Notes on the book of Exodus Part 12

it. The "l.u.s.t" was there; but he was in the dark about it until the law, as "the candle of the Almighty," shone in upon the dark chambers of his heart and revealed the evil that was there. Like a man in a dark room, who may be surrounded with dust and confusion, but he cannot see aught thereof by reason of the darkness. Let the beams of the sun dart in upon him, and he quickly perceives all. Do the sunbeams create the dust? Surely not. The dust is there, and they only detect and reveal it. This is a simple ill.u.s.tration of the effect of the law. It judges man's character and condition; it proves him to be a sinner, and shuts him up under the curse; it comes to judge what he is, and curses him if he is not what it tells him he ought to be.

It is therefore a manifest impossibility that any one can get life and righteousness by that which can only curse him; and unless the condition of the sinner, and the character of the law are totally changed, it can do naught else but curse him. It makes no allowance for infirmities, and knows nothing of sincere, though imperfect, obedience. Were it to do so, it would not be what it is--"holy, just, and good." It is just because the law is what it is that the sinner cannot get life by it. If he could get life by it, it would not be perfect, or else he would not be a sinner. It is impossible that a sinner can get life by a perfect law, for inasmuch as it is perfect, it must needs condemn him. Its absolute perfectness makes manifest and seals man's absolute ruin and condemnation. "Therefore, by deeds of law shall no flesh living be justified in His sight; for by the law is the knowledge of sin." (Rom. iii. 20.) He does not say, By the law is sin, but only "the knowledge of sin." "For until the law, sin was in the world; but sin is not imputed when there is no law." (Rom. v. 13.) Sin was there, and it only needed law to develop it in the form of "transgression." It is as if I say to my child, You must not touch that knife. My very prohibition reveals the tendency in his heart to do his own will. It does not create the tendency, but only reveals it.

The apostle John says that "sin is lawlessness." (1 John iii. 4.) The word "transgression" does not develop the true idea of the Spirit in this pa.s.sage. In order to have "transgression," I must have a definite rule or line laid down. Transgression means a pa.s.sing across a prohibited line; such a line I have in the law. I take any one of its prohibitions, such as, "Thou shalt not kill," "Thou shalt not commit adultery," "Thou shalt not steal." Here I have a rule or line set before me; but I find I have within me the very principles against which these prohibitions are expressly directed. Yea, the very fact of my being told not to commit murder shows that I have murder in my nature. There would be no necessity to tell me not to do a thing which I had no tendency to do; but the exhibition of G.o.d's will as to what I ought to be makes manifest the tendency of my will to be what I ought not. This is plain enough, and is in full keeping with the whole of the apostolic reasoning on the point.

Many, however, will admit that we cannot get life by the law; but they maintain, at the same time, that the law is our rule of life. Now, the apostle declares that "as many as are of works of law are under the curse." (Gal. iii. 10.) It matters not who they are, if they occupy the ground of law, they are, of necessity, under the curse. A man may say, I am regenerate, and therefore not exposed to the curse. This will not do. If regeneration does not take one off the ground of law, it cannot take him beyond the range of the curse of the law. If the Christian be under the former, he is, of necessity, exposed to the latter. But what has the law to do with regeneration? where do we find any thing about it in Exodus xx? The law has but one question to put to a man,--a brief, solemn, pointed question, namely, Are you what you ought to be? If he answer in the negative, it can but hurl its terrible anathema at him and slay him. And who will so readily and emphatically admit that, in himself, he is any thing but what he ought to be, as the really regenerate man? Wherefore, if he is under the law, he must inevitably be under the curse. The law cannot possibly lower its standard, nor yet amalgamate with grace. Men do constantly seek to lower its standard; they feel that they cannot get up to it, and they therefore seek to bring it down to them; but the effort is in vain: it stands forth in all its purity, majesty, and stern inflexibility, and will not accept a single hair's breadth short of perfect obedience; and where is the man, regenerate or unregenerate, that can undertake to produce that? It will be said, We have perfection in Christ. True; but that is not by the law, but by grace; and we cannot possibly confound the two economies. Scripture largely and distinctly teaches that we are not justified by the law; nor is the law our rule of life. That which can only curse can never justify, and that which can only kill can never be a rule of life. As well might a man attempt to make a fortune by a deed of bankruptcy filed against him.

