Book of Redemption: Notes of Bible Readings on the Book of Exodus

THESE notes of the ministry of the late Mr. J. A. Taylor were taken down at Bible Readings, and his actual words have been preserved, as far as possible, for the added interest of those who knew him. Hence the repetition of certain statements of truth, which he saw need to emphasize and reiterate.

Christ’s Person and the value of His finished work are presented to the reader in a way which will appeal to the hearts of His own who know the Shepherd’s voice; and they will be helpful in enabling them the better to appreciate the fruits of redemption, and to cleave more closely to their Redeemer, Who completed the work at such a cost.

“My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me” (John 10:27).

May these notes be used by God for the glory of His well-beloved Son.

The text given in italics throughout is taken from the New Translation by J. N. D.

Jesus! Thy name so far surpasseth worth,

As tongues must fail to tell, or minds conceive;

Yet still, as sweetest odours, scattered forth

By gentlest breezes borne, their fragrance give,

Permit these pages, humble though they be,

To spread its savor, and its praise proclaim;

And as a tribute meet, O Lord, to Thee,

On the first page shall stand Thy blessed name:

But Thou art worthy, Lord, of boundless, endless fame!

Behold in Jesus, the Eternal Word,

What glories meet What truths the types afford!

There He’s the glorious Priest, and Offerer lowly;

The Sacrifice; and He the Altar holy;

The whole Burnt-offering, of savor sweet,

Whose worth is ours, in which we stand complete;

The atoning Lamb; and He the “Food of God”;

Our offering of peace when reconciled with blood, —

The meat of fellowship (celestial fare!),

Wherein with God we common portion share;

The Veil, the way within the Holiest;

The Mercy-seat, God’s chosen place of rest;

Aye, sum and substance He of great and small!

Then learn that living Word, till known as “all in all.”

W. Yerbury.

Chapter 1.

IT is well for us to get before our minds the character of this book. It is a great contrast to the first book in the Bible. There we get such a variety of subjects that it has been called the “seed plot of the word”; and we get the germ of almost everything there, except redemption. But we might almost say that Exodus is a book of one subject, and that is redemption.

First, we have the need of redemption, the people in bondage, and their lives made bitter by it; then, God come down to be their Redeemer; then, redemption accomplished, by blood in chapter 13, and by power in chapter 14; then, in the remainder of the book, we have the blessed fruits of redemption. One, perhaps the most blessed, result is that God dwells in the midst of a redeemed people.

Genesis covers more than two thousand years of the world’s history; but God never dwelt with any during that time. He talked with Adam in the Garden of Eden in innocence, and there were pious souls afterward, with whom He held intercourse. Enoch walked with God, and Abraham was instructed to walk before Him, and we see God taking the intensest concern in His saints. He is entertained by Abraham, but He does not dwell with any until redemption is accomplished. Of course, in Exodus, redemption was temporal, but figurative of the great redemption which is eternal, and which is in Christ Jesus, as we read: “In whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace” (Eph. 1:7).

There is a large amount of very precious truth brought before us in Exodus that will help us to understand what is presented to us in the different Epistles of the New Testament, specially in Romans.

There are many things that will arrest our attention as we read through the book; for instance, the use of the word “salvation,” when it occurs. There is just a mention of it in Genesis; for, after Jacob came into Egypt, he said when blessing his sons, “I have waited for Thy salvation, O Lord” (Gen. 49:18).

The children of Israel were safe under the shelter of the blood, but they were saved at the Red Sea (14:30)

We do not get the word “holiness” in Genesis, except at the beginning, when “Jehovah rested the seventh day, and hallowed it.” Then you get nothing of the Sabbath in Genesis after it was broken by man’s sin; but it is incorporated in the law. Before the law we find it in connection with the manna, — type of the true Bread that came down from heaven, — food for the redeemed people in the wilderness. Then there were cherubim at the east of the Garden of Eden; you do not get them again for 2500 years, and then they are represented in quite a different way on the mercy-seat.

Beside that, man is tested, first by pure grace up to chapter 18; then by pure law. Then God has to fall back on His own sovereign mercy to go on with the people at all, and tells them, “I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy.”

Another thing we get is the proclamation of Jehovah’s name. But that is Judaism; the declaration of the Father’s name is Christianity.

It is very striking that Genesis winds up with man in a coffin. Only a very small part of Genesis gives us the account of the creation. In Exodus fourteen chapters are devoted to the account of the tabernacle: it has been stated that the details of the tabernacle are given to us seven times over. It shows the importance of its teaching for us.

The holiness of God is impressed on us directly we get to Exodus, and in the following books of the Pentateuch, Moses, when he saw the burning bush, was told to put his shoes from off his feet, for the place was holy ground. And when the priesthood was established, God slew Nadab and Abihu, and said, “I will be sanctified in them that come near Me.” I believe this is a truth we ought to be very jealous and careful about in a day of such carelessness as to what is due to the Lord. There is a thought in the minds of many that almost anything will do for the Lord.

First, then, the Spirit would draw our attention to the fact that the people were in such a condition that they needed God to be their Redeemer. When Abram wanted to be sure he would inherit the land, the Lord let him know it was confirmed to him by sacrifice; and then He said, “Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years” (Gen. 15:13). That is what we have been reading about. Four hundred years presents a little difficulty, for they were actually in Egypt two hundred and forty years; but four centuries would take us back to the time when Ishmael mocked at Isaac at his weaning. That was when the persecution commenced by God’s reckoning.

“That nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge” (Gen. 15:14). When God came down to judge, the children of Israel were a downtrodden race, yet God says they would go out with great substance; and then He instructed them to ask of the Egyptians their wealth. It says in our version they borrowed, but it should be “ask.” The Egyptians were only too glad to get rid of them.

Genesis 15:16 is a striking word: “In the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full.” It shows us God never judges unripened evil. If God pronounces a judgment, the time between the pronouncement and the execution is called “God’s longsuffering.” “When once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah.” The Amorites were not then ripe for judgment. Now it was coming to the time when God would have to interfere, — graciously interfere, — for His earthly people.

And the children of Israel were fruitful, and swarmed, and multiplied, and became exceeding strong; and the land was full of them (1:7).

One thing is noticed—the Israelites increased abundantly. We know the difficulties worldly men have made of this number; but here the Lord tells us they multiplied very abundantly, more than the Egyptians. Thus the evil motives of jealousy and fear acted on the Egyptians; and they were anxious to diminish them, and tried to do so.

To go back to what was said about the commencement of the four hundred years, we find a similar instance in reckoning time at the captivity. God does not reckon it from the main captivity, but goes back to the first, when a small number were taken away; and so He curtails the seventy years by reckoning in that manner. I do not think there are as many years between Ezra and Nehemiah as our chronology gives. These books were written comparatively late; and Daniel knew by the book of Jeremiah the length of the captivity, and he set himself to wait on his God for the fulfillment of the prophecy.

We just get glimpses that the prophets were read, and I wish they were read now. People introduce this and that idea without a thought that God has revealed His mind about it. The Bible is not read.

That foolish mathematician who tried to prove the absurdity of these seventy souls developing into a large nation forgot to ask, “Is anything too hard for the Lord?” In settlements in different parts of America people have multiplied quite as much as is recorded here. But it is a great thing to have God-given faith in the plenary inspiration of the word of God. I am very thankful that in my boyhood days I read the works of J. N. Darby; and I believe I owe the anchorage of faith to that. Oh, it is a great refuge to believe God, and then understand. Months, perhaps years, after we have had questions, they have been cleared up because we have had light thrown on a single point.

Come on, let us deal wisely with them, lest they multiply, and it come to pass, that, if war occur, they take side with our enemies, and fight against us, and go up out of the land (1:10).

You see we have in Pharaoh a type of Satan, who would be anxious to retain in his kingdom all his subjects. So here they think they would want to get up out of the land.

But the midwives feared God, and did not as the king of Egypt had said to them, but saved the male children alive (1:17).

I think these midwives correspond to the blessed ones in Matthew 25, who are kind to God’s people. In the days of Ahab, Obadiah was kind to the remnant. So in the days of the great tribulation, some will be kind to the Jews. When the Lord sits on His throne, there are three classes before Him—sheep, goats, and His brethren.

And God dealt well with the midwives: and the people multiplied, and became very strong (1:20).

I think there are some points of similarity between these midwives, and Obadiah, and Matthew 25. Here God dealt well with them. No doubt this is linked up with what we get in the next chapter.

The man who is such a marked type of the Lord Jesus, and the leader of the people, is in jeopardy of his life because of the animosity of Pharaoh and his people.

There is very precious teaching in the contrasts between Egypt and Canaan. Canaan drank water of the rain of heaven, a land of hills and valleys. Six things characterized the produce of Egypt for which the people lusted in the wilderness—leeks, garlic, fish, onions, cucumbers, and melons. That is what the natural heart lusts after; they loathed the manna, and their hearts went back to Egypt. Seven things characterized Canaan—wheat, barley, oil olive, honey, pomegranates, vines, and figs. All their prosperity in Egypt was linked with the river; and He turned that into blood. They worshipped it, and His judgment was upon their gods. They did not know the source of the river; so a stream of blessing flows to the world, but they do not know the source whence it comes.

Romans 8:19-21 shows us that the time of universal blessing is connected with the manifestation of the sons of God. In the Old Testament it is connected with the manifestation of the Lord to Israel, and then the blessing goes out to all the world. That is what Satan is trying to blind men to, — the glory of the Christ. In Deuteronomy 11:10 Egypt is where “thou waterest with thy foot,” showing that its fertility was due to the labor of man. The blessing of Canaan came down from above, “the rain of heaven”; but Egypt got it by man’s labor.

And it came to pass, because the midwives feared God, that He made them houses (1:21).

I simply regard it as going along with Matthew 25. They feared God, and were kind to God’s earthly people. God cannot relinquish His sovereignty, and He does recognize anyone who has His fear, whether Jew or Gentile. So these disregarded the king’s edict, and cast in their lot with the downtrodden people; and God did not leave it unnoticed.

So by and by the everlasting gospel will be “Fear God and give glory to Him”; and when the serpent casts water out of his mouth as a flood to swallow up the woman, and the earth helps the woman, I connect that with Matthew 25. Those who are in a settled condition circumvent the efforts of the nations in their endeavors to destroy the people. We do get a nation used of Satan looked at under the figure of a river. The Assyrian is called the “overflowing scourge” (Isa. 28:15, 18).

Chapter 2.

WE were noticing in chapter 1 That the people we are introduced to needed a Redeemer. The Lord sees the end from the beginning, and He could tell what difficulties men would make about the rapid multiplication of the children of Israel in Egypt. That would be no difficulty at all to faith, because with God all things are possible. To show Jehovah knew the cavils men would make no less than seven Hebrew words are used to speak of their rapid multiplication. They were “fruitful,” “increased abundantly,” “multiplied,” “waxed exceeding mighty,” “the land filled with them,” “they multiplied and grew,” “waxed very mighty.” We see it so enforced; it is important to notice it. There they were; God had watched over them for good.

Though they were a failing people, and idolatrous, yet, as we see further on, the bramble was on fire but not consumed. It brings out the truth that the gifts and calling of God are without repentance. It is because of what God is that they were not consumed. In Malachi He says, “I am Jehovah, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.” We find the reason in Himself. Things had come to a crisis in chapter 1:22. If that was carried out, the race would be exterminated. At the back of it all was Satan’s effort to frustrate if possible the promises of God.

At that very time we get the birth of their deliverer; when things were at their very worst. We know that not only “whatsoever things were written aforetime, were written for our learning,” but that what happened to the children of Israel were types, according to 1 Corinthians 10. Not that they are types, but what happened to them; and God has been pleased to record it for our admonition and learning; so that should make it of great interest to us, and there is responsibility too.

Look at what was said to Timothy. We have every reason to believe his godly mother and grandmother had stored his mind with Old Testament scripture; and he is reminded, “From a child thou hast known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation, through faith which is in Christ Jesus.” It was salvation in his daily path, for he already possessed the salvation of his soul. If made a right use of Old Testament scripture in his daily path, he would be saved from many a snare; for God’s principles never change. Certain precepts change with dispensations; and we can see from certain instructions given to them, that some things were commanded because they were right, and others were right because commanded. There is a great difference. Those commanded because they are right are connected with God’s principles; other things, such as not eating the swine, are connected with that dispensation, and right because commanded.

What is mentioned in Acts 15 was commanded before the law.

Then it tells us of one who was a very lovely type of the One we know as our Saviour. He could tell the people, “A Prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren like unto me; Him shall ye hear.” They were responsible to hear Him.

And a man of the house of Levi went and took a daughter of Levi. And the woman conceived, and bore a son. And she saw him that he was fair, and hid him three months (2:1, 2).

As we read this, if we did not have other scriptures, we should think Moses was the firstborn; but even as we read this we see Miriam was several years older, and Aaron we know was three years older, than Moses. But here was the one to be used as the deliverer, and when we read the comment of the Holy Spirit in Hebrews 11:23, it raises some questions. It is his mother who figures so largely here, but Hebrews tells us of his father too. Evidently he was a beautiful child, and they drew from that he was not an ordinary child, and they were not afraid of the king’s commandment. No doubt there would be severe punishment for disobeying the king’s commandment, but they had faith in God. It does not tell us of any particular communication of the mind of God here, but faith must have its warrant in the word of God. It can only act on the revealed will of God in His word. So we can be quite sure there was God’s word. I would not say scripture,” for there was no scripture up to this time. Scripture is what is recorded, — written; but God’s word was in the world. The first bit of scripture we read of is in Exodus 17:14: that we read of, mind: “And the Lord said unto Moses, Write this for a memorial in a book, and rehearse it in the ears of Joshua: for I will utterly put out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven.” There we have something written from God Himself, and Moses was the one who wrote it. No one could speak positively about it being the first, as Job bears the same relation to the historical books as the Psalms do to the poetical; and no one could speak positively that it was not written while Moses was in Midian. J. G. Bellett considered that resurrection was God’s secret from the very beginning.

So there was faith acting on the word of God. There were many facts that were no doubt well known by being handed down. You can understand why there would not be the need of written testimony when man lived such a long time. Adam lived nearly a thousand years, so what could not he communicate! It is destructive in our day that young men are led to look up encyclopædic works, and neglect scripture for it.

We ought to realize what we read about Moses; Stephen says, as well as Hebrews 11, that the hearts of the parents went up to God in prayer. Although David had a beautiful countenance, Samuel was told “God looketh not on the outward appearance.” No doubt his beauty was typical of the beauty of Christ. Just as the Antichrist of 1 Samuel is Saul, that of 2 Samuel is Absalom; both striking men in appearance: Saul, head and shoulders above the rest; and Absalom, very attractive. So no doubt the Antichrist will be attractive to man.

And when she could no longer hide him, she took for him an ark of reeds, and plastered it with resin and with pitch, and put the child in it, and laid [it] in the sedge on the bank of the river (2:3).

There he was hidden three months. No doubt the king sought to compel them to carry out the edict; inquisition would be made, so they could hide him no longer. Then he is committed to the care of God. It shows how everything serves His might. Miriam was watching, and no doubt her affection for her brother would make her quick-witted to put in her say at the right moment.

And the daughter of Pharaoh went down to bathe in the river; and her maids went along by the river’s side. And she saw the ark in the midst of the sedge, and sent her handmaid and fetched it (2:5).

The Nile was regarded as a sacred river, and Ezekiel tells us Pharaoh claimed to be the creator of it (Ezek. 29:3). Her “maid” is a different word to “maidens.” It was the maid of honor, or handmaid, that was sent to fetch it.

And she opened [it], and saw the child, and, behold, the boy wept. And she had compassion on him, and said, This is [one] of the Hebrews’ children (2:6).

The Spirit of God says, “Behold!” Mark well— “the babe wept.” It is all God’s arrangement, — the beautiful child in those tears. This “pitch” is different to that of Noah’s ark. The slime would be bitumen, and the pitch, real pitch. Faith goes higher on Noah’s ark, and uses what comes from a tree, — resin.

And his sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, Shall I go and call thee a wet-nurse of the Hebrew women, that she may nurse the child for thee? (2:7).

It is very sweet. There would not be any difficulty to find a wet-nurse if the children were being slain. No suspicion seems to arise in the heart of Pharaoh’s daughter; but Miriam calls the child’s mother, — her own mother too.

It is a beautiful narrative. The princess brought down, and Moses’ sister there, and then the beautiful child weeping.

And Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, Take this child away, and nurse it for me, and I will give [thee] thy wages. And the woman took the child, and nursed it (2:9).

God honors faith. The wages were not the motive in her eyes. It was natural affection for her dear child. It makes one think of the figure Paul uses to the Thessalonians, “as a nurse cherisheth her own children,”— such a nurse we have here, — a mother-nurse.

And when the child was grown, she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son. And she called his name Moses, and said, Because I drew him out of the water (2:10).

It is quite possible he was grown to be a big boy then, and had been long enough with his parents to have precious truth instilled into him. These parents were saints in their day.

Moses was learned in all the learning of the Egyptians. Those going to Emmaus said the Lord was a Prophet mighty in deed and word; Stephen says Moses was mighty in word and deed. He was not very meek in this chapter. He had to unlearn, and it is more difficult to unlearn than to learn. Num. 12. brings it out very clearly. It must have been painful to Moses to have his sister and brother setting themselves up against him. “The Lord heard it.” Moses does not say a word. He was very meek. I quite agree it was the result of his forty years in the backside of the desert. His life was divided into three forty years; forty years as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter; forty years in Midian; and forty years leading the people through the wilderness.

What the Lord brings before Miriam and Aaron shows they ought to have feared how they spoke of Moses, because of the singular privileges given to him. “Faithful in all My house.” The house that was God’s house here is the same over which the Lord Jesus is faithful as a Son. “Whose house are we.” It shows how serious it was in God’s estimation by Miriam being stricken with leprosy; and the Lord would not let it pass over lightly. People seem to think things do not matter. “Should she not be ashamed seven days?”

Pharaoh’s daughter called his name “Moses.” I think this verse ought to settle it for us that it means “drawn out.”

And it came to pass in those days, when Moses was grown, that he went out to his brethren, and looked on their burdens; and he saw an Egyptian smiting a Hebrew, one of his brethren. And he turned this way and that way, and when he saw that there was no man, he smote the Egyptian, and hid him in the sand (2:11, 12).

Now you see you go, as you often do in scripture, from his childhood till he was forty years old. Acts 7:23 decides this for us.

There is great lack of faith in the conduct of Moses. Another has said he is posing as the hero here, quite contrary to the position he was willing to take on his return from Midian after those forty years. It is an important word in Philippians 3:3 to “have no confidence in the flesh.” There is nothing good in man, and it is a very hard lesson to learn.

Psalms 40. contains some precious instruction for us. Here we get perfection in Christ. None was so meek and gentle, yet none so faithful. The frown of man did not affect Him, nor His smile.

By seeing that the life of Moses is divided into three periods of forty years, — forty in Pharaoh’s court, forty in Midian, and forty in the wilderness, — we are helped to understand several portions. The Holy Spirit shows us first that there was a people in Egypt who needed to be redeemed; then a highly favored vessel in the hands of God is raised up by Him and preserved by Him. Whenever we get a type of the Lord Jesus he is specially an object of the enemy’s malice. In this favored vessel we see many lessons. One is the reward of faith in what his mother did for him. We gather this persecution on the part of the Egyptians lasted more than forty years. It was very bitter at the time of the birth of Moses, but it had commenced before. So we get the duration of that persecution. The enemy’s effort was to exterminate them, but God’s purpose was to redeem them. His purpose had been revealed to Abraham. He had told him to take clean animals (Gen. 15), and He gave him to see the covenant was confirmed unto him by sacrifice; and we know those sacrifices derive their value from the one great Antitype. Moses had evidently gathered the mind of God that he was to be used, — not thus we see it here, but in the New Testament. The two prominent types that Stephen takes up are Joseph and Moses (Acts 7:13-25). It would look as if his brethren were responsible to have known.

Both those whom Stephen takes up are rejected of their brethren, and then lost sight of; and both, when returned to their brethren, have Gentile brides. What Stephen comments on we have before us in this second chapter.

Then we get God preparing him for what he had to do. He had many lessons to learn. He is first the rejected one, in that way typifying the Lord Jesus, who “came unto His own, and His own received Him not.” Evidently this is one of the things that Stephen calls “resisting the Holy Ghost as your fathers did” (Acts 7:5).

So the one that was going to be used of God, and to play such a prominent part in their deliverance, sees the Egyptian smiting one of his brethren. Some have thought by that expression it was a Levite, and a son of Kohath. I don’t know. We are safe in saying that he was right in recognizing that God intended him to be the deliverer, but he was forty years too soon. During those forty years he needed special teaching, — and they were the best years of his life, — the years of his prime, as men say. There is a lesson in it for the servants of the Lord at this time. If any are to be used, they need to be trained by Him. Look at the Lord Himself: there were the thirty years spent in seclusion at Nazareth, and His public ministry was only three and a half years. Elijah was brought to the brook Cherith for training when the heavens were shut up three and a half years. The very word is suggestive: Cherith means “cutting, piercing.” The word at first was, “Go, hide thyself.” Then “Go, show thyself.” The servant of the Lord must be much alone with Him.

Moses’ life in Pharaoh’s court would have been ceaseless activity. He was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and deeds. To be taken from that to be a keeper of sheep! What a solitary life! None can tell how God used him there. We know He used him to write Genesis, and probably Job. And all that was history before he went there; so he may then have been used to write them. But he had much to learn, and unlearn; and to unlearn is the more difficult. He is singled out as the meekest of men, but we do not see it here.

There is more of the hero here, and it went to his heart to see the oppression of his brethren. He looked this way and that way, — an evidence of uncertainty. We could not speak of it as the confidence of faith, and he did not look up (vs. 12). There was no man, — no one to witness it; and he smote him and slew the Egyptian. We simply have the narrative here, without any comment in this part. The one who played the prominent part is the one who is writing it, and we simply have the facts placed before us.

In the New Testament, where we get the comment of the Holy Spirit, it throws light on the Old Testament portion (Heb. 11:24). He identified himself now with the downtrodden people, and we are told it was by faith. It is in the Old Testament we get Sodom, a type of the world looked at morally; also Egypt and Babylon, looked at religiously. Abraham was a refuser as to Sodom, and God prepared him for it. He had previously been met by Melchizedek, and it had laid hold on him that the Most High God was Possessor of heaven and earth, and that prepared him to meet the king of Sodom. “I have lift up mine hand unto the Lord, the most high God, the Possessor of heaven and earth, that I will not take from a thread to a shoe latchet”— the very smallest thing, — “lest thou shouldest say, I have made Abram rich” (Gen. 14:22, 23). Immediately afterward God says, “Fear not, Abram, I am thy shield,”— if those defeated foes were preparing to come and take their revenge; — and he was no loser, “and thine exceeding great reward.”

These refusers derive great blessing by being refusers. Here Moses was called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, and no doubt he had a bright prospect, as people say. It was Providence that placed him in the court of Pharaoh, with all its pleasures and luxuries; but it was faith that brought him out. What a blessed man he was, and how God honored him!

When we come to Daniel and his companions, they refused the meat from the king’s table, and preferred the pulse, the commonest food; and how God honored them, — especially Daniel! So here Moses turned his back on the pleasures of sin. The very best this world can give are the pleasures of sin, and he would rather suffer affliction with the people of God than enjoy them. Happy choice! blessed man! Now we have Christ’s place; we are taken into favor in the Beloved. God has made us inside-the-veil-worshippers; and not only that before Himself, but there as a privilege to go forth to Him without the camp, bearing His reproach. “Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt, for he had respect unto the recompence of the reward.” We cannot combine the two. You cannot go along with a worldly religion, and go outside the camp, bearing the reproach of Christ.

And he went out on the second day, and behold, two Hebrew men were quarrelling; and he said to him that was in the wrong, Why art thou smiting thy neighbor? (2:13).

The one who is the champion of the persecuted Hebrew would be the reconciler here, for both were Hebrews. But the one in the wrong resented it, and refused his interference. Moses was a type of Christ, and Stephen uses these very words to show they had done what those he was then addressing had done. “Ye do always resist the Holy Ghost.” We cannot suppose the man believed he would kill him, but he threw it in his teeth as one who knew. It had not been covered up as successfully as Moses wished.

“And Moses feared, and said, Surely this thing is known.” There is a difference of judgment about Hebrews 11:27. Here Moses feared.

And Pharaoh heard of this matter, and sought to slay Moses. But Moses fled from before Pharaoh, and dwelt in the land of Midian. And he sat by the well (2:15).

Pharaoh’s animosity would be against Moses here, because he was the champion of the Hebrews. He did not fear so much as to lead him to go and ask for pardon from Pharaoh. He would not do that; he would still remain what he was, — the intended deliverer of God’s people from Egypt. It is generally thought that the time when he forsook Egypt was when he went away with all the people; but it comes before the Passover in Hebrews 11:28. So we must leave room for faith here evidently.

In Midian he sat down by a well. What a prominent place wells have in these early books of the Bible, — in Genesis and here!

And the priest of Midian had seven daughters; and they came and drew water, and filled the troughs, to water their father’s flock (2:16).

The margin gives “prince.” The same word “Cohen” is sometimes rendered “prince” and sometimes “priest” in the Old Testament. David’s sons are called “Cohen.” If Moses was an onlooker here, and saw these seven filling their troughs, and then the shepherds drive them away, it is just in keeping with what we gather from the preceding verses that he would stand up for these daughters. He stood up and helped them, and it must have been a considerable gain to them, as their father was surprised they had come so quickly.

And they said, An Egyptian delivered us out of the hand of the shepherds, and also drew [water] abundantly for us, and watered the flock (2:19).

This is quite in keeping with Eastern custom. The narrative is very condensed, and there are some things we should naturally like to know, but God never makes a mistake. There is no superfluity. It is a divine choice we have here.

And Moses consented to remain with the man; and he gave Moses Zipporah his daughter (2:21).

He was there forty years; so if we did not know that, we should think the marriage took place immediately; but as we read on, it looks more likely that it was nearer the end of his sojourn there that this took place.

And she bore a son, and he called his name Gershon; for he said, I have been a sojourner in a foreign land (2:22).

His other son was called Eliezer— “God my helper.” So we see how he was brought to Midian, and was there under God’s training for forty years. Then when we look at him again, we see the effects of that training. He was forty years too soon at first; afterward he was altogether too slow. He had gone from one extreme to the other. As I suggested in the case of Elijah, it is a cutting, piercing, slaying experience. After Elijah had had that experience at the brook Cherith, he had to learn a deeper lesson still; that is, that God is the God of resurrection. He was taken to the widow’s house, and there death came. And he is used to restore the widow’s son to life; and he learns the grand lesson that God is the God of resurrection.

And it came to pass during those many days, that the king of Egypt died. And the children of Israel sighed because of the bondage, and cried; and their cry came up to God because of the bondage (2:23).

After those forty years we see them still in bitter bondage. God was interested in them. There is comfort for us; He knows the language of a sigh or a groan. When we are so pressed we cannot put words together, only groan, God quite understands it: “Groanings which cannot be uttered” (Rom. 8:26).

God heard, and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. That speaks of His grace. It was quite a different covenant from that at Sinai, — pure, unconditional grace. In giving the covenant of works, God perfectly justified Himself in blessing Abraham in unconditional grace. For that standard was the lowest a holy, righteous God could give; and by standing on that ground they forfeited all.

“When we were yet,”— they had been under the law 1500 years, but were still “without strength”; then “in due time, Christ died for the ungodly.” The law was weak through the material it had to work on, but the righteous requirements of the law are fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit (Rom. 8:4).

God looked on them, and God had respect unto them. He was deeply interested in their condition, and it was His purpose to redeem them; and the one who was going to play such a prominent part in their national temporal redemption is the one taken aside to Midian to be trained for that special work.

Chapter 3.

WE were noticing in chapter 2 That everyone God uses for His glory and His service is tried first. That lesson is brought before us again and again. It is necessary the servant should be alone with his Master and get special training. In this case it is remarkable, as the training time occupied the forty best years of his life; but God had something very important for him to do.

Referring again to Elijah, God said to him first, “Go, hide thyself”; and he was hidden by the brook Cherith. And God trained him. Subsequently, he removed from thence and was directed to a widow at Zarephath; and there he learned God was the God of resurrection; and not only so, but the One who could be fully depended on to supply all her need. The handful of meal and the little oil was enough to supply both his need and that of the widow and her son many days.

Then it is, “Go, show thyself.” Cherith was all cutting, piercing, slaying; and it must be so to the flesh. God must have a clear platform. “My grace is sufficient for thee, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” So Moses, who had occupied an important place in Pharaoh’s house as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, we find here in Midian minding the flock of Jethro, which means “excellence.” There is a difficulty about him. No one can be dogmatic as to the relationship of Moses to Raguel, Hobab, and Jethro. Raguel means “friend of God.” Whether he was the grandfather, or father of Moses’ wife we cannot tell. The same Hebrew word means son-in-law, and father-in-law. It means a marriage relationship. The same word “father-in-law “ is translated “son-in-law” in Genesis 19. Raguel was the priest of Midian.

And Moses tended the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian. And he led the flock behind the wilderness, and came to the mountain of God, to Horeb (3:1).

Probably “the mountain of God, even Horeb” means the whole mountain range in which Sinai was situated. Some say Horeb and Sinai were two peaks of the same mountain, but mostly it is thought to mean the whole mountainous district.

And the Angel of Jehovah appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a thorn-bush: and he looked, and, behold, the thorn-bush burned with fire, and the thorn-bush was not being consumed (3:2).

The bush was a thorn, or bramble. In the expression, “the angel of the Lord,” I do not think for a moment we must take it that it refers to one with an angelic nature. Wherever it is used it speaks of the presence of Deity, and we have good reason to conclude it is Christ Himself.

Christ is Jehovah. The whole Trinity, and each blessed Person of the Trinity, is spoken of as Jehovah.

There he was about his business, looking after his father-in-law’s sheep. God had graciously guided him to this spot; the time had come, and God had come down to deliver. Of course this was a remarkable sight, to see a bush burning and not consumed; and he turned aside to see it.

And Moses said, Let me now turn aside, and see this great sight, why the thorn-bush is not burnt (3:3).

It was something supernatural, and he wanted to discover what it really meant.

There was a voice, his attention being engaged. In the blessing of Joseph by Moses it says, “the good will of Him Who dwelt in the bush” (Deut. 33:16). That is a reference to this occasion.

And He said, Draw not nigh hither: loose thy sandals from of thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground (3:5).

This is very striking. We have had occasion to notice it before, that the only place in the book that covers such a long part of the world’s history, where holiness is mentioned, is when the sabbath was hallowed (Gen. 2:3). That rest was broken, and we do not get the sabbath again for 2500 years.

Now holiness is prominent. If God is going to dwell among a redeemed people that must be impressed on them: “I will be sanctified in them that come nigh Me.” Holiness is a very essential thing. This chapter has many links with Hebrews 12 Unlike our earthly parents, who sometimes deal with too much severity, or else with too much leniency, He never makes a mistake. “Follow” [or, run after] “peace,”... “and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord.” That is practical holiness. And, of course, reverence is required of those who come nigh Him.

And there is another link with Hebrews 12:28. While God is a consuming fire, and here are such marked evidences of His presence, yet the remarkable result is the bush was not consumed. I take it, it is a picture of Israel in their tribulation; but they were not consumed. God was for them. To Malachi, in a very dreadful day, when He was treated with such indifference, God said, “I am Jehovah, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.” And we get another verse “It is of the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed.” (Lam. 3:22). That was indeed a dark and gloomy day in Israel’s history when this was written.

I suppose “shoes” would convey the thought of defilement belonging to the world, attaching to the person; and the shoes had to be removed.

“For the place whereon thou standest is holy ground.” Oh, “let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear!” The service is religious service.

The shoes here are different to those in Luke 15 There it is a question of standing. It is all Christ there, — the robe, ring, sandals, etc. Well, this reminds us of a becoming state of soul in God’s presence; and there is a fear that attaches to the creature in God’s presence that God alone can remove. We do not want slavish fear. In Isaiah 6 we have a throne, with its Occupant in His glory; and that throne has its claims which the fallen creature can never meet; so the one who had expressed six different woes against others in the previous chapters now says, “Woe is me, for I am undone.” It is a personal thing in the presence of God. But besides the throne, there is an altar; and while that expression tells of the prophet’s fear, we find that we have here the seraphim with their six wings. And immediately on the confession, one of the seraphim flies with a live coal, — a piece of the burnt sacrifice, — and he touches the prophet’s lips, saying, “Thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged.” Then you see the immense difference; the fear is removed, and he has peace and confidence in God’s presence. It is a blessed chapter.

He confesses his lips are unclean; — “then flew one of the seraphim.” Then the voice, “Whom shall I send?” The unity of the Godhead. “And who will go for Us?” A plurality of Persons. “Here am I!” What a change! “Send me.”

So there are points of similarity with this chapter. He will be sanctified in them that draw nigh Him. Proverbs 8:13 gives us a clear indication of the true fear of the Lord. It was first said to Israel after the death of Nadab and Abihu, when they forgot to put a difference between the clean and unclean, “I will be sanctified in them that come nigh Me” (Lev. 10:3). Those who are before God are created in righteousness and true holiness. There must be holy character and holy walk about those who draw nigh to God. Without it, no man shall see the Lord. I often think souls are led to take a wrong place, by giving a mental assent to a doctrinal statement without any exercise of soul. It is a serious thing. There must be repentance before God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. If we preach the word, and then leave room for God the Holy Spirit to use it, God honors this. The grace that brings salvation to us, teaches us “that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world.” You cannot separate saving grace from teaching grace. They go together. Simon Magus had been baptized, and yet he was in the gall of bitterness and bond of iniquity.

And He said, I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face; for he was afraid to look at God (3:6).

I should think what we have mentioned here would clearly indicate Moses’ own father was a godly man.

Moses was full of fear. He was afraid, like the prophet in Isaiah 6, to look on God. While the fear is taken away from us according to John, and we are brought into a place of blessed intimacy, yet we must avoid familiarity. It is wonderful that we should call God “Father.” But the Lord does not say to Mary Magdalene, “I ascend to our Father.” No! “to My Father, and your Father; to My God, and your God.” You get the same line of truth in the crossing of the Jordan. The priests bearing the ark there had to leave a space between it and the Israelites. It is not slavish, but filial fear.

And Jehovah said, I have seen assuredly the affliction of My people who are in Egypt, and their cry have I heard on account of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows (3:7).

How lovely! How it brings out God’s gracious interest in His people! Isaiah tells us, “In all their affliction He was afflicted.” “I have heard their cry... for I know their sorrows.” There is something very comforting to the saint of God in that connection. Not a single thing affects us, but it is under His notice. I like to connect it with God Who “never withdraweth His eyes from the righteous.” The Psalmist says, “The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and His ears are open unto their cry.” In Psalms 32. it is “I will teach and guide thee; Mine eye shall be upon thee.” That is something sweeter than “guide thee with Mine eye.” His eye is upon us. It should be such a comfort to us, as well as a guard. All things are naked and opened to His eye. If we never lost sight of it, it would produce a becoming character.

And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto a good and spacious land, unto a land flowing with milk and honey.... (3:8).

The small strip of land between the River Jordan and the Mediterranean could not be called “large” in any way, but what we have here is intimately connected with Genesis 15:18-21; “a large land.” As it is now, it is composed largely of desert, but when the time comes for them to occupy it, the desert shall blossom as the rose. It will be all fruitful then, the curse gone, and creation brought into the liberty of the glory of the sons of God. “Flowing with milk and honey” would at once bring to mind a prosperous land, full of verdure and flowers.

“Unto the place of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites.” More than these are mentioned in Genesis 15. During the time of God’s longsuffering, it was waiting. God never judges unripened evil. The iniquity of the Amorites was not then full, so the Israelites had to wait; and then they were so corrupt the land vomited them out, and Israel had to be the executors of God’s judgment.

We find in the word of God, God announces a judgment, and the time between that and its execution is called God’s long-suffering. As, when speaking of the deluge, Peter says, “When once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah.” They were willingly ignorant, and “did not know” it was coming.

As regards Israel, all their sufferings were measured of God.

And Moses said to God, Who am I, that I should go unto Pharaoh, and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt? (3:11).

When we see, forty years before this, Moses so ready to stand up for his people, and resenting the oppression of his brethren, and thinking his brethren ought to know, and now asking, “Who am I?” it shows what poor things we are. He was too fast then; now he is too slow. It has been said, when Moses thought his face shone, his brethren could not see it; but when it actually did shine, he was unconscious of it. One would have thought this would have made his heart rejoice after his readiness so long before. Now he would be quiet, and not move a hand for their deliverance. “Who am I?” There is a terrible backwardness here.

And he said, For I will be with thee; and this shall be the sign to thee that I have sent thee: when thou hast brought forth the people out of Egypt, ye shall serve God upon this mountain (3:12).

That ought to have reassured Moses, and subsequently he did think it was everything to have God with them. “If Thy presence go not with us, carry us not up hence.” His presence meant a supply of all they could possibly need. “Certainly I will be with thee.” No doubt it was intended to have a present energizing, stimulating effect on his soul, but it would also be a token in their path when he was brought up again there, and the tabernacle was set up. Serving God in that mount would be serving Him as worshippers, no doubt.

Moses raises all kinds of objections, as we see.

And God said to Moses, I am that I am. And He said, Thus shall thou say unto the children of Israel: I am hath sent me unto you (3:14).

Oh, what is there not contained in that! The ever-existing, immutable God!

“Heaven and earth alike confess Thee,

As the ever great I AM!”

The Lord Jesus said to the Jews something far deeper than “Before Abraham was, I was”; “Before Abraham was I am,”— the ever existing One, — the One whose deity was eternal. And this is beautifully brought out by the evangelist John (8:58).

There are three Hebrew words which make up the name Jehovah, — The One Who ever is, ever was, and ever will be. In Revelation 1 it is unfolded to us. Instead of the word Jehovah we have it, “Who art and wast and art to come.” People have puzzled a good deal that the word Jehovah is used so often in Genesis— “Men called on Jehovah”; “Abraham built an altar to Jehovah,” “Jehovah answered him,” etc., Here in the book of Exodus we are told they did not know Him as Jehovah, but as God Almighty, — El Shaddai. That is more than One simply Omnipotent. Some have translated it as the All-sufficient One. In the faith of that revelation they walked here. The word “Shad” invariably is used in the Old Testament for a woman’s breast, and you get the thought of the new-born babe getting all it requires from the mother. I am “El Shaddai,”— all you require; “walk before Me, and be thou perfect,”— or sincere.

Go and gather the elders of Israel together, and say unto them, Jehovah the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, hath appeared to me, saying, I have indeed visited you, and [seen] that which is done unto you in Egypt, and I have said, I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt.... And they shall hearken to thy voice. And thou shalt come, thou and the elders of Israel, unto the king of Egypt, and ye shall say unto him, Jehovah the God of the Hebrews hath met with us; and now let us go, we pray thee, three days’ journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to Jehovah our God (3:16-18).

So we get God’s instructions, — or Moses got them, — to gather the elders of Israel together, and go to the king of Egypt, and tell him that “the Lord God of the Hebrews hath met with us,”— quite a different title from any mentioned before. To the Israelites it is “I am that I am”; but to the king of Egypt, “Jehovah Elohim of the Hebrews.” And with that authority they go.

These three days are very suggestive, and present to us a lesson we as Christians ought to lay to heart. It surely speaks of death and resurrection; and as those not only dead, but risen with Christ, there ought to be a very clear line of demarcation between such and the world lying in the wicked one. Colossians would give us light. Colossians takes a middle place between Romans and Ephesians, and in it we are not seen as Jews and Gentiles “raised up together and seated together in heavenly places in Christ” (not with Him till He comes); but “If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things Which are above Where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God.” The “if” has no uncertainty about it. We can see there what the character of those risen with Christ should be, not being looked at as seated together, but risen. The whole of that Epistle would help us as to the truth typified here.

And they were to be there as worshippers. That would be suggestive to us, too, no doubt. God has kept that as an object in saving us. The Lord Jesus came in wondrous grace to seek and to save the lost; but the Lord told the woman of Samaria, “The Father seeketh such to worship Him.” We do not get that worship here. It is the worship of Jehovah we have here. We sometimes sing.

“The Father, until then concealed,

Was seen in all His ways,”

for the One who dwelt in the bosom of the Father told Him out, and until He came the Father was not revealed. The worship of the Father is the very highest character of worship. You do not get that in the Epistle to the Hebrews. There is very precious teaching there as to worship; and we are seen there as priests; and that is the kind of worship in Peter too. “Ye also, as living stones, are built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”

But the highest character of worship is that of children to the Father. You cannot introduce priesthood there. Both are blessedly true. “Behold, what manner of love the Father bath bestowed upon us.” What relationship! and what a character of worship! The character of worship seen in the Lord Himself as a man when here below! I suppose the very last act of the Lord Jesus was the worship of the Father. When He was expiring on the cross, “He bowed His head,”— an act of worship, “and yielded up the ghost.” There are hymns about His bowing His languid head. The hymn writers did not get hold of the right thought there.

But I know that the king of Egypt will not let you go, no, not by a powerful hand (3:19).

Egypt is a type of the world, and the king of Egypt a type of him who is now the god of this world. I am not forgetting what it says in Revelation 11:8. Look at this typically. There would be every effort on the part of that king to prevent Israel going out of Egypt. So the god of this world blinds the eyes of them that believe not. There is Satan acting in preventing the purposes of God being carried out if he could. It is very interesting to see the various efforts made by the king to keep them in the land, and they are all overcome. A great point is that there are three days’ journey between the risen saint and the world lying in the wicked one.

An old brother used to say the church ought to have been like a city set on a hill that all could see it in its exaltation, but the church thought it was her mission to raise the world up, and had come down to do that, and never got back herself, and never succeeded in raising the world.

And I will stretch out My hand, and smite Egypt with all My wonders which I will do in the midst thereof; and after that he will let you go (3:20).

So then God tells him, of course, what He will do. These plagues came one after the other, and in the end the firstborn of all the Egyptians, from the king on the throne to the captive in the dungeon, were smitten. Then, at last, ultimately the stubborn king yielded and let them go.

You see, you do not get a redeemed people till you get to Exodus; and only with a redeemed people can God dwell. We have been both bought and redeemed. All the world is bought; so it can be said of the unreal, “denying the Lord that bought them.” The world is bought, but does not know it. By being bought we change our master; by being redeemed we change our status. We do not get redemption in Revelation; it is always purchase.

And I will give this people favor in the eyes of the Egyptians, and it shall come to pass, when ye go out, that ye shall not go out empty (3:21).

The righteous Lord loveth righteousness, and it is an awful thought that He should suggest what is not strictly moral. They had been slaves so long, and this rightly belonged to them. And as far off as Genesis 15. it was prophetically spoken of. Then we get the instruction how they were to acquire it. They were to ask it. Whatever God gives us, the best possible use we can make of it, is to give it back to Him; and this which they thus acquired, they willingly gave up for the tabernacle.

When the king of the North comes out of Egypt (Dan. 11:43) he takes the spoil of it. In the days of the failure of Rehoboam, he took the gold and put brass instead; but by and by it will be reversed, and gold will be substituted for brass (Isa. 60:17).

But every woman shall ask of her neighbor, and of her that is the inmate of her house, utensils of silver, and utensils of gold, and clothing; and ye shall put [them] on your sons, and on your daughters, and shall spoil the Egyptians (3:22).

The word of the Lord can never fall to the ground. It must be fulfilled. “Hath He said and shall He not do it?” He promised Abraham they should come out with great spoil, and it had to be fulfilled. This is simply the instrument here.

Chapter 4.

And Moses answered and said, But behold, they will not believe me, nor hearken unto my voice; for they will say, Jehovah has not appeared to thee (4:1).

What a contrast with Moses forty years previously! What energy then! What readiness to be their deliverer! He thought then they would have known him; but there is no mistaking that he had his commission from God now; and God had been preparing him forty years in the wilderness, — and the best years, — the middle forty of his life! — unlearning and being prepared for the glorious work he had to do: and then forty years serving the Lord faithfully as servant in His house. It is God’s house in Hebrews 3 Christ is Son over God’s house.

“They will say, The Lord hath not appeared unto thee.” He was ready enough to raise objections now. He had not got to the point Paul spoke of to the Corinthians. “We had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves but in God which raiseth the dead.” He had to go in the confidence of that,— in the power of Him Who raiseth the dead. That was the great secret of many of the saints in the Old Testament. Resurrection was God’s secret from the beginning. When God was preparing Elijah to witness for Him on Mount Cannel, he not only proved what resources he had in God by the food he got at the brook Cherith, but he had also to learn God as the God of resurrection, when the widow’s son died at Sarepta, before he stood there alone for God on Mount Carmel, with the four hundred and fifty priests of Baal on the other side.

It is very interesting and instructive to notice the characteristics of the unclean animals and birds in Leviticus 11. It was after the death of Nadab and Abihu that God laid down the distinctions between clean and unclean. The clean animals chewed the cud and divided the hoof. There is any amount of practical instruction in that distinction.

Then the long lists of unclean beasts and birds, specially, are full of instruction; for all their characteristics are found in unclean man. The ravens are birds of prey; this characteristic should not be seen at all in the saint, — the work of the flesh. Take the cuckoo; it is an usurper. It lays its eggs in nests of smaller birds, and then when hatched and grown, the other nestlings are turned out to make room for the strange fledgling.

God’s word is unburdened of all superfluity. Why should God tell us of a mouse in that list? A mouse is a purloiner, “Let him that stole steal no more.” Or the chameleon with power to change color? That should never be seen in a Christian. A Christian should always be a Christian not a politician with political men, or discussing novels with another, but always a Christian. Nor an owl―loving the darkness rather than light.

There is very wonderful instruction in it, and very practical; and it winds up, “Be ye holy, for I am holy,” and that is quoted by Peter for us (1 Peter 1:16).

And Jehovah said to him, What is that in thy hand? And he said, A staff (4:2).

I suppose we have reason to believe it would be the shepherd’s rod. A rod is used for a variety of purposes. Here a rod of power becomes Satanic, and Moses fled before it.

And Jehovah said to Moses, Stretch out thy hand, and take it by the tail—and he stretched out his hand, and caught it, and it became a staff in his hand (4:4).

So Satan will be dispossessed of the power he has acquired by his subtlety. It was a witness that God is greater than Satan, and should be a sign to them. We get a lot about signs in connection with Israel. “The Jews seek a sign.” Here is a divine sign, but the devil is an imitator; and we find he is able to imitate this. After the church is gone he will bring in his greatest imitation. It speaks of the Lord as “a Man approved of God among you by miracles, and wonders, and signs.” The very same Greek words are found in 2 Thessalonians 2:9, when it speaks of the signs accomplished by the Antichrist. And I think that is what the Lord referred to when He said, “A wicked and adulterous generation seeketh after a sin, and no sign shall be given unto it but the sign of the prophet Jonas” — that sign death and resurrection.

The Lord never did a miracle to satisfy mere curiosity nor answered a curious question. If a question was put, He always answered morally. But, by and by, that very sign they desire will be given them, and the Antichrist will call down fire from heaven in the sight of men; and “if another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive,” and the token will be given on this occasion that they may believe a lie.

You would have thought one sign would have been sufficient to deal with their unbelief, and to prepare them to believe that the one who did it by the power of God was speaking the truth; and He gave it for that purpose. Jehovah is very patient: He is the God of patience. So He gave a further sign, — a convincing proof, in verse 6 and 7.

And Jehovah said moreover to him, Put now thy hand into thy bosom. And he put his hand into his bosom, and took it out, and behold, his hand was leprous, as snow. And He said, Put thy hand into thy bosom again. And he put his hand into his bosom again, and took it out of his bosom, and behold, it was turned again as his flesh (4:6, 7).

Leprosy was frequently regarded in the Old Testament as a stroke from God. It is spoken of as a stroke, and that fact was used by Satan to mislead a prominent teacher into deadly error. God can inflict it, and God alone can cure it. We have that in what the king of Israel says in 2 Kings 5:7, “Am I God to kill and to make alive, that this man doth send unto me to recover a man of his leprosy?” And he put it down that the man was seeking a quarrel. But Elisha says, “Let him come now to me”; and when he did, he gave his directions.

He did not come out, but gave instructions what he should do, — dip in Jordan seven times. I suppose in “Jordan” we get the type of judgment unto death. The Jordan empties itself into the Dead Sea. It overflows its banks all the time of harvest; and when Israel crossed it was just at barley harvest. It was on the day after the Sabbath succeeding the Passover that they waved the sheaf of first fruits, and that was harvest. The very day the priest was waving the sheaf in the temple, the Lord arose. There you have type and Antitype.

Leprosy is a remarkable type of sin, and the one afflicted by it, of the sinner. It makes one think of the impotency of man and of the power of God, — a tremendous contrast.

Moses’ hand was leprous as snow, — covered with white. When a leper was white all over he was clean; the disease had ceased to work, and he was clean. But Job says, “If I wash myself with snow water,”— use the best possible means to make myself clean, —” yet shalt thou plunge me in the ditch,”— I shall be covered with filth, in the place of filth—the ditch. There is the result of the best human means. In Psalms 51, the penitent says, “Cleanse me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.” That is what God can do. When we think that Job was a perfect and an upright man, who feared God and eschewed evil, and then hear his confession; and then when we think of David’s terrible guilt, and what he says God can do, how it enhances His mercy!

One of the sweetest things in that penitential psalm is, “Then will I teach transgressors Thy ways; and Converted unto Thee.” Whenever we pass through trial or discipline our great aim should be to get all the possible good out of it for the sake of others. So with Peter, “When thou hast turned again, strengthen thy brethren,” so that others would get the benefit. This is a very sweet thought.

And it shall come to pass, if they will not believe thee, neither hearken to the voice of the first sign, that they will believe the voice of the other sign (4:8).

This should be a striking sign for them. Some would doubtless believe, and some would require more than that.

And it shall come to pass, if they will not believe also those two signs, neither hearken unto thy voice, that thou shalt take of the water of the river, and pour [it] on the dry [land]; and the water that thou takest out of the river shall become blood upon the dry [land] (4:9).

Water, which should have been for refreshment and purification, is to be put upon the dry land, and should become blood, — death. The blood is the life (Lev. 17:11, 14); but separated from the body it means death. So the blood of Christ.

The High Church people are quite wrong when they speak of seven blood-shedding’s. The blood speaks of death. The two thoughts conveyed by the waters of the river would be refreshment and purification; but it could not be used for either if turned into blood.

This sign would speak of judgment. The other two signs would speak of recovery and grace, — what God would do for them in the way of blessing; but this, of what God would do for their enemies in the way of judgment. Human nature is incorrigible. And human nature in us who are believers in the Lord Jesus is the same as in others who are unconverted, — not a whit better. Paul had to learn, “I know that in me, that is, in my flesh, good does not dwell.” There is an absence of all good. We get it shown out in its various features when the flesh is seen in this saint and the other saint. Thank God, we are freed from the dominion of sin; but do not let us ever dream we are clear of its presence.

And Moses said to Jehovah, Ah Lord! I am not eloquent, neither heretofore nor since thou hast spoken to Thy servant, for I am slow of speech and of a slow tongue (4:10).

So Moses has other objections. God in His patience and grace gave him actual experience as to the serpent and the leprosy, and gave him instruction about the water of the river. And Moses said, “O my Lord, I am not eloquent.” The Corinthians said of Paul that his bodily presence was weak, and his speech contemptible. “God has chosen the weak things of the world.”

And Jehovah said to him, Who gave man a mouth? or who maketh dumb, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? [have] not I, Jehovah? (4:11).

Well, the Lord in His patience reasons with His servant. There is the teaching, the truth the servant needs to learn, that His strength is made perfect in weakness, and His grace is sufficient. Paul had really laid hold on that, and it made him able to glory in tribulations. God can do without our strength, and how markedly that is brought out in Judges! The things used of God are an ox goad, the jawbone of an ass, a barley loaf, etc. The one who had the greatest power of all was Samuel, and he had power in prayer.

There are some very solemn lessons for us in what is recorded of the preparations for this special service of God’s servant; but evidently the reluctance on the part of Moses was not humility.

He is spoken of in Numbers 12 as the meekest man on earth, but we know the One in Whom God found all His delight could say, “I am meek and lowly in heart”; so we know this spirit is delightful to God; besides, we hear Him say by Peter, “A meek and quiet spirit which is in the sight of God of great prince.” He highly esteems humility.

If we did not have this testimony that God was angry with him, we might think this was meekness, but since He was angry it was not humility, but unbelief.

The one so exceedingly forward forty years before is exceedingly backward now. One thing strikes us, — the wonderful patience of God. Anyone serving the Lord publicly must be made be made to feel the wonderful patience of God. He is thinking of himself, and it makes us notice the contrast between Moses here and what is said of the apostle Paul. We can afford to dwell on it. Paul had the thorn in the flesh, and evidently it was a very painful experience and something which hindered him in his service. All kinds of guesses have been made, but no one can speak dogmatically about it. What may be a thorn to one may not be so to another; at any rate, it hindered him, and Paul besought the Lord thrice.

Some think it is not right to address our prayers to the Lord, but to the Father in His name. It is true we are put in that place by the Lord. He had taught His disciples the Lord’s prayer, — so called, — though it is not His prayer, but the disciples’ prayer, suited to their then condition; but on the night of His betrayal He said, “Hitherto have ye asked nothing in My name; ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.” Asking in His name is connected with the place grace has given us. We are before God in all His perfect excellences; and the place where grace has put us is “accepted in the Beloved”; thus it is we ask in His name.

So if guided by the Spirit, we should know what kinds of prayer to address to the Father, and to the Lord. This was connected with service, so he “besought the Lord thrice”; but the Lord did not answer it. And when such prayers are not answered it is because the Lord has something better for us. So He said, “My grace is sufficient for thee, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” That laid hold of the apostle, so he immediately began to glory in infirmities, that the power of Christ might rest upon him; and he did not want it removed then. It is quite a contrast to what we have here; Moses was pleading his infirmity as an excuse for service: the apostle glories in his.

The saint in the New Testament is in a far more responsible position than in the Old Testament. Since the canon of scripture is complete, we have all that God has purposed to reveal, so “we all, having all sufficiency in all things, may abound unto every good work.” No such truth had been brought before this one pleading here his infirmities as an excuse for service.

We know the disciples in the days of the Lord’s public ministry were the remnant, and the Lord addresses them as such all through. If we forget that, many things will be quite puzzling to us. Subsequently they formed part of the baptized body. When this day of grace is concluded, and God has gathered out the complement of the Gentiles, there will be found in the world a remnant of Jews that will correspond with those round the Lord when here. So it says in the very chapter I was thinking of, “Ye shall not have gone over the cities of Israel till the Son of man become” (Matt. 10:23).

In connection with God making man’s mouth, I was thinking of this word, “When they deliver you up, take no thought how or what ye shall speak; for it shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak” (Matt. 10:19). They had nothing to prepare.

I suppose we can look on those wonderful discourses in the Acts as a fulfillment, ―for instance, Acts 26. What a wonderful discourse! How suitable to those listening to it; yet I suppose it was seldom the apostle Paul got such an audience! There is no record of any. It is a good thing now when the servant of the Lord can forget himself, and simply draw on the Lord, getting supplies straight from Him. That would correspond with 1 Corinthians 1:27, 28, specially having reference to service.

As far as we, as servants or saints, are concerned, God stains all human pride, excluding all boasting; but He has made us very great boasters in another way (s Cor. 1:27). This very one was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, but God would not use his might. Fishermen, a tax-gatherer, — such were those gathered round the Lord— “things despised.” No such lesson as that had been learned by this wonderful servant of God whom God had been training these forty years.

And now go, and I will be with thy mouth, and will teach thee what thou shalt say (4:12).

What wonderful grace we get here. Of course, it is evident Moses made great progress; he got a better knowledge of God as time went on. Exodus 33:12-15, and many other scriptures bring out that blessed truth, which is the grand point, — God’s presence. It was said to the disciples by the Lord Himself, “Lo, I am with you alway.” Ah yes, it is the Lord’s presence we want, and all the blessing goes with Him. He can do everything, and He has everything; all resources are with Him. Instead of bringing in worship, he still goes on to plead with the Lord to send someone else, not him. He did not appreciate the wonderful honor God was putting on him.

Then the anger of Jehovah was kindled against Moses, and He said, Is not Aaron the Levite thy brother? I know that lie can speak well. And also, behold, lie goeth out to meet thee: and when he seeth thee, lie will be glad in his heart (4:14).

It might have been solely his to carry out this blessed service, but through his backwardness it was shared by his brother.

So here you see through Moses’ failure Aaron is linked with his brother in service, and we know it led to some sad results. This one, his brother, made the golden calf for Israel. Yet the partnership seemed to satisfy Moses.

But Moses had another lesson at the end of the chapter, when God had a controversy with him because of his neglect of the rite belonging to the descendants of Abraham. It makes us think of Philippians 3:3, “We are the circumcision,”— that is, believers now. The descendants of Abraham were marked off in that way; it was a seal of the righteousness of faith, and they gloried in that. In Ephesians 2 The difference between uncircumcision and circumcision is made plain for us, and the Gentile believers were told to remember that at one time they were “called uncircumcision by that which is called the circumcision,” and “at that time they were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world.” So the two are greatly contrasted there; but the middle wall had then been broken down, and one new man made, believing Jews and believing Gentiles raised up together and seated together in heavenly places in Christ; and the apostle says to the Philippians, “We are the circumcision, which worship God by the Spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh,” It is a blessed place to be brought to. Moses, having been told he should have the companionship of Aaron, was willing to go. Now God could have done that for Moses far better than Aaron could, if he had had the simple faith to go at Jehovah’s command.

And thou shalt take this staff in thine hand, with which thou shalt do the signs (4:17).

That rod which had been turned into a serpent, and filled Moses with fear, so that he ran away from it! But the power of the enemy had been turned against himself. In Hebrews 2 we are told the power of the enemy was death. “That through death He might annul [destroy, in A.V.] him that had the power of death. The annulling was there, — at the cross. Satan is still existing, but we, Christians, are always meeting a defeated foe, for the demons “believe and shudder,” They know a time is coming when they will be cast out of heaven, and then Satan will have but a short time before his doom. But the Lord says (Rev. 1:18), “I have the keys of hell and of death.” Everything is at His disposal now, He has rendered Satan powerless.

So this rod. Moses took it by the tail, when turned into a serpent, and it became a rod; and that was the rod he took wherewith to do signs. This is the teaching as to the preparation of Moses up to Aaron being associated with him. Then he returns; but God has other lessons to teach him.

And Jehovah said to Moses in Midian, Go, return to Egypt: for all the men are dead who sought thy life (4:19).

It was at Horeb where this special training was; and now, no doubt, he takes his flock back, and gets permission to go into Egypt. Forty years had passed by, and another king was reigning.

And Moses took his wife and his sons, and set them riding upon an ass, and he returned to the land of Egypt. And Moses took the staff of God in his hand (4:20).

That rod of power we meet with on several occasions. It is rather anticipating what we have in chapter 17. That is a very striking display. There above, the rod of power exercises so much influence on what takes place below. At the beginning there is the smitten rock, and afterward, Moses, Aaron, and Hur on the mount with the rod of power, and Joshua with the people. All represent Christ. We sing sometimes,

“Join all the glorious names

Of wisdom, love and power,

That mortals ever knew,

That angels ever bore;

All are too mean to speak His worth,

Too mean to set the Saviour forth.”

So we constantly get more than one used as a type. Here we get Moses, who had the rod of power, typical of Him Who has all power given unto Him in heaven and in earth; and Arron subsequently the high priest. And we have a High Priest, Who “was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.” We are tempted as He could not be, for there is no sin in Him. Then Hur, which means “purity,” and we have. An Advocate, Jesus Christ the righteous.” And as leader in the conflict Joshua comes in, type of the great Captain of Salvation. It just occurred to me in connection with the rod of power.

And Jehovah said to Moses, When thou goest to return to Egypt, see that thou do all the wonders before Pharaoh that I have put in thy hand. And I will harden his heart, that he shall not let the people go (4:21).

That is evidently connected with the rod of power. “But I will harden his heart.” This has often presented a difficulty to souls. We must remember everything is present to God; and as a fact, Pharaoh hardened his own heart before God hardened it. God can speak of things that are not as if they were, and there is as much certainty in what He says about the future as about the past. We can have no certainty about past, present, or future without it.

Let us turn to Romans 9:17-19. Whatever God does, He does for His own glory, and all His ways are right. His way is perfect, and His ways are perfect, and we ought not to read this carelessly. Whatever God does, He is the righteous Jehovah loving righteousness; it is impossible for Him to make a mistake, or do a wrong thing.

“The same lump” is the whole human race. There is only one lump, — fallen human nature. There are only three phases of human life, — innocent, as Adam was in the garden; then fallen; and holy, in the Person of Christ. So apart from Adam and from Christ there is one lump (I mean Adam innocent), and from that lump He has power to make one vessel unto honor, and another unto dishonor.

In the case of Pharaoh He “endured with much longsuffering a vessel of wrath, fitted to destruction.” It was their own sin that fitted these vessels to destruction, not His election. But oh, “vessels of mercy, which He had afore prepared unto glory!” That is all of God and of His mercy; but in the case of the wicked there is no predestination on the part of God that some should be hardened. Yet the future is present to Him, and He knows what will take place.

And thou shalt say to Pharaoh, Thus saith Jehovah: Israel is My son, My firstborn. And I say to thee, Let My son go, that he may serve Me. And if thou refuse to let him go, behold, I will kill thy son, thy firstborn (4:22, 23).

That is, to serve as worshippers in that mount where Moses saw the burning bush. They had to go to that spot, a three days’ journey into the wilderness; not only reminding us that God would have His people on the glory side of the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ, but that there must be a clear line of demarcation between His own and the world. The three days would clearly speak of death and resurrection, as in the case of Jonah.

And it came to pass on the way in the inn, that Jehovah came, upon him, and sought to slay him (4:24).

Well, there is more than one way of looking at what occurred at the inn. Moses had been disobedient, and the narrative goes to show Zipporah was at the bottom of it; she had opposed it. But Moses was responsible as head of the household, and Zipporah had to do what was repugnant, and in a far more painful way than if they had been obedient at first. Read Colossians 2:10. We are complete in the One in Whom dwelleth all the fullness; nothing can be added to that. It would be a loss to add anything to that. Christ’s death on Calvary has made that true now. It is on that ground those words in Philippians 3:3 can be used of us. The flesh has to be set aside entirely. That is something God will not use, but He will have clean vessels. God uses such; so we get 2 Timothy 2:21.

God will have clean vessels, so He has this controversy with Moses, and Zipporah has to bow to the authority of the word of God.

And Aaron spoke all the words that Jehovah had spoken to Moses, and did the signs before the eyes of the people. And the people believed. And when they heard that Jehovah had visited the children of Israel, and that He had seen their affliction, then they bowed their heads and worshipped (4:30, 31).

Of course they had God’s promise that He would come and deliver them. That was given very definitely to Abraham as recorded in Genesis 15; and the two seals of the covenant made with Abraham were the smoking furnace and burning lamp.

Chapter 5.

And afterward Moses and Aaron went in, and said to Pharaoh, Thus saith Jehovah the God of Israel, Let My people go, that they may celebrate a feast to Me in the wilderness (vs. 1).

When Moses speaks to Pharaoh about a feast, — a feast to Jehovah, — Pharaoh speaks about working; this was the absorbing thing to him. Those who had built his treasure cities he did not want to give up. We were slaves to sin and Satan, and lawful captives too; but the Lord came down; the Son of God, Who is also Jehovah, came down as Son of man to deliver. We have several New Testament scriptures that would just fit in with this; as, for instance, “Who gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father (Gal. 1:4). Then in another place, “Who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto Himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works” (Titus 2:14).

So this feast could not be kept in Egypt, as it would be an abomination to the Egyptians. Therefore God speaks of deliverance, and that they must depart out of Egypt and go into the wilderness, — the place of human destitution, and heavenly supply. What a privilege! It speaks of fellowship—” hold a feast unto Me! “What a privilege! But Pharaoh could not see it. He was the great opposer of God’s purposes. The devil may oppose, but he can never frustrate. Thank God, He works all things after the counsel of His own will; and, as we get in Daniel, “No man can stay His hand, or say unto Him, What doest Thou?”

And Pharaoh said, Who is Jehovah, to Whose voice I am to hearken to let Israel go? I do not know Jehovah, neither will I let Israel go (vs. 2).

So Pharaoh said, “Who is the Lord, that I should obey His voice?” When Moses suggested this in chapter 3:13, the Lord gives a short reply to his question; but when Pharaoh says, “Who is the Lord?” (of course He is the ever-existing One, Who ever is, ever was, and ever shall be) God gave him a long reply till he had to confess, “Jehovah is righteous” (Ex. 9:27).

And they said, The God of the Hebrews has met with us: let us go, we pray thee, three days’ journey into the wilderness, and sacrifice unto Jehovah our God; lest He fall upon us with pestilence, or with sword (vs. 3).

You see that Moses and Aaron are suggesting that if they are not obedient to the word of Jehovah they can only expect chastisement.

It is not one day’s journey, or four days’ journey, but three days’ journey. We cannot make a mistake about that. These three days tell of death and resurrection; and they had to go through the Red Sea, where they had in a very marked way a type of death and resurrection. And in these three days God is telling us Christians we are on the resurrection, — the glory, — side of the grave of the Lord Jesus Christ. The world is on the other side, — the side of the cross, in fact. So there ought to be a very clear line of demarcation between the heavenly saints and the world.

The Lord said in John 17, “They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.” No, we belong to heaven; some saints may shrink from it, but it is a fact, — we are heavenly ones. Some may say, “I don’t put up for that.” Ah, but what saith the scripture? That must decide it. “As is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly.” We are united by the Holy Spirit to the glorified Man at God’s right hand. So “we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, Who shall change our body of humiliation, that it may be fashioned according to His body of glory”; and (to return to 1 Cor. 15) it tells us as an encouragement, “As we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.”

These bodies will be changed soon, and we shall not only be heavenly ones by calling, but have heavenly bodies conformed to the image of God’s dear Son; and that for His exaltation, that He might be the Firstborn among many brethren.

Of course, in the eyes of Pharaoh it would be waste of time to hold a feast to Jehovah, though Jehovah commanded it; and in the eyes of the world it would be all waste too; something like what is recorded in John 12, — the precious box of ointment Judas said could be sold for three hundred pence and given to the poor, and he called it waste.

I remember being in a meeting, many years ago, and overhearing two talking (it was a meeting for the breaking of bread), of “what an awful waste of time!” Silence in a meeting may be a sign of weakness, but it may be a sign of deepest worship, souls feeling it too deep for words. Whatever it was, I heard the man saying it to his wife; and a brother went up to him and asked him if he was in fellowship. He said “I am a baptized believer,” and I knew at once he was a Christadelphian. They are Unitarians, and make everything of their baptism. So he had nothing to do with it; he had nothing to do with worship; it was all waste to him. They do a tremendous lot of harm: if simple souls get under their power they damage them to a terrible extent. Millennial-dawnism is an offshoot of Christadelphianism.

The “gift of tongues” movement has the appearance of demon possession. I know a chapel,— a Baptist chapel; and a man connected with that movement went to the town in which that chapel was situated, and tried to get among Open Brethren, but they rejected him; so he went to the chapel and got the minister under his power, with the result that the people,— sober-minded people,— were rolling about the floor of the building, while the minister said he had the gift of tongues. The disorder delivered several from the chapel, and they said it was exceedingly sad to see these dear old people quite under the power of the evil spirit. At the same time it would be right to say, God guards His own. In Matthew 24 there will be false Christs doing such wonders that, if it were possible, they would deceive the very elect; but it is not: God guards His own.

We are living in days when we have to fall back on 2 Timothy— “the Lord knoweth them that are His”; — we cannot distinguish. The obverse side of that seal is, “Let everyone that nameth the name of the Lord depart from iniquity.” Such would need the Epistle to the Colossians to set them right. We are complete, or filled to the full, in Him. At Colosse they were in danger of adding philosophy to Christianity, so the cross is everything there, you see. It is a very important Epistle.

And the taskmasters of the people and their officers went out, and spoke to the people, saying, Thus says Pharaoh, I will not give you straw (vs. 10).

So now they were to be deprived of the straw necessary in making these bricks; and their case, in consequence, is worse, for instead of being made lighter their burdens were increased. As we look at it in the light of all the word of God we see it would have been becoming in them to be patient, because God’s time was not come. He is never too soon; He is never too late.

I suppose these officers were Israelites; the taskmasters would be Egyptians. The making of bricks was a very toilsome thing. We can gather that from the scriptures themselves, and there is a reference to it in Nahum 3:4. They would have to tread the clay till it got to the right consistency, — so that would show it was laborious work; and then to deprive them of what was necessary in making their bricks, — how cruel! No doubt it has its voice in the way Satan deals with souls when the gospel reaches them, and they are weakened. They have to go through a terrible time with the enemy; then that is succeeded by a time of subtlety. “Go... ye that are men, go a little way.” And then Moses has to make a stand: “there shall not a hoof be left behind.”

But here Pharaoh is seeking to depress them. Then the officers, — Israelites responsible to see their brethren did their work, — were beaten.

Then the officers of the children of Israel came and cried to Pharaoh, saying, Why lost thou deal thus with thy bondmen? (vs. 15).

They tell this to Pharaoh, but all they get is “Ye are idle.” So far as his standpoint went it would be a proper waste of time to hold this feast.

In the New Testament the strong man is overcome by the Lord Jesus Himself; it was in the temptation in the wilderness when He overcame him. He did not annul him then, but He overcame him; so He could spoil his goods; and so we see Him casting out demons. But at the cross He annulled him. So now we always meet a defeated foe; and the word to us is “Resist the devil and he will flee from you,” though he still goes about as a roaring lion. But he shall be bruised under the saints’ feet shortly. Though annulled he still has access to heaven at the present time. He still has to be cast out of heaven, — cast unto the earth; then into the bottomless pit; and at last into the lake of fire.

So when the seventy disciples returned with joy, the Lord said, “Rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven,”— i.e. rejoice in what grace has done for you; then He says, “I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven,”— looking forward to Revelation 12.

Pharaoh was a cruel master, and the one he typified is a cruel master. We did not know it till we were released from his bondage. The mission of the Lord was to deliver the captives according to Isaiah bd. The Lord read from that chapter in the synagogue at Nazareth (Luke 4). He unrolled the book and found the place, and read, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He hath anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He hath sent Me to heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord”; and He rolled up the book. If He had read one word further on beyond the comma in our Bible, He could not have said, “This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.”

In the Old Testament the first advent and the second advent are often spoken of together. This time of grace is not often spoken of, and yet this is the longest of all the dispensations. The dispensation of innocence was very short; the dispensation of conscience was the next longest, — roughly 1650 years; that of restraint under human government 850 years; the dispensation of the law 1500 years, and of the kingdom only moo years. The present is the longest.

It is impossible for God to do a useless thing. The lesson that is learned by the man in Romans 7. is, “I know that in me, that is, in my flesh, is an absence of all good,” and whatever training it has, the flesh is incorrigible, and unimprovable. Man in his very essence, — the carnal mind, is not subject to the law of God, neither can be. It has come to an end at the cross, — the first man, the responsible man.

Man is not under probation now; he was from the time he was created until the cross. When the flesh is tried again under judgment it will blaspheme God. And there will be a demonstration in the millennium to show it is impossible for a creature to stand under any circumstances in independence of God.

Only some angels fell, and some are kept: they are called holy and elect, and they take great interest in us, and are learning in the assembly the various wisdom of God. But they will learn another lesson: they will see man blessed as never before, and creation delivered from the bondage of corruption, and brought into the liberty of the glory of the sons of God, and the earth yielding her increase (it has to be coaxed to do it now); but then the time of fruitfulness will be something extraordinary, — every man under his own vine, and under his fig tree. Yet when the devil is let loose a little season they as readily fall as Adam at the first. What a lesson for the angels They are very interested in the human race.

“The angels by His favor stand

Before His throne in glory,

And willing fly at His command

To guard His own in every land

And guide them safe to glory.”

It is very sweet to see them ministering to Christ as a Man here. After the temptation in the wilderness the devil left Him, and angels ministered unto Him; but he came back again to seek to overcome Him by terror at the end. “The prince of this world cometh,” and an angel again strengthened Him. But there were none at the cross.

In chapter 4, Moses was told to do all these miracles, and he not only had to show them to Aaron and the elders of Israel, but to Pharaoh (vs. 21); and in chapter 3, he was told to bring the elders with him; but in this chapter he does not appear to do so. The elders may have been with them, but he does not seem to have done the wonders; and instead of obtaining deliverance they are brought into deeper bondage.

And Moses returned to Jehovah, and said, Lord, why hast Thou done evil to this people? Why now hast Thou sent me? Forever since I came to Pharaoh to speak in Thy name, he hath done evil to this People; neither hast Thou delivered Thy people at all! (vss. 22, 23).

It is astonishing how Moses addresses Jehovah. He was treated in a way none of the others were. This is brought out when Miriam and Aaron claimed equality with Moses (Num. 12). It shows the wonderful intimacy to which, by the grace of God, Moses was introduced; but he did not learn all at once. He was led on.

What Moses returned to the Lord to say was certainly very unseemly, and if the Lord had cut the people off instead of delivering them, what could they say? They deserved it; but in all this part of Exodus it is pure grace. There is a great difference in God’s dealings with them after they had accepted the law. But the gifts and calling of God are without repentance. Our ground of confidence is not that we shall not fail, but that He will never fail. So in the last book of the Old Testament, “I am Jehovah, I change not. Therefore, ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.” There was the reason found in God Himself, in His marvelous grace.

Chapter 6.

And Jehovah said to Moses, Now shalt thou see what I will do to Pharaoh; for by a strong hand shall he let them go, and by a strong hand shall he drive them out of his land (6:1).

We have had to notice, and shall have to notice again, that this section of the book which we are reading is characterized by grace. It is pure grace up to chapter 18; then pure law; and then a mixture of law and grace. This is one way in which Exodus is divided.

It is Marvelous grace on God’s part to answer Moses thus graciously. It was unbecoming on the part of Moses to speak to Jehovah as he did. At the same time, he does not complain of the treatment he got at the hands of the children of Israel at the end of chapter 5; but there was a lack of patience. He had not learned that God’s way is perfect always, and His time always best. So He tells Moses that He would so deal with Pharaoh that he would be glad to get rid of the children of Israel. Of course it was not done in a moment.

And I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, as the Almighty God; but by My name Jehovah I was not made known to them (6:3).

Now we get a portion that has been greatly discussed, and numberless explanations given of it.

God Almighty, or El Shaddai, — God the All-sufficient. I know we have mentioned it before, that “Shad” invariably is used for a woman’s breast where the child gets all it requires; and the word contains that thought. It was God saying, “You have got everything in Me, the secret of all resources. Walk before Me and be ye perfect.” And it was in the faith of that communication the fathers walked in the land of Canaan. The people among whom they dwelt were exceedingly wicked, — their iniquity was not then full; it was to go from bad to worse but bad as it was, God was the Protector of His own. “But by My name Jehovah was I not known to them.”

There must be an explanation of this, for at the very first, when Cain was born, for instance, his mother said, “I have gotten a man from Jehovah”; and we find it entering into the names that were given; Moriah, “vision of Jah”; and “Abraham called that place Jehovah-Jireh.” Earlier even than that,” Then began men to call on the name of Jehovah”; and when Abraham came into the land, he built an altar unto Jehovah, after the death of his father (Gen. 12:7).

They did not know Him according to the full import of the name. It is composed of three Hebrew words. We almost get a translation of it in Revelation 1:8—the Self-existing, Self-subsisting, Eternal God.

I have no doubt Eve thought the promised Seed was there when Cain was born, but she found out her mistake; and she called her next son Abel, “vanity, a breath.” She and Adam had heard the word, “The Seed of the woman shall bruise the serpent’s head,”— the coming Deliverer Who would destroy the serpent’s head.

Of course it is nice to trace out the import of the names. Melchizedek said to Abraham, “Blessed be Abram of the Most High God, Possessor of heaven and earth.” So that is one thing contained in the name, “Most High God,” which is His millennial title as King of Kings, and Lord of Lords”— the One by Whose promise Abraham had the land, and Isaac and Jacob also.

Jehovah was the One, Who, if He promised, would fulfill it in His own time, and they did not know that. In Genesis 15:16 God definitely promised, that in the fourth generation, they should come again to the land, and the genealogy we get in the chapter we are reading shows it is the fourth generation. There is the covenant made with Abraham, and thus Exodus is wonderfully connected with Genesis xv: we see it in a great many cases.

Solomon says, “Blessed be Jehovah God of Israel, which spake with His mouth unto David my father, and hath with His hand fulfilled it” (1 Kings 8:15). The fathers had the words of His mouth, but not the fulfillment of His promise; so at this time they knew Him as the fathers did not. It is the import of the Name. “Hath He said, and shall He not do it? Hath He spoken and shall He not make it good.” No scripture can be broken; nothing of it can fall to the ground; what He hath promised He will fulfill, and they were now going to have an illustration of it. They had proved experimentally the truth of El Shaddai in the wonderful way they had been protected, but now they were to prove Him as the covenant-keeping Jehovah.

And I established also My covenant with them, to give them the land of Canaan, the land of their pilgrimage, in which they were sojourners. And I have [also] heard the groaning of the children of Israel, whom the Egyptians have forced to serve, and I have remembered My covenant (6:4, 5).

“What He had promised, He was able also to perform”; that was the faith of Abraham. So “I will bring you out... I will rid you... I will redeem you.” It is true they were redeemed by blood, but that word does not occur in connection with the Passover, but in connection with the Red Sea. They were redeemed by power. The blood was the ground of everything, and God teaches us there that it is the blood of the Lamb that shelters from the stroke of judgment.

These people were no better than the Egyptians, but it was God Himself that put the difference between them: and if He came in judgment, they must be sheltered. That shows of itself that knowing Him was knowing the import of His Name; and having promised at one time, He was able to fulfill it at His own time.

The four hundred years are reckoned from the time Ishmael mocked Isaac, when he was weaned; that was when the persecution commenced. Here we get what is referred to in Hebrew 6 — the two immutable things, — God’s promise and God’s oath. They are strong consolation.

And I will bring you into the land, concerning which I swore to give it unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob; and I will give it you for a possession: I am Jehovah (6:8).

“I did swear.” He ends there that communication in the same way in which He began it, “I am Jehovah.” It is an important truth of scripture, constantly referred to, — His relationship to Israel as Jehovah. And how much there is wrapped up in the names connected with Jehovah! Jehovah-jireh; Jehovah-nissi, which we get in this book. There is something very encouraging there. Jehovah-shalom, — “the Lord send peace”; Jehovah-tsidkenu, — “the Lord my righteousness.” But I was thinking of that battle fought with Amalek. “In the name of Jehovah will we set up our banners.” “They,” i.e. those who trust in horses and chariots— “are fallen.” The battle has gone on, and now at its conclusion, “they are brought low and fallen, but we”— who trusted in Jehovah— “are risen and stand upright.” He is a God of immutable truth (Ex. 17:15; Psa. 20:5-9).

The Jesus of the New Testament is the Jehovah of the Old Testament. That can quite clearly be proved; but it is a great mistake to think Jehovah is equal to the Name of Father. This is the most blessed and precious revelation we have. We sing sometimes,

“The Father, until then concealed,

Was seen in all His ways.”

