The Apostle addresses his brethren in Christ as "partakers of the heavenly calling." (Heb. 3:11Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus; (Hebrews 3:1)) This calling, in another Scripture, is styled, " the high calling of God in Christ Jesus." (Phil. 3:1414I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3:14).) And again, it is spoken of as the calling of the Father of glory. (Eph. 1:17, 1817That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him: 18The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, (Ephesians 1:17‑18).) In them who are the subjects of it, God is to show, in the ages to come, the exceeding riches of His grace; (Eph. 2:77That in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. (Ephesians 2:7).) and in them also the Lord is to be chiefly admired in the day of the presence of His power, though that is to be a day in which all His works shall praise Him, a day of clouds of witnesses to His, glory both in heaven and earth. (2 Thess. 1:10, 1110When he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe (because our testimony among you was believed) in that day. 11Wherefore also we pray always for you, that our God would count you worthy of this calling, and fulfil all the good pleasure of his goodness, and the work of faith with power: (2 Thessalonians 1:10‑11).)
This participation of the heavenly calling, thus bestowed on the saints, was not made known in other ages, as it is now revealed. For it is only to the Church that God has abounded in "all wisdom and prudence;" unto the saints only it is that "He has made known the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure, which He hath purposed in Himself." (Eph. 1:8, 98Wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence; 9Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself: (Ephesians 1:8‑9).) In a wondrous manner it is for them to testify, "we have the mind of Christ." His deep things God has revealed to them by His Spirit. (1 Cor. 10.) The mystery of God and of the Father, and of Christ it is for then: with full assurance of understanding to acknowledge. (Col. 2:22That their hearts might be comforted, being knit together in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ; (Colossians 2:2).) And their title to all this high endowment stands in this-the Son is their Prophet. They have been spoken to by the Son, who is "the brightness of God's glory, and the express image of His Person:" and " all things," says the Son, " that I have heard of my Father, I have made known unto you." (John 15) Israel never stood in such privilege as this, God, in sundry measures and in divers manners, spake to them by His prophets; but their prophets were not the Son; they came not from the bosom of the Father. They were of the earth, and spake of the earth; (John 3:3131He that cometh from above is above all: he that is of the earth is earthly, and speaketh of the earth: he that cometh from heaven is above all. (John 3:31).) for Israel was God's earthly people, having. their citizenship and their place here.. But the saints, or the Church, are the heavenly family, and their Prophet is therefore He who has come from heaven, and testified what He has seen and heard there. He who was " full of truth" dwelt among us-the Son from the bosom declared the Father, and gave us an understanding to know Him, (1 John 5:2020And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life. (1 John 5:20).) In Him and by Him the blessed God is revealed; for we get "the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." (2 Cor. 4:66For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. (2 Corinthians 4:6).)
The Prophets, who spake of the earth, have given us many a notice of the earthly glory of the Lord; and sweet and gracious and wondrous is the intelligence. Isaiah speaks of the Lord's reign in Mount Zion, and before His ancients gloriously. (Isa. 24:2323Then the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed, when the Lord of hosts shall reign in mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before his ancients gloriously. (Isaiah 24:23).) Ezekiel, who first saw the Son of Man in the glory above the firmament, after-wards saw the same glory returned to the earthly city of the Great King. (Ezek. 43:1, 21Afterward he brought me to the gate, even the gate that looketh toward the east: 2And, behold, the glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east: and his voice was like a noise of many waters: and the earth shined with his glory. (Ezekiel 43:1‑2)) And Daniel is very specially the witness of the glory of Christ in the earth, taking a kingdom and dominion here. Indeed the Prophets generally could speak of Christ as the King of Israel, and as such, the God of the whole earth also, the heathen being given to Him for His inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for His possession. But all this, though of the glory of the Son, was of the earth still. The circumstances in which all this glory is to be revealed must be earthly. But the Gentiles being " fellow-heirs, and of the same body," was a mystery of which it was not given to the Prophets to speak particularly. Co-heirship of God with Jesus the Lord,-spiritual blessings in the heavenlies-the sanctified and the Sanctifier being all of one-the Church: as the body of Christ and the fullness of Him that filleth all in all,-these are "the heavenly things" which the Son of Man alone has revealed, for He alone came down from heaven, and alone has thus ascended into heaven. (John 3:1313And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven. (John 3:13).)
