Lectures on the Tabernacle

Note to the Second Edition

Second And Revised Edition.

Note to the Second Edition.

A new edition of this book having been called for, the author has carefully revised the Original Lectures. and they are now re-issued in an enlarged form and in the order in which they were delivered to large audiences in Y.M.C.A. Hall, Belfast, during his visit to the homeland in 1927-28.

Kilmarnock, Scotland:

John Ritchie, Ltd., Publishers of Christian Literature

London: Hulbert Publishing Co., Ltd., 7 Paternoster Row.

Made in Great Britain.

(Printed at Publishers own Works at Kilmarnock).

Prefatory Note.

I have read these Twelve Lectures with pleasure and profit. They set forth in simple and Scriptural teaching, vital truths foreshadowed in these great types which the Holy Ghost has left on record, for our instruction and edification.

There is no part of the Sacred Word so full of the excellencies of the Person and virtues of the Work of the Lord Jesus Christ as the typical books, yet it has to be confessed, no part of Holy Scripture is less known. Comparatively few read these books, and of those who do, not many dig to find their hidden treasures. And in our time, little is heard from them in public ministry. This is our common loss.

It is therefore with gratitude that we welcome these pages, and with confidence that we here commend them to the Lord’s people.

This book contains the substance of what has been given fully to interested audiences of hearers in parts of America and Australia. It is now passed on in this handy form, to be read and compared with the Word, by all who in every place love its holy pages, and seek to become better acquainted with Him of whom Moses wrote, to whose Peerless Person, Perfect Sacrifice, and Ceaseless Service in the Heavenly Sanctuary, these types have borne their witness.

May the book be well-pleasing to the Lord, acceptable to His people, and a means of blessing to all who read it.

J.R.

Synopsis Of Subjects

I. Introduction

Why the Instruction for the Vessels before the Tabernacle? Why Eleven chapters about the making of the Tabernacle, and less than two for creation? The teaching of the Tabernacle, a witness to the inspiration of the Bible.

II. The Gate of the Court

Man at a distance from God; Christ the way to God. The Four Pillars, or The Four Evangelists and their special messages. The Scarlet in the Gate, or “Made nigh by the blood of Christ.”

III. The Brazen Altar

The Work of Christ on the Cross. The Justification of the sinner. The Material, Measurements and Shape of the Altar, a witness to the full Deity and true Humanity of Christ. The Developement of the Altar and the Predictions of Christ’s coming as Saviour, a parallel.

IV. The Brazen Laver

The Unfinished Work of Christ. Why do we not get the Laver in the same order as the other vessels, that is just before the Brazen Altar? Why have we no measurements given for the Laver? Why do we not read of staves to carry it? How the Brass to make it was obtained.

V. The Court Wall and its 60 Pillars

The Security, Stability, Unity and Responsibility of all Believers. Or, The Brazen Sockets and pins, with the Silver Rod and their teaching.

VI. The Coverings and the Curtains

The Sanctification; The Consecration, The Expiation and the Exaltation of Christ. Why are thirteen verses given to the Fine Twined Linen, blue purple and scarlet; and the Goats’ Hair curtains, and but one verse for the Rams’ skins dyed red, and Badgers’ skins coverings? Why God has said so much more about the death, than the life of Christ?

VII. The Door of the Tabernacle

Christ in Glory, the Way by Whom believers draw near in worship. The Five Pillars of the Door, as compared with the Four Pillars of the Gate, and their teaching.

VIII. The Silver Sockets

Christ the precious and sure foundation. God’s great type of man’s need of redemption. Christ taking the sinner’s place. David’s fatal omission and its consequences. Peter’s mistake in committing the Lord to the payment of the half shekel; and the grand picture of redemption it brought out.

IX. The Boards of the Tabernacle

How God is now building a spiritual house. Cut down, Stripped, fitted and fashioned and covered with gold. No longer in the earth, but resting on the silver sockets. In, but not of the World.

X. The Veil, and its Rending

Christ’s Death fully manifesting God. How on the Cross was seen all that the Veil spoke of, the full Deity of Christ, His perfect Manhood, His Kingship, etc.

XI. The Seven Branched Lampstand

The Holy Spirit: the only light by which the things of God can be known. The Lord Jesus Christ, in His Divine glory. Christ and Believers, or how the Lampstand sets forth death and resurrection, by which they became one. The Church cared for, as Aaron tended the Lampstand. The responsibility of the Church to shine during Christ’s absence, or “From the evening unto the morning.” Why no size is given for the Lamp-stand while its weight is given.

XII. The Golden Table and the Shew bread

Christ the food of His people. Christ sustaining His saints in communion with the Father. Christ glorified, the pledge of the future regathering of the 12 Tribes, back to Palestine, to be one undivided nation there. The governmental completeness of the Church, and its future reign with Christ over the earth.

XIII. The Golden Altar of Incense

Christ now appearing in heaven for us. The believers’ acceptation; “Accepted in the Beloved.” Believers as an “Holy priesthood”; Their place of worship and their sacrifices. Strange fire, What is it?

XIV. The Ark and Mercy Seat

The Ark and the law, or The place which our Lord gave the Word of God. How His use of it condemns as error, the Evolution theories of Modernist preachers. The contents of the Ark, a type of the provision God has made in Christ, for the present needs of the Church. The Mercy Seat, Christ, on the ground of Whose work, God can meet sinners in grace and not in judgment. The two goats on the day of Atonement, Or propitiation and substitution. The Staves of the Ark, or Christ as Priest and Advocate.

XV. The Old Staves and the New Cart

A good work done in a wrong way, or, not going to the Word to learn how to do God’s work. The story of the Ark captured by the Philistines. The terror it caused. Sent back to Israel in a new cart. David’s mistake in copying the Philistines. David restored and back to the old staves.

XVI. The Material used and how it was Obtained

Where did all the gold, silver, brass, precious stones, etc., come from? What is meant by the command to “borrow” from the Egyptians, jewels of silver and jewels of gold? A time when the people brought too much stuff. The widow who gave all.

XVII. The Workmen of the Tabernacle

Where did a nation of slaves, who made bricks for for Pharaoh get the skill to work in the Tabernacle? Bezaleel, a type of all whom God calls to His work. His fellow-helpers, both men and women. God’s Divinity School for His servants; or the use of the gifts which Christ has given to the Church.

XVIII. The Inspection of the Work by Moses

The Judgment Seat of Christ, the trial of the work of the believers. Going by the pattern. The sisters’ work and the commendation of the Lord. The Tabernacle finished and filled with glory. The Church glorified.

Introduction.

The days predicted in 1 Tim. 4:1, 2 Tim. 4:3-4 are upon us. The Bible as God’s revelation to man has now a different and much more dangerous class of enemies than the open and avowed infidel of the past. The faith of the masses in the Bible is being undermined by the persistent attacks of men, who profess to teach it. And from press and pulpit, pernicious errors are going forth, like smoke from the pit, to darken men’s minds and fit them for the reception of the Antichrist.

In view of this, the best service which can be rendered to the Lord’s people, to enable them to stand against this rising tide of error, is to unfold Christ, as He is brought before us, in the very section of the Word, which is most despised by the Modernist! Indeed we believe the place it gets is due to ignorance of its teaching.

The reverent believer sees hundreds of proofs of the Divine authorship of the Bible, which are hidden from the eyes of those who imagine that education and brains are the sole requirement for to understand and expound it. It is well for us to remember what we have in 1 Cor. 2:14. “But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him; neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.”

The natural man is one who has not been born again, and therefore has not the Holy Spirit indwelling him. Such an one may have great natural gifts, aided by all the learning which the Universities can give, and yet he is utterly incompetent to understand and teach God’s Word. A blind man, would be just as successful in lecturing on colours as an unsaved man on the things of God.

To know the Word of God is our best safeguard in these days. And by knowing we do not mean just knowing its letter. The Scribes and Pharisees knew the letter, but they did not know Christ. And their very knowledge made them all the better helpers of Herod, who wished to destroy Christ (Matt. 2:4-6).

The subject with which we shall be occupied in these addresses is one peculiarly suited to the times. In no section of the Word do we find such a wealth of typical teaching about the person and work of our Lord Jesus Christ. And when we see that, we can appreciate better the words of our Lord in John 5:45, “For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed Me: for he wrote of Me.”

How fully he wrote of Christ, will, I think, become more evident as we take up the series of types which we find in the Tabernacle.

Written 1500 years before Christ came, we find from the gate of the court to the ark and mercy seat, all is aglow with sublime foreshadowings of our blessed Lord in His varied glories, as Redeemer, Priest and coming King. And to see the perfect agreement between the type and the antitype, between the figure and the fact, will strengthen the child of God to stand amid the apostasy, which is sweeping over Christendom.

Holy Vessels Before The Tabernacle. Why?

Before taking up any part of the Tabernacle, we wish to call attention to some things which are rather striking. God first speaks of the golden vessels, and then of the Tabernacle. Now with men it is first the house then the furniture. They don’t get the furniture and build the house to suit it. Rather do they build the house and get furniture suitable for the house. Why has God adopted the order we find here, that is so different to man’s order? The Tabernacle not only brings Christ before us, it also brings the Church before us. And God is gathering out the Church, that in it and through it He may unfold the varied glories of His Son, as we see from Eph. 3:8-10.

Thus as we look at the Tabernacle as a picture of the Church, and at the vessels as a picture of Christ, we can understand why the vessels get first place, reminding us of that word, “That in all things He might have the pre-eminence.” Col. 1:18.

More Said About The Tabernacle Than About Creation.

There is another point which is very suggestive, and it is this:—God gives us the account of the Creation of this world in less than two chapters, and yet the instructions for the making of a small building like the Tabernacle take up eleven chapters. Looking at it from our point of view, we would think that the work of creation was of far more importance than the building of the Tabernacle. But mighty though the work of creation was, it was simply, as it were, the erection of a stage upon which was to be wrought a far mightier work. That was the wondrous work of redemption. And as in a theatre, the actor is more than the stage, so the One who performed that mighty work, is infinitely more glorious than the stage on which He performed it. The painting of the encampment gives us a view of the Tabernacle sitting within the court enclosure, which was 100 cubits, or about 175 feet from east to west, and 50 cubits, or 87½ feet north to south.

The Tabernacle proper was towards the western end of the Court. It was 30 cubits or about 52 feet long, 10 cubits or 17½ feet wide, 10 cubits or 17½ feet high. It was divided into two compartments. The larger of the two is called the Holy Place, the smaller, the Most Holy Place. In the larger, we have the Golden Altar, the Golden Lampstand, and the Golden Table; while in the smaller or the Holiest, we have but the Ark and Mercy-Seat. When the Tabernacle was pitched, it did not look just as our picture represents it. The picture is arranged so that we get a view of the two curtains and coverings. But when the Tabernacle was erected, the only covering visible, save a width of the goats’ hair curtain above the door, was the outer covering of badgers’ skins. The first set of curtains were fine twined linen, blue, purple and scarlet. Over these were the Goats’ hair curtains. On top of these again were the rams’ skins dyed red. And over all was a covering of badgers’ skins. Then over the Tabernacle, while it was at rest, there was “The Cloud,” a symbol of the Divine Presence, resting on the rear end of the Tabernacle, and like a vast umbrella overshadowing the camp. That cloud was ever present. When they were to journey, it arose off the top of the Tabernacle and went in the direction that God meant them to travel, and when they came to their camping ground, the cloud stopped, thus always showing them the direction, just how far they were to go, and when they were to encamp. The Court was formed of 60 pillars of shittim wood supporting the linen curtain wall. Around the Tabernacle, immediately outside this wall, there were the three Levitical families, the Kohathites, Gershonites, and Merarites.

Then encamped near the gate, were Moses and Aaron, and Aaron’s sons. Thus the first line around the Tabernacle was the priestly tribe. Then outside this again, three tribes on each quarter, the twelve tribes, making a very pretty sight—one that drew from Balaam those very poetic words in Numbers, chapters 22, 23, and 24.

The Tabernacle was a comparatively small building. It was designed to be a place where God could dwell with and meet Israel in the person of their High Priest. So it was not an auditorium, as such a place for the assembling of God’s people now would be.

The Way Of Approach And What It Teaches.

The Approach to the Tabernacle contains most important teaching, bringing out just what man needs in order to fit him for God’s presence. Close by the gate, was the Brazen Altar. Between it and the Tabernacle, about midway, was the Brazen Laver. Thus those who came to God were met first by that which must form the title of any sinner in coming to God. The Altar speaks of the Cross work of our Blessed Lord Jesus Christ, His work accomplished on earth. Then the Laver, which speaks of the unfinished work of the Lord Jesus Christ in heaven.

It is not our purpose now to give you our reasons for using these remarkable types, as indeed typifying the Lord Jesus Christ in His various offices. We hope to deal with them each in their turn, and then the Word will carry conviction to the minds and hearts of God’s people, that they do so set forth His glory. One little word suggests this; that is the last clause of the 9th verse of the 29th Psalm. Speaking of this very building, for the Temple proper was not then built (and so what is called the Temple in the 29th Psalm is the Tabernacle), that verse says, “Every whit of it uttereth His glory.” “Every whit of it”—not merely those beautiful vessels that are inside. One might say, “Of course they will utter His glory,” but the Tabernacle as it stands as a whole, blessedly speaks forth the Glories of Christ. We shall see that there is not a part of it, from the Ark and Mercy-Seat where God began, right out to the gate, but utters His glory. And some of these things, away far out from the centre, right in the very Court wall, in a most blessed way proclaim that glory. Now if there is any part of it that, naturally speaking, you might pass as not being very interesting, it would just be this wall and this gate. It will be far more interesting, no doubt, when we get to the building itself, but the gate and the wall, each in its measure, proclaim in most blessed language Christ’s glory.

In beginning with the gate, we begin where God ended in His instructions to Moses as to the making of this Tabernacle. He begins with the Ark and Mercy-Seat, and works from these out, until we come to the Laver and the Brazen Altar, and then to the Gate. We begin, we say where God left off, and this is very suggestive. It is the very thing, which by the grace of God, we would keep prominently before the minds of both saved and unsaved. God expects us to begin where He ended. On that Cross of shame, Jehovah-Jesus cried out, “It is finished.” With that finished work, some of us began many years ago. We began to rejoice in the knowledge of sins forgiven, to rejoice before Him as sinners saved by sovereign grace. We did not begin to work for salvation. All was finished—finished.

The Gate Of The Court

(Exodus 27:16-17).

In giving His instructions regarding the making of the Tabernacle, God began with the Ark and Mercy Seat, His own throne, and ended with the Gate. We shall begin where God ended, which reminds us that as to salvation, we began where Christ ended, with a finished work.

As the Altar is the witness to man’s guilt, the Gate is the witness to man’s distance from God, that he is “far off” (Eph. 2:13), and that he needs a way back.

Now this gate tells me that Christ came to be the Door to God, that man by nature is outside, and Christ is come in grace, that he might be the Divine way of sinners getting back to God. You remember away back in Eden’s garden, that God drove out the man. Once, our first parents were in that garden, but there came that fatal act, that act of disobedience, and then God righteously drove them out—and Cain and Abel were born outside Eden. So has every man and every woman that has ever been on this earth, with one solitary exception. That exception was the Christ of The Court and the Gate God Himself. All but He were born at a distance from God—born sinners. All in this meeting were born at a distance from God. The question is, how are we to get back into His presence? The door tells us that. It speaks of getting back into the presence of God, and so the Lord Jesus Christ announces this blessed truth, “I am the Door.” I want you to look at the picture. How many doors are there into the Court? Just one, and that door is on the eastern end. Supposing we were to look at the south side, the north side, or the western end, what would meet our gaze? One long stretch of linen, unbroken, white linen, but no door. It is only linen, but to force an entrance would be to rush to certain destruction. That linen we say, stands there marking off the sacred precincts of the Tabernacle enclosure, and whoever will come to God, must come in the proper way. They must come in at the gate, for to force the linen would be to court judgment. So all along the north side, the south side, the western end I see no door, only an unbroken stretch of white linen. But we come to this eastern end, and we get blue and purple and scarlet on fine twined linen. Now what does this mean? Let me just for a few minutes speak on what I hope to deal with more fully at a later stage of these meetings—the materials that formed this gate.

The Colours Of The Gate.

In the blue, purple, scarlet and fine twined linen, God gives us the characteristics of the Four Gospels. Let us take these Gospels in order. First we have Matthew, or the purple. Matthew is the Gospel of the Kingship of Christ. The chief point that Matthew has from God to keep ever prominently before the reader is, Christ as God’s Anointed King—the purple. The next is scarlet. The scarlet is seen in Mark. There we have the Lord Jesus Christ in the lowly guise of a Servant. But you say, “How is that shadowed forth in the scarlet?” Well, the word “scarlet,” as those who read the Newberry Version of the Bible will have noticed, is “worm scarlet.” That is, the colour was gotten from a worm dried and pulverized. And herein we see the marvellous grace of One who, from all eternity, was in the bosom of the Father, the One who was the Maker of worlds, who would stoop down, down, until He could say, “I am a worm and no man!” Blue: in John we get the blue. It speaks of heaven, and reminds us of the Lord Jesus Christ as the Son of God. So in John, we see Christ in the bosom of the Father in a past eternity. We read, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1). So we say in the blue we get the Divinity—the Deity of Christ. But what about the linen? The linen speaks of the perfect, holy manhood of Christ. And this is the burden of Luke. Just as distinctly as it is Matthew’s to point out the Kingship of Christ, Luke points us to Christ as the Holy Man. The linen speaks of the perfect Humanity of Christ.

The One Gate, Or “Made Nigh By The Blood Of Christ”

For all practical purposes, linen alone would have made the gate. But God had a typical purpose to serve that requires there shall be the blood colour in the gate. So wherever there is only linen seen, there is no way of approach to God’s dwelling place.

What does that mean? If I were to come to you to-night and take up that blessed life, that unique life, the life of the Lord Jesus Christ on earth, that drew forth from the Father again and again those words, “This is My beloved Son in Whom I am well pleased,” and if I presented that life to you as that which you should imitate, and by imitating that life, hope at last to find a place in glory with Him; and if I should bring all the powers given to mortal man to bear upon the minds of others, if I could exercise all the powers of Paul and all the eloquence of an angel, and got you occupied with Christ on earth as Man, with His walk as Man, and held out that as the way of salvation, I would be exceedingly cruel. You might possibly think it would be a grand thing to do, but I tell you it would be an exceedingly cruel thing to do. It is said that in the city of Aberdeen, a preacher was holding forth to quite a large crowd and this was his theme. He was one of those who have no blood in their Gospel, one that did not consider God required satisfaction for the sins of man, one of those who do not believe in the holy sin-hating character of God. He was exhorting the people to imitate Christ. “Christ’s was a beautiful life, a perfect life, imitate that.” There was one poor woman present who had been in her younger days brought in contact with more Scriptural preaching. She had learned how that we are sinners by nature, and that only on the ground of the accomplished work of Christ on the Cross, can a lost sinner have hope. As she listened to this man speaking in the strain I have indicated, she cried out with a shrill voice, “Oh! Sir, your rope’s not long enough to reach a sinner like me.” Now if you were speaking to an unfallen race, to men and women who had never come under the dread sentence of God’s holy law, there might be some reason for preaching the Christ of God as a perfect example to imitate as a Man, but a ruined sinner requires something else first, and this has been provided: blessed be God.

We invite you to come to the eastern end of that Court wall, we ask you to take a good look at the colours mingled in that gate, and we ask you as you gaze on those colours to mark that one especially: the scarlet. Of what does it tell? It tells that He who was the eternal Son of God—who is represented by the blue—that He who was from all eternity in the bosom of the Father, came down to this sin-cursed earth of ours, became Man—represented by the fine twined linen—a real Man, yet unlike all other men, for He was the God-Man. He was Jehovah-Jesus, Emanuel—“God with us.” Well, that scarlet tells us that He who could calm the waves, He who could speak the dead back to life again, He who gave such manifest evidence that He was indeed the Jehovah of Israel in their midst, humbled Himself unto death, even the death of the Cross, shed His precious blood that through that blood-shedding sinners might be righteously brought back to the presence of God. The righteousness of God drove out the man. The righteousness of God will ever frown upon any attempt to get back into His presence by any way save that way which He Himself has ordained, He Himself has provided, and provided at the infinite cost of His own Son’s precious blood. We say that way is the one way, not one of many. Jesus said, “I am the Door.” There was just one door into this Court, and there is only one door back into the presence of God, into the favour of God, and that door is the Christ of God Himself.

The Gospel Gate, Or John 10:9.

There is one other remarkable thing about this gate, and it is very suggestive. The gate is 20 cubits wide; out of 50, the width of the Court, 20 is allowed for the door. If there is only one door, that door is very ample. Is it not? Very ample, 35 feet! You say that was unnecessarily wide. Well, for practical purposes, I suppose it was. I do not for a moment suppose that the whole width of the door was ever required in the ordinary uses of a door. But what do we learn from it? That God, by the very width of that door, has illustrated beforehand these blessed words of His Son, “Verily, verily I say unto you, I am the Door, by Me if any man enter in, he shall be saved.” Oh, how wide! “If any man”—that is just another way of putting John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” Now there is no need for any single one in this meeting remaining outside. You cannot say, “Will that door admit me?” My dear friend, Jesus declares, “If any man,” and that means you, much better than if your name were mentioned. It means just you. Will you enter to-night? That 35 feet wide gate reminds me also of the door into the Ark. The mightiest beast of the forest could walk through its door just as well as some of those tiny Creatures. The great eagle could enter there just as well as the little titmouse. It served for all, and it matters not whether you are a big sinner or a little sinner, it matters not whether you are an old sinner or a young sinner, that door will suit you—and let me say, the Lord Jesus Christ beckons you to enter it now. We were saying a little while ago, it makes all the difference in the world which side of the door you are on. This reminds me as I look at that enclosure, that God has on this earth a people marked off to Himself. It tells me that there are on this earth a number who are His. They are those who have received Christ as their Saviour, no matter by what name they are known, whether Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian, Congregationalism or any other name, I care not. If as lost guilty sinners they have closed with Christ, then they are unto God, what this enclosure represents in type. They are in the world but not of the world. Now, how do you get there? By a personal acceptance of Christ. Some are inside. Of these, He says, “They are not of the world.” But all who are not in Christ, are still on the outside of the Door. When the Deluge was predicted to Noah, and God had given him instructions to make the Ark, and when that Ark was completed and that door stood open, it stood open to be a sanctuary and refuge from that awful judgment just about to fall on the earth. There came a time when God said from the inside, “Come.” In response to that invitation from God, Noah and his household stepped in, and God shut the door. Seven days later, the windows of heaven were opened; the door of mercy was shut—soon to open the door of judgment. And then, but oh! too late, the poor ante-diluvians saw how terrible it was to be on the wrong side of the door.

“In Christ.”

This expression, which the apostle Paul used of himself in 2 Cor. 12:2, and uses so often in the epistle to the Ephesians, finds a good illustration in the Israelite being inside the gate. To the believing sinner we can say, stepping inside that enclosure, you find yourself completely surrounded by a wall of linen, so a simple act of faith, trusting in Christ as a lost and guilty sinner, puts you into the grandest place we can ever be in—out of heaven or in heaven—“In Christ.” I say, one step across that threshold, and the Israelite stood in a place which typifies the position of every child of God—“In Christ.” The one step did it. Once outside, now inside. Once far off, now made nigh by the Blood. Once without God and without hope, now in that blessed love-linked, blood-bought family of the children of God, looked at as “In Christ,” not in their sins, not under judgment, but “In Christ,” waiting for the glory. Now, how many of you have taken that step? Some perhaps are close to the gate, and perhaps have been exercised many a time about making your decision for Christ, stepping in. Oh! yes, at times perhaps your friends thought you would do it, but you have not done it yet. What if to-night is the last chance? A man came running to a railway station in Ireland. He was going to Dublin, and it was very important he should be there. As he came up to the station, the iron gate was drawn to by the porter, and he was just in time to see the end carriage disappearing down the platform. He threw up his hands and exclaimed, “My God! £1000 lost!” Well, you say it was too bad; just a few minutes, and that few minutes to involve so much. Oh! dear friends, what if you are too late? I stood on the deck of a little steamer that made a daily trip to an island off the coast of California, and as it was just leaving and the gang plank had been drawn ashore, and we loosed away, some people came running down. Someone remarked in a jocular way, “We’ll call for you to-morrow.” Well, it did not matter very much. Perhaps it would be a grievance to those missing the boat, and inconvenience them, but there was one on the morrow. But, oh! let me say, once God closes this door, once Christ comes for His own, there will be no other chance for the unsaved.

