The Legal Covenant at Sinai (Part 70)

Gentle Readers, Read with me



Exodus 34:8-17

The key verse to the whole of Exodus 34 is the 27th: "And the Lord said unto Moses. Write thou these words: for after the tenor of these words I have made a covenant with thee and with Israel." Hence the title to our present article. In the verse following the one just quoted, we read, "And he was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights; he did neither eat bread, nor drink water. And he wrote upon the tables the words of the covenant, the ten commandments." Thus, the Sinaiatic covenant was a legal one, but as vv. 6, 7 have shown us, it was Law administered in mercy and patience, as well as righteousness and holiness.

We have already considered the Law as expressing God’s government over His redeemed people; let us now look at it in its dispensational bearings. In Romans 5:20 we read, "the law entered, that the offense might abound:" that is, that sin might appear "exceeding sinful" (Rom. 7:13): that the wickedness of the human heart might be manifested: that it should be the more fully demonstrated that men are sinners: and this in order that, "Every mouth might be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God" (Rom. 3:19).



In the light of what has just been before us, we should carefully bear in mind that God gave the Law to Moses twice: Exodus 31:18: 34:1. 28. The first giving of the Law demonstrated that man is ungodly. As we have seen, before the Law was written upon tables of stone, it was first given to Moses orally (Ex. 20), and Moses then repeated it to Israel (24:3), and they affirmed, "all the words which the Lord hath said will we do." The first word He had said was. "Thou shalt have no other gods before Me." But at the very time He was engraving those words on the stones, Israel was saying to Aaron. "Up make us gods which shall go before us" (132:1). And the next thing was that the golden calf was made and worshipped. The immediate sequel was the visitation of God’s anger upon them (32:27, 28). Thus, the first trial of man—not of Israel only, for "As in water face answereth to face, so the heart of man to man" (Prov. 27:19)—ended in judgment.



As the first giving of the Law demonstrated that man was "ungodly." so the second giving of it was to be followed by a manifestation that he is "without strength" to keep it. These are the two things which characterize fallen man (Rom. 5:6), and these were what the double giving of the law was designed to show. The first was demonstrated speedily: the second was made evident more slowly, yet none the less surely. God gave man fair and full opportunity to show whether he had power to keep the law. In the nation of Israel he was represented and tested under the most favorable circumstances. Israel was separated from the heathen: Jehovah Himself dwelt in their midst. They were given a land flowing with milk and honey; and, as the apostle says, unto them pertained "the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God and the promises" (Rom. 9:4). Well might Jehovah say to them at a later date. "What could have been done more to My vineyard, that I have not done in it? wherefore when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes?" (Isa. 5:4).



Yes, the vineyard of the Lord’s planting brought forth only "wild grapes." Graciously and longsufferingly did He bear with them, sending one prophet after another to exhort, admonish, rebuke, and warn. But all to no purpose (see Mark 12:1-5). One generation after another was tested, but always with the same result, in that the Law was "weak through the flesh" (Rom. 8:3). Man had no ability to meet the righteous requirements of God. He was "without strength." Therefore, as was inevitable, this second testing of man under the Law also ended with Divine judgment. And most impressive was the longsuffering mercy of God seen in that too. The full and final stroke of His wrath did not fall upon guilty Israel all at once, but was meted out slowly and in stages.



First, God delivered up His people into the hands of the Chaldeans. As He said through Isaiah, "O Assyrian, the rod of Mine anger, and the staff in their hand is Mine indignation. I will send him against an hypocritical nation, and against the people of My wrath will I give him a charge, to take the spoil, and to take the prey, and to treat them down like the mire of the streets" (10:5, 6). Israel’s second testing under the Law had come to an end. The "glory of the Lord" (the Shekinah) had departed from the holy city (Ezek. 11:23, 24), and Israel’s sons were carried down captive into Babylon: and through the prophet Hosea the Nation was disowned of God: "Then said God. Call his name Lo-ammi: for ye are not My people" (1:9).



Later, a remnant was permitted to leave Babylon and return to the land of their fathers, unto the city which had been ruined through their folly and rebellion, to raise it up again and to build the temple. But they came back not as God’s people. but as "Lo-ammi." And though a temple was erected, yet no Shekinah glory abode in it. It was empty! God no longer dwelt in their midst. The prophets which He sent unto them at that period emphasized the ruin which had come in, and pointed forward to the advent of the Savior. The great test then was no longer obedience to the Law (though that was not repealed), but an humble acceptance of the Divine judgment which was upon them, and a waiting in contrition of spirit for the Deliverer. But instead of humbling themselves before God, instead of repenting for their sins, instead of owning that they were "without strength," they were more self-righteous than ever. Ably has this been set forth by another:



"But now, alas! you find again what the power of Satan is, and how subtly he can blind, through man’s folly, the heart of man. It is very striking, and people generally notice it as favorable to Israel, that after their return, they were no more idolators. It had been their special sin. The prophet asks. you remember, ‘Hath a nation changed their gods, which are yet no gods? but My people have changed their glory for that which doth not profit.’ Even from the wilderness they had. There was first the golden calf, and all through the wilderness they had taken up ‘the tabernacle of Moloch, and the star of their god Remphan, figures which they made to worship them.’ God had declared that he was the one God, but they were idolators to the core of the heart.



"But as soon as there was no god in their midst—as soon as the temple was empty and the glory had departed—as soon as they were in the ruin which their sin had brought about, then immediately Satan came forward, not in the garb of idolatry any more, but now to resist the sentence which God had pronounced upon them—now to persuade them that after all they were not as Lo-ammi—that they were God’s people, and to say, ‘The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord are we.’ In fact, pharisaism was the growth of that period, and pharisaism was the self-righteousness which resisted God’s sentence upon them. pretending to have a righteousness when God had emphatically declared that man had none. So it was when that Deliverer prophesied of came. and when the glory, in a deeper and more wonderful way than ever was once more in their midst,—aye, the ‘glory of the only begotten Son, in the bosom of the Father’—the Antitype of the glory of that tabernacle of old,—when He who was to come did come, and was amongst them in love and grace, ready to meet them with all mercy and tenderness,—not coming to be ministered to, but to minister.—not requiring, but to give with both hands—to give without limit—to give as God,—alas! These Pharisees could turn comfortably to one another and say, ‘which of the Pharisees have believed on Him?’ Pharisees they were who slew the Lord of glory" (Mr. F. W. Grant).



Then it was, as a matter of course, that Judaism ended. The high priest’s rending of his garments (Matthew 26:65), though unknown to himself (cf. John 11:51), intimated that the priesthood had served its day. Man’s second trial under Law was over. Nothing now remained but judgment, yet even that lingered for a further forty years, till, in A.D. 70, Jerusalem was captured, the temple destroyed, and the Jews dispersed abroad. Even before that judgment fell, God’s call to His own people was. "Save yourselves from this untoward generation’ (Acts 2:40). And again. "Let us go forth therefore unto Him, without the camp" (Heb. 13:13). But we must now retrace our steps, and return to the point from which we started. The central thing in Exodus 34 is the "covenant" which Jehovah made with Israel at Sinai.



As we pointed out in the opening paragraphs of our last article, that covenant was based upon the ten words engraved upon the tables of stone. It was a covenant of law, but law administered in mercy, grace, patience, as well as holiness and righteousness. In that covenant God pressed His claims upon man. First, He demanded absolute separation, unto Himself (v. 18). Second, entire consecration for Himself (vv. 19, 20). Third, complete submission to His appointed sabbath, no exception being permitted even in harvest-time (v. 21). Here follows our present passage.



"And thou shalt observe the feast of weeks, of the first fruits of wheat harvest" (v. 22). The central thought in connection with each of Israel’s "feasts" was the gathering together of the people around Jehovah Himself, on the ground of redemption accomplished. Thus, it was corporate responsibility which is here in view, and, we may add, corporate privilege, for there is no greater privilege enjoyed on earth than for God’s saints to be gathered together, in festive assembly, around Himself.



The "feast of weeks." better known as "Pentecost." is described at greatest length in Leviticus 23:15-21. Here it is connected with "the first fruits of wheat harvest." This at once makes us think of James 1:18: "Of His own will begat He us with the Word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures." Dispensationally, the feast received a partial fulfillment at the descent of the Spirit in Acts 2. We say "partial fulfillment," for Peter’s words in Acts 2:16, "But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel." rather than "this is the fulfillment of that which was spoken by Joel," tell us that the complete realization is yet future: as indeed it is. The "two loaves" of Leviticus 23:17 pointed, first, to Jew and Gentile now gathered together and made fellow-members of the Body of Christ; but, ultimately they foreshadowed the re-uniting of the two houses of Israel (cf. Ezekiel 37:16) when, after this dispensation has run its course, the Jews will be restored once more to Divine favor.



"And the feast of ingathering at the year’s end" (v. 22). This is better known as "the feast of tabernacles." It was the final one on Israel’s religious calendar. Its dispensational fulfillment is therefore yet future. "The feast of tabernacles is the joy of the millennium, when Israel hath come out of the wilderness, where their sins have placed them: but to which will be added this first day (the "eighth day" of Leviticus 23:36" A. W. P.) of another week—the resurrection joy of those who are raised with the Lord Jesus, to which the presence of the Holy Spirit answers meanwhile. Consequently, we find that the feast of tabernacles took place after the increase of the earth had been gathered in, and, as we learn elsewhere, not only after the harvest, but after the vintage also; that is, after separation by judgment, and the final execution of judgment on the earth, when heavenly and earthly saints shall all be gathered in" (Mr. J. N. Darby).



"Thrice in the year shall all your men children appear before the Lord God, the God of Israel" (v. 23). The particular occasions specified were, "in the feast of unleavened bread, and in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of tabernacles" (Deut. 16:16). Really, those feasts contemplated three distinct dispensations: the first, the O. T., when Israel was separated unto the Lord. The second, this present interval, when in addition to the "remnant according to the election of grace" (Rom. 11:5) from the stock of Abraham, God is also visiting "the Gentiles, to take out of them a people for His name" (Acts 15:14). The third, to the millennium. when the Lord "will return, and will build again the tabernacle of David, which is fallen down; and will build again the ruins thereof, and will set it up: That the residue of men might seek after the Lord, and all the Gentiles, upon whom My name is called" (Acts 15:16, 17). We may add that each of the three persons in the Godhead are, distinctively, contemplated in these feasts. The feast of unleavened bread, which is inseparably connected with the Passover, speaks to us of God the Son. The feast of weeks or Pentecost is marked by the descent of the Spirit (Acts 2:2: Joel 2:28). The feast of tabernacles will witness the answer to that oft-prayed petition, "Our Father which art in heaven . . . Thy kingdom come" (compare Matthew 13:43; 16:27). The order is the same as in the three-one parable of Luke 15: the work of the Shepherd, the work of the Spirit, bringing into the Father’s house. Thus it is experimentally.



As we have said, the "feasts" had to do with corporate responsibility, and corporate privilege too, for: "Behold. how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity" (Ps. 133:1). But alas, history has repeated itself. At the beginning of Israel’s national history, they were a united "congregation." So it was at the beginning of this dispensation: "And all that believed were together" (Acts 2:44). For a time all went well; then failure and sin came, followed by Divine chastisement and judgment; true alike of Israel and Christendom. Ultimately Israel was carried captive into Babylon, so too, all through the ‘dark ages’ the "mystery Babylon" of Revelation 17 dominated Europe. A remnant of Israel returned from Babylon and the true worship of God was restored in Israel, though not after its primitive glory. So there was a Reformation, a remnant was delivered from the papacy, and God again was magnified, though the streams of truth was not as pure as it was at the beginning.



