Now this is what lies upon the very surface, and you will notice that we have here a distinct progress, a distinct advance in each book upon what you had in the previous one. There you have God’s summary of His ways with the people. It is now the pathway of God’s people along the wilderness journey, and when Numbers closes and we get to Deuteronomy, it seems to return as it were to the very beginning. Passing into Numbers is like passing into another room. Come again to Leviticus and there is a distinct line of truth that underlies the whole book, the truth of access to God, of holiness. The prominent thing there is redemption, the redemption of a people to be in association with God. When you come to Exodus, you get an entirely new thought. The subject of Genesis is creation, and the life of individual saints. Now what is the lesson that is upon the very surface of this? There are five books. People might say Why did not Moses write just one book? If he is the author of the whole as he evidently is, why did he write it in five volumes instead of one? Simply to emphasize the fact that here we have a diversity, a divine progress and that God has a lesson to teach us in the fact that there are five books, just as well as in the fact that it is one division of Scripture. We have however to look at the other side also, which is, that they are entirely distinct one from the other. Now that is the importance of our taking up as we are going to do in somewhat an orderly way, an unfolding of some of the perfections of that blessed Word. There is only one way to be in communion with God and that is through His precious Word. And so you and I may have two or three verses that apply to the Christian walk, and two or three more scriptures that apply to restoration and communion and a few more that apply to our dealings with the world, and we think we have enough to live by: but we are not in communion with God.
Walk throughfor myst iv revelation how to#
You neglect the Scriptures on the plea that you are already saved and that all you need is a few little rules by which you can guide your course,―something like a navigator on a merchant vessel, who can take his bearings, and know how to steer his ship, but at the same time is ignorant of the mighty works of God and passes heedlessly under that which speaks of the glory of God, the firmament which showeth His handiwork. Why is it that Satan has such power over the people of God, dragging them into the world, occupying them with its thoughts? It is because they neglect the word of God. In grace Moses has the highest place, but in government he must be with the lowest, under the mighty hand of God. But it is the leader himself―Moses―the one who had led them out of Egypt, who had borne with all their folly and Shortcomings in the desert, who had brought them to the border of the land-who for one act of haste, which dishonored God is singled out in order to show, as I said, that inflexible judgment which ever belongs to His house. It is not merely the failing Israelite who is not allowed to enter into the land, not merely the stumbled one of insignificant place or of little value in the work of God.
In one way it seems infinitely pathetic that the man who had been most faithful to God in his day and generation, should be the one singled out by Him to mark the inflexible righteousness which is ever exercised in His house. I do not speak of it being a penalty for his conduct. In the other scripture we have Moses viewing the land from a distance. As you notice, everything there tells us of the fertility of the land its hills and valleys its springs and water-courses its pomegranates, figs and oil olive―everything that was good for food, reminding one almost of the garden of Eden itself. In the first scripture you have it as that which provides the food for the soul.
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