AUSTRALIAN BIBLE CHURCH

January  16, 2011

A Presbyterian Church following the Bible without Qualification
and the Lord Jesus Christ without Compromise by Faith      

HELPS AND HINDRANCES ON THE HIGHWAY OF HOLINESS

Numbers 14-20  ..

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WHAT HELPS HOLINESS, HELPS 

PART II 

THE CARE BEYOND COMPARE 

Last week, we started to consider a new part in the Journey along the Highway from Egypt to the Promised land which gives so much grist to the mill of gaining insight into straight dealings with the Lord, without procrastination, prevarication or ulcers of the mind. We came to a point where,  just as Moses had been given help on various occasions before, in view of the massive multitude of people with him in the desert arena, in gaining water by the simple device of striking the rock with the rod  with which he had once  smitten the waters enabling them to escape from the Egyptian army earlier, evidently the "rod of God" of Exodus 4:2,20, so now  the Lord commanded again the holy rod's use, one from the sanctuary.

This significant continuity with the work through the use of  is seen in Exodus 17:5-6, and now at that signal,  that Moses should speak to, or address or give command to the rock once more^*1, the Lord indicated "I will stand by on the rock" . The word used here has a broad range of meaning.

Thus, when man (Moses) struck it, God acted. The Rock stricken, as in Deuteronomy 32:4 - cf. II Samuel 22, Psalm 62, Isaiah 44:6-8 - stood for the ONLY Rock, which the righteous Lord recognises as able to possess that name: that is,  Himself. With HIM stricken, parched man can receive abundance of water, physical in the desert, spiritual in what it signified as in Isaiah 53:5 and John 4:14, 7:37-38. 

Moses struck the Rock; as he had done as reported in Exodus 17 when a continuity was stated by the Lord with the Exodus escape from Egypt, and the rod as a divine symbol of communication in nature for His will by man, in this case Moses,  and the Rock as indicative of the available God of all power and stability. Then God acted. How many wait for that blessed sort of response, as in Isaiah 64:5 and rejoice when He does so (cf. Exodus 15) ! It was here for Moses a case of a primary cause supplanting and determining a secondary cause, the Creator directly operating in the creation to meet immediate and vast need. It is, indeed, just as foolish to ignore secondary causes, normal happenings and be rash, as it is to ignore God's intervention, and be self-centred and supercilious. We have a coach and a King, who operates by whatever means, direct or indirect, He pleases.  

 Thus, with Moses, physical water would come from this use of symbols BECAUSE the Lord stood by, to act on it. It was like having a switch to turn on in a house, a ludicrous piece of mumbo-jumbo if you want light, UNLESS the house is connected and the electrical system is articulated in it, so that the power from beyond the house might flow into it, using the equipment in place (the bulb, in its socket).  

So here the power of GOD Himself would flow beyond the work of the articulated system, a case  where the 'electrician' is standing by to use His own input, so that when this is ON, then inaction is OFF. Here the water flowed. It was a supernatural act, based on a physical premise as a medium, not a director. Power is from God (Psalm 57:2, 62:11, Isaiah 14:27), whether or not He chooses to let existing media perform in natural ways before Him; for it is He who made the universe, its articulated laws, forms and mini-powers. It is He who in His own  ways plans to reach them naturally, or over-reach them supernaturally. This power, diversely, at will, He deploys,  in making adjustments, additions, invasions, incursions. The creation is always subject to the Creator. Man on this earth need never be alone. 

Blessed is the person who knows this, and realises that the power that raised Christ from the dead is available to Christians (Eph. 1:19). Whether the mission and commission for any one saint is  
 

      for life (as with the three friends of Daniel in the furnace), or
 

      for death (as for James, when imprisoned by King Herod),

      for escape (as with Peter, shown in Acts 12) or
 

      for testimony in the face of obvious persecution, the face shining, the words eloquent,
the impact immense and not least, on Paul it would seem - at that stage,  still Saul (as seen in  Acts 7):

THAT depends on the plan of the Lord.

 As Christ told Peter (John 21), it is for Him to determine who lives long in the field, and who is to be incarcerated or slain in the vengeance of man  against the Lord.

As in a cricket field, people have very different functions; it is for each to find and fulfil this; and for that you need to know the Lord. Moses knew the Lord, but alas he suffered a spiritual heart attack as he acted in this instance of smiting the Rock. In view of what it symbolised, to do this TWICE was thrice wrong, once for the duplication, once for the meddling with the word of God in action, and one for the surrounding words ... MUST WE!.  

Let us summarise then. Once more the people had complained, once more Moses was directed to find for them water in this miraculous fashion. As it had earlier (Exodus 17), and apparently here involved the ROCK being STRICKEN, so it related to an attack to come on the Lord (as itemised in Psalm 2, so notably) , and as it was clear in Genesis 3:15, that the unsoiled Saviour would come to deliver man from the results of sin, so it would be in the One appointed, outside the constriction of sin, its liability and impoverishment, inside the deity in stature, able to handle any and  all  creation. Thus a child in the human race would be used to smash the satanic power that spiritually maims man.  

