Unbelief Throughout History.

March 4, 1897

Egypt and Israel. - No. 3.

A. T. Jones

(Thursday Evening, March 4, 1897.)

Continued….

Abraham died. Isaac lived and died. Jacob and his family were carried into Egypt, as the Lord said to Abraham, "Thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs," and that was Egypt. Now think carefully. Don't forget this expression that the Lord gives us concerning Egypt, for that will be of use in lessons to come. The land in which they were to be strangers and serve the Lord, was Egypt. They dwelt there hundreds of years-in a land that was not theirs. And remember that it was the Egypt that we have sketched, in which the king was in the place of God, and was God to the people.

Let us glance at this church further for a moment, and see what the Lord was doing with it. We have a map before us to-night that shows us the country. Here is Chaldea where Abram was called from; and he went up here to Mesopotamia to Haran, where his father died. There he was separated from his father's house, and he then came into the land where he was separated from Lot.

While Abram was in this land, history was made, by the nations of the East conquering toward the west, even to the borders of Egypt. But by the time that Israel went to Egypt, or a little before that time, the Egyptian Empire was spread over all this Eastern country. It reached all over Egypt, down into Ethiopia, took in all the southern and western border of Asia Minor clear over to Armenia, Assyria, and Shinar; so that the Egyptian Empire covered the whole of the eastern region, the then known world. The Egyptian Empire, in its day, was as universal as the Roman was in its day, or any of the other nations that followed. 

Now while history was made from the East, and the kings of these countries were conquering throughout the western region, even to the borders of Egypt, God set his church in the land of Canaan to keep alive the knowledge of the true God among the nations that were passing and repassing there. And when the Egyptian kingdom was spread all over this country, and the seat of empire of the world was the capital of Egypt itself, God took his people into Egypt, so that the ambassadors and governors of all the peoples, passing from all these countries, to the head of their government, which was Egypt, would come in contact with the people of God. 

In Egypt the Lord planted his people in Goshen, in the passageway between these heathen nations and the capital of Egypt, so that the people, their ambassadors, and governors, would pass through Goshen, the land inhabited by the people of God, and would have their attention called to the true God. 

In Egypt also Joseph was beside the throne so that the ambassadors coming into Egypt had to meet Joseph, who would give to them the knowledge of the true God. After Joseph died, the knowledge of Joseph and his influence, remained in the capital of Egypt until Moses. Then Moses was in the palace and beside the throne. Not simply beside it as Joseph had been; but Moses stood on the first step to the throne, for he was the son of Pharaoh's daughter. Pharaoh's daughter was Pharaoh's wife; and Moses being the son of Pharaoh's daughter was doubly legitimate heir to the throne. If Pharaoh's wife had not been his daughter, her adopted first son would have been heir to the throne. Again, if Pharaoh had another wife and no other children, his daughter would have been heir to the throne. But when Pharaoh's daughter was Pharaoh's wife, then her adopted son was doubly heir to the throne. There was no disputing his right of heirship to the throne of Egypt, which was then the throne of the world. 

At that time the king of Egypt was about eighty years old, so that there was but a little space between Moses and his doubly rightful place upon the throne, and the possession of all the power of the Egyptian Empire that covered the world. And at that time also, the time of the promise drew nigh, which God had sworn to Abraham, and Moses believed it, and therefore deliberately and totally rejected the throne and all the power and glory of Egypt-he "refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter." 

Moses believed the time of the promise drew nigh which God had sworn to Abraham. And, by the way, we would better settle it whether we believe it; because if we are sure that we believe it, we shall see more in Moses' belief in it. Turn to Acts 7:17:- 

When the time of the promise drew nigh, which God had sworn to Abraham, the people grew and multiplied in Egypt. 

At the time when Moses was born, Pharaoh thought to destroy the people, so they would not multiply and become so powerful as to be able to get out of the land. The point is that Egypt not only had the Jews as foreign people, but it had a multitude of foreign people,-captives who had been taken from other countries into Egypt. So at that time there was about one third of the population of Egypt who were foreigners. The Hebrew word that the people multiplied signifies that they "swarmed" as bees or fishes. When Pharaoh saw the people multiplying so abundantly, and the country so filled with foreigners besides, he became afraid that they would take the land in a revolt to leave the country. 