If my reader will turn to the fifteenth of Acts, he will see how the attempt to put Gentile believers under the law as a rule of life was met by the Holy Ghost. "There rose up certain of the sect of the Pharisees which believed, saying, that it was needful to circ.u.mcise them, and to command them to keep the law of Moses." This was nothing else than the hiss of the old serpent, making itself heard in the dark and depressing suggestion of those early legalists. But let us see how it was met by the mighty energy of the Holy Ghost, and the unanimous voice of the twelve apostles and the whole Church. "And when there had been much disputing, Peter rose up, and said unto them, 'Men and brethren, ye know how that a good while ago G.o.d made choice among us, that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear'"--what? Was it the requirements and the curses of _the law_ of Moses? No. Blessed be G.o.d, these are not what He would have falling on the ears of helpless sinners. Hear what, then? "SHOULD HEAR THE WORD OF THE GOSPEL, AND BELIEVE." This was what suited the nature and character of G.o.d. He never would have troubled men with the dismal accents of requirement and prohibition. These Pharisees were not His messengers; far from it.

They were not the bearers of glad tidings, nor the publishers of peace, and therefore their "feet" were aught but "beautiful" in the eyes of One who only delights in mercy.

"Now, therefore," continues the apostle, "why tempt ye G.o.d, to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear?" This was strong, earnest language. G.o.d did not want "to put a yoke upon the neck" of those whose hearts had been set free by the gospel of peace. He would rather exhort them to stand fast in the liberty of Christ, and not be "entangled again with the yoke of bondage." He would not send those whom He had received to His bosom of love to be terrified by the "blackness and darkness and tempest" of "the mount that might be touched." How could we ever admit the thought that those whom G.o.d had received in grace He would rule by law?

Impossible. "We believe," says Peter, "that through the GRACE OF THE LORD JESUS CHRIST we shall be saved, even as they." Both the Jews, who had received the law, and the Gentiles, who never had, were now to be "_saved_ through _grace_." And not only were they to be "saved" by grace, but they were to "stand" in grace (Rom. v. 2.) and to "grow in grace" (2 Pet. iii. 18.). To teach any thing else was to "tempt G.o.d."

Those Pharisees were subverting the very foundations of the Christian faith; and so are all those who seek to put believers under the law.

There is no evil or error more abominable in the sight of the Lord than legalism. Hearken to the strong language--the accents of righteous indignation--which fell from the Holy Ghost in reference to those teachers of the law,--"I would they were even cut off which trouble you." (Gal. v. 12.)

And, let me ask, are the thoughts of the Holy Ghost changed in reference to this question? Has it ceased to be a tempting of G.o.d to place the yoke of legality upon a sinner's neck? Is it now in accordance with His gracious will that the law should be read out in the ears of sinners? Let my reader reply to these inquiries in the light of the fifteenth of Acts and the epistle to the Galatians. These scriptures, were there no other, are amply sufficient to prove that G.o.d never intended that the "Gentiles should hear the word" of the law. Had He so intended, He would a.s.suredly have "made choice" of some one to proclaim it in their ears. But no; when He sent forth His "fiery law," He spoke only in _one_ tongue; but when He proclaimed the glad tidings of salvation through the blood of the Lamb, He spoke in the language "_of every nation under heaven_." He spoke in such a way as that "_every man in his own tongue, wherein he was born_," might hear the sweet story of grace. (Acts ii. 1-11.)

Further, when He was giving forth, from Mount Sinai, the stern requirements of the covenant of works, He addressed Himself exclusively to _one_ people. His voice was only heard within the narrow inclosures of the Jewish nation; but when, on the plains of Bethlehem, "the angel of the Lord" declared "good tidings of great joy," He added those characteristic words, "which shall be to _all people_." And again, when the risen Christ was sending forth His heralds of salvation, His commission ran thus: "Go ye into _all the world_ and preach the gospel to _every creature_." (Mark xvi. 15; Luke ii. 10.) The mighty tide of grace, which had its source in the bosom of G.o.d, and its channel in the blood of the Lamb, was designed to rise, in the resistless energy of the Holy Ghost, far above the narrow inclosures of Israel, and roll through the length and breadth of a sin-stained world. "Every creature" must hear, "in his own tongue,"

the message of peace--the word of the gospel--the record of salvation through the blood of the cross.

