056. Joseph, Type of the Risen Christ.

Joseph, Type of the Risen Christ.

Read Genesis 45:1-28.

It is most interesting and profitable to trace in the Old Testament histories the shadows of God’s purposed blessings in the risen Christ. The history of Joseph is a picture pencilled by the hand of God. When the light of resurrection is thrown upon it, the whole is lit up with indescribable beauty. When Joseph made himself known to his brethren, he had been, as it were, dead about twenty years. Yes, twenty long years had passed away since his father had said, “I will go down into the grave unto my son mourning.” Thus, with rent clothes and sackcloth upon his loins, had Jacob wept for him. But now Israel said, “It is enough; Joseph my son is yet alive.” As a type of Christ, death and resurrection are the two great points. The pre-eminence of Christ was shadowed forth in the dreams of Joseph, Genesis 37:1-36. The sheaves of the field, the sun and the moon, and the eleven stars made obeisance to Him.

“Jesus! Lord of all creation, To Him shall all creation bow.”

“God hath highly exalted Him, and given Him a name which is above every name: that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow; of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth,” Php 2:9-10. The pre-eminence of Joseph filled his brethren with envy; the pre-eminence of Jesus filled the Jews with hatred. The brethren of Joseph said, “Behold this dreamer cometh; come, therefore, let us slay him, and cast him into some pit.” And the Jewish brethren of Jesus said, “This is the heir, let us kill Him.”

Joseph was cast into the pit. “And they took him and cast him into a pit; and the pit was empty: there was no water in it.” The wickedness of their hearts was thus manifested; they cast him into a pit, and they sat down to eat bread. The Jews crucified Jesus, and then sat down to keep high Sabbath. Joseph was sold for twenty pieces of silver; Jesus was sold for thirty. Like Isaac, in this shadow, Joseph did not actually die; there was no water in the pit. But with our precious Jesus, He sank in the deep mire. He says, “All thy billows are gone over my soul?” Yes, Isaac, when laid on the altar, was spared; Joseph, when cast into the pit was spared; but when Jesus was nailed to the cross, “God spared not his beloved Son.” Cruel as was the treatment of Joseph’s brethren, yet he was not forsaken; but Jesus cried out, “My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me?” Oh! why was He thus forsaken on the cross? Oh! why did it please Jehovah to bruise Him? Ah, “His soul was made an offering for sin!” “Surely He hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows.” “He was wounded for our transgressions; He was bruised for our iniquities.” The sufferings of Joseph were against his will; but the death of Jesus was his own voluntary offering. “I lay down my life for the sheep.” Yes, “Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God.” Thus hath our God commended his love to us.

Joseph is sold into Egypt, and his brethren have got rid of him. Jesus is killed, and the world has got rid of Him. The lies and deceit of Joseph’s brethren succeed so well and so long, until Joseph is almost forgotten. If ever remembered, he is only remembered as the one that is dead, or “the one that is not.”

Oh! dark, cruel world, thou hast killed the Prince of Life, and boastest of progress; long and well hast thou succeeded with thy lies and delusions. But thou art doomed; thy day is at hand; thy seven years of plenty will soon be run out; then shall thy sevenfold judgments come. If thou rememberest Jesus, it is only as one that is dead, or one that is not. Oh! despising, rejecting world, thou shalt soon find Him to be to thee the terrible Lord of heaven and earth.

Let us return to the history. Seventeen years of age was Joseph when he fed the flocks with his brethren; and he was thirty years old when he stood before Pharaoh, king of Egypt. Seven years of plenty had also run their course, so that for twenty years the foul sin of his cruel brethren had been concealed. But at last “the famine was sore in all lands.”

How often this is the case. Sin may be forgotten whilst years of plenty roll away. Whilst the prodigal rolls in luxury, we hear nothing of his sins or his father’s house; but when all is spent, and the famine comes, then he cannot forget his sins, and must return to his father’s house. Truly, “God moves in a mysterious way His wonders to perform.”

“I cannot forget the things I did sixty years ago,” said an old man to me, the other day, on his dying bed. Should these lines meet the eye of one who has rolled in plenty! And now every worldly hope is blighted; that idol once so dear to you is gone; wealth and wealth’s friends are gone. In poverty and need you find it a cold, cruel world; little did you expect the treatment you have met. Is it a famine in all lands to you? Oh! the thousands of hearts thus wrung with bitter anguish in this cold, deceitful world.

Let me speak a little further. How about your sin? is that question settled? Have you to add to your heavy sorrows a troubled conscience? Perhaps sometimes, the remembrance of sin is unbearable; at such a time the thought comes, and sticks like a poisoned arrow, “My sins have brought all this on me.” But you try to forget them. The seven years of plenty were ended; the seven years of famine began. As the prodigal remembered the bread, so Jacob heard there was corn in Egypt; and the ten brethren of Joseph must go down and buy, that they may live, and not die.

Ah, when the Spirit of God begins to deal with a man, how He can bring sin home to the conscience. Joseph was governor over all the land; to Joseph they must come; no other person under heaven can give them bread. They knew not that it was he. In like manner the soul must be brought to Jesus. “Neither is there salvation in any other, for there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved.”

Yes, “Joseph’s brethren came and bowed themselves before him, with their faces to the earth.” What must, he have felt, for he knew them, though they did not know him. No doubt they were much altered in twenty years. Remorse had marked the features of some; felt need had brought them all. It is so with the sinner, when first seeking salvation; he may not come with the full confession of sin, so much as with the desire of being saved.

“Joseph spake roughly unto them.” The question of sin must be bottomed. The cutting cord of a guilty conscience must be pulled a little tight. “Ye are spies.” And now mark their defence, — “We are all one man’s sons; we are true men.” They stood in the presence of him they had rejected, and, as it were, killed, and could talk of being true men. What a picture of this world! — men can reject Christ, and then can pretend to keep the law.

They say they are twelve brethren; the youngest is with their father; and then, meaning Joseph himself, they say, “And one is not.” The cord is pulled a little tighter. Except they mend and fetch their youngest brother, they shall not go hence; and, instead of getting corn, they are all put into prison. And thus God seems sometimes to treat the awakened soul roughly; instead of giving salvation, the poor, anxious one finds himself in Joseph’s prison. But on the third day — for resurrection is the only door out of Joseph’s prison — “This do, and live,” says Joseph; let a surety be given, and you are set free, till you bring your younger brother. But, oh! what bitter anguish guilt gives. “And they said one to another, We are surely guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the anguish of his soul when he besought us, and we would not hear, therefore is this distress come upon us.” Oh! how bitter is the grief of the heart! When guilt weighs upon the conscience, you look back upon past sins with indescribable remorse. But this is not true repentance; that has not come yet.

Rough as Joseph appeared to be to them, there was nothing but love in his heart; “He turned himself about from them and wept.” They little thought it was Joseph, for he spoke to them by an interpreter. However hard God’s ways may seem to the trembling, guilty soul, He is love. When Jesus beheld the city, He wept. The substitute is bound before their eyes, and they receive their sacks full of corn. All seems over; they have got their corn, and they depart from that mysterious governor. A moment’s relief. This often happens to the soul. You have certainly got a blessing; perhaps your heart feels as full of it as their sacks were full of corn. But you have not fully repented yet; the question of sin is not settled yet; you are not truly and fully converted yet.

Ah, it was a sore stroke, when one opened his sack at the inn, and espied his money. Their distress was greater than ever. “And their heart failed them, and they were afraid, saying one to another, What is this that God hath done to us?” Yes, in a moment, even when you thought you had clean done with sin, some circumstance opened the sack mouth; the remembrance of sin comes rushing like a mountain torrent; oh! the heart fairly fails. Thus must heart and flesh fail, when conscience is brought into the light of the presence of God. Satan roars at such a time, “God is against thee, thou vile sinner.” Well is it, at such a dead thrust at the soul, to remember that Satan is a liar. But, alas! at those times, one seems ready to swallow every word he says.

They return to their father. The sorrowing old man is overwhelmed with grief when he bears their account. “All these things are against me,” said he. Little did he think how all these things were for him. The only thing before his mind was the death of his Joseph.

