OBEDIENCE AS PREPARING FOR THE GLORY (2)

^[p. 63] OBEDIENCE AS PREPARING FOR THE GLORY (2)

Exodus 16: 9, 10; Exodus 19: 1 - 8; Exodus 24: 1 - 11

JT We left the last verse of chapter 15 to be considered at this reading. In chapter 16 we have the idea of the glory appearing. The thought is to weave the two lines in the book, that is obedience and glory and see how they run through and make way for the residence of the glory; that is, the glory coming in complacently and residing in the tabernacle, the component parts of the tabernacle being just representative of what is reached in the saints through grace, and the work of God, but all on the basis of subjection. So that the glory begins to appear. The glory is first promised in verse 7, “In the morning, then shall ye see the glory of Jehovah”; and then we have it in the verses read. Then in chapter 19, the great privileges arising from obedience in that the saints are to be on the ground of it, “A kingdom of priests, and a holy nation” (verse 6). In chapters 24 and 19 we have the idea of the covenant, that is, the covenant involving two, God and the people, a new kind of covenant. In Genesis, of course, it was on God’s side only. God gave Himself to it, but here it is contingent on the people, too; it is dependent on obedience. In chapter 24 the great privilege of ascension is in evidence on the ground of obedience again. That is what we may have before us perhaps during this session.

HH Would you say a word as to the last verse of chapter 15, the twelve springs of water, and the seventy palm trees?

JT It is quite apparent that the two things come in together in relation to what we are speaking of in relation to obedience. It has to be borne in mind that these thoughts are all of a constructive character.

^[p. 64] We advance steadily in the book until we arrive at the dwelling place of God from the standpoint of entire complacency, complacency through the obedience of the people.

WJC They came to Elim on the principle of obedience. It was not an instinctive move on their part. They were directed there, apparently.

JT Evidently it is distinguishing what there is on their side. They are moving now in the light of a covenant, fixed principles, and of the statute and the ordinance, a fixed state of things, which as pointed out, enters into our fellowship. Our public position is marked by certain fixed principles which do not change. Inside of these principles, these walls, we have fresh things that 1 Corinthians does not develop. 1 Corinthians is on the line that we are on, the line of commandments, a great fixed thought. They should be regarded as one great fixed thought. The prophet or spiritual one would recognise it, too, and give up questioning and quarrelling with what exists, recognising that what the apostle wrote were the commandments of the Lord. The position is not subject to human innovation or variation; it is a fixed state of things and the saints move in that setting. It has been remarked that they come to Elim; there is movement right through here. In chapter 16 they journey from Elim to the wilderness of Sin. Then again in chapter 17 they journeyed from the wilderness of Sin and encamped at Rephidim; and then in chapter 19 they came to the wilderness of Sinai and encamped in the wilderness before the mountain. So there is steady movement on their part in relation to what is fixed according to God in the promised immunity from the afflictions, plagues, or ailments that were put upon the Egyptians.

AR Do the twelve wells of water suggest that they had arrived at fixed principles, and that all administration is carried out now in the power of ^[p. 65] the Spirit of God? Does it not shut out man’s mind altogether?

JT I think they are moving that way definitely to points involving a manifestation of grace. They moved in that way so that they came to Elim where these things were, seventy palm trees and twelve wells of water. We move, I think, where divine fixity is understood, governing us here in our public position. We move to points of advantage.

JS These movements are all to be under the authority of Moses, the leadership of Moses, are they not? “So Moses brought Israel from the Red Sea” (chapter 15: 22). Do you regard all these subsequent movements as under his leadership?

JT That would be the position, I think, as under the Mediator, in Christ as Lord having authority over us. Paul says we are “legitimately subject to Christ”, 1 Corinthians 9: 21.

HH What do you say as to the seventy palm trees?

JT The twelve wells of water is the idea of administration, a ministry of refreshment, and I should say the palm trees would be shelter, only connected with the same thing, as we view these two ideas from the standpoint of the New Testament. The seventy would be extending the thought, the numeral denoting responsibility plus the Spirit, I think. Seventy is ten times seven.

JS Exodus 24: 9, 10 refers to the seventy as well as chapter 15. In Luke 9 you have the twelve apostles and in Luke 10 the seventy disciples.

