The Altar and the Name

by T. Austin-Sparks

Chapter 1 - Jehovah-Shalom

"And he built an altar there, and called upon the name of the Lord, and pitched his tent there" (Gen. 26:25).

"Then Gideon built an altar there unto the Lord, and called it Jehovah-Shalom, that is, The Lord is peace" (Judges 6:24).

The altar and the Name. It is impressive and significant how these two things are repeatedly linked together in the Scriptures. It was so in the case of Abraham when, having been commanded by the Lord to offer his son, Isaac, at the point when the offering was about to be consummated, his hand was arrested and looking up, he saw a ram caught in the thicket by its horns and was commanded to offer it instead of his son. Then we are told that Abraham called that place, that altar, "Jehovah-Jireh, the Lord provides"; the Lord the Provider for His own requirements.

In Exodus 17 we have the account of Amalek coming out against Israel, Moses ascending the mount and interceding while the battle went on in the valley or in the plain, and Aaron and Hur holding up his hands until the victory was won. And then we are told that Moses built an altar and called the name of that place "Jehovah-Nissi, the Lord the Banner"; the Lord triumphant for His people in His own wars.

And now we come to this instance in the case of Gideon, the altar built, the name given - Jehovah-Shalom, the Lord is peace. The significance of that in this connection is going to occupy our attention.

We have these three wonderful things in connection with the altar and the Name:

God's satisfaction in His own provided sacrifice - that is gathered into the altar and the Name;

God's help in the warfare of His people and help unto victory;

God's glory in the recovering of His testimony gathered again into the altar and the Name.

And how real these spiritual meanings are when we come to the Cross of our Lord Jesus. Truly it is the altar for the Name where God finds His full satisfaction in His own provided sacrifice, satisfaction for all His own requirements and demands, where in Christ crucified, the greatest banner ever set up, was erected and the greatest victory given. Jehovah-Nissi is at Calvary and is where the testimony of the Lord is recovered, the glory of the Lord is secured, and that being so, it is peace: Jehovah Shalom. All that focuses upon and is gathered into the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ and you see the inclusive and the transcendent factor is the Name of the Lord. It is all for the Name, the Name it is that governs everything. The place or centre of the vindication of the Name is the altar, or the Cross.

The Need for the Vindication of the Lord's Name

Now, as I have said, we are taking up the third of these three instances, that of Gideon, his altar, and the Name which he proclaimed there.

This is indeed a momentous time, this time where we meet Gideon. There was a tremendous work to be done. The thing in view was no small matter at all. It was nothing less than the extrication of the Lord's Name from a desperate and grievous situation. His Name had become involved in such a situation by the very people who were the people for His Name. To get that Name out, clear in glory and vindication, demanded the getting that people of the Name out, and the writers of these narratives are truly led when they give us the details which show how great a matter it was. The Midianites, the Amalekites, all the children of the East, bringing up their hordes like a cloud of locusts; that was the situation. Out of that the Name of the Lord had got to be brought, had to emerge, in honour and in glory. To secure a people for the Name of the Lord to be the very instrument and vessel of His vindication, that is no small business. It is a tremendous thing. It was a combination of the spiritual and temporal kingdoms, in other words, a combination of the whole, mighty, vast kingdom of Satan in the unseen, with this world. That is the situation. Paul tells us that it is hosts - the same word - hosts of wicked spirits with which the church has to contend.

The State of the Lord's People

Let us look more closely at this situation. The situation in which the Name of the Lord was involved was one where the people of the Name were at the mercy of their enemies; just at the mercy of their enemies. They were in a state of weakness before their enemies so that their enemies were just doing more or less as they liked with them, and they could not withstand, to say nothing of overcome. Weakness characterised the people of the Name, and that is a contradiction to the Name. If the Name is the Name of infinite power, of almightiness and supremacy, it is a terrible, terrible thing for people bearing that Name, called into fellowship with that Name, to be at the mercy of the forces of evil, so weak that they cannot stand their ground, they have to flee hither and thither. It is a terrible story, this; caves and holes and seeking to hide themselves from their enemies; anything to avoid the consequences of this state of defeat and impotence.

Perhaps some of you would react to that by saying that surely there is nothing to correspond with that today, and it is not my intention to embark upon a proof that it is so. There are on this earth evidences, not a few and not small, that the Lord's people are not able to hold their ground against the enemy, but are having to give way, that a state of spiritual weakness exists, speaking quite generally, among the people who bear the Name of the Lord Jesus, which means that they are cowed before the forces of evil, having to yield ground. There is a growing consciousness of weakness, of defeat, of inability to keep possession, or to move on in triumphant procession. I say we need not spend time to prove it, but there are many evidences that there is something today which corresponds to this situation. But let us go on.

