BROUGHT out of Egypt, borne on eagles’ wings, led to Mount Sinai, permitted to hear the voice of God speaking to them, a privilege accorded to no other people before or since, the children of Israel were made to feel, and were continually to be reminded of it, that, though separated from all the earth to be a people for Jehovah, they were nevertheless unfit for the presence of their God.
Before they could be permitted, on that awful day, at Mount Sinai, to hear His voice, they had to sanctify themselves for two days, and on the third to be brought to the mount. Their clothes were to be washed and they themselves ready, yet they were not fit to be where God was on Sinai. Bounds were set to sanctify it, to mark it off as ground on which Israel could not tread. They might come to it (Exod. 19:1313There shall not an hand touch it, but he shall surely be stoned, or shot through; whether it be beast or man, it shall not live: when the trumpet soundeth long, they shall come up to the mount. (Exodus 19:13)), but not ascend it, nor touch it. Sanctified they were, according to God’s commands, yet Mount Sinai was no place for them. God was there. Moreover the priests were not allowed to ascend it, though sanctified, it would seem, in a more special manner than the people. Chap. 19:22.
Such were God’s directions regarding them, which fully accorded with their own feelings, so that even what He permitted them, viz., to come to the mount (Exod. 19:1313There shall not an hand touch it, but he shall surely be stoned, or shot through; whether it be beast or man, it shall not live: when the trumpet soundeth long, they shall come up to the mount. (Exodus 19:13)), they could not do; for we read, they were afraid because of the fire, and went not up to the mount. See Deut. 5:55(I stood between the Lord and you at that time, to show you the word of the Lord: for ye were afraid by reason of the fire, and went not up into the mount;) saying, (Deuteronomy 5:5). They stood under it to hear the law, and then moved afar off. Their conscience told them only too plainly how unfit they were for His presence, and this after strict obedience in sanctifying themselves according to His revealed will. Nothing then they could do could alter their moral condition before Him. Nothing they could do could give them confidence to stand before Him. Circumcision they had submitted to. (Josh. 5:55Now all the people that came out were circumcised: but all the people that were born in the wilderness by the way as they came forth out of Egypt, them they had not circumcised. (Joshua 5:5).) Sanctification of the flesh they had conformed to; but God’s immediate presence they felt was no place for them. Yet He was their God, who had redeemed them. They were His people in a peculiar sense. He had shown His favor to them as He had to no other nation. Dividing the Red Sea He had brought them through it. In the wilderness He had guided their steps. He fed them, He gave them water, He made them triumph over Amalek, He was leading them to Canaan; yet there was a moral barrier between Him and them which they could not pass over or break down, do what they might. They were sinful and unclean. He was holy. And this, the lesson they learned in the third month after they came out of Egypt, was the same they were to be continually reminded of, till the ground should be laid by God in grace tor man to come before Him in boldness, having no more conscience of sins.
This God immediately provided for in the ordinance of the altar of earth, and the ascent or steps by which to approach it.
If they built an altar, such was God’s gracious provision for the willing and thankful heart of any of His people (for this ordinance concerned all the people and not the sons of Aaron only), they might offer thereon for His acceptance burnt offerings and peace offerings. But the altar from which God could accept them must be one that He provided. No artifice of man, no embellishment man could devise, could make it more acceptable to Him, but the very reverse. The altar might be of earth or of stones, but if of the latter, of stones as they found them, not fashioned or graven by any cunning artificer, for that would pollute it at once. What a lesson was here! The free expression of His people’s gratitude God would permit; but man must learn that he could not make an altar of his own devising, or of his own workmanship, suited for God. God must determine beforehand of what it is to be, and how it should be made. The material too He would provide. The altar of earth might appear unsightly, the form of the stones might seem capable of improvement, but God would accept no other.
But observe, this altar was not like the brazen altar where sacrifices for sin could be offered up. It was the altar of a worshipper in a certain relation to God, coming to offer burnt offerings and peace offerings; offerings of sweet savor, the expression of a grateful heart surrendering itself to Him, and feasting with Him. A worshipper then such as Israel could be, an accepted worshipper, was not only capable of defilement, but had in himself that which could impart it. And all the ceremonies appointed by God, or all the sacrifices offered up by the high priest, could make no change in this, or separate any of the people from that which made them liable to pollute the altar.
And what is this root of defilement but the evil nature, the flesh — sin? When they crossed the Jordan, and erected the altar in Mount Ebal, they lifted up no tool on it. Moses had warned them against it, and they obeyed. (Deut. 27:5-75And there shalt thou build an altar unto the Lord thy God, an altar of stones: thou shalt not lift up any iron tool upon them. 6Thou shalt build the altar of the Lord thy God of whole stones: and thou shalt offer burnt offerings thereon unto the Lord thy God: 7And thou shalt offer peace offerings, and shalt eat there, and rejoice before the Lord thy God. (Deuteronomy 27:5‑7); Josh. 8:3131As Moses the servant of the Lord commanded the children of Israel, as it is written in the book of the law of Moses, an altar of whole stones, over which no man hath lift up any iron: and they offered thereon burnt offerings unto the Lord, and sacrificed peace offerings. (Joshua 8:31).) Though lately circumcised, fresh from victory, and having recently kept the passover in remembrance of redemption, they were nevertheless reminded that they had in themselves that which would defile. And it mattered not who might build an altar to the Lord, whether the whole congregation of Israel (Judg. 21:44And it came to pass on the morrow, that the people rose early, and built there an altar, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. (Judges 21:4)), or individuals, as Gideon, Samuel, Saul, David, Elijah, the ordinance for all was the same. Fallen man has that in him which pollutes.
