UK 2:8-20{It is a solemn fact, beloved friends, that where there is faithfulness to Christ one is obliged to leave things on the earth which He has left, and follow Him up to heaven, where He is gone. The God of glory gave Him out as the One in whom all His counsels lay, and earth having rejected Him, the heavens have received Him back for another and a brighter day.
Every previous thing in the dealings of God with man had pointed to Him for the fulfillment of all promised blessing below, and His leaving this earth made one great vacuum, and worse: It was not that God had not lighted the world up-moreover by the presence of His Son, as " the light of life "-it was that Satan and man's rebellion had put the light out. The devil may seek to kindle and set up lights of his own, but the eye of faith, that follows God in His ways, from the moment that Adam was put out of the garden, can see Him working to bring in His own eternal glory, by the second Man. If in severity He condemn the original world and bring in a deluge on it, yet, in the midst of that very deluge, we get the ark bearing witness that in judgment. He remembers mercy. If His people be in the bondage of Egypt, He brings in deliverance by redemption; He does the best thing He can, but He could not bring out full and eternal redemption until the cross. He separated a people to Himself, brought them through the waters of death on the ground of the shed blood, and destroyed their enemies.
Let me ask what is that burning bush'? I do not know what you think of it, but T. am sure it was " a great' sight," because of the fire and the voice out of the midst. Do you not think Moses was right to turn aside and look at it? What a sight! A bush burning with fire, and not consumed! We get a secret thought of God from the voice. He says: I will never for an instant let go the claims of my holiness nor of my grace. Fire is the only thing that can express it in such a world as this. It lights upon the bush, but the bush is not consumed. " Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look upon God; " but the bush, in its opening mystery, brings them together. Was not this the secret of God for that moment? In it God revealed Himself.
And what was the ministry of Moses but unfolding that secret? The fire travels from that bush to the land 'of Egypt, and it finds there, in the Paschal lamb, the blood, the sacrifice; and the people, who are in type the bush, are not consumed, but feed upon the flesh which the fire roasts. It is the people now that are in question, not the bush. And there is the fire of God's holiness; and what has it found? It has found its food, likewise, in that sacrifice. Did the fire consume the people? No more than it consumed the bush. God has found what satisfies His holiness, and He feeds upon it. The blood is sprinkled upon the doorposts, whilst His beloved people feed on the lamb roast that night to be much remembered. And then they not only pass out of Egypt, but they sing the song of deliverance at the Red Sea, saying, " The Lord hath triumphed gloriously."
We next find Moses going up the mount, and seeing the God of Israel above, with a pavement of sapphire-stone under His feet. God can take him from the bush, and the fire, and the voice, up there, as we read: " Moses went up into the mount, and a cloud covered the mount." God is making a way for Himself; if He do not, there is no way for us to get to Him. All that He is must be further and fuller declared to Moses for His glory, and shall be found in the sanctuary in relation with His people, as we read: "He reared up the court round about the tabernacle and the altar, and set up the hanging of the court gate. So
Moses finished the work." What a moment was this! Will God use this path through the sanctuary? Then a cloud covered the tent of the congregation, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle, so that Moses was not able to enter in because of the glory." Everything connected with the mount of God was burning fire, whether in the bush, or in Egypt, or on the top of the mountain. But the burning fire has found out a new way for itself through the tabernacle, and there God has opened a meeting-place for Himself and His people. He says, I will make such a path as shall show out my glory, both in holiness and grace; every step of it shall be to make myself known, and to make them know me. God is forming a way for Himself; and I know Him well enough to know that it is sure to—be a path in which others are to follow Him. Yea, the fire, the glory, and the cloud became their traveling companions and guides.
Who gave the directions about this wonderful sanctuary? Go from altar to altar, from one court to another, till you come at last to the sin-offering. Who could make such a path for himself and for God? One Man only upon earth-L-Jesus-has finished it, and sat down at the right- hand in heaven. God gave Moses the patterns of it, Of that pathway through the sanctuary. He had begun this intercourse with God at the bush, by hiding his face, but he came down with it so shining, that at last he had to put a veil over it. Think of what it was: God thus giving out His thoughts, and setting them up in patterns, that we may understand Him. He says: I will have the things constructed, and I will give to Bezaleel and the people the spirit of wisdom, that they may work up this purple, and blue, and scarlet, for I have created them; and I will turn them to my purpose of illustrating the coming Christ; and I will show you their divine use. Only take these things away from the world, and I will use them, for the gold, purple, and fine-twined linen are mine Look on, from the day when the tabernacle was raised, to the day when that Christ it pointed to said, " I have finished the work." Then it was that Christ took it all out of pattern, and God rent the veil from the top to the bottom. Why? It was God making a "way for Himself to come out in blessing, and for His people to enter into the Holiest as worshippers.