Finally, that nothing might be lacking to prove to our poor legal hearts that Mount Sinai was not, by any means, the spot where the deep secrets of the bosom of G.o.d were told out, the Holy Ghost has said, both by the mouth of a prophet and an apostle, "How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!" (Isa. iii. 7; Rom. x. 15.) But of those who sought to be teachers of the law, the same Holy Ghost has said, "I would they were even cut off which trouble you."

Thus, then, it is obvious that the law is neither the ground of life to the sinner nor the rule of life to the Christian: Christ is both the one and the other,--He is our life and He is our rule of life. The law can only curse and slay. Christ is our life and righteousness. He became a curse for us by hanging on a tree. He went down into the place where the sinner lay--into the place of death and judgment; and having, by His death, entirely discharged all that was or could be against us, He became, in resurrection, the source of life and the ground of righteousness to all who believe in His name. Having thus life and righteousness in Him, we are called to walk not merely as the law directs, but to "walk even as He walked." It will hardly be deemed needful to a.s.sert that it is directly contrary to Christian ethics to kill, commit adultery, or steal. But were a Christian to shape his way according to these commands, or according to the entire decalogue, would he yield the rare and delicate fruits which the epistle to the Ephesians sets forth? Would the ten commandments ever cause a thief to give up stealing, and go to work that he might have to give?--would they ever transform a thief into a laborious and liberal man?

a.s.suredly not. The law says, "Thou shalt not steal;" but does it say, Go and give to him that needeth,--Go, feed, clothe, and bless your enemy,--Go, gladden by your benevolent feelings and your beneficent acts the heart of him who only and always seeks your hurt? By no means; and yet, were I under the law, as a rule, it could only curse me and slay me. How is this, when the standard in the New Testament is so much higher? Because I am weak, and the law gives me no strength and shows me no mercy. The law _demands_ strength from one that has none, and _curses_ him if he cannot display it. The gospel _gives_ strength to one that has none, and _blesses_ him in the exhibition of it. The law proposes life as the end of obedience, the gospel gives life as the only proper _ground_ of obedience.

But that I may not weary the reader with arguments, let me ask, If the law be indeed the rule of a believer's life, where are we to find it so presented in the New Testament? The inspired apostle evidently had no thought of its being the rule when he penned the following words: "For in Christ Jesus neither circ.u.mcision availeth any thing nor uncirc.u.mcision, but a new creation. And as many as walk according to _this rule_, peace be on them, and mercy, and on the Israel of G.o.d."

(Gal. vi. 15, 16.) What "rule"? The law? No; but the "new creation."

Where shall we find this in Exodus xx? It speaks not a word about "new creation." On the contrary, it addresses itself to man as he is--in his natural or old-creation state--and puts him to the test as to what he is really able to do. Now if the law were the rule by which believers are to walk, why does the apostle p.r.o.nounce his benediction on those who walk by another rule altogether? Why does he not say, As many as walk according to the rule of the ten commandments? Is it not evident, from this one pa.s.sage, that the Church of G.o.d has a higher rule by which to walk? Unquestionably. The ten commandments, though forming, as all true Christians admit, a part of the canon of inspiration, could never be the rule of life to one who has, through infinite grace, been introduced into the new creation--one who has received new life in Christ.

But some may ask, Is not the law perfect? and if perfect, what more would you have? The law is divinely perfect. Yea, it is the very perfection of the law which causes it to curse and slay those who are not perfect if they attempt to stand before it. "The law is spiritual, but I am carnal." It is utterly impossible to form an adequate idea of the infinite perfectness and spirituality of the law. But then this perfect law coming in contact with fallen humanity--this spiritual law coming in contact with "the carnal mind," could only "work wrath" and "enmity." (Rom. iv. 15; viii. 7.) Why? Is it because the law is not perfect? No, but because it is, and man is a sinner. If man were perfect, he would carry out the law in all its spiritual perfectness; and even in the case of true believers, though they still carry about with them an evil nature, the apostle teaches us "that the righteousness of the law is fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." (Rom. viii. 4.) "He that loveth another hath fulfilled the law.... Love worketh no ill to his neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law." (Rom. xiii. 8-10.) If I love a man, I shall not steal his property--nay, I shall seek to do him all the good I can. All this is plain, and easily understood by the spiritual mind; but it leaves entirely untouched the question of the law, whether as the ground of life to a sinner or the rule of life to the believer.