JT I think that is a connection, the New Testament antitype, you might say: what the saints come to as affected by death, death and discipline having rolled in upon us in different walks of life, the bitter waters of Marah. That is, God is saying, ‘Now my Son has gone into this in His death, and it is for you to taste it, so that you may understand’.

^[p. 66] Then you see how it brings us into association with Christ, that is, the wood cast into the water makes it sweet. We have tasted the thing, and now it is made sweet by the apprehension of Christ as having been in it. So that we are impressionable now, and move on to where these positive things are administered, for we find in the twelve the administrative side of things involving love, and the seventy, involving shelter as well.

HH Would you say the man with the pitcher of water would take them into a privilege which they had not known before? They are moving now. I thought it might fit into the Supper. Something they had not known before.

JT Quite so. The man was carrying a pitcher of water, doing something for others. That is the result of the healing power of the Lord.

CAM I think you made a remark this morning about this condition in the earlier verses you were referring to. Is productiveness the result of the healing power of the Lord as affording a place where there was something produced through discipline?

JT I think it is; the adjustment that results from the acceptance of discipline.

CAM Jericho, I think, is called the city of palm trees. After all that had gone on in that place, it is a very remarkable thing that there should have been fruit there when the Lord passed through. The palm cannot, it seems, grow except where there is water. I suppose that accounts for the water being mentioned first.

JT That is obvious; it is what is called an oasis, but having this additional thought, seventy, the exact number; and God had to say to it. It was not an accident. So with the eunuch and Philip in the wilderness, the eunuch says, “Here is water”, in the wilderness. Well, you would say, that was an ^[p. 67] accident; but it was not. It was as much divinely ordered as Philip’s presence there; Philip was a divine provision there; he was provided carefully by God, specially to be there when the eunuch passed by. There is that side of it, that ministry is a divine provision, not accidental. So the water was essential, too. There is such a thing as being saved by water, and such a thing as being saved by fire as well as by water.

EP Is there a sense of victory over the world in it? As John speaks of it, “This is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith”, 1 John 5: 4. I was thinking of the diseases of Egypt, that we are to be relieved from them, to be immune from the plagues. I thought perhaps the palm trees might suggest the thought of victory, victory over the world.

JT Evidently there would be a sense of victory over wilderness conditions there, and these are not accidental. Where you get accurate measurements in an incident like this, it is sovereignty. It is no accident but sovereignty, and coincides with the movement that is normal after the previous instruction where we accept discipline in the bitterness of death, affliction rolling in upon us. That is bitter, and then God brings back to us that Christ has been into that, and that alters the whole aspect of affairs. Now you are moving on in subjection, and that is where we get the gain of such a time as this; it is divinely prepared for us. The eunuch really needed the water at that juncture, to be saved. He was to be saved by water.

AR They encamped by the water; it does not say they encamped under the palm trees; I was wondering whether this would be in the full recognition of the activity of the Spirit of God.

JT That is the sort of thing you get in Exodus. Moses sat by the well, and here they encamped by ^[p. 68] the wells. It is the collective idea, the word running through also.

AHP Is there any correspondence with 1 Corinthians, twelve wells of water? We had suggested to us this morning the liberty of ministry from chapter 12 on.

JT There is plenty of it, twelve, God’s special provision, involving authority; but here it is refreshment. Seventy is the same thought carried through; only involving responsibility, I think, in the persons and their recognition of the Spirit in them in the seventy.

AJD Would you say that the wells and the trees are representative of a meeting like this?

JT Quite so; a meeting like this ought to furnish what we have here. There can be no doubt that the idea of victory enters into it, but also shelter.

JS Had they not gone three days’ journey from the Red Sea? Temple teaching would help us; we have to experience the necessary exercises in the light of the death of Christ.

JT I was thinking that each of these movements has something in it. Deliverance from the Red Sea, “And Moses brought Israel from the Red Sea, and they went out into the wilderness of Shur; and they went three days in the wilderness, and found no water”. That is, we are now in the wilderness definitely, three days, being testimony as to what a given thing is. They are now tasting what the wilderness is, and the first great thing is bitterness, the brackishness of Marah. God is saying, You will have discipline now, “For whom the Lord loves he chastens, and scourges every son whom he receives”, Hebrews 12: 6. He disciplines them; the bitter waters of death rolled in. It is the keenest kind of discipline, but creates a state in us that is impressionable. God shows the wood, so we come to see that, and Moses cast it into the water. He knew what to do with it ^[p. 69] and the water became sweet, meaning in the antitype that we accept death and discipline. We accept death. Christ has been into it, and it is sweet to be in it with Him. Romans 6 brings out the truth of it; I think that is Marah.

