(Ex. 3:18; 32:1-6; 33:5-1018And they shall hearken to thy voice: and thou shalt come, thou and the elders of Israel, unto the king of Egypt, and ye shall say unto him, The Lord God of the Hebrews hath met with us: and now let us go, we beseech thee, three days' journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God. (Exodus 3:18)
1And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mount, the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron, and said unto him, Up, make us gods, which shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him. 2And Aaron said unto them, Break off the golden earrings, which are in the ears of your wives, of your sons, and of your daughters, and bring them unto me. 3And all the people brake off the golden earrings which were in their ears, and brought them unto Aaron. 4And he received them at their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, after he had made it a molten calf: and they said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. 5And when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made proclamation, and said, To morrow is a feast to the Lord. 6And they rose up early on the morrow, and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play. (Exodus 32:1‑6)
5For the Lord had said unto Moses, Say unto the children of Israel, Ye are a stiffnecked people: I will come up into the midst of thee in a moment, and consume thee: therefore now put off thy ornaments from thee, that I may know what to do unto thee. 6And the children of Israel stripped themselves of their ornaments by the mount Horeb. 7And Moses took the tabernacle, and pitched it without the camp, afar off from the camp, and called it the Tabernacle of the congregation. And it came to pass, that every one which sought the Lord went out unto the tabernacle of the congregation, which was without the camp. 8And it came to pass, when Moses went out unto the tabernacle, that all the people rose up, and stood every man at his tent door, and looked after Moses, until he was gone into the tabernacle. 9And it came to pass, as Moses entered into the tabernacle, the cloudy pillar descended, and stood at the door of the tabernacle, and the Lord talked with Moses. 10And all the people saw the cloudy pillar stand at the tabernacle door: and all the people rose up and worshipped, every man in his tent door. (Exodus 33:5‑10)).
I often look at our young people and think how wonderfully blessed they are. Have you ever stopped to thank God from the bottom of your soul, that you are where you are? That you are being brought up as nourished in the truth of God? That the teachings under which you sit from day to day and year to year, have in them nothing that would bring dishonor upon the person of Christ—nothing that reflects in any way upon His blessed person and character? God has marvelously preserved to us the Person of His own blessed Son. Dear young people, that is the ministry under which you sit from time to time, nourished and brought up under it. I wonder if you are half enough thankful for it? It is not what you would get in Christendom about you. It is almost impossible to find that which is free from error in these days. There is some element introduced that is not the truth of God. God is very jealous about the person of His Son. Nothing is so near the heart of God as that which pertains to the person of His own blessed Son. He is more interested in preserving the truth of His Son, than in the salvation of the lost. How blessed if you and I are found in that place where the truth as to Christ is preserved! We cannot be thankful enough for it!
The Lord Jesus warned us about these things. We get these words which apply to a future day, but have an application now. “Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not.” (Mat. 24:23). You can call anything Christ, you know. You can take a stump of wood, and call it Christ, and fall down and worship it. You can give a name to anything. The important thing is to see to it that you have the Christ of God?
Moses comes down and hears this that is going on. His apprehensions are aroused, and when the truth breaks in upon his soul, he smashes the tables of stone. It is the only thing he can do. To bring them into the camp would be to sweep away the whole people. He comes in, and takes up the matter with Aaron. Moses, a man walking with God, discerns something strenuous is needful, so he gives that call, “Who is on the Lord’s side? let him come unto me.” And immediately the tribe of Levi joins him. “And he said unto them, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel. Put every man his sword by his side, and go in and out from gate to gate throughout the camp, and slay every man his brother, and every man his companion, and every man his neighbor. And the children of Levi did according to the word of Moses; and there fell of the people that day about three thousand men.” What streams of blood! What cries of agony and terror as those Levites went about their sombre business that day!
Is there a voice in that for us today? Yes; there is. We are living in days just like that, when there is lots of dancing around golden calves; when there are lots of feasts to Jehovah; when there are burnt offerings and peace offerings going on around us! Do you know what God wants us to do? Gird on the sword. He wants us to slay. We are to be girt with the truth, and take the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, and armed thus we are to go forth for our Lord.
If you are exercised at all in your pathway as to the truth of God, perhaps it is a brother, a friend, a neighbor, who is standing in the way of your coming out loyally and boldly for Christ. “Go into the camp, and slay every man his brother, his friend, his neighbor.”
Dear young people, when it is a question of loyalty to Christ, earthly relationships, however near and dear they may be, must be put to one side. Nothing must stand in the way. “If any man come to Me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple.” Whatever it is, if it is your own dear mother that is standing in your way to your being loyal to Christ and His truth, you need that sword girded on, and you need to use it. Christ must have the pre-eminence. These words come from that gentle One Who said to that disciple whom He loved, “Son, behold thy mother!” and “Woman, behold thy son!” That same One who, in His dying agony, made that gracious provision for His mother after the flesh, that same One says, “If any man come to Me and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple.” There must be no consideration given to any relationship that comes in between our souls and loyalty to Christ. It is a day when we need to be girded with the truth of God, and, go forth fearlessly. It isn’t grace to show consideration for evil. The Word of God says, “Be ye angry and sin not.” There are certain circumstances under which it is a sin not to be angry. There is no quarter for evil that attacks the blessed person of Christ. How we need to be armed with the truth of God as to these things, and then go out and use it fearlessly in His name! This is what the Levites did in our chapter.
In the next chapter, we find the whole camp is utterly defiled; openly, for the present, defiled, Moses, again, led by that divine intelligence of a man walking near God, takes the tabernacle and pitches it outside the camp; not only outside, but afar off. “And it came to pass, that every one which sought the Lord went out into the tabernacle of the congregation, which was without the camp.”
Dear young people, the camp today has become a great, defiled camp, sad to say. God has long since pitched His tabernacle outside. The cry has long since gone forth, “Come out of her, My people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues”
If it is the person of the Lord Jesus that you are seeking to please, where are you going to find Him? Where will you find the manifestation of His presence? I would say, it is outside the camp; not only outside, but afar off from the camp. He is not the Author of compromise.
“And it came to pass, that every one which sought the Lord, went out unto the tabernacle of the congregation, which was without the camp.” The Spirit of God makes use of this scripture in the 13th of Hebrews. I think that is so precious.
Early in my Christian life, the Lord made it precious to my soul. The Lord Jesus suffered without the gate. “Let us therefore go forth unto Him without the camp, bearing His reproach.” It isn’t enough to get outside, but to find Him outside. I believe there are thousands of Christians today, as it were, floating around outside; their souls became sickened with what they found in the camp, but they haven’t found Him outside the camp. “Bearing His reproach.” “Unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on Him, but also to suffer for His sake.”
Do we know the joy of suffering reproach for Christ? “Let us go forth therefore unto Him without the camp, bearing His reproach.”
Remember about that girded sword. Remember not to spare the dearest earthly tie. It is a question of loyalty to Christ, Who is our all. How blessed to be found in the company of our Lord, in the place of His own choosing.
(Continued from page 297)