1. Redemption.
1901 242 Every believer learns and gladly owns that the pure and only source of blessing is God's love. He also confesses that the greatest expression of that love shines in the gift and death of His Only-begotten Son. But for love to make worthless sinners its object there must be a basis consistent with holiness and truth and this is blessedly furnished by the death of Christ. No wonder therefore, in view of the gifts and death of Christ, that God in infinite wisdom appointed many a type to shadow the one mighty sacrifice, whereby He could not only take up the guilty but rescue them and have them in His presence, in peace and happiness according to His holy nature and character.
This first aspect of the death of Christ, connected with His earthly people, is divinely given in Ex. 12 — 14 Redemption or deliverance is a truth all-important for every soul in its start with God. As all are responsible to Him, so He not only knows the deep need, but has provided the means whereby it is met. This is a fact we do well to remember, as well as the way in which the type is bound up with the antitype.
In chap. 12 the ever to be remembered Passover is minutely recorded, when the only valid ground of difference was made known between the Egyptians on whom judgment fell and the Israelites who escaped it. An unblemished lamb must be not only provided beforehand, but slain on the fourteenth day between the evenings. Of necessity death settles the question between a righteous God and sinful man. Its blood, sprinkled on the lintel and side posts of the houses where the Israelites lived, would according to the pledge of Jehovah guarantee their safety. "When I see the blood, I will pass over you." If the blood outside was for Jehovah to see and rest on, those inside were enjoined to eat the roasted lamb with bitter herbs, and to eat it in haste having their loins girded, and ready to leave Egypt their place of slavery for ever. Reality and solemnity marked the moment. Surely such a type has a voice in this day when boastful profession has given up, and will more fully give up, the truth that Christ's shed blood is God's appointed means for Him to act as a just God and a Saviour to all that believe. It is therefore as incumbent on believers to maintain this cardinal truth with holy jealousy, as to learn and enjoy their present redemption and deliverance by it.
That Christ has come even Christendom admits. Scripture declares that He has entered heaven, having obtained eternal redemption as surely as "without shedding of blood is no remission." In this both Old and New Testament agree in one. Scripture has bound up the Paschal lamb exclusively with Christ, Who alone could and did answer to it. Luke 22 furnishes a striking instance when the last Passover of the Jews was celebrated by the Lord with His disciples. Then, when hatred, opposition, and the power of darkness surrounded Him, He touchingly said, "With desire have I desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer." This is followed by the stated object and value of His death; for He institutes the new memorial of what had not yet taken place, "His body given and His blood shed;" as the Gospel of Matthew emphatically says, "Shed for many for the remission of sins." Then and then only, when the Lamb was smitten of God, was the fire of holy and righteous judgment expended, and by it not only were all claims met, but everlasting redemption accomplished and God in His every attribute relating to sin was glorified (John 13). Moreover He Who did no sin was made sin by God for us and is gone into the glory of God, the abiding proof of God's righteousness. The apostle Peter declares it when making known the believer's certainty of present redemption. The precious blood of Christ, the true Paschal lamb, gives peaceful assurance to all the redeemed that He has borne their judgment. The Lamb, foreknown indeed before the foundation of the world, has come and died, was raised and is in glory; the everlasting Saviour, infinitely beyond the safety of an earthly people, redeemed by the blood of a typical lamb.
The question of redemption by blood being settled, deliverance by power follows. Moses their deliverer, who enjoined the blood needed for their shelter, bids the troubled people "Stand still and see the salvation of Jehovah." The sea in front and the foe behind were overwhelming difficulties to those who had not learnt that God was for them. He Who gave them the symbol of His presence as a redeemed people in Exodus 13 places Himself behind them during the anxious night of awaiting their pledged deliverance. Jehovah commands Moses to lift up his rod and stretch out his hand to divide the water so that the sea may become dry to Israel. "Go forward" was the word for them to prove its reality; and ere long they stood on the other shore and saw their dreaded foes drowned in the sea which had returned to its strength. Thus Jehovah "saved" Israel from Pharaoh and the bondage of Egypt, setting them free to sing with Moses this triumph and joyfully confess Him to be their strength, song, and salvation. Such was the typical value Jehovah then put upon the death of the slain lamb, and most unmistakably does the antitype furnish the full results. Not only does the Epistle to the Romans clearly state that there is no difference, all being guilty before God, but that the blood of Christ is the only means whereby He could pass over any in the past. In virtue of that blood He declares His righteousness in justifying the guilty (Rom. 3). Faith in the blood of His Son is a guarantee not merely of escaping judgment, but of God's being just and the justifier of him that has faith in Jesus. Now the sins are more than passed over; they are blotted out.
