DELIVERED ON LORD'S-DAY MORNING, AUGUST 3, 1879,
BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.
"The Lord your God will raise up unto you a Prophet from the midst of
you, of your brethren, like unto me; unto Him you shall hearken;
according to all that you desired of the Lord your God in Horeb in the
day of the assembly, saying, Let me not hear again the voice of the
Lord my God, neither let me see this great fire any more, that I die
not. And the Lord said unto me, They have well spoken that which they
have spoken. I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren,
like unto you, and will put My words in His mouth; and He shall speak
unto them all that I shall command Him. And it shall come to pass, that
whoever will not hearken unto My words which He shall speak in My name,
I will require it of him." Deuteronomy 18:15-19.
MAN, the creature, may well desire communion with his Creator. When we
are right-minded we cannot bear to be like fatherless children, born
into the world by a parent of whom we know nothing whatever. We long to
hear our father's voice. Of old time, before sin had entered into the
world, the Lord God was on the most intimate terms with His creature,
man. He communed with Adam in the garden. In the cool of the day He
made the evening to be seven-fold refreshing by the shadow of His own
Presence. There was no cloud between unfallen man and the Ever-Blessed
One– they could commune together, for no sin had set up a middle wall
of partition.
Alas, man, being in honor, continued not, but broke the Law of his God
and not only forfeited his own inheritance, but entailed upon his
descendants a character with which the holy God can hold no converse.
By nature we love that which is evil and within us there is an evil
heart of unbelief in departing from the living God–consequently,
communion between God and man has had to be upon quite another footing
from that which commenced and ended in the glades of Eden. It was
condescension at the first, which made the Lord speak with man, the
creature. It is mercy, unutterable mercy, now, if God deigns to speak
with man the sinner!
Through His Divine Grace, the Lord did not leave our fathers altogether
without a word from Himself even after the Fall, for between the days
of Adam and Moses there were occasional voices heard as of God speaking
with man. "Enoch walked with God," which implies that God walked with
him and had communion with him. And we may rest assured it was no
silent walk which Enoch had with the Most High. The Lord also spoke to
Noah, once and again, and made a Covenant with him. And then He, at
still greater length and with greater frequency, spoke with Abraham,
whom He graciously called His friend.
Voices also came to Isaac, Jacob and Joseph. And celestial beings
flitted to and fro between earth and Heaven. Then there was a long
pause and a dreary silence. No Prophet spoke in Jehovah's name; no
voice of God in priestly oracle was heard, but all was silent while
Israel dwelt in Egypt and sojourned in the land of Ham. So completely
hushed was the spiritual voice among men that it seemed as if God had
utterly forsaken His people and left the world without a witness to His
name.
But there was a prophecy of His return and the Lord had great designs
which only waited till the full time was come. He purposed to try man
in a very special manner, to see whether he could bear the Presence of
the Lord or not. He resolved to take a family, multiply it into a
nation and set it apart for Himself. And to that nation He would make a
revelation of Himself of the most extraordinary character. So He took
the people who had slaved among the brick kilns of Egypt and made them
His elect–the nation of His choice–ordained to be a nation of
priests, a people near unto Him if they had but Grace to bear the
honor.
Though they had lain among the pots, with a high hand and an
outstretched arm He delivered them and with gracious love He favored
them so that they became for beauty and excellence as the wings of a
dove that are covered with silver and her feathers with yellow gold. He
divided the Red Sea and made them a way of escape and afterwards set
that sea as a barrier between them and their former masters. He took
them into the wilderness and there fed them with manna which dropped
from Heaven and with water out of the rock did He sustain them. After a
while He began to speak to them as He had never spoken to any nation
before.
He spoke with them from the top of Sinai, so that they heard His Voice
out of the midst of the fire and in astonishment they cried, "We have
seen this day that God does talk with man and he lives." But the
experiment failed. Man was not in a condition to hear the direct Voice
of God. On the very first day the people were in such terror and alarm
that they cried out, "This great fire will consume us! If we hear the
Voice of the Lord our God any more we shall die." As they stood still
at a distance to hear the words of God's perfect Law they were filled
with great fear. So terrible was the sight that even Moses said, "I
exceedingly fear and quake."
