Address—A.C. Hayhoe
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The 25th chapter of the Book of Exodus.
Exodus chapter 25, verse one.
And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, verse 8.
And let them make me a sanctuary that I.
May dwell among them. That's to me a very, very marvelous and wonderful statement.
Here is the Lord expressing to His people through Moses.
The desire of his heart in these wonderful words. Let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them. The first time we ever find any such expression or any such thought in the Word of God. If we were to go back to the book of Genesis, we'd find there the dog looked down at Adam and Eve in their innocence in the garden.
And he accompanied with them, he conversed and walked with them in the cool of the day that he made no suggestion of dwelling. With that we find that he visited with Abram and Sarah at their tent door and enjoyed their hospitality and communed with Abraham. But he made no mention of dwelling with Abram. But now he looks down and in the 25th of Exodus, for the first time he reveals something.
Something new. Let them make me a sanctuary that I may dwell among them.
The loving heart of God. I believe in expressing itself here in a way that should speak afresh to each of us tonight. The desire of God's heart for the company of His people, expressed in this language that I may dwell with them. Why would it be that we find this first of all in the 25th of Exodus? I believe perhaps we could say that God for the first time is able to look down on.
And redeem people. Israel is now a redeemed people. They were sheltered by the blood of the slain lamb while yet in Egypt, and their houses were passed by because the blood was sprinkled on the door. And just as we mentioned that there is to me a lovely little thought in that story. We sometimes hear it told as though.
Judgment fell on this home and on that home, but judgment didn't touch this one because there was blood on the door.
Well, when I think of the story, I like to think of it this way. I believe that judgment fell on every home in all the land, Egyptian and Israelite alike. On some homes it fell on the 1St thorn, on others it fell on the land.
Isn't that right? Judgment fell on every home, but in some cases it was the first born. In others it was the Lamb. By the grace of God, your judgment and mine has already been born by the land of Gods providing our Lord Jesus Christ. But the children of Israel were not spoken of as a redeemed people until they stood on the other side of the Red Sea and sang with joy of heart.
Thou and thy mercy has LED forth thy people, which thou hast redeemed.
We would find if we went back to the 6th chapter of Exodus, that the Lord promised them that wonderful condition. I will redeem you to me with a stretched out arm. I love that thought. I will redeem you to me. Ah, that's the purpose of redemption, That those who enter into that glorious place now belong to the one who paid redemption price.
Would you forgive a little story in that connection?
When I was going to Sunday school, my teacher told me the story of a boy who had a great deal of time and labor, built a beautiful sailboat, and one spring day he took that sailboat out on the lake near his home. He had a long string attached to the prowl of his boat, and to his delight it performed beautifully. It sailed this way and that, and he was so excited that he let go of the stream, and he stood there in sad disappointment.
His sailboat grew fainter and fainter in the distance. He came home weeping. He said, Daddy, mother, I've lost my sailboat. The wind caught it, and away it went across the lake, and I don't suppose I'll ever see it again. He asked all his friends, but no one had seen his sailboat. Well, about a week later they were passing through the street of a town not very far away down the river, and he saw his sailboat in the window of a pawn shop.
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He went in full of eager excitement. He said, Mr. that my sailboat there in the window, I have made it. The man lifted it out of the window and showed it to him, and he said, yes, Sir, that's mine all right.
Well, a man said, I'm afraid if you want it, you'll have to redeem it because I paid so much for it and it will cost you $10 to redeem this boat, even though it may be yours in the first place.
Well, the boy was glad to find his boat, but he didn't know where he was going to find the $10, and he had to work very hard, $0.10 at a time, $0.25 here, until at last he had saved up $10. He eagerly went to the pawn shop, and there the money was all counted out on the counter, and the man handed over the sailboat to the little boy, and he took it home, most thankfully. And he walked in the door of his home. He didn't say a word to his father and mother. They watched and he went.
Threw up the stairs carrying his boat and into his bedroom of all places, with his boat. Well, his father tiptoed and looked around the door to see whatever he had taken his sailboat in there for, and the boy was kneeling down with his arms around his sailboat, kind of talking to it. He said both. I made you and I lost you. I found you and I redeemed you, and I'll never let you go again.
That's the story my Sunday school teacher told me, and I enjoyed it because I just knew that it fit my case.
He made me in the 1St place but I got away from him. He found me and he redeemed me and I know he's never going to let me go.
But that both belonged to that boy, isn't that right? He had double title to that book by makers, right and by Redeemers, right? He owned that book. Dear child of God, is that soul in your relationship with the one who died upon the cross? Indeed it is. Do we enjoy that relationship?
