Just the first and second verses.
And the Lord spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying,
The children of Israel shall encamp every man by his own standard, with the ensigns of their fathers’ houses:
over against the tent of meeting shall they encamp round about.
And they set forward from the mount of the Lord three days’ journey;
and the ark of the covenant of the Lord went before them in the three days’ journey, to seek out a resting-place for them.
And the cloud of the Lord was over them by day, when they set forward from the camp.And it came to pass, when the ark set forward, that Moses said,
Rise up, O Lord, and let Thine enemies be scattered;
and let them that hate Thee flee before Thy face.And when it rested, he said,
Return, O Lord, unto the ten thousands of the thousands of Israel.
And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,
Speak unto the children of Israel, and take of them rods, a rod for each fathers’ house, of all their princes according to their fathers’ houses, twelve rods: write thou every man’s name upon his rod.
And thou shalt write Aaron’s name upon the rod of Levi; for there shall be one rod for each head of their fathers’ houses.
And thou shalt lay them up in the tent of meeting before the testimony, where I meet with you.
And it shall come to pass, that the rod of the man whom I shall choose shall bud: and I will make to cease from Me the murmurings of the children of Israel, which they murmur against you.
And Joshua rose early in the morning; and they removed from Shittim, and came to the Jordan, he and all the children of Israel; and lodged there before they passed over.
And it came to pass after three days, that the officers went through the midst of the camp;
and they commanded the people, saying, When ye see the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, and the priests the Levites bearing it, then ye shall remove from your place, and go after it.
Yet there shall be a space between you and it, about two thousand cubits by measure: come not near unto it, that ye may know the way by which ye must go; for ye have not passed this way heretofore.
And Joshua said unto the people, Sanctify yourselves; for to-morrow the Lord will do wonders among you.
And Joshua spake unto the priests, saying, Take up the ark of the covenant, and pass over before the people. And they took up the ark of the covenant, and went before the people.
And it came to pass, when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted up his eyes and looked, and, behold, there stood a man over against him with his sword drawn in his hand: and Joshua went unto him, and said unto him, Art thou for us, or for our adversaries?
And he said, Nay; but as prince of the host of the Lord am I now come. And Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and did worship, and said unto him, What saith my lord unto his servant?
And the prince of the Lord’s host said unto Joshua, Put off thy shoe from off thy foot; for the place whereon thou standest is holy. And Joshua did so.
Instead of reading it negatively, we will omit the words “not holding fast” and read it positively:
Holding fast the Head,
from whom all the body, being supplied and knit together through the joints and bands,
increaseth with the increase of God.
Heavenly Father, we do rejoice, knowing that Thou art here with us. We do praise and thank Thee that Thy presence is light. So we do look to Thee to shine upon us, to quicken Thy word to our hearts, and let us see Thy beloved Son, to whom be all glory. In the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.
In these morning sessions, we concentrate ourselves on one thing, and that is the ark. Because the ark is a type of one Person. It is the Person of our Lord Jesus.
I believe it is the will of God—it is the eternal purpose of God—that we should always behold the Son. We need to look off from everything and look unto Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith.
We mentioned that it is God’s desire to dwell among His people. But how? He commanded them to build Him a sanctuary, a tabernacle. And there, in the very heart of the tabernacle, is the ark.
The glory of God rested upon the mercy-seat, between the two cherubim. This is where God rested. This is where God dwells among His people. This is the meeting-place of God. Amen. This is where God is worshipped, and this is where God speaks to His own people.
And, of course, we know that the ark represents Christ our Lord. It is in Christ that God dwells among His people. It is through Christ that we are able to come and commune with God. And it is through Christ that God speaks to us, because Christ is the very center of God’s heart, and He is the center of all things.
So, brothers and sisters, how much we need to be involved with Christ. Now this morning, we would like to continue with the history of the ark. We want to see the ark in the life of God’s people.
God had delivered the children of Israel out of Egypt, and He brought them to Himself at Mount Sinai. It was really at Mount Sinai that He opened up His heart to His people. In other words, He revealed to them why He had delivered them—what He wanted this redeemed people to be.
In Exodus 19, you find the Lord said:
If ye will indeed obey My voice, and keep My covenant,
then ye shall be Mine own possession from among all peoples: for all the earth is Mine:
and ye shall be unto Me a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation.