But, blessed be God, we have now made known how that root of defilement is removed. It is removed by death. Death must take place ere we can be accepted before God as freed from that which causes pollution. Death, or the change of the living saints, when the Lord shall come, is the only means by which we can be actually, and then eternally freed from sin. By the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus, believers are pardoned, justified, and defilement is atoned for. By His death, too, that which defiles, sin, is put away. For “once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.” (Heb. 9:2626For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. (Hebrews 9:26).) And now believers have died to sin. (Rom. 6:11What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? (Romans 6:1).) They are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit. (Rom. 8:99But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. (Romans 8:9).) They are risen with Christ, and seated in Him in the heavenlies. (Eph. 2) God of His grace has accomplished this. We are a new creation in Christ Jesus (2 Cor. 5:1717Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. (2 Corinthians 5:17)), which according to God is created in righteousness and holiness of truth. (Eph. 5:2424Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing. (Ephesians 5:24).) Such we are before Him in Christ, yet in us there is still the flesh, sin. Paul knew it. Believers are conscious of it. The Spirit given to us contends with it (Gal. 5:1717For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. (Galatians 5:17)), and we cannot be freed from it till death, or the change of the living, takes place. Till then, like Israel of old, we carry it about with us. Yet, unlike them, we know that, before God, we are in Christ holy and without blame. But whilst in this world there is this root of defilement in the greatest saint as in the greatest sinner, yet the difference between them is immense. The saint, by the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus, is not in the flesh, and has a life apart from sin, undefiling, and impeccable. The sinner unpardoned is in the flesh, a dead soul before God, communicating defilement and nothing else to everything with which he comes in contact.
But there was another lesson God designed to teach Israel — their nakedness. The first effect from eating of the forbidden tree by Adam and Eve, was to discover they were naked; and the first work they set about, was to sew fig leaves together to make themselves aprons. There is a truth in this discovery which man has attempted to ignore — that he is naked, and needs a covering before he can appear before God. There is a truth made known by their vain attempt to cover themselves which man would fain conceal, viz., that God, not man, must provide what is needful. The worshipper in Israel was reminded of this in the words “neither shalt thou go up by steps unto mine altar, that thy nakedness be not discovered thereon.” A worshipper he was if he approached the altar, yet his nakedness was not effectually covered. And this, which was true at Sinai, was equally true when they returned, and builded again the tabernacle, after the Babylonish captivity, and when John the Baptist stood in their midst, and preached the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins. Throughout the dispensation of the old covenant, till that blood had been shed on which the new covenant shall rest, the worshipper in Israel never could know what it was to be effectually covered, his nakedness completely hid. For, be it again remembered, the altar here spoken of, is not the brazen altar of the court of the tabernacle, nor the golden altar within the sanctuary. For them God gave a special ordinance, providing their pattern and stating their dimensions. Yet, for no altar whether in the tabernacle or temple, till God’s revelation to Ezekiel (43:17), have we any mention of steps. This silence is surely significant. It has a voice for all who will hearken. We may be assured that the silence in Exod. 27 and 30, and 2 Chron. 4, and the special mention of the steps in Ezekiel, are designed to teach something. And what is it? That in the millennium, when the temple is reared, and the priests, the sons of Zadok, are officiating again before the Lord in Jerusalem, and the people in the enjoyment of their own land once more, resettled there by the God of Israel, the worshipper will be so covered that his nakedness can never be exposed; for what was forbidden in Exod. 20 is expressly sanctioned in Eze. 43. Nothing they could do under the law could effectually hide their nakedness. Nothing that anyone can do against them in the millennium will discover it. See Jer. 50:2020In those days, and in that time, saith the Lord, the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for, and there shall be none; and the sins of Judah, and they shall not be found: for I will pardon them whom I reserve. (Jeremiah 50:20). Till then, as a nation, it exists. Then it will be found no longer. Reader, do you know why? What discovered man’s nakedness but sin? What covers it but the work of Christ when made known to the soul? From the days of Eden till now men have vainly endeavored to hide it; Adam by his fig leaves, his descendants by their acts, whether of mortification or devotion. But all in vain. “Their webs shall not become garments, neither shall they cover themselves with their works.” (Isa. 59:66Their webs shall not become garments, neither shall they cover themselves with their works: their works are works of iniquity, and the act of violence is in their hands. (Isaiah 59:6).) But God has provided for this. And Israel, after they shall have owned themselves wholly corrupt, all their uprightness here proved to be as filthy rags, restored and blessed through the favor of God and because of that precious blood, the blood of His Son, will know what it is to have their nakedness effectually covered.
But is it only God’s ancient people who need a covering for their nakedness? To whom did the Lord address the words, “I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear?” (Rev. 3:1818I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see. (Revelation 3:18).) Was it not to professing Christians? Then believers now may know, should know, what it is to be covered and clothed. “Holy and without blame before Him in love.” “Found in Him, not having mine own righteousness which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith;” “in Christ,” “made the righteousness of God in him.” (Eph. 1:44According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: (Ephesians 1:4); Phil. 3:99And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith: (Philippians 3:9); Eph. 1:11Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus: (Ephesians 1:1); 2 Cor. 5:2121For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. (2 Corinthians 5:21).) Here is clothing indeed! Here is a complete covering of all nakedness! Reader, do you know this? Reader, have you proved it? What lessons about ourselves does this ordinance concerning the altar teach! What good news about God and the Lord Jesus Christ should it lead the soul to embrace; that which defiles forever put away, that which sin made us conscious of, forever covered.
Clad in this robe, how bright I shine,
Angels possess not such a dress;
Angels have not a robe like mine —
Jesus, the Lord, my righteousness.