Notes on the book of Exodus Part 4

Such is the doctrine as to the Church's place with Christ,--a doctrine replete with the richest privileges for the Church, and each member thereof. Everything, in short, is involved:--the perfect remission of sin, divine righteousness, complete acceptance, everlasting security, full fellows.h.i.+p with Christ in all His glory. "Ye are _complete_ in Him." This, surely, comprehends everything. What could be added to one who is "complete"? Could "philosophy," "the tradition of men," "the rudiments of the world," "meats, drinks, holy days, new moons, or Sabbaths"? "Touch not" this, "taste not" that, "handle not" the other, "the commandments and doctrines of men," "days, and months, and times, and years,"--could any of these things, or all of them put together, add a single jot or t.i.ttle to one whom G.o.d has p.r.o.nounced "complete"?

We might just as well inquire if man could have gone forth upon the fair creation of G.o.d, at the close of the six days' work, to give the finis.h.i.+ng touch to that which G.o.d had p.r.o.nounced "very good."

Nor is this completeness to be, by any means, viewed as a matter of attainment,--some point which we have not yet reached, but after which we must diligently strive, and of the possession of which we cannot be sure until we lie upon a bed of death, or stand before a throne of judgment. It is the portion of the feeblest, the most inexperienced, the most unlettered child of G.o.d. The very weakest saint is included in the apostolic "_ye_." All the people of G.o.d "_are_ complete in Christ." The apostle does not say, Ye _will_ be, Ye _may_ be, _Hope_ that ye may be, _Pray_ that ye may be: no; he, by the Holy Ghost, states, in the most absolute and unqualified manner, that "ye _are_ complete." This is the true Christian starting-post; and for man to make a goal of what G.o.d makes a starting-post, is to upset everything.

But, then, some will ask, Have we no sin, no failure, no imperfection?

a.s.suredly we have. "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us." (1 John i. 8.) We have sin _in_ us, but no sin _on_ us. Moreover, our standing is not in _self_, but in Christ. It is "_in Him_" we "are complete." G.o.d sees the believer in Christ, with Christ, and as Christ. This is his changeless condition--his everlasting standing. "The body of the sins of the flesh" is "put off by the circ.u.mcision of Christ." The believer is not in the flesh, though the flesh is in him. He is united to Christ in the power of a new and an endless life, and that life is inseparably connected with divine righteousness in which the believer stands before G.o.d. The Lord Jesus has put away everything that was against the believer, and He has brought him nigh to G.o.d, in the self-same favor as that which He Himself enjoys. In a word, Christ is his righteousness. This settles every question, answers every objection, silences every doubt. "Both He that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one." (Heb. ii. 11.)

The foregoing line of truth has flowed out of the deeply interesting type presented to us in the relations.h.i.+p between Moses and Zipporah.

We must now hasten to close this section, and take our leave, for the present, of "the backside of the desert," though not of its deep lessons and holy impressions, so essential to every servant of Christ, and every messenger of the living G.o.d. All who would serve effectually, either in the important work of evangelization, or in the varied ministries of the house of G.o.d--which is the Church--will need to imbibe the precious instructions which Moses received at the foot of Mount h.o.r.eb, and "by the way in the inn."

Were these things properly attended to, we should not have so many running unsent--so many rus.h.i.+ng into spheres of ministry for which they were never designed. Let each one who stands up to preach, or teach, or exhort, or serve in any way, seriously inquire if, indeed, he be fitted and taught and sent of G.o.d. If not, his work will neither be owned of G.o.d nor blessed to men, and the sooner he ceases, the better for himself and for those upon whom he has been imposing the heavy burden of hearkening to him. Neither a humanly-appointed nor a self-appointed ministry will ever suit within the hallowed precincts of the Church of G.o.d. All must be divinely gifted, divinely taught, and divinely sent.

"And the Lord said to Aaron, 'Go into the wilderness to meet Moses.'

