23. Summary

Summary

Now here is the message of the Pentateuch in a few sentences: Genesis, God at the back of everything working up to full redemption. Exodus, God delivering from sin—not as the final jail, but to call the delivered ones to surrender, that they may do His work and that He may tabernacle among them. Leviticus, God revealing the awfulness of sin and calling for a separated people. Numbers, God requiring on the part of His people constant activity, arrangement, and aggressiveness. Deuteronomy, God emphasizing the power of the human will in life and service in cooperation with the Spirit of God.

Now that is the message of the cross in the New Testament, God in everything; God in us seeking us for Himself absolutely, calling us into a real conflict and a real conquest, with the intelligent use of our powers and the cooperation of our wills with the Holy Spirit, to reach out to the utmost ends of the earth and do our best for Him.

These things do not happen by accident. These things are not in the Word of God by accident. They are there to show you and me this: that the God in the Gospels is the God of the Pentateuch, the same God. A man cannot get rid of the Pentateuch any more than he can get rid of the Gospels. The cross fills the one book as it fills the other. The cross is revealed in the one Testament as it is revealed in the other. Moses saw the day of Christ afar off and was glad, and he was willing to bear the reproach of Christ rather than go after the riches of Egypt. And Christ looked back to the day of Moses and stamped His writings with His divine authority.

Right through the Bible from Genesis to Revelation runs the scarlet thread of the cross, proving that the book has come from God, and that the message of the whole book is one—Christ Savior, Lord, and Coming King; proving as well that the cross is the foundation of God’s plan for the work of redemption. It is the power by which God redeems the universe, brings men back to Himself, develops in them a Christ-like character, meets the needs of their spirit, soul and body, and it is the power by which, at last, He will seat His Son upon the throne of the universe.

You and I need not be surprised at Satan’s persistent desire to get rid of the Pentateuch and to get rid of the atoning sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ. I expect to see much more vicious attacks upon the citadel of Christian faith, Jesus Christ’s person and work, than we have yet seen. But the man who will stand by the cross and let the purpose of the cross be wrought out in him will stand the storm and find his faith resting on a foundation which will never move from under him.

Go to the deeps of God’s promise; And know of His wonderful might;

Whatever would be a true blessing, For Jesus’ sake comes as thy right.

Go to the deeps of God’s promise; And claim whatsoever ye will; The Blessing of God will not fail thee, His word He will surely fulfill.”