The people could not endure that which was commanded and entreated that
the word should not be spoken to them any more. They felt the need of
someone to interpose–a daysman, an interpreter–someone was needed to
come between them and God. Even those among them that were the most
spiritual and understood and loved God better than the rest confessed
that they could not endure the thunder of His dreadful Voice. And so
their elders and the heads of their tribes came to Moses and said, "Go
you near, and hear all that the Lord our God shall say: and speak you
unto us all that the Lord our God shall speak unto you; and we will
hear it, and do it."
The Lord knew that man would always be unable to hear his Maker's voice
and He, therefore, determined not only to speak by Moses, but to speak
by His servants, the Prophets, raising up here, one, and there,
another. And then He determined, as the consummation of His
condescending mercy, that at the last He would put all the words He had
to say to man into one heart and that word should be spoken by one
mouth to men, furnishing a full, complete and unchangeable revelation
of Himself to the human race! This He resolved to give by One of whom
Moses had learned something when the Lord said to Him in the words of
our text, "I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren,
like unto you, and will put My words in His month; and He shall speak
unto them all that I shall command
Him."
We know assuredly that our Lord Jesus Christ is that Prophets like unto
Moses by whom, in these last days, He has spoken unto us! See Peter's
testimony in the third chapter of the Acts of the Apostles and
Stephen's in the seventh chapter of the same book. "This Man was
counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as He who has built
the house has more honor than the house," yet did He bear a gracious
likeness to Moses and therein His Apostles found a sure argument of His
being, indeed, the Messiah, sent of God.
The subject of this morning's discourse is the Lord's speaking to us by
Jesus Christ, the one Mediator between God and man–and our earnest aim
is that all of us may reverently hear the Voice of God by this greatest
of all Prophets. Brothers and Sisters, this is the Word of God unto you
this morning, that very Word which He spoke on the holy Mount, when the
Lord was transfigured and there appeared with Him Moses and Elijah
speaking to Him. And out of the excellent Glory there came the words,
"This is My beloved Son, hear you Him." This is my message at this
hour–"Hear you Him."
He says to you all this day, "Incline your ear and come unto Me: hear,
and your soul shall live. Hearken diligently unto Me, and eat you that
which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness." "See that
you refuse not Him that speaks. For if they escaped not who refused Him
that spoke on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away
from Him that speaks from Heaven." Our meditation will run in this
line–first, we will think for a moment upon the necessity for a
Mediator. Secondly, upon the Person of the Prophet-Mediator whom God
has chosen. And, thirdly, upon the authority with which this Mediator
is invested, by which authority He calls upon us this day to listen to
God's Voice which is heard in Him.
I. We begin by considering how urgently there existed THE NECESSITY for
a Mediator. I need but very short time to set this forth. There was a
necessity for a Mediator in the case of the Israelites, first, because
of the unutterable Glory of God and their own inability to endure that
Glory, either with their eyes, their ears, or their minds. We cannot
suppose
that the revelation of God upon Sinai was the display of all His
greatness. No, we know that it could not be such, for it would have
been impossible for man to have lived at all in the Presence of the
Infinite Glory.
Habakkuk, speaking of this manifestation, says, "God came from Teman
and the Holy One from mount Paran. His Glory covered the heavens and
the earth was fall of His praise. And His brightness was as the light;
He had horns coming out of His hands." But he adds, "There was the
hiding of His power." Despite its exceeding Glory, the manifestation
upon the mount of God at Horeb was a subdued manifestation and yet,
though it was thus toned down to human weakness, it could not be borne!
The unveiling of Jehovah's face, no mortal eye could bear! The voice
with which God spoke at Sinai is by Moses compared to the voice of a
trumpet waxing exceedingly loud and long–and also to the roll of
thunder–and we all know the awe-inspiring sound of thunder when it is
heard near at hand, its volleys rolling overhead. How the crash of peal
on peal makes the bravest heart, if not to quail, yet still to bow in
reverent awe before God! Yet this is not the full Voice of God–it is
but His whisper. Jehovah has hushed His Voice in the thunder, for were
that voice heard in its fullness, it would shake not only earth, but
also Heaven.