There was only One capable of telling Him out, — the One Who is in His bosom, — not was, but is. He never left that bosom. “He hath declared Him.” He knew the love of that heart, and told it out so perfectly that He could say to Philip, “He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father.”

The use of the word in Psalms 103 is a metaphor, “like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear Him.” Abba has been called the simplest word that infant lips can say. The Lord used it in Gethsemane, and because His Spirit is sent forth into our hearts who are made sons of God, we too cry, Abba, Father, — the special communion of the relationship.

In the genealogy given here (vers. 14-25), the point of the Spirit is to show, and have prominently before the mind, the pedigree of the two used of God in this great deliverance. It does not go beyond Levi, — Reuben, Simeon, Levi; and by not going beyond shows the object of the Spirit; and it also shows that it was in the fourth generation God visited them. This blessed, wonderful communication was taken to the children of Israel.

And Moses spoke thus to the children of Israel; but they did not listen to Moses from anguish of spirit, and from hard service (6:9).

“Moses spake so.” God would fulfill His promise, but they were not prepared for it; they hearkened not. They were thoroughly dispirited and had lost all heart. The elders at first had bowed the head and worshipped, but now they had had such additional burdens put on them they could not hearken. Their case was worse, not bettered, and Moses was affected by their unbelief; for when the Lord said, “Go in, speak unto Pharaoh,” (ver. 11), he spake before the Lord saying, “Behold, the children of Israel have not hearkened unto me; how then shall Pharaoh hear me, who am of uncircumcised lips?” (vs. 12). I suppose he felt keenly that he lacked eloquence, and whatever the impediment was, he wanted to impress that it was sufficient to keep him from going to Pharaoh.

And Jehovah spoke to Moses and to Aaron, and gave them a commandment to the children of Israel, and to Pharaoh king of Egypt, to bring the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt (6:13).

I do not think that charge was a recapitulation. Whatever their reluctance was God would enforce it. He gave them a charge.

This is that Aaron and Moses, to whom Jehovah said, Bring out the children of Israel from the land of Egypt according to their hosts (6:26).

God would impress upon us in that genealogy; “These are that Aaron and Moses.” They would not come out as a mere rabble you see, —” according to their armies.” When they did come out (ch. 13:18), they came out “harnessed,” or, as in the margin, by five in a rank. That is the meaning of the word “harness” there. So they went up orderly.

We have Aaron and Moses in verse 26, but when it is a case of speaking to Pharaoh Moses is put before Aaron (vs. 27). Typically, we have Moses the mediator, and Aaron the high priest for us; and that comes out in a very blessed way as we proceed in this book of Exodus.

And Moses said before Jehovah, Behold, I am of uncircumcised lips, and how will Pharaoh hearken unto me? (6:30).

Again we are told what Moses said to Jehovah. Does it not show us the grace of God? It brings it out in a very blessed way that He is above all man’s infirmities, and all man’s evil. Grace is God acting according to His own free love above all the evil found in man.

Chapter 7.

And Jehovah said to Moses, See, I have made thee God to Pharaoh; and Aaron thy brother shall be thy prophet (7:1).

It there gives us an idea of what a prophet is. He is the mouthpiece for God, as Aaron was the mouthpiece for Moses. I suppose scripture teaches that the prophet is one who brings the conscience of man into the presence of God. John 4 and 1 Corinthians 14 go to confirm it. The Lord had to touch the woman’s conscience: “Go, call thy husband and come hither”; and when He had told her He knew all about her, and her history, and thus brought her conscience into the presence of God by His word, she said: “Sir, I perceive that Thou art a prophet. So in 1 Corinthians 14, if a stranger came in and listened to the utterance of a prophet, he would fall down and declare that God was in them of a truth; his conscience would be reached, and he would feel in the presence of God.

And I will render Pharaoh’s heart obdurate, and multiply My signs and wonders in the land of Egypt (7:3).

At the beginning of a dispensation, — as here, and also at the beginning of the Christian dispensation, — signs have their proper place; and the gift of tongues was a sign to unbelievers (1 Cor. 14:22).

Here, then, signs had their place at the beginning of that dispensation when Israel was called out of Egypt. And they had their place at the beginning of the Christian dispensation, but we could easily prove they would be wrong now.

Look at Mark 16:20. So we have it frequently brought before us in the Acts, God accrediting what they were doing. Where is there room for that in the divided state of Christendom? Is God going to accredit the Baptist body, or the Independent body, or the Episcopalian or Presbyterian bodies? And if there was a company thoroughly meeting the Lord’s mind, for Him to accredit them so would be utterly disastrous. There is the danger of saying—We are the people.

It is altogether wrong ground for people to say, if asked why they are with those gathered to the Lord’s name (though in nine cases out of ten they would do so), because they are the most scriptural. But that is not the point. It is not an association that governs us. Look at 2 Timothy 2:19-22. Separation from evil is God’s principle for unity. One with his eyes open separates from evil, and another likewise, and another likewise. It is one step at a time. “Cease to do evil; learn to do well.” So those in that Epistle find themselves together; not joining a company because it is most scriptural. That would be only another sect.

And Pharaoh will not hearken unto you, and I will lay My hand upon Egypt, and bring forth My hosts, My people, the children of Israel, out of the land of Egypt by great judgments (7:4).

I said just now God’s time is the best; so this was not all done in a great hurry. God multiplied His signs; it was one thing after another, till the one who refused to bow to the word of Jehovah had to confess that He was righteous.

It is necessary to bear in mind what the Lord says in chapter 12 when we are reading about these plagues. At that time in the world’s history Egypt was the most important seat of idolatry in the world; and Israel was called out, and separated from the other nations, to serve the living and true God, and to be a testimony to Him in the world.

Idolatry had overrun the world when Abraham was called out. People sometimes think that Abraham was a superior man, and God called him out because of that; but Joshua shows us he was a poor idolater when God called him out by attraction. Then we find that when the nations were given their inheritance, the children of Israel were the center of God’s purpose (Deut. 32:8). The millennial reign of the Lord Jesus is the result of God’s government of this earth, and Israel will be the center then. It is not till they have their proper place, as head, that things can be right in the world.

Moses had a remarkable place given to him. He was able to use superhuman power, by the power God gave him, for a special purpose. From this time we do not get any objections on the part of Moses. He did what God told him.

With regard to God hardening Pharaoh’s heart, I have to confess myself I have seen a difficulty in it. I do not think you really get that experience till chapter 9. J.N.D. gives, I will render Pharaoh’s heart obdurate,” and the R.V., “I will harden Pharaoh’s heart.” We could not think of God hardening Pharaoh’s heart till he had first hardened his own, and then God judicially hardened it. We shall see as we proceed other portions that deal with it. When the gospel is preached in its freeness and fullness it is a sweet savor unto God, and a savor of life to those who believe, but of death to those who reject it.

Pharaoh was raised up for the purpose of showing the sovereignty of God. He is the righteous Jehovah Who loveth righteousness; and we know it is impossible for Him to do an unrighteous thing, or an useless thing. But we could not go on the lines, when we think of predestination, that He foresaw everything; and because He foresaw some would believe He predestinated them.

Pharaoh was responsible, — quite. He had had it put before him without any threatening before this. No signs were shown him before this chapter, though Moses and Aaron had been prepared with signs. There is good reason for us to believe many sin away the day of grace before the end of their earthly career; but it is sweet for faith to realize God will be justified in His sayings, and will overcome when He is judged. He could not do a wrong.

And the Egyptians shall know that I am Jehovah, when I stretch forth Mine hand on Egypt, and bring out the children of Israel from among them (7:5).

Specially the Lord had before Him there the judgment of the firstborn, — the last of the plagues. So in one way it was a conflict between Jehovah and the false deities the Egyptians worshipped. They specially gloried in the Nile. It was life to them; and it was turned into blood. The magicians had to acknowledge it was the hand of God, but they did not give glory to Jehovah there.

And Moses was eighty years old, and Aaron was eighty-three years old, when they spoke to Pharaoh (7:7).

There is not an idle word in scripture. There is a reason for the age of Moses coming in here. Quite possibly the first martyr had been meditating on this scripture. He divided the life of Moses into three terms of forty years. What an important place forty years and forty days have in scripture! There is special teaching in every case with forty days. We get it in connection with the flood; and again when they spied out the land. Elijah goes in the strength of the meat provided by the angel forty days. “Yet forty days and Nineveh shall be overthrown.” The Lord was tempted in the wilderness forty days and was on earth after His resurrection the same period. Those on the holy mount had each fasted forty days. This would, I judge, be given to show the length of time the children of Israel had been bitterly persecuted. At the birth of Moses they were being bitterly persecuted, and the Lord was not an unmindful spectator. “In all their affliction He was afflicted.”

When Pharaoh shall speak to you, saying, Do a miracle for yourselves, — then thou shalt say unto Aaron, Take thy staff, and cast [it] before Pharaoh, — it will become a serpent (7:9).

So Pharaoh demanded a sign from them. Let me know your credentials; give me proof that you are sent by such an One.” We know what the serpent shadowed forth, — the one that had the power of death, because victorious over the first man. He could not be annulled except by the Second Man Who annulled him through death.

And Pharaoh also called the sages and the sorcerers; and they too, the scribes of Egypt, did so with their enchantments (7:11).

The “magicians” would include both the wise men and the “sorcerers.” Well, of course, there are different ways of dealing with this, but I do not think we can understand it unless we see there was Satanic power. If it had not been disclosed to us in the New Testament we should not have known the names of these magicians, Jannes and Jambres.

By pressure on the back of the head a tribe of Africans can make any serpent rigid; but whether this was Satanic power or trickery we are not told. “Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further.” “They shall proceed no further, for their folly shall be manifest unto all men, as theirs also was” (2 Tim. 3:9). God can make the wrath of man to praise Him, and restrain the remainder. Satan can go no further than permitted.

The demons in the man asked the Lord not to send them into the abyss, — the prison house, — the same word as the bottomless pit, — but into the swine; and the Lord suffered them. It was permitted. Nothing in the universe is left to chance. If we have proper thoughts of God we know there is nothing too small for Him, and nothing can happen without His permission or commission. We learn throughout the word the damage which Satan does is by imitation; and he is doing it now fearfully. The good seed is sown by the Lord, yet in the field (the world) are tares. “An enemy hath done this.” That is how the devil succeeds now in neutralizing the truth, by counterfeit Christians.

In these priests it is Satan acting, but Pharaoh is a type of Satan as the god of this world. We get the present day described as the closing days of Christendom; and we know we are in them. Any moment the Lord may come to take His church away. But there are signs to show the day of judgment is coming. Things are taking shape for judgment. “Ye see the day approaching.” It never says, “Ye see the coming of the Lord approaching,”— but “the day.” It never says we shall be caught up to meet the Son of man. As Son of man He comes to judge, and we shall come with Him. The “day” is when He comes with His saints. The coming for them, and the coming with them are the two stages of His coming. When He comes for us He will not come to the earth.

As in the day of atonement— (just to show our place)— the High Priest has gone in (you get the type in Lev. 16), but He has not come out yet; when He does it is for the Jews. We find the true day of atonement in Zechariah 12 They will afflict their souls, and it will be an individual thing; they will look upon Him Whom they have pierced, and will mourn for Him. When they see the Lord, the pierced One, we shall be with Him: for we are being saved while the High Priest is within.

He will not come to the earth for us, but so far, — to the air, — and we shall be caught up to meet Him. Then, and so, shall we ever be with the Lord. He will never be seen apart from His church after that; consequently “when He shall appear, then shall we also appear with Him in glory.” Turn to 2 Timothy 3:1-5.

You get the apostate state of the Gentile nations in the last half of Romans 1, and this description corresponds remarkably with it, with the addition of verse 5. That is the enemy’s work. Who can doubt that day is the present?

They cast down every man his staff, and they became serpents; but Aaron’s staff swallowed up their staves (7:12).

It does not say Aaron’s serpent, but his rod. And theirs were gone, — they were bereft of theirs. Surely we can see the type of death swallowed up of victory. Speaking of ourselves we can say, “Not that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life” (2 Cor. 5:4); but here what is represented is the power of death annulled.

Verse 13 is translated by J.N.D.: “Pharaoh’s heart was stubborn, and he hearkened not unto them.”

Go unto Pharaoh in the morning—behold, he will go out unto the water—and take thy stand by the bank of the river in front of him; and take in thy hand the staff that was turned into a serpent (7:15).

It is generally supposed he was going there to do homage to the river. The Egyptians gloried in that river more than anything, so it is probable Pharaoh had gone to pay homage to it. If he had not been responsible to obey, the close of verse 16. could not righteously have been said to him.

Thus saith Jehovah, In this shalt thou know that I am Jehovah: behold, I will smite with the staff that is in My hand upon the waters which is in the river, and it shall be turned into blood (7:17).

If we think of the river as an object of worship, we see it smitten, and wounded, and turned into blood! The water would be for man’s purification and refreshment; but turned into blood it would signify death.

At the time of the end, the drying up of the Euphrates would tell us the hindrance of the transport of the kings of the East will be removed. When we think of China having a quarter of the whole human race, what would not the power of the kings of the East be, were they all trained for war!

It is a very difficult part of Revelation where the two hundred million horsemen are brought in. The earlier and later parts are far easier. In these two chapters (Rev. 8 and 9) there is that which would correspond with the Saracen hordes and the Turkish hordes as a partial fulfillment.

There will be no “conscientious objectors” among the saints of God in that army, when He comes to judge and make war. Those are the heavenly saints. I do not like to speak of the rapture of the church, for that rapture will take in every saint of God who has lived in any dispensation. It includes the church, but I like to say the rapture of the saints. Immediately afterwards we find the twenty-four elders, who include all the saints who have lived and died until He comes. In chapter 19 we get the marriage supper of the Lamb, and other saints are there besides the Bride, distinguished as those called to the supper.

What is the “better thing” of Hebrews 11:40? Ours is a better thing altogether. The least in the kingdom of heaven is greater dispensationally than John the Baptist. This is the best of all times. God has kept the best till the last; and the Lord did not say to Thomas, “Thou art blessed, Thomas,” but, “Blessed are they that have not seen and yet have believed.” Thomas is a type of the remnant by and by; they will look upon Him, and then believe. But it is true of us “Whom having not seen ye love; in Whom, though now ye see Him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory.” Many scriptures show we are in a far better place. J.N.D. says of Hebrews 12:22, “You have the millennium from top to bottom, and we are come to it.”

It is not a question of ourselves at all: the blessing we are getting is because God is putting honor on Christ in that way: the church is the complement of Him that filleth all in all. We form part of that from which God is going to get glory through all eternal ages, — “all generations of the age of ages.” If we can see ourselves there, it is more blessed to think of God as the God and Father of our Lord Jesus, and better to think of the love of Christ to the church, than individually. It is higher.

It is its geographical position that will bring Egypt forth at the time of the end. They and the king of the north have always played a part against Israel, but in the millennium they will have the greatest blessing, forming with Israel a trio whom God will bless (Isa. 19:24, 25).

Chapter 8.

And Jehovah said to Moses, Go unto Pharaoh, and say unto him, Thus saith Jehovah, Let My people go, that they may serve Me. And if thou refuse to let [them] go, behold, I will smite all thy borders with frogs (8:1, 2).

No doubt this miracle is a great rebuke from Jehovah because of the Egyptians’ folly in worshipping reptiles. They regarded them as sacred, being connected with the river; but coming up in abundance like this made them very loathsome, and it simply says “when they gathered them together in heaps the land stank” (vs. 14).

It would almost look, from what is said in the Psalms, that there was a pestilence as the result, — “frogs, which destroyed them.” We must remember what God said about His judgments being on all their gods; — the most important point in considering these miracles. There are ten judgments, but it is not limited to ten miracles: there are many miracles.

Moses had the faith to look up to God, and “move the Hand that moves the world” to accomplish these miracles. This is the second judgment. Of course, turning the water into blood was judgment, and bringing up these frogs was a judgment. The magicians did the same, but only to increase them. Satan can only imitate. He is the great imitator. They would have shown their skill and power if they had destroyed the frogs.

In every case the superiority of the power of the One Moses represents is strikingly brought out. The frogs dying ought to have spoken to them. Directly Pharaoh had respite his heart was hardened in hope nothing more would follow. Satan’s deception is very wonderful.

Of course we get frogs used in the book of Revelation, but these plagues in Egypt supply the figure to a lot of things in the Revelation. The two witnesses in chapter 11. accomplished miracles, but it is symbolic in Revelation, and reminds us of Moses in Egypt, and Elijah in Israel. But one could not speak of these frogs as of those in Revelation.

And Jehovah said to Moses, Say unto Aaron, Stretch out thy staff, and smite the dust of the earth, and it shall become gnats throughout the land of Egypt (8:16).

There may be things connected with this that would be difficult to determine. Some think it should be mosquitoes, instead of lice; and others equally learned stand to it that all the dust of Egypt became lice. Whatever it was, it was something very dreadful and loathsome, and we must bear in mind what the Spirit of God directs our attention to in Romans 9:17. There was a testimony to be borne to Jehovah’s power that was to be world-wide. We see in a very marked way here the sovereignty of God, the only Absolute One, Who works all things after the counsel of His own will, and “none can stay His hand, or say unto Him, What doest Thou?” In the words of Paul Gerhardt:

“When He makes bare His arm

Who shall His work withstand?

When He His people’s cause defends

Who then shall stay His hand?”

We now can well lay the lesson to heart in God undertaking for these poor slaves, “If God be for us, who can be against us?”

And the scribes did so with their sorceries to bring forth gnats, but they could not. And the gnats were on man and on beast (8:18).

Well, the magicians attempted to do this by their incantations, and they were powerless. As we see what happened there, we may well remember what we are told by Paul when writing to Timothy about Jannes and Jambres, — the prominent ones here, doubtless.

Attempting to resist God is man’s folly. They say “this is the finger of God,”— not Jehovah. It is literally “of the gods.” And even then, although the magicians were unable to imitate Moses and Aaron in this matter, Pharaoh hardened his heart; he would not bow. All God’s judgments were to be poured out, — not all He was capable of pouring out, but all He designed to in this case.

And Jehovah did so; and there came dog-flies in a multitude into the house of Pharaoh, and [into] the houses of his bondmen; and throughout the land of Egypt, the land was corrupted by the dog-flies (8:24).

Here we get the fourth judgment. We need not go into all the detail; but in verse 22 we get a miracle in God shielding the land of Goshen, where the children of Israel dwelt, from the swarm of flies. But nothing convinced Pharaoh. I will just notice that at the first he said, “Who is Jehovah?” But when the judgment of the frogs came, he used the name Jehovah (vs. 8). But we shall see presently as we go on.

And Pharaoh called Moses and Aaron, and said, Go, sacrifice to your God in the land (8:25).

That is the first bid for compromise. Now we come to something very practical. God’s purpose was to have His people three days’ journey in the wilderness, — type of death and resurrection; and it is a very serious thing when a soul is just satisfied with being saved from hell. When we know God as our Saviour we are fit for the glory: we have a valid title to it. The dying robber had as good a title to the glory as the apostle Paul, with all his devoted service. It gave him no better title than the dying thief had. We get the details of what passed between his soul and God, and that is what matters—what passes between the individual soul and God.

If God did not give divine life there would be no sorrow for sin and no looking to God. Paul’s commission was “to open their eyes.” Man’s natural condition is blind, but when God opens his eyes, he then discovers what he is in his sin, and what God is in His grace. He never could know that without the action of God’s Holy Spirit. I know it is often said there is one account in God’s word of a sinner saved at the eleventh hour, that none may despair; and only one, that none may presume. But that is not all. The way the thief was saved is the way everyone is saved that is saved at all, — by pure grace. He was a pest to society, and had to own it was right for his life to be cut off.

So if God leaves us here He has a purpose in it, — His own glory. We are not to live as we please, but to glorify Him in our bodies. We belong to Him, and He calls us to a path of separation; and He tells us that “all that is in the world... is not of the Father but is of the world.” And James tells us “the friendship of the world is enmity with God.” These are real things, and exceedingly solemn and searching; and there ought to be a three-days’ journey, — a clear line of demarcation that everyone can see. Satan will seek to neutralize that.

The first offer of compromise is “Sacrifice in the land”; let there be no separation. “Don’t be too narrow, — so enthusiastic.” “Go, sacrifice in the land”; an awful state of neutrality. But he is answered rightly.

And Moses said, It is not proper to do so; for we should sacrifice the abomination of the Egyptians to Jehovah our God: lo, if we sacrificed the abomination of the Egyptians before their eyes, would they not stone us? (8:26).

“Abomination” would be idolatry, the idols. There may be something in that with which we are not acquainted now; there may have been rites and customs held in high esteem among the Egyptians; and if they had seen these animals sacrificed without their rites it might have roused their hostility. It was from Egypt they got the golden calf, and it was after Jeroboam returned from Egypt he made the two calves.

Then you get the second bid for compromise.

And Pharaoh said, I will let you go, that you may sacrifice to Jehovah your God in the wilderness; only go not very far away: intreat for me! (8:28).

Anyone can see these are just Satan’s methods now. “It is all very well to call yourselves Christians, but you must not be unworldly. Don’t be too extreme.” He has succeeded very well. But there is the individual responsibility still. The apostle Paul says, “He gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present evil world” (Gal. 1:4).

If the world is on one cross, and I, as a believer, on the other (for it is our identification with Christ, and if we belong to Him that is what the world metes to us), there is a moral distance between us. But instead of that, professing Christians imitate the world, and the professing church has got into such a worldly state that whatever goes on in the world is reflected in the church. We are not left here to do our own will as to anything. A little hymn says,

“My Saviour, I would own Thee

Amid the world’s proud scorn—

The world that mocked and crowned Thee

With diadem of thorn:

The world that now rejects Thee,

Makes nothing of Thy love;

Counts Naught the grace and pity

That brought Thee from above.

My Lord, my Master, help me

To walk apart with Thee

Outside the camp, where only

Thy beauty I can see.

Far from the world’s loud turmoil,

Far from its busy din,

Far from its praise and honor,

Its unbelief and sin.”

We want more of this spirit, and not to know these truths and be uninfluenced by them, but to know them as practical realities.

If this second bid for compromise is effected you will soon find those who yield mixed up with the world again. You see some when first converted giving up this and that, but they have only gone a little way, and by and by these things return, and they are soon pretty much as they were before.

But Moses was uncompromising, by the grace of God. Compromise spoils everything. It is a very successful wile of Satan.

And Moses said, Behold, I go out from thee, and I will intreat Jehovah; and the dog-flies will depart from Pharaoh, from his bondmen, and from his people, tomorrow; only let not Pharaoh deal deceitfully any more in not letting the people go to sacrifice to Jehovah (8:29).

Speaking of tomorrow, — we passed that over just now in verse 9, “Glory over me,” means “Give me command.” You would have thought he would have said “at once,” but he was a heathen, and the Lord says they think they shall be heard for their much speaking, and so Pharaoh would give him opportunity to pray; but here it is not he, but Moses, who says “tomorrow.”

Chapter 9.

THEN there is another demand from Jehovah.

Then Jehovah said to Moses, Go in unto Pharaoh, and tell him, Thus saith Jehovah the God of the Hebrews: Let My people go, that they may serve Me. For if thou refuse to let them go, and shalt retain them still, behold, the hand of Jehovah shall be on thy cattle which is in the field, on the horses, on the asses, on the camels, on the oxen, and on the sheep, with a very grievous plague (9:1-3).

This is the fifth judgment. And the Lord appointed a set time; He said “Tomorrow” (vs. 5).

I do not think we can read into verse 6 that all the cattle were exterminated; but, from those enumerated in verse 3, it appears that every kind was affected, not every animal. But of the cattle of Israel not one died.

And Jehovah said to Moses and to Aaron, Take to yourselves handfuls of ashes of the furnace, and let Moses scatter it toward the heavens before the eyes of Pharaoh. And it shall become fine dust over all the land of Egypt, and shall become boils on man, and on cattle, breaking out [with] blisters, throughout the land of Egypt (9:8, 9).

Pharaoh hardening his heart in face of the second miracle mentioned in verse 7. leads to the sixth judgment. And the magicians could not stand before this (ver. 11). Then we get the seventh judgment.

And Jehovah said to Moses, Stretch out thy hand toward the heavens, that there may be hail throughout the land of Egypt, upon men, and upon cattle, and upon every herb of the field in the land of Egypt (9:22).

This judgment caused Pharaoh to call for Moses and Aaron, and to say, “I have sinned.” It was not real repentance; it was not the confession of a broken and contrite heart. Saul said he had sinned when Samuel brought home to him that he had rejected the word of the Lord (1 Sam. 15:24). So did Judas when convicted that he had betrayed the innocent blood (Matt. 27:4). But in each case there was no true repentance; it was more the language of a distressed soul at the time. So here. But when Pharaoh saw that the rain and the hail, and the thunders ceased, he sinned yet more, and hardened his heart, he and his servants.

Chapter 10.

THEN we get the eighth judgment.

And Jehovah said to Moses, Stretch out thy hand over the land of Egypt for the locusts, that they may come up over the land of Egypt, and eat every herb of the land—all that the hail path left (10:12).

And this is followed by the judgment of darkness.

And Jehovah said to Moses, Stretch out thy hand toward the heavens, that there may be darkness in the land of Egypt—so that one may feel darkness (10:21).

Then there was the third bid for compromise: first, “sacrifice in the land”; then, “go not very far’; and then, “go ye that are men.” Instead of a Christian and all his family being in separation, let the Christian be separated, but leave his family in the world, and give them every worldly encouragement: such is an usual suggestion.

The fourth bid for compromise shows how Pharaoh was yielding to circumstances.

And Pharaoh called Moses and said, Go, serve Jehovah; only, let your flocks and your herds remain; let your little ones also go with you (10:24).

The separation Moses stands out for is very real here.

[Our cattle also must go with us: there shall not a hoof be left behind; for we must thereof take to serve Jehovah our God; and we do not know with what we must serve Jehovah, until we come there (10:26).

This has a distinct voice to us now; everything we have, and all our possessions are separated to God. It would make us think of 2 Corinthians 6:14. “Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers.” Now people take that as limited to matrimony; but we have a very clear scripture as to matrimony, — “Only in the Lord.” It would not be right to yoke together an ox and an ass, — the clean and the unclean. How could they pull together? The one would be a hindrance to the other. “Only in the Lord.”

But “Come out from among them and be ye separate” could not apply to matrimony. The great point here is separation as to their religious service, — “touch not the unclean thing,” for “What communion hath light with darkness, etc?” It would apply in many ways.

It is a wrong thing for a Christian to be a partner with an unconverted man; and this applies in many other ways also. Politically, for instance. They will not go to a dead man for his vote. That settles it for us politically. We have died with Christ; we are risen with Him; there is the three days’ separation.

“Wherefore come out from among them,” etc.— “and I will receive you, and be a Father unto you, and ye shall be My sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.” That is a quotation from the Old Testament. I do not think the New Testament in its teaching speaks of sisters being daughters. We are all sons, — whether brothers or sisters, — we are sons. In Christ Jesus every earthly distinction disappears. There is neither male nor female; Christ is everything. He is the life of the sister, and the life of the brother. “Because ye are sons,”— sisters or brothers, — “He hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying, Abba Father.” This belongs as much to the sisters as the brothers. So we have to look at this as a quotation from the Old Testament.

“Having these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves.” God has cleansed us (1 John 1:7). If the blood does not cleanse from all it does not cleanse from any. And it only cleanses once; there is no second application of the blood. Sin can never be charged as guilt to a soul once cleansed. He needs the water. And the Lord said to Peter, “He that is bathed needeth not save to wash his feet,”— two different words are translated “washed” in the Authorized Version. “He that is bathed,”— washed all over, is clean every whit. That is never repeated; it is the imparting of a new nature. But I am in a defiling scene, and God has made provision for a saint to wash his feet. All the time we are here we shall need it, but as soon as we are there, there will be no laver, no sea, but a sea of glass, because there will be no need of cleansing.

And Pharaoh said to him, Get thee from me, take heed to thyself, see my face no more; for in the day thou seest my face thou shalt die. And Moses said, Thou hast spoken rightly; I will see thy face again no more! (10:28, 29).

So God had to accomplish it in spite of the enemy’s resistance.

Chapter 11.

THE tenth plague is the most important of all. It is a very solemn one; and very precious to us is the provision made by God for saving His people from the stroke of judgment. And do not let us forget all this was written for our learning and our admonition.

This chapter is intimately connected with the one before it. You see, before Moses went at all, when he was on his way to Egypt from Midian, the Lord said to him, “Thou shalt say unto Pharaoh... Let My son go that he may serve Me: and if thou refuse to let him go, behold, I will slay thy son, even thy firstborn.” Of course, it was the whole nation of Israel that was God’s son, not each individual as is now the case by the Holy Spirit. “Because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying, Abba Father.”

Speak now in the ears of the people, that they ask every man of his neighbor, and every woman of her neighbor, utensils of silver, and utensils of gold (11:2).

The word “borrow” should be “ask.”

There have been some very peculiar remarks made about this verse, and some have gone so far as to say what a low moral standard they had in those days; but they were really putting blame upon God, so they could not have understood what they said. In Genesis 15, — that—that remarkable chapter where we have justification by faith first definitely brought before us, — when Abraham wanted to know how he should be assured he should inherit the land, God gave him to understand it was confirmed unto him by sacrifice. It says in verse 14 of that chapter that they should “come out with great substance.” They had been kept working there as slaves, and God secured their wages to them in that way. And thus they had wherewith to build the tabernacle.

And Jehovah gave the people favor in the eyes of the Egyptians. Moreover the man Moses was very great in the land of Egypt—in the eyes of Pharaoh’s bondmen, and in the eyes of the people (11:3).

And God acted. God is always working in His grace for His people. So they really did come out with great substance, though they had been poor, downtrodden, abject slaves; a picture of ourselves till redeemed. No man is free; he is either the slave of sin and Satan, or of the Lord Jesus. Whatever his thoughts about himself it is only of believers it can be said, “Sin shall not have dominion over you, for ye are not under the law, but under grace.” We still have sin in us; but sin in us, and sin having dominion over us, are two totally different things.

At this time, through all the wonders that had been done, Moses was very great, and that also had an influence in leading the Egyptians to give to the people. Very great and very meek. I do not think meekness in Moses is very prominent when he is first brought before us. Slaying the Egyptian was not characteristic of very much meekness. But he had forty years’ training in the wilderness, and that is what grace can produce. The Second Man is out of heaven, and He was meek and lowly of heart. There alone we see all perfections, human and divine, absolutely.

Of course Israel were no better than the Egyptians. Quite recently I read that, “God took up a very worthy Syrian in Abraham to be the head of the nation,” failing to see what the Spirit of God says of the fathers. “Your fathers dwelt on the other side of the flood in old time, even Terah, the father of Abraham... and they served other gods” (Josh. 24:2).

Abraham was a poor idolater when the God of glory appeared to him. None of us are elected because of anything good in ourselves, and none of us will be in heaven because of being worthy to be there.

It is well to keep before us that Exodus is the book of one subject; Genesis, of almost every subject except redemption, for we get the germ there of almost all the subjects brought before us in the word of God.

What we have read in the previous chapters shows us a people very miserable and downtrodden; that shows the need of redemption. These chapters give us redemption accomplished, — a temporal redemption, which is typical of the eternal redemption we through grace know now.

And Moses said, Thus saith Jehovah, About midnight I will go out into the midst of Egypt. And all the firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sitteth on his throne, even unto the firstborn of the bondwoman that is behind Me mill I and all the firstborn of beasts (11:4, 5).

If God goes through the land as Judge He must put a difference between Israel and the Egyptians, if Israel is to be spared from judgment. Really what we have here is what God is about to do. We have the people saved from the stroke of judgment by the blood, but no praise, and no song: we do not get any song; they are quite safe, but not spoken of as saved. You have to get the truth brought out in the Red Sea, — death and resurrection, before you get salvation. A soul quickened by the Holy Spirit and possessing divine life has yet to hear words whereby he must be saved. Look at Cornelius. His prayers and alms could not come up before God unless he had divine life, but he needed to be saved. I only just mention it now.

As we go into the details of the Paschal Lamb we find the foundation of everything. There is more in the teaching of the Paschal Lamb than even at the Red Sea. We must listen to God’s voice, and not put anything into scripture, but get all we can out of it. There was no escape for the firstborn, from the highest to the lowest, in any other way.

God had marked out the form the judgment would take, and then supplied to Israel that which would shield them from the stroke of judgment. It makes one think of Psalms 49:6-8. “They that trust in their wealth, and boast themselves in the multitude of their riches; none of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him (for the redemption of their soul is precious, and it ceaseth [or must be let alone, R.V.] Forever).”

As far as man is concerned, it is beyond his power to redeem. “We have redemption through His blood.” It is something of course, according to the New Testament, that every believer ought to know. “Ye were redeemed... with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.” Without any doubt whatever the Spirit of God is directing our hearts back to what we have here.

And there shall be a great cry throughout the land of Egypt such as there hath been none like it, nor shall be like it any more (11:6).

Every household was affected; and I understand the Egyptians, in any case, retreated from their houses with loud cries of lamentation whenever death took place; so with death in every house we can imagine what it would be.

But against any of the children of Israel shall not a dog move his tongue, against man or beast that ye may know that Jehovah distinguisheth between the Egyptians and Israel (11:7).

That was miraculous. These dogs were scavengers of the land in the East, and are now. Specially at night, if people are moving about, these dogs make a great noise; but here they were quiet. Not one was permitted to move his tongue against man or beast.

And there is a lesson we may well lay to heart. I think it was J. G. Bellett who said, “I am not what I was, I am not what I would like.to be, I am not what I should be, I am not what I shall be, but by the grace of God I am what I am,”— entirely by grace. “By grace are ye saved through faith.” We should never lose sight of God’s sovereign grace in saving us. May He keep us lowly.

There was much made of the firstborn in Egypt, and it was a testimony that He Who destroyed all the firstborn could have destroyed the whole race, so it filled them with terror.

And all these thy bondmen shall come down unto me, and bow down to me, saying, Go out, thou, and all the people that follow thee; and after that I will go out. And he went out from Pharaoh in a glowing anger (11:8).

They were intermingled with the Egyptians, and we know there was a mixed multitude that went with them.

We are enjoined to be angry and sin not. We have to remember the Lord Himself, the meek and lowly in heart, looked round about in anger. It would be wrong not to be angry sometimes. Whatever injury we may have, or however we may suffer, may we have the attitude of heart so well expressed by Sir Edward Denny: —

“Thy foes might hate, despise, revile,

Thy friends unfaithful prove:

Unwearied in forgiveness still,

Thy heart could only love.

Oh give us hearts to love like Thee,

Like Thee, O Lord, to grieve

Far more for other’s sins, than all

The wrongs that we receive.”

But if there is an insult to our blessed Lord, it would be sin not to be angry. “Let not the sun go down upon your wrath”; we are not to nurse it at any time.

I suppose anger was not personal in this case. He was thinking how Jehovah was treated, what an insult to Him Pharaoh offered.

And Moses and Aaron did all these wonders before Pharaoh; and Jehovah made Pharaoh’s heart stubborn, and he did not let the children of Israel go out of his land (11:10).

Of course, Pharaoh hardened his own heart first, and then judicially God hardened it. But they had to go. They had to be redeemed out of the house of bondage. God had promised that in His covenant. “God is not a man that He should lie.” It must come to pass; no word of His can fall to the ground, for His word is perfect. Whatever man or Satan may say or do, all His word has to be fulfilled.

Chapter 12.

WE have heard what was said to Pharaoh. Now we have what was said to Israel, with its voice to us.

And Jehovah spoke to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, This month shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you (12:1, 2).

It was the seventh month of the civil year. God changes everything. He makes this the first month, the beginning of a new history. It tells us what God’s grace has done for us; made us new creatures in a new creation. “If any man be in Christ, there is a new creation.”

Speak unto all the assembly of Israel, saying, On the tenth of this month let them take themselves each a lamb, for a father’s house, a lamb for a house: And if the household be too small for a lamb, let him and his neighbor next unto his house take [it] according to the number of the souls; each according to the [measure] of his eating shall ye count for the lamb (12:3, 4).

“Too little,”— never too great. You see the beauty of it, and how jealously it is guarded. “A bone of Him shall not be broken.” The lamb had to be slain on the fourteenth day. To be a type, it was absolutely necessary it should be without blemish. There is nothing so jealously guarded in the word of God as the Person of Christ. It is like the cherubim with the flaming sword guarding the Tree of Life. Look at the types. Look at the meat-offering (Lev. 2)— the Lord’s life below— “it is most holy.” That is not stated about the burnt-offering, where you get that which is deepest, and holiest in the Lord’s death. But it is stated of the sin-offering. Just where man would be likely to get wrong thoughts; it is called “most holy.”

These four days gave them ample time to scrutinize and see if it answered to God’s claim. It would be disqualified if they discovered any blemish. I should judge it would point to the Lord’s public ministry. There were eyes ever ready to lay traps for Him, but “Which of you convinceth Me of sin?” He could say. No one. In Him is no sin; He knew no sin; He did no sin. Oh, the Person of the Lord Jesus is so jealously guarded!

Your lamb shall be without blemish, a yearling male! ye shall take [it] from the sheep, or from the goats (12:5).

If they could have seen a blemish in Christ, — of course, they said vile things, and it brings out the malice of Satan as well as of man, but if they could have found a spot, how they would have magnified it! They accused Him of saying, “I am able to destroy the temple of God, and to build it in three days.” But that was a misquotation. First they said, He said He could do so; but He had told them to “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” That would be quite out of place in the other Gospels, but where you have such a divine character as is given in John’s Gospel, it is quite in keeping.

Look at John 10:17, 18. If His divinity is constantly brought before us there, He is constantly in the place of obedience. He had received a commandment to lay down His life. See also John 14:31.

The resurrection of the dead marked Him out as Son of God. John 11. brings that out: “That the Son of God may be glorified thereby.” In chapter 13 it is “Now is the Son of man glorified, and God is glorified in Him.” There it is the question of sin, and the Son of man glorified as to that fearful question, and God by Him; but in resurrection it is the Son of God glorified. It is the burnt offering aspect in John; the sin-offering in Matthew, where He is the forsaken One: but in John it is very, very striking, — very beautiful, — very wonderful. I think that is a lovely thought that when the Lord said, “It is finished” (only one word in the Greek),

“Everything was fully done,

Done as God Himself would have it:

Christ the victory fully won.”

There we have the truth here brought out, and see the precision of the word of God. “A bone of Him shall not be broken.” That scripture stood between the body of the Lord Jesus and the club of the Roman soldier. Then another scripture saith (not then fulfilled, and it is not fulfilled now), “They shall look upon Him Whom they have pierced.”

Then they get the body, and lay it in a new sepulcher, — a clean place, according to the instruction in Leviticus that, after the fire and knife had done their work, the priest had to gather up the ashes and deposit them in a clean place. Only it is not ashes here; in the type the fire consumed the sacrifice; in the Antitype the Sacrifice exhausted the fire.

Well, the lamb had to be killed in the evening. The scriptural way of reckoning time begins in the evening. The evening and the morning were the first day.” The Jews reckoned their day to begin in the evening. When was the evening sacrifice offered? It has a very remarkable place in the word of God. It was three o’clock in the afternoon. Some use it in a peculiar way, and say every day has two evenings in Jewish reckoning, so all, they say, could keep the Passover between the two evenings,” or during the twenty-four hours.

It is looked at as one lamb. “The whole congregation of Israel shall kill it.”

And they shall take of the blood, and put [it] on the two door posts and on the lintel of the houses in which they eat it (12:7).

Now this is the first time we get the blood mentioned in connection with sacrifice. In Abel’s offering it is the fat, the excellence of the animal, that is prominent; in Noah’s, it is the sweet savor; on Mount Moriah (Gen. 22), the horns; and the last instance points to the truth of John 10:18: “I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it again.”

In a type, very often the most striking thing is not the point of similarity, but of contrast. In the type we have only the shadow, not the very image. The ram was involuntary; but our blessed Lord came to do the Father’s will. He put Himself in their power; He gave His back to the smiters; “It is your hour and the power of darkness.” It is in John 18. that the armed crowd fell back when He says, “I am He.” He is Master of the whole situation. He then goes forward bearing His cross.

The blood is put on the two side posts and the lintel, not on the ground. It makes one think of that terrible expression in Hebrews 10:29. A person may be sanctified by blood and lost, but not redeemed by blood and lost. Such take the place of being sheltered by the blood. We must bow to the word. Only once are we told to have faith in the blood. J.N.D. gives “faith in the blood”; but the R.V. gives “through faith by His blood” (Rom. 3:20). As we see here, it would not do to rest on our estimate of the blood; it is God’s estimate that gives peace; but there is our seeing it, and having faith in it as presented in the word.

It was never intended to be trodden under foot. It conveys the thought that it completely covered those who entered the door, being on the side posts and lintel: complete safety, though not complete salvation. The blood is so holy. May the Lord give us grace to serve Him with reverence and godly fear.

And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and unleavened bread; with bitter [herbs] shall they eat it (12:8).

They were not only sheltered by the blood from the stroke of judgment, but as such were privileged to feed on the roast lamb. The only ones who have title to feed on Christ as the Paschal Lamb are those sheltered by His precious blood. That is made very clear for us in these verses. How precious the detail is! The One we feed on is the Antitype of the Paschal Lamb, for it says, “Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us,”— the One Who in grace has taken our place in death and judgment.

Fire would tell of the holy, unsparing judgment of God against sin. Our God is a consuming fire. It is impossible for God to give up His holiness. In His love He could give up the dearest Object of His heart, the Son of His love; so if we are spared, His holy judgment must be borne another way.

“The whole assembly,”— one assembly to which all belong; and one Lamb, — “shall kill it.” It speaks of unity and fellowship. “And unleavened bread.” Leaven is always a type of evil, so “unleavened” implies absence of evil. Thus in 1 Corinthians 5. “Let us keep the feast, not with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.”

There is a striking difference between Genesis and the other books of the Pentateuch. Although Genesis covers such a long period of the world’s history, we do not get holiness brought before us except with regard to the sabbath: “He hallowed the seventh day” (Gen. 2:3). That rest was broken, and we do not get a word about the sabbath for 2500 years, till we come to the manna; then we find the sabbath again, — telling us the only One God could rest in is His beloved Son. There He could rest.

But in Exodus holiness has a very prominent place. When God came down to Moses, Moses had to take off his shoes, because the ground was holy.

So here was the feast of unleavened bread which succeeded the Passover for seven days, — a week, — a complete cycle of time. Its voice to us would be that such should be our character during the whole of our lives; that absence of evil should mark us. And in the New Testament it is presented in a far more intense form than in the Old Testament. In Isaiah they are told, “Cease to do evil; learn to do well.” That is said to God’s earthly people; but to His heavenly people the word is, “Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good.”

When we go on to the next book, after the failure of the priesthood resulting in the death of Nadab and Abihu (when they failed to give God His proper due and reverence, but took strange fire, and the fire that came from God to consume the sacrifice devoured them), God put before them the necessity of discerning between the clean and the unclean, and impressed on them, towards the close of chapter 11, “Be ye holy, for I am holy,” which is quoted by Peter in his First Epistle. Blessed for us if we carry with us the sense of what is due to the Lord. “Let us have grace,” for we cannot do it in our own strength, — “whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear.”

“With bitter herbs.” I have no doubt the bitter herbs of repentance. If we are occupied with the cross of Christ, and remember Who He was and what He suffered for our sakes, there must be the bitter herbs of repentance. Repentance is taking God’s side against oneself, and goes right through the Christian’s life.

It had to be impressed on them that what they fed on had been roast with fire. He was spared nothing. And we must not mix up what He suffered at the hands of man, and what He suffered from God for sin. He suffered from man for righteousness; He suffered from God for sin: and only on the cross. He never suffered from God except on the cross. He suffered atoningly. So it would have failed to set forth what God intended if dealt with in any other way: “Roast with fire.” It shows its importance.

Ye shall eat none of it raw, nor boiled at all with water, but roast with fire; its head with its legs and with its inwards (12:9)

Another prominent thought was that it was not to be divided. A whole Christ, — roast whole, not a single bone broken. We shall come to that presently. It is very sweet, but at the same time solemn, when we think it was the intention of the Roman soldier to break His bones. The Jews were so religious they could not bear those bodies exposed to the gaze of the people on the Sabbath, so they besought Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away.

No doubt the cross the Lord occupied was intended for Barabbas, the principal criminal. A Roman citizen was never crucified. So they came with their clubs and broke the legs of the one and of the other, and in doing so, fulfilled the Lord’s words to the thief, “Today shalt thou be with Me in Paradise.” It had to be fulfilled, and quite unconsciously those men fulfilled it, for otherwise he would not have been that day in Paradise. Then they came to Him, the Antitype of the Paschal Lamb, and that word “A bone of Him shall not be broken” stood their club. He was pierced, but they could not break a bone of Him. So the whole lamb is roasted, and not a single bone broken.

And ye shall let none of it remain until the morning; and what remaineth of it until the morning ye shall burn with fire (12:10).

That would not do at all. Only those sheltered by the blood had title to feed on it; had it been left, others might have partaken who had no title. Oh, how it is guarded! It had to be disposed of. That is the order in which it comes in. We could not feed on Christ in any way unless sheltered by the blood.

When they got into the land, in Joshua, they kept the Passover, and the manna ceased the next day, and they ate the old corn of the land. The Passover takes us to the cross. The manna takes us to His holy life before the cross. We get the manna in the Gospels, but we begin the feast with the Paschal Lamb, — getting our sins cleared; and only the blood can accomplish that. Then we feed on the manna in His God-glorifying pathway here, and on the old corn of the land, — the One Who fell into the ground and died, and ascended where He was before, reentering where He was before as a Man. He never laid aside His glory; He emptied Himself, but He re-entered that glory as a Man.

So we have Him in those three ways to feast on. Here we have to begin, sheltered by the blood, and feasting on the Lamb. No one else has the right. That would make us careful in our conversation before worldly people, not to cast pearls before swine. We meet the world in testimony, not as friends. The friendship of the world is enmity with God. We tell them of their need, and how God in His grace has met their need by the gift of His beloved Son.

And thus shall ye eat it: your loins shall be girded, your sandals on your feet and your staff in your hand; and ye shall eat it in haste; it is Jehovah’s passover (12:11).

There is instruction here. I finished reading with vs. 17 that “forever” does not mean eternity. The instruction given to the children of Israel to keep the Passover in the millennium we find in Ezekiel: but not the feast of Pentecost. That was fully come, and will never again be repeated, for the Holy Ghost has been sent down to baptize all believers into one body. It was necessary for the Lord Jesus to ascend to heaven to receive the Holy Spirit and send Him down to baptize into one body all that believe, that they might be one.

I was thinking of the contrast between this, and the Passover the Lord desired to partake of, — the last Passover before the true Paschal Lamb was slain, as given in Luke 22. “When the hour was come” Jesus reclined; — quite a contrast with what we have here! Jesus reclined and the twelve with Him. There was no haste there, — nothing about a staff or shoes; perfect rest and perfect peace. The two put together are true of us who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. We know what true rest and peace are in His presence, feeding on that Lamb.

But what we have here, this haste in going out of the land, would rather point to the Lord’s coming.

In Malachi the altar of God is called His table, and the sacrifices are called His food; and there it speaks of their insulting God and offering Him what they would not offer their governor. The altar has a very prominent place in the Old Testament; and every altar looked back to the fall, and looked on to Calvary.

Now we have the Lord’s table and the Lord’s supper, and this points back to Calvary, and forward to the Lord’s coming. “We announce the Lord’s death till He come.” If we only had the Gospels there might be something then in what the Quakers say, that the supper was Jewish, for it is linked with the kingdom in the Gospels. But the apostle Paul did not receive it from the apostles, but from the glorified Christ, and delivered it to Gentiles as a glorified Christ had delivered it to him; therefore we know it belongs to us. So whenever we partake of it, we remember Him in His death. But He is coming again, and there will be no need of it then. But we confess before the universe that we build everything on the Lord’s death.

The Paschal feast was for an earthly people, and when for the last time it was commemorated before the Lord died, He introduced the Lord’s supper for a heavenly people. All connected with Christianity is simple, and nothing can be more simple than bread and wine. So when we think what man has made of it, it is wonderful that we, at the end of a poor failed dispensation, should have the Lord’s supper restored to us in its simplicity. Simple tokens, telling of His body prepared for Him, and in which He bore our sins, — but only on the cross. Providing also the cup, telling of our identification with the blood in all its holy value as known to God.

There is nothing to equal it in the world; it is the most holy and blessed thing our souls can be occupied with. And we ought to have it every Lord’s day. At first it was every day; but we find from Acts 20 it was the custom of the Spirit-taught saints to come together every first day of the week to remember the Lord. Nothing priestly about it; only as those sheltered by the blood, as at the Passover. Of course, when the Passover is partaken of in the millennium it will be commemorative then; but it always points on, in the Old Testament, to the true Paschal Lamb. We always partake of the Lord’s supper as if for the last time on earth, — that before we have another opportunity, the Lord may be here.

They were going to be, and that is what God has made us, pilgrims about to start on a journey. That is what grace has made us. In our hymns we mostly sing “as pilgrims and strangers,” but the scriptural order is always “strangers and pilgrims.”

“Before His cross I found myself

A stranger in the land.”

And thus I start on my journey. We are no longer strangers and pilgrims to the heavenly portion. I think that is the thought of Eph. 2. We are helped materially if we read Joshua and Ephesians together. Joshua is typical of what we have in Ephesians, — the heavenly country, the heavenly portion of a heavenly people. You have to come to Ephesians to cross the Jordan. Those stones that were inanimate were taken from the river, and put on the land; and that which typified Christ kept back the stream. So we find ourselves, Jews and Gentiles, raised up together in heavenly places in, not with, Christ. We are crucified with Christ; have died with Christ, are risen with Christ, but are seated in Christ. When the Lord comes we shall be with Him.

But those believers at Ephesus were told, “Wherefore remember, that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh”; and that brings in Rahab. It was true of her, but she got brought into the nation, and became the ancestress of the Lord Jesus Himself. And then we get “no longer strangers and foreigners,”— that is what Rahab was; and then where she is brought, “of the household of God.” There is wonderful correspondence between Joshua and Ephesians.

Well then, they are there, fitted out for the journey and telling us that is what we are; and if we apprehend it, how it would hinder us from settling down here! We have the flesh in us, and we need to keep a watchful eye on it, for we walk by faith, not by sight. Without faith it is impossible to please God, and I am sure we all want to please Him. You could not get that which typified our position at one and the same time as we get it in Exodus, and Numbers, and Joshua.

But it is quite true we are strangers and pilgrims on the earth, and quite true we have crossed the Jordan, and are in heavenly places. But it entails conflict; and if we are without conflict we are not enjoying our heavenly portion. But when at home with the Lord all conflict will be over. We can say that of a saint who has died. But if we are living as we ought to live, we shall need the whole armor of God till our latest breath. Our standing is another thing: that is unassailable; it is perfect and never changes, and our state ought to correspond. The eternal interest of the believer’s soul is placed beyond the reach of any change whatever; but as to his state, it constantly fluctuates. Joy is a fluctuating thing; God is never called the God of joy: but peace is stable, — and He is the God of peace.

They were to be ready, quite ready, for their pilgrimage. Still in Egypt, but no longer slaves. Going to be pilgrims, and to have the privilege of serving God as worshippers; going a three-days’ journey. You have to bring in the truth of chapter 14 and 15 to learn of salvation. You do not get teaching about redemption and salvation till you come to those chapters.

God was there as Judge, you see, and none of the human race can stand before God as Judge. The Psalmist said, “Enter not into judgment with Thy servant, O Lord; for in Thy sight shall no man living be justified.” We are on a common platform, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. To be saved from judgment there is the necessity of One capable of taking our place in death and judgment, that we might have His place; and we see that in those following chapters.

If God was going to deal with sin as Judge, and if any escaped, it could never be on the grounds of creature righteousness, but only on the ground of blood-shedding. It is very lovely to see the difference between what was typical and what is eternal. The Lord has obtained what is eternal. It was impossible for the blood of bulls and of goats to take away sins. Every sacrifice pointed on to the great sacrifice, the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ; and that is the ground on which there is remission, full, free remission. Oh, what a debt we owe 1 We want to be truly affected by it, and not to read this simply to get acquainted with it.

And I will go through the land of Egypt in that night, and smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am Jehovah (12:12).

Speaking of the gods of Egypt, we have testimony in both Old and New Testaments that the idol was nothing, but there was a demon behind every idol; and it is just what we might expect that this should be brought before us in this way, because in Romans 1 we get the apostasy of the Gentile nations, but the apostle does not go back before the flood. Men did not like to retain God in their knowledge, and God gave them up. Nothing worse can happen to an individual, or to a nation, than to be given up by God and left to themselves. Directly God leaves man to himself, his downward course is very rapid.

Man worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, Who is blessed forever. The Egyptians were great Nature worshippers, and had that which represented the great forces of Nature. We have to read this in the light of other scriptures. In the margin of our reference Bibles it says “princes,” but J.N.D. says “gods.”

Israel was God’s firstborn, and Jehovah threatened Pharaoh at the very beginning that if he did not let His firstborn go He would slay his firstborn.

And the blood shall be for you as a sign on the houses in which ye are; and when I see the blood, I will pass over you; and the plague shall not be among you for destruction when I smite the land of Egypt (12:13).

So it is impressed on us, in such a striking way, that the one holy thing that secures any from the stroke of judgment is the blood.

We do not get the blood mentioned really in those gospel discourses in Acts; but where the blood of Christ is spoken of, it always means His death. And we get His death and resurrection in them. There is no mention of His blood in the account of His death in Matthew, Mark, or Luke. It only occurs in John, and then it is mentioned as flowing from the pierced side of the Lord. But oh, what importance it has! In the most striking way it is told us that there we have expiation for our sin, and a moral cleansing too. The blood gives a judicial cleansing; the water a moral cleansing. All is perfect, as coming from God, His blessed provision.

So we can say definitely, the destroying angel, in passing through the land of Egypt, entered into every house where there was no blood. A person might be very amiable, and not a thing against him, but the blood alone kept out the destroying angel. And another thing; they had God’s word as well as the blood. So with us; we are not saved on the ground of our grasp of its value, but on God’s estimate of it. That which was deepest in the cross of Christ God alone can value.

And this day shall be unto you for a memorial; and ye shall celebrate it [as] a feast to Jehovah; throughout your generations as an ordinance forever shall ye celebrate it. Seven days shall ye eat unleavened bread; on the very first day ye shall put away leaven out of your houses; for whoever eateth leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day—that soul shall be cut off from Israel (12:14, 15).

In the early verses of the chapter we get God’s instructions to Moses and Aaron, and then in verse 21 Moses communicating them to the children of Israel. We have looked at it, and see we have a warrant for looking at it, as a voice to ourselves. We are distinctly told in 1 Corinthians verse 7, “Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us.”

Well, the feast is to be observed seven days, a whole week, a complete cycle of time; and in its voice to us the feast would cover the whole of our new life, long or short. As sure as we are sheltered by the precious blood of Christ from the stroke of judgment, so sure is it that the feast tells of our responsibility. We are not left here to do our own will: “Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ.” You see the Spirit of God has set us apart (that is the simple meaning of sanctification), not only to the value of the precious blood as known to God, but to obedience; and His obedience was the obedience of love; that was the character of it.

God gives us a high standard: —” He that saith he abideth in Him, ought himself also so to walk even as He walked.” With this scripture before us, it would be well to look at a few verses in 1 John 1 and 2. “If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not the truth.” That is the place grace has put us in. God is no longer dwelling in thick darkness, as Solomon speaks of Him.

In the Old Testament we get a gradual development, God being told out more and more all through; but He was not fully disclosed until the Son came; and the One Who dwelt in the bosom of the Father from all eternity was the only One capable of telling Him out.

Now God is in the light, and that is where saints are put. It shows a bad state when Christians walk in darkness. “He that followeth Me shall not abide in darkness.” “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins.” That ought to arrest our attention; not “merciful and gracious.” He is that, of course, but He is faithful, — faithful to all the revelation of Himself in the word; and just, — just to all that Christ has suffered. “If we say that we have not sinned we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.” That is a more terrible delusion than to say we are free from the presence of sin. We are clean from the guilt of sin, and delivered from the dominion of sin, but we are not delivered from its presence, nor shall be unless we die, or the Lord comes and takes us home: then we shall be Forever free from its presence.

“My children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not.” That is the standard, an absence of evil in our words, and ways, and walk. It would be a loss to ourselves if Satan got us to say we cannot help sinning. God has given us everything that pertains to life and godliness. The Lord Jesus, as the dependent Man defeated Satan by dependence and obedience. When we are dependent and obedient, Satan cannot touch us.

It does not say “when,” but “if.” “If any man sin we have an Advocate with the Father”: not with God, but with the Father. Such an one, if he lost his peace and joy, would not lose his relationship. The Father remains the same, and the value of the sacrifice always remains the same; and Jesus Christ the righteous is our righteousness, and we can never be deprived of that. But sin robs us of our joy and peace, and interferes with our communion. So it is well to look at this scripture in connection with what we have here. The feast is when they have to eat unleavened bread seven days. Eating in scripture is constantly emblematic of communion.

It shows us what a solemn thing it is to be indifferent to toleration of evil. We are living in a day when very little is made of the Lord’s honor and the Lord’s claims; and indifference to evil, a sad indifference, prevailing almost everywhere. The Lord says that soul shall be cut off. He does not give instruction to others to cut them off, but it is God’s own government. He does so now sometimes (1 Cor. 11:30). God in His government often does this, and such is evidently the meaning here.

And ye shall keep the [feast of] unleavened [bread]; for in this same day have I brought your hosts out of the land of Egypt; and ye shall keep this day in your generations [as] an ordinance Forever (12:17).

They went out carrying their kneading troughs on their shoulders, and their food was unleavened. It would fix itself on their minds, and is interesting to us to see how it was brought about; but we must not forget its significance to us, and the character God would have us maintain as sheltered by the blood of His provided Lamb. A verse in 1 Peter 1. would correspond, — the responsibility of those redeemed by the blood of the Lamb― “as obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance: but as He which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy” (vers. 14, 15). We were children of disobedience once, but now of obedience.

God had given them the command to be holy in Leviticus 11, where they had to put a difference between the clean and unclean.

We were noticing recently that we do not get anything corresponding with that in Genesis, although it covers such a long period of the world’s history. Upon the ground of redemption, God dwells among His redeemed people, so their responsibility (for it is wonderfully blessed to have God dwelling in their midst) is to be holy, for He is holy.

In the first [month], on the fourteenth day of the month, in the evening, ye shall eat unleavened bread until the one and twentieth day of the month in the evening (12:18).

That would fit in well with what we have here, — redeemed by blood, and responsible to keep the feast.

There are so exceedingly solemn lessons in this chapter.

None but those sheltered by blood have a right to feed on the roast lamb; and so in order that none profane should eat it, it was burnt; — nothing left for others to profane. And now it says no uncircumcised person should eat of it; all such were excluded. So these strangers, these proselytes, evidently those the Spirit of God has in His mind here, — if they did not keep this feast of unleavened bread should be cut off (vers. 19:20). God had told them they should keep it a feast by an ordinance Forever; there was only the institution here. We get a good many details that could not apply to keeping it in Egypt, but to the future.

And Moses called all the elders of Israel and said to them, Seize and take yourselves lambs for your families, and kill the Passover (12:21).

We must not think this was done on the night it occurred, for the lamb had to be kept up for four days, and so they had ample time to scrutinize it, to discover if there was any blemish in it; and if any was discerned the lamb had to be destroyed as not a fit type of Him Who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners.

And take a bunch of hyssop, and dip [it] in the blood that is in the basin, and smear the lintel and the two doorposts with the blood that is in the basin; and none of you shall go out of the door of his house until the morning (12:22).

Now we get instruction about the bunch of hyssop. I suppose it was a suitable thing for sprinkling the blood. It was a lowly thing, for Solomon wrote of the trees, “from the cedar to the hyssop,”— the two extremes of Nature in vegetation; and it would almost lead one (although the blood is not mentioned in Psalms 51) to think David had before him there the sprinkling of the blood (Psa. 51:7).

That psalm is typical of the remnant, who will realize blood-guiltiness resting on them, and that they belong to the race who said, “His blood be on us and on our children,” and who are still suffering for it, and will, right through the centuries.

I like, when I read “Wash me and I shall be whiter than snow,” to connect it with Job 9:30. “If I wash myself with snow water, and make my hands never so clean,” that is, a man using earnestly the best natural means to make himself clean, but instead of succeeding, he only makes himself worse. But here is a soul, with terrible guilt, saying that God can wash him whiter than snow.

Speaking of the provision made for their cleansing in going through the wilderness, God gave instructions about the provision of the red heifer. We could not go into all the details about it, but I will just read there about the hyssop, and show how it fits in with Psalms 51 (Num. 19:18, 19).

In the case of the Christian, the blood is never applied a second time. If I am identified with its value once, I am identified with its value Forever. But while we are in the wilderness there is the possibility of defilement, and there are the ashes of the red heifer, that which remained after the knife and the fire had done their work, a memorial of the suffering of Christ, mixed with the water of purification. In the place where we are constantly liable to defilement (by reading a newspaper, or looking into a shop window even, we may get defiled, and our communion interrupted), there is God’s gracious provision for that communion to be restored. That is where the hyssop is used. And it was used at the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Only those were safe that were sheltered in the houses sprinkled with blood. There was definite instruction that they should not go out.

And Jehovah will pass through to smite the Egyptians; and when He sees the blood on the lintel, and on the two door-posts, Jehovah will pass over the door, and will not suffer the destroyer to come into your houses to smite you (12:23).

Some one recently took exception to the expression “destroying angel.” Evidently here we have one doing God’s will on this occasion. The destroyer might have been able to distinguish them if they were walking in the street, but that is not the point: they had to be in the house, with the blood sprinkled on the lintel and two side posts, but not on the ground where it could be trampled under foot. What a mercy to be sheltered by the blood from the stroke of judgment To have God’s own word in verse 13, “I will pass over you!” It is all true to faith to us now.

We have the figure of the blood on the day of atonement sprinkled on the mercy-seat, and before the mercy-seat. To faith, that took place when Jesus died. Immediately after Jesus died two things occurred, — the veil was rent from the top to the bottom, — far up above the reach of the tallest man. It was done by God, thus showing that the way into the holiest was then made manifest. Till then God dwelt behind the veil; now He is out in the light. Not only so, but the graves were opened. So the same God-glorifying work that rent the veil opened the graves.

The Lord must have the pre-eminence; and He could say to Martha, “I am the resurrection and the Life. He that believeth in Me though he were dead, yet shall he live; and whoso liveth and believeth in Me shall never die.” When the Lord comes there will be those called out from their graves; and we, the living ones, shall be changed (1 Thess. 4:13).

Here He is telling them He will not permit the destroyer to come in to destroy. In every house there was one dead; in the houses of Israel, a dead lamb; in the houses of the Egyptians, a dead firstborn. That which has saved us from the judgment is the precious blood of Christ. There is not the possibility of any mistake; and another thing, the most timid soul in all Israel was quite as safe as the one with the strongest faith. It is not the strength of our faith that secures all that God has to give us. No, the one with strong faith is no safer than the one with weak. The value of faith is its object.

Suppose a person had faith in having been baptized by a clergyman when a baby, and being confirmed at a certain age; then taking the sacrament, and being absolved by a priest as occasion arose: these ceremonies would not save him. The strongest faith in a rotten thing avails nothing. I have no doubt many men have thorough faith in Mahomet, a servant of Satan. Christ alone is the Object of our faith.

Only once the blood is spoken of as the object of our faith. The blood always means the death of Christ. That is important. In the gospel testimony in Acts we do not get the blood mentioned once, but we get His death. His death and resurrection are prominent in gospel testimony in Acts, and doubtless those addresses are samples for us.

And it shall come to pass, when ye are come into the land that Jehovah will give you, as He has promised, that ye shall keep this service (12:25).

Thus we see it does not all refer to the institution, but goes on to the time when they got into the land; and they were forty years in the wilderness. From the shores of the Red Sea to the south of Palestine was eleven days’ journey, and instead of that they were forty years. It will arrest our attention when we see, — let us turn to it (Josh. 5:10)— when they got into the land. They had passed over Jordan, the waters stayed back, the priests bearing the ark standing in the waters, and the waters standing up a long way off. Then directly they got into the land it was the right time to kill the Passover, the Passover which told the foundation of all their blessing.

Read verses 10-12. There is a wonderful lot contained in these verses speaking about their food. There is the Passover. That is where we begin. “Christ our Passover.” They had been eating the manna all through the wilderness, but the manna was stopped. It spoke of Christ come down from heaven, the lowly One, small and despised, yet the Eternal One; — a round thing, — without beginning or end, telling the eternity of Him Who in lowly grace became a Man, yet “from everlasting to everlasting Thou art God.”

Here again they feed on the Paschal Lamb in the land of Canaan, and the old corn of the land, — that which belonged to the land, — that One Who descended and ascended where He was before. He re-entered that glory as a Man. “Glorify Thou Me, with Thine own self, with the glory that I had with Thee before the world was.” That is the One we have to feed on. Oh, what we have in Christ I What a satisfying portion I “Unleavened cakes,”— all Christ; and “parched corn,”— that which had felt the fire,— all Christ!

And it shall come to pass, when your children shall say to you, What mean ye by this service? that ye shall say, It is a sacrifice of Passover to Jehovah, Who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt, when He smote the Egyptians, and delivered our houses. And the people bowed their heads and worshipped (12:26, 27).

What we are reading about here, with all its instruction for us, was really God’s annual feast for His earthly people. They had always to remember they were bond slaves. It was kept 1500 years until that last Passover before the Antitype. The Lord intensely desired to partake of it (Luke 22). Intense desire, if evil, is called lust; but it is not always so in scripture. “The Spirit lusteth against the flesh.” The meaning of the word is strong desire, and if there is strong desire in an evil course, there is such a thing as strong desire in a good one. If it was always evil it could not be applied to the Holy Spirit. We are told if we walk in the Spirit we shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh. Well, with strong desire the Lord desired to eat the Passover with them. Oh, what it must have meant to His soul! Roast with fire, speaking of God’s holy, unsparing judgment. Every morsel the blessed Son took would figure to Him all that was entailed, for He was a divine Person. God knew all it would entail, — everything. So at the very time of this memorial supper He instituted the feast for the heavenly people. That is what we are privileged to partake of.

And the Egyptians urged the people to send them out of the land in haste; for they said, We are all dead [men]! And the people took their dough before it was leavened; their kneading troughs bound up in their clothes upon their shoulders (12:33, 34).

Of course God knew what would take place, and He had given instruction they were to keep the feast from the fifteenth till the twenty-second day of the month; and it would appear if some of them had been disposed to have their bread leavened, they could not have done it; they went out in such haste. And they carried out the instructions given them by Moses.

And the children of Israel had done according to the word of Moses; and they had asked of the Egyptians utensils of silver, and utensils of gold, and clothing. And Jehovah had given the people favor in the eyes of the Egyptians, and they gave to them; and they spoiled the Egyptians (12:35, 36).

They had been cruelly treated for a long period, downtrodden, persecuted slaves; and we know the righteous Jehovah loveth righteousness, and God’s own word ought to be quite sufficient to keep people from saying what they do about this. God had told Abraham that his posterity should come out with great substance, and this is the way it was brought about; and we can see they would not have been in a position to furnish all that was required for the tabernacle if they had not gone out of Egypt with great substance.

And the children of Israel journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand on foot, [that were] men, besides children (12:37).

Succoth means “booths.” It is estimated there were over two millions altogether; a mixed multitude went up. We do not know what that meant, and I cannot remember where it is disclosed to us. Many Egyptians would be living among the Israelites, and many doubtless would be influenced by the miracles they had witnessed, and would be disposed to join themselves to Israel seeing how the God of Israel had dealt judgment on the gods of Egypt. They were filled with terror on this particular night, urging them to go out, with all the cattle, as well as all the children.

And they baked the dough that they brought forth out of Egypt into unleavened cakes, for it was not leavened; for they were driven out of Egypt, and could not wait; neither had they prepared for themselves any food (12:39).

We were noticing they had to put away all leaven from their borders. Not only had they to keep the feast, evil must be disallowed in every shape or form. We know that in the offering, the meat offering, which was the food of the priests, there was to be an absence of leaven and honey, not simply that which was evil. But the honey of nature is unacceptable to God, and it could not be used in that which was a type of the Lord Jesus. This was the food of those sheltered by blood, — a redeemed people.

And the residence of the children of Israel that they resided in Egypt was four hundred and thirty years (12:40).

Most of us know there has been a lot of discussion about this. It would take us back to the time of Abraham entering Canaan on the death of his father in Genesis 12, and then going down to Egypt. Half the time was from the sojourning of Abraham in Egypt to Joseph going down. So it was counted from then.

It is a night of observance to Jehovah, because of their being brought out from the land of Egypt: that same night is an observance to Jehovah for all the children of Israel in their generations (12:42).

It was the beginning of their national existence; they came out as a nation. It was a memorial feast for an earthly people, and it was kept annually, at this time of the year. In Luke 22 we get the Passover and the Lord’s supper brought together (vers. 14-20). Here we get its institution, but it is connected with the kingdom in the Gospels. Paul did not get it from that, — nor from the disciples who were there at its institution; — but from a glorified Christ (1 Cor. 11:23). He did not receive it from Peter, or John, or James. “I have received of the Lord.”

We have read, already, a bone of Him was not broken, but we know His body was pierced. There was a memorial feast of the Passover for an earthly people; but the Lord’s supper is a memorial feast for a heavenly people; one kept annually, the other weekly. At first they broke bread every day. We have the institution of it, then it is given to Paul in its heavenly character, and then the practice of the Spirit-taught disciples on the first day of the week. And so we find Paul repeatedly staying seven days among the disciples, giving himself the opportunity of breaking bread with them.

“The Lord Jesus, the same night He was delivered up,” J.N.D. puts it. Whether by Jew, or God Himself, or Judas Iscariot, that word is used “delivered up.” “This is My body for you,”—” broken “is left out. It is really the assembly (for the breaking of bread, the Lord’s supper, is never an individual thing), the assembly unitedly owning before the universe that we build everything upon the death of Christ. A holy privilege! There will be no such thing in eternity; “till He come.” To Paul it is linked with the Lord’s coming; in the Gospels it is linked with the kingdom.

So the Passover had to be observed by all the children of Israel. When we read in the prophetic word about the millennium we find the Passover, but not Pentecost. In Acts 2 it is definitely stated that the day of Pentecost was fully come, the antitype of Leviticus 23; and we do not get it in the millennium. But the Passover points to the cross, the foundation of all our blessing. Pentecost inaugurated a heavenly body formed on the rejection of Christ and His exaltation, when He received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, and sent Him down.

At the beginning of the millennium the Spirit will be poured out upon all flesh. Every act is attributed to the Holy Ghost. The Lord acknowledges that what He did was of the Holy Spirit; and the miracles He did are called “powers of the world to come,” the millennium; samples of the power that will be witnessed then, the result of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

As far as the Jews are concerned, they will be all righteous, and as far as the kingdom is concerned, the Lord will purge out all that offend; but those born during the millennium will require to be born again; so some will be unreal. The son of the stranger will yield feigned obedience; and some will pretend to be right with Him who will be acted on at the end of the millennium, when Satan is let loose a little while; and not having been born again will fall into the devil’s snare as readily as our first parents: and will demonstrate to all the universe (for no doubt the angels will have another lesson then, who now learn by the assembly the various wisdom of God), that however man is blessed under the munificent reign of the Son of God, while the devil is in the bottomless pit, and knowing, too, about previous dispensations, yet he will fall again into terrible sin.

There must be a work of grace in the soul; if it is not of God, nothing can be lasting. So all will be affected, you see. Of course, people make a misuse of what it says in Acts 2. What Joel said ought to have prepared the Jews for what took place on the day of Pentecost. It does not say it was fulfilled. Read Acts 2:14-18. That scripture ought to have prepared them for it, but it awaits a future fulfillment in the millennium. There are those who take it up and apply it now, but it awaits a future fulfillment. According to Romans 10. if there is a call of faith at the present time, it is true, “Whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved,” but in its full application it will be true in the millennium. In Romans it is a quotation from Joel, and it is the call of faith and the response of grace.

You cannot find a single instance when the Lord turned aside from the call of faith. He responds to faith and to need. But we could not put souls on praying. It is unthinkable that a sinner should be willing to be saved, and God unwilling to save him. The word is, (and we would not stop a soul praying), “Behold, he prayeth,” as a proof of a work of grace in his soul. There is only one case of an unconverted man being put to pray to save his soul, Simon Magus. And he had been baptized.

We read, “We pray you, in Christ’s stead, Be ye reconciled to God,” as though God was the Beseecher, — not putting the sense on asking God to be reconciled to them. There is no such thing as God being reconciled. Does God want reconciling, He Who so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son? The sinner receives the reconciliation; God receives the propitiation, the precious blood. The sinner is reconciled; “if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more being reconciled we shall be saved by His life.” We are saved by the life of the crucified One.

That division of Romans (9-11) is dispensational, but the tenth chapter shows how a soul gets right with God. You have not to go to heaven to bring Christ down, or to descend into the deep to bring Christ up again from the dead, but what is to be believed is what we preach, “that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised from the dead, thou shalt be saved.” “For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness,” brings out the truth of the gospel at the present time.

No one can tell when a soul believes in the heart; but God sees it, and that soul is counted righteous by Him. That is the only way a soul can be counted righteous, by faith in the heart. Then there should be confession. If there is a real work of grace in the heart, confession has its right place, and is its outcome.

It is very well in preaching the gospel to put Mark 9 with Matthew 8, the cleansing of the leper. The leper thought the Lord had the power and the sovereignty, but said, “If Thou wilt.” In Mark 9 the man said, “If Thou canst,” quite a different thought. The man was disheartened by the failure of the disciples. It is good to put both together, and show the Lord had both the ability and the willingness. So He said, “If thou canst believe”; that is the point. He always responds to faith. The man thought the Lord was willing but had not the power, so Jesus said, “If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.” Then he said, “Lord, I believe”; but he felt the weakness of his faith, “help Thou mine unbelief.” These two put together form a very blessed gospel subject.

And Jehovah said to Moses and Aaron, This is the ordinance of the Passover: No stranger shall eat of it (12:43).

We have been noticing that the Passover must not be profaned; only those sheltered by the blood had a right to feed on the lamb roast with fire. And in this chapter and the next, circumcision has such a place that it is well for us to remember the teaching of Colossians 2:11. There we see death written on the flesh, sin was condemned in the cross. When sin is spoken of, it is our fallen human nature, and is never forgiven, always condemned. We are spoken of as having put off the old man and put on Christ, and are to mortify our members; and in carrying it out in detail, we have always to carry about the putting to death of the Lord Jesus. While we read of no uncircumcised person being permitted to feast on the Paschal Lamb, it says in Philippians 3:1-3, “We are the circumcision, which worship by the Spirit of God, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.” We, true believers now, are the circumcision, and, quite consistently, have no confidence in the flesh; death being written on the flesh in every shape and form.

But every man’s bondman that is bought for money—let him be circumcised: then shall he eat it. A settler and a hired servant shall not eat it. In one house shall it be eaten; thou shalt not carry forth any of the flesh abroad out of the house; neither shall ye break a bone thereof (12:44-6).

You see it is looked at in this chapter as one company feeding on the lamb, so if they divided the lamb between two houses you would not have had that thought of unity in the feasting. There was such a thing as a household being too little, but not too large. He had to join his neighbor, if too little. Roasted whole and not a bone broken; and as we said before, that was the scripture that stood between the club of the Roman soldier and the holy body of the Lord Jesus; and made it impossible for all the power of Rome to break a bone of that holy body, — the Antitype of the Paschal Lamb.

All the assembly of Israel shall hold it (12:47).

That just bears out what I was saying. All were sheltered by the blood, and all could feed upon the lamb. The only way you can understand the Jew’s rejection of the gospel is the veil upon their heart. And what you get in 2 Corinthians 3:14 is very striking. While there is unbelief as to the Lord, their thoughts are darkened. When they are reading what we are reading, there is the veil; but when it (their heart) shall turn to the Lord, the veil shall be taken away. It only awaits that in individual cases now, but it will be on a large scale by and by.

In all Israel, the only one that had to do with God without a veil was Moses; but that is a privilege that belongs to every Christian. “We all,”— in contrast with Moses only, — “with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord.” Moses could go into the most holy place, but every one of us has that privilege now, through faith in Christ. So if we by faith are living in the enjoyment of our privileges, it is bound to have an effect on us; “We are changed from glory to glory.” That is not the result of a lot of creature effort, but being before Him with unveiled face, beholding the glory of God in the face, or Person, of the glorified Man, Jesus Christ.

And when a sojourner sojourneth with thee, and would hold the Passover to Jehovah, let all his males be circumcised, and then let him come near and hold it! and he shall be as one that is born in the land; but no uncircumcised person shall eat thereof (12:48).

The keeping of the Passover was a privilege belonging to every true Israelite.

When they were journeying through the wilderness they only kept the Passover once, for they were not circumcised all the time they were going through the wilderness; but as soon as they got into the land, they were circumcised and kept the Passover, and the reproach of Egypt was rolled away. If we do not keep the flesh in subjection the reproach of Egypt is upon us.

One law shall be for him that is home-born and for the sojourner that sojourneth among you (12:49).

You see God in His grace made provision for this. If He was going through the land as Judge, taking up the question of sin, Israel was not better than the Egyptians; but God puts the difference; and the instruction about the lamb, how to use it, and how to feed on it shows that God is for them.

God is there as Judge, and the blood saved them from the stroke of judgment; the only thing that sheltered them was the blood of the slain lamb. So they became the Lord’s, and not their own, consequently in chapter 14. it is a question between Pharaoh and God. God is for them, and the children of Israel had to do nothing but stand still and see God’s salvation. So in the cross we are not permitted to move a finger. Christ has done it all, and all that is left for us to do is to praise Him for it. The blessed Lord has exhausted all the wrath, and “nothing for us remains, nothing but love.”

Chapter 13.

THIS chapter is an appendix of what we have before, and a kind of parenthesis.

As a result of God providing a substitute lamb for the firstborn of Israel, they were spared from the stroke of judgment; but the firstborn of the Egyptians, from the king downwards, were destroyed; for the only thing that sheltered was the blood of the lamb. Now, in consequence, God claims all the firstborn, all the males, clean or unclean. Each one of us is firstborn; each Christian is called a firstborn one, we belong to heaven; we belong to God.

If we turn to Hebrews 12 we find what we have come to by faith now, but which will be visible in the millennium. Heaven is open to faith, in Hebrews, now, but it will be open to sight then, and all this will be seen from top to bottom. “We are come to Mount Zion,” where we have been brought, the mountain of royal grace, the “city of the living God,” not an earthly metropolis but a heavenly one; the “universal gathering” belongs to the angels. “And” divides here, “and assembly of firstborn which are written in heaven.” Every saint of God now, every Christian, is a firstborn one, registered in heaven. So this has a voice to us who have a Marvelous place of privilege. We are sons by adoption, children by birth, heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ, and firstborn ones. Of course, there is responsibility flowing out of that which we should never forget. We are not our own. How blessed to go about with, a sense of that! We cannot do, or say, or go where we like, but are responsible to glorify God in our bodies where it is displayed. We belong to Him, He paid the price for us.