Still the famine was sore in the land. To Egypt’s governor again they must go. Poor, troubled, tossed soul! to Jesus you must go. What trouble of conscience! Benjamin must be given up; Judah becomes surety for ever. All this must be the experience of the soul that only knows the death of Jesus. Well, if they must go, the old man says they must take the best of the land — a little balm, a little honey, spices and nuts, myrrh and almonds, and double money. Ah, how like Cain’s religion; he thinks God wants man’s best fruits. They knew not Joseph; man knows not God. He makes fresh resolutions, fresh efforts at self-righteousness; a little balm, a little honey; and it is a little, is it not?

They came with their gifts, but found Joseph’s feast. It seemed so strange. Brought into his house, they are afraid, they think he seeks occasion against them to fall upon them. But instead of deserved wrath, it is “Peace be unto you, fear not,” and gave them water to wash their feet. Joseph comes home at noon. Again they bow to him; his heart is moved with yearning love; he says, “Is your father well, the old man of whom ye spake? is he yet alive?” What he must have felt, and they knew him not. They say he is alive, and they bowed down their heads. But when he saw his long-loved brother Benjamin, he could hold no longer; he said, “God be gracious to thee, my son.” He made haste, and went out, and wept. What a picture of Divine grace! Oh! my reader, if you knew the yearning heart of God!

Joseph still refrains himself. They all sit down to the feast. Ah! see what man is. “They drank, and were merry with him.” Sin is forgotten again, and they are merry. But this is not conversion. Sin may be forgotten for a time; you may feast at the board of the Lord; but forgetting and forgiveness are two very different things. Their sacks are filled again. There may be repeated blessing, and still ignorance how sin is for ever put away. The cup is found in Benjamin’s sack; this fairly breaks them down. “What shall we say unto my lord? What shall we speak? or how shall we clear ourselves? God hath found out the iniquity of thy servants.” Ah! such is now the overwhelming remembrance of sin, that they give up all attempts to clear self, and yield themselves up as guilty. Judah wishes to be surety for his brother. There was, doubtless, a great change in them from that day when Joseph was cast into the pit. There may be any amount of anguish, sorrow, and remorse, as it was with Judas Iscariot, and still no true conversion, and no true change of mind.

What did change their minds? Let us now look at chap. 14.

We have seen them brought to utterly despair of clearing themselves; they are guilty before God.

“Then Joseph could not refrain himself before all them that stood by him; and he cried, Cause every man to go out from me. And there stood no man with him while Joseph made himself known unto his brethren, and he wept aloud.”

What would be their thoughts when he said, “I am Joseph?” Can you imagine their astonishment? What a change of mind; every thought in their hearts would be turned. The very Joseph whom they had cast into the pit, of whom they had long spoken as dead, now alive again, now before them, lord of all Egypt. They could not speak; they were troubled; and well they might be at his presence. Justice could have demanded their lives, but, in grace, “Joseph said, Come near to me, I pray you.” And Jesus says, “Come unto Me, all ye that are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” The Joseph who was as dead is alive, and makes himself known. This gives them the true change of mind about Joseph.

Oh! how like the revelation of the dead and risen Christ to Saul of Tarsus; the one was as sudden as the other. Saul was on his murderous mission to Damascus, his heart filled with hatred to the name and followers of Jesus. Suddenly a light above the brightness of the sun shines round about him; a voice speaks, and says, “Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.” Astounded at these words, Saul replies, “Who art thou, Lord? And He said, I am Jesus.”

Joseph said to his brethren, “I am Joseph.” Jesus said to Saul, “I am Jesus;” and the effect was the same. The moment Saul heard those few words, “I am Jesus,” every thought in his heart was turned. It was the revelation of the living Joseph that changed their minds; it is the revelation of the risen Jesus that alone gives the true change of mind not to be repented of.

“And they came near.” Blessed place for the poor, guilty sinner to be brought to God. Oh my fellow-sinner, think, oh! think, what grace is this! The God against whom you have sinned is the one to go to, and so near. Ah, He knows all your sins, only don’t seek to justify self; own you are guilty; own it to Him; He knows you cannot clear yourself, He knows you are guilty. And now hear the words of Joseph; he said, “I am Joseph, your brother, whom ye sent into Egypt.” He says, “God sent me before you to preserve you a posterity on the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance. So now it was not you that sent me hither, but God.”

Truly this in most precious as a type of the risen Christ. Peter, speaking of the resurrection of Jesus, says, “Him being delivered by the determinate council of God, ye have taken, and, by wicked hands, have crucified and slain, whom God hath raised up,” Acts 2:22-36. He then shows that this was God’s promise to David; indeed, his purpose in all Scripture. “Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God hath made that same Jesus whom ye have crucified both Lord and Christ.” Thus that same Joseph whom they cast into the pit, God made lord of all Egypt. That same Jesus whom men crucified, God hath made Lord of heaven and earth. The making known of Joseph changed his brethren’s minds; the making known of the risen Jesus gave repentance and remission of sins to three thousand souls. But if, in this shadow, God purposed by Joseph to save much people alive, what I ask, was God’s wondrous purpose of grace in the death and raising again of Jesus from the dead. The purpose of God in resurrection is so little thought of in this day, I scarce know how to speak sufficiently plain to be understood. Take this illustration: — a gardener has his vinery so blighted, the vines are so dead, that he cannot possibly have fruit from the old vines. Knowing this, he purposes, and brings in, an entire new vine, new kind, new stock, that he may have fruit. He does not purpose to improve the old vines, but to set them aside, and have an entire new vinery. The old vinery of Adam’s race is blighted with sin. God sees it so dead in trespasses and sins, that He knows fruit there cannot be found in it. Man is ruined, dead, blighted with sin. Now, this is the long forgotten truth. God did not purpose, in sending his beloved Son, to improve the old vinery, but to set it aside in death, even the death of Jesus, proving, that as Jesus died for all, then were all dead. And thus, in raising Jesus from among the dead, God has begun a new vinery, so to speak; an entire new creation, having entirely new life, new nature, everything new, and everything of God. Men could not make a greater mistake then they do in trying to improve the old vinery. In Christ risen from the dead, the beginning of this glorious new creation, all is perfect and everlasting; and if any man is in Him, old things are passed away, all things become new, and all things of God. 2 Corinthians 5:14-18.

If Joseph had not been sent into Egypt to preserve life, they must have perished in the famine. If the gardener had not got a new vine, the vinery would have perished with the blight. If Christ had not died, and risen again, the whole world would have perished through sin. If Christ had lived for ever in the flesh, though in the midst of this world’s blighted vinery, He could not have improved its condition; He must needs die, and be the first born from the dead, or all must perish. Nothing could atone for sin, but his precious blood. Nothing could give life to the dead but the life of the risen One, who destroyed death by dying.

Now, mark, all blessing in this type flows from this risen Joseph. He is lord of all Egypt. His brethren are not only forgiven — and, oh! how forgiven! “He kissed all his brethren, and wept upon them.” What assurance of forgiveness. But this was not all, they were blessed with earthly blessings in the land if Goshen. Grace not only forgave, but abounded over all their sin. My fellow-believer, we have not only forgiveness of sins through the blood of Jesus, but God hath blessed us in this risen Christ with all blessings in heavenly places. Now, for your everlasting comfort and joy, do ponder this well: — that vile as was man in putting Jesus to death, yet was it really God who foreordained Him to this very death of the cross, for the express purpose of saving you with a great salvation. View the amazing death of the cross as a transaction, entirely between God and his Son, for thy salvation. God sent him for the very purpose; Jesus died for the very purpose of cleansing thee from all sin, and bringing thee into an entirely new creation, where sin can never, never be; where the blight of death, or breath of pollution can never come: oh, blessed fact, sin can never mar God’s new creation, in the risen Christ. Oh, wondrous, stupendous grace. God’s eternal purpose, God’s greatest work is thus shadowed forth in the history of Joseph. That very Jesus, who died on the cross, who lay in the cold grave, is now the head of the new creation; exalted above all principalities and powers; “Head over all to the Church, which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.” Oh! the eternal mystery, kept hid from ages. Poor, dead sinners of the Gentiles raised up together, and made sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Oh! what a triumph to God. Look at the old creation, and then at the new. Look from Adam, its beginning; to the cross, its end. (Ah, and there is another end for such as despise that cross — the Lake of Fire —) sad scene of sin and misery, doom and death. Now look at the new, heavenly, holy creation, “Christ the beginning, the firstborn from the dead.” Oh! view it rise and swell; every soul that passes from death unto life filling up the heavenly body. When Joseph’s brethren were come, it pleased Pharaoh well, and his servants. What must be the joy of God in the new risen creation. There is joy in the presence of God over one sinner that repenteth. But when that bright resurrection morn shall come, that morn without a cloud — so near — when the whole redeemed Church shall rise to meet the Lord; ah! then what a scene of unmingled delight. God will have his infinite joy, his eternal rest. Oh! bright and glorious prospect, view my soul that fair creation. The delight of God shall beam in every eye, shall ravish every heart. Desolate, weary pilgrim, thou, shalt be there. The love that died for thee, the love that is gone to prepare thy place in those mansions of light will, oh, yes, He will bring thee there. Press on! press on! what is this world’s vain store to thee?

