(Continued from page. 230.)
Third:Edom (Num. 20:14-21; Deut. 2:4-15.)
The believer's life is one of continued progress toward the end, as was Israel's:but all their exercises did not cease with Egypt, nor yet at the Red Sea. Onward and upward was their march toward the land of their inheritance, with further lessons to be learned in God's school. These lessons, however, are of a different order, and belong no more to the book of Exodus, but to that of Numbers. "Edom "lay across their path to the promised land (Num. 20:14-21). It lay side by side with Israel the whole forty years across the desert. It represents the flesh now in the believer. God warned His people not to meddle with it; they were not to war with Edom (Deut. 2:4-8.)
Edom is a word almost identical with Adam, and the fact of this enemy of God's ancient people being left beside them day by day for forty years, was a humiliating lesson for them ; it was a trial calculated to lead them to continual prayerfulness and watchfulness to the end.
They had escaped one enemy-Pharaoh, but afterward needed to watch against another – Esau, or Edom. These were very real lessons for Israel; and when we consider that they convey parallel lessons to us, we search the New Testament to find what these lessons are, and what it is that answers to this new and hateful foe of God's people of old.
Romans 6:14, "Sin shall not have dominion over you "answers as we have seen, to the rule of Pharaoh the previous part of the epistle telling how it was broken. Rom. 7:"For I know that in me, (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing," answers to Edom. It is the flesh which remains in the believer until the end, and which, though condemned, is side by side with the new nature, as was Edom also with Israel. With neither of these enemies was Israel to "fight. Deliverance from their power was not by the effort of man, but by God. We have seen how He set them free from Pharaoh and what answers to this in ourselves. In the same way, with Edom they were not to meddle ; it teaches us that the way to gain mastery over the flesh which is in us is not by meddling with it, but by treating it as condemned, and reckoning ourselves dead to it. Esau and Jacob are yet along side each other. That which is born of the flesh, (the elder) yet dwells beside that which is born of the Spirit (the younger); and the only way to overcome the flesh which dwells in us is to walk in the. Spirit. Thus shall we not fulfil the lusts of the flesh, and thus only shall the elder be subject to the younger. The power now in those born of God is on the side of right, not of wrong; on the side of holiness, not of sinfulness. Occupation with good is our only means to escape the power of the evil in us. Other enemies there are, ahead of us, which demand battle (such as Eph. 6:10-18), but in Romans 6:and 7:the key to and secret of victory is not to fight, but faith treating it as condemned, and placing God between us and it. If Christ and the blessed things which are in Christ are kept before the heart, and communion is cultivated with Him where He is now, and the truth of His Word searched and loved, we will realize indeed that the flesh is yet in us, as Edom was alongside Israel, but its presence need be no hindrance, for the Spirit in us gives us power to refuse its workings. It will keep us humble however. It will produce prayerfulness and watchfulness at every step of the way. It will cast us upon God as our only wall of defense against it, and for the needed grace to ever treat it as an enemy and a thing utterly condemned by Him. What immense relief this gives the soul! and how much unnecessary trouble is saved by following God's thought, grasping His mind in this, and being truly subject to Him day by day which is the path itself of practical sanctification and true holiness.
Fourth:The River Jordan (Joshua 3:, 4:). In the Passover we saw what removed God's judgment from His people and what lays the ground for their redemption and relationship with Himself. In the Red Sea, what further blessing we have in Christ's death, as God's appointed way for our deliverance from the bondage of law and the power of sin.
In Edom, God's way with His people in relation to the principle of sin, the flesh, which abides in
them to the end.
Now in the crossing of Jordan the Spirit puts another touch upon the canvass, and thus completes the picture of what and where the Christian is in the eyes of God-that is, how God views him in Christ, and the place he occupies.
The passing of the Red Sea had let them out of the place of slavery. The passing of Jordan gives their entrance into "a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths that spring out of valleys and hills; a land of wheat, and barley, and vines, and fig trees, and pomegranates; a land of oil olive, and honey; a land wherein thou shalt eat bread without scarceness, thou shalt not lack anything in it" (Deut. 8:7-9.).