Another thing that led to this was, while Israel was in Egypt; while the Egyptian Empire covered all the East, there was a set attempt by the power of the state to compel all the empire to worship only the sun. Different forms of sunworship pervaded that empire, but an effort was made by all the power of the empire to shut off every form of sun-worship but just the naked disk of the sun in the sky, or an image before them of a disk of the sun. Now, Israel, of course, did not obey that edict. They would not worship the sun. They stood for the truth of God, and their doing so was an item which now was still before the mind of this king. It was another king that attempted to enforce sun-worship; but when this king came in, that thing was in his mind, and was the basis upon which he might reason that if this people did get a chance they would take the lead in getting out of the country. 

Now of that time the record is not only that "the people grew and multiplied," but that "the time of the promise drew nigh, which God had sworn to Abraham." What promise had God sworn to Abraham? What was God's promise to Abraham?-To give him the land that he saw. What land was that? 

(Voices) The world.  What world? 

The world to come. 

That is the word of Stephen: "The time of the promise drew nigh, which God had sworn to Abraham." Did it? Do you believe it? Do you believe that the time was nigh for God to give that land to Abraham which he had shown to him? It says, "To Abraham." Others would be there, but it was to Abraham. Not somebody else without Abraham; but Abraham and his seed. "He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ." 

Was the time of the promise nigh, then, when God would give to Abraham and to Christ that land which God showed Abraham? I do not ask whether you ever thought of this before or not. I ask whether you believe what it says. I am not going to attempt to explain it. It does not need to be explained when we believe it once, for it says it. You know well enough without referring to the verses, from your knowledge of the Bible, that God made this promise every time to Abraham and his seed. Never to the seed without Abraham. Never to Abraham without the seed,-and "not unto seeds," but to thy seed. Then, when the time of the promise drew nigh to give that to Abraham, to whom else did it come?-To Christ. How was it to come to Abraham?-By Christ. 

S. H. Lane.-When the promise was repeated to Isaac and Jacob, was not the language the same? 

Yes. It was always the same. 

S. H. Lane.-Then the question would he, Did Abraham necessarily have to be there to fulfill Stephen's declaration? 

Yes, because it says, "To thee, and to thy seed," all the time. But other verses will come in that will make it positive. 

Just a word now. Jacob died in Egypt, and was taken over into the land, and was buried there. Joseph died in Egypt, but he said, Do not bury me; not even over in the land. Joseph would not have them take him over to Palestine where Jacob was taken, and there buried. Joseph said, God is going to visit you. You keep my corpse, and when God visits you, you take me out with you. Take my bones out with you. And they did. And when they should get to the land, what land was it that God meant in the promise to Abraham? 

(Congregation) The world to come. 

Do you not see that Joseph never expected to be buried in this world? 

Look at this another way. The word is, that "the time of the promise drew nigh, which God had sworn to Abraham." God had sworn to give to Abraham the land that he showed him, for an everlasting possession. But Abraham was now dead, and had been dead for hundreds of years. How, then, could God give the land to Abraham when he was dead? Plainly he couldn't. Then as God had sworn to give the land to Abraham; as the time was now nigh which God had sworn to Abraham; and as Abraham was now dead, it is certain that the land could not be given to Abraham while he was dead; and it is just as certain that the time was nigh when Abraham would be raised from the dead, that God might give him the land which he had sworn to give to him for an everlasting possession. By this, then, do you not see why Joseph would not allow his body to be buried-even in the land of Canaan, as was Jacob's? The truth is that Joseph believed that the time was nigh that God had sworn to Abraham to give him the land, and Joseph expected to enter upon the inheritance with Abraham. 

(Voice) Did not that promise refer to the promise God made to Abraham, referred to in the fifteenth chapter of Genesis? 

Yes, it is just exactly that, thank the Lord. So then, Joseph died, and was embalmed in Egypt, and was put in a coffin, and when Israel left Egypt, Joseph's bones were carried with them for forty years in the wilderness; and all that time Joseph's corpse was with them, there before their eyes, day in and day out, and was a rebuke to their unbelief. 

Many people, I have found, in reading that verse of Stephen's speech, explain it this way, and that way, and the other way, rather than to believe what it says, rather than to look at the promise which God made to Abraham, and which he swore to Abraham, to give him the land which he showed him. But you have agreed that the land which God showed to Abraham was the world, and not this world, but the world to come? That is the country God swore to give him; and that is the country he looked for. That is the country which had a city which he looked for, whose builder and maker is God. And he would not think of an opportunity to go back to the other country, from which he had come out. 

