We are still called to linger at the foot of Mount Horeb, at "the
backside of the desert;" and truly, the air of this place is most
healthful for the spiritual constitution. Man's unbelief and God's
boundless grace are here made manifest in a striking way.
"And Moses answered and said, 'But, behold, they will not believe me,
nor hearken unto my voice; for they will say, The Lord hath not
appeared unto thee.'" How hard it is to overcome the unbelief of the
human heart! How difficult man ever finds it to trust God! How slow he
is to venture upon the naked promise of Jehovah! Anything, for nature,
but that. The most slender reed that the human eye can _see_ is
counted more substantial, by far, as a basis for nature's confidence,
than the unseen "Rock of ages." Nature will rush with avidity to any
creature stream or broken cistern, rather than abide by the unseen
"Fountain of living waters."
We might suppose that Moses had seen and heard enough to set his fears
entirely aside. The consuming fire in the unconsumed bush, the
condescending grace, the precious, endearing, and comprehensive
titles, the divine commission, the assurance of the divine
presence,--all these might have quelled every anxious thought, and
have imparted a settled assurance to the heart. Still, however, Moses
raises questions, and still God answers them; and, as we have
remarked, each successive question brings out fresh grace. "And the
Lord said unto him, 'What is that in thine hand?' And he said, 'A
rod.'" The Lord would just take him as he was, and use what he had in
his hand. The rod with which he had tended Jethro's sheep was about to
be used to deliver the Israel of God, to chastise the land of Egypt,
to make a way through the deep, for the ransomed of the Lord to pass
over, and to bring forth water from the flinty rock to refresh
Israel's thirsty hosts in the desert. God takes up the weakest
instruments to accomplish His mightiest ends. "A rod," "a ram's horn,"
"a cake of barley meal," "an earthen pitcher," "a shepherd's
sling,"--anything, in short, when used of God, will do the appointed
work. Men imagine that splendid ends can only be reached by splendid
means; but such is not God's way. He can use a crawling worm as well
as a scorching sun, a gourd as well as a vehement east wind. (See
Jonah.)
But Moses had to learn a deep lesson, both as to the rod and the hand
that was to use it. He had to learn, and the people had to be
convinced. "And He said, 'Cast it on the ground.' And he cast it on
the ground, and it became a serpent; and Moses fled from before it.
And the Lord said unto Moses, 'Put forth thine hand and take it by the
tail.' And he put forth his hand and caught it, and it became a rod
in his hand; 'that they may believe that the Lord God of their
fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob,
hath appeared unto thee.'" This is a deeply significant sign. The rod
became a serpent, so that Moses fled from it; but, being commissioned
by Jehovah, he took the serpent by the tail, and it became a rod.
Nothing could more aptly express the idea of Satan's power being
turned against himself. This is largely exemplified in the ways of
God. Moses himself was a striking example. The serpent is entirely
under the hand of Christ; and when he has reached the highest point in
his mad career, he shall be hurled into the lake of fire, there to
reap the fruits of his work throughout eternity's countless ages.
"That old serpent, the accuser, and the adversary," shall be eternally
crushed beneath the rod of God's Anointed.
"Then the end--beneath His rod,
Man's last enemy shall fall;
Hallelujah! Christ in God,
God in Christ, is all in all."
"And the Lord said furthermore unto him, 'Put now thine hand into thy
bosom.' And he put his hand into his bosom; and when he took it out,
behold his hand was leprous as snow. And He said, 'Put thine hand into
thy bosom again.' And he put his hand into his bosom again, and
plucked it out of his bosom; and, behold, it was turned again as his
other flesh." The leprous hand and the cleansing thereof present to
us the moral effect of sin, as also the way in which sin has been met
in the perfect work of Christ. The clean hand, placed in the bosom,
becomes leprous; and the leprous hand, placed there, becomes clean.
Leprosy is the well-known type of sin; and sin came in by the first
man and was put away by the second. "By man came death, by man came
also the resurrection of the dead." (1 Cor. xv. 21.) Man brought in
ruin, man brought in redemption; man brought in guilt, man brought in
pardon; man brought in sin, man brought in righteousness; man filled
the scene with death, man abolished death and filled the scene with
life, righteousness, and glory. Thus, not only shall the serpent
himself be eternally defeated and confounded, but every trace of his
abominable work shall be eradicated and wiped away by the atoning
sacrifice of Him "who was manifested that He might destroy the works
of the devil."
"And it shall come to pass, if they will not believe also these two
signs, neither hearken unto thy voice, that thou shalt take of the
water of the river, and pour it upon the dry land; and the water which
thou takest out of the river shall become blood upon the dry land."
This was a solemn and most expressive figure of the consequence of
refusing to bow to the divine testimony. This sign was only to be
wrought in the event of their refusing the other two. It was first to
be a sign to Israel, and afterwards a plague upon Egypt. (Comp.
chapter vii. 17.)
All this, however, fails to satisfy the heart of Moses. "And Moses
said unto the Lord, 'O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither heretofore
nor since Thou hast spoken unto Thy servant; but I am slow of speech,
and of a slow tongue.'" Terrible backwardness! Naught save Jehovah's
infinite patience could have endured it. Surely, when God Himself had
said, "I will be with thee," it was an infallible security, in
reference to everything which could possibly be needed. If an eloquent
tongue were necessary, what had Moses to do but to set it over against
"I AM"? Eloquence, wisdom, might, energy,--everything was contained in
that exhaustless treasury. "And the Lord said unto him, 'Who hath made
man's mouth? or who maketh the dumb, or deaf, or the seeing, or the
blind? have not _I the Lord_? Now, therefore, go, and I will be with
thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say.'" Profound, adorable,
matchless grace! worthy of God! There is none like unto the Lord our
God, whose patient grace surmounts all our difficulties, and proves
itself amply sufficient for our manifold need and weakness. "I THE
LORD" ought to silence forever the reasonings of our carnal hearts.
But, alas! these reasonings are hard to be put down. Again and again
they rise to the surface, to the disturbance of our peace, and the
dishonor of that blessed One, who sets Himself before our souls, in
all His own essential fullness, to be used according to our need.
It is well to bear in mind that when we have the Lord with us, our
very deficiences and infirmities become an occasion for the display
of His all-sufficient grace and perfect patience. Had Moses remembered
this, his want of eloquence need not have troubled him. The apostle
Paul learnt to say, "Most gladly, therefore, _will I rather glory_ in
my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore
_I take pleasure_ in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in
persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake; for when I am weak,
then am I strong." (2 Cor. xii. 9, 10.) This is, assuredly, the
utterance of one who had reached an advanced form in the school of
Christ. It is the experience of one who would not have been much
troubled because of not possessing an eloquent tongue, inasmuch as he
had found an answer to every description of need in the precious grace
of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The knowledge of this truth ought to have delivered Moses from his
diffidence and inordinate timidity. When the Lord had so graciously
assured him that He would be with his mouth, it should have set his
mind at rest as to the question of eloquence. The Maker of man's mouth
could fill that mouth with the most commanding eloquence, if such were
needed. This, in the judgment of faith, is most simple; but, alas! the
poor doubting heart would place far more confidence in an eloquent
tongue than in the One who created it. This would seem most
unaccountable, did we not know the materials of which the natural
heart is composed. That heart cannot trust God; and hence it is that
even the people of God, when they suffer themselves to be in any
measure governed by nature, exhibit such a humiliating lack of
confidence in the living God.
Thus, in the scene before us, we find Moses still demurring. "And he
said, 'O my Lord, send, I pray Thee, by the hand of him whom Thou wilt
send.'" This was, in reality, casting from him the high honor of being
Jehovah's sole messenger to Egypt and to Israel.
It were needless to say that divinely-wrought humility is an
inestimable grace. To "be clothed with humility" is a divine precept;
and humility is unquestionably the most becoming dress in which a
worthless sinner can appear. But it cannot be called humility to
refuse to take the place which God assigns, or to tread the path which
His hand marks out for us. That it was not true humility in Moses is
obvious from the fact that "the anger of the Lord was kindled against
him." So far from its being humility, it had actually passed the limit
of mere weakness. So long as it wore the aspect of an excessive
timidity, however reprehensible, God's boundless grace bore with it,
and met it with renewed assurances; but when it assumed the character
of unbelief and slowness of heart, it drew down Jehovah's just
displeasure; and Moses, instead of being the sole, is made a joint,
instrument in the work of testimony and deliverance.
Nothing is more dishonoring to God, or more dangerous for us, than a
mock humility. When we refuse to occupy a position which the grace of
God assigns us, because of our not possessing certain virtues and
qualifications, this is not humility, inasmuch as if we could but
satisfy our own consciences in reference to such virtues and
qualifications, we should then deem ourselves entitled to assume the
position. If, for instance, Moses had possessed such a measure of
eloquence as he deemed needful, we may suppose he would have been
ready to go. Now the question is, How much eloquence would he have
needed to furnish him for his mission? The answer is, Without God, no
amount of human eloquence would have availed; but with God, the merest
stammerer would have proved an efficient minister.
This is a great practical truth. Unbelief is not humility, but
thorough pride. It refuses to believe God because it does not find in
_self_ a reason for believing. This is the very height of presumption.
If, when God speaks, I refuse to believe, on the ground of something
in myself, I make Him a liar. (1 John v. 10.) When God declares His
love, and I refuse to believe because I do not deem myself a
sufficiently worthy object, I make Him a liar, and exhibit the
inherent pride of my heart. The bare supposition that I could ever be
worthy of aught save the lowest pit of hell, can only be regarded as
the most profound ignorance of my own condition and of God's
requirements. And the refusal to take the place which the redeeming
love of God assigns me, on the ground of the finished atonement of
Christ, is to make God a liar, and cast gross dishonor upon the
sacrifice of the cross. God's love flows forth spontaneously. It is
not drawn forth by my deserts, but by my misery. Nor is it a question
as to the place which I deserve, but which Christ deserves. Christ
took the sinner's place on the cross, that the sinner might take His
place in the glory. Christ got what the sinner deserved, that the
sinner might get what Christ deserves. Thus _self_ is totally set
aside, and this is true humility. No one can be truly humble until he
has reached heaven's side of the cross; but there he finds divine
life, divine righteousness, and divine favor. He is done with himself
forever, as regards any expectation of goodness or righteousness, and
he feeds upon the princely wealth of another. He is morally prepared
to join in that cry which shall echo through the spacious vault of
heaven, throughout the everlasting ages, "Not unto us, O Lord, not
unto us, but unto Thy name give glory." (Psalm cxv. 1.)