And Moses said to the people, Remember this day, in which ye came out from Egypt, out of the house of bondage! for with a powerful hand hath Jehovah brought you out from this; and nothing leavened shall be eaten (13:3).

They were to remember they were slaves in Egypt, — what we heavenly ones are told in Ephesians. “Wherefore remember that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh,” etc. God would never have us forget we were under the dominion of sin and Satan. I do not say that these people sheltered by the blood were saved. Scripture does not speak of salvation in the loose way people do. There was no singing nor joy. But a work of grace was begun in their souls; they were quite safe, sheltered by the blood, but not saved. We shall have occasion to look into the New Testament teaching about salvation when we get into chapter 14.

Ye come out today, in the month Abib (13:4).

God had brought them out; they could not deliver themselves. “Abib”— meaning “green ears”— would signify the grain formed, but green. When they got into the land and kept the Passover, they had to take a sheaf of their harvest, not ripe but in ear, and present it to God on the morning after the Sabbath. So the Passover was kept on the Friday, when Christ our Passover was sacrificed for us; He was in the grave on Saturday, and on the first day of the week He arose, at the very time the priest was waving the sheaf before God. There was type and antitype of Christ’s resurrection. There is the Sheaf waved before the Lord.

And another thing they were called to remember; it was done with haste. They had not time to put leaven with their dough. It all spoke of God’s interference on their behalf, and it all spoke of God bringing them out. And He brought them not only out, but in. The wilderness was not part of God’s purpose. That is where we learn His ways. So it was often put as if the river Jordan was contiguous to the Red Sea. The Red Sea brings out the death and resurrection of Christ; then in the Jordan it is our death and resurrection with Him; and that is where we are brought, into heavenly places.

And it shall be when Jehovah path brought thee into the land of the Canaanite and the Hittite and the Amorite and the Hivite and the Jebusite, which He swore to thy fathers to give thee, a land flowing with milk and honey, that thou shalt keep this service in this month (13:5).

There is a mighty contrast between the land they were brought into, and the land they were brought out of. Only think of the bitter bondage of Egypt, and then to be brought into this blessed and fruitful land; what a contrast!

Unleavened bread shall be eaten the seven days; and leavened bread shall not be seen with thee, neither shall there be leaven seen with thee in all thy borders (13:7).

They are thought of as worshippers. Not only what they partook of in the way of food had to be unleavened, but all leaven had to be put away. They were a holy people; there was to be absence of evil. A standard we would think of naturally ought not to suit us at all; we must never be ready to make excuses for ourselves. We want to judge ourselves more than anyone else. “If we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged. But when we are judged we are chastened of the Lord that we should not be condemned with the world” (1 Cor. 11:31, 32). He loves us too well to let it pass. The Lord says, “As many as I love I rebuke and chasten,” so let us keep close to Him. Let us realize our own weakness, and live lives of dependence!

Not only was unleavened bread to be eaten seven days, but no leaven was to be seen “in all thy quarters.” The Lord said in His prayer, and we are allowed to listen, and hear His desires for us when pouring out His heart to His Father, “I pray not that Thou shouldst take them out of the world, but that Thou shouldst keep them from the evil.” He wants us here as witnesses to live Christ; but there should be an absence of evil.

“Keep us, Lord, oh, keep us cleaving

To Thyself, and still believing,

Till the hour of our receiving

Promised joys with Thee!”

And thou shalt inform thy son in that day, saying, It is because of what Jehovah did to me when I came out of Egypt. And it shall be for a sign to thee on thy hand, and for a memorial between thine eyes, that the law of Jehovah may be in thy mouth; for with a powerful hand hath Jehovah brought thee out of Egypt (13:8, 9).

So He would have it continually before their eyes, that they might not forget at all what He had done in His grace and love for them.

And thou shalt keep this ordinance at its set time from year to year (13:10).

Here we get the Lord’s memorial feast for His earthly people. We, His heavenly people, have got the Lord’s supper, and that is a memorial feast kept, not annually, but weekly, every resurrection day, every first day of the week, every Lord’s day. That tells us of resurrection; and it is those risen with Christ, who are on the glory side of His grave, who belong to heaven, who are in that way taught to look back and remember what He went through in death and judgment. Only here there is a possibility of our forgetting, so the Lord would have us again and again remember. And it is put before us as a privilege. He made known His holy mind on the night of His betrayal, and we have the privilege of meeting His mind. “This do,” it is the desire of His heart, “in remembrance of Me.”

And it shall be when Jehovah hath brought thee into the land of the Canaanites, as He hath sworn to thee and to thy fathers and hath given it thee, that thou shalt offer unto Jehovah all that breaketh open the womb, and every firstling that cometh of cattle which is thine; the males [shall be] Jehovah’s (13:11, 12).

Then all the firstborn must be the Lord’s. All the firstborn of cattle too. But they owned some unclean animals, and they could not offer them to the Lord. The firstling of clean annuals could not be used in any way but sacrifice. Its blood had to be sprinkled on the altar.

And every firstling of an ass shalt thou ransom with a lamb, and if thou do not ransom it, thou shalt break its neck; and every first-born of a man among thy sons shalt thou ransom (13:13).

There God is giving us a picture, and oh, how it ought to speak to us Man has to be redeemed; he is unclean. The ass is unclean; if its life is spared it must be redeemed; so in that ass with a broken neck I see a picture of myself. What rightly belongs to me is death and judgment, and the only thing that can save me is the slain Lamb. The ass owed its life to the lamb. It is a splendid gospel subject. There is no flattery. We read in Job, “Vain man will be wise, though man be born like a wild ass’s colt.” That is what we were. Of course it is in its proper place in this book which brings before us redemption.

We know from Numbers all the Levites were substituted for the firstborn, and belonged to Jehovah in a special way, and were privileged to be in His service. It is well for us to remember that comes out in Numbers, and Numbers gives us the journeying of the children of Israel in the wilderness, where all the tabernacle and its furniture had to be carried. There were then three divisions of Levi—Kohath, Gershon, and Merari; and they all had their own proper bit of the tabernacle to carry. All spoke of Christ; and wherever we go we have something of Christ to display, for we are all carrying Christ.

And it shall be when thy son asketh thee in time to come, saying, What is this? that thou shalt say to him, With a powerful hand Jehovah brought us out from Egypt, out of the house of bondage (13:14).

He must have all the praise. He did it to gratify His own heart.

And it came to pass, when Pharaoh stubbornly refused to let us go, that Jehovah slew all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both the firstborn of man and the firstborn of cattle: therefore I sacrifice to Jehovah all that breaketh open the womb—being males; and every firstborn of my children I ransom (13:15)

Do not let us forget that as firstborn ones we are redeemed. As we think of ourselves as redeemed, we can connect what we get in Hebrews with Eph. 1:7.

And it shall be for a sign on thy hand, and for frontlets between thine eyes; for upon a powerful hand Jehovah brought us forth out of Egypt (13:16).

It was ever to be kept before their eyes.

Then we get the Lord’s gracious concern, and how He orders things according to His own wisdom in dealing with us. If He had led them by the ordinary route, by the Philistine’s land, there would have been war, and perhaps discouragement; so He chose another way, and we see

“How wise, how strong His hand:”

He led them where they were brought to their wits’ end, a good place to be brought to, where we can do nothing but cry to the Lord. That is brought out in the next chapter, where it is illustrated what God is for us. In chapter 12 The blood is for us, but it is God for us in chapter 14, where we have the truth of salvation brought out typically.

And it came to pass, when Pharaoh had let the people go, that God did not lead them the way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near; for God said, That the people may not repent when they see conflict, and return to Egypt (13:17).

It shows what a grief it is to His heart when His people return to Egypt. Oh, we must not forget what we have been looking at, three days’ journey; and there must always be that three days’ journey between us and the world.

And God led the people about, the way of the wilderness of the Red Sea; and the children of Israel went arrayed out of the land of Egypt (13:18).

You that have reference Bibles see in the margin “five in a rank” instead of “harnessed.” That has puzzled the translators. Infidels have scoffed at the idea of this people being a disciplined army, and held it up to ridicule. The simplest soul can learn this, that they did not go up a mere rabble, there was orderliness; God took care of that. They did not go up anyhow, but harnessed, or five in a rank.

And Moses took the bones of Joseph with him; for he had made the children of Israel swear an oath, saying, God will be sure to visit you; then ye shall carry my bones with you hence (13:19).

So all the time they were journeying through the wilderness, they always carried death with them. It is our privilege always to carry death with us (2 Cor. 4:10).

Surely we may come to the conclusion that we cannot be manifesting the life of Jesus in our bodies if we are neglecting to bear about the dying of the Lord Jesus always.

Now that was an act of faith on the part of Joseph (Heb. 11:22). So he knew that communication made to Abraham. You cannot have faith without the word of God. Faith has always got the word of God as its warrant. Many things that are called faith are only fancy. You must have scripture as a warrant for faith. So he must have had that communication in Genesis 15, though it was not written then; and in faith of that word of God he gave commandment concerning his bones (Gen. 1:25). Genesis 1 gives us the creation of man and the last verse of Genesis gives us man in a coffin. God could not fail in what He had promised. Joseph’s body was embalmed and kept all the time till their exodus came; and then they took up the bones and carried them with them. Of course we could not question that we may see in this, faith in resurrection. As surely as God was true to His word, and came down to deliver, and brought them out, and brought them to Himself, so the fathers knew they would be raised from the dead.

What I am going to read now was written long after. The Psalmist says, “As for me, I will behold Thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied when I awake with Thy likeness” (Psa. 17:15). It is a question which was written first, Job or Genesis. It speaks about the resurrection of the Old Testament saint, and of the unbeliever of Old Testament times in Job. As to the saint, in 19:25-27 there is the confidence of faith in the resurrection of the saint: but in 14:7-12 There is the resurrection of the unbeliever. This is not the believer; but exactly what we get in Revelation 20. Man, as man, is not raised, unless he has a Redeemer, he is not raised, — “till the heavens are no more,” for the wicked are judged in eternity. It does not say anything about the wicked being raised till heaven and earth are fled away. That is exactly what corresponds with Job 14. This is probably the first book, and the other is the last book; how they hold together!

And they took their journey from Succoth, and encamped in Etham, at the end of the wilderness. And Jehovah went before their face by day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them [in] the way; and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light; so that they could go day and night (13:20, 21).

That was very essential, you see. That cloud, even after that, is spoken of as evidence of the presence of God. “Behold, He cometh with clouds”; and it is very interesting and instructive, and a helpful thing to trace the cloud in scripture. On the Mount of Transfiguration, “they feared as they entered into the cloud.”

We have not got the word in scripture, but in Jewish books, and often by Christians, it is spoken of as the Shekinah, or glory-cloud,— fire by night, and cloud by day; and when the tabernacle was set up (because you get the results of redemption in this book; and one grand result is, God dwells in the midst of His redeemed people), in the last verse of this book it says, “The cloud of the Lord was upon the tabernacle by day, and fire was on it by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel, throughout all their journeys” (40:38). God took possession of it, and even Moses himself could not enter that which was, in detail, such a beautiful type of the Lord Jesus Christ.

The pillar of the cloud did not remove [from] before the people by day, nor the pillar of fire by night (13:22).

We see God chose for them their rest and their journey; all was ordered by His will. Their will did not enter into it at all.

At any hour, day or night, they had to go. God Himself chose all their path through the wilderness; and that of itself is a useful practical lesson for us to learn, to understand the will of the Father, and to have no will of our own: “Being filled with the knowledge of His will,” and “understanding what the will of the Lord is.”

So if we turn to Ezekiel, there we shall see how reluctant God was to go away. We have seen how He took possession in I. Exodus 40 The Shekinah was very reluctant to go away, and ultimately comes back (Ezek. 10:4,18; 11:23). A lot of wickedness is expressed before the Lord departs, and the house is left desolate, as the Lord said about Herod’s temple. But chapters 43:1-5 is prophetic; in the millennial reign of the Lord Jesus Christ, the glory will come back.

Chapter 14.

IN dealing with chapters 12 There is nearly always a tendency to bring into it more than belongs to it. The death of Christ is the foundation of everything, of every blessing of all saints in every dispensation.

“Our every joy, on earth, in heaven,

We owe it to Thy blood.

But we do not read of any joy, any song, not even redemption, nor salvation; but in this chapter we have not only brought before us the death of Christ, but the death and resurrection of Christ; and that makes all the difference. I trust the Lord may lead us to enter into His mind.

We see the Lord bringing the children of Israel out of Egypt unto Himself, which reminds us of many truths in the New Testament. “Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the Just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God”; and we are brought there as worshippers. You see the design of God. He never makes a mistake; this is all wisely arranged, so that we may have profitable instruction in this typical redemption. We do not want to dissociate it from chapter 12. It has its proper place.

So instead of God leading them on in an easterly direction, in which they would not have touched the shores of the Red Sea, God told them to turn, and instead of going east they went south, and got into this perilous place.

Speak unto the children of Israel, that they turn and encamp before Pi-hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea; before Baalzephon; opposite to it, shall ye encamp by the sea (14:2).

The sea in front of them, hemmed in by mountains, and pursuing Egyptians behind! So it very often occurs with Christians, that they know forgiveness of sins, and have faith that the precious blood of Christ has secured that blessing to them, but then they make such discoveries of what they are in themselves, and the devil makes full use of that, that they go through a fearful time.

It is just what we get in the early part of the Epistle to the Romans, in the part that begins with chapter 5:12. All before that is a question of sins, of what I have done, but does not deal with the evil nature itself. That begins with verse 12, and takes us to the end of chapter 8. And all that part is occupied with teaching as to sin, a far deeper thing, the evil nature we have. When we are looking at the root of the evil thing, and we are all alike in that, we cannot compare ourselves with others and fancy we are better; when it is a question of nature we are all alike, all evil, all one lump. The most direct scripture in the Old Testament is, “Behold, I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me” (Psa. 51:5); but in the New Testament things are most distinct, there is more direct teaching.

In that experience you may be brought where Job was brought. He had a good opinion of himself at first, he “was eyes to the blind,” and a hundred other things, superior, he thought, to most, and noticed by others, deference being shown him because of his superior walk. And he had to learn, through God teaching him, what he was in himself, “I am vile”; and then also to confess, “I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.” It is a blessed thing to be brought there, not simply to acknowledge but to know how vile I am, and learn to abhor myself.

Even then, however deep the acquaintance we get of our evil nature, we shall see the depravity of that evil nature at the judgment seat, and be able to praise Him for showing it to us. We shall learn from Himself His thoughts as to our evil nature. Everything will be appraised then, and be rewarded; but there will be the other side, and we shall learn what our evil nature is. Paul had had that experience, and learned that “in me, that is, in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing,” an absence of all good. I daresay it is intended for us to learn that from that section of the Epistle: and when it is thoroughly learned, it will save us from many snares. We should have no confidence in the flesh. We should be careful what we said about others; the tongue would be guarded in a wonderful way if that lesson was thoroughly learned.

In this history we find Pharaoh thought they had lost their way and got ensnared, and having no way to escape would be an easy prey to him, and unarmed too. God was, in a certain sense, as a Judge, against them on the question of sin, though in His love He provided the Substitute. The blood was the only thing that screened them from judgment. It was a question between God and them, then, but quite different now. It was not a question now of this unarmed company of 600,000 men encumbered with wives, children, and cattle, in conflict with the Egyptians, but of God and the Egyptians. If God be for us, who can be against us? God was for them, and that secured everything.

And Pharaoh will say of the children of Israel, They are entangled in the land, the wilderness has hemmed them in (14:3).

It brings out the depravity of human nature in Pharaoh’s case. What lessons, what an experience he had had, what proof of the power of God and the folly of resisting Him in any way 1 He had been so far acted on as to hasten the going away of the children of Israel; but now he thinks, and would have the Egyptians think, they had been guilty of great folly in letting their servants go, and losing their valuable services.

And Jehovah hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and he pursued after the children of Israel; and the children of Israel had gone out with a high hand. And the Egyptians pursued after them, all the horses and chariots of Pharaoh, and his horsemen, and his army, and overtook them where they had encamped by the sea, beside Pi-hahiroth, opposite Baal-zephon (14:8, 9).

Pharaoh overtakes them in the place where God intended to teach them and us this lesson. It is not Israel that were types, but what happened to them were types of us (1 Cor. 10); and thus we get the crossing of the Red Sea.

And they said to Moses, Is it because there were no graves in Egypt, thou hast taken us away to die in the wilderness? why hast thou done this to us, that thou hast led us out of Egypt? (14:11).

God recorded it for our admonition. So you can understand how filled with fear they were. And this is the case with many a quickened soul. I have known many choice saints have a very dreadful experience going through Rom. 7 chapter 6. tells us Christ died unto sin: you do not get the old nature forgiven; sin dwelling in us is never forgiven, it is condemned (8:3). That is the plain teaching of Romans 8. As to our sins, Christ died for them (1 Cor. 15:3). That is what we have done; and we know “He was delivered for our offenses, and raised again for our justification.” But when it is a question of sin, He died, not for it, but unto it. So He has died to it, and there is the secret of our deliverance. So that of us who believe, and know what salvation means (not simply quickened souls), it can be said, “Ye have put off the old man... and put on Christ”: not going to do so, but it is a fact.

God put in a wonderful scripture to help us in a practical way as to this (Rom. 6:11) the reckoning of faith now. That is a wonderful scripture for our practical use, not simply to say it, but know it in very truth, and reckon on it according to God. Christ has overcome sin, and woe, and wrath, and judgment; none of these things has anything to say to Him; He is the triumphant One. “So also ye... in Christ Jesus,” the first time we have the expression in this Epistle. We are in Him the Risen One. In the Epistle to the Romans we are not seen as risen with Him: Christ is risen; but other scriptures teach us the believer is crucified with Christ, then dead with Christ, then risen with Christ; then Jew and Gentile seated together in Christ Jesus (not with Him), in heavenly places, though brethren did not learn it all at once; and you see the expression often, that we are seated with Christ: but not yet; we are in Him now; with Him, and Forever, by and by.

Then in Rom. 7. there is a man who has got the two natures, a quickened soul; and there is a terrible conflict going on between the new nature and the old; he does not know salvation. As in the type, there is no salvation in connection with the Paschal Lamb. Ask any one who could conceive it possible that a man in his sins, not knowing forgiveness, not having life in his soul, could have his prayers and alms, coming up acceptably to God?

We get such an one in the Acts, and that was exactly what had to be taught to Peter (10:28-31). You could not think that could be true of an unconverted man. There is life in the soul; it is a quickened soul, because “there is none righteous, no not one,” and Cornelius was righteous. An Italian, as I suppose, and God heard him, and his prayers and alms were acceptable; but he had to hear” words whereby he should be saved. And we have from such scriptures the full import of the word, that we may walk in the power of it and not wait until we get home, but know we are saved, and not only safe.

The quickened soul that does not know deliverance has a terrible experience, and has to cry out, “O wretched man that I am!”— so disappointed in himself, and finding in all his struggles the old nature stronger than the new: Who shall deliver me from this body of death? “The figure is taken from an awful punishment. The Romans would tie a corpse to a living man, and the living man had to carry it about with him till it killed him. He says, “Who shall deliver me?” and then he gets his eye on Christ. It is not by all his efforts, but by faith in Him Who has done everything, and is risen and glorified.

Romans 7. is not Christian experience, though it is the experience of those who are Christians; but true Christian experience is in Romans 8, when one knows what salvation is, and has the joy of it.

Well, they were filled with fear; they thought their enemies too strong for them, and they began to upbraid Moses. They had thought they would be brought into a happier state, but now are filled with terror; and their former wretched experience was better than this. Moses says, and no doubt he had the word of the Lord for this, “Fear not, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord.” There is the first time in 2500 years we get salvation, for the only time the word is mentioned before is when Jacob speaks of waiting for it (Gen. 49:18).

It therefore shows us it is wrong to put into certain scriptures what is not taught in them. There are many ways in which we can use the scriptures as illustrating, not as positively teaching, certain truths.

That is all any of us can do as to salvation. Salvation is in all its completeness now; first of all, soul salvation, the end of our faith (1 Peter 1:9). Then there is salvation through all the circumstances of the journey, and that is brought out in Hebrews 7. “Able to save unto the end.” And Romans 5:10 says: “If when we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.” And He will save us right out of it, and have us up in glory with Himself (Heb. 9). In that sense we can say, “Now is our salvation nearer than when we believed.” It is not very often you get salvation in all its comprehensiveness spoken of; it is in Ephesians 2. With that salvation is linked eternal glory (2 Tim. 2:10).

“When we shall see Him we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.” People make statements, and make definitions, and some would say like this, “We must be like Him or else we could not see Him.’ If that were so, it would mean they do not know or see Him in the disembodied state, whereas we know they do. That would suit those who believe the soul is asleep. There is no such thing as the soul asleep; and to show us so we have 2 Cor. 12 “I know” not “I knew”— “a man in Christ.” We are all that, men in Christ, if God has sealed us with His Holy Spirit.

It was not disclosed to Paul whether he was in the body or not, but he was caught up to the third heaven, to Paradise. Paradise is the highest place of blessedness God confers on the creature; and he “heard unspeakable things” which it is not lawful for a man to utter, so far above, and so different to anything here, it could not be explained. If you could not hear, or see, or know because out of the body, it would be ridiculous for Paul to say he did not know whether he was in the body or not; so it overthrows the teaching of such as hold Millennial Dawnism, etc. But what effect has the glory of God on natural man? It withers him up. Look at John, who knew so much of intimacy with the blessed Lord, when he sees Him walking as the Judge-Priest among the candlesticks. He fell at His feet as dead.

When the rapture takes place, He will descend from heaven, but not come to earth; and all will be done in the twinkling of an eye; that sown in weakness will be raised in power, coming up from the grave in glory; so we shall have glorified bodies when we meet the Lord. There will be no overwhelming then. We could not have that scripture apart from the coming of the Lord for His saints. There is His coming, and the shining forth of His coming. “Appear” is not always the same word in Greek; it is quite different in Heb. 9, where we get the three appearing’s of the Lord. That Epistle to the Hebrews is so written that it is suitable to the church with its own proper hope, and to the Jews with their hope of the Sun of righteousness.

But we have to be made like Him before we can be manifested. The time is coming when we shall be Forever with Him, and He will never be seen apart from His saints after that; so “when Christ, Who is our Life, shall appear, then shall we also appear with Him in glory.” It must be so because where He is the saints must be.

Look at 1 John 3:1. There are some who seem to seize on everything they can to be different from any one else; they say we are children now, but shall not be children then, and put the emphasis on “now.” I take it to be you cannot leave out the rapture, but we are children forever, children by birth, sons by adoption; in all the writings of John, except in one place (Rev. 21:7), he reserves the word “son” for the Lord Jesus only. So wherever we read saints of God called “sons” in John’s writings, we are always safe to read “children.” That relationship is eternal. The whole creation waits for the manifestation of the sons of God. (Rom. 8). Before that takes place we shall have been a long time in heaven in our glorified state.

It is the unity of the family that is found in John. The unity of communion and of glory is also found there, but not the unity of the body; that is in Paul’s writings.

Chapter 15.

WE must be on our guard here, because though there is very much precious teaching given us in this chapter, telling us of redemption and salvation, we must not forget that what is even deeper than that we have here is the blood of the Paschal Lamb. Then God was passing through the land as Judge, and the blood met all that God was in His holy nature: He was perfectly justified. But we do not get all in one scripture; salvation does not come in there, but I trust what we were looking at in the previous chapter showed the difference.

It is the privilege of believers to know they have soul salvation now. When sheltered by the blood they were quite safe, and this necessarily follows here; but what happened to them were types, and written for our admonition; and we should seek to get all the profit out of this that we ought to get. Salvation for the soul supposes we know everything is settled. I do not see how we can approach God as worshippers till we know all is settled about our sins. We do not get any song till this chapter; and then they knew very well they had been through those waters, and had been baptized to Moses in the sea, and had seen all their enemies overthrown. God’s own word they had seen fulfilled. They had far more fear and terror after they were sheltered by the blood than before; and God arranged it so, that they might see the full power of the enemy, and God’s might in destroying it.

As they were slaves in Egypt, so we were slaves to sin and Satan; and God brought them out, brought them to Himself, brought them completely out of Egypt, with not one left behind, not one sick person had to be left behind (we learn that from the Psalms). God’s whole people, all who were sheltered by the blood, were brought safely through those waters of death and judgment. But the Egyptians, who were not sheltered by blood, assaying to go through were drowned.

As far as the Christian is concerned, the Lord has been before us. He has been in death and judgment, the place that belonged to us, and glorified God there; so we pass through after Him, dryshod. Because He has been through it, we can go through dryshod to the resurrection side, knowing we are saved and the enemy destroyed.

The New Testament helps us a good deal as to the meaning of this. In Hebrews 2. we read, “Forasmuch then’ as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He also Himself likewise took part in the same; that through death He might annul him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; and deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage:”

It is a real thing, and the knowledge of it will produce worship and praise. This is the outcome of what God has done. They had done nothing, absolutely nothing. All the fighting was done by Him, and the Lord assured them that “the Egyptians ye have seen today ye shall see again no more Forever.” How suggestive of that wonderful salvation we have in Christ Jesus!

We get the expression “the Saviour God.” Here we have it in type in a very blessed way. He was Judge in Egypt, and the firstborn of Israel would have been slain but for the blood. None could possibly escape but by blood; the destroyer entered where no blood was. We ought never to lose sight of that. If saved from the judgment righteously ours, it is by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Then sang Moses and the children of Israel this song to Jehovah, and spoke, saying, I will sing unto Jehovah, for He is highly exalted: the horse and his rider hath He thrown into the sea (15:1).

It was the Lord Who triumphed gloriously. It is a blessed thing, as we think of His triumph, that He has made us more than conquerors: those who have the spoil, the results of the victory. Such He has made us; and these were too. So Jehovah was the subject of their song, just Himself. It is natural for us to be taken up with our blessings, but there is something higher, to be taken up with the One Who has blessed us. The love that has given us all is greater than all the blessing He has given. It is in the Saviour’s love and the Saviour’s blood we find our joy and praise.

Those who made sure of victory, who looked at the Israelites as entangled in the wilderness, who thought they had got into a cul-de-sac with the sea in front, who were all prepared for war, what were they against Jehovah? The enemy was thoroughly defeated. Individually we are no match for Satan, but when we meet him we meet a defeated foe. So “resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” Remember, he was defeated at the cross.

He was defeated previously in the wilderness by the Lord in dependence and obedience. Whenever he is stronger than we it is because we fail in dependence and obedience. Because He had defeated him, the Lord could walk about the land, doing good and healing all that were oppressed of the devil.

But this is far beyond that. In the power of what has been done at the cross, Satan will be bruised under our feet shortly.

First, he will be cast out of heaven. He has access into heaven now; both Old and New Testaments show us that. Whenever the Christian seeks to enter into his heavenly portion he will oppose him. When the Lord comes to reign, he will be cast into the prison-house, called the bottomless pit. Then he will be let out for a little time, to demonstrate to angels and the universe that without a real work of grace in the soul there is nothing done.

When the church is gone, Satan’s power will be tremendous, so that “if it were possible [he should) deceive the very elect,” but it is not possible; yet those who have witnessed the blessed Lord’s reign will fall as readily into Satan’s snare as our first parents. Then he will be cast into the lake of fire. It was not prepared for man, but for the devil and his angels (Matt. 25:41); but those who reject Christ will have their portion with him. That is the eternal state. There will not be one body left in a grave, nor a spirit in the spirit world; death and Hades will be cast into the lake of fire.

Thus it is marked out in the word. We know long beforehand what the end will be, an eternal separation between that which is of Satan, and that which is of God. Now they are mixed up together, but not forever: there will be an eternal separation. So in Revelation 21:1-8 we get the eternal state of the blessed, and also of the wicked.

We get a connection between that eternal state and what we have here. God has made known to us His eternal counsels; and while people question why God permitted man to fall, we know there was a fall before man: the angels fell. But man fell in his federal head; the angels fell individually. God can make a glorious being, and keep him from falling. But whatever glories God has got from redemption are the deep things” of God. The glories of creation are His shallow things; and even as far as they are concerned, man cannot get a line to fathom them: but oh, His deep things God has got infinitely greater glory by redemption than He ever got by creation. It was His eternal purpose to have man by redemption in His presence Forever, to His own eternal joy. He has done it to gratify His own heart; but oh, at what a cost to Himself! The creature will never be able to know the extent of the cost. Saints of God are very familiar with Isaiah 53:11, “He shall see the travail of His soul, and shall be satisfied”; but there is a verse in Psalms 16. that is more wonderful still. Everything connected with the Lord Jesus Christ is looked at as a whole there. So we sing

“Thou gavest Him, well knowing all

That lay before Him here.

He was born in one man’s stable, and buried in another man’s grave: denied by one, betrayed by another, and forsaken by all. The Lord knew it all beforehand, and knowing it all He says, “The lines are fallen to Me in pleasant places; yea, I have a goodly heritage” (Psa. 16:6).

As to ourselves, it is somewhat on the same principle that the apostle says in 2 Corinthians, he “speaks as a fool,” because the naughtiness of the Corinthians compelled him to say what he had gone through: “Our light affliction which is but for a moment,” in view of eternity.

Oh, this wondrous victory! the defeat of the great enemy, and what has been done for us!

My strength and song is Jah, and He is become my salvation.: this is my God, and I will glorify Him; my father’s God, and I will extol Him (15:2).

We were noticing it is only just once we get salvation and redemption mentioned in Genesis, or rather the One Who has redeemed. It was in connection with the earthly experience of a saint. Here it is national and typical, but ours is eternal. He is passed through the heavens, crowned with glory and honor, having obtained eternal redemption for us.

Of course this is an inspired song. Some who wish to tie the hands of God, and limit Him in every way, would say this could only be written after Solomon’s temple was built. But Romans 4:17 tells us God can speak of things which are not as though they were, and we are privileged to think God’s thoughts after Him. Here we are getting to know what the results of redemption are.

This book, as we have often said, is the book of redemption; we get the need of redemption first; then in chapters 12-14. redemption accomplished; and now onward we have the results of redemption; and one grand result is that God can dwell among a redeemed people. We do not get that in Genesis, though it covers so much of the world’s history. It says in the Bible I have here, that the end of Genesis was 1689 B.C.; so that would show that the book of Genesis covers somewhat less than 2400 years; and yet you do not get redemption accomplished, nor God dwelling among His people, though they enjoyed a good deal of intimacy with Him.

Enoch had the still future judgment of the living made known to him, as well as the flood. “No prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation,” and very frequently it occurred that there was a partial fulfillment in the near future, and the grand fulfillment goes on to the time of the end. So in Enoch’s case: the flood was near, but his prophecy goes on to what is still future. So here, God would dwell among them. There was a sanctuary built in which were very lovely types of the Lord Jesus, and God dwelt in the tabernacle, and took possession of it, and the people were all encamped round it. Oh, what a lot of precious truth there is for us in it!

We are spoken of collectively in 1 Corinthians as the temple of God; and not only so, but individually our bodies are the temples of the Holy Ghost, both on the ground of redemption. Ephesians says, “In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.” If we always carried with us the sense of that, what manner of persons should we be! What lovely characters if we lived in the power of that precious truth!

Jehovah is a man of war; Jehovah, His name (15:3).

Of course we know God in a sweeter way than this revelation in the Old Testament. Here it is governmental, and as Jehovah, specially to Israel. We have seen that already in Exodus; but we know Him as Father, and worship Him as Father, the God and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ. God kept the best to the last; and we are brought into a circle of blessedness beyond any saints in any previous dispensation: not because we are better, but to put honor on His beloved Son. We are brought in directly eternal redemption is accomplished. And the Lord Jesus is the Jehovah of the Old Testament, while the eternal Son of the Father, the only One capable of fully telling Him out. It is only in the Trinity we get a full revelation of what God is.

So we see here, at the commencement, — we could almost say, at their national birth, — but at any rate, of their national existence, their blessing is always connected with the destruction of their enemies. So when the Lord comes to judge the living, and to put things right, He will come as the Man of war, with many diadems on His holy brow, to destroy the enemies of Israel, as signally as He did here. Then He will put Israel in their proper place, as head instead of tail; and nothing will be right in this world till then.

There is so much talk about the Jews at the present time, and people are wondering what is going to take place. It will be the mandate of England to put them back, and the Jews are rejoicing all over the world. No doubt they think there is going to be a very happy time. But the worst time in all their history is coming. They are called a nation “meted out and trodden under foot” in Isaiah 18:7. Perhaps nothing has happened in the history of the world to equal what they went through in A.D. 70. All these centuries they have been suffering for their rejection of Messiah, but the time of Jacob’s trouble is yet to come. Just as Joseph, who was a type of Christ, treated his brethren to bring them down, and make them realize the hand of God was in it, and they were guilty of their brother’s blood, so they will be brought down. There was that appeal by Judah then, and it will be Judah, and not the ten tribes, who will make the confession by and by.

I do not want ourselves to be deceived. The Lord says in Luke 21:24, “Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.” This word shows the uselessness of the efforts that are being made to put them into their own proper place. Jerusalem must be trodden down till the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled; those times began with Nebuchadnezzar, and will go on till the Stone cut out without hands falls. We could turn to many scriptures to confirm that.

Do not be deceived. Whatever appearance may be, they have a worse time to come than they have ever had. I daresay a variety of things will combine to make them go back, but the great mass that go back will be unbelievers, and only a remnant will meet the mind of God at all. But there will be a remnant as Isaiah 1 shows us. I knew when I commenced that it would be going away from the subject, but I thought it well to do so.

There has got to be a revised Roman empire, a League of Nations; no doubt the world is being educated for it. From Daniel’s day God has shown it. There will be a Roman emperor called the beast, and ten kings (England will be one of them, a vassal state to the Emperor of Rome). The beast will make a compact with those gathered back at Jerusalem to protect them seven years. It does not say he makes the league with Antichrist, but with the “many,” the mass. He is a bitter persecutor of those true to the Lord at the same time: that is brought out in Daniel. So in the midst of the week of seven years he breaks the covenant, and sets up idolatry. They will not be permitted to go on with their Jewish worship. The man of sin will set himself as God in the temple, and demand their worship.

That is also the great tribulation, the time of Jacob’s trouble, and coincides with the seventieth week of Daniel. The Lord says, “When ye shall see the abomination of desolation ... stand in the holy place, then... flee,” and many of them will flee away and escape, obedient to the Lord’s word, from the tribulation of that awful time. Many who stay will be slain, but many will be miraculously preserved. In spite of the animosity of Rome and of their own king, they will be brought through all the fiery trials of that day, like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego (who are a type of them), were brought through the fiery furnace.

After that compact is made, Antichrist makes his appearance, of whom the Lord says in John 5:43, “If another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive,” the devil’s great masterpiece, who heads up the mystery of iniquity. Many confound him with the one who reigns at Rome, who represents the great persecuting power of the world; but Antichrist will be the great religious leader in league with him. He must be a Jew for them to receive him as their Messiah; and Daniel shows this, speaking of the God of his fathers (Dan. 11:37).

The day is coming, and it is not far distant, when there will be a righteous war, and the Lord will come to destroy His enemies. You and I will be in that war, for the armies of heaven will come with Him to share in His triumph.

When we are in heaven in our glorified state, we shall be interested in the saints of God left here. For in Revelation 5 the saints have golden bowls, probably censers, filled with odors, which are the prayers of saints, of those going through such fearful trial on the earth. So we shall be interested in them: Christ will be interested in them: the glorified saints will be interested in them; and when we come with Him it will be to deal with their enemies. As far as the earthly people are concerned, we can understand how necessary it will be to have them dealt with; but as far as we are concerned, we shall be taken right up away from them, and they all left behind.

We have taken all these verses in the early part of this chapter in a general way, but there are a few points it would be well to look at before we pass on.

We have noticed we do not get redemption and salvation in connection with the Passover, though in one way the truth about the blood there is deeper than the truth we get here. A believer may get the knowledge of the forgiveness of his sins, and get no further, and that is not a happy experience. But here we have the Lord taking our place in death and judgment. Man was warned thoroughly before he fell that “the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die”; then, afterward, judgment was added “as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment.” So here it is brought out in type that the Lord has taken our place in death and judgment, that we through His wondrous grace might have His place in life and righteousness, in resurrection. That is a great advance; it is a very blessed thing in the history of a soul to realize that Jesus has fully answered for them, and that in Him they are beyond the power of sin and death. That is how we get the blessing of a purged conscience, no more conscience of sins, a thing entirely settled by the Lord Jesus Christ, and perfectly according to the mind of God; so that no sin can ever be charged against the believer as guilt. If a believer sin we have the teaching of the word. It does not touch his standing, but it interferes with his communion, and hinders his joy; therefore he needs his feet washed, and that which hinders his communion put away.

God’s people are being brought through the wilderness in Hebrews, and there priesthood has a very prominent place. Priesthood does not restore the failing; a priest is to help us, to prevent us from falling, to maintain us; if we sin we need advocacy, and that we do not have in Hebrews, but in the first Epistle of John. We need both. There is the provision God has made for us while in a place of possible failure, a throne of grace, that we may not simply ask, but obtain mercy; and not seek, but find grace to help in time of need; and also the Person of Christ living for us. His sympathy is living and real: He has been down here, and has

“Fully tried, and tasted

Its bitterness and woe.”

and He has not forgotten one lesson He learned here below. His heart is tender toward His own; His eye is never withdrawn from the righteous, and He is ever ready to give us His succor. We get the benefit of His loving sympathy and His succor. We are all tried; the wilderness is the place of trial. It is a place of human destitution and heavenly supply, where you must be supplied from above with all you need. That which we all need is more grace, and God is able to make all grace to abound.

It is important to be quite clear as to this. If there is any question as to our sin, if we say, “I have been a great sinner, and God has forgiven all my sins up to this point, and now I must walk carefully,” that is not knowing salvation. Oh, it is a great thing to know salvation! It does not simply mean forgiveness of sins. We have pointed out on more than one occasion the case of Cornelius, where we have a good deal of light about it. There is a man who has turned to God, and values grace, and knows his prayers and his alms come up acceptably to Him, yet needs to be saved. That shows how far beyond forgiveness salvation is.

Those on the resurrection side of the Red Sea say, “I will prepare Him a habitation,” that is, wherein He must be worshipped. Worship was due to Him. I do not know if I have mentioned it before, but there is something very interesting about that word “habitation.” In Ephesians 2 The saints are told, “In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.” What a wonderful place that the saints should be God’s habitation through the Spirit! Now the word used for habitation there is only used in one other place (Rev. 18:2), — where Babylon, the false church, is become “a habitation of devils.” It is very striking the Holy Spirit should only use it twice; once, where we get the highest thought of God for His saints in Christ, and then to describe what the false church has become, — a habitation of demons; — a tremendous contrast! You get Babylon and the bride contrasted in many ways, but that would arrest the attention of anyone who had it pointed out to him.

We noticed the destruction of Israel’s enemies is always connected with their blessing. We see it in the song of Zacharias (Luke 1:71). So by and by, when the Lord comes in righteousness to judge and make war, it will be to deal with Israel’s enemies. We shall be with Him then. Of course we get the complete overthrow of Pharaoh, who doubtless is a type of Satan, here. No doubt there are practical lessons as well. All go to show the Lord had triumphed gloriously. But there is a word worthy of notice in connection with this (Psa. 20:7, 8). Chariots are a human device, and horses the resources of nature, but Israel are more than conquerors.

One truth brought out is that as Pharaoh’s hosts were overthrown, so one not sheltered by the blood, attempting to meet death and judgment in his own strength, is bound to be destroyed. Tens of thousands in the land think orthodoxy is enough; but if they do not know what it is to be sheltered by the precious blood, they are bound to be destroyed if they meet death in their own strength. So in that way the Passover is more important than the passage of the Red Sea.

The enemy pursued them right up to the Red Sea, to that which typified death and judgment, intending to repossess them (vs. 9, margin). There is the difference; in ch. 12 God is the Judge, and while passing over, still Judge; but at the Red Sea God is for them, and “If God be for us who can be against us?”

Thy right hand, Jehovah, is become glorious in power: Thy right hand, Jehovah, hath dashed in pieces the enemy (15:6).

That power is exercised on behalf of His saints, and deals destruction to their enemies; and in this respect Psalms 20. may be compared with Psalms 21, which is an answer to Psalms 20, about Messiah. “He will hear Him from His holy heaven with the saving strength of His right hand” (Psa. 20:6). That hand is exercised on behalf of the speaker there. Then in Psalms 21:8, “Thy right hand shall find out those that hate Thee.” The Right Hand that becomes glorious in power is used in blessing for the saints, and in the destruction of their enemy.

Who is like unto Thee, Jehovah, among the gods? who is like unto Thee, glorifying Thyself in holiness, fearful [in] praises, doing wonders? (15:11).

What a remarkable thing, that throughout Genesis, taking up so many years of the world’s history, and in so varied a way, we do not get holiness. The nearest approach is that “God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it.’ But now, in the book that brings out redemption, God’s holiness has great prominence.

Directly God began to speak to the one He intended should be the deliverer, He says, “Put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground.” Here it has great prominence in that which typifies the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus. He is “declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by resurrection of the dead,” of dead persons; for instance, Lazarus, a proof He was the Son of God. So holiness comes out; it must be so: there never has been such an expression of holiness as the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. The eternal judgment of the wicked will not be such an expression of holiness as the cross.

“Revered in praises”: He ought to be praised reverently.

Thou stretchedst out Thy right hand, the earth swallowed them (15:12).

This may present a difficulty to some. They were drowned in the sea. Jonah says, “I went down to the bottom of the mountains; the earth with her bars was about me Forever”; so it is quite in keeping.

Thou by Thy mercy hast led forth the people that Thou hast redeemed; Thou hast guided them by Thy strength unto the abode of Thy holiness (15:13).

They were brought to God; and you and I are brought to God, and at such a cost! Christ suffered for sins once; He was the Sin-bearer only on the cross, not to the cross, which is dishonoring to Him, and unscriptural. He “once suffered for sins, the Just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God”; and so we are reminded what it cost the blessed Person of the Son of God to bring us to God. Oh, that there was a deeper sense of our indebtedness to Him in our souls!

In verse 13 we get “redeemed”; in verse 16 “purchased.” The same power that brought them through the Red Sea would bring them through the Jordan. “The exceeding greatness of His power to usward who believed, according to the working of His mighty power which He wrought in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead and set Him at His own right hand”; what wonderful power, and exercised on our behalf (Eph. 1:19, 20).

It is well to notice the difference between redemption and purchase, an accuracy we could not find in any human composition. These people are redeemed and purchased: so are we.

But every person is purchased. The believer is redeemed also. He knows he is purchased, and ought to act upon it. The unbeliever does not know it. In Matthew 13. you find that the field is the world, and one buys the field. So everyone is bought, purchased; and hence it is said, “Denying the Lord that bought them”; but you never get, “Denying the Lord that redeemed them.” If redeemed, I get a different status; I am the Lord’s free-man. When purchased, I get a new master. “Ye are bought with a price; wherefore glorify God in your body.” That ought to be the result if we know that we are bought. But then, if redeemed, Satan has not the slightest claim on us. “If the Son make you free, ye shall be free indeed.” “Redeemed... with the precious blood of Christ.”

At the Passover, God is Judge; here in this chapter He is the Saviour, and He is for them; He is the great Deliverer.

There is another thought in connection with redemption; it is in mercy (vs. 13). That exactly fits in with Titus 3:5 “According to His mercy He saved us.” Mercy is God dealing with souls in the direct opposite way from what they deserve. We should connect what we have in this chapter with Psalms 136:13-15. We should not know that Pharaoh was destroyed except by that Psalm.

But God brings them out to bring them in. They are completely separated from Egypt now. And this is just the place God intended to bring them to, a three-days’ journey in the wilderness. Typically that is where they are brought, and we too. We are on the glory-side of the grave of Christ; we have the next best thing to the glory now, rejoicing in hope of it. The world is on the other side of the cross. So there is the cross and the grave between us and the world. It is a blessed thing to have the mind of the Lord, but if it has no practical result it is exceedingly sad.

One looks back to the dark Middle Ages, and sees then something very dreadful mixed up with that which bore the Lord’s name. But the Lord did not spue it out of His mouth. But now there is so much truth recovered to the whole church of God; so much truth and no practical result; and it is that which is obnoxious to Him—Laodicea. At the Reformation the word of God was recovered, so the Lord speaks more solemnly to Sardis, which describes Protestantism, than to Thyatira, which represents the Romish Church.

So He Who takes them out of Egypt, and separates them from it, brings them in; and at the commencement of the wilderness they can say, “Thou shalt bring them in, and plant them in the mountain of Thine inheritance” (vs. 17).

In verse 7. it says, “Thou sentest forth Thy wrath, which consumed them as stubble.” That will be always the case with those who oppose God. Wrath will be their portion. It is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness now. Romans 1:18 shows us that.

It is just as well for us for a moment to think of 1 Thessalonians 1:10 in connection with that. In Romans 1:17 it says, “Therein is the righteousness of God revealed on the principle of faith to faith... for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven.” Then in 1 Thessalonians 1:10 they are converted, “To wait for His Son from heaven, Whom He raised from the dead, even Jesus which delivered us from the wrath to come.” It makes us think of those lines of dear old John Newton:

“What think ye of Christ? is the test

To try both your state and your scheme;

Ye cannot be bright in the rest

Unless you think rightly of Him.

As Jesus appears in your view,

As He is beloved or not,

So God is disposed toward you,

And mercy or wrath is your lot.

Mercy brings salvation; or wrath to come is the portion of the impenitent; there is no escape. These poor wretched idolaters at Thessalonica, when they heard the gospel (it came to them in power and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance), received it “not as the word of man, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe”; and it had the effect of delivering them. So those who have not Jesus as their Saviour will find it. But not a drop of wrath can ever touch a child of God. The Lord Jesus had it all.

Do we appreciate the blessing of believing the word of God? It is an unspeakable blessing to have God-given faith in the plenary inspiration of the word of God. As one reads it prayerfully in the presence of God, one realizes it is full of wonders. It prepares us for what is around. The apostacy must come, an entire giving up. I cannot understand Christians except they are on the tiptoe of expectation of the coming of the Lord. When He takes His own away, the shell of nominal Christianity will be left; churches and chapels will be here still; but with the life gone; corruption will be very rapid.

And we ought to put Christians right who are thinking the Jews are now going back to their land for a happy time. They are going back for the worst time they have ever had. Whenever we get a quotation from the Old Testament in the New, there is always something additional. Daniel says “a time of trouble such as never was”; but the Lord adds, nor shall be.” While they will be owned nationally, and have their own king, the Lord has told us Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles till the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled. Their real exaltation awaits the coming of the true Messiah. Then they will be lifted up; and it is impossible for things in this world to be right till Israel have their right place, when Messiah reigns gloriously, and Jerusalem shall be the metropolis of the whole earth.

Luke 18. is connected with the previous chapter, which tells us of the days of Lot and Noah, and the Lord goes on to tell of the widow who prays to be delivered from her adversaries. The Jews will be quite right to ask for God’s judgment on their enemies, as right as Stephen was when he prayed, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge.” But it will be quite right for the Jews by and by to cry for vengeance: if you do not see that, you cannot read the Psalms to profit. “Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall He find faith on the earth?” The remnant will be so greatly tried; it will be so distressful that if the days were not shortened, no flesh should be saved, and they will have given up faith as to God’s interference, crying, “O that Thou wouldest rend the heavens”; and like Peter, just going to sink when the Lord puts forth His hand.

In Matthew 14. we have a wonderful picture of the closing days; a wicked king in the land, a wicked woman with the blood of God’s servant, a remnant miraculously fed, and then toiling in great tribulation, and a testifying remnant. And when you get that remnant rescued, they say, Surely Thou art the Son of God.” It brings out a lot of precious dispensational teaching.

The number of types of the Lord Jesus that we get in this part of Exodus is very striking; and we are not left to surmise about some of them, but they are made plain to us in the New Testament, as for instance, Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us “that takes us to the cross. Again,” they drank of that spiritual rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ.” So we get Christ in the Passover, and Christ at the Red Sea, and Christ in that lovely song we have looked at in several ways; and in the latter part of this chapter the tree cut down tells of Christ. In the next chapter the manna tells of Christ, as we have Him in the Gospels; and the Sabbath is introduced in connection with the One in Whom God found His rest. Then in the following chapter Joshua, Moses, Aaron, and Hur all tell of Christ.

They had commenced their wilderness journey, and it was a lovely commencement, their hearts tuned to praise God. It is our privilege to be praising the Lord always, “Whoso offereth praise glorifieth Me,” and the Lord has given us occasion to praise Him continually.

“Streams of mercy never ceasing

Call for ceaseless songs of praise.

When the Lord was taking them through the wilderness in Numbers, they were not allowed to exercise their own wills at all, but had to be subject to Him Who had undertaken not only to bring them out, but to bring them in. The wilderness was no part of His purpose. His purpose was to bring them in; but the wilderness is where He trains His people. And it is blessed when we can “leave it to Himself to choose and to command.” When the cloud rested, they had to rest; if it moved, they had to move; their wills did not come into it at all. And He arranged how they had to march; and the one who took the lead was Judah. Judah means “praise”; and our chief characteristic should be praise. There has been One here Who always praised God. Even when surveying the effects of His ministry in Galilee, when He had to express the woes of those favored cities where most of His mighty works were done and say of Capernaum, where He dwelt, and which had thus been “exalted to heaven,” that it should be thrust down to hell, even then He rejoiced in spirit, and said, “I thank Thee, O Father.” I have no doubt this was the fulfilment of Isaiah 49:4, where we find Messiah speaking, and we get the fulfillment of it in Matthew and Luke.

Well, they commenced singing praises to God. Their hearts were stirred. It was a complete salvation. The lamb had its place, and perhaps there is that which is deeper in that than what was found at the Red Sea, the foundation of everything for time and for eternity; but it was not salvation, the conscious knowledge in the soul of being delivered. You cannot have salvation and not be conscious of it, though you may be perfectly safe.

Now they step from the resurrection shore of the Red Sea into the wilderness, and go three days’ journey. The wilderness is the place of human destitution and heavenly supply; they had no resources except in God. They were taken out of the world, and shut up to Him. We might turn to Deuteronomy 8:2-4 for a moment. Here we get God’s object in taking them into the wilderness. So we need it. It is a necessary experience for us. We see in Romans 5. we are not in the glory yet, but we have the next best thing, we rejoice in hope of it, and it is a hope that maketh not ashamed. But we also glory in tribulations, knowing that “tribulation worketh patience, and patience experience,” experience of what we are in all our weakness, and of what God is in all His power and goodness. It is a blessed thing.

“Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God” shows the importance of the scriptures God has inspired from Genesis to Revelation. “All scripture is inspired of God and profitable,” &c. (2 Tim. 3:16, 17). It is a comfort to us that the Lord Jesus, as a dependent Man here below, perfect in dependence and perfect in obedience, is the One Who found comfort and strength in that scripture, and used it too in dealing with the devil. The Lord overcame him by dependence and obedience; and when we are dependent and obedient the devil cannot touch us. I am not an advocate of sinless perfection, but I know the truth we have been taught by this portion of God’s word. We have deliverance from the power of sin, but have not yet deliverance from its presence. There is all the difference between the man in the seventh of Romans, and the man in the eighth. The man in Romans 7. has life, but is constantly being defeated: the evil is stronger than the good in him; but Romans 8. is Christian experience.

And Moses brought Israel from the Red Sea; and they went out into the wilderness of Shur; and they went three days in the wilderness, and found no water (15:22).

Here then there is the wilderness, and Jehovah is guiding them. Their experience is stated to us without any comment as to what they ought or ought not to have done. When they came to Marah they had been three days without water, and the burning desert sands all round them; and Marah promised to give them relief; but they could not drink the water; it was bitter and brackish. So their song was turned into murmuring, and we see how wrong that was in 1 Corinthians10:10, the comment of the Holy Spirit. There is a hymn which says,

“Forever on Thy burdened heart

A weight of sorrow hung;

But no ungentle, murmuring word

Escaped Thy silent tongue.

What a blessed thing! There never ought to be murmuring on ours. “Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which ye are called in one body,”— the common privilege of each dear saint, “and be ye thankful” (Col. 3:15). May that characterize us!

And the people murmured against Moses, saying, What shall we drink? (15:24).

Of course it was themselves and their cattle; I have no doubt the lesson for us here is one that everyone of us ought to know experimentally. The waters of death applied to their enemies at the Red Sea caused a song of praise; but applied to themselves had another tale. They were not sweet, but bitter; and did not cause them to sing, but to murmur. As to death, it is surprising what thoughts Christians have about it. It is exceedingly solemn, for “the wages of sin is death”; but the Lord Jesus, Himself the unchanging One, has changed everything for the believing one. So we can adopt the language of 1 Corinthians 15, and say, “O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? Thanks be to God which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” It was a bitter thing to us once, the king of terrors; now it is a friend; it belongs to us. It is “yours,” the apostle wrote to the Corinthians. Everything was theirs, for they were Christ’s, and Christ is God’s. And again in Romans 8, “neither life,”— if we live to be as old as Methuselah, — “could separate us from the love of God”; nor death, if it came the next moment.

The apostle knew it was a high privilege to live Christ, yet “to die is gain.” If you test Christians you find many have not learned that lesson.

And he cried to Jehovah; and Jehovah spewed him wood, and he cast it into the waters, and the waters became sweet. There He made for them a statute and an ordinance; and there He tested them (15:25).

Here we have a tree, and a tree cut down, Christ in death. “His life is taken from the earth.” A beautiful type of Him Who suffered death for us and took its sting away, and completely altered its character, so that instead of being bitter it becomes sweet. Marah means “bitter.” Naomi said, “Call me not Naomi (pleasant), call me Marah.”

Well then, the question arose, “What shall we drink?” and Moses cried to the Lord. They would have been better employed if they had done that instead of murmuring. We referred just now to 1 Corinthians 10:10, but their murmuring then was under law; now they are under grace. The law had not at this time been proposed to them, and they had not accepted it. The Lord does not punish them nor chasten them.

Oh, how blessed! What a portion we have in the blessed Son of God, our own personal Saviour I Whatever the circumstances, there is always something in Him to meet them. “The life which I live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God,” there are all resources in Him. All that boundless love could give is given us in Christ. Oh, how blessed!

Yes, He is the One that went down under the waters of death when He suffered atoningly for us, and He changes everything for us.

And He said, If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of Jehovah thy God, and do what is right in His eyes, and incline thine ears to His commandments, and keep all His statutes, I will put none of the complaints upon thee that I have put upon the Egyptians; for I am Jehovah Who healeth thee (15:26).

That is one of His titles. We find Jehovah our peace, Jehovah our righteousness; here, Jehovah our Healer. In connection with Jehovah we get several of God’s titles. It is well to notice it is not the language of the law. We know the path of obedience is the path of blessing, and there is no real blessing apart from holiness.

I was thinking of the Bethesda porches in John 5, and how Israel had failed. In its opening verses we find a sickly company, the evidence of their disobedience to Him Who loved and blessed them; yet Jehovah their Healer came to them there.

And they came to Elim; and twelve springs of water were there, and seventy palm trees; and they encamped there by the waters (15:27).

Of course in the wilderness we necessarily get varied experiences. God knows what to choose for us, and will not lay on us more than we are able to bear; so after having a Marah experience they are brought to Elim.

Here, I take it, we get a gracious provision of God in ministry for those who are strangers and pilgrims. In hymns the order generally is “pilgrims and strangers,” but in God’s word “strangers and pilgrims”; we are made strangers first, and then pilgrims, journeying to a better land.

In the Lord’s own ordering, from among His disciples He chose twelve that they might be with Him, and that He might send them forth to preach; they first were to receive, and then were sent forth. Then in Luke 10. we get the seventy sent out to preach, and to heal all manner of diseases; and oh, what a blessing each one of us may be to others!

In connection with this, it is well for us to remember what the Lord said at the Feast of Tabernacles, “If any man thirst, let him come unto Me and drink,” we must be receivers first; then “from within him shall flow out rivers of living water.” What an encouragement to receive from Him and then use it for His glory!

Of course I quoted from John 7, and these next two chapters correspond with John 6. and 7. In the one they thought they were going to die of hunger; and in the other of thirst.

Chapter 16.

And they journeyed from Elim, and the whole assembly of the children of Israel came into the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after their departure out of the land of Egypt (16:1).

This chapter is full of very blessed truth for us. They moved on from Elim; it was not their eternal rest. We cannot find rest here; it does not belong to a Christian here.

“Base the wish, and vain the endeavor

Here on earth to find our rest.”

The millennium is the day of rest to the world; and all the great politicians and philanthropists, and others, would like to have a rest in this world for the human race. One of the worst sins of Christendom is the desire to have a millennium, a rest for the human race, without the personal presence of the Son of God. We know the One Who will bring in that wonderful time of rest; and we love His appearing.

“He’ll give these bodies vile

A fashion like His own;

He’ll bid the whole creation smile,

And hush its groan.

But it will require His personal presence. You can never have a time of rest and blessing here with the devil at large, and no amount of preaching will put him in the prison house. While the Lord was on the Mount of Transfiguration the disciples could not cast the devil out.

And the children of Israel said to them, Would that we had died by the hand of Jehovah in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the flesh-pots, when we ate bread to the full; for ye have brought us out into this wilderness, to kill this whole congregation with hunger! (16:3).

This was something very terrible on their part; it amounted to blasphemy; yet they would make it appear they were very pious. What they were saying was thorough rebellion, that which is common to every human mind. What a need for God to keep us! Only those are well kept whom He keeps.

There is one thought I should like to impress on you, that is, all their failure and all their murmurings just furnished God with fresh material to display still further grace. Oh His grace is Marvelous! It rose superior to all their sin. Of course, in its fullest expression it is seen at the cross. Jethro says, “In the thing wherein they dealt proudly He was above them,” and the New Testament says, “Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound” (Ex. 18:11; Rom. 5:20).

Ah, they had forgotten all about their groans, their ill treatment, their fearful suffering, there is no mention of that. As I read to you in Deuteronomy 8, God proved them that they should learn all that was in their heart.

Then said Jehovah to Moses, Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather the daily need on its day, that I may prove them, whether they will walk in My law, or not (16:4).

There is provision for the wilderness. They had the manna constantly after this. It did not cease until they got into the land.

And it shall come to pass on the sixth day, that they shall prepare what they have brought in; and it shall be twice as much as they shall gather daily (16:5).

It does not mention the sabbath there, but the seventh day was the sabbath. God prepared the earth as the dwelling-place for man in six days (He had created it ages before), but on the seventh day He rested and hallowed it. We do not get holiness mentioned, except there, right through Genesis; but as soon as redemption is accomplished it has great prominence.

We do not get the sabbath mentioned until this chapter, 2500 years (about) after the fall; and we find it in connection with the giving of the manna, God telling you and me there was no rest for Him apart from the Lord Jesus Christ. He said in John 5, “My Father worketh hitherto, and I work.” He could not rest in a place of sin because of His holiness; He could not rest in a place of misery because of His love. But we find the Holy Ghost coming down and resting on the Lord Jesus, and the Father saying, “This is My beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased,” the One in Whom God can rest, the Antitype of the manna coming down.

The folly of the higher critics comes out in a very striking way in connection with this, and proves their utter blindness. They confound this with Numbers 11, which was more than twelve months after, and make out they are two accounts of the same thing; they fail to see this is the section of Exodus where God is dealing in perfect grace, and that there is an immense difference when they are under law, and have to take the consequences of their murmuring. God is able to take the wise in their own craftiness. “If any man will do His will [not is a great student], he shall know of the doctrine,” and if we want to know more and more of the mind of the Lord, we must do His will.

Here He takes notice of their murmurings, but there is no plague for them as in Numbers 11 We are not under law, but under grace, and are in His hands for good, not for wrath. There is not a drop of wrath for us. Christ has exhausted it all. The love remains, and that love is better than all the glory, and is our portion now and forever.

As we think of the manna, a specially lovely type of the Lord Jesus, it is well for us to weigh each word. In Philippians 2. we are told the Lord emptied Himself, and laid aside His glory, not His deity. We are distinctly told, “In Him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily,” even in the manger. But as God, He emptied Himself, and as Man He humbled Himself; and here is the lowly One. “I am meek and lowly in heart.” We have Him to feed upon in our wilderness journey, the proper wilderness food. We begin at the cross, as the children of Israel began with the Passover, and then were led into the wilderness to feed on the manna; and then in Canaan (type of the heavenly places), on the old corn of the land. They still have the Passover, but the manna ceases. So that is the food for the heavenly places, but this for the wilderness.

“A small round thing”; surely this would tell of the One despised, rejected, made nothing of here. The Lord has taken the lowest place here. But there is not an idle word in scripture. It was also round, spherical. So all the heavenly bodies are, and it tells us of the Heavenly One; I would also suggest it is emblematic of eternity, no beginning and no end. And though here in lowly grace, He is the Eternal One.

“Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness and are dead. This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof and not die” (John 6:58). There it is made very plain for us and simple, showing us the manna, the food of the children of Israel in the wilderness, is a type of the food belonging to us who are strangers and pilgrims on the earth. We often sing wilderness hymns, such as

“The cords that bound my heart to earth

Are loosed by Jesus’ hand;

“Before His cross I now am left

A stranger in the land.

And there is not a single thing here to minister to our new nature, it is all unsatisfying; and if the Lord Jesus, as the true manna, has His right place in our hearts, we shall have no taste for the world. One hymn writer has said,

“This world is a wilderness wide.”

He has made us strangers, not we ourselves; the Lord Himself has said, “They are not of this world even as I am not of the world.” He has taken us out of it, and identified us with Himself forever. So in one sense we are pilgrims journeying toward our heavenly home.

We noticed that if the Lord was here the despised and rejected One, in the type God shows He was the Heavenly and Eternal One also. We have seen, too, that in this part of their history, from the time they were released from Pharaoh’s bondage on to chapter 19, when they left the ground of sovereign grace and entered into a covenant of works, between these two events, — from the Red Sea up to the covenant of works, it is all marvelous grace. God heard their murmurings here, when they thought they would die of starvation and instead of praying they murmured.

And it came to pass, when Aaron spoke to the whole assembly of the children of Israel, that they turned toward the wilderness, and behold, the glory of Jehovah appeared in the cloud (16:10).

If God did not act in grace to them, that was quite enough to fill them with dismay; but their failure just furnished God with material to display still further grace. It is a testimony as to what poor things we are, that they did not value their privileges; if they had, they would never have entered into a covenant of works.

I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel: speak to them, saying, Between the two evenings ye shall eat flesh, and in the morning ye shall be filled with bread; and ye shall know that I am Jehovah your God (16:12).

Their murmurings just brought forth God’s infinite resources which met their need. They had flesh to the full. We were noticing, too, what mistakes the higher critics make by confounding what we have here with what happened twelve months later. You get manna and quails in both, and they jump to the conclusion that the accounts are of the same occurrence by two different writers. One is to show what occurred when God was acting in sovereign grace; the other, what happened when they were under law.

They were dealt with accordingly, though there was a mixture of mercy even then. When they accepted pure law, their failure was almost immediate. Before they got it, they were breaking the commandment by making the golden calf. If you offend in one, you offend in all. It is as if suspended by a chain of ten links; if one breaks, the result is as bad as if all were broken. So you see the effect at the end of Numbers 11. You get nothing like that here. God took notice of their murmuring, but sent the quails and the manna.

And when the dew that lay [round it] was gone up, behold, on the face of the wilderness there was [something] fine, granular, fine as hoar frost, on the ground (16:14).

“When the dew was gone up,” speaks of the Heavenly One uncontaminated by coming in contact with the world. If He was here in lowly grace He was the Holy One of God in Whom all His delight was found. “Small,” telling of His lowly place; “round,” speaking of the Heavenly and Eternal One; and the very mention of the hoar frost would speak of His spotlessness and purity.

And the children of Israel saw [it], and said one to another, What is it? for they did not know what it was. And Moses said to them, This is the bread which Jehovah has given you to eat (16:15).

There is a difference of opinion about the real significance of the word “manna.” Most think it means, “What is it?” and, if so, it might have reference to the inscrutability of the Person of Christ. “No man knoweth Who the Son is but the Father”; and when it is a question of judgment, He has a name written which no man knew but He Himself, and His name is called The Word of God, God displayed in grace or judgment.

So Moses said, “This is the bread which the Lord hath given you to eat.” Many writers, learned men, seek to take out of the word of God everything miraculous. They like to explain away everything miraculous, and they speak of certain trees producing the manna! To any simple soul it seems quite absurd. It ought to be enough for the man of faith: “This is the bread which the Lord hath given you to eat.” It is called angels’ food; — bread from heaven; and the Lord said His Father gave it, not Moses.

This is the thing which Jehovah has commanded: Gather of it every man according to what he can eat, an omer a toll [according to] the number of your persons: ye shall take every man for those that are in his tent (16:16).

I think an omer is about three quarts. The Lord is a bountiful Giver. The language in different parts of the word would show how bountifully He gives. “They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of Thy house; and Thou shalt make them drink of the river of Thy pleasures.” That is the way God gives; He is a bountiful Giver. “My cup runneth over.” I have more than I can appropriate, or use, or take in.

Does not “according to his eating” suggest to us that God gives to everyone of us what we really value of Christ? I think that is pretty clear. He will not keep back anything we really value. God in His grace has given us the blood, and with it the blessing of a purged conscience, and the Person of Christ to feed on. The Passover was eaten, the manna, the old corn, all Christ. What we have in the manna would be what we get in the Gospels, though not confined to them; for we get so many passages in the Old Testament to say what His life would be: but it is the meek and lowly One of Whom the testimony was given, “This is My beloved Son, in Whom I have found My delight.” It was all found in Him. Of course, it is very well to know doctrine, and to be acquainted with the letter of the word; but there is something far beyond that, spiritual feeding on Christ as the One ever doing the will of God. There is that in Him that will meet us in every circumstance we can be in.

And Moses said to them, Let no man leave [any] of it until the morning (16:19).

This is something we cannot hoard. There is such a disposition in the heart of man to hoard; but you cannot hoard the manna. “Give us this day our daily bread” was the prayer of the disciples; and we need to feed on the manna afresh every day. If Christ is to be reproduced in us, we should see what God thinks of Him.

But they did not hearken to Moses; and some men left of it until the morning; then worms bred in it, and it stank. And Moses was wroth with them (16:20).

God was testing them, to prove all that was in their hearts. We referred to Deuteronomy 8. about it. That was one object God had in taking them through the wilderness. What we gather up, — while it is right to gather, prayerfully gather, every day, — let us use; for if we do not use it, it will be injurious; it will breed worms and stink. I take it, if we feed on manna daily it will keep us lowly. I do not wish to lead anyone to think of their lowliness; true humility is self-forgetfulness, good self and bad self; so that we are free to be occupied with the Lord Himself.

And they gathered it every morning, every man as much as lie could eat; and when the sun became hot, it melted (16:21).

There is something very searching in this word to us, leading us to think of our shortcomings in not valuing our privileges as we ought to have done. It is a happy thing when the feeding of the soul is more than the feeding of the body. This world is taken up with, “What shall we eat and what shall we drink?” but we have Christ as the manna, the food for our souls.

As far as God’s supply went, they never had it stale. They had it every day over forty years, that large host of over two millions.

And it came to pass on the sixth day, that they gathered twice as much bread, two oilers for one; and all the princes of the assembly came and told Moses (16:22).

This is very important. The Lord gave twice as much. That was by arrangement, His provision for them. The Sabbath was a real thing: a day of rest. The Lord prepared this world as the place for man to live in in six days, and on the seventh He rested. If the manna is a type of Christ, so is the Sabbath. There is no rest apart from Christ. And further, it is a type of the millennial reign of the Lord Jesus, when the whole creation shall be brought into the liberty of the glory (not of grace; you get that in the Epistles) of the manifestation of the children of God.

In the Old Testament, that blessed day of rest is always connected with Israel having their proper place, because they are the center of God’s government here; but in the New Testament it is associated with our heavenly position. There is no rest till we get there. The least observant ought to be able to see there is no mention of the Sabbath for 2500 years, and sin had broken out. When the Jews accused the Lord because He had cured a man at the pool of Bethesda, the Lord had to tell them, “My Father worketh hitherto, and I work.” Neither Father nor Son could rest; Their love could not rest in a scene of misery, nor Their holiness in a scene of corruption. It was impossible.

There are many other lessons connected with the Sabbath in the Lord’s ministry. If everything is put under His feet, He is Lord of the Sabbath; so He had a right to do as He pleased on the Sabbath. We do not get anything about the Sabbath after it had been spoiled by sin till our chapter. The truth of it comes out very sweetly at the baptism of the Lord Jesus. He was the One sanctified and sent into the world (His own words), set apart in heaven to come down here to be the Saviour of the world. And in the right path, doing the right thing in His baptism, He was identifying Himself with the repentant remnant; and was baptized to identify Himself with them, the excellent of the earth, according to Psalms 16 Then the voice came from heaven, “This is My beloved Son”; and the Holy Ghost came down in a bodily shape like a dove, and rested on Him. There was God’s rest, the Bread sent down, and the Holy Ghost resting on Him.

So we see the reason why the Sabbath is mentioned in this chapter in connection with the manna; God is telling us He could rest in the Person of Christ; and in this same book of Exodus it is brought out typically that He could rest in the work of Christ; here it is in His Person.

When in the path of obedience we are always right; it is the path of blessing. So if they gathered twice as much on Friday there was no breeding of worms then. It was different when that happened: they were wanting to hoard it.

And he said to them, This is what Jehovah has said: Tomorrow is the rest, the holy Sabbath, of Jehovah: bake what ye will bake, and cook what ye will cook; and lay up for yourselves all that remains over, to be kept for the morning (16:23).

God had no rest apart from holiness. There was nothing now about not lighting fires. Although they were disobedient, and some went out to gather it no punishment happened; but afterward, if a man went out to gather sticks on the sabbath, he was stoned to death.

The manna did not stink, neither was there any worm therein, because they were obedient to God’s word. Not one; not a single worm in it.

And Moses said, Eat it to-day; for to-day is sabbath to Jehovah: to-day ye shall not find it in the field (16:25).

Now it is right for us to see we are not in the dispensation when we are called to keep the sabbath holy. Every Friday is a sabbath to the Christian, every day is a day of rest, spiritually. “Take My yoke upon you and learn of Me, and ye shall find rest unto your souls.” That is not the rest He gives. Rest of conscience He gives; but rest of soul in an evil world we have to find.

But the day of such importance to us, who are new creatures in a new creation, is the first day of the week, once and only once (but that is quite sufficient) called “the Lord’s day” (Rev. 1).

Kept away in Patmos from the hallowed associations of that day, yet John was in “the Spirit on the Lord’s day.” It was the day when the disciples, the Spirit-taught disciples, —” came together to break bread” (Acts 20:7). The Lord had said, “Do this in remembrance of Me,” and we have reason to believe that at first they did it every day; but afterward they came together on the first day of the week “to break bread,” not to hear a sermon, and have the breaking of bread put in a corner; but “to break bread.” That is why we come together. The word “Lord” in Revelation 1:10 is the same as is used for the Lord’s supper (1 Cor. 11:20), thus linking the day and the supper together. When it says “Lord’s table” it is a different word.

And it came to pass, on the seventh day, that there went out [some] from the people to gather [it], and they found none (16:27).

It only shows how perverse human nature is; and what we read in this chapter ought to make us feel how necessary it is for the Lord to keep us. We have the same propensities as they had. It is only as we are kept we go right. Peter thought he would lay down his life for the Lord, yet quailed before a girl; but after wards he was used to write, “Who are kept by the power of God.” Ah, that is what we need from beginning to end. We cannot keep our own hearts and minds, but we are let into the secret of how His grace would surpass our failure in Philippians 4.

These people went out to gather, in spite of what they had heard. The man who gathered sticks, when under the law, was stoned to death by God’s instruction: there was a great difference here. The Lord is proving them; testing them.

And Jehovah said to Moses, How long do ye refuse to keep My commandments and My laws? (16:28).

They were not under the covenant of works yet, or the Lord would have dealt with them very differently. As a day of rest, it was a very blessed privilege to have the sabbath. As to the Lord’s day, we have not the same restrictions as the Jews had on the sabbath. If a brother wanted to go twenty miles to preach the gospel it might be pleasing to the Lord. And it is a blessed thing to be free from worldly things, to have communion with saints, and to preach the gospel.

And the house of Israel called its name Manna; and it was like coriander-seed, white; and the taste of it was like cake with honey (16:31).

Coriander-seed is found largely in Egypt, a small round seed; and I think its likeness here would be its shape; and “white” would speak of the purity of Him of Whom the manna was a type; while the honey would be its sweetness. The Lord make Him so to every one of us!

These people were unbelieving and disobedient, but the Lord did not punish them. We have had to notice in this part of Exodus we get wonderful grace; and it is designedly put that we might contrast it with God’s dealings with them under law. It was a proof that they did not value grace when they accepted law, and God gave it them to test them. If a man went out to gather sticks on the sabbath he was stoned, an evidence of the contrast between law and grace.

The Lord would not have the manna hoarded. If they did so to please themselves it bred worms and stank; but in obeying the Lord on the sixth day it was all right. God would have what we gather up of Christ daily in His precious word used. Perhaps in this provision of food for the sabbath it is quite possible the Holy Spirit had the millennium in view, for that will be the time of rest. Ours is a heavenly portion, and we must not lose sight of that in thinking of the millennium; but the Lord in His life here will be food for their enjoyment during that time of rest.

Now we have to labor; this is not our rest. Those chapters in Hebrews are greatly misunderstood. “We that have believed do enter into rest.” It is not the force at all that we have rest now. A well-known teacher illustrated it thus: We are going to hold meetings in a hall with several entrances, and the day before, we go and look at the building and say, “We enter by that door.” In the same sense “we that believe do enter into rest,” i.e. when the time comes for us to do so. We cannot have rest and labor at the same time. Now it is laboring time.

We have at the present moment rest of conscience; but Hebrews 4. is not the scripture to go to about that. Rest of conscience the Lord gives us: rest of heart we have to find; and it depends, on our part, on taking His yoke and learning of Hun. The Lord had that rest when things wore so gloomy an aspect regarding His Galilean ministry, and that word in Isaiah 49. was fulfilled, “I have labored in vain, and spent My strength for Naught, and in vain”; for even then He says, “Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in Thy sight.” There we see perfect rest in God’s holy will.

The very name “manna” may have reference to the inscrutability of the Person of the Son; —

“The Father only Thy blest name

Of Son, can comprehend.”

As I said, coriander-seed is largely grown in Egypt; and I should think it has reference to its size and shape, and being spherical would speak of the Lord Jesus as the Heavenly One. If we look up to the heavens we see, whether by the naked eye or by a telescope, that all the heavenly bodies are spherical. “The first man is of the earth, earthy; the Second Man is the Lord from heaven.” It speaks of His eternity, without beginning or end. That psalm “From everlasting to everlasting Thou art God” is true of Him; “God over all, blessed for evermore.”

The taste of the manna was as wafers, or, as J.N.D. translates it, “cake” made with honey. If we rightly appreciate the taste of the manna, the Lord Jesus as the Heavenly Man on earth, it will take away our appetite for worldly things. “I sat down under His shadow with great delight, and His fruit was sweet to my taste.” The fruit-bearing tree, there called the apple, is among the trees of the wood as the Beloved among the sons. Both Psalms 19 and 119 testify to the sweetness of God’s word. Of course, if your heart is going after worldly things leeks, onions, and garlic, as in Numbers 11, that which is earthly, and which you have to pull up by the roots to make use of, (in: contrast to the manna which comes down from heaven), you will be in that state of soul that despises the manna, and calls it light bread; an awful condition of soul to get into.

In Exodus you get the Passover first, and then you go back and feed on Him as we find Him given in the Gospels, — Matthew, Mark, and Luke especially.

The quails, given in Numbers, were death to them, for they loathed the “light food” there. We cannot enjoy Christ unless we appropriate His death. That truth is guarded in many ways. What they did not eat of the Passover was burnt; it did not become the food of any not sheltered by the blood. I suppose one root error of Christendom is union with Christ in incarnation.

And Moses said, This is the thing which Jehovah has commanded; Fill an omer of it to be kept for your generations; that they may see the bread that I gave you to eat in the wilderness, when I brought you out of the land of Egypt (16:32).

Here we get typically the hidden manna of Revelation 2. There are all sorts of speculations about this pot, and some say it was an earthen one, but Hebrews 9:4 ought to be sufficient. The One typified by the manna came down in wondrous grace, but went up in divine righteousness (gold). This is the testimony that the manna will be always sweet in heavenly glory, the food of the overcomer. We may be overcoming now, but we are not overcomers until we have finished our journey. Then we get this heavenly food, the hidden Manna. Revelation is the book of the overcomer, the prevailer; for it is the same word in Revelation 5,— “Thou halt prevailed.” He opens the book as the Overcomer.

So having the whole daily portion of one individual preserved here, shows, not only God’s faithfulness, but His bountifulness. What is said to the overcomer in Pergamos is very blessed. That takes in the period when Constantine professed to be a Christian, and Christianity became the religion of the Roman empire. To the overcomer at such a time, one who was not led away by the popular movement, but was content to be little here, and content with Christ, to him “will I give of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving him that receiveth it” (Rev. 2:17). There is something exceedingly blessed in that white stone, infinitely better than being over ten cities, the Lord’s own secret approval. You cannot have anything better than that, a secret overcomer and the Lord Himself.

In Solomon’s reign we get a type of the millennium; and in the ark then there was no Aaron’s rod, nor golden pot. It would not fit in with the type at all. He will no longer be the Hidden One then, but manifested. He will be the King and Priest on His throne; though not according to the Aaronic, but the Melchisedek priesthood. Directly sin is manifested then it will be judged; so the cherubims look outwards. In the tabernacle they looked on the mercy-seat where the blood met the claims of God, showing the sword of justice and the fire of wrath had both done their work, and gave a perfect standing before the throne too.

And Moses said to Aaron, Take a pot, and put in it an omer full of manna, and deposit it before Jehovah, to be kept for your generations (16:33).

A testimony to God’s wondrous grace, and that He was a bountiful Giver Who never failed His people, never could, and never would.

And the children of Israel ate the manna forty years, until they came into an inhabited land; they ate the manna until they came to the borders of the land of Canaan (16:35).

Angels’ food, the food of the mighty, they ate it till they got to Canaan, just over Jordan. They came to Gilgal and ate the old corn of the land, and then the manna ceased. We get all three brought together there, the Passover, the manna, and the old corn; and they are all Christ. In John 6 the Lord is spoken of as the Living Bread, the True Bread, the Bread of God. So “he that cometh to Me shall never hunger, and he that believeth on Me shall never thirst.”

After the Lord had shown He could spread the table for them in the wilderness, they could think He would leave them to die of thirst! They only had to cry to Him instead of complaining to Moses. So the next chapter corresponds with John 7:37. It was contrary to nature to get water from a rock, and it is very blessed that God gives His own interpretation of it. “They drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ.” If chapter 16 gives us His blessed life here as food for faith, chapter xvii gives us His death, and takes us to Calvary, and shows us we owe everything to that God-glorifying death.

Chapter 17

And all the assembly of the children of Israel journeyed from the wilderness of Sin according to their journeys, at the command of Jehovah, and they encamped in Rephidim; and there was no water for the people to drink (17:1).

They are in the wilderness, a place of desolation, of human destitution, shut out from the resources of the world, and dependent on the Lord Jehovah.