I didn't intend to get off of this branch of things when I read this verse, but I'll tell you another occasion, and this is even more solemnly practical to every one of us. A young Christian man stepped into the compartment of a train in England some time ago. If you've ever been in those compartments, you'll realize that they usually have four or six passengers. There were three young men in that compartment, and this believer made the 4th.
And presently one of the young men pulled out a deck of cards and shuffled them and offered some to the 1St and to the second, and offered some to the newcomers. And he just sat there with his hands folded in a very happy smile on his face. He said, no, Sir, He said, I don't play cards, you see, I don't have any hands.
Well, they looked at his hands and see that they could see that they were perfectly normal. So he smiled again and he said maybe I should explain. He said these hands don't belong to me. Well, that didn't help the picture anymore. They bewildered young man and he said, well I'll tell you, I am redeemed with the precious blood of Christ. I am not my own. I am bought with a price. Is that true? It is beloved, if you know the Lord Jesus as your Savior, you.
I are redeemed and we now belong to Him who paid redemption price.
Why did He redeem us? That's the question I'm sure I can never answer. Thus the wondrous, eternal love of His heart that could look down at you and me and choose us to be part of redemption, toil to His own delight and joy and satisfaction forever. Now I think if we're honest, when we read the story of the children of Israel, we do shake our heads once in a while, don't we? And say, how could they be so, so complaining? How could they find fault so often?
How could they forget the Lord's goodness and blame Moses, and blame the Lord for every problem that ever came upon them? That we ourselves, I greatly fear, are no better. And yet, when we do read Israel's history, and their departure from the Lord, and their carelessness and their complaining and their idolatry, we marvel at the God who knew their whole history before it ever took place.
Could look down and say this to Moses.
Let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them. Oh, I delight in this language to think that God's joy would be to dwell in the midst of his people. Well, you remember that Moses was called up to the top of Mount Sinai, and there he received from the Lord those 10 commands on two tables of stone.
Solemn, solemn commandments they were, and Moses came down from the mountains.
And before ever he entered the camp of Israel, he heard the sound of idolatrous revelry, and he took those two tables of stone and smashed them in pieces at the foot of the mountain. If he had walked into the midst of that camp carrying those two tables of stone, I quite expect that everyone in the camp would have been smitten dead. God could do no less. I'll tell you a strange thing. But sometimes in reading my Bible, I put my hand right over the next verse like this.
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And I say to myself, what would you expect God to do now if you had never read this before?
Have you ever tried that? It makes the next verse all the more marvelous when you do that.
And that's what I have done. When I have come to the point where Moses broke those two tables of stuff, I cover the rest and I say, what would I expect God to do now? Well, I'm sure my own conclusion would be I don't know what He's going to do, but I know what He certainly can't do. He'll never be able to give those same 10 commandments over again. You have to tone them down a little bit. Maybe he'll cut them back to 9:00 or 8:00 or 7:00, or maybe he'll.
Soften down their demands a little bit, but he'll never be able to give those same 10 commandments because we are so guilty.
But He did, He gave them the second time written with the finger of God, but this time he said, make me an ark, and cover that ark with gold, and put those two tables of stone within that ark of gold, and cover it over with a mercy seat, and put it in the very midst of that. And very people, they were still the same people. Their hearts and their conduct was just the same as before. But God found a way whereby He could dwell to the delight of His heart in the midst.
Both earring and guilty people. He dwelt there according to all His Holiness, but he dwelt there encased in that part, covered over with the blood sprinkles. Mercy seat. Oh dear Saints of God, what a marvelous picture we have in the Old Testament of a loving heart of God that would in no way lower His Holiness, and yet would find a way whereby he might dwell in the midst of His people.
And we know, although we're not going to go into it tonight, that God left absolutely nothing for Moses or for the people of Israel to decide for themselves. He didn't say, now you build a sanctuary according to the materials that you might find available. You build it just as you wish. And I'll sanction your opinions. Oh no. The instructions given for the building of this Tabernacle and for all that it contained.
Most minute detail, and every detail of it has the most marvelous lesson for the heart. Marvelous. Some time ago with a group of young people back home, we said about trying to build a model of the Tabernacle and the furniture in it. And I'm glad we did, because I made a mistake in every piece of furniture I tried to make.
I was surprised and every mistake I made I just would read the instructions rather carelessly and go about making the.
Piece of furniture. And then I'd look at them and find that my own ideas, my own thoughts that entered into it, and I had to change every piece I made.
