In all places where I record My name, I will come unto thee.
The gospel in Exodus
I. That God demands from His creature man reverent and intelligent worship.
II. That such worship, to be acceptable to God, must always be associated with Divinely-appointed sacrifice.
III. That such worship and sacrifice obtain for man the best blessings of heaven. (F. W. Brown.)
God’s promised presence essential to constitute a Church
I. The extent of the promise. What and where are the places where we are to receive this blessing? Before God gave the promise, He gave instructions to the children of Israel about sacrifices--what kind of offerings to bring, what animals to offer, what kind of altars to build; and having given these instructions, He follows them by the promise that “in all places where I record My name, I will come unto thee and bless thee.” We must easily see that the places where God recorded His name were places where altars were built to Him--where lambs bled in sacrifice, and where the ordinances and commands of God were observed by the people.
II. The blessing promised.
1. “I will come to thee.” God’s gracious presence.
2. “I will bless thee.” Remind Him of His promise.
3. Make this a house of prayer. (T. Guthrie,D. D.)
Sanctuary blessings
I. What is meant by recording the name of the Lord in any place?
1. By the name of the Lord is often understood God Himself, or the display of His infinite perfections in those works, whereby He makes His being and nature known.
Thus, Psa_20:1. But the name of the Lord, when used in a particular reference to the covenant of grace, always respects God considered as a Redeemer; and expresses His Divine perfections, as they are gloriously displayed in the salvation of sinners.
2. Let us now see in what respects that name may be said to be recorded in any place. The words might be rendered, “In all places where I shall fix the memory of My name”; or, “In all places where I shall make My name to be invoked.” The Chaldaic paraphrase has it, “In every place where I shall make My majesty dwell.” The phrase, agreeably to either of these translations, evidently refers to the public worship of God, and has respect both to the place when, and the manner in which, it was to be celebrated. It is well known that the tabernacle was the place of public worship which God, exclusively of all others, determined for the Israelites while they were in the wilderness. After they had possession of the promised land, the ark of the covenant was lodged at Shiloh, and there, for a long while, the people celebrated Divine service. When the temple was finished, Jerusalem was fixed upon as the permanent seat,
3. If you now inquire how the name of the Lord was recorded in all these places, and by what means it might be said that He made Himself to be there remembered as the God of Salvation; we refer you, for a general answer, to the genius and scope of the Mosaic institution.
4. But this great end was more especially attained by the sacrifices and burnt-offerings, which formed an essential part of the daily worship in Israel. Believers were then looking for the appearance of the promised Seed who was not yet come. What couldbe better calculated to assist their faith, to establish their hope, and instruct them in the method of salvation, than to be commanded of God to substitute a bloody offering in their own stead, and thus transfer the legal guilt and punishment upon a sacrifice? In this act of worship, the bleeding lamb and smoking altar directed them to the promised Surety, the precious Lamb of God, who, by His sufferings and death, was fully to atone for His people, and, by one perfect sacrifice, became the Author of salvation unto all that obey Him.
II. The import of these words, “I will come unto thee, and bless thee.” The blessing of the Lord is always upon His people in every place. He hears their prayers in secret, and in their families. He has never said to the seed of Jacob, “Seek ye Me in vain.” But to public worship peculiar mercies are annexed.
1. The Lord blesses His Church when He gives it a pure and faithful ministry.
2. The Lord blesses His Church when, in His good Providence, He preserves His people together in mutual peace, and prevents confusion, animosities, and schisms.
3. But especially He blesses His people in the place where He records His name, when He bestows that blessing of all blessings, the Holy Spirit.
4. The protection and defence of the Most High, whereby He preserves His Churches in the enjoyment of their privileges, and continues His blessing from the fathers to the children.
Application:
1. We learn, “that the Son of God, from the beginning to the end of the world, gathers, defends, and preserves to Himself, by His Spirit and Word, out of the whole human race, a Church chosen to everlasting life and agreeing in true faith.”