CAM The Ethiopian seems to help in this; he was really on a journey in view of the worship of God, he “had come to Jerusalem to worship”. I was impressed with what you said about this all moving on towards the dwelling place of God, and that was unquestionably a desert scene. That is emphasised, is it not, that oasis in the desert?

JT Quite so. What I was thinking was that the water was as much provided there as Philip was; both were essential. So that Philip identifies himself with that and goes down into the water with the eunuch. There is complete identification with the eunuch.

HH That is what we have to learn all through the wilderness, God’s provision for His people. Is that not so?

JT That is it: those three days there bring out the first thing; and then the sweetness occasioned by the wood and then the statute, meaning God can now trust us with fixed principles. They move on on those lines and they came to Elim.

ABP In John 5, the diseased in the porches of Bethesda and the water which required to be moved before it was beneficial, seem to be the opposite to this, do they not, as though it is what a disobedient religious system fell into? It is in contrast to what we have at Elim.

JT That is good. The water was moved by an angel coming down “at a certain season” meaning that it was a very scant affair; God was showing that He was still acting in mercy but in a very small way; but the wood cast in meets the whole situation and brings in joy.

^[p. 70] HH The epistle of James speaks about sweet water and bitter water. Have we not these two thoughts — the bitter water of Marah and the twelve springs, sweet water?

JT It is for refreshment, not for bathing; the water in the wilderness was for salvation; it is not for salvation here. In the case of the eunuch the water in the wilderness was for salvation; baptism is always for salvation. Peter says salvation is by water, and that is essential, but here it is for refreshment.

JS Twelve springs of water, as suggestive of the Spirit.

JT I think so; springing water is manifestly a type of the Spirit in the believer.

CHH Would that have any connection with the water in John 4, and then the bread in chapter 6? Does that answer to Exodus 16?

JT I think that is right. The Lord alludes to it, at least, the Jews did; and He then brings in Himself as the bread come down from heaven. Chapter 16 here is manifestly Christ apprehended as He was here in flesh and blood in everyday life, carrying out the will of God, as food for us; hence the promise of the glory in chapter 16. It is a very rich thought, I think, coming in there. Moses says, “And in the morning, then shall ye see the glory of Jehovah”, and in the verse read, they see it: “And it came to pass, when Aaron spoke to the whole assembly of the children of Israel, that they turned toward the wilderness, and behold, the glory of Jehovah appeared in the cloud”. It is the result of Aaron’s speaking. It is a very fitting thought, I think, in this wonderful chapter about the manna. It is Aaron speaking, and Moses announces it. It would be seen, too. It really comes out in Aaron’s speaking; it is in Christ in this typical way as ^[p. 71] Priest.

AR Is that why the high priest’s speaking precedes the manna?

JT Well, I think it throws light on the whole chapter. Why does Aaron speak and Moses announce the thing? He is seen authoritatively in the chapter, “And Moses spoke to Aaron, Say to all the assembly of the children of Israel, Come near into the presence of Jehovah: for he has heard your murmurings. And it came to pass, when Aaron spoke to the whole assembly of the children of Israel, that they turned toward the wilderness, and behold, the glory of Jehovah appeared in the cloud”. Now you have a people turning toward the wilderness. Moses brought them from the Red Sea, and they go three days’ journey into the wilderness and they find this bitterness: but now after all that and the recurrent murmurings, when Aaron spoke they turned toward the wilderness; although their hearts were toward Egypt, they looked toward the wilderness, meaning Christ had become attractive in His gracious speaking. They looked toward the wilderness; that is the point here and our accepting it; they looked toward the wilderness instead of looking back to Egypt; looking forward instead of backward.

JS As pointing the way to the glory.

JT That was their specific outlook for forty years, the glory was before them all through and they are learning this now and being prepared for it.