I'm marvel, and I delight as I read the beauty and the wisdom of the accuracy of God's account. And Moses, dear obedient servant of God that he was, saw to it that everything about that Tabernacle was just exactly as God had ordered, even the direction that that Tabernacle would face.
Everything that went into the building of it was exactly as God had ordered it.
And where did they get all the materials for it? Perhaps that has puzzled us once in a while. Here and there perhaps we find a little hint of where those materials came from. For instance, I puzzled for a while over the badger skins, and I wondered wherever would they get those badger skins in the wilderness?
Well, you know, it tells us in Ezekiel. I shod you with badger skin.
It's evident if we look it up in a good Bible dictionary that badger skinned. If they were exactly the same as we know them now, I can't be sure. The alternate suggestion in a Bible dictionary is porpoise skin. Quite a different thing I will admit, but that's the alternate rendering of that same word. And apparently porpoise skins were very common in Egypt and were used also for footwear.
The Bible suggests that too in saying I shall do with badger skin. Well, my conclusion is this, that when the children of Israel left the land of Egypt, they knew they had a long walk ahead of us. And so I suppose they brought along some extra skins to mend their shoes along the way or to build new ones if their shoes should wear out. But they just got nicely started on their journey and God said, let me have those badger skins, I have need of them.
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For a covering for the Tabernacle. And they handed over their badger skins, which they brought along for their footwear. And what did the Lord do about it? He took care of their footwear.
Their shoes didn't wear out and their feet didn't swell for 40 years of walking. I believe there's just a little thought there that if you and I are ever called upon by the Lord to just turn over something that we might consider to be useful for our own advancement to Him, don't you think?
Don't you think that He will make it up to us? Indeed, beloved, He will. Well, suppose we go on a little bit with this thought. Let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them. Now, in addition to this, we won't turn to it. But if we were to turn to the book of Deuteronomy, we would find that 21 Times in that one book alone. God told Israel that He was going to choose a place to set his name when finally they arrived in the.
21 Times Now I believe there is a purpose in that. I am not an extremist, I hope, in using numbers and stretching a point to make it fit. But I believe that when you find the same thing repeated 21 Times in one book, that there must be a reason for, and I believe we all would accept the thought that seven is God's perfect number.
And three, we find in Scripture be to be total and complete witness. In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established.
Two is adequate witness, but three is complete witness, and when God repeats something 21 * 3 * 7, I believe there's no shadow of doubt in any mind that wishes to bow to it, that God is firmly, she firmly establishing His right to choose.
And to tell Israel what his choice is. Well, let's turn over then to the book of Joshua, shall we? The book of Joshua.
And the 18th chapter and the whole congregation of the children of Israel assembled together at Shiloh and set up the Tabernacle of the congregation there. Joshua 18, verse one. The whole congregation of Israel assembled together at Shiloh.
And set up the Tabernacle of the congregation there. Here we find that which God first of all owns in the land. He owns this Tabernacle as having been constructed according to His own plan and purpose. He honored it with His presence, His visible presence there in the wilderness. And now as they enter the land. And set up the sabernacle at Shiloh.
God delights to own that place as the place of His choice, and the whole congregation delighted to gather together there.
To me, the picture is beautiful and marvelous. God looks down and sees his beloved people gathered together. He sees that, but He Himself has presented to them, and there they gathered together, and the Lord delighted to be there in their midst, because he loved their company. But the rest of the story begins to become more and more sad.
We find that the children of Israel.
Began to turn in hearts away from the Lord. They still had the Tabernacle, and they still had the arc within it containing those two tables of stone. But we find a sad picture that in hearts they gradually became more and more careless, more and more indifference to the claims which ought to have had first place in their lives.
Oh dear child of God, I trust these thoughts will search my own heart afresh tonight.
To have this precious living Word of God, it's one thing to have in our souls by matchless grace, I trust, I say it humbly, the sense in our souls that we are gathered where His precious Word would gather us around Himself. But is there not the danger that this very thing might simply become to anyone of us a form?
Or a doctrine that is held by us, however firmly we might hold it, and in our hearts perhaps the attraction of the person of Christ might be more dim to us.
I remember one time we were having a meeting in Trinidad.
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And we had our meeting that evening on the Second Epistle to the Ephesians.
I announced that night that we were going to have a reading from the 2nd Epistle to the Aesthesia. Then they turn, hit her and sit her in their Bibles, and looked at one another in great bewilderment, whispering one to the other. What did he say? And I repeated the second Epistle to the Ephesians. You'll find it in Revelation chapter 2.
