"Make Two Trumpets of Silver"

What's the meaning of that? Why two? Why two? Well again, many of you Bible students can answer the question as well as I can, but for our purpose tonight let us note this, that in the Bible a legal position was that  the evidence of one person was never accepted...

It was never accepted. It necessitated, required, demanded the corroboration of a second reliable witness before anything was accepted or established.

The Law said, "In the mouth of two witnesses everything shall be established".

And for our purpose this evening, that means this: our testimony, our witness, what we have to give.

And what we give is something confirmed and established and corroborated.

There is something which has adequate evidence for it, adequate evidence for it, because two is the number always of adequate witness or adequate testimony.

It is the irreducible minimum of GOD. As many more as you like, but no less than two.

GOD requires this: that the thing is substantiated. The thing is borne out. The thing stands upon this double basis.

Now, you'll call to mind you Bible students, other things: the silver sockets of the tabernacle boards for instance - two of them for every board.

So it is. GOD will have everything Established, Confirmed, Ratified, Sure! No weakness; No question about it whatsoever.

If you and I are going to convey in testimony, in ministry anything of GOD, it's got to be something that is Absolutely Sure, Absolutely True, No Theory, No Guess Work, no "I think", or "My idea is so-and-so," but: I KNOW. 

I KNOW. This thing is something which is altogether beyond a question with me.

You see, that is taken up by the Apostle Paul in the passage we read about the trumpet not giving an uncertain sound. "If the trumpet gives an uncertain sound who will prepare for battle?" 

If the instrument is indefinite, well who knows what it's all about?

And I'm rather afraid that a good deal is like that, people really don't know what it's all about.

People are not quite sure about these Christians where they are, they're not quite sure that the Christians themselves know where they are.

Far too much indefiniteness, uncertainty, about many Christians.

And the point that I want to make is this dear friends: as the LORD'S people, and as the LORD'S witnesses, we have got to be very positive and very sure, we have got to be of that kind that no one is left in any doubt about this matter at all.

It is confirmed, it is established. And that they know that we know what we are talking about.

How necessary that is, is it not, in the Christian life, that there should be nothing weak and uncertain, indefinite about us.

It should all be a confirmed and established matter. And so it is two; it is attested, it is confirmed.

Now the purpose of these trumpets: for the calling of the assembly we read.

This is something that brings the LORD'S people together, that establishes the Relatedness, the Oneness, the Fellowship, the Solidity of the LORD'S people.

This is a unifying thing. The influence and effect of our lives must not be to scatter, disintegrate, divide.

It must be unifying in Christ...it is a great ministry to bring the LORD'S people together.

I can hear in the Psalms the trumpets sounding, oh, the trumpets sounding: "Gather My people together unto Me those that have made a covenant with Me by sacrifice.

Gather them together. Let us be careful that the influence of our life and our ministry, is not the opposite of consolidation, of strengthening relationships, of bringing together; change the metaphor: of healing of breaches.

Gather the people together. Again, the ordering of the life and the movement of the LORD'S people.

There's a very great need, a very great need indeed of that kind of ministry that helps people know which way to go, what they ought to do, gives them real direction for their lives, makes known to them what the purpose of GOD is and what the end of GOD is.

Now, it's very interesting to notice that these two silver trumpets come next to the cloud, the shekinah cloud that came to rest upon the tabernacle.

See, these things go together: the cloud, the pillar of cloud and the pillar of fire over the tabernacle was given for the guidance and the guidance that was given was always (when the people were rightly adjusted to GOD) always onward and always nearer and nearer to GOD'S great end in the type of the land, the Land Of Promise, with all its Spiritual Fullness, and Wealth, and Beauty... that was GOD'S object.

We as Christians know so well that the eternal purpose of GOD is right on to the fullness of Christ.

And the trumpets therefore proclaim first of all: purpose. 

~T. Austin Sparks~

Be Still

Gen 26:24  And the LORD appeared unto him the same night, and said, I am the God of Abraham thy father: fear not, for I am with thee, and will bless thee, and multiply thy seed for my servant Abraham's sake. 

Appeared the same night, the night on which he went to Beer-sheba.

Do you think this revelation was an accident? Do you think the time of it was an accident?

