The Word of Jehovah

Jehovah speaks.

In himself the triune God speaks. The Logos, the Word, was in the beginning. And the Logos was with God. And the Logos was God. Eternally, God speaks in himself. Apart from the temporal world that he called into existence by the Word and Breath of his mouth, God speaks in himself. None gave him his speech. He possesses it of himself. And in himself he speaks of himself. He expresses by speech the entire fullness of his infinite mind. And in himself he speaks to himself. He hears the word of himself that he speaks to himself, and he hears it with great delight and holy zeal. Speech and fellowship are inextricably bound together, for they find their source in the triune God.

When a man has something particularly close to his heart, he speaks within himself. He deliberates in his mind that which bears upon his heart. He converses within his soul. And out of the abundance of his heart flows speech to his beloved.

But how can the thoughts and utterances of a man be compared to those of the one who is of and in and through himself?

Man’s mind will flit and flutter from thought to thought as he is stimulated by inputs from within and from without his being. But the living God comprehends all things in his eternal present. His understanding is infinite. His thoughts cannot be counted and are more in number than the sand. His thoughts are a great deep and higher than all the earth. And there is no change in the activity or content of his mind. There is no increase or decrease of his precious thoughts. The counsel of Jehovah stands forever, and the thoughts of his heart to all generations (Ps. 33:11). He is i am.

Such an incomprehensible gulf exists between the utterances of man, an earthy soul, and the utterances of the living God, the majesty on high. Lest a man sound like a lunatic or become tongue-tied, his speech is limited to a solitary subject. But consider the Holy One, who, seeing and knowing the infinite goodness of his divine being, ceaselessly proclaims all truth to himself in his constant fullness!

Who can know the thoughts of God’s heart but God the Spirit, who searches out the deep things of God? Who can bear the weight of his speech when he declares all the fullness of his infinite perfections? Who can fathom the love and zeal Jehovah has for himself? Sooner would a worm comprehend the mind of a man, than a man, the living God. God’s thoughts are not our thoughts, neither are his ways our ways.

Jehovah speaks.

Outside himself the triune God speaks. Not out of necessity does he speak out from his divine and blessed being but according to his sovereign and free good pleasure. That eternal and uncreated Word was spoken creatively. That eternal and uncreated Word called forth all things into existence. That eternal and uncreated Word was, “Let there be light.” And there was light. By the Logos were all things made, and without him was not anything made that was made.

That eternal and uncreated Word is continually spoken into the created world, upholding all things by his power and wisdom. And just as the content of the Word within God has a divine theme and tune, so too the content of the Word outside God. The speech of God throughout the cosmos, in all its unending variations, ever concentrates on the living God. By him and through him do the heavens declare the glory of God. By him and through him, there is no speech nor language where God’s glory is not heard. And though he speaks outside himself, yet through the creation he still speaks unto himself.

Who is the man who thinks himself to be great in the earth? Let him give ear. Can you discern at once and in each succeeding moment the speech of creation? Perhaps you may walk outside in the cool of the morning to hear the chirps of a few finches and the coos of a pair of doves. But give thou audience to the remaining one hundred billion fowls of the air as Jehovah does. Give thou audience to the fullness of their speech at each successive moment as Jehovah does. Give thou audience and discern the speech of Jehovah through them as Jehovah does. Now, give thou attendance as well to the praises of the forest trees, the stars of the heaven, the fishes of the sea, and every other creature as Jehovah does. You cannot. And even if you visited every last square inch of the cosmos, you would still not hear all that Jehovah hears. For he plays upon instruments that fall outside your auditory range. The creation exists not for your purposes but for the glory of the triune God. “Let all the earth fear the Lord: let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him” (Ps. 33:8).

Jehovah speaks.

But man contradicts. Man of the dust by his speech slanders the Lord from heaven.

For man’s thoughts are antithetical to God’s thoughts. Man, whose mind and will were tenderly formed from the dust of the earth by Jehovah’s hand, is a rebel who viciously turned all the powers of his intellect against his creator. God made man to know and to think God’s great thoughts after God. But man despised that excellency and has now become enamored with his “philosophical” musings. He claims that he sees, but his mind is blind. Having forfeited God’s gifts, man entailed upon himself horrible darkness. Jehovah knows the thoughts of man that they are vanity. God sees the wickedness of man and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart is only evil continually.