And he went and met him in the mount of G.o.d, and kissed him. And Moses told Aaron all the words of the Lord who had sent him, and all the signs which He had commanded him." This was a fair and beauteous scene--a scene of sweet brotherly love and union--a scene which stands in marked contrast with many of those scenes which were afterwards enacted in the wilderness-career of these two men. Forty years of wilderness life are sure to make great changes in men and things. Yet it is sweet to dwell upon those early days of one's Christian course, before the stern realities of desert life had, in any measure, checked the gush of warm and generous affections,--before deceit and corruption and hypocrisy had well-nigh dried up the springs of the heart's confidence, and placed the whole moral being beneath the chilling influences of a suspicious disposition.

That such results have been produced, in many cases, by years of experience, is, alas! too true. Happy is he who, though his eyes have been opened to see nature in a clearer light than that which this world supplies, can nevertheless serve his generation by the energy of that grace which flows forth from the bosom of G.o.d. Who ever knew the depths and windings of the human heart as Jesus knew them? "He knew _all_, and needed not that any should testify of man; for he knew what was in man." (John ii. 24, 25.) So well did He know man, that He could not commit Himself unto him. He could not accredit man's professions, or endorse his pretensions. And yet, who so gracious as He? Who so loving, so tender, so compa.s.sionate, so sympathizing? With a heart that understood all, He could feel for all. He did not suffer His perfect knowledge of human worthlessness to keep Him aloof from human need. "He went about doing good." Why? Was it because He imagined that all those who flocked around Him were real? No; but "because G.o.d was with Him." (Acts x. 38.) This is our example. Let us follow it, though, in doing so, we shall have to trample on _self_ and all its interests, at every step of the way.

Who would desire that wisdom, that knowledge of nature, that experience, which only lead men to ensconce themselves within the inclosures of a hard-hearted selfishness, from which they look forth with an eye of dark suspicion upon everybody? Surely, such a result could never follow from aught of a heavenly or excellent nature. G.o.d gives wisdom; but it is not a wisdom which locks the heart against all the appeals of human need and misery. He gives a knowledge of nature; but it is not a knowledge which causes us to grasp with selfish eagerness that which we, falsely, call "our own." He gives experience; but it is not an experience which results in suspecting everybody except myself. If I am walking in the footprints of Jesus, if I am imbibing, and therefore manifesting, His excellent spirit, if, in short, I can say, "To me to live is Christ;" then, while I walk through the world, with a knowledge of what the world is; while I come in contact with man, with a knowledge of what I am to expect from him; I am able, through grace, to manifest Christ in the midst of it all.

The springs which move me, and the objects which animate me, are all _above_, where He is, who is "the same yesterday, and to-day, and forever." (Heb. xiii. 8.) It was this which sustained the heart of that beloved and honored servant, whose history, even so far, has furnished us with such deep and solid instruction. It was this which carried him through the trying and varied scenes of his wilderness course. And we may safely a.s.sert that, at the close of all, notwithstanding the trial and exercise of forty years, Moses could embrace his brother when he stood on Mount Hor, with the same warmth as he had when first he met him "in the mount of G.o.d." True, the two occasions were very different. At "the mount of G.o.d" they met and embraced, and started together on their divinely-appointed mission.

Upon "Mount Hor" they met by the commandment of Jehovah, in order that Moses might strip his brother of his priestly robes, and see him gathered to his fathers, because of an error in which he himself had partic.i.p.ated. (How solemn! How touching!) Circ.u.mstances vary: men turn away from one; but with G.o.d "is no variableness, neither shadow of turning." (James i. 17.)

