Saturday, November 24, 2018

Kept From the Promised. Land.


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….

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