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Collected
Writings of J.N.
Darby
Expository 1
By John Nelson Darby
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Collected Writings of J.N. Darby
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Contents
Sketch of Joshua ..............................................................7
A Brief Outline of the Books of the Bible .....................21
Outline of the Book of Genesis .....................................92
Hints on the Book of Genesis .....................................100
e First Man and the Second: Genesis 3 ...................179
Genesis 3 .....................................................................187
History of Abram: Genesis 12-18 ...............................194
Abram: Genesis 12 ......................................................210
Lot’s Choice: a Word on Present Advantage: Genesis 19 .
226
e Passover and the Red Sea: Exodus 12-14 .............234
e Red Sea and the Wilderness: Exodus 15 ..............243
Hints on the Tabernacle: Exodus 25-34 ......................250
Priesthood: Exodus 28 ................................................. 268
Priesthood: Exodus 29 ................................................. 274
Show Me Now y Way: Exodus 33-34 .....................281
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Hints on the Sacrices in Leviticus: Leviticus 1-3 ......287
On the Oerings, and the Consecration of the
Priesthood: Leviticus 1-8 ....................................313
Hints on the Day of Atonement: Leviticus 16 ............348
e Day of Atonement: Leviticus 16 ..........................357
Hints on the Feasts of Jehovah: Leviticus 23 ...............365
e Feasts: Leviticus 23 ...............................................372
On the Covering of the Holy Vessels: Numbers 4 .......391
e Pleasant Land Despised: Numbers 13-14 ............394
Numbers 15 .................................................................404
Law and Priestly Grace: Numbers 17 and Numbers 20 ....
410
e Red Heifer: Numbers 19 ......................................416
e Faithfulness of God Seen in His Ways With Balaam:
Numbers 22-24 ...................................................418
Deuteronomy 8:3 .........................................................433
Joshua ..........................................................................435
Joshua 1 .......................................................................442
Christ As Our Food: Joshua 5 ..................................... 450
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Joshua 5 .......................................................................454
Gideon - God’s Mighty Man of Valor: Judges 6-8 ......476
oughts on Ruth .......................................................507
oughts on 1 Samuel ................................................. 508
Jonathan: a Word on Working With God: 1 Samuel 14 ...
516
oughts on 2 Samuel ................................................. 525
Sketch of Joshua
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62727
Sketch of Joshua
e Red Sea closes Egypt; but by faith I am already in
Canaan, not in Egypt at all, having been brought out. I am
not in the esh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of
God dwell in me. I have died out of esh. e world is not
Egypt to me now, but a place of exercise as the wilderness.
Moses pleads for God’s going with Israel the reason given
for His destroying them. How could we get on through the
world if God did not go with us?
It had been all grace up to Sinai; after it came the law.
e world was Egypt, but is now a wilderness; but the
Book of Joshua shows the other, side of Canaan, the type of
heavenly places. Numbers opens out the journey through
the wilderness.
e world through which I am passing is the desert to
me, with Christ as my manna, and the rock whence water
ows; and I am passing through as a pilgrim and a stranger.
Our enemies, Satan and all, have been destroyed for faith.
e Christian is always in that sense a riddle. He has Christ
as his life, but not wholly yet as Savior (Phil. 3:20); he has,
and he has not, salvation; he is waiting for redemption,
not as regards the forgiveness of sins (Eph. 1:7), but as to
the body (Rom. 8:23). So in his service all is enigmatic to
unbelief; “ by honor and dishonor, by evil report and good
report; as deceivers, and yet true; as unknown, and yet well-
known; as dying, and, behold, we live; as chastened, and
not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet
making many rich; as having nothing, yet possessing all
things,” 2 Cor. 6.
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By faith, and in the Spirit, I have this place in Christ
who is in heaven for, in point of fact, we are poor feeble
creatures, who have this treasure in earthen vessels. e
fullness of Christ as a man dwells in me, and Christ is my
life. It is not mere theory or mysticism, but we who believe
are united to Christ by the Holy Ghost sent down from
heaven and this is intended to promote self-judgment,
neither darkness on the one hand, nor self-satisfaction on
the other, but a constant judging of ourselves by Christ our
Lord.
Chapter 1.
Verse 3. We have the principle: Jehovah was giving the
land to the children of Israel. Now there is in it another
element-it has to be realized. It is all yours, but you must
realize it. It is for us enjoying the heavenly land in the Holy
Ghost.
Verse 5. Another great element is God’s presence with
us. We must have the courage of faith, and count on Him.
Verse 7. But the courage of faith must be the courage to
obey God’s word, “ that thou must prosper whithersoever
thou goest.”
Verse 8. Hence the word must form the path. ere is
the diligence requisite that takes the word, and meditates
on it, to know the mind and will of God.
Verse 9. ere is submission to His authority. “ Have not
I commanded thee? “ It is a great secret of blessing, before
one sets about anything, to know that God commands one.
Diculties! If I have the certainty of His will, why mind
them? If He puts them in the way, one takes the step, spite
of all, looking to Him. e hill and the mud may be in
the road where I am to walk: if I did not know I was in
the right road, they might make me think that I had gone
Sketch of Joshua
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wrong. All the principles of the christian combat follow.
Obedience is the great thing here, and along with it one
should be strong and of good courage.
Chapter 2.
Verses 9-11. Faith learns that, after all, the terror of God
has fallen on the enemies. It should not be so with us: “ In
nothing terried by your adversaries; which is to them an
evident token of perdition, but to you of salvation, and that
of God.” If one nds the mighty power of Satan coming
against us, why be in the least frightened? Is not the Lord
stronger than he? If God is with me, who against?
Rahab is a believer in the midst of all this people; she
shows us the character of faith. So James points to her
faith no less than Abraham’s. She was identifying herself
with the people of God because she was sure that He was
with them, as Abraham had given up everything to God.
James takes both as proofs and samples of faith: the one
counting on God; the other seeing what His people are
to Him. For His sake one was willing to kill his son, the
other to betray her country. ey were the two strongest
possible instances of practical faith-bad works, if they had
not been of faith, which made them most excellent. So the
motive that governed Moses was his identifying Jehovah’s
glory with His people; not that He is glorious merely. “ e
Egyptians will hear of it.” e same principle that makes
him execute judgment in killing the idolaters below, makes
him plead their cause with Jehovah above.
Chapter 3.
Verse 4. e crossing of the Jordan is the grand point
here. e ark was to be there, and “ there shall be a space
between you and it, about two thousand cubits by measure:
Come not near unto it, that ye may know the way by which
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ye must go; for ye have not passed this way heretofore.”
It was going down into death there where Jordan had
owed. is was what the Lord says to Peter: “ Whither
I go, thou canst not follow me now, but thou shalt follow
me afterward.” Jesus must rst go into this scene of death:
afterward we can follow Him into heavenly places. ere
is no water at all, once the ark is there: the river fails, and
the ark remains, till they are all gone over to the other
side. So has Christ utterly broken the power of death, in
resurrection of course nally destroyed it. e moment
Christ had gone through all, there is free entrance for the
believer into heaven, rst in spirit, by-and-by actually. It is
not now deliverance from Egypt, but coming into Canaan;
in passing over Jordan, as before through the Red Sea.
Death for the believer is now that he has done with life,
sins, suering, trial, temptation, the world; for he goes to
be with Christ, though he waits for a gloried body, till
He comes to raise them that sleep. I did belong to death;
now death belongs to me. “ All things are yours … life, or
death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours;
and ye are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s.” Otherwise how
could one talk, for example, of judgment being mine, or
righteousness, etc.? Now I can; for judgment cannot reach
me, because Christ has borne my sins.
Verses 15-47. Here it is not the wilderness, but the
second part of christian life, heavenly places, into which we
get by association with Christ. It is not merely His dying
for us, but our dying with Him. It is all done: the Jordan, as
we see, is quite dry. Scripture does not say that we have to
die. We have to go over Jordan, not as a river, but as a dry
path, into Canaan We are quickened together with Christ,
being forgiven all trespasses; we are raised together and
Sketch of Joshua
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seated in Him in heavenly places. e dry bed of the river
shows how completely the power of death is gone.
In verse 13 the title of Jehovah is “ Lord of all the earth,”
His character in connection with Israel.
Chapter 4.
A memorial of twelve stones is set up in Jordan, and
as many are taken out of it and set up on dry ground in
Canaan. It is the witness that through death I get into
heaven, and I look back constantly at Christ’s death. e ark
went down into Jordan and stayed till the people crossed
over. I am out of death; and yet my privilege is to look back
at Christ’s death in everything. is makes all the gain to
us. He has turned all to the greatest blessing. I get the old
man judged, and gone to faith. Is not this much for the
soul? What was the judgment of God is the very ground of
all blessing-rst, as to Christ Himself, and then as to my
being in it with Christ. As to my place, I have done with
the old creation. e fact that blessing is by death, the death
of the Son of God, tells a great deal that nothing else can.
Till I take death as the end of everything here, of all that
Adam was, what part have I with God? In the present day
they are trying to reform and improve Adam by schools,
societies, etc. e Christian, alas! joins with the indel in
mending up the old thing. It is casting contempt on the
death of Christ; a totally dierent thing from my doing
good as a Christian, because this is the spirit of Christ. In
Israel God wrought the experiment before all eyes of doing
everything possible to reclaim man, if it could be; but it
could not be, as He of course knew from the beginning
Man is irremediable, but God can save one, or any, out of
that state. Yet all was tried rst “ I have one Son.” e cross
was the nal moral judgment of man.
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e stones were set in the midst of Jordan, because still
we go back, and see the people of God in Christ’s death.
Jordan overowed all its banks then; the power of death
and Satan was never seen as in the cross of Christ.
CHAPTER 5.
Verses 1-9. Gilgal, as the scene of Israel’s circumcision,
is the next step; it means rolling. ere they submitted to
that sign of the covenant, and rolled away the reproach of
Egypt. ey had never been circumcised in the wilderness.
One may be delivered from Egypt; but there is no such
thing as being crucied to the world in merely belonging
to the wilderness, though we have to go through it, and
overcome it. But in getting into heavenly places, one has
done with it and is circumcised.
Verses 10-12. Israel had not got a bit of the land yet,
though they had crossed the Jordan and encamped in
Gilgal. But they now keep the Passover, and eat of the
old corn of the land on the morrow after, and the manna
ceased. A risen Christ is needed to feed the soul (2 Cor. 5).
Verses 13-15. And now another point: the Captain
of Jehovah’s host appears with drawn sword. See to what
they are brought by crossing the Jordan. First they are
circumcised, they apply it to their condition; they are no
longer in the esh as to their own estimate or experience.
Having died with Christ, I am not in the esh, having put
o the old man, and put on the new. In going now through
the world I have to manifest the life of Christ. If Satan
comes to tempt me, I am entitled to say that I am dead.
When I get into Canaan, everything is for me or against
me. Supposing I have even an amiable nature, it is a snare;
in walking through this world, as, for instance, in the young
rich ruler. But before God all are pronounced out of the
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way altogether. Aection is lovely as a creature thing; but
one sees the same in a dog, save that man boasts of it, and
the dog does not! ere is nothing moral in that. Which is
best-an amiable man pleased with himself, or a cross man
crying to God to give him grace? Amiability will not do at
all-you must have Christ, and you will be cross because you
are denying that which you were priding yourself upon.
When we get into heavenly things, the question is, “ Art
thou for us, or for our adversaries? “
e circumcision here is the application (so to speak)
of Jordan; for until you get into heavenly places you never
can judge yourself-you judge sins. If I began so, I should
be hopeless, because I could not get rid of it till I am dead
with Christ. is is Jordan. e esh is never anything but
thoroughly bad. I must have death with Christ before I can
have circumcision, or mortifying it. Pleasures? ‘ I am dead ‘
puts an end to all question of these things. e moment one
gets the truth of being heavenly, one sees the inconsistency
of all that. We are never in scripture called to die to sin;
Christ died, and in that He died, He died unto sin once. Of
course He had no sin; but for this reason God could make
Him to be sin for us in grace, that we might become God’s
righteousness in Him. As for me, I have sin, and therefore
cannot die to it; but He did; and I, being dead with Him
as a believer, am called to reckon myself dead unto sin, and
alive unto God in Him. So much for death rst.
at getting into heavenly places in Christ is exactly
what brings me into conict with Satan. In the wilderness
one is apt to be impatient, and exercises and dealings come
from God; but, passed into Canaan in spirit, I am competent
and called to ght the enemy. Circumcision means that I
disown and mortify the esh, I will have nothing to do
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with it and put it o. It is the practical realization of what
I have in title in Christ (Col. 2:1), being a gure of having
put o the old man, not that one has to put him o. Having
Christ as my life, Christ dead and risen, I can say that this
is not I, but sin in the esh; but then I am bound, if it be so,
that sin never acts; I am inexcusable if I allow it to appear.
As it is, then, I need the circumcision or mortication of it.
“ Mortify, therefore, your members which are on the earth.”
is supposes power in Christ; for it means, not that I am
to die, but to put to death. I am to act in power, to kill
or put to death what is working in myself; I am to spare
nothing in me that is contrary to God, but use power to
put these things down. Not being called to die to sin makes
it very plain. See the realization of it in the apostle (in 2
Cor. 4)-” Always bearing about in the body the dying of
the Lord Jesus,” the daily making it good. I get my place
in holy liberty when I can say that I died with Christ, and
am crucied with Him; but being also risen with Him,
and having in Him the power of life in resurrection, I can
take the place of being circumcised with the circumcision
made without hands, as the condition of soul inwardly
henceforth; and now I must be always carrying out the true
meaning of the cross. If the esh attempts to crop up, I can
say, I do not own you, being dead and risen with Christ.
en I eat the passover and recall the remembrance of
this blessed work which did bring me out of Egypt. Christ
is thenceforward eaten as the corn of the land; a heavenly
Christian, I live on the fruits of Canaan, the heavenly
things that God has revealed to us. e manna means
Christ come down to us in this world. In heaven it will be
precious to eat the hidden manna; but it is not the food for
us as entering Canaan. Manna is not His heavenly side, but
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Christ for us down here, as we pass through the wilderness;
as the old corn is Christ risen and in heavenly places.
So the Holy Ghost has an analogous place. He is the
earnest of the inheritance (Rom. 8), showing us all the joys
of the future, and of heaven; but He helps our inrmity also
and groans in us, conscious of all the trials and diculties
of the way. Both are true of course of the Christian.
It is beautiful to see the way Jehovah suits Himself
to His people. When they were in Egypt, they wanted
a Redeemer; and the word is, “ Stand still, and see the
salvation of Jehovah.” When in the wilderness, they were
staying awhile, or journeying; and Jehovah comes and lives
in a tent in their midst, or goes at their head. In Canaan He
appears as Captain of Jehovah’s host with a drawn sword,
because it was a question of their ghting. When they were
settled in peace in the land, and He has built the king a
house, He has a great palace built for Him, a temple of
Jehovah.
We are not like Israel ghting against esh and blood,
but against the world-rulers of this darkness, spiritual
wickedness in heavenly places. Our translators in Eph. 6
say, “ high places “; they were afraid to represent evil spirits
in heavenly places; as they changed thrones into “ seats “ in
Revelation for the twenty-four elders or gloried saints.
ey judged scripture presumptuously, instead of learning
from it in simplicity.
We have the whole position now: the principles on
which we are to walk in chapter 1; the Jordan, or death and
resurrection with Christ for heaven, in chapters 3, 4; the
application of it in chapter 5.
Chapter 6.
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en in chapter 6 follows the warfare or conict. e
rst thing shown for conict is the absolutely divine power
that is needed and given. ey are commanded to march
round Jericho, ark and all; and the walls at last at the given
moment- the very thing that alarmed them before-are
made to tumble down without a blow; but this is only on
the seventh turn on the seventh day of their compassing
the city. en it is accursed, and must be all destroyed. Self
must not be mixed up with it; it is Jehovah’s power, and
Israel must have no connection with it, save in submissive
obedience to His word, and no spoil for their own use
could be taken out of it. Israel must appropriate nothing.
Jehovah would have them in no way mixed up with the
great city of the world devoted to destruction. ose on the
contrary must be destroyed who touch its treasures. ey
are Satan’s goods.
Chapter 7.
But the goods were touched, and Israel got all beaten
directly after at Ai. It is simple but instructive. God acts
on the sin that was there, though hidden. Israel had not
consulted God but went forward on human principles.
Discipline follows.
Verse 3. “ Let not all the people go up; but let about two
or three thousand men go up and smite Ai, and make not
all the people labor thither; for they are but few.” Such was
the counsel of the scouts to Joshua. It was only a little city.
Soon they learned that it is not by might or wisdom, and
that God refuses to ght for Israel with sin unjudged. And
Joshua mourns and cries to Jehovah.
Verses 11-15. “ Israel hath sinned,” is the answer,
“ and they have also transgressed my covenant which
I commanded them: for they have even taken of the
Sketch of Joshua
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accursed thing, and have also stolen, and dissembled also,
and they have put it even among their own stu. erefore
the children of Israel could not stand before their enemies,
but turned their backs before their enemies, because they
were accursed: neither will I be with you any more, except
ye destroy the accursed from among you. Up, sanctify the
people, and say, Sanctify yourselves against to-morrow: for
thus saith Jehovah God of Israel, ere is an accursed thing
in the midst of thee, 0 Israel: thou canst not stand before
thine enemies, until ye take away the accursed thing from
among you. In the morning therefore ye shall be brought
according to your tribes: and it shall be, that the tribe
which Jehovah taketh shall come according to the families
thereof; and the family which Jehovah shall take shall come
by households; and the household which Jehovah shall
take shall come man by man. And it shall be, that he that
is taken with the accursed thing shall be burnt with re,
he and all that he hath: because he hath transgressed the
covenant of Jehovah, and because he hath wrought folly in
Israel.” Achan is taken and confesses; the evil is put away.
CHAPTER 8.
But Joshua has to make all the people go up, and a vast
deal of trouble is taken before the city is captured. Jehovah
will have sin to be felt in its terrible consequences to the
entire people, though from one man only.
e people did not see Joshua’s spear as is ordinarily
supposed. It was a sign of Jehovah’s to Joshua here, as
Moses’ uplifted hands were in Ex. 17
Verse 26. For Joshua drew not his hand back, wherewith
he stretched out the spear, until he had utterly destroyed all
the inhabitants of Ai. e people now do get the cattle and
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the spoil, though Ai is burnt, and made a heap forever, and
its king hanged.
CHAPTER 9.
en we see peace made with Gibeon without consulting
Jehovah; and the rulers as faulty now, as the people before.
ey make alliance with the power of the world, they did
not ask Jehovah; else they had been kept from such a false
position. ey received them, as the church has done to
the world. e Gibeonites proposed to join them in doing
good and putting down the bad. Was it not a great comfort,
in the face of so many enemies, to nd some friends to
help them? e consequence was that, for their oath’s sake,
Israel was obliged to leave Gibeon standing; and misery
was entailed on Israel centuries afterward. A famine befell
them in David’s time because Saul slew the Gibeonites.
CHAPTER 10.
Yet God interposed for Israel more conspicuously than
ever immediately afterward where Gibeon’s alliance drew
on it a combined attack of ve kings of the Amorites. “ And
there was no day like that before it or after it, that Jehovah
hearkened unto the voice of a man: for Jehovah fought
for Israel,” v. 14. And many other kings did Joshua smite
utterly as the Jehovah God of Israel commanded, returning
regularly to Gilgal to encamp, the place of circumcision,
that no esh should glory but he that glorieth should glory
only in Jehovah.
CHAPTER 11.
ere is another element in the history of Joshua. Hazor,
the capital of all those kingdoms, cannot when taken be
God’s capital. He will not have the chief seat of this world’s
power for the metropolis of His kingdom. It is the only
city of the many that conspired at this epoch which was
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19
burnt (v. 13). How dierent the spirit of Popery! It was
glad to get the world’s capital for its own. But it is the city
of confusion; Rome is Babylon thus viewed. e church
of God is heavenly, and we Christians must have heavenly
things. How people delude themselves!
CHAPTER 12.
Jehovah would have His people know their conquests.
Hence the detail.
CHAPTER 13.
When Israel did not carry out the commands of Jehovah
as to the Canaanites, these were left as thorns in their sides.
CHAPTER 14.
Fidelity as the fruit of faith with its abiding strength is
precious in Jehovah’s eyes, as we see by Caleb.
CHAPTER 15.
But Judah was not Christ, and the stoutest of Judah’s
children failed to drive out the Jebusites who dwelt there,
till a brighter day-the day of the Beloved.
CHAPTERS 16, 17.
Joseph’s children, though not destined to royalty like
Judah, get their birthright as far as it could be then.
CHAPTERS 18, 19.
e tabernacle of God is sct up at Shiloh, though
seven tribes had not yet received their inheritance; and
Joshua seeks to rouse them to make good the promised
land, casting lots for Benjamin, Simeon, Zebulun, Issachar,
Asher, Naphtali, and Daniel
CHAPTER 20.
Provision is made in the cities of refuge that Jehovah’s
land should not be deled by blood, whether by Israelite or
by the stranger sojourning in their midst.
CHAPTER 2I.
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20
e Levites have their cities dened, though they have
no inheritance in the land like their brethren, Jehovah
being their inheritance.
CHAPTER 22.
e altar of the Reubenites on the other side of Jordan
gave occasion to the rest for suspicion of the two tribes
and a half there; but for the time they held to the name of
Jehovah.
CHAPTER 23.
Joshua in his old age warns Israel that the word is as
sure in its warnings for the rebellious as in its promises to
the obedient.
CHAPTER 24.
e people have their history rehearsed from the
idolatry of their fathers on the other side of the river in
old time, till Jehovah put them in Canaan, and pledge
themselves to serve Him; and Joshua departs with the
evident consciousness of the precarious tenure that turned
on Israel’s obedience, however fair appearance might be for
a little season.
A Brief Outline of the Books of the Bible
21
62697
A Brief Outline of the Books
of the Bible
Preface.
e notes, from which this little book is printed, were
completed and corrected by him from whose discourses
they were taken at Birmingham.
Asked for by several, they are now published, in the
consciousness of worthlessness as to all that is merely of
man; but in the full assurance, through faith, of the power
to bless of Him who has said, “ My grace is sucient for
thee; for my strength is made perfect in weakness,” 2 Cor.
12:9.
GENESIS.
In this book we have all the great principles of God’s
relationship with man, without bringing in redemption
which makes a people for God and a dwelling-place for
God in man. You never, save in chapter 2: 3, get the word
“ holiness “ in Genesis; and you never have God dwelling
with men.
Creation is rst treated of; then innocence, lordship,
and marriage, the gure of union with Christ. Next we
have the fall, man’s sin against God, and then in Cain man’s
sin against his brother. ere is, at the same time, a witness
of certain righteous persons, Abel in sacrice, Enoch in
life, and Noah in testimony of approaching judgment. You
then get the complete corruption of the whole system, and
the deluge.
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Having had in Enoch a gure of the church, we get
in Noah deliverance through judgment, and then the
new world begins, God entering into covenant with it,
and government introduced to prevent violence; but the
governor fails, and God’s plans as to the races of men are
brought out. We nd God making nations, in consequence
of man’s attempt to remain united so as to be independent.
In the midst of these nations we have, in Nimrod, imperial
power, individual and despotic, connected with Babel, the
place of man’s wickedness. In point of fact, the division of
mankind into nations comes by judgment.
Shem’s family having been owned on the earth-the
Lord God of Shem, national existence is recognized
as the principle of the constitution of the earth, God’s
arrangement. He now begins an entirely new thing. He
calls out from that which He has constituted an individual
to be the head of a blest race, whether eshly or spiritual.
Whatever individual saints there had thus far been, there
had been no counterpart of Adam as the head of a race.
is Abraham was. Election, calling, and promise are
connected with this; consequently you have Abraham, a
stranger and pilgrim, with nothing but his tent and his
altar. He fails, like everybody, but God judges the world-
Pharaoh’s house-for him. We then get the distinction
between a heavenly-minded and an earthly-minded man;
the world having power over the earthly-minded (Lot),
and the heavenly one (Abraham) having power over the
world. In connection with this we have in Melchizedek the
future priest upon his throne, and that as linked with God’s
supremacy over heaven and earth. Abraham’s separation
from the world having been evinced, Jehovah presents
Himself to Abraham as his shield and reward. We then rst
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get the earthly inheritance and people, that is, in promise.
Abraham looks for the promise in a eshly way, and that is
all rejected. We have then the promise to Abraham of being
the father of many nations, God revealing Himself as God
Almighty. We have also His covenant, as thus revealed,
with Abraham, and the principle of separation to God by
circumcision. Chapter 18 gives the promise of the heir, and
the judgment of the world (Sodom), and the connection
with God, about it, of the heavenly people (Abraham) by
intercession; while in chapter 19 we have the connection
with the judgment of the earthly people (Lot), saved as
by re through the tribulation. What follows this, chapter
20, is the absolute appropriation of the wife, whether
Jerusalem or the heavenly bride, as the spouse of the Lord.
e old covenant (Hagar) is cast out, and, the heir (Isaac)
being come, he takes the land (chap. 21). Chapter 22 begins
another series of things. e promised heir being oered
up, and the promise conrmed to the seed, Sarah dies
(chap. 23). is is the passing away of the old association
with God on the earth; and in chapter 24 Eliezer (in gure
the Holy Ghost, or His work on earth) is sent to take a
wife for Isaac (Christ), who is Heir of all things, and Isaac
can in nowise return to Mesopotamia. Christ, in taking the
church, cannot come down to earth; whereas, the moment
we get Jacob, we get the head of the twelve tribes, who goes
to Mesopotamia for Rachel and Leah, typical of Israel and
the Gentiles.
Jacob is the elect, but not the heavenly people; he
goes back to Canaan, gets the promises, with all sorts of
exercises, as Israel will, but, if he does, he must give up old
Israel (Rachel) to get Benjamin, the son of his right hand.
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In the brief notice of Esau’s ospring we nd the
world in vigor and energy before God’s people are; and
then commences another history, that of Joseph, aording
a distinct development of Christ connected with Israel,
rejected by Israel, and sold to the Gentiles. He comes
thus to be the head, having the throne, and governing all
Egypt. He has done with Israel, receives a Gentile wife,
and calls his children by names typical of Christ’s rejection
and blessing outside Israel when rejected; but he receives
back his brethren in the glory. is part closes with two
distinct testimonies, the will of Joseph about his bones, and
Jacob’s prophecy that they will all be back in the land and
the promises to Israel be fullled.
EXODUS.
In this book we nd God visiting His people;
redemption, and the establishment of relationships
with His people, whether it be by the testing of law, or
the arrangements of grace, by which He could bear with
them, with the distinct purpose of dwelling in them, and,
moreover, of making them dwell in a place He had prepared
for them. All is connected with four immense principles-
redemption, bringing to God, God’s dwelling among
them, and consequently holiness. Priesthood is established
to maintain the relationship with God when the people
cannot be in immediate relation. Connected with all this
you have, besides the judgment of the world, and the nal
deliverance of the earthly people. With Moses, the man of
grace, you have Zipporah, who represents the church, but
the children are witnesses of Christ’s abiding connection
with Israel.
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From the Red Sea to Sinai we nd the whole picture
of God’s dealings in grace in Christ by the Spirit on to the
millennium, and the millennium itself.
In chapter 19 the people put themselves under law, and
get law instead of worship founded on deliverance and
grace.
LEVITICUS
Gives us God in the tabernacle, as in the midst of His
people, ordering all things that suit their relationship to
Him. e feasts represent Him as in the midst of the
people, a circle round Himself.
NUMBERS
Treats of the journey through the wilderness, with insight
into the inheritance (for us heavenly), and a full prospect of
all God’s ways in bringing them in, and of Christ Himself
as the One who is to reign. Reference is made in this last
remark to Pisgah, and to Balaam’s prophecy.
DEUTERONOMY.
A recapitulation of all God’s ways and dealings with
Israel, as motives to insist on obedience, and to put the people
on moral grounds in direct relationship with Himself. e
three great feasts (chap. 16) have this character. e testing
character of the law is stated, and at the same time the
purpose of God in blessing, spite of failure under the law,
is revealed; closing with the prophetic blessing of Israel, in
respect to their then present condition.
JOSHUA.
e establishment of the people in the land by divine
leading and power, according to promise, but through
conict, in which the faithfulness of the people’s walk with
God is tested.
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e career of Joshua begins with crossing the Jordan in
the power of resurrection, and has its place of power for
conict in Gilgal-circumcision-death to the esh. ey eat
of the corn of the land before they have any conict.
JUDGES.
While Joshua is a book of victorious power, Judges is
the book of failure in faithfulness, so that power is lost: only
that God intervenes in mercy, from time to time, to deliver
and revive. Gilgal is exchanged for Bochim. Gilgal, the
denial of the esh, though seemingly of little importance,
was the place of power; Bochim was the place of tears, but
the angel of God was there.
RUTH.
e intervention of the Lord in grace to bring in the
promised seed, and the restoration of Israel, but in the way
of grace, on a new footing. On a famine in the land, Naomi,
who represents Israel, goes away, and loses everything.
Ruth comes back with her, and Boaz (strength) raises up
the inheritance. It was old Israel, in some sense: the child
was born to Naomi, but on the principle of grace, for Ruth
had no title to promise.
1 SAMUEL.
e judicial priesthood connection is here broken. Both
judge and priest go in Eli. e ark is taken-a total breach.
Power, and the link of connection, are lost. en God
comes in, in His own sovereign way, by a prophet, as He
had before brought them out of Egypt. (All on the ground
of man’s responsibility was gone; but sending a prophet
was sovereign mercy.) Before He brings in strength (the
king), He brings in prophecy-a notable thing this. Before
Christ returns in power, it is the testimony of the Spirit and
word, by which a connection is maintained between God
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and His people. From Eli to David on the throne this is a
general principle-faith and power, not succession.
But esh required governmental order,
1
and gets what
it wants; but it breaks down before the power of the enemy.
en even believers who cling to it fall with it (Jonathan).
If governmental order be established without Christ, they
cannot like Christ to come and set it aside. e one in
whom hope is must be content to be as a partridge on the
mountains.
Saul was raised up to put down the Philistines; Jonathan
did subdue them, but never Saul who was destroyed by
them. Jonathan was a believer associated with the outward
order. e place of faith was with David. It is the place of
the power of faith without the king.
2 SAMUEL.
Saul falls on the mountains of Gilboa. en we get the
royalty of David, in active power, not in the reign. of peace,
with the promise of maintaining his house in whatever
way they conducted themselves. God would chasten them
if disobedient, but not take His mercy from them. en
we get David’s personal failure when he is king. ere is
another element-the ark and the temple come in question;
the relationship with God is re-established rst by faith,
not according to order, but by spiritual power according to
grace, all being by that spiritual power according to grace.
e ark was on Mount Zion, and there they were singing,
“ His mercy endureth forever “: while at Gibeon was the
high place, where Solomon went. ere the tabernacle was,
but not the ark. Solomon is not seen at Mount Zion till his
1 It is quite true that there was a want through the misrule of
Samuel’s sons. If the spiritual energy failed, there was a want in
consequence. e church can only stand in power, so that when
it turned to succession all was lost.
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return from Gibeon, where God answered him. Consequent
on God’s interfering in deliverance and redemption, the
place of ordered worship is set up, connected with earth-
the threshing-oor of Araunah the Jebusite. It was after
judgment, slaying the people and sacrice. God loves
Jerusalem, and so stays His hand in judgment, and shows
by prophecy the path of reconciliation by sacrice.
1 AND 2 KINGS.
Here we have the reign of Solomon, the establishment
of Israel in peace, and the building of the temple, the gure
of the great Son of David. is fails, looked at historically,
in Rehoboam; and then the book of Kings is the history,
not of Judah, but of Israel, with sucient notices of Judah
to carry on the history. You get the intervention of God
by prophets in Elijah and Elisha, in mercy, in the midst
of Israel, who had left the temple, one being a testimony
to Israel on the ground of their responsibility, the other in
resurrection-power.
First and Second Kings continue the history in Judah
till the captivity, and then Lo-ammi was written on the
nation. ere are, of course, many details-various characters
of faith, etc., as Hezekiah of faith, Josiah of obedience,
Jehoshaphat of piety, but never, through association with
the world, for success.
1 AND 2 CHRONICLES
Gives us the history of the family of David-ending, of
course, like the former, with the Babylonish captivity.
Chronicles is David himself. At the close, David has
the pattern of everything by the Spirit, and leaves it to
Solomon to execute.
2 Chronicles is David’s posterity.
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Chronicles are more connected with the establishment
of the kingdom on earth, Kings more gurative of what
is heavenly. In the temple in Chronicles there is a veil (2
Chron. 3:14), in Kings not. e veil will not be rent for
Israel in the millennium.
EZRA.
e re-establishment of the temple and divine service
according to the law, while waiting for the Messiah. But
then there is no ark, no Urim, etc. It was an empty temple.
NEHEMIAH.
e re-establishment of the civil society and state under
the Gentiles.
ESTHER.
e providential care of Israel when God is hidden from
them, while Lo-ammi is written on them. He takes care of
them while He is hidden from them and does not own
them. God’s name is never mentioned. e Gentile queen
fails to show her beauty, and the Jewish bride supersedes
her.
JOB.
e possibility of the relationship of a man with God,
in the great conict referring to good and evil between
God and the power of darkness; and that connected with
the discipline of saints, in contrast with the alleged present
righteous government of the world by God; the necessity
of a Mediator being intimated, not unfolded; the power
of Satan over the world made known, and his character
as accuser of the brethren pointed out. God is seen as
the originator of all (not of the accusations themselves, I
need hardly say, but of the whole process) for the purpose
of blessing His people; the whole being without any
dispensational reference, while the conscience is thoroughly
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searched in those He blesses. You get in Elihu the wisdom
of God in His word (Christ really), and then you have the
power of God (also Christ) in God answering out of the
whirlwind. e book may be regarded as typical of Israel,
inasmuch as it is in Israel that these ways of God are shown.
PSALMS.
e Spirit of Christ working and developing itself in
the remnant of Israel in the latter day; only therewith
sheaving the personal part He has taken, whether to lay
the ground for them, or to exercise sympathy with them;
continuing on up to the border of the millennium, but not
entering into it except prophetically. ey are divided into
ve books.
PROVERBS.
e wisdom of God showing its path to man, in
contrast with the corruption and violence in man. e
rst eight chapters give us the principle, showing Christ
as wisdom; the remainder enter into details. It is to man in
a remarkable way. A man of the world escapes by knowing
the crookedness of the world: this book enables a man to
escape without knowing it-wise in that which is good,
simple concerning evil.
ECCLESIASTES
Is the result of the research after happiness under the
sun: adding, that man’s wisdom, as man, is God’s law.
CANTICLES.
e relationship of the aections of the heart of the
spouse with Christ. is, on the ground of the special
form of the relationship, is to be realized properly in
Israel, though capable of an application, abstractedly, to
the church and to the individual. (What Song of Solomon
treats of is not relationship, but desires, faith, getting the
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joy of the relationship with occasional glimpses, but not
established known relationship. e place of the church,
though the marriage is not come, is that of being in the
relationship. Israel will not have this.)
ere is a kind of progress observable. (1) “ My beloved
is mine “-this is the lowest point. (2) “ I am my beloved’s
“ -the consciousness of belonging to Him. (3) “ I am my
beloved’s, and his desire is towards me.”
We have had thus, subsequent to the history, the moral
development of the heart of man, and of the Spirit of
God working in various ways in his heart: specially in
Ecclesiastes, the heart of man making itself a center, and
trying to feed itself; in Song of Solomon the heart getting
out of itself into the heart of Christ.
THE PROPHETS.
In these (except Jonah, and, in a certain sense, Daniel)
we nd the action of the Spirit of God in the midst of His
people, to maintain the authority and character of their
original calling, testify against their departure from it, and
reveal Messiah as establishing them in blessing on a new
footing- sustaining thus the faith of the godly during the
departure of the mass, and denouncing judgment on those
who persevere in unfaithfulness.
ISAIAH.
Here you have the whole framework of God’s dealings
with Judah, Israel coming in, by the bye, with the judgment
of surrounding nations, and especially of Babylon, looking
at Israel as the center, bringing out the Assyrian as the
great latter-day enemy. Immanuel as the hope of Israel, and
the securer of the land, although rejected when coming as a
testimony, being Himself Jehovah-a sanctuary-but a stone
of stumbling to the disobedient. We get, in addition, the
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details of the inroads of the Assyrian, and his judgment in
the last days; and, included in the development of all this,
we have the blessedness of Israel as re-established. is is
the rst part-chapters 1-35.
In the historical chapters (36-39) we get two great
principles -resurrection, and deliverance from the Assyrians.
It is a risen Christ who eects deliverance, which makes it
so important. e captivity in Babylon is here intimated.
is latter lays the ground for what follows.
In the last part you have God’s controversy with Israel,
rst on the footing of idolatry, and, secondly, because of
the rejection of Christ. In this Israel is rst looked at as a
servant; and in chapter 49 the place of servant is transferred
to Christ, and, He being rejected, the remnant in the last
days take the place of servant. All through this, though
Israel be the object of favor, you get a denite contrast
between the wicked and the righteous, and hence the
separation of the remnant, and judgment of the wicked-
the declaration that there can be no peace to the wicked,
whether Israel or others (end of chaps. 48, 57).
In the part that refers specially to the rejection of
Christ we get the revelation of the call of the Gentiles, the
judgment of the people, the coining of Jehovah, and the
full blessing of the remnant of Israel at Jerusalem.
JEREMIAH.
We have here the present dealing of God with rebellious
Judah, making them Lo-ammi by the captivity in Babylon;
next, from chapter 3o, the revelation of the infallible love of
Jehovah to Israel (Judah and Ephraim), and the certainty
of their establishment under David, according to the order
of God, in Jerusalem, Jehovah being their righteousness;
then, after the history of Zedekiah, and the details of what
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brought in the captivity, and what passed in Palestine after
it, we have the judgment of all the nations and Babylon
itself.
LAMENTATIONS.
In Lamentations we get the sympathy and entering in
of the Spirit of Christ into the sorrows of Israel, specially
of the remnant; hence the hope of restoration.
EZEKIEL
Gives the judgment of Jerusalem-God coming from
without, but all Israel looked at, and not specially Judah; the
judgment of the nations around, of the ungodly oppressors
in and over Israel; the dealing henceforth with individual
souls as regards judgment; the setting up of David, and
the new birth, as the means of Israel’s blessing; the union
of Judah and Israel in one stick; and, on their restoration
to their land, the destruction of the Assyrian, or Gog, by
divine power, in fact, by the presence of Christ; and, in the
end, a vision of the restoration of the temple and of the
order of the land.
DANIEL
Has two parts-the history of the Gentile empires,
beginning with Nebuchadnezzar, the head of gold; and,
secondly, special visions of Daniel (beginning with chap.
7), marking out the condition and circumstances of the
saints in connection with the history of these empires more
fully revealed, and the coming of judgment to set them all
aside in favor of Israel. But he only comes to the door of
the millennium without unfolding it.
HOSEA.
We have here the rejection of the house of Israel and
the house of Judah distinctively, as Lo-ruhamah and Lo-
ammi; the door secretly opened to the Gentiles by it;
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Israel’s long enduring deprivation of everything; and then
the restoration of the whole under Jehovah and David in
the latter days. Paul quotes chapter 1: 1o, and 2: 23; Peter
only the latter. From chapter 4 we get the most earnest
dealing with the conscience of Israel, but closing with their
return in repentance to the sure blessings of Jehovah. It is
the testimony of the ways of the Lord.
JOEL.
Under the gure of the desolation left by a plague of
insects we have announced the inroad of the northern
armies in the last days, and the coming in of the whole
power of man against God’s people, and the consequent
coming in of Jehovah to judge the whole power of man
in the day of the Lord, and in the valley of decision.
Meanwhile, the pouring out of the Holy Ghost upon all
manner of people, and the promise of certain deliverance
to whoever called on the name of the Lord. You may add,
the summons to repentance of all who have ears to hear.
AMOS
Gives the patience of God’s dealings and ways, which he
rehearses in connection with the precise pointing out of the
iniquity of Israel’s ways; but marking out the punishment
of bordering nations on the same ground of denite moral
evil. He notices the rejection of a testimony against the evil,
and declares the sure, infallible, un-escapable judgment of
Jehovah on the whole people, the righteous remnant being
as certainly saved; closing with the promise of building up
the tabernacle of David, as head of the nation, and blessing
the people.
OBADIAH
Is the judgment of Edom for their hatred of Israel,
warning them that the day of the Lord is upon all the
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heathen, while deliverance should be in Mount Zion, and
thence holiness and blessing, and the kingdom be the
Lord’s.
JONAH
Is the witness that, though God has chosen Israel, He
has not given up His right as a faithful Creator in mercy
over all the earth, while those that are connected with
Himself must be subject to His power and bow to His
grace: otherwise the sense of favor is unfaithfulness and
self-exaltation. At the same time we get a type of death and
resurrection as the way of blessing.
MICAH.
In Micah we have the general judgment of the people,
Samaria and Jerusalem, for their transgressions, iniquities,
and idolatry, and their rejection of the testimony of God.
Hence the whole land is treated as polluted, and no longer
the rest of His people, who must arise and depart. He
judges the princes and their prophets, brings in the power
of the Spirit to judge even the chosen city of the Lord, but
announces its re-establishment by Jehovah in grace in the
last days; bringing in the siege of Jerusalem by the heathen,
in fulllment of God’s counsels, though in consequence
of the rejection of Christ, on account of which they were
given up; and shows that the same Christ stands as their
peace and defense, when the Assyrian comes in, in the last
days. e remnant of Israel becomes the people of blessing
to, and power over, others, while all evil in it is judged and
destroyed, as well as the heathen who have come up against
it. Having thus spoken of the restoration in the last days
he returns and insists on the righteousness of God’s ways,
contrasts the attempt at ceremonially pleasing Him with
the practicing of iniquity which He hates, closing with the
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looking to Him to restore and feed His people as the God
who passes by iniquity.
NAHUM.
e power of the world, or man as such, put down
forever; but with the testimony of the faithfulness of the
Lord in the midst of His vengeances, and hence blessing
to those that trust in Him and wait for Him. It is still the
Assyrian: Babylon is another thing altogether.
HABAKKUK
Is the soul exercised by the iniquity of God’s people-
rst, with indignation thereat, and then with distress at
their being destroyed by those who are God’s rod to chasten
them. He then gets the answer of God, showing that He
knows the pride of the wicked, and will judge it, and that
the righteous man must live by trusting in Him. Lastly, he
rises above all to the glorious power of God, exercised in
the salvation of His people, so that he trusts in Him, come
what will.
ZEPHANIAH.
In Zephaniah we get the utter judgment of the land
for iniquity, hypocrisy, and idolatry, at the great day of
the Lord, and of all the neighboring nations around-
everything of man’s natural power, Jerusalem among them,
because of her iniquity, though distinctly brought out as
the special object of displeasure, as connected with the
Lord. e prophecy then singles out the remnant in a very
distinct and denite way, calling on them to wait on the
Lord, who leaves them as an aicted and poor people but
delivered by the judgments which He executes, and rests
in His love over Jerusalem, making it a name and praise
among all people.
HAGGAI
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Is occupied with the house, and declares that its latter
glory will be greater than its rst, at the time when He
shakes all nations, and therewith encourages them to build,
declaring that His Spirit went with them, as from Egypt,
and that He will overthrow the throne of all kingdoms, but
establish Christ under the name of Zerubbabel, as the elect
man, as the signet on His right hand.
ZECHARIAH
Is particularly occupied with Jerusalem, and so shows
the Lord dealing with all nations, having Jerusalem as
a center, using one nation to cast out another, till His
purposes are accomplished; and then, when the glory has
come, establishing Himself at Jerusalem. In the person
of Joshua, the high priest, He justies her against the
adversary; He declares He will come, and puts all wisdom,
the omniscience of His government, in Jerusalem. He
prophesies of the perfection of the administrative order
in the kingdom and priesthood, and the judgment of all
corrupt pretension to it, which is shown to be Babylonish,
and builds the temple of the land by means of the Branch;
judging the hostile power of the world, and using all this to
encourage them at that time in building the temple. us
far is one prophecy (chaps. 1-6).
In the next He takes occasion, by those who inquire
whether they are yet to fast for the ruin of Jerusalem, to
promise her restoration (only now, for the present, on the
ground of responsibility); declares He will protect His
house against all surrounding enemies; brings in Christ
in humiliation, but carries it on to the time of glory, and
of executing judgment by Judah upon Greece (Javan),
gathering all the scattered ones. In chapters 11-14 we
have the details of Christ’s rejection, and the foolish and
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idolatrous shepherd, when He judges all the nations as
meddling with Jerusalem, defends Jerusalem, brings them
to repentance, and opens the fountain for their cleansing;
and we then get, in contrast with the false spirit of prophecy,
Christ’s humiliation, the sparing of a remnant, when the
body of the people are cut o from Judea at the end, with
the nal deliverance and the sanctifying of Jerusalem by
the presence of the Lord, making her the center of all
worship upon earth.
In chapter 13:5 we see Christ, the servant of man, the
rejected one of the Jews, and the smitten of Jehovah. Read
“ for man possessed me from my youth.” It then appears
that it was among His friends He had been wounded in
His hands; and the great secret of all comes out, that He is
Jehovah’s fellow, and smitten of Him. Note, where Christ is
owned as God, He calls the saints His fellows; and where,
as here, He is in deepest humiliation, God calls Him His
fellow.
In these books, Haggai and Zechariah, the Jews are
never called God’s people, except in prospect of the future.
MALACHI.
We have here the testimony of the Jews’ total failure
when restored, according to what has gone before, in spite
of God’s electing love, which He still maintains; and then
the Lord comes, sending a messenger before His face,
but comes in thoroughly sifting and purifying judgment,
owns the remnant who spake one to another in the fear
of the Lord, in the midst of the wickedness, lifts them up,
and sets them over the power of the wicked, the Sun of
Righteousness rising upon them for healing. But at the
same time He calls them back to the law of Moses, with
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the promise of sending them Elijah the prophet to turn
their hearts.
THE NEW TESTAMENT.
e four Gospels give us Christ upon earth; the Acts
the establishing the church in connection with Peter and
with Paul, either in connection with the Jews, or lifting it
up above them; the Epistles, partly addressed to particular
churches in apostolic care, partly unfoldings of doctrine
for the edication of saints, with the notice of the decay
and departure from the truth of the church as formed
on earth; and then the connection, through this decay
and corruption, of the earthly church system, with the
government and kingdom which were coming in. is last
is the Apocalypse.
MATTHEW.
In Matthew we have Christ as Messiah, son of
Abraham and son of David, according to the promise-
Jehovah Emmanuel-bringing in the testimony of the
kingdom and its healing power, laying down the principles
on which men could enter into it (that is, the character
of the remnant); and then displaying the various power
which characterized and veried His coming. Passing on,
though with enduring patience- patience which endures
till He comes again-to His rejection by the nation, and
the setting up of the kingdom in a mysterious way in the
absence of the King, He still continues for the present
His ministrations till His hour was come, but reveals the
substitution of the church, and the kingdom in glory, for
its present setting up by His presence. He then goes up to
Jerusalem, arraigns the nation as a whole and in its various
classes, and then subjects Himself to the whole distress and
power of evil and of Satan which reigned in Israel, and to
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the smiting of the Lord of Hosts in the cup which He had
to drink. He is raised from the dead, meets His disciples
on the old prophetic ground of the remnant in Galilee, and
commands them to disciple all nations in the new name of
Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; but we have no ascension to
heaven.
Some special things are, that in chapter to He gives
a testimony exclusively to Israel, which embraces all the
time from His presence there to His coming as Son of
man, provided the Jews are in the land. In chapter 23,
in speaking to His disciples, He recognizes as subsisting
Moses’ seat. In chapter 21 He presents Himself as King,
riding on an ass, according to Zechariah; then, having,
as above, recognized Moses’ seat, He declares the utter
judgment of that generation as guilty of the blood of all
the righteous, puts His disciples in the place of persecuted
testimony, the house being left empty till they own Him as
coming in the name of Jehovah; passing over all time until
the abomination of desolation is set up, and thereupon,
after the great tribulation, He appears in glory, and gathers
all Israel. We have also parenthetically the various forms
of the judgment of those who profess His name in His
absence, and then the judgment of the nations on His
return.
MARK.
In Mark we get the Lord’s service (and therefore
nothing of His birth) and specially His service as prophet.
Matthew brings out the order of the facts, with a view to
the development of principles, while Mark gives them
chronologically. Luke has the same chronology as Mark,
where he has any at all.
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In Mark, as he reveals Christ’s present service, we have
in the parable of the sowing Christ’s activity in the eld
at the beginning, and its cessation till the end, when He is
again active in the harvest. All the intermediate particulars
given by Matthew are omitted here.
In the prophecy on the Mount of Olives we have more
references than in Matthew to the disciples’ service. e
commission in Mark is to preach the gospel to every
creature.
LUKE.
In Luke you get, rst of all, a beautiful exhibition of
the state of the pious remnant in Israel, at the time of our
Lord’s rst appearing, and the working of the Spirit of
God among them, and at the same time the public state
of the nation in connection with the Gentiles (chap. 1).
You get the whole political world set in motion to bring a
carpenter to Bethlehem (chap. 2). In connection with this
remnant John the Baptist comes, announcing Him who
is to baptize with the Holy Ghost and with re (chap. 3).
You now get the genealogy from Adam (having had Israel),
and Luke gives us Christ as the Son of man in perfect
moral display upon earth, and the grace of God which was
displayed in His coming, although still serving in the midst
of Israel. is service is unfolded in the various forms of
grace, with particular reference to its moral elements, and
showing its extension to Gentiles, and the breaking up of
covenant relations with the Jews, distinguishing not merely
the character of the remnant, but the disciples as the
remnant, “ Blessed are ye poor,” etc. (4-7). We get (in the
demoniac of Gadara) a special picture, consequently, of the
healing of the remnant in Israel, of the ruin of the people,
and the mission of the delivered remnant, left as a witness
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instead of going with Him (chap. 8). In the transguration
we nd special reference to His intercourse with Moses
and Elias as to His decease, insistence on the Son of man’s
being delivered up, and the judgment of self in all its forms,
the declaration that the unbelief of the whole generation,
including His disciples, will close His whole connection
with Israel, and the claim of absolute devotedness to
Himself (chap. 9). en we see the patient service of Christ
to Israel in sending out the seventy, but warning them it
was nal, and bringing in judgment, and intimating that
whatever power He gave them in connection with the
kingdom, their delight should be rather that they belonged
to heaven. We then get, further, the principle of grace in
dealing as a neighbor, instead of the claim of God towards
a neighbor; the word and prayer with the gift of the Holy
Spirit to those who ask Him, and the hearing of prayer
(this is all transition); the judgment of scribes and Pharisees
for the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost, by which He
had proved that the kingdom of God was come among
them, and bound the power of the enemy, so that He could
deliver all who were under it; but that now, in the state in
which the nation was, He was the test of deliverance and of
going right, and they would be left to the power of Satan,
of which they spoke. e hearing of the word was of more
consequence than association with Israel according to the
esh-of more consequence than any eshly tie. us the
men of Nineveh and the queen of Sheba should rise up in
judgment against that generation, and the blood of all the
prophets should be found in them. ey should be tested
by apostles and prophets being sent to them; but these they
would slay (chaps. 10, 11).
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He then teaches the disciples to trust in God for
everything, and to confess Him, the Lord Jesus, in the
presence of all this opposition; and that the Holy Ghost
should be given them; so that they who resisted and
blasphemed the Holy Ghost in them should be judged as
they who did it in Him. He taught them (the disciples)
that all things should be made manifest. ey were to be
careful for nothing, but to seek the kingdom which it was
the Father’s good pleasure to give them. ey were to have
their treasure in heaven, and wait for the Lord. He then
gives the character of the faithful and unfaithful servant
in His absence-shows that His testimony will bring in
division among men, even into families-warns the people
to take notice of the signs of the times, and that even of
themselves they ought to judge what was right; Jehovah
being as one going with them to judgment, and they must
agree with Him by the way (chap. 12).
We have then, in chapters 13 and 14, both in a parabolical
way and in direct instructions, the setting aside of Israel,
and the letting in of the Gentiles, with a declaration that,
in order to follow Him, men must take up their cross, and
be the salt of the earth.
In chapters 15 and 16, the ways of God in grace we
have with sinners, still connected with the setting aside of
Judaism. us we have, rst, grace seeking and receiving
sinners; secondly, future hopes substituted for present
enjoyments; and, lastly, the veil drawn aside; so that what
is heavenly is contrasted with all that had in Judaism been
promised to such as were outwardly faithful.
You then get warnings against being an occasion of
stumbling to little ones; and, on the other side, if there be
an oense, exhortations to forgive it-the power of faith
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in the disciples; but that whatever is done, it is no more
than duty. Liberty from Israel is then shown to be the
privilege when the Lord is owned in Christ’s person. e
kingdom was among them in His person; but He would
come unexpectedly in His glory, and execute judgment, but
know how to discern the righteous from the wicked. In the
distress of that day, and at all times, men were to persevere
in calling on God, and reckoning on His answer. Lowliness
of mind is urged, both in respect to our faults and in
regard to the spirit of meekness. e danger of riches, as
a hindrance to entering the kingdom, is pointed out, and
the sure blessing of giving up all for Christ (chaps. 17, x8).
He now goes up to Jerusalem by Jericho. is in all three
Gospels is a distinct chronological point when He begins
to deal again, and nally, with the Jews. Even here Luke
brings out grace in Zacchaeus; and though a publican, the
Lord owns him as a son of Abraham. He is owned as Son
of David, yet brings in grace; “ for the Son of man is come
to seek and save that which was lost.” Next the parable of
the servants to whom money is entrusted diers in Luke,
in that the responsibility of man is more brought out. Each
gets the same sum, and a dierent reward according to
what he has gained; whereas in Matthew He gives to each
according to his wisdom and the capacity of each; and they
all get the same reward. In His riding into Jerusalem we
have to notice the expression, “ Peace in heaven,” which
is peculiar to Luke, and indicates that Christ destroys
Satan’s power in heaven, and settles peace there, in order to
introduce the kingdom. It is here He weeps over Jerusalem-
the historical place for the incident (chap. 19).
In His answer to the Sadducees, when the dierent
classes are arraigned (chap. 20), we have the introduction
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of the power of the rst resurrection, as the proof of
being the children of God. Here, as in Matthew, we get
His exaltation to the right hand of God, as that which
confounds the Pharisees as to all their expectations of the
kingdom. He judges the scribes, and owns the poor widow
who puts in her mite as better than all the rich.
en in the prophecy (chap. 21) He does take
notice, which Matthew does not, of the immediately
coming destruction of Jerusalem, and does not speak of
the abomination of desolation, but of Jerusalem being
compassed with armies; referring, consequently on
that rst destruction, to the times of the Gentiles being
fullled. He enters a great deal more into the spirit in
which His disciples are to give their testimony, and meet
the diculties attending it.
We nd here, at the passover, the extreme evil of man’s
heart, strife among them which should be the greatest.
ere is sifting by Satan, with special reference to Simon,
for whom Christ had prayed; with distinct notice of the
change of circumstances now from those of the time in
which He exercised power, so as to secure them on the
earth.
In the scene at Gethsemane and on the cross we have
the Lord Jesus presented much more fully as man, and His
own perfectness, faithfulness, and grace in them. It is not
here Jehovah smiting His fellow, as in Matthew, but we see
Him sweating as it were great drops of blood. It is the man
suering, and the perfection of faith and grace in the man
so suering (chaps. 22, 23).
is characterizes Luke all through. You oftener nd
Him praying, of which I may mention two instances, His
baptism and His transguration. Another circumstance may
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be remarked, as regards Luke’s gospel, as characteristic-the
bringing together a quantity of circumstances in a single
general expression, and dilating on some particular one
which brings out some great moral beauty and truth, such
as the journey to Emmaus, and others. If we have the case
of Herod in Luke, and Pilate and Herod becoming friends
through their enmity to Christ, we have here also the thief
on the cross, His opening paradise to him immediately
in contrast with the kingdom, and His intercession for
the Jews. I may add, the uselessness of natural feeling for
Christ where He is not followed.
You may remark the power of Christ in unspent
unexhausted life when commending His spirit to the
Father. e centurion owns Him here as the righteous
man, and the eect also on the spectators and on Joseph
the counselor is stated.
Besides the detail of the two going to Emmaus, we may
remark that He unfolds the scriptures, in chapter 24, to
them, and makes Himself known to them in that which
was the sign of death. He presents Himself very fully as the
same man, Jesus, and eats in the presence of His disciples.
He again insists on the scriptures as to be fullled, and
that, as the book which we have in the Old Testament
(law, prophets, and psalms) to this day. He opens their
understanding to understand the scriptures, insisting upon
this, that thus it is written. e mission given is that of
repentance and remission of sins in His name among all
Gentiles, beginning at Jerusalem. ey were to be His
witnesses, but were to wait for the promise of the Father,
the Holy Ghost from heaven; and, in the act of blessing
them, He ascends.
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We have nothing here of Galilee, which we have in
Matthew and John, where we have the Jewish thing at
was the connection with the remnant of Israel, while this is
His connection with heaven.
JOHN.
In John we have the divine person of the Lord, specially
as life and light, and, supplementary to that, the sending
of the Comforter down here in His place, and then a
brief view of the whole course of dispensations until the
millennial kingdom.
e rst eighteen verses present the person of the Lord
Jesus: in verses 1-5, abstractedly, as to His nature, and the
eect of His appearing; verses 6-11, John’s testimony to
this, and the eect of his coming; verses 12, 13, the eect
and way of grace; verses 14-18, the Word made esh; verses
19-34, John’s testimony to what He would be as to His
work and eectual power for man: Lamb of God, Baptizer
with the Holy Ghost, owned here Son of God by the
Holy Ghost descending on Him. In verses 35-42, John’s
testimony historically gathers to Him (this is the rst day
of active gathering); verse 43 to end, the Lord gathers.
is, therefore, embraces all the dealing with the remnant
during Christ’s life, and hereafter, till He is owned by the
remnant at the end, represented by Nathanael. Hence He is
owned as Son of God, King of Israel, but takes a wider title
too, that of Son of man, on whom the angels wait. Read “
henceforth,” for “ hereafter.”
Note here particularly (v. 38-42), Christ is the center,
hence divine (else turning us away from God), God
manifest in the esh; and secondly, the path through the
world-follow me. e world condemned, Christ separates
out of it to Himself, as God anew revealed; and is the
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only path through it as man. In verse 51 He has a third
character-heaven opened on Him as man, and the angels
waiting upon man. He is the object of an opened heaven
as man. Note, our part is as Stephen’s-heaven opened to
us, and He, Son of man, there. Note too, Christ has not an
object to look at, but every man has one-He is the object.
Chapter 2: 1-22 is the double character of the third day
(millennial action) in Israel; the marriage; and purifying
judgment.
e Lord (v. 23-25) does not accept a present reception
according to the intelligence of esh; but, chapter 3, a
man must be born again. is is true even for the earthly
promises made to Israel. But the thoughts of God for
man go on to heaven, from whence the Son of man came
down, where, in His divine person, He is, and whereof He
speaks. God loves the world, and gives Him for individual
faith not to perish. is introduces the cross, the Son of
man lifted up like the serpent-the Son of God given.
Condemnation hangs on believing or not in the Son of
God, and it is because light is come into the world, and
men love darkness. is is a great moral truth altogether
outside Israel. He has fully revealed heaven as He knows
it, and made man, by believing in Him, t for it. John then
bears witness to Christ, in contrast with himself and to
his testimony, as divine and heavenly, as the One to whom
His Father has given all; believing in whom a man has life;
not believing, will not see life, wrath abides on him. All
this ministry was previous to His entering on His public
ministry, which took place after John’s casting into prison.
Chapter 4. e jealousy of the Jews drives Him from
Judea. In the woman of Samaria the new thing from outside
and independent of Judaism is, in principle, brought in:
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God present to give, but in humiliation, which blessedly
inspires condence to ask, and He gives the desire, and
spiritual spring rising to eternal life within man. But
nature cannot receive spiritual things. God reaches the
conscience by the word. is is recognized as of Him, and
then Christ is known and owned as Savior of the world.
And though salvation be of the Jews, God, who is a Spirit,
must be worshipped in spirit and in truth. And the Father
(the name now revealed in grace) seeks such to worship
Him, meeting a needy soul. is is Jesus’ joy in grace.
Chapter 5. Law, with all its ordinances, can do nothing
through the weakness of the esh; but the truth now is,
that the Father and the Son are working, not man. ey
cannot have their sabbath in sin and misery. Such a sabbath
is not owned; but as the Father has life in Himself, so He
has given to Jesus the Son to have life in Himself, and He
quickens whom He will; and committed all judgment to
Him,
2
that all should honor Him as they honor the Father.
ere is no confusion in these ways of honoring Him. He
who hears His word, and believes on the Father who sent
Him, has everlasting life, does not come into judgment, but
is passed from death unto life. ere is then a resurrection to
life, and another to judgment (v. 30-47). He is presented as
life to the responsibility of man, witnessed by John Baptist,
His works, the Father, the scriptures; but they would not
come to have it. e Jews would not receive Him: when
the false one comes in his own name, they will, as they
rejected Moses’ writings, which spoke of Christ and His
words now.
2 ough largely shown to be God, the Lord is, from chapter
i: 14, always looked at in John as a man living on earth, only
manifesting the Father.
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Chapter 6 is a picture of the order of God’s ways in
Christ. Prophet already, He would not be King, but goes
on high alone to pray. During this time the disciples are
toiling without Him against the wind; He rejoins them,
and they are at land.
is is in connection with the passover, and Christ’s
proving Himself the Jehovah of Psa. 132 Instead of that
now, He is the bread come down from heaven to give life
to the world, and must be received inwardly as incarnate,
but also as dying, as ‘there is no life in any man; but it is
spiritually. Also He was going up, Son of man where He
was before.
Chapter 7. e Jews (His brethren) do not believe on
Him, and He cannot show Himself to the world. is
is the feast of tabernacles; but He promises the Spirit to
those that believe, instead of His visible presence, as rivers
of living water (before as springing up unto eternal life).
Jews (of Judea) and people (Galilee, etc.) are distinguished.
Chapter 8 gives the word rejected; chapter 9 the works.
In chapter 8 Christ is the light of the world, dealing
with conscience in contrast with the dierence between
gross sins and sinfulness, and is the Light to lead. His word
is the absolute expression of Himself. He is from above;
unbelieving man is from beneath, of the devil, who is a liar
and a murderer, and abode not in the truth. He is God. e
Jews reject Him.
In chapter 9 He gives eyes to see. is is by incarnation,
which in itself gives no sight, but when by the Spirit and
word, He is thereupon known as the sent One, it does. He
is confessed as Prophet, and then believed as Son, through
the word received. e sheep are thus put out, but He goes
before.
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Chapter 10 gives us His care of them. He comes in by
the appointed way; then He is the appointed way, giving
salvation, liberty, and pasture; He lays down His life for the
sheep, yet knows them, and they Him still-as His Father
knew Him, and He His Father; laying down His life, He
becomes the especial object and motive for His Father’s
love. He has other sheep (Gentiles), and there is to be one
ock (not fold), one Shepherd. He goes from His obedient
lowliness to being one with His Father. Father and Son are
the names of grace.
In chapter 11 He is declared Son of God by resurrection
power. He is the Resurrection and Life. is answers to the
character of His presence. When present, the dead live-
the living do not die. But while showing divine power, He
is the dependent Son as man-feels for and with us, but is
always heard.
In chapter 12 He is Son of David, and the time of His
glory as Son of man is come; but then He must die. But before
this He is received at Bethany, where the taught remnant
enter into His death, laying the ground for the new thing,
while thereon the enmity ripens. His death, as rejected by
the hopeless and judicially blinded hostility of Israel, now
comes fully before us.
Chapter 13. His departure does not close His service
to His disciples. He ts them to be with Him when He
cannot stay with them; and this is essentially necessary
according to His true nature and glory. He came from
God, and went to God, and the Father had given all things
into His hand. Perfect original, and now in human nature
continued divine purity and perfectness, and glorious
position, with man traitorously hostile, He loved His own
in this world absolutely and through all to the end. And
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having regenerated them by the word, He washes their feet
as their servant, gives them like service as their example,
shows His personal love to them, the advantage of habitual
nearness to Him to be able to know His mind. On Judas
going out He shows that the foundation of the new, but
essential and everlasting, relationship with God is laid in
the cross, under the title of Son of man. e Son of man is
gloried in it, for what so glorious to man as to glorify and
make good all the essential attributes of God?
God is gloried in Him, and then does not wait for
the kingdom or conferred glory of inheritance, but glories
Him in Himself, and does it immediately. He then puts
them, on His leaving them, on love to one another, and
warns Peter he could not follow Him now. e path was
through death, destruction, and wrath for man, as having
only natural life.
Note, in the washing, the rst is washed all over, bathed.
is cannot be repeated. It is the feet which pick up dirt
in the walk; but the believer therewith is clean every whit,
once for all.
In chapter 14 rst, the Lord shows that, absent, He is
an object of faith as God was. He did not go to be at ease,
and they left in distress. If that had been the end, He would
have told them. He went to prepare a place for them in His
Father’s house, and would come again and receive them.
en we learn what they had in His presence, and what
they would have after His departure. ey knew where He
went, for He was going to the Father, and they had seen the
Father in Him. ey knew the way, for in coming to Him
they found the Father. But on His going He would ask,
and the Father would send, another Comforter to stay, as
Christ could not, and to dwell in them. He had as yet been
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only among them. rough this last fact they would know
Him. If a man kept His words, His Father would love him,
and He, Jesus, would manifest Himself to Him; and if he
kept His word, His Father and He would come and make
their abode with him. He left peace with them, giving them
His own peace. Next, he expected in His disciples such love
that they should be glad He went, that is, be interested in
His happiness-immense witness of nearness.
In chapter 15 Christ replaces Israel, the old but not
true vine on the earth, and the disciples are branches, clean
through the word. e Father puried the fruit-bearing-
cut o the unfruitful branches. ey were to abide in Him,
and He in them. If a man (not they) did not, he would be
cast out and burnt. If they abode in Him, and His words
abode in them, they would dispose of power. Dependence,
condence rst, Christ’s words-the forming desires and
thoughts next. In bearing fruit they would resemble Him.
Next, they were to abide in His love. is by obedience;
and all this that their joy might be full. ey were to love
one another, as He had loved them. He laid down His life
for His friends: they were such (not He their friend-that
He is to sinners; but they His)-this that they might love
one another. e world would hate them, as it had Him.
Next, the Comforter would come, and testify of Him. He
would as gloried send Him; and they would testify of
Him as having been with Him.
Note in chapter 14 the Father sends the Comforter.
He brings all to their remembrance that He had said to
them. us their witness was made good. But He would
also reveal His heavenly glory. Here He sends Him from
the Father.
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Chapter 16 is the Comforter, as present down here and
His work in the world and in the church, in contrast with
their own state in a hostile world and blinded Judaism. e
disciples, absorbed with their loss, did not look to what
God was bringing about; yet the Comforter’s presence was
worth His leaving. He would demonstrate to the world sin,
righteousness, and judgment-sin in rejecting Christ; for
His presence proved the rejected one, gone to the Father-
righteousness, as He, having deserved it, was there (God’s
righteousness), and the world (disciples and all), who had
rejected Him, would never see Him again. e breach was
absolute. e world was convinced of judgment, because
its prince was judged who had led it against Christ, in that
the proof that Christ’s power over him and his wickedness
was there. Judgment was proved, for Satan’s position was
a judged one already. e Comforter would guide the
disciples into all truth-show them things to come-show
them Christ’s things, that is, all the Father had. However
in a little He would see them again (that is, after His
resurrection), and they would enter into the consciousness
of their relationship with the Father. As yet they would be
scattered, and leave Him alone; but He had the Father with
Him, and they might be of good cheer, He had overcome
the world.
In chapter 17 Christ addresses the Father ere He
departs.
Verses 1-5. He lays the ground of all He has to ask. He
is to be gloried as Son, and as having nished the work-
the kind of glory in relationship, and our title also to enter.
He has power over all esh, to give eternal life to those
given to Him, a double headship over man, and in life to
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saints given to Him. e knowledge of the Father and of
Him as sent is eternal life.
Verses 6-8 put the disciples in their position. He
manifested the Father’s name to them: so the relationship
was founded. ey knew Him as having all things from
the Father, not Messiah’s Jewish glory from Jehovah. All
the Father’s communications to Him in His position He
had given to them, so that they might enjoy it fully as well
as have it.
In verses 9-13 He prays for them, not for the world,
but for those given Him of the Father, the disciples. His
grounds are, they are the Father’s (all is mutually possessed),
and He, Christ, is gloried in them; the object, that they
might have His joy complete in them.
In verses 14-19 they are put in the place of His testimony,
the word (not words) that was in connection with place of
relationship; not of the world, as Christ was not, but not
to be taken out of it, but kept from evil. ey were to be
morally set apart to the Father by the truth-the Father’s
word. ey are sent by Christ into the world as He by the
Father. And He set Himself apart to the Father as heavenly
man, that the Holy Ghost, taking what He was, might set
these apart. It was Christ as well as truth, but still truth.
In verses 20, 21, He prays that those that believe through
their word should be one in the Father and Son, that the
world may believe.
In verses 22, 23, He has given them the glory, that they
may be one in the display of glory that the world may know.
In verses 24-26 He would have them where He is who
was loved before the world was. ey are loved as He was,
and He had and would declare the Father’s name, that they
might enjoy it, He being in them.
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Chapter 18. We have to remark the character both
of Gethsemane and the cross. It is still the Son of God
above the temptation, seen out of the suering; no “ if it
be possible let the cup pass “; no “ why hast thou forsaken
me? “ but they go backward and fall to the ground, and
He puts Himself forward that they [disciples] may escape
untouched. And on the cross-knowing that one scripture
has yet to be fullled, and recommending His mother to
the beloved disciple, and charging him to be to her as a
son-He gives up His own spirit. So He heals in the garden.
Peter denies Him. So He answers the chief priests and
Pilate, in calm superiority, leaving the former to settle it, to
the latter witnessing to Himself as truth, yet submitting to
him as to power given from above. e Jews deny all king
but Caesar. e Jews are treated with slight, as everywhere
in this Gospel. Of Him not a bone is broken, but He is
with the rich in His death.
Chapter 20. We have a picture of the whole time,
from the remnant then through the church period on to
the remnant converted when they see the Lord. Mary
Magdalene, who represents the remnant, called as a sheep
by her name, is attached personally to Him; then the
disciples become brethren, in the same relationship to God
and the Father as Himself, are gathered and peace theirs,
when they receive the Holy Ghost, and are sent by Christ
for remission of sins; lastly the remnant (omas), who did
not believe without, do on seeing; but they are specially
blessed who have believed without seeing. us twice He
had shown Himself.
Chapter 21. Next comes the great gathering of the
millennial time, when the net does not break at all: Christ
had some already on shore; these are brought in from
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the great waters. Peter, restored, has to care for Christ’s
sheep, specially the Jewish ock; John is left to watch in
his ministry over the church saints and witness of God till
Christ comes: this carries us on to the Apocalypse. us we
have the Peter ministry of the Jewish church with John’s
epistles and Apocalypse (these refer to Christ’s appearing).
e Paul ministry comes in between, and speaks of the
hidden mystery, the church and the rapture, before the
appearing.
ACTS.
is book, at its beginning, links directly on to the close
of Luke, and we nd the disciples acting in the intelligence
of the scriptures without the power of the Holy Ghost
yet given. en, the Acts of the Apostles embraces the
revelation of the gift of the Holy Ghost and His workings:
rst, at Jerusalem, where He is rejected by Israel; next,
in His free operation outside Israel; and, lastly, in Paul,
connected with the revelation of the church among the
Gentiles at large, closing with his being delivered by the
Jews to the Gentiles and his being sent a prisoner to Rome.
e coming of the Holy Ghost, while not undoing
the result of Babel, overleaps it in grace by the gift of
tongues, the rst sign of His presence. We see the moral
eects of His presence in devotedness and unity, and,
forming the assembly, the remnant in Israel are added to
it. “ e Lord added to the church daily such as should be
saved.” But He still proposes to Israel the return of Christ
(founded on Christ’s intercession on the cross) upon their
repentance; while declaring that the heavens must receive
Him till the times when all that the prophets had said
should be established; but Israel rejects His testimony.
e Holy Ghost thus come down is received of Christ
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for this, consequent on His exaltation. ey pursue their
testimony in patience in spite of Israel’s opposition, and are
conrmed in the power of the Holy Ghost. e Spirit is
manifested in power, as God’s presence in the assembly on
earth, searching the hearts of men. He ministers to unity
and order even in temporal things, and acts now in liberty
according to faith and faithfulness in instruments of His
own choice. is free action of the Holy Ghost calls out the
nal judgment of Israel, on every principle of relationship
of God with man (but their conduct is characterized
throughout by resistance to the Holy Ghost); but this is
accompanied by the opening of heaven to him who, on
the other hand, was lled with the Holy Ghost and gave
the testimony they now resisted. His thorough likeness to
Christ, through seeing Him in glory, is beautifully brought
out; his death on the earth, and his being received into
heaven. e making good church blessings in connection
with Israel plainly becomes impossible. Here it is that Saul,
the enemy, rst comes in.
And now, before turning to any more positive facts,
you get the free action of the Holy Ghost extending the
gospel outside Jerusalem, consequent on persecution. Next,
we nd Saul, the apostle of enmity against Christ, broken
and brought down by Christ, revealed in supreme heavenly
glory, but identifying all Christians with Himself, as being
Himself, “ Why persecutest thou me?”
Peter’s testimony to Christ has been that the Messiah,
the Prince of life, whom they had rejected, God had exalted;
Paul’s immediately is that He is the Son of God. Peter never
preaches Him as Son of God. Paul’s preaching consequently
embraces the two points of the heavenly glory and the unity
of the saints with Christ, and his preaching Christ as the
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Son of God. But Saul, while owned of the disciples, is for
the time laid aside. en the Peter-ministry continues; and
the rst Gentile is added to the church as existing among
the Jews by his means, to maintain its constituted unity. e
previous free action of the Holy Ghost outside Jerusalem
at Samaria had been connected with it by Peter and John
going down, and the disciples’ receiving the Holy Ghost
by the laying on of their hands. We now nd the same free
action of the Holy Ghost going to mere Gentiles in the
great Grecian capital, Antioch. e connection is still kept
up by the apostles sending Barnabas there, who goes and
fetches Saul. We have then the testimony through prophets
(another sign of the Holy Ghost), this same connection
being maintained in another way. e prophets come from
Jerusalem, and in result they of Antioch send help to those
in Judea. We have then the proof of the service of angels to
the church. is closes this part of the Acts.
e Holy Ghost now calls, through prophets, for the
separation of Barnabas and Saul for the work to which
He had called them, and they are sent forth by the Holy
Ghost. It is a new kind of apostle. e rst thing we nd
is a gure of the total blinding of the Jews who resist the
Holy Ghost, and the eyes of Gentiles opened to believe.
Notwithstanding this, Paul (for he is now called Paul)
according to the Lord’s mind goes always rst to the Jews,
and afterward to the Greeks. John Mark leaves them. After
having preached round, they choose elders for the churches,
of whom we here read rst among Gentiles. He then returns
to Antioch, and there we nd what the laying on of hands
had been: that is, they had been recommended to the grace
of God for the work which they had now fullled. “ And
there they abode long time with the disciples.”
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e church having now been freely established on
heavenly principles outside Jerusalem, Satan seeks to
introduce confusion by bringing in the law upon them; and
God, to maintain unity, causes the matter to be referred
to Jerusalem, so that the apostles there, and the church,
should themselves declare the Gentiles free. e points to
which they were subjected were not introduced by the law,
but expressed the title of God in Himself and to all life,
and the maintenance of the original purity in which God
had originally constituted man upon earth. I see authority
here within the church in the apostles. “ It seemed good to
the Holy Ghost and to us,” with perfect liberty of ministry.
ey dismiss Judas and Silas; and then we get another
thing, Paul gathering fellow-laborers round himself: rst
Silas, then Timothy, whom he circumcises.
is was completely illegal. He never rose more above
the law than here. Now, we get the direct guidance of the
Holy Ghost in the carrying out of his ministry; but that
direct guidance as not excluding his drawing conclusions
from divine intimations sent to him. en we have Paul
pursuing his ministry-kept of God everywhere-the very
demons forced to own him-and as competent as the other
apostles to confer the Holy Ghost: free ministry, under the
guidance of God’s Spirit, still going on.
And now Paul, returning to Jerusalem, intimates the
close of his ministry in those parts to the elders of Ephesus
at Miletus, predicting the eorts of Satan, and calling upon
them to watch and labor with the same earnestness and
energy as had marked his own labors amongst them. e
elders, moreover, he expects to maintain themselves. He
now returns to Jerusalem, the Holy Ghost warning him,
and the disciples telling him by the Spirit, not to go up. On
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the suggestion of the elders at Jerusalem, he accommodates
himself to Jewish ceremonies, the believers at Jerusalem
being all zealous of the law. is brings him into captivity;
but the eect of the captivity is to bring him into the
place of testimony before the Jews, who refuse grace to the
Gentiles, before Lysias, Felix, Festus, Agrippa, and Nero.
But he is a prisoner all the time, and as such he works at
Rome. (Paul’s gospel was a prisoner at Rome from the rst
day.) is closes the testimony to the Jews; and thus closes
the history we have of the dissemination of the gospel in
apostolic times.
ROMANS.
is epistle unfolds the gospel of God as the testimony
of the righteousness of God, and connected with the
testimony of His wrath from heaven: but in doing so it
begins with the depravity of the Gentiles, the hypocrisy
of moralizers, and the guilt of the Jews, concluding thus
all under sin, and meeting all this guilt by the blood of
Christ through faith; proving at the same time thereby the
righteousness of God in bearing with the sins of the saints
during the past time, and laying the present foundation of
divine righteousness for the time to come. From chapter
4 the apostle connects faith with the resurrection after
Christ’s deliverance for our oenses. In chapter 5 he
applies this to justication and peace in the assurance of
God’s love, and traces all up to Adam on one side, and to
Christ on the other, as head, the law only coming in by
the bye. In chapter 6 he applies it to a godly life, and in
chapter 7 to the law; unfolding in chapter 8 the full liberty
the Christian himself obtains by it, connected with the life
and presence of the Spirit, God securing all by what He is
for us, and how all this is made good to us through Christ,
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across all possible danger of separation from it. ere are
three parts in chapter 8: rst, the Spirit as life, going on to
the resurrection of the body (v. 1-11); then the Holy Ghost
as a separate person, dwelling in us for joy, and sympathy
with us in inrmities (v. 12-27); the third part (v. 28 to the
end) being God for us-life, God in us, and God for us.
Note another thing. Except just for bringing in Christ’s
intercession, you never get His ascension in Romans,
hence, not the unity of the body, which is only alluded to
in its practical eects (chap. 12), but the relationship of
the individual with God on the ground of grace reigning
through righteousness-God’s righteousness being very
denitely brought out in contrast with man’s, which has the
law for its rule (this being useful to convict of transgression,
lust, and powerlessness when we have a good will).
From chapter 9 to 11 inclusive, Paul reconciles special
promises to the Jews with the no-dierence doctrine of
divine righteousness. In chapter 9, while professing his
own love to the Jews, he uses (while recognizing all their
privileges) the absolute sovereignty of God proved in their
own history by the exclusion of Ishmael and Esau though
sons of Abraham and Isaac; conrming this by the witness
that it was only the sovereign mercy of God which had
spared them at Sinai: he uses, I say, this sovereign mercy
to prove God’s call of Gentiles as well as Jews, conrming
this by quotations from Hosea. He then shows that the
rejection of the Jews was foretold by prophets-that it is
founded on a pretension to human righteousness. He
contrasts, in chapter 1o, the righteousness of the law with
that of faith; shows the title of the Gentiles to the latter-
the call involving preaching to them; and conrms this, as
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well as the rebellion of the Jews to the call, by their own
scriptures.
In chapter 11 he raises the question, Is then Israel,
nally and denitely, as a people, rejected? No. He gives
three proofs-rst, in his own person; second, that where
there is the declaration that the Gentiles will be called,
it is to provoke them (Israel) to jealousy, and therefore
not nally to reject them; third, the positive declaration
of scripture that the Redeemer would come to Zion, and
turn away ungodliness from Jacob. In connection with this,
he puts the Gentiles, introduced on the principle of faith,
upon their responsibility; showing them that if they did
not continue in God’s goodness, they would be cut o from
the tree of promise on the earth, as so many of the Jews
then were, and that God could graft the Jews in again; this
being the testimony to the wisdom of God, His having
concluded all alike in unbelief, that all might be objects of
mere mercy.
In the subsequent part we get exhortations. Only that
in chapter 15 he resumes this doctrine, that Jesus Christ
was “ a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God, to
conrm the promises made unto the fathers, and that the
Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy.”
In chapter 16: 26 substitute “ prophetic scriptures “ for
“ scriptures of the prophets.”
1 CORINTHIANS
Is the internal ordering of the church by the guidance
and power of the Spirit of God in the apostle, putting
the assembly on its responsibility, and acting with it,
but asserting his authority in case of need. He begins by
owning the power of the Spirit amongst them in gift,
and recognizing the grace that would keep them to the
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end; but he presses the power of that Spirit in contrast
with the wisdom of the esh, asserting that we, believers,
have the Spirit to search what the eye has not seen nor
the ear heard-that these things are revealed by the Spirit
to whomsoever God pleases, communicated by the Spirit,
and received through the Spirit. We have thus revelation,
inspired communication, and reception. (In chapter 2: 13,
translate thus, “ communicating spiritual things by spiritual
words.”) Another important thing is-we have the mind of
Christ (chaps. 1, 2).
en the apostle, having shown that he had rightly
laid the foundation, puts the building of God’s building
on the responsibility of those who carry it on, chapter 3.
He defends his own ministry and authority (chap. 4), and
then enters on details of conduct as to purity insisting on
their exercising discipline on the wicked, as to going to law,
marriage, and eating things oered to idols (chaps. 5-8).
He again defends his own ministry, calls their attention
to the fact that they may be partakers of sacraments and
be lost after all, but in connection with the Lord’s supper
presses the point of not mixing themselves up with idolatry
(chaps. 9, 10). en, in chapter 11, he treats of comeliness
in any spiritual ministration, praying or prophesying,
founding it upon Christ being the Head of all men, and
the subordinate headship of the man. He then treats, from
verse 17, of order in the assembly, and especially at the
supper of the Lord, giving at the same time a lesson of
God’s discipline in contrast with condemnation.
e subject of spiritual manifestation follows-the place
gifts hold, the unity of the body, and individual membership
of it (chap. 12). (Gifts are of the Spirit; administration by
them is under the Lord; the operations are divine-of God.)
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He shows love to be better than the best gifts, the more
excellent way (chap. 13); and returning, in chapter 14, to gifts,
shows that those in which the understanding is in exercise
are the most excellent, and that this exercise is subject to
those who have them, with a view to the edication of all.
He then treats (chap. 15) of the resurrection, of Christ’s
glory, and of ours in it. Lastly, he refers to the collection for
the saints; and we get at the close, in the diverse salutations,
the abiding liberty of individual ministry-the principle of
some giving themselves up to the Lord’s service among the
saints, and that all such are to be respected and submitted
to (chap. 16).
2 CORINTHIANS
Is written consequent on the apostle’s getting by Titus
the news that the rst epistle had taken its eect. He had
just been in danger of his life, and, speaking now freely
to the Corinthians, opens his heart at large about it, and
explains why he did not come to them on his way to
Macedonia. In the rst ve chapters, however, he explains
the power of life in Christ, connecting it with the work
of Christ, so as to bring in the righteousness of God. He
contrasts it with law in chapter 3, shows its supremacy
over death in every way in chapter 5, and deliverance from
judgment as an occasion of fear, while it urges by the love
of Christ to deal with men’s souls. In chapter 4 he shows
the earthen vessel in which the power of this life is, that the
power may be practically of God, the vessel being held to
be dead under the cross, and the Lord helping this by His
dealings. Hence only eternal things are looked at; and he
knows no man after the esh, but speaks of the ministry
of reconciliation, and of himself and others as ambassadors
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for Christ, praying men, in Christ’s stead, “ Be ye reconciled
to God.”
is ministry is then proved real in every possible
way (chap. 6). He urges entire separation from the world
in order to relationship with the Father, presses their
perfecting holiness in the fear of God, and recognizes the
integrity in them of the repentance he had called for, the
news of which had comforted his spirit (chap. 7). He next
enlarges upon the collection for the saints (chaps. 8, 9), and
is then, against his will, forced to legitimate his ministry
by speaking of himself (chaps. 10, 11), closing that part
by reference to his being caught up to the third heaven,
while his strength owed not directly from that, but from
the power of Christ working in his weakness, showing
still a little uneasiness lest all should not be right, and he
should be forced to be what they might not like (chap. 12).
He, lastly, appeals to their own certainty that they were
Christians as proof of Christ’s speaking by him (chap. 13).
GALATIANS
Specially contrasts law with promises, grace, and the
Spirit, not so much with righteousness, though it be
spoken of, showing that it (law) came between the promise
and Christ, and that it could not annul the promise-that
it went only to Christ, or faith. Connected with this, he
shows the independence of his ministry; briey states
that he was dead to the law which brought the curse-dead
by the law, but as crucied with Christ; so that, as living,
Christ lived in him, and he lived by the faith of the Son of
God (chaps. 1, 2).
In chapter 3: 20 the point is, that the fulllment of an
absolute promise depends only on the faithfulness of one;
but that the law having a mediator, Moses, two parties
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were implied, but God is only one. Hence, blessing under
the law depends on the faithfulness of another as well as of
God, and hence all fails. e promise was conrmed before
God to Christ. Christ came after the failure, and we rest
on the work of the Mediator, and not on the work of the
second party. e law was added to produce transgression,
not sin.
Another point: those who were under the law were
delivered by Christ’s taking its curse; so that the blessing
ows freely, and that they may receive the promise of the
Spirit.
In Galatians you nd death applied to the law, the esh,
and the world. In chapter 6 we nd a notice of the fact that
there is a government of God which applies to all men, and
brings its consequences with it as a general rule.
EPHESIANS.
In Ephesians we have the relationships of the saints
with God the Father, and with Christ as ascended on high;
rst with God and the Father, which is our calling; then
acquaintance with all the plans of God, as heading up all
things in Christ, and thus the knowledge of the inheritance,
and the place of heirs, and the Holy Ghost given as earnest
till the redemption of the inheritance. He then prays the
God of our Lord Jesus Christ (Christ being looked at as
man) that the saints may know what God’s calling and
inheritance is, and the power that works in us, as shown in
Christ when God raised Him from the dead, and set Him
at His own right hand, so as to set Him over all things, and
make the church His body and completeness.
ereupon he unfolds the quickening, raising, and
sitting in heavenly places in Christ of the saints by
sovereign grace, so as to show the exceeding riches of it by
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His kindness to us. He then shows Gentiles afar o, and
Jews dispensationally nigh, brought out of their respective
places to form one new man in Christ, and thus become
the dwelling-place of God on earth by the Spirit. us we
have the assembly connected with Christ on high as His
body, and on earth the dwellingplace of God by His Spirit.
He then develops somewhat the mystery, as now for the
rst time introduced, as a witness of the various wisdom of
God in heavenly places. e apostle then prays the Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ that the full blessedness of this
may be realized by Christ dwelling in their hearts by faith;
so that, being rooted and grounded in love, they may be
able to comprehend the innitely wide extent of what
constitutes God’s glory in this character, and the love of
Christ, so as to be at the center of it all according to the
fullness of God Himself. With this he desires glory to God
in the church in all ages, implying the distinct, continuous
existence of the assembly. (In chapter 3: 15 read “ every
family,” instead of “ the whole family.” Note, in verse 18, the
breadth, and depth, and length, and height is not “ of the
love.” e whole of chapter 3 is parenthetic, and the rst
words of chapter 4 connect themselves with the beginning
of chapter 3.)
In the rst sixteen verses of chapter 4 the apostle unfolds,
in connection with the headship of Christ, the unities into
which we are brought, and the instruments of building and
edication, as gifts, whether without or within. ere are
three unities: a real one, one of profession, and a universal
one in God. First, one body, one Spirit, one hope. Secondly,
one Lord, one faith, one baptism. irdly, one God and
Father of all, who is above all, through all, and in you all.
We are to walk in lowliness, so as to endeavor to keep the
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unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. e gifts are from
the ascended man, who has overcome Satan and led him
captive, so as to make those who had been Satan’s captives
the instruments of His own warfare in power, to gather
and perfect the saints. At the same time He who ascended
is the One who rst descended into the lower parts of the
earth, so as to ll all things. e measure to which the
saints are to be brought up is that of the stature of the
fullness of Christ Himself; the body being compacted, and
supplying by every joint in order to its own edication. e
rst object all through this, however, is individual. We then
get the exhortations connected with the new man being
created of God in righteousness and true holiness. It is
only the new man which has to do with righteousness and
holiness.
