'... Forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and
that will by no means clear the guilty....'--EXODUS xxiv. 7.
The former chapter tells us of the majesty of the divine revelation as
it was made to Moses on 'the mount of God.' Let us notice that,
whatever was the visible pomp of the external Theophany to the senses,
the true revelation lay in the proclamation of the 'Name'; the
revelation to the conscience and the heart; and such a revelation had
never before fallen on mortal ears. It is remarkable that the very
system which was emphatically one of law and retribution should have
been thus heralded by a word which is perfectly 'evangelical' in its
whole tone. That fact should have prevented many errors as to the
relation of Judaism and Christianity. The very centre of the former was
'God is love,' 'merciful and gracious,' and if there follows the
difficult addition 'visiting the iniquities,' etc., the New Testament
adds its 'Amen' to that. True, the harmony of the two and the great
revelation of the _means_ of forgiveness lay far beyond the horizon of
Moses and his people, but none the less was it the message of Judaism
that 'there is forgiveness with Thee that Thou mayest be feared.' The
law spoke of retribution, justice, duty, and sin, but side by side with
the law was another institution, the sacrificial worship, which
proclaimed that God was full of love, and that the sinner was welcomed
to His side. And it is the root of many errors to transfer New
Testament language about the law to the whole Old Testament system.
But, passing away from this, I wish to look at two points in these
words.