Do you think it could have happened on any other night as well as this? If so, you are grievously mistaken.

Why did it come to Isaac in the night on which he reached Beer-sheba?

Because that was the night on which he reached rest.

In his old locality, he had been tormented. There had been a whole series of petty quarrels about the possession of paltry wells.

There are no worries like little worries, particularly if there is an accumulation of them. Isaac felt this.

Even after the strife was past, the place retained a disagreeable association.

He determined to leave. He sought change of scene.

He pitched his tent away from the place of former strife. That very night the revelation came.

God spoke when there was no inward storm.

He could not speak when the mind was fretted; His voice demands the silence of the soul.

Only in the hush of the spirit could Isaac hear the garments of his God sweep by. His still night was his starry night.

My soul, hast thou pondered these words, "Be still, and know"? 

In the hour of perturbation, thou canst not hear the answer to thy prayers.

How often has the answer seemed to come long after The heart got no response in the moment of its crying--in its thunder, its earthquake, and its fire.

But when the crying ceased, when the stillness fell, when thy hand desisted from knocking on the iron gate,

When the interest of other lives broke the tragedy of thine own, then appeared the long-delayed reply.

Thou must rest, O soul, if thou wouldst have thy heart's desire. 

Still the beating of thy pulse of personal care. Hide thy tempest of individual trouble behind the altar of a common tribulation and, that same night, the Lord shall appear to thee.

The rainbow shall span the place of the subsiding flood, and in thy stillness thou shalt hear the everlasting music.

~George Matheson~

Tread in solitude thy pathway, Quiet heart and undismayed. Thou shalt know things strange, mysterious, Which to thee no voice has said.

While the crowd of petty hustlers Grasps at vain and paltry things, Thou wilt see a great world rising Where soft mystic music rings.

Leave the dusty road to others, Spotless keep thy soul and bright, As the radiant ocean's surface When the sun is taking flight.

~H. F.~
     

A Staircase To Heaven

John 1:51  And he saith unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Hereafter ye shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man.

Yes, to our faith this sight is plain even at this day. We do see heaven opened. Jesus Himself has opened that kingdom to all believers. 

We gaze into the place of mystery and glory, for He has revealed it to us.

We shall enter it soon, for He is the way.

Now we see the explanation of Jacob's ladder. Between earth and heaven there is a holy commerce; prayer ascends, and answers come down by the way of Jesus, the Mediator.

We see this ladder when we see our LORD. 

In Him a stairway of light now furnishes a clear passage to the throne of the Most High. Let us use it and send up by it the messengers of our prayers. 

We shall live the angelic life ourselves if we run up to heaven in intercession, lay hold upon the blessings of the covenant, and then descend again to scatter those gifts among the sons of men.

This choice sight which Jacob only saw in a dream will turn into a bright reality.

This very day we will be up and down the ladder each hour: climbing in communion and coming down in labor to save our fellowmen.

This is Thy promise, O LORD Jesus; let us joyfully see it fulfilled.

~Charles Spurgeon~

The Secret Of Weakness Is Compromise

 In Joshua you have the great leaders who maintained things according to God while they lived.

When they died, when Joshua died, and Caleb died, then the period of the Judges came in.

You have a much lower, lesser standard of holding things for God.

The apostles held things for God while they lived.

When they went, well, things went, and it has only been, and is only now, that here and there God raises up some ministry that recovers something for God, and it passes and God raises up something else, and it passes.

Another thing is that when the people did fail at any given point to do what the Lord needed, and to go on all the way with God...began to make compromise, to lower their standard, to accept things that God never intended to be accepted, to allow things to remain or come in... from that time onwards the Lord never cleared out the enemy altogether.

He said, "Because you have not obeyed My word in destroying all these nations, they shall remain and be thorns in your sides forever", so that you never have through this whole period a complete clearing out,

But He left these things to remain; firstly, on one hand, as a testimony to the unfaithfulness of His people as a whole, and on the other hand, as a test of the faithfulness of the people in particular.

Their presence was a declaration that as a whole, God's people had been unfaithful.

Their presence, on the other hand, was to be a test as to how many of the Lord's people in particular would be found faithful.

