Precious Gem in the Tabernacle
Author: B.R. Hicks
Date: 1961-11-15T10:00:00+00:00
Description: Nowhere in the Bible is there such a detailed picture of the LORD Jesus Christ than is found in the Mosaic Tabernacle. Among all the books written by Reverend Hicks, none is as important or as far-reaching in influence as this book, for it presents the Stature, the Image, the Perfection of the Son of God that all believers in Jesus Christ must strive to attain. The Mosaic Tabernacle is God's blueprint of His Only Begotten Son in Whom God put all Wisdom, Understanding, and Knowledge. By studying the types and shadows of all that God put in the first Tabernacle, and also by studying the earthly
Rights: All rights reserved

PRECIOUS GEM

IN THE

TABERNACLE

B. R. Hicks

Christ Gospel Press

P.O.Box 786

Jeffersonville, Indiana 47131-0786
http://www.christgospel.org/

Publisher: Christ Gospel Press

© Christ Gospel Churches International, Inc., 1961

P. O Box 786

Jeffersonville, Indiana 47131-0786

Eighth Printing, 1985

Digital Edition, 2012

ISBN 1-58363-067-8

All rights reserved.

Printed in the United States of America.

CONTENTS

Preface

Chapter I: Reasons for Studying the Tabernacle

Chapter II: The Pillars of the Court

I.    The Brazen Pillars

A.  The Number

B.  The Material

C.  The Position

II.   The Pins

III.  The Brazen Sockets

IV.  Hooks and Fillets of Silver

V.   The Purpose of the Pillars

A.  For Support

B.  For the Gate

Chapter III: The Court, Continued

I.    The Material

II.   The Numbers

III.  The Purpose of the Curtains

A.  To Exclude

B.  To Enclose

Chapter IV: The Gate of the Court

I.    The Way

II.   Materials

A.  Blue

B.  Purple

C.  Scarlet

D.  Fine Twined Linen

III.  Its Workmanship

IV.  Its Position

Chapter V: The Brazen Altar

I.    Its Position and Preeminence

A.  Slaying

B.  Burning

II.   Material

A.  Shittim Wood

B.  Brass

III.  Its Size and Shape

A.  Length

B.  Breadth

C.  Height

D.  Its Shape

IV.  The Horns

A.  For Ornament

B.  For the Binding of the Sacrifice

V.  Its Vessels

A.  Pan

B.  Shovels to Feed Fire and Remove Ashes

C.  Basons

D.  Flesh Hooks

E.  Fire Pans

F.  Its Network of Brass

G.  Its Rings and Staves

H.  Its Blood and Ashes

I.    Its Fire

Chapter VI: The Laver

I.    For the Priests

II.   The Materials

III.  Its Contents

IV.  Its Size and Shape

V.   Its Purpose

A.  For the Hands

B.  For the Feet

VI.  Its Position

VII. Its Warning

Chapter VII: The Boards and Bars of the Tabernacle

I.    The Boards

A.  Their Number

B.  Their Measurements

C.  Their Material

D.  The Gold

E.  The Two Tenons

F.  Their Sockets of Silver

II.   The Bars

A.  Their Material

B.  Their Number

Chapter VIII: The Coverings of the Tabernacle

I.     The Revelation of His Humanity (The Badger Skin)

II.   The Reason for His Humanity (The Rams’ Skin)

III.  The Result of His Humanity (The Goats’ Hair)

IV.  The Glorification of His Humanity

A.  For Transportation

B.  For Defense

Chapter IX: The Door to the Tabernacle

I.    One Door

II.   For the Priest

III.  The Pillars

A.  Their Numbers

B.  Their Material

C.  Their Sockets

D.  The Hanging

Chapter X: The Altar of Incense

I.    The Purpose of the Alter

A.  The Burning of Incense

B.  The Kind of Incense

II.   Materials of the Alter

A.  Shittim Wood

B.  Gold

III.  Its Size and Shape

IV.  Its Position

V.   Its Horns

A.  Matthew – King (1st Horn)

B.  Mark – Servant (2nd Horn)

C.  Luke – Son of Man (3rd Horn)

VI.  The Crown

VII. The Staves

Chapter XI: The Candlestick

I.    The Location of the Candlestick

II.   Its Material

A.  Pure Gold

B.  Beaten Gold

III.  The Form of the Candlestick

IV.  The Six Branches

V.   The Decoration of the Shaft and Branches

VI.  The Bowl

VII. The Knop, The Crown

VIII. The Flower

IX.   The Size

X.    The Light

XI.   Pure Oil

XII.  Fresh Oil Twice Daily

XIII. Tongs

XIV. The Snuffdishes

XV.   Examples in the World

A.  To Light

B.  Restore Sight to the Blind

C.  To Enlighten

D.  To Instruct

E.  To Adorn with Knowledge

F.  To Dig About the Roots of a Vine

G.  To Bring Forth

Chapter XII: The Table of Shewbread

I.    The Table

A.  The Material

B.  The Measurements

C.  The Double Crown

D.  The Staves and Rings

II.   The Bread

A.  The Material

B.  The Number of Loaves

C.  The Renewal

Chapter XIII: The Vail

I.    Its Name

II.   Its Material

III.  Its Pillars

IV.  The Rent Vail

Chapter XIV: The Ark of the Covenant

I.    The Material

II.   Its Crown

III.  Its Staves and Rings

IV.  Its Contents

A.  The Commandments

B.  The Golden Pot of Manna

C.  Aaron’s Rod

V.  Its Position

VI. The Mercy Seat

VII. The Ark – The Head for Guidance

VIII. The Ark – The Head Opens the Way

IX.  The Ark – Giving Victory Over the Enemy

Chapter XV: The Arrangement of the Camp & Sanitary Regulations

I.    The Arrangement

II.   The Arrangement of the Tribes

III.  Sanitary Regulations of the Camp

Chapter XVI: The High Priest and His Garments

I.    The Selection of the Priests

A.  Legitimate Birth

B.  Physical Perfection

II.   The Priest Washed

III.  The Priest Clothed

1.  The Coat

2.  The Girdle

3.  The Robe of the Ephod

4.  The Ephod

5.  The Breastplate

6.  The Mitre

7.  The Golden Crown

8.  The Linen Breeches

Chapter XVII: The Five Great Offerings and Consecration of Priests

I.    The Non-Sweet Savor Offerings

II.   The Sweet Savor Offerings

III.  An Offering Made Unto the Lord

IV.  Unbaked Meal or Flour Offering

Chapter XVIII: The Anointing of Aaron with the Holy Anointing Oil

I.    Pure Myrrh

II.   Sweet Cinnamon

III.  Sweet Calamus

IV.  Cassia

V.   Oil Olive

Chapter XIX: The Pillar of Cloud

I.    Its Material

A.  Cloud

B.  Pillar

PREFACE

And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ; Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: (Ephesians 4:11-13).

For many years it has been my blessed privilege to sit at the feet of my precious LORD Jesus Christ and learn from HIM concerning His stature which has been so gloriously revealed in the Old Testament Tabernacle. Without this knowledge one remains in darkness of the full plan of perfection which the Apostle Paul speaks of in Ephesians. But with this plan the spiritual eyes are constantly being anointed to see new heights and depths that God has hidden in Christ that we might continually press on to fuller and richer growth in His stature, thereby sanctifying ourselves from spiritual complacency and spiritual self-righteousness.

This book has been written in obedience to His command that we should share a few of the quickened truths He has so graciously placed in our heart. He has promised that it will bless the hearts of those who are looking for His soon return from glory and who have a desire to be ready and to have on their wedding garments. The prayerful desire and motive of our heart is that each reader will receive a new vision and a greater love for the blessed LORD JESUS CHRIST.

- The Author

PRECIOUS GEM IN THE TABERNACLE

CHAPTER I

REASONS FOR STUDYING THE TABERNACLE

I.

IT CONTAINS THE PICTURE OF THE MEASURE OF THE STATURE OF JESUS CHRIST

Nowhere in Scripture do we find such a precious gem of truth or such a complete picture of the measure of the stature of Christ, which Paul relates in Ephesians 4:13, than in the Old Testament Tabernacle. The verse reads: “Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.” Again Paul mentions it as being figures, types, or shadows of the heavenly things of the Christ that was to come and His ministry.

The Holy Ghost this signifying, that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest, while as the first tabernacle was yet standing: Which was a figure for the time then present, in which were offered both gifts and sacrifices, that could not make him that did the service perfect, as pertaining to the conscience (Hebrews 9:8,9).

Since these are pictures or figures of Jesus Christ, then surely there are many spiritual gems of revelation that we can behold as we meditate on this particular portion of the Word of the Lord.

II.

ITS PLANS WERE DIVINE BLUE PRINTS

God told Moses four times in the book of Exodus (Ex. 25:9; 25:40; 26:30; & 27:8) to make certain that he constructed this Tabernacle according to the pattern that was shown to him on the mount. Since these plans were drawn up by the Divine Architect and were to represent the complete revelation of His Son, Jesus Christ, then surely we can find inspiration to enlighten us in yielding to the Spirit of the LORD and the precious Word for the growth of a spiritual building in our souls that will bear the same image; namely, the image of Christ.

III.

ISRAEL’S NECESSITY OF THE TABERNACLE

Israel had been many years in the darkened land of Egypt, away from God and without any light or revelation from Him. Even though they were a chosen people of God, still they were a sinful people and needed to find a way to approach God. Because of His great love, God provided them through the Tabernacle a revelation of the way to have access into His presence and to have fellowship with Him. If our hearts are humble and teachable, then there is always something that we can learn from a person or a people who have walked in fellowship with God.

IV.

THE GREAT PORTION OF THE WORD OF THE LORD DEDICATED TO THE TABERNACLE

The fact that God has dedicated so many chapters in His Word to this particular building should arouse our spiritual curiosity to investigate its importance. The Word tells us, “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness” (II Tim.3:16). Here are four excellent reasons why we should study and absorb the Word of God from Genesis to Revelation: (1) Doctrine, (2) Reproof, (3) Correction, and (4) Instruction in righteousness.

V.

THE CLEARER UNDERSTANDING OF THE NEW TESTAMENT

There are many portions of Scripture in the New Testament that will never be clearly understood until we have studied the Old Testament Tabernacle, for many quotations and references come from that particular part of the Word. Because the Tabernacle is a picture of the Son of God, we can fit all other Scripture together with it. For all Scripture is given to reveal the LORD Jesus Christ.

VI.

ITS MULTIPLE NAMES

First, it was called a tabernacle which means a temporary dwelling place, a place that is moveable. It was called this because it was to be a temporary place where God would meet with His people during their journey through the wilderness. This truth reminds us of Jesus who came down, as the Word says, and tabernacled among us. Jesus came and took up a temporary abode in flesh and blood that He might become the sacrifice for our sins, thereby providing a place for us to have fellowship with God.

And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth (John 1:14).

But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building (Hebrews 9:11).

It was called a tent. The word tent refers to a temporary dwelling place of canvas. What a precious truth to think that God (of heaven) would be willing to come down to a lowly tent as it were to establish fellowship with His people! It reminds us of our lovely LORD and Saviour, who humbled Himself and took upon Him the tent of flesh, that through the tent of His Blood and His flesh, we might have access to salvation and fellowship with the Father.

It was also called the sanctuary, which means consecrated place, a holy place. Anything that is holy should arouse a desire and a longing in our souls to know more about it. It was a holy place because God sanctified it and set it apart for His use. It was holy because God was there. It was known as a temple, a place of worship or a house of God. Jesus told the Jews in John 2:19, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” The tabernacle, as a temple or place of worship, was a beautiful type of Jesus, who is the center of worship in heaven and in earth. As the Word declares in Revelation 5:13, “And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever.”

VII.

THE ARRANGEMENT OF THE BUILDING

It is interesting to note in the study of the tabernacle, that the LORD starts with the revelation of Himself and works toward man. He then leads man back to Himself. He begins with the Ark of the Covenant in the most holy place, a type of His throne, and He works out, by instruction and revelation, to the very gate of the tabernacle, the place of man. This is a precious gem, and the rays of light from this gem speak to us of the wonderful story of God’s infinite love. Our salvation began with the mind and heart of God. Before the foundation of the world the LORD started with the ark and provided a way for sinful man to approach this most holy place.

According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love (Ephesians 1:4).

Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you (I Peter 1:18-20).

We conclude that it was the LORD who was looking for us and for our salvation even before the foundation of the world. The thought started with Himself and proceeded to where sinful man was, that He might lead man back to His throne or to the most holy place.

CHAPTER II

THE PILLARS OF THE COURT

And thou shalt make the court of the tabernacle: for the south side southward there shall be hangings for the court of fine twined linen of an hundred cubits long for one side: and the twenty pillars thereof and their twenty sockets shall be of brass; the hooks of the pillars and their fillets shall be of silver. And likewise for the north side in length there shall be hangings of an hundred cubits long, and his twenty pillars and their twenty sockets of brass; the hooks of the pillars and their fillets of silver. And for the breadth of the court on the west side shall be hangings of fifty cubits: their pillars ten, and their sockets ten. And the breadth of the court on the east side eastward shall be fifty cubits. The hangings of one side of the gate shall be fifteen cubits: their pillars three, and their sockets three. And on the other side shall be hangings fifteen cubits: their pillars three, and their sockets three. And for the gate of the court shall be an hanging of twenty cubits, of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen, wrought with needlework: and their pillars shall be four, and their sockets four. All the pillars round about the court shall be filleted with silver; their hooks shall be of silver, and their sockets of brass. The length of the court shall be an hundred cubits, and the breadth fifty every where, and the height five cubits of fine twined linen, and their sockets of brass. All the vessels of the tabernacle in all the service thereof, and all the pins thereof, and all the pins of the court, shall be of brass (Exodus 27:9-19).

I.

THE BRAZEN PILLARS

The court was an enclosed space about the tabernacle, one hundred cubits long and fifty cubits wide. Enclosing this space was a peculiarly constructed fence in which every hook, pin, and pillar radiated with images of the LORD Jesus Christ, along with their materials and numbers. Its framework consisted of brass pillars. “And the twenty pillars thereof and their twenty sockets shall be of brass; the hooks of the pillars and their fillets shall be of silver,” (Exodus 27:10) of five cubits in height or perhaps a little over eight feet. The pillars were round and fitted in brass sockets at the bottom of each pillar. But let us consider in detail the brazen pillars:

A. THE NUMBER

There were twenty pillars on each side of the length of the court, and ten across each end making a total of sixty in all. In the Word, the number six is symbolical of the number of man, and the number ten is the number of the law. God wrote the ten commandments with His finger on the tables of stone which Moses brought to Him. The Ten Commandments give us the lawful picture of God’s righteousness and justice. The number sixty is made up of 6 x 10. In the pillars we see a picture of the union of the two natures of Jesus Christ, the Son of Man (number 6) joined with the Son of God (the righteousness of God). How precious that God could take man, the number six, and join him with the number ten, or join him with the righteousness and justice contained in the law! How could this be? It was possible only through the precious Blood of the LORD Jesus Christ. Man (number six) joined to the justice and righteousness of God (number ten) through BLOOD.

B. THE MATERIAL

The material of those pillars was brass according to Exodus 27:10. Brass in Scripture, speaks of judgment, according to Numbers 21:9:

And Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived (Numbers 21:9).

Here again we hear a message of the cross of the LORD Jesus Christ. Man was a sinner by birth, “Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.” Psalm 51:5; and a sinner by deed, “The wicked are estranged from the womb: they go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies” Psalm 58:3, and as such, he was standing under the mighty judgment and condemnation of God. He needed One to take His place. The brass cries out loudly of Him, even of Jesus who came and took the brass of our judgment for us. “And his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters” Revelation 1:15. His feet walked down into the depths of the fires of hell, taking your judgment and mine; is it any wonder that the Word declares His feet looked as though they had burned in a furnace.

C. THE POSITION

The pillars were kept upright by cords fastened to pins of brass driven into the ground both on the outside and on the inside. “The pins of the tabernacle, and the pins of the court, and their cords” (Exodus 35:18), and “All the vessels of the tabernacle in all the service thereof, and all the pins thereof, and all the pins of the court, shall be of brass” (Exodus 27:19). The upright position of the pillars depended upon the cords that anchored them to the pins in the ground. The word cord means to fasten or to hold in place, There were two cords for each pillar so that it was fastened one on the outside and the other on the inside. These cords seem to sing forth a great hallelujah chorus of the double portion of the love of God that bound our precious Saviour to the place of judgment, even the cross.

Should not we desire to be bound with the same cords of love that will cause us to be bound with HIM in His sufferings and His humiliations? as Paul says, “that I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death” (Philippians 3:10). Oh, for a double portion of this kind of love that will bind and draw us in the footsteps of our precious Lord, for to this end have we been called. “For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps:” (I Peter 2:21) and “For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake” (Philippians 1:29).

I believe this was the desire of the heart of the bride in the Song of Solomon when she said, “Draw me, we will run after thee: the king hath brought me into his chambers: we will be glad and rejoice in thee, we will remember thy love more than wine: the upright love thee” (Song of Solomon 1:4). The only way that we can have the same panting heart like the Psalmist, is to be drawn with a double portion of His cords of love. “As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God” (Psalm 42:1).

It seems that these cords are missing in the spiritual tabernacle of hearts these days. Many feel drawn for the Resurrected Christ with His glory and His power, which of course, is wonderful and precious; but few are drawn to seek or join with HIM in suffering and humiliation. When we are bound with these cords of love, there will be no complaining over persecution, trials, tribulations, or loss of friends.

Are you a pillar in your church that has been fastened by the cords of love so that you can be a burden bearer? or are you just a burden to those around you? It is the ultimate desire of Christ to make you a pillar in the temple of his God. “Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name” (Revelation 3:12). But the promise is to the overcomer, and the only way we can overcome is to be so bound with His mighty divine love that nothing can move us. These pillars were so fastened that the blast of the hot winds from the desert could not move them. The hot winds of the devil couldn’t move Jesus from taking our place of judgment, neither the cold winds of desertion of friends—for His heart was bound with the cords of love.

II.

THE PINS

“The pins of the tabernacle, and the pins of the court, and their cords” (Exodus 35:18). The pins were made of brass and were used as pegs or nails to fasten the linen cords. Even though they were the smallest parts that made up the framework of the court, still they occupied an important place. The whole security of the pillars, cords, and sockets depended on the strength of the pins that were driven into the ground. The word pin comes from the Hebrew word yathed which means to pin through or fasten. It also means a peg or a nail. Here we see a most beautiful picture of our LORD Jesus Christ as the secure one on whom rests the helmet of salvation. To understand the importance of the nail, and the image that it affords of the LORD Jesus Christ, it is necessary to look at the important place that the lowly nail filled in the oriental house. In those days houses and furniture were constructed much more simple than in our day. When houses were built of brick or clay, large nails of iron were built in many places of the house. They were built around the windows to use as holders for the curtain rods; they were built around the doors to use as hangers for the cloaks; they were built in the kitchens to use for the various utensils. They were also built in the palaces and in the armories.

“Thy neck is like the tower of David builded for an armoury, whereon there hang a thousand bucklers, all shields of mighty men” (Song of Solomon 4:4). Here the bridegroom is likening the bride to an armory that has been well built with its nails to hold the different weapons of warfare. How much of the nail or the strength of Christ have you let God form in your spiritual neck, that the shield and buckler of faith may always be found hanging in your spiritual armory? The pins or nails that those people used in their armories were made of brass or iron that had been tested, tried, and had stood the judgment of fire. We can rest the salvation of our souls safely on the LORD Jesus Christ, for He is a pin or nail that has stood the judgment fire of hell for you and for me.

In Isaiah 22:15-25 we find another precious picture of the nail or the pin or the Hebrew word yathed.

Thus saith the LORD God of hosts, Go, get thee unto this treasurer, even unto Shebna, which is over the house, and say, What hast thou here? and whom hast thou here, that thou hast hewed thee out a sepulchre here, as he that heweth him out a sepulchre on high, and that graveth an habitation for himself in a rock? Behold, the LORD will carry thee away with a mighty captivity, and will surely cover thee. He will surely violently turn and toss thee like a ball into a large country: there shalt thou die, and there the chariots of thy glory shall be the shame of thy lord’s house. And I will drive thee from thy station, and from thy state shall he pull down. And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will call my servant Eliakim the son of Hilkiah: and I will clothe him with thy robe, and strengthen him with thy girdle, and I will commit thy government into his hand: and he shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to the house of Judah. And the key of the house of David will I lay upon his shoulder; so he shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open. And I will fasten him as a nail in a sure place; and he shall be for a glorious throne to his father’s house. And they shall hang upon him all the glory of his father’s house, the offspring and the issue, all vessels of small quantity, from the vessels of cups, even to all the vessels of flagons. In that day, saith the LORD of hosts, shall the nail that is fastened in the sure place be removed, and be cut down, and fall; and the burden that was upon it shall be cut off: for the LORD hath spoken it.

In these passages, we find the LORD saying that the position in the King’s house that Shebna had was to be taken away from him because of his pride, and given to Eliakim, which means the God of rising. This is such a clear picture of the LORD Jesus Christ, who is the risen God, and has been given the key of the house of David, and can open or shut according to the knowledge of His power. “And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write; These things saith he that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of David, he that openeth, and no man shutteth; and shutteth, and no man openeth” (Revelation 3:7). He was to be a nail on which all the glory of the Father’s house was to hang. If the Father was going to trust all the glory of His house upon the nail, this pin, this Jesus, then He had to be tested in every way possible. According to Hebrews 4:15, “For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.”

Time and space prohibit mentioning all the testings of this nail, this Jesus, on whom was to hang ALL the glory of the Father’s house. But to mention a few: He was tested with poverty, with being despised and unknown, with being hated and persecuted, with being abandoned by men and tempted of the Devil. He was betrayed and sold at a vile price; He was blamed, accused and condemned unjustly; He was arrayed in a fool’s garment, was buffeted and mocked, was reputed as a fool, and as one possessed of the Devil. He was bound with cords and scourged, reputed worse than Barabbas; He was exposed naked, was blasphemed, crowned with thorns, reviled, scoffed, and was sorrowful even unto death.

He was oppressed with injuries, pains, humiliations, was spit upon and treated with contempt. And He was charged with the cross and with our sins, was crucified between two thieves, dishonored before men and counted as nothing. Yet in all this He sinned not, nor opened His mouth. “He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth!’ (Isaiah 53:7). “Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth” (I Peter 2:22).

Oh, precious brass nail, pin, even Jesus, no wonder that all the glory of the Father’s house can rest upon Thee! Is it any wonder that the Father is unable to bestow much glory upon us? When He Puts us in the fire to test and try us to make a strong nail or pin for His tabernacle, then we cry, murmur, complain, and rebel because of the suffering. Beloved, before the Father hung the glory on the nail, Christ Jesus, He had to hang all of these sufferings and testings and trials on Him. A strong nail will bear the suffering and prove itself strong to bear the glory, too. May the Spirit of Christ help us to become strong nails, and not to resent the fire that helps us to become strong. This was the prayer and desire of the Apostle Paul in Colossians 2:7: “Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving.” Paul wanted the Colossians established, nailed, fastened in the faith.

Since Jesus is the tested nail or pin, then let us hang all our hopes, our ambitions, our affections on Him. Let us hang all the glory and the praise and the honour on the nail that the Father has seen fit to bestow all the glory of His house upon.

III.

THE BRAZEN SOCKETS

The bottom of each pillar also was secured by resting in a socket of brass. The socket had a mortise or hole, to receive the tenon which was in the bottom of the pillar. This socket was evidently laid flat on the ground and then the pillar rested in it. As we move along in the study of the tabernacle, may you notice the importance of every little detail of the tabernacle, and how everything had its own particular place to fulfill. These were not only pictures and images of the LORD Jesus, but also of His church. This reminds us of the Scripture in I Corinthians 12:12-27 where the Apostle Paul teaches the importance of every member in the body of Christ.

For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ. For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit. For the body is not one member, but many. If the foot shall say, Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body? And if the ear shall say, Because I am not the eye, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body? If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling? But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him. And if they were all one member, where were the body? But now are they many members, yet but one body. And the eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of thee: nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you. Nay, much more those members of the body, which seem to be more feeble, are necessary: And those members of the body, which we think to be less honourable, upon these we bestow more abundant honour; and our uncomely parts have more abundant comeliness. For our comely parts have no need: but God hath tempered the body together, having given more abundant honour to that part which lacked: That there should be no schism in the body, but that the members should have the same care one for another. And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honoured, all the members rejoice with it. Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular.

So the lowly socket had a position to fulfill and a story of truth to tell, even though it was hidden somewhat from view. Its material of brass tells us that it, too, is telling the message of divine judgment against sin. The socket or the hole of brass tells us of the gaping hole on mount Calvary that received and held the cross of our LORD Jesus Christ. I shall never forget when a few years ago I was first studying the mysteries of the Old Testament Tabernacle, I came to the little brass socket, and the Spirit lifted my soul in fellowship with Him. It was as if I could hear the dull thud of the cross of Calvary as it slid down and rested in the socket. Tears of joy and gratefulness flowed down my cheeks for some time as I pondered His great love for me, a sinner.

The socket also speaks to us of the hole of the tomb that received His precious body in death, the final end of our judgment. Do you love Him enough that you would be willing to be just a little socket in Him, the great spiritual building or tabernacle if that is where He wants you? The little socket lay on the ground, it assumed the lowest place. Would you be willing to be a doormat in the house of the Lord? Have you been so joined with Him in His humility that you could be a socket? It seems that we are much in need of the humble spirit of the socket these days in our Christian churches. Many Christians are so sensitive they are offended for little reason, and often for no reason at all. They could never be a socket in the temple of the Lord. Beloved, the thrill is not in what place we occupy, but it is in doing just exactly what He wants us to do and becoming that which He has purposed and planned for us to be.

IV.

HOOKS AND FILLETS OF SILVER

The hooks and fillets of silver served to take care of the curtains or the hangings. The hooks also were used to help hold the cords in place. The fillets were curtain rods hung upon hooks near the upper end of the pillars, and served as the top rail of a fence, to keep the pillars at a proper distance apart. These hooks and fillets were made of silver. Silver, in the Scriptures, speaks of redemption.

When thou takest the sum of the children of Israel after their number, then shall they 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. This they shall give, every one that passeth among them that are numbered, half a shekel after the shekel of the sanctuary: (a shekel is twenty gerahs:) an half shekel shall be the offering of the LORD. Every one that passeth among them that are numbered, from twenty years old and above, shall give an offering unto the LORD. The rich shall not give more, and the poor shall not give less than half a shekel, when they give an offering unto the LORD, to make an atonement for your souls. And thou shalt take the atonement money of the children of Israel, and shalt 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 (Exodus 30.12-16).

The tax or redemption money was to be a half shekel of silver. If we were to look closely at the brazen pillars with their rods of silver, we would get the impression of many little crosses around the tabernacle. Here we see brass and silver, the brass forming the pillar, and the silver the cross bar at the top. Another color of truth has been added to the picture of the cross. It was at the cross of Calvary that the judgment of God for sin (brass) and the redemption of the souls of men (silver) met. He not only took our place of judgment, but He gave His blood to redeem us out of the market place of sin. “Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:” (I Peter 1:18,19).

V.

THE PURPOSE OF THE PILLARS

A. FOR SUPPORT

1. The Hangings of the Curtains of the Court

The purpose of the pillars was not to show its own polish and beauty, but to support the curtains, that they might show forth another image or picture of the LORD Jesus Christ. The pillars, when set up and braced by the fillets and stay ropes or cords of linen, formed the complete framework of a fence that was to support the yards of linen curtains. In the tabernacle, we see each thing fulfilling its proper place, and each thing preparing the way for a greater revelation of the LORD Jesus Christ of whom the whole building was a picture. How can we help but see the pattern for the living church of God as well as for the individual heart.

Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the household of God; 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 (Ephesians 2:19-22).

Here, we see that Paul had the revelation of the spiritual temple that God wanted to make out of all the saints of the LORD who were the lively stones that make up this great temple.

There is also the temple He wants to cause to grow in the heart of every believer through the SPIRIT. If the spirit of the pillars were in the churches, how much greater should be the experience of God’s people in the knowledge of Him. If someone comes along that seems to have a deeper knowledge and experience of the LORD than we, let us, then, be like the pillars that were willing to be mostly covered and unseen, that the linen curtains could tell their message of righteousness and holiness. Let us learn of humility and how to be a SUPPORTER.

B. FOR THE GATE

Not only did the pillars support the linen curtains, but they also supported the gate. The curtains had a precious message of righteousness and holiness, but without proceeding to the story that the gate had to tell, it would have meant little for our benefit. What an important place the pillars had to fulfill! Without their support there could have been no message of righteousness and holiness. Without their support there could have been no message of the gate or of the way into the building. Without the faithful pillars in the church, there could be no pastor to tell of the curtains and the gate. Ask God to help you to be a pillar. Find where God wants you to serve; then let HIM bind you with cords of love, fasten you with the pins that you may pray, witness, and give so that the message of the curtains and the gate may go forth.

CHAPTER III

THE COURT, CONTINUED

THE HANGINGS OF THE COURT

I.

THE MATERIAL

And thou shalt make the court of the tabernacle: for the south side southward there shall be hangings for the court of fine twined linen of an hundred cubits long for one side: And likewise for the north side in length there shall be hangings of an hundred cubits long, and his twenty pillars and their twenty sockets of brass; the hooks of the pillars and their fillets of silver. And for the breadth of the court on the west side shall be hangings of fifty cubits: their pillars ten, and their sockets ten. The hangings of one side of the gate shall be fifteen cubits: their pillars three, and their sockets three. And on the other side shall be hangings fifteen cubits: their pillars three, and their sockets three (Exodus 27:9,11,12, 14,15).

On the framework of the court, hung curtains of fine twined linen sewed end-wise together, so as to form a continuous screen from the doorway all around the corners of the framework to the doorway again. The words fine twined linen give us the secret of the message of the hangings or curtains of the court. The word fine means to pierce or to comb. If this linen had to preach a message of the image of Christ it could not be just ordinary linen. It had to be prepared by combing and piercing, until it was even and smooth, so that it could speak to us of the evenness and smoothness of the character and nature of Christ. In preparing the flax, a sharp tooth comb was used to pierce through the raw flax, and the more it was combed, the finer and smoother it became.

The next word twined indicates the manner in which the flax was to be put together. The word twine means to twist. This speaks to us of the strength, the character, and the nature of the LORD Jesus Christ. The strength of a cord is attained by twisting the threads; hence the strength of the curtain was attained by twisting the threads of the linen. Someone has said that the strength and fineness of linen is determined by the number of lea per yard. It has also been said of some that the linen used for the Tabernacle contained 1200 lea to the yard. Be that as it may, we know that it was sufficiently strong because of the twisting. The word linen means to whiten or bleach. The linen was to be bleached until it was snow white, thus it could preach the message of the righteousness of Christ. In Scripture linen was used as a type of righteousness because of its fineness and whiteness. Throughout the Word of God it is a symbol of purity, holiness, and righteousness.