The Brazen Altar

Or, the Finished Work of Christ. (Exodus 27:1-8).

Before we speak of the Altar as connected with the Tabernacle, we shall trace its developement in the Word of God. And in the growing clearness in the truth of the Altar, we shall see has its counterpart in the gradual unfoldings of the prophecies of the coming of Christ.

And this growing clearness was not the result of man groping after God and getting clearer conceptions of Him; as some of the religious leaders of to-day tell us. No, the Word of God witnesses to the fact that man is not seeking after God, see Psalms 14 and 53 and Rom. 3:11. Instead of man seeking after God, it is God who is seeking after man, who has not retained even the knowledge of God with which the race started, instead of adding to it (Rom. 1:28). In the Altar we have not man’s conceptions of God, but God’s revelation of Himself.

Just as soon as sin came in, in grace God provided the Altar, and there are some stages in its developement that we wish to point out. (1) In Eden, that our first parents might be clothed with skins it was necessary that the animals be killed. However dimly, all may be seen here. (2) “By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain.” (Heb. 11:4). Here the Altar is not named, but it is implied. (3) “And Noah builded an altar unto the Lord.” (Gen. 8:20). The altar is named here though the material of which it was constructed is not mentioned. (4) “An altar of earth shalt thou make unto Me.” (Exodus 20:24). “And if thou wilt make Me an altar of stone, thou shalt not build it of hewn stone: for if thou lift up thy tool upon it, thou hast polluted it.” (Exodus 20:25). Here we have quite an advance on anything we have had so far, we have the altar named and the material given as well, earth and stone. (5) Now we come to the Altar in the Tabernacle, and here we have the greatest fulness of detail, we have size, shape and material given so plainly that it would be possible to now reproduce that altar, a thing impossible with the earlier ones.

Compare with this the prophecies of the coming of Christ. (1) In Eden, “The Seed of the Woman.” Gen. 3:15. The promise is to mankind. (2) Abraham, “The Seed of Abraham.” (Gal. 3:16). The race of the Jews. (3) David, “The Seed of David.” (2 Tim. 2:8). Of the family of David. (4) Born of a Virgin. (Isa. 7:14, Matt. 1:23). (5) Born in Bethlehem (Mic. 5:2). (6) His life of rejection (Isa. 53). (7) The manner of His death. (Psa. 22). (8) The time of His death. (Dan. 9:25-26). (9) His burial with the rich. (Isa. 53:9). (10) His resurrection (Psalm 16:19).

Like the faint point of light of some far distant star, we see the promise in Eden, but when we read the utterances of the Holy Spirit in the Psalms, Isaiah and Micah, the promise shines like the sun, and we feel in reading Isa. 53:and Psa 22, as if that life were lived before us and we stood beside that cross and gazed upon that holy sufferer as He expired on it. God could have unfolded all right in Eden when sin came in, for all was known to Him from eternity, but it was His way to unfold that truth little by little.

The Materials Of The Altar.

Let us look at the materials. It was of brass (or copper) and acacia wood. The acacia wood was a white wood of great durability, it is spoken of as incorruptible wood, and speaks of the holy Humanity of the Lord Jesus, the One who had no sin—who could not sin. He was as to His Manhood the Son of God, the Only-begotten of the Father. This was His peculiar glory. This wood was covered with brass. The brass speaks of the Deity of Christ. Brass has in it ability to sustain the fire; the fire could feed, as it were, upon the victim, and the brass could endure it. Now, when we look back to the Cross, we see the Lord Jesus Christ sustaining the wrath of God. When it is laid upon sinners, it will sink them in an eternal hell, and that word will be eternally true, “The wrath of God abideth on him” (John 3:36). Sinners cannot sustain it, it will overwhelm them. But the Son of God, the perfect Man, had an infinite capacity to endure. He bore the wrath of God on account of sin. He put sin away, made satisfaction unto God for it, and came forth out of that judgment. Now we see that One risen from the dead and glorified at the right hand of God.

The Altar is witness to the fact that the Lord Jesus Christ was no mere man. A real Man He was, blessed be God. But as to His Deity, He was from all eternity. Of Him it was said, “Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever.” These are days when men are seeking to drag down the Christ of God from His place, the place God’s Word gives Him as Jehovah-Jesus. The man who gives Christ only the place of a good man, is the most illogical of men, for to give Him the place of a good man, if He be not God, would be to give Him a place He does not deserve. If He was not God, He would be a rank imposter, for He claimed to be God. But He was and is God. We read, “Thou Bethlehem-Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall He come forth unto Me, that is to be ruler in Israel, whose goings forth have been from of old—from the days of eternity” (Micah 5:2). Isaiah could say, “His name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, the mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace” (chapter 9:6). Then let us hold fast in these dark apostate days, hold more dear than life, the blessed, glorious truth that the One who suffered on Calvary’s Cross was the God-Man.

The Deity Of Christ, The Truth For To-Day.

We are in the “last days” and the apostasy, like a tide is sweeping all before it. Denominations, which a few decades ago were sound on this vital truth, now permit men in their colleges and in their pulpits to boldly teach, that our Lord was a man of limited intelligence, that He accepted the Genesis record of Creation and the Fall as true history, because He did not know better. But these men, with sources of information (they say) which He had not, regard as merely allegories, these facts.

In the apostles Peter, Paul and John we have the whole dispensation outlined in their lives, and now we are in the last of the three stages which they represent, the John stage. Peter gives us its dawn; Paul, its meridian; John, its sunset. We have the Apostle Peter giving us the beginning of the dispensation; the Apostle Paul presenting Christianity as a Divine revelation from God—not an improved edition of Judaism, but a Heavenly outcalling; then we have the Apostle John, who lived longest; lived, as it were, until he saw the wreck of that which had been so heavenly in its beginning, we have John contending for the Person of Christ, the Son of God, jealous for the glory of Christ as God. This is the one great thing in the ministry of John. Now we have reached the days when everything is pretty well a wreck. As long as there are companies of believers, who see the order of the Church of God, and that it is their duty to gather together, while ever loyal to all the truth committed to them, they will be known as those who cleave fast to this blessed truth, that Jesus Christ is God.

The Manhood Of Christ.

As the brass speaks of the Deity of Christ, the wood which was overlaid by the brass, brings His Manhood before us. The Shittim wood, or as it should be, Acacia, was a very white and durable wood, and was spoken of as “Incorruptible wood.” Of His birth the angel Gabriel could say to Mary, “Therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God” (Luke 1:35). In His life He was “holy, harmless and undefiled” (Heb. 7:26). And in death He saw no corruption. (Psa. 16:10. Acts 2:31).

That He might die, He became man, and so the Word that in a past eternity was with God and was God, by whom all things were made, became flesh (John 1:14). He came in the likeness of sinful flesh (Rom. 8:3) but not sinful flesh.

The truth of the holy humanity of our Lord is now assailed, just as His deity is assailed, and the virgin birth is scoffed at. Some time ago we were speaking in some large meetings in an American city, on the signs of the apostasy, and among those signs, we dwelt on this. At the close a young minister of a church in the district, that at one time had a reputation for orthodoxy, came to me, to thank me for what I had said, and then told me that he was a member of an examining committee and they had a young man, a candidate for the ministry before them. My friend put the question to him. “Do you believe that Jesus was the son of Joseph, as you are the son of your father?” The answer of that candidate was “Yes.” I asked my friend, “Did you license him?” His reply was, “I objected to him, but he was railroaded through.”

Jesus the son of Joseph. What blasphemy. If He were Joseph’s son He could not be our Saviour, for He would need a saviour Himself. Such wood will not do for the Altar of God. It must be holy manhood, and of all the myriads that have crossed the stage of time, only one was eligible to die for sinners, and to Him belongs exclusively, as to His manhood, the name the “Only Begotten Son.”

The Witness Of The Measurements Of The Altar.

Everything about the Altar is full of significance, we may fail to apprehend its significance, but this does not alter the fact. The material, size, use and place, are all meant by God to teach us, for God is bringing His Son before us. Now let us see how the measurements speak. The Altar is 5 cubits broad (8 feet 9 inches), and it is four-square. The Altar is thus large enough to take in the whole burnt offering. 5 cubits— this reiterates the truth that I have been seeking to put before you in the two kinds of material of the Altar. “Five” speaks of God with man. “Four” is the number of the creature: we speak of the four winds, and the four corners of the earth. “One” speaks of God, who declares, “I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like Me” (Isaiah 46:9). Thus four and one (five), suggests that name, Immanuel, “God with us,” “God manifest in flesh” (1 Tim. 3:16).

The height of the Altar is 3 cubits. What does three speak of? God fully manifested. “No man hath seen God at any time, but the only begotten which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him.” And it was in the Cross that God was to be fully manifested. God manifested is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—the Triune God. The height of the Altar (3 cubits), tells us what the Cross of Christ did.

Amongst the altars of the heathen, you find great variety as to shape, size, and material. When God is going to have an altar, that is in a Divine and blessed way to bring before the hearts of His people what Christ was and is, what He did, the perfection of His Person and work, He says it shall be “Four-square.” We meet that word “four-square” again in Exodus 28:16, and when we meet it, it is in connection with the Breastplate of Judgment. We read, “Foursquare it shall be.” What can there be, that symbolizes righteousness, like that square—equal sides, and equal angles? When men talk of their dealings with one another, and they do the thing that they ought to do, they say they are “acting on the square.” Now, where was righteousness ever displayed, as it is in the Cross work of Christ? Look at Romans 3:25 and 26: “Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in His blood, to declare His righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; to declare, I say, at this time, His righteousness; that He might be just, and the Justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.” The great point in these verses is this, that away back, right back to Abel, God had been saving guilty sinners. All that there seemed to be in view, as an equivalent for their sins (and some of their sins were very heinous), was an animal—a goat or a bullock. So people might say, “Where is the righteousness of God, to make such a difference between that man who brought the animal, and that one who did not?” Well, if there had been nothing else in view, no righteousness: if that bullock was all, then it is true, God was “passing over” sins for a very small trifle. But the time comes when One, more precious than all worlds, dear to the heart of God, dearer than all created intelligences, went to the Cross, and on the Cross offered up Himself as a Sacrifice of infinite worth. God can now say, “It was not because of that animal I forgave sins, but on the ground of the blood of My Blessed Son, which was to be shed.” Oh, what righteousness.

In the outside of the graveyard wall of St. Nicholas’s Church, Galway, Ireland, there is let into the wall what is known as the Linch Stone. These words may be read upon it. “This memorial of the stern and unbending justice of the chief magistrate of this city, James Linch Fitzstephen, elected Mayor, a.d., 1493, who condemned and executed his own guilty son, Walter, on this spot.” The spot is that of the old prison. Young Linch had killed a young Spaniard, had been duly tried and proven guilty, and the father’s sense of the majesty of the law, led him to carry out its sentence when others would not.

That was righteousness. Now, when the Son of God in infinite grace came into this scene, when He took our place on Calvary, God did not say, “I will let it pass.” How could a holy righteous God pass over sin? Never! He could forgive it and pardon the sinner, but only because of His Blessed Son dying. Now, the Cross of Christ is the perfect expression of the righteousness of God. The Altar is four-square.

The Death Of Christ Meets Alike God’s Claims And Man’s Need.

“Hollow with boards shalt thou make it.” The Altar was practically a hollow box, 8 feet 9 inches broad, 5 feet 3 inches high. Let us suppose that the sacrifice is put into it just as we have described it now, a box without top or bottom, the sacrifice would of course fall to the ground. How then could a priest adjust the parts, so that it would burn? That was his work. But to obviate the victim falling down to the ground, a brazen network was let down to the middle of the Altar, which was 3 cubits high, consequently when the sacrifice was put upon the Altar, it rested upon this network of brass 1½ cubits high. What is the striking thing about this? In all the furniture inside, there were only two vessels 1½ cubits high—the Ark and the Table. The Ark, the Table, and the sacrifice are thus all on a level. The Ark and Mercy-Seat was God’s Throne, and the only thing that could meet the holy claims of that Throne, was the death of Christ, and thank God, it did. The Table was what held the loaves, which was the food of the priests, and speaks of man’s need. So just as nothing but the death of Christ could meet God’s claims, so nothing less can meet man’s need. And only the sinner who has seen Christ satisfying every demand of the Throne of God, knows what it is to have a purged conscience and a satisfied heart. For religious works fail to give that as surely as they fail to meet the demands of God’s righteousness.

“Hollow with boards.” As we read these words we think of that marvellous expression in Philippians 2, “He emptied Himself.” Oh! what a thought, “He emptied Himself”—“made Himself of no reputation.” What a wonderful word, that He should come down to this sin-cursed earth as the self-emptied One!

The Sacrifice And The Fire.

But there is another thought, very sad and solemn. It is that that hollow box-like Altar contained in it, not on it, the fire which consumed the sacrifice, typical of what we read in Lamentations 1:13, “From above hath He sent fire into my bones, and it prevaileth against me.” Oh! that awful fire that reached the Holy Son of God, when for our sakes He hung upon the cruel Cross.

Now let us look at the use of the Altar. In Exodus 29, we find it is a meeting-place. How very precious, how very suggestive, and how exceedingly comforting when we think of it as a meeting-place. God dwells in infinite holiness inside. We look at ourselves as outside. How can God in His holiness meet man in his sin, and bring him nigh to Himself? The Altar shows us how. We see God coming out in purest grace from the Mercy-Seat, which was His Throne. He comes to the Altar, meets the guilty Israelite there, who has in obedience to His command, brought to the Altar a perfect sacrifice for his sin. God had said long years before Christ came, “I have found a ransom.” So while the Israelite had to find and bring his sacrifice, the sinner now has not. God says, “I have found a ransom.” Who is this ransom? “Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). And so we go back to Calvary, and on that Cross we see in terrible reality what was foreshadowed by the type here. How very expressive was the act of the one who brought the sacrifice! We read, “He shall lay his hands on the head of the goat.” That was identifying himself with the sacrifice, confessing he deserved to die, but that God had provided a substitute. The hymn puts it very sweetly:—

My Faith would lay its hand,

On that dear head of thine,

While like a penitent I stand,

And there confess my sin.”

I am persuaded that Dr. Horatius Bonar meant this identification by faith, when he wrote:—

I lay my sins on Jesus,

The spotless Lamb of God;

He bears them all and frees us

From the accursed load.”

The Brazen Laver

or Christ’s Unfinished Work. (Ex. 30:17-21. John 17:17. Eph. 5:25-26).

“For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us” (Heb. 9:24). Then as the priest entering the holiest with the blood of the sin-offering, typified Christ going up to the right hand of God by His own blood, it is clear that the way into the Tabernacle, will set forth the way to heaven.

There were two vessels which stood in the way in to the Tabernacle, and whoever will enter must have to do with both, they were the Altar and the Laver, and these two vessels speak of what is absolutely necessary to fit the sinner for the presence of God. The Altar speaks the title, the blood of Christ, and the Laver of the fitness, the new birth.

Were it possible to separate these two things, (which it is not) what would be the result? Suppose a case, a man has lived in sin all his life, he has found all his pleasure in the theatre, the ball room, the card party and such things. He has been deluded by the thought that the minister, the priest and the church will look after the matter of his salvation at last, and that he shall get a passport to glory, when he has to leave the world. Suppose such an one could go there, how would he feel? He did not enjoy the society of Christians on earth, he shunned them, what will he do in heaven? He did not want to hear about Christ on earth, would he want His company in heaven? He loved the theatre, the dance and the race track on earth, and there are none of these things in heaven, and his unchanged nature would crave for them.

Such an one would discover too late, that he was at the feast, without the wedding garment, that the new birth was as great a necessity as the blood, and heaven would not be heaven to him. But again we say these two things cannot be divorced, the moment a soul trusts the precious blood of Christ he passes from death to life, is born of God, and so has both the title and the nature.

The Altar speaks of the finished work of Christ, the Laver, of the unfinished work. The Altar says: “Without shedding of blood is no remission” (Heb. 9:22). The Laver says: “Without holiness no man shall see the Lord” (Heb. 12:14). The Altar is Christ dying to make us clean, and the Laver is Christ living to keep us clean.

When We Get The Laver.

The infidel talks in an unintelligent way, about the Bible being the work of priests. He might as well, and with as much reason ascribe the work of creation to them. Again and again in the instructions about the making of the Tabernacle, we have to admire the wisdom of God, in so giving these instructions that they become, as it were, watermarks of inspiration. Had God followed the usual order in connection with the Laver that He did with the other vessels (there is one other exception to that of which we shall speak later), then we should have had the Laver just before the Brazen Altar. It may seem strange that it is not so. This is one of two vessels which brings Christ before in His priestly work for His people, a work we need as much as we needed His work on the cross.

But if Christ were on earth, He would not be a Priest. So in order for the type to set the truth before us clearly, as we get it in the New Testament, God first speaks of the Altar—the death of Christ; then follows two chapters, the 28th and 29th, dealing with the consecration of the priests. It is just this: we have that which is a plain type of the death of Christ, and then we are invited to behold a priest fitted to appear in the presence of God—type of Christ in resurrection, carrying on His work as the High Priest of His people. Thus you see this order in which the Laver is given was necessary to set forth the truth.

Where The Brass For The Laver Was Obtained. (Ex. 38:8).

Most suggestive are the different sources from which the brass for the Altar and the brass for the Laver were obtained. In Num. 16:we read of the sin of Korah, Dathan and Abiram in seeking to usurp the priesthood. Two hundred and fifty men are judged by God and the 250 censers in which they had offered incense, are gathered up at the command of God, and made into bread plates for covering the Altar. They were thus connected with the judgment of sin, and fittingly belong to the Brazen Altar.

Very different is the source whence came the brass for the Laver. The women freely gave up the polished plates of brass which served as mirrors. That they valued them highly we doubt not, but they will surrender them for the Tabernacle.

This connection between the brazen mirrors and the Laver is most instructive, since the Laver speaks of the written Word. The Epistle of James speaks of a mirror (James 1:23-24). Of the man that comes to the Word of God and just reads it and goes away and forgets—he says, “He is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass, for he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was.” Has it ever struck you how telling that is? There are some of us who have been looking at our faces for nearly half a century, and we cannot remember them, while memory recalls those of hosts of our friends. I don’t know how it is with you, but if I had the gift of an artist I could not paint my own face from memory, nor even make a respectable attempt at it, yet I could paint the faces of my friends. This is just like God’s Word and our hearts. We go to that Word of God, we get a faithful portrayal of what we are, and have been humbled thereby,, but it soon passes away. Alas! how many look into this Book and forget what manner of men they are. The Word of God is like a mirror, and to see ourselves aright, we need to come often to it.

No Measurements Given; Why?

The Laver speaks, as I have said, of the Word of God, used by Christ upon His people for their sanctification. And you observe there are no measurements given for it. We are not told that it was so high, or so large in circumference. This is very significant. You may ask, why? Let me remind you again that the Altar had measurements, and these speak of the claims of the throne of God, measured and met by Christ. In relation to sin, Christ was the only one who knew exactly how to weigh those claims, and how to satisfy them. But when we come to the Laver, we have to do with the claims of the Word of God upon His people, therefore the unmeasured Laver is as eloquent as the measured Altar. Where—if I may so put it—where is the child of God who has measured that Laver? Where is the one who can say, “I know the claims of the Word of God, and have fully met them”? No, dear friends, the very omission of measurements in connection with the Laver, would rebuke any such thought as any sinner of Adam’s race, even after being saved by grace, saying, “I have done all that has been commanded me to do; I am perfectly sanctified.” When anyone claims to be perfectly sanctified, in any other sense than that which is true of all believers, such as we read of in 1 Cor. 1:2, 30, and 6:11, which applies to every child of God on earth, even although there is much that is wrong in the walk and ways of many of them—I say, when I meet a man who says that he lives without sin, who dares to take such a stand before God, I see a man who would measure the Laver, a man who has so deceived himself, that he has the presumption to say that he has perfectly met the claims of that Laver. But what would a man who judges himself in the light of God say? “I don’t know that I have done anything that is contrary to God’s will”; or, in the words of 1 Cor. 4:4, “For I know nothing against myself, yet am I not hereby justified, but He that judgeth me is the Lord.” Practical sanctification is by the word. “Sanctify them through Thy truth; Thy Word is truth” (John 17:17). For any to claim that they are perfectly sanctified in this sense, is to claim perfect knowledge of God’s will. Paul did not so measure the Laver, for he says, “Now I know in part.” “Abundance of revelations” were given unto him, marvellous openings up of the truth of God, a wondrous grasp of the mystery of God and of Christ, and yet he said, “I know in part” (1 Cor. 13:12). To say that I know all God’s Word would be the greatest folly. No! when we deal with the Altar we deal with something that met God’s claims, claims which Christ only could and did perfectly meet. But in the Laver we are dealing with the claims of the Word of God on the Christian: and the Christian has never fully met them. And so the Laver is unmeasured, and this surely tells us that this blessed Book, the Book that so many are now relegating to the shelf, the Book that is considered only to be fit for people in their second childhood—this precious Book is a great deep, something, that if we were to live as long as Methuselah, and walked with God every moment of that time, we could then say we had only been skimming the surface of it. Dear Robert Chapman, of Barnstaple, who read God’s Word as probably few have read it (for he was then about ninety years of age, and was converted to God when he was a comparatively young man), and for some seventy years he had made it his business in a way (shall I say) few Christians have done, to walk with God and read His Word—yet he spoke of “simply skimming the surface” of that blessed Book of God. Oh! how very apt then it is, that the Laver should have no measurements given.

Christ As Our Laver.

In Ephesians 5:25-26 we have the Altar and the Laver. “Christ loved the Church and gave Himself for it.” That is the altar work of Christ, and it is in the past. “That He might sanctify and cleanse it by the washing of water by the word.” Here you have both the laver and the water. Christ, the Living Word is the laver, and the Written Word is the water. Just as water removes defilement by displacement, so the Word of God sanctifies, separates us from the world, whether in its religious or ungodly aspects, and cleanses, leads us to put away all in our walk and behaviour which is contrary to the will of God.

A Picture Of The Laver Work Of Christ. (John 13:1-10).

