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PAGE 165
JEHOVAH [Yahweh] (that
is, I shall be, Ehyeh, Exod. 3:15) said to Moses, "See
that thou make what thou wast caused to see, after their
pattern shewed thee in the mount" (Exod. 25:40); which
things, Paul says, are only "the image and shadow
of heavenly things", (Heb. 8:5) as God said to Moses:
and elsewhere he says that the Jews have the model of the
knowledge and of the truth in the law". (Rom. 2:20)
From which, and other passages that can be adduced, it
is evident that the following proposition is true, namely,
That the Mosaic System of Righteousness is symbolical
of the Righteousness of God in Jesus Christ.
Definition.
-- By "Mosaic
System of Righteousness" is
meant, All
that was necessary
to sanctify
to the purifying
of the flesh,
but which could
not free the
conscience from
sin. To impart
this carnal
purification
to the worshipper
a High Priest
and his household,
distinct from
the other classes
of the Jewish
nation, legally
inaugurated
and sanctified,
were, necessary;
also a tabernacle,
sacrifices,
washings, etc.
Definition.
--
By
the "Righteousness
of
God" (Rom.
1:17;
3:21)
is
meant, A
justification
from
all
past
sins
devised
and
enjoined
by
God --
a
purification
of
the
heart,
or
conscience,
without
the
necessity
of
obeying
the
law
of
Moses
(which
since
the
destruction
of
Jerusalem
cannot
be
kept)
but
attested
by
that
law
and
the
prophets
--
a
justification
through
Jesus
Christ's
faith
(dia
pisteos
Iesou
Christou):
that
is,
through
belief
of
what
he
and
his
apostles
preached
concerning
the
Kingdom
of
God
and
his
Name
(Acts
8:12);
in
other
words,
through
belief
of
the
Gospel
to
all
that
shall
put
on
Christ
(Gal.
3:27).
The "Righteousness
of
God" is
the "Gospel
of
the
Kingdom",
sometimes
called "the
gospel
of
Christ",
and
often
simply "the
gospel",
which
Paul
says, "is
the
power
of
God
for
salvation
of
every
one
that
believeth,
to
the
Jew
first,
and
then
to
the
Greek",
(Rom.
1:14-16)
or
Gentile.
Nothing
can
save
Jew
or
Gentile
but "the
power
of
God".
The
power
for
that
special
purpose
is
the
gospel
only;
so
that saving
power and the
gospel are
but
different
phrases
for
the
same
thing.
Look into these sayings narrowly -- "Jesus became the author
of eternal salvation to all them that obey him" (Heb. 5:9); "If
ye love me, keep my commandments"; (John 14:15) "If
a man love me, he will keep my words"; (John 14:23) "Ye
are my friends if ye do whatsoever I command you"; (John
15:14) "He that rejecteth me, and keepeth not my words
... the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in
the last day"; (John 12:48) Love is the fulfilling of the
law". (Rom. 13:10) Hence, love and obedience in
scripture language are but two words for the same idea, or thing;
so that God in Jesus Christ admits of no love, or professions
of devotion; and attachment, that are unaccompanied with a child-like
obedience to "whatsoever" He commands. Where obedience
is not, there love does not exist; and where there is no scriptural
love there is no obedience in word or deed and where these are
absent the spirit of love, which is "the spirit of Christ",
(1 Pet. 1:11) is wanting. "Love suffers long, and is kind;
it envieth not; it boasts not itself (not full of wordy professions):
is not puffed up; doth not behave itself unseemly; seeketh not
its own; is not easily provoked; thinketh no evil: rejoiceth
not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; beareth all things,
believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things." (1
Cor. 13:4-7).
To persons in whom such a disposition has been created,
the precepts of Jesus are, He who believeth the Gospel of
the kingdom, and is baptized, shall be saved; and he that believeth
it not shall be condemned. (Mark 16:16) Here the gospel
is that proposed for faith; and baptism, the thing prescribed
for obedience, that the believer may show or prove whether that
faith hath worked in him a true and genuine love to its author.