It grieved Joseph, when the misgiving hearts of his brethren said, “Peradventure Joseph will hate us.” How often does Satan whisper those dark peradventures. He says, “Perhaps after all, God will deal with you as you deserve.” They had not rested fully and alone in the love of Joseph. They had a secret leaning on the life of the old man, their father. This is too often the case with the believer, some secret trust in the old man, its religiousness, or its morality. The heart has not been fully brought to trust in the love of God, in Jesus alone. Then our old nature is found to be sin itself. Then follow misgivings, and terrible conflict. We are compelled to own ourselves vile, and utterly dead. When Jacob was dead, Joseph’s brethren drank still more deeply of his kindness and love. And when we are stripped of everything not a particle left of old self in which we can trust; then it is sweet indeed, to find the unchanged love of our Jesus still the same. Oh! Lamb of God, thou art worthy of our entire, our only trust — thine is love beyond a brother’s.

Once more, reader. Have you thus learnt the love of Jesus? Do you know Him? Have the thoughts of your heart been thus changed about Jesus? Have you ever found yourself in his presence, as the brethren of Joseph? Have you heard the words of Jesus, and believed on God who sent Him? then He says “You have everlasting life.” Oh! fear not, you shall not come into condemnation. You are passed from death unto life. No man can be said to have true repentance, or a true change of mind, until thus brought alone to Christ. You need no other but Jesus to speak to; no creature heart so kind as His. Oh! have you owned your sin to Him, to Him alone? Have you thus been brought to Him? Oh! poor doubting one, look again at this lovely picture, this beautiful illustration of the meeting of a poor sinner with Jesus the risen Christ. God give you now to hear his own sweet words of untold love.

Every man had to go out whilst Joseph made himself known to his brethren. This at once changed their minds. His forgiving love melted their hearts. “They were troubled at his presence.” But he said, “Be not grieved.” He was a lovely type of the risen Jesus. When the risen Jesus made himself known, and stood in the midst of His disciples, He said, “Peace be unto you,” but they were terrified and affrighted, and supposed that they had seen a spirit. But now, mark his tender words. He said unto them, “Why are ye troubled? And why do thoughts arise in your hearts? Behold my hands and my feet,” Luke 24:36. Thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead. He says, “Peace be unto you.” Do you believe Him? Forgiveness, perfect, everlasting, certain forgiveness is preached to you. What love to the guilty and lost. Joseph had not one angry word. Jesus would not have us feel one troubled thought.

Vile as was man’s act in crucifying Him; vile as have been our sins in rejecting Him; yet, now He makes himself known in perfect love. Oh! look at His wounded hands and feet. Ah, we! our sins gave agony and death to Him. His death gives peace everlasting peace to us. The peace of Joseph’s brethren was the peace that Joseph gave them in his own presence. There was nothing but peace in his heart to them. For this Jesus died, that we might have peace through his blood. It is not our happy feelings that give peace, it is the blood of Jesus. He has made peace for us. He is our peace. He died for our sins. He rose for our justification. Being justified by faith, we have peace with God. Joseph wept upon his brethren. This was enough to melt the hardest heart. They deserved the severest wrath — he showed them the freest love. Poor, weary, doubting one, is not this a true picture of God? Did not the father fall upon the prodigal’s neck? was there one angry look, or one hard word? Ah, when God is thus revealed to the poor soul, trembling beneath the burden of guilt, then what a change of mind. How melting, the certainty of pardoning love. God would have us perfectly happy in his presence — not a doubt — not a cloud — not a spot remains. If God appointed Joseph’s sorrows to save much people alive, has He not, by the death of Jesus, brought an innumerable company of lost sinners into the life and glory of the risen Christ. This was God’s eternal purpose. This, is God’s greatest work. Words fail to express the greatness of that mighty work which He wrought in Christ to us-ward, when He raised him from the dead. Nothing can be more certain, than that the very place God hath given the risen Christ, is the place He hath given to all believers in Him. Joseph was not ashamed to own his brethren before Pharaoh. Jesus is not ashamed to call us brethren. Have you, my reader, believed this wondrous love — this wondrous power? Then, you are risen with him. What manner of persons ought we to be? Dead with Christ — risen with Christ — one with Him for ever. Well might the Apostle say, “I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.” — Romans 12:1-21.

What a change it must have been to Joseph’s brethren; starved with famine, oppressed with guilt, seeking a little food. Read over again chap. 45, and mark the unbounded kindness of Joseph. What full forgiveness! what provision for the way! changes of raiment to every man. What joy in his presence! Yes, the beggars and aliens, are the brothers and joint heirs with Joseph, bone of his bone, and flesh of his flesh.

Glowing as is the picture, it is but a shadow of the heavenly relationship in which the believer now stands.

Once an alien, without God, an enemy by wicked works, trying to hide and forget sin; then a convicted, trembling, guilty, wretched, famished sinner, in the presence of the God of righteousness, yet God of grace. A person once said to me, in London, after hearing the subject of Joseph, “Oh, that I know for certain that God loves me as Joseph loved his brethren.” I replied, “If you did, that alone could not give you peace; you must know that God not only loves you in purest grace, that you have not a particle more merit than Joseph’s brethren had; but, also, that God is infinitely righteous, through, the death of Jesus, in showing you this unbounded love.”

Yes, believer, this amazing change in thy condition and relationship could only be brought about by the tremendous judgment due to thy sins being first laid on Jesus, the righteous One. “Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God,” 1 Peter 3:18. What a change! Brought to God. Once, with all the world, dead in trespasses and sins; now brought with Jesus from among the dead. What a new existence, new creation! One with Christ, “Who is the beginning, the first-born from the dead,” Colossians 1:18.

Yes, happy fellow-believers, “We are the children of God; heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ,” Romans 8:16-17. Our standing before God, in Christ, the beginning of the new creation, is “glorious,” without spot or wrinkle, or any such thing; holy, and without blame. Yea, so unspeakably real is the oneness of the risen Lord, and the risen Church, that “we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones.” Oh, amazing grace! “Blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.” Yea, “God hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ,” Ephesians 2:6.

Oh! my fellow-believers, if this is our standing in the risen Christ, what ought our walk to be? As surely as the rejected Joseph was manifested, in due time, the lord of all Egypt, so surely the rejected Jesus will, very, very soon, be manifested, in brightest glory, Lord of heaven and earth. I have no doubt this type will then be fulfilled as to his brethren, the Jews; they shall look on Him whom they pierced, and shall say, “What are those wounds in thy hands?” And when they hear those tender words, “Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends,” then the conversion of Israel will be as sudden as the change in Joseph’s brethren. But, great as will be their earthly blessing and glory, what is it to be compared with the heavenly glory of the Church! “Then shall the world know that the Father hath loved us, even as He hath loved Christ,” John 17:23.

Blessed Jesus, by faith, we now see Thee crowned with glory and honour. But, oh! come quickly, and manifest thy glory; then every knee shall bow, O Lord, to Thee.

C. S.

Fast now wears the weary night, The night of sin and sorrow;

Soon shall break in glory bright The long expected morrow.

Wake, awake, and sleep no more, Farewell to the long, long night;

Turn from earth, and upwards soar, Watch to see the glory bright!

Brighter far than midday sun, Sudden as the flash of light;

Hark! the sound, the victory’s won, Millions rise in glory bright! Not a spot of sin is there;

All are clothed in purest white;

Now they meet Him in the air, Meet their Lord in glory bright!

Sat on thrones, with crowns of gold, What a rapturous, wondrous sight!

How shall all thy praise be told?

Jesus, come in glory bright!

We shall see Thee as Thou art, We shall know, in heavenly light, All Thy love, and never part;

Come, dear Lord, in glory bright!

