Recently, a brother gave a testimony about being assigned to a service group. When he heard that he had been put on that service group, he wondered whether his position in that group would be the first or last. When he learned that he was not number one, he was somewhat disappointed. That testimony revealed to me that even among us there is the ambition for position. Everyone likes to be number one. Not only is there the ambition for position among us, but also the ambition for promotion. In the church service, the second one is endeavoring to be promoted to the position of number one. Furthermore, those who are first are afraid of losing their leading position. When I learned of this, something within me said, “Do you believe that all the saints in the Lord’s recovery are so spiritual that they don’t care for position or promotion? Do you think that they just love the Lord and have no ambition for anything? You are too spiritual. There is not such a spiritual condition here.” The ambition for position and promotion is found among us.
Being ambitious, however, does not work, except in the negative sense of working out God’s judgment upon us. In the last message we pointed out that we should not consider Moses, Korah, Dathan, and Abiram as separate individuals but as parts of a corporate people. Likewise, you should not consider yourself only to be like Moses. Although I do not know whether or not you are Moses, I am quite sure that Korah, Dathan, and Abiram are within you. We all have these rebellious elements within us, for we were born with them. We all were born Korahs. But by God’s mercy and grace, the real Moses element is being wrought into us. Without His mercy and grace, we would only be Korah. If in Numbers 16 Korah, Dathan, and Abiram had been dormant, probably nothing would have happened. But they were very ambitious and seemed to say, “Moses and Aaron, are you the only leaders? Are we not leaders also?” Because of this, God’s judgment was brought in. The earth swallowed up Korah, Dathan, and Abiram (Num. 16:31-33), and “there came out a fire from the Lord, and consumed the two hundred and fifty men that offered incense” (Num. 16:35).
After this judgment upon rebellion, God commanded that the brass censers of the two hundred and fifty men who were consumed by fire be made into plates for the covering of the altar as a “sign unto the children of Israel” (Num. 16:36-40). These brass plates on the altar became a sign of God’s judgment on rebellion. In this we see that the altar is not only a place for our redemption but also a place for our judgment. At the altar the natural element in us is judged, and that judgment remains as a sign, a memorial, and an indicator that our natural life and our natural element must be judged and burned.
In Numbers 16 and 17 there are two signs, one at the altar and the other in the ark. The sign at the altar is the judgment of the natural element (Num. 16:38), and the sign in the ark is the resurrection of the resurrected life (Num. 17:10). In Numbers 17 God told Moses to bring twelve dead rods, one for each of the twelve tribes, and to place them in His presence for a night. That each rod was a dead stick signified that the leaders of the twelve tribes were nothing but dead wood. The next morning one of the twelve rods budded, blossomed, and yielded almonds. This rod did not live by itself but by the resurrection life. This indicated that firstly our natural element must be judged and burned. Our ambition for position and promotion must be burned. Whenever we come into the tabernacle, we must firstly come to the altar and see there a sign of God’s judgment upon our natural element. Both our sin and our natural element must be judged at the altar of brass. After experiencing this judgment at the altar, we may proceed to the laver, the showbread table, the lampstand, the incense altar, and then come forward to the ark in the Holy of Holies. Here in the ark we can see the budding rod. This is the second sign.
The first sign, the brass plates on the altar, signifies that our natural element must be judged and burned. This negative element has no share in God’s building. In God’s building there is no room for anything natural. If you want to participate in the leadership, your natural Korah, Dathan, and Abiram must be judged and burned, and that judgment must remain as a reminder to you. Whenever you come into God’s service, you then will see that reminder on the altar. If we would participate in God’s service, we must realize that our natural element must be judged. Whether you desire to be the first or the last, you still must be judged and burned on the altar. The first thing in God’s building is His judgment.
Although you may love the Lord and care for His testimony, within you there are the elements of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. At times, the Lord may say to you, “This natural element must be judged. You love Me and you care for My testimony—that is wonderful. But your natural element must be dealt with and condemned.” If this does not happen every month, it may happen at least every six months. The more you experience this, the brighter will shine the brass on the altar as a reminder that your natural man must be judged. Hallelujah, for these two signs! One sign is at the altar, and the other is in the ark. In the ark is the budding rod signifying the resurrected Christ in our spirit. This budding rod is the authority.
Suppose that two ambitious brothers are struggling against one another for the leadership, and that only one of them has passed through the experience of Numbers 16 and has been judged and dealt with. The brass on the altar reminds him of God’s judgment upon him. As the issue of this experience, he has the budding rod. In a very real sense, the budding rod comes out of the brass altar. In like manner, the resurrection life comes out of the judgment of God upon our natural life. The brother who is struggling against him, however, has not had his natural man dealt with. The brother who has experienced both the judgment of the altar and the budding rod in the ark may be small and rather unintelligent, and the brother who has not been dealt with may say, “Am I not more capable than he? Surely I am. But whatever I do results in death. It is the issue of a rod of dead wood. I’m just a dead stick, but this brother who is less skillful and intelligent than I am, buds, blossoms, and bears almonds.” If you bring a case to the natural brother, the issue will always be death, for he is a dead rod and can do nothing but kill. But if you bring a case to the brother with the budding rod, the issue will be buds, blossoms, and fruit. If a deadened person stays with him for a while, he will become alive. As a result, the natural brother will say, “I can’t understand why everything that comes to me in the church life becomes dead and everything that comes to this brother becomes so living. God is not fair.” But God is more than fair.