The Coming Kingdom, and the King who is Coming.

THE purposes and ways of God are of the utmost interest to the reverent Bible reader. God's ways may be difficult to follow, but His purposes are clearly revealed. The Kingdom and its establishment is a Divine purpose which is notable all through Scripture, and as the course of the ages is seen to proceed, the coming of the King becomes more and more distinctly expressed. The Kingdom is a theme dear to the gracious Spirit who has given us the inspired Word, and whether by the record of words spoken, or of types and shadows given, its story is unfolded from Genesis to Revelation.
In our times, in a remarkable manner, God the Spirit is leading the minds and hearts of many to consider the coming of Christ, and thus the Divine truth which relates to the Kingdom and the King, appeals to us with peculiar power.
Our object is to indicate to such as "look for Him" the wealth of scriptural teaching which exists as to the Kingdom about to be established on the earth to the glory of God. The prayer, "Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name, Thy kingdom come, Thy will, be done on earth as it is in heaven," will be fulfilled, and how near we are to the days opening up to its fulfilment, we know not.
In this paper, a few of the prophetic words and types of the book of Genesis, will be laid before the reader, The book of Genesis, so bitterly— 
ASSAILED BY HIGHER CRITICISM,
opens up its wealth to the Christian, and in the record of God's beginnings with man, reveals His endings with man. The Bible is a circle, the stories of Genesis and the visions of Revelation clasp together in one perfect unfolding of the purposes and the ways of God in relation to fallen angels, to men, and to the earth itself.
The book of Genesis outlines the pictures, the details of which are filled up in after ages by other writers than Moses. It records the lives of prominent men of God, the last of these being Joseph; in Joseph's history lies a most fruitful, all delightful type of the coming Kingdom, and of the coining King. Though his story and its application be familiar, let us once again direct attention to it.
Joseph was the obedient son of his father; he was his father's delight, and of him, in his whole life, not one single fault is mentioned. Thus, personally, he is an excellent type of Jesus, the Obedient One, the beloved Son in whom the Father was well pleased, and whose every thought, word, and work was perfect, according to the standard of Divine perfection.
To Joseph, at the commencement of his life, God gave the revelation of personal exaltation, and before any such glory could in the ordinary course be his. The purposes and ways of God are in Joseph's life-story woven together. We may however, be assured that the revelations given, affected Joseph in his behaviour. God had given him a hope, and God-given "hope maketh not ashamed," though it may be God's way that with patience, it has to be waited for. Joseph's brethren disliked him—
BECAUSE HIS FATHER LOVED HIM,
and they hated him because of his dreams. So it came to pass, that on the day when they should have been tending the flock, they conspired together to slay Joseph—to get rid of him and his dreams. In heart, they slew him—he was put into a pit and sold for twenty pieces of silver to strangers, who delivered him to the mightiest world-power of the day. Thus did Joseph's brethren rid themselves of Joseph. 
How higher criticism can avoid seeing, in this story of old, the rulers of Israel in their hatred of Jeeus, the price they gave to the betrayer, the grave, and to them, the end is hard to tell. Then again, how can any one avoid seeing in Joseph exalted, among the Egyptians, and raised to the right hand of glory in Egypt, the picture of our Lord, despised and rejected by the Jew, given by God the Father, a seat upon the throne of His Majesty? Joseph sustained all—he was the life-giver, as it were, to the whole world. Pharaoh's words to all, "Go to Josoph, what he saith unto you do," is the essence of the present Gospel." Go to Jesus, obey Him, Jesus the once crucified, Jesus now risen and exalted," is the substance of God's message to every famished heart in the wide world.
On Joseph separated from his brethren, and exalted, Pharoah bestowed a bride—not one of Abraham's daughters, but a stranger, an Egyptian. Who can mistake this? It is Jesus in His glory, in Heaven—for the time not in relation to the Jewish people—obtaining for His bride, the Church by Divine gift. He is exalted above all power and might, above all earth's names and honours; and to Him so exalted is the Church, that Body which is neither Jew nor Gentile, united. Further, as Joseph's bride had her hopes and satisfaction in Joseph's exaltation on the throne of the then world, so the Church, whose true joys are not of a Jewish kind, but relate to the heavenly glories of her Lord, finds her joy in His glory. In the process of time, and in the unfolding of the ways of God, in order to the accomplishment of His purposes, stress of famine drove the brethren of Joseph to his footstool. Little did they reckon how their hatred of him was to be the occasion of the fulfillment of his dreams! The affecting interview as they stood before his glory and as they spoke together in their own tongue, unconscious that he understood them—so like our ways when we think of our sins in His presence and count not how He follows every thought and word—were not only the fulfilling of Joeeph's dreams—the revelation of God they had hated—they are a foreshadowing of the mourning of the brethren of the Lord according to the flesh, when as strangers to Him, they shall remember their sins and tremble before Him.
And what will be the reconciliation? What will it be when—
HE MAKES HIMSELF KNOWN
unto His brethren? How shall the sons of Israel then look upon Him whom they have pierced? With what mingled feelings of shame and love, of repentance and acceptance, shall they gaze upon Him in His glory? But in sweeter words and in more tender love than welled up out of the heart of Joseph—that most excellent of men—shall He who is fairer than the sons of men, say, "Come near to Me, I pray you;" shall He, as it were, with kisses and with tears, show them how He loves them.
"What shall the receiving of them be, but life from the dead"! The Egyptians heard that Joseph had made himself known unto his brethren. Joy filled all. All that Joseph did was good in all eyes, The sons of Israel dwelt near to the enthroned brother; and the bride of Joseph rejoiced in his joy; all the world was at peace in the fulness Joseph had obtained.
In the details of this story, read in the light of Divine communications given in the Word, we trace the coming Kingdom and the coming of the King. We can to-day apply the story, stage by stage, up to the point of the exaltation of Joseph to the throne, the gift to him of the bride, and the feeding of the hungry. In how short a time shall the rest of the type be fulfilled? When shall the sons of Israel come up, driven by sorrow and by famine, to His feet—though they know Him not? And after such visits have produced the desired repentance, when shall the Lord make Himself known unto His brethren? As part is fulfilled, so shall the whole be. The perfect picture is before us. We love to look at it. It is one of God's ancient masterpieces, wrought by His Divine hand, and we look till we are lost in joy in our contemplation of it. What a revelation it contains of the purposes of God and also of His ways! The lifetime of Joseph unfolds to us a period of some thousands of years. It is the life history of the Jews. It gives us the ways of the Lord with men and the ways of men with the Lord. The central figure, the blameless man, however, is ever our supreme delight. No wonder the Arabs weep as they hear the old story recounted; what shall we do who see in the type, our Joseph, our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ?
Will the reader return to the beginning of the book of Genesis. Genesis, like the Bible as a whole, clasps, as does a bracelet, its beginning and its end.
The denunciation of God addressed to the serpent, even before children were born into the world, proclaims through the Seed of the woman, the glory of God, and speaks of the coming Kingdom and the coming King. The incarnation, the suffering, the power of Christ are all here. "Her seed . . . it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel." In his earlier days, man knew well what the Seed of the woman meant. The very legends of earth's remotest idolatries attest this. Satan knew the sure Word of God so well, that he—
PERVERTED THE REVELATION OF GOD,
and taught man that the serpent was the image of majesty, and that the earth's dominion was his due place. This the crowns of ancient Egypt avow, bearing as they do, the serpent upon them. As for the Seed of the woman being the serpent's foe, Satan taught men to worship demons, whose images are part serpent, part woman; and such demons were claimed as the special nourishers of royal children. The serpent deities rank amongst the most ancient and most notable of the gods of old Egypt. Even in their legend of the victory out of death—their resurrection—the serpent attends upon the Egyptian idea. Everywhere and in all things, did the serpent take precedence in that vast system of early idolatry. It would be beyond our province to show how Satan acquired for his demons, the recognition of the sacred doctrines of incarnation, suffering and triumph; but though man think but lightly (as does higher criticism) of these early words of God," Her Seed . . . it shall bruise thy head, and thou shall bruise His heel," Satan, better informed, made much of these verities by using upon them to his utmost, his corrupting art, so as to mislead the minds of men from the guidance of the words of the Lord God.
Not only is the Kingdom before us in God's words to the enemy, but the sufferings of the King and the glories that shall follow. From the very first entrance of sin into the world, God declared what the end should be. Of the end, there must be no hesitation in the believing soul. The bruising of the enemy shall surely be. "The God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly" (Rom. xvi. 20), and the book of the Revelation shows us how "that old serpent, which is the Devil and Satan," shall be bound for "a thousand years," and finally be cast into "the lake of fire."
