I'm Called Out of Egypt.

March 5, 1897

Spiritual Egypt. - No. 4.

Continued…..

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. You know that the very word "Egypt" is a symbol of darkness. 

Look again at this passage?

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. 

As the Lord wrought mightily with their efforts in the beginning of the work, what is the reason of the lack?-Lack of the Holy Spirit. The only lack is the power of the Holy Spirit. That is what gives us the power, and what works the mighty works. It is the Holy Ghost; and if that had been received, "a flood of light would have been shed upon the world." 

This is what is stated in Revelation, the eighteenth chapter; "Another angel came down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory." That is precisely the same that is pointed out here. What keeps back that flood of light? Has that flood of light been waiting to burst forth upon the world, ever since that time?-Yes. What has kept it back after 1844?-Unbelief.

What has kept it back since?-Unbelief. Is it not time, then, that we found deliverance from Egyptian bondage? O think of it! The message would have been proclaimed 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 world would have been warned, the closing work completed, and Christ would have come for the redemption of his people! O let us then no longer delay! Why shall we not have deliverance from Egypt, and from all that is implied in the word,-spiritual Egypt? Let the Holy Ghost be given and bring that mighty power to work for sinners; that that flood of light may lighten the world; that the world may be warned; that Christ may come; that we may be redeemed from this world of sin and sorrow. 

Now you see the situation so far. Egyptian darkness and bondage has been upon us all these years, as certainly as it was upon Israel after they had crossed the Red Sea, and while they were in the wilderness. And God has offered to feed this people also with bread from heaven-bread that he can approve, bread that he can give to them that will bring about such a condition that he can bless them with every spiritual blessing. But here so many even yet say, O, our soul loatheth this light bread. Let us go back to Egypt where we can have onions and leeks and garlics. If that is health reform, I don't want any of it. Where have we been?

Shall we allow the Lord to feed us? Shall we accept the bill of fare from God? Or shall we long for the leeks and onions and garlics, and the flesh-pots of Egypt? That is the question? 

You have agreed now that that is the situation, that Egyptian bondage is the cause of all this, and that unbelief is the cause of the Egyptian bondage. You have agreed that we need not now, as the others needed not, to wait longer to be delivered from Egyptian bondage. Now we will study a moment, how that deliverance shall be; and the key of it is in these words: "Here are they that keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus." 

Let us turn to the commandments of God, and look at them a moment, in the twentieth of Exodus. If any further evidence was wanted that we are yet under the influence of Egyptian bondage, certainly this thing is the cap-sheaf that fixes the evidence. Till very lately, you and I never saw a copy of the ten commandments, issued by the Seventh-day Adventists, that had all the ten commandments in it. I never did until very lately. And yet we have talked about keeping the commandments; we have preached to other people about the commandments; we have pointed out how Rome has changed the commandments and left out the fourth and divided the tenth, while all the time we ourselves, from our published copies of the commandments, or the ones that we bought that somebody else had published, have left out a part of the commandments ourselves. 

God spoke his law from heaven. Did he speak more than belongs with the commandments? Did he speak too much? Did he speak more than was needed?-No; for it was perfect, and there was nothing to be added when he ceased speaking. Well then, as there was nothing to be added when he ceased speaking, did he begin before he needed to? As there was nothing to be added when he ceased speaking, is there something before he began to speak directly to us for our good? In other words, did he speak a word too much or a word too little?-No! no! no! 

Let us see, then, what he said. Here it is: "And God spake all these words, saying, . . . Thou shalt have no other Gods before me." Is that where he begins? Does he begin speaking with, "Thou shalt have no other gods before me?-No. Have you begun there? You know you have. Well, if God did not begin there, and you and I do begin there, don't we leave out something that he said, that is essential for our good, too? Where did he begin? Read it. "And God spake all these words, saying, I am the Lord thy God. which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before me." 