Besides this, He Whose blood was shed has been raised from the dead. It is an accomplished fact, that He Who was given up for our trespasses has been raised again for our justification (Rom. 4). Faith in God as to this is there enjoined, as faith in Christ and His blood in the preceding chapter. The antitype to the Red Sea is in Christ dead and risen. The illustrious power of God raised Him up from the dead. His resurrection is the soul's warrant for abiding peace with God. It is only for faith to go forward, not to stop at the cross, precious as is the basis God has provided there. Learn by Christ's death and resurrection that the sea is dry for the believer. By taking his place with a risen Christ he sees every foe gone, a complete deliverance from sin, Satan, and this present evil age. Yea more, he is called to rejoice in hope of the glory of God and know the love of God shed abroad in the heart by the Holy Ghost, through Whom all is made known and made good, even so as to joy in God Himself.
May type and antitype ever lead to rest in the death of Christ, and we always rejoice in the declared triumphs of His resurrection.
2. Atonement.
1901 258 Redemption by blood and by power being set forth under the first type, the book of Leviticus furnishes the second scripture, in connection with approach to God, standing before Him, and worship. Let us bear in mind that it is the shadow, and not the very image. As with redemption given to an earthly people, in view of the antitype with higher, deeper, and eternal results, so also is it in Lev. 16. where is unfolded the way to God, and having to do with Him in His sanctuary. Thus we see the distinctive truth on the one hand of God appearing as the judge where sin is, but providing the sacrificial means, whereby He could pass over the guilty, and on the other of His appointing the way of approach, consistent with the holiness and majesty of His throne in the sanctuary, as typically seen here. True, the first type laid the basis for the grand and blessed truth of Jehovah come to dwell in the midst of His redeemed people.
With this Leviticus opens, followed by all the varied offerings, and the necessity of having priesthood established, where we at once see the sad failure in the offering of strange fire. But it is the appointed sacrifice, and particularly the use of the blood, on the great Day of Atonement that presents our subject of the way to God and its results. Here the claims of Jehovah and the need of those approaching Him are clearly set forth. There is no uncertain sound: the holiness of the throne and the guilt of the worshipper must find their meeting-place in death and shed blood. Whether for Aaron and his sons or for the people, Jehovah enjoined the death of the appointed victims. If the blood of the slain lamb must be sprinkled on the lintel and side-posts of the houses in Egypt, so that the eye of a sin-hating God might rest on it to free Israel from the pending judgment, equally so must the blood of the bullock and of the goat be taken and sprinkled for those having to do with Him in His sanctuary. Whether Aaron acted for himself and his sons or for the people, he represented all on the unique atonement-day. The word of Jehovah was, "Thus shall Aaron come."
The blood of each slain victim must be taken within the veil and sprinkled with his finger both upon and before the mercy-seat. But before the blood-sprinkling there was the sign of perfect personal acceptance in the cloud of incense with which the same hands were filled to put upon the altar. Thus for Israel or any others it is established even in a typical way, that the only means of approach to God was by death and sprinkled blood. But this had to be repeated year by year, for no earthly victims could (as the Holy Ghost comments in Heb. 10) perfect those who approached as to the conscience. Not only are these aspects of death absolutely requisite, but the carcases of the victims must be carried forth and wholly burnt without the camp. Independent of the Burnt-offering, afterwards slain, and the many other things of moment on that typical day, the foundation-truth of this way and means of having to do with Jehovah in His sanctuary, and for the established relationship of an earthly nation for His worship as well as acceptance, could only be by death and shed blood.
How significant the voice for today, particularly when we consider this one death, His death, in which all centres for God and man. It is not to be wondered at that the Christ of God is thus shadowed. How urgent and momentous it is, that each evangelist should by the Holy Spirit not only present Him in His person, life, and character, but give solemn and varied aspects of His sufferings and death with their effects. Blessed indeed when in any measure God's light, purpose, and truth appear. In eternity we shall know, as we are known. What unfathomable depths of a death, known only to God the righteous Judge of sin, and to the Lamb, the holy and righteous Sufferer Who sustained the judgment due to it! It is especially in the Gospels of Matthew and Mark, that His victim character as the Sin-offering appears. Both the sufferings of Gethsemane, and the actual death due to sin are recorded. There was the cup which justice mixed and He in holy horror anticipated. If He desired that it might pass from Him, yet drink it He would, to do the will of God. Then at the cross itself, when under the judgment of God, and making peace by His death and precious blood, He cried "My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?" This consummated the answer to every typical death. The wages of sin was paid, the glory of God vindicated and established, to the everlasting glory of Him Who bore the cross. It was when Jesus died that God gave witness to it by rending the veil, proving that the distance was gone and the way opened; man and God were brought together.