In the revelation to Abraham respecting the Seed, amplification of the purpose of God is revealed. And this amplifying, this extending of the word of truth, is a marked feature to be observed in the Scriptures. God does not tell man the whole from the beginning, but just that, and no more than that, which He deems necessary for the age in which man lives. His truths are grouped in His Word as are His works in the natural world. God bade Abraham look north, south, east, and west, and said, ''All the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever, and I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth" (Gen. xiii. 15, 16). And again, God bade him "Look now toward heaven and tell [count] the stars," and said, "So shall thy seed be (xv. 5.; see also xxii. 17). Both an earthly and a heavenly people were thus contemplated. Not only—
THE JEWS, BUT THE CHURCH OF GOD.
Nor these only, but the Gentiles also, for "In thee and in thy Seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed" (xxii. 18) embraces all the various peoples of the earth in the coming day of the Kingdom, when the knowledge of the Lord shall cover the earth as the waters do the sea. The Church, the Jew, the Gentile shall eventually all be blessed in the Seed, which is Christ. God ever keeps before His people in all ages, the prospect of the Kingdom, and we cannot speak of the Kingdom of God without having present in our minds the King. The word to Abraham, while not yet fulfilled, has in part come to pass, but the seed of Abraham, like the sand on the sea shore for multitude, is not yet and never has been seen on the earth. For a brief period in King Solomon's reign, Israel seemed like the sand which is on the sea shore for multitude, but when He reigns, who is greater than Solomon, the promise to Abraham shall be abundantly fulfilled.
To limit "all nations" to such as now,· in the day of Christ's rejection, believe on His Name, and who are those who shall shine like the stars in the heaven, is indeed to think lightly of what God has in store for man on earth.
The Christian, whoso heart is instructed in the things of the Kingdom, new and old, anticipates the time when the whole world, and all nations, literally, shall be blessed by the Lord. "All nations" and persons out of all nations, are quite distinct.
We now invite attention to a most remarkable type of the Lord in connection with His twofold glory of priest and king. Melchisedec—though little be said of him in Genesis—occupies, as a type of Christ, a peculiar place in the Psalms and in the teaching of the Epistle to the Hebrews.
Melchisedec was—
BOTH PRIEST AND KING.
None other of the people of God in ancient days is so described, though the purpose of God that His people should be priests and kings is declared in the Old Testament. In Melchisedec's day, the pagan kings joined to their crown of temporal dominion that of the priesthood, as for example did the Pharaohs. The head of the nation was chief, both in temporal and spiritual dominion. The present grasping after this double crown, whether by popes or emperors, is the result of desires transmitted to them from the earliest days after the flood and will in the last days meet their realisation. But let it be noted, never since the time of Melchisedec, has a man of God been by God's decree, both high priest and king on earth, and never shall a man of God reign and rule on earth as priest. and king, until He comes, who is The Man of God. Therefore, these graspings of popes and emperors for this combination of power and authority, are anti-Christian, and these desires will be fulfilled in Antichrist. 
At the close of the victory, by the father of the faithful, over the kings, Melchisedec came forth from Salem, i.e., Jerusalem, and blessed him. His title in relation to God is most noticeable—
"PRIEST OF THE MOST HIGH GOD."
The Most High God is a title directly relating to the Divine glory and, supremacy in the presence of gods many; and the title "possessor of heaven and earth " accentuates God's sole right to His creation. The gods many of the heathen were regarded as possessors of special portions of heaven and earth, and were worshipped accordingly, but all creation belongs to the Almighty Creator, and God had revealed this to His faithful Melchisedec, and at Salem, this was known and enjoyed. Melchisedec, as the Spirit of God presents him as the type of Christ, is said to be both "King. Of righteousness and after that also King of peace." Righteousness must rule and put down evil, and then peace shall reign on the earth. Now, after the victory of the faithful over the idolatrous nations, this royal priest brought forth bread and wine. He fed the warriors, and gave them, as it were, the joy of the Kingdom, and then He blessed Abraham, and more, He blessed the Most High God, who had given Abraham the victory.
This brief story not only lets in a great light upon early times, but it also pours its brightness upon the future. It gives a vision of God's High Priest and King, our Lord and Saviour in His coming glory. It is a scene of righteousness followed by peace, when the people of God shall be nourished and sustained by the Priest and King of God, and when this King shall bless the people, and shall Himself offer up their praise to God. It is a very gracious sketch—just a few touches only of the coming Kingdom and the King.
Christ is now seated at God's right hand, waiting until He shall make His foes His footstool. He is High Priest in Heaven at God's right hand, and at the appointed time, though man be practically oblivious to His glory, He shall come forth to the earth as King; He then shall rule in the midst of His enemies; He shall strike through kings in the day of His wrath; His rod shall go forth out of Zion (Ps. cx.).
The type has a peculiar bearing— 
UPON OUR OWN TIMES,
and upon the professing Church. In the whole period of Israel's history, the order of priest and king was unknown amongst them, save in prophecy. We have to proceed in the history of the ages to the early times of the Church, in order to discover the old pagan spirit which, burning in the professors of faith in the true God, grasped at the double crown. In the early centuries of the Christian era, we see plainly the old desire of centering the spiritual and temporal power of the world, or of nations, in one man, that man being professedly a representative of God upon earth. In the early days when the Church and the world shook hands, as they did under Constantine, the Roman emperor retained the pagan title of great priest, and he ruled in the Church—at least, he did so practically. As time proceeded, the spiritual ruler of the Church laid hold of supreme power, placed on his own head the temporal crown. and aimed at the rule of the world. He became temporal as well as spiritual head! The Pope became head of kings as well as head of cardinals, and wore, in effect, the crown of priest and king, swaying both temporal and spiritual kingdoms. He commanded man, body and soul, for time and eternity— that is, so far as word and deed go in this world. The great revival of Rome's energy, and her untiring zeal once more to crown the Pope as king as well as priest, is one of the signs of our times. She has named him the infallible spokesman of God, she toils to make him the absolute ruler of men. To this must be added, the spirit of all who incline to Rome for the reunion of Christendom, for this means, the revival of the oneness of nations, under the headship of one man who announces himself to be the high priest and king for God on the earth.
The kings of Israel departed from the faith, the priests of Christendom will do the same; indeed, they are now striving for the awful consummation of apostasy. And when the— 
APOSTASY OF CHRISTENDOM FROM CHRIST
and the truth is accomplished; when not the mere symptoms of that terrible time are present, as now, but the time itself, then the double crown will encircle the brow of Anti-Christ. Satan shall be then cast out from Heaven and will come in a way of fearful energy to the earth. He will come here in his power—unrestrained in the same way as now—"having great wrath," and specifically as he who was, when in Heaven, the accuser (Rev. xii.), i.e., as the Anti-High Priest, for Jesus our Lord is the High Priest—the Intercessor for us at the right hand of God. Then shall the dream of pagan kings and of popes and emperors be realised; one man on earth, Satan's man, Anti-Christ, shall command men, spirit, soul, and body. His terrible but brief rule shall be surely broken, for Christ shall come forth and shall take up His Melchisedec crown. He, God's High Priest and King, shall sit a Priest upon His throne (see Zech. vi. 13) and thus shall be fulfilled the ancient type of Genesis.
The three instances we have selected from this book of God's beginning remind us of the joy which shall fill the Kingdom when—
THE BLAMELESS AND THE PERFECT KING
shall reign; of God's overthrow of Satan's power by His exalted, but once crucified Son, Jesus, the Seed of the Woman; of the subjection of the nations, and the official glories of the King, and of the great purpose of God in relation to His Kingdom on earth.
There are many other types and teachings in Genesis respecting the coming Kingdom and the King. Some obvious, and referred to in the New Testament, whilst others are less apparent. To sketch them ever so briefly would occupy space that cannot here be given to the subject. Genesis is eminently the book in which to search for the great purposes of God in relation to the end. Probably this is one reason why "higher" criticism objects to Genesis. ''Hath God said?'' is the motto of ''higher" criticism. The devout student of the Scriptures—whose eyes are opened to the Kingdom and the coming of the King—seeing in Genesis the glories and the beauties the Spirit has there portrayed, by faith demolishes "higher" criticism with these words, "God hath said."
On another occasion we purpose looking into the four last books of Moses for teachings similar to these which have just occupied us. We may well say, as we inquire into the glorious subject, that the whole of the Scripture abounds with revelations of God's purposes, and with records of His ways in relation to His Kingdom and the coming of His King.
II.
The Book of Exodus opens up a very different teaching respecting the Kingdom from that given in Genesis. The Book of Genesis is often regarded in its types as a kind of preface, or compendium of great truths of the Scriptures; and, adopting this figure, Exodus is to be looked upon as the opening chapter of the redeeming ways of God set forth in the sacred volume.