In Scripture we find these words: “Arid to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints” (Revelation 19:8). In this portion of Scripture, the word righteousness refers to the righteousness of the bride of Christ. Where did she get this fine linen of righteousness? It was GIVEN through faith from the LORD Jesus Christ. “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God” (Ephesians 2:8).

Jesus told us that our righteousness had to exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees; otherwise we could not enter the kingdom of God (Matthew 5:20). The righteousness of the Pharisees looked all right on the outside, but Jesus said that on the inside their hearts were full of blackness and death. You may be dressed up on the outside before the world with church membership, baptism, or some other feature; but according to the Word of the Lord, you need the white linen of the righteousness of Christ for your heart on the inside. We can never stand in the presence of God without this robe of righteousness of the LORD Jesus Christ, for this is the only robe that will cover the nakedness of our souls before the Lord. As this white curtain was lifted up in view of all, so was the purity, holiness, and righteousness of the character and nature of the LORD Jesus Christ. Let us look at the testimony of some of those who had an opportunity to gaze upon the purity and holiness of the LORD Jesus.

What did Pilate have to say of this man Christ Jesus? “When Pilate saw that he could prevail nothing, but rather a tumult was made, he took water, and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, I am innocent of the blood of this just person: see ye to it” (Matthew 27:24). Pilate could find no flaw or blemish in the “fine twined linen” of His righteousness.

What did Pilate’s wife say? “When he was set down on the judgment seat, his wife sent unto him, saying, Have thou nothing to do with that just man: for I have suffered many things this day in a dream because of him” (Matthew 27:19).

What did Judas, his enemy and betrayer, have to say? “Then Judas, which had betrayed him, when he saw that he was condemned, repented himself, and brought again the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, Saying, I have sinned in that I have betrayed the INNOCENT blood. And they said, What is that to us? see thou to that” (Matthew 27:3,4). The purity and righteousness of Jesus haunted Judas until he was compelled to return the betrayal money. Even His arch enemy had to testify to the purity and holiness of the Son of God.

What did the centurion who witnessed his death have to say? “Now when the centurion, and they that were with him, watching Jesus, saw the earthquake, and those things that were done, they feared greatly saying, “Truly this was the SON OF GOD” (Matthew 27:54). You have only to watch a person in his dying moments to see whether he has the righteousness of Jesus upon his soul, or whether he is clothed with the blackness of sin.

Peter would be a good witness as to the kind of nature and character which he beheld in the Lord, since Peter was a close associate of the Lord. The people who live with you day by day in your home, at your place of business, are the ones who have an opportunity to observe the kind of character and nature which you really have. They can see when you are peeved, or when you are angry, or pouting, or revealing the many imperfections of your nature and disposition. Let us see what Peter had to say of the Lord. “Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth: Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously” (I Peter 2:22, 23). Paul testifying through the Spirit, had this to say about the LORD Jesus Christ: “For such an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens” (Hebrews 7:26). Even the critics and enemies down through the ages have had to acquiesce to the fact that He was a JUST man.

I can recall having spent much time in visiting a poor dying woman in the worst part of the city in which she lived, and telling her of the power of Jesus to save and to heal. Each time I asked her if she were sure she was saved, and had the Blood of Jesus applied to her heart, the reply was in the affirmative; but somehow there was no witness that this was true. Later, I was again called to the hospital to visit this lady. Never will I forget the agony of her soul in the last hours of her life, as with much anesthesia in her body to ease the pain, she spoke of her many sins of adultery before the Lord. What a dangerous thing it is to wait until the cold fingers of death have already gripped one’s soul, and then to try and find this robe of righteousness through the Blood of Jesus!

Reader, if you are not washed in the Blood of the LORD Jesus, then you are lost and undone, and without the fine linen robe to make you worthy to stand before the God of heaven. In the dying hours of our Lord upon the cruel cross, the centurion was able to behold the purity and holiness of His character and nature.

II.

NUMBERS

It is a fact that one cannot study far in the Scriptures until he is impressed with the meaning of numbers. We notice in the Word that the court ran parallel to the north and to the south for a distance of 100 cubits. This number 100 has been employed by many as a number of completeness along with the number 7. The number one hundred is made up of ONE number along with two ciphers, making a total of three parts and yet only one number. In the Bible we find that God is declared to be a trinity of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, and yet He tells us these three are one. The completeness and the unity of the Godhead is so clearly expressed in the very first verse of the Bible, where the Hebrew word for God is Elohim which is a uni-plural noun, a noun denoting plurality or more than one, and at the same time denoting unity or oneness.

When God sent His Son into the world, He spared none of the righteousness of the Godhead, for God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself. Jesus declared that the Father dwelt in Him, and we know that the Holy Ghost was upon Him. So in Christ was the righteousness of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. The length of the curtains speaks to us of the fulness and completeness of the length of the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. In verse twelve of the twenty-seventh chapter of the book of Exodus the breadth of the court or curtains was fifty cubits. The number fifty speaks to us of the number of Pentecost. According to the Jewish feast, the day of Pentecost was celebrated fifty days after the Passover. This wonderful feast had the fulfilment of its type in the advent of the Holy Ghost on the day of Pentecost, fifty days after the offering up of the Passover Lamb, the LORD Jesus Christ. Could not this number fifty speak to us of the power of God through the Holy Ghost, since that number is associated with the power of God? Therefore, we can hear a message from the curtain on the west side speaking to us of the righteousness of God in the LORD Jesus Christ. The Word declares to us, “Wherefore he is able to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them” (Hebrews 7:25). How powerful and broad is the righteousness of God that can take poor lost sinners without hope in the world, in the blackness of sin, and transform them changing them into the fine twisted linen! May our visions of the length and breadth of the righteousness of God be increased!

In verse thirteen of the twenty-seventh chapter of the book of Exodus, the court on the east side was to be fifty cubits also; however, because of the large space which the gate occupied it was necessary for the curtains to be only thirty cubits. There were fifteen cubits on each side of the gate making a total of thirty cubits in all. We can arrive at the number thirty by multiplying the number ten (the legal or lawful number) by the number three (the number of divine perfection) and in so doing, we see a picture of the divine perfection of the righteousness of God on the east side. Isaiah declares our righteousness to be as FILTHY RAGS in contrast to the righteousness of God. “But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as FILTHY RAGS; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away” (Isaiah 64:6). The righteousness of God is perfect, without flaw and without blemish.

This number ten also explains to us that this righteousness was a lawful and legal possession of God to whom it belongs by virtue of His character and nature. It has always belonged to Him for He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. That is why we cannot boast of the righteousness that Jesus has given to us, for it is not our righteousness but His, and He chose to give it to all who believe on Him. That is also the reason why no child of God will be able to boast over another child of God, for all that we have, our salvation, our righteousness has been given to us by Him. Because His righteousness was His own legal possession, He could give it to us. No one can give to another person something that does not belong to him without becoming a thief.

Let us notice the height of the curtain. It was the same as the brass pillars, five cubits. The curtain was only half as high as the Tabernacle inside the court, so that the Tabernacle could be seen over the top of the curtain. There seems to be controversy over the meaning of the number five. Some scholars interpret the number five to mean the number of division, but I see it in connection with the grace of God. I remember the account in the Word of the five loaves and two fishes, which to me was the grace of Jesus which alone could feed that multitude. It wasn’t because the multitude deserved it or were worthy of it, but it was simply the grace, love, and compassion of Jesus that fed them.

The grace of God is also contained in the righteousness of God. It is only the grace of God through His righteousness that prevents sinful man from entering into His presence. Were God to allow sinners to enter heaven, it would probably be only a matter of a few minutes when all heaven would be turned into hell; for wherever sin abounds and is present, hell and torment are also present. But thank God for His grace that requires man to come to the fountain of blood for cleansing and thus through His righteousness have access to the portals of heaven. Five cubits would measure over eight feet, which is taller than the average stature of man. The righteousness and holiness of God is so much higher than man, that it is only through the LORD Jesus Christ that man is able to attain unto this righteousness.

III.

THE PURPOSE OF THE CURTAINS

A. TO EXCLUDE

First, the court was to exclude man on the outside who was unfit to come and look on the presence of God. The righteousness of God excludes sin, and since man was in a sinful condition, he was excluded from the presence of God. If anyone desired to enter on the inside of the court to see and behold the things within, then he had to learn the proper way of approach. The curtains were not the means of entrance, but the means of exclusion. Job cried out, “Neither is there any daysman betwixt us, that might lay his hand upon us both” (Job 9:33). Even though Job was a just and upright man, God permitted the Devil to afflict him and put him on the ash heap so he might learn that all of his good works of righteousness were not sufficient. In this state Job began to see the need for a daysman—one who could lay His hand on Job and on God too, and thereby bring him in contact with God. How precious to know that Jesus became this daysman, this contact! With the hand of the man Jesus, God was able to reach down and take hold of our mortal hands, and with the hand of Christ take hold of the hand of the Father, thereby making a connection between the two. When we reach out by faith unto the hand of Jesus Christ, then He imparts unto us His righteousness and His holiness and through HIM and in HIM we can stand before the Lord. Otherwise, the righteousness of God is like unto the white curtain that excludes the sinner from His presence.

B. TO ENCLOSE

Secondly, the white hangings or curtains were used to enclose all the beauty and treasure of the Tabernacle on the inside. How precious when Jesus gives unto us the garment of righteousness as an enclosure for us against the world, the flesh, and the devil. Many times His children fail to use the robe of righteousness as an enclosure to keep the beauty of His spirit and His love in their hearts. It seems that Christians often open their hearts to wrong attitudes and spirits, when during the while they have in their possession the fine twined linen that will keep them, if they would only make use of it. Thus far we have seen the beauty and holiness of Christ, but have found no way as yet to get on the inside of the Court.

CHAPTER IV

THE GATE OF THE COURT

And for the gate of the court shall be an hanging of twenty cubits, of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen, wrought with needlework: and their pillars shall be four, and their sockets four. All the pillars round about the court shall be filleted with silver; their hooks shall be of silver, and their sockets of brass. The length of the court shall be an hundred cubits, and the breadth fifty every where, and the height five cubits of fine twined linen, and their sockets of brass. All the vessels of the tabernacle in all the service thereof, and all the pins thereof, and all the pins of the court, shall be of brass (Exodus 27:16-19).

And the hanging for the gate of the court was needlework, of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen: and twenty cubits was the length, and the height in the breadth was five cubits, answerable to the hangings of the court. And their pillars were four, and their sockets of brass four; their hooks of silver, and the overlaying of their chapiters and their fillets of silver (Exodus 38:18,19).

THE GATE

I.

THE WAY

The word gate comes from the Hebrew word which means to split or to open. Here was the gate of the court that provided as it were, an opening for entrance inside the Court. This is a most precious image of the LORD Jesus Christ who is the way to God. “Then said Jesus unto them again, Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep. I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture” (John 10:7,9). Again, Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me” (John 14:6).

There were three doors revealed in connection with the tabernacle—the one in the court which revealed Jesus as THE WAY; the one to the Holy Place which revealed Jesus as THE TRUTH; and the one to the Holy of Holies which revealed Jesus as THE LIFE. Let us consider Jesus as THE WAY, the door that permits us to enter into the presence of God. There was only one gate in the court and only one entrance to get inside. Anyone who desired to go inside had to come through the gate for there was no other way. This tells us how to get to heaven. The Apostle Peter declared, “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). Then if we desire to enter heaven, we must come through Jesus Christ who is THE WAY. Jesus said, that anyone who would try to climb up some other way is a thief and a robber. No one could buy his way into the Tabernacle or work his way in, he had to come in obedience to God’s Word, through THE GATE.

II.

MATERIALS

A. BLUE

This gate, unlike the curtain, was to have different colors wrought into it. The first was blue. The word blue comes from the Hebrew word tekeleth, which refers to the cerulean mussel or the sky blue mussel. The LORD did not leave them in doubt as to which kind of blue they were to use in this gate. It was to be a sky blue or a heavenly blue, for God wanted the heavenly blue to sing forth the song of the heavenly nature of the Lord. Jesus told Nicodemus, “And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven” (John 3:13). A heavenly host sang at His birth: “And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men” (Luke 2:13). He declared again, “I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world” (John 6:51). Heaven speaks of the heights from which He came to become the door, the gate, and the way for you and for me. Since He came such a long way to reach us, how much more ought we to be willing to go ALL THE WAY for Him in this life. Yea, if we had a thousand lives to give for Him and we went all the way in every one of them, we still could not compare with the distance that He came for us. Let God weave the color of blue, the heavenly blue, in your soul that your mind and conversation might be in heaven as Paul says, “For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ” (Philippians 3:20).

B. PURPLE

Purple was the second color that was to be woven into the gate. Purple speaks of royalty; it is the color that belongs to kings, to those of great wealth. If you notice the order of the colors you will be blessed as we proceed with the message of the colors. This was not an ordinary gate nor was Jesus an ordinary person, for He was the Heavenly Son of God, the Royal Son of God. He was the One who had commanded all things to come into being. He was the One who came to be the gate, the door, the way into the presence of God. Even the very demons recognized this purple, this royalty, and this power of the Son of God. “When he saw Jesus, he cried out, and fell down before him, and with a loud voice said, What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God most high? 1 beseech thee, torment me not” (Luke 8:28). Let Him weave royal power in your soul from day to day that you may grow in power over the world, the flesh, and the Devil. Many Christians today are defeated, discouraged, and disconsolate altogether too much. The remedy is to wait in His presence daily, that the Spirit of the LORD might weave into your souls the purple of His power. This purple tells us of the mighty KING who stands with the keys of hell and death, and is able to open and shut. He has locked the doors of hell and death to all those who will come unto Him in faith believing.

C. SCARLET

Scarlet was the third color mentioned. It was not an accident when the Spirit of God placed the scarlet in the third place. The word scarlet comes from the Hebrew word tolaath which means a maggot. Often we read the translation as a worm which is true, and yet the LORD does not leave us in ignorance as to what kind of worm. Now we know that to the human mind, the maggot is the lowest and most revolting of all worms. The maggot lives on corruption and dead things. What a message the scarlet has to tell of HIM who knew no sin being made SIN (a maggot) for us that we might be made the righteousness of God in HIM (II Corinthians 5:21).

I am afraid that frequently we flee from the idea of anyone thinking of himself in a low way. The pride of the human heart desires and seeks the well favor of human beings. May Jesus continue to weave the scarlet color of humility in our hearts regardless of the cost. May we place ourselves in the secret place and gaze into the lovely face of this precious Jesus until our ambitions and desires are woven with the scarlet. Scarlet speaks of the Blood of Jesus, for surely it was to this end that He became a MAGGOT, that He gave His precious Blood, His very life, that we might have life through Him. We should give up our carnal life and be woven with the threads of scarlet to the end that we might be PIPES through which He can pour His life-giving power, that others might see and believe. Even though He was heavenly (blue) and royal (purple), yet He became the scarlet in order to provide the door of the court. Precious Jesus, we are speechless at Thy great love for us!

D. FINE TWINED LINEN

Along with these colors was to be the fine twined linen (white) already discussed at length. The angel declared unto Mary that the HOLY thing that was to be born of her was to be called the Son of God. This holy thing was the white, spotless Son of God. The fine twined linen gives us a picture of the whiteness, and purity of the Son of God. In these four colors we can see the picture of the Gospels which reveals Jesus as the door and the gate of salvation.

1. Matthew -Purple

In the book of Matthew we see Jesus as the KING, the purple. Matthew is the only one of the evangelists who gives us the genealogy of Jesus Christ. Only a KING is worthy of such attention.

The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Abraham begat Isaac; and Isaac begat Jacob; and Jacob begat Judas and his brethren; and Judas begat Phares and Zara of Thamar; and Phares begat Esrom; and Esrom begat Aram; and Aram begat Aminadab; and Aminadab begat Naasson; and Naasson begat Salmon; And Salmon begat Booz of Rachab; and Booz begat Obed of Ruth; and Obed begat Jesse; And Jesse begat David the king; and David the king begat Solomon of her that had been the wife of Urias; And Solomon begat Roboam; and Roboam begat Abia; and Abia begat Asa; and Asa begat Josaphat; and Josaphat begat Joram; and Joram begat Ozias; And Ozias begat Joatham; and Joatham begat Achaz; and Achaz begat Ezekias; And Ezekias begat Manasses; and Manasses begat Arnon; and Arnon begat Josias; And Josias begat Jechonias and his brethren, about the time they were carried away to Babylon: And after they were brought to Babylon, Jechonias begat Salathiel; And Salathiel begat Zorobabel; And Zorobabel begat Abiud; and Abiud begat Eliakim, and Eliakim begat Azor; And Azor begat Sadoc; and Sadoc begat Achim; and Achim begat Eliud; And Eliud begat Eleazar; And Eleazar begat Matthan; and Matthan begat Jacob; And Jacob begat Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ. So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations; and from David until the carrying away into Babylon are fourteen generations; and from the carrying away into Babylon unto Christ are fourteen generations (Matthew 1:1-17).

2. Mark - Scarlet

In the book of Mark we see Jesus as the suffering servant. The one who was King of kings and LORD of lords becomes a worm or a servant. What a picture of the scarlet! “For even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45).

3. Luke - White

In the gospel according to St. Luke we see Jesus as the Son of Man in the whiteness of purity and holiness, coming down to seek and to save that which was lost. “For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10).

4. John - Blue

In the gospel according to St. John we see Jesus as the spotless Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. “The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world” (John 1:29).

III.

ITS WORKMANSHIP

We find that this gate was to be wrought with needlework. The word wrought means to be accomplished, and this gate was to be accomplished with needlework. In other words, the only way these colors could be put there was through much piercing of the needle. The only way that Jesus could accomplish the matter of His being the door, the Way, was through much suffering, humiliation, and affliction. It was through these piercings that we were able to get a glimpse of the blue and the purple, the scarlet and the fine twined linen. We are not given any idea of how these colors were to be put in the curtain. It was evident that there was no particular design given here. The colors were evidently woven or intermingled together. The Spirit of the LORD had a purpose in this, too. When we come as sinners and look at Christ through the Word, we may be attracted in different ways to Him.

For example, some people are drawn by the Spirit through the blue, the heavenly. Others are drawn by their desire to go to heaven and have loved ones in heaven, and therefore heaven holds a greater attraction for them. There are still others bound by such terrible sinful habits and are thus drawn by the purple, i.e. the power of the Lord, for deliverance. Possibly, they are drawn to the King who can lock up the power of Satan and set them free. Some are drawn by the scarlet of His humility and suffering. Undoubtedly the Spirit of the LORD draws some through the spotless Lamb of God or the fine white linen. And finally, some are so tired of their black garments of sin that they are most anxious to exchange them for the fine white linen.

IV.

ITS POSITION

The gate of the court was in the middle of the eastern end and was twenty cubits long and five cubits high. How precious of the LORD to place the gate towards the rising of the sun so that with the first rays of light, a passer-by could get a glimpse of the rays of the rising sun fusing the colors in the gate and making them alive and beautiful. What a picture of the Spirit of God when He comes with the first rays of light in the human soul, and takes the color of these truths and quickens them to hearts! Then for the first time, the soul sees the beauty of the blue, purple, scarlet, and fine linen. Noteworthy is the fact that the gate occupied almost half of the east end of the court. This fact, humanly speaking, would make the gate appear to be much out of proportion; but how good of the Spirit painting a picture of the LORD Jesus, who is the Gate, the Way, the Door, to make the gate so wide, that no one would have any difficulty getting in if he desires to enter.

How wonderful to be able to point the fattest sinners to the LORD Jesus with complete assurance, knowing that no sin is too wide or too high for divine forgiveness! Jesus said, “All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out” (John 6:37). He does not have to cast us out for He is wide enough to admit us in the gate.

You can arrive at the number twenty by multiplying 4 by 5. Four is the number of the earth, and five the number of the grace of God. God has set His grace in this earth through the person of the LORD Jesus Christ that all may come and be saved, for He is the gate. The gate was five cubits high. Who can know the depths and the heights of the grace of God? Paul speaks of the grace of the LORD “To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved. In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace” (Ephesians 1:6,7). Again Paul said, “For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich” (II Corinthians 8:9). The height and depth of His grace is in the fact that it reaches from the highest heavens to the lowest hell.

This gate then was set in the earth that man might now enter in. We do not have to wait to enter into the gate, the LORD Jesus Christ, but we can enter in now with joy and draw water out of the wells of salvation.

CHAPTER V

THE BRAZEN ALTAR

And thou shalt make an altar of shittim wood, five cubits long, and five cubits broad; the altar shall be foursquare: and the height thereof shall be three cubits. And thou shalt make the horns of it upon the four corners thereof: his horns shall be of the same: and thou shalt overlay it with brass. And thou shalt make his pans to receive his ashes, and his shovels, and his basons, and his flesh-hooks, and his firepans: all the vessels thereof thou shalt make of brass. And thou shalt make for it a grate of network of brass; and upon the net shalt thou make four brasen rings in the four corners thereof. And thou shalt put it under the compass of the altar beneath, that the net may be even to the midst of the altar. And thou shalt make staves for the altar, staves of shittim wood, and overlay them with brass. And the staves shall be put into the rings, and the staves shall be upon the two sides of the altar to bear it. Hollow with boards shalt thou make it: as it was shewed thee in the mount, so shall they make it (Exodus 27:1-8).

And he made the altar of burnt-offering of shittim wood: five cubits was the length thereof, and five cubits the breadth thereof; it was foursquare; and three cubits the height thereof. And he made the horns thereof on the four corners of it; the horns thereof were of the same: And he overlaid it with brass. And he made all the vessels of the altar, the pots, and the shovels, and the basons, and the fleshhooks, and the fire-pans: all the vessels thereof made he of brass. And he made for the altar a brasen grate of network under the compass thereof beneath unto the midst of it. And he cast four rings for the four ends of the grate of brass, to be places for the staves. And he made the staves of shittim wood, and overlaid them with brass. And he put the staves into the rings on the sides of the altar, to bear it withal; he made the altar hollow with boards (Exodus 38:1-7).

I.

ITS POSITION AND PREEMINENCE

Upon arriving through the one and only gate of the court, we come to the first piece of furniture in the court. There were three gates that provided entrance into the three sections of this dwelling place of God. The first gate in the court provided entrance into the court that was inside, which contained the Brazen Altar and the Laver of Brass. The only way to get into this court was for the people to lift up the hanging of the gate and crawl under, and the only way we can get to the fountain of the precious Blood of Jesus is by humbling ourselves and crawling under, as it were, to the place where the blood was offered up.

The Brazen Altar was placed in the court between the entrance and the tabernacle. This Altar occupied the most preeminent place in the whole tabernacle, since it was the tallest piece of furniture in the Tabernacle according to the different instructions that we read. We find that the furniture of the Tabernacle was so placed that it might form a cross. The Brazen Altar, the Altar of Incense, and the Ark of the Covenant formed the center line, while the Candlestick, the Altar of Incense, and the Table of Shewbread formed the cross line. The word altar in the Hebrew, means to slay or to kill which speaks to us of the LORD Jesus Christ who became the great Altar of Sacrifice by being slain and killed on the Cross of Calvary. So, if we want to learn of the measure of His stature, then we will have to go first to the Cross of Calvary.

An Altar was used for two things—slaying and burning.

A. SLAYING

The first thing that happened at the altar, when the people brought their offerings to the priest, was the laying of hands on the animal, signifying that their sins were being transferred to the animal, and the animal was then bound on the altar and slain. “God is the LORD, which hath shewed us light: bind the sacrifice with cords, even unto the horns of the altar” (Psalm 118:27).

B. BURNING

After the slaying of the animal on the altar and the receiving and sprinkling of the blood by the priest, then the animal was burnt on the altar. What a precious picture here. Sin is worthy of DEATH and HELL (burning). Jesus became our altar to receive our judgment of DEATH and HELL. This altar was worthy of such preeminence. Without its great services of slaying and burning, there could be no approach to the other parts of the tabernacle. Oh, precious Jesus, how great was Thy love unto us!

II.

MATERIAL

A. SHITTIM WOOD

Here, we have an introduction to a new kind of material which reveals to us a truth of the humanity of the Christ. The Shitta tree, from which the shittim wood came, grew in the deserts of Sinai and around the Dead Sea. The wood is hard, heavy, indestructible by insects, and of a fine beautiful grain. Thus, it is suitable in every way for the construction of the framework and furniture of the tabernacle. It has been declared that its crooked stems and muscular arms bend and twist in all directions, making them most remarkable specimens of vegetable architecture. But the most outstanding feature is the ability to survive in DRY SOIL.

It has been said that this tree contains a substance within itself so that it can force its roots into the driest of soil or the hardest of rock. This gives us another image of the Lord. The LORD of Glory left His heavenly home and came down to the dry rocky soil of earth, in which there was no spiritual moisture. Because of the living spring of the Spirit of the Father that lived within Him, He was never dependent on the dry soil of hearts and minds around Him to supply Him with the nourishment necessary. He was a root out of dry ground. “For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him” (Isaiah 53:2).

Was not this part of the subtle temptation of the Devil, to get Jesus to resort to the nourishment of turning the stones into bread? Jesus lived and moved by the eternal Spirit that dwelled within Him. For this reason He grew to be durable wood, as it were. He grew to be the kind of wood that no termite or insect of the Devil could penetrate. He grew to be the kind of wood of beautiful grain that God could use in the material of the altar. This was the picture of the humanity of Christ. How Satan sought to render this wood unfit for use in the great Altar of Sacrifice, but His inner nourishment upon the Spirit of God provided Him with such power as to be always an overcomer.

What a message to our hearts! Is God wanting to prepare you to be “shittim wood” for His Tabernacle? If Jesus was made into shittim wood, as it were, and we are called to grow in grace and knowledge of Him, then it is clear that the LORD wants this aspect of His nature developed in us too by the power of His Word and Spirit. When God places us in dry, rocky soil, then instead of murmuring and complaining, let us look to Christ who lives within for our nourishment and strength, that we might be rooted and grounded in Him so that we can flourish and grow in the hardest and driest circumstances of life.

Without the development of this characteristic of the shittim wood, it could have never been used in the great Altar, for the constant strain of moving and the constant fire, even though it was overlaid with brass, would have destroyed it and rendered it useless. If Jesus had not so lived and drawn of the nourishment of the Spirit of the Father, then in the day of crisis He would have failed. We fail in times of crisis because we have not been learning daily the slow lesson of drawing our substance and nourishment from the Spirit of the Father, drawing on the inside instead of the outside.

B. BRASS

The shittim wood was to be overlaid with brass. As has been seen, the message of the brass was judgment. Though Jesus had come and lived the perfect life, yet had He not been overlaid with the judgment of our sins, He would have been unable to save us. Nowhere in Scripture is the picture of the brass, or the judgment, so completely described as in the 53rd chapter of Isaiah. Here, He is declared to be the root out of a dry ground. He was the shittim wood that grew in the rocky and dry soil of earth and then was overlaid with judgment or brass. What were these judgments?

1.   He had no form nor comeliness. He had, according to the Hebrew, no beautiful appearance, no magnificence. He was covered with the brass of unattractiveness as far as the world was concerned. He was covered with all the ugliness and unattractiveness of the sins of our dispositions. He took the sins of appearance upon Him. Jesus was covered with the judgment of hatred and rejection of man. This is a day when so many Christians are spending much time on outward appearance because of the pride of their hearts, while they are giving little time to the appearance of the heart and soul. The Apostle Paul said that he was crucified with Christ; in other words, he had been made partaker of that part of the life and experience of Christ. How much have we been made into the image of the Brazen Altar, even the Christ?

2.   He was despised and rejected. My Hebrew Bible reads, “He was despised and SHUNNED of men.” And yet when God tries to cause this same altar to grow in us as Christians, how we rebel and draw back from becoming partakers of the sufferings of Christ, that we might know Him in the fellowship of His sufferings. There is joy unspeakable that fills the soul of him who has grown enough in the sweet love of Jesus to receive with patience and humility, His sufferings of rejection and hatred, counting it a privilege to be joined or made one with HIM. Oh soul, draw not back from the covering of the likeness of Jesus Christ in His sufferings.

3.   He was covered with sorrows and with griefs. The Hebrew reads that He was a man of pains and acquainted with disease. He was covered with the pains and disease of your sins and mine. He has been covered with the judgment of these things. This is the message of the covering of the brass on the Great Altar of Sacrifice. He bore these that we might have the privilege of being made into His likeness. Praise His holy Name! If He could bear these things with such meekness and such love, let us desire to be covered with the same spirit, like unto HIM.

4.   He was covered with the wounds of our transgressions, and the bruises of our iniquities were upon Him. To read and understand the message of the covering of the brass, the judgment on the altar, without bringing tears to our eyes and striking the deepest pain in our soul, is only to acknowledge the hardness of our hearts at the mighty manifestation of such divine love.

5.   He was covered with stripes. The Hebrew reads that “through His bruises was healing granted to us.” In the book of Numbers, we see the censers of the sons of Korah nailed to the altar, showing us that these horrible sins of pride and rebellion were placed upon Jesus, too.

And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest, that he take up the censers out of the burning, and scatter thou the fire yonder; for they are hallowed. The censers of these sinners against their own souls, let them make them broad plates for a covering of the altar: for they offered them before the LORD, therefore they are hallowed: and they shall be a sign unto the children of Israel. And Eleazar the priest took the brasen censers, wherewith they that were burnt had offered; and they were made broad plates for a covering of the altar (Numbers 16:36-39).

To read or listen to the account of the 39 stripes that were given to the LORD Jesus Christ almost paralyzes us with awe and amazement at such divine love for sinners. When we read of the metal thongs that were fastened in the end of the cords of the lash, and we read how they began at the neck and the shoulders of the victims and lashed all the way down the back, and of how the Roman soldiers took delight in proving their strength in this manner, and of their reward if they could kill the victim in the process of the lashing, our hearts should melt with gratitude and love afresh at the love of such an adorable Saviour that He would come to this earth and be covered with these bruises, this brass, for you and me for the purpose of setting us free and preparing an altar, even Himself, in our hearts, that through Him we might offer up the sacrifices of praise and thanksgiving to the Father.

III.

ITS SIZE AND SHAPE

The Altar was to be made strong and light for convenient transportation, a hollow box of acacia or shittim wood, and was covered with brass.

A. LENGTH

The Altar was to be five cubits in length on each side. As already mentioned, five is the number of the grace of God. How can we look at this Altar with its message without beholding the marvelous grace of God toward sinners? The grace of God is UNMERITED favor. There was nothing that man had done to provoke such love and favor of God, but out of His own heart of mercy and grace, God provided this Altar, this place of salvation in Christ Jesus.

Without being “born again” (John 3:3), this experience of putting our sins under the Blood here, we can never enter into the inside of the Tabernacle to behold Jesus in all of His glory and His beauty. Outside the Tabernacle everything was of brass or judgment, for it was here that sin had to be judged and put away. The Altar speaks of Jesus, who came to the court of this earth to judge and to put away sin by means of the Cross of Calvary. We can never behold the glories and the beauties of the Christ until we have tasted of Him in the judgment of our sins. In other words, the first experience inside the gate was to taste of Jesus as Saviour and taste of the mighty grace of God in the salvation of our souls.