Great Stones and costly "And he set masons to hew wrought stones to build the house of God." — 1 Chronicles 22:2.

I need not say that the building of Solomon’s Temple is one of the most interesting studies of antiquity; and when that building on Mount Moriah is seen as the type of God’s present heavenly building, it becomes infinitely more interesting. In this building, then, the first thing that presents itself is this: David, the father, provides beforehand the materials of this temple; even the stones, the iron, and brass in abundance, without weight. He says, "I have prepared for the house of the Lord an hundred thousand talents of gold" — a talent of gold being worth about £5475, the value of this gold would be £547,500,000 sterling — "and a thousand thousand talents of silver." A talent of silver being worth upwards of £342, the silver would be worth more than £342,000,000 sterling. Thus David’s provision for this costly building, in gold and silver, was upwards of £889,000,000 sterling, besides an incalculable quantity of brass, iron, wood, and stone. Such was David’s provision for this costly temple. Besides, the riches of Solomon, the son, were quite equal to those of the father David. 1 Kings 10:1-29 gives some idea of Solomon’s riches. The gold alone that came to him in a year was equal to £3,646,350. (Ver. 14.)

More than 150,000 men were employed in the rearing of this wondrous building. (1 Kings 5:15.) "And the king commanded, and they brought great stones, costly stones, and hewed stones, to lay the foundation of the house." (1 Kings 5:17.)

Now what do "great stones" mean? A builder in this country would consider a stone three feet every way a great stone. But we find these great foundation, stones, sawn and hewn, were indeed "costly stones, even great stones; stones of ten cubits, and stones of eight cubits." (1 Kings 7:10-11.) A cubit, at the lowest, is one foot six inches: it is the measure from the elbow of a man to the end of his fingers. Thus these great stones were at least twelve feet every way, and fifteen feet every way. If you just cast it up, you will find they weighed about 250 tons each. There was one stone in the temple, after its restoration, thirty feet by thirteen by seven and a half feet. There are similar great stones in the ruins at Balbec, which may have been built by Solomon, called the "House of the forest of Lebanon." Solomon built three houses, which answer, I doubt not, to the threefold glory of Christ; and as the same sized stones formed the foundation of each, (1 Kings 7:11,) so is Christ the foundation-stone, alike, of the Church of God in heavenly places, the future kingdom of Israel, and of millennial blessing to the whole world. The cross we shall find to be the foundation of all. To return to that which occupies us at present, the temple. Vast quantities of cedar trees were brought from Lebanon. But for many centuries there has been a difficulty as to where and how these great costly stones were obtained. A dear friend, who lives near Jerusalem, told me a few years ago that there are immense caves under Jerusalem. And the quantity of broken stones, but especially some great stones, half cut, but never finished, makes it clear that these great stones were got out of pits, prepared in this manner: the top was levelled and marked out, then the sides were cut by drifts, then the under side cut. But just think of the greatness of the labour required, in raising these great stones of the pit out to daylight, and moving them, and putting them in their place. Isaiah may have referred to these caverns when he speaks of the stones of the pit. (Isaiah 14:19.) The temple was built on a rock, by the side of a frightful precipice. We are told by historians that 600 feet of foundation work had to be built to the level, on one side, where Solomon’s porch stood. The foundation stones were dovetailed, or mortised, in a most wonderful manner into the very rock. The joint was so finely wrought that it could scarcely be found. Thus they were rooted, and grounded, and built, into the very rock. And the house, when it was building, was built of stone made ready before it was brought thither, so that "there was neither hammer, nor axe, nor any tool of iron heard in the house while it was building." (1 Kings 6:7.) Thus the silent growth of this earthly temple set forth the predestined heavenly building of God. As David the father gave the materials to Solomon the son, even so Jesus says, "My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my hands." (John 10:1-42.) And again, "As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him." (John 17:2.) "All that the Father giveth me shall come to me! and him that cometh to me I will in nowise cast out." (6.) "And this is the Father’s will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day." (6:39.)

Yes, he would be a foolish builder who began to build, and did not know whether he had materials to finish. And it is blessed to remember that God, the great master builder, foreknew every stone chosen, and precious, that is built and shall be built in the heavenly temple. Is it not most plain that those great stones, 250 tons weight, never got out of the pit by any effort or work of their own? As we say, they would never have seen daylight if they had not been drawn out. You might just as well have put a ladder of ten steps, and told these stones to climb up it and get out of darkness, as set the ten commandments before a dead sinner, and tell him to try and climb them, and so get out of the pit of sin. Jesus said to those who had long been trying this plan, "No man can come to me except the Father which hath sent me draw him, and I will raise him up at the last day." (John 6:44.) In the judgment of a builder, there would be no way of getting those great stones out of the pit, but by going into the pit, hewing and drawing them out. And all that were drawn out were out, and no others. Now, does not the cross of our Lord Jesus reveal God’s judgment of this matter as to sinners? If David counted the cost of this earthly temple in gold and silver, God also counted the cost. The price was the blood of the Lamb. "Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot." (1 Peter 1:18.)

If those were great stones and costly, surely believers are great stones and costly. "He spared not his only-begotten Son, but gave him up for us all." I am not much of a mason; but I should say a stone fifteen feet cube would cost no trifle. And, fellow-believer, fellow-stone in the living temple, think what thou hast cost.

Thus God saw no way of raising sinners from the dead but by sending His Son to die for them. "We thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead." And having died for our sins according to the Scriptures, He was numbered with the dead. There was the end of all judgment due to our sins. The full ransom-price was paid. Despised, indeed, He was of men: yea, never was a stone so rejected by masons, as was this stone by Judah’s builders. But oh! what were God’s thoughts of His blessed Son as He lay in the grave? God saw Him the foundation-stone. As our substitute, all our sins had been laid on Him. "So Christ bare the sins of many." And now, infinite atonement being made by His precious blood, this stone, rejected by man, was raised from the dead by God. Therefore "this is the stone which was set at nought of you builders, which is become the head of the corner. Neither is there salvation in any other; for there is none other name given among men whereby we must be saved." (Acts 4:10-12.) Language cannot find words to express "the exceeding greatness of his power to uswardwho believe, according to the working of his mighty power, which he wrought in Christ when be raised him from the dead." (Ephesians 1:19-20.) The raising of those great stones was, indeed, a grand figure of this; but what would have been the power required, if every stone of the temple had to have been raised up together with the first foundation-stone? This heavenly temple, blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places, was chosen in Christ, before the foundation of the world. Yet every stone in this living temple, was once dead in trespasses and sins — ah! dead as stones; "But God, who is rich in mercy for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved,) and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus." (Ephesians 2:4-6.) Now, whether we think of what we were as lost, dead, buried sinners, or what was the tremendous undertaking for one to stand our substitute, and bear the full, unmixed wrath of God due to our sins — or of what we shall for ever be as living stones in the heavenly temple — surely the raising up of Christ, the foundation-stone, from the dead, and in Him the redeemed Church, and on Him its eternal destiny — the destiny of every saved sinner through eternal ages — I say, surely the raising of Christ, the foundation-stone, was the greatest event, the greatest work, that ever God wrought. Oh! vastly strange that this, God’s greatest work, should be so little thought of in our day.

Now the temple was built on the rock of Moriah — the place where divine judgment was stayed by the altar of burnt-offerings and peace-offerings; for there the Lord answered by fire upon the altar of burnt-offering: (1 Chronicles 21:26-27 :) even so the voluntary offering of Jesus, and the shedding of His precious blood, is the foundation of every sinner saved by grace, from the deserved wrath of God. One thing is certain, that where the foundation-stone was laid, there the temple was built. Standing on that bold rock of Moriah, "the house that is to be builded for the Lord must be exceeding magnifical of fame, and of glory, throughout all countries." Now, when God raised Jesus, the foundation-stone, from the dead, where did He place Him? "Far above all principality and power," &c. (Ephesians 1:21.) "And he is the head of the body, the Church; who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the pre-eminence." (Colossians 1:18.) God did not raise him from the dead to improve the old creation, but to be the beginning of the new creation. Not to build an earthly house, or earthly society, but a heavenly temple. "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ" — "Hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places inChrist Jesus." That word in Christ Jesus is very precious. It is very blessed to see this in the type; all those great stones were covered with cedar wood. "And the cedar of the house within was carved with knops and open flowers. All was cedar: there was no stone seen." (1 Kings 6:18.) Thus in the heavenly building there is not a sinner seen. Every saved one, though once the greatest sinner, now fairly wainscotted in Christ — hid in Christ. And not only was the stone covered with cedar wood, but this overlaid with pure gold. "So Solomon overlaid the house within with pure gold. And the whole house he overlaid with gold, until he had finished all the house." (Ver. 22.) It is written, fellow-believer, "Ye are complete in him who is the head of all principality and power." (Colossians 2:10.) It was not the stones themselves that were seen, but the gold upon them: so it is not ourselves, but Christ upon us. Yes; the glory of God shines in the face of Jesus Christ, in whom we are complete. And all within, how perfect! Beautiful carvings of knops and of open flowers; all covered with pure gold.