Well, it hadn't occurred to them before that that little letter written in Revelation chapter 2 to the church at Ephesus was actually a second epistle to the Ephesians. And do you know why I introduced it that way? Because the law that I wanted to stress the point that burdens my heart as I stand here tonight, that assembly had received that wondrous revelation of truth in that glorious epistle to be of reason.
That which lifts us up and seeks us in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that same assembly before the Word of God flows.
Had to receive the solemn reminder from God's heart that they had left their first love. He says. I remember thine lay thy work and thy labor and thy patience, but they had left their first love. Oh dear Saints of God, as I read of God's loving heart that gathered his people together and delighted to be in their midst, my heart is saddened when I come to the story that shows their hearts changing, not his their hearts.
Told not his, and as I see it in Ephesus, I cried of the Lord that it may not come into our lives.
I remember there was a dear brother sitting on the front row that evening. And I said to him, Brother, I've been to your home quite often. And I said, suppose that after you and your dear wife had been married for 20 years, that she could cook better, she could keep house better, she could care for your clothes better than she did when you were first married, but she didn't love you as much. What would you do? Just like that, he said. I'd cry, brother. That's the way he felt about it. I'd cry.
Oh dear child of God, you and I might possibly know a few more verses of our Bibles than we did the day the Lord redeemed us. And what about the affections of our hearts? Let's turn over to the Book of Judges.
It's sad to do this, but here's the record. The last chapter of the book of Judges, Judges chapter 21 and verse.
19.
Then they said, behold, there is a feast of the Lord in Silo yearly.
Now you notice these words in a place are in italics, and we could easily get the sense by omitting them. I'm going to read the verse without those words. Then they said, behold, there is a feast of the Lord in Shiloh yearly, which is on the north side of Bethel, on the east side of the highway that goeth up from Bethel to Shechem, and on the South of Le Bona.
This to me is a very sad verse. The children of Israel are now being told of a certain remote, unheard of, forgotten place called Shiloh. Shiloh, the moment you mentioned that word, every Israelite ought to be able to say, I know where that is. That's where the Tabernacle is, that's where the Lord dwells. That's where I'd be like to be. But now we've just turned to the next book and we find that the children of Israel.
Are being told at a certain place called Shiloh and they have to be given the most minute and detailed instructions where to find this place called Shiloh. Now dear child of God this does speak to our heart. We're not pointing our fingers back across the centuries and finding fault with the children of Israel. I trust we'll point the finger right here and search our own heart that in all the confusion that abounds around us in what is known as.
Where? Where shall we find ourselves gather together? Do we have any answer from this in the Word of God? I believe I can say this, and I trust it will speak to each of our hearts. Everyone redeemed by the precious blood of Christ ought to be gathered where they know the Lord would have them to be gathered, or they ought to be prayerfully seeking for such a place. Anything else? I.
Is indifference.
The claims of the Lord's own name. I say again that everyone redeemed by the precious blood of Christ ought to be thankfully convinced by the grace of God that he is gathered where the Lord would have him to be, or he ought to be prayerfully seeking for such a place. Well, I would like to turn over then from this to the New Testament, the history, as you know, as we continue to become more and more sad, and yet from time to time.
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There is a very, very happy and encouraging note. In fact, perhaps we could turn to one in Second Chronicles. Shall we just do that? Second Chronicles, chapter 30?
Passing over all these chapters, perhaps we should give a little account. As you know, the Lord finally chose Jerusalem.
The Temple was built there, the ark was brought up to the Temple at Jerusalem. And here also I think it is a very interesting and remarkable thing that art contained three things. It contained the two tables of stone on which were written the 10 commandments. It contained also the golden pot that had manner, and it contained Aaron's rod that budded.
Those three things were carried in that ark between those two poles all through their years of wandering in the wilderness, and I believe they would remind us of these three things. The two tables of stone on which were written the 10 commandments, would remind us surely of a holy and glorious person of Christ.
The one in whom is no variableness nor shadow of turning, but also along with those two tables of stone we find.
The golden thoughts that had manna, I believe that would remind us of the matchless and wonderful grace of God, that in spite of our murmurings, has met our needs every day of our journey. For six days in the week that manna fell and met the need of Israel, in spite of all their complaining, they got tired of the taste of it and they lusted after the food they had eaten in Egypt. Did the Lord stop the man? And no, He did not that.
Can you defeat them for all their years of wandering? The golden thought that had manna was right inside that ark and journeyed with them all the way through their wandering and Aaron's robbed and budded. There are various meanings, I'm sure, in that interesting type, but I believe we could take from it a reminder of the government of God that also accompanies us in our journey through the wilderness.
