The central thought of the book of Numbers is that Christ is the meaning of life, the testimony, the center of God’s people, and the Leader, the way, and the goal of their journey and fighting. Hallelujah, Christ is the meaning of life for God’s people!
Before we go on to see the need for the formation of the army and what are the qualifications we should have to be part of the Lord’s army to fight for His interests, we need to realise that Christ and the church is and should be the meaning of our human life, the meaning of our Christian life, and the meaning of our church life.
The book of Numbers may not be a very easy book to understand, and when we read it we may focus on the negative things recorded in it, such as the rebellion of the leaders of Israel against Moses and Aaron, the rebellion of Aaron and Miriam against Moses, or the spies who were sent out to see the land but had a heart of unbelief.
What we see in the book of Numbers is not merely the wandering of the people of Israel in the wilderness or their repeated failures but victory and glory.
The book starts with God asking Moses to number the people of Israel for the army, and it ends with the army being ready to march into the land of Canaan, even allotting the land to the people of Israel.
Our concept needs to be renewed according to God’s concept in His word, and we need to see that, according to the divine view, God wants to gain His army to fight for His interests on earth and journey with Him, and even though there may be much rebellion and many failures, God will gain what He is after, and He will bring His chosen people into the enjoyment of Christ as the reality of the all-inclusive good land.
In the book of Numbers we see a glorious scene with standards and ensigns, with the formation and the order of the army, giving us a good impression that on earth God not only had a dwelling place but also has an army.
On one hand God is looking to gain and build up His dwelling place where He and His people can dwell, and where He can be expressed on the earth.
On the other hand, God wants to deal with His enemy but not directly but through man, His creature, so He sent Christ to be our life and our everything, and He wants us to grow up into Him and mature in life so that we may be qualified to be part of His army.
The Triune God mingles Himself with us, His chosen people, so that God may have a group of people one with Him to move on earth and conquer His enemy so that God may regain the earth for the fulfillment of His eternal purpose.
Seeing how in Numbers Christ is Revealed as the Meaning of Life for God’s People
Before we come to the formation of the army, as seen in the book of Numbers, we need to consider what is the central thought of this book. The central thought of the book of Numbers involves Christ Himself in a particular way.
The central thought of Numbers is that Christ is the meaning of life the testimony, the center of God’s people, and the Leader, the way, and the goal of their journey and fighting (see Num. 1:5-53; Col. 2:9).
Every aspect of the formation of the army is related to Christ, for He Himself is the Warrior in God’s army, and He’s also the Captain of the army of God.
Christ is the testimony of God and He is also the all-inclusive land for us to enter into. So we need to take a look at the central thought of Numbers and apply it to us, because we ourselves need to have Christ as everything to us for us to be in the army.
How can we say that the book of Numbers shows Christ as the meaning of life for God’s people? What we see in Numbers is that the people of Israel had a life and a living around the Ark of the Testimony.
The Ark of the Testimony was the center of the tabernacle of the testimony (Num. 1:50, 53). The Ark typifies Christ, and in the Ark the law of the testimony typifies Christ as the definition and expression of God.
The Ark of the Testimony was the meaning of the Israelites’ life.
They left everything of the world behind, they were in the wilderness, and they were not focused on anything like industry, commerce, or agriculture, but they had God in Christ as their food supply (the manna) and drink (water from the smitten rock), and the meaning of their life was the Tent of Meeting with the Ark, which are a type of Christ and the church.
Christ is the meaning of life for God’s people, and Christ and the church should be the meaning of our Christian life today.
All the tents of the people of Israel were encamped around the Tent of Meeting and were facing the Tent of Meeting, which shows that their focus, meaning, and center was Christ and the church, Christ as the Ark of the Testimony and the church as the enlargement of Christ, the corporate expression of Christ.
Today in the church life the meaning of our life should be nothing and no one else but Christ and the church.
We need to be simple and pure before the Lord, facing Christ and the church in all our decisions and our daily life and have the meaning of our life be Christ, the embodiment of God, and the church as the enlargement of Christ.
Just as the children of Israel had the Ark and the Tent of Meeting as the meaning of their life, and this eventually produced them as the army journeying with God and fighting for His interests, so we today need to take Christ and the church as the meaning of our life, and we will be produced to be part of God’s army today.
Lord Jesus, we love You and we take You as the meaning and reality of our life. Lord, besides You we have no other goal and meaning. You are our life, our life supply, our everything, and also the meaning of life. May we be those who exercise our spirit to contact You, be focused on You, and take You as the meaning of life. Amen, Lord, may we be so simple to take Christ and the church as the meaning of our Christian life and church life today so that we may be produced and formed as the army fighting for God’s interest on earth!