B. BREADTH

The Altar was also to be five cubits in breadth. “That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God” (Ephesians 3:16-19). Paul wants us to know the breadth, as well as the length of Calvary love that will lead us to a love of humility and patience in trials and sufferings. The phrase length and breadth is just another way of painting a word picture of the Cross. God has no other love than the Calvary love. God has no other grace than the Calvary grace. Oh, that we might grow in this Calvary Love, the love that spells SACRIFICE!

C. HEIGHT

The height of the Altar was three cubits. Three is the number of divine perfection, for it is the number of the divine trinity. Where could we go to find such perfection in all the essence of its beauty, other than to the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost? There is no perfection apart from God, for He is perfection. Webster defines perfection as being complete, without defect or blemish, blameless, pure, possessing every moral excellence, fully skilled and accomplished. Perfection means there is no room left for light, revelation, growth, or advancement. To whom else can we ascribe this glorious feature? Some Christians believe in perfection here in this present world. There is a sense in which we surely enter into perfect righteousness by faith in the LORD Jesus Christ, but to say that our souls or minds have attained to all the light, revelation, and knowledge of God is to place God within the walls of our finite minds, which can never be. How wonderful that throughout eternity, we shall still be drinking from the streams and fountains of light, revelation, knowledge, and glory that flow from God Himself. In Jesus, God placed all the perfection of the Godhead. This Altar is complete.

The Altar in the Old Testament Tabernacle was but a type, an image that served in form until the LORD Jesus Christ, the True Altar, should appear. The LORD Jesus Christ is the perfect altar for sin. When He cried, “It is finished,” the Altar for sin was truly made perfect or completed. There is nothing that anyone can add to or take away. It is three cubits high. It is perfect!

D. ITS SHAPE

The Altar was foursquare. Four is the number of the earth. This great Calvary love is not a partial love. It matters not which peoples of the earth look upon this great Altar. They will find the grace of God toward them as toward any other people, for the Altar was foursquare. The grace of God is the same—east, north, west, and south. It does not make any difference from what part of the world we look to Jesus. The Altar and His grace are available. Jesus cried, “Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out” (John 6:37). He will not cast us out because the Altar is big enough in the grace of God to receive us. Precious Love! Jesus, ever increase this same love in our hearts and souls that we may love the souls of all the people in the earth is our prayer.

IV.

THE HORNS

A. FOR ORNAMENT

There were to be four horns in the four corners of the Altar. In Scripture, horns speak of power. Even in the natural creation, God has endowed animals with horns that they might have power for defense. There were two main reasons for the use of horns on the Altar: one for ornament, the other for power. Like the Altar, the horns were made of shittim wood and covered with brass. An ornament is something used to adorn or beautify. You might ask, is there possibly anything beautiful to behold at such a place, where the smell of burning flesh is so repulsive? Nevertheless, the horns have a message to preach of the last Adam, the LORD Jesus Christ, who came with the POWER of obedience, humility, and surrender, became mighty victor over death and hell and sin. The first Adam lost his inheritance through disobedience, but the last Adam regained the inheritance through OBEDIENCE. Amidst all the blood, suffering, and agony gleamed the horns of obedience and humility. It is with these same horns that we, too, can conquer the rebellion of the flesh and the carnal mind. Without the horns of obedience to the Father’s will, Jesus could never have secured our salvation. Oh, the beauty of the horns of the power of His obedience!

B. FOR THE BINDING OF THE SACRIFICE

Psalm 118:27 mentions the binding of the sacrifice to the horns of the altar: “God is the LORD, which hath shewed us light: bind the sacrifice with cords, even unto the horns of the altar.” With the cords of love Jesus permitted Himself to be bound or fastened securely to the cross that He might offer Himself a sacrifice to God for the sin of man. Let us look at the four aspects of the sacrifice of Jesus and the power of each.

1. Propitiation

Could we not let one horn on the altar represent the power of the propitiation of Jesus Christ and His gospel? The word propitiation goes back to the meaning of the mercy seat on the Ark. It simply means a merciful covering. How wonderful to think of the power of the covering of the Blood of Jesus Christ. The Epistle to the Romans shows how God set Jesus forth to be a merciful covering: “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” (Romans 3:25). The horns were also dipped in the blood of the sacrifice, so we can liken the horn to the power of the covering of the Blood of Jesus Christ. Again John says, “And he is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world” (I John 2:2). There is power in the horn of propitiation to save the sinner and to cleanse the children of God when they sin.

2. Substitution

Let us liken another horn or the second horn to the power of His substitution. The word substitution means to put in the place of another. It was we who were guilty of sin and death and deserved the fire of hell, but it was Jesus whom God sent to take our place. Someone in the world might love us enough to die for us if we were condemned to death for a crime, but their substitution would have no power with God, for it would avail us nothing as far as eternal life was concerned. The substitution of the LORD Jesus Christ is powerful and accepted of God because He has paid the lawful price required by the law, which was death and hell. If we owed a large debt, and someone loved us and had the price with which to pay our creditor, we would not have to pay it. How thrilling to think of Jesus who left all to come and pay the price of death and hell that we might be free from the condemnation of God’s law. When I think of Him as my substitute, then I think of the precious old hymn, “But drops of grief can ne’er repay the debt of love I owe; Here, Lord, I give myself away, ‘Tis all that I can do.” In Isaiah 53:6 we have the perfect picture of Jesus, our substitution: “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.”

3. Reconciliation

Could we not liken the third horn to the power of the ministry of reconciliation of Jesus Christ? The verb reconcile means to restore to friendship or favor after estrangement. We were without hope and without God, afar off from God, and enemies of Him. There was an estrangement between God and man, caused by sin. Sin had caused the estrangement, but the Word of God tells us, “For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus” (I Timothy 2:5). We needed someone to restore peace and friendship with God, for we could not do this ourselves, because our God is a righteous and holy God. We were sinners and unfit to approach His presence, but Jesus came down to earth and became the go-between, the mediator, to bring God and man into a friendly relationship again. “But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ” (Ephesians 2:13). What great power there was in the horn of reconciliation that could bring us, who were so far off, into unity with God!

4. Ransom

Let the fourth horn represent the horn of ransom or the power of Jesus, our ransom. The word ransom means a price paid for release from captivity. Man had been taken captive by the Devil and made slaves in the kingdom of sin; therefore, he needed someone to pay the price for him that he might be released from the captivity of sin. In these days we often hear of someone kidnapping a child or a baby and holding it for a ransom, for a price before delivering it to the rightful owners. Familial love in the hearts of parents causes them to go to the bottom of their treasury to find the funds or the price with which to buy back their child. How can we ever know the depths of the Father’s love and how far down in the treasury of heaven He went to send His Son to buy us back who had been taken captive by sin and Satan? Precious Horn of Ransom, how great Thy power! Can we ever forget the day that we claimed this ransom, this blood, and were set free from the kingdom of Satan? As Paul says in Colossians: “Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son: In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins” (Colossians 1:13,14).

V.

ITS VESSELS

A. PAN

The pan was for the receiving of the ashes from the Altar. All the vessels of the Altar were to be made of brass. Brass must first pass through the fire; then, it is molded into whatever object or design is desired. These vessels of brass were all employed in the ministry of the Altar and its sacrifices and, as such, were types of the LORD Jesus who put away sin.

B. SHOVELS TO FEED FIRE AND REMOVE ASHES

Every instrument and every vessel in the Tabernacle had its own particular use. The fire was commanded by God to be kept burning, so instruments were needed to help feed the fire. Jesus will be to you a shovel to feed your soul with the fuel from the precious Word to keep the fire burning on the altar of your heart. Maybe the LORD Jesus would like to make a shovel out of you to minister in His church and to help feed the fire of hearts with the Word. Let HIM have His way with you and make out of you whatever vessel that seemeth good to Him, for He is the divine coppersmith.

C. BASONS

There were basons or dishes to receive the blood and to carry it in the ministry of the tabernacle. Jesus was the bason of God that brought the precious Blood for an offering for sin. He was the bason that carried the Blood to the heavenly tabernacle.

D. FLESH HOOKS

The Word declares that the priests who ministered at the Altar could put in their flesh hooks, and all the meat that came out with the flesh hooks would be their portion. How gracious of the LORD and how thoughtful for the care of His priests! You and I are kings and priests of God. God has been just as thoughtful of us, for He has provided the strong meat of the Word for our portion. Jesus is the meat of the Word. He is our portion. He will be the flesh hooks to bring forth meat from His Word if we will only hunger and thirst after HIM.

E. FIRE PANS

The fire pans were to carry the fire for the ministry in the Holy Place. ALL the BLOOD and ALL the FIRE for the ministry throughout the Tabernacle must have come from the BRAZEN ALTAR. All the ministry in the heavenly Tabernacle in the ages to come must necessarily come from the Blood and Fire of Calvary. When we get to heaven and take part in that great hallelujah chorus that will rock the walls of heaven, it will be because of the Blood and the Fire that we received at Calvary’s Cross. No wonder the Altar occupies the most prominent place in the tabernacle. What a glorious and beautiful picture of Jesus Christ!

F. ITS NETWORK OF BRASS

The Brazen Altar was like a hollow box of wood overlaid with brass and had a network of brass, evidently about midway inside, to hold the animals of sacrifice that were placed there. It also served as a grate for the fire. It allowed the ashes to drop underneath and permitted the air to get to the fire, thereby helping to keep it burning. The fire in our soul will not continue to burn unless we feed it with the Word of the LORD and the breath of the Holy Ghost in prayer. The Holy Ghost is the breath of God upon our souls. Through prayer let Him breathe on us and stir the fire on the altar of our souls.

G. ITS RINGS AND STAVES

Four rings of brass were to be placed in each corner of the Altar through which the staves of shittim wood, overlaid with brass, were to pass. The purpose of these rings and staves was to enable the priest to carry the Altar from place to place, as the LORD directed. Rings or circles speak of the will of God. “See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil” (Ephesians 5:15,16).

Here, we have the picture of what it means for a child of God to walk in the complete circle of His Will. Paul says to walk circumspectly, the idea being that Jesus is the center of the circle, and every step we take down through life’s journey is to be in contact with Him. We know that every point on the circumference of a circle is the same distance from the center. Paul, through the Spirit, is asking us to walk with every step in contact with the Lord, not to overstep by running ahead, neither under-step by lagging behind. Many people are worried and upset about their service or their desire to do something special for the Lord, but the child of God who is walking circumspectly with Him and is in contact with Him will be used everywhere he goes and will be a continuous blessing and a testimony.

The rings, then, tell us of the Will of God in the manner in which the Altar was to be carried. God did not want machinery or mechanical instruments to be the carriers of the Truth of the Gospel. God wanted living priests to be the messengers and carriers of this glorious Gospel of Jesus Christ. The staves that were to help carry the Altar along represent the two great staves of His death and resurrection. What a privilege, as living priests of God who have the Altar of the LORD Jesus in our hearts, to go forth with the great staves of truth, carrying this glorious Gospel to sinful man!

H. ITS BLOOD AND ASHES

The blood of the sacrifices was handled very carefully, for the life was in the blood, and was a type of the Blood and Life of the LORD Jesus. The blood was sprinkled on the Altar, or on the horns of the Altar, or was poured at the bottom of the Altar depending upon the particular kind of sacrifice offered. The blood was also taken into the Holy Place, put on the horns of the Altar of Incense, and then once a year placed into the Holy of Holies. The trail of blood led from the beginning of the court to the last room of the tabernacle. The trail of Blood on Calvary led from the top of the head of Jesus to the bottom of His feet.

The ashes were carefully preserved and carried outside the camp to a clean place where they were used in sprinkling the unclean, “And he shall put off his garments, and put on other garments, and carry forth the ashes without the camp unto a clean place” (Leviticus 6:11). “And a man that is clean shall gather up the ashes of the heifer, and lay them up without the camp in a clean place, and it shall be kept for the congregation of the children of Israel for a water of separation: it is a purification for sin” (Numbers 19:9). The ashes were precious because they were the remains of the sacrifice and were used for the sanctifying of the unclean. Hallelujah for the remains of the sacrifice of Calvary— Jesus Christ, who arose from the dead, is seated at the right hand of the Father, and is ready to sanctify all those who come to Him in faith believing!

I. ITS FIRE

1. It Came From the LORD

This was not an ordinary fire, for it was not kindled by man. It was sent from the very presence of God Himself; it was even a part of the cloud of fire that hung over the tabernacle. “And there came a fire out from before the LORD, and consumed upon the altar the burnt-offering and the fat: which when all the people saw, they shouted, and fell on their faces” (Leviticus 9:24). This fire was used to consume the burnt offerings and the incense offering. In the sacrificial flame, the essence of the animal was resolved into vapor. Thus, when a man presented a sacrifice in his own stead, his inmost being, his spirit and his heart ascended to God in the vapor, and the sacrifice brought the feeling of his heart before God. This is a precious type of the Fire of the Holy Ghost descending upon a heart when He sees the Lamb of God there and in the vapor of His power, the spirit of man (his worship, his prayer, his hope, his reverence, and his faith) is brought into a oneness of relationship with God. Fire was a symbol of the Lord’s presence. It was an Eastern custom found among the Oriental people that when a person died, a golden bowl with fire was carried in the funeral procession to the grave, and at the grave, the bowl was broken, and the fire naturally going out spoke of the life that had gone out of the person that was dead. This is what the preacher was referring to in the book of Ecclesiastes: “Or ever the silver cord be loosed, or the golden bowl be broken, or the pitcher be broken at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern” (Ecclesiastes 12:6). In Hebrews we read of Jesus’ offering Himself to God through the eternal Spirit. Jesus did not offer Himself simply through His own power, but through the eternal Spirit of Fire that lived in Him.

2. The Fire was to Always be Burning

“The fire shall ever be burning upon the altar; it shall never go out” (Leviticus 6:13). The fire was to be constantly burning upon the Altar in order that the burnt offering might never go out, for this was the divinely appointed symbol and visible sign of the uninterrupted worship of Jehovah, which the covenant nation could never suspend either day or night without being unfaithful to its calling. Fire for sacred purposes obtained elsewhere than from the Altar was called “strange fire,” for the use of which Nadab and Abihu were punished with death by fire from God.

And Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took either of them his censer, and put fire therein, and put incense thereon, and offered strange fire before the LORD, which he commanded them not. And there went out fire from the LORD, and devoured them, and they died before the LORD (Leviticus 10:1,2).

And Nadab and Abihu died before the LORD, when they offered strange fire before the LORD, in the wilderness of Sinai, and they had no children: and Eleazar and Ithamar ministered in the priest’s office in the sight of Aaron their father (Numbers 3:4).

And Nadab and Abihu died, when they offered strange fire before the LORD (Numbers 26:61).

The foregoing speaks to us of Jesus, who was our whole burnt offering in the days of His journey here on earth. The fire was always burning on the Altar of His heart and as our whole burnt offering. He is at this moment before the Father with the same fire still burning on the Altar of His heart. We can have access to Jesus any time in the day or night, and He will impart to us this fire, this life, this power for the altars of our hearts. If we are to follow in the footsteps of Jesus, then I am persuaded that God wants to make whole burnt offerings out of us with the continuous burning of the fire of His presence and power on our soul that we may live in a continuous state of uninterrupted worship and fellowship with Him. As previously stated, the whole burnt offering was bound by cords to the horns of the altar. The only way we can grow in experience of the whole burnt offering, which was what Paul was saying in Romans 12:1,2, is to let the cords of love of God grow until they have bound our hearts so powerfully to the horns of the altar that the cords of the carnal mind and the world will have no attraction or power to pull us away from the altar of sacrifice. Many Christians feel the cords of love when they are in the church or in some special time of anointing in prayer. Later, however, the pull of the cords of the world draws them with energies and strength for vain service and pleasure.

3. The Fire was for Purification

When the Israelites returned with booty taken from the Midianites, Eleazar, whose duty it was to see that the laws of purification were properly observed, told them “the ordinance of the law” was that all articles that could bear it were to be drawn through the fire and sprinkled with the water of purification.

And Eleazar the priest said unto the men of war which went to the battle, This is the ordinance of the law which the LORD commanded Moses; Only the gold, and the silver, the brass, the iron, the tin, and the lead, Everything that may abide the fire, ye shall make it go through the fire, and it shall be clean; nevertheless it shall be purified with the water of separation: and all that abideth not the fire ye shall make go through the water (Numbers 31:21-23).

For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is (I Corinthians 3:11-13).

In other words, before the children of Israel could keep the prize for their labors or their battles, they had to be purified by water and fire. Similarly, before we can enjoy in eternity the labor of our hands in this present world, the prize of the battles, our works will have to pass through the fire of God. The wood, hay, and stubble will be burned up. All the things that you have done in the energy of the flesh, all the things that you have done even for the Lord, if done with a motive to glorify yourself, will have to go, for they are as wood, hay, and stubble, things that cannot resist the fire. How wonderful God is! No unclean thing can resist the fire of His presence. How precious of Him to burn up all the old wood, hay, and stubble of the flesh so that throughout eternity we will never have to look upon them, but only upon the gold, silver, and’ precious stones! In John’s account of the New Jerusalem in Revelation, we read that the city was made of gold and precious stones. There are no wood, hay, and stubble in that city. How about the city of your heart? Ask God to continue to purify, by the fire of His presence, all the wood, hay, and stubble, that the glow of the divine gold of His presence might be seen in you and that the precious stones of the knowledge and revelation of Him might shine forth in beauty and power.

4. The Fire was for Revelation

Jehovah revealed Himself in the fire of the burning bush and on mount Sinai. “And Moses said, I will now turn aside, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt” (Exodus 3:3). “And mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because the LORD descended upon it in fire: and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly” (Exodus 19:18). In the midst of the fire, He showed Himself to Isaiah, Ezekiel, and John. “And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke” (Isaiah 6:4). “And I looked, and behold, a whirlwind came out of the north, a great cloud, and a fire infolding itself, and a brightness was about it, and out of the midst thereof as the colour of amber, out of the midst of the fire” (Ezekiel 1:4). “His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire” (Revelation 1:14). Christ will show Himself to the world in flaming fire at His second coming. “And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ” (II Thessalonians 1:7,8). Jehovah guided the children of Israel through the wilderness with the pillar of fire. “And the LORD went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them the way; and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light; to go by day and night” (Exodus 13:21). John promised, “I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with FIRE” (Matthew 3:11). As the fire on the Altar symbolized the presence of God among His people, so the Spirit of the Living God is the presence of God among His people, the living church of God. Let us so live in the fire of the Holy Ghost that we may be refreshed continually by the fire of His presence.

5. The Fire was for Transfiguration

But who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? For he is like a refiner’s fire, and like fullers’ soap: And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the LORD an offering in righteousness (Malachi 3:2,3).

Here, God is likened to the fire of a silversmith or a goldsmith purging the sons of Levi. The word transfigure means a change in form or appearance. Beloved, no person can wait in the presence of the LORD in the Word and prayer without taking on a change in appearance. “But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord” (II Corinthians 3:18). As we look upon Him in the glass of the Word of the Lord, see His reflection, and are changed by the reflection of the fire found there, what will it be like when we see Him face to face and behold Him in the fullness of the fire of the Shekinah glory? No wonder Paul writes: “Love never faileth; but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away” (I Corinthians 13:8-10). All the knowledge and experience now comes through the reflection of His glory in the glass, the mirror of the WORD, but when we see Him face to face at His coming, then even our bodies will be transfigured in the fire of His presence. Until that glorious day, may we submit to the fire to be made more and more like unto Him in our spirits and souls.

6. The Fire was to be Spread

The fire from this Altar was to be taken into the Holy Place for the lighting of the incense on the Altar of Incense and for the lighting of the fire in the Golden Candlestick. God has given us the fire of power and life through our salvation at Calvary, and He wants us to use this fire of life and power in the Holy Place for prayer and for light. This same fire of life and power will spread, as it were, in the light of knowledge and in the life of prayer if we will only take it into the Holy Place. Fire was to be fed daily. It is always interesting to learn what part is God’s and what part, man’s. It was God’s responsibility to give the fire, for all the life and power that man had were fleshly and “strange fire” that was not acceptable to God. But God ordained the priest to take care of the fire. As such they had to feed the fire daily to keep it burning. God has given us the fire of His Life and Power, but it is OUR responsibility to feed this fire daily with the wood of the WORD.

Moreover, the priests had to take up the ashes daily. Reader, the fire of experience and the revelation that you had yesterday will only be ASHES today. Take up the ashes and wait on the LORD for new fuel for the fire. It is easy to tell when people have been before the LORD for new fuel, for their hearts exude a warm, glowing fire that thrills, warms, and feeds all those they meet. Ashes contain little warmth, glow, or food. Let us not try to live on the remains of the sacrifice of yesterday, but let us feed the fire today with the fuel of the Word that we may be living flames and torches to carry forth the great Gospel of Jesus Christ.

The ashes of the sacrifice were considered precious and were preserved in a clean place. The experience of yesterday should be precious to us and be preserved in the clean recesses of our hearts and minds. Nevertheless, Jesus wants new experiences, new sacrifices on the altar of your heart today with new fuel. In this manner, and only in this manner, shall we be the kind of torches that will be pleasing to HIM.

CHAPTER VI

THE LAVER

And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Thou shalt also make a laver of brass, and his foot also of brass, to wash withal: and thou shalt put it between the tabernacle of the congregation and the altar, and thou shalt put water therein. For Aaron and his sons shall wash their hands and their feet thereat: When they go into the tabernacle of the congregation, they shall wash with water, that they die not; or when they come near to the altar to minister, to burn offering made by fire unto the LORD: So they shall wash their hands and their feet, that they die not: and it shall be a statute for ever to them, even to him and to his seed throughout their generations (Exodus 30:17-21).

I.

FOR THE PRIESTS

The Laver was given especially and only for the priest of God. God had intended that the nation of Israel would be a kingdom of priests. “And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel” (Exodus 19:6). But through their sin and rebellion against the God of heaven, they forced God to shut up the priesthood to the family of Aaron. A priest is a person who has access to God. So the family of Aaron was chosen to be priests unto the LORD and to come unto Him in the behalf of the people. Through the LORD Jesus Christ and His shed Blood, all believers in HIM have access to God and therefore are priests unto God. “But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light” (I Peter 2:9). So the Laver, here, has a typical message for us as priests of the Living God.

II.

THE MATERIALS

We have seen so far that in the Tabernacle all the materials have had a message to tell of Christ. This Laver is no exception. The material for this Laver was acquired from the Brazen looking glasses of the women. “And he made the laver of brass, and the foot of it of brass, of the lookingglasses of the women assembling, which assembled at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation” (Exodus 38:8). We have already learned that the message of brass was JUDGMENT and a looking glass speaks of self-scrutiny. The Living Word took upon Himself the judgment of our sins and is therefore qualified to be our sanctifier. If we come to the Living Word, it is like coming to a mirror in that it reveals all the spots and blemishes of our minds and hearts. The Apostle James likens the Word to a mirror:

But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, 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. But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed (James 1:22-25).

The Laver was made of brass and represented the ministry of Christ through the Word, revealing us to ourselves as we come to Him. But do not spend all your time looking at the brass, or in self-scrutiny, but partake of the water that was placed inside the Laver.

III.

ITS CONTENTS

The Laver itself could not cleanse, but it contained the water that could cleanse the priest of God. Jesus, through the Word, reveals to us ourselves; and then Jesus, through the water of the Word, cleanses. Water speaks of life. In God’s Word, not only are there life and power to reveal our needs, but also there are life and power to cleanse us from the filthiness of the flesh and carnal mind.

IV.

ITS SIZE AND SHAPE

It is not without coincidence that the LORD does not give to us the measurements of the Laver. There were two pieces of furniture in the Tabernacle where the Scripture gives no directions concerning their size—the Laver and the Candlestick. Here, the message is precious and beautiful. It reveals to us the fact that there is no limit with God to His cleansing power, nor in the amount of light that He will bestow upon His children who walk in Him. Jesus has never set a limit on how many times a day we may come to the Laver of cleansing. Not that we should take advantage, as some suppose, and see how many times we can sin. But when we do sin through weakness of the human soul, when we do fail our precious Saviour, and when we see our faults and shortcomings, then we must run quickly to the Laver, knowing that its size is limitless. Even though we have no particular description of its shape, yet we have the definite idea that the Laver was a rounded basin of considerable size with another shallower basin beneath it into which the used water ran, and in which the priests washed their feet.

V.

ITS PURPOSE

A. FOR THE HANDS

The Laver had a twofold purpose. The first was for the cleansing of the hands of the priests. The hands speak of service. The only kind of service acceptable to God is a clean and pure service. God told the priests that when they came near to minister at His Altar, i.e., BEFORE they were to come into the Holy Place, they must wash at the Laver. How we need to see the importance of living in the Word of God and washing many times a day in the pure waters thereof.

Consider the admonition, “Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the WASHING OF WATER BY THE WORD, That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish” (Ephesians 5:25,27). Because of the purifying water of the Word that constantly cleanses and renews our minds, we should take refuge in its pure waters every day, as often as possible, and particularly before we stand to minister or to go into the Holy Place.

The hands in the natural speak of the sense of physical touch. The hand, or the touch of the soul, is the channel of affection with which man is able to feel and to touch others. The hand of the spirit of man is the channel of worship with which he reaches out for God. How these hands need daily cleansing at the water of the Word! How quickly the affection of man can become defiled when left to his own way for even a day! If neglected for even a day, it will be found that on the morrow the affection of the soul will prefer to find its satisfaction in other ways rather than in the precious Word of God. Even in the ministry of God, the self is there to love the glory and attention as a minister of God, to love the “well done” of humans rather than the “well done” of the Father. The self is there with a love to please man rather than God. “Not with eyeservice, as menpleasers; but as the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart” (Ephesians 6:6). Indeed, the carnal man is there in a million ways to defile our service that it might not be pure before the Lord. Only the Laver of brass will enable us to see the hand of the affection of our souls, and only the Laver with its water can cleanse and keep on cleansing.

Then, the hand of the spirit of man is his channel of worship that is so easily drawn away from its purity of motive. Worship means respect or reverence for power, position, merit, dignity, worth and similar attributes of deity. How quickly our own spirits can defile our service for God! When God blesses in spiritual things, how subtle the spirit of man begins to worship the gift instead of the GIVER. How quickly he begins to reverence and respect man’s power, position, and dignity! “Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only” (James 2:24). This verse deals with the spirit of worship, of dignity, position, and power. God wants clean service in the channel of our spirit of worship. If this channel is clean through the water of the Word, then there will be no partiality among the children of God because our whole service of affection and worship is taken up and given to the LORD to whom it rightly belongs. No wonder God said, “man looketh on the outward appearance but God looketh on the heart.”

To everyone else we might look clean, but how do we look when we stand honestly and open-faced before the Laver of His WORD? When I stand before Him and see the smallness of my love for HIM in comparison of what He really wants it to be, then I have to plunge my soul and my spirit afresh in the precious Laver of the Word. Even in the natural a plant breathes through its leaves; therefore, if you give your plants a bath with gentle sprays of water, they will grow better and become more healthy. So it is with us as tender plants of the Lord. If we let God bathe us in the water of the Word, it will wash away the defilement of things with which we have come in contact, and the sweet breath of the Spirit of God will be able to enter our souls and spirits and produce in us a healthier state, thereby enabling us to grow more in His grace and knowledge. Oh, precious Jesus, ever cleanse us in your Word that we might be fruitful plants before Thy presence!

B. FOR THE FEET

The second purpose of the Laver was for the cleansing of the feet of the Priest. The feet speak of man’s ways. David was desirous to know how to cleanse his ways and found the secret in the Word of the Lord. “Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according to thy word” (Psalm 119:9).Jesus taught this same lesson to His disciples:

And supper being ended, the devil having now put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray him; Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he was come from God, and went to God; He riseth from supper, and laid aside his garments; and took a towel, and girded himself. After that he poureth water into a basin, and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith he was girded. Then cometh he to Simon Peter: and Peter saith unto him, Lord, dost thou wash my feet? Jesus answered and said unto him, What I do thou knowest not now; but thou shalt know hereafter. Peter saith unto him, Thou shalt never wash my feet. Jesus answered him, If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me. Simon Peter saith unto him, Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head. Jesus saith to him, He that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit: and ye are clean, but not all. For he knew who should betray him; therefore said he, Ye are not all clean. So after he had washed their feet, and had taken his garments, and was set down again, he said unto them, Know ye what I have done to you? Ye call me Master and Lord: and ye say well; for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet ;ye also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you. Verily, verily, I say unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord; neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him. If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them (John 13:2-17).

Peter wanted the LORD to wash him all over when he found out he could have a part with Jesus by getting his feet washed, but Jesus declared that if he had already been washed with the water of regeneration, then it was only necessary to have his feet washed, i.e. to have his way washed.

Different groups have likened the Laver to different meanings: The Methodists have said it represented consecration for the priest, but that could not be true since the priests were already consecrated when they were put into office: “And thou shalt gird them with girdles, Aaron and his sons, and put the bonnets on them: and the priest’s office shall be theirs for a perpetual statute: and thou shalt consecrate Aaron and his sons” (Exodus 29:9). The Presbyterians say that it meant the sprinkling of infants, but that could not be since Aaron and his sons were grown men. The Episcopalians have said that the Laver was for confirmation, but they did this for themselves and not for others. The Baptists have said that the Laver was a part of the born again experience, but this could not be, since the priests were already washed by water and by the blood, so to speak.

So if we reexamine the words of Jesus, we will find Him fulfilling the ministry of the Laver when He washed the feet of the disciples. This was a type of how He would wash their way, their walk as the Living Word of God, the Living Laver. God’s ways are far above man’s ways. “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts” (Isaiah 55:8,9). Therefore, it is necessary for man to come to the Laver to discern first HIS OWN WAY, and then be cleansed that he might walk in the ways of the God of heaven.

David, the great servant of the LORD, cried unto the LORD to know the way of the LORD more perfectly. How we all need to grow more perfectly in the knowledge of His way, and we can only do this by being cleansed in the water of the Word from our own ways. David said the way of the LORD was in the sanctuary, “Thy way, O God, is in the sanctuary: who is so great a God as our God?” (Psalm 77:13). Jesus declared Himself to be THE WAY. Let us live in the Word that we may be cleansed from ourselves and our ways that we may walk in the JESUS WAY. If you can follow the life of Jesus Christ and see the way He walked, see the way He talked, see the way He treated His enemies (washed Judas’ feet), see His way of forgiveness, see His way of love, see His way of devotion to the Father, see His humility, and THEN not see a deeper need of cleansing from your own way, beloved, you are bound by self-righteousness and need to be delivered by the mighty power of God!

VI.

