LEVITICUS 18


4 Ye shall do my judgments, and keep mine ordinances, to walk therein: I am Yahweh your Elohim.

5 Ye shall therefore keep my statutes, and my judgments: which if a man do, he shall live in them: I am Yahweh.

The nation was a typical nation in this respect -- a prophecy of things to come, as well as a teacher for the time then present. God's purpose is that human life upon earth should be a thing of holiness and therefore of beauty and joy in all lands. The Gospel is the glad tidings that He will bring this about. He has been working towards this result in all He has done hitherto.

There has been no waste time, though there has been much apparent failure and confusion -- comparable to the disorder caused by clearing the foundations for a house, or burning down the bush to bring the land into cultivation.

There has been steady progress all the time towards the day now near at hand when

"every pot in Jerusalem and in Judah shall be holiness to the Lord",

and when the very "bells of the horses" shall be inscribed with the words that appeared only on the golden plate of Aaron's mitre:

"Holiness to the Lord"

Israel under Moses was an important step towards the goal: Israel under Christ will show us the goal reached, and all the earth invited to

"worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness": "Give unto the Lord the glory due unto his name .... Say among the heathen that the Lord reigneth: the world also shall be established that it shall not be moved. He shall judge the people righteously. Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad: let the sea roar, and the fulness thereof. Let the field be joyful, and all that is therein. Then shall all the trees of the wood rejoice before the Lord, for he cometh to judge the earth; he shall judge the world with righteousness, and the people with his truth"

(Psa. 96:8-13).