Henry Law
Numbers 10:35,36. And it came to pass, when the ark set forward, that Moses said, Rise up, Lord, and let Thine enemies be scattered; and let them, that hate Thee, flee before Thee. And when it rested, he said, Return, O Lord, unto the many thousands of Israel.
When the ark moves, a praying voice is heard. When the tribes halt and tents receive them, again it sounds. Prayer consecrates the going forth and coming in. It opens the door for going out. It bolts the resting place. It is the vanguard to precede the tribes. It is the rearguard to lock them in. It sanctifies the extreme links, and so the entire chain.
My soul, view this teaching fact often. Moses begins and ends with hands, with eyes, with heart, uplifted. The first and the last looks are towards heaven. He seeks a journeying blessing before he stirs. He asks a resting blessing when he rests. This is true wisdom and real grace. Happy the life which is one flow of prayer! It is the pilgrim’s staff, the warrior’s sword, the pillow of the weary, the refuge of the distressed, the cry which proves the man to be new born. It is the wing on which the soul flies upward. It is the tongue which asks, the hand which takes great things. It has free access to a mercy seat, and there it carries on a gainful trade.
Believer, to you each day is a new journey. Each circumstance is an onward step. Each morning calls you to a march. Each night is as the spreading of a tent to rest in. Each finished work is as another pause in your advancing pilgrimage. Let then your progress be one stream of supplication. No one ever prayed enough. Many in life and death bewail soul poverty. The cause is poverty of prayer. Much is ill done, much is undone, because prayer is not well done. What scales can weigh the profit which might thus be earned? What thought can estimate the loss which prayerless hours incur?
“Rise up, Lord.” “Return, O Lord.” Such is the rising and the resting prayer. There is strong meaning in the petitions. They are as arrows wisely pointed to a mark. They breathe a definite design. They are not weak in vagueness of unmeaning generality. Some prayers are forms in which no feature is exact. The words are many, but clear thought is rare. But true grace always realises a need. And then it distinctly seeks relief. It asks with known and felt intent. Let the substance of these prayers now be sifted.
- The Rising Prayer. “Rise up, Lord, and let Thine enemies be scattered: and let them that hate Thee flee before Thee.” Here is a confession that Israel’s
1Taken with editing from Christ Is All: Numbers and Deuteronomy.
onward path was thronged with foes. It is so still, and so will always be. Opposing armies are in front. Each step must be through hostile ranks. The rest is reached through many a fight. The Canaanite, the Amorite, the myriads of Satan’s seed still live. They leave no stratagem untried, no weapon unemployed. There is no hour when sword and shield may hang unused.
Next Moses feels that his own might is nought; vain are his counsels; powerless is his arm. When not upheld, he falls. Unaided, he is driven back. His hope, his trust, his strength, his armour, his success, his triumph, are from God. Therefore to God he flees. “Rise up, Lord.” So now, if God’s right hand is not our help, the tide of foes must bear us down. But God is moved by importunities of faith. “Rise up, Lord,” is a cry which brings all heaven to help. It puts sure victory on the wing.
Observe here how the prayer of faith yearns for God’s glory. “Let Thine enemies be scattered.” These enemies hate God. They would impede the progress of His truth. They would extinguish His Word’s light. They would cast down His righteous rule. Can faith sit still and see Him thus dethroned? O no! It agonises with desire that He would vindicate His holy cause, uphold His honour and add trophies to His name. “Rise up, Lord . . . and let them that hate Thee flee before Thee.”
Believer, act out this pattern. Be zealous for God’s kingdom. Let every thought centre in Him. Strive that He may increase. Let Him be magnified, exalted, glorified and then do not care that self lies low. Realise too your oneness with the Lord. His life is your life. His death is your death. His resurrection is your revival. In Him you died and rose, and now sit at God’s right hand. His cause, His foes are yours too, and yours are His. Thus, when temptations fiercely try you, you may appeal to Him: These are Thy conflicts. “Rise up, Lord.” These weapons seek Thine injury. “Rise up, Lord, and let Thine enemies be scattered; and let them that hate Thee flee before Thee”.
- The Resting Prayer. “Return, O Lord, to the many thousands of Israel.” The going forth would have been ruin, unless the Lord moved in front. The rest will be no rest, unless the Lord returns. Prayer called Him to precede their steps. Prayer called Him to abide around their resting tents. Vast was the multitude. But what are numbers without God? His presence is their power, their peace, their joy, their glory, their strength, their fortress, their shield and their repose. They know it and they cry, “Return, O Lord”.
Reader, what is your home and what is your heart if God is absent? That family alone is blessed in which God has His constant seat. The table is a sweet feast when He presides. The family circle beams with pure delights when He is seen in every smiling look. The house is sheltered when His wings spread over it.