It is not that there is any new purpose with God; no, but there are due seasons and appointed ministries for the manifestation of His purposes. The Church is nothing new as to purpose, but new as to manifestation. Jesus, the Messiah on the earth, was the proper expectation of Israel; and therefore the songs which either ushered in, or accompanied the birth of the Lord, welcoming Him to the earth, were all in celebration of good things to Israel, and announced nothing heavenly. Neither indeed did the Resurrection of the Lord any more than His birth necessarily take Him beyond earthly glory and Jewish hopes. For the earthly people have their interest in Messiah's resurrection, as well as the Church. Their prophets foretold it, and the promise grounded on resurrection, was that to which the twelve tribes, instantly serving God day and night, hoped to come. (Acts 26:6-96And now I stand and am judged for the hope of the promise made of God unto our fathers: 7Unto which promise our twelve tribes, instantly serving God day and night, hope to come. For which hope's sake, king Agrippa, I am accused of the Jews. 8Why should it be thought a thing incredible with you, that God should raise the dead? 9I verily thought with myself, that I ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth. (Acts 26:6‑9).) The hopes of David's throne are identified with the resurrection. (Acts 2:3030Therefore being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne; (Acts 2:30).) It is the resurrection that makes David's mercies sure mercies. (Acts 13:3434And as concerning that he raised him up from the dead, now no more to return to corruption, he said on this wise, I will give you the sure mercies of David. (Acts 13:34).) And therefore when the death and resurrection of the Lord were accomplished at Jerusalem, it was to Israel that the testimony was first sent. And even more than this,-the Ascension did not at once take the Lord out of Jewish connection; for it put Him into possession of the gifts which He was to receive for the rebellious,—i.e. Israel, and which under the New Covenant, He is to give to Israel. And we are taught that it is from His Ascension-place, that He is to give repentance to Israel and remission of sins. (Acts 5:3131Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins. (Acts 5:31).) But the ascending into heaven after Him, and not waiting here on earth for His return, is beyond all Jewish hopes,-That is the new or the heavenly calling. Mansions in the Father's house, and the special joys and honors of the saints, as the brethren of the Son of God, were before left in a mystery, But such is the high calling to which the Church is called; and it is made known to the saints by the Spirit, sent down from the Son, thus ascended into heavenly glory, and when He had been rejected in His resurrection by His earthly people Israel. Till then, the time had not come, the ministry had not been prepared, for the revelation of this calling.
But though it were thus as to express revelation kept secret, yet from the beginning, God had been pleased to signify and shadow it, and the saints are now able, in the light of the full revelation of it, to trace out and read such signs and shadows. They see themselves thus as the heavenly family kept in remembrance, even in the midst of the Lord's dealings with the earth and the earthly people.
And I will not refrain from stating here what has lately impressed my own soul with some fresh comfort,-that amid the increasing anxiety of these times, and the deepening of the world's darkness around us, the light of our God shines pure and steady as ever.—This is comfort. The pillar was the same to Israel through whatever part ( of the desert they passed: that land of the shadow of death might/ have been gloomier to them in some stages of their wondrous march', than in others; but the pillar of God was the same. On it went, the same steady, sure, unvarying guide. It gathered none of the gloom, of the desert around it; and I can believe that the more lonely the wilderness became to them, the more steadily did the camp eye it as their abiding companion and friend. And so now with us, beloved. The way to the saint may become lonely, very lonely; but the word of the Lord endureth forever. There is no darkness there, no uncertainty there. This would be our sorrow indeed, if any of the present darkness of which we complain, were in Jesus.-But it cannot be there. The candle shines on the candlestick; God has not put it under a bushel; it gives light, as ever, to all that come in. The darkness is only in the world that surrounds us, and in the evil eye of our own body. (Luke 11:33-3633No man, when he hath lighted a candle, putteth it in a secret place, neither under a bushel, but on a candlestick, that they which come in may see the light. 34The light of the body is the eye: therefore when thine eye is single, thy whole body also is full of light; but when thine eye is evil, thy body also is full of darkness. 35Take heed therefore that the light which is in thee be not darkness. 36If thy whole body therefore be full of light, having no part dark, the whole shall be full of light, as when the bright shining of a candle doth give thee light. (Luke 11:33‑36).) And therefore though the night be dark and lonely, there is light to guide us and to cheer us, and the simple obedient saint finds it so. (2 Pet. 1-19.) The foundations may be destroyed, but the righteous still know what to do, for the light of God remains undimmed. (Luke 11:3636If thy whole body therefore be full of light, having no part dark, the whole shall be full of light, as when the bright shining of a candle doth give thee light. (Luke 11:36).) This, brethren, is our comfort-the word of our God endureth forever; and may the gracious hand that gave it to us, ever control and guide us in using it!
