The Seven Messengers

 

Revelation 2-3

The Seven Messengers

He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.—Revelation 2:7

The seven churches of Revelation 2 and 3 are shown also as seven lampstands (1:12,20). Just as the Menorah, or seven-branched lampstand, in the tabernacle and temple was wrought from one piece of gold (Exodus 25:31), so the seven lamps, or seven churches, signify the whole of the true church. But who are the seven messengers to the seven churches and what are their messages?

We are introduced to the seven messengers in Joshua chapter six where the army of Israel marches around the walled city of Jericho on seven successive days, accompanied by seven priests blowing seven trumpets. The Israelites are under the direction of Joshua (the Greek form of the name is Jesus; Joshua is, appropriately, a type of Jesus Christ). The priests served as Joshua’s messengers, successively blowing the trumpets, one day after the other, throughout Jericho’s last week, which week is a type, or foreshadowing, of the entire Gospel age.

In the book of Revelation this theme of the seven messengers is expanded upon, with the seven messengers (Greek, angels, which means messengers, whether spirit or human) blowing the seven trumpets (Revelation 8 to 11), and the seven messengers giving messages to the seven successive days, or periods, of the true church (Revelation 2 and 3). The seven messengers correspond to the seven priests at Jericho. Just as the priesthood is associated with human Christians and not angels of the heavenly realm, so the seven messengers are to be found among leaders of the true church of Christ. Just as the priests blew the trumpets on successive days marching around Jericho, the seven messengers speak to successive periods of the church throughout the Gospel age. This succession of Gospel age periods will be the same for these seven messages as for the seven trumpets of Revelation 8 to 11.

If we are to identify the seven messengers throughout the Gospel age, we must first see how this age is divided in time. We would expect each messenger to 1) deliver the message to his period of the church in Revelation 2 and 3, and 2) begin his activity at the beginning of the period (to be a messenger for the whole period). Christian history readily divides the Gospel age into these seven distinct conditions:

Name

Circumstances

Approx. Dates

1. Ephesus Under the Jews 33-69

2. Smyrna Under Heathen Rome 69-313

3. Pergamum Under Imperial Rome 313-539

4. Thyatira Under Papal Rome 539-1517

5. Sardis Reformation 1517-1648

6. Philadelphia Protestant Missionary 1648-1874

7. Laodicea Harvest Sepasration 1874-???

1. “I know thy works and thy toil but thou didst leave thy first love” 1

At the beginning of the church, Jesus Christ told Peter, “I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven” (Matthew 16:19, author’s translation). Peter unlocked the kingdom of heaven first to the Jews on Pentecost, and then to the rest of the world with the conversion of Cornelius (Acts 2:1-40; 10:1-48). Peter’s counsel to be “fervent in your love among yourselves; for love covereth a multitude of sins: using hospitality one to another without murmuring” (1 Peter 4:7-9) answers well to the message to the first period of the church: “Thou didst leave thy first love. Remember therefore whence thou art fallen, and repent and do the first works” (Revelation 2:4,5). Thus, Peter would logically be the messenger to the first (Ephesus) period of the church.2

2. “Fear not the things which thou art about to suffer”

The second period saw Christians tortured and slain under heathen Rome. Ignatius of Antioch (fed to the lions in Rome, 108 A.D.) exhorts, “I am God’s wheat, and I am ground by the teeth of wild beasts that I may be found pure bread of Christ. Rather entice the wild beasts that they may become my tomb, and leave no trace of my body, that when I fall asleep I be not burdensome to any. Then shall I be truly a disciple of Jesus Christ, when the world shall not even see my body. Beseech Christ on my behalf, that I may be found a sacrifice through these instruments. I do not order you as did Peter and Paul; they were apostles, I am a convict; they were free, I am even until now a slave. But if I suffer, I shall be Jesus Christ’s freedman, and in him I shall rise free.”3 As messenger to the second (Smyrna) period of the church, Ignatius set a good example in his own martyrdom of how a persecuted Christian should conduct himself.

3. “Thou hast there some that hold the teaching of Balaam [for gain]”

At the beginning of the third period Emperor Constantine ended the official persecution of Christians by Rome and moved the capital of the empire to Byzantium in Thrace (renaming it Constantinople). From the beginning the puritanism of Arius was famous; in 313 A.D. he is already pleading for a restoration of primitive purity to an Alexandrian church going worldly. The worldly element could hardly accuse the man of being too pious, but after five years they codified a new concept of the nature of God and accused Arius of heresy against it. Arius was variously banned and recalled by the emperor (as was alternately his archenemy Athanasius). Arius defended the teaching that Jesus Christ was created by God, is the son of God, and is himself a god subordinate to the Father.4 Coming back from his last recall in 336 A.D., his enemies poisoned him and he died (the Athanasians called it the righteous judgment of God). Thus, Arius would appear to be the messenger to the third (Pergamum) period of the church.

4. “Thou sufferest the woman Jezebel, who calleth herself a prophetess”

The period of Papal Roman domination opens with a young man having been baptized in approximately 536 A.D., and then mightily defending the doctrine that there was one nature in Christ, the human, while he was here on earth—a teaching called Monophysite (mono-physis, one nature). As a Syrian monophysite, Jacobus Baradaeus (James, the Ragedy, because he spent his efforts on Christian work and not clothes) was now excluded by the largest body of professed Christians; in his activity he ranged from Egypt to Babylon and consecrated 80,000 bishops.5 “As many as ... know not the deep things of Satan ... I cast upon you none other burden” (Revelation 2:24).

5. “Establish the things that remain, which were ready to die”

The Reformation began in 1517 with Martin Luther tacking up his 95 theses on the church door at Wittenberg, protesting forgiveness through the sale of indulgences rather than through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. “Jesus Christ died for every man” remains a Lutheran watchword to this day. Said Luther, “When people shall be resurrected, it will seem to Adam and to the old fathers as though they had been living only half an hour before.”6 In later years Luther translated the Bible into German.

6. “Thou hast a little power, and didst keep my word”

After the Thirty-Years War (1618-1648), when Protestants were seldom threatened with mass execution, many turned their efforts to carrying the Bible and its loving message to the rest of the world. Principles of Christian love were emphasized over intellectual assent to one creed or another. Philipp Jakob Spener (1635-1705) in Germany, the father of the Pietist movement, delivered just such a message. And departing from what had become Lutheran orthodoxy, he considered regeneration necessary for the true theologian, and expected the conversion of the Jews and the fall of Papacy as the prelude of the triumph of the church.7 Little criticism is spoken to the Philadelphia period of the Christian church.

7. “Thou ... knowest not that thou art the wretched one”

The harvest is the final period of the Gospel age; it is a time of separation when the Lord calls his people to come out of Babylon (Jeremiah 51:6-9; Revelation 18:1-5). The centerpiece of Pastor C.T. Russell’s worldwide presentations was that Jesus Christ died once for all, and that therefore all will benefit from that death. The thousand-year kingdom of Christ is for resurrecting all the world’s billions and restoring them to the perfection lost in Eden. Prophecy was studied to determine what we should be doing today: “Deliver your loving testimony to the goodness and wisdom of the Lord’s great plan of the ages, and, wisely and meekly giving your reasons, publicly withdraw from them” [i.e., from organizations practicing the sins of Babylon].8

Seven Lessons for Our Day

We may each draw modern-day lessons from the messages of the seven messengers in the Ephesus to Laodicean periods:

1. Put priorities straight. If, for example, knowing whether the thousand years begins with our Lord’s return or with the completion of the church seems more important than telling people what the thousand years will do for them—then one’s priorities are backwards.

2. If someone threatens you with eternal torture because you cannot conscientiously agree with him, take it patiently.

3. Do not profess “None of self, and all of Thee” when you really want “Some of self, and some of Thee.”

4. Do not insist others do it your way. Do not feel challenged when they don’t. It is better to lose a would-have-been battle, than to rule with an iron fist and lose your Christian life.