Jordan sets forth our death with Christ; and as the twelve stones were brought up out of Jordan and placed on the Canaan side, it is a reminder that the people who descended in Jordan had also risen up and had. entered their possessions in the land of promise. We have here the lessons of Colossians iii, "risen with Christ." We have died with Him, but we are also risen with Him. The step from Romans 6:and Vii. to Col. 3:is, as in Israel's case, from the Red Sea to Jordan, from Exodus to Joshua. Christ has died, was buried, but He now is alive and risen; and God sees all His people in living association with Christ, the glorified Head of the new creation-those redeemed and brought to God. Has He died? so have we. Has He been buried ? so have we. Is He risen ? so are we. Has He entered the heavenlies ? (as we fully see in Eph. 1:and 2:) so have we-as seen by the eye of God, in the person of the Lord our living representative. True, we are not there with Him yet, but we are seen in Him there, and that is the fullest and most perfect pledge and assurance that, at His coming, we shall be also with Him. Thus, in God's reckoning, we have passed over Jordan because the Lord has passed over; we have died with Christ and are risen with Him; and further, in Christ we are seated in heavenly places.
All those stages in Israel's history were planned by a divine mind and traced by the divine hand. What a new scene spread before them as they passed over Jordan! The land (for us, type of the heaven-lies) spread before them with its hills and valleys, fountains and streams, its wheat and barley," etc., a glorious, pleasant land. They were our types, and so is their land; the better things were reserved for us, and those blessings are ours now. As to the apprehension of the truth, many believers never pass beyond the wilderness, if even, as to their experience, they pass the Red Sea. They, according to the beggarly thoughts of the natural mind, suppose that the enjoyment such as is presented here is only for the end, when we are taken home to heaven. But God spreads all our inheritance, His gracious gift to us, before our souls, and He would have us, by faith now, lay hold of all of it. As to our bodies we are yet in the world-in Egypt; as to our day by day experience we realize that this world is but a. wilderness through which we are passing; but, being in Christ, we are already heirs of everything, and God our Father would have us exercise the faith which apprehends our heavenly portion now; and by the help of the Holy Spirit we are led into our heavenly place and blessings, there to rejoice in the riches of God's grace and the riches of His glory.
Fifth :Gilgal (Joshua 5:1-9). The people are now in the land of their inheritance. To us, the parallel is that by faith we have apprehended the place which is ours in Christ Jesus-a place full of heavenly blessings. Israel was to take possession step by step of the land and all that was in it. So are we, when once we know our place in Christ, to take possession by faith of the blessings we have in Him. But enemies were there, and they were now to battle with the enemies, and enter into the enjoyment of all their possessions, as we too must give battle against our spiritual foes in order to lay hold of our heavenly blessings. Israel proved slack in this. And do not we ?
Gilgal was their first camping ground in the land, and the place of their circumcision which had been neglected in the wilderness. Their exercises and trials did not cease when they crossed Jordan, but they changed. So we are not to suppose that our trials end when we have found our place in Christ, but their character is changed. They had to contend with the seven nations there, and drive them out; but in this, alas, they often failed. So have we to contend with enemies such as mentioned in Eph vi, 12. As a matter of fact, their conflicts in the wilderness were few; they had a skirmish with Amalek, but after they crossed the Jordan they were in frequent battle. Their pilgrim character in the wilderness becomes a soldier character in Canaan. At Gilgal, upon their entrance in the land, they are circumcised; they roll away the reproach of Egypt. This reproach was their slavery, their bondage; in being circumcised they declared that they were no longer Egyptian slaves, but God's freemen. Free indeed! Free from condemnation, from the power of sin with all its degradation; free from all, to be only God's forever! What a declaration!
Gilgal to us is in Col. 3:5. After we have learned that we have died with Christ and are risen with Him, we reach also our spiritual Gilgal, and there we are to use the sharp knife as did Israel. We are
not to tolerate in ourselves anything unsuited to, or inconsistent with, the Lord and His holiness. " Mortify (put to death) therefore your members." At this stage we are beyond the lessons of Pharaoh and Edom, but we are to remember the flesh is in us still, even though we are born of God, and ever desirous of being indulged. When its tendencies arise, we are to judge ourselves-use the sharp knife upon all that comes from it; and by this spiritual exercise we declare that we are subjects or slaves of sin no longer (Rom. 8:13). We are God's freemen, free to serve God, to serve righteousness, to honor and live unto Him who died for us and rose again.
Gilgal was Israel's camping ground in the book of Joshua. From this point they start for every fresh battle, in dependence upon God; and here they returned after every victory, to give God the praise and glory. A suited place this is for God's people- indeed the only suited one if we desire to make spiritual progress. For all service, for all progress, the place of self-judgment is the only one from which we go to victory; and after victory, to return again to our knees in self-judgment, taking no glory to ourselves but giving God all the praise, is the only safe place. From this spot let us start each morning, and here return each evening. Here is the key to all true success and victory, power, joy, fruitfulness, and practical sanctification.
