[March 25th, ——.]
One great evidence of the inspiration of the Scriptures is the analogy between the outward experience of God’s people with the inward experience of believers. The history of Israel was an adumbration of the history of the Church. 1. They were in bondage. So were we.
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The Hebrews had been delivered from bondage. So were we. There is a sense in which this is true of all men. The death of Christ is an adequate atonement for the sins of the whole world. His righteousness is appropriate to the justification of all men. It is freely offered to all men. We are at liberty, therefore, to depart out of the house of bondage. The right and the power of Satan to hold us in subjection are as effectually broken as the right and power of Pharaoh to keep the Hebrews in bondage.
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The third point of analogy is that a promise of rest is made to us as it was to them. To them it was an earthly rest, a land flowing with milk and honey. To us, an eternal rest.
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The fourth point is that multitudes of those to whom that promise was made and that rest offered failed to reach it. So of those who receive the promise of eternal rest, or have the opportunity of salvation. Multitudes fail of eternal life.
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The fifth point of analogy is that the causes of failure are in both cases the same. (a.) Some did not wish to enter into Canaan. They preferred the flesh-pots of Egypt, though connected with slavery, to the inheritance in Canaan, connected with self-denial and effort. (b.) They did not believe they should perish through unbelief. The word did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them which heard it.
What does this mean? It does not mean that they did not believe there was such a land as Canaan. Nor that it was not a suitable inheritance. What they really disbelieved was the promise of God that he would give it unto the then and there. They came to the borders but they were afraid to enter. This is the case with thousands. They believe there is a heaven; they believe that it is a happy place. They desire to be saved; but they are afraid to trust God. They do not believe that God will save them, and therefore they are not saved. Had Israel, when they came to the borders of Canaan, gone straight forwards, regardless of the size of the Amalekites or of the number and strength of their walled towns, they would have inherited the promised land; but they refused, and perished in their unbelief. So now, if you come as you are to the borders of the kingdom of heaven, and are frightened by the number of your sins, or by the threatenings of Satan or of the law, and refuse to go forward trusting to God, you too will perish after the same example of unbelief.
- A sixth point of analogy is that those who refused to enter when they had the opportunity were rejected when they tried to enter. How often is this realized in the religious experience of men! The Spirit often calls and strives; men refuse to attend and obey, and then when calamity or death comes, they strive to enter in and are not able. Today, therefore, if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts.
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