"And Moses and Aaron went and gathered together all the elders of the children of Israel; and Aaron spake all the words which the Lord had spoken unto Moses, and did the signs in the sight of the people. And the people believed; and when they heard that the Lord had visited the children of Israel, and that He had looked upon their affliction, then they bowed their heads and wors.h.i.+ped." (Ver. 29-31.) When G.o.d works, every barrier must give way. Moses had said, "The people will not believe me." But the question was not as to whether they would believe him, but whether they would believe G.o.d. When a man is enabled to view himself simply as the messenger of G.o.d, he may feel quite at ease as to the reception of his message. It does not detract, in the smallest degree, from his tender and affectionate solicitude in reference to those whom he addresses. Quite the contrary; but it preserves him from that inordinate anxiety of spirit which can only tend to unfit him for calm, elevated, steady testimony. The messenger of G.o.d should ever remember whose message he bears. When Zacharias said to the angel, "Whereby shall I know this?" was the latter perturbed by the question?

Not in the least. His calm, dignified reply was, "I am Gabriel, that stand in the presence of G.o.d, and am sent to speak unto thee, and to show thee these glad tidings." (Luke i. 18, 19.) The angel rises before the doubting mortal, with a keen and exquisite sense of the dignity of his message. It is as if he would say, How can you doubt, when a messenger has actually been dispatched from the very presence-chamber of the Majesty of heaven? Thus should every messenger of G.o.d, in his measure, go forth, and, in this spirit, deliver his message.

CHAPTERS V. & VI.

The effect of the first appeal to Pharaoh seemed aught but encouraging. The thought of losing Israel made him clutch them with greater eagerness and watch them with greater vigilance. Whenever Satan's power becomes narrowed to a point, his rage increases. Thus it is here. The furnace is about to be quenched by the hand of redeeming love; but ere it is, it blazes forth with greater fierceness and intensity. The devil does not like to let go any one whom he has had in his terrible grasp. He is "a strong man armed," and while he "keepeth his palace, his goods are in peace." But, blessed be G.o.d, there is "a stronger than he," who has taken from him "his armor wherein he trusted," and divided the spoils among the favored objects of His everlasting love.

"And afterward, Moses and Aaron went in, and told Pharaoh,--'Thus saith the Lord G.o.d of Israel, Let My people go, that they may hold a feast unto Me in the wilderness.'" (Chap. v. 1.) Such was Jehovah's message to Pharaoh. He claimed full deliverance for the people on the ground of their being His, and in order that they might hold a feast unto Him in the wilderness. Nothing can ever satisfy G.o.d in reference to His elect, but their entire emanc.i.p.ation from the yoke of bondage.

"Loose him and let him go" is really the grand motto in G.o.d's gracious dealings with those who, though held in bondage by Satan, are nevertheless the objects of His eternal love.

When we contemplate Israel amid the brick-kilns of Egypt, we behold a graphic figure of the condition of every child of Adam by nature.

There they were, crushed beneath the enemy's galling yoke, and having no power to deliver themselves. The mere mention of the word _liberty_ only caused the oppressor to bind his captives with a stronger fetter, and to lade them with a still more grievous burden. It was absolutely necessary that deliverance should come from without. But from whence was it to come! Where were the resources to pay their ransom? or where was the power to break their chains? And even were there both the one and the other, where was the _will_? Who would take the trouble of delivering them? Alas! there was no hope, either within or around.

They had only to look up. Their refuge was in G.o.d. He had both the power and the will. He could accomplish a redemption both by price and by power. In Jehovah, and in Him alone, was there salvation for ruined and oppressed Israel.

Thus it is in every case. "Neither is there salvation in any other; for there is none other name under heaven, given among men, whereby we must be saved." (Acts iv. 12.) The sinner is in the hands of one who rules him with despotic power. He is "sold under sin"--"led captive by Satan at his will" fast bound in the fetters of l.u.s.t, pa.s.sion, and temper,--"without strength," "without hope," "without G.o.d." Such is the sinner's condition. How, then, can he help himself? What can he do? He is the slave of another, and everything he does is done in the capacity of a slave. His thoughts, his words, his acts, are the thoughts, words, and acts of a slave. Yea, though he should weep and sigh for emanc.i.p.ation, his very tears and sighs are the melancholy proofs of his slavery. He may struggle for freedom; but his very struggle, though it evinces a desire for liberty, is the positive declaration of his bondage.