But at the end of the Old Testament period the corporate testimony of Israel was a complete wreck and ruin: the priesthood had "corrupted the covenant of Levi" (Mal. 2:7, 8); polluted bread was offered upon God’s altar (Mal. 1:7). Judah had "profaned the holiness of the Lord" (Mal. 2:11), and Jehovah had to say, "I have no pleasure in you... neither will I accept an offering at your hand" (Mal. 1:10). In like manner, the corporate testimony of Christendom has long since fallen into ruins. The last of the Epistles to the churches depicts Christ as being on the outside (Rev. 3:20), and His voice is addressed to the individual only, "If any man hear My voice."



"For I will cast out the nations before thee and enlarge thy borders: neither shall any man desire thy land, when thou shall go up to appear before the Lord thy God thrice in the year" (v. 24). How remarkably does this verse illustrate Proverbs 16:7: "When a man’s ways please the Lord, He maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him." God will not allow any man to be His debtor: He has promised, "Them that honor Me, I will honor" (1 Sam. 2:30). So it was here. These Israelites were going up to the temple to worship the Lord; in their absence He would guard their homes.



"Neither shall any man desire thy land, when thou shalt go up to appear before the Lord thy God thrice in the year." How strikingly does this demonstrate the absoluteness of God’s control of His creatures! And man, though fallen and rebellious, is no exception. As Daniel 4:35 tells us, "He doeth according to His will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth: and none can stay His hand." So it was here. The male Hebrews were to leave their farms and go up to the temple in Jerusalem (Deut. 16:16)—for many of them, a long journey. They were surrounded by hostile heathen but so complete is God’s control of man, every man, that none shall be allowed to molest their families or flocks while they were away. Thus, we see that God not only restrains the activities of the wicked, but even regulates the desires of their evil hearts: "The king’s heart is in the hand of the Lord, as the rivers of water: He turneth it whithersoever He will" (Prov. 21:1).



"Thou shalt not offer the blood of My sacrifice with leaven" (v. 25), God was very jealous of the types. Why? Because they pointed forward to the person and work of Christ. Thus, His jealousy of the types was His guarding of the glory of His beloved Son. Therefore, inasmuch as the sacrifices pointed forward to the Lord Jesus, leaven (which is an emblem of evil) must be excluded, for He is "holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners" (Heb. 7:26).



"Thou shalt not offer the blood of My sacrifice with leaven." Very wonderful and blessed is it to observe how the Lord here refers to the sacrifice: He does not say "the blood of thy sacrifice," but "My sacrifice." This is also the language of the antitype: The Sacrifice "offered once for all." was of God’s appointing, was of God’s providing, was for God’s satisfaction. Man had no part or lot in it whatsoever. "Salvation is of the Lord." Frequently is this same truth brought out in the types. In Genesis 22:8 we hear Abraham saying to his son’s query of "Where is the lamb for the burnt offering?—God will provide Himself a lamb." In Exodus 12:27 we are told, "It is the Lord’s passover." In connection with the two goats on the day of atonement, lots were cast. "one lot for the Lord" (Lev. 16:8): and so on.



"Neither shall the sacrifice of the feast of the passover be left unto the morning" (v. 25). The paschal lamb was to be eaten on the same night it had been slain and roasted in fire. not left over to be partaken of on the morrow (see 12:10). The application of this detail of the type is very solemn and searching. To have eaten the lamb on the morrow, would have been to dissociate it from the import of its death. The eating of the lamb speaks to us of the believer (already sheltered by His blood) feeding on Christ: eating the lamb the same night it was killed, tells us that we are ever to feed upon Christ with a deep sense in our souls of what His death and bearing judgment for us ("roast with fire") really involved for Him. Note how Christ Himself emphasized this in John 6: first vv. 50, 51, then vv. 53-56!



"The first of the firstfruits of thy land thou shalt bring unto the house of the Lord thy God" (v. 26). This Divine ordinance receives amplification in Deuteronomy 26:1-11. The interested reader would find it profitable to prayerfully study in detail the whole of that passage for himself: we can but summarize its teaching here. First, it had to do with Israel’s possession of their inheritance (v. 1). Second, this "first of the firstfruits of thy land" was the Divine pledge or earnest of the coming harvest (v. 2). Third, Israel acknowledged this by their presentation unto the priest (v. 3). Fourth, the Israelite was then required to look back and acknowledge his previous state of shame and bondage (v. 5-7). Fifth, he then owned the Lord’s goodness in deliverance (v. 8). Sixth, he expressed his gratitude for the goodly portion the Lord had given him (v. 9). Seventh, he presented the "first-fruits" in worship before Him (vv. 10, 11).



All of the above is rich in its typical teaching, much of which has already been before us in other connections. That which is here distinctive, is the contrast presented between what we find in Exodus 34:22 and here in 5:26. The "firstfruits of wheat harvest" refers to Christ (cf. John 12:24 with 1 Corinthians 15:23). But the "first of the fruits of thy land" or "inheritance" speaks, we believe, of the Holy Spirit, who is "the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession" (Eph. 1:13, 14). Do we not get the antitype of Exodus 34:26 in Romans 8:22. "Ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit!" And in the light of Deuteronomy 26:10, 11 are we not taught that we should thank God as heartily for the gift of the Spirit as for the gift of His Son? Do we realize that we are as much indebted to, and therefore have as much cause of praise for, the work of the Spirit in us, as the work of Christ for us!



"Thou shalt not seethe a kid in his mother’s milk" (v. 26). Upon this we have nothing better to offer than the brief comment of Mr. Dennett: "This remarkable prohibition is found three times in the Scriptures (Ex. 23:19: 34:26: Deuteronomy 14:21). God will have His people tenderly careful, guarding them from the violation of any instinct of nature. The milk of the mother was the food. the sustenance of the kid, and hence this must not be used to seethe it as food for others."



"And the Lord said unto Moses, Write thou these words: for after the tenor of these words have I made a covenant with thee and with Israel" (v. 27). This verse summarizes all that has been before us in the previous verses of the chapter. An imperishable record was to be made of all that Jehovah had said unto His servant. The words, "I have made a covenant with thee (the typical mediator) and with Israel," gives assurance that all will yet be made good through the person and millennial administration of Christ. Israel failed in the past, but there will be no failure with Him who shall yet effectuate God’s counsels and glorify Him in this very scene where His people have so grievously dishonored Him. May the Lord hasten that glad day.





To be continued . . .

(Part 69) of Exodus study "The Claim of God"

Gentle Reader, For this study please read  with me Exodus 34:18-21

Exodus 34:18-21   


(18) The feast of unleavened bread shalt thou keep. Seven days thou shalt eat unleavened bread, as I commanded thee, in the time of the month Abib: for in the month Abib thou camest out from Egypt.

(19) All that openeth the matrix is mine; and every firstling among thy cattle, whether ox or sheep, that is male.

(20) But the firstling of an ass thou shalt redeem with a lamb: and if thou redeem him not, then shalt thou break his neck. All the firstborn of thy sons thou shalt redeem. And none shall appear before me empty.

(21) Six days thou shalt work, but on the seventh day thou shalt rest: in earing time and in harvest thou shalt rest.





The verses which are now to be before us seem, at first sight, very disconnected, presenting, apparently, a series of miscellaneous duties which the Lord enjoined upon Israel. First, mention is made of "The feast of unleavened bread" (v. 18). Next, we have the redemption of the firstborn, both of beasts and Israel’s sons (vv. 19, 20). Then reference is made to the sabbath (v. 21). This is followed by instruction concerning the observance of the feast of weeks and the feast of ingathering (vv. 22-24). Next we have prohibitions concerning the offering of leaven with God’s sacrifices, and the leaving over of the passover feast till the next morning (v. 25). Finally, God’s claims upon all the first-fruits of the land is made, and command is given that a kid is not to be seethed in its mother’s milk (v. 26). Thus, no less than seven different things are brought before us in these few verses. What, then is the link which binds them together? Wherein lies the unity of our passage?



We believe the answer to our question is to be found in, the promise which the Lord gave when He first appeared to Moses at the burning bush: "And He said. certainly I will be with thee; and this shall be a token unto thee, that I have sent thee: When thou hast brought forth the people out of Egypt, ye shall serve God upon this mountain" (Ex. 3:12). The sequel to this is found in 19:3, 4: "And Moses went up unto God and the Lord called unto him out of the mountain, saying. Thus shalt thou say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel: Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bear you on eagles’ wings, and brought you unto Myself." Here in Exodus 34 Jehovah makes known the character of that "service" which He required from Israel.



First of all, we have the two tables of stone, on which were inscribed the ten words of the Law. Submission to Himself, obedience to His revealed will is what God requires from His people. Second, Jehovah made known the principles which regulate the government of His people (vv. 6. 7). Third, the call to absolute separation from the heathen (v. 12), from their religion (v. 15), and from intermarriage with them (v. 16) is next given. No unequal loke must be formed between the children of God and the children of the Devil: compare 2 Corinthians 6:14-18. God had brought them unto Himself (see 1 Peter 3:18), and this wondrous and glorious fact must now be witnessed to in all their ways. In the verses that follow, comprising our present portion, we have the positive side brought out.



"The feast of unleavened bread shalt thou keep. Seven days shalt thou eat unleavened bread, as I commanded thee, in the time of the month Abib: for in the month Abib thou camest out from Egypt" (v. 18). How blessedly this tells forth God’s grand design in redemption: it is not only for the purpose of emancipating His people and bringing them unto Himself, but also that they may be happily gathered around Himself. That is what the "feast" speaks of, communion and joy. God gathered His redeemed around Himself in holy convocation, Himself the center of peace and blessing.



The feast of unleavened bread was inseparably connected with the Passover. The passover provided that sacrifice upon which the feast itself was based. The antitype of it is found in 1 Corinthians 5:7, 8: "For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us: therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth." The two together tell us that holiness is the consequence of redemption. The two cannot be separated. It is because our sins have been put away, that God can now take us into communion with Himself. First, God counts us to have "died with Christ" (Rom. 6:4-8). Second, we are to "reckon" upon this fact (Rom. 6:11; 2 Cor. 5:14): faith is to appropriate it. Third, there is to be the practical expression of this in our daily lives: "Always learning about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body" (2 Cor. 4:10).



We must distinguish between what the "unleavened bread." itself emblemized, and what Israel’s actual feasting thereon typified. The bread was the Divinely-appointed symbol of Him who declared, "I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live forever: and the bread that I will give is My flesh, which I will give for the life of the world" (John 6:51). Hence, because His person is holy, unleavened bread was appointed: "Seven days shall ye eat unleavened bread; even the first day ye shall put away leaven out of your houses: for whosoever eateth leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that soul shall be cut off from Israel" (Ex. 12:15). If then God gave such explicit instructions to His people of old, to use only that kind of bread which suitably and accurately represented the immaculate body of His blessed Son, by what right may we today be less particular in the loaf selected for "the Lord’s supper?"



