2 And Moses alone shall come near Yahweh: but they shall not come nigh; neither shall the people go up with him.

Moses was alone to draw near (Exod. 24:2); the others were to accompany him so far and to "worship afar off", but all were to see the God of Israel...

In Moses we see Christ, who alone has been admitted to the Father's presence. Who are the others, who stand afar off? In the absence of precise information we can but surmise. Elijah did not see death, and Moses was with him on the Mount of Transfiguration, speaking with Christ of "the decease which he should accomplish at Jerusalem", Enoch also was translated; and at the resurrection of Christ "many of the bodies of the saints which slept arose" (Matt. 27:52).

It is possible that all these may have accompanied Christ in his ascension, but stopped short at an ordained point, while he alone penetrated to the "Secret place"--the throne of the Eternal---embosomed in Light unapproachable in the star-gemmed recesses of the Universe.

... We know that Christ ascended to the Right Hand of Power - to the Father of all: and the Mosaic type would seem to hint that he was accompanied so far by select companions. There is something pleasing to our social nature in such an idea.

Law of Moses Ch 11.

6 And Moses took half of the blood, and put it in basons; and half of the blood he sprinkled on the altar.

Thus God, as represented by the altar, entered into the Covenant on His part, and that, significantly, first. The recorded laws were then read. *

Paul, commenting on these things, says that" almost all things are by the law purged with blood", The reason he gives is that no covenant is of force while the covenant-victim liveth. Blood poured out is the symbol of death, and the sprinkling with this blood on altar, book, and people, was an intimation that no covenant of everlasting force, could be made without the death of the men to whom it was offered.

If it be asked why, the answer is, that death was due. Death had passed upon all men through Adam, and it reigned over them, although they "had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression", on account of "the many offences" from which no man is exempt. The multitude to whom God offered the covenant of His favour by Moses was a multitude in this position. Consequently it was not compatible with the greatness of God that any advance could be made to them without the ritual illustration and enforcement of their true position.

This is the explanation of the fact that the first covenant was "not dedicated without blood", The Mosaic patterns were all purified thus. Blood proclaimed the infliction of death. It was an infliction of death on animals, and therefore not efficacious for final results, yet, as a shadow, it commanded assent to the principle.

Blood, as the symbol of death, typically purged the death defilement. Death is always treated in the Mosaic system as a defiling thing. To touch a dead body, or a grave, or a bone was to contract defilement. The whole congregation, as they stood there before Moses, were in the antitypically defiled state. They had not only touched death through descent from the condemned of Eden; but they were in contact with its defiling power in their own bodies. There was therefore nothing but that which was just and seemly in the shedding of blood being made accessory to the establishment of a covenant of peace between God and them.

Paul notes that without the shedding of blood there is no remission--that is, there is no putting aside of sin with a view to friendship, without the fullest recognition of its nature and its unreserved repudiation. This is the reasonable requirement of the wisdom of God in type and antitype.

Law of Moses Ch 11.

7 And he took the book of the covenant, and read in the audience of the people: and they said, All that Yahweh hath said will we do, and be obedient.

They had said this in response to the first general proposal submitted to them on their arrival from Egypt before the ten commandments were delivered, but they were called upon, now, to make a more deliberate and formal declaration of their submission. The first was before the Lord had made known His mind; the second was after He had declared to Moses the laws by which He desired them to be guided as a nation. The second response was a full and hearty and unanimous consent on their part to do as God willed.

It was no doubt perfectly sincere for the time being. They were not only under the gratifying influences of the deliverances they had experienced, both at the Red Sea, and on the journey from thence; but they were under the powerful impression produced by the visible demonstration from the summit of Sinai of God's existence and purpose toward them, an exhibition so impressive, that all the people trembled and withdrew to a distance from the sight.

Moses having received the consent of the people, wrote all the laws which he had rehearsed to them, and later on, read what he had written.

Law of Moses Ch 11.

As far then as faith is concerned, the qualification of the candidate for justification by faith is unexceptionable. God hath purified his heart by faith, and in the words of ancient Israel before Moses sprinkled them with the blood of his covenant, he saith,

"All that the Lord hath said will I do, and be obedient."

The reader will please note particularly the order of the type-

Moses first read the Book of the Covenant in the audience of the people, which they believed unto righteousness of the law;

next they made confession unto the salvation of that law;

then Moses sprinkled the blood of the covenant upon them with the sprinkler made of scarlet wool and hyssop; after which some of them were permitted to see the glory of the God of Israel.

Though the altar and the book were already sprinkled with the blood before them, faith in the words read from the sprinkled covenant, in the blood itself, or in the altar, did not constitute them a sprinkled people: though they believed and confessed they were still unsprinkled until the sprinkler was brought into operation upon them.

