This is the Christian’s “pedigree,” and it is his privilege to be able to “declare” it. He is born from above—born again—born of water and the Spirit, _i. e._, by the Word and by the Holy Ghost. (Compare diligently, John iii. 5; Jas. i. 18; 1 Pet. i. 23; Eph. v. 26.) The believer traces his pedigree directly up to a risen Christ in glory. This is Christian genealogy. So far as our natural pedigree is concerned, if we trace it up to its _source_, and then declare it honestly, we must see and admit that we are sprung from a ruined stock. Ours is a fallen family. Our fortunes are gone; our very blood attainted; we are irrecoverably ruined; we can never regain our original position; our former _status_ and the inheritance which belonged to it are irretrievably lost. A man may be able to trace his genealogical line through a race of nobles, of princes, or of kings; but if he is fully to “declare his pedigree,” he cannot stop short of a fallen, ruined, outcast head. We must get to the _source_ of a thing to know what it really is. It is thus God looks at and judges of things, and we must think with Him if we would think aright. His judgment of men and things must be dominant forever. Man’s judgment is only ephemeral, it lasts but for a day; and hence, according to faith’s estimate, the estimate of sound sense, “it is a _small_ thing to be judged of man’s day.” (1 Cor. iv. 3.) Oh, how small! Would that we felt more deeply how small a thing it is to be judged of man’s judgment, or, as the margin reads it, of man’s day! Would that we walked habitually in the real sense of the smallness thereof! It would impart a calm elevation and a holy dignity which would lift us above the influence of the scene through which we are passing. What is rank in this life? What importance can attach to a pedigree which, if honestly traced and faithfully declared, is derived from a ruined stock? A man can only be proud of his birth when he stops short of his real origin—“born in sin and shapen in iniquity.” Such is man’s origin—such his birth. Who can think of being proud of such a birth—of such an origin? who but one whose mind the god of this world hath blinded?
But how different with the Christian! His pedigree is heavenly; his genealogical tree strikes its roots into the soil of the new creation. Death can never break the line, inasmuch as it is formed in resurrection. We cannot be too simple as to this. It is of the utmost importance that the reader should be thoroughly clear on this foundation-point. We can easily see, from this first chapter of Numbers, how essential it was that every member of the congregation of Israel should be able to declare his pedigree. Uncertainty on this point would have proved disastrous; it would have produced hopeless confusion. We can hardly imagine an Israelite, when called to declare his pedigree, expressing himself in the doubtful manner adopted by many Christians nowadays. We cannot conceive his saying, Well, I am not quite sure. Sometimes I cherish the hope that I am of the stock of Israel; but at other times, I am full of fear that I do not belong to the congregation of the Lord at all. I am all in uncertainty and darkness. Can we conceive such language? Assuredly not. Much less could we imagine any one maintaining the monstrous notion that no one could possibly be sure as to whether he was a true Israelite or not until the day of judgment.
All such ideas and reasonings—all such doubts, fears, and questions, we may rest assured, were foreign to the mind of the Israelite. Every member of the congregation was called to declare his pedigree ere taking his place in the ranks as a man of war. Each one was able to say, like Saul of Tarsus, “Circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel,” etc. All was settled and clear, and necessarily so if there was to be any real entrance upon the walk and warfare of the wilderness.
Now, may we not legitimately ask, If a Jew could be certain as to his pedigree, why may not a Christian be certain as to his? Reader, weigh this question; and if you are one of that large class of persons who are never able to arrive at the blessed certainty of their heavenly lineage—their spiritual birth, pause, we beseech you, and let us reason with you on this momentous point. It may be you are disposed to ask, How can I be sure that I am, really and truly, a child of God, a member of Christ, born of the Word and Spirit of God? I would give worlds, were they mine, to be certain as to this most weighty question.
Well, then, we would earnestly desire to help you in this matter. Indeed, one special object before us in penning these “Notes” is, to assist anxious souls, by answering, as the Lord may enable us, their questions, solving their difficulties, and removing the stumbling-blocks out of their way.