Rem I was wondering if John 2 would fit into this; when the vessels were empty and there was no wine Mary said, “Whatever he may say to you, do”, so the Lord becomes attractive in that way, through obedience.

JT Mary said that. Mary led the way; she was subject. She had not always been subject, she thought she could order the Lord, but now she is subject. That throws light on the whole subject.

^[p. 72] Ques Are wilderness conditions conducive to murmurings, generally speaking, combined with the whole of the world’s system, creating this condition which is offset by priesthood in Aaron?

JT Yes, that is what I thought we might see in chapter 16, that God intends to overcome all that in young christians. They come to the meetings and get encouragement, but then the world is found in the heart, and it shows itself as soon as they get outside into the individual path. Chapter 16 is to make direct provision for the wilderness. In chapter 15 it is water, that is, Christ in death carrying out the will of God. There you get the beginning, I think, of the Person of the Lord Jesus as an objective for the mind. He is cast in. Well, you say, It is the will of God — not His will; He is entirely for the will of God, and I am in association with Him in this Marah. Well, now, chapter 16 enlarges upon that. It is a question of the Person of Christ, alive, risen from the dead; for Aaron now indicates Christ as priest, Christ dying and as risen from the dead. I think Moses announces the glory prophetically; it is to be seen the next day. That is authority. But now he says, Aaron, you are to speak; because they need more than authority, the announcement of promise; they need grace, with your lips, not mine. So Aaron spoke and “it came to pass, when Aaron spoke to the whole assembly of the children of Israel that they turned toward the wilderness, and behold, the glory of Jehovah appeared in the cloud”. Now the speaking turns them right round toward the wilderness from Egypt, and the Lord says, I will give you grace to induce you to keep looking that way; because that is where everything is to come out. The cloud is to continue, forty years ahead of you; it is to be a period of wonderful disclosures following on that. I want to impress your minds with a man speaking to you; and then the glory appeared in the ^[p. 73] cloud in a fixed position; so that our minds and hearts are to be held in that direction.

AR Is it under these circumstances that the manna comes? It says, the manna was on the face of the wilderness.

JT That is right. They had not been accustomed to look toward the wilderness for things before. It becomes attractive so that we look toward the wilderness for things; that is where it is to be. The Lord says, I will give you something to hold you. Priestly ministry in our localities brings in the glory.

HH In connection with murmuring, I suppose the thought of Aaron’s rod comes in on that line. Aaron silences the murmuring, does he not?

JT Quite so. It is Christ in priesthood, in grace. He becomes attractive. It is a very striking passage; so that they look toward the wilderness, and God says, I will give you enough to hold you, the glory. If that does not hold us, nothing will.

AJD There is the priestly ministry in the locality which will bring in the glory.

JT The kind of speaking that even those who do not love Him notice, “And all bore witness to him and wondered at the words of grace which were coming out of his mouth”, Luke 4: 22.

CAM I can see the importance of speaking, so that it changes the point of view. Instead of looking back or into ourselves, or something of that kind, the attention of the persons is directed towards the glory.

JT That is the idea. It is a question of ministry really here. Stephen gives you the other side. He “looked up steadfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God”. That is another place, but this is the wilderness. The point is the wilderness here and our acceptance of it.

EP Does the glory of Jehovah appearing in the cloud imply that God would say, ‘I have accepted this ^[p. 74] position, whatever you may think of it’? God has accepted it.

JT Quite so; that is, He is going to be there. What a time is before them for the forty years that are coming! It is going to be a glory period, yet a period that tests the flesh, and the flesh does not like it.

JS It means rejection of the flesh.

JT Quite so: and the more I am reduced as after the flesh, the more I am ready for the glory.

JW Would it be connected with the glory of the Father in Romans 6?

JT I think that is right. The Lord was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father.

AJD Applying the thing to our present position, could you say what the glory might be?

JT Well, it is not easy to say much as to it here. When we come to the New Testament, it is the glory in the face of Jesus. It is where it is most attractive. It is like a jewel set in a perfect setting; it is in the face of Jesus. “We all, looking on the glory of the Lord, with unveiled face, are transformed according to the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Lord the Spirit”. In chapter 4 it is the glory of God in the face of Jesus, shining in our hearts (2 Corinthians 4: 6).

