Dear Beloved Brethren,
"But it shall be one day which
shall be known to the Lord, not day,
nor night: but it shall come to
pass, 'THAT AT EVENING TIME IT
SHALL
BE LIGHT.' " (Zechariah 14:7)
We do want to welcome you to this
'HIS VOICE THROUGH THE WEB'. It
is once again 'LIGHT IN THE EVENING
TIME.' Be blessed with it and
remember, PASS IT ON TO OTHERS that
it might be made plain upon the
tables (of their hearts) so that as
they read, they too might run
with it. Other writings have
been posted on the Kingdomlife
Website,
so we encourage you to visit that
website www.kingdomlife.com
and
be blessed. Pray for Brother
Bill Gorton also as the Spirit of God
uses him to direct the affairs of
that website.
In this message, we will be
continuing our discussion on 'Two kinds
of women', under the topic: "A
WIFE GOING ASIDE". This phrase - 'a
wife going aside' is found in
Numbers 5:12-21. Accordingly, we
will
be reading three or four verses
from Numbers 5, taking them as our
starting text:
"And the Lord spake unto
Moses, saying speak unto the children of
Israel, and say unto them, if any
man's WIFE GO ASIDE, and commit a
trespass against him.
And a man lie with her carnally,
and it be hid from the eyes of
husband and be kept close, and she
be defiled, and there be no
witness against her, neither she be
taken with the manner:
And the spirit of jealousy come
upon him, and he be jealous of his
wife, and she be defiled: or if the
spirit of jealousy come upon
him,
and he be jealous of his wife, and
she be not defiled:
Then shall the man bring his wife
unto the priest ...." (Numbers
5:11-15a)
Now, this is a provision in the Old
Testament concerning the
institution of marriage. It
relates to the sanctity of the
matrimonial bed. A woman (and
the man also) takes certain vows as
she enters into wedlock with her
spouse. Essentially, it is a
religious rite prescribed by the
Lord through the instrumentality
of
Moses, used in ascertaining the
fidelity or otherwise of a woman.
It
is used when for some reason the
husband of the woman is in doubt
of
her faithfulness. It is
interesting to note that this religious
rite
was used in Israel for over 2,500
years. The entire passage is
interesting and it would be
profitable for the reader to go through
it once or twice. That will
be sufficient to familiarise yourself
with all the provisions. In
another connection, we will be able to
take an exposition of all verses
beginning from the 11th verse of
Numbers 5. But for our
present purpose, one or two things would be
observed from a consideration of
this passage.
In verse 29 of Numbers 5, we are
told explicitly that this
religious
rite as described in the upper
verses constitutes the law of
jealousy. When a wife goes
aside to another other than her
husband,
there is a divine witness attesting
to this. The woman's belly
swells and her thighs shrink.
What an unsightly figure she
becomes!
There is much to be seen in the
judgements of the unfaithful woman.
They have a strong bearing to what
results in the judgement of an
unfaithful ecclessia.
Let us look at this briefly.
Three things happened to the guilty
woman. Her belly swells, her
thighs shrink and she becomes a curse
among her people. The woman
that is not guilty is given a special
capacity to conceive seed and bring
forth children.
It is important to note that this
religious rite is administered on
a
woman only when the spirit of
jealousy comes upon the husband,
whether or not the wife is defiled.
The true state of affairs
comes
out at the completion of the
ceremony. It is even more curious to
observe that in the case of an
unfaithful wife, if the spirit of
jealousy does not come upon the
husband, he is accounted as sharing
in the guilt of the wife. But
if he is sensitive enough to feel
uncomfortable about the wife, he is
approved even when the
religious
rite does not confirm her guilty.
In this case, God would bless
both
man and wife. This looks a
little bit queer, but we know and
understand that all scriptures
point to the Lord Jesus Christ. And
this passage faithfully used by
husbands year after year, for 2,500
years actually points to Christ and
the Church. For we know that
the
relationship between Christ and the
church is set forth in the
scriptures under the figure of
marriage. And whatever we find here
has a prophetic undertone.
Now, we will link up what we have
been reading so far to the
provisions in the book of
Revelation. Our burden is to have an
introductory consideration of the
harlot woman of Revelation 17.
It
can be demonstrated that the book
of Numbers has a special relation
to the book of Revelation.
