July 1927
430
T h e
K i n g ’ s
B u s i n e s s
Moses the M ystic of E gyp t
B y t h e E d ito r ^ i n - C h ie e
f HE greatest man of Egypt was not Rameses or Amenophis or even Augustine of the latter day, ' but Moses. He was a Hebrew but he was born and brought up in Egypt. He was a preemin ently practical man, a leader and an organizer of a very high order. He was also a great thinker and made one of the greatest contributions ever made to the legal codes of history. But beyond all of this he was one of the great mystics of the old world. It was this mystic experience that made possible his full life in the sphere of thought and literature. It was the mystic touch that made possible his wise choice in life when he refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, “choosing rather to bear ill treatment with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasure of sin for a season; ac counting the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt; for he looked unto the recompense of reward.” Through his experience of God he came to under stand that the ideal of life represented by the shepherd- slaves of Egypt was a greater ideal than that represented by the throne of that great nation. The throne repre sented the self life with all its glamor and delusions;,the shepherd represented the God life, the life that recognizes that God is real and is active in carrying out a definite plan for life. Moses was willing to lose his life in that plan and by losing it he gained it. It was in this choice that he made the great mystic .renunciation. He re nounced the riches of Egypt, the greatest and richest world power of that day, and chose the poverty, ill treat ment and suffering of the people of God. Nothing in the way of renunciation in all the history of mysticism is more striking and real than this choice on the part of Moses. M a d e G od R e a l to H im In the second place, it was this mystic experience that made it possible for him to face the greatest world power of his day without fear. “Not fearing the wrath of the king, for he endured as seeing Him who is invisible.” God was so real to him that the king and his power seemed as naught. Christians fail because the kings of earth are more real to them than God. Whenever men are more in our consciousness than God we get a wrong perspective of life and fear enters, and the presence of fear always means failure and defeat. A fearful man is a defeated man and all fear is born of the lack of a sense of the presence of God. John Knox, although naturally quiet and timid, stood in the presence of Queen Mary and her lords without a fear because he knew God in a living experience. He feared God so much that there was no room for the fear of man. The true mystic is never afraid of them that kill the body but are not able to kill the soul. The deadly thing is the thing that kills the soul. F it t e d H im F or A C r is is In the third place, his mystic insight enabled him to accept God’s simple way of salvation in a day of crisis.
the door posts. God was so real to him that he could trust Him to save him and his people in an hour of death. He could not understand but He could believe God and trust where he could not see. The way of salvation through faith in the shed blood of an innocent victim is so simple that the sensuous man finds it hard to believe in it, but the mystic touch of God in the life makes the im possible real. This is the thing that made it possible for Moses to do a seemingly foolish thing, but it brought a great light to his soul. Augustine found no peace or light until he was will ing to accept God’s way of life but when he obeyed, with the simplicity of a child, the great light of God broke in upon his mind and heart. The mystic illumination makes radiantly real things that otherwise seem meaningless and foolish. V o ic e T h a t L ea d s to V ic to r y In the last place, it was this mystic experience that enabled Moses to go forward with God in His plan and purpose when progress seemed impossible. The sea was before him, the mountains were on either side of him and Pharaoh with his war chariots came thundering behind him. Humanly speaking there was no escape, but this great mystic of the land of Egypt saw beyond the sea and heard from out the veil the voice that leads to victory. He went forward as though there were no sea and, as a mat ter of fact, there was no sea for him. The true mystic walks on the highway of God and he finds that all of the seas are safely bridged. While Peter had his eyes upon Christ and was conscious of Him he walked upon the sea in perfect safety. When he got his eyes away from Christ and became more conscious of the sea and of the storm than he was of Christ, he began to sink. Men fear when they lose the sense of the reality of the mystic union with God in life. When we walk with Him and at His command there must be a way in the sea. Martin Luther at Worms faced the sea of hatred and was conscious of the thundering war chariots of the pope and the king pressing from behind, but he was so conscious of the reality and presence of God that he dared to stand in the path of duty and God did not fail him. He opened a path for him in the sea and he walked over dry shod. It was when Moses lost his mystic touch that he lost his temper and failed to enter the promised land. This is the tragedy of the mystic of Egypt. Go, F etch Them ! At a Salvation Army Congress in London, General Booth told of a sympathetic person who said to a young woman, a captain in the general’s forces, that he admired their work, but disliked their drum. “Sir,” she said, in reply, “I don’t like your bell.” “What!” said he, “Not like the bell that says, ‘Come to the house of God!’ ” “The bell may say ‘Come!’ ” said she, “but the drum says, ‘Go and fetch ’em!’. ” That is the missionary order: “Go and fetch them.” “Go, make disciples of all nations.”
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