And the problem with man is that he will not be quiet. Since his inward part is very wicked, his throat is an open sepulcher. He speaks the speech of death. He has a chronic case of morning breath, and all that he utters is revoltingly putrid. God so created man that what God and man spoke was one. They sang the praises of God together in perfect harmony. They declared the truth of God with one another. Joyful and peaceful was their fellowship together. But then another sound came into the garden. It was the speech of Father Lie, the adversary, the slanderer. The motif of that speech was “glory be unto me.” And man lusted for that new speech. It sank into his heart and then spewed forth from his lips. The beautiful melody that God had placed upon the tongue of man was turned to the nauseating sound of a fourth-grade class learning to play the recorder. And man loved that lie. He broke God’s covenant, allied himself with the devil, and began hissing at God as the serpent. A fool is man and rightly deserving of hell.

And truly he will go to hell, unless God is pleased to speak a word of grace into his heart and to teach man the way of life.

The Word in the Garden

In sweet communion with the living God, Adam and Eve knew a special word of God’s covenant. It was the living word of God’s blessing. That blessing rested upon them and upon all of creation. That blessing caused them to experience the favor of God. But when they turned from God, who was their life and only good, they consequently knew a different word. It was the living word of God’s curse. All that the world could hear was the testimony of Jehovah’s wrath against the ungodliness of men. It was the speech of condemnation. Doom thundered. Death opened its terrible abyss. And gloom shut up any way of escape.

Fear and shame then dominated the minds of our first parents. They foolishly attempted to cover themselves with aprons of leaves, the works of their own wicked hands. They trembled in sheer terror when they heard the presence of God and fled from him. Their actions were the evil fruits of their fallen natures. And when confronted by Jehovah, they continued in wicked pride and vain self-preservation. It is true that Adam admitted that he had eaten of the fruit of the tree that God had prohibited. But that admission was not repentance. It was not the admission of full responsibility for the sin he had committed. Rather, he began the blame game. He blamed the woman, from whose hand he had eaten. “She made me do it. Let the guilt be on Eve!” He also rather slyly but indiscreetly blamed God. “Thou art the one who gave her to me. Let the guilt be on thee!”

Man in his sin does not stop speaking. He speaks a word of excuse. Perhaps he may grant that he did something wrong, but in his disobedience he will never fully own his sin. The sciences of man give him plenty of excuses. Psychology tells him that he is a victim of his environment and under circumstances outside his control. Biology tells him that he is just wired a certain way. Philosophy tells him that any resultant “good” from his error far outweighs the bad. But man will never of himself say, “I sinned.” Period. And then shut his mouth and sorrow after a godly sort.

Terrible darkness came upon man for his rebellion against God in the garden. In the plagues upon Egypt, God sent a darkness of such a kind that it could be felt. Pharaoh and his people sensed the condemnation of God’s righteous judgment slip around their necks and tighten itself as a noose. That darkness was suffocating and horrible, the blackness of the pit of hell. But man in the garden felt that blackness in the depths of his being. He had plunged the whole creation into a labyrinth of night with no way out. From the standpoint of Adam and Eve, there was only wrath and a fearful looking toward condemnation and fiery indignation.

But lo! Jehovah speaks.

A brilliant beacon of hope shone into the gloom of Adam’s night. A light to overcome the darkness. A light to which the darkness is strictly subservient. God spoke into the fallen world plunged into blackness, subject to vanity and the bondage of corruption. God spoke a word that man had not yet heard or known but that had been prepared from before the foundation of the world. It was the word of the gospel. The protevangel. The moeder belofte (mother promise) of Genesis 3:15. It was a word of glad tidings and great joy, for God declared that the trembling man and woman were of his party and were his friends. It was a word of condemnation to their enemy, for God by the seed of the woman, his Son in our flesh, would crush Satan. It was the word of Christ. It was the Word that is Christ.

As a testimony and sign of what was needed to restore fellowship with God, God offered a sacrifice in the presence of Adam and Eve. An innocent victim was slain. Its blood was spilled. And to cover the shame of his redeemed friend-servants, God clothed them with the righteous covering of Jesus Christ. Even then God spoke in Christ, saying, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me” (John 14:6). Adam indeed fell. Yet when he fell, he fell upon Christ. By that word God declared unto man that there was no more condemnation, and man had peace with God.

Some have an interpretation of that word of grace in the garden. It is the same interpretation that they give to John 14:6. Their interpretation is this: we experience fellowship with God through faith, on the basis of what Christ has done, and in the way of our obedience.