Nor is it merely a question of the sinner's _condition_; his very _nature_ is radically corrupt--wholly under the power of Satan. Hence he not only needs to be introduced into a new condition, but also to be endowed with a new nature. The nature and the condition go together. If it were possible for the sinner to better his condition, what would it avail so long as his nature was irrecoverable bad? A n.o.bleman might take a beggar off the streets and adopt him; he might endow him with a n.o.ble's wealth, and set him in a n.o.ble's position; but he could not impart to him n.o.bility of nature; and thus the nature of a beggarman would never be at home in the condition of a n.o.bleman.

There must be a nature to suit the condition; and there must be a condition to suit the capacity, the desires, the affections, and the tendencies of the nature.

Now, in the gospel of the grace of G.o.d, we are taught that the believer is introduced into an entirely new condition; that he is no longer viewed as in his former state of guilt and condemnation, but as in a state of perfect and everlasting justification; that the condition in which G.o.d now sees him is not only one of full pardon, but it is such that infinite holiness cannot find so much as a single stain. He has been taken out of his former condition of guilt, and placed absolutely and eternally in a new condition of unspotted righteousness. It is not, by any means, that his old condition is improved. This is utterly impossible. "That which is crooked cannot be made straight." "Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots?" Nothing can be more opposed to the fundamental truth of the gospel than the theory of a gradual improvement in the sinner's condition. He is born in a certain condition, and until he is "born again" he cannot be in any other. He may try to improve, he may resolve to be better for the future--to "turn over a new leaf"--to live a different sort of life; but, all the while, he has not moved a single hair's breadth out of his real condition as a sinner. He may become "religious," as it is called,--he may try to pray, he may diligently attend to ordinances, and exhibit an appearance of moral reform; but none of these things can, in the smallest degree, affect his positive condition before G.o.d.

The case is precisely similar as to the question of _nature_. How can a man alter his nature? He may make it undergo a process, he may try to subdue it--to place it under discipline; but it is nature still.

"That which is born of the flesh is flesh." There must be a new nature as well as a new condition. And how is this to be had? By believing G.o.d's testimony concerning His Son. "As many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of G.o.d, even _to them that believe on His name_: which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of G.o.d." (John i. 12, 13.) Here we learn that those who believe on the name of the only begotten Son of G.o.d, have the right or privilege of being sons of G.o.d. They are made partakers of a new nature: they have gotten eternal life.--"He that believeth on the Son _hath_ everlasting life" (John iii.

36.).--"Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that _heareth_ My word, and _believeth_ on Him that sent Me, _hath_ everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but _is_ pa.s.sed from death unto life"

(John v. 24.).--"And this is life eternal, that they might know Thee, the only true G.o.d, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent" (John xvii.

3.).--"And this is the record, that G.o.d hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He that hath the Son _hath_ life." (1 John v. 11, 12.)

Such is the plain doctrine of the Word in reference to the momentous questions of condition and nature. But on what is all this founded?

How is the believer introduced into a condition of divine righteousness and made partaker of the divine nature? It all rests on the great truth that "JESUS DIED AND ROSE AGAIN." That blessed One left the bosom of eternal love, the throne of glory, the mansions of unfading light; came down into this world of guilt and woe; took upon Him the likeness of sinful flesh; and, having perfectly exhibited and perfectly glorified G.o.d in all the movements of His blessed life here below, He died upon the cross, under the full weight of His people's transgressions. By so doing, He divinely met all that was or could be against us. He magnified the law and made it honorable; and, having done so, He became a curse by hanging on the tree. Every claim was met, every enemy silenced, every obstacle removed. "Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other."

Infinite justice was satisfied, and infinite love can flow, in all its soothing and refres.h.i.+ng virtues, into the broken heart of the sinner; while, at the same time, the cleansing and atoning stream that flowed from the pierced side of a crucified Christ, perfectly meets all the cravings of a guilty and convicted conscience. The Lord Jesus, on the cross, stood in our place. He was our representative. He died, "the just for the unjust." "He was made sin for us." (2 Cor. v. 21; 1 Peter iii. 18.) He died the sinner's death, was buried, and rose again, having accomplished all. Hence, there is absolutely nothing against the believer. He is linked with Christ, and stands in the same condition of righteousness. "As He is, so are we in this world." (1 John iv. 17.)