The Lord Jesus Himself instituted that "Supper" as a memorial of Himself, given in death for His people. Concerning the emblems which He appointed, if we are subject to the Scriptures, there cannot be the slightest room for question. They were, first, bread, unleavened, as is clear from the fact that this "Supper" was instituted right after the paschal one (Matthew 26:29)—therefore, when all leaven was rigidly excluded from their houses. The second was the "cup," containing "the fruit of the vine" (Matthew 26:29). Therefore when reminding the Corinthians of these, the apostle Paul wrote, "As often as ye eat (not simply "bread," any bread, but) this bread, and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord’s death till He come" (1 Cor. 11:26). Alas, in this day of laxity, compromise and departure from the written Word, man’s substitutes for God’s appointments are received in most places without a murmur.



In Central Africa, where flour is difficult to obtain, one company of professing native-Christians, with their white missionaries, use coconut in lieu of bread, and its milk for the cup. Another company known to us in Australia, use raspberry-juice. And why not? If we are justified in changing unleavened bread into leavened bread, prepared pieces of bread cut into cubes instead of a loaf broken—to remind us of the body of Christ broken for us: and an evening feast, a "supper," into a morning ordinance: then who has the right to say where the line of departure shall be drawn? Personally. the writer had far rather never partake of the Lord’s supper again, than be a party to the sin of setting forth the blessed person of Christ by means of bread which has in it that which, in Scripture, is always the symbol of evil. If the loaf on the table has any symbolic significance at all, then a leavened one portrays a Christ with a corrupt humanity, and such is not the Christ of Holy Writ.



We are well aware of the objection which is likely to be made, namely, We must not be occupied too closely with the symbols themselves, lest the heart be taken off Christ. Such language may sound very pious, but it ill-becomes those who use it. Precisely the same objection is made by many pedo-baptists against immersion. They say, It is not the mere outward form, but the spirit behind the act that matters. But our Lord has said, "This do in remembrance of Me:" then how dare we "do" something else? If the outward symbols are of little or no moment, then why not be consistent and follow the "Quakers," and abandon the external ordinances altogether? We can and do "remember" Christ at other times than when we are gathered around His table. But we can only "show the Lord’s death" (1 Cor. 11:26). when we adhere strictly to His own appointments. And is our obedience in this, a small matter to Him who commanded Moses to "make all things" (even the pins and cords) for the Tabernacle "after the pattern shown him in the mount?" It still stands written, "Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, to hearken than the fat of rams" (1 Sam. 15:22).



Others object, If you are going to be such a stickler for the particular kind of bread used at the Lord’s table, you might just as well insist that we select an "upper room," and partake of it sitting on the ground as the first disciples did. Our reply is, These details contributed nothing to the showing forth of "the Lord’s death." which is the central design of the Supper. For that reason nothing whatever is said about these details in 1 Corinthians 11, where the bread and the cup are particularized. Had the apostle mentioned them there, then we should have been under obligation to heed and emulate them. But he has not. Really, such an objection is nothing more than an idle quibble. Let those who are responsible for making the arrangements at the Lord’s table, weigh in His presence what we have written. Let them ask, What kind of bread, leavened or unleavened, is the more scriptural? is the more appropriate as an emblem of the holy person of Christ? And which is least calculated to distress and stumble those of His people who, by grace, desire to be subject the Word in all things?



Returning now to our type. That which was prefigured by the "unleavened bread" was the person of Him who is "without blemish and without spot" (1 Pet. 1:19). Israel’s participation in the feast itself typified that holiness which is the believers in Christ. Note how Paul could say, to the failing Corinthians, "ye are unleavened" (1 Cor. 5:7). But we must daily seek grace from on high to make this good in our lives, by walking in separation from all that defiles and corrupts: "Be ye holy, for I am holy" (1 Pet. 1:16), is the unchanging demand of God upon us. And that upon which His demand is based is. "Ye are not your own, ye are bought with a price." If we are, by His wondrous grace, washed in the precious blood of Christ, He surely looks that we should keep our garments undefiled. If then we delight to contemplate the Passover, let us also keep, in a practical way, "the feast of unleavened bread," and that for "seven days"—a complete period, the whole of our life on earth.



"The feast of unleavened bread must be kept; God has provided us with it in Christ. He has brought in a new character of Manhood that we might feed upon it, and purge out all that is contrary to it. We see every where in the world an inflating principle, giving importance to that which has no true value before God. But in Christ we see One marked by purity, holiness, sincerity and truth: all that is delightful to God; and nothing inflated—nothing appearing to be greater than it really was. When they said to Him. Who art thou? He answered. ‘Altogether that which I also say to you.’ That is unleavened bread, and as we appreciate it and feed upon it, we shall become unleavened; we shall hate and purge out every kind of leaven" (C. A. Coates).



"All that openeth the matrix is Mine" (v. 19). God is the universal Proprietor. As the Creator of all, His rights are beyond question. But how little are they recognized and owned in a practical way! Our present verse is one which ought to be much before those who are parents. Listen fond mother, doting father, that little one in the cradle is not yours absolutely; in reality, it belongs to God. "Lo, children are an heritage of the Lord" (Ps. 127:3). Have you acknowledged this? Have you dedicated your little one to God? "Thou shalt set apart unto the Lord all that openeth the matrix" (Ex. 13:12) was God’s word to His people of old. and it has never been repealed. O that you may be able to say with the mother of Samuel. "For this child I prayed; and the Lord hath given me my petition which I asked of Him: Therefore also I have returned him to the Lord" (1 Sam. 1:27, 28).



This is a subject of great practical importance, and there is much need to press it upon parents today. Scripture does not teach infant "christening," or infant baptism, but it does infant dedication. Even the parents of Christ, when He was a child, "brought Him to Jerusalem to present Him to the Lord" (Luke 2:22). And note that both here and in Samuel’s case, it was the parents personally, and not a priest, who performed the solemn act. The act of dedication is the formal acknowledgment that the child belongs to God: it is saying, as David said. "For all things come of Thee: and of Thine own have we given Thee" (1 Chron. 29:14). The whole subsequent training of the child should be in the remembrance of this fact. Hold your children in trust from God, and "bring them up in the nurture and admonition (mark the ‘balance of Truth’) of the Lord" (Eph. 6:4).



"All that openeth the matrix is Mine: and every firstling among thy cattle, or sheep" (v. 19). Clearly it is God here pressing His claims upon His people. The cattle upon a thousand hills are His. So too He declares, "The silver is Mine, and the gold is Mine, saith the Lord of hosts" (Hag. 2:8). How often we forget this! Ah, it is one thing to sing. ‘Naught that I have I call mine own, I hold it for the Giver; For I am His, and He is mine. Forever and forever," but it is quite another matter to recognize that we are but stewards, holding everything in trust from Him and for Him: "Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful" (1 Cor. 4:2). If we shall be called to account for "every idle word" that we have uttered (Matthew 12:36), how much more shall we for every pound or dollar that we have wasted!



It is very striking and solemn to observe that in the three parables which our Lord gave on the subject of service and its reward, that, in each instance, He selected a coin to illustrate His theme. First, in the parable of the laborers in the vineyard, a "penny" (Matthew 20). Second, in the parable of the Nobleman, "He called His ten servants and delivered them ten pounds, and said unto them. Occupy till I come" (Luke 19:13). Third, in the parable of the Man travelling into a far country He called His own servants, and delivered unto them His goods: and unto one He gave five talents, to another two, and to another one; to every man according to his several ability" (Matthew 25:14, 15). The word talent signifies "a sum of money." With it His disciples were to trade during the time of His absence. If the teaching of these parables were more before our hearts, Christians would be more diligent and faithful in laying up for themselves "treasure in heaven" (Matthew 6:20).



"But the firstling of an ass thou shalt redeem with a lamb: and if thou redeem him not, then shalt thou break his neck. All the firstborn of thy sons thou shalt redeem" (v. 20). This is a repetition of what was before us in Exodus 13:13. As so many of our present readers have not seen what we wrote thereon, almost four years ago, we deem it advisable to go over the same ground again, or at least to review what we then said.



The words "the firstling of an ass thou shalt redeem with a lamb," at once carry our minds back to the Passover night, when the firstborn of the Hebrews was "redeemed with a lamb." Thus the Lord has linked together the redemption of His own people with the redeeming of asses. Again, it is to be noted that, "if thou redeem not (the "ass"), thou shalt break his neck," just as the Israelites would most certainly have been smitten by the avenging Angel unless they had slain the lamb and sprinkled its blood. Thus God here compares the natural man with the ass! Deeply humbling is this! As we read in Job 11:12 "For vain man would be wise, though man be born like a wild ass’s colt."



Under the Mosaic law, the "ass" was an unclean animal, neither chewing the cud nor dividing the hoof. So too the natural man is unclean: "But we all as an unclean thing" (Isa. 64:4). Though a man may be most particular about his habits, yet within is he full "of uncleanness" (Matthew 23:27). The "divided hoof" symbolizes a separated walk, a life that is lived with God and for God. The "chewing of the cud" speaks of rumination, meditation,—meditating in God’s Law day and night (Ps. 1:2). But to these two things the natural man is a total stranger. Thus, the "ass" accurately represents him. He is unclean. But thank God there is a fountain opened "for sin and for uncleanness" (Zech. 13:1).



Again, the "ass" is a stupid and senseless creature. It has less of what we call "instinct" than has almost any other beast. In this too it resembles the natural man. Proudly as he may boast of his powers of reason, conceited as he may be over his intellectual attainments, the truth is, that he is utterly devoid of any spiritual intelligence: "But the natural man receiveth not the firings of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him; neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned" (1 Cor. 2:14). And again, "Walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind, having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart" (Eph. 4:17, 18). How thankful Christians should be that. "We know that the son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know Him that is true" (1 John 5:20).



Once more; the "ass" is a stubborn and intractable animal. Often he is as hard to move as a mule. Such also is fallen man. He is a rebel against God. The history of every descendant of Adam is summed up in those terrible words, "we have turned every one to his own way" (Isa. 53:6). "There is none that seeketh after God" (Rom. 3:11). When God became incarnate and tabernacled among men, He had to say, "Ye will not come to Me, that ye might have life" (John 5:40). When a sinner does come to Christ, it is because Divine power has "drawn" him (John 6:44). And after we become Christians. the Holy Spirit has to take us in hand and "lead" us in "the paths of righteousness" (Ps. 23:3. Rom. 8:14).



Most unpalatable to our proud hearts is such a line of truth as the above. Yet is it blessed if we bow to it and take our true place before God—in the dust. Only the illumination of the Holy Spirit can bring any of us to realize how ass-like we are. For this reason Solomon wrote, "I said in mine heart concerning the estate of the sons of men, that God might manifest them, and that they might see that they themselves are beasts" (Ecclesiastes 3:18). Has God opened your eyes, gentle reader? Do you own that the "ass" accurately portrays all that you are in yourself—un-clean, senseless, intractable, fit only to have your neck broken? If so, you can appropriate and appreciate those blessed words, "Christ died for the ungodly" (Rom. 5:6). How marvelous the grace that has provided salvation for such: "The firstling of an ass thou shall redeem with a lamb!"