ITS POSITION

The Laver was the second piece of furniture in the court (the Brazen Altar was first), and it stood in direct line with the Altar of Incense and the Ark of the Covenant. As already explained, the Tabernacle was laid out in the form of a Cross with these pieces of furniture forming the center, vertical bar of the Cross. This Tabernacle speaks of Jesus Christ, and to follow Him is to walk in the way of the Cross, the way of Crucifixion. Jesus said, “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me” (Luke 9:23). So at the Brazen Altar we have the cleansing from the PENALTY OF SIN BY BLOOD, and at the Laver we have the cleansing from the POWER OF INDWELLING SIN IN THE HEART AND SOUL BY THE WATER OF THE WORD, thus preparing the priests for their entrance into the Holy Place. Some Christians have a fleshly spirit of boldness and think they can just about come into the presence of God any way they wish. As sons of God we have privileges, powers, and authorities that have been given to us by Jesus Christ, and yet throughout the Word of God, we are taught to approach God with humility and reverence. The position of the Laver was important because it was before the Holy Place and prepared the priest to enter into it. The Apostle John said in the Word, “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us” (I John 1:8). For the priest to say that he had no need to stop at the Laver would have been the grossest sin of defiance and rebellion against the Word of the Lord.

VII.

ITS WARNING -That they DIE not

God said this was a statute forever to them, even to them and to their SEED throughout their generation. This was to be a literal statute in the natural until Jesus Christ would come, and then it was to continue in the spiritual until Jesus comes again and delivers us from the vile body in which we live. The teaching of the Apostle Paul in the first epistle to the church at Corinth is in accordance with the teaching of the Laver. “For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep. For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world” (I Corinthians 11:30-32).

The Word of the LORD does not contradict itself. Rather, it is fitted together like the stones in a magnificent building, when the Truth is put together by the Spirit of the Living God. Paul was teaching that before Christians were to enter into the Holy Place to eat of the Communion (for the Table of Shewbread was in the Holy Place), they should pause at the Laver of judgment that they might not go in and eat unworthily. He said that if we would judge ourselves, then we would not be judged of the LORD. If the priests would come to the Laver and look into its mirror, and wash themselves, then when they entered into the Holy Place they would not be judged with death. Paul teaches us here that many are SICK, and many are WEAK, and many even SLEEP or DIE. Jesus has not changed His pattern of holiness; He is just the same today as He was yesterday. Just because we are under the dispensation of grace, we are too prone to think that we can get away with sin before God; but God has never revoked His law of reaping and sowing. Let us heed the warning of the Word of God and spend much time at the Laver of the Word. As the old hymn goes, “Take time to be holy, Speak oft with thy Lord, Abide in Him always, And feed on His Word.”

CHAPTER VII

THE BOARDS AND BARS OF THE TABERNACLE

And thou shalt make boards for the tabernacle of shittim wood standing up. Ten cubits shall be the length of a board, and a cubit and a half shall be the breadth of one board. Two tenons shall there be in one board, set in order one against another: thus shalt thou make for all the boards of the tabernacle. And thou shalt make the boards for the tabernacle, twenty boards on the south side southward. And thou shalt make forty sockets of silver under the twenty boards; two sockets under one board for his two tenons, and two sockets under another board for his two tenons. And for the second side of the tabernacle on the north side there shall be twenty boards: And their forty sockets of silver; two sockets under one board, and two sockets under another board. And for the sides of the tabernacle westward thou shalt make six boards. And two boards shalt thou make for the corners of the tabernacle in the two sides. And they shall be coupled together beneath, and they shall be coupled together above the head of it unto one ring: thus shall it be for them both; they shall be for the two corners. And they shall be eight boards, and their sockets of silver, sixteen sockets; two sockets under one board, and two sockets under another board. And thou shalt make bars of shittim wood; five for the boards of the one side of the tabernacle, And five bars for the boards of the other side of the tabernacle, and five bars for the boards of the side of the tabernacle, for the two sides westward. And the middle bar in the midst of the boards shall reach from end to end. And thou shalt overlay the boards with gold, and make their rings of gold for places for the bars: and thou shalt overlay the bars with gold. And thou shalt rear up the tabernacle according to the fashion thereof which was shewed thee in the mount (Exodus 26:15-30).

And forty sockets of silver he made under the twenty boards; two sockets under one board for his two tenons, and two sockets under another board for his two tenons. And for the other side of the tabernacle, which is toward the north corner, he made twenty boards, And their forty sockets of silver; two sockets under one board, and two sockets under another board. And for the sides of the tabernacle westward he made six boards. And two boards made he for the corners of the tabernacle in the two sides. And they were coupled beneath, and coupled together at the head thereof, to one ring: thus he did to both of them in both the corners. And there were eight boards; and their sockets were sixteen sockets of silver, under every board two sockets. And he made bars of shittim wood; five for the boards of the one side of the tabernacle, And five bars for the boards of the other side of the tabernacle, and five bars for the boards of the tabernacle for the sides westward. And he made the middle bar to shoot through the boards from the one end to the other. And he overlaid the boards with gold, and made their rings of gold to be places for the bars, and overlaid the bars with gold (Exodus 36:24-34).

The Tabernacle was composed of two parts—the Holy Place and the Most Holy Place. This structure was a wonderful picture of the Resurrected Christ in every way. Just as the court with its furniture was a picture of the man Jesus Christ, so the central theme of the message of the court and its furniture was JUDGMENT; for in all things, there we saw the brass. But in the rest of the Tabernacle, except for the brass tacks that were used in holding the two parts of the white curtains together, we see only the gold and the silver, a message of the Resurrected Christ.

I.

THE BOARDS

A. THEIR NUMBER

The Tabernacle was to be made of twenty boards on the north side, and twenty boards on the south side, with eight boards across the west side, leaving the east side for the door, i.e. the entrance to the Tabernacle. This makes a total of forty-eight boards in the building, and is a precious picture of the LORD Jesus Christ. Four is the number of the earth, and twelve the number of government; therefore the number forty-eight speaks of government on the earth. First, Jesus came in the flesh and was faithful to govern His own will and to do the Will of the Father. Now, He is resurrected and is seated at the right hand of the Father, still doing the will of the Father in sending His Spirit into the hearts of the believers that they, too, might govern their will here on the earth and do the Will of the Father. Finally, in that great day when Jesus comes again with His saints, He will set up His literal kingdom here on this earth, and everyone that has been made a part of, i.e. a board in, that great spiritual tabernacle will rule and reign with Him a thousand years.

And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years (Revelation 20:4-6).

The believers in Christ are likened to a body with its different members. “For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ” (I Corinthians 12:12). In Ephesians we see the believers likened to a building:

Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the household of God; 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 (Ephesians 2:19-22).

So whether the picture is of the body or of a building, it tells us of the place that each individual has, and of the importance of the function of its members in the body of Christ. Outside in the courtyard, we saw the JUDGMENT of the penalty of sin at the Brazen Altar and the JUDGMENT of the power of indwelling sin at the Laver. Now, beginning with the Tabernacle, we see the Resurrected Christ in His divine ministry of revealing Himself, leading into spiritual maturity, and imparting His own divine nature that the believer might be freed from the presence of sin.

There are many sins that go with childhood, but as we go on with Jesus and grow into spiritual maturity, we are delivered from the presence of these things. Paul said, “When I became a man, I put away childish things.” Children are careless, are easily offended, jealous, and full of malice. Children are selfish and want attention, are anxious, love the important place, and love to satisfy the flesh with junk food, sweets, and other unhealthy things. Does the presence of these things dwell in your heart? Remember that God has given us the Spirit and the Word that we might grow in the governing power of the Spirit. Jesus said that if we are faithful over a few things, He will make us ruler over many things. God wants to prepare us and make us the kind of boards that can fit into that great spiritual building that is going to rule and reign with Christ Jesus. “He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty; and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city” (Proverbs 16:32). It is no small thing for a man to learn to govern his own spirit. He can only do this through the crucifying of the flesh and the divine impartation of the nature of the Christ. “And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth” (Revelation 5:10). Here we see that we have been chosen to rule and reign with Him.

And as they heard these things, he added and spake a parable, because he was nigh to Jerusalem, and because they thought that the kingdom of God should immediately appear. He said therefore, A certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom, and to return. And he called his ten servants, and delivered them ten pounds, and said unto them, Occupy till I come. But his citizens hated him, and sent a message after him, saying, We will not have this man to reign over us. And it came to pass, that when he was returned, having received the kingdom, then he commanded these servants to be called unto him, to whom he had given the money, that he might know how much every man had gained by trading. Then came the first, saying, Lord, thy pound hath gained ten pounds. And he said unto him, Well, thou good servant: because thou hast been faithful in a very little, have thou authority over ten cities...And he said likewise to him, Be thou also over five cities (Luke 19:11-19).

By the clear teaching of this parable, we see that the believers will have a part in the rule and reign of Christ. Reader, ask Him to increase His rule and reign in your heart now!

B. THEIR MEASUREMENTS

Each board was to be ten cubits in length. Ten is the number of the law, i.e. the legal number. The law was a revelation of the divine standard of righteousness. Isn’t it precious that these boards are not only a type of Jesus and His righteousness, but also a type of the believer who has had the righteousness of God imparted through faith? Without this righteousness, we would be too short in length to take a place in this great building of God. “Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God” (James 2:23). This is the only kind of righteousness that is legal and acceptable to God. Our righteousness is like filthy rags. “But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away” (Isaiah 64:6).

Each board was to be one and a half cubits in breadth. The breadth of the boards was short of the number two, which speaks to us of union; in other words, each board was not in union when left to itself. This is a beautiful picture of the fact that in ourselves as individual believers, we do not bear the number of union. We must be joined to the building, the body of Christ, and take the place that He has chosen for us. This teaches us the lesson of not getting off in a little nook by ourselves, or with a little group, and thinking that we are the building, and that there are no other boards except us. This seems to be the general state of the Body of Christ in these days. Each board in the body of Christ seems to be boasting of its cubit and a half, as it were. While we may have the righteousness of Christ by faith and have other graces and gifts of the Spirit given us from the Father, still His ultimate plan is to join all boards into one building.

C. THEIR MATERIAL

We have seen the wonderful Truth contained in the shittim wood, which referred to the humanity of the Christ and is also a type of the believer; but who would think that this rough and tough tree would have been chosen of God from among all the other trees to furnish the wood for the Tabernacle? Now in order for this tree to become wood, first it had to be cut down from its natural habitat. Jesus was cut down and removed, as it were, from His natural habitat of heaven that He might become the Tabernacle of God in the flesh and dwell among men that they might see the glory of God. Jesus said that if you have seen me, you have seen the Father. The cutting down speaks of the humbling of a thing. Then, the tree was hewed with an ax and sent to the planing mill to be cut and smoothed for the House of God. It was necessary that these boards be of a smooth character since they were to be overlaid with gold. Here, we can see Jesus going through the mill of testings and tryings, not that He had any rough places in His disposition and character that needed to be sanded off, but that He went through them for you and me. When Jesus has chosen us in His Tabernacle, then it is necessary for us to go through the mill of God’s chastening and trials to have the rough spots planed off that we might grow in the nature and disposition of the Christ. Perhaps, you are filled with the perplexities and wonderings at the circumstances of your life, but if you have Jesus in your heart, you can be sure that He loves you far too much to cause you needless pain or tears. He loves you too much to permit you to go through things that would not contribute to your spiritual growth in Him. Therefore, yield yourself to the mighty divine architect who is preparing you for a place in that mighty temple of God, even the body of the LORD Jesus Christ. Ask Him to reveal the rough places in your disposition and character; ask Him to show you what He is trying to sand off through your trials and tribulations.

Is it a touchy spirit that is always getting offended? The Word says that if we love the Word of the Lord, nothing shall offend us. “Great peace have they which love thy law: and nothing shall offend them” (Psalm 119:165). Is it a pouty spirit that always sulks when not given its way or the attention that it desires? Is it a reviling spirit that lashes back when accused, falsely or otherwise? Is it an angry spirit that is always flying off the handle? Is it a spirit of pride that resents and rebels against taking the low place? Remember that God wants to overlay you with the nature of Jesus, the pure gold, that others may see Jesus in you so that any trial, or tribulation, or chastening that would work out the nature of the Christ is a precious blessing in disguise. That’s why in Hebrews we are commanded not to despise the chastening of the LORD. How do we despise it? Is it with murmurings, frettings, and complainings over the circumstances that God has permitted in our lives? Paul said that he had learned in whatsoever state he was in to be content. You can only be this way when you have been FULLY taught of the LORD that all things work together for good for your spiritual education. As the great teacher, He knows when we have learned our lessons well, and then He graduates us to other lessons and grades. Let Him make a smooth board out of your disposition and character.

D. THE GOLD

Gold speaks of the deity of Christ or the glory of the Resurrected Christ. Yes, He was deity, He was God when He tabernacled in the flesh, but His deity was not on the outside, so to speak, for He laid aside His glory and took upon Him flesh; that is, He was covered over with flesh. But hallelujah, when He arose again, He was covered over with a resurrected glorified body that shone forth in its deity and its power. What a truth, what a lesson for our hearts that as believers He desires to cover us over with His divine nature and glory! And when He comes for the saints of God, these earthly boards will then take on the immortal and incorruptible glory of God. But even here in our present body, the LORD wants us to grow in Him. As Paul said, put on Christ. Let us put off the old man with his roughness and imperfections, and let us be busy putting on the Christ in all the beauty of His glory.

In the second chapter of Philippians, Paul tells us what to do in order to shine as lights in this present world. “Do all things without murmurings and disputings: That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world” (Philippians 2:14,15). Gold is noted for its resistance to water and air. God wants to cover us with the glory and power of the Holy Ghost so that in the storms of life, we will not be tarnished with doubts, fears, and unbeliefs, and that we will not be affected by the breath of the Devil that comes close to whisper in our ears as only he can whisper. This glory, this power, can only be found in the gold, the glory and power of the Spirit of the Christ.

Gold is also noted for its ability to stretch. I have read that it is possible to melt gold so that one grain will cover two miles of silver, to beat it so that it will cover fifty-six square inches, or to beat it to a thinness of one-millionth of an inch. What character belongs to the gold! When I meditate on this fact, I cannot help but think of the mighty divine love of God with its ability to stretch. Hallelujah! The love of God that will go the second mile of silver, the love that suffers long and is kind, that envieth not nor vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, nor behaves itself unseemly, is always in order, seeks not her own, is not provoked, thinks no evil, rejoices in truth and not iniquity, bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things. LOVE NEVER FAILS!

How we need to be covered more with this golden love of Jesus that speaks forth the very glory and nature of God. What other thing in heaven or in earth can take the fire, the beating, and remain the same but the LOVE OF GOD, the gold that never fails. Precious Jesus, continue to overlay us with the gold of your love that the boards of ourselves might be covered.

E. THE TWO TENONS

Each board or plank had two tenons at its foot to enter the socket of silver. With these two hands or tenons resting in the socket of silver, the boards were made secure from falling. What an important place the two tenons held. If we likened them to the precious hands of the LORD Jesus, what comfort and rest they can afford for the soul. Jesus said, “And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand” (John 10:28,29). There is perfect rest and peace for the soul that has placed itself in the care of these nail scarred hands, for they have proved their ability to work in all situations. “For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin” (Hebrews 4:15). He has met every test and in His loving hands we are safe and secure. If we liken the two tenons to the hands of the believer, we can find a precious truth. When we reached our hands as poor sinners and by faith took hold of the Blood of Jesus Christ, we found an anchor for our souls; we found the peace of God.

F. THEIR SOCKETS OF SILVER

Each board was to have two sockets of silver in which to rest the two tenons. Silver speaks of redemption; hence, the only way any board could be made a part of the Tabernacle was for it to have its sockets of silver. This was the only foundation that was acceptable for the boards. Paul tells us in the first epistle to the Corinthian church, “For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ” (I Corinthians 3:11). This is the only foundation that God will accept for the boards in His spiritual tabernacle.

When thou takest the sum of the children of Israel after their number, then shall they 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. This they shall give, every one that passeth among them that are numbered, half a shekel after the shekel of the sanctuary: (a shekel is twenty gerahs:) an half shekel shall be the offering of the LORD. Every one that passeth among them that are numbered, from twenty years old and above, shall give an offering unto the LORD. The rich shall not give more, and the poor shall not give less than half a shekel, when they give an offering unto the LORD, to make an atonement for your souls. And thou shalt take the atonement money of the children of Israel, and shalt 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 (Exodus 30:12 -16).

Here, we see the story of the silver. Every person was to pay a price, a ransom. The rich were not to pay more, nor were the poor to pay less. Everyone had to pay a half shekel for his redemption from out of the land of Egypt. Each had to present this price before the LORD unto Moses. This was a picture of the precious Blood of Jesus that we have to present to God. The Blood is the price of our ransom from sin and death. Josephus tells us that the silver sockets fit so closely and perfectly together that they gave the impression of one solid foundation. Will this not be the picture of the redeemed ones in glory, who through faith in the Blood of Jesus, have been given the white linen garment of righteousness? Will we not look like one curtain of white? How precious is the foundation of silver! It is like the man that built his house on the rock, which the wind and the rain could not destroy. If you have dug through the sands of repentance and anchored your soul to the foundation of rock, of silver, and of blood, then you have a sure foundation.

“And this is the charge of their burden, according to all their service in the tabernacle of the congregation; the boards of the tabernacle, and the bars thereof, and the pillars thereof, and sockets thereof” (Numbers 4:31). God committed the charge of the sockets to the Merarites. It was their responsibility to lay the sockets first, when they moved to a new place and had to set up the Tabernacle again. The foundation must be laid first, before the boards could be set up. Jesus laid the foundation when He shed His precious Blood on the cross of Calvary, and now He is adding boards daily to that spiritual building, adding all those who come unto Him in faith believing.

II.

THE BARS

A. THEIR MATERIAL

The material of the bars was to be shittim wood, also, and to be overlaid with the gold. In the bars we see the picture of the resurrected man, Christ Jesus. The same man who died upon the cross was resurrected from the dead and is now seated at the right hand of the Father; and this same Jesus is coming again in power and great glory. Already discussed at length is the shittim wood and the gold, so let us move on in and see the story that the bars have to tell us.

B. THEIR NUMBER

The Word of God never ceases to be an object of endless wonder and amazement because of the care given to the minutest of details. If you think that God is not concerned with the details of your life, then just look to the Word of God and see the stress and importance that God puts on details. God is concerned about every detail in the Word, and God is also concerned with every detail of your heart and life. He is interested in correcting all the details of your life that they might bear the image of Christ. There were to be five bars used on each side of the Tabernacle to help the boards stand close together and in unity. The arrangement of the bars is most precious. Four of the bars were to be placed on the outside of the boards, but the fifth bar was to go through the boards in the middle so that while it was invisible to the eye, yet it was present to serve its purpose of holding the boards together. The number five speaks of the grace of God, and it is the grace of God through the Word, through the Spirit, and through the Blood that has put us into the building of God. It is none other than the marvelous grace of God that holds the spiritual building together now and throughout eternity. Paul mentions this grace to the church of Ephesus.

That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them (Ephesians 2:7-10).

As the hymn goes, “Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me.”

In the New Testament, we see the grace of God manifested in these five bars: the four visible bars and the fifth invisible bar. “And they continued stedfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers” (Acts 2:42). Here, we see the picture of the four visible bars that bound the early Christians together. How far away the saints of God have gotten from the bars that God has given. Man has laid down bars of requirements that God never laid down, namely, “if you do not take on my bars, or my doctrine, then I cannot have fellowship with you.” Let us consider these five bars in more detail.

STEDFAST CONTINUANCE IN THE APOSTLE’S
DOCTRINE - 1st Visible Bar

The saints continued in the Apostles’ teaching. We find the teaching of the apostles summed up by Peter in his great sermon preached in the power of the Holy Ghost on the day of Pentecost: “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost” (Acts 2:38). Paul declared that he was determined to know nothing but Jesus Christ and Him crucified.

If we grow in the message of the cross, then that is all we need. For all love, all humility, all faith, everything is taught at the cross of Jesus Christ. If we would grow in this message from the cross of love and humility, what a strong bar it will be to unite us with the saints of God! If our brother wants the prominent place, then if we have learned the lesson on the apostles’ doctrine, we will be meek and humble, and let him have it. If there are those who have done unjustly by us, then we will have the love of the Christ that will make us longsuffering and patient to go the second mile of the way, and then to keep on going, for love never faileth.

How different is the doctrine of the Resurrected Christ! Many other men have lived down through the ages and have had their philosophy and their doctrines, but they have never risen from the dead to make their doctrines live in the hearts of their followers. These bars in the Tabernacle are made of shittim wood and overlaid with gold. How precious to know that the Resurrected Christ lives, and that He has given power to His doctrines and His words! Jesus said, “It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life” (John 6:63). Oh, precious Jesus, ever increase the power and life of thy doctrine of the cross to my soul.

FELLOWSHIP - 2nd Visible Bar

We can liken the second visible bar on the wall of the Tabernacle to the second thing mentioned here, and that is fellowship.

The Word tells us not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together. Sometimes, I meet people who tell me that they can live just as well by themselves as they can by going to church. In the first place, when Jesus Christ comes into our hearts with His Spirit, there comes that spiritual longing in the Spirit for fellowship. There is strength in fellowship, for the Word says that “if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven,” so there is power when two believers come together and agree on some definite thing before God, or some definite request.

There is food for the soul in fellowship. This is one of the bars that God wants to use and is using to hold the believers together in this present world, which is but a little foretaste of what it will be like when we get to glory, for we will not have the Devil always trying to tear down this bar of fellowship. This is why the Devil works so hard in churches to stir up strife and enmity among God’s people, for he knows well that if he can weaken the bar of fellowship, he has scored a great victory against their spiritual power and growth in the LORD. Remember that this bar, too, is of shittim wood and gold. The people of the world have a type of fellowship, but theirs does not have the shittim wood and the gold. They do not have power and food to cause them to grow in wisdom and knowledge of God. The fellowship that Jesus gives is a living bar of reality and power.

COMMUNION - THE BREAKING OF BREAD - 3rd Visible Bar

Thirdly, they continued in the breaking of bread. In other words, they continued to shew forth the LORD’s death. The communion that the LORD has placed in His church was meant to be a strong bar to unite the believers, and in this manner add to the strength of the building. How can we come to the communion table and take the bread and the wine that represents the flesh and the blood of the LORD Jesus Christ, and of His great sacrifice without being moved in passion and desire to follow after Him in the Crucified Way, to follow after Him in His great sacrifice of giving up Himself for others? This time of communion was meant to be a time of judging ourselves and putting off the flesh and putting on the Christ. If this bar were truly observed in the Spirit, how much it would do to bring unity, strength, and power to each individual church! If we were busy judging our own selves instead of the other person, how much more would the bar of the communion serve to bring the building of the LORD into better unity and harmony! This is another of Satan’s great weapons against the church. Jesus told us to get the beam out of our own eye, and then we could see clearly about the mote in our brother’s eye. Let us make use of the bar of communion, as it were, as a place to judge ourselves, a place to remember the great sacrifice of Jesus that the Spirit of the LORD might truly move with great power in unity and harmony. When an army is unified, it becomes a terrible threat to the enemy, but when it is not unified then it is easily overcome. So it is in the great army of the LORD. Remember that the bars were for the support and strength of the building.

PRAYER - 4th Visible Bar

The fourth bar could represent the bar of prayer. This is a great and important bar for every church. Without this visible bar in her midst, she will be powerless and helpless. How subtle is the enemy who knows the reality of the power of the bar of prayer. He has come very subtly and turned the minds of God’s people to other things, in other channels, until they are without desire to pray and are blinded to the importance of prayer. In many instances, people are busy in the churches with social programs and all kinds of entertainments, and the prayer meeting has long since been forgotten. These bars are not only a type of the church as a whole, but they are also a type of the spiritual building that God is building within us as individuals. How are the bars in your spiritual building? Have you permitted the Spirit of the LORD to place them in their proper place? How is the bar of prayer in your temple? You can recognize the person who has the bar of prayer placed in his building. When the storms and the winds and the rains come, he stands, because his spiritual building has been secured with the bars of the risen Christ.

MIDDLE BAR - The Invisible Bar

As previously mentioned, the fifth bar went through the midst of the boards, or was an invisible bar piercing through each board and forming the great bar of power in holding the boards together. What a precious picture of the invisible Spirit of God that pierces every board, every believer. Though the Spirit of God is hidden from the world, still His divine presence and power are held by every board, for we know He is in our midst. What is in your midst? Jesus said, “He that believeth on me, as the scripture had said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified” (John 7:38,39).

My wonderful Saviour, ever increase the flow and the growth of the middle bar, even the Spirit of the LORD in our spiritual tabernacles.

CHAPTER VIII

THE COVERINGS OF THE TABERNACLE

Moreover thou shalt make the tabernacle with ten curtains of fine twined linen, and blue, and purple, and scarlet: with cherubims of cunning work shalt thou make them. The length of one curtain shall be eight and twenty cubits, and the breadth of one curtain four cubits: and every one of the curtains shall have one measure. The five curtains shall be coupled together one to another; and other five curtains shall be coupled one to another. And thou shalt make loops of blue upon the edge of the one curtain from the selvedge in the coupling; and likewise shalt thou make in the uttermost edge of another curtain, in the coupling of the second. Fifty loops shalt thou make in the one curtain, and fifty loops shalt thou make in the edge of the curtain that is in the coupling of the second; that the loops may take hold one of another. And thou shalt make fifty taches of gold, and couple the curtains together with the taches: and it shall be one tabernacle. And thou shalt make curtains of goats’ hair to be a covering upon the tabernacle: eleven curtains shalt thou make. The length of one curtain shall be thirty cubits, and the breadth of one curtain four cubits: and the eleven curtains shall be all of one measure. And thou shalt couple five curtains by themselves, and six curtains by themselves, and shalt double the sixth curtain in the forefront of the tabernacle. And thou shalt make fifty loops on the edge of the one curtain that is outmost in the coupling, and fifty loops in the edge of the curtain which coupleth the second. And thou shalt make fifty taches of brass, and put the taches into the loops, and couple the tent together, that it may be one. And the remnant that remaineth of the curtains of the tent, the half curtain that remaineth, shall hang over the backside of the tabernacle. And a cubit on the one side, and a cubit on the other side of that which remaineth in the length of the curtains of the tent, it shall hang over the sides of the tabernacle on this side and on that side, to cover it. And thou shalt make a covering for the tent of rams’ skins dyed red, and a covering above of badgers’ skins (Exodus 26:1-14).

And every wise hearted man among them that wrought the work of the tabernacle made ten curtains of fine twined linen, and blue, and purple, and scarlet: with cherubims of cunning work made he them. The length of one curtain was twenty and eight cubits, and the breadth of one curtain four cubits: the curtains were all of one size. And he coupled the five curtains one unto another: and the other five curtains he coupled one unto another. And he made loops of blue on the edge of one curtain from the selvedge in the coupling: likewise he made in the uttermost side of another curtain, in the coupling of the second. Fifty loops made he in one curtain, and fifty loops made he in the edge of the curtain which was in the coupling of the second: the loops held one curtain to another. And he made fifty taches of gold, and coupled the curtains one unto another with the taches: so it became one tabernacle. And he made curtains of goats’ hair for the tent over the tabernacle: eleven curtains he made them. The length of one curtain was thirty cubits, and four cubits was the breadth of one curtain: the eleven curtains were of one size. And he coupled five curtains by themselves, and six curtains by themselves. And he made fifty loops upon the uttermost edge of the curtain in the coupling, and fifty loops made he upon the edge of the curtain which coupleth the second. And he made fifty taches of brass to couple the tent together, that it might be one. And he made a covering for the tent of rams’ skins dyed red, and a covering of badgers’ skins above that (Exodus 36:8-19).

In the last chapter we studied the boards, bars, and sockets, which constituted the framework of the Tabernacle. Now, we shall study the four curtains that form the roof of this peculiar building. As mentioned previously, when God began to describe the different pieces of furniture which belonged to the Tabernacle, He began with Himself in His revelation to Moses and worked out to where man was. When we start inward, we must begin where man is and follow through to where God is in the Holy of Holies. We noticed also in the gate of the court four pillars that supported the gate and also four colors in the veil of the gate. Again, we meet the number four, which in this case is a type of the fourfold work of the Christ. All the way through the Tabernacle, we see the number of four reminding us of the fourfold work of Christ.

I.        THE REVELATION OF HIS HUMANITY (THE BADGER SKIN)

And he made a covering for the tent of rams’ skins dyed red, and a covering of badgers’ skins above that (Exodus 36:19).

I clothed thee also with broidered work, and shod thee with badgers’ skin, and I girded thee about with fine linen, and I covered thee with silk (Ezekiel 16:10).

The first covering on the outside was the badger skin, which was a revelation of the humanity of Christ. Ezekiel 16:10 is the only other reference to the badger skin. Here, we see that the badger was used for sandals. Some have thought that the badger skin came from the seal, but be that as it may, the fact that it was used for sandals reveals to us its durability and power for protection. Its color is a dark blue, dull and unattractive in appearance. To the uninformed passerby, this curtain looked like any ordinary tent of the desert without the glory, beauty, and wealth hidden beneath this drab covering. He never would have suspected that there were some 8,400 pounds of brass, 8,400 pounds of silver, 2,400 pounds of gold, and hundreds of yards of linen, or that its materials were valued at one and a half million dollars. What a picture of the humanity of Jesus Christ who came and was revealed in the flesh, the badger skin, and many never discerned the wealth of the Spirit of God that was hidden under the badger skin of the flesh! His own people; even Israel, never knew. “He came unto his own, and his own received him not” (John 1:11). They could not see the wealth of the Son of God, because their eyes were blinded with pride and unbelief. Their constant accusation of Him was, “...he ought to die, because he made himself the Son of God” (John 19:7). They stumbled at the badger skin. They were looking for a king who would come and lift them up before the world so that everyone might know that they were chosen of God. How many Christians today are stumbling at the badger skin as it were, at the humility of Christ because they are saved and filled with the Spirit? Christians think that God is going to exalt them in such a way that everyone will know that they are chosen of God. Earth is the place of humiliation, and Heaven is the place of exaltation. While in this earthly life, we are to deny ourselves daily and follow Him. We must be willing to be unattractive to the world, and in that day when He comes for His own, we shall be elevated with Him in glory. In his epistle to the Corinthian church, Paul emphasized that in that day of exaltation of the saints of God, he would be able to behold the glorified Christ in the hearts of other saints as they would be able to know the Christ in His fullness that lived in the heart of Paul. “For now we see through a glass, darkly: but then face to face: now 1 know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known” (I Corinthians 13:12).

This was part of the subtle temptation of the Devil when he came to tempt Jesus, for he wanted Jesus to pull back the badger skin and SHOW OFF the glory of the LORD underneath. The only ones who were capable of beholding the beauty and the glory on the inside of the Tabernacle were the priests who had properly prepared themselves by their offering of blood, by having on the proper garments, and by washing at the Laver, and by humbling themselves to crawl under the Veil. Jesus knew this very well, and for that reason He refused to show the Devil His glory and power. But precious one of God, if you have been washed in the Blood, have on the garment of the righteousness of Christ, and are washed at the Laver, then Jesus invites you to crawl under the veil, as it were, and behold His beauty and His glory. And yet those of you who have seen and partaken of His glory and beauty, how many times has the Devil come to tempt you to pull back the veil of the badger skin of humility and for your OWN glory or tell something that you have seen from the LORD because of a spirit of pride in your heart that wanted the other person to KNOW how much of the Christ you have tasted? Let us desire to be humble before Him and to wait for the leading of His Spirit in all our workings for HIM. Then will the Father be truly glorified! When we move or work at the motion or beckoning of our flesh, it is for self-exaltation. This was the great sin of the Devil in the beginning, and its corrupt seeds are still found in our corrupt FLESH.

