Now will you follow with me, thoughtfully through
a number of places and passages in the
Word of God, beginning in the book of
Exodus, chapter thirty-two, Exodus, chapter thirty
-two, at verse twenty-five, and when Moses
saw that the people were broken loose, for
Aaron had let them loose for a derision
among their enemies, then Moses stood in the
gate of the camp and said, Whoso is
on the Lord's side, let him come unto
me.
And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves
together unto him.
In the book of Numbers, chapter eight, at
verse nine, Thou shalt present the Levites before
the tent of meeting.
Thou shalt assemble the whole congregation of the
children of Israel, and Thou shalt present the
Levites before the Lord.
The children of Israel shall lay their hands
upon the Levites, and Aaron shall offer the
Levites before the Lord for a wave offering
on behalf of the children of Israel, that
it may be theirs to do the service
of the Lord.
The Levites shall lay their hands upon the
heads of the bullocks, and offer Thou the
one for a sin offering and the other
for a burnt offering unto the Lord, to
make atonement for the Levites.
And Thou shalt set the Levites before Aaron
and before his sons, and offer them for
a wave offering.
In the first book of the Chronicles, chapter
fifteen, verse
two, then David said, None ought to carry
the ark of God but the Levites, for
them hath the Lord chosen to carry the
ark of God, and to minister unto him
forever.
Verse twelve, And said unto them, Ye are
the heads of the fathers' houses of the
Levites.
Sanctify yourselves, both ye and your brethren, that
ye may bring up the ark of the
Lord, the God of Israel, unto the place
that I have prepared for it.
For because ye bear it not at the
first, the Lord our God made a breach
upon us, for that we sought him not
according to the ordinance.
So the priests and the Levites sanctify themselves
to bring up the ark of the Lord,
the God of Israel.
Children of the Levites bear the ark of
God upon their shoulders, with the staves thereon,
as Moses commanded according to the word of
the Lord.
Prophecies of Malachi, prophecies of Malachi, chapter
two, verse four.
Ye shall know that I have sent this
commandment unto you, that my covenant may be
with Levi, saith the Lord of hosts.
My covenant was with him of life and
peace, and I gave them to him that
he might fear, and he feared me, and
stood in awe of me.
Chapter three.
Behold, I send my messenger, and he shall
prepare the way before me.
The Lord whom ye seek will suddenly come
to his temple, and the messenger of the
covenant whom ye desire, behold, he cometh, saith
the Lord of hosts.
But who can abide the day of his
coming?
Who shall stand when he appeareth?
For he is like a refiner's fire, and
like fuller's soup, and he will sit as
a refiner and purifier of silver, and he
will purify the sons of Levi, and refine
them as gold and silver.
They shall offer unto the Lord offerings in
righteousness.
Book of the Revelation.
Revelation chapter one, verse two.
Who bear witness of the word of God,
and of the testimony of Jesus Christ?
Verse five.
From Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, firstborn of
the dead, ruler of the kings of the
earth, unto him that loveth us, and loosed
us from our sins by his blood, he
made us to be a kingdom, to be
priests unto his God and Father.
To him be the glory and the dominion
forever and ever.
Verse nine.
I, John, your brother and partaker with you
in the tribulation and kingdom and patience which
are in Jesus, was in the isle that
is called Patmos for the word of God
and the testimony of Jesus.
You have been thoughtful in passing from one
passage to another through them all.
You will have discerned a common link and
basis in every one.
The Old Testament links in the chain
of the history and ministry of the Levites
in relation to the Lord's testimony.
None but the Levites ought to carry the
ark of the testimony.
Those passages lead us over into the New
Testament and right at the end we find
ourselves once more in the presence of this
central thing, God's mind and interest, the testimony
of Jesus.
And it is significant, important to be noted,
that we pass straight on from chapter one
of the Revelation into what is in chapters
two and three concerning the overcomers.
The message to every church and in every
case, the issue is to him that overcometh.
It seems perfectly clear that this whole matter
right through the scriptures is a matter of
that service of peculiar importance and value to
the Lord, the bearing of his testimony.
It is that which is called the service
of God.
If we want to know what the Levites
really are in representation and spiritual significance, that
is made perfectly clear for us in the
first three chapters of the book of the
Revelation.
The churches were brought into being by God
for the testimony of Jesus.