Baptism is only for such believers; for baptism is "the
obedience of faith"; (Rom. 16:26) so that where belief
of "the truth" does not exist, there can be no true
obedience.
When Jesus came to John he demanded to be buried in
water that he might come out of it an immersed man. With a view
to this he said, "Thus (in this way) it is proper for us
to fulfil all righteousness"; and the apostle adds, "When
he was baptized, he went up straightway from the water";
clearly evincing that he must first have gone down into it.
And now, mark this well: After he had done this, God
acknowledged him as His Son, and declared himself well pleased
with him (Matt. 3:13-17). Jesus had been God's most excellent
Son for thirty years, but He withheld His acknowledgment of
him till he commenced a course of obedience in being baptized.
PAGE 167
Jesus was a Jew under
the law of Moses. When therefore he spoke of the "all
righteousness" to be "fulfilled", he spoke
of the necessity of doing what was signified by
the propheto-symbolic institutions of the Mosaic Law.
Jesus, being the Anointed Seed long promised of God,
was therefore the High Priest who was to arise after the similitude,
likeness, or order of Melchizedec, and to sit upon his throne
as a priest upon his throne, and to bear the glory (Zech. 6).
This being so, he would have at some future time to occupy the
place formerly held by Aaron; and as the Aaronic inauguration
was representative of the Melchizedec, Jesus had to be consecrated
after the same example or type, that in so doing he might antitypically
fulfil the representation of the law.
Aaron was forbidden to enter into the Most Holy Place
of the Tabernacle without being adorned with garments of holiness,
and therefore styled, "Holy Garments". Nor was he
permitted to enter even when habited with these, unless he
had been previously baptized, upon pain of death. The law
said "He shall wash his flesh in water, and so put them
on". (Lev. 16:4) He was not permitted to officiate as high
priest in his ordinary attire. He must "put off" this,
and "put on" the holy linen robe; and had he put this
on without bathing his flesh in water, and proceeded to officiate,
this unbaptized High Priest of Israel would have been struck
with death. When legally invested and arrayed the Aaronic High
Priests were "Holiness to Jehovah" (Ex. 28:36; 39:30)
and the representatives of the Holy and just One in his character
and priestly office; though oftentimes, as in the case of Caiaphas,
by practice unjust and wicked men. The symbolism relative to
the high priest was the "righteousness" to be fulfilled
by Jesus before he could enter upon his functions by "the
power of an endless life" (Heb. 7:16) as High Priest, first
over the Household of God, and afterwards over the Twelve Tribes
of Israel.
John the baptizer, a greater prophet than Moses (Luke
7:28), but not so great as Jesus, preached and administered "the
baptism of repentance for the remission of sins". (Mark
1:4; Luke 3:3) Jesus came to him to be baptized of this baptism;
for as Moses baptized Aaron and his sons, so the greatest of
all the prophets was appointed to baptize Jesus and his brethren.
But some may object that Jesus had no sins to be remitted, and
had no need of repentance, and was therefore not a fit subject
for such a baptism. It is admitted without reserve that he had
no sins of his own, having never transgressed the law: nevertheless,
as the Sin-Bearer of the Abrahamic Covenant through whom it
was confirmed (Rom. 16:8), Jehovah (Yahweh) made the iniquity
of all "the children of that covenant" to meet upon
him, that by his bruise they might be healed (Isa. 53:5,6).
He was not the Sin-Bearer of every son of Adam that ever lived;
but of the true believers from Abel to the Day of Pentecost,
and of the obedient believers of the truth consItuting his Household,
separated by "the obedience of faith", (Rom. 16:26)
from Pentecost in the year of the crucifixion to his future
appearing in Jerusalem; and of the living Twelve Tribes when
their transgressions shall be blotted out as a thick cloud at
their ingrafting into their own Olive Tree; and of that family
of nations of which Abraham is the constituted father when they
are made righteous; so that the sins of the whole of that world,
which shall dwell upon the earth in the postmillennial eternal
ages, and which will all of it have been separated from Adam's
race by "the obedience of faith" -- will have met
upon him, and been borne away into everlasting oblivion.