And the people contended with Moses, and said, Give us water, that we may drink! And Moses said to them, Why do ye dispute with me? Why do ye tempt Jehovah? (17:2).

Instead of looking to the Lord to supply their need, they murmur. I suppose tempting the Lord was doubting the presence of the Lord in their midst, — casting a doubt on His being with them.

And the people thirsted there for water; and the people murmured against Moses, and said, Why is it that thou hast brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our cattle with thirst? (17:3).

They had lost sight of God altogether, and quite forgotten the giving of the manna. We are told in the Psalms they “limited the Holy One of Israel” (Psa. 78:41).

And Jehovah said to Moses, Go on before the people, and take with thee of the elders of Israel, and thy staff, with which thou didst smite the river, take in thy hand, and go (17:5).

The next time, when Moses was told, nearly at the end of the journey, to speak to the rock (not to strike it; that is never to be repeated), it was Aaron’s rod he ought to have taken; but he took his own, and acted contrary to the mind of God. Oh, there is so much in this chapter!

There never was, and never will be, such a scene of desolation as Golgotha, when the Lord suffered atoningly; when the disciples forsook Him and fled; when He looked for some to take pity, but there was none, and for comforters, but He found none. Everything conspired to make the cross of Christ truly dreadful. At that time, when men did their worst, the Lord suffered atoningly during those three hours of supernatural darkness. The month commenced at the new moon, and the Passover was on the fourteenth day, at the full moon, so you could not have an eclipse. It was supernatural; God veiling His beloved Son when He was drinking that awful cup. It was not that His suffering made Him think that He was forsaken. It was a real thing. “Thou art holy.” It was God forsaking Christ, not the Father forsaking the Son. It was God as the Judge of sin dealing with Christ, and forsaking Him; the only righteous man ever forsaken by God. The Lord noticed that in Psalms 22. “Our fathers trusted in Thee and were delivered, etc.” He went through all the desolation of soul, just what we have in this wilderness experience; and before they could get what they stood in need of, life-giving and refreshing, the rock must be smitten. A hymn says,

“Jehovah lifted up His rod;

O Lord, it fell on Thee;

Thou wast sore smitten of Thy God,

There’s not one stroke for me.”

So the remnant say, “He was wounded for our transgressions; He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon Him, and with His stripes we are healed.”

You cannot understand Isaiah 53 unless you see it is the confession of the remnant, when they find out the great mistake they had made about the Messiah, and confess “we did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.” That word “stricken” generally means with the stroke of leprosy. That had been their estimate, but now they say, “But He was wounded for our transgressions, etc.,” because each individual saint there knows Christ as his Substitute. People take it up and deceive souls, though God is sovereign and can do things we dare not attempt.

Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock on Horeb; and thou shalt strike the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink. And Moses did so before the eyes of the elders of Israel (17:6).

No doubt we have the Holy Spirit there, as explained in John 7. This distinctive blessing which we now have is founded on the death of Christ; but it is given by the glorified Christ, as seen in Acts 2, on account of His atoning sufferings.

And he called the name of the place Massah, and Meribah, because of the contention of the children of Israel, and because they had tempted Jehovah, saying, Is Jehovah among us, or not (17:7).

There is a reference to this scene in Hebrews 3:8, though it is a quotation taken from the Psalms. One word means “temptation”; the other “strife.” That was the temptation— “Is the Lord among us, or not?” There was unbelief as to His presence and power.

As the result of the gift of the Holy Spirit there is conflict. There are a few little things important for us to observe as to this. Every child of God is born again; so were all those gathered round the Lord, except Judas. He says, “Now ye are clean, but not all.” We are born again of the word and of the Spirit, of “water and of the Spirit.” “Clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.”

But then, in addition to that, there is the gift of the Holy Ghost; and those that have the gift are joined to the Lord, and are members of Christ, and form part of the baptized body on earth. The Samaritans had life, and were born again (Acts 8), but they did not form part of the body of Christ commenced at Pentecost, and were not joined to the Lord. They did not get that blessing till Peter and John came down from Jerusalem, and laid their hands on them, and then they were made partakers of the Holy Ghost.

Now the Samaritans are looked at differently to the Gentiles. At first only Jews and proselytes formed part of that body; and not till Acts 10. do we get a company of Gentiles baptized by the Holy Ghost. 1 Corinthians 12:13 says, “By one Spirit are we all baptized into one body.” Now if we turn to Acts 11:15 we find the Holy Ghost “fell on them as on us at the beginning.” The baptism took place at Pentecost, and this is spoken of as the same, the Holy Ghost falling without any human instrumentality. We have not a single scripture to show that it is ever repeated; but we have scriptures that indicate that, on believing a full gospel, God seals us; and when sealed, we form part of that baptized body commenced at Pentecost; and to speak of, or think of a person being sealed with the Holy Ghost and not forming part of that body is preposterous.

There are those who pray to be baptized with the Holy Ghost, but it is a mistake. The baptism of the Holy Ghost is mentioned in the four Gospels, and the baptism with fire in two of them. In Matthew, John says, “Whose fan is in His hand,” &c., and so that Gospel says, “He shall baptize with the Holy Ghost and with fire,”— yet in the future, as Messiah. In Mark, as Servant He baptizes with the Holy Ghost; but it says nothing about fire. Luke presents Him as Son of man, and says fire too, for to the Son of man all judgment is committed; but John leaves fire out, for there He is the life-giving Son of God.

We have looked at the death of the Lord in the smitten rock, and one result of that smiting was that these waters came out of the rock. It is very blessed that God has explained it for us in the New Testament (1 Cor. 10); and we noticed the correspondence of Exodus 16 and 17 with John 6 and 7. In John 7 on “the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst let him come unto Me and drink “; and then it is explained to us that He spoke of the Holy Ghost, “for the Holy Ghost was not yet [given] because that Jesus was not yet glorified.” While it is a result of the death of Christ on the cross, He had to be glorified; so here, in keeping with that as the glorified One, “He hath shed forth this.”

We get on that day, when about a hundred and twenty who were gathered together were baptized into one body, the beginning of the assembly on earth formed by the baptism of the Holy Ghost; to that baptized body three thousand were added, and God “added to the assembly daily such as should be saved”; and to be so added it was necessary to have the Holy Ghost.

Then, as the result of having the Holy Ghost, there is a conflict. Let us see what the New Testament says about it. We get a struggle when a man is born again. There are the two natures as in Romans 7, — a man with life but without power. We have an evil nature; and when we get a new nature we get an obedient nature. We see that at the conversion of the apostle Paul; “Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?” When we have a new nature we want to do God’s will, and so discern we have an evil nature, and that the evil is stronger than the good; and one is brought to that place where he has to cry out, “O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from this dead body?” and then he looks up and sees he has got that need met in the Person of Christ. “I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

Then you see Romans 8. gives us Christian experience, and shows us distinctly, if we have not the Holy Ghost, we do not belong to Christ at all, are “none of His.” If I have the Holy Ghost I have power. There is no doubt as to the issue of the conflict. The Spirit lusteth against the flesh, and the flesh against the Spirit... in order that we may not do the things that we would. The flesh is never changed; it always remains the same: only once it had the place of power; now we are delivered from its dominion, but not yet from its presence.

So the water here from the smitten rock is a figure of the Holy Ghost. Now we see the provision made for the saint who is in the place of possible failure. We must keep the standard high; “that ye sin not.” You may imitate a godly brother, and attain to him; but Christ is God’s standard. We can never be like Him as He was here; we are going to be like Him as He is now. “We shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.” That is clearly made known to us as the purpose of God for His saints. That speaks of conformity to Him. There is a transforming process going on now. When the heart is engaged with Christ that must be so.

And Amalek came and fought with Israel in Rephidim. And Moses said to Joshua, Choose us men, and go out, fight with Amalek; to-morrow I will stand on the 10 of the hill with the staff of God in my hand (17:8, 9).

The “top of the hill” is the place of exaltation, Christ the exalted One in type. In a type we do not get the very image, only the shadow. We may be able to see many points of similarity, but also of contrast; and that is just what we do see here, quite a contrast in some respects.

“With the rod of God in mine hand,” the rod of power. The power of that rod had been witnessed to again and again; it tells us of Him Who could say, “All power is given unto Me in heaven and in earth,” and would speak of the Lord’s wondrous interest in His people down here in their place of need and conflict. He is far more interested in each individual saint than we have any idea of. The Lord said to His disciples, when He spoke to them as the remnant, “The very hairs of your head are all numbered,” He is so wonderful: God is so wonderful; Christ is so wonderful; nothing is beneath His notice: it all brings out His wonderful greatness.

And Joshua did as Moses had said to him, to fight with Amalek; and Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill (17:10). This represents Christ as the glorified One after He had suffered atoningly. A scripture like this would make us think of a hymn that we sing sometimes, —

“Join all the glorious names

Of wisdom, love, and power,

That mortals ever knew,

That angels ever bore;

All are too mean to speak His worth,

Too mean to set the Saviour forth!

The numerous types of Christ we get in this part of God’s word are very striking; the Manna, the Smitten Rock, and now the Exalted One interested in His saints in the place of conflict.

Joshua would always mean the Lord Jesus in the power of the Holy Ghost leading to victory; and although Aaron was not yet made a priest, I should quite think we are warranted in seeing that all four bring Christ before us, — Moses, Aaron, Hur, and Joshua.

Moses is the intercessor there; he is there with uplifted hands for them. The Lord Jesus went away from this world with uplifted hands. He left His blessing with them, and we know from the Epistle to the Hebrews (where we get a people journeying through the wilderness to a time of rest), “He is able to save to the uttermost all that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them”; the all-prevailing Intercessor. In the way the Lord is presented to us in Hebrews, He does not deal with our failings, but is there to save us from failing, from sinning, a merciful and faithful High Priest, in living, loving sympathy; — “tempted in all points like as we are, yet without sin.” He has been here, and has “fully tried and tasted its bitterness and woe”; so “we have not an high priest that cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin”: and more than that, He can succor those that are tried, and is able to save right through the perils of the wilderness. But when it comes to a question of sin, we have to go to John’s Epistle. “If,” not “when,” for in the context we get “that ye sin not”; but, “if any man sin, we have an Advocate,” a Paraclete, a Guardian; the same word as in John’s Gospel, — “with the Father.”

Christ is an Intercessor with God; it does not say an Intercessor with the Father; but an Advocate with the Father. The relationship is not touched. If it exists it is eternal. “Jesus Christ the Righteous,” the righteousness of the one that has failed, if he is a real child of God. It is very sweet. Moses, then, is the Intercessor; Aaron the High Priest; and Hur, which means “purity,” typifies Jesus Christ the righteous. And in addition, leading to victory, is Joshua, Jesus the Captain of our salvation, the Leader of those in conflict, and leading to victory.

We have a very solemn lesson here; it ought to keep us from trusting ourselves. We have not strength to stand alone for the tick of a clock. We should have no confidence in the flesh.

I do not think we have here what is taught in Ephesians. Ephesians corresponds with Joshua, a conflict in heavenly places. There “we wrestle not against flesh and blood” as Israel who were the executors of God’s judgment on the wicked Canaanites; but “against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against wicked spirits in heavenly places.” The soul that is bent on entering into his portion that he has in Christ in heaven, as blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places, he it is who knows the conflict of Ephesians 6.

Here it is the flesh used by Satan. Amalek, the grandson of Esau, was born after the flesh. This corresponds with Galatians 4.

And it came to pass, when Moses raised his hand, that Israel prevailed; and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed (17:11).

There we have the secret of victory. We little think of the blessings that come to us day by day through having Christ living in the presence of God for us. In Romans 5. we are told, “If when we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.” We need a living Christ in the presence of God for us daily, hourly, momentarily.

Here you see the contrast, as I said just now. You cannot build a doctrine on a type. Some have gone sorely astray in attempting to do so.

Here Moses was a man of like passions with ourselves, however blessed a type he might be. He could not continue without the aid of Aaron and Hur. I should judge we get a practical lesson from it; and it has been taken so by an old hymn writer; and we know we often receive not because we ask not, and ask and receive not because we ask amiss. And I do think myself, that one of the greatest blessings to any assembly is to have a godly soul there to bear up the assembly before God, as Epaphras did. Paul could speak of him in connection with the assembly at Colosse, that he labored fervently in prayer that they might stand perfect and complete in all the will of God. Such a godly brother or sister is a great blessing to an assembly.

And Joshua broke the power of Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword (17:13).

While the hymn is true, which we used to sing,

“Naught can stay our steady progress,

More than conquerors we shall be,

If our eye what’er the danger

Looks to Thee and none but Thee,

the words have now been altered, because we are more than conquerors (Rom. 8:37); so now we sing,

“Naught can stay our steady progress,

More than conquerors are we:

Let our eye, what’er the danger,

Look to Thee and none but Thee.

This is an advance on the other. Still we have scripture to show us we can be overcoming all along. Revelation is the book of the overcomer. In chapter 5. the Lion of the tribe of Judah hath overcome so as to open the book (J.N.D.). So we get the promises to the overcomers when we get God’s church history in chapter 2. and 3. But the overcomer in that sense is not an overcomer till he has finished his course.

There are these sweet and blessed promises to the overcomer even in the very worst state, that which is the most obnoxious to the blessed Lord, and which we see all around us, Laodicea; real indifference to the Lord. Even there is the promise, “To him that overcometh will I give to sit with Me in My throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with My Father in His throne” (Rev. 3:21).

Well, if we are enabled by His grace to overcome one thing or another, (and the worst thing now is lukewarmness), we must give Him all the praise.

If a servant of the Lord is always failing, we can understand his saying, “I am an unprofitable servant”; but the New Testament puts that into the lips of one who has done all. It is in connection with faith there, and if faith is omnipotent (“all things are possible to him that believeth”), it is always self-renouncing; the two go together.

And Jehovah said to Moses, Write this [for] a memorial in the book, and rehearse [it] in the ears of Joshua, that I will utterly blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under the heavens (17:14).

This is the first time we get anything said about anything being written, so that is worthy of notice. I suppose this was the first part of scripture to be written. Genesis may have been written before, and the Jews have a tradition that Moses wrote Job in Midian, though there is nothing reliable in that; but here we have a definite statement.

If we put 1 and 2 Peter together, we know “holy men of old spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost,” and “testified beforehand of the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow.” So here is a little bit about one that was used largely of God to write the Old Testament, and the first thing he was instructed to write about was this conflict. It was not one battle, and everything then settled. When it is a question of the sufferings of Christ we can say the battle is fought, the victory is won, and it “needs no second fight, and leaves no second foe.”

But this is a conflict that goes on from generation to generation. Amalek gained an easy victory in Numbers 14, when Israel stood in their own strength.

Whatever the conflict we sustain, if by God’s grace we are enabled to overcome, it is bound to lead to worship, or at least, it is certain it should do so. It did here.

And Moses built an altar, and called the name of it Jehovah-nissi (17:15).

“Jehovah my banner” I think we could almost link it up with that Messianic psalm (Psa. 20:5-7). Chariots are human contrivances; horses, natural power, but “we will remember the name of the Lord our God.”

Chapter 18.

THIS is the concluding chapter of the section of Exodus where we have God’s grace so marvelously brought before us. We get pure grace, then pure law; then mercy is introduced, law and mercy, else God could not go on with them. That divides the book into three parts.

We have here a shadow of the millennial reign of the Lord Jesus, and I believe this is the seventh time we get brought before us the millennium in type; six times in Genesis, and now to finish up this section, another, making seven. And every one who reads the word of God with care will see that the millennium has a very important place both in the Old and New Testaments. That alone would strike our attention to have it seven times typified.

Then in the New Testament, the three synoptic Gospels give us a picture in the Transfiguration of the coming reign and kingdom of the Lord Jesus. We get it in other places, but three times then, and something additional in each case (Matt. 17, Mark 9, and Luke 9). In the Epistles, if we look at the one which brings before us the deepest counsels of God concerning the church, you get it spoken of as the “dispensation of the fullness of times,” all previous dispensations being related to it (Eph. 1:10).

We have Moses, the one who presented himself to his brethren to be their deliverer; and this is referred to by Stephen in his address to the nation in Acts 7:29. So when lost sight of by Israel, and the rejected one, he took a Gentile bride, Zipporah; and Stephen tells us, “This Moses whom they refused, saying, Who made thee a ruler and a judge? the same did God send to be a ruler and a deliverer by the hand of the angel which appeared to him in the bush.” So he is not only a figure of the Lord Jesus as the Rejected One, but as King.

We get more than one case where he is a type of the Lord Jesus as King. In Lev. 9 we get Moses and Aaron combined, the King and the Priest, to set forth the One Melchizedek as king and priest typified, King of righteousness and King of peace who will yet sit on His throne as King and Priest after the order of Melchizedek. Of course, the millennial reign of the Lord Jesus will be the day of manifestation; hence we get the bride brought forward here. I could not help noticing, as I read down the chapter, how frequently the word “deliverer” and “deliver” come before us. And that is just what must take place before the millennium is set up. Things will never be right in this world until Israel have their place. The Deliverer will come to Zion.

Israel’s blessing nationally is always connected with the destruction of their enemies. That first great deliverance in one way is a type of their final deliverance. It would almost make us think of the inspired words of Zacharias, “That we, being delivered out of the hand of our enemies, might serve Him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before Him, all the days of our life” (Luke 1:74). It is quite a contrast with God’s ways of dealing with us. There is a needs be for their enemies to be set aside; but when the Lord comes for us all our enemies will be left behind, and we shall be caught up to heavenly glory.

The Deliverer will come to Zion; then He will come out. It does not say He will come down from heaven to stand on the Mount of Olives, but He will come suddenly to His temple, and from thence He will go to the Mount of Olives. In Isaiah 59. He comes to Mount Zion. We have scriptures that He will sit on the throne of His father David. There will be one to represent Him there. There are those who teach He is on David’s throne now, but that was an earthly throne. We shall have occasion to turn to some of those scriptures; for instance, in verse 12 of our chapter Jethro is a Gentile, and will bring before us the place the Gentiles will have in the day of Messiah’s glory.

I suppose verse 11 is a reference to the millennial title, “Most High God.” We get it in Genesis 14 for the first time. He will take His place as Possessor of heaven and earth, and then the One Melchizedek typifies will take His right place. He will reign over His ancients gloriously. If we turn to Zechariah 14 and Malachi 1 we see again the place Gentiles have. The city of the great King will be the metropolis of the whole earth.

In the millennial reign of the Lord Jesus the Passover will have its place. That is the foundation of all our blessing. Others, besides ourselves who form the church, will say so too. The feast of tabernacles was Israel’s harvest home. After the harvest and the vintage, — one telling of discriminating judgment, and the other of judgment on the wicked, — you get the Feast of Tabernacles, the season of joy to Israel. But in the millennium you get no Pentecost, in accordance with Acts 2, where we read it was “fully come,”— fulfilled. Then the church was formed, the baptized body.

Speaking of that, I think Pentecost was the anniversary of the day the law was given. I think if we reckon up when the law was given, it was exactly fifty days after they came out of Egypt.

When a remnant came back from the Babylonish captivity, and they fell into an awful state, there was still a remnant of a remnant in Malachi’s day, a very small thing; but we must never despise it. God can, and does, care for His own glory, no matter how His people fail. So He says, “Who is there even among you that would shut the doors for naught,” etc., a sad selfishness manifested; but “from the rising of the sun unto the going down of the same, My name shall be great among the Gentiles,”— the millennial reign of the Lord. So Jethro is the one who brings such truths as this before us, a Gentile and a worshipper. Thus they will be able to serve Him religiously. The word “serve” has many meanings. So He is the Most High God, greater than all gods.

It occurs to me, speaking of gods, we have a testimony in Deuteronomy, and also in Corinthians, that the gods the Gentiles sacrificed to were demons. In the day we have typified here, we are told in Isaiah, when His name alone shall be exalted, they shall cast their idols to the moles and to the bats. So all those false gods will have no place in that day, and there will be no devil behind them, for the devil will be cast into the bottomless pit for a thousand years, during the whole of that reign.

And we get a word that would just correspond with this in Deuteronomy 32:43. It is repeated in Romans 15:10 and applied to us now, “Rejoice, ye Gentiles, with His people.” That is what we see here, the Gentile rejoicing with the Jews, with Israel. That is exactly the way it will be brought in, so differently to man’s thoughts. He will rule them with a rod of iron, and tread them in pieces like a potter’s vessel. So He will deal with all the wicked. I suppose most of us have used that expression “In the thing wherein they dealt proudly He was above them” (ver. 11) in gospel testimony, referring to the cross, that He was above the thoughts of men; but I suppose here it would be in judgment.

You see in Malachi’s day, when they are so irreverent and so guilty, God says He will be worshipped by Gentiles all over the world, and we get it in type in this verse 12. That would be an expression of fellowship. At the same time, it is just as well for us to mention, when thinking of a time like this, what God is doing now, He is calling out from Jew to Gentile a new creation. I do not think it is the thought of passing from old to new, because we are created in Christ Jesus unto good works; and in the new creation there is neither Greek nor Jew, but “Christ is all,” as an object, “and in all” as their life.

So these earthly distinctions disappear in His new creation; but after the fullness of the Gentiles is brought in, God will save a Jew and he will remain a Jew, and a Gentile will remain a Gentile. So in Revelation 7 you get 144,000 sealed out of each tribe, and then a great unnumbered company of Gentiles. They remain distinct, but the Jews will have the first place; their capital will be the metropolis of the whole world; and one King will be over all the earth, the King of kings and Lord of lords. Of course you do not get, and the word of God does not lead us to expect, perfection in a type; and in comparing shadow with substance you get contrasts as well as similarities.

You get the one typifying the King judging; and it tells us in Isaiah 32:1, “A King shall reign in righteousness,” and the world has never seen that blessedness yet; but it will see it in the millennial reign of the Lord. “And princes shall rule in judgment.” Are these princes the twelve apostles? The Lord says in Matthew 19:28, “Ye which have followed Me... shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.” They have their especial place appointed them, the twelve tribes of Israel; but I have no doubt the Lord leaving us here after giving us a valid title to glory is to train us for our place in glory. The Lord says, “He that is faithful in a few things I will make ruler over many things”; and He says to one degree of faithfulness, “rule over ten cities”; to a less degree, “over five cities”; and it gives a solemnity to our everyday walk when we see God is thus training us.

Mercy rejoiceth against judgment. If Dan is excluded in Revelation 7. they were the first to fall into idolatry, and to be taken captive; if in righteousness they could be excluded there, we see in Ezekiel they have their place in the land: that is what grace does, of course. But I do not think that at all sets aside what the word of God shows. Dan in Revelation is not territorial at all, but symbolic.

Will the Lord be personally present to reign in Jerusalem? His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, but Ezekiel shows there will be one to represent Him, “the prince,” but who has no right to enter into the holiest. If we do not get the veil in that day, we get the separate place. Is there any difficulty that our Lord will reign visibly, and sit on Israel’s throne? I see no difficulty in His being personally present when He will. He will never be seen apart from His church. The beauty of that in Thessalonians 4:17 is often lost sight of, — “so shall we ever be with the Lord” consequently, when He Who is our life shall appear, then shall we also appear with Him in glory, because He could not be seen apart from the church.

There are scriptures that indicate all the seed will be righteous and all taught of God, but it will be far otherwise with the Gentiles. A vast number will yield only feigned obedience. Where “none shall say, Know the Lord” is confined to the land of Israel.

The eighth day of the Feast of Tabernacles opens up eternity. That is the only feast of Leviticus 23 that has an eighth day. If there is not repentance wrought in their souls on the true day of Atonement, they will be cut off; but Tabernacles is a season of joy. It is perfectly true fire will come down and destroy these rebels, the last great storm. When the devil is let out of his prison he is as evil as he ever was; and man is as ready then to fall into his snare as our first parents were, even after all the beneficent reign of the Lord Jesus. But nothing short of the work of grace in the soul will save.

Chapter 19.

WE have had occasion to notice before, that all, up to the end of chapter 18. is God acting in purest grace. Even if the people failed He met them in grace. We have finished that section with chapter 18, where we saw a beautiful picture of the millennium. Now the next section is pure law. That soon broke down. The children of Israel, before they got the details from God on the stones, were breaking the first commandment, and worshipping the golden calf. So by their saying, “All that the Lord hath spoken we will do,” they showed they did not value grace, and were unconscious of their own weakness and inability to keep the law.

I feel it is a solemn portion of the word we come to now, and very, very greatly misunderstood. Where is the teaching as to grace understood? How Satan has succeeded in mixing up law and grace in all directions! “The law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.” The law never saved a single soul. It was never intended to. It demanded righteousness, but never got it; it proposed life, but never gave it. That is the force of Romans 5:6: “For when we were yet without strength, in due time, Christ died for the ungodly. They had been under the law for some 1500 years, but not one had strength to meet the requirements of the law. Then “Christ died for the ungodly.”

In the law, we get the ministry of death and condemnation; and I am not giving you my thoughts, but what scripture teaches in 2 Corinthians 3. The law came in by the way. The world had been existing about 2500 years before the law came in. Why was it given? For one thing, God has a right to raise the question of righteousness, and no doubt that was the right time to raise it. But also “the law was added for the sake of transgressions.” All from Adam were born in sin and shapen in iniquity, but they were not called transgressors without law. Death reigned, however, “even over those who had not sinned after the similitude of Adam’s transgression.” Adam was a known transgressor. There was the command that he should not eat the fruit.

Men had been without law for the whole of that period, but now it was added for the sake of transgressions. And there was another reason. You frequently see put side by side in the New Testament the unconditional promises made to Abraham, and the law, showing law could not set aside the promises. So in giving the law, which was the lowest standard God could give, not a revelation of what God is, but a revelation of what man ought to be, He proved that no one could come up to that standard. There has been One here Who magnified the law and made it honorable. The law was holy, and just, and good but the failure was in the material the law had to do with: “What the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh.” There is the secret. In the material the law had to do with the weakness was found. So God, in giving the law, justified Himself in blessing Abraham as He did; since it demonstrates if man is blessed at all, it must be in unconditional grace. How men seek to mix up their works with God’s plan! “By grace are ye saved, through faith... not of works, lest any man should boast.”

And Moses went up to God, and Jehovah called him out of the mountain, saying, Thus shalt thou say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel: Ye have seen what I have done to the Egyptians, and [how] I have borne you on eagles’ wings, and brought you to Myself (19:3, 4).

What wondrous grace in the words God addresses to them! They did not deserve it at all: God loved them because He did love them. That would seem peculiar to the natural man; but God found the reason for loving them in Himself; and in His wondrous grace had come down to deal with them. See what it says in Deuteronomy 7:7, 8. So it was nothing in them that caused God to love them; and one of their prophets says, “I have loved thee with an everlasting love, therefore with loving-kindness have I drawn thee.” But they were blind to this, and did not value this grace.

In dealing thus with Israel, the whole race was being tested; it was not simply for Israel, but one of God’s dispensations with the race. First, you get the dispensation of innocence; then that of conscience; then government, when the sword was put into the hands of Noah, for there was no government before the flood: then the dispensation of promise, and now of law. This is its commencement.

And now, if ye will hearken to My voice indeed, and keep My covenant, then ye shall be My own possession out of all the peoples—for all the earth is Mine—and ye shall be to Me a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak to the children of Israel (19:5, 6).

And all this was forfeited almost immediately. “As for this Moses, we wot not what has become of him,” and they want gods to worship them, and to guide them! So they break the first commandment.

Law and grace are contrasted frequently in the New Testament, almost in every part. See what grace has done for us! Here the priesthood is promised conditionally; but see what grace has done. Under law we could never have attained to it. “Unto Him that loveth [as it should read] us, and hath washed us from our sins in His own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God and His Father; to Him be glory.” Oh, what it cost Him to rid us of everything offensive to God, the One Who is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity!

Then, in 1 Peter 2, we get our priesthood brought before us in a double aspect. The One disallowed indeed of men is made the Head stone of the corner. And “ye also, as living stones, are built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.” What we see around us is an imitation of the Jewish system. Directly you have a priest, you have the people put afar off. A priest is nearer to God than others. But every saint of God is a priest, though every priest is not a saint. What a privilege to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God!

But not only are we a holy priesthood, we are a-royal priesthood also. “Ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people, that ye should show forth the praises [or excellences] of Him Who hath called you out of darkness into His Marvelous light.” So God’s word shows we are a holy priesthood, and called to offer to Him spiritual sacrifices: but besides that, in all our ways privileged to show forth His excellences. It is the man who lives Christ who does that. In Him all the excellences were seen.

So I should judge this is a direct reference to what we have here in this scripture. In their failure to recognize what God had done for them, and their own utter weakness, they accept this conditionally, and forfeit all. But by and by it will all be theirs on the ground of mercy, just as we. Only mercy has met our need. All the promises will be made good. Isaiah 61:6 shows they will be all priests, but all through mercy; and the blessings of the new covenant will be theirs. “I will put My laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them; and their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.” That is quoted in Hebrews, specially to show us, as Christians, we are cleansed from all our iniquities, and our sins remembered no more.

But this is a solemn scripture when we see how blind Christians are towards it. If we are not, it is all of grace. We see the twenty-four elders enthroned and crowned in Revelation 4, and they are there as priests. The very figure is taken from the courses of priests in Solomon’s temple.

How jealous God is of His beloved Son! In everything He must have the pre-eminence. God’s eternal purpose is that we should be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the Firstborn among many brethren. But He is the Firstborn. Think what place the firstborn has in scripture! We shall all be like Him, the Firstborn among many brethren.

Setting forth His excellences you get typified in Numbers. In God’s temple every whit utters His glory, and I suppose it applies to the tabernacle as well. While journeying through the wilderness, the Levites had to carry different parts of that structure. So the Kohathites had to carry certain parts; and there are the particulars given to us. You cannot show out all the perfections of Christ. You may show out a little bit, and I a little bit; but it is as all together that we are showing out His excellences.

Romans 7 and 8 have a good deal of teaching for us as to deliverance from the law. It was in answer to the lawyer’s question, “Who is my neighbor?” that the parable of the Good Samaritan was put before them. What the Lord brings out there is that He died to save us; He lives to save us; and He is coming to save us. There is the immediate need met, the pouring in of oil and wine, the effect of the death of Christ. The man was fully equipped with everything any poor sinner could need. The Samaritan had the bandages, and the oil, and the wine. The Lord Jesus has everything any poor sinner can need. But not only that, we need a power beyond our own to go through the wilderness; so he sets the poor fellow on his own beast. God looks at man as wronged. Satan fell without a tempter, man with a tempter. The man is taken along by a power outside himself. Oh, what care is bestowed on each one of us! An inn is only a temporary home. And the host is the Holy Ghost in Whose care the man is left. “I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, that He may abide with you forever.” But He does not intend to be away long, for a man’s pay is a penny a day. So he takes out two days’ pay, and says, “Take care of him, and whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come again, I will repay thee.” So He does not intend to be very long, but is coming to take us from the inn to the Father’s house. Oh, it is sweet, — what a Saviour we have! He is saving us through the wilderness now, and soon He will save us out of it. “Unto them that look for Him shall He appear the second time without sin unto salvation.” That is grace.

Of course, it would be very foolish of us to think we would have been in any way superior to them, and would have appreciated this grace. Oh, it is of His grace that our eyes have been opened, and there never would have been a movement in our hearts, but through His grace.

Grace excludes all boasting. God has made us great boasters, I know that, in Christ. But as far as ourselves are concerned, He has excluded every little bit of boasting. He has so arranged our salvation that every bit of the glory of it is given to Christ. In the cross is the end of the first man, the responsible man; and we who have believed, through grace, are now new creatures in a new creation. There is a positive new creation; man is set aside entirely: it is all of God.

Our storm center is being self-centered instead of God-centered. God has to occupy us with ourselves; but when He has to do that you could not speak of communion at the same time. When He has brought it home to us that “In me, that is in my flesh, good does not dwell,” it is time for us to be occupied with Christ; and if after that He occupies us again with ourselves, it is because there is something wrong with us. What the Holy Ghost delights to do is to engage our hearts with Christ; “He shall take of Mine and shall show it unto you.”

Of course, we may just remark, the law is not dead. It is we, believers, that are dead to the law, to the world, to sin. That is the way the Christian is looked at. So that chapter I referred to just now says, “Know ye not, brethren,... that the law hath dominion over a man so long as he liveth? “That is the ground of our deliverance from its thraldom. “Ye are become dead to the law by the body of Christ, that ye should be married to another, even to Him Who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God.”

That is very plain then; and I was thinking of that other word in 1 Timothy 1:9. It does seem strange so many dear saints should put themselves under the law. “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus.” We get three blessed facts in that chapter; no condemnation; no accusation; and no separation.

Many dear saints have life who do not know deliverance, and so cannot know proper Christian joy. It is impossible until they are delivered. They get deliverance through looking to Christ. I should connect the “law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus” with John 20, when He breathed into them. He said He had come that “they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly,” I suppose life in resurrection. Then you get the Risen One breathing on them, and saying, “Receive ye the Holy Ghost” (John 20:22; Rom. 8:2).

The Jews say Pentecost was the anniversary of the giving of the law. We get typical teaching as to the work of the Holy Spirit. Take the cleansed leper as a picture of ourselves. The blood was put on the right ear, the right thumb, and the right great toe. Our hearing, our service, and our walk should all speak of God, of Christ, Who loved us and gave Himself for us; we see that in the blood. But we need power; so the oil, that speaks of the Holy Ghost, was put on the blood. There it is typically brought before us. There is the secret of real power: we must have the Holy Ghost. And the terrors of Sinai in connection with the law, what a contrast! There were no bounds around Mount Calvary: nothing to scare away a soul there. “I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men unto Me”; but there the one who knew most intimacy has to say, “I exceedingly fear and quake.” Oh, the terrors of the law! It is only the cross of Christ that put God in a position to bestow blessing on man.

And set bounds round about the people, saying, Take heed to yourselves, [not] to go up unto the mountain nor touch the border of it: whatever toucheth the mountain shall certainly be put to death (19: 12).

So in giving of the law there were the terrors that ought to have made it terrible to be at all disobedient; but they were no preventative. But is it not singular it should be so attractive to the natural man? Man, as man, does turn to the law: it is latent in every heart. Luke 15 brings that out. That penitent prodigal, formulating his confession, says, “Make me as one of thy hired servants.” Legality wanted to mix something of Himself up with the father’s grace; but when he got to his father he got the best welcome a son could get, his father’s embrace, his father’s kiss. Is that how servants are engaged? There was no place of legality; that thought was kissed away. It is all grace.

Chapter 20.

IT is very important to have the clear teaching of the word of God about this portion of His word. Comparatively few of the Lord’s people, whether of the Established Church, or Dissenters, are clear of the tendency to mix up the law with the gospel, whereas in the word they are contrasted. No one was ever saved by law keeping. The law gave no strength and knew no mercy. It is very solemnly put in Galatians, “As many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.” But “grace and truth came by Jesus Christ,” and that is what God would teach us to know.

His grace brought salvation to us, and teaches us. Saving grace and teaching grace go together: “Teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world; looking for that blessed hope, and the appearing of the glory of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ, Who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from all iniquity.” That is what grace would do for us. And those who are acquainted with the New Testament must see it is the object of the Spirit of God in a great part of that teaching to contrast law and grace.

We have said before, and ought to repeat it here, that the law came in by the way; it entered that the offense might abound, not that sin might abound, for “where no law is there is no transgression”; and those who lived through the period covered by Genesis were reigned over by death, “even those that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam’s transgression.” There was a forbidden tree, and Adam transgressed; well, there was no law then till given by Moses, as we have read here: then the law was given because of transgressions, to make known the exceeding sinfulness of sin.

The law was not “the schoolmaster to bring us to Christ,” as in our version, but up to Christ, to that time; and we who believe now are dead to the law through the body of Christ. What folly then to turn to it! The law demands what man could not give. The whole human race was being tested in the Jewish nation. The law proposed life, — “This do and thou shalt live”; it demanded righteousness, but never got it. It demanded from man what man could not give, and cursed him for not giving it. Grace gives us far higher principles than law, and blesses us for doing it.

Suppose people say they do not look to it for salvation, but simply use it as a rule of life. Put that by the side of such a word as Ephesians 5:1, “Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children.” First of all, He makes us His children. “Of His own will begat He us by the word of truth”; “as many as received Him to them gave He power to become the children of God, even to them that believe on His name.” That is a very real thing, — the new birth; and we cannot be His children apart from new birth, — “born again... by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever.” What is the standard for such? To imitate their Father. You could not have a higher standard. What a contrast with the law! “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy mind, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and thy neighbor as thyself,” and because man cannot do it, he is cursed.

Turn to Romans 8:3, for I want us all to be very clear about this, for our own souls’ welfare. The law in itself is holy, and just, and good; but it could not give life. “What the law could not do because it was weak through the flesh,”— weak because of the material it had to deal with, —” God sending His own Son... condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit.”

Some speak of the law as the transcript of the mind of God, but that is quite wrong. What a contrast this is to John 3:16! It is not there man’s love to God, but God’s love to man; He gave His Son; the only way that love could be adequately expressed was by that unspeakable gift. Grace and truth came by Jesus Christ, and He is the One Who gave us that word.

So we want to walk in the Spirit. That is the power we need. It is possible for a person to have divine life in the soul, and not the power of the Spirit. Romans 7 shows us that. The man there has two natures, and they are antagonistic; but until he gets the Holy Ghost the evil is stronger than the good, and he is thoroughly wretched till he sees deliverance is accomplished in Christ; and that gives us Romans 8, where the man is seen in Christ. You are not seen there till you have the Holy Spirit. When God seals us with the Holy Ghost then we have “not the spirit of cowardice, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind,” capable of judging.

So we should, — each one of us, — be exceedingly careful of our walk, not grieving the Holy Ghost; for if we have grieved Him we have lost our power. The man in Romans 7 is born again; you could not have life without being born again. When life is imparted, he is born of the Holy Spirit, but has not got the power. In Romans 8. we have one who is sealed, anointed, and has the earnest. If one has the Holy Spirit God can say of him, “Ye have an unction from the Holy One and know all things.” In John you get abstract statements, and that is a case in point. Only so could that be said “we know all things,” because the Holy Spirit knows all things.

Salvation supposes known deliverance; that man in Romans 7 had not known deliverance; he is a wretched man, but the Lord will lead him on. Salvation is presented in a threefold aspect. In 1 Corinthians 15 we get it by the death and resurrection of Christ. The apostle had received it from the Lord Himself, and he imparted it to the Corinthian saints, “that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the scriptures.”

A little further on he says, “By which also ye are saved unless ye have believed in vain.” The devil has used that to distress many a soul; “have I believed in vain?” But the whole of that long chapter is devoted to the subject of resurrection, and it all hinges on the resurrection of Christ; that secures all. If that is true, so is the resurrection of believers; but if that is not true, they have believed in vain. If it is true, they have not believed in vain. So he says “by the which also ye are saved,” you know deliverance through the death and resurrection of Christ. But we are saved also (and there are several ways in which salvation is spoken of in the word) by the present ministry of love of the Lord Jesus Christ. By love He is serving us. So “He is able to save all along the way those that come unto God by Him”; — that is a continual thing. Then the consummation will be when He comes. “We look for the Saviour, Who shall change our body of humiliation.” So in Hebrews 9— “Unto them that look for Him,”— and that is true of every real Christian (I do not say intelligently)— “shall He appear the second time without sin unto salvation.” Then we shall be saved out of the wilderness; now we are saved through it.

These are the three main aspects of salvation. Believing not in vain is believing to the saving of the soul. 1 Peter 1. tells us “receiving the end of your faith, even soul salvation.” The end of our hope is the coming again of the Lord Jesus Christ.

There was a real work of grace in the man in Romans 7, because of the conflict between the two natures; but then God gave him to see it is all accomplished in Christ without his efforts. What he had been striving for he had got in Christ; and immediately following that is Romans 8, which gives us true Christian experience as to sin. We are delivered from the guilt of sin. The Lord Jesus bare our sins in His own body on the tree. We are justified as to them.

The first part of Romans up to chapter 5:11 has to do with sins; then in chapter 6, 7., and 8., as to sin, the old nature we have. It is sins which are blotted out, and not remembered. We have no more conscience of sins. But we do not want our old nature forgiven: it is condemned. God has condemned it in the cross of Christ. That is one reason why Christ died. God condemned sin in the flesh, it was utterly condemned in the cross of Christ to this end, “that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit.” We are not under law, but under grace, and above the law. So its righteous requirements are fulfilled in our walking after the Spirit. We are delivered from the guilt of sin, and from the dominion of sin, but not from its presence. It is still with us, and will be to the day of our death, or till the Lord comes.

There was the struggle in the man of Romans 7 but in Romans 8 we are delivered. In Romans 7 the evil nature is stronger than the good; but when we have the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of power, and of love, and of a sound mind, we shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh. It does not even suppose for a minute but that the Spirit is stronger than the flesh. But I have to learn constantly, and often bitterly, that the flesh will spring up to our sorrow; but we have to judge it at once.

“If these things be in you and abound... so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 1:8).

That is not by and by, when we leave this world, but a present realization, a large entering into the teachings about the kingdom. It is “these things,” not one after another. Then if they are all in and abound (they ought to!) it is a very happy experience; but if a saint lacks them he becomes near-sighted, and far from a happy Christian, but in an unhappy state of soul. “Shortsighted” is to show us they cannot see things after off; are blind to some things, but not to others.

Perhaps Peter puts the same truth in another way. We are living in days in which we are surrounded by pernicious influences; so he says, “Beware!” and when we see that word we ought to prick up our ears; there is danger. “Beware lest ye also, being led away by the error of the wicked, fall from your own steadfastness.” What is the one grand remedy? “But grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.” That is God’s grand remedy to keep us from being led away, and falling from our steadfastness. Peter tells us that the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptation. Nearly all of us would have put Lot down as a mere professor if we had not the New Testament. He was a saint of God as much as Abraham, but represents those not growing, and short-sighted.

Thou shalt not make thyself any graven image, or any form of what is in the heavens above, or what is in the earth beneath, or what is in the waters under the earth: thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them; for I, Jehovah thy God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the sons to the third and to the fourth [generation] of them that hate Me, and skewing mercy unto thousands of them that love Me and keep My commandments (20:4-6).

We must remember we get God’s government in dealing with the Israelites, and we get God’s government with saints now. Look at 1 Corinthians 11. “For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep.” What is that? The government of God. And I believe sometimes people shut their eyes entirely to God’s government, and are taken up only with God’s grace. When the prophet comes to David he says, in his own righteous judgment, “the man shall surely die.” But when Nathan says, “Thou art the man!” he says, “I have sinned against the Lord.” What is the answer? “The Lord also hath put away thy sin.” That was God’s grace; yet in His government, “The sword shall never depart from thy house.” “He scourgeth every son whom He receiveth”; that is God’s government. If we are not under God’s government when we need it, we may doubt our legitimacy.

God’s grace is very wonderful. It goes out to the most unworthy and unlikely. God takes a delight in it; it was the joy of His heart to save Saul of Tarsus, a persecutor, and blasphemer, and injurious: but I obtained mercy.” Paul said, however, that if he was never so good a preacher, yet if uncareful in his ways, he would be a reprobate, not rejected in service, but having no part in it at all.

The word we ought to turn up for the children of believers is Acts 16:31, “Thou and thy house.” We must not leave out “thy house.” It is an encouragement to the man of God to count on Him for his children.

Now we will look at a few particulars here. There is a very searching word for us in 1 John 5:21. Anything that occupies the place in our hearts that Christ ought to have is an idol. Be careful; the Lord Jesus ought to reign without any rival.

Thou shalt not idly utter the name of Jehovah thy God; for Jehovah will not hold him guiltless that idly uttereth His name (20:7).

The Jews have a great superstition about the name of Jehovah, and that has led to the word LORD being used instead. They say the right pronunciation is lost. Everyone here would know that where the word LORD is in capitals in the Old Testament it always means Jehovah; but when it only has a capital L it is Adonai, the One to Whom I belong and Whom I have to obey. But suppose both the names come together. To help English readers we then have GOD in capitals, and that means Jehovah. Jah also is translated Lord. Only twice do Jah and Jehovah come together, i.e. in Isaiah 12:2 and 26:4; but when you get Adonai Jehovah the latter is translated GOD in capitals, as frequently in Ezekiel.

Remember the sabbath day, to hallow it (20:8).

We have had the sabbath brought before us when the manna was given, but with no legal prohibition. They were told not to gather the manna on that day, and when some went out they were not punished, though reminded. They were not under law but under grace then. Here they had put themselves under law. There is no such thing as the Christian sabbath. The sabbath was the seventh day; but the first day of the week is a day of wondrous privilege, which God has graciously preserved to us though a selfish world would rob us of it.

The Lord was in the grave on the sabbath. The Holy Spirit has linked together the day and the supper. On the first day of the week they came together to carry out the expressed desire of the Lord, on the night of His betrayal. It is the most hallowed place, and the greatest privilege this side of glory. There is a constant temptation for all of us to depart from simplicity as to it. When we see what man has made it, we cannot be too full of praise that at the end of a poor failed dispensation, God has recovered it to us.

As to the sabbath, turn to Colossians 2:16. They were in danger of not holding the Head, and of being drawn aside after the rudiments of the world. Here we have it that we are delivered from it by the cross. It was given to the Jewish nation, and incorporated in the law. “Let no man judge you” therefore about it. The sabbath points forward to God’s rest; it was shadow, not substance; and belonged to an earthly people, not a heavenly one.

Thou shalt not desire thy neighbor’s house, thou shalt not desire thy neighbor’s wife, nor his bondman, nor his handmaid, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that is thy neighbor’s (20:17).

Paul could say, “Touching the righteousness which is of the law, blameless”; outwardly he had kept it, but he had to learn experimentally the holiness of the law, and he would not have known lust but for this verse (Rom. 7:7). The young man in Mark 10. said, “All these things have I kept from my youth,” true outwardly.

Verse 17 is very searching, and would condemn every one of us without exception; and he that is guilty in one point is guilty of all, and all that are under the law are under the curse. The Lord Jesus came, “made of a woman, made under the law”; He was under it, and magnified it, and made it honorable. It had no claim on Him; the law had nothing to say to Him. His life was holy, the life of God. He did no sin; in Him is no sin. He was under the law all His life, and in His death; and we could say, He was killed by the law, for substitutionally He bore the judgment of those under the law. He satisfied the claims of the law, and nothing has given such majesty to the law as the death of the Lord Jesus Christ.

A living Christ, under the law, is for the Jew; a risen Christ is for the Christian, and no one could say He is under law now. We belong to Him where He is, united to a risen, exalted Christ.

So I hope we are all clear the law is no rule of life for the believer. Galatians is the most important Epistle dealing with the law, and that was written because of their failure. It says there, “As many as walk according to this rule,” the rule of the new creation, not “according to the law.”

The law was a revelation from God of what a man ought to be; but if we would learn the revelation of the heart and mind of God we must turn to John 3:16. No one could measure the little word “so.” The only way His love can be measured is by the gift of His only begotten Son. Yet we have a nature that does not value that wonderful grace; Israel did not, nor the Galatians; and the apostle showed them if righteousness was by law, it was quite needless for Christ to die; and he could say, “I through law am dead to law, that I might live unto God. I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, Who loved me, and gave Himself for me.”

God Himself is our standard; He has made us His children, and has called us to imitate Him (Eph. 5:1). There is the standard, —” as Christ also hath loved us.” Oh, what blessed liberty in contrast with the bondage of the law! He exhorted them to stand fast in it (Gal. 5:1).

When God came down on this mountain, and they had accepted the law (God did not impose the law upon them; He proposed it, and they accepted it), there was a difference in His treatment of them. There was all the terror of the mountain burning, the sight overwhelming. Even Moses said, “I exceedingly fear and quake.” Deuteronomy shows us their fear was right. God was giving the law as a Judge; it was a test for them, and it was right for them to feel this fear. Thank God, we are delivered from all that; “fear hath torment,” and we are freed from that. Of course, filial fear is another thing; we are to “have grace, whereby we may serve God with reverence and godly fear”; that will always be becoming.

They remained afar off; it is grace that brings us nigh. The law would make us keep at a distance. They were forbidden to have any representation of God, but He would have them worshippers of Him; so He gives them instructions about an altar (vs. 24).

An altar of earth shalt thou make unto Me, and shalt sacrifice on it thy burnt-offerings, and thy peace-offerings, thy sheep and thine oxen: in all places where I make My name to be remembered I will come unto thee, and bless thee (20:24).

The burnt-offering, you see, was all for God. They came as worshippers to present that, and it was all for God. It is that aspect of the death of Christ. If we want to look at particulars, we must go to Leviticus 1. Of late years, some have sought to minimize its character in places where we should least expect it. It has been said it avails for our acceptance here, and for Israel’s, but does not take us into heaven.

But when the tabernacle was set up, God took possession of it, and from thence spoke to Moses, and began about the burnt-offering, that which was all for God, and the delight God had in His love, and intelligence, and obedience Who offered Himself as a sweet-smelling sacrifice; — oh, what delight to the heart of God! Then He spoke of the peace-offering, and that presents fellowship and communion. God had His part; the priest had his; the whole priestly family theirs, and the offerer his. It was to be in the place where God was pleased to record His name. Ultimately that was Jerusalem. So all their males had to appear three times a year before Him as worshippers. And they were not to come empty.

That is more to the mind of God than coming by the law. If they had been conscious of God’s grace and their own weakness, they would not have accepted it. The law was holy, and just, and good, but they were wrong to accept it conditionally. Grace gives unconditionally. God gives instruction which has its voice to us.

And if thou make Me an altar of stone, thou shalt not build it of hewn stone for if thou lift up thy sharp tool upon it, thou hast profaned it (20:25).

It is almost saying, “If you come before Me as worshippers, you must not move hand or foot.” Whether burnt-offering or peace-offering, it is typical of Christ; and God will accept nothing from us in worship or service but Christ; so any work of man, any tool would pollute it, and it would be unacceptable to God; nor were they to have steps, — to move hand or foot.

I could not say whether Naaman knew of this scripture, when he asked for two mules’ burden of earth; but I have looked on that as an illustration that” Old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” He had been most contemptuous towards the waters of Israel. But he was an object of grace, and God had those there to persuade him, so he bowed; and I take it there was repentance wrought in his soul, and there was the obedience of faith. He dips, and his flesh comes again as the flesh of a little child. Then there is a mighty change in his thoughts. There is no land in Syria like the land of which he had once spoken so contemptuously.

It is rather striking we should have here in this chapter these instructions about the altar, and what follows in the next chapter, showing the difference between the obedience demanded of them, and the obedience of love; and without doubt we have the Lord Jesus Christ in the servant. Before He came here He had never obeyed. He had commanded, and it stood fast, but Philippians 2. tells us that “being found in fashion as a man He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.” It was a voluntary thing.

Chapter 21.

LOVE is here very beautifully brought out. It was love that led Him to lay aside His glory, and come into this sin-blighted world to save our souls. Six years (in the Sabbatic year they would go out free) speak of a complete cycle of years, the complete service of the Lord Jesus Christ, the One Who as God emptied Himself; and as Man, humbled Himself. Perfectly obedient, perfect in His service. He says in John 12, “If any man serve Me him shall My Father honor”; and He, the One Who was obedient unto death, was honored above all.

As the perfect Servant He can go out; and I am inclined to look at the Mount of Transfiguration in connection with this, for in Luke 9 you will find it took place well on towards the end of the Lord’s public ministry. And there we see Him in His official glory, the glory of the kingdom. It belonged to Him righteously; but then no one could share it unless He went down from the mountain and went to Calvary. So He comes down, and the same chapter tells us, “It came to pass, when the time was come that He should be received up, He steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem” (Luke 9:51). So He was on His way there.

If He came in by Himself, He must go out by Himself (Ex. 21:3, 4). In Psalms 40:6 we get in the margin, “Mine ear hast Thou digged”; the Holy Ghost knew what that meant, so in Hebrews 10. we get instead, “A body hast Thou prepared Me”; and He was the only One born into this world, perfectly prepared to carry out the whole will of God. Then in Isaiah 1. we get Him as a divine Person saying, “I clothe the heavens with blackness, and I make sackcloth their covering,” and then He has the tongue of the learned, One that had been taught. “He wakeneth morning by morning; He wakeneth mine ear to hear as the learned.” There is something exceedingly precious in that; He was down here the perfect listening One. “Though He were a Son, yet learned He obedience.” He had the opened ear to be instructed.

The first voice the Lord heard when here as a Man was the voice of Him that sent Him. You and I are daily getting the benefit of that experience. We often forget, and there is human weakness in us, but not so the Lord. He has never forgotten a single lesson He learned. We are tempted in ways the Lord never knew, for we have sin: but we have One up there in the glory Who delights to serve. His service is love. What we have here is suggestive of that (vs. 5), “My children” are ourselves, looked at individually. Whatever it cost, He preferred the service to liberty.

Then his master shall bring him before the judges, and shall bring him to the door, or to the doorpost; and his master shall bore his ear through with an awl; and he shall be his bondman forever (21:6).

Unto the door, where he could make a deliberate choice. Outside was liberty; inside, service. What would be the choice of love? He would rather go through all the pain than have liberty. There is no end to that service. So the Lord is serving now in glory; and when He comes to take us home, He will still be the Servant (Luke 12:37). It is Himself Who is telling us this. As to His present service, we get that beautifully brought before us in John 13. It looks as if they were congregated there for the feast, and they all took their seats at the table, and had wayworn, soiled feet, and no one there to do for them the common courtesies of the East in that day, to wash the feet of those arriving after Traveling. But it looks as if no one was there to do it, and the Lord shows they ought to have waited on each other.

There is an important change in translation we ought to observe. We can think of them all sitting there, but it is not as in verse 2. “Supper being ended,” for it was only just begun; but it should read “during supper.” He tells them, “If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet, ye also ought to wash one another’s feet.” That was suitable for that occasion, but it has a typical meaning. The Paschal supper brings before us the death of Christ; so we get then, “If I wash thee not thou hast no part with Me.” Then, “What I do thou knowest not now, but thou shalt know hereafter,”— i.e. when the Holy Ghost is come. Up there in the glory, the Lord is keeping them in communion, and washing their feet when they get defiled.

I refer to it, because the Lord is a Servant forever, and it brings before us His present ministry. This servant would always display the evidence of his choice, and we are called “by love to serve one another.”

In Luke 24 it is very sweet. He shows them His hands and feet, the tokens of what He had done for them; and then lifts them up and blesses them, those wounded hands. We need to have the balances of the sanctuary, not to go one side or the other. There is unevenness with us, but not with the Lord. So these few verses in Exodus 21. are quite a contrast with works of law. It is not legal obedience, but the service of love; and in connection with the other passages referred to, a very lovely subject.

Of course, we get here instructions for the social life and religious life of God’s earthly people. One little thing more we can afford to dwell on in connection with the same blessed Person is in verse 32. So a slave, a bondservant, was valued at thirty pieces of silver, and that was the price that Judas bargained for; — oh, what contempt! How the Lord felt it too! Zechariah 11. is also connected with it. It was the bargain between the betrayer and the religious leaders. It was the value they put on Him, — “a goodly price!” They bought the potter’s field with those thirty pieces; they were so religious they would not put it in the treasury; so they fulfilled this scripture.

Chapter 23.

I WOULD just say that the chapters (21, 22.) I have passed over, in a general way, show us what an evil thing human nature is, for if there had not been the propensity and capability of doing all these terrible things, they would not be prohibited. We have a nature in which there is no good whatever, a complete absence of good. And that is common to the whole human race. If we were rightly affected by the teaching of the word as to it, it would lead us to take a very low place, and to rejoice in the grace of God. We are debtors to that grace from first to last.

I thought we might consider certain verses of this chapter. As to the three annual feasts, their importance is suggested by our having them here in Exodus; again in Deuteronomy 16; and again with the other appointed feasts in Leviticus 23 Here they are given in a general way; there are more details in the other books.

And the stranger thou shalt not oppress; for ye know the spirit of the stranger, for ye have been strangers in the land of Egypt (23:9).

It is very evident Jehovah would impress on them how unbecoming it would be for them to oppress a stranger, because they knew the heart of a stranger; and but for the intervention of God in grace then, they never would have removed from Egypt; so they never ought to forget it. So with us. We can look at it, too, in another way. God has made us strangers and pilgrims; but that is in quite a different way.

“Before His cross I found myself

A stranger in the land.”

And thus our home is not here, our citizenship is in heaven, and we are traveling on to our heavenly home. They were kept because of their sin a long time in the wilderness: from the place they were encamped in at the Red Sea to Palestine was eleven days’ journey, and they were forty years; but here at the very beginning the law was given, fifty days after they came out of Egypt: and now they are instructed about what they would have to do when they got into the land. God undertook to bring them out and to bring them in. The wilderness is not part of God’s purpose, but it is where we get God’s ways. Here it supposes they have got through the wilderness to the land.

And six years thou shalt sow thy land, and gather in its produce (23:10).

There was no sowing in the wilderness; they were fed from heaven. The food for strangers journeying through the wilderness was the manna, a lovely type of Christ. They could not be in Egypt, in the wilderness, and in Canaan at the same time; but we can be both strangers and pilgrims journeying through the wilderness, and at the same time in spirit, in heaven itself; not wrestling like the children of Israel, with flesh and blood, but with wicked spirits in heavenly places, when we need to have on the whole armor of God. So we could not regard it in its typical teaching as representing Christian experience up to a certain point, and then done with; they can both be experienced at the same time.

We often have heard it suggested to those who know their heavenly calling, and refuse to take part in the politics of the world, that if we could only get the right men sent to Parliament and proper laws made, it would put things right in the world. Those intelligent in the word of God could never say that; for here is a people God legislated for Himself, and all these laws were divinely perfect; but it did not make them what they should be. The best of laws cannot give a new nature. So how fallacious is human reasoning!

No earthly king nor ruler would ever make a law like this. The One that made this law could suit His blessing to the law He gave them. If He told them to rest one year He could make their land bring forth fruit for three years; again, when He told all the males to come up He would see to it their enemies did not take advantage of it to invade the land; they simply had to be obedient, and He would take care of them. The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear Him and delivereth them.”

These cycles of time are connected with the earth. The seventh day was the sabbath. The seventh month was very remarkable in the Jewish ecclesiastical year. The first day was the blowing of trumpets; the tenth, the day of atonement; the fifteenth, the feast of Tabernacles, typifying the millennium, the harvest home of God’s earthly people.

So there was the seventh day, the seventh month, the seventh year, and then seven times seven, the jubilee, marking out these cycles of time.

But in the seventh thou shalt let it rest and lie [fallow], that the poor of thy people may eat [of it]; and what they leave, the beasts of the field shall eat. In like manner thou shalt deal with thy vineyard, and with thine olive yard (23:11)

This was the Sabbatic year. People call the first day of the week the Christian sabbath. But the sabbath was not a seventh day, but the seventh day; and it looks forward, as far as the world is concerned, to the millennium, a time of peace and plenty, when man will not learn war any more; but a time of blessed rest, when nothing will hurt or destroy in all God’s holy mountain.

Carnivorous animals even will have their nature changed, and the ox and the ass will feed together, and the child shall play on the cockatrice’ den, and no undue advantage will be taken by one man of another; and instead of all the controversy we see now because of sin, the whole creation will be delivered, and brought into the liberty of the glory of the children of God. A blessed time! As we think of it, taught by the word of God, we can see that time can never come till Israel have their proper place. That is the teaching of the Old Testament. According to the teaching of the New, it cannot come till the manifestation of the children of God. “When Christ, who is our life shall be manifested, then shall we also be manifested with Him in glory.” So in Rom. 8, it waits for the manifestation of the sons of God.

And it will be a time of blessing, that Sabbatic year, a time of plenty for the poor; God, so to speak, the landlord, and Israel His tenants; and in the seventh year giving it up for the poor, none allowed to deter another going to help himself. “In like manner shalt thou do with thy vineyard and with thy olive yard.” There is something very sweet in that.

It is perhaps one of the worst sins of Christendom to desire and aim at a millennium without the personal presence of the Son of God. It is what men would like, to put everything right according to their own fashion; and you would almost think the political leaders expected a millennium to come in after the cessation of hostilities, judging by their speeches. What a delusion!

We love to think of that time; and the apostle says, “Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord the righteous judge, shall give me in that day, and not to me only, but to all them also that love His appearing,” love the thought of His coming and putting things right, and everything being put in subjection to Him.

Six days thou shalt do thy work, but on the seventh day thou shalt rest; that thine ox and thine ass may rest, and the son of thy handmaid, and the stranger, may be refreshed (23:12).

So as to the seventh day, it is the thought of blessing, and rest, and refreshing, blessing for others. So in weighing up such scriptures as these, our souls are led on into the future.

In reading verse 13, “be circumspect,” looking around, exercising caution, some may think this has nothing to do with us; we are not under law, but under grace. A blessed truth that is, but it becomes us to remember how John finishes up his first Epistle. We might read those last two verses. Do not let anything interfere with that; anything that takes the place Christ ought to have in our hearts is an idol.

Thou shalt keep the feast of unleavened bread, (thou shalt eat unleavened bread seven days, as I have commanded thee, in the time appointed of the month Abib; for in it thou tamest out from Egypt; and none shall appear in My presence empty;) (23:15).

This may seem rather remarkable; it does not say anything about the Passover, but the feast intimately connected with it, the feast of unleavened bread, is mentioned. There is an aspect of the Passover, as we get it in Exodus 12, which is never repeated. After that, the lamb is slain and fed upon, but there is never a repetition of the sprinkling of the blood. When once sheltered by the blood we are sheltered forever; and as far as a Christian, as far as the teaching of the New Testament is concerned, there is never a second application of the blood. If it cleanses from one sin, it cleanses from all. We ought to know the blessing of a purged conscience, no more conscience of sins. If a Jew sinned, he brought a sin-offering, and the blood was shed; and many Christians seem on Jewish ground: but there is never a second application of the blood. All our sins were future when Christ died.

“God Who knew all,”

(there is no past, present, or future with Him; He lives in an eternal now)

“Laid them on Him,

And believing, thou art free.

As guilt, sin can never be charged against a true believer. If a believer sins, it is far worse than sin in an unbeliever; he has a new nature and the Holy Spirit: but while far worse, it is not charged against him as guilt. But it stops his joy, and hinders his communion; and if he does not judge it, brings his Father’s chastening on him. But we see the provision God has graciously made for his need.

As to the feast of unleavened bread, so intimately connected with the Passover, it has a very serious voice to us. If Christians say, “I cannot help sinning,” they do not know what God’s standard is, “that ye sin not.” We must never have a lower standard than that. The one who attains most and highest would be the last to talk of his attainments.

Leaven invariably in scripture means evil. In 1 Corinthians moral evil is called leaven; in Galatians, doctrinal evil, that which has an evil, or corrupting influence (1 Cor. 5:6-8; Gal. 5:9).

For seven days, a complete cycle of time, therefore the whole of our Christian life, there is to be an absence of evil.

“None shall appear before Me empty.” We Christians have one feast, except that Christ is our feast always. But we must not confound Luke 15 with the Lord’s table. Luke 15 is the Father’s table. We have the Lord’s table once a week, but we can be at the Father’s table every moment of our lives. They feasted on the fatted calf, bringing Christ before us. If I wake up in the night it is my privilege to feed on Christ; or at my work, in the secret of my own soul.

There were three times they had to appear before Jehovah; but Leviticus 23 shows us there were seven appointed seasons, commencing with the Passover, and terminating with the feast of tabernacles. We have one season, the first day of the week; and God has linked it with the table of the Lord. It is only once called the Lord’ s day, in Revelation 1; but the word “Lord”

used there is the same as in “the Lord’s supper” (1 Cor. 11:20): “the Lord’s table” is another word; so the Lord links the supper and the day together. And everything connected with Christianity is simplicity; we cannot be too simple as to the teaching of the word about the Lord’s table. No matter how plausible people may be let us be very careful not to depart from simplicity. The word to the Colossians was, “Beware lest any man spoil you.” Christ is the standard for everything.

And the feast of harvest, the first fruits of thy labors which thou hast sown in the field, and the feast of in-gathering, at the end of the year, when thou gatherest in thy labors out of the field (23:16).

So this is the first mention of the feast of harvest, also called the feast of weeks. When the priest at Jerusalem was in before God waving the wave sheaf before Him after the Passover, that very day the Lord rose from the dead. We do not get it here; we have to go to Leviticus to see it. Then fifty days from that and they were brought to Pentecost. Several things are worthy of notice about that. Seven days were connected with the feast of unleavened bread; eight, with Tabernacles; but Pentecost had only one. And it will not be repeated. “When the day of Pentecost was fully come” or “fulfilled.” So when we read the prophets, Ezekiel tells us of the Passover celebrated in the millennium, and Zechariah of Tabernacles. But there is not a single hint of any repetition of Pentecost, the heavenly thing, the feast of one day.

Another thing; you do not get anything to suggest union with Christ in the first and third feasts; but in the feast of weeks, or of harvest, the two loaves are called first fruits, though they were baken with leaven. They could not, therefore, be burnt on God’s altar. He will not have human nature at all, not the mere sweetness of human nature (honey), or its evil (leaven). With God nothing counts but Christ. Both the two loaves and the wave sheaf are called first fruits; so it suggests union with Christ. There could be no union with Him in incarnation; that is the root error of the High Church party. But the Lord has definitely told us, “Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone.” Even the apostles, as they accompanied Him, were not joined to the Lord, nor the saints during the forty days after His resurrection; “he that is joined to the Lord is one spirit.” Only by the Holy Spirit are we united to the Lord; so no one was united to Him till the Holy Ghost came down on those hundred and twenty gathered in that upper room, praying for Him to be sent.

It says in Luke, “If ye, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him?” There they were, asking Him, and He gave the Holy Spirit. We must not ask for a fresh outpouring of the Holy Spirit. That is given once. We are enjoined to be filled with the Spirit; and I would just suggest it is an exceedingly solemn thing for a soul to go before God, and ask to be filled. The probability is, if God commenced to do it, they would ask Him to stay His hand. You must be emptied of self first. You cannot be filled with self and the Holy Ghost at the same time.

The third is the feast of in-gathering; and the great point is that it is a time of great joy to Israel, a type of the millennium. It succeeds the harvest and the vintage. So the Lord will come, and thrust in His sharp sickle for the harvest. Then there will be the vintage (Rev. 14:18-20). All judgment is committed to the Son of man. The cloud ever speaks of the divine presence. Christ the Son of man is Christ the Son of the living God.

Behold, I send an Angel before thee, to keep thee in the way, and to bring thee to the place that I have prepared (23:20).

All that has to take place before they can have their harvest home, that season of blessed rest for Israel, and for those living on the earth at that time. Then will be fulfilled the promise to Abraham, “In thee and in thy seed, shall all nations of the earth be blessed,” and Abraham will see it fulfilled from the heavenly department of that kingdom. And you and I will see it with him. All that have part in the first resurrection will reign with Christ; but Abraham will have no part in the bride; for the bride began to be formed at Pentecost, and will be complete at the rapture.

In a great part of Revelation the heavenly saints are not distinguished. For instance, the twenty-four elders in chapters 4. They are not the church, but the church is included. They take in all saints that have ever lived until the Lord comes to fetch us home. The Old Testament saints will not be made perfect without us. Then, when the Lord comes, they and we are made perfect. The figure is taken from the twenty-four courses of priests in Solomon’s temple. So, as to ourselves, we know we cannot do without the Passover, and we see the peculiar place we have brought out in Pentecost; and then the last feast is yet future, — future for Israel; and we can look forward with joy to having our place with Christ in heavenly glory, and a very special place there.

Chapter 24.

And He said to Moses, Go up to Jehovah, thou, and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel; and worship afar of (24:1).

This verse shows the immense difference between law and grace. There was no coming nigh to God under the law. The contrast with it we get in Hebrews 10. There, sprinkled with the blood of Christ, identified with all its value in the sight of God, we are encouraged to draw near with a true heart, in full assurance of faith, with no questionings, “having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.”

Into the most blessed place of nearness God brings us, though we might say the Epistle to the Hebrews does not bring before us the very special place of nearness that belongs to the saint now, because we do not get the Father there, though we do get in chapter 12, “as with sons”; so we get the Father in His care, and training, and loving chastening; but we do not get the worship of the Father there, as we do in John 4. When you bring in the thought of Father, you cannot bring in the thought of worshipping priests. We worship the Father as His children, of course, by the same Holy Spirit.

But directly Israel took the place of keeping the law they had to keep afar off. Under the law priests came in, and directly you get priests in distinction to other worshippers, you get those worshippers at a distance. But “ye also, as living stones, are built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood,” “a royal priesthood, a holy nation,” etc.

The covenant in this chapter is solemnly ratified. That is the way to view it here. The law was given three times, orally in chapter 20; then here Moses goes up to receive it written by the finger of God. When he comes down, because of Israel’s sin he throws it out of his hands, and it is broken. When he gets it again, it is deposited in the ark. So it was given three times over.

They showed again and again their ignorance of themselves. No doubt, saying this, they thought themselves quite capable of meeting the requirements of the law.

Another thing worth taking notice of is that, at the first giving of the law, there is no provision made for transgression. It was perfect obedience or death; but had it been possible to get perfect obedience, that would not have met their fallen state. There is the need of atonement. So when the law was given there is provision made for their worship (20:24). We have to connect this chapter 24. with what we have there.

They had an evil nature, and what they attempted to do was polluted by it. So the character of the sacrifices there (20:24) mentioned, is for acceptance and communion. No provision is made for any transgression. What is contemplated is what they were, not what they had done. So if God made provision for what they were in perfect obedience, even then they had to take a far-off place. We could not speak of an unrent veil here, because the tabernacle was not yet made. But then they undertook to be blessed by God on the ground of perfect obedience.

And Moses came and told the people all the words of Jehovah, and all the judgments; and all the people answered with one voice, and said, All the words that Jehovah has said will we do! (24:3).

No doubt it was necessary for man to learn what he was. The law was given for the sake of transgressions. All under law were transgressors except the One Who magnified it and made it honorable. No doubt that is the meaning of, “when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.”

There was no failure as far as the law was concerned, but in the material it had to do with: it was weak through the flesh. It never imparted strength to any. It could point out the defect, but had no remedy. A man looking into a mirror may discern a smut on his face, or his clothes in disorder, but the mirror does not wipe it off, or put them straight.

When the Epistle to the Romans was written, Israel had been under law 1500 years, and not one had had strength to meet its requirements. Christ had to die. “In due time Christ died for the ungodly.” That is true of the whole human race: Israel was a sample. The whole human race has been tried by the law, the lowest standard a righteous God could give; and none had strength to keep it. So these words in verse 3 show the complete ignorance they had of themselves, besides their accepting it being an abuse of the grace manifested to them up to that time.

And Moses wrote all the words of Jehovah, and rose up early in the morning, and built an altar under the mountain, and twelve pillars, according to the twelve tribes of Israel (24:4).

We are not told whether this altar was of earth or stone. Had it been stone, it was unhewn stone; and the twelve pillars built there represented the twelve tribes, for they all entered into the covenant then.

And he sent the youths of the children of Israel, and they offered up burnt-offerings, and sacrificed sacrifices of peace-offerings of bullocks to Jehovah (24:5).

That was according to the instructions in chapter 20. No provision for any failure or transgression; only for acceptance and communion. That is what we are taught in the burnt-offering and the peace-offering. When the law had been given, and they had the law of the peace, or thank-offering, Jehovah had His part, the offering priest his, the priestly family theirs, and the offerer his. So we have communion in a very sweet way in the teaching of the peace-offering.

I was thinking of what was contemplated by God in these sacrifices, not man’s trespass, but what he was; and as to the offering for acceptance it says, “he shall put his hand on the head of it.” We all know the teaching of the word as to what the putting the hand on the head of the offering signified, identification and transference. If it was a sin-offering, the offering would be identified with the sin; but if a burnt-offering, the offerer was identified with the acceptance of the sacrifice. The scripture in the New Testament corresponding to the sin-offering would be, “Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the Just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God”; the other would be what we have in Ephesians 1:6; the very glory of God’s grace is that we are accepted in the Beloved One; that is the burnt-offering aspect. We get nothing here to correspond with what I quoted from 1 Peter 3:18.

And Moses took half the blood, and put [it] in basins; and half of the blood he sprinkled on the altar. And he took the book of the covenant, and read [it] in the ears of the people; and they said, All that Jehovah has said will we do, and obey! (23:6, 7).

As I said, this covenant was solemnly ratified here. The blood was not put on them for cleansing, but as reminding them, if they were not true to their part of the covenant, death was the penalty. Nothing short of perfect obedience would meet the requirements of that holy law; and if not met, death was the penalty. I know it has often been looked at in another way. But to the very simplest it ought to be plain on the surface. This was a very solemn moment for them.

And Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel went up; and they saw the God of Israel; and there was under His feet as it were work of transparent sapphire, and as it were the form of heaven for clearness (24:9, 10).

The sapphire was a very lovely blue. There is nothing contradictory in the word of God. If anything has the appearance of being so the defect is in ourselves, something we do know. The teaching of the word is quite plain. God in His essence cannot be seen, it is an impossibility. God in His grace has given us a very wonderful position, but no matter what height grace gives us, we shall always be creatures; and there must always be a far greater distance between God and the highest of His creatures, than between man and the meanest insect.

We get it in Timothy, “dwelling in the light unapproachable, Whom no man hath seen or can see;” and we get the Lord Jesus as His image. He represents Him. He is never called the likeness of God, for He is God; but He is the image of the invisible God. In John, “the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him.” He never left that bosom.

He is always there. If people saw that, they would never say the Father forsook Him.

The Father never had greater delight in Him than when He was on the cross, suffering atoningly. There was an additional motive, — “therefore doth My Father love Me, because I lay down My life that I might take it again.” But God forsook Christ then. The One Who dwelt in the bosom was the only One capable of telling Him out, and He could say, “He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father.” “He hath declared Him.” Now we are distinctly told in Deut. 4:15 that no similitude was seen; so I should rather judge on this occasion God was seen in the Shekinah, made Himself visible in that; but there was no similitude of God. It says in the same chapter of Deuteronomy: “Did ever people hear the voice of God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as thou hast heard, and live?” and that is the simple meaning of verse 11 of our chapter; they were not slain.

That is the great point in the mystery of godliness as to the angels: they then saw God in Christ, not a representation of God, but God manifest in flesh; “seen of angels” then, because angels could not see God in His essence. “They saw God, and did eat and drink.” There is a testimony to God’s grace.

And Jehovah said to Moses, Come up to Me into the mountain, and be there; and I will give thee the tables of stone, and the law, and the commandments that I have written, for their instruction (24:12).

On this occasion they are spoken of as written by the finger of God. Moses was there forty days and forty nights. God did not require that time to prepare these stones; He could have imparted all instantaneously. We must put no limit on the power of God. But forty days have a special place in scripture. They speak of probation, — a time of testing. The Lord Jesus was tempted forty days. The message to Nineveh was, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown.” There are seven special occasions throughout the word. No doubt God used forty days as an adequate testimony to the resurrection of Christ.

It was a time of testing, and these people who so recently said, “All that the Lord hath said will we do,” could not wait forty days to get His commandments. Before they got the tables written with the finger of God, they had broken the first commandment.

The wisest and best way, of looking at it is to see it is human nature, my nature; whatever another has done I should have done if God left me to myself. We shall never meet any with a worse nature than that which we have. We all have feeble human nature; God speaks of it as one lump.

While Moses was up in the mount he had all the instructions about the tabernacle, and all the patterns; and he had to be exceedingly careful to make everything according to pattern.

It only shows us it is vastly more important than creation. When it is a question of creation, and of preparing the world as a place for man to live in, we get it in one chapter.

I have never counted, but have heard it said, the instructions for the tabernacle are given in these chapters seven times over. I have not verified it. In the chapter that follows we get it minutely, and that of itself is convincing that it is more important, by far, in God’s sight than creation, bringing out as it does typically the glories of Christ, the One in Whom God has found all His delight.

If we pursue the course as it is presented here in the word, it will be the opposite way to that in which it is generally dealt With. God begins with His side, as in Leviticus. He begins there with the sacrifice that was all for Himself, the burnt-offering. The first three offerings are sweet-smelling. In the second, God had all the frankincense, and a handful was taken out and burnt on the brazen altar: in the third offering, the peace, or thank offering, it is divided up, as we have already noticed; and the one who brings it has the greatest part of it. The priest had the wave breast and heave shoulder, symbolic of the love and the power of the Lord Jesus.

In approaching God from the sinner’s side, the first thing would be the sin-offering. Here it begins with the highest thing, the most lovely type of Christ, the ark. If men are going to lecture on it they often begin with the door, and the brazen altar; the laver, and then the holy place, and “the veil, that is to say, His flesh.” Then one would have to mark the great difference between type and antitype. There is no veil now. We are in the immediate presence of God as worshippers. That is where we ought to dwell, to abide.

There are forty days connected with the deluge, and seven days are marked off previous to God breaking up the great deep. So here we get seven days before the forty.

And the appearance of the glory of Jehovah was like a consuming fire on the top of the mountain, before the eyes of the children of Israel (24:17).

Fire is frequently brought before us as God’s holiness in judgment, very frequently. Then it was visible to them. Now we have a somewhat similar expression written for us as Christians: “Let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. For our God is a consuming fire” (Heb. 12:29).

There you get commentators saying “out of Christ.” There is no warrant for it; it is always true. He is the Holy One. God in His love would give up His only begotten Son for us; but He never can, and never will give up His holiness. It is nowhere more distinctly seen than in His grace, in the way by which He saves us; and those that would make light of His holiness, to make much of grace, do not know God. “Godly fear” in Hebrews 12:28 is only used twice in scripture, and both cases are in Hebrews. In chapter 5:7 with reference to Christ, “heard in that He feared,” or “for His piety”; and in chapter 12:28 it has reference to the saints of God.

So there is not a word up to the present, or in the succeeding chapters, where Moses gives out what was communicated to him in the mount, about their sin, until Moses comes down with Joshua. Of course, God told him before he came down, and instructed him to go down, because of what the children of Israel had done.

In chapter 32 we get the account of how they could not wait. I take it to be that there we get a solemn picture of Christendom at the present time. The three very marked sins in the wilderness were the worship of the calf, the loathing of the manna, and despising the pleasant land. Christendom is guilty of all three.

Chapter 25.

WE know God’s order is perfect, and it is no small mercy to have God-given faith in the plenary inspiration of the word. When men take up the teaching of the Tabernacle, they all, at least all I have come across, begin at the other end, at the gate of the court; but God begins from His own side.

It makes one think of what we find given in the ministry of John and of Paul. In John, we get God come down to man in perfect grace; in Paul, we have man brought to God in perfect righteousness. Here we see something like it, — God’s glory first. Of course, only shadows, and not the very image; very often we have to mark points of difference as well as similarity; that is, suggestive of shadow and substance. Christ is the substance of the shadow.

Speaking broadly, we get the glories of Christ as the Mediator brought before us; but there are many things suggestive of the glory of God. Man is taught by these types how he may draw nigh to God. If we begin with man, we must begin at the gate, and learn how he must be fitted by sacrifice to draw nigh. Here God begins with the most holy place, or rather, its furniture; for the tabernacle was not yet constructed, but the ark of the testimony is the furniture of the holiest of all, where was “the golden pot that had manna, and Aaron’s rod that budded, and the tables of the covenant, and over it the cherubim of glory shadowing the mercy-seat,” God’s throne of majesty in Israel.

But, first of all, God told Moses to speak to the children of Israel to bring their offerings to Him, — offerings given by each “willingly with his heart.” “God loveth a cheerful giver,” we are told, so they were free-will offerings (vs. 2).

