Numbers 10: 33-36
I thought of this scripture after thinking about the Supper on Lord’s day as to the informality of love; speaking of the Lord’s love, the informality of the Lord’s love. Love cannot be bound. Prescription and order are right; we get that here, prescription, how they were to move in the wilderness. We have Judah, Reuben, Ephraim, Dan and, in between these four tribes, the ark on the shoulders of the Kohathites; that is how they were to move. They set forward and they went three days’ journey and the amazing thing is that the ark of the covenant of Jehovah went before them; the ark moved out of itself and went before them to seek out a resting place for them. Now that was not as it was given in the prescribed order, therefore it brings out the activity of the love of Christ in relation to His people, that He loves us so much that His love cannot be bound.
I think we see this in John’s gospel. We have the Lord’s service in Luke’s gospel; He was anointed to serve and He went out in the sense of approval of His Father: that was more His commission. It is wondrous grace of the Lord in Luke’s gospel that He went out definitely anointed in view of that. But you do not get that view in John’s gospel. It is more the unofficial side in John’s gospel: He in the bosom of the Father, enjoying the Father’s love and serving His own. His own are very much in mind in John’s gospel, not so much men at large. Verse 30 of chapter 20 says, “Many other signs therefore also Jesus did before his disciples”; they were done before His disciples in view of their help, in view of their being enlightened as to the glory of Himself and appreciating that Person. That is what the signs were for in John’s gospel, but they were for His disciples. So you see the Lord in John’s gospel in a more unofficial way. He lays aside His garments and serves His own. There is informal activity of love on the Lord’s part, it is un-prescribed. He did it because He loved His own so much; He stooped to such a lowly service. He wanted to tell them what was in His heart as to the Father’s things, the Comforter, the Father’s house; but He wanted them restful in order to open out His heart to them, and His love operated in that way, laying aside His garments.
How attractive the love of the Lord is, the informal activity of the Lord’s love. It always does what is suitable, it is never out of place, it is just what is needed at the time, and that is how the Lord serves us. As He came in in John 20, He showed to them His hands and His side, v 20. He did everything there. It is not that everything is done by the Lord as He comes in, although He sets everything on. But in John 20 He did do everything; He showed them His hands and His side, a reminder to them of His love. He showed them His hands. We do not show our sides to one another, if you think of the literal thing, but the Lord did it to His own. That was love on the Lord’s part, an informal activity of love that He actually showed them His side; how intimate He was with them.
There are also His hands. They knew about the Lord’s hands. He had suffered for them, but He had also served them; and showing them His hands would also refer to that, He would continue to serve them. The Lord’s present place on high is for His own, and He continues to serve us. I am often impressed with that scripture on Lord’s day morning; He showed them His hands and His side. As we gather together, we are all different, we have all had different experiences, we are all carrying different burdens, different exercises, but the Lord would serve each one of us in whatever way is needed to set us free with Himself, and for Himself and for what He has in mind.
This scripture here would relate to that. It is the wilderness, we gather in the wilderness, and the Lord in His love operates so that we might have rest. It says “to search out a resting-place for them”; so that He is considering ourselves. What a resting place it is as He comes in, our affections at rest and set free in relation to Himself; what it means for Him, but He has considered for us. The remembrance of the Lord Jesus is primarily for Himself, “this do in remembrance of me” (Luke 22: 19); He wants remembrance. As our affections are full and we are there for Him He would consider for us and cause us to be restful and manifest Himself. What a blessed privilege that is; He serves us in love in view of us being set free.
In the scripture we had in John 12 we get the informal activity of love by Mary, un-prescribed but just exactly what was needed at the time. The supper was more an ordered thing and they all had part in that. Mary, the most spiritual person there, apart from the Lord, of course, knew what to do; her love for the Lord caused her to act in the way she did. But I would speak of it as the informal activity of love. One person actually disagreed with it. “Mary therefore, having taken a pound of ointment of pure nard of great price, anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair, and the house was filled with the odour of the ointment” (v 3); that was her affection poured out on the Lord irrespective of what others thought, instinctive, intelligent affection operating in Mary. We have the blessed Holy Spirit to help us in this way, to pour our affections out on the Lord Jesus, expressing what would always be suitable and fitting as we are dependent on the Holy Spirit, the power for these things. How attractive it is, just this informal activity of love. It is when things are cold, or not as they should be, that love cannot operate in the same way. When things are normal, that is when you get the informal activity of love because there is no fear, “perfect love casts out fear”, 1 John 4: 18.
May we be encouraged by the service of the Lord Jesus in the informal way He operates amongst His own because of His love for us. And then it can be taken on by ourselves. We gather, and there is order, there must be order; then there is what is beyond order. A brother recently read that scripture in Chronicles here, that they did not observe the courses, 2 Chron 5:11. It is the same thought; it was informal as being dependent on the Spirit. It is not doing as we please, the flesh operating, not at all; it is the activity of love as under divine control.
May the Lord bless the word.
Dundee
12th April 2011