Don't you see that we have left out the very thing that shows deliverance from Egyptian bondage? And why have we left it out? O, because we have considered that we have not been delivered from Egypt,-and that is so. We have considered that we never were brought out of the land of Egypt,-and by our unbelief that is so. We have thought, "We were never in bondage to any man." But we were. We were in bondage to ourselves, to the power of sin-to spiritual Egypt. But there is deliverance from Egyptian bondage to-night, and God calls you and me to this deliverance from Egyptian bondage. And he says to you and me to-night, with a voice thundering as it did from Sinai, with the salvation of Jesus Christ in it, "I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage." Will you come out? Will you allow that he has delivered you from the land of Egypt? from the house of bondage? If not, why not?

 

Our enemies are throwing it at us,-O, those commandments are not for me. I never was brought out from Egypt. The enemies of the law of God, the enemies of the salvation of God, cast that at you. They have said it to me-to all of us-that that law is not binding on anybody but the Jews, because nobody was ever delivered from Egyptian bondage but the Jews. They say, O, you need not preach that to me, I never was brought from Egypt. That is true enough, of course; but that is no credit to them. You and I are to stand up like those that are redeemed from Egyptian bondage, and answer that thing with, Thank the Lord, I have been brought out of Egypt; and, my poor, forlorn brother, unless you are delivered from Egypt, you will perish in the corruption of Egypt. 

Of course no one can keep that law while he is in Egypt. They could not do it. God delivered them from Egypt that they might keep the law. To be in Egypt is to be in sin, and no man can keep the law of God in sin; for sin itself is the transgression of the law. Of course you can't keep the commandments while you are in Egypt. You can't; I can't. But let the Lord deliver us, and then we can keep the commandments, and not until then. The Lord knew that well enough; therefore, when he wanted Pharaoh to let the children

of Israel go, he said, "Let my people go, that they may serve me." Of course they could not serve God in Egypt. He wanted them delivered, not only bodily, but spiritually. And then, when he would give them his law to keep, the first thing that he says to them is, "I am the Lord thy God which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage," so that they might keep it. 

What kind of law is this anyhow?-A spiritual law.

"We know that the law is spiritual." What Egypt is it, then, in the first verse of the law?-It is spiritual Egypt. "The law is spiritual." The Egypt, then, named in the law is spiritual Egypt, and it means to you and me deliverance from spiritual Egypt, which is deliverance from the bondage of sin. 

S. H. Lane.-You think they were spiritually out of Egypt for a while? 

It is hard to say. Moses was always, of course; Caleb always was ; Joshua always was. 

E. J. Waggoner.-The seventy elders saw God. 

Yes; they saw God. It is hard to tell, though, about the people being out of Egypt. Moses always was. Even while he was in physical Egypt, he was spiritually out of it. Caleb and Joshua were always spiritually out of Egypt. In the triumphant song at the Red Sea, the whole denomination, I have thought, were spiritually out of Egypt, if they had held fast to that. As the Lord said, "O that my people had harkened unto my voice and walked in my laws, then I would have speedily subdued their enemies under them." But when their faith was tried, in the very first step they took, when they were at Marah, where there was bitter water, they threw their faith away, and wished they were back in Egypt again. When we come to a bitter experience, shall we take it as an evidence that the Lord has forsaken us?-No; thank the Lord that that bitter experience is for our good, and God is able to turn the bitter into sweet. 

(Voice) Pardon me, Brother Jones, but here is a verse-the twenty-seventh verse of the eleventh chapter of Hebrews-which shows that Moses did turn away from Egypt right there in Egypt. 

Assuredly. So that while bodily in Egypt, he was spiritually out of Egypt. 

E. J. Waggoner.-The ransomed of the Lord shall come with singing into Zion. 

Yes; and if they had kept on singing the song of Moses, and in the faith with which they sung it then, they would have gone on singing into the land. And that is what God wants us to keep in our minds. He wants us to put our hearts over in that good land; and then, our hearts being there, the longing of our lives will be there. And then God can soon fill our lives with the joy of that blessed land. And that is, God with us.