So you have Gideon with three hundred out of thirty-two thousand.

The rest are not going all the way, and God in a Judges era secures His great victories not by a whole compromising people, but by some who will go all the way with Him.

Are we in conditions like that today?

I do not think there is any doubt about it. The whole background as it is today spiritually, betokens weakness through compromise.

It is a day of small things, and strength where there is a willingness to go all the way with the Lord.

The secret of weakness is compromise, and the secret of power is utter abandonment to the will of God. 

That is summing up Judges in a few words. We said it follows Joshua and that is the key. 

~T. Austin Sparks~

Whenever A Battle Is Imminent, Look For The High Priest.

Deu 20:2  And it shall be, when ye are come nigh unto the battle, that the priest shall approach and speak unto the people,

When Abraham returned from the slaughter of the kings, the priest of the Most High appeared to welcome him, and to prepare him for the still more subtle encounter which awaited him with the king of Sodom.

As Abraham drew nigh to that battle the priest approached.

Whenever a battle is imminent, look out for the: Priest.

Do not go to the war at your own charges, you cannot stand against the mighty power of your arch-adversary.

Look around, and see the Priest stand.

What Priest? The Apostle and High Priest of your confession.

He will offer prayer for you, and anoint your shield with the precious oil, and put His hand upon your hand as you feebly draw the bow.

What makes you so bold, my lad? the captain asked of a stripling as he went into the fight.
 
And the answer came quickly, "My mother put her hands on my head and blessed me ere I left our home."

Whenever the Priest has been near, anticipate a battle.

The best hours come to prepare us for the worst.

The clove descends that we may be able to stand for forty days against the devil. Do not be surprised at this.

And whenever some experience of unusual radiance and helpfulness has visited you, say to yourself, "This is God's sweet way of preparing me against coming trial.

Let me walk warily, for danger is near.

The Priest has been with me; I am drawing nigh to the battle.

I know not what lies before me: but He is acquainted with the difficulties I have to face and the fierceness of the adversary I have to encounter.

He alone can equip me for the fight.

~A. B. Simpson~

Believing Prayer

John 4:50  Jesus saith unto him, Go thy way; thy son liveth. And the man believed the word that Jesus had spoken unto him, and he went his way.

 

Mark 11:24  Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.      
When there is a matter that requires definite prayer, pray till you believe GOD, until with unfeigned lips you can thank Him for the answer.

If the answer still tarries outwardly, do not pray for it in such a way that it is evident that you are not definitely believing for it.

Such a prayer in place of being a help will be a hindrance; and when you are finished praying, you will find that your faith has weakened or has entirely gone.

Do not pray yourself out of faith. You may tell Him that you are waiting and that you are still believing Him and therefore praise Him for the answer.
     
There is nothing that so fully clinches faith as to be so sure of the answer that you can thank GOD for it.

Prayers that pray us out of faith deny both GOD'S promise in His Word and also His whisper "Yes," that He gave us in our hearts.

Such prayers are but the expression of the unrest of one's heart, and unrest implies unbelief in reference to the answer to prayer. "For we which have believed do enter into rest" (Heb. 4:3).

This prayer that prays ourselves out of faith frequently arises from centering our thoughts on the difficulty rather than on GOD'S promise. 

Abraham "considered not his own body," "he staggered not at the promise of GOD" (Rom. 4:19, 20). 

May we watch and pray that we enter not into temptation of praying ourselves out of faith.

~C. H. P.~
     
Faith is not a sense, nor sight, nor reason, but taking God at His Word.

~Evans~
     
The beginning of anxiety is the end of faith, and the beginning of true faith is the end of anxiety. 

~George Mueller~
     
You will never learn faith in comfortable surroundings. God gives us the promises in a quiet hour; God seals our covenants with great and gracious words, then He steps back and waits to see how much we believe; then He lets the tempter come, and the test seems to contradict all that He has spoken.

It is then that faith wins its crown. That is the time to look up through the storm, and among the trembling, frightened seamen cry, "I believe GOD that it shall be even as it was told me."
     
Believe and trust; through stars and suns, Through life and death, through soul and sense, His wise, paternal purpose runs; The darkness of His Providence Is starlit with Divine intents."

