fulness;
we stand for that at any cost, at any cost.” It
proved to be a very costly thing, as you know they had to take
the sword against their own kin; yes, in their own families,
amongst their own children and brothers. A very costly thing...
but they did it. They evidently did see the seriousness of this
breaking in of evil and evil forces and what it implied, this
touch of corruption. Touch of corruption, for that's what it was,
it was spiritual fornication and they saw something of the
meaning of it. And that day all the sons of Levi said to that:
‘NO! Positively and utterly: no.’ God made His
covenant that day with Levi. Later, He took the tribe of Levi and
set them apart as the ministers of the sanctuary, to be in close
touch with Himself in relation to all His purpose in His people.
Do you want to know what a Levite is? That’s a Levite to
begin with! But oh, tragedy of all tragedies, the enemy himself
said, ‘Very well, the Levites draw this upon themselves,
then the Levites must be the focal point of our attention and of
our activity.’ It is one constant history of the Levites
being corrupted and put out of their place, defiled, to arrest
the whole movement of God. And I have said, the call every time
God wanted to go further was to bring the Levites into a new
sanctification, a place of sanctification, of holiness unto the
Lord. When that was done at any time, then the movement went on,
God went forward.
Well I could pile up the
evidence, the data, the material, on this principle, this
Levitical principle, but I think that’s enough to begin
with. This is a people in the midst of God’s people who,
whatever the cost and with an utterness for God, stand for His
rights and the fulness of His thought and purpose concerning His
people. I say again they are not a distinct cult, but they are a
spiritual people amongst the Lord’s people who are marked
out and marked off by this: that they are not going to allow
themselves to be touched with the corruption that is in this
world and the hand of the defiler. You have got to read those
chapters of Malachi’s prophecies with this one thought all
the time before you. They are terrible chapters, aren’t
they? Terrible chapters! God is saying you are cursed with a
curse, even this whole nation; showing His fiery, fiery judgment,
touching their lives in the family and in the fields and
everywhere. Terrible things in that book, but you notice the
focal point of all those prophecies is the Levites and it heads
up to this: “the messenger of the covenant will come
suddenly to His temple, the Lord whom ye seek... He shall sit as
a refiner of fire and purify the sons of Levi.” And purify
the sons of Levi, and with that you pass out of the Old Testament
into the New, so far as our Bible is concerned. And the Great
Levite comes, the Great Levite: the Lord Jesus. And in
Him we see the whole principle, the whole meaning of the history
of the Levites summed up. He is the full-orbed Levite. The
corrupter assails, the tempter attacks to draw away this Levite
from His steadfastness: “If Thou be the Son of
God…” but this Levite prevails. To the last cost, to
the last cost He overcomes and says to us as He said to those
around Him: “Fear not, for I have overcome the world.”
The Great Levite, the Great Overcomer and now to the
churches: “To him that overcomes…” The testimony
of Jesus, He overcame, that testimony is deposited with the
churches, “to him that overcomes.”
I do trust you are seeing far
more than I am saying... presenting you with a matter that has
far, far too much, too many details to compass in any one time.
If you see, what does it amount to? Sooner or later this whole
question of God's going on to His end in fulness will arise and
then it will be a matter of our spiritual condition; whether He
can go on with us. A matter of our spiritual condition whether He
can go on with us and whether He has that necessary to Himself
for going on in the midst of His people, and I am speaking not
condemnatory of anyone, I am simply taking out of history and
present history this, that all those who are of the Lord’s
people are not after this kind, all who are the Lord's people are
not in the spiritual sense, Levites. They are intended to be,
they are meant to be, the Lord would have them be but the fact
is, they are not; for various reasons, some of which are
mentioned in the messages to the churches, but the
reason is what the Lord calls: defilement, corruption. That is a
very, very large word. It covers a lot of ground, it embodies a
lot of things. But it is a sanctified people prepared for the
Lord, people who are really, really separated unto the
Lord.
Now dear friends, I’m quite
sure that the Lord’s disciplines are all in that direction.
It’s a terrible thing and you may not like it put this way
but sooner or later you will come to it if you realize what is
involved, it is a terrible thing for the Lord not to discipline
us. No greater loss could be suffered by us if the Lord’s
eyes of flame see something wrong and He should not deal with it.
That would be a terrible thing, for Him and for His church and
for spiritual history. He must, and sooner or later, He will.
You may think this is a very
solemn word. Why this? Well, I think for this reason, and I can
tell you that this is not just a studied subject for this time,
it is a deep and heavy burden. Think of this: The Lord wants to
go on. He wants to carry His testimony further. He wants to do a
new thing. He wants to bring His people on and in order to do so
He must have that which is represented by the Levites. He must
have a people in the midst of His people who really do
embody the fulness of His thought and that people must be a holy
people, a holy people. These are strong words: “He
will sit as a Refiner.” A Refiner, as of gold and
silver... Refiner. The picture has often been used, you know, in
connection with those words, as a refiner of gold and silver who
heats and heats under the crucible and looks in until the dross
is consumed and he can see his own face reflecting in the metal
and then he says, ‘It is alright. It's finished.’ Is
that not just what the Lord would do? The fires... what for? The
judgments... what for? To see His own face, to see His own face,
the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, in our hearts.
There is a purpose why the Lord
brings such a word to us at this time. It is while solemn,
perhaps challenging, let us realize that here is a word that is
linked with prospect. The Lord is a Lord Who wants to go on, Who
ever wants to reach new regions, to attain His full end; He wants
to do that! He wants to do something new and ever new
amongst His people. To do it, if I have not mis-read or mis-stated
this whole history of this people, to do it He must have the
people in the midst of His people who answer to Him on the one
side concerning His desire, and answer the enemy on the other
side, to deprive him of his desire. He would corrupt, he would
pollute, he would cause this loss to the Lord; Levi says,
‘NO! Never, never! Whatever it costs, never!’ We may
talk like that over service for the Lord, “We will go where
the Lord wants us, we will suffer whatever is involved in serving
the Lord in any part of the world!” we talk like that, but
dear friends, let us bring that into this realm. There is a cost
of holiness, of sanctification – a great cost. And it is in
holiness, in sanctification, that service rests; not in works,
not in travelling about, not in meetings, but in holiness of
life. That is the core and the heart of service to the Lord. He
will bring you to that sooner or later. Sooner or later He'll
bring you to that. You may go on for some time, but we will come
to a terrible crisis. The Lord sees that which is not holy, but
again, it is a positive not a negative word.
The Lord would say something to
us gathered here this very day: He wants to go on, He wants to
move, He wants to do things because He is like that. But, even
the Lord is held up by the Levites, that is so clear whenever the
next step is to be taken, the Levites must come into their
condition and into their position before the Lord. Lord, make
us true Levites, to be able to serve Him.