That is, I think, beyond dispute.
They are, wherever they are, meant to be
the vessels of that testimony.
But here, in these representative churches of the
whole dispensation, in these first chapters of the
Revelation, we find the churches in general failing
in the matter of the testimony of Jesus.
Perhaps we have not been sufficiently impressed with
this fact that the book opens with the
emphasis upon the testimony of Jesus.
Really, the introduction to the whole book is
that very phrase.
John tells us quite clearly that he was
where he was, and that means that what
he saw and what he set down in
writing in Patmos related to the testimony of
Jesus.
He says that quite emphatically and quite clearly.
It was for the testimony of Jesus.
That phrase governs this book on its first
page, runs right the way through the book.
You can only understand the whole of the
book of the Revelation if you see that
everything there is centered in this that is
called the testimony of Jesus.
That is the explanation.
Everything is accounted for by that.
Then, when that is laid down, the foundation
and the introduction to the whole book.
The first movement of the Spirit.
I was in the Spirit.
The first movement of the Spirit is to
the churches which, as we have said, were
brought into being for the testimony of Jesus.
That is what the Levites came into being
for.
Their whole history, right the way through, related
to the testimony.
In type and figure, of course, in the
Old Testament as represented by the Ark of
the Covenant or the Ark of the Testimony.
In spiritual meaning, it's the same in both
Testaments.
They came into being as a people right
at the very center of the Lord's people
in relation to the Lord's testimony.
You want to know what the essential service
of the Lord is?
It is that.
It is the bearing and maintaining and carrying
forward of the testimony of Jesus in the
history of this world.
I repeat, the Levites came right in for
that very purpose.
And it is that that explains their existence
and their history.
I go back again, that if you want
to know what the Levites represent in this
dispensation, in our own day, they are presented
to us in those who overcome.
If it is true that the purpose of
the churches was to be vessels of the
testimony of Jesus wherever they are, then when
the churches are approached and in every case,
in every case, the final word is to
him that overcometh, it is, I think, unmistakably
clear and obvious that it is in such
people, those who overcome, that you have the
Levitical principle, service and purpose carried on, carried
forward.
They are the people who are put in
trust with the testimony.
That is clear in both old and new
lessons.
They are the people who in the first
place and in the last place are the
people who react against all departure from what
is called the testimony of Jesus.
They are the people in whom God's full
thought concerning his church is represented.
Saying these things, I am saying a great
deal supported, backed up by the word of
God.
Whenever the Lord was going to take a
new step, whenever a crisis was reached in
the onward march of God in eternal history,
the Lord called for the Levites to come
to the fore and to sanctify themselves.
They are the people of the crisis and
of the crises all the way through.
We could say that the Lord was at
a loss and a disadvantage when the Levites
were out of their place and out of
their condition.
The Lord was unable to go on until
the Levites came into their place and sanctified
themselves.
That I think is clear if I only
touch on one or two of the instances
of which we have read.
We do recognize that a very serious crisis
was reached there at Sinai.
Moses was in the mount and as we
have read the people broke loose.
And that is a tremendously impressive bracketed sentence.
They would be made a derision among their
enemy.
We can see through that.
There is one thing that the enemy and
all the hosts of enemies in the heavenlies
are set upon, it is to make the
church a derision in this universe.
A derision.
The universe could sneer at it and say,
That is your church, is it?
That is your church.
When they had broken loose and everything in
that onward march of God from Egypt to
the land was brought to a standstill, the
crisis turned upon the Levites.
The prospect opened up through the Levites.
There could be no movement forward.
Everything was in suspense until the Levites came
forward and took up this issue of a
derision among their enemies.
They took responsibility to answer that challenge.
To deal with that thing and get it
out of the way.
The people of God should go on.
Passing over all those centuries to the time
of David, another crisis in the onward movement
of God has been reached.
Testimony is to be brought to Jerusalem.
Know of David's unfortunate, impulsive action.
Forgetfulness making the Philistine cart for the testimony.
Creating a very link with this world.
And opening the door to death.
Everything again brought to a standstill.
The ark was in the house of Abinadab
a long time.
Then David was exercised before the Lord about
this whole thing.
When he had got over his offendedness with
the Lord.
Dear friends, the Lord's dealings with us sometimes
can bring about a controversy between us and
the Lord.