God brought this people out in order that they might be His possession, that they might be a kingdom of priests serving Him, and that they might be a holy nation under His rulership. Furthermore, He said, “I will dwell in your midst.” Because of this, He commanded them to build Him a tabernacle, with the ark as the very center of it.
When the children of Israel had the Passover, you remember that God commanded each family to prepare a lamb. After the lamb was slain, the blood was to be put on the doorposts. And the angel of destruction, when he saw the blood, would pass over.
So far as their being saved—delivered from death and from judgment—it seemed to be an individual matter. Each family, each firstborn, needed to be saved, delivered, and receive that blood in order to be delivered from judgment.
All those who were saved came out of Egypt as a great multitude. Though they were saved individually, yet they came out as multitudes. But it was not until they were brought to Mount Sinai that God began to make this great mixed multitude a people, a unit, a nation, a kingdom.
They were no longer just individual people. They were one people, one nation, one body under God.
When they travelled through the wilderness on their way to the promised land, you find in the book of Numbers, after the people were numbered, that they were given the pattern of their encampment—how they were to encamp.
I do hope, brothers and sisters, that we will see this picture. The children of Israel all encamped around the tent of meeting. The tent of meeting was in the very center of their encampment. As a matter of fact, we know that the ark was the center of the tent of meeting. So they encamped around the ark.
Immediately around the ark, in the inner circle, were Moses, Aaron, the priestly families, and the three sons of Levi. They encamped on the four sides of the tabernacle. Then the twelve tribes of Israel encamped around the tabernacle farther out, in the outer circle, under their standards.
On the east side, at the rising of the sun, was the standard of the camp of Judah, with two other tribes. On the south side they encamped under the standard of Reuben, also with two other tribes. On the west side they encamped under the standard of Ephraim, with two other tribes. And on the north side they encamped under the standard of Dan, with another two tribes.
So, in other words, they were encamped all around the tent of meeting. The ark was the center; it was the life of God’s people. And it was the ark that united them together into one people.
They were no longer scattered multitudes. They were now in a perfect divine order, centered upon the ark.
It must have been a very beautiful picture. When you read on to Numbers 24, you find that Balaam the prophet had been engaged by Balak to curse Israel. But Balaam saw that it was good in the sight of the Lord to bless Israel.
And Balaam lifted up his eyes, and he saw Israel dwelling according to their tribes; and the Spirit of God came upon him.
And he took up his parable, and said:
How goodly are thy tents, O Jacob,
Thy tabernacles, O Israel!
As valleys are they spread forth,
As gardens by the river-side,
As lign-aloes which the Lord hath planted,
As cedar-trees beside the waters.
Water shall flow from his buckets,
And his seed shall be in many waters,
And his king shall be higher than Agag,
And his kingdom shall be exalted.
Balaam saw a vision as he looked upon the way the children of Israel encamped. He said, “How goodly are thy tents, O Jacob, and thy tabernacles, O Israel!” He saw humility there, like the valleys. He saw beauty there, like gardens. He saw fragrance and fruit. There was the King and the kingdom, the power and the strength and the blessing—everything.
As this people encamped around the ark, the ark united them into one, and it became such a beautiful picture.
Again, if you read Psalm 133, I think we are all familiar with that psalm. David saw a vision, and he said:
Behold, how good and how pleasant it is
For brethren to dwell together in unity!
How good! How joyful! Pleasant! He just could not describe it. So he said, “How?” It means that the goodness and pleasantness of brethren dwelling together in unity are indescribable.
It is like the precious oil upon the head,
That ran down upon the beard,
Even Aaron’s beard;
That came down upon the skirt of his garments;
Like the dew of Hermon,
That cometh down upon the mountains of Zion:
For there the Lord commanded the blessing,
Even life for evermore.
When Aaron the high priest was consecrated, the oil was poured upon his head—not merely sprinkled, but poured out profusely. It fell upon his head, came down upon his beard, covered his whole garment, and reached down to the very bottom, to the skirt.
Of course, we know that oil represents the Holy Spirit. When the brethren dwell together in unity, there is the fullness of the Spirit of God. When Christ ascended, He was anointed by the Father as the Christ, and that same anointing came down on the Day of Pentecost, even to the very end.
