Joshua 15

Here we get another mention of Caleb. I have always thought that he could not carry it out fully himself, and so his brother's son helped to carry it out. The idea is that they cleared their property-that they were a family of faith.
Caleb, as a spy, was a servant of God. God, I believe, opens out to His servants what He is going to do, so that they may lead His people into it. The other spies behaved exceedingly badly; they inspired the people with their own fears. I have often admired the way in which Joshua sank back into the ranks of the people, to come out again when his day came. He and Caleb, instead of getting all that which they had faith to take possession of, had to go wandering through the wilderness for forty years. Caleb is one who stands out as a type of what the church ought to be; he says, "I am as strong this day as in the day that Moses sent me." Faith never grows old.
Verse 63.-Here we get Jerusalem with the Jebusites in it, and " Judah could not drive them out." It was David who "took the stronghold of Zion: the same is the city of David." It is remarkable that David at the close of his history recalls the mighty men that he had during his rejection, not during his royalty.
And the Lord looking down through all these years-it is not so much the church as the servants that are before Him; when the church failed it was the servants who commenced it; it is the evil servant who says in his heart, "My Lord delayeth his coming." And when the cry came and ministry revived, there was a revival of the saints. I do not exonerate the congregation, but to a certain point I excuse them. In the epistles to the churches it is "the angel" that is addressed; and this angel is not simply one person, a particular gift, as is often thought. The church itself is looked upon as the angel; it might fail in being a true representative before the Lord; but if there were but one faithful person, like Gaius, it would be responded to by him. It is remarkable that with Gaius comes an exclusiveness that never was before: there is the exclusive name of " friends "-those who were really friendly; it is not the generic name of " brethren; " some were evidently hostile; Diotrephes was. But the apostle supposes " an ear to hear; " and this makes everything more definite at the close.
Well, I think Caleb's history is a very encouraging one. He says, "If the Lord delight in us, then he will bring us into this land," and I am sure we can say, He does delight in us, and He has brought us in. I feel that, having such things, we owe an immense responsibility towards the rest of the saints in Dublin. A Caleb has immense responsibility towards others: "Others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire." It is not seeking to proselytize, but to deliver. "Of some have compassion, making a difference," you must deal gently with them; others it can only be "with fear." And when we look at David's mighty men we see they did not war so much for the good of David as for the good of his country; it was a patriotic thing. It was a public act-not a sectarian one, if I am to speak plainly.