In the present paper, we draw attention to that short period of time during which God's judgments fell upon Egypt, and Jehovah set up His tabernacle in the midst of redeemed Israel; and we draw our instruction from these great ways of God in the past, as they throw light upon His ways that are to be in the days to come.
Allowing the round of a full year for the plagues (some would regard the time covered by them to be much less), then, according to the Inspired Word in the last chapter of Exodus, the period occupied by the book—excepting the first two chapters—is of the duration of some two years. In a few sentences, the period antecedent to the birth of Moses is dealt with, and very briefly the condition of idolatrous Egypt and enslaved Israel is given; then the mind of the reader is addressed to God’s judgments on Egypt, His salvation of Israel, and His glory in their midst.
GOD'S BEGINNINGS AND GOD'S ENDINGS
with men, as was observed in a previous paper, bear a strong resemblance, the one to the other. The song of the Red Sea anticipates the victorious song of the Revelation, while the dwelling of God amongst redeemed Israel, meets its last fulfilment in the coming day, as the “great voice out of heaven" recorded in the close of the Revelation, bids all to consider (Rev. xv. 3, xxi. 3).
There is a significance in the opening of Exodus, when the purposes and ways of God are before the mind. The world at large was apostate from God, men worshipped the creature instead of the Creator, and in the greatest of the then empires, Jehovah's name was unknown, save by a few amongst enslaved Israel. We say the world had become apostate, for it had developed into apostasy. In their secret teachings and mysteries, the Egyptian priests had many Divine truths stored up. The ancient world, at one time, knew much Divine truth. That it had the knowledge of one sole God, of a doctrine of incarnation, of a resurrection, future judgment and immortality, is indisputable. Its altars and sacrifices prove that it had once known teachings respecting propitiation, its priesthood proves that it had once known the meaning of access to God. But every truth was perverted to the service of the devil. We have only to look around us in those parts of Christendom, where Divine truths are perverted to similar service, in order to understand the past.
The idolatries, the cruelties of the old world in which Israel was enslaved, were connected with the demons whom the world then worshipped, even as wholesale slaughter and the cruelest of bonds were, in the Middle Ages, wrought in the name of saints and angels, and even of the mother of Jesus. The serpent was supreme. His emblem arose from the royal crown and garnished each temple entry. The serpent was portrayed as the companion of the disembodied soul, and as guardian of the gates of bliss. Everywhere and in everything, it was man's best friend. In those grand old days, arts and sciences flourished; religious pomp excelled supremely; ornamentalism, processions, gorgeous garments, and mighty temples were unequalled. Religion was popular as well. as gorgeous. All men were devoted to a deity. The god of the world ruled almost absolutely. Jehovah was a stranger, He was utterly displaced.
THE STATE OF THE HEATHEN WORLD,
as it was in Israel's time of bondage in Egypt, has remained practically unchanged to this very day. Heathendom has maintained its wide power from that time to our own. In the brightest eras of Israel's history, the world at large remained idolatrous still; God reigned-in Israel, not outside it amongst the nations. When David sang of all nations praising God, His praise was confined to the limits of Israel. And in too short a time, Israel itself became idolatrous like the rest of the world and served devils. Then Israel's light became darkness, and the greater part of the nation became captive and lost to knowledge, and thus Israel remains until now. Demons are praised, demons are propitiated, to demons are reared the great temples of China and India, and the greater part of the earth is under Satan's rule.
When our Lord came to this earth, the world, which He had made, "knew Him not"; its power was pagan. He was a stranger in His own creation. This world's god and ruler offered Him all its glories if He would worship him, if He would bow to his authority. The very presence of our gracious Lord was known to few outside the Jews, who as a body, ''received Him not"; and to such pagans as heard of Him, the tidings was but an incident occurring amongst the tributary people of Judea—a matter of some new superstition.
Even in Pentecostal times, but little of the world was subdued to God and to Christ. And now, after some 2,000 years of Christianity upon the earth, what do we see? By far the greater part of the world is as densely dark to the knowledge of God as was Egypt of old. The serpent rules, and where the kingdom of heaven is to be seen on the earth, a strange mixture occurs, even as the Lord Himself foretold would be the case. The evil covers a greater area than the good. Even Christendom is not to be exempted from the charge that an enormous amount of genuine paganism exists within its boundaries. It can boast of a religious ornamentalism, of processions, gorgeous garments, and elegant temples, which are not altogether unworthy imitations of their Egyptian predecessors. Christendom has its idols, its miracles, its votive offerings, as had Egypt; and more, and worse, it has, as had Egypt, a system of doctrinal development, perverting the truth and rendering the truth a secret and a mystery locked from the people in priestly fastnesses. Such a system did none protest against it and stand for the truth, would result in spiritual darkness, analogous to that of Egypt apostasised from the Creator, when Jehovah sent His plagues upon it.
It is a fearful contemplation that from the time which opens with the Book of Exodus up to that of our own day, "that old serpent which is the devil" (Rev. xx. 2), has held the chief part of the world under his sway, and that the people of God, with periods of exception, have been small in number and despised, if not persecuted. Our own times are remarkable for the open· doors for Gospel truth which abound. Nevertheless, over the greater part of this earth, at this very hour,—
THE TRUE GOD IS UNKNOWN,
and, to the ordinary observer, His kingdom is as unlikely to be established upon it, as to most, was His name unlikely to be feared in Egypt, twelve months prior to Israel's departure from that land.
Christians, who read the signs of the times in the light of the Divine Word, and who are looking for Christ's coming to take them out of the world, are perhaps hardly sufficiently attentive to the dishonour done to God's name by the greater part of the earth being under the unchallenged power of the enemy. Satan has a huge kingdom of darkness on the earth which he controls. The hope of Christ's coming is brightening many hearts, and the hope of salvation causes many heads to be lifted up; but let it not be forgotten, that not only is the hope of the Church and the hope of Israel to be realised, but the heathen world shall be given to the King, and the uttermost parts of the earth shall become His possession. The world-kingdom shall yet be the Lord's. All mankind shall yet confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father—and not only all men, but all demons also.
It is becoming more and more evident in what is called the Christian world, that the earth will not be subdued to God and to Christ by missionary efforts. Heathendom is growing in magnitude instead of diminishing. The kingdom of darkness will not be overthrown and the kingdom of God established on earth by missionaries, but by Divine judgments.
We may expect a growth; it may be a rapid growth of pagan ideas and practice in Christendom itself. The last few years have witnessed many pagan importations into the Christendom area. The hatred to the religion of Christianity that is developing in socialistic circles is most significant. Nor can we attribute this hatred to the corrupted Christianity that exists so largely in Christendom, and which presents to men, instead of Christ, a Christless Church for Saviour, and instead of God's Word, the word of the Church—really man's word—for authority. No, the hate is deeper down than that, it is the determined uprising of men against God. We have only to imagine the coming developments in the system of Rome on the one hand, and the coming developments of the system of extreme socialism on the other; to have before us the very materials for the great apostasy of Christendom from God to Satan. Now, when the true believers are taken out from among the false, and Christendom is left without a true Christian in it, these materials will burst out into the flame of rebellion against the living God, paganism and corrupted Christendom will join hands, and the world at large will resemble, in a remarkable manner, the old world when demon power prevailed, and when God's people were slaves in Egypt.
The Scriptures show us that after the coming of the Lord in the air and is taking up of His own to their heavenly home has occurred, the people of God, who will in those days be converted and who are then upon the earth, will be subjected to the most severe and terrible persecutions.
THE ENEMY WILL RULE,
and, in a way more absolute than that of the Pharaohs of old, will he hold all men under his sway. When Israel were bondsmen in Egypt, the captives taken in war and reserved for slavery, were branded with the name of the deity (the demon) to whose special service they were devoted. In the dire time that is coming upon the earth, when Satan's rule shall prevail, his chief agent shall have "power . . . over all kindreds and tongues and nations" (Rev. xiii. 7), and his great wonder-worker shall deceive by his "miracles," and shall cause "all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand or in their foreheads, and that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name" (ver.16, 17). With greater intensity than in the days of Moses, will Satan's power be manifest, and Satan's tyranny also. The tyranny is already showing itself—though under the name of liberty to the people—but the power will be seen arising too, and man will learn what the Serpent really is, and what the unrestrained kingdom of Satan in this world really is.
