Egypt, as presented in Scripture, is a type of the world as it is in its natural, fallen state; alienated from God by sin, and ignorant of Him; living in the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life; enjoying sin in the various forms which adapt themselves to the different tastes of men.
A child of God going back to Egypt, as seen typically in Num. 11:4-6; 14:1-4; Jer. 42:13-22, etc., means, therefore, that he has ceased to find in Christ, and the things of Christ, the satisfaction and joy he once found, and that he has, in the measure of the vacancy which this has left in his heart, returned to the things of fallen nature to fill it up. He is finding pleasure in them again. This is an awful thought, and sufficient to call for tears of repentance in them of whom it is true, even though there be no evil things marring the life in the eyes of men.
Returning to Egypt is by the allurement of '' the pleasures of sin," which faith had forsaken. When God took Israel out of Egypt He purposely took them through a strange way,-the Red Sea,-that they might learn how absolutely He had separated them to Himself from it, never to return to it. Paul, in the energy of faith, expresses this thus :"But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world." He has in this manner parted with Egypt forever.
Babylon is quite another thing :The people of God never go there willingly, but get there forcibly by the judgment of God, by the very fact that " He cannot deny Himself."They would not for a moment think that a principle false to His Word, and which they imbibe, leads to such ends; but it does. They find no satisfaction in those ends, of course, but become mourners there in due time. They are reaping the fruit of corrupting the truth; it is the judgment of God upon His people for departing from . His Word, and taking up with that which annuls it. Having by redemption brought them out of the world,-of its service, mind, and principles,-He brings them to a place of His own, to have them there for Himself, to form them for His purpose, govern them by His own principles, and use them for His own glorious ends. If they depart from that by disobedience and self-will, they corrupt His things and bring in man's. For instance, they substitute the Saviour, by Mary and penance and good works; the Head of the Church, by a pope; the ministry of Christ, by a man-made clergy; the presence and guidance of the Holy Spirit, by human organization; the following righteousness, by ecclesiastical pretensions; the unity of the Spirit, by sectarian union; Christian liberty, by license, and what not ?
As a result we have Babylon :a confusion of tongues which forbids understanding one another, an oppression which makes God's people long for deliverance, a condition of things which is beyond their control and makes them sigh and mourn.
God alone, under whose judgment they are for their departures, can relieve and deliver them. He did open a door of deliverance to His people Israel under Ezra and Nehemiah before Messiah came, and He has unquestionably done the same to His Church before her Lord returns, and He declares that "none can shut it." The return from captivity to God's liberating truth, from man's centers and grounds of assembling to God's,-may be in the greatest weakness; but the mercy of God to His sighing and mourning people is expressed in it, and they who avail themselves of it will reap the rich and everlasting results, though there be more apparent defeat in it than success. P. J. L.