5. First, harmonize all Scriptures on a subject, then say, “This is truth.”

6. Desire and try to do your part, and help others do their part, in presenting this gospel of the kingdom in all the world.

7. It is vital to see one’s own shortcomings to see the need of Christ’s merit. Salvation depends upon one’s relationship to Christ, not upon an acceptability to even the best man-made institution.

________

1. Scriptural quotations are from the American Standard Version (1901)

2. Other possibilities for the first messenger would include James (as presiding over the early church); John (whose message of godly love is evident throughout, and who lived to the end of the period; and Paul (1 Corinthians 13, though he would have been a messenger for only half the period.)

3. Ignatius’ epistle to the Romans IV. Other suggestions for the second messenger are John and Timothy. Polycarp and Paias could also be considered.

4. From Adrian Harnack, “History of Dogma,” Vol. IV, p. 20. “The passages cited so frequently later on by the Arians, [Deuteronomy 6:4, 32, 39, Proverbs 8:22, Psalm 45:8, Matthew 12:28, Mark 13:32, Matthew 26:41, 28:18; Luke 2:52, 18:19, John 11:34, 14:28, 17:3, Acts 2:37, 1 Corinthians 1:24, 15:28, Colossians 1:15, Philippians 2:6f, Hebrews 1:4, 3:2, John 12:27, 13:21, Matthew 26:39, 27:46, etc.,] were probably already used by Arias himself,” “The idea of the subordinate God is indeed as old as the theology of the C Christian Church” (Vol. III, p. 135). And “the puritanism of Arius is, of course, famous” (Vol. III, p. 141, footnote 2.)

5. Beginning with the Thyatira period, the call “He that hath an ear” is on the outside of the message just as Jacobus was outside the mainstream. Other suggestions for the fourth (Thyatira) messenger include Peter Waldo (late 12th century) and John Wycliffe (1328-1384), either requires centuries of delay in the starting of the period.

6. Sermon on the Gospel of Luke 16, “Of the rich Man and poor Lazarus”, D. Martin Luther’s Werke. Vol. XII, p. 592 (June 7, 1523) (in German). Concerning the nature of God, and dogmatism, Harnack quotes Luther. “’The Arians had wrong views with regard to the faith, they were nevertheless very right in this … that they required that no profane and novel word would be allowed to be introduced into the rules of faith.’ In like manner he objected to and rather avoided the terms ‘Dreifaltigkeit,’ ‘Dreiheit,’ ‘unitas,’ ‘trinitas’ (threefoldness, threeness, oneness, trinity.” “The history of dogma comes to a close with Luther.” (History of Dogma, Vol. VII, p. 225, 226, 268.) Other possibilities for the fifth (Sardis) messenger include Andreas Bodenstein [Carlstadt] (1480-1541) John Oecolampadius (1482-1531), and John Wycliffe (a choice that would require a much earlier start for this period).

7. Encyclopedia Brittanica (1886 edn,). Others suggested as the sixth (Philadelphia) period of the church include George Fox (1624-1691), William Penn (1644-1718), Count Nicholas Ludwig von Zinzendorf (1700-1760), John Wesley (1703-1791), Joseph Wolff (1796-1862), and William Miller (1782-1849), the latter two would imply a very short period.

8. Studies in the Scriptures, Vol. III (1891), p. 184.

MEMRA (= "Ma'amar" or "Dibbur," "Logos")

MEMRA (= "Ma'amar" or "Dibbur," "Logos"):

Table of Contents

—Biblical Data:

Personification of the Word.

—In Apocryphal and Rabbinical Literature:

—In the Targum:

Mediatorship.

The Logos.

"The Word," in the sense of the creative or directive word or speech of God manifesting His power in the world of matter or mind; a term used especially in the Targum as a substitute for "the Lord" when an anthropomorphic expression is to be avoided.

—Biblical Data:

In Scripture "the word of the Lord" commonly denotes the speech addressed to patriarch or prophet (Gen. xv. 1; Num. xii. 6, xxiii. 5; I Sam. iii. 21; Amos v. 1-8); but frequently it denotes also the creative word: "By the word of the Lord were the heavens made" (Ps. xxxiii. 6; comp. "For He spake, and it was done"; "He sendeth his word, and melteth them [the ice]"; "Fire and hail; snow, and vapors; stormy wind fulfilling his word"; Ps. xxxiii. 9, cxlvii. 18, cxlviii. 8). In this sense it is said, "For ever, O Lord, thy word is settled in heaven" (Ps. cxix. 89). "The Word," heard and announced by the prophet, often became, in the conception of the seer, an efficacious power apart from God, as was the angel or messenger of God: "The Lord sent a word into Jacob, and it hath lighted upon Israel" (Isa. ix. 7 [A. V. 8], lv. 11); "He sent his word, and healed them" (Ps. cvii. 20); and comp. "his word runneth very swiftly" (Ps. cxlvii. 15).

Personification of the Word.

—In Apocryphal and Rabbinical Literature:

While in the Book of Jubilees, xii. 22, the word of God is sent through the angel to Abraham, in other cases it becomes more and more a personified agency: "By the word of God exist His works" (Ecclus. [Sirach] xlii. 15); "The Holy One, blessed be He, created the world by the 'Ma'amar'" (Mek., Beshallaḥ, 10, with reference to Ps. xxxiii. 6). Quite frequent is the expression, especially in the liturgy, "Thou who hast made the universe with Thy word and ordained man through Thy wisdom to rule over the creatures made by Thee" (Wisdom ix. 1; comp. "Who by Thy words causest the evenings to bring darkness, who openest the gates of the sky by Thy wisdom"; . . . "who by His speech created the heavens, and by the breath of His mouth all their hosts"; through whose "words all things were created"; see Singer's "Daily Prayer-Book," pp. 96, 290, 292). So also in IV Esdras vi. 38 ("Lord, Thou spakest on the first day of Creation: 'Let there be heaven and earth,' and Thy word hath accomplished the work"). "Thy word, O Lord, healeth all things" (Wisdom xvi. 12); "Thy word preserveth them that put their trust in Thee" (l.c. xvi. 26). Especially strong is the personification of the word in Wisdom xviii. 15: "Thine Almighty Word leaped down from heaven out of Thy royal throne as a fierce man of war." The Mishnah, with reference to the ten passages in Genesis (ch. i.) beginning with "And God said," speaks of the ten "ma'amarot" (= "speeches") by which the world was created (Abot v. 1; comp. Gen. R. iv. 2: "The upper heavens are held in suspense by the creative Ma'amar"). Out of every speech ["dibbur"] which emanated from God an angel was created (Ḥag. 14a). "The Word ["dibbur"] called none but Moses" (Lev. R. i. 4, 5). "The Word ["dibbur"] went forth from the right hand of God and made a circuit around the camp of Israel" (Cant. R. i. 13).

—In the Targum:

In the Targum the Memra figures constantly as the manifestation of the divinepower, or as God's messenger in place of God Himself, wherever the predicate is not in conformity with the dignity or the spirituality of the Deity.