Hence they are to be imitators of God, and act as Christ
Himself has acted in love-the perfect expression of God-
the new man. Further, in this new man they are light in the
Lord: and the measure of their walk and works is the light
itself, of which Christ, if they are awake, is to them the
perfect outshining. Hence they are to be wise in the midst
of this world. In going through relative duties, he enters on
the relationship of the church to Christ, founded on the
working of His love in this order. He rst gives Himself for
it; next, sancties and cleanses it by the word; and, thirdly,
presents it to Himself a glorious church, without spot or
wrinkle or any such thing. Two things are to be remarked
here: (1) at, in the analogy with Adam and Eve, Christ
stands in the place both of Adam and of God. (2) e
intimate connection between Christ’s present operation
and the glory. He sancties and cleanses the church, that
He may present it to Himself. en, besides the church
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being His wife, it is presented according to the analogy of
Eve as His body, and Christ is looked at as nourishing and
cherishing it, as a man would his own esh (chap. 5).
Finally, Christians are exhorted to put on the whole
armor of God, and in His might to combat, in entire
dependence upon Him (chap. 6).
PHILIPPIANS
Is Christian experience, in which sin and the esh are
never mentioned, except to reject righteousness in esh. It
is a man superior to everything with which he has to say
in this world. But chapter 2 speaks specially of a gracious
and obedient character by reference to Christ coming
down, and being obedient to death, in contrast with the
rst man. In chapter 3 we have the energy of divine life,
looking to Christ gloried as an object to whose state he is
to attain. In every respect he is superior to circumstances:
his bonds have only furthered the gospel; when Christ is
preached of contention, he rejoices in it, and it will all turn
to his salvation. Salvation, all through this epistle, is the
attainment of the ultimate result in glory, and this is the
force of the word “ Savior “ in chapter 3: 20. Life and death
are both so blessed that self disappears, because he can have
no wish, though in itself dying is far better. He decides his
own trial for his life by the perception of what is for the
good of the church. To him to live is Christ. Everything
is dross or dung for the excellency of the knowledge of
Christ; and he never does but one thing- pressing on to
the glory. ough four years chained to a soldier, he knows
what it is always to rejoice in the Lord; to be careful for
nothing (chap. 4). God’s peace keeps his heart, so as to be
instructed in all things, to be full or hungry, to abound or
suer want-he is able to do all things through Him who
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strengthened him. Hence he counts upon his God for a
blessing on the Philippians.
COLOSSIANS
In the Epistle to the Colossians, who seem not to have
held the Head very fast, the personal glory of the Head
is largely brought out; but the hope is in heaven, and
the saints are not seen sitting there. e life of the new
man is specially brought out, where the Spirit would be
in Ephesians, while He is not mentioned in Colossians,
except in one single passage, “ your love in the Spirit.”
In the rst place, after the apostle’s prayer for them, in
which a walk worthy of the Lord Himself and according
to His power is desired, and they are viewed as meet for
the inheritance of the saints in light, we get the double
headship of Christ over creation and the body, along with
His divine glory, in three particulars: He is the image of
the invisible God; all things consist by Him; and all the
fullness is pleased to dwell in Him. You then get the double
reconciliation of the creation yet to come, and of the saints
already accomplished; the double ministry also of Paul,
of the gospel to every creature under heaven, and of the
church, the hitherto hidden mystery made good among
the Gentiles by Christ dwelling in them the hope of glory.
In chapter 2 the Colossians are warned against
philosophy and the spirit of ordinances, separating them
from the Head, in whom all fullness dwells, and in whom
they are complete. Hostile powers being overcome by Him,
they (believers) are dead and risen, so as not to be subject
to ordinances in esh.
As this liberty is founded on their being dead in Christ,
so the whole of christian life is founded on their being risen
with Christ, who is their life, and with whose condition
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they are entirely associated, so that Christ is all, and in all
(chap. 3); and whatever they do, they are to do it in the
name of the Lord Jesus.
THESSALONIANS.
In 1 essalonians, as a general rule, we get the Lord’s
coining for the blessing of saints; and, in the second epistle,
for the judgment of unbelievers. In the rst, the saints are
associated with the Father, the one true God, in contrast
with the false gods they were used to. ey are converted,
and, through their faith, are a witness in all the world that
they are converted to serve the living and true God, and to
wait for His Son from heaven. e former people of the
true God are looked at as in hostility to the gospel, which
reveals the Father, and grace to the Gentiles. In the second
chapter, the coming of the Lord Jesus is connected with
the apostle’s joy and crown in the saints to whom he had
been blest; in chapter 3, with holiness before the Father,
at the coming of the Lord Jesus with all His saints; and in
chapter 4, with the full explanation of the rapture of the
church to meet Christ at His coming. Verses 15-18 are
to be taken as a parenthesis, verse 14 being carried on to
chapter 5: 1, where the character of Christ’s coming to the
saints is contrasted with His coming to the world. en,
with divers short exhortations, God is looked to, to keep
them till Christ comes.
2 THESSALONIANS.
In 2 essalonians we have, rst, the saints set right from
the confusion into which they had got, as if the dreadful
persecutions they were in were the day of the Lord, whereas
in that they would be at rest, and the wicked troubled. In
chapter 2, the apostle appeals to Christ’s coming, and their
gathering together to Him, as the evidence that the day
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could not be there; and then shows what the development
of wickedness on the earth would be before that day came,
and contrasts their state. In the last chapter he asks their
prayers, and gives them divers exhortations.
eir state was very lively in the rst epistle; and
you may get in 1 essalonians 1: 3 the full character of
christian state and service.
1 TIMOTHY
Gives us the right ordering of the church in its normal
condition; 2 Timothy, the path of faith when it is in an
abnormal condition-when it is in disorder. You have in I
Timothy 3: 15 the principle of Timothy’s conduct. ese
epistles, and that to Titus, are not addressed to churches,
nor were they to be communicated to the churches as such
(the church of God has them, which is another thing),
although that which guided the conduct of individual
Christians in them is of unceasing obligation.
2 TIMOTHY.
In 2 Timothy Paul saw himself at the close of his career,
and though the church had all got into disorder, and he
was looking at his course as closed, there is no epistle in
which he so much insists on the unfailing courage and
energy of the saints, calling upon them to endure the
aictions of the gospel according to the power of God;
but we see his mind got o the connection of the outward
church with the body of Christ, and recognizing piety and
devotedness where he could nd it. You may take chapter
2: 18-22 as indicative of the tone of the instruction. As
regards the state of the church, the faith of some being
overthrown, he refers rst to the sure foundation of God,
the Lord knowing them that are His; next, to individual
responsibility, whoever names the name of the Lord is
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to depart from iniquity. en, as regards the assembly, he
takes the great house as the analogy of it, and shows that
in such there are vessels to dishonor, and that a man is
to purge himself from these to be a vessel to honor, and
to follow righteousness, etc., with those who call on the
Lord out of a pure heart, as distinguishing those who are
really saints, and associating himself with them. In the next
place he warns of perilous times in the last days-a form
of godliness denying the power, and insists, besides his
personal authority, upon the known scriptures as a child
might read them, and asserts that they are sucient to
make us wise unto salvation, through faith in Christ Jesus;
and, further, that whatever has a title to this name is given
by inspiration of God, adequate to make the man of God
perfect, throughly furnished to all good works.
TITUS.
Timothy had been left to watch over doctrine, but is
directed as to the order of the church. Titus had been left
to set in order the things which were wanting, and ordain
elders, and the body of the directions here are about sound
doctrine. We get a full statement of what may be called
the christian scheme in chapter 2: I 1-14; and in chapter 3
exhortations to patience with all through the sense of grace
bestowed on ourselves.
In all these three epistles God has specially the character
of God the Savior, with a reference of this title to all men.
PHILEMON
Is just the way the apostolic spirit of grace enters into
details of comeliness of conduct, and does not merely rest
on great principles of doctrine. Leaving the world in all
its own recognized authorities where they are, it leads the
individual Christian to’ act as the light of grace in respect
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of the relationships into which he had been brought by the
world.
THE HEBREWS,
Founding itself on the person of Christ in His divine
and human natures, gives to the word the personal
authority of divine communication and all human
sympathies to the exercise of the priesthood on high, and
thus connects the saints walking upon earth with heaven,
without constituting them the body of Christ in union with
Christ; thus setting aside all ancient Judaism, and giving a
present heavenly call, but laying the ground for the after
introduction of Israel by the new covenant. With this view,
it puts all in Christianity in contrast, though in comparison
and analogy, and a certain connection with what had gone
before. e connection, however, only applies to the rst
part, the communicated word, because it looks on Christ,
as to that, as still on earth.
In chapter 1 we get the groundwork of the authority of
the communicated word in the divinity of Christ. is is
continued in chapter 3, adding to it Christ’s authority as
Son over His own house, in contrast with Moses, down to
chapter 4:13, with the promise of rest to the people of God.
Chapter 2 lays the foundation of future dominion and
present priesthood in the human nature of Christ. is is
continued from chapter 4: 14; the glory of it is expounded
in chapter 5, as to the person and oce of Christ; the
impossibility of returning to Jewish elements is thereupon
insisted upon, on the ground that if heavenly christian
things were departed from, there was no bringing back by
some other power; and that from elements they were to
go on to that, God having encouraged them by declaring
the immutability of His counsel to the heirs of promise by
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word and oath, strengthening us thus who look within the
veil, where Christ is entered for us as forerunner, a high
priest after the order of Melchisedec (chap. 6).
is character of Melchisedec involves the necessary
setting aside of the whole system of the law, the priesthood
itself being changed from dying men to the living Son, the
priesthood suiting us, being that of One holy, harmless,
undeled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the
heavens (chap 7).
In chapter 8, having the high priest set on the right hand
of the Majesty in the heavens, a minister of the sanctuary
and of the true tabernacle, oerings are needed: but,
before touching on the oerings, the change of covenant
is declared on which this ministry is founded, inasmuch as
He is the mediator of it. Now, for the better and heavenly
tabernacle, we must have better sacrices.
But in the tabernacle itself there was a dierence. e
veil was un-rent in the Jewish tabernacle, as set up of old;
but now the veil is rent, the Holy Ghost thereby signifying,
that as long as that rst tabernacle had any place, the way
into the holiest was not yet opened. Remark here, that in
verses 16 and 17 of chap. 9 alone the Greek word bears the
sense of testament; in all the rest of the passage it should be
covenant. e blood of Christ purges the conscience, not
merely sins, and cleanses the whole scene of the creature’s
relationship with God. e next contrast is, that He had
not to oer Himself often to enter into the heavenly
tabernacle, for then He must have suered often; but at the
close of all the ways of God to test the world, He appeared
to put away sin by the sacrice of Himself. e apostle then
contrasts the lot of man, subject to death and judgment,
and Christ, as once oered to bear the sins of many, and
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coming, without any further question of sin, for salvation
to those who look for Him (chap. 9).
He then discusses the whole bearing of this sacrice,
alleging that a person once cleansed by it has no more
conscience of sins; whereas in the repeated sacrices, there
was a remembrance of sins. He then unfolds the origin of
this sacrice in the will of God, who prepared a body for
Christ, who oers Himself to accomplish it in the same
willingness; does accomplish it, and sits down forever at
the right hand of God, instead of standing, like the old
high priests, oering often; because by the one oering
He has perfected forever those who are sanctied thereby.
e Holy Ghost bears divine testimony to this, declaring,
“ their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.” us
we have the good will of God, the work of Christ, and the
testimony of the Holy Ghost, to give us a divine security
of unalterable peace. ereon he exhorts them to enter into
the holiest through the new living way of the rent veil, in
full assurance of faith; warning them, that for the same
reason, if the one sacrice be abandoned there remains no
other; showing them that they have need of patience, but
that Christ would soon come, and that meanwhile they
must live by faith (chap. 10).
To this purpose, he shows that all the saints highly
esteemed amongst them obtained their good report by faith.
In this list he rst lays down the great principles-creation,
known by faith; sacrice, oered to obtain righteousness
by faith; walking with God by faith in the power of life;
and acting on the prophecy of coming events by faith. We
then get two great classes of faith-trust in God, and patient
expectancy of faith, and the active energy of faith. All the
detailed cases are taken when they were not in the land.
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He then goes through various suerings endured of the
saints by faith, proving that the world was not worthy of
them, and that they died, not having received the eect of
the promise, God having reserved some better thing for us,
before they could be made perfect (chap. 11).
He then introduces Christ as the last great witness, who
has overcome, and is set down at the right hand of God, and
has there obtained the glory. He then shows that suering
has the additional character of parental discipline, but that
withal they are come to grace, and not law and terror; but,
in doing this, he gives the whole millennial result in heaven
and earth, as that to which they are come in faith. He then
shows that everything made will be shaken, and insists
on their leaving the Jewish camp, that is, the principle of
connection between religion and the world; but to go out
to Jesus on the ground of His being a sin-oering; because,
upon the principle of an eectual sin-oering, they must
either be in heaven where the blood is, or outside the camp,
or gate, where the sin-oering was burnt. He closes with a
few exhortations (chaps. 12, 13).
JAMES.
In James you get the perfect law of liberty applied to
the Christian’s path; looking for patience, so that the will
should not act, and condence in God, so that wisdom and
strength should be acquired. If there is evil, it comes from
man-if good, from the unchangeable God, who of His own
will begat us by the word of truth (chap. 1). He then, as he
does afterward, introduces sweeping denunciations against
the spirit of the world and of riches. He speaks of three
laws-the law of God, as to which, if we oend in one point,
we are guilty of all; the royal law, “ love your neighbor as
yourself “; and the law of liberty, by which our conduct is
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to be judged, and where the will of God and the nature we
have got run in one channel together. Mere faith of the
head is treated as worthless, and its producing works is the
test for man of its being living faith. But the works are only
viewed as works of faith. ose he refers to would have been
bad works, except upon that principle (chap. 2).
Redemption is not adverted to in James; but self-
subjection is insisted on, specially as regards the tongue.
Hence warning against being many teachers, and the true
character of heavenly wisdom. e fruits of righteousness
are sown in peace.
e epistle closes with a strong exhibition of the power
of the prayer of faith. It is addressed to the twelve tribes;
but faith in Christ, and the existence of the assembly, are
distinctly recognized, although the synagogue be also
recognized as still in existence.
1 PETER.
e Epistles of Peter, while stating redemption, refer
especially to the government of God-the rst to His
government in favor of the saints, and the second in
judgment of the wicked. e saints are not seen risen
with Christ, but begotten again to a lively hope by His
resurrection, and pursuing their pilgrimage, as strangers,
towards an incorruptible inheritance, reserved in heaven
for them, they being kept by the power of God through
faith, but waiting for the appearing of Christ for full
deliverance. ey are spoken of, however, as receiving the
end of their faith, the salvation of their souls. He marks
out the progress of the revelation of this: rst, the prophets
testifying beforehand of the suerings of Christ, and
the glories following; then, the same things reported in
the gospel preached by the Holy Ghost sent down from
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heaven; then, patience till the revelation of Jesus Christ
brought these things to them: “ Hope to the end for the
grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of
Jesus Christ.” On this ground they are called on to walk
in sobriety, obedience, and holiness, on the double ground,
that He who called them is holy, and that they call on the
Father, who judges without respect of persons every man’s
work. But this is founded on redemption by the blood of
Christ, and being born again of the incorruptible seed of
the word, while they believe in God through Christ, whom
He had raised from the dead, and to whom He had given
glory, all esh being as grass, but the word of the Lord
enduring forever.
e persons addressed are the scattered believing
remnant of Israel in various countries of Asia Minor.
Hence he distinguishes them as living stones, come to be
built on the living Stone, owned of God and of them as
precious, but a stone of stumbling and rock of oense to
disobedient Israel. He then applies Ex. 19 and Hos. 2:23,
and hence exhorts them to walk blameless in the midst of
the Gentiles who spake against them, which would force
them to glorify God in the day of their visitation. He then
exhorts them to suer patiently, seeing that, like Christ, it
was the Christian’s place to do good, suer for it, and take
it patiently. is leads him to refer again to Christ bearing
our sins in His own body on the tree, referring to Isa. 53
en, with various exhortations on details of conduct,
he refers to the government of God securing us in
peacefulness; but if they suered for righteousness’ sake
they were happy: beautifully adding that Christ had
suered once for sins, and that this ought to suce. ey
ought to suer for righteousness, if they suered at all.
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He then refers to His being put to death in the esh as
the ground of their arming themselves with the same
mind, inasmuch as in death there was found the having
done with sin. He then presses the doing everything on
the ground of ability from God, and as of God, whether
it be spiritual, or in reference to common things. He then
encourages in suering reproaches for Christ’s sake, which
is an advance on suering for righteousness’ sake. (is is
the only place where we are called Christians.) ey are to
rejoice in it as partakers of Christ’s suerings; but also with
the consciousness that the time had come for judgment to
begin at the house of God.
We then get exhortations to elders and to the younger,
and to humbleness under God’s hand, sobriety and
diligence, and resistance to Satan, the apostle nally
commending them to the God of all grace.
2 PETER.
In this second Epistle, which he writes to the same
persons who have received (not the Messiah in glory,
but) precious faith as the apostle had through God’s
righteousness, he shows that in the midst of incoming evil
God’s divine power had given everything necessary to life
and godliness through the knowledge of Him who had
called them by glory and virtue. He then urges them to all
diligence in everything that would give them an abundant
entrance into the kingdom, and without which they would
be purblind as Christians. He shows them that he must
shortly put o this tabernacle; and writes that they might
have the testimony after he was gone. He shows them that
the transguration had conrmed prophetic testimony
of the kingdom they were waiting for, and asserts that all
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scripture tends to one common purpose, being the fruit of
one Spirit, and not of the will of man.
He then warns them of false teachers, denying the
authority of Christ, whom many would follow, insisting on
their wickedness, but showing that God could deliver the
righteous, and reserve the unjust to the day of judgment to be
punished. He gives their character, specially in the working
of the will of man in lasciviousness and insubordination;
adding to this another characteristic-their scong at the
doctrine of the Lord’s return. He thereupon refers to the
deluge as a judgment already once executed, and the day
of the Lord, in which the judgment by re would come,
and all that nature trusted in disappear, pressing this as a
motive of holiness upon the saints.
1 JOHN
Exhibits to us specially divine life in the person of
Christ, but communicated to us, and the traits which serve
as a proof that the life is there. He rst speaks of this life
as he had known it in Christ on earth; showing it as the
means of communion with the Father and the Son, so
that our joy may be full. But He who was and is this life
has given, yea, has been, the absolute revelation of God as
light, so that we are placed here to walk in the light as God
is in it, the blood of Christ cleansing us that we may do
so; and in this we have fellowship together. But it shows
us all sin in ourselves (chap. 1). Further, the intercession
or advocacy of Christ with the Father, founded on His
being the righteous one, and the propitiation for our sin,
is introduced as the means of restoring us to communion
in the light when we have failed in our walk down here
through weakness (chap. 2: 1, 2).
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Obedience to Christ’s commandments, or practical
righteousness and love to the brethren, are next presented
as proofs of the possession of this life. Before unfolding
this, he gives the ground of writing to the saints: that all
are forgiven, and that babes in Christ have the Spirit of
adoption. He divides Christians into three classes-fathers,
young men, and babes. is classication he repeats twice.
e fathers have but one mark; they know Him who is from
the beginning. e young men are strong, are in conict,
have overcome the wicked one, the word of God abiding
in them. ey are warned not to love the world. e little
children, while knowing the Father, are the second time
carefully warned as to deceivers; but their own competency
as having the Holy Ghost, and their responsibility to judge,
are pressed upon them (chap. 2).
He then shows them, as already sons, that is, as having
the same name as Christ, knowing that they will be like
Him when He appears, and hence purifying themselves
as He is pure. e contradiction of the new nature to sin
is then brought out distinctly, sin being lawlessness (not
the transgression of the law). is new nature is shown
in practical righteousness and love of the brethren. e
obedient person, moreover, dwells in God, and God in
him. e proof of God dwelling in us is, that He has given
us the Holy Ghost (chap. 3).
He then gives directions to distinguish Him from evil
spirits, by referring to owning Christ come in the esh; but
having introduced the Holy Ghost in connection with the
new nature, he shows that this new nature is a partaking of
the divine nature, which is love; and hence, he that loves is
born of God and knows God, for God is love. is love is
displayed in three ways. First, towards us, by God sending
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His only-begotten Son, that we might live through Him,
and to make propitiation for our sins. Secondly, as dwelling
in love, we dwell in God, and God in us, He having given
us of His Spirit, and thus His love is perfected in us. is
is true of every one who really confesses that Jesus is the
Son of God. irdly, that the love of God is perfected with
us, so as to give boldness in the day of judgment; because,
Christ being our life, and the Spirit of God dwelling in us,
as Christ is so are we in this world. We love God because
He rst loved us; and if this be true, we love the brethren
as God has commanded us (chap. 4).
is term brethren includes all that are born of God;
but the truth of this love to the brethren is tested by love to
God, which is proved by keeping His commandments. To
this end faith overcomes the world.
We have then eternal life declared to be given us, and
this life to be in the Son, so that he that has the Son has life,
and he who has not the Son has not life. e witnesses for
this, that is, that it is in Christ, and not in the rst Adam
or as his children, are three-the Spirit, the water, and the
blood the water and the blood coming out of Christ’s side
in death, and the Holy Ghost given consequent on His
ascension. is gives us condence for asking everything
according to God’s will; and so for a brother who has
failed, provided it is not a sin to death. e new nature we
have received is incapable of sin; and he who has it keeps
himself, and the wicked one touches him not. Finally, an
absolute distinction is made between Christians and the
world. “ We know that we are of God, and that the whole
world lieth in wickedness.” Further, we know Him that is
true, and we are in Him that is true, that is, in His Son
Jesus Christ, who is the true God and eternal life.
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2 JOHN
Insists upon love being governed by the truth; that
whoever does not abide in the doctrine of Christ has not
God; and that one who brought a doctrine which denied
Him was not to be let into the house or wished God speed.
A lady was competent for this.
3 JOHN.
On the contrary, urges the reception of those who went
about preaching the truth; resists the hindrance of local
authority, and commends Gaius, and as a fellow-helper of
the truth itself. e doctrine of reward to the workman,
through the perseverance of those who are the fruit of His
work, is brought forward in verse 4 of this epistle, as in
chapter 2: 28 of the rst epistle.
Notice that 3 John 7 throws light on the word “ ours “
in 1 John 2: 2.
JUDE.
Having a great analogy to 2 Peter 2, refers, however, to
a very dierent principle. Peter speaks of wickedness; Jude,
of leaving the rst estate, or apostasy. He traces this in the
Christian system, from the creeping in of false brethren,
to the judgment executed by Christ when He comes
again; and he declares the objects of that judgment to be
the same persons. He notices at the same time distinct
characters of evil in Cain, Balaam, and Korah: natural
departure from God; ecclesiastical corruption, or teaching
error for reward; and, lastly, open rebellion. Lasciviousness
and insubordination are again pointed out as their great
principles. e saints are exhorted to edify themselves in
their most holy faith, praying in the power of the Holy
Ghost, and to keep themselves in the love of God, waiting
for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life. ey
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are to make a dierence between persons dragged in, and
spotted ones whom they are to save with fear. He looks to
the saints, in spite of all the evil, being kept from falling,
and presented faultless before the presence of God’s glory
with exceeding joy, for God is able to do it.
THE REVELATION.
e Book of Revelation is the return of the Spirit’s
witness to God’s relationship with the earth, the church,
as an earthly witness, being rst contemplated and passed
in review in its various phases, and then the saints of the
heavenly calling being seen only in heaven; the preparation
made for the introduction of the rst-begotten into the
world; the judgments of God caused to pass in prophetic
vision before our eyes; and then the King of kings and
Lord of lords Himself introduced, accompanied by the
heavenly saints, to execute judgment, and to set up the
kingdom which shall never be removed. At the beginning
and close we have the thoughts and feelings of the saints,
to whom the communication of the revelation is made:
the rst, in looking back at their own part in that which
laid the foundation of Christ’s title; and the latter, at their
own portion with Christ Himself, in looking forward to
the glory and what they have meanwhile-what the glory
gives them the conscience of. e rst refers to the cross,
and its bearing on them (which brought in judgment on
the world); and the second, to the glory of Christ and its
present fruit.
e rst chapter presents God as supreme and eternal,
the Holy Spirit in His attributes of divine administration,
and Christ in the glory in which He is connected with
the earth. He is coming. en He is seen as One having
called John’s attention to it on earth, not in service but in
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judgment, in the midst of the candlesticks, the place of light
in the world, judging their state. We nd a divine person,
but the Son of man, having subordinate representative
authority in His hand- (stars, angels of churches).
ese things were seen-” the things that are “ next. We
get the history of the church: rst, in its ecclesiastical state-
the four rst churches; next, in a state free from the gross
corruptions come in, put upon the question of its personal
delity to Christ. In the rst four, are departure from rst
love, persecution, the world its dwelling-place, and false
teachers seducing the saints; their corruption settled there,
and the saints thus to wait for Christ’s coming, who is
given to them in His own heavenly unseen associations,
and the visible kingdom too. In these characters, the
character of Christ as walking amidst the candlesticks, is
given, on which to base the warnings and promises. In the
three last, they are new characteristics, save the stars, which
are not said to be in His hand; and all refer to the coming
of the Lord-more or less-which is spoken of as warning
or promise in the two rst. In the last it is not judged as
yatira, but spued out of His mouth (chaps. 2, 3).
e vision then changes to heaven, and the world’s
judgment is entered upon as owing thence. e saints are
viewed as enthroned and crowned there. God’s throne of
judgment is set up there, and ministers of His government
proclaim His glory, and the saints worship (chap. 4).
ere the Lamb appears, and His title to open the book
of God’s ways is owned, and His glory is celebrated. e
angels are seen for the rst time, and standing around the
inner circle who are connected with the throne. e elders,
note, all through give their reasons for worship. e Lamb
now opens the book (chap. 5).
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e providential history of God’s dealings in the
Western Roman earth is given. en the martyrs are seen,
and cry for judgment; and there is a universal subversion of
the subsisting powers, so that men are alarmed as if the day
of the Lord were come (chap. 6).
e remnant of Israel is marked out for preservation;
the multitude of the Gentiles to be spared, owned (chap.
7).
e trumpets are the rst four specic judgments on the
Western Roman earth, on all earthly prosperity and power
(chap. 8). e next two are the judgments on men, whose
portion is on the earth, but in the east (chap. 9). en a
parenthesis shows the connection of the great Western
beast or empire with the east, and the testimony given
there, which comes to a close before the end of the period
of the second woe-trumpet; and last follows the seventh
trumpet, which closes the whole scene (chaps. 10, 11)
A new vision of special dealings is now opened, and
more connected with the religious condition of men; but
the Jews, hence, are at once in the scene.
e Jewish people are seen, as heaven sees them, in the
counsels and purposes of God. So there a Son is to be born,
who is to rule all nations with a rod of iron-Christ; and,
I doubt not, the whole church united to Him. But this is
taken out of the way of the dragon to heaven and God’s
throne; and the woman-the Jewish people in the latter day
in distress- ees from the persecution three years and a
half into the wilderness. us the great elements of the
whole ‘scene are brought before us. Next it is presented
historically. ere is war in heaven. Satan is cast down,
having then great rage; his time, he knows, is short; his
career in heaven is ended; the accusation of the saints on
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the earth over; but he persecutes the Jews, who, as we have
seen, ee; but he turns to persecute the witnesses amongst
them (chap. 12).
Next, the earthly agents are seen: the beast, with seven
heads and ten horns absorbing the other, receives his power
from Satan for 1260 days, blasphemes what is heavenly, and
persecutes the saints; a second beast, in the prophetic and
royal characters of Messiah, ministers to and exercises his
power, and makes the world worship him, doing miracles,
giving breath to the image which he has caused to be made
to him (chap. 13).
en we have the remnant who suer like Christ-the
testimony, and judgments, and warnings of God; and,
nally, the judgment of the earth, and the destruction of
the wicked by the Son of man. is closes this vision (chap.
14).
Another great sign, not synchronical, or consecutive,
follows. It reaches down to the third thing noticed in
the previous chapter. Here the saints are viewed in rest,
who pass through the time of tribulation. e sea of glass
is mingled with re (chap. 11). en the vials are poured
out. ey are on the earth, and strike the beast’s kingdom
particularly, and those who dwell in it. en all the kings
of the earth are gathered; for the smiting galls their pride,
and does not correct them; and the last judgment of God is
executed even on Babylon (chap. 16), the beast remaining
for the Lamb’s (chap. 17: 14).
is gives occasion to give a description of what she is,
how she rides the beast, and corrupts all nations: but then
more fully of the beast himself and his horns, for whom
judgment is yet reserved. e Lamb shall overcome them.
Babylon is Rome (chaps. 17, 18).
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When Babylon is judged, the marriage of the Lamb
takes place, for He is now coming forth out of His heavenly,
withdrawal to be revealed in the earth (the rapture of the
church belongs to church revelation-could not come into
the Book of Revelation, though we may see the saints in
heaven). en He comes forth as King of kings and Lord
of lords, as the word of God in judgment: the saints,
witnessed in righteousness, in the fruit of their works,
accompany Him. e beast is taken and the false prophet,
and are cast into their nal doom (the false prophet is the
second beast now, being with the beast; his royal character
has disappeared): the rest are slain. is is the judgment of
power and war (chap. 19).
erewith Satan is bound, and shut up in the abyss for
a thousand years. en follows sessional judgment, which
will last. ey are on thrones, for this is royal judgment, and
judgment is given to them, all the heavenly saints. is is
the rst resurrection; then the second, in which the dead
are brought up to be judged, not to life and to judge (chap.
20).
en heaven and earth ee away, death and hades give
up all, and God is all in all in a new heavens and new earth
(chap. 21: 1-8).
en the Spirit returns to give a description of
the heavenly Jerusalem (as He had of Babylon and its
relationship to the earth) during the millennium (chaps.
21: 9 to 22: 5).
After warnings to those who are in the time of the
book, and to all, Christ comes forward Himself as the One
who had given the revelation. is draws out in the bride,
with whom is the Spirit, the desire of His coming; and her
whole position- towards Christ, towards those who hear
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the word, towards sinners-is vividly expressed. John seals
with his own desires those of the church, that Jesus should
even come (chap. 22: 6-21).
e re-introduction of God’s government into this
world in Christ, in this book, and the discovery of the
relative position of the church, is full of interest. It closes,
in this sense, the canon and scriptural subjects (complete in
this entirely), with the doctrine of the church. But as this
was to come in meanwhile and was heavenly, the judgment
already revealed, and the course of worldly dealings (on
God’s part that led to it), are conded to the church to close
the book historically, as the church closed it doctrinally, as
[herself] above the world.
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62703
Outline of the Book of
Genesis
CHAPTER 1.: Creation-which seems a simple thing,
but is not, and is only apprehended by faith; it is the rst
element of faith, spoken of in Heb. 11. en the formation
of the earth, where God put the responsible man, the
center and lord of it, and in which all the principles of
man’s relationships with God are to be developed.
CHAPTER 2.: e responsible man in the relationship
in which God has set him to Himself, the world, the
creatures, to his wife-Eve, in whom the church is typied.
At the beginning of it is the rest of God, into which man
never entered.
CHAPTER 3.:
Man’s responsibility is tried by temptation, and his total
failure. e judgment on Satan, and the promise of and to
the seed of the woman; but the rst man is driven out from
the presence of God.
CHAPTER 4.: Adam becoming the head of a fallen
race, though Eve hopes to get the promise through the
esh, man completes sin by killing his brother, and the “
world “ is set up without God. God gives an appointed
seed in lieu of the slayer and the slain.
CHAPTER 5. e genealogy of the race of Seth-the
Lord being called upon; and in the midst of it one is seen
walking with God, and translated to heaven.
CHAPTERS 6-9. e total corruption and wickedness
of man, and the ood closing the history of the rst world.
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Noah is preserved through it, and the animals. He founds
the relationships of the new world by sacrice, but fails
entirely himself as governor. He gives in prophecy the
history of the world in his three sons: his own history
closes.
CHAPTERS 10,11. e settling out of the world in
nations and families, in these three sons, and that happening
by the judgment of God on their setting up themselves
independently of Him, to make themselves a name-Babel.
Abram is brought in, through Shem’s genealogy, as a
“ peg to hang it on.” An elect one is called out, and the
promises given to him, to be the head of God’s race upon
the earth.
CHAPTER 12. He, having followed the call of God
eventually, is in the place of promise, a stranger and a
worshipper. But through pressure of circumstances he gets
out of it, and into the power of the world, denies his wife,
and has no worship.
CHAPTER 13. His entire abnegation as to the world,
and the full revelation to him of the sphere of promise.
CHAPTER 14. His victory over the world, and the
revelation of Melchisedec as priest, and millennial blessing
brought in, after his conquering the kings, and God
possessor of heaven and earth. is closes that part of the
history.
CHAPTER 15. e promise of the seed, with the
covenant founded on death, and of the land. Righteousness
is connected with faith; this, as the seed, has come in, in
any sense.
CHAPTER 16. e attempt to get the promised seed
by the eorts of the esh.
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CHAPTER 17. e seed according to promise. God
reveals Himself to Abraham by His dispensational name,
and gives him the promise of the seed, with the seal of
circumcision also. Abraham is to be the father of many
nations, and the heir of the world.
CHAPTERS 18, 19.
God visits Abraham, and conrms the promise as an
immediate thing. Abraham on high in communion with
God, and the world judged below in connection with Lot
in Sodom, and the righteous one saved out of it. “ e
Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations,
and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be
punished,” 2 Peter 2:9. [We had Enoch, the heavenly
man, and Noah, the earthly remnant. Now we have had
Abraham, the heavenly, and Lot, the earthly.]
CHAPTER 20.
Abraham failing in respect of faith, as to those who were
externally within the place of promise-Abimelech and the
Philistines-is delivered, and as prophet intercedes for them.
(e church could not go on with these mixtures.) en,
having denied his wife, the rebuke is put upon Sarah-the
church; or Israel, as the vessel of promise, as the case may
be. e world knows very well what the church ought to be
for Christ, and how to reprove her.
CHAPTER 21.
e son of promise is born, and the law cast out (Gal. 3;
4) -Hagar and Ishmael. And further, Abimelech and those
Philistines who were in the place of promise-the son being
born-become subservient to Abraham, who guratively
takes possession of the place of promise, planting a grove,
and worships. He was only in a tent before.
CHAPTER 22.
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95
Abraham’s sacrice of Isaac upon Mount Moriah;
thereupon the promise is conrmed, not to Abraham,
but to the seed, as before given in chapter 12. is leads to
another principle: he had given up the promises according
to life here; he gets them in resurrection, on the ground of
the complete sacrice oered to God.
CHAPTER 23.
As the heir died, so the old vessel of promise (Sarah)
dies; thus Israel is set aside.
CHAPTER 24.
Abraham sends down Eliezer (who represents the
Holy Ghost) to get a wife for the risen Isaac, who is in no
condition to go back to his old country, all things being
given to him as son and heir. e bride is taken out of the
old land, gifts conferred upon her: she is brought to Isaac,
and into the place of the vessel of promise-Sarah’s tent. e
Jew had been the vessel of promise, the church now is. is
closes Isaac’s history as the risen one.
CHAPTER 25.
We have now done with the rst great principles of
faith and the risen one-Isaac, and we come down to the
earth and the heir of the earthly promises-Jacob, the Jew,
who goes down and gets a wife there. Jacob, who values the
promises that Esau despised who had the title to them,
comes in by grace and election without title (Rom. 9). In
point of fact it came by the profanity of Esau, but the means
of getting it were evil; still God secures the result. We nd
the immense principle, that we have only to take care that
the means employed are right in possessing ourselves of all
that God has promised. God might have made Isaac cross
his hands in the blessing, or the like, to secure the promises
to Jacob.
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CHAPTER 26.
e renewal of the promises to Isaac: he is forbidden to
go down into Egypt-the world; he is to have nothing to do
with it in his Isaac position. Follows his father’s example
in denying his wife; but Abraham did it in the place of
promise, Isaac on lower ground (decay in the place of
promise). He has “ contention “ and “ hatred “ in the place
of the world; but when he gives up the wells, and gets into
his own limits Beersheba-then he is owned by those who
were there.
CHAPTERS 27-3 I.
Esau and Jacob. Jacob gets the blessing as he had got
the birthright, by deceit. He goes down to what represents
the world to get his wife. Not as Isaac, who got a wife sent
up. He looks for blessings and earthly promises, and vows
tithes to God if God will take care of him. However, God
does so. is is very low ground, but still there is faith. He
uses duplicity towards man, and he is cheated himself-”
paid in his own coin,” so to speak.
He gets Leah instead of Rachel. He has got the Gentiles
looked at as on earth; still the Jews are loved-Rachel. He
represents the Lord in His ways, not in his conduct: he loves
Rachel. e Gentile, Leah, never loved like the Jews upon
earth; but God blesses Leah.
God brings back Israel with his children,, after having
been a slave for twenty-one years, to his land.
e instruction we get is this: the Lord takes care of
the believer, but he is cheated, and worried, and slaved, and
reaps in discipline the fruit of his own ways. We mark a
wretched state of faith in him: there was faith, but his was
a dismal, earthly history-attempting to get his object in a
carnal way, and he is chastened all through.
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CHAPTERS 32-34.
Esau comes, and again we nd lies. God sends a host of
angels, and he sees His hand, but nothing raises his faith,
and we see the utter weakness of eshly ways, and the spirit
in which he walks-low and earthly. e Lord will not allow
Esau to touch him, but takes him in hand Himself, and
wrestles with him at Jabbok when he had sent all over.
He will not reveal Himself, but makes him halt for life,
giving him faith to overcome. You get a great deal more
experience in one that walks badly than in a person that
walks well. e man that walks with God has very little
experience, but all he has is with God. “ Enoch walked
with God, and was not, for God took him “; that is all
about him. Abraham has no wrestling, but is up on high,
interceding calmly with God for others, in communion;
Jacob is below, interceding for himself, and God wrestling
with him, not he with God, who gives him power for the
conict, but will not reveal Himself. Jacob had asked Him,
but He would not tell him His name.
en he makes another blunder. He buys land (not a
sepulcher, like Abraham), settles in the place, and builds an
altar there, calling it El-elohe-Israel. He was this, but no
revelation. Marriage proposed with his family there.
CHAPTER 35.
Now God says, Go up to Bethel; there He would appear
to him. e moment he is to go and meet God he thinks of
the idols, which he knew all about quite well before. ere
is no putting away of idols until we get into God’s presence;
then they are put away. e rst thing God now does, when
the idols are buried, is to tell His name, which He did
not at Penuel. e intercourse is short: no intercession for
others; not the same bright blessing as with Abraham, but
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intercourse, talking with him. God goes up from him at
this place.
is has brought us back to Rachel, Israel’s history in
fact. She dies. She had had Joseph; now she has Benjamin.
She calls him Ben-oni, the son of my sorrow; Jacob calls
him Benjamin, the son of my right hand. is points to
Christ at God’s right hand, who was the son of aiction
also.
CHAPTER 36.
e world set up in power before God’s people are;
Esau, with kings and dukes. is closes the history of Jacob.
CHAPTERS 37-48.
Now the history of Joseph begins, with his dreams;
and so on. He is despised, but he has the wisdom of God,
as soon after the power of God. Rejected by his brethren,
and sold to the Gentiles, he shows himself all through as
the godly one in patience and lowliness. en he passes to
the right hand of power, and receives back his repentant
brethren in that character, and puts them in the best of the
world-Goshen.
[In the midst of this history Judah is going on in
wickedness (chap. 38). Yet it is the Lord’s genealogy.]
Jacob could bless Pharaoh: the less is blessed of the
better. He looks still to the land and asks to be buried
there. Joseph gets the birthright. Jacob crosses his hands,
and puts things in their place. (No one type runs into
another.) Joseph thus steps into the place of the rst-born;
in Chronicles it is said so in terms. e birthright was his,
and he gets the double portion.
CHAPTER 49.
en you have the blessing of the tribes of Israel in
a general view, prophetically, of their history. Reuben,
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Israel’s rstborn, fails; Simeon and Levi, corruption and
violence, failure of those who seek to maintain their rights
by nature’s force; Judah, strength and honor, but all goes on
till failure is complete; then all is judgment till you come
to Dan, in which you get the power of evil-apostasy-the
serpent. (e Jews have a tradition that Antichrist will
come of this tribe.) When Israel joins with the world,
you get the serpent. en there is turning to the Lord
for salvation, and all is changed. “ I have waited for thy
salvation, O Jehovah.” Faith waits until God interferes.
Gad, he is overcome, but overcomes at the last. In Asher we
see blessings ow; in Naphtali, goodly words; in Joseph, a
rejected Christ exalted. Benjamin is the son of God’s right
hand, in victory over all His enemies.
CHAPTER 50.
Whatever power and magnicence Joseph had, his
heart was in Israel, and he gives commands concerning his
bones- they were to be carried to Canaan. He has faith as
to Israel’s hope and portion.
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62733
Hints on the Book of Genesis
Genesis does not begin with any counsels nor even with
the existence of God, though both are given in the New
Testament.
“ In the beginning God created the heavens and the
earth “: this is the opening of the creation. ere is nothing
of counsels, but you are before the world, and also get more
in the New Testament. Time begins with the responsible
earth, the creation of that in which the rst Adam was
placed; but there is nothing of the plans of God here.
Promises and ways come afterward, and the existence of
God is assumed very naturally. His counsels are not brought
out. is is not unimportant to notice: the whole plan of
God is not here at all. ere is the sphere rst created in
which the man was to be put, and the broad fact that God
created everything; but even so we do not get everything,
for the angels are not here. Yet we know from Job that,
when this took place, “ the morning stars sang together,
and the sons of God shouted for joy.”
e subject is really the responsible man, though you
must have the earth where the man was, and the dust to
take and make him out of it. And when we come to know
the truth, this is really important. e whole of “our glory”
belongs to God’s counsels. We had the two things in the
cross: Christ made sin for us, which looked back on the
responsible or rst Adam; and also the foundation for
bringing out God’s counsels laid in the second Man. e
rst part only, as to responsibility, is here, promises come
after. Even of creation it is only in respect of man, and
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101
not of angels. We see how dierent a sphere grace is from
the creation, in that God takes up the rst creature of the
revelation here, and goes down through his sin below any
creature, for it is unto death, and then takes him up far
above all creatures in His Son, and so makes a totally new
and dierent thing altogether.
What a petty thing is all the Darwinian theory of
progress! e author of it goes through all the lowest
things up to the highest; God takes man, and puts him
(in the person of His Son) down lower than all. is is far
more wonderful.
e rst fact is, God created the heavens and the earth,
that is, the universe. Nothing is said about what then
happened.
In verse 2 we get the earth in a state of chaos.
In verse 16 “ the stars also “ come in by the bye; for God
had created them when He made the heavens. Afterward
the earth “ was without form and void, and the Spirit of
God moved upon the face of the deep,” that is, the formative
agency of God.
e word “ created “ (v. 1) is right, that is, originally
(though used of “ great whales,” and also said of “ man,”
when it is progressive formation). But in verse 2 the action
is only where the darkness was, on the face of the deep.
e mention of the darkness sweeps away a whole range of
geological indelity, because they say light began here. But
you nd ichthyosauri had eyes, and they were created long
before. All that is said is that darkness was upon the face
of the deep, and not that there was no light; the contrary
rather is implied. Where the ichthyosauri were, there must
be light: and they are found in strata, which, if you take
them for anything at all, would show that thousands of
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years had passed since they lived. If you get a thing with
eyes, it is fair to suppose that there was light for it. e
deep was chaos, an unformed state of things. And this was
subsequent to a state of light. I have no diculty about
the light. As for geology, it is not the object of scripture to
teach it.
It is not that God formed the heavens and the earth (v.
1) in a chaotic state; but we here nd (v. 2) the earth so, “
without form and void.” It is not said how long elapsed.
However I do not at all believe the dates that are given,
though we need not allude to this here.
e scriptures do not tell me about these early animals.
Why want the Bible to tell me about sh that eat other
sh? ere they are; and I can go and see the fossils, if I
want it. As for death too, it may have existed long before
among these animals; there is nothing to intimate that it
did not. If it be urged as the general thought that death
came on animals because of sin, the answer is that so it did
in this present state of the world.
Geologists pretend that a given sandbank must have
taken so many thousand years to form, and so on. Without
believing them, one can let them take any length of time
they like; and still the word of God is sucient for the
believer. ere is the creation of the heavens and the earth,
and then, all that scene of them being there left out, this
earth is without form and void.
Who could tell what God ought to create?
e passage in Isa. 45:18, “ he created it not in vain
“ (chaotic), is conclusive that the earth was not created
chaotic at rst.
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e earth got into the state of chaos-it may be by what
destroyed the animals; but we know nothing about it: what
I do know by faith is that God created everything.
en follows a detailed account of this earth, as we have
it: God makes a place to put man in (Gen. 1:3-31).
Not a word is heard that beasts were created immortal.
Rather, I suppose, animals were made to be destroyed,
because Peter says they were made to be taken and
destroyed. Yet the expression, “ beasts that perish,” is
merely a fact stated; and Peter may possibly only refer to
the present state of animals.
But it seems to me a much more laborious thought that
God created all sorts of dead animals lodged in strata and
stone, and elsewhere, though I do not care to take up the
question myself.
As a general fact there is an order from the positions
relatively of these animals, shells, shes, etc. ere is a proof
of order in these, though I have no interest in it myself one
way or another. Clearly too scripture leaves a gap, and that
gap is ample for any such purpose. We nd God creates
things “ good.”
ere had been pitch darkness; and then it is not that
the evening and the morning make a day, for they would
not. But after the darkness, which did not count, we get
the light, and then the evening and the morning make the
day. e pitch darkness did not count for time. God causes
light to be; that is day, and He calls it day: then came the
evening and the morning with the light again. In Israel it is
clear they counted any part as a whole; if a king reigned as
from December 30, they would count in a whole year, and
the king that had reigned through that year had that year
too, and this creates many diculties in chronologies. You
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must count the day rst, and then get the evening and the
morning to complete the day. e morning is the coming
back of dawn.
It comes from the revolving of the earth now; but when
God said, Light be, it came at once, and that is day, not
morning. It is broad day, it lights all up; and it is said, “ He
called it day.” Light was. e sun is not mentioned here,
though I have no doubt it was created long before. But
as to the earth, there was light before the sun was set to
give light by day. is is revealed. ink now, if I had been
making a book, should I ever have thought of making a
diculty like this on purpose?
ey say by light there is no gold, or silver, or lead in the
sun, but plenty of iron and other things. When observing
a total eclipse, they were astonished to see like little red
mountains round the sun; by enlarging the spectrum they
lessened the light as the sun shines, and then they saw all
this without an eclipse.
If the question be asked whether God created everything
in the earth in maturity, such as the coal measures, I answer
that, if God had said it, I should have believed it directly, in
spite of all the geologists in the world.
Observe, in verse 20, “ and fowls that may y “ should
be, “ and let fowl y.” It is not that the water brought them
forth, but God formed them out of the ground (see Gen.
2:19).
“ e rmament “ is the expanse. God made a heaven,
so to speak, to this earth.
I believe myself that they were six days of twenty-four
hours each, having no scripture reason against it.
Now we get after the six days’ work, in verse 25, “ and
God saw that it was good “; and what is important for us
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to notice is, that the creation of that day is nished like
the others (except the rst two), “ and God saw that it was
good.” He has done with creation, as creation, and now
begins counsels in the most solemn way: “ Let us make
man in our image, and after our likeness, and let them
have dominion,” etc. us the creation as the sphere and
scene is quite complete, and then God makes man in His
own image, and sets him over it all. But you have it in the
most formal manner: the subject creation is completed,
and then the lord of it is brought forward in this way. I
get, over sh and fowl and beast and everything that is
created, something in God’s counsels that is lord over all.
Man stands quite alone: all is nished; and then he has
dominion over it.
“ Image “ is dierent from “ likeness.” In the image
he stands as the representative of God. If I say, image of
Jupiter, it is not likeness merely, but the image stands there
to represent him. And so did man. He was there the center
of all the aections of the whole world, and he ought to
have stood so. You never have an angel set over anything so,
but here man is the central object of all, and he represented
God too. But he was also made after God’s own “ likeness.”
He was not righteous and holy, but sinless and innocent.
Righteous supposes a judicial estimate of right and wrong,
but man had not this at all until he had eaten the forbidden
fruit. Till then there was nothing evil in him: when fallen,
he got conscience to judge good and evil.
Likeness is moral. Man was made like God morally; he
was made upright.
ere is a gure here in man and woman before the fall;
for the apostle uses it so. But Eve came out as a distinct
thing.
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It is well to notice that God takes counsel: “ let us,” etc.
If you make the distinction of the persons of the Godhead,
I am not aware that creation is personally attributed to any
but Christ and the Spirit. Every operation is the direct
work of the Spirit, not that He is an independent Spirit,
but God. e three are united in scripture. e Son was
working, and He says, “ the Father that dwelleth in me,
he doeth the works,” and again, “ if I by the Spirit of God
cast out devils.” But you do not nd stated in scripture that
the Father created; it says God; and this is Father, Son,
and Holy Ghost. It is so far important to see that we have
the divine agency. e particular operation of miracles
was by the Spirit. “ If I by the Spirit cast out “; by “ his
Spirit garnished the heavens “; and when Christ was raised,
He was “ quickened by the Spirit.” I can allow nothing,
therefore, that attempts to lower our thoughts of the Son
and of the Spirit.
Holiness supposes good and evil, and the hating the evil
and the loving the good; innocence does not know of evil. In
righteousness I see judicial authority about it, but holiness
is the nature repelling or delighting in. Righteousness is
the judgment formed either in mind or in act.
So God created man in His own image. Verse 27
states the fact, though they were created afterward. e
animals were there, and now God says, I am going to have
something higher; and man stood there representing God
in the earth, made with no evil in him. He still has that
character, though it is all in ruin. I Corinthians 11: 7 says
he is the image and glory of God. James 3:9 speaks of men
having been made after God’s likeness.
en God gives the seeds to man, and the green herbs
to animals.
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We shall see in chapter 2 that man’s responsibility rested
entirely on the forbidden fruit, the eating of which was evil
only because God had forbidden it.
“ To every beast of the earth I have given every green
herb for meat.” is would imply that animals were not
carnivorous. ere is a dierence between cattle and beasts;
but in that statement the cattle are left out; the “ beasts
“ are what we call wild beasts. It is perfectly competent
to God to have restricted them for the time, or to have
changed them.
Chapter 2. It is striking to notice that, except in setting
the seventh day apart, you never have holiness mentioned
in Genesis, nor do you get it anywhere until redemption
is accomplished. And you never get God dwelling with
man until then. He visits Adam and Abraham, and no
more; but the moment we nd redemption, holiness and
a dwellingplace for God are spoken of. God created them
in innocence, but there is no habitation for Him on earth
then. Immediately after redemption, He says, “ make me
a habitation,” and He did dwell among them. So, the
moment the people were redeemed, He says, “ be holy.”
Here we have a day set apart to God, to which I attach
no small importance, and to what the day means also. In
connection with the question, I believe the sabbath-day is
an essential part of man’s nature and of his rest in God.
I remember saying, outside a town in Germany, when
looking at some crows ying, “ Well, there is a creature that
has nothing to say to God, and to it one day is the same
as another.” But the fact that man has something to say
to God proves that he must have a day set apart from the
remainder. It was God’s rest here, and man was to have part
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in it. According to the commandment, everything men had
was to enjoy that day (Gen. 2:1-3).
Man ought to have enjoyed it before Ex. 16, but did not,
because the rst thing he did was to sin. e point of this
is, that it is the rest of the rst creation; and, now that sin
has entered in, you cannot have a rest in the rst creation. “
My Father worketh hitherto, and I work.” How can a holy
God have rest in the midst of sin and misery? What kind
of rest can God have here? at is Christ’s answer. God
could have destroyed them as sinners; but if not, He must
work.
If revealed to Adam, he did not enter into it. ere are
signs of it from Adam to Moses in a way, but no sign that
man really kept it. Man had fallen away from God, and all
was wrong. ere is nothing to show that he did not know
of it.
It is referred to in Hebrews: “ As I have sworn in my
wrath if they shall enter into my rest, although the works
were nished from the foundation of the world.” en
he quotes this passage, and says after, “ there remaineth
therefore a rest to the people of God “; and you get this too,
that our Lord says, “ the sabbath was made for man, and
not man for the sabbath.” But then He takes it up in the
Gospel of Mark in this way: that He, Christ, was the head
of it, and so was not bound by it.
Christ was dead and gone into the grave on the sabbath:
this indicates a great deal.
e sabbath is given in Exodus on the ground of
creation, but in Deuteronomy because they were brought
out of Egypt. Exodus is a typical book, and Deuteronomy
consists of direction for what they were to do in the land,
Exodus applying only to the wilderness in its latter half.
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en there is a very important thought-God was
resting, and man does not enter into it; but still there is
a rest. e next point is, God sanctied it; He set it apart
from all the rest of time. e reason was God had rested,
and, sin having come in, man could not rest in sin.
Now we come to “ Jehovah God “ (chap. 2: 4). Some
have made a great talk about the dierence between God
and Jehovah, His nature as such, and His relationship with
Israel. He was specically revealed to the Jews by that name,
because it is a term of relationship, and it was important for
the Jews to know that their national God was the eternal
true God, and no God beside Him, Jehovah Elohim.
First in creation you have God, Elohim, made this, and
that, and the other. Now we nd Him having to say morally
to a particular part of His creation; and the moment we
come to relative things we get Jehovah, as in chapter 2: 4.
e whole chapter becomes relative now. Read verses 4-7.
ere is the history of the character of man in his great
moral elements- man not made like the beasts of the eld,
but formed out of the dust of the ground; and when He
has done that (and there one sees what death simply is,
“ dust thou art,” and death is going back to it), then I get
something that is not dust, something directly from God,
and this makes all the dierence.
e beasts were formed out of the earth, and the man is
formed into shape rst, and then God says, I am going to
connect this with myself,” and breathes into his nostrils the
breath of life. By “ connect “ I do not mean that the man
might not fall away from God in will, for he could; but the
breath of life which made him a living soul was directly
from God; He was capable of dying, but still he had the
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breath of life from God immediately, which was a thing
distinct from every other animal.
“ A living soul “ means anything that lives by blood and
breath. I say this because it says, “ whereinsoever was the
breath of life, died “; all animals were living souls. Man was,
and the animal was; but the essential dierence was that
God breathed into man’s nostrils the breath of life, and so
man became a living soul. is might be separated from
his body, and the body return to the dust. at is what is
referred to in “ for we also are his ospring.” As I said to an
Annihilationist, Do you mean to call a pig God’s ospring?
Neither would Adam have died if he had not eaten of the
forbidden fruit. His body is formed rst without life, and
the way he gets life is by God’s breathing into his nostrils
the breath of life; he receives it as a creature, but direct
from God. Adam was not made as other animals were.
“ is mortal,” or “ mortal body,” leaves the soul by
implication immortal. “ Mortal “ is always used of the
body; and it is clear that death does not touch the soul,
for you have the wicked man in hades after death. I am
quite satised that it is true to say “ immortal soul.” e
opposite thought is founded on the words, “ who only hath
immortality,” spoken of God, of course (that is, who only
bath it in Himself); but this does not mean that He cannot
communicate it. So the angels are only immortal by God’s
making them so, and we the same. If I were immortal in
spite of God, then I might do as I like without fear of
death. In the rich man and Lazarus is a perfectly clear case:
the one goes to torment, the other to Abraham’s bosom,
after death. But they say “ these are only gures.” “ Yes,” I
reply, “ but gures of what? “ I am not going to Abraham’s
bosom, but I am to Christ. I asked them this, “ Could God
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give eternal life to a dog? “ Yes. “ But would the dog be
answerable for what he had been doing while he was a
dog? “ and if he would not be, Christ had not to die for
him, and so they destroy atonement. Put it in another way:
if I am a mere brute, only a clever brute, until 1 get Christ
as my life, my responsibility is gone.
But man was put in his place of responsibility not to eat
the forbidden fruit, a thing in which there was no evil, save
that it was forbidden.
And you get a striking thing here, one which has been
a question even with heathens, and it is also a ground of
discussion between Calvinists and Arminians: the tree of
life, which is free gift; and the tree of knowledge of good
and evil, which is responsibility. Man has been trying to
unite these in himself, and never can. Man did take the
responsibility-tree, and was lost.
en the promise came to Abraham to show that grace
was really the thing after all-the tree of life; and then came
the law, the other tree. People have made the life dependent
upon the responsibility-tree, which is utter folly.
But we nd in Christ the two principles united; for He
is the man who charges Himself with our responsibility,
as He is Himself the life. If I have Christ for my life, with
whom also I have died, I can bring the two together. But if
taken out of Christ, it is impossible to unite the two things,
any more than they were one in the garden.
If Adam had eaten of the tree of life, he would have
been an immortal sinner. As he was, we have got the
responsibility-man, not the man of God’s counsels; but to
faith the rst or responsibility-man is set aside for Christ,
the Second man. We have Christ as our life, and are bound
to live in that life, and not in the old man. When it comes
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to a question of responsibility and judgment, I say I am not
in the old man, but in Christ. And in my actual condition
I say, Christ is in me, and I am to manifest Him as my life.
But there is more than this. God took the man, and
put him in the garden to dress and keep it, gave him
one commandment, and then said, “ It is not good that
the man should be alone.” So He gives him a wife, and
also puts him in the place of authority, which is shown
by bringing everything to Adam to be named. Giving
a name is an act of authority all through scripture. And
Adam says of his wife, “ is is now bone of my bones,
and esh of my esh: she shall be called woman.” ere we
get the institution of marriage, but, above all, Christ and
the church. We see dominion which is entirely in Adam,
not in the woman. Dominion belongs to Christ; but, being
rejected, and accomplishing redemption, He is exalted on
high, and instead of dominion He gets the church, which
He associates with Himself now, as well as when He is
in the dominion. is is the place of the church, which is
neither the Lord nor the subject creature, but is associated
with the Lord over the creation. God’s plans are here in
imagery. Adam was “ the gure of him that is to come “
(Rom. 5:14). He was head over all things to Eve, who was
bone of his bone, and esh of his esh. We have in this
relationship two states, the actual responsibility as created
(which Christ was in a certain sense), and then what was
historically true, the image of Him that was to come.
Christ gave up everything, leaving father and mother (that
is, Israel, if you take it as a gure). How often we hear it
said, that Christ was bone of our bone, and esh of our
esh! No doubt He did become incarnate; but really it is
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when He is in glory that we are made bone of His bone,
and esh of His esh; the other is never said in scripture.
us we have the responsible man set up, but still a
gure of Him that is to come; and as Eve out of Adam,
we are all taken out of Christ, in a sense; we are quickened
together with Christ when He has gone down into death,
and we are set aside in the place He has taken. Just so the
deep sleep fell upon Adam, and the rib is taken and made a
woman, and is brought to him.
But observe in chapter 3 that the point is not knowledge
of good and knowledge of evil, which is a mere blunder.
e question of the tree was not conscience. If it had not
been forbidden, he was just as free to eat as anything else.
us we acquire the knowledge of good and evil, and hence
conscience. You see it as early as anything in a child. It slaps
its mother, say, and you hold up your nger-it understands
very well that it has done wrong. God says, “ the man
is become as one of us “; that is, he has got intrinsically
the knowledge of good and evil. If a boy at school steals
one of his companions’ marbles, he hides it, for he knows
he has done wrong. It is no question of commandments
here; though it was by the breach of a commandment that
conscience was got.
Adam was enjoying good in the garden, although the
knowledge of good would not have been so full. I quite
admit my knowledge may be corrupted; still, I do a thing
because it is right. I may think I am doing a very good
thing to put my father in the Ganges at a certain time of
life, because then he will go to Buddha or some one; but
it is only the dierence of good and evil I know; it is not
knowledge of good and knowledge of evil. e thing for
Adam was not an intrinsic knowledge of good and evil,
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which was not required, but only a question of obedience.
Man got a conscience by the fall, and he never got a
conscience till it was a deled one. But it may get hardened
or seared.
Observe, in the account of the fall, that, before a lust
comes in, there is another principle shown, which is, that
Adam, like Eve, lost condence in God. e devil suggested
that God kept something back from her because it would
make her like God. “ God doth know “-this is the reason
you “ may not eat this “-you will be as God, “ knowing
good and evil.” At this suggestion, that the Lord had kept
back the very best thing, Eve lost her condence. But mark,
when Christ comes into the world, I see Him walking
through the world where all the evil is, to show to man
that, no matter how deled it all is, we can have the fullest
condence in God. He comes to win back man’s heart to
God. ere He was reconciling man to God. Were you, a
woman, ever such a sinner, who could not show your face
to a fellow-creature, come to Him, and God will receive
you. But this loss of condence is just the same in all of us.
If I trusted God to make me happy always, I should always
do God’s will. Suppose I do not trust Him to make me
happy, then I must turn to myself. is is just what we see:
men do not trust God to make them happy, and so they try
to make themselves happy. is is the world.
We were speaking of the beautiful character of Christ’s
coming into the world in humiliation, God coming to win
back man’s heart to Himself. is goes beyond the chapter,
but it is produced in souls at times before forgiveness is
known. When there is a clear gospel, forgiveness comes out
rst, but many are like the poor “ woman that was a sinner,”
who had her heart towards God or Christ, though she did
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not know forgiveness yet. ere was faith in His person.
She was attracted by the grace in Him, and broken down
about her sinfulness (Luke 7). So many a pious soul now
does not know forgiveness.
It is all a mistake to confound trust with faith, though
no doubt faith produces condence. You can hardly
separate the two things, but there is this in faith: “ he that
believeth his testimony hath set to his seal that God is
true.” In Luke 7 it was a living word. But when I have the
Spirit of adoption, I am a son. Christ revealed the Father: “
I have manifested thy name “; “ I have declared unto them
thy name, and will declare it.” e moment the Son was
there, the Father’s name could be revealed; but it was not
until the gift of the Holy Ghost that they had the Spirit
of adoption. But in Christ here below, God was coming
into the midst of sinners in love, and winning back their
condence; and one sees in the poor woman that was a
sinner a heart trusting Him, though His work was not yet
completed.
e temptation was, “ ye shall be as God,” not gods,
“ knowing good and evil.” Eve takes, eats, and gives to
her husband, who eats: thus their eyes were opened. e
counterpart is seen (Phil. 2), and intended as such, in Jesus,
“ who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to
be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation, and
took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the
likeness of men; and being found in fashion as a man, he
humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even
the death of the cross; wherefore also God hath highly
exalted him.” at is, Christ in taking the place of the
second Adam went exactly opposite to the rst one. Adam
was in the form of man, and set up to be as God; Christ is
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not only a man, but God, and did not set up, like Adam,
to take what did not belong to Him, for He was God, but,
having laid all aside, He became obedient unto death, the
death of the cross. He goes down all the way, till He comes
right down to death, death, yea, death of the cross-the exact
contrast of what Adam did. You see the progress in Eve.
When condence is lost, the woman saw that the tree was
good for food: lust comes in. It was pleasant to the eyes,
and a tree to be desired to make one wise. Accordingly she
eats, and then Adam eats.
He was not deceived; the woman Eve was, and so was
in the transgression.
e devil came hiding himself in that serpent, using it
as an instrument of mischief.
“ Dust “ means utter and entire humiliation, as “ lick
the dust “: “ Arise ye that dwell in the dust,” and so on. It
is constantly used in this way. In Dan. 12 it is the same, “
many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth.” In the
text it is used to express the judgment that shall be upon
the power of Satan.
It is curious in the olden times that they used to eat
serpents to get wise. And it is wonderful how widespread
was the idea of wisdom in the serpent. Æsculapius had a
serpent in his temple. A serpent with his tail in his mouth
was the image of eternity, the whole circle was in that. e
Agatho-demon, or good demon, in Egypt was a winged
serpent. ey found represented in Mexico (though I do
not know how far you can trust pictures) a woman under a
tree, and the serpent oering the woman an apple. It was
found as a picture. ere was a great collection of such
things: but it is all dispersed now. ere were traces of
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similar things among the Druids, but evidently the Druids
came from Persia.
Fallen, they knew good and evil, and that they were
naked; they are under the shame of sin; and then we learn
how utterly powerless all human means are to hide sin.
e moment they hear the voice of the Lord God walking
in the garden in the cool of the day, all the g leaves are
simply nothing. ey were used to cover themselves from
one another; but the moment God was there, they say that
they are naked. Afterward God made them coats of skins;
it was a very dierent thing when God did it.
We do not know in what words the command was
given; it is merely told us generally. It was pressed upon
Eve’s mind that she was to have nothing to say to it; she
does not give exactly the words of God, “ in the day thou
eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” It was probably her
own impression, not the exact words of God-just the main
eect produced on her mind.
It is well to remark that, before ever God turned Adam
out, he had got away from God: I do not mean his heart
merely, but he had a bad conscience; he went and hid
himself in the trees of the garden, and that is the rst of
it. But the great question, besides what had been done, is, “
Where art thou? “ is is a far wider question than that to
Cain-” What hast thou done? “
ere is no history of man in innocence. e rst thing
we nd in the history of man is the fall. Children were
begotten after the fall, and all else follows. e fall comes
in rst both historically and morally; and so it has always
been. e rst thing Noah does is to get drunk. e children
of Israel made a golden calf even before they had really got
the law, though they had just promised obedience. It was
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the same thing with the priests, Nadab and Abihu: they
oered strange re the very rst day; and then Aaron was
forbidden to go into the most holy place in the garments
of glory and beauty. Was not all this serious? It is not a
question of the “ rst day “ exactly, but of their rst act
noted in scripture. And it is just as true of the church. Peter
says, “ e time is come that judgment should begin at the
house of God “; Paul, that “ all were seeking their own,
not the things that are Jesus Christ’s “; and then John says,
“ even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know
it is the last time.” All the apostles tell us so, though they
stemmed the torrent while there. So Jude says, “ of these
Enoch prophesied, Behold the Lord cometh with ten
thousand of his saints to execute judgment,” etc. ere they
are, he says; more morally there, perhaps, than historically.
We see then that man departed from God before ever
God turned him out; that is, his conscience drove him away
from God, and in the end God drives him out. How God
detects everything! “ I was afraid because I was naked.” …
“ Who told thee thou wast naked? “ Now it comes to what
he has done; the rst point was, “ Where art thou? “ To
Cain it was, “ What hast thou done? “
As a matter of doctrine, I was led distinctly to notice
this in the Epistle to the Romans. ere rst it is, “ all have
sinned “; then, “ by one man sin entered.” us it is our
condition: what we have done is proof and fruit of it. Adam
cannot be with God at all. Such is his condition; and then
God asks, What have you done?
It was God looking for man, perhaps I should hardly
say in grace; it was God coming in. Of course God knew
everything; but, speaking as to His manner of dealing, He
is expecting Adam to have intercourse with Him. God
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could go and walk there, and, according to the principles
of His position, expect that Adam would receive Him as
his benefactor. It is, “ What has come of you? “ so to speak.
If one expects a person to be there, one says, “ Where are
you? “ is brings out of Adam what the real state of the
case was; and when God asks, “ How did that come about?
“ Adam does a base thing, for he says, “ e woman whom
thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I
did eat.” It is “ whom thou gavest.” If you had not given me
the woman, I should not have done it! as much as to say, “
You may settle with the woman.” And God says, “ Because
thou hast hearkened to the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten
“: this is what He condemns Adam for. And whenever we
make an excuse, this in fact is what we are condemned for.
Adam listened to the woman instead of to God. People say,
“ I was tempted,” and this is true; but why did you yield to
the temptation? It was not a lie, in the outward sense of a
falsehood; but he had followed the woman instead of God.
en what the woman said was true, “ e serpent
beguiled me, and I did eat.” When the woman of Samaria
said, “ I have no husband,” it was true; but the object of it
was to conceal the truth for all that. It was legally true, but
ethically false; true in fact, but truth told to conceal the
truth all the while.
It is important to remark here, that all the judgment
stated is in this word simply. ere is none of the truth that
comes out afterward, when life and incorruptibility are
brought to light. Men try to spin this out into what is more
(and there is an immense deal more to a spiritual mind):
but the actual judgment is in this world. us the serpent is
not here cast into the lake of re; God says, “ because thou
hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above
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every beast of the eld: upon thy belly shalt thou go, and
dust thou shalt eat all the days of thy life.” ere is nothing
about the nal judgment of Satan, “ and I will put enmity
between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and
her seed: it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his
heel.” You may see something more there, guratively and
mysteriously prophetical; but that is no present thing: the
actual judgment on the serpent is in the former verse.
Another thing to notice here is that there is no promise
to man. As regards a great deal of the Arminian system,
much of which is indelity, all of it is cut up by the roots.
ere is no promise to man. e promise is a future
judgment pronounced on Satan, which has no application
to Adam; for it is clear he was not the seed of the woman.
en on the woman it is merely the sorrows of childbirth,
and she is made, not simply a companion, but subject, to
her husband.
All depends on whether this distinction is made: it is no
question of restoring the rst man. e promise brings in
another man instead of the rst. And it was not even by the
seed of the man, by any descendant of man as man, though
He is the Son of man, but it was by the woman it came in;
as we read in Galatians, “ made of a woman,” and “ under
the law “ too-the two things, one applicable to man, and
the other special to some.
What is here is this: God cast out the man; yet Adam
ed away from God before he was turned out. But when
God turned him out, this was judicial, and God put
cherubim there, and a aming sword, turning every way to
keep the way of the tree of life. at is, Adam was not only
going to dust, but could not get at life again; it would have
been horrible if he could. He was an outcast from God
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altogether, and this is everlasting misery. Once partaking
of the tree of life would have immortalized.
But it is no question here of judgment being everlasting.
It is separation from God. “ Cursed is the ground for thy
sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life;
thorns also, and thistles, shall it bring forth unto thee; and
thou shalt eat the herb of the eld; in the sweat of thy face
shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground, for
out of it wast thou taken; for dust thou art, and unto dust
shalt thou return.” What was to happen to his soul, there
is not a word about. e question of the inner man is quite
untouched. When God drove him out, the soul did not
die; neither was it dust to go back to dust, for soul was
not made of dust. But to be driven out was eternal misery,
though one must have a spiritual mind, in a sense, to know
really that it is innite misery to be shut out from God.
As to original sin, it is well to say what we mean by
it, as men’s thoughts dier widely. We read that “ by one
man’s disobedience sin entered into the world “: there
we nd that the sin of Adam put him in this position.
ere are two things in what is commonly called original
sin. It does not consist in following Adam, but that I am
alienated from God, and also that I have an evil nature. e
two go together, just as reconciliation and a new nature go
together. My heart is renewed from and to God.
e rst is that man departed from God. I have
sometimes said, when they have talked about the race
damned for eating of the tree, that it is not God shutting
man out for an apple, but that man shut out God for an
apple. His heart was separated from God, and then he got
lusts and self-will instead of subjection. en follows the
judicial part, “ Where art thou? “-where? that is, as to my
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state (not what? a question of my deeds), though men are
judged according to their works. When there is spiritual
intelligence in me, the rst thing that strikes my conscience
is my deeds. Ordinary evangelization takes up what man
has done; but this alone never sets one clear with God. A
soul still has to learn another thing, and that is where he
is; that in me, that is, in my esh, dwelleth no good thing.
But the preacher who dwells on this does not reach the
consciences of people. If I take the “ What hast thou done?
“ and the “ Where art thou? “ then I have all. From this
point of view men as men are alike bad, and the prodigal
son was as great a sinner when he just crossed his father’s
threshold as when he was eating the swine’s husks, because
he had from the rst turned his back upon his father. Nor
is the work done in a soul, until it nds out how bad it is in
itself, the tree bad, the root bad, itself away from God. My
works refer on to the day of judgment; but by what I am I
am lost already.
Both are perfectly true of every man. It is works rather in
Adam’s breaking the law, and still more distinctly in Cain,
in whom it is sin against a neighbor or a brother. Adam
sins against God. Cain’s terrible act brings the inquiry, “
What hast thou done? “ But the what or where we are is a
great deal deeper in the testimony of the thing than what
we have done.
Nothing is more important than to have these two clear
before the mind. “ I know that in me, that is in my esh,
dwelleth no good thing.” is is not what I have done. “
By one man’s disobedience sin entered into the world, and
death by sin “: this, too, is not what we have done; but we “
all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God,” this
is what we have done, that is, it is sins.
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e right translation of Rom. 5:12 is, “ for that all have
sinned,” not “ in whom.”
e judgment in Gen. 3 was upon Satan, though it
was there for Adam to lay hold of. ere was no promise
to the fallen Adam, no promise to man in sin any more
than innocent. Evil came in by the devil; with man, by
temptation. God was over it: this is the reason why He
suered evil and the fall-in view of a greater good to come
in. My answer to him who asks it is, “ why, you foolish
man, if you had not been a sinner, you would not have had
Christ at all.” And this is a true answer too, because it was
in God’s counsels to introduce and reveal Christ in glory
ultimately.
God created not merely stones, but moral beings, beings
with responsibility; and if responsibility be a fact, there is
liability to good and evil, as it means having to answer
to Him. To a man in the state described in Heb. 6 there
is no restorability; the passage says so. Again, there is no
restorability to angels, because they fell when they were in
the good itself. Jude tells us of angels who kept not their
rst estate.
So Ezek. 28, from verse 11, is commonly, and, I have no
doubt justly, applied to the fall of Satan. It is not the same
as the prince of Tyrus, who is judged historically in the
beginning of the chapter. “ ou sealest up the sum, full of
wisdom, and perfect in beauty. ou hast been in Eden, the
garden of God: every precious stone was thy covering, the
sardius, the topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx,
and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle,
and gold: the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes
was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created.
ou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set
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thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou
hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of re.
ou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast
created, till iniquity was found in thee.” en in verse 17, “
thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast
corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness,” and so
on. Under the gure of the king of Tire clearly, but under
gure, we see this, which goes far beyond the idea of a
mere king of Tire, and, I doubt not, it is Satan. e prince
of Tire who was there was conquered by Nebuchadnezzar.
On the other hand, I see no foundation for the king of Tire
representing Adam. Satan “ was a murderer, and abode not
in the truth,” so that he is a fallen being. e meaning of
the word “ covereth “ refers to a cherub, and gives the idea
of protection, I suppose. ere is power and beauty in the
creature. ese precious stones are here in creation, as again
in grace in the priesthood, and yet again in glory in the
new Jerusalem. All this diversied beauty from God was
upon him, and the light shines from the creature as from
the precious stones. We have no detail, for God was not
teaching men about Satan. He abode not in the truth, he
was not kept in dependence by God’s power; and angels
fell with him, because it says “ the devil and his angels.”
Where Adam sinned in the presence of good, it was only
natural goodness received from God; he was not in the
glory of God in the upper creation.
But other angels fell apart from the devil. Of some
scripture says, they are “ reserved in everlasting chains,
under darkness, unto the judgment of the great day “;
whereas Satan roves all about the world now, and others
with him, so that they are not in chains under darkness.
Jude says, those that “ kept not their rst estate, but left
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their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains
under darkness unto the judgment of the great day; even as
Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them, in like
manner giving themselves over to fornication, and going
after strange esh, are set forth for an example, suering
the vengeance of eternal re.” ey, doing evil, are set forth
for an example, their condition now being an abiding
testimony to their judgment. “ In like manner “ refers to
giving themselves over as the cities did. “ e sons of God,”
in Gen. 6:2, were angels, just as in Job, “ the sons of God “
presented themselves before God.
All is confusion everywhere, except what grace has done,
whether it be angels or anybody else; no creature stands
when left to itself, and so as to angels, we read of “ the elect
angels.” e good angels are looking on, and therefore a
woman is to have her head covered. All creatures have a
sphere of responsibility-I do not mean Satan, of course, but
moral creatures. Verse 24 is to be taken literally: why not?
e indel would refuse it, and improve man. You do get
relief in a way afterward: so Lamech named his son Noah,
and said, “ is same shall comfort us concerning our work
and toil of our hands, because of the ground which Jehovah
hath cursed.” It does not say the curse was taken away; but
there was a comfort concerning it. ere was a certain
testimony to the state of things. e curse is not gone; but
it was mitigated in its eect. On the other hand, in chapter
4, Cain was cursed from the earth. He got an additional
curse: “ e earth shall not henceforth yield unto thee her
strength.” In the garden Adam did not toil to get food:
he ate the seed, and the animals ate the grass; but when
driven out, he had to toil to get things to eat-” in the sweat
of his face.” en after the ood seed-time and harvest are
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secured, agriculture in a way is blessed: not the curse gone,
but man comforted, so that I should think it is less work
to get things out of the earth now than it was before the
ood. It would seem that the end of chapter 8 implies a
change; for there is a promise that, though there might be
toil and diculty, yet “ neither will I again smite [that is,
in the ood] any more everything living, as I have done:
while the earth remaineth, seed-time and harvest, and
cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night,
shall not cease.” He gives sucient for agriculture, but the
seasons remain. In Israel it was not the labor removed, but
the amount of blessing on the labor increased. Adam had
to dress and keep the garden, and he might well enjoy it.
In the millennium the labor will continue; but they
shall not plant and another eat the fruit, and so on. Still,
the works of their hands go on. e labor does not cease,
nor will it be in sorrow that they eat. e earth shall yield
her increase, but men must toil to get it. Scripture shows
that some part of the earth will be barren, as marshes
shall be given to salt. e actual judgment goes no farther
than death in this world, and no farther than the body-
this mortal body. “ Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou
return.” e question of the soul is utterly untouched.
ose who oppose the truth as to this identify eternal life
with immortality; but when we have eternal life in Christ,
we do not cease to be mortal. e whole thing is really a
stupid blunder.
I consider that Eve is called “ living “ there as being
Adam’s faith, though you may not lay it down as a dogma.
It is remarkable, coming in just after the curse and after
the judgment on Satan too. After death has come in, she is
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called the mother of all living, not of the dying. But it was
no object of God to tell us whether Adam was saved or not.
e cherubim are connected with a judicial throne
and judicial power, and so always judicial. I speak of it
practically so-what judges a thing right as well as what
judges a thing wrong. e cherub is always God’s judicial
authority and power. ere were cherubim on the veil in
Ex. 26, as over the ark and elsewhere. On the veil it is
the symbol of judicial power, so in Ezekiel when he sees
them. So it is on the tabernacle: only on the mercy-seat it
is judgment for us. It is not merely a throne judging what
is wrong, though this is true, but a judgment on my behalf,
according to what the blood of atonement is. Law takes up
man on responsibility; and this is met for me by Another at
the mercy-seat. e dierence between them and seraphim
appears to be that cherubim are judgment, according to
the responsibility of man-judgment from God, of course;
and the seraphim have to do more immediately with God’s
nature. e only place they are expressly mentioned is in
Isa. 6; and there they cry, “ Holy, holy, holy, is Jehovah of
hosts.” e only other being that is called a seraph is the
ery serpent in the wilderness. [See Num. 21:6, 8; Deut.
8:15].
ere are two elements of judging with God. e rst
thing is, Have I maintained that which was set up to be?
and the other is the Lord’s coming, when I shall be in
God’s presence, Can I then stand in the glory of God? can
I abide this test then? In Isaiah, we have the rst in chapter
5, “ What could I have done more to my vineyard that I
have not done in it? “ that is, as a vineyard, what has it
borne? And then, in chapter 6, Jehovah is seen high and
lifted up, and how could a man stand in His presence? “
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ese things spake Esaias when he saw his glory, and spake
of him,” John 12.
In chapter 4 of Revelation, the four living creatures are
seen full of eyes before and behind, crying, “ Holy, holy,
holy,” having the cherubic and the seraphic characteristics
too. It is extremely instructive. “ And before the throne
there was a sea of glass like unto crystal, and in the midst
of the throne, and round about the throne, were four living
creatures, full of eyes before and behind.” So stood the
seraphim. “ And the rst living creature was like a lion, and
the second living creature like a calf, and the third living
creature had a face as a man, and the fourth living creature
was like a ying eagle “; this is cherubic. “ And the four
living creatures had each of them six wings about him, and
they were full of eyes within, and they rest not day and
night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which
was and is and is to come “: this is seraphic again. Farther
on we nd the judgment of the beast and of the false
prophet, and then God coming out in His holiness at the
end. In Israel we have the cherubim all through; and when
Nebuchadnezzar comes, the judgment on man according
to his responsibility. e only thing in which we see the
holiness and righteousness of God in itself is the altar
outside in brass, and inside the blood put on the golden
altar. us we have the two obligations (or measures rather)
of righteousness. Israel meets God on the ground of what
man ought to be outside at the brazen altar; and then when
the blood is upon the mercy-seat, the golden mercy-seat of
God, there is the righteousness of God as it is in itself. “
e Son of man is gloried, and God is gloried in him.”
e two attitudes of righteousness in the cherubim are at
the gate of Eden, and then upon the mercy-seat. At Eden
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they bar the way against Adam in judicial righteousness;
whereas God was sitting on the mercy-seat, and, though
He was not approachable because the veil was there, yet
He dealt with man; and, if righteous, He accepted man
there; and when the blood was on the mercy-seat, there
was that which met the character of God. erewith God
Himself was satised, for this was Jehovah’s lot. ere is
more known now, because the veil is rent. Christ’s work not
only took away my sins, but gloried God in His judicial
character. It is His righteousness to justify the believers.
In the garden it was the exclusion of man, but in the
cross we nd not only the sins borne, but much more; for
there is such a work of Christ as glories God, besides
putting away our sins. ere is Jehovah’s lot in full. Towards
the poor thief on the cross the Lord will not wait for the
kingdom to be set up in grace in the world, but there is
a positive going to God where He is. And we have more
than sin put away; we have also that which lays the ground
for the accomplishment of God’s counsels in bringing us in
His Son into His presence. is is no part of responsibility;
it is nothing of me-putting me into the glory, but the fruit
of God’s counsels accomplished in Christ. Christ does
meet my responsibility by dying; but there is a great deal
more than that. His delight was with the sons of men, and
He is going to have them in the glory with Himself. Christ
glories God, and the answer to that is that He goes into
the glory, and this as our forerunner.
It is only in the kingdom, I take it, that the cherubim
pass on into any connection with the church. We get inside
the heavenly city; what is judicial would be outside. e
Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it,
that is, they dwell in their own glory; but the nations of the
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millennial age walk in the light of it. We inside, we have
the glory of God lightening us; and they outside walk in
the light of the city itself. Christ is gloried in His saints,
but they who are outside will never see it as we see it inside.
So, in the transguration, the disciples fear when they see
Moses and Elias enter into the cloud (Luke 9:34).
To understand better Psa. 99, which speaks of sitting
between the cherubim, let us look at the Psalm from 93 to
100. ey are descriptive of the bringing in of the First-
begotten into the world. It is a most beautiful series from
the commencement in Psa. 93 to the accomplishment
in Psalm too. Psa. 93 gives the thesis. In the rejection of
Christ there was judgment in Pilate, and righteousness in
Christ. Taking the world as such, we nd the one righteous
man absolutely on one side, and judgment in the place of
authority on the other; but when Christ comes to reign
(Psa. 94:15), judgment returns to righteousness, and they
go together. en it is asked, “ Shall the throne of iniquity
have fellowship with thee, which frameth mischief by a
law? “ ere is the cry of the remnant then. In Psa. 95 is
the summons to them to return while it is still called “
to-day.” In Psa. 96 the heathen are summoned. In Psa. 97
He is coming. In Psa. 98 He is come. He hath showed His
righteousness, He hath remembered His mercy. In Psa.
99, having come and made known His salvation, He sits
between the cherubim, taking His place in Jerusalem. en
Psa. 100 summons the nations to come up and worship
in peace. Moses being the lawgiver, and Samuel the rst
prophet, the psalmist takes the originators of things in
Israel to call upon the name of the Lord.
Notice the psalms also that go before. Psa. 90 opens with
“ ou hast been our dwelling-place in all generations.”
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Israel goes back to Jehovah, having been their care-taker
all through. In Psa. 91 “ He that dwelleth in the secret
place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the
Almighty.” “ Most High “ was rst stated to Abraham. It
is God’s millennial name. So what the psalm says is really
that, if you dwell in the secret of Abraham’s God, you shall
have all Abraham’s blessing. It is a beautiful conversation,
so to speak, in the psalm.
In Prov. 8 it is the wisdom of the counsels of God. “
Jehovah possessed me in the beginning of his way before
his works of old. I was set up from everlasting, from the
beginning, or ever the earth was; when there were no
depths, I was brought forth, when there were no fountains
abounding with water, before the mountains were settled,
before the hills was I brought forth, while as yet he had
not made the earth nor the elds, nor the highest part
of the dust of the world; when he prepared the heavens
I was there, when he set a compass upon the face of the
depth, when he established the clouds above, when he
strengthened the foundations of the deep, when he gave
to the sea his decree that the waters should not pass his
commandment, when he appointed the foundations of the
earth, then I was by him as one brought up with him,” (as
His own beloved nursling), “ and I was daily his delight,
rejoicing always before him, rejoicing in the habitable part
of his earth; and my delights were with the sons of men.”
Wisdom personies Christ there. In Luke the heavenly
host say, “ Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace,
good pleasure in man “: the proof of this was that His Son
became a man. We could not have a part in counsels until
redemption was wrought, but when it was, we are brought
in. Now in Proverbs we see Him always rejoicing in the
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habitable parts of His earth before the earth was made;
and so when He comes He does not take up angels, but
sons of men.
But in Genesis it is not what wisdom was before the
foundation of the world, but the foundation of the world,
and man put in his responsibility. In Prov. 8 His delight
was not in creation itself and (therefore we have “ habitable
“); it was in the men themselves. But we have no counsels
brought out until Christ died. In the rst seven chapters
are good and evil, corruption and violence; and then
in chapter 8 God’s wisdom in His counsels. And in the
former chapters you have too the divine mind expressed in
the relationships that God has formed; it is “ my son, hear
my voice,” and so on. It is remarkable it is nearly always
Jehovah in Proverbs, while you do not nd Jehovah in
Ecclesiastes at all.
When fallen, Adam got Christ for the tree of life. So
Augustine exclaims, “ Oh, happy fault! “ that Adam sinned.
God never would have been known as He is if it had not
been for sin. ere would have been no need for grace,
redemption, righteousness, that is, as to man. But now
all that God is has been displayed, and this in the cross,
righteousness of God against sin, the holiness of God, and
the love of God. ese would not have come out at all if
man had not sinned; and they are the things that the angels
desire to look into.
“ Prudence,” in Eph. 1, is wisdom in putting it all
together.
God does not shut the man out until He has covered
his nakedness-sovereign grace at the very beginning. It is
the intimation that God covers him in mercy.
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I have no doubt that death had come in, because it is “
skins,” and animals must have been killed; how, it is not said,
but this is the case with many things, because it is not the
object of revelation. ey had made themselves aprons of
g-leaves, and still were conscious that they were naked as
ever, for they hid themselves in spite of it. But God clothed
them, and then they were not naked at all. It was grace
coming in, but only, of course, the sin thereby covered. And
I think there was faith too, because it comes immediately
after Adam calling his wife’s name Eve because she was the
mother of all living.
But we read, “ lest he put forth his hand and take also of
the tree of life “; because God would not let him take of it
and live forever: that would have given him life in sin. Man
might have attempted to countervail the whole thing, and
to set up the old man thoroughly.
us the turning out of the garden was more than
judgment; it was mercy, when we come to think of it. It
could not be allowed that man should not die in spite of
God. So it was judgment, but mercy at the same time in
another way. ere would have been no possibility of a
ood to destroy, or anything else to put an end to man’s
wickedness.
Now came Cain and Abel (chap. 4). e question is early
raised, whether a man can worship God without Christ.
Cain was a wicked person; but, as appearance went, he was
doing what was right in paying what he owed to God. But
really it was bringing the sign of the curse; it was going to
God as if nothing had happened; it was the most perfect
hardness of heart, because, if I come to God at all, why have
I such toil and labor? why give the fruit of my body for the
sin of my soul, except I am away from God, and something
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has happened? e whole thing tells its own story. Man
has been driven out, and he cannot come to God on the
same footing as if he had not been put away. When in the
garden there was any feeling of God, he goes and hides
himself; but now, when outside, he goes hardened to God.
“ By faith Abel oered unto God a more excellent sacrice
than Cain.” But how did he know that this was right?
He knew of these beasts slain for skins, and he may have
had more for aught we know. “ By which Abel obtained
witness that he was righteous,” was by sacrice as well as
by faith. Both are in the verse, “ God testifying of his gifts
“; but sacrice is the least thing referred to. We see that the
man is pronounced righteous. In Hebrews the point is not
God giving a thing to us, but faith carries Christ in hand
guratively, and God says, “ you are righteous.” What is the
value and character of my righteousness? I say, Christ. Abel
is pronounced righteous: but the measure and character of
his righteousness is Christ.