A further state of this people of the Name was that they were in poverty, they were not at all enjoying the wonderful wealth that had been spoken of when they were being led into this very land. Oh, what wealth was described and foretold, and they had in days gone by known something about it, enjoyed something of it, but now they are not conscious of being full of riches, divine riches, a wealthy people not only able to meet the demands of their own lives, but having a good margin to give away. No, nothing like that - poverty, starvation, food not available. They were not enjoying the milk and the honey, they were not thriving upon the abundance of the finest of the wheat. No, they were starved and hungry.

Is there any truth in those two things, speaking quite generally, is there any truth in that where multitudes of those who bear the Lord's Name are concerned, they are not enjoying those riches and the depth of those riches? How many are conscious of having this fulness, this competence, with enough and to spare? Is there not a constant seeking to scrape together enough to subsist upon and to scour for something to meet any outside demands? And it is pretty poor fare that is being given.

And further, what a state of confusion. They just did not know where they were. Gideon speaks not only for himself, but for many a heart in Israel. Why? There was a cry as to the meaning of things, the explanation of things. What is it that the Lord means, what is it that the Lord is after, what is the explanation of this state of things? There is bewilderment and confusion, and a lack, a terrible lack, of cohesion, of solidity. They are broken up, scattered, disintegrated.

And finally: without leaders who could speak with such authority as to gather up all these broken fragments of the Lord's people and unify them, a voice of authority, a leadership to consolidate, to rescue from this state. There was no such in Israel.

These were the conditions, and, tragedy of all tragedies, all this right in the land of covenant. They are not exiles now, they are there, it is all there, it is really all to hand, and yet here is the state of things. If the Midianites do represent the commercial element (as they do, remember it was Midianites that bought and sold Joseph, and from then onward we are always finding them in this realm of commercialism) then the resources which belonged to this people of the covenant were being ceded to the Midianites, to the god of this world. This world was taking what belonged to the people of God, and yet it was all there for them.

God's Mind to Do Something for His Name's Sake

Now we go on. Gideon comes into view, and Gideon sets forth God's mind to do something about all this. That is where we begin. What is introduced by Gideon is that God does not want this situation, this does not represent what He would have. Moreover, God has a mind to do something about it for His own Name's sake. If all this is contrary to the honour and the glory of His Name, if that Name is involved by such conditions in dishonour and reproach, then God cannot sit still for ever. God cannot accept that. God is of a mind to do something, and Gideon declares that by his very place in history.

When we turn to that great list and record of triumphs and men of triumph in the eleventh chapter of the letter to the Hebrews, and the apostle comes to the place where he has exhausted his time and says, 'Time will not allow me to speak in fulness about more', he begins to gather them all up together and he begins with Gideon. The time will not allow him to speak of Gideon, then a number of others, and of them, beginning with Gideon, he says, "who through faith subdued kingdoms". That is Gideon. That is God's reaction, and that is what Gideon stands for: the subduing of kingdoms to the glory of the Lord's Name.

So Gideon becomes an outstanding example of the kind of instrument that God would use for the honour of His Name in the rescuing of His people from these conditions, and that is of interest to us, dear friends - I hope it is. Of course, if I have not carried you with me thus far, we break down here, you are not interested, you are not concerned. If it is possible for you to recognise and agree that, again speaking very generally about those who bear the Name of the Lord Jesus all over the world, conditions such as I have mentioned do exist to some considerable extent; there is weakness, there is defeat, there is a having to yield ground to the enemy, to the kingdom of darkness, there is spiritual poverty, there is spiritual starvation. Oh, how many letters come our way containing that complaint - 'We can find no spiritual food' - I could show you literally without exaggeration volumes of letters which just bear upon that one thing - spiritual food. It is apparently not the experience of very many of the Lord's people that there is plenty of spiritual food, and it ought to be their experience. I say, if these conditions are recognisable by you, and I am quite sure they must be, then we can go on together, and shall find a very real interest in a vessel, an instrument, which God will use to meet that situation, to - may I put it this way? - save His Name from the dishonour which such conditions represent.

The Altar the Focal Point of Gideon's Story

Well, we find the focal point of Gideon's whole story at his altar. Everything that goes before with Gideon heads up to that altar, and everything that follows afterward arises from that altar. It is very important for us to recognise that. It is a focal point. It is a terminal point. You can see right up to that time there is uncertainty with Gideon. From that time there is no more uncertainty; at least, uncertainty is steadily giving way, and a mighty strength is taking its place. The altar is the focal point of his whole story, and it will be that of any instrument that God will use in this matter.