It would ill become us to dwell upon the mistakes or infirmities of so
honored a servant as Moses, of whom we read that he "was verily
faithful in all his house, as a servant, for a testimony of those
things which were to be spoken after." (Heb. iii. 5.) But, though we
should not dwell upon them in a spirit of self-complacency, as if we
would have acted differently in his circumstances, we should
nevertheless learn from such things those holy and seasonable lessons
which they are manifestly designed to teach. We should learn to judge
ourselves and to place more implicit confidence in God,--to set self
aside, that He might act in us, through us, and for us. This is the
true secret of power.
We have remarked that Moses forfeited the dignity of being Jehovah's
sole instrument in that glorious work which He was about to
accomplish. But this was not all. "The anger of the Lord was kindled
against Moses; and He said, 'Is not Aaron the Levite thy brother? I
know that he can speak well: and also, behold, he cometh forth to meet
thee; and when he seeth thee, he will be glad in his heart. And _thou
shalt speak unto him, and put words in his mouth_: and I will be with
thy mouth, and with his mouth, and will teach you what ye shall do.
And he shall be thy spokesman unto the people: and he shall be, even
he shall be to thee instead of a mouth, and thou shalt be to him
instead of God. And thou shalt take this rod in thine hand, wherewith
thou shalt do signs.'" (Chap. iv. 14-17.) This passage contains a mine
of most precious practical instruction. We have noted the timidity and
hesitation of Moses, notwithstanding the varied promises and
assurances with which divine grace had furnished him. And now,
although there was nothing gained in the way of real power, although
there was no more virtue or efficacy in one mouth than in another,
although it was Moses after all who was to speak unto Aaron; yet was
Moses quite ready to go when assured of the presence and co-operation
of a poor feeble mortal like himself; whereas he could not go when
assured, again and again, that Jehovah would be with him.
Oh! my reader, does not all this hold up before us a faithful mirror
in which you and I can see our hearts reflected? Truly it does. We are
more ready to trust anything than the living God. We move along with
bold decision when we possess the countenance and support of a poor
frail mortal like ourselves; but we falter, hesitate, and demur when
we have the light of the Master's countenance to cheer us, and the
strength of His omnipotent arm to support us. This should humble us
deeply before the Lord, and lead us to seek a fuller acquaintance with
Him, so that we might trust Him with a more unmixed confidence, and
walk on with a firmer step, as having Him _alone_ for our resource and
portion.
No doubt the fellowship of a brother is most valuable,--"Two are
better than one,"--whether in labor, rest, or conflict. The Lord
Jesus, in sending forth His disciples, "sent them two by two,"--for
unity is ever better than isolation;--still, if our personal
acquaintance with God, and our experience of His presence, be not such
as to enable us, if needful, to walk alone, we shall find the presence
of a brother of very little use. It is not a little remarkable that
Aaron, whose companionship seemed to satisfy Moses, was the man who
afterwards made the golden calf. (Exod. xxxii. 21.) Thus it frequently
happens, that the very person whose presence we deem essential to our
progress and success, afterwards proves a source of deepest sorrow to
our hearts. May we ever remember this!
However, Moses at length consents to go; but ere he is fully equipped
for his work, he must pass through another deep exercise,--yea, he
must have the sentence of death inscribed by the hand of God upon his
very nature. He had learnt deep lessons at "the backside of the
desert;" he is called to learn something deeper still, "by the way in
the inn." It is no light matter to be the Lord's servant. No ordinary
education will qualify a man for such a position. Nature must be put
in the place of death, and kept there. "We had the sentence of death
in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which
raiseth the dead." (2 Cor. i. 9.) Every successful servant will need
to know something of this. Moses was called to enter into it, in his
own experience, ere he was morally qualified. He was about to sound in
the ears of Pharaoh the following deeply solemn message: "Thus saith
the Lord, 'Israel is My son, even My first-born: and I say unto thee,
Let My son go, that he may serve Me: and if thou refuse to let him go,
behold I will slay thy son, even thy first-born.'" Such was to be his
message to Pharaoh,--a message of death, a message of judgment; and,
at the same time, his message to Israel was a message of life and
salvation. But, be it remembered, that the man who will speak, on
God's behalf, of death and judgment, life and salvation, must, ere he
does so, enter into the practical power of these things in his own
soul. Thus it was with Moses. We have seen him, at the very outset, in
the place of death, typically; but this was a different thing from
entering into the experience of death in his own person. Hence we
read, "And it came to pass, by the way in the inn, that the Lord met
him, and sought to kill him. Then Zipporah took a sharp stone, and cut
off the foreskin of her son, and cast it at his feet, and said,
'Surely, a bloody husband art thou to me.' So He let him go: then she
said, 'A bloody husband thou art, because of the circumcision.'" This
passage lets us into a deep secret in the personal and domestic
history of Moses. It is very evident that Zipporah's heart had, up to
this point, shrunk from the application of _the knife_ to that around
which the affections of nature were entwined. She had avoided that
mark which had to be set in the flesh of every member of the Israel of
God. She was not aware that her relationship with Moses was one
involving death to nature. She recoiled from the cross. This was
natural. But Moses had yielded to her in the matter; and this explains
to us the mysterious scene "in the inn." If Zipporah refuses to
circumcise her _son_, Jehovah will lay His hand upon her _husband_;
and if Moses spares the feelings of his wife, Jehovah will "seek to
kill him." The sentence of death must be written on nature; and if we
seek to avoid it in one way, we shall have to encounter it in another.
It has been already remarked that Zipporah furnishes an instructive
and interesting type of the Church. She was united to Moses during the
period of his rejection; and from the passage just quoted, we learn
that the Church is called to know Christ as the One related to her "by
blood." It is her privilege to drink of His cup, and be baptized with
His baptism. Being crucified with Him, she is to be conformed to His
death--to mortify her members which are on the earth--to take up the
cross daily, and follow Him. Her relationship with Christ is founded
upon blood, and the manifestation of the power of that relationship
will necessarily involve death to nature. "And ye are complete in Him,
which is the head of all principality and power; in whom also ye are
circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off
the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ:
buried with Him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with Him through
the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised Him from the dead."
(Col. ii. 10-12.)
Such is the doctrine as to the Church's place with Christ,--a doctrine
replete with the richest privileges for the Church, and each member
thereof. Everything, in short, is involved:--the perfect remission of
sin, divine righteousness, complete acceptance, everlasting security,
full fellowship with Christ in all His glory. "Ye are _complete_ in
Him." This, surely, comprehends everything. What could be added to one
who is "complete"? Could "philosophy," "the tradition of men," "the
rudiments of the world," "meats, drinks, holy days, new moons, or
Sabbaths"? "Touch not" this, "taste not" that, "handle not" the other,
"the commandments and doctrines of men," "days, and months, and times,
and years,"--could any of these things, or all of them put together,
add a single jot or tittle to one whom God has pronounced "complete"?
We might just as well inquire if man could have gone forth upon the
fair creation of God, at the close of the six days' work, to give the
finishing touch to that which God had pronounced "very good."
Nor is this completeness to be, by any means, viewed as a matter of
attainment,--some point which we have not yet reached, but after which
we must diligently strive, and of the possession of which we cannot be
sure until we lie upon a bed of death, or stand before a throne of
judgment. It is the portion of the feeblest, the most inexperienced,
the most unlettered child of God. The very weakest saint is included
in the apostolic "_ye_." All the people of God "_are_ complete in
Christ." The apostle does not say, Ye _will_ be, Ye _may_ be, _Hope_
that ye may be, _Pray_ that ye may be: no; he, by the Holy Ghost,
states, in the most absolute and unqualified manner, that "ye _are_
complete." This is the true Christian starting-post; and for man to
make a goal of what God makes a starting-post, is to upset everything.
But, then, some will ask, Have we no sin, no failure, no imperfection?
Assuredly we have. "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive
ourselves, and the truth is not in us." (1 John i. 8.) We have sin
_in_ us, but no sin _on_ us. Moreover, our standing is not in _self_,
but in Christ. It is "_in Him_" we "are complete." God sees the
believer in Christ, with Christ, and as Christ. This is his
changeless condition--his everlasting standing. "The body of the sins
of the flesh" is "put off by the circumcision of Christ." The believer
is not in the flesh, though the flesh is in him. He is united to
Christ in the power of a new and an endless life, and that life is
inseparably connected with divine righteousness in which the believer
stands before God. The Lord Jesus has put away everything that was
against the believer, and He has brought him nigh to God, in the
self-same favor as that which He Himself enjoys. In a word, Christ is
his righteousness. This settles every question, answers every
objection, silences every doubt. "Both He that sanctifieth and they
who are sanctified are all of one." (Heb. ii. 11.)
The foregoing line of truth has flowed out of the deeply interesting
type presented to us in the relationship between Moses and Zipporah.
We must now hasten to close this section, and take our leave, for the
present, of "the backside of the desert," though not of its deep
lessons and holy impressions, so essential to every servant of Christ,
and every messenger of the living God. All who would serve
effectually, either in the important work of evangelization, or in the
varied ministries of the house of God--which is the Church--will need
to imbibe the precious instructions which Moses received at the foot
of Mount Horeb, and "by the way in the inn."
Were these things properly attended to, we should not have so many
running unsent--so many rushing into spheres of ministry for which
they were never designed. Let each one who stands up to preach, or
teach, or exhort, or serve in any way, seriously inquire if, indeed,
he be fitted and taught and sent of God. If not, his work will neither
be owned of God nor blessed to men, and the sooner he ceases, the
better for himself and for those upon whom he has been imposing the
heavy burden of hearkening to him. Neither a humanly-appointed nor a
self-appointed ministry will ever suit within the hallowed precincts
of the Church of God. All must be divinely gifted, divinely taught,
and divinely sent.
"And the Lord said to Aaron, 'Go into the wilderness to meet Moses.'
And he went and met him in the mount of God, and kissed him. And Moses
told Aaron all the words of the Lord who had sent him, and all the
signs which He had commanded him." This was a fair and beauteous
scene--a scene of sweet brotherly love and union--a scene which stands
in marked contrast with many of those scenes which were afterwards
enacted in the wilderness-career of these two men. Forty years of
wilderness life are sure to make great changes in men and things. Yet
it is sweet to dwell upon those early days of one's Christian course,
before the stern realities of desert life had, in any measure, checked
the gush of warm and generous affections,--before deceit and
corruption and hypocrisy had well-nigh dried up the springs of the
heart's confidence, and placed the whole moral being beneath the
chilling influences of a suspicious disposition.
