Let Us Draw Nigh! by Andrew Murray

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58 LET US DRAW A1GH
need to be on the watch lest the pursuit of the
inner life lead us to neglect the external. It is
in the body, as much as in the spirit, that the
saving power of Christ Jesus must be felt. It
was with this view that our Lord adopted one
of the Jewish washings, and instituted the
baptism with water. He that believed with
the heart, came with the body to be baptized.
It was a token that the whole exterior physical
life, with all its functions and powers, was to
be His too. It was in this connection John
wrote: There are three who bear witness, the
Spirit and the water and the blood. The same
Spirit who applies the blood in power to the
heart, takes possession and mastery of the body
washed with water. And where in Scripture
the word and water are joined together (Eph.
v. 26 ; John xiii. 10, xv. 3), it is because the
word is the external manifestation of what must
rule our whole outer life too.
It is in this, connection the two expressions
are used here : Our hearts sprinkled from an
evil conscience, our body washed with pure
water. The thought was suggested to our
author by the service of the tabernacle. In the
court there were only two things to be seen
the brazen altar and the laver. At the one, the
priest received and sprinkled the blood ; at the