That rod was.
Placed in there just after the rebellion of Cora Faithan and Abiram, and I believe would most certainly remind us of the government of God. Now, dear child of God, is it not true that all the way through your journey and mine, from the day of our conversion until the day when we reach home, we will have with us Jesus Christ, the same yesterday and today and forever, and we will also have with us.
The wonderful grace of God. What would we do without it? Every day we need it, and every day we receive it. But what about the wrong? We have a government of God too. The grace of God and the government of God to accompany us all the way through our wanderings. But this is a very interesting thing. When that arc was finally brought in. First Kings eight, I believe.
I better not give you a false chapter. I think it's first King's faith.
First Kings eight chapter verse 8:00 and 9:00.
And they threw out the stage, that the ends of the stage were seen out in the holy place before the Oracle, and they were not seen without. And there they are to this day. There was nothing in the ark, say, the two tables of stone which Moses put there for it. That's surprising, isn't it? All the way through the wilderness there were the two tables of stone and.
The golden pot that had Manna and Aaron's Robert budded. Now when the ark is set down in its final resting place in the Temple in Jerusalem.
The Word of God says there was nothing in the ark but the two tables of stone. To me, that's marvelous up there in the glory. Are we going to need the grace of God? No, we're not. Are we going to need the government of God? Thank God will not. But what about the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ forever and ever, that same glorious presence which we have enjoyed all the way through the wilderness?
But will no longer need the manner or the rock. And it tells us furthermore, that the staves were taken out from that arken place, so at the end of the stage could be seen in the holy place.
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Just think that God will give them instructions what to do with those days. You're not going to need them anymore, but just place them so they can be seen as a reminder of His faithful care through the wilderness. Won't that be a sweet memory up there in the glory? Our wanderings will all be over, but we'll have the memory of them. We'll have what is simplified by those two rods, that which will remind you and me, beloved Saints, of God, of His.
His faithfulness, his grace, his government that went with us all the way through the journey when at last we're at home with himself.
Well, we were turned to Second Chronicles 30.
Verse one.
Before this chapter takes place, there has been, as you know, a separation in Israel. A man named Jeroboam has gotten quite disturbed because of the rather rough words of King Reable and terrible in anger, took 10 tribes with him and turned his back on the House of the Lord at Jerusalem and admitted that he was doing so and took these 10 tribes off. And no sooner had he done so than he realized that he would need to have.
Center for them immediately, or they would return to the House of the Lord at Jerusalem. So he set up a center at Dan and another at Bethel.
Now I'm sure you've noticed that in reading the subsequent history of the kings of Israel who often find this expression, they sinned after the sin of Jeroboam, the son of Knee Back, who made Israel the sin. That sounds familiar, doesn't it? And nearly all those ungodly kings are said to have sinned after the sin of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, who made Israel descend. I used to read that and think that man was probably so evil that God has covered over the wickedness of his life and just told us that.
Side effects on those who follow, but God didn't cover it over. I just hadn't read carefully enough. All of a sudden God tells us what that scene was. To wit, the setting up of those two false centers in Van and in Bethel. It was what we would call an ecclesiastical sin. He had two competitive centers. If you wish. There was Jerusalem, chosen of the Lord with the Lord's name established there. There was Dan and there was Bethel and those who met there outnumbered.
Jerusalem by 5 to one. And now dear King Hezekiah is raised up to reign over Jerusalem in the 30th chapter of Second Chronicles. And in the first verse Hezekiah sent to all Israel and Judah, and wrote letters also to eat Freeman Manasseh, that they should come to the House of the Lord at Jerusalem, to keep the Passover under the Lord God of Israel.
Isn't that wonderful? Oh, I love this spirit. Here was their large hearted king Hezekiah.
He realized that a matchless grace of God, his feet were planted where the name of the Lord had been placed.
And he looked away off to his departed fellow Israelites that were meeting together as Van and Bethel, and he said, let's send them an invitation to come up to the House of the Lord at Jerusalem. Was that bigotry? Was that narrow mindedness? And no, it was God-given largeness of heart. That's what it was. And what were the results? Verse 10.
So the posts passed from city to city, through the country of heathrie and Manasseh, even under Zebulun, but they lacked them to scorn and mock them.
I pause at this verse when I visualize it. It happened a long time ago. Someone knocked at the door, and an Israelite answers the door and finds himself faced with an invitation from King Hezekiah in Jerusalem to come up to the House of the Lord at Osland to keep the Passover. And what does he do? He laughs and he mocks at the invitation. And he didn't realize when he was doing it that you and I were going to read about it tonight.