Now turn to John 13:1-15. Here we have one of the most precious openings up of the truth of the Laver that we find in the whole Book. In this chapter we have the Lord Jesus Christ anticipating His present work. The Gospel of John gives us two samples of Christ’s present work. Chapter 17 gives His work as representing us before the Father, and in that chapter the Lord speaks as if the Cross were behind Him, and He now with the Father. But in chapter 13:we have the other side of His work, that is, His work towards us, His work as the One who sanctifies and cleanses with “the washing of water by the Word.” During the progress of supper (R.V.), Judas having gone (for Judas needed more than washing his feet: Judas had never been to the Altar, Judas was an unregenerate man who never knew Christ as his personal Saviour), as we read that receiving the passover sop, which was before the Lord’s Supper, the membrance feast that we now observe—he went immediately out. Then the Lord washes the feet of His eleven disciples, and as He is doing so, it just seems as if Peter cannot contain himself. He thinks, “I could never have believed that John would have allowed our Master to do that; when He comes to my feet, I will not allow it.” So Peter says, when the Lord comes to him, “Dost Thou wash my feet?” and the Lord replied, “What I do, thou knowest not now, but thou shalt know hereafter.” In America, we have got sects that practice literal feet-washing. If the Lord had meant it for a literal ordinance to be observed, He would not have said, “What I do, thou knowest not now, but thou shalt know hereafter.” What does He mean? It is as if He had said, “I am giving you an illustration of a work that I am going to carry on toward you, after I take My place at the right hand of My Father. I am going to use the Word to sanctify and cleanse. You cannot understand that now, but you will, after I have gone, and when the Holy Ghost has come. You will know it all by-and-bye.” Peter was still so full of his human feelings, that he does not see the gentle rebuke. So he says again, “Thou shalt never wash my feet.” That was going very far indeed—“Thou shalt never wash.” The reply of the Lord to this statement reached Peter’s heart. “If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with Me.” Again Peter answers this time and says, “Oh! Lord, rather than that I have no part with Thee, wash my head, hands and feet, wash me all over.” It is worthy of note that the Lord did not say to Peter, “If I wash thee not, thou has no part in. Me.” Peter had a part in Christ; that, not even the devil could touch. In Christ speaks of position, with Christ of condition. In Christ is the believer’s standing, with Christ tells state. In Christ speaks of where Christ has put His people, with Christ speaks of association, of companionship, of being in a condition to enjoy communion with Him.

The Priestly Washings.

Only the Priests had to do with this Laver. All for whom Christ acts as the One that sanctifies and cleanses, are His people, they are priests. He does not thus act for the world. He died for sinners, and as sinners we meet Him at the Altar, but as saints He deals with us at the Laver. The priest has a title because he is a priest, and has also brought his sacrifice to the Altar, but if he refuses to wash his hands and feet at this Laver, what is the result? He cannot go into the holy place to breathe the fragrance of that sweet incense, or walk in the light of that seven-branched lampstand, or eat of the loaves on the table. All these are his portion, all belong to him, but their enjoyment is only available if he is clean, if he has washed his hands and feet. If he does not so wash for all practical purposes, he might as well not be a priest at all. Now, let me say that if you know you are saved, that you are a child of God, then the precious blood of Christ has done its work. While that is true, yet there may be priests among us who have not been in the holy place for long—that is, in fellowship with God, for this depends on our condition. How many Christians are like Peter, saying, “Thou shalt never wash my feet,” and thus deprive themselves of the privileges of their priesthood.

Shall we turn now to Hebrews, chapter 10:22. We read, “Let us draw near with a true heart, in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience.” “From an evil conscience”—this is the result of being at the Altar. “Our bodies washed with pure water”—this is the result of using the Laver. A true child of God may sit at the table of the Lord, and yet be practically far from the presence of God, far removed from the enjoyment of it. Now let us understand this. There is no such thing as entering “within the veil” in the enjoyment of sweet and hallowed worship, if a single unconfessed sin is on the conscience. That will keep you out, just as effectually as unwashed hands and feet kept out the priests. When the Lord Jesus said, “If I wash thee not, thou has no part with Me,” there may have been in His mind this precious type. Here is a priest with a title as clear as a sunbeam, but he does not wash his hands and his feet, and so cannot enter the holy place. To have a part “with Christ” means to be able in the power of the Spirit of God to come into His presence, clean and fit, with every sin confessed and forgiven.

Look how Peter again errs! When he says, “Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head,” he wants to be bathed all over. The Lord answers him, “He that is bathed, needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit” (R.V.) “He that is bathed.” What does that mean? Away back in Exodus 29:we read that Moses took Aaron and his sons and “bathed them” at the door of the Tabernacle. That bathing was not repeated the next day, nor the following day, nor again: that bathing was once and for all. Here the Lord refers to that, and says, “He that is bathed, needeth not save to wash his feet.” That is to say, the priest who was bathed once for all at the gate of the Tabernacle, has to wash his hands and feet as he goes into the holy place. No matter if he go there, or from there to the Altar, ten times a day, as often as he passes that Laver he must wash thereat. Thus God would teach us that both for worship and for service, defilement must be cleansed away, and Christ as our Laver is available for this cleansing.

In 1 John 2:1-2, we read, “My little children, these things write I unto you that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.” “That ye sin not.” This should be the aim of every child of God, it should ever be the deep purpose of his heart. But there is a contingency for which God has made provision, and it keeps us from being utterly cast down when we fail. “If any man sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.” “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). “Faithful and just.” What does that mean? If there is a child of God in this meeting to-night who is conscious of departure from God having taken place, of sin having come in and been indulged, and who feels like saying, “I have confessed the sin, yet I am not restored, I am not happy.” Notice it does not say, “if we confess our sins, He is gracious and merciful,” but “if we confess our sins, He is faithful.” We exhort the unsaved to cling to God’s Word, not to take stock of their feelings. We exhort Christians to do the same. If you honestly confess your sin, you have the right to believe that it is forgiven. He is “faithful,” He has given His Word for it; and “just,” because of the work of the Cross.

Now in that precious picture in John 13 we have the Lord doing in figure what we read of in Ephesians 5:26. He “gave Himself” that He might “sanctify and cleanse.” When a child of God sins, Christ uses this Word to point out his departure. When a child of God is connected with anything contrary to the mind of God, this Word is used by Him to point out the wrong. When a child of God is led away into any teaching contrary to this Book, He points out that false doctrine, and by returning to Him, the Word removes from him his defilement through contact with error. Just as water displaces defilement, so the Word of God applied in the power of the Holy Spirit by Christ, our Great High Priest at the right hand of God, cleanses the believer, and removes from his walk and his ways, everything that is contrary to God’s will. The Word so applied and obeyed takes the believer out of un-scriptural associations, out of unholy alliances, out from fellowship with the world. It washes him out from these things. It cleanses and sets him apart.

An Example For Us.

The Lord Jesus Christ would have us do as He did. What does that mean? Just as He loves us too well to suffer any sin upon us, because it robs us of communion with Him, even as defiled hands and feet would have kept the priest from his portion in the Holiest, so will unconfessed sin keep the believer from his portion with Christ—so He says, “I have given you an example: as now I have done to you, so do ye to one another.” When you do it, go by the example before you. How did he do it? “He laid aside His garment and girded Himself with a towel.” He took the lowly place of a servant. When He had washed and carefully wiped their feet, having removed all trace of defilement, they looked as if they had never had any defilement at all. Would it not be very blessed, if amongst believers there was much more of this? And how very much better would it be if, instead of advertising each other’s failures, there was a desire to do this lowly work that Christ sets us the example of. It would very often result in restoration, whereas going to a fallen brother like a detective or a police officer, only stiffens the back of the poor backslider, and perhaps leads him to resent such service, and to make his state of departure more permanent.

No Staves.

One word more. We do not read of any “staves” by which it was carried from one place to another. You would think, once set down on the ground, it was to remain there. So by omitting any mention of these, it becomes all the more perfect as a type. The Laver is for the earth; we will not need it in heaven. In the temple built by Solomon (2 Chron. 4:1-5), the Brazen Sea took the place of the Laver. In Rev. 4:6, we read of a “sea of glass like unto crystal” before the Throne. It is not, as in the temple, a sea of water, for there is no defilement to cleanse, but it is a sea of glass, to reveal perfection, the perfection of Christ’s work in as well as upon His glorified people.

The Court Wall And Its 60 Pillars.

The Security, Stability, Unity, and Responsibility of Believers. (Read Exodus 27, verses 9-19).

We speak to-night of the Court Wall and its sixty pillars, which surrounded the Tabernacle. It was 100 cubits long and 50 cubits wide. That would be about 175 by 87 feet. Its height was 5 cubits, or 8 feet 9 inches. We shall see how very simply and clearly we get four truths set forth in this Wall—they are the Security, Stability, Unity, and Responsibility of all Believers.

First, it might be well to notice something that has a bearing on many things that will come before us. It is this. The first thing in connection with the Tabernacle that must strike every student of the Word of God, and that probably is believed by almost all God’s people is, that it brings the Lord Jesus Christ before us in a most wonderful way, in the various offices that He sustains toward His people. It gives us many blessed views of that work upon which our hopes for eternity rest. It sets forth also, the great Worker Himself, and there are few truths connected with the believer’s standing and walk, which are not seen in type in some part of the Tabernacle.

While it is true that the Lord Jesus stands prominently out in the Tabernacle, it is also true that in the Tabernacle we see God’s people, and wherever we see God’s people in blessing, we get thereby a view of Christ and the excellence of His work, which puts and keeps them there. “Every whit of it uttereth His glory,” and never more fully than when it proclaims that poor sinners are taken from the dark depths of sin and linked with the Lord Jesus Christ, sharing with Him in that glory.

Here we see the Lord’s people in more relationships than one. In the pillars of the Court Wall outside, we see God’s people, and in the boards of the Tabernacle inside we see them also. In the boards, firm in their silver sockets, we see God’s people in their standing before God; while in the pillars around the Court, we see them in their responsibility in the world. You remember the boards could not be seen at all save from within; they stood upon silver sockets, covered with gold, but hidden completely by the coverings and the curtains.

The first thing here is Security. You notice the brazen sockets that the pillars stood upon. There is a uniformity of meaning preserved all through the Tabernacle. When you get the meaning of a material, it will ever be consistent. There may be a fulness of meaning, which cannot be exhausted by one application of it; but while this is true, you will never get a contradictory meaning. Well now, what is the meaning of brass? That meaning, whatever it may be, will carry right through the whole series of types. What does the Altar bring out? The Altar was covered with brass, and whatever it proclaims, we shall see that these sockets, which are of brass, proclaim the same thing. As we see the pillars standing each upon a socket of brass, we see in type the child of God standing upon the accomplished work of the Lord Jesus Christ. As a poor sinner, he has been brought to rest upon the Cross work of the Lord Jesus Christ. So the brazen socket proclaims the same truth as the brazen Altar, only, it is the individual making the work of Christ his own, and standing upon it before God. You remember that verse in Psalm 30:4, “Sing unto the Lord, O ye saints of His; give thanks at the memorial—the remembrance—of His holiness.” No unconverted sinner ever has, nor is he ever likely to give thanks at the remembrance of God’s holiness. While some may appear to be thankful for His mercy, you will never hear any thanking God for His holiness. But the child of God can look at the character of God in all its righteousness, in all its unsullied holiness, in all its abhorence of sin. And as he thanks God for all His holiness and righteousness, he does so because away back at Calvary, every sin was dragged out into the light, every sin was laid upon the head of the Holy Son of God, every sin got its merited judgment, for it all fell upon Christ. And now he takes his stand upon that; and as he stands upon what Christ did he can sing:—

I stand upon His merit,

I know no other stand,

Not e’en where glory dwelleth

In Immanuel’s land.

There is no other standing. You may vainly seek to rest upon some other; you may think that perhaps God will be gracious to you, though you have never trusted His Beloved Son, never rested your soul on His finished work. But my friend, unless you know what it is as a poor lost sinner, to take your stand upon what Christ did, you will never know what rest is. Never! Oh! blessed be God, all who stand upon what Christ did, have rest.

The next word is Stability. There are many believers who are not stable. I would not say that because some have doubts they are unconverted. Many who can go back to a time when they trusted Christ, and knew that they were saved, the devil tries to make doubt.

Now let us look at these pillars. Here is a pillar standing on a socket of brass; it is connected with the pillar on either side by a silver rod, and it cannot fall sideways. But what will make it present a solid front to the winds of the desert, so that it will not fall out or in? It needs stability. We read about “cords” and “pins of brass” in Numbers iii., verses 36-37. When the Merarites were getting their burdens, a part of these burdens was the “pins” of brass. They were to be as careful that these were carried along, as if they were the big sockets, boards, or bars. What were the pins for? You would see a pin driven on either side, and then from that pin there would be a cord attaching to the pillar, and this gave it stability. Do we know anything in the Word of God like that? In Romans 14:4, we read, “Yea, he shall be holden up: for God is able to make him stand.” Some of us, when God saved our souls, rejoiced in the forgiveness of sins, but it was not perhaps very long until a wave of doubt came, and instead of standing bolt upright, able to say, “Thank God, I have got eternal life and can never perish”—instead of that, it was “I am afraid I shall never be able to stand.” Maybe some of our companions came to us and said, “You saved! You won’t stand.” And so God comes in, in that fourth verse of Romans xiv., and gives us that little word which adapts itself to our need. He says, “Yea, he shall be holden up: for God is able to make him stand.” I want you to notice that the pins were of the very same material as the Altar and the sockets. And if there is anything that is to give us stability, anything that is to give us a sense of security, anything that is to make us stand, we must find that entirely outside of ourselves. Turn in upon yourself, turn back upon your life, get occupied with your feelings, and you have destroyed your stability. But when God wants to give His people stability, He directs their minds away from themselves entirely, to the same Source where they first got spiritual life. That is to Christ alone.

Now for a few “pins.” I will just give you two, and these two will serve our purpose: they will give you a class of Scriptures that you can add to from memory. The first one is John 10:28, 29, and 30, “I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish.” Now, mark you, there is not a single thing in that, but what is of the very same character as the Altar; it is not, “I give unto you life, and it depends upon you, whether it is eternal or not.” This is the way many would like to read it; but the Lord says, “I give unto them eternal life, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.” It would not be eternal, if you could lose it. Look again at this peg. It is a very blessed one. “No man is able to pluck them out of My Father’s hand. I and My Father are One.” I saw in that verse, not what saved me, for I was saved before ever I saw that precious truth. I am not now speaking of security, but of stability. Every believer is secure, even when he is doubting—but he is surely uncomfortable when doubting: but while uncomfortable, it does not touch his security. Some of us have much reason to bless God for the ministry of the “pins and cords,” and for men whom He used to establish us by them. Instead of the years of settled peace and happy assurance, it might have still been up and down, fearing that after all we might fall away and be lost. Since that truth laid hold of my soul, it holds like a peg driven into the ground. Faith, like the cord, has laid hold on Christ, and I thank God for the stability it gives. The devil may say, “You will never stand.” Christ says, “No man is able to pluck them out of My Father’s hand, I and My Father are One.” That is a grand peg, surely! Here is another one: “Your life is hid with Christ in God” (Col. 3:3). Is not that a safe hiding-place? “Hid with Christ in God.” Men have their “strong rooms” now, for their valuables. God’s strong room for His people, who are His “peculiar treasure,” is in Christ.

We will look at Unity, the unity of believers as pictured here. We read, “All the pillars round about shall be filleted with silver.” That word “filleted” may convey but very little meaning to the average reader— it may scarcely be intelligible to one in ten. But if you read Newberry’s Bible, you get the words in the margin, “connected with rods of silver.” Each pillar was linked with every other pillar, right around the Court Wall, by a silver rod. Turn to the 30th chapter of this book, read verse 16: “And thou shalt take the atonement money of the children of Israel, and shall appoint it for the service of the tabernacle of the congregation, that it may be a memorial unto the children of Israel before the Lord to make an atonement for your souls.” The atonement money was a half shekel, that each Israelite above 20 years old gave for his ransom. It was called “atonement money.” Now, turn to the 38th chapter, verses 25 and 28: “And the silver of them that were numbered of the congregation was an hundred talents, and a thousand seven hundred and three score and fifteen shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary; And of the thousand seven hundred seventy and five shekels he made hooks for the pillars, and overlaid their chapiters, and filleted them.” You see what we have thus connecting these pillars, is the atonement money. There was one thing that made the sixty pillars around the Tabernacle one, and that was the silver. Now turn to the first Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians, 12th chapter, verses 12 and 13, and Ephesians, 2nd chapter, verses 12-15. In these two Scriptures we have most blessedly brought out that “in Christ,” and “by the precious blood of Christ,” a unity has been established, and in that unity there is neither rich nor poor, there is neither “Barbarian, Scythian, bond or free.” We see in Ephesians the Jew who was “nigh,” and the Gentile with all his abominable idolatries, by the precious blood of Christ, brought together and made one. Let me say, that in these days, when sects are being multiplied, and when God’s dear people have been separated, and when sometimes the separation has engendered bitterness, and when rivalry is rampant, there is one note which, when struck, touches a responsive chord in the heart of every child of God, there is one Name enthroned in every breast, there is one link each feels. What is it? Have you ever been situated like this? You are travelling on the railway; there are people in the same carriage who are religious; you hear them talking about some particular business at the time in connection with their church, and it does not strike a single chord in your heart; it matters but little to you. But did you ever hear one speak sympathetically of Christ? Did you ever hear one make some remark about His finished work? Tell me, how did you feel? “How did I feel,” you say. “Well, I felt I could go right up to that man and say, “I heard you speak about One very dear to me, and I feel I am speaking to a brother. I feel if you know Jesus and think well of Him, that we have a great deal in common.” So you would. He may differ from you on many points, and you may apprehend the truth of God in different measures, but if he knows the Christ of God as his Saviour, he has got “hooked,” as it were, to you, and you are hooked to him, and it is the atonement that has done it. Perhaps prior to the conversation you would have regarded him with scarce a passing interest. All is changed by the power of that “Name.” When we read the words of that old hymn—

Jesus, the very thought of Thee,

With sweetness fills my breast.

We own the strength of that silver rod to link us with the monk in his cell who wrote it. Thank God, each pillar is linked with a silver rod; every child of God is one in Christ. Now, tell me, do you not think it well that we should exalt that Name? Do you not think that we as Christians ought, to the best of our ability, to bring out this grand and blessed truth: we are in Christ, and being in Christ we are one? And the things in which we are one are surely of far more importance than the things on which Satan has got us to differ. I am persuaded if God’s dear people were to get a good hold of this, it would make man-made distinctions, man’s walls of separation, very distasteful to them.

Our Responsibility. What was the wall composed of? Linen, only linen. As we looked at that gate in our first meeting, the linen spoke of the Lord Jesus Christ as Man. “Fine twined linen” brings Jesus before us as “the Man.” When we mention that precious Name “Jesus,” the human Name of Christ, God would, as it were, hold the fine twined linen before our eyes. Now turn to the second Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians, chapter 4, verses 10 and 11: “Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. For we which live are always delivered unto death for Jesus’ sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh.” Notice that peculiar expression, “the life also of Jesus.” It is one often misunderstood. What does it mean? You know all Christians have life in Christ, but “life in Christ,” and “the life of Jesus,” are not just the same. All believers have life in Christ, else they would not be Christians. But tell me, does every Christian display the life of Jesus in his body, or his “mortal flesh” here and now? Here on this earth at the present time it is the will of God that you, beloved child of God, should display in your body in its present condition the “life of Jesus.” Now, mark you, life in Christ we received the moment we believed, as quickly as a flash of lightning. The moment the eye of faith turned to Calvary, that moment we got life in Christ. “But the life of Jesus” means that in some degree at least the separation that characterized Him as Man, the walk He maintained, His separation from evil, His devotion to God, ought to be seen in you now. Mark you, that is our responsibility, that the life of Jesus might be reproduced in these mortal bodies.

Although the pillars held up the linen, they did not show themselves. When I see a picture of the Tabernacle with the pillars outside, it is an evident mistake, and it is characteristic of the present day, man showing himself off. No, the pillars stood inside holding up the linen. Tell me of a believer who seeks by the Power of God to let it be seen in his life, that like Peter and John he has been with Jesus: and there you have a pillar holding up the linen.

Responsibility is stamped on that Court Wall. Look, how many pillars were there? 60 (6 times 10). What was the width? 50 cubits (5 times 10). What is the length of the Court? 100 cubits (10 times 10). Three times over God stamps the number of responsibility on that Court Wall. The number “10” stands for responsibility. When God gave the law, the measure of man’s responsibility to Him, it was the ten worded law, the Decalogue. When the Lord Jesus in Matthew 25th would put before us a picture of the Church, He selects the figures of ten Virgins going forth to meet the Bridegroom. Now that was the responsibility of the Church—to be separate from the world, and looking for the coming of the Lord. Again in Luke 19:He puts before us the responsibility of the servants, we read—that the nobleman, ere he went into the far country, delivered unto the ten servants ten pounds, saying, “Occupy (or trade) till I come.” It is just this, when service is in view it is ten servants, and when the responsibility would be pressed home upon the conscience of the servants, it is ten pounds. Thus we say, 10 is the number of responsibility, and God has stamped that three times over, around that Tabernacle. Responsibility says, “You, child of God, were not saved only to have a good time,” just to get to heaven merely. He saved you and caused His Spirit to dwell in you, that you might hold up the linen, that the life of Jesus, the holiness, the righteousness, the separation from sin, the devotion to God that was seen in that Man when He was upon earth—the Man Christ Jesus—may be seen in you. Are you doing it? A boy was once asked, “My boy, is your father a Christian?” “Yes” said the boy, “but he is not working at it now.” Are you working at being a Christian? Does your business transactions accord with your profession? When you give your word, do you regard it as sacred? When you make an appointment, would you rather go without your dinner or tea, than break that appointment? Oh! beloved friends, if there are those on earth who ought to be the soul of honour, the soul of integrity, the soul of uprightness, who ought to have a horror of a mean thing, it is a Christian. If a pillar was not standing straight, it was well in view; and if a Christian is not upright, the world will soon pick him out, and the people of God will have that one cast at them as a reproach, and the saints will find him just so much dead weight to carry.

The Coverings And Curtains

(Exodus 26:1-14).

What we have read together brings before us what we may speak of as the Sanctification, Consecration, Expiation, and Exaltation of Christ.

The first set of Curtains, which is properly called the Tabernacle, was formed of ten curtains, each 28 cubits long and 4 cubits wide. This allowed the Curtains to fall even with the front of the Tabernacle, and to go back and down to the ground at the western end. It would require just 40 cubits to do this, as the Tabernacle was 30 cubits long and 10 cubits high. As each Curtain is only 28 cubits in length, there would be 1 cubit on each side of the boards, which would not be covered.

The inner Curtains were in two sets, five in a set. They were held together by fifty taches of gold, which fastened into fifty loops of blue, forming, as we read, “one Tabernacle.” Exceedingly beautiful these Curtains must have been, with all their mingled tints of blue, purple, and scarlet, on fine twined linen.

The second set was the Goats’ Hair Curtains. These were 30 cubits in length, which covered the cubit left bare by the inner set.

Here again we have two sets, but this time we have five in one set and six in the other. You see that would give one width, or 4 cubits more than was needed to completely cover the Tabernacle. This extra width hangs down in the front of the Tabernacle, only instead of it hanging down the whole 4 cubits, it was doubled back as you see on our picture, and there it hangs down 2 cubits in the double. The taches in this Curtain were brass, not gold. It is called “A covering (or tent) upon the Tabernacle.”

The third was of “Rams’ Skins dyed red,” and is called “a covering for the tent.” Above that and outside all, was a covering of Badgers’ Skins. It is somewhat striking that no measurements are given for these two coverings, and one verse is all that is devoted to them. The exact teaching of this we may yet more fully know, but there are some suggestions which we would offer. Both of the Coverings present Christ in His life, while the Goats’ Hair Curtain brings Him before us as the sin-bearing Substitute of His people, and the beautiful inner set of “Fine twined linen, blue, purple and scarlet,” shows us the One who died on the cross, now exalted to the right hand of the Father. In other words, the two curtains give us Christ in His death and resurrection.

Now the fact that one verse is all that is given to the two coverings, while thirteen are devoted to the two curtains, may well lead us to seek the reason for this.

It cannot have escaped the observation of the ordinary reader of the New Testament, how that less than one chapter tells of the thirty years in Nazareth. This silence on the part of God, as to the life of Christ, may well be a rebuke to men who make much of the life and pour contempt on His vicarious death. That every moment of that life was precious to God, beyond what human language can tell, we know, also that if it were all written, “The world itself could not contain the books that should be written” (John 21:25). But it was not His life, that put sin away; it was His death. And that death is the ground of our hopes for eternity, and His resurrection is the proof that God has been satisfied, yea He has been glorified, and so He has glorified His Son, and the curtains of fine twined linen, blue, purple and scarlet, witnesses to this.