Then, when we read down the list here, and consider they had not been long out of Egypt, and had been downtrodden, abject slaves there, how could all this wealth be given by them?

In the history we have been let into the true secret. God has His own purposes, and worketh all things after the counsel of His own will, and can speak of things that are not as’ though they were, so we find Him telling Abraham in Genesis 15. his descendants would be afflicted four hundred years. And I would just mention those four hundred years are doubtless reckoned from the time Isaac was weaned, and the persecution begun by Ishmael mocking.

But then the Lord told him they should come out with great substance. We know when the time came for their deliverance (the A.V. says they “borrowed,” but the strict meaning is they “asked”), they did not take it, but “asked” of the Egyptians, and they were quite ready to bestow on them all their wealth; so the prophetic word came true, and they came out with great substance.

I suppose we all know that the very best use we can make of everything God gives us is to give it back to Him. A striking illustration is the case of Samuel. His mother prayed for him, and when God answered her prayer she gave him back to God. So they are in a position to respond to this. God loves a cheerful giver, and He will not have half His people’s hearts. He wants all. That also is taught again and again in the word.

These different things will come before us in their right connection in the varied details. The Lord is the great Architect here; Moses had been instructed what to build and how to build it. He had no discretion in the matter. He had to do it according to pattern. We know what a lesson it is to us. The general thought about the assembly on earth now is that God has given us an outline, and gives us discretion how we should fill it hi. But what was enjoined to Moses we may well take to ourselves, and never depart from it; and never go on the ground God does not condemn this or that, for that will open the door to all kinds of foolish things; but God sees and knows everything perfectly and knew exactly what was required when He instructed Moses.

This list contained all that was required. And what will keep us right is to have nothing but what we have the word of God for. All kinds of things have been introduced by well-meaning people not seeing the danger of departing from what God has given us in His grace. Let us have the positive side, and only that which the word of God warrants us to have.

Gold, the first article mentioned, is the most important of everything connected with the tabernacle, both in the holiest of all and in the holy place. Those within could see the gold, and the fine twined linen, and blue, and purple, and scarlet, but those outside could not see anything there, only the badgers’ skins. That suggests the difference between natural sight and spiritual, as we sometimes sing

“Only those His glory knew

To whom Thou gavest sight.

And there were some who could say “we beheld His glory” not His official glory, as seen on the Mount of Transfiguration, but “the glory as of the Only Begotten of the Father,” His moral glory, shone out in every circumstance; and thus there were some who could contemplate and view it. As we see the Lord typified here, He is not as down here on earth, but the Lord in glory. We are beginning from God’s side. There is nothing here about the blood being sprinkled, but we get the mercy seat.

And they shall make an ark of acacia wood; two cubits and a half the length thereof, and a cubit and a half the breadth thereof, and a cubit and a half the height thereof (25:10).

I have understood the LXX. in translating “shittim” use a word that means “will not decay,” or “incorruptible.” This is very suggestive, because the shittim wood signifies the humanity of the Lord Jesus Christ, the One Who grew up before the Lord, perfectly a Man and a perfect Man—spirit, soul, and body—a real Man, but in Him was no sin; He knew no sin; He did no sin; holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners; the only Man Who lived here with an unforfeited life. Death had a claim on every other, but not on Him. He laid His life down, and had a commandment to do so.

So this shittim wood is very suggestive; it reminds us of the human perfections of Him Who had all perfections, human and divine; and of His wondrous grace Who became what He was not before. He was coexistent with the Father, and He became flesh and tabernacled among us. As we sometimes sing,

“Thou hast a creature’s form assumed

That creatures God might know.”

We could not say, though some have dared to do so, that He became a creature; there is nothing so jealously guarded as the person of Christ in the whole of scripture. He was the Creator, and if He took part in His own creation, and became of it, He was the Firstborn of the whole creation; not a question of time, but of supremacy and dignity, “the excellency of dignity.” It came out in what Jacob was inspired to say of his firstborn.

We know that nearly all these measures in scripture are taken from the human body; a cubit was from the elbow to the tip of the middle finger. Then we get a span, a handbreadth, etc., all taken from the human body.

And thou shalt overlay it with pure gold: inside and outside shalt thou overlay it; and shalt make upon it a border of gold round about (25:11).

In pure gold we get a symbol of the divine nature. It is quite right to speak of it as divine righteousness where God is, because the word “brass” which we get here, and which I suppose should be copper, is divine righteousness where man is, and it is also ability to endure the fire. That is what the Lord Jesus had. It is His glory which is constantly brought before us.

In Laodicea, and that is what is rapidly developing now, the last stage of the church on earth, characterized by lukewarmness and indifference to what is due to the Lord Jesus Christ, a terrible snare to all saints now, He has to take a place outside; while they are boastful, and say, “I am rich and increased with goods, and have need of nothing,” He says, “Thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked”; and, “I counsel thee to buy of Me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed... and anoint thine eyes with eye salve, that thou mayest see”; so these people, professing Christians, are destitute of the divine nature (gold), of proper Christian character (white raiment), and the discernment of the Holy Spirit (eye salve).

This gold had to be used to overlay all the shittim wood, within and without.

The crown makes us think, when we remember what we know from further on, that God has His beloved Son now there as the joy of His own heart, the divine nature and human nature united in Him Who became Man and tabernacled here. He is spoken of as tabernacling in John 1:14, and He speaks of Himself as the temple in John 2:19.

So this chest, this ark of testimony, has its size given, which is not to be departed from. Moses had seen the pattern on the Mount. It is well to have that before us.

There is the crown then, suggesting Him as the crowned One in heavenly glory with God. That is the one way of looking at it; and we can see when the blood was upon the gold it became the propitiatory, and Christ was set forth for that. But the glory of His Person was always true, when He was here below as a Man; and the apostle says, “that which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled of the word of life” (1 John 1 I); this is in keeping with John’s testimony; God come down in wondrous grace to man. No Christian can say that; and Paul could not.

I was thinking of this as being in keeping with what Pau could say, “Ye have not so learned Christ, if so be ye have heard Him, and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus.”

That is true now; we have a personal acquaintance with the Lord, we who know Him as our Saviour.

And cast four rings of gold for it, and put [them] at the four corners thereof, that two rings may be upon the one side thereof and two rings upon the other side thereof (25:12).

That speaks of Traveling days to come; the One Who went with them, of Whom it says, “In all their affliction He was afflicted,” cared for them, and sought out a resting-place. It would be a very profitable study to search out the history of the ark alone through some part of the Old Testament, but that would take us too far away from what we have before us now.

And make staves of acacia-wood and overlay them with gold (25:13).

That would look as if they always remained in that place; till they were put in the temple of Solomon, when they were drawn out. Traveling days were done; it was a figure of the rest remaining for the people of God. Moses was instructed to be very careful about the ark. Even the Levites were not allowed to touch it. It all had to be covered up by the priests.

And thou shalt make a mercy-seat of pure gold: two cubits and a half the length thereof, and a cubit and a half the breadth thereof (25:17).

No height is mentioned for the mercy-seat. Would not that make us think of, “As high as the heaven is from the earth, so great is His mercy toward them that fear Him”? As to height, mercy cannot be measured.

It is well to have the height of the ark in our minds, as it may be connected with other measurements.

It did not occur to me we should have before us, when I was saying we should have scripture for everything, such a suggestive teaching as is brought before us here. The Levites had to carry the tabernacle. Each family had their special work. It comes out in Numbers, and points to the teaching in 1 Peter 2, where all Christians are looked at as priests, holy priests and royal priests; holy to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God through Jesus Christ; royal, to show forth the praises of Him Who hath called them. You get in the teaching in Numbers, they all have to carry something of the tabernacle, something of its furniture; and it all represents Christ. So with us. You cannot see all the beauty of Christ in any individual saint. It takes all together to show out all His beauties.

But though it was God’s ordering that it should be carried, when we come to the reign of David, the Philistines sent up the ark on a new cart. The wicked priests, the sons of Eli, Hophni, and Phinehas, who had such a fearful influence on Israel, in a superstitious way thought if they had the ark that had dried up the Jordan, and before which the walls of Jericho fell down, with them, they would surely be conquerors of the Philistines. But not so. They were slain, and the Philistines were able to take the ark, and they put it in Dagon’s house, believing he was greater than the God of Israel. But however miserably God’s people fail, God is sure to look after His own glory; and in the morning, Dagon is on his face before the ark. God always cares for His own glory.

You know the sequel; they were so plagued, they were glad to get rid of it; so they take the milch kine, and tie up their calves; and against nature altogether they take the ark to Bethshemesh; and they had a witness that God approved it. They had no instructions; no scripture as Israel had. But David decided to bring up the ark, and imitated the Philistines. We have to be on our guard lest any man spoil us through philosophy and vain deceit. They might argue, but you know God would not have His people act without His word, and He smote Uzzah, and it angered David. So we see the ark put into the house of Obed-edom. In 1 Chronicles 13. David consulted with the captains, etc., and they all agreed with him; he did not consult the word of God. You know the result. David was very joyous about it, and played with all his might; it looked right; but Uzzah put forth his hand to steady the ark, and the Lord smote him.

Obed-edom the Gittite does not mean of Gath of the Philistines, but another Gath in the northern part of Israel, belonging to the Levites (Josh. 21:25). Then chapter 14 of 1 Chronicles comes in, and instead of consulting the captains, David inquired of God. The Philistines come up again; nature would have said there was no need to inquire a second time, but David had proved the blessedness of it; he inquired, and had quite different instructions. He would have made a sad mistake if he had simply imitated what he had done before.

Having profited by that experience, in chapter 15 David says, “None ought to carry the ark but the Levites.” God had given positive instruction about it, as we have been reading. Following out the instruction of the word of God, it ended in a day of great blessing for David. It will not do for Christians to imitate the, world; we must carry out the word of God.

We get two marked divisions here in the details of the tabernacle and its furniture. We get God displaying Himself as far as He possibly could at that time; and that is really what we have in this chapter; and then they are taught the way of approach to God.

But the ark seems to be of such great importance I thought we might seek to gather up God’s mind about it in other portions of His word. It was the center of Levitical worship, God’s throne on the earth, the seat of the Divine Majesty, called by the Holy Spirit the mercy-seat. We know where it was put when the tabernacle was completed; it was in the holiest of all, and it was the only furniture in it. But there were things in the ark, mentioned in Hebrews, that we can afford to look into, because they bring the Lord Jesus in such a sweet and blessed way before our souls. Read Hebrews 9:1-5. That is an inspired Epistle, and the One Who inspired it knew everything perfectly, so that it does not mean the particulars were lost, but it was not the time to go into them. They all bring Christ before us: every whit uttereth His glory.

The golden pot that had manna, that which was despised by the children of Israel, was precious to God. We do not read of the golden pot in the Old Testament. That it was the day’s portion for an Israelite we are definitely told there; but here we have further instruction. Perhaps invariably we get additional light whenever the Old Testament is quoted in the New. We know the manna speaks of Him Who laid aside His glory, and became a Man down here in lowly guise, small and despised, yet the Eternal One, the meek and lowly Lord Jesus Christ. But God valued that which man despised, “disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God and precious.” So God would have Him as the One Who came down in wondrous grace up there in the glory to the joy of His own heart. He was there from all eternity, of course.

There are not many places in the Old Testament that take us back to eternity. Proverbs 8 is one: “I was daily His delight, rejoicing alway before Him,” then, “or ever the earth was.” And here on earth He declared, “This is My beloved Son in Whom I am well pleased.” So up there in eternity, and here in time, He was His delight, and He is so still: but He is there now in divine righteousness, — gold carries that thought. He came down in perfect grace, and went up in perfect righteousness. So God has Him there to the joy of His own heart.

Then Aaron’s rod that budded still brings Christ before us. The functions of the Lord’s priesthood are Aaronic; but the order to which He belongs is that of Melchizedek, according to Psalms 110 He is King of righteousness and King of peace, Priest of the Most High God, pointing forward to the millennial reign of the Lord Jesus, when He will be a Priest upon His throne, a King and a Priest in that bright day of glory.

“Most High God” is a millennial title. That is the first place in which we get it mentioned; and it is of great importance in understanding the force of an expression to see where it is first used. So that of itself would at once show to us in what light to regard Melchizedek. He is a type of the Lord in His reigning day.

You will remember the circumstances of Aaron’s rod. They rebelled against God’s order. “No man taketh this honor unto himself except he be called of God as was Aaron”; God Himself had appointed Aaron, and they rebelled against it. Then the instruction was that twelve rods, dry sticks, were to be taken and laid up before the Lord. Then in the morning, when Moses went in, Aaron’s rod had budded, and bloomed, and brought forth fruit. Numbers 17:8 says, “Behold, the rod of Aaron for the house of Levi was budded, and brought forth buds, and blossoms, and yielded almonds.” “Behold,”— mark well That speaks of the One Who had lain in death raised out of it; and it points to the priesthood of the Lord Jesus as the Risen One. It is argued in Hebrews that if He had been on earth He could not have been a priest; but He is a heavenly Priest, — the main point in Hebrews, —” a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.”

Some have had very foolish thoughts of Melchizedek. God arranged the narrative, so that there is not a word said about his parentage or descendants, in order to bring out the truth about the Lord Jesus Christ. The Aaronic priesthood was successional; but He is a priest forever, there is no one to follow Him. What wonderful benefits are suggested by that! A very worthy man might be priest, and his successor be the very reverse.

The priesthood of the Lord is given to us, not to restore us if we sin, but to prevent us from falling, to succor, to help us, for scripture is quite plain. We have One Who has been down here, and

“Fully tried and tasted

Its bitterness and woe.”

He has not forgotten a single experience. We do not know today what blessings have come to us through having Jesus to care for us. So “we have not an High Priest that cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted like as we are, apart from sin.” We are tempted in ways, because we have sin in us, the Lord never knew. He has all power in heaven and earth, therefore He is able to succor. Thus with true and loving sympathy, ready to succor, “He is able to save all along the way those that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them.”

Of course, when we sin, we need an Advocate, and that we get in the Epistle of John. Here it is priesthood. A rod that budded tells of the Lord’s priesthood, and its all-protecting character. It was put into the ark by God’s instruction.

“And the tables of the covenant.” The first tables which Moses brought down, after being with God forty days and forty nights, he broke when he found them worshipping the golden calf. “He that offendeth in one point is guilty of all”; but what they did involved them in breaking the first three. It was a right action on the part of Moses. They were then under pure law. As to God’s government, grace had to be brought in, or He could not have gone on with the people. You cannot mix law and grace; but in God’s government grace had to be brought in, or God could not go along with them.

So Moses had to go up again, and then the moral law was engraved on the stones, and had to be put into the ark, this lovely type of Christ; they were only secure there; and you remember His words in Psalms 40, another place where we are taken into eternity, the two marked places being Proverbs 8, and Psalms 40, “Lo, I come; in the volume of the book it is written of Me, I delight to do Thy will, O My God; yea, Thy law is within My heart.”

The law is covered up from the sight of men, and the One typified by the ark magnified the law and made it honorable; all its requirements were met by Him.

The mercy-seat was the seat of the divine majesty (Psa. 97:2), “Clouds and darkness are round about Him; righteousness and judgment are the habitation of His throne”; and there is a similar expression in Psalms 89:14, “Justice and judgment are the habitation of Thy throne; mercy and truth shall go before Thy face.”

And there God took up His abode. We have had occasion to mention more than once that God never dwelt with a people that were not redeemed. We get all the faithful saints that existed before this, but they had not known this blessedness.

There were no windows, no created light for the holiest of all; the light there was the Shekinah glory; the resting-place of the cloud was between the cherubim. His throne, the seat of the divine majesty, was the mercy-seat, and it was overshadowed by the cherubim.

It will not do for us to allow our imaginations to run riot; we must have nothing unless supported by the word of God. The best way is for us to see when the cherubim are mentioned in the word of God, and get God’s mind. The first place is after the fall; there is no mention of them before that: then they are placed at the east end of the garden to prevent man going back to partake of the tree of life. It would be an awful calamity for man to have existed forever in such a state as he is in. I am simply saying that about the duration of our existence here on earth. Some are very anxious to live to a great age; whereas others almost from their conversion, long to be with the Lord. Some are like Legion, who wanted to be with the Lord; he said so to the Lord; but the Lord had something for him to do; “Go home to thy friends.” So He needs some of us here.

We shall never have a better title to the glory than when we first believed. Let us keep the atonement distinct by itself.

“Our title to glory we read in Thy blood.”

It is the gloriously finished work of Christ that gives us acceptance. We are in the Lord’s hands, and His triumph over death is so complete that it is simply a matter of His will if He takes us the day we are converted, or leaves us here for a long term of service, See John 21:22. “I am He that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore. Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death” (Rev. 1:18). Everything is at His disposal.

After man fell he was prevented from going back, for we see the cherubim with the blade of the flashing sword turning every way to guard the way to the tree of life. We get no mention of cherubim again until now. Two thousand five hundred years have passed away, and they are evidently the executors of God’s judgment. If one had attempted to approach that tree of life that sword would have slain them. But now there is no sword. So there is a great contrast here. Why is there no sword? We have to go to Leviticus to get that explained. We do not get any restriction or prohibition as to the holiest of all till after the failure of Nadab and Abihu, when they took the strange fire, which was irreverent, and God resented it. I have no doubt many priests have done worse than that; but at the beginning of different dispensations God will take a case, and deal with it, that we may be clear as to His mind. Look at Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5). Many may have done wrong since, but have not been dealt with in summary judgment.

We have no record of the words till Moses said, “This is it that Jehovah spake, saying, I will be sanctified in them that come nigh Me and before all the people I will be glorified” (Lev. 10:3). So they had to have it impressed on them, “Be ye holy, for I am holy”; and you get those instructions about the difference between clean and unclean, as to what they were to eat in Leviticus 11; and it is that chapter which is quoted in 1 Peter 1:15, 16. It was needed then, and it is needed by us.

Then they were told they could not come in at all times; and we get in Leviticus 16. instructions about the great day of atonement. Aaron had to offer the bullock for himself and his house, typical of the church, and distinguished from Israel. We find propitiation the prominent thing then.

When that which typifies the church is spoken of, there is not a word about substitution; but when we get that which applies to Israel, two goats are taken, and the goat upon which the Lord’s lot fell (the way in the Old Testament of deciding things; “the lot is cast into the lap, but the whole disposing thereof is of the Lord”:) had to be slain, and its blood taken in, with the cloud of incense; and Aaron had to do with that blood as with the blood of the bullock, and to sprinkle that blood, not with his hand, or his fingers, but with his finger once, one drop of blood on the mercy-seat. And that one drop, once sprinkled, was sufficient for God; but it was sprinkled seven times before the mercy-seat, for you and me, in its typical teaching, that we might know our perfect standing in the presence of God. So we have everything to calm our souls, to give us confidence. We stand on His merits not on our own.

“I stand upon His merits

I know no safer stand.

Now then, with that blood on the gold there is no sword; the sword had done its work, the life of the victim had been taken; it all points to Christ. In the Old Testament, every sacrifice on every altar of God’s appointing always pointed back to the fall, and on to Calvary. Now we have the Lord’s supper in this dispensation, and that points back to the cross, and on to the coming of the Lord Jesus. But we only get that through Paul. In the Gospels, it is always connected with the kingdom. Paul did not get it from the others, but direct from the Lord, and then it is connected with the Lord’s coming.

So then, we are inside the veil, with the ark, the mercy-seat, and the cherubim looking down on that blood; there is perfect rest in that holy place. The blood is on the gold. How we ought to thank God for the precious instructions found in this typical teaching.

There are all sorts of encouragement and comfort taken from it in figures, as in Psalms 91:1, a reference, no doubt, to those wings of the cherubim in Solomon’s temple, that went from one side of the wall to the other, and joined in the center, speaking of God’s gracious protection of those that know what it is to draw nigh to Him. And there are other references too.

I daresay you will remember the difference between the cherubim here and in Solomon’s temple. There (2 Chron. 3:13)

they are looking out on the house; here we get the truth of grace reigning through righteousness unto eternal life, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Grace is on the throne; the righteousness presented in the cross has put grace on the throne; and it is reigning unto eternal life. But in the millennium it will be righteousness reigning; and directly sin is manifested it will not be passed over, but dealt with. There will be feigned obedience that will not be dealt with, as we read, “the sons of the stranger shall yield feigned obedience unto me” (Psa. 18:44, margin); and they will be the material the devil will use for the great rebellion at the end. The millennium will be a very, very blessed time, but not perfect.

Jehovah speaking to Moses here (sometimes it is to Moses and Aaron), says, “There I will meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from above the mercy-seat” etc. (vs. 22). A good many take it as the meeting-place of God and the sinner, but it is rather the meeting-place of God and His saints. “Let us come boldly unto the throne of grace that we may (not “ask” but) obtain mercy, and (not “seek,” but) find grace to help in time of need. It is the provision made by God for His own blood-bought saints. The cross is the meeting-place of God and the sinner, answering to the altar at the door of the court. That is where God meets the sinner; but for communion it is in heaven itself.

We have everything to encourage us to draw nigh, and how blessed to think we have liberty of access, and everything to inspire our souls with confidence. Dispensationally, one nation was near to God, and all others far off. But it was comparative nearness, for one tribe was nearer to God than the rest; and one family nearer to God than the other families; and one member of that family nearer to God than the other members; and he could only come but once a year into the most holy place; but now, into that which it typified, into heaven itself; all the saints of God have access. What a wonder we do not appreciate it more, and enter in! What a character it ought to give to each one!

Before I pass on I would like to make one remark. We sing “His precious blood has spoken there,” etc. It used to read “His precious blood is sprinkled there.” I believe our hymnbooks show where we are; we have had to correct our hymns. You cannot build a doctrine on a type. One teacher among Brethren went far astray, and taught the Lord had to go into heaven after His death to make propitiation, building a doctrine on the type, instead of remembering the type is not the very image, but only a shadow.

Very often shadow and substance show great points of contrast. Atonement in all its parts was finished when Jesus died. The veil was immediately rent; His precious blood had spoken there. Of course, we get the other truth of Hebrews 9:12, that in virtue of His blood He entered in once; but the Lord had to add nothing to His work on the cross of propitiation. It is a finished work.

I said just now you get substitution and propitiation in atonement. On the ground of propitiation the gospel goes out to all the world. In 1 John 2:2 The words in italics ought to be left out. It is on the ground of propitiation the gospel goes out to every creature, and all blessings flow out from the heart of God to man through that blood which has spoken there. In the other goat we get substitution for those whose sins were confessed on its head, and borne away never to return.

In verse 23 we come to the furniture of the holy place. What we were looking at before was found in the holiest of all, and between the holy and the most holy place was found the veil. When we come to the furniture of the holy place, three things were found there, but only two are mentioned here. There is nothing said here of the altar of incense, and that has a voice to us. God’s thoughts are not as our thoughts His ways are always perfect. First we get God manifesting Himself, God in display. The altar of incense had to do with approach to God. We shall see it in its proper place; here, where it is display, it is left out; we only get the table and candlestick. That convinces me it is wise to do as we have done, and keep to God’s order. Generally, people begin with the gate, the question of the sinner coming near to God. If we do not see the difference it looks like confusion; but if we see first it is God in manifestation, and then teaching us how to approach Him, it is very beautiful.

“Every whit uttereth His glory,” and in all these vessels we have the Lord Jesus variously brought before us. We have had to mark that in the ark of the covenant, and the mercy-seat covering it. Now we have the table of shewbread; and the table being of shittim wood covered with gold, in the same way as the ark, points to Christ in His two natures, divine and human.

The shittim wood would present the nature of the Lord Jesus in its purity. The LXX, as we have noticed before, speaks of it as the wood not liable to rot, and it has been called the incorruptible wood, telling of the One holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, in Whom was no sin, Who knew no sin, and Who did no sin. There is nothing in the whole word of God so jealously guarded as the Person of Christ. We ought to be on our guard never to countenance any slight put on the Lord Jesus Christ.

In the second Epistle of John, when it is a question of receiving, the responsibility there is laid on the lady and her children, showing that not a single one in the assembly could excuse himself; we are all responsible as to reception at the Lord’s table. It is not only elder brethren, but we are called to “receive ye one another, as Christ also received us, to the glory of God” (Rom. 15:7); and it would not be to the glory of God to receive one that did not bring the doctrine of Christ, that is, the teaching of the Holy Ghost as to the divinity and humanity of the Lord Jesus. They were told in the second Epistle of John, if one did not bring that doctrine, “receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed, for he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds.” So we should be on our guard in every way, and refuse to listen to anything that would put a spot on the Spotless One.

So the shittim wood is covered all over with gold, typifying the divine and human natures.

And thou shalt make a table of acacia-wood, two cubits the length thereof, and a cubit the breadth thereof, and a cubit and a half the height thereof (25:23).

We see the use of these measurements when we are comparing one’ vessel with another.

And thou shalt overlay it with pure gold, and make upon it a border of gold round about. And thou shalt make for it a margin of an hand-breadth round about, and shalt make a border of gold for the margin thereof round about (25:24, 25).

If we look at these golden crowns as representing the divine glory of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the border thereto having also a crown, evidently with a view to the protection of that which was on the table, it brings before us how God guards His (in this case, earthly) people. There are twelve loaves put on this table, and the number twelve is a very important one, for it sets forth complete administration; and as seven, the highest indivisible number, the number of perfection, is three plus four, so twelve is three multiplied by four. I would just mention, that when the twelve tribes are referred to they are always divided into four threes. For confirmation, look at Numbers 10. But the twelve apostles are always divided into three fours. Peter is always the first of the first four, Philip of the second, and James the less of the third four. They are always the same four in each group, though the three later names may be placed differently. Three is a heavenly number, and four an earthly one.

It is very sweet to think of that protection, for in principle we have warrant for representing it as true of the Lord’s people now. For the time, Israel is set aside, and God has others now whom He calls His people. How blessed to be always guarded by the divine glory of the Lord Jesus Christ! And the One presented here in the glory, in God’s presence, has known what it is to have wilderness experiences. That is what is suggested by the four rings and staves of verses 26, 27.

And while He was down here, it is as well for us to remember He laid aside His glory, but never gave up His deity. “In Him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily,” and that was always true of the Lord Jesus while here below. It is not as in the A.V. that the Father was pleased, but it was the good pleasure of the Godhead that in Him should all fullness dwell: that was always true, it was never given up. That side is more dwelt on in the Gospel of John. Twice there He speaks of raising Himself from the dead. That is quite suitable to John, but would not be so suitable in the other Gospels.

There are comparatively few events in the Lord’s life that we have given to us; but those events are a divine selection, and there is a divine arrangement in each Gospel, giving to each its own peculiar character. So if the Lord has been down here in wilderness surroundings, it is a very blessed thing for us. His ear was opened to hear as the learned, and He has never forgotten one lesson He learned here; and we are getting the benefit of that every day. His sympathy is living and real. How blessed to think of Him up there living for us!

Speaking of traveling days, it would be as well for us to turn to Numbers 4:7. There is the table, pointing to Christ; and there is a cloth of blue put on that table. We get Aaron and his sons mentioned as feeding on the shewbread; and Aaron is a type of Christ, and his sons are typical of us, who are spoken of in Peter as a holy priesthood, and our business as such is to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. Further on, we are spoken of as a royal priesthood, and our business as such is to show forth the praises of Him Who has called us out of darkness into His Marvelous light. As these Kohathites, and Gershonites, and Merarites, the three families of the Levites, had apportioned to them what things they were to carry through the wilderness, and every bit showed out Christ; so He is the perfect pattern, but it requires the whole company of saints passing through the wilderness to show Him out. We ought to be looking out to see something of Christ in one another. Some had to carry the ark, and mercy-seat, and cherubim; others, the golden candlestick, or table, or altar; there is a lot of precious truth brought out as to these vessels.

But here they spread a cloth of blue on the gold, suggestive of the Heavenly One, a Stranger here. And we are heavenly ones. You may say, “I do not assume to be”; but you are heavenly, if a Christian, for “as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly.” “Our citizenship is in heaven,” passing through this earth as strangers and pilgrims, we should be always displaying Christ.

Then the golden vessels pertaining to the table were put on this blue cloth, and the continual bread too. Then they spread on them a cloth of scarlet, so all were covered over with scarlet. Scarlet sometimes means worldly glory, sometimes Jewish royalty: Saul “clothed you with scarlet.”

And all was covered with a covering of badgers’ skins. There is nothing to indicate anything beautiful in badgers’ skins. I take it to be that is what the natural eye saw in Christ. But also, I take it, you have protection, and vigilance in keeping away evil. What we sometimes sing is blessedly true,

“Only those His glory saw,

To whom Thou gavest sight.”

The unregenerate confess “when we shall see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him”; but the anointed eye can say, “we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only Begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.”

Rings generally would symbolize that which is eternal, without beginning or end, so I could not agree with those who would suggest the four evangelists are meant by the four rings. The prodigal had a ring. It is a symbol of the everlasting love wherewith the Lord loves His people, with no beginning and no end.

And thou shalt set upon the table shewbread before Me continually (25:30).

If we want the particulars of that, we must turn to Leviticus 24:5. Fine flour is used to typify the humanity of the Lord Jesus. It is used in the meal-offering, fine flour mingled with oil, and unleavened wafers (leaven always means evil, both in Old and New Testaments. We read of the leaven of Herod, of the Pharisees and the Sadducees; moral evil is called so in the Corinthians, and doctrinal evil in Galatians), anointed with oil.

But in the Lord Jesus there is absence of evil; so we find the unleavened wafers are anointed with oil, and then the varied ways in which the Lord Jesus was tried here below. You get the fine flour mingled with oil in Luke 1, “that Holy Thing that shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.” Then the anointing was at His baptism. He is both anointed and sealed: “Him hath God the Father sealed”: “God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power.” So you see, we get the Lord presented to us as the Man Christ Jesus here below in that offering, and this corresponds with it.

When there is a new meat-offering in Leviticus 23, which corresponds with Pentecost, there is leaven, for in the church there is leaven. As to our standing, it is perfect; but as to our experience, God has cleansed us from the guilt of sin; we know what it is to be without guile: and He has delivered us from the power of sin, but not yet from the presence of sin. All the time we are here, sin will be existing. If in the Spirit (Rom. 8), we are not in the flesh, but we have the flesh in us. God has condemned it, we know; and we, through grace, bow to that with adoring hearts.

So it is Christ in His purity presented in these loaves, — six in a row, and put there under God’s eye every sabbath, and remaining there till the next, — a complete cycle of time. And this to give delight to the heart of God. Pure frankincense was put on them. They were not to eat the frankincense; it was all for Jehovah, and had to be burnt on the altar (Lev. 24:6-9).

God’s people, His redeemed people, and then the sweetness of it, that which represents Christ, burnt on the altar. Twelve is a complete administrative number, and these loaves would doubtless represent the twelve tribes in their association with Christ; and those twelve tribes are not forgotten of Him, even through this long dark night of their dispersion.

The Lord Jesus is Priest after the order of Melchizedek, but the functions of His office are Aaronic, and intercessional; “He ever liveth to make intercession for them.” But He is coming out. The Melchizedek function will be blessing. When Abraham returned from the slaughter of the kings, he was met by Melchizedek, and the victor was blessed by him, as the victorious Jew will be by and by. He comes out to bless, and I think what we sing is quite correct,

“He Who with hands uplifted,

Went from this earth below,

Shall come again, all gifted

His blessing to bestow.”

When He comes to bless His earthly people, as a King and Priest, like Melchizedek (for Genesis 14. is quite a millennium picture), we shall be with Him, and that will be the true day of atonement. The High Priest has gone in, but He has not come out yet. Times and seasons have nothing to do with the church. All that the word of God calls the interval while the church is being called out is “an hour,” “a moment,” a “little while.”

Directly you get God’s earthly people, you get dates. To Abraham it was said, the Egyptians should evil entreat them four hundred years. Then we have the duration of the captivity prophesied; and then in Daniel, the seventy weeks; and they will take you right on to the end, when the Lord comes. Then when He is made known to His brethren as typified by Joseph, who then had a wife and children, we shall be with Him. That will be the manifestation of the sons of God. Our life is a hidden life now, hidden with the One gone in within the veil. It is not in Colossians 3 a question of security, but of life hidden, and life manifested. He will be manifested, and we with Him.

So I have no doubt, in principle, we can apply this to ourselves, but the twelve loaves do not represent the church. The two loaves on the day of Pentecost do, but there it is testimony. I know Jew and Gentile are baptized into one body, but I think the two loaves there represent an adequate testimony when the Holy Ghost came down. “And it shall be Aaron’s and his sons’.” Eating of it spoke of communion and identification. We get the thought in 1 Corinthians 10: “The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ?”

One that is walking in a carnal path, and a worldly way, could not partake of what is typified here. It is to be fed upon and eaten, suggestive of communion and identification, but it must be “in a holy place,” for it is “most holy.” It is very striking where we get “holy,” and “most holy.” We do not get “holy” in the book of Genesis; and yet what a long period of the world’s history is covered by Genesis,— a good deal more than half the time from the creation to the birth of the Lord But we do not get the word “holy.” After creation, Jehovah rested the seventh day, and hallowed it; but the sabbath was broken by the sin of man, the head dragging down all his inheritance with him. God does not dwell with man except on the ground of redemption; but where God dwells holiness has a very great importance.

Before redemption is accomplished, man’s attention is drawn to holiness. Moses turned aside to see the burning bush, and God spoke to him, He Who is called the One Who dwelt in the bush, and He said, “Put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground.” So to us who are brought so near, it comes with far greater force, “Be ye holy, for I am holy.” What a holy people we ought to be, as suggested in the end of Hebrews 12!

In referring to that, I was thinking that the very place, or places, where man would be tempted to put some defect, or a spot, on Christ, are most jealously guarded; as, for instance, the meat-offering. It is “most holy,” the human nature of the Lord Jesus, where man would put some defect. It does not say so of the burnt offering, or the peace-offering; but of the meat-offering, and the sin-offering. That, too, is called “most holy.” There were offerings that were a sweet savor to God. It is not necessary to state it of them, but the Holy Spirit guards where man might be tempted to put a defect.

Some have taken the principles brought out here as referring to the Lord’s table. Many people are disposed to say, “It is the Lord’s table, therefore you ought not to exclude any of the Lord’s people.” But there is another way of looking at it. He is Lord at His own table, and He has to decide who should, and who should not, be there.

If you look at that verse we referred to in Romans 15, you see that if a man was walking in an unholy path it would not be for the Lord’s glory to receive him. So the Lord lays down here who is to eat of this food, and who is not to eat of it. If a daughter of Aaron, for instance, married a stranger, she was not permitted to take of that food. If her husband died, and she was received back to her father’s house, she could participate in the privileges of the house.

And thou shalt make a lamp-stand of pure gold; [of] beaten work shall the lamp-stand be made: its base and its shaft, its cups, its knobs, and its flowers shall be of the same (25:31).

In the candlestick it is a question of testimony. We have had the shewbread, and the priestly food. That would be God’s order for our souls to be fed first, and then testimony as a result. The lamp-stand was for light giving, God as Light displaying Himself in the Person of Christ; that is what we have here typically.

“God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all”; and when the Lord Jesus was here, “in Him was life, and the life was the light of men”; and as the True Light coming into the world He shed light on everything. That which makes manifest is light, and the Lord Jesus, the One Who dwelt in the bosom of the Father, the only One capable of telling out the heart of God, was Light, and showed up every man. Not, as the “Friends” teach, that every man was enlightened; but every man was shown up.

To the Ephesians the apostle wrote, Ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord; walk as children of light.” So when the Lord was here, He could say, “When I am in the world [that is how the R.V. puts it] I am the light of the world.” When the Lord Jesus went back to the Father, and sent down the Holy Ghost to form the assembly on earth, we get the church set up in the world as a responsible witness.

It is not a seven-branched candlestick used to represent it in sign and symbol in the Revelation; but where God is giving us a divine history of the church on earth, there are seven candlesticks: the seven churches are the seven candlesticks, set up by God as a responsible witness. We know how it has utterly failed, and the decision of the Lord Jesus to spue it out of His mouth; and we feel ourselves at the end of a poor, failed dispensation, the close of which might take place any day.

But here typically the church would be seen in Christ in all the perfections of the heavens as we see the golden lamp-stand in the holy place. There was no window to the tabernacle. The Shekinah was the light of the Holiest of all, but in the holy place it would be the golden lamp-stand.

God has told us the material, but not the measure. We have the measurements of most of the holy things, but not of the lamp-stand; but it was beaten out of a talent of pure gold, no alloy.

We have seen the gold points to that which is divine, as the shittim wood to the humanity of the Lord Jesus. A talent would be 114 lb. of pure gold, not melted and cast into this we have before us, but according to the word (whatever historians may say), beaten work. And if we look at ourselves in Christ, we can look at ourselves as His workmanship. And I should think the “beating” would refer to the suffering and sorrow endured by the Lord Jesus on the cross. The oil would be the symbol of the Holy Ghost; and we read in John 7 “the Holy Ghost was not yet given because that Jesus was not yet glorified.” It was necessary that Christ should be glorified before the Holy Ghost was given. Then at Pentecost it could be said, “He hath shed forth this.”

In Luke 24 the Lord says, “Ought not Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory? “And there is a verse in 2 Peter that tells us those inspired holy men of old who “spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost,” when God used them to give us the Old Testament, “testified beforehand of the sufferings of Christ and the glories that should follow.”

So what we have here would just be in keeping with that. It was a very beautiful vessel, — very ornamental, but there was nothing human in it. Like the mercy-seat, another lovely type of Christ, it was all gold: nothing human. Then in the last verse we read, “Look that thou make them after their pattern which was showed thee in the mount.” There was Moses up in the mount receiving all these instructions; and he had to be very, very careful to do exactly as God had showed him.

So in all these instructions there was nothing left to the skill of, or anything that proceeded from, Bezaleel apart from God. The meaning of his name is “in the shadow of God”; and he is the first man we read of who is said to be filled with God’s Spirit; he was the maker of these things. No artisan skill of man, no human ability; all was divine.

As we look into it, we shall see how the lamp-stand with its lamps is connected with the cross of Christ, and the priesthood of Christ. It is only Christ Who can sustain us as light bearers.

The material was gold, and the number seven has a conspicuous place. Not only the seven branches, but the seven knops in each pair of branches. So if you take the material, all was divine; and the number seven, all perfection; and oil a symbol of the Holy Ghost. So we have divine testimony, in perfection, in the power of the Holy Spirit. We have been made partakers of the divine nature; or as in Hebrews 2:11 “all of one” company.

It was simply the symbol of the Holy Ghost the children of Israel were enjoined to bring to Aaron. In Numbers 8. we get something about it which I have no doubt was introduced there, after we have been told of the generosity of the princes, in order to show that real worth is seen in the light of the sanctuary. God loves a cheerful giver, and what He really values is the outcome of love to Himself; and that is why, I believe, you get the candlestick referred to just after the liberality of the princes in Numbers 7.

Then let us turn to Leviticus 24. The children of Israel had to bring the oil. They were God’s redeemed people, and responsible to be obedient, and God told them of their responsibility. In looking at these types, we have to be very careful, for often when we put shadow and substance together, there are great differences, and the special truth is presented in the point of contrast. I judge we should be warranted to regard ourselves in the place of responsibility here. In Philippians 2:15 the saints are called to shine “as lights in the world, holding forth the word of life,” although the word used there is heavenly luminaries. Where it is seen in its perfection in Christ it is viewed in the sanctuary; but the testimony of the church in the world is marked by failure.

There are two things definitely stated about this lamp-stand. It threw its light on the table of shewbread, and also on itself to display its own beauty. God will have His Son honored, and it is impossible for us to make too much of Him.

Now there is no “outside the veil,” as we have here, for the veil is rent; and there is no place of worship on earth, it is all removed to heaven, for Christ is there. The place of worship is heaven; the subject is Christ; and our power for worship is the Holy Spirit. But the first thing, certainly, is for us to be inside the veil before going outside the camp. There we get our power and strength. If we attempt to go outside the camp in our own power and strength it means utter failure. It ought to be Christ exclusively, especially when we are gathered around His table; it is a sad thing when we get our eye off Him, and are occupied then with our own weakness. We are there on the Lord’s day morning to remember Him in His death, and His wondrous love. There is no place like it this side the glory. How thankful we ought to be that

“When all around Him joined

To cast its darkest shadow

Across His holy mind.”

the Lord was thinking of us; and what a mercy now, at the end of these closing days, that we should have it in its simplicity restored to us, when we see what man has made of it.

Then, you see, we said the beating would bring before us the sufferings of Christ. So the candlestick and the oil were both beaten. Some have thought of linking this up with Gethsemane. It certainly was at the base of the Mount of Olives, and means “the place of oil-presses”; but I would rather think of it as what the Lord suffered on the cross. Then “He, being by the right hand of God exalted, hath shed forth this.”

So with the priesthood, His present service of love. “Without the veil... shall Aaron order it from evening unto the morning” (Lev. 24:3). What makes it night is the absence of the Sun of righteousness, the absence of Christ.

Priestly energy is used here to maintain the testimony. Everything connected with it is all divine, snuffers and snuff-dishes, to be used by Aaron alone here, but in another place by Aaron and his sons. If we looked at it in its teaching for us, it would be removing that which hindered the testimony, using snuff-dish and tongs.

How the Holy Ghost and the Person of Christ are intimately connected! His ministry He attributes to the Spirit of God, “if I, by the Spirit of God, cast out demons”; and even His death, “through the eternal Spirit He offered Himself.” In the meat-offering where the fine flour is mingled with oil, it brings before us in a very marked way how intimately the Holy Ghost is connected with all His path: the “mingling” speaking of His Incarnation, and the anointing “at His baptism. I was thinking of that word in Romans 1:4, “Declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection of the dead.” The resurrection of Lazarus was a testimony that He was Son of God, but it was all by the power of the Spirit of God.

This use of the snuffers makes us think of the Lord’s love and grace toward us. He deals with us in our souls individually, and removes that which hinders our godly testimony, a secret between our souls and Him. Our brethren might remove it, and put it under the nose of this and that one, and say the disagreeable thing belonged to so-and-so; no: there were snuffers, and snuff-dishes, and it was deposited there. In one way, every one of us is just what God would have us be; that is, viewing us here in the sanctuary; but there is also the privilege conferred on us of bearing testimony in the world.

John 13. is a very important scripture, and a somewhat similar thought to that I have just expressed. “He that is bathed” (of course, it is not with blood there), that is never repeated; but that part of us which comes in contact with the defiling scene around us constantly needs washing, and that will go on as long as we are in this defiling scene. As to our standing, the eternal concerns of our souls are placed by God, in His grace, beyond the reach of any possible change; but when we come to our state, we are in a place of possible failure, and may grieve the Holy Spirit.

But we ought to be able to take a low place, and wash one another’s feet. It is a service of love, and we are called by love to serve one another (John 13:14). We ought not to take delight in exposing a brother or sister; that is the very opposite of feet washing, and alas! often done. If we carry away a sense of our responsibility, as the Lord told His disciples, “Ye are the salt of the earth” and “the light of the world,” and remember the light is only maintained by priestly energy, we shall be glad to be in the hands of the Lord so to deal with us as to make us light bearers as in Philippians 2.

I would not make that thought at all different to what we have had before us, for it is a heavenly scene we have had in the sanctuary before God, “heavenly luminaries.” We have no natural power. That must be it. The Lord can sustain and use us for His glory.

Chapter 26.

THIS chapter is a very interesting one, and I think has a good deal of practical teaching for us that we may well lay to heart. We have had occasion several times to notice that God had put in their hearts, as they said in that inspired song, to build Him an habitation; and now we have particulars about it that had been shown to Moses in the mount.

We learn from Exodus, and onward, that God delights to have His redeemed people around Himself. Of course, we can look at this habitation of God in several ways; or in more than one way. We know the Lord Jesus is spoken of both as tabernacle and temple in the New Testament. In John 1. it tells us about the Eternal Word becoming flesh and “tabernacling among us”; and in chapter 2 He Himself speaks of His body as God’s temple: “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” They did not understand His language, but thought He spoke of Herod’s temple; but we are told “He spoke of the temple of His body.”

He was God’s dwelling-place here below. Ever since the tabernacle was made we can see God had His dwelling-place here. The Lord acknowledged the temple then existing as “My Father’s house.” Then, when the Holy Ghost was sent down, God had another habitation, made up of living stones, as it tells us in Ephesians 2, “Ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.” Then in 1 Corinthians 6 they were told, “What! know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you?” (1 Cor. 6:19). That is looking at individuals; but in chapter 3. the whole assembly is God’s building (1 Cor. 3:9), and it goes on to tell them, “Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?” and I have no doubt we have both thoughts in the tabernacle. It represents the Lord Jesus in a very beautiful way, and also the church.

But the assembly of God is looked at in more ways than one in the New Testament. I am speaking of the assembly as a building, not as the body of Christ. It is viewed in some scriptures as admitting nothing spurious; then in others, where man’s responsibility is spoken of, it recognizes that which is spurious, — wood, hay, and stubble, rubbish brought in where man is the builder. But in the first place where the assembly is spoken of (Matt. 16), where He says to Peter, “Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jona; for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee,” he did not get it in a natural way; “but My Father which is in heaven”; God acting in sovereign grace. “And I also say unto thee, that thou art Peter; and upon this rock I will build My church”; there is nothing spurious in that building.

Then again in Ephesians 2, perhaps you get both aspects. In Christ “in Whom all the building, fitly framed together, groweth unto a holy temple in the Lord”; there is nothing spurious there; it is divine workmanship. “In Whom ye also are builded together for a habitation of God through the Spirit” may correspond with the view we get of it in 1 Corinthians 3. But where it is a growing temple the work is all divine and admits no failure. Soon it will be manifested in glory.

As His body it is a different thought. In Ephesians 3:21 it is in that building God is going to get glory throughout all ages: but in chapter 1. we get the Lord’s universal sway, all things put under His feet, and the body is the complement of Him Who filleth all in all; marvelous thought! Not Head of the church but Head over all things to the church. She makes the thing complete, that is the meaning of the word “fullness” there. I do not see you could have a higher thought than that, that extraordinary intimacy in the very highest exaltation. You get the thought of relationship in the bride; the body is looked at differently. You could not have more intimate relationship than that of body and Head.

We may just look at this building, I think; we have the whole chapter before us.

The foundation, you see, is very wonderful. It is founded on sockets of silver, and there are differences of judgment as to the exact amount in each socket. The general thought is that the “talent” there is 114 lb., and two were under each board; so 228 lb. of silver were under each board.

Now it is interesting for us to see how that silver was derived. Chapter 30 tells us when the children of Israel were numbered, each above twenty years old had to bring half a shekel, after the shekel of the sanctuary, that is ten gerahs. Ten carries with it the thought of responsibility, responsibility Godward; the ten commandments, for instance. The Lord in ransoming us took our full responsibility, and answered for it perfectly. The rich might not bring more, nor the poor less—one measure, half a shekel. That tells us the worst man that ever lived would need nothing more than Christ to meet the need of his soul, for it is a question of being among the number of His redeemed; and no one needs more than Christ, and nothing less will suffice for any. The best need Christ, and He suffices for the worst.

The Lord said, “The Son of Man is come, not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His life a ransom for many”; and the teaching of scripture in many places is very sweet as to that. In Job 33, where we have God dealing with a soul in His grace, He says, “Deliver him from going down to the pit.” Was it that the man intended to live a better life if raised up? Not at all; “I have found a ransom.” And one in speaking of that almost instinctively links it up with two other scriptures. When Isaac said in Genesis 22, “Where is the lamb for a burnt-offering?” Abraham replied, “My son, God will provide Himself a lamb for a burnt-offering”; and “God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son” (John 3:16). So He provided the Lamb; He found a ransom; He gave His Son.

We are told the amount of silver (Ex. 38:25). There were other things to be made of silver in connection with the tabernacle, A hundred talents, that is, ten multiplied by ten, would speak of intensified responsibility, giving us a sense of the immense responsibility the Lord Jesus undertook, and how completely He cleared His own.

There were forty-eight boards that made the tabernacle, and each board had two tenons, or “hands,” the Hebrew means. So those two hands, so to speak, lay hold of these sockets, and go down into them, and then it is held up by the 228 lb. of silver. Of course, the silver points to the blood of Christ (1 Peter 1:18). So if we look at that building as representing the church, it shows us we form a part of that building based on redemption. That fits in with the whole character of this book, redemption; would we knew and understood it better!

“We are by Christ redeemed;

The cost—His precious blood;

Be nothing by our souls esteemed

Like this great good!

We sing this sometimes, and it is a very sweet hymn. Oh, how blessed to be a redeemed one! Even an Old Testament saint, one of the earliest (for I suppose it would go to show he was living in a time covered by Genesis), says, “I know that my Redeemer liveth.”

In dealing with the boards, it would be supposed from the word of God that they represent the saints of God. I cannot go with many who take up the shittim wood in this particular place, and deal with it quite differently when it is used to make the ark, etc. All agree there it represented the humanity of Christ. The LXX. call it incorruptible wood, the sinless humanity of the Lord Jesus Christ. In this case many take it up as a tree severed from its root, humanity, and then God dealing with the soul, making it a new creature, and covering it with righteousness, the gold.

But the way it represents itself to me is this: — in the same book dealing with symbols, you would not get the same symbol to represent two different things. In different parts of scripture you might; as for instance, in 1 Peter we read, “your adversary the devil as a roaring lion,” etc., and where David speaks of the lion in 1 Samuel 17. we can quite see the same figure used of him; but in Revelation 5. the Lion of the tribe of Judah is the Lord Jesus Christ. But not in the same book do we find one symbol used for two different things.

No doubt here we get the Lord Jesus Christ and the church as well; and if I look at the shittim wood in these boards I see it represents Christ in His divinity and His humanity, — the incorruptible nature of the Lord Jesus Christ as a Man, and His own divine nature in the gold; and then, you and I accepted in that One before God. Christ, “Who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption,” for “He hath made Him to be sin for us Who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.”

The gold represents divine righteousness where God is; brass, divine righteousness where man is. “As He is, so are we in this world”; and the one who gives us that takes up nature: the Lord Jesus in His divine nature in the Gospel, and that same nature shown out in believers in his Epistle. “As He is, so are we in this world,” we who are “builded together for a habitation of God through the Spirit.” How very blessed for us to realize that we have a nature that after God is created in righteousness and true holiness!

There are twenty of these boards placed side by side, and six placed at the west end of this building, and two for corner pieces. And what we have read shows us there was a ring that fastened these corners at the bottom and at the top. A ring is used almost invariably to represent eternity; and it would be God telling us of our eternal security.

Then there are bars of shittim wood, five on each side, four shorter than the middle one. They did not extend from end to end; the middle one did. The bars passed through golden rings. Again, God is bringing before us the thought of our eternal security. “My Father which gave them Me is greater than all, and none is able to pluck them out of My Father’s hand.” So there you have the eternal security of believers brought before us.

What a structure! How stable! How perfect! There is not an idle word in the word of God. Every word has its own voice to us: the silver sockets telling of the precious blood of Christ, or the boards, which together form the building. We can rejoice we belong to that fitly framed temple in the Lord. What a mercy that we poor sinners of the Gentiles should form an integral part of that wondrous building!

Then, when it was all put together, it was all covered with that which brings before us the varied glories of the Lord Jesus Christ in these curtains of which we read. First of all we get God displaying Himself, and it is from God’s side we are getting the particulars here. That is the only reason I know of why the curtains come first in this chapter. They bring out the varied glories of the Lord Jesus Christ in a very blessed way; and I think it is important to see that the order is first to exhibit God Himself.

It is something like Leviticus (which never ought to be separated from Exodus). We get the whole structure complete, and Jehovah taking possession and the glory filling it; and then a voice comes out of the tabernacle, and gives instruction for the burnt-offering, again from God’s side. Man would begin with the sin-offering first; God begins with the burnt-offering.

These curtains are twenty-eight cubits, and there were ten curtains. Twenty-eight is four times seven; and the breadth was four cubits; every one was of one measure.

When we think of the material, and the different colors, the Spirit of God uses them to teach us various lessons. When we come to Ezekiel, the prophet gives us an account of a temple greater than this; and the prophet Haggai said, “The latter glory of this house shall be greater than the former.” Men speak of the first, second, and third temple, but God always speaks of it as one house. In the A.V. it says “glory of this latter house,” but the R.V. gives “latter glory of this house.” The old men wept that remembered the glory of the house they had seen; the young men rejoiced, not knowing about the glory that had been. Then the prophet was instructed to teach them there was a glory that would eclipse even that of Solomon’s day.

We look around now, and see the confusion of that which bears the name of Christ; a day of wreck and ruin, of surrender, of departure from the truth, of fearful scattering; and one grieves when we compare it with what we get in Acts, where they were of one heart and one soul. The power of God’s grace is very lovely; but the Spirit of God would take us on to Revelation 21. for instance, and show us the magnificence, the grandeur of the bride of Christ in the day of glory, far more blessed than anything seen in the history of the church in this world in the brightest day.

The fine-twined linen would tell us of the spotless purity of Him Who knew no sin, and did no sin, and in Whom was no sin; the one holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners. That is what the fine-twined linen sets forth, the spotless purity of the Lord’s humanity.

Three phases of humanity have been seen in the world—innocent humanity in Adam for a little while; fallen humanity which we all know a little of; and holy humanity seen in the Lord Jesus Christ, that Holy Thing. The Father could say as He opened heaven and looked down, “This is My beloved Son in whom I have found My delight,” and that One could look up and say, “I do always the things that please Him”; and challenge those around, “Which of you convinceth me of sin?”

Of course, that same truth is brought before us in many ways in the types. There is nothing in the whole range of the word of God so jealously guarded as the Person of Christ.

The blue would be a heavenly color. In all my long experience I have only met with one who differed from that; in his case the exception proves the rule. Blue is ethereal, heavenly; and would bring before us the heavenly glories of that One. And it is important we should have His heavenly glory connected with His spotless humanity.

In John 3:13 He speaks of Himself as the Son of man which is in heaven, and we should never dissociate that verse from the one that follows. Never begin to preach the gospel from verse 14. How necessary to associate those two verses together, for it is the glory of the Person that gives the work its value; and the One speaking to Nicodemus has divine attributes; He is the Omnipresent One.

Some have linked up this with the four Gospels. There may be something in it. They have a very important place. J.G.B. said he conceived John had the same relation to the three synoptic Gospels as the four Gospels have to all the other scriptures.

You get the cherubim mentioned here. I do not think these had four faces, but those brought before us in Ezekiel had. We get a combination of the cherubim with the seraphim of Isaiah 6 in the Revelation; and I have heard there have been old manuscripts that had a lion’s head at the commencement of Matthew; an ox with a yoke at the beginning of Mark; a man’s head at Luke, and an eagle at John.

Then again, as to these colors: blue would be connected with John; purple with Luke, where Christ is seen as Son of man, for as Son of man He has universal sway; scarlet with Matthew, royalty connected with Israel. “Saul clothed you with scarlet.” Most of us have looked at it differently. I should judge purple is the imperial color, speaking of Him Who is yet to be revealed as King of kings, and Lord of lords. Then, as to Israel, we have very definite scriptures. Psalms 2 is in connection with Israel, “My King upon My holy hill of Zion”; but though He was denied the glories of that Psalm He gets those of Psalms 8, universal dominion.

Speaking of the cherubim, I have heard a brother use it to illustrate the gifts given by the Lord to the assembly; the lion as the evangelist, who has to go out and face the world, signifying courage, boldness; the ox as the teacher, because the saints are very slow to learn, and he must be very patient; the man as the pastor, characterized by sympathy and intelligence, the two main characteristics of the pastor; and then the eagle as the prophet, soaring to heaven. I only give it to you for what it is worth.

But as regards the cherubim here in these curtains, they would speak of the execution of God’s judicial power; and it would remind us of the Lord’s words, “The Father judgeth no man” (John 5:22). That is not contradictory to 1 Peter 1:17 where the Father judgeth every man’s work; for there it is the Father dealing with His own children. But as regards the human race, He judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son. So the One brought before us here in His varied glories has judicial authority, and by and by will execute it.

And thou shalt make fifty clasps of gold, and couple the curtains together with the clasps, that the tabernacle may be one [whole] (27:6).

What specially is mentioned here as making it one is that it is joined together. The figure “one” is exclusiveness, not another, one to itself. The loops were of blue, the heavenly color; and I have seen somewhere that one of the old English versions used to read “blue silk.” But blue is sufficient to direct our thoughts to heaven, and gold to that which is divine.

So it is a heavenly and divine unity formed by God. As far as manifestation is concerned there is anything but that now, but the day is coming when it will be displayed in glory; and it exists as such before the eye of God in Christ now. And it would suggest our responsibility.

The Epistle that gives to us God’s eternal purposes concerning the assembly enjoins the saints to “walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, with all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love; endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the [uniting] bond of peace” (Eph. 4:1-3).

Ephesians 3 is a parenthesis bringing before us some particulars of the mystery; and chapter 4 is joined to the last verses of chapter 2: “Ye are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit”; so then “walk worthy of the vocation... endeavoring to keep the unity [the oneness] of the Spirit.” There is a responsibility connected with a truth such as this brought before us here, when we think of ourselves brought into divine relationship with others.

There are three unities the Lord prays about in John 17. One is the unity of the apostles, that unity was preserved in all their teaching; then there was a unity manifested for a brief space of time when they were all of one heart and one soul, that the world might believe. But there was failure; decay set in, and corruption. The third unity is a future thing, oneness in glory. There is no question there of human responsibility, all is divine. So we shall be seen everlastingly in the same glory with the Lord Jesus. It is sweet to think that from the unity looked at in that way failure is excluded entirely.

Well, all these curtains made one tabernacle, the tabernacle formed of forty-eight boards of shittim wood covered with gold, covered with that which brings Christ typically and vividly before us. The beauty of that could only be seen by God’s anointed priests. The people had not access, only the priests, types of ourselves.

“Only those His beauty saw

To whom Thou gavest sight.”

Only God’s wonderful distinguishing grace! Some, comparatively few, when He was here, saw any beauty in Him; but some could say, “We beheld His glory, the glory as of the only Begotten of the Father,” the One fairer than the sons of men, the incomparable One.

There was the gold, and the blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine-twined linen all wrought into these curtains. Where they were before God they surrounded the furniture which was given us first. All spoke of Christ, and only those inside, in the secret of the place, saw the gold, and blue, and purple, and scarlet, and the artistic work, the cherubim portrayed there. That would tell us of entering into the mind of God concerning His Christ, a privilege those who only saw the badgers’ skins did not share. When here He was the despised One, and He is so still. Who cares for Christ? Who sees any beauty in Him? Comparatively few.

Now God would have that covered and protected. The first things spoken of as covering it are the goats’ hair curtains; and we get the same thought of unity there, but in divine righteousness, brass. They were longer, and intended to cover over all those beautiful curtains we read of first. So they were purposely made longer to cover all, nothing of them was exposed outside.

And there was one curtain more, eleven instead of ten; and one of them was folded up and turned down over the front. It speaks to us of Christ. Zechariah says, “The prophets shall be ashamed every one of his vision, when he prophesieth; neither shall they wear a rough garment to deceive” (13:4), so evidently that is what the prophets were distinguished by, a “garment of hair,” as the margin says.

It just occurs to my mind, too, when the messengers the king sent to Baal-zebub, come back to him and tell him they had been sent back by a “hairy man,” he said, “It is Elijah the Tishbite.” So this goats’ hair would convey to us the thought of complete separation from men generally, and thus walking in an intensely separated path. Then again, it may link itself with the day of atonement. To meet Israel’s need God had provided two goats, telling of propitiation and substitution. We do not get the two things in the bullock for Aaron and his house. It is only propitiation there. But we can think that when the priests entered there was the double goats’-hair curtain. None of them could have drawn near apart from that provision on the day of atonement.

Verse 6 says “one tabernacle”; in verse 11 “one tent.”

And that which remaineth hanging over of the curtains of the tent, the half curtain that remaineth, shall hang over the rear of the tabernacle. And the cubit on the one side, and the cubit on the other side of that which remaineth in the length of the curtains of the tent, shall hang over the sides of the tabernacle on this side and on that side, to cover it (26:12, 13).

This is the thought of the goats’-hair curtain; it formed a protection to the other curtains of beauty. Then there was a third covering.

And thou shalt make a covering for the tent of rams’ skins dyed red, and a covering of badgers’ skins over [that] (26:14).

The ram has a prominent place in the consecration of the priest. Leviticus 8. brings that before us; and it would evidently point to protection from the weather, the skin, not only the hair; and it would tell of the intense absolute consecration of the Lord Jesus. None ever like His. His devotedness is beyond all others.

All this was put over that which typifies in one way ourselves as builded together for a habitation of God through the Spirit.

It would bring before us the One Who came to do the will of the One Who sent Him, and was obedient unto death, even the death of the cross; and it is sweet to think of Him as absolutely perfect. You could not speak of anything characterizing Him; there was an equipoise of every perfection.

The outside covering was badgers’ skins. I do not think we could come to any other conclusion than that it was something that was a contrast with the beautiful curtains. There was nothing attractive in it. It is difficult to decide what is meant exactly. But it was for protection from the weather in going through the wilderness. The only other place it is mentioned would convey the same thought; God telling the people He had shod them with badgers’ skins (Ezek. 16:10). That would convey protection for the feet, protection for the traveler, the sojourner. It would make us think of the Lord protected from all the evil in this world, contaminated by nothing, undefilable, not only undefiled. We listen to His word prophetically saying, “By the word of Thy lips I have kept me from the paths of the destroyer.” There was a holy vigilance; He was never taken by surprise, never touched. But all He was in His perfect holiness and beauty we are enveloped in.

So altogether in this chapter 26. we have a deal of very suggestive truth, if we put it all together.

And thou shalt set up the tabernacle according to its fashion, as hath been shown thee on the mountain (26:30).

How frequently it is impressed on Moses, “Thou shalt rear up the tabernacle according to the fashion thereof showed thee in the mount.” No deviation from it.

And thou shalt make a veil of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and twined byssus; of artistic work shall it be made with cherubim (26:31).

We may use “artistic” instead of “cunning.” If God had not given us the Epistle to the Hebrews we should be in some doubt as to the significance of these types. We are definitely told as to the meaning of the veil (Heb. 10:20).

Let us look at the verses in connection with it. Hebrews 10:16 speaks of a covenant God is going to make with Israel. It is a quotation from Jeremiah. It is “after those days,” after those existing now, in a future day, “I will put my laws into their hearts and in their minds will I write them; and their sins and iniquities I will remember no more.”

The blood of that covenant has been shed, but the covenant has not been ratified yet. The Lord Jesus said, “This is My blood of the new covenant which is shed for many, for the remission of sins.” On the ground of that blood the covenant will be ratified to them, and the blessing of remission of sins is ours now. “Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sins.” There will be offerings by and by, but commemorative as the Lord’s supper is to us; the ground upon which their sins and iniquities will be remembered no more. But that is done once, for “by one offering, he hath perfected forever,” in perpetuity, without a break, — “those that are sanctified. Having therefore, brethren, boldness,” liberty, “to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus.” The high priest could only go in on one day of the year; but the veil is rent now, and we have access every day and any hour. God has given us that place of access.

On the great day of atonement Aaron sprinkled with his finger, not his hand, of that blood once on the mercy-seat, for God; and seven times before it, telling the perfection of the standing of those God has brought to Himself. “Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the Just for the unjust, to bring us to God.” That standing always has the same value in His eyes.

In the veil we may look at the Lord in the light of the four Gospels: blue in John; while purple, the imperial color, refers us to Luke as the Son of man. He gets imperial authority as the Son of man. Then scarlet would refer to the glory and grandeur of Israel, and Matthew would give us more of that aspect; and then in Mark we get the perfect service for God and man in the One so delighting in His service. We get the one word variously translated “forthwith,” “immediately,” “anon,” etc., occurring forty times in Mark, while the same word only occurs forty times in the rest of the New Testament. So it strikingly brings out the perfection of Him as Servant here.

Then the cherubim would tell of the judicial glory of God, they are its executors. Besides seeing all that in the Gospels, we should be able to trace it all out in the prophet Isaiah in a very blessed way. “Behold My Servant”; “the government shall be upon His shoulder,” etc.

And thou shalt attach it to four pillars of acacia-wood overlaid with gold, their hooks of gold; they shall be on four bases of silver (26:32).

There were ninety-six sockets used for the boards, two tenons on each board, and one in each socket; so each board stood on 228 lb. of silver. The other four sockets were reserved for these pillars. It is no stretch of our imagination at all to regard them as the four evangelists holding up and displaying that blessed One, and sustained in that place divinely.

And thou shalt bring the veil under the clasps, and bring in thither, inside the veil, the ark of the testimony; and the curtain shall make a division to you between the holy [place] and the holiest of all (26: 33).

It is good for us to stop and consider the Marvelous place we are brought into. We have had it before us on past occasions. God separated one nation from the rest of the world, and they are called “nigh” in contrast with the Gentiles “far off.”

Then He chose one tribe to be nearer than the eleven others. They had the care of the tabernacle, and were substituted for the firstborn. God claimed all the firstborn of Israel when He destroyed the firstborn of Egypt. Subsequently, Levi was substituted for the firstborn of the other twelve tribes.

Then, one family out of the tribe of Levi had privileges above the other families, the family of Aaron, the priests; and they had access so far as to come into the holy place; but only one man was permitted to enter the Holiest one day in the year.

But beyond the privilege of Aaron there was one who had still greater privilege, — only one. If we turn to Numbers 12. we shall see it. I believe that the Cushite in verse I was Zipporah. Zipporah was descended through Midian from Abraham; but there is a verse that speaks of Cushan in connection with Midian (Hab. 3:7). Cushan is the diminutive of Cush. Cush was descended from Ham. One branch settled on the Euphrates, Nimrod belonged to that; and one settled on the Nile. So in Isaiah 18, speaking of the nation that will take Israel under her wing, it says she is “beyond the rivers of Cush,” or Ethiopia. Those rivers are the Euphrates and the Nile. And, besides Midian being connected with Cush in Habbakuk, there is a verse which says (Ezek. 29:10), speaking of the land of Egypt, “from the tower of Syene even unto the border of Ethiopia.” Now Syene is just where Cush joins Egypt, so if there was no other Cush at the other end the phrase would be nonsense; but it helps us to understand how she could be a Cushite.

If we turn to 2 Corinthians 3 we see the wonderful place we are brought into. There was no shining face under pure law. It was after mercy was added to the law that Moses’ face shone. God could not have gone on with the people after they made the golden calf, had He not brought in mercy. But even then, when Moses’ face shone, they could not behold it. “But we all”— in contrast with Moses, the most privileged of all the children of Israel, “are changed into the same image,” the common privilege of all the saints of God. I do not say all enjoy or use it, but it is the common privilege of all the saints of God, in contrast with the previous dispensation when there was only one man who had access to the presence of Jehovah.

It is well for us to remind our souls that “every whit of it uttereth His glory,” there is something precious in it concerning Christ. We are not left to our own thoughts or judgment as to the meaning of the veil. The Holy Spirit has told us in Hebrews “the veil, that is to say, His flesh”; nothing could be more definite than that. So in the veil we see the humanity of the Lord Jesus Christ.

We read in Philippians the Lord emptied Himself. He stooped from His own proper place of dignity and glory, and took upon Him the form of a servant. Before, He had always commanded; now, He came to obey. But He did not give up His deity. It was the good pleasure of the Godhead (the word “Father” in our version is in italics), it was the good pleasure of the Father, of the Son, of the Holy Spirit, that in Him should all fullness dwell; and the next chapter says, “In Him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily,” and we are filled to the full in Him. Oh, if we could only grasp that, it would be a wonderful help to us, as to our times of trial and patience; it would save us from haste, from irritability, and from everything uncomely.

The veil was the dividing point between the holy place and the most holy. God delights to dwell among His people, but that was existing which hindered Him from displaying Himself as He would. When the Lord was here, the natural eye saw nothing in Him; there was nothing attractive to the unregenerate.

Some saw His moral glory; “the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth,” that is the moral glory of the Lord Jesus. Some have thought John was referring to what he saw on the Mount of Transfiguration, but that was His official glory, and not in keeping with the Gospel of John.

That which ought to arrest the attention of almost a careless reader is that Matthew wrote of the Transfiguration, but he was not there. Mark wrote of it, but he was not there; Luke, too, wrote of it, but he was not there. People speak of evidence here and there of the writers being eyewitnesses; but John was there, and he wrote nothing about it. The vessels used to write both Old and New Testaments wrote as borne along by the Holy Ghost. That is in 2 Peter 1:21, and in 1 Peter 1:11 we are told they “testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow,”— what God had given them to say.

Each book has its own proper character, though many bear some evidence as to the vessel used. Another has said very nicely, that if water is going through a round pipe, it takes the shape of the pipe; and the same water flowing through a square pipe takes the shape of that pipe: so we see evidences of the vessel used, but that does not hinder the word being perfect. It saves us from a thousand snares when there is God-given faith in the plenary inspiration of scripture. If natural men, no matter how intelligent or learned, dabble in the things of God without divine illumination, they fall into all kinds of error, as we see today.

The plenary inspiration of scripture would take in the verbal inspiration; and would ensure it (I do not say a verbal translation) was absolutely perfect as coming from God. As we know, God has miraculously watched over it, and even the mistakes of copyists are not so much as the spots on the sun. One of the greatest critics of the original languages of the scriptures has said that the worst translation ever made has sufficient in it to save a soul. If you take the Roman Catholic version, with all its errors, where they habitually put penance for repentance, etc., there is sufficient in it for a soul wanting salvation to rest on: and I have no doubt many in the Romish Church are really the Lord’s—better than their creed.

We were showing that in the blue we get the heavenly color; in the purple the imperial; and in the scarlet royalty connected with Israel; while the fine twined linen tells of the perfect purity of the Lord Jesus Christ.

“Artistic” is a more modern word than “cunning.” “With cherubim shalt thou make it.” It is rather striking that there is the same quantity of material used for the veil, for the door, and for the gate; and the same description applies to all three, bringing Christ before us, as having the blue, the purple, and the scarlet; but there is no mention of the cherubim on the door or the gate. The gate is double the width of the veil: there is beauty in that. When the sinner comes, it tells of the breadth of “whosoever” there. But the veil is twice as high as the gate, and the gate is twice as wide as the veil. So in the veil you get 10x10 to cubits = 100 square cubits; in the gate 20x5 cubits = 100; so with the door. Differing truths, but they all present Christ to us.

In 26:32 I do not think there could well be any question that the four pillars are the four evangelists, used of God to present in a fourfold way the person of Christ. Hooks of gold were also what was divine. The same divine power is used to support them in presenting Him. No mere man could have given us the four Gospels: it would be an impossibility. Most of us know the case of a man, very clever, but not loving the Lord, who wrote some apocryphal gospels in order to make light of the true ones, and it made a great stir. So finding it made such a stir, he thought he would read the real Gospels himself, and it resulted in his conversion. After his death some lines were found saying,

“The strongest will that ever rose

Against Thy law, to aid Thy foes,

Is quelled, my God, by Thee.

We have seen in the construction of the tabernacle that each Christian, each child of God, forms part of that blessed building, as connected with redemption, and as seen in Christ, covered with gold. So these pillars. If we turn to Galatians 2:9 it would warrant our looking at Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John as pillars, holding up Christ to our view.

While the veil was existing, the way into the holiest was not yet made manifest. The only thing that could effect the rending of the veil was the atonement wrought by the Lord Jesus Christ. When He bowed His head and gave up the ghost, the veil of the temple was rent from the top to the bottom, and “in the midst,” another evangelist tells us. Not rent by man, from bottom to top, but the act of God; a divine act. But man, not content with that, has patched it up again. Those who take the ground of law, and mix up law and grace, and say “Incline our hearts to keep this law” are on Galatian ground; and that is patching up the rent veil again; instead of doing as Paul told them; “stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.” “The Holy Ghost thus signifying, that the way into the holiest was not made manifest, while as the first tabernacle was yet standing.” These things, you see, are spoken of as “beggarly elements.” In themselves they are very beautiful and helpful, but as compared with Christianity, they are beggarly elements. We are blessed with all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies in Christ.

And thou shalt put the mercy-seat on the ark of the testimony in the holiest of all (26:34).

The mercy-seat was the throne of God, and that throne to us is the throne of grace. Some object to sing the hymn

“From every stormy wind that blows.”

because the New Testament never calls it the mercy-seat; but we get the throne presented to us in a variety of ways. In Revelation it is a throne of judgment. We have nothing to do with that. To us it is a throne of grace. So “let us draw near with a true heart,” no reserve; “in full assurance of faith,” no question or doubt; “having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience,” the precious blood has given us that blessing; we have a purged conscience now, and sin as guilt can never be charged against us; “and our bodies washed with pure water,” a moral cleansing. No priest could officiate in the tabernacle unless he washed his hands and feet at the laver, and I have no doubt the reference in Hebrews 10:22 is to the consecration of the priests.

There is reverence becoming us at all times, whatever grace has done for us. The word, εὐλαβεἰα, is only used twice in scripture, and both times in Hebrews, once (ch. 5:7), of the Lord— “in that He feared”; and in chapter 12. of us, “godly fear,” “for our God is a consuming fire.” We must not forget that. It does not say, as some people do, “God out of Christ”; it is God in His holiness. He will never give that up; He cannot.

We often get benefits and blessings from the mistakes of others; and in John 13 poor Peter made a terrible mistake when he said, “Thou shalt never wash my feet.” “If I wash thee not, thou halt no part with Me.” There could be no counion with the Lord unless restored. Then he made another mistake, “Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head.” No, “he that is bathed,” that which takes place at the new birth, that is never repeated. We get a new nature that can never be touched. “He that is bathed... is clean every whit,” not by blood; but it is a moral cleansing by the word.

But to go along in communion with the Father and the Son every one of us needs the constant loving care of the Lord Jesus Christ in washing our feet. So we used to sing

“In every act of worship,

In every loving deed,

Our thoughts around Thee center

As meeting all our need.”

We belong, then, to that number who have been washed all over, which is never repeated. But our “hearts are sprinkled from an evil conscience,” also, and that is by blood; and if I am once identified with the blood there is never a second application. To suppose so is Jewish ground.

If a Jew sinned, he brought an offering, and if he sinned again he brought another. We shall need a continual application of the water as long as we are here; but the washing all over is never repeated. The priests at their consecration were washed all over, and that was never repeated; but they constantly washed their hands and feet at the laver.

The veil being rent made one the holy place and the most holy. So in the old economy the high priest could go into the holiest only on one day of the year. The blood of the bullock for himself, and of the slain goat, was propitiation; and on the basis of propitiation all their temporal mercies come to the world, and the gospel goes out to everyone. But substitution is quite a different thing. When I am a believer, I know the Lord Jesus bore my sins in His own body on the tree, and I know He suffered substitutionally for a worm.

The cherubim were worked in the veil, but do not appear in the door or the gate. Everything else is true of all three; and they, though not the same shape, are of the same dimensions, of the same quantity of material. But cherubim refer to the judicial power of God; and the first time you meet them they are guarding Eden, and excluding man from the tree of life. And on the veil, too, they speak of the exclusion of man until the veil was rent.

In what is mentioned as being outside the veil, you get testimony in the golden lamp-stand, and communion in the table of shewbread, the food of the priests: so at the hanging for the door of the tabernacle, it would not be in keeping at all to have the cherubim. There was the door, there was entrance; the priests could go in as guests, God’s guests; and that which was kept before him for a week, a complete cycle of time, became their food. I have no doubt it represents Christ as the believer’s food, the true Bread of Life.

And thou shalt make for the entrance of the tent a curtain of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and twined byssus, of embroidery (26:36).

So the door presents Christ to us, but not in exactly the same way as the veil. There were five pillars, and five sockets of brass or copper, really. Copper sets forth divine righteousness where man is; gold, divine righteousness where God is.

If the four pillars represent the four evangelists holding up the veil, the five pillars for the entrance at the door may be the five great gifts spoken of in Ephesians 4:11, as given when the Holy Ghost was sent down: apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers. We need them all. We have the writings of the apostles, but the others continue, and they are “for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ.”

Chapter 27.

And thou shalt make the altar of acacia-wood, five cubits the length, and five cubits the breadth; the altar shall be square; and the height thereof three cubits (27:1).

We have not a doubt to what the altar mentioned here points. It was the place of sacrifice, and it points to Calvary. Every altar, in spite of what religious leaders of the people say, every altar in the Old Testament pointed back to the fall of man, and on to man’s redemption at Calvary; just as the Lord’s table points back to the cross, and onward to the coming of our Lord Jesus.

It is the place of sacrifice; and as the altar itself is typical of Christ, so is the sacrifice; and in the Antitype the Lord Jesus was both Offering and Offerer. Only once in scripture the Holy Spirit is called “eternal,” and there we are told, “How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?” And He was the accepted Sacrifice.

Several times before this we have seen to what the shittim wood points. In the LXX. it is called the incorruptible wood, and tells us of the perfect humanity of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the perfection of that humanity. He was perfectly a Man, and the perfect Man.

The figure “five” constantly points to human responsibility; so the very dimensions have a voice to us, five cubits long, and five cubits broad. The holiest of all in the tabernacle, the holiest of all in Solomon’s temple, and the New Jerusalem in Revelation, are all perfect cubes, and in a cube we get the figure of finite perfection. In the case of Solomon’s temple the altar was the same size, the same length and breadth, as the holiest of all: it would have exactly fitted in; so on the surface it has its voice, showing that the claims of God’s holiness have been fully met in the sacrificial death of His well-beloved Son.

“The height three cubits.” We shall see why, a little further on. We get scriptures to show what adequate testimony is from God’s standard, “at the mouth of two or three witnesses every word shall be established.” When there should be an adequate testimony given as to the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus, three days and three nights were chosen.

And thou shalt make its horns at the four corners thereof; its horns shall be of itself; and thou shalt overlay it with copper (27:2).

Horns invariably are symbols of power. No human power put the Lord upon the cross.

“Love bound Thee to the altar,

The Father’s love and Thine.

“I have power to lay down My life, and I have power to take it again.”

Psalms 118:27 has something to tell us. There it will show us the use made of the horns: “bind the sacrifice with cords, even unto the horns of the altar.”

The altar was foursquare, and therefore toward all. In this same chapter we get the gate, and it was very wide. The gate was twice as wide as the veil; the veil was twice the height of the gate. The door was where the guests were admitted, and there is the thought of fellowship; the veil gave admittance to God’s immediate presence as worshippers. Now

“The veil is rent: our souls draw near

Unto the throne of grace;

The merits of the Lord appear,

They fill the holy place.

The door would remind us of the Lord’s own expression in John 10: “I am the door; by Me if any man enter in he shall be saved, and shall go in and out and find pasture.” The Lord is telling us He is the means of our getting salvation, liberty, and satisfaction; eternal salvation, eternal liberty, and eternal satisfaction.

If the gate is used, the very first thing the one entering is confronted with is the brazen altar, the place of sacrifice. In these chapter 25—27., we have God coming out; then, after the priesthood, man coming in: the last two verses of this chapter are transitional.

If we look at the shittim wood as ourselves, it could only be as in Christ. In the new creation there could not be any defect: “If any man be in Christ there is a new creation.” At a Bible reading once someone asked J.N.D. whether the words “that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love” referred to our standing or our state. He said he did not connect them with either, but it is true of Christ that He is holy and without blame before God in love, and we have the same nature, a nature “which after God is created in righteousness and holiness of truth,” to which no evil can be attached (Eph. 4:24).

