Having God’s Guidance and Leading in and through Christ according to God’s Covenant

Praise the Lord, we can have God’s guidance and leading in and through Christ according to God’s covenant!

God’s guidance to His people is in a general way and His leading is in a particular way through Christ, the One who was crucified and resurrected and is now in His ascension.

In the book of Numbers we see that God both generally guided His people by the cloud and the two silver trumpets (Num. 9:15 – 10:10), and He specifically guided His people in a particular way through the Ark (vv. 33-36), a type of the crucified and resurrected Christ in His ascension.

This week in the first part of our deeper study of the book of Numbers we come to the last portion, on Num. 10, and our focus is, Christ as the Center of God’s Move on the Earth from His Incarnation through His Ascension to His Second Coming.

Today in particular we want to see that Christ is our unique Leader; it is not a man that leads us, but it is the crucified and resurrected Christ that leads us to the proper place of rest on the long and rugged journey of the Christian life.

In the church life and in our Christian life the Lord both guides us in a general way and leads us in a particular way by Himself as the crucified and resurrected Christ in ascension.

Even more, He leads us according to His covenant; He is faithful according to His covenant to bring us all the way into the full enjoyment of the good land, and the Christ that we see is the Christ we enjoy and possess.

Praise the Lord for our wonderful Christ, the One who came to be incarnated, lived a perfect human life, was crucified, was resurrected, and is now in ascension, and who now leads us by Himself as the reality of the ark all the way to the places of rest! Hallelujah!

And as He guides us and leads us, He also follows us as the rock that gives us water to quench our thirst.

On one hand He leads us and guides us by Himself as God’s living testimony; on the other hand, He follows us as the living rock to gives us living water as we follow His leading.

Praise the Lord, as the Lord leads us and guides us, He also supplies us, and His leading is His arising; as He arises, the enemies are scattered, and we follow Him in His victory!

May we be those who open to the Lord and allow Him to shine on us again so that, just as He led His people in the wilderness by the cloud, the silver trumpets, and the ark, we would also be led by Him, guided by Him, and we would enter into rest as Christ displays His victory! Amen!

Having God’s Guidance and Leading through Christ according to God’s Covenant

In Num. 9:15 – 10:10 God guided His people in a general way by the cloud and the two silver trumpets; when the trumpets were blown, the people knew what to do, and when the cloud moved, the people all moved.

The cloud signifies God’s presence as our travelling map; when we have God’s presence, we have our map for travelling, and we can follow His guidance and leading.

The silver trumpets differ from the ram’s horns for the jubilee; the silver trumpets have a particular purpose. When the children of Israel went to war against their adversary, they sounded an alarm by sounding the trumpets, so that the people would be remembered before Jehovah and be saved from their enemies.

Paul applies this in 1 Cor. 14:8-9, when he says that, when the trumpet gives an uncertain sound, who will prepare himself for battle? The blowing of the trumpets is like the speaking of a message, both of which should be based on our knowledge of the move of the Holy Spirit.

In particular, what we speak should be according to the three principles seen in the blowing of the trumpets.

First, only the priests were permitted to blow the trumpets; this indicates that only those who live before God and draw near to God can know the move of the Holy Spirit.

Secondly, the trumpets have to be of beaten work, which signifies that the messages we speak are reliable only if we have passed through trials.

Thirdly, the trumpets were to be made of silver, signifying that the messages we speak should be based on Christ’s redemption and God’s grace.

Sounding an alarm is related to going to war; when we speak something, it’s like going to war, for our speaking can help and prepare the saints to rise up and fight for the Lord.

What we want to focus, however, is the Lord’s leading through the ark, which is a type of the crucified and resurrected Christ in His ascension. The fact that the Ark went ahead of the people to seek a place for the children of Israel to rest (Num. 10:33-36).

The Ark led the children of Israel in a particular way, similar to how a small boat leads a large ship through a narrow strait and a swift current.

The unique Leader of God’s people is not any man (vv. 29-32) but is the crucified and resurrected Christ in His ascension (Matt. 23:10). Our unique Leader is Christ; we do not follow a man but the Lord, and He is unique Leader.

The crucified and resurrected Christ in His ascension leads us and guides us. He is the Leader, and He leads us to the proper place of rest on the long and rugged journey of the Christian life (Heb. 4:8-9).

Just as Joshua led the people of Israel into the temporary rest in the good land, so Christ as our real Joshua is leading us into the full rest and enjoyment by Himself as our Leading one.

On our long and rugged Christian journey we need to follow Christ, our unique Leader, and He will lead us to perfect peace and full satisfaction.

On one hand God led His people through the cloud, the trumpets of silver, and the ark; on the other, there was a rock following the children of Israel, and living water flowed out of the rock to supply them. The living ark led them and the living water followed them to supply them with living water until the children of Israel entered into the rest.

The leading of the Ark of the Covenant indicates that the leading of Christ is faithful, according to a covenant.