JB Would John the evangelist have this in view in the opening chapter of his gospel, where we have John the baptist and his speaking in relation to the wilderness? He has the Lord in mind, and immediately the Lord comes into view. The disciples are attracted to the Lord through John the baptist’s speaking.

JT Yes; it is said as John was looking on Jesus as he walked, “Behold the Lamb of God”, it is glory because it is a sacrificial title, sacrificial glory; and that really is Exodus.

Rem In the death of Stephen we have another magnificent view of the glory that would be stimulating ^[p. 75] to the people of God at that time in view of the great pressure in that day. He looked in a concrete way at the glory of God and Jesus. Was it not a stimulant to the saints? And it must have impressed the great apostle himself.

JT I think that is right. The whole chapter is shrouded with glory, before the minister begins to speak. They saw his face as the face of an angel; that is, heavenly glory; and then he begins to speak of glory, “the God of glory appeared unto our father Abraham”; and he pursues the line right down and “looked up steadfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God and Jesus”, Acts 7: 55. He does not say exactly what he sees but puts it into his own language, “I behold the heavens opened, and the son of man standing at the right hand of God”; but he saw more than he spoke of. That is the true ministerial instinct. He says what is needed, but it is full of the idea of glory.

ABP Is there a link between this glory and the sufferings of Christ? It says of Moses, “esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt”, Hebrews 11: 26. I was wondering if it was what he saw that enabled him to go into the wilderness.

JT I think that this book of Exodus is the book of glory, in the sense of sacrificial glory; because sacrificial glory is what is in mind, God coming out in Christ in Exodus, and on the mount of transfiguration which we have in Luke. That is what they had in mind when they spoke of the Lord’s decease or exodus that He should accomplish at Jerusalem; it was sacrificial glory. He was to go out of the body and Stephen is a reflection of that; it enters into the ministry of Paul. The ministry of Paul is peculiarly a ministry of glory.

HH Do you not see that in John 13: 31? “Now is the son of man glorified and God is glorified in him”.

^[p. 76] What you get in that chapter is the thought of having part with Him. Is not that carried through until the coming of the Lord? Are not the hearts of the saints to be cherishing the glory?

JT That is the position exactly. John, of course, does not develop the covenant glory as much as Paul. Exodus is really covenant glory and attaches to the Lord’s supper; it is the whole wilderness through. But Stephen goes beyond the wilderness; he looks into heaven and sees the glory of God there in the face of Jesus. That goes beyond the wilderness which is another additional feature. What we are at today is a question of the wilderness and what enters into it. What there is for the young christian; what a realm of glory he is introduced into, and it is to go right through. It means that you are going to have that right through.

WB-w In chapter 16 there is no evidence of worship on the part of the people. Is that because of their state not being right? In some other scriptures you get worship following glory, but you do not here. Is that because of the murmuring state of the people?

JT I think you are right. This chapter contemplates a young christian’s experience. What is stressed is grace.

WB-w That side of the truth, grace, so as to attract us.

JT Yes; the murmurings are all met with grace. Even the glory meets the murmurings here. It is the glory of God’s grace, to attract us in the wilderness.

RA Say a little more about coming into His presence. Now Aaron was to go into His presence. As yet there was no tabernacle in the wilderness.

JT That is the idea here. Moses spake to the children of Israel, “Come near into the presence of Jehovah”, in so far as it could be. The idea of coming ^[p. 77] near we shall get in chapter 19, as God has brought them to Himself. It is the moral thought; it is not yet the tabernacle position. It is simply God apprehended in whatever sense it was at that time. The cloud was there, for it says, “The glory appeared in the cloud”. The cloud was the symbol of the divine presence. Nothing of Egypt was there.

JW Does the glory of the morning (chapter 16: 7) allude to the manna?

JT I suppose it would. It had an actual fulfilment as Aaron spoke.

JW “And in the morning the dew lay round the camp” (chapter 16: 13).

JT That, of course, is the manna, but I think this glory that Moses alludes to would come out in connection with Aaron’s speaking. What did Aaron’s speaking effect? Well, it effected this much, that they looked towards the wilderness instead of toward Egypt. God honours that and says, I will hold you by appearing in the glory for you to see.

EP Do you think that priestly speaking in that way would ensure moral results in the people?