Sixth:The Old Corn (Josh. 5:12).
The next lesson, after Gilgal and circumcision, for Israel was their change of food. The old corn- product of the land-was now to be their meat, and this before they raised the sword against their enemies to drive them out of the land. Jordan was past, Gilgal had been reached, the sharp knife had been used; and now God shows them the precious wheat, yielded so abundantly in the land that the grain of the previous year had not all been used. They had long been promised this, and now the Lord is fulfilling it. They can now eat of it, and prove the sweetness and sufficiency of it, and gather strength to go forward and meet their foes.
Their food in Egypt-fish, cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions, garlic-speak of their slavish condition ; in the wilderness, manna told of their humiliation and strangership; but now having reached their land, the place of God's purpose for them, the food of a free, exalted people is to be theirs.
Manna was bread from heaven truly, and that is Christ; but Christ come down from heaven, in humiliation and sorrow on earth. It is thus He is presented to us in the four Gospels. Here we trace His holy path, behold His deep and tender compassions, hear Him speak as never man spake. His being God is declared at every step of His way, that the humiliation to which He has stooped for our sakes may appear ; drawn thus to Him in love and adoration, He is our wilderness food which enables us to suffer the humiliation of being linked with Him in this scene of His rejection. The cross is at the end of His journey, and His sufferings in it present different lessons:as the Lamb "roast with fire " He bore our sins on the cross, sustained the judgment of a holy God against us, and made full atonement; and as the Ark He passed through the deep depth of judgment all alone, to bring us on the other side, to reap with Him the fruits of His victory. In this however, we are not partakers of His sufferings, but are made worshipers. We joy and delight in Him, and will forever.
But in Joshua we are carried further than this. We are in the land of promise, type of the heaven-lies. "The manna ceased" now, and the " old corn" is given them. This, of course, is Christ also, but Christ in heaven from whence He came and to which He has returned-the heavenlies. Faith has made acquaintance with Him in humiliation, and now carries the believer's heart and mind where He is (2 Cor. 3:18; Col. 3:12 ; Heb. 10:19-22), and the Holy Spirit feeds and delights the soul upon His beauties and glories .there:this is, for us, the "old corn."
Thus, on account of being as yet in our mortal bodies, we are still in Egypt (this world); and on account of the experiences, sorrows, discipline we pass through, we are still in the wilderness; so, by virtue of the faith in us which can take in the counsels of God for us, we are already now, by the power of the Spirit, enjoying our heavenly inheritance. At times the soul finds special comfort in the Savior's life of suffering here. This is feeding upon the manna. Then we think of Him as glorified in the heavens where He now is, and where our portion is with Him, and thus we feed upon Him as the old corn. As viewed thus the manna ceases. But whether as manna or old corn, it is the same person, the selfsame Jesus. Nor do we ever get so far in our experience and into the realms of faith as to need the roasted lamb and manna no more,* but for the time being, when carried on by faith to where He now is, it is of His glories we think. *This is important to notice, as a very misleading teaching has gone forth, that there may be a stage of soul reached where "manna" is no further needed, and that only a low state of soul feeds upon manna ! But the lowly life of Jesus on the earth is ever food for God's people now; and it is manna, "the hidden manna," that will be our food in highest glory, and is the precious promise to the faithful in the Church (Rev. 2:17). The thirty-three years from the manger to the cross will ever be the "sweet savor" to God, and food for the redeemed.* Those different views of the Lord will be before the redeemed as food and delight forever; only, when we view Him in the heavens it greatly changes things, especially in His relation to Israel as the Messiah ; for in this aspect we know Him no more (2 Cor. 5:16).
The One who suffered, and purged our sins upon the cross, is now upon the throne of God, at the right hand of the majesty on high; Christ, in His most highly exalted position. And, as a consequence, the Holy Spirit is now present with and dwelling in each believer, to link each one with Christ where He is, and give us the present enjoyment of the wonderful place grace has given us.
Israel's food in their bondage in Egypt is mentioned, in Num. xi 5, 6, as of six kinds. That of Canaan has seven kinds – the number of perfection, the perfections of the Lord Jesus – wheat, barley, vines, figs, pomegranates, olives, and honey ; but the old corn (wheat) was the first upon the list (Deut. 8:8).