Now the point to be observed in the antitype individually (that is, not nationally) applied is this, that believers, however unexceptionable their faith, are not sprinkled with the blood of the New Testament in simply believing with the heart and confessing with the mouth. Belief and confession are "unto righteousness and unto salvation," or unto remission of sins and eternal life.

Belief and confession are for righteousness and salvation, in the sense of qualifying a believer for remission to eternal life in the name of Jesus, so that when he puts on this name he will have attained "unto justification of life;" that is, to a salvation from all his past sins, by which deliverance he has passed, and in being delivered passes, from death unto life; that is, he is no longer under sentence of death, and is therefore under sentence to eternal life, which he attains as part of his reward if he continue a faithful well-doer to the end.

A man, then, may be pure-hearted, confess the truth, and promise obedience; nevertheless in none of these things is he sprinkled with the covenant blood.

"Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God;"

this, however, is on the presumption that they will "do and be obedient."

Will any one say that an unsprinkled heart is an acceptable heart to God? The apostle did not think so, for he says,

"Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of the hope (homologia tees elpidos, not pisteos) without wavering; for He is faithful that promised."

If he had considered the heart-sprinkling and body-washing nonessential in drawing near to God, he would probably have said nothing about them. He might have reduced the text to fewer words by saying,

"Let us draw near with a true heart without wavering."

But no; he did not consider a heart true that was unsprinkled; because it had still "a conscience of sins," or "an evil conscience;" and with such a heart no man may venture to draw near to God with any well-grounded hope of acceptance.

***

When a believer presents himself for baptism into the name he has done all that is required of him, or that he can do in the matter of circumcision and sprinkling. The people under Moses did not sprinkle themselves. It was Moses who sprinkled them. It is so also with the believer. He cannot sprinkle himself, neither can the administrator of the ordinance. It is the function of the High Priest within the Veil, that is, of Christ, to report him to the Father, that he may sprinkle the heart of the new member of his son's household.

How does he this? On the same principle that He justified his friend Abraham. Abraham believed God, and therefore it was counted to him for righteousness; so, in the act of putting on the name of Jesus does Yahweh count to the believer his faith in the covenant and in the blood of sprinkling for the remission of all past sins. Thus "in the obedience of the truth" is the believer sprinkled with the blood of the covenant, and circumcised with the circumcision of Christ.

Thus, as circumcision of the flesh was the token of the covenant till it was made of force by the death of its representative testator; so, from and after that event, the putting on of Christ, and consequent putting off of the body of the sins of the flesh, is the token of the covenant in the hearts of all its children. The children of the covenant have the witness in themselves, God also bearing witness with them.

They have peace of mind, not a false peace, but a peace that the world can neither give nor take away, founded upon intelligence, faith, and obedience. Yahweh's representative has said believe the gospel and be baptized; they have believed, and have been baptized; and therefore, having faith in God, their confidence is that through faith and patience they will inherit the promises.

They have not put off their flesh, but they have put off the body of its sins, which before God is to them the token. He, however, who has with the heart believed unto righteousness, but has not obeyed, attains not to that righteousness for which he has believed; for the sprinkling of the heart unto purification is "in the obedience of the truth."

Human wisdom, or foolishness rather, denies this. It maintains that heart-sprinkling is coetaneous with the truth heartily believed, not with the truth "obeyed from the heart." Were the Israelites sprinkled in believing in the book and the altar which had been sprinkled, or after they confessed? Were they sprinkled in promising to do and be obedient? No.

The covenant was first delivered; the altar was then built; next the sacrifices were slain, and the book and altar sprinkled; afterwards the covenant was read to the people; they believed; confessed willingness to do and be obedient; and were then sprinkled by Moses, the representative of God After the same order is the antitype.

The New Covenant was first delivered; Jesus our altar manifested; he was then slain; in being sprinkled with his own blood, the New Covenant was also sprinkled or dedicated; it was afterwards spoken to the people; they believed; then confessed; and lastly put on the blood-sprinkled name, through which, as with scarlet wool and hyssop, God justified them from all things from which they could not be justified by the law of Moses.

This is God's way of righteousness, from which he never departs since the resurrection of his Son. The type and antitype are as correspondent as the nature of things would admit; and the true believer who submits to the process is

"purged with hyssop, and made clean; washed, and made whiter than snow."

Mystery of the covenant of the holy land explained

Herald of the Kingdom and Age to Come. Jan 1855

8 And Moses took the blood, and sprinkled it on the people, and said, Behold the blood of the covenant, which Yahweh hath made with you concerning all these words.