In connection with the overthrow of Satan's power in Egypt,—
THE FIRST SIGN OF GOD 
given to Moses, when God revealed Himself out of the burning bush as the I AM, is highly suggestive. Israel, in their affliction, were figured by a bush burning but not consumed; they were in the furnace but sustained in it by Divine power. Speaking out from the fire, as it were, God bade Moses to cast upon the ground, the rod of authority he bore. It became a serpent, and Moses fled from it; then God told Moses to take it by its tail, and the serpent once more was a rod in Moses' hand, That rod became notable as the rod of God, and by it, many of the judgments were rendered upon Egypt. The serpent and his power were grasped and held by the hand of the deliverer—by the figure of the great Deliverer. The "muttering" priests of Egypt imitated Moses; they too, cast their rods of authority upon the ground before Pharaoh, to show that they could do what Jehovah's messenger had done; but Moses' rod ate up their serpents, and' thus they stood before the king destitute of authority, and empty-handed before his throne. Their power was gone! The Deliverer of God held in his hand the strength of Egypt. Jesus, whom Moses, "the drawn out," typified, was "drawn out" of death for us, and He who lives to die no more, holds all power by the Father's will. By Him, Satan is annulled, his power taken away. He shall deliver man from Satan’s rule, but He will do so by judgments.
Such was the introduction to the plagues of Jehovah upon the idolatrous land. At their beginning, God's sign witnessed that—
SERPENT POWER WAS BROKEN.
Whether the plagues spanned the full year, we cannot be sure, but it may have been so, since the round of the year composed a circle of religious services in the honour of demons. Without question, these plagues were sent upon the gods of Egypt and the idolatries of the people. From the early days of the Church, God's people have seen that these old judgments bear a resemblance to those which the Book of Revelation foretells, shall fall upon the earth. The plagues of Egypt are composed of three groups of three each, the death of the firstborn standing by itself is the tenth. “The sea,"  "the rivers and fountains of waters" are to become "blood", during the ''last plagues” (Rev, xv, xvi.); the sun—the object of world-wide worship—is to become the tormentor of men by its burning heat; and a "noisome and grievous sore” is to fall upon the men who have "the mark of the beast." These judgments remind us of the plague upon the river of Egypt, of that directed against sun-worship, and also, of that of the ·boils that fell upon the priests of Egypt, and which prevented their standing up any more against Moses. The early conflict between Jehovah and the gods of Egypt, which is so prominent a feature of the past, is but the herald of the coming "battle of the great day of God Almighty" (Rev. xvi. 14).
The might of Jehovah was a lesson hard to be learned by Pharaoh and his wonder-working priests, and in the presence of Satan's power in the last days, the almighty power of God is very markedly proclaimed in the Book of Revelation. But, together with the similarity, there is also a most solemn feature described—one not set forth in the Book of Exodus, one which will be peculiar to the last days. Pharaoh knew not Jehovah's name, but in the account of God's plagues given in the Book of Revelation, men are represented as knowing that God was plaguing them, and yet in their hardness of heart—a hardness beyond that of Egypt—blaspheming Him the more. One verse shall suffice on this awful feature of the end: "The rest of the men, which were not killed by these plagues, yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship devils, and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood, which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk, neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts" (Rev. ix. 20, 21). Alas! for our land and its eager haste after "idols of gold and silver, and brass and stone and wood." Is England also preparing for the great apostasy? High dignitaries affirm that those images are of Christ, of His mother, or of holy beings. God ever links idols with devils, and wherever idols and devils are worshipped, (let them be called by what name men choose), abominable cruelties and wickednesses inevitably ensue. How many "murders" has Christendom committed for the benefit of the honour of its "idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood, which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk"?
The struggle against God of— 
MAN ALLIED WITH SATAN
will presently occur. The struggle, like that during the plagues of Egypt, will be short. It was, as has been observed, not more than of very short duration in Egypt. And during that awful time, God preserved His people for the coming victory. True, in the time when the judgments of God shall fall upon this earth, the agents of Satan will have greater power for persecution and death-dealing than had Pharaoh, but God will preserve His own. Many will be slain, but some shall be brought through the tribulation (Rev. vii.).
Let us look at those who “had gotten the victory over the beast and his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name." They "stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God. And they sing— 
THE SONG OF MOSES AND THE LAMB
saying, “Great and marvellous are Thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are Thy ways, Thou King of nations (margin). Who shall not fear Thee, O Lord, and glorify Thy name, for Thou only art holy; for all nations shall come and worship before Thee; for Thy judgments are made manifest" (Rev. xv. 2-4).
The song of Moses at the Red Sea was one of judgment and salvation. It was the great triumph of Jehovah as “a man of war” over Hie enemies. This song has been held in the Church, from its earliest days, as being prophetic in character, as have also the judgments on Egypt. It was not only Israel's triumph, but Israel in their triumph singing of the overthrow of those who shall rise up against Jehovah. Its last words are most noticeable for their prophetic spirit: “The Lord shall reign for ever and ever.” They anticipate those of the song of Moses and the Lamb: “Thou King of nations . . . all nations shall come and worship before Thee."
First came the judgments of God on Egypt. Then Pharaoh and his hosts fell under the hand of Jehovah in the Red Sea. So, first will come the judgments of God on the world—apostate from Him—then will the powers of the world and its armies, bent upon the destruction of those who own Jehovah's name, fall and perish by the arm of the Lord.
We miss one great teaching in the song of Israel's salvation if we fail to see in it, the rejoicing of the redeemed people over the enemies of Jehovah. Pharaoh had reigned, demons had ruled, both had done their worst to destroy Israel, and to extinguish the faith of Jehovah's name from the earth, when by one great blow, the Lord triumphed gloriously. His holiness was glorious in the overthrow of demons and their servants. Never let it be forgotten that the judgment which overtook Egypt, fell upon a people apostasised from God; never let it fade away from the mind, that the judgments of God which shall overtake this world, will be sent upon men who have apostasised from Him—either as the heathen from the Creator, or as Christendom from the Father and the Son. The judgments will be the reward of willful and resolute rejection of God in preference for Satan.
The song of Israel celebrated God's dwelling amongst them; they sang, "I will prepare Him an habitation." The way in which the temple and the tabernacle of God are spoken of in the Revelation in moral connection with God's victories and judgments is most striking. Our object however, is merely to touch upon an incident and a type here and there, so as to lead the mind to recognise afresh how truly our God is ever the same, and may we not add, how surely His Word reveals that man and Satan are likewise ever the same—unless indeed, man be redeemed. But before we conclude this paper let us look to the end, to— 
GOD DWELLING IN THE MIDST OF HIS PEOPLE.
Thus does the Book of Exodus close, and a noble ending it is. God had brought Israel up out of the house of bondage. He had redeemed them, He had given them His holy law, and He dwelt in their midst.
The beauty and the order of His dwelling among them did not abide long, for Israel, even in the wilderness, rebelled against Him. Such ever is man’s history in relation to God. But God's purposes never fail. Though sin eventually debarred Him from dwelling in the midst of Israel; though His cloud of glory was caused to retire from a temple polluted by sun-worship to the pure heavens (Ezek. viii. 16, x. 18, xi. 23), still God maintained His purpose, and even when His Son was here, despised and rejected, He contemplated the synogoguing as it were, of the handful who should own His Name; "Where two or three are gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst of them" (Matt. xviii. 20). And though eventually Christendom shall pollute itself by idolatries so the Christ can no longer be there; God will nevertheless bring about His great purpose. From Heaven shall issue the herald’s voice: “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself. shall be with them and be their God" (Rev. xxi. 3).
With this future filling our expectations, let us glance for a moment at the tabernacle of Jehovah in the wilderness. His throne was there, and it is written, “The throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it" (Rev. xxii. 3). His glory was there, "A cloud covered the tent of the congregation, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle" (Exod. xi. 34); and it is written, “Having the glory of God, and her light was like unto a stone most precious” (Rev. xxi. 11). His servants served Him there; all Israel, as it were, waited upon the tribe of Levi, and all the tribe of Levi waited upon Moses and Aaron, the servants of Jehovah, in their access to the throne. And it is written of Christ and His own, "His servants shall serve Him, and, they shall see His face, and His name. shall be in their foreheads," (Rev. xxii. 3).
The camp of Israel was four-square. It lay to the four quarters of the earth, in four groups of three tribes. Egypt's pyramids and temples—at least those of them which are the most ancient—did the same. Egypt claimed the submission of the four quarters of the earth for the Sun, or rather the demon Ra, personified to them as the Sun. All the sides of the pyramid arose to the one apex over which in its most glorious months, the sun stood and cast no shade at noon. For thus had Satan extended the boundaries of his kingdom to the ends of the earth. Jehovah's glory stood day and night all the round of the year over His throne in the tabernacle in Israel's midst. "The cloud of the Lord was upon the tabernacle by day, and fire was upon it by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel, throughout all their journeys" (Exod. xl. 38).
