The Book of Leviticus is the book of worship; it gives us the principles of worship, and that which the worshipper was to pass through in order to be fitted for worship. In the case of the leper (chap. 13), it was not simply a question of forgiveness of sins (in type), but he had to be cleansed.
In Exodus we get rather salvation and deliverance by the power of God from Egypt and Pharaoh, from the world and Satan; and the bringing of the people on to redemption ground where they could serve the Lord, and where His presence might be known amongst them. As the Lord says, “I will dwell amongst them, and they shall be my people.” We have very beautifully brought before us in this chapter the distinction between salvation from sin, the world, and Satan. It is important that we should get hold of this, because Christianity is not negative; it is not mere occupation with sin. It is God delivering us from the state we were in by nature, and bringing us into positive blessing.
As Christians the question is settled, and it is very important to see that, or otherwise we should always be seeking to settle it ourselves. It is our privilege to “Reckon ourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive to God.” If I am dead to sin I have nothing more to do with it, and the more I am occupied with it the more I shall get into weakness. If I take up the question of the flesh and seek to be made perfect by it, I fail directly: the more I seek to get it out of me the more I find I am a sinner-born in sin, and to eradicate it would be to cease to be a man: for sin is our nature.
The thing is to see that I am in another sphere with nothing more to say to it. A Christian does not live to sin, nor in it; the natural man does both. Christ as man had to do with it once, but that was to die to it; and now He has nothing more to do with it. The very nature of Christianity is that I am done with it: it is not that I know certain truths, but I am dead to sin, because Christ died to it. Well, this is salvation: it is an entirely different thing from forgiveness, and the mere knowledge of forgiveness does not give you it. To believe on the Lord Jesus Christ is a great deal more than to believe your sins are forgiven; that does not save me. True, it saves me from going to hell. Well, is not that a great thing? It is; but it is not all. Suppose God spoke to me and said, “I will forgive your sins, and not send you to hell, but you are to stay here altogether.” Would that make me happy? It would be perfect misery. To be delivered from the judgment of God that falls upon a man because he is a sinner, is a very different thing from being brought to God. Salvation brings me to God.
I would first refer you to Ex. 12, where you find the blood of the passover is brought before us. The blood of the Paschal Lamb was sprinkled on the door-posts of the children of Israel, and in every house thus sprinkled there was deliverance from the judgment that came upon the Egyptians. The destroying angel passed by, death did not come in. The fear of judgment was gone, but they were not saved: they were in Egypt still: they were in the world. We find there was a distinct thing God had to teach His people as to this question of salvation. You notice God brings them out of their course; makes them diverge from the straight path they were pursuing to teach them a lesson they could not otherwise learn. At midnight the destroying angel smote the first-born of Egypt, judgment came upon the world, and then Pharaoh rose up, and in haste called for Moses and Aaron, saying, “Go, serve the Lord as ye have said.” But will that do? No; that will not do for God; there was to be something further; separation must come in. All this was from the world. It was good so far as it went, but God has another lesson to teach His people. Separation from the world is not to be had at the hands of the world, but of God Himself. It will not be enough for the world to say, “Go, We will have nothing to do with these people; they do not enjoy our things; our dances; our concerts.” God must come in and save us to Himself.
If you are a Christian, and you are not afraid to die, and do not care for the amusements of the world; that will separate you in a certain way. They will not ask you to go to their racecourses; they know it is no use. But if they want your advice they will send; they will beg you to join their Town Council, or to give your name to some of their Societies. But the Lord wants to separate you so that the world will not be there to touch you. When Pharaoh finds the people vanishing in the distance, so that he is going to lose all power over them, he says, “We must follow after them, it is too far.” And he pursues them with his horses and chariots. Then says God (as it were), “I will take occasion from that action of yours to show a truth not known before.” They knew salvation from judgment and death. So with many a soul now which knows that he has forgiveness of sins says, “I can go on happily now in the world, and go to heaven when I die.” And he cares for nothing more. He does not know what it is to be delivered from the world.
The Lord made them diverge from the course they were taking from impending judgment, and straight to heaven (Canaan). There is another path for the Christian. “And the Lord spake unto Moses saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, that they turn and encamp before Pi-hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea over against Baal-Zephon” (vv. 1, 2). I believe the common thought is that the passage to Canaan lay necessarily through the Red Sea. It was not so. It was necessary for God’s glory that it should be so, but not geographically necessary. If the world had not been so bad it would have been far easier to go to heaven. If there had been any hope of making the world better, you and I would have been spared many a lesson, and might have gone quietly and happily on our way. Now the Lord says, “Turn and encamp by the Red Sea.” God had a purpose in that. It was that in that Red Sea He might forever destroy the power of Satan. The Lord tells them to turn, and verse three gives them the reason for that. “For Pharaoh will say of the children of Israel, They are entangled in the land, the wilderness hath shut them in. And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, that he shall follow after them; and I will be honored upon Pharaoh, and upon all his host, that the Egyptians may know that I am the Lord. And they did so.”