It needs not to be observed, that the different typical persons in \ Scripture set forth the Lord only in certain features of His glory. No one stands out as a full exhibition of Him. Indeed the limited sphere in which they severally moved, under the hand of God, would allow of nothing more than this. In each of them we may get traces of Jesus, but that is all; one after another takes up the wondrous tale, but the half is not told us. (1 Kings 10:77Howbeit I believed not the words, until I came, and mine eyes had seen it: and, behold, the half was not told me: thy wisdom and prosperity exceedeth the fame which I heard. (1 Kings 10:7).) But still we learn, and learn much from them; and something, as I would now show, of the deep things of God, which the Spirit alone searcheth out, and which God has revealed to us by the Spirit, are made known, as in figure by them.
In the union of Adam and Eve, and in the law of marriage in Eden, the oneness of Christ and the Church was from the beginning declared. In the dominion of all things there, Eve being the associate of Adam in his lordship, the joint inheritance of all things on earth by the Lord and His saints was set forth. In the structure and combination of the parts of the tabernacle, much of the same purpose of God was exhibited. The holy places, with the outer courts, were all according to heavenly patterns, presenting the union and yet distinctness of the heavens and the earth; as that same union and distinctness had been previously revealed in the vision of the exiled Patriarch of the ladder set up on the earth, but whose top reached to heaven. And much like this will be seen in the structure and combination of certain typical persons; for in the laying of them together, the one after the other, as the parts of the tabernacle, it will be found that that order of heavenly and earthly things, which in the end is to be displayed, has, from the beginning, been foreshown. Of this I have lately been strongly assured. And indeed it is the duty of the saints, as it should be their delight (ever looking to God for wisdom) to discern the ways of God under His works,-to see His mind and purpose under the moldings and fashionings of His hand,-to speak of " the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the world." (1 Cor. 2:77But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory: (1 Corinthians 2:7).)
I would notice this combination of typical persons first in Enoch and Noah.-
The earth, at the first, was given to Adam; " And God blessed them, and God said unto them, be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the. earth, and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the face of the earth." (Gen. 1:2828And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. (Genesis 1:28).) But in his hand the earth became corrupt, and thus corrupted it passed into the possession of Cain and his family, as will be seen in Gen. 4 They buy, they sell, they plant, they build, they marry, and are given in marriage. They stamp their own name upon the earth, and furnish it with all, that was good and pleasant in the judgment of the flesh. They were "the world" of that day, and "the things that are in the world" they loved and cultivated. But in the midst of this Cain-earth, there was gathered from Seth, (appointed to Eve instead of Abel, whom Cain slew,) a household of faith, who " call upon the name of the Lord." (Gen. 4:2626And to Seth, to him also there was born a son; and he called his name Enos: then began men to call upon the name of the Lord. (Genesis 4:26).) This is their only record. The world knew them not, for they were not of it. They died, generation after generation. (Gen. 5) They had no inheritance here; they toiled at the cursed ground, as submitting to God's righteous ordinance, and only looked for a new earth and a future rest. (Gen. 5:2929And he called his name Noah, saying, This same shall comfort us concerning our work and toil of our hands, because of the ground which the Lord hath cursed. (Genesis 5:29).) They lived by faith, and they died in hope; of whom it may be said, "the world was not worthy." They were the heavenly family,-they acknowledged God in the midst of that world which had willingly estranged itself from His presence to seek out its own inventions.
But in process of time they also corrupted themselves, and the Lord had to testify of their apostasy, and loss of heavenly character, and to say of them, (as giving them up,) " My Spirit shall not always strive with man." Then did it repent Him that He had made man on the earth, and it grieved Him at His heart, for He saw that the wickedness of man was great, and that all flesh had corrupted His way upon the earth." (Gen. 6:1-81And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them, 2That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose. 3And the Lord said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years. 4There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown. 5And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 6And it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. 7And the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them. 8But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. (Genesis 6:1‑8),)
But ere this, Enoch had been found among them faithful to his high calling. In the power of the heavenly hope of this Seth household,, " he walked with God," and according to the end of that hope, " God took him." " By faith Enoch was translated, that he should not' see death, and was not found, because God had translated him; for before his translation, he had this testimony, that he pleased God." This is a simple record of this holy and honored Patriarch; but it is large enough to warrant us to say, that in his day Enoch was the witness of ascension glory, and of the heavenly calling; in him death was abolished, and life and immortality were for a passing moment brought to light; He was not found on earth, for God had taken Him. The mansions in the Father's house, as it were, were already prepared and He was seated in them; and the saints were seen in Him as caught up to meet the Lord in the air.
And in perfect character with all this, Enoch prophesied of the coming of, the Lord with His saints to the judgment of the earth. Delivered in spirit out of the evil of the world, he was delivered afterward in person out of the judgment of it; and he beheld from his elevation, (like Abraham in such a case, Genesis 14:2323That I will not take from a thread even to a shoelatchet, and that I will not take any thing that is thine, lest thou shouldest say, I have made Abram rich: (Genesis 14:23)) the smoke of the country going up as the smoke of a furnace. " Behold the Lord cometh," said Enoch, "with ten thousand of His saints to execute judgment." (Jude 1414And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, (Jude 14), 15.)