The Meaning of our Life is for God in Christ to Enter into us and be Expressed Through us
The central thought of the entire Bible is Christ, for the Bible is focused on Christ as the center.
In particular, the central thought of the book of Numbers is that Christ is the meaning of life, the testimony, the center of God’s people, and He is also the Leader, the way, and the goal of their journey and fighting.
What is the meaning of our life? Before we were saved, we did not have a meaning in our life; we may have thought that getting a good degree, a good job, a good house, a good career, a good wife, a good car, and a good family – these are the meaning of our life.
But when we were saved we realised that the meaning of our human life is for God in Christ to enter into us and be expressed through us (Col. 2:9; 1:27).
The intrinsic experience of being formed into an army to fight for God’s interest is for us to allow Christ to enter into every part of our being and be expressed through us.
God created us in the image of Christ so that we may match Him, He may enter into us, and He may be expressed through us.
The meaning of the entire universe is that God would be expressed; where God is expressed, that place or those people have meaning, but where God is not expressed, there’s no meaning.
God gains His expression in a subjective way, not in an objective way; He is expressed by coming into us and being our life and the meaning of our life, and then He is expressed through us.
The meaning of our human life is for God to enter into us and be expressed through us. The meaning of the universe is for a group of people to receive God into them to be their content so that He may be expressed through them.
May the Lord rescue us from living a life that is void of meaning! May we realise that our life is meaningful only when the Lord Jesus is in us and is expressed through us.
Before we were saved, we didn’t know the purpose of the universe or the meaning of our human life. But now as believers we know the purpose of the universe and the meaning of our human life, which is that God would enter into us and be expressed through us.
Though such a purpose and meaning is grand and wonderful, we can experience it in a very simple way day by day.
By praying simple prayers, even while in the shower or waiting for the bus, we can open to the Lord and be filled with Him, and we can allow Him to permeate us and go into all the inward parts. We can tell Him simply,
Lord, saturate me and permeate me today for You to be expressed through me. Lord Jesus, go into the parts of my being where You haven’t reached before. I want to be part of Your expression. Fill me with Your joy, love, and all that You are!
When we see the vision of Christ in God’s economy we begin to realise that Christ Himself is the purpose of the universe and also the meaning of our human life (see Col. 1:15-20; 2:2, 9-10, 17; 3:4, 10-11).
We need to be saved from having Christ plus some other things as our goal; Christ and the church should be the meaning of our life.
It would be sad to live outwardly in the local churches but, when we meet the Lord, He would tell us that our life was meaningless because Christ and the church was not the meaning of our life.
May we be saved from any thought of setting limits to Christ and the church, and may we be delivered from the thought of designing the church life according to our priorities so that we reserve days and weeks for our personal pleasure…Oh Lord Jesus!
Lord Jesus, saturate us and permeate us until we become Your expression on earth. Work Yourself into us, Lord, until You reach all the inward parts of our inner being, so that we may be a part of Your corporate expression. May Christ and the church be the meaning of our human life. May we not design the church life according to our preferences or priorities, but may Christ be our main priority and the church be our living! Amen, Lord, cause us to see a vision of Christ in God’s economy so that we may realise that Christ is the purpose of the universe and also the meaning of our human life!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by Ron Kangas for this week, and portions from, Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1971, vol. 1, “The Meaning of Human Life and a Proper Consecration,” ch. 2, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallisation-Study of Numbers (1), week 1, Being Formed into an Army to Fight with God for His Interest on Earth.
- Hymns on this topic:
# Man without Christ will perceive / That all things are vanity. / Human life is meaningless / Without hope or purpose. / But when man takes Christ as life, / He’s in spirit born anew. / When he daily lives by Christ, / Vanity is turned to song. / Therefore, man can God express / That the whole world he would bless. / Living water flowing out / People’s thirst to satisfy. (Hymns #1404)
# Do you know what you were made for; / Do you ever wonder why? / What’s the purpose for your being; / What’s the reason you’re alive? / Do you know God wants to be your life? / He wants to be your life, He wants to be your life. / You were made with something deep within, / A vessel to contain just Him. (Song on, Do you know what you were made for)
# Oh Lord, I’ve seen Your worth. / There’s nothing on this earth / That matches who You are. / You’ve captured all my heart. / You’ve captured all my heart. / You are my hope, my goal, Lord; / You’re the meaning of my life, Lord; / You alone are worthy, Lord; / I give my life to You. (Song on Oh Lord, I’ve seen Your worth)
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