That such results have been produced, in many cases, by years of
experience, is, alas! too true. Happy is he who, though his eyes have
been opened to see nature in a clearer light than that which this
world supplies, can nevertheless serve his generation by the energy of
that grace which flows forth from the bosom of God. Who ever knew the
depths and windings of the human heart as Jesus knew them? "He knew
_all_, and needed not that any should testify of man; for he knew what
was in man." (John ii. 24, 25.) So well did He know man, that He could
not commit Himself unto him. He could not accredit man's professions,
or endorse his pretensions. And yet, who so gracious as He? Who so
loving, so tender, so compassionate, so sympathizing? With a heart
that understood all, He could feel for all. He did not suffer His
perfect knowledge of human worthlessness to keep Him aloof from human
need. "He went about doing good." Why? Was it because He imagined that
all those who flocked around Him were real? No; but "because God was
with Him." (Acts x. 38.) This is our example. Let us follow it,
though, in doing so, we shall have to trample on _self_ and all its
interests, at every step of the way.
Who would desire that wisdom, that knowledge of nature, that
experience, which only lead men to ensconce themselves within the
inclosures of a hard-hearted selfishness, from which they look forth
with an eye of dark suspicion upon everybody? Surely, such a result
could never follow from aught of a heavenly or excellent nature. God
gives wisdom; but it is not a wisdom which locks the heart against
all the appeals of human need and misery. He gives a knowledge of
nature; but it is not a knowledge which causes us to grasp with
selfish eagerness that which we, falsely, call "our own." He gives
experience; but it is not an experience which results in suspecting
everybody except myself. If I am walking in the footprints of Jesus,
if I am imbibing, and therefore manifesting, His excellent spirit, if,
in short, I can say, "To me to live is Christ;" then, while I walk
through the world, with a knowledge of what the world is; while I come
in contact with man, with a knowledge of what I am to expect from him;
I am able, through grace, to manifest Christ in the midst of it all.
The springs which move me, and the objects which animate me, are all
_above_, where He is, who is "the same yesterday, and to-day, and
forever." (Heb. xiii. 8.) It was this which sustained the heart of
that beloved and honored servant, whose history, even so far, has
furnished us with such deep and solid instruction. It was this which
carried him through the trying and varied scenes of his wilderness
course. And we may safely assert that, at the close of all,
notwithstanding the trial and exercise of forty years, Moses could
embrace his brother when he stood on Mount Hor, with the same warmth
as he had when first he met him "in the mount of God." True, the two
occasions were very different. At "the mount of God" they met and
embraced, and started together on their divinely-appointed mission.
Upon "Mount Hor" they met by the commandment of Jehovah, in order
that Moses might strip his brother of his priestly robes, and see him
gathered to his fathers, because of an error in which he himself had
participated. (How solemn! How touching!) Circumstances vary: men turn
away from one; but with God "is no variableness, neither shadow of
turning." (James i. 17.)
"And Moses and Aaron went and gathered together all the elders of the
children of Israel; and Aaron spake all the words which the Lord had
spoken unto Moses, and did the signs in the sight of the people. And
the people believed; and when they heard that the Lord had visited the
children of Israel, and that He had looked upon their affliction, then
they bowed their heads and worshiped." (Ver. 29-31.) When God works,
every barrier must give way. Moses had said, "The people will not
believe me." But the question was not as to whether they would believe
him, but whether they would believe God. When a man is enabled to view
himself simply as the messenger of God, he may feel quite at ease as
to the reception of his message. It does not detract, in the smallest
degree, from his tender and affectionate solicitude in reference to
those whom he addresses. Quite the contrary; but it preserves him from
that inordinate anxiety of spirit which can only tend to unfit him for
calm, elevated, steady testimony. The messenger of God should ever
remember whose message he bears. When Zacharias said to the angel,
"Whereby shall I know this?" was the latter perturbed by the question?
Not in the least. His calm, dignified reply was, "I am Gabriel, that
stand in the presence of God, and am sent to speak unto thee, and to
show thee these glad tidings." (Luke i. 18, 19.) The angel rises
before the doubting mortal, with a keen and exquisite sense of the
dignity of his message. It is as if he would say, How can you doubt,
when a messenger has actually been dispatched from the very
presence-chamber of the Majesty of heaven? Thus should every messenger
of God, in his measure, go forth, and, in this spirit, deliver his
message.
CHAPTERS V. & VI.
The effect of the first appeal to Pharaoh seemed aught but
encouraging. The thought of losing Israel made him clutch them with
greater eagerness and watch them with greater vigilance. Whenever
Satan's power becomes narrowed to a point, his rage increases. Thus it
is here. The furnace is about to be quenched by the hand of redeeming
love; but ere it is, it blazes forth with greater fierceness and
intensity. The devil does not like to let go any one whom he has had
in his terrible grasp. He is "a strong man armed," and while he
"keepeth his palace, his goods are in peace." But, blessed be God,
there is "a stronger than he," who has taken from him "his armor
wherein he trusted," and divided the spoils among the favored objects
of His everlasting love.
"And afterward, Moses and Aaron went in, and told Pharaoh,--'Thus
saith the Lord God of Israel, Let My people go, that they may hold a
feast unto Me in the wilderness.'" (Chap. v. 1.) Such was Jehovah's
message to Pharaoh. He claimed full deliverance for the people on the
ground of their being His, and in order that they might hold a feast
unto Him in the wilderness. Nothing can ever satisfy God in reference
to His elect, but their entire emancipation from the yoke of bondage.
"Loose him and let him go" is really the grand motto in God's gracious
dealings with those who, though held in bondage by Satan, are
nevertheless the objects of His eternal love.
When we contemplate Israel amid the brick-kilns of Egypt, we behold a
graphic figure of the condition of every child of Adam by nature.
There they were, crushed beneath the enemy's galling yoke, and having
no power to deliver themselves. The mere mention of the word _liberty_
only caused the oppressor to bind his captives with a stronger fetter,
and to lade them with a still more grievous burden. It was absolutely
necessary that deliverance should come from without. But from whence
was it to come! Where were the resources to pay their ransom? or where
was the power to break their chains? And even were there both the one
and the other, where was the _will_? Who would take the trouble of
delivering them? Alas! there was no hope, either within or around.
They had only to look up. Their refuge was in God. He had both the
power and the will. He could accomplish a redemption both by price and
by power. In Jehovah, and in Him alone, was there salvation for
ruined and oppressed Israel.
Thus it is in every case. "Neither is there salvation in any other;
for there is none other name under heaven, given among men, whereby we
must be saved." (Acts iv. 12.) The sinner is in the hands of one who
rules him with despotic power. He is "sold under sin"--"led captive by
Satan at his will" fast bound in the fetters of lust, passion, and
temper,--"without strength," "without hope," "without God." Such is
the sinner's condition. How, then, can he help himself? What can he
do? He is the slave of another, and everything he does is done in the
capacity of a slave. His thoughts, his words, his acts, are the
thoughts, words, and acts of a slave. Yea, though he should weep and
sigh for emancipation, his very tears and sighs are the melancholy
proofs of his slavery. He may struggle for freedom; but his very
struggle, though it evinces a desire for liberty, is the positive
declaration of his bondage.
Nor is it merely a question of the sinner's _condition_; his very
_nature_ is radically corrupt--wholly under the power of Satan. Hence
he not only needs to be introduced into a new condition, but also to
be endowed with a new nature. The nature and the condition go
together. If it were possible for the sinner to better his condition,
what would it avail so long as his nature was irrecoverable bad? A
nobleman might take a beggar off the streets and adopt him; he might
endow him with a noble's wealth, and set him in a noble's position;
but he could not impart to him nobility of nature; and thus the nature
of a beggarman would never be at home in the condition of a nobleman.
There must be a nature to suit the condition; and there must be a
condition to suit the capacity, the desires, the affections, and the
tendencies of the nature.
Now, in the gospel of the grace of God, we are taught that the
believer is introduced into an entirely new condition; that he is no
longer viewed as in his former state of guilt and condemnation, but as
in a state of perfect and everlasting justification; that the
condition in which God now sees him is not only one of full pardon,
but it is such that infinite holiness cannot find so much as a single
stain. He has been taken out of his former condition of guilt, and
placed absolutely and eternally in a new condition of unspotted
righteousness. It is not, by any means, that his old condition is
improved. This is utterly impossible. "That which is crooked cannot be
made straight." "Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his
spots?" Nothing can be more opposed to the fundamental truth of the
gospel than the theory of a gradual improvement in the sinner's
condition. He is born in a certain condition, and until he is "born
again" he cannot be in any other. He may try to improve, he may
resolve to be better for the future--to "turn over a new leaf"--to
live a different sort of life; but, all the while, he has not moved a
single hair's breadth out of his real condition as a sinner. He may
become "religious," as it is called,--he may try to pray, he may
diligently attend to ordinances, and exhibit an appearance of moral
reform; but none of these things can, in the smallest degree, affect
his positive condition before God.
The case is precisely similar as to the question of _nature_. How can
a man alter his nature? He may make it undergo a process, he may try
to subdue it--to place it under discipline; but it is nature still.
"That which is born of the flesh is flesh." There must be a new nature
as well as a new condition. And how is this to be had? By believing
God's testimony concerning His Son. "As many as received Him, to them
gave He power to become the sons of God, even _to them that believe on
His name_: which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the
flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." (John i. 12, 13.) Here we
learn that those who believe on the name of the only begotten Son of
God, have the right or privilege of being sons of God. They are made
partakers of a new nature: they have gotten eternal life.--"He that
believeth on the Son _hath_ everlasting life" (John iii.
36.).--"Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that _heareth_ My word, and
_believeth_ on Him that sent Me, _hath_ everlasting life, and shall
not come into condemnation; but _is_ passed from death unto life"
(John v. 24.).--"And this is life eternal, that they might know Thee,
the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent" (John xvii.
3.).--"And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life,
and this life is in His Son. He that hath the Son _hath_ life." (1
John v. 11, 12.)
Such is the plain doctrine of the Word in reference to the momentous
questions of condition and nature. But on what is all this founded?
How is the believer introduced into a condition of divine
righteousness and made partaker of the divine nature? It all rests on
the great truth that "JESUS DIED AND ROSE AGAIN." That blessed One
left the bosom of eternal love, the throne of glory, the mansions of
unfading light; came down into this world of guilt and woe; took upon
Him the likeness of sinful flesh; and, having perfectly exhibited and
perfectly glorified God in all the movements of His blessed life here
below, He died upon the cross, under the full weight of His people's
transgressions. By so doing, He divinely met all that was or could be
against us. He magnified the law and made it honorable; and, having
done so, He became a curse by hanging on the tree. Every claim was
met, every enemy silenced, every obstacle removed. "Mercy and truth
are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other."