But Noah, on the other hand, is not taken away from the judgment, but carded safely through it. The same hand which had raised Enoch out of it, conducts Noah through it. (Heb. 11:6, 76But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. 7By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith. (Hebrews 11:6‑7).) He prepared an ark to the saving of his house; the waters rose around him, wave upon wave; the end of all flesh was shown to him, but he lived to rise up the inheritor and lord of a new earth, and with him the covenant that to this day establishes the earth was made, and God set His bow in the cloud for a token of it.
But this was not Enoch glory. Noah was left on the earth still. God remembered Noah assuredly, but it was only to open the door of the ark, and let him forth upon the earth again. He was found here again; for God had not translated, but only preserved him. His faith carried him through the flood into a new world, while Enoch was carried above it up to God.
And such are the divers glories of the Church and of Israel,-such the several callings of the heavenly and the earthly families, such the children of the resurrection, and the children of the circumcision.—And such too are the several seasons ordained for the revelation of these glories. Enoch came before Noah. Enoch was translated to heaven before Noah condemned the old world, and inherited the new. So will the saints be caught up to meet the Lord in the air first, and then will come the judgment of the nations and the manifestation of the Lord in His Noah character, in His glory of earthly rule and inheritance.
But this Noah-earth quickly became corrupt, as the Adam-earth had before it; and within a little while, " the children of men" became again vain in their imaginations, following the pride and naughtiness of their hearts to the very full. Flesh again proved itself to be flesh. Man was the same man still, the waters of the flood had not cleansed him, but big with the old desire to be as God "the children of men" were now for making themselves a name, and building themselves a city and a tower, whose top should reach unto heaven. (Gen. 11)
But, as before in the person of Seth, the Lord had raised up a heavenly man in the midst of the Cain-world, so now did the God of glory raise up in the person of Abraham, another heavenly man in the midst of this Noah-world. Government of the earth had been given to Noah, but Abraham is called away from the earth, away from his country, his kindred, and his father's house, to walk with God; like Seth or Enoch, a stranger and sojourner here. Abraham, like them before him, got no part in this corrupted earth. God gave him none inheritance in it, "no, not so much as to set his foot on." His tent and his altar accompanied him wherever he went, and marked him as a stranger on the earth with God. He had in the character of his calling, done with the world. He dwelt here with his children in tabernacles, and died in faith, desiring a heavenly country. He took no part with "the children of men" in their building of cities, and getting themselves a name; but he looked for a city whose builder was God, and waited, according to promise, to have his name made great by Jehovah. But God was eminently with him; his candle, as Job speaks, shined upon his head, and wondrously and blessedly indeed may it be said, the secret of God was upon his tabernacle. This was all his present glory, but it was holy glory. The Lord told him of his ways, and promised him everything. By the hand of Melchizedek heavenly and earthly treasures were pledged to him, and by the word of the Lord, heavenly as well as earthly mysteries were made known to him. He was to be the heir of the world, and the father of many nations. He- was admitted to the divine presence, and walked on earth as " the friend of God." The judgment of the world was made to pass before him, but it did not come nigh unto him, only with his eyes did he behold and see the reward of the wicked. The smoke of the country went up as the smoke of a furnace, while Abraham looked down from on high upon it, and that too, from the very place where he had " stood before the Lord," that is, where he had been in intercession with the Lord, (Gen. 19:2727And Abraham gat up early in the morning to the place where he stood before the Lord: (Genesis 19:27).) and whichever is, in principle and character, heaven itself.
He was thus, like Enoch, the elect one-drawn out from the world before the judgment came. In the crisis of the earth he had nothing to do. But Lot his kinsman, his inferior and younger kinsman, is left as a remnant in the world after the judgment. He was sent, with sure purpose of love, mat of the midst of the overthrow when God overthrew the city of destruction, in the which he dwelt; but he did not stand on Abraham's elevation. He and Abraham never met afterward; for he was found, as it were, on the earth still, the remnant that survived the judgment like Noah before him, while Abraham was above it, and out of it altogether like Enoch.
Such knowledge of the mystery of God's will purposed in Himself from the beginning, and to be manifested in the dispensation of the fullness of times, by the gathering of all things whether in heaven or on earth in one, even in Christ, was thus in types foreshown to, and left among the Patriarchs, whether before or after the flood. And just at the beginning of the Lord's subsequent dealings with that nation which He had chosen for His own out of the earth, we may find the same purpose again foreshown.-I mean in the combined types of Moses and Joshua.