Then there is the dew of Hermon descending upon the mountains of Zion. Mount Hermon is in the north, and because it is a high mountain there is dew. It is poetic, of course, that it descends into Jerusalem. It speaks of life.
When brethren dwell together in unity as one people, as one body, there you find heavenly life—eternal life.
The secret, the key, for this group of people to be one people and one nation, is that they are centered upon the ark. The ark is the One who really unites them together.
This brings us to the New Testament. When we are saved, we are saved individually. No one can be saved for you. You have to be saved yourself by the grace of God.
And yet, after we are saved, it is the will of God that we should not just remain individual saved ones. It is God’s will that, after He has brought us out of every nation, tribe, people, and tongue, He should gather us together into one.
That is the very meaning of the church. The church is the called-out ones—many called-out ones assembled together, gathered together, united together.
What is the key to that oneness? What is the power that brings us all together into one? You will find that it is our Lord Jesus.
In Colossians 2, you find, “Holding fast the Head, from whom all the body, being supplied and knit together, increaseth with the increase of God.”
Dear brothers and sisters, we are today in the wilderness. The world, to God’s people, is but a wilderness. We are passing through. But as we pass through, we do not pass through this world as individual believers.
It is God’s will that He will lead us through this world as one church, one people, one nation, one body. We are one—no longer scattered, but united together.
For that oneness to become reality, we have to hold fast the Head. Christ is our Head. He is not only the Head of each individual believer, but He is the Head of the Body.
Individually, we need to hold fast the Head; and together, we need to hold fast the Head. The problem with God’s people today, whether individually or collectively, is that we do not hold fast the Head.
To hold fast Christ as our Head simply means that we let Christ be our Head. We let Him be the One who rules over us, who decides for us, who governs us. We submit ourselves under His authority.
But instead of doing that, we find that even after we are saved, how often we still raise up our own heads. That is our problem. And the same problem becomes aggravated when many people are together.
When God’s people are together, the only way we can really be united together as one in unity is that we all together hold fast Christ as the Head. In the Body of Christ there is only one Head, and there is only one Body—one Head, one Body, one Christ, one church.
To hold fast the Head requires that we surrender ourselves. It requires that we give up what we consider to be our rights. It requires that we yield ourselves completely and accept Christ as our Head.
As we do that, the result is that we are united together. All the members of the Body, through the Head, are united together. Not only that, but they begin to minister one to another. All the members begin to function, and the result is that they increase with the increase of God.
If the children of Israel did not encamp around the ark, you can imagine that some tents would be erected in one corner and others would move elsewhere. Each would go his own way. One tribe might move to one place, another tribe to another place, and even within the tribes one family might separate from another because they did not agree. It would all be scattered.
The same thing is true with God’s people today. The reason God’s people are so divided is that we do not hold fast the Head. Or, to put it another way, there are many people who try to be heads.
We have too many heads. Even in the letter to the Corinthians, you find that at that time the church was not divided yet. It was still the church in Corinth. Yet already some people said, “I am of Paul.” Paul was their head. Some said, “I am of Cephas.” Cephas was their head. Some said, “I am of Apollos.” Apollos was their head. And some said, “I have Christ exclusively.”
Christ is not your head exclusively; He is our Head. Paul said, “Is Christ divided?”
We need, as God’s people, to see Christ as our Head. Of course, if individually we do not see this, corporately we will not be able to attain to it.
First of all, individually, brothers and sisters, after we are saved, we need to see that we are no longer our own. We belong to Him. We have no right over our life. We are bought with a price.
We are no longer our own master. We cannot direct our life anymore. We must yield ourselves to Christ. He is not only our Savior; He is our Lord. He is our Head.
If individually we are doing that, then when we are together, we still need to continue to do that. When we are together, it is not that I give up my head and let another person become my head. No. Everyone gives up his or her head and lets Christ be the Head of all.
That is the only way that we may really be united into one.
And He put all things in subjection under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church,
which is His body, the fulness of Him that filleth all in all.
Whenever you see the Body, whenever you see the brethren dwelling together in unity, brothers and sisters, how good and how pleasant! They will be filled with the Spirit of God and full of heavenly life. There will be the fragrance of Christ. There will be fruit. There will be the power and authority of God.