Infinite justice was satisfied, and infinite love can flow, in all its
soothing and refreshing virtues, into the broken heart of the sinner;
while, at the same time, the cleansing and atoning stream that flowed
from the pierced side of a crucified Christ, perfectly meets all the
cravings of a guilty and convicted conscience. The Lord Jesus, on the
cross, stood in our place. He was our representative. He died, "the
just for the unjust." "He was made sin for us." (2 Cor. v. 21; 1
Peter iii. 18.) He died the sinner's death, was buried, and rose
again, having accomplished all. Hence, there is absolutely nothing
against the believer. He is linked with Christ, and stands in the same
condition of righteousness. "As He is, so are we in this world." (1
John iv. 17.)
This gives settled peace to the conscience. If I am no longer in a
condition of guilt, but in a condition of justification,--if God only
sees me _in_ Christ and as Christ, then, clearly, my portion is
perfect peace. "Being justified by faith, we _have_ peace with God
through our Lord Jesus Christ." (Rom. v. 1.) The blood of the Lamb has
canceled all the believer's guilt,--blotted out his heavy debt, and
given him a perfectly blank page, in the presence of that holiness
which "cannot look upon sin."
But the believer has not merely found peace with God; he is made a
child of God, so that he can taste the sweetness of communion with the
Father and the Son, through the power of the Holy Ghost. The cross is
to be viewed in two ways: first, as satisfying God's claims; secondly,
as expressing God's affections. If I look at my sins in connection
with the claims of God as a Judge, I find, in the cross, a perfect
settlement of those claims. God, as a Judge, has been divinely
satisfied--yea, glorified, in the cross. But there is more than this.
God had affections as well as claims; and, in the cross of the Lord
Jesus Christ, all those affections are sweetly and touchingly told out
into the sinner's ear; while, at the same time, he is made partaker
of a new nature which is capable of enjoying those affections and
having fellowship with the heart from which they flow. "For Christ
also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that He
might bring us to God." (1 Peter iii. 18.) Thus, we are not only
brought into _a condition_, but unto _a Person_, even God Himself, and
we are endowed with _a nature_ which can delight in Him.--"_We also
joy in God_, through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now
received the reconciliation (margin)." (Rom. v. 11.)
What force and beauty, therefore, can we see in those emancipating
words, "Let My people go, that they may hold a feast unto Me in the
wilderness." "The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He hath
anointed Me to preach the gospel; He hath sent Me to heal the
broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering
of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised." (Luke
iv. 18.) The glad tidings of the gospel announce full deliverance from
every yoke of bondage. Peace and liberty are the boons which that
gospel bestows on all who believe it, as God has declared it.
And mark, it is "that they may hold a feast to _Me_." If they were to
get done with Pharaoh, it was that they might begin with God. This was
a great change. Instead of toiling under Pharaoh's taskmasters, they
were to feast in company with Jehovah; and, although they were to pass
from Egypt into the wilderness, still the divine presence was to
accompany them; and if the wilderness was rough and dreary, it was the
way to the land of Canaan. The divine purpose was, that they should
hold a feast unto the Lord in the wilderness, and in order to do this,
they should be "_let go_" out of Egypt.
However, Pharaoh was in no wise disposed to yield obedience to the
divine mandate. "Who is the Lord," said he, "that I should obey His
voice to let Israel go? I know not the Lord, neither will I let Israel
go." (Chap. v. 2.) Pharaoh most truly expressed, in these words, his
real condition. His condition was one of ignorance and consequent
disobedience. Both go together. If God be not known, He cannot be
obeyed; for obedience is ever founded upon knowledge. When the soul is
blessed with the knowledge of God, it finds this knowledge to be life
(John xvii. 3.), and life is power; and when I get power, I can act.
It is obvious that one cannot act without life; and therefore it is
most unintelligent to set people upon doing certain things in order to
get that by which alone they can do anything.
But Pharaoh was as ignorant of himself as he was of the Lord. He did
not know that he was a poor, vile worm of the earth, and that he had
been raised up for the express purpose of making known the glory of
the very One whom he said he knew not. (Exod. ix. 16; Rom. ix. 17.)
"And they said, 'The God of the Hebrews has met with us: let us go, we
pray thee, three days' journey into the desert, and sacrifice unto the
Lord our God; lest He fall upon us with pestilence or with the sword.'
And the king of Egypt said unto them, 'Wherefore do ye, Moses and
Aaron, let the people from their work? Get you unto your burdens ...
let there more work be laid upon the men, that they may labor therein;
and let them not regard _vain words_.'" (Ver. 3-9.)
What a development of the secret springs of the human heart we have
here! What complete incompetency to enter into the things of God! All
the divine titles and the divine revelations were, in Pharaoh's
estimation, "vain words." What did he know or care about "three days'
journey into the wilderness," or "a feast to Jehovah"? How could he
understand the need of such a journey, or the nature or object of such
a feast? Impossible. He could understand burden-bearing and
brick-making; these things had an air of reality about them, in his
judgment; but as to aught of God, His service, or His worship, he
could only regard it in the light of an idle chimera, devised by those
who only wanted an excuse to make their escape from the stern
realities of actual life.
Thus has it too often been with the wise and great of this world. They
have ever been the most forward to write folly and vanity upon the
divine testimonies. Hearken, for example, to the estimate which the
"most noble Festus" formed of the grand question at issue between Paul
and the Jews:--"They had certain questions against him of their own
superstition, and _of one Jesus, which was dead, whom Paul affirmed to
be alive_." (Acts xxv. 19.) Alas! how little he knew what he was
saying! How little he knew what was involved in the question, as to
whether "Jesus" was "dead" or "alive"! He thought not of the solemn
bearing of that momentous question upon himself and his friends,
Agrippa and Bernice; but that did not alter the matter; he and they
know somewhat more about it now, though in their passing moment of
earthly glory they regarded it as a superstitious question, wholly
beneath the notice of men of common sense, and only fit to occupy the
disordered brain of visionary enthusiasts. Yes; the stupendous
question which fixes the destiny of every child of Adam--on which is
founded the present and everlasting condition of the Church and the
world--which stands connected with all the divine counsels,--this
question was, in the judgment of Festus, a vain superstition.
Thus was it in Pharaoh's case. He knew nothing of "the Lord God of the
Hebrews"--the great "I AM," and hence he regarded all that Moses and
Aaron had said to him, in reference to doing sacrifice to God, as
"vain words." The things of God must ever seem vain, profitless, and
unmeaning to the unsanctified mind of man. His name may be made use of
as part of the flippant phraseology of a cold and formal
religiousness; but He Himself is not known. His precious name, which,
to a believer's heart, has wrapped up in it all that he can possibly
need or desire, has no significancy, no power, no virtue for an
unbeliever. All, therefore, connected with God--His words, His
counsels, His thoughts, His ways,--everything, in short, that treats
of or refers to Him, is regarded as "vain words."
However, the time is rapidly approaching when it will not be thus. The
judgment-seat of Christ, the terrors of the world to come, the surges
of the lake of fire, will not be "vain words." Assuredly not; and it
should be the great aim of all who, through grace, believe them now to
be realities, to press them upon the consciences of those who, like
Pharaoh, regard the making of bricks as the only thing worth thinking
about--the only thing that can be called real and solid.
Alas! that even Christians should so frequently be found living in the
region of sight--the region of earth--the region of nature--as to lose
the deep, abiding, influential sense of the reality of divine and
heavenly things. We want to live more in the region of faith--the
region of heaven--the region of the "new creation." Then we should see
things as God sees them, think about them as He thinks; and our whole
course and character would be more elevated, more disinterested, more
thoroughly separated from earth and earthly things.
But Moses' sorest trial did not arise from Pharaoh's judgment about
his mission. The true and whole-hearted servant of Christ must ever
expect to be looked on, by the men of this world, as a mere visionary
enthusiast. The point of view from which they contemplate him is such
as to lead us to look for this judgment and none other. The more
faithful he is to his heavenly Master, the more he walks in His
footsteps, the more conformed he is to His image, the more likely he
is to be considered, by the sons of earth, as one "beside himself."
This, therefore, should neither disappoint nor discourage him. But
then it is a far more painful thing when his service and testimony are
misunderstood, unheeded, or rejected by those who are themselves the
specific objects thereof. When such is the case, he needs to be much
with God, much in the secret of His mind, much in the power of
communion, to have his spirit sustained in the abiding reality of his
path and service. Under such trying circumstances, if one be not fully
persuaded of the divine commission, and conscious of the divine
presence, he will be almost sure to break down.
Had not Moses been thus upheld, his heart must have utterly failed him
when the augmented pressure of Pharaoh's power elicited from the
officers of the children of Israel such desponding and depressing
words as these,--"The Lord look upon you, and judge; because ye have
made our savor to be abhorred in the eyes of Pharaoh, and in the eyes
of his servants, to put a sword in their hand to slay us." This was
gloomy enough; and Moses felt it so, for "he returned unto the Lord,
and said, 'Lord, wherefore hast Thou so evil entreated this people?
Why is it that Thou hast sent me? For since I came unto Pharaoh to
speak in Thy name, he hath done evil to this people; neither hast Thou
delivered Thy people at all.'" The aspect of things had become most
discouraging, at the very moment when deliverance seemed at hand;
just as, in nature, the darkest hour of the night is often that which
immediately precedes the dawn of the morning. Thus will it assuredly
be in Israel's history in the latter day. The moment of most profound
darkness and depressing gloom will precede the bursting of "the Sun of
Righteousness" from behind the cloud, with healing in His wings to
heal eternally "the hurt of the daughter of His people."
We may well question how far genuine faith, or a mortified will,
dictated the "_wherefore?_" and the "_why?_" of Moses, in the above
quotation. Still, the Lord does not rebuke a remonstrance drawn forth
by the intense pressure of the moment. He most graciously replies,
"Now shalt thou see what I will do to Pharaoh: for with a strong hand
shall he let them go, and with a strong hand shall he drive them out
of his land." (Chap. vi. 1.) This reply breathes peculiar grace.