Cain came as the expression of horrible hardness of
heart; to him and to his oering God had not respect. So
Cain was wroth, and Jehovah says, “ Why art thou wroth?
and why is thy countenance fallen? “
Should it be “ sin,” or “ sin-oering,” lieth at the door?
I am disposed to think it a sin-oering; only that the sin-
oering is never mentioned historically until we come to
Leviticus, under Moses. It is in this kind of way, “ If thou
does well, shalt thou not be accepted? and unto thee shall
the desire of thy younger brother be, and thou shalt rule
over him; but if thou failest to do well, there is a remedy,
and therefore thou oughtest not to be wroth.” “ Lieth at the
door “ means crouching. It is not the expression, “ It is at
your door,” as we say; and therefore I was inclined to take
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it, “ If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? “ (“ and
if thou doest not well,” there is a remedy, in parenthesis) “
and unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over
him.” I have no quarrel with the other view, because sin did
lie at his door.
“ And Jehovah said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy
brother? and he said, I know not: am I my brother’s keeper?
And he said, What hast thou done? “ It is not only now
the testimony of sin against us, to say what have we done
as sinners. But we hear from God, “ Where is Christ? “ e
Holy Ghost is come, and convinces the world of sin, but
more than this.
He comes and says to the whole world, on God’s part, “
Where is my Son? “ en there is haughtiness too in Cain’s
reply, “ Am I my brother’s keeper? “ as though why should
God ask?
Besides this and more, another important principle
comes out-the practically self-righteous man rejecting
Christ is then turned out; he leaves the presence of the
Lord, and dwells in the land of Nod (that is, “ vagabond “)
where his son is called Enoch, and he builds a city, calling
it Enoch too, after his son. us he stretches himself in
the world, and gives a family name to the town, and the
history shows us artisans, and arts, and sciences, all in the
train. He goes out from God, and settles himself in the
place of judgment, to his best with it, in open deance of
God. God neglects nothing, and Cain cannot get out of
the reach of His hand, of course; but in his own will he
was entirely outside. Cain sets to work to make the earth
as comfortable as he can without God; Adam did not want
all that in paradise.
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As to lake dwellings, and caves with stone hatchets, and
many similar things, we have to remember that in New
Guinea people are doing the same thing now: how would
London like to do so? In Switzerland and Italy they have
been nding, covered with bog, and in the lakes, a hundred
villages, and all kinds of remains-what the people were
eating, and what clothes they wore, as round the Lake of
Geneva and elsewhere. And they have learned the natural
history of those times. ere was a stone in a hole that they
could not make out, and at last found it was what they wove
with. Occasionally they have discovered a thing that came
from Phenicia, which was civilized at the very time these
villages appeared to have ourished. In North America,
lying under some magnicent trees, seven hundred years
old, was a piece of native copper, or a square cradle, put
ready to he carried away, with other distinct marks of an
earlier civilization than the present.
Civilization does die away in places; but I know of
no case of light from God going away, and bringing in
barbarism.
It was God’s providential government when Satan
made the Chaldeans go and take Job’s goods. If we refer to
the sentence on Cain, there was no direct government at all
in that, it did not kill him. Man is now left to himself until
we come to the second world. God protects him, putting a
mark on him, lest any nding him should kill him. is I
believe to be a gure of the Jews unto this day.
Cain is “ I have gotten,” Abel is “ vanity,” because he
went to nothing. Eve fancied she had gotten this man from
the Lord-that this was the promise, while it was only from
nature. Cain means “ gotten,” Seth means “ appointed,” and
Abel means “ the dying man.” Eve thinks she has the man
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that can inherit the blessing. It was not so, as we well know.
If you take esh, the Jews were [Cain] the men from the
Lord, and it only resulted in their killing the Lord; rst
that which is natural, and afterward that which is spiritual.
Chapter 4:23 may be taken historically, and it is true;
but typically it refers to the Jews at the end. ere is self-
will in it every way. Typically it is the remnant of Israel in
the last day; but we must not dogmatize about that. Cain is
a gure of Israel having killed Christ, and made a vagabond
on the earth. At the end the remnant of Israel will own,
like Lamech, they have killed this man to their wounding.
In the historical sense he kills somebody, and says, “ I have
been touched, and I will be avenged.”
If one disputes this sense I do not contend for it. A
man once took me to task about a parable, and said, “
What proof do you give me of its meaning so-and-so? “
My answer was, It is like honey, which is given you, and
you ask me to prove that it is sweet! If you cannot taste, I
cannot prove it.
Seth is the man appointed instead of both Abel and
Cain: God hath appointed, in contrast with I have gotten,
as Eve said of Cain. So now, Seth from God.
Calling “ on the name of the Lord “ (v. 25) was
dependence; but Cain’s family would not own the Lord at
all, the appointed man and his family would. In short, it is
the same dreadful truth as to Cain there as in 2 ess. 2
Only it will be nal by-and-by. And what is noticeable is
that Cain was settling himself in that place without God;
it was not so much resistance as independence.
After Seth the appointed man comes in, they began
to own Jehovah specically. is is the meaning of “ then
began men to call on the name of Jehovah.”
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As to the discrepancy between the Hebrew and the
Septuagint, as to the years in chapter 5, I say nothing, save
that there is a curious fact in this, that to each of these lives
the Septuagint adds a hundred years. us “ Adam lived
23o years, and begat,” instead of 130. is adds fourteen
hundred years to the time of the world, the Samaritan
Pentateuch more still.
It is not a casual mistake, but done on purpose, for it is
to each, and it is only carried down to the point where, if
they had gone one more, they would have pushed it over
the ood; but there it stops. In Matthew the genealogy is
a copy of Jewish records. I do not doubt myself, though
it has been disputed since the second century, that Luke’s
is Mary’s genealogy. Luke takes it back up to man, but
Matthew from David and Abraham, because his reference
is to promises. In the Talmud they have got Mary the
daughter of Eli.
en we get afterward the length of years pretty much
the same, except Enoch, where stands the important fact
that heaven is brought in for anybody that has faith to
look at it. God had men for heaven in the midst of all the
confusion; as with Elijah, He had seven thousand left that
had not bowed the knee to Baal.
Enoch is a gure of those caught up, Noah of the
remnant of the Jews that go through the tribulation. In
Noah the world is comforted, the gure of the millennium.
As to any consecutive meaning in these names, certain
people have made something out of them; but I think
nothing of this and the like spinning of webs out of the
imagination. We must look for scriptural warrant, at least
for the principle; and this is lacking here.
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We are coming to the world we have been reading
about destroyed by the ood. Hitherto it has been the old
world with a wonderful series of principles in it, which is
the character of Genesis, especially at the beginning.
Man is seen in his original responsibility (but with a
number of gures in it) before God began to deal with
him. It is a distinct principle of condition that there were
no specic dealings, no government, no nations, no law,
no promises, no covenant. ere was the revelation or
prediction of the Seed of the woman; there was Enoch
with a prophecy; but no dealings of God. No miracles are
stated.
Afterward we nd government put into the hands of
man; then the law; and last, Christ Himself.
God’s prolonging man’s life at that time acted instead
of writing the word; we see God’s wisdom in it so. At the
ood we get life shortened by half; and by half again, when
the earth was divided and portioned out to the people. It
would not do, in the way the world is now, for men to live
900 years.
Noah was a just man, and did know God.
e two grounds of condemnation are found in Rom.
1 the one is, the visible world in its witness; the other is,
men’s having known God previously. For (1) “ the invisible
things of him from the creation of the world are clearly
seen, being understood by the things that are made.” en
comes (2) “ when they knew God, they gloried him
not as God.” ese are two distinct things. ey did not
heed creation: and they gave God up when known. But
Enoch walked with God, or “ pleased God,” as in the New
Testament it is said. It never says so of Adam, because he
walked away from God, and did not please Him.
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In Gen. 6:3 the Spirit is said to strive with man in the
testimony God had given by Noah; He preached by Noah
to the spirits, now in prison, of men drowned at the ood.
God gave men 120 years to repent. It was no question
of age. Man never got 120 years as a xed portion, though
life was thus long in Moses’ time.
Enoch’s prophecy was preserved, but we know not
how. It exists in tradition; but only in scripture have we
it given us as it really was. It is preserved in books, and
was well known in the second century; indeed they talk
about Job borrowing from it. Bruce brought three copies
of a book of Enoch from Abyssinia; of course this was an
apocryphal hook. ere is a regular system in it by which
the Lord judges, and so on. I have no doubt the book was
written just after the destruction of Jerusalem, and against
Christians. e writer sees the “ tower of the ock,” as he
calls it, destroyed; and he could see no farther. He was a
Jew writing in favor of the Jews, and talks about perverse
men, who were Christians. It has reference to the history
of times before the ood; and it has a kind of vision which
Noah relates to his posterity, or an angel tells him things.
He makes the ood come to the earth because it got a
tilt. Enoch’s prophecy was preserved traditionally and
incorrectly. It is a testimony to chew how really the coming
judgment was looked for. Bruising the serpent’s head is
given in a way as coming to destroy the power of Satan.
In chapter 6:11 are the two general characters seen in
man; the earth was corrupt before God, and lled with
violence. So it will be at the end: Babylon is corruption,
and the beast is violence. So with ourselves, we nd plenty
of the corruption and of the violence too.
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But “ Noah found grace in the eyes of Jehovah,” that is,
divine favor rested on him; personally righteous doubtless,
but all through grace of course. Moses says, “ If I have
found grace in thy sight “; it is a common expression. In
the next chapter God says of Noah, “ ee have I seen
righteous before me in this generation.” But the earth was
completely lled with violence. Every imagination of the
thoughts of man’s heart was only evil continually; if sin
comes in, it is sure to ripen up.
God changes His mind, but only as to creation (v. 6) or
the like-never when there is a purpose. It is, if the thing
totally changes, that God judges dierently about it. So it
was now, and therefore God would destroy man. It is not
as if some change took place in God, but the aspect of His
mind is changed towards an object that has itself changed.
“ All in whose nostrils is the breath of life “ included
man and beast; all go together in that kind of language.
en at the right time God takes Noah with his family,
and all enter the ark, “ and Jehovah shut him in.”
As to the number “ forty,” it seems to me to have the
sense of endurance in it. Forty stripes save one is thirty-
nine; for they need a three-thonged rod, so that they could
only give thirty-nine by the law, not to exceed forty. It
is a length of duration and trial in that way, testing and
patience and endurance. So Moses in his three periods
of life. Again, Ezekiel lay forty days on his right side for
Judah, as a sign, a day for a year, according to the years
of Judah’s iniquity (Ezek. 4). Jonah’s proclamation was yet
forty days and Nineveh shall be overthrown; though they
did not yet come under the penalty, they were tried. Elijah
had been forty days apart, as Israel of old in the wilderness
forty years. Here it was till the ark oated.
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As to the “ two of every sort “ in chapter 7, and “ seven
clean “ in verses 2, 3, the rst were male and female, to keep
them alive; when they were clean beasts, he took fourteen.
I have no doubt the “ clean “ were what were customarily
given for sacrices. Who would oer a ravenous wild beast
in sacrice to God, but sheep or oxen? is dierence of
a provision for the race and for sacrice is bound up with
the dierent use respectively of God (Elohim) and of the
LORD (Jehovah).
e fountains of the great deep were all broken up, and
the windows of heaven opened, that is, above and below, all
together broken up: in what way we cannot tell, but they
were. en we hear of a raven, an unclean thing, which
could y about in this world without diculty, whilst the
dove found no rest for the sole of her foot.
Tisri was the rst month, that is, part of September
and October. e fourteenth day of Abib was the end of
March, as Abib began in the middle of our March, and
went on to the middle of our April. It was ve months
that the waters prevailed; and after the end of the 15o days
the waters abated, and the ark rested on the mountains of
Ararat, the waters being two months and a half in running
o.
I believe the ood was all over the earth, wherever man
was. ere is no mistake. People have called the universality
in question, using general terms, as if it only covered the
inhabited earth. But scripture says, “ the mountains were
covered,” “ and the tops of the mountains were seen,” and
so on; this looks like universality. You must let in a miracle
in any case: and so it is all one after all. Suppose Mount
Ararat, fteen or sixteen thousand feet high, in northern
Armenia, was covered; well, if the waters were not all
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round, and away too, they would have run o, and covered
somewhere else; there must have been a miracle anyhow.
e universality of the ood, absolute universality, seems
to me to be positively meant and intended, because of
destroying the world that then was. God puts an end to the
whole system of the world. It was as complete a judgment
of the earth and all that was on it, on the part of God, as
it will be presently by re. Everything in the whole order
and system of the world that had life perished, “ the earth
standing out of the water and in the water, whereby the
world that then was, being overowed with water, perished
“: so Peter tells us, and anything that enfeebled it I should
not admit: all mere physical things are consequent upon
it. Either reject the word of God, or else Mount Ararat
was covered. As to universal destruction, everything in the
world was put an end to. e world that then was is distinct
from the world that now is; and this is of immense moral
import to us. God says He will never do it again, but the
next time it will be by re.
We see (chap. 8: 20) that oerings were usual, as they
had been from Abel; and it was an act of faith. ese were
sweet savor oerings; the burnt-oering involves sin, but
not so exactly sins. It is not a guilty conscience which brings
a burnt-oering as such. Christ comes and oers Himself a
sacrice for sin, gives Himself up to absolute obedience to
glorify God; and, the blood being shed, atonement is made;
but the burnt-oering is the perfectness of His obedience
in suering everything for God’s glory. Sin-oerings were
not a sweet savor. e burnt-oering was the glorifying
God in that place, taking up the righteousness of God
against sin. In the sacrice of sin-oering I see positive sin
laid upon the victim.
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It is not exactly thanksgiving here, which would be more
the character of a peace-oering. It was oering to God a
full acknowledgment of Himself, as the basis of renewal
after judgment. is is how Noah oered. rough the
eternal Spirit Christ oered Himself without spot to God,
to be a sacrice. Many want to make out that He bore our
sins up to the cross; but when He oered Himself, He was
a spotless One, and the Lord laid our sins upon Him. In
the two goats on the day of atonement the bringing up of
Jehovah’s lot was in order to the slaying; but the slaying
followed; and when once it was slain, the blood could be
taken in. So I nd, after the gift of Himself, He is made sin,
or the sins are laid upon Him. Besides the meeting of our
responsibility, God was dishonored about sin, and Christ
stands in that place of dishonor for God’s glory, not merely
to put away my sins.
Now it is this that gives the great character to Noah’s
act. He did not come with a sin-oering, as that would
have been going to God for his sins, but with a burnt-
oering, and Jehovah smelled a sweet savor. Of course
there was no possible ground for any blessing except upon
the footing of the sacrice of Christ. Now we have, what
we nd in the case of Moses, the general coming in of
sacrice, in its result, as a ground of blessing. In chapter
6 “ God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the
earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his
heart was only evil continually, and it repented Jehovah
that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at
his heart.” Now in chapter 8, when Noah oers, Jehovah
smelled a sweet savor, and Jehovah said in His heart, “ I
will not again curse the ground any more for man’s sake,
for the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth,
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neither will I again smite any more every living thing as I
have done.” e moment the sacrice has come in, God
says, as it were, “If I am to smite the people and to curse
them, I must always be cursing them! “ Now therefore He
goes on the ground of sacrice, because (this is the point)
man is so bad. Previously the evil was before God, bringing
His judgment. Now it is before Him, and through sacrice,
a reason for not cursing the ground any more.
It was so in the case of Moses and the people. “Jehovah
said unto Moses, I have seen this people, and, behold, it is
a sti-necked people; now therefore let me alone, that my
wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume
them,” Ex. 32:9, 10. And then in Ex. 34:9, Moses pleads,
“ If now I have found grace in thy sight, O Jehovah, let
my Lord, I pray thee, go among us, for it is a sti-necked
people.” And we know, I know, that sin in me is the ground
of my being lost; and yet sin in me is the very ground of
my going to God to keep me, now that sacrice has come
in. It shows a wonderful character of grace, its overowing
fullness, to give, as the ground of God’s being with us, what
was the ground of judgment; that is, when once sacrice
has come in.
What is often said of Noah’s carpentry is man’s
imagination. Yet if he had plenty to do, he had plenty of
time. But let us bear in mind that, as to preparing the ark,
it is not necessary to suppose that he and his sons did it all
by themselves. Such things are not much if no doctrine be
founded upon them.
In chapter 9 it is said to Noah, “ And the fear of you
and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth
and upon every fowl of the air, upon all that moveth upon
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the earth, and upon all the shes of the sea.” is was not
said to Adam.
In Noah it was more power than what is called
natural authority, as in Adam. After the ruin of Israel,
in Nebuchadnezzar it is another kind of thing, it is rule
wheresoever the children of men dwell, another sort of
authority (nothing about animals and shes and birds
there): he had dominion where his empire reached, though
he never made it all good, any more than Solomon did.
en it is found that, God having saved the sons with
Noah, men of the second race were brought into blessing.
But the life of man slain by a beast, “ at the hand of every
beast will I require it.” We thus see that God maintains His
title to life, even a beast’s life. ey must come and oer the
blood to God. Man had no esh to eat before He gives it
to man.
We all know that many are seeking to do away with
capital punishment; but what do they care about God? e
whole order of God is broken up now. Even a beast killing
should die. Verse 6 gives the reason: “ In the image of God
made he man “; so that it is always true up to the end.
Men only think of what ts men; but we as Christians have
nothing to do with that.
Even Christians who take a very prominent part in
the advocacy of the abolition of slavery go along with the
world.
Man’s life was going to be shortened and the whole
system was changed. I am very glad that the appointment
of God is seen to be there, so that it be not turned to Jewish
principles.
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“ In the image of God made he man.” It was despising
God’s image to kill man. Again, a man was free if he caught
a fox to eat it then, not a Jew after the law was given.
It does not necessarily follow that clean and unclean
were known, though there is some distinction when Noah
was taking the animals into the ark. ere we see that some
were reckoned clean and some reckoned unclean. Cattle
and beasts of the eld were distinguished to Adam, and
we nd Abel a keeper of sheep. When Leviticus comes, it
limits the oerings to sheep, goats, bullocks, and so on. It
may have been instinct in man in a way at rst, and that
God put His positive sanction on it when He gave the law.
And now He establishes His covenant, and His bow is
set in the cloud, the token of the covenant. is, I take it,
is the reason that the rainbow is round about the throne in
Rev. 4 It is the covenant with creation seen there, as of old
in Genesis. Only it is “ like unto an emerald.” e presence
of the bow in Revelation means that God’s covenant with
creation is remembered that there should not be a ood
again. e bow is given to be for a token of the covenant
rather than that it was created then. God might, of course,
have put plenty of clouds above the earth without a rainbow.
He says, “ I do set my bow.”
e moral point at the end of chapter 9 is that the
blessing given him is abused to destroy all his competency
to govern. Noah gets drunk: this is not exercising authority.
Afterward comes in the wickedness of Ham; and then “
blessed be the Lord God of Shem, and Canaan shall be
his servant.” In contrast with this He cursed Ham in
Canaan, that is, in his family. Everything went by families
now. Shem was the root of God’s family, with the name of
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Jehovah even then attached to. it, whose lot it would be to
judge the races of Canaan and to take their place.
In verse 27 the “ he “ is Japheth, who “ shall dwell in the
tents of Shem,” and Canaan shall be Japheth’s servant as
well as Shem’s.
e family of Japheth pushed out far and wide, and did
dwell in the tents of Shem.
As to the color, especially black, I do not pretend to
account for it in mankind. e Egyptians were not black;
they are always painted red in the hieroglyphics. eir
pictures in Nubia are seen with prisoners all black. What
Livingstone found in Africa was, that if there was a wet
country along with heat, there the people got black. e
Portuguese are black in certain hollow islands. As to what
people have stated about races, I have no hesitation in
saying that there is nothing solid about it whatever.
We have had in a certain sense the whole history of
the new world as regards Noah and his sons, the altar,
his drunkenness, and so on. In chapter 10, 11, you get a
statement all by itself, before you come to God’s dealings
with the world as now commenced afresh.
We have rst the history of Noah’s generations.
In verse 21 Japheth is stated to be elder son. In verse 5
you have “ by these were the isles of the Gentiles divided in
their lands, every one after his tongue, after their families
in their nations.” ere you get “ nations “ which is an
immense thing; then the sons of Ham, who stretched
from the Euphrates to the Nile and got hold of Canaan
somehow; the sons of Shem come last.
Chapter 10 is not history, but a survey of the whole
earth. ere were no tongues or nations at all till Babel; if
you try to put this chapter into time, you will go all astray.
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en in Ham you have another principle, and that is
a royal conquering power. “ Cush begat Nimrod,” who
began to be a mighty one in the earth, with beasts rst
and then with man. He was a mighty hunter, wherefore
it is said, “ Even as Nimrod the mighty hunter before the
Lord, and the beginning of his kingdom was Babel and
Erech and Accad and Calneh in the land of Shinar.” en
Asshur goes out and builds Nineveh. ese are the rst
great monarchies.
“ Before the Lord “ means just that he was very great;
as Moses was fair or beautiful “ to God,” and in Hebrews
“ exceeding “ fair. So too, in Jonah 3, “ Nineveh was an
exceeding great city “ is a city “ great of God “ (in margin
and literally).
en we learn how the dispersion came.
I suppose Eber (verse 21) is mentioned because the
Hebrews came of him. ere is another fact in verse 25: in
the days of Peleg the earth was divided, and at that moment
man’s life went down to just half at one bound. You see it
in the next chapter. Eber lived four hundred and sixty-four
years, and Peleg lived two hundred and thirty-nine. Here,
so far then, we have the history of the world: the world is
settled, and it is all regulated in its general principles with
all the races still going on; then in chapter I I it goes back
to the races, “ and the whole earth was of one language
and of one speech.” And they set to work to build a city
and a tower, that they might make a name: not out of the
reach of another ood, as some say, for this is the greatest
nonsense possible; it was to be a great central temple to
their own name. Babel was in principle apostasy, for it was
a name for themselves instead of God. It is man uniting
for himself. ey say, Let us make us a name, lest we be
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scattered abroad. ey wanted to concentrate themselves
there so that they should be all one. And this is just the
great idea of the present day. But then the Lord comes
down and confuses them, and they are all scattered.
is is followed by the specic generations of Shem,
until you come down to Abram and a totally distinct
line of things. We have had the generations of Noah, a
genealogical history; and the generations of Shem are a
specic thing besides. In it you nd the shortening of life
we spoke of, when the earth was divided.
ey went to the East and got a name, they were the
direct descendants of Eber. God did not call them Hebrews;
it was the other nations. Some take it from Arba in Hebrew,
for the word means to come over, because Abraham came
over the river.
Languages do blend, though kept apart, and I do not
doubt providentially too. We cannot say much about it
in England; for we have two or three languages together,
Latin, and German, and so on.
en we go on to Terah. Abram comes rst, not because
he was oldest, but because he was the important one. All
that we have got thus far is the fact that the whole world
is parceled out into nations, and this comes from the
judgment of Babel because man would not be scattered.
And you hear nothing of Noah in all this: his power is
gone, though he was alive all the time. He lived to Abram’s
time if you take the Hebrew computation. Shem lived to
Isaac’s time, who was twenty-eight when Shem died. Noah
died a few (twelve) years before Abram’s time.
We have seen how the world was settled, and, after
Noah has gone from the scene, the nations divided, and
the fact of God’s judgment confounding their language.
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e languages we know come, I believe, from Sanskrit or
Zend. Latin and Greek, they say, were sister languages, and
not mother and daughter (and they call them now Aryan),
and all the languages of Europe except the Basque, and
so all the northern languages of India. en there is the
Shemitic and that class of languages, the Turanian, the
North American languages having been Shemitic made up
since. Scythian or Assyrian they cannot read yet. ey have
made out the Shemitic and Aryan, but not the Turanian.
Such are the great roots of what has covered the world.
ere was nothing to hinder Moses from speaking
Hebrew: the Jews all spoke it among themselves. It is a
very child’s tongue, not an elaborately formed language at
all. Besides, God may have made him know it perfectly.
ey have found an inscription put up by Mesha, king of
Moab, the sheep-master, in an old Phoenician character.
e Samaritans still keep nearly the same. When the
Jews came back from Babylon, they had only the present
Hebrew characters.
us the old world is done with, and certain great
principles shown, and then the new world is set up, being
split up into these nations; and with that the beginning of
what will be the beast’s (that is, in Babel) empire was set up
in Nebuchadnezzar, but the germ of it is here. And we have
the sphere in which God’s plans and purposes come out.
en as soon as we have the world parceled out into
nations, peoples, tribes, and tongues, God’s providence
doing it, the rst thing He does is to tell a man to leave it
all. “ Get thee out of thy country and from thy kindred, and
from thy father’s house into a land that I will show thee,”
Gen. 12.
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Providence is never the guide of faith. God may govern
by providences, He overrules things, and so on; and I may
be forced to use a circumstance, or it may come and stop
me because I am like a horse or mule that must be held
in by bit or bridle; but providence is never the guide of
faith. In the case of Moses, was there ever anything more
providential than that Pharaoh’s daughter should come
and take him up just as he was exposed in the river, to be
brought up as her own son? But this is not the guidance of
faith. I may be controlled by circumstances; God may use
them so, He will lead the blind by a way that they know
not, yet this is not seeing.
But the principle here is, that He calls one out-Abram.
e rst dealing of God, when He had put the framework
of the world to work in, is calling one out to work by. And
there is another principle; when He does call him out,
Abram is the father of the faithful. As we had a bad race in
Adam, we have a race of God now. e Jews were the eshly
seed of Abram, but Abram is the head of God’s people at
large. ere is another thing, and that is what all hangs
upon: election, calling, and promise, belong to this family,
and to nothing else. God takes Abram out: this is election.
He calls him, and the God of glory reveals Himself to him,
giving him the promises. It is not church ground here, but
it is grace, in election, calling, and promise. ese are the
rst three things.
Election “ means choosing. And the calling is of those
whom He has chosen; it is the making good their election.
In “ many are called but few are chosen,” the two are in
opposition, not as here where they go together.
en Abram is to go out by faith; the necessary
consequence when he is called. ere is trust in God,
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believing His word; and so we get upon a new footing
altogether.
It is not the old world with just a testimony of Enoch,
but God positively dealing in the new world. As the apostle
reasons, the rst thing after the world is settled is grace,
then law after; but now we get into the direct dealings of
God, which is an immensely important thing. ere was no
dealing of God before, except the ood, and this nishes
that state. ere was a revelation of important principles,
sacrice, and so on, but no dealings of His.
Abram did not go out at rst, or rather he went out, but
did not go in; he left his country and kindred, but not his
father’s house. “ And Terah took Abram his son, and Lot
the son of Haran, his son’s son, and Sarai his daughter-in-
law, his son Abraham’s wife; and they went forth from Ur
of the Chaldees to go into the land of Canaan, and they
came unto Haran and dwelt there.” Stephen says in the
Acts, “ after the death of his father,” whilst chapter 12:4,
says, “ So Abram departed as the Lord had spoken unto
him, and Lot went with him, and Abram was seventy and
ve years old when he departed out of Haran, and Abram,
and Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother’s son, and all their
substance that they had gathered, and the souls that they
had gotten in Haran, and they went forth to go into the
land of Canaan, and into the land of Canaan they came.”
In Josh. 24:14, 15, you nd the occasion on which God
called Abram out-the worship of other gods. All the world
had gone into idolatry, and the nations into which God
had separated it.
e God of glory had revealed Himself to him, and it
becomes quite a new scene. It is all on the earth of course:
you get nothing of heaven here, but the land and earth.
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I believe Abram went afterward to heaven, but here it
is, “ I will make of thee a great nation “ (not you shall go to
heaven), “ and I will bless thee, and make thy name great,
and thou shalt be a blessing, and I will bless them that bless
thee, and curse him that curseth thee, and in thee shall all
families of the earth be blessed.”
In 2 Peter 1:3 it is by glory and virtue (it is the dative of
the instrument there, not “ to “). He says, ere is My glory,
and you must have the courage to cut your way through to
it. In Abram’s case the God of glory appears to him; but
what He calls Abram by is the land. In the second epistle
of Peter the principle is the same exactly. Only, as we have
Christ in the glory above to whom we are called, so Abram
was called to go and possess the land. Clearly the force of
the word “ virtue “ there is moral courage.
As soon as Abram had got to the place that God had
called him to, he was obliged to look higher still, or did so
however. Our calling and our place are identical; but with
Abram, he went forth to go into the land of Canaan and
came there, while God did not give him so much as to set
his foot on. And so it was he had to look for something
else: not that he ever gave up the land.
e city for which Abram looked stood very much as
the glory in Peter practically, but his calling was to the land.
Abram found he had to look for something else by
being in the land where he had no city, no possession, and
he had even to buy a grave in it-that was all. He had a tent,
and he had an altar there, but no more. In that sense it is
the picture of the life of faith. God says, “ I will make of
thee a great nation, and thou shalt be a blessing.” He puts
him as a center of blessing: “ Blessed is he that blesseth
thee, and cursed is he that curseth thee “; and then you get
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the thing that is insisted on in Galatians (chap. 3): “ In thee
shall all families of the earth be blessed,” though we have
nothing about the seed here stated: the great nation is the
eshly seed. Abram is the root of the tree of promise.
ere is no promise to Abram and his seed as to our
blessing; there was to be a seed of his like the stars for
multitude, but this is not “ one.” What you get in chapter
22 is, “ because thou hast done this thing,” when Isaac was
oered up, “ and hast not withheld thy son, thine only
son, in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will
multiply thy seed as the stars of heaven, and as the sand
which is upon the sea-shore, and thy seed shall possess the
gate of his enemies; and in thy seed shall all the nations of
the earth be blessed, because thou hast obeyed my voice.”
e promise was given to Abram and conrmed to Christ
the Seed: it was never given to Abram and the seed, but
conrmed to the seed. e oering up of Isaac was the
occasion, for then the promise was given in resurrection,
and it is conrmed to the seed. You do get Abram and his
seed when you come to the land. In Gal. 3 change the order
of the words, “ Now to Abraham were the promises made,
and to his seed,” and he says, “ If it be a man’s covenant, yet
if it be conrmed, no man disannulleth or addeth thereto,”
etc. He insists that you cannot have the law along with
Christ: “ Now to Abraham were the promises made, and
to his seed,” which is Christ; and the promise which was
conrmed before of God to Christ, the law, which was 430
years after, cannot annul. When God has conrmed it, you
cannot disannul it, nor can you add to it. You must take the
promises as they come: this is true of man’s covenant, much
more of God’s.
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Another thing is, that the promise was absolutely
without condition. e law brought them under conditions:
there were two parties to it. But there are not two to this
covenant- it is an absolute promise without any condition
whatever.
“ So Abram departed as the Lord had spoken unto him,
and Lot went with him,” and so on. “ And the Canaanite
was then in the land, and the Lord appeared unto Abram
and said, Unto thy seed will I give this land, and there
builded he an altar unto the Lord who appeared unto him.”
ere we see another thing: not only God appeared to him
and called him, but God reveals Himself to him in the
place of promise; and this makes worship. He is in the place
promised, though he had not got it yet; and there he builds
an altar. en he goes about to a mountain on the east of
Bethel, and pitched his tent, having Bethel on the west
and Hai on the east, and there he builded an altar unto the
Lord, and called upon the name of the Lord. ere we have
Abram’s history as the child of faith and the father of the
faithful. e rest of the chapter is his failure as the child of
faith, and what comes of it. “ And Abram journeyed going
on still towards the south, and there was a famine in the
land, and Abram went down into Egypt to sojourn there.”
He has not consulted the Lord; but he tells Sarai to say
that she is his sister-a kind of picture of the way in which
the church has denied her Lord.
I think I have found that typically viewed the woman
represents a condition, and a man rather the action in the
condition or conduct if you please.
e church is Christ’s wife, but has denied its real place
and gone into Pharaoh’s house. But you will nd another
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thing: the Lord delivers Abram and Sarah, but judges
Pharaoh.
“ And Abram went up out of Egypt, he, and his wife,
and all that he had, and Lot with him, into the south, and
Abram was very rich in cattle, in silver, and in gold, and
he went on his journeying from the south even to Bethel,
unto the place where his tent had been at the beginning,
between Bethel and Hai, unto the place of the altar which
he had made there at the rst, and there Abram called on
the name of the Lord.” Down in Egypt we have no altar,
and no calling on the name of the Lord: God takes care of
him, and watches over him; but Abram is no worshipper
there, nor until he gets back. He goes down to Egypt,
forced, as people say, by circumstances, not in the place
of dependence or communion: it is the character of the
position. You nd the same thing in Jacob, only he came
back to Shechem.
Where you get “ all the families of the earth,” it
applies to us, although it will be really made good in the
millennium in another way. Gal. 3:8 says, “ e scripture,
foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through
faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying,
In thee shall all nations be blessed: so then they which be
of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham,” and thus we
come in.
e promise in somewhat dierent terms is given to
Isaac and Jacob; but in Abraham is the root of the olive tree,
and therefore all the great general principles are found. In
Isaac the reason is, “ Because Abraham obeyed my voice,”
whilst in Jacob we see God’s dealings with Israel, that
is, as to mere general principles. And so about Isaac you
have very little given except that he is heir of all his father
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has, and he is brought up and takes a wife. In the case of
Jacob after Sarah’s death, it is an earthly picture; there is no
resurrection glory or the like.
Now you see Abram had been snared a little in going
down into Egypt. It looks like providence and provision.
But when he gets back, we come to another principle: a
person that had been walking with Abram not by his own
faith, but by Abram’s, is before us, and that kind of thing
cannot go on forever; that is Lot. And they could not dwell
together in the land, so Abram gives up everything. Lot
chooses die world; he is a believer, but he sees “ the plain of
Jordan that it was well watered everywhere before the Lord
destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, even as the garden of the
Lord, like the land of Egypt as thou comest unto Zoar:
then Lot chose him all the plain of Jordan.” ere Lot goes
and settles and loses everything he has, because he was a
believer. But in Abram’s case, the moment Lot has left him,
God says to him, “ Lift up now thine eyes, and look from
the place where thou art northward, and southward, and
eastward, and westward; for all the land which thou seest,
to thee will I give it, and to thy seed forever, and I will
make thy seed as the dust of the earth,” and so on. It is very
striking and denite.
Abram did in the famine slip a little into what was not
the life of faith, but Lot went quite astray, and he vexed his
righteous soul from day to day. Yet it was no thanks to him
that his soul was vexed; if he had not gone there, he would
not have been vexed. And he is no witness either. ey tell
him presently, “ is fellow came into sojourn, and must
needs be a judge.” He had no business to be a judge in
Sodom; and he calls them his brethren. “ I pray you, my
brethren, do not so wickedly.” His whole place was wrong.
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en again, “ Abram removed his tent and came and
dwelt in the plain of Mamre, which is in Hebron, and built
there an altar unto the Lord.” ere he is living the life of
faith, sojourning, and building his altar where he goes.
Next, we see in Abram power over the world. Lot has
been taken prisoner. e four kings beat the ve and Lot
was carried o. Abram arms his servants, comes upon
the kings, gets the victory and Lot’s things back. But he
will not take from a thread to a shoe latchet; he will have
nothing to say to it at all. Here then we get Melchizedek,
and a millennial picture. You have the heir of faith
beating his enemies entirely, and then, looking at it as the
accomplishment of victory, Melchizedek comes forth to
meet him, and says, “ Blessed be Abram of the Most High
God, possessor of heaven and earth, and blessed be the
Most High God which hath delivered thine enemies into
thine hand.” It is the nal triumph in that way, looked at
typically, with Christ as Melchizedek coming out to bless
upward and bless downward: just what Christ will be in
that day. us viewed Abram represents Israel, I have no
doubt, in that day; but Christ will come with the armies of
heaven. e history of Lot comes in here by the way, just
showing that the believer, if in the world (or with it rather),
has no power against it.
Melchizedek’s priesthood is special; but we have had an
altar before. ere is no establishment of a family priesthood
yet. Abram as the head was the natural person in the family
to be priest, and they were all living in families: whoever
was head would oer. Abel was not the head of a family,
but he oered as Noah did; and Melchizedek also.
Here we have immense principles: a person justied by
faith, called out from the world, having no altar while in
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Egypt, and, when back in the land, no possession, but only
a tent, and with that an altar-great principles of the life of
faith; and in chapter 14 a typical expression of what has
yet to come on earth, a royal priest at once in Melchizedek.
In chapter 15 we nd Israel. ere is the sacrice in full
rst, and then the covenant of Jehovah with Abram, and
the communication of special features in Israel’s history,
the Canaanitish nations to be judged, and limits of the
land, besides the prophecy of the deliverance from Egypt.
“ 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
aict them four hundred years; and also that nation whom
they shall serve will I judge, and afterward shall they come
out with great substance; and thou shalt go to thy fathers
in peace, thou shalt be buried in a good old age; but in
the fourth generation they shall come hither again, for the
iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full.”
We may notice that all that comes out to Abram after
Lot is separated is, I will give thee the land, and thy seed
shall be innumerable. Next, in chapter 15, after Lot takes
the world, and Abram gives up everything, he then gets
the promise a great deal clearer. Abram, having refused the
world, brings in God saying, “ I am thy shield, and thy
exceeding great reward.” He had in God the two things
he would not take from the world. “ I am thy reward,” says
God; and then Abram says, “ What wilt thou give me? “
Whatever you think of the request, still the Lord allowed
and bore with it, answering him most graciously; just as
Peter was the occasion for the Lord to bring out blessed
revelations, though Peter was not very brilliant in some
respects.
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“ And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look
now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to
number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be.
And he believed in the Lord, and he counted it to him for
righteousness.” ere you nd the great principle of God’s
ways, stepping in chapter 15 right into Israel’s position by
faith and death. Abraham has no heir. God says his seed
shall be as the stars of heaven; it is a numerous seed; and
the land again, but more follows. And he gets it all by faith,
and by faith righteousness too.
It will be seen as to faith, if one go through carefully all
the uses of the Greek word, that with the dative in the New
Testament it is believing in a person, and eis or en gives the
ground of condence. In the case before us faith is counted
to Abram for righteousness; it is the general broad fact that
it is imputed or reckoned.
But the ministration of imputed righteousness is
a monstrous proposition. If you take it as the value of
something imputed, it is the value of faith-just the way
Roman Catholics take it. If not so, you must take it that
God has counted righteousness because of it, which is the
principle; but if you try to make it so much made up and
imputed, you must make it faith that is imputed. Abel
is counted righteous according to the value of his gift.
Romanists say that faith is counted for righteousness, but
charity is greater still-man’s love, not the love of God in
Christ.
ere was practice, of course, but there was no
righteousness revealed in the Old Testament. It was
prophesied of, but it is now revealed in the gospel. All that
is stated in the end of Rom. 3 is “ the forbearance of God
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“; and if you ask why He did forbear with these person’s
faults, I can tell now, because it is all revealed.
Again, now there is another character that they had not,
and that is, “ accepted in the Beloved “; and more, as we
may learn in the Epistle to the Ephesians, etc.
is is the rst time faith is mentioned, though no
doubt it was there before, as Hebrews tells us; but it is the
rst time it is brought out. And then, too, I nd death-God
binding Himself by death. We know by Jeremiah, and other
means, that death was used to ratify a covenant. So here
God binds Himself by bringing in death, but the power of
death passes, in a sense, on Abram; it is when a deep sleep
comes upon him that he gets the blessing. I see a peculiar
character here, because God comes in as by a smoking
furnace and a burning lamp. at is, it is light that shines,
and also a furnace that burns and consumes the dross, just
as we talk of a ery furnace. Now will God take His place.
He tells Abram about his seed, and signies that He will
lead them by a lamp, and purify them by re. Abram came
under a deep sleep, and a horror of great darkness fell upon
him. at is, he came under the power of death as to his
own condition; it was not actual death, of course, but the
shadow of it-the type. So we must die with Him. Death
must pass upon any esh in order to inherit the promises.
He says here, “ In the fourth generation they shall come
hither again,” while in Ex. 12:40 they sojourned in Egypt
430 years; yet Galatians says the law in the wilderness was
430 years after the promise.
But Exodus does not say in Egypt only, but their
sojourning was 430 years; the Samaritan Pentateuch and
others give “ in Canaan and in Egypt.” From the promise
to their going down into Egypt was exactly half the time.
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e words in verse 13, “ shall aict them four hundred
years,” is a general statement in this. place. Egypt is the
great thing. And the “ come hither again “ refers to the
land clearly.
Verse 12 may illustrate “ Always bearing about in the
body the dying of the Lord Jesus.” Practically it is the same
thing, though here it is the general principle, and more
like Rom. 6 It is death passed upon him. Flesh (as such,
I mean) could not inherit a promise; nor even will Israel
in the millennium, except through death and resurrection.
e fowls, in coming down, came to dele it, if possible-
that is, the activity of life. It is a mystical scene. Abram
keeps it all pure and clean. e broad fact is to keep the
sacrice untouched, the foundation of everything. It was
the valley of the shadow of death Abram had to go through.
We have had the seed promised in a general way; and
now Abram wants to get it according to his own will in the
esh, and he takes Hagar (chap. 16). Ishmael is “ he that is
born after the esh,” which is really of the law, an attempt
to get the heir on legal ground, and take the promises. It
was an attempt to get the heir by the esh, which all came
to misery and confusion. Hagar gets turned out, that is, the
old covenant.
But when Abraham was ninety-nine years old, and
there was no hope of seed naturally-his body was now
dead- God reveals Himself by His name to him, “ I am
the Almighty God.” He had never given His name to him
before, but now He gives it, taking up in it the character of
the dispensation, and then brings in Christ later on. God
had reserved Himself, so to speak. We have not Christ in
this scene, but the one who is the gure of Christ comes
afterward. God Almighty, El-Shaddai, is the name by
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which God appeared to the patriarch, the rst of His three
names-Almighty, Jehovah, and Father. We were speaking
of them before.
Chapter 16 is a kind of parenthesis. Abram has got a
promise, and tries now to make it good independently of
God. But when Abram is set aside, his body now dead at
ninety-nine years old, God reveals Himself, and says, I am
going to give you a numerous seed, and you must circumcise
them, and so on. at is, now that you are viewed as dead,
I can do something with you.
God’s name is Almighty; but He waits until Abram was
virtually dead, and then He has him circumcised, which
was the seal of the covenant he had got. en he gets the
promise of the seed, personal seed, really Christ. “ And I will
bless her [Sarah], and give thee a son also of her.” Abraham
falls on his face and laughs, “ and said in his heart, Shall a
child be born unto him that is an hundred years old? and
shall Sarah, that is ninety-nine years old, bear? “
Abraham’s was the laughter of joy, I believe; but Sarah
was ashamed of her laughing, because it was unbelief. And
the getting a promise of a seed of his own makes Abraham
think of Ishmael, that he might live before God.
Next Jehovah comes with the two angels (chap. 18). e
world must be judged where Lot is, and where, in fact, the
eshly seed is. e promise of the seed is renewed. Abraham
has intercourse with the Lord, hearing the promise of the
seed come into this world to be heir of the world: so the
apostle says. en in what follows is the conrmation of
the promise, God visiting Abraham, and the promise is
immediate of Isaac- of his appearing; and an immediate
promise that God will return at the time of year. en
Abraham has communion with Jehovah at the top of the
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mountain, while the others, the angels, go down to judge
the world.
We have the world and Israel in Sodom and Lot, while
Abraham looks down upon it all. He is in intercourse with
God, and God is there talking with Abraham about what
He is going to do with the world. Abraham is called the
friend of God, and here it is seen. I talk about my business
and what has to be done with my friend, but not of what
I am going to do for him until it is all arranged. God does
not tell Abraham what He is going to do with Abraham.
But the person who has the seed promised completely and
immediately coining in is in full intercourse with God
about what He is going to do with other people.
It is beautiful to see the Lord does not judge Sodom
until it has all got so bad that there were not even ten
righteous persons there. If there had been ten, God would
have spared the cities. Abraham goes on interceding until
this is shown out.
e Lord was there incognito, as we say, until the tent
scene is over and the angels are gone, and then it is all
open. While in the tent, Abraham addresses Him with
full deference, but the Lord does not come out with the
secret until He gets alone with him. Read chapter 18:
1-5. Abraham says, My lord, not My lords; he has perfect
consciousness that One is superior, and his faith evidently
sees through it all. In verses to, 14, it is, “ I will return “;
in verse 17, “ Shall I hide? “ and so on. “ And the men
turned their faces from thence, and went toward Sodom,
but Abraham stood yet before the Lord “ (v. 22). He sends
on these two angels, and we nd them at Sodom directly
afterward. en Abraham calls Him “ the Judge of all the
earth.” He addresses Him as Adonay (in verses 3, 27, 30, 31,
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32), but it is Jehovah. It may be the administering power;
but Abraham sees who the administrator is. I believe myself
that all the appearances in the Old Testament are the Son’s.
If Abraham goes as far as he dares, God judges the
whole thing, but spares the righteous. He was in the
church’s place, as Lot in the Jew’s place was saved so as by
re. So Noah was in the Jew’s place, but Enoch gives the
church’s place in the earlier history.
In what follows we see the origin of the people of the
land whom the Israelites were not allowed to destroy-
Moab and Ammon.
It is striking here to notice the incapacity for anything
denite in unbelief. e very place where Abraham was
talking with Jehovah, Lot had looked at as most barren
and. desolate; but when he sees the cities of the plain
burning, he would like to go to the mountain, the place
of faith, though rst, he says he cannot go there. When in
the world, you are afraid of God’s judgment there; and so
is Lot, till at length he slips o to the mountain, the place
of faith, obliged to get there at last.
In chapter 21 Abraham is seen planting a grove (a kind
of boundary of the land, as I suppose), and there we hear
of “ the everlasting God,” because God was there, the One
that. secures the land forever to His people. Jehovah is
the everlasting God, and when He gives a promise, He is
sure to make it good at the end. I believe the everlasting
gospel is the Seed of the woman that shall bruise the
serpent’s head, that is, the declaration that the Lord shall
destroy with power when He comes in judgment. It is the
announcement that the hour of His judgment is come,
the unchanging good news right from the beginning and
onward. From the rst Christ was to bruise the serpent’s
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head. e Christian has the special relationship-union as
associated with Him who is going to bruise the serpent’s
head-being thus identied with the King of the kingdom.
As we come to a break now, it may be well to run over the
chief great principles of what has been before us. Genesis
is an important book in this way, that it contains the
principles from which all start; a great deal of instruction
as to ways and life and so on comes afterward, but here is
the framework of the thing. First, there is creation itself;
this seems very simple, but in a way it is not, for it is only
by faith we know it. None of the heathen knew it, and
indelity now is going back to their darkness, for indelity
is but modern heathenism. In John’s Gospel we go before
all that even, for we can say, “ In the beginning was the
Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was
God; the same was in the beginning with God. All things
were made by him.” It goes back beyond creation.
As soon as the fact of creation is set out in chapter i,
you see the world as the sphere in which God is going to
put man, and in which all moral relationships are to be
brought out: here stands rst the responsible man; then
his naming the animals; then his wife is given (chap. 2).
ere is thus the creation of this world and of what is in
it, creatures and so on, and man, as a center and lord of it,
in God’s image, the world fashioned for the purpose, and
the rest of God, which man never entered into. en follow
the relationships in which God set man, to Himself, to the
inferior creatures, and to his wife (in which the church is
typied). Next man’s responsibility is tried by temptation,
and we see his utter failure, but the judgment on Satan,
the serpent, with a promise to the Seed of the woman
who should bruise the serpent’s head (chap. 3). But the
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rst man is driven out from God, and then he becomes
the head of a fallen race, though Eve hopes to get the
promise in the esh, saying that she had got a man from
Jehovah. Alas! man completes sin by killing his brother,
and the world is set up without God; but God gives
another and an appointed seed, Seth (when men called on
the name of Jehovah), in lieu of the slayer and the slain.
Christ was slain; the world slew Him; but He is coming
again in glory; this is what all that typies (chap. 4). en
comes the genealogy of the race of Seth, and one walks
with God who is transformed and taken away to heaven
(chap. 5). Last comes the total corruption and wickedness
of man up to the ood, with Noah preserved through it,
man and animals too (chaps. 6-8). is closes the history of
the rst world. Next Noah founds the relationships of the
new world upon sacrice; but he fails himself entirely: and,
having given the prophecy of the world’s establishment in
his three sons, his history closes. God gives a promise not
to bring in a ood any more, but there is no great principle
in this that I know of. Government was set up to restrain;
but this fails, and it closes Noah’s history (chap. 9).
en we see the settling out of the world in nations from
the three sons of Noah (chap. 10). ere is the world in
nations and families, and this happening by the judgment
of God upon their setting themselves up to be independent
of God at Babel, making themselves a Shem or name. en
we see Abram brought in by Shem’s genealogy, which is
merely a peg to hang it on, as it were (chap. 11). But he is an
elect one, called out, and the promise is given him to be the
head of God’s race in the earth. en he, having followed
the calling of God, is in the place of promise, a stranger and
a worshipper: through pressure of circumstances he gets
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out of that place, loses his worship, gets into the power of
the world, but is delivered out of it (chap. 12). We have then
his entire abnegation as to the world, and a full revelation
of the sphere of promise, or subject of promise (chap.
13). en we see Abram’s victory over the world, and the
revelation of Melchizedek as priest, when the victorious
kings are defeated (chap. 14). us millennial blessedness
is brought in, and this closes that part of the history, when
we have come to the royal priest blessing Israel, and God
the possessor of heaven and earth. e broad abstract
principles nish with chapter 14.
en in chapter is we see righteousness connected with
faith for the rst time, and also the promise of the seed,
a covenant founded on death, with details of the land.
en in chapter 16 we see a eshly attempt to have the
seed in the esh. But in chapter 17 grace acts. God reveals
Himself by His dispensational name to Abram, giving him
promise of the seed, and the seal of circumcision on it. “ A
father of many nations have I made thee.” Conrmation
is given, followed by Abraham on high in communion
with God, and when the world is to be judged, he is a
prophet interceding inside with God. Peter’s comment on
this is, “ the Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out
of temptation.” is is down below. So we have Enoch,
the heavenly man, and Noah, the earthly remnant; now
we have Abraham the heavenly man, and Lot the earthly
remnant. is is a second witness.
Now in chapter 20, though I have a little more diculty
in my own mind about it, Abraham is seen failing, in
respect of those that were strictly the vessel of promise,
to Abimelech who was within the land. e Philistines
have always that character, it would seem, those who
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were professedly within. It is failure before those who are
outwardly in the place of promise, the denial of the truth
of the church of God. Abraham says, “ she is my sister,” and
not my wife. It is only in David’s time that the Philistines
were rightly dealt with and put down ultimately.
As Lot by going to Zoar saves himself in a little city,
being afraid to go to the place of faith; so we have in
chapter 20 a rebuke put upon Abraham in respect of Sarah,
the vessel of promise. e world knows very well that the
church ought to be for the Lord.
In the next chapter (21) the son of promise is born, and
legalism, or the legal covenant, with the child of esh is
cast out, that is, Hagar and Ishmael; now Abimelech, or
the becomes subservient to Abraham. e borders of the
land are given. Abraham guratively takes possession of
the land of promise, and worships. He plants a grove too-
the only time he ever does so. He was only in a tent before;
now he plants a grove, which was Abraham’s act, but had
specic reference to the seed and taking possession of the
land.
After chapter 14 is the place of the break really, because
there we get to the millennium; then come the details in
connection with Abraham’s conduct and the promise of
the seed.
Abraham’s sacrice of Isaac at Mount Moriah begins a
new series (chap. 22), which gives us thereon the promise
conrmed to the one Seed, not to the numerous seed, but the
promise of blessing to all nations (in chapter 12) conrmed
to the Seed; and this after death and resurrection, which
furnishes a completely new principle. Abraham has given
up the promises according to life here, and taken them in
resurrection, accounting that God was able to raise him up
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even from the dead, from whence also he received him in
a gure,” Heb. 2 All was taken up in resurrection, founded
upon sacrice to God.
en in chapter 23, we see the old vessel of promise
dies. Sarah is not the church now in any sense, but the
Jews; the vessel dies, that is, Israel is really set aside.
Isaac being the heir of everything, Abraham sends down
what represents the Holy Ghost-Eliezer-to get a wife for
his risen son. Isaac is on no account to go back to the old
land; he represents the risen Christ. So Abraham sends
down his chief servant to get a wife out of the place of his
own family for the heir of promise. Eliezer confers gifts on
her, and brings her out, all things being given to the son and
heir. Abraham sends his other sons away, but Isaac’s wife is
brought into the place of the vessel of promise, Sarah’s tent.
is is all the history of Isaac (chap. 24).
e Jews were the vessel of promise, and now the church
is become so.
When we come to Isaac old and blind, the history
leans really on Jacob. We have done with all the rst great
principles of faith, and the risen one, Isaac, and we nd the
Jewish history in Jacob. It is the history of Christ, in a way,
all through, but the history of the heir in connection with
the earthly promises; whereas Isaac was gurative of the
heavenly ones. Jacob gets a wife in Padan-aram, the house
of Bethuel, his mother’s father, but Abraham tells Eliezer,
“ Beware thou, that thou bring not my son thither again.”
en we get Jacob, who is a poor sample anyhow, but
who values the promise, though for the earth, while Esau
does not, but forfeits his birthright. It is by grace Jacob
comes in, because he had no title; Esau had title, but in
the election of grace the elder was to serve the younger. In
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point of fact it comes about by the profanity of Esau, while
Jacob does value it, though the means by which he got it
were evil.
at is a great lesson. We now have to do with the
means. God secures the result, and all we have to consider
is the right means. Isaac could have crossed his hands,
or in many a way have acted under God’s control, just as
Jacob did afterward with his own grandchildren, without
his going and listening to his mother, and deceiving. en
we have the renewal of the promise to Isaac; at the same
time he is forbidden to go down into Egypt. He has never
anything to say to the world in his Isaac character. He is
not to go into it himself, but his wife is to come out of it.
Alas! he follows his father’s example, and denies his wife,
not in Egypt, but in the place of the Philistines. It was
his failing in the place of promise. I think you get Isaac
upon lower ground altogether: he digs up again the wells
his father rst dug, which the Philistines had stopped, and
then surrenders them. You get decay, besides denying his
wife; but when he comes into the place which God had
given as a limit, to Beersheba-there they have to own him
when he is within his limits. Before, it was a contention
with the spirit of the world where he was, and he has to
yield.
Now we get Esau and Jacob, and Jacob gets the blessing
as he got-the birthright, still by deceit. As we saw before,
Jacob goes down to get his wife himself. I have no doubt
that Leah represents the Gentiles, and Rachel the Jews.
And we are down upon the earth, we nd Jacob looking for
blessing here, and he promises tithes (chap. 28: 22). And
God does take care of him, but this is not enough. He goes
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acting with duplicity towards man. It is worse than earthly
ground indeed here, though God still takes care of him.
If Jacob at all represents the Lord here, it is not in his
conduct. He loves Rachel, who represents the Jews, but
he gets Leah instead of Rachel, and is there paid in his
own coin. At the present time Gentiles are being blessed
instead of Jews. God blesses Leah, but then you must mark
all the wretched course of the low state of faith. Laban
cheats him, and he cheats Laban. ere was faith in a
sense, but faith going through a thoroughly carnal way to
get the blessing. en Jacob runs away. God does take care
of him, and brings him back to the land, as He will bring
back Israel. After he had been a slave twenty-one years,
He brings him back with his children. You get Mizpah,
or Jegar-sahadutha, or Galeed, and much instruction in it
all, for the Lord takes care of the believer; but where he
walks in this low carnal way he is chastened through and
through; twenty-one years a slave-cheat, and is cheated;
he believed, and got to be believed, but his means were
carnal, and it was discipline in every possible way, because
he walked carnally. en Esau is coming, and poor Jacob
again lies, sends all the troops before him, ocks and so
on; God sends two hosts of angels to meet him; but how
little of real faith! He sees God’s hand, and says, “ I am
not worthy of the least of all the mercies and of all the
truth which thou hast showed unto thy servant: for with
my sta I passed over this Jordan, and now I am become
two bands.”
You see the arrangements; you see all the weakness of
this carnal system, though he did trust God in the main. It
was all a low kind of life. God does not allow Esau to touch
him, yet he says, I cannot overdrive the cattle a day or they
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will all die, “ let my lord, I pray thee, pass over before his
servant, and I will lead on softly, according as the cattle that
goeth before me, and the children be able to endure, until I
come unto my lord to Seir.” Yet he had not the most distant
idea of going to Seir. en having sent away the cattle he
remains behind (chap. 32: 23, 24). “ Jacob was left alone,
and there wrestled a man with him until the break of day.”
God, who would not allow anybody to touch him, takes
him in hand Himself, wrestles with him, gives him grace
to overcome, but will not reveal Himself, and makes Jacob
halt all his life. It is all discipline, though there is blessing.
Jacob gets blessing because he believed in the promise.
It is very hard in Jacob’s story not to get into detail. You
get a great deal more experience in one who is walking
badly than in one who is walking well; you have not a bit of
all this in Abraham. But it always is so: in ups and downs is
a great deal more of what you call experience, if not walking
well. e other’s life is much simpler. All was given in a few
words in Enoch’s case: “ He walked with God, and he was
not, for God took him.” Mark the dierence again between
Abraham and this: Abraham is up on high interceding with
God for others, and Jacob down at the brook wrestling for
himself. Jacob was a prince with God, and prevailed; but it
was God wrestling with him and would not reveal Himself.
Abraham intercedes for others and wrestles for nothing for
himself; whereas Jacob has to contend for himself to get
the blessing. He did get the blessing, for there was power
through grace. en another thing: he goes and builds an
altar, making another blunder, buys a piece of land, and
so on. Abraham bought a sepulcher: that was all. Jacob
settles in the place: then these wicked people propose to
marry and go on together. e altar he built he called El-
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elohe-Israel, God the God of Israel, with dierence from
his former altar. God had given him strength to prevail,
but He did not reveal Himself to him; there was power
given in the conict, but no revelation of God. And then
come all the aairs of Dinah and Simeon, and so on, all
bad together; whereon God says to him, Do you go up to
Bethel: this was where he started from.
God says, “ Arise, go up to Bethel, and dwell there, and
make there an altar unto God that appeared unto thee
when thou eddest from the face of Esau thy brother.” e
moment God says so, out comes what Jacob knew all the
time he had never done with: there was a quantity of idols
in the house, and now he thinks of it. It is not that he did
not know of it, for he did; but there is no real putting away
of idols until we get into the presence of God. Observe,
when the idols are buried, the rst thing God did was to
tell him His name. He did not before, but now that is the
rst thing: “ God appeared unto him, and said unto him,
I am God Almighty,” the name He had given Himself to
Abraham. And then, though the intercourse was short, and
there was no intercession for others, God went up from
him just as He did from Abraham. You do not get here as
much bright blessing, but God does reveal Himself now
and talks with Jacob and does not wrestle with him.
is brings us back to the history of Israel. Jacob goes
through humbling discipline, and at last God is revealed
to him; then in Rachel’s dying who represents Israel (she
had borne Joseph, gure of Christ) we have Benjamin, that
is, Christ going to the right hand of God. Rachel called
him Benomi, son of my aictions; but his father called
him Benjamin, son of my right hand. When this man was
born, then Israel (Rachel) was cut o, but his father takes
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him as son of the right hand of God. Israel is ended in that
character entirely.
Next, the world is seen set up in power before God’s
people are (that is, Esau): no want of kings and dukes there.
at closes the history of Jacob really.
Now we have the history of Joseph, that is, in the main.
His brothers, Jacob’s sons, were a good-for-nothing set as
ever were; and Joseph with all his dreams, interpreting,
gives us “ the wisdom of God,” but himself a despised one.
Soon after we get him manifested as the “ power of God.”
He is a distinct gure of Christ, rejected by his brethren,
sold to the Gentiles; he shows himself there, the patient
godly one and having the wisdom of God, while he is the
delight of his father too; and then he is exalted to the right
hand of power.
It is a well-known history. Everything in the world
(Egypt) is ruled by him, and in that character he receives
back his repentant brethren, and puts them into the rst
place in the world; that is, Israel. In the midst of all that you
get Judah going on with wickedness in chapter 38: really
it is the genealogy of the Lord Himself in esh. And that
is the whole history until you come to Jacob going down
to Egypt, and that type closes (never run one type into
another), and there he dwells in the land of Goshen. Still
Jacob looks to the land as the place of inheritance to be
buried there; and, remark, Joseph becomes the rst-born,
the heir: the birthright is his. It is Christ in that character.
It is said so in terms in Chronicles 5, that the birthright
was Joseph’s.
In chapter 48 Jacob crosses his hands to put the sons of
Joseph rightly in their place; as in chapter 47 you see how
he could bless Pharaoh, though without all contradiction
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the less is blessed of the better. us Jacob blesses the
highest king of the earth in that day.
en you nd the blessing of the children of Israel,
and I think that of Jacob is a general view of Israel. e
blessing of Moses is much more historical. is is general,
and down to Dan; with the exception of Zebulon, you get
present blessing. e place of strength and power was in
Judah: though it goes on after all with failure, Judah was
in the place of power, and that is judgment in one shape
or another; and then in Dan you nd the power of evil.
Outwardly Dan lost his place and had no place. I suppose
the apostasy is connected with it. e Jews had a tradition
that Antichrist will be of his tribe.
All is failure in Israel until you come to “ I have waited
for thy salvation, O Jehovah.”
Reuben, Simeon, and Levi are corrupt and violent;
Judah is connected with God’s purposes as to the royal
stock; Zebulon a haven of ships, and Issachar a strong ass
burdened, are linked with prosperity in commerce with the
nations, or Gentiles; then Dan is to judge his people. us
when Israel joins with the Gentiles in that way (Zebulon
and Issachar), you get the serpent brought in; and then
Gad is overcome, but overcomes at last; and then all is
power and blessing after that in Asher and Naphtali, in
Benjamin and Joseph.
It is the history of the tribes of Israel divided into two
parts. All is failure rst, and then abundant blessing.
At the end (chap. 50), whatever power and magnicence
Joseph had, his heart is in Israel; and he waits for his bones
to be taken up when they should go back to the land, for
they had buried Jacob in the land, and he passes in faith
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over the Egyptian bondage and looks on to their return to
Canaan.
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Second: Genesis 3
Genesis 3
Man is by nature both a sinner and ruined--shut out by
sin from the presence of God: and man, shut out, could not
get back as man. e last Adam brings us back, not in the
same way, but in a heavenly one-not to an earthly paradise,
but into the very presence of God in heaven. He does not
bring back to innocence, but to the “ righteousness of God
“; for the believer is “ made the righteousness of God in
him.” is scene in Eden shows out God and man.
ere is the natural conscience of man; for he acquired
by the fall the knowledge of good and evil. A man steals,
and he is conscious he has done wrong. Whether or not
God’s law tells him so, his conscience knows it. Look at
Satan’s temptation. What was his object? He wanted to
make God’s creatures think that God was not so good to
them as He might be-that He was keeping back from them
something that would be for their good-that He was jealous
of their becoming as Himself. e natural heart is always
calling God in question for having made it responsible to
Himself. Its very nature is to question God’s goodness.
Satan’s great lie was, “ Ye shall not die.” It is his constant
aim to make men believe that the consequence of sin will
not be that which God has said it shall be.
When the woman had listened to Satan, lust comes in.
Once away in heart from God, she must follow her own
way. And what are men doing now? Helping one another
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to make themselves comfortable away from God, and
in those very things that they know He hates. Beloved
friends, should you like to meet God just as you are? You
know you would not. If God should say to you, Come and
be judged, you would wish to have it put o. You know
you would. And, moreover, you do not like to think about
this unreadiness. What did Adam do, and Eve? ey hid
themselves from God-nay, further, they hid themselves
from themselves and from one another; for the covering of
the g-leaves was just to hide the shame of the nakedness
which they discovered. And when they were hiding away
from God, they were away from the only source of blessing.
It was saying, e light has come in, and I must get far
from it: just what the conscience of itself does now in the
natural man.
Mark the character of the sin. ey believed that the
devil told the truth, and that God did not. Whatever
thoughts they had in their hearts, they acted upon this.
And men are still believing the devil’s lie-hoping to get
into heaven their own way, when God has said that nothing
deled shall enter in.
He wanted too to make them think that God was not
so good to them as he would be-that God was keeping
back from them the very best thing they could have. And
are not men now looking to Satan for happiness, instead of
believing God? Man cannot believe that it is God’s mind
to make him happy.
And now, beloved friends, this is not only a history of
Adam, but it is a history of man, of yourselves. You may say,
I have done very little harm. Well, then, you shall be taken
on your own ground. Is it little harm to make God a liar?
What had Adam done? He had eaten an apple. Do you
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say, And what was that? What harm was there in eating an
apple? Alas! Adam and Eve cast o God, and that was the
harm. Whether it was eating an apple, or killing a man, as
afterward came out in Cain, the principle was the same. It
was casting aside God’s authority, and making Him a liar.
e root of the evil was there. It had only to bring forth
and bud. Suppose I see a plant peeping above the ground.
It has but two leaves; but I say, Here is a thistle, cut it up.
I do not wait till it is grown to see what it is. And so with
sinners. e evil is there, and has only to be developed. A
little evil is seen, and there needs only time to manifest all.
Adam hides himself from God. Is there no harm in
having so broken with God, as to want to get out of His
presence? And it is not God you have harmed (as it is said
in Job, “ What prot is it to him if thou art righteous? “)
so much as it is yourselves. e God of love brings down
into man’s conscience the knowledge of the harm he has
done to his own soul. One weighty reason why God has
given His blessed word is to show man what he has done
to himself before God. It is in love He has given it; for if
He were dealing with men in a judgment He would have
left them under it.
God called to Adam. When God speaks, it awakes
the conscience; but this is not necessarily conversion.
God speaks to show man to himself, and bring him back
to blessing. Alas! man is afraid of the only place where
holiness can be happy. e awakened conscience shows the
presence of God.
You would not hide yourself from a policeman: and
why? Because you know you have not done anything to
make you afraid of him. But you would hide yourselves
from God if you could: and why? Because you have done
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that which you know He hates, that which separates you
from Him. Man cannot bear to meet with God.
It is remarkable that the only thing in man as such
which one might in a certain sense call good in him-that is,
conscience-only drives him away from God. Sin has made
man get away from God, and it has forced God to drive out
man from His presence. See man’s sad condition-a sinner,
ruined, and shut out from God. And there is no way back
to God except one, and that is through the Second Man. If
Christ comes in by the door into the sheepfold, there is no
getting in some other way. He is the door, and whoso enters
must come by Him. e aming sword kept every avenue
to the tree of life. ere was no possibility of creeping up to
it by some unguarded path.
Innocence, once gone, can never be restored. It is the
same in common every-day things.
Man cannot get back to God by himself. Everything
around us shows that man is out of paradise: toil, and
suering, and sorrow, and sickness, and necessities, and
death, tell us of it every day.
ere is another character of evil in our souls-and that
is a readiness to excuse ourselves. Adam laid the blame on
the woman. “ e woman whom thou gavest me,” etc. It
was as much as saying, Why did you give me this woman?
It was your gift caused the sin. He wanted to put it o
from himself as a question between God and the woman.
It was not untrue, and yet it was as far as possible from
the truth. It is the way of our guilty nature to throw upon
another the sin in which our own will is concerned. And
God judged Adam out of his own mouth. e excuse he
makes is the very reason for which God condemns him.
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“ Because thou hast hearkened,” etc. Our excuses are thus
our condemnation.
ere is not a word of comfort in all that God says
to Adam or his wife. It is all sorrow and suering in
prospect-toil and pain. God shows man his sin to convict
his conscience, not to make him happy. Grace comes in,
and salvation, and therein he can rejoice. But God wants
sinners to feel their sins, and not to nd any comfort except
in Him. He must take them out of themselves for that. If
my child has been perverse, do I wish him to be happy
about it? No; I want him to feel his naughtiness. I am
longing to forgive him, and winning him to forgiveness;
but he must feel his sin.
God did not leave these poor condemned sinners
without comfort. But it was to the serpent He said, “ e
seed of the woman shall bruise thy head.” It was a new
thing that God was bringing in-a new person and a new
way. Christ was the “ seed.” Where the sin had come in,
the remedy was to be brought out. e blessing should
come by the Seed of the woman through whom the curse
had entered. is was the perfection of grace. And grace
is perfect in another way. If sin has come in, sin must be
entirely put away. He who shut man out from heaven has
fully provided that which shall shut him in again. To be
brought nigh to God through the precious blood of Christ
is the place of believing souls. And how is this blessing
brought? Because of the grace which is in God. Christ
loved us and gave Himself for us.
God must have us see our sin as between Himself and
us. We shall be justifying ourselves till we justify God in
condemning us. We are then of one mind with God. To see
sin as God sees it is repentance. It is “ truth in the inward
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parts.” It is holiness and truth in the heart. And then there
is all grace to meet the need that is thus found out. “ Grace
and truth came by Jesus Christ.” A man judging himself in
God’s light, without seeing Christ as the promised Seed of
the woman, is almost in despair; but “ God commendeth
his love to us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died
for us.” We do not want a good Adam, but a great God
and Savior. In the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ, see all
the wrath for sin laid upon another; and that other, who?
What the soul wants is pure simple grace to meet it just
where it is. If you were driven out of paradise yesterday
(it is as though God were ever saying) here is comfort for
you. When you learn that you are ungodly and without
strength, behold what has been done to bring you back.
Are you so content with God’s judgment about you, as to
submit to this grace? It is the woman’s seed that must be
the hope.
Sin must be perfectly put away. e sinner brought back
to God must be spotless. Christ does not enter heaven
again till He has accomplished this. “ When he had by
himself purged our sins, he sat down,” etc. When all was
nished, He took the throne of righteousness. It is a more
living and mighty truth to my soul, that Christ, as the last
Adam, is in the heavenly paradise, than that the rst Adam
was cast out of the earthly one.
It is through grace, and through grace alone, that we
get to know God. If I could present myself at the door
of heaven, and seek admittance on the ground of my own
righteousness (supposing for a moment it were possible),
how should I stand there? For “ to him that worketh is the
reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt.” I might know
God as the One who dwelt there, but it would be a cold
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entrance; I could not know Him as a God of love. What
grace is shown in paying a man his wages for His work?
No, it is my joy to nd it all in another, and not in
myself. God justies me when He says, My Son has been
given for your soul, and died for sin. We are clothed with
Christ-we have put Him on. If I be asked, On what ground
do you expect to get into heaven? I say, I am become the
righteousness of God. What more could I have or want? If
asked what I am in myself, I say, A poor sinner, and this to
the very end; but I am now in Him who is the delight of
God. True, I do not know Him fully, but He has redeemed
me; and I am in Him that is the life. He is in me, and I in
Him; and where He is, there I shall in due time be also.
Now I want to serve Him better and to show forth His
praise. Perfect power will by-and-by come in, and not a
particle of my dust can be left behind. e body is His
as well as the soul. Death has been vanquished for it. We
are still in the body, and bear it about with us as yet in the
bondage of corruption; but Satan’s power is crushed. e
serpent’s head is bruised. We have to do with him now,
but his power is broken. He has been overcome, for Christ
went down under the full power of him that had the power
of death; and He came up from it triumphant, for it was
not possible He should be holden of it.
We are told, “ Resist the devil, and he will ee from
you.” We are not to overcome him (that we never could
do), but when he meets Christ in me, he cannot stand that,
he must ee. “ ou shalt bruise his heel.” e blessed Son
of God came down to go through this for us. He said, “
Lo, I come to do thy will, O God “: and that will was our
salvation. “ By one oering he perfected forever them that
were sanctied “; but then that oering had to be made.
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See the Lord Jesus Christ coming down from heaven in
love, to devote Himself to God for our salvation; and this
changes a man’s heart. Jesus drank the cup of wrath for sin,
full and to the dregs. He tasted death-was shut out from
God’s presence- endured the hiding of His countenance;
and all this, that He might bring us back into the presence
of God without judgment and without sin, but with
everything that could make us happy and blessed forever.
He lived in God’s love; He dwelt with the Father; and He
knew well what He was bringing us into, what He was
giving us to share. But He knew too what the holiness of
God was, and what His wrath was; and therefore He knew
what He was delivering us from. How I shall hate sin, if I
have seen Christ agonizing for mine upon the cross!
Well, the moment a poor sinner looks to Jesus by faith
as his divine sin-bearer, his sins are all gone-they are put
out of God’s sight forever. And Christ is in heaven. Could
He take the sin there? No; His very being in heaven proves
it all left behind. e poor sinner gets the fruit of all that
He has done, and all that He is-pardoned through His
blood, brought nigh to God Himself. Peace has been made
through the blood of the cross. And the gloried Man is
in heaven, appearing in the presence of God for us-of His
Father and our Father, of His God and our God.
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It is not only the word of God which lets us know that
there is sin and misery in the world. Man knows very well
that iniquity and delement are in himself, and no one is
satised with his portion here below because he is ill at
ease in his own heart. e word of God shows us much
more-how Satan entered the world, and the consequences
of sin in our relations with God.
e rst thing the old serpent does is to put something
between God and us, to put himself between both. e only
thing which can render us happy is that there is nothing
between God and us, and that God loves us. Satan begins
by rendering the soul distrustful of God, and suggests to
the woman to wish for a forbidden thing, and to satisfy
the wish, hinting that God does not love to gratify us, and
would keep some great good from us. e enemy does not
direct our mind either to the goodness of God, or to our
obeying God. e woman knew well why she ought not
to eat of the fruit of that tree, and that death would be the
inevitable result. Had not God forbidden and threatened?
God has warned us of the consequences of sin. He had
said, “ In the day that thou eatest, dying thou shalt die.” But
Satan, who ever seeks to deny and lower the truth of God,
says to the woman, “ Ye shall not surely die … ye shall be as
God.” And it is true that the fall has rendered man much
more intelligent relative to good and evil; but Satan hid
from him that he would be severed from God, and with an
evil conscience. eir eyes were opened, it is said; and they
knew that they were naked as they looked at themselves.
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All that which is near us appears more important and
greater than that which is still distant. e forbidden tree
being near, and the judgment of God far o, Eve takes of
the fruit and eats. So the spirit of falsehood says till this
day to men, Ye shall not die; the threatenings of God will
not take eect. He conceals the warnings of God; and one
does then what Satan and one’s own lusts push one on to
do. If a Christian is not vigilant, his conscience will lose
its activity, and in place of seeing God he will see his own
nakedness.
Man still uses leaves to cover his nakedness. He does
his utmost to hide from himself the evil which is there; but
when God reveals Himself, it is quite otherwise.
God draws near as if nothing had happened; then what
ought to have been a joy for man without sin becomes,
because of sin, the source of immense alarm. Adam ees,
and seeks to hide from before the eye of God, as if he had
succeeded in veiling his nakedness to his own eye. What
a horrible thing for man to be thus hiding himself before
God!
Adam fears, for conscience is always touched by the
presence of God; it takes away every hope of enjoying sin
when it penetrates into our conscience. en one only sees
God, who is feared, without our being able to appreciate
Him.
e relations of man with God were thenceforward
broken, and in a manner irreparable, as to man.
“ Who told thee that thou wast naked? “ says the Lord.
Adam answers by accusing the woman, and God who had
given her to him. Dastardliness always comes into the soul
with sin. Adam wishes to excuse himself by lies, and to leave
the fault and blame between his wife and God. He leaves
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to God the care of arranging the thing with the woman.
us a bad conscience fears God too much to confess its
sin, yet it knows too well that it has sinned to deny it. If
you had full condence in God, and were perfectly sure
that God loves you, you would be very happy. But Satan
is here; and his great power consists in producing distrust
where there is happiness and intimate relation with God to
destroy in our hearts. You trust your own will and your own
eorts for your happiness; but, distrusting God, you will
not, you cannot, conde to Him the care of this happiness,
and leave yourself to His mighty love.
e beginning of sin is the unbelief which doubts God.
ereby in eect Satan began. He persuaded Eve that God
had kept something for Himself that the creature might
not be too happy and blest.
e woman was wrong in conversing with Satan; she
ought not to have listened to a voice which insinuated
distrust of God. What Satan did then and always, he
persuades every man that God is too good to condemn
us because we sin; and man, spite of his sin and his
conscience, hopes and persuades himself that he will not
be condemned. It is the voice of the old serpent. Now God
has shown by the death of His Son that the wages of sin
is death.
Conscience being evil, every eort of the world is to
hide from itself its nakedness before God. It would remove
from men gross and outward sin, drunkenness, murder,
and robbery. It seeks by law, and eorts of philanthropy,
individual and co-operative, to blot out the open eects
of sin in the world. Such are the aprons of g-leaves,
which remove nothing at all, but serve for the moment
to hide from ourselves our nakedness and our misery, to
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avoid thinking of the justice of the condemnation God has
put from the beginning on the sin that dwells in us. Now
that sin is between our conscience and God, one wishes
at least that there should be something to hide us before
Him. With this end in view, man employs what he calls
innocent things. us the trees were so, but man made use
of them to conceal himself from before God. God had
given all to man in this world; but man uses it now only
to deprive himself of the sight of God, and thus pretends
to be innocent in employing these good things after such
a sort!
When the voice of God awakens conscience, people
still wish something to hide them from Him; but this is
impossible. God says to Adam, “ Where art thou? “ ere
is no means of hiding any longer. If God said so to each
of your souls, would it be your joy to be in His presence?
God alone is our resource and refuge when we have sinned.
It is only God who takes away guile from the heart, for
He alone can pardon. Now if you hide yourself from God,
where are you for your soul? God had not yet driven Adam
from His presence till Adam ed from the presence of
God. Conscience tells us that if we have sinned, no leaves
or trees can hide us in His presence. If there be a just God,
man is wretched in his conscience; he cannot be quiet in
sin but solely on condition that there is no God. Every
hope of unbelief is that there be no God, or, what comes to
the same thing, that He be not just or holy.
Adam wishes to excuse himself, as if he had not lusted
himself, as if he had not followed the voice of his wife
instead of hearkening to God, as if he was not responsible
for having failed himself. Now if there were not lust in
us, sin would not be produced. In the midst of all God’s
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goodness, who has given His Son for poor sinners, you
have no condence in God, and this is a state of sin. It
matters little how it is manifested, it displays ingratitude
and distrust. Eve listened and believed Satan, instead of
hearing and believing God. is, man ever does; and he
hopes for salvation and eternal life though he sins. All the
eorts you make to be happy show that you are not happy.
Why the arts and pleasures of the world if the world were
happy? All that which would have been the eect of God’s
presence in your hearts and consciences would stop your
pleasure. erefore if all your pleasures are incompatible
with the presence of God, what will they be for you in
eternity? Will they carry you to the foot of the throne
of the Holy and Just, to show Him that you have spent
many innocent hours far from Him? ere are not only
disobedience, distrust, falsehood, which are sin: there is
worse still-the state of soul which seeks to. be light and
giddy, far from the presence of God.
Man may withdraw himself from God’s presence whilst
grace lasts; but he will not be able when God shall judge
him. Satan will help you, your best friends according to the
world will also help you, to withdraw yourself from His
presence, to deny and forget it, but that will certainly not go
on longer than the time of grace granted to us. erefore,
while it is called to-day, if ye will hear His voice, harden not
your hearts. God knows that you are sinners: He knows the
iniquity of Satan, who would make man his prey; but there
is an answer to that which Satan knew, and of which man
could have no idea: God makes a revelation of grace (v.
15). A promise is not given to those who are incapable of
enjoying it. e natural man cannot enjoy what ows from
grace, because faith is necessary to that, and condence in
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God. e question thenceforward is wholly between the
serpent and the second Man. God says nothing to Adam
but words which show the actual consequences of sin; He
says to the serpent what He will do. enceforth the only
hope for lost man is in this promised Seed; and even before
he is driven from His presence, God reveals what Jesus will
do to destroy the work of Satan.
ere is not a single sign of repentance in Adam after
his sin. He had shown the dastardliness, meanness, and
fraud of his heart; but God only occupies Himself with
His counsels and the answer He has in Himself. He
announces the Seed of the woman, whose glory and power
are developed throughout all His word.
Now it is no longer an anticipation or promise of
grace: Jesus is come. Wretched man thought that God did
not wish to give him something through jealousy of his
happiness; but this was the lie of Satan. God, who seemed
to refuse a fruit to man innocent, has given His Son to
man a sinner. And the heart of man is so perverted that he
has no condence, though God has given His Son. Jesus,
instead of eeing from condemnation, went to meet it; He
took on Him the sins of His bride, instead of loading her
with fetters. He has by death destroyed him that had the
power of death. e eect of the death of Jesus is to inspire
us with perfect condence. e death of Jesus put us in
relationship with God, without fear and without diculty,
because it clothes us when we are naked and miserable.
ere is nothing but grace for us after the judgment which
has struck the Son of God.
Is your condence in God? Do you believe that He gave
His Son, that His love did so to save fully poor sinners? is
condence gives peace and obedience, because nothing is
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193
more precious than the love of God; and this love makes
us prefer obedience and its consequences spite of all the
diculties. May God touch your heart, and give you to
render Him glory by receiving all that His love has done
for you!
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62701
History of Abram: Genesis
12-18
I have been particularly interested latterly in the history
of Abram; and I send you a brief outline of what has struck
me in this history as a picture of many interesting elements
of the life of faith. ere is a dierence between public
worship and personal communion brought out in this
history, and the intimacy of the latter, and the ground on
which it is built, which have especially occupied me. But I
can, on account of other occupations, only give the outline.
His life, in as far as it is presented to us as a life of faith,
begins by his calling, when in Mesopotamia, before he
dwelt in Charan. e God of glory appeared to him, says
Stephen. In a word, it was God’s revelation of Himself to
him, by which he was called into the path of life. Object of
divine election, Jehovah’s revelation of Himself to him calls
him out of darkness and subjection to the power of Satan
(for his family worshipped other gods beyond the ood out
of the land of promise), and gives to him the promises, in
connection with a faith which set out, on the simple word
of God, to be led where God Himself should show him his
country and his home. He was to quit all for the word and
promise of God. is is the rst element and character of
the life of faith. e Lord gives sucient of the details of
this history to show that, till Abram had fully broken with
all God called upon him to leave, he could not, though he
had left much, and might plead the best claims of nature
for the rest, attain the end for which he had left all the rest.
History of Abram: Genesis 12-18
195
He had left Ur, come to Charan, and dwelt there. However,
after Terah’s death, he left Charan, as the Lord had said to
him, and now comes to Canaan. is begins the second
part of the life of faith: that which passes in the place of
promise.
In that life we are called on to set out, trusting God
towards the place of promise and hope, called by the blessed
revelation of God to our souls. And we are called to walk
with God in this place of blessing and communion into
which we are entered in spirit. is is the second part of our
christian life. It is found here (chap. 12: 6-8). Abram walks
up and down in the place of promise-to us heavenly places.
e Canaanite, the hostile power of evil, is still in the land.
Joshua will, in time, root them out; but for Abram’s walk of
faith, they are still in the land, while he walks there in hope.
How true it is, and how far we are from always suciently
bearing it in mind.
e Lord appears to Abram; this is the ground of
worship, as well as of walk. He does not evidently appear
to him to cause him to set out, leaving all; for He appears
to him when he is, though a stranger there, in the land to
which God has brought him. But He appears to draw out
to Himself the aections of him whom He has brought
there. But it is not in that condition Abram is to possess or
inherit it. He would have lost much by such a possession,
his being a stranger there led his heart and hope, through
grace, to a city which had foundations-a better country,
that is, a heavenly. We can surely say, it was expedient for
us that Christ went away. Oh, how sweet the heavenly
associations and hopes to which He has drawn us, and
into which He has introduced us by the Spirit He has
sent down on His going up on high. How truly He has set
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man in heavenly places with God. How far better than the
establishment of an earthly kingdom, however glorious it
may be. ere is something peculiarly excellent and blessed
in a life of faith, dependent on God for enjoyment in what
is not seen. A man of the world, one, at least, whose life was
passed as such, a sage of their own, has said, “ Whatever
makes the past, the distant, or the future, predominate over
the present, exalts man in the scale of intellectual being.”
How much more so when it is God who lls it all up, and
that in the creating and unfolding of aections, which are
awakened and formed by Christ and have Him, and the
divine perfectness which is in Him, for their object and
their source.
But to return to the history we are studying. e Lord
appeared-made Abram feel practically that he was not
to have the land-God, and condence in Him was his
portion- he was a stranger there; promise as to this, was
his proper portion, but in his seed he should inherit it.
ere was a settled purpose of God, and this purpose he
was thus to know. How blessed, thus, to rest in God, our
heart founded on communications from Himself, and that
He can bless us in teaching us to trust Him enough to
live the life of faith, to be content with Him. e heart
of a stranger, who has God with him, is, of all, the best
in this world; it was, in the perfectest way and degree,
Christ’s. Judgment God will execute to introduce others
into actual blessing; we have all with Him, and now, and
indeed forever, in Himself. We have no need of judgment
to enjoy our portion, though we know judgment will issue
History of Abram: Genesis 12-18
197
and work deliverance for all else.
3
is is the church’s place,
and it is a very blessed one-she suers with Christ. is
position in Abram’s case drew out worship. It is its true
and real power for us. It was to the God who appeared to
him that he raised his altar: the revelation of Himself by
God in the place of promise, draws out worship; as the
revelation of Himself, when we are far from it, sets us in
the way to the place of rest that God is to show us. It is
this blessed revelation of Himself by God putting us into
conscious relationship with Himself, owing from what is
known to faith only, which forms the ground of worship. It
is His favor, direct interest in us, His having brought us by
His revelation into connection with Himself, which in and
by this condence creates worship. Our worship answers
to the revelation we thus have, while it is founded on the
grace of it. e revelation of His purpose, and of the way
of the accomplishment of His promise, accompanies and
makes part of the revelation on which it is founded. But
this puts the soul into permanent intercourse with God
of this kind. e worship, to Abram, realizes the various
parts of the home promised to faith, to be possessed when
pilgrimage is over; and when he realizes the enjoyment of
it, his pilgrimage, his altar, is renewed. He goes around the
place of promise and hope, where he is yet a stranger; but
when he pitches his tent in the enjoyment of it, then he
3 Note how this brings out in its true character the rapture of the
church. If my portion is in any way in this world, evil must be
removed by judgment in order to enjoy it. But if I am entirely a
stranger and a pilgrim, having no portion here, evidently there
is no need of such judgment for my enjoyment of my portion.
God Himself is this portion, for I have renounced all here. He
has only to take me up to enjoy when the time is come in His
counsels to do so.
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raises his altar too. is is a sweet and happy picture of
the life and occupation of faith. ese two elements -the
setting out on the journey towards the place of promise,
and the happy acknowledgment of God in it, form the two
parts of the life of faith.
e rest of this chapter, on which I do not enlarge, shows
the failure of the believer, who is apt, if the place of promise
does not aord him all for present need which he wants,
instead of consulting God, to go down to the world for
help. is, though accompanied by outward prosperity-as
it has been with the church-leads to further unfaithfulness.
Abram has no altar here, nor till he returns to the altar
he made at the beginning, where he had last had one-no
new communion- no further acquaintance with the place
of promise. All he can do is through grace to get back to
the place he has left.
When Abram had returned to the altar he had left to
go southward, he again gets into worship. Here, though
perhaps the prosperity of Egypt had given occasion to
the strife and sorrow, the conduct of Abram is beautiful
and characteristic of one having the heavenly portion.
If Egypt had betrayed him, it had at least taught him a
lesson. Returned with this experience into communion
with God, he has enough in this to give up all the rest
in grace. ere is a moment when our own faith is put
to the test: often we walk by that of others; but our own
state must be tried. Lot, a believer, chooses the world (and
contrary to every right feeling), and vexes his righteous
soul in the midst of what was the very object of coming
judgment. As soon as the worldly-minded believer and
his portion are together, the distinction, made by faith and
faithfulness in the disinterestedness of heavenly happiness
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199
and grace, where God was a sucient portion, was given
eect to by the worldly wish of Lot. Abram is told to go
over the whole place of promise, and know its length and
breadth; northward, southward, eastward, and westward,
all its extent- it all was his. at is, when once the heart
has left all that selshness would have of what might seem
within the limits of the land, but was taken by the carnal
heart to please itself, the full extent and blessed details
of what we are to enjoy with God is made known to us-
and experimentally. We have here, then, after the general
character of the life of faith, and failure in it, an important
experimental element of it: after failure and restoration
to communion by grace, and complete victory over, and
renunciation of the world, such a sense of the value of the
heavenly and unseen things, as frees from the inuence
of the world. e consequence is, an escape from being
entangled in what is the scene and object of judgment, and
a full experimental knowledge of the inheritance of faith.
Note, Abram escapes, and gets the increased privilege by
walking in the path of faith, where there is no perception
of the consequences. Abram had yielded through weakness
and want of faith in trial; but his heart was right, and after
the trouble his fault had occasioned, and his restoration,
the very eect of this humbling experience is to give the
superiority to all worldly inuence which saves him entirely
from the fatal mistake of Lot.
