When God brought Israel out of Egypt, and came to dwell with them in the wilderness, He set an illustration of a twofold aspect of the attribute of holiness. In the Shekinah Light which dwelt in the "Most Holy" we have the emblem of inherent holiness. Another term for that would be "subjective" holiness—or holiness of the "Subject" or "Being" to whom the attribute referred. To this aspect of Divine holiness God's coming to dwell with Israel made no difference, for even in those remote times when God had withdrawn Himself, and was putting forth no active power to arrest the increasing prevalence of sin, within Himself God's essential holiness remained unchanged and undiminished. Its existence as an attribute to God did not depend upon His activities against the course of sin. At rest or at work that essential intrinsic holiness persisted and continued because of Him being Who and what He was. That unchangeable attribute of God was represented by the mysterious Light within the Most Holy of the Tabernacle in the Wilderness. There was nothing in the whole Tabernacle structure to be compared with that peculiar Light. It hung between the Cherubim, unsustained and unchanged—ever and always a mysterious glow of light emitting its rays without Priestly care or other earthly derived attention. No human labours could improve it, no human effort could quench it. It came from God, and was maintained by God. It was the token of the presence of God. It was the emblem of the holiness of God. It was of this Light God spake when He said to Moses, "..I will meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from above the Mercy Seat, from between the Cherubims.." (Exo.25.22). From above the Mercy Seat! From between the cherubims! Exactly the location of that Holy Light. From that location God said, "I will meet with thee". That Holy Light positioned there between the Cherubim was the nearest approach to a revelation of the exalted and holy Personality of the Lord God of Heaven and earth which could be disclosed to mortal man—fit emblem of One who had an inexhaustible fount of life within Himself, and who in Himself and by Himself upheld the absolute standards of virtue and purity.

The arrival and presence of that Holy Light in the dark depths of Israel's Tabernacle represented that the Holy God had come down to earth to begin the preliminary stages of His plan for cleansing it from sin. To that far-distant project of purifying the world from sin God called Abraham's seed to be His servants and associates. By coming down to earth in emblematic sense, and by drawing Israel's hosts around His dwelling-place, the native inherent holiness of God began to be active against sin. It set before itself an objective, and applied itself to that end. To accomplish that objective it gathered around itself and absorbed within itself the whole nation of Israel.

The nation complete and entire, the tabernacle in all its parts and the mysterious self-supporting Light were all essential parts of the one Divine instrument for eliminating sin. The holy Light in its relation to Israel was as the centre to the circumference, as the hub to the wheel. "It" and they were one, each in their respective place, each with its respective part to play in the great task of sanctifying the earth. That Holy Light was directive and advisory in its relation to the entire Camp. It gave guidance when need arose. That Holy Light was as the Watchman against holiness; it smote the sons of Aaron when using strange fire, unholy fire. It was— shall we say not irreverently—as the highest directive officer of the co-partnership concern. Inasmuch, however, as here on earth both manager and messenger are parts together of one firm, so God and His chosen people Israel were associated together in God's scheme to rid the world of sin.

This association of the Eternal God with the seed of His friend (James 2.23) is beautifully shown in Rev.4 and 5. The personality of God is represented by the jasper and sardine stone, seated on the centrally positioned throne. The throne supports are of such a form as to correspond to Israel's banners—a lion, a calf, a human face, a flying eagle. This combination shows Israel associated with the throne of the Living God. Around that central throne, but of smaller size, are four and twenty other thrones, occupied by the same number of elders, crowned with golden crowns. These represent the priestly and kingly attributes joined in one— kings and priests—and stand out from the elect nation as their very elect and choicest members. It is a picture of a priesthood which has superseded the Levitical order—the great original, of which Aaron's was a type.

The jewel-pictured occupant of that central throne, the throne itself, and the circle of priestly-royal elders are joined together in solemn session, awaiting the coming of Judah's Lion—a Lamb as it had been slain, for the release of a temporarily lost inheritance. This was the great design with which the Ancient of Days set out. This was the master-draught of His plan, of which the events at Sinai, and in wilderness days constituted only a kindergarten copy. God and Abraham's chosen seed were to be as "one", to accomplish the grand redemption of the world, set out in symbolic language as a Holy City, lying foursquare (Camp-like) with ever-open gates into which all the earthly kings should bring their glory. God's purpose stands unchanged. Christ supersedes Moses but all else remains unchanged.

When God thus set forth this scheme as His objective, the holiness which required the earth to be made free from sin—which holy intention was the basic cause for the plan being formed—became objective too. The intrinsic indwelling holiness within the heart of God began working in an extrinsic—external manner to make His environment (which means all creation) clean. When God took Israel into co-partnership with Himself (represented by placing His Holy Light in their midst) His own objective holiness came down to rest on Israel as well.

Thus the sublime subjective holiness (represented by the Holy Light) became manifest and active, as an objective holiness too, in time it began to act and work with Israel and through Israel for the elimination of sin. God's holiness was thus revealed in its twofold aspect (a) subjective (an indication of what He is—the Holy One of Israel) but it became (b) objective too (indicated by what He was about to do).

It is necessary for us to make this distinction clear between these two phases of holiness, for Israel shared in one phase, but not in the other. Israel, by her association with her God, was made objectively holy—holy for a purpose—but most obviously she was not made holy subjectively, i.e. she was not holy in herself—she had no real holiness of heart. It is on this basis of a two-phased holiness that we can approach New Testament days. These things and experiences in Israel were the pattern of the "better things" of our later days.