If He were for once to unveil His face, the lightning's flame would
pale to darkness in comparison. The Voice of the Lord God is
inconceivably majestic and it is not possible that we, poor creatures,
worms of the dust, insects of a day, should ever be able to hear it and
live! We could not bear the full revelation of God apart from
mediatorial interposition. Perhaps when He has made us to be pure
spirits, or when our bodies shall have been "raised in power"–made
like unto the body of our Lord Jesus–we may then be able to behold the
glorious Jehovah, but as yet we must accept the kindly warning of the
Lord in answer to the request of Moses, "you cannot see My face, for
there shall no man see Me and live."
The strings of life are too weak for the strain of the unveiled
Presence. It is not possible for such a airy, spider-like thread as our
existence to survive the breath of Deity if He should actually and in
very deed draw near to us. It appeared clearly at Sinai that even when
the Lord did accommodate Himself, as much as was consistent with His
honor, to the infirmity of human nature, man was so alarmed and afraid
at His Presence that he could not bear it–and it was absolutely
necessary that instead of speaking with His own Voice, even though He
whispered what He had to say, He should speak to another apart and
afterwards that other should come down from the mount and repeat the
Lord's words to the people.
This sufficient reason is supported by another most weighty fact,
namely, that God cannot commune with men because of their sin. God was
pleased to regard His people Israel at the foot of Sinai as pure.
"Moses went down from the mount unto the people and sanctified the
people; and they washed their clothes." They had abstained, for awhile,
from defiling actions and as they stood outside the bounds they were
ceremonially clean–but it was only a ceremonial purity. Before long
they were really unclean before the Lord and in heart defiled and
polluted. The Lord said of them, "O that there were such a heart in
them, that they would fear Me, and keep all My commandments always,
that it might be well with them, and with their children forever!"
He knew that their heart was not right even when they spoke obediently.
Not many days after the people had trembled at Sinai they made a golden
calf and set it up and bowed before it, provoking the Lord to jealousy
so that He sent plagues among them. It is quite clear that after such a
rebellion, after a deliberate breach of His Covenant and daring
violation of His commands, it would have been quite impossible for God
to speak to them, or for them to listen to the Voice of God in a direct
manner. They would have fled before Him because of His holiness which
shamed their unholiness! And because of their sin, which provoked His
indignation. Because of their wandering, instability and treachery of
their hearts, the Lord could not have endured them in His Presence.
The holy angels forever adore with that threefold cry, "Holy, holy,
holy Lord God of Sabaoth," and He could not permit men of unclean lips
to profane His Throne with their unholy utterances. Oh no, my Brothers
and Sisters, with such a sense of sin as some of us have and as all of
us ought to have, we should have to cover our faces and cower down in
terror if Jehovah, Himself, were to appear! He cannot look upon
iniquity, neither can evil dwell with Him, for He is a consuming fire.
While we are compassed with infirmity we cannot behold Him, for our
eyes are dimmed with the smoke of our iniquities. If we would see even
the skirts of His garments, we must first be pure in heart and He must
put us in the cleft of the rock and cover us with His hands.
If we were to behold His stern justice, His awful holiness and His
boundless power apart from our ever-blessed Mediator, we should
dissolve at the sight and utterly melt away, for we have sinned. This
double reason of the weakness of our nature and the sinfulness of our
character is a forcible one, for I close this part of the discourse by
observing that the argument was so forcible that the Lord Himself
allowed it. He said, "They have well spoken, that which they have
spoken." It was no morbid apprehension which made them afraid. It was
no foolish dread which made them start, for Wisdom, in the person of
Moses, said, "I do exceedingly fear and quake."
The calmest and meekest of men had real cause for fear. God's face is
not to be seen. An occasional glimpse may come to spirits raised above
their own natural level, so that they can, for a while, behold the
King, the Lord of Hosts–but even to them it is a terrible strain upon
all their powers–the wine is too strong for the bottles. What said
John, when he saw, not so much absolute Deity, but the Divine side of
the Mediator? "When I saw Him I fell at His feet as dead." Daniel, the
man greatly beloved, confesses that there remained no strength in him
and his comeliness was turned into corruption when he heard the Voice
of God!