And, of course, many persons are quite
familiar with this situation.
For example, the books of Joshua and
Ephesians enjoy the same
relationship. Joshua 1:3 says,
".withersoever the soles of
your feet shall tread upon, that have I
given unto you for an
inheritance.". That is the counterpart of
Ephesians 1:3, ".Blessed be
the God and Father of our Lord and
Saviour Jesus Christ who has
blessed us with all spiritual
blessings
in heavenly places in Christ
Jesus.". There is thus a human
responsibility involved in the
enjoyment of these spiritual
blessings
as may be inferred from a
consideration of Joshua 1:3.
Coming back to the main stream of
our meditation, we are saying the
book of Numbers has a special
relationship with the book of
Revelation. We are shown here
that the Lord Jesus Christ takes
special interest in those
congregation that profess to have a
relationship with Him. He
will test them for faithfulness now and
again. He will do so, whether
these assemblies are faithful or
not.
Note this carefully.
You will recall that in a previous
meditation, we examined the
faithful wife. We looked at
Revelation 12 as detailing a later
development among the faithful
class of believers. Revelation 17
does the same but showing the
future state of unfaithful
assemblies.
What is interesting is that the
persons who find themselves in
either
one or the other of these two
classes were once in the same
assemblies. As the tares are
separated from the wheat, in the
process of time, the tares are left
in denominational bundles. The
wheat class is assisted to come
into the priviledges and glories of
the sign-woman of Revelation 12.
Now, our emphasis in the main is on
'a wife going aside'. In what
respect is this woman going aside?
Or putting it more correctly,
what things constitute the going
aside of the woman? This
composite
figurative woman is said to be in
relationship with the Lord Jesus
Christ.
We answer (the above questions), by
drawing our attention to the
things we observed the penultimate
chapter. In considering
Revelation 12, we said that woman
came to the exalted position as
the
seven great promises were being
gradually fulfilled towards her.
So
then, we see the several elements
in the glory of the sign-woman of
Revelation 12 as contained in the
seven great promises of
Revelation
2 and 3.
Taking a cue from this, it can be
demonstrated that the infamy or
shameful estate of the woman of
Revelation 17 has its constituting
elements in the things condemned by
the Lord Jesus Christ in the
letters to the churches.
Let us attempt to look more closely
at these letters, focussing our
attention on what is condemned.
In the very first letter, at the
4th
verse, we see Jesus saying to the
woman, or the church in Ephesus:
".Nevertheless I have somewhat
against thee, because thou hast
left
thy first love."
So, the first mark of
unfaithfulness in the wife going aside is
that
she left her first love. We
are not told that the woman lost her
first love, but she left it.
That is, there was loss of focus.
She
allowed herself to be distracted by
other things that seemed to
captivate her heart. This
typical church is seen in busy
activities.
So much is commended in her zeal for outward service. But she has
come to be doing these things
routinely. Christian service is
motivated by love. Heart
affections are of great value in the
sight
of God. Probably, we should
read the preceding two verses to help
our understanding:
".I know thy works, and thy
labour, and thy patience, and how thou
canst not bear them which are evil:
and thou hast tried them which
say they are apostles, and are not,
and hast found them liars:
And hast borne, and hast patience
and for my name's sake hast
laboured, and hast not
fainted." (Revelation 2:2-3)
Such were the credentials of this
church in Ephesus. But she has
deviated from the source-spring of
all true service unto God. True
devotion unto Christ, the place of
personal devotion, was
abandoned.
The use of those instruments of
devotion that the word of God
reveals
was not given special attention.
They were busy involving
themselves
in some service but they did not
know that the first important
consideration in our walk with God
is that we should have vital
fellowship with Him.
In Mark 3:12-15, we find Jesus
selecting the twelve Apostles. The
Lord's first objective for these
men is that they might be with
Him.
Even in the natural setting, a
woman can be so hardworking in the
home, and yet be lacking in the
things that pertains to true
companionship with the husband.
Devotions to Christ rate higher
than
outward service. Salvation is
first and foremost designed to meet
the needs of God. He desires
our fellowship and dwells in our
worship. This then is the
first duty of love. When the church is
not properly focussed upon Christ,
it may result in placing too
little premium on ministering to
the Father's pleasure in worship
and
fellowship. So this woman
goes aside first in not being focussed
on
her husband. Something has
distracted her. Some other things have
taken her attention from the love
of her husband.