4
Here the Lord, though He
does not appear as when He called, or revealed Himself
in the land of promise, speaks to Abram. And Abram,
4 We have failure in each of these features of divine life. He
does not quit his father’s house, and therefore stops half-way,
and is no way in the place of promise; and he goes down into
Egypt. In the third case, Lot represents the failure, and Abram
maintains his heavenly ground.
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after removing his tent, builds an altar where he comes to
sojourn. For our worship is in the measure in which we
enter into the details of our portion from God.
We have here three, in a certain sense four, of these
altars, in what we have hitherto read. Firstly, the one built
on the Lord’s revelation of Himself in the land, which gives
the general character of the worship of faith. Secondly, one
showing the permanent abiding character of worship in
his strangership. In Egypt, out of the place of promise and
faith, none; then (what made me say, in a certain sense a
fourth), the return to the place of strangership and worship
in the place of promise; and, lastly, when his exercised heart
had renounced all but God, and God (the worldly-minded
believer having chosen the well-watered plain) had made
him realize all the extent of the scene of promise, he builds
an altar there to worship the God who had bestowed all on
him, assured him in the possession of it, and given him the
present knowledge of and enjoyment of it in hope.
But renouncing the world is the path to victory over it;
the choosing of it is captive subjection to its power. Lot
is carried away captive by the powerful ones of the earth,
along with those among whom his worldly propensities
had led him. Abram, free and walking in the faith of God,
has more force from Him than all the kings, conquerors or
conquered, and delivers Lot and the kings who could not
help themselves. e full victory of faith is here presented-
ours is not with carnal weapons, when it is gained; and what
is gured will only be fully accomplished in connection with
the Jews. is brings Abram under Melchizedek blessing,
God taking the character, which is properly millennial,
of possessor of heaven and earth. Praise and blessing
constitute the priestly work of Melchizedek. is is the
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201
victory of faith, and the full blessing of Christ (priest and
king over God’s universal dominion) being established-all
enemies being overcome. But it historically gives occasion,
not merely to renouncing the world completely, but to
the refusal of the least dependence on it. Abram depends
on God for wealth and everything. In such a relationship
-receiving from the world, depending on it, for advantage
as its debtor, is pollution. us closes this part of Abram’s
history, and the worship which belongs to it.
Details of the most interesting kind are given in what
follows; but they are the development of his personal
relationship with God. What we have examined is, in its
general characters, the public life of faith. What follows
enters into the private and personal communion which
belongs to the life of faith, through’ the divine grace which
visits it. We do not nd worship, but what we may be
allowed reverently to call intercourse. In one place we are
told God talked with Abram. Abram, no doubt, fell on
his face, the tting position in such intercourse; and even
when he, in all liberty, pleaded with Jehovah for others,
when Jehovah appeared to him in the form of a man, it
was with the fullest recognition of the divine glory of
Him with whom he spoke. Still it was not worship, but
communications from Jehovah to Abram, and in return
Abram’s with Him.
is has evidently a peculiar character of blessing and
privilege-a grace, an intimacy to which our highest and
most adoring attention is due. And if we have the lovely
picture here of this gracious familiarity of God with the
earliest and, so to speak, infant movings of faith, surely in
the riper knowledge of all His ways, and of all His grace,
which we have by redemption, and through the gift of
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His Holy Spirit, this privilege is not lost. It may have a
deeper character-a more reverent one, as lled with a
deeper knowledge of God-more conding, because His
love is better known-less familiar, but more intimate; still
it exists, and the gracious picture of it in Abram’s case is not
lost for our instruction. It has a christian, not a patriarchal
character; but the same God who loves us, and the same
faith that trusts Him, meet through His grace to receive
the gracious communications of that love, and to tell our
wants and the feelings of our hearts, and the wants of
others too, to One on whom we know how to count. ese
communications have a very dierent character, both on
the side of the Lord, and (in consequence of that) on the
side of Abram, but they were all what I may call personal.
e rst occasion of these communications from God
was Abram’s denite refusal to take anything from the
world, even where he had rendered it the greatest possible
service. He would have nothing to say to it from a thread to
a shoelatchet. His faith had got the victory over its power.
His value for his own relationship with God refused its
proered reward. God meets this in Abram, and says, I am
thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward. His defense in
battle had been God; his abundant reward, not the poor
and perishing gifts of a world, to which its debtor after all
always owes something -at least, acknowledges that he will
receive from it-but the Lord Himself. Such, in general, is
the blessed announcement made by the word of the Lord
to Abram.
ere is a dierence between the communications
of chapter is and chapter 17. God does not, so to speak,
personally visit Abram in chapter 15. He communicates
to him what He is for him in a vision, a great and special
History of Abram: Genesis 12-18
203
blessing, but evidently dierent from the personal revelation
of chapters 17 and 18. e two communications have this
essential dierence: in chapter 15 God declares what He
is for Abram, in chapter 17 what He is: and this last leads
to much deeper communion, and a larger unfolding of
grace and imbuedness with the mind of God, than the
revelation of chapter 15. is latter makes Abram’s wants
and desires the measure of His blessings, or, at least, they
characterize these latter. Hence Abram is thrown back
upon himself. God meets him there in full grace, but meets
his wants and wishes. Now this is most precious. God
shows His most tender condescension. He inspires us with
condence: we can tell Him our wants, open our hearts
to Him, in consequence; and all the communication that
results, while it makes us know God better, leads us up
to that knowledge of Him which makes us see our own
littleness in what we have presented to Him as the object
of our desires, and gives us to nd our joy in Himself, and
draw our feelings towards others from Himself, and our
assimilating enjoyment of what He is for ourselves.
us, when God had spoken to Abram of His being
his shield, and his reward, Abram says, “ What wilt thou
give me? “ e rst want of his heart is presented to God.
God had told Abram He Himself was his reward; but
where our feelings and need are referred to, if God presents
Himself as our portion, the human heart will turn, by the
very condence that is produced in it, to its own thoughts
and its own desires. Abram’s reward led Abram to Abram’s
wants and feelings and wishes. ough God, and even
because God, had said He was his reward, the love and
goodness was felt, but did not put aside, nor lead Abram,
beyond, what Abram desired to have from that goodness, if
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204
it was there. God knew all this, and used it for the occasion
of bringing out His own thoughts and purposes. is is the
grace, then, that comes down to the heart of man himself,
and draws it out in condence towards God, but thereby
leaves it in the circle of its own wants and feelings; but its
wants and feelings, such as they can exist in connection
with God; but then, remark, not going beyond this world,
beyond what man wants as conscious of his position here.
e interference of God in goodness to us in this sphere
is full of sweetness, but it is not in its object heavenly. As a
man upon this earth, Abram wanted a son to continue his
name, and posterity to inherit and enjoy the promises. God
was fully minded to give this. e natural wish and desire
of Abram, Abram connects with the testimony of divine
favor. God had, in the revelation which Abram had received
when in the land, promised a seed to Abram connected
with the inheritance of the land. Abram naturally wished
to associate the promised blessing and glory with his own
descendants. If his desire had been merely to enjoy God
in heaven, such a wish had had no place; the moment his
thoughts rested on earth, and God had promised him
blessing there, such wish came in. It fell in with God’s
purposes, but took, necessarily, if the blessing was to be
made precise, an earthly character. Our wants, whatever
character they may have, necessarily have their place on
earth. We may bring God into them, but it is into them
we bring Him, and there indeed He is gracious enough to
come.
I have said, that the answer of God when making His
promise precise, necessarily took an earthly character.
e fteenth chapter of Genesis makes this evident.
e numerous seed and limits of the land are given.
History of Abram: Genesis 12-18
205
Some principles are also given full of blessing, but which
characterize the position of Abram; most blessed in
themselves, but still meeting man’s need and weakness, not
properly communion in the truest and highest sense. God
was communicating with Abram, and Abram speaking
with Him; but it was not communion in the sense of the
enjoyment of God Himself, and in conformity to His nature.
Righteousness is imputed to Abraham; blessed truth! How
could he stand before God, or be the blessed one of God,
without it? He believes in the power of resurrection in
God, and in His faithfulness to perform His promise, and
it is counted to him for righteousness. It is the rst time
this great and all-important truth is taught in Scripture, or
even the word for it found; and, I doubt not, intentionally
so, though we know there were believers before. But now, in
the great root of the tree of promise, this fundamental truth
was to be brought out. e very ground of man’s blessing
was laid here, but it was still meeting man’s need. He could
not be before God or inherit the promise without it. He
had it not in himself. God counts his faith to him as such.
Next, to assure the feeble heart of man, God binds
Himself by covenant. Most gracious condescension, indeed;
but what does it meet in this wondrously condescending
grace? “Whereby shall I know that I shall inherit it? “ God
then, while nature and man pass through the dark shadow
of the power of death (and this Christ as man has done
for us), passes between the pieces, and binds Himself in a
covenant of death to accomplish this desire of the believer’s
heart, according to His own thoughts; and promise lays
the sure foundation of it in Christ. e very limits of the
land are pointed out, the power of those that held them
is naught. In this very remarkable passage, we learn the
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206
blessed and perfect assuring of man in the righteousness of
faith, and the immutability of the covenant; only it is not
communion in life, but earthly, and meeting need, though
the thing given was pure grace. God has a people, and He
gives them a law.
Chapter 16 I pass over. It is not the life of faith, but the
eort of esh to obtain the blessing in its own way; the
promised blessing, but under law. It is, typically, legal Israel.
(Compare Gal. 4.)
In chapter 17 we have the revelation of God Himself
to Abram. Jehovah appears, but He does not appear
as formerly, to call on him to leave all, and come to the
land; nor merely to communicate promises. He reveals
Himself in what was to be His own name of relationship
with Abram-Himself under this name-and gives Abram
a name in connection with Himself. is is the highest
way of revelation. To us it is the communication of a still
better name, a far nearer relationship. e Father’s name is
revealed to us by the Son, and we are called sons. is is the
best and highest possible revelation of God in relationship,
for it is that of the Father to Christ the Son Himself. Still
we have, as to Abram, this kind of revelation. God does not
here reveal what He is for Abram, but what He is. Abram
was to walk before Him, known in that character. “ I am
the Almighty God-walk before me.” Hence Abram falls on
his face, and does not ask for anything to meet the desires
of his own heart. God talks with him. Such is the character
of this wondrous interview. Jehovah reveals His intentions,
and gives Abram a name in connection with them. God
does not bind Himself through sacrice, He only assures to
Abraham the various blessings. But He puts Abraham into
the condition of intercourse with Himself, as belonging to
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207
Himself, by the sign of the death of the esh (there, of
course, in gure, still he is thus placed in the enjoyment of
the relationship). us God is revealed to Abraham, and
Abraham brought into personal relationship with God. He
knows Him as none else does.
God is about to judge the world (chap. 18), and He now
appears to Abraham to give him the immediate promise of
the son as about to come. He comes in human form, with
two others, angels also in human form. ese latter went on
to Sodom to execute judgment on it, and at the same time
deliver Lot. But Abraham saw at once who approached,
and would detail Him awhile. With exquisite propriety,
he does not (while showing unfeigned reverence) break
through the disguise which hid from others the presence
of Jehovah. e angels were there, Sarah was there, it
may be others. He deals with the mysterious guest as He
presents Himself, only with the utmost attention and
reverence. However, promises belong but to One, and He
it is who speaks to the patriarch. But, the word of present
accomplishment being given, they rise up to go on their
way; and now Jehovah will deal with Abraham as a man
deals with his friend. He speaks with Abraham, of what
concerned not himself but the world. It is not Abraham’s
wants, or even Abraham’s walk, but the intention of God
which He would have him know, opening His thoughts
and counsels to him. (Compare Eph. 1:10, 11.) e two
men go on towards Sodom; and Abraham and the Lord
remain together. What a place of privilege and blessing!
It is not worship. It is not a call to follow when the Lord
led. is had all had its place. It is communion, personal
intercourse with God about what concerns Himself and
His ways; intercourse founded on God’s revelation of
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208
Himself, and on personal acquaintance with His character,
grace working on the heart, and producing intercession.
e whole scene is instructive. His son and heir is
promised as a present thing. at is our own hope. It is a
settled one, independent of all that happens to the world;
our own peculiar hope. We are in communion with God,
on the ground of His special revelation of Himself to us,
and the expected heir is revealed as coming. God then deals
with us in the intimacy of friends, and tells us His purpose
and plans, awakening in us, by the grace He exercises
towards us and the condence it imparts, the spirit of grace
and intercession founded on what He is, on our knowledge
of Him.
Abraham does not ask anything for himself here;
he pleads for others. Indeed, what could he ask, when
enjoying converse with God, and the certain and present
promises of the son? He is in the place of blessing, and
walking in the spirit of communion, and of the God he
now knows. is began with the revelation of Himself by
God. Now that Abraham is alone with Him all is boldness,
though reverence, with one well known. e very silence
of Abraham when others were there, and Jehovah had hid
Himself, belonged to a knowledge of Him which none
else had. Jehovah surely had clearer judgment, and even
surer ways of deliverance and mercy than even Abraham
knew; but we speak of the terms on which Abraham
was with Him. It closed this wondrous conference; and
when Abraham’s words were exhausted, and the Lord had
answered him to the end, He went His way, when He had
done communing with Abraham. What a place for the child
of faith to be in!
History of Abram: Genesis 12-18
209
And such is our place. God has revealed Himself, yet
more fully and nearly. He tells us the good pleasure of
His will, according to the good pleasure He has purposed
in Himself. He tells us of the soon-coming Son. He tells
us, though but as a part of His will and counsels, of the
coming judgment of the world. Our place is in grace with
Him who communes with us.
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210
62700
Abram: Genesis 12
Genesis 12
e contents of this chapter are peculiarly important,
as unfolding the dispensations of God. In other parts of
scripture may be more fully seen what the means were by
which the purposes of God should be accomplished, and
the great object in which those purposes found their result;
but the principles on which the dealings of God hinge are
nowhere more clearly produced. It is, in fact, their rst
exhibition, and therefore (however succinctly) they are
denitely and very completely produced and stated;-not
in theoretic principles philosophically declared, but in the
statement of that on which they all depended, and in the
exhibition of which, therefore, they could alone be tly
taught;-that is, in the sovereign acting of God upon the
principles in which we were thereby to be instructed.
us it is that the scripture continually teaches by
realities, for in them God is introduced. No theory can
reach God- the human mind is incapable of it-but God
acting is always the adequate exhibition of Himself; and
thus the object of faith is exhibited in the way in which
He is revealed; while at the same time those with whom
the history may be conversant present all the characters of
man, as subject to God, or in the exercise of that will which
requires to be corrected, as being alienated from Him and
opposed to Him.
e great point of the chapter is the call of God, and
the principles on which it proceeds. e calling of God is
a cardinal point in His dispensations. It is identied with
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211
grace, and in it there is no repentance; God does not swerve
from it. It expressed His purpose, as it is written, “ e gifts
and calling of God are unrepented of,” Rom. 11:29. Of this
there had been heretofore no mention; individuals may
have been called (as assuredly every saint had been from
Abel downwards), but until this chapter it does not form
the subject of the revelation of God.
It is important to consider what subjects the scripture
previously presents; they were substantially two-Adam
and Noah; creation, and creation secured by government.
at Adam was placed at the head of natural creation
will be called in question by none. at Noah stood as
the representative head of government I learn from the
committal of the sword to him, or at least from the revelation
of the principle to him, “ Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by
man shall his blood be shed.” ere might be repentance
in these things, though in gift and calling of God there
could be none. He was not declared as the God of Adam,
or as the God of Noah; but He was the God of Abraham,
the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob; “ this is my name
forever, and this is my memorial unto all generations,” Ex.
3:15. Creation, in point of fact (as to its existing estate),
was repented of-” God saw that the wickedness of man
was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the
thoughts of his heart was only evil continually; and it
repented the Lord that he had made man upon the earth,
and it grieved him at his heart; and the Lord said, I will
destroy “; and He did destroy, sparing favored Noah; as it
is written, “ I will destroy man whom I have created from
the face of the earth, both man and beast, and the creeping
thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that
I have made them,” Gen. 6:5-7. But God’s calling is His
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purpose, and He hath sworn in His holiness, and He will
not repent.
e natural good of creation in the hands of the rst
man had not only proved fallible and corruptible, but it had
failed, and become corrupted; and destructive judgment
had been executed upon it by the hand of God, few, that
is eight souls, being spared, together with what was with
them in the ark, out of all in whose nostrils was the breath
of life. To Noah (as I have before said) the principle of
government was communicated, in order to restrain evil
in its eects; that violence might no more cover the earth,
but that in detailed instances the wrath of God might be
vindicated against it-life belonging unto Him. Sin, however,
in its principle, still remains at work, exhibiting itself in the
failing of Noah the saint, and in the recklessness of the
disrespectful father of Canaan.
As regards this part of the history previous to Abram
(that is, the earth under government), we have the fact
recorded of the division of the earth amongst its various
nations and families; this we nd in Genesis 10, where the
fact is stated, the origin of which we nd explained only in
chapter 11. But rst let us consider the fact-the earth was
divided (a new and not a necessary circumstance for it as
placed under government) into distinct nations, separated
by place, language, and (as to the various lower branches),
we may add, more immediate origin. us, whatever may
have been the particular changes since, the earth under
government assumed the form which it now bears. Various
indeed, in particular parts, might be the interchange,
division, or growth of power; but the characteristic state
of things continued to be the same, and in fact its great
features were indelibly impressed. Indeed not only is this
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the case, but it is interesting to observe, that if we take the
list of nations spoken of as gathered together under the
willful king in the latter day, and under Gog in Ezekiel,
we shall nd ourselves brought back to the same nations,
and tongues, and families, which are presented to our
view at the outset, as the immediate consequence of the
establishment of this principle of government in the hands
of Noah, and as formed into actual condition by the sin of
Babel. e rest of the intermediate scripture is the history
of calling and grace.
To the sin of Babel I would now turn. In the history
of Babel we have shown the sin of man, under the
circumstances in which the one family of man was then
placed; even in assuming the earth to themselves; in seeking
to make a name, lest they should be scattered; a city, which
they purposed should be an abiding monument and center
of power, but on which God writes Babel. Until they were
scattered abroad, they hack one speech, and one tongue,
and thus they were practically one family, having a common
bond of association. But the lust of ambitious selshness
was at work, and this union was broken to pieces. Hence
they were separated and (the earth subsequently being
formally divided among them, Genesis 10:25; 11:18),
they became, to every intent and purpose, distinct nations.
Although its origin was sin, and its character confusion,
the reaching out of grace was shown in the testimony of
the day of Pentecost, as extended toward the world, and
as contrasted with anything towards the Jews merely; this
I remark in passing, but it is not on this that I would now
dwell.
But although circumstances were thus altered, the
principle of government remained untouched; however
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it might be exercised, righteously or unrighteously, it
was placed in the hand of man, “ not bearing the sword
in vain,” “ the minister of God to execute wrath.” It might
be exercised according to its institution, in repressing evil,
although merely by power; but even this in the sin of man
was not the case; the result is described in Psa. 82
“ God standeth in the congregation of the mighty; He
judgeth among the gods.
“ How long will ye judge unjustly, and accept the persons
of the wicked?
“ Defend the poor and fatherless; do justice to the
aicted and needy.
“ Deliver the poor and needy; rid them out of the hand
of the wicked.
“ ey know not, neither will they understand; they
walk on in darkness; all the foundations of the earth are
out of course.
“ I have said, Ye are gods, and all of you are children of
the Most High.
“ But ye shall die like men, and fall like one of the
princes. “ Arise, O God, judge the earth, for thou shalt
inherit all nations.”
e judges of the earth had all gone incorrigibly wrong-
they neither heard, nor yet understood. God was obliged,
therefore, to take the matter into His own hands; He was
obliged to arise and to judge the earth. us is shown the
failure of power in the hands of man from another part of
scripture, as is also shown in Dan. 7, etc.
We have thus brought before us in Genesis, up to
chapter 12, creation, and then its failure and its judgment;
next we have government of the renewed earth introduced
for its peace, in consequence of evil having been proved in
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man. Man’s pride, rebellion, and self-suciency, are shown:
together with a judgment, which did not alter the principle
of the dispensation (for had it been otherwise, evil would
have been without check), which was to continue until God
should take it into His own hands, but which exhibited
how man failed under it, in its common form; how under
the consequent judgment it assumed the form of distinct
nationality; and how the lust of personal ambition and
power, or of obtaining a great name, was associated with
the divinely sanctioned principle of government, and thus
came into existence the beginning of kingdoms; however
unrighteously this principle was exercised, it still continued
to be unalterably recognized of God. Here were all the
principles drawn out, and the scene was closed.
e circumstances might vary, but there was no change
in the principle till God takes the matter into His own
hands. Countries and kindreds were now formed; and
inasmuch as they were separated one from another by the
spirit of intelligible association, so much the more were they
united in stronger personal and local interests; selshness
became national, and adverse interests became (not simply
personal) but those of countries, and peoples, and tongues.
But into the midst of all this there was a new principle
introduced. e calling of God--a principle and a power
which, while leaving these untouched, acted paramount
to them all--to natural relationship, and to formed
associations.
“ Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of
thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s
house, unto a land that I will show thee.” Here is distinctly
shown the calling of the “ father of the faithful.” Country
and kindred were recognized as existing; how they were
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formed in creation, and under government (as established
in Noah), and the subsequent circumstances, we have
already seen.
ey were now left just as they were. ey were
not meddled with. In fact, in their own place (though
corrupted), and as having instamped upon them that they
had been God’s ordinances, they were both distinctly
maintained. ere is not to this day any abrogation of
them, nor indeed ever will be in principle, though they
will be transferred to Christ, and under Christ they will
be unto righteousness and blessing. “ A king shall reign in
righteousness,” and although the queen and Jewish partner
of His glory shall be taught to forget her father’s house
(being called through grace, not descent), yet the ospring
of the remnant shall be blessed with them; instead of the
fathers shall be the children. However, therefore, evil may
have overrun them, both government and relationship,
home, etc., are principles in no way rejected, nor could they
be abstractedly. But the calling of God acts paramountly
to them, or else there could be no other principle, and the
prevailing of man’s evil in them would be left un-remedied.
But in the wisdom of God, the corrupted state of things
was no longer judged or acted upon, but the witness of
better things was introduced; had they been judged,
then must have been the end in utter destruction, or the
premature assumption of all into the hands of Supreme
power. Yet even that by which evil was to be suppressed,
that is, government, being corrupted, was now become the
instrument of evil. Hence entirely new hopes could alone be
introduced, and not merely a present amendment, for that
must have come to the same end; but new principles, not
destroying the sanctioned and appointed instruments of
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217
God, for such destruction would have proved, not so much
the evil of man, the creature, but the evil and foolishness of
the Creator’s appointment. is appointment was left just
where it was, to be judged in due time upon the maintainers
of it. But in grace another principle was introduced-the
leaving in self-sacrice all these things for better hopes.
e existing ties of country and kindred are recognized,
but in THE CALL OF GOD there is set up a paramount
claim:-” e Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of
thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s
house.”
We have then, in the calling of God, the assertion
of a paramount claim on God’s part upon an individual
in grace, leaving everything out of which he was called
without further change; only calling him out of it. is is
one very strong, distinct, and new principle, not previously
revealed, consequent upon, and acting in, an especial and
paramount way, in reference to the existing relationships,
which had arisen out of what was previously ordered and
appointed. No declaration of blessings or principles to
men where they were, but the calling of them out thence,
and thus a personal calling is what we nd. e principle
further established in it mere personal obedience, upon the
ground of this call, to individual responsible action. “ God
had said to Abraham, Get thee out.” Here on the word of
God the individual responsibility of obedience attached. It
necessarily and avowedly involved the breaking of subsisting
relationships in person, as to his own interest in them, but
without aecting them, as they stood in themselves, in the
least. He was to leave his country, and his kindred, and
his father’s house. ey might still continue just what they
were before (they might, or they might not): this was a
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question of Providence; obedience to the words and calling
of God was the only point in grace to Abram, the only
point to be considered by him. e word of God led the
way in the direction which was given, and gave the promise
to him as that which should encourage him in acting. “
Into a land that I will show thee “; this was the certain
hope of certain faith, by which a man is made entirely a
stranger where he was before at home. It was indeed merely
a promise, but it was a promise which involved not only the
certainty of God, but also the guidance of God unto the
thing promised-” to a land that I will show thee.”
Let us turn more to the detail of this calling of God; we
have seen already that its grand distinguishing feature was
separation from the world. “ e Lord had said to Abram,
Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from
thy father’s house.” is was the substance of the present
character of the calling, as acting upon a nationalized
world; and thus was brought forward the specic character
of the church.
ere was involved then in it the immediate favor of God,
not in present comfort, but in personal calling. e personal
revelation of Himself to Abram, as it were, identied him
with Himself and with His purpose, and with the blessing
of an appointed inheritance. is calling, however special
and personal, however distinguishing in favor, necessarily
involved obedience. e call of blessing to Abraham was a
call to get out of his country unto a land which God would
show to him, and thus it necessarily involved obedience.
Whatever the power which acted on his mind might be,
obedience was the result; for in the very terms of the call
it was manifest- no obedience, no blessing. He was (to use
the words of scripture) “ sanctied unto obedience,” for
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219
there was nothing else now given but the command, “ Go
out “-” the Lord had said.” It was not to gratify the present
selshness of Abram’s nature, saying, “ this is thy country,”
but it was “ Get thee out of thy country “-to go where?
“ to a land that I will show thee.” It implied, therefore,
implicit condence in God for faithfulness, power, and
love. Taking Him for the security and the portion (as the
scriptures reveal it), he went out, not knowing whither he
went. It is on this that the Spirit of God so specially rests
as characteristic of his approved faith. By separation from
the world, on the ground of implicit condence in God,
he lost everything, and got nothing but the word of God,
sealed of course to his soul (for his faith rested in it) by the
power of the Spirit of God. e God of glory had appeared
to him in the matter, and God would show to him the land.
So Abram departed.
Here then is the pattern and character of the church,
and also of the individual believer; they are called of God
in faith out of all that into which the world and nature
have been formed (and while not meddling with these
things, or disowning them in their place, but recognizing in
them God’s ordering hand, and moreover the sin of man):
trusting in a promise not at once fullled, but taking God,
and God alone, as the security, the warrant, and the guide;
it is faithfulness, as being assured of the present loss of all
things, and the present gain of nothing; it is a walking by
faith, and not by sight, not only as regards present things
relinquished, but also as to things hoped for-things to
come-” for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?
“ But they are suciently assured of God; and in Him,
and knowing Him, or rather being known of Him, they
are ready to give up all for His word. us it was not the
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reward that was taken as the portion, but God, the promiser
of the reward, and therefore it was faith. e object was as
simple as the security. “ ey went forth to go to the land
of Canaan “; the result was as certain as He who called was
sure; “ they went forth to go into the land of Canaan, and
into the land of Canaan they came.” Such is the history and
the character of the church of God in its calling. Called
out by God into separation from the world, which it leaves
just where it was to go into a land of promise-a land which
God will show it-it walks by faith, and not by sight, going
forth to go thither, and thither surely coming, according to
the calling and power of God.
A darker picture now remains-the actual practical
conduct and condition. ere was a famine in the land, and
Abram went down into Egypt. is was not condence in
God, who had brought him thither, nor was the land of
Egypt the land of Canaan, as was afterward well proved.
And here I would remark, what will, I believe, simplify
the use of many types, and be found (at least I have so found
it) that men who are types represent the energy of faith, the
spiritual energy of the church, under the circumstances in
which the type represents it, or perhaps its failure therein;
and that females who are presented to us as types represent
the state and condition of the church.
Abram may act in faith in going out, and he may act in
want of faith in denying his wife; Sarah is the New Covenant,
Hagar the Old, a freewoman and a bondwoman: one, more
or less, presenting the acting of the Spirit of Christ, the
Gibbor, the bridegroom; the other, the estate or condition
in the dispensation, whether clothed with the sun or in the
wilderness, in bondage or in freedom. And thus it is that
they may vary; thus David, or Ahaz, or Manasseh, would
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221
be very dierently presented as a type of any individual:
but respecting the church or Jewish economy typied by a
woman, it was all one (as being the possessor of the throne
of David), because the economy, or condition of the church
in which they so acted, was all one. I state this merely to
illustrate what I mean; the woman is the state in which the
dispensation is; the man is the conduct of faith in it.
Here then we have Abram and Sarai introduced; and
afterward the actual conduct of the church, and not the
calling, is the thing brought before us.
Present circumstances were distressing in that land into
which the promise of God had called him. It was still a land
of promise; the Canaanite was then in the land. Abram
felt the famine to be grievous, but we nd no reference
to God, no recurrence to Him, no directions from Him,
no exercise of faith; there was no previous direction for
this. e fact is all we have-Abram went down into Egypt.
Alas! too true. But was the God of Abram near? He had
not inquired this, but was acting on his own prudence and
reasoning. Fear of the Egyptians came upon him as he
drew near their land. If there was not famine for the saint,
there was the denial of the blessing and indissoluble bond
which subsisted between the church and its bridegroom,
represented in faith by those who stood in that relation
before God. He came into the regions of the prince of
this world for his own comfort to satisfy his present need,
not of faith in God. e consequence was, the immediate
denial of the holy separation from the world and union
with Christ which belonged to the church: she was his
sister, not his wife; true, perhaps, in one sense, but deadly
in its actual character as to the faith of God’s elect. She
was very fair to look upon, for indeed God had set His
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beauty upon her as His daughter, the object of His love, as
of Himself, as well as being the spouse of Christ the Son;
she was commended in the world. e faith of the church
had denied and disowned its unalterable aance to Christ.
e church was taken into the world’s house, the house
of the prince of this world; and the prince of this world
entreated Abram well for her sake.
He who had denied the bond, and given up that which
was essential in their connection, obtained thereby plenty
and ease at the hand of the prince of this world; “ he had
sheep, and oxen, and he-asses, and men-servants, and
maid-servants, and she-asses, and camels.” But was this
comfort to him? Was it satisfaction (if he had any truth
of heart) for the circumstances in which he was placed?
And if we turn from the mere beggarly circumstances of
the type to the blessed and indissoluble union between our
blessed Lord Christ and the church, how does it picture
the shamefulness, the baseness, the want of faithfulness, in
unbelieving believers, in surrendering this charge of God,
this deposit of faith! How must every camel, every servant,
every ox, as it passed before his eyes, with the stamp of
Pharaoh’s kindness upon it, have smitten Abram’s heart
with the thought, “ But where is my wife, I have sold my
wife for this! “ Did he not know that she was so? Had his
feeble falsehood to others dimmed his own thoughts and
feelings? Had he forgotten in his love of sheep, and oxen,
etc., that the wife given him of the Lord was sold for their
sake? Could tie persuade himself that She was his sister,
and might be Pharaoh’s wife, and not his?
Where was his trust in God? where the integrity
of his way? Bitter was that time to Abram, or sad the
forgetfulness of an unrighteous heart. e lie must have
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223
lain heavy on his heart, but he must receive his sheep and
the oxen; cutting as it might be, he had involved himself
in the circumstances, he stood upon his own declaration
that she was his sister. Had Abram intended this? No! it
was an unlooked-for circumstance; it was unbelief, which
continually produces in judgment the evil which it seeks to
avoid. e sons of men would build a tower lest they should
be scattered abroad, and the Lord scattered them because
they built it. Abram, fearing lest Pharaoh should take his
wife, says she is his sister (as if God would not preserve
him), and therefore Pharaoh takes her into his house. But it
was the rst step that was wrong-Abram went down into
Egypt. He went down without God out of the land of faith
and promise, and he could not expect (for God could not
bless unbelief, though He might judge sin that acted in it
unrighteously) to meet God there; his heart knew Him not
in power there; and as he must act on something, he acts on
his own resources prudently; but as he had departed from
faith in God, so was faithfulness in the position of his wife
with her true husband departed from: and he was blessed
in the world (yea, and by the prince of this world) for his
unfaithfulness.
If Satan gets the church, in its state and condition, into
his own house (however mercifully God may preserve
it), he will bless the faithless instruments of the betrayal
with the things of the world. Such, then, is the history
(not of the calling, but) of the practical conduct of the
church: not of the calling of God, which we saw in its sure
infallibility before, together with Sarai and all he had, but
of the acting of men in the place to which they are called-
in their departure from it, not acting in faith; and such are
the results. e end is not that Abram is honored, but that
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the Lord vindicates Himself in plaguing Pharaoh and his
house with great plagues, because of Sarai Abram’s wife.
He asserts and maintains the title, and judges and will
judge the world for thus taking another man’s wife. e
church is the King’s daughter, and is taken in the lust of
its own dominion by the world. And this the Lord would,
and was entitled to, visit. But still the sin was Abram’s, his
blessings all this while were curses. And it is worthy of
remark, that it was an Egyptian handmaid that typied
the eshly covenant of bondage: the world always genders
unto bondage, for it is ever opposed to the Spirit of God;
and whenever, therefore, the world comes in, it merely
produces, and in result is identied with, bondage (where
the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty). For the world
in its results is developed by bringing an expectation and
an endeavor to procure the inheritance by a covenant of
works. Such has been the actual fact in the church, and will
be, because the Spirit is opposed to the world; and, that
being grieved and absent, the other takes its place, with the
indulgence of lusts, resting on works, and union with the
world. But while this was an ultimate result, I would now
rest merely upon the picture which is actually presented to
us in this chapter, of the cause, character, and consequence
of the working of the spirit of unbelief in the church, called
out indeed, but looked at as in the hands of man. In the
early part of the chapter we have its calling of God, and its
results as well as character. e latter part shows its conduct
in man, the shame, worldly comfort, unbelief, and sorrow;
but also the merciful interposition of that God, who, when
we have wearied Him with our sins, acts and delivers for
His own name’s sake, and vindicates, in righteous dealing
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225
toward the world, what the unrighteousness of man had
plunged unfaithfully into its power.
I feel that I have very feebly drawn out what is here
presented to our view; but if I have drawn the attention of
the children of God to the application of the plain typical
principles here set before us (as applied to the history of
the church of God in this brief account, as that of the
world had previously been given), so as to lead them by the
Spirit to judge from the Lord, and not from anything else,
whether the world or expediency, I shall be content; and I
pray the Lord to bless it.
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62702
Lot’s Choice: a Word on
Present Advantage:
Genesis 19
Genesis 19
ere is much protable instruction in tracing, in
contrast, the characters of Lot and Abram. Both were saints
of God, yet how dierent as to their walk! how dierent
also as to their personal experiences in regard of peace,
joy, and nearness to God! And there is ever this dierence
between a worldly-minded believer and one, through the
grace of God, truehearted. In the scriptural sense of the
term (2 Peter 2:8), a “ righteous man,” Lot was “ vexing
his righteous soul from day to day.” Abram walked before
God.
e Lord cannot but be faithful to His people, still He
does mark in their path that which is of faith and that
which is not of faith, and Lot’s trials are the consequences
of his unbelief. ere is one thing very marked in his course
throughout- great uncertainty and obscurity as to his path,
and as to the judgment of God, because of not realizing
that security in God which would have enabled him to
walk straightforward, whilst there is no hesitation in things
connected with this world. And it is thus with ourselves if
we have not taken Christ for our portion heartily. Abram’s
was a thoroughly happy life-he had God for his portion.
Lot is seen rather as the companion in the walk of faith
of those who have faith, than as one having and acting
in the energy of faith himself. is characterizes his path
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227
from the beginning. erefore, when put to the test, there
is only weakness. In how many things do we act with those
who have faith, before having it for ourselves! It was thus
with the disciples of the Lord, and the moment they were
put to the test there was weakness and failure. e soul will
not stand, when sifted through temptation, if walking in
the light of another.
God’s personal call of Abram at the rst is mixed with a
sort of unbelief in Abram, much like the reply in the gospel,
“ Lord, suer me rst to go home and bury my father.” He
sets out, but he takes Terah, his father, with him, and goes
and lodges in Haran (he could not carry Terah with him
into the land of Canaan). Now God had called Abram, but
not Terah. He left everything except Terah, and entered
into possession of nothing. But he tried to carry something
with him which was not of God, and he could not. It is not
until after Terah’s death that he removes into Canaan, to
where God had called him. (Compare chap. 12:1 and Acts
7:4.) “ So Abram departed, as the Lord had spoken unto
him, and Lot went with him they went forth to go into the
land of Canaan, and into the land of Canaan they came.”
Lot (though having faith) goes in the path he treads as
the companion of Abram. As to actual position, he stands
with Abram. He is truly a saint of God, though afterward
we nd him treading the crooked path of the world’s policy.
God blesses them. e land is not able to bear them so
that they may dwell together (chap. 13). ey have ocks,
and herds, and much cattle, and there is not room for them
both-they must separate. Circumstances, no matter what
(here it is God’s blessings), reveal this.
ey are in the place of strangers, that is clear (“ the
Canaanite and the Perizzite dwelled then in the land”).
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228
ey have nothing in possession, “ not so much as to put
a foot upon “; all rests on their valuing the promises (Heb.
11:9). ey have just two things, the altar and the tent.
Journeying about, and worshipping God, they are strangers
and pilgrims on the earth. Abram confesses that he is such;
he declares plainly that he seeks a country,
5
“ wherefore,”
we are told, “ God is not ashamed to be called their God.”
(He is never called “ the God of Lot.”) is acts upon the
whole spirit and character of Abram.
e land is not able to bear them that they may dwell
together, there is a strife between their herdsmen, they must
separate. Abram says, “ Is not the whole land before thee? “
take what thou wilt, do not let us quarrel “ if thou wilt take
the left hand, then I will go to the right; or if thou depart
to the right hand, then I will go to the left “-the promise
is my portion; I am a thorough stranger, the city of God
is open in glory before me. His heart is upon the promises
of God, and everything else is as nothing in comparison.
It might seem a foolish thing to let Lot choose-to give
up to Lot the right to do so is certainly his own; but his
heart is elsewhere, his faith goes entirely free from earthly
advantage.
Not so Lot; he lifts up his eyes
6
-the plain of Jordan is
well watered everywhere, even as the garden of the Lord,
and he chooses it. ere is nothing gross or wrong in itself
5 In chapter 12 Abram goes down into Egypt. is is evidently
a mistake; for he comes back again to the place of the altar
which he built at the rst. He had no altar in Egypt.
6 “And the Lord said unto Abram, after that Lot was separated
from him, Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place
where thou art northward, and southward, and eastward, and
westward: for all the land which thou seest, to thee I give it,
and to thy seed after thee,” etc.
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in his choosing a well-watered plain, but it just distinctly
proves that his whole heart is not set upon the promises of
God. us is he put to the test; and thus, in the way of the
accomplishment of God’s purposes, character is displayed.
Abram’s conduct has for its spring a simplicity of faith
which embraces God’s promises (Heb. 11:13), and wants
nothing besides. Faith can give up. e spirit of a carnal
mind takes all it can get. Lot acts upon the present sense
of what is pleasant and desirable; why should he not? what
harm is there in the plains of Jordan?
7
His heart is not on
the promises.
e companion of Abram, he is brought to the level of
his own faith.
But he will dwell in the cities of the plain if he chooses
the rivers of the plain. It is not his intention to go into the
city, but he will get there step by step. (He must nd trouble
in the place he has taken pleasure in.) ere is not the
power of faith to keep him from temptation. When there
is not the faith that keeps the soul on the promises, there is
not the faith to keep it out of sin. It is not insincerity, but
people’s souls are in that condition, and God proves them.
Abram’s path all the way through is characterized by
personal intimacy with God, constant intercourse with
God, visits from God, the Lord comes to him, and explains
His purposes, so that he is called the “ friend of God “ (2
Chron. 20:7; Isa. 41:8; James 2:23); and this not only as to
his own portion, but as to what God is going to do with
Sodom-the judgment He is about to bring on -Sodom,
though personally he has nothing to do with it, and the
7 A man says, What harm is there in the well-watered plains of
Jordan? are they not the gift of Providence? I answer, e devil
has planted Sodom in the midst of them.
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promise is his hope (chap. 18). So now He tells His people
what He is going to do about the world. ough their hope
is connected with their own views, with the promises, and
the heavenly Canaan, He takes them into His condence
as to what is to happen where they are not to be.
Lot the while is vexing his righteous soul-does he know
anything about the purposes of God? Not a word. He is
saved, yet so as by re; though a “ righteous soul,” his is
a vexed soul, instead of a soul in communion with God-
vexed “ from day to day “ (there is, so far, right-mindedness
that it is a vexed soul). He is there before the judgment
comes with his soul vexed (whilst happy Abraham is on
the mount holding conversation with God); and when it
does come, how does it nd him? with his soul vexed, and
totally unprepared for it, instead of in communion with
God about it.
“ e Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of
temptation,” and He delivers “ just Lot.” But whilst thus
vexing his righteous soul with their unlawful deeds, the
men of the city have a right to say to him, ‘ What business
have you here? (“ this one came in to sojourn, and he will
needs be a judge,” v. 9)-you are quarreling with sin in the
place of sin.’ ey have a perfect right to judge thus. All
power of testimony is lost by reason of association with
the world, when he ought to be witnessing to his total
separation from it; there is vexation of spirit, but not power.
When Abram got down into Egypt, he had nothing to do
but to go right back to the place of the altar he had built
at the rst. Lot testies, but he cannot get out of the place
he is in; the energy that ought to have thrown him out is
neutralized and lost by his getting into it; his daughters
have married there; he has ties where his unbelief has led
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him It is far more dicult to tread the up-hill road than
the down-hill road.
Whenever the counsels of God are revealed to faith,
it brings out the spirit of intercession. e word to the
prophet, “ Make the heart of this people fat “ (Isa. 6), at once
brings out, “ 0 Lord, how long! “ So here Abraham pleads
with the Lord to spare the city. (But there are not ten-there
is not one righteous man in Sodom, with the exception
of Lot.) As regards his own position, he is looking down
upon the place of judgment. And in the morning, when
the cities are in ames, he nds himself in quietness and
peace on the spot where he “ stood before the Lord “ (v.
27), not at all in the place where the judgment had come,
solemnized, indeed, by the scene before him, but calm and
happy with the Lord.
e Lord sends Lot out of the midst of the overthrow.
Angels warn him, and faith makes him listen. But his
heart is there still. ere are connections that bind him to
Sodom, and he would fain take them with him. But you
cannot take anything with you for God out of Sodom, you
must leave it all behind. e Lord must put the pain where
you nd the pleasure. “ While he yet lingered “; there is
hesitation and lingering in the place of judgment, when
the judgment has been pronounced; he ought to have left
it at once; but the place, and path, and spirit of unbelief,
enervate the heart’ the men laid hold upon his hand, and
upon the hand of his wife, and upon the hand of his two
daughters “-the Lord being merciful unto him-” and they
brought him forth, and set him without the city.” And now
it is, “ Escape for thy life, look not behind thee, neither
stay thou in all the plain, escape to the mountain, lest thou
be consumed,” v. 17. As for the goods, the sheep, and the
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much cattle, he must leave them all behind. If the Lord’s
faithfulness is shown in saving Lot, it is shown also in
breaking the links that bind him to the place. His mind
is all distraction; he says, “ Oh, not so, my Lord. I cannot
escape to the mountain, lest some evil take me, and I die.”
He has lost the sense of security in the path of faith. Such
is ever the consequence of the path of unbelief in a saint of
God, he thinks the path of faith the most dangerous path
in the world. Lot has become used to the plain, and the
mountain (the place where Abraham is enjoying perfect
security and peace) is a mountain. e Lord spares Zoar
at his request, and lets him ee thither, but on seeing the
judgment, he ees to the mountain, forced to take refuge
there in the end.
is is an extreme case; we shall nd the same thing true
in various degrees. Abraham could give up (that sacrice
always belongs to faith); but there are trials to the believer
because of unbelief-because he is a believer, but in a wrong
place. Lot was a “ righteous man “; but when he did not walk
in the path of faith, he had vexation of soul and troubles
righteous soul, but where a righteous soul ought not to be.
Observe his incapacity simply to follow the Lord. Observe
also his uncertainty. So will it be with us, if we are walking
in the path of unbelief, there will be trouble which is not our
proper portion, but which comes upon us because we are
in a wrong worldly place, the trial that belongs to unbelief.
We may be seeking the compassion of the church of God,
when we are only suering, like Lot, the fruit of our own
unbelief- the simple path of faith having been departed
from, because we had not learned to count all things but
loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus our
Lord. Giving up is our proper position, simple sacrice, in
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the knowledge and present consciousness that “ all things
are ours.” But the promise is “ a hundredfold more in this
present world,” and that is not vexation of spirit.
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62704
e Passover and the Red Sea:
Exodus 12-14
Exodus 12-14
We always nd in the deliverances of God’s people that
God is also going to punish the world. He bears testimony
against it, a universal testimony, without excepting anybody.
e law distinguishes men according to their acts, but the
Holy Spirit convicts the world of sin, because they have not
believed on Him whom God has sent. Hence the gospel
begins with treating the world as already condemned. God
has made trial, in every way, of the human heart. e gospel
supposes that this probation is closed, and declares all the
world lost. Souls often desire, and therefore need, to prove
what their own strength is, and nd they have none; even
converted souls sometimes try to commend themselves
thus to God. But it is to dishonor Jesus, and to deny their
own condition as judged of God.
In Egypt God was content with the rst-born of each
house as a manifestation of His judgment. Pharaoh would
not let the people of God go. When God demanded as
a right that they should serve Him, the world-Pharaoh
its prince-would not yield. Signs and plagues were then
wrought to arrest their attention, and enforce the rights of
God, but Egypt would not listen. Pharaoh was hard, then
hardened, and at last becomes a monument of judgment
for the instruction of all men. So it was in the days of
Noah, and so it is now that the world once more is warned
of the approaching judgments of God. e Lord Jesus shall
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235
be revealed from heaven in aming re, taking vengeance
on them that know not God, and on them that obey not
the gospel.
Meanwhile God demands a complete submission
to His revealed will. He demands that the world should
submit to Jesus: all those who will not shall be forced to do
so when judgment comes, and then to their own confusion
and endless sorrow. God presents His Son in humiliation,
in order to save the world; but without submission to Jesus
all is useless, because this is what God requires and values.
To believe in the Son is eternal life, is salvation; to reject
the Son of God is judgment. God will have a surrender of
the heart to Jesus, as Savior and Lord, a surrender to His
own grace in Him. us is the heart and everything else
changed, and all question as to good works is set aside. All
here turns on receiving or rejecting Jesus. God passes over
everything. Zaccheus may speak of what he has been in the
habit of doing, but that is not the point now: “ is day is
salvation come to this house.” If Jesus is welcomed, there
is life; if Jesus is refused, there must be vengeance by-and-
by for those who do not submit. How happy for the poor
convicted sinner that he has not to search in himself for
something to present to God! If the heart is open, Christ is
the grace and glory and perfection that is needed, and the
moral eects soon and surely follow.
Still, the word of God presents the certainty of
judgment. Satan has possession practically of the world,
but God retains His rights. e unconverted are deceived
by the enemy, and are in his power. Satan does all he can
to make the world believe that they are free and happy,
that they are, or may be, righteous and good enough. But
God has His rights. e world will not obey the gospel
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of our Lord Jesus Christ, and hopes to escape judgment.
Satan, too, takes advantage of all that God would employ
to awaken and bless the soul. us, with the unconverted in
Christendom, natural conscience is ashamed of that which
the heathen do even in their religion. But this is used of
Satan to persuade men that they can present themselves
before God, and worship Him in private or public, because
there is nothing in these lands so gross as among Pagans.
But God holds to His rights, and nothing is well if Jesus be
not received in faith.
In Jesus all that is perfect in God and man is presented
to the conscience. e holiness of God is there, not
condemning, but in perfect grace; but God will have an
entire submission to Jesus. Nobody that comes is cast out.
He is God in all His goodness to attract hearts, He is man
in all His lowliness to exercise no will, no choice, but to
receive every one that comes to Him, for such is the will of
Him that sent Him; but God desires submission to Jesus. If
Jesus is rejected, this is the conclusive proof that the heart
will not have God in any way that He takes in presenting
Himself to man. It is the evidence of man’s heart, of his
pride, his hardness, and his levity. Nothing like these can
stand in the presence of God, and Jesus manifested His
presence in love. Pride is ashamed of the cross. Vanity
cannot go on before Jesus, despised and rejected of man.
God searches the heart in this way, and man does not
like it. He is bound to own himself a sinner, to submit his
conscience, and give up his will; but he will not. It is the joy
of Jesus to seek the wanderer; but to return in his rags, to
show his wretchedness, is most distasteful to man’s nature:
grace alone can make him do so. His pride therefore hates
grace more even than law. e heart cannot endure to be
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laid completely bare; but if man is to be blessed, God must
search the heart, and He saves the soul forever. God acts
according to what He is, not according to our thoughts. If
man will not believe in Jesus, God will manifest what He
is by judgment.
Egypt must be smitten. But rst we have the security
of such as submit to God, conding in the sprinkled blood
of the Lamb. Israel was well aware of the judgment about
to be executed upon the land of Egypt. It should always be
thus with renewed souls. ey ought to consider the ways
of God when He will judge the world in righteousness.
When God reveals the judgment, He reveals also
the means of escaping it. e soul which has the fear of
God keeps close to His word, and the question is raised
between God and Israel. Could Israel stand if God came in
judgment? e Egyptians were sinners, and would surely
be judged; but if God came down to judge, what were the
children of Israel? Where were their sins? God directs
Moses that they should take of the blood of the slain lamb,
and strike it on the two side-posts and on the upper door-
post of their houses. “ And the blood shall be to you for a
token upon the houses where ye are; and when I see the
blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon
you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt.” To the
mind of man it was folly, but the simplicity of faith honors
the word of God, and acts upon it. e destroying angel
of Jehovah passed through the land, and if there had been
Israelites ever so honest, but without the blood on their
door-posts, he must enter and slay. For God was under this
sign judging sin, and sin levels all distinctions; and where
the blood was not, there sin was in all its hatefulness to a
holy God-sin un-atoned for and unjudged.
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So now it is, Christ and salvation, or no Christ and no
salvation. He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting
life, and he that believeth not on the Son shall not see life,
but the wrath of God abideth on him.. ere is the utmost
certainty for those within the blood-sprinkled doors. It
is the Lord who executes the judgment by His angel. It
is impossible for Him to be deceived, and impossible for
man to escape: but He says, “when I see the blood I will
pass over you.” ere need not be a doubt, whatever the
judgment.
It is not said, when you see the blood, but “ when I see
“ it. e soul of an awakened person often rests, not on
its own righteousness, but on the way in which it sees the
blood. Now, precious as it is to have the heart impressed
with it, this is not the ground of peace. Peace is founded on
God’s seeing it. He cannot fail to estimate it at its full and
perfect value as putting away sin. It is He that abhors and
has been oended by sin; He sees the value of the blood as
putting it away. It may be said, But must I not have faith
in its value? is is faith in its value, seeing that God looks
at it as putting away sin. Your value for it looks at it as
a question of the measure of your feelings. Faith looks at
God’s thoughts.
God, then, sees the blood: on that we rest to escape
judgment, not upon our own view either of sin or of the
blood of the Lamb. God Himself estimates the blood of
His own Son, as He it is who fully hates our sin: we feel
both most when we enter into this, and rest on it in faith.
Faith lays hold of His judgment of sin, and feels the need
of His value for the blood of Christ.
is is the rst great question-a question between a
holy God and a sinful people. God appears as judge. e
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239
expiatory blood of redemption bars to Him the way as
judge, and it secures the people infallibly; but God does
not enter within- its value is to secure from judgment.
e people, having eaten in haste with the bitter herbs
of repentance, begin their journey; but they do so in Egypt;
yet now God can be, and he is, with them. e more we
know Christ, and enjoy His purity, the more gravely shall
we feel our sins. It was then that the Israelites ate the
Lamb, but they ate it in security. It would have been sin
to have thought that God could fail in His word or His
deliverance: and it is sin now to doubt that the blood of
Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth from all sin.
Israel may be in Egypt, but they are no longer slaves
there. eir loins are girded that night, their shoes on their
feet, and their sta in hand. Such, too, is our position in the
world. Israel begin their journey with the question of sin
settled. ey had been secured, and they knew it, even in
the midst of God’s judgment of sin. When the revelation
of God enters the heart, one cannot nd peace till the
revelation of His grace is as clear to us as that of His dealing
with sin. e Christian nds his judgment fallen on Christ
Himself; he begins with submitting to the righteousness of
God, who condemns our nature and acts, root and branch,
but shows us the condemnation borne by the Lord Jesus.
Have you submitted to Jesus? God demands it. He asks
for no other oering nor sacrice; He presents Jesus, and
shows you what you are. e worst sinners in the world may
be received in grace by Jesus. “ Behold now is the accepted
time: behold, now is the day of salvation.”
When Israel went forth, the rage of Satan knew no
bounds. Pharaoh made ready all the chariots of Egypt, and
his horsemen and his army, and pursued after. Never had
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Israel been so sad as they were on the eve of their new
deliverance. But now that sin in their case was settled, it
was a question solely between God and the enemy. “ And
Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not, stand still, and
see the salvation of the Lord, which he will show to you
to-day: for the Egyptians whom ye have seen to-day, ye
shall see them again no more forever. e Lord shall ght
for you, and ye shall hold your peace. And the children of
Israel went into the midst of the sea upon the dry ground:
and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand,
and on their left. us the Lord saved Israel that day out
of the hand of the Egyptians; and Israel saw the Egyptians
dead upon the seashore. And Israel saw that great work
which the Lord did upon the Egyptians: and the people
feared the Lord, and believed the Lord, and his servant
Moses.”
It is well to distinguish the judgment of the rst-born
from that of the Red Sea. e one was the rstfruits of
the other, and ought to have deterred Pharaoh from his
rash pursuits. But the blood, which kept the people from
the judgment of God, meant something far deeper and
far more serious than even the Red Sea, though judgment
was executed there too. What happened at the Red Sea
was, it is true, the manifestation of the illustrious power
of God, who destroyed, with the breath of His mouth, the
enemy that stood in rebellion against Him. It was nal
and destructive judgment which eected the deliverance
of His people by His power. But the blood of the paschal
lamb signied the moral judgment of God, and the full
and entire satisfaction of all that was in His being. God,
such as He was, in His justice, His holiness, and His truth,
could not touch those who were sheltered by that blood.
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Was there sin? His love towards His people had found the
means of satisfying the requirements of His justice; and at
the sight of that blood, which answered everything that
was perfect in His being, He passed over it consistently
with His justice, and even His truth. Nevertheless, God,
even in passing over, is seen as Judge. Hence, likewise, so
long as the soul is on this ground, its peace is uncertain, its
way in Egypt, even though all the while truly converted;
because God has still the character of Judge to it, and the
power of the enemy is still there.
At the Red Sea, God acts in power according to the
purposes of His love. Consequently the enemy, who was
closely pursuing the people, is destroyed without resource.
is is what will happen to the people at the last day,
already, in reality-to the eye of God-sheltered through the
blood. As to the moral type, the Red Sea is evidently the
death and resurrection of Jesus, and of His people in Him;
God acting in it, in order to bring them out of death, where
He had brought them in Christ, and consequently beyond
the possibility of being reached by the enemy. We are made
partakers of it already through faith. Sheltered from the
judgment of God by the blood, we are delivered by His
power that acts for us from the power of Satan, the prince
of this world. e blood keeping us from the judgment of
God was the beginning; the power which raised us up with
Christ made us free from the whole power of Satan who
followed us, and from all his attacks and accusations.
e world who will follow that way is swallowed up in
the waters. is is a solemn warning; for the world who call
themselves Christians do take the ground of a judgment
to come, and the need of righteousness; but not according
to God. e Christian goes through it in Christ, knowing
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himself otherwise lost and hopeless-the worldling in his
own strength, and is swallowed up. Israel saw the Red Sea
in its strength, and thought escape was impossible. So an
awakened conscience dreads death and judgment. But
Christ has died and borne judgment for us, and we are
secured and delivered by that which in itself we dreaded.
e worldling, seeing this, adopts the truth in his own
strength, as if there were no danger, and is lost in his false
condence. To the believer, what was the subject of his
fear-death and judgment-gives him joy, now that he knows
the results, in God’s hand, of the death of Christ. “ Out
of the eater came forth meat, and out of the strong came
forth sweetness.” Honey is taken out of the lion’s carcass.
e resurrection of Christ is the standing witness that the
Christian’s judgment is past, and that the world’s judgment
is coming (Rom. 4; Acts 17). Christ is risen, and therefore
we are justied in Him; so is the world to be judged by
Him.
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243
62705
e Red Sea and the
Wilderness: Exodus 15
Exodus 15
It is easy to understand Israel’s distress,-the sea before,
shutting them in, and Pharaoh and his host pursuing, so
that they were sore afraid, and cried unto the Lord, and
said to Moses, “ Because there were no graves in Egypt hast
thou taken us away to die in the wilderness? “ Although,
as we see, they had cried to the Lord, they had not in their
hearts reckoned on His delivering them. It must, therefore,
have been a wondrous thing to them when God was so
publicly manifested to be on their side. And so is it with
our hearts, when thus tested with trial on every side; shut
in, as it were, with trouble of one sort or another, our hearts
are often found buried under the circumstances, instead
of calculating upon the God who is above them either to
sustain us under them or deliver from them.
Israel, we can see, was dealt with in unqualied grace,
whatever might be their murmurings, etc., till they reached
Sinai, that they might know how entirely God was for
them. Afterward, through their folly in putting themselves
under the law, which they ought to have known they could
not keep, they brought upon themselves a dierent line of
treatment. In the sixteenth chapter, when they murmured
for food, God gave them quails (as well as manna) without
any reproach, that Israel might know that God was feeding
them on the ground of perfect grace. But afterward, when
they again murmured for esh (being then under law), we
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read that, while it was yet in their mouths, the wrath of the
Lord was kindled against the people, and the Lord smote
them with a very great plague. But God would rst have
them know how entirely bent He was on doing them good,
bad as they might be.
It is well to distinguish, for our souls’ prot, the dierence
between the Passover and the Red Sea. For a person may
hear the gospel and receive it with joy, and be rejoicing in
the forgiveness of sins; he may see the loveliness of Christ,
and have his aections drawn out towards Himself; but
if full redemption is not known, as typied by the Red
Sea, if he does not know himself to be risen with Christ
on the other side of death and judgment, he is almost
sure to lose his joy when temptation comes and he feels
his own weakness. e joy of chapter 15 is that God has
absolutely redeemed them out of Egypt and brought them
in His strength to His holy habitation. A very dierent
thing from the joy of the Passover-being delivered from
just and deserved judgment. In the Passover Jehovah had
made Himself known to them as the God of judgment. e
blood on the door-posts screened them from judgment; it
kept Him out, and He did not come into their houses to
destroy. Had He come in, it must have been in judgment.
At the Red Sea it was another thing-even God coming
in strength as their salvation. e Passover delivered them
from His judgment, the Red Sea from their enemies. e
moment His people are in danger from Pharaoh, He
comes in. e very sea they dreaded, and which appeared
to throw them into Pharaoh’s hands, becomes the means
of their salvation. us through death God delivered them
from death; like as Christ went down into the stronghold
of Satan, went down under the power of death, and, rising
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245
again from the dead, delivered us from death. us was
there an end of Pharaoh and Egypt to them forever. e
Red Sea is redemption out of Egypt; God Himself is their
salvation. He whom they had feared, and justly, as a Judge,
is become their salvation. ey are redeemed; no longer
were hoping for mercy, but able to rejoice that judgment
was past, and to sing His praises for having brought them
to His holy habitation-to God Himself; in the light as He
is in the light; and brought there before they had taken
one step in the wilderness, or fought one battle with their
enemies.
ere is no conict properly till redemption is known.
ey did not attempt to ght with Pharaoh, but only to
get away from him. ey groaned under his yoke, but
did not combat against him. How could they? ey must
be brought to God rst-be the Lord’s host before they
can ght His enemies or their own. And so it is with an
individual soul. I have no power to combat Satan while I
am still his slave. I may groan under his yoke, and sigh to be
delivered from it; but before my arm can be raised against
him, I must have a complete and known redemption. e
Israelites are not only happy in escaping the pursuer: it is
a full conscious redemption from Egypt and Pharaoh; and
they can count on God’s power for all the rest. “ e people
shall hear and be afraid,.. the inhabitants of Canaan shall
melt away,” v. 14, 15. eir joy does not arise from having
no enemies, but from God’s own divine power taking them
up, and putting them in His own presence.
“ ou shalt plant them in the mountain of thine
inheritance,” v. 17. is was yet to be done; but they were
already with Him in His holy habitation-not theirs but His.
And thus are we in His presence, brought to God, though
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not yet in the place prepared for us on high. So, in Eph. 1,
the apostle prays “ that-they may know what is the hope of
His calling, and the glory of His inheritance in the saints.”
It was God’s land they were to dwell in-the Father’s house
in which our home shall be. It is His glory, and He will
bring us into it. No fear of the enemies by the way: to faith
they are powerless. Full condence belongs to redemption.
Is it then, as men would say, all plain sailing now? In no
wise. It is the wilderness, and there is no water; and, mark,
it was by the Lord’s command they pitched in Rephidim.
Does this make redemption uncertain? Not at all. Yet it
is a dreadful thing to have no water; it was certain death in
those countries. Had He then brought them through the
Red Sea and unto Himself to kill them with thirst? When
at length they did come to water, it was bitter. But this
was to prove them, and bring out what was in their hearts.
e bitter water did not show what was in God’s heart
(redemption had shown that); but in their hearts lay much
that had to be manifested and corrected. ey must drink
into the power of death. Being redeemed forever, they must
learn that there is nothing for them in the wilderness. All
supply must be from God Himself. is is the very eect of
redemption, and there is so much in us to be brought out
and corrected. But He makes the waters sweet.
We must all learn death (being redeemed we have life)
and it cannot be learned in Egypt. ey had no Marah
in Egypt. It is wilderness experience. Redemption must
be known rst, and the eect will be death to sin, to
selshness, to one’s own will; and all this is very trying.
A person might be tempted to say, All this trial comes
upon me because I have not redemption. Not so; it is
just because you are redeemed. We may seek to avoid the
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247
bitter waters of Marah, but God will bring us to them. He
must break down all that is of the old man, and then, in
His own good time, He will put in that which sweetens
all. But because God has brought me to Himself, He is
putting His nger on everything (be it love of the world,
setting up self, my own will, or whatever it may be) that
hinders complete dependence on Him, or my soul’s full
enjoyment of Himself. But count it not strange, though
it be a ery trial which is to try you; for as surely as you
are redeemed, so will He break down your own will. Yes,
beloved, God will make you drink of the very thing (death)
that redeemed you.
And now Israel is going on with God, and He is dealing
with them. He gave them statutes, etc. He did not do so
before He had redeemed them. ey had been troubled
before by Pharaoh, but now it was from God. is was the
eect of having to do with God, and now they learn God in
a new character-” the Lord that healeth.” A dierent thing
from His promise, that if obedient He would bring none
of the diseases of Egypt upon them. ey are exercised by
God, but it is that they may know Him as the Healer: it is
for this that the whole heart has to be brought out before
God. We cannot escape it. He will so order circumstances
as to bring it about. Sometimes we are humbled before
men: this is very trying and bitter water; but then what
a wretched thing it was to be seeking to magnify oneself!
As soon as the tree (the cross) is in the waters, they refresh
the soul. is is joy in tribulation-joy in redemption rst,
but now in the healing. First, God makes us to sing in the
knowledge of redemption; and then, if we are to have the
practical eect of redemption, which is the enjoyment of
God Himself in our souls, the esh, which would always
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hinder this, must be broken down in whatever form it
works. It was to prove them. God knew what was in their
hearts; but they did not, and they must learn it.
After this they come to Elim. Now they experience the
natural consequence of being with God-the full streams of
refreshment-as soon as they were really broken down. Had
Elim come rst, there would have been no sense of their
dependence on the Lord for everything, and nature would
have been unbroken. But trial produces dependence, and
dependence, communion. It is only for this that He delays,
for He delights in blessing His people. e numbers 12 and
70 are dierent gures of perfection: perfect refreshment,
perfect shelter, and all this in the wilderness, and rest then.
ey must be exercised at Marah, that they may fully
know and enjoy Him at Elim. Redemption brought them
indeed to God, but now it is joy in God. And so it is with
us.
Although we are redeemed, we cannot have these
springs from God Himself, owing through our souls, with
unbroken esh. But whatever trial we are in, however deeply
we may have to drink into death, there is resurrection as
well as death: and when we see God’s hand in it, when we
see the cross of Christ in the bitter waters, we understand
God’s mind and purpose in them, and they become sweet
to us. We cannot walk in the way of faith without faith,
so we must be put to the test. Not that, for the present,
tribulation seems joyous, but grievous; but afterward it
yieldeth the peaceable fruits unto them that are exercised
thereby.
Flesh is not faith. If I lose my trust in God for one
minute, that very minute the esh comes in, under some
form or other. Whenever I feel perplexed or at a loss, the eye
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249
is not single: it shows I am out of communion, otherwise I
should know what to do. If the eye were single, the whole
body would be full of light. Or there is something yet to be
detected in us, something we have not yet found out in our
own hearts. It may not be willful sin; but there is something
He will exercise our hearts about, something as to which
He will manifest Himself as Jehovah the Healer. us we
learn to rejoice in tribulation also, and then to rejoice in
God-nding springs of joy, refreshings in the wilderness
in that God who brought us there. Let us, then, not count
trial a strange thing; for we know its purpose, even that we
may joy in God Himself.
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62709
Hints on the Tabernacle:
Exodus 25-34
Exodus 25-34
Ex. 25 begins the instructions for the tabernacle. First,
they were to bring all the dierent materials, and then “
according to all that I show thee after the pattern of the
tabernacle and the pattern of all the instruments thereof,
even so shall ye make it.” And again, “ after the pattern
of all that was showed thee in the mount.” ese were
the “ patterns of things in the heavens,” or antitypes of
things in the heavens. We must not bring in the highest
relationships here; that is, connected with what has been
said about priesthood; as “ Father “ is the highest name
for us, so here you nd all judicial questions settled. Such
matters as cleansing, and all that was responsible down
here, are dealt with, and so on; but no relationships save
Jewish ones. It is this that makes the Psalms, beautiful
as they are, mischievous in the use men make of them,
because souls get into a false relationship with them. You
never see the Father’s relationship to the child in the entire
body of Psalms. It is referred to as an analogy, but not the
relationship itself. ere are instructions how to walk in
faith in this world, but they never put a person in heaven;
the christian class of relationships could not be, for it
was not revealed; but many beautiful expressions of faith,
condence, and piety which apply to us all.
To me it is a remarkable thing that we have here the
shadow of good things to come, not the very image of
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251
them. ere is a most wonderful exhibition of what is
divine, and yet it contains in it provision for a connection
or relationship with what is fallen. us what is an altar
for? In heaven you get an altar, and on earth pictured out
the heavenly things themselves where Christ is gone; still
it secretly kept in redemption, and, by sacrice upon it, all
was provided for, and a certain connection with heaven by
means of what is earthly.
e existence of an altar and a laver supposed impurity,
yet the third heavens are gured there and the throne
of God, but along with that an un-rent veil. ere was
a holiest, but no way into it; so that it all has a certain
character of revelation of God, and yet of a hidden God
after all. us we see in it mere connection with heaven
before anybody could enter there, and this comes from
fore-showing Christ-the perfect- by what is imperfect.
e rst thing described (in chapter 25) is the ark,
made of shittim wood, and covered all over with pure
gold inside and out; and it is said, “ thou shalt put into
the ark the testimony which I shall give thee,” that is the
law. Now you could not put law in the Father’s house; but
you could put it where God was in a relationship with
man which regarded him in a judicial manner, as I said.
Take the Hebrews, where you have the highest christian
expression of all this; and there we have boldness to enter
into the holiest, but we are not sitting in heavenly places.
No person ever thought of dwelling in the tabernacle; that
is another set of ideas. God dwelt there, but nobody else.
e moment man dwells there, I must get the Father, and
also complete freedom of relationship to Him as such.
e moment God revealed Himself as Father, you get the
ground on which the relationship was founded, and then
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comes priesthood, and also adoption, and heirship of the
glory. is is what frightened the disciples on the mount
of transguration (I mean the “ excellent glory,” that is, the
cloud, or the Shechinah); “ and they feared as they entered
into the cloud,” that is, as Moses and Elias entered; it was a
new thing altogether to the disciples, a new idea, and a fact
before them that produced the fear.
Was not Moses in the cloud before? e cloud came
down, and God talked with Moses, but Moses did not
enter the cloud; the cloud was more than the holiest. Moses
went up, but he never went into the cloud to talk with God,
though the cloud covered God from the people. It was the
sign of God’s presence as when Miriam talked against
Moses (Num. 12). But when you have the cloud on the
mount, it was pure law, until Moses interceded with God
for mercy; so in itself it was accompanied with thunderings
and lightnings-not grace at all. Until Moses got the mercy
(the second time he went up), he did not go in with God.
If Moses went into the tabernacle, that was approaching
God; but still it was not like being children in a house,
it was approaching a God who will estimate whether you
have a right to approach Him or not.
God was here in a certain character, and if man was
not t, he could not go there, for there was moral estimate
of what man was. Now the Father has sent the Son; but
then it was nothing of the kind, it was purely a question of
whether man could approach God. e contrast is brought
out in Hebrews, taking Hebrews in the highest way. We
have boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus:
this is what makes us competent; but still for us God is a
consuming re, estimating everything. e temple was the
Lord’s house, Jehovah’s, and Jehovah was His Father. We
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253
were noticing in Corinthians the three names of God in
the passage, “ I will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my
sons and daughters, saith the Lord (Jehovah) Almighty.”
Christ revealed the Father’s name, for He was Son. It
was not that man could go to God, but God was revealed
to man; it was not sitting in righteousness to see if man
could go near, but God was coming out in grace to take
man in to Himself. us you can see what is so terrible in
confounding the Old Testament condition with ours; that
was only the shadow of good things to come. Evidently it
is a solemn truth, whether we can go to God or not; it is
a dierence in the starting-point of the whole being. And
more still, it is the Father’s eternal love that is thinking of
me, though I am a sinner, and that means to give me such
a blessing.
e Epistle to the Hebrews is more contrast than
comparison; you have a veil, but it is rent; priests dying
because they could not continue, and One who cannot die;
sacrices that were memorials of sins, and a sacrice which
is such as to be proof that sins are no more remembered.
e Epistle is not the old system christianized, so to speak,
but another bearing of things altogether.
You have the blood put upon the ark or mercy-seat.
e mercy-seat itself is of pure gold. ere you see what
is absolutely divine. You see something as to man when
the law is put in the ark, because that applies to man, and
shittim wood too is in the ark; but the covering is divine
righteousness absolutely.
Shittim wood, they say, was a kind of acacia, and
gurative, in general, of the human side of things, as gold
was of the divine. For when you have a covenant in the law,
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man is brought in; but the covering was of gold only, and
this was divine alone.
ere is a physical reason in it too, for they could not
have carried it else. ere was no appearance of wood,
all was gold that was seen, but the covering is pure gold
altogether. en you have the cherubim, and the whole a
throne: “ he sitteth between the cherubim.” e cherubim
seem to be symbols always of judicial power. e seraphim
are only in fact named in Isaiah, and there they say, “ Holy,
holy, holy, is Jehovah of hosts, the whole earth is full of
his glory.” It was judgment looked at in connection with
holiness more than with authority and government. In
the Revelation the four living ones are both cherubs and
seraphs. ey have six wings and cry, “ holy, holy, holy,”
having the likeness of a man, calf) lion, and ying eagle.
Here the cherubim are connected with the judicial throne.
e four faces are the attributes of God in a way. e
ox was called a cherub sometimes, though I do not know
why. In it is the permanence and stability of judgment; the
power of it in a lion; the rapidity of it in the eagle; and the
intelligence in a man.
ere was another thing in this divine throne-the
covenant was there; the terms of the covenant were the
law. You have no seraphim here, but it is the throne of
judgment just as much. And there is this fact: the cherubim
were of gold beaten out of one piece with the mercy-seat.
ey were divine. And they were together, with their wings
stretched out, looking at the covenant, all the attributes of
God securing the covenant and judging righteously.
Remarkably enough our rationalists in their researches
have found in Nineveh winged things, bulls and lions, and
images of cherubim, and so on. It just shows the utter folly
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255
of their system, for when Ezekiel has the cherubim, he has
these animals sure enough; but they are merely to support
the throne. For God is above; they are mere attributes, and
God over them.
Here in the tabernacle they were not fully manifested in
that way. It is the throne of God, and the cherubim are of
one piece with it, look towards one another but downwards
xedly at the covenant, with their wings stretched out to
cover the mercy-seat. When Solomon puts his cherubim in
the temple, they stood up with the tip of one wing touching
one wall, then two tips met in the middle of the house, and
the other tip of the fourth wing touched the wall on the
opposite side, and they looked outwards, because all the
attributes of God were going out to man.
e reason the ark is mentioned as carried then into the
temple is because the tabernacle was in ruin. Once men
carried it into Dagon’s house (this being an idol, part man
and part sh), and when the ark went in, the man fell down,
and the sh only was left in place. is had its meaning.
Now Shiloh was all pulled to pieces when Solomon took
the ark and set it in the temple. e Philistines had taken
it, but God maintained His own glory (all else must go for
nothing); and He watched over it step by step wherever
they led it about, and nally took it from them.
It was a cherub at each end and all gold, simply divine,
a sign of God Himself, as it were. “ And thou shalt put the
mercy-seat above upon the ark, and in the ark thou shalt
put the testimony that I shall give thee.” is is rst of all,
and chief; but no Father sending the Son here. ere is
the meeting God in righteousness in a certain way, but it
is God dealing with man, responsible man, and setting up
His own throne in righteousness.
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256
en you nd the table of shittim wood, overlaid
with gold, and upon it the shewbread always. en the
candlestick of pure gold with beaten work and seven lamps
for burning oil. ese were on the two sides, and in the
same place outside the veil.
But the altar of incense is not described yet, because this
is for approach and not for display. e description of the
vessels is broken in the middle here by the appointing of
the priesthood. First the things that are from God coming
out, and then, after the priests are appointed, the things
which are wanted for man to go in. So, in the holy place,
there is a table and a candlestick. e table is “ before
Jehovah,” the number twelve in the loaves on the table, and
seven in the lamps (the one being the sign of government
in the creature, and the other, of what is divine light in the
Spirit); and this is simply divine in its nature. Twelve is
government on earth, as constantly one gets it so. Seven is
what is spiritual, bad or good, but commonly good. Hence,
as to these two numbers, they are both perfection; but one
is perfection in a spiritual way, and the other is perfection
in a human way. Seven is the highest prime number,
absolutely indivisible, nine may be divided though not by
two. Whereas twelve is the most divisible of the numbers,
divisible by all below its half, except ve. eir use (seven
or twelve) is a matter of fact, and there is a kind of moral
reason why they should be used; twelve apostles, twelve
foundations to the city, twelve thrones, twelve patriarchs,
twelve tribes, and so on. us there is the divine light on
the one side, and the human order according to God, or
God’s order in man, if you please, on the other side, in the
holy place; not in the holiest of all.
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e church ought to give out the light now that is true
in the power of the Spirit.
e golden altar follows, because we are not yet going
in; the altar is for going to God, and so the priesthood
comes rst before you can have the golden altar.
Afterward come the glory itself and the court of the
tabernacle. ere are three unities in the tabernacle. It is
Christ Himself; then the church, “ whose house are we “;
and then it is the heavens. He was the tabernacle, and the
veil was His esh; and we are His house; and then He went
“ through the heavens “ (Heb. 4:14). God dwelt in Christ, “
the Father dwelleth in me “; in the house the church, God’s
habitation; and in the heavens. All we have had was inside
the tabernacle.
e loaves have nothing to do with the church; they are
the perfection of administrative order in man. Of course
these are all mere images, just like the city, which is a cube.
Now a cube is perfection, but nite perfection measurable
every way and equal; but you can nd no end to a circle, or
corner anywhere, to measure from, and which is not nite
but innite rather. Of a cube I come regularly to the end
each way. Perhaps Christ answers more to the most holy
place, because you get “ the veil, that is to say, his esh.”
en we read, “ he that built all things is God,” and Christ
went through all-the court-the holy place, and the most
holy place. It is from this earth, up; this earth is the point
of departure, for Christ went up from the earth through all
the heavens.
Inside was where nobody could go in; there was neither
display nor approach. Outside, the incense altar was
approach, and the table and the candlestick were display. So
until the rent veil nobody went in, “ the Holy Ghost thus
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258
signifying, that the way into the holiest of all was not yet
made manifest while as the rst tabernacle was standing.”
In the ark I have God Himself sitting on the throne of
judgment; and in it, as Christ, all that God could require
from man was absolutely there, and God was there too.
ere is divine judgment, but it is there put into connection
with man’s responsibility; that is, God’s measure of man’s
righteousness, if you please, not what it is of course, but
what it ought to be. You notice in the Hebrews it is not
the temple but the tabernacle that is always referred to.
Scripture says we have “ boldness to enter into the holiest “;
and so we do in spirit. e veil is rent; so that, when we go
to worship, we go into God’s own presence, we go beyond
the veil-inside the veil. Our position is, that the veil was
rent from top to bottom, and we go inside where God is.
What God is showing under the law, was that man could
not go in; “ the Holy Ghost this signifying that the way
into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest.” Whereas
now the Holy Ghost shows that it is, all Hebrews being
contrast in that way between what was and what is. e
rending of the veil in Christ’s death has let us into God’s
own presence. It did two things, the rending of the veil-it
put away all sins for us totally; and also it opened up the
way for us to God; so that now, through the work of Christ,
we have all opened up for us into God’s own presence, and
we are without sin when we get there. ere are other and
higher things, even than this, in the Father and common
truth; but all this is necessary for us to go to God.
“ Moses was faithful in all his house,” God’s house,
for the tabernacle was not Moses’, but God’s house. e
house is all one now in that sense, though Hebrews omits
notice of the rending of the veil. Perhaps the omission is
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259
on purpose. It supposes a rent veil, though it is not stated
in so many words. It would have to be rent for the Jews in
the millennium; but it is not rent to them, as I believe. e
Jews get all the good of the veil being rent, looked at as
Christ’s death; but, Christ being then on earth, they have
not to look through into heaven to see Him.
e court has its place, it was only where the tabernacle
was; and it is not the earth exactly nor is it the heaven; if
you take it merely as a gure, it is the created heavens.
e “ heavenly places “ of Daniel do not correspond,
“ heavenly places “ being taken as a general term both in
Daniel and in Ephesians.
When Christ was cast out of the world, He was put
upon the brazen altar, so that the court is like the heaven as
being out of the earth where man was; but scarcely heaven
either, for man could not put Him there.
en you get the court of the tabernacle made, but
not the laver here. e camp is earthly or eshly religion,
and, when Christ’s death proves that man cannot be in
relationship with God, at least in that way, and therefore
the blood goes into heaven so as to take my title there,
I must have done with human religiousness; and then
having an inside place with God, I must have an outside
place from the world. Morally, Christianity is turned into
a camp again, and, to carry it fairly out, there must be a
sacrice and priest too; this is just what popery has done,
and they have given that old character to what Christianity
is; sacrices on earth, and priests on earth going to God for
you because you cannot.
But when I get sacrice carried outside, it is revealed
that there cannot be such a thing; and the law is but a
shadow in itself, though in it you nd certain elements
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260
which are very instructive in going to God. But the moment
you apply these things to Christianity, every element is in
contrast. Christ has gone through the heavens, the veil is
rent, and there is positive access to the holiest. All now is
just the opposite to what then was. When we have heaven,
we have done with a worldly religion and are outside the
camp. And this is the very thing that now characterizes an
intelligent Christian; he cannot be adapting the world to
God, or God to man. Taking the system as such is to set
aside the truth of Christianity. We have the altar, but not
that of incense, and no laver.
e highest point that Judaism reached was that the
priest could go to the veil, but not the people. e priest
could have the external display of God amongst men in a
priestly way; but there was no going to God Himself. As a
rule the veil was on them, but this varies with their spiritual
apprehension. Moses might have understood some things
God says of him, “ thou hast found grace in my sight, and
I know thee by name.” But he stood all alone, he took
the veil o his face when he went in to God; but what
characterized Israel was the veil on.
e veil is the Word made esh-Christ-ne twined
linen, the positive purity of the nature; and then all the
graces embroidered upon it. You get the same here in the
rst covering of the tabernacle; it is made of the same thing
as the veil; it is Christ’s human nature. God had no interest
in putting colors there without a meaning. If you compare
one scripture with another, you may learn what they mean.
It is the same with the heavenly Jerusalem, certain things
are clear, but you must be careful; there is no temple in it,
for if a temple is glorious about God, it hides God; but
there it is God’s own glory seen.
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261
en you get the dress of the high priest (more for Israel
than for us, and therefore I do not go into it minutely); but
there is the beautiful expression of Christ’s care for His
people, only the immediate reference is to Israel. A coat,
a blue robe, an ephod (and in the ephod gold or divine
righteousness), and with that, a stone on each shoulder that
clasped together the back and front parts of the ephod;
and then the breastplate (the breastplate and ephod being
essentially the priestly robe). en we have all the names
of the children of Israel, six on one onyx stone and six on
the other, on the two shoulders of the priest, and so he
carries, as it were, the weight of the people: then in the
breastplate again, the twelve names on his heart and the
Urim and ummim were there too, lights and perfections,
the judgment of the children of Israel. e Jews’ idea of it
was that the divine glory lit up the particular letters that
gave the answer to an inquiry. In all is a complete picture
of the way that Christ cares for His people. He bore the
judgment of His people, not here atonement, but the
iniquity of their holy things
is only takes up their lowest condition. It does not
testify of Christianity. In a priest, I get one from whom
I am separated, for he has to act for me; but when I look
at my proper condition as a Christian, I am member of
Christ’s body, and of His esh and of His bones. I am also
walking on the earth and have failures and diculties; and
these all have their needs, and to them priesthood refers.
In Hebrews you never get sins referred to as the subject
of priesthood, save on the great day of atonement. e
priesthood of Christ is continual help in whatever we need
as we walk on here. In Hebrews it is rst a question of
access to God as such. How can this be? e answer is,
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262
I am perfected forever by the one oering, and have no
more conscience of sins, and so we can go in even boldly.
I do not know what place priesthood can have now as
to that; it is done already; and then, inasmuch as we are
perfected in that respect, we have priesthood provided.
e frequent common use of priesthood now-the ordinary
idea-is a mistake altogether. But when I look at my other
character in communion with the Father and Son, it is
not that my righteousness is altered; but if I have let in
an evil thought, my communion is blasted and then the
priesthood is to restore my soul; for I cannot think of God
having communion with evil in any way. I remember this
question being raised twenty-ve years ago.
ese then are the priestly garments; but Aaron never
went into the most holy place in them; he should have
gone in whenever he liked, or at least it was the Lord’s will.
Nadab and Abihu failed at once with their strange re, and
then the high priest was prohibited going in. But having
got the priest with a miter also-holiness to Jehovah-he
bore the iniquity of their most holy things I think he wore
that miter even on the great day of atonement when he put
o the other garments of glory and beauty. It says he was to
bear their names continually before Jehovah.
e words “ crowned with glory and honor,” in Heb.
2, are the same as in the Septuagint. (Cf. Ex. 28:2 of the
LXX with Heb. 2:7, 9.) ere is another thing which is
interesting, and which I believe has its truth in Christ;
there was a golden bell and a pomegranate alternately on
the hem of the robe of blue; it is testimony and fruit; it was
that his sound might be “ heard when he goeth in unto the
holy place before the Lord, and when he cometh out, that
he die not.” ere was fruit-bearing and testimony, like
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263
the early and the latter rain, I should think. It is the two
characters of the Holy Ghost’s action, testimony and fruit-
bearing, the sounding bell and the pomegranate.
eir consecration is seen in chapter 29, and all the
sacrices are together there. en, the moment we have
Aaron consecrated, in chapter 3o you have an altar to burn
incense upon.
You may notice too that Aaron is anointed with oil by
himself all alone, because he represented Christ. I mean
without blood at all; and this is a point of importance.
He and his sons were to come together, and they were
all washed. I have no washing of this character save the
partaking of the divine nature-” which thing is true in Him
and in you.” But the distinctive point is, when you come to
the consecrating: Aaron is rst anointed with oil without
blood; and then, when the sons are taken, he is brought in
with them to identify us with Christ. And blood is put on
the tip of the right ear and thumb and toe, giving complete
consecration to God in thought, act, and walk: the same as
in the case of the leper, only in the leper there is a question
of cleansing a sinner. It makes a great dierence that Christ
was consecrated without blood-shedding; of course He did
not want any, whereas we do.
e priest being there, we have the altar of incense. e
things we have had were the manifestation of God coming
out; now we have approach to Him. e burning of the
incense is at the golden altar; it is intercession. Incense was
to go up regularly, continuously, as the lamps were to be
kept burning, constantly in use. is was the time of service
to God, and it was renewed. e lamps were dressed for
day and for night.
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en the ransom money comes in, and remarkably
there is all the people for whom Moses intercedes: they
must be identied with this service. If you number them,
you seem to make something of God’s people. It is not by
blood here, but rather the fact of their giving atonement-
money; and He did make them of some importance, even
by the fact that they had to be ransomed, though man is
a poor sinner if he is ransomed. It comes here because the
priest is coming to God, and he cannot go to God except
for a ransomed people. Christ is Priest or Advocate, not
for the world, and not for the elect either, but for other
believers, who must get their place those who are given to
Him out of the world, and believe in His name.
en comes another thing, the laver; this is not washing
the body to be made a priest, but here the priest washes
his hands and feet; it was not the washing of consecration;
but, when consecrated, he must be perfectly pure for God,
and he must wash his hands and feet. Only in our case it is
walk, not work, and so it is feet only for us. He was to wash
every time he did any service whatever.
e washing of regeneration is not priestly washing; but
after that I come inside as a priest, and get the full place of
a priest, then follows priestly washing of hands and feet, a
washing for those who are within.
e water is the word in its own purity from God; but
the place in which I get it is the point. e sinner must
have the new nature in order to come in; but then when he
says, I must be with God every day, this wants a washing
of hands and feet. Until the priest was consecrated, he
could not go to the altar or laver at all. en what is the
water of the rst washing in chapter 29? at washing is
the washing of water by the word-born of water and of the
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Spirit-and this is never repeated; whereas every time they
served, they washed their hands and feet.
en, as regards the anointing oil, it was not to be
poured on man’s esh; a man must be a priest to have it.
You cannot give a nature; and the anointing can only be
of a nature that is of God. “ Now he which establisheth us
with you in Christ and hath anointed us is God, who also
sealed us,” 2 Corinthians 1:22. No human esh could have
that. And no one was to imitate the anointing oil either.
On mere human nature you cannot put anointing; you
cannot anoint man, looked at as man, nor put the Holy
Ghost upon him. As to mere power, He can make a dumb
ass speak, but this is not anointing.
So with the perfume, it was that which was to go up
to God. If I do a gracious thing, it is acceptable, and these
sweet spices give us the graces in Christ, etc., at the altar,
His intercession, a sweet savor used in that way.
As you look at all this, of course, it is quite imperfect
as regards our condition; but the provision is clear; and it
is most interesting to see God coming out, by table and
candlestick and brazen altar, and then man going in to
God, with laver and altar of incense.
From verse 34 to the end of the chapter is the incense.
e incense-altar was the ordinary place. Frankincense was
put upon the meat-oering, but it is not this point here.
In the millennium the Jews will have the true sabbath
again, and all the sacrices will be repeated too, and the
feasts, save Pentecost-which belongs to us. e sin-
oering, peace oering, burnt-oering, meat-oering, and
the trespass oering too, are all named in Ezekiel for that
day.
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Next they made a golden calf. Moses was getting all
these things for them, and they in his absence make the
calf. It is aicting, but withal exceedingly beautiful, the
intercourse of God with Moses, consequent upon the
people making the golden calf-how, in the midst of all
the ruin, faith, under grace, can have closer intercourse
than when there was no ruin. Moses never had so close
intercourse with God, as now when the people had made
the calf; and it was while the calf was in the camp. And the
way in which God meets Moses is beautiful, “ My presence
shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest.” And then
Moses grows bolder still, and says, “ If thy presence go not
with me, carry us not up hence.”
ere is another thought: the ground that God gives
for destroying the people is precisely what Moses takes for
God’s going with them, when once grace has come in. In
chapter 32:9,10, the Lord says “ it is a sti-necked people,
now therefore let me alone that my wrath may wax but
against them, and that I may consume them.” And then, in
chapter 34: 9, Moses says “ Let my Lord, I pray thee, go
among us; for it is a sti-necked people.” So God’s reason
for consuming me would be my sin; and my reason for
asking God to be with me, now that grace has come in, is
that sin is in me. What innite mercy!
