Part 148

In chapter xxxiv. the second set of tables is given, not to be broken, like the first, but to be hidden in the ark, above which, as already noticed, Jehovah was to take His place, as Lord of all the earth, in moral government. "And he hewed two tables of stone like unto the first; and Moses rose up early in the morning, and went up unto Mount Sinai, as the Lord had commanded him, and took in his hand the two tables of stone. And the Lord descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord. And the Lord passed by before him, and proclaimed, 'The Lord, The Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children's children, unto the third and to the fourth generation.'" This, be it remembered, is God as seen in His moral government of the world, and not as He is seen in the cross--not as He shines in the face of Jesus Christ--not as He is proclaimed in the gospel of His grace. The following is an exhibition of God in the gospel: "And all things are of God, _who hath reconciled us to Himself by Jesus Christ_, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; to wit, that God was in Christ, _reconciling the world unto Himself_, NOT IMPUTING their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us _the word of reconciliation_." (2 Cor. v. 18, 19.) "Not clearing" and "not imputing" present two totally different ideas of God. "Visiting iniquities" and canceling them are not the same thing. The former is God in government, the latter is God in the gospel. In 2 Cor. iii. the apostle contrasts the "ministration" recorded in Exodus xxxiv. with "the ministration" of the gospel. My reader would do well to study that chapter with care. From it he will learn that any one who regards the view of God's character given to Moses on Mount Horeb as unfolding the gospel, must have a very defective apprehension indeed of what the gospel is. Neither in creation nor yet in moral government do I or can I read the deep secrets of the Father's bosom. Could the prodigal have found his place in the arms of the One revealed on Mount Sinai? Could John have leaned his head on the bosom of that One? Surely not. But God has revealed Himself in the face of Jesus Christ. He has told out, in divine harmony, all His attributes in the work of the cross. There "Mercy and Truth have met together, Righteousness and Peace have kissed each other." Sin is perfectly put away, and the believing sinner perfectly justified, "BY THE BLOOD OF THE CROSS." When we get a view of God as thus unfolded, we have only, like Moses, to "bow our head toward the earth and worship;"--suited attitude for a pardoned and accepted sinner in the presence of God!