In the figure “one” we have the thought of supremacy, and exclusiveness too. If there is but one, there is no other. “By one offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified,” there is no other. It excludes anything else. “Hear, O Israel; Jehovah thy God is one Jehovah.”

When we think of all this shittim wood covered over with brass, there was only One Who could endure the wrath of God against sin, God’s Lamb, His beloved Son, the One foreordained before the foundation of the world. God laid help upon One that is mighty in putting the momentous matter of our salvation into His hands to accomplish.

It is very comforting to know there has been One Who could take that place in equal love to the One Who provided Him. He, as a divine Person, could measure perfectly well what was entailed. He had not to measure it by experience. In the garden He could go through and measure in anticipation all He would endure at Calvary. “Now is My soul troubled.”

And thou shalt make for it a grating of network of copper; and on the net shalt thou make four copper rings at its four corners (27:4).

The mercy-seat is the height of this network, — one and a half cubits; exactly corresponding with the height of the ark. There is no measure given of the height of the mercy seat, for “as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is His mercy toward them that fear Him.” So we get the length and breadth, but not the height.

The mercy-seat was the cover of the ark, and the men of Bethshemesh removing the mercy-seat from the ark separated mercy from judgment, and had to suffer the consequence. There is also that in the Person of Christ the human mind cannot scrutinize. “No man knoweth the Son save the Father,” it is His exclusive right. It is ours to worship, love, and wonder, but not to scrutinize; but any of us left to ourselves have enough inquisitiveness to fall into the same snare.

The firepans, I suppose, were used to keep the fire burning while they were journeying. Very important in connection with their ritual was that fire. It came out from before the Lord and consumed the sacrifice (Lev. 9:24). In the next chapter we see they failed to make a proper use of it, and it came out again in judgment, and Nadab and Abihu were consumed. It was never to be put out. Any other fire used in their worship was called “strange fire.”

The patriarch Abraham, the patriot Gideon, the penitent David, the potentate Solomon, and the prophet Elijah were all answered by fire. It is quite possible that is the way God showed His approval of Abel’s sacrifice.

The ashes were taken care of, but the thought is not exactly the same as in Numbers 19, where in type we have the memorials of the death of Christ mingled with the water of separation for a ceremonial cleansing. Directly they entered the gate they came to the brazen altar, and the truth to us is that “by one offering He hath perfected forever them that are sanctified.” So we have done with that. The Christian is privileged daily to feed on Him, but not to go for a repetition of our judicial cleansing by God: that is done once and forever.

When the fire had done its work, and the knife had done its work, then the ashes were gathered up and carried by a priest outside the camp, and deposited in a clean place, and we get this truth brought out. In the type the fire, which tells of God’s holiness and judgment, consumed the sacrifice, but in the anti-type, the sacrifice exhausted the fire. Then, when knife and fire had done their work, God provided a clean place for the holy body to be deposited in (John 19:41, 42), where no body of man had ever lain, or corruption entered. You get it in the law of the burnt-offering (Lev. 6:11).

Blood and water both flowed from the side of Christ. In one way the water has been applied to us, and will never be repeated. In the new birth “he that is bathed hath no need save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit”; but there is the need to wash the feet, for all the time we are here we shall never be clear from the defiling effects of sin. The water that is used is the word (Eph. 5:26); and in John 15, “Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.” “Ye are clean, but not all.” It had no effect on Judas. That of itself speaks loudly to our conscience; how constantly we need to be reading the word of God! If we neglect it we are losers. That is the laver. There is a deal of practical truth in the next two chapters.

Hollow with boards shalt thou make it: as it hath been gaunt thee on the mountain, so shall they make [it] (27:8).

Why hollow? It would readily suggest itself to the mind of any that it would speak of Him Who emptied Himself; and it comes out in the psalm that gives us the experience of the Lord on the cross in a very wonderful way. When we think Who He was, the One co-essential, co-eternal with the Father, and in Whom dwelt all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, yet we hear Him saying, “I am a worm, and no man.” Well, we can only wonder and worship, because the Lord in His love to us was found there.

I believe myself, speaking of that Psalm (22), that the title just fits in with what we have before our souls there, and is so connected, so suitable to the psalm. The hind is the animal that is hunted; the thought is persecution unto death. You get the persecutors, and the dogs, and the strong bulls, and the lion; but He Himself was the One Who was persecuted. But if it only said “the hind,” it would leave out His resurrection, and “the morning” tells of resurrection. “Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning,” and the One Who had such unexampled suffering tells of the joy of resurrection. And the Saviour’s joy in resurrection was as full as His sorrow on Calvary was deep.

In Habakkuk 3:19 the thought of “hind’s feet” is adaptability to the place of danger. Revelation has been called the book of the Overcomer, and when it says “the Lion of the tribe of Judah hath prevailed,” it is the same word as overcomer.

I do not suppose anything in scripture so brings before us the atoning sufferings of Christ as Psalms 22. He is suffering from Jew and Gentile as led on by Satan, but far more profound than any other suffering is that suggested at the beginning of the psalm. God’s plan is to give us at the commencement of any psalm the deepest and most prominent thought in it.

The Lord came out of the darkness before He dismissed His spirit. In Psalms 16 He says, “Thou wilt not leave My soul in hell... Thou wilt show Me the path of life”; but where it is quoted in Acts 2. it is, “Thou hast made known to Me the ways of life.” It is in the past tense.

In 2 Chronicles 6:13 the brazen scaffold is the same size as the altar here, which is well worth looking into. Solomon made more of the altar; David of the ark.

And its staves shall be put into the rings, that the staves may be upon both sides of the altar, when it is carried (27:7).

We have had similar thoughts before. A ring is the symbol of eternity. “A ring on his finger,” the mark of eternal love. The ark was shut out from their view; the altar was seen. I suppose you get these three things here. The court is called the holy place; and what we call the holy place is “the holy” (“place” being supplied in italics); inside is “the holiest.” Some of the sacrifices had to be eaten” in the holy place,” i.e. the court, and could not be eaten in a tent.

John 1 would give us the tabernacle, where it says “the Word was made flesh, and tabernacled among us”; in John 2. it is the temple, “Destroy this temple”; both are the dwelling-place of God. Our bodies are the temple of God, and collectively we are His temple too. So our responsibility is to “glorify God in your body,” the rest of the verse is an addition of man (1 Cor. 6:20).

However many times we go into detail, there is always something new and precious. Here we get the foundation, the very basis of the worship God had arranged for His earthly people; and we know atonement is the basis of our worship too. The song of the glorified company is, “Thou art worthy, for Thou wast slain.” None would ever sing that eternal song “with Jesus ever nigh” without His atoning sufferings. Here every whit utters His glory.

He is the altar itself, the offering on it, and the Offerer: “Who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself,” the offering and the Offerer, “without spot to God.” As the flame went up from the altar ascending to heaven, that is the meaning of the burnt-offering, the “ascending offering,” it was a sweet savor to God. God Himself is the standard of the believer’s walk, so we are called to be “followers of God as dear children; and walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savor.”

In the offering we get God’s side first. When this tabernacle was completed, and God took possession, the first voice from it was about the burnt offering; and the next two offerings were also for a sweet savor. But of the offerings for sin, some were taken and burnt outside the camp, though there was always a link with the sweet-smelling sacrifice. Their fat was always burnt, always went up as a sweet savor. It is in that aspect we can be spoken of as “accepted in the Beloved.” It is the glory of God’s grace, the very excellence of it, something far more than forgiveness.

The ashes would go through the net, and were taken up, and deposited in a clean place. This fire was never allowed to go out, so that we get the provision made for it to be kept burning while they were traveling. For while they were journeying the fire was not on the altar. The altar was then covered with a purple cloth. The ashes were taken up. That would tell that the fire had done its work. It is only the shadow, and not the “very image,” for in the antitype the offering exhausted the fire. So as a divine Person He puts His imprimatur upon it in John, and says, “It is finished.” You do not find that in the other Gospels. I think I am right, that in the book of Exodus we get the word “purple” twenty-two times; in Numbers only once, when the altar was covered with a purple cloth, showing how intimately the glory was connected with the sufferings of Christ. The purple tells of His reigning day; it is the imperial color. It is the kingly royal color; but besides that it is the color of Him Who is King of kings, and Lord of lords. I think if you look into it, you will find purple is next mentioned in Judges 8, as the raiment of the kings of Midian, showing again it was a royal color.

I think we have mentioned, too, the height of the ark. The mercy-seat was all gold, and the covering of the ark; but the ark was one and a half cubits high. This altar is the largest of all the things mentioned—the ark, the table, the golden altar, etc.; but there are several things of which the size is not mentioned, and I believe we ought to respect the silence of God, and keep our mind away from it.

There was no measure to the laver, but it is always connected with the foot. But the altar was the largest measured; and it was foursquare, the provision for all who came from the four quarters of the globe. “God would have all men to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth,” and “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son,” and we are told “Christ died for all,” but not for the sins of all. That is where people draw inferences. He is the propitiation for our sins, the believers. If a believer sins, it is far worse than an unbeliever, a thousand times worse; there is no excuse at all. The believer who says he cannot help sinning has not got a proper standard. God says, “That ye sin not.” God has made full provision for us, and given us” all things that pertain to life and godliness.”

So it is “If” (not “when”) “any man sin, we have an Advocate with the Father,” showing relationship is not interrupted. We have a Paraclete, the same word as Comforter. But an Advocate supposes an accuser. He is the Intercessor with God, that is another thing; but the “Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.” He is therefore our righteousness, and the propitiation for our sins. They were all future when He died, but they were all present to God. And “for the whole world.” The words in italics in the A.V. are not a translation, but interpretation, a mistake of the translators. You could not go to an unbeliever and say, “He bore your sins.” But you could use it in dealing with a soul in whom you had good reason to believe there was divine life, but not peace.

The gospel is for every creature. Those who receive it come to the gate, and enter through Christ. He is the gate and door. A sinner enters, and the first thing he meets is the brazen altar which tells of the sacrificial work of God’s beloved Son. It was beyond the power of all the angelic hosts, and only One had power to bear all that God was against sin. Here we get brass, capacity to endure divine judgment. And He bore it all, you see. God can never deal in wrath now with one of His children. He chastens now in love. “As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten.” “My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of Him; for whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom He receiveth.” But He never deals with us in wrath, because all the wrath has been endured by Christ on the cross.

Of course, in preaching the gospel we would not go into an explanation as I have now, but show them that” Jesus never answered Nay, when a sinner sought His aid,” and is still the same Who could say, “I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto Me,” a divine power that would be to all the human race.

The law was given to one nation. But there is resistance in the human heart. The carnal mind is enmity against God, man in his essence, man at his very best. And so there is resistance. Modern theology would leave out all this we have had before us, and speak of it as a slander on the character of God, the remnant of a barbarous age; and that Christ was our Pattern; and they dream that if they do their best to follow that Pattern they will get into the kingdom of God. That is the devil’s gospel, entirely antagonistic to the gospel of God.

The altar was the center of their worship, and God’s throne. This is the only one that is called “the altar.” The altar of incense would be qualified as the “altar of incense,” or the “golden altar”; but this is “the altar,” the only one. There is only one place where atonement was made.

“Hollow with boards.” We can quite see the construction put on that is quite true. The Lord emptied Himself as a divine Person, and humbled Himself as a Man. He did not lay aside His deity; He was God manifest in the flesh, not a manifestation of God in the flesh; but His glory was veiled: “The veil, that is to say, His flesh.” We can never make too much of the cross, of Christ crucified. In Paul’s day, as now, Christ crucified was to the Jews a stumbling-block. It makes nothing of man; everything of Christ. To the Greek, to the educated, it was foolishness: “But to them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God.”

The three languages used by Pilate in that inscription over the cross were Hebrew, Greek, and Latin. The world in its religion, its wisdom, and its power, were combined in putting Jesus on that cross. And the first three Epistles take up those things. Romans says, “I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth.” In Corinthians it is “Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.” And in the next Epistle, where we have the religious man, and the Spirit of God is showing the folly of taking up the Jew’s religion and tacking it on to the gospel, Paul says of the Jewish ritual, “God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, whereby the world is crucified unto me and I unto the world.”

And thou shalt make the court of the tabernacle. On the south side, southward, hangings for the court of twined byssus; a hundred cubits the length for the one side (27:9).

Next we get the court of the tabernacle, a hundred cubits long by fifty broad. Fine twined linen is constantly brought before us in the tabernacle and its furniture, and in the clothing of the priests. It is quite striking the place this fine twined linen has.

And the twenty pillars thereof and their twenty bases of copper; the hooks of the pillars and their connecting-rods of silver (27:10).

For the boards composing the tabernacle the sockets were silver, derived from the atonement money of the children of Israel, when they were numbered among God’s redeemed. So unmistakably, we see the standing on redemption of those who form part of that building. They are on the ground of redemption. But the socket here is brass, and it speaks of the capacity to endure the fire of God’s wrath. But if they are used as sockets, it speaks rather of the wrath having been borne, and thus becoming the foundation.

“Hooks and fillets of silver”: they are reminded the wrath has been borne; the silver speaks of redemption. It is a blessed thing for each of us to think we stand between the cross and the glory. Frequently that is brought before us in the word.

That thought brings before me that we are at school now, learning our lessons. Thus in Titus 2. it says, “The grace of God that bringeth salvation to all men hath appeared, teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world, looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ.” We are being taught, all of us. While we are learning, all the light is shining from the cross in one direction; and the other way, it is coming down to us from the glory. So we have light from both on what we are being taught.

J.N.D. has “connecting-rods” for “fillets,” connecting one pillar with another all the way round. As far as our unity is concerned, it is formed by the Holy Ghost, but apart from redemption that unity would not exist.

In verses 11 to 13 the east side was toward the sun-rising. The tabernacle was at the west end. As the sun rose, the first thing it shone upon was the gate.

And for the gate of the court a curtain of twenty cubits, of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and twined byssus, embroidered with needlework; their pillars four, and their bases four (27:16).

That makes up the fifty cubits. Fifteen on each side, and the gate twenty. We have noticed before, and it is very blessed to see, that whether gate, or door, or veil, there was the same amount of material, the same square surface in each; but the gate was twice the width of the other two. The door and veil were ten cubits long by ten broad; the gate five cubits high by twenty broad. It speaks of the wondrous grace of God, the gospel going out to every individual.

But when you come to the door, it was not every one who could enter there. No one who passed the brazen altar and the laver without using them could enter. God chose who should be His priests, and enter there.

One thing there would speak of fellowship, the table; one of testimony, the candlestick; one of prayer and intercession, the golden altar of incense. Only priests could go there. That is what God has constituted us. You get the brazen altar, and then the priesthood following: “Unto Him that loveth [not “loved”] us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God and His Father, to Him be glory.” There you get the blood of sacrifice, the brazen altar, the foundation of all.

Then as priests they could do the service in the holy place. Now the holy and the holiest are one, because the veil that separated them has been rent by God from the top to bottom, and in the midst.

So between each of these pillars there were five cubits of fine twined linen; and we are told in Revelation 19 the “fine linen is the righteousness of saints,” “pure and bright.” If we took the very best of us, and came into God’s presence without Christ, all our righteousnesses would be filthy rags. There is the contrast—filthy rags, and white linen. “It was granted her that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white,” of special quality, not simply linen, but something, special. That would be what has been wrought in the saints of God by the Holy Spirit. It is not what belongs to us naturally, which is filthy; but what the Holy Ghost has wrought in us that you and I will get the benefit of, and the whole body of believers from Pentecost to the rapture.

So this was the size of the brazen altar; five cubits by five cubits. The curtain held up between these pillars was five cubits square. The court was one hundred cubits long. There was no way of getting in but by the gate. His righteousness excluded all evil. Only one way of entrance, only one gate, only one door. “I am the door”; “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me.” It leaves no room for another. When “one” is mentioned by the Holy Ghost it speaks of that which is exclusive.

If there was an attempt to get in any other way than the appointed way, it would indicate the corner was a thief and a robber. The veil, and door, and gate, so far as their body was concerned, were of fine linen, bringing before us the purity of the blessed Son of God.

We do not find any cherubim on the gate. They spoke of judicial glory, and point to the Lord Jesus, for He is both Saviour and Judge. Those who do not know Him as the one must know Him as the other. But you get no cherubim on the gate, a blessed thing. We must not let our minds work, but adhere to the naked simplicity of the gospel.

Chapter 28.

I NOTICED before that the last two verses of chapter 27 were transitional, and we now begin at the part that tells of approach to God, rather than the revelation of what God is. It begins with the priesthood of Aaron and his sons, and without doubt we have in it a very vivid picture; but we must be careful, for it is only the shadow.

At any rate, we have a very lovely type of what the Lord Jesus is doing for us now in the presence of God. The One who died for us and rose again is now in heavenly glory, living in the presence of God for us. The Lord is not a priest after the Aaronic order.

The Aaronic order is intercessional and successional, but the Lord belongs to the order of Melchizedek, where there is no successor. God has so arranged the history of Melchizedek in Genesis that there is no mention of whom he was the descendant, nor of any who was descended from him. Thus it was not successional. The Aaronic order was. Sometimes they had a good priest, and he was succeeded by a bad one; but this One is a Priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. It is a blessing priesthood, as we sing in the words of a well-known hymn: —

“He who with hands uplifted,

Went from this earth below,

Shall come again, all gifted

His blessing to bestow.”

To this world He will come as Melchizedek, King of righteousness and King of peace. David was the type of the Lord as King of righteousness; Solomon, as King of peace; and the two together correspond with the teaching in Genesis of Melchizedek. But though that is true, the functions of the Lord’s priesthood are Aaronic. In almost all types you get points of similarity and also of contrast. And we need heavenly wisdom rightly to divide the word of truth.

In taking Aaron and his sons, it was excluding himself and his family from the priesthood; but it was not Moses’ choice, but God’s.

“No man taketh this honor unto himself, but he that is called of God, as was Aaron.” It was God who chose Aaron to be the type of His beloved Son in heavenly glory.

We might say about priesthood, that if there is a class of priests, it puts the worshippers at a distance, and the priests come into a nearer place than those they represent. But we know now there is a sad departure from the truth by any man taking the place of a priest, except in that priesthood to which every Christian belongs. Chrysostom said, “There are priests that are not Christians, but every Christian is a priest.” In Peter we read we are “a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ”; and we are also “a royal priesthood... to show forth the praises of Him who hath called you out of darkness into His Marvelous light.” And for any one to take the place of a priest now in contradistinction to the mass of worshippers is a return to Judaism, and a thorough dishonor to the gospel of Christ—an exceedingly solemn thing.

Another thing we might notice; a great and important contrast. These priestly garments, about which Moses had instruction from God, were connected with the position God gave Aaron; and he got glory from the God-given position he had; but the Lord Jesus gets no glory from His priestly position. He gives glory to it. All that He was in Himself entered into all He did, whether sacrificially, or as Priest in heaven, and He added glory to the office.

The word “holy” would speak of sanctification. It is important to see that for 2500 years of the world’s history we do not get the word “holy” mentioned. It does say (and that is the nearest approach to it), “He rested the seventh day and hallowed it.” But directly you get to the book that speaks of redemption, you are constantly reminded of holiness. These garments were called holy; they were not to be imitated, nor worn by another. They belonged to Aaron, not as a man, but because of his office. They added to his glory and beauty.

And thou shalt speak with all [that are] wise-hearted, whom I have filled with the spirit of wisdom, that they may make Aaron’s garments to hallow him, that he may serve Me as priest (28:3).

The first one that is mentioned in scripture as being filled with the Spirit of God is Bezaleel. The meaning of that name is “In the shadow of God.” In the shadow of God, and filled with the Holy Spirit; what a place! And all given to show the importance of what we have before us. It gets its importance because it sets forth Christ.

The word for priest is “Cohen” in Hebrew, but it is not always translated priest,” but sometimes “prince” or “chief ruler.” David’s sons were so called (2 Sam. 8:18). Very Honourable service is the force of it, I believe; and it is referred to either priests or princes.

There are eight things mentioned in this chapter that the priest had to put on. But there is no mention of shoes; and that would appear to point to the fact it was holy service to God. When God first speaks to Moses as the One Who dwelt in the bush, when he turned aside to see, God told him to take off his shoes from his feet, for the place was holy. Evidently that was meant to show becoming reverence in the presence of God.

It is possible for us to forget it. We may well covet and look to the Lord to make us more reverent. We need grace to serve “God acceptably with reverence and godly fear, for our God is a consuming fire.” Some like to explain that as God out of Christ; but God is that in His holy nature, and God never, never can give up His holiness. And He says, “Be ye holy, for I am holy.” If we want to see His thoughts of holiness, look at Psalms 45:7: “Thou lovest righteousness, and hatest wickedness: therefore God, Thy God, hath anointed Thee with the oil of gladness above Thy fellows.” In His grace, He would give up the dearest Object of His heart’s affection, but not His holiness.

And [they] shall make the ephod of gold, blue, and purple, and scarlet, and twined byssus, of artistic work (28:6).

We can almost speak of the ephod as the principal part of the robes of the high priest. As to its material, it corresponds with the veil; and we are told in Hebrews, “the veil, that is to say, His flesh.” It presents the humanity of the Lord Jesus in its varied perfections. The difference between the veil and the ephod is that in the veil there are cherubim, telling of the judicial power of God conferred on Christ, as in John 5:27. But there is the absence of cherubim in the ephod. And there is something in the ephod not found in the veil, the gold. One can see the difference. As to the heavenly priesthood for the people of God now, you cannot connect it with judgment. He is coming forth by and by to judge and to make war; but the thought does not fit in with His present service of love. There is the front part of this ephod, and the back part; but it is sleeveless, and it is joined at the shoulders.

And the girdle of the ephod, which is upon it, shall be of the same, according to its work of gold, blue, and purple, and scarlet, and twined byssus (28:8).

The girdle connected with the ephod comes in; it was of the same material. All these varied glories enter into what the Lord does, and it gives them vast importance. It tells of His service, for the girdle is ever figurative of service. So in John 13, where it is not this “curious” priestly girdle, though it is really what it represents. He said then, “What I do thou knowest not now, but thou shalt know hereafter”; “when He the Spirit of truth is come, He shall lead you into all truth,” and then they would understand the Lord’s act.

Communion could not be maintained apart from the act. He is not only Priest but Advocate, and I do not think you could confine that figurative service of the Lord in John 13 to priesthood. His priesthood is not to restore us when we fail; we do not get that thought in Hebrews. Priesthood is to succor us, to help us in our infirmities, and prevent us from falling. “Such a high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners.” We are tempted because of the presence of sin in us, very often; the Lord never was. And He has all power in heaven and earth, and is able to succor them that are tempted.

This very day, we do not know what blessings have come to us through the present ministry of the Lord Jesus in the presence of God for us. He is able to save to the very end, through all the perils of the wilderness. Although we are so weak, and our foes so mighty, yet He is able to “save to the uttermost those that come unto God by Him.”

He has a deep personal interest in the feeblest of His saints: we are all represented perfectly in the presence of God. That is where the onyx stones come in. They are used as fastenings of the ephod on the shoulders, and on them were the names, not written, but engraved: it was not a transitory thing. We can view ourselves there. The feeblest of the saints are fully represented there, upheld on His shoulders, the One Who upholds all things by the word of His power. The feeblest saints could not have more love shown them if they were the only ones in the world. All the love and power of omnipotence is engaged for the feeblest saints. It is blessed to realize we are nothing in ourselves. The saint who is really making true progress is the one making much of Christ and nothing of himself.

What figures are used by the Holy Spirit to show us we are precious to God! These onyx stones, and precious stones, with all their radiance and value, tell us we are precious, oh, how precious to God!

Look at the feeble few in the days of apostasy, gathered back from the Babylonish captivity. We see many things commendable in Ezra and Nehemiah, though there is failure too; but Malachi gives us a very deplorable picture. Failure always comes in on man’s side when there is any work of God. But He never leaves Himself without witness; they may be only a feeble few, but they were those concerned for His name. That which characterizes those now professedly gathered to His name is indifference. Yes, alas! that which characterizes the present day is indifference to what concerns the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ; and He has to take His place outside the assembly. But of those in Malachi’s day He says, “They shall be Mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in the day that I make up My jewels.” Small and despised by their brethren, but precious to the Lord, “My jewels”; that which He valued, and saw beauty and real value in.

There is something in Matthew 13 that corresponds with that, and brings out that the saints of God are precious to Him and His Son. There is treasure, something buried, hidden, but of real value, “treasure hid in a field; the which when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field” (Matt. 13:44).

He is after the treasure. It is His own language, but what does it not contain! Again, “the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchantman, seeking goodly pearls; who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it” (vers. 45, 46). A merchantman is one who would be able to appreciate the value of the pearl. It is a thing of unique beauty; nothing to compare with it; a lovely thing. There you get the figure of the unique beauty of the church. He loved the church and gave Himself for her. There is real value there.

“Our names from the palms of His hands

Eternity will not erase;

Engraved on His heart they remain

In marks of indelible grace.

And these names were not only engraved according to their birth, but set in ouches of gold. That tells of security; not only held up by His power, but divinely secured; kept in place by ouches of gold.

And thou shalt put the two stones upon the shoulder-pieces of the ephod [as] stones of memorial for the children of Israel; and Aaron shall bear their names before Jehovah upon his two shoulders for a memorial (28:12).

Is it not sweet? We are told to set our mind on things above. Nothing on earth is like what we have in heaven; Jesus crowned with glory and honor, and a name given Him above every name; and there for me, there for us!

We are represented by Him perfectly to God. He is in the presence of God for us. If we really entered into that, how it would dispose us to represent Him better down here! He perfectly represents us up there, but how do we represent Him down here? “In that day shall ye know that I am in My Father,” His own divine personal glory; “ye in Me,” by the Spirit, “and I in you,” the Holy Ghost as the power for us to live here to His worthy praise. All this is meant to be practical. It is meant to be operative, and living.

Even the truth about the judgment seat of Christ is given to enable us to anticipate that judgment seat now. So this is meant to have its right effect on us. And we should be ready to say in our hearts, “What manner of persons ought we to be in all holy conversation and godliness?”

Verse 13 and 14 tell of security, and divine security, as it is gold here.

And thou shalt make the breastplate of judgment of artistic work, like the work of the ephod thou shalt make it; of gold, blue, and purple, and scarlet, and twined byssus shalt thou make it (28:15).

It would be an oblong, two spans long, turned over, making a square; a span every way. That in itself is very suggestive.

Speaking of the glory of the Lord Jesus, He hath “meted out heaven with the span; the vast universe is in His hand, He binds the winds with His fists. That tells of His mighty hand, and we listen to Him saying to us, “I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any pluck them out of My hand.”

The breastplate of the great High Priest bearing them up in the presence of God tells us no power of Satan can touch them, no breath of evil can trouble them. Oh, the security on the breastplate of the Great High Priest! I rather think what follows is to make security doubly sure; “My Father, which gave them Me is greater than all, and none is able to pluck them out of My Father’s hand.” But we must not forget, I and My Father are one.” The Lord as a divine Person is co-equal, co-eternal, co-essential with the Father. We do not get the word “Trinity” in scripture, but we get the truth conveyed by it. All the Persons have equal glory. We say “First,” Second,” “Third,” but they are all equally glorious, one God. I think it more reverent to speak of the divine Son, instead of the Second Person, as it may convey the thought of inferiority in the minds of some. It was the good pleasure of the Godhead that in Him should all fullness dwell.

The material of the breastplate of judgment was the same as of the ephod; and the ephod was particularly the priestly garment. We have had these colors before us often. Blue is the most prominent, reminding us of the heavenly character of the One we have before us here.

A little further on we have the robe of the ephod all of blue. He was the heavenly One down here, the Lord out of heaven. “No man hath ascended up into heaven but He that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven.” We get so much to show us He was the heavenly One; and how appropriate to have so much of this color! All that these colors convey has not been displayed yet. It awaits a future day. But all is true of Him, whether purple, the imperial color; of scarlet, Jewish royalty; all will be displayed in the millennium.

We spoke of the measurement, foursquare, a span each way; the span would speak of God’s hand, the hand of Omnipotence. He “meted out heaven with the span”; “neither shall any man pluck them out of My hand.” It is a blessed thing to know we are in His hand. The hand of the Good Shepherd, spoken of in John 10, is the hand of Omnipotence, and so is the Father’s hand. It is blessed to realize we are so secure! He “measures the waters in the hollow of His hand,” the mighty ocean; and “binds the winds in His fists.” It all goes to show the hand of the Almighty One; so none can ever pluck us out of His hands not “any man” simply, but none, — no demon, not Satan. We may assure our hearts of our blessed security. All the details brought before us here show the wonderful security of those borne by the love and power of the great High Priest above.

And thou shalt set in it settings of stones—four rows of stones... (28:17).

There have been such disputes about these stones that I do not think it would be to our profit to go into them. One thing we may notice; the first is sardius; the last jasper; and when the glory of God is brought before us in Revelation 4:3, we get ese two stones mentioned: “He that sat was to look upon like a jasper and a sardine (or sardius) stone.”

These twelve stones represent varied glories, and I take it that these two would include all. We have often noticed that when the twelve tribes are mentioned, they are always divided into four threes and when the twelve apostles are enumerated anywhere in the New Testament they are invariably divided into three fours. The first of the first four is always Peter; the first of the second, Philip; the first of the third, James the less. They are always kept in their own company of four; the others may be variously placed, but always in their own four.

When Israel marched through the wilderness, they were divided into four camps, three tribes in a camp; so here, the names were put in rows, four threes. Each of these stones were different. It is all according to God’s arrangement, and the names put on these stones were not written, nor scratched, but engraven, deep, lasting, and permanent.

And, of course, it is for our profit to look away from the type to the Lord in heavenly glory. The breastplate was to be worn on the heart. It is very sweet to think each true saint of God is represented there, and upheld before God by His love and power. It makes everything of this world sink into insignificance when we get right thoughts of this. What people consider great in this world is as nothing to what we have here, the blessed Son of God touched with the feeling of our infirmities, tempted in all points like as we are, apart from sin; and able to save to the end those that come unto God by Him. Oh, how blessed are we to have such an One representing us in God’s presence, Who ever lives in the presence of God for us!

All these stones shone with their own peculiar luster with these names engraven on them. We are safe in saying all our luster and beauty are derived from Christ; we have none of our own.

This breastplate had to be securely fastened. We have had the ephod fastened on the shoulders with two onyx stones, one on each shoulder, with the names of the tribes on each. It tells us, “Thou shalt make upon the breastplate chains at the ends of wreathen work of pure gold” (vs. 22). These chains are not made up of links, but were wreathen chains, made of wires of gold like a cable; so there was immense strength in them. Being of gold they tell of divine righteousness.

And thou shalt make on the breastplate two rings of gold, and shalt put the two rings on the two ends of the breastplate (28:23).

It has been said rings always mean eternal love. I can quite think a ring put upon the finger as in Luke 15. shows that; but a ring alone is the symbol of eternity. It is eternal security that is spoken of here.

And thou shalt put the two wreathen [cords] of gold in the two rings on the ends of the breastplate; and the two ends of the two wreathen [cords] thou shalt fasten to the two enclosures, and shalt put [them] on the shoulder-pieces of the ephod, on the front thereof (28:24, 25).

The “ouches” formed something like a clasp, a socket into which the onyx stones were set safely; and now they are attached to the breastplate by the wreathen chains of gold. It shows us the combination of power and love; we get in it infinite tenderness combined with almighty power. How blessed to gaze upon Christ, the glorified One, the great High Priest passed through the heavens, and to know none of us are ever forgotten by Him.

All the twelve tribes were represented on the breastplate and on the shoulders of their great high priest. It has a deeper meaning to us Christians. We are all upheld by the power and love of Him Who died for us on Calvary, “the Son of God, Who loved me, and gave Himself for me.” We can all echo that “me.” poor, good-for-nothing, worthless me.

He will not be in glory and leave us behind. Full provision has been made for our journey through the wilderness. We little think what blessings come to us daily through having Jesus there in the glory. He told His disciples, “It is expedient for you that I go away; for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send Him unto you.” The special blessing that belongs to the Christian is the Holy Ghost. It was from Christ in glory the Holy Ghost was poured out: “Having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, He hath shed forth this.”

And thou shalt make two rings of gold, and shalt put them on the two ends of the breastplate, on the border thereof, which faceth the ephod inwards (28:26).

So there were rings in the ephod, and at the bottom of the breastplate, and not wreathen chains, but a lace of blue (vs. 28). There again is the heavenly color, a heavenly binding. God uses various figures to security us of our security: “That the breastplate be not loosed from the ephod.” So when the priest put on the ephod, the breastplate went on at the same time: it was not to be unloosed.

And Aaron shall bear the names of the children of Israel in the breastplate of judgment on his heart, when he goes into the sanctuary, for a memorial before Jehovah continually (28:29).

Perhaps it is just as well to mention here what will come out when dealing with the robe of the ephod. We do not get any restriction about the holiest, and Aaron going in before the Lord, until the failure of the priesthood. While they were being consecrated, fire came out from the Lord and consumed the sacrifice, God-given fire. But the sons of Aaron—Nadab and Abihu—instead of using that fire when they burned the incense, used strange fire, fire from another source: and fire came out from the Lord and consumed them; and there is the record of it.

No doubt many priests afterward did worse and were not dealt with in the same summary way. We find that at the beginning of a new dispensation God shows the solemnity of it. The sin in Acts 5. of telling a lie, — many Christians since may have told lies and not been struck dead, — shows, that becoming reverence is necessary. In Acts the Holy Ghost had come, and they lied to Him. And while we have no record of it, yet God had said before this, “I will be sanctified in all them that come nigh Me.”

It would look as if they had been drinking intoxicating drinks, as then it was forbidden for the priests to do so. It is that which exhilarated the flesh; and it shows us, no doubt, how guarded we should be in our worship. It ought to be our desire and aim that God’s grace should govern every word that meets His holy ear.

After that, restrictions were given, and only on one day of the year could Aaron go in. So after the consecration of the priests we have no record of these garments ever being worn before Jehovah, because Aaron only went in once a year, and then he had to wear linen garments. Through not seeing that, there have been comments made that will not bear looking into. There are those that have taught the fanciful teaching that the people could hear he was living inside because of the bells. It does not say “while inside,” but “when he goeth in and when he cometh out.”

There is no failure in our Lord’s blessed service. How comforting! If we forget Him, He never forgets us!

And thou shalt part into the breastplate of judgment the Urim and the Thummim, that they may be upon Aaron’s heart when he goeth in before Jehovah; and Aaron shall bear the judgment of the children of Israel upon his heart before Jehovah continually (28:30).

Now there is something a little mysterious about the Urim and Thummim, and it is no wonder we get various interpretations. Some have said it was the twelve precious stones, but evidently it is something additional, for if we put this chapter by the side of Leviticus 8. we shall see it is something else put in.

The words mean “lights and perfections.” It was by the Urim and Thummim that God made His mind known. He gave these answers when there were important decisions to be made, when it was necessary to have the mind of God. We see an exception in the case of Saul, when he had turned away from God, and had proved himself so unworthy, God did not answer him by Urim. In Nehemiah’s day, when the captives returned from the Babylonish captivity, some of the priests could not show their pedigree, and they had no Urim and Thummim, so they could not get the mind of the Lord then, and they had to remain outside till a priest arose with Urim and Thummim. Evidently that awaits the reigning day of the Lord Jesus Christ, and then we know the sons of Zadok will be priests in God’s temple.

And thou shalt make the cloak of the ephod all of blue. And its opening for the head shall be in the midst thereof; there shall be a binding of woven work at its opening round about; as the opening of a coal of mail, it shall be in it—it shall not rend (28:31, 32).

How gracious of the Lord to give us all these particulars, every one of these garments telling us something of the Person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ! How good of Him!

Evidently the ephod went over the head. It was made strong in that particular place to keep it from rending.

And on the skirts thereof thou shalt make pomegranates of blue, and purple, and scarlet, round about the skirts thereof; and bells of gold between them round about (28:33).

So there is that garment, an outside garment, telling of the heavenly character of the One Aaron typified; and all around the bottom alternately a pomegranate and a bell. It does not take a stretch of imagination to see it would suggest fruit and testimony. It has often been pointed out if a pomegranate is opened up, you have a lot of seeds in red liquor. Personally, I do not like to be fanciful, and I would rather not have anything to say to that. I think we are safer when we simply take it as fruit and testimony.

There can be no fruit apart from the Holy Ghost. In Galatians 5. you have the fruit, not fruits, of the Spirit (though nine things are mentioned), and the works of the flesh. You can get a machine to turn out work; but you cannot have fruit apart from life. It was when the Lord went in the Holy Ghost was given.

Everything Christ did and said was fruit, all fruit; and He says, “Herein is My Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit,” and everything we do like Christ is fruit. What emanates from ourselves may be very sweet, but it is not fruit unless it emanates from Christ.

And it shall be on Aaron for service; that his sound may be And Aaron shall bear the names of the children of Israel in the breastplate of judgment on his heart, when he goes into the sanctuary, for a memorial before Jehovah continually (28:29).

No doubt many priests afterward did worse and were not dealt with in the same summary way. We find that at the beginning of a new dispensation God shows the solemnity of it.

The sin in Acts 5 of telling a lie, — many Christians since may have told lies and not been struck dead, — shows, that becoming reverence is necessary. In Acts the Holy Ghost had come, and they lied to Him. And while we have no record of it, yet God had said before this, “I will be sanctified in all them that come nigh Me.”

There is no failure in our Lord’s blessed service. How comforting! If we forget Him, He never forgets us!

And thou shalt put into the breastplate of judgment the Urim and the Thummim, that they may be upon Aaron’s heart when he goeth in before Jehovah; and Aaron shall bear the judgment of the children of Israel upon his heart before Jehovah continually (28:30).

And thou shalt make the cloak of the ephod all of blue. And its opening for the head shall be in the midst thereof; there shall be a binding of woven work at its opening round about; as the opening of a coat of mail, it shall be in it—it shall not rend (28:31, 32).

How gracious of the Lord to give us all these particulars, every one of these garments telling us something of the Person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ! How good of Him!

Evidently the ephod went over the head. It was made strong in that particular place to keep it from rending.

And on the skirts thereof thou shalt make pomegranates of blue, and purple, and scarlet, round about the skirts thereof; and bells of gold between them round about (38:33).

There can be no fruit apart from the Holy Ghost. In Galatians 5 you have the fruit, not fruits, of the Spirit (though nine things are mentioned), and the works of the flesh. You can get a machine to turn out work; but you cannot have fruit apart from life. It was when the Lord went in the Holy Ghost was given.

And it shall be on Aaron for service; that his sound way be heard when he goeth into the sanctuary before Jehovah; and when he cometh out, that he may not die (28:35).

It does not say while he is inside, but going in and coming out. When He went in, He “having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, shed forth this”; and when He comes out He will pour out of His Spirit upon all flesh: fruit and testimony when He went in, and when He comes out.

The word “that he died not” would be true of the type, but I do not see how you could apply it to the Lord Himself. He lives in the power of an endless life, we are told, in connection with His priesthood.

And thou shalt make a thin plate of pure gold, and engrave on it, as the engravings of a seal, Holiness to Jehovah! (28:36).

We have had occasion to remark while going through this book of Exodus what prominence is given to holiness, and we sometimes sing,

“For us He wears the mitre

Where holiness shines bright.

And thou shalt put it on a lace of blue, and it shall be upon the turban—upon the front of the turban shall it be (28:37).

Blue comes before us again, a figure of heavenly ministry. The head covered, you see according to 1 Corinthians 11:3-16, is the figure of subjection; and the Lord Jesus in love to His Father took that place. He had always commanded before He came. He said, “Lo, I come to do Thy will.” He laid aside His glory, and took the form of a servant, which He had never been before; He took the place of subjection.

In no place is that more conspicuous than in the Gospel of John where we have the divine side given such prominence. God said of Him, “Behold My Servant Whom I uphold”; and we have had in chapters 21 The type of the Hebrew servant who had served six years. They could not keep a Hebrew servant as long as the master liked; at the seventh year he must go out free. But if the master had given him a wife, and “If the servant shall plainly say, I love my master, my wife, and my children: I will not go out free: then his master shall bring him... to the door, or unto the door post,” and a deliberate choice is made. Outside is liberty; inside, service. Love chooses service, and the master takes the awl, and he becomes a servant forever. And we are getting the benefit of Christ’s service. So I think scripture warrants us looking at these provisions of God for Aaron in that way, exalted service.

And it shall be upon Aaron’s forehead, and Aaron shall bear the iniquity of the holy things, which the children of Israel shall hallow in all gifts of their holy things; and it shall be continually on his forehead, that they may be accepted before Jehovah (28:38).

There is something very sweet in that. We are compassed with infirmities; we often make a mistake; and I have no doubt, even when we are engaged in the highest way in the worship of the Father in spirit (in contrast with the formality among the Jews), and in truth. It should be a small “s” to spirit there. Now in Philippians 3. it really means, “who worship by the Spirit of God,” a capital “S.”

We often make mistakes, but there is One Who knows how to separate the precious from the vile; and there is something very sweet in this, God’s provision for us in our time of weakness. We shall not always be simply knowing in part, or through a glass obscurely. In a little while we shall know as known, and all mistakes will be gone, and all possibility of making mistakes gone too; and we shall be able to worship God with unsinning hearts. But here God has made provision. I am not asking us to excuse ourselves when there is that which is manifestly unworthy. God is worthy of perfection. But we can be thankful for God’s gracious provision for us, and I trust we are.

We must never forget God can never give up His holiness. He never has; He never will; He never can. And the finishing up of Hebrews 12. is, “Let us have grace whereby we may serve,”— religiously serve (the thought is worship), — “God acceptably with reverence and godly fear.” May that characterize us!

Of course we are only looking at the type here, and we know what avails for us is the intrinsic worthiness of our great High Priest Who appears in the presence of God for us. It is very precious to think we are upborne by His love, as typified in the breastplate, always on His heart; upborne by His power, as typified by the onyx stones; and by His intrinsic worthiness as typified in this holy crown, Who ever appears in the presence of God for us.

I say “God” advisedly, because where we get priesthood brought out (in Hebrews) we do not get the Father. “God Who at sundry times,” etc., is its commencement, and it bears that character throughout, except that it speaks of the Father disciplining His children in chapter 12. When the Lord sent a message to His disciples through Mary of Magdala He said, “I ascend unto My Father and your Father, and to My God and your God.” So both are true; but you can hardly bring in the thought of priesthood and the Father. It is children and the Father. But we are priests, worshipping priests, when we think of God.

Of course this verse comes in between, but there is an intimate connection between the former verses and those which follow. God impresses them with the importance of this service, and how “holiness becometh Thine house, O Lord, forever.” We have already had before us that if they come near as worshippers they must not have steps to their altar, nor lift up a tool upon it; because if they do that, they pollute it. So clearly it is the same guard in the verses we have read here.

When Nadab and Abihu offered strange fire before the Lord, fire came out and destroyed them, and Moses said, “This is that the Lord spake, saying, I will be sanctified in them that come nigh Me, and before all the people I will be glorified.” This has very solemn teaching for us.

There is a great deal of carelessness now as to worship. Some think God has given an outline and left us to fill in the details. It is not so. In this day there is a feeling as if almost anything will do for the Lord. In Malachi’s day they had got so bad they could offer God what they could not offer their governor; and there is a lot of similarity between then and now. But we see the Lord’s mind about it here. We ought not to allow anything for which we have not the direct word of God.

And thou shalt weave the vest of byssus; and thou shalt make a turban of byssus; and thou shalt make a girdle of embroidery (28:39).

The varied innumerable graces seen in Christ are in this girdle of embroidery. Then we find Aaron and his sons clothed. That is where we come in. Aaron and his sons represent Christ and the priestly family. For a man to take the place of a priest now in this Christian dispensation is an imposture. It seems wonderful men can be so blind when every Christian is a priest. It is a denial of that, and of the gospel, if you introduce a priestly class. It puts the worshippers at a distance at once.

If in praising the Lord it says, “He hath made us kings and priests unto God and His Father” (Rev. 1:5, 6), we must remember in our service, as spoken of in 1 Peter 2, we are “a holy priesthood,” living stones in a living edifice: “A holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.” So we are constituted holy; and royal, in the same chapter lower down. But that is not to offer spiritual sacrifices. There is a dignity about a royal priest; and we must be always mindful of our heavenly birth, and the family we belong to. So it is to “show forth the praises of Him Who hath called us out of darkness into His Marvelous light.” We must never forget to Whom we belong, and everything should comport with that, our ways, our walk, our companionships. In that way we are privileged to show forth His praises.

And for Aaron’s sons thou shalt make vests; and thou shalt make for them girdles; and high caps shalt thou make for them, for glory and for ornament (28:40).

That coat was the God-provided covering for them, and we view ourselves as a heavenly company of priests, and royal ones too, and sitting on the thrones. The figure in Revelation 4:4 is taken from the twenty-four courses of priests in Solomon’s temple. So they are heavenly priests, at rest, sitting, and clothed with white raiment. None of this was left to their choice. It was God’s sovereignty in choosing them, and then He gave minute details for Aaron and his sons.

They have these girdles, for they are in the place of servants; and oh, what blessed service! To minister unto Jehovah, that is what they were called to do.

We get our priestly occupation also in Hebrews (12:15). There is care on the part of God in impressing on us the danger of the flesh. It will intrude, and it cannot please God. We worship by the Spirit of God, and have no confidence in the flesh. In John 4:24, “spirit and truth” are in contrast with Jewish forms. It is not the Holy Spirit there, but in Philippians 3:3 it is. We worship by the Spirit, and it is by Christ Jesus. There is nothing apart from Him.

“Thou, Lord, our all must be,

Nothing that’s good have we;

Nothing apart from Thee,

Jesus, our Lord.”

But the flesh comes in; and we have seen how it may come in, as in the case of Nadab and Abihu. It was carelessness on their part, and it looks as if they were intoxicated. When Christians get intoxicated, it is by worldly excitement, and then they cannot distinguish what is due to God. Fleshly worship can become real iniquity, and it is very, very solemn.

They had their bonnets, and a covered head constantly in the word would speak of subjection. J.N.D. translates 1 Peter 5:5, “Likewise [ye] younger, be subject to [the] elder, and all of you bind on humility towards one another; for God sets Himself against [the] proud, but to [the] humble gives grace.” That is encouraging for one who can take the low place. He resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble ones.

As we have said before, there is the contrast between the priests, Aaron and his sons, and the Lord Jesus. Aaron and his sons got glory from filling the office, but the Lord Jesus gets no glory from any office: He gives glory to the office. So in Hebrews, where His priesthood is brought out, chapter 1. is devoted to giving us the varied glories of the Lord Jesus as Son of God, and that is the foundation of the whole. chapter 2. gives us His glories as Son of man.

There was every glory typified in all this clothing, and all these instructions; and when the priests were consecrated all the people were gathered to witness it, as if God would impress on all the immense importance of the place He had given them.

And thou shalt clothe with them Aaron thy brother, and his sons with him; and shalt anoint them, and consecrate them, and hallow them, that they may serve Me as priests (28:41).

You have a Hebrew word which means to “fill the hand” another which means to “separate”; and another which means to “devote”; all are translated “consecrate” in the A.V. So J.N.D. gives “anoint, and consecrate, and hallow them.” The Lord Jesus was anointed.

We shall have occasion to mark the difference between Aaron and his sons in the next chapter. But the Lord Jesus was sealed too. So in His public service the power was the Holy Spirit. I have no doubt there is a connection between that and Romans 1:4, because that is often a bit of a puzzle to Christians; but if we see everything done by the Lord Himself was wrought by the Holy Spirit it explains the word “according to the Spirit of holiness.” It should read “by the resurrection of the dead.” The resurrection of Lazarus was the resurrection of a dead man. The resurrection from the dead is the “out-resurrection” of which Christ is the first-fruits. I have no doubt Romans 1:4 takes in His own resurrection, but it is “of the dead,” and God makes no mistake. That is the form in which it is given in the original.

“To consecrate them,” or “fill the hand”: we shall see the force of this when we come to the next chapter. It would tell us that whatever we give to God we have received from Him. We have nothing God can accept from us except what He first gives us. “What have ye that ye have not received?” With God nothing counts but Christ; and all we can offer to God in acceptable worship is Christ. And all we can offer in our walk is Christ. “To me to live is Christ.”

“And sanctify them”: J.N.D. has “hallow” there. I should judge it means to set apart for God’s service. “That they may serve Me as priests.” The A.V. in Hebrews 9, referring to that, calls it “ordinances of divine service, and a worldly sanctuary.” That does not mean worldly in an evil sense, but is in contrast with heavenly there. “Worldly” often is used in an evil sense.

And thou shalt make them linen trousers to cover the flesh of nakedness from the loins even to the hips shall they reach (28:42).

Aaron sometimes is a type of the Lord Jesus, but Aaron was a sinful man and needed the same guard as his sons. We often have to mark a contrast. Sometimes the most precious truth is brought out by contrast.

You remember it says, contrasting the Lord and Aaron, in Hebrews 7:27, “Who needeth not daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifice, first for His own sins, and then for the people’s: for this He did once, when He offered up Himself.” We know if the Lord had had to offer for His own sins He could not have offered for ours. And evil men have even drawn an evil thought from what we have read, although it is so carefully guarded. There is nothing in the whole range of the word of God so jealously guarded as the Person of Christ. He did no sin; He knew no sin; in Him is no sin. “Such an High Priest became us.” That was the One we needed. Aaron would not have answered for us, — no sinful man would. That was the One.

And they shall be upon Aaron and his sons, when they enter into the tent of meeting, or when they come near to the altar to serve in the sanctuary; that they may not bear iniquity and die—an everlasting statute for him and his seed after him (28:43).

How it ought to impress us, for our worship now is all heavenly, not a worldly sanctuary, not blessing to the creature. Everything is removed to heaven. The place of worship is heaven itself; the Objects of worship are the Father and the Son; and when God is worshipped, it is Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. But we never get the Holy Ghost presented as a divine Person alone as the Object of worship. He has all divine glories; they are all of an equality, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. The Lord Jesus did not think it a thing to be snatched at to be equal with God. Of course there are characteristic actions of each Person of the Trinity.

The words “the express image of His person” are rendered by J.N.D., “of His substance” (Heb. 1:3). The figure is often used, but we must not think of that which is material in “substance” it might be “His being.” It is the impression of His seal. If a seal is used on soft wax the exact impression is produced.

The Son is also the Image. That is why God is so jealous about images. There is only one Image of Him, “Who is the image of the invisible God”; all others were the devil’s counterfeits.

I feel that in considering this matter, each one of us ought to have a deeper sense of what is due to God, and there should be a holier character to our worship, and each one of us should have deeper reverence, and an absence of anything superficial. J.N.D. has said, when he heard a brother who had what people call “a gift in prayer,” “I wish that brother would pray as he does in his closet.” There is no room for display in one’s closet. You may stammer and stutter there. A man’s pride might prevent him doing that in public; the great thing is to be real and true.

Chapter 29.

And this is the thing which thou shalt do unto them to hallow them, that they may serve Mc as priests: take one young bullock, and two rams without blemish, and unleavened bread, and unleavened cakes mingled with oil, and unleavened wafers anointed with oil—of wheaten flour shalt thou make them (29:1, 2).

Evidently the meaning here of “hallowed” is “set apart’’ for that particular service. How a scripture like this shows up the hollowness of pretension in the name of Christ. You get a choir of lovely voices, I suppose the Roman Catholics excel in that, and perhaps not one in it is converted. It is all right in human ears, but what is it to God? An empty thing. He has made us kings and priests to God and His Father, and these are the ones hallowed, — set apart, as worshippers. One hymn says,

“O Lord, we know it matters not

How sweet the song may be;

No heart but of the Spirit taught

Makes melody to Thee.

The Spirit only can make melody, and offer to, and serve Him. The offering is all Christ. The young bullock was for a sin-offering; I suppose you get the thought of sufficiency in the bullock. Then two rams, one for a burnt-offering. There was always the burnt-offering with the sin offering; the burnt-offering was for acceptance. In the sin-offering God claimed the fat and the blood. So the fat was put on the burnt-offering, and ascended up to God. The other ram was for consecration, and partook of the character of the peace-offering.

Perhaps the word “peace” has led people to form wrong ideas. Christ made peace by the blood of His cross; but the peace-offering is the thank-offering, and the thought is fellowship, communion. It was an offering of sweet-smelling savor. God has His part; Christ, as the offering Priest, had His part; the priestly family had their part; and the offerer and his friends had their part. It makes us think of communion with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ.

Unleavened bread points to the humanity of the Lord Jesus, where there is an absence of all evil: “Holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners.” There is leaven in every one of us, and in the church. When the two wave loaves were brought out on the day of Pentecost they were baleen with leaven, but they were not burnt on the altar. While the church is of God, as long as it is in this world there is the presence of sin. God has delivered us from the guilt of sin, and from the power of sin, for “sin shall not have dominion over you.” A Christian is not living up to his privileges unless he knows that; but there is the presence of sin, and we shall not get rid of it till we die, or the Lord comes. So the sin-offering was connected with the wave loaves. But with the wave sheaf, fifty days before, there was no sin, and no sin-offering. How guarded all is by the Holy Ghost!

“Cakes unleavened tempered with oil, and wafers unleavened anointed with oil”: there is the mingling of oil and fine flour to represent Christ. That took place at His birth: “The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee,” etc. That could be burnt on the altar. There was frankincense on the altar, and all the frankincense, that in Christ which God alone could appreciate, God claimed. Honey is as objectionable to God as leaven. In honey you have the sweetness of nature, which very often passes for grace.

“Wheaten flour”: the Lord speaks of Himself as the corn of wheat (John 12:24). There was no union with the Lord Jesus in incarnation. Not one of His disciples were joined to Him while He was on earth. Union with the Lord is only in resurrection, after redemption is accomplished, and is the fruit of His death and resurrection.

They had to take these things, and we shall see how they were used. I might say that Aaron was anointed before the blood-shedding, and in that way was a type of Christ. But his sons were not anointed until the sacrifice was offered. We could not have the Holy Ghost except on the ground of redemption.

It is very sweet to think there is such importance, and such preciousness, in what we have before us. The Holy Ghost delights to dwell on it, and it is for our profit. “Whatsoever things were written beforehand were written for our learning”; they “testified beforehand of the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow.” We have learned in the previous chapter that all the garments of the high priest tell us of what the Lord Jesus is for us now in the present time; how He bears us up on His heart, and by His power, and sustains us by His perfect holiness and unchangeableness.

One marked thing we have here, which can hardly fail to arrest attention: Aaron was anointed before any blood was shed. That corresponds with what actually took place. Our Lord was anointed and sealed by the Father, just at the time when man would be disposed to put a spot on Him.

John the Baptist was sent before to prepare the way of the Lord. If the Lord Jesus was to be King He would not reign over a people in a bad state; a moral fitness was needed for His kingdom; repentance. The ministry of the Baptist marked off a repentant remnant. The Lord Jesus had no sins to confess, and was infinitely superior to John; and the Baptist knew it, and said, “I have need to be baptized of Thee, and comest Thou to me? And Jesus answering said unto him, Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness.” It was a right thing for Him to identify Himself with that repentant remnant.

We see at once how jealously guarded the Person of Christ is. The voice comes from heaven, “This is My beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased,” and then the Holy Ghost comes down in a bodily shape, as a dove, on Him, testifying He was ever the holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners. The dove would suggest all that. “Harmless”; the Lord told His disciples to be “prudent [wise], as serpents, and harmless as doves.” “Undefiled”; “my dove, my undefiled is but one.” “Separate from sinners”; the Psalmist says, “Oh, that I had wings like a dove! then would I fly away” from the wickedness of the city.

We know that was the anointing because we are told, “God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power; Who went about doing good,” etc. (Acts 10:38). It was at the commencement of His public ministry that the anointing took place. It is encouraging for one to see how one part of the word fits in with another.

[Thou] shalt take the anointing oil, and pour [it] on his head, and anoint him (29:7).

Aaron’s anointing is typical of Matthew 3:16. That could not be in our case, or of any but Himself; and it only could be of Aaron as a type of Christ. As we proceed in this chapter we find Aaron was a sinful man and needed a sin-offering.

And thou shalt bring his sons near, and clothe them with the vests (29:8).

In the case of Aaron the clothing typified what was intrinsic in the Lord Jesus, His own spotless purity. If we have “coats,” as sons of Aaron, it is something conferred on us.

And thou shalt gird them with the girdles, Aaron and his song, and bind the high caps on them; and the priesthood shall be theirs for an everlasting statute; and thou shalt consecrate Aaron and his sons (29:9).

It is blessedly true of us, we are clothed with Christ; each believer now has “put on Christ.” In their case the bonnet would speak of subjection. They were there to do the will of another.

“To consecrate them,” to fill their hands: that is a blessed thing, as we think of ourselves consecrated priests to God, because we have nothing in ourselves. We have first to be recipients. All we see put into their hands pointed to Christ, and was given back to God. “Of Thine own have we given Thee.”

It is well to mark this, because God has seen fit to stain all human pride. Anything of pride is abomination to the Lord. He “knoweth the proud afar off.”

It was not left to their choice what they were to bring; all was marked out for them by God.

And thou shalt present the bullock before the tent of meeting; and Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands upon the head of the bullock (29:10).

You remember in Lev. 16, where we have details of the day of atonement, for Aaron and for his house, the heavenly company, the very company we have here, a bullock was provided for the sin-offering. We get the thought of fullness in a bullock; but when the sin-offering is for Israel it is a goat. Two goats were taken for Israel; one bullock for Aaron and his house. We see the assembly of God represented there as a company of priests, as worshippers brought nigh to Himself.

The two goats are used to bring out the twofold aspect of the cross of Christ. In the bullock the only thought is propitiation. In the two goats, one was for propitiation, for Aaron had to do with the blood of the goat on which the Lord’s lot fell, as he did with the blood of the bullock he had offered for himself; but over the other he had to confess all the sins of Israel, and then it had to be taken away whence it could never return. There is substitution. Propitiation tells us there is such worth and such efficacy in that offering that everything, whether temporal mercy, or the gospel to every individual, comes to us on the ground of that sacrifice.

Substitution tells us Christ bore the believer’s sins; and we want both the truths as God has given them. So in this case, as in the day of atonement, they had to have a bullock, and it was brought before the tabernacle. That was the place where they assembled for worship. In some types it is very necessary to see that. The priest had to sprinkle the blood of the red heifer towards the door of the tabernacle (Num. 19:4). All the people had to be gathered there to witness the consecration of the priests.

Aaron and his sons together come there, for he is a sinful man. He is anointed apart from the others to point to the Lord Jesus as the Sinless One. Here he comes with his sons, and they all have to identify themselves with the sin-offering by putting their hands on it. Their sins, that is the thought of the type, are transferred to the offering. The offering is identified with their guilt. The Lord Jesus has thoroughly identified Himself with our guilt.

We could not understand Psalms 40. if we did not see it is the sin of others. So as we read this we must think of the Lord Jesus making our sins His own, answering perfectly for all our sins and guilt, and bearing the consequences. He “bore our sins in His own body on the tree,” not to, but on the tree. Only there He was the Sin-bearer, only then forsaken. He enjoyed uninterrupted communion until He became the Sin-bearer. Some say He bore sins in the garden of Gethsemane; but that is wrong. The Lord Jesus, as a Divine Person, there went through in spirit with His Father what becoming the sin-offering would entail a few hours afterward.

And thou shalt slaughter the bullock before Jehovah, at the entrance of the tent of meeting; and thou shalt take of the blood of the bullock, and put it on the horns of the altar with thy finger, and shalt pour all the blood at the bottom of the altar (29:11, 12).

There we are, you see, at Calvary. The offering is Christ; the altar is Christ; the horns tell us of His power; and the blood poured out tells us of that blood whereby reconciliation has been made. “If when we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life”: not by His life before the cross, but by His life now, as the priesthood of Christ follows His sacrificial work.

But if He is the Sin-bearer, and the Sufferer for sins, there is a witness to His acceptability, infinite acceptability, to God.

And thou shalt take all the fat that covereth the inwards, and the net of the liver, and the two kidneys, and the fat that is upon them, and burn them upon the altar (29:13).

All the fat, the inward excellency, what no human eye rested on; that which the Tryer of the hearts and Searcher of the reins alone saw, He claimed, all the fat and all the blood. It was burnt on the altar of burnt-offering, and all went up a sweet savor to God.

And the flesh of the bullock, and its skin, and its dung, shalt Thou burn with fire outside the camp: it is a sin-offering (29:14).

That was no sweet-smelling savor, anything but that. The fire there represented the holy wrath of God endured by Christ as sin-bearer. Reference is made to it in Hebrews 13:11 “The bodies of those beasts, whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin,” that is the great point there, “are burned without the camp.”

So that shows, if we are worshipping priests, we have to be fitted by God at infinite cost. All impurity must be removed. We are a holy priesthood.

Then they had to take the ram. In the ordinary burnt-offering there was a choice, within certain limits, given to the offerer; it might be bullock, sheep, goat, turtle doves, or two young pigeons; but here there is no alternative: they are shut up to one thing, a ram.

Now we saw in the sin-offering the bullock was identified with their guilt before God, and of the consequent suffering they were cleared. So the Lord Jesus “by one offering hath perfected forever them that are sanctified.” Here they put their hands on the head of the ram as well; but the sin has already been dealt with, and this tells us that God in His wondrous grace has provided a perfect acceptability for us.

Here the thought is the acceptability of the victim transferred to them. So we stand before God in all the acceptability of Christ. You can see the difference in 2 Corinthians 5:21 and Ephesians 1:6: “He hath made Him to be sin for us, Who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him”: “To the praise of the glory of His grace, wherein He hath made us accepted in the Beloved.”

This is the very excellency of God’s grace; you cannot reach higher than that. “By grace ye are saved”; “in Whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of His grace”; “that in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of His grace.” So you get grace, riches of grace, and exceeding riches of grace; but this the glory of His grace; — there is nothing higher than that, to be taken into favor in the Beloved. That is what we have in the ram.

And thou shalt slaughter the ram, and shalt take its blood, and sprinkle [it] on the altar round about. And thou shalt cut up the ram into its pieces, and wash its inwards, and its legs, and put [them] upon its pieces, and upon its head (29:16, 17).

Every part, everything, about Christ is acceptable to God, the delight of His heart. To be made typically what the Lord was intrinsically the ram had to be washed. All defilement had to be removed in the burnt-offering. In the sin-offering it was not washed, but all removed outside the camp. The legs would be the part coming in contact with the defilement of the earth.

There was no defilement in the Antitype. All the parts were laid in order on the wood, unto the head. The perfection of His walk, God’s delight in His intelligence (the head), and all the inwards were presented to Him. The Lord Jesus says, “My reins also instruct me in the night season”; there you have the thought of the inwards. All could be offered on the altar for His praise and pleasure. All was for God, the whole ram was laid on the altar. And they had been identified with it. So we are identified with all Christ is to God: blessed thought! “It is a sweet savor.” It does not say that about the sin-offering; but it does say in Leviticus about the sin-offering, what it does not say about the burnt-offering, or peace-offering, “it is most holy.”

Two offerings were called “most holy,” and they bring before us the two aspects where man would be most likely to put defilement, the meat-offering, His life here, and the sin-offering.

“A sweet savor.” Oh, what was that to God! What delight He had! We are reminded of that, and told to be “imitators of God, as dear children, and walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savor.” It is beyond our power to measure the delight of God in His beloved Son.

All this was necessary for their consecration as priests, and something for us to remember when we approach God as worshippers. We should never dissociate it from Christ. Only as we remember He was the Sin-offering are we acceptable worshippers to God.

And thou shalt take the second ram, and Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands upon the head of the ram (29:19).

The ram of consecration: this partakes of the character of the peace-offering, a sweet-smelling savor too. The grand thought of the peace-offering is communion. God had His part, the fat; the offering priest had his part; the priestly family had the wave breast and heave shoulder; and the offerer himself and his friends had their part, a sweet and blessed picture of communion.

“Truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ.”

And thou shalt slaughter the ram, and take of its blood, and put [it] on the tip of the [right] ear of Aaron, and on the tip of the right ear of his sons, and on the thumb of their right hand, and on the great toe of their right foot; and thou shalt sprinkle the blood upon the altar round about (29:20).

It has an important voice to us, and very practical instruction. It is well for us to remember we are not our own, but bought with a price to glorify God in our bodies.

The ear: we have no right to use it but for God now. The blood was put on the tip of the right ear. The best use we can make of our ear now is to listen to God’s voice in His blessed word. “The hearing ear and the seeing eye, the Lord hath made even both of them.” The hearing ear comes first, and you could write that over the Epistle to the Hebrews. “Love not sleep, lest thou come to poverty; open thine eyes, and thou shalt be satisfied with bread.”

First of all, God has spoken. He Who spoke in various ways now speaks to us by His Son, in a dearer and more blessed way, and exhorts us to give more earnest heed to the things we have heard. That comes first; then the exercise for the seeing eye, “We see Jesus crowned with glory and honor.” That goes right through the Epistle. It is good to be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath. We want sensitiveness of hearing, and the power of the Holy Ghost as well as the blood; so they had oil sprinkled on the blood. The Lord Jesus Himself could say, “He wakeneth morning by morning, He wakeneth mine ear to hear as the learned,” as one taught.

Then not only the ear, but the thumb of the right hand; all our service now belongs to God, every bit of it. It comes down to the simple things of eating and drinking; “do it to the glory of God.” Then walk, the great toe of the right foot. The whole man, for “hearing” would speak of the senses; the right hand, of power for service; the right foot, of walk, all entirely for God. And it would tell us of intense devotedness to God.

And thou shalt take of the blood that is upon the altar, and of the anointing oil, and sprinkle [it] on Aaron, and on his garments, and on his sons, and on the garments of his sons with him; and he shall be hallowed, and his garments, and his sons, and his sons’ garments with him (29:21).

“Hallow them”: a very important truth for us to see. You get washing first. The washing of regeneration is spoken of as new birth, but it is more. It speaks of a new position, a new state. The word is only used in two places, Titus 3 and Matthew 19. Regeneration in the latter means the millennium, a new state of things. “If any man be in Christ, old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” But if I had a new nature only, I should have holy desires, but no power. The man in Romans 7. had a new nature, but no power. Evil in him was stronger than good. In Romans 8 we have real Christian experience, power for good. Romans gives us God’s salvation. Up to chapter 5:11, sins are dealt with, what I have done, and I get clearance from them. That is what you get in a free gospel, and evangelists generally deal with it. But it does not get at what I am; and that is dealt with from chapter 5:12 to the end of chapter 8.

I am a child by birth, and a son by adoption. You get new birth very often dealt with, and the forgiveness of sins; but I am sure with many there is a stopping short of God’s salvation as presented in Romans. I am to reckon myself dead to sin but alive unto God. As to what I have done, Christ bore my sins and they are forgiven; but as to what I am, that is not forgiven; and we do not want it to be. It is condemned. So Romans 8:3, 4:

“God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit.” These closing words are all right there; they are all wrong in verse 1: “There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus”— not in the flesh, but in Him. To add the remainder of the verse spoils it all. I am in Christ when I have got the Holy Ghost, and not till then. The man in Romans 7 has a new nature, but no power. So we have the oil here. There must be power.

We have seen already that the teaching of the word is that man was not to assume this place. It was all of God’s appointment: “no man taketh this honor unto himself, but he that is called of God, as was Aaron.”

This is very clearly given to us in the case of Korah in Numbers 16. They wanted a share in the priesthood, and thought they were as good as Aaron and his sons. God resented it, and they lost their lives. It was not a small thing, because in Jude, where we have a picture of apostate Christendom, it says, “Woe unto them! for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Core,” presuming on the priesthood against God’s appointment.

Every believer is a priest now, but there is only one Priest between our souls and God, the Lord Jesus Christ in heaven. God in His grace has made us a holy priesthood, and has arrayed and girded us for service. He has also given us that which we can offer to Himself and which He can accept.

Also of the ram thou shalt take the fat and the fat-tail, and the fat that covereth the inwards, and the net of the liver, and the two kidneys, and the fat that is upon them, and the right shoulder—for it is a ram of consecration (29:22).

All here is typical of Christ. The fat and the rump, etc., all that speaks of the excellency of the animal, and all points to the excellences of this One. This sacrifice partakes of the character of the peace-offering, the One Who loved us and gave Himself for us.

And the right shoulder: Christ is the One Who upholds all things by the word of His power: all things: how great is His power! “By Him all things subsist.” It requires the constant output of His power to keep everything in its proper place. All would go to chaos if His power was withheld. It is not as philosophers suppose, that He imposed certain laws that go on by themselves. “The government shall be upon His shoulders,” too, in the coming kingdom.

The shepherd went after the lost sheep; you know when the Lord used that parable. It is in Luke, the book of contrasts; and scribes and Pharisees murmured and meant to discredit Him, but He declared He had delight in showing mercy. It is revealed in the Old Testament, “He delighteth in mercy,” and the Lord Jesus shows that the whole Trinity delights in showing mercy.

He used the figure of the shepherd for Himself. When He finds the sheep, He puts it in a secure place, “on His shoulders.” It is meant for real comfort for us. His power is exercised on behalf of His saints. If you followed the wandering sheep you would have the impress of its feet as it went astray; but on the return journey there were no imprints of the sheep’s feet, but of the shepherd’s only. It is taken home, home to a place of love, and light, and joy. It brings to my mind some verses that speak of that love which passeth knowledge—

“But none of the ransomed ever knew

How deep were the waters crossed,

Nor how dark was the night the Lord passed through

Ere He found His sheep which was lost.”

He found the sheep by going to Calvary, and into the depth of its woe. So we each have been found, and we find then His strength is exercised for us all the way. We shall be there because of His power; “able to save to the uttermost them that come unto God by Him.”

“It is a ram of consecration”; of filling of hands.

And one loaf of bread, and one cake of oiled bread, and one wafer out of the basket of the unleavened [bread] that is before Jehovah (29:23).

The end there governs the whole verse, all was unleavened. Leviticus 8:26 shows it. There we have the humanity of the Lord Jesus in His spotless life here below.

And thou shalt put all this in the hands of Aaron, and in the hands of his sons, and shalt wave them as a wave-offering before Jehovah (29:4).

And all is put in their hands. So they are able then, fitted, qualified, to offer that which typified Christ. We have the substance now; this is shadow. We can all say, “Of Thine own have we given Thee.” “What have ye that ye have not received?” We arc first recipients, and then privileged to give it back to God. Whatever we have, the best possible use we can make of it is to give it back to Him again.

So we get the wave-offering and the heave-offering here. Those were ways in which they were instructed to offer to God things that could not be burnt on the altar. There must be the absence of leaven. So Leviticus 23:20. It could not be burnt on the altar, because there was leaven in the new meat-offering.

If we turn to Leviticus 2:11 it tells us of leaven there. It requires a little care. Leaven is always the type of evil, always without exception. People talk of the world being leavened with the gospel, but such use is unwarranted. There is no sweet savor to God in leaven, nor in honey. If in leaven we get the evil of nature, in honey we get the sweetness of nature. But “they that are in the flesh cannot please God,” and God will not have the honey of nature any more than He will have leaven. “As for the oblation of first-fruits,” that which we have in Leviticus 23, “they shall not be burnt” (Lev. 2:12). There was an absence of evil in the Lord Jesus, therefore the fire on the altar brought out the sweet savor in Him.

And thou shalt receive them of their hand, and burn [them] upon the altar over the burnt-offering, for a sweet odour before Jehovah; it is an offering by fire to Jehovah (29:25).

So they gave back. But first their hands were filled, — that is consecration; then they were privileged, and it was a great privilege, that “thou shalt receive them of their hands.” All went up. Only sweet savor was found in Christ; and this all went up fragrant of Christ unto Jehovah. It reminds us of the wonderful privilege grace has given us, to offer up “spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God,” and “continually, the sacrifice of praise, giving thanks to His name.” “In everything give thanks.”

And thou shalt take the breast of the ram of consecration which is for Aaron, and wave it as a wave-offering before Jehovah; and it shall be thy part. And thou shalt hallow the breast of the wave-offering, and the shoulder of the heave-offering, that hath been waved and heaved up, of the ram of the consecration, of that which is for Aaron, and of [that] which is for his sons (29:26, 27).

The breast of the wave-offering, and shoulder of heave-offering were set apart for holy uses. Surely that reminds us of the love and the power of the Lord Jesus Christ.

“Whose love is as great as His power,

And knows neither measure nor end.”

Would that we were better acquainted with that love and power of Him Who ever liveth to make intercession for us!

And they shall be for Aaron and his sons, as an everlasting statute, on the part of the children of Israel; for it is a heave-offering; and it shall be a heave-offering on the part of the children of Israel of the sacrifices of their peace-offerings, [as] their heave-offering to Jehovah (29:28).

It was their food, given to them as their food. As priests it is our privilege to be feeding constantly on the love and power of the Lord Jesus Christ. In the garments, we have seen we are upborne on the heart and shoulders, and they are combined, for both belong to the ephod, the most important part of priestly attire. Here they have the same as their food, reminding us we can assimilate it and have it for our own. They present it to the Lord, and the Lord gives it to the priestly family for their food.

That which follows reminds us of the teaching of Hebrews. We have seen before that the great thing there is to show that the Lord is superior to everything we get in the Old Testament. First, He is superior to angels, then to Moses and Aaron: He is the Apostle and High Priest of our confession. Then He is shown to be superior to all the sacrifices, and as Priest is very much dwelt on.

There are a few things in Hebrews 7 we can afford to look into. Aaron’s order was successional. That we are reminded of in Exodus 29:29. They “did not continue by reason of death.” Another important contrast is that they were consecrated without an oath. It says in Hebrews, “Inasmuch as not without an oath He was made priest: (for those priests were made without an oath; but this with an oath by Him that said unto him, The Lord sware and will not repent, Thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek).” This was not successional, but an eternal glory.

Hebrews 7:3 says, “Without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days nor end of life.” Melchizedek is called “priest of the Most High God,” and we must not think that he actually had no father, nor mother, nor children; such is not the force of it at all. As type it was so arranged that no mention was made of them, that he might be a type of the Lord Jesus, Who lives in the power of an endless life.

In chapter 5 we get the Lord introduced as Priest forever after the order of Melchizedek, and many precious things are said of Him. So in chapter 7:23, they were many priests, not one, because “they were not suffered to continue by reason of death; but this man, because He continueth ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood. Wherefore He is able to save to the uttermost,”— right through all the perils of the wilderness: not from their sins here.

Some try wrongly to preach the gospel from this text. By His death He has saved us from our sins; but by His life He saves us from all the perils of the journey as we pass through. Because of what He is, we are assured we are going to get into the glory. There is the rest we are going to enter into: “We that believe do enter into rest.” It is not that we have entered now into the rest God is there speaking of. That rest remains, and they that believe are the enterers into it. We have not done so, but it is a hope that maketh not ashamed. We are sure to.

We had better read the verses to the end. “Such an high priest became us,” is necessary to us, the very One we needed, “who needeth not, etc.” It was not for His own sins He offered up Himself. I have seen some very dreadful deductions from the 27th verse. That sacrifice needed no repetition. Their sacrifices were constantly repeated, but His needed none.

“Great victory, o’er sin and death and woe,

That needs no second fight, and leaves no second foe.”

It is done effectually once.

“For the law maketh men high priests which have infirmity, etc.” It shows again the contrast between the type and anti-type. In Exodus 29:29 it makes provision for a successional priesthood.

The son that is priest in his stead shall put them on seven days, when he cornea into the tent of meeting to serve in the sanctuary (29:30).

Seven days are a complete cycle of time, and the high priest, whoever he was, is a type of the High Priest we have now. There is just that little paragraph introduced to tell us of the successional character of the Aaronic order.

In verse 31. the ram was subjected to fire, and prepared as food for the priestly family.

And Aaron and his sons shall eat the flesh of the ram, and the bread that is in the basket, at the entrances of the tent of meeting. They shall eat the things with which the atonement was made, to consecrate [and] to hallow them; but a stranger shall not eat [of them], for they are holy (29:32, 33).

God had His part in it, and they had their part. It partook, as I said before, of the character of the peace-offering. Really what that speaks of is communion, fellowship, not the thought that He has made peace by the blood of His cross, but an offering of a sweet-smelling savor. This is what they fed on, — the ram of consecration, that which they had received and had their hands filled with, that which they had then given to God for a sweet-smelling savor.

The other part of the animal was then seethed in the holy place. “And they shall eat those things wherewith the atonement was made, to consecrate and to sanctify them,” to set them apart for God. So we are set apart for God. The Lord Jesus says in John 17:19, “For their sakes I set Myself apart, that they also may be set apart through the truth.”

Then there is a practical way in which we are regarded as set apart. 1 Timothy give us the order of God’s house, and so it says, “If I tarry long that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave in the house of God”; but in 2 Timothy it is a great house in disorder. You cannot put yourself out of the house without giving up the profession of Christianity altogether; you cannot get out of the house, but you are not bound to go on with all that goes on in the house. So “if a man purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honor,” etc. You cannot go along with the evil and be a vessel unto honor, sanctified, set apart for God, — “and meet for the Master’s use.” So that is very encouraging to one. It may put you in a very narrow path; but God has made known His requirements if one would be meet for His use. You cannot go on with vessels to dishonor.

As set apart for His use they were here fitted to feed upon what typified Christ, but “a stranger shall not eat thereof.”

We have noticed all along how God presses on them His holiness, and the claims of His holiness; but it ought to have its effect upon us. Knowing this is not enough. We want to know that we may act on it, and carry out God’s mind and will.

And if any of the flesh of the consecration, and of the bread, remain until the morning, then thou shalt burn the remainder with fire: it shall not be eaten, for it is holy (29:34).

It was not to be put to a profane use. It speaks of God’s holiness in jealously guarding it. It may be telling us, too, to be guarded in our language, and what we put before people. The Lord told His disciples not to give that which is holy to dogs, nor cast their pearls before swine. The swine would be liable to trample them under foot, and the dogs to tear you.

And thus shalt thou do to Aaron, and to his sons, according to all that I have commanded thee: seven days shalt thou consecrate them (29:35)

That is an important word, “according to all things which I have commanded thee.” Nothing left to them to leave out or to add. They were to carry out God’s mind, and that is the only path of safety. To go on the lines of accepting everything not actually condemned in scripture would open the door to all kinds of evil. To go only on what is revealed in scripture is the divine path. Do not let us sanction by our presence anything that is not sanctioned by scripture. It may put you in a narrow path, but it is the revealed mind of God clearly.

And thou shalt offer every day a bullock as a sin-offering for atonement; and the altar shalt thou cleanse from sin by making atonement for it, and shalt anoint it, to hallow it. Seven days shalt thou make atonement for the altar and hallow it; and the altar shall be most holy: whatever toucheth the altar shall be holy (29:36, 37).

So we have the holiness of God presented to us in a variety of ways. In the New Testament it is quoted from Leviticus 11, “Be ye holy, for I am holy.” That is really the point here, and why it is so pressed on us is because of what it says in verses 44-46. Their greatest privilege was that they had God dwelling in their midst, and that they had His word. We must not overlook Romans 3:2, this very scripture we have been reading, being part of those oracles in which God’s mind was revealed to them.

And this is what thou shalt offer upon the altar—two lambs of the first year, day by day continually (29:38).