Instead of the Scriptural "You have not believed in the Lord," Targ. Deut. i. 32 has "You have not believed in the word of the Lord"; instead of "I shall require it [vengeance] from him," Targ. Deut. xviii. 19 has "My word shall require it." "The Memra," instead of "the Lord," is "the consuming fire" (Targ. Deut. ix. 3; comp. Targ. Isa. xxx. 27). The Memra "plagued the people" (Targ. Yer. to Ex. xxxii. 35). "The Memra smote him" (II Sam. vi. 7; comp. Targ. I Kings xviii. 24; Hos. xiii. 14; et al.). Not "God," but "the Memra," is met with in Targ. Ex. xix. 17 (Targ. Yer. "the Shekinah"; comp. Targ. Ex. xxv. 22: "I will order My Memra to be there"). "I will cover thee with My Memra," instead of "My hand" (Targ. Ex. xxxiii. 22). Instead of "My soul," "My Memra shall reject you" (Targ. Lev. xxvi. 30; comp. Isa. i. 14, xlii. 1; Jer. vi. 8; Ezek. xxiii. 18). "The voice of the Memra," instead of "God," is heard (Gen. iii. 8; Deut. iv. 33, 36; v. 21; Isa. vi. 8; et al.). Where Moses says, "I stood between the Lord and you" (Deut. v. 5), the Targum has, "between the Memra of the Lord and you"; and the "sign between Me and you" becomes a "sign between My Memra and you" (Ex. xxxi. 13, 17; comp. Lev. xxvi. 46; Gen. ix. 12; xvii. 2, 7, 10; Ezek. xx. 12). Instead of God, the Memra comes to Abimelek (Gen. xx. 3), and to Balaam (Num. xxiii. 4). His Memra aids and accompanies Israel, performing wonders for them (Targ. Num. xxiii. 21; Deut. i. 30, xxxiii. 3; Targ. Isa. lxiii. 14; Jer. xxxi. 1; Hos. ix. 10 [comp. xi. 3, "the messenger-angel"]). The Memra goes before Cyrus (Isa. xlv. 12). The Lord swears by His Memra (Gen. xxi. 23, xxii. 16, xxiv. 3; Ex. xxxii. 13; Num. xiv. 30; Isa. xlv. 23; Ezek. xx. 5; et al.). It is His Memra that repents (Targ. Gen. vi. 6, viii. 21; I Sam. xv. 11, 35). Not His "hand," but His "Memra has laid the foundation of the earth" (Targ. Isa. xlviii. 13); for His Memra's or Name's sake does He act (l.c. xlviii. 11; II Kings xix. 34). Through the Memra God turns to His people (Targ. Lev. xxvi. 90; II Kings xiii. 23), becomes the shield of Abraham (Gen. xv. 1), and is with Moses (Ex. iii. 12; iv. 12, 15) and with Israel (Targ. Yer. to Num. x. 35, 36; Isa. lxiii. 14). It is the Memra, not God Himself, against whom man offends (Ex. xvi. 8; Num. xiv. 5; I Kings viii. 50; II Kings xix. 28; Isa. i. 2, 16; xlv. 3, 20; Hos. v. 7, vi. 7; Targ. Yer. to Lev. v. 21, vi. 2; Deut. v. 11); through His Memra Israel shall be justified (Targ. Isa. xlv. 25); with the Memra Israel stands in communion (Targ. Josh. xxii. 24, 27); in the Memra man puts his trust (Targ. Gen. xv. 6; Targ. Yer. to Ex. xiv. 31; Jer. xxxix. 18, xlix. 11).

Mediatorship.

Like the Shekinah (comp. Targ. Num. xxiii. 21), the Memra is accordingly the manifestation of God. "The Memra brings Israel nigh unto God and sits on His throne receiving the prayers of Israel" (Targ. Yer. to Deut. iv. 7). It shielded Noah from the flood (Targ. Yer. to Gen. vii. 16) and brought about the dispersion of the seventy nations (l.c. xi. 8); it is the guardian of Jacob (Gen. xxviii. 20-21, xxxv. 3) and of Israel (Targ. Yer. to Ex. xii. 23, 29); it works all the wonders in Egypt (l.c. xiii. 8, xiv. 25); hardens the heart of Pharaoh (l.c. xiii. 15); goes before Israel in the wilderness (Targ. Yer. to Ex. xx. 1); blesses Israel (Targ. Yer. to Num. xxiii. 8); battles for the people (Targ. Josh. iii. 7, x. 14, xxiii. 3). As in ruling over the destiny of man the Memra is the agent of God (Targ. Yer. to Num. xxvii. 16), so also is it in the creation of the earth (Isa. xlv. 12) and in the execution of justice (Targ. Yer. to Num. xxxiii. 4). So, in the future, shall the Memra be the comforter (Targ. Isa. lxvi. 13): "My Shekinah I shall put among you, My Memra shall be unto you for a redeeming deity, and you shall be unto My Name a holy people" (Targ. Yer. to Lev. xxii. 12). "My Memra shall be unto you like a good plowman who takes off the yoke from the shoulder of the oxen"; "the Memra will roar to gather the exiled" (Targ. Hos. xi. 5, 10). The Memra is "the witness" (Targ. Yer. xxix. 23); it will be to Israel like a father (l.c. xxxi. 9) and "will rejoice over them to do them good" (l.c. xxxii. 41). "In the Memra the redemption will be found" (Targ. Zech. xii. 5). "The holy Word" was the subject of the hymns of Job (Test. of Job, xii. 3, ed. Kohler).

The Logos.

It is difficult to say how far the rabbinical concept of the Memra, which is used now as a parallel to the divine Wisdom and again as a parallel to the Shekinah, had come under the influence of the Greek term "Logos," which denotes both word and reason, and, perhaps owing to Egyptian mythological notions, assumed in the philosophical system of Heraclitos, of Plato, and of the Stoa the metaphysical meaning of world-constructive and world-permeating intelligence (see Reizenstein, "Zwei Religionsgeschichtliche Fragen," 1901, pp. 83-111; comp. Aall, "Der Logos," and the Logos literature given by Schürer, "Gesch." i. 3, 542-544). The Memra as a cosmic power furnished Philo the corner-stone upon which he built his peculiar semi-Jewish philosophy. Philo's "divine thought," "the image" and "first-born son" of God, "the archpriest," "intercessor," and "paraclete" of humanity, the "arch type of man" (see Philo), paved the way for the Christian conceptions of the Incarnation ("the Word become flesh") and the Trinity. The Word which "the unoriginated Father created in His own likeness as a manifestation of His own power" appears in the Gnostic system of Marcus (Irenæus, "Adversus Hæreses," i. 14). In the ancient Church liturgy, adopted from the Synagogue, it is especially interesting to notice how often the term "Logos," in the sense of "the Word by which God made the world, or made His Law or Himself known to man," was changed into "Christ" (see "Apostolic Constitutions," vii. 25-26, 34-38, et al.). Possibly on account of the Christian dogma, rabbinic theology, outside of the Targum literature, made little use of the term "Memra." See Logos.

Bibliography:

Bousset, Die Religion des Judenthums im Neutestamentlichen Zeitalter, 1903, p. 341;

Weber, Jüdische Theologie, 1897, pp. 180-184. 

Lesson 13 THE TABERNACLE

             Lesson 13

   THE TABERNACLE

(Continued)

The Gate

Read Exodus 27:16-19

     IN BEGINNING with the gate we begin where God ended in His instructions which He gave to Moses concerning the building of the Tabernacle.

     He begins with the Ark and its Mercy Seat, and works from these out until He comes to the Laver, the Brazen Altar, and then to the gate. We begin, we say, where God left off, and this is very suggestive.

    Redemption is complete, and with the completed work, we begin.

    As we look at the court wall, the prominent thing is the Door. This gate typifies Christ as the only way to God. Spiritually dead man is on the outside, and Christ came that He might be the divine way of man's coming back to God. "I am the way," Jesus   said (John 14:6).

    We remember that in the Garden of Eden God drove human from His presence. Now, He provides a way back. There was just one door in the court.

    If we were to look at the south side, the north side or the western end, just one long stretch of unbroken white linen would meet our gaze. It was only linen, but to force an entrance would be to rush to certain destruction. The linen stood there marking off the sacred precincts, and whosoever would come to God had to come in the proper way.

    As we come to the eastern end and see the door, we see the blue, the purple, the scarlet, and fine twined linen, all typical, as we have seen, of Christ, who is the Door.

   Read John 14:6 and John 10:7-9.

    Any one of the men of Israel could enter by the gate and bring his sacrifice to thealtar, but only a priest could go through the door into the Tabernacle.

The Furniture of the Tabernacle

    As we have mentioned, in giving the instructions to Moses, God began with the Ark and worked toward the Brazen Altar.

     This is typical of the path trod by Christ. Human could not approach God. God must come to human, Christ came from Glory to earth, then to the Cross where He met spiritually dead human, and then back again to the Father. So, from the Ark, which was in the Most Holy Place, to the Brazen Altar that stood near the gate, we see the path which Christ trod from Glory to the cross - where He identified Himself with spiritually deadman and then returned again to the Father. This shows complete Redemption wrought by Christ for human.