Israel's camp looked in towards the throne of God, and to Jehovah dwelling there between the cherubim, and it looked out towards the ends of the earth. How often, or how seldom, was that camp pitched in this Divine order? Was it ever so pitched a second time? But its symbolisms shall all be fulfilled in the coming kingdom. Of Zion, it shall yet be said, "Great is the Holy One of Israel in the midst of thee" (Is. xii. 6), and of the world, it shall yet be said, "All the earth shall worship Thee, and shall sing unto Thee; they shall sing to Thy Name."  "Yea, all kings shall fall down before Him, all nations shall serve Him" (Ps. lxvi. 4, xxii. 11).
The order of the camp with its four sides of three tribes is prophetic of the gates of the heavenly city—"on the east, three gates; on the north, three gates; on the south, three gates; and on the west, three gates" (Rev. xxi. 13).
The glory of God's kingdom shall surely shine on this Satan-ruled earth, the Serpent shall be dethroned, holiness and peace shall prevail, idolatry and priestcraft shall be no more, and iniquity shall cease.
“Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be Thy Name; Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven"
III. THE FEASTS OF JEHOVAH.
ON two previous occasions, we drew attention to the way in which God, in His ways with man, from the earliest times, has evidenced His purpose concerning the kingdom that shall be established upon the earth. We will now glance at a very important instruction which was ever before the mind of His nation Israel, so long as it maintained the Jehovah-ordained worship. "The feasts of Jehovah" were an integral part of Israel's religious life, and these feasts presented not only a remembrance of Israel's past deliverance, but also a promise of that which should be enjoyed in the future. In them, the death, resurrection, and ascension (or a great result of the ascension) of Christ at His first coming, and the glorious future for the earth that will follow upon His second coming, were, year by year, rehearsed, as it were, by the nation before Jehovah.
While we look at these feasts, we have to bear in mind that they were Jewish, and that they were ordained for Israel. But the instruction contained in them reaches beyond the boundaries of the chosen nation, for in them, we have symbols and teaching relating to the Gentiles, and much that is designed for the Church of God; nevertheless, whether the 'Church or the Gentile be in view, the main teaching is in connection with Israel.
Having the Gentile and the Church of God before us as well as Israel, we ask our reader, by way of introduction, to take a hasty glance at the religious year of Egypt, as established when Israel was captive in the land; and we do so in the interest of the broad principle of the final ingathering and blessing of the earth, which the feasts of Jehovah foreshadow. The enemy from the very first, sought to deprive man of the hope which God would have reign in the human heart, and by misapplying the meaning of times and seasons, days, months, and years, Satan wrought in the early ages after the Flood to his own advantage. He used the calendar to glorify himself and his demons, and turned to the homage of false gods, the course of the sun through the heavens, the moon in her months, and the rising and setting of the stars. If Christian people would only reflect a little, they would not so lightly regard in the calendars of Christendom, the position occupied by old pagan sanctities—re-named it is true, but none the less, demons.
The Egyptians—when Israel was enslaved by them—were a very religious people; the divisions of time were dedicated to deities, and— 
HOURS, DAYS, MONTHS, YEARS, AND CYCLES OF YEARS
were all religiously honoured, their religion being based upon sun and star worship and the deities which were connected with the heavenly bodies. The hours were called after the names of twenty-four genii, each of which was represented by a star, so that to be born under a lucky or unlucky star, meant something; the days had each a guardian deity, and the months were peculiarly devoted to gods and goddesses. The calendar was prolific in saints' days (demon-days might be a more appropriate expression), and every person was under the guardianship of one or other of these patrons.
The twelve months were composed of thirty days, making a total of 360 days for the religious year, while the civil year, like our own, was composed of 365¼ days, or a little less. Hence, it was that the religious year, being shorter than the other, moved little by little in a cycle of years through the civil year. The priests, to whom pertained the watching of the stars and the notifying of the day of the new year, knew very well, probably as well as we do, the cause of the difference between the movable year of 360 days and the fixed year of 365 days. The three seasons were fixed periods of time, and as the months were movable, they all passed by slow degrees through the fixed seasons.
The rise of the Nile marked the commencement of the new year and a great period in Egyptian agriculture, and was honoured by a most imposing religious ceremonial, in which processions, bearing of shrines, carrying of banners, burning of incense, and such like pagan pomp were conducted by thousands of priests. Now, by allowing each month— 
TO SLIDE BY DEGREES THROUGH THE SEASONS,
each deity came in, in turn for his share of the special honours of the fixed festival. Hence, each god, or each group of priests (for the gods had their respective priests), had no reason to be jealous over the attentions paid to the others.
A calendar abounding with "saints' days," as we may term them, and months dedicated to "sacred" personages, has a very ancient origin, and one by no means "holy" to such Christian people as believe in the power of Satan and his angels. And the same remark holds good in relation to the peculiar ceremonies, attendant upon festivals in honour of personages bearing exalted names, whose shrines, vestments, and the like, indicate their origin. We are too willing to regard as merely a superstitious growth in Christendom, the exalting of saints and angels; whereas, in reality, it brings us face to face with a grim pagan reality, imported into the Christian community. The calendar fell early into the hands of Satan and not only did the churches of Galatia (who once "did service unto them which by nature are no gods'') "observe days, and months, and times, and years" (Gal. iv. 8, 10), but churches now around us do the same.
The ancient Egyptians do not seem to have had a week of seven days in their division of time, though it is supposed that in their earlier history, this period was recognised by them. Their months were divided into three periods, each consisting of ten days. Their seasons were also three in number, each being composed of four months. Being an agricultural people, the necessity of regularity in the seasons is self-evident; but, if we were to limit the significance of the Egyptian calendar, and the orientation of their temples merely to sun and star observations for an agricultural end, we should miss the deeper meaning, that by the necessities of agriculture and by the observations of the course of the heavenly bodies, honour was to be given to the gods of the land.
Now, the round of the year is of the Creator, and the measurements of time are of His appointment, and sun, moon, and stars are His servants, which, with matchless precision, pursue the paths ordained for them. No one questions the exactness of these courses, and science informs us what they are, while Scripture teaches, that God gave the sun and the moon to rule the day and the night for this earth, and to   "be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years" (Gen. i. 14, 16). And in this fact alone is sufficient reason for Satan so early, stretching out his hand to lay hold of the calendar, and why to our own times such months as May and November are still dedicated to the Queen of Heaven—the identical title of one of Egypt's chief Goddesses! But we conceive, there is a deeper cause still. We learn that God has been pleased to devote a specific period, precise and definite, for the term of this world's history, dating from the day of the fall of man and the entrance of Satanic power over the earth, until the hour of Christ's coming and the setting up on the earth of the everlasting kingdom. This period of time has been, we say, exactly measured out by the— 
UNERRING HAND OF THE ALMIGHTY;
there is no element of uncertainty about it; dates have been fixed by Him, some of which have been already filled up, and the others will be filled up with absolute punctuality. Now Satan, in his use of the calendar, and of the ascertained facts relating to the course of the sun and moon, and the appearance of the stars, as marking out the years, the days, and the moments on the face of the clock of time, adroitly turned this ancient knowledge to his own advantage. Instead of reading the clock to see the approach of the kingdom of God on the earth, it was made to mark for man the months, and days, and the hours which had been devoted to demons! While man finds enormous difficulties in determining precisely in his chronology, the years on which various events of history took place, God not only marked out from the beginning what should occur in His chronology, but the events took place exactly to the time of His appointment. And such as have not yet taken place, will come to the hour, as He has planned.
Further, instead of man anticipating an end, a conclusion to time, the round of the year was an— 
ENDLESS CHAIN OF PERPETUAL FESTIVALS TO GODS.
In the Divine calendar (as we shall see) finality was ever present, the kingdom was yearly before the mind, the coming of the promised Seed, His death, His resurrection, the descent of the Holy Ghost, and Christ's coming again, and the final blessing of the nations under His reign, were never forgotten. The heathen world from the days of the Egyptian calendar has proceeded, generation after generation, as if this world would endure for ever, and alas! in Christendom, similar thoughts seem to prevail. But in our own times, we are face to face with these amazing realities; the Church is arousing to the coming of the King and the coming of the Kingdom—the Jew is awaking into a national existence, socialism and the masses are combining in view of a kingdom on earth and a salvation without Christ. We use the words of socialist teachers, ''without Christ," who, though they know it not, are preparing for the kingdom of Satan, which shall be in force when the Jews, in unbelief of the first coming of Christ, shall rebuild their temple, and the Church, which loves Him who died for her, shall be on earth no more, but with Him in glory, awaiting His reign over the earth.