Until we get through that, there's nothing going
to happen.
The Lord does not do things without a
reason.
He does not bring everything up short and
bring in judgment and discipline without a very
good reason.
Very often we take the whole thing personally
and are disaffected toward the Lord.
David was grieved with the Lord that day.
Well, David, you'll have to get rid of
that.
However long it takes before the Lord will
move on.
However, David being the man that he was,
with a heart for God, searched the matter
out.
Had the right kind of exercise about it
all.
And found it in the Word.
A place you'll always find it in the
Word.
Somewhere it's there.
It's there the answer to all our difficulties
and problems and controversies.
It's there somewhere clear and straight.
And as David was exercised before the Lord,
turning over the pages of the Word, he
came on it.
And right on it, the answer to everything.
None ought to bear the ark save the
Levites.
When the Levites came into their place, were
sanctified and resumed their work.
Things went on.
I just take those two instances which are
sufficient to indicate this.
That every forward movement, every fresh advance in
the great purpose of God is bound up
with this Levitical idea.
Principle and people.
You will not challenge me, I'm sure, on
this matter of the churches in Revelation.
Was there a crisis?
The Lord was saying, in effect, quite definitely,
positively, I can't go on any further with
you.
Indeed, I'll have to remove your lampstand out
of its place.
We just cannot go on.
We've come to a crisis.
We've come to a standstill.
We can go no further.
If there is to be any future, it
will be with those who take up the
Levitical principle of sanctification, of holiness amongst the
Lord's people.
And with them the future rests to him
that overcometh.
Will I?
See, the towardness of the Lord is there.
And I feel that we are right in
saying those who are in those chapters referred
to as those who overcome are the people
who spiritually and actually step right into the
place and meaning and service of the Levites.
So let us make it perfectly clear before
we go any further that while in the
old dispensation the Levites were a tribe, were
a people by themselves, a separate community in
a sense.
They only embodied, as all other things in
the old dispensation embodied, a spiritual truth which
belongs to all the dispensations and which is
the law of all God's movement forward to
his end.
Today the Levites are not a separate class,
a separate people, an association, an institution, a
fellowship or anything like that.
Today the Levites are those people of God
who do what the Levites of the Old
Testament did in a spiritual way.
They are the people who are the embodiment
of all that thought and purpose of God
and whose hearts are given to debt and
who are prepared to react against everything that
threatens that, that assails that.
And it is usually, as we find in
the Old and the New, it is usually
a matter of corruption, corruptions.
Constantly in the Old Testament the Levites had
to sanctify themselves.
Look in the book of Ezra for instance,
how the Levites had to sanctify themselves for
this service of the Lord.
A sanctified people.
It is impressive, I think, significant again, that
John the Baptist was said to go before
the face of the Lord and that the
result of his ministry would be to prepare
a people sanctified for the Lord.
To prepare a people, or that there should
be a prepared people for the Lord.
Now that is the principle of the Levite.
The Old Testament and the New Testament meet
in John the Baptist.
The book of the prophecies of Malachi, my
messenger sent before my face to prepare my
way before me, has on the authority of
our Lord himself its fulfillment in John the
Baptist.
This is Elijah.
This is Elijah, if you will receive it.
Going before the face of the Lord, preparing
the way of the Lord and the preparation
of a people, or securing of a people
prepared for the Lord.
Then what?
Mark's Gospel.
Jesus began to be thirty years of age.
So he is, so to speak, precipitated onto
the platform, onto the stage.
Jesus began to be about thirty years of
age, entering on his ministry.
It was the year, the age of the
Levites beginning his ministry.
See how we can gather around this from
all directions, all connections, to make it clear,
if it needs making clear, that the Lord's
testimony, the onward movement of God, reaching out
his full end, rests with a people who
embody all that is meant by the Levite.
Well, if we've got that background, we are
able to go on.
The thing which the Levite or the Levites
in all times represent is a people sanctified
for the Lord.
Set apart for the Lord.
Holy the Lord.
When the general mass of the Lord's people,
who are the Lord's people, are not like
that.
The Lord cannot go on until he has
got in the midst of them a people
like that.
He must have that which does represent his
mind.
He's not going on.
He's not going on unless he has something
which answers to his mind, though it be
in the midst of his people.
That is where he will go on.
He demands that.
A people set apart for the Lord.