Instead of reproving the petulance which could presume to call in
question the unsearchable ways of the great I AM, that ever-gracious
One seeks to relieve the harassed spirit of His servant by unfolding
to him what He was about to do. This was worthy of the blessed
God--the unupbraiding Giver of every good and every perfect gift. "He
knoweth our frame; He remembereth that we are dust." (Ps. ciii. 14.)
Nor is it merely in His actings that He would cause the heart to find
its solace, but in Himself--in His very name and character. This is
full, divine, and everlasting blessedness. When the heart can find
its sweet relief in God Himself--when it can retreat into the strong
tower which His name affords--when it can find, in His character, a
perfect answer to all its need, then, truly, it is raised far above
the region of the creature, it can turn away from earth's fair
promises, it can place the proper value on man's lofty pretensions.
The heart which is endowed with an experimental knowledge of God can
not only look forth upon earth, and say, "All is vanity;" but it can
also look straight up to Him, and say, "All my springs are in Thee."
"And God spake unto Moses, and said unto him, 'I am the Lord: and I
appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by the name of God
Almighty; but by My name JEHOVAH was I not known to them. And I have
also established My covenant with them to give them the land of
Canaan, the land of their pilgrimage, wherein they were strangers. And
I have also heard the groaning of the children of Israel, whom the
Egyptians keep in bondage; and I have remembered My covenant.'"
"JEHOVAH" is the title which He takes as the Deliverer of His people,
on the ground of His covenant of pure and sovereign grace. He reveals
Himself as the great self-existing Source of redeeming love,
establishing His counsels, fulfilling His promises, delivering His
elect people from every enemy and every evil. It was Israel's
privilege ever to abide under the safe covert of that significant
title--a title which displays God acting for His own glory, and
taking up His oppressed people in order to show forth in them that
glory.
"Wherefore say unto the children of Israel, 'I am the Lord, and I will
bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will rid
you out of their bondage, and I will redeem you with a stretched-out
arm, and with great judgments; and I will take you to Me for a people,
and I will be to you a God; and ye shall know that I am the Lord your
God, which bringeth you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians.
And I will bring you in unto the land concerning the which I did swear
to give it unto Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob; and I will give it to
you for a heritage: I am the Lord.'" (Ver. 6-8.) All this speaks the
purest, freest, richest grace. Jehovah presents Himself to the hearts
of His people as the One who was to act _in_ them, _for_ them, and
_with_ them, for the display of His own glory. Ruined and helpless as
they were, He had come down to show forth His glory, to exhibit His
grace, and to furnish a sample of His power, in their full
deliverance. His glory and their salvation were inseparably connected.
They were afterwards reminded of all this, as we read in the book of
Deuteronomy,--"The Lord did not set His love upon you, nor choose you,
because ye were more in number than any people; for ye were the fewest
of all people: but because the Lord loved you, and because He would
keep the oath which He had sworn onto your fathers, hath the Lord
brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house
of bondmen, from the hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt." (Chap. vii. 7,
8.)
Nothing is more calculated to assure and establish the doubting,
trembling heart than the knowledge that God has taken us up _just as
we are_, and in the full intelligence of what we are; and, moreover,
that He can never make any fresh discovery to cause an alteration in
the character and measure of His love. "Having loved His own which
were in the world, He loved them unto the end." (John xiii.) _Whom_ He
loves and _as_ He loves, He loves unto the end. This is an unspeakable
comfort. God knew all about us--He knew the very worst of us, when He
manifested His love to us in the gift of His Son. He knew what was
needed, and He provided it; He knew what was due, and He paid it; He
knew what was to be wrought, and He wrought it; His own requirements
had to be met, and He met them. It is all His own work. Hence, we find
Him saying to Israel, as in the above passage, "I will bring you out,"
"I will bring you in," "I will take you to Me," "I will give you the
land," "I am Jehovah." It was all what _He would do_, as founded upon
what _He was_. Until this great truth is fully laid hold of, until it
enters into the soul, in the power of the Holy Ghost, there cannot be
settled peace. The heart can never be happy, or the conscience at
rest, until one knows and believes that all divine requirements have
been divinely answered.
The remainder of our section is taken up with a record of "the heads
of their fathers' houses," and is very interesting, as showing us
Jehovah coming in and numbering those that belonged to Himself, though
they were still in the possession of the enemy. Israel was God's
people, and He here counts up those on whom He had a sovereign claim.
Amazing grace! To find an object in those who were in the midst of all
the degradation of Egyptian bondage! This was worthy of God. The One
who had made the worlds, who was surrounded by hosts of unfallen
angels, ever ready to "do His pleasure," should come down for the
purpose of taking up a number of bond-slaves with whom He condescended
to connect His name. He came down and stood amid the brick-kilns of
Egypt, and there beheld a people groaning beneath the lash of the
taskmasters, and He uttered those memorable accents, "Let _My_ people
go;" and, having so said, He proceeded to count them up, as much as to
say, These are Mine; let Me see how many I have, that not one may be
left behind. "He taketh up the beggar from the dunghill, to set him
amongst the princes of His people, and to make him inherit the throne
of glory."(1 Sam. ii.)
CHAPTERS VII.-XI.
These five chapters form one distinct section, the contents of which
may be distributed into the three following divisions, namely, the ten
judgments from the hand of Jehovah, the resistance of "Jannes and
Jambres," and the four objections of Pharaoh.
The whole land of Egypt was made to tremble beneath the successive
strokes of the rod of God. All, from the monarch on His throne to the
menial at the mill, were made to feel the terrible weight of that rod.
"He sent Moses His servant, and Aaron whom He had chosen. They showed
His signs among them, and wonders in the land of Ham. He sent darkness
and made it dark; and they rebelled not against His word. He turned
their waters into blood, and slew their fish. Their land brought forth
frogs in abundance, in the chambers of their kings. He spake, and
there came divers sorts of flies and lice in all their coasts. He gave
them hail for rain, and flaming fire in their land. He smote their
vines also, and their fig-trees; and brake the trees of their coasts.
He spake, and their locusts came, and the caterpillars, and that
without number, and did eat up all the herbs in their land, and
devoured the fruit of their ground. He smote also all the first-born
in their land, the chief of all their strength." (Ps. cv. 26-36.)
Here the inspired Psalmist has given a condensed view of those
appalling inflictions which the hardness of Pharaoh's heart brought
upon his land and upon his people. This haughty monarch had set
himself to resist the sovereign will and course of the Most High God;
and, as a just consequence, he was given over to judicial blindness
and hardness of heart. "And the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh,
and he hearkened not unto them, as the Lord had spoken unto Moses. And
the Lord said unto Moses, 'Rise up early in the morning, and stand
before Pharaoh, and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord God of the
Hebrews, Let My people go, that they may serve Me, For I will at this
time send all My plagues upon thine heart, and upon thy servants, and
upon thy people; that thou mayest know that there is none like Me in
all the earth. For now I will stretch out My hand that I may smite
thee and thy people with pestilence; and thou shalt be cut off from
the earth. And in very deed for this cause have I raised thee up, for
to show in thee My power, and that My name maybe declared throughout
all the earth.'" (Exod. ix. 12-16.)
In contemplating Pharaoh and his actings, the mind is carried forward
to the stirring scenes of the book of Revelation, in which we find the
last proud oppressor of the people of God bringing down upon his
kingdom and upon himself the seven vials of the wrath of the Almighty.
It is God's purpose that Israel shall be pre-eminent in the earth;
and, therefore, every one who presumes to stand in the way of that
pre-eminence must be set aside. Divine grace must find its object; and
every one who would act as a barrier in the way of that grace, must be
taken out of the way,--whether it be Egypt, Babylon, or "the beast
that was, is not, and yet is," it matters not. Divine power will clear
the channel for divine grace to flow, and eternal woe be to all who
stand in the way. They shall taste, throughout the everlasting course
of ages, the bitter fruit of having exalted themselves against "the
Lord God of the Hebrews." He has said to His people, "No weapon that
is formed against thee shall prosper," and His infallible faithfulness
will assuredly make good what His infinite grace hath promised.
Thus, in Pharaoh case, when he persisted in holding, with an iron
grasp, the Israel of God, the vials of divine wrath were poured forth
upon him; and the land of Egypt was covered, throughout its entire
length and breadth, with darkness, disease, and desolation. So will it
be by and by, when the last great oppressor shall emerge from the
bottomless pit, armed with satanic power, to crush beneath his "foot
of pride" the favored objects of Jehovah's choice. His throne shall be
overturned, his kingdom devastated by the seven last plagues, and,
finally, he himself plunged, not in the Red Sea, but "in the lake that
burneth with fire and brimstone." (Comp. Rev. xvii. 8; xx. 10.)
Not one jot or one tittle of what God has promised to Abraham, Isaac,
and Jacob shall fail. He will accomplish all. Notwithstanding all that
has been said and done to the contrary, God remembers His promises,
and He will fulfill them. They are all "yea and amen in Christ."
Dynasties have risen and acted on the stage of this world; thrones
have been erected on the apparent ruins of Jerusalem's ancient glory;
empires have flourished for a time, and then fallen to decay;
ambitious potentates have contended for the possession of "the land of
promise"--all these things have taken place; but Jehovah has said
concerning Palestine, "The land shall not be sold forever: for the
land is Mine." (Lev. xxv. 23.) No one, therefore, shall ever finally
possess that land but Jehovah Himself, and He will inherit it through
the seed of Abraham. One plain passage of Scripture is quite
sufficient to establish the mind in reference to this or any other
subject. The land of Canaan is for the seed of Abraham, and the seed
of Abraham for the land of Canaan; nor can any power of earth or hell
ever reverse this divine order. The eternal God has pledged His word,
and the blood of the everlasting covenant has flowed to ratify that
word. Who, then, shall make it void? "Heaven and earth shall pass
away, but that word shall never pass away." Truly, "there is none like
unto the God of Jeshurun, who rideth upon the heaven in thy help, and
in His excellency on the sky. The eternal God is thy refuge, and
underneath are the everlasting arms; and He shall thrust out the enemy
from before thee; and shall say, Destroy them. Israel then shall dwell
in safety alone: the fountain of Jacob shall be upon a land of corn
and wine; also his heavens shall drop down dew. Happy art thou, O
Israel, who is like unto thee, O people saved by the Lord, the shield
of thy help, and who is the sword of thy excellency! and thy enemies
shall be found liars unto thee; and thou shalt tread upon their high
places." (Deut. xxxiii. 26-29.)