The Brazen Altar

Read Exodus 27:1-8

    Let us notice the Brazen Altar. Its position was at the gate. It was the place where God met spiritually dead human. Its materials were of brass and acacia wood. It is spoken of as incorruptible wood. It speaks of the Lord Jesus Christ, the One who had no sin. This wood was covered with brass. The candlestick, the Altar of Incense, the Table of Show Bread, and the Ark were made of gold, but not the Altar.

    Brass spoke of sin. It was at the Altar of the Cross that the sin that was human's fell upon Christ. At the Cross, Christ was forsaken of God. The Brazen Altar shows Christ's identification with human on the cross.

    God came from the Mercy Seat, which was the throne, to the Altar where He met the guilty Israelite who had, in his obedience to God's command, brought to the Altar a perfect sacrifice.

    How very expressive was the act of the one who brought the sacrifice. We read: "He shall lay His hands on the head of the goat" (Leviticus 4:24). That was identifying himself with the sacrifice, confessing that he deserved to die, but that God had provided a substitute. As the fire consumed the sacrifice, there was left no judgment to fall upon the sinner, and the one who had brought the sacrifice could go away from the Altar with the knowledge that his sin was forgiven him.

    For Jehovah said, "It shall be forgiven him" (Leviticus 4:26). At the cross we see Jesus Christ taking human's place, identified with all that human was, and God's judgment falling upon Him.

The Brazen Laver

Read Exodus 30:17-21

    Beyond the Brazen Altar stood the Brazen Laver.

    This Laver also was made of brass, which speaks again of sin.

    It was filled with water, with which the Priests washed the dirt of the cursed earth from their hands and feet before they entered the Holy of Holies.

    This typifies our daily need of cleansing by the Water of the Word of God.

The Table of Shew Bread

Read Exodus 25:23-30

    In the Holy Place was the Table of Shew Bread with the twelve loaves of bread. A loaf is an emblem of the body of our Lord Jesus Christ. I Corinthians 10:17, "For we being many are one bread and one body."

We "are many" just like the wheat in the bread; just as the wheat in the loaf became merged into one loaf through the baking, on the grounds of Christ's identification with us on the cross ... becoming all that we were, and in burial paying our penalty during those awful three days and nights of separation from God.

   In Crucifixion, we see Him as we were.

In Resurrection, we see ourselves as He is.

   Romans 6:5-6, "For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection; knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away, that so we should no longer be in bondage to sin."

   He is the Bread of Life. Now we become the carriers of that Life to the world.

The Golden Lampstand

Read Exodus 25:31-40

    This Golden Lampstand which was in the Holy Place also speaks forth our identification with Christ in the likeness of His Resurrection.

    We see here the union of Christ with His Body. As we read those words, "His Branches," it would seem as though the central shaft were the lampstand and the branches had come out of it, and we are reminded of the words of John 15:5, "I am the Vine, ye are the branches."

    Union with Christ was wrought through our identification with His death, burial, and   resurrection.

    How was this Lampstand made? It would have been comparatively easy to have cast it, but God told Moses definitely how to make it.

    It must be hammered out- "One beaten work." As we see the workman bruise the precious metal, our thoughts turn to the scripture in Isaiah 53:5, where we read that Christ was bruised for our iniquities. Only by this bruising could the branches of the lampstand be brought into existence, and only by the identification of God's Son with our Spiritual Death, only by His paying of the penalty that was ours, could we become absolutely one with Him.

    It was by His being bruised in our stead, under our judgment, that we are able to take His place as a son of God before the Father.

Resurrection Revealed

    Is there anything in this Lampstand that would show definitely that He was portraying our identification with Him in His Resurrection? Yes, we believe there is.

    It was to be ornamented with fruit blossoms. Now what fruit shall God select?

    He had a wide field from which to choose, and we find that He chose the almond tree.

    In Numbers 17 we have the act of Aaron's Rod. It, with the other eleven, was laid up before the Lord all night. In the morning it had brought forth buds, bloomed blossoms, and yielded the almonds.

    We are branches, bearing fruit because of our union with Him. Like Aaron's Rod, Christ the Living One was cut down in death . . . suffered until our penalty was paid. He has risen to be the first fruits of them that are asleep. When He was made alive, we were made alive with Him.

Lesson 12 THE LAW AND THE TABERNACLE

 Lesson 12

THE LAW AND THE TABERNACLE

Exodus 15:26 to Exodus 36

    JEHOVAH APPEARED many times to Israel in a special manner. Whenever they did wrong, murmured or rebelled, He would manifest Himself to them in the cloud ☁️ .

    It might be signaled to them by plagues or fiery serpents, or it might be a voice that filled them with fear and wonder.

    Exodus 15:27. They had camped by twelve springs of Elim, and the hand of God had been upon them. They had murmured at Marah because of the badness of water, but nothing had been said of the lack of bread. They had evidently been bountifully supplied on leaving Egypt. They must have anticipated a wilderness journey. This supply had now come to an end. The discovery of the condition of the three million was soon known. One neighbour going to borrow from another would be met by the assurance that the other was as poor as himself in the matter. In this way the terribleness of their condition would be borne upon them with stupefying effect. Death then seemed inevitable.

The Giving of the Manna

    To go forward would make that fate certain. To retreat was equally impossible. They would perish before they could retrace their steps and gain the borders of Egypt.

    "And the whole congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness; and the children of Israel said unto them, Would to God we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the flesh pots, and when we did eat bread to the full; for ye have brought us forth into this wilderness, to kill this whole assembly with hunger" (Exodus 16:2-3).

    Now here was a case in which this people could easily have sought help from God.

    Had He not in every manner proven Himself true to the Covenant? The failure of the bread supply was alarming, but He who had miraculously delivered them from Egypt, led them through the Red Sea, led them by the cloud, and made the bitter waters sweet, could easily provide bread.

     What a different story we would have had, and what joy it would have brought to the

    Covenant God, had they come to Him for this need in assurance that He who had entered a Blood Covenant relationship would meet every need. Instead, they flung away from God. They broke out in rebellious murmuring. They had been shamefully  deceived. They had been led away from Egypt, a land of peace and plenty, and they were now entrapped in this terrible wilderness that young and old might die. However, their rebellion could not make Jehovah deny Himself. He heard their murmuring, their unbelief.

   Then, He gave to them the promise that He would supply them with bread and meat that they might know that He was their Covenant God (Exodus 16:4-12).

  Exodus 16:13-36 gives to us the sending of the bread and meat and the instructions for gathering it.

  For forty years, He, their Covenant God, fed them in this miraculous way.

Reason for the Law

   As we study the history of Israel, we hold in mind the fact that they are God's Covenant people.

   Exodus 19:1-8. In the third month of their journey they came into the wilderness of Sinai. The time has come when the Covenant God is going to give to them the law.

   We hold in mind the fact that they have not yet received the life of God. They are still spiritually dead, and a Law must be given to them that will govern every phase of their lives.

   Before the Law is given, Moses is called to the Mount. There God reviews to Moses His faithfulness to the Covenant. Now Israel must make known whether or not they will obey Him as their Covenant God.

   In these three months they have learned of His faithfulness to His part in the Covenant (Exodus 19:8). Israel promises to obey.

   Exodus 19:9-25 gives to us the manifestation of God to His people. We notice that this manifestation of Himself was again on the level of their physical senses. They could see the smoke and fire and hear the voice of the trumpet which waxed loud. They were unable to approach the Mount because of spiritual death.

   The Law that was given is the Law of the Covenant. When the Abrahamic Covenant was fulfilled, it also was fulfilled. There are three divisions that come from this law: The Commandments expressing the Righteous Will of God, Exodus 20:1-27; The Judgments governing the social life of Israel, Exodus 21:1-24; and the ordinances governing the religious life, Exodus 24:12-31.