Another thing note, beside the way that God answers:
God will not call them His people any more. e people
had said, “ As for this Moses, the man that brought us up
out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what has become of
him,” chap. 32: I. And God says, “ is people “ (v. 7), “
which though broughtest out of the land of Egypt, have
corrupted themselves.” So in verse 1I Moses says, “ which
thou hast brought forth out of the land of Egypt,” and in
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chapter 33: the Lord says, “ e people which thou [Moses]
hast brought up out of the land of Egypt,” and in chapter
34:10, God again calls them “thy [Moses’] people.”
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62706
Priesthood: Exodus 28
Exodus 28
e apostle says, Moses made all things according to the
patterns showed to him in the mount; and again, these “
things were patterns of the heavenly things.” e doctrines
themselves are in the New Testament; the details of things
connected with them are in the types.
Priesthood supposes accomplished redemption: not to
bring us in, but what we get when brought in. “ See how I
have borne you on eagles’ wings, and brought you to myself,”
the Lord says to Israel. As a people, they were brought to
God; but, a feeble and inrm people, they needed this help
by the way. We are brought by redemption into the light as
God is in the light; but down here we want His priesthood
to maintain our walk before Him in the light. e priest
is clothed in special garments. ese garments are merely
gures of that which is real in Christ in the exercise of His
priesthood. at which was peculiarly the priest’s garment
was the ephod. “ Doeg turned and fell upon the priests, and
slew on that day fourscore and ve persons who did wear a
linen ephod.” David with the ephod “inquired of Jehovah.”
e ephod was made of two pieces: one before and one
behind. ere were two shoulder pieces, joined at the two
edges; a girdle wound round the body to conne it; above
that, a foursquare-double, to be a breastplate, containing
the names of the children of Israel. ere was to be a holy
miter on the head, and upon the skirt of the ephod the bell
and the pomegranate.
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All was connected with His people in the priests’
garments. If it is the breastplate, the names are engraved in
it. If it is the shoulder pieces, the names of the children of
Israel are there. If it is the Urim and ummim, the names
of the children of Israel are there. Again I say, it was not to
acquire righteousness, but to maintain their cause before
God. He is there, acting before God on the people’s behalf.
It is not true, then, that we have to get some one to go
to God for us who believe. Christ is there for us; and grace
is exercised, not because we return, but to bring us back. It
is not said, “ If any man repent,” but, “ If any man sin, we
have an advocate with the Father.” e love Christ exercises
about us springs directly from Himself. With Peter, it was
not after he had fallen that Christ says to him, “ I have
prayed for thee,” but before. His intercession for Peter was
going on all the time; and it is because of our getting wrong,
not because we are right, that it is exercised. Our feebleness
and failure become the occasion for the exercise of this
grace. When the intercession of Christ answers in the way
of warning, chastening is not needed. Christ looked upon
Peter, and it was before Peter wept. e look was just at the
right moment. We know not what Peter might have done
next, but the look causes him to weep.
e priest goes to God for us, not we to the priest.
Righteousness and propitiation are there already, and by
virtue of His being there, and being what He is there, He
can set them right.
Priesthood is Christ undertaking the cause of His
people, through the wilderness, maintaining us in the
presence of God; keeping us in God’s memory, so to
speak-” for a memorial.” is is a dierent thing from His
shepherd character, strengthening the sheep down here;
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but it is sustaining them according to the power of inward
grace before God. He bears them all in a detailed way, each
by name, engraved. As a shepherd He calls His sheep: but
also, according to our particular individuality, He bears us
on His heart and shoulders. God looks upon us according
to the favor He has for Christ Himself. If a person sends
his child to me, I receive it according to the aection I have
for the father. e priest was there in the garments proper
to his oce.
When we think of Christ as a priest, we should have in
remembrance our individual imperfectness. In one sense
we are perfect, but that is in our membership with Him-
union with Him our Head.
e breastplate was never to be separate from the
ephod, v. 28. “ at the breastplate be not loosed from the
ephod.” Whenever the high priest went into the presence
of God, it was in his garments. He could not go without
representing the people. It is impossible for Christ to stand
there in the presence of God without us.
e girdle was a sign of service; it is the characteristic
of a person in service. Christ is a servant forever. When He
became a man, He took upon Him the form of a servant.
He might have asked for twelve legions of angels, and gone
out free; but then He would have gone out alone. No! He
says, I have got my work to do, my wife to care for. And
thus He chose to be a servant forever. He became a servant
when incarnate, but He was bound a servant forever when
He gave up His life (Ex. 21). Yes, and He will be the
servant; for “ He shall gird Himself, and will make them sit
down to meat, and come forth to serve them.” His divine
glory never changes, of course; but He will never give up
this character of servant: forever and ever we shall have
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this “ First-born of many brethren,” this new Adam head
of the family.
Verse 29, “ Aaron shall bear the names,” etc. Whatever
value the Priest has in God’s sight, He brings it down upon
them. He bears them on His heart. All the love that Christ
has for them, He bears them before God, according to
this love. en in answer they get whatever they need: it
may be chastening, it may be strength. He obtains for us
all the blessing we need, according to the favor that God
bears Him. ere is not only the personal favor, but the
Urim and ummim, the ground of their favor, which is in
God Himself. e blessing is given according to the light
and perfections of God (the meaning of the words being
lights and perfections). He bears our judgment according
to the light and perfections of God. at is where we are as
regards daily judgment. We walk in the light as God is in
the light: and as we want cleansing, there is the blood. If I
commit a fault, what then; am I condemned? No, because
Christ the righteous One is there; but then God must deal
with an individual according to this light and perfection.
He deals with us according to our need and weakness. He
will make a way to escape, that we may be able to bear,
because Christ is there. He deals with us just where we
are, taking into His account our standing as to grace of
course. When they have to learn things of God, it is by the
Urim and ummim also. It is according to the light and
perfections of God that He instructs and guides me.
e feebleness, failings, and inrmities, instead of being
the occasion of condemnation to me, are the occasion of
instruction. e names He is bearing are those for whom
there is no wrath. Christ bears Peter on His breast, and
He does not pray that he should not be sifted, because He
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saw the self-suciency of Peter needed to be broken down;
but He bore him on His heart, and obtained for him the
thing he needed, that his faith fail not. His priesthood is
exercised for me in putting my heart in a right position
before God (not on account of wrath), and He bears us
continually before the Lord.
ere is reference here to another thing we have in
virtue of Christ having gone up on high-the Holy Ghost.
He received of the Father the gift of the Holy Ghost. He
received it alone; but we, the skirts of His garments, get it
shed upon us in virtue of His nished work-His accepted
work (Psa. 133). e bell and the pomegranate may signify
the gifts, testimony and fruit of the Holy Ghost, when
Christ went into heaven, and when He will come forth
again. “ And his sound shall be heard when he goeth into
the holy place before the Lord, and when he cometh out,
that he die not.” e miter is “ holiness unto the Lord,” and
it was to be always upon his forehead.
It is not only when I have failed that Christ intercedes
for me, but in holy things; when I go up to worship God,
there comes in something that cannot suit the holiness of
God-something that has not a bit of sanctied feeling in
it; a distracting thought, admiration of ne music, etc., and
this for want of habitual communion with the Lord. Well,
then, can I say, I have failed, and let it go? ere is holiness
in Christ for our worship. True, we ought not to be satised
without the full tide of aection going up to Him from
us; but we are accepted because of His work. e iniquity
cannot be accepted, but it never goes up. e Christian is
always accepted, because in Christ. I may always go to God,
because of the continual priesthood exercised. Christ bears
my failures that they may be judged; my weakness, that I
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273
may get strength; but His heart is always engaged for us.
Not merely the abstract love of God for us, which is always
true, but this love of Christ ever ready for our necessities.
ere is evil that wants correction, but He will not put us
out of His sight for it: but because you are accepted, He
will remedy it.
e object of it all is that our soul should be up there
with Christ, walking according to the perfectness of God
Himself. When we see Christ for us there, we can venture
to apply this light and perfection to our ways. How He
has provided for us in love and holiness, for holiness we
see stamped in great letters upon it! He is the Apostle
and High Priest of our profession. e sinner wants the
Apostle, the message from God about acceptance. e
saint wants the High Priest.
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62707
Priesthood: Exodus 29
Exodus 29
ere is a desire at all times in the people of God,
whether in Jewish ignorance or Christian life, that they
should always have God dwelling with them. us, in
Exodus 15, as soon as Moses had come out of Egypt, he
said, “ He is my God; I will prepare him a habitation.” So
we are “ builded together for an habitation of God through
the Spirit.”
We do look to God’s dwelling amongst us; yet we have
much more thought of dwelling with Him. is was not
the case with Israel. We have boldness to enter into the
holiest, Christ having passed through the heavens for us, as
Aaron passed through the tabernacle for them. Israel could
not enter within the veil; but Christ has rent it, and opened
new and living way, which He has consecrated for us. God
having, in the cross of Christ, put sin away, we can stand
in the light of His presence. Here we nd the presence of
God among them. is is not redemption, the object of
which is that we should be with God. We could not meet
God without redemption. Christ suered, the “ just for the
unjust, that he might bring us to God.”
We learn in this chapter how we can thus be in the
presence of God constantly and abidingly. We are really,
in title, made “ kings and priests to God and His Father “;
our provision and character being this, provision is made in
Christ for us, so that we can be continually in the presence
of God. ere was to be the harm-oering continually at
the door of the tabernacle, the place where the Lord met
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275
with the people. We are consecrated to God to be priests.
Christ has not yet taken upon Him His oce as King;
but He has taken the priesthood, and therefore we have
got, even now, our priesthood. He exercises in heaven
continually a perpetual priesthood, lling up in this respect
the gure of Aaron, though the order be of Melchisedec.
We see here how we are put in me place of priests, and
yet Christ is personally distinguished. Aaron goes rst
(v. 5-7) alone, to represent Christ; then the sons (v. 8) to
represent the whole Church, the priests. In referring to the
cleansing of the leper, we have the way a sinner is cleansed
from the evil that is in him. It is the same ordinance as
regards the leper and the priest; but the leper wants to get
cleansed as a sinner, the priest that he may be consecrated to
God. If not cleansed in every respect we could not stand
before God at all. ere was sprinkling of blood on the
leper, on the right ear, the right hand, the right toe: his
thoughts, his acts, his walk, must be all cleansed, by being
brought under the “ blood of sprinkling.” So in this chapter
we are consecrated in the same way. In verse 4, “ Aaron and
his sons thou shalt bring unto the door of the tabernacle,”
etc. You do not nd Aaron washed by himself, because
Christ did not need it. ey are washed together as a gure
of the christian body. Christ as a man identies Himself
with the Church (1 Cor. 12:12). Aaron was anointed (v.
17). e Holy Ghost descended upon Christ when He had
been baptized.
But before unction we need to be cleansed. e word
of God applied to the heart and conscience with power by
the Spirit is called washing with the word. “ Ye are clean
through the word which I have spoken unto you.” is is
not habitation but washing. Christ came not by water only,
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but by water and blood. e blood was for expiation, the
water for washing, in order to meet God. In anything of
Christ’s work, it is not a question merely of atonement, but
of meeting God. If I think of meeting God, it is what God
requires. ere must be perfect cleansing. It turns the eye
on God Himself. I shall always know evil in myself; but if
God is satised, so may I be. It is wholesome to look within
and judge myself; but I shall not get the blessed peace that
ows from faith, if I am looking for it into my own heart.
When we see God is satised with Christ, then comes in
peace; it gives the highest standard of right and wrong, but
peace, because God is satised with Christ. Washing by
water is repeated, not by blood.
Moses clothes him with the priest’s robe, and there is
no sacrice here, because Christ required none. He was a
perfect man in obedience and love. As man, Christ identies
Himself with His people. He comes into the same place as
regards the walk of holiness. He was anointed with the
Spirit and with power. All He did was in the power of
the Spirit (v. 7, 20, 21; Acts 10: 38). Christ was anointed
as man. When He ascended on high, there He received
the promise of the Father, and sent down the Spirit to the
saints, so constituting them the Church.
Next, we come to the sons of Aaron (v. 8, 9). We are going
to get them introduced into the priesthood, and now comes
the sacrice. Aaron needed none (v. 10-13, 14). ere is no
sweet savor in the sin-oering or trespass-oering. It must
be burnt without the camp. Here it is a sin-oering--sin
must be totally put away before our consecration. It is the
nature judged before God. Christ is made sin for us, that
we may be made priests. We have these two aspects of the
value of Christ’s work. First, the sin is charged upon Him.
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In the Hebrew there is no dierence between “ sin “ and “
sin-oering.” Here He is the sin-oering; He who “ knew
no sin, made sin for us,” etc. Secondly, the other character
was oering Himself up to God, all the devotedness of a
life of obedience oered up; this was a sweet savor to God.
“ erefore hath my Father loved me, because I lay down
my life that I may take it again,” John 10.
In verses 15-18 we nd Aaron and his sons not
merely having sin taken away, but accepted of God in all
the perfection of Christ. If I am looked at as a sinner in
myself, the sin is put away, but this is not all. Aaron and
his sons put their hands upon the sin-oering; they also
identied themselves with the burnt-oering. All the savor
of everything that Christ has done, we are in: everything
was consumed (v. 18), and put to the test; nothing failed;
it is all gone up, and we are in it before God. Here we get
our blessed position, previous to consecration as priests.
For this, it is not a question of what I think of myself;
but the measure of my acceptance is what Christ is in
God’s presence and estimate. We cannot measure grace by
anything that is tted for us, but by what is tted for God.
Verses 19, 21. We come now to the proper character of
those persons that are cleansed and accepted. Now it is to
consecrate, and, as in cleansing the leper, the blood is put on
the right ear, right hand, and right foot-the acts, thoughts,
and walks. We are now consecrated to God in all these.
We have to render unto the Lord our bodies as well as our
spirits; for we are not our own, but bought with a price.
Every act that Christ did was as perfect as His sacrice,
but every step made it increasingly dicult. So we ought to
lay down our lives for the brethren. Christ’s conduct and
Christ’s devotedness are the measure of our walk before
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God. ere is not so much as to set one’s foot on left for
self-will. Christ did not come to do His own will. Even to
death He went, the death of the cross. So with us, if the
eye is single, the whole body is full of light. If the heart is
right, it makes the aim right. e apostle says, “ Not that
I have already attained … but this one thing I do,” etc. He
exercised himself day and night “ to have a conscience void
of oense.” en it is real liberty. If the heart be right, it
will be joy; if not, it will be terrible, because there is not
the smallest liberty given to self-will. In many things we
fail; but if we feel what sin is and the claim God has on us,
it will be our privilege to do His will. It is not a pretense
that we are set up as something wonderful. No, it is faith in
the blood of Christ that has cleansed us as to purpose and
thought according to the perfectness of Christ; and now
we are consecrated to serve God. It is simple Christianity.
Verse 21 shows them consecrated by the blood put upon
their persons; but not only so, for there is the anointing
with the Spirit of God to give power and energy for action.
It was put on the “ sons’ garments with him.” I have got
the power of Christ in heaven, and the power of the Spirit
that comes down from Christ for garments (that is, for
all that I appear in before the world). It is “ with Him,” a
thorough, complete association by the power of the Spirit
with a crucied Christ who is now in heaven. us we get
real thorough joy and gladness of heart. e rst fruits are
with God, the result are in what we show to men. If peace
and joy are in my heart, let me go in that, and it produces
joy and gladness in my ways. e beginning of all practical
fruits is from what we have with God, and then there is
a testimony to men. What we really are with God shows
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279
itself out. It is, or should be, the eect of the consciousness
of union with Christ.
is anointing of the Spirit can be put on us, because
the blood is on us. Aaron had no blood put on him. e
Spirit is the seal. e least relic of sin would prevent Him
from sealing; but when the blood has cleansed from sin,
then the seal is applied. e presence of the Spirit is the
witness of the blood-shedding; the fruits are the witness
of the Spirit. We thus get a wonderful power, stamp,
and measure of holiness. If we believe in Christ, we are
so cleansed that the Spirit can come and dwell in us. e
Spirit is the seal to the value of Christ’s work, not to what
He is going to produce. Now He can ll Aaron’s hands (v.
23, 24). What is produced by the Spirit is Christ’s after all.
I can come with an object now that I know God delights
in it. Suppose I praise Christ’s name, I know God’s delight
rests on it; it may be imperfectly done, but I know what the
thing is to God, not the manner of my presenting it. It is
the sweet savor of Christ to God.
We feed on Christ (v. 31, 32), now that He has given us
His esh to eat and His blood to drink. We gather strength
and grace, and comfort, the perfectness of Christ Himself,
as our souls’ food. “ He that eateth me, even he shall live
by me.” We come so to think of Christ, so to realize in our
hearts and spirits what He is, that we live Christ. What a
man thinks is what he is, more than what he does. A man
may think of sin, and love it, and desire to do it, but will not
because of his character; he may be a hypocrite. If I realize
Christ in my heart, I am a Christian.
Verse 42 shows a continual burnt-oering at the place
where God meets the people. Christ is before God day by
day continually, a sweet savor. I cannot go to God without
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nding the savor of Christ there, in the perfect sweetness
of His oering.
e reason (we hear in Gen. 8) God gave for not cursing
is that He looks to Noah’s sacrice, not to the sin. God
deals with us in virtue of what the Mediator is, instead
of what we are. It ought to be always in our hearts, but it
is always before God. When the daily sacrice was taken
away, the Jew could not go to God; there was no savor; see
Dan. 8: I 1.
In verses 42, 43, it is “ I will meet you to speak there
to thee.” It is through Christ we gain everything. Finally,
God says (v. 45, 46), “ I will dwell among the children of
Israel, and will be their God.” It is by the Spirit He does
so now. e whole Church is His dwelling-place. He is not
merely a Redeemer, but a constant dweller with the people;
as verse 46 shows, it was not to do an act and then leave
them. So it is with the Church in a still more blessed way.
But let us never forget that sin is put away rst; then
there is the continual savor where God meets us; and we
are consecrated to His service. It supposes that the heart
is right; for I cannot wish to be consecrated to God and
have my own will. e death of Christ will never nd its
intelligent value in our hearts, if we want to escape the
consequences of consecration. If we are consecrated, the
motive of every action should be that Christ may be
gloried. You cannot be happy unless Christ be everything.
We may have to condemn ourselves daily; but when we
think what a savor is before God, we go on with condence.
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281
62708
Show Me Now y Way:
Exodus 33-34
Exodus 33; 34
e study of this passage brings out very clearly the
position in which grace sets us with God, and the blessed
condence it gives us in God; and at the same time the
eect of a mixture of grace with law, leaving us really under
the latter, at any rate as to our state of mind, where the
atonement is not applied, though really all exercise of grace
depends on it.
To arrive at a clear understanding of both these states, as
depicted to us in the passage, we must carefully distinguish
between Moses and Israel. Of Moses it is said, “ I know
thee by name, and thou hast found grace in my sight.” He
stood in grace. e eect of this I will consider further on;
I turn rst to Israel. Israel had just made the golden calf.
As a formal institution they never came under strict and
absolute law. God had spoken to them out of the midst of
the re, and they had undertaken obedience. But before
Moses had come down from the mount, they had made
the golden calf, and broken that rst link of all, “ ou shalt
have none other gods but me.” Moses consequently never
brought the two tables of the law given of God into the
camp-how could he place them beside a golden calf?-but
broke them at the foot of the mount, and left the camp,
setting up anticipatively a tabernacle of the congregation
outside the camp; and there God met with Moses, and
talked with him face to face, as a man talks with his friend.
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But he is told to go up to God again in the mount; and
here we may look at the state of Israel. He had told them,
“ Ye have sinned a great sin, and now I will go up unto
the Lord; peradventure I shall make an atonement for your
sin.” He does so, “ and Moses returned unto the Lord, and
said, Oh, this people have sinned a great sin, and have made
them gods of gold; yet now if thou wilt forgive their sin; and
if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast
written. And the Lord said unto Moses, Whosoever hath
sinned against me, him will I blot out of my book.” ey
were put fully under law, each man responsible for his sin,
which is most righteous, of course, as law and judgment;
but atonement was not made, but personal responsibility
left everything on the individual. Blessed be God, Christ
has not said, “ I will go up … peradventure I shall make an
atonement for your sin “; He has made a perfect atonement
(and thus gone down), and sat down on the right hand of
God. But this was not so here. Who indeed could do it but
He?
However, the people are, through the mediation of
Moses, in a measure, as to present dealings, put under
grace. e people humbled themselves, and they are spared,
and God’s presence goes with them. God retreats into His
own sovereignty to be gracious, and show mercy. So surely
it always is. As Jehovah He then declares His name: not
the gospel, founded on accomplished redemption, full
forgiveness, and acceptance in Christ, who has wrought
it; but the terms of God’s forbearing mercy in His
government of Israel.
8
“ Jehovah, Jehovah Elohim, merciful
and gracious, long-suering, and abundant in goodness
8 I do not doubt all three, as every mercy is founded on an
atonement. See Rom. 3:25.
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and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity
and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear
the guilty (just what God does through Christ by the
atonement); visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the
children, and upon the children’s children, unto the third and
to the fourth generation.” Such are the terms of God’s
dealing with Israel, on Moses’ intercession, while they were
put back under law, and the latter and commandments
renewed. It was, as I have said, a mixture of grace and law.
Grace that spared and, as a present thing, forgave, but put
back under law again, under which, as a strict and absolute
rule, Israel had wholly failed.
And such is a vast part of current Christianity: admitted
failure under a broken law; mercy that has spared and, as a
present thing, forgiven; and then men put back under law
as a rule of life to keep it.
But Moses could not make atonement, and Israel was
put back under law, though spared in mercy. But Christ
has made atonement, we all blessedly know; and “ when
he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right
hand of the majesty on high. ere was no “ peradventure
“ here. He nished the work His Father gave Him to do,
and is gloried as Man at the right hand of God, in a glory
He had with the Father before the world was. Hence the
gospel is a ministration of righteousness-the righteousness
of God is revealed in it to faith. Men are not under law, but
under grace.
Remark here that it is the law, here as then added
to grace in the ways of God, which the apostle calls the
ministration of death and condemnation. e rst time
Moses came down from the mountain, his face (the
circumstance the apostle alludes to) did not shine. When
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he had all God’s goodness pass before him, and came down
the second time, it did.
Still, as we have seen, and as is evident, the people,
though spared by grace, were put back under law; and this
was the ministration of death and condemnation of which
the apostle speaks. For, in fact, if atonement be not made,
grace only makes transgression worse, at any rate in the
revelation of God; even in partial glory, with law it must
be condemnation to a sinner. Law after grace, in a word,
is what the apostle teaches us is condemnation; law after
atonement is worse than absurd. It is putting away the
sin, and then putting under it, or making the law of no
authority and no eect. But vague grace-sparing, and then
law, is the state of multitudes of souls; and that is what the
apostle tells us is death and condemnation in its nature,
and indeed the veil is soon over the reection of grace to
the soul (that is, the perception that exists of grace is soon
lost).
e dierence between Moses and Israel is touchingly
alluded to in 2 Cor. 3, where it is said, “ When it shall turn
to the Lord the veil shall be taken away.” For Moses, when
he went into the sanctuary, took it o. But it is done away
in Christ.
e people, then, were under law.
Let us now turn to Moses, who had found grace in
God’s sight. First we nd single-eyed desire towards God
and His way. It was not, a safe way across the wilderness,
but, “ Show me now thy way,” and that, “ that I might know
thee.” is is single-eyed and beautiful “ (chap. 33: 12, 13),
and this is the way, as in John 14, of nding practically
grace or favor in our walk, as Enoch did. But then he
can intercede, “ is nation is thy people “: for he did not
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285
separate himself at all from their interests, and wanted
God’s presence with them. God meets what is in his heart:
“ My presence shall go, and I will give thee rest.” He will
not call the people, indeed, “ My people,” but there will be
His presence (through Moses’ faith), and then in the way
rest.
Moses at once presses on the manifested grace, “ If
thy presence go not, take us not up hence.” He must have
God’s presence, and he brings the people in. is only (v.
6) separates evidently a people to God, a notable point.
us it is known that favor rests upon them, for Moses is
emboldened by grace, yet just in word and thought in the
place of faith, “ I and thy people have found grace.” It is by
his mediation, for that was the true exercise of faith with
a heart for God’s people; but the same faith will say “ y
people,” and that is granted too.
en (for he cannot see the face of God, that for sinners
was in atonement, and Christ, the blessed One, alone could
do it) the goodness is passed before him, when the glory
of his face had passed by, and sovereign mercy, as we have
seen, spares. is is the blessed condence of grace: only
we have to say that now we can look at the glory in the
unveiled face of Christ, because atonement is made, and
the glory is the witness of acceptance and of sin put away.
But there is more as to this grace. We have seen how
God is with us in grace in His own way, and knowing
Him. But, we shall see, it meets the evil of our nature. is
is shown in the most striking way in this passage. First,
God had said, “ I will come up into the midst of thee in a
moment, and consume thee,” “ for thou art a sti-necked
people.” He could not tolerate sin in His presence, and He
would not go at all, though He would not let them go up as
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spared. is gave occasion to the pleading of Moses, which
we have considered, who felt the value of God’s presence.
It was everything to him in holy desire; he could not do
without it: and holy boldness through the grace shown
him (for he had found grace, and was told so)-he claims
and obtains it. And now he stood in grace and known
goodness; and when all the goodness had passed before
him, he says, bowing his head to the earth, “ If now I have
found grace in thy sight, O Lord (Adonai, not Jehovah), let
my Lord, I pray thee, go among us; for it is a sti-necked
people,” the very ground God had given for cutting them
o! And could we go? could we get the better of our sti
neck, of our esh, and get safely through the wilderness, if
God were not with us?
But, oh, what a change grace has made! Here is the
very reason for consuming in just judgment, the motive for
asking God to be with us. How complete this grace! God,
in whose present grace we stand, is our resource against the
evil in us, which was the just ground in itself of cutting us
o. How very perfect and complete this grace is, and the
ground of God’s relationship with us! Here, too, though it
rests on the Mediator, as we know it does, yet Moses brings
the people fully in-” go among us; for it is a sti-necked
people; and pardon our iniquity and our sin; and take us
for thine inheritance.” His faith is very beautiful here, and
faith knows God and indeed it only.
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62710
Hints on the Sacrices in
Leviticus: Leviticus 1-3
Chapters 1-3.
Notice in the rst place that the tabernacle has been set
up. It is out of the tabernacle of the congregation that this
instruction is given. It supposes God is there, and it is a
question of approach to Him.
ere are two classes of sacrices: those made by re
for a sweet savor; and the sin and trespass oerings (pretty
much the same thing), which were not for a sweet savor,
though the fat of them was burnt on the altar. e three
sacrices of sweet savor are-the burnt-oering, the meat
(or meal) oering, and the peace-oering. “ Peace-oering
“ is a bad name: “ sacrices de prosperite “ they are called in
French.
As to the oerings, they are here given as from Jehovah
in their order; they are for men, but still from the Lord, just
as Christ was; whereas, when men came to oer, they came,
not with the burnt-oering, but with the sin-oering rst.
Here the divine statement of them is made, and the sin-
oering is last because this is what Christ became when
He had oered up Himself. It is rst when persons come
by them, and the order in a measure shows the character.
We rst come in Lev. 1 to the burnt-oering. “ If any
man of you bring an oering unto the Lord, ye shall bring
your oering of the cattle, even of the herd,” and so on.
Sometimes a bullock, and sometimes a goat, or a sheep,
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but a “ male without blemish,” representing Christ in His
perfection.
“ Of his own voluntary will “ should rather be, “ for
his acceptance.” ere is one passage made me question it
rather, but I believe that is what it should be. In chapter 22
you may make a dierence; in verse 19 it means “ free-will,”
but in verse 29 it should be “ for his acceptance.”
e oerer puts his hand on the head of the victim. “
And it shall be accepted for him to make atonement for
him, and he shall kill the bullock before the Lord.” en
the priest was to bring the blood, and deal with that; this is
the priest’s rst act-to bring the blood.
e special character of the burnt-oering is, that it was
not for a committed sin; on the contrary, what is to me a
most wonderful thing is, that not only the question of our
sins is elsewhere met, but in the burnt-oering it is the
question of glorifying God in the place of sin itself-Christ
“ made sin.” And He who knew no sin was made sin, and
stood in the place of sin (at the cross) before God, so as to
glorify God there; “ made sin,” which, except in a divine
way of wisdom, is impossible. But Christ was made sin of
His own voluntary will, and yet it was in obedience: these
are combined; the two things are together. God “ hath
made him to be sin.” God put Him in the place of sin, and
He oered Himself for sin (and He is our passover), freely
and entirely for it.
is is what we may see in John 18, “ if ye seek me, let
these go their way.” Christ put Himself forward, “ oered
himself without spot to God “; but at the same time He is “
made sin “-it is obedience too. e thing was, to unite this
fact of sin being under God’s eye, and so to have it there
as that God should be perfectly gloried about it. And
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only in a victim could this be. And there was perfectness
in bringing it, for it was the giving up of Himself. Besides
the fact of our sins put away there, you get nothing like
the atonement. It is all for us all the while; yet Christ is
there “ made sin,” in absolute obedience and self-sacrice,
but making good the righteousness, and love, and majesty,
and honor, and truth of God, and everything else that is in
God. Now it is by this we come; and therefore it is not only
that the sin-oering has been there, but in coming by this
I come in all the value of that which has gloried God in
the very place where I was; I come to God in all the value
of this, and get the acceptance of it before God, like Abel.
Nowhere else at all is anything seen like this.
Until the man lays his hand upon the victim, it is not
a sacrice properly. Christ, “ through the Eternal Spirit
oered himself without spot to God ‘; but now when I lay
my hand upon the victim, that is the application of it, more
than part of it.
We hardly get the “ made sin “ in the verses here. A
man’s bringing a burnt-oering is as good as coming to
the Lord and saying, “ I have no devotedness to bring; but
all is due to the Lord, and I bring it in the person of my
sacrice,” which in principle would be Christ. is is our
coming by it: but one must come as having undevotedness,
and not only everything wanting, but enmity against God-
all that is bad. And then I am accepted in all the value of
what Christ has done. Christ has been perfect in obedience
and devotedness unto death, and He glories God, giving
Himself up to God altogether, for this is the character
oering Himself has, and He is made sin, and dealt with
as such, and in this shows His absolute devotedness to
God. He is sinless too of course, for He is without blemish.
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You will get the perfectness of Christ looked at in all His
thoughts and will, as attested in the meat-oering; but
here more, He is given up as a victim, made sin: there is the
blood and atonement here. In the meat-oering you get
what Christ was Himself; here it is His oering Himself
in the place of sin, that is, “ made sin.” If I say “ instead of,”
I must say “ sins,” here not “ instead of,” but “ made sin.”
We have sin brought in, which is more than saying we have
sinned.
Just look round about, and always, and see what has
come of God! He created everything good, and what state
is it in? It is all corruption and delement, and, if you could
have the devil gay, it is here. Where was God’s glory, and
all that He had made blessed? and where was His power?
It was all utter dishonor done to God. erefore there was
Jehovah’s lot on the day of atonement. e whole thing
was God’s character. Suppose God cut all o: it would have
set aside wickedness, but there could be no love in that,
though it would have shown how man had failed. It would
have looked like, “ I have not made the thing well, and I am
obliged to smash it up.” But the moment Christ comes in,
you get perfect love, complete righteousness against sin, all
that God is, looked at as against sin in itself; you get in the
cross perfect love to the sinner, God’s majesty maintained.
“ It became him, in bringing many sons into glory, to make
the captain of their salvation perfect through suering.”
You get the truth of God carried out even against His own
Son; that everything God is, the most opposite things,
righteousness and love (which would have been so without
sin, but) all brought out here in the person of Him who
oered Himself in obedience and love; “ that the world
may know that I love the Father, and as the Father gave
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me commandment, even so I do.” Every moral element,
even that which seemed incompatible, all that God is,
was displayed. And this is the place where God has been
dishonored. us, where all evil was, everything that was
base and degrading, there the opposite was brought out
when Christ was made sin.
e burnt-oering has more to do, then, with the nature,
the sin and trespass-oering with acts, of sin. e one, the
burnt-oering, is where the moral nature of God was in
question; and the other, the sin-oering, where ordinances
were. e burnt-oering has to do with the perfect nature
of God. e great thing is that it meets God really, and in
the place of sin. You might say, perhaps, it deals with our
state rather than nature on our side.
It is the “ Where art thou? “ not “ What hast thou done?
“ “ Where art thou? “ and Christ was the forsaken of God;
there is grace for us. us the burnt-oering goes wider
than the state of the world, and this is why I say in the
place where sin was. But I am not speaking of Satan to
include him at all.
e expression in verse 4, “ to make atonement,” is the
Piel (intensive active) form of the Hebrew verb Kaphar. It
is all a question what Kaphar means. What led me to that
was,
it is the same word which is usually translated “ to make
atonement for,” which means “ to cover.” If I am putting
away sin I cover it, but then I nd the Hebrew word which
means “ upon “ (or with), and if you cover upon, you put
out of sight. us I nd this word Kaphar used about the
scapegoat, Kaphar with the altar, the incense altar, as well
as with the scapegoat. I get into some abstract way of
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thinking about it, and, if you look in a dictionary, you nd
no great help.
e scapegoat is an instance of the perfect nonsense
of speculation. Some make the scapegoat a demon, and
then sent away; some that it was sent away to appease the
demon, lest he should do mischief to Israel; and one makes
out that, while Azazel was a demon, they sent the sins all
back to him.
Well, it is as to sin in the sin and trespass-oering,
but here it is sin. It is the same Hebrew form in Lev. 1:4;
16:10, “ to make atonement for him,” and “ with him,” in
our Bibles.
ere is “ atonement about,” and another case., two or
three times of “ cover over,” and “ from.”
e entire burnt-oering was wholly burnt to God; it
was Jehovah’s lot, in a way, on that one point-sin. e skin-
as in the case of Adam and Eve-was given to the priest, but
the whole carcass went up burnt to God. It was Christ’s
oering Godward, so to speak, but as a man, and made sin.
e wrath of God against sin was here, yet there came
up a sweet savor. Such is the very fact. Instead of His being
disobedient unto death, death was there, and sin was there,
and He was obedient unto it; it was the perfection of the
opposite of sin. Here Christ does God’s will perfectly,
and that is the mystery. In the very place and condition
of sin you nd this; when He oers Himself, and says, “
e prince of this world cometh, and Bath nothing in me;
but that the world may know that I love the Father,” that
is perfectness on one side; “ and as the Father gave me
commandment,” that is the other side: and, being made sin,
He has to drink the cup, and He says, “ My God, my God,
why hast thou forsaken me? “
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Is the priest’s having the skin the satisfaction of Christ
in His own work? Perhaps so. Christ is covered with the
glory of it anyway, only He had nothing like nakedness to
cover. Abel’s oering had this character in its nature. ere
is no sin-oering until the law, though sins were there. e
law brought out the denite transgressions, and therefore
the sin-oering then got its place in an intelligent way.
Abel had no sin actually named It was the “ where,” and
not the “ what,” in his case.
e Epistle to the Romans is the broad fact of the “
what “ to chapter 5:11: afterward the “ where “ is followed
out. What we call the nature is practically identied with
the “ where “; but in the burnt-oering we look more on
God’s side, at the fact rather than at the nature that is
active. Now, in order to get rid of the nature, I die with
Christ: this is another element brought in. For when I look
at the condition, I say, there is Christ the victim that died
between me and God because of sin.
en you get details. ey washed the parts of the
animal, that they should be ostensibly clean, to keep the
idea of absolute cleanness.
Being made sin is not the idea of imputation. With
imputation I could not have a sweet savor. is sacrice is
not for remission, but for glorifying God. e end of 2 Cor.
5 is not remission. at is where I take up the dierence
between God’s righteousness and righteousness under
law. Men make Christ’s righteousness in life under law to
be our righteousness. All that was necessary in Him rst.
But in my righteousness now I get all the perfection of
what Christ is. It is not what He did as a living man, but
God’s own character was gloried in it, and my positive
righteousness is according to what God’s nature is. at
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is why I felt the importance of what was said about it. My
objection was that it kept saints back from the innite
acceptance they have in Christ in this way. It was not the
mere putting away of sins, as in Rom. 3; 4, which is only
forgiveness; but the burnt-oering has its own innite
value and character. e result shows it: Christ is now in
the glory, and I am accepted in the Beloved.
It has been thought that the grades were to enable a
poor man to bring an oering, which some have thought
showed the estimate of the oerer. It was not killed
before the altar, that is, between the gate and the altar, but
northward. It might show a certain intelligence, at any rate
it was not simply the man’s coming up as he pleased. One
entered the gate at the east of the court, and the north was
to the right hand. He must do God’s will.
In the meat-oering we get a picture of Christ’s person
fully tested by the righteousness of God.
Fire is testing judgment, not death at all. If there be
only a little dross, re purges it out: if there be only evil, it
is consumed.
In the meat-oering the points are, the perfect humanity,
and the Holy Ghost, which was the oil, but employed in
dierent ways. e frankincense is the perfect grace that
goes up to God. e burning on the altar is the thing that
gives the suerings of Christ. ere are other variations:
the oil kneaded in the our gives Christ born by the Holy
Ghost; the anointing with oil is what Christ was after His
baptism. ere is another character: it was broken to bits,
and they were all anointed with oil to show that every part
of Christ was in the power of the Spirit of God.
Its simple existence as a cake was sinless humanity, and
by the power of the Holy Ghost.
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It is baked, but not baked meal by itself: when it was
a meal-oering, “ baked in a pan, it shall be of ne our
unleavened, mingled with oil, thou shalt part it in pieces,
and pour oil thereon.” ere it is a kind of cake common
among the Hebrews, then “ baken in the oven,” or “ in the
frying-pan,” that is, in every possible way. When it was
oered, it was taken out. Parted in pieces means in every
detail, words, works, everything. ere were two things that
could not be in it, honey and leaven, save in two exceptional
cases. But there must always be salt. It is said, both of sin-
oering and meat-oering, that they are “ most holy.”
Next they were eaten by the priests; it was a priestly
thing, not to be eaten by the priests’ daughters, as was
allowed in some of the peace-oerings.
Leaven is corruption, or sin; and honey is not allowed
either, for it represents the sweetness of nature, which may
be a very pleasant thing sometimes, but cannot go into a
sacrice: salt must-” the salt of the covenant of thy God,”
which is the separative power of holiness. “ Every one shall
be salted with re, and every sacrice shall be salted with
salt.” Everybody will get judgment; wicked and good will
get re, but it is only sacrices oered to God that really
have the power which separates from evil, and keeps evil
away.
Honey is pleasant and good in its place sometimes. I
was thinking of Jonathan. e Lord does refresh us with
outward mercies, kind things, the friendship of brethren,
but with caution as to the use of them. “ Hast thou found
honey? Eat as much as is sucient for thee, lest thou be
lled therewith, and vomit it,” and too much even here
does do so.
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e Lord Jesus had no honey, not a bit-He had divine
kindness. Honey would have taken Him up to Mary
and Martha when Lazarus was sick, if I may use such a
gure, but salt kept Him away. ere could be no honey
in a sacrice, nor in a meat-oering, “ for ye shall burn no
leaven, nor any honey, in any oering of the Lord made by
re.”
e honeycomb in Luke 24, I suppose, was good in its
place. It is not meant that honey in itself is bad naturally.
e moment He became the cake after the baptism of
John, there was no honey. ere should be our answer to
it, “ present your bodies a living sacrice, holy, acceptable
unto God.” Fire being the perfect testing of God’s
judgment, we have Christ here, not merely looked at as
making atonement, but also as tested by the re on the
cross. is is true of everyone: everyone shall be salted
with re. e re burns out dross, if there is any to burn.
is is the testing of Him who was made sin, but there is
no blood shedding here. It answers to the Lord’s death in
Luke, and this character is in the garden there. John is the
burnt-oering rather, in which He oers Himself. ere
were some meat-oerings in which leaven was bound to be
put. On the day of Pentecost, when the church was oered,
brought to God, leaven was put in; and in the oering of
the rstfruits-not in the rst of the rstfruits, there was
leaven. e moment you bring us in, you have it, but not in
anything for a sweet savor.
As to “ green ears “ of corn dried by the re, Christ was
a green tree, as a living one, and He says, as it were, If I
come to this, what will come to Israel that is dead? Here,
took green is full of life, and then dried by re. So Christ,
and He was a sweet savor. “ ou shalt oer for the meat-
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oering of thy rstfruits green ears of corn, dried by the re,
even corn beaten out of full ears.” ey were to be full, as
Christ was. e rest was most holy, when the memorial and
the frankincense had been burnt; this all went up to God.
You have both meal-cakes and rstfruits as meat-oerings;
and there was always oil upon it, except in the case of meal
for a poor person’s sin-oering. And also in the oering of
anything with leaven there was a sin-oering with it which
meets our leaven, so to speak.
ere are beautiful details of Christ-what you see in
His life: somewhat like a great picture full of people, where
they give you a little outline of the heads of them all, to say
who they are. For these sacrices are very like that.
en in the peace-oering we have the great facts of
atonement for sin, no less than of His death, as well as the
bread come down from heaven. It is not the same thought,
but the two things; and the result. We have had Christ in
perfectness as dying for us, and in the perfectness of His
person, and then we come to talk of communion.
e force of the oering is communion, no doubt,
because the people eat of it; but the name has nothing to do
with that. It is a prosperity-oering, either a thanksgiving,
or for vows. e man brought his animal, laid his hand
upon its head, killed it at the door of the tabernacle, and
the priest took the blood, and sprinkled it upon the altar.
e fat went to Jehovah, to be burnt upon the altar for a
sweet savor. You cannot separate that from Christ oering
Himself as a burnt oering.
e word is merely to make a re. I do not know of any
distinct meaning. It may be mentioned like the unjust judge
in the parable: God is not an unjust judge, but the judge
is introduced to make the picture complete. In the meat-
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oering there is all Christ’s life before He was oered. A
peace- oering could not be oered by itself; it is not to be
separated from the burnt-oering (chap. 3: 5). In point of
fact the meat-oering was oered with the burnt-oering;
they are two aspects of the same Christ. “ e priest “ does
not mean “ the high priest.” It is said, “ the priests, Aaron’s
sons, shall do “ so and so.
When we arrive at the law of the peace-oering, a
portion is for Jehovah, for the priest that oers it, for the
priests in general, and for the company. ere is God’s joy;
Christ’s own joy; the priests generally, as such, rejoice, and
the company of the faithful.
Fowls were allowed for a burnt-oering, as a perfection
of grace, if a man was poor; whereas, for a peace-oering,
if he could not bring an animal, he might stay at home,
and take it quietly. No matter how poor my thoughts are, I
cannot do without a burnt-oering.
ese were all the oerings of a sweet savor. e fat
and the blood were not to be eaten; the spring of life-the
fat was the expression of that; and all that was in Christ
was oered to God. “ Jeshurun waxed fat and kicked.” Fat
is used there for a certain energy of life, and so elsewhere.
e family ate the peace-oering, so, if a man asked a
company to dinner, he had to make a peace-oering of it,
and part was oered to Jehovah, and part to the priests, and
the company made their feast of the rest. If a man killed
an animal in the wilderness, and did not bring it for an
oering to the Lord, that soul was to be cut o from his
people (Lev. 17:3, 4, 5; Deut. 12:21). And you notice, his
own hand is to bring the oering made by re (chap. 7: 30).
“ e fat with the breast, it shall he bring, that the breast
may be waved for a wave-oering before the Lord.” “ And
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the right shoulder shall ye give unto the priest for a heave-
oering of the sacrices of your peace-oerings.”
First is the oering in itself, and then the directions for
all the circumstances connected with it.
In reality, when you come to the peace-oering, it was
a festival. All that concerns sin comes rst, and then other
things afterward.
Chapters 4 to 6:1-7.
ere was no forgiveness for sins done with a high
hand under the law. It is said distinctly, “ if a soul shall
sin through ignorance.” Paul says mercy was shown him
“ because I did it ignorantly in unbelief.” So of old, if a
man sinned haughtily, as in blasphemy, he was stoned.
ere is forgiveness for such sins now; but not if done after
full knowledge of Christ so as to give Him up. “If we sin
willfully after that we have received the knowledge of the
truth, there remaineth no more sacrice for sins.”
Nothing is excluded from forgiveness now except
blaspheming the Holy Ghost in apostasy from Christ,
that is, denying Him in nature. One may go to Christ as a
wretched guilty man (“ such were some of you “), and yet
be forgiven.
In Israel there was a priest, by whom those who sinned
had to approach; but the priest could not come within the
veil except on the day of atonement. Suppose the people
sinned, they were cut o from God; and if the priest sinned,
the people were cut o, because they could only come to
God by the priest.
e blood was not carried in for a single person, because
this would have said that the whole thing was wrong,
which was not the case; it was for the high priest or for all
the people.
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All is changed as to this now. It is what the apostle
means by “ the shadow of good things to come, and not the
very image “: which could not go on when Christ died and
went to heaven. e priest, in chapter 4: 2, is supposed to
be the high priest. I do not think Aaron’s sons would come
under the expression in verse 3. ey did not represent all
the people: only the high priest did so. e “ priest that is
anointed “ always means the high priest. He was not to
dele himself for father or mother, or for dead body, and
the reason given is, “ upon whose head the anointing oil is
poured.” e high priest was anointed in a totally dierent
way from the others, without blood; but the others had oil
and blood mixed put upon them, and then, with Aaron,
they were to put it upon them and their clothes, with
him, not with them; they are brought in by the bye, as
it were. He was rst anointed without blood at all, and
then they are brought with him and sprinkled with blood,
and after that oil was taken with some blood and put on
them. But there was no regular anointing for them; so that
properly he was the anointed priest, and when they were
in their way anointed, it was with him, their garments, and
this and that, with him. So it is given in chapter 8: 30:
“ and Moses took of the anointing oil and of the blood
which was upon the altar, and sprinkled it upon Aaron
and upon his garments, and upon his sons, and upon his
sons’ garments with him, and sanctied Aaron, and his
garments and his sons’ garments with him,” not with them
but with him. It is identifying them all with him; he had
the anointing already. And the son is then with the priest
that is anointed, which is very natural. is gives the place
of the church with Christ. Looked at strictly, the sons of
Aaron represent us. e remnant after we go, as regards
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the world, will be priests; but they are not partakers of the
heavenly calling. I have no doubt the epistle to the Hebrews
is like the reaching over the wall; in a way it is blessing in
provision for a coming time as well as for the present. We
do not see the saints, Christians, on the highest ground at
all in Hebrews; but Christ is in heaven looked at as there
instead of and for them. I believe He preserves Israel at this
moment by being inside, for He “ died for that nation.”
ere was this peculiarity in the sacrice for the people
as a whole that the blood was brought inside, as the body
was burnt outside the camp. e blood was carried in, as
far as possible, into what was heavenly; on the great day
of atonement it went right in, and Israel are reconciled on
the ground of what is heavenly, though they do not get
things heavenly; but they are reconciled on the ground of
the blood being presented to God in heaven, and the day
of atonement has this character in measure. e dierence
between that and the common person’s oering is very
important; for, if an individual sinned, the people were still
in communion, and it is merely a restoring of the person
himself; but if the priest or the congregation sinned, the
breach was total, and all the people were upon the same
ground as the sinner. Reconciliation in the main must be as
regards God, and blood must go in to Him: we are wholly
upon this ground.
I do not think you could say, to or of Israel, If we walk
in the light as God is in the light. But the atonement for
them had been presented to God in the light. e dierence
in our case is, that we are called into the place where the
atonement has been oered. Israel will have to stand on
the ground of mere eshly religion being set aside. ey
cannot have their own blessing even without the blood
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having been oered to God, and therefore without their
giving up all eshly religion.
Law was religion in esh, or religion for a people in
esh, and it was to prove totally wanting. No provisional
sacrices would do. e whole system was to demonstrate
the failure of such a ground. ey were put there with
appliances for occasional restoration, but it was evidently
all of no use, and this from the very beginning itself. ey
made a golden calf at once. God went on to show whether
a people could go on, mixing grace with law, and grace as it
were to help them out; but they could not. So the sacrices
took that ground of eshly religion for a time.
In the millennium when it comes, the sacrices will be
gures in a measure as they used to be. e people will
not go into heavenly places then; but the sacrices had to
go into the gures of the heavenly places, and the blood
was carried in to the mercy-seat in the holiest of all and
sprinkled there. e camp was eshly religion, and the veil
was there; but the blood must be in the holiest, and the body
be burnt outside the camp even for Israel to get a blessing.
It must be eectual with God; this is what is wanted. So
the apostle reasons for us that “the bodies of those beasts
whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high
priest for sin are burned without the camp. Wherefore
Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own
blood, suered without the gate. Let us go forth therefore
unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach.” We
have now got heavenly things, and we must go outside the
camp. In the millennium neither have they heavenly things
nor will they go outside the camp. e blessing depends on
Christ having gone outside the camp originally, and He in
virtue of His blood is gone into the heavenlies; but when
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He comes again, the blessing on earth will be made good.
Meanwhile we must go outside the camp and have, too, the
privilege of going into the holiest; but if I take this world, I
say there is no camp now. ere is a professing church, we
know, but it is all an untrue thing. Whether for us or for
the millennium, Christ must go in either case within the
veil; but it is only we who go there now. ere will be a veil
in Ezekiel’s temple in that way, but unrent. Israel will not
go within. e dierence is evident and great.
In another image Moses went and pitched the tabernacle
outside the camp, and those who sought Jehovah came
out to that tent of meeting outside; and Moses goes back,
Joshua stays outside: that is, the Spirit of Christ graciously
goes inside to see what He could do with them, while
the heavenly Christ stays outside. It is beautiful in Moses
again, where he says, when up in the mountain, ‘ If you
do not forgive the people, blot me out! What will you do
with your glory? You brought this people out of Egypt.’
us he identies the people with God’s glory. When he is
with God, he insists on their being spared at any cost, for
the reason that he did identify the people with the glory
of God. And then he comes down, and, seeing the calf,
he says “ kill every man his brother, and companion, and
neighbor,” because to him the people were identied with
God’s glory. His faith says, “ spare them “-his faithfulness
says, “ kill them,”-on the same ground of God’s glory.
Here, in the oering, it is the great principle of Christ
laying the basis of it all. But there is in the mercy-seat and
altar this dierence (though grace is in both): the blood was
put upon the altar for the individual; the altar-the measure
of it all-was the place of man’s responsibility according to
the law; whereas when the blood was carried inside, this
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was where God sat, it was responsibility before Him, and
so, except to give a gure of Christ, the priest never went
in at all. Judaism could not bring there. I know it was not
so ordained at rst; but as soon as the priests failed, then
He says even of Aaron the high priest, “ Come not at all
times unto the holy place within the veil “; for really it was
all a failed thing, and man could not have to say to God on
that ground.
e gold shows righteousness according to God’s nature.
Righteousness is the girdle of Messiah’s loins. So the high
priest had a golden girdle, divine righteousness. e brazen
altar was God’s perfect judgment of the responsibility of
man, which made a dierence of measure. God requiring
of me according to my responsibility is a dierent thing
from requiring in His own character.
At the brazen altar the nature of God is not brought in.
Every sin does touch God’s nature, but that is not considered
under the law. But on the great day of atonement the work
had to be done according to God’s nature, or they could
not have had to say to God at all.
e blood on the great day of atonement answered
for the people’s sins for the whole year (and now for us
forever); and then it was begun again. e people never
went in at all: the blood had to go in (or there could be no
reconciliation as a whole) once a year, “ the Holy Ghost
this signifying that the way into the holiest of all was
not yet made manifest, while as the rst tabernacle was
yet standing.” ere is never anything about the people
going in; only when it was a reconciliation for the whole,
the ground must be as Christ laid it, or it would be no
reconciliation with God.
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e sprinkling of the blood of the others-the ruler’s and
the common person’s sin-oering-was upon the brazen
altar. But the priest’s was on the golden altar; for how could
a priest go and oer incense if he had sinned? And if he
could not do this, there was no intercourse with God. e
people never went beyond the brazen altar at all, where
the burnt and peace oerings were oered, the place of
ordinary intercourse. ey were all individual cases.
On the great day of atonement everything is done.
e sins of the people are dealt with; the nature of God is
met, before and on the mercy-seat: the delement of the
tabernacle removed (that is, of the heavens itself, and of
the altar); and the people’s sins are confessed on the head
of the scape-goat.
Had there not been sin in the priests, Nadab and Abihu,
etc., would have gone in and out as Moses did; but as it
was, they were prohibited.
e veil is not rent for the Jew by-and-by, unless it be
in the sense of the putting away of sin, but not for him to
go in.
God could not bless denitely, without being gloried as
to sin: but in the two rst sin-oerings in Lev. 4, the priest
did not actually go in, but only where he was accustomed
to go, to the altar of incense. But when we come to the
real thing done, the blood is upon the mercy-seat, it goes
upon the pure gold. e sprinkling of the blood before
the veil and sprinkling it upon the horns of the golden
altar presents a similar aspect of things. With us the censer
belongs inside, but the altar of incense was outside the veil;
it is when its use is interrupted, as it were, by sin, that blood
has to be put there. It was sprinkled seven times, this being
the perfectness which we constantly nd in scripture.
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e altar itself had been deled by the sin, and therefore
it had to be sprinkled. en “ outside the camp “ is most
important here, and on the day of atonement too; because,
if we bring in the nature and character of God, the thing
is a reproach to the world and it must go outside. ere is
plenty of religiousness inside the camp, but we cannot have
death in the presence of God, nor bring together before
God things that do not suit.
Suppose you have a number of worldly people round
you, you can ask God to bless them; but you cannot go on
with a priestly prayer, less so than you could even with the
animals around you. But if the individual sinned, there was
failure in his individual responsibility, but no interruption
between God and the people. e person had got astray,
and it was a question of his responsibility, and one that he
could so far estimate, so that there is no taking the body
outside the camp. Every man knows that sin cannot do
for God. So it was then in a worldly religion, the brazen
altar being the estimate of the evil according to man’s
responsibility. But there it came within the limits of man
and of the world. Go and say to a worldly-minded man,
You must be partaker of God’s holiness; or talk to him
about a nature that cannot sin because born of God! He
either hates it, or thinks you raving; but he would perfectly
understand that he is not to steal, kill, and so on. Such
was the case with the brazen altar for the Israelite, the law
being only a shadow of good things to come. Now, we must
walk in the light as God is in the light; for the veil is rent.
It is not now merely that I must have the sins put away, of
which I am guilty in the earth, so as to go on with God
in ordinary intercourse, but the claims of God on me are
according to the light in which He is revealed in Christ. So
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scripture shows distinctly that, though the Christian has
a consciousness of failure, he has, when once purged, no
more conscience of sins; as typically in Israel the great day
of atonement, when the blood was put on the mercy-seat,
was the basis of all that went on through the year. God’s
character must be met, even to go on with His material
government in patience and mercy.
If all the people sinned, all were shut out, and so, if a
priest sinned, in eect it was the same; but if one of the
common people sinned, all the rest are not put out, and
then the altar of incense needs not to be restored.
us, wherever the blood was carried in, the bullock
had to be carried outside and burnt: but in other cases
the priests ate the sin-oering. Christ enters into our sins
and sorrows, identifying Himself with them in grace, all
spotless as He was Himself.
e moment you get sin, it is dealt with before God.
Man has no idea of the eect of the judgment of sin in the
divine presence. If a man may take away your character,
you might take him away if you could; but if he takes away
God’s character, nobody cares for that! In the world eshly
religion can take up man’s responsibility, and say that he
ought to do so and so, and there must be this and that, if
he does not. But now ours is priestly intercourse, and such
intercourse with God must be according to what God is:
we must be in His presence to intercede after His mind.
e fat was burnt upon the altar, and the blood was
sprinkled there; it was not brought in for the common
person, for the way into the holiest was not yet made
manifest. e thing God was teaching was, in Israel, the
impossibility of having man in His presence. He could
not have Israel near Him. ere was man’s rule (under the
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law) just and perfect, with certain types of Christ; but God
never came out, and man never could go in. In Christianity
God has come out in grace to man, and man is gone in to
the glory of God: so we see and have it in the person of
Christ.
e trespass-oering is in the main identical with the
sin-oering, but it is not sin in some positive evil done
against any of the commandments of Jehovah, but a thing
that natural conscience can take cognizance of. Achan’s
was positive disobedience: there was no atonement at all
for that under the law.
e last three sin-oerings having “ and it shall be
forgiven him,” but the rst not, lead us to suppose that it
is dropped purposely as pointing to Christ, the high priest.
As any special application, it would be this, I suppose. In
his standing as representing the people, there might be
that in it. e dierence is plain. e distinction between
sin and sins as in Romans may be in the burnt-oering
distinguished from the sin-oering to a certain extent; but
here nature is hardly dealt with specically. It is exceptional,
if we have anything directly referring to sin in the nature.
One of the things at times to be met is that some, like
Wesley, dene sin as the willful transgression of a known
law, while others have said that a lust is no sin until it comes
into an open act. As 1 John 3 teaches, sin is lawlessness.
In the beginning of chapter 5 (v. there is the kind of oath
that is dierent from voluntary swearing: “ And if a soul sin
and hear the voice of an oath “ (that is, administered by
the magistrate), “ and is a witness, whether he hath seen or
known of it, if he do not utter it “ (i.e., give his evidence), “
then he shall bear his iniquity.”
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e Lord Himself said, “ Swear not at all “: so we should
not voluntarily take an oath, that is, of our own choice and
will. But the Lord Himself when He stood before the
high priest, the moment He was adjured, took the oath
and answered when He had been silent before. It is not
evil before a magistrate to swear, but good; it comes of evil
otherwise. I should deny God in the magistrate if I did
not answer when he adjured me. But to take an oath of
my own will is to bring in God for nothing at all, that is,
profanely. So the sin here in this verse is not uttering, that
is, withholding evidence. In Ex. 21:6 (and twice in chapter
22: 9, and once in chapter 22: 8), “ judges “ is “ elohim
“-God, and this because the magistrate is for God: “ the
powers that be are ordained by God.” We are to submit to
them.
As for the manner of taking an oath, the king holds
up his hand to take the oath: it is the commonest way of
taking it. You are bound by that as much as by anything
else. Whatever binds is enough. Only I am adjured by God,
because the magistrate represents God. ere are questions
of swearing which present more diculty; as for instance
going into court and swearing to recover a debt for yourself.
is is just a case of conscience; but I make no rules for
anybody: people are not entitled to do so.
ere is a double gure in these chapters, not only one
of Christ’s sacrice, but also of failure in the assembly, that
is, of the saints now. Our whole position is changed now.
We have no more conscience of sins, but we see the way
in which the value of what these pregure is applied as in
Num. 19, where they are passing through the wilderness
or world. ere the blood of the red heifer was sprinkled
seven times before the door of the tabernacle; it was (for
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us) settled there once for all. But when a man had touched
a dead thing, he was not in a t state to go into the camp
and enjoy his place there, he was unclean and the water of
purication must be applied to him. e water, the Holy
Ghost by the word, was the witness of what Christ has
done. is makes all the dierence. Christianity asserts for
believers the non-imputation of sins. What we see of old
was a sacrice that worked like a priest’s absolution now.
In verses 2, 3 we see the person unclean without
knowing it. Yet he is guilty, but he cannot act as guilty until
he knows it. God cannot look at sin. If I have a spot on my
back, God cannot have me with that spot on. Some one
may help me to get rid of it, but I am unclean with it. In
Num. 15 there is a dierence; in verse 27 it is mercy, but in
verse 3o the man is to be cut o. What is cutting o? He
is put out from God’s people altogether. Occasionally God
did it; sometimes the people stoned the man themselves. It
means death of course.
CHAPTER 6: 8-CHAPTER 8.
In chapter 6: 9, the point is (and a very important one
it is) that the re was to be burning always. As in Isa. 6
all was from the brazen altar. ere is no real prayer or
praise, or anything of the kind, save in connection with the
sacrice of Christ; so in Rev. 8 He takes the re from the
brazen altar in verse 5. e altar in verse 3 seems to me to
be the altar of incense. Take it as a rule: no re is used save
o the brazen altar.
Continuous burning gives no cessation of the judgment
by God according to a holy nature. It is burning all night,
and, in a certain sense, for Israel, who are kept by Christ
now, kept through His sacrice which is perpetual in value.
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One other point: in the meat oering the frankincense
went up to God entirely. e priests ate of the our, but
all the grace goes up to God. It was holy; and when the
priests oered a meat-oering, it was all burnt. It is Christ
Himself: there He is oerer and oering; and it was for no
one save God Himself so to speak.
Israel really took up little of these things. Even the
instructions of Deuteronomy are very dierent. All this
is written for us. I doubt very much if any oerings, save
the ocial oerings, were oered in the wilderness at
all. Stephen in Acts 7 quotes Amos, and asks, “ Have ye
oered to me slain beasts and sacrices by the space of
forty years in the wilderness? Yea, ye took up the tabernacle
of Moloch, and the star of your god Remphan, which ye
made to worship them; and I will carry you away beyond
Babylon.”
Before the strange re there was more freedom for
access, but it was not made use of.
So in the peace-oering; they were iniquities if they
went beyond the second or third day, because they were
not connected with the sacrice (chap. 7: 15-18). If the
sacrice were a vow, it might be eaten on the next day as
well as the rst; if a thanksgiving, it must be eaten the rst
day. If there be more energy in the worship, you may carry
it on longer (as here two days instead of one); but if it is
practically separated from the victim burnt on the altar, it
is unclean altogether and is rejected. You cannot separate
praise or worship from the oering of Christ: without this
it becomes a positive abomination. A man may be singing
a sweet hymn with a thought of Christ in it; but being
disconnected from Christ Himself, it is a mere piece of
music and oensive to God. It is possible to make requests
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that the Holy Ghost gives to be asked, and to nd that you
are losing the sense of the Person to whom you are speaking.
Worship must be in spirit and in truth. It is solemn to give
out a hymn. Take Hymn 151: are you speaking truthfully
in singing it? ‘Each thought of ee doth constant yield,
Unchanging, fresh delight’? Perhaps you may be able to go
up to it. Suppose I sing “ O teach me more of y blest
ways,” this is very dierent: what are these “ blest ways,”
and am I learning them? en again take “O Lord, how
blest our journey “: I may ask, Is this true of myself? I do
not say, Is it true? but, Is it true to me?
e waving is presenting before God; and the heaving
is a little stronger. It is all owned as Jehovah’s-all for the
priests’ eating, and then they eat it.
e drink-oering is universally the joy of God and
man. It was thorough action between God and the people.
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62711
On the Oerings, and the
Consecration of the
Priesthood: Leviticus 1-8
Revised Notes on Leviticus 1-8
e sacrices are connected with, and open out to us
especially, the ground of our access and the means of our
approach to God.
e beginning of this book goes through the dierent
sorts of oerings by virtue of which we have access to God,
and then takes up the priesthood, which sustains the soul
in approaching.
Chapter 1 speaks of the burnt-oering, the second of
the meat-oering, and the third of the peace-oering.
Each of these has a distinct character. Chapter 4 treats of
positive transgression in things against conscience, and
the sin-oering to be oered thereupon. Chapter 5, as
far as verse 13, speaks specially of sins or delements of
dierent characters, rather than transgressions in things
which ought not to be done; and from verse 14 of chapter
5 to verse 7 of chapter 6, we read of the trespass-oering,
that is, the oering for anything respecting conduct in
which wrong was done to God or man. e special value
of these oerings is their representation of the work of the
Lord Jesus Christ, and our approach to God through Him.
Many of the principles spoken of as regards Jesus Himself
are in measure shown in the believer; again, that which
He wrought Himself works eectually in us. One act of
Christ fullled or consummated them all. He made the
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atonement, was a perfect sweet savor to God when tried to
the utmost; and we have communion with Him, feeding
on that which has been given for us. He bore our sins and
eaced our guilt.
CHAPTER 1.
In this chapter, verses 1-4, we have directions
concerning the burnt-oering. Observe, Jehovah is not
speaking from Mount Sinai: there a statement was given
of what the law required. Before, however, the Israelites
received the instructions from God in the holy Mount,
they had broken that covenant; so that when Moses came
down, he found them worshipping the golden calf. ey
had departed from God, and were made naked to their
shame before their enemies. Afterward the tabernacle was
set up, where Jehovah would meet the people; and here we
get the patterns of things in the heavens, “ which patterns
were puried with these sacrices, but the heavenly things
themselves with better sacrices,” even with the sacrice
of Jesus. Now the patterns given to us in the tabernacle are
for the unfolding of the manner of our coming to God by
grace through Jesus Christ. We nd the most holy place,
where Jehovah met Moses; the holy place, for the priests’
daily service; and the court without, where the worshipper
rst approached, where were the altar of burnt-oering
and the laver.
e rst place of approach to God is the altar of burnt-
oering. It may be remarked here that, in the description
of the oerings, they are in the order in which they regard
God in their proper nature and value, our communion
with God being introduced in the third. en provision for
positive transgression is made. In the application or use of
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them by sinners this last comes rst, as it does really with
the soul.
When Jehovah spoke to Moses from Sinai, it was to
declare His righteous requirements from man on earth.
God testied on earth what His righteousness required
from man on earth. As to their approach to God in their
own righteousness thus prescribed, we see at Sinai itself
how all failed. e authority of God was thrown o by
making the calf; and thus the voluntary undertaking to
do all that Jehovah required (Ex. 19:8; 24:3) was broken,
and they had failed altogether. How then could man
approach to God? e law given had just brought out the
evil that was in him. Was God, then, to deal with them,
acknowledging them in their wickedness? Was He to give
up His character? If not, He must speak from heaven in
grace. ere was now no possibility of dealing with man
upon earth. “ ey had refused Him who spake on earth.”
e question then (as this had failed) was, How could man
be brought into communion with God in heaven? “ If they
escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much
more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that
speaketh from heaven.” But full entrance into heaven was
not then revealed, the veil was un-rent; but the shadow of
good things to come was given.
ere must be a sacrice, but where was such to be
found as could cleanse man from sin, of which we have
here the shadows? ere was no such thing to be found in
man as one willing and competent. is was not work for a
sinner. But the Son of God said, “ Lo, I come to do thy will,
O God; yea, thy law is within my heart,” Psa. 40; Heb. 10:5.
“ Sacrice and oering thou wouldest not, but a body hast
thou prepared me.” is was the body in which He was to
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be the obedient One; “ Mine ear hast thou opened “; and
we see Christ willingly assuming it to do the will of God.
We have in Him one t to be the sacrice, one who took
on Himself the form of a servant, and became obedient to
the commands of Jehovah. It was His will to do it, and He
was capable of doing it. “ y law is within my heart.” But
what was the object in doing this? Not only to keep the law
which had been broken, but personally to be a sacrice. To
introduce sinners into God’s presence, He must not only
keep the law Himself, but become obedient unto death,
even the death of the cross. He might preach righteousness
in the congregation, but men hated it; He might work all
works of blessing, but they envied Him, they derided Him.
All the expressions of righteousness in Him were of no
avail alone. He must also become a sacrice, He must shed
His blood. Now the burnt-oering represents Him as
perfect in Himself, and oering Himself up to God.
In verse 3 it is said, “ He shall oer it of his own voluntary
will
9
at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation
before Jehovah.” Now, as regards Christ, the act of oering
Himself as a sacrice is simply His own-” through the
eternal Spirit he oered himself without spot to God.” We
did not oer Him: He was the oerer and the victim; but
when we have the Spirit of Christ, we enter into the value
of the act as though we laid our hands upon Him. Jesus
oered Himself while on earth without spot unto God,
presenting Himself as the burnt-oering. In order that we
might approach through Him, He must rst be exhibited
as giving Himself thus willingly. us in the account of the
sacrice we see the victim rst brought to the door of the
9 Christ did so; but the force of the Hebrew words really is “ for
his acceptance.” See John 17:5-8, and 10: 18.
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tabernacle and then killed. If we had merely seen the fact
of Christ’s death, we might have thought there was need
of it as regarded Himself; but He is rst shown to us as
the willing oering, bringing Himself to the door of the
tabernacle, and voluntarily oering Himself to God for us.
is was the sacrice of atonement, not by anything
imposed on Him, though according to the will of God, but
of His own free will, as the spotless One, with no yoke of
sin on His neck. As the righteous One, He walked up, so
to speak, to the door of the tabernacle, and there the prince
of this world met Him, and his rst eort was to hinder
His exhibiting this perfect pattern of obedience on earth.
at which was singular in Jesus, and was in Him
alone, was His righteousness. ere was power, but this
others have had also, though received indeed from Him;
but simple abstract perfect truth and righteousness, this
Christ alone could exhibit; and if Satan could have made
the Lord swerve in one tittle from this, there would have
been no such thing exhibited on earth. Satan tried in the
temptation to make our Lord exhibit power; but He was
still the obedient One, and until the word came upon
His ear, He would do nothing, for He came then to be
the servant, the perfect pattern of obedience in all things.
Satan rst tempted Him to exercise His power in making
the stones bread, then to question the providential care of
God, and thirdly, openly to take the world, which was His
rightful dominion.
Having failed in his object altogether, Satan departed
from Him for a season, but met Him again to hinder His
obedience unto death. e prince of this world came to
Jesus as the head of religion and power of the world in the
Jews and Gentiles. He cannot, however, hinder Him; but
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the word is still, “ at the world may know that I love the
Father, and as the Father gave me commandment, even so
I do.” is is what we who believe know of Jesus, that the
prince of this world had nothing in Him. He voluntarily
submitted to be the sacrice; and the act was perfect in
giving Himself. Still, if for us, it must be in the place of
sin, and atonement for it; and what is so wonderful in the
sacrice of Christ is that absolute perfect obedience and
self-devotedness to God and His glory, was in the place
of sin, when He was made sin for us. ere was nothing
available to us until He was put to death (v. 5).
It is said that the priests, the sons of Aaron (not the
high priest), shall bring the blood and sprinkle it round
about the altar. us we who believe have an interest in this,
while Christ presents Himself on the day of atonement.
e priests have the blood in their hands, pointing out the
way of participating in what had been done.
Let the re of the Lord consume Jesus (so to speak) all
is, and more especially therein, a sweet savor unto God.
In us the re nds things in themselves oensive, but all
that was in Jesus is burnt altogether, a sacrice made by
re for a sweet savor unto God. Noah’s sacrice typied
this (Gen. 8:20, 21), taking of every clean beast and clean
fowl, and oering burnt-oerings to Jehovah; and Jehovah
smelled a sweet savor, and the heart of God was governed
by the oering, instead of by the sin which is covered, so
that God said He would not again curse the ground any
more. He would look at the sinner in compassion, because
to the sweet savor of the oering of Jesus, for it was such
as the all-searching eye of God, when He took it all up in
the re, found to be perfect. is was Christ’s own work: we
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319
could take no part in it; but we nd it to be that which puts
away sin, glorifying God when He is made it.
“ Be ye imitators of God, as dear children; and walk in
love, as Christ also hath loved us, and given himself for
us an oering and a sacrice to God for a sweet-smelling
savor.” Who does not know among the saints the power of
this love? While the work was done in a man, and as a man,
it was done in divine love by Christ, even as He was given
of the love of God to do it. is is a wonderful thing, that
One should come having a body prepared, acting in perfect
obedience, a perfect example of righteousness, giving
Himself a willing oering in the fullness of divine love!
us, for our full acceptance with God, Christ is the burnt-
oering. ere the sinner meets God in judgment, but
there he meets also Christ oering Himself and then made
sin, but made sin in the very act in which His, obedience
was absolute and perfect, and so an absolute sweet savor in
the very place of sin. God was perfectly gloried in Christ’s
obedience in that place, and, through death and atonement
for sin, a perfect sweet savor to God. Bearing our sins
comes in afterward.
Here therefore we nd the ground of our free approach
to God in the sweet savor of His burnt sacrice. e court
of the congregation represents the place into which Christ
was lifted up from the earth; and here it is that the act
of Jesus meets the sinner as the means of approach. It is
neither in the holy or most holy place, but in view of the
earth, though lifted up from it, that a perfect sacrice has
been oered to God, in which Satan could nd nothing,
but God everything- in which we could have no part or
fellowship, save as a consequence in grace. It was a work
between Christ and God; and while the saint alone reads
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its value, it was done before our eyes here, though He was
lifted up from the earth (Jesus Christ being evidently set
forth crucied, giving a testimony to the world, which
leaves the world without excuse): our part in it was the
sin that put Him to death. And if there be no other way
to God but by Jesus Christ thus set forth in death, what is
unbelief doing in despising and rejecting Him who now in
heaven is the giver of every blessing to them that believe?
You may be busy and careful about many things, but
there is but one thing that God looks at: Christ, and Christ
a sacrice for sin. Has this love of God in His Son been
but an idle tale to your hearts, while you have been eager in
the pursuit after the vanity that presents itself here? Is your
heart cold to the love of God, as though the place where
the cross stood was a blank in the world? e natural heart
hates the claim of His love and His holiness; but the cross
is the purchase-work of God to redeem the heart from the
love of the world. Atonement, and perfect glorifying of
God, and innite acceptance in the sweet savor of Christ’s
oering of Himself, are found in the burnt-oering.
Chapter 2.
e meat-oering was of ne our mingled with oil,
anointed with oil, and frankincense thereon, to be brought
to Aaron’s sons the priests, who had their portion of it. But
the priest was to burn the memorial of it on the altar, to be
an oering made by re for a sweet savor unto the Lord.
It is a thing most holy of the oerings of the Lord made
by re (see v. 1-3). Here then is another oering made by
re. As in the burnt-oering, it stands the full proving of
God, and all that comes out of it is a sweet savor unto Him.
Now the fruits of righteousness are acceptable unto God,
but we are not represented here; where we are spoken of,
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321
leaven was put in the oering. If we enter into judgment
with God, no man living can stand. Our services are indeed
accepted as the fruit of His Spirit in us through Christ.
We have in this, not an oering of the nature of Abel’s
(not atonement, that is) but of Cain’s. ough surely very
dierent in character from that, yet it is man in the life
of nature oered to God, every natural faculty of man in
Christ, and that fully tried by the re of God. e church
never could be thus oered as in itself a sweet savor, because
in human nature it is not holy.
We shall see by-and-by that when the church is
represented, leaven is commanded to be put into the
oering. In this there is none; it is perfect human nature
without sin, mingled with oil, that is, born in its origin of
the Spirit. Oil was poured upon it; that is, Christ as man
was anointed with the Holy Ghost and frankincense put
thereon. e fragrance of grace ascends up to God. e
remnant was for Aaron’s sons. First, Jesus, as a man, is
oered to God in His perfectness, and then we feed upon
Him. e fragrance of His perfectness ascends while we
feed. But this is only for priests, the true saints of God.
e ostensible anointing of Jesus was when the Holy
Ghost descended upon Him in the shape of a dove; but
we nd in the rst ten verses of this chapter various other
characteristics of the meat-oering to show the complete
perfectness of Christ. “ ou shalt part it in pieces, and
pour oil thereon.” In Jesus every part of His walk and acts,
however minute, was of the Holy Ghost, and in its power.
ere was perfect human nature without sin, born of
the Holy Ghost, and anointed with the Holy Ghost; and
every detail of Christ’s path was in the power of the Spirit.
It was oered to God; and as to all the frankincense, the
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sweet savor of grace in Christ, and all His motives were
for God alone; but saints as priests feed on all He was. e
sweet savor of the frankincense might be enjoyed by the
priests, but it was oered to God.
e wafers and the cakes were to be unleavened. In this,
as in the sheaf of rst-fruits waved before Jehovah (Lev.
23:10, 11), we have the denite character of Christ without
sin, for in the ears of corn there could be no leaven. But
when the church is oered, leaven is to be used (Lev. 23:17).
But the oblation of the rst-fruits (see V. 12 of this chapter)
was to be oered indeed, but not to be burnt, showing the
dierence in character from the previous oerings, which
were all burned, and were to have neither honey nor leaven
in them.
No eect of the oil could counteract the leaven; it was
commanded to be absolutely without leaven. No power of
the Holy Ghost in us counteracts the presence of evil so
as to set it aside and remove it, so as to make the subject
t to be an oering made by re of a sweet savor. If there
was leaven in its nature, it could not be an oering to
Jehovah. Honey is also excluded from what is oered by
re to Jehovah. e feelings of nature may be sweet and
rightly enjoyable, as honey on the top of Jonathan’s rod, but
it cannot be oered in sacrice to God.
ere are many things sweet and pleasant in themselves
that can never be presented to God as an oering in a world
of sin. Nothing can be oered to Him that is the mere
satisfaction of nature; simple natural aection, though
right in itself (nay, it is a sin to be without it), is no oering
to God. Our Lord’s love to His mother was perfect: we
see this in His remembrance of her on the cross; but when
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323
rst He begins, and all through His ministry, He says, “
Woman, what have I to do with thee? “
In Lev. 23:17 we have that which was typical of the
day of Pentecost, on which day the Holy Ghost formed
the church. When Christ ascended and presented perfect
righteousness to the Father, as man in heaven, then He by
the Spirit could work to bring out the result in the church
as the rstfruits. Accordingly we nd in this chapter 23
that which, as constituted and consecrated by the Holy
Ghost, could be oered to God, but not burnt, because the
old nature is still there. In Jesus however there is nothing
of this; and in the meat-oering, therefore, there is to be
no leaven, but oil mingled with ne our, and oil poured
on it; as none also was in the sheaf waved before Jehovah.
So it was that Jesus arose, and was waved before Jehovah;
and then, fty days afterward, parallel with Pentecost, the
two wave-loaves, baken with leaven, were brought as the
rst-fruits to God. Remark, that there is a burnt-oering
and a meat-oering oered with the wave-sheaf, but no
sin-oering; but in verse 19 you will nd a sin-oering
accompanying the wave-loaves to meet the leaven in them;
for the sin-oering is that which countervails the evil of
the church, or it could not be accepted.
We have thus most satisfactory evidence that Jesus was
oered without spot to God; and the knowledge of the
blessed truth, that there was the absolute absence of sin in
Him, both in nature and practice. On this account alone
He could be an oering made by re. ere could be no
oering presented to God for a sweet savor in which the
holiness of God, searching by re, could discover, by any
possibility, anything that was not positively good-it would
have hindered its being such an oering to God. All the
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fullness of the Holy Ghost could not eect this, for we see
this on the day of Pentecost; there was the outpouring of
the Holy Ghost, but nevertheless sin was there.
e Holy Ghost, to give us peace, must come with a
message of peace, even that there has been that presented in
the oering of Christ by which God’s grace can act towards
us in righteousness. It is not that the act of Jesus turned
God’s mind towards us, but by virtue of it God can act
according to His own mind, righteously and consistently.
If God had done an act of grace without the act of Jesus, it
would have been grace without righteousness.
It is, then, rst proved that there is no righteousness
in man, who has both sinned, and broken the law, and
rejected Jesus; but in presenting Jesus to God, in the world,
the intrinsically righteous One, and fully tried and tested,
and at the same time a sacrice for man’s acceptance by
the cross, we nd Him through whom God can act in
grace towards man. In Him we nd the ground of our
acceptance, and the sure foundation of God’s dealings
with us. ere is amazing blessing in looking at Jesus as
the occasion of grace! e soul of the poor sinner can rest
in the knowledge that grace reigns through righteousness;
and I nd myself a continual debtor to grace, because when
I am daily oered to God, the value of the sin-oering is
always available, without which I could not be presented;
and God is thereby gloried and not man, inasmuch as it is
only through Jesus that I approach.
In leaven we see the character of sin, not only in the
act but in the abstract. It is well to distinguish between
sins as the fruit of our evil nature, and sin. e Holy Ghost
detects not only sins in the act, but sin in the nature. us
we are led to the knowledge that we are all alike, all in
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325
one condition. e Holy Ghost lays bare that in nature
which the law could only notice in its earliest actings. e
moment I have a new nature, not only do I detect the acts
of the old nature, but
“ I know that in me, that is, in my esh, good doth not
dwell “; but I have this comfort, that hating and judging
the evil, I know that it is put away. Not that this should
make us careless; no, our privilege is to judge it before it
has brought forth the bitter fruits. Have you judged it thus
in the nature? If it is there, it is condemned. “ For what the
law could not do, in that it was weak through the esh, God
sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful esh, and for
sin, condemned sin in the esh.” As Jesus was presented in all
circumstances like me, except sin, whatever I nd in myself,
not in Jesus, I know is this condemned thing, sin: but as
Jesus was also a sacrice for sin, it is condemned in grace
to me, Jesus having suered for it, though He had it not. If
you cannot say you are without sin in your nature, living in
all the spotlessness and purity of Jesus, you are in yourself
lost; but recognizing Jesus as the oering for you (though
in yourself a poor failing wretched creature), you can be
presented to God even as He is, because you are presented
in Him who has gloried God in this very place as made
sin for us. But, beside this, as a living man on earth all was
perfect, and all was tested by the fullest trial of God, passed
through the re, and all was a sweet savor.
If you have thus seen Jesus, if you have found Him such,
feed upon Him as upon the one object on which your soul
can rest as perfect, the pattern in which you can delight to
all eternity. is is the way of learning, in a sinful world,
what is perfect in God’s sight. Take Jesus, and as a thing
most holy, oer it to God, delight in it. Study Jesus in the
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326
Gospels, in all that He was and did, as presented to us by the
Spirit, and then you will learn to have your soul fashioned
in its desires according to the riches of His un-searchable
grace who oered Himself without spot to God, knowing
also that you shall see Him and be made like Him, seeing
Him as He is.
Remark carefully the character of Jesus’ perfection-no
leaven, no honey, the salt of holy separation to God; all
the frankincense going up to God. is is His practical
example. e presence of the Holy Ghost as to origin and
power is an additional element; in the new man, this has
its part of truth in us.
e rst-fruits were to be oered but not burnt, because
leaven was in them; and they could not be in themselves
a sweet savor: hence a sin-oering was oered with them
(Lev. 23:17-19). ey represent the church, being (as may
be seen in Lev. 23) the oering of the day of Pentecost; not
the church in the unity of the body, but as formed among
Jews on earth on that day. e rst of the rst-fruits, the
corn out of full ears, is Christ risen, oered on the morrow of
the sabbath after the Passover; it represents Christ Himself,
and hence (Lev. 23) there was no sin-oering. If we look at
it in Lev. 2 it is still Christ. Oil and frankincense are put on
it. It is an oering made by re without leaven. It is Christ
looked at as man, tried by divine trial of judgment, but
perfect to be oered to God. e expressions are somewhat
remarkable-geresh carmel, “ corn mature out of full ears “;
it may be, produce of the fruitful eld, the latter being the
known sense of carmel; the meaning of geresh was certain.
But the general meaning of the oering was pretty plain:
Christ in His manhood, sinless and fully proved, presented
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to God with oil and frankincense of acceptable odor, the
rstfruits-fruits of man to God.
CHAPTER 3.
In the rst chapter is the description of the burnt-
oering representing the Lord’s self-dedication and
obedience, even unto death, rst coming to do the Father’s
will, and then oering Himself up without spot unto
God; and then, having so oered Himself, a victim of
propitiation.
In the second we have the meat-oering, which shows
the perfection of His nature, in its origin and every result,
even tried by the re of God in death, and the detailed
character of that perfectness, the memorial of it being
oered before Jehovah, and the rest eaten by the priests,
and unleavened meat-oering. Chapter 3 touches on that
part of the peace-oering which was oered to God. ere
is no mention of what was done with the body of the
animal; we must refer to chapter 7 for this. e fat and the
blood, which represent the life and energy of the oered
victim, are said to be the food of the oering made by re.
ey may not be eaten, but are presented to Jehovah, and
all burnt, by a perpetual statute. e life belongs to God,
and in Christ all was oered up to Him, and for His glory.
We have, in the peace-oering, the same character as
the two former; still a sacrice made by re of a sweet-
smelling savor. e peculiar feature in this oering is, that
it is that upon which God Himself feeds; it is not merely
an oering, but food of the oering. is gives it a peculiar
character, and introduced communion. e satisfaction
and delight, the food of God, is in the oering of Christ.
All He is nds its rest there, is perfectly gloried there; we
nd our food, our delight, in it too.
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In chapter 7 we nd the remainder of the peace-oering
was eaten by the worshipper, excepting the wave-breast and
heave-shoulder, which were the priests’. ese three things,
then, we may observe. e blood is sprinkled, and the fat
burned for a sweet savor; the wave-breast was for Aaron and
his sons, the heave-shoulder for the oering priest; and the
rest for the worshipper to feed on, as an occasion of joy and
thanksgiving before Jehovah. is practice of the oerer’s
partaking of his sacrice was followed in the heathen
sacrices to which the apostle alludes (1 Corinthians to:
18-21); part was oered to the idol, and with the rest they
made a feast, being together partakers of it. Again, when
the apostle is giving liberty to the Corinthians to eat what
was sold in the shambles, he limits them to that which they
ate in ignorance. “ If any man say unto you, is is oered
in sacrice to idols, eat not.” ey sprinkled the blood on
the altar, and then ate the sacrice; and therefore those who
knowingly partook of it were held to be partakers of the
altar, this being the way of showing communion, whether
it were with an idol, or between a believer and God. And
this has in it a blessed meaning. Christ is not only here
represented as the perfect burnt-oering wholly given up
to God in death for His glory, but also as an oering on
which we feed; not only is He God’s delight, but He is
that of which we can partake with Him. He is the subject-
matter of communion. “ As I live by the Father, so he that
eateth me shall live by me.” e communion is between all
saints, the worshipper, the priest, and God. Not only is it
our privilege to see the sacrice oered to God opening a
way of access to Him (as in the burnt-oering and others),
but we nd the Lord takes delight in communion with us
about it.
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329
e rst thing to be observed in the peace-oering is
the complete and absolute acceptance of the sacrice, so
that the Lord speaks of it as His food, that in which His
holiness could nd intrinsic satisfaction. e inwards were
presented for a sweet savor (as Jesus); they are tried and
examined by re, and found to be food for God Himself.
e fat represents the spontaneous actings of the heart.
e richness of an animal is its fat; we judge of its healthy
vigorous state by this.
It is written, “ Our God is a consuming re.” is
expression is sometimes wrongly interpreted, as if spoken
of God out of Christ. We know nothing of God out
of Christ. We may be out of Christ ourselves, and then
indeed, as a consuming re, the very presence of God
would be destructive to us. But as known to us also who
are in Christ, He is a God intolerant of all evil, of all that
which is inconsistent with Himself.
As the slain one, Jesus is that on which we must feed.
He says, “ e bread that I will give is my esh, which I will
give for the life of the world; whoso eateth my esh, and
drinketh my blood, hath eternal life,” John 6. When we
come to the knowledge of Jesus, we feed on Him as thus
slain, having, as it were, His blood separated from His body.
“ My esh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed.” “
Without shedding of blood there is no remission.” We feed
on Jesus as having given His life; not on His life as life, but
on Him as having given His life even unto death; not only
as the incarnate One (that is, the bread come down from
heaven), but as having given His esh to be eaten, and His
blood to be drunk. And here also is that which not only
satised the justice of God, but also is esteemed, fed on by
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330
Him as His delight, and specially in the work by which He
gloried Him in His death.
ere, in the work which He did, Jesus was His delight;
and in this, in the light of His countenance, and as the
delight of God, we too have a portion. It is the common
food of those assembled as worshippers, to feast on before
Jehovah. But if any were unclean who fed on this sacrice,
they should be cut o from the people (Lev. 7:20). It was
only as clean persons they could meet thus with Jehovah. It
can be only as those already cleansed and accepted, that we
can have this common delight in the Lord Jesus, given as
a common object of communion and enjoyment between
God and us, and with one another. In this act, our worship
is not simply as coming to inquire about our acceptance;
but, having already access, it is to rejoice with God about
the sacrice, knowing the fruits of it. It was a thanksgiving-
oering; praise was in it.
All proceeds upon the conviction of full satisfaction
having been previously made.
Often our worship has not suciently this character
in it. We have intercourse frequently with God about our
anxieties, our failures, our evil condition; but if this is all,
we come very far short of the privileges that belong to us.
Our religion should not be altogether a religion of regrets;
but rather we are called to joy and rejoice, through the
Spirit, in the perfectness of all that Christ has done; not
merely joy because wrath has been intercepted, but there
is that in Jesus which draws out constant love and delight
from the Father, and we too are introduced into the place
of communion with the Father about Him. Now, if we are
associated in this worship, we are there as being clean, for
no unclean person is able to partake of it.
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In the peace-oering, the priest who sprinkled the
blood had his part. He stood there as Christ, who is the
One who sprinkled the blood and joys in the communion
owing from His sacrice.