You observe all was done to these stones. Not one atom did they do. They were hewn, they were drawn out, they were built in the temple, they were covered with cedar. The pure gold was put upon them. It is so with the poor sinner. Salvation from beginning to end is all of God. Look at the poor prodigal. Not an atom of merit. The father met him as he was, fell upon his neck, and kissed him. He had not to buy a new robe. No, the robe was ready, the shoes were ready, the ring was ready. Like the gold that covered the stones, so with this new best robe, he had not even to put it on. No, the father said, "Put it on him." Just so with Joshua, when the filthy garments were taken away. God said, "Behold I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee, and I will clothe thee with change of raiment." "So they put a fair mitre upon his head." Yea, the new creation work is all of God. "Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creation: old things are passed away; behold all things are become new, and all things are of God." (2 Corinthians 5:17.) The fact is, all this seems too good to be true, and the poor heart is so slow to believe God. Yet true it is, and if the temple was for glory throughout all countries, this heavenly building of God is for God’s glory throughout all ages, predestinated "to the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved," (Ephesians 1:6.) "That in the ages to come be might show the exceeding riches of his grace, in his kindness towards us through Christ Jesus;" (2:7,) yea, "To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places, might be known by the church, the manifold wisdom of God." (3:10.)

If the change was great, as every stone was drawn out of the pit of darkness and placed in that temple of splendour and dazzling light, what is the change when a sinner is taken from the dungeon of darkness, "and built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom all the building, fitly framed together, groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord." (Ephesians 2:20-21.)

O! what thousands of poor sinners have been built, into this heavenly temple of late. Silently and swiftly is God taking out the appointed stones.

"View the vast building, see it rise; The work how great! the plan how wise!

O wondrous fabric! power unknown! That rears it on the living stone." To every believer God does not say, "Ye shall be built, but ye are built." Oh that every believing reader may enter into the full joy of being complete in Christ! For God has made such a blessed finish of it, within and without.

It may be asked, If salvation is so entirely of God, what has the person so saved to do? Well certainly he can do no more for his salvation, than the great stones and costly could do, for their hewing and drawing out of the pit. But let us turn to a passage in 1 Peter 2:4-10 : "To whom coming, as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious, ye also as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God, by Jesus Christ." It is God who hath laid this chief cornerstone, elect, precious, "And he that believeth on him shall not be confounded." O! surely the more I see what God hath made Him to be to me, the more precious He will be; as it is written, "Unto you, therefore, which believe, he is precious; but unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner." Yes, here is the grand test to every heart — what is Christ to you? Can my reader say, He is everything to me: before Him I had nothing, and after Him I can have nothing. I do not ask what profession you make. Every religious builder who in trying to improve humanity, in one way or other, makes light of Christ. This whole world is one vast pit of darkness, sin, and death. God has no more thought in the gospel of improving this dark pit, than Solomon had, when taking the great stones out of the cavern of perpetual darkness. He took out the stones. God is now taking out of the world sinners for Himself. Now man disallows this. He sees no need of a new creation. He says, Why not build up and improve the old. And thus the new-creation temple, built on the risen Christ, from the dead, is almost forgotten amongst the builders; and instead of waiting for the coming of the Lord, and the manifestation of this heavenly building, men are vainly dreaming that Christianity will gradually improve this dark cavern of sin. The masons of Solomon would not have made a greater mistake, if, instead of going on, hewing and drawing, they had commenced building in the dark cavern.

No, believer. I ask thee to look at yonder risen Christ, raised from among the dead. There see God’s chosen foundation stone. Is He precious to thee? An thou built on Him? The faith that rests in Him shall never be confounded. To thee the Spirit of God says, "But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people, that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light." (v. 9.) This is what the saved sinner should do.

Nothing can be more pleasing to God than thus to show forth his praise, who hath taken us, like the stones of the pit, out of darkness: and as they bore the shining plates of gold that reflected and displayed the riches and magnificence of their great builder, even so may Christ be seen on each of us, reflecting and shewing forth the exceeding riches of divine grace. O! what grace shone in all the ways of Jesus! Even when crucified on the accursed tree, still grace shone forth: "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." And that was a bright rejection of Christ, when they stoned Stephen to death. He said, as it were, "Do not say anything about it, lay not this sin to their charge." O! for more of the bright shining of Christ in all and on all our ways. God would have us enter into the full joy of being able to give Him thanks, "who hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light. Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of His dear Son. In whom we have redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness of sins." (Colossians 1:12-14.) Is this my reader’s joy? Can you thus give God all the glory? Are you in the pit or in the temple covered with sin, or covered with Christ? Ah! it was of no use, though out, and hewn, and sawn on one side or every side, if still left in the pit; no place in the temple; no plates of gold; no knops and open flowers. Those half-cut stones in the caverns of Jerusalem are solemn warning. You may have long felt the axe and the saw of conviction, but are you out of the cavern? This must be the work of God. Paul planted, and Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. "So, then, neither is he that planteth anything, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase." God is the builder. "For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ." (1 Corinthians 3:5-16.) "Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?"

Now God’s way of getting stones is in this manner: the Spirit of God taketh the axe of conviction and strikes deep; the word of God is the power, unto salvation, to every one that believeth. I met a poor old sinner the other day, who thought that no poor stone ever had the chiselling he had had in the pit of sin. The Spirit of God enabled me to set the death and resurrection of Christ before him; and whilst quoting these words out he came, drawn out and delivered by the power of God. "Be it known unto you, therefore, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins, and by him all that believe are justified from all things." O! I love to see great stones drawn out of the pit. The old man said, "How blessed it will be to go home knowing I am saved." "Yes, indeed," I said. "And hearken to these words of Jesus, ’Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation, but is passed from death unto life.’" (John 5:24.) Yea, just as Lazarus heard the word of Jesus when down in the sepulchre of death, so was this old man "born again by the word of God which liveth and abideth for ever." (1 Peter 1:23.) The hour is come "when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God; and they that hear shall live." (John 5:25.)

If my reader has never yet heard that voice, may this be the hour. God grant that from this moment you may yield yourself up to God, as a stone in the hands of the mason, and clay in the hands of the potter.

We must not, however, carry the figure too far; for, whilst a sinner is, as to that which is good, as dead as a stone, yet, for that which is evil, he is terribly alive. Yes; a live rebel against God — a voluntary, wilful rejecter of Christ, the only foundation-stone. "Did ye never read in the Scriptures, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner: this is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes?" "And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken; but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder." (Matthew 21:42-44.) In the day of judgment you will not be condemned, because you had been in the pit of darkness, but because you refused to be taken out. "And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, (the dark pit,) and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil." The remembrance of the love of God in sending His Son to this dark pit of sin, will be like the worm that dieth not. Oh, what unutterable remorse! Was it not in love to the bitten Israelites, that God bid Moses lift up the serpent in the wilderness? Even so has the Son of man been lifted up. For sinners Jesus died — lost, ungodly sinners. Yes; it was these God so loved. If He had only bid you get out of the pit yourself, you might have said, How could I, since I am as helpless as a stone. But He sent His Son, and you have rejected Him: you have refused to be saved. Oh! it would have been blessed had your heart been broken on Him with the sense of His love. But if not, it must be crushed before Him in the judgment with the sense of His everlasting wrath. A very little while, and the end of the present scene shall come. The stone cut out of the mountains shall smite the nations, and they shall become "like the chaff of the summer threshing-floor." (Daniel 2:34-45.) This terrible day is closed by those solemn words, "And these shall go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into life eternal." (Matthew 25:32-46.)

