although by saying that God was the God of Shem," seem wonderfully to correspond with the promise at the close of Revelation: "God himself will be with them, their Rev. xxi. 3. God." And I believe that these two pro mises namely, that of God being with his creature, and being God to his creature, are inseparable, if not synonymous; for being God to any one implies the highest manifestation of Jehovah in love to the creature of which the creature is capable; and that must be by the creature being in the presence of Jehovah, where there is the "ful * The Chaldee Paraphrase says: "God's Shekinah shall inhabit the tabernacle of Shem." Ex. xxix. 45; Lev. ness of joy." Hence we find them connected in Scripture; for example, "I will dwell among the children of Israel, and will be their God;" and identified, "My xxxvii. 27; tabernacle also shall be with them: yea, I xxvi. 12; 2 Cor. vi. 16. Ezek. Rev. xxi. 3. Comp. also will be their God, and they shall be my Ex. xxix. 46 with Ex. vi. 7, 8. people."* We will proceed with our inquiry. Besides the personal appearances of the angel Jehovah, which were numerous, but transient, the cloudy pillar, and the glory which dwelt between the cherubim, were symbols of the abiding presence of the Divine Majesty in the church. There appears to have been considerable difference with respect to the circumstances attached to these two symbols: the cloudy pillar was visible to all during the whole of their Neh. ix. 19. migrations in the wilderness, but the appearLev. ix. 23. ance of the glory was only upon a special Numb. vii. Occasion, or to a favoured individual. The 89; Lev. xvi. 2. great awe connected with "the glory" ap * From this and other expressions subsequently quoted, I am led to believe that this earth will be, not only the place of Messiah's abode, but of the manifested glory of God" All in all.” pears to have proceeded, not from there having been more honour due to one Person than to another, but from its having been a different manner of manifesting the Divine Majesty; for upon one occasion Ex. xxxiii. when the cloud descended, and the Lord spake to Moses face to face, in unveiled majesty, there seems to have been the same reverential awe displayed. 9-11. The wilderness-state of the church typi- 1 Cor. x. fied the present dispensation; and whatever these symbols typified must be more glorious in the antitype. The initiation into the Mosaic ordinances through the cloud and the sea, may correspond with the entrance into the kingdom of heaven by being born of water and the Spirit; and in the present dispensation we have not merely a spiritual presence, but the personal presence of the Spirit. This was very manifest in the early ages of the church; and I think that we have intimations, in language borrowed from the cloudy pillar, that the return of the Jews will be marked with a signal manifestation of Jeho- Mic. vii. 15. vah's glory. However, the object of our pre- 15; xxiii. 7. Isa. lii. 12, lviii. 8, to gether with See also Ex.xxiv. 16, 17; xxv. 8. Ex. xxv. 22, 30; xxviii. sent inquiry is not the presence of Jehovah with the church in her wanderings, but the place of his rest, to which the other symbol principally belongs. In Ex. xxiv. 16, 17, xxv. 8, the glory of Jehovah abiding upon the mount is mentioned, when he gave directions to Moses about making a sanctuary, that he might dwell among the children of Israel; and as there was undoubtedly a real manifestation of the presence of Jehovah on the mount, so must we suppose that there was to be a real abiding in the sanctuary, although it only indicated something still more glorious; but that there was truly a manifestation of the glory of Jehovah seems evident by all the subsequent language. The earthly sanctuary was a "pattern 29, 35; xxix. and sub-indication of heavenly things, as 45; xxx. 6; especially Moses was admonished of God when he was xxxiii. 9. 11, and xl. about to make the tabernacle;" the holiest 34, 35, 38. Heb viii. 5. 24. Heb. ix. 8, of all apparently typified heaven itself, where Christ entered, to appear openly in the presence of God for us. not be denied that Christ is, Now, it will actually and literally, in the presence of the manifestation of the Divine glory; and from this I think it should follow, that if we find subsequent language in Scripture, founded upon this typical sub-indication of God's presence, describing the residence of God upon earth in the future glorious dispensation, we must not suppose it to describe either merely the prosperity of the church upon earth in highly glowing language, or the abode of the saints in heaven in language borrowed from an earthly condition of things, but that it does really mean the manifestation of God's glory upon this earth. According to this, when God, among other promises, said to the children of Israel, "And I will set my Lev. xxvi. tabernacle among you, and my soul shall not abhor you; and I will walk among you, and will be your God, and ye shall be my people;" they could not understand this of the earthly tabernacle which had just been set up, for this greater blessing depended upon their reverencing the earthly sanctuary: they must have expected that the Ver. 2. prophecy concerning them would be fulfilled 11, 12. |