If we now read carefully Deuteronomy 12 beginning at Deuteronomy 11:31, we shall see the immense change that would take place, when they had crossed the Jordan, and were in actual possession of the land, and had rest in all that God had given them. All idolatry was to be destroyed. Then God would choose out a place. “But unto the place which the Lord your God shall choose out of all your tribes, to put His name there, even unto His habitation shall ye seek, and thither thou shalt come.” To that place they were to bring all their offerings. There they were to worship and eat, and rejoice before the Lord. All this is solemnly repeated. They were not to do there as they had done in the wilderness. “Every man whatsoever is right in his own eyes, for ye are not yet come to the rest and to the inheritance, which the Lord your God giveth you. But when ye go over Jordan, and dwell in the land which the Lord your God giveth you to inherit, and when He giveth you rest from all your enemies round about, so that ye dwell in safety: then there shall be a place which the Lord your God shall choose to cause His name to dwell there.”
What is the antitype or answer to all this? Can you say, It is true of me; after all my struggles in Egyptian bondage to sin and Satan, God brought me out by the blood of the Lamb? Through Pharaoh’s overthrow I see now, he that had the power of death is destroyed. Can you say, I am dead with Christ? Can you say, God has secured His own glory, and provided for all my needs, by the offering of Christ? Can you say, As to my conscience, the whole question of my sins is settled for eternity: I have eternal redemption; He hath by His one offering perfected me forever, in unchanging continuance?
Now take the epistles. Look at Ephesians 1. Look at the heavenly land, so to speak, our God and our Father hath given us. Here you see the believer clean over Jordan; that is, brought into the land God hath given him in Christ, in the heavenlies — out of Egypt, as you may read in Colossians 1:12-14, but into the heavenlies in Christ, in Ephesians in the one case really across Jordan; dead with Christ, and risen with Him (Col. 2:3), in Ephesians, right up in the heavenlies in the Beloved, in the same favor in the Beloved. Can you say, All this is true of me? Is God so good to you? In His free grace has He given you all this to enjoy in His own love in Christ? Oh, have you taken possession? Have you rest in the unbounded love of God, as thus revealed? Mark, until this is the case, you will be like Israel before they crossed the Jordan: as to all church matters, you will do what seemeth good in your own eyes. You look abroad, and you see many places that men have built, and placed their names, and you will choose for yourself, and not knowing the Lord’s mind. You will do what you think best, in what is called Liberty of Conscience. We will now pass on to Shiloh, Joshua 18:1-10.
The land had now rest from war. Israel were in the land. The Jordan had been crossed, the victory had been won. Surely this points to the resurrection of Christ from the dead. He was risen from the river, from among the dead, but all believers are risen with Him, as all Israel passed over dry shod. It is as risen with Christ that we are in possession of the heavenlies, the true Canaan. The risen Christ is Shiloh.
The Meaning of the Word Shiloh
In Scripture this word Shiloh has two meanings. It is the name of a person in Genesis 49:10. “The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be.” The meaning of Shiloh here as applied to a person is “whose it is,” or “whose right it is.” Surely that person is Christ the Lord. It was when He had accomplished the work of redemption, when God had raised Him from the dead, He was the One, the only One, “whose right it is” to gather to Himself. Whether we look at the church of God, or the future gathering of Israel and the millennial nations, or we look up to heaven in Revelation 5, and see one in the midst of the throne, there is only one whose name is Shiloh; to Him, “whose it is,” shall the gathering of the people be. He alone is the Shiloh. He alone is worthy. Worthy is the Lamb. Oh, let us never forget His words—what meaning they have— “For where two or three are gathered together to My name, there am I in the midst of them” (Matt. 18:20). And this brings us to
Shiloh As a Place
The Lord, the true Shiloh, first gathered to Himself, or formed the assembly, by the Holy Ghost at Pentecost (Acts 2). Thus Joshua 18, is a type of Pentecost. The meaning of “Shiloh” as a place is “peaceful tranquility;” the Lord’s own place, the place of peaceful tranquility. What was it but this when He arose from the dead? What were the first words of the risen Shiloh to His disciples assembled together? “Peace be unto you.” And He showed them His hands and His side He had finished the work; He had made peace by His blood-eternal, perfect peace—it is His right to speak peace. Have you heard His voice speaking to you?
Shiloh was the place where Jehovah was pleased to place His name at the first. “And the whole congregation of the children of Israel assembled themselves together at Shiloh and set up the tabernacle of the congregation there.” Joshua 18:1. What a picture of Pentecost! The true One, “whose right it is,” was come, and all believers were gathered unto Him. They were not gathered to Peter, but to the Lord. Peter was the preacher, but Christ, the exalted Lord, was the Shiloh to whom all were gathered.
Thus in the beginning all was done at Shiloh, before the Lord. True there were many who had not as yet received their inheritance, but Joshua was not indifferent: he says, “How long are ye slack to go to possess the land which the Lord God of your fathers hath given you.” Joshua 18:3. Missionaries were sent out, so that all might enjoy their possession. They went out from Shiloh, and returned to Shiloh, and the land was given to them at Shiloh. “Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as My Father hath sent Me, even so send I you.” John 20:21 Thus He sent them out as missionaries to make known peace and forgiveness of sins. And it is only as we drink in His precious peace into our own souls, and enjoy in peaceful tranquility the certainty of sins forgiven; yea, that we are accepted in the favor of the beloved One—that we can expect to be used in bringing others into the possession of that present enjoyment of the inheritance which God our Father has given us in Christ. Oh, to go out from His peaceful presence, as He came forth from the Father.
(Continued and to be continued).