And Job said, "I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear, but now
my eyes see You; therefore I abhor myself in dust and ashes." No, God
knows it is not silly fright nor unbelieving fear–it is a most seemly
awe and a most natural dread which takes hold of finite and fallible
creatures in the Presence of the Infinite and Perfect One! These frail
tabernacles, like the tents of Cushan, are in affliction when the Lord
marches by in the greatness of His power. We need a Mediator. The Lord
knows right well that our sinfulness provokes Him and that there is, in
us–in the best here present–that which would make Him to break out
against us to destroy us if we were to come to Him without a covering
and propitiation. We must approach the Lord through a Mediator–it is
absolutely necessary.
God Himself witnesses it is and, therefore, in His mercy He ordains a
Mediator, that by Him we may be able to approach His Throne of Grace.
May the Holy Spirit make this Truth of God very plain to the
consciousness of all of us and cause us to sing with the poet–
"Till God in human flesh I see,
My thoughts no comfort find;
The holy, just, and sacred
Three are terrors to my mind.
But if Immanuel's face appears,
My hope, my joy begins;
His name forbids my slavish fear,
His Grace remo ves my sins."
II. This brings us to consider THE PERSON of the appointed Mediator and
in my text we obtain a liberal measure of information upon this point.
Read these blessed words, "The Lord your God will raise up unto you a
Prophet from the midst of you, of your brethren." Dwell with sweetness
upon this fact that our Lord Jesus was raised up from the midst of us,
from among our brethren! In Him is fulfilled that glorious prophecy, "I
have exalted One chosen out of the people." He is one of ourselves, a
Brother born for adversity. He was born at Bethlehem, not in fiction,
but in fact–He lay in the manger where the horned oxen fed. He was
wrapped in swaddling cloths and dependent on a woman's loving care as
any other baby might be. He was like ourselves in His growth from
Infancy to Manhood, increasing in stature as we do from our childhood
to our riper age. Though the holy Child Jesus, He was yet a Child and,
therefore, He was subject to His parents.
And when He came forth as a Man, His was no phantom manhood, but true
flesh and blood! He was tempted and He was betrayed. He hungered and He
thirsted. He was weary and He was sorely amazed. He took our sicknesses
and He carried our sorrows. He was made in all points like unto His
brethren. He did not set Himself apart as though He were of an
exclusive caste or of a superior rank, but He dwelt among us–the
Brother of the race, eating with publicans and sinners–always mingling
with the common people. He was not One who boasted His descent, or
gloried in the so-called blue blood, or placed Himself among the
Porphyro-geniti who must not see the light except in marble halls. He
was born in a common house of entertainment where all might come to Him
and He died with His arms extended as a pledge that He continued to
receive all who came to Him!
He never spoke of men as the common multitude, the vulgar herd, but He
made Himself at home among them. He was dressed like a peasant, in the
ordinary smock of the country–a garment without seam, woven from the
top
throughout. And He mixed with the multitude, went to their marriage
feasts, attended their funerals and was so much among them, a Man among
men, that slander called Him a glutton and a wine-bibber, a friend of
publicans and sinners. In all respects our Lord was raised up from the
midst of us, One of our own kith and kin. "For this cause He is not
ashamed to call us brethren."
He was our Brother in living, our Bother in death and our Brother in
resurrection, for after His Resurrection He said, "Go, tell My
Brethren." And He also said, "My Father, and your Father; My God, and
your God." Though now exalted in the highest heavens, He pleads for us
and acts as a High Priest who can be touched with a feeling of our
infirmities. God has graciously raised up such a Mediator and now He
speaks to us through Him. O sons of men, will you not listen when such
an One as Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of Man, is ordained to speak of
the eternal God? You might be unable to hear if He should speak again
in thunder, but now He speaks by those dear lips of love! Now He speaks
by that gracious tongue which has worked such miracles of Grace by its
words! Now He speaks out of that great heart of His which never beats
except with love to the sons of men–will you not hear Him? Surely we
ought to give the most earnest heed and obey His every word.