If we look at the law, in its two grand divisions, it tells a man to love G.o.d with all his heart, and with all his soul, and with all his mind; and to love his neighbor as himself. This is the sum of the law: this, and not a t.i.ttle less, is what the law demands. But where has this demand ever been responded to by any member of Adam's fallen posterity? Where is the man who could say he loves G.o.d after such a fashion? "The carnal mind [_i.e._, the mind which we have by nature]

is enmity against G.o.d." Man hates G.o.d and His ways. G.o.d came, in the Person of Christ, and showed Himself to man--showed Himself, not in the overwhelming brightness of His majesty, but in all the charm and sweetness of perfect grace and condescension. What was the result? Man hated G.o.d.--"Now have they both seen and hated both Me and My Father."

(John xv. 24.) But, it may be said, man ought to love G.o.d. No doubt, and he deserves death and eternal perdition if he does not; but can the law produce this love in man's heart? was that its design? By no means, "for the law worketh wrath." The law finds man in a state of enmity against G.o.d; and without ever altering that state (for that was not its province), it commands him to love G.o.d with all his heart, and curses him if he does not. It was not the province of the law to alter or improve man's nature; nor yet could it impart any power to carry out its righteous demands. It said, "This do, and thou shalt live." It commanded man to love G.o.d. It did not reveal what G.o.d was to man, even in his guilt and ruin; but it told man what he ought to be toward G.o.d.

This was dismal work. It was not the unfolding of the powerful attractions of the divine character, producing in man true repentance toward G.o.d, melting his icy heart, and elevating his soul in genuine affection and worship. No: it was an inflexible command to love G.o.d; and, instead of producing love, it "worked wrath;" not because G.o.d ought not to be loved, but because man was a sinner.

Again, "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." Can "the natural man" do this? Does he love his neighbor as himself? Is this the principle which obtains in the chambers of commerce, the exchanges, the banks, the marts, the fairs, and the markets of this world? Alas!

no. Man does not love his neighbor as he loves himself. No doubt he ought; and if he were right, he would; but then he is all wrong--totally wrong--and unless he is "born again" of the Word and the Spirit of G.o.d, he cannot "see nor enter the kingdom of G.o.d." The law cannot produce this new birth. It kills "the old man," but does not, and cannot, create "the new." As an actual fact, we know that the Lord Jesus Christ embodied, in His glorious Person, both G.o.d and our neighbor, inasmuch as He was, according to the foundation-truth of the Christian religion, "G.o.d manifest in the flesh." How did man treat Him? Did he love Him with all his heart, or as himself? The very reverse. He crucified Him between two thieves, having previously preferred a murderer and a robber to that blessed One who had gone about doing good--who had come forth from the eternal dwelling-place of light and love--Himself the very living personification of that light and love--whose bosom had ever heaved with purest sympathy with human need--whose hand had ever been ready to dry the sinner's tears and alleviate his sorrows. Thus we stand and gaze upon the cross of Christ, and behold in it an unanswerable demonstration of the fact that it is not within the range of man's nature or capacity to keep the law.[10]

[10] For further exposition of the law, and also of the doctrine of the Sabbath, the reader is referred to a tract ent.i.tled "A Scriptural Inquiry into the True Nature of the Sabbath, the Law, and the Christian Ministry."

It is peculiarly interesting to the spiritual mind, after all that has pa.s.sed before us, to observe the relative position of G.o.d and the sinner at the close of this memorable chapter. "And the Lord said unto Moses, 'Thus thou shalt say unto the children of Israel.... An altar of earth thou shalt make unto Me, and shalt sacrifice thereon thy burnt-offerings and thy peace-offerings, thy sheep and thine oxen: in all places where I record My name I WILL COME UNTO THEE, AND I WILL BLESS THEE. And if thou wilt make Me an altar of stone, thou shalt not build it of hewn stone; for if thou lift up thy tool upon it, thou hast polluted it. Neither shalt thou go up by steps unto Mine altar, that thy nakedness be not discovered thereon.'" (Ver. 22-26.)