   Three elements formed the Law: the Commandments, the Ordinances, and the Sacrifices. The Commandments were a Ministry of condemnation and of death (II Corinthians 3:7-9). They revealed the spiritual death that reigned in the heart of man.

   The Ordinances gave, in the High Priest, a representative of the people with Jehovah.

   The Sacrifices gave a covering for the broken law and spiritually-dead Israel.

Giving of the Law

   There was a threefold giving of the Law. It was given first orally, recorded in Exodus 20:1-17. This was given with no provision for the Priesthood and sacrifices, and was accompanied by the Judgments (Exodus 21:1-23). Relating to the relations of Hebrew

with Hebrew were added directions for keeping three annual feasts (Exodus 23:14 - 19) and instructions for the conquest of Canaan (24:3-8). 

   Next, Moses was called up to receive the Tables of Stone (Exodus 24:12-18). Moses on the Mount receives the gracious instructions concerning the Tabernacle, Priesthood and Sacrifices (Exodus 25:31).

   Meantime, the people led by Aaron break the first Commandment (Exodus 32). Moses breaks the Tables written with the finger of God (Exodus 31:18; 32:16-19).

   Third, the second tables were made by Moses and the Law was again written by the hand of Jehovah (Exodus 34:1, 28, 29).

Scriptures to read: Romans 3:21-27; 6:14-15; Galatians 2:16; 3:10-14, 16-18, 24-26; 4:21-31; and Hebrews 10:11-17.

 The Reason for the Tabernacle

   Exodus 25:8. God desired to dwell with His Covenant People. He could not dwell in their hearts, because they had not yet received Eternal Life; His Presence must be manifested to their physical senses. Their worship of Him also must be on the same level. There must be a physical dwelling place in which He will dwell, and where they shall meet Him through a physical priesthood.

   For the building of the Tabernacle He asked of them free-will offerings (Exodus 25:2).

   Their hearts must be willing to have His Presence among them (Exodus 25:9).

   The Tabernacle was to be made exactly as God revealed it to Moses. From the time that human had died spiritually, God had been working toward his redemption. Now this Tabernacle is to be a type of Christ and the Redemption He wrought for man. Natural type the spiritual . Shadow and type. Therefore, every detail must be according to His exact pattern.

   First, let us notice something that is very suggestive. We saw as we studied creation that God gave the account to us in less than two chapters, and yet the instructions for the making of the Tabernacle take up eleven chapters. We would think that the work of Creation was far more important than the building of the Tabernacle; but, mighty  though the work of Creation was, it was simply, as it were, the erection of a stage upon which was to be wrought a far mightier work, the work of our Redemption in Christ.

       As in a theater, the actor is more than the stage, so the ore who performed that mighty work is infinitely more glorious than the stage on which He performed it.

The Tabernacle, As It Stood among Them

    The Tabernacle proper was toward the western end of the court. It was fifty-two feet long, seventeen and one half feet wide, and seventeen and one half feet high.

    It was divided into two compartments. The larger of the two was called the Holy Place. The smaller, the Most Holy Place. In the larger, or the Holy Place, there were the Golden Altar, the Golden Lampstand, and the Golden Table; in the smaller, or the Holiest, there were the Ark and the Mercy Seat.

     When the Tabernacle had been erected, the only covering visible was the outer covering of badger skins, with a width of the goats' hair curtain above the door. The first set of curtains were fine twined linen; blue, purple, white, and scarlet. Over these were the goat skins, dyed red, and over all was a covering of badger skins.

    While the Tabernacle was at rest, the Claud, the Symbol of the Divine Presence, rested on the rear end of the Tabernacle, and was like a vast umbrella overshadowing the camp.

    This cloud was always with them. When they were to journey, it arose from the top of the Tabernacle, going in the direction that God wanted them to travel. When they came to their camping ground, the cloud stopped,

    In this way it guided them, showing them the directions, just how far they should go, and when they should encamp.

    God had to manifest Himself to their physical senses because they were spiritually dead.

    The court was formed of sixty pillars of shittim wood supporting the linen curtain wall. The Tabernacle was a comparatively small building. It was designed to be a place where God could dwell with and meet Israel in the person of their High Priest, so it was not an auditorium as such a place for the assembling of God's people would be today.

The Curtain and Coverings of the Tabernacle

    In studying the coverings and curtains we begin on the outside. As we view the Tabernacle from the outside there is nothing interesting in its appearance. It was a long, box-like building, without graceful lines or curves, as if to accentuate its lack of attractiveness.

    The unattractive badger skins covered it on the outside; but, if we go inside, what a wonderful change.

    On either side the gold-covered boards glint in the light of the seven-branched lampstand. Over our heads is the ceiling formed by the beautiful curtains of fine twined linen with the embroidered cherubims of blue, purple, and scarlet. Before us is the veil; behind us, the door with all the mingled tints of the rainbow. Then there is the gold altar of incense filling the Holy Place with its aroma, and the gold table with twelve loaves of shew bread which also emit a fragrant odor.

    In these coverings we see a picture of Christ in His two different aspects. If we look at the outside of the Tabernacle, it has no form nor comeliness-the curtains of badgers' skins covering the beauty of the Tabernacle.

    Isaiah 53:2. Christ had no form nor comeliness to the natural man. There was no beauty about Him that man should desire Him. He had nothing in common with man.

    The badgers' skins are typical of the severity of His separation from man. To the natural eye there was a reserve and severity with Him. It was not within their compass, the compass of men, to understand or enjoy Him. Read John 4:44 and Matthew 16:17.

    He was a root out of dry ground. The beauty of Christ was hidden. Only an inner few knew Him; and so the blue, the purple, the scarlet and linen.

    Ezekiel 16:10 reads, "I shod thy feet with badger skins." It would suggest separation from evil; sandals protect the feet from the earth, keep them separate from it. Christ took up His place in the Father's will, and all the forces of men and devils in earth and hell could not overcome or hinder His doing the Father's will.

    The ram's skin, dyed red, is typical of His mediatorial work, His shed blood.

    The inner curtains were in two sets, five in a set. They were held together by fifty taches of gold which fastened into fifty loops of blue, forming, as we read, one Tabernacle. The loops of blue and the fifty taches of gold were typical of His Heavenly Grace and Divine Energy which enabled Christ to perfectly meet the claims of God and man.

    These curtains were all of one measure. The blue, ethereal in color, marks the Heavenly character of Christ. Although He was a very man, He was a very God. He walked in the consciousness and dignity of His Divine Mission.

    He never once forgot Who He was or where He was going. The purple is typical of His Royalty. He was king of the Jews. He was received into Heaven as a conqueror (Psalm 2 and Philippians 2:9-11).

     The scarlet represents His death. A true scarlet color can only be produced by death.

     His Incarnation, the union of God and man, were not sufficient for our Redemption. He must, on the cross, be made all that man was. By His death, He brought to naught him who had the power of death, and delivered man from his reign (Hebrews 2:14).

    The fine twined linen is typical of His spotless purity as a man. There are great depths of spiritual truths in the humanity of Jesus Christ. In order for Him to meet the claims of Justice, and the needs of man, it was necessary that He be absolutely human, and yet at the same time as a man and tempted in every point as we are, and still please the Father as a perfect Son.

    It was necessary for Christ to walk as the first Adam should have walked.

    (The Study of the Tabernacle will be continued in the next lesson.)

Questions

Q1. What should the Israelites have done when they discovered their lack of food?

Q2. How did the Covenant God meet their need for food?

Q3. Why was the law given?

Q4. Why did God manifest Himself to the people through the smoke and fire, and the cloud?

Q5. What was the purpose of the Tabernacle?

Q6. How were the materials gathered? Why?

Q7. Why was it necessary for it to be according to the exact pattern given to Moses?

Q8. How did the badger skin covering represent Christ?

Q9. Of what in the Life of Christ were they typical?

Q10. Show how the inner curtains represent Christ.