The fact that the badger skin was used for sandals tells us some precious things. First, it tells of SERVICE—lowly service. What lower service could the badger skin render than to yield itself to be placed on the ground and to be WALKED upon. “Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:28). This verse tells us that Jesus came to minister and not to be ministered unto. He took upon Him the lowly badger skin of humanity and went about teaching, healing, and delivering, even though He was being constantly walked upon, as it were. Think of the humble service of your shoes. They never complain of being worn or of the heat, the cold, or the sharp things they encounter along the way.

All this is but a small picture of the humble ministry of Christ, and yet He never once opened His mouth to complain. He even washed the feet of Judas, who He knew was to betray Him. Most of us are not humble enough to wash one another’s feet, much less the feet of our enemies.

Secondly, we find the badger skin was obtained from the children of Israel as a gift to the LORD. In other words, the LORD was saying, “Give me the shoes from off your feet and trust me to take care of you.” God is asking His people to take the position of UTTER DEPENDENCE on Him. Instead of having their own independence and pride as the pivot, or center, of their being, they were to center their lives in their humble dependence on and trust in Him. According to the testimony in the book of Deuteronomy, we find that God richly rewarded this act of obedience and humility. “And I have led you forty years in the wilderness: your clothes are not waxen old upon you, and thy shoe is not waxen old upon thy foot” (Deuteronomy 29:5). We have yet to learn the atomic power stored in humility and dependence on God.

Thirdly, we find the Apostle Paul saying to put on the whole armor of God which included having the feet shod with the PREPARATION of the Gospel of peace. “And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace” (Ephesians 6:15). The preparation in the apostolic days for taking the Gospel was to tarry at Jerusalem until they were endued with the power of the Holy Ghost so that they would have power with God, and so they could please the Spirit of the LORD and have their feet shod with the BADGER SKIN of humility. We have only to look at the Apostle Peter shortly after the infilling of the Spirit of God to see that he had on the badger skin of humility. “And when Peter saw it, he answered unto the people, Ye men of Israel, why marvel ye at this? or why look ye so earnestly on us, as though by our own power or holiness we had made this man to walk?” (Acts 3:12). Oh, dear Jesus make us your humble servants clothed with your shoes of humility, that we might give you all the glory, honor, and praise forever more!

Fourthly, there is no description given as to the size or shape of the badger skin. When the Spirit of God is silent on the size and shape of anything in the Tabernacle, it seems to be a way of expressing the limitless quality or power of the particular truth. As for example, with the Laver in the Court, there was no size given, which indicated the limitless power of Christ in the daily sanctifying of the heart and soul. Could not the silence of the Spirit of God on the measurements of the curtain of badger skin speak of the LIMITLESSNESS of His humility when He came to Earth and took on Him the form of flesh? “But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men” (Philippians 2:7). My view is that the depths of His humility in leaving His glory above and coming down to Earth were so great that throughout the eternal ages to come, the Father will be revealing the mystery of His humility to us. It looks so infinitely great that it appears LIMITLESS!

II.        THE REASON FOR HIS HUMANITY (The Rams’ Skin)

And thou shalt make a covering for the tent of rams’ skins dyed red, and a covering above of badgers’ skins (Exodus 26:14).

As we look beneath the badger skin, we see the next curtain for us to understand: the story of the picture of the curtain made from rams’ skin. We must look into the Word for the use of the ram. The ram speaks of SUBSTITUTION. This was the reason that Jesus came to take on humanity, that He might give Himself to be a substitute for man and his sin. I want you to see the continual work of Christ, the Ram, as our substitute.

The first mention of a ram in sacrifice is in Genesis 22:13: “And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns: and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt-offering in the stead of his son.” The LORD told Abraham to go and offer His son, Isaac, who had been graciously and miraculously given him of God, and through whom He had promised the seed of the Messiah. Abraham obeyed God, brought Isaac, and put him on the altar, which represented all his SPIRITUAL AMBITION, all his love and affection, and all his human reason, for according to human reason, it looked as if God were making a big mistake. In other words, Abraham laid all of the channels of his heart and soul on the altar, and when God saw that he withheld nothing from Him, then God GAVE him the ram, right there in the thicket.

The ram in Scripture is used as a substitute in the CONSECRATION offerings. The main reason for Jesus’ taking on the form of humanity was that He might die and thus begin to show the sinner who comes to Him this precious truth of SUBSTITUTION. We have learned so little of this truth. When a sinner comes to Jesus, we find that Jesus comes into the heart and begins the ministry of substitution by replacing the sinner’s desire for sin and the things of the world with a desire for the things of God. Jesus paid the price of substitution on the Cross, and now as the Resurrected Christ, He comes into our hearts and begins His ministry of substitution. The word substitute means to put in a place of another. Jesus comes in our hearts and takes out the desire for sin and the world and puts instead His desire for pure and holy things. The ministry of Christ will ever operate in this way if we continue to yield and believe the necessity for daily coming to Jesus and having Him take out more and more of our natural self-life and let Him substitute His supernatural Self in its place, and also take out daily, our own natural walk and substitute for it His supernatural walk in the Spirit. How precious that when Abraham laid Isaac on the altar or laid all of his natural desires, affections, and ambitions, God revealed the ram to him, and the ram took the place of all the desires that were on the altar. The picture is too clear for us to possibly miss. When we come daily and lay our carnal flesh and mind on the altar, THEN we will find Jesus coming as the substitute to take the place of the natural self and the natural man. This is exactly what John the Baptist meant when He said “I must decrease BUT HE must increase.” The more we decrease and lay ourselves on the altar, the more He will increase.

Let us confirm further this truth in the Word of the LORD, for surely there is no other way to confirm truth. The 29th chapter of Exodus is dedicated to the preparation of the priests for ministry in the Tabernacle of the LORD. There were three offerings that had to be offered. First was the sin-offering, a bullock. The other two offerings, offerings of consecration, were rams. Secondly, there was the whole burnt-offering, which speaks of Christ who came to be our substitute and presented Himself to the LORD for a whole burnt-offering, which was a SWEET SMELLING savour in the nostrils of God. Later, we shall discuss these offerings at length, but here, we only want to clarify the point of substitution. If we turn the reins of our hearts and souls over to Christ, He will come and take His place as the Sanctifier or the whole burnt-offering. Immediately, when we lay the reins on the altar with all our desires of controlling our own lives and doing what we want to do, then Christ will reveal the Ram of Sanctification to take the place of these things, and He will continue to work every day through our taking out more and more of the natural man and substituting the supernatural man, Christ Jesus, so that we will be a sweet smelling savour in the nostrils of God, so that through Him, we who were vile with the stench of sin and rebellion can be a sweet savour in the nostrils of God. Thirdly, this sacrifice in the 29th chapter of Exodus takes us deeper yet into the ministry of the Ram, the Substitute.

The blood of the second ram was offered in a different way and speaks to us of other truths that God would have us know. The blood from this ram was placed on the right ear, right thumb, and right toe of the priest. Jesus wants to be the substitute for all our hearing. He wants to walk with us and teach us so that we may learn to lay our ears on the altar and let Him become the substitute to take the place of all the things that the Devil would tell us to bring discouragement, unbelief, fear, and strife. He does not want our ears to be garbage pails for the Devil or people, but He wants to take out the garbage with its foul smell and substitute Himself in its place. It is only as we go on with the LORD and have the conscience, which is the nose of our soul, sharpened by the Word and the Spirit that we will be able to discern the Devil’s garbage. Sometimes, he brings us a pretty package and labels it IMPORTED PERFUME, and we believe him. Let Christ discern the garbage and then become the substitute with the perfume of the Rose of Sharon and the Lily of the Valley.

Likewise, the blood was placed on the hand. This speaks of service. So much of our service is self-directed and comes from the carnal mind. These priests who had the blood placed on their hands spent much time in the secret place, the Holy Place of communion with God. Sometimes, we think that the more we run, the more we are serving the Lord, but on the contrary when we have laid our service for God on the altar and let Christ enter with His ministry of substitution, He will direct us to the Secret Place and the Holy Place with real heart communion. Then, when we come forth to serve Him, people will see and know that we have been with Jesus.

The blood of the ram of substitution was also put on the feet. This speaks to us of our walk. How Jesus wants to take our walk and substitute for it His walk. How we walk in pride, in attitudes, dispositions, and spirits, which are unlike Christ. He wants to be our ram of substitution for all these things. Let us pray for an increase in His ministry of substitution within us. Ever increase thy ministry of substitution in our hearts, substitute thy lovely self which is beautiful and holy for our miserable weak flesh. Remember, this was the reason for His humanity. He came to die that He might be our SUBSTITUTE.

III.

THE RESULT OF HIS HUMANITY (The Goats’ Hair)

And thou shalt make curtains of goats’ hair to be a covering upon the tabernacle: eleven curtains shalt thou make. The length of one curtain shall be thirty cubits, and the breadth of one curtain four cubits: and the eleven curtains shall be all of one measure. And thou shalt couple five curtains by themselves and six curtains by themselves, and shalt double the sixth curtain in the forefront of the tabernacle. And thou shalt make fifty loops on the edge of the one curtain that is outmost in the coupling, and fifty loops in the edge of the curtain which coupleth the second. And thou shalt make fifty taches of brass, and put the taches into the loops, and couple the tent together, that it may be one. And the remnant that remaineth of the curtains of the tent, the half curtain that remaineth, shall hang over the backside of the tabernacle. And a cubit on the one side, and a cubit on the other side of that which remaineth in the length of the curtains of the tent, it shall hang over the sides of the tabernacle on this side and on that side, to cover it (Exodus 26:7-13).

The third curtain, looking from the outside toward the inside was made of goat’s hair. It is said of the goats of the East that they grew beautiful long silken hair which was woven into beautiful material. This curtain was pure white and speaks of the results of the humanity of Christ which was righteousness for all who believe. There were to be eleven of these curtains. Eleven is made up of the number five and six, five being the grace of God and six the number of man. This speaks to us of the grace of God that was manifested in the man Christ Jesus. John said the law came by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.

The curtains were to be thirty cubits in length and four cubits in breadth. Thirty speaks to us again of the numbers five and six; in other words, 5 x 6 is thirty. This curtain witnesses of the truth of the results of the humanity and sacrifice of Jesus Christ. The four cubits in width speak to us of the earth, for four is the number of the earth. The man Christ Jesus was sent to the earth to manifest the grace and the righteousness of God by giving His own pure and holy life for sinners. Five of the curtains were to be coupled together, and then six were to be coupled together and the sixth curtain was to be doubled in front of the door of the tabernacle. This sixth curtain speaks to us of the number of man and in this instance, the man Christ Jesus who secured for us the double portion of righteousness through His DEATH and His RESURRECTION. Jesus is the door. As we come through the door of the tabernacle, we are reminded of Jesus who was our double portion of righteousness. We have this picture clarified through the offering of the two goats in the book of Leviticus.

And he shall take the two goats, and present them before the LORD at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. And Aaron shall cast lots upon the two goats; one lot for the LORD, and the other lot for the scapegoat. And Aaron shall bring the goat upon which the LORD’s lot fell, and offer him for a sin-offering. But the goat on which the lot fell to be the scapegoat, shall be presented alive before the LORD, to make an atonement with him, and to let him go for a scapegoat into the wilderness (Leviticus 16:7-10).

The first goat was to be offered as a sacrifice for sin, a type of the DEATH of the LORD Jesus Christ or a picture of the sixth curtain going down to make the first fold before the door. Then we see in the second goat a picture of the Resurrected Christ arising and bearing away sin or the sixth curtain continuing upward again to make the double fold in the curtain, or the double portion of righteousness that is imparted to us through the FORGIVENESS and the FORGETFULNESS of sin. “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). How precious to be greeted with this wonderful truth at the door of the Tabernacle and then to look and see that the beautiful white goats’ hair curtain not only made a double covering for the door, but also continued over the whole Tabernacle so that when the priest went in to minister, they were seen by God as being completely covered on every side by the white curtain, or the righteousness of Jesus Christ.

In Isaiah 38:17 we see the double fold of the curtain, as it were. “Behold, for peace I had great bitterness: but thou hast in love to my soul (forgiveness) delivered it from the pit of corruption: for thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back (forgetfulness).” Again in Isaiah 44:22 “I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions, and as a cloud, thy sins: (forgetfulness) return unto me; for I have redeemed thee (forgiveness).” Psalm 103:12 states, “As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us (forgiveness and forgetfulness).” No one could obtain this result from the sacrifice and death except the LORD Jesus Christ.

There is another precious thought here about the white curtain. The section of five curtains was to be joined to the section with the six curtains. The joining was to be accomplished with fifty loops on the one section and fifty loops on the other section, and these loops were to be coupled together with BRASS taches. Fifty is the number of Pentecost or the descent of the Spirit of God. In other words, it was the work of the Holy Ghost to take the Word of God, the Grace of God, or the section of five curtains and join them to the section of the six curtains. This joining could not be accomplished without the aid of the fifty brass taches, which we have learned was the message of judgment. Even the little brass taches constituted a picture of Jesus, who became the tache, the mediator whereby man (number six) could be joined to the grace of God (number five). How glorious to have this covering on our spiritual tabernacles, to be covered with the purity and the righteousness of the Christ, and enjoy the double curtain of FORGIVENESS and FORGETFULNESS over the door of our hearts. “For he hath made him to he sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him” (II Corinthians 5:21). “For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich” (II Corinthians 8:9).

IV.

THE GLORIFICATION OF HIS HUMANITY

Moreover thou shalt make the tabernacle with ten curtains of fine twined linen, and blue, and purple, and scarlet: with cherubims of cunning work shalt thou make them. The length of one curtain shall be eight and twenty cubits, and the breadth of one curtain four cubits: and every one of the curtains shall have one measure. The five curtains shall be coupled together one to another; and other five curtains shall be coupled one to another. And thou shalt make loops of blue upon the edge of the one curtain from the selvedge in the coupling; and likewise shalt thou make in the uttermost edge of another curtain, in the coupling of the second. Fifty loops shalt thou make in the one curtain, and fifty loops shalt thou make in the edge of the curtain that is in the coupling of the second; that the loops may take hold one of another. And thou shalt make fifty taches of gold, and couple the curtains together with the taches: and it shall be one tabernacle (Exodus 26:1-6).

“Fine twined linen, blue, purple, scarlet; with cherubims,” now we have come to the study of the last curtain, which formed a covering for the inside of the Holy Place and the Most Holy Place. We have already been introduced to the fine twined linen as a type of the righteousness of Jesus Christ; also to the blue, which told us of the ONE, even Jesus, who came from heaven, leaving His heavenly home to come down to Earth and dwell in poverty and humility so that He might redeem us from the hand of the enemy; and also, to the purple, which speaks to us of the Resurrected Christ with His royal power and authority; to the scarlet, which speaks to us of His sacrifice, of Jesus, who was made a worm, made sin for us that we might know His righteousness, and now we want to speak of the cherubims that make this curtain different from all the rest. The cherubims paint us a picture of Jesus Christ. Often, people confuse the cherubims with the seraphims, which were different and had a different ministry. The seraphims were described in the following passages: “Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly” (Isaiah 6:2).

And before the throne there was a sea of glass like unto crystal: and in the midst of the throne, and round about the throne, were four beasts full of eyes before and behind. And the first beast was like a lion, and the second beast like a calf, and the third beast had a face as a man, and the fourth beast was like a flying eagle. And the four beasts had each one of them six wings about him; and they were full of eyes within: and they rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come (Revelation 4:6-8).

The seraphims were represented as being before the throne, and they rested not day or night, but magnified the holiness of the Godhead, saying, “Holy, holy, holy.” They are also represented as being instruments of God to carry the sanctifying fire from off the altar in heaven, as in the case of Isaiah.

In the first chapter of Ezekiel, we have a most vivid picture of the description and ministry of the cherubims. The cherubims were the living creatures that rode on the wheels of God’s chariot. The ministry of this war chariot of God was to defend the righteousness and holiness of God against SIN. In the garden of Eden after man had sinned and God cast him out, He sent His cherubims, or His chariot, there with flaming sword to GUARD the tree of life against sinful man. A careful study of the Word discloses that the ministry of the cherubims was always to defend against sin. The cherubims placed over the Ark of the Covenant were there to protect the righteousness and holiness of the law so that the only way sinful man could even dare approach the presence of God in the Holy of Holies was through the blood.

Once when Uzzah put forth his sinful hand to steady the ark when they were bringing it up to Jerusalem, the cherubims, as it were, reached out and slew him, for the cherubims represented the war chariot of Jehovah that wars against sin and kills all who would approach without a covering of blood.

And when they came to Nachon’s threshingfloor, Uzzah put forth his hand to the ark of God, and took hold of it: for the oxen shook it. And the anger of the LORD was kindled against Uzzah; and God smote him there for his error; and there he died by the ark of God (II Samuel 6:6,7).

And he smote the men of Bethshemesh, because they had looked into the ark of the LORD, even he smote of the people fifty thousand and threescore and ten men: and the people lamented, because the LORD had smitten many of the people with a great slaughter (I Samuel 6:19).

Here, we find God declaring war, as the cherubims on the ark acted as symbols of the war chariot of God to defend the holiness and righteousness of God by slaying many thousands of SINFUL people who dared look into the ark without the covering of the blood. So the presence of the cherubims on the curtains was to remind the priests that every time they approached the Holy Place or the Most Holy Place, they were to come carefully and reverently with the blood. The Word declares that no sin can enter heaven, for Jesus will be standing there to judge and see whether we have had the covering of the blood. “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” (Hebrews 10:19,20). This is the reason we are encouraged to enter the holiest place, the very throne room of God, with boldness and without fear of the war chariots of God when we enter with the Blood of Jesus. How we should value the Blood of Jesus Christ! How we should become more and more grateful as Christians for the precious Blood that we might grow in grace and knowledge of HIM, until, as we stand in His presence, we might do so with the consciousness that we are standing there because of the BLOOD, that we are safe from the wrath of God’s war chariot because we have the Blood!

We see the reality of this truth in Nadab and Abihu who failed to heed the message of the cherubims on the curtains, of God’s war chariot that was constantly bearing vigilance against sinful man who would try to enter the Holy Place of God without the blood. Nadab and Abihu not only brought strange fire to the Holy Place, but also they came without the BLOOD, and immediately the war chariot of God, as it were, went into action, and they were slain. “And Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took either of them his censer, and put fire therein, and put incense thereon, and offered strange fire before the LORD, which he commanded them not. And there went out fire from the LORD, and devoured them, and they died before the LORD” (Leviticus 10:1,2). Who can stand before Him, or who can declare war with Him and survive?

In the eighth chapter of Ezekiel, we have the record of what God saw going on in His holy temple, how the elders, priests, and people were profaning the temple of God, and this is the reason for the appearance of the cherubims on the war chariots of God in chapter one. God had come down to visit vengeance on this people and to declare war on their sin. There, the cherubims were a type, a picture, of Jesus Christ, who will come one day as the war chariot to declare war and vengeance on sinners.

And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power (II Thessalonians 1:7-9).

And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself. And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God. And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS (Revelation 19:11-16).

The appearance of the cherubims gives us a precious picture of the nature of God’s chariot.

Also out of the midst thereof came the likeness of four living creatures. And this was their appearance; they had the likeness of a man. And every one had four faces, and every one had four wings. And their feet were straight feet; and the sole of their feet was like the sole of a calf’s foot: and they sparkled like the colour of burnished brass. And they had the hands of a man under their wings on their four sides; and they four had their faces and their wings. Their wings were joined one to another; they turned not when they went; they went every one straight forward. As for the likeness of their faces, they four had the face of a man, and the face of a lion on the right side: and they four had the face of an ox on the left side; they four also had the face of an eagle (Ezekiel 1:5-10).

They were like unto a man who speaks of knowledge and intelligence. Man was the one endowed with intelligence. The appearance of these cherubims represented the all-wise and all-knowing Christ, and we are told that in Him are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. This was a picture of His OMNISCIENCE. Since the chariot of God was to guard His holiness and His righteousness, then there would have to accompany it the nature of omniscience, or the nature of one who knows all. The Word declares that all things are NAKED and open unto the eyes of Him with whom we have to do. “Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do” (Hebrews 4:13). The presence of the cherubims on the walls and ceilings of the Holy Place and of the Holy of Holies was a constant reminder to those who entered that Jesus, as a mighty warrior, knows all and therefore would cause the priests to enter with sincerity and honesty of heart. Frequently, people want to cover up their sins or refuse to see the sins of their dispositions and attitudes; but Jesus is ever present, and He knows and is ready to declare war on all sin. Let us seek to know Jesus Christ as the mighty war chariot that will declare war on the sins of our flesh and carnal minds so that we might have them slain and put to death and live victoriously in Him.

Each cherubim had a face like unto a lion. The lion speaks of the king of beasts or of the power of God, of His OMNIPOTENCE. Jesus declared, “And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, “All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth” (Matthew 28:18). Please bear in mind the nature of God’s chariot, and then when we get to the wings, our hearts will truly be lifted up in praise to Him who is the King of kings and LORD of lords!

The presence of the cherubims on the fourth curtain, or the innermost curtain, that hung in the Holy Place was a type or picture of the mighty power of Jesus Christ, for He has all power, and there is nothing that can stand before Him or make war with Him. How precious when the priest came inside the Tabernacle to be constantly reminded of His power and that all the POWER and the GLORY belonged to Him. Sometimes, when servants of the LORD have met with great spiritual success in their ministries, they become too busy in their service to spend SUFFICIENT time in the Holy Place; they lose sight of the fact that ALL power is of the Lord. They sometimes think that they have power of their own. How necessary it is that we spend sufficient time in the sanctuary that we might always be conscious literally of the POWER in Jesus Christ. Then, we, too, are reminded of His power that could give us constant victory over the world, the flesh, and the Devil. The battle is not ours but the Lord’s. We have not the power to overcome the world, the flesh, or the Devil, but as we live in the sanctuary of life and behold the cherubims on the walls that tell of His Almighty Power, we shall find faith growing to enable us to lay hold of this power for deliverance from evil things.

The cherubims had the face of the ox on the left side. The ox speaks of service. As has been said, four is the number of the earth. This tells us of the ministry of God’s chariot upon the earth, or of the LORD Jesus Christ who is the Chariot of God to carry out His divine purpose and will upon the earth. Every time the priest came into the Tabernacle, he would be reminded of the strength of His service by the face of the ox on the left side of the cherubim. Jesus wants to serve us and to minister in our tabernacles, but we must come and wait before Him. Sometimes, it is easy for us servants of God to feel tired in the service of the LORD. This is a good signal that we need to wait in the sanctuary for the renewed vision that the service, the ministry, is the LORD’s, not ours. We are just a channel through which God’s war chariot of service would like to pass through.

The cherubims had a face like unto an eagle. The eagle is a type of the OMNIPRESENCE of God. The eagle has remarkable eyesight and can see a great distance while in the air. As he soars through the air, he can spot animals and particularly serpents on the ground. In this, we see the picture of the eyes of the LORD that run to and fro throughout the whole earth showing Himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward Him. (II Chronicles 16:9).

One of the faces of the cherubims was like unto a man picturing to us the humanity of Jesus Christ. How wonderful to know that we have a resurrected high priest with the face of a man who is able to see and know the infirmities of man! “Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin” (Hebrews 4:14,15).

The cherubims represented the glorified, Resurrected Christ with all His power of deity. What a reminder for the priest every time he would enter the tabernacle! This reminder would serve as a warning as well as an encouragement; a warning that God was always present and ready to declare war on sin, and an encouragement that God was an ever present help in the time of trouble. What ecstasy of the soul which has been grounded in the reality of the omnipresence of the war chariot of God! This soul does not live by feelings, for it makes little difference whether the feelings are up or down as long as the anchor is grounded in the reality of the omnipresence of Christ. From these four faces we also see that the Chariot of God has all power in every realm of creation: the lion speaking of the wild animals; the ox of the tame animals; the eagle of the birds; and the man of mankind.

“The appearance of the wheels and their work was like unto the colour of a beryl: and they four had one likeness: and their appearance and their work was as it were a wheel in the middle of a wheel” (Ezekiel 1:16). From this passage of Scripture, we see that there were four wheels to God’s chariot and their appearance was the color of beryl. The word beryl in the Hebrew means to test or try to investigate. This stone belonged to the tribe of Dan whose name also means to judge. Here, God was giving Ezekiel a vision of His own war chariot that had come to investigate and judge the sin of Israel.

Here is a picture of the Trinity of God—the oneness of God pictured in the wheels of the Chariot. As Ezekiel looked at the wheel and observed the turning of the axle in the middle of the center of the wheel, it had the appearance of a wheel within a wheel, or a wheel turning inside of a wheel. God the Father is the axle, and the Son turns in perfect harmony around the Father. The Spirit of the living creatures was declared to be in the wheel or in the Spirit of God, so we see Father, Son, and Holy Ghost manifested through the picture of the wheel. Jesus prayed that we might be one with the Father as He was one with the Father, that we might let God become the axle, the pivot, that our wills might revolve around the pivot of God, of Christ, even as the wheel revolves around the axle.

It is the axle that guides the wheel and turns it to the right or to the left. How God wants us to crucify the self that always wants to rob God of His place as the axle, the Director. How God can make a war chariot out of us against sin and Satan IF we let Him become to us the axl,e and we let Him bend our wills around Him in subjection to Him that He might make a wheel out of our wills to guide and turn us after His own good pleasure and will. As we allow His Spirit of Life to permeate the wheels of our being, we can truly go forward in the battle to accomplish that which He has chosen for us to accomplish.

“Whithersoever the spirit was to go, they went, thither was their spirit to go; and the wheels were lifted up over against them: for the spirit of the living creature was in the wheels” (Ezekiel 1:20). From this passage we find the life of the creatures did not come from themselves, but from the wheels on which they rode. These wheels speak of force or movement of life which is none other than the very life or movement of God. “Thus were their faces: and their wings were stretched upward; two wings of every one were joined one to another, and two covered their bodies” (Ezekiel 1:11). In this passage we see that as each living creature stretched forth two of his wings touching or joining himself to the other living creatures on each side of Him and in this manner they were all joined together forming the body part of the chariot.

And above the firmament that was over their heads was the likeness of a throne, as the appearance of a sapphire stone: and upon the likeness of the throne was the likeness as the appearance of a man above upon it. And I saw as the colour of amber, as the appearance of fire round about within it, from the appearance of his loins even upward, and from the appearance of his loins even downward, I saw as it were the appearance of fire, and it had brightness round about. As the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud in the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness round about. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD. And when I saw it, I fell upon my face, and I heard a voice of one that spake (Ezekiel 1:26-28).

Here, we see the one who was riding in the chariot. The picture is exactly the same as on the Ark of the Covenant. The cherubims rested on each end of the covenant and above them dwelled the Shekinah Glory of God or the very Spirit of God. It is precious indeed that every time the priest came into the Holy Place and beheld the cherubims on the walls and ceilings that he was reminded that just beyond or ahead was the Shekinah Glory of the Almighty. This thought must have caused him to walk softly for fear of grieving the very presence of God. Jesus would like to teach His children to walk softly before Him for fear of grieving His precious Spirit.

And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you (Ephesians 4:30-32).

There is also a precious thought in the wings of the cherubims. Wings of a bird are used for two different reasons:

A. FOR TRANSPORTATION

God says that He has borne His people on eagle wings. “Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles’ wings, and brought you unto myself (Exodus 19:4). In other words, God transported Israel from Egypt to the land of Canaan by the power of His wings. Let us remember when we come into the Tabernacle of God, that Jesus is the divine Wings that can transport us along the way of holiness. Only the Spirit of God can show us how great and real is this truth. The hearts of the priests must have leaped with joy at the constant reminder of the wings of the cherubims, for surely they would remember how that God had truly borne them along with His wings. We see the mighty chariot of God going before the children of Israel, and nothing could stand before them. Nor can anything stand before us in moving on with God if we have unreservedly joined ourselves to His chariot. In Isaiah 40:31 we read, “But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.” Here is the promise that if we wait on the LORD we will mount up with eagle wings. Why? The idea is simply that when we take a trip by bus or train we always get the instructions from the station manager and then wait for the bus or train to come. We are told that God’s station is in the Holy Place, so to speak. Just as sure as we follow instructions and wait there, we will find our souls mounting up into the heavenlies with Christ Jesus, for the Chariot of God will be there to take us up and reveal more and more of our precious LORD Jesus Christ.

B. FOR DEFENSE

The wings of the bird have been given also for defense. This I know well by experience. When I was a small child, I used to take great delight in jumping on my mother’s small chickens that had just been hatched. My mother warned me that some day the old hen would really get me for bothering her chickens. So one day when I was starting to jump on one of the little chickens, the old hen came, flogged me, and gave me a real lashing with her wings. Never did I jump on any more little chickens. This is a picture of how the war chariot of God with the wings of the cherubims will defend all who take refuge under the shadow thereof. This is the reason for the many promises in the Word of the Lord, inviting us to take refuge under the shadow of His wings, for He is thoroughly capable of fighting the battle for us.

Be merciful unto me, 0 God, be merciful unto me: for my soul trusteth in thee: yea, in the shadow of thy wings will I make my refuge, until these calamities be overpast (Psalm 57:1).

Because thou hast been my help, therefore in the shadow of thy wings will I rejoice (Psalm 63:7).

Keep me as the apple of the eye, hide me under the shadow of thy wings (Psalm 17:8).

How excellent is thy lovingkindness, 0 God! therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of thy wings (Psalm 36:7).

I will abide in thy tabernacle for ever: I will trust in the covert of thy wings. Selah (Psalm 61:4).

When the priest came into the Holy Place, he was reminded of the glorified Christ through the wings of the cherubims, of His power to defend all those who take refuge and shelter. In the 91st Psalm we read, “He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty” (Psalm 91:1). If we will abide more and more in the SECRET place or the Holy Place, we will find the restful shadows of God’s mighty war chariot overshadowing us and there every fear and doubt will have to flee as we take solace under His shadow. What a message the cherubims must have preached, as it were, every time the priest came into the Holy Place, of the Chariot of God that was full of all wisdom, all knowledge, and that had all power that was ever present and ready to serve in transportation or defense, always defending the righteousness and holiness of God against SIN and always defending the ones who took shelter through the BLOOD, under its shadows! Precious it is when we need deliverance and defense against sin, sickness, and heartaches to come to the sanctuary and have the Spirit of God quicken the reality of Jesus Christ as our mighty warrior to fight our battles in His glorious and powerful chariot. This is truly an experience that will make us leap for joy as David danced for joy when he brought the Ark of the Covenant, which had also the cherubims on it. No doubt, in the Spirit, David could see by faith the victory that would come by having the Chariot of God in their midst again. Jesus is the resurrected and glorified Chariot who can deliver and fight all our battles.