If the Gospels furnish the facts of the death of Christ, it is the Epistles that give the many and varied applications of the one death which is to God's glory, and to blessing without end. It has already been seen as to Exodus 12, both in 1 Peter and the Epistle to the Romans. Antitype to Leviticus is largely found in the Epistle to the Hebrews. Drawing near to God as a worshipper is blessedly seen after the truth of Aaron's Antitype has been gone into, both as to sacrifice and death, giving the entrance by blood into the heavenly sanctuary. It is important to see that there is contrast, particularly in the case of Aaron who needed a slain bullock and the blood of atonement equally for himself, his sons, and the people. But Christ offered Himself for others as the spotless victim to God, Aaron entered within the veil of the earthly tabernacle every year with the blood of animals, and then withdrew; but Christ entered heaven itself in the eternal value of His own blood.
Hence the question of sin being for ever settled, Christ for ever (or, in perpetuity) sat down on the right hand of God. Such is the mighty work and glorious seat of Him Who became the Antitype to all shadowed forth on the paschal night, and not least on the Day of Atonement. Well might the Holy Ghost come and bear witness to the value of such a death, and its infinitely greater results of blessed contrast, as compared with a nation of earthly worshippers, with Aaron and his sons their priests. Christ has entered heaven, having obtained eternal redemption: and before He comes the second time, the new and living way is open to the believer, who is privileged as a purged worshipper to draw near, not with a conscience eased for a year by the blood of bulls and goats, but ever purged and at rest before God by the blood of Jesus, the everlasting accepted sacrifice, triumphing over all dread of judgment.
Perfect thus as to conscience (with sins remitted to be remembered by God no more), and invited to draw near to God where Christ is, who would not glory in such a death and adoringly worship with all believers? It is the earnest of the everlasting and holy worship which the redeemed will render as its fruit on high.
3. Purification.
1901 260 The foregoing essays have shown, that sacrifice met the full judgment of sin, and opened the way of drawing near to God in holiness, righteousness, and peace. It remains to be seen in type and antitype what the third aspect presents in the same death of God's only and well-beloved Son. "The Lord's death," ever living in the hearts of the redeemed for eternal praise and worship (but higher still) has, in the estimate of God Himself, righteously founded a basis for His own glorious power, even to create the new heavens and the new earth, where sin and death can never come to disturb His eternal rest. His rest is to be shared in unbroken blessedness by all who in faith have their part in Him and His work, whether we look back on typical days or in the present retrospect, since Christ came, died, and went to heaven, the antitype and substance for life, salvation, and glory.
It is not surprising therefore that the Book of Numbers furnishes a characteristically significant type of Christ's death. The book itself is assuredly as distinct as Exodus and Leviticus, giving us, not redemption by blood and power, nor the way of approaching Jehovah, but the wilderness with its daily walk and circumstances. This too did Jehovah regulate, their leader and protector, whose sanctuary went with them so that they might ever have to do with Him. It was a holy privilege and grave responsibility for a typically redeemed people brought to God, but traversing the wilderness on their way to the promised earthly Canaan. The same nature Israel had before leaving Egypt, sadly expressing itself toward God their Deliverer. For they murmured against Him, loathed the manna provided for their daily food, and despised the pleasant land to which He was faithfully leading them according to His own ways and means. Nothing therefore but His priestly and prerogative grace, as Aaron's chosen and preserved rod of fruit declared, could secure and take them in.
How could such a stiff-necked, fickle, rebellious people be maintained consistently with what He is in the holiness of His nature and the majesty of His presence, although hidden within the veil of His earthly tabernacle? It is here the third typical aspect of the death of Christ in its force and suitability comes in, It is provided by Jehovah to meet defilement by the way; so that His people in their wilderness journey might have to do with Him day-by-day. The appointed sacrifice must be a red heifer without spot, that had never borne the yoke (a point of deep import), not only slain but all the carcase, etc. with its blood (save a part enjoined to be sprinkled) consumed in the fire, with hyssop, cedarwood, and scarlet. The whole was to be reduced to ashes, witness therein being given, that death in its extreme effects had taken place. In guarded jealousy a clean person must gather the ashes and lay them up without the camp in a clean place, to be kept for the congregation of the children of Israel as a water of separation. "It is a purification for sin."