"And none shall appear before Me empty" (v. 20). How can they! Once a poor sinner has had his eyes opened to see the ruin which sin has wrought in him, once he learns that he was "redeemed by the Lamb," his heart is filled to overflowing, filled with gratitude and praise. The language which best expresses his thankfulness is, "Bless the Lord. O my soul: and all that is within me, bless His holy name" (Ps. 103:1). No, the redeemed cannot appear before the Redeemer "empty." Spontaneously must they heed that word, "By Him therefore, let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to His name’ (Heb. 13:15).



"And, none shall appear before Me empty." If this were expressed in its positive form, it would read, "They shall come before Me as worshippers," for worship is the presenting of something to God. As we have recently had three articles upon this subject in our magazine, there is the less need for us now to enlarge upon it. The first mention of "worship" in the O. T. gives us the basic and central thought in connection with the subject. In Genesis 22:5 we read that Abraham said, "I and the lad will go yonder and worship." Abraham was about to offer his son unto the Lord! So the first time we read of worship in the N. T. we find the wise men presenting gifts to the infant Savior (Matthew 2). Our hearts should be filled with love and our mouths with praise as we appear before our gracious God.



"Six days thou shalt work, but on the seventh day thou shalt rest: in earing time and in harvest thou shalt rest" (v. 21). The order of Truth presented in our passage is very beautiful. First, we have had that which speaks of absolute separation unto God (v. 18). Next, dedication unto God (vv. 19:20). Then, worship before, or the adoration of, God (v. 20). Now we get mention of the sabbath, the Lord’s provision of mercy for our soul’s occupation with Himself. It is to be observed that here a word is added to the previous references to the Sabbath which were before us in Exodus 16, 20, 31. Upon this Mr. Coates has said:



"The rest of the sabbath must be observed, and the distinctive feature of it in this case is that ‘in ploughing-time and in harvest thou shalt rest.’ It intimates the necessity for recurring periods in which we cease from activity to contemplate in rest what God has done. The sabbaths must be kept, no matter what the needs of the Lord’s work may be: for I suppose that ploughing-time and harvest might typify the most exacting and strenuous times in His work. The soul must know what it is to lay aside its activities, and have its rest with God. I am afraid we do not always keep our sabbaths. We are either doing something, or occupied with what we are going to do. There is not enough restfulness with God."

"Doc Notes" Our God is a Jealous God (Part 68)

 Gentle Readers,


 For this nex portion read Exodus 34:8-17




We turn now to contemplate a portion of the further communication which Jehovah made to Moses in the Mount. It is not easy to break up this chapter into sections of suitable length for these comparatively brief articles, and therefore we are obliged to spend a little time in reviewing the ground covered in the previous one, that the continuity of thought may be preserved. In our last, we beheld God asserting His rights over those whom He had redeemed unto Himself: Moses being called to receive the Law at His hands. There we heard Him enunciating the principles of His government. These are seven in number, and close attention to them is called for if we would appreciate His "ways" with Israel of old. and enter intelligently into that which regulates Him in His dealings with us now.



God is "light" (1 John 1:5), as well as "love" (1 John 4:8), and therefore we are exhorted, "Behold therefore the goodness and the severity of God" (Rom. 11:22). The two sides to the Divine character shine forth in all His dealings with man. In Eden we behold His "goodness" in making promise of the coming of the woman’s Seed to bruise the Serpent’s head (Gen. 3:15), but we also see His "severity" in that "He drove out the man" (3:24) God as Love provided a shelter for Noah and his house; God as Light sent the flood and destroyed those who had corrupted their way on earth. The "goodness" of God commissioned two angels to deliver Lot, but His "severity" rained-down fire and brimstone and consumed wicked Sodom. God as Love preserved His people under blood in Egypt. God as Light slew all the firstborn of the Egyptians. The "goodness" of God, in response to the intercession of Moses, spared the idolatrous Nation from utter extermination, but His "severity" called for the sword to do its work (Ex. 32:27).



We may observe the clear display of these two sides of the Divine character in the ministry of the incarnate Son. The Lord Jesus came here "full" not only of grace, but "of grace and truth" (John 1:14). He was the Friend of publicans and sinners, but He was the Enemy of self-righteous hypocrites. The same One who was "moved with compassion" as He beheld the multitude (Matthew 14:14), "looked round upon them with anger" (Mark 3:5) as He beheld the hard-hearted critics of the synagogue. He who wept over Jerusalem, "made a scourge of small cords" and drove out of the temple the defilers of the Father’s house (John 2:15). He who "blessed His disciples" (Luke 24:51) cursed the fig tree (Matthew 21:19). His "beatitudes" in Matthew 5 are balanced by His denunciatory "woe’s" in Matthew 23. If we read of the "love of Christ" (Eph. 3:19), we read also of "the wrath of the Lamb" (Rev. 6:16).



The same conjunction of these Divine perfections is to be discerned in the proclamation of the name of the Lord, which He gave to Moses on the Mount in connection with the enunciation of His governmental principles. He is both "abundant in goodness and truth" (v. 6). If He "keeps mercy for thousands," yet He declares that He will "by no means clear the guilty." Though He forgives "iniquity. transgression, and sin," yet He also visits "the iniquity; of the fathers upon the children." The sin of Ham was visited upon his descendants (Gen. 9:25): the sin of Korah and his company resulted in the earth opening its mouth and swallowing them up and their houses (Num. 16:32). When Achan was punished for his sin. there were stoned with him "his sons and his daughters" (Josh. 7:24, 25). When the Jews crucified Christ, they cried. "His blood be upon us, and upon our children" (Matthew 27:25) and God took them at their word.



And what is the practical application to us of these things? This: God is a God to be loved, but He is also a God to be feared, for "our God is a consuming fire" (Heb. 12:29). Did we perceive that God is Light as well as Love, we should stand more in holy awe of Him. Did we behold His "severity" as readily as we do His "goodness," we should be more fearful of displeasing Him. Did we bear in mind that He not only pardons, but also visits the iniquities of the fathers upon the children, we should be more careful about our walk than we are. "God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints, and to be had in reverence of all them that are about Him" (Ps. 89:7) In Heaven itself the saints not only sing the praises of God, but they "fall down before Him" (Rev. 4:10). Then let us seek grace to heed that word, "work out your own salvation with fear and trembling" (Phil. 2:12).



"And Moses made haste, and bowed his head toward the earth, and worshipped" (v. 8). It is blessed to note the effect upon Moses of the wondrous and glorious communication which he had just received from the mouth of Jehovah: filled with adoration and awe he takes his place in the dust before Him. No formal or perfunctory homage was it that Moses now rendered. The words "made haste" seem to point to the spontaneity of his worship; the bowing of his head toward the earth shows how deeply his spirit was stirred. And if our hearts really lay hold of the perfections of God’s administration, we too will be bowed before Him as worshippers.



"And Moses made haste, and bowed his head toward the earth, and worshipped." This is ever the result when the Lord condescends to reveal Himself to one of His own. When He appeared before Abram and said, "I am the Almighty God; walk before Me, and be thou upright,’ we are told that "Abram fell on his face" (Gen. 17:3). When He appeared before Joshua as "Captain of the host of the Lord," we are told that "Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and did worship" (Josh. 5:14). When His glory filled the temple which Solomon had built, all the children of Israel "bowed themselves with their faces to the ground upon the pavement and worshipped and praised the Lord" (2 Chron. 7:3).



"And Moses made haste, and bowed his head toward the earth, and worshipped." Let us not lose sight of the immediate link between this and the close of the preceding verse. The last things mentioned there are that God will by no means clear the guilty, and that He visits the sins of the fathers upon the children. In- stead of showing resentment, Moses acquiesced; instead of challenging the righteousness of these things, he worshipped. Well for us if we follow his example.



"And he said, If now I have found grace in Thy sight, O Lord, let my Lord, I pray Thee, go among us; for it is a stiff-necked people; and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for Thine inheritance" (v. 9). Very beautiful is this. Moses continues to use the favor which he had personally found before God for the good of others. His affections were bound up with His people. Blessedly does he identify himself with them: "Let my Lord, I pray Thee, go among us." How this brings to mind that wondrous word of our Redeemer’s when, presenting Himself for baptism, He said to His amazed forerunner, "Thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness" (Matthew 3:16). Verily. "He that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one" (Heb. 2:11).



Let us note carefully the reason now presented by Moses for the Lord’s accompanying His people: "Let my Lord. I pray Thee, go among us, for it is a stiff-necked people." This is very striking, though to some of the commentators it has presented a difficulty. It was their need which Moses spread before Jehovah: it was His grace to which he appealed. Seeing that God was "merciful, gracious, longsuffering," He was just the One suited to a "stiffnecked" people. None but He could bear with them. At the very time that Israel were worshipping the golden calf the Lord Himself had said to Moses, "I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiff-necked people: Now, therefore, let Me alone, that My wrath may wax hot against them" (32:9, 10). Now, Moses not only acknowledged the truth of God’s charge, but, in wondrous faith, turns it into a plea for Him to continue in Israel’s midst! Beautifully has another commented on this:



"The relationship between Moses personally and God, was fully established, so that he could present the people such as they were, because of his (Moses’ own) position, and, consequently, make of the difficulty and sin of the people a reason for the presence of God, according to the character He had revealed. It is the proper effect of mediation; but it is exceedingly beautiful to see, grace having thus come in, the reason God had given for the destruction of the people, or at the very least of His absence, becoming the motive for His presence. We know this ourselves: my sinfulness in itself would be the reason for God’s giving me up. But now I am in grace, I can plead it with God as a reason, blessed be His name, for His going with me, never should I overcome and get safe across the wilderness. if He was not with me. Surely the flesh is there, hut it is wondrous grace" (Mr. J N. Darby).



Verily, it is all of grace from first to last. Christ came here not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance (Matthew 9:13). The proud Pharisees resented it, murmured, and said, "This man receiveth sinners and eateth with them" (Luke 15:2). Thank God He still does so, and the more the Holy Spirit reveals to us the "plague" of our heart (1 Kings 8:38). the more we are enabled to apprehend the wondrous grace of God, the more shall we crave His presence with us and that because we are, by nature, a "stiffnecked" people. The more we discover the true character of the "flesh"—its unimprovableness, and our own powerlessness to contend against it, the more shall we long for an Almighty arm to lean on. So, too. the more we realize that this world is a "wilderness," affording nothing for our souls, the more shall we perceive the need of the presence of Him who—all praise to His name—is the Friend that "sticketh closer than a brother" (Prov. 18:24).



"And pardon our iniquity and our sin. and take us for Thine inheritance." Here again we perceive the boldness of Moses’ faith. This was the climax of his petitions on Israel’s behalf. First, he had besought the Lord that His wrath should not wax hot against them (32:11). Then he had pleaded for the Lord’s continued presence in their midst (33:15, 16). Now he asks that the Lord will pardon their iniquity (note how graciously be identifies himself with his sinning people: "our iniquity and our sin") and "take us from Thine inheritance." When Sinai had first been reached, God had said. "Now therefore, if ye will obey My voice indeed, and keep My covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto Me above all people" (19:5). But the sin of the golden calf had severed every relationship. But here Moses as their mediator and intercessor pleads that everything should he restored.