But where is man’s obedience here? Even while man was busy contradicting and hating God, God came to man with a wondrous and most gracious word. Unto whom did God restore fellowship with himself? It was not one who had repented. It was not one who had a single work to offer. It was not even one who was searching for reconciliation. It was one who was in himself ungodly.

Do you now say that the experience of fellowship with God is in the way of our obedience? No! You add to the truth and lie against it! You mingle grace with works! You contort the simplicity of the gospel and shut the kingdom against those who would enter! No!

The word of God from the garden onward has been this: Christ. Christ is the way unto the Father. Christ is the only way unto the Father. You experience fellowship with God in Christ. Period. That is the word that Jehovah speaks. It is the word that Jehovah spoke at sundry times and in divers manners by the prophets. It is a word that he developed and unfolded at critical junctures in Old Testament history. And in these last days, it is the word that he spoke by his Son.

The Word in the Context of the Sacrifices

“I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” This is also the living word of Jehovah that he speaks in the context of the Levitical sacrifices.

Here we arrive at the main point of this article. The five sacrifices under consideration—the burnt, meat, peace, sin, and trespass offerings—are given in Leviticus 1–7. Yet what transpired immediately prior to the prescription of those sacrifices, what is recorded in the latter chapters of the book of Exodus, is not without utmost significance. In this context Jehovah has a word to speak. And that word is this: you have covenant fellowship with me through Christ and through him alone.

In Exodus 24 we are witnesses of a most remarkable marriage ceremony, that marriage of Jehovah to his betrothed Israel.

Who is this honored bride of the living God? God did not claim her from among the great and noble in the earth. She was not discovered in the palace courts or found peacefully bathing along the banks of the Nile. No, God set his love upon the woman who was despised and rejected of men. Her estate was among the beasts of burden. Scorched black by her labor under the sun, filthy with the dust of the earth, weary from labor under the cruel taskmasters of Pharaoh, she had all but perished. Unto this wretch Jehovah came. Over her he spread his banners of love. In the presence of her enemies, he proclaimed his blessing. And in judgment he came against her persecutors with plagues and wrath. He came in the destroyer who slew Egypt’s firstborn, while hiding her under the house sealed with his blood. He drew her from her misery. He adorned her with rich spoils of victory. He carved a path for her through the sea, and with the same stroke crushed the hosts of Pharaoh. He bore her on the back of eagles’ wings and brought her to himself under the shadow of Mount Sinai.

And then commenced a glorious wedding ceremony!

There from the mount, the Lord declared his steadfast love and commitment to his bride. “I am Jehovah thy God, who hath brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.” The Lord did not offer himself. He did not inquire whether she would consent to be his bride. He declared it from the mount, sovereignly and according to his eternal love for her. She belonged to him. She always belonged to him. And thus he entered into covenant with her. He communicated to her his law, showing his bride that since she was married to him, she was obliged always to love and obey and reverence him. She had to love him from her heart and with her whole being. And what a privilege this was! For her husband was not a mere man but the eternal and almighty Lord of heaven. And further, he assured her of his promise that he would bring her into a rich and blessed land where they would dwell together.

Then behold what adornment the Holy One of Israel provided for his bride. Sacrifices having already been offered and their blood collected, God through Moses sprinkled¹ the people and clothed them in righteousness. This sign was not meaningless to Israel, for the sacrificial blood had saved them not a few months prior from the sword of the destroyer. By this God testified to his bride that she lived only because an innocent creature had died in her stead. She was in herself a polluted and condemnable slave woman. Yet eternally beloved was she in Christ, and thus her husband had cleansed her and presented her unto himself holy and without blame.

With awe of both his terrible majesty and bowels of compassion, the betrothed woman uttered her vow of commitment to him. “All that Jehovah hath said will we do, and be obedient.” And then she ascended the mount in her leaders, Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and the seventy elders. She came into God’s heavenly presence for the consummation of the wedding. She saw him enthroned upon a pavement of blue. From her low and miserable estate of building bricks of clay and straw, she by marriage to the king of kings had been greatly exalted and made to rest upon the sapphire bricks of heaven. And there with her husband she dined and communed with a heart of joy and peace.