All the time God's oath was to give that land to Abraham and to his seed. Do not put "seeds" upon it, when God has torn it off; do not put an "s" to that when God has torn it away. "He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ." There were many of them, that is true. Three million came out of Egypt, but these are not the ones that God was speaking of when he said, "To thee, and to thy seed," which was "as of one," and "which is Christ." Do you see that? Do not let the multitude of Israel get into your mind when you read the words, "To thee, and to thy seed." When God cuts off the "s," we are not allowed to put in there at all. We must not put it there even in our thinking. Who was the seed?-Christ. When he says, "To thee, and to thy seed," you and I must not read it in any other way than to thee and Christ will I give it, for an everlasting possession. We must not put any others than Christ there, except through Christ. To thee and Christ will I give it. 

Stephen says that "the time of the promise drew nigh, which God had sworn to Abraham." Stephen got that from the Bible. I want you to see that that was not an especial inspiration of the Holy Ghost given to Stephen just then, but it was all in the Bible before, and the Holy Ghost gave it to these others through Stephen, by calling to his mind the things that he had read before in the Bible. Please turn to the sixth chapter of Exodus. This is so plain in the scripture that there is no possibility of explaining it away. This is the time of the deliverance of Israel, and the Lord would do it. Ex. 6: 1-5:- 

Then the Lord said unto Moses, Now shalt thou see what I will do to Pharaoh: for with a strong hand shall he let them go, and with a strong hand shall he drive them out of his land. And God spake into Moses, and said unto him, I am the Lord: and I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by the name of God Almighty, but by my name Jehovah was I not known to them. And I have also established my covenant with them, to give them the land of Canaan, the land of their pilgrimage, wherein they were strangers. And I have also heard the groaning of the children of Israel, whom the Egyptians keep in bondage; and I have remembered my covenant. 

What was his covenant?-To give them the land. What did the land represent? what was it?-The land, the world, that the Lord showed to Abraham, and swore to give it to him for an everlasting possession. 

 (Voices) The world to come. 

Now he says, "I have remembered my covenant." What did that signify? "I have remembered my covenant." Had he forgotten it?-No; but that the time had come now to do what he had promised. You remember that in the eighteenth of Revelation it says:- 

And I heard another voice from heaven, saying. Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities. Reward her even as she rewarded you, and double unto her double according to her works: in the cup which she hath filled, fill to her double. How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her: for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no window, and shall see no sorrow. Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her. 

When God has remembered her iniquities, the time has come when she is judged. When he remembered his covenant, what time had come?-The time had come to perform the oath. But what was the covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob?-It was to give unto them that land for an everlasting possession, and to give it to them and to their seed. Who was the seed?-Christ. 

Wherefore say unto the children of Israel, I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will rid you out of their bondage, and I will redeem you with a stretched out arm, and with great judgments: and I will take you to me for a people, and I will be to you a God: and ye shall know that I am the Lord your God, which bringeth you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. 

If Israel had believed that, would they ever have needed to enter into that bargain at Sinai? Before he started with them from Egypt at all, he said, I will be your God, you shall be my people. You shall know that I am the Lord. 

And I will bring you in unto the land, concerning the which I did swear to give it to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob; and I will give it you for an heritage: I am the Lord. 

"The time of the promise drew nigh, which God had sworn to Abraham." I will bring thee into the land that I swear to give thee. What is that promise, then? What land did God want to take Israel into? What land was there for them?-The world to come. Now don't try to explain all this. I have no explanation for it. There is what the word says, and I believe it. It does not need to be explained. It needs only to be believed. No, do not try to explain it even to yourself. If it is new to you, if you have had other ideas about it, do not try to fit them to this. Let them all go, and see what this says. 

Again I ask. What land was it that God swore to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob? 

(Congregation) The world to come. 

Will you stick to that? You agreed awhile ago that that was right. Let us not go back on it now for our soul's sake. 

(Voice) Would redemption have come to them? 

Yes; redemption would have come to them. Redemption would have come to the world. All that would have come. But it would have come in a different way from what it did. The world would have a different experience from what it has had. We miss it when we look at the experience they had, and think that is what God called them to. They had that dreadful experience because they would not believe what God called them to. And, brethren, if you and I to-day look at these things which were set before Israel then, as they looked at them, we will do now as Israel did then. Israel did not see then what God had for them, and therefore they did not get what he had for them. Now if you and I see no more in those things than Israel saw, we will get no more than Israel got. As surely as we look at these things as Israel did, we will do to-day as Israel did then. 