It will be observed that the language of Christ at the Last Supper, "This is my blood of the New Testament" (covenant), is very similar to that of Moses, "Behold the blood of the covenant" (Exod. 24:8), indicating not only the position of Christ as the antitype of the sacrifices with which the Mosaic covenant was confirmed, but also the similarity in the confirmation of the two covenants, and their common origin from the same custom. To show more completely, however, the parallel between the two cases, we cannot do better than introduce the following quotation from the pen of Dr. Thomas:

"The (Mosaic) covenant was first delivered; the altar was then built; next the sacrifices were slain, and the book and altar sprinkled; afterwards the covenant was read to the people; they believed; confessed willingness to do and be obedient; and were then sprinkled by Moses, the representative of God.

After the same order is the antitype. The New Covenant was first delivered; Jesus our altar manifested; he was then slain; in being sprinkled with his own blood, the new covenant was also sprinkled or dedicated; it was afterwards spoken to the people; they believed; then confessed; and lastly put on the blood-sprinkled name, through which, as with scarlet wool and hyssop, God justified them from all things from which they could not be justified by the law of Moses.

This is God's way of righteousness, from which He never departs since the resurrection of His Son. The type and antitype are as correspondent as the nature of things would admit; and the true believer who submits to the process is 'purged with hyssop, and made clean; washed, and made whiter than snow.'"—(Herald of the Kingdom, 1856, p. 5.)

The force of Dr. T.'s remark that "the type and antitype are as correspondent as the nature of things would admit," will be seen when it is remembered that in connection with the New Covenant Jesus Christ occupied the three-fold position of Sacrifice, Mediator, and one of the parties (or "heirs"—Rom. 8:17) to the Covenant, which renders it impossible to find an exact correspondence either with the Mosaic type or with the ordinary custom, as in neither of the latter was this the case.

Again, with reference to the sprinkling, Dr. T. says:

—"The people under Moses did not sprinkle themselves. It was Moses who sprinkled them It is so also with the believer. He cannot sprinkle himself, neither can the administrator of the ordinance [immersion.] It is the function of the High Priest within the veil, that is, of Christ, to report him to the Father, that He may sprinkle the heart of the new member of His Son's household.

How does He this? On the same principle that He justified His friend Abraham. Abraham believed God, and therefore it was counted to him for righteousness; so, in the act of putting on the name of Jesus, does Yahweh count to the believer his faith in the covenant and in the blood of sprinkling for the remission of all past sins.

Thus "in the obedience of the truth" is the believer sprinkled with the blood of the covenant, and circumcised with the circumcision of Christ."—(Ibid.) And again, speaking of the fleshly Israel entering into the New Covenant at the second appearing of Christ, Dr. T. says:—"The national antitype is in strict accordance with the type. Paul styles the body of Jesus 'an altar,' which was sprinkled with his own blood; secondly, the covenant is read eighteen [now 20] centuries after in the wilderness of the people; thirdly, the people confess their willingness to do what it requires; and fourthly, they enter the covenant, and are so sprinkled by its blood."—(Herald of the Kingdon, 1855, p. 221.)

It is worthy of remark that at various times in the subsequent history of the Jews, after a general departure from the covenant, it was renewed, and that this renewal was usually, if not invariably, accompanied with sacrifices.

This occurred in the reign of Asa (2 Chron. 15:11–13); and afterwards in the reign of Josiah, when a passover of a very exceptional character was observed. (2 Chron. 34:25, 29–33; 35:1, 7–9, 18) See also in the reigns of Joash, Hezekiah, and Zedekiah, as well as in the times of Ezra and Nehemiah, after the restoration from Babylon.

Bro AT Jannaway

The Christadelphian, Dec 1874

Nothing indeed is more remarkable in the Mosaic narrative than its entire silence with regard to the meaning of all that was commanded to be done.

There is no attempt to convey even a hint of concealed significance...

...The type is before us; the antitype is in Christ. He is the altar, the book of the law, and the other things that come after. The sprinkling of the typical blood on both by Moses prefigured the operation of divine love and wisdom in Christ's own sacrifice. It was a sacrifice operative on himself first of all: for he is the beginning of the new creation, the firstfruits of the new harvest, the foundation of the new temple. He was the nucleus of a new and healthy life developed among men, for the healing of all who should become incorporate with it.

As such, it was needful that he should himself be the subject of the process and the reaper of the results. Hence the testimony that "the God of peace brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant" (Heb. 113:20), and that by his own blood, entering into the holy place, he obtained (middle, or self-subjective, state of the verb) eternal redemption (" for us" is interpolated) (9:12). The Father saved him from death for his obedience unto death (Heb. 5:7-9; Phil. 2:8-9; Rom. 5:19).