The Badgers’ Skins; or the Sanctification of Christ.

In looking at these Coverings and Curtains we shall begin on the outside. If we view the Tabernacle from the outside, I cannot imagine anything less interesting in appearance. It was a long box-like building without any graceful lines or curves, and it had nothing about it to please the eye. And as if to accentuate its lack of attractiveness, the Badgers’ Skins were on the outside, while the beautiful curtains were hidden underneath. But suppose we go inside. What a wondrous change is there! On either hand the golden covered boards glint in the light of the Seven-branched Lamp-stand. Over our heads is the ceiling formed by the Curtains, before us the Veil, behind us is the Door with all the mingled tints of the rainbow, we might say. Then there is the Golden Altar of Incense Curtains Of The Tabernacle.

filling the Holy Place with its aroma, the Golden Table with Twelve Loaves of Shewbread, which also omit a fragrant odour. What a marvellous scene! There are two Scriptures to which we will turn. In them we see our blessed Lord presented to us in these different aspects. Isa. 53:2, we read, “He hath no form nor comeliness, and when we shall see Him there is no beauty that we should desire Him.” It would seem as if we were looking at the outer view of the Tabernacle—“No form nor comeliness.” This reminds us of its very plain outlines. “No beauty”: this would suggest its lack of attractive colours on the outside. The other Scripture is in Song of Solomon 5:16, “Yea, He is altogether lovely.” The first of these Scriptures express what we all thought of Christ once, just as truly as it does what Israel thought of Him. Then we viewed Him from the standpoint of nature, and of unbelief. But when we saw Him by the eye of faith, Oh then, what a change! But it was not in Him, for He was ever the “chiefest among ten thousand.” The change was in us, and where we viewed Him from. We were then outside, in unbelief; now, by grace we are inside. We see Him by the eye of faith.

The Badgers’ Skins tell of the Sanctification of Christ. There is one other place where we read of these Badgers’ Skins—Ezek. 16:10, “I shod thee with badgers’ skins.” God sometimes gives very important clues in what we might say, a very incidental way. “I shod thee with badgers’ skins” would suggest separation from evil. Sandals protect the feet from the earth, keep them separate from it. Badgers’ skins then suggest what it was which made Christ so undesirable to men who had not faith. Had He mingled with the people as their champion, and not witnessed against their sins, they would have thought very differently of Him. But He would not do that, “He was holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners” (Heb. 7:28). And this separation was what they resented. It was going too far, and so it made the Son of God in their eyes like this outer Covering of the Tabernacle. And in the measure that our separation is thorough, we too shall find that we are not desired by the world. Nothing calls forth such opposition as true separation does. Remain in an unscriptural association, religious or otherwise, and it is wonderful how much you may say about its defects. But leave it, as God’s Word commands, and at once you will encounter opposition. Alas! how many of the people of God are trying to please Him and at the same time retain their connection with organizations and associations whose principles are utterly opposed to His Word.

Now suppose we lift the Badgers’ Skins and look at what is underneath. Does not the action suggest looking for the hidden motive, the secret spring, that which—shall we say—produced that separated life of the Lord Jesus.

Rams’ Skins Dyed Red; or the Consecration of Christ.

Here we reach the Rams’ Skins, which speak of the Consecration of Christ., “Rams’ Skins dyed red.” In Exodus xxix we read of the “ram of consecration.” Now in our days when there is so much loose interpreting of the Word of God, we get consecration and sanctification hopelessly mixed up together. But there is a difference between them. What is it? Sanctification speaks of separation unto God; consecration, occupation with God. The word “consecrate” comes from a word which means “to fill the hands.” Thus, when Aaron and his sons were put into the priesthood, Moses cut the ram of consecration into pieces, and they held out their hands, and he placed upon their hands those pieces to present to God. And thus the word means the “ram of the filling of the hands.” Let us see how blessedly this is seen in our Lord when He was on earth. You will remember those words, “Wist ye not that I must be about My Father’s business,” and “I do always those things which please Him.” And that other word, “My meat and My drink is to do the will of Him that sent Me.” Away back in the past, as we have it in the Psalms, He could say, “Yea, Thy law is within My heart, I delight to do Thy will.” That was the secret of His wondrous life of consecration, the secret whence flowed all that separation from evil which is seen in Him, the Holy One. There was constant occupation with God. His hands were filled. He was the Consecrated One. And it were good for His people if they see, in some degree, that these Coverings of the Tabernacle speak, too, of what they ought to be, as separated unto God, and set apart from all that is opposed to Him. All separation that is worth the name, or that gives joy to the heart of God, is separation that grows from occupation with Christ Himself.

Then we read, the Rams’ Skins were dyed red. What think you is that? Why not put them on as they were? Why not use them as they came from the back of the ram? Would not that skin speak of consecration just as well in its natural state as dyed red? White, grey, or brown, they would speak of consecration, since they came from the ram of consecration. But “dyed red” is more. You remember the word in Phil. 2:8, “He became obedient unto death, even the death of the Cross.” That was the measure of His consecration, it was measured by the Cross. His was consecration unto blood. His was devotedness to the Father, that would not stop short of that Cross. The Rams’ Skins dyed red surely tell us how that consecration was tested, and being tested, was not found wanting. And so too it ought to be with all who belong to Christ.

While we cannot apply to believers personally the Goats’ Hair Curtains or the innermost set of fine Linen Curtains, for they surely speak of what Christ is for His people, in which they are accepted. But in the two Coverings, we have that which ought, in measure at least, to be reproduced in all who are Christ’s, leading to practical separation from all that is opposed to the mind and heart of God.

The Goats’ Hair; Or The Expiation Of Christ.

The goat is pre-eminent in the Word of God as the sin offering. It was never absent from the feasts, and on the day of Atonement the interest centres in it. In the feast of Tabernacles its place is almost as prominent. That feast lasted seven days, and on the first day thirteen bullocks were offered as a burnt offering. As the days passed, the number of bullocks dwindled down, till on the last day, only one was offered. These bullocks were for a burnt offering, but the goat for the sin offering was offered daily from the first to the last.

In Matthew 25 our Lord gives us a view of the judgment of the living nations. Those on His right hand are called the sheep, they are saved. Those on His left hand, the unsaved, are called goats. The goat then represents the unsaved sinner. But, it may be asked, How can we take it as a type of the Lord Jesus Christ? It speaks of Christ taking the sinner’s place. As I view the sin offering, it speaks to me of Christ bearing my sin, suffering under the hand of a holy God for the guilty sinner. So it is very appropriate that the goat, which represents the sinner, should typify the holy Son of God, when He stood in the sinner’s place.

The goat’s hair is the memorial accomplished atonement, and everything in connection with it bears out the thought of atonement. The beautiful set of inner curtains were just 28 cubits long, so as the Tabernacle was 10 cubits high and 10 cubits wide, the inner set of curtains would leave one cubit of the boards on each side exposed. The goats’ hair curtain completely covered this. Then the wording of verse 7 sustains this thought, “To be a covering upon the Tabernacle.” Again, while the taches which held the inner set of curtains together were gold, speaking of Christ glorified, the taches holding the goats’ hair curtain together are brass, which turns our minds to the Altar, the place of atonement.

Thirty cubits long. Is there some significance in this length? Surely. We have spoken of “ten” as the number of responsibility, as seen in the Law the ten commandments, which gives us the measure of man’s responsibility to God, a responsibility man may ignore, but will have to meet. Now thirty is just three times ten, and if ten is the number of my responsibility, which I could never meet, three is the number of God, fully manifested, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The goats’ hair curtains 30 cubits long tells the believing sinner that his responsibility of a broken law, has been Divinely met. What a wonderful word that is in Heb. 9:14. “Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God.” How unspeakably blessed; the Triune God all engaged in meeting the terrible need of poor sinners.

Each width, both in this and the inner curtains, was four cubits. Four is the number of the creature, and may proclaim in both curtains, the wondrous grace of the Creator becoming man, that He might bring man to Himself through the cross. God is never weary of reiterating this stupendous truth in these types. And we will never cease praising Him for it.

Another thing. Notice how many Curtains there are. When we have the beautiful inner set, there are just 10. When we read of the goats’ hair, which speaks of atonement, it is not 10—it is 11. This reminds us of a little word which occurs five times in the Epistle to the Romans, chapter 5. That little word is “much more.” What does it mean? It means that when Christ died, God was more glorified by that death, than He had ever been dishonoured by sin; and the believer gains more by Christ’s death, than he lost through sin and Adam’s fall. And so that word, five times repeated there, finds its type here in the extra width of the Goats’ Hair Curtain. Ten commandments all broken, but eleven Goats’ Hair Curtains tell that the atonement of Christ has been ample; has met, and “much more” than met the consequences of sin.

There is something else. That eleventh Curtain was not needed for practical purposes; it was not required to cover the building—ten did that. What, then, was the use this eleventh Curtain was devoted to? It hung down over the door, and was doubled back, thus giving two cubits of it always in full view. Suppose, now, that a priest is going in towards the Tabernacle from the Laver. He may chance to be walking as if he had a perfect right to be there; as if, because of his office or merit, it were his place. But he never came into that blessed place without his eye falling on that double cubit of Goats’ Hair Curtain which hung down, and its voice to him would always be: “But for the death that these Curtains are the memorial of, I would not be allowed access here.” And the child of God, in his most sacred moments, when he is nearest to God, is never without the sense of this extra width of the Goats’ Hair Curtain. Take the most sacred meeting (for there is none more sacred outside heaven), when we are sitting around the Lord’s Table, rejoicing in all the nearness which is ours as “accepted in the Beloved,” a nearness angels can never know. As we look on the broken loaf, and meditate upon the Lord’s words, “This is My body which is given for you,” we see, as it were, the Goats’ Hair Curtain. Yet one more application of this. Soon the Church shall be seen in heavenly glory. Gathered around Him there, the sharers of His Throne, having been made more resplendent than the Archangel, shall we ever get away from, or forget that Goats’ Hair Curtain? Listen to the song the redeemed sing there, as they gaze upon the “Lamb as it had been slain.” “Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by Thy blood.” Ever and anon, as they view those wounds, the glorified saints will, with adoring hearts, say, “The Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” Ornaments of noble orders, the insignia of royalty, stars and crosses, can never be in human eyes, what the wounds in the hands and feet and side of the Lamb of God will ever be to His ransomed people, as the memorials of the death He died on Calvary. Thus we shall see that even there on the Throne of God, that as the priest in the Tabernacle was overspread by the Goats’ Hair Curtains, so will be the memorials of the atoning death of Christ ever be before us.

The Fine Twined Linen, Or The Exaltation Of Christ.

The Curtains of “Fine twined linen, blue, purple, a.nd scarlet; or the Glorification of Christ. We shall find it more appropriate to look at these beautiful curtains when we have spoken about the veil. These curtains witness to the blessed truth, that as Man He is now glorified. It is not without design that each time the material of these curtains are mentioned, it is linen first. It is meant by God to fix our minds on the thought of Christ in resurrection. When a priest went into the Tabernacle, all that could be seen of these beautiful curtains, was what was overhead, as the rest was on the outside of the boards, and thus hid from his view. So he had to look up to see them. Dear Stephen looked up, as we read, “But he being full of The Holy Palace And Its Furniture the Holy Ghost, looked up steadfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God” (Acts 7:55). Let us look up, there is a MAN on the throne of God.

In the goats’ hair curtains the taches which joined the two sets were of brass, which spoke of Christ on earth, bearing the judgment of sin. But in the holy place, the seven branched lampstand revealed not brass but golden taches, all now speaks of the MAN of Calvary in glory. So the lamps bring into view the taches of gold and loops of blue and all the colours of the curtains, just as the Holy Spirit, of whom the Lamps spoke, delights to do, as He did with Stephen, fix our eye on a glorified MAN.

We have spoken of the colours and material, and will have to look at then again when speaking of the veil, and so we won’t say more on the curtains now.

The Door

(Exodus 26:36, 37; John 10:7, 9).

You will notice in John 10 we have two doors named. In verse 9, we have a door of which the Lord says, “I am the Door; by Me if any man enter in he shall be saved.” In verse 7, another door is spoken of, but of it, it is not said, “If any man enter in.” It speaks of those who enter it as “the sheep”—“I am the Door of the sheep.” Christ is the Door in each case, but we may speak of Him here as the Door for the saint, and the Door for the sinner. You may say, “Does the saint need a door?” Of course he does. He needs Christ as the Way to God in praise and worship. And the sinner needs Christ as the Way to come to God in his guilt and sin, for pardon and for peace. See how these doors are here illustrated. Any one of the men of Israel, no matter of what tribe, could enter by the gate, and bring his sacrifice to the Altar. But only a priest could go through the door into the Tabernacle. The gate speaks of salvation, and the door speaks of worship; the gate of our coming to God as lost ones, and the door of our coming to God as saved ones, in praise and thanksgiving.

There is another thing. The gate has width, and the door has height. There are just the same number of square inches in the gate as in the door; only, while the gate is 20 cubits wide it is only 5 cubits high, and the door, while only 10 wide, is 10 high. You see that what the one has in width, the other has in height. Now, it makes a big difference presenting the Gospel to a sinner, how we present it. In preaching the Gospel we stand by the Court gate, and proclaim that way of entrance is for all. This is like John 10:9, and speaks of full, free salvation for every sinner.

It is many years since my mind first opened to the very precious truth of election. Before that, I had no right knowledge of it—in fact, I felt like opposing it. But I thank God my heart was opened to its reception from the Word of God. Since then, it has pleased God to give me the joy of preaching Christ in many places, and seeing souls led to him—and I think I can say, I can never remember being hampered in the least in presenting the Gospel, because I believed in election as the Bible teaches it. As sinners outside, we have nothing to do with the counsels of God. God has given the Gospel, which is for everybody. You may not be able to “harmonize” man’s responsibility and God’s sovereignty, nor do they need harmonizing. By-and-bye you will understand better how both are true. Take your stand by this gate, and proclaim with all the powers that God has given you, “Whosoever will may come,” and, “If any man enter in he shall be saved.”

Those who have believed most firmly in the doctrine of election have been the greatest soul-winners. Spurgeon, for example, believed it with all the intensity of his being—and who won souls, throughout a long ministry, more than he? Do not be hampered by the thought that the Gospel is not for everybody, for it is. Duncan Matheson was a man who believed in election, and once he was preaching in a church in the North of Scotland. When he was finished, one of the elders who had been listening uneasily to Duncan making the gate wide enough for “whosoever will” to enter, and who was evidently afraid that a lot would get in who had no business there, because they were not of “the elect,” said to Matheson, “Duncan, man, ye’re nae preaching to the elect,” to which the evangelist replied, “If you will chalk them on their backs, then I’ll preach to them.” Since no one can do that, let us preach the Gospel as we are bidden, to “every creature.”

But over the Door we might read, “Ye have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you.” And so we found that our salvation was no haphazard thing, but the result of God’s eternal purpose in Christ. Thus as we progress in the knowledge of the truth of God, we learn every lesson in its proper place.

You remember the gate was supported by four pillars, which would remind us of the four witnesses chosen by God to present to us the life, death, burial, and resurrection of His blessed Son—Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. When we come to the door we find, not four pillars, but five. Now, why is this so? God uses five writers to give us the Epistles—Paul, Peter, James, Jude, and John. And their ministry is especially to believers. It is the same blessed Person who is set forth in all, but in the Gospels He is seen as the Way to God for sinners, and in the Epistles as the Way to God for purged worshippers.

These pillars were acacia wood covered with gold, speaking of Christ now in the presence of God. When it is brass, it is Christ on earth, in reference to the judgment of sin, but in the gold we have Christ as the glorified One. The wood and the gold are beautifully brought out in that remarkable passage, Isa. 9:6, “For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given, and the government shall be upon His shoulder: and His Name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.”

Do you ever think of the marvellous exactitude of the Word of God? “Unto us a Child is born”—that is the Wood, His holy humanity. “Unto us a Son is given”—that is the Gold, His Deity. Bethlehem was not His origin. Away back in the eternal past, He was the Son in the bosom of the Father. But in grace He became the Child born. And as one of the perfections of our precious Bible, and not a mere redundancy of speech, it is added that He was the “Son given.”

Then we get what would answer to the five pillars—“Wonderful, Counsellor, The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.” Five titles, which assure us that He was no mere creature, for of no creature could it be said that he was “The Mighty God and the Everlasting Father.” We read in Rom. 9:5, “Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever.” In Heb. 7:26, we get other five things, “For such an High Priest became us who is Holy, Harmless, Undefiled, Separate from Sinners, and Made Higher than the Heavens.”

The Door Curtains.

There are the different kinds of material—blue, purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen, each bringing out a special feature of the beauty and perfections of Christ. God, in giving us four accounts by the Evangelists, does not mean them to be merely four corroborative witnesses. They do corroborate; but the thought is, that God wanted the different writers to bring out each his own peculiar feature of the Lord’s character.

Matthew, or the Purple.—The great thought in Matthew is the Kingship of Christ, so the genealogy of Christ is traced up to Abraham, through David, and Christ’s title to the throne established. The wise men in the second chapter ask, “Where is He that is born King of the Jews?” This is the Purple, or Royal colour.

Mark, or the Scarlet.—In Mark we get no genealogy. There are genealogies in Matthew and in Luke, but none in Mark. Here, Christ is presented as the Servant, and it is in keeping with that character that it should be omitted. The word “scarlet” really is “worm scarlet”—the colour was obtained from a worm. What grace, that He should stoop so low, the One of whom we read that He was the Mighty God. Newberry gives the word “scarlet” as “the splendour of a worm.” And what glory will ever equal the glory of His humiliation?

Luke, or the Fine Twined Linen.—The genealogy of Christ in Luke is traced right up to Adam. All through Luke, the phrase is, “A certain man.” The same parable which has “a certain king” in Matthew, has “a certain man” in Luke. The burden of Luke is the Manhood of Christ, and his pen was guided to unfold to us in that way peculiar to him, the grace that in Christ as man, came near to us in all our need and ruin, yet was ever the holy spotless One.

The Silver Sockets: Or The Atonement Money

(Exodus 30:11-16; 38:27).

This is one of the plainest types of redemption to be found in the Word of God. The men of Israel from twenty years old and upward were to be numbered, and at their numbering they must give the half shekel as a “ransom for their souls.” There is no such thing as being numbered and eligible to fight the battles of Jehovah, save by bringing this atonement money. Not only so, but the judgment of God will fall upon them if they do not bring it. Alas! we are living in days when thousands upon thousands are enrolled in the professed hosts of the Lord, who do not know what it is to be redeemed, and what is worse still, who do not believe they need it. Judgment is ahead of them: not the rest of heaven, but the torments of hell.

All are brought to one common level here as to their need, and the same ransom must be brought by all. The rich man cannot add to it, nor may the poor man bring less. So God will have nothing from man, but His Son. No human righteousness or merit can be added to Christ, and less than Christ will not do.

The silver itself, as well as its use, is typical of Christ. We might ask why God should choose a silver coin in value nearly equal to a twenty-five cent piece, or English shilling? Silver is a pure metal, white and precious, and in this Christ, as the Holy Son of God, is surely brought before us.

We read that “a shekel is twenty gerahs.” Then a half shekel would be ten gerahs. Think you God gave us that bit of information for no purpose? Ten gerahs! Why do I need a ransom? Because I am under the curse of a broken law, of ten commandments. Then here is Christ, who will bear its judgment, as my ransom.

The word shekel means “weight.” Half a shekel then would just mean “half-weight.” But how could that set forth Christ? It might remind us of ourselves of whom it could be said, as well as of Belshazzer of old, “Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting.” Yet it did proclaim Christ. Did you ever ask yourself, “What is substitution?” Perhaps you say, “It means one dying in place of another.” Well, that is true, but you might add, one dying as another. When Christ died for me, He died as me. As we read in 2 Cor. 5:21, “For He hath made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin.” And Christ in grace took that place. As we often sing:—

Our sins our guilt in love divine,

Confessed and borne by Thee.

The word “silver” in its root meaning has, we understand, the sense of “to turn pale through longing, fear, or shame.” Ah! well might this recall the Cross to us. Think of what it meant to hang with felons on a Cross, with that vulgar, morbid crowd staring at Him! His words in” the Psalm might then express His feelings, “Shame hath covered My face.”

David’s Omission of the Half Shekel; and its Fatal Consequences. (2 Sam. 24).

In this passage David ordered Joab, the captain of the host to take the number of Israel. That strange and ambitious man, seemed to see that David was making a mistake, and against his will took the number of the men who were eligible for the army. That was a very costly census taking to David, for no less than seventy thousand of his army were taken away by the plague. Passing by the pride of numbers, which reveals itself in David at this time, we see something deeper in this incident. God had said, “When thou takest the sum of the children of Israel after their number, then they shall give every man a ransom for his soul unto the Lord, when thou numberest them; that there be no plague among them, when thou numberest them.”— Exodus 30:12.

We see no reference at all to the atonement money in this case, and we do see the plague. Is there not a very solemn lesson in this for our own day. How many are enrolled under the “banner of the cross,” as they put it; in the church or some of its auxiliary societies, but they have never known redemption. The saddest part of it is, they have never learned their need of it. The simple question, “Did you ever discover that you were only fit for hell?” would make them indignant. They were never bad enough to go to hell. They are not soldiers of the Lord, for all that He has in His army have been redeemed. And for those who have not, there is nothing but judgment.

The Half Shekel In The New Testament

(Matt. 17:24-27).

That the half shekel is in the New Testament is new to many of the Lord’s people. Those who use the Revised Version will most likely have seen it. In this passage, those who gathered the half shekel, came to Peter and asked him, “Doth not your Master pay the half shekel? Peter replied “Yes.” So poor Peter has made another blunder, but it is a very sad one, for by it he has lowered his Master to the level of a sinner, who needed redemption. Well we know that Peter would have revolted at such a thought, but nevertheless that was what he had done. When he came into the house full of this thing and ready to tell the Lord what had just transpired, the Lord just let a beam of His Deity flash upon Peter, by anticipating him. Just as much as if He said, “I know all about it Peter.” He put a question to Peter, “What thinkest thou Simon? of whom do the kings of the earth take custom or tribute? of their own children or of strangers? Peter replied, “Of strangers.” Then the Lord said, “Then are the children free.” (The point here is that evidently the half shekel is continued down this time for the upkeep of the temple. See 2 Kings 12:4). Our Lord uses the illustration of kings taxing their subjects to keep up their palaces, but the children were exempt. So the temple was His Father’s house and He was free. This was His unique glory.

Having thus asserted His dignity, He says, “Notithstanding, lest we should offend them, go thou to the sea, and cast an hook, and take up the fish that first cometh up; and when thou hast opened his mouth, thou shall find a shekel; that take and give unto them for Me and thee.” What grace and glory shines out here. Creation’s Lord, to whom the fish yields obedience, stoops to pay the half shekel linking Peter with Himself. Thus Peter’s mistake is used to bring out one of the most beautiful pictures in all the Word of God. Peter one with His Lord by redemption. “That give for Me and thee.”

When the Israelite passed the place where the atonement money was received, and paid his half shekel, he could say, “I have been redeemed, the ransom has been paid.” So the very moment the sinner believes on the Lord Jesus Christ he can take up the words of the well known hymn:—

I’m redeemed, I’m redeemed, I’m redeemed,

By the blood of the Lamb that was slain.

The silver gotten from the men of Israel as atonement money was used in making the sockets, 96 for the boards and 4 for the pillars of the vail. Each board sat on two sockets, which weighed 114 lbs. each, a solid foundation surely, and a precious one as well, making a good picture of what we read in Isa. 28:16 of our Lord Jesus. “Therefore thus saith the Lord God, Behold I lay in Zion for a foundation, a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste.”