These are burnt-offerings which we have before us here. Where it says in the A.V. “of his own voluntary will” (Lev. 1:3), J.N.D. puts “for his acceptance.” And these lambs were typical of Christ; the lamb is a beautiful type of Christ. “A lamb without blemish and without spot: who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world”; and then pointed out by the forerunner, “Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world”: the sin, not the sins of the world.

It is surprising how people confound sin and sins, when they are so distinctly dealt with in the New Testament. In Romans, up to chapter 5. it, it is sins, and they are forgiven. Then from verse 12 to the end of chapter 8 it is the question of sin; and that is not forgiven, but condemned (8:3). For our sins He died; He bare our sins in His own body on the tree; but as to sin, He died to it. “In that He died, He died unto sin.” So they are quite distinct.

I suppose from the very first, for it says “of the firstlings of his flock” Abel offered, the lamb pointed on to Christ. Before the law there was a distinction between clean and unclean animals. The instructions given to Noah prove that. So that from the very beginning such lambs typified the Lord Jesus. It was known generally as the suited offering to God, for Isaac said to Abraham, “Behold the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt-offering? “Abraham’s prophetic word was” My son, God will provide Himself a lamb for a burnt-offering.” He was the only One Who could provide it, for

“Heaven and earth could not supply

Such a Victim as must die.”

All the offerings from Abel to Exodus were burnt-offerings, even as these lambs. “By the law is the knowledge of sin,” so when the law came we get sin-offerings and trespass-offering, as well as peace-and burnt-offerings.

This was a continuous thing every day without omission, and on the sabbath was doubled. God had continually before His mind the rest resulting from the death of His Son. So there is still the rest that remaineth for the people of God, and I believe that figuratively is brought before us six times in Genesis, and the seventh time in Exodus 18, where we have a picture of the millennium. In the law that is given to us in Numbers 28. it tells of two lambs each dine on the sabbath.

The lamb is so suggestive. It must be without blemish or spot, or it could not be a fit type of the Lord: “as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.” And it is unresisting; “led as a lamb to the slaughter”; and it speaks of gentleness and patient submission.

It just comes to mind, too, what we have in 1 Samuel 7. You get a great victory won there. Throughout Judges God has been pleased to use all sorts of things; an ox goad; a left-handed man; Samson with a jaw-bone of an ass; Gideon with pitchers and torches; but Samuel was a man of prayer, and the mightiest of all; and he offered up a sucking lamb, and that would tell of dependence in a special way, though it all pointed to Christ. Every sacrifice pointed back to a fallen man, and onward to the cross of Christ. As the result of Samuel’s offering there was a great victory over the Philistines.

The great thought here is for acceptance, acceptance before Jehovah. In Ephesians we get the deepest counsels of God as to Christ and the church; I do not say the greatest revelation, because Colossians 1 is the glory of the Person of Christ, and I daresay that goes beyond anything we get in ‘Ephesians. But the church has a Marvelous place in Ephesians, the fullness of Him Who filleth all in all. There is great connection between Ephesians and Colossians, of course. The one shows what the body is to the Head; the other what the Head is to the body.

Grace has a very prominent place in Ephesians. “By grace ye are saved,” then redemption is “according to the riches of His grace.” Beyond that, we get the “exceeding riches of His grace” that are going to be displayed in the sight of other intelligences in the ages to come. So the church will be a wonderful teacher, a display of exceeding riches of grace. But there is something higher yet, our acceptance. That is the glory of grace, the very excellence of it. “Taken into favor,” it does not say “in Christ,” but the One of Whom God said, “My beloved Son in Whom I am well pleased,”— that is the One in Whom He has taken us into favor.

In Colossians 3:3 we have the truth of the contrast between what is now, and what is going to be. Our life is hidden now, but when He Who is our life is manifested then shall we also be manifested with Him in glory.

Really that is the grand link in 1 Thessalonians 4. though I think saints very often fail to see it. The Thessalonians were in great trouble about some who had passed away, and the apostle was inspired to write that when God brings Christ into the world, still the rest that remaineth for the people of God, and I believe that figuratively is brought before us six times in Genesis, and the seventh time in Exodus 18, where we have a picture of the millennium. In the law that is given to us in Numbers 28. it tells of two lambs each dine on the sabbath.

It just comes to mind, too, what we have in Samuel 7. You get a great victory won there. Throughout Judges God has been pleased to use all sorts of things; an ox goad; a left-handed man; Samson with a jaw-bone of an ass; Gideon with pitchers and torches; but Samuel was a man of prayer, and the mightiest of all; and he offered up a sucking lamb, and that would tell of dependence in a special way, though it all pointed to Christ. Every sacrifice pointed back to a fallen man, and onward to the cross of Christ. As the result of Samuel’s offering there was a great victory over the Philistines.

The great thought here is for acceptance, acceptance before Jehovah. In Ephesians we get the deepest counsels of God as to Christ and the church; I do not say the greatest revelation, because Colossians 1. is the glory of the Person of Christ, and I daresay that goes beyond anything we get in Ephesians. But the church has a Marvelous place in Ephesians, the fullness of Him Who filleth all in all. There is great connection between Ephesians and Colossians, of course. The one shows what the body is to the Head; the other what the Head is to the body.

Really that is the grand link in Thessalonians 4. though I think saints very often fail to see it. The Thessalonians were in great trouble about some who had passed away, and the apostle was inspired to write that when God brings Christ into the world, those who have passed away will be brought with Him. But when? When Christ comes in glory. How? By being taken there first. “For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout,” etc., and “the dead in Christ shall rise first.” They will have the first attention. “Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air; and so shall we ever be with the Lord.” The Lord will never be seen apart from us after that: it is an impossibility. He will not come to the earth at the rapture. When He is manifested we must be manifested with Him. So when we are taken into favor in the Beloved, that abides. It is never changed. The eternal interests of our souls are placed beyond the reach of any change; we are accepted in Him.

While speaking of that it may be as well to point out an error in the A.V. in 2 Corinthians 5:9: “Wherefore we labor... that we may be accepted of Him.” That is not right. We are accepted without any creature effort at all. But we have everything, the world, the flesh, and the devil, against us down here, and it does require labor to be acceptable, well-pleasing, to Him. It is acceptable, not accepted, we should read there. There is quite a contrast between the thought there, and what God has done for us in Ephesians 1 That abides.

The burnt-offering, you see, was all for God. Some have gone so far as to say it was not a question of atonement, but scripture says definitely it was. We need that aspect of the death of Christ as well as the other. The fat of the sin-offering God claimed, and that was burnt on the altar on the burnt-offering.

There has been an effort of late years to minimize that aspect of the burnt offering. It has been taught the burnt offering never takes us into heaven, and simply avails for our acceptance now, and Israel’s by and by. To take away any of the glory and beauty of the burnt-offering is very dreadful.

There is the voluntary offering now of the saints in Romans 12:1. The offerings all teach us God can accept nothing from us in worship but Christ. Romans 15:16 we could hardly put alongside this. It is more the thought of Aaron and his sons being brought nigh.

When this lamb, without spot or blemish, was brought every morning and every evening, it all spoke to God of His beloved Son. When God in Genesis 8 smelt a savor of rest in the sacrifice of Noah, and promised that summer and winter, day and night should not cease, it was coming from Calvary; so we have to remember the temporal mercies that come to us come through Christ. As fallen creatures we have no right to a crumb of bread, nor a drop of water.

It is remarkable that the evening sacrifice has more mention than the morning. Both typify Christ on the cross, both were wholly burnt. The only exception was the skin, which became the property of the offering priest (Lev. 7:8). Of course we get God’s sovereignty in marking out what He required here, but in Leviticus the offering is voluntary.

In verse 3 and 4 of Leviticus 1, note the laying of their hands on the burnt-offering and on the sin-offering are different thoughts. Both speak of identification, and transference. In the sin-offering, the guilt of the offerer is transferred to the offering; in the burnt-offering, the acceptability of the offering is passed to the offerer. All the infinite excellences of the Lord Jesus Christ become ours. We are accepted in the Beloved.

In verse 6 every part gives a delightful odour to God Himself.

In verses 7 and 8 the head would speak of the intelligence; the fat, of the excellence. But it was all for God, and so all was claimed.

In verse 13 what came in contact with the earth is washed in the type, to make it fit to represent the Lord, telling of the intrinsic purity of the Lord Jesus Christ. All was delightful to God. It tells of such scriptures as, “Therefore doth My Father love Me because I lay down My life, that I might take it again.”

It was an additional cause of His love. But the Holy Spirit shows us in John that while He is presented to us as a divine Person He is always in the place of dependence and obedience. So He says, “This commandment have I received of My Father.”

Then you get the burnt-offering, too, in Philippians 2. There, too, you have God’s special delight in it: “Wherefore God also hath highly exalted Him.” It shows His delight in that full surrender of love and obedience of life.

In Daniel 9:21, I suppose the “evening oblation” would refer to the meat-offering offered with the evening lamb. In 2 Kings 3:20 we get the time of the morning meat-offering mentioned.

In Acts 3:1, the “ninth hour being the hour of prayer,” was the time the evening sacrifice was offered, — three o’clock in the afternoon. God was silent, He was not on speaking terms with Israel for four hundred years, and the silence was broken to Zacharias in the temple, and he was offering up incense (Luke 1:9). Probably that was the only time in his life he did it, for they cast lots who should offer incense, and according to what I have seen about the temple worship at the time of the Lord’s life on earth, it was probably the only occasion of his doing it.

And with the one lamb a tenth part of wheaten flour mingled with beaten oil, a fourth part of a hin; and a drink-offering, a fourth part of a hin of wine (29:40).

We ought to turn before we pass on to Matthew 27:45 “Until the ninth hour,” the hour of prayer. It was a supernatural darkness. No eclipse could take place with the moon at the full when the Passover was slain. God would veil His Son while He was drinking that cup. Those three hours were the occasion when in the thing wherein they acted proudly God was above them. The sufferings from the hand of man were not atoning: His sufferings from the hand of God were. His soul had to be poured out unto death, and the cup had to be drained. Then He was forsaken. And then one of these lambs was being offered up.

Another thing, you see, was that the very morning the priest in the temple was waving the sheaf of first-fruits before the Lord the Lord Jesus rose from the dead.

Well, in verse 40, in “a tenth deal of fine flour” we get the life of the Lord Jesus here below, fine flour telling of His perfections; all was evenness in Him. You could not say anything characterized Him, for everything was absolutely perfect, nothing predominated; there was an equipoise of all perfections. You could not get that in a mere man. Take the apostle Paul, probably following Him more closely than any other mentioned in scripture; when he was before the high priest, and he told them to smite him, Paul fired up at once. He saw the unrighteousness of it, and used words he had to withdraw. But the blessed Saviour never had to withdraw a single word. You could not get in a mere man what is suggested in the fine flour.

Oil speaks of the Holy Spirit. Fine flour and oil together tell of Him as conceived by the Holy Ghost. The fulfillment would be in Luke 1:35. The oil was beaten for purity. It may be expressed by other means and in other ways, but pure olive oil must be beaten. That would tell us of the cross. “Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, He hath shed forth this.” There would be that in it. At any rate, as far as we are concerned that would be true. “The Holy Ghost was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.”

“The fourth part of an hin of wine.” I can understand it in Numbers 15, where the drink-offering is brought out, it says “in the land,” looking forward to earthly joy. We must not look at Numbers as simply a wilderness book: it is connected with the earth, and the reigning day of the Lord Jesus Christ is coming, and it will not be a wilderness then. It will blossom as a rose.

Wine is connected with joy; “wine, which cheereth God and man” (Judg. 9:13); “wine which maketh glad the heart of man” (Psa. 104:15). The Lord Jesus in Matthew 26. said, “ I will not henceforth drink of this fruit of the vine until the day when I drink it new with you in My Father’s kingdom.” Matthew 13:43 shows us that: “Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father.” If we turn to Zephaniah 3:17 we get the same thought, a day of coming joy for God and for man. And before that they are told, “Sing, O daughter of Zion; shout, O Israel; be glad and rejoice O daughter of Jerusalem.” That is the day the Lord is speaking of, the time when He will drink it new with them. The wine was all for God in the sacrifice, and it is generally understood it was poured over the sacrifice.

Chapter 30.

HAVING given all the instructions about the consecration of Aaron and his sons, and then telling us of the two lambs for the continual burnt-offering (where we have testimony that their continual acceptance was provided for, and this speaks to us of our continual acceptance, for “by one offering He hath perfected forever them that are sanctified,” and we are before God in its unchanging value), then God gives them to know that on the ground of atonement He was in their midst, and the tabernacle was sanctified by His glory.

In chapter 40 God took possession of it at once, as soon as Moses had reared it up. His taking possession sanctified it; it was set aside thenceforth for holy purposes. It tells of deeper things for ourselves. “We are builded together for an habitation of God by the Spirit”; the Holy Spirit thus takes possession of those redeemed on the ground of redemption. So in chapter 29:46, God takes the place He delights to occupy, but it is typical of something far deeper. The church is to be God’s dwelling-place for eternity. In the eternal state “the tabernacle of God is with men,” and that tabernacle is composed of all saints from Pentecost to the rapture.

This is a wonderful chapter. It brings out what was necessary, and what God provided for them when on the ground of redemption they were His worshippers. Every bit of it speaks loudly to us. We noticed before, in giving to us the furniture of the holy place, the altar of incense was omitted, because there it was a question of God displaying what He was. It is now placed in the part of Exodus that tells of approach to God. It tells us what is needed as far as we are concerned. This availed for those who were before God on the ground of the acceptance of the burnt-offering. It tells of the intercession of the Lord Jesus Christ.

That which was burnt upon it, the incense, is called the perfume, and is brought out at the end of this chapter. If tells of Christ in all His unexampled fragrance to God. It could not be imitated. It meant death to anyone who attempted it.

There is no measure to any of the ingredients, but equal quantities of each, “tempered together, pure, and holy.” And being burnt on the altar, it was subjected to the action of the fire, the infinite holiness of God applied in judgment. It but brought out the wonderful fragrance of the incense. It was beaten very small, and kept before the testimony to be ready for use.

Every word, every step, every act of our Lord was full of fragrance to God. In Revelation 5. it speaks of the incense being the prayers of the saints; and in chapter 8 “another angel,” evidently the Lord Jesus in angelic guise, “came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer; and there was given unto Him much incense, that He should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne.” So it makes us think of the Lord’s present intercession for His dear saints.

We have had before us in Exodus many times the significance of the materials used in the altar. Gold tells of the divine nature, divine righteousness according to God’s nature where He is. Brass is also a figure of divine righteousness dealing with man in responsibility.

And thou shalt overlay it with pure gold, the to thereof, and the sides thereof round about, and the horns thereof, and thou shalt make upon it a border of gold round about (30:3).

The crown tells of the One now in heaven crowned with glory and honor. That always abides for us. Not only are we there in the value of the sacrifice of Calvary, but He ever lives in the presence of God to make intercession for us. That is very sweet. We have mentioned before, we get Him as the Intercessor in Hebrews. In the priesthood of Christ we have provision made to help us and keep us from falling, to succor and help us in our infirmities.

But no provision is there made for actual sin. If we fail to get the benefit of the all-prevailing intercession of Christ, then we need an Advocate. Some think the word supposes an accuser. It is Paraclete, the same word rendered Comforter in John’s Gospel, one who takes complete care of a minor. So in 1 John 2:1 not “when” but “if”; if it should occur. It is never made light of. “That ye sin not” is the standard. Never make an excuse for sin. So then if it occurs, there is One Who takes it up perhaps before the one who sinned is aware of it. In the case of Peter the Lord said, “Simon, Simon, Satan hath desired to have thee that he might sift thee as wheat; but I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not.” So there is just opened out to us the continued unremitting care of the Lord Jesus. The hymn says,

“Thy love we own, Lord Jesus,

In service unremitting;

Within the veil Thou dost prevail,

Each soul for worship fitting.”

The one who wrote that hymn had just this before him: “In service unremitting.” He never overlooks any of us. We could not have that thought were He not divine. There is nothing beneath His notice, He is so wonderfully great.

So our thoughts here are directed to Hebrews. This was for a people traveling through a wilderness, and so we have instructions for carrying the altar. They were told where to put it; nothing was left to man.

And Aaron shall burn thereon fragrant incense: every morning, when lie dresseth the lamps, he shall burn the incense. And wizen Aaron lighteth the lamps between the two evenings, he shall burn the incense—a continual incense before Jehovah throughout your generations (30:7, 8).

So if there was a lamb each morning and evening, there was also this incense to be burnt. It is called perpetual incense. There was no break at all, a continual burnt-offering, and perpetual incense before the Lord alway.

We said just now it was forbidden for any to imitate it, and they were not allowed to use strange fire; it had to be fire from the Lord; and no strange incense either.

Ye shall offer up no strange incense thereon, nor burnt-offering, nor oblation; neither shall ye pour drink-offering thereon (30:9).

God is very careful in showing us we must keep the incense altar separate. We need the burnt-offering altar; then when we have that, the acceptance of that, it is our privilege to know the results of the Lord’s intercession.

And no meat-offering nor drink-offering could be offered there either. There are souls that are always before the cross, and do not get any further. But this altar of incense is in heaven. We are worshippers in heaven. I do not know whether some of our hymns are quite correct as to that. We are inside-the-veil worshippers.

And Aaron shall make atonement for its horns once in the year: with the blood of the sin-offering of atonement shall he make atonement for it, once in the year, throughout your generations: it is most holy to Jehovah (30:10).

So it shows us these priests consecrated and privileged to draw comparatively near; the altar of incense was the nearest place they could be at, but it was defiled by them. What they had to do with it defiled it. They were set apart for their special and holy work, but they were not sinless, and it was necessary atonement should be made upon it once a year.

Of course the altar was Christ, and the incense was Christ, the perfection of the Person of Christ. On the day of atonement that came first. Before the blood was sprinkled, the high priest approached under the cloud of incense, telling what God found in the Person of Christ. It is beyond our power to conceive what blessings come to us every day through the Lord Jesus living in the presence of God for us.

Then as worshippers they are next told that as God could only be in their midst on the ground of redemption, so the Israelites could only be in connection with those who served the tabernacle on the ground of redemption. I believe Peter refers to this (1 Peter 1:18). So it is a blessed thing to be among the number of God’s redeemed. It is God’s redeemed who are worshippers. We should have no place there apart from it. The redemption here is temporal and typical. “He has obtained eternal redemption for us.”

When thou shalt take the sum of the children of Israel according to those of them that are numbered, then shall they give every man a ransom for his soul to Jehovah on their being numbered; that there be no plague among them on their being numbered (30:12).

Here we have the thought suggested that those who are of the number of God’s redeemed are safe for eternity. A person who is bought may be lost. But there is not a single line in scripture to lead us to suppose a redeemed one can be lost. “The redemption of the soul is precious, and it must be let alone forever” (Psa. 49:8, R.V.). God alone can redeem with the blood of Christ. All the world is bought, but not all are redeemed.

When David numbered the people there is no record of any half-shekel, and there was the plague.

The rich shall not give more, and the poor shall not give less than half a shekel, when ye give the heave-offering of Jehovah, to make atonement for your souls (30:15).

There was the same redemption for every one, and it is put in that way to show that nothing of ourselves can be mixed up with it. All boasting is excluded by God. It is of pure grace that we are found among the number of God’s redeemed. “I will put a difference [or redemption] between My people and thy people.” They might have been quite as guilty as the Egyptians, and the difference was made by the blood.

Christ Himself is the ransom. “The Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His life a ransom for many.” We get the figure brought out in Job 33 where God is dealing with a soul brought down to the last extremity, just about to die, and God says, “Deliver him from going down to the pit.” Not because the man has promised to lead a better life, but on the sole ground of God’s grace; “I have found a ransom.” God provided a lamb; He found a ransom; He has given His Son.

And thou shalt take the atonement-money of the children of Israel, and devote it to the service of the tent of meeting; and it shall be a memorial to the children of Israel before Jehovah, to make atonement for your souls (30:16).

It is all linked up in that holy service. We have already seen in the construction of the tabernacle how the money was used, and we shall find it again later on.

For those that approached as worshippers, the next paragraph brings before us the laver. Oh, how necessary that is!

Thou shall also make a laver of copper, and its stand of copper, for washing; and thou shalt put it between the tent of meeting and the altar, and shalt put water in it (30:18).

We do not get the dimensions of this laver. We do not get its shape or size. It is always connected with its foot. If in the tabernacle the first article of furniture mentioned is the ark, the last thing mentioned in connection with the whole of this ritual inside the house or out in the court, is this laver: “to wash withal.”

There was need for purification on the part of the priests, the only ones who could enter the sanctuary. At their consecration they were washed all over. But every time they approached to do service they had to wash their hands and feet. The first washing corresponds to new birth. There is no such thing as being born again twice; that gives us a holy nature. It is not precisely the same as regeneration. New birth tells of a new nature, new life; regeneration of a new state. It is only mentioned twice in the New Testament. In Matthew 19. it refers to the millennial reign of Christ; an entirely new state is brought in there; when the twelve apostles will have a special place in connection with God’s earthly people. The heavens will rule then. They (and we) will have part in the heavenly department of that kingdom. It is also called the Father’s kingdom, but it will be the reigning day of Messiah, of the Son of man.

Now John 13. helps as to what we have here.. There are some contrasts. “If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with Me”: there is no possible communion without this. We are passing through a defiling world. Then Peter says, “Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head”; and the Lord had to correct again. “He that is bathed,” there we get the new nature, “is clean every whit; and ye are clean, but not all.” There was not that work of grace in Judas Iscariot. He had no faith in him.

So in John 13 it is feet only: here it is hands and feet. The difference would be because they were under law, and there was work to be done under law; so provision is made for clean hands and feet. In the New Testament there is provision for our feet, the part coming in contact with the world. The Lord Jesus in His present service of love is always cleansing: “That He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word.”

When they go into the tent of meeting, they shall wash with water, that they may not die; or when they come near to the altar to serve, to burn an offering by fire to Jehovah. And they shall wash their hands and their feet, that they may not die; and it shall be an everlasting statute for them, for him and for his seed throughout their generations (30:20, 21).

It all speaks of God’s holy requirements. When the priesthood failed then God gave instructions they were to put a difference between clean and unclean; and the ground of it was, “For I am holy.” And it is the same thought here.

While it is a blessed thing to be brought nigh to God as worshippers, it is a solemn thing for our souls. “Our God is a consuming fire.” We do not want anything slipshod or careless. It is the service of the priests that is the thought there in Hebrews 12:29.

Then as worshippers, you see, we need the power of the Holy Ghost. Apart from Him we cannot worship. I suppose we all know that in the original there is no distinction of capital and small letters, in fact, the oldest MSS. are all capitals; but it is the context that decides when a capital S should be used for spirit. So in John 4 where it says, God is a Spirit, and they that worship Him must worship in spirit and in truth,” it is in contrast with Jewish form, and does not speak there of the Spirit; but in Philippians 3:3 it should be a capital S; “who worship by the Spirit of God.”

So there is provision made for us. All the graces of the Spirit were seen in their perfection in Christ, the Anointed One. Messiah in the Old Testament, and Christ in the New, both mean “anointed.” Speaking of the Person of Christ, it says in Psalms 45, “all thy garments smell of myrrh, and aloes, and cassia”; so it reminds us that all this composition here of holy anointing oil was seen in Christ, and that we are anointed by the same Spirit; and that is the way we can be called His companions or fellows.

The priests, Aaron’s sons, are typical of us; they represent us, looked at as priests.

In the tabernacle court, in one sense, we get a figure of the universe, and the Lord Jesus by and by is going to fill the whole world with blessedness in the power of the Holy Ghost. I say that because it gives instruction here for the anointing of different parts of the sanctuary (vs. 26).

Perhaps before going further it would be as well to notice that in the end of the previous chapter, after the consecration of the priests, we get the institution of the morning and evening lamb for a continual acceptance. This tells of the wonderful standing grace gives to us, a standing that is unassailable, beyond the power of any enemy; and that abides for our continual acceptance. And God sanctifies the tabernacle with His glory, and at the end of the book takes possession of it when finished by Moses; and there He is dwelling in the midst of a redeemed people, the only ground on which He could dwell in the midst of any. We do not get Him dwelling with any of His saints from Adam down to the time they get these instructions for the tabernacle.

The first part of the description of the tabernacle is the display of what God is, and when the priesthood is introduced it is the question of approach to God. So we find the altar of incense left out when the furniture of the holy place is given, because it was not connected with the display of God, but with man’s approach to Him. All our chapter is connected with our coming to God. I say “our”; it was at first connected with God’s earthly people, but Hebrews tells us it is typical of us.

The first thing mentioned is the altar of incense. The materials tell of the humanity and divinity of the Lord Jesus, and how He is occupied with us in the glory, the unfailing Intercessor in the presence of God. It is not so much what He has done, as what He is that we find in the incense. ‘‘We find it at the end of the chapter. The ingredients were all of like weight; nothing preponderated in Him.

We are getting the benefit now of what Christ is to God: that fragrance is always ascending. If the two lambs tell of continual acceptance, this tells of keeping us acceptable, not accepted. The apostle says to the Corinthians, “Therefore we labor, that whether present or absent, we may be acceptable to Him.” When it speaks of our acceptance it is nothing of our labor at all. He has made us accepted in the Beloved. But to be acceptable we need our Lord Jesus; and we ourselves should be intensely earnest about it.

The priesthood of the Lord, in the Epistle to the Hebrews, is not to put us right when wrong, but the Lord helping us in the time of possible failure, to sympathize, to succor us, and hold us up.

So the next thing that is mentioned is that when Aaron lit the lamps at even he should burn incense on it (30:8). So the manifestation of God in the power of the Spirit, which the lamps bring before us, if burning brightly as testimony to God, is connected with the burning of incense on the altar. That speaks of our dependence on the priestly work and present service of the Lord Jesus Christ.

The next thing shown is that if God dwells among them, what connects them with the service of the tabernacle is redemption. It is spoken of as atonement here, but I judge we should be quite safe in thinking the apostle Peter refers to this in chapter 1:18 of his first Epistle. It is a grand thing to be among the number of God’s redeemed, and to know it. That is the teaching brought out here. The rich were not permitted to bring more nor the poor less than the half shekel (30:15), telling us that with God nothing counts but Christ. Christ, and Christ alone, avails for all. The best man that ever lived will never need less than Christ to fit him for the presence of God; and the worst will never need more. The half shekel pointed to the precious blood.

The next thing we get is the laver. A striking thing about the laver is that God has not made known to us its size or shape. It is the last thing mentioned of the tabernacle furniture. The first was the ark. And the laver is always connected with its foot. The material was brass, not ordinary brass, but the mirrors of the women congregated at the door of the tabernacle, fine polished brass, I suppose. It is suggestive that the very thing that mirrored their persons, and showed their defects, was used to contain the water that cleansed them.

The laver was for worshipping priests set aside by God for service in the tabernacle. They had to wash their feet and hands every time when ministering there. At their consecration they were washed all over, and ceremonially that was done once for all. That spoke of the new birth, and that is never repeated. Some speak of it as what we get in Titus, the “washing of regeneration.” New birth and regeneration are not the same in the word of God. In new birth we get a new nature, new life; in regeneration we get a new state. Matthew 19. shows us this. Regeneration there is the millennium, the renewed earth, a new state or order of things. We only get the word in the two places.

So with us. According to John 13, “He that is bathed needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit.” That (the bathing) is a moral cleansing. These were under law and had work to do, and had to wash their hands as well as their feet; but in the present dispensation it is a question of walk, and we shall need that washing up to the end of our journey, or else communion with God could not be maintained. “If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with Me.” Thus this chapter 30 contains a deal of practical teaching for us.

Now we come to this holy anointing oil. I suppose we all know that we want something more than a new nature. If I have a new nature, but not the Holy Spirit, I have right desires, but no power to carry them out. I still have an old nature that cannot be improved, and if I have not the Holy Ghost, the evil will be stronger than the good desires of the new nature. That we see in Romans 7, a man occupied with himself, and struggling with the evil he finds in himself.

So these priests need the holy anointing oil. Galatians 5 tells us of the fruit of the Spirit and the works of the flesh. It is surprising how many say the fruits of the Spirit, but He does not use the plural. verse 17 says, “The flesh lusteth against the Spirit and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye may not do the things that ye would”; it ought not to be a question of which should be stronger, but they are contrary. If led of the Spirit ye shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh.

A machine can turn out works, but there must be life to yield fruit. A dead tree cannot bring forth fruit. In verse 22 and 23 nine things are mentioned as fruit of the Spirit, and there are five things mentioned in our chapter as ingredients of the holy anointing oil, and four of the perfume.

The Lord Jesus was anointed. He was both anointed and sealed: “Him hath God the Father sealed” (John 6:27). The sealing was to mark Him as His own, but the anointing is seen in all His public path (Acts 10:38). Everything He did was by the power of the Spirit; and I suppose all the graces of the Spirit that are suggested by these spices were seen in their perfection in our blessed Lord.

This oil was very costly. They were not permitted to imitate either the oil or the perfume. God says of the Lord Jesus, “Because Thou hast loved righteousness and hated iniquity, therefore God, even Thy God, hath anointed Thee with the oil of gladness above Thy fellows.” “He, having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost,” it was said at Pentecost, “hath shed forth this which ye now see and hear.”

Aaron himself was anointed without any blood shedding; his sons, only after the blood was shed. There our anointing comes in. At Pentecost, the saints then baptized into one body were anointed by the Holy Spirit; and, I take it, when we receive the Holy Ghost we form a part of that baptized body. You could not speak of individuals being baptized by the Holy Spirit in any other way. We get the Spirit as the seal, the anointing, and the earnest, all in 2 Corinthians 1:21. The Spirit is the earnest, the assurance, of what we are going to be brought into. We have not the earnest of His love, but of the inheritance. We used to sing,

“What will it be to dwell above,

And with the Lord of glory reign,

Since the sweet earnest of His love

So brightens all this dreary plain.”

This won’t do at all. We shall never be loved more than we are now, even in the glory. The measure of that love is Christ. It is infinite and endless. But the Holy Spirit is the earnest of the inheritance. The seal is God marking us for His own, that seal is never broken. And the anointing would be power for worship, for walk and for testimony. And, I take it, these precious graces, seen in all their perfection in the pathway of the Lord Jesus Christ, are seen in the pathway of God’s saints now, the fruit of the Spirit.

At any rate, this anointing was necessary for the priests. If they were not anointed, they could not approach God and carry out the service of the tabernacle. It was an absolute necessity to be an anointed priest. It may be simulated, for it is wonderful how far the flesh can go; but the hymn is true,

“No heart but of the Spirit taught

Makes melody to Thee.

We must be anointed to be worshipping priests. The thought is that of the holy priesthood of 1 Peter. 2. but we are a royal priesthood too, and as such it is our privilege to show forth His excellences: and neither one nor the other can be accomplished without the anointing.

The mingling with oil in the meat-offering, as a type of Christ, would be what we have in Luke 1:35: “the Holy Ghost shall come upon thee,” etc. That would be the fine flour and the oil.

At His baptism, the anointing took place, and the Holy Ghost came down in a bodily shape like a dove. That form was a testimony that the One He rested on was holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners. You get that in the thought of the dove in different parts of scripture. “My dove, mine undefiled”; “harmless as doves”; and speaking of the evil in the city, the Psalmist says, “Oh, that I had wings like a dove” separate from sinners.

So I take it that is the testimony there. But there was no blood-shedding. There was such perfection in Himself He could be anointed. So Aaron was alone; but after the blood was shed his sons could be too; and after the cross, at Pentecost, the Holy Ghost was sent down, and the saints had Him as seal, anointing, and earnest; and in addition were baptized into one body. I should say myself we are neglectful if we do not thank God every day for the presence of the Holy Ghost. We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter, and if it was not for the power of the Holy Ghost we should soon be swallowed up. So all this has a very precious but solemn voice to us, full of practical instruction.

I suppose in one way the tabernacle was a figure of the universe; and in the use of the oil in verses 26-29 we see a figure that in the power of the Holy Ghost the glorified Man at God’s right hand will take possession of the universe. The Holy Spirit will be poured out upon all flesh in the day when all things are headed up in Christ, according to Psalms 8. And by the way it is dealt with in Hebrews 2. we see the subject there is the habitable world which is to come. So I do not think it is so large a sphere there as that brought before us in Ephesians 1 where everything in heaven and earth is beneath Him. A wonderful sphere!

The Holy Spirit being poured upon all flesh does not say He will indwell all, but that blessing will not be confined to one favored nation. It will not be an absolutely perfect state in the millennium. Some will yield feigned obedience, and directly evil manifests itself it will be dealt with. Death will be the exception. A child shall die a hundred years old; I suppose the majority will live. throughout the thousand years; but at the end (and there will be an enormous population then), as soon as Satan is let loose they will fall under his power, the last great storm. It will be a demonstration, not only to saved souls, but to angelic hosts, that only those are safe who are kept by God. Only those will be safe through the millennium who are saved by sovereign grace.

Before the millennium, after the coming of the Lord for His saints, there will be such a time of Satan’s power, that if possible the very elect would be deceived; but it is very blessed that it is not possible. Yet those who have witnessed the Lord’s beneficent sway for a thousand years will fall under Satan’s power as soon as they get the chance.

We had to speak a little on the incense when we were speaking of the altar of incense. It is remarkable that Christians should be so blind when it is stated so solemnly that the one that imitated this should be put to death, cut off from God’s people (vs. 38); and yet those calling themselves Christians will dare to imitate it!

The great thing for us is to see its significance as a type of Christ in all His wondrous fragrance to God. There were four ingredients, and there was to be an equal quantity of each, for there was an equipoise of all perfections in the Lord Jesus Christ: but there was no measure to it. And some of it had to be beaten small, and laid up before the holy place (vs. 36), intimating to us that the very smallest thing connected with the Lord Jesus was fragrant to God; every thought, every word, every action, the smallest details of His everyday life, all a holy perfume to Him. And then it had to be burnt on the altar of incense. They were forbidden to burn sacrifices on that altar, or meat-offerings, or pour drink-offerings thereon. All were forbidden, because that would be confusing the two altars, a sad mistake, but one too frequent now.

The brazen altar was the place of sacrifice, and takes us to Calvary, and makes us think of the sacrifice of Him Who through the Eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, the accepted Sacrifice, through Whom God was glorified. The Lord could say when Judas went out, and He was free to tell out His heart, “Now is the Son of man glorified, and God is glorified in Him. And if God be glorified in Him, God shall also glorify Him in Himself, and shall straightway glorify Him” (John 13:31, 32).

So the altar of incense takes us to Christ in glory, where we get the gold. Both gold and brass are God’s righteousness, but the gold is righteousness where God is, suited to His nature; and brass, the righteousness of God where man is, man in responsibility. It also tells of the power of endurance on the part of the One Who could take the sinner’s place, and suffer in his stead, the only One capable of doing so.

Fire is the holiness of God applied in judgment; and so this incense was burnt to bring out its fragrance. Of course it points to what Christ endured when He once suffered for sins, the Just for the unjust. That is where the fragrance comes out; and though He was there forsaken of God as the Sin-bearer, there never was a moment in the history of the Lord Jesus more precious to the Father than the Son’s experience on the cross.

He had been loved from all eternity, (scripture abundantly shows us that); but the cross was an additional cause to draw out the Father’s love. “Therefore doth My Father love Me, because I lay down My life that I might take it again.” He was “obedient unto death, even the death of the cross”; all the fragrance came out then, and the fragrance abides. It never loses its value; it is always ascending to God, a perpetual incense; and it tells us of that which is ascending for us, the intercession of the Lord Jesus Christ. Not one of us but needs that; and shall do while in this place of possible failure. He died to save us, but He also lives to save us, “ever liveth to make intercession.”

Another thought connected with it is that only the priests had access to this sanctuary. It spoke of the standing of priests, as their own sphere before God; and so we get here the thought of our worship; and it is connected with both our prayers and praises.

“To all our prayers and praises

Christ adds His sweet perfume;

And He the censer raises

These odours to consume.”

Another thought we might just consider with it. Turn to Numbers 16:41-46. When you get “the altar” without any qualifying adjective to distinguish it, it means the brazen altar. That fire had come out from the Lord; any other was “strange fire,” and for using strange fire Nadab and Abihu were slain. If it was not connected with the altar, one could hardly understand making atonement for these rebels.

The rebellion of Korah is referred to in Jude (ver. 11); it was assuming the place of a priest, as distinct from all the brethren, is guilty of the sin of Core; a solemn thing, but we see it all around.

The incense in Numbers 16:47 spoke of Christ in all His fragrance to God, in connection with the fire of the brazen altar that had come out from the presence of the Lord. I believe the word “atonement” means “to cover.” It was in grace a covering for their guilt.

We do not really get the word “atonement” in the New Testament. Two scriptures we might turn to, just to clear up the point. The first is Romans 5:11. We have reached a higher point here than any in even that wonderful chapter 8 “joy in God.” We shall never get beyond that, not even in the eternal state in glory. “We also joy in God, through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the reconciliation”; that is the right word. We do not receive atonement; we receive reconciliation. In the thought of reconciliation we get right relationship.

When we turn to Hebrews 2:17 we see the word is again wrong. There is no reconciliation for sins: there is for persons, and things, things in heaven and earth. Here the word should be “propitiation.” Where we have the truth of atonement brought out in the Old Testament, we get both propitiation and substitution. Now by the Lord’s death there was propitiation for the sins of the people, the blood was sprinkled on the gold. The high priest going in sprinkled the blood on and before the mercy-seat; and the cherubim looked down on the blood. And we can see there is perfect complacency, perfect rest. Two thousand five hundred years before that we meet the cherubim, but there is no rest. The blade of the flaming sword turned every way, no rest. This is a great contrast, and because of the blood. The sword had done its work, and the blood tells of the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ.

But the blood was also sprinkled seven times before the mercy-seat, telling that we, who are there, are there on the ground of perfect acceptance, because seven tells of perfection. We are perfectly fitted for God’s most holy presence as worshippers.

So the word “atonement” itself is not found in the original of the New Testament. In Romans 5 it should be “reconciliation”; and where we have “reconciliation” in Hebrews 2. it should be “propitiation.” Noticing we have the brazen altar in connection with the incense, we see how atonement was made for the rebels (Num. 16:17).

But before we pass on, there is one precious thought. Mercy rejoices against judgment; and though Korah and his company were swallowed up, we get those psalms, very important and blessed psalms too, for the sons of Korah.” See Psalms 84, 85., 87. Also, Samuel was descended from them too. So mercy does rejoice against judgment. Well for us that it is so.

Chapter 31.

WE get God preparing and fitting His servants for their work connected with the sanctuary. It has a voice to us. In verse 3 Bezaleel is “filled with the Spirit of God,” the first man spoken of in scripture as filled with the Spirit; and his name is significant too. I believe all these names are. I intended looking into them, and I believe they have a voice in their connection here.

Bezaleel means, “In the shadow of God”; and if we are to be used by God we must keep very close to Him. He belonged to Judah, “praise,” and the one associated with him belonged to Dan, “judgment.” It is entirely what God does. “I have called... I have filled,” etc.

What we have here would make us think of 1 Corinthians 12 where we have the assembly opened out to us in chapter 10 to 14 chapter 10 and 11 deal with the Lord’s table, and in chapter 12. we have the gifts. In verse 3 the teaching to us is that we are not to believe every spirit, but try the spirits. Everyone in the assembly is responsible for what they hear,— even a young sister could not say, I leave that to the older ones,” because 2 John is written to a lady and her children; and they are told, “If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine,” the teaching of the Holy Spirit about the divinity and humanity of the Lord Jesus Christ, “receive him not into your house, neither bid him God-speed.”

It is a serious thing to sanction in the slightest way a spot put on the Spotless One. In the assembly, if there is anything said derogatory to Christ and His glory, it is not by the Holy Spirit; but if ministry makes everything of Christ, it is of Him.

“Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit.” When the order of God’s word is carried out, it is very beautiful. He has given all that pertains to life and godliness, and we have all the light we can possibly need, both individually and collectively. If it was not so, it would be a slur on the love that provided it.

“To one is given, by the Spirit, the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge, by the same Spirit.” (We get the same words in Exodus 31:3.) There we have the Lordship of the Spirit, dividing to every man severally as He will.

We can say that at the beginning of any dispensation we get miracles, etc., which drop out afterward because not necessary then; but what is more important, and needful, and blessed remains. The four prominent gifts mentioned in Ephesians abide, — pastors, teachers, prophets, and evangelists. No one now can prophesy about future events apart from what is found in the word of God; but there is another character of the prophet that we see in 1 Corinthians 14:2. The great point in that chapter is that whatever is done, even when there were all the gifts here below, everything must be done for edification, not display.

It is better to keep silence; and in those days, according to the teaching of this chapter, if a man was speaking, and giving a discourse, and someone had a fresh revelation, such as Paul had when he said” I have received of the Lord,” or “this we say unto you by the word of the Lord,” a “fresh revelation,”— if someone had such, the first speaker had to stop, because the canon of scripture was not complete, and it was so important to get what God had to say.

But in verse 3 we get the character of prophecy: “edification, and exhortation, and comfort.” So the ministry of the prophets was not simply taken up with foretelling future events; and that ministry remains to-day. There is a teacher’s ministry, and a prophet’s. Putting that chapter and John 4 together we see a prophet’s ministry brings the conscience of the hearers into God’s presence. If they were listening to one speaking in an unknown tongue, they would say he was mad; but if a prophet had been speaking, God is with you of a truth.” I have no doubt there is that kind of ministry now.

As a general rule, specially in Isaiah, false prophets were challenged to tell the future, a power that only belongs to God. He can speak of things that are not as though they were. We belong to time, a parenthesis in eternity; God lives in an eternal now. You cannot limit the power of God, and we should be perfectly correct in saying God can span eternity at a glance. He is omniscient.

People take 360 years (the prophetic year had 360 days), and multiply by seven, from the point where the times of the Gentiles commenced under Nebuchadnezzar, and it runs out to about 1917. So the “Millennial Dawn” people are preaching that there are millions now living who will never die, but go on to the millennium. It is not warranted by the word of God.

The Lord has distinctly told us in Luke 21., “Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.” We know at the present time the Jews have great expectations, but we know they will be disappointed. Scripture shows us a great maritime power will take up the Jews to put them back in the land, and when everything looks fair, God steps in and puts an end to it.

Turn to Isaiah 18 “He!” it is a call. The two great powers that menaced Israel were the powers settled on the Euphrates and the Nile, — the king of the north, and the king of the south. The land giving protection to the weak and helpless is the meaning of “wings.” How oft would I have gathered... as a hen doth gather her chickens under her wings.’ I take it, no country in the world is like England in that. She threw her wing over Belgium, and France too, and has tried to put an end to slavery. “Vessels of bulrushes,” etc., means a maritime power.

“I will take My rest” (Isa. 18:4). Before what they are planning comes to pass, when prospects are good and fair, as far as human sagacity can see, God will step in, and put an end to their plans. The terrible tribulation of the Jews will be subsequent to this. Something is going to happen that will put an end to this scheme to put Israel back. They will have a worse experience in their national history than they have ever had before. That is very plain from Daniel 12:1, which is quoted by the Lord. (Michael is the only one called “archangel” in scripture.) That is the time of Jacob’s trouble, or the great tribulation. When the Old Testament is quoted in the New, there is always something additional; so the Lord adds “and never shall be.” That is what these poor Jews are going back to.

But finish Isaiah 18 God in His own time will bring it about and gather them back. It was the kingdom of Judah that said, “His blood be on us.” The ten tribes are not guilty of that, and will be tried in the wilderness, where the rebels will be purged out; then they will be joined to Judah, and the two sticks become one (Ezek. 37).

What finishes up the times of the Gentiles is the Stone cut out without hands that smites the image on its feet (Daniel 2) It is judgment, and then the millennial kingdom follows, and the Lord will come as the Sun of righteousness with healing in His wings (Mal. 3:16–4:3).

I should like to refer to a few scriptures in connection with the earlier verses of this chapter (Ex. 31). The first thing to note is God’s arrangement for this house that was to be His dwelling-place, and of which subsequently He did take possession. It is He Who says, “I have called”... “I have filled”... “I have given”... “I have commanded.” All is of God, His arrangement of the work He would have done.

It reminds us of many scriptures in the New Testament that tell us of His arrangement of His house now. We might read a few; Romans 12:5-9 for instance. Some might think it was only instruction for a few of God’s people; but everyone of them had to do with this, and had privileges in connection with it. The Israelites were told, “Whosoever is of a willing heart, let him bring it, an offering to the Lord” (Ex. 35:5).

So too we all have privileges connected with this house; and it is not left for us to choose what position we occupy. We ought to lie passive in His hands, and have no wills of our own, but just to carry out God’s will. Paul asks, “How can they hear without a preacher? and how can they preach except they be sent?” It is God Who sends, and trains, and fits the vessels; and the apostle says too, “though I preach the gospel, I have nothing to glory of: for necessity is laid upon me; yea, woe is unto me, if I preach not the gospel! “That was the position he was placed in by God, though he makes it plain from other scriptures that the love of Christ constrained him.

And there is another word in 1 Peter 4:10. It is made very clear to us again and again in many parts of the New Testament that we are needful one to another. “The eye,”— the knowing member, “cannot say unto the hand,”— the useful member,“ I have no need of thee.” So it says here, “If any man speak, let him speak as God’s mouthpiece.”

Then we get the tabernacle and its furniture brought before us, and the different articles are enumerated; and I have said before, that I have read, though I have never verified it, that the tabernacle and its furniture are enumerated seven times over from chapter 25 to the end of Exodus. That is rather striking, because it would tell us of the importance of it. When God tells us of the creation, He gives it all in one chapter; but this tabernacle, every whit of it uttering His glory, is given to us seven times over.

And thou, speak thou unto the children of Israel, saying, Surely My sabbaths shall ye keep; for this is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations, that ye may know that it is I Jehovah, Who do hallow you (31:13).

There is something in the sabbath to arrest our attention. It is frequently brought before us in Exodus. Whenever a change is brought before us here the sabbath is mentioned, and is meant to show God’s earthly people that God is working to that end: there is a rest remaining for them. We get the sabbath in connection with creation in Genesis, and it is broken through man’s sin; and we get no mention of it again till the Exodus, 2500 years after.

The first time it is brought before us here is in connection with the giving of the manna, and in that section of the book of Exodus that brings before us pure grace. We get pure grace, pure law, and a mixture of law and grace in this book. I have no doubt its introduction in Exodus 16. tells us that true rest is found alone in Christ, the One Who came down here in lowly guise as the Perfect Man. The Holy Ghost came down on Him at His baptism, and could rest on Him.

The manna is a type of Him, and it is only through Him that sabbatism remains for us who believe. The millennium is the rest that remains for God’s earthly people.

Then the keeping of the sabbath is incorporated in the law; again, it is mentioned in connection with the tabernacle here; and in the construction of the tabernacle we get it again, for after Israel’s failure in making the golden calf, God brings in another change, His mercy; or He could not have gone on with them at all. So in chapter 35:1, “Moses gathered all the congregation of the children of Israel together, and said unto them,” These are the words which the Lord hath commanded, that ye should do them. Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day there shall be to you an holy day, a sabbath of rest to the Lord.” We know professing Christians have largely fallen from grace. It speaks of that in Galatians where they put themselves under law; that is, falling from grace. Often now if a man becomes loose in his walk it is spoken of as falling from grace, but scripture speaks of it as putting one’s self under law; and we get it on every hand.

The sabbath was connected with the old creation, not the new. The seventh day was the sabbath, our Saturday; but the first day of the week is called the Lord’s day. Some object to that in Revelation 1:10, and say it means the day of the Lord; but sound interpretation of the word of God would save them from such a mistake.

The day of the Lord is never spoken of so; and “Lord” there is not the word generally used; it is used for the Lord’s supper, but not for the table; and purposely links the day and the supper together. At first the early Christians broke bread every day together. Subsequently, the Spirit-taught disciples came together on the first day of the week to break bread. That was their object; and you find Paul and his company remain seven days in certain places to break bread with these saints.

The character of the day is quite different. The Lord Jesus was in the grave on the sabbath: on the first day of the week He arose, and is the beginning of the creation of God. That expression is used in an evil way by those who deny the eternal Divinity of the Lord; but “if any man be in Christ, there is a new creation,” that is His creation, the creation of God, the new creation; and that began with the resurrection of Christ, not in the Lord’s lifetime.

It is in resurrection that He is the beginning of the creation of God; and instead of being restricted in our labor, we can use that day to labor for Him more than any other day. We see, in the Lord’s mercy, a greater number of souls are brought under the sound of the gospel on the Lord’s day than on any other day; and a true Christian would use every effort that souls may be brought, not only under the sound, but under the power of it.

The New Testament is very careful to distinguish between the sabbath and the Lord’s day. When Paul went from city to city, he always went to the synagogue on the sabbath, when the Jews congregated, and preached to them, for the order then was “to the Jew first.” But on the first day of the week he was found with the Christians, if there were any, to break bread with them, and to respond to the expressed desire of the Lord Jesus on the night of His betrayal, when the feast was instituted. The Society of Friends will not have it, nor baptism; they say it is Jewish. But we can see the wisdom of God; oh, His wisdom!

In the Gospels, the supper is connected with the kingdom. “I will not any more eat thereof until it be fulfilled in the kingdom of God”; so if it was only recorded in the Gospels we should not be able to deal with the argument that it is Jewish, as we can now. For the apostle Paul did not get it from the Twelve, but from the Lord; and in 1 Corinthians 11. it is connected with the coming of the Lord, and not with the kingdom. We announce the Lord’s death every time we do it, and tell the universe we build everything on His death; and so we announce His death till He come.

So it is the Lord’s day that has its place now; and those Christians that talk of the change of the day, and mix up the Lord’s day and the sabbath spoil them both. They lower the sabbath as it was given to God’s saints in the Old Testament; and in mixing it with the Lord’s day they take away some of the beauty of that.

And directly after the church is gone, the sabbath will take its place again, the Lord’s day will disappear. The Lord spoke to His disciples as the remnant, though they afterward became part of the one body. He said to them, “When ye see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place,” that is, in the temple in Jerusalem, an earthly center connected with Jewish worship,” then let them which be in Jerusalem flee to the mountains.’“ It will be very urgent, so they were to pray it might not be “in the winter, neither on the sabbath day,” because they could not then go further than a sabbath day’s journey.

Those people that had been converted as Jews had the Epistle to the Hebrews written to them, and that will help us to understand how frequently the sabbath is brought before us in Exodus, to keep in their minds that God had a rest for them. See Hebrews 3:7-14. They were types of ourselves passing through the wilderness, but they had not known His ways. So God bore with them when they failed under pure law. That could not last. When Moses came down from the mount, they had made the golden calf. I would like to point out Hebrews 3:18, 19.

There is the secret of their failure, but there is a great misapplication made as to this; one sees the mistake where you would not expect it. The margin of Hebrews 4:9 is “a keeping of sabbath,” and that will be the millennial reign of the Lord Jesus Christ.

In Hebrews 4:11 we are told to “labor to enter into that rest”; now labor is not rest, because it says (vs. 3), “the works were finished,” etc. People give that a present application and say we enter into it now; no, it is future; we cannot labor and rest too. Of course what they want to bring out they seek in the wrong place. If they went to Matthew 11:28 they would get what they meant, — rest of conscience; that is a gift. But the Lord says too, “Take My yoke upon you and learn of Me, and ye shall find rest unto your souls,” an everyday experience. Learning of Him we get rest to our souls; not a gift, but a result. When we have a burdened conscience we come to Christ and He gives us rest.

But J.N.D. explained this, “We which have believed do enter into rest “thus:” There are to be some meetings in a public hall, and I go down the day before to show a brother the place, and say, ‘We enter by that door.’ I do not mean we enter now, but shall do so when the time comes.”

God Himself is working still; there will be no earthly rest till the millennium. In John 5:17, “My Father worketh hitherto and I work,” He is in connection with the pool of Bethesda, the house of mercy. You know sometimes when the Lord Jesus performed a physical cure, it was not accompanied by a work of grace in the soul. Sometimes there were both, as with the blind man in John 9. He was a worshipper. But in chapter 5, I do not believe the man was converted at all, because he went and told the Jews it was Jesus Who had made him whole, “therefore did the Jews persecute Jesus.” So when the Lord said, “My Father worketh hitherto and I work,” He is letting them know God’s nature makes it impossible for God to rest. His love would not let Him rest in a world of misery, nor His holiness in a state of sin.

But I was thinking of Zephaniah 3:14-18. There you get a millennial scene. God can speak of things that are not as though they are: it will be a time of rest for Him then.

A blessed day is coming for Israel. When we read of the sabbath, it is always pointing on to that time when the devil will be bound, and every man will sit under his own vine, and his own fig tree; when the groaning creation will be delivered, and brought into the liberty of the glory of the children of God; when nothing will hurt or destroy in all God’s holy mountain; oh, it will be a blessed day for this world!

And Abraham will see the promises made to him fulfilled in that day, when the whole earth is blessed in his seed; but he will see it from the heavenly department of that kingdom. Those Old Testament saints will form no part of God’s assembly; they are not the body or bride of Christ; but they will be glorified saints in heavenly glory, in the Father’s kingdom. It speaks of us as being there too in Matthew 13:43, and shining forth as the sun.

So the sabbath was given specially to Israel, and is all pointing on to what God has in store for them. There are other signs of their separation to God, such as circumcision; and in Deuteronomy He speaks of blessings peculiar to them. They were dispensationally near, and in the millennium they will be nigh. It is impossible for things in this world to be right till the Jews have their right place. They must be the head; they are the tail now. They must be lifted up and be the head. There is a blessed future in store for them, and all in mercy.

What we come to next shows us that they had forfeited everything. They undertook to get the blessing of the promises on the ground of their obedience, and they forfeited all. So if they get it at all, it must be on the ground of purest grace.

The law came in by the way, and “it was added for the sake of transgressions” (J.N.D.). In addition to having a sinful nature, they had definite instructions from God. “Where no law is there is no transgression.” Sin is lawlessness, doing one’s own will instead of God’s will. But there cannot be transgression without a law. But “death reigned from Adam to Moses even over those that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam’s transgression.” Therefore that verse in Isaiah 53:5 does not strictly refer to us, but to those who transgressed under law. Unless you see it is the language of the remnant by and by, you lose a lot of the beauty of Isaiah 53. It is the remnant that say,” We did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God and afflicted.” When their eyes are opened and the veil is taken away, they say “but He was wounded for our transgressions,” etc. It is blessed to see this is the language of the remnant. Evangelists make a great mistake in applying verse 6 to everybody. It is the language of a saved soul, not of an unconverted man. A Christian can appropriate it, of course; but it cannot be applied universally. If you do, then everybody in the world will be saved.

The last verse of this chapter tells us Moses had been up forty days with the Lord. Oh, up there what splendid, wonderful things were being unfolded; and down below what awful things transacted!

And He gave to Moses, when He had ended speaking with him on mount Sinai, the two tables of testimony, tables of stone, written with the finger of God (31:18).

This testing under pure law was of very short duration. God in giving the law justified Himself in blessing Abraham in pure grace. The Jews in their pride of heart would think God had picked out the best man in the world, but scripture shows he was a poor wretched idolater when God called him out; and thus, by giving the law and showing that man could not keep it, it justified God in blessing those He does bless in purest grace.

Chapter 32.

WE have noticed that you get in this book a period of grace, pure grace; and then of law, pure law; but that was of very short duration, as we have been reminded in what we have just read. They have forfeited everything by accepting the ground of law. They were ignorant of themselves, and gave proof positive they did not appreciate the wonderful grace shown to them in the early chapters. They took the place of getting the blessing on the ground of their obedience, instead of pure grace. God could not go on with them unless mercy was brought in, so in chapter 34 we get Him showing His back parts to Moses, and declaring His name, and that great, deep well of mercy. They were still under law, but God had to show them mercy to go on with them at all.

That has a great place in Israel’s history. The blessing promised in unconditional grace to Abraham will be given them on the ground of mercy. God has revealed in the Old Testament that is what He delights in; and the New Testament has revealed to us He is rich in mercy. “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us.” The apostle Paul, who was inspired to call himself the chief of sinners, “who was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious,” says, “I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief.”

But in his case I have no doubt there is a reference to the cities of refuge. “I did it ignorantly.” And we see the prayer of the Lord on the cross answered both in the testimony given to Israel, and also in the mercy shown to the chief of sinners. “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” “And now, brethren, I wot that through ignorance ye did it.” God has concluded all in unbelief, that He might have mercy upon all.

We do not get mercy in the first eight chapters of Romans, though grace is very prominent there, where we get the foundation truths of Christianity; but in the three dispensational chapters (9-11) we get mercy in connection with God’s earthly people. It occurs to me that in Psalms 105 and 106 we get some wonderful lessons. In 105 it is a question of God’s grace to them, and brings one up to Rephidim. Exodus 18 is a millennial scene, but Rephidim is in chapter 17, just at the end of the section of pure grace. Then in 106. you get the blessed truth that His mercy endureth forever, therefore they can praise Him.

We have seen, then, that their time under pure law was of very short duration. Moses was up the mountain forty days. It does not tell us how soon it was that they got impatient, but soon enough for them to have time to have this calf made, and to have this feast. Moses was apprised of it by Jehovah before he came down.

We get three giving’s of the law. In chapter 19, 20, it was given orally; then Moses goes up to receive it written. The two tables were written with the finger of God. On their part, they had said, “All things that the Lord hath spoken we will do.” It is well for us to remember the law is the lowest possible standard a holy, righteous God could give. It is not what some say of it, a revelation of God; but it is a revelation of what man ought to be. The question of righteousness had to be raised; and the law came in by the way, and was added for the sake of transgressions. Sin was in the world before law, but without law there is no transgression.

God has thus justified Himself in blessing man in unconditional grace. This is the only ground on which any of us can be blessed, purest grace. Look at the salvation of the dying thief. It is what man, as man, would kick against; but there we see an exceedingly wicked man fitted by the Lord Jesus for Paradise. He acknowledges the kind of man he was, a pest to society, “we receive the due reward of our deeds.” So there is an acknowledgment on the man’s part of his character. People say there is one man saved at the eleventh hour, that none may despair; and only one, that none may presume. All very well on one side, but the way that man was saved is the way any of us are saved. There will never be a soul in heaven because he deserved to be there. All must be purest grace. “By grace are ye saved, through faith; and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God.” Wondrous grace!

You see before Israel got these details, before it was written, or before these stones were given to Moses, they were breaking the very first commandment. That is the meaning of that expression in Romans 5, “When we were yet without strength, in due time, Christ died for the ungodly.” They had been under law 1500 years. God had been testing them all that time, and there was not one under the law that had strength to meet its requirements. Then “in due time Christ died for the ungodly”; and that is the reason why God can justify the ungodly.

There was no weakness in the law itself, nothing defective: it came from God, and it is holy, and just, and good; but Romans 8:3, 4 tells us the material the law had to deal with had the weakness. Now, through mercy, we who are saved, and indwelt by the Holy Ghost, have power to keep higher requirements than those of the law. The flesh is not forgiven; it is condemned: sins are forgiven. “That the righteous requirement of the law may be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” “We have not received the Spirit of cowardice, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.”

You see their impatience was manifested, and it just shows us what man is. The whole human race is of one lump. All have got the same nature, no matter what their nationality. All the descendants of Adam have the same nature, a nature in which there is an absence of all good. “I know that in me, that is, in my flesh, good does not dwell.” So if we have learned our lesson well, and know what it is to abhor ourselves, we do not wonder at this exhibition of human nature.

The sight of the eyes is ever an ensnaring thing to man. Moses endured as seeing Him Who is invisible; and the Lord told His disciples, when going away, “You have faith in God. You have never seen Him. Have faith also in Me.” Of course in the Lord they had a perfect exhibition of the Father, and He could say, “He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father”; but “no man hath seen God at any time,” and the Lord Jesus is the Revealer of the Father, — of His heart and His mind. “We beheld His glory, the glory as of the Only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.”

This is the significance of that word in Timothy about the acknowledges the kind of man he was, a pest to society, “we receive the due reward of our deeds.” So there is an acknowledgment on the man’s part of his character. People say there is one man saved at the eleventh hour, that none may despair; and only one, that none may presume. All very well on one side, but the way that man was saved is the way any of us are saved. There will never be a soul in heaven because he deserved to be there. All must be purest grace. “By grace are ye saved, through faith; and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God.” Wondrous grace!

This is the significance of that word in Timothy about the angels. The mystery of piety or godliness, God manifest in flesh, not the manifestation of God, but God “manifest,” and “seen of angels.” It was the first time they had seen their Creator. He was the Image of the invisible God. Not the likeness; that would be altogether wrong. He is God Himself, and the Image of the invisible God, the One Who perfectly represents Him.

And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people collected together to Aaron, and said to him, Up, make us a god, who will go before us; for this Moses, the man that has brought us up out of the land of Egypt, — we do not know what is become of him! (32:1).

They wanted something to see. Moses was only up there altogether forty days. We must remember what the Spirit tells us about it. It does not say Israel was a type of the church, but what happened to them was (1 Cor. 10:7). “Neither be ye idolaters,” a reference to what we have read. There is a lesson for us in what we have been reading. Some may think we are not likely to be idolaters. Well, gross idolatry I do not say (except in certain cases) would be seen in a Christian; but we are told in the last verse of the first Epistle of John, “Little children, keep yourselves from idols.” Anything that takes the place of Christ is an idol.

He has given us the blessing of a purged conscience through the precious blood of Christ, and Christ Himself to satisfy our hearts. Nothing here can fill our hearts; but when we have Christ, and He becomes the portion of our inheritance and of our cup, we have more than we can hold. Covetousness is idolatry, if I want anything more than Christ. As far as the Christian is concerned, it tells us, “having sustenance and covering let us learn therewith to be satisfied,” that is the strict translation. It is more than food and raiment. We need the covering of a roof, and it takes that in. It is grand to be able to say

“I want but little here below,

Nor want that little long.”

It is very sweet that the apostle Paul was able to say, though sometimes hungry, and sometimes naked, “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me. I am instructed both to be full, and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.” That is very blessed, and only God’s grace can do that in poor things like you and me. He had learned, he tells them, to be content in whatsoever state. Our version says “herewith” to be content, but that word is in italics. If left out it represents better what Paul meant. Not “herewith,” but “herein.”

And Aaron said to them, Break off the golden rings that are in the ears of your wives, of your sons, and of your daughters, and bring [them] to me (32:2).

The Spirit of God calls him in the Psalms, “Aaron the saint of the Lord”; but that would have reference to his sanctification to the office of the priesthood. He was set apart by God, chosen by God; “no man taketh this office unto himself, but he that is called of God, as was Aaron.” God gave him that appointment, so he could be spoken of as a saint. But he was very weak, very yielding.

We are saints, and we ought to be firm as a rock when it is a question of God’s glory. Yet we are told, “Let your yieldingness be known unto all men.” We do not want to be standing up for our rights. Some would be firm as a rock about that, but yield about God’s honor. But we should stand firm, and let everything go, so long as God’s honor and the truth are not compromised. Compromise is the ruin of everything. Scripture shows us the danger of yielding when we ought not, and of being stiff when we ought to yield. As regards ourselves we ought to be ready to give up everything. “As far as lieth in you live peaceably with all men”; but we must not have peace at the expense of purity. “The wisdom that cometh from above is first pure, then peaceable,”— not peace at any price.

So this gold was brought, and Aaron not only yields to them, but takes a leading place in getting the calf. There are three great sins of God’s people in the wilderness—the worship of the golden calf; loathing the manna; and despising the pleasant land: a picture of Christendom.

Then all the people broke off the golden rings that were in their cars, and brought [them] to Aaron (32: 3).

They responded to his request, and brought the gold. Some have tried to exculpate Aaron here, and say he knew their love of gold, and that they would be indisposed to bring it. But we get scriptures which simply give us a fact, and other scriptures throw light on it and show us whether it is right or wrong. They wanted to mix up this idolatry with the worship of Jehovah, which is what we get all around, a mixture. What characterizes Christianity is simplicity. We have to be always on our guard, for there is a tendency to introduce something that is unwarranted by the word of God.

We might turn to Galatians 4:8. These Galatians had been idolaters, and then did service to them that were no gods. Both the Old and New Testaments show us that behind the idols were demons (Deut. 32:17; 1 Cor. 10:20), so they had been occupied that way. They were turning to the law, and they are spoken of (ver. 9) as “turning again to the weak and beggarly elements.” The law was of divine origin, but when Christ came, the fulfiller of the law, we got the Substance, and the law was only a shadow, weak and beggarly by comparison. It is the ceremonial law here, not simply the moral law. Compared with the wealth of Christianity it was “weak and beggarly elements,” and looked at on the same ground as idolatry. “How turn ye back, or again?”

We must not simply read this in connection with Israel, but take it to ourselves, for “whatsoever things were written afore-time, were written for our learning.”

And they rose up early on the morrow, and offered up burnt-offerings, and brought peace-offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to sport (32:6).

If we search that out, it would show there was a cessation of moral control, and abandonment. Aaron had made them naked, and their shame was exposed even to their enemies. Then incidentally it is mentioned, there was, in connection, the singing and the dancing.

Thus we have this narrative, and it shows us everything was forfeited, — gone. As far as the ten words were concerned, like a chain of ten links, if one was broken, all were. The Spirit puts it, “guilty of all.”

Is it not remarkable, after all the Spirit of God is pleased to tell us of the law, and to show us, Christians, that we are not under it, and that to go back to it is just equal to worshipping the golden calf, yet tens of thousands are daily saying, “Lord, incline our hearts to keep this law?” They put themselves in that position.

We shall see when we come to chapter 34. that what we get there corresponds with Christendom around us now. That chapter is what is spoken of in 2 Corinthians 3, and is called the “ministration of death.” There was no shining face when it was pure law. “Moses did exceedingly fear and quake.” There was no shining face till chapter 34, when mercy is brought in: and that is the “ministry of condemnation.” If people were under law, the greater the grace shown them, the greater their guilt if they failed.

All this was under the eye of God, and He told Moses to get down, and said, “they had corrupted themselves.” Oh, in reading a scripture like this, how we should realize what we are, what poor things! We must not think the Israelites were different from us. We have a nature in which there is an absence of all good, a propensity to all evil, and a capacity for any crime. If a person is ever so bad, let us rather say, there is an expression of human nature, instead of saying anything that looks as if we could not do it. It is the cross that brings out what human nature is.

“Oh! how vile was my estate,

Since my ransom was so great.”

May God in His grace give to all very low thoughts of self, and ever higher and holier thoughts of the Lord Jesus! None of us have ever met anyone worse than ourselves.

They have turned aside quickly out of the way that I commanded them: they have made themselves a molten calf, and have bowed down to it, and have sacrificed thereunto, and said, This is thy god, Israel, who has brought thee up out of the land of Egypt!

They displaced Jehovah altogether, you see; and paid divine honors unto that calf. It only shows their blindness, moral blindness. In the light of a scripture like this, it should make one feel and cry to the Lord never to leave us a single moment. We have not strength to keep ourselves, even for the tick of a clock.

It says in the first Epistle of John, “that wicked one toucheth him not.” Though we have been saying all this of human nature, a Christian who is dependent and obedient Satan cannot touch. The Lord overcame in the wilderness by dependence and obedience.

I feel that the whole of this part is full of instruction for us. These people wanted something visible to lean on. Man shrinks from entire dependence on that which is invisible. This would largely account for the present state of Christendom. When they saw the calf they went further than at first. Then they attributed their being brought out of Egypt to Moses; now they ascribe it to their gods. Losing sight of Moses, they apparently forgot God knew all about them. He is the Searcher of hearts, and there is nothing covered up from Him. So He is able to tell Moses what is taking place below.

And Jehovah said to Moses, I see this people, and behold, it is a stiff necked people (32:9).

God took out one nation, and brought them near Himself, but their trial was the trial of the whole human race. From the creation to the cross man was under probation, and God was testing man. He said of this people, a stiff-necked people,”

indisposed to bow to God’s truth, though they readily said, All that the Lord hath spoken will we do”; being ignorant of themselves, and not valuing the grace of God. They solemnly entered into this covenant, and it was ratified by the sprinkling of blood. That blood was not cleansing, but showed death was their portion if they sinned.

And now let Me alone, that My anger may burn against them, and I may consume them; and I will make of thee a great nation (32:10).

It brings out what grace had wrought in Moses. He was not self-seeking. He thought more of God’s honor and glory than his own advancement. So he takes the place of intercessor and mediator between God and the people.

And Moses besought Jehovah his God, and said, Why, Jehovah, doth Thy wrath burn against Thy people, which Thou hast brought forth out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a strong hand? (32:11).

He does not seek to excuse their sin. It would be rather in the spirit of Psalms 25:11 “For Thy name’s sake, O Lord, pardon mine iniquity, for it is great.” There is evidently integrity, not wanting to cover it up.

So here with Moses; but he pleads for mercy. I do not say the word is mentioned, but the thing itself comes out. He speaks of God bringing them up. The Lord had said to Moses, “Thy people.” But Moses would not have that: they are God’s people. Moses says, “No, Thy people: Thou broughtest them forth, not I.”

So he is wise, and takes the place in pleading for them of God’s name, and reminds Him of His covenant to Abraham, long before the law, and which the law could not disannul.

Why should the Egyptians speak, and say, For misfortune He has brought them out, to slay them on the mountains, and to annihilate them from the face of the earth? Turn from the heat of Thine anger, and repent of this evil against Thy people! Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, Thy servants, to whom Thou sworest by Thyself, and saidst to them, I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have spoken of will I give to your seed, and they shall possess [it] forever! (32:12, 13).

Moses does not say “Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,” but “Israel.” His name was changed from supplanter to prince with God, who had power with the Angel and prevailed. God had not only promised, but confirmed it with an oath.

I know in the book of Genesis we get the seed spoken of as the sand of the sea, and dust of the earth, as well as the stars of heaven; and I know commentators have made a great point that it means blessing both for earthly and heavenly people; but these words go to show that the earthly people are referred to as the stars of heaven.

Well, the Lord repented. Of course we are told He does not repent, and yet here we are told He repented. God’s grace comes down to us, and the truth is presented in a way we may understand. Repentance means change of mind. What He had proposed He did not do. We are told, “Every good gift, and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.”

There is that for the joy and comfort of our hearts, lest we think we may be given up at any time. “The gifts and calling of God are not subject to repentance.” On Moses pleading on the ground of God’s name, God repented of the evil.

And Jehovah repented of the evil that He had said He would do to His people (32:14).

That is the result of this intercession. It is well for us to think of it. We have what is typical here. Moses is up on the mountain with God, and they got impatient, and did not like dependence and waiting. But all the time they did not see him, he was having to do with God about them, and getting all the instruction for the tabernacle, which had such an important place in their worship. But they did not realize it.

So with us. We have One up there concerned with all connected with us; not a single thing can happen to us without His permission. He said, “Let not your heart be troubled; ye believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many mansions.” “I should not have allowed you to have false expectations; if you were expecting more than you will have realized, I would have told you.”

Now it says in 1 John 2:2, “If any man sin,” not as if sin is a light thing. Sin in a Christian is far worse than in an unconverted person. So it shows us the standard, “that ye sin not.” But if it does occur, we have a Paraclete. It is the same word as Comforter in John’s Gospel, One who manages all our affairs, who has authority, power, and ability to manage all for us.

Advocate supposes an accuser, and Satan is called so in the Revelation. So he ever seeking to bring dishonor on the Name called upon us. The Lord said to Peter, “Simon, Simon, Satan hath desired to have thee that he may sift thee as wheat; but I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not, and when thou art restored, strengthen thy brethren.” Oh, what a blessed thing to have such an Advocate! And not one like Moses, having to fall back on the covenant made with the fathers, but on His own blessed perfect work, by which our sin has forever been put away.

In the Epistle to the Hebrews there is no provision made for restoration. In chapter 6. we read, “It is impossible for those who were once enlightened... if they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance.” There are many things in that Epistle that have terrified the saints of God; but no Epistle gives us greater encouragement ever to hold fast our confidence.

Therefore while there are a great many solemn warnings, yet at the same time it assumes reality in them, and no mention is made of any falling away; so it says in that solemn chapter 6, where it supposes the possibility of one forming part of the assembly, and a partaker of the Holy Ghost, participating in all the external privileges of God’s assembly, and then giving up the profession of Christianity, and going back to Judaism, “But we are persuaded better things of you; and things that accompany salvation,” and goes on to speak of what does accompany salvation (Heb. 6:9).

They were in the place of danger really. None of us can stand still. We must be either going on, or going back in our souls. We are like a man pulling against the stream. Directly he ceases to pull, the stream takes him back. Everything here is against the Christian. So these were going back. For the time they ought to have been teachers, but had “become such as have need of milk.” So they were in a dangerous condition, and we can understand why such solemn warnings were given. The great thing is to be advancing, going forward, and growing in grace and in knowledge.

But if nothing about restoration is found in Hebrews, John’s Epistle brings it out very beautifully. The Lord Jesus is the Intercessor with God. We do not get the Father in Hebrews except as dealing with them in discipline as a father (Heb. 12). But the Advocate in John is not with God, but with the Father. So if a real Christian has sinned, it does not interfere with relationship. He is still a child. The Advocate is with the Father. That is the means whereby we are restored. So the Lord says to Peter, “When thou art restored, let thy brethren get the benefit of your experience”; and so we do in his Epistles. Look at the first Epistle. “Kept by the power of God, through faith, unto salvation.” There he is strengthening his brethren after he had turned again. In our version it says, “When thou art converted”; but he had been converted years before; it is literally, “turned again.”

Moses’ intercession is far short of that which takes place for us continually. We are upborne, and He ever liveth to make intercession for us.

When up there Moses has not the sins of the people before his eyes; he is in the presence of God in a scene of grace. But when he comes down he sees their sin.

And Moses turned and went down from the mountain, [with] the two tables of the testimony in his hand—tables written on both their sides: on this side and on that were they written. And the tables [were] God’s work, and the writing was God’s writing, engraven on the tables (32:15, 16).

His provision! What an interest He took in that covenant! But that covenant was broken. I suppose it is a typical action on the part of Moses to break the tables. He saw the covenant was broken on the part of the people.

And Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, and said to Moses, There is a shout of war in the camp (32:17).

Moses knew better than Joshua. He says, “It is the noise of them that sing which I hear.” Moses was an old man already, but he lived forty years after this. We know his life was divided into three forty years. Forty years in Egypt, mighty in word and deed, in the court of Pharaoh by the providence of God; forty years in the backside of the desert, for God was preparing him for a very special work, so he needed another forty years’ training; then another forty years in the wilderness, which were now just beginning. But even then, at the end of his life, his natural force was not abated; so he was quick of hearing, and he had more sensitive ears than Joshua, even then.

And it came to pass when he came near the camp, and saw the calf and the dancing, that Moses’ anger burned, and he cast the tables out of his hands, and shattered them beneath the mountain (32:19).

He who had been so earnest in pleading for them in that atmosphere of grace in the presence of God, now is in the presence of their sin; that makes all the difference; his “anger waxed hot.”

As far as that covenant was concerned, it was all over already. The period of pure law was of very short duration.

And lie took the calf that they had made, and burned [it] with fire, and ground it to powder, and strewed [it] on the water, and made the children of Israel drink [it] (32:20).

“The way of transgressors is hard.” It had to be brought home to them. And it makes one think how necessary it is for us, as Christians, to see the difference in God’s word between grace and government. I have before used the illustration here of the cause of David. He had sinned a great sin, and God sent His prophet to him, who put a parable before him, and it stirred David’s anger when he was told of the man with the big flocks who would take the poor man’s one pet lamb; he thought it so cruel that he said the man deserved to die. The prophet says, “Thou art the man!” It brought his sin home to his conscience, and there was real repentance.

There was all the difference between David and Judas. He too said, “I have sinned”; but there was no real repentance. So with David, there was the confession of sin. And while we are not so distinctly told in the Old Testament as in the New, “If we confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins,” yet we see the readiness of God to forgive upon confession. This is brought out again and again.

Look at Isaiah 6 “Woe is me!” said the prophet, “for I am a man of unclean lips,” etc. “Then flew one of the seraphim with a live coal,” a piece of the sacrifice. It shows the readiness, the swiftness of these heavenly beings to carry out the will of God. “Lo, this hath touched thy lips: and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged.”

Take Luke 15 again. We see the prodigal is on the father’s bosom, pouring out his confession, (he had intended to say, “Make me as one of thy hired servants.” And the Lord intends us to understand that there is the legality in all our foolish hearts that seeks to mix up something of our own with the grace of God. But that foolish thought was kissed away: it was a loving father giving a beloved son a welcome, not the way a servant is greeted). There was the immediate response, “Bring forth the best robe and put it on him!” The best robe is Christ. The best robe put on the worst back on earth!

So in David’s case, the prophet said, “The Lord also hath put away thy sin”; that was grace. “But the sword shall not depart from thy house”; that was government.

So if God pardoned His people, there is still His government. And we ought to remember that. We know we have a perfect standing in God’s presence. Whatever changes take place in us, the eternal interests of our souls are placed by God’s grace beyond any possible change; but “Be not deceived; God is not mocked, for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.” But that has reference to this life.

The chastening of God is in this world. The Corinthians were told, “For this cause many are weak and sickly, and many sleep” (1 Cor. 11:30). God takes away some in His righteous government. “When we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord that we should not be condemned with the world.” So children of God are never condemned with the world: they will never be at the great white throne. The chastening we get is here in this world. The teaching of the Church of Rome about purgatory is anti-scriptural. We cannot be too particular in keeping the work of the Lord Jesus Christ as the sole ground whereon we have access to God.

Take the dying thief, that exceedingly wicked man. Yet the Lord told him, “This day shalt thou be with Me in Paradise.” Then take the apostle Paul with all his wonderful service, as seen in 2 Corinthians 12 (though but for the naughtiness of the Corinthians we should not have had that), but he had not a better title to glory than the dying thief had.

“Our title to glory

We read in Thy blood.

We cannot mix up our faithfulness or our service with the work of the Lord Jesus Christ.

As our Intercessor, all that He is Himself, and all His gloriously finished work enters into it. This is very different from reminding God of His covenant.

So they were made to drink this water. God would not let them think lightly of what they had done.

Then it gives us a picture of Aaron, and there are some solemn lessons there for us. We ought to be as firm as a rock when it is a question of God’s honor, and to be ready to yield when it is a question of ourselves. But often this is reversed, and it is possible for our kindly feelings, right in themselves, to lead us to disregard the honor of the Lord. And this shows that a good man may sanction by his presence what is evil, or unauthorized by the word of God.

Another thing we might well take notice of. Adding the name of the Lord to a wrong thing does not make it right. Aaron connected with the worship of that calf a feast to Jehovah! Oh, how repulsive to Him! Yet it was done by a good man I Many a good man now keeps souls in a wrong place. A man who has a character for piety and godliness the devil will use as a salve to any who may be exercised. “If it was wrong, Mr. So-and-so would not be there,” they say.

Then we see how the tribe of Levi responded to the call of Moses, and slew their brethren. It would remind us of the Lord’s words to you and me, “He that loveth father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me.” He must reign supreme, without any rival whatsoever. They were afterward commended for it (Deut. 33:8).

And the sons of Levi did according to the word of Moses; and there fell of the people that day about three thousand men (32:28).

When they received the law they broke it, so you see it necessitated in discipline the death of three thousand: but the first day the gospel was preached with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven to this same people of Israel, there were three thousand saved. That would also be in contrast with the confusion of tongues, for every man heard them speak in his own language.

And Moses said, Consecrate yourselves to-day to Jehovah, yea, every man with his son, and with his brother, and bring on yourselves a blessing to-day (32:29).

