(Read 1 Peter 1:18 to 20; 1 Cor. 10:1 to 12; Rom. 8:1 to 4; Josh. 3 and 1; Eph. 1:3 to 7)
These four types are not intimately connected with the Tabernacle, but afford such striking lessons concerning the children of Israel, who were ranged round the Tabernacle in their journey to Canaan, that we have deemed it well to insert this chapter.
There are four great historical types of the death of Christ, as illustrated in the journey of the children of Israel from Egypt to Canaan. They were
1. The Passover.
2. The Crossing of the Red Sea.
3. The Uplifting of the Brazen Serpent.
4. The Crossing of the Jordan into Canaan.
Very briefly they can be described as follows:—
1. The Passover, typifying how God satisfied His claims in respect of sin, so that He could redeem His people righteously.
2. The Crossing of the Red Sea, typifying the deliverance of believers from Satan's power (Pharaoh), and from the bondage of the world (Egypt).
3. The Uplifting of the Brazen Serpent, typifying how the believer gets deliverance from the bondage of the flesh by the introduction of Divine life, and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.
4. The Crossing of the Jordan into Canaan, typifying how the believer comes to be blessed " with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ " (Eph. 1:3).
This bare outline we will now begin to amplify.
The Passover
Let it be particularly noted at the outset that the Passover is the only type of the four in 'which there was blood-shedding.
The other three flow out of this first grand type, setting forth the great foundation of all our blessings, even the atoning work of our Lord Jesus Christ upon the cross of Calvary.
For after all how could there be any further action on God's part, if His righteous claims were not first met? And further, all God's subsequent actions in blessing His people are founded on this great outstanding start.
God was about to answer the groans of the oppressed children of Israel. But in order to do so, He must be righteous. The children of Israel were as much sinners as the Egyptians. What right had God to favor the children of Israel as against the Egyptians? The Egyptians as a nation had enslaved the children of Israel, and when God demanded that they should allow them to worship in the desert, Pharaoh refused. Therefore God in righteousness visited Egypt with His sore displeasure. If Pharaoh would not let the children of Israel go, God Himself would bring them forth out of Egypt " with a mighty hand, and with an outstretched arm, and with great terribleness, and with signs, and with wonders " (Deut. 26:8). On the other hand God could only redeem His people by first meeting His own righteous claims. The great point to grasp in the Passover is, that it was the one great and vital question of a settlement with God. Other questions came in later, but this is the one great matter to be first settled.
We would now state in a couple of sentences the whole pith of the matter. God shut Himself out as a righteous Judge, by bringing Himself in as a gracious yet righteous Savior. Of course this was all typical, but how rich is the type when we consider the Antitype.
A lamb without blemish had to be killed, its blood put into a basin, and with a bunch of hyssop the lintel and door posts of the houses where the Israelites were had to be sprinkled by blood, and Jehovah pledged His word that when He saw the blood He would pass over, hence the word, Passover. But in type it prefigures a righteous pass over. The blood of the lamb was but a type of the precious blood of Christ, which cleanseth from all sin. So we read in the New Testament, " Christ OUR PASSOVER is sacrificed for us " (1 Cor. 5;7) " Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot " (1 Peter 1:18, 19).
In previous chapters we have written about the Passover, so will add no more here.
The Crossing of the Red Sea
Once God's righteous claims were met, and that by His own provision, there was still present the lamentable condition of the children of Israel. In the cruel grip of Pharaoh, a nation of slaves, making " bricks without straw," in the land of Egypt, could God leave a redeemed people in that plight? A further action followed out of the first great action, the Passover. What was needed was deliverance from Pharaoh and Egypt. Pharaoh is a type of Satan. So we read, " Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He [Christ] also Himself likewise took part of the same; that through death He might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the Devil; and deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage " (Heb. 2:14, 15). Egypt is a type of the world. " And an angel of the LORD came up from Gilgal to Bochim, and said, I made you to go up out of Egypt, and have brought you unto the land which I sware unto your fathers; and I said, I will never break My covenant with you " (Judg. 2:1). The believer though in the world is not of the world. Twice over in the ever-memorable prayer of our Lord breathed into His Father's ear, we read, " They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world " (John 17:14, 16). What a wonderful deliverance!
1 Cor. 10:1 to 4 gives us a beautiful scriptural illustration of the typical meaning of the crossing of the Red Sea. The children of Israel passed through the Red Sea, that, which was death to the Egyptians, was for the Israelites the way of deliverance from Egypt and the bondage of Pharaoh. It must have been a terrible ordeal as the Egyptians in full-armed force threatened to annihilate them, hemming the Israelites in between Pi-hahiroth and Migdol and the sea. The case was desperate, but the sea in front was cleft in two, and a path made through it by the mighty power of the God-sent east wind, and they passed safely through to the other side.