That opens up one line of very instructive
teaching.
Right through the scripture, it introduces us to
that whole course of God reacting, reacting to
situations by the Levite, or by this principle
of the Levite.
You see, where they first came in, as
we have read in Exodus 32, see what
had happened.
Moses had gone up into the mountain.
It was a way too long for the
people's patience.
And as it is put, they broke loose.
They cast off restraint.
They evidently, evidently under the council instruction of
Aaron, made that calf.
Of what?
The golden calf.
The gold.
The gold that was to be for the
sanctuary in which God was to have the
whole place.
The whole place.
There broke in that day the evil powers
which said in effect, God shall not have
that place.
We will have it.
And we will take the very gold that
is intended for God and make it the
basis and instrument of our worship.
It is very difficult, dear friends, to fail
to see that behind all this is this
persistent breaking in from that evil world, the
powers of evil against God's throne, against God
having everything, at cost, if need be, and
to draw it away from God, take it
from Him.
Well, it was the Levites who took the
stand over that, who, whether they understood all
that it meant or not, we don't know,
but it was the Levites who in effect
said, No.
No.
We will not permit of anything to be
taken from the Lord.
The Lord is to have His rights in
fullness.
We stand for that at any cost.
At any cost.
It proved to be a very costly thing
because, as you know, they had the command
of Moses to take the sword against their
own kin.
Yes.
And their own families.
Amongst their own children.
Brothers.
A very costly thing.
But they did it.
They evidently did see the seriousness of this
breaking in.
Yes.
And their own families.
Amongst their own children.
Brothers.
A very costly thing.
But they did it.
They evidently did see the seriousness of this
breaking in of evil and evil forces and
what it implied.
This touch of corruption.
For that's what it was.
It was spiritual fornication.
They saw something of the meaning of it.
And that day, all the sons of Levi
said to that, No.
Positively and utterly no.
God made His covenant that day with Levi.
Later took the tribe of Levi and set
them apart as the ministers of the sanctuary
to be in close touch with himself in
relation to all his purpose in his people.
Want to know what a Levite is?
That's a Levite to begin with.
To begin with.
But oh, tragedy of all tragedies.
The enemy himself said very well.
Very well.
The Levites draw this upon themselves.
Then the Levites must be the focal point
of our attention and of our activity.
It's one constant history of the Levites, the
Levites being corrupted and put out of their
place, defiled, to arrest the whole movement of
God.
And I have said, call every time God
wanted to go further was to bring the
Levites into a new sanctification, place of sanctification.
Holiness unto the Lord.
And when that was done, at any time,
then the movement went on.
God went forward.
Well, I could pile up the evidence, the
data, the material, on this principle, this Levitical
principle.
And I think that's enough to begin with.
This is a people in the midst of
God's people who, whatever the cost, and with
an utterness for God, stand for His rights
and the fullness of His thought and purpose
concerning His people.
I say again, they are not a distinct
cult, but they are a spiritual people amongst
the Lord's people who are marked out and
marked off by this, that they are not
going to allow themselves to be touched with
the corruption that is in this world and
the hand of the defiler.
You've got to read those chapters of Malachi's
prophecies with this one thought all the time
before you.
They are terrible chapters, aren't they?
Terrible chapters.
God is saying, you're cursed with a curse,
even this whole nation.
Showing His fiery, fiery judgment.
Touching their lives and their family and in
the field and everywhere.
Terrible things in that book.
But you notice, the focal point of all
those prophecies is the Levite.
And it heads up to this.
The messenger of the covenant will come suddenly
to this temple.
Lord whom ye seek, ye shall sit as
refiner of fire and purify the sons of
Levi.
Purify the sons of Levi.
With that you pass out of the Old
Testament into the new, so far as our
Bible is concerned.
And the great Levite comes.
The great Levite comes.
The Lord Jesus.
And in Him we see the whole principle.
The whole meaning of the history of the
Levites summed up.
He is the full-awed Levite.
The corruptor assails.
The tempter attacks.
Draw away this Levite from his steadfastness, if
thou be the Son of God.
But this Levite prevails.
To the last cost, to the last cost,
he overcomes.
He says to us, as he said to
those around him, Fear not, I have overcome.
I have overcome.
The great Levite.
The great overcomer.
And now, to the churches.
To him that overcomes.
The testimony of Jesus.