May the LORD cause the truth of these four curtains to grow in our spiritual tabernacles until we are completely covered with the reality and experience of their message to us. When we hear Jesus speaking to John in Revelation we know that He is the Living War Chariot that has ridden triumphantly over death and hell and has captured the keys to their dominions, and as such is qualified to fight against sin, to defend against sin and to take us on in a deeper walk with Him. “I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death” (Revelation 1:18). LORD Jesus, ever increase the reality of these truths to our hearts!

Now the linen curtains of blue, purple, and scarlet with the cherubims were ten in number. Ten is the legal number. These curtains represented the beauty, glory, and power that legally belonged to the LORD Jesus Christ. The curtains were to be sewed into different groups of five each, and then the two groups coupled together. We learned that five was the number of grace, so here we see a double portion of grace manifested in the LORD Jesus Christ. John said, “For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ” (John 1:17). These two groups of curtains were to be joined together with fifty loops of blue sewed on each group, and then the fifty taches or pins of gold were to be inserted in the loops of blue thereby joining the two groups so that they formed ONE TABERNACLE. As already mentioned, fifty is the number of Pentecost. The blue loops from a picture of the heavenly Spirit of God forming grace and truth in the person of Jesus. The gold speaks of the deity of the LORD Jesus Christ or His divine nature; in other words, through the divine nature of the eternal Spirit of God, GRACE and TRUTH were formed in the person of JESUS so that He became ONE Tabernacle for the God head here on Earth. This same Jesus, resurrected, glorified, and seated at the right hand of the Father, is, as it were, the inner curtain of the throne room of heaven.

The cherubims were formed in the curtains by cunning work or very fine needlework. Needlework speaks of pricking, piercing, or suffering. Jesus suffered the pricking of the thorns, the piercing of the nails and the spear. This inner curtain surely speaks of the glorified Christ and presents an important message to those who are called to follow in His footsteps. Paul said, if we suffer with Him, we shall also reign with Him. Let us be patient in enduring the pricking and piercing of persecutions, testings, and trials, for they are only the needlework, the cunning work to weave in our spiritual tabernacle, the cherubims, the mighty war power of Christ that we might be as mighty warriors riding on the chariots of His power overcoming the world, the flesh, and the Devil.

The purpose of making these curtains and then joining them together was that they might form ONE TABERNACLE. There is ONE Resurrected Christ, and the purpose of the death, burial, and resurrection of this Jesus was that He might form ONE tabernacle in and through Himself. Jesus said, “I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture” (John 10:9). “I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine” (John 10:14). Jesus is saying that there is ONE fold and ONE shepherd. Not only does Jesus Christ want to take every believer and join them together in Himself, but the resurrected and glorified Christ wants to be ONE with you in your own personal spiritual tabernacle. This was the main theme of the prayer of Jesus in the 17th chapter of John.

Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; That they all may be one; as thou Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me (John 17:20,21).

Jesus was holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, as a man according to the flesh. The entire depths of His being in the natural, or the entirety of His spirit, soul, and body was in unison, in oneness with the divine Spirit and nature that was in Him, so that He could say that He did not please HIMSELF; He did not do His OWN will, but He pleased the eternal Father who was in Him, “For such an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens” (Hebrews 7:26). This is the great plan and purpose of the Resurrected Christ, to bring man into the same unity and fellowship that he enjoyed with the Father.

Jesus desires to unearth the depths of our own spirits, souls, and bodies that we might be brought into this great unity, that we might put off the old man as he is unearthed, as he is revealed and that we might put on the new man, and that our whole beings might be infused with the Spirit and the mind of God. How many of us recognize certain weaknesses, errors, and sins that we have not yet put off, but how about the ones we are not even conscious of, the ones that others can see, and we cannot see. How about the ones that others cannot see, we cannot see, but God sees? Let us cry, as David did, for God to reveal unto us the hidden errors and sins to the end that we might grow in grace and knowledge of Him and in so doing grow in the UNITY, the ONENESS that Jesus prayed for and interceded with God for us. This was the prize that the Apostle Paul was pressing on to in Philippians, the prize of being brought into complete ONENESS with the Christ. “I press toward the mark for the PRIZE of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:14). Paul said in Corinthians that in this present body, he saw in part and knew in part but one day he would see face to face and would know even as he also is known. “For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known” (I Corinthians 13:12). May we press on to deeper depths and greater heights of the UNITY, the ONENESS with Christ Jesus!

CHAPTER IX

THE DOOR TO THE TABERNACLE

And thou shalt make an hanging for the door of the tent, of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen, wrought with needlework. And thou shalt make for the hanging five pillars of shittim wood, and overlay them with gold, and their hooks shall be of gold: and thou shalt cast five sockets of brass for them (Exodus 26:36,37).

And he made an hanging for the tabernacle door of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen and needlework: And the five pillars of it with their hooks: and he overlaid their chapiters and their fillets with gold: but their five sockets were of brass (Exodus 36:37,38).

I.

ONE DOOR

There were three doors or hangings in connection with the court and the Tabernacle. Jesus declares Himself to be all three in John 14:6: “I am THE WAY, THE TRUTH, AND THE LIFE: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” Jesus is the three doors in ONE. In the court there was ONE gate, or one door, or hanging, and here we saw Jesus as the one WAY, or entrance by which man could come to the Brazen Altar and find forgiveness for his sins through the BLOOD. Now we come to the Tabernacle, and we find ONE door, or one entrance to the Holy Place. Here Jesus is portrayed as the door of TRUTH whereby the children of God may grow in grace and knowledge of HIM. The third door or opening that was found in the Tabernacle was to the Holy of Holies or the second room of the Tabernacle, and also to this second room, was only one door. Here, we shall see Jesus as the LIFE. There is only one door for the sinner; there is only one door for the Christian, and that is JESUS. “I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find PASTURE” (John 10:9).

II.

FOR THE PRIEST

This door, unlike the door of the court which admitted sinners, was only for the priests of God. After they had prepared themselves at the Altar and the Laver, they then had freedom to pass through the door of the Tabernacle. Just as the things of the court were hidden from those on the outside, so also the things of the Tabernacle were hidden to those in the court. This shows how God has hidden in Christ Jesus the treasures of wisdom, truth, and knowledge. It is only as we prepare ourselves by the Blood and the water of the Laver and wait upon Him, that the hidden things are revealed to us. There is a promise of this in Revelation 2:17, “He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it.”

Every born again believer is a priest of God and as such has the privilege to partake of the hidden things of Jesus Christ. “And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen” (Revelation 1:6). Nowhere else in the Bible is the measure of the stature of Christ Jesus portrayed clearer than it is in the Old Testament Tabernacle. This portrayal is for the benefit of the priests that they might have knowledge and vision to press on in Him, to the end that they be transformed into the image of Christ.

In the court we saw the Brazen Altar with its blood, typical of the beginning of the experience of the believer, or the feet and the legs representing the stature of Christ. Also, in the court we saw the Laver for washing and cleansing of the hands and feet, or the bowel section of natural man—the organs for cleansing of the body. The natural typifies the spiritual, for the handiwork of God in the natural is a type of the handiwork of God in the spiritual. It is the coordination and operation of the lower part of the body to keep the body cleansed and healthy. So in the spiritual, it is in the Water of the Word that we find Christ, even His sanctifying waters that keep us in life and in health spiritually.

Now we come to the door of the Tabernacle that opens the way for the revelation of the stature of Christ in a fuller way. For on the other side of this door, was the heart, the arms, the shoulders of the Christ. The scene of the Altar of Incense, the Candlestick, and the Table of Shewbread lay on the other side of the door. In the natural, the support of the whole body rests on the feet and the legs. So in the spiritual, the whole foundation rests on the feet and the legs or on the Blood of Jesus, or the Brazen Altar, and the Water of the Laver. Then, since this door to the Tabernacle is the door of Truth for the priest to lead the people into a deeper and higher revelation of Christ, it is of utmost importance to study and learn the message that it has for us as priests of God.

III.

THE PILLARS

A. THEIR NUMBERS

To the reasoning of the natural mind, it would seem as though God had made a mistake here. How strange that this NARROWER and HIGHER door should have more pillars for support than the gate, i.e. the door, of the court. But God makes no mistakes. This door to the Tabernacle was to have five pillars instead of four, like the gate to the court. The four pillars at the gate spoke of the revelation of Christ in the FOUR gospels, or the four points of the Cross, as the way for sinners to approach to the Altar of Blood. It is in the Gospel that we have the revelation of Jesus’ coming to the earth and dying for us, taking our place on the Cross, and through Him we find the approach to His Blood that cleanses from sin.

But it is through the FIVE writers of the epistles that we find Jesus revealed as the TRUTH that can gird the five channels of our spirit, soul, and body. In these five pillars here, we see that Jesus is the Truth, and as the TRUTH, He is sufficient for every channel of our mind, spirit, and body. There are five channels of the spirit of man: Faith, Prayer, Hope, Reverence and Worship. These are the five senses of the spirit of man, and because God made man for HIMSELF in the beginning, He endowed him with these senses of the Spirit so that he might commune with God. But when man sinned and was separated from God, he began to use these senses of his spirit for other gods. From the epistles we learn that the sufficiency of Christ as the TRUTH can gird these senses and bring them into ONENESS of relationship again with God, thereby restoring the paradise in the human spirit that Adam male and female lost through the fall. Man needs five pillars of the TRUTH of Jesus Christ girded on the channels of his spirit before he can enter the HOLY PLACE with God.

Moreover, these five pillars that support the door of TRUTH are sufficient for the five senses of the soul: Imagination, Reason, Conscience, Memory, Affection. This was God’s provided way for the priest into the Holy Place of the Tabernacle, and this is the ONLY way that we can come into the Holy Place of God—to have our minds girded with the truth of Jesus, and let Him stand there like the five mighty pillars to keep OUR spirit anchored in His. How easily our spirits can get out of the mood to worship God! How quickly our minds can be diverted to other channels! As priests of God, we need to grow in this great truth of Jesus Christ.

Until we pass through this door and know the reality of submitting our minds and spirits for His girding, we shall never experience much of the reigning power of the shoulders, nor of the heart of love manifested inside through the pictures of the Altar of Incense, the Candlestick, or the Table of Shewbread. Our battle is not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers, and therefore we need the five pillars of truth girded on the channels of our spirits, for it is here that the Devil is waging his warfare. “Wherefore take unto you, the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having your LOINS girt about with TRUTH, and having on the breastplate of righteousness” (Ephesians 6:13,14). “Wherefore gird up the LOINS of your mind” (I Peter 1:13).

In Ephesians Paul exhorts us to gird up the loins with TRUTH, and in I Peter we are told where the loins are. Jesus said that the KINGDOM of God is within; therefore, the battle ground is within us. Jesus is the door of TRUTH ,who can gird up the loins of our spirits and our minds like a mighty pillar so that the Devil is powerless to keep the priest of God from the Holy Place or advancing in the measure of the stature of Christ, if He desires to move on to higher ground.

It is easy to see why the LORD wanted FIVE pillars at this door instead of four, for it was the TRUTH that He wanted to reveal through these five pillars. It is most worthy to note again that this door was NARROWER and HIGHER. As we progress with Jesus in the TRUTH in the Epistles, we find our vision becoming NARROWER and HIGHER; narrower because of the girding of His truth upon our spirits and our minds, and higher because as our minds and spirits are girded with the truth, our eyes are opened to behold a higher view of the measure of the stature of Christ. This is the probable reason that frequently Christians are seen as narrow by non-Christians. But it is gratifying that He counts us worthy to suffer for Him.

B. THEIR MATERIAL

These pillars were to be made of shittim wood and overlaid with gold. Through the Tabernacle we see the twofold nature of Jesus represented: His humanity and His resurrected life. The shittim wood speaks of His humanity overlaid with brass, or judgment, for here in the court His humanity had the preeminence. But in the Holy Place, the Resurrected Christ overlaid with the gold of glory is preeminent. But even in glory, He still has His humanity. “For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities;; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin” (Hebrews 4:15). It is indeed a great thrill to see that though pillars typify the Resurrected Christ, He is still the MAN Christ Jesus, ever ready to put the pillar of truth on our spirits for strength and support that we might progress with Him into the Holy Place.

The Word declares, “For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted” (Hebrews 2:18). How many children of God or priests of God are living yet in the court because they do not want to crucify their spirits, their minds that Jesus might become the pillar of TRUTH in their channels. Jesus expressed the principle when He said, “If any man will come after me, let him DENY HIMSELF and follow me.” If we follow the Resurrected Christ into the Holy Place, then we must mortify the members of our spirits, souls, and bodies that He might establish His pillars of truth in us.

C. THEIR SOCKETS

The five pillars were to rest in sockets of brass. When we enter the Holy Place, we are reminded of the sacrifices that the judgment of sin, Jesus, bore for us. The experience of crucifying the flesh and denying self must be’ through the Blood. The BLOOD is the foundation for every experience throughout the Tabernacle which speaks of the measure of the stature of Christ. All spiritual growth must come through the blood of Jesus Christ. We cannot build the spiritual house of the LORD inside. WE cannot build the kingdom of God within. This is HIS building and HIS kingdom and is the work of His hands. We only have to yield as clay and let the potter fashion us according to His desire and good pleasure.

Throughout eternity we shall be reminded of the brass socket or the scars of judgment that Jesus bore for us that we might enter into the glories of the Lord. “And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth” (Revelation 5:6). How thankful we should be for the way that leads into the Holy Place, the brass socket that supports the revelation of the door of TRUTH.

D. THE HANGING

The word hanging is just another word for veil. This hanging was to veil from view of the court, the Holy Place of God that contained the Altar of Incense, the Candlestick and the Table of Shew-bread. The Holy Place in the Spirit is veiled from the view of the carnal mind. With the natural or carnal mind, we can never comprehend the Holy Place. “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” (I Corinthians 2:14). This is why we must have our spirits and our minds girded with TRUTH, that the spiritual man might see and behold.

As seen previously, the hanging was to be of purple, blue, scarlet, and fine twined linen, wrought with NEEDLEWORK. Let us look at these colors in the light of the message of this door of Jesus, THE TRUTH. How Jesus wants to gird the senses of our spirits and minds with the righteousness that the fine twined linen represents. All earthly wisdom is corrupt, for it has as its motive the uplifting and the satisfaction of the flesh. But the TRUTH declares, “But the wisdom (or the truth) that is from above is first PURE, (righteous), then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy” (James 3:17).

Jesus wants to put the veil of righteous wisdom over the senses of our spirits and minds that we might have the righteous motive of pleasing Him, of fulfilling the good pleasure of His will, of lifting HIM up by showing forth His divine wisdom of humility and purity. The blue speaks of the heavenly. Jesus wants to work in the heavenly blue experience of truth that seats us in the heavenlies with Christ Jesus (Ephesians 2:6). Then, there was the purple, or the royal color, that was wrought with needlework in the veil. How Jesus wants to work this color in our spiritual veil, and the reality of the TRUTH that He is the King of kings and LORD of lords! The natural sense of reason is ever present to remind us that if we go almost all the way for Jesus or if we serve Him almost all of our time, we are ENTITLED to some time for ourselves when we can do what we want, as long as there does not appear to be anything wrong with it. We like to reserve a little right back in our spirits and our minds somewhere. We dislike the idea of being a total SLAVE or SUBJECT of King Jesus. We are unwilling to give the entire reign of our beings over to Him. Sometimes, we say that we have; sometimes we think that we have, but when through the suffering of some experience, He begins to weave the purple in our spiritual veil, there is resentment in the flesh. When we are persecuted, talked wrongfully about, we do not have the ecstasy of rejoicing and shouting and do not look on those experiences as being ordered by Him, but we murmur and complain about the hard time the Devil is giving us.

The soul that presses on and has a measure of the truth of this experience, finds a growing joy and rejoicing at the working in of the purple, the ruling and reigning power of the Christ. The flesh resents discipline; it resents someone’s else ruling over it; it rebels against the low place of a servant or a slave, and rejoices in RULING ITSELF; however, the Spirit of Jesus, the sweet grace of God, delights in being in subjection, and does not wish to use His liberty and power except when prompted to do so for the glory of God. Grace studies how she may acquire more of the purple, the ruling and reigning power of the Christ. Grace lusts against the flesh or wars against the flesh, and seeks new ways in which she can mortify it. So few of God’s children even grow to the place where they can discern between the grace of God in them and the flesh. Let us grow that we might discern the sweet grace of Jesus and take our stand with Him against the enemy of the flesh. This is the message Christ of the door of TRUTH has to offer us. We need the in-wrought work of the PURPLE in our spiritual veils.

Then, there was the scarlet color. The scarlet means to be a worm, or in some translations from the Hebrew, it means a maggot. The maggot is the lowest of all worms. We need the scarlet of His humility woven into the spiritual veil of TRUTH. How much of this VEIL has Jesus woven in your heart? How much of this particular color has Jesus wrought within? In order for Him to teach us of His humility, we must first have the truth of Him as King woven in our experience with Him. How important is this Door for us? How necessary that we tarry again and again for the increase of the TRUTH to our hearts. Many times in many places, I have had the opportunity to teach and speak of this Tabernacle and have seen our God do mighty things, but each time that I wait in His presence on the subject, how it is increased and revealed greater and greater to my heart. Let us not hurry through the Door, but let us pause again and again that the truth of these things might be woven deeper and deeper in the channels of our hearts.

The natural man knows nothing of the humility, the scarlet of the Christ. The only way we can learn is to be taught by Him in the inner man, for the natural man loves the beautiful, the glamourous, the show, the fine, the valuable things in his dress, in his home, in his place of business, in his church. The natural man loves the exaltation of the world. The flesh abhors the humility of Christ, born in a stable, no place to lay His head, moving among a LOW class of people; fishermen, sinners, publicans. The humility of Christ delights in the plain, the humble, the simple things. The humility of Christ stirs the fire of love in the human soul until it rejoices with such depths of love that she longs in some way to suffer for Him. She is overjoyed when she is put in the same category of her precious Lover as being a fool, as being nothing. Humility rejoices when she is scorned, walked upon, betrayed by friends and loved ones. Humility cries and longs for more of the weaving of the scarlet thread in her veil that she may appear more like her precious Lover and Saviour. This is contrary to the natural man and his reasoning, for it is the supernatural life of Christ, the supernatural TRUTH of Christ and can only be comprehended by the spiritual man on the inside. Precious Lamb of God, ever increase the scarlet thread of your humility, of your suffering, of your death in our own tabernacles, that we might go forth into the Holy Place and partake and understand the things prepared for us there.

How different the entrance through His Door, than the entrance through our modern doors. This was not a door that you pushed a button and waited for it to slide back. This was not a door with an electric eye that saw you coming and then opened back and let you go through as a king, but the way the priest went through this door was to BEND DOWN and lift up the veil, as it were, and CRAWL UNDER. What an appropriate way to enter the Holy Place of God! How thrilling it must have been to have seen the priests of God bending over in humility with the blood from the Altar, and with the incense and fire entering to worship the Lord, in the manner He had instructed them to do. And yet what a greater thrill now as priests that WE can come humbly with the blood and fire and with the incense to worship the Lord. These were only emblems of the real. How much greater to have the real, the Christ, as we come to the Holy Place of God and not just the emblems! But let us learn and seek to keep on learning the humility of the Christ as we come to the Holy Place of God.

CHAPTER X

THE ALTAR OF INCENSE

And. thou shalt make an altar to burn incense upon: of shittim wood shalt thou make it. A cubit shall be the length thereof, and a cubit the breadth thereof; foursquare shall it be: and two cubits shall be the height thereof: the horns thereof shall be of the same. And thou shalt overlay it with pure gold, the top thereof, and the sides thereof round about, and the horns thereof; and thou shalt make unto it a crown of gold round about. And two golden rings shalt thou make to it under the crown of it, by the two corners thereof, upon the two sides of it shalt thou make it; and they shall be for places for the staves to bear it withal. And thou shalt make the staves of shittim wood, and overlay them with gold. And thou shalt put it before the vail that is by the ark of the testimony, before tire mercy seat that is over the testimony, where I will meet with thee. And Aaron shall burn thereon sweet incense every morning: when he dresseth the lamps, he shall burn incense upon it. And when Aaron lighteth the lamps at even, he shall burn incense upon it, a perpetual incense before the LORD throughout your generations. Ye shall offer no strange incense thereon, nor burnt sacrifice, nor meat offering; neither shall ye pour drink offering thereon (Exodus 30:1-9).

And he made the incense altar of shittim wood: the length of it was a cubit, and the breadth of it a cubit; it was foursquare; and two cubits was the height of it; the horns thereof were the same. And he overlaid it with pure gold, both the top of it, and the sides thereof round about, and the horns of it: also he made unto it a crown of gold round about. And he made two rings of gold for it under the crown thereof, by the two corners of it, upon the sides thereof, to be places for the staves to bear it withal. And he made the staves of shittim wood, and overlaid them with gold. And he made the holy anointing oil, and the pure incense of sweet spices, according to the work of the apothecary (Exodus 37:25-29).

I.

THE PURPOSE OF THE ALTAR

Mention has been made of the preparation necessary for the human soul and spirit as it came through the door of Jesus, the Truth, in order that it may enjoy the joy and revelation of the Altar of Incense.

A. THE BURNING OF INCENSE

This altar, unlike the great altar that stood in the court, was for the sole purpose of burning incense. In the morning when Aaron went into the Holy Place to dress the lamps by trimming the wicks and pouring in fresh oil, he was to order the lamps again, for they were ordered in the morning and in the evening. He was to light the incense on the Golden Altar that stood before the Holy of Holies. Again in the evening when Aaron entered the Holy Place to light the lamps, he was to burn incense on this Golden Altar that his ministry and service might be covered with the cloud of incense from the Altar; that his service and ministry might literally be perfumed with the fragrance and odor of the incense from the Golden Altar. This Altar speaks of prayer and intercession. No ministry or service is acceptable to God that has not been covered and infused with prayer in the Name of the LORD Jesus Christ. “Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Ephesians 5:20). “And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him” (Colossians 3:17).

Jesus is the great High Priest who has entered the Holy of Holies in heaven to make intercession for us. He is the Altar, He is the Incense, He is the ALL in ALL. There is no other incense that can be offered to God that will be pleasing in His sight except the incense of the name of JESUS. We are saved through this name. “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). We are to pray through this name. “And whatsoever ye shall ask in MY NAME, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If ye shall ask any thing in MY NAME, I will do it” (John 14:13,14). The name of Jesus is the incense for the Golden Altar, there is no other name in the universe with such exaltation. “Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above EVERY name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:9-11).

The Golden Altar is such an important piece of furniture in the Tabernacle, for here we have the very heart of the measure of the stature of Christ. It is here, in the place of prayer, that God wants to teach us the power and the attributes of the NAME of JESUS. It is here that God wants to take our spirits, which is the heart or the core of our beings and make them one with the heart and name of Jesus Christ.

B. THE KIND OF INCENSE

Let us look at the kind of incense that God instructed them to make, as we see how that in everything God used in the Tabernacle He was painting a glorious picture of the measure of the stature of His Son, even Jesus Christ. There were FIVE kinds of ingredients that God instructed Moses to use for this incense, and these fit together with the FIVE letters in the Name of JESUS. (1) Stacte, (J); (2) Onycha, (E); (3) Galbanum, (S); (4) Pure Frankincense, (U); and (5) Tempered, that is with Salt, (S).

And the LORD said unto Moses, Take unto thee sweet spices, stacte, and onycha, and galbanum; these sweet spices with pure frankincense: of each shall there be a like weight: And thou shalt make it a perfume, a confection after the art of the apothecary, tempered together, pure and holy: (Exodus 30:34,35).

1. Stacte (J)

Let us consider the first ingredient along with the first letter in the Name of Jesus or “J.” First, let us get the picture of the Stacte in the natural and see why this name is so precious to the Father, or why prayers prayed in this name will have sweet fragrance in the nostrils of God. Many times the Bible speaks of PURE MYRRH. This was the kind of Myrrh that was secured from a deep incision into the heart of the tree, so that the life and sap of the myrrh tree would flow out. This was a stronger myrrh, and came as a result of the incision. But the Stacte was called the tears of the Myrrh tree, for this sap came from a VOLUNTARY giving of the tree itself. The little drops of life just came out and stood as tears upon the trunk of the tree. What does the “J” stand for in Jesus?-it stands for JEHOVAH IN FLESH. When God looked down and saw the condition of sinful man, he willingly HUMBLED Himself, the drops of myrrh or humility came forth, and brought Him to descend from heaven to bear your sins and mine. Compare the NINE plants that the Bridegroom found in the garden of His bride in the Song of Solomon 4:13,14 with the NINE fruits of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22, and see that Myrrh was in the eighth plant. Comparing this with the eighth fruit of the Spirit we see that it is a picture of meekness or humility. “Thy plants are an orchard of pomegranates, with pleasant fruits; camphire, with spikenard, Spikenard and saffron; calamus and cinnamon, with all trees of frankincense; myrrh and aloes, with all the chief spices” (Song of Solomon 4:13,14). “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law” (Galatians 5:22,23).

The Stacte was just another form of the Myrrh sap flowing voluntarily from the tree. What greater humility can we think of than God, Jehovah Himself, coming down to earth, and humbling Himself to take on the form of flesh and man!

Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross (Philippians 2:5-8).

Dear reader, Jesus is the incense! When through His Name we come to the throne of God, we come through or under all that His precious Name implies. When Jesus came down, it was a voluntary coming forth of His own humility. God longs to bring us into the Holy Place, that we might tarry there and learn of the depths of His humility that could bring Him from the very throne of heaven to a lowly manger and finally to the rugged cross. I am persuaded that we have not begun yet to taste of His humility. Every time we come in this precious Name before the throne of God, the Father is reminded of the voluntary offering of the Son; and God hears us and accepts our praise and offering of our Ups, not because of ourselves, but for JESUS’ sake. Is it any wonder that God cautioned Moses FOUR different times to make the Tabernacle exactly as He had shown him in the Mount, for one false move of Moses would have destroyed the picture that God was painting of His Son, the LORD Jesus Christ.

We well remember what God did to Moses when he smote the Rock twice instead of once. God had said to smite the Rock ONCE, because it was to be a picture of God’s laying the sin of the world on JESUS ONCE, and after that God told Moses just to speak to the Rock, and the waters would flow. Jesus has been smitten once and for all, and now all that sinners or children of God have to do is speak to the Rock, speak to Jesus for the Living Waters that are within HIM. He is the source of supply. So when Moses smote the Rock twice, it was a grave error, for it destroyed the picture of the LORD Jesus Christ.

It is in these Old Testament pictures that we find God painting the portrait of His Son. God wants to take the channels of our spirit (Worship, Prayer, Hope, Faith, Reverence) and make them ONE with His own heart, with His own humility. It was to this end that Jesus was referring when He spake to His disciples, “And IN THAT DAY ye shall ask me nothing. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in MY NAME, he will give it you” (John 16:23). Jesus was saying that in that day when the Holy Ghost comes and leads you into the Holy Place and you begin to grow in the measure of the Stature of Christ, you will not be asking me childish questions of Why, When, or Where; you will not be asking for the position of the right hand or the left hand or anywhere else, you will ask IN MY NAME, or you will ask out of the humility that you have gotten acquainted with IN MY NAME. When you get acquainted with the humility of His Name, you will not be asking for things to consume on the lusts of your flesh” (“Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.”), but you will ask in the humility of the Name of Jesus that those things that are pleasing to Him will bring glory to His Name.

Jesus said in John 16:26, “AT THAT DAY ye shall ask in my name: and I say not unto you, that I will pray the Father for you.” In other words, when we live at the Altar of Incense and learn of HIM, and our hearts or our spirits are made one with Him, He will not need to say that He is praying for us, we will know it by the unity of our hearts with His heart. What a friendship! What a joy when we learn that Jesus is the only true friend, and that all flesh is corrupt and unstable. It is then that we flee to the Holy Place and tell Him our secrets, and He in turn reveals His secrets to us.

2. Onycha (E)

As we consider the second ingredient along with the second letter in the name of Jesus, the letter “E,” we will truly find it precious to be seated with Him in the heavenlies, for this is our birthright as BORN AGAIN believers in Him, “And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:6). In the letter “J” we saw Jehovah coming down in flesh. In the letter “E” we see the EXPIATORY power and nature of His Name. The word expiatory means the power to make atonement or reconciliation. We were enemies of God and had made a breach upon His glory by sin; thus, we needed atonement or reconciliation. This truth is portrayed through the onycha.

The word onycha means a scale. It is the operculum of shells of Strombi, and is prepared for use by ROASTING, which evolves an empyreumatic oil, on which its aromatic properties depend. It is also interesting to note that the onycha derived its perfume or odor from feeding on the spikenard. The spikenard produced in the onycha made it possible for God to use it in the incense for the Golden Altar to show forth the quality and nature of the Name of Jesus. If you look again at the comparison of the plants in the garden of the bride in the Song of Solomon and the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians, you will see that the spikenard was the third plant and pictures to us the third fruit which is peace.

The fragrance of the onycha was precious because of the picture of peace that it was painting. And this fragrance could only be obtained by roasting the onycha in the fire. What a picture of the expiatory work of Jesus! What revelation of the work and nature of the Name of Jesus. It was not enough for Jehovah to come in flesh, but there had to be the added suffering or roasting as it were, on the cross for sin in order that PEACE might be obtained between God and man. This is the revelation of the letter “E” in the great name of Jesus; this was the reason that God told Moses to take the onycha shell. “But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us” (Ephesians 2:13,14). Precious is the knowledge of the incense—the priest need not fear as he ministered in the Tabernacle IF he had the incense on the altar for its fragrant perfume ever reminded him of the peace of the covering.

There is much that God would like to teach us of the ministry of peace. We have tasted a portion of His peace in the forgiveness of sins and in being reconciled to Him; this is peace WITH GOD. “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:1). Then, there is the peace from God or the peace of God. God wants us to dwell in the Holy Place under the fragrance of the Name of Jesus that we might absorb the odor, the nature of His Name into our spirits and souls, that we might know the practical and experimental working of the power and peace of the Name of Jesus in our everyday lives. “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid” (John 14:27).

Our hearts or our spirits are being constantly worried, agitated, or fretted in the everyday journeys of life. This only serves to prove our great need of tarrying in the Holy Place under the sweet incense of the Name of Jesus until our spirits are perfumed with HIS peace. We are to ever remember that this peace came through the roasting, the suffering of the Onycha shell or the suffering of Jesus on the cross when He poured out His life’s blood in order to purchase PEACE. In most of all the Epistles written by the Apostle Paul, he began by asking that the saints of God might have grace and PEACE from God, in other words, that they might grow in grace and peace. The spikenard or the plant of peace was used as a medicine also for the nerves. It is a blessing when a soul learns that the medicine for fretted nerves is found in the Holy Place under the sweet fragrance of the incense of the Name of Jesus. A soul that comes to the Holy Place and meditates upon the Name of Jesus will find the sweet peace of His Name infusing his heart and spirit until he is lifted beyond the realm of his own soul and spirit, beyond his own understanding.

