NOTES ON SCRIPTURE 1895 NO. 8
NOTES ON SCRIPTURE 1895 NO. 8
Here we are described as we should be known among men. In chapter 10 we are inside with God; in chapter 12 we have, in hope, come to mount Zion. Before men we are content with our present circumstances, “for he hath said, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee”. The greatest blessing in the Old Testament was, “I will be with thee”. This continues to us, but there is a greater - “part with me”. Many seek and appreciate the former who do not seem to care for the latter, though this is immensely greater. “We have an altar, whereof they have no right to eat which serve the tabernacle”. We appropriate Christ in the holiest. It is as we know Him in His glory that we go forth unto Him without the camp, bearing His reproach. It is remarkable that though Moses had seen all the mighty works of God in Egypt, and in leading the people of Israel, his one desire is, “Shew me thy glory”. (Exodus 33:18) In type Solomon is connected with Jonah: the latter sets forth the sufferings of Christ, the former His glory. Surely we should desire to see His glory. Only the back parts could be shown to Moses, but his desire was afterwards fulfilled on the mount of transfiguration. It is the deepest joy to us to behold His glory. We recall Him in death, we remember Him in the lowest place here, but at the same time we are in the Spirit with Him in the brightest place. If it were only His death we had before us it would be like a Romish Good Friday;
[p. 50] but we remember His death, and we know that we are with Him in the holiest of all. And as we are with Him there, no other place suits us here but to be with Him outside the camp. The better we know Him in the brightest place, the truer we are to Him in the darkest.