Moses came from Egypt through the wilderness; as it is written of him, " this was he that was in the Church in the wilderness.'' (Acts 7:3838This is he, that was in the church in the wilderness with the angel which spake to him in the mount Sina, and with our fathers: who received the lively oracles to give unto us: (Acts 7:38).) He stood on the borders of the land of promise, which was destined soon to be God's world, or that part of the earth which God was about to separate to Himself. But Moses was to go no further. There was to be nothing in this world for Moses but the wilderness and a sight of Canaan. The earth to him was to be no Canaan. His foot was never to tread a land flowing with milk and honey. " Die in the mount whither thou goest up, and be gathered unto thy people," said the Lord to him. (Deut. 32:5050And die in the mount whither thou goest up, and be gathered unto thy people; as Aaron thy brother died in mount Hor, and was gathered unto his people: (Deuteronomy 32:50),) And Moses did so. He went up from the plain of Moab unto the mountain of Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, and died there. But did he die the death of all men? died Moses as a fool dieth? No, it was the Lord Himself who put him asleep; tile dead may bury the dead, but the Lord buried Moses. " He buried him in a valley in the land of Moab over against Beth-peor, but no man knoweth of his sepulcher unto this day." (Deut. 34:66And he buried him in a valley in the land of Moab, over against Beth-peor: but no man knoweth of his sepulchre unto this day. (Deuteronomy 34:6).) Though He showed His care in another way, yet was it equal care for the body of Moses, as had been shown for that of Enoch, and because they were to be equally children of the resurrection. Some sleep, but they which are alive and remain shall not prevent them which are asleep, but all shall be caught up together to meet the Lord in the air. (1 Thes. 4:15- 17.) The earth does not to this day own the body of Moses. Like others, it is true, it has returned dust to dust, hut the Lord Himself buried it with sure and certain purpose of giving it a resurrection unto glory. It was not the power of death that had oppressed Moses. Though 120 years old, his eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated. The Lord could have said of him (as of all the children of the resurrection) "If I will that lie tarry till I come;" for death is abolished to them all. But He was otherwise minded, and graciously so; for in Moses He has given to all those who may be called to " sleep in Jesus," a sure pledge that their bodies are not forgotten in the grave, but though sown in corruption they shall be raised in glory; though once in the image of the earthy, they shall be found in the image of the heavenly.
But there is in Moses much more of a Church or heavenly aspect, if I may so express myself, than even all this-as one thing I observe, that it is only in connection with Moses that Israel is ever called the Church. "This is he," says the Scripture, speaking of Moses, "that was in the Church in the wilderness," (Acts 7:3838This is he, that was in the church in the wilderness with the angel which spake to him in the mount Sina, and with our fathers: who received the lively oracles to give unto us: (Acts 7:38).) the only passage I believe where the people of Israel are expressly called the Church. And the reason I judge to be this, that it is only while they were traveling in the wilderness, that Israel bears analogy to the Church of God on the earth. The stricter analogy ends when Israel gets into Canaan, and is there organized and settled as God's nation; and therefore all things that happened to them as examples, and which are written for the Church's admonition, happened to them when in the wilderness, and are found written, all of them in the book of Numbers, Which the Jews called, and properly so, " the book of the wilderness." (see 1 Cor. 10:1-101Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; 2And were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea; 3And did all eat the same spiritual meat; 4And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ. 5But with many of them God was not well pleased: for they were overthrown in the wilderness. 6Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted. 7Neither be ye idolaters, as were some of them; as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play. 8Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed, and fell in one day three and twenty thousand. 9Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents. 10Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer. (1 Corinthians 10:1‑10).) And Moses was their leader and the companion of their joys and sorrows only while they continued in the wilderness; and thus in the very character of his position while on the earth, his course, as we thus see, ending in the wilderness, and he himself never taking his place among the people of Israel when organized and manifested as God's nation, we clearly discern in Moses much more of the heavenly than of the earthly calling-more of the Church character than of Israel.
Besides, Moses was constantly with the Lord Jesus in the heavens, dwelling unveiled, like the Church, in the presence of Christ beyond the region of the lightning and thunder, from whence the law was delivered, (Ex. 34:3434But when Moses went in before the Lord to speak with him, he took the vail off, until he came out. And he came out, and spake unto the children of Israel that which he was commanded. (Exodus 34:34). 2 Cor. 3:1818But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord. (2 Corinthians 3:18).) and in the presence of which Israel stood. (Ex. 24:1717And the sight of the glory of the Lord was like devouring fire on the top of the mount in the eyes of the children of Israel. (Exodus 24:17).) He was in the peaceful sunshine on the top of the hill of God; there he walked amid the fullness of Christ, receiving token after token of His grace and salvation. He saw face to face, he beheld the similitude of the Lord, and was spoken with mouth to mouth, and he shone with the heavenly glory of Jesus in the heights. And according to all this, he is afterward seen in the Holy Mount, in company with Elijah, occupying the place which is characteristically the Church's place. (Matt. 17:33And, behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elias talking with him. (Matthew 17:3).)