It was to this that Paul referred in Philippians 4:6, “Be CAREFUL [anxious] for NOTHING; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the PEACE of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” Again Jesus mentions the blessed state of the PEACEMAKER, “Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God” (Matthew 5:9). After being infused with the sweet perfume of His peace, then we are to go forth from the Holy Place taking the aroma of His peace to those who are lost and undone as well as to our brothers and sisters in Christ who have troubled and fretful hearts and spirits. We are called to be peacemakers, not troublemakers.

3. Galbanum (S)

The third letter in the Name of Jesus is the letter “S.” The chief ministry of the galbanum was to increase the perfume of the incense and to support it, and cause it to remain much longer. Here we see the Name of Jesus or the letter “S” as the SUPPORTER or the foundation. When we speak of a support in the natural, we mean something on which other things can lean, or rest; for example, the foundation of a building is the support for the whole building. In I Corinthians 3:11, Paul declares that Jesus is this support or this foundation. “For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is JESUS CHRIST. The galbanum not only supported the other ingredients, but caused them to endure longer, indicating the endurance of the Name of Jesus. Other names have failed down through the ages, but the Name of Jesus will never fail, for it will always endure, “And, Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of thine hands: They shall perish; but THOU REMAINEST; and they all shall wax old as doth a garment; And as a vesture shalt thou fold them up, and they shall be changed: but THOU ARE THE SAME, AND THY YEARS SHALL NOT FAIL” (Hebrews 1:10-12). All other things wax old and perish, but JESUS is the eternal, enduring one that is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

What a thrill must have gone through the heart of the priest as he ministered under this sweet odor of incense and realized that his God was the eternal, unchangeable God! Wonderful it is to the soul of the born again believer to know that his prayers are prayed in the Name of Jesus and endure before the throne of God. “And another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer; and there was given unto him much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the Golden Altar which was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense which came with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God out of the angel’s hand” (Revelation 8:3,4). This truth ought to move our hearts with joy unspeakable, to know that the precious Name of Jesus perfumes our prayers and makes them acceptable before God and His THRONE.

The ingredient of the galbanum was only obtained from DEEP INCISIONS into the heart of the tree. The ingredient, as it were, of the letter “ S ” or Jesus as SUPPORTER, could only be obtained as He hung on Calvary and endured the deep incisions in His flesh, His soul, for you and for me. The Name of Jesus is a support for sinners who come to Him; sinners who are on the sinking sands of sin and death. “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other NAME under heaven given among men, whereby we MUST be saved” (Acts 4:12). Wonderful it is for the sinner to come to JESUS and find that He is the Rock, the Support, the Foundation, that will bear him safely to the portals of heaven. And wonderful it is for the born again believer to find that His great High Priest is there in heaven to support his weak prayers, by adding incense of His own Name. Possibly you have been praying for something for a long time and you have not yet seen the answer. Do not be discouraged, for Jesus is the supporter of your prayer and He will cause it to endure before the throne until God gives the answer, that is, if what you are praying for is something that will be for the glory of God and not for something for your own lusts.

4. Frankincense (U)

As we again consider the seventh plant found in the Bride’s garden in the Song of Solomon 4:14 with the seventh fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22, we learn that frankincense and faith go together. Frankincense becomes a picture or a type of faith or understanding. Or we can liken the letter “U” in the Name of Jesus to UNDERSTANDING, which means wisdom or knowledge or faith. God has endowed man with five senses in his spirit, and these senses God put in man for the sole purpose that he might have a capacity for fellowship with Him. The five senses of the spirit of man are first Faith, the eye of the spirit with which man can understand and comprehend and see the things of God. Secondly, comes prayer, the taste of the spirit. It is through prayer and the offering up of the sacrifice of praise that the born-again believer can taste of the sweetness of God in his spirit. Thirdly, Hope is the sense of smell of the spirit of man. It is through the sense of smell in the natural that man’s whole being is stirred. When he smells food, he is stirred with a sensation of hunger. When he smells the perfume of flowers, he is stirred by the fragrance of the aroma. Likewise, when the hope of the spirit of man is fed there is a stirring to press on. When this channel of man’s spirit is truly fed by the Spirit of God and the Word of God, then his whole spirit is stirred to press on, to attain, to apprehend. Fourthly is Reverence, or fear. God gave man this channel as an ear of the spirit, that with this channel of reverential fear he might be quick to hear and obey. This is not the same kind of fear that the Devil brings to a soul that holds him in terror, but this channel of reverence is to hold him in awe of the mighty God. Fifthly is Worship, or the sense of touch. As we worship God in the Name of Jesus, our spirits really touch God. All of these channels or senses God made for Himself in the beginning.

Now let us go back and look at the channel of faith or understanding that man has in his natural spirit so as to establish the kinship of Faith and Understanding, for in so doing we will see many new things that will enlarge our faith. Jesus was the Wisdom of God, the Understanding of God, and the Faith of God manifested in flesh. “In whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Colossians 2:3). Spiritual Faith or a living Faith is none other than an impartation of Spiritual Understanding or Wisdom or Knowledge. This was Paul’s experience in Galatians 2:20 “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live: yet not I. but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God. who loved me, and gave himself for me.” In Proverbs 3:5.6, we are told, “Trust in the LORD with all thine heart (spirit): and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.” In other words, do not lean on your own eye of faith in your spirit or your own understanding, but lean on the eye of faith of Christ, the eye of His understanding. Then, as you walk in the light of that eye. in the light of that understanding, it will direct your PATHS. This was the experience of the Apostle Paul, even though he declared that the “I” lived, that is the spirit, soul, and body with all their five senses in each one, yet he was not directed by their senses anymore, but he was directed by the Faith, the Wisdom, the UNDERSTANDING of the Christ.

When Paul prays for the Ephesians, we find him saying, “That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him: THE EYES OF YOUR UNDERSTANDING BEING ENLIGHTENED; (the channel or the eye of Faith) that ye may KNOW what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints” (Ephesians 1:17,18). Paul wanted them to have the sweet incense of wisdom and revelation of Jesus in the Holy Place that their eyes of Faith might KNOW some of the great mysteries of God. A living spiritual faith is nothing other than the essence of spiritual knowledge and understanding. This was portrayed in the words of Jesus at the tomb of Lazarus, “And I knew that thou hearest me always: but because of the people which stand by I said it, that they may believe that thou hast sent me” (John 11:42). The spirit of the man Christ Jesus was so infused with the faith, understanding, wisdom and knowledge of His divine side, that He always lived by the great eye of the Spirit of Faith and understanding.

All too many people have the idea because the Word of God tells us to walk by faith that we are just to stumble and grope around in the dark and somehow we will get through. But what God is asking us to do is to give up the light of the natural eye or the walking by the natural eye of the soul and the spirit and walk by the DIVINE EYE of the Faith and Understanding of Jesus. The example is made so clear in the record of Abraham’s testimony in the book of Hebrews, “BY FAITH (or by understanding that he received when God spoke to him) Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went. (That is, the natural man could not see, for Abraham went in the light of the Spiritual Faith and Understanding, for the eye of God was his eye) BY FAITH he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise: For HE LOOKED FOR A CITY which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God” (Hebrews 11:8-10). The spiritual eye of Faith or Wisdom or Understanding saw beyond the natural scope of time to the things eternal. Jesus declared that if the eye be single then the whole body would be full of LIGHT. The only eye that was ever SINGLE for God was the eye of Christ, the eye of His Faith, the eye of His Understanding. That is why it is necessary to give up the right to walk in the light of our own eyes (spirit, soul, and body) that we might have the single eye of Christ, the eye of Faith.

God through the PURE frankincense wanted to paint a picture of the purity of the UNDERSTANDING, the faith, the wisdom that is in the Name of Jesus. We sing the chorus, “Jesus is All I Need.” I wonder how much we realize the truth and the reality of this. In the Name of Jesus God has placed everything that we need. The Word has declared that faith cometh by HEARING, and hearing by the Word of God, and again the Word has said that the entrance of thy Word giveth LIGHT, it giveth UNDERSTANDING to the simple. How God wants us to dwell in the Holy Place at the Golden Altar under the sweet fragrance of the incense of the Name of Jesus, that our natural eye of faith might be infused with the Faith, Wisdom, and Knowledge of Him, to the end that we walk in the light of Christ. I will never be the same again since God has opened this precious truth to my heart. Every time I breathe that Holy Name in prayer, I will remember the nature and power that belongs to it as revealed through the incense of the Golden Altar.

The word frankincense means to be white, and, of course white speaks of purity. The purity of Jesus’ Name, the purity of His understanding and wisdom and faith are expressed by James, “But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy” (James 3:17). The wise men brought frankincense to Jesus at His birth. Through this gift they were saying that He was worthy of all wisdom, faith, and understanding. See also the Song of Solomon, “Who is this that cometh out of the wilderness like pillars of smoke, perfumed with myrrh and frankincense, with all powders of the merchant?” (Song of Solomon 3:6). This is the picture of a soul that has been in intimate communion with Jesus: the myrrh speaking of humility, the frankincense the understanding, the faith and the wisdom of the Name of Jesus. The wilderness speaks of testing and trial of a journey; and how did this soul come out of that experience? This soul came out with the humility of Jesus, with the light of His knowledge, faith and understanding.

Let me ask how do you come up out of the wilderness experience of life? Do you come up with the sweet perfume of humility, acknowledging God’s will in permitting you to walk that way? Do you come up walking by HIS EYE of understanding, faith, and knowledge? The question is repeated in the Song of Solomon, “Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness, LEANING UPON HER BELOVED? I raised thee up under the apple tree: there thy mother brought thee forth: that bare thee” (Song of Solomon 8:5). Are you leaning on the beloved Name of Jesus, are you leaning on His understanding and wisdom and faith, or are you leaning on your own understanding? If you are leaning on your own understanding then you will come up out of the wilderness like a poor crippled person on crutches murmuring and complaining. But I can also tell you how you will look when you come up leaning on the arm of your Beloved. You will have a joy shining from your soul; there will be the perfume of humility and thanksgiving to Him. for you will be leaning on His understanding, on His faith, knowing that all things work together for good to them that love the Lord, and to them that are called according to His purpose. Remember it is only in the Holy Place that you will find the revelation of the UNDERSTANDING and wisdom of His Name.

5. Tempered (That is rubbed with salt) (S)

Now the other four ingredients were to be tempered or rubbed together with salt. Of these four ingredients, it was said that each should be of equal weight or portion, this speaking of the evenness and the importance of each part of the revelation of His Name. The four ingredients being tempered together with the salt provided the last and exquisite part of the revelation of His Name Jesus. In the salt we see the clue to the final letter “ S ” in the Name of Jesus. The main importance of salt is to preserve from corruption, and thus we see Jesus as SAVIOUR, the one who saves from sin and death or corruption. It is noteworthy to understand that these five ingredients came from the (1) Vegetable Kingdom. (2) Animal Kingdom. (3) Mineral Kingdom. The Stacte. Galbanum, and Frankincense coming from the Vegetable Kingdom, the Onycha coming from the Animal Kingdom, and the Salt coming from the Mineral Kingdom.

Salt was essential to all offerings unto the LORD: “And even-oblation of thy meat offering shalt thou season with salt: neither shalt thou suffer the salt of the covenant of thy God to be lacking from thy meat offering: with all thine offerings thou shalt offer salt” (Leviticus 2:13). The salt of the covenant spoke of purity of friendship, freedom from corruption. Even to this day we have been told that the covenant of salt is so highly respected that even a thief or a robber who comes in contact with salt, even if he is about to rob you, will adhere to the covenant of loyalty and friendship, and thereby lay aside his purpose or motive of robbing you. In Numbers 18:18.19 we find God making a covenant of salt with the family of Aaron or with his priests.

And the flesh of them shall be thine, as the wave breast and as the right shoulder are thine. All the heave offerings of the holy things which the children of Israel offer unto the LORD, have I given thee, and thy sons and thy daughters with thee, by a statute for ever: it is a covenant of salt for ever before the LORD unto thee and to thy seed with thee (Numbers 18:18-19).

As priests of God, they were given a portion of the offerings of the children of Israel for their food; the breast of the ram speaks of love and affection, and the right shoulder of the ram speaks of strength (Exodus 29:26.27).

God was saying, “With a covenant of salt, I promise to feed you with these portions forever.” What a picture of us as kings and priests of God! We have the promise to be fed with His love and affection and His strength through the covenant of salt in the LORD Jesus Christ.

God so loved the world that HE GAVE Jesus for a covenant of salt, a covenant of love to the world. What made Jesus become Saviour of the world? It was the undying, incorruptible love that made Him go to Calvary’s Cross. We cannot meditate on the Name of Jesus in the Holy Place without feeling this precious incense of love beginning to permeate our very spirits and souls, and just as salt makes us thirsty for water, so when the salt of His love begins to permeate our beings, we begin to sense a depth of THIRST for the living Word of God. Until a soul has spent time in the Holy Place and feasted on the sweet incense of the salt of love, his soul will not cry out for God and for His Word as David did in Psalm 42:1. “As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee. O God.”

In the ninth chapter of Mark, the disciples were disputing among themselves as to who would be the greatest in the Kingdom of God. It was then that Jesus began to give them some object lessons in humility and finally declares at the end of the chapter. “For every one shall be salted with fire, and every sacrifice shall be salted with salt. Salt is good: but if the salt have lost his saltiness, wherewith will ye season it? Have salt in yourselves, and have peace one with another” (Mark 9:49,50).

Salt is like fire. Did you ever get salt in an open wound, or wash out an open wound with salt water? It is like fire; it burns as it purifies. So is the salt of the love of Jesus; it will burn out the corruption of the love and affection of the world IF we spend time in the Holy Place and get acquainted with the sweet incense of the Name of Jesus.

Jesus asked His disciples to get this salt within themselves, for He knew that once the salt of His love filled their souls, it would burn out and purify all their ambitions and desires for the high seat and cause them to search for the low place. Likewise, this was the same thought given by the Spirit through the Apostle Paul, “Let your speech be alway with grace, SEASONED WITH SALT, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man” (Colossians 4:6).

Food that lacks seasoning is tasteless and repulsive, so it is in the spiritual. Even though we may speak that which is right, if our words are not seasoned with the salt of His love, they will be tasteless and repulsive to our hearers. For this reason Paul exhorted the Ephesians to speak the truth IN LOVE. May Jesus help us to live in the Holy Place until we are permeated with the salt of His Name, to the end that our words may be used to make others thirsty for the Living God.

God has placed within the Name of Jesus all the purifying powers, preservative powers that qualify Him to be SAVIOUR. The word Saviour means one that can save and deliver from danger. Prayer is the battle ground. Here, we find deliverance and victory through the precious Name of Jesus. It was the salt that tempered or blended together the other ingredients of the incense. We find like truth in the epistle to the Corinthians when Paul shows that the body of Christ is tempered together with the salt of love, not by the gifts of the Spirit, but with the salt of love. “For our comely parts have no need: but God hath tempered the body together, having given more abundant honour to that part which lacked” (I Corinthians 12:24).

We need to learn .more of this salt of love, the kind of love that sent Jesus to the Cross. Even though He knew how mean we were, what sinners we were, how hateful and despicable we were, yet He LOVED with a purity that made Him give His life for us who were not worthy or deserving of such love. When we live in the Holy Place and drink in the aroma of Jesus, how can we help but forgive those who trespass against us, those who are despicable and mean with us? We are constantly reminded that this, too, is our nature according to the flesh, and yet it has pleased Jesus to enter into a covenant of salt with us through His own love. Precious is the love of God, love that is enduring, faithful, loyal, and pure. This is the Saviour, that is the Name of Jesus.

C. THE WARNING OF THE INCENSE

God said that this incense was to be tempered PURE and HOLY, or unadulterated with any foreign substance, and was to be reserved exclusively for sacred use, any other application being forbidden for fear of being cut off from his people. Man has often and in many ways tried to substitute other incense or other names whereby man could be saved and enter into the Holy Place of God. Such efforts only heap the wrath and anger of God since God has declared that there is no other name under heaven that He recognizes but the Name of Jesus. This name was to be reserved especially for the sacred worship of the priest. How lightly men speak of the Name of Jesus in these days, not knowing the value and the power that God has committed unto Him. It took the FIRE from the great Brazen Altar in the court to release the sweetness of this incense in the Holy Place. It takes the FIRE of a born again experience to release the sweetness of the Name of Jesus. Only with this kind of fire can we live under the cloud of incense and grow in the revelation of His nature and His Name. We have the grave warning in the tenth chapter of Leviticus of the two priests who had the incense and tried to release its power but with STRANGE FIRE, and the judgment of God, the fire of God went out and devoured them.

Was this not the more or less similar experience of the man in the nineteenth chapter of Acts, who, after watching the miracles and power of the Apostle Paul as he used the Name of Jesus, decided that he too could use the Name of Jesus to cast out evil spirits? But he did not have the FIRE of Calvary of a born again experience to release the power of the Name of Jesus to Him so was overcome by the evil spirit and fled naked and wounded. But if our hearts have been born again of His holy Blood, Spirit, Word, and Fire, then let us hasten to the Holy Place and learn more of His precious Name and enjoy the perfume of His presence.

II.

MATERIALS OF THE ALTAR

A. SHITTIM WOOD

From previous studies in the Tabernacle, we have learned that the shittim wood was the message of the humanity of Jesus Christ. This altar was a simple box, as it were, of acacia wood or shittim wood. How this altar presents to us the truth of the man Jesus, who was resurrected and ascended into heaven to be a merciful and faithful high priest for the children of God! It is because of His humanity that we find in Him a priest that is touched with the feeling of our infirmities, “Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin” (Hebrews 4:14,15). The man Christ Jesus is in heaven to make intercession for those who have been drawn by the Spirit of God into the new birth, into the family of God. “I pray for them: I PRAY NOT FOR THE WORLD, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine” (John 17:9). In the great high priestly prayer of Jesus in the 17th chapter of John, He reveals that His ministry is to pray for them, for His disciples, for those who had been given Him of the Father. We cannot fail if we live in the Holy Place and have the prayers of our great high priest, Jesus.

B. GOLD

This altar was to be overlaid with pure gold. The man Jesus is in heaven now, overlaid with deity. In the days of the journeys of His flesh, His humanity was more in view. Now in heaven His deity is more in view. He is the one to whom all power in heaven and earth has been given. This power belongs to deity alone. Beautiful is the thought that Jesus is not only the resurrected man who can understand our infirmities, but He is the glorified one with all power to come and assist and impart strength for weakness. Here the wood is glorified with the gold. In heaven the man Jesus has been glorified with the gold and deity.

III.

ITS SIZE AND SHAPE

This altar was to be one cubit in length and one cubit in breadth; in fact, it was to be foursquare. It does not matter which way you behold this altar; it is of the same measurement. The number one is the number of UNITY. This altar typifies the unity of God and man, or the unity of the humanity and the deity of the Christ. This is classed as one of the great mysteries of the Bible, namely, the unity of God and flesh. “And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: GOD WAS MANIFEST IN THE FLESH, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory” (I Timothy 3:16). “And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth” (John 1:14).

Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Phillip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Show us the Father: Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works” (John 14:9,10).

This altar was to be two cubits high, which again brings to us the same truth. Two denotes union, for two is made up of one and one. Jesus Christ was made up of one God and one flesh, or through the union of God and man. The Spirit wants to emphasize the glorified Christ to us in the Holy Place, that through the wisdom and understanding of Him, our faith might be increased in Him.

IV.

ITS POSITION

The Altar of Incense occupied the middle space near to and in front of the inner veil, or the Holy of Holies. As we look at the position of the Altar of Incense in the measure of the stature of Christ, we find it occupying the heart. Prayer is the heart of the spiritual man. The natural body of man is dependent upon the heart to pump the blood, the life, to each cell of the body. Surely we do not minimize the labor and work of the other members of the body. The hands prepare the food and give it to the mouth, which masticates the food and sends it to the stomach, which sends the nourishment into the blood stream, along with the multitude of assistants all along the way, and yet it is the actual work of the heart that keeps the blood, the life, moving. So it is with the spiritual man; it is prayer that keeps the life, the power of God, moving in our spiritual beings so that we can have and maintain a healthful spiritual condition.

One could write much on just the position of the Altar of Incense and not exhaust its spiritual knowledge and truth. The Altar in the measure of the stature of Christ brings us to that pierced and bleeding heart, both in the garden of Gethsemane and on the Cross. If we were to live at this Altar at the very heart of Jesus, how we would grow and learn of the love and the humility of Christ. We would learn the kind of love and humility that burst from His heart of prayer in the garden when He cried, “Not my will but thine be done.” We would learn of the love and humility that burst from His heart of prayer on the cross, “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34). This is supernatural life and power, for no flesh understands this kind of love and humility. If we are honest, we will admit the presence of bitterness we feel inside when subjected to enmity and hatred. Let us seek to live more in the presence of this Golden Altar in the Holy Place that we might be infused with the life and power of Christ, and have His love and forgiveness flowing through our hearts.

V.

ITS HORNS

We have seen that the four horns of the Brazen Altar were the symbol of the power of the revelation of Christ in the four gospels: (1) Matthew, the revelation of the King; (2) Mark, the revelation of the Servant; (3) Luke, the revelation of the Son of Man; and (4) John, the revelation of the Son of God.

Even what little truth Jesus has been pleased to reveal unto us concerning the Altar of Incense is extremely important. It is at this Altar that we are taught about the ministry of prayer. There is only ONE who can impart to our hearts spiritual truth; there is only ONE who can open the eyes of our understanding that we may know the hope of His calling, and that ONE is the Spirit of the living God. What hopes does Jesus have for us? One of His hopes for us is to teach us to be the kind of priest in the Holy Place that He would have us to be, to teach us in the ministry of prayer. His hope is to teach us to grow until His heart is formed in us; that we might enter into intercession with Him; and thus be one with Him in the ministry of intercession. “And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the MEASURE OF THE STATURE OF THE FULNESS OF CHRIST” (Ephesians 4:11-13). His hope is that we be not as children who waste time with petty quarrels and strife, who have limited understanding; but that we grow up as priests of God, come to the Holy Place and minister at the Golden Altar of Prayer.

Already we have learned that the horns speak of power. At this Altar God would teach us the power of prayer. You may have heard pastors or evangelists inviting the people to lay hold of the horns of the Altar in prayer. This expression, of course, is derived from the Golden Altar of Incense, which stood as the symbol of prayer in the Old Testament Tabernacle. Perhaps, you have wondered why your experience in prayer seems to vary. When we come to God, we could not have just the same experience in prayer, and perhaps, because of lack of understanding of what God wanted to teach us, we have no doubt experienced discouragement about coming to this Altar. But once we understand the message of the horns of the Altar, it becomes a thrill, a romance, to come and wait in His presence and see which horn He delights to lead us to and which horn He desires to use to increase our understanding. When we understand that Jesus is sovereign even in our prayer life, and that He knows what is best for us, then it is easier for us to yield up our desires even about the kind of prayer and the kind of experience we would like, and cooperate with the Spirit of God which leads us into the will and mind of God even in our prayer closet. What great blessing and joy is there for the soul which has tasted of this depth of surrender to the mind and the will of God through the Spirit!

Now we meet the fourfold Christ and His power. Here, He wants to teach us of His power in prayer.

A. MATTHEW - King (1st Horn)

1. Lifting and Leaving

Let us look at the twofold side of each horn with its message. The first side of the first horn we call lifting and leaving. It is precious to have the King of Glory extend the sceptre to us and to lift us up in the Spirit into the heavenlies, and invite us to leave our burdens with Him. Jesus said, “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28). God’s children need to be increased in the knowledge of this revelation of the King in the Holy Place. These truths from the four horns of the Golden Altar correspond with the model prayer that He gave to His disciples. He taught them to pray, “Our Father which art in heaven.” Jesus is the Father King, who delights to lift His children into the heavenlies and to take their burdens. How true the words of the dear old hymn, “O what peace we often forfeit, O, what needless pain we bear, All because we do not carry EVERYTHING to God in prayer.” We have to be taught by the Spirit how to leave our burdens with the King, with the Father. All too often we go to prayer, and we come away with the same burdens that we went with, because we did not learn how to leave them there. What power there is in prayer for those who have learned the revelation from this side of the first horn on the Golden Altar!

2. Lusting and Desiring

Because of the ignorance of many, they think the word lust only refers to some immoral desire or act. But the word means simply to have great yearning or desire, and therefore can be applied to good things as well as to things not so good. I like to think of the other side of the first horn as containing the teaching of the King concerning divine passion and desire for prayer. In the flesh, man has little desire for prayer except that he is deceived into thinking that he can earn his salvation this way. We need to be led by the Spirit of God to this side of the horn and be taught of the King the mystery of a divine lust and passion for prayer, like unto His own divine passion for prayer. In the days of His flesh, we have the record of how He spent nights in prayer, how He arose a great while before day, how He left the crowd, His disciples, in order to pray. Once we have had a glimpse of the Horn of the King, it will be easy to run to the Holy Place because of the divine lust and desire for His presence and His power. Peter declares that we should have the same passion for the Word of God, “As newborn babes, DESIRE (another Greek word for lust) the sincere milk of the Word, that ye may grow thereby” (I Peter 2:2). How men’s lusts and desires DRIVE them to serve them. When Jesus went into the temple and saw such corruption and defilement, He made a scourge and drove out the defilers and declared that His Father’s house was to be made a house of prayer. Then, the disciples remembered the prophecy about Him, “For the zeal of thine house hath eaten me up” (Psalm 69:9). If you are born again, your body, soul, and spirit are the temple of the living God. You need to be taught how to grow in the lust, passion, and zeal of driving out the old fleshly man, the carnal man with his desires which are at enmity with God, and make of yourself a temple of prayer. Only at the Altar of Incense, as it were, can you learn this kind of passion and zeal.

The zeal and divine passion of the Christ is always in evidence; He was always working while it was day; He was always about His Father’s business; He was always preaching; He was always feeding the hungry; He was always healing the sick. May this divine passion and lust be increased in our souls, that we will ever redeem the time for our Father which is in heaven. Jesus said next in the model prayer, “hallowed be thy name.” In this model prayer, we see the four horns of power revealed from the Altar of Incense. We cannot meditate upon the holiness and purity of that precious Name without being stirred with zeal and passion to take the light of it to a dying and sinful world.

B. MARK -Servant (2nd Horn)

1. Leaning and Trusting

Here the High Priest as servant wants to teach us from the light and power on the one side of the second Horn to lean on Him, to lean on His faith, on His understanding, and not on the understanding of self. It is here that we learn to die to the will of the flesh, the independence of the flesh, and become a servant to the Spirit of God. A servant is one who is in subjection to His master. The servant does not argue with the master as to how his business should be done or as to what is best for him as a servant, but simply obeys. Jesus was obedient to death. He gave up His own will unto the will of the Father. And as such a servant of the Father, He is capable of instructing us through prayer as to how to grow in this experience of daily crucifixion and denying of self, that we might become servants of the Father.

The light from this side of this Horn reveals our imperfections, our depths of the will and of the flesh that are not surrendered to God. The heart of the natural man is filled with stubbornness and rebellion, which can only be ferreted out under the mighty light of the One who went to the DEPTHS of surrender to the mighty divine will of the Father. We just naturally lean on our own understanding, on our own faith, until we see from the light of the Altar our ignorance, our imperfections, and then we are taught to lean and trust on the mighty Christ. It is here, as we get an increased vision of the humble Servant, Jesus, that we become aware of our own lack of His qualities of meekness and dependableness. The next phrase that Jesus prayed in the model prayer for His disciples was, “thy Kingdom come.” Jesus declared that the Kingdom of God was within us, within those who have been born again. But the question is, beloved, how much have we allowed His Kingdom to be increased within us. How much have we yielded the members of our spirit, soul, and body to be servants of this Kingdom. Now the Word never declares that sin is dead, for it is always alive and present to draw us away. The only way that we can conquer or be victorious is to humble ourselves as servants of God and put to death the flesh, for sin hath no more power over a man that is dead to sin, and dead to the world.

2. Learning and Growing

I like to think of the other side of this second horn as learning and growing. It has been the experience of many of us to be led in prayer by the Spirit of God and gaze upon this side of this horn. Sometimes, the light of this side has revealed the spiritual covetousness that dwells in our hearts as believers. Sometimes, we covet greater things in the spiritual realm than God is pleased to bestow. Then, we are troubled and dissatisfied when we see others with more than we have. The next part of the model prayer of Jesus was, “Thy will be done.” It is here on this side that we learn that the great thrill for the believer is not in doing or possessing spiritual graces or gifts, but in doing and being just what is God’s will for us to do or what is God’s will for us to be. If we gained the whole world, or we could have all spiritual graces and gifts apart from the will of God, it would not cause us to thrill nor rejoice in Christ, for this is the result of doing His will as servants of God. We learn and grow in the will of God, even in our prayer life. Should we not find the Spirit of God imparting just as much joy as He has at other times? We do learn to rest in the perfect will of God. With a deep settled joy and peace, we take our satisfaction in the good pleasure of our God. Frequently, Christians who have pressed on in the Spirit and have had great outpourings of the Spirit in their prayer life, but do not have like experiences each time they come to the Holy Place, become disappointed and even sometimes strive in the flesh to attain them, instead of waiting to be led by the Spirit of God and being willing to bear this cross. For the soul that has truly been lifted into the heavenlies with Jesus, finds it a cross to bear when not granted this same degree of heights in prayer. But let us learn and grow at this horn, and as servants let us be taught by the true servant, Jesus, how to deny our spiritual ambitions and bear with patience the cross.

These horns give us a glimpse of the POWER found at an altar of prayer, and what Jesus can do for us as we wait in prayer to be led and taught of Him. Reader, if you have not found prayer a place of learning and growing, then you are missing one of the greatest blessings that Jesus has for you. There is much more that could be said of the reality of these truths experienced at the horns of the altar of prayer, but may Jesus continue to teach each of us, for He ONLY is our teacher.

C. LUKE -Son of Man (3rd Horn)

1. Life and Power

Our hearts rejoice as we come to the third horn, and we look on each side of it for the message from our great High Priest, Jesus, as the Son of Man. We have noted that each of these horns represent the revelation of the Christ of the four Gospels. Jesus is the same today in heaven as we saw Him in the Gospels. He is King, He is Servant, He is Son of Man, and He is Son of God. But let us look at the third Gospel as the Son of Man and see what He can impart to us at the third horn.

Here, we are taught from one side of the horn that prayer is LIFE and POWER. We must not be careless in our prayer time, for this is the source of life and power for the true born again believer in Christ. Many Christians are weak physically and spiritually because they fail to draw on this supernatural life and power through prayer. Paul declared in Romans 8:11, “But if the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.” In the third chapter of the letter to the Ephesians, Paul prayed that the saints might be strengthened with MIGHT (life and power) by His Spirit in the inner man (the spiritual man). The only way that we can lay hold of this supernatural life and power is at the horns of the altar of prayer.