Should I stay here to say that God would in our time react more for the glory of His Name against conditions as they are? Well, either we are completely wrong in our fundamental conclusion that the Name of the Lord is in a state of dishonour amongst His people and is not in a state of glory and honour, either we are wrong in that conclusion, or we are left here at this point where we have got to decide one of two things: either God does not care, or He is going to do something, He must do something. Either He throws the whole thing away as hopeless, abandons it all, or He is so concerned as to move. I prefer to believe that the latter is the case. The Lord would move, and I believe, dear friends, that this conference is intended by the Lord to show how He would move in this time for His Name's sake. That means you will have to be patient to the end.

We have said that the altar was the focal point in all this where the instrument of God was, and is, concerned. You see, the altar was the climax of a battle between Gideon and God. The battle with Midian which was coming had got to be pre-fought out and settled in the heart of Gideon. It is no use turning out on a situation if the thing is not settled inside. And this was a real battle.

God's Sovereign Choice of an Instrument

Now, what was the nature of this battle? Firstly, God had sovereignly chosen an instrument, never explaining Himself, for sovereignty never explains itself, it acts on its own rights, and does as it will without giving any explanation. Sovereignty had chosen an instrument.

The Instrument's Consciousness of Inadequacy

Over against the sovereign act of God, Gideon had a lot of difficulties. There was the greatness of the task, infinitely beyond Gideon's power and resources, something that Gideon just could not contemplate.

The greatness of the task on the one side. The weakness of the instrument on the other side, and in between: the spiritual state of the people, the condition of the people. And one more thing - really was the Lord concerned? "If the Lord is with us, why then is all this befallen us?" Is the Lord really concerned?

Now, you see, all those elements can create a first-class internal conflict with the Lord. Here is a tremendous thing to be done. Does the Lord really mean to do it? If so, what kind of an instrument must the Lord have with which to do it, and in my judgment (this is how Gideon is reasoning) in my judgment He needs something better than the vessel He has chosen. Look at the state of things, look at the condition of the Lord's people, how widespread it is, how far-reaching, how almost universal, how deep and terrible it is, how they are involved, yes, how hopeless it all seems. Does the Lord mean to do anything with that?

Have you ever had a question like that? I beg to suggest that the more you know of the spiritual state of things in Christianity, the more that question will press in upon you. Does the Lord mean to do anything with this, and can the Lord do anything? And if so, the Lord must have a very, very special and wonderful instrument with which to do it, and I do not see where that instrument is.

These are the elements of the conflict between Gideon and the Lord. Deep down underneath he had a misgiving which amounted to this - is this really the Lord? Is some terrible, tragic joke being played upon me? Am I being led to believe something that really is not the Lord? Am I being drawn into a deception, involved in something which in its outworking must result in awful tragedy? Am I being drawn into this? Now, I am not exaggerating, you will see. Is this really the Lord? Does the Lord really, really mean this? "Go in this thy might, and save Israel from the hand of Midian, smite the Midianites as one man". Does the Lord mean this? And it amounted to this - can God be really trusted? You see, this was not a matter of the fact and existence of God.

This twofold testing by the fleece, we did not read it, but it comes, you remember, the story of the fleece, this twofold testing by the fleece was not a testing as to whether God existed. The Lord never submits Himself to such tests as to whether He is. "He that cometh to God must believe that He is" (Heb. 11:6). But this testing by the fleece was as to God's purpose and the means God would use to realise His purpose. It had to do really with God's choice - the difficulty of an instrument feeling itself to be what it was - altogether disqualified, altogether without anything in itself to justify such a choice of God, but so much that seemed to contradict that. Has God really chosen this instrument? Is this the kind of means that God will use? It was on that that Gideon needed the assurance. It had to do with choice, which is exactly the same battle that had to be fought by Moses and by Jeremiah, "Oh, Lord, I am not eloquent", said Moses in the battle between himself and the Lord over His choice for that tremendous work. 'I am the wrong man for this job, You have made a mistake, You need something different from me, something better than I am. Lord, you have come to the wrong door, the man you are after does not live here'. Jeremiah - 'I know not how to speak; for I am a child', and how often in his life did he cry out from the deep, unbearable sense of this, that God had made a mistake in calling him to that work.

God's Answer

What evidence did the Lord give? What was the evidence that the Lord gave? What would Gideon and such as Gideon really expect? Well, I know what I would expect.