That his prayer was answered we know from other scriptures. In Deuteronomy 32:9 we find him saying. "For the Lord’s portion is His people: Jacob is the lot of His inheritance." So also we find David declared, "Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord: and the people whom He hath chosen for His own inheritance" (Ps. 33:12). Blessed is it to know that Israel, though temporarily, cast aside for our sakes, is God’s "inheritance" forever: "For the Lord will not cast off His people. neither will He forsake His inheritance" (Ps. 94:14). In a coming day the word shall go forth. "Sing and rejoice. O daughter of Zion: for, lo, I come, and I will dwell in the midst of thee saith the Lord, and many nations shall be joined to the Lord in that day and shall be My people: and I will dwell in the midst of thee, and thou shalt know that the Lord of hosts hath sent Me unto thee. And the Lord shall inherit Judah His portion in the holy land, and shall choose Jerusalem again" (Zech. 2:10-12).



"And take us for Thine inheritance." Again we would remind the reader that we are dealing with the contents of that book whose theme is redemption. How blessed then to learn that, through redemption, God has obtained for Himself an "inheritance!" Ephesians 1:18 speaks of the "riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints." A truly marvelous concept is that, one to which our poor minds are quite incapable of rising—that the great and selfsufficient God should deem Himself enriched by worms of the earth whom He hath saved by His grace. This "inheritance," like all others, has come in through death, the death of God’s own Son. That death not only vindicated Divine justice by putting away the sins of His people, but it has brought in that which shall glorify God through the endless ages of eternity. God will occupy His "inheritance" forever. "Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be with them, and be their God" (Rev. 21:3).



"And He said, Behold, I make a covenant, before all thy people, I will do marvels, such as have not been done in all the earth, nor in any nation: and all the people among which thou art shall see the work of the Lord: for it is a terrible thing that I will do with thee" (v. 10). This verse presents a difficulty, which is by no means easy of solution. God here promised that He would do unprecedented miracles on Israel’s behalf, "marvels such as have not been done in all the earth" Had these words been spoken at the burning bush, before Moses first interviewed Pharaoh, their application had been obvious: but here, at Sinai, their meaning is not easy to fix. God had already wrought great "marvels" on Israel’s behalf: the plagues upon Egypt, when water was turned into blood, dust into lice, frogs entering the homes of the Egyptians. but avoiding those of the Israelites, a supernatural darkness lasting for three days, though "all the children of Israel had light in their dwellings." (Ex. 10:22, 23); the dividing asunder the Red Sea; the raining of manna from heaven, and in such quantities as to supply the needs of two million souls; the bringing of water out of the rock—these were, one and all, prodigies of power. But here God announces still greater wonders!



We believe that the last book of the Bible describes the fulfillment of this word of Jehovah’s to Moses. There we read of plagues more dreadful and wondrous than those which came upon Pharaoh and his people. Upon Egypt God sent natural "locusts," but in a soon-coming day the bottomless pit shall be opened, and from it shall issue infernal "locusts," who in- stead of consuming vegetation, shall torment men, so that "in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it" (Rev. 9:6.) In Revelation 15:1 we read, "And I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvelous, seven angels having the seven last plagues; for in them is flied up the wrath of God." How little the world dreams of what is shortly coming upon it!



In the past God put forth His power and delivered Israel from Egypt, but in a coming day He will, with still greater displays of His might and by means of judgments of far sorer intensity, deliver the scattered Jews from all countries among which they are now dispersed: "And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall set His hand again the second time to recover the remnant of His people, which shall be left, from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the Islands of the sea. And He shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four quarters of the earth" (Isa. 11:11-12). "And I will gather the remnant of My flock out of all countries whither I have driven them, and will bring them again to their folds: and they shall be fruitful and increase. Therefore they shall no more say, ‘The Lord liveth, which brought up and which led the seed of the house of Israel out of the north country, and from all countries whither I had driven them: and they shall dwell in their own land" (Jer. 23:3, 7, 8)



Of old, God divided the Red Sea for His people to pass through; but in a coming day He shall completely dry it up for them. "And the Lord shall utterly destroy the tongue of the Egyptian sea; and with His mighty wind shall He shake His hand over the river, and shall smite it in the seven streams, and make men go over dry shod. And there shall he an highway for the renmant of His people, which shall be left from Assyria. like as it was to Israel in the day that he came up out of the land of Egypt" (Isa. 11:15, 16, compare also Zechariah 10:11). So too we read, "And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates: and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared" (Rev. 16:12).



But not only will God perform mighty miracles on Israel’s behalf, but as Exodus 34:10 adds, "It is a terrible thing that I will do with thee." Clearly this refers to the Great Tribulation. when God will deal with Israel for their sins. As Jeremiah predicted, "Alas! for that day is great so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob’s trouble" (30:7). Of that dreadful period Christ declared. "For in those days shall be affliction, such as was not from the beginning of the creation which God created unto this time, neither shall be. And except that the Lord had shortened those days, no flesh should be saved" (Mark 13:19, 20.)



At Sinai God appeared before Israel with the most awe-inspiring manifestations: "And mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because the Lord descended upon it in fire: and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly" (Ex. 19:18) But when the incarnate Son returns to this world, we are told that He "Shall be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God and that obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ" (2 Thess. 1:7, 8). To this grand event the Apostle Paul referred when quoting from Haggai: "Whose voice then shook the earth: but now He hath promised, saying. Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven" (Heb. 12:26.)



Should it be asked. What is the connection between the awful contents of this 10th verse of Exodus 34 and its context? The answer is not far to seek. At the close of v. 9 we find Moses beseeching Jehovah, "Take us for thine inheritance." The next thing we read is. "And He said. Behold I make a covenant." etc. With His omniscient eye. God looked down the centuries. and then made known to His servant what must, ultimately, take place before Israel became His "inheritance" in fact. When this Covenant of Marvels has been fulfilled, the prayer of Moses will receive its final answer. It is in the Millennium, following the awful judgment of the Great Tribulation, that the Lord will enter upon His heritage. Then shall it be said, "Sing, O daughter of Zion; shout, O Israel, be glad and rejoice with all the heart, O daughter of Jerusalem. The Lord hath taken away thy judgments, He hath cast out thine enemy; the King of Israel. even the Lord is in the midst of thee: thou shalt not see evil any more. In that day it shall be said to Jerusalem, Fear thou not: and to Zion. Let not thine hands be slack. The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty: He will save, He will rejoice over thee with joy; He will rest in His love. He will joy over thee with singing" (Zeph. 3:14-17.)



"Observe thou that which I command thee this day: behold, I drive out before thee the Amorite, and the Canaanite, and the Hittite. and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite" (v. 11). Here the Lord returns to the more immediate present. Note the "this day," and the change from the "I will do marvels" and "it is a terrible thing that I will do with thee" of the previous verse, to "I drive out." It should also be observed that the extermination of the Canaanites is attributed not to the military prowess of Israel, but to the alone power of Jehovah.



"Take heed to thyself, lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land whither thou guest, lest it be for a snare in the midst of thee" (v. 12). This was a call to separation. There must be no unequal yoke uniting the people of God with the children of the Devil. The Lord was taking Moses at his word: in 33:16 he had said. "Is it not in that Thou guest with us? so shall we be separated, I and Thy people, from all the people that are upon the face of the earth." It is solemn to discover how Joshua. at a later date, disobeyed this very exhortation, see Joshua 9:14, 15. Centuries after, serious trouble issued from Joshua’s sin, see 2 Samuel 21:1-9.



"But ye shall destroy their altars, break their images, and cut down their groves" (v. 13). This also has its spiritual application to us. Not that Christians are called upon to reform society and improve the world, by engaging in crusades against vice and drunkenness. The counterpart in our experience to what we have here in v. 13 is that we should wage an unsparing war upon that which prevents us from enjoying our inheritance in Christ. Everything that would displace God in our lives and in our affections must be demolished. Every idol—that which comes between the Lord and my heart—must be ruthlessly hewn down.



"For thou shalt worship no other God: for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God" (v. 14). Very searching, but very blessed is this. First, God is ‘jealous’ of His own glory. Through Isaiah He has declared, "I am the Lord: that is My name; and My glory will I not give to another" (42:8). That is why God has chosen the foolish things of this world, weak things, things which are despised, yea, non-entities "that no flesh should glory in His presence.’ (1 Cor. 1:27-29).



Second, God is "jealous’ of the affections of His people. He is grieved when our love is given to another. "My son, give Me thine heart" (Prov. 23:26) is His appeal. "Set Me as a seal upon thine heart" (Song 8:6) is His call to each of us.



Third, God is "jealous" of His people: "He that toucheth you toucheth the apple of His eye" (Zech. 2:8) is His own avowal.



As we have practically reached the limits of our space, we refrain from commenting in any detail upon v. 15, 16. The more so because what is there said has been before us in Exodus 13 and 23. That which is therein enjoined is separation from the Canaanites themselves, from their ways, and from their worship. In view of what had so recently taken place, the closing words of our passage are very solemn: "Thou shalt make thee no molten gods" (v. 17.) May the Lord grant both writer and reader that purpose of heart to cleave fully unto Himself, and that singleness of eye that has in view nought but His own glory, ever remembering that our God is a jealous God.

"Doc Notes" The Government of God (Part 67)

Gentle Readers,

Begin  Reading at Exodus 34:1-7




Our present passage gives the sequel to what was before us in Exodus 19 and Exodus 24. Up to Exodus 19 God had dealt with Israel on the ground of His unconditional covenant with Abraham: see Genesis 15:18; Exodus 2:24; 6:3, 4. The last thing recorded before Israel reached Sinai was the miraculous giving of the water at Rephidim, and concerning that the Psalmist tells us, "He opened the rock, and the waters gushed out; they ran in the dry places like a river. For He remembered His holy promise, Abraham His servant" (105:41, 42). But at Sinai, God’s relationship to Israel was placed upon a different basis.



In Exodus 19:5 we find God, from the mount, bidding Moses say unto the people, "Now therefore, if ye will obey My voice indeed, and keep My covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto Me above all people: for the earth is Mine." In connection with the covenant that He had made with Abraham there was nothing which Israel could "keep;" there were no conditions attached to it, no stipulations, no proviso’s. It was unconditional so far as Abraham and his descendants were concerned. It was a covenant of pure grace, and it was on the ground of that covenant God will again take up Israel after this dispensation is over. But at Sinai God proposed another covenant, to which there should be two parties—Himself and Israel: It was a conditional covenant, a covenant which Israel must "keep" if they were to enjoy the blessings attached thereto; note carefully the "if" in 19:5.



The charter of the Siniatic covenant was the two tables of stone, upon which were engraved the ten commandments, see Exodus 34:27, 28, Deuteronomy 4:13. The terms of this covenant Israel freely accepted (19:8, 24:3), and accordingly, it was solemnly ratified my blood (24:4-8). In proposing this covenant, God had two things before Him: the maintaining of His own rights, and the good of His people. Grace ever reigns "through righteousness" (Rom. 5:20, and in His sovereign benignity to Abraham’s seed, God must uphold the claims of His throne. But this was also for their good: God’s commands "are not grievous" (1 John 5:3), and in keeping of them there is great reward. In article 28 of this series we sought to show that, so far from redemption setting aside the rights of God over His creatures, it supplies an additional motive for recognizing and meeting them.