It wasn’t Moses who led the people of Israel, nor was it his father in law that guided them; rather, it was God who led His people by means of the living ark, the Ark of the Covenant.

The leadership in the church is not according to emotion or affection but according to a covenant. God made a covenant with Abraham and his descendants to bring them into the good land (see Gen. 17:1-8; Exo. 23:20).

Just as Abraham was told by God, when Lot separated from him, to look in all four directions at the land of Canaan for God will give him this land, so we need to see Christ and enjoy Christ.

We need to lift up our eyes and look from where we are, seeing the all-inclusive Christ and entering into the enjoyment of Himself as the good land.

First, we see Christ as the good land, and then we rise up to walk in the Christ that we see. Eventually, God’s covenant was placed in the Ark, and the Ark was called the Ark of the Covenant.

Hence, the Christ who leads us into a resting place is the Christ of the covenant, the Christ of God’s faithfulness (cf. 2 Cor. 1:19-20). As many promises of God as there are, in Him is the yes, and through Him is the Amen of God for glory through us to God.

The Christ who leads us into a resting place is the crucified and resurrected Christ in His ascension, and He is also the Christ of the covenant, the Christ of God’s faithfulness.

Lord Jesus, we open to Your leading and Your guidance and leading in the mingled spirit. We exercise our spirit and we take You as our unique Leader. Lead us as the crucified and resurrected Christ in Your ascension as we follow You on the long and rugged journey of our Christian life. Amen, Lord, lead us to the proper place of rest today, and lead us according to Your covenant. May we look up from the place where we are and see the all-inclusive Christ, enjoy Him, and possess Him with all the saints, according to God’s faithfulness in His covenant!

Seeing a Portrait of Christ’s Victory in His First Coming and in His Second Coming

Num. 10:35 is quoted in Psa. 68:18, and then Paul used this portion in Eph. 4:8-10 to apply this portion to the ascension of Christ.

When the Ark of the Covenant set up before the children of Israel three days’ journey to seek out a resting place for them, Moses said, Rise up, oh Jehovah, and let Your enemies be scattered; and let those who hate You flee before You (Num. 10:33-35).

And similarly, when the Ark came to rest, he said, Return, o Jehovah, to the ten thousand thousands of Israel (v. 36).

These verses are full of significance, and their interpretation and application is in the New Testament. The rising up in this verse refers to Christ’s rising up to the heavens in His ascension, and the return must refer to the second coming of Christ.

Moses’ word in vv. 35-36 portrays a full view of God’s economy from Christ’s incarnation to be the Ark, the embodiment of the Triune God, through His ascension to His second coming.

In the Old Testament wherever the Ark, a type of Christ, went, the victory was won; eventually this Ark ascended triumphantly to the top of Mount Zion.

This is a portrait of how Christ won the victory and ascended triumphantly to the heavens.

Hallelujah, in Christ as the reality of the Ark God was embodied, and this One – Christ as the embodiment of the Triune God – has not only been crucified but also resurrected, ascended, and was triumphantly enthroned far above all on the eternal Mount Zion on the throne of God.

And He will return to His believers, especially to His overcomers, and He will rapture them to bring them where He is, on the throne. Hallelujah!

There is so much more to enjoy in this portion, and in the following articles we will get into it more thoroughly.

Hallelujah, let God arise and let His enemies be scattered! Rise up, o Jehovah, and let those who hate You flee before You! Hallelujah! And return, o Jehovah, to the ten thousand thousands of Your people! We praise You, Lord Jesus, as the embodiment of the Triune God! You came, You fulfilled God’s plan, You died and were resurrected, and You were ascended to enter into victory in glory! Hallelujah, Lord, You will return in victory to bring in God’s kingdom on the earth! We praise You, Lord Jesus!

Read this article / blog post in Romanian – puteți citi acest articol și în limba română la următorul link – Să avem călăuzirea și conducerea lui Dumnezeu în și prin Cristos conform legământului lui Dumnezeu.

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by Ed Marks for this week, and portions from, Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1960, vol. 1, “Synopsis of Numbers,” ch. 16, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallisation-Study of Numbers (1), week 12, Christ as the Center of God’s Move on the Earth from His Incarnation through His Ascension to His Second Coming.
• Hymns on this topic:
  # Teach me Thy way, O Lord, / Teach me Thy way; / Thy gracious aid afford, / Teach me Thy way. / Help me to walk aright; / More by faith, less by sight; / Lead me with heav’nly light, / Teach me Thy way. (Hymns #406)
  # Thy way, not mine, O Lord, / However dark it be; / Lead me by Thine own hand, / Choose out the Path for me. / Smooth let it be, or rough, / It will be still the best; / Winding or straight it leads / Right onward to Thy rest. (Hymns #393)
  # God shall rise, His foes be scattered, / All that hate Him flee away. / As the wax before the fire, / All the wicked He shall slay. (Hymns #1100)