Moses was truly one of the people, for he loved them intensely and all
his sympathies were with them. They provoked him terribly, but he still
loved them. We can never admire that man of God too much when we think
of his disinterested love to that guilty nation. See him on the
mountain as Israel's advocate! The Lord said, "Let Me alone that I may
destroy them, and I will make of you a great nation." That proposal
opened up before Moses' eyes a glittering destiny! It was within his
grasp that he should become the founder of a race in whom the promises
made to Abraham should be fulfilled! Would not the most of men have
greedily snatched at it?
But Moses will not have it! He loves Israel too well to see the people
die if he can save them. He has not an atom of selfish ambition about
him. And so with cries and tears he exclaims," Why should the Egyptians
speak and say, For mischief did He bring them out, to slay them in the
mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth? Turn from
Your fierce wrath and repent of this evil against Your people." He
prevailed with God by his pleading, for he identified himself with
Israel. Moses did, as it were, gather up all their grief and sorrow
into himself, even as did our Lord. True Israelite was he, for he
refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter! He cast his lot
with the people of
God.
This is just what our blessed Lord has done. He will not have honor
apart from His people, nor even life unless they also live. He saved
others, Himself He could not save. He would not be in Heaven and leave
His saints behind! He loved the people and so proved Himself to be One
chosen out of their midst, a Brother among brethren. Mark well that
while thus our Lord is our Brother, the great God has, in His Person,
sent us One who is lifted up above us all in the knowledge of His mind.
Thus says the Lord (v. 18), "I will put My words in His mouth." Our
Lord Jesus Christ comes to us inspired by God. Not alone He comes, nor
of His own mind, but He says, "The Father is with Me: I do always the
things which please Him: the Father that dwells in Me, He does the
works." Both in word and work He acted for His Father and under His
Father's inspiration.
Brothers and Sisters, I beseech you not to reject the message which
Jesus brings, seeing it is not His own, but the sure message of God!
Trifle not with a single word which Jesus speaks, for it is the Word of
the Eternal One! Despise not one single deed which He did, or precept
which He commanded, or blessing which He brought, for upon all these
there is the stamp of Deity! God chose One who is our Brother that He
might come near to us and He put His own royal imprimatur upon Him that
we might not have an Ambassador of second rank, but One who counts it
not robbery to be equal with God, who, nevertheless, for our sake has
taken upon Himself the form of a Servant that He might speak home to
our hearts. For all these reasons, I beseech you despise not Him that
speaks, seeing He speaks from Heaven!
The main point, however, upon which I want to dwell is that Jesus is
like Moses. There had been no better mediator found than Moses up to
Moses' day. The Lord God, therefore, determined to work upon that model
with the great Prophet of His race and He has done so in sending forth
the Lord Jesus. It would be a very interesting task for the young
people to work out all the points in which Moses is a personal type of
the Lord Jesus. The points of resemblance are very many, for there is
hardly a single incident in the life of the great Lawgiver which is not
symbolic of the promised Savior.
You may begin from the beginning at the waters of the Nile and go to
the close upon the brow of Pisgah and you will see Christ in Moses as a
man sees his face in a glass. I can only mention in what respects, as a
Mediator, Jesus is like
Moses, and surely one is found in the fact that Moses, beyond all that
went before him, was peculiarly the depository of the mind of God. Once
and again we find him closeted with God for 40 days at a time. He went
right away from men to the lone mountaintop and there he was, 40 days
and 40 nights, and did neither eat nor drink, but lived in high
communion with his God! In those times of seclusion he received the
pattern of the tabernacle, the Laws of the priesthood, of the
sacrifices of the holy days and of the civil estate of Israel–and
perhaps the early records which compose the Book of Genesis. To whom
else had God ever spoken for that length of time as a man speaks with
his friend?
Moses was the peculiar favorite of God. From the first day of his call,
when he was keeping his father's flock at the back of the desert, right
to the day when God kissed away his soul on the top of Nebo, he was a
man greatly beloved to whom God manifested Himself as to no other. Hear
the Lord's own words to Aaron and Miriam. "And He said, Hear now My
words: If there is a Prophet among you, I the Lord will make Myself
known unto Him in a vision, and will speak unto Him in a dream. My
servant Moses is not so, who is faithful in all My house. With Him will
I speak mouth to mouth, even apparently, and not in dark speeches: and
the similitude of the Lord shall he behold. Why, then, were you not
afraid to speak against My servant Moses?"
