Let me say a word on the Lord’s instituting a blue ribband to be worn by the Israelites on the fringe of their garments. Every Christian would realize that this conveys a divine lesson.
As to the general meaning of the color “blue,” which we often find in this book of Numbers, there cannot be any doubt about it. It is the color of heaven and the appropriate witness of a heavenly character. White is used commonly for the representation of purity, as crimson or scarlet speaks of the world’s glory; the ribband of blue being the heavenly color, the thought is of immense practical importance. The Lord would have His people, even in the commonest things of daily life, to present the constant testimony before their own, as well as others’ eyes, that they belong to heaven. We shall find this to have a very influential effect on the soul. It is not enough for us that we should simply abstain from that which is evil, or that we should cultivate godliness. No person born of God could deny our obligation to holiness, or that the children of God are bound to abstain even from the appearance of evil. But supposing all this, and that each wore his garment ever so undefiled, would this be the ribband of blue? Does it not mean the reminding our souls from day to day of the place to which we belong?
Heavenly Ways
The outward raiment was used to set forth that which is displayed before people—our character and ways. What God, as I believe, shows us by the blue on the fringe, is the intermingling in the most ordinary ways of daily life the constant token that we are heavenly, and not merely that we shall be there by and by. If we, as it were, put heaven off, making it purely a hope for the future, would not this be for the Israelite, to avoid wearing this ribband of blue? But the effect of our souls taking in the truth which this type teaches is that, while we are on earth, surrounded by difficulties, heaven is before our eyes and hearts. Otherwise we shall be acting simply as earthly men— godly perhaps, and kind and truthful; but totally short of all that is God’s will concerning us. Even to serve Christ, blessed as it is, is not the same thing as being heavenly. In many cases all this is true in saints of God, where the blue ribband is forgotten.
What answers to the type, according to the power of the New Testament is the truth we have in Colossians 3. We are there addressed as those who belong to heaven, but of course still upon earth, which gives rise to all the difficulties of the path of faith. There will be no difficulty in walking rightly when we are in heaven; but the fight and victory are by faith now. We are so apt to judge by the feelings of our hearts, and so be easily led away. And what can strengthen us against ourselves? Let us listen to what the Lord says here: “It shall be unto you for a fringe, that ye may look upon it, and remember all the commandments of the Lord, and do them” (Num. 15:3838Speak unto the children of Israel, and bid them that they make them fringes in the borders of their garments throughout their generations, and that they put upon the fringe of the borders a ribband of blue: (Numbers 15:38)). Is it not remarkable that the blue fringe should be used of God as an incentive to obedience?
Heavenly Walk
The very fact that our souls begin each day with this memorial before us is no small thing. How crucial to remember that we belong to heaven! “If therefore ye have been raised with the Christ, seek the things which are above, where the Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God: have your mind on the things that are above, not on the things that are on the earth” (Col 3:1-21If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. 2Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. (Colossians 3:1‑2) JND). Were this before us, there is nothing, small or great, that the Christian would not do according to God: there would be a felt link with heaven, and not merely a matter of necessity or of character, which is below a Christian. Of course a Christian will be honest and godly, but if I make character or necessity the reason why I do a thing, I am not walking as a Christian at all, but like many a man who is the enemy of God and His Son. Doing it as a matter of duty does not lift you above self and present things. I may look at the Lord simply as one strengthening me in my daily duty, and this is quite true; but it is not the full measure of the truth. It is not the ribband of blue. But if my eyes are raised from the earth, and fixed on Christ in heaven—if I remind myself that my present association is with Christ in heaven, and that God looks for me to walk worthily of Christ now above myself, in this we find the great truth that answers to the figure. And this the Lord here connects with remembering all His commandments and doing them and walking holily. He had brought them out of Egypt that they might thus walk according to Him, and that they might be His people and He their God. How often, alas! we walk merely “as men.” But if we do not rise above that standard, we are not walking according to that witness of heavenly things which the Lord set forth in type to Israel. We shall find that the power of being heavenly, is according to the measure in which our souls enter into Christ there. It is not a question of correcting this or that, or of beginning one thing and another, but of heavenly things in Christ separating our hearts from things on earth. When we look from heaven, as consciously of it, and work from heaven downwards, earthly things soon dwindle, and the praise of their disappearance returns not to ourselves in any way, but to Christ. Thus He Himself has all the glory, whatever good thing there may be wrought by the Spirit among the children of God.
Bible Treasury (adapted)