March 4, 1897
Egypt and Israel. - No. 3.
A. T. Jones
(Thursday Evening, March 4, 1897.)
OUR first
lesson gave us the origin of the state; the establishment of the first one in
history. Our second lesson gave us the first example of separation of church
and state in history. At that early time the Lord indicated plainly how
complete the separation should be between church and state. We are to follow
both of these to-night, until they meet again, in the same land.
Nimrod was
the son of Cush; Cush inhabited Ethiopia; Cush was the son of Ham; and Egypt
was the land of Ham. Thus we trace the genealogy of Nimrod directly to Egypt;
and we can trace his example also to Egypt. Although Nimrod was the first man
to wear the kingly crown, the first one who bore the title and asserted the
dominion of king, yet in Egypt that example of Nimrod in all its phases was
followed most completely, was established most fully.
In Egypt
there was not a king until after the time of Nimrod; not until after he had
usurped the place and authority of king. For, you remember, when Nimrod did it,
it was against God, against the people's idea of God, and against their
knowledge of him. At that time the people knew that in this, Nimrod was taking
the place of God; and his name indicates the views that were then prevalent as
to the action. In Egypt the same course was pursued. The Egyptian records
certify that the first rulers of Egypt were the gods, the next were the
demi-gods, that is the half gods; after these were the kings themselves who
were men.
Thus you see that in that land the procedure was identical with
that over in Shinar. In Egypt the king intentionally and professedly, on his
own part, stood in the place of god to the people. The people looked upon him
as such. The sun was the god; the king
of Egypt was the son of the sun. He was God to the people. The people lived
upon his breath. He was their breath of life. They derived their spirits from
him. To them he was the "giver of life, like to sun eternal." (See
"Empires of the Bible," chap. vii, par. 27, 38, 43, 44, 49, 64,
71-83, 96, 102; chap. xiv, par. 15, 16.) Thus in Egypt the king was not simply
the representative, the viceroy of the god; he was the embodiment of God. The
life of God dwelt in the king, and came through the king to the people. Thus
the king was life to the people, because in him was represented the great
all-pervading god, the sun. There was no attribute of God that the king did not
represent to the people. Such was the system of kingship and government in
ancient Egypt.
Now go back to Chaldea when God separated the church from the
state, as we read in the previous lesson, when he said to Abraham, "Get
thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house,
unto a land that I will show thee." And bear in mind that it was not until
after Abraham had separated from the last of his kindred that the Lord showed
him the land. Abraham separated first from his country; secondly, from his
father's house; and thirdly, from his kindred. It was not until after Lot went
over to the vale of Sodom, that God showed Abraham the land. Gen. 13:14, 15.
When the call of God had been made to Abraham, and he was
separated from his country,-heart and soul and all, and-from his father's
house, and all his kindred, and stood where the Lord would have him stand, then
the Lord said to him, "Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place
where thou art northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward: for all
the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed
forever." I will give it for an everlasting possession.
Now I ask you, When God told Abraham to lift up his eyes and look,
did Abraham see more than he would have seen had he lifted up his eyes without
God telling him to?
(Congregation) Yes.
He saw something, then, that he could not have seen, if God had
not told him to look. And when God told him to lift up his eyes and look, that
which he saw was the land that God had promised him. At that time God showed
him the promised land, and that was the country to which the Lord called him.
He did not give it to him at that time, "No, not so much as to set his
foot on: yet he promised that he would give it to him for a possession, and to
his seed after him." And he looked everlastingly to that heavenly country;
that country which has a city with foundations, whose builder and maker is God.
There was "the promise that he should be the heir of the world;" and
Abraham received it "through the righteousness of faith." Then, when
God told Abraham to look at it, and that he would give it to him and to his
seed for an everlasting possession, what did he see? the world?
(Voices) He saw the world to come.
And that is the country that belonged to him from that time on.
"And if ye be Christ's, then are ye
Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise." And that is your
country, and mine. And oh! to think what narrow, what entirely unworthy ideas
one must have who is content with any other country, or has any inclination to
any other country, or has any affection whatever for any other country. How can
any one do so, when he has his eyes upon that country which God has shown him,
and unto which he calls him!
To be continued….
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