In this our Lord Jesus is like Moses, only He far surpasses him, for
the communion between Christ and the Father was very much more
intimate, seeing that Jesus is, Himself, essential Deity, and, "in Him
dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily." Cold mountains and the
midnight air continually witnessed to His communion with the Father.
Nor these, alone, for He abode with the Father! His language was always
spoken out as God was speaking within Him. He lived in God and with
God. "I know," He said, "that You hear Me always." Instead of having to
point out when Christ was in communion with the Father, we have rather,
with astonishment, to point out the one moment when He was not in
communion with the Father, even that dread hour when He cried, "My God,
My God, why have You forsaken Me?"
Only that one time did the Father leave Him and even then it was
inexplicable and He asked the reason for it– though He knew that He
was suffering as the Substitute for man–yet did His desertion by God
come upon Him as a novelty which utterly overwhelmed Him so that He
asked in agony why He was forsaken. Moses, to take another point, is
the first of the Prophets with whom God kept up continuous Revelation.
To other men He spoke in dreams and visions, but to Moses by plain and
perpetual testimony. His Spirit rested on him and he took of it to give
thereof to Joshua and to the 70 elders, even as Jesus gave of His
Spirit to the Apostles.
Sometimes God spoke to Noah, or to Abraham and others–but it was only
upon certain occasions and, even then, as in the case of Abraham and
Jacob, they must fall asleep to see and hear Him best. But with Moses,
the Lord abode perpetually! Whenever he willed, he consulted the Most
High and at once God spoke with him and directed his way. So was it
with Christ Jesus. He needed not to behold a vision–the spirit of
prophecy did not occasionally come upon Him and bear Him out of
Himself–for the Spirit was given Him without measure and He
perpetually knew the very mind and heart of God. He was always a
Prophet, not sometimes a prophet, like he of old, of whom we read, "The
Spirit of God came upon him in the camp of Dan." Or like others of whom
it is written, "The Word of the Lord came to them."
At all times the Spirit rested upon Jesus–He spoke in the abiding
power of the Holy Spirit more so than did Moses. Moses is described as
a Prophet mighty in word and deed and it is amazing that there never
was another Prophet mighty in word and deed till Jesus came. Moses not
only spoke with matchless power, but worked miracles. You shall find no
other Prophet who did both. Other Prophets who spoke well worked no
miracles, or only here and there–while those who worked miracles, such
as Elijah and Elisha, have left us but few words that they
spoke–indeed, their prophecies were but lightning flashes and not as
the bright shining of the sun.
When you come to our Lord Jesus you find lips and heart working
together with equal perfectness of witness. You cannot tell in which He
is the more marvelous–in His speech or in His acts. "Never man spoke
like this Man," but certainly never man worked such marvels of mercy as
Jesus did! He far exceeds Moses and all the Prophets put together in
the variety and the multitude and the wonderful character of the
miracles which He did. If men bow before Prophets who can cast down
their rods and they become serpents–if they yield homage to Prophets
who call fire from Heaven–how much more should they accept Him whose
Words are matchless music and whose miracles of love were felt even
beyond the boundaries of this visible world?
The angels of God flew from Heaven to minister to Him. The devils of
the Pit fled before His voice and the caverns of death heard His call
and yielded up their prey! Who would not accept this Prophet like
Moses, to whom the Holy Spirit
bore witness by mighty signs and wonders? Moses, again, was the founder
of a great system of religious law and this was not the case with any
other but the Lord Jesus. He founded the whole system of the Aaronic
Priesthood and the Law that went with it. Moses was a Lawgiver–he gave
the Ten Commandments in the name of God–and all the other statutes of
the Jewish polity were ordained through him. Now, till you come to
Christ you find no such Lawgiver–but Jesus institutes the New Covenant
as Moses introduced the old!