But that was not the end of Jehovah’s grace toward his bride. After the wedding feast Moses again ascended into the mount, that time to receive instructions concerning the building of the tabernacle. God had prepared for his beloved a house, where he would meet and fellowship with her in the camp! Thus Moses received the pattern of the heavenly sanctuary that stands eternally in God’s living decree. Moses was given the form of the house, the ark with all the accompanying articles, and the priestly service for that house. Jehovah revealed what is his delight and good pleasure, namely, to provide for Israel a dwelling of love, a meeting place of fellowship, an abode of covenant unity. God and his peculiar people made perfect in one.

And what did the bride of God do while Moses abode in the mount? Certainly, she had to be eagerly and chastely awaiting the return of Moses with the words of her husband. Certainly, she had to be looking every day in anticipation toward the heights of the mount. Certainly, this must have been true.

What did that bride do? She turned from her God and went the way of the whore. She broke off her earrings of gold, the precious gifts that her Lord had given to her when he spoiled her enemies, and she fashioned for herself a cow. She declared a feast day unto Jehovah, rising up early to bring her offerings. She fellowshiped with her idol, eating and drinking under its snout. And then she stripped off her clothes and arose to play.

Oh, miserable and wretched Israel! How horribly unfaithful was she! Despicable. Treacherous. Crooked. Abominable. Worthy of every notorious epithet was she.

Let us stand aloof and condemn her…

Is that your response? Then you do not yet know your misery.

No, Israel did not want to be faithful. Israel could not be faithful. For man is a spiritual corpse. He is prone by nature to hate God, inclined to all evil, and incapable of any good. And that is who we are. Man is black. Man is Vantablack. Israel had been delivered from the bondage of Egypt. But Israel had to know of a more terrible slavery, that of sin. And scripture all the more presses this truth of man’s faithlessness upon our consciences with symbols. Moses was in the mount for forty days and nights. That is literal. That is also symbolic. That number testifies of the absolute limit of man and his total inability to obey.² Israel had made her vows to Jehovah, and instantly she broke them. The law entered, and sin immediately abounded.

And do not miss this either. God had additional instructions for Moses after giving to him the sacred patterns for the tabernacle and just prior to sending him down the mount after those forty days and nights. God told Moses to remind the people to keep his Sabbath. That Sabbath they had to observe, and everyone who defiled it had to be put to death. Israel’s husband delivered her from her excruciating toil under Pharaoh and brought her into his own covenant rest and fellowship. Already Israel had a taste of that blessed Sabbath. But even while God was giving that instruction concerning the Sabbath, Israel was already busy desecrating it.

Now, who was it with whom Israel had to do? With Jehovah, who is a consuming fire.

Earlier, God had come down on the mount to speak to his people the law of his covenant. He had come with thundering and lightning. He had come with a thick cloud and the voice of a trumpet exceedingly loud. The fire of Jehovah had set the mountain ablaze, billowing up to the midst of heaven with thick smoke. At his presence the earth had convulsed exceedingly and melted. So terrible was the sight that even Moses shook with fear. Then issuing from the fire came ten words. Ten commandments, the sum of which was to love God perfectly from the heart and to love the neighbor as oneself. And the people could not stand it a moment longer. “Let not God speak with us, lest we die” (Ex. 20:19).

And then they mocked his law.

Wonder of wonders: the sons of Jacob were not consumed.

They were not consumed because there was another in their midst who made that vow of obedience with them. When Moses came and told the people all the words of Jehovah and all his judgments, all the people answered with one voice, “All the words which Jehovah hath said will we do.” And at the head of those voices was Christ, the servant of Jehovah. Christ pledged his obedience; and when he came into the world, he said, “Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do thy will, O God” (Heb. 10:7). And it was his obedient life that was imputed unto the Israelites, and it was his precious blood that purged his people from their sins. And that seal of the covenant testified that it was not their faithfulness but that it was God’s faithfulness over against their unfaithfulness that they were his covenant people.

But God was not done teaching his bride.

The people had forsaken every right to covenant fellowship with him. Being exceedingly sinful, they could not simply walk into God’s holy sanctuary in themselves, lest they be consumed. By their sin they deserved to be cast as far away from God as possible. Thus Moses was to seek Jehovah outside the camp. Moses took the tent of meeting and pitched it far off from the people.