Lesson 11 COVENANT PEOPLE IN THE WILDERNESS

 Lesson 11

COVENANT PEOPLE IN THE WILDERNESS

    WE HOLD uppermost before us this fact that it is the Covenant-keeping God who is delivering His Covenant people. In the Passover, He had reaffirmed His Covenant. As they face the wilderness and its perils, they know that the Covenant-keeping God is with them. Now the institution of this Passover rite of Jehovah's blood-friendship with Israel is to become a permanent ceremonial among them as a memorial of their miraculous deliverance from Egypt as Covenant people (Exodus 12:14-20, 43; 13:16).

    Exodus 12:3-8. The Passover Lamb typifies Christ on the Cross. The Lamb must be a male without blemish; he must be taken on the tenth day of the first month (Jewish year) and kept until the fourteenth day when he is slain at even (three o'clock).

   Christ was betrayed on the tenth day and was crucified on the fourteenth day, dying at three o'clock. Surely He was the Lamb of God.

    The token of this rite is described in the following: "And it shall be a sign for thee upon thy hand and for a memorial between thy eyes that the law of Jehovah may be in thy mouth: for with a strong hand hath Jehovah brought thee out of Egypt" (Exodus 13:16).

    In primitive times often when two men cut the covenant, a blood-stained record of the covenant was preserved in a small leather case to be worn upon the arm, or about the neck of him who had won a friend forever in this sacred rite of blood-friendship.

    Down through the generations, the Jews have been accustomed to wear upon their foreheads as a crown, and upon their arms as an armlet, a small leather case as a sacred amulet containing a record of the Passover covenant between Jehovah and the seed of Abraham, His friend.

Exit with Great Substance

    Before the conflict with Pharaoh began, God had said to Moses: "I will give this people favor in the sight of the Egyptians and it shall come to pass that when ye go ye shall not go empty, but every woman shall borrow of her neighbor and of her that sojourneth in her house jewels of silver and jewels of gold and raiment and ye shall put them upon your sons and upon your daughters: and ye shall spoil the Egyptians" (Exodus 3:21-22).

    Many have misunderstood this scripture and Exodus 12:35-36, because a mistake was made in the translation. The Hebrew word translated "borrow" means "ask." The word translated "lend" in Exodus 12:35-36 is a form of the same word and means to "let ask," that is, to entertain a request and graciously to give. It was not a case of theft, borrowing with no thought of return. The Israelites asked these things. The question was whether or not the request should be answered or met with angry refusal.

    The Covenant God intervened. He gave His people favor in the eyes of the Egyptians.

     They were looked upon by their enemies in a new light; and the Egyptians gave unto them. These were the spoils of a more glorious victory than any other conquering nation had ever known. In history the conquered have been spoiled, but never willingly. But here, the Egyptians find a joy in giving to those who had mastered them.

    The Covenant people who had simply stood and waited for salvation from their God of the Covenant, pass out adorned with the gorgeous raiment and the jewels of those who had so long spoiled them.

    More than 200 years before, their Covenant God had predicted this triumph. In Genesis 15:13-14, He had said to Abraham that his seed should be a stranger and afflicted in a land that was not theirs, and that He would judge the nation whom they had served. With it He had given this promise: "Afterward they shall come out with great substance."

    Here God had looked forward to the very spoiling of the Egyptians as the end of the sore travail of His people and a compensation for their bondage and slavery.

The Route Changed

    On the second day's journey the Israelites followed the usual route to Palestine. This must have led them to the "edge of the wilderness." Across those sands and up along the Mediterranean Coast lay the nearest way to Palestine.

     A few marches onward and they would have passed into the territory of the warlike Philistines.

    But here the route was suddenly changed. We are told that God led them not through the way of the Philistines, although that was near, for God said lest peradventure the people repent when they see war, and they return to Egypt. But God led the people about, through the way of the wilderness of the Red Sea. Why then, we may ask, were they suffered to make a beginning, which looked as if they were to take the more expeditious road to the land promised to their fathers? Why was the change made in the route so that they had on the third to retrace their steps and march southward on the Egyptian side of the sea?

    We may at first be perplexed by the question. It does look as though God's plan had been suddenly altered; but a little reflection will speedily unveil the Divine Wisdom. The whole is explained in those words, "They encamped . . . in the edge of the wilderness" (Exodus 13:20).

    God had a twofold purpose. Israel had to bend to the Divine Will. Naturally, they at the outset desired the shortest route. God suffered them to take it and went with them so far-as He often does with us in our wilfulness.

    They are brought "to the edge of the wilderness" (Exodus 13:20) ; and then comes reflection. There is nothing inviting in the aspect of that dreary expanse. They begin to think of dreary days of plodding, thirsting, and hunger, through the treeless, waterless, habitationless desert.

    Then they think of the embattled wall of fierce, determined foemen through which a way must be forced after the desert has been traversed. There was no murmuring on the morrow when God said: "Speak unto the children of Israel, that they turn" (Exodus14:2). This brought relief to them. 

The Covenant God also had another purpose. The king was carefully watching their movements. God was not going to allow His Covenant people to pass with dishonor from the land of Egypt; they were not going to be allowed to run away. When the Covenant God delivers, it is not through human methods. His deliverance is glorious in its fullness and in its beauty of holiness.

     Egypt will herself thrust Israel out and compel them to abandon the country, so the route is changed.

Crossing of the Red Sea

    The Egyptians are left in their selfish greed and cruelty to misread the change to their own destruction. "For Pharaoh will say of the children of Israel, They are entangled in the land; the wilderness hath shut them in" (Exodus 14:3).

    To Egypt this move seemed to be a revelation of unexpected weakness. There was no longer any God among them and Egypt could now enjoy to the full the wild revenge for which it panted.

    They said, "I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil. My lust shall be satisfied upon them: I will draw my sword; my hand will destroy them" (Exodus 15:9).

    The thought which had sprung up in Pharaoh's bosom seems to have flamed up like an answering fire in the bosoms of his people. The heart of Pharaoh and of his servants were turned against the people and they said, "Why have we done this, that we have let Israel go from serving us?"

    It seems that all the troops which could be massed together took part in this pursuit (Exodus 14:6-9).

    The elaborately disciplined standing army of Egypt was one of the marvels of the ancient world. We can imagine the terror which must have laid hold of the hearts of the Israelites the moment they realized that this fearful engine is directed against them (Exodus 14:10). As Pharaoh approached, the Israelites looked up, and there were the Egyptians, marching after them. They were terrified and cried out to the LORD.

It seems that for the moment in mad and hopeless despair, they forget the God of the Covenant. They cry bitterly unto Moses for bringing them into this place of seeming death (Exodus 14:11-12). ¹¹ They said to Moses, "Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt? ¹² Didn't we say to you in Egypt, 'Leave us alone; let us serve the Egyptians'?

Then we hear the words of faith from Moses to fear not, because the Covenant God would work on their behalf that day (Exodus 14:13-16). ¹³ Moses answered the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the LORD will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again.

¹⁴ The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still.”

¹⁵ Then the LORD said to Moses, “Why are you crying out to me? Tell the Israelites to move on.

¹⁶ Raise your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea to divide the water so that the Israelites can go through the sea on dry ground.

    Let us note what the miracle-working God performed. His reply to Moses is: "Speak 🗣️ unto the children of Israel that they go forward." Then he, this Covenant man, was bidden to prepare a strange pathway for them.

    He was to lift that rod which had hitherto brought judgment upon Egypt; it would command the forces of nature to work salvation for the people of the Covenant.

    "And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the Lord caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided. And the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea upon dry ground; and the waters were a wall upon their right hand and left" (Exodus 14:21-22).

    The forces of nature obeyed His Word. As we stand in the presence of this tremendous miracle, we catch a glimpse into the far past at the time when the first man walked in the realm of God's ability with dominion over the works of His hands. This dominion became lost at the fall. We see glimpses of it now and then under the Old Covenant at such an instance as this, until the time comes when the second Adam walks one with the Father God, with dominion over the forces of nature.

The Pillar of Cloud ☁️ 

    We have seen in previous lessons that no man could actually be Born Again of the Spirit of God until the Father God had a legal right to impart His nature to spiritually dead man. God did not have a legal right to impart His Life to those Covenant people.