The Sermon on the Mount was an utterance from a happier Sinai and,
whereas Moses gives this and that command, Jesus gives the same in
sweeter form and in a more Divine fashion and embodies it in His own
sacred Person. He is the great Legislator of our dispensation He is the
King in the midst of Jeshurun giving forth His commands which run very
swiftly and they that fear the Lord are obedient to them. Time will
fail us, or we would mention to you that Moses was faithful before God
as a servant over all his house and so was Jesus as a Son over His own
house! Jesus was never unfaithful to His charge in any respect, but in
all things ruled and served to perfection as the Anointed of the
Father. He is the faithful and true Witness, the Prince of the kings of
the earth.
Moses, too, was zealous for God and for His honor. Remember how the
zeal of God's house did eat him up? When he saw grievous sin among the
people, he said, "Who is on the Lord's side?" and there came to him the
tribe of Levi and he said, "Go in and out, and slay you, everyone, his
men that were joined to Baalpeor." Herein he was the stern type of
Jesus who took the scourge of small cords and drove out the buyers and
sellers and said, "Take these things away: it is written, My Father's
house shall be a house of prayer, but you have made it a den of
thieves," for the zeal of God's house had eaten Him up.
Moses, by Divine Grace, was very meek and, perhaps, this is the chief
parallel between him and Jesus. I have said, "by Divine Grace," for I
suppose by nature he was strongly passionate. There are many
indications that Moses was not meek, but very far from it until the
Spirit of God rested upon him. He slew the Egyptian hastily and in
later years he went out from the presence of Pharaoh "in great anger."
Once and again you find him very angry–he took the tablets of stone
and dashed them in pieces in his indignation, for "Moses' anger waxed
hot," and that unhappy action which occasioned his being shut out of
Canaan was caused by his "being provoked in spirit so that he spoke
unadvisedly with his lips" and said, "Hear now, you rebels! Must I
fetch you water out of this rock?" Divine Grace had so cooled and
calmed him that in general he was the gentlest of men and when his
brother and sister thrust themselves into his place and questioned his
authority, it is written, "Now the man Moses was very meek, above all
the men which were upon the face of the earth."
In his own defense he has never anything to say–it is only for the
people and for God that his anger waxed hot. Even about his last act of
hastiness he says, "God was angry with me for your sake," not for his
own sake. He was so meek and gentle that for 40 years he bore with the
most rebellious and provoking nation that ever existed! But what shall
I say of my Master? Let Him speak for Himself. "Come unto Me, all you
that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest: take My yoke
upon you, and learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and you
shall find rest unto your souls." Our children call Him, "Gentle Jesus,
meek and mild." The Man Jesus is very meek above all men that are upon
the face of the earth. He has His indignation–
"Like glowing often is His wrath, As flame by furious blast up blown,"
for He can be angry and the wrath of the Lamb is the most awful wrath
beneath the sun! But still, to us, in this Gospel day, He is all love
and tenderness. And when He bids us come to Him, can we refuse to hear?
So meek is the Mediator that He is Love itself, Incarnate Love! He is
so loving that when He died, His only crime was that He was "found
guilty of excess of love." Can we be so cruel as to reject Him? O
Brothers and Sisters, do not refuse to listen to the voice of this
Tender One by whom God speaks to you! Our Lord was like Moses in
meekness and then, to sum it all up –Moses was the Mediator for God
with the people and so is our blessed Lord. Moses came in God's name
and set Israel free from Pharaoh's bondage. Jesus came to set us free
from a worse bondage and He has achieved our freedom. Moses led the
people through the Red Sea and Jesus has led us where all the hosts of
Hell were overthrown and sin was drowned in His most precious blood!
Moses led the tribes through the wilderness and Jesus leads us through
the weary ways of this life to the rest which remains for the people of
God. Moses spoke to the people for God and Jesus has done the same.
Moses spoke to God for the people and Jesus always lives to make
intercession for us. Moses proposed himself as a sacrifice when he
said, "If not, blot my name out of the Book of Life." But Jesus was an
actual Sacrifice and was taken away from the land of the living for our
sakes, being made a curse for us! Moses, in a certain sense, died for
the people, for he could not enter into the land, but had to close his
eyes on Nebo.