We learn, in these sacrices, God in the respective
characters of the Trinity, as well as in the abstract character
of His holiness. If we look at God as the Father, we have
the joy of His countenance as sons; but as God, we need
a priest by whose presence we are encouraged to approach
Him. As believing in Jesus, we stand so completely
accepted in the immediate love of the Father, that Jesus
says, “ I say not that I will pray the Father for you, for the
Father himself loveth you, because ye have loved me.” At
the same time we know that, as still in this body of sin
and death, we have continual need of the exercise of the
priesthood of Jesus, and this, indeed, in communion, we
can never leave out, even the joy of knowing the priest as
having sprinkled the blood. In our joy we cannot exclude
the priest: communion is a common thing with us. God
delights, we delight, and Jesus delights with us. Marvelous
thought! e priest returns from the sprinkling of blood,
Himself to be a partaker of our secret joy in the holy
place (Num. 18:8-11). It is most important to see that we
have no real delight of which the source and spring is not
JESUS. So satised is God, and so cleansed are we, that
we can come thus to enjoy the communion resulting from
what Jesus has done, and as the priest, He feasts with us
now in the holy place. Where two or three are gathered
together, there is He in the midst of them, as the One who
has sprinkled the blood, to feast even now, while we are
waiting for that day, when in person He shall be present
with us to eat and drink in the Father’s kingdom. He said
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once, “ With desire I have desired to eat this passover with
you, before I suer.” He was not content without this last
memorial of His love to them and association with Him.
While the expectation was present with Him of the time
when He would drink it new in the kingdom of God, He
desired them to have continual remembrance of Him, “
is do, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me.”
e oering was to be eaten the same day, or at farthest
on the second day; it was not allowed to be kept longer.
is marks the communion to be necessarily spiritual, and
only to be had in communion with the sacrice of Christ,
not in nature. If it be the willing state of the soul itself
through grace, this may be kept up a longer time; where
it is thanksgiving for actual benets, there is not the same
power in it. It is only in the Spirit that we can have this
communion with God. If the esh comes in, all is spoiled;
it must be burned with re. e worshipper must eat his
portion in connection with the burnt-oering, and the
priests’ portion. If eaten apart from these, having, as it were,
from that separation lost the virtue communicated from
the others, it becomes an abomination; and the soul that
eats must bear his iniquity. us we shall continually nd
that joy in the Lord is apt to degenerate into that which
is merely natural. For instance, if Christians in gladness
of heart come to seek the Lord in communion, the Spirit
is present; they forget all grief; the communion between
their souls and God is within the veil, and there is no
sorrow there; but if they are not very watchful, their joy
degenerates. It overlasts what is spiritual, and becomes joy
in the esh. e real test and power of this is its connection
with the sacrice oered.
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In believers, there will be dierences in the power of this
communion. ose who rest most simply in the sacrice
and blood of Jesus will have the most power of sustaining
it. “ Ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy
faith, praying in the Holy Ghost, keep yourselves in the
love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ
unto eternal life,” Jude 20, 21. As we walk in the Spirit, we
shall have power to continue in this holy fellowship and
joy; but the earthly vessels are not competent to bear all
the glory. ere is always a tendency for the esh to slip in.
We may get full of our joy, and proud through it, or at least
lose a sense of our dependence, and this at once opens a
door to all the folly of our evil nature. After Paul had been
in the third heavens, so that he knew not whether he was
in or out of the body, we nd he was in danger of being
pued up. What was the remedy? Anything that mended
the esh? Not at all, but a messenger from Satan to buet
him. ere is no mending the esh; but we know this is not
the place or condition in which we shall always be, for He
“ shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like
unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby
he is able even to subdue all things unto himself,” Phil.
3:21.
CHAPTER 4.
e oerings in this chapter dier in character from the
preceding, being sacrices made for actual transgressions.
Before, we had the oering of Christ as a sweet savor, and
the communion of the believer upon it; but here there
is altogether a new revelation. e three former were
delivered under one revelation, which is marked by the
words, “ Jehovah called unto Moses, and spake unto him
‘ (chap.: 1), which are repeated at the beginning of this
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chapter. Accordingly we nd, that instead of the Lord
Jesus being manifested to us as a sacrice for a sweet savor
unto God, we have Him here typied as bearing our sins
in His own body-the sin-oering; Jehovah bruising Him
on our account.
e SIN-OFFERINGS were consequent upon
positive transgression; the accumulation of guilt was laid
upon the head of the victim. We shall nd under this class
all the forms of transgression provided for. ere are four
dierent characters of sin-oerings. In chapter 5 to verse
13, sins are mentioned analogous in nature, but dierent
in circumstance, and a trespass-oering commanded for
them. In verse 14 of chapter 5 begins another revelation
from God concerning the trespass-oering for anything
done against Jehovah; and chapter 6 mentions trespass
against a neighbor.
In the chapter before us (the fourth) we have instances
of delements of conscience concerning things which
ought not to be done, being against the commandments
of Jehovah.
e natural conscience shrinks from murder and
open sins; but there are other things which, although of
a dierent character, nevertheless, if committed, bring
on us delement before Jehovah. ere are things of
positive requirement about which a soul may be ignorant,
but neglect of which brings delement; and, again, there
are things which we know to be wrong, by means of the
spiritual perception God has given us. We learn from these
details, that trespasses against Jehovah, and wrongs done to
our neighbor, though not all of the same importance, yet all
require a sin-oering; all recall Christ to us, as taking upon
Him our sins. He is our sin and trespass-oering.
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e rst two cases are, “ If the priest that is anointed do
sin,” and “ the whole congregation sin “: in either case the
directions for the oering are the same. Some of the blood
must be sprinkled “ seven times before the Lord, before the
veil of the sanctuary “;-” and the priest shall put some of the
blood upon the horns of the altar of sweet incense before
Jehovah in the tabernacle of the congregation.” is was
done, that there might be no interruption to the general
communion, for the whole congregation being identied
with the high priest, his worship in the sanctuary at the
altar of incense would be interrupted by their collective
delement: and again, the priest being the representative
of the whole congregation before Jehovah, their exclusion
was involved in his. eir sin is charged upon the bullock
that is slain, which (the fat being burnt upon the altar) is
burnt without the camp, and this is the ground of their
renewed communion with God. Here is shown to us, not
the perfectness of Jesus as presented to God, but Jesus
bearing the delement of our sin; yet we see the fat is still
burned on the altar (v. 8), and that has in it the character of
the burnt-oering, showing that, though made sin for us,
yet His oering to God therein was intrinsically perfect;
but the whole bullock is burnt without the camp, pointing
out to us Jesus as cast out and bruised, on account of His
having taken upon Him our sin, as in 2 Cor. 5:21 “ he
hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin.” Having
presented Himself in perfectness to God, He is then made
sin for us, and it pleased Jehovah to bruise Him. Marvelous
word! Jesus, the Holy One, who knew no sin, is cast out,
and numbered with the transgressors.
If it was merely an individual that sinned, the order of
the service could still be carried on, because the communion
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of the congregation was not thereby destroyed. In this
instance, the blood was then only sprinkled on the altar of
burnt-oering, because that was the place where God met
an individual; for he must be reconciled, that he might have
his place in the congregation, to hold communion with
God. It is only because Jesus bore our sins individually, that
we have communion. But He did it once for all.
Of this sacrice we nd the priest is commanded to
take a portion (chap. 6: 25, 26); the fat and blood only
being presented to the Lord on the altar of burnt-oering.
We shall see in this the character of Jesus’ work for us, and
nd the blessedness of it.
In many things we all oend, not only having sin in our
nature, but doing things which conscience tells us ought
not to be done; and in this state we could have no access
to God for communion. ese oenses render the oender
unt for communion, and while in this state he could not
approach God. Observe in this chapter, it is not merely
sin, but sins that are mentioned. And here, for a moment,
I would speak of the importance of not misquoting (as is
often done) the passage, “ Behold the Lamb of God that
taketh away the sin of the world “; it is not said sins of the
world, for if that were true, God could have nothing to
charge it with.
It is indeed true, that the world as a system shall be
restored to God: that place over which Satan has now gained
such power shall be redeemed, as it is said in Col. 1:20, “
By him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say,
whether they be things in earth or things in heaven.” In the
hands of the second Adam, the sacrice is the ground of
the restoration of all that was alienated in the rst Adam;
so that His atonement not only forms a ground upon
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which every sinner may be addressed, but through it the
world shall be restored to blessings. is result, however,
is entirely future, as we know from the present dominion
of? Satan in this evil world; and, in the mean time, many
despise and reject the blessing, for whom judgment is
reserved; but to the believer present peace comes, though
his be not a portion in the result yet.
In the oerings before us, there is not merely this general
atonement, but the bearing of sins, the actual transfer of sins
to Jesus, the free gift of many oenses unto justication of
life.
As in Isa. 53 it is said, “ He bare the iniquities of many,”
as well as “ made his soul an oering for sin “; and here
we not only see Jesus presented as an oering to God,
by virtue of which any sinner may be addressed, but the
believer also nds that his sins are laid upon Him. And
the church, in anticipating the great result, nds that it is
a saved body, and is brought into the knowledge of that
which the apostle declared (Col. 1:21), “ And you that were
sometimes alienated, and enemies in your mind by wicked
works, yet now hath he reconciled,” etc. us we get full
settled peace, for we know that Jesus has borne not merely
some of our sins, but we get at this great general truth,
that all our sins are laid upon Him and are blotted out.
If we believe that by bearing our sins Jesus has justied
us, then we must know that all our sins are gone from the
presence of God, as He has said, “ eir sins and iniquities
will I remember no more.” Jesus has endured the penalty.
“ He hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling “;
and faith is able to look at Jesus as the bearer of all sin for
us, and the sin having been charged upon Him, the church
is raised out of all the evil it had been in, being by one
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oering perfected forever. What He did was, that He bore
the bruising due to us.
We can look at the work of Jesus in no other light than
as thus complete; and we must, therefore, see all the sins of
the church laid upon Him, and consequently all put away,
and God righteous and just to forgive, because Jesus had
already borne them. ere can be no enfeebling of this-it
would be doing it away altogether. If I say they are not
completely taken away, then which of them remains, and
where are the sins from which I am not justied? When is
each sin to be separately atoned for? If it is not simply as a
body He presents the church in perfectness of acceptance,
what is forgiveness? If we are brought, by our sense of the
need of this blood-shedding, to see the value of it, then
we not only come to the mercy-seat, but nd all our sins
have been put away, and that He suered the Just for the
unjust, that He might bring us to God. It is, of course, only
by the Spirit we are brought to know and value this, even
that Jesus was our substitute, that “ He bore our sins in
his own body on the tree “; and that having done so, God
is righteous to forgive. Nothing can be more plain than
that, if Jesus did indeed bear our sins, then every believer is
justied from all things.
We may look at it in all its breadth and compass; Jesus
confessed our sins, bore them, and was bruised on their
account. If He has opened your heart to believe in Him
as bearing sins at all, then all your sins are put away; you
must either deny that He was bearing sins at all, or you
are justied. Here is the certainty of peace; and we stand
justied from all things, and Jesus looks at us in this
character, not at any particular time, but in order that He
may present us to God. ere is no question of past or
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future transgression, but He bore our sins. Hold fast this.
ere is, indeed, the frequent consciousness of faults.
While faith says our sins are put away, still in looking at
ourselves we see evil; and now we nd how graciously the
Lord provides for this delement. e priest that oered
the sin-oering was to eat it (6: 26). As the worshipper
and the priest ate the peace-oering together, representing
Jesus as being identied with the joy of communion; so the
priest takes part of the sin-oering, showing that Jesus is
identied with the sin which hinders communion. Only
priests ate it in the holy place specially, the priest who
oered it was to eat his portion: Jesus is this priest; that on
which the sin was confessed the priest ate, and identied
himself thus with the delement.
10
Now, in passing through the world we get disqualied
by sin for communion; even though we know it not, we
cannot take our blindness as the measure of God’s holy
requirements. e blindness of our consciences is not the
blindness of God’s eye, as man is apt to think; but the riches
of divine mercy has provided a way, in which, although God
sees it all, yet He sees us free from it, because He sees the
sin all upon Jesus. He bowed His head under the weight,
saying, “ My sins are too heavy for me to bear.” But in His
resurrection we see they were actually and eectually put
away, having been borne in His own body; so that we are
justied from all things, perfected forever. He rose again,
God having accepted the work by which we are justied
and thus bearing testimony to it. ere are things which
our consciences tell us ought not to be done; but of the
sins of ignorance it is said, “ ough he wist it not, he is
10 Only Jesus did this once for all; His sympathy operates in
washing our feet with water. See 1 John 2:1, 2, and John 13.
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guilty, he shall bear his iniquity.” ere is no folly like that
of taking the blindness of our hearts as God’s estimate of
sin; but let evil and delement be what they may, the blood
of Jesus Christ cleanses from all sin, and grace restores
communion.
In Num. 19 we have a special case of a sin-oering.
ere is this dierence between Leviticus and Numbers. In
Leviticus, we have the sacrices in their great distinguishing
characters; in Numbers, we have the particular application
in the trials of a walk of faith, meeting the case of
individuals falling into evil, or contracting delement. In
Num. 19 there was a red heifer taken, and burnt as a sin-
oering, according to the description in the chapter now
before us; the ashes were kept “ for a water of separation, a
purication for sin.” Any man unclean by touching death
was sprinkled with it. is shows the power of the sin-
oering, as brought by the Spirit to the conscience; it is not
a fresh sacrice, there is no shedding of blood, but merely
the ashes sprinkled.
ere are but three instances of blood being sprinkled
on individuals, which are these: Aaron and his sons on
the day of their consecration (Lev. 8:23, 30); the leper on
the day of his cleansing (Lev. 14:7); and the people on the
giving of the covenant from Mount Sinai (Ex. 24:8). ere
needed, in fact, but one sprinkling, for, looked at in its
whole character, “ the worshippers being once purged, have
no more conscience of sins “; but for the daily delements
there was the water of separation, the application of a past
thing with present power to the conscience, as the case
required. e sacrice of Jesus is an act done long since.
But when the believer, once cleansed by faith in His blood,
contracts delement in walking in this world, for this
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there is no fresh oering, but the sacrice is brought to his
remembrance by the Spirit. It is the blood that cleanses us
from sin, and gives us our portion as sons by adoption; but,
as regards the conscience in communion, it is the Spirit
of God bringing to recollection what Jesus has done, as
the ashes of the red heifer, so as to give peace and restore
communion. ese are the truths brought out in the sin-
oering.
Since the whole church is concerned, Jesus is presented
unreproveable and unblameable in God’s sight, and being
sanctied by the oering of His body once for all, and
perfected forever by the same, the worshipper has no more
conscience of sins. us the believer is introduced at once to
the knowledge that all the church’s sins were transferred to
Jesus, and that in His resurrection the saints are completely
justied. Let the sin be of whatever character it may,
though you wist it not, yet whatever cannot accord with
the holiness of God’s sanctuary shall not come into it. His
holiness never varies from itself, and the more we know of
the value of the blood-shedding of Jesus, the more we shall
see the impossibility of communion with God, in sin; but if
our conscience condemn us, what have we to do? We have
the blessed perception through the Holy Ghost of that of
which the ashes are the memorial, even the remembrance
of that which has been done by Christ, bringing us again
into holy communion.
e perception that Jesus has taken the delement
maintains the standard of holiness in spite of our sin.
Nothing but Jesus charging the sin upon Himself could
do this; and if we do not see the holiness maintained we
shall be making excuses for our sin, and thinking we can
still have communion with God in it; and our estimate
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and standard of sin must of necessity be lowered. If my
conscience cannot know the sin absolutely put away, I
must give up communion, or seek it on some other and
lower ground; but seeing Jesus a burnt-oering and a
sin-oering, we see Him made sin, and ourselves made
the righteousness of God in Him. And we see that He
loved us, and gave Himself for us, not for anything in us,
but because of the prevalence of His love over all. What
blessed thoughts must we have in this knowledge of the
perfectness of His love! and what must be the blindness
of those who count God to be such an one as themselves,
seeing that He has given Jesus!
CHAPTER 6.
ere is much that is important in the close of the
account of these oerings. In the previous chapters the
characters of the sacrices were brought out. First, the
perfectness of the oering of Jesus unto God: and, secondly,
as outcast, treated as deled, by reason of the sin that was
laid upon Him. is trespass-oering partakes of the latter
character. e Spirit of God is a holy detector and judge
of all that is inconsistent with Himself: nothing of sin can
pass unnoticed. e Spirit does not judge according to the
natural conscience, but takes a standard according to the
holiness of Jesus in the presence of God, so that our minds
do not always discern that which He sees requisite to be
judged; but whether we discern or not, the Spirit takes
account of the evil in us, and if it were not for the sin-
oering and trespass-oering, we should be in a worse case
than ever; for there is no atonement for sin made by the
Spirit-this is no part of His work. e Spirit manifests all
righteousness, revealing to us what Jesus taught, but we
never read of the Spirit bearing our sins. is is a point
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of the utmost importance for our rest. e Spirit is the
spirit of testimony and holiness. In acceptance and in
atonement Jesus alone has any part. Acceptance came in
upon what Jesus had done in the esh-by His oering of
His body once for all. “ In the body of his esh through
death,” etc. e testimony of the Spirit is to unmingled
holiness, bearing witness to our sins, showing us that in
us good does not dwell, and also that peace and rest come
by what Christ has wrought. e eect of this testimony
of holiness would be to destroy peace, if the Spirit did not
still reveal the ecacy of the blood-shedding; but while it
is His oce to exalt the perception of the holiness God
requires, He still witnesses to us that “ the blood of Jesus
Christ cleanseth from all sin.”
When we look at the variety of sin (for in spite of our
ignorance we do perceive and know sin as still cleaving to
us), never could we have peace but through the testimony
of the blood of Christ.
Supposing we have erred in the character of worshippers,
ignorantly committing any of those things which are
forbidden; here is sin, though we wist it not-the holiness
of God is not limited by our conscience.
ere are many things which would be sins upon the
conscience hindering communion, were it not for the
blood of Jesus.
e power and eect of the revelation of Jesus Christ
is to bring us to God, to holiness. It is in vain, therefore, to
reckon upon grace, if we do not see the place into which it
brings us, even into the place of worship, e eect of grace
is to bring us upon ground on which nothing inconsistent
with worship will be tolerated.
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In the chapter before us we have the dierent characters
of sin, which without blood could not be passed by. He
will by no means clear the guilty. All that is inconsistent
with Jesus within the veil is sin for us, and separates us
from Him in communion. In the sixth chapter we see that
God’s eye notices sin against a neighbor, as well as against
Himself, for the command is, “ Receive ye one another, as
Christ hath also received us to the glory of God.” With
unhindered liberty we have boldness to enter into the
holiest by the blood of Jesus, even where all the holiness
of God is displayed. e Spirit reveals many things in us
inconsistent with this holy place, but we know that Jesus
has oered both a sin and a trespass-oering. “ He was
made sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made
the righteousness of God in him “; therefore the revelation
of holiness reveals nothing to hinder our entrance into the
holiest. Only we are increasingly puried from all the light
of that place shows us.
If the holiness of God has been revealed, and you have
swerved from the requirements of it, may the Spirit of God
so reveal to you the oering made once for all, that you may
be humbled as to yourself and then go on, resting upon
the truth of the completeness of the sacrice, assuredly
knowing that “ the blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from
all sin! “
CHAPTER 8.
We have considered in detail the work appointed for
Aaron and his sons, as priests to Jehovah; we have now
an account of the manner of setting them apart for that
oce. ey are rst washed with water, this signifying
the sanctication by the word. In this the high priest is
identied with his sons; even as Jesus says, “ For their sakes
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I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctied through
the truth. y word is truth “; set apart, as man in glory, as
the model of what we ought to be in holiness; and again,
“ By the words of thy lips have I kept me from the paths
of the destroyer.” And when speaking of the church the
language is, He “ gave himself for it, that he might sanctify
and cleanse it by the washing of water by the word.”
is being done, the high priest alone is clothed in his
robes and anointed; he needed not blood to admit him
into the service of God. He was the representative of One
whom God could receive and own as “ his servant, his elect,
in whom his soul delighted.” us after His baptism we
nd the Spirit descends as a dove upon Jesus, and a voice
comes from heaven, “ is is my beloved Son, in whom I
am well pleased.” He needed no oering for Himself, but
stood as the anointed of God without shedding of blood.
Afterward Aaron identies himself with his sons, when
sacrices are brought to be oered for them: thus we see
Jesus in one person, as it were, with us, entering the holy place
by His own blood, that we might be made His fellows, that
we might be qualied to worship with Him. is enabled
Him to say, “ I ascend unto my Father and your Father,
unto my God and your God.” And afterward we nd that
blessed association with the saints which made Him say, “
In the midst of the church will I sing praise unto thee.” He
is not ashamed to call them brethren.
We are thus marvelously introduced into the presence
of God and the Father to worship in the holiest. “ Truly
our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus
Christ.” But the high priesthood of Jesus is essentially
connected with our introduction into the holiest of all and
our worship there. e name indeed of Father carries us
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farther as partakers of the Holy Ghost and life in Christ;
we have fellowship with the Father and with His Son Jesus
Christ.
e burnt-oering and sin-oering are oered, and
also the ram of consecration; all the various aspects of the
work of Christ, in the value of which we come to God, are
presented to us in connection with the priest’s consecration
to God.
In the case of the leper’s cleansing (Lev. 14) there is
an analogy in the application of the blood of the sacrice:
only here it is consecration, there cleansing from sin; and
further in the leper’s case the application was individual,
but here the whole church is presented. Aaron and his sons
ll their hands with the oerings, and they are waved for a
wave-oering before the Lord.
ey are qualied by the sacrice, and priestly service
becomes their privilege. e ear and right hand are
sprinkled with blood, the great toe also, that nothing
should enter into the mind, no act be performed, nothing
should be found in their walk through the world, which
should not be according to the precious blood of Jesus.
e church stands thus under the ecacy of the whole
work of Christ. All that hindered from entering into the
place of worship and service is done away; competency
to exercise ministry depends upon our walking in the
Spirit; but provision for this has been accomplished once
for all, and we cannot escape from this responsibility-a
responsibility measured and guarded by the holiness of
Christ’s blood-shedding-entire death to sin and the world.
Let us remember, that whatever is unt for us in
entering the holy place, unt for us as ministering priests,
as worshippers in the sanctuary, must be put away. It is the
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privileged position of the church to be introduced to all
the blessings of the resurrection and ascension of Jesus. If
we are made anything, we are made priests unto God; as a
body we are looked at according to the estimate God has
of the sacrice of His dear Son.
ere is no renewal of the consecration; the priests were
only to wash their hands and feet, that they might carry
no delement into the sanctuary from day to day; so we
have need only to have our feet washed. Let us be careful
thus continually to cleanse ourselves from any practical
untness that may dele us in our intercourse daily with an
evil world. Jesus has begun the new song of praise, and puts
the same into our mouths, as sprinkled with His blood,
anointed with His Spirit, and feeding continually upon
Him in the presence of the living God. Consider how far
you have realized this as your standing, and be careful to
cast away all that deles you as a priest set apart for such
a service. is is something far beyond walking half in the
world and half with God, questioning whether even you do
believe or not. Be assured, God would have you brought out
of this miserable uncertainty. He would have you identied
with the sanctuary, entering into all the fullness of joy that
results from intimacy of fellowship and service with Jesus.
Kings and priests unto God, not only blood but anointing
oil was upon Aaron and his sons, and his sons’ garments.
All within and without is consecrated. He “ loveth us and
hath washed us in his own blood, and made us kings and
priests unto God and his Father: to him be glory forever
and ever. Amen.”
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Hints on the Day of
Atonement: Leviticus 16
Leviticus 16
Aaron appears with a bullock for himself and for his
house, and then with an oering for the people. Israel,
strictly speaking, were represented by the goats. In the
sacrice for Aaron and his house together are the two parts
of a sacrice. When they are together, it is Christ taking
our place. When Aaron is taken alone, there is no sacrice
for him. He shall put on the linen garments, and wash in
water, and so put them on. He was to have a bullock for a
sin-oering, and a ram for a burnt-oering. e ram was
always for consecration, or in case of desecration, which
was the opposite of consecration.
e sin-oering is taken as a whole, the greater including
the less; but the detail is wanted. e rst idea is meeting
God in His absolute holiness. It is Christ “ made sin,” and
we the righteousness of God according to that. As there is
a danger of stopping short at the scape-goat, so there is the
other danger too. Some do not use the scape-goat enough,
others use it too much. Some preach more in connection
with the necessity to go into the presence of God than
of getting oneself the value of the scape-goat. Preaching
the scape-goat shows sins put away; preaching the bullock
brings us to God.
ere is a dierence between presenting sins in the
light of the law that way, and bowing souls by grace. I
never come to God till I get the second part. One hears, “
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I am here in the world forgiven, and I am very glad of it “;
you will sometimes, but not often, hear people say, “ I am
before God as white as snow in His presence.” Too often
they take other ground altogether and say, “ If I am to be
saved, I am; and if I am to be damned, I am,” and so evade
the real question whether they honestly thought they were
lost. If you really felt in your present state that you were
going to be damned, you would not take it so quietly. e
fact is, it is all dogma, and not conscience. Supposing I put
the question and say, “ Which are you now, saved or lost? “
there is no “ if “ in that.
It is not substitution when I say to all, “ e blood is
on the mercy-seat “; I do not say “ your sins are put away,”
because I do not know that they are. And coming to
detail, I can not only say, “ Come and welcome,” but, “God
beseeches you to come, for the blood is on the mercy-seat.”
e scapegoat goes a step farther; for if the man does come,
it declares that it is impossible for God ever to tell you
about your sins again, for they are all put away. I do preach
this as truth generally; for scripture never says Christ has
borne the sins of everybody. You have lost certainty the
moment you make that assertion.
I always say “ our sins,” which scripture does say, and
then they by faith take it for themselves. “ Our sins “ is
strictly for believers. Paul is there (1 Cor. 15) preaching the
gospel from his own point, as his experience. e word “
our “ is on purpose used vaguely there.
e meaning of Azazel is the scape-goat; it is the goat
that carries away. ere is no limit here.
ere is an atonement for the holy place, because of the
uncleanness of the children of Israel, and so on. And no
man was to be in the tabernacle while the high priest went
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in with the blood to the mercy-seat. It is done all alone; the
people were all looked at as having deled the place.
First the place is cleansed as to all that referred to God
who had been dishonored. is must be set right rst;
and Christ has by death perfectly done it. He has “ passed
through the heaven “; He descended and ascended that He
might ll all things. is goes farther, but it refers to the
going through.
God dwells in light that no man can approach unto.
at is God’s nature, it is true; but the heavens are all
the things we look at as something under God. It is light
inaccessible in itself; neither man nor angel can get there.
“ Above all heavens “ is as in Ezekiel, where we see the
cherubim and their surroundings; then the vault which
expresses the heavens; and God is at the top of all, though
He “ humbleth himself to behold the things that are in
heaven and in the earth.”
But here it is a question of delement, not of guilt; it
was unbearable to God; and no man goes in while he is
then occupied, nor till he comes out. He rst goes in with a
censer full of burning coals o the altar; “ and he shall put
the incense upon the re before Jehovah, that the cloud
of the incense cover the mercy-seat, that he die not.” And
Christ rst goes in, in the grace of His person, which is
before all the oerings; that is, when you take Himself
before He begins any other part, He goes in with sweet
incense. It is all “ before the Lord “; and this gives Himself
as a person absolutely perfect, the person before the work.
But when we take Aaron and his house, we must have the
bullock: those who are connected with him need that; and
then the blood of the bullock is taken and sprinkled on all
the unclean places, he all alone, until he comes out. But after
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having the incense in the most holy place, he sprinkles with
his nger the blood on the mercy-seat and before it. ere
are two ceremonies, one with the blood of the bullock, and
one with the blood of the goat, consecutively; and then, in
verse 18, the two are taken together.
“ at he die not “ is always connected with what is
absolutely necessary. If it had been possible for a moment
that Christ had not been an absolutely sweet savor, then
that must have been the result.
“ e altar that is before Jehovah,” verse 18, seems
the brazen altar, for it is described in this way. After the
blood is sprinkled on the mercy-seat, then atonement is
made for the holy place, and next for the tabernacle of the
congregation; then “ he shall go out unto the altar that is
before Jehovah, and make an atonement for it.” On the
mercy-seat God Himself was met. In fact that made it a
mercy-seat, for it was a throne of judgment but for that.
Now it is a throne of government for, instead of a throne of
judgment against.
After he has made atonement for the tabernacle of
the congregation (which would include, I suppose, what
was in it), then he is to go out to “ the altar that is before
Jehovah.” e golden altar was put “ before the veil that is
by the ark of the testimony, before the mercy-seat that is
over the testimony where I will meet with thee.” God met
Moses for Himself there before the mercy-seat, and He
met Moses for the people at the door of the tabernacle, and
therefore the blood of the red heifer was sprinkled outside
in Num. 19 But the brazen altar was “before Jehovah “;
in Ex. 29:42 you have the words so used, and in verse 43,
“ there I will meet with the children of Israel.” In Num.
7:89 when Moses went into the tabernacle, he heard the
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voice of one speaking to him from o the mercy-seat. is
makes two meeting places clearly. e people had nothing
to do with going inside. Moses went in and spoke with
God, and put a veil on to come out and speak to the people.
Moses went into the holiest of all whenever he liked, but
he put his veil o to do so. Individually he went in and had
no veil, and came out and put the veil on; but whether the
glory on him died away in the wilderness is not said. e
object of the Spirit of God was to give this character of the
law, which is afterward contrasted with the gospel; and the
veil is upon Israel still; but when it shall turn to the Lord,
the veil shall be taken away. It was only when Nadab and
Abihu sinned that Aaron was prevented from going into
the holiest of all; and this chapter is the exceptional time
once in the year with blood.
In reading verses 6 and 11, “ which is for himself “ and “
make an atonement for himself and for his house,” one sees
that it is for himself along with his sons, not alone.
In verse 20 “to reconcile” is the same word as “ to
make atonement for.” It is the act of the application of
the blood here; it is the same idea as in Colossians, “ to
reconcile all things unto himself.” e word “ atonement
“ is brought clearly out in what is done in this chapter. “
Make reconciliation for the sins of the people,” in Heb.
2, should be “ make propitiation “ for them; but in Rom.
5:10, where the word “ atonement “ is used, it ought to be
reconciliation. “ Blotted out “ is used of transgressions and
means to wipe them out.
en Aaron was to bring the live goat and lay both his
hands upon its head and confess all the transgressions of
the people over it, and send it away, by the hand of a t
man into the wilderness, to a land not inhabited. at is
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the other part of sin-oering, substitution evidently. Just as
in the blood on the mercy-seat God was met in His nature
and character; so in the scape-goat you have substitution for
transgressions. Substitution does not include everything,
not the full glorifying of God, I mean, but our sins borne
by Christ.
If substitution were for the whole world, it would save
the whole world. Propitiation was dealing with God’s
nature and character. ere are two things: blood brought
to God in respect of God’s character, and a scape-goat for
the people’s sake. One constantly sees two things in this
way, a double gure for a whole. ere is the wilderness
and Canaan; there is Moses and Aaron, and these two are
one Christ. So here, in the rst part God’s nature is met;
in the second, the sins are put away. e rst goat is called
“ Jehovah’s lot,” the people’s sins are confessed over the
second (as Christ confesses the sins of His people on His
own head as His own, and can call them “ mine iniquities
“). I see what God is in blood on the mercy-seat; but the
moment you have substitution, and individual acts of
transgression, you have a scapegoat.
“ Atonement “ occurs but once in the New Testament,
and there it should be (Rom. 5:11) reconciliation; and
expiation occurs but once in the Bible (Num. 35:33), and
that is in the margin, “ no expiation for the land “: so we
may drop that word. Propitiation is towards God. ere
is the holy and righteous character of God to be met; and
this is propitiation. God is not changed by it; but, being
righteous and holy, this is responded to, that His love might
go out according to righteousness and holiness, and mercy
and righteousness be consistent. Atonement is more when
the blood is applied. Blood was sprinkled upon the altar,
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because sin was there, blood of atonement. It is the actual
putting away of sin by the sprinkling of the blood. e idea
is, a thing or person is in a state in which they cannot have
to say to God, as here “ the iniquities of the children of
Israel among whom I dwell “; and that condition must be
dealt with. You must have the blood where the sin has been,
you must have it for God to be in relationship with such.
e blood is brought in, and the thing sprinkled, and so
the thing is put right. Here reconciliation is the same word.
In the two goats are the two aspects of what Christ
did. e twofold view is most interesting; as in Christ
the Apostle and High Priest, like Moses and Aaron.
Atonement signies life given and accepted as sacrice
for life forfeited; remission is the deliverance of those who
appeal from the sentence of death, and thence it is the
forgiveness of the sins that caused their condemnation.
“ Atonement “ is the greatest blunder in Rom. 5:11.
We are said to be “ reconciled “ in verse 10. en verse 11
speaks of “ our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now
received the reconciliation,” not the atonement, which has
nothing to do with the sins on our side; atonement is for
God.
When I think of propitiation, I think more of the
person propitiated and what is due to him; reconciliation
deals with circumstances too. It has nothing to do with
our nature in the Old Testament. We have a nature that
always like to break the law; and we learn what that is.
When I nd I have a nature that cannot be subject, I say,
Here is a pretty business; and this all comes out in the New
Testament. e remedy is, not merely that Christ has died,
and whatever Christ did is mine, but that I am dead with
Him (Rom. 6).
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Atonement is for guilt. When I look in the Old
Testament, I see guilt blotted out, and not a nature judged;
that is the thing for which the atonement provides, and
I do get the blood put upon the mercy-seat where God
Himself sits; and when I know what His nature is, I get
the fact that here God’s nature is met, not my own dealt
with as in the cross of Christ. For nature, my nature, is
not known under law to be dealt with. So, if David says,
“ Create in me a clean heart,” would he have spoken thus,
if he had known that his heart in the esh could not be
made clean? Again, if Naaman was clean altogether, it is a
gure for now. But then there was no esh lusting against
the Spirit, nor even the two natures contrary one to the
other, as a state existing and explained to the believer. With
the new nature, I have now the privilege of knowing that
the old is dead. I have the new man and the old; but the
old is condemned in death. “ God sending his own Son
in the likeness of sinful esh and for sin condemned sin
in the esh “; and I not only die daily, but know that I am
crucied with Christ.
e atonement is another thing; in it God’s nature
is met, and this is the point. I have nothing about man’s
nature; God’s nature has been dishonored by sin, and He
is there sitting with things before Him which He will not
stand. is is the fact, and therefore the blood is put under
His eye; that is, Christ has done it, and God says, “ When
I see the blood, I will pass over “; but sin is all considered
in the lump, so to speak here. When we nd nature and
conict with nature, it is a question of the Holy Ghost.
is applies to nature only in the way that it applies to sin
at large.
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Sending to a land not inhabited means out of sight,
remembrance, and everything. “ To make an atonement
with him “ in verse to is said of the scape-goat. By the
seven times sprinkling constant communion was secured,
as well as God’s nature met by the blood upon it. God was
looked at as a holy God, if not understood.
en, when Aaron comes back, he lays aside his linen
garments, and takes his ordinary ones again: so Christ will
come back from heaven in garments of glory and beauty.
e absolute delement of sin is shown. e touch of
the carcass of the sin-oering deled: so, if a man walked
over a grave, he was unclean; or if a man died in a tent, it
was unclean: indeed it was very hard to avoid being unclean.
e scripture that made the question, whether Christ
was a sin-bearer all His life, quite clear to me was, “ he
hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we
might be made the righteousness of God in him.” He must
be proved all His life to know no sin, and then He can be
made sin. To bear sins in life makes atonement without
blood, but “ without shedding of blood is no remission.”
Why should the Lord be saved from “ that hour “ if it had
been going on all His life? And there is another thing
if followed up: it takes a person back and unites him to
Christ before He died, which is false. “ Except a corn of
wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if
it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.”
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e Day of Atonement:
Leviticus 16
Leviticus 16
Provision being made for such delements of the people
as allowed of it, we have the revelation of the general
provision for the purication of the sanctuary which was in
the midst of a people who deled it, and for the atonement
of the sins of the people themselves. In general, there are
two great ideas; rst, that the atonement was made, so
that the relationship of the people of God was maintained
notwithstanding their sins; and then, in the second place,
in the diculties which surrounded the entrance of Aaron
into the holy place, there was the testimony (according
to the Epistle to the Hebrews itself) that the way into
the holiest of all was not yet made manifest during that
dispensation. It is important to examine this chapter under
these two points of view. It stands alone. No mention is
made anywhere else of what took place on that solemn
day. e sacrice of Christ, as redemption, was typied by
the passover. It was here a question of drawing near unto
God who revealed Himself on His throne, of cleansing
delements, of taking away the sins of those who would
draw near, and of purifying their consciences. Now, while
presenting to us in gure the means of doing this, it
signied indeed that the thing was not done.
As to the general idea of its ecacy, the high priest drew
near personally, and lled the most holy place with incense;
then he took some blood, which he put on the mercy-seat
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and before the mercy-seat. Sins were atoned for according
to the requirement of the majesty of the throne of God
Himself, so that the full satisfaction made to His majesty
rendered the throne of justice favorable, grace had free
course, and the worshipper found the blood there before
him when he drew near, and even as a testimony before
the throne. en the high priest cleansed the tabernacle,
the altar, and all that was found there. us, in virtue of the
sprinkling of His blood, Christ will reconcile all things,
having made peace through the blood of His cross. ere
could be no guiltiness in the tabernacle, but God would
cleanse away the delements, that they might not appear
before Him. In the third place, the high priest confessed
the sins of the people over the scape-goat, which, sent
o unto a land not inhabited, bore all the sins away from
God never to be found again. It is here that the idea of
substitution is presented most clearly.
ere are three things: the blood on the mercy-seat,
the reconciliation of all things, and the sins confessed
and borne by another. is order is found in Colossians 1
-peace made, reconciliation of all things by Christ, and of
believers it is said-” You hath he now reconciled in the body
of his esh, through death.” It is evident that, though the
scape-goat was sent away alive, it was identied as to the
ecacy of the work with the death of the other. e idea
of the eternal sending away of sins out of remembrance
is only added to the thought of death. e glory of God
was established and His rights vindicated, on one side, in
the putting of the blood on the mercy-seat; and, on the
other, there was the substitution of the scape-goat, of the
Lord Jesus, in His precious grace, for the guilty persons
whose cause He had undertaken; and, the sins of these
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having been borne, their deliverance was full, entire and
nal. e rst goat was Jehovah’s lot-it was a question of
His character and His majesty. e other was the lot of the
people, which denitively represented the people in their
sins.
ese two aspects of the death of Jesus must be carefully
distinguished in the atoning sacrice He has accomplished.
He has gloried God, and God acts according to the value
of that blood towards all. He has borne the sins of His
people; and the salvation of His people is complete. And,
in a certain sense, the rst part is the most important. Sin
having come in, the justice of God might, it is true, have
got rid of the sinner; but where would then have been
His love and His counsels of grace, pardon, and even the
maintenance of His glory according to His true nature as
love, while righteous and holy too? I am not speaking here
of the persons who were to be saved, but of the glory of
God Himself. But the perfect death of Jesus-His blood
put on the throne of God-has established and brought into
evidence all that God is-all His glory, as no creation could
have done it: His truth, for if He had passed sentence of
death, it is made good in the highest way in Jesus; His
majesty, for His Son submits to all for His glory; His justice
against sin; His innite love. God found means therein to
accomplish His counsels of grace, in maintaining all the
majesty of His justice and of His divine dignity; for what
could have gloried them like the death of Jesus?
erefore this devotedness of Jesus, the Son of God, to
His glory, this submission, even unto death, that God might
be maintained in the full glory of His rights, has given its
outlet to the love of God-freedom to its action; wherefore
Jesus says, “ I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how
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am I straitened till it be accomplished? “ His heart, full of
love, was driven back, in its personal manifestation, by the
sin of man, who would it not; but through the atonement
it could ow forth to the sinner in the accomplishment
of God’s grace and of His counsels unhindered, and Jesus
Himself had, so to speak, rights upon that love-a position
we are brought into through grace, and which has none
like it. “ erefore doth my Father love me, because I lay
down my life, that I might take it again.” We speak with
reverence of such things, but it is good to speak of them;
for the glory of our God, and of Him whom He hath sent,
is found therein established and manifested. ere is not
one attribute, one trait of the divine character, which has
not been manifested in all its perfection, and fully gloried
in that which took place between God and Jesus Himself.
at we have been saved and redeemed, and that our sins
have been atoned for in that same sacrice, according to
the counsels of the grace of God, is, I presume to say it,
precious and important as it is for us, the inferior part of
that work, if anything whatever may be called inferior
where everything is perfect; its object at least-we sinners-
is inferior, if the work is equally perfect in every point of
view. Having considered a little the grand principles, we
may now examine the particular circumstances.
It will have been observed that there were two sacrices:
one for Aaron and his family, the other for the people.
Aaron and his sons always represent the church-not in the
sense of one body, but as a company of priests. us we
have even in the day of atonement, the distinction between
those who form the church, and the earthly people who
form the camp of God on the earth. Believers have their
place outside the camp, where their Head has suered as a
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sacrice for sin; but, in consequence, they have their place
in the presence of God in the heavens, where their Head
has entered. Outside the camp,
11
here below, answers to
a heavenly portion above; they are the two positions of
the ever-blessed Christ. If the professing church takes the
position of the camp here below, the place of the believer
is always outside. It is, indeed, what she has done-she
boasts of it; but it is Jewish. Israel must indeed recognize
themselves outside at last, in order to be saved and to be
brought in again through grace, because the Savior, whom
they despised in a day of blindness, has in grace borne all
their sins. We anticipate that position whilst Christ is in
heaven. e heart of the remnant of Israel will indeed be
brought back, in its desires, to the Lord before that time.
ey will only enter into the power of the sacrice when
they shall look upon Him whom they pierced, and mourn
for Him. erefore was it prescribed that it should be a day
to aict their souls, and that they should be cut o if they
did not.
e day of atonement supposes, moreover, according to
the state of things found in the wilderness, that the people
were in a state of incapacity for the enjoyment of the
relations with God fully manifested. God had redeemed
them-had spoken to them; but the heart of Israel, of man
however favored, was incapable of it in its natural state.
Israel had made the golden calf, and Moses put a veil over
his face. Nadab and Abihu had oered strange re upon the
altar of God,-re which had not been taken from the altar
of burnt oering. e way into the holiest is closed; Aaron
11 e camp is an earthly religious relationship with God outside
the sanctuary, and established on earth with priests between us
and God. is the Jews were; they cast Christ out of it, and it
is now utterly rejected.
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is forbidden to enter there at all times. When he went in,
it was not for communion, but for the cleansing of the
delements of a people among whom God dwelt; and the
day of atonement is only introduced with a prohibition of
entering at all times into the holy place, and is conspicuous
as taking place after the death of the sons of Aaron. He
does it with a cloud of incense, lest he die. It was truly
a gracious provision in order that the people should not
perish on account of their delements; but the Holy Ghost
was signifying that the way into the holiest of all was not
yet made manifest.
In what, then, is our position changed under Christianity?
e veil is rent, and we enter, as priests, with boldness into
the holiest, by a new and living way through the veil-that
is to say, the esh of Christ. We enter it without conscience
of sin, because the blow which rent the veil, to show all the
glory and majesty of the throne, and the holiness of Him
who sits thereon, has taken away the sins which would have
incapacitated us from entering in, or from looking within.
We are even seated there in Christ our Head-the Head of
His body the church. In the meantime, Israel is outside:
the church is seen in the person of Christ, the high priest,
and the whole of this dispensation is the day of atonement,
during which Israel’s high priest is hid within the veil. e
veil which hid the import of all these gures is, indeed, done
away in Christ, so that we have full liberty by the Spirit, but
it is upon their hearts. He maintains there within, it is true,
their cause through the blood which He presents; but the
testimony of it is not yet presented to them outside, nor
their consciences freed by the knowledge that their sins are
lost forever in a land not inhabited, where they will never
be found again. Now our position is, properly speaking,
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inside, in the person of Aaron, the blood being on the
mercy-seat. We are not only justied by the scape-goat, as
being without-that is done, it is clear, and once for all (for
the veil is only on the heart of Israel; it is no longer between
us and God); but we have gone in with the high priest, as
united to Him. We are not waiting for reconciliation till
He comes out. Israel, though the forgiveness be the same,
will receive these things when the true Aaron comes out
of the tabernacle. is is why that which characterized the
sacrice of Aaron and his sons was the blood put inside on
the mercy-seat, and the going in of Aaron in person. But
the church is composed of persons who are here below, who
have committed sins. us seen in the world, they enter, as
to their conscience, into the rank of the outside people, as
well as Aaron himself, seen not as a typical individual; and
the conscience is puried by the certainty that Christ has
borne all our sins in His body on the tree. Our position is
within, according to the value of the blood of Christ, and
the perfect acceptance of His person.
It is the same with regard to the expectation of Christ: if
I consider myself as a man responsible upon earth, I expect
Him for the deliverance of all things, and to put an end to
all suering, and to all the power of evil; and so individually
myself, as a servant, I look to receive at His appearing here
the testimony of His approval, as a Master, before the
whole world. But if I think of my privileges, as a member
of His body, I think of my union with Him above, and
that I shall come back with Him when He shall come and
appear in His glory. It is well we should know how to make
this distinction; without this, there will be confusion in our
thoughts, and in our use of many passages. e same thing
is true in the personal religion of every day. I can consider
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myself as united to Christ, and seated in Him in heavenly
places enjoying all the privileges which He enjoys, as Head
of the body, before God His Father. I may also look upon
myself as a poor weak being, walking individually upon the
earth, having wants, faults, and temptations to overcome;
and I see Christ above, whilst I am here below-Christ
appearing alone for me before the throne-for me, happy
in having, in the presence of God, him who is perfect, but
who has gone through the experience of my sorrows, who
is no longer in the circumstances in which I nd myself,
but with the Father for me who am in them. is is the
doctrine of the Epistle to the Hebrews, whilst the union of
the church with Christ is more particularly taught in that
to the Ephesians.
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62714
Hints on the Feasts of
Jehovah: Leviticus 23
e feasts of Jehovah are given full in Lev. 23, and again
the chief ones in Deut. 16
ere are two dierent ways of viewing the seven feasts.
We may take the Sabbath day by itself, and then begin
again, reckoning the Passover and unleavened bread as two
feasts, or we may reckon the Sabbath day rst, without
separating those two.
e idea of these feasts is the gathering of the people
round Jehovah for some cause or other, a “ holy convocation.”
e rst is the Sabbath; and it will be so when the true
rest comes: God will have all His people round about Him.
en follows the Passover, with the unleavened bread,
together but still distinct; that is, along with the sacrice
of Christ, you have, sin taken away practically. Really, in
verse 5, the Passover stands by itself. First there is a certain
denite act, and then seasons.
e Sabbath is the grand rest of all the people, but still
it comes in as a holy convocation.
en the Passover is the lamb slain, and its body eaten.
After this, next, we come to the rst-fruits. It is not said
exactly when this was to be:-when the corn was ripe of
course-but on the morrow after the Sabbath it was to be
waved. is is Christ’s resurrection; and here notably is no
sin-oering.
en they were to count fty days, seven Sabbaths
complete, and to oer a new meat-oering unto Jehovah,
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“ two wave loaves baken with leaven “; for now we have,
in fact, the church oered to God, but with leaven in the
oering, so that it could not be burnt upon the altar for a
sweet savor.
e two loaves are an adequate witness, as I take it.
e point here is the church; a witness which is presented,
an oering to God with leaven, but then along with and
because of this, one kid of the goats for a sin-oering. We
nd no such thing with the rst-fruits which represented
Christ, but here the leaven is met by the sin-oering. e
selfsame day they proclaim a holy convocation.
In verse 22 is a gracious provision: when they reaped
their harvest, they were to leave the gleanings for the poor.
It is the heavenly calling (but not properly the church),
because there are others who are called. is is Daniel’s
heavenly calling, which does not form properly the loaves
of God. ere are others, those who are killed by the
beast; and if God did not take them up to heaven, where
would they be? So the Epistle to the Hebrews applies to
Christians, but may run over to others also. ese things
were to be done in Israel, although we (Christians) get all
the good of them.
Pentecost happens in the space between the Passover
and verse 24. For the blowing of the Trumpets we leap on
to the seventh month, and then comes the rst day of that
holy month as the next appointed time.
First the Trumpets are blown and gather Israel; and
then, on the tenth day of the same month, Israel enters into
the day of Atonement. Not that we do not enter into it long
before, but here it is for them. You have had the beginning
of Israel again, so to speak, in the Trumpets and Atonement
made, and then follows the feast of Tabernacles, from the
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367
fteenth day of the month, seven days unto Jehovah. e
rst day is a holy convocation, and the eighth day a holy
convocation, that is, an additional day. When the feast of
Tabernacles on earth is come, we shall get the heavenly
things too. It is a “ solemn assembly “ when God has a
complete thing; that is an expression applied here only to
the Tabernacles; it is once used in a peculiar manner of the
Passover.
It comes after the harvest and after the vintage, that is,
after God’s separative judgment, and vengeance judgment
or the treading the “ winepress of the wrath of God.” en
they shall take boughs of goodly trees, and dwell in booths
seven days, bearing witness that they had been strangers but
now are fully back in the land. at is for Israel to do. We
come in between the Passover and the day of Atonement.
Why should the leaven be introduced at Pentecost?
Because we are there. ere is all the value of Christ and
of His sacrice too; but account of evil in us is taken and
provided for by a sin-oering. It is not so where He is
typied.
ere are only three feasts mentioned in Deuteronomy;
because then all the males were to be congregated before
God.
e tone and spirit of these things is given in verse
7: “ and thou shalt roast and eat it in the place which
Jehovah thy God shall choose, and thou shalt turn in the
morning and go unto thy tents.” And he tells them the
way in which they are to do it in detail, here calling it a “
solemn assembly.” In verse 3 the unleavened bread is called
“ bread of aiction,” holiness in aiction, when you come
to it by the sacrice of Christ; in 1 Cor. 5 it is called the
“ unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.” It takes the
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368
character of self-judgment, and sorrow before God, and
therefore, in that state, I have no fellowship with others;
so I turn in the morning and go to my tent. You nd bitter
herbs as well in Ex. 12
It is quite dierent when you come to Pentecost: “ seven
weeks shalt thou number unto thee; begin to number the
seven weeks from such time as thou beginnest to put the
sickle to the corn, and thou shalt keep the feast of weeks
unto Jehovah thy God with a tribute of a freewill oering
of thine hand.” Here I have the Holy Ghost and I am a
free oerer and come up with my gift, and “ according as
Jehovah thy God hath blessed thee “-it is in the measure
of my spirituality I can come with this oering; “ and thou
shalt rejoice before Jehovah thy God, thou and thy son, and
thy daughter, and thy manservant, and thy maidservant,
and the Levite that is within thy gates, and the stranger,
and the fatherless, and the widow that is among you.” You
must have grace going out to the poor and the needy, and
then come with a freewill oering “ according as God hath
blessed you.”
e feast of Tabernacles goes farther, after “ thou hast
gathered in thy corn and thy wine, thou shalt rejoice in thy
feast.” Son, daughter, manservant, maidservant, stranger,
fatherless, and widow, seven days keep a solemn feast unto
Jehovah their God; “ because Jehovah thy God shall bless
thee in all thine increase and in all the works of thine
hands, therefore thou shalt surely rejoice.” It is not now,
rejoice “ according to “ the measure, but He will bless you
in everything, and so you are to rejoice and all with you. In
the booths they were to say they had been strangers in the
wilderness, but now they have got all God’s promises.
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369
We are in Pentecost, not merely on Passover ground;
but we come when we have got in a certain sense into the
land and “ according as Jehovah hath blessed us “; and still
in another sense we may say we are sitting in heavenly
places in Christ, and so we can “ surely rejoice.” It is joy all
the week long-seven days. It is real rejoicing all the time.
Mark another thing connected with Pentecost which
struck me; as long as we are here, “ thou shalt remember
that thou wast a bondman in Egypt, and thou shalt observe
and do these statutes.” In Tabernacles I do not remember
that I was a bondman in Egypt; but here I am obliged to
be watchful and obey, and remember that I was a thorough
slave of sin and of everything else. And you do not here
see the Passover character: the holiness is not “ bread of
aiction “ to me, nor am I eating “ bitter herbs.” All that
has its place and must be; I must enter in that way, and so
I turn to go to my tent. I am a redeemed person (that is all
holy and true), but I go o by myself to my tent. It recalls
what I was saying about the dierence of relationships-
between living in a place, and saying, ank God, I have got
in and am saved. I must keep the Passover, or I cannot keep
Tabernacles, nor yet Pentecost; but I do not call holiness “
bread of aiction “ now.
We might turn perhaps to chapter 26 for a little, though
it be aside from the course of the Feasts. “ And it shall
be, when thou art come in unto the land which Jehovah
thy God giveth thee for an inheritance, and possessest it
and dwellest therein “ (there we are, in a certain sense, in
spirit), “ that thou shalt take of the rst of all the fruit of
the earth which thou shalt bring of thy land, that Jehovah
thy God giveth thee, and shalt put it in a basket, and shalt
go unto the place which Jehovah thy God shall choose to
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370
place his name there, and thou shalt go unto the priest that
shall be in those days, and shalt say unto him, I profess
this day unto Jehovah thy God, that I am come unto the
country “-here I am in heavenly places- which Jehovah “
sware unto our fathers for to give to us. And the priest shall
take the basket out of thine hand and set it down before
the altar of Jehovah thy God, and thou shalt speak and say
before Jehovah thy God, A Syrian ready to perish was my
father “ (not I am-it was an old thing that was passed by
and could not come back), “ and he went down into Egypt,
and was evil entreated, and Jehovah brought us forth, and
hath given us this land, even a land that oweth with milk
and honey; and now behold I have brought the rstfruits
of the land, which thou, O Jehovah, hast given me. And
“-when he has recognized Jehovah, he can go and enjoy
all the rest-” thou shalt rejoice in every good thing which
Jehovah thy God hath given unto thee.”
en you have the character of holiness in it. “ ou
shalt say before Jehovah thy God, I have brought away the
hallowed things out of my house, and also have given them
unto the Levite, and unto the stranger, to the fatherless
and to the widow, according to all thy commandments,
which thou hast commanded me. I have not transgressed
thy commandments, neither have I forgotten them: I have
not eaten thereof in my mourning, neither have I taken
away ought thereof for any unclean use, nor given ought
thereof for the dead.” To eat in his mourning was profaning
himself. And then follows not “ bless me,” but “ bless thy
people Israel, and the land which thou hast given us.”
I connect this neither with Pentecost nor with
Tabernacles; for this is alone. It is the rst of the rst-
fruits. It is not connected with the feast of weeks; but until
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371
they had oered the rst of the rst-fruits, they could not
have anything according to God. We may say it is just the
same spirit as our joy and remembrance at the Lord’s table.
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62716
e Feasts: Leviticus 23
Leviticus 23
I apprehend that these feasts must be taken to apply
entirely to that which is earthly. Other knowledge may
enable us to carry our eyes onward to the results of what is
here taught, which have their place in the heavenlies; but as
addressed to the Jews, they cannot historically, I conceive,
be taken beyond that which took place on earth. But this
is of innite value and importance to us, because (whatever
the results may be, the heavenly and glorious results) still
many of the most important subjects and resting-places
of faith were accomplished on the earth historically. e
Lord was oered up a sacrice on earth. e Holy Ghost
descended on the disciples on earth. e church, though
its glory may not be on earth, has been formed in suering
on earth. And the church itself looks for the deliverance of
the creature from the bondage of corruption. And the value
and character of what has been done on earth, of which the
church is partaker, is here delineated in detail.
ere are seven feasts:-the Sabbath; the Passover; that
of Unleavened Bread; the Feast of Weeks, or of rstfruits;
of Trumpets; of Atonement; and of Tabernacles.
But the rst was distinct in character. Before all the
history of the transactions which brought in the rest,
or preceded it, the great truth, that there was a rest that
remained, was made prominent and conspicuous. It was
the primary and characterizing truth. Between the three
former and the three latter of the six remaining feasts, there
is a large gap, a characteristic gap, so that the full course of
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373
the year to the seventh month goes on, before the trumpet
is blown for the rst of the latter three. is interval had
no feast; and one only remark is made as to it, which may
be noticed by-and-by.
A similar arrangement we nd in the seven parables, in
Matt. 13, the prophetic history of the kingdom of heaven,
as this is of the earthly dealings in grace with Israel (in
many things, we know, by adopting grace with us also):
this, the history of what prepared the rest, preceded by
the statement of the rest, God’s rest, in type; that, of the
eects and character of the work, preceded by the generic
statement of the workman, and the manner of the reception
and result of his labors in principle.
e rest of God is that which distinguishes man from
the brute, and from being as a brute with hopes and labor
ending only here in that which perishes, to say even the
best of it. e promise is left us, says the apostle to the
Hebrews, of entering into God’s rest. is is the portion of
blessing and communion in which God, in the delight of
His works of creation or redemption, refreshed Himself;
and into which He introduces us in the riches of His
grace, and by His work, into fellowship of delight and joy
with Him, whether of heavenly communion or of earthly
blessing. e rest of God is the great end and beginning
of thought and desire into which the renewed creature
is brought in fellowship now of hope. Here God and the
creature are brought into unity or community of happiness,
the creature (even we, by the Spirit) being capacitated for
this communion. e creation also has blessing and rest.
Faith, and patience, and conict, are now involved in it,
and hence the complex character of the believer’s mind; for
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374
one is sure, is certain, and is his; the other present, and he
toiling in it.
e Sabbath then, even the seventh day, was the rst
great characteristic and repeated feast: the seventh day,
because the rest was at the close of labor, and rest not
known in the esh, and under the law, until the end of
labor; and the rest of the world and of the earth, creation-
rest, was after all the toil and labor that sin had introduced
into it had ended and was passed away. is seventh day
was God’s creation-rest, and it remained when labor and
toil came in to man, the pledge and type (as in the esh,
and having earthly things) of the rest that remained to the
world and him.
But the saints have nothing in the world; they are
crucied to it. To them resurrection is the beginning,
and, withal, the substance and end of their hope and life.
e rst day of the week, in which Jesus rose from the
dead, is the living witness to them in joyful service (and
remembrance of that through which it was purchased) of
the rest that remained to them, which they have now in
spirit, and go forth from that to toil yet awhile in the world
in which they are conversant. It is not to them creation and
earthly rest, but redemption, resurrection, and the hope
of heavenly rest, and therefore enjoyed, not on the day of
God’s rest in creation, but of Jesus (beginning of blessing
and glory as head of the church, “ the rstborn from the
dead “) in resurrection, in which He rested, as to work to be
done in redemption-rested save as to everlasting blessing
and service to His saints, in which they have joy and
communion with Him as their Priest-the leader of their
praises, in which, as in living strength now in spirit, then
in body also, they rest not. us in this double type the
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375
whole millennial rest is taken in, heavenly or resurrection,
and earthly or rest for the esh; of this, however (save in
the great general principle), the earthly rest, creation-rest,
is only told of here. Of this the law maintained the type,
though it proved that man could not attain the rest under
it; and therefore when the Lord was accused of breaking
the sabbath, He replied, “ My Father worketh hitherto, and
I work,” showing the divine intervention (of the Father and
the Son) in grace accomplishing that comfort which the law
could not. do; in which man, in a word, impotently failed;
and therefore God, in sovereignty and in redemption-glory,
as Father and Son, had now manifested Himself as having
set Himself to work- to do-nor rested; for He was in grace
where wretched man found no rest. Hitherto (for yet man
was not delivered) they worked.
But to turn to the other feasts. e rst three (the feast
of weeks has its own distinct character) are leading feasts,
in which all the males were to gather at the place where
Jehovah set His name. But we must take their order from
the text. ey are divided into ordinances by the expression,
“ And Jehovah spake unto Moses, saying.” e rst
paragraph, or ordinance, closes at the 8th verse, connecting
in one continuous train the Sabbath and the Passover, and
feast of Unleavened Bread, though distinguished by the
4th verse as beginning the six yearly feasts historically, yet
morally in constitution the rest connected and identied
with it. For it is by the Passover, and simply so, that the rest
is obtained: there may be other conducive workings, but by
this the rest is obtained. And this is true also of the church
in principle, as well as of the earthly rest; “ the Father …
has made us t “ for the inheritance with the saints in light,
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376
says the scripture (Col. 1:12). And this is a very important
principle.
e Passover of God is the simple single ground of rest
and security; upon the blessed value of this the children of
God can feed within, the security of the blood being upon
their door-posts. at meets the destroying angel, and he
goes, and can go, no farther. Within all is peace. Judgment
may be around, and conict and trial before, but the church
rests in the security which faith has aorded or enjoys in
the Paschal Lamb, eaten within the blood-stricken doors.
is is not the work of the Spirit of God, save as revealing
it in and to us; the work of the Spirit detects sin, leads
into conict, animates into those exercises which ever
bring to light the evil, short-comings, and failure of our
own hearts, but is never the ground and warrant of peace.
It may be the means, on being charged by the enemy, of
proving that the peace we have is not a false one, but is
never the proper ground and warrant of peace; for it is ever
connected with imperfection; and perfectness somewhere
must be the ground of a perfect peace with God. “ By one
oering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctied.”
“ He has made peace by the blood of his cross.” Nothing
can be mixed with this, nothing in us comes up to the
measure and expression of holiness which that blood
aords, or therefore can make peace as it does. It is the
very vindication of perfect holiness against all sin, and
therefore the perfect peace of the believer against all sin; for
the thing which alone adequately measures it puts it away,
cleanses from all sin those that are walking in the light. “
But Christ our passover is sacriced for us.” And we have
thus denitely the antitype of the Lamb that was slain. It
is, moreover, in this character that Christ at present holds
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377
the throne, as regards His work and its worthiness, as it is
written (Heb. 1:3; Phil. 2:9,10; Rev. 5:9.)
e secondary feast connected with this was the
Unleavened Bread. is was consequent upon the other.
As received by the blood, we feed on and apprehend
the unleavened perfectness of Christ. It is His intrinsic
character as known by faith. ere was no “ leaven of malice
and wickedness “ in Him, and in the spirit of His holiness
in our new nature we hold communion with, delight in,
and feast upon, Him. e spotless sacrice and unleavened
perfectness of Christ, with which we have communion, are
the things then presented by this feast-the sure ground of
rest, the rest which remaineth to the people of God: this of
Christ as in the world; we know Him such here.
At verse 9 a new ordinance begins, which continues to
verse 23-the connection of Christ as risen and presented
before Jehovah in resurrection, and the church (that is,
properly, the Jewish remnant) connected with Him (the
Gentile adoption being another thing, though abundantly
shown in scripture, there being neither Jew nor Gentile in
the full result), but here conned to resurrection.
On the morrow after the sabbath the unbroken sheaf
of rst-fruits was waved before Jehovah. On the rst day
of the week the Lord Jesus, not having seen corruption,
rose from the dead, became the rst-fruits of them that
slept. us, as well as of the passover, we have in this case
the literal and authenticated fulllment of the type given.
On the same day a lamb for a burnt-oering and a meat-
oering was oered to Jehovah. I must shortly digress here
with regard to the oering, the use of which will appear
also in the subsequent part of the ordinance we are now
treating of. It will be seen (v. 19) that with the rst-fruits
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378
of the feast of weeks, a sin-oering also was oered, and a
peace-oering, but not with the sheaf of rst-fruits, typical
of Christ’s resurrection, on which the church and Jews rest
for acceptance, as it is written (v. 11), “ to be accepted for
you.”
e oerings recorded in the book of Leviticus (into
the details of which, with the Lord’s permission, we may
enter on some other opportunity), were these:-e burnt-
oering, the meat-oering, the peace-oering, the sin-
oering, and the trespass-oering, and in this order. e
rst two present Christ oering Himself spotless and
perfect to God; the next, the communion of the worshipper
in it, and with God by it; the two latter the necessity of
the worshipper, as a sinner before God, borne for him
by the victim vicariously substituted for him, and treated
consequently as himself under and responsible for the sin
thus taken upon it. ese are very distinct things in their
character, and all true of the death and oering of Jesus.
e burnt-oering was the complete surrender of
life, on which all hung, and this not by virtue of imputed
transgression, but His own oering of Himself; not an
imposed necessity but of His own voluntary will, as in John
10: “ erefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down
my life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from
me, but I lay it down of myself; I have power to lay it down,
and I have power to take it again. is commandment have
I received of my Father.” Now the whole life of Jesus was
on this principle; His death was the full accomplishment
and exhibition of it-proved all the rest, “ He gave himself
for us.” Of this, that is, His giving Himself, describing
Him especially as the Son of God, the Gospel of John
is the especial witness; I speak merely as refers to this
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379
subject. ere is, besides the quoted passages, no garden
of Gethsemane, but, “ Arise, let us go hence.” “ I am he,”
and “ they went backward, and fell to the ground.” “ If ye
seek me, let these go their way; that the saying might be
fullled which He spake, Of them which thou hast given
me I have lost none; “ even of them who all forsook Him
and ed. ere was no “ My God! my God! why hast thou
forsaken me? “ not merely as in Luke 23:46, “ he expired,”
having said, “ Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit
“; but having said, “ It is nished,” He bowed His head and
“ delivered up his spirit.”
Here then we have the burnt sacrice oered to the
very utmost of His own voluntary will at the door of
the tabernacle of the congregation. It was always true in
principle, His meat was “ to do the will of him that sent
him “; but it was wrought to the full eort when the
blessed Master and Lord, the free Lord of all, gave up His
spirit to the Father. is sacrice was an oering made by
re, a sweet savor to Jehovah. is was not said of the sin-
oering, as such. e fat of the sin-oering, to connect it
with the burnt-oering in principle, for both were one in
Christ, was burnt on
12
the altar, and this was of a sweet
savor; but the oering in its dierential character was not
an oering made by re, nor of a sweet savor to Jehovah.
is the meat-oering was, however, as well as the burnt-
oering-one being, it appears to me, the complete oering
of the life, the other of all the natural faculties of the Lord
as man, which, being perfect as His will, He was in them
all an oering made by re, a sweet savor to Jehovah. e
peace-oering was, as far as the fat burnt upon the altar,
12 Except in the case of the red heifer, which was altogether
characteristically a sin-oering.
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380
an oering made by re, a sweet savor to Jehovah; then the
oerers feasted on the esh, and being the communion of
the worshippers, evil was mixed in them, and they were
to oer leavened bread therewith. On the sin-oering,
sins were confessed; it was burnt without the camp as a
vile thing, not an oering made by re-no sweet savor. It
was the vicarious substitute for oenses, bearing them on
its head and in its body, made sin for the sinner, vile, and
treated as such.
With the oering, therefore, of the sheaf of rst-fruits
there was no sin-oering, no peace-oering, but only
accompanying this presenting of Christ to God, waved
before Him as risen uncorrupted, the witness of the
perfectness of that self-sacrice in which Jesus had oered
Himself living and dying to God- His own perfect oering
of Himself. As to leaven, there could be no question of
it; the seed sown, and the rst risen sheaf, were alike by
their nature free from any portion or partaking in it. With
this the church is connected, on this it is built; indeed,
all hope, I say, upon the resurrection. Sin and death have
entered; resurrection is the only way out of it. One alone
could provide a spotless sacrice which should bring
others out of it. Resurrection was the witness, the power
of the church’s acceptance; for its sins, which Jesus, as
representing it, had borne in His own body on the tree, were
gone, discharged. He rose free from them all in every sense.
“ He was delivered for our oenses, and raised again for our
justication “: therefore we have peace. Resurrection was
also the spring and source and character of its life, as well
as the power in which Jesus exercised all the functions in
which He secured “ the sure mercies of David “ to the Jew,
and glory, by a continuous priesthood, for the church-the
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sinner called by grace. e church is quickened together
with Him, being forgiven all trespasses.
But connected with this, in the communicating energy
by which it and all resulting
13
from it is enjoyed, is the gift
of the Holy Ghost, answering to the gift of the law after
the redemption from Egypt. Accordingly, on the morrow
after the seventh sabbath, after the former oering of rst-
fruits (called hence the day of Pentecost), the associate feast
was introduced, a new meat-oering was to be oered, the
feast of rst-fruits. “ Ye shall bring out of your habitations
two wave loaves of two tenth deals, they shall be of ne
our, they shall be baken with leaven, they are the rst-
fruits unto Jehovah.” ese, it is to be remarked, were to
be baken with leaven. e force of this in such case may
be seen (1 Cor. 5:8). e leaven mixed with the cakes of
13 I say all resulting from it, because, though not brought out
in the type as not entering into the heavenlies, in fact (and we
know it) the ascension of Christ was necessary to the conference
of the gift to the church, letting in the Gentiles, constituting
the ground of its knowledge of righteousness (John 16:10), the
character of its life (Col. 1:27; Phil. 3:20), and the place of its
fellowship (Eph. 2:6, and indeed the whole of the epistle). And
I say “ necessary,” both from its revelation of the mystery, as
stated in the passages, and from the Lord’s word in John 20:17,
rejecting the acknowledgment of Him in worship by the Jew,
as seen in resurrection, until the accomplishment of His glory
in ascension-the heavens receiving Him till the times of the
restitution of all things; and therefore Peter, in preaching upon
the gift of the Holy Ghost here typied, says, “ He being by the
right hand of God exalted, has shed forth this which ye see and
hear.” But these feasts, being in themselves expressions of what
took eect upon earth as being to the Jews, though Gentiles
might be brought in, do not enter thus within the veil, though
the waving before Jehovah expresses the presenting to Him in
a general sense. is was necessary for all.
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rst-fruits is spoken of also in the direction as to the meat-
oering (Leviticus 2). “ No meat-oering which ye shall
bring unto Jehovah shall be made with leaven, for ye shall
burn no leaven, nor any honey, in any oering of Jehovah
made by re.” As for the oblation of the rst-fruits, “ Ye
shall oer them unto Jehovah, but they shall not be burnt
on the altar for a sweet savor.”
Now, of this feast subsidiary to the resurrection-
sheaf we have also the fulllment historically aorded in
scripture: the history of “ the day of Pentecost fully come “
is too well known to need the proof of its application. By
this the church was rst formally gathered; and though the
operations of the Spirit were continued in gathering even
till now, still they partook of the same character. “ Of his
own will begat he them with the word of truth, that they
might be a kind of rst-fruits of his creatures.”
As then we had Christ sacriced as the passover, and
raised and waved as the sheaf of rst-fruits uncorrupted to
God, and the burnt sacrice and meat-oering in which was
no leaven oered therewith, so we have here, consequent
thereon and connected therewith, the quickening gathering
operation of the Holy Ghost, but the cake which it made,
the rst-fruits of the creature, mixed with leaven. ere
was still in the work which it produced other besides itself:
leaven was there; consequently, though oered to Jehovah,
it could not be burnt on the altar for a sweet savor. Here,
then, we have the essential dierence between the church
and Christ: the one in all its parts perfect, and in His
oering a sweet savor made by re, unleavened beauty and
perfectness, and t and able to be presented to God in the
holiness of His judgment; the other, under the operation
of the Spirit, oered indeed to Jehovah, but let it be ever
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383
so blessed, leaven, the leaven of malice and wickedness still
there, and incapable of being presented as a sweet savor, an
oering made by re unto Jehovah.
Such, then, is the character of the church still, as
presented in itself to God. e fruits of the Spirit in it may
be most pleasant to the Lord, and are so, and of a sweet
savor; the esh may be subdued and kept down, and these
blessed fruits, against which there is no law, most pleasant
to God as the ospring in us of the seed of His grace,
glorifying Him the rather as produced in such a soil, but
as presented in itself to God still such. But for this there
was also characteristic provision: in verses 19, 20, we nd
a sin-oering oered, waved with the leavened cakes; and
as the oering of Christ was in its own purity, and could
be a sweet savor, so this was accepted through that which
accompanied it-the sin-oering, which met, as it were, and
supplied the defect of them, was waved. ere was also a
peace-oering, because there the joy and communion into
which the church was brought by the Spirit.
e whole of this dispensation rests under the character
of this feast; the sheaf of rst-fruit, with its suited
oerings of perfectness, and the leavened cake consequent
upon it, with its called-for oering of sin-bearing, and
resulting oering of communion, still characterized by
accompanying leaven (Lev. 7:13). e work of Christ for
rest, and the gathering and state of the church met by the
sin-oering, are brought into clear and distinct light; nor
does this dispensation pass beyond these things.
Next we nd allusion to the harvest, but it is not
actually treated of. It embraced heavenly things; the wheat,
in that Christ was rejected, risen, and gloried, was to be
gathered into His barn. It passed beyond earthly things,
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384
for He had. e whole condition and circumstances of the
church, though under the energy of God’s Spirit brought
out on earth, did not belong to them; it was a leavened cake
still. e harvest was properly associated with the waved
sheaf-with resurrection; it is passed by, because the risen
church would be associated with Christ in heavenly glory.
But there is allusion to it; no feast nor part of a feast, but
a fact connected with it. e harvest did not, and in God’s
purpose was not meant to, clear the eld. e corners were
un-reaped, the gleanings un-gathered. ere was left in the
eld by the harvest still that which, though not gathered
into the barn, was wheat; and of this only is such a thing
spoken. We have nothing to do with tares here.
Hereupon we return to the course of earthly things.
Long months had passed since the purpose of God had
begun to work; and long months ere the full time came
round, after the unnoticed period of heavenly things, for
returning to purposes properly earthly,
14
the rst-fruits
characterizing the whole period, and only noticing as to
the harvest that it did not clear the eld.
Verse 23 of the chapter introduces, as accompanying
the ushering in of the seventh month, a holy convocation, a
memorial of blowing of trumpets, a day of joy and holiday.
Jehovah was called to mind in it. Such is the character
of this feast-it was a memorial. When the moon began
afresh to receive its new light from the sun, yet feeble and
heretofore waxed dim; when the other thought has passed
away, Jehovah’s memorial takes eect. e trumpets were
blown at other times, for a memorial to be remembered
14 I apprehend therefore, that strictly speaking it is simply
Jewish, though other scriptures show us the introduction of
the Gentiles into the blessing and circumstances connected
therewith.
e Feasts: Leviticus 23
385
before Jehovah. Now it was the feast of remembrance-the
trumpets characterized the very object of the feast; only it
was upon the reappearance of the moon, not the Sun of
righteousness. It had hitherto eclipsed the moon, yet now
from it this, renewed, should receive its light; gradually
had it waned to be hidden in his splendor, now emerging
from it, risen in his light reected-forgotten in it, to
man’s judgment, at least. e trumpet is blown in the new
moon, on the solemn feast-day (Psa. 81:3; Isa. 51). For if
a woman should forget her sucking child, that she should
not have compassion on the fruit of her womb, yet if to
man forgotten, “ she was graven on the palms of his hands,
who fainteth not, neither is weary; there is no searching
of his understanding.” “ If he had spoken against them,
he earnestly remembered them still.” “ His servants “ were
now to “ think upon her stones.” But the summons was
public and loud, though in the new moon; it demanded
the attention of the isles-yea, all the inhabitants of the
world, and dwellers upon earth, when he blew a trumpet.
e circumstances and interpretation of that chapter, Isa.
18, I do not enter into; but it marks the connection of the
period.
e great public summons being now given brings on
the day of atonement for Israel (that is, their coming in
personal humiliation under it), and this was separative in
its character. It was a day for them to aict their souls,
ceasing irrespectively from all worldly employment-” Ye
shall do no work.” Whatever soul was not aicted was to
be cut o, and so it will be: we nd it in Joel 2; we nd
their character in Zeph. 3:12; we nd the aiction itself
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386
in Zech. 12 eir acknowledgment in terms of the value
of that which made peace for the mourners is in Isa. 53
15
ese two are yet to come-ordinances for Israel, whose
antitypical accomplishment is yet to be looked for, after
the lapse of the period allotted in specic character to the
church, gathered by the Spirit as a waved cake of rst-fruits
with leaven. e day of blowing of trumpets, and the day of
atonement, of humbling and aicting their souls to Israel,
was followed in the perfected time of twice seven days,
by the great solemn assembly of the feast of Tabernacles,
at which all the children of Israel were to appear, “ the
great congregation.” As to this, there are some remarkable
circumstances. is alone (save the feast of Passover once
in Deut. 16:8, with, I believe, a similar purpose) is called a
solemn assembly, as far as I am aware, or day of restraint. It
was the great nal feast of the year. It was at this feast that
Solomon’s temple was dedicated, when “ the king turned
his face and blessed the whole congregation of Israel
“; when the blessed Jehovah God of Israel had with his
hands fullled that which He had spoken with His mouth
to his father David, and the glory of Jehovah had lled
the house of God. It was at this feast that the children
of Israel found themselves assembled under Nehemiah,
on their restoration from Babylon to their own land, after
the captivity. It was at this feast that the brethren of Jesus
proposed that He should show Himself to the world; but
His time was not yet come, though their time was always
ready; and He went not up (then) unto the feast. It was the
nal assembly of the whole congregation of Israel.
15 Applicable, I need not say, in its value to the church, but
spoken in terms by the remnant of the Jews in the latter day.
e Feasts: Leviticus 23
387
ere was, however, another remarkable circumstance
in the feast of Tabernacles-there was an eighth day, or, as
we should say, a rst day of the week, which was not the
case with the other feasts. is is noticed, after the regular
history of the feasts which we have been tracing, in verse
39; again, and in connection with another feature, that it
was after the gathering in the fruit of the land. All born
Israelites, moreover, we are told in this second notice of
it, were to dwell in booths, in witness that they had been
made to dwell as pilgrims in booths under Jehovah shadow,
as it were in a houseless, homeless wilderness. It was the
feast of ingathering.
Now, this eighth day, as we observed, is the rst day of
the week-the resurrection day; the whole seven days they
were to rejoice before Jehovah: such was their portion in
their rest, but the eighth day was the solemn assembly, “ the
great day of the feast.” is surely marks the connection
and introduction, the extraordinary connection of the
resurrection church, with the rest that remained to the
people of God. Our Lord’s reference to this “ great day
of the feast “ marks and conrms-indeed, establishes this.
Upon the last day, that great day of the feast, at which,
though typically present, He declared He would not show
Himself then to the world, He cried and said, “ If any man
thirst, let him come unto me and drink, and out of his belly
shall ow, as the scripture hath said, rivers of living water.
is spake he of the Spirit which they that believed on him
should receive.”
In the rst place there is the admission of the Gentiles
here. “ If any man thirst “; and there is the gift of the Holy
Ghost, the witness of heavenly things, whence owed
the refreshing streams of divine knowledge and grace,
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388
concerning that which was veried in the ascension where
Jesus was gloried, of which it was the witness as coming
from it. is is doubtless in allusion to the rock in the
wilderness, on their coming out of which into the land they
were to keep the feast of the Tabernacles. Jesus was not yet
manifest to the world, nor would He be till He came in
glory. In the meanwhile His thirsting saints would be in
the wilderness, “ in a barren and dry land, where no water
was,” waiting to see the glory which would give them rest-
that rst day of the new and everlasting week, when Jesus
should appear.
But then as to each, out of his belly would be rivers
of living water; his own soul, through the Holy Ghost
dwelling in him, would be the channel of boundless
refreshment; each one that once thirsted would be the
source of refreshment to others. It was not merely he was
born of the Spirit; it was not merely that it dwelt in him,
as a well springing up in him unto everlasting life; but it
should be from his soul as rivers owing forth of spiritual
heavenly things, all spiritual blessings in heavenly places
in Christ. “ Out of his belly,” because it was not merely as
to the believer a conferred gift, the lowest way in which it
would be present-for Jesus might still say, “ I never knew
you,”-but from the planting and reforming the aections
of his soul, capacitating them, through the energy of the
Spirit, for the communicative possession and enjoyment, as
well as statement, of all these heavenly joys, which should
be accomplished when, in the great eighth day of the feast,
Jesus, long hidden and doing things secretly, should show
Himself to the world.
is then embraces what we are accustomed to
call the Gentile church-the gloried church; of which
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389
the indwelling Spirit, in its blessing of all power in the
individual soul, had been marked by the Lord as the sign
in the wilderness; not merely a rock out of which for all,
but out of his belly who believed, should ow rivers of
living water. us the force of the eighth day is made very
distinctly apparent.
e feast of the ingathering properly embraced Israel-
the people of God, restored out of the wilderness to the
place of God’s rest, to rejoice there, gathered back out of all
lands. But it involves with it another scene, dimly marked
and given room for, in which indeed Israel and the world
too had resulting blessing, but which owed (as the eye of
the believer lled with the Spirit is opened to see) from
higher sources, though it might refresh the gladdened
plains below-exhaustless boundless sources of heaven-
caught supplies. When to the desires, thus quickened and
thus exalted, Jehovah should pour forth His fullness; and
Jehovah should “ hear the heavens, and they shall hear the
earth, and the earth shall hear the corn, and the wine, and
the oil; and they shall hear Jezreel.” God would sow her
unto Him in the earth, and have mercy on her that had not
obtained mercy, and say to them on whom Lo-ammi had
been written, “ ou art my people “; and they shall say, “
ou art my God “; a time when the mountains, catching
the full rain of blessings from above, shall but distribute
them by the valleys which Jehovah has formed; and the
wide scene beneath shall be refreshed by goodness and
blessing, which its own far distant lowness would have
never reached or drawn.
Blessed shall be that day, a full unhindered united time
of joy, when all long severed, never properly one in glory
(knit only in the misery which he, who had deled the
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390
heavens, and deceived and ruined man upon the earth,
had brought in), brought into one fullness in order, and
united and suited blessing, in connection with a far higher,
even the highest innite fullness through Him who, being
Lord from heaven, descended into the lower parts of the
earth, that He might ll all things (gathered together in
one, both which are in heaven and which are on earth, in
Him; in whom we have received an inheritance), shall be
in Him to the praise of His glory, shall minister in perfect
unison of various reective glory to the perfectness of His
love whose all the glory is! And the blood of the Lamb,
through which it has been accomplished, shall be seen in
all its glory, in all its value. ey shall declare its excellency
in marveling thankfulness forever. It has cleansed and
redeemed us for communion with the Highest, and purged
the deled inheritance-the now accomplished rest of God
in love and peace.
On the Covering of the Holy Vessels: Numbers 4
391
62715
On the Covering of the Holy
Vessels: Numbers 4
Numbers 4
e character of the thing that was carried had a
dierent eect in the display of its covering, according to
the nature of what was covered. If I think of the ark, I
shall have a certain character of display; if I think of the
table, it will be another; and of the candlestick, another.
When Israel set forth, the ark was rst covered with the
veil, that is, Christ Himself with the veil of His humanity;
then came the badgers’ skin, and, outside, the cloth of blue.
is is the order: Christ’s perfect humanity over the ark;
then badgers’ skins to protect it; and outside that, the cloth
of blue. e heavenly man comes out, the special character.
e badgers’ skin was inside in this case, because Christ
kept His perfection absolutely free of all evil, and so the
heavenly came out manifestly. In us it is morally to be
realized in the power of the Spirit of God.
ere was of course no evil in. Christ to come out, but
as man here, the perfect One. He uses, for instance, the
word to bae Satan-in that is the badgers’ skin-just as I
ought to keep Satan o through grace. us we need the
badgers’ skin outside in going through the wilderness.
en came the table of shewbread, with a cloth of blue
on it rst, then the dishes, bread, etc., all covered with a
scarlet cloth, and badgers’ skins outside; the table itself-the
gold or the divine part-covered with the blue, the heavenly;
then the cloth of scarlet covers the twelve loaves. Scarlet
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392
is royalty, and twelve is connected, we were seeing, with
administration on earth. e badgers’ skins are outside,
because it is a display in a human instrument.
e shewbread is the manifestation of the thing in man,
but divine righteousness was under it, the gold. e scarlet
will meet the result of that-royalty, though not seen yet;
or, rather, scarlet seems to be human glory, purple being
proper royalty.
Next the candlestick was to be covered entirely with a
cloth of blue, then with badgers’ skins, and put on a bar.
Here there is no scarlet; because it was the manifestation
of the Spirit, and there is no royalty or glory of man to
come out in this.
ere is on the golden altar a cloth of blue and badgers’
skins outside, in the same way as the candlestick; that is,
purely the heavenly character, the result of intercession,
with the badgers’ skins as protection.
On the brazen altar they spread a purple cloth
and badgers’ skins. e altar met the claim of earthly
righteousness. Christ met our failure on it; but there is
nothing heavenly in it. is was to meet us on earth. e
purple, royalty, is with the altar.
We have three colors; blue or rather bluish purple
tekeleth, which was on the table, the candlestick, and the
golden altar; tolaath, scarlet or crimson on the loaves; and
argaman, reddish purple on the brazen altar. All relate to
the person of Christ or the display of what He is. e rst
appears to be that which was heavenly or the divine in man.
e table shows divine righteousness in character, the base
of human order and administration; so the candlestick with
its spiritual perfection; and the altar giving us intercession
within. All on the journey were thus covered. What we
On the Covering of the Holy Vessels: Numbers 4
393
know of them has this character in going through the
wilderness. e loaves were covered with scarlet, that is,
displayed royalty in perfect administration itself. So over
the ark there was rst the veil, Christ’s human nature, then
guarded on the earth in spotlessness, untainted, by the
badgers’ skin, and the result was the heavenly or divine in
man manifested here. e reddish purple answers to the
brazen altar of sacrice, and points to the more heavenly
royalty, the One exalted as the consequence of self-sacrice
to God. It is lordship glory or reign, but not so much
displayed from heaven, and displaying it as brought there
in answer to suering. It was more as conferred on man
than displayed in him, though it will be displayed. e
transguration displayed it, not the lowly Savior.
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62717
e Pleasant Land Despised:
Numbers 13-14
Numbers 13; 14
Beloved, do our hearts indeed say “ We are on our way
to God “?
Do we believe that, with the innumerable throng of the
redeemed, we shall soon sing the everlasting anthem of
praise to the Lamb? It is astonishing the simplicity of heart
there is when we believe that “ we are on our way to God.”
Whenever the soul has really got hold of this, believing
in God, knowing His love, that He has brought us out of
Egypt, and that we are on our way to Canaan, there is a
spring of heart that surmounts everything. ere may be
a great many things by the way to exercise our hearts and
thoughts; but if this feeling predominates, they only come
in by the way. If my mind be xed on present circumstances
and present diculties, and on God’s helping me in them,
there will not at all be the same spring of joy. For then I
make God to be simply the servant of my necessities. e
heart rests and centers there, and God sinks down into a
mere help in time of trouble. It is quite true that “ God
is our refuge and strength, a very present help in time of
trouble “ (Psa. 46:1); but to bring Him down to be only
this changes the whole aspect of things. Himself, as our
portion, is infallibly ours. If our hearts are xed on being
with Jesus in His rest and glory, on being in the “ Father’s
house,” our own present diculties have the character
of diculties by the way; we can then rise over trouble,
e Pleasant Land Despised: Numbers 13-14
395
however felt. And our thoughts about God are not merely
that He will help us in the circumstances in which we are-
our hearts being xed on Him, we live in the freedom that
arises from the constant certainty that all that is Christ’s is
ours. It is important for us to have our minds xed on the
hope of glory which is set before us.
One form which unbelief takes is the not having this
hope fresh on the mind. Supposing I had to live twenty
years, the next thing to my heart ought to be the glory.
In the children of Israel unbelief took many forms; one
character of it was that “ they despised the pleasant land,”
chap. 14: 31; Psa. 106:24. Now very often there is in our
hearts practically, though not willfully, the despising of the
pleasant land. I am not speaking of any doubtfulness as to
the land being ours. If there were something that a friend
had given me as a great treasure, and I was sure of its being
mine, and yet I looked at it but seldom and cared to think
of it but seldom, this would be a proof (not of uncertainty
respecting its being mine, but) that I despised the thing,
that I had no real value for it. is is very often the way
we treat the heavenly glory that belongs to us. We do not
question the truth of the promises; but, when our souls are
not dwelling upon and delighting in the glory that is set
before us, there is a “ despising of the pleasant land.” It is
too much the case with the saints. And no occupation with
present things-with present duties even-can make up for
the loss of peace and comfort there is to the soul from not
dwelling on the things which God has laid up in store for
them that love Him (1 Cor. 2:9) as its own things. Instead
of God’s being the strength and fullness of our present
joy in the midst of present tribulation, as it is said, “ We
joy in God “ (Rom. 5:11), we only make Him a help in
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396
time of trouble. ere is weakness and inrmity instead
of rejoicing in God. e heart being brought down here
and kept down, it brings down God after it (so gracious is
He, that He will even come down), instead of rising above
present circumstances up to God.
Of course this character of unbelief will not be
manifested in the hearts of the saints as it was in the
children of Israel, but, in measure, it is the same thing.
e “ spies “ (Num. 13; 14) had been sent by Moses,
at the command of Jehovah, to search out the land of
Canaan, “ which,” Jehovah said, “ I give unto the children
of Israel,” and to bring of the fruit thereof. e Spirit of
God, personally dwelling in present witness in us, takes
of the glory of the Lord Jesus, of the things of the land of
promise (that true Canaan, of which faith says, My land),
and thus shows us of our portion.