And I would add this, that Moses got a wife and children when he was, through their unbelief and rejection of him, separated from his brethren the children of Israel, and when, consequently, as he says himself, he was an alien in a strange land." (Ex 11:22, 18:3) And so has the Lord been brought in among the Gentiles through the unbelief and rejection of Israel, and is gathering a Church, a wife and children, out from among them. And thus in all this, Moses is strikingly in character with the Lord in the present dispensation and calling of the Church, bearing upon him much more of the heavenly than of the earthly calling, exhibiting the Lord in connection with the Church, rather than with Israel. " This is he that was in the Church in the wilderness."
But Joshua, who comes after Moses, presents another thing altogether. He stood in the land, the good land, which the Lord gave for an inheritance to Israel. The heathen were given to him, and the kings and rulers of the earth he broke in pieces like a potter's vessel. He divided the land by lot among the Tribes, the children of the circumcision, and their reproach he rolled away. Joshua raised the altar of the Lord in 'the land, taking possession of it in His name, and the earth smiled around them, the garden of the Lord, again. Joshua was thus the man of victory, and the heir of the inheritance here; Moses had been but the man of Egypt and the wilderness, who died on the other side of Jordan. But Moses was laid up by the hand of the Lord for resurrection, while Joshua still stood upon the earth. Like Enoch and Noah of old, among the Patriarchs, Moses and Joshua now in Israel, tell out the same wondrous tale, the purpose of God concerning the heaven and the earth. And in the same order of time also. For as Enoch was translated to heaven before Noah inherited the earth, so Moses was buried by the Lord in Mount Pisgah, before Joshua crossed the Jordan and took possession of the land of promise. But in their turn, under the guiding hand of God, they each take up the same mystery, and foreshow the dispensation of the fullness of times, and of the gathering of all things in Christ, whether things in earth or things in heaven.
The glories are two, but the same Lord is the center and sustainer of both. In a glass darkly we see the heavenly family, whether alive or asleep at the coming of the Lord, in Enoch and Moses, and we see the earth restored and inherited again in Noah and Joshua.
Again, in the combined histories of Elijah and Elisha, we shall find the same testimony among the Prophets, another foreshowing of the same mystery; every age being thus made to witness this purpose of God. Elijah like Enoch before him stands in an evil day. He is called forth in a day of deep apostasy in Israel, and in the spirit of a righteous reprover, he suddenly breaks in upon Ahab and all his iniquity with a voice of judgment. -" As the Lord God of Israel liveth, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years but according to my word." (1 Kings 17:11And Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the inhabitants of Gilead, said unto Ahab, As the Lord God of Israel liveth, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word. (1 Kings 17:1).). The Baptist's voice in another day, " Repent ye, O generation of vipers," was, as it were, but the echo of this voice of God's Prophet before Ahab. The same spirit and power were in both. And their course on the earth was of one character also. The Prophet suffers for his testimony; this was his only portion here. There was, it is true, a rejoicing in his light for a season, as afterward with the Jews in the light of the Baptist. The people fell on their faces, acknowledging the Lord God of Elijah, saying, "The Lord He is the God, the Lord He is the God;" and the Prophets of Baal were taken down and slain at the brook Kishon. (1 Kings 18:39, 4039And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces: and they said, The Lord, he is the God; the Lord, he is the God. 40And Elijah said unto them, Take the prophets of Baal; let not one of them escape. And they took them: and Elijah brought them down to the brook Kishon, and slew them there. (1 Kings 18:39‑40).) But the burning and shining light of God's Prophet was quickly disowned, as afterward was John, his companion in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ. Another Herod and Herodias are confederate against Elijah, and he is exiled, afflicted and destitute: the world hates him, the hand of man is against him. The Lord acknowledges his suffering witness and comforts him, but it is the comforting of one who is cast down, cast down by the enmity of man. The still small voice of love meets his ear, but it is in that wilderness out to which the hand of a persecutor had driven him. His enemies are strong and many, and from the beginning to the end, he continues to be the suffering and exiled one, the righteous witness of God cast out by an evil generation. This was his course on earth; till at last, when the suffering was all accomplished, and he had fought his fight, and finished his course, and kept the faith, he is made to enter into glory. Having believed, he lives; having suffered, he reigns. Earth disowns, but heaven receives him. Another cloud takes him out of our sight. (Acts 1:99And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight. (Acts 1:9).) The chariot and horses of Israel, seat him as a child of the resurrection among the angels, (Luke 20:3636Neither can they die any more: for they are equal unto the angels; and are the children of God, being the children of the resurrection. (Luke 20:36).) and the world which had troubled him for his righteousness sake now only knows that his reward is great in heaven. (Matt. 5:1212Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you. (Matthew 5:12).)