There is one point of contrast, however, betwixt the earthly temple and the heavenly building we must notice. To have seen those huge blocks of stone so built in the rock, one would have thought they would have stood for ever. But the time came when the Chaldeans prevailed against them. And, again, when restored in later times, as our blessed Lord foretold, the Romans prevailed, until not one stone was left upon another. Where are those two pillars, "Jachin," which means, "he shall establish," and "Boaz," "in it is strength," though they were such brass pillars as the like were never cast? They stood at least twenty-seven feet high, and six feet diameter; yet they are removed and gone, and not a trace of this wondrous building remains. But Jesus, speaking of Himself, the only foundation, says, "Upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of bell shall not prevail against it." Jesus did not say to Peter, Thou art this Rock; but, Thou art a stone. Yes; Peter, a stone, needed to be built on the rock as much as any man. He found this need as much in the high priest’s hall, as on the swelling billows. Christ is the foundation-rock; and that Rock is not at Rome, but in heaven. And where the foundation is, there must the building be. Ask a mason if this is not so. Yes; God is not building His Church at Rome, but in heavenly places in Christ. Against the Church, so high, so blest, so secure, the gates of bell shall not prevail. How can they? Eve was not made or built of the flesh of Adam; but she was built of his very bone, and that bone so near his heart. And the Church, the spotless bride of Christ, all glorious within and without, is also built in Christ, so that "We are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones." (Ephesians 5:30.) Some talk about Christ letting the saint slip through His fingers. Nay, the devil would have to pull Christ’s fingers off before one of His little ones could perish. No, when time shall be no more, this holy building of God shall be seen "descending out of heaven from God, having the glory of God, and her light like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal." Ah, then it will not be like the plates of gold covering the stones. We shall be changed. We shall be like Him, fashioned like unto His glorious body, like unto a stone most precious — no speck of sin, no dull shade of grief, no cloud of sorrows — clear as crystal. This, my fellow-stone, is our eternity. Highest archangels will be ravished with wonder. "The streets of the city pure gold; as it were transparent glass." Our feet, that now tread the dirty streets of this sin-defiled earth, shall soon tread the golden streets of the city of God. What heart can conceive what it will be to be there? No temple there to shut in and hide the glory. No; God and the Lamb are there. They are the temple of it. "The glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof." And all thine, my fellow-believer. Yes; though too bright for mortal eyes. Yet wait a little longer. A few more struggles, a few more victories over self, sin, and Satan, through Him that strengtheneth. Yes, though "Jachin" and "Boaz" be removed and gone, "Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out; and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is New Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God. And I will write upon him my new name." Thus speaks Jesus, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God. Hark! he also speaks to God. "Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me." Blessed Jesus, thy will shall be done: we shall soon be with thee. We ask no more. Thou couldst not ask more than for us than to be with thee.

There is but one point more and I close. (Read 1 Chronicles 22:17-19.) Now, if David thus commanded the princes of Israel to help Solomon, saying, "Is not the Lord your God with you, and hath he not given you rest on every side?" how much more hath God given us rest and perfect peace through the blood of the Lamb. And now he says, "Go ye, therefore, and preach the gospel to every creature; and lo, I am with you always, even unto the end." If my reader has not this "rest on every side," then do not think to get it by preaching or doing; let me point thee to Him who gives it, even to Jesus. But if you have peace with God, then "set your heart and your soul to seek the Lord your God. Arise, therefore, and build."

What a privilege to be a fellow-labourer with God. There is work for every mason, and every man who has found rest to his own soul. Some may be felling proud cedars, others striking with the stern axe of conviction down in the deep mine, others drawing with strong cords of love divine, and others fitting together the building. Do not say I can do nothing. "Is not the Lord your God with you?" "Arise, therefore, and build."

God give us more willingness of heart, more singleness of eye, more simplicity of faith; and as the building grows in silent power, yea, when the top stone shall be brought with shouting, to Him be all the praise.

C.S.

God and the Lamb — ’tis well, I know that source divine Of joy and love no tongue can tell, Yet know that all is mine.

There in effulgence bright, Saviour and Guide, with thee I’ll walk and in thy heavenly light, Whiter my robe shall be.

There in th’ unsullied way Which His own hand hath dress’d; My feet press on where brightest day Shines forth on all the rest. But who that glorious blaze Of living light shall tell? Where all His brightness God displays And the Lamb’s glories dwell.

(There only to adore; My soul its strength may find, Its life, its joy for evermore, By sight, nor sense, defined.) God and the Lamb shall there The light and temple be, And radiant hosts for ever share, The unveil’d mystery.

Full Redemption At the earnest request of many beloved labourers (in the present harvest of souls) to write a series of tracts for young converts, I now have much joy, in dependence on the Holy Spirit, beloved young Christians, in leading your thoughts, in my first paper to you, to that all-important subject, full redemption. Before reading, however, will you lift up your hearts in prayer, that our God and Father may bless it for establishing and confirming your faith, and that He by His Holy Spirit may enable me, from time to time, to give you His own precious truth, in all faithfulness and love? And will you also ask that many who read these papers, who are not saved, may by reading be awakened and converted to God?

Well, beloved young Christian, then, you have been brought to God, your sins are forgiven through believing the blessed testimony of God. You have redemption through the blood of Christ. You may not know, however, but you will soon need to know, the greatness, the fulness, the completeness of that Redemption. As a young child learns much by pictures, so the young Christian may learn much of the completeness and blessedness of divine truth by the types or pictures of the Old Testament. If you turn to the Book of Exodus you will find an exact picture of the way in which God has brought you to Himself. Even Moses, (drawn out), when he was thus raised from the river of death, was a shadow of Him who was to be raised out of death; the first to rise from among the dead, that He might be the risen Deliverer of His people.

Mark the condition of the people, (read chap. 3) crushed with the cruel oppression of Egypt’s slavery: groaning beneath the iron rod of Pharaoh. "And the Lord said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmaster; for I know their sorrows. And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land and large." (Exodus 3:7-8.) Is not this man’s condition everywhere, bond-slave of Satan? How fearful the misery which has come upon the whole race of man through sin. Behind the fair surface of human society, what an hideous reality of woe. Man believed the enemy, doubted the goodness of God, and fell, and deep indeed was that fall — from the happiness of the garden to the misery of Satan’s Egypt. But God heard the cry of misery and affliction. Could there be a more thrilling picture of God for us than this? He came down to deliver, when there was no friend for poor man. When there was none to help, His right hand brought salvation. "In this was manifested the love of God towards us, because that God sent his only-begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins." (1 John 4:9.) I wish you to think much of this wondrous love. There does not appear to have been one thing to draw the heart of God towards the children of Israel, but their very bondage, and sorrow, and His own covenant love. If you look at the end of chapter 2, they cry because of their bondage; but they do not look up to God, but God looked upon them. "And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. And God looked upon the children of Israel, and God had respect unto them." Yes, it was all of God — there was no merit in them. God heard, God looked, God came down to deliver. Blessed God, what love and pity thus to reveal Thyself the Friend of the oppressed! Has it not been exactly so, my dear young Christian, with your soul? God heard your groans; and what groans, throughout eternity, if God had not come down to save. I often think how Jesus died for our sins, so long before we were born, who live in these last days. Surely our redemption is entirely of God. It was not we who looked to God, but God who looked upon us. Yes, long before time began, God chose us in Christ, in whom we have redemption. Ephesians 1:1-23; Ephesians 2:1-22, are full of this blessed theme. There the soul is ravished with contemplating how redemption is of, and flows from, God’s eternal love. But let us trace the picture a little further in Exodus. If you read chap. 4, you will find, that though God had thus revealed His compassion and love to Moses, and sent him with the commission of deliverance, yet the children of Israel were in total ignorance of this wondrous grace in store for them. It was not until after Moses had met Aaron, that the gospel of God’s deliverance was preached to the people. "And the People believed: and when they heard that the Lord had visited the children of Israel, and that he had looked upon their affliction, then they bowed their heads and worshipped." How little, when groaning in bondage, did you think of the loving purposes of God. But when the Spirit of God met you, as Aaron met Israel, then faith came by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. In chapter 5 the condition of the people becomes worse and worse. They desire deliverance. They desire to worship. But their burthens become heavier. They lose their straw, and cannot do their work. The chapter ends with many stripes, but no deliverance. It is sore work often for the awakened soul, passing through this experience. Would make bricks, but has no straw; would do good, but evil is present. Longs to worship; strives hard to keep the tasks of the law: gets only stripes, but no deliverance. How long poor Luther was in this brick-kiln. Have you been there, reader? Then you know, as the officers did see, "They were in evil case after it was said, Ye shall not minish ought from your bricks of your daily task." The apostle well describes the struggles of the brick-kiln in Romans 7:1-25. Only bear well in mind, that the full redemption was not known in the brick-kilns of Egypt. Neither can full redemption be possibly known, to the soul passing through the experience, of which the brick-kilns of Egypt were but a picture. By the way, it is just possible my reader may be in this very state. You may have believed, so far as the Gospel has been made known to you; you may earnestly long to worship God; you may long to escape the bondage of sin and Satan; all this may be the yearnings of the new nature, but still you have not learnt the full redemption. You do not enjoy deliverance. You say, I have no strength to do what I want to do; just as the people had no straw. They had no straw, and you have no strength; and now Satan presents the tasks of the law, and says, these must be fulfilled. What a picture the officers of Pharaoh were of those who preach works for salvation. "Go, therefore, now, work; for there shall no straw be given you, yet shall ye deliver the tale of bricks." "Go, therefore, work; for except ye keep the law ye shall not be saved." How like in substance is the language of both. In chapter 6, mark that whilst the people were under the cruel burthens of the brick-kiln, the very promises of God failed to give relief. Read the tender words of God in verses 1 to 8. What words are these. "I have also heard the groaning." "I have remembered my covenant." "I am the Lord." "I will bring you out." "I will redeem you." "I will take you to me." "I will be to you a God." "I will bring you in unto the land." "I will give it you." "I am the Lord." I say, is it not most remarkable that, whilst under the tasks of the brick-kiln, these precious promises entirely failed to give relief. "They hearkened not unto Moses for anguish of spirit, and for cruel bondage."