Next, we go to the letter to the
church in Pergamos. There we find
two elements that we might use to
discuss the issue of the wife
going
aside:
".But I have a few things
against thee because thou hast there
them
that hold the doctrines of Balaam,
who taught Balak to cast a
stumbling block before the children
of Israel, to eat things
sacrificed unto idols, and to
commit fornication." (Revelation
2:24)
Now, Balaam is a figure we are all
familiar with. He taught or
serves the Lord in the aspect of
teaching or prophesying. But he
does this for filthy gain.
Both Peter and Jude addressed this
matter
in their epistles. That is,
he laboured only where there is cash
to
pay for his services. And, we
were told that even though he had
awareness that God would not have
him curse the children of Israel,
because of lust for money, he
taught Balak to cast a stumbling
block
on the path of the children of
Israel. Applying this to our
present
meditation, we can say that this
woman is found going aside in the
matter of being distracted toward
covetousness. In Colossians 3:5,
covetousness is taken as idolatry.
And we are told in Revelation 2
that Balaam taught Balak to cast a
stumbling block before the
children of Israel. It was to
cause them to eat food sacrificed to
idols and commit fornication.
Idolatry is one area where the wife
goes aside from the husband.
Her heart is drawn away from the Lord
because of covetousness. From
experience, we know that when a
believer is properly focussed upon
Christ, he is sensitive to
things
cropping up in his life that are
evil. There is a work of the
indwelling Spirit of Christ in this
regard. Before things get out
of
the way, the Spirit of God
witnesses it to the believer who has
become acquainted with the voice of
God.
When devotion is entered into under
a sense of duty, and we do not
wait long to come into real
fellowship with the Lord, it is sure
that
the inward counsel of the Lord will
not be discerned. When things
are done from a merely religious
viewpoint, then there can be no
increase of Christ's consciousness,
no increase of Christ's life
within. And we know that,
once our heart is turned towards God, we
begin to enjoy those ministrations
from the Spirit of God. So, in
this element, the wife goes aside
in the matter of covetousness,
drawn to materialism, because of
some perceived gains that she
might
get from it. This brings us
to the next situation.
The third issue is committing
fornication. The reference is to
worldliness manifesting itself in
unholy ties. We know that James
says that, ".ye adulterers and
adulteresses know ye not that the
friendship of the world is enmity
with God.?" (James 4:4). And the
sixth verse says that ,
".don't you know that the Spirit within you
lusteth unto envy.?".
This reminds us of what we find in Numbers 5
-
".And if the spirit of
jealousy comes upon the husband.". Now,
there
can be devotions towards things,
towards persons which ought to be
exclusively reserved for Christ.
Even in the natural, if a woman's
heart is unusually drawn to another
man, it provokes jealousy. If
we
go to the letter written to the
church in Thyatira, there again we
find this same thing under the
figure of Jezebel. We are told
that,
the church (in Thyatira) was lured
into committing fornication and
eating food sacrificed unto idols
by the whorish activities of that
woman Jezebel.
That seems to go just the same way
the letter to the church in
Pergamos goes, but there is a
difference. The difference is this.
In the case of Balaam, we go to the
New Testament to know what the
Lord is pointing out, while in the
case of Thyatira, under the
figure
of Jezebel, we go back to the Old
Testament to see what the Spirit
of
the Lord is witnessing against.
Here it is unholy ties and mixed
worship. God wants to
emphasize. Some servants of God, unusually
blessed by the Lord's presence, get
carried away. They turn
themselves to demi-gods, and make
the people of God to worship
them.
Remember that Jesus said through
the prophet Isaiah that He would
not
share His glory with another
(Isaiah 42:8). So, in the matter of
whom she reverences and worships,
the wife could go aside. And,
even
in the natural, when a woman tends
to give so much reverence to
another, while at the same time she
neglects to do her duties unto
her husband, it is a mark of gross
infidelity.
We will take the next thoughts and
then bring this meditation to an
end. The letter to the church
in Sardis points to something that
the
Lord condemns. Let us read
the first two verses to illustrate what
in this passage answer to the wife
going aside.
