ON MODERN UNREST AND THE BIBLE. 



348 



When Abraham led captivity captive, he received the blessing 

 of the King of Kighteousness and Peace, because the act was 

 prophetic of the day when Jesus would proclaim deliverance to 

 all captives. Out of this experience were born his compassion 

 and intercession for the guilty cities. One righteous Lot had 

 brought strong succour, not only for himself, but for those with 

 him, a blessing which was bestowed upon Noah in the Flood, 

 and upon Paul in the shipwreck. In each case, all who accepted 

 salvation, received it. The dogs eat of the crumbs that fall from 

 the children's table. Did the woman's heart for a moment 

 reflect the wideness of God's mercy ? Is there any joy in being 

 saved alone ? Is this the thought which underlies the pleading 

 of Moses and of Paul ? Did not Jesus pass through that 

 blotting out and the curse that Israel may be saved ? 



Now, on the mount, the glory of Christ breaks on Abraham's 

 vision. Where Isaac lay bound, he sees the Son of God, and as 

 Abraham enters into the agony of God the Father, who gives 

 His only Son to vivify by His own blood a dead humanity, he 

 foresees that it is through the faith, by which he trusted the 

 word of God, that not only his own race, but all nations shall be 

 blessed. As this Gospel is preached to Abraham (Galatians iii, 8), 

 he beholds the everlasting gates of the Eternal City lifted up 

 and the triumphal entry of Christ — the Lamb that was slain — 

 bringing with him the rescued multitude of all kindreds and 

 tongues ; and he is glad, because of the final omnipotence of 

 Love by the Life laid down. 



Hitherto, the dealings of God with men had been in 

 judgment : the sentence of death, the Flood, Babel, and Sodom. 

 " I am God Almighty." In the offering of Isaac, God revealed 

 Himself in Love ; and from henceforth, God, the friend of 

 Abraham, seeks to renew the fellowship with man which was 

 broken at Eden. "Ye are my friends if ye do whatsoever I 

 command you." 



Abraham had typified God giving His beloved Son. Isaac 

 had typified the Son brought as a Lamb to the slaughter, yet 

 opening not his mouth ; now, Jacob was to exhibit the long- 

 suffering of God to the slayers of his son. When Jacob told 

 Pharaoh that the days of his years had been few and evil, he is 

 evidently referring to the long-drawn-oat forbearance with 

 which he had continued to dwell with the would-be murderers 

 of Joseph — men unstable of principle and cruel in anger, false of 

 tongue and impure in conduct — a forbearance which finally won 

 their love, as is seen in the intercession of Judah for Benjamin. 



Thus, as the work of God the Father, God the Son, and God 