If my reader is a quickened soul, still under the bondage of the law, this is sure, sooner or later, to be your experience. You will say, Yes, the promises of God are very precious, but I cannot fulfil my task. I have tried to keep the law, but how often, nay, always, I fail. Ah! whilst ever the soul is standing on its own responsibility under law, all that it finds is failure, sin, anguish of spirit, and cruel bondage. And every child of God knows what a tendency there is thus to cling to self. But most surely this springs from ignorance of full redemption. No, my dear young Christian, we do not stand in our own responsibility under law, like the brickmakers of Egypt; but in the risen Christ, through whose precious blood we have redemption, even the forgiveness of sins. And now God puts forth His power in the plagues of Egypt, in His governmental judgment of the proud oppressors of His people; but still no deliverance. These are solemn pictures, as taken up again in the Book of Revelation, of the judgments of God in the last days. Ah! in that day the proud oppressors of God’s people shall be broken to pieces. But I return to our subject.

It may seem strange that so great a display of the Lord’s power should have been made in Egypt, and yet not one soul delivered. We see the very same thing in the Gospels. After all the rich display of power and grace in the blessed life of Jesus, yet at the close of His ministry amongst men, had there been nothing more than this, He must have remained alone. Blessed as was that ministry, great as were those miracles, heavenly as was His teaching, holy as was His life, yet had He not died, the Just for the unjust, not one of all the sons of Adam could possibly have been saved. What a place this gives to redemption! It was so in Egypt! We have seen the tender compassion of God; we have heard His sweetest promises; we have witnessed His terrible power against the enemy. We have seen all this from chapters 3 to 11. But it is not until the blood of the Lamb is sprinkled, that one soul is delivered from bondage. How very exact is the teaching of God in these types.

Chapter 12. Do, my young reader, ponder well this deeply interesting chapter. May the Spirit of God so bless it to your soul, that it may be the beginning of months to you. Sure I am, it would be even so to many old Christians, did they but understand the full redemption it shadows forth.

Blind, indeed, must be those eyes, which cannot see that this chapter 12 sets before us the redemption blood of Christ; as saith the apostle, "For even Christ, our passover, is sacrificed for us." (1 Corinthians 5:7.) Just as the lamb without blemish, of the first year, was put up until the fourteenth day of the same month, and then killed by the whole assembly; even so did our Jesus, as the lamb without spot, offer Himself to God. Yes, on the very passover night, He gave Himself up for us. He said, "I have heartily desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer." (Luke 22:15.) Was ever love like this? And the blood was to be sprinkled upon the door-posts of the house. And the Lord said to the children of Israel, "And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood I will pass over you." (Exodus 12:13.) And God kept His word. Not one person perished that night who believed His words about that blood. God said, "when I see the blood,I will pass over you." And, my young Christian, think what God sees in the blood of Christ! It is not what you see. We have as yet very limited views of the value of the atoning death of Jesus. But what does God see? The place of highest glory into which God has raised the once-bleeding Jesus, is the answer to what God sees in the value of the cross of Christ. Unmingled grace, flowing throughout eternity, to the millions of the redeemed, proclaims what God sees in the blood of Christ!

What a token of love, the blood of the Lamb! Whilst the death of Jesus shews out the righteousness of God in all its brightness; and surely also His wrath against sin, in all its blackness; yet what a token of love to the poor sinner! Dear reader, I often get comfort in thus thinking of God. His righteousness maintained, to the utmost, yet His love shewn to us in all its fulness. Why were the door-posts of Israel sprinkled with blood? God loved them. Why did He deliver every man, woman, and child who dwelt in those blood-sprinkled houses? He loved them. Now go up to that blood-sprinkled post; what do you react in that blood on the post? God is love. The blood speaks and says, I am the token of God’s love to you; but it also declares, that "without shedding of blood there is no remission." Draw near the cross; what do you read there? Blessed lessons, that shall never be fully learnt when eternal ages have rolled away. Oh! why this Holy One thus dying? Why those pierced hands and feet? Why no place to lay that precious head? They who loved Him are fled! They who hate Him are gnashing their teeth around Him? But, why this three hours’ darkness? Why is He forsaken of God? Why that bitter cry, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" In those hours of darkness, forsaken of God, did Jesus pay the full price of redemption; and, bowing His head, cried, "It is finished." And thus died the Lamb of God! Yes, on that cross I read, "God is love." But I also read, "Without shedding of blood there is no remission."

If our sins could not be remitted even to Him, when He bore them in His own body on the cross, then surely they cannot be remitted to us on any other ground, but through His precious blood. What a token of love to the sinner, then, is the cross of Christ! Sure token on which my soul rests for ever. And now to return. Was it not very striking, that though not one of the Hebrews were delivered from Egypt before this very night of the passover, on which the firstborn of Egypt were slain, yet not one was left in bondage after. Solemn truth! death there must be; death passed on Israel’s lamb, their substitute; but death passed on Egypt’s firstborn. Even so death and judgment have passed on my reader’s Substitute, the Lamb of God; or death and eternal wrath must be your portion for ever.

Thus the blood was sprinkled on the door-posts, and thus the Lord brought them out of Egypt. Even so Christ has once suffered for sins, the Just for the unjust, to bring us to God. And now, that the lesson of redemption may be fully learnt, let me ask you to read chap. 14. What a picture of Satan’s last effort! The sea before — the whole army of Pharaoh behind. The people are terribly afraid. "And Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not; stand still and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will show to you to-day: for the Egyptians whom ye have seen to-day, ye shall see them again no more for ever." And what a deliverance the Lord wrought that day! The sea was divided, so that the children of Israel passed through on dry land. But that very sea that saved them, drowned every enemy that pursued behind. Not an Hebrew was lost — not an Egyptian Was spared. "And the waters returned, and covered the chariots, and the horsemen, and all the host of Pharaoh, that came into the sea after them: there remained not so much as one of them." Thus the Lord saved Israel. And what a salvation! Could it have been more complete! No more brick-making — no more cruel bondage in Egypt — no more beatings and oppressions. What a sight that was, as Israel looked upon the Egyptians, dead on the sea-shore! And if this, the mere figure of our redemption, were so complete, what must the reality be? It is very terrible to the poor, trembling soul, as it first learns the value of redemption like Israel of old, the rolling waves of death before, Satan and the whole array of sins in hot pursuit behind. But what was it to the Captain of our salvation, when, at the close of His life in the flesh, the prince of this world came against Him, and with the dark billows of God’s wrath before Him, and no escape. Ah! there was no passing on dry ground for Him. The full power of Satan let loose against him the utmost hate and rage of man! What were the armies of the Egyptians, compared to that fearful hour when all our sins were laid on him! Stroke after stroke of divine wrath against sin fell upon Him. All God’s billows went over His soul. But why this sea of death rolling in upon His soul? Dear young Christian, all this He freely bore that we might pass through death and judgment dryshod. Yes; He came to this Egypt of cruel bondage, that "by his death he might deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage." And oh! how complete the deliverance! Blessed Deliverer, He is no longer beneath the dark wave of divine wrath, but raised from the dead. As the Egyptians lay dead on the sea-shore, so even God has said He will remember our sins against us no more for ever. (Hebrews 10:1-39.) As the Red Sea destroyed Pharaoh and all his host, so Jesus by His death destroyed him that had the power of death, which is the devil.