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. 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. 

Shall this now profit us by being mixed with faith in us who hear it? God forbid that Israel's experience should be repeated in us. This is set before us in order that we might escape. 

Let us see what they did not see by their not believing in God. Let us see what God had for them, and get to it, instead of looking at things as they did, and failing to get it as they did. 

Turn to the fifteenth chapter of Exodus, and you have it stated very plainly. When Israel had come out of Egypt, and crossed over the Red Sea, you have these words, in the thirteenth verse:- 

Thou in thy mercy hast led forth the people which thou hast redeemed: thou hast guided them in thy strength unto thy holy habitation. 

This chapter is the song of Moses. Those who stand on the Mount Sion, and get the victory of the beast and over his image and the number of his name, sing the song of Moses. Not a song patterned after that one. Not a song something like it. But they sing the song of Moses. That fifteenth chapter of Exodus is our song. 

Where did God intend to take them?-Unto his "holy habitation." Where was that holy habitation? 

(Congregation) "A city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God." 

More. "The people shall hear, and be afraid: sorrow shall take hold of the inhabitants of Palestina." 

E. J. Waggoner.-It did do it. 

Of course it did. When they went over to that border, then the dukes of Edom were amazed. "The mighty men of Moab, trembling shall take hold upon them; all the inhabitants of Canaan shall melt away." What was to become of the inhabitants? 

(Voices) They were to melt away. 

E. J. Waggoner.-They had already. 

Just when they got up there, Israel asked, Will you let us pass through your land? What did they say?-No, sir. They were not permitted to set foot upon their land. But if they had gone straight from the Red Sea to the borders of Edom, all Edom would have stood still in amazement until they had gone by. O Israel even yet, has not found out what Israel there missed. Brethren, when we find out what Israel there missed, it will give us an inspiration that will bring the power of God, and we shall believe it. 

Fear and dread shall fall upon them; by the greatness of thine arm they shall be as still as a stone; till thy people pass over, O Lord, till the people pass over which thou hast purchased. 

What is he going to do with them? "Thou shalt bring them in, and plant them in the mountain of thine inheritance." Whose inheritance?-The Lord's. But "God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things." Who was leading Israel?-God. Into what?-"Thine inheritance;" not ours-thine. "And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise." "Thine inheritance, O Lord." That is not all. "Thou shalt bring them in, and plant them in the mountain of thine inheritance, in the place, O Lord, which thou hast made for thee to dwell in." That is not all. "In the Sanctuary, O Lord, which thy hands have established:" What sanctuary is it that the Lord's hands have established? 

(Voices) The true sanctuary. 

Of course it is. "Of the things which we have spoken this is the sum: We have such an high priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens; a minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man." That is the sum of our talk to-night, isn't it? That is where God wanted to take Israel. But they did not see. Do you see? That is where he wants to take us. 

Do you see that that is where God wanted to take Israel then? If you do, then you will be ready to go to the place that Israel missed. But if you think that that was some earthly sanctuary that man pitched, that is all that Israel saw, and that is all that you will see. And Israel did not get into the land, and neither will you.

We must see more than Israel saw, or we will never get farther than Israel got.

But why did not Israel see more than they saw?-They did not believe.

But you and I are to believe now what Israel did not believe then, or we will never receive what Israel missed.

But if we believe what Israel did not believe, then we will be brought into the inheritance that Israel was not brought into, into the tabernacle that Israel did not enter into, the holy habitation of God, into the city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.

 

Eighteenth verse: "The Lord shall reign forever and ever."

He wants to reign over them himself; not Pharaoh any longer; no more Nimrod; no more of these idolaters; no more of these rebellious people. God wanted to lead Israel into the blessed land, and reign over them there forever and ever, but they did not know it. O what they missed by not believing the Lord! O what we have missed all these years! for as I will read to you to-morrow night, we would have been there long ago, if we had only believed the Lord. God says so, and it is so.

We have no business in this tabernacle to-night. No business here at all, by right, because we have no business in the world. Being in the world, however, this is the place for us. But we ought not to be in the world at all. We ought to have been in the kingdom of God long ago. That is a fact, brethren. There is more in the Bible than we could bring out in another hour here, upon that one thought alone. 