 

You know well enough that even now, instead of the heart being over in that land, it is here in this land. To some of our own folks, to ask a person to separate from this country seems like treason. To ask a person to separate from this country, and go over into that land, and let the offices and politics of this nation alone, seems to them almost like an imposition. That people are in Egypt, but God has called them out of Egypt, to set their hearts upon the better country, place all their affections there, and work for that country with every energy of their being; so that the streams of joy and glory from that land may flow into their hearts; so that all the world and all the universe may know that God is their God of a truth. When that is done, it will take but a short time for the work to be accomplished, and the Lord to come. 

When the children of Israel were at the Red Sea, the power of God there manifested, astonished the nations, insomuch that when the spies went into the land, Rahab said: The fear and the dread of you is upon all the land, because we have heard what God has done for you, and the hearts of the people are melted. That is true. Another thought as to spiritual Egypt: It is written of Jesus, "Out of Egypt have I called my son." Why is that written about Jesus? Why did Jesus go into Egypt? Why was he taken into Egypt? He could have escaped the slaughter of the children that were slain in Bethlehem, by going a short distance away from that place, and would not have had to go nearly so far as to Egypt. All of the little children in Palestine were not slain when the decree of Herod went forth. It was only Bethlehem, and its coasts, and its suburbs. Bethlehem was only six miles from Jerusalem, and the children in Jerusalem were not slain; so the Lord could have escaped if he had been taken ten or twelve miles away. 

Then why was he taken into Egypt?-O that it might be fulfilled that was written, "Out of Egypt have I called my son." He was ourselves; yourself and myself. He was ourselves; and as God met his people in Egypt and led them out, so our Saviour came to where we are, and was as we are, and was called out of Egypt, thus showing that whoever would be as he is, must likewise come out of Egypt.

He was the Son of God, and was called out of Egypt, thus showing that all who will be sons of God must also come out of Egypt; for it is written of all as of him, "Out of Egypt have I called my son." Are you a son of God? "Out of Egypt have I called my son."

A little while ago we saw that we must be brought out of Egypt, in order to keep the commandments of God. Now we see that in order to follow Jesus, we must be called out of Egypt. To keep the commandments of God, demands that we be brought out of Egypt; faith in Jesus demands likewise that we be brought out of Egypt. And both these are expressed in Rev. 14: 12: "Here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus." 

Thus you see that from beginning to end there is a spiritual Egypt; and the whole plan of salvation is simply deliverance from Egyptian bondage by the power of God; it is being called out of Egypt into the glorious liberty of the sons of God. Shall we then come out of Egypt, that we may serve the Lord indeed? Shall we have it so that we may in truth keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus? What shall we do? Shall we go away from this Conference in Egypt? Shall we remain at this Conference and remain in Egypt? O shall we not be delivered wholly from Egypt and all that is implied in the word?

 

Deliverance is free for us, it is given to us. O then, let every heart be opened, every soul be turned to God, and seek him by confession of sin, that we may be delivered from darkness; and thus that we may, before the Conference closes, be delivered into the glorious light and liberty of the sons of God; for, "Out of Egypt have I called my son." That is what he waits for. Shall we keep him waiting? And when that comes, this word will be fulfilled; the third angel's message will be proclaimed in the power of the Holy Spirit; the Lord will work mightily with our efforts; a flood of light will be shed upon the world; soon the inhabitants of the world will be warned; the closing work will be completed; and Christ will come for the redemption of his people. O, we are nearer to the time when God will deliver us than we have ever dreamed, I am thinking. God's deliverance is so near to us! Shall we walk into the land! Israel failed because they did not believe. They did not see wondrous things in his promises. Those promises are now for us. They are to be as real to you and me as they were to him when he gave them to Israel, to whom they were not real. 