That is what we have in Romans, as you will remember. That is, we do not pass on from Rom. 5 to 8; the apostle turns in the midst of chap. 5 to encamp between Migdol and the sea, and by the 6 and 7 he brings them out into the joy of the 8. He is not satisfied simply with saying as in chap. 8, “We have peace with God,” “We also joy in God,” through our Lord Jesus Christ. We have been reconciled, we joy in God, and we can get through the troubles of this life. There’s another question of what the world is. The apostle takes up that, and shows that we are sinners by nature, and that the world to which we belong is enmity against God. Whereas in chap. 5 we have peace with God. Chapter 7 is, “Oh, wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me?” Then he shows what it is to be delivered from this body of death, and to be filled with the Spirit. That is salvation! For if I am filled with the Spirit, I am no longer a debtor to the flesh. The body is reckoned to be dead because of sin, but we have the new life, and we cry “Abba, Father.” It is not simply being a happy Christian; there are many happy Christians, but it is to be a holy Christian; and till you have that you are not saved to be for God in the world. Oh! says some Christian, I am very thankful I am saved. I can go to heaven when I die. But I like the world, and I will live for it. “Go back,” says God, “by the way of the Red Sea.” He has this to teach them.
“And it was told the King of Egypt that the people fled; and the heart of Pharaoh and of his servants was turned against the people, and they said, Why have we done this, that we have let Israel go from serving us? And he made ready his chariot, and took his people with him” (vv. 5, 6). Think of Christ meeting all the power of Satan on the cross; as He said Himself, “This is your hour and the power of darkness.” In Col. 2:1414Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross; (Colossians 2:14), speaking of the victory of Christ, the apostle says, “Blotting out the hand-writing of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross; and having spoiled principalities and powers he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it. Let no man, therefore, judge you,” &c. It is a clean and entire setting aside of Satan and his principalities and powers as dead to Satan and his power. He made a show of them openly. The death of the Lord Jesus Christ has saved us! It is not that you shall be saved when you die, and you live under the power of the world now. It is not that I should say—
“Behold shall I stand in that great day,
For who aught to my charge shall lay?”
That is quite true; but a person might be able to say that and yet not know deliverance. A Christian can sing that, and more than that. As we sometimes sing:—
“From sin, the world, and Satan,
We’re ransomed by Thy blood;
And we would walk as strangers,
Alive with Thee to God.”
What I have to do now is to stand upon the victory of Christ, and know myself in Him, dead to all this. He has settled the whole thing; Pharaoh’s horses and chariots; I am dead to the whole scene. Oh! says the world, “Come, we want you to join this Society, it is for a very good object.” “But I am dead”! “But all your neighbors are joining it.” “I am dead.” “But it will do so much good.” “I am dead”. If some learned man comes up to me, presenting, perhaps, many arguments drawn from history, science, or such like, I may not be able to answer them; but if I am a dead man I will not hear them.
“And the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and he pursued after the children of Israel; and the children of Israel went with an high hand.” See the difference between this and what Pharaoh said. It had been told Pharaoh the people had fled; it was untrue. It would be blasphemy against God; they did not flee; they went out under the power of God. Then we are told of the Egyptians pursuing after them, thinking they had them. When Pharaoh drew nigh they had not learned the lesson of how God was to deliver them from the power of Satan and the world, and when it pressed upon them they were going to give in. If they had been left to themselves they would have done so. But God was going to work for His own glory. They “were afraid.” Why did you not let us serve the Egyptians? They said, “There is nothing before us but certain death.” But Moses turned to them (he was the most courageous of all), and Moses said unto the people, “Fear ye not; stand still and see the salvation of the Lord.” How blessedly he delivers them from all sense of liability in this matter! What can we do in the presence of Satan and all his hosts? Hold your peace: do nothing. But I must defend my cause. If you do you will ruin it. But I must get my weapons ready. Stand still, the victory is won; Christ has overcome. He made a show of them openly.