".And unto the angel of the
church in Sardis write; These things
saith he that hath the seven
Spirits of God, and the seven stars; I
know thy works, that thou hast a
name that thou livest, and art
dead.
Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain,
that are ready to die: for I have
not found thy works perfect
before
God." (Revelation 3:1-2)
So, dead formalism is another
indication that the wife is going
aside. And again, we know
that in a natural marriage, either
viewed
from the man's or the wife's
perspective, it is the same. A man
may
give his wife all that she seems to
need of physical things but
starve her of love and
companionship. The woman will certainly
know
that something is wrong, because
the husband's affections are
stayed
from her.
In the same way, the church in
Sardis was given to too much labour
but just little or nothing of real
firepower. So, here it says,
".you have a name that you are
living but you are actually dead.".
The church services of many
assemblies are cold and formal. It is
sometimes so superficial that it
will be safe to call it mere
drama.
Things are said and done with no
real meaning. Nothing goes deep,
yet there is so much noise and
funfair. Even in the natural, such
things can be found in the home.
A very careful observation may
easily detect the superficial in a
relationship. The woman seems
to
be about her duties, taking care of
the children, doing this and
that, but somewhere along the line,
something is wrong. We are
bound
to crystallise the manifest
presence of God in our church meetings.
This is achieved through recourse
to prayers and worship. Once our
personal altars, our one-to-God
fellowship suffers a loss, the
effect
is seen, not only in our character,
but also in our services.
Last, in the letter to the church
in Laodecia, we can find yet
another element of the wife going
aside. In the 15th to 17th
verses
of Revelation 3, we read the
following words:
".I know thy works, that thou
art neither cold nor hot: I would
thou
wert cold or hot.
So then because thou art lukewarm,
and neither cold nor hot, I
will
spew thee out of my mouth.
Because thou sayest, I am rich, and
increased with goods, and have
need of nothing; and knowest not
that thou art wretched, and
miserable, and poor, and blind, and
naked; ."
Here is a reference to the fact
that a wife can go aside in matters
that pertain to false values.
This church is quite conscious of
her
wealth and she thinks she no longer
stand in need of any supply
from
Christ. She said, ".I am
rich, increased with goods and have need
of
nothing.". Many get
pompous and vain when they come to wealth. We
know that whatever we see in the
natural has its spiritual
counterpart. The situation of
the church in Laodecia is common
place
today.
Recall that we are told in Numbers
5 that the guilty woman will
have
a swollen stomach. That is,
the excesses of such a church will be
so
evident even to the unbelieving
public. Her sins and evil ways
would
become so obvious that all may see
it. Many assemblies today are
so
out of place that even the unsaved
know they have run out of
acceptance with God. It says,
the stomach will get swollen, and
the
thighs will shrink, and the woman
will be a curse among her people.
Now, what we have simply done is to
assist us to know that whatever
the Lord will do in our day it is
foreshadowed in some Old
Testament
scriptures. Just like the
Hebrew may be constrained by the spirit
of
jealousy to drag his wife to the
priest so the-greater-than-man,
our
heavenly Bridegroom, will do with
the churches. Any assembly of
people professing to be serving
Christ will not miss divine
attention.
Just like the Hebrew man, moved by
jealousy caused the wife to be
inspected, so Jesus Christ is
carrying out a divine inspection of
all
assemblies that go by His name.
We all need to take out time to
carry out self-examination now and
again. There is a call to
repentance that the Lord is
sounding to all that have ear to hear
Him. It is particularly
disturbing that many assemblies pay no
attention whatsoever to their
condition. There is a need to go
periodically before the Lord not
only as individuals but also
corporately. We would find
the seven letters of Revelation
chapters
2 and 3 very useful. In the
mirror of these letters God's people
are
always made able to see their true
state.
May the Lord burden His people
further to give full attention to
this
important matter of habitually
judging themselves in the light of
the
scriptures. May the Lord
richly bless you, AMEN.
We will stop here again for now.
When next the Lord by His mercies
brings us your way, we will be
considering these 'two kinds of
women'
under another topic: "THE LADY
OF THE KINGS." We indeed covet your
earnest prayers as we pray that
'YOU' stay blessed in Him who alone
is the Bridegroom of His church.
JESUS IS LORD!
Your Brother - 'Segun
Ogunfile.