With the fact before us of the use to which the calendar was put in the pagan world, we have sufficient reason for Jehovah, while Israel was still in the land, changing the order of the year for His redeemed people. At the same time, we venture to think there may be another reason still for this change. The uncertainty attending the determination of the correct date for the commencement of the year in ancient times, and also for the year of the world's history in which we live, is well known; and it may be that, as Gpd was starting afresh with His people, He placed again the order of time on its true footing. Possibly, the proper beginning of the year had been lost in paganism, and the yearly measure of time, as was then received by man, needed adjusting. Man's timepieces may have lost or gained, and God may have corrected them by His clock, which cannot by any possibility vary. Here is an interesting subject for such as are gifted in the knowledge of dates and one which it is possible, some of our readers may care to handle. We venture to suggest that—
THIS BEGINNING BY GOD OF THE YEAR
has in it a specific design, and that, if we could, with unfailing certainty, state what this date is, we should have a most important time-mark to work from, both backwards and forwards. The. year of Israel's departure from Egypt, read by the constellations, which the Egyptians held all sacred, and used as a fixed date for a beginning of a period of time, would open out some interesting inquiries and teachings in relation to the Divine purposes concerning the coming kingdom on the earth.
When Israel was still in Egypt, Jehovah commanded saying, "This month shall be unto you the beginning of months, it shall be the first month (or the head of the months) of the year to you" (Exod. xii. 2). "To you," to redeemed Israel, in distinction from the Pagans, the Gentiles; to God's own people in contrast with the demon-worshipping world. "The month Abib" (xiii. 4) thus, became to Israel the first month of the year, and its first day was their New Year's Day, and quite a different New Year's Day from that of Egypt. This month was not called after the name of a person; but signifies an ear of corn. "The month of the ear of corn," the fruitful month, the life out of death month, as we may interpret the ear of corn, was the first month of the year to them. No doubt, Israel knew the sign of the constellation of the ear of corn, the promise of life and fruit. All other months followed Abib, and not according to their names (for we are merely looking at the books of Moses), but according to their numbers and they pursued their course through the year as the second or the seventh month.
The moral significance of this new beginning is very beautiful and is of very gracious spiritual application to the Christian. Israel's beginning was through redemption, through the death of the paschal lamb; their career of life and fruitfulness opened up solely through the blood shed for them, and the Christian rejoices in this view of Abib for himself; for he has life through the death of Jesus, and this to him is indeed his beginning before God. But soul-stirring as this is, it is application, not altogether interpretation, and we look to the nation of Israel to read the true meaning of the change in the year wrought by Jehovah.
Israel could not but see that henceforth to them ("to you"), the demons that had ruled the Egyptian months, were to be of the past. And on Mount Sinai, Jehovah emphasised this their privilege: "And in all things, I have said unto you, be circumspect, and make no mention of the name of other gods, neither let it be heard out of thy mouth" (xxii. 13). They had been in the habit of describing the hour of the day by the name of one of the twenty-four genii, and the period of the week by another demon's name, and the month of the year by that of another, or at least they had been in the habit of recognising these genii or demons in a relation to the hours of the day and the days of the month. It was impossible in Egypt to fulfil any duty without doing it to the devil and his angels. Now, when we consider this fact, and read in its light, the religiousness of our own day, which would appropriate certain hours to specific religious use, and have times in the day when one may enjoy the world, and other times in the day when one should be pious, we are constrained to acknowledge that this religiousness is of the pagan type. If it be evil to go to certain places of amusement at eight o'clock in the morning, it is equally evil to go to them at ten o'clock in the evening. We shall see presently that in the feasts of the Lord, holiness was enjoined upon the redeemed people for the whole typical period of their course upon earth. Again, these old pagan notions of devoting certain days and months to different deities should be duly balanced in the mind, and Saint So-and-so day, Saint So-and-so month, should be treated with correct horror, for several of these dates are those of pagan festivals, and several of these "saints" are simply demons christened with holy names! Let those who love and revere antiquity, dig about in the ruins of Egyptian temples, and not a little of the "venerable," that is regarded as sacred in Christendom, will be found to be simply of pagan origin.
IV.—THE FEASTS OF JEHOVAH (continued)
The feasts of Jehovah were seven in number, as we find from Leviticus (chap. xxiii.), and with them, the Sabbath is immediately connected. It precedes them and is associated with them, but is nevertheless regarded as standing by itself (read ver. 1-4). In point of fact, the Sabbath is the introduction, the opening out of—
THE DIVINE PLAN RESPECTING THE KINGDOM,
and the seven feasts of Jehovah in Israel, show how that great purpose shall be realised through God's ways with Israel. We may make special reference to the Sabbath later on.
The feasts were as follows: (1) the Passover, (2) Unleavened Bread, (3) First Fruits, (4) Pentecost, (5) Trumpets, (6) Atonement, (7) Tabernacles. They are divided into two portions, one consisting of four and the other of three feasts. The division of seven into three and four, or of four and three, is of frequent occurrence.in the prophetic Word.
The first of the-years introduced by the new calendar, began with the week ending with the Sabbath, that is, a seven of days, a complete period, the conclusion of which is rest. Then at the end of the second seven of days, on the "fourteenth of the first month at even" (ver. 5), fell the first of the feasts of the Lord, the Passover; all the rest worked from this beginning. To the Passover, Israel owed its national life; on the "night much to be observed to the Lord," Israel was born; from the death of the Lamb for them, the nation arose to life. From darkness to dawn, from night to day, from the evening to the morning was—
GOD’S WAY IN REDEMPTION WITH ISRAEL 
and such, spiritually speaking, is His way with each of His redeemed people in all ages. He sends His Word of deliverance to them ''in the land of Egypt," and in its thrall, they receive the life-word of liberty through the blood of the Lamb, by which they obtain freedom.
The Passover was for Israel a feast of blissful remembrance, and it was also prophetic of greater bliss; yet here we come to a most astounding fact. Israel kept the feast and rejoiced in that which it commemorated, and every family held its sacred traditions with joy, yet Israel was utterly blind to its prophetic character. They reclined about the table whereon the roast lamb was placed, they drank of the wine-cup with thanksgiving, they lauded Jehovah for their deliverance from Egypt; but while they called the slain lamb "his body," they were totally insensible to the significance of their own acts and words.
This feast of the Lord’s Passover meant to Him, far, far more than the commemoration of Israel's earthly deliverance; it was in its, Divinely ordered details, a picture of the death of Jesus the Lamb of God for man’s redemption.
While the nation—or such part of it as was then in the land—kept the Passover, "Christ our Passover" was ''sacrificed for us." Israel held with true religious sensitiveness to the shadow, but it despised the substance. To them it was as nothing, that the fourteenth evening of the first month, which had been so long anticipated, had come, and that the Lamb of God was slain, and that the blood was shed, by which true redemption was effected. 
Let us not forget that the Spirit of God calls us, to both commemoration and anticipation in the Lord's Supper, "for as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord's death till He come" (1 Cor. xi. 26). The Passover is fulfilled, but the fulness of the feasts of the Lord will not be realised "till He come." The commemorative character of the Lord's Supper must be treasured. It is a feast of remembrance of Him in His death, who died for us, not—as a large section in Christendom would have it—a procurative—a means to an end, a bloodless sacrifice to obtain remission of sins. The feast of the Passover could not be kept until the Passover itself had been accomplished, and in like manner, the Lord's Supper commemorates the Lord's death. But as Israel saw not that Christ was coming to die in "the Lord's Passover," so too, many see not that Christ has come and died in "the Lord's Supper." Israel in unbelief kept the feast but slew Christ.
On the morrow, after the Passover, on the fifteenth day, the second feast of the Lord took place, that of "unleavened bread unto the Lord." This was maintained for a seven of days, a whole week, a defined period from a beginning to an end. The feast of the Passover was on the second of the seven of days in the year; it was sacrificed in the evening, and our Lord fulfilled it by yielding up His spirit at the appointed time. But the feast of unleavened bread spanned the whole week. This week was the springtime of the year, and the whole period was to be spent in emblematic holiness. Leaven is corruption; for all time, neither in house nor lips where the Passover had been kept, was corruption to have a place, but—
THE REDEEMED WERE TO BE HOLY.
This was indeed a "holy" convocation. The application is to ourselves as much as to Israel; God requires that His redeemed people shall, for their whole lifetime—their seven days on earth—be holiness to Himself.
In the instruction given relating to the third feast, it was shown to be necessary that in order to keep it, Israel should be in the full possession of the favours the Passover had accomplished for them. Personally, unleavened bread—holiness—was the necessary accompaniment of the feast of the Passover, and this held good whatever their position might be, whether in the wilderness or in the land; but the bringing of "a sheaf of the first-fruits of your harvest unto the priest, . . . for him to 'wave' before the Lord" (Lev. xxiii. 10, 11), could only take place in the promised land.
