March 5, 1897
Spiritual Egypt. - No. 4.
(Friday Evening, March 5, 1897.)
IT slipped my mind to mention in the previous lesson that the
history that I sketched is all in "Empires of the Bible." From page
77 onward to page 150, you have the history of Egypt, and the ground that was
covered in the sketch that I gave last night.
The text for to-night is Rev. 11:8:-
And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city,
which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was
crucified.
I have read this verse for the one single purpose that you may see
that there is such a thing as spiritual Egypt, and that the word of God reveals
that which is "spiritually called Egypt."
Spiritual Egypt is indeed the literal Egypt, because spiritual
things are the most literal of all things. There is, as there always has been,
a physical Egypt over there in northern Africa, through which the river Nile
flows; but that is not the literal Egypt; the literal Egypt is spiritual
Egypt.
Turning now to the lessons last night on the deliverance of Israel
from Egypt, we will follow their course again from the point where the song of
Moses was sung. When they had crossed the Red Sea on dry ground, between the
walls of ice, and stood on the shore triumphant in the destruction of the
Egyptians, who, essaying to follow their course, were drowned, they were
delivered bodily, physically, from physical Egypt; but there was a deeper Egypt
than that, from which they were not yet delivered.
You know that step by step in their experience, their hearts were
in Egypt; and when anything occurred that disappointed them, they exclaimed,
Let us go back to Egypt! When they had reached the borders of Canaan, and the
Lord wanted them to go in, they exclaimed, "Let us make us a captain and
go back to Egypt!" Where were their hearts then?-In Egypt. The first thing
in their thoughts was always Egypt.
As they
stood at Mount Sinai, after they had heard the voice of the Lord, waiting for
Moses to return from the top of the mount with the law of God, they made
themselves an idol and worshiped it; and what idol was it?-The calf of Egypt.
Then, after they had listened to the voice of the Lord from the top of Sinai,
proclaiming the word of his law, and heard the voice of the trumpet sounding
louder and louder, and saw the top of the mount altogether on a smoke-after all
this, you can see plainly that Egypt was so largely in their hearts that they
turned to the idolatry of Egypt rather than wait until Moses returned from the
top of Sinai with the message of God. And when they had been turned back from
the borders of the land, and were obliged to wander in the wilderness, you can
see that it was because of this very Egyptian bondage that held them, and from
which they were not free. You note that when the Lord was feeding them daily
with bread from heaven,-angel's food,-they were so far from him, and so entirely
wrapped up in Egypt, that they said, O that we were back in Egypt where we had
leeks and onions and garlic!
I need not
cite you to another instance; this is enough to call your attention to the fact
that Israel were not completely out of Egypt when they stood on the shore of
the Red Sea and sang the song of Moses. Bodily they were out of Egypt, but
spiritually they were not. They were delivered from Egyptian bondage of the
body, but they were bound by Egyptian spiritual bondage; and the trouble is
they never did get out of Egyptian bondage. They died in Egyptian bondage. When
the Lord spoke his law from Sinai, Moses said to them that it was that they
should sin not. Now read again Heb. 11:25, "Choosing rather to suffer
affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a
season." But we saw in our other lesson that the pleasures of sin there
referred to were but the pleasures of Egypt. Moses being heir to the throne of
Egypt, all the wealth of Egypt, all the glory of Egypt, and all the power of
Egypt were ready to fall into his hands, as he needed simply to step upon the
throne and enjoy it. These were the pleasures of Egypt; but the record says
they were the pleasures of sin.
Then what
is spiritual bondage of Egypt? and what is spiritual Egypt?-The bondage of
sin.
There is
another way we can reach this, merely by a sketch. God called Abram, you
remember, out of Chaldea into a land that he would show him. He had not yet
given him the land; there was a famine in the land where he was, and he went
down into Egypt, and there Sarai obtained an Egyptian maid by the name of
Hagar. God promised Abram that his seed should be as the stars of heaven.
Through unbelief, the promise was not fulfilled as soon as they expected, and
Sarai said to Abram, The Lord hath restrained me from bearing; the promise has
not been fulfilled; here is my Egyptian maid; take her, and peradventure the
Lord will give us seed by her. That was done; Ishmael was born; and the Lord
said to Abram that Sarai should have a child indeed, should bear a son, and
they should call his name Isaac. And Abram said in response to that, "O
that Ishmael might live before thee!"