As became more and more detailed in the prophets, this was to be the Messiah, the coming prophet. It was He, the Lord Himself,  who would be so stricken, as in Isaiah 48:16, 50, 52, 53, Micah 5. In some way, GOD would suffer for man to provide 'water', that is what would meet their urgent need in their very lives. As seen in Numbers 11:24-25, it would represent some work of His Spirit which would be signified by the water, some thrust against the Lord Himself which would secure this, something symbolised by striking the Rock. 

 

Its meaning, method and results were shown in clarity and essence in Isaiah 50-55, Psalm 16,22 and in many more places.

THE FLAIR THAT LACKS CARE 

As the people grumbled as if without vision once more, then, Moses is duly directed to approach the rock, and so gain water under divine jurisdiction and authority, and from whom ? Why it was from the God who made the earth and knew its treasures and sites. This, however,  Moses did in HIS OWN WAY. Often we hear from this or that political or sports or similar figure, "I did it my way." This is exceedingly dangerous.

While it is good to have initiative, yet the boundary between self and Spirit is clear. It is to be done God's way. With God for you, why draw on what is inferior, the sinful reality of self, instead of being cleansed, relying on the sinless and staggering perfection of God, who made you, called you and conducts your way! Major decisions without faith are like exploding an atomic bomb, and then checking whether you had it placed right. Moses had the power-concept right, but in his use of it on this occasion he made a horrendous error.

Exasperated, he presumed, angered he reacted without spiritual wisdom. In substance, Moses did as directed;  but his method of action alas, was gravely unsound. 

Calling the people 'you rebels' which of course they were, he struck the rock twice,
 

"Must we bring water out of the rock for you!" 

We considered this on another occasion, under the heading presumption, but now we are thinking of the HELP which was THERE as so often before, on that occasion. BECAUSE IT was there, even the Lord in His own engagement, therefore real water would come, and that in quantities to meet the need of hundreds of thousands of people. It would come instantly, from the Rock, and symbolise salvation. It would be adequate, accurately provided, in nothing lacking.

Now one can begin to  itemise the errors of that so valiant, but here temporarily misled Moses. Of four to be noted, let us today take the first.

THE FIRST CRITERION

• 1)  Firstly, he said, "Must we ..." as if his own power or authority (admittedly divinely invested, but still his) would be the source. It was the LORD who standing by, would actually DO the job, through His administrator, and when a servant speaks as his master, it is vain; but when the master is God, it is close to blasphemy.
   

• It is so in priesthood: if a priest speaks as if his own action had intrinsic power,
  and he could cause a piece of bread - such as Christ without bodily harm, broke in the Last Supper - to become the flesh of Christ, then this is the very same presumption. IF it were not the most manifest manipulation of the word of God to make Christ, who is also a vine and a door in imagery, into flesh via a piece of bread expressly given to be a remembrance of Himself, then it would still be a horror so to act: as if God would change it into such flesh, which having suffered ONCE, statedly could suffer no more (Heb. 9:25ff.); or as if in some inscrutable way, it were remanufactured without blood and unable to suffer, it would fail to be anything but flesh. Without shedding of blood, NO remission (Heb. 9:22)! The authentic sacrifice involved suffering and blood, alone providing redemption (Hebrews 9:22-28). Every mass is a presumption.
   

• Moreover, Christ is now restored to and welcomed into heaven, "UNTIL the restoration of all things" (Acts 3:19ff.). That is His stated abode, and that is the duration of that abiding place for Him. He being one and not two, the trinity being three and not four, His body His own and not available for lease or manipulation, far less when in the actual sacrifice He laid down His life of Himself and of His own free will, none taking it from Him (John 10): there is no further involvement on this earth, of that body which appertains to Him, till that terminal time flushes like glory in the skies.
  
  In that terminal time, so will it be great in the eyes of the saints, as He comes for them, and comes in judgment when due. HE has sat down at the right hand of majesty until all His enemies are made His footstool (Hebrews 9:12-13); for there is ONE offering by which ONCE He obtained eternal redemption, thus entering ONCE into the holy place, through His blood and with suffering; for He was ONCE offered to bear the sins of many (Hebrews 9:28).

• Hence He has statedly perfected for ever by ONE sacrificial offering, those who are being sanctified (Hebrews 10:14). Moreover, therefore again, it is He who is the mediator of the new covenant (Hebrews 9:15), and it follows as stated in I Timothy 2, that just as there is ONE God there to act, so there is ONE Mediator on behalf of all, sufficient for all, effectual for many. The instrument is personal faith. The qualification for mediator is this (9:12), that He offered Himself without spot through the Eternal  Spirit (Hebrews 12:14-15). To BE the ONCE ONLY spotless sacrifice in this way, a person qualifies as mediator; of such persons, there is ONE.