Those are touching words, "The Lord was angry with me for your
sakes"–words which, in a more Divine sense, may be fitly applied to
Jesus–for God was angry with Him for our sakes. Right through to the
very end our blessed Lord Jesus Christ, our Savior, is a Prophet like
Moses, raised up from the midst of His brethren. O my Hearers, listen
to Him! Turn not your ear away from this Prophet of Prophets, but hear
and live!
III. I close with that point and if my words are very few let them be
weighty. Let us think of THE AUTHORITY of our great Mediator and let
this be the practical lesson–Hear you Him. Brothers and Sisters, if
our hearts were right, the moment it was announced that God would speak
to us through Jesus Christ, there would be a rush to hear Him! If sin
had not maddened men, they would listen eagerly to every Word of God
through such a Mediator as Jesus! They would write each golden sentence
on their tablets! They would hoard His Words in their memories! They
would wear them between their eyes! They would yield their hearts to
them!
Alas, it is not so, and the saddest thing of all is that some talk of
Jesus for gain and others hear of Him as if His story were a mere tale
or an old Jewish ballad of 1,800 years ago. Yet, remember, God still
speaks by Jesus and every Word of His that is left on record is as
solemnly alive, today, as when it first leaped from His blessed lips! I
beseech you remember Christ comes not as an amateur, but He has
authority with Him–this Ambassador to men wears the authority of the
King of kings! If you despise Him, you despise Him that sent Him–if
you turn away from Him that speaks from Heaven, you turn away from the
eternal God and you do despite to His love! Oh, don't do it!
Note how my text puts it. It says here, "Whoever shall not hearken unto
My words which He shall speak in My name, I will require it of him." My
heart trembles while I repeat to you the words, "I will require it of
him." Today God graciously requires it of some of you and asks why you
have not listened to Christ's voice. Why is this? You have not accepted
His salvation. Why is this? You know all about Jesus and you say it is
true, but you have never believed in Him! Why is this? God requires it
of you! Many years has He waited patiently and He has sent His servant
again and again to invite you. The men of Nineveh sought mercy in their
day and yet you have not repented! God requires it of you!
Why is this? Give your Maker a reason for your rejection of His mercy
if you can–fashion some sort of excuse, O you rebellious ones! Do you
despise your God? Do you dare His wrath? Do you defy His anger? Are you
so mad as this? The day will come when He will require it of you in a
much more violent sense than He does today! The day comes when you
shall have passed beyond the region of mercy and He will say, "I called
you and you refused, why is this? I did not speak to you in thunder. I
spoke to you with the gentle voice of the Only Begotten who bled and
died for men–why did you not listen to Him? Every Sabbath My servant
tried to repeat the language of His Master to you–why did you refuse
it? You are cast into Hell–why did you not accept the pardon which
would have delivered you from it?"
You were too busy! Too busy to remember your God? What could you have
been busy about that was worth a thought as compared with Him? You were
too fond of pleasure. And do you dare insult your God by saying that
trifling amusements which are not worth the mentioning could stand in
comparison with His love and His good pleasure? Oh, how you deserve His
wrath! I pray you consider what this means, "I will require it of him."
You who still harden your hearts and refuse my Master, go away with
this ringing in your ears, "I will require it of him! I will require it
of him. When he lies dying alone in that sick chamber I will require it
of Him! When he has taken the last plunge and left this world and finds
himself in eternity, I will require it of him! And when the thunder
wakes the dead and the great Prophet like Moses shall sit on the Great
White Throne to judge the quick and the dead, I will require it of Him!
I will require it
of Him."
My Master will require of me how I have preached to you and I sincerely
wish it were in my power to put these things in better form and plead
with you more earnestly. But, after all, what can I do? If you have no
care for your own souls, how can I help it? If you will rush upon
eternal woe. If you will despise the altogether Lovely One through whom
God speaks to you. If you will live day after day carelessly and
wantonly, throwing away your souls, oh, then, my eyes shall weep in
secret places for you, but what more can I do but leave you to God? At
the last I shall be compelled to say, "Amen," to the verdict which
condemns you forever!
God grant that such a reluctant task may not fall to my lot in
reference to any of you, but may you now hear and obey the Lord Jesus
and find eternal salvation at once, for His dear name's sake. Amen.
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