That Egyptian maid was a bondwoman; and her son was a bondson, a
bondservant. Now, when Abram said, "O that Ishmael might live before
thee," he was praying that Ishmael might be counted by God as the promised
seed through whom deliverance and freedom should come to the sons of men and
all the children of God. But could freedom come to any person through a
bondman? Abram was himself free. He must be redeemed by the promised seed. If
now his son, being a bondson, should be accepted as the promised seed, Abram
himself would be brought into bondage, instead of being delivered from bondage.
And all who would become subject to Ishmael would also be brought into bondage.
But what bondage?-The bondage of sin. But his mother was an Egyptian bondwoman.
And Ishmael being a bondson, it was Egyptian bondage. Don't you see, then, that
there was Egyptian bondage-a spiritual Egypt-in the family of Abram?
Turn to Galatians, and we shall see plainly that the Lord brings
out that point. You remember the passage in Gal. 4:22-24:-
Gal 4:22 For
it is written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a
freewoman.
Gal 4:23 But
he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh; but he of the freewoman
was by promise.
Gal 4:24 Which
things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from the mount
Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar.
For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a
bondmaid, the other by a free woman. But he who was of the bondwoman was born
after the flesh; but he of the freewoman was by promise. Which things are an
allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai, which
gendereth to bondage, which is Agar.
This, you see, points right back to the family of Abram, and to
Hagar, the Egyptian. That covenant, he says, gendereth to bondage, which is
Hagar. Hagar, in the family of Abram, represents, in the allegory, the covenant
from Sinai. That covenant gendered to bondage. Hagar was an Egyptian. Then what
bondage is represented in the covenant at Sinai?-Egyptian bondage. But it was
spiritual bondage. Therefore there was then a spiritual Egypt.
Read verses 25, 26:-
Gal 4:25 For
this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is,
and is in bondage with her children.
Gal 4:26 But
Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all.
For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia; and answereth to Jerusalem
which now is, and is in bondage with her children. But Jerusalem which is above
is free, which is the mother of us all.
So when Abram said, "O that Ishmael might live, before
thee," he asked that a bond-servant should be accepted as the promised
seed. He asked that God, and all mankind, and the whole universe should go into
Egyptian bondage in spiritual Egypt. Egypt is the symbol of darkness, and also
the symbol of sin, as we have seen. Sin also is darkness itself. Egypt, then,
representing sin and darkness, it is plain that sin and darkness is spiritual
Egypt.
The Lord could never accept a bond-servant as the promised seed.
So the Lord answered Abraham with these words:-
Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed; and thou shalt call
his name Isaac: and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting
covenant, and with his seed after him. And as for Ishmael, I have heard thee:
Behold, I have blessed him and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him
exceedingly; twelve princes shall he beget, and I will make him a great nation.
But my covenant will I establish with Isaac, which Sarah shall bear unto thee
at this set time in the next year.
Isaac was the promised seed. And just think! Isaac never was in
Egypt. You remember that. There was a famine in Egypt, and he started to go
there, but the Lord said to him, Do not go into Egypt. Abraham was in Egypt;
Sarah was in Egypt; Israel was in Egypt, but Isaac never was in Egypt. He was
the child of promise, born of the spirit, from the beginning. Again we
read:-
Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a free
woman. But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh; but he of the
free woman was by promise. Which things are an allegory: for these are the two
covenants; the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is
Agar. For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which
now is, and is in bondage with her children. But Jerusalem which is above is
free, which is the mother of us all. For it is written, Rejoice, thou barren
that bearest not; break forth and cry, thou that travailest not; for the
desolate hath many more children than she which hath an husband. Now we,
brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise.
And who are we?-"If ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's
seed, and heirs according to the promise."
Isaac was the child of Abraham,-the child of the promise. And when
we become Abraham's seed by faith in Christ, delivered from the bondage of
sin,-from spiritual Egypt,-we are as Isaac was; and he never was in Egypt.
Thus you see that Egyptian bondage and Christian freedom were in
the family of Abraham. Ishmael was born after the flesh, and represented
Egyptian bondage. Isaac was born after the Spirit, and represented the children
of God by faith of Jesus.
