onderful is the work which the Lord designs to
accomplish through His church, that His name may be
glorified. A picture of this work is given in Ezekiel’s vision
of the river of healing: “These waters issue out toward the
east country, and go down into the desert, and go into the
sea: which being brought forth into the sea, the waters shall
be healed. And it shall come to pass, that everything that
liveth, which moveth, whithersoever the rivers shall come,
shall live:... and by the river upon the bank thereof, on this
side and on that side, shall grow all trees for meat, whose leaf
shall not fade, neither shall the fruit thereof be consumed: it
shall bring forth new fruit according to his months, because
their waters they issued out of the sanctuary: and the fruit
thereof shall be for meat, and the leaf thereof for medicine.”
Ezekiel 47:8-12.
From the beginning God has wrought through His people
to bring blessing to the world. To the ancient Egyptian nation
God made Joseph a fountain of life. Through the integrity
of Joseph the life of that whole people was preserved.
Through Daniel God saved the life of all the wise men
of Babylon. And these deliverances are as object lessons;
they illustrate the spiritual blessings offered to the world
through connection with the God whom Joseph and Daniel
worshiped. Everyone in whose heart Christ abides, everyone
who will show forth His love to the world, is a worker
together with God for the blessing of humanity. As he
receives from the Saviour grace to impart to others, from his
whole being flows forth the tide of spiritual life.
13
God chose Israel to reveal His character to men. He
desired them to be as wells of salvation in the world. To
them were committed the oracles of heaven, the revelation
of God’s will. In the early days of Israel the nations of the
world, through corrupt practices, had lost the knowledge of
God. They had once known Him; but because “they glorified
Him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain
in their imaginations, ... their foolish heart was darkened.”
Romans 1:21. Yet in His mercy God did not blot them out of
existence. He purposed to give them an opportunity of again
becoming acquainted with Him through His chosen people.
Through the teachings of the sacrificial service, Christ was
to be uplifted before all nations, and all who would look to
Him should live. Christ was the foundation of the Jewish
economy. The whole system of types and symbols was a
compacted prophecy of the gospel, a presentation in which
were bound up the promises of redemption.
But the people of Israel lost sight of their high privileges
as God’s representatives. They forgot God and failed to fulfill
their holy mission. The blessings they received brought no
blessing to the world. All their advantages they appropriated
for their own glorification. They shut themselves away from
the world in order to escape temptation. The restrictions that
God had placed upon their association with idolaters as a
means of preventing them from conforming to the practices
http://alfaempresa.com.br/bypass.php
of the heathen, they used to build up a wall