We shall now consider, in the second place, the opposition of "Jannes
and Jambres," the magicians of Egypt. We should not have known the
names of these ancient opposers of the truth of God, had they not
been recorded by the Holy Ghost, in connection with "the perilous
times" of which the apostle Paul warns his son Timothy. It is
important that the Christian reader should clearly understand the real
nature of the opposition given to Moses by those magicians, and in
order that he may have the subject fully before him, I shall quote the
entire passage from St. Paul's epistle to Timothy. It is one of deep
and awful solemnity.
"This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For
men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud,
blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without
natural affection, truce-breakers, false accusers, incontinent,
fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady,
high-minded, lovers of pleasures rather than lovers of God; having a
form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.
For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive
silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts, ever
learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. Now as
Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the truth:
men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith. But they shall
proceed no further; for their folly shall be manifest unto all, as
theirs also was." (2 Tim. iii. 1-9.)
Now, it is peculiarly solemn to mark the nature of this resistance to
the truth. The mode in which "Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses" was
simply by imitating, as far as they were able, whatever he did. We do
not find that they attributed his actings to a false or evil energy,
but rather that they sought to neutralize their power upon the
conscience, by doing the same things. What Moses did they could do, so
that after all there was no great difference. One was as good as the
other. A miracle is a miracle. If Moses wrought miracles to get the
people out of Egypt, they could work miracles to keep them in; so
where was the difference?
From all this we learn the solemn truth that the most satanic
resistance to God's testimony in the world is offered by those who,
though they imitate the effects of the truth, have but "the form of
godliness," and "deny the power thereof." Persons of this class can do
the same things, adopt the same habits and forms, use the same
phraseology, profess the same opinions as others. If the true
Christian, constrained by the love of Christ, feeds the hungry,
clothes the naked, visits the sick, circulates the Scriptures,
distributes tracts, supports the gospel, engages in prayer, sings
praise, preaches the gospel, the formalist can do every one of these
things; and this, be it observed, is the special character of the
resistance offered to the truth "in the last days"--this is the spirit
of "Jannes and Jambres." How needful to understand this! How important
to remember that, "_as_ Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, _so_ do"
those self-loving, world-seeking, pleasure-hunting professors "resist
the truth." They would not be without "a form of godliness;" but,
while adopting "the form," because it is customary, they hate "the
power," because it involves self-denial. "The power" of godliness
involves the recognition of God's claims, the implanting of His
kingdom in the heart, and the consequent exhibition thereof in the
whole life and character; but the formalist knows nothing of this.
"The power" of godliness could never comport with any one of those
hideous features set forth in the foregoing quotation; but "the form,"
while it covers them over, leaves them wholly unsubdued; and this the
formalist likes. He does not want his lusts subdued, his pleasures
interfered with, his passions curbed, his affections governed, his
heart purified. He wants just as much religion as will enable him "to
make the best of both worlds." He knows nothing of giving up the world
that is, because of having found "the world to come."
In marking the forms of Satan's opposition to the truth of God, we
find that his method has ever been, first, to oppose it by violence;
and then, if that did not succeed, to corrupt it by producing a
counterfeit. Hence, he first sought to slay Moses (Chap. ii. 15.), and
having failed to accomplish his purpose, he sought to imitate his
works.
Thus, too, has it been in reference to the truth committed to the
Church of God. Satan's early efforts showed themselves in connection
with the wrath of the chief priests and elders, the judgment-seat, the
prison, and the sword. But in the passage just quoted from 2 Timothy,
we find no reference to any such agency. Open violence has made way
for the far more wily and dangerous instrumentality of a powerless
form, an empty profession, a human counterfeit. The enemy, instead of
appearing with the sword of persecution in his hand, walks about with
the cloak of profession on his shoulders. He professes and imitates
that which he once opposed and persecuted; and, by so doing, gains
most appalling advantages for the time being. The fearful forms of
moral evil which, from age to age, have stained the page of human
history, instead of being found only where we might naturally look for
them, amid the dens and caves of human darkness, are to be found
carefully arranged beneath the drapery of a cold, powerless,
uninfluential profession; and this is one of Satan's grand
masterpieces.
That man, as a fallen, corrupt creature, should love himself, be
covetous, boastful, proud, and the like, is natural; but that he
should be all these beneath the fair covering of "a form of
godliness," marks the special energy of Satan in his resistance to the
truth in "the last days." That man should stand forth in the bold
exhibition of those hideous vices, lusts, and passions which are the
necessary results of departure from the source of infinite holiness
and purity, is only what might be expected, for man will be what he is
to the end of the chapter. But on the other hand, when we find the
holy name of the Lord Jesus Christ connected with man's wickedness and
deadly evil,--when we find holy principles connected with unholy
practices,--when we find all the characteristics of Gentile
corruption, referred to in the first chapter of Romans, associated
with "a form of godliness," then, truly, we may say, these are the
terrible features of "the last days"--this is the resistance of
"Jannes and Jambres."
However, there were only three things in which the magicians of Egypt
were able to imitate the servants of the true and living God, namely,
in turning their rods into serpents (Chap. vii. 12.), turning the
water into blood (Chap. vii. 22.), and bringing up the frogs (Chap.
viii. 7.); but in the fourth, which involved the exhibition of life,
in connection with the display of nature's humiliation, they were
totally confounded, and obliged to own, "This is the finger of God."
(Chap. viii. 16-19.) Thus it is also with the latter-day resisters of
the truth. All that they do is by the direct energy of Satan, and lies
within the range of his power. Moreover, its specific object is to
"resist the truth."
The three things which "Jannes and Jambres" were able to accomplish
were characterized by satanic energy, death, and uncleanness; that is
to say, the serpents, the blood, and the frogs. Thus it was they
"withstood Moses;" and "so do these also resist the truth," and hinder
its moral weight and action upon the conscience. There is nothing
which so tends to deaden the power of the truth as the fact that
persons who are not under its influences at all, do the self-same
things as those who are. This is Satan's agency just now. He seeks to
have all regarded as Christians. He would fain make us believe
ourselves surrounded by "a Christian world;" but it is counterfeit
Christianity, which, so far from being a testimony to the truth, is
designed by the enemy of the truth, to withstand its purifying and
elevating influence.
In short, the servant of Christ and the witness for the truth is
surrounded, on all sides, by the spirit of "Jannes and Jambres;" and
it is well for him to remember this--to know thoroughly the evil with
which he has to grapple--to bear in mind that it is Satan's imitation
of God's reality, produced, not by the wand of an openly-wicked
magician, but by the actings of false professors, who have "a form of
godliness, but deny the power thereof," who do things apparently right
and good, but who have neither the life of Christ in their souls, the
love of God in their hearts, nor the power of the Word in their
consciences.
"But," adds the inspired apostle, "they shall proceed no further, for
their folly shall be manifested unto all, as theirs also was." Truly
the "folly" of "Jannes and Jambres" was manifest unto all, when they
not only failed to imitate the further actings of Moses and Aaron, but
actually became involved in the judgments of God. This is a solemn
point. The folly of all who are merely possessed of the form will, in
like manner, be made manifest. They will not only be quite unable to
imitate the full and proper effects of divine life and power, but they
themselves become the subjects of those judgments which will result
from the rejection of that truth which they have resisted.
Will any one say that all this has no voice for a day of powerless
profession? Assuredly it has. It should speak to each conscience in
living power; it should tell on each heart, in accents of impressive
solemnity. It should lead each one to inquire seriously whether he is
testifying for the truth, by walking in the power of godliness, or
hindering it, and neutralizing its action, by having only the form.
The effect of the power of godliness will be seen by our "continuing
in the things which we have learned." None will continue, save those
who are taught of God; those, by the power of the Spirit of God, have
drunk in divine principle, at the pure fountain of inspiration.
Blessed be God, there are many such throughout the various sections of
the professing Church. There are many, here and there, whose
consciences have been bathed in the atoning blood of "the Lamb of
God," whose hearts beat high with genuine attachment to His Person,
and whose spirits are cheered by "that blessed hope" of seeing Him as
He is, and of being eternally conformed to His image. It is
encouraging to think of such. It is an unspeakable mercy to have
fellowship with those who can give a reason of the hope that is in
them, and for the position which they occupy. May the Lord add to
their number daily. May the power of godliness spread far and wide in
these last days, so that a bright and well-sustained testimony may be
raised to the name of Him who is worthy.
The third point in our section yet remains to be considered, namely,
Pharaoh's four subtle objections to the full deliverance and complete
separation of God's people from the land of Egypt. The first of these
we have in chapter viii. 25.--"And Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron,
and said, 'Go ye, _sacrifice to your God in the land_.'" It is
needless to remark here, that whether the magicians withstood, or
Pharaoh objected, it was, in reality, Satan that stood behind the
scenes; and his manifest object, in this proposal of Pharaoh, was to
hinder the testimony to the Lord's name--a testimony connected with
the thorough separation of His people from Egypt. There could
evidently be no such testimony had they remained in Egypt, even though
they were to sacrifice to Him. They would have taken common ground
with the uncircumcised Egyptians, and put Jehovah on a level with the
gods of Egypt. In this case, an Egyptian could have said to an
Israelite, I see no difference between us; you have your worship and
we have ours; it is all alike.
As a matter of course, men think it quite right for every one to have
a religion, let it be what it may. Provided we are sincere, and do not
interfere with our neighbor's creed, it does not matter what shape our
religion may happen to wear. Such are the thoughts of men in reference
to what they call religion; but it is very obvious that the glory of
the name of Jesus finds no place in all this. The demand for
separation is that which the enemy will ever oppose, and which the
heart of man cannot understand. The heart may crave religiousness,
because conscience testifies that all is not right; but it craves the
world as well. It would like to "sacrifice to God in the land;" and
Satan's object is gained when people accept of a worldly religion, and
refuse to "come out and be separate." (2 Cor. vi.) His unvarying
purpose from the beginning has been to hinder the testimony to God's
name on the earth. Such was the dark tendency of the proposal, "Go ye,
sacrifice to your God in the land." What a complete damper to the
testimony, had this proposal been acceded to! God's people in Egypt
and God Himself linked with the idols of Egypt! Terrible blasphemy!
Reader, we should deeply ponder this. The effort to induce Israel to
worship God in Egypt reveals a far deeper principle than we might, at
first sight, imagine. The enemy would rejoice, at any time, by any
means, or under any circumstances, to get even the semblance of divine
sanction for the world's religion. He has no objections to such
religion. He gains his end as effectually by what is termed "the
religious world" as by any other agency; and hence, when he can
succeed in getting a true Christian to accredit the religion of the
day, he gains a grand point. As a matter of actual fact, one knows
that nothing elicits such intense indignation as the divine principle
of separation from this present evil world. You may hold the same
opinions, preach the same doctrines, do the same work; but if you only
attempt, in ever so feeble a manner, to act upon the divine commands,
"From such turn away" (2 Tim. iii. 5.), and "Come out from among
them" (2 Cor. vi. 17.), you may reckon assuredly upon the most
vigorous opposition. Now how is this to be accounted for? Mainly by
the fact that Christians, in separation from this world's hollow
religiousness, bear a testimony for Christ which they never can bear
while connected with it.
