Evil doctrine is not only damaging to souls, but destructive of Christ's glory. No man, whose heart rejoiced in the glories of Christ, as set forth in the Epistle to the Hebrews, would he attracted by Judaism revived. And God puts forward in His Word the glories of His Son to draw our souls away from the entanglements of error. Our only safeguard is God's Word, and that read under the teaching of His Spirit.
A sight of Christ's glory as the Savior, of the preciousness of His blood, the perfection of His sacrifice, gives peace with God; this teaches us to abhor as worse than useless – as dishonoring to Christ – our doings, our feelings. We cast away the filthy rags of our righteousnesses because the rags dishonor Him in whom we are made the righteousness of God.
In modern Ritualism there is a childishness, a delighting in religious toys, in pretty dresses, illuminated books, candles and shows, which is utterly out of place in the Christianity of the Bible. And as if to exhibit the folly of such faith, such hopeless sentences as “Pity me, O my friends!” “Jesus, mercy!” are often written over their graves, so that after a life spent under priests, confessions, penances, and sacraments, it is to die without assurance of salvation, and to have the very tombstone engraven with want of hope!
In the ritualism of the Scripture we have the divinely ordained system of the tabernacle and its service, in which picture God shows to us Christ in the altar, the laver, the holy, the holiest. Christ in the tent and curtains, the sockets, the boards. Christ the delight of God, portrayed in type by God. Shall God's saints go back to the picture and leave the One of whom the picture speaks?
Let us, with the divinely ordered ritual and the God-planned tabernacle before us, glance at a few of the things which tell us of Christ.
For us as sinners, the sacrifice must come first; this is a moral fact. The sinner who fears God, of necessity goes first to the altar. He has no rest about himself, cannot draw near to a holy God, and until he sees Christ's atoning work in the altar of sacrifice, he is filled with fear.
The first object which presented itself to the transgressing Jew approaching God with his offering at the tabernacle, was the brazen altar. He came to the altar drawn by a twofold force – the sense of his transgression, and faith in God's provision for that transgression. His sin, instead of driving him from God drew him to God, because God had shown to his faith the sacrifice for that sin. So now, he who feels his guilt, and believes God's Word respecting the Lamb of God, comes as a guilty sinner to God in virtue of the sacrifice. On the other hand he who feels his guilt but discredits God's testimony respecting the sacrifice, attempts by a variety of methods to fit himself for God's presence. Hence in the latter case the sinner is pulled away from God, there is only one force in action – the sense of his guilt and unworthiness, and this sets him in motion circling the center of self.
It is the drudgery of a blindfold horse in a mill, going round and round, and during hours of weary work never progressing one inch. How many poor blinded souls are there thus fruitlessly at work at this moment! But there is a straight way to God. And where the twofold force – faith in Christ and sense of sin – is in the soul of the sinner, he takes this direct road to God and the sweetness of His love. Faith in the value of Christ's sacrifice, as well as a Spirit-taught sense of our guilt, draws us direct to God. Instead of revolving round ourselves, we are attracted away from self; instead of year by year, day by day, treading again and again the same ground, we rest in the peace which the blood of the cross has made.
The Jewish tabernacle in the wilderness stands in the center of the tribes. There is one door and only one to its outer court; and the first sight which meets the eye at that door is the brazen altar. In a far distant border of the outlying tribes is a transgressor against God's law. He feels his guilt. He believes God's Word. What shall he do? He comes to the dwelling-place of God, comes to God. He draws near. And how? With what kind of offering? Prayers, works, tears? Does he bring flowers or fruits? He brings a sacrifice – a lamb. And as he reaches the open door of the court, as he looks through the pillars whereon are suspended the curtains, he beholds the brazen altar – the altar of judgment. Thither he leads his sacrifice, to have its life-blood taken, to be burned.
From every quarter, from the four corners of the congregation, from either north, south, east or west, there is but one way, and that way the transgressors tread who believe God.
Reader, so come you to God. Be not the poor, dull, beaten horse in the mill. Come with all your guilt to Jesus. in His blood is full atonement, in Him alone is peace. There is rest for your conscience in His blood, rest for your heart in His love His is a finished work, and faith abides still and calm in the blessing of the finished work of Calvary. Do not turn to the restlessness of your own efforts. Do not practically deny the completed work of Jesus, but rest in the satisfaction which God has in His Son.