JT It brings out the importance of right speaking in ministry; not only what is said, but how it is said. Moses stresses that when he says to Aaron, “Say to all the assembly of the children of Israel, Come near into the presence of Jehovah; for he has heard your murmurings”. I think the allusion is to the need of sympathetic speaking in ministry so as to attract the young, and then God helping as you have right words and right thoughts. Come near into the presence of God. What an appealing thing that is! And when he spoke, the glory then appeared, as if securing them definitely in looking in that direction.

CAM I suppose if one were asked what sense he had of glory in such meetings as these, for instance, it would be that there was some impression left upon the soul that God’s presence was ^[p. 78] there.

JT Exactly; a certain thing comes into view in the speaking; perhaps something you could not express; but you are impressed by it, the fact that the glory is there.

CHH Would that be seen in the attractive way that John the baptist spoke of Christ? He says, “Behold the lamb of God” and they virtually left John and followed Jesus. In that sense they beheld the glory, the moral excellency.

JT I think so. John suffered that, being turned away from, and accepted it gladly, but it meant there was sacrificial glory because that is what is meant by “the lamb of God”.

CHH I was thinking that that is the attractiveness of priestly speaking.

JT Quite so; this is what is meant by the glory of God. It diverted their view from him to Christ, because of the sacrificial glory in that walk.

WJC Do you mean us to understand that the ministry as given here through Moses and Aaron is of such a character and has such an effect upon them that it causes a murmuring people to come near before the Lord, and then the second thing is that in coming before the Lord the ministry has an effect; they look toward the wilderness and then the glory appears?

JT That is the order of the passage, and what we should notice is the carefully arranged matter; it is not accidental. It is not any brother speaking; it is authoritative speaking. It was Aaron. Moses was speaking, but he tells Aaron to speak now, as if it were an arranged matter. The exigency of the matter required that Aaron should speak.

JS And when Aaron spoke they turned.

JT It was not what he said exactly, but it was the kind of speaking. It was when he spoke.

AR So that in our prophetic meetings we should make room for Christ. There might be an Aaron there.

JT ^[p. 79] I think that is important; we should have in mind who is speaking. As has been remarked, everyone may not know who is speaking. I want to know who is speaking. You say, What difference does it make? It makes a great difference; it is not only the words but the person who is saying them.

JST God commended Aaron earlier in Moses’ history when he said, “Is not Aaron the Levite thy brother? I know that he can speak well”.

JT Quite so; it is an arranged matter. Moses knowing that this kind of speaking is now needed to hold the people. I believe it is important that it is not only what is said, but who says it, who spoke the words.

HH The priestly lips.

JT That is the idea, I think. Luke presents it in Christ. Luke presents the adornment proper to a minister.

CAM So when the Lord Himself reads from Isaiah the prophet it was not only the reading: “The eyes of all them ... were fastened on him”.

JT Quite so; the Scriptures were read in the synagogues, but there was never a reading like this.

HB Peter says, “Thou hast words of life eternal”, John 6: 68.

JT Quite so. “Thou hast words of life eternal”.

WB-w Does the expression, “Come near into the presence of Jehovah”, mean there was a system where the glory personally was linked up in the wilderness?

JT I think that is right. From the time it begins to move it is the symbol of the divine presence, the cloud. Later on it is the tabernacle, but in the meantime it is more an abstract thought, but still there is something there to denote the divine presence.

WB-w The thing ^[p. 80] was there; the presence of Jehovah was there.

JT That is right; the presence of Jehovah was there. The glory appearing was more than the cloud, more than the sun shining out of the cloud.

AR And is the manna coming in not something substantial?

JT Quite so. This passage, I think, throws light on the whole chapter. It is what marks the wilderness.

SMcC In relation to the service of God in the assembly, do you not think we need to understand the glory in relation to the public position in the wilderness?

JT That is the point right through here, it is the public position in mind in Exodus. For going in we have to wait for Leviticus. This is the public position. Chapter 16 is a fixed position, and the glory here is public. It is what anyone in the camp could see in the wilderness; so that is what always marks those that are subject to God. People say, We have the same thing as you; we have the breaking of bread and all that. They have the imitation minus the glory. We must have the glory to go on in moral value. There is such a thing as that. The spiritual eye discerns it, that where there is subjection to God, the glory shines.