• Thus, ONCE He was offered and now makes intercession (Hebrews 7:25) to the uttermost, being set down at the right hand of majesty. There is indeed a second time when He will be manifested an appear. As to that 'second time,' the second appearance, when He does come as Hebrews 9:28 specifies, it will be "apart from  sin, for  salvation," this being cited in parallel with man having ONE death, and not many so that after this, the judgment! Man does not die often; Christ did not die often. After that one death the judgment; after Christ's death, HE brings the judgment, following His  appearance that second time. It is not a multiplicity of atonement, for which He newly appears; it is for a singularity of judgment. Past once is twice, but the twice is the post-sacrificial judgment.  Sacrifice, judgment and death are all ONCE, each in its place.

• Thus just as He declares He came ONCE for salvation (to gain it), remission, and will come again ONCE for salvation (to deliver 'those who look for Him'), so is the parallel for man in this, that man dies ONCE and after this the judgment. So has heaven opened its mouth once, to swallow sin, and judgment will set in once in its  depths, when that swallowing is not found, when no pardon is presented to faith. Multiple action is out, and singularity is in. It is well that God foreknows His own, for there is no other to act, no other to offer, no other mediator, no other principle and no other principal: only Christ, appointed  Mediator, only at Calvary one offering, only by one blood sacrifice comes eternal remission applicable to faith,  sustained for ever.

Moreover, it is not a memory of bloodshed which is directly prescribed for atonement, for remission; it is the shedding of it. It is neither OMISSION nor refabrication without blood. Such is the word of God: it is ONE remission wrought ONCE by ONE offering freely made by ONE Christ on ONE occasion in the flesh given to man as his normal birth-rite, yet without sin (Romans 8, Hebrews 2). This is the word of God concerning remission, so it speaks, and has spoken;  and it will not change (Galatians 1, Revelation 22, Proverbs 30:6, Matthew 5:17-20, I Corinthians 2:9-13). It is focussed on the  Lord's Christ and not another (Luke 2:36 as in II Cor. 11); and to those things of which Revelation speaks, one may indeed add, but only as inviting divine wrath (Rev. 22:18-19). From those words, it similarly states, you may abstract, but on the same condition.

As to all misuses of His remission, sacrifice and action, from a biblical perspective, this is fraud, and grave is the fault of those who stand by in such prognostications (II Corinthians 11).

What then  ? Remission and  memory, innovation and history: the two differ as figures in a book and in a bank. Whether there  be an artificially 'made' Christ or any part thereof, or an ignored sacrifice, either way, the result is the same. The ONE Christ, who ALONE provides remission of sin, saves only by blood sacrifice, and that once made, when He freely offered Himself; and therefore, just as man dies ONCE and after death, the judgment, so Christ died ONCE and after this He comes the second time, and with Him is the judgment.

THE CONSTRUCTION PLANS AND PLANTS

FOR NEW CHRISTS THAT DO NOT REMIT
 

• Accordingly, the case is no better for those others who speak AS IF God were telling them things when it is not in the word of God, the Bible, the Old Testament as defined by Israel in its time (Romans 9), and the New as defined by the Christian Church, wrought and finished through the apostles and their intimate associates. For any such innovator, while God is mentioned, man is master, for his action calls out God at will.

•  If it be said, it is God's will that this be so, then where is the resurrection, where is the power, where is the word of God verified and validated^*2, where is the date of Daniel about the Messiah! (cf. Christ the Citadel ... Ch. 2, SMR, Light Dwells with the Lord's Christ), which shows WHEN that one occasion of sacrifice in the flesh, was to occur, just as then it did so! Innovation concerning Christ, with or without the sacrifice, or ignoring the word of God altogether, alike,  is fraud and grave is the fault of those who stand by in such prognostications (II Cor. 11) or inventions (Jeremiah 23:16-29, II Peter 2, II Timothy 3-4, Matthew 24:24, 21:44). Christ is available neither for bypass, alteration, there being no spiritual seamstresses, or altercation. His word stands and by it, this world will be judged (John 12:48-50).

Indeed, changed, omitted or remodelled messiahs involve simple fraud and grave is the fault of those who stand by in such prognostications (II Cor.11), evacuations or deletions. Their name is legion. Reconstruct in surrealism or bypass in imaginations, irrational, unverified, works of the human heart, and then alike, "whoever falls on this stone, it will grind him to powder." You may ignore it, collide with it,  and so fall; you may seek to change it and so be felled; but whatever pass or bypass may be attempted concerning Jesus Christ, it leads to impasse. As in Daniel 2, it is He who becomes a mountain to fill the whole earth.

"Must we..."  epitomises all such misled faith. He is "able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we  ask or think, according to the power that works in us" on the other hand, epitomises that dynamism of faith which receives what is given and rejoices in the line of duty, this deity-defined, on the highway of holiness. Abide and do not chide! Next week, DV, we shall look further at Moses' error, protection and the nature of the highway of holiness, its appeal and the zeal for it. He erred once and did not make a system of it. Many have been rescued even from spiritually misled systems, as indeed priests in Acts 6:7, and multitudes since. Praise God for His mercies.

NOTES

*1 See Possess Your Possessions Volume 11, Ch. 4,   *1.

*2

See SMR, Light Dwells with the Lord's Christ,  Deity and Design ...