It happened a long time ago.
Does God actually record the attitude of man's heart to A to a thing like this where he worships? Does God care? Are we not entitled to make our own choice in these matters? Beloved, here is an invitation, I believe laid on Hezekiah heart by the Lord Himself. It sent out from door to door. And they laugh and they mark the invitation. I wonder why they did that. Don't you think Jerusalem ought to have stirred a deep feeling?
The soul of every Israelite, Jerusalem, that desire, my heart had always been to be there. But no, when they heard the name Jerusalem, this is what I believe they said to themselves. I've worshipped in Dan all my life. My father worshipped there and my grandfather worshipped there. And it's good enough for me. But the next verse really touches my heart nevertheless.
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Divers and Asher and Manasseh and a Zebulun humble themselves.
And came to Jerusalem.
Do you mean to say it was a humbling thing for an Israelite to go to Jerusalem and ought to have been a moment of profound joy? Picture this one of the tribe of Asher. He reads the invitation. He bowed his head, and the memory returns. The name of Jerusalem, the House of the Lord, the name of the Lord. How do we come to be down here in Dan and Bethel? He humbles himself.
He takes his family and they start down the road towards Jerusalem and the neighbors see them going. Where are you going?
We're going to Jerusalem. You'll mean at the invitation of Hezekiah, you're going all the way to Jerusalem to keep the Passover. Yes, Sir, we're going to Jerusalem. For we believe that the House of the Lord and the name of the Lord is at Jerusalem, neither a Dan or a Bethel. It would be a humbling thing.
But I believe there's a happy and lovely sequel to this you remember in Luke's gospel.
We read when the Lord Jesus was born and was brought into the temple.
That there was one Anna of the tribe of Asher waiting to welcome the Lord Jesus. How did she happen to be in Jerusalem? Only the two tribes, Tudor and Benjamin, were in Jerusalem at the time of the birth of Christ. The rest had been carried to end of captivity and are lost to this day. How did Anna of the tribe of Asher happen? That's not a very good word to use, is it? How did she find herself in Jerusalem? I believe the answer.
Here I believe Anna's forefathers, Anna's ancestors, went up to Jerusalem to worship in the days of Hezekiah and never returned again. I believe they found the place where the Lord had said His name. Oh beloved, by the grace of God, I want to be there when He comes.
I want to be found where his name has been placed by sovereign grace, and I desire that that may be true of you too, my dear foul believer. It's a privilege which we cannot make up for. After we reach home, could we just turn over then to the New Testament? Suppose we turn to John's gospel.
And the verse that suddenly comes to my heart is a strange one to read. But.
Perhaps it will present a lesson for us and 9th taste of John and the 17th and 18th verses.
And he bearing his cross, went forth into a place called the place of a skull, which is called in the Hebrew, where they crucified him and two other, with him on either side, one and Jesus.
In the midst. Now that's the expression that came to my heart, Jesus, in the midst.
Way back in the 25th of Exodus, the Lord looked down and said, Let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them.
The desire of his heart so beautifully expressed that His irons are realized. As He dwelt in the midst of that rebellious people, farther and farther their hearts were turned away from him. And here, beloved, we find this one who spoke in the Old Testament. He comes down among men.
He was born in a Manger. He started both to minister unto unfold a loving heart of God to his people that were so dear to him. And they lead him to the brow of the hill where on their city was built, that they might cast him down headlong. They take up stones to cast at him. And finally, beloved, this is where we find him.
The 17th verse He bearing his cross went for. Oh, I remember one day reading that verse, and I stopped right there. He bearing his cross went forth, and the word suddenly struck home to me. He bearing his cross went forth.
Let us go forth, therefore unto Him. That's the answer that came to me as I read this verse. And I pictured my blessed savour with a crown of thorns upon his brow, and the cross upon his back. He looked out from pilot's judgment on there he sees Golgotha.
And he went forth. And why did he go forth? Because he loved you and because he loved me. Even though he was rejected by those who were so dear to his heart, even though he was not wanted in the very temple that was supposedly to his prey, He's rejected by the nation. He goes forth. He's going to go right clean outside the city. He goes forth for you.
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And he turns and says, will you go forth?
For me, wouldn't it be lovely if all the Lord's people responded as he would love to have us respond, but the next verse says they crucified him and the two malefactors on either side one and Jesus in the midst. That had a familiar ring, doesn't it?
Jesus in the midst.