Now at the close of Exodus 24 we hear Jehovah saying to Moses, "Come up to Me into the mount, and be there: and I will give thee tables of stone, and a law, and commandments which I have written; that thou mayest teach them (v. 12). Accordingly Moses, accompanied by his minister Joshua, goes up into the mount, and as v. 18 tells us, he was "in the mount forty days and forty nights." The next seven chapters are occupied with a description of the Tabernacle, details of which God also gave to Moses on that occasion. Then, in Exodus 32, we learn how the people below had been conducting themselves during the absence of their leader: the great sin of the golden calf, with its idolatrous worship, had been committed. Nothing but the intercession of the typical mediator had saved them from utter extermination by the wrath of God. As we have seen, they were severely chastised for their wickedness, the Tent of meeting was removed outside the camp, and following Israel’s repentance and Moses’ repeated supplication, they were restored again to communion with God.



Therefore the next thing we read is, "And the Lord said unto Moses, Hew thee two tables of stone like unto the first: and I will write upon these tables the words that were on the first tables, which thou breakest. And be ready in the morning, and come up in the morning unto mount Sinai, and present thyself there to Me in the top of the mount. And no man shall come up with thee, neither let any man be seen throughout all the mount; neither let the flocks nor herds feed before that mount" (34:1-3). Thus, as we have said in the opening sentence of this article, our present passage gives the sequel to what was before us in Exodus 19 and 24. Though Israel had, during the interval, sinned so grievously. Moses must return to Jehovah and receive from Him the inscribed tables of stone. No purpose of the Most High can fail. To the outward eye it may appear that the wickedness of the creature is thwarting, or at least hindering, the execution of His counsels. But it is only seeming; in reality it is not so: "My counsel shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure" (Isa. 46:10), in His sure and unchanging declaration.



The ground we have sought to review above is especially rich in its typical teaching. The first tables of stone were broken (32:19) in view of Israel’s sin—a figure of man’s inability to keep God’s Law. The first tables of stone were provided by Jehovah Himself "I will give thee" (24:12). but the second were to be supplied by Moses himself: "hew thee" (34:1)—type of Christ the Mediator who declared, "Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill" (Matthew 5:17). Accordingly, the second set of tables were securely deposited in the ark (Deut. 10:5)—type, again, of Him who said, "I delight to do Thy will, O My God: Yea, Thy law is within My heart" (Ps. 40:8).



Again; the covenant which God made with Abraham at the beginning (Gen. 15), and on the ground of which He had delivered Israel from Egypt and brought them unto Himself, foreshadowed that eternal covenant which God made with Christ (2 Tim. 1:9; Titus 1:2; Hebrews 13:20), on the basis of which God’s people are saved and blest Ephesians 1:3, 4). The covenant God made with Israel at Sinai, which brought in the establishing of His rights and the good of His people on earth, foreshadowed the present government of God over His people, pressing upon us our responsibilities and obligations, making known to us the terms on which we receive blessings from Him in this life, and revealing the principles which regulate God Himself in His dealings with us. As these will receive amplification in what follows, we pass on now to notice one other typical feature of importance and preciousness.



In the interval between the two ascents of Moses into the mount to receive from Jehovah the engraved tables of stone, we have the solemn account of Israel’s wickedness; but where sin abounded "grace did much more abound." Very blessed is it to see illustrated there that word in Psalm 76:10, "Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee." Israel’s sin, so far from defeating the purpose of God, only provided occasion for Him to reveal the wondrous provisions which He has made for His failing people: seen in the unfailing love and prevailing intercession of the typical mediator. It is this which has been before us in the last few articles, finding its glorious climax in the making known of the mercy of God—that wondrous spring in the Divine character which ministers to those who have failed to respond to His grace—and the making of His "goodness" to pass before Moses (33:10). That "goodness" was inseparably connected with the proclamation of "the name of the Lord," and what that signified we shall learn from our present passage.



"One other remark should be made. Satan had come in, and for the moment seemed as if he had succeeded in frustrating the purposes of God with respect to His people. But Satan is never so completely defeated as in his apparent victories. This is nowhere so fully illustrated as in the cross, but the same thing is perceived in connection with the golden calf. This was Satan’s work; but the failure of Israel becomes the occasion through the mediation of Moses, which God in His grace had provided, of the fuller revelation of God, and of His mingling grace with law. The activity of Satan does but work out the purposes of God, and his wrath is made to praise Him against whom all his malice and enmity are directed" (Ed. Dennett).



"And he hewed two tables of stone like unto the first; and Moses rose up early in the morning, and went up unto mount Sinai, as the Lord had commanded him, and took in his hand the two tables of stone" (v. 4). The typical teaching of this verse brings out an important truth which is now very frequently denied, namely, that God’s redeemed are still under law: not as a condition of salvation, but as the Divine rule for their walk. Let it be remembered that what we have here in Exodus 34 follows right after what is recorded in chapter 33, where we have a most manifest and lovely foreshadowing of the intercession of our great High Priest on high.



Many are the New Testament passages which give us the antitype of this. Said the Lord Jesus to His disciples, "If ye love Me, keep My commandments" (John 14:15), which is, obviously, parallel with, "Showing mercy unto thousands of them that love Me, and keep My commandments" (Ex. 20:6). In perfect accord with this, is that word in Romans 13:10, "Love is the fulfilling of the law." The law has not been abrogated, nor is love lawless. Equally plain is that word in 1 Corinthians 9:21, where the apostle affirms that New Testament saints are "under the law to Christ." Nor does Romans 6:14 set this aside, for God’s Word does not contradict itself. When the apostle there says, "Ye are not under the law, but under grace," he is referring to our justification, not to our walk as believers. "



"And the Lord descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord" (v. 5). This at once introduces to us a subject of much importance, but, alas, like many another, sadly neglected today: the teaching of Holy Writ concerning the Name of the Lord. God is very jealous of His name as the third commandment in the Decalogue shows: the Lord will not hold guiltless that one who taketh His name in vain. In the prayer which Christ taught His disciples, the first petition is "Hallowed be Thy name." In Proverbs 18:10 we read, "The name of the Lord is a strong tower: the righteous runneth into it and is safe." From Malachi 3:16 we learn that God has written a book of remembrance "for them that feared the Lord and that thought upon His name." While the last chapter of Scripture tells us that God’s name shall be in the foreheads of His people (22:4).



"And the Lord descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord." This was the fulfillment of the promise which He had made to Moses in 33:19. There He had said, "I will make all My goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before thee. To proclaim His "name" signified to reveal Himself, to make Himself known. Just as the angel said to Joseph concerning the Child Mary was to bear, "Thou shalt call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins" (Matthew 1:21): the "name" Jesus revealed what He was—the Divine Savior. Or, just as Christ commanded His disciples to baptize "in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit" (Matthew 28:19), because it is thus that the Triune God now stands revealed.



The particular character in which Jehovah was about to reveal Himself to Moses is best perceived by noting the place and circumstances of this gracious manifestation of Himself. It was upon Sinai, in connection with the giving of the Law. It was, as we have said above, at the time when the Lord was enforcing His own rights on the people, following upon the exercise of His grace toward them. It was when Jehovah took His place in Israel’s midst as their king. It was there, upon the Mount that He made known that "righteousness and judgment are the habitation of His throne" (Ps. 97:2). Many are the scriptures which connect the "mount" with Divine government. For example, it was upon the mount (Matthew 5:1) that the Lord Jesus proclaimed the principles which are to regulate those who are the subjects of "the kingdom of heaven." It was on the "holy mount" that He was transfigured (Matthew 17), which set forth in vivid tableau the features which shall attend the establishment of His Messianic kingdom here on earth. While in Zechariah 14:4 we are told, that when He returns with the "government upon His shoulder" (Isa. 9:6), "His feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives."



At the burning bush Jehovah proclaimed His name, but there it was not a making known of the principles which regulate Him in the government of His people, rather was it a revelation of what He is in Himself—the great "I AM," the all-sufficient, self-subsisting One, "with whom is no variableness neither shadow of turning" (James 1:7). How appropriate was such a revelation of Himself on that occasion! Moses was about to appear, first, to his oppressed brethren, who would, at the onset, welcome him, but subsequently blame him because of their increased burdens; later before Pharaoh, who would first display an haughty and defiant spirit, and then a vacillating and temporizing one. Well was it for Moses to lay firm hold of the glorious fact that he was an ambassador of the great "I AM."



"And the Lord descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord." With this should be compared, or rather contrasted what we read of in John 17. There we find our Savior rendering an account of His work to the One who had sent Him here; and, as He entered into detail, the first thing that He says is, "I have manifested Thy name." But how different was this from what we have in Exodus 34: There it was God making Himself known in government; here it was God made manifest by the Son in grace. This is at once evidenced by the words immediately following, "I have manifested Thy name unto the men which Thou gavest Me out of the world: Thine they were, and Thou gavest them Me"; it was grace, pure and simple, eternal and sovereign, which gave us to Christ. So again in the 26th verse we hear our have High Priest saying to the Father, "I declared unto them Thy name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith Thou hast loved Me may be in them." Ah, that was grace, the "riches of His grace" (Eph. 1:7), Yea, "the glory of His grace" (Eph. 1:6).



"And the Lord passed by before him, and proclaimed, The Lord, The Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children’s children, unto the third and fourth generation" (vv. 6, 7). These are the most important as well as the most blessed verses in our passage. In them the Lord makes known the principles or attributes which are exercised in the government of His people. The perfections of that government appear in that seven principles are here enumerated. A careful study of them supplies the key to and explains all the subsequent dealings of God with Israel.



It is a most profitable exercise to go through the remainder of the Old Testament in view of these verses: by them much light is thrown upon the later history of Israel. Many are the passages in the prophets which have their roots in Exodus 34:6, 7; many are the prayers whose appeals were based upon their contents. But that which is the most important for us to heed is that, here we have proclaimed what marked the "ways" of Jehovah with Israel. As we trace His dealings with them from Sinai onwards, it will be found that each one of these seven attributes were in constant exercise. Let us now consider, though briefly, each one separately.



"The Lord God merciful." How unspeakably precious is it to mark that this is mentioned first. It is, we might say, the fount from which all the others flow: because God is merciful, He is "gracious, longsuffering, abundant in goodness" etc. Mercy was the hope of David when he had sinned so grievously: "Let us fall now into the hand of the Lord, for His mercies are great" (2 Sam. 24:14. Solomon owned God’s "mercy" to Israel (1 Kings 3:6: 8:23). So Jehosaphat (2 Chron. 20: 21). So too Nehemiah at a later date: mark how he called the constant mercy of God to Israel: 9:19, 27, 28, 31. So too did Daniel encourage himself in the mercy of God: 9:9, 18. To Jeremiah God said, "Go and proclaim these words toward the north, and say, return, thou backsliding Israel, saith the Lord; and I will not cause Mine anger to fall upon you: for I am merciful, saith the Lord" (3:12).



It is on the ground of "mercy" that God will take up Israel again in a coming day. He shall say, "For a small moment have I forsaken thee; but with great mercies will I gather thee" (Isa. 54:7). "And I will show mercies unto you, that he may have mercy upon you, and cause you to return to your own land" (Jer. 42:12). So the Lord Jesus shall yet say "And I will strengthen the house of Judah, and I will save the house of Joseph, and I will bring them again to place them; for I have mercy upon them: and they shall be as though I had not cast them off" (Zech. 10:6).