Here, in the passage we have read, we get the darling, the delight of the Father's bosom. When He left the Father, and came out from above to be born into this world, how the glory found its home with Him in Bethlehem. And when they laid Him in the grave, who was it stood by the sepulcher on the morning of the third day? It was the glory of the Father that -Waited there: " Raised from the dead by the glory of the Father."
When the Lord was born into this earth,-given out from the heavens, what were the three things spoken of in connection with Him? They were glory, peace, and good-will.. " Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good-will toward men." But if I ask any one as to their establishment in this world-if I Say, Where can I see the glory of God? I go to the cross, and there I see Christ east out. I go to look- for peace; where is it? I stand at the cross, and see peace trodden down by His betrayers and murderers. Where is good-will? Man has rejected it. " Glory to God i" they have refused it. " Peace on earth: " they have shed His blood. " Good-will toward men: " they will not have this Man, but Barabbas.
Now that Christ is crowned and seated on high, Man has taken away the glory which belongs to Christ, and attached it to himself. When I see public proclamations as to new glories, new titles, connected with earthly majesty, I say, What does it mean in the face of the rejected Majesty above? As I look at " Glory to God in the highest, on earth peace, and good-will to men," written over the Royal Exchange, What a thought one gets Of how Satan has not only refused rightful glories to Him, but has attached them to the powers and courts and marts of the world. The devil is at work as. to the counterfeit glory, peace, and good pleasure, in a thousand ways; but meanwhile God is never taking off His hand for a moment, but will end by making it all good to the Son of His love, and for the blessing of mankind.
Not only have glory, peace, and good-will been refused, but they are gone-necessarily gone with the One by whom they came in, but who has been rejected. The only way in which God can connect us with them now is by uniting us to Christ where He is in heaven, as the second Man, and Head of the creation. It is by the testimony of preaching the gospel this is made known to the inhabitants of the earth, and offered them.
I read from Luke 9, where we get a glimpse of the future millennial glory: "As he prayed, the fashion of his countenance was altered, and his raiment was white and glistering." He was accredited by God, and received honor and majesty.. "And they saw his glory." What a relief to turn from shadows and find all made true in Christ. We have had Moses and the patterns on Mount Horeb, which lead us on to two other mountains- to the Mount of Transfiguration and to the fire and sacrifice of Mount Calvary. Not, only do they see His glory on the former, but there is a voice from the excellent glory " This is my beloved Son." Here is the good pleasure, the good-will of God, not merely at His birth, but at His transfiguration, where He has reached the highest point that man could reach upon earth-the only proper answer of the power of God to the righteousness that conducted Him there. Here 'He is not alone; He not only has witnesses from above, but, in His love, He seeks to associate "His own" with Him But the higher He took them the more incompetent they Showed themselves, for they fell asleep. The nature would not do. It was not wickedness; it was actual weakness, which broke down under the sense of " how good it was " to be there.
Why did He not go higher? Did you ever ask yourself why? Why did He not go up into the excellent glory He had a title to; there was no place too high for Him. It was that He would have had to go back alone; and would He go back to heaven alone, as He had come out? Not He! What a moment of silence occurs between the heavens and the earth. Who shall break it? Moses had gone to sleep at the Mount Pisgah in the wilderness. The God who there hid him brought him to light again on the Mount of Transfiguration; as in the Song of Solomon, " I skip from mountain to mountain." We find on this last not only Moses, but Elias, the two witnesses, of all God could do with man by the law, and the one who vindicated the righteousness of God against the idolatry of Baal; and, besides these, the One who said, " I have labored in vain; I have spent my strength for naught." Testimony of all kinds, by Moses, Elias, and the Messiah, has utterly failed; and where are we to-turn? What has God yet in reserve, which in its infinitude stretches beyond Mounts Horeb and Tabor?
The Mount of Transfiguration revealed a gap and a want which Mount Calvary could alone supply. The two men in glory spoke to Him of what? " Of his decease which he should accomplish at Jerusalem." Will He come down and open a way through the sanctuary and His decease into the kingdom for a redeemed people?
Beloved friends, when we hear of earthly glory, of the turmoils of government, of dignity and royalty here, we gladly turn away from it all and say, We know the Son of man who went up into that mountain to fold up His glory and lay it by, that He might come down and do a work on Mount Calvary, by His sacrifice and death, in order to disclose, by His resurrection, a higher glory, the highest that God has, and which He has reserved for Christ and the church.
And now where do I look when I seek for " glory to God in the highest?" We connect it with Christ at the right hand of God. If we look for peace, it is there we go for it; and good pleasure too. Henceforth all must come down from God out of heaven, for Christ is there. Every thought of God, every revelation of God, every thought of government is there, as the new center and beginning. If He have changed His place, everything else must change its place too, and we go away with Him, and after Him.