Climb Upward

Eze 41:7  And there was an enlarging, and a winding about still upward to the side chambers: for the winding about of the house went still upward round about the house: therefore the breadth of the house was still upward, and so increased from the lowest chamber to the highest by the midst.
     
Still upward be thine onward course: For this I pray today;
     
Still upward as the years go by, And seasons pass away.
     
Still upward in this coming year, Thy path is all untried;
     
Still upward may'st thou journey on, Close by thy Saviors side.
     
Still upward e'en though sorrow come, And trials crush thine heart;
     
Still upward may they draw thy soul, With Christ to walk apart.
     
Still upward till the day shall break, And shadows all have flown;
     
Still upward till in Heaven you wake, And stand before the throne."
     
We ought not to rest content in the mists of the valley when the summit of Tabor awaits us.
 
How pure are the dews of the hills, how fresh is the mountain air, how rich the fare of the dwellers aloft, whose windows look into the New Jerusalem!
     
Many saints are content to live like men in coal mines, who see not the sun.

Tears mar their faces when they might anoint them with celestial oil.

Satisfied I am that many a believer pines in a dungeon when he might walk on the palace roof, and view the goodly land and Lebanon.

Rouse thee, O believer, from thy low condition!
 
Cast away thy sloth, thy lethargy, thy coldness, or whatever interferes with thy chaste and pure love to Christ.

Make Him the source, the center, and the circumference of all thy soul's range of delight.

Rest no longer satisfied with thy dwarfish attainments.

Aspire to a higher, a nobler, a fuller life.
 
Upward to heaven! Nearer to God!

~Spurgeon~
     
I want to scale the utmost height, And catch a gleam of glory bright;
     
But still I'll pray, till heaven I've found, Lord, lead me on to higher ground!
     
Not many of us are living at our best.

We linger in the lowlands because we are afraid to climb the mountains.

The steepness and ruggedness dismay us, and so we stay in the misty valleys and do not learn the mystery of the hills.

We do not know what we lose in our self indulgence, what glory awaits us if only we had courage for the mountain climb, what blessing we should find if only we would move to the uplands of God.

~J. R. M~
     
Too low they build who build beneath the stars.

How He Is Hindered

There is the big question which is always confronting us as to why is it that some leap into the light and go on, and others do not, but always lag behind, and never seem to see any more?

Is it that there is a selectiveness on the part of GOD, a kind of elect of the elect that He has, is it that He has favorites?

I do not think so. I think a great part of the answer lies here, namely, in what God finds He has to deal with, whether people mean business with Him or not, whether He has a clear way or not, whether the ground is occupied or not already by that which is an obstruction to Him.
 
I do not think anybody will fail to get all the light the LORD wants them to have if they really do mean business with GOD.

The Holy Spirit knows us. He looks right deep down into our hearts and knows whether we mean business.

He sees exactly what there is to hinder Him and how far He can go; for the LORD is not going to coerce anyone.

If we are taken up with ourselves, occupied with ourselves, circling round ourselves, centering in ourselves, then the Holy Spirit has not a chance.

We have to come to an end of ourselves.

That is the trouble with so many. They have got a self-complex set up, and all the time it is a continuous going round in a circle and coming back to the same point at which they started, and it is all round themselves, and they are wearing themselves out.

Before long they are going to have an awful crash that involves all that for which they are supposed to stand and represent for the LORD, and it will come down with them.

The Holy Spirit has not a clear way.

We have to get out of the way, so far as this self-occupation is concerned, if we are going to move straight on, and to go on.

He knows exactly where we are, whether we are tied up in them that we are not open to the LORD to consider any further light at all.

We have got it all, or our people with whom we are associated have got it all, and we are a part of that! You know what I mean.

The Holy Spirit cannot do much with folk who are in a position like that; and He knows.

His attitude is, It is no use, I cannot do much there, they are too tied up.

But, if we are prepared to put everything into the water, then the LORD can go on and get a clear way. 

The Holy Spirit knows. He knows you and He knows me.

He knows us a great deal better than we know ourselves.