There will be the manifestation that Christ indeed is the Head, the King over His holy nation.
Peter said that when we come to Christ, we are as living stones—individual living stones. But that is not all. These living stones are to be built up together into a holy house, a holy temple of God.
We are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, that we may set forth the excellencies of Him who delivered us out of darkness into His marvellous light.
It is only when God’s people are encamped around Christ. Today, one may gather around one thing, another around something else—either around a person, a teaching, a form, or a tradition. Because of this, all these groups are scattered. And when God’s people are scattered, God’s people are weak. The enemy can easily destroy them one after another.
But, dear brothers and sisters, how important it is for us to see that picture. Catch that vision, because this is God’s will. God’s will is that we encamp around Christ. There is perfect order there, unity, and beauty.
The children of Israel not only encamped, but they also had to move on, because they were passing through the wilderness on their way home. When you come to Numbers 10, you find that they began to move.
How did they journey? As you read the book of Numbers, you find that they journeyed by following the ark. The ark of the covenant went before them, searching out for them a resting-place. All the children of Israel, as they journeyed, simply followed the ark.
In the wilderness there was no road and there was no sign. It was just wilderness. How would the people know where to go? But thank God, as they followed the ark, they did not miss the way.
For their journey, the ark led the way through the wilderness. As they broke up the camp and began to journey, and the ark began to go forward, Moses said:
Rise up, O Lord, and let Thine enemies be scattered;
and let them that hate Thee flee before Thy face.
In the wilderness there were many dangers, many trials, and many enemies of all kinds. But the ark was leading the way. The Lord would rise up and scatter the enemy, so that they could go through the wilderness safely and securely.
And when the ark stopped, then they encamped. Moses said, “Return, O Lord, unto the ten thousands of the thousands of Israel.” The Lord returned into their midst, and they encamped around Him.
When the children of Israel tried to make a move apart from the ark, they were defeated. In Numbers 14, they arrived at Kadesh-barnea, and the spies came back. You remember how they refused to go in. The Lord said, because you did not believe in Me and rebelled against Me, you cannot enter in.
Then they said, “If that is the case, we want to go in.” So they rose up and tried to go in. But the ark did not leave the camp, neither did Moses. They tried to move without the ark, and the enemy came forth, killed some of them, and they were defeated.
They could not journey or move without the ark.
Applying this to us today, brothers and sisters, the church is today journeying toward our eternal rest. How are we going to go through? We thank God that He has provided for us. We have One who is leading us.
Everywhere we go, the question is raised: “Who is our leadership? How are we going to go on if we do not have leadership?” That is a big problem. Everywhere, God’s people are trying to find leadership. And because we try to find leadership, sure enough, there will be someone who wants to be that leader.
But the result is that they lead us astray. Brothers and sisters, do we realize that God has already provided us with a Leader—the Leader?
I do not believe that God will raise up His people anywhere without providing them with leadership. Moses was not perfect. The people murmured against him, rebelled against him, and sometimes looked down upon him. They said, “Who are you? You are not holier than we are.”
When Moses was on the mount forty days and forty nights, they said, “We do not know what has happened to our leader. Let us choose another leader.” When they were unhappy with Moses, they wanted to get rid of him and find another leader to lead them back to Egypt.
They did not know that Moses, even though outwardly he was their leader, was actually only representing God. God was their King and their Leader. The ark was leading their way, not Moses.
Even though Moses had spent forty years in the wilderness and probably knew some of the landscape, even Moses was not the one who led the way. It was the ark.
Brothers and sisters, do we have a Leader? We need a Leader. God’s people need a Leader. Sometimes we are so democratic that we feel we do not need leaders—that all are chiefs. No, we need leadership.
The church is not a democracy; it is a theocracy. We need leaders. But who is the Leader?
In the New Testament, there is a word translated “leader.” It is used only four times in the New Testament, and that word is used only of Christ. It is never used of anybody else. We find it twice in Acts and twice in Hebrews.
In Acts 3:15, after the lame man was healed and the people gathered around, Peter said:
And killed the Prince of life; whom God raised from the dead; whereof we are witnesses.