Have you not oft-times, feeling your insufficiency, your unfitness, the impossibility of your ever counting for anything in the interests of the Lord, have you not sought the Lord to give you some mighty proof, some answer that no one can mistake? Have you not done that? And what has been in your mind? Oh, it must be thunder and lightning, nothing but thunder and lightning will be adequate for this! What was the answer? Dew; that is all, dew. You see, there were times when the Lord answered in thunder and lightning. He did in the days of Samuel, and with it destroyed their harvest. He did on Carmel with Elijah, but thunder and lightning has to do with judgment, not mercy, and there was no call for thunder and lightning with Gideon. It was mercy that was needed, and dew is the symbol of mercy. Dew - oh, but dew.

What is the Lord's answer to true-hearted, honest-hearted, sincere children of His? It is not in the earthquake and the thunder and the lightning and the cleft heaven. The Lord comes back to us, as He has often come back to me in this way, and has said, "I am just going on, that is all". That is the dew. "I am just going on". The dew silently, imperceptibly coming. But what a mighty power is in the dew to refresh the earth. You go out East and see whether the dew is a factor or not. Dew was often, and is often, just a matter of life and death. It is unction. The Lord's answer so often to us is, "Oh no, I am not going to give you mighty cataclysms and demonstrations and upheavals to prove that I am with you, I am just going on, that is all, quietly, like the dew, going on". And has it not been like that? We have wanted those terrific things to happen to prove the Lord was with us, but He has just gone quietly on, and that is how He answered Gideon. He was going on in a strength that did not require an earthquake.

The Name of the Lord Triumphant in Gideon 

Well, what did it amount to? It amounted to this, that the Lord had to defeat Gideon before He could defeat the Midianites. And the Lord defeated and subdued Gideon, and the altar was the mark, the point, at which Gideon was defeated and subdued; that is, all the quarrelsomeness, all the argumentativeness, all the disputings and the questionings, all this that was going on in Gideon's heart was silenced at that point, and the Name of the Lord came up triumphant at the Cross over this man.

Do you follow? Before the Lord can use an instrument, be it individual or collective - and I have all the time in mind the collective instrument, for this may not all be true of any individual, that every one of us in the same sense is a Gideon, but we may be part of an instrument, a collective instrument, with which the Lord would meet the need of the time. So the principles hold good for the collective as for the individual, and until you and I have had our arguments quietened, our fretfulness brought to rest, all our wonderful propensity for debating with the Lord silenced, until our souls are subdued at the Cross, the Lord cannot go on with that great thing that He is after. Victory or defeat rest upon our relationship with the Lord in submission and faith in Him.

Gideon's faith - 'By faith Gideon subdued kingdoms'. Gideon's faith was the issue of a battle of minds. Do you grasp that? A battle of minds, Gideon's mind, the Lord's mind - a battle. That battle settled, and Gideon came to the place where the Lord, if He wills, can. "I am no better a being than I was before all this. I am no more use in myself than at the beginning, but I have come to the place where I put no longer anything against the Lord. The Lord can do it, if He wills. I capitulate to the Lord, and I know the Lord is able". Get settled there, and you have got the Midianites in your hand, you have got the enemy at your mercy.

The rest? Oh, what a victory it was, how easy. The real battle is in ourselves, it really is. The Lord is all the time having to fight us before He can get us to the place where He can fight through us. It is true. There is so much to be subdued here and silenced. The Lord's Name has got to be honoured in our own hearts before it can be vindicated on the battlefield. That is what we have here. The enemy must have no ground in us if we are going to defeat him outside.

That was the state of the people. Is Gideon a representative of the people? The Lord has to overcome His own people before He can overcome their enemies. Perhaps you need me to give you light on that, but the more we come up against the situation as it is, the more we are aware of how terrible things are, the more we find we have got to overcome in our own heart of doubt, of questions, of quarrelling with the Lord about it, all that sort of thing has got to be subdued. And when that is settled - it is a very real battle, some of you may not know what I am talking about, I am sure some do, it is a very real battle, this battle in our own hearts, not as to relationship with the Lord, that ought to be settled, but as to what the Lord means to do, and as to our part in it. All that provides plenty of occasion for having things cleared up to give the Lord a straight way.

So Gideon represents in this (and there I am stopping for the moment and going on presently) represents in this way the kind of instrument that the Lord will use. It must be an instrument that has no questions where the Lord is concerned, no debate with the Lord, no doubt about the Lord. It must have a very settled position as to what the Lord means, that is, what He intends to do. And that whole battle has been given away, thrown away in past years by a kind of interpretation of ruin, hopeless, helpless, final ruin of the Church, and we can expect nothing better; now the Lord is only going to be concerned with individuals here and there. As to church truth, that is a phrase that is used, well, there is no hope in that connection. I say that is handing the whole thing over, it is abandoning the honour of the Lord's Name. The Lord may only have three hundred who represent His mind fully, but He will have them. That comes later. We have got to be quite sure, have certainty in our hearts. That is where the Lord begins.