1 Cor. 10 tells us how the children of Israel " were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea," as if the wall of water on each side, and the cloud resting on the water, made a dark tunnel through which they passed. What a deliverance! No more Pharaoh, no more Egypt, and on the other side of the Red Sea they were under the leadership of Moses with heavenly resources in the stream, which flowed from the smitten rock for drink, and the daily manna for food. We are told distinctly that the Rock that followed them was Christ, the water flowing from the smitten rock being designated as the Rock that followed them.
The Passover brought out, as we have already seen, the thought of the death of Christ FOR us. The Crossing of the Red Sea our IDENTIFICATION with that death. The children of Israel were baptized unto Moses. Believers are baptized unto the death of Christ, they are buried with Him by baptism, and are now free to walk in newness OF LIFE. The death of Christ has freed believers from the power of Satan, and from the world as a system away from God, and committed them to Christ spirit soul and body.
From Egypt lately come,
Where death and darkness reign,
We seek our new, our better home,
Where we our rest shall gain:
Hallelujah!
We are on our way to God."
The Uplifting of the Brazen Serpent
Towards the end of the children of Israel's wandering in the desert, a remarkable incident occurred. The soul of the people was much discouraged by the way, they murmured against God and Moses, saying, " Wherefore have ye brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no bread, neither is there any water; and our soul loatheth this light bread [manna]" (Num. 21:5). They murmured against the goodness of God, and despised His provision for them in giving them water from the flinty rock and " angels' food " (Psa. 78:25).
So " the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died " (Num. 21:6). What lesson have we to learn from this incident? It is one that takes much learning and is a very necessary one. Sin springs from a sinful nature. What can thistles produce but thistles? " Ye shall know them by their fruits," said the Lord. " Do men gather grapes of thorns, of figs of thistles? " (Matt. 7:16).
The Passover taught the lesson of deliverance from the judgment of God. The crossing of the Red Sea taught deliverance from Egypt (the world) and Pharaoh (Satan). The uplifting of the Brazen Serpent teaches the way of deliverance from sinful self. It is a deep and a practical lesson.
What was the remedy? Moses was instructed to make a Serpent of Brass, and those who looked would live. Have we any light thrown upon this in the New Testament? Most certainly we have. We read, " As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have eternal life (John 3:14, 15). The Brazen Serpent is typical of our Lord being lifted up to die on the cross that sinful men might have life.
There are two grand results flowing from the death of Christ, as seen in 1 John 4:9, 10. We read, " In this was manifested the love of God towards us, because that God sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might LIVE THROUGH HIM. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the PROPITIATION FOR OUR SINS." Not only the forgiveness of sins is ours, but DIVINE LIFE is imparted to every believer.
We read, " It came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the Serpent of Brass, he LIVED " (Num. 21:9). Just in the same way, the one who looks to Christ, once uplifted for our sins on the cross, that one will live. It is well seen that sinful flesh can only bring forth sin, and will never find a place in Heaven. As the child's hymn puts it,
" There is a city bright,
Closed are its gates to sin;
Naught that defileth
Naught that defileth,-Can ever enter in."
All through John's Epistle the great theme is life! Life!! LIFE!!! The gospel is framed on the type of the Uplifted Brazen Serpent.
Rom. 8:3, 4, brings out the same truth, but in a different setting. We read, " What the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." The Brazen Serpent was in the likeness of the fiery serpent that bit the people, the Lord Jesus was in the likeness of sinful flesh. He was not sinful flesh, or else He could not have been our Savior. Not only is sin atoned for, but sin in the flesh has been condemned in the death of our Lord Jesus Christ. Not only is the fruit (sins) dealt with, but also the root (sinful nature). Sins are forgiven. The sinful nature is not forgiven. That could never be. The only thing that will do for sin in the flesh is DEATH.
The great mistake of many in Christendom to-day is that they are trying to cultivate man in the flesh. If we tried to cultivate a thistle, we might be successful in producing bigger and more aggressive thistles, but we should only produce thistles. It is for the believer to recognize this, and to seek grace to " walk in the Spirit." The Apostle Paul speaks of " Newness of Life" (Rom. 6:4). The Apostle John speaks of " Eternal life " (John 3:15).
If once the teaching of the Brazen Serpent is apprehended, we shall learn that there is nothing in the flesh for God, that we cannot improve it, that we need to pass the sentence of death upon ourselves in this particular. It has been well said of the two natures they cannot be improved. The flesh is so bad it cannot be improved. The new nature is so good, it cannot be improved.