Here we find man not in the position of _a doer_, but of _a worshiper_; and this, too, at the close of Exodus xx. How plainly this teaches us that the atmosphere of Mount Sinai is not that which G.o.d would have the sinner breathing,--that it is not the proper meeting-place between G.o.d and man! "In all places where I record _My name I will come unto thee, and I will bless thee_." How unlike the terrors of the fiery mount is that spot where Jehovah records _His name_, whither He "comes" to "bless" His worshiping people!

But further, G.o.d will meet the sinner at an altar without a hewn stone or a step--a place of worship which requires no human workmanship to erect, or human effort to approach. The former could only pollute, and the latter could only display human "nakedness." Admirable type of the meeting-place where G.o.d meets the sinner now, even the Person and work of His Son, Jesus Christ, where all the claims of law, of justice, and of conscience are perfectly answered! Man has, in every age and in every clime, been p.r.o.ne, in one way or another, to "lift up his tool"

in the erection of his altar, or to approach thereto by steps of his own making; but the issue of all such attempts has been "pollution"

and "nakedness." "We all do fade as a leaf, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags." Who will presume to approach G.o.d clad in a garment of "filthy rags"? or who will stand to worship with a revealed "nakedness"? What can be more preposterous than to think of approaching G.o.d in a way which necessarily involves either pollution or nakedness? And yet thus it is in every case in which human effort is put forth to open the sinner's way to G.o.d. Not only is there no need of such effort, but defilement and nakedness are stamped upon it.

G.o.d has come down so very near to the sinner, even in the very depths of his ruin, that there is no need for his lifting up the tool of legality, or ascending the steps of self-righteousness,--yea, to do so, is but to expose his uncleanness and his nakedness.

Such are the principles with which the Holy Ghost closes this most remarkable section of inspiration. May they be indelibly written upon our hearts, that so we may more clearly and fully understand the essential difference between LAW and GRACE.

CHAPTERS XXI.-XXIII.

The study of this section of our book is eminently calculated to impress the heart with a sense of G.o.d's unsearchable wisdom and infinite goodness. It enables one to form some idea of the character of a kingdom governed by laws of divine appointment. Here, too, we may see the amazing condescension of Him who, though He is the great G.o.d of heaven and earth, can, nevertheless, stoop to adjudicate between man and man in reference to the death of an ox, the loan of a garment, or the loss of a servant's tooth. "Who is like unto the Lord our G.o.d, who humbleth Himself to behold the things that are in heaven and on earth?" He governs the universe, and yet He can occupy Himself with the provision of a covering for one of His creatures. He guides the angel's flight and takes notice of a crawling worm. He humbles Himself to regulate the movements of those countless...o...b.. that roll through infinite s.p.a.ce, and to record the fall of a sparrow.

As to the character of the judgment set forth in the chapter before us, we may learn a double lesson. These judgments and ordinances bear a twofold witness: they convey to the ear a twofold message, and present to the eye two sides of a picture. They tell of G.o.d and they tell of man.

In the first place, on G.o.d's part, we find Him enacting laws which exhibit strict, even-handed, perfect justice. "Eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burning for burning, wound for wound, stripe for stripe." Such was the character of the laws, the statutes, and the judgments by which G.o.d governed His earthly kingdom of Israel. Everything was provided for, every interest was maintained, and every claim was met. There was no partiality--no distinction made between the rich and the poor. The balance in which each man's claim was weighed was adjusted with divine accuracy, so that no one could justly complain of a decision. The pure robe of justice was not to be tarnished with the foul stains of bribery, corruption, and partiality.

The eye and the hand of a divine Legislator provided for everything, and a divine Executive inflexibly dealt with every defaulter. The stroke of justice fell only on the head of the guilty, while every obedient soul was protected in the enjoyment of all his rights and privileges.