But as for peace on earth, I read in chapter 12" Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell you, Nay; but rather division: for from henceforth there shall be five in one house divided, three against two, and two against three." How will you account for such a contra: diction as this? How can you put the angels' song and this together? You never can harmonize them. "-In the world ye shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world." You cannot put the Mount of Transfiguration and this together. The secret alone lies in His own change of position, and comes out in association with Christ. We come down from the mount and the kingdom and reign of the Son of man, that we may be identified with Him in His rejection.
What place has the rejection of Christ in your—heart? It must have a charm to every loyal breast, for what is it to be with Christ anywhere? Take the consequences of loyalty to Christ, and they will put. you in the very place of division at home and elsewhere which we have in Luke 12 Do any in disappointment and surprise say with the Emmaus disciples, What, will you not take the government? Will you not carry us into the millennial glory of that kingdom? No; I fold it all up; that I may first accomplish redemption by my cross. I am bringing in a greater glory, and to do it I must change mountains. Moses had it in his eye when he received the patterns of the sanctuary, but Christ accomplishes it. I want to press it on you how near we are to its fulfillment and manifestation in glory. It is a wonderful thing to see God putting His thoughts ages ago into shapes and forms, by colors and metals, so that we can understand Him and the Son of His love. It is one thing to see Him do that, but it is quite another to wait upon Christ, and see Him take everything out of type and put it into reality by His own death and resurrection, as witnessed by the Spirit to us. What! will He take the tabernacle out of type? Yes, and become also "the minister of the sanctuary, which the Lord pitched."
There is another passage in Luke 1 refer to as to peace: chapter 19:38. Here we find "peace in heaven, and glory in the highest." You get the transfer. It is not only the Mount of Transfiguration, but everything is transferred to heaven because Christ has changed His place, and we with Him A Christian must go to heaven in order to become one now.
And lastly, at the end of Luke, after Christ has done His sacrificial work on Mount Calvary, and been taken out of the grave by the glory of the Father, what is the effect of that wonderful work 2 The very first word from that risen Lord is peace. " Peace be unto you." He has put all right with God, and set us in the Father's love. If we look on to the epistles it is, '" Grace, mercy, and peace, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, be multiplied to you." Christ wrought this, and it is God who, from heaven, gives it us forth as our present portion, till the day comes when He will as surely take the church up as He took up Christ, according to His purpose in grace, before the world began.
Christ came down into this scene and accomplished all that was given Him to do, not only in His death, but in His life. In the opening days of His youth, in the ripening years of His manhood, what was it God looked down upon? A righteousness exhibited which never man had, and that marked the life that was laid down for us. How God loved to open the heavens and say, " This is my beloved on! " It is not only salvation I am speaking of; it is glory, and peace, and good pleasure; channels opened out between God and men that were never opened before. The Christ who was shining on that mount, brighter than the sun, when the voice from the excellent glory claimed Him as " my beloved Son," has quitted it for the darkness of Calvary, to bear the wrath of God. " My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" On each mountain there was a voice, but oh, how different! Oh, the grace that led Him there, a substitute for us! It was by His sufferings and death He overcame the liar and murderer, and by His ascension put us into the same relationship with God as Himself. Not only this, but when the glory of God was secured He went to the Mount of Olives, where He was received up to the right hand of 'God, and had all things put under His feet. Was that for Himself? No, but for the church-the Bride-as sharer in all His own delights. And now, in the mean while, is it on earth peace? No, but in heaven. It is peace with the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, as its new source to us. Nothing can come from heaven but grace, mercy, and peace. We see Jesus lift up His hands in priestly grace to bless His people, and as He blessed them He was parted from them and carried up to heaven. And where did they go? They went into the temple, "praising and blessing God." God was found out on the other side of resurrection in Christ, and that is a wonderful thing As risen from the dead, He goes up to God as the great High Priest, with our names upon His breast. We have found God out, not as the avenger of our sins, but as known in His beloved Son, so that this gospel may well close with the disciples praising and blessing God. It has brought us to God.
And if persecution arise against this testimony of our Lord, and from man being made nothing of, and not merely man, but the world too, what is it to us, who know that man and the world have emptied themselves of the choicest treasure God had to give? What does He give to comfort our hearts through it all? What but the glory of that second Man who is coming to take us out of it all, and in " the little while " His own sympathy and succor. May the light of that glory put out every other that this world can bring before us, so that we may shine as lights in it, holding forth the word of life. The world tries to pick up things to satisfy itself down here, but we are traveling along a path that is bright with the glories of Christ, and which satisfies God.. We say good-bye to the earth as it now is, except as coming back to bring out others to the possession and enjoyment of what we have reached in Christ. That path has led Him to glory, and it leads us into present peace and God's good pleasure in Christ as we tread it, till the day when He shall come to take us to Himself, to be like Him, and to see Him as He is. May the Holy Ghost so bring us into the power of God's thoughts about us, that we may be more like Christ down here, by living more with Him up there.
(J. E. B.)