EP I thought perhaps turning towards the wilderness in response to such a voice would have a moral effect upon them. It gave a touch of glory in connection with the people. You get the expression, “The whole assembly of the children of Israel”, and then later on, “The house of Israel”. I thought perhaps the turning towards the wilderness in response to such a voice would have had a moral effect upon them and given dignity to them as such.

JT I think it did. You can see yourself that people who are turning away from the world and beholding the glory and directed by it take on the thing, there is something about them that is dignified. The chapter has that in mind; so they ^[p. 81] had manna all the period of the wilderness, “until they came into an inhabited land”, Exodus 16: 35. Now this passage in chapter 19 follows on rightly, for the glory shone. We have a further movement. The passages are constructive; there is more there. It says, “In the third month after the departure of the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt, the same day came they into the wilderness of Sinai: they departed from Rephidim, and came into the wilderness of Sinai, and encamped in the wilderness”. Now they are settling down to the position. They encamped before the mount. Now it is a question of resources, potential resources, because it is the mountain of Jehovah. It is a question of what is going to be disclosed here. “Moses went up to God, and Jehovah called to him out of the mountain, saying, Thus shalt thou say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel: Ye have seen what I have done to the Egyptians, and how I have borne you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. And now, if ye will hearken to my voice indeed and keep my covenant, then shall ye be my own possession out of all the peoples — for all the earth is mine — and ye shall be to me a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak to the children of Israel”. Now I think we are beginning to see that God is referring to their experience. It is not what He says here, but what they saw. He says, “Ye have seen what I have done to the Egyptians, and how I have borne you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself”. He is alluding to what they had seen, alluding to their experience. What He is going to open up to them now is based on that. There is more material to work on now than there was in chapter 15. They have experience; they have seen what God did to the Egyptians and to themselves; how He bore them on eagles’ wings. That is a very fine thing to allude to, borne by divine ^[p. 82] power and brought to Himself. What do we know about that? “Hearken to my voice ... then shall ye be by my own possession ... and a holy nation”. This is a new thing that He is opening up to us, what we are going to be to Him. And then there is to be a covenant of a new kind involving two parties. God is going to have us commit ourselves to it. As much as to say, ‘I love you now, not only in an abstract way, but because of what you are, and I want to have you in a fixed relation with Myself’. It is fixity between God and His people which is very attractive, I think.

Ques Would you say He spoke of the children of Jacob, because of what they were?

JT “Thus shalt thou say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel”. It brings the people in on the side of their responsibility, and origin and dignity, too, as the children of Israel. God is taking us up now from the standpoint of all our experience, so far, and intimating to us that He likes it. And He says, I want to be in close, fixed relations with you. You will be a “peculiar treasure unto me”.

Ques What does, “Borne you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself”, indicate in regard to the people?

JT They would look back on the three months in the wilderness and the time in Egypt, and they would say, God’s power did all this. The spiritual person would say this: ‘It is not my own power. He has brought me to Himself’.

CAM Who is the real christian who does not experience anything like that? This answer that they give seems to be in relation to this very glory itself, because God does not anticipate any breakdown. Is that how you look at that?

JT Yes; but it is on the basis of obedience: “If ye will hearken to my voice indeed and keep my covenant”. It is still dependent on obedience.

^[p. 83] HH These things are made with the people of God; not with unconverted people. Covenants are only made with those who are in relationship, those in the kingdom and viewed as priests.

JT Quite so.

SMcC Would you say in connection with encamping before the mountain, and God referring to bearing them on eagles’ wings, that He would bring their minds into a sphere of moral elevation such as is suggested in the verses you have quoted?

JT I think so. The meaning is moral elevation, and it is greatly stressed here; and in that elevation, there are resources, as already alluded to. Moses met Aaron there, and Jehovah had spoken to Moses there. It is a place with a known history, and the people are encamped there, and Israel “came into the wilderness of Sinai, ... and Israel encamped there before the mountain”. There is a double thought there; they are accepting the wilderness and are now before the mount and God is going to open up to us great things now.

AR How did this work out in connection with the speaking you have been referring to? “And Jehovah called Moses to the top of the mountain, and Moses went up. And Jehovah said to Moses, Go down, testify to the people that they break not through to Jehovah to gaze, and many of them perish”. There are only a few words to tell them what to do.