    We have seen that natural man is limited in his knowledge to that which he gains through the five senses of his physical body. God must manifest Himself to Israel; His presence can be known to them only through their physical senses.

    He made His presence known to them by a pillar of cloud ☁️ which appeared on the second day (Exodus 13:21-22).

    They could see the cloud ☁️, hear and feel the warmth of this fiery cloud in the night time.

    This pillar of cloud ☁️ was not only a visible manifestation of His presence, but it was also a means of His caring for them.

    It became a strange protection from the intense desert heat of the day, and at night it became a mammoth lighting and heating plant. It kept them cool during the day and warm during the cold, bitter night.

    When this cloud ☁️ moved, they knew it was time to break camp and journey on. When it stopped, whether it was day or night, they knew that it was time to make camp and wait His further leading.

    This cloud ☁️ was with them, a protection, a comfort, and a guide during the forty years of wandering in the desert.

    At the time that the Egyptians had pursued them, this strange cloud ☁️ had moved from its position before them and stood behind them. It stood between the camp of the Egyptians and the Israelites. To the Covenant people it was light and warmth; but to the Egyptians, it was thick darkness.

The March through the Desert

    Now that eventful period in Israel's history begins, the march through the desert.

    The peninsula of Sinai is, to this day, a kind of no-man's land. Other regions have been coveted and fought for, but no powers of either ancient or modern times have ever sought for possession of Sinai.

    Yet to this isolated, despised district, three million slaves are taken. They have a slave spirit, are untrained and full of criticism and bitterness. In this place the Covenant God is going to reveal Himself and His glory and build from this slave nation a free people with leaders and teachers.

    There, separated from idolatry, this nation which is to preserve the Revelation of the true God will learn to walk dependent upon Him.

    We now start with Israel on this momentous journey, and as we study it, we find that there are lessons for us to learn.

    On the third day of the journey, they arrive at Marah, where the water was bitter.

    They had been used to drinking the sweet water of the Nile, so famed in the East; and now in childish disappointment, they burst forth in childish, unrestrained complaint against Moses (Exodus 15:22-24).

    The Covenant God, ever caring for them, makes the bitter waters sweet.

    Then He manifests Himself to them not only as One who shall lead them, care for them and protect them, but as One who will permit none of the diseases of the Egyptians to come upon them. He makes Himself known to them as the God who healeth them (Exodus 15:26-27).

    In the blood-covenant rights and privileges, all that He was belonged to Israel. His ability belonged to them. His care, His protection, His healing were theirs.

    It is a remarkable fact that during this wilderness period, while they walked in the Covenant, no babies, no children, nor young men and women died. No one died prematurely because of the power of disease. He was the Covenant God that healed them.

NOTE TO STUDENTS

    We wish to acknowledge that we are indebted for much of our material in these lessons to Urquhart's New Biblical Guide and Dr. Trumbull's "Blood Covenant."

    The reading material covered in this lesson is found in Exodus 12:43 to Exodus 15:27.

Questions

Q1. Tell of the Passover rite as it was to exist as a memorial among the Israelites.

Q2. Explain Exodus 12:35-36.

Q3. What lost authority of man was manifested at the crossing of the Red Sea?

Q4. Why did God have to visibly manifest Himself to Israel as in the Pillar of Cloud?

Q5. What needs did the Pillar of Cloud meet?

Q6. Describe the land into which God led His Covenant people when they left Egypt.

Q7. Why were the Covenant people led to this place?

Q8. Tell of the incident that took place at Marsh.

Q9. Explain Exodus 15:26-27.

Q10. What has the knowledge of the Blood Covenant meant to you?

Lesson 10 THE DELIVERANCE FROM EGYPT

 Lesson 10

THE DELIVERANCE FROM EGYPT

    AS WE STUDY the great drama of the deliverance of God's Covenant People from Egypt from the story given to us in the Scripture, we notice many facts that show the authenticity of the Scriptural account.

    The picture of Egyptian life given to us here depicts a true picture of ancient Egyptian life at that time. The authority that Pharaoh held in his hand over authority that Pharaoh held in this period of history.

    The part that is played by the magicians of Egypt in performing miracles is a faithful representation of the power that the ancient priesthood possessed.

    The Egyptian priesthood was in reality a corporation endued with magical powers which were exercised on the behalf of the living and the dead.

    The Scripture account in every name, incident, and custom portrayed, reveals the very Egypt of this period. The truth and sharpness of the reflection show that it was written by someone who knew the facts. Exodus, giving to us this drama of the miracle-working Covenant God on behalf of His people, was written by someone who knew about the facts. It was not written by a Babylonian Jew about 400 B.C., as some skeptics would claim. It bears the mark of the ancient Egypt which God judged.

    Archaeologists have uncovered buildings made of brick in which stubble was used instead of straw as recorded in Exodus 5:12.

The First Miracle

    Moses, in obedience to Jehovah, now approaches Pharaoh on behalf of God's Covenant people (Exodus 7:1-7).

    Exodus 7:8-13 gives to us Moses' first encounter with Pharaoh and his magicians.

    The first sign which was given was the casting down of the rod which was instantly changed into a serpent. "Aaron cast down his rod before Pharaoh and before his servants and it became a serpent. Then Pharaoh also called the wise men and the  sorcerers; now the magicians of Egypt, they did also in like manner with their enchantments. For they cast down every man his rod and they became serpents, but Aaron's rod swallowed up their rods" (Exodus 7:10-12).

    Some may wonder at the power by which the rods of the Egyptian priests turned into snakes also. The spirits which were identified with gods of the Egyptians to whom they made their appeal, did not leave them without an answer. The revival in our day of spiritualism and all the phenomena which cannot be explained away by trickery, shows the working of Satan in miracles when it will bring to him the worship of man.

    The conflict between the Maker of Heaven and earth and the gods of Egypt began at the outset. In this light, the miracle in Pharaoh's presence had a startling significance.

    As the rod of Aaron swallowed up the rods of the magicians, so would the religion which God was about to establish, swallow up the delusive trusts by which the wise men of the world sought a knowledge and a greatness that still left them and their fellows slaves of Satan.

The Plagues

    Let us now study the story of the plagues which smote Egypt's strength, and broke its stubborn heart. A sign had been given when the rod had been changed into a serpent. The sign was challenged by the magicians with the result that the power of  Jehovah was only more fully manifested. But that was only a sign, and it could be easily forgotten. God must, therefore, have recourse to judgment. The first plague was that by which the waters of Egypt were changed into blood.

    The Divine Command came to Moses. "Get thee unto Pharaoh in the morning: lo, he goeth out unto the water; and thou shalt stand by the river's brink to meet him" (Exodus 7:15).

    The reader will observe the command to meet Pharaoh at the brink of the river. We at once see a glorious fitness in the time and place that was chosen. The God of the Nile was an impersonation of NU, one of the chief fathergods of Egypt, and an object of profound veneration in this section of Egypt. Over him, therefore, Jehovah, by this plague, asserted His supremacy. It is probable that Pharaoh went in the morning to offer his devotion to this god.

    To the king, then, while standing before the very altar of his god, the message of Jehovah was delivered. It was a startling one. The god and his worshipers were alike to be judged. "And the Lord spake unto Moses: Say unto Aaron, Take thy rod and stretch out thy hand upon the waters of Egypt, upon their streams, upon their rivers, and upon their ponds, and upon all their pools of water that they may become blood, that there may be blood throughout all the land of Egypt, both in vessels of wood, and in vessels of stone" (Exodus 7:19).

    The male children of the Israelites had been thrown into the waters, and now God would bring the sin of the Egyptians to their remembrance. The river of blood shall tell the story of their deed to the earth and heaven, and the horror of it shall rise and cling to them.

    The second plague was an affliction well-known and dreaded. Its intensity was described in words every one of which must have gone home and filled the breast of every Egyptian who heard the words of God by Aaron with loathing and dread.