"And gracious." This tells us the ground on which God bestows His mercies: it is not for anything in man or from him, but solely because of His own benignity. All of God’s mercies are gifts, free Favors to a people entirely devoid of any worthiness. Many are the appeals to the grace of God recorded in the Old Testament. David cried, "O God, the proud are risen against me, and the assemblies of violent men have sought after my soul; and have not set Thee before them. But Thou O Lord, art a God full of compassion, and gracious" (Ps. 86:14, 15). Hezekiah appealed to the Divine clemency (2 Chron. 30:9). So did Jonah (4:2) assured the people in his day, "therefore will the Lord wait, that He may be gracious unto you" (Isa. 30:18). Through Joel God said to Israel, "Rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the Lord your God: for He is gracious" (2:13). While in the last book of the Old Testament the prophet exhorted, "And now, I pray you, beseech God that He will be gracious unto us" (1:9).



"Longsuffering." How strikingly did the whole history of Israel bear witness to the wondrous patience of God! The word long-suffering signifies "slow to anger." It was to the "longsuffering" of Jehovah that Moses first appealed when Israel had sinned so grievously at Kadesh-barnea (Num. 14:18). It was the realization of God’s great patience which staved David’s heart (Ps. 145:8). To it Nehemiah referred when reviewing Israel’s history and God’s long forebearance with them (9:18). In Nahum’s brief but powerful message we read, "The Lord is slow to anger and great in power" (1:3). The Lord Jesus pointed to the same perfection when He said to the Jews. "O Jerusalem. Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together" (Matthew 23:37).



"Abundant in goodness." The Hebrew word for goodness is more frequently translated "kindness." David acknowledged it when he said, "Blessed be the Lord; for He hath showed me His marvelous kindness in a strong city" (Ps. 41:21). So too Nehemiah (9:17). In a coming day the Lord will say to Israel. "In a little wrath I hid My face from thee for a moment; but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee" (Isa. 54:8). The Hebrew word is also rendered "loving-kindness." Frequent mention of it is made in the Psalm: "For Thy lovingkindness is before mine eves" (26:3); "How excellent is Thy lovingkindness, O God!" (36:7): "We have thought of Thy lovingkindness, O God, in the midst of Thy temple" (48:9). Isaiah said, "I will mention the lovingkindnesses of the Lord" (63:7). Through Jeremiah God said, "But let him that glorieth glory in this. that he understandeth and knoweth Me, that I am the Lord which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight" (9:24).



"And truth." The Hebrew word signifies "steadfastness." It is rendered "verity" in Psalm 111:7: "The works of His hands are verity and judgment." It is translated "faithful" in Nehemiah 7:2. To the men of Jabesh-gilead David said, "The Lord show kindness and truth unto you" (2 Sam. 2:6). Unto Jehovah the Psalmist sang, "For Thy mercy is great above the heavens: and Thy truth reacheth unto the clouds" (Ps. 108:4). God is faithful to His covenant-engagements, true to both His promisings and His threatenings.



"Keeping mercy for thousands—forgiving iniquity and transgressions and sin." How often God pardoned Israel for her sins! "And they remembered that God was their rock, and the high God their redeemer. Nevertheless they did flatter Him with their mouth, and they lied unto Him with their tongues. For their heart was not right with Him, neither were they steadfast in His covenant. But He, being full of compassion, forgave their iniquity, and destroyed them not: yea, many a time turned He His anger away" (Ps. 78:35-38). So in a coming day the Lord will say, "I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more" (Jer. 31:34).



"And that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children’s children, unto the third and fourth generation." Though God pardons, often He does not remit the consequences of sin: "Thou wast a God that forgavest them, though Thou tookest vengeance of their inventions" (Ps. 99:8). 


It only remains for us to add that, inasmuch as God changes not, the seven principles contemplated above now regulate His government of Christendom corporately and the Christian individually. How merciful, how gracious, how longsuffering, has God been to those who profess His name! How good, how faithful, how forgiving, all through these nineteen centuries! Yet the sins of the fathers have also been visited upon their children. Today we are suffering from the compromisings, unfaithfulness, sectarianism, pride, and wickedness, of those who went before us. May the Lord bless to the reader what has been according to His own Word.



To be continued . . . .

"Doc Notes" Calling upon God's Mercy (Part 66)

Gentle Readers, please read Exodus 33:18-23



In studying the varied contents of Exodus 33 we need to remind ourselves of the particular book in which these events are recorded. They are found not in Leviticus, but in Exodus. Everything has been placed by the Holy Spirit in each book of Scripture according to a principle of selection: only that which was in perfect accord with the special design of that book, only that which contributed directly to its theme, is given a place: everything irrelevant, every thing which did not illustrate or amplify the purpose and character of it, being excluded. This is true not only of the Gospels "Why Four Gospels?", where each evangelist was guided by the Inspirer of Scripture to include only that which was in full accord with the particular character in which he was setting forth the Lord Jesus, but it holds good just as truly and strikingly of the four books dealing with the early history of the nation of Israel. It is only by recognizing this that we can appreciate the perfections of the Spirit’s handiwork, and as we do so, often the key is found which opens the deeper meaning of many a passage.



Genesis is the book wherein we have illustrated the foundation-truth of Divine election. This is seen in God’s singling out of Abram, and making him the progenitor of His chosen people. Exodus sets forth the blessed truth of Divine redemption, God ransoming and emancipating an enslaved people from the house of bondage, and bringing them into a place of nearness to Himself. Leviticus is the book of Divine worship, of priestly privileges and exercises, revealing to us the provisions which God has made for His people to approach unto Him. Thus, in these first three books of Holy Writ we have wrought before us that which relates, peculiarly, to each of the Persons in the Godhead. The Father’s predestination, the Son’s propitiation," the Spirit’s inspiration to worship.



As we have just said, the great subject which is unfolded in the book of Exodus is that of redemption. This was pointed out by us several times in the earlier studies of this series, but we mention it again because it throws light on the chapter now before us. What we would here call attention to is, that redemption not only procures deliverance from surfdom and slavery, not only brings its favored objects into a place of nearness to God, but, through the mediation of the Redeemer, it secures a continuance of God’s grace and mercy while His redeemed are still journeying to the purchased inheritance; and it ensures the continued presence of the Lord in the midst of His feeble and failing people. In 33:13-16 Moses is found pleading for God’s continued presence with them. In v. 17 the Lord answers, "I will do this thing also that thou hast spoken." At the close of our book, we behold the fulfillment of this. After Moses had erected the tabernacle, the visible symbol of Jehovah’s presence descended and filled it, and we read, "The cloud of the Lord was upon the tabernacle by day, and fire was on it by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel, throughout all their journeys" (40:38).



In our last few studies we have been occupied with the love of Moses for his people, and his prevailing intercession on their behalf before God. In this present one we find him a beautiful type of the Lord Jesus. But what we would here emphasize is the fact that the record of this is found in the book of Exodus, teaching us that the intercession of Christ on our behalf, with all the blessings which it secures, is the fruit of that redemption which He has wrought out for His people. Now as we have seen, the first great blessing which the prayer of Moses obtained for his people was the averting of God’s consuming wrath (32:10, 14). The second grand privilege his supplications won for them—on the ground of having himself found favor in the eyes of God—was the securing of Jehovah’s continued presence with them (32:12-17). Keeping these things in mind, let us now turn to the seventh and last recorded thing in Exodus 32 and 33—compare the second paragraph in the preceding article.



"And he said, I beseech Thee, show me Thy glory" (v. 18). Our pen falters as we take up such a verse as this, for what sinful creature is competent to write upon such an exalted theme as the glory of God? Nevertheless, some blessed thoughts are suggested by this request of Moses. First of all, contemplating it in the light of the book in which it is found, are we not taught thereby that this is both the longing of the redeemed and the goal of their redemption—to behold the glory of God! That this longing is yet to be fully realized, that this wondrous goal will be reached. we know from the last charter but one of Holy Writ, for of the Eternal City we read, "And I saw no temple therein, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it. And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof" (Rev. 21:22, 23).



"And he said, I beseech Thee, show me Thy glory." Pondering this verse next in the light of its immediate context, we are shown what is the sure product of intimate fellowship with God. The great Jehovah had condescended to draw very near to the one who had separated himself from evil, for we are told, "the Lord spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend" (v. 11). And what was the consequence of this upon Moses? Not only did he have freedom in supplicating His grace, but there was a holy longing to know more of Himself. Such is ever the outflow of real and close communion with God: the more we know of Him, the more we desire to know. The closer God deigns to draw near to His people, the more constrained are they to cry, "Lord, lift Thou up the light of Thy countenance upon us" (Ps. 4:6).



"And he said, I beseech Thee, show me Thy glory." If the connection between this and the previous verse be noted, we are taught here another valuable lesson on prayer, one which we do well to take to heart. In the previous verse we read, "And the Lord said unto Moses, I will do this also that thou hast spoken: for thou hast found grace in My sight, and I know thee by name." Twice Moses had petitioned Jehovah; first not to consume His people; then, to beg His continuence in their midst. Each of these supplications had been graciously granted. Emboldened by his success, instead of being content therewith, Moses presents (we may well say) a still greater petition. And, as the Lord’s response denotes, He was not displeased at his servant’s importunity. Oh to remember in prayer that "We are coming to a King," then let us "large petitions with us bring." It is thus that we honor Him.



"And He said, I will make all My goodness pass before thee" (v. 19). How striking to learn here that God’s "glory" is His "goodness," His "goodness" His "glory." And what is the goodness of the Lord? Ah, who is capable of returning answer: human definitions are worthless. Shall we say that His "Goodness" is what He is in Himself, the sum of His personal excellencies? But has not the Lord Himself answered our question, and fulfilled His promise to Moses when He declared. "The Lord, The Lord God, merciful and gracing, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means dear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children" (34:6, 7).



"And I will proclaim the name of the Lord before thee" (v. 19). Was not this the renewal and confirmation of what He had announced at the beginning, when, at the burning bush, He first called Moses? Moses had asked, "When I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say unto me, what is His name? What shall I say unto them?" He made answer, "I am that I am: and He said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you;" and then He added, "Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, The Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you; this is My name forever, and this is My memorial unto all generations" (Ex. 3:13-15).



"And will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy" (v. 19). These words bring before us one of the most precious truths found in Scripture for the comfort of God’s people, yet is it one that is little understood today. In 2 Timothy 2:15 the servant of God is bidden, "Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth." But how few "rightly divide" between the grace of God and the mercy of God! How many regard them as being virtually synonymous. How much we lose by failing to distinguish between things that differ, by confusing in our thoughts things which are perfectly distinct. Scripture never confuses the grace and mercy of God, and it is to our deep loss if we do so.



The order in which these two attributes of God are here mentioned supplies the key to the distinction between them: "mercy" comes in after the "grace" of God. Why is this? Because mercy is the wondrous provision of God to meet the desperate needs of a people who have failed to respond to His grace. And this is what is so blessedly brought out here in Exodus 33. From Egypt to Sinai God had dealt with Israel on the ground of pure grace. In themselves they were no better than the Egyptians, vet had God, in His sovereign benignity, brought them out of the house of bondage, conducted them through the Red Sea, separated them unto Himself, supplied their every need in the wilderness. But how had the people requited such favors and blessings? They had revolted against Him, they had repudiated Him, they had set up an idol in His place. Was, then, their case hopeless? True they had "mourned," stripped themselves of their ornaments, and bowed in worship before the symbol of His manifested presence by the Tent. But could a God whose favors had been so lightly esteemed go on with them any further?