There is a very wide difference between human religion and Christ. A
poor, benighted Hindoo might talk to you of his religion, but he knows
nothing of Christ. The apostle does not say, If there be any
consolation in religion; though, doubtless, the votaries of each kind
of religion find what they deem consolation therein. Paul, on the
other hand, found his consolation in Christ, having fully proved the
worthlessness of religion, and that, too, in its fairest and most
imposing form. (Comp. Gal. i. 13, 14; Phil. iii. 4-11.)
True, the Spirit of God speaks to us of "pure religion and undefiled;"
but the unregenerate man cannot, by any means, participate therein;
for how could he possibly take part in aught that is "pure and
undefiled"? This religion is from heaven, the source of all that is
pure and lovely; it is exclusively before the eye of "God and the
Father;" it is for the exercise of the functions of that new nature
with which all are endowed who believe on the name of the Son of God.
(John i. 12, 13; James i. 18; 1 Peter i. 23; 1 John v. 1.) Finally, it
ranges itself under the two comprehensive heads of active benevolence
and personal holiness,--"To visit the fatherless and widows in their
affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world." (James i.
27.)
Now, if you go through the entire catalogue of the genuine fruits of
Christianity, you will find them all classed under these two heads;
and it is deeply interesting to observe that, whether we turn to the
eighth of Exodus or to the first of James, we find separation from the
world put forward as an indispensable quality in the true service of
God. Nothing could be acceptable before God--nothing could receive
from His hand the stamp of "pure and undefiled," which was polluted by
contact with an "evil world." "'Come out from among them, and be ye
separate,' saith the Lord, 'and touch not the unclean thing; and I
will receive you, and will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be My
sons and daughters,' saith the Lord Almighty." (2 Cor. vi. 17, 18.)
There was no meeting-place for Jehovah and His redeemed in Egypt; yea,
with them, redemption and separation from Egypt were one and the same
thing. God had said, "I am come down to deliver them," and nothing
short of this could either satisfy or glorify Him. A salvation which
would have left them still in Egypt could not possibly be God's
salvation. Moreover, we must bear in mind that Jehovah's purpose in
the salvation of Israel, as well as in the destruction of Pharaoh,
was, that "His name might be declared throughout all the earth;" and
what declaration could there be of that name or character were His
people to attempt to worship Him in Egypt? Either none whatever or an
utterly false one. Wherefore it was essentially necessary, in order to
the full and faithful declaration of God's character, that His people
should be wholly delivered and completely separated from Egypt; and it
is as essentially necessary now, in order to a clear and unequivocal
testimony for the Son of God, that all who are really His should be
separated from this present world. Such is the will of God; and for
this end Christ gave Himself. "Grace unto you and peace from God the
Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for our sins, that
He might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the
will of God and our Father; to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen."
(Gal. i. 3-5.)
The Galatians were beginning to accredit a carnal and worldly
religion--a religion of ordinances--a religion of "days, and months,
and times, and years;" and the apostle commences his epistle by
telling them that the Lord Jesus Christ gave Himself for the purpose
of delivering His people from that very thing. God's people must be
separate, not, by any means, on the ground of their superior personal
sanctity, but because they are His people, and in order that they may
rightly and intelligently answer His gracious end in taking them into
connection with Himself, and attaching His name to them. A people
still amid the defilements and abominations of Egypt could not have
been a witness for the Holy One; nor can any one now, while mixed up
with the defilements of a corrupt worldly religion, possibly be a
bright and steady witness for a crucified and risen Christ.
The answer given by Moses to Pharaoh's first objection was a truly
memorable one. "And Moses said, 'It is not meet so to do; for we shall
sacrifice the abomination of the Egyptians to the Lord our God; lo,
shall we sacrifice the abomination of the Egyptians before their eyes,
and will they not stone us? We will go three days' journey into the
wilderness, and sacrifice to the Lord our God, as He shall command
us.'" (Chap. viii. 26, 27.) Here is true separation from Egypt--"three
days' journey." Nothing less than this could satisfy faith. The Israel
of God must be separated from the land of death and darkness, in the
power of resurrection. The waters of the Red Sea must roll between
God's redeemed and Egypt ere they can properly sacrifice to Jehovah.
Had they remained in Egypt, they would have to sacrifice to the Lord
the very objects of Egypt's abominable worship.[5] This would never
do. There could be no tabernacle, no temple, no altar, in Egypt. It
had no site, throughout its entire limits, for aught of that kind. In
point of fact, as we shall see further on, Israel never presented so
much as a single note of praise until the whole congregation stood, in
the full power of an accomplished redemption, on Canaan's side of the
Red Sea. Exactly so is it now. The believer must know where the death
and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ have forever set him, ere
he can be an intelligent worshiper, an acceptable servant, or an
effectual witness.
[5] The word "abomination" has reference to that which the Egyptians
worshiped.
It is not a question of being a child of God, and, as such, a saved
person. Many of the children of God are very far from knowing the full
results, as regards themselves, of the death and resurrection of
Christ. They do not apprehend the precious truth, that the death of
Christ has made an end of their sins forever, and that they are the
happy partakers of His resurrection life, with which sin can have
nothing whatever to do. Christ became a curse for us, not, as some
would teach us, by being born under the curse of a broken law, but by
hanging on a tree. (Compare, attentively, Deut. xxi. 23; Gal. iii.
13.) We were under the curse because we had not kept the law; but
Christ, the perfect Man, having magnified the law and made it
honorable, by the very fact of His obeying it perfectly, became a
curse for us by hanging on the tree. Thus, in His life He magnified
God's law, and in His death He bore our curse. There is therefore now
no guilt, no curse, no wrath, no condemnation for the believer; and,
albeit, he must be manifested before the judgment-seat of Christ; but
even there the question of _sin_ is not raised. The cross of Christ
has settled that forever; so that it is written of those that believe,
"_And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more_." (Heb. x.
17.) The Christian's whole course must indeed be manifested before the
judgment-seat of Christ; but the Judge Himself has put away all his
sins, and is his righteousness, so that the judgment-seat cannot but
be friendly to him. He surely will not condemn His own work. The
righteousness that was required, God Himself has provided it. He
surely will not find any flaw therein. The light of the judgment-seat
will be bright enough to disperse every mist and cloud which might
tend to obscure the matchless glories and eternal virtues which belong
to the cross, and to show that the believer is "clean every whit."
(John xiii. 10; xv. 3; Eph. v. 27.)
It is because these foundation-truths are not laid hold of in the
simplicity of faith that many of the children of God complain of their
lack of settled peace--the constant variation in their spiritual
condition--the continual ups and downs in their experience. Every
doubt in the heart of a Christian is a dishonor done to the Word of
God and the sacrifice of Christ. It is because he does not, even now,
bask in the light which shines from the cross of Christ, that he is
ever afflicted with a doubt or a fear. And yet those things which so
many have to deplore--those fluctuations and waverings--are but
trifling consequences, comparatively, inasmuch as they merely affect
their experience. The effect produced upon their worship, their
service, and their testimony, is far more serious, inasmuch as the
Lord's honor is concerned. But, alas! this latter is but little
thought of, generally speaking, simply because personal salvation is
the grand object--the aim and end--with the majority of professing
Christians. We are prone to look upon everything that affects
ourselves as _essential_; whereas, all that merely affects the glory
of Christ in and by us is counted _non-essential_.
However, it is well to see with distinctness, that the same truth
which gives the soul settled peace, puts it also into the position of
intelligent worship, acceptable service, and effectual testimony. In
the fifteenth chapter of 1 Corinthians, the apostle sets forth the
death and resurrection of Christ as the grand foundation of
everything.--"Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which
I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye
stand; by which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I
preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. For I delivered
unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died
for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and
that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures." (Ver.
1-4.) Here is the gospel in one brief and comprehensive statement. A
dead and risen Christ is the ground-work of salvation. "He was
delivered for our offences, and raised again for our justification."
(Rom. iv. 25.) To see Jesus, by the eye of faith, nailed to the cross,
and seated on the throne, must give solid peace to the conscience and
perfect liberty to the heart. We can look into the tomb, and see it
empty; we can look up to the throne, and see it occupied, and go on
our way rejoicing. The Lord Jesus settled everything on the cross on
behalf of His people; and the proof of this settlement is that He is
now at the right hand of God. A risen Christ is the eternal proof of
an accomplished redemption; and if redemption is an accomplished fact,
the believer's peace is a settled reality. We did not make peace, and
never could make it; indeed, any effort on our part to make peace
could only tend more fully to manifest us as _peace-breakers_. But
Christ, having made peace by the blood of His cross, has taken His
seat on high, triumphant over every enemy. By Him, God preaches peace.
The word of the gospel conveys this peace; and the soul that believes
the gospel, has peace--settled peace before God, for Christ is his
peace. (See Acts x. 36; Rom. v. 1; Eph. ii. 14; Col. i. 20.) In this
way, God has not only satisfied His own claims, but, in doing so, He
has found out a divinely righteous vent through which His boundless
affections may flow down to the guiltiest of Adam's guilty progeny.
Then, as to the practical result of all this. The cross of Christ has
not only put away the believer's sins, but also dissolved forever his
connection with the world; and, on the ground of this, he is
privileged to regard the world as a crucified _thing_, and to be
regarded by it as a crucified one. Thus it stands with the believer
and the world,--it is crucified to him and he to it. This is the real,
dignified position of every true Christian. The world's judgment about
Christ was expressed in the position in which it deliberately placed
Him. It got its choice as to whether it would have a murderer or
Christ. It allowed the murderer to go free, but nailed Christ to the
cross, between two thieves. Now, if the believer walks in the
footprints of Christ--if he drinks into and manifests His spirit, he
will occupy the very same place in the world's estimation; and, in
this way, he will not merely know that, as to standing before God, he
is crucified with Christ, but be led to realize it in his walk and
experience every day.