The Boards Of The Tabernacle

“Builded together for an habitation of God”—(Eph. 2:22).

Here we have the framework of the Tabernacle. 48 boards, 10 cubits (17 ½ feet) high, and 1½ cubits (2 feet 7½ inches) broad, 20 on each side, and 8 on the end.

The boards were acacia wood, overlaid with gold. Five bars of the same two materials held them together. They stood upon ninety-six silver sockets—two under each board, or about five tons of silver in all in the foundation. In looking at the boards, we will consider them as typical of the saints of God; the sockets, as Christ Himself, their Foundation. As a whole, the Tabernacle is a type of Christ, as also its various parts, but it speaks also of His people.

Let us turn to Eph. 2:19-22. We see here God engaged in the work of making a habitation for Himself. Now, that is just what the Tabernacle was. His Word was, “Let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them.” And this is His object In gathering out the Church as we see here. The Tabernacle was the type of this. The very language employed would suggest this. “And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief Corner-stone. In whom all the building fitly framed together, groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord. In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.”

The Boards Of The Tabernacle.

As we think of the getting, fitting, and placing of these boards, we are reminded of how God is now building His habitation as in Eph. 2:19-22.

Some of the workmen of Israel set out in quest of trees which would furnish these boards. Some of these trees may have been growing up on the hillside, others down in the valley. They start upon them with the axe. First they are laid low. Then boughs, branches, and leaves are all taken away, and only the trunk remains. This is cut up into boards, and these are fitted and fashioned, covered with gold, and set up with all the others to form a dwelling-place for Jehovah. Such is the picture. Now for its application. Those Ephesian saints were boards. Once, some of them grew upon the hills of religion and morality, while the many grew down in the low places of sin and vice. But alike they drew their enjoyment from the earth, not from God. But the Word of God, like an axe, came and it detached them from the world. They saw themselves to be dead in trespasses and sins, all their fancied goodness and false profession was taken away. Then as the boards were fashioned for their places in the Tabernacle, so were they raised up and builded together for “an habitation of God.”

It might have looked cruel to see the trees despoiled of their beauty. But that beauty would soon have faded. Not so the gold which has been put upon these boards. It will endure. So we lose our own righteousness, self-righteousness, to get the righteousness of God. This is Christ Himself.

The Sockets.

There were two under each board. In each socket there was a mortise, and on each board two tenons (or hands) which entered into the mortises. A very precious thought. Why two sockets under a board? The socket tells us of Christ, upon whom we, as individuals, rest for salvation. And all of them together proclaim Him as “the Church’s one foundation.”

“Two” suggests testimony better than one would. And how blessed it is, in such a vital matter, that God has given us competent testimony. Paul, writing to the Corinthians, (1 Cor. 15:1-8) about the Gospel he had preached, which they received, and by which they were saved, shows upon what authority the fact of the resurrection of Christ rested. After he had spoken of various witnesses, he says that He “was seen of above five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep.” That means that at the time he was writing, some three hundred men in Judea could have been interviewed who had seen Christ after He arose from the dead. Pretty good evidence! Peter, writing to “them who have obtained like precious faith with us” says, “for we have not followed cunningly devised fables, we were eye-witnesses of His Majesty” (2 Pet. 1:16). The child of God has very solid ground for his faith. To-day as we see people on every hand resting upon the fables, opinions, and dreamings of men, while they reject the sure Word of God, we think of what the first Napoleon said concerning one of his Generals, “He would believe anything if it was not in the Bible.” The boards were separated from the earth by these silver sockets. Once as trees, they were in and of the earth. Now they are on the earth, but not in it, nor of it. Not only does the Cross of Christ separate believers from their sins, and the wrath of God due to them because of these, but it separates them from their old standing, takes them out of the world in which they once lived. What a picture we get here of an assembly of saints! Each board covered with gold, standing on the silver sockets, all bound together by the five bars to be an habitation of God. We think of such words as “That He might gather together in one the children of God” (John 11:52), and “All that believed were together” (Acts 2:44). In these early days, believers seemed to do so by instinct. Sects and systems had not then perverted that blessed instinct as, alas! seems to be the case now. It is, however, the responsibility of all who know Christ, to seek a fellowship such as we see pictured in these boards of the Tabernacle. Saved people (not saved and unsaved) gathered together on the foundation of redemption by the blood of Christ—the silver sockets; to Himself in the midst— the glory in the Tabernacle; and held together by no human bond, but by Christ Himself.

The Five Bars.

These bars, as has already been remarked, were acacia wood covered with gold. And just as the five pillars of the door set forth Christ, so do these, only the relation He sustains toward us is different. He is here as the One who binds all in one, who secures the unity of His people.

The middle bar has been spoken of as a type of the Holy Spirit. But the fact that it was wood and gold, is against this interpretation. “The middle bar in the midst” are words which lend themselves easily to express what makes the difference between a church or assembly and a mere congregation. Jesus known as the One “in the midst,” the One around whom we are gathered. That is what makes an assembly, and to neglect the assembling of ourselves together, is a cause of loss to our souls. And to turn away from such a company is to turn our back on Christ, who is in the midst. It has been said that the middle bar passed through each board like a dowel. That is, a hole was bored in the board, and the bar, like a long dowel-pin, went through from end to end of all the twenty boards. Now the hole would have to be so large as to weaken the boards if the bar was to be of a strength sufficient to be any material help, and as it was wood, its size would have to be considerable. But if some of the rings were on the inside of the boards, and this bar passed through these, it would act as a key to the others, giving stability to the boards, and the truth taught would be just the same. I just suggest this, as the more reasonable interpretation to us. At any rate, the truth taught is clear. Nothing holds together a company of believers like seeing that Jesus is the Centre, and that as Lord we are gathered “unto Him,” owning His authority.

The Veil And Its Rending

(Ex. 26:31-32).

“And thou shalt make a veil of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen of cunning work; with cherubin shall it be made; and thou shalt hang it upon four pillars of shittim wood, overlaid with gold, upon four sockets of silver” (Ex. 26:31. “Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us through the veil, that is to say his flesh” (Heb. 10:19-20).

When we were looking at the gate of the court, we saw that it had four pillars, and brought before us Christ as He presents Himself in John 10:9, the door for sinners to come to God, and the four pillars suggested the four evangelists, whom God choose to give us the story of His life, death, burial and resurrection. Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. But when we came to the door into the Tabernacle we found that it had five pillars, and that it typified the door of the sheep, in John 10:7, as into it only the priests could enter, whereas every Israelite might come in at the other, as he came to the altar. The door into the Tabernacle spoke of Christ in heaven, and the pillars suggest the five writers of the epistles, Paul, Peter, John, James and Jude.

Now as we come into the holy place we might wonder at finding again four pillars, but the scripture which we have had from Heb. 10 shows us that in the veil we have Christ on earth. But not only on earth, but as that verse tells us “rent” or crucified. With the meanings of those colours in our mind, it would seem as if they could not be seen at the cross, the time when He reached the deepest depths of His humiliation. That they will be seen in the beautiful set of inner curtains, one can easily understand. Well let us see.

We will take the Purple first. When Pilate had consented to let Christ be crucified, fearing the consequence of the threat—“if thou let this man go, thou art not Caesar’s friend, whosoever maketh himself a king speaketh against Caesar,”—he felt he had yielded to them more than he ought to have done. So he had put up over the Cross in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin, “This is Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.” When the priests saw it, they went to Pilate to have a change made. Instead of it appearing as an absolute statement, let it be just a quotation, let it be “He said, ‘I am the King of the Jews.’” But Pilate is in the hands of God, and he has put there just what God desired to have written, and there God will have it stay. So Pilate answered them, “What I have written I have written,” and in that hour of rejection and death, crowned with thorns, He was King.

The Scarlet.—In 2 Cor. 13:4—here is a word which may seem strange to some, “He was crucified through weakness.” What a word! The mighty Maker of earth and heaven, the One who upholds all things by the word of His power, “crucified through weakness.” So weak was He in their eyes, that they taunt Him with the words, “Let Him save Himself,” “Let Him now come down from the Cross.” Sure they are that He cannot do this. They think they have Him too securely in their power to escape. Ah! it was then those words expressed the feelings of His soul, “I am a worm and no man.” Man in his pride tramples Him, and like the worm He does not strike back. They think it is because He cannot. Yet at that moment legions of angels were ready to obey His word, but that word remained unspoken. “There was the hiding of His power.” “He was crucified through weakness.” Here is the “Worm-Scarlet.”

The Fine Twined Linen.—We have the true pure humanity of Christ in this scene also, and we would emphasize the word “fine.” It describes Him as it cannot any other. Not even the holiest of His servants would claim that word. Notice how we get it in the hour of His sore distress. Looking down from the Cross, He saw Mary, the one through whom He had come into this world as the “Seed of the woman.” Age is now coming on her, and He is not unmindful of that. So turning His eyes toward her He says, “Woman, behold thy son,” and then to John, “Behold thy mother.” Thus He provided for her in old age. For John took her to his home from that hour. Once he had to remind her of her proper place, in the words, “Woman, what have I to do with thee, Mine hour is not yet come.” That was divine in its perfection then, as this is here. We bow our haads in the presence of such a scene. At that moment what pain He was undergoing, yet the claims of nature are met. This surely marks Him off as the One of whom the fine twined linen speaks.

Blue.—If there was one place where we might have expected to see the blue omitted, surely it is at the Cross. But it is not, and what is more, it shines with a lustre which makes it impossible for us to fail to see it. By His side hangs a convicted robber. At first, he is just like the other one; he joins in taunting Christ. As he watches the Holy Sufferer at his side, a wonderful change takes place. He sees that One who, the object of all man’s scorn and hatred, suffering so meekly, his eyes beaming with tenderest love and pity for the men who are glorying in His sufferings. He learns that this is no mere man, or He would never act like that. And as the other is still going on reviling Christ, he rebukes him with words, “Dost thou thou fear God, seeing thou are in the same condemnation, and we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds, but this Man hath done nothing amiss.” Then to Christ he says, “Lord, remember me, when Thou comest into Thy kingdom.” What a rebuke to the unbelief of so many to-day who excuse their want of faith by saying that they do not know what to believe when so many clever men don’t believe in Christ, or in the Word of God. Here the whole nation had branded Christ as an imposter. The men who are supposed to know, priests and scribes, all join in treating Him as a criminal, and as a criminal He is dying. But this awakened sinner’s faith rises above the tide of unbelief which surges around that Cross, and its manifestation is the use of that word, “Lord.” Here the Blue shines out. The faith of that thief brings out an answer at once. The Lord replies, “Verily I say unto thee, to-day shalt thou be with Me in paradise.” What did that mean? Just this, that as God, to whom belong the issues from death, who alone can liberate the prisoner from his bondage, He speaks the delivering word, and that poor sinner is snatched from the jaws of death—eternal death. It means that he is now a trophy of saving grace. We feel indignant at the wicked sophistry that would make the Lord to say, “Verily to-day I am saying unto you, you will be with Me in paradise,” which would mean that not then, but in a future age, the dying thief would be with Christ in paradise. No, not at all! what Christ did say and mean was, that that very day, while the dead body of the thief would be thrown into Hinnom’s vale, and the holy body of our blessed Lord would be lying in Joseph’s new rock-hewn sepulchre, his soul, with that of his Saviour, would be in paradise.

What an earnest of victory, won by weakness and defeat, we see in the salvation of that malefactor! Yes, the blue shines out on the Cross, in spite of all its suffering and darkness. Thus, all that the Veil proclaimed beforehand, we trace with wonder and adoration in Him there.

The Rending Of The Veil, Or God Manifested.

As long as that Veil hung intact, it told out that God was not fully manifested. It spoke of a work which had to be done, and until that work was done, God could not fully manifest Himself as a God of grace. As the high priest alone went in, and only once in a year, he emphasised that solemn truth. And so the centuries rolled on, and the Temple took the place of the Tabernacle, but the Veil, as in the Tabernacle, was still the division between the Holy and the Most Holy places. It says that God had not yet been fully glorified, and could not manifest Himself. But there came a moment, to which the eternity of the past had looked forward and to which the eternity of the future will look back, the pivot of all earth’s history. Outside Jerusalem, on the centre one of three crosses, the Son of God is nailed—the One of whom Isaiah spake, the One at whose birth in Bethlehem the angles sang. He was crucified at the third hour (9 a.m.). For three hours, until the sixth (12 noon), we have the gaping crowd from the city streaming past the Cross, and wagging their heads at Him as He hung there. During these hours, the rod was in the hand of man, and then it was he used it upon that Holy Sufferer.

The Sixth Hour.—Six speaks of man’s limit, and he has gone as far as he could go, in his cruel treatment of the Son of God. Then begins His real sufferings. Don’t think we look lightly upon those hours of shame and pain, which, to Him, would inflict keener suffering, than the coarser natures of the thieves were capable of knowing. But the sufferings of those three hours, from the sixth to the ninth, must for ever pass the comprehension of our finite minds. The darkness which fell upon that scene, only suggested that deeper darkness into which He had entered. Jehovah had laid upon Him our load of sin, and now hides His face from Him. Then was wrung from His heart the cry of deep distress, “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me.”

The Ninth Hour.—“At the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice,” and then we read that the Temple Veil was rent. We have pointed out that Three speaks of God manifested. Now Nine, which is three times three, just emphasises that. So you see how God bears witness to the blessed fact, that through the death of Christ He can now reveal Himself.

Away far from the clamour of that scene, in the silence of the sanctuary, at that hour, as the priest attends to his office, he hears a sound as if some fabric were being torn, and looking toward the Veil, he sees a great rent in its materials. No hand is visible, but beginning from the top, and continuing right down, the Veil now hangs in two pieces, “rent in the midst.” Yes, that death on Calvary has put sin away and glorified God. Now He will reveal Himself in grace to sinners, and as priests, believers now no longer stand at a distance, but find their permanent and eternal place of worship in the very presence of their Father—God. No special class, alone and apart, now draw nigh, while the mass of the people of God remain at a distance. Of all who are saved, that word is true, “Made nigh by the blood of Christ” (Eph. 2:13).

The Curtains Of Fine Twined Linen, Blue, Purple And Scarlet; Or Christ Glorified.

(Ex. 26:1-6).

Having spoken about the Veil and its rending, we can now more appropriately say another word about these beautiful curtains. Over 20 times these colours are mentioned in connection with the Tabernacle, and with just three exceptions it is the Blue which we have first. The three exceptions refer to the Veil and the Girdle of the high priest. Surely chance has nothing The Rent Veil whatever to do with the fact that when it is the veil the blue is always first, and when it is the curtains the fine twined linen is always first.

We shall try and make the reason for this clear. The veil speaks of Christ on earth as Man. And that the blue is put first, is God’s way of in type emphasizing that wondrous mystery, the incarnation. “And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness; God was manifest in flesh” (1 Tim. 3:16).

God never changes the position of a word save for some reason, and so if I read “Jesus Christ” in one passage and “Christ Jesus” in another, then I am to learn something from the change. And the first name is the one which the emphasis should be laid upon, and so Jesus Christ fixes my thoughts upon His as on earth, while Christ Jesus brings Him before me as now raised from the dead in heaven.

So when speaking of the veil, the spirit mentions Blue first, inviting me to ponder the mighty truth, that we have in John 1:14, that the Word, the Creator of all worlds, “Became flesh and dwelt among us.”

With the same unerring exactness in the curtains, the Holy Spirit ever puts the linen first. Linen, the lowly product of the ground, God uses to speak of the spotless humanity of His Only Begotten Son. And in mentioning it always first in the curtains, the words of the apostle in 2 Tim. 2:8 come to mind. “Remember Jesus Christ risen from the dead, of the seed of David according to my gospel.” (R.V.)

Heb. 1:3 shows us the sin purger, “Sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high.” chap. 2:8. “We see Jesus—crowned with glory and honour.” Of all the gospels, Mark is the one which chose to present His Son as the Servant, and he closes his gospel with Jesus “sat down at the right hand of God” (Mark 16:19. R.V.)

The veil and the curtains alike had cherubic figures wrought with a gold thread in them. As the veil was rent asunder, we see those heavenly creatures rent. And how that spoke of the tragedy of Calvary, when the Son of God from heaven suffered that shameful death. But those creatures in the curtains overhead, seem to say, the cross is past, and He who suffered is on the throne, and under His wings as the glorified man, all the redeemed find shelter.

The Seven-Branched Lampstand

Christ and the Church in Life and Testimony. (Exodus 25:31-40).

There is a wonderful wealth of teaching in the Lampstand (as it should be translated, not Candlestick). It brings before us—1st, the Holy Spirit; 2nd, the Lord Jesus Christ; 3rd, our Lord Jesus Christ and His people in union with Him; 4th, the Church as God’s witness during Christ’s absence, tended and cared for by Him, as Aaron cared for the seven lamps of the Lampstand.

The Lampstand was a very ornate piece of work. Out of one solid lump of gold weighing one hundred and fourteen pounds, worth about $29,085, or six thousand one hundred and fifty pounds sterling, was hammered out of one piece, the shaft and its six branches with all their beautiful ornamentation.

The Lamps.

We must carefully distinguish these from the stand which supported them. The only light of the Holy Place was that which these lamps gave. By that light the Priests were able to wait upon their office, serve at the Golden Altar, and partake of the Shewbread from the Table. And so only the Holy Spirit can open up to the heart of the believer the truth of God, and lead him out in praise and worship, as he draws nigh as a believer-priest. We read, too, in 1 Cor. 2:14, “But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him; neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.” He may be an educated man of great mental ability, but if he is only a “natural man” (one who has never been born again), he is no more fit to understand or expound the Word of God than a blind man would be to give a lecture upon colours.

When the priest went into the holy place to minister at the Golden Altar or Golden Table, the only light he had was that shed by the seven lamps on the Lamp-stand, all of nature’s light was excluded. So when it is a matter of the things of God, the only adequate light is that of the Holy Spirit. A Christian who held a very responsible position under the New Zealand Government was making a trip to the homeland on a large liner. He had some meetings for preaching the gospel on board, and at the close of one meeting, some young men said they would like to discuss with him some of the truths which he held. He replied, “All right gentlemen, but on one condition.” They asked what that condition was, and he replied, “The discussion must be conducted in Japanese.” “But we do not understand Japanese.” “I am sorry for that,” said my friend, “but that is my condition.” And then he made use of the incident to show them that apart from being born again and having the Holy Spirit, they could not understand the truths which they wished to discuss.

The Seven lamps are a symbol of the Holy Spirit, as we see in Rev. 4:5. “And there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God.” This does not mean that there are seven personal Spirits, but the Holy Spirit in His plenitude and power. Seven is the number of perfection. When we read in Rev. 5:6, that the Lamb has seven eyes and seven horns, we know that these speak of His omniscience and His omnipotence.

The great work of the Holy Spirit in this dispensation is to unfold the glories of Christ to the hearts of men.

You may have been struck with what seems somewhat peculiar. I refer to the way verse 37 reads, “They shall light the lamps thereof, that they may give light over against it.” We think of a lamp as especially used for lighting up a house. Here it would seem as if it were to show the Lampstand itself, that these lamps are lighted. And this is God’s design in thus wording the verse. When Christ was down here, He honoured the Spirit. All the miracles He performed, all the words He spake, were by that blessed Spirit who abode in Him in ungrieved and unhindered power. Now exalted to the Father’s right hand, the Holy Spirit has come to earth on a very special mission. It is given us by Christ in these great words which we get in John 16:14, “He shall glorify Me.” All ministry that is of the Spirit of God will ever do this. When the one who is ministering attracts to himself, there is something wrong.

Christ As The Lampstand.

In the lampstand we have not the two natures as in the other vessels, it is gold only, for the Spirit would occupy us here in the contemplation of Christ as the glory of God, as we read, “For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (2 Cor. 4:6). With this verse before us, we can appreciate the marginal reading of Ex. 25:37. “They shall light the lamps thereof, that they may give light over against the face of it.” Just as the lamps would shew the beauty of the lampstand, so the Holy Spirit ever unfolds to the heart of the believer, the glory of the Son of God.

The lampstand was a central shaft with three pairs of branches coming out of the sides of it. When we turn to Isa. 11:1-2, we see something that answers to that. “And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots; And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord.” Again in Isa. 61:1 He can say, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me.” See also Luke 4:18. And in Rev. 3:1, “He that hath the seven Spirits of God.” and in chap. 5:6 we have the same thing also.

The Lampstand And Its Branches.

Here we have Christ in union with His people. As we read those words, “His branches,” it would seem as if the central shaft were the lampstand, and the branches had come out from it. And we are reminded of the words of John 15, “I am the Vine, ye are the branches.” Union with Christ could only be through death and resurrection. In John 12:24 we read, “Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die it abideth alone.” And wherever we get this wondrous union brought before us, we may look also for that which shadows forth how it could be accomplished.

How was this Lampstand made? It would have been comparatively easy to have cast it. But God has told us definitely how it was to be made. It must be hammered out, “One beaten work.” As we see the workmen bruise the precious metal, our thoughts turn to that Scripture in Isa. 53:5, where we read of Christ that “He was bruised for our iniquities.” Only by this bruising could the branches of the Lampstand be brought into existence; and only by the Divine Son of God being bruised under the hand of God in judgment, could we ever be one with Christ.

But it is in Resurrection that His people are linked to Christ. Is there, then, anything in the Lampstand that will set forth that? Yes! we believe there is. It was to be ornamented with fruit blossoms. Now what shall the tree and the fruit be that God will select. He had a wide field from which to choose, and we find he chose the almond tree. The Hebrew word for almond, means “to hasten.” The almond tree is covered with blossoms before it shows leaves, and while other trees are still bare and dead looking. In Jer. 1:11, God asks the prophet what he sees. He replied, “a rod of an almond tree.” And God says, “thou has well seen, for I will hasten My Word to perform it.” But perhaps the chief passage which will decide the meaning of the almond as a picture of resurrection, beyond any doubt, is Num. 17. There, we get the account of Aaron’s rod. It, with the other eleven, was laid up before the Lord all night. In the morning it had “brought forth buds, bloomed blossoms, and yielded almonds.” Like that rod, Christ was the Living One. Cut down in death, He lay in Joseph’s new tomb, but He has risen to be “the first-fruits of them that are asleep” (1 Cor. 15:20 R.v.). Like that rod, He has borne fruit which we are now in the enjoyment of. The “blossoms” may remind us of fruit soon to be ours at His coming, while the “buds” may surely speak of blessing more remote, yet not less certain, for Israel and the nations.

It must have been a work of considerable difficulty to beat out such a large vessel with its spreading branches so highly ornamented. Why not make the stem and branches separately? It would be so much easier to manipulate. Then these branches could be brazed to the stem. But this would not do. It would not thus be a true type of the union that exists between Christ and His saints—which is vital, not artificial. It is most important then that it be made in God’s way, no matter how difficult. So out of one piece of gold the entire Lampstand is hammered, “One beaten work of pure gold.”

Well may those words of Heb. 2:11 come to our mind as we look at the process of forming this Lamp-stand, “For both He that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of (out of) one.” So close is the union, that when Paul (as Saul the persecutor) was making havoc of the Church, the Lord Jesus could say to him, “Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me.” Though glorified at the Father’s right hand, yet such was the intimate relation that His people sustained to Him, that if they suffered, He suffered. What comfort this gives to the tempted and tried child of God now, for that word to Saul expresses how the living Lord in Heaven feels toward His members still.

The Lampstand, Ministered By Aaron; Or The Church Cared For By Christ.

When, as in our picture, we see Aaron ministering to the lampstand, he is a picture of Christ and the lampstand the Church. In Rev. 1:20, we are told that the seven lampstands of gold are the seven churches, to whom the apostle John was to write. The Lord walks in the midst of those churches, doing to them what Aaron does to the lampstand in the Tabernacle. He uses the golden snuffers, His blessed Word to remove the things about the believer which, like the burned wick of the lamps, would hinder the light, and to supply the Spirit, that testimony to Himself might be continued.

