Then, following the priesthood, we need the formation of the army. By the assuming of the priesthood, we can be formed into a spiritual army to fight for the Lord’s interest on this earth. Some qualifications, however, are required whereby we may be formed into such an army. First, to be formed into an army, everyone must give his pedigree, his genealogy—not physical, of course, but spiritual. No physical genealogy will suffice for this. We must have a spiritual genealogy. The children of Israel had to state their pedigree. They had to declare their father and to what family and tribe they belonged. If they could not make such a declaration, if they could not give their pedigree, they must stand back; they could not be formed into the army. You must have spiritual life. Are you born again? Then give us your pedigree. At least you must tell the name of your father. This means that you must check your rebirth. Do you have the assurance that you have spiritual life? Are you a real Israelite? We must be assured that we are born again.
Recently I had a talk with a young brother. I asked him how old he was, and he answered that he was thirteen years of age. Then I asked him when he was saved, and he replied that he was saved when he was nine. “How do you know you were saved?” I asked. “Because I met the Holy Spirit; when I was nine years of age I met the Holy Spirit.” He could give me something as a spiritual pedigree to prove that he had been born again. He had the life of a real Israelite. He had the start. This is the first condition for being formed into the army.
Now the second. You have the birth, you have the life, but you must have a certain amount of growth; you must be twenty years of age (Num. 1:3). A soldier must be someone with a matured life. Babies cannot be sent to war. We must be spiritually matured to twenty years of age. This is the growth and maturity of the spiritual life. Can you say that there are some among you who are truly matured, who can stand up to fight the battle for the kingdom of God? In many places there are many Christians, but it seems that they are just like children playing with spiritual things. They are so young. They can give you their spiritual pedigree, but they have not grown. To make matters worse, though they are infants, yet in their estimation they are the greatest.
One day the granddaughter of a brother said to me, “Don’t call me ‘baby.’ I am big!” She was just three years of age, and she loved to think how big she was. Can you send a child like that to war? Ridiculous! We must grow in the spiritual life. We must grow up to a certain standard that we may be formed into an army to fight the battle for the kingdom and the testimony of God.
Allow me to repeat that this is not a teaching. You must pray about this matter. Pray and remember that you must grow to a certain standard. The standard can never be lowered. We must grow up to it. I say grow up, not grow old. If you become old, you will be discharged; you will be retired from spiritual service. You must only advance; you must never deteriorate. You must stand in the army from the age of twenty to the age of sixty. You must be full of experience, but void of deterioration. Some, indeed, have not yet grown up, but they are already old. They are old young ones. We must grow to a certain stage of life to be formed into the army. This is the second qualification.
The third is that all the people of Israel must be under their own standard according to their houses. This means they have no choice. If you are from San Francisco, you must remain under the standard of San Francisco. If you are from Los Angeles, you must remain under the standard of Los Angeles. You have no option. Perhaps you were born in Los Angeles, but you feel unhappy with the brothers and sisters in that city. You would like to move. You think you would be more happy with the brothers and sisters in San Francisco. But the Lord says, “Go back; return to your father’s house; return to the standard of that house.” This means your personal tastes, your personal desires, your personal choices must be dealt with. There are no personal choices among the people of God. I cannot say that I am of the tribe of Judah, but I do not like this tribe; I prefer Benjamin. I must remain under the standard of Judah. My own desire must be limited.
Look at the situation today among the Lord’s children. How much confusion there is! Those from the tribe of “Judah” have come under the standard of “Benjamin,” and those of the tribe of “Benjamin” have moved to “Manasseh.” Everything is in a state of chaos. It is impossible for an army to be formed in such a situation. We must have the life, we must have the growth, and we must be limited by the standard of our father’s house. This is a strict lesson for us to learn.
Fourth, we must be in order. Consider the picture of the children of Israel. In the center was the Ark with its enlargement, the tabernacle. Around the tabernacle were encamped the Levites, family by family. Then, surrounding them, all the other twelve tribes were positioned and encamped. They kept the order. There was a place for every tribe. Certain tribes were ordained to camp on the east, certain tribes on the south, others on the west, and some on the north. The order of the Lord involves the matter of submission. If we would keep the order, we must learn the lesson of submission. We must submit ourselves to somebody; otherwise, there is no possibility for the army to be formed. When we grow in life to be formed as the army of God to fight the battle for His kingdom, we will spontaneously be submissive. Every one of us will be submissive to others. There will be a divine order among us; hence, an army will be formed.