It is thus we stand still, and really see in the death of Jesus the salvation of God.

Now what an entire new position this was to Israel, out of Egypt — brought to God, though in the wilderness! How much they had yet to learn! But they could now sing the song of Moses. And what a song of complete deliverance! Read it over, and let me ask now, Is this the language of your heart? Can you thus rejoice in God’s complete deliverance? Do you understand the teaching of this blessed inspired history? Has the death of Jesus, the Lamb of God, thus changed the position of every child of grace! Has the whole power of sin and Satan, when brought against your holy Substitute, been conquered and destroyed? Surely as Israel looked back on the Red Sea, and saw the dead bodies of their enemies, they did not hope they were saved from Egypt’s bondage. And can I look back at the empty grave of Jesus, and hope that I am saved? Surely it is a finished work. No; they sing, "The Lord hath triumphed gloriously The Lord is my strength He is become my salvation." Yes; every sentence breathes certainty and joy. And should not the language of the Christian be equally confident? "Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light, who hath deliveredus from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of His dear Son: in whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins." (Colossians 1:12.) In so short a paper I can only just glance, as it were, at the blessed lessons set before us in this divine picture. The Red Sea had separated Israel thus from Egypt: Israel, as it were, became dead to Egypt, and the Egyptians became dead to them. Have you, my reader, thus become dead to the world by the death of Christ? And has the world thus become dead to you? Not one of the armies of Pharaoh was left to throw a stone at God’s redeemed people. Have you realized the amazing fact, that such is the value of the blood of Christ, that not a sin can be laid to your charge?

It is not death like a narrow stream separating you from heaven; but that narrow, dark, deep stream of death in which Jesus took your place and passed through for you, separating you for ever from the world, from sin, and Satan. Yes death and judgment, sin and Satan, the world and all behind: yes; as Israel sang on Canaan’s side of the Red Sea, so may we sing on heaven’s side of the cross.

Oh! what a happy place this is to be in, is it not? I think I hear my young reader say, "I trust I believe all you have said, but still, I am not so happy as I was some time ago." Well, what is it, think you, that makes you less happy? At first, when God spoke peace to your soul, you were filled with thoughts of Christ, and these made you happy; but now you are thinking more of yourself. Is not that the case? Have you been put under the tasks of the law again? Nothing can more effectually sap the enjoyment of peace than this. You may not have been put under law for salvation, but as a rule of life. You will soon find brick-making in Egypt, as a rule of life, to be brick-making cruel bondage. I never met a person yet under the law, as a rule of life, that enjoyed peace with God. I feel so much depends on clearing this point up for the youngest convert, that I must seek grace to speak on this, as on every other matter, the whole counsel of God.

Now, just as redemption from Egypt delivered the Hebrews entirely in every sense from the bondage of brick-kilns, so the death of Christ delivered even the believing Jew from the bondage of the law. I say Jew, for though, in the writings of men, it is often assumed that the whole world was, and even is, under the law, yet this is great confusion, and utterly opposed to Scripture and to fact. Surely the law was not given from Adam to Moses; and when given, was it given to any but the children of Israel? Yea; and not given to them for four hundred and thirty years after the promise given to Abraham, confirmed in his seed, which is Christ. (Galatians 3:1-29.) But the Jews were under law, and for this very special purpose, that the offence might abound. Transgression of known commands, as in the case of Adam, was needed to convict man of sin, and prove his need of the redemption provided of God. Transgression did come by the law, but righteousness could not. The passage translated "sin is the transgression of the law," is very much misunderstood; as though there could be no sin without the law. This clearly cannot be the meaning, as is evident, if you compare it with that passage, "For until the law, sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed where there is no law." (Romans 5:13.) Indeed, those who know well the Greek tell us the passage is not "sin is the transgression of the law," but "sin is lawlessness." But to return: the Jews were under the law, that is certain; and was not one great object of Christ’s death to redeem them from the law? as it is written, speaking of Jews, the apostle says, "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law," &c. (Galatians 3:13.) And again, "When the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law." (Galatians 4:5.) Redemption, then, from the law was as real as redemption was from sin and the curse. See how this is insisted upon in Romans 7:1-25. There the believer is as dead to law by the body of Christ as he is dead to sin in chap. 6. But what is it to be dead to the law, or redeemed from the law? Well what was it to be under the law? When that is understood, then it is easy to see what it is to be redeemed from it. The illustration of the brick-kiln helps us to clearly put the matter. The Hebrew slave was responsible to do what he could not do, and hence his bitter bondage. Man, under law, is in just this position. He is responsible to do what he cannot do. Important to remember, Israel put themselves in that position. (Exodus 19:1-25.) But that is just the position of any man, Jew or Christian, if under law, he is responsible to do what he finds he cannot do. The law is most holy, just, and good; but man finds himself lost, carnal, sold under sin. When he would do good, evil is present with him. Now, if he is in this position, he must be wretched. He does the thing he hates; and what he would do he cannot do. But, you say, "this is exactly as it is with me." To be sure it is, and so it is with every one under law. Whilst as a Jew of old, you were never under the law, a moment’s reflection will convince you of that; yet, like the Gentile Galatians, you may have been entangled with the yoke of bondage. Now, if this be the case, is there any wonder at the miserable lives that so many Christians spend. Cruel bondage all their days; feeling they ought to fulfil the whole law, yet failing at every point, until almost driven to despair.

Now, if the precious death of Christ redeemed them from it, who were in this state under the law; is it possible that his death should place us, who never were under it, in that condition? Most clearly not. But then, my reader may ask, if the law is not the rule of life, is there no principle of holy obedience? Oh, yes, most surely, as we shall see in these papers; only the principle of holy obedience cannot be the same as legal bondage. The law told man what was right, but gave him no power to do it; yea, only excited him to do what he knew was wrong; and thus it only condemned him. Now from that state, those who were under it were redeemed entirely. As they had once been brought out of Egypt, entirely delivered from its cruel bondage, so were they entirely redeemed from sin, and death, and law. And more; we who were not under law, but utterly lawless, sin and death having passed upon all, whether transgressors under law, or sinners without law; we, too, have been redeemed from the whole old ruined condition of lost and guilty man, and brought to God on a totally new principle from man’s responsibility altogether. No longer the bond-slaves of sin, but sons of God, born of God, having a new nature; yea, having the Spirit of God dwelling in us; as it is written, "And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father." And yet there is one other character of redemption which marks its fulness above all others, and that is, it is eternal redemption. "By his own blood, he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption." (Hebrews 9:12.) The Israelite might possibly have got back to Egypt, but not so the believer, who has eternal redemption through the blood of Christ. Oh! who can fully tell what it is thus to be eternally delivered from sin, and death, and condemnation? My old former self dead! My old former state for ever passed away! My young Christian, do ponder these words — eternal redemption. The guilt of all your sins eternally put away. Death, even the death of the cross, has put an end to them all. No question of hope — it is so: we have eternal redemption. Where this is understood, what rest it gives. Even in this particular, the shadow was very striking. Redemption from Egypt being completed, then, but not till then did God make known His Sabbath or rest to the Hebrews. We heard of the Sabbath in Eden; but from Adam to Moses, we hear of no Sabbath for man. Surely, God says in this, there can be no rest for the sinner but through the blood of the Lamb.

Eternal redemption gives eternal rest. Surely, when we are in the glory, it will not be more complete. Nothing can add or take away from its value. And is this the place of boundless blessing into which God has brought you, my reader? Then will you, can you, glory in aught but the cross of Christ? In my next, I hope to look with you at the "lessons of the wilderness." In the meantime, may our God lead you, after reading this paper, by His Holy Spirit to search His own precious word. This is the one desire of my heart, knowing that nothing else can meet your need.

C.S.