Is that what the world thinks of the Lord Jesus? That's what they thought of Him then. That's the place they afforded the Lord Jesus in the midst of their malefactors. If he came back again, would he find that men had changed their minds? You know he would. You know He would find this poor world remain that heart just as antagonized and just as rebellious to the precious and worthy person in the name of the Lord Jesus.
As they were in the day when they nailed him in the midst of their malefactors and set up over his head.
The only accusation that could be found against him? Jesus and Nazareth, the King of the Jews.
But that is not the end of the story, beloved. The end of the story is found in Revelation. So we turn to Chapter 5.
Revelation 5.
And verse 6 And I beheld, and lo, in the midst, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders stood a lamb as it had been slain. All this is what's coming, that blessed One whose name is so despised, that blessed One who this world placed in the midst of their malefactors, and crucified him there with the crown of thorns upon his head.
That glorious one will, in a coming day, occupy that place in the midst of all the majesty and glory of heavens worshipping hosts. Your Savior and my Savior is going to be in the midst of that glorious company. How do you feel about it when you read it? Doesn't it thrill your heart and make you think, yes, and thank God, I'll be there to see Him.
Receive His honored and deserved place, my voice by matchless grace.
Will be heard among those who will say desire worthy. For thou are slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood. And I rekindled. And tongue and people and nations. Oh, if this language doesn't thrill your heart, my beloved friend, there's something sadly wrong. The one who was so despised, the one who is still despised.
Will in the coming day, with all worthiness receive that place in the midst of the worshipping host of eternal glory, and we'll see Him, occupy, see him. Yes, more than that.
Will share it with Him as His redeemed bride. In fact, we're not going to take time, but if we turn over to the 21St chapter of Revelation, we would find that Tabernacle of God is with men and He will dwell with them. Perhaps we should just take a look at the verse chapter 21 and verse 3.
And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the Tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. They love. This to me is most marvelous, the desire of Godfather expressed during the 25th of Exodus. Let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them.
Is God going to be frustrated in the purposes of His love?
Has man been such a failure, and has Satan been so successful that God is going to have to turn aside from those purposes of love? No, thank God for it. The Tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them. God's delight, the delight of the heart of the Lord Jesus, eternally realized in dwelling.
Where surrounded by is redeemed.
You and me, yes.
He's going to find more delight in your company than in all creations, or in all the worshipping hosts of angels. It was brought to our attention at the meetings in Toronto recently from the top Dr. of Hebrews concerning the place now occupied by angels in the administration of God's purposes.
00:45:21
And of how they are now gathered in worshipping obedience.
Around the throne. But the day is coming when God is going to have, when the Lord Jesus is going to have near to his heart forever. Not those worshipping hosts of angels, but you, my beloved and I and all the redeemed. And the thought just swept over our soul, so that after meeting various ones were speaking about it and the language expressed was something like this.
As though the Lord would say, stand aside Michael, stand aside Gabriel, here comes brother, might as well use the name. Here comes brother Tail and here comes brother Alan.
Just think of that. The angels who never sinned step aside, are the redeemed of Adams race, draw near and are united to the Lord Jesus Christ and the eternal chosen Bride. He will dwell with them and He will find His eternal delight in having us close to His loving heart. But I believe we skipped over something that God has in wondrous grace provided.
We noticed in the 19th chapter of Dawn, and the Lord Jesus was placed by this world in the midst of their manufacturers.
That's what they thought of Him, and that's what they think of Him. Still we turn to the fifth of Revelation, and we see Him in the midst of the worshipping hosts of heaven. We find ourselves looking back to Calvary and looking ahead to glory. But it seems to me as though the Lord would say, you needn't wait until you reach that home. I'll give you the privilege now of being where the Lord is in the midst.
Let's end, shall we, with Matthew 18 and 20. Matthew chapter 18.
Verse 20.
Forward two or three.
Are gathered together in my name. There am I in the midst of them.
We're not left to stand here in the wilderness looking back to Calvary and thanking God that we are no longer numbered among those who placed Him in the midst of the world malefactors. We're not left any longer looking ahead and saying, well, I'll have to wait for the day when He has his rightful place in order to see him in the midst. But I believe you're a child of God that there is offered to us while we are on our way through the wilderness, the opportunity.
To show before Him, before angels, and before this world, the value that our redeemed heart ought to place upon the Person and the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. There were not many in Israel who value that place.
The name of Shiloh and its location were soon forgotten.