This is the way for us to possess the good land, the all-inclusive Christ. You can take no other way. The only way is to enjoy Christ as the lamb, as the manna, as the rock with the living water, as the Ark with the tabernacle, as the offerings, as the priest in order to assume the priesthood, and lastly to grow up to be formed into an army.
The fifth qualification is that we must always be fresh and young. Whenever we begin to get old, we must be renewed. By the time of the second numbering, all those from the first numbering had grown old. Thus, they must be numbered again. The old ones passed away and the new ones came in. Those who can be formed into an army among the children of God and share the good land are those who are continually young and fresh.
Indeed, not all the people of Israel were formed into the army. There were those who did not qualify because they were women. A woman in the Scripture means a “weaker, female vessel” (1 Pet. 3:7). They typify the weak ones among the Lord’s children. And there were those who were below the age of twenty, the immature. Not all, by any means, are qualified for the army. Do not expect that all the brothers and sisters among you will be included in the army. There may be just two or three, four or five, nine or ten. There may be just a small group as a nucleus. But, praise the Lord, as long as there are a few who truly have the growth of life, you may take the ground to be formed as an army. You may tell the Lord that you are there in that city to be an army to fight the battle for Him.
We must be clear, however, that before we can be an army, we must first assume the priesthood. Look at the picture. In the center is the Ark with the tabernacle. Then, around the tabernacle is the priesthood. Next, surrounding the priesthood is the army. We must move from the center to the circumference. If we do not know how to keep the fellowship with the Lord, we will be unable to fight. Spiritual fighting always depends upon spiritual fellowship. By maintaining the priesthood, we will be able to fight the battle. If we lose our fellowship with the Lord, we can do nothing with the enemy; we will be defeated.
In Numbers 4:3, 30, 35, 39, and 43, the word service, related to the service of the priesthood, is the same word in Hebrew as military service in Numbers 26:2, related to the warfare of the army. The priests must perform their service in the tabernacle, but their service is referred to as a warfare. While they are serving, they are fighting the battle. In other words, the priestly service is the warfare. If we are really in the priesthood today, we will simultaneously be the army. To be out of the priesthood is to be out of the army. To maintain the priesthood is to maintain the warfare. The army is always kept by the priesthood.
Do we have the spiritual pedigree? Do we have the adequate growth of spiritual life? Do we take the limitation to our personal tastes, our personal desires, and our personal choices among the Lord’s children? If we can answer “Yes,” then we must keep the order with submission and we must always be fresh. Then we will be enabled to assume the priesthood and be formed into an army.
Oh, brothers and sisters, how short we come! By checking item by item, it seems that when we come to item five concerning the priesthood we cannot get through. If we cannot get through with item five, we certainly cannot get through with item six. We must pray. We must seek to apply Christ as the high priest and learn to assume the priesthood. Then we can make some advance in being formed as the army of the Lord to fight the battle for the kingdom of God.
We must notice one further matter. The requirement for service in the army is twenty years of age, while the requirement of the priesthood is thirty years of age. The duration of service in the army is from twenty to sixty years of age, while in the priesthood it is from thirty to fifty years of age. In both the army and the priesthood there must be full growth without any kind of deterioration. Both the priesthood and the army depend upon the growth in life. We must take this seriously. We must grow; otherwise, there will be no priesthood and no army among us. How the Lord’s children need to grow! May the Lord open our eyes and show us how much we need the growth of life. Only by growing to a certain standard can we assume the responsibility of the priesthood and be formed into an army. Only then can we be spiritually organized into a people with the Ark as the center, the tabernacle as its enlargement, and everyone kept in order with submission. It is a beautiful picture. Then we will be ready to cross the river Jordan and take possession of the land.
We have been speaking very much about the all-inclusive land, the all-inclusive Christ. This is the way to possess it; this is the way to enter in. All the records of these three books—Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers—deal with the steps to possess the good land. We may say that there are six steps. The first two are comparatively easy to pass. It is the last four that pose a great problem—the tabernacle with the Ark as the center, the offerings, the priesthood, and the formation of the army. Let us pray and be deeply exercised before the Lord that we might advance in the spiritual life, that we might go on from the experience of Christ as the lamb all the way to the priesthood and the army.