There was a gracious meaning in Abib, the month of the ear of corn, for—
THE RESURRECTION EMBLEM, THE WAVE SHEAF, WAS
presented by Israel through the priest before the Lord. We observe the date of this feast—"On the morrow after the Sabbath." This was the fifteenth day of the first month, according to the new calendar. On this day that which had died, but which had come to life in the abundance—the wave sheaf of the first fruits of the harvest—was held up and moved to and fro before Jehovah; man thus expressing by his action how good a thing be exposed to Jehovah's view.
This fifteenth day was the date of our Lord's resurrection, i.e., “the morrow after the Sabbath." He kept the Sabbath after the Passover in the grave, and "that day was a high day'' in Israel's ceremonial! At that time, there was in Jerusalem an imposing, yes, a Divinely instituted ritual, but in it, and in those who performed it, is nothing but death. This is a most solemn consideration; but the religion of the Jews ever since Christ our Passover was crucified, has been dead and empty. It has no notion in it of the risen Christ.
We may picture to ourselves the Jews in their moral death and darkness—
SEEKING THE EARLY BARLEY HARVEST
for the ears to compose the necessary sheaf, and the priest waving it before the Lord, and also at the same time, the chief priests handing over the hush-money to the soldiers, who came and told them of the angel's visit and the empty grave! Poor pagan soldiers, they may little understand the meaning of the mighty angel’s visit, but could the leaders of Israel be so ignorant as to be unaware of its significance? Yet, what of that? Israel should go on with its religion of death, and wave before Jehovah the emblem of the Risen One, as if He had not risen.
There can be no true holiness where Christ is not, and thus the feast of unleavened bread, from the time Christ was rejected by Israel, could be only a solemn mockery.
The feast of the wave sheaf we said, could only be kept by Israel when in their promised land. The Passover itself was enacted in Egypt, and thus a contrast exists between the two. The resurrection of Christ is a verity unknown to the world. It pertains to God's people. To this day, the truth of the resurrection is ridiculed by the heathen, and also by many whose fathers professed the Christian faith. The Lord did not show Himself to the world after His resurrection, and from the time of His death and burial, neither Jew nor Gentile, as such, beheld Him. The feast of the wave sheaf is one which, spiritually speaking, none but God's redeemed people, in their place of privilege, can truly keep; it is one which in spirit, reaches beyond the limits of man's vision, it pertains to resurrection.
Fifty days after the feast of the sheaf of the wave-offering, the fourth of the feasts of Jehovah took place—that of—
"THE FIRST FRUITS,"
This feast was different in character from the others. "The sheaf of the wave-offering" came from the earth, but the "two wave loaves . . . of fine flour . . . baken with leaven" (ver. 17) came from the homes of the people; ''Ye shall bring (them) out of your habitations." Evidently something relative to man is here—that which comes out of a human habitation, and that which has leaven with it. In Christ, there is no leaven, neither is He represented by two; He is One. These loaves were of fine flour, pure and excellent; the result of the harvest, indeed, yet fashioned by human hands into loaves. These were waved before the Lord with two sacrificial lambs, while the sheaf was waved by itself; and they were "holy to the Lord for the priest" (ver. 20). As Scripture teaches us of the descent on the Day of Pentecost of the Holy Ghost from Heaven (Acts ii. 1), we are not in doubt as to the meaning of this feast.
The loaves are God's people, whether Jews or Gentiles, and in them is leaven, but they are presented before God in the excellence of Christ's sacrifice, waved before God with the sacrificial lambs; and in them, whether Jew or Gentile, the Holy Ghost dwells.
If, on the sacrifice of Christ our Passover, it seemed that His teaching was in vain and His coming of no effect; and if when He rose from the dead—the sheaf of the first fruits—He was unknown to man, it cannot be said that this feast of the fiftieth day was, in its fulfilment, either of weakness or unobserved; for all Jerusalem was stirred by the wonder and the power of Pentecost.
Nevertheless, the nation, as such, maintained its obduracy. The two loaves were waved as usual, together with the two lambs; and the temple service of the feast proceeded, as if Christ had not gone up on high, and had not sent the Holy Ghost to earth from Heaven!
The feasts of Jehovah composing the first section have been—
FULFILLED PRECISELY AND EXACTLY
to their ordered times, but Israel understands not and does not consider. The Church of God, in which there is neither Jew nor Gentile, has now her day. She was born at Pentecost, and she is still here upon the earth. We are waved before the Lord, we are accepted in Christ, and we are goodly indeed in the eyes of Jehovah in the merits of His Christ who died for us. The remaining feasts have yet to be fulfilled, and as surely and as exactly as the first have been, so shall these be.
Ver. 22, with which the instructions related to the first four feasts close, is one to be remembered. The corners of the field were not to be reaped, a clean riddance there was not to be made. However excellent the feast of first fruits, however abundant, still something was to be left; all was not over, and all will not be over when the Church is garnered in; for—
GOD HAS PURPOSES IN VIEW FOR THE FIELD,
i.e., the world. No gleaning of the harvest was permitted, and so it shall be, there is more yet to come for the earth; God's resources are not exhausted, His harvest makes provision for  "the poor and the stranger," for He is "the Lord your God." There are millions yet upon the earth who have not heard either of Christ's death and resurrection, or of the Holy Ghost, nor indeed of the holiness which God values, and the "field" is to be yet the support of the poor and the stranger. The Jew is not the field, it is the nation of Jehovah; the Church is not the field, it is God's House; "the field is the world," and when Christ comes to take His people to the Father's house, its corners will still be unreaped, and a great future of blessing will await it.
V. THE FEASTS OF JEHOVAH (continued)
The last three feasts of the year—Trumpets, Atonement, Tabernacles—instruct us as to— 
THE FUTURE.
As the first four are directly connected with each other, so the last three are linked together. And, as the first four occurred in the beginning of the year, so the last three took place at its end. There was a considerable interval between the two groups of the seven feasts, and a design is apparent in the division of the seven into its two sections. The first section relates to the beginning of Israel's history and has been fulfilled; while the last, which relates to its end, awaits realisation.
The atonement itself has been accomplished, and its glorious heavenly fruits are the believer's now; while every blessing to man and the earth which shall accrue through it, is eternally established; but the glory which Israel shall yet receive by virtue of it, is still future. The Epistle to the Hebrews deals largely with the— 
SPIRITUAL BLESSINGS ENSURED TO THE BELIEVER
of this age in relation to that which is already accomplished as was foreshadowed in the feast of the Lord of the day of atonement. Beyond this, it leads the mind to the future blessings which that feast also foreshadowed; and it shows us not only fulfilments, but contrasts, for the glory of Christ's work excels every shadow or type in reference to that work.
For example, Christ "by His own blood, entered in once into the holy place" (ix. 7), thereby fulfilling once for all, the typical action of the high priest of Israel, who once a year, entered into the inner sanctuary with the blood of the sacrifice. Again, our Lord is now in Heaven "in the presence of God for us" (ver. 24), not indeed making atonement, as did the Israelitish high priest, but "having obtained eternal redemption" (ver. 7). Further, we read that, "unto them that look for Him, shall He appear the second time without sin (or apart from it) unto salvation” (ver. 28), referring the mind to the outcome of the high priest from God's presence after he had effected the yearly atonement. The high priest went into the holiest with the sacrificial blood on the nation's behalf, and his entry into the holiest was a matter of the deepest moment and anxiety to the people. His ceremonial purity was watched over with the most rigid caution and jealous care; for on him, and on him alone, on that day did Israel's hopes in relation to Jehovah rest. His going in, and his appearing within, and his coming forth again, were—
THREE SIGNIFICANT ACTIONS OF INTENSE MOMENT
to the people. The significance of the hidden action of the high priest within the holiest is of all importance to the Christian, and, strangely enough, it is on this very point that the greater part of Christendom has departed from the Christian profession as set out in the Epistle to the Hebrews. Hence, a few words on the subject in passing will not, we trust, be considered an unnecessary divergence. In Christ in Heaven, we have "a Minister of the sanctuary, of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man" (viii. 2), and faith looks up to Heaven and sees her High Priest there. He is in Heaven, as Priest, by virtue of His own blood shed on earth when He offered Himself without spot to God. His blood purges the believer's conscience before God (ix. 14), and through one Priest and His sacrificial blood, the believer draws near into the very presence of God with holy boldness (x. 19-21).
By virtue of His non-transmissible priesthood, its non-successional character, its sole dependence upon Himself, our Priest "is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them" (vii. 23-25). So that the Christian has in Christ in Heaven, not only the proof that an eternal redemption has been obtained, and that the repented sacrifice is futile (see ix. 25, 26), but he has also the tenderest and the most compassionate Intercessor (see iv. 15, vii. 26). Christendom at large has turned its back upon Christ in Heaven, even as Israel at large turned the back upon Christ on earth; Christianity at large rejects His sacrificial and priestly work, as Israel rejected His kingship. The things within the sanctuary shadowed by the ordinance of the great day of atonement—the virtue of the blood sprinkled upon the throne of God, i.e., Divine satisfaction in the atonement made—the virtue of the blood sprinkled before the throne, i.e., the Divine way of man's footsteps to Divine holiness; are as utterly lost to the recognition of the greater part of Christendom as are the claims of Christ to the throne of Zion, lost to the Jewish people.