The word translated “Prince” in the original is the word for leader. In some versions it says “Author” or “Originator,” because that word means one who begins and sets the matter in motion—one who begins and fulfils the course.
A leader is one who begins, opens a new way, and leads people through to the very end. That is the meaning of the word leader.
Our Lord Jesus is the Leader of life. We do not have life in ourselves. He is the One who begins; He gives us life. Not only did He give us life, but He shows us the way of life—how we may walk in life. He leads us on until we arrive.
Again, in Acts 5:31, the apostle said:
Him did God exalt with His right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour,
for to give repentance to Israel, and remission of sins.
The One whom they slew, God exalted by His right hand as Leader. He is the One who begins a new way—a way of life, a new and living way. And He is the Savior, the One who gives repentance and remission of sins.
Then again, in Hebrews 2:10:
For it became Him, for whom are all things, and through whom are all things,
in bringing many sons unto glory,
to make the Author of their salvation perfect through sufferings.
It is the will of God to lead many sons into glory. But how? Through a Leader. That Leader was made perfect through suffering. As He was made perfect through suffering to be our Leader, this is the way He leads us: it is the way of the cross, through the cross unto glory.
Again, in Hebrews 12:2:
Looking unto Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith.
Some translations say “Author,” because He is the One who begins. He is the Leader and Perfecter of our faith. Faith comes from Him, and He leads us in the way of faith until it is completed.
As the children of Israel journeyed through the wilderness under the leadership of the ark, so today God’s church is moving through this world and through the centuries under the leadership of Christ Jesus. He is our Leader.
To me, it is very interesting that, so far as local assemblies are concerned, you find that there are always elders in plurality. You do not find in any local assembly in Scripture one elder alone.
Elders, in a sense, are leaders. They are supposed to lead God’s flock. But in the New Testament it is always in plurality. Why? Because they lead only in a representative way. The true Leader is the one Christ.
If there is only one elder, he may substitute for Christ instead of representing Christ. The temptation is great. And you cannot blame him alone, because the people may look upon him as the leader and follow him blindly.
But plurality keeps leadership in a representative sense and never in a real sense, because the One who really leads is Christ.
Whenever God’s people try to make a move outside the leadership of Christ, something happens: they will be defeated.
When you read the book of Acts, brothers and sisters, you find in the early church a beautiful picture. We need to catch that vision. The early church encamped around Christ. Christ was the center of their lives.
They were not centered upon the apostles; they were centered upon Christ. They continued steadfastly in the teaching and fellowship of the apostles—not the teaching and fellowship of the apostles merely as men, but the teaching and fellowship of Christ—in the breaking of bread and in prayer.
They were together in unity as one. How beautiful and how powerful it was! What a testimony!
In all their movements, they were governed by the Holy Spirit, because the Holy Spirit today represents Christ the Head among His own people.
You remember Acts 13: “Separate Me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them.” They were not sent out by men, but sent out by the Holy Spirit.
When Paul and Silas were travelling in Acts 16, they passed through the Galatian country and were thinking of going into Asia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them. They tried to go into Bithynia, but again they were not allowed. They were guided and led by God’s Spirit.
That is the way the church has to move.
It is very interesting that the children of Israel, on their way from Egypt, arrived on the east side of the Jordan in the plains of Moab. If you read Numbers 33, you find how they moved by stages. They began at one place, journeyed, encamped in another place, then moved again. They travelled by stations until they came to the plains of Moab.
I thought there were forty-two stations, but one day I received a letter telling me that he counted forty-three. I do not want to quarrel with anybody. I am no good in mathematics anyway.
But the Holy Spirit records all the encampments and all the journeys, because all these are in the purpose of God.
Strangely, when they came out of Egypt and came to the border of the promised land at Kadesh-barnea, it should not have taken them more than two years. But it took them forty years.
It was because they refused to follow the Lord and go in. That is why they wandered in the wilderness for thirty-eight years.
During those years, the ark was in their midst. But I believe the ark was not leading the way. You find no record of the ark leading their journey. It was there, but there was no progress. God simply allowed them to drift.
Why? Because they were not in the direct will of God. They were living in the permissive will of God.
How often, individually or collectively, we are not living in the direct will of God. We are encamping and journeying under the permissive realm of God.