Then, as regards man, it is impossible to read over these laws and not be struck with the disclosure which they indirectly, but really, make of his desperate depravity. The fact of Jehovah's having to enact laws against certain crimes, proves the capability on man's part of committing those crimes. Were the capability and the tendency not there, there would be no need of the enactments. Now there are many who, if the gross abominations forbidden in these chapters were named to them, might feel disposed to adopt the language of Hazael, and say, "Is thy servant a dog that he should do this thing?" Such persons have not yet traveled down into the deep abyss of their own hearts. For albeit there are crimes here forbidden which would seem to place man, as regards his habits and tendencies, below the level of a "dog," yet do those very statutes prove, beyond all question, that the most refined and cultivated member of the human family carries about in his bosom the seeds of the very darkest and most horrifying abominations. For whom were those statutes enacted? For man. Were they needful? Unquestionably. But they would have been quite superfluous if man were incapable of committing the sins referred to. But man _is_ capable; and hence we see that man is sunk to the very lowest possible level--that his nature is wholly corrupt--that from the crown of his head to the sole of his foot there is not so much as a speck of moral soundness.

How can such a being ever stand, without an emotion of fear, in the full blaze of the throne of G.o.d? how can he stand within the holiest?

how can he stand on the sea of gla.s.s? how can he enter in by the pearly gates and tread the golden streets? The reply to these inquiries unfolds the amazing depths of redeeming love and the eternal efficacy of the blood of the Lamb. Deep as is man's ruin, the love of G.o.d is deeper still: black as is his guilt, the blood of Jesus can wash it all away: wide as is the chasm separating man from G.o.d, the cross has bridged it. G.o.d has come down to the very lowest point of the sinner's condition, in order that He might lift him up into a position of infinite favor, in eternal a.s.sociation with His own Son.

Well may we exclaim, "Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of G.o.d." (1 John iii. 1.) Nothing could fathom man's ruin but G.o.d's love, and nothing could equal man's guilt but the blood of Christ. But now the very depth of the ruin only magnifies the love that has fathomed it, and the intensity of the guilt only celebrates the efficacy of the blood that can cleanse it. The very vilest sinner who believes in Jesus can rejoice in the a.s.surance that G.o.d sees him and p.r.o.nounces him "_clean every whit_."

Such, then, is the double character of instruction to be gleaned from the laws and ordinances in this section, looked at as a whole; and the more minutely we look at them in detail, the more impressed we shall be with a sense of their fullness and beauty. Take, for instance, the very first ordinance that presents itself, namely, that of the Hebrew servant.

"Now these are the judgments which thou shalt set before them: If thou buy a Hebrew servant, six years he shall serve, and in the seventh he shall go out free for nothing. If he came in by himself, he shall go out by himself: if he were married, then his wife shall go out with him. If his master have given him a wife, and she have borne him sons or daughters, the wife and her children shall be her master's, and he shall go out by himself. And if the servant shall plainly say, I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free; then his master shall bring him unto the judges: he shall also bring him to the door, or unto the door-post; and his master shall bore his ear through with an awl; and he shall serve him forever." (Chap. xxi. 1-6.) The servant was perfectly free to go out, so far as he was personally concerned. He had discharged every claim, and could therefore walk abroad in unquestioned freedom; but because of his love to his master, his wife, and his children, he voluntarily bound himself to perpetual servitude; and not only so, but he was also willing to bear, in his own person, the marks of that servitude.

The application of this to the Lord Jesus Christ will be obvious to the intelligent reader. In Him we behold the One who dwelt in the bosom of the Father before all worlds--the object of His eternal delight--who might have occupied, throughout eternity, this His personal and entirely peculiar place, inasmuch as there lay upon Him no obligation (save that which ineffable love created and ineffable love incurred) to abandon that place. Such, however, was His love to the Father, whose counsels were involved, and for the Church collectively and each individual member thereof, whose salvation was involved, that He voluntarily came down to earth, emptied Himself, and made Himself of no reputation, took upon Him the form of a servant and the marks of perpetual service. To these marks we probably have a striking allusion in the Psalms.--"Mine ears hast Thou digged." (Ps.

xl. 6, marg.) This psalm is the expression of Christ's devotedness to G.o.d. "Then said I, 'Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of Me, I delight to do Thy will, O My G.o.d; yea, Thy law is within My heart.'" He came to do the will of G.o.d, whatever that will might be. He never once did His own will, not even in the reception and salvation of sinners, though surely His loving heart, with all its affections, was most fully in that glorious work. Still He receives and saves only as the servant of the Father's counsels. "All that the Father giveth Me shall come to Me; and him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out. For I came down from heaven, not to do Mine own will, but the will of Him that sent Me. And this is the Father's will which hath sent Me, that of all which He hath given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day." (John vi.