We may have thought that we meant business and have been praying very much a long time and crying to the LORD to do something, while the Holy Spirit knows quite well that we are not at an end of ourselves and our own interests yet.
 
Something more has to be done to bring us to despair before He can do what He wants.

But He knows: that is the point; and He knew this man, that He had not got a great deal to do to make a start with every prospect of a clear way, and He took the opportunity presented, and He was able to act sovereignly.
 
He did that in order to meet this need.

~T. Austin Sparks~

The Roots Of Being Ashamed Of Christ

Heb 13:5  Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.

Heb 13:6  So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me.

So far then of the revelation of this shame: now a word or two upon the roots of it. Whence does it spring? How is it born? What possible cause can there be for this so tragic feeling?

It will be best to keep close to Scripture in our answer. 

1. Fear
    
Sometimes we are ashamed of Christ through fear. We are ashamed as Nicodemus was. He came to Jesus by stealth and in the nighttime, and he came so because he feared the Jews.

In his heart of hearts he profoundly admired the Lord - we can do that, and yet be ashamed of Him.

But he was a public man, a master in Israel, living in the fierce light that beat upon a rabbi, and he was afraid and he crept to the LORD by night, and the root and basis of his shame was fear.

My impression is that fear is at the root of far more things than most of us ever dream of.

There are even virtues on which men pride themselves which a little more courage would instantly destroy.

The Bible never reiterates in vain, and do you know the command that occurs most often in Scripture?

The commonest command in Scripture is Fear not.

For in the intricate mechanism of modern society there is ample room for subtler and finer fear - fear lest one's business suffer, fear for one's prospects, fear for the welfare of one's wife and children; and who does not know how often tongues are tied and lips are silenced and confession stifled, through the haunting of a vague fear like that?

I know how hard it is sometimes to be true. There are inevitable and unavoidable accommodations which the wheels-within-wheels of modern life demand.

Still, there is such a thing as being ashamed of Christ - if there were not, the words would not be written - and at the root of it today as in Jerusalem, may be the promptings of unmanly fear.
    
2. Social Pressure
 
Again the cause of this shame may be social pressure. We may be ashamed of Christ as Simon Peter was.

And the amazing thing is that in such a zealous and loving heart there should not have been any room for shame at all.

But Peter sat by the fire in the courtyard, and they taunted him with his discipleship; and then the girl who kept the wicket recognized him, and everyone present was antagonistic; and Peter denied his LORD...Peter was ashamed of Him and the shame had its source in his society.

Had it not been for Peter's company that night, we should never have had the tale of Peter's fall.

Alone, in the dark streets, with what a burning loyalty he would have lifted up his heart to his great leader!

But Peter was impressionable, easily influenced, quick to receive the impact of environment, and his society made him ashamed of Christ.

Are there none today who are like Simon Peter? Are there none who deny Christ because of social pressure?

Are there none who are silent and afraid to speak because of the men and women who surround them?

In careless homes, in crowded shops or offices, in football clubs, in social gatherings, is not the old tragedy re-enacted sometimes, and does not their company make men ashamed of Christ? 

3. Intellectual Pride
    
One other reason only would I mention, and that is intellectual pride. There are not a few instances in the book of Acts of shame which sprang from a certain pride of intellect.

When a minister whom I know well was on the point of entering the ministry, the late Dr. Moody Stuart, a saint and a scholar, happened to walk up and down his garden with him.

And the talk fell on the ministry, and on its joys and sorrows, on the love that inspires it and on the hopes that cheer it; when the Doctor turned sharply on his young friend and said, "Mr. C., are you willing to be a fool for Christ's sake?"

It was an apposite and pertinent question. There must be something of that willingness in every Christian.

The Gospel is so simple, so free from subtle intricacy, so entirely, in the heart of it, a gift.

And men are ashamed of Christ because His message is so plain that the illiterate peasant can live by it and die by it.

There is nothing so alien in the world to pride of intellect as the life and the words and the sacrifice of Jesus.

Here is the great offense of Calvary in intellectual and cultured ages - it is that in Calvary there is a fact which the mind alone is powerless to explain.

~George H. Morrison~

THE REASON FOR CHASTISEMENT

Heb 12:6  For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.
                                                                                

What! God loves me when He is discharging His quiver upon me when He is emptying me from vessel to vessel when He is causing the sun of my earthly joys to set in clouds? 