JT I think the incentive is what they are going to be to God, “My own possession out of all the peoples ... and ye shall be to me a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation”. This is what God proposes. And Jehovah says, “These are the words which thou shalt speak to the children of Israel”, and Moses came down and “laid before them all these words which Jehovah had commanded him”. Notice that; he laid them before them. It is a very deliberate ^[p. 84] matter. It is a short message, but a very great matter and done in a very deliberate way. Then it says, “And all the people answered together, and said, All that Jehovah has spoken will we do!”. They are committing themselves now in what you might call this covenant or contract. We get the actual terms of it in the next chapter. And then we have it ratified in a most marvellous setting in chapter 24. Not only now is Moses ascending, but Aaron, Nadab and Abihu and seventy of the elders. You can see you are on the up line now right through.

RAL What does Moses stand for here? Is he the mediator?

JT Yes; he represents the man between God and the people, Christ, of course, in glory when we come to chapter 24. We cannot take it up now. It is one of the richest chapters in the Old Testament. The Lord may give us to see it is cumulative, and all that we have said here today carries us on to elevation, not only for Moses but the people, where we see the God of Israel.

JB Has Peter this in view: “Ye are a chosen race, a kingly priesthood”?

JT He takes up these points. As we began this morning with reference to the early part of the first chapter, “Sanctification of the Spirit, unto the obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ”, 1 Peter 1: 2. It is a standard. That is what is before us in these meetings, and those who stumbled at the word are, of course, disallowed and set aside, “But ye are a chosen race, a kingly priesthood, a holy nation, a people for a possession, that ye might set forth the excellencies of him who has called you out of darkness to his wonderful light”, 1 Peter 2: 9. The thought is carried through.

WB-w What is the meaning of the sprinkling of the blood?

JT ^[p. 85] Chapter 24 is cumulative. The idea of obedience is carried through. The people undertake to serve and do all that Jehovah said, and then Moses builds twelve pillars and offers sacrifices, and then he writes down the things. As much as to say, You have committed yourselves thoroughly to them; I will write them down. Chapter 24 is the ratification of the whole matter. You have the basins or vessels in which it was; then the sprinkling. The blood of Jesus Christ, not of bulls and of goats. He is alluding to chapter 24, the volume of blood; that is what is stressed, on the altar, people and book. So that chapter 24 is the great sprinkling chapter.

WB-w What is the difference between the sprinkling on the door-posts and the covenant?

JT In Exodus 12: 22 he says to the people, “Take a bunch of hyssop, and dip it in the blood that is in the bason, and smear the lintel and the two door-posts with the blood that is in the bason”. That is what he says to the people. Jehovah says to him, “And they shall take of the blood ...” (verse 7). The word ‘sprinkling’ is in this chapter and in chapter 24, and twice at least in the New Testament. It is alluded to in Hebrews, and by Peter, and seems to be a larger thought, the sprinkling of the altar and the people and the book. Chapter 24 is the great sprinkling chapter; it is the blood in its fulness, the fulness of the death of Christ, in that chapter, entering into ratification of the covenant. The whole position is sealed (Hebrews 9: 22) and without it there can be no remission, nothing can be established without it.

CAM The words ‘ratification’ and ‘sealed’ should help everybody.

JT And then to bring in the people, the sacrificial side of the system, the people and the book. The whole position is ratified, established permanently on the ground not only of the blood in an abstract or small way, but in the fulness of it. The blood is ^[p. 86] there in the basins; it is there in the most concrete way to be considered and applied. We shall have to go into that more carefully.

Rem The Lord said to Peter three times, “Lovest thou me?” John 21: 15.

JT That is right. Peter being tested three times as to his love, and really what is suggested is good. It culminates in Peter’s being entirely resigned to the will of God (John 21: 18, 19). That is the fulness of obedience. God is glorified in his death. The saints are taken up on the ground of experience in chapter 19, but in chapter 24 we are in the presence of the greatest richness in regard to the death of Christ.

ABP Is there any development of spiritual sensibilities? We had the idea of taste in the water. There is also hearing and seeing. Spiritual sensibilities are developed in this sphere.