While as members of the one body we rejoice in our own special nearness to the

glorious Head, we may enter into this intimate covering which the Lord has promised to

His beloved "all the day long".

Thus the wilderness journey is amply provided for, both in this covering and in the

third blessing mentioned, viz.:  "And he shall dwell between His shoulders."  The

shoulders of the High Priest carried the names of the twelve tribes before God

(Exod. 28: 12). The shoulders, too, of the seeking shepherd carried the lost sheep

back to the fold (Luke 15: 5).

Surely there is a message of cheer in these words for every one who, by grace, is

numbered among God's beloved. The beloved of the Lord is assured of a safe and

certain dwelling when the tabernacle of God shall be with men.  He is also most

intimately associated by ties of love to His Lord, as intimately as bride with bridegroom

or body with head, and he is assured of "traveling mercies" through the perils and trials

of the wilderness, being borne upon the shoulders of the great High Priest and Shepherd

of the sheep. May every reader be able to say out of a full heart, "My Beloved is mine,

and I am His".

Writing to the church of the Thessalonians, the apostle said:--

To some, this seems a strange statement. How could Paul or the Thessalonians really

"know" their election of God? Surely that would be one of the secret things that belong

to the Almighty. The book of life is not accessible to search as are the documents at

Somerset House. Yet it is perfectly true, and the whole secret is wrapped up in the word

"love". It goes without saying that if "beloved", then "elect".

The same is true with reference to the presence of our love toward God:--