“ So they went up, and searched the land, from the
wilderness of Zin unto Rehob … And they came unto the
brook of Eshcol, and cut down from thence a branch with
one cluster of grapes, and they bare it between two upon
a sta; and they brought of the pomegranates, and of the
gs. e place was called the brook Eshcol, because of the
cluster of grapes which the children of Israel cut down
from thence. And they returned from searching of the land
after forty days. And they went and came to Moses, and to
Aaron, and to all the congregation of the children of Israel,
unto the wilderness of Paran, to Kadesh; and brought
back word unto them, and unto all the congregation, and
showed them the fruit of the land. And they told him, and
said, We came unto the land whither thou sentest us, and
surely it oweth with milk and honey; and this is the fruit
of it,” v. 23-27. ere was no gainsaying the report of the
e Pleasant Land Despised: Numbers 13-14
397
spies, these grapes told of the goodness of the land. It was
a land that produced such fruit. So, when the Holy Ghost
brings the earnest to us of our joy and glory, who would
gainsay? who does not feel that it is worth anything by the
way to get there-the earnest is so sweet?
“ Nevertheless,” said the spies, “ the people be strong
that dwell in the land, and the cities are walled, and very
great, and, moreover, we saw the children of Anak there.
e Amalekites dwell in the land of the south: and the
Hittites, and the Jebusites, and the Amorites, dwell in the
mountains,” etc. When the people heard that there were
diculties, there began to be restlessness and uneasiness
amongst them.
And Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and said,
Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to
overcome it,” v. 30. He was strong in faith.
“ But the men that went up with him, said, We be not
able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than
we. And they brought up an evil report of the land which
they had searched, unto the children of Israel, saying, e
land through which we have gone to search it, is a land that
eateth up the inhabitants thereof; and all the people that we
saw in it are men of a great stature. And there we saw the
giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants; and we
were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in
their sight,” v. 31-33. at is, they get hold of the thought
of the people in unbelief: and venture to deny all that they
had previously said, when they see that their report was not
received. e rst thing they told Moses was the simple
truth, that it was a very good land i but when they see this
unbelief at work in the minds of the people, their judgment
respecting it is quite dierent, and they say It is a very bad
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398
land. e whole sense of the goodness of Jehovah in giving
them the land is gone, and consequently they break down
in despair when looking at the diculties by the way.
ere is not merely distrust about their overcoming these
enemies; they lose the sense of the goodness of the land,
and then they have no encouragement in their diculties.
eir state becomes weakness. Just so with the Christian; if
I lose the joy of the glory, the diculties I meet with by the
way are insurmountable, for my heart does not know what
it has to contend for.
is and more will be seen coming out in chapter 14. “
And all the congregation lifted up their voices, and cried,
and the people wept that night,” etc. When, in the rst
freshness of their setting out, their sin had manifested itself
(bad as it was), they did not lay the blame upon God; they
said, “ is Moses, the man that brought us up out of the
land of Egypt,” Ex. 33. But the moment this unbelief gets
hold of their hearts, the desert becomes thoroughly and
insupportably painful to them, and they say, “ Would God
that we had died in the land of Egypt! or would God we
had died in the wilderness! and wherefore hath Jehovah
brought us unto this land, to fall by the sword, that our
wives and our children should be a prey? were it not better
for us to return into Egypt? And they said one to another,
Let us make us a captain, and let us return into Egypt,” v.
1-4. See what a miserably wicked state of unbelief they had
got into, so as to attribute to Jehovah Himself their trials
and diculties. is is a snare to which even Christians
are exposed. We are conscious that it is the Lord that has
brought us up out of bondage, and hence when trials come
upon us our hearts are apt to say. is comes of my being a
Christian,-the Lord has brought me into these diculties.
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399
Now, had Canaan been on the hearts of the children of
Israel, they would have said, ank God that we are thus
far on our way to Canaan. Let the diculties be what they
might, if they had felt, By the word of Jehovah we have
been brought here, there would have been thanksgiving
and not murmuring. But they stopped at the point where
they were, instead of looking at it as but a step on the way
to the glorious land before them. ere was the pretense of
thoughtfulness for others-their wives and children, though
in reality it was only selshness.
Verses 6-9. Joshua and Caleb speak of the exceeding
goodness of the land, and add, “ If Jehovah delight in us,
then he will bring us into this land, and give it us; a land
which oweth with milk and honey. Only rebel not ye
against Jehovah, neither fear ye the people of the land; for
they are bread for us: their defense is departed from them,
and Jehovah is with us: fear them not.” eir condence is
in Him.
“ But all the congregation bade stone them with stones.”
e moment that was spoken which should have cheered
the people, it brought out positive hostility.
Verses 13-19. e intercession of Moses comes in,
based on the testimony Jehovah had given of Himself.
(Compare Ex. 34:6, 7.) e principle of it is this, the
perfect identication of Jehovah with His people. He
presses on Jehovah that His own glory is bound up with
the preservation and blessing of His people, is inseparable
from them.
Two things result. Jehovah acts according to the faith
of Moses, as He ever does according to the faith that is
in us (v. 2o); but He sends the children of Israel into the
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desert to remain there until all the men that came up out
of Egypt fell.
ere is another thing also to notice. When the children
of Israel will not go up in faith into the promised land,
Jehovah sends them a long way round the desert. Two
things accompany this: one as the result of it, the other
pure grace. If they have to march round the desert, Jehovah
cannot leave them alone; He must go round with them,
guiding them by His pillar of re and of cloud all the way.
His grace abounds over sin. Secondly, Caleb and Joshua
must go the long way round too. ey had not gone with
the people in their evil; but as to the pain and trial of the
march which the unbelief of the others had caused, they are
obliged to go along with the people, and to bear a part of it.
is is what we must make up our minds to. If the church
has failed, we must make up our minds to accompany it in
its course of sorrow, though not in its course of sin. As far
as Caleb and Joshua were concerned, there was the exercise
of grace, and patience, and love. It was blessed to them, for
God was faithful in keeping them, whilst the rest fell in
the wilderness. Caleb is able to say, at the end of the forty
years, that he is as strong for war as at the beginning, “
both to go out, and to come in,” Josh. 14. But the faithful,
though they had the consciousness that God was with
them, were obliged to accompany the unfaithful in their
course of sorrow, arising from the position into which they
had brought themselves.
is is our place. In the spirit of love, of patience, and
of humiliation, we have always to take the place of those
who have sinned. See Daniel. ough himself personally
righteous, Daniel confesses the people’s sin as his own,
saying, “ O Lord … we have sinned, and have committed
e Pleasant Land Despised: Numbers 13-14
401
iniquity … to us belongeth confusion of face,” etc. (Dan.
9). e sin and evil of those who have sinned should be
confessed by the remnant; who, though not partakers
of the sin, must yet be partakers of the consequences of
it, suering in all the aiction with true sympathy and
fellowship.
In applying this practically to ourselves, what was it
that led to the very need of their having Jehovah with
them on the march? e soul not being set on (their not
having their aections occupied with) the blessings of the
promised land. And that which we have to seek is that
our souls may “ abound in hope, through the power of the
Holy Ghost.” e Holy Ghost dwelling in us becomes the
earnest of those better things in our hearts; and reveals to
us that it is Jehovah’s land, the land which He has given us,
that He is bringing us into. If we are able to say, is is the
fruit of the land which Jehovah has given us,-if our hearts
aections are dwelling on the land, all the strength of the
Anakim is as nothing. No matter, then, as to preventing
us from getting there, what may be the trial and diculty
by the way. But the moment we lose the consciousness of
what is ours, the moment we forget that Jehovah has given
us the land, diculties and trials occupy our mind, and
become too great for us; we fall under the power of them.
is results from our losing sight of what belongs to us in
hope. We cannot have our hearts xed on Canaan without
being conscious that Jehovah’s strength is with us.
If I rest in circumstances I am apt to blame the Lord for
bringing me there. Nobody ever thought of the blessedness
of being with Jesus in the glory, and of being like Him
there, no one ever entered in spirit really there without
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being conscious that it was Jehovah’s strength that would
bring him there. en all in the way is a mere circumstance.
What I desire for you and for myself, beloved, is that we
may avoid “ despising the pleasant land.” And do not let us
say that we are not “ despising “ it if we are not thinking
often about it. If we are not thinking of Jesus where He
is, and of being with Him there, we are “ despising the
pleasant land.” May we “ hold fast the condence and the
rejoicing of the hope rm unto the end.”
We must not suppose that the scriptures do not supply
to the new man the details of the glory that belongs to us.
But they are details known only to faith. It is only just so
far as we are in present communion with the Lord that
we shall understand and enjoy them. Memory will not
do. ere is no possibility of exercising memory about the
objects of hope. We must be lled with the Spirit. at
which will ll up our joy is Christ Himself, who lls all
things. We nd a fund of detail about the glory when we
know, by the power of the Holy Ghost, what Christ is for
us-Christ gloried. Just as the poor robber (taught of the
Holy Ghost) could state the whole life of Christ, though
he had never known Him before as if he had been His
intimate friend, saying to his companion, “ is man has
done nothing amiss,” so the soul, when taught by the Holy
Ghost, has Jesus as the object of its aections, and knows
and realizes it. e mind then becomes occupied with the
object of its hope in glory, and the individual is able to say,
“ I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that
he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him
against that day.” All the circumstances which happen to
us only come in by the way. Instead of having the thoughts
down here in the trouble, bringing God down into it, we
e Pleasant Land Despised: Numbers 13-14
403
are lifted clean out of it into glory. is sets us on our “ high
places,” when, otherwise, there would be the feeling in the
heart, “ Why hath Jehovah brought us into this land to fall
by the sword,” etc. e Holy Ghost delights to take of the
things of Christ and show them to us (John 16:13-15).
e Lord give us, in realizing the fullness of Jesus,
to have our souls in the sweet savor of divine delight in
Him, dwelling by faith in the promised land, that we may
know what our hope is, as well as what is the ground of
our hope. And ever let us remember that it is not by any
eort of memory but by the power of communion in the
Holy Ghost that we can have the present consciousness
and enjoyment of those things “ which God hath prepared
for them that love him.”
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62718
Numbers 15
Notes of a Lecture
is chapter comes in, in a very peculiar manner.
e children of Israel had despised the pleasant land;
they had quarreled with the manna, the food given to them
by God (chap. 11); they had slighted the promises of God
concerning the good land, though an earnest was brought
to them by the spies (chaps. 13, 14); and in chapter 16 we
nd them in open rebellion and apostasy, falling away in
the gainsaying of Korah. is was not merely failure, which
brought on chastisement, but open rebellion, and God cut
them o in their sins. It is between these two things this
fteenth chapter comes in.
e Book of Numbers is the putting God’s people
in their place and the order of their journeys. ey had
departed from the mount of Jehovah a three days’ journey
(chap. 10:33). is was the rst time of their starting, and
then we nd Jehovah goes out of His place in grace. e
people ought to have been round about, taking care of
Jehovah, but “ the ark of the covenant of Jehovah went
before them.” Moses wished Hobab to be to them “ instead
of eyes “; but God says, I will be as eyes to you; and “ the
ark of the covenant of Jehovah went before them in the
three days’ journey, to search out a resting-place for them.”
In this we see the actings of extraordinary grace. “ It came
to pass when the ark set forward, that Moses said, Rise up,
Jehovah, and let thine enemies be scattered, and let them
that hate thee ee before thee. And when it rested he said,
Return, O Jehovah, unto the many thousands of Israel.”
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405
e next step, as we see in chapter 11, is the working
of unbelief. While God is going before them the people
complain; and then come out all the various forms and
progress of unbelief. In chapter 14 we see they had to
wander in the wilderness forty years. Chapter 15 gives
what they were to do in the land; and chapter 16 the open
rebellion and apostasy closing in the forms of unbelief.
But before this apostate character is developed, chapter
15 comes in, full of loveliness. Rebellion had arisen to a
great height, for not only had they despised the pleasant
land, but the spies had brought up an evil report of the
land. Caleb and Joshua proved their faithfulness in
remonstrating with the people, telling them that Jehovah
could bring them in, when this awful rebellion broke out,
and “ all the congregation bade stone them with stones.”
en, consequently, “ the glory of Jehovah appeared in the
tabernacle of the congregation before all the children of
Israel.” God interfered immediately, and tells Moses, “ I
will make of thee a greater nation and mightier than they.”
en Moses interferes, and here we see the devotedness of
his character coming out in intercession. And then God
says, “I have pardoned according to thy word,” but yet I
will chastise them; and to the people He says, “ as ye have
spoken in my ears, so will I do to you.” You shall get the
thing your wretched esh desired, for you shall die in this
wilderness (chap. 14: 28, 29).
But in the midst of all this comes in chapter 15, in
which we learn that God goes on in His purpose as calmly
and quietly as if there never had been the despising of the
land. For, in the second verse, He says, “ When ye be come
into the land of your habitations, which I give unto you.”
His purpose is as settled as if there had been no rebellion
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406
at all. He speaks in the calmness of His own purpose. After
telling them of chastisement, He says, Ye shall come into
the land; it is settled with Me; I go on in the steadfastness
of My own counsels. “ I am Jehovah your God.” It is
blessed to see, not that Jehovah will not chastise in the
way of government, for He says, “ As truly as I live, as ye
have spoken in mine ears so will I do to you.” But that He
never relinquishes His purpose, though He deals with the
heart according to its unbelief. We see this in verse 45. e
Amalekites and Canaanites discomted them to Hormah
(and Hormah means destruction); but then the heart can
always return to the steadfastness of His purpose, which
remains in its very nature the same. We see joy shining out
in this chapter; a provision for grace and warning. He tells
them what to do in the land. “ When ye be come into the
land of your habitations, which I give unto you, and will
make an oering by re unto Jehovah, a burnt-oering, or
a sacrice in performing a vow, or in a freewill-oering, or
in your solemn feasts, to make a sweet savor unto Jehovah,
of the herd, or of the ock: then shall he that oereth his
oering unto Jehovah bring a meat-oering of a tenth deal
of our mingled with the fourth part of an hin of oil. And
the fourth part of an hin of wine for a drink oering shalt
thou prepare with the burnt oering or sacrice, for one
lamb. Or for a ram, thou shalt prepare for a meat oering
two tenths deals of our mingled with the third part of
an hin of oil. And for a drink oering thou shalt oer the
third part of an hin of wine for a sweet savor unto Jehovah.
And when thou preparest a bullock for a burnt-oering,
or for a sacrice in performing a vow, or peace-oerings
unto Jehovah: then shall he bring with a bullock a meat-
oering of three tenths deals of our mingled with half an
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407
hin of oil. And thou shalt bring for a drink-oering half a
hin of wine, for an oering made by re, of a sweet savor
unto Jehovah.” ‘ Your rebellions would have sinned away
the land, but I have given it you. It is not a sin-oering you
are to bring but a burnt-oering. You are accepted, and are
going to worship Me there.’
Christ is represented by the burnt-oering-the
voluntary oering up of His life to God as a sweet savor.
“ Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children; and
walk in love, as Christ also bath loved us, and hath given
himself for us an oering and a sacrice to God for a
sweet-smelling savor.” When divine love comes down here,
it always returns up in the character of self-sacrice. God
acts in love; Christ walked in love; and divine love acting
in man oers itself a sweet savor unto God.
en they were to bring oil and wine. e oil showing the
joy and gladness, and wine the fellowship in communion.
When you have got rest in God, and worship comes out,
it must be in joy and gladness of heart and fellowship with
God. And He would have us return to Him thus. But we
shall not be able to be “ followers of God “ unless we dwell
in this comfort and joy of His thoughts about us.
And further, observe God’s actings and givings. “
According to the number that ye shall prepare, so shall ye
do to every one according to their number. All that are
born of the country shall do these things after this manner,
in oering an oering made by re, of a sweet savor unto
Jehovah. And if a stranger sojourn with you, or whosoever
be among you in your generations, and will oer an
oering made by re, of a sweet savor unto Jehovah; as ye
do, so he shall do. One ordinance shall be both for you of
the congregation, and also for the stranger that sojourneth
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with you, an ordinance forever in your generations: as ye
are, so shall the stranger be before the Lord. One law and
one manner shall be for you, and for the stranger that
sojourneth with you.” See how “ the branches run over the
wall,” in God’s heart running out, as in verse 14, to the
stranger. Christ said He was only sent to the lost sheep
of the house of Israel; but when the poor Gentile woman
appealed to the nature of God as a giver, He could not
deny her, because He could not deny what He was. Here
God is saying, I cannot have a person in my land, and not a
worshipper, not enjoying God. All must be happy there. If
any person is in the land of God, he must know the mind
and temper of the God of the land. ere is one law for all.
God will be Himself, and make Himself known. While this
is the case in the land, there would be oering connected
with evil and failure, as in verse 22. God says, ere may be
failure, therefore I will make provision for sin in grace. And
here comes in the sin-oering--that when man fails, God
may still maintain and keep him in the place of blessing.
Verse 30. e soul that sinneth presumptuously (the
case of one who has no life in him), he shall be cut o-”
his iniquity shall be upon him.” e presumptuous sinner
under the law was to be treated with the rigor of the law.
No mercy; but “ stone him with stones without the camp.”
Being brought into this condition provision is made
for keeping them mindful of where they were brought.
Upon the fringes was to be “ a riband of blue,” signifying
a heavenly character (v. 38). e fringes of the garments
reached to the earth, and might come in contact with
delement. God’s precepts and directions alone can keep
us walking after Him. Jesus said, “ Man shall not live by
bread alone.” e precepts of the gospel are like fringes to
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409
our garments, attached to those things where sin can touch
us. And in this way man does not live by bread alone, “ but
by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God “;
living every instant so as not to be touched by Satan. e “
riband of blue,” the heavenly mind that calls the precepts
and words of the Lord to remembrance. If I were spiritual,
and walking in fellowship with God, I should not need
precepts; but, in my folly and eshliness, I need God’s
precepts to keep my soul mindful of Him. Satan said, “
Command that these stones be made bread.” ere was no
harm in satisfying hunger; but Jesus came to do the will of
His Father; and this would have been doing His own will.
If we walk in a godly manner in the details of life, in the
character of “ blue,” that is, heavenly, we shall remember
the words of our Lord, and not do our own wills. All this
is the provision of grace in the land. It is sweet to nd at
the close of all this failure, God returning to bless-giving
out His own thoughts of peace, and not of evil, as nothing
can weaken or enfeeble the blessedness of God’s thoughts
concerning us: and therefore closes it by saying, “ I am
Jehovah your God, which brought you out of the land of
Egypt, to be your God: I am Jehovah your God.”
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62719
Law and Priestly Grace:
Numbers 17 and
Numbers 20
Puuting these two chapters together, we see the grace
of God in priestly government, to bring His redeemed
through the wilderness, and also the contrast between law
and priestly grace.
is grace is drawn out by Israel’s sin; but grace does
not, of course, allow sin. Law could not bring the people
into the land. Law must have kept the whole nation out,
except Joshua and Caleb, who followed the Lord fully. We
see its actings in chapter 16, in the judgment that fell on
Korah and his company. If when redeemed, we were put
under the law, we should be no better o than before. Still,
God cannot allow sin. Neither could He give the people
up; for had He not redeemed them? as Moses pleaded with
Him (Num. 14:13-16), “ And Moses said unto Jehovah,
en the Egyptians shall hear it (for thou broughtest up
this people in thy might from among them), and they will
tell it to the inhabitants of this land … saying, Because
Jehovah was not able to bring this people into the land
which he sware unto them, therefore he hath slain them
in the wilderness.” He cannot give them up; He cannot
allow sin; and therefore He brings in priestly grace to meet
the diculty. To take away their murmurings, He does
not use the rod of Moses, but that of Aaron. e rod of
Moses could only judge them for their sin, and thus take
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411
away their murmurings by judgment. But Aaron’s does it by
priestly grace.
God makes it very manifest by whom He will act.
Aaron’s rod is chosen out of the twelve, and the remarkable
sign of its blossoming and yielding fruit, showed that
priesthood was connected with life-giving power, as well
as with intercession. Both are needed to uphold them, and
to raise them when failing. “ e second Adam was made a
quickening spirit.” is is the care and authority by which
we are led through the wilderness. God will allow no other,
and no other would do. e priesthood of Christ alone can
carry us through. It is the rod of authority too: for “ Christ is
a son over his own house.” But we see that unbelief cannot
avail itself of this (chap. 17: 12, 13). “ And the children of
Israel spake unto Moses, saying, Behold, we die, we perish,
we all perish. Whosoever cometh anything near unto the
tabernacle of Jehovah shall die: shall we be consumed with
dying? “ God had shown them that there was this grace,
and they ought to have trusted in it, especially as they
had seen the power in Aaron’s remaining in among the
congregation, and staying the plague. ey had ground for
full assurance; but unbelief prevailed. ey were insensible
to the value of the priesthood, and their conscience was
still under law. For they did not know God, though at the
very moment He was acting for them in priestly grace.
e circumstances of chapter 20 put them to the test:
the outward power, too, that had brought them out of
Egypt was passing away from their minds. Miriam, the
expression of it, had died. When apparent power decays,
faith is put to the test. Afterward Moses passed away too.
Unbelief does not get the refreshment that faith does.
ere is no water. ey were in a terrible state of mind-
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412
wishing they had shared the judgment that had fallen on
their brethren; for there was no condence in Jehovah. Yet
they called themselves the congregation of Jehovah. ey
had the pride, but not the comfort, of it. Moses and Aaron
fell on their faces. ere seemed no remedy. But Jehovah
appeared. He was the only remedy. And He makes Aaron’s
rod the means of the application of that remedy. It had
already been appointed before the occasion for its exercise
occurred. ere was real need, and God never denies this.
He never says it is not real need; but He will have us go to
Christ to meet the need. It was not to be Moses’s rod, for
then it must be judgment. Nor was the rock to be smitten
again. at water could be had now without smiting the
rock was the result of its having been smitten before by the
rod of judgment.
So it is with us. Everything comes to us through Christ’s
having been on the cross; and we do not need the cross
again, but the priestly work. It was now, “ speak ye unto
the rock before their eyes, and it shall give forth his water.”
Speak the word only, and the water shall ow. All things
are ours; we draw nigh now, not for acceptance, but to
have our need supplied. In verses 9, 10, we see that Moses
was vexed, and speaks unadvisedly. He could not rise to
the height of God’s grace; and that was why he could not
enter the land. He was in a better mind the rst time Israel
murmured. en he said, “ It is not against us ye murmur,
but against Jehovah “; now he says, “ Must we fetch you
water out of this rock? “ setting up Aaron and himself, and
using Jehovah’s authority to do it. He smites the rock too.
ere would really have been more glory to Moses if he
had spoken instead of smiting, but he did not see this.
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413
God called Aaron’s rod “ the rod.” e other was set aside.
ey were never under that rod again. It is Christ for us,
or nothing. Any other principle must have dealt with them
as with Korah. It is only a word now, and every blessing
ows. To smite the rock again would be the same as saying,
because we fail Christ must die again. It is denying grace
to say that anything is needed now except intercession. To
“ sanctify him “ would be to give Him credit for all that
He is, as He has revealed Himself. To “ sanctify him in our
hearts “ is to attach to Him all that He is. But Moses did
not do this. He did not count upon God’s grace, which
was all that was needed. But does God stop His grace
because of this? Does He stop the outowing of the water
to quench their thirst? No, He does not. If Moses failed
to sanctify Him before the people, He will only the more
sanctify Himself before them. He comes in Himself when
the one who should act fails. Just as when the disciples,
who ought to have been able to cast the evil spirit out
of the child, failed in doing so, Jesus, coming down from
the mount of transguration, said, “ Bring him to me.” It
was wrong that they could not cast him out, but His own
personal interference was gained through it. He gives the
people the water they need, in spite of Moses’s unbelief
and their murmuring. He will act according to the rod of
His appointing, if Moses does not.
us Christ never fails in carrying on that which as
Priest He has undertaken. Israel should have walked under
the power and comfort of that rod. ey saw the blossoms
and the fruit, and should have counted on it. If there is
anything we want, and we doubt of getting it, because we
say we do not deserve it, that is putting ourselves under the
law. It is forgetting that there is “ the rod “; and that it is, “
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414
speak the word only.” God takes away the murmurings by
grace. He deals with all our evil, as His children, in grace.
Look at Peter’s case. Was it because he repented that Jesus
prayed for him that his faith should not fail? We know
it was not. And was it because Peter wept that the Lord
turned and looked upon him? It was afterward that he
wept. When we do wrong, priestly grace acts for us, and
obtains for us grace to see, and confess, and put it away.
Christ probes the heart of Peter, but does not leave him in
the evil. is is the privilege of His children. Grace sends
the gospel to the world. Grace gives priesthood to the
church. It all originates in God. If I sin, it is not I who go
to the Priest, but He goes to God for me. It is not said, If
a man repents, but if he sins, “ we have an advocate with the
Father.” When, through the action of priestly grace, a sense
of my sin is given me, I go to God for strength against it.
It is He who obtains that for me which brings me back to
God. All this is the fruit of His unsolicited grace. It was
God who appointed the rod. He is the God of grace, in
spite of all our evil; and when we see it we are confounded.
Carrying us through the wilderness is as much grace as
redemption and forgiveness. Even when Israel strove with
God, He was “ sanctied in them.” It is very sad to have
“ Meribah “ (chiding, or strife) written on any part of our
history-sad as to us-but He makes it an opportunity for
His grace. ey get just what they want, though Moses is
shut out from Canaan. He would make them know the
extent of His grace. Another time grace might act in a
dierent way-in chastening, perhaps, if needed; but this
taught them what the character and extent of the grace was.
Just the same grace that spoke in Isa. 43:22: “ ou hast
been weary of me.” “ I have not wearied thee, but thou hast
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415
wearied me with thine iniquities.” What language for God
to use! yet He goes on: “ I, even I, am he that blotteth out
thy transgressions for my own sake.” Nothing can make us
more ashamed of our unbelief than this astonishing grace.
And all because of Christ. Nothing makes us hate sin like
this.
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416
62720
e Red Heifer: Numbers 19
In Num. 19 we learn the excessive jealousy of the Lord
about sin, not in the sense of guilt but delement. is
He measures by His sanctuary. We have to do with it, and
nothing unclean can be allowed. We are clean every whit,
but the feet-washing is needed. We belong to the sanctuary
and yet are in the world, though not of it; we need to have
a just estimate of both. If we but touch evil, a remedy is
required. Still it is not the question of justication, but of
communion. Sin hinders that-hinders my coming boldly
into the holiest. How was this met? e blood of the
unblemished heifer, representing Christ who knew no sin
and could not be brought under its power, was sprinkled
before the tabernacle seven times, that is, before the place
of communion, not of atonement. e sin-oering was
burnt without the camp. But the blood of the red heifer was
sprinkled seven times where we meet God in intercourse.
is marks the full ecacy of Christ’s blood when I meet
God. e body was reduced to ashes, as Christ was judged
and condemned for what I am apt to be careless about; but
God is not careless, and would make me sensible of sin.
Christ had to suer for it, and it is gone; but the sight of
His suering shows me the dreadfulness of it.
God has an eye that discerns the thoughts and intents of
the heart; He would have us discern them too, and without
this there can be no communion. But we do not get back
into communion as quickly as we get out of it. Seven days
elapsed in the type before there was full restoration. e
Spirit takes and applies the ashes (that is, the remembrance
e Red Heifer: Numbers 19
417
of Christ’s agony, and what occasioned it), and makes us
feel practical horror of sin.
When I look at my sin with horror, even in the sense
of the grace which has met it, it is a right feeling, but not
communion: it is a holy judgment of sin in the presence
of grace. Hence, there was a second sprinkling-not on the
third day, but the seventh, and then there is communion
with God. We see that perfect grace alone maintains the
sense of perfect holiness. e result, in the end, is that we
increase in the knowledge of God, both as to holiness
and love. We must have been out of communion before
we sinned, or we should not have yielded. How came I to
fall? Because of the carelessness which left me out of God’s
presence, and exposed me to the evil without and within.
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62721
e Faithfulness of God
Seen in His Ways With
Balaam: Numbers 22-24
Num. 22
It was the object of the enemy to hinder God’s people
from the enjoyment of the land God had promised to
bring them into. It was not now a question of getting out
of Egypt. ey were brought out, and nearly at the end of
the way. Could they be prevented entering into the land?
If it depended on what they were, of course they could
be; and Satan, the accuser of the brethren, could hinder
our getting to heaven because of our sins, if it were on the
ground of our worthiness that we must go there. Israel had
been sti-necked and rebellious all the way along, though
God had been bringing them water out of the rock for their
thirst, and manna from heaven for their food; and now the
solemn question has to be settled, whether they are to be
prevented entering on account of it. It is the power of the
enemy here exerted, not his wiles; they come after, in the
history of Balaam. But this was the point, whether, by force
or by wiles, the enemy could keep Israel out of Canaan.
We shall see how God announces His thoughts about the
people; and then the enemy was utterly powerless when He
took up the question.
Moab is in the place of this world’s power-at his ease
from his youth-settled on his lees-not emptied from vessel
to vessel (Jer. 48:11). Besides being in the place of the
world, the prophet is called with the reward of divination in
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his hand to act for Moab. Balak had civil authority, but he
was conscious that he needed in this case a superior power
to help him. e “ powers that be are ordained of God.”
erefore there is really no need of this kind of power to
gain men’s minds when all is right. But Balak, having no
sense of God’s authority and power, seeks it from another.
e Israelites are pitched just on the border of the land
when this attempt is made to prevent their entering. is is
very practical for us, because many, knowing redemption,
and feeling their inconsistencies and failures, begin to
doubt whether after all they can reach heaven. It is right to
judge ourselves for what is evil in us, but the heart owes it
to Christ to trust in the mercy of God to the end.
When the people had crossed the Red Sea, they sung
in the condence of the power of God to bring them right
through, “ ou hast guided us by thy strength to thy holy
habitation.” Moab and all their enemies were nothing to
them then; for they were conscious of the power of God
for them, though the wilderness was all before them. ey
knew they had got safely out of Egypt, and they took all
the rest for granted; but they did not know themselves.
erefore God led them forty years in the wilderness,
to humble and to prove them, and to know what was in
their heart (Deut. 8). In the next chapter we see it was
also to show what the goodness of God to them in all this
discipline was.
e people are now at the edge of the land near Jericho.
Is the promise as available now that they were at Jordan
as at the Red Sea? is was the question as regarded
the people as a whole, not individually; and it is all a
type of spiritual things to us. Faith takes us thoroughly
beyond circumstances. It does not close the eye, running
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blindfolded to heaven, but taking God’s judgment about
sin, it knows God’s grace also about salvation, and can see
that the trials in the way are for the purpose of humbling
us, proving us, and doing us good in our latter end. Faith
never slights God’s judgment about our sin, but trusts in
God’s grace in spite of it. God will never accuse, though
He will chasten His people; nor will He let Satan do it.
Moab really had no need to be afraid, for Israel had
strict injunctions not to touch them. Israel would even buy
their water of them as they passed through their land. But
Moab had no faith in what God said. Satan, with all his
cunning, cannot tell what the simplest faith knows-the
power of God’s grace to save to the end. Moab is just a
sample of the entire and total ignorance of God’s thoughts
in the world. It is well to remember this. ey would see
this mysterious inuence, and yet they are not wholly
ignorant of it, but opposed to it. What had God said to
Abram? “ I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him
that curseth thee.” And now Balak goes about to take the
very means of getting God’s curse upon himself. Such is the
utter blindness of the esh; it always takes the road to turn
God’s judgment on itself. ere was not only sin in Balak,
and plenty of that too, but he had entirely closed his eye
against all God’s thoughts. It is a terrible thing to be out of
the way of God’s light, and that is the case with the poor
world. If the outward moral restraints are removed in the
haunts of men, when their passions are let loose, what utter
degradation and misery we see! And where there is not this
outward wretchedness, how sad to see a person walking
through this world without God! Respectable he may be,
and well thought of by his fellow-creatures; but how can
he get through death and judgment without God? It is
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421
dreadful to think of the ignorance that is in them because
of the blindness of their hearts. If God judges according to
our works, what is to be done with them? God says, “ ere
is none righteous, no not one.” “ All the world are become
guilty before God.” Men go on their own way, and think
they will get through well at the end. Men of the world are
just doing what Balak did. ey are looking for blessing
where God has sent the curse, and the curse where God
has sent the blessing. ere is as much sense about God’s
ways in an ass as in a man walking without Him.
ere are two things in Balaam’s mind. One is, that he
is afraid of God Himself. So the world are frightened at
what they see wrought amongst God’s people, whilst they
cannot perceive the motives that are at work and they have
no power to control them. ere is no power in a parent
to prevent the conversion of his child all in a moment.
e world cannot control God’s work. See how God takes
Balaam up; but has he any time to go to God? (v. 20, etc.).
God is always for His people in His own heart. Israel
were entirely ignorant of what was going on, but God was
not. He has taken up the cause of His people, because of
the love in His own heart; and therefore, though He warns
them and chastens them, yet He will not let Satan have
anything to do with them. It is a sign of Balak being a very
wicked man, that he tried to get God’s word to Balaam
reversed.
In Zech. 3 we have the same thing. Satan there tries
to get God’s sentence pronounced against the high priest.
What could Joshua say for himself? But God says, “ I have
caused thine iniquity to pass from thee.” He does not say I
do not mind the lthy garments, but He comes in of His
own love and grace as regards Israel. I have clothed thee
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with change of raiment. God had said to Balaam, “ ou
shalt not go.” ou shalt not curse this people. at ought to
have silenced him. He ought to have said, ere is an end
of it, if God says No. But he was as perverse as he could be.
What a terrible plague the people of God are to the
world! ey are, in one sense, a pest to it, if walking faithfully.
If they are killed, they only multiply the more; there is no
getting rid of them, nor doing anything with them. ere
are principles and motives and ways in the children of God
that the world cannot get rid of. Balaam says to Balak, “ If
thou wouldest give me thine house full of silver and gold, I
cannot go beyond the word of the Lord.” How pious he is
become now! If he might have gone, he would. But though
he cannot do what he would for Balak, he still keeps up his
credit as a prophet of the Lord. Just as if he had the secret
of the Lord, he says, “ I will know what God the Lord will
say unto me more,” v. 19. ere has been the money oered,
but Balaam speaks as if he was connected with God. is is
the way men often act. ey claim a connection with God,
but disclaim connection with God’s people. But this will
not do. It is in connection with His people that the cross
comes in, and that is the test for a man.
Now God lets Balaam go, and he is delighted at it; but
God chose him to go now. And his way was as perverse as
ever. God intended him to go, that he might pronounce
a blessing upon His people, instead of a curse. Morally,
as regarded himself, Balaam’s was the most wicked act in
going; and yet God brings out all His purposes through
it. He is nothing more than a rod in God’s hand. He goes,
and the Lord by an angel meets him. He rebukes man’s
ways and man’s wisdom, by putting more sense into the
mouth of the brute beast than man has; for though he has
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423
a mind, he uses it against God, which a brute beast cannot
do. Man, in one sense, is more blind than Satan, because
Satan believes and trembles. God could reveal Himself to
a beast’s eye as well as to a man’s, when He pleased. e
eect of this on Balaam was that, in his passion, he would
have killed the ass (v. 29), if he could. When the Lord
opens his eyes to see his madness and blindness all the way
he has been going, he feels he has sinned, and that God
has stopped him (v. 34); but it was from mere terror that
he thus speaks, and he goes on without seeing that instead
of cursing the people, he was to bless them, etc. (v. 39).
Balaam goes to the idols of Balak to sacrice. He liked the
name of religion; but his heart was not with God at all, it
was set on money and honor in this world. What a picture
of the impotency of sin!
Mark from this history the way God takes to deal with
His people. Man thinks to thwart God’s people of the
blessing He has for them, and Satan tries to defeat God in
His purposes of love. But in going their own way, He suers
men to do the very things that are for the accomplishment
of these purposes. is we see in the crucixion of Christ.
e Jews said, “ not on the feast day,” etc.; but Christ, our
Passover, was to be sacriced for us. It was at that very
season when the feast was to be kept, and yet they meant
nothing less. What a comfort it is to know that God thinks
of us, and arranges all for us, though we fail to think of Him!
ere is not a day, not a moment, but God is thinking of us,
and He is above all the plottings of Satan. He will take care
of His people. Do they want food? He sends them manna.
Guidance? there is the pillar going before them. Do they
come to Jordan? there is the ark there. Have they enemies
in the land? there is Joshua to overcome for them. He deals
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with them in the way of discipline when they need it, as He
did with Jacob. He humbled him, but gave him the blessing
in the end. What a thought this ought to give us of the love
of God, when we thus see His activity in goodness to us
all the way through! What comfort to know He is for us,
out of the spring and principle of His own love! He brings
His grace and righteousness together in the putting away
of sin on the cross. We can never really know God till we
know He is love. God so loved the world that He sent His
Son. e world did not ask God to send, and they did not
ask Christ to come, but God loved them, and He sent Him.
What a comfort, I say again, to know God is for us, seeing
all the enemies-our own hearts, the world, and Satan! Faith
gets through all, by looking at what God is.
Num. 23
We have seen how God laid hold of Balaam by exposing
his wickedness. Having got him in His own hand, He forces
him to have to do with Himself about His own people. It
is a remarkable fact that Israel does not appear at all in this
scene. It was God and Balaam. So when God beholds His
people, He does not allow any check against them, because
they are His. If God was walking amongst His people,
He took account of all their perverseness; see Deut. 9:24,
which speaks of them as at this very time rebelling against
the Lord in the plains of Moab. God’s judgment of us as
saints in our walk is the same thing; and our sins against
Him, after we are saints, should grieve us even more than
those we felt as sinners. When God judges amongst His
people as to their walk, He calls everything to account, for
He can “ by no means clear the guilty.” Never does He, in
the riches of His grace, bear with or allow sin, as people say.
He can cover it in atonement; He can put it away in the
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425
cross, instead of imputing it; but never can He bear with it,
and so give up any requirements of His holiness.
However, the whole question now was between God
and His enemy, and it took place up at the top of the hill,
the people knowing nothing at all about it. What could
Balaam do with God about the people? Nothing; and when
he found he could not avail with God against them, he
afterward seduces them into sin, and God has to chasten
them.
But now, in having to do with God about His people, it is
only the occasion of God’s making a new revelation of His
grace. God could not curse His people, or defy Israel; and
so Balaam has to say after him. God has His own thoughts
about them, and although He can allow no inconsistency
in His people, He will bring to pass His own purposes.
“ And God met Balaam: and he said unto him, I have
prepared seven altars, and I have oered upon every altar
a bullock and a ram. And Jehovah put a word in Balaam’s
mouth, and said, Return unto Balak, and thus thou shalt
speak. And he returned unto him, and, lo, he stood by his
burnt sacrice, he, and all the princes of Moab. And he
took up his parable, and said, Balak the king of Moab hath
brought me from Aram, out of the mountains of the east,
saying, Come, curse me Jacob, and come, defy Israel. How
shall I curse whom God hath not cursed? or how shall I
defy whom Jehovah hath not deed? For from the top of
the rocks I see him, and from the hills I behold him: lo, the
people shall dwell alone, and shall not be reckoned among
the nations. Who can count the dust of Jacob, and the
number of the fourth part of Israel? Let me die the death
of the righteous, and let my last end be like his.”
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It is of the last importance for us to see how distinct
is God’s judgment concerning us as in our standing in
Christ, and as to our walk as saints in the world. e
judgment we form of ourselves is never the same as God’s.
e Holy Spirit, who leads us to judge ourselves, takes
account of all the evil which is contrary to God’s holiness.
In judging myself I ought to be able to see in myself all
the evil, and to be ready to say, when I detect myself, is
is not charity, that is not holiness. I have to judge my own
heart according to what I am; but God’s judgment of me
is according to what He sees me in Christ. If I did not
know this to be God’s judgment of me, I should never
have courage to judge myself. How could I ever look at the
evil within, if I knew God was going to impute to me all
the evil, and would condemn me for it? All the dierence
between experience and faith is this. e testimony of the
Holy Ghost in Hebrews to, as to what God says of us, has
to be laid hold of by faith: “ their sins and iniquities will I
remember no more.”
Balaam has no faith in God, so he goes to a high place
to see what He will say to -him. Peradventure the Lord
will meet him. In the next chapter we nd he did not do
this. Here he takes the character of being very religious, as
we see. With God on the hill, not Israel in the camp, he
sees them. e people, as to fact, were going on with their
foolishness, or their piety (there were Joshuas and Calebs,
no doubt); but that is not taken account of: God takes all
this interest in them out of the springs of His own heart.
“ e people shall dwell alone, and shall not be reckoned
among the nations.”
God is as absolute in taking them for Himself as in
taking them out of the world. So we are “ bought with
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427
a price,” and are therefore not our own. Taken out of
condemnation, sin, and misery, we are brought into
blessing, and now we are not to be like those who are in
the world. We are redeemed from the world, and the result
of this principle is, that we do not belong to ourselves at
all. What we do belong to ourselves in is in the rst Adam.
But God has taken us out of this world, that we should
belong to Himself. He brought His people out of Egypt
to be made His own habitation (Ex. 15-18). God dwells
on earth now in us as His habitation. We shall dwell in
heaven by-and-by. We are a heavenly people, and the life of
a person consistent with God’s dwelling in him is looked
for.
It is Satan’s unwearied eort to bring a curse against us
just because we are redeemed, as it was with God’s enemy,
in the history of His people, to curse them. We have to
resist him steadfast in the faith. His accusations are made
to God, and God answers for us. Faith takes up the answer
of God, as in Zech. 3 It is of the greatest importance for
our peace, and our holiness too, for us to understand this.
What could Joshua say to the lthy garments about which
he was charged? and ought we to have our lthy garments?
Surely not; he has nothing to say, but God answers for him:
is is a brand I have plucked out of the re, and you want
to put it in again. en He says to the angel, “ Take away
the lthy garments,” etc., and then God speaks to Joshua,
and tells him that He has done it. “ Behold, I have caused
thine iniquity to pass from thee,” etc. us He makes the
poor sinner to know the perfectness of His work, and the
love in His heart that has wrought on his behalf. He does
not say, I will do it, but “ I have caused,” etc.
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Verse 19. Balaam is obliged to bear witness to the
character of God. “ God is not a man that he should lie,
neither the Son of man that he should repent,” etc. He is
not only a God of truth, but He does not alter it. He says,
“ eir sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.”
is speaks the unrepentingness of God. e truth that
He tells is truth, eternal truth, and it is now in the mouth
of the enemy. “ I cannot reverse it.” Not, I will not, but I
cannot.
e great need we have, as individual saints in the
wilderness, is to see the evil that is in ourselves practically,
and judge it perfectly. en we shall never be judged for it.
God cannot allow sin in us. His way of putting it away is
the opposite of making allowance for it; but it is the non-
imputation of it.
Verse 23. “ Surely there is no enchantment against
Jacob, … according to this time it shall be said, what hath
God wrought? “ If a soul only sees what he has wrought,
he stays away from God; but if he sees what God has
wrought, he is happy with Him. You can never know how
to pronounce judgment upon yourself, without getting into
His presence. It must be all uncertainty until you know
what God says. You will have Jesus on one side, and hopes
on the other-light on one hand, and clouds on the other. It
is in knowing our position in the last Adam, as risen before
God, that we have peace, and joy, and condence.
Num. 24
e attempt of the enemy did not cause God to reiterate
the same blessing merely, but drew out His activity, as it were,
to bring out all the riches of His blessings. He carries out
His own purposes according to His own will and thoughts.
We have seen, rstly, how God claimed them as His own
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429
people; secondly, that they were completely justied by
God. “ He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither hath
he seen perverseness in Israel.” God met Balaam, and he
found there was no possibility of succeeding against God.
Instead, therefore, of going, as at other times, to seek for
enchantments, he turns his face to the wilderness.
Verse 2. “Balaam lifted up his eyes, and saw Israel abiding
in their tents,” etc. We do not see a picture of the saints
here in heavenly glory, for it was not Israel as brought into
the nal blessing of God in the land, that they are regarded
here, but Israel in the wilderness. us we get through
Balaam the knowledge of God’s thoughts about His people
here below (v. 3-5). Directly I look at that which is born
of God, I nd an entirely new order of things. We are not
in the esh but in the Spirit. e Christian is justied in
Christ, and, besides that, he is born of the Spirit. Balaam
looks upon the people with God’s eye. e Spirit of God
lls his mind, and he sees what God’s thoughts are about
His people. Faith enables us to see with God’s eyes instead
of our own. “ How goodly are thy tents,” etc. “ Whosoever
is born of God doth not commit sin, … and he cannot sin,
because he is born of God “-not it cannot, but “ he cannot.”
“ He,” the whole man is of God.
Balaam “ saw Israel abiding in their tents.” It was the
wilderness. It is not now the justication of His people,
but their beauty and loveliness in God’s sight, as in the
Spirit. ey are not only accepted judicially, but they walk
in the Spirit. Of Abel it is said, “he obtained witness that
he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts,” etc. He was
accepted in person rst, and then his gifts are well pleasing
to God. So Enoch was not only justied, but he had the
present enjoyment of favor. “ Before his translation he had
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this testimony, that he pleased God.” He was, as it were,
walking in the joy of the Father’s smile.
Verse 5. “ How goodly are thy tents,” etc. is illustrates
the aspect of the church of God now, through the Spirit
(Eph. 2:22). It is more than man was in paradise. ere was
then no dwelling nor tabernacle of God. By-and-by His
tabernacle will be with men. But as being in the standing
of the church, we are taken, as it were, into God’s paradise
now. We are builded together for a habitation of God
through the Spirit. If the church is divided and scattered, it
is held in God’s hand. “ e wolf, coming, catcheth them,
and scattereth the sheep “; but again it is said, “ none shall
pluck (or catch, it is the same word) them out of my hand.”
We are God’s dwelling, and that is a dierent thing from
God’s regenerating us merely. e fact of being regenerate
does not reveal things to our soul; but God does reveal
things to us by His Spirit which dwelleth in us.
e manifested beauty of spiritual life in an individual,
or in the church, is another thing, and depends, of course,
on the faithfulness of walk; but the maintenance of spiritual
life is entirely on God’s part, and never fails.
“ As the valleys are they spread forth.” is is the
refreshing power of the gospel. “ How goodly are thy tents.”
ey are in favor with all the people; and the secret of the
loveliness of the aspect was, that they were watered by the
river of God” as gardens by the river’s side.”
It is impossible but that Christ must meet the need
of faith, let the general unbelief be what it may. Often, it
is true, though most humbling, that the individual faith
shines the brightest when the general unbelief is the
darkest. In Paul’s case it was so; he went on in spite of
all diculties, when “ all were seeking their own, not the
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431
things which are Jesus Christ’s.” Faith looks not only at the
blessing there is in God, but at the blessing where He has
given it-with His people. e people are identied with
God on high, therefore they are blessed, and God cannot
allow evil in them.
Faith recognizes the place where blessing is, and drinks
it in. “ As the trees of lign-aloes which Jehovah hath
planted,” etc., and then they become the source of blessing
to others when so lled. “ He shall pour the water out of
his buckets,” v. 22. e bride herself says to her Lord, “
Come,” and says to those who are athirst also, let them “
take the water of life freely.”
I have not got CHRIST yet, but I have got the living
water, and therefore I can say, Come and drink. We are not
in glory yet, and we are not with the world; but we have
the Spirit, and it is said, “ He that believeth, out of his belly
shall ow rivers of living water.”
Having Christ, we have sap from the tree of life, and
there can be no limit in the result. ere is no stint, though
little power indeed to use it. “ His seed shall be in many
waters,” signifying the extent of the blessing.
en, besides this, there is strength. “ His king shall be
higher than Agag, and his kingdom shall be exalted.” Israel
will have a king in Zion, but we are in a closer connection
with the Bridegroom as His bride. We shall be displayed
in the kingdom by-and-by. Mark the dierence, how it is
said, “ How goodly are thy tents,” etc., but thy “ king shall,”
etc. e people had not a king yet. eir visible blessing in
power had not come yet. eir elevation was to be a future
thing in the land.
With us it is not the kingdom we are looking for as
our hope; indeed, in a certain sense, we are now in the
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kingdom. It is for us “ the kingdom and patience “; for
Christ is rejected and gone. We are being called to share
His rejection, and afterward His glory. “ We shall reign
with him.” He is a King, and we are kings. He is a Priest,
and we are priests. If we suer with Him, we shall be also
gloried together. He is our Head, and in all things He is
to have the preeminence. ere is to be power connected
with those who have the kingdom. ere is not only such
a thing as blessing, but it is connected with the people of
God.
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433
62722
Deuteronomy 8:3
No one is led into the place of weeping without getting
some joy. Israel were already God’s people: He leads them
into the wilderness to humble them; He makes them
hunger that He may give them manna; He leads them into
trial that He may give them something better. Some would
say, If in the midst of the leeks, onions, and esh-pots of
Egypt God had given them the manna, they would have
rejected all other things because the manna was better; but
it is not so. While the esh is surrounded by that which suits
it, it is fed thereby, and will reject the better things. Day by
day, hour by hour, God is leading us to that condition of
hunger that He may give us something better, something
not discernible by the natural mind, but satisfying. When
I have tasted the manna, there is a reality about it; it is
not faith any longer. If I am hungry in the wilderness and
am fed and braced up by the food, do I not know it? Can
power come into my veins and I not know it? It might
be a matter of faith that we are to have the manna to-
morrow; but it was a matter of feeling and reality that they
had eaten it today. As we eat and are strengthened, let us
say, I know that man doth not live by bread alone. We feed
on Jesus the living bread, the gift of the Father, and we may
say that we are miraculously fed from heaven every day by
supernatural food, that we might know that man doth not
live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out
of the mouth of God.
What think you of possessing in measure now all that
we shall possess in the day of the Lord? en pain of body
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and pain of heart would all appear very light, and we could
say with the apostle, after enumerating things that would
make some people mad, “ these light aictions, which are
but for a moment.” Why do not we thus speak? It is the
right of all who have the Spirit. Outside the sanctuary,
until the Lord comes, there will be troubled hearts and
diseased souls, but it must not surprise us; it is all alike an
opportunity for the display of God’s grace which spreads
itself abroad to meet the misery. Every want that pressed
on the Lord Jesus always gave an occasion in His soul to
the cry of faith.
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62723
Joshua
Chapters 1-13.
CHAPTER 1. e rst thought is to cross the Jordan.
Verses 3, 4. e principles come in afterward, namely,
all the extent of the promises of God; but realization
by the fact that one takes possession of them. ere is a
connection between the moral state of man down here, and
the glory of man above.
Verses 7, 8. Herein is the strength-all my power is with
thee, Joshua; but there must be obedience.
Verse 9. Again, another principle; the starting-point is
that we have the authority of God to walk with Christ.
en there is energy. It is the certitude of God’s will.
e “ single eye “ does not mean only that we have an
eye, but that there is nothing in the eye to prevent our
seeing.
Verses 12-18. If the testimony is suciently powerful to
go forward, all is in movement among God’s people. ose
who seek their rest without the conict in the heavenly
places must equally go to the war.
Chapter 2: 8-11. One sees here that dread seizes upon
God’s enemies, as soon as there is a testimony of the Spirit.
Verse 11. One character of Rahab’s faith is, that she
identied herself with the people of God before their
victories. e faith of Abraham was in God absolutely,
whilst the faith of Rahab identied itself with the people
of God.
Chapter 3. e great principles having been laid down,
it is now a question of crossing the Jordan.
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436
e Red Sea is death in redemption (Rom. 5; Ex. 14;
15); Jordan is the application of death to the individual-
spiritual death with Christ. Redemption brings into the
wilderness; but when one is dead and risen (in spirit), one
enters into the heavenly places (in spirit). For us, death
is life. Jordan is not the sign of natural death, because
afterward they meet with ghting. It is death practically,
death in us spiritually.
Paul (2 Cor. 4) goes farther. He was dying for others.
But, indeed, had he not been dead as to himself, he could
not have suered thus for others.
In the Epistle to the Galatians there are three things-
death to the law; death to the esh; death to the world.
Verse 4. It is a new way. One may have religion; but
when it is a question of dying, it is quite a new thing. In
the esh, a man may try to do works; but in the presence
of God the esh is destroyed. If we have passed through
death, the power of Satan is annulled.
Verse 13. Although it is only with respect to Canaan,
God takes possession as “ Lord of all the earth.” It is His
title for the millennium.
Chapter 4. en Joshua calls to mind the word of the
Lord, and takes out of the midst of Jordan twelve stones,
to put them in the place where they were to pass the night.
Verse 9. ey also set up twelve stones in the midst
of Jordan. ere is this double eect, that having passed
through death, we nd in heaven the trophies of death,
which is overcome, and the Lamb who was slain. Passing
through death oneself, one values the death of Jesus. But
one must be spiritual and heavenly for that.
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437
To sum up, then, we have-the memorial, the trophy of
Jordan, and the Jordan. Having passed over, they set up the
camp in Gilgal.
Chapter 5. But here we have all the Canaanites afraid.
In the resurrection of Jesus, Satan was shaken to the very
foundations of his empire. en, in Christ risen, we nd
ourselves in Gilgal.
Verses 2-8. ere is rst of all this-that the true
circumcision does not take place until one is in the heavenly
places. is we see every day. It is the application of the
heavenly things to the esh.
Verse 9. “ is day have I rolled away the reproach of
Egypt.” If I have got hold of the thought of the church, and
I see it worldly, it is indeed a reproach.
Verse 10. “ And the children of Israel encamped in
Gilgal.” One must be in heaven in order to endure the
circumcision; it is not being circumcised in order to get to
heaven.
Verses 11, 12. ey enjoy all their privileges before
giving one single battle. e passover they celebrate in
the presence of their enemies. As to the sense of it, it is
somewhat more than the passover in Egypt. ey have
now the old corn of the land. Now we have the heavenly
Christ; for as to the manna, it is Christ in the wilderness.
Here it is the old corn of the land-the enjoyment of Christ
in heaven; then the manna ceased. As walking through the
world, we have Christ to sustain us in our weakness day by
day (the manna). We also have Christ for our joy and the
enjoyment of the heavenly things.
Verses 13-15. Having given all that, now God says, You
must ght.
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Verse 13. In the aairs of this life I can say of a man,
even of a Christian, How much I like that man’s character!
but when it is a question of heaven and of warfare, I say, “
Art thou for us or for our adversaries? “
Verse 15. Again there is this warning: “ Loose thy shoe
from o thy foot.” I bear all the charges of thy battles; but
as for thee thy business is to walk in holiness. e Lord
insists upon the holiness of the camp. God in His church
will have holiness that there may be blessing, as He would
have it for redemption (Ex. 3). “ Loose thy shoes.” e shoe
may have contracted delement, but it is no longer on the
foot.
Chapter 6. Faith and obedience; but in the eyes of men,
it is in a way which appears ridiculous that Jericho falls.
e curse is pronounced on the enemies of God.
Chapter 7. Achan, by the accursed thing, deles the
whole camp. e eect of the blessing becomes for Joshua
the occasion of leaving the place of dependence. He forgot
to loose his shoe before the captain of the host of the Lord.
He gives himself up to a vain condence. If, in the conict
in the heavenly places, one is not with God, one only falls
in a more terrible manner. It was more serious to be beaten
in Canaan than in the wilderness.
Verse 2. It was prudent according to man to send spies,
but it is not so very good thus to go out for exploring the
land.
Verses 6-9. e heart of Joshua melts also like that of
the people.
Verses 10-12. It is not a question of talking about the
Canaanites: Israel had sinned.
It is necessary to be decided, when it is a question of
purifying oneself from the accursed thing.
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Chapter 8. What we see here is that it is quite an aair to
take this small city. In this manner of proceeding there was
a double motive: rst, to put an end to the discouragement;
secondly, to make all the people feel what the question was.
Verse 18. Nevertheless, when the accursed thing is
removed; and though the whole army is there, Joshua (the
Spirit of Christ) stretches out his spear, and the ambush
(which could not see it) enters into the city. It was the
proof that God was still with them that they had more
trouble; but at the same time the principle was recovered-
the presence of God. It is beautiful to see how the faults
committed at Ai and at Jericho were entirely repaired by
the goodness of the Lord.
Verses 30-35. Although the land is not altogether
conquered, Joshua treats it as being the land of Jehovah.
Read Deut. 21-23 Having once entered into the real
position, we may consider everything as ours. Joshua shows
this in two ways. First, he commands the dead body to be
taken down (v. 29): otherwise the land would have been
deled, and that could not suit the inheritance of Jehovah.
Second, having taken possession, Joshua builds an altar, and
owns all the consequences in blessings and curses. It was
placing the enjoyment of the law under the responsibility
of the people to obey Jehovah.
e altar was on mount Ebal. e meaning of it is in
truth this: thou shalt worship if thou canst, for the sign of
relationship was connected with responsibility.
In Deuteronomy one sees the thing in its details.
Chapter 26. e people acknowledge that the land was
given in grace. ey oer to Jehovah. It was the proper
state of a Jew.
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Chapter 27 is another principle-the complete curse
resulting from their having taken this inheritance on the
ground of the law. From Gerizim there is no blessing
pronounced.
Chapter 28 is the blessings and the curses with respect
to God’s government. We have the things as facts in the
history of Israel.
Chapter 29 is only saying that, according to these words,
God had made a covenant with Israel.
Chapter 30. e consequence is indeed set forth; but
then God adds, If thou shalt obey and return unto the
Lord thy God with all thine heart, after all these things
have come upon thee, I will bring thee back. is is the
secret thing (Deut. 29:29). When they were driven out of
Canaan they could not attain to righteousness by the law.
Josh. 9 e eect of this victory and of these blessings
is to stir up the rest of the Canaanites against them. Here
they are now leagued together. Here again there is a snare:
namely, that when one has resisted a confederacy, one is
tempted also to form a confederacy. is is in one sense the
place which the Gibeonites took here. As Joshua had been
deceived by the sin, he is so now by their artice, and in a
rather gross way. It was a question of being an Israelite and
nothing but an Israelite. e Gibeonites only bring fresh
attacks upon Joshua and upon Israel.
e camp was always in Gilgal.
Verse 14. e men of Israel judged, alas! by their
provisions: “ e men took of their victuals, and asked not
counsel at the mouth of the Lord.” (See v. 6, 7).
Chapter 10. Joshua goes up from Gilgal and comes back
to Gilgal. is is an important thing to notice.
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441
Chapter 11. Here we have another principle. Hazor was
the capital; and it is the only city that Joshua burns. at
which is the seat of strength and energy according to the
world cannot become the center of power according to the
Spirit.
Chapter 12. In one sense Joshua had conquered all: but
when it is a question of taking possession, there is scarcely
anything. In the time of Paul the church had before its eyes
all the promises; then, when Paul is dead, one again sees
Canaanites appearing.
Chapter 13. Finally, Joshua only put two tribes and a
half in possession. Something similar has taken place with
respect to the church.
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62724
Joshua 1
In the Book of Joshua we read the history of the taking
possession of the land of Canaan, so far as that was carried
out; as in the Book of Numbers we follow the same people
in their toilsome journey through the wilderness: a journey
more toilsome through their own unbelief, but in which a
faithful and compassionate God accompanied them all the
way, and led them, though by a path of chastening, when
they would not go up at once by the path of faith. eir
clothes waxed not old, nor did their feet swell, those forty
years.
Both these parts of their history, remark, were after
their redemption out of Egypt.
I would trace just now the principles on which the path
and service of faith, as represented by the history of Joshua,
can be securely and successfully trod.
Let my reader remark-what perhaps he has never
noticed- that the conicts which are recorded in the Book
of Joshua are not only after redemption out of Egypt
but after crossing the Jordan. Now Jordan is generally
taken for a gure of death, and Canaan of heaven; and I
do not doubt justly. But how comes it that all is ghting
after it, and that the man who appears to Joshua comes
as captain of Jehovah’s host? War characterizes Israel’s
state after entering into Canaan; their journey but through
the wilderness. is remarkable feature in the history of
those events, which “happened unto them for ensamples
[types], and are written for our admonition on whom the
ends of the world are to come,” calls us to inquire what the
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connection of these events is, and how the passage through
death and entrance into heaven leads to a state of conict
and war.
e New Testament makes very plain what is the
solution of this apparent diculty. It teaches not only that
Christ is dead and risen again for us, but that we have, in
God’s sight as united to Him by the Spirit, died and risen
with Him. “ Ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in
God,” Col. 3:3. He hath quickened us together with Christ,
and raised us up together, Eph. 2. us the Christian
himself is viewed as having himself passed through death
and being risen again, because Christ who is his life has. “
If ye be dead with Christ,” says Paul (Col. 2). “ If ye then
be risen with Christ,” Col. 3. In this sense we are viewed as
having passed through Jordan.
We have died, and are risen, and are entered into the
heavenly places. Hence we have our conicts there; for
the Canaanite and the Perizzite are yet in the land. So
Paul says, “ We wrestle not with esh and blood, but with
principalities, with powers, with spiritual wickedness in
heavenly places.” He is here referring to Joshua and Israel,
who had to contend with esh and blood-we with spiritual
enemies. us the Christian is looked at as having died
and risen in Christ, and called upon to possess the land-to
realize the blessings given by the power of the Holy Ghost,
whether apprehending and enjoying the unsearchable
riches of Christ, or rescuing from the power of Satan those
who are led captive by him.
Before I turn to the practical principles I have referred
to, let me draw my reader’s attention to the eect of having
thus passed the Jordan.
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First, there is, and thus only, the death of the esh,
entire death to the world. Israel was not circumcised in the
wilderness: Israel was now circumcised, and the reproach
of Egypt rolled away. To this, as the place of self-judgment,
Israel returned after all their victories. But there was
another point: they ate of the old corn of the land, and
the manna ceased. e manna is Christ as come down and
humbled-Christ for the need of the wilderness. e old
corn belongs to the heavenly land-Christ in His heavenly
glory. is is all ours before any combat-before a wall
has fallen or an enemy is conquered. We possess all the
heavenly blessing by a divine title. en, “ the man with the
drawn sword “-Christ in spirit-comes to lead us to conict,
but to victory if we walk under His leading.
is leads us to the principles on which victory is to
be obtained in the conict in which we are engaged. All
is promised from the river Euphrates to the great sea. But
then comes the question of taking possession. We must
actively take possession of it to enjoy it. “ Every place that
the sole of your foot shall tread upon, that have I given
unto you.” Nothing can be simpler. You have only to
take possession. But this you must do. So with us. Large
possessions are before us. All the unsearchable riches of
Christ are ours. But there must be the diligent occupation
of the heart with these things in order to possess them.
Let the reader be assured that there is a large and rich eld
before him, all that God has given him in Christ to delight
in; and he has received the divine nature (for I speak of
saints) to delight in these things.
But here conict comes in, because these spiritual
enemies would hinder us from realizing, in a pure and
undistracted heart, what Jesus calls our own things; as the
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445
things of this world he calls another’s. But these conicts,
though useful for exercise and the experience of God’s
faithfulness, are no hindrance to our taking possession; but,
while testing our own state, only show how God is with us.
Were the falling of the walls of Jericho and the victories of
Joshua a hindrance? No.
Holiness and looking to God, in a word, separation of
heart to God, are required when the captain of Jehovah’s
host came up to meet Joshua. He was to take his shoes o
as much as Moses before God in “ the bush.” e Lord in
our midst for conicts is as holy in nature as the Lord in
redemption. Hence, as is known, when there was an Achan
in the camp God would not go out with them. But, when
there is uprightness of heart, the word is this: “ ere shall
not a man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy
life.” What a comfort and strength is this! No diculty
in anything. “ If God be for us, who can be against us? “
I cannot think of, or meet with, a diculty which for a
moment stops my course. I have to be careful for nothing,
and, making my requests known to God, in the midst of
conict, God’s peace keeps my heart. And this never fails. “
I will not fail thee nor forsake thee.” Not only God does
not forsake us, but He does not fail us in the strength,
grace, wisdom, needed so as to give rmness and power.
In nothing does He fail us. He is always with us, and
with us for, and in, the conict. e Lord will make war
with Amalek; but it is in Israel, but God’s war. us divine
strength and power with us, in faithful goodness, is the rst
and blessed groundwork for our hearts in the conict.
It leads to another principle: conding faith, courage. “
Be strong and of good courage.” God calls us to condence
and strength of heart in His strength, for we shall succeed
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446
in the work He has given us. is too is blessing. Take
courage, for you shall do the work. Why not, if the work be
His and He be with us?
But this has a special bearing worthy of all note. You shall
divide the land-” only be thou strong and very courageous
“; no drawing back, no being terried, shrinking before
the power of the enemy. “ In nothing terried by your
adversaries, which is to them an evident token of perdition,
but to you of salvation, and that of God.” Satan is there,
but if there we have a free courage, God is there, witness
of ruin to Satan’s instruments, of sure salvation to those
who have God with them. ere is no question (if we are
grasshoppers, and our enemies giants, and the walls up to
heaven), if God be there. Of what consequence was the
height of a wall, if it fell at the blast of a ram’s horn? What
matter that the sea is rough, if Christ is there to make us
walk on it? What good its being smooth, if He be not?
Now mark what courage is shown in, “ Only be thou
strong and very courageous, that thou mayest observe
to do all that my servant Moses commanded thee! “ We
need courage to obey. It seems folly. e world is against
us. ere seems no sense, often, in the prescriptions of the
word of God. Our own eshly ease is interested in not
being so particular. e path is dierent from all the world.
It supposes a living God, who acts and notices all things,
to whom we belong and whose will is everything to us.
Of this the world knows nothing. To do God’s will and
simply obey His word requires courage in the face of the
world, courage with our own hearts. To this we are called. “
Only be thou strong and very courageous, that thou mayest
observe to do all that Jehovah has commanded us.” It is
the courage of faith which looks to God. is is the way
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447
of prospering in the conict. God’s strength is employed
in helping us in the path of God’s will, not out of it.
en no matter where we go, what the diculties, how
long the journey seems, He makes our way prosperous: “
Whithersoever thou goest.”
is leads to another and natural consequence, but one
of great importance, because it not only informs us of the
will of God, but keeps us in His presence, and familiar with
the ideas, thoughts, ways, hopes, the whole manner of our
God. “ is book of the law shall not depart out of thy
mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that
thou mayest observe to do all that is written therein, for
thus shalt thou make thy way prosperous, and then shalt
thou have good success.” Compare Psa. 1 is meditation
on God’s word, of course, makes us know His will. But it
does a great deal more. It gives the habitual delight of the
heart to be in what God reveals, in what He delights in. We
acquire His (that is, the true but divine) way of thinking of
things; not the side of the vain show of this world. Our
own hearts are formed by and in this divine and blessed
apprehension of things. Oh what a light it is, and how does
the vanity of this world appear what it is! “ Sanctify them
through thy truth, thy word is truth.” “ For their sakes I
sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctied through
the truth.” Besides, the soul is kept subject to God in
meditating on His word: an immense point morally. Nor
is this all. It secures the communications of His grace. “ I
have called you friends, for whatsoever I have heard of my
Father I have made known unto you.” Owning the word of
God is owning God in this world as He has spoken. But I
must pass on.
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448
e next ground Jehovah gives is, “ Have not I
commanded thee? “ Nothing gives greater condence than
this. “ We ought to obey God,” says Peter. If I am even
going right, but do not surely know that I am doing God’s
will, the least diculty casts all into doubt, and all my
courage is destroyed. When I know that I am doing God’s
will, diculties are no matter. I meet them on the road. But
for obedience to God’s will, God’s power is there; and the
heart, knowing that it is doing God’s will, has no distrust.
Uprightness would fear if it might be self, but uprightness
fears nothing, hesitates in nothing, when it knows it is
doing God’s will. It can appeal to any one if that ought not
to be done. “ Have not I commanded thee; be strong and of
a good courage.” And then we have therewith the positive
assurance, “ Jehovah thy God is with thee whithersoever
thou goest.”
A further principle is brought out in the case of
the Reubenites, and the Gadites, and the half tribe of
Manasseh. It is given to us in these divine wars to combat
for others. is is an immense privilege. I have to combat
to possess more and more of the unsearchable riches of
Christ, to realize more of His life and of the knowledge
of Him, to have the vineyards as well as the olive-yards of
Canaan, and the old corn of the land; in a word, to possess
what is given me in Christ. But it is given to us to combat
in every way for God’s people also. Paul (2 Cor. 1:11) was
dependent on the poor praying saints, it might be on some
poor bed-ridden widow, for the gifts by which he carried
on his active warfare in the Lord’s eld. He himself was
laboring unceasingly, both in prayer and the the ministry
of the word, to put God’s people in possession of their
privileges. is is an immense privilege. Not only are we
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saved, blessed, made partakers of glory, joy in God; but
God is pleased to make us partners, co-workers under
Him in His own divine privilege of love and blessing. is
is grace indeed! Surely we must know it, as its objects, to
witness it; but God’s love in us ows forth in love to make
it known to others.
Note another thing. If we are doing God’s will and
work we may reckon on Him for all that is dear to us, and
in which we are interested. We could not keep it without
God were present. He can keep it without us if we are
doing His will and service in love. e two and a half tribes
could leave their little ones and all that they had behind, to
go armed to the war to help their brethren. No doubt, no
fear, no hesitation! Such is the path of faith. It counts on
God in the path of obedience to His known will. He has
divine wisdom for every step, and divine power. Both are
in Christ. We cannot know wisdom perfectly, nor see the
end or the bearing of many things; but He who gave us the
word did, and we are guided in the word according to that
perfect knowledge.
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62725
Christ As Our Food: Joshua 5
Joshua 5
I would say a word as to the way in which Christ may
be considered as our food. He may be looked at as the food
of the Christian in three ways.
Firstly, as a redeemed sinner; secondly, in connection
with sitting in heavenly places in Christ; and thirdly, as
a pilgrim and stranger down here. But this last is merely
accessory and not the proper portion of the Christian. e
Lord said to Israel that He had come down to deliver them
from Egypt and bring them into the land of Canaan. He
did not say a word about the wilderness when He came
to deliver them from Egypt, because His interference for
them there was in the power of redemption and for the
accomplishment of His promises. However, there was
the wilderness as well as redemption from Egypt and the
entrance into Canaan; and Christ answers as our food to
these three things. Two of them are permanent; for we are
nourished by Christ in two ways permanently, that is, in
redemption and glory. e third way is as the manna which
we have all along the road. It is in these three ways that
Christ meets His people and nourishes them all the way.
Two of them remain, as we have seen, but the third ceases
when the circumstances it was to meet have passed away.
ey did eat the passover and the manna until they got
into the land, then the manna ceased; but they continued
to eat of the passover.
Now there are two ways in which it is proper for us
ever to be feeding on Christ. First, as the passover, for they
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451
ate the paschal lamb when the wilderness had ceased and
Egypt had been long left behind. When in Egypt the blood
was on the lintel and the door-posts, and the Israelite ate of
the lamb inside the house. e thought they had while they
were eating it was, that God was going through the land
as an avenging judge; and the eect of the blood on the
doorposts was to keep God out, which was a great thing to
do, for if brought into God’s presence as a judge, woe be to
him in whom sin is found.
e state of the one that now eats of Christ is just
according as he estimates the value of the cross, through
fear of what sin actually merits. When we have got into
the eect of the blood of the paschal lamb, we have got
into Canaan, and enjoy the peace of the land as a delivered
people, having crossed the Jordan-not only the Red Sea.
at is, we have passed through death and resurrection;
not as knowing Christ dead and risen for us merely, as
presented in the Red Sea, but as being dead with Him
and entered into heavenly places with Him, as in Jordan.
en the character of God is known as their God, that is,
the accomplisher of all that which He purposed towards
them. It is not keeping God out now, but it is enjoying
His love; not looking at God as in the cross pouring out
wrath in judgment against sin. In Jesus on the cross there
was perfect justice and perfect love. What devotedness
to the Father, and what tender love to us! And this is the
way the saint who is in peace feeds on the cross. It is not
feeding on it as knowing that he is safe; for Israel’s keeping
the passover after they got into Canaan was very dierent
from their keeping it when judgment was passing over. In
Canaan they were in peace, and they were able to glorify
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God in this way, in the remembrance of their redemption
from Egypt.
In this type we see presented, not the sinner that feels he
is safe, but the saint that can glorify God in his aections;
his heart condently owing out to Him, and feeding on
Christ as the old corn of the land-the last Adam, the Lord
from heaven. We see Christ now by faith at the right hand
of God as the gloried man, not merely as Son of God, but
as Son of man; as Stephen, when the heavens were opened
to him, beheld Jesus at the right hand of God. We also see
Him up there. We do not see Him as He is represented
in the Revelation, seated on a white horse, coming forth
out of heaven. He will indeed come forth and receive us
up where He is, and we shall be like Him and be forever
with Him. But we shall feed on Him as the old corn of
the land when we are there, and this is our proper portion
now: manna is not our portion, though it is our provision
by the way.
Joshua sees Jehovah as the Captain of Jehovah’s host, and
Israel feeds in the land before they ght. And our portion
is to sit down in it before we ght, because God has given
it to us. ey do not eat the manna in Canaan, because it is
for the wilderness. e manna is not Christ in the heavens!
it is Christ down here. It is not our portion; our portion is
the old corn of the land. at is, the whole thing, according
to God’s counsels, is redemption and glory. But all our life
is exercise down here, or sin (excepting that God does give
us moments of joy), because, while here, there is nothing
but what acts on the esh, or gives occasion for service to
God. We may fail, and then Christ comes and feeds us
with manna, that is, His sympathy with us down here, and
shows how His grace is applied to all the circumstances of
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our daily life: and that is a happy thing. For most of our
time, the far greater part of our life, we are occupied in
these things, necessary and lawful things no doubt, but not
occupied with heavenly joy in Christ. And these things are
apt to turn away the heart from the Lord and hinder our
joy. But if we would have our appetites feed on Him as the
old corn of the land, we must have the habit of feeding on
Him as the manna.
For instance, something may make me impatient during
the day, well then, Christ is my patience, and thus He is the
manna to sustain me in patience. He is the source of grace;
not merely the example which I am to copy. He is more
than this, for I am to draw strength from Him, to feed
upon Him daily: for we need Him, and it is impossible to
enjoy Him as the paschal lamb unless we are also feeding
on Him as the manna.
We know that God delights in Christ and He gives us
a capacity to enjoy Him too. To have such aections is the
highest possible privilege, but to enjoy Him, we must feed
on Him every day. It is to know Christ come down to bring
the needed grace and turn the dangerous circumstances with
which we are surrounded to the occasion of our feeding on
Himself as the manna to sustain us and strengthen us in
our trial.
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62726
Joshua 5
We must remember that all these things which are
written “ happened unto them for ensamples: and they
are written for our admonition upon whom the ends of
the world are come.” is expression, “ ends of the world,”
has its importance as also this, “ once in the end of the
world,” etc. (Heb. 9:26). It is what we are in as Christians,
consequent on the end of all the dealings and ways of God
with man as to teaching or testing him. Now man as man
has been fully tried, and God has set up another man. He is
more than man too, but still another man, and it is in grace
too, surely, for sinners, that we may nd a better paradise
than that which has been lost. e Lord Jesus Christ could
say, when He came to the end, “ now is the judgment of
this world.” We nd men tried in every way from innocence
to the cross of Christ, and the Son Himself is cast out of
the vineyard and slain. John the Baptist came after the law
and the prophets and preached repentance (Matt. 11), but
they would not repent. When he mourned, they did not
lament; and when the Lord came and piped, they would
not dance. In that same chapter He says, “ Come unto me.”
Now man must come to Christ as ruined, according to His
own invitation.
Man may be decently alienated from God, or indecently,
but it is all the same. “ e carnal mind is enmity.” We must
come to the Second man, to Christ. God did not set up the
Second, whilst He could recognize the rst. He cannot own
both; and to acknowledge man in the esh now is to set
aside the fact that God has set up another. What I would
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now set forth is the full deliverance we have in the Lord
Jesus Christ. I need not say this is not deliverance as to our
body, but blessed liberty of spirit while we are waiting for
the deliverance of body. We are not only forgiven, but are
brought into liberty of association with God in holiness.
is deliverance is shadowed in Israel’s history by gures,
Egypt, the wilderness, Jordan, Canaan. We are all aware that
the general idea is that Jordan means death and Canaan
heaven. But directly we enter Canaan, we get conict. is
is not the heavenly places as a place of rest evidently. at
which characterizes Canaan is conict, and we get a gure
of what we nd brought out in Eph. 6-the wrestling, not
with esh, and blood, but with spiritual wickedness in
heavenly places, for which we need to have on the whole
armor of God. But if we are to have conict there, we must
rst be there. What I would speak of then is the way we
get into the heavenly places. Remember Christ is there. We
nd in the history of Israel the way a soul progresses to the
heavenly places. It is when they get into Canaan, and not
in the wilderness, that the reproach of Egypt was rolled
away. ey kept the passover as circumcised, they ate the
old corn of the land, and the manna ceased.
And this is the way the soul gets into deliverance “
from this present evil world,” and is introduced into the
heavenly places. ey were slaves in Egypt, making bricks
without straw; but God comes down to deliver them, and
He talks only of Canaan and not of the wilderness. But
rst He appears in the character of a judge. He must pass
them through the judgment. ey were as great sinners
as the Egyptians (perhaps greater, for they had a greater
knowledge of God), but still, wherever the blood was, there
was shelter-perfect security. It was only because the blood
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was on their houses that God passed over. It was not a
question of communion, but the blood keeping God out
as a judge.
So with the believer now. It is a blessed fact that,
wherever the blood is relied on, God cannot see a single
sin. God would have to deny the ecacy of that blood if
He did not pass over. What screened them was not their
seeing the blood but God seeing it. Many souls are saying,
I do not know whether I have accepted it aright. But what
gives peace is knowing that God has accepted it. ey
think they must look into their hearts to see if they have
accepted it aright: but a simple soul would not think of
such a thing, but would only be too happy to rest in God’s
value of Christ’s blood. ere may be many a work to give
right aections. It is quite true that we ought to nd the
blood each day more precious, but that is not questioning
my acceptance. It is a question of growing aections; but
what gives peace is not growing aections, but the fact that
God has accepted the blood, and He must deny the ecacy
of the blood of Christ if He did not receive me. e eect
of it was to arrest His hand in judgment. Not only has my
sin been pardoned, but God has been gloried at the cross
of Christ. at gives full value to the blood.
If God judged sin only, then He is righteous, but there
is no love. If He had said of men, “ ey are poor wretched
things and cannot help it, so I will pardon all,” there might
be love shown, but there would be no righteousness. It
would not be holy love. But when we come to the cross,
we have perfect righteousness and perfect love. God’s truth
and majesty are fully brought out there, because He, the “
captain of our salvation,” was there made “ perfect through
suering.” He has suered, and now the Son of man is
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gloried and God is gloried in Him. He has run the race
and is now set down at the right hand of God.
“ God hath highly exalted him.” In virtue of the cross
man is gloried. Stephen sees the Son of man in heaven:
that is the wonderful thing. Stephen did not say “ I see
the glory “: this was natural in heaven; but “ I see the Son
of man at the right hand of God “ in the heavens-man in
heaven. He is there not only as Son of God but as man. He
gets His place in the glory of God. We get this wonderful
truth because He has nished the work God gave Him to
do. None but He could sit there. God has been gloried
by what man has wrought. He was divine of course, or
He could not have done it. is becomes the basis of
everything-man having a place in the glory of God, not
at His right hand-that is the place of pre-eminence for
Christ alone. Now that He is there, He has sent down the
Holy Ghost to convince the world of sin, of righteousness,
and of judgment. Of righteousness both to the believer
and to the unbeliever: to the unbeliever because he rejects
Christ; to the believer because he is associated with Him.
He convinces the world, not as individuals, but all in a
lump. When the world cast out Christ, the Father says, “
I will have Him,” and now He is set down as the result of
His nished work. He receives it now from His Father as
man. e angels desire to look into this. All God’s moral
attributes have been gloried in man in the person of
Christ. It is the foundation not only of the putting away
our sin, but of the glory of God in righteousness and truth.
When we have passed through the veil and entered
within the holiest in the consciousness of our souls, what
value do we not see in the blood! And now we apprehend
what the cross is! Now I contemplate the cross for the
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aections of my soul. I meditate and think of the cross,
then I get growth. When we are at home with God, then
we get growth. It is not there I nd peace. For peace is
had by learning that righteousness has accepted the blood
which love gave. Now love gives it to me, but righteousness
is exalted in giving it. Israel go to the Red Sea, and here they
are brought to a standstill. ey found they were hemmed
in on every side, and now they are “ sore afraid.” So often
when a person is delivered from judgment in one sense,
he meets somehow with death and nds Satan pursuing.
Many a soul gets peace and comfort whilst looking at the
cross: but is afraid when it thinks of judgment. “ I am a
poor sinner delighting in the cross: it just suits me.” Does
judgment suit you? When they came to the Red Sea, it
was not judgment, but God a positive Deliverer. ey
had known God as a Judge in Egypt, and the blood had
screened them. Now they learn Him at the Red Sea as a
Deliverer. ey never see the “ salvation of God “ till they
get to the Red Sea, and they pass out of Egypt. ey are
not only sheltered from judgment but brought into a new
place.
e blood screens us from judgment on account of
our sins, and by that same cross and resurrection we are
brought to God. Christ dead and risen is what we have in
Romans; and the result is we are brought to God as our
Father. Death and resurrection take me clean out of the
place I was in. If I say “ I am a guilty sinner,” He says, “ You
are justied.” If I say “ deled,” He says “ You are cleansed.”
If I have oended, then I am forgiven. He has met every
question that could perplex the soul.
e new place of man is as perfectly redeemed and
brought to God. Not only are his sins put away, but he
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is delivered, brought out into the wilderness. When God
speaks of deliverance, He does not say a word of the
wilderness. I am brought out into a new place altogether,
not yet the heavenly places, but I have “ redemption through
his blood.” So we nd two conditions of the Israelites-in the
wilderness, and in Canaan. And there are two distinct parts
in the life of a Christian. First, what we nd in Hebrews
and Galatians, the place of deliverance from the present
evil world (Gal. 1:4), that is the wilderness; and, secondly, I
am in Canaan, the heavenly places, as shown in Ephesians
and Colossians. e wilderness is what the world is to the
Christian. What has a dead and risen man to do with the
world? Now death and judgment are behind me, but I have
not left conict behind.
e blessed Lord went into death, and bore the
judgment. If I am associated with Him, it is all behind Him.
If I have a part in Christ, I have a part in the deliverance
(see Psa. 22). As soon as “ heard from the horns of the
unicorn “ He says, “ I will declare,” etc. e rst thing the
Lord does in resurrection is to declare the Father’s name to
His brethren. He brings them out into the same place He
is in. In John 20 He says to Mary Magdalene, “ Go to my
brethren “; and then He leads their praises as the rstborn
among many brethren: “ In the midst of the church will I
praise thee.” He brings them to His God and their God,
His Father and their Father. He had been all alone in His
suering and wrath. Now all is settled, and now He says,
“ In the midst of the congregation.” He associates us with
the praises-” Not ashamed to call them brethren.” He never
said “ My brethren,” nor “ peace “ until after He was risen.
He had said, “ Fear not,” and anticipatively He had said,
“ My peace I give unto you “; that is, you shall have it.
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But peace was not then made, and it is not till He has
made peace by the blood of His cross that He comes and
“ preaches peace to them that are afar o and to them that
are nigh.” He passed into the new place as man and says,
Now you are here with me. Now we are associated with
Christ, as Israel sings, “ ou hast led forth thy people
which thou hast redeemed; thou hast guided them in thy
strength into thy holy habitation.” We have the promise of
glory too: “ ou shalt bring them in,” Ex. 15:13-17.
e wilderness is the path of a Christian in which he
learns himself. It is the place of a soul who is really at
rest before God. ere may have been experience before
of slavery, etc.; but they were the experiences of a soul in
which God has acted, but which is not yet delivered. It
is where a soul is who knows he is redeemed. If I only
know the blood, I am still in Egypt; but if I have passed
through the Red Sea, I know God as a Deliverer; I am not
in the esh but in the Spirit (Rom. 8). e prodigal son had
experiences before he returned home, but they were the
experiences of one who had not yet met the father. ere
was a work in the man. He found he was perishing. He had
repented and set out; but there still remained the question,
What will he say to me when I meet him? Will he set me
on his right hand or left? He had his speech already made
up and had xed the place he was to take in the house, that
of a servant, but he had not yet met his father. He learns
what his place was in the house by what the father was to
him when he met him, and he says nothing about the place
of a servant. He is brought in as a son. He did not, could
not, say, “ Make me as one of thy hired servants,” for his
father was on his neck. It was not what he was for God, but
what God was for him. He puts the best robe on him, not a
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robe. He met him in his sins, but does not bring him in in
his sins. God met him in rags, but in Christ he is brought
in.
If I have got through the Red Sea, God is a deliverer and
not a judge in virtue of the full blessed work of Christ. I am
not in the esh. It is not merely that your sins are forgiven,
but you are in the Second man, in Christ, before God. e
rst practical eect is, I am brought into the wilderness.
A person has a great deal to learn after he is redeemed. I
am out of the esh and have my place in and with Christ;
but the learning of the esh in me is a humbling process.
“ And thou shalt remember all the way Jehovah thy God
led thee these forty years to humble thee, to prove thee,”
etc. “ y raiment waxed not old, neither did thy foot
swell these forty years,” Deut. 8. God was thinking about
their very clothes and their feet, but He gave them all the
discipline and correction needed to show them themselves.
And when through their unbelief they refuse to enter the
land of Canaan, being unwilling to go up and ght the
Amorites, He in His grace turns round in unfailing love
and patience and dwells with them all the forty years of
their wilderness journeyings.
What characterizes the Christian is the presence of the
Holy Ghost, God dwelling in him in virtue of redemption.
He does not dwell in innocence; He never dwelt in Eden.
e dwelling of God with man was always consequent
on redemption, whether in the cloud with Israel or in the
church by the Holy Ghost. He had walked with Adam
in the garden, dined with Abraham, so to speak, but He
never dwelt with them. But directly He gets a people
redeemed, He dwells with them and talks of holiness. He
adapts Himself to their circumstances. When they were in
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bondage in Egypt, He comes to them as deliverer; when
they are in the wilderness dwelling in tents, He pitches
His tent amongst them and leads them through. When
they arrive at Canaan, He meets them sword in hand as
their captain to lead them in conict; and when at length
they are all settled down, He builds a beautiful house and
dwells in their midst. So with His people now. He dwells
with us by the Holy Ghost: rst in them as individuals (“
Know ye not that your bodies are the temple of the Holy
Ghost “); secondly, in the church collectively (“ In whom ye
also are builded together for an habitation of God through
the Spirit “). It is not merely they are born of God, but they
have the blood on them, and there the Holy Ghost dwells.
“ After ye have believed,” etc. He spake of “ the Spirit
which they that believed on him should receive.” “ He that
stablisheth us is God.” He quickens unbelievers and dwells
in believers. e presence of the Holy Ghost is what forms
the distinctive character of the Christian and of the church.
e leper was washed, sprinkled, and anointed-the blood
placed upon his ear, his hand, and his foot; and then the oil
upon the blood. It was most holy: nothing must pass into
the ear, or be done by the hand that would dele, neither
must they do anything that would dele the feet in walk.
e anointing-that is, the presence of the Holy Spirit in
us-is the seal of the value of the blood. “ e love of God is
shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost,” Rom. 5. e
Holy Spirit is the earnest, not of the love of God (for we
have this), but of the inheritance for which we wait.
In the wilderness God is humbling, proving us, and
making all work together for good. Circumcision is not
practicable in the wilderness. Israel come to Jordan and
cross it. Here we have a gure, not of Christ dying for me,
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but of my dying and rising with Him. It is not simply that
Christ died for us, but I am crucied with Christ. I reckon
myself dead and have received Christ as my life; I am dead,
risen, and seated in heavenly places in Christ Jesus; I am
gone out of the wilderness altogether. We were dead down
there in sins, and Christ came down and died for sins; and
now we are quickened, raised up, and seated in Christ. is
is the new place altogether; and it is the doctrine taught in
Eph. I am no longer looked at as alive in the esh at all; I
have got into heavenly places; and the moment I have got
there, all is mine-” All spiritual blessings in the heavenly
places “; but then it is only as I set my foot on my blessing,
that I make it practically my own. And then I nd that
there is another foot there: the enemy is in possession; so
that I have need of the whole armor of God. e place we
have to pass through is the world as a wilderness; but, as to
my position, I am in the heavenly places, and I must walk
accordingly. If I am living in the world as a man in the
esh, I meet my neighbors and I may nd them kind and
obliging; but directly I begin to talk of heavenly things, I
nd them opposed.
I have got then to show forth Christ in living
relationships. If it is true that I am in Christ, it is true also
that Christ is in me. “ At that day ye shall know that I am
in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you.” e standard is
not a man running on towards heaven, but it is showing
out the Christ that is in me. “ Always bearing about in the
body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus
might be made manifest in our body “-this and nothing
else. “ Death worketh in us, life in you.” I hold that Paul is
dead. It was Christ acting through Paul. If we fail, that is
wilderness work. If Christ is in me, I must never let a bit of
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anything but Christ be seen. Now you have Christ in you,
this is positive power and nothing else. Now look to it that
this be seen and nothing else. Joshua says, “ Set your foot
on.” It is yours. I have got into Canaan and conict comes
directly. I am sitting in heavenly places in Christ. It is all
mine, and now I am seeking to get hold of the things that
I have a right to. “ As captain of Jehovah’s host am I now
come.” We get testing in the wilderness, conict in Canaan.