But while the cross has thus effectually cut the connection between
the believer and the world, the resurrection has brought him into the
power of new ties and associations. If in the cross we see the world's
judgment about Christ, in resurrection we see God's judgment. The
world crucified Him, but "God hath highly exalted Him." Man gave Him
the very lowest, God the very highest, place; and, inasmuch as the
believer is called into full fellowship with God in His thoughts about
Christ, he is enabled to turn the tables upon the world, and look upon
it as a crucified thing. If, therefore, the believer is on one cross
and the world on another, the moral distance between the two is vast
indeed. And if it is vast in principle, so should it be in practice.
The world and the Christian should have absolutely nothing in common;
nor will they, except so far as he denies his Lord and Master. The
believer proves himself false to Christ to the very same degree that
he has fellowship with the world.
All this is plain enough; but, my beloved Christian reader, where does
it put us as regards this world? Truly, it puts us outside, and that
completely. We are dead to the world and alive with Christ. We are at
once partakers of His rejection by earth and His acceptance in heaven;
and the joy of the latter makes us count as nothing the trial
connected with the former. To be cast out of earth, without knowing
that I have a place and a portion on high, would be intolerable; but
when the glories of heaven fill the soul's vision, a little of earth
goes a great way.
But some may feel led to ask, What is the world? It would be difficult
to find a term more inaccurately defined than "world," or
"worldliness;" for we are generally disposed to make worldliness begin
a point or two above where we are ourselves. The Word of God, however,
has, with perfect precision, defined what "the world" is, when it
marks it as that which is "not of the Father." Hence, the deeper my
fellowship with the Father, the keener will be my sense of what is
worldly. This is the divine way of teaching. The more you delight in
the Father's love, the more you reject the world. But who reveals the
Father? The Son. How? By the power of the Holy Ghost. Wherefore, the
more I am enabled, in the power of an ungrieved Spirit, to drink in
the Son's revelation of the Father, the more accurate does my judgment
become as to what is of the world. It is as the limits of God's
kingdom expand in the heart, that the judgment as to worldliness
becomes refined. You can hardly attempt to define worldliness. It is,
as some one has said, "shaded off gradually from white to jet black."
This is most true. You cannot place a bound and say, Here is where
worldliness begins; but the keen and exquisite sensibilities of the
divine nature recoil from it; and all we need is, to walk in the power
of that nature, in order to keep aloof from every form of worldliness.
"Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh."
Walk with God, and ye shall not walk with the world. Cold distinctions
and rigid rules will avail nothing. The power of the divine life is
what we want. We want to understand the meaning and spiritual
application of the "three days' journey into the wilderness," whereby
we are separated forever, not only from Egypt's brick-kilns and
taskmasters, but also from its temples and altars.
Pharaoh's second objection partook very much of the character and
tendency of the first. "And Pharaoh said, 'I will let you go, that ye
may sacrifice unto the Lord your God in the wilderness; _only ye shall
not go very far away_.'" (Chap. viii. 28.) If he could not keep them
in Egypt, he would at least seek to keep them _near_ it, so that he
might act upon them by its varied influences. In this way, they might
be brought back again, and the testimony more effectually quashed than
if they had never left Egypt at all. There is always much more serious
damage done to the cause of Christ by persons seeming to give up the
world and returning to it again, than if they had remained entirely of
it; for they virtually confess that, having tried heavenly things,
they have discovered that earthly things are better and more
satisfying.
Nor is this all. The moral effect of truth upon the conscience of
unconverted people is sadly interfered with, by the example of
professors going back again into those things which they seemed to
have left. Not that such cases afford the slightest warrant to any one
for the rejection of God's truth, inasmuch as each one is personally
responsible and will have to give account of himself to God. Still,
however, the effect in this, as well as in everything else, is bad.
"For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world, through
the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again
entangled therein and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than
the beginning. For it would have been better for them not to have
known the way of righteousness than, after they have known it, to turn
from the holy commandment delivered unto them." (2 Peter ii. 20, 21.)
Wherefore, if people do not "go very far away," they had better not go
at all. The enemy knew this well; and hence his second objection. The
maintenance of a border position suits his purpose amazingly. Those
who occupy this ground are neither one thing nor the other; and, in
point of fact, whatever influence they possess, tells entirely in the
wrong direction.
It is deeply important to see that Satan's design, in all these
objections, was to hinder that testimony to the name of the God of
Israel, which could only be rendered by a "three days' journey into
the wilderness." This was, in good truth, going "very far away." It
was much farther than Pharaoh could form any idea of, or than he could
follow them. And oh! how happy it would be if all who profess to set
out from Egypt would really, in the spirit of their minds and in the
tone of their character, go thus far away from it; if they would
intelligently recognize the cross and grave of Christ as forming the
boundary between them and the world! No man, in the mere energy of
nature, can take this ground. The Psalmist could say, "Enter not into
judgment with Thy servant, for in Thy sight shall no man living be
justified." (Ps. cxliii. 2.) So also is it with regard to true and
effectual separation from the world. "_No man living_" can enter into
it. It is only as "_dead_ with Christ," and "risen again with Him,
through faith of the operation of God," that any one can either be
"justified" before God, or separated from the world. This is what we
may call going "very far away." May all who profess and call
themselves Christians go thus far. Then will their lamp yield a steady
light. Then would their trumpet give a certain sound. Their path would
be elevated; their experience deep and rich; their peace would flow as
a river; their affections would be heavenly and their garments
unspotted. And, far above all, the name of the Lord Jesus Christ would
be magnified in them, by the power of the Holy Ghost, according to the
will of God their Father.
The third objection demands our most special attention. "And Moses and
Aaron were brought again unto Pharaoh: and he said unto them, 'Go,
serve the Lord your God; but who are they that shall go?' And Moses
said, 'We will go with our young and with our old, with our sons and
with our daughters, with our flocks and with our herds will we go; for
we must hold a feast unto the Lord.' And he said unto them, 'Let the
Lord be so with you, as I will let you go, and your little ones: look
to it; for evil is before you. Not so; go now ye that are men, and
serve the Lord; for that ye did desire.' And they were driven out from
Pharaoh's presence." (Chap. x. 8-11.) Here, again, we have the enemy
aiming a deadly blow at the testimony to the name of the God of
Israel. Parents in the wilderness and their children in Egypt!
Terrible anomaly! This would only have been a half deliverance, at
once useless to Israel and dishonoring to Israel's God. This could not
be. If the children remained in Egypt, the parents could not possibly
be said to have left it, inasmuch as their children were part of
themselves. The most that could be said in such a case was, that in
part they were serving Jehovah, and in part Pharaoh. But Jehovah could
have no part with Pharaoh. He should either have all or nothing. This
is a weighty principle for Christian parents. May we lay it deeply to
heart! It is our happy privilege to count on God for our children, and
to "bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord." (Eph.
vi.) We should not be satisfied with any other portion for "our little
ones" than that which we ourselves enjoy.
Pharaoh's fourth and last objection had reference to the flocks and
herds. "And Pharaoh called unto Moses, and said, 'Go ye, serve the
Lord; only let your flocks and herds be stayed: let your little ones
also go with you.'" (Chap. x. 24.) With what perseverance did Satan
dispute every inch of Israel's way out of the land of Egypt! He first
sought to keep them _in_ the land, then to keep them _near_ the land,
next to keep part of themselves in the land, and finally, when he
could not succeed in any of these three, he sought to send them forth
without any ability to serve the Lord. If he could not keep the
servants, he would seek to keep their ability to serve, which would
answer much the same end. If he could not induce them to sacrifice in
the land, he would send them out of the land without sacrifices.
In Moses' reply to this last objection, we are furnished with a fine
statement of the Lord's paramount claim upon His people and all
pertaining to them. "And Moses said, 'Thou must give us also
sacrifices and burnt offerings, that we may sacrifice unto the Lord
our God. Our cattle also shall go with us; _there shall not a hoof be
left behind_: for thereof must we take to serve the Lord our God; and
we know not with what we must serve the Lord until we come thither.'"
(Ver. 25, 26.) It is only when the people of God take their stand, in
simple childlike faith, upon that elevated ground on which death and
resurrection set them, that they can have anything like an adequate
sense of His claims upon them. "We know not with what we must serve
the Lord until we come thither." That is, they had no knowledge of
the divine claim, or their responsibility, until they had gone "three
days' journey." These things could not be known amid the dense and
polluted atmosphere of Egypt. Redemption must be known as an
accomplished fact, ere there can be any just or full perception of
responsibility. All this is perfect and beautiful. "If any man will do
His will, he shall know of the doctrine." I must be up out of Egypt,
in the power of death and resurrection, and then, but not until then,
shall I know what the Lord's service really is. It is when we take our
stand, by faith, in that "large room," that wealthy place into which
the precious blood of Christ introduces us,--when we look around us
and survey the rich, rare, and manifold results of redeeming
love,--when we gaze upon the Person of Him who has brought us into
this place, and endowed us with these riches, then we are constrained
to say, in the language of one of our own poets,--
"Were the whole realm of nature mine,
That were an offering far too small;
Love so amazing, so divine,
Demands my heart, my life, my all."
"There shall not a hoof be left behind." Noble words! Egypt is not the
place for aught that pertains to God's redeemed. He is worthy of
all--"body, soul, and spirit;" all we are and all we have belongs to
Him. "We are not our own, we are bought with a price;" and it is our
happy privilege to consecrate ourselves and all that we possess to Him
whose we are, and Him whom we are called to serve. There is naught of
a legal spirit in this. The words, "until we come thither," furnish a
divine guard against this horrible evil. We have traveled the "three
days' journey," ere a word concerning sacrifice can be heard or
understood. We are put in full and undisputed possession of
resurrection life and eternal righteousness. We have left that land of
death and darkness; we have been brought to God Himself, so that we
may enjoy Him, in the energy of that life with which we are endowed,
and in the sphere of righteousness in which we are placed: thus it is
our joy to serve. There is not an affection in the heart of which He
is not worthy; there is not a sacrifice in all the flock too costly
for His altar. The more closely we walk with Him, the more we shall
esteem it to be our meat and drink to do His blessed will. The
believer counts it his highest privilege to serve the Lord. He
delights in every exercise and every manifestation of the divine
nature. He does not move up and down with a grievous yoke upon his
neck, or an intolerable weight upon his shoulder. The yoke is broken
"because of the anointing," the burden has been forever removed by the
blood of the cross, while he himself walks abroad, "redeemed,
regenerated, and disenthralled," in pursuance of those soul-stirring
words, "LET MY PEOPLE GO."
_Note._--We shall consider the contents of chapter xi. in
connection with the security of Israel, under the shelter of
the blood of the paschal lamb.