    "Behold, I will smite all thy borders with frogs, the river shall bring forth frogs abundantly, which shall go up and come into thine house, and into thy bed chamber and upon thy bed, and into the house of thy servants and upon thy people, and into thy  ovens, and into thy kneading troughs, and the frogs shall come up both on thee andupon thy people, and upon all thy servants" (Exodus 8:24).

    Place behind these words the affliction which we know these animals to be in Egypt, and the plague immediately acquires a significance which is terrible. We lose sight of the insignificance of the instrument in the magnitude of the chastisement.

    The plague of frogs was not only a terrible chastisement on the people, but also another judgment upon their gods. Frogs were always a great nuisance in Egypt, and from the beginning, the driving of them away was entrusted to a goddess called HEKI.

    She many times appears with the head of a frog. So important was the office which she was to fulfill that she was supposed to be one of the supreme goddesses in all Egypt.

    Now the Covenant God of the Israelites, the slaves of the Egyptians, again shows Himself greater than the gods of the mighty Egyptians.

    As Pharaoh's heart becomes more hardened, the plagues continue to come upon them. Exodus 8:16-19 and Exodus 8:20-24, give an account of the plagues of lice and then flies.

    Another judgment was manifested against the gods of the Egyptians, for the flies also were worshiped in Egypt. First of all, a mere sign had been given when the rod had been changed into a serpent. Then personal discomfort revealed God's power and displeasure. But now, along with the peril brought by the flies, their garments, furniture, and trappings were destroyed: "The land was corrupted by reason of the flies."

    In the fifth plague, God still goes further. He lays His hand upon one of their most valued possessions, their cattle.

    The matter was not to end when Pharaoh said, "No," to God's demands, or when he promised obedience and then neglected to fulfill his promise.

    Again, Moses was sent with the message, "Let my people go that they may serve me"; and Pharaoh is warned, "If thou refuse to let them go and wilt hold them still, behold the hand of the Lord is laid upon thy cattle which is in the field, upon the horses, upon the asses, upon the camel, and upon the sheep: There shall be a grievous murrain." Murrain ~   redwater fever or a similar infectious disease affecting cattle or other animals. A plague, epidemic, or crop blight.

    Exodus 9:1-5. We notice that the separation between the Egyptians and God's Covenant people continues. Nothing was to die of the cattle of the Israelites. Now the possessions of the Egyptians have been touched, the most part of Egypt's wealth. 

    Now in the sixth plague, their bodies are touched. They are smitten with a painful and loathsome disease, which the magicians, their champions in this conflict, confess to be from the hand of God and at once retire from the contest. We notice the mercy of Jehovah in His dealings.

     His mercy sent milder chastisernents at first to turn them away from disobedience and to save them from the final and awful calamity. When lighter chastisements fail to save, love lets heavier strokes fall, to see whether these may turn the disobedient from his way.

     In the seventh plague a distinct advance is made in the severity of the chastisement.

     There is now to be a loss of life as well as of crops.

    Exodus 9:18, "Behold, tomorrow," so ran the Divine Command, "about this time I will cause it to rain a very grievous hail, such as hath not been in Egypt since the foundation thereof until now."

    Exodus 10:4-6. As the eighth plague is announced, the word "locusts" had a terrible sound in the ears of the Egyptians.

    Exodus 10:7. For the first time we hear a remonstrance in court. The princes and great men who surround the king, and who revere him as a god, are driven to forget the awful distance that stands between them and the throne. They throw aside, in very evident terror, their habitual reverence, and expostulate with the lord of Egypt.

    "And Pharaoh's servants said unto him, how long shall this man be a snare unto us?

     Let the men go that they may serve the Lord, their God; knowest thou not yet that Egypt is destroyed?"

    We now come to the ninth plague. This was God's last appeal before the long deferred judgment fell.

    Each man was shut in, so to say, with God during those awful three days and nights.

    All business was suspended. Everything was laid aside. Each dwelt alone - king, counselor, noble, priest, merchant, artisan or peasant.

    Each was held in God's hand and confronted with the question, spoken in the memory of one plague after another, and reiterated in the consciousness of this: "Canst thou dash thyself against the buckler of the Almighty?" These three days of awe-struck isolation permit us to look into the depths of that infinite compassion which would have saved Egypt from the last stroke which was to break all its stubbornness and pride.

     God also showed His supremacy over the sun, which was one of the chief gods of the Egyptians.

The Blood Covenant and Its Tokens in the Passover

    There came a time when the Lord would give fresh evidence of His fidelity to His

    Covenant of blood-friendship with Abraham. Again, a new start was to be made in the history of Redemption. The seed of Abraham was in Egypt, and the Lord would bring thence that seed, for its promised inheritance in Canaan. The Egyptians refused to let Israel go at the call of the Lord.

    Now, as we study the last plague which came upon them, we see the significance of the Blood Covenant.

    In the original covenant of blood friendship between Abraham and the Lord, it was Abraham who gave of his blood in token of the Covenant.

    Up to this time, the Israelites had had to do nothing to avoid the plagues. Now there was to be an act of the shedding of blood, if they were to escape the tenth plague.

    The Lord commanded the choice of a lamb, a male without blemish. This lamb was a type of Christ, so it must be perfect.

    The blood of the lamb, a type of Christ's blood, was to be put on the two side posts and on the lintel of every house of a descendant of Abraham.

    "And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are," said the Lord to this people; "and when I see the blood (the token of my blood covenant with Abraham) I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt" (Exodus 12:7-13). The firstborn was safe when covered by the Blood.

    The flesh of the chosen lamb was to be eaten by the Israelites reverently, as the indication of that intercommunion which the blood friendship rite secures, and in accordance with a common custom of the primitive blood covenant rites everywhere.

    The last plague broke the heart of Egypt. Death, terrible everywhere, made an awful pause in the life of this pleasure-loving people. When anyone died in Egypt it especially caused a great mourning.

     It may be imagined then, what effect this last affliction had upon the entire people.

    There was not a house in which there was not one dead. Those who might have mourned with others, had to bow under their own grief. "And Pharaoh rose up in the night, he and all his servants and all the Egyptians; and there was a great cry in Egypt; for there was not a house where there was not one dead" Exodus 12:30).

    But, when we have noted the grief of Pharaoh and of all his people because of their dead, we have not summed up all that was accomplished by this judgment. Exodus 12:12 reads, "I will pass through the land of Egypt this night and will smite the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast, and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute  judgment." We notice the phrase, "And against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment." Both the words are placed against these: "Both man and beast."

    We have seen that animals were worshiped in Egypt and also that the king was esteemed an incarnation, and worshiped as a god. Now Pharaoh, worshiped as divinity, is smitten and chastised in his own land, and in the presence of his people. His heir who had been already hailed with divine honors lay in the stillness of death. It was impossible to doubt that the blow was from the hand of this Covenant people's God.

    The firstborn of the Israelites were safe. Not one of the plagues had touched God's Covenant people. A great fear pressed upon Egypt. The hand that had struck might strike again. Freedom was therefore given to the oppressed Israelites. They were thrust out. Pharaoh would not even wait for the day's dawning.

    "He called for Moses and Aaron by night, and said, Rise up, and get you forth from among my people, both ye and the children of Israel; and go serve the Lord Jehovah as ye have said, and be gone, and bless me also. And the Egyptians were urgent upon the people that they might send them out of the land in haste; for they said, we will be all dead men" (Exodus 12:31-33).

Questions

Q1. Show how Scriptural account gives to us a true picture of ancient Egyptian life.

Q2. What was the first miracle that was performed in Pharaoh's presence?

Q3. What spiritual significance may be given to it?

Q4. In what way did the first plague bring down judgment upon an Egyptian God?

Q5. What was the second plague and its significance!

Q6. As Pharaoh refuses, show how the afflictions become greater.

Q7. How did the ninth plague reveal His mercy before the last plague came?

Q8. In what way did God give evidence of His fidelity to the Covenant?

Q9. Describe the effect of the tenth plague.

Q10. How was it revealed that the plagues were sent by the Covenant God?