Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit · Sermon No. 368
“And it came to pass, when the ark set out, that Moses said, Rise up, O Lord! Let Your enemies be scattered, and let those who hate You flee before You.” Numbers 10:35.
THE people of God in the wilderness were led instrumentally by the wisdom of Moses and his father-in-law Hobab; but really their guiding star was the visible Presence of God in the pillar of cloud by day, and pillar of fire by night. I suppose that the possession of this pillar as a guide did not remove from them the duty and the necessity of using the judgment of Moses and Hobab as to the place where they should encamp. You will remember that Moses expressly said to his relative, “You know how to encamp in the wilderness, and you shall be unto us instead of eyes.” They had the guidance of God, yet they were not to neglect the wisdom which God had given to His servants, and the judgment with which He had endowed them. We ought to learn from this, I think, that while we ever seek the guidance of God in Providence, yet we may frequently find direction and guidance in the use of our own common sense, our own discretion with which the Lord has endowed us. As long as the pillar of cloud tarried, the people always waited. However inconvenient the spot might be, if it rested one day, or 20 days, or a month, or a whole year, they stood still. But the moment that the cloud moved, whether the fiery column marched through the darkness of the night, or the cloudy pillar mellowed the brightness of the sun and screened them from its torrid heat, they removed at once. However excellent might be their quarters, they never dared to delay when once the Presence of God moved from above them. It was His to lead—it was theirs to follow. Yet, before they began the march, before the standard of Judah was uplifted, and that tribe began to take up its tents to lead the van, the silver trumpet was always blown in the front. It was heard through the entire encampment— the silver trumpet, which seemed to say, “Arise! Depart!—This is not your rest. Your God has removed, and you must follow.” Then Moses himself came forward, and stretching out his hands, he cried, “Arise, O Lord! Let Your enemies be scattered, and let those who hate You flee before You.” When this was done, on marched the mighty host, and when they came to their halting place, again, and the trumpet sounded for the rest of eventide, up came the king in Jeshurun, the Prophet of Horeb, and lifting up his hands, again he cried, “Return unto Your rest and unto the many thousands of Israel,” and the pillar rested over the top of the great encampment, and gave them a bright and flaming light by night, even as it gave them a glorious covering and protection by day.
To what use are we to put this prayer of Moses; for no passage of Scripture is of private interpretation. No single text in the Word relates simply to the occasion on which it is spoken; but whatever things were written aforetime were written for our learning. The Word of God is a living Word—not a Word that had life in it in the day of Moses, and is now dead—but a Word which is as living to us at this hour as when it first came from the Prophetic lips of the great Lawgiver! I think I shall be warranted in using the text, “Rise up, O Lord! Let Your enemies be scattered, and let those who hate You flee before You” in three ways this morning. We shall use it, first, as the watchword of God’s Israel in every age. Secondly, we are warranted by the 68th Psalm in referring this text, typically and mystically, to the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. And I think, also, the guidance of God’s Spirit will warrant us, in the third place, in using this text personally, for ourselves as individuals, and as a Church; and we would offer this prayer now that the Ark of God in our midst is about to be removed, “Rise up, O Lord! Let Your enemies be scattered, and let those who hate You flee before You.”
I. First, then, THIS HAS BEEN THE WATCHWORD OF THE CHURCH OF GOD IN ALL AGES. The people of God in the wilderness were the picture of God’s Church upon earth. We are strangers and foreigners upon the earth; we are pilgrims and sojourners as all our fathers were. I was struck last evening, on reading for my own instruction the 33rd Chapter of the Book of Numbers, with the constant occurrence of verses concerning the removal of the people. “And they removed from Ethan, and turned again unto Pihahiroth.” “And they journeyed in the wilderness of Ethan, and pitched in Marah. And they removed from Marah and came unto Elim.” They went from the place of bitterness to the place of feasting. “And in Elim were twelve fountains of water, and threescore and ten palm trees; and they pitched there. And they removed from Elim, and encamped by the Red Sea. And they removed from the Red Sea, and encamped in the wilderness of Sin. And they took their journey out of the wilderness of Sin, and encamped in Dophkah. And they departed from Dophkah and encamped in Alush. And they removed from Alush, and encamped at Rephidim.” And so the whole Chapter is a succession of removing and encamping, till at last they ceased to dwell in tents, and came to live in their own walled cities in the land of Canaan! Just such has been the history of the Church—it has always been removing from its place, and such has been the condition of each individual. Here we have no abiding city. “We seek a city which has foundations whose Builder and Maker is God.” Here we have but an earthly house of our tabernacle which is soon to be dissolved, and we are continually men of the weary foot who rest not but journey onward to the place of rest.