He overcame.
That testimony is deposited with the churches.
To him that overcomes.
I do trust your seeing far more than
I am seeing.
I present you with a matter that has
far, far too much.
Too many details to encompass in any one
time.
If you see, what does it amount to?
Sooner or later, sooner or later, this whole
question of God's going on to His end
in fullness will arise, and then it will
be a matter of our spiritual condition, whether
He can go on with us.
The matter of our spiritual condition, whether He
can go on with us.
And whether He has that necessary to Himself
for going on.
In the midst of His people, and I
am speaking not condemnatory of anyone.
I am simply taking out of history, and
present history, this, that all those who are
the Lord's people are not after this kind.
All who are the Lord's people are not,
in the spiritual sense, Levites.
They are intended to be.
They are meant to be.
The Lord would have them be, but the
fact is they are not.
They are not.
For various reasons, some of which are mentioned
in the messages to the churches.
But the reason is what the Lord calls
defilement.
Corruption.
That is a very, very large word.
Covers a lot of ground.
Embodies a lot of things.
But it is a sanctified people, prepared for
the Lord.
People who are really, really separated unto the
Lord.
Now dear friends, I am quite sure that
the Lord's disciplines are all in that direction.
It's a terrible thing.
You may not like it put this way,
but sooner or later you will come to
it.
You realize what is involved.
It's a terrible thing for the Lord not
to discipline us.
No greater loss could be suffered by us
if the Lord's eyes of flame see something
wrong.
He should not deal with it.
That would be a terrible thing for him
and for his church and for spiritual history.
He must.
And sooner or later he will.
He will.
You may think this is a very solemn
word.
Why this?
Well, I think for this reason.
And I can tell you that this is
not just a studied subject for this time.
It's a deep and heavy burden.
Think of this.
The Lord wants to go on.
He wants to carry his testimony further.
He wants to do a new thing.
He wants to bring his people on.
In order to do so, he must have
that which is represented by the Levites.
He must have a people in the midst
of his people who really do embody the
fullness of his thought.
And that people, that people must be a
holy people.
A holy people.
These are strong words.
He shall sit as a refiner.
A refiner.
As of gold and silver.
Refiner.
The picture has often been used, you know,
in connection with those words of the refiner
of gold and silver who heats and heats
under the crucible and looks in until, until
the dross is consumed and he can see
his own face reflected in the metal.
And then he says, it's all right.
It's finished.
Is not that just what the Lord would
do?
The fire spot war.
The judgment spot war.
To see his own face.
Glory of God in the face of Jesus
Christ.
In our hearts.
There's a purpose why the Lord brings such
a word to us at this time.
It is while solemn, perhaps challenging.
Let us realize there's a word that's linked
with prospect.
The Lord is a Lord who wants to
go on.
Whoever wants to reach new regions.
To attain his full end.
He wants to do that.
He wants to do something new and ever
new.
Amongst his people.
To do it.
If I have not misread and misstated this
whole history of this people.
To do it.
He must have the people in the midst
of his people.
Who answer to him on the one side.
Concerning his desire.
And answer the enemy on the other side.
To deprive him of his desire.
He would corrupt.
He would pollute.
He would cause this loss to the Lord.
Levi says no.
Never.
Whatever it costs.
Never.
We may talk like that over service for
the Lord.
Or we'll go where the Lord wants us.
We'll suffer whatever is involved in serving the
Lord in any part of the world.
We talk like that.
Dear friends, let us bring that into this
realm.
There's a cost of holiness.
Of sanctification.
A great cost.
And it is in holiness, in sanctification that
service rests.
Not in works.
Not in traveling about.
But not in meetings.
But in holiness of life.
That's the core, the heart of service to
the Lord.
He will bring you to that sooner or
later.
Sooner or later.
He'll bring you to that.
It may go on for some time.
But we'll come to a terrible crisis.
The Lord sees that which is not holy.
But, again, it is a positive, not a
negative word.
The Lord would say something to us gathered
here this very day.
He wants to go on.
He wants to move.
He wants to do things.
Because he is like that.
But even the Lord is held up by
the Levites.
As is so clear.
Whenever the next step is to be taken.
The Levites must come into their condition.
And into their position.
Before the Lord.
The Lord make us true Levites.
To be able to serve him truly.
Now we sing hymn.