When I am in Canaan, I have spiritual intelligence and
activity in that which belongs to me. “ Heirs of God and
joint-heirs with Christ “-how much have we each realized
of the spiritual blessings which are ours?
In the stones taken out of Jordan we nd that the
believer takes with him the character of death. e ark
went down. We died to sin. e world and Satan’s power
is all gone. We belonged to death once: now death belongs
to us. Now I am bound to say, “ Reckon yourself dead.”
We are never told to die to sin, but that we “ are dead.”
e rst thing is, we have passed through Jordan dry, and
that is our title to reckon ourselves dead. Circumcision is
the practical application of this. “ Mortify therefore your
members which are on the earth,” etc. (Col. 3). If I see a
man impatient, I do not deny he is dead, but I say you want
a little of Gilgal. If I see a man looking at nonsense in the
town, I say, I do not deny you are dead, but you want to be
circumcised. is is the practical application of the death of
Christ to our souls, actually realizing it. Most strikingly in
Joshua we get Ai taken, then conquest after conquest; but
we nd Gilgal, the place of circumcision, to be always the
place to which the camp returned after their victories. No
matter what success you have, you must go back to Gilgal.
e Book of Joshua is the history of successful energy;
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the Book of Judges, of failure, with God coming in and
removing it from time to time.
Gilgal, the place of self-judgment, is the place of practical
divine power. We nd even victories dangerous unless we
return to the judgment of the esh. After preaching the
gospel (the most blessed work that can be), we must go
back to Gilgal. Israel began well at Jericho: what were the
high walls to faith? e higher the walls, the worse the
ruin when they come down. But instead of returning to
Gilgal, they get self-condent and send up a few to take
Ai. But there we get failure. ey have to return to Gilgal
and judge the esh. In Judges the angel of Jehovah goes
up from Gilgal to meet them at Bochim, that is, from the
place of power to the place of tears. ey had left the place
of power for the place of sorrow. ey sacrice there, but
it is in tears.
After the passage of the Jordan, the rst thing we saw was
the setting up of the twelve stones; secondly, circumcision;
and then, thirdly, we get the passover. ey can now look
back at the foundation of everything in redemption. ey
keep it now, not as guilty and protected by it-this they had
been in Egypt-but as celebrating the truth that the death
of the blessed Son of God is the foundation of all blessing.
e Lord’s Supper is nothing less than celebrating that
which is the foundation of God’s giving us everything. e
more we look at it, we nd the cross holding a place that
nothing else has, except Him who died on it. “ As is the
heavenly,” etc. “ As he is, so are we,” etc. e cross is even
a deeper thing than the glory. e glory has been obtained
by it, but the cross is where the moral nature of God, His
holiness, and His love, have been gloried. Here we see
the circumcised believer in Canaan feeding upon the lamb,
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the remembrance of the death of Christ. e fourth thing
seen is that they feed on the “ old corn of the land,” and
the manna ceases. e old corn is a type of the heavenly
Christ. e manna suited the wilderness-Christ come
down from heaven. In the midst of all the circumstances
down here He meets us on the journey, and we feed upon
Him. It is the same Christ-only in another character-that
we see in the old corn of the land. We have a humbled and
a gloried Christ for the food of our souls: not only His
life down here, but what we nd in 2 Cor. 3, “ We all with
open (unveiled) face, beholding as in a glass the glory of
the Lord, are changed into the same image, from glory to
glory.” It is the fruit of the land-a humbled Christ who is
now in the Canaan to which we belong. ey had not yet
taken a city, but they sit down at the table which God has
spread for them in the presence of their enemies. All is
mine before a single victory. I sit down in the presence of
my enemies. He has spread a table for me. God’s delight is
my delight. Before I draw my sword in conict, I sit down
and know that everything is mine.
Lastly, we have the man with the drawn sword come to
take His place as Captain of Jehovah’s host. In heavenly
things it is all conict. Mark the word here. It is a question
of “ Art thou for us or for our adversaries? “ ere is no
middle place; but a complete split. If you are for the world,
you are against Christ. e moment it becomes a question
of Christ, it must be either for or against. e world has
crucied Christ, and He has said, “ He that is not for me is
against me “; and “ He that is not against us is on our part.”
I know that the meaning of these two statements has been
questioned, and thought dicult to reconcile, but it is very
simple. If we are for Christ, we must be against the world;
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and if we are not against Him, the opposition of the world
to Him is so strong that it will not have us. “ Light has
come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than
light,” and there can be no uniting of the two. You never see
the world accept faithfulness to Christ. e human heart is
enmity to Christ. Satan’s great object is to get Christians to
suit their Christianity to the world. You will never get the
world to take God as its portion. “As captain of Jehovah’s
host am I now come.” Of course, it was the Lord Himself.
We have the same words here as at the burning bush to
Moses, “ Loose thy shoe from o thy foot, for the place
whereon thou standest is holy.” In the spiritual conict
we have to carry on, holiness is as much a question as
redemption; and when we come to have conict, we must
be as holy as we shall be when we are with Him. ank
God, redemption has done this. You will have the Lord
with you. e One who carries on the warfare is the Holy
One who has redeemed us, and the Lord’s own strength is
with us. How far have we the testimony? Can we say, “ I am
dead, and my life is hid with Christ in God? “
Is your thought and purpose to be at Gilgal or at
Bochim? Is it your thought to go on in the knowledge of
perfect redemption? to have everything of the esh judged?
and to have the Lord’s strength with you for successful
conict?
“ Prove all things.” By what standard? My own
comprehension, or God’s revealed word? “ Hold fast that
which is good.”
e call of the Christian is a marvelous thing. I do
not speak only of glory; but in saying so I think also of
being called to be like Him, to partake of His nature; and
I become spiritually like Him. erefore the apostle says
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(Eph. 5:25) that Christ loved the church, and gave Himself
for it, that He might sanctify and cleanse it by the washing
of water by the word, to the end of presenting it to Himself
glorious. e word does not render the church glorious, it
sancties the church, but communion with Christ in glory
is what glories. It is in virtue of the power of what He is
that we share His glory.
In Eph. 4; 5, we see that we are conformed to what we
know. Here is the reasoning of the apostle: you have known
what God is in pardon, in love, and in glory; if you have
laid hold of that, it is well, but you ought to reproduce it
in your conduct. What is spiritually received in the heart
does reproduce itself. erefore it is said, Be perfect as your
Father in heaven is perfect. God loved you when you were
only His enemies. I do not now speak of our perfection in
Christ, for it is already accomplished; but it is a question
of our realizing on earth that which we know. John says,
“at 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.”
As much as I enjoy, so much I reproduce. When I realize
what Christ is, it is the joy of my soul. Without doubt
that will judge the esh; for when Christ enters, all that
is contrary to Him is manifested. We are going to see a
little how Christ nourishes, and how one is sustained by
Him in ordinary life, so that the power of Christ could
not be enfeebled even in the midst of all the worryings
which tend to distract us. If we cannot pass through them,
occupying ourselves with the Lord, then, when we would
come back to Him, the heart is cold. His love is weakened
in us if we have not that which we used for going through
all circumstances with Him.
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We may distinguish three characters in the Christian.
Firstly, he is a sinner redeemed. We see in him an object
of grace in redemption. ere are in him two opposites
brought close, God and the sinner. Never has been, never
will be, seen such a manifestation with an angel. Secondly,
he has part with Christ in glory. Later on we shall see the
other character; he has Christ as the manna for the passage
through the wilderness. It is therefore of a passing nature,
as the two other characters are everlasting.
When God visited His people in Egypt, He did not
speak to them of the desert they had to cross, but of Canaan.
So, in drawing us out of the world for communion with
Jesus, God speaks to us of heaven; He has glory in view for
us. But we are apt to stop and consider our circumstances
in the wilderness, but when the Spirit acts, one sees only
the end.
Paul did not live in the things that are seen, because
they pass away, and are null in this sense; but he abode
in the things eternal. Consequently the rst requisite for
enabling us thus to regard the world as null is to know that
we are not of it. God found us in sin, entirely estranged
from Him; and the question is how to place us in heaven.
As He took Christ from the tomb, and set Him at His
right hand in heaven, by the same power He has taken
us out of our sins to place us in heaven, all the rest being
blotted out.
In the chapter before us we nd two things: the passover
and the old corn of the land. All other things are left aside.
It is a question of being in heaven for leaving the manna.
is is a great deal to say; it supposes not only shelter
from the judgment of God, but a place in heaven. Even
when Israel were no longer in Egypt, they did not want
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the old corn of the land whilst they were in the wilderness.
Pharaoh was no longer there. Israel was delivered from the
bondage of Egypt, nevertheless they did not eat the old
corn of the land. It is just the same for the Christian who
has not learned the salvation he has in Christ. He is no
longer under condemnation, but he cannot glorify God.
He is sheltered from judgment, but he does not know the
ecacy of Christ’s work for glory.
All eort therefore must be entirely done with, and,
like Israel outside Egypt and the power of Satan, we must
know God as a Savior without fear any more. A Christian
is one who can say, All is done by Christ for my salvation;
He has plucked me forever from the power of Satan: as
Israel could have said, We shall know Pharaoh no more; he
is at the bottom of the sea.
Satan was conquered when Jesus drank of the cup
which His Father gave Him to drink. e deliverance is
complete for us, for God has shown our Savior, and as the
apostle Paul says, If God is for us, who can be against us?
It matters little then that Satan and the wilderness are still
there. I leave all aside, because I know God is for me. But
there is another which I ought to know. e Jordan remains,
which is a dierent thing. Christ is dead and risen for me:
such is what the Red Sea tells me; but the Jordan declares
that I am dead and risen with Christ. It is the knowledge
and the enjoyment of my union with Him. When we have
this, we begin to eat the old corn of the land. We are seated
in heavenly places in Christ. Being thus introduced into
Canaan, we begin to have warfare with the enemies who
are there, but we eat the corn of the land. And there is
Gilgal, and circumcision, which means that, when we have
the consciousness of being thus in the heavenlies in Christ,
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471
we judge all according to the standard of heaven. If I am
there, I say of such or such a thing I see in the world, is
is not of heaven, and I leave it; there I must abide, and must
judge the esh in the presence of God.
Returning to the manner of being nourished with
Christ, we see that, when the old corn of the land was eaten,
the manna ceased; that is, we enjoy redemption in quite a
new way. e principle of the dierence lies here. At the
beginning I thought of my sins and of Christ; this is the
door by which we must enter. We must be humbled, and
enter by Christ. But afterward, knowing that God loves
us as He loves Christ, and that His favor rests on us, and
knowing all the bearing of redemption accomplished by
Jesus, I begin to estimate the love of Jesus as God estimates
it, to have the same thoughts as He in this respect. en
I see Christ in quite another way than before; I am
nourished with Him in a way entirely new. It is no longer
a mere question of being sheltered only, but I am united
to Christ Himself. I contemplate all the perfection of the
Lamb who is there; and when I think of the abasement He
submitted to on the cross, how He abased Himself to make
good the character of God, in order that God might be just
without giving up love, and that He might act according to
love without giving up righteousness, then I adore Christ.
e Son of man has been gloried, because God has been
gloried in Him. He has been content to be compromised
in order that God might be gloried. He has renounced all,
yet had an absolute condence in His Father. “ But thou art
holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel.” He goes
to the end, and drinks the cup, that the Father might be
gloried and we saved. Now I nourish myself with all this;
not only am I sheltered, but I adore. What occupies him
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472
who is in his sins is to be sheltered; but he who feeds on
Christ, while adoring Him, rejoices while contemplating
Him, that he is seated in Christ in heavenly places.
e more spiritual we are, the more we know what
the glory is that Christ would share with us. at which
He was through all eternity, and all He has won by His
obedience is given us, and we shall be like Him.
Is not Christ seen in heaven an object of aection to
me? Am I glad to see Him there? He wishes that our
aections should nd nourishment in seeing Him in glory.
“ If ye loved me,” said He to the disciples, “ ye would rejoice
because I go to my Father.” And when I think that Jesus
has been banished and rejected by the world, I am happy
to see Him in heaven. He is the old corn of the land, for
He is of the heavenly country. He is also the food that
suits us. e Christian is heavenly, and ought to occupy and
nourish Himself on Him who is there as the Lamb.
When I say that we ought to abide in Canaan, it is
in Canaan where the warfare is that I speak of. ere are
continual conicts in the heavenly places represented by
Canaan, but it is clear that in heaven by-and-by there will
be perfect repose. As a sinner, the believer was of Egypt; as a
Christian he is of Canaan; but he is crossing the wilderness,
and sometimes his spirit is still in Egypt, because he gets
weary of the wilderness, and the heart then turns back. e
world should be for him, as for Jesus, only a dry land, where
no water is (Psa. 63). Here below we have nothing but a
desert, where are ery serpents; but it must be crossed and
passed through with God. If our aections are capable of
being nourished with Christ, we shall be able to endure
everything. I say to myself, Why is it that I am not there? I
know however, that Christ is my Savior. Oh! it is when one
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does not feed on Christ as the old corn of the land that one
does not abide in communion with Him. e manna is for
the wilderness, but the old corn of the land is for Canaan.
e other character which I have named is Christ as
manna for the people in marching through the desert.
Jesus speaks of it when He says to the Jews, “ My Father
giveth you the true bread from heaven,” which the manna
set forth.
If the Christian neglects to feed on Christ in this sense,
he has no strength to put on Christ here below in his walk.
If he walks ill, if there are falls, he cannot at Gilgal (for
we must come there after all) feed on Christ as the old
corn of the land, that is, feast in communion with Him, the
heavenly rest. In this case one must be humbled, and settle
accounts with Christ, which is an immense dierence in
the moral state of the soul. If Christ went up the mountain,
then came the transguration; it was for Him the old corn
of the land; He fed, as it were, on the glory; but if He
went down, He found at the foot the power of Satan. In
all the circumstances of the desert, however, Jesus lived on
account of the Father. We too should live on account of
Jesus. It is where we meet with the enemy’s power that
Jesus is our food as manna. Jesus could always say, “ As the
living Father sent me, and I live on account of the Father; so
he that eateth me, even he shall live on account of me.” As
Christ Himself crossed the wilderness, and walked there by
faith, we are called to do the same. In all circumstances He
prayed; if diculties increased, He prayed more earnestly.
He was there as man, and passed through everything with
the Father’s help.
e Christian feeds on a Christ who has been tried and
humbled, and ought to be himself as Christ, crossing the
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world with all the grace necessary, in order that one should
own his Master in Him. If he walks with Christ, every sort
of goodness, mildness, of long-suering, will be seen in
him. For Jesus, the eect of temptation was to bring out
grace. If I am with Him, and people insult me, I endure;
I shall not cease to be meek, because I feed on Him who
is such. It is not that my christian character obliges me to
be in these things, but I have all needful for going through
them, and I forget them because I am not of this world, but
of elsewhere. If I walk with Christ in me, if I eat manna
in the desert, I feed also on the old corn of the land in
Canaan. Every day one may do both. e manna is wanted,
and daily diligence (for the manna spoiled). ey had need
of manna to go to Canaan.
But to glorify God, and reproduce the character of
Jesus, in all positions of husband, wife, master, servant, one
must feed on Christ, the old corn of the land. Another
circumstance may be pointed out. Israel wanted the old corn
of the land in the plain of Jericho before the victory was
won; then Christ presents Himself as captain of Jehovah’s
host (v. 13). “ Art thou for us, or for our adversaries? “ said
Joshua. It must be for or against when it is a question of
Christ. I may, as man, have relations with others in certain
things, but every man I meet is “ for “ or “ against,” when
the question is of following Christ in heaven. If it is some
one more spiritual than I that I meet, he is for me; if it is
some one less spiritual, he is against me, for I might be
drawn into evil by him.
If we would enjoy the heavenly joy, we must feed on
Jesus as the manna come down from heaven, which is all
we want for all the circumstances where we are found.
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en we shall enjoy Him and the glory as our everlasting
portion.
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62728
Gideon - God’s Mighty Man
of Valor: Judges 6-8
e history of Gideon is of much practical importance.
It is the history of one of those revivals in Judges, so
peculiarly applicable to the present circumstances and
need of the church.
Every now and again (as we learn in the previous
chapters of this book, which will be seen at once to be
occupied throughout with the’ failure of Israel, when
placed in the land into which Joshua had brought them
in blessing) Israel had been sold into the hands of their
enemies. Groaning under the consequences of their sin,
they had cried unto Jehovah; and Jehovah ever faithful, had
raised up some one, as a deliverer out of the hands of those
that spoiled them. He was grieved with the aictions of
His people. He judged their sin and evil, yet at the same
time pitied and saved. But then the persons by whom He
wrought were always in themselves insignicant. We do
not nd revivals beginning from the head. Very generally,
when there has been anything of a recovery from the
doctrines and traditions of men, it has taken place through
the instrumentality of some obscure individual raised up in
the energy of the Spirit.
Such a “ savior “ was Gideon.
“ e children of Israel (we read) did evil in the sight
of Jehovah, and Jehovah delivered them into the hand of
Midian seven years,” chap. 6:1.
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477
e Midianites knew not that it was Jehovah who
had delivered Israel into their hands, yet in reality, they
were but the rod with which it pleased Him to punish
His people. As with the Assyrian (Isa. 10): “ O Assyrian,
the rod of mine anger, and the sta in thine hand is mine
indignation,” etc. When He has done with His rod, He
can break it or burn it. “ Shall the ax boast itself against
him that heweth therewith? or shall the saw magnify itself
against him that shaketh it? as if the rod should shake itself
against them that lift it up, or as if the sta should lift up
itself, as if it were no wood.” Satan himself is very often the
rod used by God for the discipline of His children.
“ And the hand of Midian prevailed against Israel.”
Nothing could have prevailed against them, had they been
faithful to Jehovah. “ And because of the Midianites, the
children of Israel made them the dens which are in the
mountains, and caves, and strong-holds. And so it was,
when Israel had sown, that the Midianites came up, and
the Amalekites, and the children of the east, even they
came up against them; and they encamped against them,
and destroyed the increase of the earth, till thou come unto
Gaza, and left no sustenance for Israel, neither sheep, nor
ox, nor ass. For they came up with their cattle and their
tents, and they came up as grasshoppers for multitude; for
both they and their cattle were without number; and they
entered into the land to destroy it. And Israel was greatly
impoverished because of the Midianites,” v. 2-6.
ey were in a sad condition. “ And the children of
Israel cried unto Jehovah.”
is is always the rst symptom of anything like a
revival. When the people of God, instead of saying that
they are rich and increased with goods and have need of
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nothing, feel how really poor and miserable, and blind and
naked they are, and that they can only receive that which
God is pleased to give, He is about to interfere and raise
them up.
e sin of the church has brought it into desolation. Yet
little real cry has gone up to the Lord; and wherefore? We
are not aware of how far we have departed from our original
standing. We have got so much of the world’s dignity, and
inuence, and riches! ese things, though they hide us
not from God or from Satan, are hiding from ourselves our
real poverty. Did we but know our destitution, did we but
cry unto the Lord, He, “ when he saw that there was none
shut up or left,” would deliver and raise up. Whether as to
Israel, or an individual, or the church, the lesson needed
to be learned is the same, that of its impoverishment and
destitution. No matter how poor we are, if sensible of our
poverty; for there is all fullness in Christ.
“ And it came to pass, when the children of Israel cried
unto Jehovah because of the Midianites, that Jehovah sent
a prophet unto the children of Israel, which said unto them,
us saith Jehovah God of Israel, I brought you out of
Egypt, and brought you forth out of the house of bondage,
and I delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians, and
out of the hand of all that oppressed you, and drave them
forth before you, and gave you their land: and I said unto
you, I am Jehovah your God; fear not the gods of the
Amorites in whose land ye dwell; but ye have not obeyed
my voice,” v. 7-10.
He rst of all shows them their sin, as He did when they
could not take Ai. ere the secret of their impoverishment
is found out. ‘ You are crying unto me now (He, in eect
says), because you feel your impoverishment; but the real
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479
cause of your impoverishment is this-you have sinned
against me.’ ey had none to blame but themselves. So
with the churches in the Apocalypse; and therefore, the
word to them is “ Repent.”
God had been faithful to Israel, but Israel had not been
faithful to God. is was the point of the prophet’s testimony.
He ever vindicates His own conduct. “ If we believe not,
yet he abideth faithful: he cannot deny himself.” Were we
walking as He would have us, neither the world, nor the
esh, nor the devil, could prevail against us. Whenever we
nd ourselves under the power of our enemies, we must
be sure to charge the fault on ourselves, and not on God.
Does Joshua lie on his face because the people have turned
their backs before the men of Ai, Jehovah says to him, “
Get thee up; wherefore liest thou on thy face? Israel hath
sinned.” Joshua ought to have known that sin in Israel, not
any changeableness in God, was the cause of their being
smitten. Jehovah would not be amongst them any more,
until they had put away the accursed thing. Could He go
out to bless iniquity? Nothing can weaken our hands but
sin; “ greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the
world.”
Whether in the restoration of an individual soul, or of
a body of saints, God will have it acknowledged that there
is no failure in Him, but that we have suered because of
our own sin and folly.
Having testied of their sin, Jehovah next raises up
for them the instrument of their deliverance. “ And there
came an angel of Jehovah, and sat under an oak which was
in Ophrah, that pertained unto Joash the Abi-ezrite; and
his son Gideon threshed wheat by the winepress to hide it
from the Midianites,” v.
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480
Not anything could have been more abject than the
condition of Gideon as described here:-stealthily threshing
wheat (for fear of the Midianites), to feed his family! But
here is one whom the Spirit of God delights to make
mention of; whose name, unrecorded of man, is thought
worthy to be recorded by Him (Heb. 11:32-34). e Spirit
of God writes to magnify the grace of God, not to exalt
man. He would have us bear in mind such little incidents
as that noticed here, in the history of the soldiers of faith,
in order that we may see by what weak and insignicant
instruments God works. His mightiest victories have ever
been won by such, and not by those who had resources in
themselves.
“And the angel of Jehovah appeared unto him, and said
unto him, Jehovah is with thee, thou mighty man of valor,”
v. 12.
What a remarkable salutation! Stealthily threshing
wheat to hide it from the enemy looked not like valor. To the
human eye, there was everything that betrayed depression
of spirit. But God’s “ mighty men “ have ever been such
as were arrant cowards in themselves, men distrustful of
their own strength and wisdom in coping with the enemy-”
out of weakness made strong.” None are “ mighty men of
valor,” but those to whom it has been said, “ Jehovah is
with thee.” When God calls a person by a name, He makes
that person what the name imports. But He takes the most
abject man of an abject tribe, to make him His “ mighty
man of valor.” “ Ye see your calling, brethren, how that not
many wise men after the esh, not many mighty, not many
noble are called,”
Cor. 1: 26-29. God works not ordinarily by such: the
credit would then be given to our wisdom, our inuence,
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481
and the like, and it is written, “ No esh shall glory in his
presence.” He takes “ the foolish things of the world to
confound the wise, and the weak things of the world to
confound the mighty, and base things of the world and
things which are despised, yea, and things which are not,
to bring to naught things that are.” Is Timothy exhorted to
“ ght the good ght of faith? “ it is, as one “ strong in the
grace that is in Christ Jesus.” To every Christian it may be
said, as Paul writes to those at Corinth, “ Watch ye, stand
fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong “; but again,
we are told to be “ strong in the Lord, and in the power of
His might.”
“ And Gideon said unto him, Oh, my Lord, if Jehovah
be with us, why then is all this befallen us? and where be
all his miracles which our fathers told us of, saying, Did
not Jehovah bring us up from Egypt? but now Jehovah
hath forsaken us, and delivered us into the hands of the
Midianites,” v. 13.
His heart has been touched, and prepared of the Lord
for the work to which he is called. He has a deep sense of
the condition of Israel upon his soul, though he is without
the power to help them; and he has been comparing that
condition with the title and power of Jehovah. is is the
way of faith. It is not for us to be comparing ourselves among
ourselves, we should compare our condition with the title
and will of Jehovah to bless. Is not something of this sort
the language of many a saint now?-Can it be possible that
the Holy Ghost is in the church, whilst, at the same time,
the church is so worldly, so divided? is it at all like what it
was in the apostle’s days? e answer of the Lord to the
cry of Israel discloses the secret of our condition. We have
sinned. We have not obeyed His voice. And, if awakened to
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482
the sense of what we have lost, ofttimes, there has not been
the acknowledgment of our sin in departing from God,
and it has, therefore, only led to fretfulness and impatience
or to wrong pretensions. Gideon sees the Lord’s hand to be
upon His people, and that because of sin. But he identies
himself with the people. He might have said, Israel has
sinned,’ or Satan has driven us here’; and then, there
would have been no hope. He cannot understand Jehovah’s
presence, without making His people happy; and he at
once loses sight of himself in his interest in, and thoughts
about, the people of God as God’s people, and says, “ If
Jehovah be with us, why then is all this befallen us? … now
Jehovah hath forsaken us, and delivered us into the hands
of the Midianites.”
“ And Jehovah looked upon Gideon, and said, Go in
this thy might, and thou shalt save Israel out of the hand of
the Midianites: have not I sent thee? “ v. 14.
Jehovah looked upon him at is the rst thing. e
man who is really strong and mighty is he who has thus
got into the secret of Israel’s impoverishment. Jehovah has
looked upon him. Jehovah has identied Himself with him,
and shown His heart to be towards him. ere is no limit
to his might. But does Gideon feel himself to be a strong
man? No! never before had he so known his own weakness
and insignicance; never had he so felt the poverty of his
father’s house as now. “ And he said unto him, Oh my Lord,
wherewith shall I save Israel? behold my family is poor in
Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house,” v. 15.
us it is always with the soldiers of faith. ey have
never so felt their own weakness as they feel it when called
to be God’s mighty men of valor. “ Not by might, nor by
power, but by my Spirit, saith Jehovah of hosts.” People
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483
often say, ‘ I want to feel that I am strong.’ What we need
is to feel that we are weak; this brings in Omnipotence.
We shall have a life of feeling by-and-by in the glory; now
we are called upon to lead a life of faith. What saint but
knows from the experience of the deceitfulness of his own
heart, that, had we power in ourselves instead of in Christ,
we should be something. is is what God does not intend.
“ Wherewith shall I save Israel? “ His threshing
instrument would have been a poor thing indeed to look
to, as that “ wherewith “ to go against the host of Midian.
Never, we repeat, had he felt the poverty of his father’s
house as now. When God is about to use a man, He makes
that man feel in himself most consciously nothing. If He
delivers by Gideon’s hand, He must have the glory, not
Gideon; His must be the strength, not Gideon’s. It is always
as it should be when we drop down into our nothingness.
Strong in the Lord, we are weakest in ourselves. Can we
not, almost invariably, trace our failures to self-condence?
When a believer thinks that he is going to do a feat, his
failure often becomes ridiculous. God must abase that
which is proud and lifted up.
“ And Jehovah said unto him, Surely I will be with
thee.” As with David in another ght of faith, there was no
sword in the hand of Gideon, not anything “ wherewith “
to go against the Midianites. But what matter of that? “ If
God be for us, who can be against us? “ He goes not forth
unarmed. “ Surely I will be with thee [and as a consequence
of that], thou shalt smite the Midianites as one man.”
Here, then, is the mighty man of valor, and here is his
armor.
Gideon asks a sign:-
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“ And he said unto him, If now I have found grace in
thy sight, then show me a sign that thou talkest with me.
Depart not hence, I pray thee, until I come unto thee, and
bring forth my present, and set it before thee.”
ere is feebleness here doubtless; he ought to have had
simple condence, and not have needed a sign; still all he
really cares for is having Jehovah with him.
“ And He said, I will tarry until thou come again.”
“ And Gideon went in, and made ready a kid and
unleavened cakes of an ephah of our: the esh he put in
a basket, and he put the broth in a pot, and brought it out
unto him under the oak, and presented it. And the angel
of God said unto him, Take the esh and the unleavened
cakes, and lay them upon this rock, and pour out the broth.
And he did so. en the angel of Jehovah departed out of
his sight.
“ And when Gideon perceived that he was an angel of
Jehovah, Gideon said, Alas, 0 Lord Jehovah, for because I
have seen an angel of Jehovah face to face.”
Another mark of feebleness (we do not see this fear in
Abraham, under similar circumstances): but Jehovah will
give Gideon condence to stand before Him.
“ And Jehovah said unto him, Peace be unto thee; fear
not: thou shalt not die,” v. 17-23.
Is there not most important instruction for ourselves
in all this? Faith has that to present to God which He can
accept. Whatever our own failure, still Jesus is the same,
the value of His work is unchanged. ere has been of late
an awakening to a good deal of busy activity in service; but
God never says to a soul, ‘ Peace be unto thee, fear not,”
because of service. We are in danger of putting service in
the place of the burnt oering. Where this is done, the soul
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485
gets weighed down, not being able to nd satisfaction in
the service, instead of going on in happy liberty of spirit.
Gideon’s heart reassured, he builds an altar there unto
Jehovah, and calls it JEHOVAH-SHALOM (v. 24).
And now he is prepared for service. He has been under
God’s tutorage. He has learned where his strength is (he no
longer says, “ wherewith shall I save Israel? “) and Jehovah
has given him condence to stand before Him. But where
does He set him to work?-with the Midianites? No, not
in the least. He has to begin Jehovah’s work at home, with
that which is nearest to himself.
“ And it came to pass the same night, that Jehovah said
unto him, Take thy father’s youngest bullock, even the
second bullock of seven years old, and throw down the altar
of Baal that thy father hath, and cut down the grove that
is by it; and build an altar unto Jehovah thy God upon the
top of the rock in the ordered place, and take the second
bullock, and oer a burnt sacrice with the wood of the
grove which thou shalt cut down,” v. 25, 26.
ere judgment commences. We must “ cease to do
evil,” before we “ learn to do well.” e Lord comes to us as
“ the God of peace “; still it is, Down with the idols in your
father’s house.’ We may have been restless in service; but
in the midst of much doing, how little have we done this,
or ever practically attempted to set up God’s altar “ in the
ordered place.” Man’s will has not been invaded. It is of the
essence of willfulness to say, ‘ I have a right to worship God
how I like.’ Obedience to God is the saint’s rule and liberty.
Not all the powers in the world have a title to interfere
with this. And moreover, if God says, Pull down the altar
of Baal,’ He will give strength to do it.
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How does Gideon act? His conduct is that of simple
faith and obedience.
“ en Gideon took ten men of his servants, and did
as Jehovah had said unto him: and so it was, because he
feared his father’s household and the men of the city, that
he could not do it by day, that he did it by night,” v. 27.
He acts unhesitatingly. And what is the consequence?
Immediate opposition.
“ When the men of the city arose early in the morning,
behold the altar of Baal was cut down, and the grove was
cut down that was by it (the grove might add beauty to the
altar of Baal, but God’s altar must be set up in its native
simplicity), and the second bullock was oered upon the
altar that was built. And they said one to another, Who
hath done this? And when they inquired and asked, they
said, Gideon the son of Joash hath done this thing. en
the men of the city said unto Joash, Bring out thy son, that
he may die because he hath cast down the altar of Baal,
and because he hath cut down the grove that was by it,” v.
28-30.
e action of faith always excites the esh. Israel knew
not where their strength was, they thought it in Baal.
Gideon had learned it to be in God. ese are sifting times.
In the Lord’s day everything was apparently in beautiful
order; but because He was setting aside men’s traditions, all
were against Him. So now. How many suppose the strength
of Christians to consist in the things they see around them!
e soul taught of God knows it is only in Jehovah Jesus.
“ And Joash said unto all that stood against him, Will
ye plead for Baal? will ye save him? he that will plead for
him, let him be put to death whilst it is yet morning: if he
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be a god, let him plead for himself, because one hath cast
down his altar.
erefore on that day he called him Jerubbaal, saying,
Let Baal plead against him, because he hath thrown down
his altar,” v. 31, 32.
It was of no use to argue the case, except to show the
people the folly of pleading for Baal. If the things set aside
were Baal’s, and if Baal was a god, surely he would arise and
take their part. It was of no use to debate. And do not let us
suppose that all the arguments of all the good men in the
world can make that which is evil, good. It is melancholy
indeed to see the arguments that are devised by the wit of
men in vindication of evil.
16
e bounden duty of the saint
is to separate from evil, however sanctioned by antiquity or
anything else.
e name “Jerubbaal “ was no defense. On the contrary,
it brought up the question whether there was power in
Satan now that faith was in exercise.
When mixed up with the world, Satan has no
occasion to disturb us. Let him be alarmed, and up come
Midianites, Amalekites, etc. “ en all the Midianites, and
the Amalekites, and the children of the east were gathered
together, and went over and pitched in the valley of Jezreel,”
v. 33.
Here is Gideon with his own people against him, and
the enemies of Israel gathered together and pitching in
Jezreel. But he has peace with God, and Jehovah is (so
to speak) bound to appear on his side. How does he act?
e Spirit of Jehovah comes upon him, and he blows the
16 It is a most fearful instance of the want of a sound mind,
when we nd so much perverse ingenuity, so many subtleties,
so many analogies drawn, in order to lull the awakened
conscience into contentedness with evil.
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trumpet, and Abiezer is gathered after him (v. 34). Had
Gideon been serving Baal, he could not have blown the
trumpet thus. But Baal is down, and the altar of God is set
up in the ordered place. He sends messengers throughout
all Manasseh, who also are gathered unto him, and to Asher,
Zebulun, and Naphtali; and these all are gathered around
the man, who is least in his father’s house, the poorest of
the tribe of Manasseh, but to whom Jehovah has said, “ Go
in this thy might.”
ere seems still to have been a measure of distrust in
Gideon’s mind (v. 36-40). He asks a fresh and double sign
that Jehovah will save by his hand, as he had said, proving
by the eece both wet and dry. Jehovah grants his desire;
and he is sent forth, with the conrmed assurance of his
divine call and mission, to “ turn to ight the armies of the
aliens.”
Again let us remark, faithfulness begins not with the
Midianites, it begins at home. is is a great principle
(whether as to an individual soul, or as to the church of
God). Gideon must attack the evil inside his father’s house,
and in the midst of Israel, before he is used of Jehovah to
save Israel out of the hands of the Midianites.
e moment there is a thorough sense of grace, the
word is, “ Go in this thy might.”
He is set up as captain of a large army; and now he
stands forth to confront the enemies of Israel, and of
Jehovah.
“ en Jerubbaal, who is Gideon, and all the people that
were with him rose up early, and pitched beside the well
of Harod: so that the host of the Midianites were on the
north side of them by the hill of Morah, in the valley,”
chap. 7:1.
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is is God’s way of acting. He never honors us when
we are thinking that we are anything. Great blessing has
often been preceded by our deep humbling, by humbling
even sometimes in the eyes of others. We were brought
low, and the Lord lifted us up.
But Gideon has a still further lesson to learn (one
painfully our own). He has known the acceptance of his
oering. e youngest of an idolatrous household, he has
built an altar to Jehovah, and begun to destroy idolatry. But
he has yet to be taught that there is not a bit more courage
or prowess really in the men that had gathered after him
than in himself.
“ And Jehovah said unto Gideon, e people that are
with thee are too many for me to deliver the Midianites
into their hands, lest Israel vaunt themselves against me
saying, Mine own hand hath saved me,” v. 2.
At once he has to get rid of a great number of them.
is is done rst of all by means of an ancient ordinance
of Moses. Jehovah tells him, “ Now, therefore, go to proclaim
in the ears of the people, saying, Whosoever is fearful and
faint-hearted, let him return, and depart early from mount
Gilead.” (Compare Deut. 20:8.) God’s great design in His
dealings was to teach Israel to trust in Himself. He wants
to nd in His people a true heart. A true heart makes a
strong hand. Having condence in the Captain of our
salvation and not in ourselves, we faint not at the sight of
our enemies, but reckon, with true-hearted Caleb, that “ we
are well able to overcome them.”
“ And there returned of the people twenty-and-two
thousand. And there remained ten thousand,” v. 3.
Do we not know what this means? We know that the
Lord Jesus sent forth the proclamation.-` Let those who
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will follow me count the cost.’ “ Foxes have holes [told He
one, who had said unto Him, ‘ Lord, I will follow thee
whithersoever thou goest ‘], and the birds of the air have
nests, but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head
“-and then there was fearfulness and faint-heartedness.
When there was nothing but Christ, and everything else
was against them, many turned back, and walked no more
with Him. Condence in the esh must be renounced;
God will not use the esh.
e present is an age when people are coveting to know a
little about everything. Were God to employ the learning of
learned men, the inuence of men of rank, and the like, the
church would say, We have saved ourselves.’ ose who have
had what are called “ the advantages of a good education,”
nd that He says, Set your learning, your wisdom, your
inuence aside: I cannot save by these.’ e use to be made
of these things is to say of them with Paul, “ What things
were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ.” Often are
these much coveted things found hindrances in the way of
those who possess them, and the great thing to be done in
conict is to keep them under. God will not allow human
learning, inuence, moral character, or aught else, to come
in as any item in our deliverance. He is very jealous of all
man’s substitutes for, and imitations of, the power of the
Holy Ghost. In stripping ourselves of such things, we may
seem to others to be throwing away our inuence and our
usefulness; but what is usefulness? what is “ doing good “?
e doing of God’s will. And God is faith’s suciency. To
all appearance Gideon was weakening his own hands; at
the rst proclamation, twenty-two thousand left him; but
in reality, instead of losing strength, he was gainer by their
departure. ese fearful and faint-hearted ones would have
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discouraged the rest had they remained amongst them-”
Let him go and return unto his house, lest his brother’s
heart faint, as well as his heart.” e esh is very bold in
word, but when it comes to the point of trial, with Peter, it
curses, and swears that it knows not Jesus. ere is a great
deal of “ philosophy and vain deceit “ going about now. “
Beware lest any man spoil you,” says the apostle. Were all
the trappings of the esh laid aside, we should discern how
little real spiritual energy there is amongst us. Do you ask,
‘ What shall I study? ‘ Study well these four words: “ the
esh proteth nothing “
“ And Jehovah said unto Gideon, e people are yet too
many; bring them down unto the water, and I will try them
for thee there; and it shall be, that of whom I say unto thee,
is shall go with thee, the same shall go with thee; and
of whomsoever I say unto thee, is shall not go with thee,
the same shall not go,”v. 4.
ere is such a thing as the trial of our faith; and, whilst
we very often should be quite unable to test one another,
God knows the best way of doing this as to each.
“ So he brought down the people unto the water: and
Jehovah said unto Gideon, Every one that lappeth of the
water with his tongue, as a dog lappeth, him shalt thou
set by himself; likewise every one that boweth down upon
his knees to drink. And the number of them that lapped,
putting their hand to their mouth, were three hundred
men; but all the rest of the people bowed down upon their
knees to drink water. And Jehovah said unto Gideon, By
the three hundred men that lapped will I save you, and
deliver the Midianites into thine hand: and let all the other
people go every man unto his place. So the people took
victuals in their hand, and their trumpets: and he sent all
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the rest of Israel every man unto his tent, and retained
those three hundred men. And the host of Midian was
beneath him in the valley,” v. 5-8.
God’s ways are strange to sense: the indel scos at
them. ese people were really not afraid (as those who
departed before) to go to the battle; they were all of them
soldiers girded for war-the test was this, whether, in that
thirsty day they would lap the water, putting the hand to
the mouth, or bow down and drink at their ease. e three
hundred chosen ones (those by whom Jehovah was about
to work) had not time for halting, their hearts being in the
work, and they merely took a draft as they went on their
way.
e apostle speaks of being “ entangled with the aairs
of this life “ (2 Tim. 2:4); all that we can safely take, would
we “ please him who has chosen us to be soldiers,” is just
a draft by the way. ere is a very great dierence between
being in the circumstances of this life, and being entangled
with them. When tested by Jehovah, those who bowed
down were not t for His use, any more than (though they
were not) the faint-hearted. ey must go to their homes.
Glory is (for all who believe) God’s answer to the
work of Christ; grace is followed by glory: “ Whom he
justied, them he also gloried.” Instead of its being this,
the devil seeks to put it before the soul on the ground
of our devotedness and zeal. At the same time, beloved,
would not you and I that our place should have been with
“ the three hundred “? Shall we let slip the opportunity of
confessing Jesus, because we are saved? In the experience of
almost every believer there is a being brought down to the
water-some turning-point, when he either goes onward in
devotedness to the Lord, or otherwise sinks down into a
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mere common-place christian. Not one of us is too obscure
to be tried whether he will seek God’s honor, or present
things, rst.
Gideon (instructed that the battle is Jehovah’s, and that
he must get rid of all encumbrances) is next shown his
enemies.
“ And it came to pass the same night, that Jehovah said
unto him, Arise get thee down unto the host, for I have
delivered it into thine hand,” v. 9.
It is a blessed thing to be shown our enemies and told
with Gideon, that Jehovah has delivered them into our
hands. Our old man is “ crucied “ (Rom. 6:6), the world
“ overcome,” and its prince “ judged,” John 16:33, 11. If we
are walking by faith, as risen with Christ, Satan, the world,
and the esh are under our feet.
And mark further, how graciously Jehovah anticipates
the need of His servant, in adding:-
“ But if thou fear to go down, go thou with Phurah thy
servant down to the host; and thou shalt hear what they
say; and afterward shall thine hands be strengthened to go
down unto the host,” v. 10,11.
Not anything could be more alarming than to see the
fearful odds that are against the people of faith-the world,
the esh, and the unceasing hostility of Satan! Who would
not be faint-hearted, if we saw but this? God is pleased
to let Gideon hear what is in the Midianites’ hearts. So
too is He pleased to let us know, very often, what is in the
hearts of our enemies. “ Art thou come hither to torment
us before the time? “ lets out the secret. And as to the men
of the world, there is not one in a hundred of them but
that has the fullest conviction that Christians are right;
yet, because they have numbers on their side, they try to
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persuade themselves to the contrary. Almost everything he
hears bids the intelligent Christian, ‘ Be strong.’
Let us follow Gideon.
“ en went he down with Phurah his servant unto the
outside of the armed men that were in the host. And the
Midianites, and the Amalekites, and all the children of the
east, lay along in the valley like grasshoppers for multitude;
their camels were without number, as the sand by the sea-
side for multitude. And when Gideon was come, behold,
there was a man that told a dream unto his fellow, and said,
Behold I dreamed a dream, and lo, a cake of barley bread
tumbled into the host of Midian, and came unto a tent
and smote it that it fell, and overturned it, that the tent lay
along. And his fellow answered and said, is is nothing
else save the sword of Gideon the son of Joash, a man of
Israel; for into his hand hath God delivered Midian, and
all the host,” v. 12-14.
Divine encouragement is never to the pung up of the
esh. Anything of pride and self-importance must have
been sorely wounded. When God will show His favored
servant the things that are coming to pass, and that he shall
smite the Midianites as one man, He makes him feel, that
(in himself) he is but as a “ cake of barley bread.”
And is there not instruction for ourselves in this?
Were Christians stripped of their worldliness, more really
like the “ cake of barley bread “ (the most homely thing
possible), the world would stand more in fear of them. We
have clothed ourselves with its trappings and desired its
respectability, so that it thinks we are obliged to go to it
for help. ere is an unhealthy kind of zeal, often found
amongst us, which makes a person ask himself, How shall
I give a testimony? Rather let each saint seek to show
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forth “ the mind that was in Christ Jesus.” A man, always
anxious to prove himself an honest man, we should begin
to suspect; and if a person is always very anxious to prove
that he is a Christian, it is doubtful whether he yet knows
much of the mind of Christ. Let us quietly subside into
simple God-fearing God-acknowledging Christianity,
and though outwardly, as a cake of barley bread, the world
would feel about us, as the Midianite speaks of Gideon to
his fellow.
“ And it was so, when Gideon heard the telling of the
dream, and the interpretation thereof, that he worshipped.”
Before he goes to battle, he worships in the full
condence of victory. e worship of faith is always the
worship of condence. Were we more really, in our own
eyes, the “ cake of barley bread,” there would be more
abounding praise.
He worshipped:-” and returned into the host of Israel,
and said, Arise; for Jehovah hath delivered into your
17
hand
the host of the Midianites,” v. 15.
What is this “ host of Israel “? ree hundred men! e
Midianites are “ as grasshoppers for multitude,” Jehovah’s
“ host,” but a handful of men! It is most important to see
the dignity attached to the three hundred. God (as we
have before remarked in the history of this mighty man of
valor) reckons not according to what we are in ourselves
but according to that which He makes us.
And had He actually delivered the Midianites into the
hand of Israel? No. Neither as yet is Satan actually under
our feet, though faith counts him to be. Had Gideon said,
17 Here again there is the setting aside of self. He does not say,
“ into my hand,” but “ into your hand.” Jehovah had said, “ into
thine hand “ (v. 9), and the Midianite “ into his hand “ (v. 14).
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‘ I will not believe before I get the spoil,’ that would have
been unbelief.
And now comes the conict.
“ And he divided the three hundred men into three
companies, and put a trumpet in every man’s hand, with
empty pitchers, and lamps within the pitchers. And he
said unto them, Look on me, and do likewise: and behold,
when I come to the outside of the camp, it shall be, that as
I do, so shall ye do. When I blow with a trumpet, I and all
that are with me, then blow ye the trumpets also on every
side of all the camp, and say, e sword of Jehovah and of
Gideon,” v. 16-18.
e weapons of their warfare were the most foolish
things imaginable, trumpets, pitchers, and lamps in the
pitchers! Faith’s weapons must be mighty through God
alone.
“ So Gideon, and the hundred men that were with him,
came unto the outside of the camp, in the beginning of
the middle watch; and they had but newly set the watch:
and they blew the trumpets, and brake the pitchers that
were in their hands. And the three companies blew the
trumpets, and brake the pitchers, and held the lamps in
their left hands, and the trumpets in their right hands to
blow withal; and they cried, e sword of Jehovah and
of Gideon! And they stood every man in his place round
about the camp; and all the host ran and cried and ed.
And the three hundred blew the trumpets, and Jehovah
set every man’s sword against his fellow, even throughout
all the host: and the host ed to Beth-shittah in Zererath,
and to the border of Abel-meholah, unto Tabbath. And
the men of Israel gathered themselves together out of.
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Naphtali, and out of Asher, and out of all Manasseh, and
pursued after the Midianites,” v. 19-23.
ese things shall yet be acted over again. Now the
weapons wherewith we have to ght are testimony by
word of mouth and our own insignicance. Our power is
in giving testimony to Jesus, and never getting out of the
place of being but “ earthen vessels.” We must remember
that the vessel only contains the light, let us not pretend
that it is the light. e excellency of the power must be of
God and not of us.
“ And Gideon sent messengers throughout all mount
Ephraim, saying, Come down against the Midianites.”
Impotent in ourselves for blessing (and having found
this out), but having proved the blessedness of simple
dependence upon God, we can, with Gideon, call upon
others to have fellowship with us (v. 24, 25). But let us
not be setting up ourselves. Everything depends upon the
presence of the Holy Ghost, ungrieved, unhindered. Let
this be told, and let us hide ourselves.
e men of Ephraim are seen at the close of chapter 7
slaying Oreb and Zeeb. (ey are allowed to come in for
blessing in result.) Now they turn and chide with Gideon
for not having called them at the rst.
“ And the men of Ephraim said unto him, Why hast
thou served us thus, that thou calledst us not, when thou
wentest to ght with the Midianites? and they did chide
with him sharply,” chap. 8:1.
is is just what the half-hearted Christian does. He
is very angry at not being associated with those who are
wholehearted. But whose is the fault? Whenever there is
any energy of the Spirit of God working in the church, the
language of the men of Ephraim is the language of such;
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‘ Why not have taken us with you? ‘ Faith’s answer is very
simple, ‘ Because then we must have gone on your ground;
what we have to do is to go wherever the Lord leads: we
cannot stop to make compacts and agreements.’ No one
Christian has a right to stop on his way for another; he
must go forward himself in individual faithfulness. e
eort to drag others along with us is in reality but a device
of Satan to keep ourselves back. Note Jehovah’s word to
Jeremiah, “ Let them return unto thee; but return not thou
to them,” Jer. 15:19. Are any desirous of going forward,
let them not stop to carry along with them “ the men of
Ephraim.” Far better is it to go on with but few to follow,
than to get numbers with us who are only half-hearted.
“ And Gideon said, What have I done now in comparison
of you? Is not the gleaning of the grapes of Ephraim better
than the vintage of Abi-ezer? God hath delivered into your
hands the princes of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb: and what
was I able to do in comparison of you? “ V. 2, 3.
Let us mark this. Where the power of God is most
working, there is always the deepest grace, and the
consciousness that all that we are, we are by the grace of
God. What a manifestation have we here of the mind that
was in Christ! How graciously did the Lord speak of His
poor, failing, faithless disciples; “ Ye are they,” said He, “ that
have continued with me in my temptations,” Luke 22:28.
Gideon esteems others better than himself. Not anything
so hinders blessing (individual or collective) as a feeling of
superiority to others. e exercised soul will judge itself,
whilst it sees that which is done by another in the light
of grace. Gideon casts himself and his three hundred in
the shade and brings into prominence the victory of the
men of Ephraim. If honest in self-judgment, have we not
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at times detected in ourselves something of an inclination
to overlook grace in other saints because they “ followed
not with us? “ Grace is able to fasten on that in a brother
that is pleasing to God, and seeks to bring it out, passing
over in so doing, very much there may be, along with it of
failure. Jesus knew, and perfectly, the weakness and failure
of His disciples, though He addressed them as He did. It
is a blessing when we can sink ourselves, that others may
come into prominence. “ Let your light,” it is said, “ so shine
before men, that they may see your good works [not, you],
and glorify [not you, but] your Father which is in heaven.”
If any chide with us, let us seek grace to go down, and take
the lowest place, and give them credit.-” en their anger
was abated toward him, when he had said that.” See Prov.
15:1, “ A soft answer turneth away wrath.”
“ And Gideon came to Jordan, and passed over, he,
and the three hundred men that were with him, faint yet
pursuing them,” v. 4.
What three little words could be more blessedly
descriptive of the Christian, than these?-not, ‘ faint and
sitting down,’ not, ‘ faint and giving. up,’-but ‘ faint, yet
pursuing.’ We have to do with Him who “giveth power
to the faint,” Isa. 40:29. “To them that have no might he
increaseth strength.” It is a blessed use to make of our
faintness and weariness, that of drawing out of the fullness
of the supply of grace and strength in Christ. It is said, “
Be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might “; but
to whom? To the one who has no strength in himself, who
would give up his course if strength were not supplied to
him. One victory achieved, the conict goes on afresh. Do
we nd ourselves fainting in spirit? Still let us go on, for
our God giveth strength to the weak. We like not this trial
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of faith. It is very painful doubtless to feel day after day our
own weakness. We want to feel that the battle is over; but
let us remember that now is our time of war. We are called
on to ght “ as good soldiers of Jesus Christ,” and that in
a daily round of conicts. Today there has been sucient
grace and sucient evil, and to-morrow there will be
sucient grace and sucient evil. What we need is to live
day by day on God. He is faithful, and will supply strength
according to the occasion and need. e church will not
be at rest till the Lord comes. But weakness ought to be
no hindrance to our going forward-” faint, yet pursuing.”
It is a sad thing to be a spiritual sluggard, for a saint, like a
door on its hinges, never to get o himself. e moment a
person has learned to renounce himself, he goes forward.
Were felt weakness a reason for standing still, who so weak
as Gideon?
e next thing taught us in this history is that the world
is neither able nor willing to supply refreshment to the man
of faith. e world never gives, it may concede something
to us, if we concede something to it, but it never gives.
at which is required by it is, generally, the sacrice of
faithfulness.
“ And he said unto the men of Succoth, Give, I pray you,
loaves of bread unto the people that follow me: for they
be faint, and I am pursuing after Zebah and Zalmunna,
kings of Midian. And the princes of Succoth said, Are the
hands of Zebah and Zalmunna now in thine hand, that we
should give bread unto thine army? “ v. 5, 6.
If you profess to the world that you are “ following after
“ resurrection glory, “ pressing toward the mark for the
prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus “ (Phil. 3),
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you will not meet with anything at its hands but some such
taunt as this.
“ And Gideon said, erefore, when Jehovah hath
delivered Zebah and Zalmunna into mine hand, then I will
tear your esh with the thorns of the wilderness and with
briers. And he went up thence to Penuel, and spake unto
them likewise: and the men of Penuel answered him as the
men of Succoth had answered him. And he spake also unto
the men of Penuel, saying, When I come again in peace, I
will break down this tower,” v. 7, 9.
In the condence of victory Gideon was going forward
(though consciously faint), and these princes of Succoth
and the men of Penuel would not come to the help of
Jehovah against the mighty. To them it seemed a foolish
thing to be ghting with three hundred men against such
enemies. So we seem to be very fools when we speak of
certain glory. We must make up our minds to this. ere
are no resources to be had from the world, to help us on
in the conict in which we are engaged.’ You say you are
kings and priests unto God, that you are to have glory,’ is
the taunt of unbelief,’ but you cannot show us anything for
it: when we see you in the glory, we will believe.”
We have not one thing to show, not anything of which
the natural man can take notice. Our wisdom is foolishness.
We must go on feeling our weakness, condent of victory.
By-and-by the tables will be turned. e taunts and
reproaches of the world will bring down judgment on their
own heads. One special thing that the Lord is coming to
judge is, we are told, “ all their hard speeches which ungodly
sinners have spoken against him,” Jude 15. ere is not any
present ridicule of His saints that will not be regarded as
against Himself in that day.
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“ Now Zebah and Zalmunna were in Karkor, and their
hosts with them, about fteen thousand men, all that were
left of all the hosts of the children of the east: for there fell
an hundred and twenty thousand men that drew sword,”
v. 10.
“ And Gideon went up by the way of them that dwelt
in tents on the east of Nobah and Jogbehah, and smote
the host: for the host was secure. And when Zebah and
Zalmunna ed, he pursued after them, and took the two
kings of Midian, Zebah and Zelmunna, and discomted
all the host,” v. 11, 12.
“ And Gideon, the son of Joash, returned from battle
before the sun was up, and caught a young man of the
men of Succoth, and inquired of him: and he described
unto him the princes of Succoth, and the elders thereof,
even threescore and seventeen men. And he came unto the
men of Succoth, and said, Behold Zebah and Zalmunna,
with whom ye did upbraid me saying, Are the hands of
Zebah and Zalmunna now in thine hand, that we should
give bread unto thy men that are weary? And he took the
elders of the city, and thorns of the wilderness and briers,
and with them he taught the men of Succoth. And he beat
down the tower of Penuel, and slew the men of the city,”
v. 13-17.
“ en said he unto Zebah and Zalmunna, What
manner of men were they whom ye slew at Tabor? And they
answered, As thou art, so were they; each one resembled
the children of a king. And he said, ey were my brethren,
even the sons of my mother: as Jehovah liveth, if ye had
saved them alive, I would not slay you. And he said unto
Jether his rst-born, Up, and slay them. But the youth
drew not his sword; for he feared, because he was yet a
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youth. en Zebah and Zalmunna said, Rise thou, and fall
upon us: for as the man is, so is his strength. And Gideon
arose, and slew Zebah and Zalmunna, and took away the
ornaments that were on their camels’ necks,” v. 18-21.
“ en the men of Israel said unto Gideon, Rule thou
over us, both thou and thy son, and thy son’s son also; for
thou hast delivered us from the hand of Midian. And
Gideon said unto them, I will not rule over you, neither
shall my son rule over you: Jehovah shall rule over you,” v.
22, 23.
e Lord Jesus would not be made king by the people
(John 6:15). He came in His Father’s name (they would
not receive Him thus) and He would not be received in
His own name. It is a very dierent thing being received in
our own names, from our being in the name of the Lord.
Gideon retires; he will not take the place of rule that belongs
only to Jehovah. He knows that if the people’s minds are
xed on Gideon, nothing but weakness and dishonor can
result; but that if Jehovah be acknowledged and leaned on,
there will be strength and blessing. Do we not nd this
principle running all through the New Testament?
Paul hides himself. ough having had such revelations
from the Lord, though possessing such a compass of
knowledge, yet the moment he sees the spirit coming in
of setting up Paul, he says, “ Who then is Paul, and who
is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed, even as the
Lord gave to every man? I have planted, Apollos watered;
but God gave the increase.” So again, “ erefore let no
man glory in men: for all things are yours; whether Paul,
or Apollos, or Cephas,” etc. (1 Cor. 3). Had he put himself
forward, Christ would not have been seen. And this
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principle, true of Gideon, true of Paul, is true of every saint
acting in faith.
One special mark of growth in grace is evidenced in
our magnifying the name of the Lord Jesus, even though it
be in the vilifying of our own names before the saints, and
before the world, in our taking all blame to ourselves, and
our giving all praise to the Lord. “ He that glorieth, let him
glory in the Lord.”
Had the history of Gideon closed here, what a beautiful
picture would it have presented!
ere is none perfect but the Lord. He is the true
Gideon, the true Samson, the true David. At the close of the
chapter we see declension after revival-speedy declension,
and that proceeding from Gideon himself.
“ And Gideon said unto them, I would desire a request
of you, that ye would give me every man the earrings of
his prey (for they had golden earrings because they were
Ishmael-ites “):-
He wanted some monument to signalize his victory.
ese earrings were the spoils of triumph confessedly from
Jehovah.
“ And they answered, We will willingly give them. And
they spread a garment, and did cast therein every man the
earrings of his prey. And the weight of the golden earrings
that he requested was a thousand and seven hundred shekels
of gold, besides ornaments, and collars, and purple raiment
that was on the kings of Midian, and besides the chains
that were about their camels’ necks. And Gideon made
an ephod thereof, and put it in his city, even in Ophrah:
and all Israel went thither a whoring after it, which thing
became a snare unto Gideon, and to his house,” v. 24-27.
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Man seeks something whereby to perpetuate present
blessing. is has ever been one way of his perverseness.
‘ What security have you that it will last? ‘ he asks, and
faith answers, ‘ None whatever, but the presence of the
Holy Ghost.’ If we attempt to secure it by other means
like Gideon, we make an ephod. We seek to perpetuate
blessing, to secure it to others, but in a very short time
keep up the form (having lost the power), and worship
that instead of God, just as Gideon’s ephod had divine
honors paid to it. What is it to have a set of principles
(however scriptural) without the power of the Spirit? e
only thing to give perpetuity of blessing is the presence of
the Holy Ghost. God has wrought in the way of revival,
and men whose hearts bounded with love to God and to
their fellow-men have said, ‘ Oh, we will perpetuate the
blessing,” and nothing but evil has come of it. We cannot
secure the truth of God by arrangements of our own. Such
arrangements may spring from a feeling of piety, but they
evidence a want of dependence upon God. ere was the
energy of the Spirit working in Gideon, but he it was who
prepared the way for Israel’s re-apostasy.
e restoration lasted not longer than there was
individual energy of faith.
“ us was Midian subdued before the children of
Israel, so that they lifted up their heads no more: and the
country was in quietness forty years in the days of Gideon.
And Jerubbaal, the son of Joash, went and dwelt in his own
house … And Gideon, the son of Joash, died in a good old
age, and was buried in the sepulcher of Joash his father, in
Ophrah of the Abi-ezrites.”
“ And it came to pass as soon as Gideon was dead, that
the children of Israel turned again, and went a whoring
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after Baalim, and made Baal-berith their god. And the
children of Israel remembered not Jehovah their God, who
had delivered them out of the hands of all their enemies
on every side: neither showed they kindness to the house
of Jerubbaal, namely Gideon, according to all the goodness
which he had showed unto Israel,” v. 28-35.
Of what use was the ephod now? It had entirely failed
of eecting that, which doubtless Gideon designed it
should eect. And have not the well-designed eorts of
men of God, who have sought to provide for the pure
truth, repeatedly ended in the same way? e great thing
we have to look to is (not the holding in prominence this or
that particular doctrine, but) the ungrieved presence of the
Holy Ghost. Let us remember that He is the Holy Spirit,
repressive ever of the esh. If I have set up something, that
something becomes an object to me instead of the Lord.
His glory must be the prominent thing. How speedy was
the departure of the church from God at the rst even in
Paul’s days! “ All sought their own, not the things which
are Jesus Christ’s,” Phil. 2:21.
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62729
oughts on Ruth
As in Judges we have the dark side of man’s misuse
of the favor of God to His people under Joshua, so this
brief book lets us see a bright picture, yet most true, of His
work in view of Messiah. Ruth, a lowly Moabitish stranger,
led by gracious and godly aections in faith, seeks shelter
under the wings of Jehovah, nds grace in His sight, and is
herself exalted to be a direct link in the line of the Lord’s
progenitors after the esh. It is the type of the remnant
(after Lo-Ammi was sentenced and executed on Israel)
received back in grace in the last days, preparatorily to the
kingdom, when the Kinsman Redeemer espouses their
cause. e names are of evident signicance. Elimelech (my
God the King) being dead, Naomi (my delight) typifying
the Jewish nation, is a widow and loses her children, and
calls herself Mara (bitterness). But a remnant, without
title to promise, is received in pure mercy, identifying itself
with the desolation of Israel, and is nally blessed with the
richest grace and honor on the earth. e nearest of kin
refuses to redeem the inheritance; the law could not restore
Israel to it, nor raise up the name of the dead. Boaz (in him
is strength) typifying Christ risen does it in grace.
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62730
oughts on 1 Samuel
e rst Book of Samuel commences with the promise
of the king.
Chapter 2:10. e people had walked badly, and God
presents Christ when all else failed down here. at
which man was not able to accomplish, God perfectly
accomplished in Christ, but always going far beyond. In
Adam, rule; in Noah, the sword; in Sinai, the law; in Aaron,
the priesthood (already before Eli). Prophecy does not
imply responsibility, because it is a question of the power
and of the sovereignty of God in grace; in Israel, royalty;
and nally, the church.
Verse 18. In a certain sense, Samuel has as it were taken
the place of the priesthood. e priesthood was the means
by which man drew nigh to God; but when the priesthood
had failed, God can work in sovereignty, and that is what
He is doing here; He gives Samuel, or prophecy, by means
of which God draws nigh to man, in His sovereign grace.
Verse 32. God forsakes His own dwelling-place, and
in the land which God gave to Israel for their good, the
enemies would take possession of it. It is not a question,
however, in this verse of the tabernacle of the congregation;
it is the tabernacle, in the general sense, to signify habitation,
or dwelling-place.
Verse 35. It is no longer a question for the priesthood
to walk before God, but before His anointed one, royalty
being introduced. e king forms the link between God
and the people, and the priesthood takes the second place.
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Chapter 3. Having determined to judge the house of
Eli, God reveals it by the mouth of Samuel. Sincerity is
worth nothing, if there is not also light and faithfulness.
Nevertheless, there was piety with Eli, for when he learns
the death of his sons, this aects him little, but the taking
of the ark causes his death.
Chapter 4. Samuel is prophet.
Judgment is executed. For the present moment, that
which takes the place of the ark in Israel is the Philistine.
God takes care Himself of His glory, when His people
can no longer take care of it. Yet it was a sad capture for
the Philistines. ey carry the emblem of power into the
very midst of their idolatry. When the ark is taken, in the
main all is over with Israel. All their history from Sinai
closes here. at is why the ark was never brought back to
the tabernacle, but placed in Sion, which commences an
entirely new order of things.
Read Psa. 78-
Verse 59. God in great wrath rejects all.
Verse 65. He awakes in David.
Verse 67. As to Joseph, who has the double portion of
the inheritance according to nature, God refuses him.
Verse 68. All is now on the ground of election according
to grace.
Chapter 6. Good sense in the priests. ey sent back
the ark with the thought that the God of the ark was more
powerful than the aection of the cows for their calves.
God could overrule nature; otherwise that which had
happened to them was mere chance. When David brought
back the ark, he had not the good sense of the priests of
the Philistines.
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Verse 19. Much the same happens to the people of God
when they are not faithful. When one has lost God, one
laments after Him; then, when He is there, they forsake
Him.
Chapter 7. e sovereignty of God in grace acting by
prophecy-Samuel, the center of all this system.
Chapter 8. Although God had already interposed in
grace several times, they reject Him as king; they will have
Him no longer.
Chapter 9. Saul, wretched man! He ignored the man by
whom God had done so many things, and God who had
wrought them.
Chapter to. Nevertheless he is anointed.
18
What was
the state of Israel at this moment? Very sad. Still there
remained the God of Bethel, who had promised to Jacob
never to forsake him. If Saul had been honest, he would
have said, is is what we want.
en Saul is recognized by Israel.
e hill of God is the seat of the sovereignty and power of
God in grace, where the Philistines (Satan’s power) were.
We see nevertheless a company of prophets (the Spirit
acts in power in spite of the Philistines), a small remnant
who praised the God of Bethel, so that if there had been
ever so little faith, Saul could have known the thoughts of
18 Up to Eli all depended on the priesthood; but royalty having
come in, all depended on the king. If the king fails, the people
go to Babylon; under the priesthood all the people were given
up to the Philistines, as was the ark. e king is sovereign,
he organizes the priests; he is responsible. Instead of having
recourse to the priesthood in order to know the will of God,
royalty was with prophecy, which was the sovereign gift and
the sovereign power of God, when everything had failed.
Before royalty it was the priest who was the anointed one.
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God, and, being His anointed to be the leader and deliverer
of the people (chap. 9:16), he might well have driven away
the Philistines who were in the land of God. ere are the
signs; but we must listen to the word. Whatever may be
the signs that we may have, one must await the direction in
order to act. e Philistines are always the enemies in the
land; the others are outside; these are in the land of God.
e worst enemies of the church are those who are within.
Verse 8. Saul remains two years before going down to
Gilgal.
Chapter 11. It was all well to deal with the Ammonites;
but the Philistines were then the true test: Saul was feeble
as to these.
Chapter 12. Samuel retires, leaving the people in the
position they had chosen under the king, responsible before
the Lord, but not without his own intercessions.
Chapter 13. e iniquity penetrates very deep. Although
the people had their king, there were no arms in the land.
Saul is put to the test. He causes the trumpet to be
sounded, not in order that God should hear in Israel the
elect of God, but the Hebrews-a heathen name. He seems
not to have had one single thought of God. If the Philistines
have any strength, it is also needful that the Hebrews
should listen. It was nation against nation-no intelligence,
no link with God. Gilgal ought to have recalled something
to Saul’s mind, but he has neither faith nor intelligence.
Saul may here represent some one who desires good, but
it is only the esh. He nevertheless follows the word of
God outwardly, but he proves at the same time that he has
never depended upon God for one single instant, and that
the esh cannot sustain itself in the path of faith. If he had
known the need he had of God, he would have waited,
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whatever might have come. e faith of Jonathan begins,
and the esh cannot follow. When faith begins all esh is
routed.
Chapter 14. Jonathan did not look for the honey, but
God gave him some to refresh his heart in the midst of the
energy of his faith.
Verse 47. Saul was troubling everything. ere is relief,
and not deliverance, for soon we nd the Philistines and
Goliath. He did not destroy the enemies, but He plucked
Israel out of their hands. God had not yet anointed David,
for He does not work until the people have entirely failed.
Chapter 15. Saul is here a second Achan. God has in
His heart what Amalek did. He will destroy him. Saul
ought to have understood that, but he is not identied with
the feelings of God. He avails himself of the power which
God gives him to rob God.
Chapter 17. When David was alone, it was a trial;
but he was innitely worse in Saul’s court, surrounded by
unbelief. After having been in the court, he could again
mind the sheep. Self-denial of David! It is needful, that
after having worked with God, he should still wait on
God for the reward. In order for faith to be something,
it must go through every diculty-family diculties, etc.
e “ uncircumcised “man who has not God-Goliath had
committed himself by challenging God’s army. is was
the strength of David.
Verse 58. Faith has no pretensions; it returns to its own
insignicance, because, after all, faith is nothing save what
it draws from God.
Chapter 18. Jonathan recalls to my mind the remnant
of Israel. He loves David with all his heart; but he had not
followed him. Chapter 23: 16-18 tells us what Jonathan
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was. Abigail represents much more the faith of the church.
In the tribulation of Jesus the remnant does not take
part with Him, whereas Abigail follows him everywhere.
Although he is rejected, she calls him Lord, whilst Saul is
to her only a man. She has intelligence. She judges Nabal,
although the judgment was not yet executed. She becomes
the wife of David in the desert; thus it is with the church.
When David was with Achish, he was in a sad state-a
servant of God, who said he had done evil to the people of
God, in order to be well with the world!
ey said of David, the Lord is with him. ey expected
much from him, but nothing came. One must follow for a
long time the path of faith.
Verse 14. Here is the intelligence of David: when it is a
question of enemies David is always ready.
Chapter 19: 20-22. Saul loses all conscience. e
thought that David was with Samuel ought to have stopped
him- Samuel by whom he had been anointed. God put all
things in his way to stop him, but he was hardened. In
prophesying himself, he ought to have understood that the
power which caused him to act at this moment, and which
rested on David, was greater than himself; but he despises
these signs, as he had despised the rst. e career of David
then became very painful, because it was a question of not
killing Saul, of doing nothing.
Chapter 21. e sword of Goliath-the power of death.
David carried it with him, but certainly did not show it to
Achish.
Chapter 22. Here he is in his place. All was there-
royalty, prophecy, and priesthood. Saul, after having
despised prophecy, turns against the priesthood. Yet David
is not discouraged; he will protect Abiathar.
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Chapter 23. One of the characteristics in David is
always to consult God.
Chapter 24. For the present David was doing nothing.
It is dicult to do nothing when one feels that God is with
us. David has much more regard for Saul than Saul had for
himself. Excellent spirit!
Chapter 25. Prophecy, properly so called, disappears.
Nabal (Israel) is set aside, he who rejected David; and
Abigail becomes the wife of the despised one, while he
is in the wilderness. It is not properly the church, but she
is on the principle of the church. Abigail goes to meet
David before the death of Nabal: thus it is with the church
before the nation is judged. e faith of this woman is very
remarkable.
Jesus, after all, was taking care of the sheep, although
He was not owned.
Verse 26. Abigail, as it were, sentences her husband to
death. She sees in Saul a man, and in David the anointed
and the servant of Jehovah.
Chapter 26. God again gives to David the opportunity
of killing Saul, and that which David says to him this time
is much more severe. David never surrenders himself to
Saul. He is a hero. He never lets go his object, and his
persevering faith is a beautiful thing. Verses 10, 11. He has
a profound respect for all that belongs to God.
Chapter 27. His faith here fails completely. He seeks
the favor of God’s enemies in boasting of having done evil
to His people.
Chapter 29. Poor David! God permitted all this to show
that in bringing him to the throne all was grace. He is set
aside for a certain time, like Saul.
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Chapter 30. David burns through the re which he
himself has kindled. But he always lays hold of God’s
actings.
Chapter 31. e Philistines are in full possession of all,
in order to be completely beaten. What grace that God
prevented David from going with Achish! If he had put his
hand on Saul, he could not have uttered the lamentation
which he composed on the subject of his death.
e progress of evil in Saul deserves attention. After
disobedience, after jealousy and hatred against David,
he despises the prophet in the very circumstances which
ought to have reminded him of his authority, then the
priesthood, and lastly, he is totally forsaken, and seeks for
help in the power of Satan. It is well also to notice that
when he falls Israel is deprived of everything. David was
among the Philistines- Samuel was dead-the priesthood
was judged, and even Abiathar was far o. ere remained
nothing, the state of Israel was complete desolation. Mark
well that (David, by his unbelief, having been obliged to
hide himself among the Philistines) all depended on God
in pure grace. Mark also that, when David leaves Saul,
which is the beginning of his typical history, in contrast
with Saul, he takes with him the showbread and the sword
of Goliath. When once he is in his normal position, we have
with David that which Saul had despised-the prophet, the
priest-David himself being king. is history is perhaps the
most sad in the scriptures. It is the history of that which
had the position of faith, without the faith which would
have had the reality. All he does turns to judgment. On the
contrary, in the same measure as that, Saul rejects all that
is of God. It is found again with David. us the prophet,
the priest, only is suering; but the wisdom of God there.
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62731
Jonathan: a Word on Working
With God: 1 Samuel 14
1 Samuel 14.
In the doings of Jonathan, we get energy of faith in the
midst of sad confusion in Israel.
e people of God had sought in a carnal way to establish
themselves against their enemies. A people of no faith to
lean immediately upon God, they had asked for themselves
a king; and whilst testifying to His own rejection by them,
God had instructed Samuel to hearken unto their voice
in all that they said, and make them a king (chap. 8). “
Give us a king, to judge us like all the nations,” their cry,
as again (even after the prophet had warned them as to
consequences, in accordance with the divine testimony), “
Nay, but we will have a king over us; that we may be like
all the nations, and that our king may judge us and go out
before us and ght our battles “; the carnal desire is met,
and Saul set up to war against Israel’s enemies.
Such is the state of things in the midst of which we nd
Jonathan. And though he enters not into the full mind of
God, he is able to act in the energy of faith.
It is hard for faith to endure the aictions of God’s
people, and the dishonor done in it to God Himself.
Jonathan endures it not. He has faith in the God of Israel,
and he makes up his mind to attack the Philistines. He
calls to his armor-bearer, and says, “ Come let us go over
unto the Philistines’ garrison, that is on the other side,” v.
1. e sin of the people of God may have subjected them
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to the power of the uncircumcised,” but this cannot subject
the rights of God. Such is faith’s reasoning. And nothing
is more simple. e moment there is separation unto God,
a standing with Him, there is zeal for God and strength
in His service. But he confers not with esh and blood,
“ he told not his father.” ere was no faith in Saul; and
had he consulted him, Saul would most probably only
have discouraged-with faith he would have gone himself.
He would either have stopped or hampered him; when he
does act, it is only to trouble. Faith has to act on its own
responsibility. One way in which we very constantly fail is
in asking counsel of those who have not the faith or the
light we ourselves have; we thus sink down to their level.
All that could give authority, or accredit it, in the eyes
of the people religiously too, was with Saul. e king, the
priest, the ark were all there. But Jonathan waits not for
the people. He has none but his armor-bearer with him;
and so much the better for him, for he is not troubled with
the unbelief of others. Where there is a single eye, there
is ever condence in acting and not hesitation. e esh
may be condent, but its condence is in self, and therefore
only folly. Faith makes nothing of circumstances, because
it makes God all. It is not that diculties in themselves are
lessened, but that God lls the eye.
e Philistines’ position is a strong one amidst
precipitous rocks: what could human energy avail?
Jonathan has to climb up upon his hands and feet (v.
13). e oppressors too are there in great numbers, and
well armed. But faith with a single sword counts God
sucient. “ Come,” is the unhesitating word, “ let us go
over unto the garrison of these uncircumcised: it may be
that Jehovah will work for us,” v. 6. e “ uncircumcised
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“ have no strength when looked at thus; they have not
the God of Jacob for their help: their hope is not in
Jehovah. Little matter as to the condition of His people,
if He be with them: “ there is no restraint to Jehovah to
save by many or by few.” e enemy may be as the sand
on the sea shore for multitude: that is nothing- and faith
knows it. He can give strength to one sword to subdue a
host.
Jonathan seeks not other help. Happy in his
companion, a man of a kindred spirit (his answer bearing
him the witness” Do all that is in thine heart; turn thee,
behold I am with thee according to thy heart,” v. 7), he
at once discovers himself to the Philistines (v. 8).
We have already remarked on the strong simple
condence of Jonathan in Jehovah’s power. Another
thing that characterizes his faith is the consciousness
of the impossibility of the link between God and His
people being broken. Sad as the condition of that people
is-the Philistines in power in their midst, pillaging a
defenseless land; no means of resistance left to them, not
a sword or a spear (except with Saul and with Jonathan)
found in Israel (chap. 13: 19, 22); the very king they
have in their midst, one they have sinned in setting up-
this touches not His faithfulness. e Philistines are
delivered into the hand of Israel
19
(not into his own)
in the judgment of the man of faith (v. 12). In isolating
itself with God, faith identies itself with His people.
It loses sight of self, passes over their desolations,
and recognizes all that is theirs in God. Jonathan is as
19 Saul’s summons of the people (chap. 53:3) is by their national
name of “ Hebrews,” the name a Philistine would have called
them by.
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Jehovah’s hand. And see what boldness! ough Israel be
not able to sharpen a mattock, in the name of the God
of hosts, Jehovah, God of Israel, he goes straight on his
way.
But then, whilst he goes forward thus, conferring not
with esh and blood, there is nothing of boastfulness, no
acting in eshly haste and excitement. His expectation
is from God. He can discover himself plainly to the
garrison of the Philistines, telling them as it were, “ Here
am I, an Israelite “; but he will wait and see.-if they say,
‘ Tarry until we come to you,’ he will stand in his place,
and will not go up to them. But if they say, ‘ Come up
unto us,’ he will go up; Jehovah hath delivered them
into their hand. ere is to be the sign (v. 9, 10). In
other words he will wait for them to come to him, or he
will go and throw himself into the midst of their camp,
just as Jehovah may bid. He will not make diculties
for himself; but he will not turn away from diculties
which meet him in the path. His is the real dependence
of faith.
Having done this, the very haughtiness and scorn
of the hostile power instruct him as to what to do. “
Behold,” say the men of the garrison one to another, “
the Hebrews come forth out of the holes where they had
hid themselves “; and then indolently and with eshly
condence taunt these true Israelites, “ Come up, and we
will show you a thing! “ v. 12. It is the sign for Jonathan;
“ Jehovah hath delivered them into the hand of Israel.”
In the energy of faith he goes forward and climbs
the rock, his armor-bearer following. e Philistines
fall before him; it is comparatively easy work for the
armor-bearer to slay after him. e power that inspires
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Jonathan acts for him. Jehovah is really there; He uses
Jonathan as an instrument, He puts honor upon the arm
faith has strengthened, but He manifests Himself. e
terror of God falls upon the enemies of Israel (v. 13, 15).
But what of Saul? He has been left tarrying under a
pomegranate-tree in Migron, whilst God is triumphing
over the Philistines through Jonathan (v. 2). “ And the
watchmen of Saul in Gibeah of Benjamin looked, and
behold the multitude melted away, and they went on
beating down one another. en said Saul unto the
people that were with him, Number now, and see who
is gone from us,” v. 16, 17. All that is regular as to
form is with Israel, but not faith. “ And when they had
numbered, behold, Jonathan and his armor-bearer were
not there.” at is all they know about it.
“ And Saul said unto Ahiah, Bring hither the ark
of God,” v. 18. Here again there is form-the form of
honoring Jehovah in seeking His guidance. It seems all
right, yet it is but the form. (God, if we may so speak,
has left with Jonathan.) Saul will have the ark brought;
but while he talks with the priest, the tumult of defeat in
the host of the Philistines still going on and increasing,
he bids him stop; “ Withdraw,” he says, “ thine hand,” v.
19. ere is no simplicity of dependence upon God, but
the uncertainty and bewilderment of unbelief.
He joins the battle (v. 20). But it is not as entering
into the spirit of the thing,-he has no sense of that on
which Jonathan had counted, the secret of Jonathan’s
strength: “ there is no restraint with Jehovah to work by
many or by few.” He calls the people around himself, and
adjures them saying, “ Cursed be the man that eateth
any food until evening, that I may be avenged on mine
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enemies,” v. 24. “ So none of the people tasted any food.”
ere is great apparent energy, it is true, but it is not of
the Spirit of God; so that when he gets into the tide of
victory, he is in reality only a troubler, distressing Israel
and hindering the pursuit. It is a carnal and selsh zeal.
We may get into the path of faith, but we shall nd
there that nothing but faith can walk in it; let the esh
mix itself up in the work of faith, it is only for weakness.
e people come to a wood, there is honey upon
the ground, yet no man puts his hand to his mouth, for
they fear the oath (v. 25, 26). Jonathan has not heard
that oath; wherefore he puts the end of the rod that was
in his hand, and dips it in an honeycomb, and puts his
hand to his mouth and his eyes are enlightened (v. 27).
And when made acquainted with the curse, and seeing
the people faint around him, he at once exclaims, “ My
father hath troubled the land: see, I pray you, how mine
eyes have been enlightened, because I tasted a little of
this honey. How much more if haply the people had
eaten freely to-day of the spoil of their enemies which
they had found; for had there not been now a much
greater slaughter amongst the Philistines? “ v. 28-30.
Happy Jonathan! Faith is so occupied with its work,
and has so the sense of God’s love and grace, that it has
full liberty, and whatsoever God presents in the way
it can thankfully avail itself of, taking it and going on;
whilst the carnal zeal of that which is but an imitation
of faith, and which never works with God, makes a
duty of refusing it. Had Jonathan not been occupied
heart and soul in Jehovah’s work, he might have stopped
to think about the honey; as it is, he merely takes it
for refreshment and passes on. rough the energy
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of faith he is carried clean out of the knowledge of
the oath (v. 27). Out of the reach of this unbelief, he
can avail himself of the kindness of his God with joy
and thanksgiving, and pursue his course refreshed and
encouraged, whilst the people (who had not the faith to
go with him) are under the curse and cannot. Where the
Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. Saul has put both
himself and the people under this miserable restraint
(if the esh puts itself under bondage, it must keep its
oath), and in result they are led into sin; for they are so
hungry, that when the time of the oath is expired, they
y (v. 32) on the cattle taken as spoil, and slay them,
and eat the esh with the blood thereof, thus violating a
direct command of God (Deut. 12:22, 23).
e eect of all this is that of making faith guilty for
acting in liberty. Such is ever the way of the esh in its
mixing itself up with faith.
At a moment of manifest outward blessing Saul must
build an altar, and make much of Jehovah’s name, just as
previously he had professed to seek counsel at the ark.
He builds his altar (v. 36). But let us mark the emphatic
comment of the Holy Ghost, “ this was the rst altar
that he built unto Jehovah.” en, through the priest,
he consults God as to pursuing the Philistines;-” but he
answered him not that day,” v. 37. On this he seeks, by
an appeal to the “ God of Israel,” to discover the hidden
and hindering sin (v. 36-41). Jehovah indeed acts, yet it
is only to manifest the folly of the king; the “ perfect lot
“ is given and Jonathan is taken (v. 42).
“ en Saul said to Jonathan, Tell me what thou hast
done.
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And Jonathan told him and said, I did but taste a
little honey with the end of the rod that was in mine
hand, and lo, I must die. And Saul answered, God do so
and more also: thou shalt surely die, Jonathan,” v. 43, 44.
e people do not allow this. ey interfere and
say, “ Shall Jonathan die, who hath wrought this great
salvation in Israel? God forbid: as Jehovah liveth, there
shall not one hair of his head fall to the ground: for he
hath wrought with God this day.” at is self-evident. “
So the people rescued Jonathan that he died not,” v. 45.
He had “ wrought with God.” His was the simple
happy path of unhesitating faith which counts on God,
on His faithful connection with His people, and walks
in the blessed liberty of taking the refreshment He
may give by the way-liberty for refreshment, not for
licentiousness; while the esh is making its solemn
resolutions not to touch, nor to taste, nor to handle, and
then, the occasion serving, it sets aside the authority of
God. Faith of this sort confers not with esh and blood;
it acts from God, and it acts for God.
All the religious actings, all the forms of piety, are
with Saul. He has the ark and the priest. He makes the
vow to abstain from food; manifests zeal for ordinances;
prevents the people eating esh with the blood; builds
his altar when others have got the blessing, and takes
the credit to himself. He can be religious, when he has
comfort and blessing; but there is no reference to God
in faith, so as to go through diculties with God. ere
is energy, but it is energy in the esh; deliberation when
God is acting; and action, when he does act, in haste and
bewilderment.
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e Lord preserve His people from the guidance
and help of unbelief in the work of faith, blessed in the
simplicity which acts with Him.
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525
62732
oughts on 2 Samuel
As the rst book gave us Israel tired of their original
relationship with God, and the trial of the king of their
choice, ending in the destruction of himself and his
house, the second contains the establishment of David
as the king, according to God, though failing far more
in ease and exaltation than under the oppression and
persecution of Saul.
Chapter 1. e generosity of David is here apparent,
his horror at the Amalekite, who hoped to prot by
Saul’s death, and his genuine grief over the fallen king of
Israel, with his loved Jonathan.
Chapters 2, 3. David asks of Jehovah, and is guided
by Him; but war goes on humblingly between the men
of Judah, round David, and the rest of Israel, round
Ishbosheth, who had no real claim to the throne. It was
the more sorrowful a conict, because, personally, the
chief in command for Ishbosheth (Abner) was a better
man, by David’s own confession, than Joab, his own
second in command. After all too it was Abner’s pique
which closed the strife, not Joab’s prowess or skill; and
David has to mourn over Abner, treacherously slain, and
to spread Joab’s iniquity before Jehovah.
Chapter 4 shows us David true-hearted in the matter
of Ishbosheth’s death inicting what was meet on the
murderers.
Chapter 5. e kingdom over all Israel now turning
to David, who had reigned seven years and a half in
Hebron, as after thirty-three years in Jerusalem, over
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all Israel and Judah. Zion is taken by the energy of
Joab, who becomes commander-in-chief. David is
honored of the Gentiles, has sons and daughters born
of his numerous wives and concubines, and defeats the
Philistines who assail him.
Chapter 6. David seeks to have the ark brought back,
but thought not of what was due to the holiness and
the word of Jehovah, who smote Uzzah for his rashness.
But the evident blessing which rested on the house of
Obed-edom the Gittite, where the ark rested, touches
the king’s heart, who now conducts it meetly, and with
triumph and with humility too, the more conspicuous
because of the empty pride of Saul’s daughter, Michal,
childless till death.
Chapter 7. David desires to build for Jehovah, but
learns that it is reserved for his son, the man of peace,
as he had been of war. God, who had called him in His
sovereignty, must do all to establish David’s house (as
well as to bring Israel into rest) when His Son, the Son
of God withal, should build the house, and the throne be
established forever. What an outpouring of David’s heart
follows!
Chapter 8. e Philistines are subdued, the Moabites,
Ammonites, and the Syrians; so are Zobah, Amalek, and
Edom, and all the administration is in order.
Chapter 9. e kindness of God shines in David’s
dealings with Mephibosheth, Jonathan’s lame son.
Chapter 10. ose who despise the king are punished
condignly.
Chapter 11. e king’s sin in the matter of Uriah the
Hittite.
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527
Chapter 12. His conviction by the prophet’s parable,
and Jehovah’s dealings, the death of the rst child by
Bathsheba, the birth of Solomon, and capture of Rabbah.
Chapters 13-19. e sword departs not from David’s
house; Tamar’s dishonor; Ammon’s murder; Absalom’s
ight, return, and conspiracy; David’s departure; Shimei’s
cursing; Ahithophel’s counsel defeated by Hushai;
Absalom’s death, and David’s mourning; but he returns,
all Judah and half Israel conducting him back.
Chapter 20. Sheba’s rebellion is put down and the
king is fully restored, and all ends in peace.
Chapter 21. But God in His righteous government
will not pass by wrongs against His name, and judgment
comes in David’s day for Saul’s forgetfulness of the oath
in the matter of the Gibeonites, who are avenged on the
descendants of Saul. Even then David, far from resenting
Rizpah’s feeling for that unhappy house, himself pays the
last honors to the memory of Saul and Jonathan; God is
entreated for the land; the Philistine champions fall.
Chapter 22. David’s song.
Chapter 23. David’s last words, with the names of his
mighty men, and the record of their exploits.
Chapter 24. God’s wrath in consequence of David’s
numbering of the people, and His grace in bringing
in blessing at the point where the plague was stayed-
Jerusalem and its sanctuary.
APPENDIX.
2 Kings 2:2. Bethel (Gen. 28, especially verse 15)
where God promises to preserve Jacob, type of Israel,
wherever he went, to bring him back, and not to leave
him until the promises were fullled which he had
made before. is name, Bethel, plays a great part in
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the word of God, as recalling the eternal care of God
for His people. Here Elijah is type of the man Christ,
who enters into the midst of the people, and identies
Himself with them, starting from the principles
proclaimed at Bethel.
Verse 4. Jericho recalls the most complete curse. It
was where Christ goes after His identication with the
people.
Verse 6. Jordan is death.
Verse 8. e power of death, which falls at the touch
of the power of Christ.
Verse 9. After the victory Christ can distribute gifts.
Verse 10. If one can see Him far beyond death, He
can give everything.
Verse 14 and following. Elisha is the character of
Christ after His resurrection.
Verse 22. He returns to Jericho, and destroys the
eects of the curse, and brings in blessing instead of it.
Verse 23. He returns to Bethel-full realization of the
promises made to Israel; but He exercises judgment.
Verse 25. en he goes to Carmel, the garden of
God- millennial rest. en one nds Elisha exercising
the power of the age to come. e miracles are for the
prot of the people of God.
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