If that is the case, God is gracious. He is still with us; He has not left us. But all those years, all those encampments, and all those journeys do not count. They are lost because they are outside the purpose of God.
To me, this is a real warning to us. As individuals and as God’s people together, how we need to be under the leadership of the Holy Spirit. If not, all these years and all these journeys are quite a waste.
Furthermore, with so many people together in such close proximity day and night, you can expect many problems. Brothers and sisters, as our brother mentioned, if you are looking for a perfect church—a church with no problem—you cannot find it anywhere.
A real church is bound to have problems. But how can problems be solved?
When the children of Israel journeyed through the wilderness, they had many problems. They had problems with Moses, problems with Aaron, problems with food, problems with drink, and difficulties in journeying. They murmured, rebelled, and had all kinds of problems.
But how were the problems solved? You find that problems were solved by the ark.
In Numbers 17, we have already mentioned Korah, the son of Levi, along with Dathan and Abiram, leaders in the tribe of Reuben, and two hundred and fifty chiefs among the children of Israel. They came together in a conspiracy and accused Moses and Aaron.
They said, “All the people are holy. Why do you assume authority? As if we are not holy? We all can serve God. We do not need you.”
How did Moses confront this? As our brother mentioned already, the only way was for Moses and Aaron to fall upon their faces. It is no use arguing with people.
Whenever you have a problem and try to argue or reason, if people are reasonable, there would be no problem. You cannot reason with such people. The more you reason, the worse they become.
The only way is to fall upon your face and let the ark solve it. That is the only way to do it.
Moses said, “All right, every tribe, take a rod—a dead rod. Inscribe the name of the tribe upon it. And let Aaron’s rod be put in the tent of meeting before the testimony, where God said, ‘I meet with you.’”
We know that God meets with His people upon the ark. In other words, these rods were put before the ark overnight, and the ark decided who was worthy to minister to Him. That solved the problem and put a stop to all the murmurings.
Brothers and sisters, oftentimes when the church has a problem, we try to argue, reason, and defend a position. But it is no use. The more we do that, the worse it becomes.
The only way to solve problems in the church is to bring them to the Lord and let the Lord decide. That is the way to do it.
As a matter of fact, when a problem is solved, it becomes a blessing. If you have no problem, you have no blessing. A problem that is not solved is a curse, but a problem solved is a blessing.
In the early church, you find the same thing. In Acts 15, there was a big problem in the church. Some from a Jewish background said, “You Gentiles need to be circumcised. You have to keep the law of Moses in order to be saved.”
There was great argument. In Antioch, they could not solve the problem by argument, so they brought it to Jerusalem. There the apostles and elders gathered together. The matter was opened up, and everybody had opportunity to speak.
After a long period, when everybody had expressed his own opinion, they brought it together to the Lord, until they could say, “It seemed good to the Holy Spirit, and to us.”
Brothers and sisters, this is the way to solve all problems. Christ is not only our Head; He is not only our Leader; He is the One who solves all our problems, if we let Him. It may take some patience, though.
More than that, you find the ark in the life of the people in the book of Joshua. The ark of the covenant again led their way. The ark of the covenant led them through the River Jordan until they entered the promised land.
After they got into the promised land, the real battle began. In the wilderness there were battles, that is true. At the beginning of their journey, the Amalekites attacked them from behind. Amalek represents the flesh.
Even though the Amalekites did not follow them all the way, the flesh followed them all the way. During the forty years in the wilderness, they were battling against the flesh—their own flesh.
Sometimes we talk about spiritual warfare. Well, the fight against the flesh is warfare, but in one sense it is not the real spiritual warfare. The real spiritual warfare begins only after you arrive in Canaan, where they had to fight against the seven tribes of the Canaanites.
That is the real battle.
Joshua was surveying Jericho, trying to plan how to take it. Then he saw a Man standing before him with His sword drawn. The natural reaction of Joshua was, “Who are You? Are You for us, or are You against us?”
The Man said, “No. I am neither for you nor against you. I am the Captain of the host of the Lord.”
Joshua fell down and worshipped. He was told to remove his shoes because he stood on holy ground. In other words, Joshua was not the one who led the people into battle. However good he might have been, actually he was not the true leader.