But to return. Jesus, with the sin of the world thus
defined rankling in his flesh, where it was to be condemned
to death when suspended on the cross (Rom. 8:3), came to John
as the "Ram of Consecration", that his inwards and
his body might be washed according to the law (Exod. 29:17,22).
But these representations of the law and the prophets could
not have found their antitype in Jesus, if in the days of his
flesh he had possessed a holier or purer nature than those for
whom he was bruised in the heel. His character was spotless;
but as being the Seed of the Woman, of whom no clean flesh can
be born (Job 25 : 4), and Seed of Abraham, which is not immaculate,
be it Virgin or Nazarite, his nature was flesh and blood (Heb.
2:14), which Paul styles "sinful flesh", (Rom. 8:3)
or flesh full of sin, a physical quality or principle which
makes the flesh mortal; and called "sin", because
this property of flesh became its law as the consequence of
transgression. "God made Jesus sin for us who knew no sin;
that we might be made the righteousness of God in him" (2
Cor. 5:21).
In this view of the matter, the Sin-Bearer of the world
indicated was a fit and proper subject of John's baptism of
repentance for remission of sins. The holy and undefiled disposition
of Mary's Son was granted to him for repentance in fulfilling
the symbolical righteousness of the law when he descended into
the Jordan to enter into the antitypical robe of righteousness
with which he must of necessity be invested before he could
enter into the Most Holy as High Priest after the order of Melchizedec.
In being baptized he commenced the development of a character
distinguished by perfect faith and obedience. This character
was his holy raiment, and was without spot, or wrinkle, or any
such thing. This was the "fine linen, clean and white" with
which he arrayed himself; or "the righteousness of the
(king of) saints" (Rev. 19:8). It was the antitype in part
of Aaron's holy garments; and he had to put it on in the same
way that Aaron did, "by washing his flesh in water, and
so putting it on". (See Lev. 16:4) He was baptized of John
into a holiness of his own, which began with obedience in the
Jordan, and ended with obedience in death on the cross. "He
was obedient unto death, even the death of the cross; wherefore
God hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above
every name: that every tongue should confess that he is Lord
to the glory of God the Father." (Phil. 2:8-11) Had Jesus
yielded to John (supposing the thing to have been possible),
he would have stood before his nation as the High Priest of
Israel, claiming to officiate in the Most Holy Place without
baptism, a spectacle it had never seen before, nor ever will
while the world stands.
But the symbolic righteousness of the Mosaic law not
only required the High Priest to put on the holy vestments by
having his body baptized, but it also commanded his Household
to be baptized into theirs also. The law reads thus: "This
is the thing Jehovah [Yahweh] commanded to be done: and Moses
brought Aaron and his sons and washed them with water. And he
put upon Aaron the coat ... and he put coats upon his sons,
and girded them with girdles, and put turbans upon them, as
Jehovah [Yahweh] commanded" (Lev. 8:5,6,13;16:4). Here,
as I have said, Moses performed the part of John the baptizer
to Aaron and his sons, who were to be rulers and priests in
Israel. Aaron and his family were their nation's priestly household;
and it was the office of the High, or Chief, Priest to make
atonement, or reconciliation, first
for himself, then
for his household,
and lastly, for all the congregation of Israel; but admission
into the Holy and Most Holy places was only permitted to the
baptized; they must bathe their flesh in water and so put on
the holy garments. Hence, all Israel's priests were immersed
persons; and so also all that shall be their priests and kings
in the Age to Come, and have power over the Gentiles, must be
immersed likewise. Jesus, the Melchizedec High Priest of Israel,
has a Household as well as Aaron had. A proof of this is found
in the words of Paul. In writing to certain Hebrews who had
believed the ,,gospel of the kingdom and name of Jesus, and
had obeyed it in having their " bodies washed with pure
water he says, " Christ is a Son over his own house, whose
house are we, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing
of the hope (Acts 28 : 20 ; 26 : 6, 7) firm unto the end" (Heb.