Now Moses believed all that. He believed that the time for the fulfillment of the promise was near. But he was soon to occupy the throne of Egypt. He was to be king. He was to rule; to have an office, higher than that of mayor or clerk of any city. He was to rule not only a kingdom, but an empire; the empire of the world, and it was his right. By a double right it belonged to him. He did not have to run for office. It was to fall to him, and there was none to dispute his right. It was only one step to the throne; only till this Pharaoh died, and he was nearly a hundred years old. Then this Moses would become king of the world, because the Egyptian Empire was world wide. 

Israel was having a hard time just then, too. Israel was oppressed, persecuted, and compelled to work in brick-kilns. Moses could have said: Now our people are being oppressed; they are being persecuted; they are suffering for the cause of their God; but it will not be very long at the most, because Pharaoh is nearly a hundred years old, and cannot live much longer. Then I will bring in a reform. I will set this government straight. I will rule rightly. Not like these wicked Pharaohs. I believe in God. I am a Christian, and I am just so much the better qualified to govern because I am a Christian. And he could not only have taken off their burdens, but could have given them office, and governed the

world by the people of God. Was not the way open? It was only a step to the throne, and that step must shortly be taken. But let us see what that Christian did under such circumstances. Turn to the eleventh of Hebrews. Look closely, read it carefully, and see what it says. The twenty-fourth verse:- 

By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter. 

What was it to refuse to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter?-To refuse to be king. There was the throne. It was only a step to it. But instead of stepping up there and seating himself upon the throne, he stepped down. He turned his back upon the throne of Egypt, and upon all the treasures and pleasures of Egypt, and turned his face to another country; for the time had come when God would call his people out of that country into this other country. Moses believed in Jesus Christ, and therefore believed in separation of church and state. Therefore he separated from the state and stood whole-heartedly with the church. God called him out of this country, as he called his father Abraham out of his country at the first. But that is not all. Listen: "Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of Egypt for a season?" 

(Congregation) Sin. 

Sin? He was heir to the throne. What was it, then, for him to place his mind upon the throne of Egypt, upon the power and the pleasures of the world, and of the governments of the world? What was it?-Sin. Does it say so? 

(Voices) Yes. 

Do you believe that? 

(Voices) Yes. 

Was it sin for Israel then? 

(Voices) Yes. 

What is it now? 

(Voices) Sin. 

Brethren, there are some things in the Bible that we ought to think of. "Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season."

But don't forget that the pleasures here, referred to,-the pleasures of sin,-are really the pleasures of Egypt; the pleasures of being king of Egypt, of holding office in the earthly government, of ruling other people. All this was to come to him by genuine descent, by right of heirship. He did not have to put himself up as a candidate, or to solicit votes. It was naturally falling to him. The record says, that for him to have accepted and enjoyed all these pleasures would have been to enjoy the pleasures of sin. But he forsook that.

Why?-"Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt." 

Where was Christ with reference to the Egyptian government and throne? Was Christ one with Egypt?-No. Could Moses have had Christ and the throne of Egypt both? 

(Voices) No. 

But the throne of Egypt was falling to him just as naturally as the leaves fall from the trees. He did not have to strive for office. Not even to get himself nominated. 

A. F. Ballenger.-Or to get up a petition. 

No. He did not even have to get a representative to present his petition to the president. 

Look again at the situation. There was Egypt with its throne, its pleasures and treasures, falling to him as naturally as the leaves fall from a tree, without any personal effort on his part. All that he had to do was to sit with folded hands, until the king from old age should die, and then it was all his. Yet he would rather be with Christ, and suffer his reproach, than to be there on the throne of Egypt. And bear particularly in mind that to be with Christ he had to turn his back upon the throne and all the treasures and pleasures of Egypt. 

Now don't say that I put that in there, that I made it up. Notice what the word says, and you will see that it is all there. Is it not really there? 

(Voices) Yes. 

Let us read that over again, and it will be time to close for to-night; then tomorrow night we will study Israel again:- 

By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter; choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompense of the reward. 

"The time of the promise drew nigh, which God had sworn to Abraham" to give him the blessed reward. Moses believed this, and separated himself from the state, turned his back upon the throne, choosing the reproach of Christ rather than all the power and pleasure and glory of Egypt. And don't forget that he had to turn his back upon all this, in order to be a partaker of the reproach of Christ.