What has just been said will clear the way to the consideration of the peculiar favours that will accrue to Israel when the feast of the Lord of the day of atonement shall be realised, and the High Priest in Heaven shall come out and, show Himself to Israel, who will look for Him and His coming to salvation. But before that day— 
THE TRUMPET CALL WILL BE HEARD 
in Israel in a true and spiritual sense; that is, the feast of trumpets will be fulfilled. At the end of the religious year, "in the seventh month"—i.e., in the fulness of the time—"in the first day of the month," there was held a Sabbath—a rest, a memorial of the blowing of trumpets. The people of the land, were aroused to Jehovah's feast. The trumpet is associated with the call of God to man. Sinai's trumpet bade Israel attend the presence and heed the words of Jehovah; the trumpet of God shall sound when the first resurrection occurs, and at its blast, all the ransomed shall assemble in the skies. But the trumpets blown in Israel were for that nation and were preparatory to the feast that was to take place ten days later, on the Day of Atonement. This we would emphasise, for the arousing of Israel was distinctly in reference to the entry of the high priest into the holiest with the sacrificial blood, and his making atonement for the nation's sins. We can see to-day an arousing in Israel—a strange and a growing movement among the ancient people of God—but for what end is Israel arousing? For their Messiah? By no means. The nation of Israel arouses for its land, its hills and valleys, its city, and also for its Temple, if we can trust all that we hear in regard to their aspirations respecting its rebuilding! But let none mistake this spirit for that foreshadowed by Jehovah's feast of trumpets. There is a fear, lest Christians should allow their interest in Israel to run into channels directly opposed to Christ's glory. A remnant of Israel will return to its land—or it may be said—
A REMNANT OF ISRAEL HAS RETURNED TO THE LAND,
but in absolute unbelief. And presently, in determined opposition to Christ, and in vain pride, Israel will rebuild its Temple and will renew its sacrifices. This will be done with apostate feet treading down the Son of God, and with willful hearts, counting the blood of the Covenant an unholy thing (see Heb. x. 29-31). And such is the laxness of our day that, were the enterprise of rebuilding the Temple in Jerusalem now set on foot, various Christians would doubtless subscribe to carry it through! No, let us not be deceived, the present movement in Israel towards national life and towards fatherland is not Jehovahwards, is not Christwards, and never will there be such a hallowed movement until the Feast of Trumpets be fulfilled.
When the ancient people, beloved for the fathers' sakes, are gathered together in their land, and the great crisis of their sore persecutions at the hand of the Gentiles has arrived, God the Holy Spirit will recall them as a nation to their sin in crucifying Christ. He will pour upon them the spirit of grace and supplications; and then shall be fulfilled this prophetic word, "They shall look upon Me whom they have pierced, and— 
THEY SHALL MOURN FOR HIM"
(Zech. xii. 10-12). They shall awake from their long sleep of unbelief to the fact of His having been taken by His beloved nation and slain by their wicked hands, and they shall bow their heads as they consider how that God has highly exalted Him to His throne in Heaven. They shall be awakened to the fact that their High Priest is hidden in Heaven, and they "shall be in bitterness for Him."  "And the land shall mourn, every family apart," whether of king, of prophet, of priest, or of people, "all the families . . . apart, and their wives apart." But no true Christian, whose eye follows these words shall then be upon the earth, for our joy summons to glory will have occurred before the trumpet call to mourn for Christ is heard in Israel. Yes, before He shall come to the earth, "we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump; for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed" (1 Cor. xv. 51, 52).
After the call of God, Israel will indeed keep— 
THE FEAST OF ATONEMENT;
there will be then true afflicting of the soul (Lev. xxiii. 27) and then shall no work be done (ver. 30), but Israel shall wait for the delivering hand of the Lord. "It shall be unto you a Sabbath of rest, and ye shall afflict your souls, in the ninth day of the month at even, from even unto even, ye shall celebrate your Sabbath (ver. 32, see also chap. xvi. 29, 31).
The far-reaching character of the feast of atonement should be noted. We may apply to ourselves individually, the afflicting of the soul, and the doing of no work on the day of the atonement; for there must be genuine sorrow and repentance over sin before God, and no works of our own dare we render to Him in connection with Christ's sacrifice and our cleansing by His blood. We can also use these words given to Israel for ourselves, "for on that day, shall He make an atonement for you, to cleanse you, that ye may be clean from all your sins before the Lord (xvi. 30). The work is wrought by Him absolutely.
But there are also far-reaching results that we should meditate upon. The High Priest made an atonement, not only for the persons of Israel, but also for "the holy sanctuary . . . the tabernacle of the congregation, and for the altar." Now, if the ordinary defilement caused by human hands touching holy things required this (see ver. 16), what shall be said of the temple and the altar of Israel in the latter day? Alas, the ritual and the worship of the most terrible of all apostasies will be perpetrated in that sanctuary (see Dan. ix. 27 and 2 Thess. ii. 4). Again, we read, "And He shall make an atonement for the priests and for all the people of the congregation"—the nation in its entirety, obtained the cleansing. So that we perceive here that which cannot be applied to any other nation than Israel. And this work for Israel shall take place in absolute fulness. " And so all Israel shall be saved" (Rom. xi; 26), for "the Redeemer shall come to Zion" (Isa. lix. 20).
We may expect, as the number of the days connecting each of the first four feasts together have been literally fulfilled, that those connecting the last three will be also fulfilled; and hence that, ten days after the feast of trumpets, the Priest and King will come to Zion in His glory, accompanied by the holy angels and the glorified saints.
The "tenth" day is a familiar Bible measure of time—one week and one portion of a second. God began in Israel's deliverance from Egypt with "the tenth of the month" (Ex. xii. 3), and on the "fourteenth day" (ver. 6), the perfect time for the deliverance had come, while on the "fifteenth day," the day of a new week (Num. xxxiii. 3), they went out free. These days are preserved at the end of the year in the feasts of the Lord. The tenth day was that of the atonement, on the fourteenth, the week ended, and on the fifteenth day, the day of the new week,— 
THE FEAST OF TABERNACLES OCCURRED.
This foreshadowed the great foretold blessing of Jew and Gentile, and the earth itself. The fulness of the significance of this feast was realised by the Jews, who regarded part of its service as typical of the outpouring of the Spirit of God in the latter day. This the Lord connected with Himself and His glory in ascension, when, on "that great day of the feast," He lilted up His voice respecting the living water (John vii. 38, 39), speaking of the Holy Spirit. The reference was perceived by the people who, when they heard the saying, said, "Of a truth, this is the Prophet" (ver. 40). The Jew knew from his Scriptures that all the world was to come into the joy of Messiah's reign through Him. True, the feast of tabernacles looked back to the beginning and recalled God's ways in bringing "them out of the land of Egypt'' (Lev. xxiii. 43); but it looked forward, and in its outlook, viewed all the world brought into blessing by virtue of the atonement and the intercession of Christ. That is to say, Christ will come to this earth to reign as King in the fulness of the blessing of His sacrifice on earth and priestly work in Heaven. His own Cross, the Passover, will yet be seen as the moral foundation for the favours of the millennial age.
Thus did God frame His calendar for His ancient people Israel, and thus did He order His feasts. We stand as Christians in that interval of time where no feasts occur. We are connected with Christ in Heaven, now hidden within the holiest; and where He is, we have access through Him.
The feasts are for earth, but none the less, do we love to think of the coming Kingdom and the coming of the King, and the blessing that awaits this earth after the present era has come to its end. "In the fifteenth day of the seventh month," after their latter harvest, Israel kept a— 
FEAST UNTO THE LORD, SEVEN DAYS
(Lev. xxiii. 39), a perfect period of joy; and in that harvest, we read of no corners left for the reaper, and of no ears left for the gleaner, as was the case in the early harvest at the end of the first group of feasts. For all shall then be blessed, and the anticipation of the Divinely instituted calendar shall be fully realised.
Thus did the round of the year ever speak in Israel. The subject is great and is full of suggestive interest. The sketch laid before the reader is very crude, but it will, we trust, assist in leading any, who may not be familiar with the matter, to consider how our God would have dwelling in the hearts and minds of His people of all ages, His great purpose respecting the coming Kingdom and the coming of the King.
H. Forbes Witherby" 
“The Morning Star” 1894 v1