We may remember our condition as sinners, but we are to enjoy our condition as saved (Eph. 2). We may remember condemnation now, as in glory we shall remember the toil and contradictions of the pilgrimage. But salvation is to be our subject now just as glory will be then.
Booths were made in the feast of tabernacles, but they were only remembrances in order to enhance present joy in the fruitful land, and in their cities and villages. That their father had been a Syrian, ready to perish, is to be remembered by the Israelite worshipping in the midst of his inheritance, but his basket of first fruits is to be his object (Deut. 26).
So it is in Neh. 8. The law rightly caused the people to mourn, but the day was the first day of the seventh month, a day of blowing of trumpets. Mourning under the law must give place to joy in the Lord and form the character of the people.
ADAM: What formed Adam's character as we see him and his company in Gen. 4? It was the redemption he had learned. He is happy in God there and a stranger on the earth.
NOAH: What formed Noah's character in the ark? The redemption he was then proving. He was not handling the gopher boards of his house to see whether they were doing their duty by keeping him safe, but opening the window in expectation of the new world.
ISRAEL: What formed Israel's character in that paschal night in Egypt? They were feeding on the Lamb whose blood at that moment was sheltering them. They were not anxiously inspecting the scene of judgment outside to see if the Angel had passed by.
MOSES: What gave Moses a character when he was in the Mount with God? He had quaked and feared at the foot of the hill, but all that is laid aside and left behind. With unveiled face he is in the presence of God, having been introduced to Christ in the shadows of good things to come.
THE BELIEVER: What is to give the believer his experience and form his character? Salvation: the consciousness and certainty of being pardoned and accepted will form the believer's character. The joy of the Lord is to be his strength. He is to know himself as brought near by the blood of Christ, though remembering that he was a Gentile, a sinner uncircumcised, far off, without God and without hope, a child of wrath even as others.
NEHEMIAH: In the eighth chapter of Nehemiah He teaches the congregation of Israel that the joy of the Lord is to be their strength. The law had caused them to mourn, but the day which brought them together was the feast of trumpets. Their experience and their character were to be formed by that day, not by the law. They were to rejoice themselves, and with largeness of heart seek to make others as happy as themselves. How very full of blessing this is.
God is now to be apprehended by us in grace; we are to know Him as love, and find our dwelling-place in Him. The law may have taught us to deal with Him as righteous and think of Him as a judge. The gospel teaches us to know Him in grace and gives us communion with Him as our Savior.
As the gospel prevails over the law in this dispensation, so is it to prevail in our experiences. Many of us are feeble, hindered by nature and by Satan. The Lord will surely comfort the feeble-minded and support the weak. But we must recognize that this is His way and that it ought to be our way.
Words of Truth