[6] The “_dust_” lifted from the floor of the tabernacle may be viewed as the figure of death.—“Thou hast brought me into the dust of death.” The “_water_” prefigures the Word, which, being brought to bear upon the conscience, by the power of the Holy Ghost, makes every thing manifest. If there has been any unfaithfulness to Christ, the true Husband of His people, it must be thoroughly judged. This holds good with regard to the nation of Israel, to the Church of God, and to the individual believer. If the heart be not true to Christ, it will not be able to stand the searching power of the Word; but if there be truth in the inward parts, the more one is searched and tried, the better. How blessed it is when we can truly say, “Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts; and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” (Ps. cxxxix. 23, 24.) [7] The “prophets,” in the above quotations, are those of the New Testament, as is evident from the form of expression. Had the apostle meant Old-Testament prophets, he would have said, His holy prophets and apostles. But the point he is insisting upon is, that the mystery had never been revealed until his time—that it had not been made known to the sons of men in other ages—that it was hid in God; not hid in the Scriptures, but in the infinite mind of God. [8] The statement in the text refers, of course, to the Old-Testament prophecies. There are passages in the epistles to the Romans and Galatians in which all believers are viewed as the seed of Abraham (See Rom. iv. 9-17; Gal. iii. 7, 9, 21; vi. 16.), but this is obviously a different thing altogether. We have no revelation of “the Church,” properly so called, in the Old-Testament scriptures. [9] The reader will note, with interest and profit, the contrast between the acting of Hezekiah in 2 Chronicles xxx, and the acting of Jeroboam in 1 Kings xii. 32. The former availed himself of the provisions of divine grace; the latter followed his own device. The second month was permitted of God; the eighth month was invented by man. Divine provisions meeting man’s need, and human inventions opposing God’s Word, are totally different things. [10] Let it be noted here once for all, that the cutting off of any one from the congregation of Israel answers to the suspension of a believer’s communion because of unjudged sin. [11] “Thoughts on the Lord’s Supper,” etc. [12] The Greek word for man (ανθρωπος) signifies to turn the face upwards.