THE K I N G ’S B U S I N E S S
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It is often asserted that the distinctive blessings of the Old Covenant are temporal and earthly while the blessings of the New are spiritual and heavenly. It is undoubtedly true that temporal benefits hold a more prominent place in the Old but it cannot be denied that the great blessings of the Old Covenant were spiritual. Nearness and dearness to God, with holiness, are everywhere seen. “Ye shall be my peculiar people.” “Ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation.” Such promises as these are among the richest and most spiritual in all the Scriptures. Peter calls them “exceeding great and precious promises.” (1 Pet. 2 :9 ). Many if not all of the references to the Scriptures which we find in the New Testament apply to the Old Testament exclusively. The list of saints in Hebrews 11 are all Old Tes tament characters. They are samples of the type of piety developed under tlje Old Covenant. The Sinaitic message brought a new revelation of God. The earlier revelation was that of paternal and protecting power, (Ex. 6 :3 ). Then followed that of redeeming love through the same Jehovah, (Ex. 3 :14 ). Then came, on Sinai, the revelation of His holiness and justice. To pre pare Israel to obey the call to be a holy nation, God re veals himself as the “Holy One of Israel.” Holiness is a familiar conception with us but at the time of its introduction at Sinai, it was entirely new. The heathen world never conceived of it. The Bible idea of holiness is always associated with love and mercy, (Ex. 15:11-13). Grace is the foundation of the Decalogue. It is seen in the preface, (Ex. 20 :2 ). Moreover the law given on Sinai differs from all heathen codes of morality in referring everything to God, (Lev. 19: 2-18). Josephus says that the heathen moralists make religion a part of virtue and Moses makes virtue a part of religion. , There is a Jewish tradition that the law was given at Mt. Sinai fifty days after the Exodus from Egypt. This may suggest that Sinai was the Pentecost of the Old Covenant and conversely we may consider Pentecost the Sinai of the New Covenant. Fifty days after the Paschal lamb was slain the Holy. One came down upon the mount. F ifty days after Christ our Passover was sacrificed for us, the Holy Spirit came down upon the church in the upper room. When the law was given three thousand men were slain, (Ex. 32:28). When the Holy Spirit was given three thousand were made alive, (Acts 2 :41 ). These two historical events have an inner relationship, (Jer. 31:31-33). At Sinai, God came down to reveal Him self as the Holy One and give His law to His redeemed people. At Pentecost He came down in the person of the Holy Spirit to write His law “not in tables of stone, but in the fleshy tables of the heart.” The holy law was safely kept in the ark of the covenant within the holiest of all. The Holy Spirit has remained in the midst of the church according to the Saviour’s promise. (John 14:16). Deut. 4:32-40. V. 33. God had performed such wonderful things for His "people they v?ere put under obligations of gratitude and love. They should ever obey Him for privileges un known to other people.—Horn. Com. They were remark able in their history, wonderful in COMMENTS their training and providential in FROM THE their settlement—McLaren. COMMENTARIES Vs. 35-38. Let us study the pecu- V. V. Morgan liar relationship of Israel to God. The Lord had called Abraham, had made promises to him and to his seed. These promises ran down through Isaac and Jacob and the twelve patriarchs. Now their descendants had become numerous enough to
of Israel go, the Lord led them toward Canaan, the land he had promised them. Now how was Moses going to he able to hande such a great company of people, many more than we could count (2,000,000). His voice would not go far enough or Quick enough to reach only those near to him? The Lord who supplies all things necessary for his people, supplied this need also, by showing himself in a great cloud which moved before them during the' day, and in a great pillar of fire by night. When this wonderful cloud moved, the people marched and followed, and when it stopped the people stopped and pitched camp. The cloud was like a great umbrella protecting them from the hot sun during the day, and the pillar of fire gave them light at night; so they could march by day or night as God led. Af ter the children of Israel left Egypt, the wicked king was sorry he had let them go, so the king made ready all"his chariots and soldiers and started after the children of Is rael, and came up to them as they were encamped by the Red Sea. Now the sea was in front of them and mountains on either side. (Show on sand table). When the children of Israel saw the great crowd of Egyptians right behind them, they were greatly afraid and cried out to the Lord. Now of course they were afraid, for they could not fight against the king and his people, but they forgot that their God who had done so many wonderful things for them and saved them, was stronger than king Pharaoh and all his host. But Moses remembered what God had done, and he told the children of Israel to wait and see how the Lord would save them. He told them the Lord would fight for them. Now listen and see what happened when the Egypt ians came up close, to Moses and his people. The cloud which had been going before God’s people moved back and came between Israel and the Egyptians and was darkness to the Egyptians, so dark they could not see to move, and to Israel the cloud was light. In the morning the Lord told Moses to speak to the children of Israel and tell them to go forward, and for Moses to lift up his rod and stretch out over sea. Moses did as God asked him to do and God made a dry road right through the sea. (Finish story showing how God will make a road through our difficulties and trials. Teach memory verse.) Closing Prayer. Golden Text: “And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.” Deut. 6:5. “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.” Lev. 19:18. Lesson Text: Ex. 19:1 to 24:8. Devotional Reading, Psa. 95:1-7. There is a beautiful and blessed harmony between the Old Covenant and the New. The principle of Divine deal ing with man is practically the same in all dispensations. The outstanding lesson of the Sinaitic revelation is the law. •It is given, however, not as a means of LESSON salvation but as a result of salvation, (Ex. EXPOSITION 19:4-6). This passage begins with what F. W. Farr the Lord had done for them and proceeds to what He expected them to bevfor Him. “Ye have seen what I did, now therefore if ye.” This is the New Testament order, (Rom. 1-3:20). Paul first shows the need of salvation, then he points out the salvation freely provided, (3:21, 11), and finally in 12:1, he introduces the law of Christian living. There is some thing conditional offered, to be sure, but it is the blessings that accompany salvation rather than salvation itself. The primary purpose of the law seems, therefore, to have been a means of training those who were already saved. FEBRUARY 3, 1924 What Israel Learned at Sinai
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