To teach men of this earth (in the only way that man could learn) that the Most High God claims in Himself to be the be-all and end-all (or as Paul puts it "that God may be all in all") of their being, God commanded men and utensils (alter, censers, tables, etc…,) to be exclusively set apart to His service. So long as these men used these utensils in the prescribed way, that is, in His exclusive service, God accounted both men and utensils holy. This holy standard did not lapse because, at times, these men failed to follow precisely all the prescribed details of their instructions. God had made provision for the unintentional lapses, both on a national and individual scale, by means of vicarious sacrifices (sin-offerings, both personal and national—see Leviticus, chapters 4 to 7, and Leviticus 16).

When the more faithful in Israel, those who had higher vision and keener hearts than their fellows (see Heb.11) had become thoroughly and appreciatively familiar with this kindergarten idea of holiness (separateness unto God) God advanced His purpose to a higher stage. By reason of the sacrificial death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus, God was able to carry the theme of revelation (that is, redemption by blood) up from the lowly, limited, literal level of fleshly Israel, to the higher, unconfined spiritual level of spiritual Israel, in this way carrying the thoughts and understanding of the responsive among His people up to the great realities of His plan. In learning these higher things His faithful ones were still at school, still learning the one great lesson concerning holiness and sin, but were advanced upwards from the kindergarten to the qualifying grade. The little square wooden blocks of the nursery were no longer necessary for these pupils to continue developing the "building sense"—that is, the sense of holiness. This sense—the awareness of God—had already considerably developed, and now the time had come to put realities in place of typical and shadowy things; but in so doing God used the various objects of the Mosaic ceremony and ritual to illustrate the verities of the Christian faith.

The Holy Spirit used those sacrifices and ablutions and tabernacle arrangements generally as patterns to lead Christian thought to see that the believer in Christ—each separate believer—was himself a Temple of the Living God (1 Cor.3.16). At the same time, but from another point of view, each believer was a "royal priest" (1 Pet.2.5&9), and from yet another point of view each believer was "a living sacrifice" (Rom.12.1, Rom.6.13 & 19). On this higher level of Christian tuition it was learned (as Egypt on the Passover night), that a "firstborn" class stood in special relationship to the plan of redemption—called to supersede the natural firstborn, priestly class, just as "Christ our Passover" (Lamb) superseded the Lamb whose blood be-sprinkled the doorposts of Israel.

A better and greater Priest with better sacrifices had superseded Aaron's line with its bulls and goats. A better Mediator, too, had been appointed to take the place of Moses. A better, larger, longer Sabbath had been designed to displace the typical seventh day. Thus, those lowlier, carnal conceptions, so long current in Israel, became the embodiment of better, fuller, nobler conceptions when carried up into the Christian's thought and life and experience. The form of the expression was changed, yet notwithstanding that, its germ and theme remained the same, just as the bud, fully developed into the flower, is changed in form, yet withal remains the same.

From first to last, on lowlier typical level, or on a higher spiritual plane, the purpose of the Most High God remains the same. The twin-theme today, as it was in ancient time, is "holiness" and "sin". These major chords are made up of many accordant sounds. We speak of atonement, redemption and precious blood, we tell of baptism into His death, and companionship of Christ, and grace to help in time of need, but back of all these kindred themes stands God Most High. He it was who caused them all. Sacrifice and favour are all of His devising. It was God Himself who so loved the world as to give His Son (John 3.16). It is His own Love which is commended by the death of Christ (Rom.5.8), and thus, when we rejoice together over redemption's wondrous story, each note of the harmonious chord harks back to the Most High God, who, before time began, arranged His plans to provide for every such emergency. Back of all these plans, deep in the heart of God, we reach the basic theme of all— that unchanging intensity of desire for the absolutely good, the altogether pure, the unchangeably true. That was the first spark that fired the whole train, and from which all subsequent energy derives.

Again, we speak of evil and its long permission; of the reign of death; of the ravages of sin; of unholy men, and unrighteous rule. We speak of Gentile supremacy and of Israel's fall; we tell of Armageddon and all its fury, of a crushing time of trouble such as never was before and then we look forward to the rounding up and chaining of all these things, of Satan's imprisonment and final destruction. Back of all this permission and suppression stands God Most High. He it is Who has determined that though evil shall be triumphant for a time, it will be completely overthrown in the end. He it is Whose mighty power will bring it to its end. No one else is equal to the task.

Therefore behind the scenes of right and wrong there is One whose abhorrence of sin is so intense that He will not rest content until it is destroyed both root and branch. Again we reach the lesson's point, that Divine holiness will not permit its universal environment to be polluted forevermore. Again we reach the conclusion that the mainspring of all Divine energy and all Divine intention for uprooting all evil, and establishing forevermore the good and pure, is that supreme intense moral force which burns in the heart of God. Behind and beneath the attributes of Wisdom, Justice, Love and Power, is the unfathomably deep moral platform on which they all are built—the holiness of God.

The glorious Gospel truth in which we all rejoice is but the same theme continued, but in higher grade, than was taught to Israel in the wilderness. Moses, under God, was the teacher then. Christ, under God, is our teacher now. Things which "might be touched" and seen were the illustration Moses used. We learn of things unseen; but through it all the lesson theme is just the same. Behind it all is God Most High, glorious in His holiness, pure beyond compare, working out His great designs to free the world from sin. Holiness must triumph over sin, and God is holiness sublime!

TH