Seventh :The Captain with the drawn sword (Josh. 5:13-15).
At this stage the Lord appears in a new form, to lead them on to battle and to victory:without Him they could do nothing:with His presence and His guiding, no foe would be able to stand before them, as their after-history fully demonstrates.
The Captain" with the drawn sword identifies Him-self with them. To us it is the Christian warfare now, as depicted in the epistle to the Ephesians (ch. 6:10-18).
Our captain is the Lord of hosts. He associates Himself with us, His own people, to lead and guide us in the conflict with our spiritual foes (which the seven nations illustrate), and to make us take possession of our spiritual heritage, that we may enjoy our spiritual blessings even now. Many of God's people fail to grasp this aspect of New Testament truth, and vainly think that all the blessings, as well as the enjoyment of heaven, are only at the end. But the taking possession, as illustrated by the book of Joshua and Ephesians, chap, 6:, does not refer to heaven after death, or at the Lord's second coming, but rather to heaven as enjoyed by the believer while here on the earth, and the spiritual conflict which is necessary to this end.
The seven nations united to keep back Israel, under Joshua's leadership, and sought to hold the land, still in their own power, from the true and rightful heirs. So does Satan now, with the principalities and powers of the heavenly places which are under him, seek to hinder believers from pressing on and taking possession of what God has given them with the Savior glorified in the heavenlies.
Israel was not to fight Edom in the desert, but they were to drive out the nations which occupied the land. So we are not called upon to battle with sin which is within us (Rom. 6:and 7:), but we are
bid "to wrestle against spiritual wickedness (wicked spirits) in heavenly places" (Eph. 6:12). Israel's warfare was for an earthly inheritance, ours for a heavenly one. But for this we need to "be strong and of good courage," as Israel was bidden to be. To this end, we feed upon Christ, the old corn, and the Captain with the drawn sword takes His place at our head.
The enemy will contest every foot, yes, every inch ; hence we are exhorted, "Take unto you the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day." Our foes are spiritual foes, and they are also strong and numerous; but we have the Captain also with the drawn sword, and our Lord who leads the battle is stronger than all our foes. But in this great conflict we need the" exercise of faith; for it is the fight of faith-the spiritual conflict against heavenly foes. No carnal weapons can avail in this war.
Faith looks on, and sees the fertile fields that lie before it, to go in and possess them:it values them, and counts them well worth fighting for, and they well repay the aggressive believer.
As Israel, with the Captain before them, marched on, their enemies around them fell and were overcome; when they were self-judged and obedient to the Lord, success attended them at every step and turn. See how Jericho fell before them, a great city, and fortified; and yet, when their hearts were lifted up, and they neglected the prayerful, dependent spirit, a very small place, such as " Ai," drove them back, and they were defeated and put to flight.
How often have we experienced the same, as the people of God, in our day! But these very failures
became sanctified lessons for them further on, as all ours should also. Past failures and defeats ought to lead us to tread the path more carefully and guardedly, seeking to be guided by Him at every step (Prov. 3:5, 6).
After Israel's failure respecting Ai, they achieve wonderful things. Many places are taken, and the enemy driven away:they capture hills and valleys, cities, towns, villages and outlying fields, with treasure and spoil.
This is the record of the book of Joshua, and a very delightful book for every spiritual mind to read and meditate upon; for their whole history is but the type of our own. Every earthly good they find and get possession of in their land illustrates spiritual blessings laid up for us in heaven. If their blessings, being only temporal, were worth fighting for, how much more ours, which are eternal!
They fought for and possessed much of the land; yet there remained much that they never possessed. Their full blessing they never entered into, and never shall until the second coming of the Lord. Then they shall enter into it all:every enemy shall be driven out of the land; "and in that day there shall be no more the Canaanite in the house of the Lord of hosts," for Israel shall occupy all, from the Euphrates to the river of Egypt (Zech. 14:21).
So with us. The spiritual, heavenly inheritance is before us; and though we may already possess much, there yet remains much to be possessed- quite enough to prevent spiritual pride in us. It is at the return of the Lord Jesus for us, as the bright Morning Star, that we shall enter into the fulness of all that belongs to us through Him. We shall then enter our home in the heavenly sphere, with no foes to hinder; as Israel, now cast off, shall enter their earthly home and possessions. All shall then enjoy complete possession, according to God's purpose. A. E. B.
(To be concluded in next number.)