A people near unto him.
Psalm 148:14
"The dispensation of the old covenant was that of distance.
When God
appeared even to His servant Moses,
He said, "Draw not nigh hither: put
off thy shoes from off thy feet"; and when He manifested Himself upon
Mount Sinai, to His own chosen and separated people, one of the first
commands was, "Thou shalt set bounds about the mount." Both in the
sacred worship of the tabernacle and the temple, the thought of distance
was always prominent.
The mass of the people did not even enter the
outer court. Into the
inner court none but the priests might dare to
intrude; while into the innermost place, or the holy of holies, the high
priest entered but once in the year. It was as if the Lord in those
early ages would teach man that sin was so utterly loathsome to Him,
that He must treat men as lepers put without the camp; and when He came
nearest to them, He yet made them feel the width of the separation
between a holy God and an impure sinner.
When the gospel came, we were
placed on quite another footing. The word "Go" was exchanged for "Come";
distance was made to give place to nearness, and we who aforetime were
afar off, were made nigh by the blood of Jesus Christ.
Incarnate Deity
has no wall of fire about it. ....yet
it is to be followed by a dispensation of greater nearness still, when
it shall be said, "The tabernacle of God is with men, and He doth dwell
among them." Hasten it, O Lord."
Charles Spurgeon
