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