As we have seen, the typical mediator had interceded on behalf of the people who had sinned so heinous. And now it was that the Lord made one of the most blessed revelations of His character to be found anywhere in Holy Writ. Something was here made known of God’s nature which had never before been revealed in its real depths, namely, His mercy. It is true we nave mention of that precious word in the book of Genesis, but the full interpretation of its meaning is not there discovered. It was here in Exodus 33 that this deep and blessed spring in God’s Being was made manifest—so rich, so full, so blessed. Man’s extremity was God’s opportunity. The Divine outflow of grace had been abused, His righteous law had been broken, the relation entered into by the Sinitaic covenant (Ex. 24) had been disrupted by the rebellion of Israel. Now, "mercy" sovereign and absolute, was the resource of Him who retires into Himself and acts from Himself; only by the exercise of mercy could sinning Israel be extricated from their merited doom.



As we written above, from the time when Jehovah first took up His enslaved people in the land of Pharaoh, till the waters gushed out of the smitten rock at Rephidim, all was a stream of pure grace, that is, free gifts, Divine favors to a people who had no worthiness or merits of their own. But here in Exodus 33 Israel were given cause to praise God on an altogether different ground, and from this time on- wards we find that ground the great theme of Israel’s songs—"O give thanks unto the Lord, for He is good: for His mercy endureth forever" (Ps. 106:1). In proof of this contrast, note the contents of Psalm 105 and 106. Let the reader turn to them and mark carefully how that in Psalm 105, which also opens with "O give thanks unto the Lord," that the grace-history of Israel is taken up, beginning with Jehovah’s dealings with the patriarchs (v. 9), and re- counting what God had done for their descendants, till Rephidim was reached. In v. 41 we read, "He opened the rock, and the waters gushed out," and there the Psalmist stops. It will be observed that the word "mercy" does not occur in it a single time.



Now let's turn to Psalm 106, where we have the mercy-history of Israel’s journeyings. Observe how frequently this Psalm makes mention of Israel’s sins:—their unbelief (v. 7), their impatience (v. 13), their lusting (v. 14), their envy of Moses (v. 16), their idolatry (v. 19), their murmuring (v. 25), their unfaithfulness (v. 28), their provoking the Lord (v. 33), their disobedience (v. 34), their wickedness (vv. 35, 37). As verse 43 summarizes it, "Many times did He deliver them; but they provoked Him with their counsel." Thus did Israel evilly requite the wondrous grace of God. What then? Did He annihilate them? Well He might have done so. But instead, we are told, "And He remembered for them His covenant, and repented according to the multitude of His mercies" (v. 45)!



From Sinai and onwards Israel’s songs never recounted God’s grace. No, it was too late for that after the golden calf had been set up. His grace had been abused, flung back, as it were, into His face. His law had been violated, His covenant broken. But His mercy "endureth forever." Hallelujah! Mercy, then, is that blessed quality of God’s nature which meets the deep and dire needs of those who have sinned against His grace. The background of God’s grace is our emptiness, poverty, worthlessness. The foil for His mercy is our sinfulness, wickedness, vileness. That is why we are bidden to come to the Throne of Grace that we may "obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need" (Heb. 4:16).



The distinction just drawn above serves to explain what is found in the opening salutation of the N.T. epistles. We would urge the reader to consult for himself each passage now to be referred to. In Romans 1:7. 1 Corinthians 1:1, 2, 2 Corinthians 1:1, 2, Galatians 1:3, Ephesians 1:2. Philippians 1:2 Colossians 1:2, 1 Thessalonians 1:1, 2, 2 Thessalonians 1:2, each Christian company is saluted with "grace be unto you." But when we turn to 1 Timothy 1:2, 2 Timothy l:4, Titus 1:4 we find "mercy" is added: "grace, mercy and peace." Why is this? We know of no writer that has ever advanced what we believe is the true answer. But does not the history of Israel supply the key? Alas, has not history repeated itself? has not the course of Christendom corresponded to that of Israel? Has not Christendom, too, abused the wondrous "grace" of God? And has He not, most blessedly, fallen back upon His mercy in His dealings with us?



It should be carefully observed that when we come to the epistles of Timothy (see 1 Timothy 4:1, 2 Timothy 3:1) we are brought down to the closing days of this dispensation. Ah, were it not for that mercy which "endureth forever" where would God’s unfaithful, backslidden, and lukewarm people be! Still more significant is it to note mat the salutation of Jude’s epistle, the last one (treating of conditions in the end-time) opens with "mercy unto you." Verily, "mercy" is our last hope. Nor does it fail us. Yea, we are "looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life" (Jude 20)—the reference being to His second advent: compare 2 Timothy 1:18.



Oh Gentle readers, have our own souls understood and apprehended this glorious attribute of mercy in which our God is so "rich" (Eph. 2:4)? Have we not often confused it with His grace, and thereby failed to perceive its distinctive glory and blessedness? Have not we not only broken His holy law again and again, but despised His very grace? What then is left but to fall back upon His mercy, which very attribute supposes this is our last resource! Well aware are we that this very truth may be misappropriated and misused, but for those whose hearts desire to please and glorify God, it is unspeakably precious. The mercy of God can only be truly apprehended by those who have been made to feel how grievously they have sinned against His grace. It is such who will welcome the invitation to come boldly ("freely") to the Throne of Grace, that there they may "obtain mercy" for the unrequited grace of yesterday, and there also find fresh supplies of grace for the needs of today.



In perfect accord with all that has been said above, is the first mention of God’s "mercy" in Holy Writ: "And while he lingered, the men laid hold upon his hand, and upon the hand of his wife, and upon the hand of his two daughters; the Lord being merciful unto him: and they brought him forth and set him without the city" (Gen. 10:16). This regarded Lot, and it is blessed to note his own acknowledgment of it, "Behold now. Thy servant hath found grace in Thy sight, and Thou hast magnified Thy mercy, which Thou hast showed unto me in saving my life" (v. 19). Yes, he had "found grace" in God’s sight, for he was one of the Lord’s people (2 Pet. 2:7). But O how basely had he treated that grace! He had not only forsaken Abraham, but had settled down in wicked Sodom. The only hope for such an one was mercy, and this God had "magnified."



It only remains for us now to point out how that in Exodus 33:19 the Lord emphasizes His sovereignty in the exercise of this attribute, saying, "I will show mercy on whom I will show mercy." Necessarily it must be so. Mercy is that which none can claim as a right: might they justly do so, it would cease to be mercy. Hence God reserves to Himself the right to extend it to whom He pleases, and to withhold it from whom He pleases. To this principle the apostle, when treating at length of the sovereignty of God, called attention in Romans 9:18. Nor is God unrighteous in this. None is wronged if "mercy" be withheld. God is therefore free to act as He pleases: "Is it not lawful for Me to do what I will with Mine own?" (Matthew 20:15).



"And He said, thou canst not see My face: for there shall no man see Me, and live (v. 20). We must ever distinguish between God’s absolute character and His relative making known of Himself. In His absolute character and essence no man hath seen nor can see God, for He is "Spirit" (John 4:24), and therefore unseeable. But relatively He has made Himself known to us by His many names and titles, by the manifestation of His many and varied attributes, and more fully and blessedly still, by and in the person of Christ. Yet it remains true that, absolutely, God is the invisible God, "dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto: whom no man hath seen, nor can see" (1 Tim. 6:16). In O.T. times, when God made Himself known to Abraham, Moses, Joshua, Gideon it was the second Person of the Trinity, yet not in His essential Deity, but in human or angelic form. No human creature is capable of perceiving the infinite and eternal Spirit in all His majesty and ineffable glory.



"And the Lord said, Behold there is a place by Me, and thou shalt stand upon a rock: And it shall come to pass while My glory passeth by, that I will put thee in a cliff of the rock, and will cover thee with My hand while I pass by: And I will take away Mine hand, and thou shalt see My back parts: but My face shall not be seen" (vv. 21-23).



This is most blessed. In order for sinful man to be able clearly to contemplate the Divine perfections of an infinitely righteous, holy God, it is necessary that he should be put into a place of security and peace. This God has, in His infinite condescension and grace, provided for us. To faith that "rock" is Christ. Augustus Toplady beautifully represented this in his well-known hymn,



"Rock of Ages cleft for me,

Let me hide myself in Thee."



Or, as we prefer to sing it,



"Rock of Ages cleft for me,

Grace hath hid me safe in Thee."



God graciously permitted Moses to have an impression and perception of His presence such as he was capable of. A beautiful illustration of what we have in view here, we borrow from Dr. Cuyler’s work on the Holy Spirit: —



"I was talking about Christ to an impenitent neighbor the other day. He said ‘Why can’t I feel about Him as you do? I have read the Bible a good deal—I have heard a good deal of preaching, yet I can’t get up any enthusiasm in regard to this Savior that you talk so much about.’ I said to him, ‘You make me think of my visit to the White Mountains some years ago. We were told that there was a wonderful piece of natural statuary there—a man’s face chiselled out of a granite cliff. When we went to see it, we found what we supposed was the cliff, but there was no appearance of human features—no form or comeliness such as we had been told of. We were about to turn away disappointed when a guide came along and said. ‘You are not looking from the right point.’ He led us up the road a few rods, and then said, ‘Turn and look!’ We did so, and there was the face as distinct as any of ours, though of gigantic size. Until we reached the right spot we could see only a jagged rock, and not a symmetrical face. The vision of the form and comeliness depended upon the angle of observation. And it is so with you, my friend. Come with me under the shadow of the Cross. Come there as a penitent sinner, look there upon that visage so marred more than any man. Realize that the mangled, thorn-crowned Sufferer is dying for you, and you will see in Him a beauty that will ravish your soul."



By linking together a clause out of v. 21 with what is stated in 5:22 we get a beautifully complete type of the believer’s absolute security. First. "thou shalt stand upon a rock." This at once reminds us of, "By faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ; by whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand" (Rom. 5:1, 2). Second, mark well the words, "I will put thee in a clift of a rock," for no sinner of himself can do this. Blessed figure was of an elect soul being "created in Christ Jesus" (Eph. 2:10). Third, "and will cover thee with My hand." "He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide tender the shadow of the Almighty" (Ps. 91:1). Not only is the believer in Christ, but he is also protected by the Father’s hand (John 10:29). Finally, observe it is only as we are in the "clift of the rock" that God’s "goodness" passes before us (v. 22). His "glory" can only come into view as the flesh is altogether hidden; that is, as we are made "new creatures in Christ."



"And I will take away Mine hand, and thou shalt see My back parts: but My face shall not be seen" (v. 23). This was in keeping with the Legal economy: the law had only "a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things" (Heb. 10:1). But how blessed the contrast now: "For God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ" (2 Cor. 4:6)! O may Divine grace enable both writer and reader to walk worthy of such a God, and such a revelation of Himself (1 Tim. 3:16) as He has now made to us in and through Christ (John 14:9).



To be continued . . .