2. We learn, that there is forgiveness with our God, that He may be feared; and thus a foundation laid for true and spiritual worship.
3. We see, that the doctrines of the gospel, like their Divine Author, are the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever. (J. H. Livingstone,D. D.)
The promise of God at Sinai
I. The promise is evidently of universal application. Its language implies or rather asserts this. It speaks of “all places,” and consequently it takes in or may take in the whole world, and every spot in the world. The Lord “records” His name in a place, when He declares His perfections and makes Himself known there; when He tells us what He is; unfolds to us His character. Now comes the question, Where has the Holy One of Israel thus revealed Himself? Where has He thus recorded His great name? It is engraven on the face of universal nature. The Cross of the Lord Jesus Christ is, in fact, the one great manifestation of a hidden God.
II. Let us go on to consider his promise.
1. It encourages us to expect in this house of prayer the presence of God with us. “I will come unto thee.” And what more can we desire? It is rest to the soul; a something which not only quiets, and strengthens, and raises it, but leaves it nothing to wish for; it is the “fulness of joy”; no cistern of happiness, which a few moments or hours of enjoyment can empty; but a fountain of life, a spring that eternity cannot dry up nor a universe exhaust. “I will come unto thee, and I will bless thee”; “so bless thee, that My presence shall be known by the happiness I communicate, and the mercies I bestow.”
2. We are warranted then to look for blessings from heaven in this place, and these real blessings, great blessings, mercies which God Himself esteems blessings. But here we must remember that anything, in order to be a blessing, must be adapted to the situation and condition of those to whom it is given. Hence when the Lord Jehovah says, “I will bless thee,” before we can understand His words, we must have some acquaintance with the character and circumstances of those to whom they are addressed. If spoken to an angel or a redeemed saint in heaven, they may mean one thing; addressed to this sinner on the earth, another thing; and sent home to the heart of that poor child of the dust, yet something different. We must look to ourselves then. We must ask where we are standing and whither we are going; where we are and what we are. And to what a multitude of thoughts do such questions as these give rise! What wants, and burdens, and sins, and fears, do they bring before us! (C. Bradley, M. A.)
The presence of God in His Church
“I will come unto thee, and I will bless thee,” said a faithful God on Sinai. And did the words, as they died on His lips, pass away from His remembrance? No; His Church in thewilderness beheld and owned His presence. He shone forth between the cherubim; He met His people in His tabernacle, and “made them joyful in His house of prayer.” And when a temple was built at Jerusalem for His rest, He dwelt visibly in it. “The glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord”; and this was His promise concerning it, “I have chosen this place to Myself for an house of sacrifice. Now Mine eyes shall be open, and Mine ears attend unto the prayer that is made in this place. Mine eyes and Mine heart shall be there perpetually.” And when He left the heaven of His glory, and came down “a Man of sorrows” to the earth, was Sinai forgotten amidst His labours and griefs? A thousand years had not erased from His memory one word of the promise He had uttered there. He remembers it; He takes it up as His own; He confirms and extends it. “In all places,” was His language on the mountain; “Wheresoever any are gathered together,” is His language now. “I will come unto thee,” said He to the hosts of Israel; He says to us, “Where only two or three are met together, I am.” “I will come,” was His promise in the wilderness; but this is His declaration in His Church, “I am come; there am I in the midst”; His presence is no longer a mercy to be hoped for, it is a blessing to be enjoyed. But all this, it may be said, was addressed to His disciples; and was intended only for the early ages of His Church. He foresaw the objection. Hear Him again; “Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.” What then is this house of prayer? It is a place where we are to meet our God. We see Him not, perhaps we think not of His presence; but if only two or three of us are seeking our happiness in Him, He is here, and here to bless us. His own faithful lips have told us so. May His Spirit grant that our own experience may often tell us the same! (C. Bradley, M. A.)