Yes! O afflicted, tempest-tossed one, He chastens you because He loves you!

This trial comes from His own tender, loving hand...from His own tender, unchanging heart!

Are you laid on a sickbed with sorrowful months and wearisome nights appointed unto you?

Let this be the pillow on which your aching head reclines: It is because He loves me!

Is it bereavement that has swept your heart and desolated your dwelling?

He appointed that chamber of death because He loves you!

As it is the suffering child of the family which claims a mother's deepest affections and most tender solicitude, so have you at this moment embarked on your side, the most tender love and solicitude of your heavenly Father.

He loved you into this sorrow and will love you through it.

There is nothing capricious in His dealings. 

LOVE is the reason for all He does.

There is not one drop of wrath in that bitter cup you are called to drink!

Says one, He has purchased these afflictions for us, as well as everything else.

Blessed be His name, it is part of His covenant to visit us with the rod. 

What does our adorable LORD Himself say?

The words were spoken, not when He was on earth, a sojourner in a sorrowing world but when enthroned amid the glories of Heaven. 

As many as I love I rebuke and chasten. 

Believer! rejoice in the thought that the rod, the chastening rod is in the hands of the living, loving Savior who died for you!

Tribulation is the King's Highway and yet that highway is paved with love.

As some flowers require crushing before shedding their fragrance so does your God think it suitable to bruise you.

As some birds are said to sing their sweetest notes when the thorn pierces their bosom...so does He appoint affliction to lacerate - that you may be driven to the wing, singing, in your upward soaring, "My heart is fixed, O God, my heart is fixed!"

Be it ours to say, LORD, I will love You not only despite Your rod but because of Your rod!

I will rush into the very arms that are chastening me!

~John Macduff~

Is There a Difference?

Exo 11:7  But against any of the children of Israel shall not a dog move his tongue, against man or beast: that ye may know how that the LORD doth put a difference between the Egyptians and Israel.

What! Has GOD Power over the tongues of dogs!  

Can he keep ours from barking? Yes, it is even so. 

He can prevent an Egyptian dog from worrying one of the lambs of Israel's flock. 

Doth God silence dogs, and doggish ones among men, and the great dog at hell's gate?

Then let us move on our way without fear.
 
If He lets dogs move their tongues, yet He can stop their teeth. They may make a dreadful noise and still do us no real harm.

Yet, how sweet is quiet!

How delightful to move about among enemies and perceive that God maketh them to be at peace with us!

Like Daniel in the den of lions we are unhurt amid destroyers.

Oh, that today this word of the LORD to Israel might be true to me!

Does the dog worry me? I will tell my LORD about him. 

LORD, he does not care for my pleadings; do Thou speak the Word of Power, and he must lie down. 

Give me peace, O my God, and let me see Thy hand so distinctly in it that I may most clearly perceive the difference which Thy grace has made between me and the ungodly! 

~Charles Spurgeon~

A Very Present Help

Psa 10:1  Why standest thou afar off, O LORD? why hidest thou thyself in times of trouble?
 
God is "a very present help in trouble." But He permits trouble to pursue us, as though He were indifferent to its overwhelming pressure, that we may be brought to the end of ourselves, and led to discover the treasure of darkness, the unmeasurable gains of tribulation.

We may be sure that He who permits the suffering is with us in it.

It may be that we shall see Him only when the trial is passing; but we must dare to believe that He never leaves the crucible. 

Our eyes are holden; and we cannot behold Him whom our soul loveth. 

It is dark...the bandages blind us so that we cannot see the form of our High Priest; but He is there, deeply touched.

Let us not rely on feeling, but on faith in His unswerving fidelity; and though we see Him not, let us talk to Him.

Directly we begin to speak to Jesus, as being literally present, though His presence is veiled, there comes an answering voice which shows that He is in the shadow, keeping watch upon His own.

Your Father is as near when you journey through the dark tunnel as when under the open heaven!

~Daily Devotional Commentary~

What though the path be all unknown? What though the way be drear? Its shades I traverse not alone When steps of Thine are near.