Joseph was born, and in his youth went out to see his brethren,
and the Ishmaelites came along and
bought Joseph and carried him down into Egypt and sold him there. And afterward
the house of Jacob went down into Egypt, and finally were delivered from
Egyptian bondage. This is enough to enable you to see their whole course, from
the call of Abraham up to the time when they reached the borders of the
promised land. You see that there was a spiritual Egypt as well as a physical
one; and that when the people were delivered physically from Egypt, there was a
deeper Egypt from which they must be delivered if they would be the children of
God.
Now I read the passage that I referred to last night. It is in
"Great Controversy," Vol. IV. page 457, of this large edition:-
The history of ancient Israel is a striking illustration of the
past experience of the Adventist body. God led this people in the Advent
movement, even as he led the children of Israel from Egypt. In the great
disappointment their faith was tested as was that of the Hebrews at the Red
Sea.
Then, in the great disappointment of the Advent people, where in
the history of Israel did they stand?
(Voices) At the Red Sea.
God wanted Israel at that time, as we read last night, to go right
straight through into the land he had promised to Abraham-to his holy
habitation, the place he had made for himself to dwell in; in his inheritance;
in the sanctuary that his hands had established. And it was only eleven days'
journey from Egypt to that land. But it took them forty years. And only four of
those who started ever got there.
(Voice) Four, or two?
Four. Didn't you know there were four? There were Caleb and
Joshua, and the two priests, the sons of Aaron-Eleazar and Ithamar. Of course
it is always spoken of as two,-Caleb and Joshua,-but the two priests went in
also.
(Voice) They may not have been twenty years of age.
Yes; they were thirty; for they were anointed to the office of the
priesthood. So, then, at the great disappointment, the Advent people stood, as
it were, at the Red Sea.
Had they still trusted to the guiding Hand that had been with them
in their past experience, they would have seen the salvation of God. If all who
had labored unitedly in the work in 1844 had received the third angel's
message, and proclaimed it in the power of the Holy Spirit, the Lord would have
wrought mightily with their efforts. A flood of light would have been shed upon
the world. Years ago the inhabitants of the earth would have been warned, the
closing work completed, and Christ would have come for the redemption of his
people.
When?
(Voices) Years ago.
Where, then, have that people been since the disappointment?
(Voices) In the wilderness.
As verily as Israel was before. But why were Israel of old kept in
the wilderness?-Because of unbelief. They didn't see what the Lord had for
them. And the reason they did not see, was because they did not believe God. If
they had believed God, they would have seen what they did not see. And that is
the trouble with this people here. We have not believed the things that were
said to Israel of old. They are said to us as well as to them. Precisely the
same gospel is preached to us as was preached to them.
Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering
into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it. For unto us was the
gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit
them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it. For we which have
believed do enter into rest.
Heb 4:1 Let us
therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of
you should seem to come short of it.
Heb 4:2 For
unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached
did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it.
Heb 4:3 For we
which have believed do enter into rest, as he said, As I have sworn in my
wrath, if they shall enter into my rest: although the works were finished from
the foundation of the world.
So then, what kept them out of the land is precisely what is
keeping us out of the land. And, as I said last night, we have no business here
at all by right, because we ought not to be in the world. As Israel had no
business at all in the wilderness forty years, so we have no more business
being here in this wilderness. Listen:-
It was not the will of God that Israel should wander forty years
in the wilderness; he desired to lead them directly to the land of Canaan, and
establish them there, a holy, happy people. But "they could not enter in
because of unbelief." Because of their backsliding and apostasy they
perished in the desert, and others were raised up to enter the promised land.
In like manner, it was not the will of God that the coming of
Christ should be so long delayed, and his people should remain so many years in
this world of sin and sorrow. But unbelief separated them from God. As they
refused to do the work which he had appointed them, others were raised up to
proclaim the message. In mercy to the world, Jesus delays his coming, that
sinners may have an opportunity to hear the warning, and find in him a shelter
before the wrath of God shall be poured out.
It was not the will of God that the coming of Christ should be so
long delayed, and his people remain so many years in this world of sin and
sorrow, Ah, we are responsible for that. Is not that so? Where does the
responsibility lie? In what thing are we guilty?-Unbelief.
But what was in the hearts of Israel that caused their
unbelief?-Egypt, Egypt, Egypt. What, then, has been in the hearts of these
people that has caused this unbelief and this holding back from God?-Egypt, as
certainly as Egypt ever did over yonder. Spiritually that which is Egypt-the
world, idolatry, darkness, which is unbelief. The word "unbelief"
expresses it all.
To be continued….
No comments:
Post a Comment