Like Balaam – a Gentile prophet who was brought into a vision – we also need to see the vision of the All-sufficient One and have a divine view of God’s people, having God’s view of things and of His people.
This week in our crystallization-study of Numbers we come to Num. 23-24, and the main subject is, The vision of the all-sufficient One, the divine view of God’s people.
Balaam – a heathen prophet – was paid by Balak to curse the children of Israel, who were on their way to the good land and were about to pass through Balak’s land. However, Balaam could not speak anything but what God gave him to speak, and even though Balak tried to entice him to curse God’s people, Balaam only uttered blessing.
Though the people of Israel were not perfect, yet God saw them perfect and beautiful, and He beheld no iniquity in His people.
In God’s eyes, His people is beautiful, all saints are beautiful, and all believers in Christ are beautiful; the church is beautiful, and all the local churches are beautiful in His eyes, for the Body of Christ is beautiful.
When Paul addressed the church in Corinth, a local church that had big problems that most local churches on earth today do not have, he called them, The church of God which is in Corinth (1 Cor. 1:2).
He had the divine view of the church; he realised that the church is glorious and wonderful in the eyes of God, for the church is in Christ; such a simple address alone should have eliminated all the division and confusion in both practice and doctrine.
In such a local church who may seem “bad” in our yes, with lots of problems, manifestations of the flesh, the world influence, idols, wrong kind of seeking of the Spirit, the abusing of gifts, heretical teachings, and divisions…Paul called it, the church of God.
We need to ask ourselves: who is right, God or you? Is our view of the church correct, or is God’s view of the church correct?
God never debates or fights – He simply presents His view throughout the scriptures.
When we read the book of Numbers we may think that the people of Israel were terrible, with all manner of problems, bad situations, evils, iniquities, and rebellion; they seem so terrible that even God was infuriated with them at times.
But as God said in Zechariah, he who touches His people touches the pupil of His eyes. No matter how bad or evil God’s people had become, no matter how degenerate their condition has become, to God they are still the pupil of His eye.
Nothing is more dearer to God that His people; they are His peculiar treasure, His special possession.
God loves His people, and no matter what Satan as the accuser of the brothers would say, and no matter what His people would say about themselves, God has a divine view of His people, considering them beautiful.
Having God’s view of things and seeing the Heavenly Vision that Directs us to God’s Destination
We should never underestimate the value of having a proper view of a certain matter; the view changes us, for it affects our entire being (see Rev. 21:9-10; Acts 26:19).
The way we look at things determines the way we live, we conduct ourselves, we deal with things, and we handle other people, for almost everything depends on our view of things and of others.
Balak took Balaam to a mountain to see the people of Israel from one angle, then he took him to see them from a different angle, thinking the angle was not right; however, what matters is not the angle we look at people but whether we have God’s view of others or do we have our own view.
We all need to learn to have the proper view, which is the divine view; this view will change us and will affect our being. When we have a certain view of things and of people, though nothing may change outwardly, inwardly we have a different realisation of things.
We may look at God’s people and think they are not so good but rather, they are like gophers or snakes…and we will treat them in this way, not sitting with them but rather despising them…but if we have the divine view, our way of dealing and being with them will be completely different.
In the Bible vision denotes an extraordinary scene, referring to a special kind of seeing – a glorious, inward seeing – and to the spiritual scenery we see from God (Ezek. 1:1, 4-28; Dan. 7:1, 9-10, 13-14).
When Ezekiel and Daniel saw a vision, they were captured by it and their whole being was governed by it.
As believers in Christ, we have no choice: we can only see things and people through the eyes of God. May the Lord blind our own views and give us the divine view of things and of His people.
Some saints may be trouble-makers in the church life, and if we see them as such, we will deal with them as such; however, if we see them from God’s point of view, we will still need to shepherd them and help the situation but we will do it differently, as Peter said, shepherding the flock of God which is among us – according to God.
In order for us to have a vision, we need revelation, light, and sight (Eph. 1:17-18); we need to ask the Lord to give us a spirit of wisdom and revelation, and to grant us light and sight, so that we may have the divine view of things and especially of His people.
When we have the heavenly vision, when we see things the way God sees them, this vision will govern us, restrict us, control us, direct us, preserve us, revolutionize us, and keep us in the genuine oneness, for this vision gives us the boldness to go on.
How can we be kept in the Lord’s recovery? It is by having a vision. But is our vision earthly, selfish, or is it heavenly? When we are on the earth, we look at things with an earthly view, we see things in a certain way; but if we are in the heavenlies with Christ, and we look at things with the divine view, we see things differently.
We need to be carried away in spirit to a great and high mountain to see the holy city, New Jerusalem; we need to see past space and time into eternity, seeing what God sees at the end – the bride of Christ with nothing imperfect or blemished in it!
Do we see what God sees? We need to put on God’s view, His telescope, to see what God sees and see the way He sees things. Under the heavenly vision we are directed toward God’s destination, and our life is controlled according to God’s economy (Phil. 3:13-14; 1 Tim. 1:4).
This view, this vision of God, must control our whole life. We may hear of a little turmoil here or a problem there, and we realize that Satan wants to come in to steal the “divine binoculars”, the “divine telescope” and give us back the fleshly eyes so that we may think that the church is terrible…
We should throw away and stomp on the fleshly and earthly glasses, our way of looking at things, and receive the divine view; when such a view controls our life, we will be preserved.
Lord Jesus, save us from looking at things and at Your people with our own view, our feeling, and our fleshly and earthly point of view. Grant us a vision, a heavenly vision, so that we may see things and people the way You see them. May we have God’s view of His people. May we be governed by the divine view of things and of God’s people. Give us a spirit of wisdom and revelation, Lord, and grant us to have light and sight. May the divine view of things and of people govern us and restrict us, direct us and control us, preserve us and revolutionize us, and keep us in the genuine oneness, giving us the boldness to go on in the Lord and in the church life!