I need not say how all this is characteristic of the Lord and the Church. The rejected One walking by faith on earth, there knowing the enmity of man, and the consolations of God, is at length glorified among the angels in heaven. All this tells us of that heavenly family who walk here in faith un-vindicated and disowned, but who, believing, are to live, and who, suffering, are to reign. And as in the case of Moses, Elijah is seen in the Holy Mount, the companion of the glory, as he had been of the sufferings of Christ,
occupying that which is to he the place of the Church, or the heavenly glory.
But in Elisha we have something altogether different. No suffering for him after his Master was taken from him. He stands before kings and is not ashamed. It is not with him, as it had been with his Master; the wrath of the king prevailing to exile and to trouble him, but chief captains wait at his gates, and kings send presents to him; he discloses the secrets of one of them, disappoints the purposes of another, gives pledges of victory to a third, and grants supplies to combined armies of them. Chariots of salvation fill the mountain as attendants on the Prophet. Every path on which he treads, wears after him some trace of the greatness of him who had been traveling there; famine, disease, and death seem to own him; mercies and judgments are dispensed through his hand. He stands above all difficulty, going onward still, in the Lord, from strength to strength. Nature changes its course at his bidding; and at length even his dead body puts forth strange and surprising virtue. (2 Kings 13:2121And it came to pass, as they were burying a man, that, behold, they spied a band of men; and they cast the man into the sepulchre of Elisha: and when the man was let down, and touched the bones of Elisha, he revived, and stood up on his feet. (2 Kings 13:21).) It sends forth the prisoners out of the pit that they might not die but live, and walk on earth again, as before the Lord, in the land of the living.
All this was a traveling in greatness of strength; but it was a traveling in greatness only upon the earth. The things that Elisha did were great things, (as it is said of them 2 Kings 8:44And the king talked with Gehazi the servant of the man of God, saying, Tell me, I pray thee, all the great things that Elisha hath done. (2 Kings 8:4).) but still they were only things of the earth. It was the earth that witnessed the power of God in the Prophet; his was not with Elijah, glory among the angels in heaven, but glory in the earth, power amid the resources and over the circumstances of the world. And thus again, in these two Prophets, the same wondrous tale is told out, the same purpose of God concerning the heavens and the earth in the world to come. And the very same seasons may be observed here, as we have observed above. Elijah was taken up by a whirlwind into heaven before Elisha received the double portion of his spirit, and went through the earth in the greatness of the strength of it. All this being to foreshow the heavens receiving the Church; and then, but not till then, Israel and the earth receiving blessing again in the restitution of all things.
Such are, to me, very distinct and significant fore-showings of the heavenly calling, and of the purpose of God, which in the dispensation of the fullness of times is to be manifested. But it must not be understood that in this comparative view of Enoch, Abraham, Moses, and Elijah, with Noah, Lot, Joshua, and Elisha,-I mean to present the first rank as individually and personally belonging to the heavenly family, and the second rank of them to the earthly.-Surely not. I speak of them only in their typical bearing. They stand, when thus combined, as foreshowing the two departments of the coming kingdom of our Lord,-the Church called up to heaven and the throne,-Israel settled in honor and in blessing, with the attending nations on the earth or the footstool. But as Enoch will be found among the children of the resurrection so will Noah, and Joshua will appear with Moses, and Elisha with Elijah in the true mount of transfiguration.