3 : 6, 14). Now, Jesus speaking for himself and others said, " Thus it
becomes us to fulfil all righteousness ") It is
therefore necessary for all " his house " to do as
he did, but with this modification of the significancy of the
deed, namely, - he was baptized as the initiative of his own
holiness, sacrificial and priestly ; they must be baptized into
his and into a development of their own conformable to
his ; and with this induction for a beginning, thenceforth " continue
patiently in well doing that they may be holy as he was holy
in the days of his flesh as it is written," Be ye holy,
because I am holy".
Jesus and his Household are the future kings and priests
prepared of God to rule Israel and the Nations for Him,
The law and the prophets which attest the righteousness
of God require them all to put on that righteousness by
bathing. Jesus commands the same thing, and says, " Till
heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no
wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled ." Therefore
he said to his apostles, " Go and preach the Gospel
to every creature ;" and " teach them who receive
your proclamation to observe whatsoever I command you ."
By virtue of this saying the apostles became the depositaries
of his commands ; so that in the words of Jesus, " He that heareth
them, heareth him ; and he that despiseth them, despiseth him and
he that despiseth him, despiseth Him that sent him Now, Peter, who
was one of these plenipotentiaries of Christ, commanded Cornelius, " a
devout man, and one that feared God with all his house ; and gave
much alms to the people (Israel), and prayed to God daily " ," Peter,
I say, " commanded " this company of pious Gentiles,
who believed the word Jesus began to preach in Galilee, " to
be baptized in the name of the Lord ." The apostolic style of
address was, " Children of the stock of Abraham, and whosoever
among you feareth God, to you is the word of this salvation sent".
A man's supposed piety did not exempt him from the necessity of believing
and obeying the gospel of the kingdom, or, .as Paul styles it, " the
word of this salvation " Peter went to Caesarea to tell pious,
god-fearing men, " words whereby they should be saved
But, however pious they may be who are ignorant of these
saving words, they are alienated from the life of God through that
ignorance (Eph- 4 : 18). Piety in general has so little to do with
an understanding of the word of the kingdom and the obedience it
enjoins, that it has passed into a proverb that " ignorance
is the mother of devotion ". In a certain sense this is true.
The most ignorant are for the most part the most pious, and the most
intolerant of the truth and its obedience. This is Pharisaism, whether
it flourish in the first, or in the nineteenth century ; and in reference
to which Jesus has said, " Except your righteousness exceed
that of the Scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into
the kingdom of the heavens " Pharisaists " appear to men
to be righteous " ; but men uninstructed in the gospel of the
kingdom are incompetent to distinguish the counterfeit from the true.
A man in this century will have no more ability to enter the kingdom
of the heavens, if his righteousness exceed not that of contemporary
churchmen of the straitest sect, than would those addressed by Jesus
whose righteousness might be on a par with the pietists of his age.
Shall it be said that it was necessary for the Melchizedec
High Priest, who was innocent of transgression, and who for thirty
years had enjoyed the favour of God and man, to be immersed in a
baptism of repentance for the remission of sins ; but that it is
not necessary for the pious who would compose his household, who
are sinners by nature and practice ? Nay, if it were indispensable
for Jesus to be buried in water that he might begin a career of holiness
to Jehovah in coming up out of it, it is definitely more so that
all should tread in his steps of perfect faith and obedience who
would be invested with " robes washed white in the blood of
the Lamb ," having their loins girt around with the girdle of
truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness ; and their
feet shod with the preparation of the Gospel of peace ; and on their
heads the helmet of salvation. An immersed High Priest requires an
immersed household. There is one law for both, as there was one baptism
for Jesus and his apostles ; on whom as upon all others of the household,
the necessity is imperative to fulfil all righteousness foreshadowed
in Aaron and his sons. There is no discharge from this necessity
for Jew or Gentile for thus it behoveth us to fulfil all righteousness".
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