But is God willing to abide with men? His Word expels all doubt. The promises hang in clusters. “Draw nigh to God, and He will draw nigh to you” (Jas 4:8). Do you ask, But how can one so vile, so mean, so hateful through iniquity, so stained with sin’s polluting filth, draw nigh to One so holy and so high? A ready path is open. Christ is the way. Flee to His arms, and you reach God. In Christ distance is swallowed up, and union is cemented.
Hear next Christ’s sweet assurance: “If a man love Me, he will keep My words; and My Father will love him, and We will come unto him, and make Our abode with him” (Jn 14:23). Give then your heart to Christ. Make His commands your constant walk. And then you are the temple of His presence. He will come in, and with Him will come all the glories of indwelling Deity.
Heed too the wondrous word: “Thus saith the high and lofty One, that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy: I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit” (Is 57:15). Then ask the Spirit to lead you along humility’s low vale. God will meet you there and make your heart His home. Thus you may be filled with all the fullness of your God; your soul may be a present heaven; your eye may ever rest upon His smile; your ear may ever hear the whispers of His love. At the close of every hour, duty, or conflict, pray with undoubting faith, “Return, O Lord,” and surely God will come.
We are next taught that these petitions have enduring life. They are a model to the end of time. Let none suppose that, when the ark crossed Jordan, they were cast aside. No rather, they flow on in a never-failing stream. They blossom as an ever-verdant tree. Let David give the proof. When ages had flown by, he brought the ark with joy, to Zion’s hill. Where shall his heart find fitting praise? These words supply it. “Let God arise, let His enemies be scattered: let them also that hate Him flee before Him” (Ps 68:1). My soul, may you too ever use this prayer at all fit times.
But these high words from David’s lips open a more glorious view. When he thus sings beside the ark, he has an onward look to Christ. He sees redemption’s Lord riding in redemption’s chariot. David lauds Him, as the mighty conqueror travelling in triumph. Else why should he add, “Thou hast ascended on high, Thou hast led captivity captive: Thou hast received gifts for men; yea, for the rebellious also, that the Lord God might dwell among them” (Ps 68:18)? Thou hast done gloriously as salvation’s Captain. All Thy foes, where are they? They have fled. They are all scattered, as the dust before the wind.
Thus the rising and the resting prayer, beside the rising and the resting ark, lead us directly to our conquering and our coming Jesus. Faith claps the hand and sings aloud, Here is my Lord.
Yes, the moving ark is a type of Jesus going forth to cast down rebel foes. It is high joy to trace Christ’s victorious march. How mightily the Lord advanced! The strength of God was in His arm. His darts were barbed with all Jehovah’s might. “He hath on His vesture and on His thigh a name written, King of kings, and Lord of lords” (Rev 19:16).
His foes, indeed, strove mightily. It was no easy work to rescue souls from Satan’s grasp, or to lay low the prison house of darkness. The enemy rushed on, clad in his fiercest armour, wild in his keenest rage, wily in his deadliest crafts. He plied His every temptation, as a terrific battery. But the true Ark never quailed. Malignant passions maddened in the breasts of those who opposed Him. The adversary licked the dust. The kings stood up; rulers took counsel; all plots were laid; an ignominious death was planned and executed.
But still the Ark moved on. Death could not vanquish. The grave could not detain. The gates of hell fly open. The mighty conqueror appears. And as in Canaan, the ark ascended Zion’s hill amid triumphant shouts; so Jesus mounts on high. The heaven of heavens receives Him. The Father welcomes the all-conquering Saviour. Angelic hosts adore the glorious God-man. The Rising Prayer has full accomplishment, “Rise up, Lord, and let Thine enemies be scattered, and let them that hate Thee flee before Thee.”
Now from glory’s throne He cheers His humble followers in their desert march. Their toils, their conflicts and their fears are many. They often seem as a poor worm beneath the crushing feet. But they survive; they prosper; they lift up the head. As of old, the ark was victorious; so Jesus is now. Yes, every child of faith shall surely set a conquering foot upon the host of foes. Hear this, ye mad opposers, and desist. Where are the nations who resisted Israel? Where are the Pharaohs, the kings of Canaan, the Herods, the chief priests, the Pilates? Share not their malice, lest you share their end. Read in this word the near destruction, “Rise up, Lord, and let Thine enemies be scattered, and let them that hate Thee flee before Thee.”
And as the rising prayer has never failed, so too the resting prayer now teems with life. “Return, O Lord.” Jesus will return. Israel’s many thousands wait, but wait not in vain. “Yet a little while, and He that shall come will come, and will not tarry.” (Heb 10:37). O joyful day! Triumphant sight! What ecstasy! What shouts! What glory! Salvation’s Lord returns. Welcome, welcome to Him!
Reader, what will be your state on that bright morn? Will your lips shout, “This is the Lord, we have waited for Him”? What is the answer of your heart? Is it now swelling with the cry, “Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly”? “Return, O Lord, to the many thousands of Israel.”