In the sanctuary the lampstand is one, with seven branches, but in Rev. we have seven separate lamp-stands, as there we have the Church looked at as in responsibility in the world.

Each lampstand is dealt with on its own merits, and maintained or removed by Christ, as that is His prerogative alone. It is nowhere suggested in the seven epistles, that any one of those assemblies had any jurisdiction over another.

The Use Of The Lampstand.

The lampstand held up the lamps, and the Church is in the world for the express purpose of holding up Christ, the light. When it ceases to do that it is useless, and sooner or later will be removed by Christ. The great thought in the lampstand is testimony, or witness bearing. The Lord said to those who were waiting the coming of the day of Pentecost, and the setting up of the Church, “Ye shall be witnesses unto Me” (Acts 1:8). That witness will become more and more necessary as the age nears its close. Paul at the close of his life had to exhort Timothy, “Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me His prisoner” (2 Tim. 1:8). If that exhortation was needed then, it is a hundredfold more needed now. The testimony of the Lord embraces His Deity: His virgin birth; His holy spotless humanity; His vicarious death; His physical resurrection; His literal ascension to the Father’s right hand; His personal return for His people; and the Divine Authorship of the Bible; the fall of man; his total depravity, and his absolute need of regeneration by the Holy Spirit; salvation full and eternal through the blood of Christ; and the eternal punishment of all who reject Christ. This is the testimony which was committed to the Church.

No Size, But Weight Given For Lampstand.

Size and appearance counts much with man, but not with God. In the fact that we have the weight of the Lampstand given us, 114 lbs. and nothing said of its height or the spread of its branches, we may get a useful lesson. Man likes numbers, and we have grown accustomed to “drives” for church members. To have a fine building and a large congregation, most of whom are unsaved, is something eagerly sought after. But three or four who are truly born again and who seek to honour the Lord Jesus by gathering in His name, has more weight with God than several hundred mere professors, though they possess everything, that in the reckoning of man, goes to make a church. I cannot but think that it is like something once quite familiar to us. We are in a home, it is getting too dark to read, we look at the lamp on the parlour table; it is a most ornate lamp, the bowl is beautifully ornamented, and the shade a work of art. I am about to light it when the housewife says, sir, it won’t light. What is the matter with it that it won’t light? She says there is no oil in it. Well then in that case, we say, bring that little lamp out of the kitchen and let us have it. Now for light giving, that humble lamp is a reality, and the fine parlour one is just a sham.

Christ’s Care Over the Church Unwearied.

Aaron had put on his shoulders the responsibility of caring for the lampstand and trimming and filling the lamps. He might fail, other priests did, but our Priest, the Lord Jesus will never relax His care for the church.

Looking back over the history of the Church, at times when it seemed as if the light were about to go out, if it had not already gone out, we see Him, true to His office. He comes in and blesses and revives His people. Take as an example the gracious work of the 16th century. Was ever the light so dim as then? But He uses the Golden Snuffers. He removes that which had well-nigh extinguished the light—the fables and dogmas of Rome, and He pours in the oil of His Spirit and His Truth. A fresh lighting up of “justification by faith” was what caused the light to shine forth as it did then, to the deliverance of multitudes of precious souls. Then again at the beginning of the 19th century, when the Church had sunk down to a very low level and her light was burning very dimly, He caused deep exercise among some of His people which led to such a clearing of themselves from worldly associations in which they had been hid, and in gathering together as simple companies of believers to carry out His own Word in His own way, free to be led by the Holy Spirit, without a humanly invented priesthood or a humanly devised ministry and order, to hamper and hinder the Spirit’s leading. It was then that the grand and blessed truth of the coming of our Lord to the air for His people, was restored, and how brightly the light burned up then. To read of those days is to feel yourself transported back to the second of Acts in a great measure. Such was the power of the gospel testimony, and the unworldliness of believers’ lives! But alas, that condition did not long continue. We need no more expect it to continue than we might have expected that of the Second of Acts to continue. For everything committed to man has been a failure. But our hope is in Christ, He never fails, and so right on until “the morning” dawns, we will look for and count on those gracious ministries of His, so needed to keep the light from going out. Nor shall we look in vain. We believe His word to the assembly in Philadelphia gives us the assurance that until the morning of His return, He will see to it that assembly testimony, however weak, shall not become wholly extinguished.

We do not read of any “extinguishers” among the instruments that Aaron used in his ministry towards these lamps. “Snuffers” there were, and they were golden—something we ever should remember—but no extinguishers. When we feel the Snuffers at work, may we ever welcome it. They must do their work before the oil can be poured in. Just as in Eph. 5:25-29, “sanctify and cleanse” comes before “nourisheth and cherisheth.” This will ever be His way.

Three Pairs Of Branches.

As the Lampstand is a picture of the Church, especially in testimony for Christ, we think it is very suggestive that the branches should be in twos. In Eph. 4:11, where we have Christ giving gifts wfiich are to continue until the completion of the Church (not like some of the gifts mentioned in Cor. 14, gifts which were not to remain), we have pairs—“Apostles and Prophets.” They have done their work and are only in the foundation (chapter 2:20). We have no living apostles or prophets now (except false ones) for however important the foundation is, it is not carried right up the walls. But the gifts which remain are “Evangelists, Pastors, and Teachers”—just three. That the branches come out of the sides of the Lampstand in twos may speak of fellowship in the work of the Lord. Fellowship! what does that mean? The Apostle Paul, writing to the Philippians, knew by sweet experience what it meant. He could thank God for their “fellowship in the Gospel” from their beginning as an assembly, right on to the time he wrote the Epistle to them. He says in chapter 1:7, “Ye are all partakers (partners) of My grace.” He was, as we say, “down in the well, and they were holding the rope.” He was out on the battle field, and they were providing the “sinews of war.” How good when the assembly realises that whether he is preaching the Gospel to the lost, or seeking to bring the emancipating truths of God’s Word before believers, the servant of Christ and the assembly are linked together. But one fears this will never be fully apprehended by the majority of the Lord’s people. We would say to those who serve the Lord in local assemblies, while they do not give themselves wholly to this work, but work with their hands for their support: Seek to proclaim the Gospel constantly. Gather the sheep together, and teach them the truth of God. And all such deserve, and should receive the hearty fellowship in prayer and encouragement of their fellow saints. And in every godly assembly which is seeking to fulfil its responsibility as a lampstand for God, it will surely be given. One feels that there are some assemblies who do not realise why they were ever gathered in assembly capacity at all. There are some, concerning whom it may be said, that the world would not lose much light if their lampstand was removed. There is surely much cause for deep exercise of heart about such conditions altogether. The Lord give it.

The Golden Table And The Shewbread

The Believer in Communion with God. (Exodus 25:23-30. Lev. 24:5-9).

The Table and its Loaves bring up some very precious thoughts, which must ever cluster around it. It takes us far beyond mere provision for our need, though there is that in it. The Psalmist could speak of God preparing a table for him in the presence of his enemies. The prodigal, on his return from the far off country, found a well-loaded table. And in the type we have here, it is very precious to consider, all the work of Christ which has been set before us on past evenings as leading up to, and into a place in which we find a table. Yet the thought here is not so much that our need has been provided for, as that grace has lifted us into a place of wondrous privilege. In the Table in the Holy Place we have the saints in fellowship with God, as sinners saved by His grace. The thought would be enough, did we fully apprehend it, to fill our hearts with continual praise. Well might we ask, “How can it be?” The Table here supplies the answer. It is Christ before God sustaining His people in the enjoyment of this unspeakable privilege.

The Table was made of acacia wood overlaid with gold. It was two and a half cubits in length, one and a half cubits high, and one cubit broad. It had a crown of gold round about it. In addition to this, there was a border of an hand-breadth round about, which also had a crown. Two rings of gold were on each side, into which the staves were inserted, to carry it.

The acacia wood is the witness to us that He who as Man bled on the Cross, is now as Man in the presence of God; and the gold tells us that He is now glorified. The crown also emphasizes that thought. Again, the hand-breadth border has its crown also. We think of the hands once pierced upon the tree, now upon the throne and soon to sway the sceptre of earth’s sovereignity.

We cannot well speak of a table apart from the food which is upon it. So as we speak of the Shewbread, we will still be dealing with the Table.

The Shewbread—Lev. 24:5-9.

Speaking of the Loaves of Shewbread, I would first speak of the other places where loaves are mentioned, and this, because there is a very close connection as to the truth taught. So we shall speak of One Loaf, Two Loaves, and Twelve Loaves. First, I desire to say that the loaves in their primary application set forth Christ. For seven days they were before God, emitting a gracious odour of frankincense. Then on a Sabbath day they were removed, fresh loaves were put there, and the priests fed upon those they had removed. These loaves on the table for seven days, tell us of the infinite delight which God had in a past eternity in His Son. But just as He will share with those priests that bread, so will He share with man that One who ever gave His heart such unbounded joy.

We may here, and in this connection, read a portion of 1 John 1:1-4. “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon and our hands have handled, of the Word of life. For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us. That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ. And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full.” Do we need to say aught about this passage? Here we have Christ in the bosom of the Father in the eternal past. Who can tell the deep joy that the heart of the Father had in that Son? But others must share in that joy, hence all the story of love—the Father giving up His Son, the Son stooping to become a Man.

As we think of these loaves, they bring before us the way in which Christ met the deep need of our souls. Each loaf told out the sufferings which He must endure, ere a sinner could feed upon Him as the “Bread of Life.” First, there must be the death of the wheat. So we read in John 12:24, “Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone.” Second, the wheat must be ground between the upper and nether mill-stones. Isa. 28:28, “Bread corn is bruised.” How that recalls the bruising of chapter 53:5. Then there is another thing. The loaf must feel the fire, it must go to the oven. Lam. 1:13 says, “From above He hath sent fire into my bones, and it prevaileth against them.” Oh, that as we look upon any loaf, it may keep before our hearts the Cross of Christ. And to those who as yet have never trusted in Christ for peace and pardon, we would say, that just as to satisfy the hunger of the body you appropriate the bread upon the table, and you never expect to feel satisfied until you have done so, so believing on the Lord Jesus Christ is just like making the food your own which is set before you. And you cannot feel as a saved one feels until you have done so. “He that cometh to me shall never hunger.” “Cometh” is just another way of saying “Believeth,” and, thank God, the very moment the sinner believes, that moment the soul-hunger pangs are assuaged. But the sinner who never comes to Christ will carry those hunger pangs with him into a lost eternity, and no opiate of Satan’s then will ever dull their terrible sharpness, and no Christ, as given by God to save and satisfy, will ever remove them. Throughout eternity it will be “Ever hunger,” not “Never hunger.”

The Twelve Loaves as a picture of Israel. These Loaves as they sat on the Golden Table spoke of that people whose names were graven upon the Breast-plate of Judgment, and also upon the Shoulder-pieces of the Ephod (Ex. 29). Upon the heart, on the shoulders, or as here presented to God upon the Table, we have brought before us that people of whom we read in Ex. 19:4, “I bare you on eagles’ wings, and brought you unto Myself.”

We think here of Israel as God speaks of them in Jer. 2:2-3, in their first love, following the Cloud, separated to God from the nations. Within the Tabernacle the Twelve Loaves, all together on the Table, had what corresponded to them, outside, in the twelve tribes in their unbroken unity. But dark days befell Israel, sin marred that unity, ten tribes separate from the other two and set up a kingdom on their own account, and one who is not of the line of David is made their king. No longer are they as a whole found gathering together in the place where God had chosen to put His Name. Does God tell the priest to take away ten of the loaves? No! Just as before the rupture of the tribes, the twelve are still placed upon the Golden Table. But darker days than these come upon them. Only a feeble remnant of the two tribes are now found assembling at Jerusalem. Still the Twelve Loaves are put on the table before God, just as when Israel was a happy united people. Suppose we could have questioned the priest, and he had read the meaning of those loaves. In answer to our query as to why he continued to put the loaves there, since they no longer agreed with the actual state of Israel, he could have said, “’Tis true they do not now speak of a unity that is visible, but they proclaim one yet to exist under the Messiah.” Such must have been the reason why Paul could speak as he did to Agrippa in Acts 26:7, “Our twelve tribes instantly serving God day and night.” Agrippa might have said to Paul, “Where are your twelve tribes?” Agrippa could not see them, but Paul was able to look up to a glorified Christ upon the throne of God, and in His exaltation, read the pledge of Israel’s preservation, restoration, and future unity.

The 12 Tribes To Be Regathered.

It seems strange that in spite of the most explicit statements of prophecy, so many Christians, and the religious world generally, refuse to believe that God is going to restore Israel as a nation. And then those promises of future blessing for that people are applied to the Church—robbing Israel without enriching us. It is without doubt a stupendous miracle, the finding and restoring to their own land of these ten tribes sent forth out of their country twenty-six centuries ago. Only God is able to do this, “He is able.” For eighteen centuries He has preserved the two tribes as separate and distinct from the nations among whom they have been wanderers, as the day they were cast out of the land. And that, too, without anything which man considers imperatively necessary to bind a people together as a nation. Nothing but the literal restoration of the twelve tribes to Palestine can satisfy the predictions of the Word of God. In Rom. 15:8 we read that “Jesus Christ was made a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God to confirm the promises made unto the fathers.” To “confirm,” not to annul the promises.

As we see that golden border of an handbreadth with its golden crown binding those loaves together, our thoughts travel on to the time when the hands once nailed to the tree, shall hold the sceptre and rule as King. Then the words of Eze. 37:22 will be fulfilled, “And I will make them one nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel; and one King shall be King to them all: and they shall be no more two nations, neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms any more at all.”

In making an application of the twelve loaves to the Church, which we believe we are justified in doing, I would like to bring in other loaves named in the Word, which we believe will help us. These are found in 1 Cor. 10, and in Lev. 23. We might put it this way: One loaf—Unity; or, the Church as one with Christ in life. Two Loaves—Testimony; or, the Church as God’s witness here on earth. Twelve Loaves—Government; or, the Church reigning in association with Christ.

The Unity Of The Church.

One loaf.—In 1 Cor. 11, the loaf is an emblem of the body of our Lord Jesus, while in chapter 10:it is used to set forth the body of which He is Head. Verse 17, “For we being many are one bread (loaf), and one body: for we are all partakers of that one bread.” We “are many,” just like the wheat in the loaf. But just as the wheat in the loaf became merged in one loaf through the baking, so on the ground of the Cross work of Christ, and by the Spirit baptism into one body, all believers are now one body. In those early days, the one loaf upon the table corresponded with the state of things seen in the Church. There were no sects or parties ranged openly against each other. No need for asking, as is so common now, “What body do you belong to?” The thought had not entered into the minds of believers then, that there should be more than “one body” for one Head. It is strange that even now, the thing should ever occur to a true believer. But just as with Israel, that once manifested unity of early days is no longer to be seen, in its place we have well-nigh numberless sects. In many of them are to be found the members of the “one body” of Christ. So when we are gathered around our blessed Lord, to keep the remembrance feast, till He come, we” love to look at the loaf and ponder on its teaching on this line. We may be few in numbers; others who, if they were subject to the Spirit’s leading, would be there, are scattered among different sects, but the one loaf still tells it will not be always so. Ah! no, thank God, the work of Calvary and Christ’s prayer of John 17, are to have their glorious answer in the manifested oneness of the Church, and to us that one loaf is the pledge of this. We think upon the change of the emblem from one loaf to little dice-like squares, which in early years we were familiar with, as exceedingly suggestive of the broken up condition of that which ought to be one. Men, instead of feeling the shame of that broken up condition, seem to have accepted it as the proper thing.

The Testimony Of The Church.

Two Loaves.—In Lev., chapter 23, we get the Feast of Pentecost, when these two loaves were offered. There is only one thing in all the works of God to which this feast can be applied, and that is the Church. The Church’s birthday was the Day of Pentecost. In verse 17 we read, “Ye shall bring out of your habitation two wave loaves of two-tenth deals: they shall be of fine flour; they shall be baken with leaven; they are the first fruits unto the Lord.” Notice, we have two loaves. Here we see what we find in Eph. 2:14-15, and 3:5-6. Jew and Gentile in one body. Never in the past, nor in the millennium, will Gentiles be on an equality with the Jew. No, only in the Church of God is this picture realised.

Then we have a most significant bringing together of numbers in the words, “Two-tenth deals.” Before, we have pointed out that “two” is the number of testimony, and that “ten” is the number of responsibility. Just apply the thoughts here and I believe we have read the meaning correctly. The Church was responsible to be a testimony for Christ, but alas, what a failure it has been, and in the words, “Baken with leaven,” we see the cause of that failure. How soon the flesh made itself manifest. In Acts 5 we get Ananias and Sapphira lying to God, and seeking to maintain the reputation for a whole-heartedness they did not possess. “Murmuring” in chapter6:And what a sorrowful picture we get in the Corinthian Church. We see in embryo the sects and parties of the present day, with what has ever accompanied such work, a carnal state unfitting the soul for the reception of the mind of God.

The Governmental Completeness Of The Church.

Twelve Loaves.—Twelve is the governmental number. It is three times four. “Three” giving us the number of God, our triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit: “Four,” the number of the creature. It is God governing through His people. It matters not whether we think of earth or heaven, we see this to be His order. On earth, it will be through Israel; in the higher sphere, the heavenly Jerusalem, it will be through the heavenly saints in association with Christ. Were it not that the Word of God leaves us in no doubt as to the destiny of the Church, it would be most daring presumption on the part of poor sinners to look up to such a future. But for this very future He saved us, through His death on the tree; and to keep us and bring us safely into the enjoyment of all that glory, He is now on the throne. And to us that hand-breadth border with its crown of gold, has its ministry of encouragement and joy which is not less sweet because of its application also to Israel.

Thank God, in spite of the failure of the people of God, and the rage of Satan, the Lord Jesus will yet have with Him in the glory the Church for which He died. It seems to me it was this thought that filled the heart of Paul when he penned those words in 2 Tim. 4:18, “And the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work, and will preserve me unto His heavenly kingdom: to whom be glory for ever and ever, Amen.” Things around that dear man of God were depressing in the extreme. The enemy was active; many who should have been quick to give the word of cheer had turned away from him. He must have felt he was no longer desirable to them. But in the midst of it all he is able, if I may put it thus, to look up and see Christ sustaining him before the Father in all the acceptableness of His own blessed Person and work. So that like the loaves, which emitted a fragrance in the Holy Place, he gave joy to the heart of God. And not only that, he is being preserved to the “heavenly kingdom.” His Master had trod the path before him, and He is now on the Father’s throne, but the time is coming when He will sit on His own throne, and to that time Paul looks on, knowing he is in the hands of a glorified Lord.

We have said that “twelve” is the governmental number, A few uses of it will make this clear. The people through whom God will govern this world in the coming day—Israel—is the “twelve” tribed nation. When God would set in the Church competent authority, He gave “twelve” apostles.

In the brief glimpse we get in Rev. 21:and 22:of the heavenly Jerusalem, which is called “The Bride the Lamb’s Wife,” we get no less than eight twelves. Here then, we have the New Creation number, “eight,” joined with the governmental number, “twelve.” One of these twelves are the “twelve gates.” The gate was the place of judgment or rule. In the book of Eze., chapter 48, we read that the Jerusalem in Palestine, in the millennium, will also have twelve gates. It is to be the lower, or earthly capital, but the Jerusalem of Rev. 21 and 22 is the higher, or heavenly capital. In and through the Church, Christ will rule and bless creation. In the aspect of the future glory of the Church which is presented in the “city,” the saints of past ages are associated with her, as we learn from Heb. 11:10, and 12:22-24. But it is especially the Church which is before us, the Church reigning with Christ. Babylon is called “That great city which reigneth over the kings of the earth” (Rev. 17:18). That is Satan’s sham, soon to end. The heavenly Jerusalem is God’s glorious reality, which will ever abide.

The Golden Altar Of Incense

Or, Christ’s Present Priestly Service. (Exodus 30:1-10).

The Golden Altar stood in the Holy Place before the Veil. It was made of acacia wood, and covered with gold. It was 1 cubit, or 1 foot 9 inches square; and 2 cubits, or 3 feet 6 inches high. Its size was adapted to its work, as was the Brazen Altar in the Court. Here, it is for the offering of sweet incense; there, it was to receive whole burnt offerings.

In connection with the Golden Altar we have another of what we might call incidental proofs of the inspiration of the Bible. In its order in the Tabernacle, we should have looked for this altar right after the Ark and Mercy Seat, but instead of that it is not spoken about among the golden vessels at all. This looks like an oversight, but we know that there is no such thing in the Word of God. No, this is one of the wondrous perfections of the Word.

This altar, like the laver, brings the priestly work of our Lord Jesus before us, and we know that our Lord could only be a priest in resurrection. “For if He were on earth He should not be a priest” (Heb. 8:4). So God kept back this altar until we had the brazen altar, which is Christ in death, and the two chapters about the priest (chapters 28 and 29) then we get this altar. But there is something more, not only have we instructions about the Golden Altar withheld until we had what spoke of death and resurrection, but we find the Brazen Altar again brought in right at the close of chap. 29, and this altar immediately brought in. Do we not see here, how that God desires we should see the very intimate relationship which exists between the two altars. And the peace and rest of the believer depends on seeing the work of both. The Brazen Altar, Christ on the cross for us, the Golden altar, Christ in glory for us.

In the material of this altar, God brings again before our hearts our glorious Lord, and surely there is need for this. We cannot be reminded too often that our acceptance rests upon no mere creature—for the gold proclaims His Deity. And the wood tells out a truth exceedingly sweet to our hearts, that Christ, who as Man met all the consequences of our sins when He did the Brazen Altar work, is still Man, and ever will be throughout eternity. The youngest believer in Christ should be made aware of the sad fact, that at the present the religious world is honeycombed with errors as to the Person of Christ. As Man, He bore the judgment of God for us; as Man, He now represents us in heaven; and as Man He is coming to receive us to Himself, as we read in Acts 1:11, “This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen Him go into heaven.” To deny that He is coming back as a Man as really as when He went away, is the mark of a deceiver. “For many deceivers are entered into the world, even they that confess not that Jesus Christ cometh in the flesh. This is the deceiver and the antichrist” (2 John 7. R.V). Thank God, in the Golden Altar we are reminded of the precious truth, that Christ as Man is now maintaining our cause in heaven.

The Altar Where No Blood Is Shed.

The word altar means a place of slaughter, but no slaughter takes place at the Golden Altar, for such sacrifices were forbidden at the Golden Altar (ver. 9), but once in the year, on the day of atonement, the blood of the sin offering was put upon the horns of the golden altar, telling of sacrifice offered elsewhere, to which the blood on its horns is the witness. It is in this sense we sing;

No blood no altar now, the sacrifice is o’er,

No flame no smoke ascends on high, the lamb is slain no more.

As we see the priest putting the sweet smelling incense on the Golden Altar, and the fragrant cloud fill the holy place, we get a faint shadow of what the presence of Christ in the glory means. On the cross bearing the judgment of sin and suffering the hiding of the face of God, dying alone outside the camp, in the place of the sin offering. Now as the Golden Altar, filling heaven with the perpetual fragrance of the sacrifice of Calvary. Those hours of suffering and shame have yielded a rich return of glory.

“For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us” (Heb. 9:24). We have spoken of the intimate relationship between the two altars. The Psalmist needed both in Psa. 84:3, where the sense of the verse is, “The sparrow has found an house, and the swallow a nest where she may lay her young (but my soul) thine altars, O Lord of Hosts, my King, and my God.”

In the Brazen Altar we get justification, Christ died for us. In the Golden Altar we get acceptance, Christ appearing in the presence of God for us. All that He is, He is for us. What the Father thinks of Him, He thinks of us, for “He hath made us accepted in the Beloved.” (Eph. 1:6).