Now the Lord comes in, “Speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward.... And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I have gotten me honor on Pharaoh, upon his chariots, and upon his horsemen.” There is this difference between the world and the Christian. They only know Him when by and by judgment falls upon them. We know Him because He has wrought salvation for us, and by the way He leads us. Accordingly we find (v. 19), “And the angel of God which went before the camp of Israel removed and went behind them; and the pillar of the cloud went from before their face, and stood behind them.” If God go with them they must change their course. It is not that I am to be converted, and then go happily on in this world. I am to change my course. The pillar of cloud went from before their face, and became a wall of separation between them and their enemies; there was no separation before this: the Egyptians and they were one mass. It was the power of the death of the Lord Jesus; it was darkness to the world; it is light and a way of deliverance to the people of God! “ And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the Lord caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided.” The strong east wind represents what we have in Psa. 22, the wrath of God against sin. The Lord Jesus took His place there—lifted up from the earth. He put Himself in a new position. He became the center of attraction outside the world. That is entire destruction to the world. Their enemies tried to follow them, but when morning came they were all buried there in the midst of the sea. So it will be by and by when the morning without clouds breaks; in the meantime, sinners are being saved by grace.
“Thus the Lord saved Israel that day out of the hand of the Egyptians; and Israel saw the Egyptians dead upon the sea shore. And Israel saw that great work which the Lord did upon the Egyptians; and the people feared the Lord and believed the Lord, and his servant Moses,” vv. 30, 31. There are three things you find here; 1St, when I see what God has done in connection with the Lord Jesus Christ—the terrible judgment of God that came upon Him; the first thing that fills our heart is fear—godly fear. It is not fear of judgment, but when we see what a wonderful place we are brought into, how fear should fill our hearts lest we should indulge in anything that would be unworthy of that place. A Christian without fear is not a right Christian; there is a sort of gospel going about now that is no gospel at all; that would make people think only of how happy they can be. This fear need not take away our happiness, it increases it. But there is holiness, too. If I have such a salvation as that, what a little thing will bring dishonor upon me! I will fear and tremble; and it is a right thing, too. The Lord fill our hearts with more of it! I must watch the person who leads the singing or I shall sing out of tune. If I am allowing anything in myself contrary to this, I shall bring in discord. Therefore, says the apostle, “ Pass the time of your sojourning here in fear.”
Then secondly they believed, and then thirdly (chap. 15:1) they sing. Worship necessarily comes in in connection with this fearing and believing. It is lovely to see Moses here as a type of Christ. He begins the song; he leads the choir.
Christ Himself leads the song of victory! Who join in? Why, all Israel as one man, because they are one with Him. “I will declare thy name unto my brethren, in the midst of the congregation will I sing praise unto thee” (Psa. 22). “Then sang Moses and the children of Israel this song unto the Lord, and spake, saying, I will sing unto the Lord, for he hath triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea.” We find in going through this that salvation is fully brought out—not in connection with the blood on the lintels, but with the complete destruction of Pharaoh and all his host. “The Lord is my strength and song, and he is become my salvation; he is my God, and I will prepare him an habitation.”
There are one or two things to remark here. Until redemption was accomplished, till the people were delivered from the power of Satan, God could not dwell among them. He might come and visit His people, but not dwell with them. And does God send out His gospel now—send out evangelists to preach it to leave people in the world? No; to bring them out of it. As the Lord Jesus prayed “Sanctify them through thy truth.” Now that God would gather His people round Himself on redemption ground, He can dwell amongst them. He could not do that before. At Pentecost God, by His Spirit, came down to dwell here, and now, therefore, our bodies are temples of the Holy Ghost. In verse 11, we have holiness for the first time mentioned in Scripture. Because there could be no such thing as holiness till there was salvation—separation to God brings holiness. “ Thou in thy mercy hast led forth the people which thou hast redeemed, thou hast guided them in thy strength into thy holy habitation.” Not only does the Lord come and make His habitation among them, but He Himself leads them to His habitation. The work of the Lord Jesus has broken the power of sin, and now He has gone to prepare us a place, and He says He will come again and receive us unto Himself. But not only so (v. 15)— “Then the dukes of Edom shall be amazed; the mighty men of Moab, trembling shall take hold upon them; all the inhabitants of Canaan shall melt away.” Not only Satan is destroyed, but the whole host of enemies, “wicked spirits in heavenly places.” So we find in Ephesians. In Romans we have justification, in Ephesians we are brought to God. “Thou shalt bring them in and plant them in the mountain of thine inheritance. Not only are they brought out of Egypt, but they are brought into Canaan as the heavenly country. “The Lord shall reign forever and ever.” That is the glory of God upon the destruction of Pharaoh and all his host. “And Miriam answered them, Sing ye to the Lord, for be hath triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea.” Not only the men join in this, but the women all sing that song. We have not to wait for great attainment in knowledge, all the very poorest in the assembly can join in that chorus.
The Lord give us to estimate to understand better the results flowing from the Cross of the Lord Jesus Christ, that we may serve Him while we wait for His coming again!
E. C.