They met the mind of God, and got their reward. That shows the mistake people make when they are indifferent to evil. We are called to have a large heart, to pray for all saints, etc., but not to countenance evil for the sake of peace. The wisdom from above is as far as possible from “peace at any price.” It is “first pure”; that is very important; “then, peaceable.”

It is possible to degenerate into acquiescence in the path of those who associate with evil. Aaron is called a saint in Psalms 106:16, but then I do not know that means saint as we get it in the New Testament, but was his official position as set apart for the holy service of God.

A Christian cannot stand still. He must make progress or go back. The Hebrews for the time ought to have been teachers, but had become such as needed to be taught the first principles. They had become that. In Corinthians it was not a question of becoming that; they were that, and were still that; but these had become babes. So with us; we must make progress or go back. If you are “adding” as Peter says, these things make you “not barren or unfruitful,” and “so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.” That is a present realization. People often put it that it is when you have finished your pilgrimage, and go in, in full sail, not a wreck. But that is not the thought at all, but if you go on adding you have the realization now.

And it came to pass the next day, that Moses said to the people, Ye have sinned a great sin. And now I will go up to Jehovah: perhaps I shall make atonement for your sin (32:30).

They get no flattery from Moses. He does not seek to minimize or excuse their sin; and when he goes before God he does not excuse them.

And Moses returned to Jehovah, and said, Alas, this people has sinned a great sin, and they have made themselves a god of gold (32:31).

There is heavenly integrity in what he says, so different from human thought. You get something corresponding with it in Psalms 25:11. We get nothing like that in the preceding Psalms. Atonement is made in Psalms 22, and forgiveness follows; but in the earlier Psalms they are in trouble and sorrow, but you do not get sins forgiven. So it corresponds somewhat with this.

Yet now, if Thou wilt forgive their sins... but if not, blot me,.1 pray thee, out of Thy book that Thou hast written (32:32).

It is divine love in Moses that we have brought before us here. It makes one think of what we have in 2 Peter 1, where Peter is instructing us how to make progress, “Add to your faith virtue... and to brotherly kindness, love.” So there is something different between brotherly kindness and love; and we have to be on our guard as to that. “Love seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil”; but there is another side to it, “Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth with the truth.”

When Moses was up in the mountain with Jehovah, in that atmosphere of grace, he would not accept any advancement at the expense of the people. He did not want them wiped out, and himself made a great nation. It is very beautiful to see the love of Moses to the people then. He only wanted what he could have in conjunction with them. He pleads for them.

What a loving heart he had for them! “If Thou wilt forgive,” and then he stops; he does not finish the sentence. That reminds us that though the Jews were so opposed to Paul, what wonderful love he had to his brethren! Something like Moses. None are like Moses in the Old Testament, and none like Paul in the New. “I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren’s sake.” He had wished that. He was thinking of them, and that had come into his mind. “For I have wished,” J.N.D. translates it; it was not his thought at the time he was writing. Although they had such animosity to him, and thought he was opposed to his people, yet none else would have said what he says about them here (Rom. 9:4-5). So, if they would accept it, this was a proof they were wrong about him, and none had such love to them.

So here Moses proposes himself as a substitute, “Blot me out.” There are two in the Old Testament who propose themselves in that way, and neither could be accepted, of course. Each one of them needed atonement for themselves. I was thinking of 2 Samuel 24:17: “Lo, I have sinned and I have done wickedly: but these sheep, what have they done? Let Thine hand, I pray Thee, be against me, and against my father’s house.” So it is very beautiful in each case, showing wonderful attachment to God’s people. Moses and David each proposed themselves, but could not be accepted.

But of the Lord Jesus, it says in Hebrews 9, “Who through the Eternal Spirit, [the only place where He is so called], offered Himself without spot to God.” Moses and David offered themselves, but He was accepted. The offerer, the altar, and the sacrifice all pointed to Christ.

And Jehovah said to Moses, Whoever hath sinned against Me, him will I blot out of My book (32:33).

I expect that presents a difficulty to a good many minds. But we must not think the “book” is always the same in the word of God. We must read the context to get the right meaning. For instance, when the seventy returned again with joy, saying, “Lord, even the devils are subject to us through Thy name,” He said, “Rather rejoice that your names are written in heaven.” I do not believe a name could be blotted out of that book.

Then there are heavenly saints in Hebrews 12 “An innumerable company of angels, the general assembly” (many think that the general assembly refers to the church, but it does not; the “ands” mark off the various companies; “and church of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven”).

But in Revelation it speaks of those written in the Lamb’s book of life from the foundation of the world. Many take that verse to mean that the Lamb was slain from the foundation of the world. He was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but only slain on Calvary: but it is the names that were written from the foundation of the world, not before. So this is a different company from those enrolled in heaven, for these are an earthly company.

We get several hints as to how they will be guarded, for they are the elect, of whom it is written, “If possible they would deceive” them; but it guards them, they are secure. I do not think there is anything to warrant the thought that they could be blotted out.

But here we have God’s earthly people, redeemed from Egypt, and numbered among His redeemed ones, but not all saved souls. There are plenty of scriptures to show they are not all Israel that are of Israel. There is the true Israel. “Having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are His.” He knows; men may make profession, and not be real. So the book here would be a register of those redeemed from Egypt, and it was possible for them to be blotted out, or there would be no meaning in verse 33.

This has caused a good deal of discussion, and these are the scriptures the Arminians, and any who hold that doctrine, and think we can be saved today and lost tomorrow, take up. When the Lord says, “I give unto My sheep eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any pluck them out of My hand. My Father, which gave them Me is greater than all, and none is able to pluck them out of My Father’s hand. I and My Father are one.” All the word of God is in harmony with it. There is nothing contradictory to that.

Since we have said as much as this, we may turn to other scriptures, for instance, “If ye continue in the faith” (Col. 1:23). We are on the journey, and have not yet got to the rest that remaineth, and there is the possibility of our making a profession, and turning out to be unreal. These were in danger of being deceived by philosophy and vain deceit, and of being ensnared by ritualism, and not holding the Head. “Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of a holy day, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days, which are a shadow of things to come: but the body is of Christ. Let no man beguile you of your reward,” etc. (Col. 2:16-19).

That was their danger, not giving the Lord Jesus Christ His true and proper place. So we get the glory of His Person in that Epistle, as perhaps nowhere else in the word of God. “In Him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. And ye are complete [filled full] in Him.” All these other things would cause them fearful damage. So it is put, “If ye continue,” for they were in danger of giving up. We have eternal life now, and if we pursue a certain path we shall have eternal life then.

Here is another scripture (1 Cor. 9:24). When it was anything of a bad character, Paul illustrated it by himself. Here he is showing a man may be a splendid preacher, but if not real, lost. So we are to act as if it depended on ourselves to get the prize. He is taking the figure from the Olympic games. Those are wrong who think “castaway” means disapproved as a servant. To show it means “lost, if a man is ever so good a preacher and he walks in a sinful path it proves him to be a reprobate all the time.

“Examine yourselves” (2 Cor. 13:5). Here is a scripture generally misunderstood. What for? To see’ if you are quite safe and secure? “Since ye seek a proof of Christ speaking in me... examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith.” If he was an apostle and Christ was speaking through him, and they were Christians, there was a proof of his apostleship, for though they had many teachers, yet they had but one father. it was no: for them to examine themselves to find out if they were truly Christians. Could “reprobate” there mean disapproved as servants? It is ridiculous.

These are scriptures the devil uses to torment souls, if they do not see the meaning of them. John 15 and Heb. 6 the devil has used to a terrible extent: whereas if rightly understood, there is nothing but comfort in them. A real Christian is taught by the word of God that the eternal interests of his soul are placed beyond the reach of any possible change, because the work of Christ never changes: His blood is always of infinite value.

I change, but He does not change. It is a great stimulus to walk accordingly. We should always covet that our walk should correspond with our standing. The standard is, “That ye sin not.” In one way, God Himself is the Christian’s standard for his walk and ways. “Be ye imitators of God, as beloved children,” etc. (Eph. 5:1). This is the standard plainly. When it says God is faithful, it means He is to be trusted. We cannot trust ourselves. Hebrews teaches us in many ways never to trust ourselves, but to have unbounded confidence in God Himself. People say we must not be too confident.

When Dr. Temple was Archbishop of Canterbury, Queen Victoria had had a conversation with a lady who spoke with certainty of the forgiveness of her sins, and the Queen asked him if it was possible to know it in this world. He replied, “Certainly not.” Yet scripture says, “Always confident!”

And now go, lead the people whither 1 have told thee: behold, My Angel shall go before thee; but in the day of My visiting I will visit their sin upon them (32:34).

In Acts 7:39-43 Stephen by the Holy Ghost was speaking of what we have here. So the ten tribes, carried away beyond Babylon, are suffering at this very present time for this, as it says here, “I will visit their sin upon them.” Then He plagued them, but He has not finished: there is Stephen’s record. They are a people scattered and peeled, and trodden down, yet with a glorious future.

Jerusalem will be the city of the Great King, and the metropolis of the whole world. Then Jew and Gentile will be quite distinct. Now, in the new creation, there is neither Jew nor Greek, etc. We are never spoken of as sons and daughters (though there is a quotation where the words occur), but all sons, for there is neither male nor female. We are children by new birth; sons by adoption, and that is as true of sisters as brothers.

Christ is all as an Object, and in all as the Life of everyone in the new creation. But in that day Israel will be the head; they are the tail now: all blessedness will flow out from them to this world, and those nearest to them will get the greatest blessing.

Chapter 33.

THESE two chapters 33 and 34, are very important, and it is a great mercy when we are clear as to their teaching. The majority of Christians look on chapters 34 as representing the truth of God as brought out in the gospel, whereas it is to people under law; and the very portion they think gives us the truth of the gospel is called the ministry of death and condemnation in the New Testament. What we have all around us is a mixture of law’ and grace. God had to bring in grace here, or He could not go on with the people.

We may say the law was given three times. First, they heard Jehovah’s voice giving the law; then Moses was called up, and God wrote with His own finger (language accommodating itself to our comprehension), and when Moses saw what the people had done with regard to the calf, he threw the tables down and broke them, a becoming thing to do, for they had lost all: then, other tables were given, a third time, after he had again been in the mount forty days and forty nights; and these were placed in the ark, the type of Christ, Who could say, “Thy law is within Mine heart.”

Well, they were under law, and had said, “All that the Lord hath spoken will we do,” when God had very solemnly brought before them that breaking the law was death, for the blood sprinkled on the book and on all the people was not for cleansing, but telling that the penalty of breaking it was death. And if one of the ten letters was broken it was the same as if all were. “Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.”

So the camp was a defiled place, defiled by idolatry, which is called “abomination” in scripture. So God says to Moses, “Depart, and go up hence,” etc. (vers. 1-3). God refused at first to go up with them, “I will not go up in the midst of thee.”

They were under God’s government now. When groaning down in Egypt because of their hard servitude, God heard their groans, and in mercy came down to deliver them, an act of grace. Now what He says is perfectly righteous. Righteousness means consistency with relationship. If God had acted in strict righteousness He would have consumed them.

And when the people heard this evil word, they mourned; and no man put on his ornaments (33:4).

They did not like the consequence of their guilt brought home to them. In putting off their ornaments there was an expression of their penitence.

And Moses took the tent, and pitched it outside the camp, far from the camp, and called it the Tent of meeting. And it came to pass [that] everyone who sought Jehovah went out to the tent of meeting which was outside the camp (33:7).

I have no doubt there is a reference to this in Hebrews 13, “Let us go forth therefore unto Him, without the camp, bearing His reproach.” That is what we are called to do. It is connected with, “We have an altar whereof they have no right to eat which serve the tabernacle,” an heavenly Christ.

The place of worship now is within the veil, and grace has given us now that place. We are there on the ground of atonement. On the day of atonement the blood was sprinkled with the finger (not fingers) once on the mercy-seat. That was enough for God. But it was sprinkled seven times before it, telling of the perfect standing of the heavenly worshippers.

So this tells us that to meet the mind of God, we must walk in separation from evil. It is a fearful loss to ourselves, and a dishonor to the Lord if we walk in fellowship with any kind of evil, moral or doctrinal. When the church was in a condition to do it, and all were one, it says, “Put away from among yourselves that wicked person” (not “dear brother”), “that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.” Then as to doctrinal evil, “If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine” (the teaching of the Holy Spirit concerning the Divinity and humanity of the Lord Jesus), “receive him not into your house, neither bid him God-speed.” There we have definite instruction as to moral evil, and doctrinal too.

But now the church has become, by declension and corruption, a “great house,” you cannot put evil away, you have not power to put evil out of the church now; taking the church as a whole, we cannot put it out. Is there instruction for a day like this? If we cannot put it out, we must separate from it. “Having the form of godliness,” the world-church, the defiled camp, “from such turn away.” If faithful to the Lord we shall do it, cost what it may. But it is quite natural to a large number to like what is free and easy, and will not affect conscience. We may well lay the teaching of this portion to heart.

Moses took the tabernacle, probably his own tent, where he did his duties as leader, as we have in chapter 18, when the people were constantly coming to him, and his father-in-law advised him to take the seventy elders to help him. I daresay it was the tent where all that was done that is spoken of here. It was provisional, for the tabernacle was not yet built. All the instructions for it were given from chapter 25. onward, but this was before it was constructed.

“Afar off”; — you cannot get too far: there must be a very clear line of demarcation.

“My Lord, my Saviour, help me

To walk apart with Thee,

Outside the camp, where only

Thy beauty I may see.”

And it came to pass, when Moses went out to the tent, all the people rose up, and stood every man at the entrance of his tent, and they looked after Moses until he entered into the tent. And it came to pass when Moses entered into the tent, the pillar of cloud descended, and stood at the entrance of the tent, and [Jehovah] talked with Moses (33:8, 9).

We may notice, first of all, an important lesson. God’s approval of his action, definite, public approval. Moses was more favored and more blessed at this time than he had ever been, because of his faithfulness and care for the glory of Jehovah. The scene here is what is referred to in Numbers 12, and it makes it the more striking because Aaron was the very leader, the very one that yielded to the people, and wanted to mix it all up. God hates mixture. They were not to wear garments of woolen and linen, nor sow their fields with divers seeds.

They wanted the golden calf; then Aaron says, “Tomorrow is a feast to Jehovah.” He mixes up the feast to Jehovah with the worship of the golden calf. One must be mixed up unless one definitely acts before the Lord. It needs faith. It will cost something. A brother once wrote that from the beginning the whole history of those gathered out to the Lord’s name was strewn with wrecks: people who saw the blessedness of the right path, but had not faith for the path they undertook to walk in.

In Numbers 12 one great lesson is never to try to justify yourself whatever lies are told about you; whatever the false charges, let them go. God will do it. They made out that Moses wanted to lord it over them, and the Lord said, “Come out, ye three,” etc (vers. 4-8). “My servant Moses is not so, who is faithful in all Mine house.”

This is referred to in Hebrews 3, and the Son is contrasted as over the house. Moses is “in,” the Son is “over His house” God’s house. “With him will I speak mouth to mouth, even apparently, and not in dark speeches; and the similitude of the Lord shall he behold”; evidently a reference to this chapter here. So it tells the wonderful privilege he had been brought into by being faithful.

“He made known His ways unto Moses, His acts unto the-children of Israel.” Moses was in the secret. “If ye love Me, keep My commandments.” There you get the commandments and the love too. “If ye love Me, ye will keep My commandments,” the R.V. puts it. It will be a proof that you love Me that you walk obediently. “And I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter.” A little lower down it is, “If a man love Me, he will keep My words,” not commandments;” and My Father will love him, and We will come unto him, and make Our abode with him.” That is our greatest blessing here, to be indwelt by the Comforter, and then the Father and the Son coming and making abode, the same word translated “mansions” in verse 2. How blessed! To be indwelt by the Spirit, and the Father and Son making abode with us! What can we want beyond that? A little hymn says

“It is our greatest joy on earth

That Thou art with us here;

Our greatest joy in heaven will be

That we are with Thee there.”

In Revelation 3:20 the assembly is in a bad state with the many who like, as we said, what is free and easy, and nothing to interfere with conscience, a lawless kind of thing. In Laodicea there is a substitution of humanity for Christ Himself. Humanity is the great object. “I am rich and increased with goods”; what societies we have to deal with this evil and that! Man is the object of all. “And knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked. I counsel thee to buy of Me gold [the figure of the Divine nature] ... white raiment [proper Christian character] ... and anoint thine eyes with eye salve [the Holy Spirit].” So they were minus the three great essentials of Christianity, the Divine nature, proper Christian character, and the Holy Ghost.

Under these circumstances the Lord has taken His place outside. He cannot go on with it, but He is gracious up to the last. He knocks and says, “If any man hear My voice and open the door, I will come in to him [not to the assembly], and will sup with him and he with Me.” Marvelous grace! It is going on now at the present time, and will until He spues it out of His mouth as thoroughly obnoxious to Him.

And all the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the entrance of the tent; and all the people rose and worshipped, every man at the entrance of his tent (32:10).

The people worshipped then; they were penitent about the worship of the golden calf. But we must remember the Babylonish captivity was God dealing with them about the worship of the calf, as we read in Acts 7.

And Jehovah spoke with Moses face to face, as a man speaks with his friend. And he returned to the camp; but his attendant, Joshua the son of Nun, a young man, departed not from within the tent (33:11).

How blessed! There was one man distinctly called the friend of God in three scriptures, Abraham; but here God treats Moses as a friend.

Now it is, “Whom having not seen, ye love.” It is a dispensation of faith; we walk by faith, not by sight; and without faith it is impossible to please Him.

There was faith in Joshua when he brought back a favorable report of the land. The rest of the spies were excluded for disobedience and unbelief. Both words are used in Heb. 3. In reading Hebrews we have got to see that God’s sovereignty, and our constant dependence on Him, are in perfect harmony; and though there are such solemn warnings, it assumes they are true Christians. “We are persuaded better things of you, and things which accompany salvation”; and in ch. 10, where we get very solemn statements about the possibility of accounting the blood of the covenant, wherewith one has been sanctified, an unholy thing, yet “we are not of them that draw back unto perdition.”

We all need those solemn warnings, every one of us. We have to remember it was specially said to those who were converted from Judaism. The danger to them was of giving up Christianity, and going back to Judaism; so they were warned against the danger.

There have been all sorts of surmises about what Moses did, and what Joshua did. I should judge we all have our own personal responsibility, and Moses was free to care for those in the camp; he would do all he could for them. So for us. It is right to have our feet in the narrow path of faith and obedience, wherever it leads, and whatever it costs. But at the same time we ought to have a large heart. I believe it is a right thing to pray for all saints, and to persevere in it. We ought to love as the people of God. But you know, if a man was down in a ditch, and could not get out of the mud, if you wanted to get him out, it would be no good to jump in where he was. You want a good firm footing for yourself, and then give the distressed brother a helping hand. Moses did so here; he had pitched the tabernacle far from the camp.

And Moses said to Jehovah, Behold, Thou sayest unto me, Bring up this people; but Thou dost not let me know whom Thou wilt send with me; and Thou hast said, I know thee by name, and thou hast also found grace in Mine eyes (33:12).

He was conscious of God’s wondrous favor to him, would plead that as the reason for God being gracious to all of them.

And now, if indeed I have found grace in Thine eyes, make me now to know Thy way, that I may know Thee, that I may find grace in Thine eyes; and consider that this nation is Thy people (33:13).

He did not want anything apart from the people No, he loved the people with a blessed unselfishness. The great Example as to unselfishness is the Lord Himself. He “pleased not Himself,” Paul says in the Romans.

When people come wanting my advice about matters, I generally tell them, “If you are quite sure what you are doing is to please the Lord, and you have no mixed motives, it will clear up nine hundred and ninety-nine difficulties out of each thousand.” Mixed motives are self, and Christ pleased not Himself. “Look not everyone on his own things, but everyone also on the things of others.” So instead of pleasing yourself, please your neighbor, to his good for edification, a blessed unselfish life thinking of others.

You know, “He made known His ways unto Moses,” and He delighted to yield to him. He had said He would not go up with them, but He delighted to yield to Moses, and He said, “My presence shall go with thee” (vs. 14), etc. It is encouraging for us to ask. An old brother used to say, “The more you ask, the more you get; and the more you get, the more you ask.” This is just what we get here. God is a bountiful Giver, a cheerful Giver.

And he said to Him, If Thy presence do not go, bring us not up hence (33:15).

He did not want to start from Horeb unless God’s presence was with them. We have that scripture, “I will never leave thee, and I will never, never forsake thee.” That is one thing; but if the Lord goes before us and we follow Him, then we are right. But if we make a mistake, and go away from Him, He will not leave us, He will follow us. He is ever faithful. No word of His can ever fall to the ground, a great comfort to us.

Manifestly Moses was in the secret of Jehovah. We were saying that in the place of separation here he got a better knowledge of Jehovah, and was far more blessed than before. But there was blessed unselfishness in him. He would use all these favors for his people. He was concerned for the glory of God, and the good of His people; but unselfish about himself. So he was very desirous to have the Lord’s presence. He did not want to stir a step from Horeb unless God went with them. And in all this he had the mind of Jehovah, and Jehovah was pleased to yield to the pleadings of the mediator. So he did not want to part from the people (vs. 16); he wanted to be with these sanctified people, those separated by God to Himself, and that these people should be a testimony to God by their separation.

And Jehovah said to Moses, I will do this thing also that thou hast said; for thou hast found grace in Mine eyes, and I know thee by name (33:17).

So he would use all that for the good of others; and then he was encouraged to add something more.

And he said, Let me, I pray Thee, see Thy glory (33:18).

But he was asking something that could not then be granted. It was too soon for that glory to be shown. A time would come when it should be said that the One Who dwelt in the bosom of the Father could declare Him: “And we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.” Of course I take it for granted we all understand it is not the official glory of the Mount of Transfiguration, although many commentators think John was speaking of what he saw on the holy mountain. But the Mount of Transfiguration has no place in John. Official glory has its place in Matthew, Mark, and Luke; but in John’s Gospel, where we get the divine side, we get the moral glory, His divine perfection: and that was seen by those that had eyes to see.

The glory in 1 Corinthians 4 is the glory of God’s grace shining in the face of Jesus Christ, and contrasted in chapter 3 with this very chapter, where Moses has a veil on his face.

And He said, I will make all My goodness pass before thy face, and I will proclaim the name of Jehovah before thee; and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will skew mercy on whom I will skew mercy (33:19).

He does not say “all My glory,” but “all my goodness pass before thee.” It had come to this point, their condition of things required either that the people should be consumed, if God acted on the ground of law in judgment, or else extricated from their position by the sovereign mercy of God. “And I will proclaim the name of the Lord before thee,” the revelation of that Name, “and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious,” etc.

We get mercy mentioned before, but we get no such unfolding’s of the depths of mercy up to the present; but people have made a great mistake, when instead of noticing the contrast between what we have here, and the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ, they think this is an unfolding of the gospel. Instead, it is a contrast.

When Moses came down from the mountain the first time, the tables were smashed, no doubt a right action, setting forth what had taken place with the broken covenant. The second time they were deposited in the ark, type of the Lord Jesus Christ, the only One Who magnified the law and made it honorable. So it was in safe keeping. It was in their midst, but in the ark.

They were still under law, but there were resources of mercy for them. The more grace shown them, the greater their guilt if they were guilty; and it still remained the ministry of condemnation and death, in contrast with the gospel, — the ministry of righteousness and life. The law proposed life, and demanded righteousness; but it never got it, and never gave life to a single soul.

Mercy was the spring of all the goodness here. You never get heaven promised to those who keep the law; and you never get hell threatened. It is all for this world: “that thy days may be long in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.”

There are certain senses in which we can use the word gospel in connection with the Old Testament; see, for instance, Hebrews 4:2. The gospel to them was of the land of milk and honey, to which God was going to bring them. They had not faith to take God at His word, so they listened to the ten spies and turned back, for it was not mixed with faith in them. So now people may have the gospel preached most faithfully and earnestly, but it will not do them any good unless mixed with faith.

John the Baptist preached the gospel, and so did the Lord and His disciples, but it was the gospel of the kingdom; and the Lord said, “This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.” So what was preached then will be preached again before the Lord comes to set up His kingdom.

Then the gospel was preached in the early chapters of the Acts, for instance, chapters 3:17-26; but that does not take up heaven, but earth. You could not call that Paul’s gospel, “my gospel” as he says, “the gospel of the glory of the blessed [or happy] God.” Do we preach Paul’s gospel? Paul is the only one who brings out justification by faith.

In the ministry of John we get God in all His blessedness brought down to man, tabernacling with us. But Paul’s ministry takes up the poor sinner in perfect righteousness to God. There is the difference. What we ought to be preaching now is Paul’s gospel, an advance on what was preached by the Twelve. Of course, we can use all the New Testament for gospel testimony, and it would be a sad thing for us to be making everything of Paul’s ministry, and neglecting John’s.

And he said, Thou canst not see My face; for man shall not see Me, and live (33:20).

That had to wait for a future day. In one way we must not forget that whatever grace does for us, and we have a very wonderful place, we who are saved now; brought into the circle of Christ’s love, and the church collectively the complement of Him Who filleth all in all; there must always be an infinite distance between the Creator and the creature in the highest blessedness, “Who dwelleth in the light unapproachable, whom no man hath seen or can see.”

In the part we are looking at now, God had not come out into the light; the way was not yet made manifest; but God has come out into the light now, and it says in John’s Epistle, “If we walk in the light as He is in the light we have fellowship one with another”; that is not attainment at all. If I am saved, I am in the light. God is in the light, and if I am saved and a Christian at all, I am in the light. He has not only come out in the light Himself, but has brought us “out of darkness into His marvelous light,” and we are to show forth His praises.

When Paul was caught up to the third heaven it was in keeping with the gospel committed to him. In preaching the gospel of the grace of God it was necessary in their testimony for the apostle to have been with the Lord; and when they wanted one to take the place of Judas it was needful to choose one who knew Him intimately, who “had companied with us all the time the Lord Jesus went in and out among us”; and they could say “whom our eyes have seen, and our hands have handled of the Word of life.”

Paul could not say that. It was their wonderful intimacy in the days of His flesh and after He rose from the dead. Paul was converted by a glorified Christ, and in keeping with that he was caught up to the third heaven. “I know” (not “I knew”) “a man in Christ.” Every Christian who has received the Holy Ghost is a man in Christ. He does not speak of it as his own special privilege, but as that of a man in Christ. “Such an one caught up to the third heaven.” It was so outside human experience that it was impossible to explain it. “Unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter.”

Evidently Paul had not spoken of it for fourteen years. He did not boast, and say, “I have had an experience no one else has had.” Yet in the meanwhile he had been a long time at Corinth, but had not told it them till the right time came; and putting it in that way, he showed it to be the proper experience of a heavenly man. “A man in Christ” could not be said of anyone before the Holy Ghost was given. So Paul was taken to his proper place, heavenly glory. “As is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly.” It gave a character to his ministry in keeping with the gospel committed to him.

And Jehovah said, Behold, [there is] a place by Me: there shalt thou stand on the rock (33:21).

Typically, we have Christ in this rock. In an earlier part of this book we have the scene of desolation that points to Calvary; and the Rock is smitten, and the water flows out, a figure of the Holy Ghost. The whole chapter goes to confirm it; but we are not left to put our own construction on it; “that Rock was Christ,” we are definitely told.

And it shall come to pass, when My glory passeth by, that I will put thee in a cleft of the rock, and will cover thee with My hand until I have passed by (33:22).

Nothing is more familiar than that figure of a rock to the mind of a Christian all over the world.

“Rock of ages, cleft for me.”

In some places the word “rock” is translated strength. It is so in Isaiah 26:4, “In the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength,” or “the Rock of ages.” There are only two places where Jah and Jehovah are brought together, and both are in Isaiah (ch. 12 and 26). That hymn of Toplady’s connects together Isaiah 26:4, and this verse 22, “cleft for me.” It has been a comfort to a great many.

And I will take away My hand, and thou shalt see Me from behind; but My face shall not be seen (33:23).

It is impossible for a creature to anticipate God; but when God has done a thing and passed on, then you can gaze upon it. So in the cross. There are many types of it, but when it was accomplished we can see the beauty of the types.

Chapter 34.

THE mediator, Moses, had used the place grace had given him for the people; he did not want it apart from them; and he had asked God to show him His glory. The time was not come for God to display His glory. No doubt there was a measure of glory in it; it is spoken of, but there was a glory that exceeded.

So Jehovah instructed Moses to come up a second time, and he was twice in the mount forty days and forty nights, above nature, and neither did eat nor drink.

It is striking that Moses is seen on the Mount of Transfiguration in glory there, and so is Elijah; and both Moses and Elijah fasted forty days: and the Lord Jesus too. There are forty days twice connected with our Lord: forty days of temptation, and forty days seen of the disciples after His resurrection.

And be ready for the morning, and go up in the morning to mount Sinai, and stand there before Me on the top of the mountain. And let no man go up with thee, neither shall any man be seen on all the mountain; neither shall sheep and oxen feed in front of that mountain (34:2, 3).

It was a very solemn occasion, and God would have them impressed with His holiness. We see that very distinctly brought out at different times. This makes me think of what is said in Hebrews 12:18: “Ye are not come to a mount that might be touched” (a tangible mount), etc. Though that command does not refer to this chapter (34.) but to the first time the law was given. Now God was going on, after having introduced grace with His government. But they were still under law, and this is called a ministry of death and condemnation, in contrast with the ministry of life and glory God is giving now; He was demanding of them under law, but now is giving all in His grace.

“The law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ” (John 1:17).

And he hewed two tables of stone like the first; and Moses rose up early in the morning and went up to mount Sinai, as Jehovah had commanded him, and took in his hand the two tables of stone (34:4).

We know the tables were not large, for they were deposited in the ark, and we get the dimensions of that; so, though we are not told their size, we know they were not very large stones.

Moses was up early in the morning. We get that mentioned now and again about those who had to do with God. Abraham, for instance. So here. It makes one think of Psalms 119:60; “I made haste and delayed not to keep Thy commandments”; and a very ready obedience should characterize us.

And Jehovah came down in the cloud, and stood beside him there, and proclaimed the name of Jehovah (34:5).

We must remember Moses is in the cleft rock, and the hand of God covered him while He passed by. No creature can anticipate God; but when God has done a thing we can see the beauty of it. No one could have proposed the cross of the Lord Jesus to God; but now it has all taken place we can see the beauties, and wonders, and perfections of it. So here His back parts are seen.

The Shekinah glory was in the cloud; the cloud was not the Shekinah. It covered it. A cloud characterized the dispensation. The high priest had to go in under cover of a cloud, — the cloud of incense. Here the Lord was proclaiming His Name in a way He had never done before.

We have heard of mercy, but never before as here, an infinite well of mercy, the spring of blessing for all His creatures. In the Old Testament, the prophet Micah tells us He delights in mercy; in the New Testament, Ephesians tells us He is rich in mercy; and in Titus 3. we read, “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us”; and again in the case of Paul’s own conversion, “I obtained mercy.” And he is a pattern man to show what God’s mercy can do.

But while this mercy is shown, and God in His sovereignty can use it, they are still under law. The law is still in their midst, covered up, but still there in the ark; type of Christ Who magnified the law and made it honorable.

And Jehovah passed by before his face, and proclaimed, Jehovah, Jehovah God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abundant in goodness and truth (34:6).

“Jehovah, Jehovah Elohim, merciful and gracious.” But this is not gospel truth. People fail to see this is a ministry of death and condemnation, for the law is inflexible. “Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.” That is never deviated from. But God can fall back on Himself: He has resources in Himself.

Turn to Psalms 51, for instance, which is pointing forward to the experience of Israel in a future day; the people who said, “His blood be on us and our children,” and deliberately took that place. What gave occasion to the psalm was the sin of David, and blood-guiltiness was resting on him: but unless we see the future application we miss the best part of it. Look at verse 18; it is looking forward to the millennium. But he says, “Deliver me from blood-guiltiness, O God, thou God of my salvation,” “for Thou desirest not sacrifice, else would I give it; Thou delightest not in burnt-offering.” Yet see how the psalm finishes up. “Then shalt Thou be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness, with burnt-offering, and whole burnt-offering; then shall they offer bullocks upon Thine altar.”

For David’s sin there was no provision under the law; but what could he do? He cast himself on this mercy of which we have been reading. He took advantage of what we have here. It was on the ground of mercy, for there was no provision under law for a willful sin, and that was what his was. There was much in the ceremonial law to instruct when there was faith in God. But all who were blessed and saved in that dispensation, were saved on the ground of mercy, not on the ground of law.

Keeping mercy unto thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but by no means clearing [the guilty]; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children’s children, upon the third and upon the fourth [generation] (34:7).

Oh, the efforts that have been made by the wit of man to get rid of the truth, “that will by no means clear the guilty,” by those who try to make this equivalent to the gospel, and do not see they were under law! Souls have been saved without any knowledge of the law. When Paul was in a town where there was a synagogue he went there first of all; and when there were Jews in a place but no synagogue, he sought them out, as at Philippi, for it was “to the Jew first”; but in speaking to those idolaters at Thessalonica, could we conceive he would bring in the law?

In preaching to the Gentiles Paul never brings in the Old Testament at all; in preaching to the Jews, he does, and proves from the scriptures that the Lord Jesus is their very Messiah. But for an example of the way he spoke to the Gentiles, turn to Acts 17. He does not there appeal to the scriptures, much less to the law. We are on a different footing now; we are living in Christendom, with the Bible open for everybody.

It was after the conversion the law came in and showed the exceeding sinfulness of sin (Rom. 7:13). Saul was very particular in carrying out what the law required outwardly; but the law was spiritual, and said, “Thou shalt not covet,” there was an inward application, and sin revived.

I do not think Romans takes us further back than the flood in dealing with the apostasy of the Gentile nations in chapter 1, for there was no idolatry before the flood. And we see the awful fact of man being left by God. We, as Christians, should dread nothing so much as for God to leave us to ourselves. Hezekiah was proud of his piety, and could plead it in the presence of God, and God left him that he might know all that was in his heart; and that was a very painful experience.

First then in Romans there is the apostasy of the Gentiles; then the dishonesty of philosophy; and then the privileged Jew is brought in, and “there is no difference, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.”

Under the law, God is demanding from man; He is claiming from man, and He has a right to do so. The law is not a revelation of what God is, but of what man ought to be according to God’s claims. Then if we take up Matthew 21 and 22 we see a contrast. God got no fruit from man, however blessed. The greater the blessing, the greater their guilt. Last of all He sent His Son, and all ended in utter failure. Man was never able to give to God what He claimed.

In the next chapter (Matt. 22) God comes with no claim, but His purpose is to put honor on His beloved Son in the gospel; and He makes a feast, a marriage feast. Those first invited (the Jews) spurned it; but they could not hinder it, for it flowed from the heart of God, and it flows out to the Gentiles. Then you get the cross, and “all things are now ready.” You have nothing to bring, you have nothing to pay, you have nothing to promise; come, and take a seat at this feast for the honor of the Son.

One of the greatest of wonders is that God could take up a poor thing like you or me to give joy to the heart of His Son. One is mentioned there who did not have on a wedding garment; but since all things were ready, the wedding garment was among them, and that garment is Christ: to have Him is essential.

“And Moses made haste, and bowed his head to the earth and worshipped” (Ex. 34:8).

Well, when this was proclaimed concerning God in His government, Moses made haste and worshipped. I suppose as we read the word of God, and it is brought home by the Holy Spirit to our hearts, it produces worship.

We see in the history of the Moabites an instance of God visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children. A Moabite was excluded by law from the congregation; but having mentioned that, though it is going away from our subject, let us say that directly we come to the New Testament, in Matthew 1 we get presented to us, but wrapped up in a very small parcel, the truth of the Epistle to the Romans. And we see it in four women, those mentioned in the genealogy.

The first is Tamar, and she brings before us a tale of most dreadful corruption. So Tamar brings before us Romans 1. Why has God given us a portion of His word we cannot even read in public? To let us know all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of Him with Whom we have to do, and He is thoroughly acquainted with all man’s fearful corruption.

The next woman is Rahab; and what is brought out in her case is faith. Her evil character did not exclude her from the blessing God had in store in His beloved Son; “by faith the harlot Rahab perished not with them that believed not, when she had received the spies with peace.” So by faith she gets a place there.

The next is Ruth the Moabitess, and the law excluded a Moabite from the congregation “for ten generations, forever.” But God’s grace can surmount all the claims of law, and Ruth found grace in the eyes of Boaz, whose name means, “Strength is in him,” a “mighty man of wealth,” beautiful type of the Beloved Son to Whom is committed all power in heaven and in earth. It is grace that links her with the blessing.

The name of the next one is not mentioned, but she had been the wife of Uriah; and that brings before us the blessed, wondrous truth Paul alone is used to bring out in the New Testament, justification by faith.

So just in a small compass we have the blessed truths of the Epistle to the Romans in these four names.

Now all we have here is changed. There is a way, of course, in which God is governing, but He is not out in the open in His government now, and will not be until the church is gone. Grace is reigning now. After the church is gone there will be providential judgments at first, but God will be out in the open in government before the Lord Jesus Christ comes in person.

Righteousness has put grace on the throne now, and His grace goes out to the most undeserving and the most unlikely.

Human pride does not like it Christian say to another, “You put a premium on human wickedness.” But we must remember there is only one man who has been inspired to call himself the first, — the chief of sinners; and it is very blessed where it comes in. It enables us to tell souls that the door which is high enough and wide enough to admit the chief of sinners is high enough and wide enough to admit any other sinner.

And we see grace very prominently in the Epistle to Titus. The grace of God has brought salvation, and teaches us. You cannot separate saving grace from teaching grace: they go together. Those contemplated in that Epistle lived in Crete, and the Spirit of God says, “Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons,” a terrible national character. Yet in that very Epistle they are told to adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things.

And said, If indeed I have found grace in Thine eyes, Lord, let the Lord, I pray thee, go in our midst; for it is a stiff-necked people; and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for an inheritance! (34:9).

I suppose it is Adonai here, the Master, Lord, Owner, and Leader too, that is the thought.

The very reason God gave why He could not go with them is the very reason this man, who understands grace, pleads why He should go with them! The people were God’s inheritance. He calls them so in different places. But the saints of God now are not His inheritance. So many get wrong thoughts about that. Speaking of the millennium it says, Blessed be Egypt My people, and Assyria the work of My hands, and Israel Mine inheritance” (Isa. 19:25). So Israel will be His inheritance in the future day, and the two nations closest to Israel get the greatest amount of blessing. They once were the two great powers that always menaced Israel. So it shows what grace will do.

Now turn to Ephesians 1. We have Paul’s two great prayers in that Epistle, the first addressed to God, the second to the Father. It says in verse 18, “the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints,” “in whom we also have obtained an inheritance” (ver.11); and that inheritance is called God’s inheritance. Just as Israel was used to take the inheritance God gave them, so we are called to take ours. So many think the church is spoken of as God’s inheritance. Israel is; we have our inheritance in Christ.

It never says “my Jehovah.” If it is “my Lord,” it is my Adonai. You get my God,” of course, but never “my Jehovah.”

Well, God says, He forgives. That is interesting to us. The word translated iniquity here means perversity; and “transgression” is taken from a word meaning rebellion; and sin would be not hitting the mark, or taking a false step. But you do not get the distinction between sin and sins in the Old Testament.

There are many truths we do not find there, for God is not out in the light. You do not get new birth developed in the Old Testament, but enough is said in the prophets to show a teacher of Israel he ought to know something about it. You do not get the flesh brought out, nor, as we said, the difference between sin and sins.

Sin in the New Testament is not forgiven. Up to Romans 5:11 it is sins that are dealt with, and they can be forgiven, and a man is justified from his sins. Then from Romans 5:12 to the end of chapter 8. it is sin, the evil nature inherited from our first parents: that is not forgiven, but condemned, utterly condemned.

As regards the sins belonging to each believer, Christ died for them: He bare our sins in His own body on the tree. But He died to sin. “In that He died, He died unto sin once... wherefore reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin.” A mighty weapon is put into our hands, and it is a great help to us. When a soul gets hold of that, it is a wonderful help to him.

Mercy is the prominent thing here; we do not get mercy mentioned in the first eight chapters of Romans. But directly you get those three dispensational chapters that bring in Israel, you get mercy (Rom. 9—11). Grace is found in the first eight chapters; then mercy is prominent. He has concluded all under sin, that He might have mercy upon all. He delights in it, and He is rich in mercy. After the cross, all are concluded in unbelief, the dispensationally-near Israel, and the far-off Gentiles: all are brought on one common ground, and all are blessed on the ground of mercy.

God, in giving the law, has perfectly justified Himself in blessing sinners in unconditional grace. Abraham believed in the Lord, and He counted it to him for righteousness. So while they were under law, they had the history of the father of the nation, showing that Abraham got his distinctive blessing on the ground of mercy.

Then in the Psalms, the heart of the scriptures, it does not say, “Oh, the blessedness of the man who keeps the law,” but “Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven.” Oh, the blessedness of the man who knew divine forgiveness of sins! When the law was given, God had lessons for them to learn. If the law taught them their helplessness, there were provisions for them on the ground of blood-shedding. “For the life of the flesh is the blood; and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul.”

And He said, Behold, I make a covenant: before all thy people I will do marvels that have not been done in all the earth, nor in any nation; and all the people in the midst of which thou [art] shall see the work of Jehovah; for a terrible thing it shall be that I will do with thee (34:10).

God says under this covenant, through the mediation of Moses, they are going to be brought through the wilderness, and planted in the land. And God was going to use them as executors of His judgment on the guilty Canaanites. God did not bring the descendants of Abraham at once into the land, but allowed four hundred years to go by, for “the iniquity of the Amorites was not yet full.”

God never judges unripened evil. When it was ripe, God would use Israel as His executors to exterminate those guilty people, morally filthy. God’s terrible doings are seen in connection with Israel. The very word is used about them in Isa. 18:7, “terrible from their beginning hitherto”; all through they were the same. That would speak of the wonders done in the land of Ham when they were brought out of Egypt.

There is no covenant with saints now, but we get the blessing of the new covenant, a covenant of grace (Jer. 31:31-34). There must be a work of grace in them; repentance must be wrought, and any without it will be cut off. He will take the stony heart away, and give them a feeling heart, and there will be great mourning when they look on Him Whom they pierced. Every one blessed under that covenant will know Him.

Now turn to Matthew 26:26-28. The blood, on the ground of which it will be made, is that of the Lord Jesus Christ. Though God has not entered into covenant with those forming the church, yet we get the blessing of it, the cleansing of the blood of that covenant. So in Hebrews 10, “their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.” That is the part that applies to us.

Observe what I command thee this day: behold, I will drive out before thee the Amorite, and the Canaanite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite (34:11).

Now here we are reminded that God’s chosen earthly people were to be the executors of God’s judgment on the guilty nations who lived in Palestine. One thing we must remember is that Israel is the center of God’s government of the earth; and God’s government has a prominent place right through the Old Testament, after Israel was called out. We get it before that, but not so distinctly. From that time we could easily gather things could not be right in the world until Israel had their right place.

God had given the land to Abraham four hundred years before this, but they were not allowed to go in and take possession because “the iniquity of the Amorites was not yet full.” There were other things too connected with that in Gen. 15, telling what would take place with Abram’s seed during those four hundred years.

So they were to take heed lest they were ensnared by these guilty inhabitants. God is always faithful, but Israel was not to be trusted. They allowed them to remain, and the book of Judges shows us how it occurred.

From the beginning of their national existence in the land of Ham, and then in Canaan, God did terrible things by them; and the world will yet see more terrible things when God begins to prepare the earth for the reigning day of His blessed Son,

Take heed to thyself, that thou make no covenant with the inhabitants of the land to which thou shalt come, lest it be a snare in the midst of thee (24:12).

They were to make no covenants with them. They did make a covenant with the Gibeonites, after they got into the land.

There are three marked sins on their part recorded in the book of Joshua. The first is covetousness, the wedge of gold, and the Babylonish garment; the next was trusting to their own strength, against Ai; the third was trusting in their own wisdom, and failing to inquire of the Lord.

We know this was written for our learning, and they are snares for the people of God in this present day. The world is stronger than the Christian, and ought to be; but we are strong in One stronger than the world Who says, “Be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” “This is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith,” not our strength. So they are instructed here to have nothing to do with their superstitions or their worship.

But ye shall demolish their altars, shatter their statues, and hew down their Asherahs (34:13).

They were called out as witnesses, because when Abraham was called out the world was given up to idolatry. It was introduced after the flood, and Abraham himself was a poor miserable idolater (Josh. 24:15), when the God of glory appeared to him, and his descendants were to be witnesses of the one true God, in contrast with the many false gods the nations around had.

For thou shalt worship no other God; for Jehovah—Jealous is His name—is a jealous God (34:14).

When we have the word “jealousy” here it is a right thing, for God could admit no rival. He wants the hearts of His people for Himself.

That expression in verse 15, “go a whoring,” is used here for the first time in scripture, but it is used many times afterward. Spiritual adultery is His people going after other gods. And we see how necessary this warning was, for the man who had more wisdom committed to him than any other, had his heart taken away by this very thing, and allowed idolatry in the midst of Jerusalem.

The feast of the unleavened bread shalt thou keep: seven days shalt thou eat unleavened bread, as I have commanded thee, at the appointed time of the month Abib; for in the month Abib thou earnest out from Egypt (34:18).

Here we get the feasts connected with Jehovah’s worship. Called “feasts,” they are really the seven appointed seasons, and bring us from the cross of Christ to the eternal state. In Leviticus 23, where you get varied details, it commences with the Passover, redemption by blood. Here it commences with the feast of unleavened bread. That was kept for seven days. The Passover was kept for one day, like Pentecost. But the feast of unleavened bread continued for seven days, a complete cycle of time. So it would tell the Christian that there should be an avoidance of evil all through our Christian career, no allowance of evil, no toleration of evil.

We get the Lord enjoining they were to be holy because He is holy; and that is taken up in the New Testament. It is always true, whatever the dispensation. We get in the Epistle to the Thessalonians that the desire, the prayer of the apostle was that they might be sanctified wholly: and “God is faithful, who also will do it.” There is never any failure on God’s side. The failure is on ours.

It is a poor thing for a Christian to have a low standard. When Christians have a low standard they are often very proud because they think they attain to that standard. Some will say they are without sin. They have a very low standard; but bring in Christ, and where are they? Let us keep the standard high, and the Lord Jesus gives us Himself as a standard. If it is a question of loving one another, “as I have loved you.” How grave to think a believer can be deceived into believing they come up to the Lord’s standard! “That ye sin not” should be the standard of a Christian.

Now we do get the Passover, but not first. Abib was the month in which they came out of Egypt. It is manifestly the Passover here that is before the mind of the Spirit. It was because the firstborn of Israel were spared that God claimed all the firstborn. After, the tribe of Levi was substituted for them.

All that openeth the womb [is] Mine; and all the cattle that is born a male, the firstling of ox and sheep (34:19).

A difference is put here between clean and unclean animals. All firstborn of clean animals were the Lord’s. It was His claim.

But the firstling of an ass thou shalt ransom with a lamb; and if thou ransom [it] not, then shalt thou break its neck. All the firstborn of thy sons thou shalt ransom; and none shall appear before Me empty (34:20).

This is a picture of ourselves. We get the expression in Job, “Vain man will be wise, though man be born like a wild ass’s colt.” The ass was an unclean animal, and therefore represented every one of us, born in sin. The one only exception was “that Holy Thing which shall be born shall be called the Son of God”; and with that exception all the human race is born in sin, without any possibility of altering their state, their condition; and God is distinctly showing us here nothing short of redemption could meet man’s case. If not redeemed, they must break his neck.

If one does not get the benefit of the redemption that is in Christ Jesus he bears his judgment. “It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment.” The only thing that saves from death and judgment is redemption: and in His grace the Lord Jesus took our place in death and judgment that we might have His place in life and glory.

How remarkably it is brought in here, after telling us about the ass; “All the firstborn of Thy sons thou shalt redeem.” What a mercy if we can truly say by the grace of God, “In Whom we have redemption through His blood!”

Then a redeemed people are a worshipping people, so “none shall appear before Me empty.” It was a sad thing, if God’s earthly people appeared before him empty in a land flowing with milk and honey; but how much more so in our case! The only thing God accepts from us in worship is Christ. Nothing counts with God but Christ, and what is acceptable in our worship and walk is Christ. If our hearts are filled with Christ, out of the fullness of the heart the mouth will speak.

Six days shalt thou work, but on the seventh day thou shalt rest; in plowing time and in harvest thou shalt rest (34:21).

We have noticed before that whenever there is a change in Exodus (and there are several), the sabbath is brought out. So they are reminded again there is a rest, God’s rest, “a rest that remaineth for the people of God”; for there is always the temptation to settle down here, and want to find rest here.

“Base the wish, and vain the endeavor,

Here on earth to find our rest.”

Those who attempt to do it among saints of God always make a mistake, and damage their souls. When there is the spirit of the world and of wanting a nest here, God comes in, in His mercy, and stirs up our nest. But there is this, “Come ye yourselves apart and rest awhile.” We get rest for the conscience, and rest for the soul. Rest for the conscience is found in Matthew 11:28. The only condition is, “Come unto Me, and I will give.” Then “Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me, and ye shall find rest unto your souls.” It is as we go through the whole journey here we have rest to our souls.

But rest in Hebrews must never be confounded with that. They are journeying on to that rest; and when it says, “We which believe do enter into rest,” it does not mean a present thing, but that we who believe are the only ones who will enter it. The instruction is to labor to enter in, because they had not yet entered it.

When a gentleman engages a gardener, the man would require time for his meals; he would not be working all the day uninterruptedly. So the Lord says, “Come ye yourselves apart... and rest awhile”: for a while, not a permanent rest.

And thou shalt observe the feast of weeks, of the first-fruits of wheat harvest, and the feast of In gathering at the turn of the year (34:22).

The harvest commenced with the barley harvest, and the wheat harvest was a long time after, as we gather from this. There are two feasts in this verse. In another place the feast of ingathering is called the feast of Tabernacles, Israel’s harvest home.

The feast of weeks affects us more. They had to count fifty days from the day after the Passover to Pentecost. Had the disciples known the meaning of this, they would have known how long they would have to wait for the promise of the Father.

There were forty days marked off for His temptation, before the Lord’s public ministry; then for another forty days, as the Risen One, He was seen of them; and then He told them to tarry at Jerusalem “not many days.” Had they known what we know now, they would have understood it was only ten days after.

Then the Holy Ghost was given, and in carrying out these very instructions in verse 23, there were Jews and proselytes from all over the civilized world gathered together at Jerusalem. The Holy Ghost came down upon those in the upper room, and baptized them into one body, and that body still exists in the world.

When a believer rests on the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, when he has heard and believed the gospel of his salvation, God seals him; He gives him the Holy Ghost and seals him. It is a very blessed experience. Then you belong to that baptized body, all who have the Holy Ghost.

People go about now saying that when souls received the Holy Ghost in the Acts, there were always signs following; and they disturb souls about gifts of healing, and speaking with tongues, and all sorts of things that belonged to the opening days of this dispensation.

One said to me the other day, “Do you believe in faith healing?” I replied, “God can do anything; He can cure anybody if He will. With God all things are possible.” “Well,” she said, “look at James. It says the prayer of faith shall save the sick.” So I asked, “Where are you going to get your elders?” She could not answer. There are those who do the work of elders among God’s people now. You never get elders in a young assembly in scripture. Always time was allowed to elapse to see who had the right qualifications. Then the apostles appointed them, or apostles’ delegates, such as Titus. It never went beyond that.

There is no such thing in scripture as sheep choosing their own shepherd; but in Corinth, where there were no elders, the house of Stephanas addicted themselves to the ministry of the saints, though they had not been appointed by any apostle. There were elders at Ephesus, but none at Thessalonica; yet they were to “know them that are over you in the Lord.” So we may have the same thing today as at Corinth and Thessalonica; but no one can assume to be an elder. So how could we send for any?

And they talk a lot about being baptized by the Spirit, not seeing the Spirit came down and formed a baptized body at Pentecost, and “because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.” So if a saint of God is perplexed whether he has the Holy Ghost, this is a scripture to help. I can go to God, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, and I know He has said, “I ascend unto My Father and your Father, and to My God and your God,” and I can call Him my Father. So I know I have the Holy Ghost.

It is not repeating “Our Father”; that is formality; but I mean one who really knows God as his Father. His Spirit witnesses with our spirit, if we can call Him Father. The disciples were taught as Jews to say, “Our Father, which art in heaven.” You never get that, or “heavenly Father” after Pentecost. It is never used in scripture after the Holy Ghost came.

“As is the Heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly,” and you cannot alter it. A person may say, as they think in humility, “I do not set myself up to be heavenly”; but it is not your setting yourself up. You are heavenly, and going to be conformed to the image of His Son.

The feast of ingathering would be the feast of Tabernacles. Just see when that takes place. It is after the harvest and the vintage. He will come and gather us home to His heavenly garner, and then will come the vintage, which speaks of judgment on the living. When it says in Acts 17, “He hath appointed a day in the which He will judge the world in righteousness,” it is the habitable earth.

The wicked dead will be judged in eternity. When they are raised and stand before the great white throne, the One Who sits there is the Lord Jesus Christ, and (telling us of His awful majesty) before His face the heavens and earth will flee away. Time is a parenthesis in eternity, and time is done with then. You can have no measurement of time apart from creation. What measures our time? “The greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night.” He made the stars also.” We are drawing near the time when He will come and set up His kingdom. Everything is calling for the Lord to come and take the reins into His own hands; and you and I ought to rejoice in the thought.

The apostle says, “Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give meat that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love His appearing,” not love His corning for His saints. We do delight to think we shall soon hear His voice, and perhaps the very next moment be shouted up to His presence; but His appearing is when the groaning creation will be delivered and brought into the liberty of the glory of the children of God, when Christ will have His rights. It will be all commotion, “I will overturn, overturn, overturn it, until He come Whose right it is.” God has always had His purpose that His Christ shall be “exalted, and extolled, and be very high.” This is “at the years’ end.” Men shall beat their swords into pruning hooks, and learn war no more, not be taught it as a science, as they are now.

But we do not reign now. Paul said to the Corinthians, “I would to God ye did reign.” Why? Because if the reigning is in the sense here, Paul would be reigning too. A little time of waiting and patience, and then we are going to live and reign with Christ.

So they were to appear before the Lord three times in the year, at the Passover, and at Pentecost, and at the feast of Tabernacles. We get that not only brought out in Leviticus 23, but also in Deuteronomy 16 In verse 13 there we see the feast of Tabernacles lasts seven days. It will be a time of great joy then to Israel, the last feast, the millennial reign of our Lord. There is more of joy in Deuteronomy than in any other book of the Pentateuch.

There was an eighth day to that last feast, and that commences a new thing. Turn to John 7:37. It is interesting to notice in that chapter the day of His manifestation was not yet come. He will show Himself by and by, and you and I are going to be with Him (Col. 3:4). He will show Himself to the world, and you and I are going to be with Him in the same glory.

For I will dispossess the nations before thee, and enlarge thy border, and no man shall desire thy land, when thou goest up to appear before the face of Jehovah thy God thrice in the year (34:24).

This was God’s promise. If all the men went up to Jerusalem, it would leave their homes defenseless; and the Lord says, “I will look after them; no man shall covet your property.”

Thou shalt not offer the blood of My sacrifice with leaven.; neither shall the sacrifice of the feast of the Passover be left over night until the morning (34:25).

I have no doubt this verse is speaking of the Passover principally. They had to be very careful to put away all leaven. It was only those sheltered by blood that could-feast on the roast lamb. It was no food for others, so they had to burn what remained. It was not to fall into the hands of those unredeemed.

And he was there with Jehovah forty days and forty nights; he ate no bread, and drank no water. And he wrote on the tables the words of the covenant, the ten words (34:28).

This was the second time Moses had been up in Mount Sinai with Jehovah, neither eating bread nor drinking water, but miraculously sustained. No shining face resulted from the first forty days: then it was a question of pure law, and instead of shining, Moses did “exceedingly fear and quake.” Now, when grace is introduced, in the government of God, we get a shining face as the result of Moses being with Jehovah.

There was a reflection in the case of Stephen. When we are filled with the Holy Ghost we must be occupied with a heavenly Christ. Stephen saw the glory of God, and the Son of man standing at the right hand of God.

Paul takes this chapter up, and we looked at it as given in 2 Corinthians 3 when we commenced the chapter. There, Paul from the first chapter unfolds the character of his ministry, and that goes on to the end of chapter 6. In chapter 3 he is showing out the difference between this ministry, when grace is introduced and Moses’ face is shining, with the gospel. This is a ministry of death and condemnation; but the ministry of God’s grace is a ministry of life, and righteousness, and glory. He brings out the immense contrast between what is in the chapter, and what is the common property of believers now.

Only one among those 600,000 Israelites could go without a veil into the presence of Jehovah; and as the result of doing it, we have this shining face. Now it is the privilege of every Christian. “We all,” not one in 600,000, “we all beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image.”

Verse 6 of 2 Corinthians 3. is linked with verse 17. The Lord Jesus is the spirit of the word.

Paul writing to Timothy, says, “From a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are (not “were”) able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.” Timothy had enjoyed the salvation of his soul for years; but Paul is speaking of the salvation we experience day by day as we go on our pilgrimage, and what would save us from the numberless snares around would be the right use of the Old Testament.

The principles of the word of God are the same in all dispensations. Precepts vary with the dispensations; what was right under law is not right now; but principles remain unchanged. Oh, if Christians only made a right use of the Old Testament, what it would save us from! Great plainness of speech becomes the ministry we have now, for God is out in the light. With Moses there was obscurity.

As far as we are concerned, the veil is done away in Christ; but the Jews still have it upon their heart, “but when it”— their heart, “shall turn to the Lord, the veil shall be done away.” Then in God’s light they will see light; and that will account for much in the Old Testament.

Take Isaiah 53. It is the remnant speaking there; and if you do not see that, you do not see the beauty of it at all. They say, “He is despised and rejected of men... we did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.” While the veil existed, and they had the stony heart, they thought He was a wicked man receiving due reward from God. But when the stony heart is taken away, and clean water sprinkled upon them, and the veil is gone, they say, “But He was wounded for our transgressions,” etc. Whatever we may see and use for ourselves, that is the way to view that chapter, as the language of the repentant people. “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned everyone to his own way; and (instead of being afflicted as they thought) Jehovah hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all.” So it is the contrast between their experience while the veil exists, and when it is taken away.

When Moses came down there is a practical lesson for us. When Moses thought his face shone, they did not see it. “He supposed his brethren would have understood” (Acts 7:25).

So with us Christians. When a Christian thinks his face shines, others do not see it. If it really does, if there is a manifestation of Christ, he is unconscious of it. Always beware of persons who regard themselves as very pious. One who is occupied with Christ is not occupied with self. If the Holy Ghost occupies us with ourselves it is because there is something wrong in us, in something we have to judge. But if we have been occupied with ourselves long enough to know that in us, in our flesh, good does not dwell, we are free then to be occupied with Christ. But we do not learn that in a hurry.

A beloved brother we knew, now with the Lord, used to say it was a good thing for a young Christian to have a good dose of himself. It is a painful experience, but it has to be learned, that in our flesh good does not dwell. If it is the habit of a soul to be engaged with the One in Whom God has found all His delight, it is bound to have a result. When the hymn-book was being revised, and they came to the hymn we sang just now (174), which used to be

“And with Thy beauty occupied

We elsewhere none may see.”

they were not satisfied with the line, and a brother suggested “We may conformed be.” But W. K. said, “We are going to be conformed: it is what God has predestinated us to, that we should be conformed to the image of His Son, in glory: but we are being transformed now.” And that is what we have at the end of 2 Corinthians 3. “Where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty,” blessed liberty. Liberty to do the will of God: liberty to serve one another: the perfect law of liberty belongs to us. People talk about man’s free will; but man was never free to be disobedient to God. He was capable of being, but not free to be. Liberty belongs to the saint of God, but not license.

“But we all with open face beholding,”— in contrast with Moses. It was very becoming in Moses to the take veil off when before the Lord, the One to whose eyes all things are naked and opened. “We all, looking on the glory of the Lord with unveiled face, are transformed according to the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Lord the Spirit.”

Take an illustration. Prizes were offered in London for the best blooms obtained from window boxes; and one plant full of bloom was brought by a little crippled girl. They questioned her how she had got it, and she said the secret was she kept the plant in the sunshine. She had carried the plant from window to window where the sun was shining. So with us. It is not

“... the restless will

That hurries to and fro,

Seeking for some great thing to do,

Or secret thing to know.”

We want to be quietly in His presence, beholding the glory of the Lord. Do not let the things of time and sense so occupy us that we do not have time for that. It takes time. Moses had been forty days up there before his face shone. That is the secret of this transformation from glory to glory.

I suppose we may look at this as the credentials of Moses, proving he had had to do with God: but they were afraid to come nigh him. What a contrast with us! We know His perfect love! “Perfect love casteth out fear, because fear hath torment.” Cleansed by blood from an evil conscience, “let us draw near with a true heart,” without any reserve at all, “in full assurance of faith,” with no questions, “having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience,” for where evil exists conscience makes cowards, “and our bodies washed with pure water,” a reference to the consecration of the priests. We are consecrated; we are a holy priesthood; we have boldness; we have access.

The New Testament teaches us we not only have all our sin put away, but are before God in all the excellency of Christ. That which we cannot go beyond, — that which is the glory of God’s grace, is that we are accepted, not “in Christ,” that would be wonderful! but God has one beloved Son in Whom is all His delight; and we are “accepted in the Beloved.” That dispels all fear, and we are joyful, peaceful, in the presence of God in all His holiness.

We all know there are only two words used by the Spirit of God in all His revelation to tell the nature of God, Light and Love. “God is light.” “God is love.” Light speaks of the purity of His nature, and love of the activity of His nature.

Attributes are relative. He is righteous toward others; merciful toward others; but all attributes proceed from what He is, Light and Love.

And Moses called to them; and they turned to him, Aaron and all the principal men of the assembly; and Moses talked with them (34:31).

They were afraid, but Moses called them. So it looks as if they had gone away from his presence, as they “returned.” It just comes to mind, when the armed crowd came to take the Lord Jesus, as given us in John 18, and He said, “I am He,” they went backward and fell to the ground. A divine Person was there: that is the side of the Lord we get prominently in John; and just a little ray of His glory was enough to lay that armed crowd powerless.

“I have power to lay down My life, and I have power to take it again.” So He laid down His precious, unforfeited life on which death had no claim at all.

And afterward, all the children of Israel came near; and he gave them in commandment all that Jehovah had spoken with him on mount Sinai (34:32).

They were influenced by the others. It makes one think of what is very clearly brought out in the word, — that all of us influence others, it may be unconsciously, for good or ill.

Take, for instance, Peter and John in John 20, when they ran to the sepulcher to see if the news the women had brought was true. The nameless disciple outran Peter, no doubt a younger man. “Yet went he not in.” That was how far he went. Why is that mentioned? To show how we have influence one over another. “Then cometh Simon Peter following him and went into the sepulcher... then went in also that other disciple,” under the influence of Peter. “And he saw and believed.” So it was a blessing to him to be influenced by Peter. There is something very solemn about it to know how we influence others whom we come in contact with.

Especially is it so in the church of God. “The eye cannot say to the hand I have no need of thee,”— the knowing member to the useful member. We are very necessary to each other. Paul speaks of it in a very solemn way, when he refers to a man being quite clear himself, yet emboldening another to eat what is sacrificed to idols; he even calls it destroying one for whom Christ died.

And Moses ended speaking with them; and he had put on his face a veil (34:33).

When it was pure law there was no shining face, but the very opposite; they exceedingly feared and quaked. That shining face was the result of God’s mercy; and that is the very thing referred to in 2 Corinthians 3:7-16 to show the contrast between Moses, even when his face shone, and the Christian. Oh, ours is a wonderful place!

You cannot get greater plainness of speech in the Old Testament. There are parables and types, for God was not out in the light: now He is, and there is nothing to keep back.

In 2 Corinthians 3. there is a long parenthesis from verse 7 to 16; and verse 17 links on to the end of verse 6. “The spirit giveth life,” and “the Lord is that spirit,” with a small “s,” to correspond with the spirit that giveth life. We get that as to Timothy, “From a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus” (2 Tim. 3:15).

Do not take that as a gospel text to preach from. It is addressed to one who had been a servant of the Lord for years, and they were able then to make him wise. If he made a right use of the Old Testament scriptures it would save him from a thousand snares.

When you have Christ Jesus you have the secret, the key to the Old Testament scriptures. He is the spirit of the word, and “where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty.” And in contrast with Moses, who alone could go in with unveiled face, “we all, looking on the glory of the Lord with unveiled face, are transformed according to the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Lord the Spirit.” (J.N.D.).

Of course it is by the eye of faith, and it has a transforming power on our lives. We are going to be conformed by and by; now we are transformed by looking on the glory.

And the children of Israel saw the face of Moses, that the skin of Moses’ face shone; and Moses put the veil on his face again, until he went in to speak with him (34:35).

The way in which it is put here attracts our attention. The Holy Spirit knew how it would be used subsequently. It is interesting to know the LXX. translate this as, “The children of Israel saw the face of Moses, that the skin of Moses’ face was glorified.”

The life of Jesus manifested in our mortal flesh in 2 Corinthians 4:11 we may well link with Romans 6 Christ suffered for our sins, and atoningly; but sin is condemned, that is the root, the flesh, the evil nature in us, “That which is born of the flesh is flesh,” and cannot be altered, can never be made better. “He died unto sin once... wherefore reckon ye yourselves dead unto sin.”

John 15 shows us that the more we are like the Master the more we must expect enmity from the world. By being neutral you may escape much, but that is grieving to the Holy Spirit.

“If ye were of the world, the world would love its own. But because ye are not of the world, therefore the world hateth you.”

The more conformity to Christ is manifested, the greater the hatred.

Identification with Christ distinct and clear is bound to bring persecution; but a lot of that is now covered up. It exists, but more in an underhand way. Saints of God who are true to Him must suffer, and they do: but the world is not out for open persecution now; still it exists. The world has become the church, and the church has become the world. Yet there are precious saints in it. “A few names” in Sardis (which is Protestantism); but that does not make right the system to which they belong (Rev. 3:4).

Chapter 35: Through 40.

I HAVE seen it stated that in Exodus 25—40. we get the details of the tabernacle and its furniture seven times over. It shows how much more important the subject is than creation even. Only one chapter in Genesis tells of God preparing the world for the creation of man, but all these chapters tell of that which sets forth the glories of Christ.

I do not think it would be for our profit to go over all the details in these chapters again; it is for our private study rather; but there are many important points we may look at.

Seven times over in the chapter that gives us the setting up of the tabernacle, we get, “as the Lord commanded Moses”: that was the important thing. There was no deviation in carrying out God’s instructions. It was all “according to the pattern showed him on the mount.”

The people had to be restrained from giving (36:6). But they had only given to God what they had got from Him. The Corinthians were asked in the first Epistle, What have ye that ye have not received? “I have no doubt that was because of their proud thoughts about their originality. That truth is brought out here in the beginning of chapter 36 “Every wise hearted man in whom the Lord put wisdom.” “Then wrought Bezaleel (“in the shadow of God”), and Aholiab (“the tent of my father”).

When the Lord ascended up on high He led captivity captive and gave gifts unto men, and each is responsible for what each has received. “To whom much is given, of him shall much be required.” “Redeeming the time,” or buying up the opportunities. You cannot buy back the time; that is gone; but as the opportunities come along, buy them up.

Whatever God does is for His own glory; His gifts are given for His glory. “Ye are not your own, ye are bought with a price”; then everything belongs to the One Who has bought us. “Wherefore glorify God in your body” (1 Cor. 6).

In 1 Peter 4:10 it says, “As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.” Paul, in writing to the Corinthians, says, “It is required in stewards that a man be found faithful.” So it says here, “If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God.” That does not simply mean according to the scriptures, though I know they are called the oracles of God; but the force here is, as the mouthpiece of God. “If any man minister, let him do it as of the ability which God giveth: that God in all things may be glorified” (1 Pet. 4:11).

When the order of God’s word is carried out, that is very blessed; but when man interferes with God’s order, and only allows God to speak through one man, there is no room for this. In Rom. 12. we get the gifts too. It is very practical there.

It is blessed commendation for the Lord to be able to say to any of us, as He did of that dear woman, “She hath done what she could.” Paul had to say to one who had been gifted, and had his responsibility accordingly, “Say to Archippus, Take heed to the ministry which thou hast received in the Lord, that thou fulfill it” (Col. 4:17).

And again, Paul says to his genuine son in the faith, Timothy, “Do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry.” The disposition of some is to hide what is committed to them, as the light under the bushel. The light should burn on the candlestick, that others may get the benefit of it. I suppose the “bushel” there would be the business of the world; and one engaged in it has to beware lest he hide his gift: that has been a snare to many.

Now we have God out in the light; then He was in the thick darkness, as Solomon says. Then the veil was existing; now it is rent, and God has come out. He has not only brought the sinner in, but God has come out to us, “the Only Begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him,” and so perfectly that, “he that hath seen Me hath seen the Father.”

And another thing, we have got all that God purposed to reveal from all eternity. So we are more privileged than the saints at Pentecost were. They had not the New Testament. A good part of that is dealing with the faults of others, but it is for our blessing. “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God,” from Genesis to Revelation. We are in a wonderful place. Oh, how we ought to value the grace that gave us being, and has made us new creatures, a creation that never will be marred by sin.

Take from among you a heave-offering to Jehovah.: every one whose heart [is] willing, let him bring it, Jehovah’s heave-offering, gold, and silver, and copper (35:5).

It was not everyone who gave something, but only a certain number of them. Some had greater love for their possessions than they had for God. Look too at verses 10, 21, 22, 25, and 26. They were “stirred up,” “made willing.” Now turn to chapter 31:6.

It is sweet to realize every good and perfect gift is from above: if there is any good at all it emanates from God. I was thinking too of 1 Corinthians 8:1-5. That is very precious, and other scriptures we may well link with it. What is acceptable to God is what is the result of love to Christ. We cannot boast of our love to Him, but we can boast of His love to us: it constrains us.

“Ye are bought with a price; wherefore glorify God in your body.”

It would make us think of what we are told in the Gospels of the Lord sitting over against the treasury. There is an interesting undesigned coincidence there. In Mark we are told He sat over against the treasury; in Luke “He looked up.” We should not have understood that, had Mark not told us He was sitting. He saw that poor widow, and what was His estimate of her gift? “More than they all,” “even all her living.”

So with the saints in Macedonia. Although they were persecuted and poverty-stricken, there were the riches of their liberality; and the secret was, they gave themselves first to the Lord. I am not my own; my time, my ability, what money I have, all belongs to Him; that is the privilege of a Christian.

And the apostle finishes up that chapter with, “Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable gift.” Who can enter into that which God has given us in Christ? It would be impossible for man to have thought of what God has given as a proof of His love. It is unspeakable, unthinkable. He has already given us more than we can ever ask for.

We did not say anything about the sabbath in chapters 35:2, 3. Now from the creation of man to the death of Joseph was 2369 years; and we only get the sabbath mentioned once during all those years, when the Lord rested on the seventh day from all His work. And God has a rest now, a rest that remains for the people of God.

In Exodus we are frequently reminded of the sabbath. The building of the tabernacle was of immense importance; there might possibly be a temptation under certain circumstances to do work on the sabbath for the tabernacle; so before the work commences here, and the material is accumulated, we have, for the last time in Exodus, the sabbath brought before us. So they must make no excuse, even of doing work for the tabernacle, to break the sabbath rest, not even kindle a fire. They might have thought it right to melt metals they required: not so, it was to be a day of rest.

The book of Exodus covers a period of 144 years, 11 1/2 months. From the Passover to the completion of the Tabernacle is 11 1/2 months. A child could reckon up the years in Genesis; but in the beginning of Exodus we come to a cul-de-sac from the death of Joseph to the birth of Moses. From the call of Abraham (at the age of 75), to the Exodus was 430 years; we have definite scripture for that. From the call of Abraham to the death of Joseph was 286 years, and Moses was 80. years old when the Exodus took place. So if you add the age of Moses to those 286 years, and subtract the sum from the 430 years it leaves 64 years. So that shows Joseph had been dead 64 years when Moses was born. Then the book of Leviticus covers a month. You have not to go outside the word of God to get that. You get it given you there.

Then chapters 38:25, 26 is very interesting, telling us in a blessed way of redemption.

Those hundred talents were what the tabernacle was based upon. Each board had its two tenons that fitted into these talents. So we can see the building was very firmly held, — based on redemption. Each piece of silver pointed to Christ, and is a type of His precious blood, because it says: “Ye were not redeemed with silver and gold... but with the precious blood of Christ” (1 Peter 1:18). So that in that half shekel God very forcibly tells us the worst man that ever lived will require nothing but Christ for his redemption; and the best will not be redeemed by anything else. With God nothing counts but Christ. Nothing but the precious blood of Christ will satisfy God. As he hymn writer puts it

“Both bad and good, both need alike

The Saviour’s precious blood.”

All this money put together supplies the basis of this wonderful building. That is where we are, resting on redemption.

And of the Thousand seven hundred and seventy-five [shekels] he made the hooks for the pillars, and overlaid their capitals, and fastened them [with rods] (38:28).

This shows us redemption held up and made a display of there.

There was no demand made upon them for anything else but the redemption money. Everything else was a freewill offering. The one that had shittim wood brought it; the one that had gold brought it, and so on.

It was 9 1/2 months from the giving of the law to the setting up of the tabernacle. Compare this with Exodus 19:1. That was the third month of the year; this the first month of the second year.

We get all the details again here, when it is being set up. The tabernacle existed till the building of Solomon’s temple, only it got separated. It was taken to Shiloh, and it was the same ark that belonged to the tabernacle that was brought into the temple.

The tabernacle is sometimes called the temple. It was the tabernacle where Samuel and Eli were, and where Hannah was praying. It has not the prominent place in the land that it has in the wilderness, still it existed until the temple was built, and then the ark was deposited in the temple. Then traveling days were done, and the staves drawn out.

In the wilderness the ark contained (according to Heb. 9), “The golden pot that had manna, Aaron’s rod that budded, and the tables of the covenant.” When we come to the temple, there was nothing in the ark but the tables of the covenant. How it fits in, for that was the day of manifestation and glory. That golden pot speaks of the Lord as He is now in heaven, laid up before the Lord.” And the overcomer in Revelation is promised to eat of the hidden manna.

In the days of glory, the Lord will no longer be the Aaronic priest, but the Melchizedek priest, a priest upon His throne.

And the two cherubim on the mercy-seat in the wilderness are looking down on the blood, which speaks of the satisfaction God has in having that blood before Him. But the cherubim in Solomon’s temple look out before the house, for directly evil is manifested then it will be dealt with in judgment.

So all these articles of furniture are gone over here.

In verse 33 of chapter 40 we read, “So Moses finished the work.” And it is going to be finished, the building that is now going on. In Zechariah we get it in type; the hands of Zerubbabel shall finish it.

When the world was prepared for man as a habitation, for God did not create it as it is presented to us in Genesis 1:2, no doubt it was very beautiful, but there had been a great catastrophe, perhaps several, for the space between Genesis 1:1 and 2, will leave room for all geological ages. But when God had prepared it for man He could put His own imprimatur on what He Himself had done, and say, Very good.”

Here, showing how far more important than that is what we have in the tabernacle, we find (instead of one chapter containing the account of all the six days), all these details brought before us seven times, and virtually occupying all these chapters from 25 to 40.

God did not dwell with man till redemption was accomplished. He could have a friend here and visit him, but not dwell. In the tabernacle you get the church, and (more important than that) the Lord Jesus. In John 1. we have the Word becoming flesh and tabernacling among us; His body was in the tabernacle: in John 2, “He spake of the temple of His body.” Now, after redemption, the church looked at as a whole is God’s temple; and the individual believer is also the temple of God. “What! know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost? “How solemn, yet how blessed! Poor things like you and me indwelt by God! yet only on the ground of redemption.

So Moses finished the work. God finished His work of redemption and its results; and if we turn to Psalms 22, which gives us perhaps in a more blessed way than any other that perfect work of atonement (and you get no confession of sin before that in the Psalms, though you do in Psalms 25. after), you get the results of atonement in larger and larger circles; and in verse 31, “He hath done this,” what Christ had done, and its glorious results. In John 19, when that glorious work was complete (vs. 30) He said, “It is finished, and He bowed His head and gave up the ghost.” Only one word in Greek, though it takes three English ones to express it.

“Finished the work that saves,

Once and forever done!”

Then in Revelation 21:6, “It is done.” This is the eternal state, — all things settled for eternity, and all things of God, when God is all in all; a new heaven and a new earth.

In 2 Corinthians verse 17 we read, “If any man be in Christ there is a new creation,” and all things of God.” It is blessed to think that then there will be no possibility of failure, but a state of fixed eternal holiness.

What are the wonders of astronomy compared with this? We admit there are some very great wonders there, for “the heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament showeth His handiwork,” but as an old writer says:

“Thy glory in creation shines,

But in Thy sacred word,

We read in fairer, brighter lines

The glory of the Lord.”

And Moses could not enter into the tent of meeting, for the cloud abode on it, and the glory of Jehovah filled the tabernacle (40:35).

The Lord takes possession. Of course the lesson the cloud teaches us is, that we are here for the will of God. It is not for us to choose. It rested with Him when the cloud moved. They moved when it moved, and encamped when it rested. They simply had to be obedient; and that is what we are called to, the obedience of Jesus Christ, His character of obedience.

For the cloud of Jehovah was on the tabernacle by day, and fire was in it by night, before the eyes of all the house of Israel, throughout all their journeys (40:38).

They walked by sight, we walk by faith.

Now the beautiful point for us to notice here is this, God took possession of that house. He had given instructions, and Moses carried out His word. Seven times over we are told so. Now when God takes possession, He speaks from the tabernacle; and the very first thing He says is about Christ as the burnt-offering. Always connect Exodus 40 with Leviticus 1. There He gives all those precious details about the burnt-offering, that ascending offering, the voluntary offering of the Lord Jesus. Of course, the inwards of the offering had to be washed to make them typically what the Lord Jesus was absolutely. But it was all burnt; nothing was eaten: and the only part not burnt was the skin, and that was for the offering priest.

God put it in their heart to sing in Exodus 15, “I will prepare Him an habitation”: the first time we get that thought in scripture: here, before the end of the book, we see it carried out.

Moses was the instrument used for building this tabernacle. David would have built the temple, but was prohibited, because he was a man of blood. The prophet thought he was right to do it, but got instructions to tell him not so, but his son should build it. But all the details as God gave them here to Moses, He gave them to David (1 Chron. 28).

The people then gave willingly, and David, of his own proper good, gave about 19,000,000 sterling (1 Chron. 28:14-18). And he says in writing God gave it to him. He wrote it, but God’s hand was on him while he did so. Never forget that; “Of Thine own have we given Thee.” Whatever God gives, the best possible use is to give it back to Him. Look at Samuel. His mother prayed, the Lord gave, and she gave him back to God. And God honored her faith.

It is in 1 Chronicles 28:19 we get God’s hand on him. There is inspiration! “Holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost,” and his son had all the instructions. David says, “I have prepared with all my might” (1CHron. 29:2). There is a good deal in this chapter calculated to stir up our hearts.