How this goes immensely beyond the beggarly thoughts of salvation which are entertained by most of the Lord’s people. Not merely pardoned, but accepted in the Beloved. We could never imagine the Governor General, when he had pardoned a man under the sentence of death for murder, getting a room ready for that man, and taking him home to be one of the family. If he or any other man ever did attempt to do such a thing, it would be good evidence that their mind was going. But what is unthinkable among men, that very thing God has done. He has pardoned poor sinners and then accepts them in Christ, so that the measure of Christ’s acceptance is the measure of theirs. This is the story the Golden Altar tells out.

The Brazen Altar was sheathed with brass, for it was the type of Him who endured the wrath of God against sin, and having put sin away, has satisfied the demands of the throne of God, and has come forth out of that wrath, which will abide eternally on those who reject Him as their Saviour. The Brazen Altar had no crown, the Golden Altar has. On this Golden Altar no sacrifice is offered, for it speaks of “one sacrifice for sins forever” (Heb. 10:12). And it rebukes the blasphemy of those who profess to offer a real sacrifice for the living and the dead, when they perform the Mass. It was never to have meat offering offered on it, or drink offerings poured upon it. Christ shall never know humiliation nor the weakness of the cross again, His Brazen Altar work has been accomplished and now glorified, He has entered upon His Golden Altar service in heaven, which will last eternally.

“We Have an Altar”; or the Holy Priesthood. (Heb. 13:13-15; 1 Pet. 2:5).

Looking back over the way we have come, in dealing with the types of the Tabernacle, we are struck with the way they brought out the activities of God’s grace. We have been regarded as passive, or in other words, God has been the giver and we the receivers. All this has brought the grace of God before our hearts. But in the altar of incense we see a richer display of that grace than our poor hearts can well take in and respond to, and that is the creature put in the place of the giver, or a worshipper, for worshipping is giving; and the Golden Altar speaks of worship.

Deut. 26 gives us a fine picture of worship. The Israelite in obedience to God’s Word sets out for “the place” which God chose with a basket of the firstfruits of his land. He sets it down before the priest and the altar, and worships the Lord his God. Then the secret of his action comes out as we listen to his touching confession. He goes over in the presence of God, what his people’s former state had been in bondage and affliction. Then he reviews the grace that delivered them from Egypt, brought them through the wilderness, and placed them in a land that flowed with milk and honey. And now in grateful worship, he has brought of that which God has given him. It is easy to read this beautiful picture. Turn now to Eph. 2:11-12. We might summarise what the Spirit brings before us in this passage as “No Christ, no rights, no promises, no hope, and without God in the world.” Could there be a more sorrowful picture drawn? Yet it was all true of each of us. But look at the change we have in verse 13, “Made nigh by the blood of Christ”; verse 18, “Access by one Spirit unto the Father.” Then verses 19 to 22 tell us we are “no more strangers,” but are of “the household of God,” and that we are “builded together” for a dwelling place for God. And what shall we say of the still richer unfolding that we get in chapter 5, where His purpose is declared to be that we are to shine in His glory, near to Christ as His bride. Surely we have been given a goodly inheritance, a “land flowing with milk and honey.” And we too should bring our first-fruits. Let us read Heb. 13:15, “By Him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is the fruit of our lips giving thanks to His name.” Here we have the Golden Altar, “By Him” Then we have the incense, “The sacrifice of praise.” And we are surely reminded of the “perpetual incense” by that word “continually.”

We look back to the priest who ministered at this altar, and we say, “What an exalted office.” Yes! no doubt it was. But the poor feeble Christian who in gratitude to God for his salvation, raises a note of praise, is in a still more exalted place. In the Tabernacle we have the type, but in the Christian coming into God’s presence through Christ, in praise or prayer, you have the blessed reality.

Whether in the quiet of the closet, or as one of an assembled company, when believers are stirred up to praise or prayer by the Holy Spirit, the Name of Jesus ascends as fragrant incense before the Father. Need we wonder then that such exercise is “well-pleasing” to Him? The singing may lack that which would make it melodious in the ear of man, but it is sweet unto God. The prayers might not, should not be, like those of one, of which it was said, that “it was the most eloquent prayer ever offered to a Boston audience.” Maybe much in the way it is presented is faulty, but when it passes through the hands of Christ, when it goes up from our Golden Altar, it is a sweeet savour to God.

“To all our prayers and praises,

Christ adds His sweet perfume;

And love the censer raises

Their odours to consume.”

When the Israelite, as in Deut. 16:17, came with his worship to the place which God had chosen, we read, “Every man shall give as he is able, according to the blessing of the Lord thy God which He hath given thee.” This is the rule according to which we The Altar At The Door.

should give to God our praises and thanksgivings. “According to the blessing of the Lord thy God.” Alas! how we have failed in this. As we think of the blessings which God has poured down upon us, and the very scant praise that has ascended to Him from our hearts, we are reminded of a sight we have often seen—the Falls of Niagara. Over those falls there pours an immense volume of water, day and night, year in and year out. There may be seen rising above the falls a cloud of vapour, reflecting in the daytime the rainbow. That cloud of vapour is part of what pours down, but only an infinitesimal part of it. Do we not feel like owning that this makes it all the more like to our scanty worship?

“Ye shall offer no strange incense thereon.” In John 4:24, we read, “God is a Spirit, and they that worship Him must worship Him in Spirit and in Truth.” And in Phil. 3:3 (R.V.), “For we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God, and glory in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.” Nothing can be acceptable to God, save that which has been produced by the Holy Spirit.

No unsaved sinner can praise God. Some may be gifted with a voice of matchless richness, and this may be cultivated to the very utmost degree, and as they sing before the congregation, the people may be thrilled. Yet for God there is sweeter music in the song of some poor old saint with a cracked voice, who never did understand the first things as to time and tune, but whose heart is full of gratitude and praise.

Just as the fire from the Brazen Altar caused the incense to ascend on the Golden Altar, so do God’s saints catch their inspiration to praise from the Cross of Calvary. And let me say that if this is not the inspiration, then it is “strange incense” which the believer is offering, and not “worship by the Spirit.”

“Strange Fire”; or Worship not Kindled at Calvary

In Lev. 10 we have the sad account of Nadab and Abihu, two sons of Aaron, who offered “strange fire” unto the Lord, and were judged for their sin. From the prohibition of wine, which comes immediately afterward, we may surely infer that they had been under its influence when they went in before the Lord. And in this is there not a lesson of deep and solemn import? Wine was forbidden the Nazarite, and it is forbidden the priest here in the exercise of his sacred office. Wine, as we know, excites those under its influence, producing an unreal courage, joy, enthusiasm, or religious fervour, just according to the character of the individual, who is controlled with the intoxication. The type should not be difficult to read. God will not have from His own, that which is only the activity of the flesh under some natural stimulus. The spell of sacerdotal surroundings, artistic church music, and human eloquence, all of which appeal to the sentimental, in those who never learned their need of Christ, or cared to know Him as their Saviour, has led many a true child of God to mistake “strange fire” for the fire of the altar.

As we stand before this Golden Altar, may we not hear those words, “Ye also as lively stones are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ” (1 Pet. 2:5). This surely sets before us the believer in his highest character. How shall we sustain it worthily? Let us again briefly look at the way by which we came here. In the Brazen Altar we see the question of sin settled, God glorified, and we who once were afar off, made nigh. In the Laver we saw the work of Christ cleansing from the daily defilement contracted in our walk down here, and so fitting us for the presence of God in holy worship and adoration. In the Lampstand we have the Holy Spirit using the Word of God to unfold to us the beauties and glories of Christ, thus leading us into the fuller knowledge of His will. Then comes the Table with its rich provision, and the desire of our blessed God that we may enjoy to the full what He has spread before us, saying, “Eat, O friends; drink, yea drink abundantly, O beloved.” Thus surely we are ready to worship, as we read in Deut. 8:10, “When thou hast eaten and art full, then thou shalt bless the Lord thy God.” Again in Psa. 22:29, “All they that be fat upon the earth shall eat and worship.” Worship flows from a heart satisfied with Christ. It is the overflowing of such an heart. If such is not the state of the believer’s soul, God gets nothing. Many a meeting is very barren of worship, though there may be a lot of hymn-singing. And the cause is, the hearts of God’s people are not happy in conscious fellowship with Him. May God help us to use our Golden Altar to His glory.

The Ark And Mercy-Seat

(Exodus 25:10-22).

We have now reached the last of the Holy Vessels. It was the first one of which God spoke, but it is the last we meet as we come in. We pointed out before the significance of this. We begin where God ends. He began with the Ark and its Mercy-Seat, which was His throne, and wrought out to the Altar in the Court, which speaks of His grace in coming down to the Cross, that He might meet us there.

The Ark was a box, two and a half cubits, or four feet four and a half inches long; one and a half cubits, or two feet seven and a half inches broad and high. It was made of acacia wood, overlaid within and without with gold. It had a lid, called “The Mercy-seat,” made of gold, and of the same piece of gold were fashioned two Cherubim, one on either end of the Mercy-seat. They stood stretching their wings over it, so as to form a canopy, and their faces were toward each other, looking at the Mercy-seat.

As a type of Christ, whether we look at it in the Tabernacle or in its wanderings, it is easily the most interesting of all the vessels.

Once again, we are led to consider our adorable Lord Jesus as He now is in the glory. Can we hear too much of what He is, or have Him brought before our hearts too often? Surely not! More especially is this true of the days we live in. When we feel the pressure of unbelief as it surges all around, as to the perfect Humanity and full Deity of Christ, we come to these holy places, as it were, and in the calm, quiet of the sanctuary of God, our souls find their rest. Here, all Satanic lies about the Person of the Son of God are powerless to harm. Here in type, we can say, “we see Jesus”—the Jesus of the Bible: not the Jesus preached from so many pulpits in Christendom, who is “another Jesus” (2 Cor. 11:4).

As in the Altar and the Table, we here see the Mercy-seat with its crown of gold, bringing the words of our well-known hymn before us:—

The Head that once was crowned with thorns

Is crowned with glory now;

A Royal Diadem adorns

The Mighty Victor’s brow.”

In verse 16 we read, “And thou shalt put into the Ark the testimony which I shall give thee.” Here in type, we see the place that Christ gave to His Father’s Word. In Psalm 40:8 we hear Him saying, “I delight to do Thy will, O my God: yea, Thy law is within my heart” and in Isa. 42:21 it is recorded, “He will magnify the law and make it honourable.” As Man here on earth among men, the Word was ever the rule of His life. “Thus it is written” settled everything for Him. Whether it was men or Satan, from that Word He brought forth the very truth which met the case, and like the smooth stone that David used to overcome the giant of Gath, one word was sufficient, for it was the Divine Word, divinely chosen. And when at last He hung upon the Cross, He could not die until all that was written of Him was fulfilled.

Christ And The Word Of God.

The attitude of our Lord towards the Word of God sets our hearts at rest as to the Evolution theory, which is so generally held by preachers to-day. Indeed not to hold it, would be to lose standing as a man of education, and be regarded as ignorant. The late W. J. Bryan, who practically died opposing that God dishonouring theory, was so often referred to as uneducated, by little men, who had taken up the theory and were talking parrot-like about it, that on one occasion they drew the remark from him, that “They may yet compel me to put my degrees on my card.”

By one word our Lord disposes of the absurd theory that man and everything we see in the world around us, results from the fortuitous coming together of atoms, and through interminable aeons, by way of the tadpole and monkey stages, we have evolved into what we are now. Speaking to the Pharisees about divorce, our Lord says, “Have ye not read, that He which made them at the beginning made them male and female” (Matt. 19:4). Thus He stamps as genuine, the grand, majestic account of creation which we have in Genesis. When we meet a man who can swallow the absurdities of Evolution, we feel like saying to him, “O man, great is thy faith.” But alas faith has nothing to do with it, for faith rests upon the Word of God, to which the Evolution theory is utterly opposed. And those who take it up are referred to in 2 Tim. 4:4.

Again, our Lord accepted the Old Testament as we know it. On the way to Emmaus after gently rebuking their unbelief he opened up to the two disciples the Word, “Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into His glory? And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, He expounded unto them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself” (Luke 24:26-27). Later on He stood in the midst of a company in the house, and to these He again linked up in one grand whole, the Old Testament. “These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me.”—ver. 44.

To Him Genesis and the Old Testament was not allegory, but history. Noah and the Flood. Lot and the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. Moses and the burning bush. Jonah and the fish, etc., were all real. And He knew. The unbelief that speaks of the Bible as containing the Word of God, just means that what man cannot understand, what requires faith, man need not believe. His word is, “Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled” (Matt. 5:18). Yea He confounded the Sadducees, the materialists of that day, who denied that the spirit existed apart from the body, by a tense of grammar. God said to Moses at the burning bush, “I am the God of Abraham” (Matt, 22:32). Not “I was the God of Abraham.” His rebuke to those Sadducees suits well the Modernists of to-day. “Ye do err, not knowing the Scriptures, nor the power of God” (ver. 29).

Just imagine our Lord meeting Satan with, “It is written,” and quoting from a compilation of bits and scraps of Jewish folklore. No, no, when He met him it was with the very words of God, and Satan could not withstand them. Deuteronomy was part of the God-breathed Scriptures.

But, say these modern men, Jesus knew no better, but we have now sources of information that He had not. He was a man of limited intelligence. Of course their own theories must be held and they can only be held by degrading the Son of God. “Limited intelligence.” Blasphemy. How thankful we are for such a word as Col. 2:2-3, “To the acknowledgment of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ; In whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” Oh say these men that is true of Him now. Yes, and it was true of Him when He was down here among men. He trod the path of subjection to the Father, and the words of Psa 131:1, were his words as the “meek and lowly” One, “Lord, my heart is not haughty, nor mine eyes lofty; neither do I exercise myself in great matters, or in things too high for me.” With what infinite joy the Father must have beheld His walk in a scene where the fatal poison injected into our race in Eden, “Ye shall be as gods,” was bearing such bitter fruit. Intoxicated with a little knowledge, man was too proud to submit himself to God or His Word. And that spirit of self exaltation, which would dethrone God, will go on till at last one of the race, will come, of whom it is written, “Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God” (2 Thess. 2:4).

Then and not till then shall the poison have done its full work. But as we see it working in the setting aside of the Word of God now, exalting their own theories, all the fruit of pride and independence of God, we admire the wondrous grace of Him, “In whom dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily,” treading His lowly path. As the subject One all is left in the Father’s hands, as we see from Mark 13:32. Acts 1:7, etc. But it is like Satan to say, that because He trod this path of lowly subjection to the Father, He was limited in intelligence and only knew what He did from the same sources of information that other men had.

We turn with loathing from this teaching, which is satanic. Those to whom the Father had revealed Him could say, to Him when the religious leaders of that day denied His Deity, “Now we are sure that Thou knowest all things, and needest not that any man should ask Thee; by this we believe that Thou earnest forth from God” (John 16:30, see chaps, 2:24-25; 21:17). All who are truly born of God will be able to say from their hearts, as well as those disciples, “Thou knowest all things.”

The Mercy Seat.

In Rom. 3:24-25 we read, “Christ Jesus, whom God hath set forth to be a Propitiation.” The word rendered “Propitiation,” in the Septuagint (the Greek Version of the Old Testament, made by seventy translators, at Alexandria, about 300 years before Christ, and often quoted by Him), is “Mercy-seat.” It would therefore read, “Whom God hath set forth to be a Mercy-seat.” We might ask ourselves, “How could the throne of a holy, sin-hating God be a Mercy-seat, and not a throne of judgment?” In Lev. 16 we get the account of the “day of atonement.” On that day there were two goats brought before the Lord. Lots were then cast upon them. One of these goats was a “scapegoat,” and having had the sins of the congregation confessed over it by Aaron, was sent away into the wilderness to some uninhabited place, and was let go, never to return. Now, in that goat we get a very precious type of Christ as the Substitute of His people. That this goat represented Satan—as we have heard some teach—only shows their ignorance of the teaching of the passage, and is too foolish to take notice of. But it is with the other goat we have specially to do now. It was spoken of as “for the Lord.” While the scapegoat spoke of Substitution, this goat spoke of Propitiation. And the difference between these two words may be put thus: Propitiation is Godward, and has to do especially with glorifying God in respect to sin. Christ on the Cross of Calvary did a work, on the ground of which God can deal with a guilty race in mercy. Christ was set forth to be a “Mercy-seat,” where God and the sinner can meet. Substitution shows us Christ standing in our room and stead, suffering for us. So the child of God can sing:—

Payment God will not twice demand:

First at my bleeding Surety’s hand,

And then again at mine.

In preaching the Gospel to the unsaved, it is the Propitiation aspect which should get the prominence. To tell an unawakened sinner that Christ was his or her Substitute, might easily give them the opportunity to say, “If that is so, I am all right, and need not trouble any more.”

We shall look at what was done with the goat which was for the Lord, or the one which spoke of propitiation. It was killed. Then some of its blood was carried into the Holiest, right inside the Veil, and sprinkled by the priest on and before the Mercy-seat, seven times. “On,” as meeting the claims of God; “Before” as meeting my need, giving me a righteous standing in the presence of infinite holiness. “Seven times” is the perfect number.

The body of the goat was carried outside the camp and burned. The word “burn,” when applied to the burning of the animal outside the camp, is different from the one used for the offering on the Brazen Altar. It means to “consume,” while in connection with the Altar it is to “ascend as incense.” As we see that burning outside the camp, we see in type the Lord Jesus dying under the judgment of God on our behalf. The terrible distance and darkness He felt when He cried, “My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me? Why art Thou so far from helping me?” was mine. But as we see Him rise from the dead, and pass into the heavens, “by” (not with) His own blood, we have what answers to the type of the priest going into the Holiest with the blood of the goat.

The Cherubim On The Mercy Seat.

There is something very suggestive in the attitude of the Cherubim upon the Mercy-seat. The first time we find the Cherubim mentioned in the Word of God is in connection with the driving out of the Garden of our first parents. There, the Cherubim is seen connected with the flaming sword. But here, there is no sword in the scene; nothing that would say, “Keep away!”

Then see how their gaze is toward the Mercy-Seat, as if they desired to read the meaning of the bloodstains which year by year were put there by the high priest. Those blood-marks tell us how God’s throne in Israel became a Mercy-seat, and not a throne of judgment. He who sat upon that throne saw in that blood, the type of the blood of Him who “deemed not His equality with God a thing to be grasped at” (Phil. 2:6): One whose worth was infinite, and whose death would satisfy all the demands of that throne. And because of that blood, He could meet Israel in the Person of their High Priest, and extend mercy to them, while they deserved judgment.

The Law Under The Mercy Seat.

Most instructive is it to notice where the law was put —“And thou shalt put the Mercy-seat above upon the Ark, and in the Ark thou shalt put the testimony that I shall give thee.” Over that law which man never kept, and which could only condemn, there was that which ever reminded God of the righteous work of His Son. The incident of 1 Sam. 6, where the “men of Beth-shemesh” looked into the Ark, is full of teaching. In order to look in, they must have removed the Mercy-seat, and exposed the law. It was a solemn moment. There was nothing then between the eye of a holy God, and His law which had been broken. We can remember when it was the law that was preached all the time in certain places. And often have we prayed, “Lord have mercy upon us, and incline our hearts to keep this Thy law.” We were repeating the mistake of the men of Beth-shemesh. And it is quite common to meet believers who are still in bondage as to the law. Even after they had to abandon all hope of salvation by it, they still speak of it as “a rule of life.”

Nothing can be more calculated to impart to the child of God a sense of settled peace and joy, than seeing that on the Cross, in His Divine Substitute, He died to the law. Its sentence was carried out in the fullest way on Christ, and now it is Christ upon whom the eye of God rests, and not upon the law. Knowing, this will never lead to carelessness of walk or life, or to treating sin with indifference. Such does not agree with the place into which He professes to have been brought, as one with Christ.

The Contents Of The Ark; Or A Seeming Contradiction.

There is something very striking and instructive in the difference between what we read in 1 Kings 8:9, and Heb. 9:4. In Kings we are told that there was “nothing in the Ark save the two tables of stone;” while in Hebrews we read, “Wherein was the Golden Pot that had manna, and Aaron’s Rod that budded, and the Tables of the Covenant.” It is just the same thought we already have had. Hebrews views the Ark as in the Tabernacle, speaking of the wilderness. In it, there was the memorial of God’s provision to meet the needs of a people in the wilderness. Kings gives us the Ark in the temple, a picture of the coming glory. So what was just for the wilderness is not there seen. Doubtless, the manna and the rod were removed by God’s command. But the law which spoke of God’s unchangeable claim, and that which is to be the basis of the administration of the Millennial kingdom is there, and fitly so.

The reference to the Ark in Tabernacle days, in Rev. 2:17, is most appropriate to the state of those addressed. The Church at Pergamos pictures that period in the Church’s history when the path of the pilgrim was given up, and God’s people had begun to look upon the world as a place in which to dwell and reign, instead of regarding it as a wilderness, and themselves as strangers passing on to their heavenly inheritance. Some there were who knew that the world was still unchanged, that their Lord and Master was still rejected in it, and they overcame the tendency to settle down, to which so many had succumbed. For them the world was still the wilderness with its needs and trials. The Lord does not forget such faithful ones. So He tells them He “will give to eat of the hidden manna,” the food suited to wilderness needs, but which those who are no longer in spirit pilgrims in the world do not enjoy. The “hidden manna” speaks of Himself as the One who was rejected down here, but who is now in the Father’s presence glorified. Like the lowly manna in the Golden Pot, and that Pot in the Ark, so the glorified Man is in the highest heaven, on the throne of God. No child of God who is seeking to escape the reproach connected with companionship with a rejected Lord, can delight in that sort of food.

The Staves Of The Ark.

We have seen that difference in the contents of the Ark in the Temple as compared with the Tabernacle was full of teaching of a very precious character. The Tabernacle speaking wilderness and the Temple of the coming glory. So in the Ark in the Tabernacle, is brought before us the fulness of Christ to meet the wilderness needs of the Church.

The Staves of the Ark represent Christ as the High Priest and Advocate of His people. The staves, like the Ark itself, were acacia wood covered with gold, and so must teach the same truths as we have had elsewhere—Christ as real Man and very God. The use of the staves was to carry the Ark from place to place in its wanderings. We might ask, “What teaching is there in this?” In the Ark and Cherubim of glory overshadowing the Mercy-seat, we have that which would suggest the Church of God. God displayed His glory in connection with the Ark. He dwelt between the Cherubim. In Ephesians, we learn that the Church is God’s habitation in which, and through which, in a coming day He will display His glory. And in that surpassing picture of glory in Rev. 21, we have held up to our gaze by means of all that is grand and costly in nature, what the redeemed are yet to be, and how the glory of God will flood the Church and radiate from it. As we think of the present ministry of Christ toward His people, we ask, “What ministry do we now have, without which we could not go on, which we will not need in heaven?” There are two ministries of His which we shall not then need. First.—His Priesthood, as we have it set forth in Hebrews. There it is seen for a people who are in circumstances of trial, full of weakness, and looked at as in the wilderness, while their priest represents them, and ministers mercy and grace to them in their time of need. This we shall not need in heaven. Secondly.—When in 1 John 2:1 we are told “If any man sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous.” Here is another ministry of His we shall not need, for we will not then sin. But how would we do now without the Priest with God, and the Advocate with the Father? In Exodus, chapter 25:15, it was forbidden to take the staves out of the Ark. In 1 Kings 8:8, “they drew out the staves.” While the Ark was connected with the Tabernacle, it was a wanderer, and the staves were to remain in it. But the time came when the bare sand gave place to the golden floor of the temple, and its wanderings were at an end. So the staves were no longer needed, it was at rest, “and they drew out the staves.” We do not read that they broke them up. Thanks be to God, very soon the golden streets of the Heavenly City will take the place of the defiled scene where now we walk. And while we shall not need the priesthood and advocacy of our blessed Lord there as we do now, it will be our joy and delight to think of how well His love provided for us all through the wilderness and carried us all the way, as the Ark was borne by the staves. And so we sing:

My Saviour I have nought to plead,

On earth beneath or heaven above,

But just my own exceeding need,

And Thy exceeding love.

