July 1932
T h e
K i n g ’ s B u s i n e s s
331
tude toward the seventh commandment? What is covetousness? ■ Vs. 18-21. What effect does the holy law o f God have upon every sinner? O f whom does man intuitively feel the need? How is this need met in Christ? What was the purpose of the law (cf. Gal. 3:24, 25) ? The Ten Commmandments E xodus 20:1-17 Memory Verse: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second like unto it is this, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself” (Matt. 22:37-39). Approach: These laws or command
dally about God and to worship Him. So God ordained the seventh day to be the Sabbath, when all work should stop. “Honor thy father and thy mother” is another commandment. Did you know that doing what your father and mother wish is really obeying one o f God’s laws? The children of Israel were warned not to kill people, not to steal, not to tell lies, not to want for themselves what belonged to others. Perhaps some of these laws seem more important to us than others do, but God doesn’t say that there is any difference among them. He just says that certain things are right,, other things wrong. When we are obeying God’s command ments, we should remember that. Golden Text Illustration Mr. E. W . Straley, a farmer living near Des Lacs, N. D., was sick during the win ter and spring. The time for the sowing o f wheat found him dangerously ill in bed. The neighbors got their heads together, set apart a day, and with twenty-two out fits of plows, harrows, drills, and other agricultural implements, one hundred acres were ploughed, harrowed, and sowed with wheat in a single day. The women also came from their homes with baskets of lunch, which was served to the men on the lawn. The ministers o f that neighbor hood will have to preach very eloquent sermons, and the people will have to live very correct lives, to do as much good in the community as that beautiful act of charity. Not a single one o f those farm ers who came that day will be a cent worse off at the end of that year, and the sick man will have the harvest as support for his family. In these days, when the passion seems to be to outrun and take advantage o f a neighbor, it is a glorious thing to see this act o f brotherly love. —T he C hristian H erald . new houses every time they move, for ma terials are scarce and time is limited. They t h e r e f o r e c a r r y tents along with them, which they pitch near some well or spring. They live in these tents until the flocks and herds have eaten all the good food in the immediate vicinity, and then they move to another locality. The tents o f the natives today are nearly always black. They are yroven! from goat’s hair, and are extremely heavy. So expert have the people become in the art o f weaving cloth from goat’s hair, that they can make watertight bags o f this ma terial. The tents, therefore, are quite waterproof. As a rule, the tent is from twenty to forty feet long—that is, from side to side—and about eight or ten feet deep. It is open along one of the long sides, which is usually faced toward the south-east. In these tents, the family makes its home. Outline and Exposition I. T he P lace of the T ent (7, 8). The location of the tabernacle was now to be outside the camp. Up to this time, it had been located at the center, teaching the people that all their resources were to be found within and not without the camp.
Now, in the righteous government o f God, He could no longer abide among them, but must remove from them because o f their persistent rebellion (vs. 1-3). But while, governmentally, God could no longer accompany them, His grace was tri umphant, and He could erect the tent out side the camp, which spoke o f His pres ence, and could give the people a medi ator in the person o f Moses. In this office, Moses became a type o f our Lord Jesus Christ. But we should be clear on this point: The forgiveness under Moses, that is, his mediation, was in regard to the gov ernmental position before God and not the moral. With Christ, because o f the efficacy o f the precious blood shed on Cal- vary, the mediation is both governmental arid moral. While the tent o f meeting was thus re moved from the center of the camp, it did not prohibit any one from coming before the Lord. “ Every one that sought the Lord went out unto the tabernacle of the con gregation, which was outside the camp” (v. 7). The rebellion o f the people as a whole could not shut out any individual whose heart was toward the Lord. Today the church at large is in much the same condition as Israel was in the wilderness. While we sorrow because of this condi tion, it should not be permitted to keep us as individuals from fellowship with the Lord outside the camp, which is our blood- bought privilege. W e have a true Mediator in the person o f our Lord Jesus Christ, and whatever may be the condition into which the church as a whole has fallen, there is always a way into God’s presence through that Mediator. W e cannot blame conditions arourid us for our lack o f fel lowship with God. W e should not overlook the fact that Moses was the only one of all the people through whom any one could gain access to the Lord. He alorie was appointed as the mediator, and there was no other way o f approach to God. There is a looseness o f teaching today which would make God so entirely sentimental that He is not the Holy One He has ever been. While His grace is transcendent, He must still main tain His holiness. To do this, there is provided only one Mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus. Apart from Him, there can be no approach to the holy God, and the approach is made by virtue o f the blood that this Mediator shed upon the cross at Calvary. A t every step o f the way from earth to heaven, we are reminded that the blood is the only foun dation, whether it be for an Israelite in the wilderness or for a Christian in America. Let us impress the importance o f the blood upon the minds of all to whom we min ister in these days when that importance is in danger of being wholly forgotten. II. T he A cceptance of M oses (9-11). Moses’ acceptance is a type o f Christ’s acceptance on behalf o f his people. The sign of it was the cloudy pillar (v. 9) which descended and stood at the door of the tent. Standing thus, the pillar was at once the guard o f all within and the pro tection against all that was without. Shut in with the presence o f the Lord, there was nothing to disturb. Inside the tent was the quietness and peace that ever characterizes the presence o f the Lord, and there Moses was safe from all alarm, .guarded by the cloudy pillar. While inside, he was not seen by human eyes, and his work there was wholly between himself and God even though it was on behalf of the people who
ments w h i c h G o d gave to the children o f I s r a e 1 so many years ago, to show them how to live, were such p e r f e c t laws that even today laws like them are used by nations when they want to tell their people how to live. L e s s o n S t o r y : All around the chil
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dren o f Israel there were people who wor shiped other gods. God’s first command ment to His people was that they should have no other gods before Him. These other people made images o f their gods. God said that His people must not worship images. God is a Spirit. W e cannot see Him. I f we worship an image, we are worshiping what God created, and not God the Creator. Then there were people who used God’s name “in vain.” God said that swearing was wrong, and the person who did it would be guilty o f sinning against God. God knew that man needs to rest at reg ular times. He needs time to think espe-
AUGUST 21, 1932 THE TENT OF MEETING E xodus 32 and 33
Lesson Text: Ex. 33:7-16. Goldeti Text: “ The Lord spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh un to his friend” (Ex. 33:11). Dwellers in Tents in ce tim e immemorial, the, Arabs have been dwellers in tents,. They are descendants of Ishmael, and ever since the first-born son of Abraham was sent out o f the patriarchal family to wan der about in the wilderness, his descend ants have done likewise. Nor are the
Arabs the only ones who live in tents. The Hebrews themselves lived in tents in their wilderness w an d er ings, and many' other people o f the East h a v e continued in that manner o f living right d o w n to the present day.
The occupation of the natives o f the land today is the determining factor in their mode o f living. Most o f those in the South Country are shepherds or herds men. They must be continually moving about to find new pasture for their ani mals. It is impossible for them to build
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