the Week of Proper 28 / Ordinary 33
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Bible Dictionaries
Navel
Hawker's Poor Man's Concordance And Dictionary
or In the margin of the Bible, Ezekiel 38:12 "The midst of the land" is more strikingly marked by this term, Navel, to intimate the centre or middle of the earth; for as the navel of the human body is the centre of the body, so the holy land of Palestine is the Mediterranean of the world.
There is something very particular in this, and worth regarding. Christ comes upon earth for the redemption of his people—But where shall he make his appearance? Surely as near the centre as possible. It is so then, Jesus shall appear, to fulfil all righteousness, in that part which is the solid globe of the earth, that here to this centre all the ends of the earth may have their views directed. Hence the Psalmist speaking of it, saith, "for God is my king of old, working salvation in the midst of the earth." (Psalms 74:12) And hence the Lord Jesus is represented by the Holy Ghost as calling from his throne, in the centre of it, to his redeemed, saying, "Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth, for I am God, and there is none else." (Isaiah 45:22) And hence, at the last day, the redeemed "in their return to Zion with songs of everlasting joy upon their heads, are represented as coming from the east, and from the west, and from the north, and from the south, to sit down in the kingdom of God." (Luke 13:29)
Now it is blessed to observe what the Holy Ghost hath said in his records of truth concerning those things. "His foundation (saith the Lord, by the Psalmist) is in the holy mountain." (Psalms 87:1) Christ himself indeed is the foundation JEHOVAH laid in Zion. (Isaiah 28:16) But here the Holy Ghost is speaking of the church of Christ founded in himself; and this foundation of the Lord Jesus is in this holy mountain, the navel, or centre of the earth. Here the Lord Christ founded it; here the Lord of his temple came suddenly to it, Malachi 350where Jesus, as had been prophesied of him, filled it by his presence with glory, and thereby made"the glory of the latter temple greater than the glory of the former." And here it was the Lord gave peace. (See Haggai 2:7; Hag 2:9)
And is there not yet an higher view of the subject, considered as to the glorious persons who are the united source and cause of our salvation? If salvation is wrought out for the church in the middle of the earth, is not the Son of God, by whom it was wrought, the middle person of the GODHEAD? And not only so, the middle person of the Holy Three in One who bear record in heaven, but the middle person, the Mediator, between God and man, as the man Christ Jesus? (1 John 5:7; 1 Timothy 2:5) And can the imagination conceive any thing more blessed and suited for the glory and happiness of the church, than that he who is the centre in all these views, should be the centre towards whom all things should move, and in whom all should centre? And hence we read, that when John saw heaven open, he saw Christ as a lamb in the midst of the throne. (Revelation 7:17) Nay, we are told by the Holy Ghost, through the ministry of his servant Paul, (Ephesians 1:10) that the great purpose of redemption is, "that in the dispensation of the fulness of time, he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth, even in him." So that not only shall all the redeemed of the Lord ultimately centre in him, but the enemies of the Lord shall be given up into his almighty hands, and here, as to one centre, shall they all meet for destruction; all evil things, sin, Satan, death, and hell to be put under his feet, when the Lord Jesus Christ shall come "to root out of his kingdom all things that offend." So that as in him and from him, and by him, all the blessings of grace now flow, as from a centre, to his redeemed upon earth, and all glory to his redeemed now and for ever in heaven; so all the enemies of God and his Christ will meet their final overthrow and everlasting destruction from him that is in the midst of the throne, when the Lord of hosts shall "reign in mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before his ancients gloriously." (Isaiah 24:23)
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Hawker, Robert D.D. Entry for 'Navel'. Hawker's Poor Man's Concordance and Dictionary. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/pmd/n/navel.html. London. 1828.