We need to see a Vision of the All-Sufficient One and have a Divine View of God’s People
The story of Balaam in Num. 23-24 is quite inspiring; like him, we need to see the vision of the All-sufficient One and have a divine view of God’s people (Num. 23:7-12, 19-26; 24:3-9).
Every time there’s a test in the Lord’s recovery, when there’s a storm or things happen, our vision is tested – do we see things the way God sees them or the way man sees them?
We need to see a particular vision – the vision of the All-sufficient One. In Gen. 17 we see this self-declared name by Jehovah; when Abram was ninety-nine years old, Jehovah appeared to him and said, I am El-Shaddai, the all-sufficient God.
He is the Almighty God with an udder (like the cow udder), giving His chosen ones all that they need, dispensing Himself into them to be their rich supply.
“El” means Mighty One, and “Shaddai” comes from the Hebrew word meaning breast or udder; God is the Mighty One with an udder, that is, He is the all-sufficient Mighty One.
He is the source of grace to supply us, His called ones, with the riches of His divine being so that we may bring forth Christ as the seed for the fulfillment of His purpose.
As such a One, He causes us to do things we cannot naturally do; He promised Abraham a child, and He worked it out in His own way, for He is the Mighty One who is all-sufficient.
The prophet Balaam heard the words of God and saw a vision of the All-sufficient One.
Then, when he spoke concerning Israel, he said, “From the top of the rocks I see him, / And from the hills I behold him. / Here is a people who live alone / And do not reckon themselves among the nations” (Num. 23:9).
This verse indicates that the children of Israel were a holy people, a sanctified people set apart from the nations. God sees us as a sanctified people, a holy priesthood, a holy nation, a people set apart from all the nations (see 1 Cor. 3:17; Eph. 1:4; 5:27; 1 Pet. 2:9).
“Who can count the dust of Jacob, / Or number the fourth part of Israel? / Let me die the death of the upright, / And let my latter end be like theirs!” (Num. 23:10). This word was a blessing of abundant increase; it is a word of great blessing and appreciation.
“He has not beheld iniquity in Jacob, / Nor has He seen trouble in Israel; / Jehovah their God is with them, / And the shout of a king is among them” (v. 21). Wow, what a verse! This is something spoken not according to man’s view but according to the divine view of things and of God’s people.
We need to bless God’s people and speak well of them. To bless the people of God is to speak well of them no matter what; this doesn’t mean that we are foolish and deceiving ourselves, having no discernment but rather, we speak things from God’s point of view.
We need to be exceedingly careful in speaking of the saints, especially in mentioning their defects; we should not be careless but be very much in spirit, even when we mention some of the needs, weaknesses, and defects of the saints.
According to our view, the saints may have a defect, but according to God, every saint is perfect; who is right – God or you? It’s not that God turns a blind eye so that He doesn’t see trouble or iniquity; rather, He has a divine view of seeing things.
In the sight of God, Israel is without fault; in themselves, God’s people have many defects, but in God’s redemption and in Christ they have NO defects. So when God looks at His people, He doesn’t see them according to what they are in themselves but according to what they are in Christ (see 2 Cor. 5:16-17).
As people of God we have a twofold status: one in ourselves, in our fallen self, and in this status we are poor, sinful, and full of iniquities; but our other status is in redemption, and in this status we have no defect, for here we are in Christ.
When we look at the saints, we need to see them in Christ; when we do this, we will relate to him differently, for we will honor him as God would, and we will deal with him according to God because of the divine view of seeing him.
If God doesn’t see us in Christ, we are in big trouble; outside of Christ we are destined for perdition, and His wrath is on the sinful man.
But praise the Lord, God redeemed us, put us in Christ, and when He sees us, He sees us in His Beloved, and we are beloved as He is!
We have been transferred out of the old Adam and into Christ; this is where we belong. We should not evaluate one another outside of Christ but look at one another in Christ. When we evaluate one another in Christ, there will be no more blaming of the saints, no more despising, no more criticism, and no more gossip.
Lord Jesus, show us a vision of the All-sufficient One who can supply us with everything that we need. Amen Lord, You are all-sufficient supply, and You in us can do what You said we should do in Your word. Grant us the divine view of God’s people so that we may see the people of God the way that God sees them. May we see all Your believers as being in Christ, redeemed and sanctified, a treasure to God with no iniquity and trouble. Amen, Lord, change our worldview, our way of seeing things, and especially our way of seeing God’s people; may we have the divine view of seeing things and people, realizing that the saints are in Christ!
Read this article in the Romanian language / citiți acest articol și în limba română la următorul link, Să vedem o viziune a Celui Atotsuficient și să vedem o viziune divină a poporului lui Dumnezeu.
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by bro. Minoru Chen for this week, and portions from, Life-study of Numbers, msgs. 34-35 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-Study of Numbers (2), week 11, The Vision of the All-Sufficient One – the Divine View of God’s People.
- Hymns on this topic:
# Thy dwelling-place, O Lord, I love; / It is Thy Church so blessed, / It is Thy joy and heart’s delight / And where Thy heart finds rest. (Hymns #852)
# I love the Church, O God! / Her walls before Thee stand, / Dear as the apple of Thine eye / And graven on Thy hand. (Hymns #853)
# But you are a chosen race, / A royal priesthood, / A holy nation, / A people acquired for a possession, / So that you may tell out the virtues of Him / Who has called you out of darkness / Into His marvelous light. (Scripture song)
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