Weekly Pursuit – Week 3 of January
Verses:
Num. 2:1-2 “Then Jehovah spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, The children of Israel shall encamp each by his own standard with the ensigns of their fathers’ households; they shall encamp facing the Tent of Meeting on every side.”
Excerpts:
[In Numbers 2:2] in the matter of encamping in array, there was no human choice. For example, if [an] Israelite was born of the tribe of Judah, he was not allowed to encamp by the standard of the tribe of Naphtali, even if he disliked Judah. Whichever tribe an Israelite was born of, he had to encamp by the standard (large flag) of that tribe; he was not allowed to have his own choice. The spiritual significance of this type is that in the coordination in the church, the believers are not allowed to have their own choice; their coordination must come absolutely out of God’s ordination and arrangement.
Verse 2 goes on to say, “They shall encamp facing the Tent of Meeting on every side.” Although the children of Israel encamped by their own standard, there was only one center. There were twelve standards among the Israelites, but there was only one central goal. All the standards were for maintaining the testimony of God; none of the standards was for its own tribe. They encamped facing toward and around the Tent of Meeting. They took the Tent of Meeting, the testimony of God, as their center.
The church is not only the Tent of Meeting but also the Tabernacle of the Testimony. On the one hand, there is a spiritual army that takes the tabernacle as the center to fight for God in order to maintain His testimony; on the other hand, there is a service for the testimony, which is the center of all the services. Today the church has a twofold responsibility: fighting and maintaining God’s testimony. The former is for the latter. Thus, all the local churches should engage in spiritual warfare and be a testimony for God. (Synopsis of Numbers, ch. 2)