37-39.)

Here we have a most interesting view of the servant-character of the Lord Jesus Christ. He, in perfect grace, holds Himself responsible to receive all who come within the range of the divine counsels; and not only to receive them, but to preserve them through all the difficulties and trials of their devious path down here,--yea, in the article of death itself, should it come, and to raise them all up in the last day. Oh, how secure is the very feeblest member of the Church of G.o.d! He is the subject of G.o.d's eternal counsels, which counsels the Lord Jesus Christ is pledged to carry out. Jesus loves the Father, and in proportion to the intensity of that love is the security of each member of the redeemed family. The salvation of the sinner who believes on the name of the Son of G.o.d is, in one aspect of it, but the expression of Christ's love to the Father. If one such could perish, through any cause whatsoever, it would argue that the Lord Jesus Christ was unable to carry out the will of G.o.d, which were nothing short of positive blasphemy against His sacred name, to whom be all honor and majesty throughout the everlasting ages.

Thus we have, in the Hebrew servant, a type of Christ in His pure devotedness to the Father. But there is more than this. "I love my wife and my children." "Christ loved the Church, and gave Himself for it; that He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the Word, that He might present it to Himself a glorious Church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish." (Eph. v. 25-27.) There are various other pa.s.sages of Scripture presenting Christ as the ant.i.type of the Hebrew servant, both in His love for the Church as a body, and for all believers personally. In Matthew xiii, John x and xiii, and Hebrews ii, my reader will find special teaching on the point.

The apprehension of this love of the heart of Jesus cannot fail to produce a spirit of fervent devotedness to the One who could exhibit such pure, such perfect, such disinterested love. How could the wife and children of the Hebrew servant fail to love one who had voluntarily surrendered his liberty in order that he and they might be together? And what is the love presented in the type, when compared with that which shines in the ant.i.type? It is as nothing. "The love of Christ pa.s.seth knowledge." It led Him to think of us before all worlds--to visit us in the fullness of time--to walk deliberately to the door-post--to suffer for us on the cross, in order that He might raise us to companionship with Himself in His everlasting kingdom and glory.

Were I to enter into a full exposition of the remaining statutes and judgments of this portion of the book of Exodus, it would carry me much further than I feel, at present, led to go.[11] I will merely observe, in conclusion, that it is impossible to read the section and not have the heart drawn out in adoration of the profound wisdom, well-balanced justice, and yet tender considerateness which breathe throughout the whole. We rise up from the study of it with this conviction deeply wrought into the soul, that the One who speaks here is "the only true," "the only wise," and the infinitely gracious G.o.d.

[11] I would here observe, once for all, that the feasts referred to in chapter xxiii. 14-19, and the offerings in chapter xxix, being brought out, in all their fullness and detail, in the book of Leviticus, I shall reserve them until we come to dwell upon the contents of that singularly rich and interesting book.

May all our meditations on His eternal Word have the effect of prostrating our souls in worship before Him whose perfect ways and glorious attributes shine there, in all their blessedness and brightness, for the refreshment, the delight, and the edification of His blood-bought people.

CHAPTER XXIV.

This chapter opens with an expression remarkably characteristic of the entire Mosaic economy. "And He said unto Moses, 'Come up unto the Lord, thou, and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel; and worship ye _afar off ... they shall not come nigh_, neither shall the people _go up_ with him." We may search from end to end of the legal ritual, and not find those two precious words, "_draw nigh_." Ah, no; such words could never be heard from the top of Sinai, nor from amid the shadows of the law. They could only be uttered at heaven's side of the empty tomb of Jesus, where the blood of the cross has opened a perfectly cloudless prospect to the vision of faith. The words, "afar off," are as characteristic of the law as "draw nigh" are of the gospel. Under the law, the work was never done which could ent.i.tle a sinner to draw nigh. Man had not fulfilled his promised obedience; and the "blood of calves and goats" could not atone for the failure, or give his guilty conscience peace. Hence, therefore, he had to stand "afar off." Man's vows were broken and his sin unpurged; how, then, could he draw nigh? The blood of ten thousand bullocks could not wipe away one stain from the conscience, or give the peaceful sense of nearness as being reconciled to G.o.d.