What a sight the uplifted Son of God must have been. What a lesson for us that not only has sin been atoned for, but the sinful nature has been condemned at the cross, and so if the Lord is to have a people in whom He can have pleasure, they must have a life to which no sin was ever attached, and the Holy Spirit of God must be given as the power for that new life, so that we " walk in the Spirit " (Gal. 5:25).
The Crossing of the Jordan
The Crossing of the Jordan meant the end of the wilderness journey, and entrance into Canaan, the land flowing with milk and honey. There was fighting to do to possess the land and to turn out the enemy. We Christians are in the wilderness so far as our earthly circumstances are concerned. We have to face trials and difficulties of all kinds. But in spirit we may be occupied with the blessed heavenly things that are ours, and in our minds have left the wilderness and find ourselves in what answers to Canaan.
We are blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. We are chosen to be holy and without blame before the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. We have received the adoption of Children by Jesus Christ. Here is a sphere of thought and feeling outside of this world of time and sense. As another has said, " We are introduced into a life which is on the other side of death by the power of the Spirit of God, as being dead and risen in Christ, there must be the remembrance of that death, by which we have been delivered from that which is on this side of it, of the ruin of man as he now is, and of the fallen creation to which he belongs."
Canaan cannot be the full type of Heaven for there was stern fighting for the possession of Canaan, and there will be no fighting in Heaven. It links on with Ephesians. " We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high [heavenly, same word as in Eph. 1:3] places " (Eph. 6:12). We are exhorted to take the whole armor of God that we may be able to stand, and not give up this wonderful portion that is ours.
In the type when the children of Israel passed over the Jordan, the river of death, the first movement was upon the part of the priests bearing the Ark of the Covenant. A space of 2,000 cubits had to be between it and the people. They had not passed that way heretofore.
As soon as the feet of the priests were dipped in the brim of the river, the waters of Jordan rose and stood up in a heap, very far from the city Adam, that is beside Zaretan, and those, that were flowing to the Dead Sea, failed and were cut off, and the people passed over.
Many have tried to explain this miracle as resulting from a landslide up stream that dammed the waters. But this cannot be. Jordan at that time of harvest had overflowed all its banks. And it was not till the priests' feet were dipped in the brim of the river that the miracle happened.
Note the Ark of the Covenant had to go first. Our Lord had to die. He bore the storm, He went through the tempest. He sank in deep waters. Alone He went into death, so that when we come to the river of death, we may find no water in it, but pass over dry-shod.
" He passed through death's dark raging flood To make our rest secure."
What a triumph is ours!
As soon as the priests' feet touched the brim of the river, the flood of waters ceased. As soon as all had passed over and the priests' feet were lifted up to the dry land, the waters returned.
Instructions were given that twelve men, a man from each of the twelve tribes of Israel, were each to carry a stone on his shoulder from the very place where the priests' feet had stood when they bore the Ark of the Covenant into the midst of the river bed, and then bring these twelve stones to the place where they were to lodge that night.
When any Israelite should ask in the days to come what was the meaning of the stones, this was to be the answer, " That the waters of Jordan were cut off before the Ark of the Covenant of the LORD; when it passed over Jordan, the waters of Jordan were cut off: and these stones shall be for a memorial unto the children of Israel forever " (Josh. 4:7).
This typically tells us that even when we are in the Heavenlies in our spirits, tasting those things which will be ours in all their fullness in Heaven itself, when we have our glorified bodies, and are with our Lord and like Him, that God would not allow us to forget where the foundation of our blessing was laid.
I remember going up to the top of a New York skyscraper many years ago. When we got to the dizzy height, I said to my friends as I looked over the parapet, " I never felt the necessity of a good foundation as I do to-day." They replied, " The foundation of this building consists of four stories beneath the level of the street, ribbed in steel, and exceedingly strong."
And so when we get to the heights of Christian experience on the other side, the Spirit of God will not allow us to forget the atoning death of our Lord, the foundation on which is built all our blessing.
Is there not a charming intimation of this when we read in the description of the holy Jerusalem, the symbolic city setting forth the Church in administration during the Millennium, " Come hither, I will show thee the Bride, the Lamb's wife? " In that gorgeous scene we read, " The Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the Temple of it," and again, " The Lamb is the light thereof "; and again, " a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb "; finally we read, " The throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it " (Rev. 21:9, 22, 23; 22:1, 3). The Lamb speaks of sacrifice, " Behold, the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world " (John 1:29).
We shall never forget our Lord as the Lamb of God throughout eternity.
Joshua finally took twelve stones, and embedded them in the midst of Jordan, where the priests' feet had stood whilst the people passed over. Thus was typified the fact that all that we are in the flesh is gone in the death of Christ, so that finally in the ways of God only new creation, new life, will stand before Him.