This gives settled peace to the conscience. If I am no longer in a condition of guilt, but in a condition of justification,--if G.o.d only sees me _in_ Christ and as Christ, then, clearly, my portion is perfect peace. "Being justified by faith, we _have_ peace with G.o.d through our Lord Jesus Christ." (Rom. v. 1.) The blood of the Lamb has canceled all the believer's guilt,--blotted out his heavy debt, and given him a perfectly blank page, in the presence of that holiness which "cannot look upon sin."

But the believer has not merely found peace with G.o.d; he is made a child of G.o.d, so that he can taste the sweetness of communion with the Father and the Son, through the power of the Holy Ghost. The cross is to be viewed in two ways: first, as satisfying G.o.d's claims; secondly, as expressing G.o.d's affections. If I look at my sins in connection with the claims of G.o.d as a Judge, I find, in the cross, a perfect settlement of those claims. G.o.d, as a Judge, has been divinely satisfied--yea, glorified, in the cross. But there is more than this.

G.o.d had affections as well as claims; and, in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ, all those affections are sweetly and touchingly told out into the sinner's ear; while, at the same time, he is made partaker of a new nature which is capable of enjoying those affections and having fellows.h.i.+p with the heart from which they flow. "For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to G.o.d." (1 Peter iii. 18.) Thus, we are not only brought into _a condition_, but unto _a Person_, even G.o.d Himself, and we are endowed with _a nature_ which can delight in Him.--"_We also joy in G.o.d_, through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the reconciliation (margin)." (Rom. v. 11.)

What force and beauty, therefore, can we see in those emanc.i.p.ating words, "Let My people go, that they may hold a feast unto Me in the wilderness." "The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He hath anointed Me to preach the gospel; He hath sent Me to heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised." (Luke iv. 18.) The glad tidings of the gospel announce full deliverance from every yoke of bondage. Peace and liberty are the boons which that gospel bestows on all who believe it, as G.o.d has declared it.

And mark, it is "that they may hold a feast to _Me_." If they were to get done with Pharaoh, it was that they might begin with G.o.d. This was a great change. Instead of toiling under Pharaoh's taskmasters, they were to feast in company with Jehovah; and, although they were to pa.s.s from Egypt into the wilderness, still the divine presence was to accompany them; and if the wilderness was rough and dreary, it was the way to the land of Canaan. The divine purpose was, that they should hold a feast unto the Lord in the wilderness, and in order to do this, they should be "_let go_" out of Egypt.

However, Pharaoh was in no wise disposed to yield obedience to the divine mandate. "Who is the Lord," said he, "that I should obey His voice to let Israel go? I know not the Lord, neither will I let Israel go." (Chap. v. 2.) Pharaoh most truly expressed, in these words, his real condition. His condition was one of ignorance and consequent disobedience. Both go together. If G.o.d be not known, He cannot be obeyed; for obedience is ever founded upon knowledge. When the soul is blessed with the knowledge of G.o.d, it finds this knowledge to be life (John xvii. 3.), and life is power; and when I get power, I can act.

It is obvious that one cannot act without life; and therefore it is most unintelligent to set people upon doing certain things in order to get that by which alone they can do anything.

But Pharaoh was as ignorant of himself as he was of the Lord. He did not know that he was a poor, vile worm of the earth, and that he had been raised up for the express purpose of making known the glory of the very One whom he said he knew not. (Exod. ix. 16; Rom. ix. 17.) "And they said, 'The G.o.d of the Hebrews has met with us: let us go, we pray thee, three days' journey into the desert, and sacrifice unto the Lord our G.o.d; lest He fall upon us with pestilence or with the sword.'

