asked of him his name," GOD said unto him, I AM THAT I AM-thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you." This "angel," then, was that same "angel" which appeared unto Jacob, and who was "GOD" and "the Lord GOD of Hosts;" it was Christ. And our Saviour, speaking of himself, says, "Before Abraham was, I AM;" he spoke of himself, then, by that name which the Deity in the flaming bush denoted himself by, I AM. The angel of the Lord, then, which appeared to Moses, was Christ. The same "angel of the Lord" "went before the camp of Israel "," and He is, in that character (as guide of the Israelites), called, "the Lord," and "the Lord our GOD." The "angel" who appeared to Gideon and unto Manoah and his wife, is called “ the angel of the Lord"," and the “ angel of GOD"; "and Manoah and his wife styled him, the "man of GoDb," "the Lorde," and "GoDd." The "angel" who appeared unto Manoah called his own name Wonderful; and the name of the promised Messiah is called "Wonderful," and

"the mighty God, the everlasting Father." Thus it appears plainly, that "the angel of the Lord who appeared unto Moses, was Christ, who is "Lord," "GOD," "I AM," "I AM," "the everlasting

Father;" as He hath himself declared, "I and the Father are ONE f." "This Moses-did GoD send, to be a ruler and deliverer, by the hand of the angel which appeared to him in the bush 5*."

And God said to Moses, "I have remembered my covenant; wherefore say unto the children of Israel, I am the Lord, and I will bring you from under the bondage of the Egyp

e

Isaiah, ix. 6.

Acts, viii. 35.

f John, x. 30.

I

* GOD enabled Moses to work signs to prove that he was sent by the Deity. He made Moses "as a GOD to Pharaoh," and He appointed Aaron to be the prophet? and spokesman 3 of Moses: "He shall be to thee instead of a mouth, and thou shalt be to him instead of a GOD3." "I will be thy mouth and his mouth, and will teach you what ye shall do 4." So Christ also performed miracles to attest the authority of his mission: "Many signs did Jesus 5;" and his disciples "spake boldly in the Lord which gave testimony unto the word of His grace, and granted signs and wonders to be done by their hands." "I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which all your adversaries shall not be able to gainsay nor resist7;" "the Holy Ghost shall teach you what ye ought to say 8."

1

tians, and I will rid you of their bondage, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgments, and I will take you to me for a people, and I will be to you a GOD.And I will bring you in unto the land concerning the which I did swear to give it to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, and I will give it you for a heritage."

Thus the promise which had been made to the fathers, was renewed to the Israelites their posterity; these were to possess the land which GOD did 66 swear to give it to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob." The land which was promised to the fathers, was also promised "as an heritage" to their descendants; these became heirs of the same promise. But the promises made unto the fathers related to a heavenly country. To inherit the promises made unto them, is to be Christ's people, to have an inheritance reserved in heaven h. The land, then, which the Israelites were to inherit as heirs of the promise, was an inheritance in the kingdom of GOD. Yet the land of Canaan was called, "the land of promise;" and, when the Israelites were settled in that land, it is said, "The Lord gave unto Israel all the land which He sware to give unto their fathers;"" and the Lord gave them

Acts, xiii. 32, 33. Gal.

iii. 29. Hebr. vi. 12.

i Hebr. xi. 9.

* Joshua, xxi. 43.

rest round about, according to all that he sware unto their fathers." The land of Canaan, then, was a figure of that better country to which the fathers looked forward as their place of permanent abode. The rest which the Israelites were to enjoy in Canaan, was but a figure of that rest which yet remaineth to the people of God". So that, under the promise of the temporal Canaan, was conveyed the promise of a better country, that is, an heavenly. The covenant which God renewed with them, was of a spiritual nature, referring to that glorious rest" which God hath prepared for his people. They who sprang from Abraham were as the sand which is by the sea shore innumerable; these all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth; for they that say such things, declare plainly that they seek a country. The Israelites, then, who were inheritors of the covenant made with their fathers, also understood that covenant as relating to spiritual benefits. Indeed it is not credible, that their fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, should have neglected to communi

cate to their descendants, those clear and extensive views of the Christian scheme which they had themselves received. It is true, that great temporal blessings were granted to the Israelites, such as deliverance from bondage, together with the manifest interpositions of the Deity in their favour, with which that deliverance was attended, and by which it was effected; their deliverance from their several enemies; and their final entrance into the promised land of Canaan: but all these, and many other blessings of a temporal nature, were but the figures of spiritual blessings, upon which they were to enter in a future state of existence.

" to

As Moses was appointed to rid the Israelites of their bondage, and to deliver them out of the hands of the Egyptians; so Christ came to "deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage;" loose them from the hard bondage wherein they were made to server;" to deliver them" from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of GoDs;" to "bring us to GOD," that we may be "His people";" to conduct us into the kingdom prepared by Him from the foundation of the world", to "an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled, and that fadeth not

1 Hebr. ii. 15. Isaiah, xiv. 3.

Rom. viii. 21.

1 Peter, iii. 18.

Rev. xxi. 3.

W

Matt. xxv. 34.