You know it is written:- 

And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire: and them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God. And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God. 

Ah, but the song of Moses, the servant of God, was the song of deliverance from Egyptian bondage; and those that get the victory over the beast and his name and his image and the number of his name,-from what are they delivered? They are delivered from Egyptian bondage, as surely as was Moses. And they sing the song of Moses, because they, too, are delivered from Egyptian bondage. The Bible is full of it. Spiritually we have been in Egypt, and O, may God deliver us out of it. Then shall we sing this song unto the Lord: - 

I will sing unto the Lord, for he hath triumphed gloriously: the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea. The Lord is my strength and song, and he is become my salvation: he is my God, and I will prepare him a habitation.

Will you? will you? I will dwell in them, and walk in them; they shall be my people, and I will be their God. 

Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you. And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.

 

But, "Out of Egypt have I called my son." 

[He is] my father's God, and I will exalt him. The Lord is a man of war: the Lord is his name. Pharaoh's chariots and his host hath he cast into the sea: his chosen captains also are drowned in the Red Sea. The depths have covered them: they sank into the bottom as a stone. Thy right hand, O Lord, is become glorious in power: thy right hand, O Lord, hath dashed in pieces the enemy. And in the greatness of thine excellency thou hast overthrown them that rose up against thee: thou sentest forth thy wrath, which consumed them as stubble. And with the blast of thy nostrils the waters were gathered together, the floods stood upright as a heap, and the depths were congealed in the heart of the sea. The enemy said, I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil; my lust shall be satisfied upon them; I will draw my sword, my hand shall destroy them. Thou didst blow with thy wind, the sea covered them: they sank as lead in the mighty waters. Who is like unto thee, O Lord, among the gods? who is like unto thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders? Thou stretchest out thy right hand, the earth swallowed them. Thou in thy mercy hast led forth the people which thou hast redeemed. 

That is what it says: "Thou hast led forth the people which thou hast redeemed." Has he redeemed you? Redeemed from what?-Redeemed from sin.

And sin is spiritual Egypt. 

Thou hast guided them in thy strength unto thy holy habitation. [Let him.] The people shall hear, and be afraid. 

The time has come to sing the song of Moses. Shall we sing it? But we shall not sing it in Egypt. You cannot sing it if you are in Egypt, because they could not sing it until they were delivered out of Egypt. 

The people shall hear, and be afraid: sorrow shall take hold on the inhabitants of Palestina. Then the dukes of Edom shall be amazed: the mighty men of Moab, trembling shall take hold upon them; all the inhabitants of Canaan shall melt away. 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. Thou shalt bring them in. 

Who shall he bring in? What do you say? Who shall the Lord bring into his habitation? You? Are you out of Egypt? "Out of Egypt have I called my son." Thou shalt "plant them in the mountain of thine inheritance, in the place, O Lord, which thou hast made for thee to dwell in." Then we will dwell there with the Lord, and so shall we ever be with the Lord.  In the sanctuary. O Lord, which thy hands have established. The Lord shall reign for ever and ever. For the horse of Pharaoh went in with his chariots and with his horsemen into the sea, and the Lord brought again the waters of the sea upon them; but the children of Israel went on dry land in the midst of the sea. And Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a timbrel in her hand; and all the women went out after her with timbrels and with dances. And Miriam answered them, Sing ye to the Lord, for he hath triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea.

"Out of Egypt have I called you," saith the Lord, and out of Egypt we have come. Now he says, I am your God, and you are my people. "I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage;" and, "Out of Egypt have I called my son." And this is what it means today when it says: Here are they, here are they, "HERE ARE THEY which keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus." 

Congregation sings:-

Redeemed! how I love to proclaim it!

Redeemed by the blood of the Lamb; Redeemed through his infinite mercy, His child, and forever, I am.

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….

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. 

Abraham's Country- Our Country.

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….