And the king of Egypt said unto them, 'Wherefore do ye, Moses and Aaron, let the people from their work? Get you unto your burdens ...

let there more work be laid upon the men, that they may labor therein; and let them not regard _vain words_.'" (Ver. 3-9.)

What a development of the secret springs of the human heart we have here! What complete incompetency to enter into the things of G.o.d! All the divine t.i.tles and the divine revelations were, in Pharaoh's estimation, "vain words." What did he know or care about "three days'

journey into the wilderness," or "a feast to Jehovah"? How could he understand the need of such a journey, or the nature or object of such a feast? Impossible. He could understand burden-bearing and brick-making; these things had an air of reality about them, in his judgment; but as to aught of G.o.d, His service, or His wors.h.i.+p, he could only regard it in the light of an idle chimera, devised by those who only wanted an excuse to make their escape from the stern realities of actual life.

Thus has it too often been with the wise and great of this world. They have ever been the most forward to write folly and vanity upon the divine testimonies. Hearken, for example, to the estimate which the "most n.o.ble Festus" formed of the grand question at issue between Paul and the Jews:--"They had certain questions against him of their own superst.i.tion, and _of one Jesus, which was dead, whom Paul affirmed to be alive_." (Acts xxv. 19.) Alas! how little he knew what he was saying! How little he knew what was involved in the question, as to whether "Jesus" was "dead" or "alive"! He thought not of the solemn bearing of that momentous question upon himself and his friends, Agrippa and Bernice; but that did not alter the matter; he and they know somewhat more about it now, though in their pa.s.sing moment of earthly glory they regarded it as a superst.i.tious question, wholly beneath the notice of men of common sense, and only fit to occupy the disordered brain of visionary enthusiasts. Yes; the stupendous question which fixes the destiny of every child of Adam--on which is founded the present and everlasting condition of the Church and the world--which stands connected with all the divine counsels,--this question was, in the judgment of Festus, a vain superst.i.tion.

Thus was it in Pharaoh's case. He knew nothing of "the Lord G.o.d of the Hebrews"--the great "I AM," and hence he regarded all that Moses and Aaron had said to him, in reference to doing sacrifice to G.o.d, as "vain words." The things of G.o.d must ever seem vain, profitless, and unmeaning to the unsanctified mind of man. His name may be made use of as part of the flippant phraseology of a cold and formal religiousness; but He Himself is not known. His precious name, which, to a believer's heart, has wrapped up in it all that he can possibly need or desire, has no significancy, no power, no virtue for an unbeliever. All, therefore, connected with G.o.d--His words, His counsels, His thoughts, His ways,--everything, in short, that treats of or refers to Him, is regarded as "vain words."

However, the time is rapidly approaching when it will not be thus. The judgment-seat of Christ, the terrors of the world to come, the surges of the lake of fire, will not be "vain words." a.s.suredly not; and it should be the great aim of all who, through grace, believe them now to be realities, to press them upon the consciences of those who, like Pharaoh, regard the making of bricks as the only thing worth thinking about--the only thing that can be called real and solid.

Alas! that even Christians should so frequently be found living in the region of sight--the region of earth--the region of nature--as to lose the deep, abiding, influential sense of the reality of divine and heavenly things. We want to live more in the region of faith--the region of heaven--the region of the "new creation." Then we should see things as G.o.d sees them, think about them as He thinks; and our whole course and character would be more elevated, more disinterested, more thoroughly separated from earth and earthly things.

But Moses' sorest trial did not arise from Pharaoh's judgment about his mission. The true and whole-hearted servant of Christ must ever expect to be looked on, by the men of this world, as a mere visionary enthusiast. The point of view from which they contemplate him is such as to lead us to look for this judgment and none other. The more faithful he is to his heavenly Master, the more he walks in His footsteps, the more conformed he is to His image, the more likely he is to be considered, by the sons of earth, as one "beside himself."