There Moses interceded for the people. (Christ’s high priestly intercession stands on the foreground here, waiting to be exegeted. Perhaps this is a topic I can explore in the future.) There Moses was assured by God that God would go forth and lead their host into the land of promise with his presence. And in the cleft of the mount, God passed by Moses, uncovered to him his backside, proclaimed his name, and showed to Moses his glory that was ready to be revealed in the Lord Jesus Christ. Revigorated by the promises of God, Moses picked up the work of building God’s house. And when Moses had finished the work, Jehovah’s cloud descended and filled the tabernacle with glory.

But how shall the people experience covenant fellowship with God? He abides in his house, but how shall they approach him? Is it this, that fellowship with God is through faith, on the basis of what Christ has done, and in the way of their obedience?

No! Through the context that we have just considered, God again spoke in Christ, saying, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”

For when the book of Exodus closes, what comes next? The sacrifices! God showed what is needed to experience covenant fellowship with himself. God opened the way of access unto himself. He gave the way. The only way. He gave Christ, embodied in the types and shadows of the offerings. The way unto the Father was made manifest, and that way explicitly excludes any obedience of man.

The Word Made Flesh

Jehovah speaks.

That uncreated Word also came into the world. The Logos became flesh and dwelt among us. That eternal and living Word of God made himself of no reputation, took to himself our human nature, and spoke in the language of men. And the words that the Father gave unto him, he spoke. What he saw and heard in heaven, that he testified.

“I go away,” said the Lord to his disciples (and to us). “I go to prepare a place for you. And I will come again to receive you unto myself, that where I am, there you may be also. And you know where I go and the way that I go.”

But Thomas was confused. “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How then can we know the way?”

“I am the way,” replied the Lord plainly and clearly. “No man comes unto the Father, but by me. And you know and see the Father if you know me.”

Then Philip was confused. “Lord, show us the Father, and it will be enough for us.”

Simple and carnal were the disciples. They had been with the Lord during his whole earthly ministry. They had heard him at length. They had seen him with their eyes and looked upon him and handled him with their hands. Yet here they blurted out their ignorance. “If only we could know the way! If only we could be seated with the angels in heaven and get a glimpse of the Father!” They perceived in their minds a vast gulf between them and God. They desired to bridge that gap. They wanted to enjoy covenant fellowship with their God. But they knew not how.

“Behold me,” said the Lord. “Where are your thoughts and your minds? Do not look around you. Do not look within you. ‘Me’ does not refer to some other man you esteem. ‘Me’ does not refer to any work that you do. If you have seen me, you have seen the Father. For I am the one in whom dwells the fullness of God and in whom God reveals his whole heart and counsel. Behold me. Behold me only. I am the way.”

Or as Luther puts it,

If you know and see Me, then you also know and see the way, and you must not worry any longer. You must not stare at Me as a cow stares at a new door.”³

Simple and carnal were the disciples. And so are we.

Do not give heed to the man who says that the way unto the Father includes obedience. Do not give heed to the synod that teaches that our experience of covenant fellowship is in the way of our obedience. When these become your doctrine, Christ is transformed into Moses, and your attention is fixed upon yourself. That doctrine is deadly, for already by nature we are inclined to search out within ourselves just a little goodness on which we can stand. We want just one little work for assurance that we belong to the Father. Rather, repeatedly we must be told that all we need is Christ, for in us, that is, in our flesh, dwells not one good thing. Discard all other knowledge to know absolutely nothing other than the excellency of Jesus Christ and him crucified.

“But,” you say, “I am a most miserable sinner.” Indeed. And Christ knows of your wretchedness far better than you do. But do not let Satan harass you and tear your eyes from Christ. Satan will quickly persuade you that you must take recourse to yourself and devise your own way of reconciliation to God. Satan will quickly convince you of the idea that the way unto covenant fellowship with God includes your obedience. With ease Satan will convince you that you experience covenant fellowship with God only in the way of obedience. No. “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” That you are a big sinner—is this not exactly why Christ speaks these words to you?

Jehovah speaks.

And so, as we examine the doctrines and various aspects of the Levitical sacrifices, we do not blankly stare at them as a cow stares at a new gate. God reveals to us his way. He confirms us in his holy gospel. He shows us that Christ is all that we need to know of his love, grace, faithfulness, righteousness, and wisdom. Christ laid down his life and freely shed his blood for the satisfaction of God’s perfect justice. And Christ declared, “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matt. 11:28).

He did not speak these words on his own authority. He spoke them on the authority of his Father who said from heaven, “This is my beloved Son. Hear him.”