The need will soon be past and gone,

Exceeding great, ‘tis quickly o’er;

Thy love unbought is all Thine own,

And lasts for evermore.

The Old Staves And The New Cart

(Exodus 25:13-14; 1 Sam.6:7-18; 1 Chron. 13:7).

God was most explicit in His instructions as to the carrying of the Ark. “And thou shalt make staves of shittim wood, and overlay them with gold. And thou shalt put the staves into the rings by the side of the Ark, that it may be borne with them.” Later on in the wilderness the princes gave six wagons and twelve oxen for the service of the Tabernacle, and Moses divided them between the Gershonites and Merarites. To the first he gave two wagons and four oxen, and to the second he gave four wagons and eight oxen, as their loads were heavier, being the boards, bars, pillars, sockets, etc. But it is most significant in the light of after history, that it reads here; “But unto the sons of Kohath he gave none; because the service of the sanctuary belonging unto them was that they should bear upon their shoulders.”

When David came to the throne, he sought to carry out a purpose formed in his early years in Bethlehem, and that was to find a place for the Ark. For many long years, including the reign of Saul, no priest stood before it to learn the mind of God, and it was away down in Kirjath-jearim, practically forgotten. So in 1 Chron. 13 he consults the people as to bringing it back, and they are one with him in the matter.

All this was as it should be, but right here David made the great mistake of taking his own way in carrying the Ark, and not keeping to the way which God had commanded. David’s way was not original with him. Some years before, Israel were fighting with their enemies, the Philistines, and God allowed them to be defeated, and instead of asking why, and seeking to judge the sin which has caused this defeat, they say, “Let us fetch the Ark of the covenant of the Lord out of Shiloh unto us, that when it cometh among us, it may save us out of the hand of our enemies.” 1 Sam. 4:3. They brought it and again they were defeated, the two sons of Eli who carried it were slain, and the Ark captured, and taken down to the land of the Philistines. No army, having taken the general, the staff, guns and standards of their enemy, were as elated as were the Philistines that day. But little do they know what a troublesome trophy they have on their hands, and that they will soon wish they had left it with Israel.

Israel has failed, but God can and will look after His own glory, and all the time that the Ark was in the land of the Philistines, it was judgment right and left. God could dwell in Israel in spite of their sins, on the ground of redemption, and sprinkled blood, but in the midst of the Philistines He can only be a God of judgment.

In abject terror, they ask their priests and wise men what is to be done? They are told to get a new cart and yoke two milch kine to it, and having put an offering beside the Ark, send it back to Israel. So they took the kine and tied their calves up at home and sent them off, and without a driver, they took the way straight to Beth-shemesh, lowing all the way. They halted by a big stone in the field of a man called Joshua, and the men of the place, did the right thing, they broke up the cart and offered the kine as a burnt offering. That should have been the last of the new cart.

Now this incident would be well known to David, and how successfully it worked, and the idea struck him as good. He forgot that he was in a totally different relationship to God from the Philistines, and that he was responsible to carry out the Word of God, which God did not expect from the Philistines. So he has a new cart made, which in his eyes looked so much more dignified and up-to-date than the old fashioned staves. Doubtless the most would agree with him that it was a vast improvement over men trudging along with the Ark on their shoulders. Was not God a great God, and should he not be worshipped in a first-class way?

To judge by the noise they made, singing and playing instruments, they must have thought that God was pleased with this departure from His way. But though David instead of kine, has oxen, animals accustomed to the yoke, and again, he has two men to drive them, yet with all this care, the oxen stumbled, and Uzza fearful that the Ark, which was safe among its enemies, would come to grief among its friends, put forth his hand to steady it, and was smitten in death by God.

The bottom drops out of the whole thing, the music stopped, and David in a sulky mood, carries the Ark to the house of Obed-edom, where it remained for three months, the Lord blessing his house and all that he had because of the Ark.

After three months David once more sets about bringing the Ark to the place he had prepared for it. But he has now learnt that he must go according to the Word of God, for he says in 1 Chron. 15:2, “None ought to carry the ark of God but the Levites: for them hath the Lord chosen to carry the Ark of God, and to minister unto Him for ever.” Another thing he makes very clear, and that is, the judgment was on account of departure from God’s way, though the point at which God interfered, was when Uzza put his hand to the ark. “The Lord our God made a breach upon us, for that we sought Him not after the due order.” ver. 13.

The new cart is thrown aside and David goes back to the old fashioned way again. “And the children of the Levites bare the Ark of God upon their shoulders with the staves thereon, as Moses commanded according to the word of the Lord.” Ver. 15.

That God caused this incident to be written for our learning, (Rom. 15:4), we most surely believe, and we wish to notice just two or three of the many new carts, which man has made, in connection with both worship and service. Now it may sound strange to speak of new carts in regard to worship, but alas they are in evidence there.

Take an assembly or church in the Acts. It does not require a very great knowledge of the Word to visualise just what it looked like, and the order of worship. It was a company of Christians, coming together on the first day of the week to remember the Lord in the breaking of bread. That was the object of their gathering, but the Lord in His care might minister to them through some of His gifts if they were present, but they did not come to hear them, they came to break bread, as we see in Acts 20:7. A sample of the popular ideas which are held in regard to this meeting was furnished by a S.S. Lesson sheet. In an American city a friend took up one, brought home by a child from the Sunday School. Looking it over, he saw that the lesson for the day was “Paul at Troas.” The question was asked, “Why did the disciples come together at Troas?” The answer given in that lesson sheet was most amusing, it was, “To bid Paul goodbye.”

When gathered, they owned no name but that of Him to Whom they were gathered. They had no man to preside, they left themselves free to be guided by the Holy Spirit in worship. They set up no order that in any way would hinder carrying out the order the Holy Spirit has given in 1 Cor. 14:23-40.

What has man substituted for this simple gathering of those who are saved? A mixed congregation, who come to hear a sermon, which often has nothing in it to do good to saint or sinner. A New Cart.

As to service, it is just the same, discarding the staves for the new cart. In the Acts God’s servants went forth in dependence on Him not only for their material support, but for guidance as to their field. No society, mission or congregation hired them and gave them their orders where to go and how long to stay. No congregation hired a man whom they called “the minister,” claimed a monopoly of his service, and when he no longer gave satisfaction, dismissed him. No, each company might have a number, who sought to help and guide and minister as the Lord gave them ability.

In the prosecution of the work of evangelizing the world, the early preachers went forth with the gospel, and preached it, counting God to carry it home by the Holy Spirit. There was a blessed simplicity about their mode of operations, that reminds us of the old staves of the ark. No society existed to gather funds for such and such mission. No advance publicity agent went ahead to organize committees to work the district. They did not take along a band. They had not soloists to attract the people. They knew nothing of the modern methods of getting men and women to decide for Christ, by holding up the hand, signing a card, or shaking hands with the preacher. These new carts they did not know. We fear very much that these things are resorted to, to supply the lack of Holy Spirit power.

Thank God, many like David, have not been ashamed to discard the new carts, and go back to the staves. And like David, they have found real blessing in so doing. We read the results of his restoration in chap. 15:25-28, and in chap. 16. God got praise and Israel got blessing, and there was an atmosphere of joy wholly unknown when they were occupied with the new cart.

The Material Used In The Tabernacle And How It Was Obtained

(Exodus 25:1-8; 35:4-39; 2 Cor. 8:12).

When God told Moses about the making of the Tabernacle, and showed him the pattern of it, he would at once see what a great amount of gold, silver, brass, etc., would be required. How is it all to be gotten? It would never occur to him to consult with Aaron as to the practicability of training some of their best singers, and holding sacred concerts, charging half a shekel admission. No that would not do, for God had said, “Let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them.” Only those whom He has redeemed can furnish the material for the Tabernacle. Before God will accept anything from man, man must first accept God’s great gift, His Son.

Nor could we think of Moses suggesting to Aaron that each man should be taxed according to his ability to give. That would be just as repugnant to God as raising money by entertaining the heathen of the land through which they passed, to get the necessary gold and silver. No, God did not say, “Command them that they make, etc.,” but, “Let them make,” etc. Before this, and ere God had said anything about the Tabernacle, as they stood by the shores of the Red Sea, and saw the great salvation God had wrought, and His judgment on their enemies, they sang His praises and vowed they would “prepare Him an habitation” (Ex. 15:2). Now they are just longing to be at it, and God says, “Let them make me a sanctuary.”

Just as God will not have the contributions of the people of the land go into the Tabernacle. Neither will He have aught that is exacted in a legal way from His own. The Tabernacle is to furnish a bright picture of the grace which says, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service” (Rom. 12:1).

Surely the methods for obtaining means to carry on the work of building God’s spiritual house now, cannot be a matter of indifference to God, who was so particular about the making of what was just a type. It is not His mind that the unsaved should be asked for a penny. Nor is it His mind that His own should be taxed, or give grudgingly. In reading those passages we have had, especially chap, 35, you have noticed how often the words, “willing heart,” and “willing offering” occurs. It was the heart which determined the value of the offering to God, not its intrinsic worth. The board of shittim wood from the poor man, or the ram’s skin from the poor woman, had the same acceptance from God, as the wedge of gold from the man of wealth. We have a fine illustration of this in Luke 21:1-4. Our Lord was standing over against the treasury, and noticed the rich men casting in their gifts. A poor woman came along and cast in two mites, which make one farthing. Had a priest been looking on when that tiny gift was put in, he would have shown her scant courtesy. What would her little gift do towards maintaining that great temple and the priesthood? But He who was able to weigh the motives which prompted that gift, tells us what He thought of it. “This poor widow hath cast in more than they all.” The rich had lots more behind, but she “cast in all the living that she had.” She could have given one of the mites, but as she thought of the goodness of God to her, she felt constrained to give all. It was the heart that made the gift large. “If there be first a willing mind, it is accepted according to that a man hath, and not according to that he hath not” (2 Cor. 8:12).

And at the Judgment Seat of Christ only what is given, as if it were seen and known to God alone, will bring reward. It is said that an old Scotchman, absorbed in thought, found himself unprepared when the elder presented the collection plate in the church, and so hastily putting his hand into his pocket, he brought out what he thought was a penny and dropped it into the plate, when to his surprise he saw that it was a half crown. As he put his hand out to change it for a penny, the old elder said: “Ye maunna do that.” So with an air of resignation, the old man replied: “Aweel God will gie me credit for it.” “Nae, God will only gie ye credit for the penny,” the elder replied.

As we think of the great quantity of gold and silver that was used in the Tabernacle, the question may arise; Where did Israel get it all. We shall turn to some scriptures which have been somewhat difficult for many of the Lord’s people to understand. In Ex. 3:22, and 11:2, the people are told to borrow of the Egyptians, jewels of silver and jewels of gold. And in 12:35 we read that they borrowed these things. In verse 36 it is said, “The Lord gave the people favour in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they let them have what they asked. And they spoiled the Egyptians.” (R.V.). The word “borrow” in all the verses, should be “ask.” Israel had served Egypt without pay, and now God, as the moral governor of the world, is going to right the wrongs of His people, and when they asked these things, the Egyptians were very glad to let them have them, and so perhaps get some respite from the plagues that were upon them.

These ornaments were like the wages of the people, and they can express their gratitude to God by giving them as freewell offerings for the work of the Tabernacle. And that this way was a great success, is seen by the proclamation which Moses made in chap, 36:6 for the people brought too much, verse 37.

How much that is called work for the Lord would have to be abandoned if the unsaved were to refuse to contribute, and nothing but freewill offerings taken from Christians. But does work which is carried on otherwise, bring any glory to God? If this scriptural way were adhered to, it is safe to say that no genuine work of God would suffer. The very common practice, of begging money from the world, to carry on religious work is shameful, and ought to make Christians blush. Nor is the constant dunning at believers much better. Better aim at the heart than at the pocket book. When the heart is right practical fellowship with God, in His work, will be a pleasure. A very old Christian was once asked, how she managed to get to the meetings so often, seeing that she had so far to come. Her reply was, “My hert gangs first and my feet follow.” If Christ has our hearts, He has all, and if He has not our hearts, He does not want anything else we have.

The Workmen Of The Tabernacle

Or Service for the Lord Jesus and its Inspection at the Judgment Seat. (Exodus Chapters 35 to 40).

We wish to call attention again to what is rather significant. As an introduction to this section of the book of Exodus we have the Sabbath brought in. It seems wholly unrelated to what has gone before or to what is to follow. Why then does the Lord speak of it in this place? This is the section which deals with the workers, with service. In Matt. 11:28 Christ invites the heavy laden to come to Him for rest. Then in verse 29 He says to those who have come, “Take My yoke upon you.” The yoke is the symbol of service, but ere anyone can serve, they must have rested. The Sabbath means rest, it was God’s creation rest. When all was done, so that there did not remain as much as a tint to be added to the wing of a butterfly, God called man to share in His rest, a rest towards which he had done nothing. So the sinner is invited to share in the redemption rest, of which the Sabbath was a type. Christ did all the work, and on the cross said, “It is finished.” The sinner on believing enters on that Sabbath rest, he ceases all work for salvation, resting in what Christ has done.

How suited then is this mention of the Sabbath at the beginning of this portion of the book of Exodus, reminding us of the fact, that all whom God calls to service, know rest in Christ from the burden of guilt and sin.

Of all the workers, one is singled out for special mention, and that one is Bezaleel, who seems to have been a master workman, whom we doubt not speaks of our Lord Jesus, who said in Matt. 26:18. “I will build My church.” There is another, Aholiab, who has not quite the same prominence, and who may suggest the Holy Spirit’s work in connection with the church.

But having said this, we also believe that these men are typical of those who seek to serve according to their ability in the great work of the present, the Church.

Of all the workers Bezaleel is the one which God brings before us by giving us his name and genealogy. Again we ask, Why is this? Is it not that he is the type of all workers for God? We will begin with his grandfather’s name, “Hur.” Hur means Noble or Free born. This is an absolute qualification for all true workers. Free born. They were not that by their first birth, for they were born slaves of sin and Satan. Our hearts resented this, just as did the Jews in John 8:33, when they said, “We be Abraham’s seed, we were never in bondage to any man.” Thank God our new birth enables us to say, as Paul did to chief captain in connection with his Roman citizenship, “I was free born.”

“Uri,” Uri means, Light of Jehovah. This is another suggestive name, more especially in a type which brings before us service for the Lord, in connection with the Church. It recalls our thoughts to the sanctuary light, that in which the priests ministered. The greatest need of the present, is that of men, who Elijah like, stand before God and seeing things in His light, speak out, caring not for the frown or favour of men.

In Jeremiah’s day God had to say of some; “I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran; I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied” (Jer. 23:21). Again in the next verse we read; “But if they had stood in My counsel, and had caused My people to hear My words, then they should have turned them from their evil way, and from the evil of their doings.” While we have here a picture of the clergy of Christendom, it may well speak to those who have taken a more scriptural position. Addresses which are sound enough, but lacking in power, because of not being in God’s counsel, will never stem the tide of worldiness which is swamping the Lord’s people on every hand.

Bezaleel; “In the shadow of God.” This name suggests the words of the true Bezaleel, our Lord Jesus, in Isa. 49:2. “He hath made my mouth like a sharp sword, in the shadow of His hand hath He hid me; He hath made me a polished shaft; in His quiver hath He hid me.” But the grace of self-effacement, which shone so very blessedly in Christ, we see also in His servants in the New Testament. The Baptist’s “He must increase, but I must decrease.” John 3:30. The apostle John’s hiding himself by using the expression, “The other disciple whom Jesus loved” (John 21:20), and Paul’s “Not I but Christ” (Gal. 2:20), and hiding himself in 2 Cor. 12:2, when referring to the visions and revelations which he had received, by saying, “I knew a man in Christ.”

It has ever been and will ever be God’s way to take up the Bezaleels for His work, and he who would be used in fashioning the vessels and working on God’s spiritual house, will do well to take heed to the advice which a poorly-clad urchin gave to a very fine fisherman on a Scotch river. This man had everything that an up-to-date fisherman required, but as he fished the river up and down, not a bite was he getting. This little chap with a home-made outfit was pulling out the fish right along. At last this fine fisherman approached the lad to find out why this was so. The lad replied, “If ye wad catch fish, ye maun hide yersel.” That was the secret, so he lay low on the grass, and let the fish see the bait, but not himself.

So this man Bezaleel is the type of all servants, as we have seen, suggesting first the new birth, second, walking in the light, and thirdly, keeping in the shadow, letting Christ and not himself be seen.

Bezaleel And Aholiab And Their Fellow-Workers. (Exodus 35:34).

There was a place among the workers of the Tabernacle for every one who had a willing heart, again and again we get this in chap. 35. But among these workers Bezaleel filled a most important place, as we read, “And hath put in his heart that he may teach, both he and Aholiab, the son of Ahisamach of the tribe of Dan.” As they wrought they instructed others also to the work.

This is what we get in Eph. 4:11, 12. We have five gifts in this passage, two of them are no longer among us, as we read in chap. 2:20, “And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets.” (N.T. prophets). While the men are gone, their work abides for us in the Word. But evangelists, pastors and teachers remain, and will till the church has been completed.

Those to whom God has entrusted any of these special gifts, as they exercise them in the assembly, serve a twofold purpose. They edify the body, and also they fit others for the work of the ministry. That is the meaning of verse 12, “For the perfecting of the saints, unto (with a view to) the work of ministering unto the building up of the body of Christ.” (r.v.).

As the evangelist preached the gospel to the world, and the pastor and teacher exercised their gifts in the assembly, younger men had before them the example, and in the teaching they were getting fitted to do that work themselves in a future day. The assembly was the training college for God’s servants, the present popular way was then unknown; that of sending young men to the college to study for the ministry, who in most cases have never given any evidence of being called by God to His work, and worse still, very often give little evidence of having been born again.

But even if they were really saved and gave evidence of having been called to the work, what a difference there is between sitting at the feet of those whom God has called and fitted for His work, in the building up the assembly; and going to an institution where men steeped in Modernism, do their best to instil into the minds of their students soul-destroying errors. The present revolt against the foundation truths of God’s Word is very largely due to this very thing.

God puts no premium on ignorance; in the past He has needed educated men, and still does. But when He needs them He knows where to get them. He will do as He did with Paul, save some young man, who has finished his college course perhaps for medicine or law, and send him into His work. That is what He did with Paul. In His providence He allowed him to sit at the feet of the most famous teacher of his day, and with his splendid education he was able to stand before Governors, Kings and the learned of the earth. And having saved him, he sent him into Arabia for three years, that like Elijah, he might learn God, and get rid of the glamour of earth, and see things in the sanctuary light.

But let us never forget, that for one Paul, God needs ten Peters and Johns, whom though the enemy saw that “they were unlearned and ignorant men,” yet had to acknowledge that they had the stamp of men that had been “with Jesus” (Acts 4:13).

The Inspection Of The Work By Moses

(Exodus 39:33 and 43).

At last the work has been completed and the day of its inspection has come. From every part of the camp men and women come, bringing the work which they had made. All now passes under Moses’ eye, and as he notes that it has been done according to the pattern which God had showed him on the mount, he blesses the worker.

What a day that was to those willing workers, who had toiled for weeks and months. Some of them doing a very lowly kind of work, the men fashioning boards and tanning skins, the women spinning goat’s hair and weaving fine linen for the court wall. Few may have taken notice of their work, and it is possible that at times they would wish it had been their lot to do what Bezaleel did, work on the lampstand or the beautiful cherubic figures on the mercy seat, as his praise would be in every one’s mouth.

But now their time has come, for as Moses takes up their work and examines it, for the time it has the same prominence as the work of Bezaleel or Ahisamach. And those dear women, who spun and wove in the retirement of their tents, apparently in a subordinate place, have the joy of hearing from the lips of Moses, “Jehovah bless you,” and it makes up for all their toil.

How this suggests a day that is before the Lord’s people, when they shall stand at the Judgment Seat of Christ. Then all their work will be passed on by the Lord. What will count then will not be quantity, but quality. It will not be “Well done, good and successful servant,” but “Well done, good and faithful servant.” If the Lord was so particular about going by the pattern in making the Tabernacle, which was but a type, is it reasonable to suppose that He is indifferent as to whether or not His people go by His Word in their work now? That little word in 2 Tim. 2:5 will apply to that coming day, “If a man also strive for masteries, yet is he not crowned except he strive lawfully.” That is, according to the law governing the game.

Many believers act as if they believed the Bible was only given to show them how to get to heaven. They never seem to think that it is a Book giving instructions as to their service and worship, which God expects them to carry out. Afraid that too close adherance to it will interfere with their usefulness, they allow themselves great latitude, and the results seem to justify their course. But they have been building wood, hay and stubble, not gold, silver and precious stones (1 Cor. 3:12-15), and the fire will leave little of the big pile of wood, hay and stubble. Surely it were only the part of wisdom, to go by the Word now, even though it be the unpopular path. His “Well done good and faithful servant,” will be far better than the praise of Christians now, when that is won by departing from the Word.

The Women’s Work.

In the Tabernacle we have a suggestion of the sister’s place now. We do not think that she would bring her wheel or her loom out into the centre of the camp, as she spun or wove. But if her work was of a quiet kind, she will not lose her reward, any more than the man who did the more ornate work. On the day of inspection, she saw her work exhibited before all, and heard the commendation of Moses upon it.

Let the sisters carry on their God appointed service, not murmuring because God has given the brother the more prominent place in the work. In that coming day they will be glad that they never sought to get out of their true sphere, which God in His wisdom has called them to fill. They may not lead in the prayer or praise of the assembly (1 Cor. 14:34), she may not teach men, which addressing men and women in a promiscuous assembly, would be doing (1 Tim. 2:12). It is significant, that though a woman was the first to see the Lord after He arose, and got a message to the disciples, yet in 1 Cor. 15:5-8 not a woman is mentioned. Why? Because there we have public, official testimony to the Lord’s resurrection. When Paul was staying in the house of Philip, who had four daughters which did prophesy (no doubt to women), and God had a message for Paul, he did not use one of them, but sent Agabus from Jerusalem (Acts 21:8-11).

Those dear sisters who may be unable to go to the mission field, or engage in Sunday School work, may yet spin goat’s hair or weave fine linen in other ways. As for example, some sick sister may be cheered by a visit, and some of her housework cleared up, which she had been unable to do. Then there is that sister with small children, which she cannot take to the meeting, and so is kept at home. To go and keep them once in a while, and let her get under the refreshing ministry of the Word of God, is something which the Lord will appreciate, something like weaving the fine linen, which will bring His “Well done,” in that day.

The Tabernacle Finished And Occupied. (Exodus 40:33-35).

We think of those words which met us at the beginning. “Let them make Me a sanctuary that I may dwell among them” (Ex. 25:8). Now it is ready and how gladly God takes possession of it. Some years ago in Australia, a brother who was a contractor and builder, got the job of building a church for a rather High Church congregation, the Rector coming very frequently to see how it was progressing. When it was just about completed, he surveyed it with pleasure, and remarked to the Contractor, “It is a nice house of God.” “Yes,” replied the Contractor, “if you can get Him into it.”

How eager God was to enter the Tabernacle and fill it with His glory. As the people of Israel saw the glory enter and the cloud take up its abode on it, how they must have felt. One might say to another, “Just think of the honour we have had, to have been allowed a part in the making of this Tabernacle, God’s dwelling place.”

The day is not far off, when the spiritual house will be finished and filled with the glory of God (Eph. 3:21; 5:27. Rev. 21:9-22:6). And when we see the Church glorified, we shall marvel at the grace which allowed us to have a part in a work so glorious. It was honour heaped on honour, to have been saved and then to share in this wonderful work.