MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.— Exodus 30:11-16
EQUALITY BEFORE GOD
We are reminded here—
I. That all men are equally recognised by the eye of God. Moses was to take “the sum of the children of Israel after their number.” This taking of the census of Israel reminds us of God’s all-comprehending and individualising knowledge of man. He knows all. Every living soul is written in His book. He knows each. Each tribe, each family, each person. There is not a living being outside God’s knowledge, there is not one who can drop out of that knowledge. With all the apparent confusion of the world, and the cheapness of life, God knows “the sum;” and He knows each race, each dwelling, each person which go to the making up of that “sum.”
II. That all men are equally guilty before the law of God. They were to give a ransom for their souls. What is the ground idea of this ransom but guilt? Israel was sinful before God, and it was necessary that they should bring “atonement-money” in their hands as expressive of their sin and penitence. It was to make an “atonement for their souls.” We are guilty before God, and it is necessary that we have somewhat to offer. “In our hands no price we bring.” Christ has paid all, and rendered it possible for Eternal love to show grace unto all who seek for it (John 1:29; Matthew 26:28; Romans 5:11; Revelation 1:5). In Christ’s death we have the grand recognition that we are sold under sin, but that God has provided for our emancipation and life. All were to give their ransom. No exemptions. All are guilty. Every mouth is stopped. And that all were equally guilty before God is expressed in all having to bring the same atonement-money. “The rich shall not give more, and the poor shall not give less than half a shekel.” This fixed amount indicates two great truths: the equal preciousness of all souls in the sight of God; and the equal guiltiness of all souls in the sight of God. “There is no difference” (Romans 3:22).
III. That all men are equally redeemable through the mercy of God. The atonement-money was to be accepted from every hand. The half shekel in the hand of every member of Israel spoke of universal reconciliation as clearly as it did of universal sin. So all men are recoverable in Christ (John 3:16). The Apostle in declaring “there is no difference,” intends to show there is no difference in regard to men’s restoration, as there is no difference in regard to their sinfulness and condemnation (Romans 3:9-31).
1. We see here the need of atonement. We cannot go to God as innocent creatures. A merely natural religion will not do for us fallen and guilty men.
2. We see the preciousness of the atonement of Christ. It saves those who trust in it from wrath and death. “Then shall they give every man a ransom for his soul unto the Lord when thou numberest them; that there be no plague among them.” And so Christ’s merit saves us from the last plagues of God’s wrath against sin and sinners. And it saves all who trust in it, The worst, the poorest. (Hebrews 7:25.)
ILLUSTRATIONS
BY
REV. WILLIAM ADAMSON
Sacrificial Speech! Exodus 30:1-38.
(1.) No student of the Bible needs to be reminded that by the complicated and long protracted series of events which preceded, accompanied, and followed the Exodus from Egypt, the essential doctrine of Gospel truth and grace are distinctly made known. By a stupendous array of symbolic acts and facts they are most emphatically confirmed and illustrated.
(2.) Thomson remarks that what is more pertinent, if possible, is that the record of them is so guided as to suggest and evolve the very best words, figures, and phrases by which these fundamental doctrines can be set forth. This is equally true of the words and ideas in this chapter of Exodus, as of the paschal lamb in Egypt, or the smiting of the rock in Horeb.
(3.) The symbolic acts and facts, it has been wisely asserted, in connection with the typical institutions, rites, and ceremonies of the Mosaic economy, were designed to permeate, and did permeate, the entire religious consciousness of the Hebrews. They thus gave birth to spiritual ideas and emotions wholly peculiar, and to corresponding formulas by which to give expression to them.
“I saw a Moslem work upon his shroud alone,
With earnest care, even as the silkworms weave their own,
When with that sacred Script it was filled from side to side,
He wrapt it round his body, and in calmness died.”
—Oriental.
Soul-Ransom! Exodus 30:11-16.
(1.) The payment, says Trower, was an acknowledgment to God that all souls are His (Ezekiel 18:4); that all lives are due to Him for sins committd against Him; and that all owe Him thanks for the mercy by which we have been enrolled in the census of His people, and for the privileges we thus enjoy.
(2.) We should regard ourselves as God’s coin, stamped with Christ’s image. And as the coin of the realm, stamped with the image of our earthly sovereign, reminds us of the claims of our rulers for what is their due; so we should remember that, as bearing Christ’s stamp, we are in the highest sense due to Him. Having been bought with His blood, we should ever offer ourselves to Him who is the Lord of heaven and earth.
“He gave me back the bond—
The seal was torn away;
And as He gave, He smiled, and said,
‘Think thou of ME alway.’
“That bond I still will keep,
Although it cancelled be;
It tells me what I owe to Him
Who paid the debt for me.”
Soul-Redemption! Exodus 30:16.
(1.) A gentleman visiting a slave market was deeply moved by the agony of a slave girl. He inquired her price, paid the ransom to the slave trader, and placed the bill of sale in her own hands, telling her that she was now free, and could go where she pleased. At first she could not realise the change; but when the whole truth flashed upon her, she sprang forward, and kneeling before him cried: “Let me be thy servant, for thou hast redeemed me.”
(2.) The Lord Jesus has purchased our freedom from sin-serfdom and Satan-savagedom with a great price: “Ye are not bought with corruptible things such as silver and gold, but with the precious blood of Jesus;” therefore, “we should glorify God in our bodies and spirits which are His.” It is for every one to pay the half shekel of voluntary surrender to His service, whose are our souls, since He paid the ransom—
“Thy ransomed servant, I
Restore to Thee Thine own;
And from this moment live or die
To serve my God alone.”
—Wesley.