Jerusalem with the House of the Lord was soon forgotten and it was a humbling thing to be found on your way to Jerusalem and how it is today. Is the privilege of being gathered to the name of the Lord Jesus a highly esteemed and honored privilege in this world, even in this religious world. I remember on one occasion in Ottawa I was called upon to go to the home of one of the highest church dignitaries there.
His wife was an invalid in a wheelchair and not able to get out.
And she needed certain services and so they asked me if I would come and do what?
I felt to be done, and this man in the position he occupied was of course every inch of polished gentleman. He met me at the door and ushered me into the beautiful home with all courtesy, brought me into the room where his wife was, and I tried to do what I felt could be done. Eventually she seemed very relieved and comfortable.
And as I went to leave, I felt that something perhaps ought to be said to this dear man. I hoped from 1 believer to another. So I looked on his desk and I saw there a Bible and a prayer book and a few other things that seemed to me to be a little out of place on a desk of a man like that. But I said nothing about these other objects. I just pointed to the word of God. And I said, Sir, I love that book.
00:50:03
Well, he seemed to be a little disturbed by that and he picked up his prayer book and he said.
Here's a wonderful book. Well, you know, I've never had a prayer book in my hand, and I just didn't know what was in it, so I didn't say anything at all.
And then he did become suspicious. He said to me, what denomination do you belong to?
Well, I said, Sir, I don't suppose I belong to anything that you would call a denomination, but I do love the Lord Jesus and I'm gathered to his precious name.
He just turned and walked toward the door like this and held the door open and I walked out and I heard the door closed behind me. Something like that. That was the end. What had I said to that man? I said I belong to the Lord Jesus Christ, and I have gathered to His precious name.
Do I have scripture for a confession like that? Supposing I had said to him while I am an elder in such and such a proof or this or that, he would have said, oh that's fun. I've got some very fun friends in that group. Wouldn't he not? But beloved, the name of the Lord Jesus, the all sufficient name of the Lord Jesus Christ, the name that was nailed to the cross, the name that will be magnified and glorified forever.
Is that name enough for us here? It ought to be. It ought to be to see His desire expressed back there in the Old Testament, to see it gloriously fulfilled and eternally realized in Revelation 21.
It ought to stir within our hearts a fervent, prayerful desire to honor that name as He has given us opportunity to honor it while we wait for that precious day. If this book is all sufficient to us, we will be found honoring no other name than the name of the Lord Jesus. Will you spare a moment while I give you 1 illustration that I have presented?
And it speaks to my own heart and I trust maybe of hell.
I have been confronted, as you may imagine.
Pretty strong pressure and opposition from those who despise and reject.
The insignificance of being gathered to the name of the Lord Jesus. Well, I say something like that. I believe this to be the word of God from cover to cover. I believe it contains all the light and all the wisdom that I will ever need at a side of God. Now let's keep the cold that instead of holding my hand, a King James Version of the Word of God, I hold instead.
The Word of God in the native language of one of the tribes in the heart of Africa.
And I present that book in its native language to a man of that part in Africa. And that man has never heard the denominational names that abound around us in Saint Louis or where I come from. He's never seen a curve. He's never heard those names. And I asked this man.
Do you suppose that that dear native, through reading the word of God, I alone?
But look up from that precious book and finally say thank God, Thank God. I know that although I have been guilty in the sight of God, He loved me. He sent His Son the Lord Jesus to redeem me. And I believe from this wonderful book that all my sins have been washed away in the precious blood of Jesus. Well, if the man is a believer, he will say, yes. I do believe that a native in the heart of Africa could find that wonderful truth from reading the Word of God alone.
So I asked the manual, do you suppose then if that man continues to read this book and he finally gets to the Book of Revelation and he closes the book, would he look around and say, oh, if only there were such and such a church here, I'd go and join it because that's what I find my Bible tells me I ought to do.
Wouldn't he say that you know very well he wouldn't.
Would he turn around and say, well, if only there were this kind of church in Africa, I'd go and join it because that's what the Bible tells me on how to do. Would he, these names that are so popular and highly esteemed in Christian, and would that man was this book alone come to such conclusions? What might he say? I believe if he read this book with an obedient answer, Missus Hart, he'd look up from his pages and say all, if only.
There were some fellow believers here we could meet together.
To show forth the Lord Satan, to exalt His precious name together, feared pile of God. I just want to leave that thought quickly. It is a heart of God's question, Love. Let them make me a sanctuary that I may dwell among them and dwell among men He will, but in the meantime He leads to us the privilege. May it be sweeter and sweeter to our heart while we wait for the sound of His welcome voice.
00:55:04
For two or three are gathered together in my name.
In the sense of it.