The same infinite wisdom which provided the lamb in Egypt to shut out God as a judge, and the bullock and goat for Aaron's approach as the representative of Israel, makes provision to maintain them by cleansing and purifying from all defilement by the way. What a blessed evidence even to an earthly people of His loving nearness, and of their having to do with Him in consistency with what He is! It is a fact ever to be borne in mind by us now, leaving it to the same God to define solemnly and clearly what would defile His people; for His sanctuary is their standard.
Touching a dead body, or contact with death in any way or measure, made all unclean and unfit for Him. Such is the holiness of Jehovah for Israel; Whose love no less provided for the unclean person and even their vessels, in applying the ashes with running water sprinkled upon the unclean on the third and the seventh days. Otherwise they would be cut off. Here the privileges of the redeemed, not redemption, are taught. So it is blessedly seen in the antitype having in view communion (not salvation) for those already in relationship to Him. Of course the antitype must ever surpass the type; yet in this instance the sacrifice utters marvellous language in the victim reduced to ashes. Is it not in character with the prophetic Psalm 22 which opens with "My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?" and goes on to "Thou hast brought Me unto the dust of death?" This the believer sees made good in Christ's own sufferings and death on the cross when God and He settled the question of sin, exhausting once and for ever the judgment due to it. Yet who but the sufferer and God can fully estimate its depth and infinite value?
Hence the ashes were laid up as the divine provision, not only for daily walk before Jehovah, but as we can see for present communion with the Father and the Son whilst passing through this evil and defiling world. He Who was God manifest in flesh, shedding light and love in character with what He was, and when in this dark world of sin could say "I have power to lay down my life, and I have power to take it again," no less said "Now is my soul troubled, Father save me from this hour; but for this cause came I unto this hour." This anticipated hour stands alone in the history of the universe, when He Who knew no sin and did no sin was made sin, and the full action of the divine fire in righteous judgment wholly spent itself on His blessed spotless person. There too, after the full moral test of man, the cedarwood, hyssop, and scarlet find their antitype. The two extremes of man's nature in creature greatness and littleness, as well as the glory of the world, were judically brought to an end in the judgment of the cross.
Clearly it was the one and same death where sin was consumed and God's own glory secured. Christ the Son of man had as the corn of wheat to fall into the ground and die; that by His death all fruit might come. The risen One associates His brethren with Himself and declares His Father to be their Father and His God their God. If such is declared in John 20 to be the fruit of His death, it is in the First Epistle of John that life and relationship in divine certainty are fully declared; as in John 13 is the antitype for communion and restoration associated with the red heifer. The pure source, God's love, and the means, Christ's death, are thus gone into, suitably to eternal life in Christ and relationship to His God and Father. But such grace needed to be, and is, clearly defined. All believers can now gratefully exclaim, "Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called children of God!" and further, "Beloved, now are we children of God." It is expressly written that such should know they have eternal life and their sins forgiven; yea, "fellowship with the Father and with the Son."
To this the apostle John in the First Epistle addresses himself, that the children's joy might be full even in this world; a world knowing neither grace nor truth. If Jehovah in His sanctuary was Israel's standard for defilement, God is light in Whom is no darkness at all: such is the standard of those set in that light where the blood of His Son cleanses from all sin. No wonder the apostle says, "My little children, I write unto you that ye sin not; but if any one sin, we have an Advocate with the Father." It is He Who (in John 13) with water in a basin girded Himself and began to wash His disciples' feet. Jesus, Who came from and returned to God, was on the cross the propitiation for the sins of His own, and also for the whole world. For all sinners were indebted to Him for a death so varied in its manifold aspects.
There is no new application of the shed blood, which in its divine value is made good to believers once for all. If one sin, the word of God in the power of the Spirit is applied, in answer to loving action of the heavenly Advocate with the Father. This brings before the soul, not only its sin involving loss of communion, but the deep sense of the sacrifice and death of Jesus. This is the true Red Heifer reduced to ashes purifying from defilement along the way. There is the Passover, and the Day of Atonement, the basis for shelter and for acceptance; and there is no less provision also for needed restoration on the way to eternal glory.
Such are the course and ways of God in holiness and love, which all do well to heed in this day of deplorable laxity and worldliness. Let us cherish present fellowship in obedience to our God, Who has formed our relationship in the power of the indwelling Spirit. Happy thus to be journeying through the world, not to an earthly Canaan, but to the Father's house on high, introduced there by Him crowned with the return of Him Whose death secured it and all things. His promise abides for today as fresh as at first, "I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am ye may be also." May communion with the Father and the Son in the power of His life and of the blessed hope be more fully known by all God's children in true separation from all that is contrary. That death He enjoins to be specially before His own on the first day of the week, when gathered to remember Him. Therein do we announce His death till He come. G. G.