And this is just what we may observe upon that typical mount itself. There Peter, James, and John, in type, presented the place which the earthly family is to hold in the kingdom; for still in bodies of flesh and blood they stood merely before the heavenly glory, and not in it. But we know that in the antitype or the kingdom, they will hold the other place, and be where they then saw Moses and Elijah, in the glory on the heavenly mount with the Lord. Himself; this St. Peter clearly declares. (2 Peter 1:1616For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty. (2 Peter 1:16).) The inheritance of all the saints is in heaven. (1 Peter 1:44To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, (1 Peter 1:4).) The Patriarchs looked for a "heavenly" country. (Heb. 11:1616But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city. (Hebrews 11:16).) The Lord is to come and all His saints with Him, as Zechariah prophesies. (Zech. 14:55And ye shall flee to the valley of the mountains; for the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azal: yea, ye shall flee, like as ye fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah: and the Lord my God shall come, and all the saints with thee. (Zechariah 14:5).) Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and all the Prophets are to be seen hereafter in the kingdom of God. (Luke 13:2828There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when ye shall see Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out. (Luke 13:28).) I do judge that Scripture instructs us, that all the elect, as well those who came before the Son was revealed, as well as those who are now under the ministry of the Spirit of the Son glorified, will be found together in the heavenly glory of the kingdom.-For all are of one body. Until the Son was sent forth, they were as children under tutors and governors, under the rudiments of the world, but still they were of the Father, as we are. No better than servants, but still lords of all, as we are. (Gal. 4:1-61Now I say, That the heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all; 2But is under tutors and governors until the time appointed of the father. 3Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world: 4But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, 5To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. 6And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. (Galatians 4:1‑6).)
In their measure, too, they continued with the Lord in His temptations, standing each in his day faithful, like Jesus among the faithless; and therefore their place must be that of the children, and their reward that of the faithful witnesses. They lived by faith, and they died in faith, and are laid up surely as children of the resurrection; no longer of the earth, earthy, but to bear the image of the heavenly, in the day when death is to be swallowed up of victory.
And, now in closing, let me, while having thus sought to know the deeper parts of God's ways and purposes concerning us, call to your remembrance, brethren, the ever fresh and blessed truth of the love of God our Savior. The command to you is, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your mind, with all your soul, and with all your strength;" and again the command is, " Rejoice in the Lord alway." Now never would He have thus commanded us, if He had not forgiven us, and would have us to know this forgiveness. For it were but a thankless task to try to love Him thus, and to rejoice in Him thus, while we know not that He is ours in the full joy of forgiveness. It were a commandment beyond obedience altogether, if we were not to know Him in the reconciliation. He who commands us to love and rejoice in Him, commands us to know Him to be at peace with us. He never would have said to us, " give me thy heart," if He had not addressed us with, " my son." (Prov. 23:2525Thy father and thy mother shall be glad, and she that bare thee shall rejoice. (Proverbs 23:25).) The call tells us of the relationship; the demand made upon us implies the grace which has been brought to us; and in this way we may use the sweet words of our Lord, "I know that His commandment is life everlasting." It is His command that we believe in His forgiving love. God is disobeyed if we receive not the blessing with joy. Our obedience to God therefore thus depends on our receiving the reconciliation.
But not only this, our godly use and apprehension of the things around us, depends in like manner on knowing the reconciliation through the death and rising again of Jesus. It is this which the neat creature in Christ apprehends in them all, as the Apostle speaks, " If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature, old things are passed away, and behold all things are become new, and all things are of God, who hath reconciled us unto Himself by Jesus Christ." And not only so, all that which as saints is our service to others, depends on this likewise. For instance our ministry flows from it; for it is to us, as the Apostle further speaks, who are reconciled, that the ministry of reconciliation is given. (2 Cor. 5:1818And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; (2 Corinthians 5:18).) " We having the same spirit of faith, according as it is written, " I believed, and therefore have I spoken; we also believe, and therefore speak; knowing that He which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus." Our intercessions flow from it; for it is only in the consciousness of our own acceptance that we can intercede for others. Abraham drew near to the Lord when lie prayed for Sodom, The High Priest under the law went into the holiest of all. The altar of incense stood close to the second vail. And therefore when the Church is exhorted to make prayers, supplications, intercessions, and giving of thanks for all men, she is, doubtless, by that very exhortation, commanded to know her own full acceptance, and thus to pray without doubting. (1 Tim. 2) So blessedly thus, dear Brethren, does everything help to assure our hearts before God our Savior, and keep us in the sense of His forgiving and accepting love. The very commands He has delivered, the spirit in which He calls us to walk, the services He requires, all are made to witness to us the reconciliation. The full abiding sense of the reconciliation we should bear about with us everywhere; as Adam, though sent out to a world which his own sin had defiled, and which was thus a constant witness against him, bore on his shoulder the coat of skin, the pledge and witness of grace and forgiveness towards him from the hand of God Himself.
And I would add one other thing, which has touched. my own soul with comfort, while writing these pages-that if we do (as surely we do daily) and as to such joys in a world of such offense, and trespass as " this present evil world" is-if the sunshine and fruitful seasons and a thousand other springs of constant ever flowing joy be such as they are to us here, what must be the joy, when the offense is forever removed, and all is subjection and service! when God again rejoices in His works! when in the dispensation of the fullness of times He has gathered together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth, even in Him!-May the brightness of that day be much before us, and our hearts know more and more what it is to long for its appearing.