The answer is as plain as a sunbeam. Let us ponder it: it has a lesson for us. Let us apply our hearts to it. The silver trumpet settled and ordered every movement for Israel of old: the testimony of God ought to settle and order every thing for the Church now. That silver trumpet was blown by the priests of old: that testimony of God is known in priestly communion now. A Christian has no right to move or act apart from divine testimony: he must wait upon the word of his Lord. Till he gets that, he must stand still: when he has gotten it, he must _go forward_. God can and does communicate His mind to His militant people now, just as distinctly as He did to His people of old. True, it is not now by the sound of a trumpet, or the movement of a cloud, but by His Word and Spirit. It is not by aught that strikes the senses that our Father guides us; but by that which acts on the heart, the conscience, and the understanding. It is not by that which is natural, but by that which is spiritual, that He communicates His mind.
But let us be well assured of this, that our God can and does give our hearts full certainty both as to what we should do and what we should not do, as to where we should go and where we should not go. It seems strange to be obliged to insist upon this—passing strange that any Christian should doubt, much less deny it; and yet so it is. We are often in doubt and perplexity; and some there are who are ready to deny that there can be any such thing as certainty as to the details of daily life and action. This surely is wrong. Cannot an earthly father communicate his mind to his child as to the most minute particulars of his conduct? Who will deny this? And cannot our Father communicate His mind to us, as to all our ways, from day to day? Unquestionably He can; and let not the Christian reader be robbed of the holy privilege of knowing his Father’s mind in reference to every circumstance of his daily life.
Are we to suppose, for a moment, that the Church of God is worse off in the matter of guidance than the camp in the desert? Impossible. How is it, then, that one often finds Christians at a loss as to their movements? It must be owing to the lack of a circumcised ear to hear the sound of the silver trumpet, and of a subject will to yield a response to the sound. It may, however, be said that we are not to expect to hear a voice from heaven telling us to do this or that, or to go hither or thither; nor yet to find a literal text of Scripture to guide us in the minor matters of our every-day history. How, for example, is one to know whether he ought to visit a certain town, and remain there a certain time? We reply, If the ear is circumcised, you will assuredly hear the silver trumpet. Till that sounds, never stir: when it, sounds, never tarry. This will make all so clear, so simple, so safe, so certain. It is the grand cure for doubt, hesitancy, and vacillation. It will save us from the necessity of running for advice to this one and that one, as to how we should act, or where we should go. And furthermore, it will teach us that it is none of our business to attempt to control the actions or movements of others. Let each one have his ear open, and his heart subject, and then, assuredly, he will possess all the certainty that God can give him, as to his every act and movement, from day to day. Our ever-gracious God can give clearness and decision as to every thing. If He does not give it, no one can: if He does, no one need.
Thus much as to the beautiful institution of the silver trumpet, which we shall not pursue further now, though, as we have noticed above, it is not confined, in its application, to Israel in the wilderness, but is bound up with their entire history right onward to the end. Thus we have the feast of trumpets, the trumpet of the jubilee, the blowing of trumpets over their sacrifices, upon which we do not now dwell, as our immediate object is to help the reader to seize the grand idea presented in the opening paragraph of our chapter. May the Holy Spirit impress upon our hearts the needed lesson of “the silver trumpets.”
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