This, therefore, should neither disappoint nor discourage him. But then it is a far more painful thing when his service and testimony are misunderstood, unheeded, or rejected by those who are themselves the specific objects thereof. When such is the case, he needs to be much with G.o.d, much in the secret of His mind, much in the power of communion, to have his spirit sustained in the abiding reality of his path and service. Under such trying circ.u.mstances, if one be not fully persuaded of the divine commission, and conscious of the divine presence, he will be almost sure to break down.

Had not Moses been thus upheld, his heart must have utterly failed him when the augmented pressure of Pharaoh's power elicited from the officers of the children of Israel such desponding and depressing words as these,--"The Lord look upon you, and judge; because ye have made our savor to be abhorred in the eyes of Pharaoh, and in the eyes of his servants, to put a sword in their hand to slay us." This was gloomy enough; and Moses felt it so, for "he returned unto the Lord, and said, 'Lord, wherefore hast Thou so evil entreated this people?

Why is it that Thou hast sent me? For since I came unto Pharaoh to speak in Thy name, he hath done evil to this people; neither hast Thou delivered Thy people at all.'" The aspect of things had become most discouraging, at the very moment when deliverance seemed at hand; just as, in nature, the darkest hour of the night is often that which immediately precedes the dawn of the morning. Thus will it a.s.suredly be in Israel's history in the latter day. The moment of most profound darkness and depressing gloom will precede the bursting of "the Sun of Righteousness" from behind the cloud, with healing in His wings to heal eternally "the hurt of the daughter of His people."

We may well question how far genuine faith, or a mortified will, dictated the "_wherefore?_" and the "_why?_" of Moses, in the above quotation. Still, the Lord does not rebuke a remonstrance drawn forth by the intense pressure of the moment. He most graciously replies, "Now shalt thou see what I will do to Pharaoh: for with a strong hand shall he let them go, and with a strong hand shall he drive them out of his land." (Chap. vi. 1.) This reply breathes peculiar grace.

Instead of reproving the petulance which could presume to call in question the unsearchable ways of the great I AM, that ever-gracious One seeks to relieve the hara.s.sed spirit of His servant by unfolding to him what He was about to do. This was worthy of the blessed G.o.d--the unupbraiding Giver of every good and every perfect gift. "He knoweth our frame; He remembereth that we are dust." (Ps. ciii. 14.)

Nor is it merely in His actings that He would cause the heart to find its solace, but in Himself--in His very name and character. This is full, divine, and everlasting blessedness. When the heart can find its sweet relief in G.o.d Himself--when it can retreat into the strong tower which His name affords--when it can find, in His character, a perfect answer to all its need, then, truly, it is raised far above the region of the creature, it can turn away from earth's fair promises, it can place the proper value on man's lofty pretensions.

The heart which is endowed with an experimental knowledge of G.o.d can not only look forth upon earth, and say, "All is vanity;" but it can also look straight up to Him, and say, "All my springs are in Thee."

"And G.o.d spake unto Moses, and said unto him, 'I am the Lord: and I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by the name of G.o.d Almighty; but by My name JEHOVAH was I not known to them. And I have also established My covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan, the land of their pilgrimage, wherein they were strangers. And I have also heard the groaning of the children of Israel, whom the Egyptians keep in bondage; and I have remembered My covenant.'"

"JEHOVAH" is the t.i.tle which He takes as the Deliverer of His people, on the ground of His covenant of pure and sovereign grace. He reveals Himself as the great self-existing Source of redeeming love, establis.h.i.+ng His counsels, fulfilling His promises, delivering His elect people from every enemy and every evil. It was Israel's privilege ever to abide under the safe covert of that significant t.i.tle--a t.i.tle which displays G.o.d acting for His own glory, and taking up His oppressed people in order to show forth in them that glory.

"Wherefore say unto the children of Israel, 'I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will rid you out of their bondage, and I will redeem you with a stretched-out arm, and with great judgments; and I will take you to Me for a people, and I will be to you a G.o.d; and ye shall know that I am the Lord your G.o.d, which bringeth you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians.