Nearness To God
A sermon
(No. 851)
Delivered on Lord's-day Morning, JANUARY 17, 1869, by
C.H.SPURGEON,
At the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington
"But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off are made near by the
blood of Christ."- Ephesians 2:13.
THE text is a gate of pearl leading up to the excellent Glory. Happy
are the men to whom it is given to enter thereby. It turns upon hinges
of diamond. Those two phrases, "in Christ Jesus," "by the blood of
Christ"–these are the two pivots of the precious doctrine of the text.
"Made near," this is our delightful privilege, but, "in Christ Jesus,"
is one source of the blessing, "and by the blood of Christ" is the
other. Before our rejoicing eyes rolls a sea of love, an ocean of
boundless peace and bliss comparable to the sea of glass before the
sapphire throne! In order to reach this great Pacific, you must sail
through yon narrow strait which flows between the two headlands of
union to Christ and cleansing by the atoning blood.
I. We commence, therefore, this morning, by endeavoring to EXPLAIN THE
MEANING OF THE TWO KEY WORDS–"In Christ Jesus," and "by the blood of
Christ." "We who once were far off are made near." First, because we
are in Christ Jesus. All the elect of God are in Christ Jesus by a
federal union. He is their Head ordained of old to be so from before
the foundation of the world. As Adam was the federal head of the race
and as in him we fell, so Christ, the second Adam, stands as the Head
of the chosen people and in Him they rise again and live.
This federal union leads in due time, by the Grace of God, to a
manifest and vital union–a union of life and for life–even unto
eternal life, of which the visible bond is faith. The soul comes to
Jesus and lays hold on Him by an act of faith because Jesus has already
laid hold upon that soul by the power of His Spirit, claiming it to be
His heritage, seeing He has bought it with His blood and His Father has
given it to Him as the reward of the travail of His soul. All who are
in Christ Jesus in the eternal Covenant of Grace, shall, in due time,
be in Him by the living union of which we now speak–mystical and
mysterious–but still most real, most true and most efficient.
Now, Beloved, when a soul becomes really in Christ, as the branch is in
the vine, and draws its nourishment from the stem, as the limb is in
the body and derives all its vitality from the central heart–when a
man thus becomes one with Christ, it is clear to the most common
observer that he must be near to God–for Christ is ever near to God
and those one with Him must be near, also. Jesus is Himself God–here
is nearness outdone! As Man He is without spot or blemish and near to
God in Character. As having finished the work which was given Him to
do, He is near to God in acceptance. As having gone up to Heaven to
take the promised crown, He is near to God in Person. And since we are
one with Him, we must be from that very fact near to God, yes, as near
to God as Christ Himself is!
Understand that if anything is one with a man, actually one with that
man, it stands in the same place as that man does. So if we are one
with Christ by a real and actual union–where Christ is, we are!
Christ's standing is our standing! And as Christ is near unto God, even
so He has raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly
places. We are–
"So near, so very near to God, We cannot nearer be, For in the Person
of His Son,
We are as near as He."
The other key word of the text is, "by the blood of Christ." If it is
asked what power lies in the blood to bring near, it must be answered,
first, that the blood is the symbol of the Covenant. Ever in Scripture
when covenants are made, victims are offered and the victim becomes the
place and ground of approach between the two covenanting parties. The
blood of our Lord Jesus Christ is expressly called, "the blood of the
Everlasting Covenant," for God comes in Covenant near to us by the
blood of His only-begotten Son. Every man whose faith rests upon the
blood of Jesus slain from before the
foundations of the world is in Covenant with God and that Covenant
becomes to him most sure and certain because it has been ratified by
the blood of Jesus Christ and therefore can never be changed or
disannulled.
The blood brings us near in another sense because it is the taking away
of the sin which separated us. When we read the word, "blood," as in
the text, it means mortal suffering–we are made near by the griefs and
agonies of the Redeemer. The shedding of blood indicates pain, loss of
energy, health, comfort, happiness. But it goes further still–the
term, "blood," signifies death. It is the death of Jesus in which we
trust. We glory in His life. We triumph in His Resurrection. But the
ground of our nearness to God lies in His death.
The term, "blood," moreover, signifies not a mere expiring, but a
painful and ignominious and penal death. A death not brought about by
the decay of nature, or the arrows of disease, but caused by the sharp
sword of Divine vengeance. The word, in fact, refers directly to the
Crucifixion of our Lord. We are brought near to God especially and
particularly by a crucified Savior pouring out His life's blood for us!
Beloved, it is well to note this well-known doctrine, because there are
some teachers–and I doubt not very excellent men, too–who seem not to
be of Paul's mind when he said, "God forbid that I should glory, save
in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ," and who resolved to know
nothing among men save Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
These Brethren are incessantly preaching concerning Christ glorified, a
valuable Truth of God, I allow, but not the way of a sinner's access to
God. Christ's Second Coming was never intended to take the place of
Christ's Crucifixion and yet there have been some, I fear, who, in
their zeal for the very great and important Truth of the coming Glory,
have suffered the blazing light of the Second Advent to obscure the
milder radiance and the more healing beams of the First Advent, with
its bloody sweat, its scourges, its crown of thorns and ransom price
for lost sinners.
Let it never be forgotten that while we bless Immanuel, God with us,
for His Incarnation. And we joyfully perceive that even our Lord's
birth in human flesh brought man near to God. While we thank and praise
the Man of Sorrows for His Divine example and we see that this is a
blessed help to us practically to advance towards our heavenly Father.
While we praise and magnify the Lord Jesus for His Resurrection and His
Ascension and discern in each glorious step fresh rungs of the ladder
which leads from earth to Heaven. Yet still, for all that, we are not
made near to God by the Incarnation! We are not in very deed made near
to God by the Resurrection, nor by the Second Advent, but we are made
near by the blood of Christ.
The first, the grandest, the highest, the most essential Truth of God
for us to lay hold of and to preach is the fact that Jesus Christ died
for our sakes according to the Scriptures and that this is a faithful
saying and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the
world to save sinners and for sinners gave Himself up to die, the Just
for the unjust, to bring us to God. God is glorified because Christ was
punished for the sin of His people. Love has its full, but Law has its
due. On the Cross we see sin fully punished and yet fully pardoned. We
see Justice with her gleaming sword triumphant and Mercy with her
silver scepter reigning in sublime splendor!
Glory be to the wondrous wisdom which discovered the way of blending
vengeance with love, making a tender heart to be the mirror of
unflinching severity, causing the crystal vase of Jesus' loving Nature
to be filled with the red wine of righteous wrath!–
"O love of God, how strong and true!
Eternal and yet ever new,
Uncomprehended and unbought,
Beyond all kno wledge and all thought.
We read You best in Him who came
To bear for us the Cross of shame–
Sent by the Father from on high,
Our life to live, our death to die." Beloved, you thus see that we are
made near because the blood of Christ has sealed a Covenant between us
and God and has forever taken away the sin which separated us from God.
Experimentally, we are brought near by the application of the blood to
our conscience. We see that sin is pardoned and bless the God who has
saved us in so admirable a manner, and then we who hated Him, before,
come to love Him.
We who had no thought towards Him desire to be like He is. We are
experimentally, and in our own souls, drawn and attracted to God by the
blood of Jesus. The great attracting loadstone of the Gospel is the
doctrine of the Cross. To
preach the atoning sacrifice of Jesus is the shortest and surest way,
under God's Holy Spirit, to draw those that are far off, mentally and
spiritually, very near unto God! Thus have I dwelt upon those two key
words upon which the text seems to me to hinge.
II. Let us pass on to ILLUSTRATE THE NEARNESS into which God has been
pleased to bring us in Christ Jesus by virtue of His blood. I shall
take three illustrations from the Word of God. The first illustration
is from our first parent, Adam. Adam dwelt in the Garden, abiding with
God in devout communion. The Lord God walked in the Garden in the cool
of the day with Adam. As a favored creature, the first man was
permitted to know much of his Creator and to be near to Him.
But, alas, Adam sinned and at once we see the first stage of our own
distance from God as we perceive Adam in the Garden without his God. In
the Garden, in the very midst of Paradise, flowers shedding their sweet
perfume, fruits hanging ready to his hand on every side–and yet man is
wretched, miserable and cowardly! He hides among the trees of the
Garden until the Lord God calls to him, "Adam, where are you?" Here is
the first stage of distance and it is sad and terrible. But, ah,
Brethren, you and I were further off than that–much further off than
that when love made us near!
It would have been a great wonder of Divine Grace if, being in such a
position, God had restored us again to His favor. If He had said to us
after one transgression, "I have blotted out your sin like a cloud: I
have passed by your offense, I restore you to happiness." But the Grace
which God has shown to us is as much greater than this as the
thorn-bearing soil is sterner than Eden's laughing flowers.
Adam was brought before his God, arraigned, upbraided and condemned to
be expelled from Paradise. Justice drove out the man. With fiery sword
the cherubim keep watch at Eden's gate. Adam banished into the cold,
sin-blighted world, to till the ground from where he was taken, with
the promise ringing in his ear, "The Seed of the woman shall bruise the
serpent's head," is the second stage of distance from God. Now, it
would have been great Grace for God to take Adam from outside the
Garden, to forgive him, to bring him within the happy gate and restore
him to his former place–but the mercy worked in us is greater still!
You and I were further gone than Adam outside of Eden, with a Gospel
promise newly given him. We were not on the threshold of Paradise, but
we were far off by wicked works. Our natural position as Gentile
sinners was not with Adam outside the gate, but with the nations that
knew not God! Our position was as when they had wandered farthest away
from Paradise, had become most estranged from God and had set up many
gods, and many lords, and had polluted and defiled themselves with all
manner of uncleanness!
See now the steps which God has taken with us Gentile dogs, as the Jews
once called us! He has taken us, who were of old an idolatrous people,
practicing bloody rites–a nation without knowledge of the Divine
oracles and He has illuminated us with the Gospel of His Grace,
bringing the kingdom of God very near unto us and ourselves very near
to it. The Lord has been pleased to separate many of us to Himself and
bring us into His visible Church so that we dwell within that "garden
walled around, chosen and made peculiar ground." This is no small deed
of love! Aliens are made fellow citizens with the saints and of the
household of God!
Yet, much more than this has been done for true Believers in the blood
of Jesus. Not the name only, but the very essence and soul of true
piety is ours, so that once again we walk with God! And in communion
with the saints and with their Lord, we find a new garden of delight
whose plants are an orchard of pomegranates with pleasant fruits,
camphor with spikenard. "Your plants are an orchard of pomegranates,
with pleasant fruits; camphor, with spikenard, spikenard and saffron;
calamus and cinnamon, with all trees of frankincense; myrrh and aloes,
with all the chief spices: a fountain of gardens, a well of living
waters and streams from Lebanon." We might date our letters from
Elysium, for, "we that have believed do enter into rest." Yes, we are
restored by Divine Grace to the King's garden! We have found Glory
begun below–
"Celestial fruits on earthly ground, From faith and hope do grow." Let
me now give you a second illustration, which may place this wonder of
love in a still clearer light. It shall be taken from the children of
Israel traveling through the wilderness. If an angel had poised himself
in mid air and watched awhile in the days of Moses, gazing down upon
the people in the wilderness and all else that surrounded them, his
eyes
would have rested upon the central spot, the tabernacle, over which
rested the pillar of cloud and fire by day and night, as the outward
index of the Presence of God.
Now, observe yonder select persons clad in fair white linen, who come
near, very near, to that great center–they are priests–men who are
engaged from day to day sacrificing bullocks and lambs and serving God.
They are near to the Lord and engaged in most hallowed work, but they
are not the nearest of all. One man, alone, comes nearest. He is the
high priest, who, once every year, enters into that which is within the
veil. Ah, what condescension is that which gives us the same access to
God! The priests are servants of God and very near to Him, but not
nearest. And it would be great Grace if God permitted the priests to
enter into the Most Holy Place.
But, Brothers and Sisters, we were not by nature comparable to the
priests. We were not the Lord's servants. We were not devoted to His
fear and the Grace that has brought us near through the precious blood
was much greater than that which admits a priest within the veil. Every
priest that went within the veil entered there by blood which he
sprinkled on the Mercy Seat. If made near, even from the nearer stage,
it must be by blood and in connection with the one only High Priest.
If the angel continued his gaze he would next see lying all round the
tabernacle the twelve tribes in their tents. These were a people near
unto God–for what nation has God so near unto them? Deuteronomy 4:7.
But they are nothing like so near as the priests. They did not abide in
the holy court, nor were they always occupied in worship. Israel may
fitly represent the outward Church, the members of which have not yet
received all the spiritual blessing they might have, yet are they
blessed and made near. If ever an Israelite advanced into the court of
the priests, it was with blood. He came with sacrifice. There was no
access without it. It was great favor which permitted the Israelite to
come into the court of the priests and partake in Divine worship. But,
Brethren, you and I were farther off than Israel and it needed more
Grace, by far, to bring us near. By blood alone are we made near, and
by blood displayed in all the glory of its power!
Outside the camp of Israel altogether, you would have seen a company of
miserable wretches who herded together as best they
could–lepers–unclean, driven outside the camp. This is more like our
position. If ever these lepers were brought near enough to come into
communion with the camp of Israel, much more to come into communion
with the priests, their access must be wholly and alone by blood. The
turtle dove, or the young pigeon must be slain. The lamb must be
killed, the scarlet wool and hyssop must be used. There was no purging
of the leper to bring him into communion with the tribes of Israel
except by blood.
And oh, we–we in our filthiness so like the leper–we have to praise
almighty Grace which looked upon us when our natural depravity stared
us in the face–when it had become apparent by our continued
disobedience to God! We have to praise the mercy which has brought us
right away from the leper's place to as near to God as the accepted
high priest before the veil! Beloved, had the angel still continued his
gaze, he would have observed that even these lepers were far more
favored than the other inhabitants of the world, for the whole world
was lying in darkness, without God, without a revelation of His Glory.
THIS is our position, this last one! We were the aliens, the strangers,
the foreigners! A leper, though a leper, was still an Israelite, and if
he could not go up into the sanctuary of the Lord, yet still there was
the mark of the Covenant of his flesh and he was of the seed of Abraham
and the wing of God in the cloudy pillar covered him! He ate the manna
and drank of the rock. But as for the poor heathen–for them there was
no appointed way of access–they were cast out and left to perish in
their sins! The old Covenant did not, so far as its outward
manifestation was concerned, have a word to say to US!
Far off, then, with the Gentiles is your place and my place. We are by
nature out of covenant and aliens from the commonwealth of Israel.
There you are right away in the dark heathen world. And what did God's
Grace do for you? Why, it brought you, first of all, into connection
with God's people and under the sound of the Gospel's silver trumpet!
You became like the poor leper, but still you were near to Israel,
hearing the Gospel and learning the way of salvation. Thank God for
bringing you so near as that, for there is no small privilege in
hearing the Truth of God. But Divine Grace did not stop there. It
purged and cleansed you, and you were admitted into fellowship with the
Church.
You became numbered with the seed of Israel! You pitched your tent near
the tabernacle and partook of its abundant blessings! But Grace did not
stop there. It made you, next, a priest unto God, a consecrated servant
of the Lord of Hosts and you have been kept by Grace in the place of
holy service! You are still the Lord's anointed priest and your
sacrifices
are well-pleasing in His sight. But here is the wonder of wonders–when
the eternal love of God had brought you so near, so gloriously near, it
did not stop there! It did not content itself with making you a priest,
but it said you shall stand "in Christ Jesus!" And, Beloved, you know
that this means that we are made as near Christ Himself, who, as the
great High Priest, with blood in His hand, goes right into the veil,
right up to the Mercy Seat and talks with God!
A third illustration of our nearness to God will be found around the
peaks of the mount of God, even Sinai, where the various degrees of
access to God are set forth with singular beauty and preciseness of
detail. The 19th chapter of the book of Exodus tells us that the Lord
revealed Himself on the top of Sinai with flaming fire and the smoke
thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace. Jehovah drew near unto His
people Israel, coming down in the sight of all the people upon Mount
Sinai, while the tribes stood at the foot of the mountain.
Now remember that our natural position was much more remote than Israel
at the foot of the mountain, for we were a Gentile nation to whom God
did not appear in His Glory and with whom He spoke not as with Israel.
We were living in darkness and in the valley of the shadow of
death–and Israel was privileged to come very near as compared with us.
Therefore the Apostle, in the chapter from which the text is taken,
speaks of the circumcised as near. I take Israel to be to us this
morning the type of those who live under Gospel privileges and are
allowed to hear the joyful sound of salvation bought with blood.
There stand the tribes at the foot of the mountain. They can hear the
sound of the trumpet waxing exceedingly loud and long and a distinct
voice proclaiming the Law of God–they hear it and it affects their
hearts and prostrates them with awe. Boundaries were set round about
the mountain and an ordinance was given that if so much as a beast
touched the mountain, it should be stoned or thrust through with a
dart. Their distance was thus far more apparent than their comparative
nearness. Do you see them standing there–the whole vast host–hearing,
hearing distinctly and trembling as they hear–at last trembling so
much that they say to Moses, "Speak you with us and we will hear. But
let not God speak with us lest we die"?
Their fear made them remove further still–what they saw and heard of
God begot in them no love–it did not draw them to Him, but the
reverse! They promised fairly to Moses that they would keep all God's
Laws, that they would serve him with all their hearts. But alas, their
goodness soon vanished! They had been outwardly purified and made
ready, sanctified, as Moses says, to behold the Glory of the Lord. But
alas, after a few short days they deliberately fell into idolatry,
worshipping a golden calf–forgetting the solemnities of the Law and
indifferent to the will of God who had displayed Himself to them. Very
near they were, and yet far enough off to perish–for their carcasses
fell in the wilderness and with many of them He was not well-pleased.
Ah, my dear Hearers, there is much Grace in the fact that you are
brought near enough, all of you, to be able to hear the Gospel plainly
and earnestly delivered. At the base of Mount Zion you have stood
trembling while we have warned you of the judgment to come and told you
of the indignation of God against sin. You have been like Israel, ready
to sink into the earth with fear and you have promised, some of you
very fairly, that before long you would repent and believe the Gospel.
The Gospel command has come to your conscience with such power that you
have been compelled to promise obedience to it! But alas, what has been
the result of your fear and your vow? You have gone farther back from
God and have plunged anew into the world's idolatry–and are today
worshipping yourselves, your pleasures, your sins, or your
righteousness!
And when the Lord comes, the nearness of opportunity which you have
enjoyed will prove to have been to you a most fearful responsibility
and nothing more. You come to the mount of God and hear His voice, but
like Israel you go your way to rebel yet more and more! Sometimes,
under earnest sermons, or by solemn Providences, or by the suggestions
of the Holy Spirit, you have been almost persuaded to be Christians!
But yet you are, to this hour, without Christ and without hope! You
came up to the turning point, but you stopped there. We all hoped well
of you. We could almost have clapped our hands in the certainty of our
hope that you would be saved and yet you remained like Israel– only
near in the point of outward privilege–but not brought near by the
blood so as to be saved.
Child of God, be thankful for that first stage of nearness this
morning, for even this is given us by blood! If there had been no
paschal lamb, Israel had never stood at Sinai. And if there had been no
blood shedding you had never heard the Gospel. But bless the Lord that
you have advanced far, far beyond this into a nearness infinitely
preferable! Turning to
the 24th chapter of Exodus, you will observe that the Lord said unto
Moses, "Come up unto the Lord, you and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu and 70
of the elders of Israel; and worship afar off."
The next stage of nearness to God is pictured by the chosen men
selected from the people who were to climb halfway up the hill, nearer
to the thick canopy of darkness which veiled the Presence of God. But
still they are said to have worshipped afar off. Now, note that these
70 could not come nearer than the people except by blood–turn to the
5th verse, "And Moses sent young men of the children of Israel, which
offered burnt offerings and sacrificed peace offerings of oxen unto the
Lord. And Moses took half of the blood and put it in basins; and half
of the blood he sprinkled on the altar. And he took the Book of the
Covenant and read in the audience of the people and Moses took the
blood and sprinkled it on the people and said, Behold the blood of the
Covenant which the Lord has made with you concerning all these words."
The select band of representative men could not come into a degree of
superior nearness without blood. It was a great honor to be called out
from among the people to enjoy a nearer audience with the Almighty
Lord. Surely those men, with their souls hushed under a deep sense of
awe would, nevertheless, rejoice and say, "What are we and what is our
father's house, that we are called upon to climb so near to God?" Those
70 may be used to represent the visible Church of Jesus Christ. Church
members are all, in a certain sense, made nearer to God than the mere
common hearers of the Word and their position is one of eminent honor
and privilege.
In the case of the 70, it is said, "they saw the God of Israel"–10th
verse–that is to say, they had a remarkably vivid impression upon
their minds of His august Presence–"and there was under His feet, as
it were, a paved work of sapphire stone." That is, they were permitted
to see the justice, the holiness, the purity of God typified by a
pavement of clear crystal. As the text continues–"as it were the body
of Heaven in His clearness." They were doubtless overwhelmed with a
sense of the awful majesty, holiness and purity of God. But they were
encouraged by Divine mercy to be of good cheer, so that they saw God,
"and did eat and drink."
They had manifest communion with the Most High and yet they did not die
under the blaze of Glory. "Upon the nobles of the children of Israel He
laid not His hand." See here a fair type of the Glory which God gives
to His visible Church! We are selected and taken out from among men to
be a people near unto Him. We are made, as Church members, to have a
clearer view than others of the holiness and Glory of God. We are
permitted to eat and drink in His Presence, to sit down at His table
and yet to live. We are favored in the Church with many gracious
displays of the Lord's love and Grace such as the world sees not.
But I want you to notice a Truth of God which strikes me as so solemnly
full of warning. Among those who thus were privileged to enter into
this nearness, we have the names of Nadab and Abihu–and what became of
them? They were destroyed before the Lord for offering strange fire
upon the altar! So that it is clear that there is an official nearness
of God which does not secure men from wrath. In the Christian Church,
there may be, no, it seems as if there always must be some who shall,
without doubt, perish–and the fire of God shall devour them. I wish
that those who join the Church without due consideration would solemnly
recollect that it is not necessary for them to thrust themselves into
such an awful position unless they know that they are the people of
God. It were a pity for them to increase their own condemnation by such
a willful act of presumption.
Note well that passage concerning the unfaithful servant who said in
his heart, "My lord delays his coming," and began to beat the men
servants and maidens, and to eat and drink and to be drunken. For it is
written, "The lord of that servant will come in a day when he looks not
for him and at an hour when he is not aware and will cut him in sunder
and will appoint him his portion with the unbelievers." The sacrifices
of the Covenant were cut in sunder and so the Covenant was ratified.
Now, the man who mocks the Covenant by intruding himself into the
fellowship to which he belongs not shall receive upon himself the curse
which for others our Great Sacrifice has borne. There will be singular
judgments for ungodly Church members. It were good for such men that
they had never been born! Judgment is to begin at the House of God.
"His fan is in His hand." And what will He do with it? "He will
thoroughly purge His floor." When He sits as a refiner, whom will He
purify? Mark the words of Malachi–"He will purify the sons of Levi."
His fire, where is it? It is in Zion and His furnace in Jerusalem.
There shall be no such condemnation as that which shall be measured out
to those who, in official standing, possess peculiar nearness to God
and yet, like Nadab and Abihu, have not the true spirit, are unfaithful
in service, look not to the Savior in truth and so are cast away after
all!
Most worthy of your notice is another fact connected with the 70 and
that is when Moses went up into the higher Glory, he bade Aaron and the
70 stay where they were, but they failed to do it. He said unto the
elders (in the 14th verse), "Tarry you here for us, until we come again
unto you: and, behold, Aaron and Hur are with you: if any man has any
matters to do, let him come unto them." Moses was then gone from them
for 46 or 47 days at the least and their duty was to have remained
where he had appointed their place. If the people needed Aaron, they
were to send up to him–he need not cease to direct and judge the
people, but they were to come to him–he was not to go down to them.
Now, what did Aaron do? Why, he went down to the camp and fell into the
black sin of making a molten image! "And when the people saw that Moses
delayed to come down out of the mount, the people gathered themselves
together unto Aaron and said unto him, Up, make us gods, which shall go
before us; for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the
land of Egypt, we know not what is become of him." Aaron would never
have made that golden calf if he had stayed upon the mountain where he
was told to remain.
What does this say to us? Is not the lesson plain? The visible Church
is too prone to come down to the world and even those who are God's
servants, when they are lifted up into a state of nearness to God,
seldom abide there. They conform to this evil world–they descend from
their true eminence, they mix with the people–and they, who have seen
God in His Glory like unto a sapphire stone, are found pandering to the
corruption of the world! To what a state of degradation may any of us
come unless the Lord shall hold us up! We may go up very far and may
see God and then come down and become the instruments of the sins of
others, as Aaron did.
If you read on, in the 24 th chapter, you will observe that the Lord
called to Moses again and he went up the hill attended by one single
person. "And Moses rose up and his minister, Joshua: and Moses went up
into the mount of God." So these two men go alone and Joshua comes to
what I may call the fringe of the black cloud of darkness which hung
over the central peak of Sinai. There he stopped and there by God's
Grace he was able, patiently, to remain the first six days with Moses
and those other 40 days, while Moses was on the top alone. Joshua, by
God's Grace, was enabled to maintain the true, real, abiding, faithful
communion with God!
And he seems to me to represent those virgin souls among God's elect
ones who follow the Lamb where ever He goes. Those men, greatly
beloved, who are delivered by abundant Grace from much of the
instability of the majority of professors, so that they walk in the
light as He is in the light. They abide in their Lord and His Word
abides in them. These come not down to the people as Aaron and the
elders did, but their conversation is in Heaven and their walk is with
God. Such men fall not into the people's sin, but tarry in solitary
nonconformity to a degenerate Church. Even these do not realize the
fullness of the nearness which belongs to them in the Mediator, but
they come very, very near to God.
Now what are such men sure to be? What was Joshua? He was a warrior and
of martial spirit. When Moses came down from the mount with Joshua,
Joshua said to him, "There is a sound of war in the camp." As a warrior
he would naturally be apprehensive of a foe. Moses descended alone till
he met his servant, Joshua, waiting in his place. The two went down
till they came to the place where the 70 ought to be, but they were all
gone–all gone! And at the foot of the mountain, where they might have
expected to find Israel on their knees in prayer, they saw a ribald
crew indulging in vile orgies before a golden calf! Joshua's example
seems to say to us, that if we are to keep up our fellowship with
Christ, we must fight for it! If we would be men of God, we must be
warriors for the Truth of God! What a blessing if we can get to such a
point as this!
But there is something beyond it and I desire to bring you to it by
bidding you observe that Moses is the type of the Mediator–he went
right up to the greatest nearness of access and there he communed with
God–he interceded with God and he received from God's hand the
revelation of God's Law! Now hear and wonder, "We who sometimes were
far off are made near by the blood of Christ," and brought to stand as
near as Moses stood, for we are in Jesus as near to God as possible. It
was something to come as near as Israel. It was more to advance as near
as the elders. It was higher, still, to be called as near as Joshua.
But to be brought as near as Moses, through the precious blood, so that
we dwell in God, rejoice in Him, intercede with Him, have power with
Him and receive from Him the revelation of His Truth by the energy of
His Holy Spirit–this is the crown of all! O that we may go down with a
Glory upon our faces like that upon the face of Moses, to show the sons
of men that we have been with Jesus in the Holy Place and are filled
with all the fullness of God!
Looking at these stages of nearness, does it not seem a tremendous
distance from our place in far-off Tarshish and the isles thereof,
among the heathen, into the camp of Israel, up the sides of the
mountain with the elders, higher still with Joshua and beyond Joshua
into the secret place of the majesty of the Most High, where the
Mediator of that Covenant stood alone and where our Mediator stands
forever with all those who are in Him?!
III. Let US NOTE SOME OF THE DISPLAYS OF THE REALIZATIONS OF THIS
NEARNESS TO GOD as granted to us by blood through our union with
Christ. We perceive and see manifestly our nearness to God in the very
first hour of our conversion. The father fell upon the prodigal's neck
and kissed him–no greater nearness than that! The prodigal becomes an
accepted child–is and must be very near his father's heart.
And we, who sometimes were far off, are as near to God as a child to
his parents. We have a renewed sense of this nearness in times of
restoration after backsliding, when, pleading the precious blood, we
say, "Purge me with hyssop and I shall be clean. Wash me and I shall be
whiter than snow." We come to God and feel that He is near unto them
that are of a broken heart. We come near to God in prayer. Our nearness
to God is peculiarly evinced at the Mercy Seat. The very term we use
for prayer is, "Let us draw near unto God." But, Brothers and Sisters,
we never get to God in prayer unless it is through pleading the
precious blood!
We see our nearness to God in the act of praise. Oftentimes in praising
Him, we have taken the wings of seraphs and passed up into the Glory
and magnified the Lord, but it has always been through Him who by His
precious blood makes our praises acceptable to the Most High. We who
have believed come very near to God in the act of Baptism, for we are
baptized into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy
Spirit. Wicked and base is he who has dared to touch that ordinance,
unless he sincerely desired fellowship in the Lord's death. The
nearness we get to God in Baptism by faith depends upon whether or not
we see the blood there and behold Jesus as buried for us.
Then in the Lord's Supper–what nearness is there! But it, too, all
lies in the blood. We get no nearness through the wine, no nearness
through the bread–the elements are nothing of themselves–it is only
when we get to feel that our Lord's flesh is meat, indeed, and His
blood drink, indeed, that we draw near to Him. And, Beloved, when we
have done with means of Grace, with communings here, and meditations
and prayers and praises, we shall get nearer to our God up yonder–in
the place where they see His face and bear His name upon their
foreheads.
But why shall we then draw near to Him? It is written, "They have
washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb:
therefore are they before the Throne of God and serve Him day and night
in His Temple."
IV. I have thus hinted at various times when this nearness to God
develops itself and is most seen. Let us close with a BRIEF
EXHORTATION. Let us live in the power of the nearness which union with
Christ and the blood has given us. It is a well-known rule that our
minds are sure to be occupied with those things which are most near to
us. We may excuse ourselves for being so worldly because the things of
this world are so near us–but we must never venture to repeat that
excuse again– since we now know that we are made near to God and
heavenly things by the blood.
Let your conversation be in Heaven: "Where your treasure is, there let
your heart be." Beloved, if we are, indeed, so near to God through the
blood and through union with Christ, let us enjoy those things which
this nearness was intended to bring! Those who live under the equator
never lack for light or heat. There vegetation is luxuriant and every
form of life is well developed. They who dwell far away in the frigid
zone, where the sun only casts his slanting rays, may well be meager
and short of stature and feel the pinch of poverty.
We who dwell under the equator of the Lord's love must bring forth much
fruit! Let us rejoice with joy unspeakable! Let our souls be like those
torrid zones where all the birds have plumage rich and rare, where
brilliant flowers abound, where everything is fall of vigor! If we are
so near to God, it follows as a very natural exhortation that we should
exercise much faith in Him. If I am, indeed, brought so near to God,
why should I be afraid that He will leave me in poverty? If I were a
stranger and He knew me not, He might cast me away. But if I am near to
Him, as near as Christ is, He cannot be unkind, thoughtless, or
ungenerous to me. Near to Him! Why, my name is on the palms of Jesus'
hands! I live in Jesus' heart! And I live, if I am in Christ, under the
very eyes of God! He will keep me as He keeps the apple of His eye.
One other word. Let us maintain a behavior suitable to the high
position which Divine Grace has given us. If we are a people near to
God, let us walk in all integrity, uprightness, chastity, honesty,
soberness–in one word, in all holiness. "Be you perfect, even as your
Father which is in Heaven is perfect." If you have looked upon the
pavement of sapphire, you must have seen your own sinfulness in
contrast with its azure brightness. Pray the Lord to give you of His
Spirit, that you may become like He who is thus so pure and glorious in
all things!
Let not the sons of God demean themselves! Let not princes of the blood
imperial be found among the common herd. As you are to be the compeers
of angels, no, as you are higher far than they, and one with
Christ–and as the precious blood has been your ransom price–walk as
becomes saints! The Lord help you to do so, that His name may be
glorified. Amen.