If it had been Joshua, not only would the battle have been difficult, but most likely he would have been defeated. But here you find that the Lord Himself took over as Captain of the host of the Lord. He would fight for His people.
The same thing is true at Jericho. It was the ark that led the way around Jericho for seven days. On the seventh day they went around seven times, the people shouted, and the wall of Jericho fell down. It was the ark that fought for them.
When they tried to do it on their own, even against the small city of Ai, they were defeated.
Brothers and sisters, in the life of God’s people, we have to sit, walk, and stand. This is what you find in Ephesians.
We have to sit—that is, to sit in Christ, taking all that Christ has done for us and all that He is to us. We have been raised up together, ascended together with Him, and seated with Him together in the heavenlies.
This is not individualism. The wall of partition was broken down, and He brought Jews and Gentiles together into one people, one nation. It is centered upon Christ.
Then God’s people have to walk. In Ephesians 4, they have to walk; they have to journey under the leadership of Christ.
But the life of God’s people also includes warfare. Not only do we sit and walk, but we also stand. In Ephesians 6, you find that our warfare is not with flesh and blood.
Our warfare is with principalities, authorities, powers of darkness, and evil spirits in the heavenlies. There is a spiritual warfare going on.
The warrior in Ephesians 6 is not the individual believer. Brothers and sisters, that spiritual warfare cannot be fought individually. If you try to fight the war individually, you will be seriously wounded.
That warfare has to be fought as a Body. The warrior in Ephesians 6 is the church, not the individual. We think of an individual putting on the whole armor of God, but actually it is the church that takes up the whole armor of God.
The church is to be strong in the Lord and in the might of His strength, and to take upon itself the whole armor of God. The church is to be clothed with Christ in order to stand, withstand, and remain standing.
In Ephesians 6:13, we read:
Wherefore take up the whole armor of God,
that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day,
and, having done all, to stand.
There is a reason for spiritual warfare. It is not just fighting for nothing. The reason is that, having accomplished all things, we are to stand.
I like Darby’s note very much. He says, “Or, having overcome all things.” It is to carry through and put into execution all that is purposed and called for, in spite of opposition.
What is that warfare all about? It is not about you. It is not about me. It is not about our interests, even our own welfare. It is not about your need or my need, or whatever it may be. It is something much greater.
It concerns what is purposed and called for. God has a purpose. It is a battle over the purpose of God.
God’s purpose is that Christ may have the first place in all things. God’s purpose is to sum up all things in Christ—that is, for the supremacy of Christ to be in all things.
God’s purpose is that the church, which is His Body, should be the fullness of Him who fills all in all. God’s purpose is that through the church the manifold wisdom of God may be made known.
That is God’s purpose. Satan and his evil forces hate that one thing most, because they know that if that purpose is carried out, they are finished. Their kingdom is destroyed, and they are destroyed.
Spiritual warfare is not because of us. Spiritual warfare is because of the purpose of God, and we are called according to purpose. That is how we are involved in it.
We ought to carry through and put into execution all that is purposed and called for, in spite of opposition. It is a tremendous task.
But, brothers and sisters, the secret is this: all you need to do is stand. Why? Because the battle is already won.
Our Lord Jesus, on Calvary’s cross, has already crushed the head of the serpent. He has already spoiled principalities and authorities, and made a public show of them by the cross.
In other words, He has already won the decisive battle. The war is already won.
What is left for the church to do is simply to carry out that victory, to put that victory upon all things, to claim the victory of Christ over all things, and to bring them into subjection to Christ.
All you need to do is stand—to remain standing.
We are not able to fight this spiritual warfare if we try to fight it on our own. The church, through the centuries, has gone through many assaults.
The devices of the enemy are manifold. He is a murderer, a deceiver, and a liar. He is full of wickedness.
Through the centuries, the church has suffered many casualties. The reason there are so many casualties is that people try to fight the battle themselves.
If we hide in Christ, if we stand in the victory of Christ, we can overcome all things and bring them under the feet of Christ—to carry through and put into execution that which is purposed and called for, in spite of opposition.
Even though there were seven tribes of the Canaanites, as long as Israel was under the captaincy of Christ, no enemy could stand in their way until the land was possessed.
This is the place of the ark in the life of the children of Israel. And this is the place of Christ in the life of the church.
Shall we pray?