Law of Moses Ch 11.

10 And they saw the Elohim of Israel: and there was under his feet as it were a paved work of a sapphire stone, and as it were the body of heaven in his clearness.

Moses tells us -- at least the Common Version does that he and seventy-three others "saw the God of Israel." We should err, however, if we supposed that he meant they saw Ail, the Uncreated Spirit, "no man can see Him and live."

He says they saw "the Elohim of Israel" depositories and embodiments of the Eternal Spirit, who shone out in glory in the presence of the Elders.

The appearance under the feet of the Elohim, whose feet were also the feet of the Spirit, and, therefore, styled "His feet, was, as it were, a paved work of sapphire stone, and as it were the body of heaven for clearness." The whole was a Spirit-manifestation, and illustrative of what is yet to appear in the midst of Israel, when the Elohim of Abraham, constituting the name of Ehyeh, shall be apocalypsed on Mount Zion.

Let our Jewish readers make a note of this, that the Memorial Name exhibited in Moses' writing, is not simply a word of four letters given to an abstraction for a name, as men give names to their children; but a name memorial of a future manifestation of the Eternal Spirit; which manifestation will not be of One through One Only; but of One in and through ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands: that the name covers them all; and that consequently, the thousands of thousands are but "One Yahweh."

Phanerosis - The Memorial Name

11 And upon the nobles of the children of Israel he laid not his hand: also they saw Elohim, and did eat and drink...

The purpose of the Eternal Spirit to become Elohim to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, through their seed... Mighty Ones in Holy Spirit Nature often appeared in the midst of Israel, and were, for a time, God with them...

...In this narration the distinction is maintained between Yahweh and the Elohim; Yahweh referring to the Eternal and Invisible Spirit; the Elohim to the individualized, or embodied, manifestations of power.

The Elohim were visible; for Moses says the nobles of Israel saw them, and ate and drank in their presence. The Elohim had spread for them an entertainment of good things, and welcomed them to eat and drink without alarm: for

"upon the nobles of the children of Israel HE (the invisible Yahweh) laid not His hand."

Moses does not say that they saw Yahweh. He and Joshua alone were permitted to ascend to the mountain top; but even there, they did not see Yahweh; for "no man could see Him and live." They heard, but saw not.

In this scene, Moses and Joshua are types of Messiah in his approach to the Father; while Aaron, Hur, and their associates in company with the Elohim, are types of the saints, the immortal nobles of Israel, in the setting up of the Gospel-Kingdom.

The Elohim were the representatives of the personages to be manifested from the seed of Abraham in the Age of glory; the same Eternal Spirit being the substratum, or hypostasis of the representatives, and of those whom they represented; for which cause "He" and "His" are affirmed of them. The Elohim and the Devouring Fire on the top of the mount were the typical manifestation of Yahweh's glory; which finds its antitype in glorious display of the things represented also in Ezek. 1:10; 43:4; Rev. 4:5; 15:2.

Phanerosis - Elohim developed from the seed of Abraham

18 And Moses went into the midst of the cloud, and gat him up into the mount: and Moses was in the mount 40 and 40 nights.

vv9-18 In this narration the distinction is maintained between Yahweh and the Elohim; Yahweh referring to the Eternal and Invisible Spirit; the Elohim to the individualized, or embodied, manifestations of power.

The Elohim were visible; for Moses says the nobles of Israel saw them, and ate and drank in their presence. The Elohim had spread for them an entertainment of good things, and welcomed them to eat and drink without alarm: for "upon the nobles of the children of Israel HE (the invisible Yahweh) laid not His hand."

Moses does not say that they saw Yahweh. He and Joshua alone were permitted to ascend to the mountain top; but even there, they did not see Yahweh; for "no man could see Him and live." They heard, but saw not.

In this scene, Moses and Joshua are types of Messiah in his approach to the Father; while Aaron, Hur, and their associates in company with the Elohim, are types of the saints, the immortal nobles of Israel, in the setting up of the Gospel-Kingdom. The Elohim were the representatives of the personages to be manifested from the seed of Abraham in the Age of glory; the same Eternal Spirit being the substratum, or hypostasis of the representatives, and of those whom they represented; for which cause "He" and "His" are affirmed of them.

The Elohim and the Devouring Fire on the top of the mount were the typical manifestation of Yahweh's glory; which finds its antitype in glorious display of the things represented also in Ezek. 1:10; 43:4; Rev. 4:5; 15:2.

Phanerosis 'Elohim Developed From The Seed of Abraham'.