It is not only here that we find this life and power for ourselves to grow, but here also the sympathizing Son of Man through His Spirit lays the glorious ministry of intercession on us that this life and power might be made known to others who are poor and miserable and lost in sin. It is in the book of Luke that we see the compassion of the Son of Man and His desire to impart life and power both spiritual and physical to the lowly, the outcasts, the sinful woman, the Samaritans, the publicans, the sinners, the deserted beggar, the lepers, and the dying thief. It is in this same book of Luke we see the compassionate Son of Man weeping over Jerusalem, sweating drops of blood in the garden.

It is here at this horn that Jesus as the Son of Man wants to teach and impart His life and power to us that we might intercede through His Spirit for the same kind of people He ministered unto.

It is here that He wants to melt our hearts to tears in prayer even as His own heart was melted to tears when He looked over the rebellious city of Jerusalem. Let us admit that our natural reaction to those who have rejected us and the message of Christ is not like the reaction of the Son of Man who looked down on a rebellious city with a rebellious people and WEPT. Jesus longs and hopes to bring us to the Holy Place that through prayer He might give us His life and power for ourselves, for others. How often in the secret place is your heart broken with compassion over your OWN needs? How many times in the secret place is your heart broken for lost souls, for a rebellious and dying world? This supernatural compassion can only be learned from the Son of Man.

It is here that Jesus wants to teach us that prayer is the source of all life and power for the soul and spirit. It is here that Jesus wants to teach us that prayer is the holy fire that warms the spirit and soul with life and power. Neglect of this ministry in the Holy Place causes us to slip into many imperfections. When we hear these things, our mind gives a mental assent, but it is only when the Spirit of God quickens them in our spirits that the reality of the truth of them is written on the tablets of our hearts. A soul must be faithful in the Holy Place, faithful to prayer if it would nourish the precious seed of life and grace that has been begotten within it. The Holy Place is a MUST for born again believers if they would be nourished in the life and the power of the Son of Man. It is not without coincidence that we find the next part of the model prayer given by Jesus to His disciples, leading us to the same place around the altar. Jesus said, “Give us this day our DAILY BREAD.” He was teaching the disciples to come daily to the place of prayer and ask for their daily substance, or to ask for their spiritual and physical life and power. Bread speaks of life. Jesus said, “I am the living bread which came down from heaven; if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the LIFE of the world” (John 6:51). Jesus is the bread, Jesus is the life, and He has taught us the example in the Lord’s prayer to come daily and ask for this life and power.

2. Liberty and Freedom

It is on the other side of this third horn, as it were, that the Son of Man teaches us of the Liberty and Freedom in prayer. It is in the book of Luke that we see the Son of Man revealed in His prayer life. It is here we see His prayer at His baptism, in the wilderness before choosing His disciples, at the transfiguration before giving the Lord’s prayer, for Peter, in the garden of Gethsemane and on the cross. Prayer is necessary in order to maintain the liberty and freedom of the soul, for we live with the old man, the flesh, that continuously binds us with his chains in one way or another. The sad part is that many Christians are bound and do not even know it. It is here that the Son of Man will reveal HIDDEN chains and set us free. Sometimes in this journey of life we meet many people, places, and things that tend only to confuse us. Naturally we wonder which is the way, or what is the right thing to do. The only solution is the place of prayer before the Son of Man, who can liberate the soul from all confusion and doubts and show us His way “for He is the way” (John 14:6). Paul said that when he got the heavenly vision, he did not confer with flesh and blood, but went to the Arabian desert for three years, and even though the Word does not reveal all that Paul did there, yet we can be sure that he conferred with the Son of Man in the Holy Place until the time that Jesus liberated Him and sent him forth in the liberty and freedom of the Spirit to proclaim His Gospel. What an example for us who have a call from Jesus to serve Him. Let us not confer with JEALOUS FLESH, but let us go to the Holy Place and confer with the Son of Man.

When people get a call from Jesus to serve Him, they frequently do not tarry at the Altar of Prayer to be liberated and sent by Him, but rush ahead of the Son of Man. Then, we sometimes come in contact with people who do us evil, and we find the Devil weaving a web of unforgiveness in our hearts. How we need to flee to the horns of the altar where the Son of Man in His compassion will set us free and give us liberty and freedom. At times when we have neglected the Holy Place with its altar of prayer, we find ourselves all bound up by the flesh without a desire to return to pray. How precious it is to realize that there is the Son of Man present in love and compassion ready to set us free from every fetter that would hinder us. There are so many examples that could be presented from this side of the horn of the altar of prayer. Jesus said next in His model prayer, “Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.” What a precious truth!

Some people profess to live without sin, but this demonstrates ignorance of the Word. I do not say that a Christian is to go out and live in OUTWARD sin, for if he does, then he is not truly regenerated of the Spirit of God. If we be in Christ Jesus, we are new creations that turn from the sins of the world to serve the living and true God. But what about the inward sin and trespass of the carnal mind? The Word declares that whatsoever is not of FAITH is SIN. How many times are we short of the Faith of the Christ? The Word declares that envy, strife, jealousy, pride, stubbornness, rebellion, and other mental attitudes are SIN. How about murmuring, complaining, criticizing, worrying, fretting, agitation, anger? The Word likewise declares that these things are SIN. Paul said that in his flesh there was NO GOOD thing. John said, “If we say that we have NO SIN, we DECEIVE ourselves, and the truth is not in us” (I John 1:8). John was writing to Christians here, and not to sinners. Jesus was talking to His disciples when He said for them to pray, “And forgive us our sins; for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us” (Luke 11:4). David cried and prayed for God to deliver or set him free from secret faults and errors, which means to sin by missing the mark. How often do we feel the moving of the Spirit of the LORD to do a certain thing, and we are slow to move and miss the mark? We have this truth set forth so clearly in the law of the offering of the blood in the Old Testament sacrifices.

And if any one of the common people sin through ignorance, while he doeth somewhat against any of the commandments of the LORD concerning things which ought not to be done, and be guilty; Or if his sin, which he hath sinned, come to his knowledge: then he shall bring his offering, a kid of the goats, a female without blemish, for his sin which he hath sinned (Leviticus 4:27,28).

The point is that ignorance did not excuse him from guilt, and when the sin was brought to his attention, then he was to put it UNDER THE BLOOD. How ignorant and weak we are in the flesh! But how Jesus longs for us as children of God to live in the Holy Place that He might reveal our ignorance, errors, and mistakes and sins and liberate us by the power of His Blood! When Jesus was baptized with water, He was praying, and as He prayed, the Holy Ghost from heaven descended upon Him. Then Jesus was liberated, as it were, to begin His ministry. It was when the disciples were tarrying in Jerusalem, praying, that they were filled with the Holy Ghost, and then they were liberated to go and take the gospel to the world. Jesus wants us to tarry at the horns of the altar that we be endued with POWER from on high, for then, are we liberated to go forth and serve. The Word declares that where the Spirit of the LORD is, there is liberty. The Son of Man through the Spirit wants to give us liberty and freedom to serve Him. As Jesus prayed in the garden, He was liberated from the will of the flesh.

It is at the horns of the altar that we find the divine compassion of the Son of Man, setting us free from the will of the flesh. Oh, glorious liberty! His liberty and His freedom are ever-growing and increasing as we tarry at the horns of the altar, at the place of prayer. Prayer works in us victory, liberty over our passions and vicious inclinations of the flesh, and brings us into an experimental enjoyment of the virtues and graces of the Spirit of God in our everyday lives.

D. JOHN -Son of God (4th Horn)

1. Light and Knowledge

Let us consider the fourth gospel along with the fourth horn on the Altar of Prayer or the Altar of Incense. In the gospel according to St. John, we see Jesus as the Son of God. What crowning work we can expect from the ministry of the Son of God at the Holy Altar of Incense!

It is in the book of John that we have the revelation of the divinity of Christ; it is in this gospel that He declares that we are to possess the indwelling Father; it is here that He declares that He and His Father are one; it is here that He declares Himself to be the great “I AM,” the voice that had called to Moses out of the burning bush. It is in this gospel that Jesus declares Himself to be the light of the world. These possessions could be found only in the divine Son of God. In this book we read that Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, thus demonstrating His divine power as Son of God over ALL things, even death. As the divine Son of God is thoroughly equipped to give unto us all light and knowledge in the place of prayer, let us look or tarry at the fourth horn and look from both sides of it so as to catch a few glimpses of truth that have been revealed to our hearts. There is much light and much knowledge that Jesus can teach us here at the fourth horn, but I think the most precious comes as we look at the next part of the model prayer given by the LORD to His disciples. In other words, if the horns on the Golden Altar speak of the power of prayer, would not we expect to find the secret or the truth of this power revealed in the model prayer that Jesus gave to His disciples? “Lead us not into (or the Greek word is across, beyond, farther) temptation (piercing) but deliver us from evil (or deliver us from the wicked one).” The idea portrayed here was “lead us not across or around or beyond the piercing, the testing, the trial, the temptation, but as we go through the test deliver us from the wicked one who would like to devour us.” This is some of the greatest light and knowledge that the divine Son of God wants to reveal to us in prayer.

For us to think that Jesus was telling His disciples to pray that they could escape the test, the piercing, the temptation, would contradict the truth of the Word of God, even the words of Jesus when He said, “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.” What was the way of Jesus? It was the pierced way, the Crucified Way, the despised way. How satisfying when we grow a little in our prayer life and are led by the Spirit of God to the fourth horn to begin to partake of the light of humility, the knowledge of deeper death and crucifixion! The Apostle Paul had tarried and received light and knowledge from this fourth horn on the altar. He did not pray that God lead him across, or beyond the temptation, the piercing, but he prayed, “That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his SUFFERINGS (plural), being made conformable unto his death” (Philippians 3:10).

What were His SUFFERINGS? What was His DEATH? This is light and knowledge that is little esteemed in our modern generation, but it still has not lost its value in the eyes of the Son of God. This is one of the hopes of His calling for you, that you yield to Him so He can lead you to the place in prayer, tarry before Him and be taught and receive the light and the knowledge of the humility of Christ who endured such sufferings, and such a death and yet was delivered from the wicked one that was always trying to trick Him in some manner. As the divine Son of God endured these things, He has all light and knowledge to lead us in the same path. Peter testified of this light and this knowledge, “For even hereunto were ye CALLED: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps” (I Peter 2:21).

The flesh hates this way; the flesh rebels against this way, for this is a supernatural life of humility of which it knows nothing. The natural soul finds a sick repulsive feeling rising within its interior when it is talked about, especially when it has tried to do some good thing; it finds no joy or delight in misery and suffering. But the soul that has lived at the fourth horn of the Altar of Prayer and has been partaker of the fellowship of His sufferings, and His death, longs, yearns to go deeper in the light and knowledge of His humility. It finds the blessedness that Jesus speaks of in Matthew 5:9,10 of persecution and reviling. Instead of feeling itself drawn in contraction with pain on the inside, it rejoices that it has been counted worthy of visiting the fourth horn on the Altar of Incense and having fellowship with His sufferings.

Prayer is the place where Jesus gives us the light and knowledge of His humility, and when He draws back the veil a little and gives us a glimpse of the light of His humility that made Him wash the feet of Judas, it makes us hang our heads and weep with agony at the shallowness of our humility before Him, and causes a divine passion to burn within our souls that we long to know more of this light and knowledge. When we get to this, the fourth horn, we leave all murmuring and complaining of the circumstances of life, of sufferings and miseries that come our way, and we find light and knowledge to pray, “Lord, do not lead me across or around it, but let me go through with your humility, and deliver me from the wicked one that would tempt me to give up this noble journey of surrender to you. Deliver me from the wicked one that would tempt me to weep for my own grief, that would tempt me to pity myself, and that would tempt me to rebel.” Precious are the words of the old hymn, “He had no tears for His own grief, BUT sweat drops of blood for mine.” How ashamed we ought to be.

Often when I look at HIM and get a glimpse of new light of His surrender, His humility, I want to go and hide myself under one of the wings of the cherubims in the Holy Place, not because I am afraid of Jesus, nor because I do not want to look at HIM who is the altogether Lovely One, but to hide my SELF, that is so hideous in comparison with this lovely Son of God. The truth from this one ray of light at the fourth horn from the Son of God is immeasurable and would not exhaust the light and knowledge found here.

In the first epistle of Peter (I Peter 1:6-11), this apostle deals much with the subject of suffering. May Jesus teach us more and more how to yield for suffering for His Name’s sake.

Then, there is the light of prophecy from this horn that we can find in prayer. It is glorious when we move on with Him, as did Abraham, and can be called “the friend of God.” God said, shall I hide from Abraham that which I am going to do? No, God did not hide from Abraham that which He was going to do, but revealed it to him, for Abraham was the friend of God. Reader, do not consider yourself a real friend of God, if you do not love His Word or love the place of prayer. When He is our friend, we cannot wait until we can get with our friend and tell Him the secrets of our hearts, and then we cannot wait to hear the secrets of His heart also. How wonderful when He can tell us in advance what His will is going to be for us, or when He tells us that which He is going to do!

Also, light speaks of healing, spiritually and physically. How precious when He leads us to this horn in prayer, and we receive a divine touch from Him through the healing rays of the light of the Son of God. It is in John also that we can receive the light and knowledge of the precious Word. Gratifying it is when through prayer and looking to Him, that He opens the door of His cabinets and lets our souls feed on the secrets of His precious Word. Jesus said that His sayings were hid from the wise and the prudent, but they were revealed unto babes and sucklings. When we can humble our hearts and minds before Him as being nothing and knowing nothing, but become like a baby or a suckling in the Word and prayer, then the light of His truths are opened to us. A suckling is a nursing baby, and it is a strange thing about a little baby that nurses his mother; when he gets hold of the breast, even though he may have received sufficient nourishment, he still holds on with mighty power to the extent that the mother can hardly persuade him to turn loose even with force. I can promise you one thing from experience. When we get this kind of determination to hang on to God in prayer, He will begin to let us in on the secrets in His cabinet.

It is also of great importance that along with the light of revelation of the Word of God that we receive in prayer, to let the rays of humiliation continue to shine; thus, you will receive the thought of mind that you are unworthy, that you are an unprofitable servant; otherwise, the flesh will be quick to usurp with pride as though these accomplishments were her own.

When a soul has enjoyed this exquisite privilege of looking into the great cabinet of God’s secrets, then she is often tempted to desire in her flesh this glorious privilege whenever she comes to the Holy Place, but sometimes God sees fit to test our willingness to suffer, even in this manner, by not granting to us anything special, and lets our prayer experience in the Holy Place be simple and ordinary. This is one of the greatest tests of all, a test of love, a test of humility. Think what a constant cross Jesus bore in the days of His flesh, when He knew what the glories of heaven were, and yet He was here in flesh, limited to a body. When God does not see fit to grant to us great experiences in prayer, but, as it were, more or less leaves our souls a little dry, then He is giving us a little taste of the sufferings of Jesus, who when on earth was denied the grandeurs of heaven. So then let us learn to be patient and humble by not letting our souls strive when God does not grant unto us the kind of experience in prayer that we think He ought to grant.

Then, sometimes, too, after seasons of great blessing in prayer, God permits us to have a little dry spell just to test our love and to see if we love HIM or the BLESSING. Sometimes, churches go through similar experiences when the LORD is pouring out His Spirit and blessing, and everyone is on the band wagon, but when God puts the church to a test or dry spell, there are those who are always ready to run off to what they call greener pastures. The poor ones in their own minds think they are the most spiritual ones. But they have not learned the great secret that it takes greater spiritual strength and power to stand when God sends a little dry season. It takes a deeper love and light to reach beyond the blessing to HIMSELF alone. Human nature is the same—when Jesus was on Earth and poured out the blessings of healing, miracles, and fed the thousands, He was the most popular person in that country. But when the dry spell of His testing and suffering came, how many had the kind of love for HIM that could make them stand with Him in the tests? Not even His own disciples, who had known such great blessings, stood with Him. How much we have to learn at this fourth horn!

2. Love and Fellowship

As we look at the other side of the fourth horn on the Altar of Incense, it seems that we have reached the final crown in prayer. Love is always spoken of as the crown or the final stage of perfection. Someone has rightly said that faith lays the foundation for the spiritual building or kingdom within us, and that hope rears the structure, but it is the ministry of love to crown and finish the building. Jesus finished the Lord’s prayer or the model prayer for the believer with “For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory, forever.” This truly speaks of the crown of love for the human soul. It is to this end that Jesus prayed in John 17:26, “And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it: that the LOVE wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them.” Jesus wanted His disciples to reach the same experience of love and fellowship with the Father that He knew. The kind of love and fellowship that knew in reality and experience that the kingdom of His spirit, soul, and body in His humanity belonged to the Father who dwelled within Him. This speaks of the depths and the heights of surrender. He knew the reality and experience of DEPENDENCE upon the Father that was within; there was never a time in His life or His experience that He did not recognize that the Kingdom belonged to the Father; there was never once that He acted independent of the Father; there was never once that He reserved His right for His humanity.

Here, as we tarry in prayer, the divine Son of God teaches us further about love and fellowship and surrender. Perhaps, you have wondered at times why it is harder to keep the victory or to show forth love and surrender in your own home among your own loved ones than among strangers, for example. The reason is simple; it is because we have not surrendered the right of the flesh; we have not yielded the kingdom as truly being His kingdom. We think that at home we have the right, as it were, to be ourselves, to do what we want to, to be more or less the way that we want to be, to pamper the flesh, and we expect those in the home to understand our flesh. The Word never teaches that the flesh needs coddling, sympathy, understanding. We are taught that the place for the flesh is on the cross. That is where God put the flesh of Jesus when it became a sin offering for our corrupt flesh. That is where our flesh belongs.

The Word declares that when Jesus comes to set up His literal kingdom here on this earth, He will rule until He has put down all rebellion and all flesh. But since His kingdom has already come to the hearts of all who have been born again, He wants to rule in their hearts until He has put down the flesh that they might experience death to self. Scholars tell us that there are two elements of knowledge—theory and experience. Theory is the first or the beginning of knowledge. It is an explanation or plan that we receive and know mentally. But experience is knowledge gained by trial and practice in reality. In God’s Word we read of the theory of the plan of the will and mind of God, but it is the experience at the horns of the Altar that writes the reality of them in our spirits, and thus we find the reality of it in the tests and experiences of life. The perfection of love or the crown of love consists then in our suffering for the love of Jesus. Once we learn this truth we will find it a tremendous stepping-stone in our everyday lives.

Then, we find that which was seemingly impossible, becomes possible. We give up the right to our self for the love of Jesus; we do it for Jesus’ sake. We are willing to suffer humiliations and persecutions from others, for the love of Jesus so that with each new test and trial we rejoice because again He has granted us another opportunity to show love to HIM. How often we hear people say: “I’m not going to do that for her; I’m not going to apologize, I did not do anything.” What a need for God’s children to live in the Holy Place at the Altar of Prayer and be led to the fourth horn so that the Son of God can endue them with His love and fellowship. Jesus endured all the sufferings, because of the LOVE He had in doing the Father’s will and of pleasing His Father. Once we learn this truth, we find that life becomes a more beautiful romance. The Word speaks of Jesus, “Because of the joy that was set before Him, He endured the cross.” What was that joy that was set before Him? It was the joy of doing the Father’s will.

It is here at this fourth horn of the Altar that we learn of the love and the fellowship of the Son of God that makes us delight to give the glory to Him. The old self life, the old fleshly man, is a thief and a robber and is ever present to try to rob Jesus of the glory that belongs to Him. How precious when the soul can dwell at the Altar of Prayer until it is crowned with such love that it will delight to give all the glory to Jesus. For example, when God uses us in some special way in prayer, in preaching, or in witnessing, and the LORD does something through our clay vessels, then we can feel the swelling out of the flesh and the proof is that we want everybody to know just how wonderfully God has used us and what He has done through US. But if we were really interested in GOD’S GLORY, we would be just as anxious to tell in what glorious way God has used another brother or sister in the Lord. We say we love Jesus; we say we want Him to be glorified through our lives here on earth, but the test of our statements comes when we do not find it quite as exciting and wonderful when God is doing something through someone else instead of us.

Dear reader, when we learn of love and fellowship at this Altar, we will be as the Apostle Paul was when he declared that he rejoiced that Christ was preached regardless whether in pretence or truth (Philippians 1:18). He was so in love with Jesus and had such holy passion that the glory of His Name go forth that he would rejoice for everyone who declared it.

Peter mentions another way that we can give glory to Jesus:

For this is thankworthy, if a man for conscience toward God endure grief, suffering wrongfully. For what glory is it, if, when ye be buffeted for your faults, ye shall take it patiently? but if, when ye do well, and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God (I Peter 2:19,20).

Most people cannot even take buffeting for their faults without being peeved or angry, much less being patient when they are evilly treated. What glory Jesus brought to God when He was reviled, threatened, persecuted, and He never opened His mouth. What glory goes to the precious Name of Jesus when we live at the Altar and learn of love and fellowship that gives us His patience and strength in times of testing and trial! It is at the Altar of Prayer that we are taught through the love of Jesus to love the same way He trod, to love mortification of the flesh, to love to take a stand against it, to love to watch and pray. It is through love that we get more and more acquainted with grace and her nature and fruits. The Bridegroom in the Song of Solomon 8:7, says, “Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it; if a man would give all the substance of his house for love, it would utterly be contemned.” The Bridegroom is saying that many waters of adversities, many trials, cannot destroy the pure love of Jesus in a soul. It cannot be excited in the natural; we cannot buy it with money or property and if we offered all the substance of our house for it, it would only be contemned and would not be acceptable. And yet how the Son of God waits at the Altar of Prayer to lead us through His garden of love and let us taste of His many delights found there.

Here, He waits to enflame us with this holy love and fellowship that we may know by experience that the kingdom, the power and the glory are truly His. Here, we taste of the dainties of His mighty love that the soul can discern her lover, Jesus. The Apostle John, the one who had leaned on the breast of Jesus, was the one whom the Spirit of God used to write so much to us about the love of God. If we want to grow in His precious love, then we, too, must lean on His breast in the place of prayer and be taught of Him.

One of the most telling pictures of this love and fellowship is found in the Song of Solomon 3:4,5.

It was but a little that I passed from them, but I found him whom my soul loveth: I held him, and would not let him go, until I had brought him into my mother’s house, and into the chamber of her that conceived me. 1 charge you, 0 ye daughters of Jerusalem, by the roes, and by the hinds of the field, that ye stir not up, nor awake my love, till he please (Song of Solomon 3:4,5).

When the bride found her lover, her bridegroom, she brought him to the chamber or to the inner part of the house and charged that no one should disturb or awake her love until the bridegroom was pleased to do so. Love enflames us to open the innermost chambers of our spirits and souls to our precious Jesus and then causes us to walk in the fear of the LORD, lest we grieve Him. There seems to be no limit to the lessons that we can learn from the ministry of our great High Priest at the horns of the Altar.

VI.

THE CROWN

The crown of the Altar was made of pure gold. The gold speaks of deity, and the crown of power. As our resurrected LORD, He has been crowned with glory and power in the HOLY PLACE of heaven. Many people of earth come to their altars to pray, but the only altar that has been accepted and crowned by God is the altar of the LORD Jesus Christ.

VII.

THE STAVES

We have learned the meaning of the two staves that carried forth the different pieces of furniture in the tabernacle: (1) The death and burial of Jesus being one stave of truth. (2) The resurrection of Jesus being the second stave of truth. Throughout the Tabernacle we are reminded that it is through the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ that we have the privilege of approaching God. It is only through this work that the Altar of Prayer can be revealed unto us.

CHAPTER XI

THE CANDLESTICK

And thou shalt make a candlestick of pure gold: of beaten work shall the candlestick be made: his shaft, and his branches, his bowls, his knops, and his flowers, shall be of the same. And six branches shall come out of the sides of it; three branches of the candlestick out of the one side, and three branches of the candlestick out of the other side: Three bowls made like unto almonds, with a knop and a flower in one branch; and three bowls made like almonds in the other branch, with a knop and a flower: so in the six branches that came out of the candlestick. And in the candlestick shall be four bowls made like unto almonds, with their knops and their flowers. And there shall be a knop under two branches of the same, and a knop under two branches of the same, and a knop under two branches of the same, according to the six branches that proceed out of the candlestick. Their knops and their branches shall be of the same: all it shall be one beaten work of pure gold. And thou shalt make the seven lamps thereof: and they shall light the lamps thereof, that they may give light over against it. And the tongs thereof, and the snuffdishes thereof, shall be of pure gold. Of a talent of pure gold shall he make it, with all these vessels. And look that thou make them after their pattern, which was shewed thee in the mount (Exodus 25:31-40).

And he made the candlestick of pure gold: of beaten work made he the candlestick; his shaft, and his branch, his bowls, his knops, and his flowers, were of the same: And six branches going out of the sides thereof; three branches of the candlestick out of the one side thereof, and three branches of the candlestick out of the other side thereof: Three bowls made after the fashion of almonds in one branch, a knop and a flower; and three bowls made like almonds in another branch, a knop and a flower: so throughout the six branches going out of the candlestick.

And in the candlestick were four bowls made like almonds, his knops, and his flowers: And a knop under two branches of the same, and a knop under two branches of the same, and a knop under two branches of the same, according to the six branches going out of it. Their knops and their branches were of the same: all of it was one beaten work of pure gold. And he made his seven lamps, and his snuffers, and his snuffdishes, of pure gold. Of a talent of pure gold made he it, and all the vessels thereof (Exodus 37:17-24).

I.

THE LOCATION OF THE CANDLESTICK

The Candlestick stood on the south side of the Tabernacle. As already explained, the Tabernacle was laid out in the form of a cross. The furniture of the Brazen Altar, the Laver, the Altar of Incense, and the Ark of the Covenant formed the middle part of the cross from east to west while the pieces of furniture of the Candlestick, the Altar of Incense, and the Table of Shewbread formed the cross bar of the cross from north to south. Through the arrangement of the pieces of furniture with their various messages, we have a complete portrayal of the measure of the stature of Jesus Christ as mentioned in the fourth chapter of Ephesians. “Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ” (Ephesians 4:13).

The location of the Candlestick was on the south side of the Tabernacle, or as we look at the stature of Christ, the Candlestick gives us the message of the right hand of Jesus Christ. From the beginning, let us fix our minds on the truth of the Candlestick which represents Jesus Christ the Living Word, the Living Light of God. Jesus was none other than God’s own right hand which He sent to minister on earth to show forth the light and wisdom of God. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men” (John 1:1-4). Jesus is the Word, the right hand, and by Him were all things made. Even with all the ministry of His hands, here in the days of His flesh, few saw Him as the Living Word, the right hand of God.

Then Jesus said unto them, Yet a little while is the light with you. Walk while ye have the light, lest darkness come upon you: for he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth. While ye have light, believe in the light, that ye may be the children of light. These things spake Jesus, and departed, and did hide himself from them. But though he had done so many miracles before them, yet they believed not on him: That the saying of Esaias the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spake, Lord, who hath believed our report? and to whom hath the arm of the Lord been revealed? (John 12:35-38).

How many believed Jesus when they saw the ministry of His mighty arm? How many saw that He was truly the arm of the Lord? The arm of the LORD, the arm of light and wisdom portrayed through the Golden Candlestick was not for the outside world, but for the priest that had access to the Holy Place in the Tabernacle. Only the priest could enter and behold the beauty and splendor of the Golden Candlestick in the Holy Place. Only the born again believer who has been made a priest unto God can enter into the Living Word and enjoy the beauty and splendor of His wisdom and His light. The very fact that the Golden Candlestick was located in the Holy Place tells us that it was veiled and covered from the eyes of those on the outside.

II.

ITS MATERIAL

A. PURE GOLD

The pure gold tells us of the deity of the Christ. The wisdom and light that was hid in Jesus Christ was pure deity, in other words, His taking on a body of flesh did not add to the light, the wisdom, the Word that He was; the body of flesh was only an opportunity to manifest the Living Wisdom, the Living Word, the Living Light. “And the WORD was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and TRUTH (wisdom)” (John 1:14). If we take the letter “L” out of the word GOLD we have the word GOD. Jesus Christ was pure gold, manifested in flesh. “To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation” (II Corinthians 5:19).

B. BEATEN GOLD

The beaten gold tells us of the gold that has gone to the fire, and while still hot, is placed on the anvil for hammering and molding into shape. Some have likened the beaten gold here to the physical suffering portrayed of Jesus in Isaiah 53 when as the Son of Man He offered His body as a sin-offering. But the question here is not the shittim wood, which spoke of His humanity, but is the beating of the gold, which spoke of the deity of the Son of God, and, therefore, tells us a deeper story than the physical suffering of the Son of Man, which, hideous as it was, would not compare with the interior suffering of the Son of God.

Where can we go but to the Word for the truth of the beating, the hammering of the pure Gold, the pure deity of the Son of God? The Word declares, “Though he were a son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered” (Hebrews 5:8). Jesus learned obedience in a twofold way, for He was a son in a twofold way: He was the Son of God (deity); He was the Son of Man (flesh). Let us look and learn a new lesson of the obedience of the Son of God; let us look at the blow, the beating of His deity, the pure gold.

The fourth chapter of Matthew relates the beginning of this beating, this suffering, this obedience that staggers and overwhelms us. Here was the Son of God, the Living Word who had created all things as we are plainly told in Scripture and yet as He received the open taunts of the Devil, “IF thou be the Son of God.” He learned the obedience and subjection of His very deity. These taunts of the Devil were not directed to the Son of Man, but to the Son of God, to His deity. Do not say that the Devil did not know who Jesus Christ was, when every demon that met Him cried out, “What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou SON OF THE MOST HIGH GOD?” Do not say that the Devil did not know his own CREATOR! Do not say that the Devil did not know that Jesus as Son of God was present when he was cast out of heaven! “And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven” (Luke 10:18). What an insult! What a blow at the deity of Jesus Christ for Jesus to stand and take this from one of His created beings, from one who had become His arch enemy; and yet Jesus Christ, as the divine Son of God never reached out to defend His deity! Can one possibly imagine any greater humiliation in heaven or in earth? Here was the Son of God who declared His own deity in the Word of God, who for this reason was hated of the Jewish people because they said, “he makes himself God,” and yet as the Son of God, He was willing to endure this submission and humiliation. Jesus, the one who was the Word of God, had only to speak and things could be made to come into being. He had only to breathe, and His enemies would be destroyed. He had only to ask for legions of angels from heaven and Satan could have been bound before His very eyes. Jesus never even discussed His deity with Satan. He took the humble place, as it were, as though He had no deity, and simply referred Satan to the written Word. Only the Spirit of God can open our eyes and give us a glimpse into His humility as the Son of God, of the beaten Gold. Only the Spirit can let us see how Jesus, the Living Word, was co-equal with the Father; could take the low place of humility, obedience, subjection, and never use His deity, except as directed by His Father. This is one of the greatest mysteries of all time and eternity.

Again, there is a picture of the Beaten Gold in the garden of Gethsemane. I can never forget the day that the light of this truth broke forth in my soul. For a long time I wept as I have never wept before when God gave me just a little deeper glimpse of the beaten Gold, “Then saith he unto them, My soul is exceeding SORROWFUL, EVEN UNTO DEATH: tarry ye here, and watch with me” (Matthew 26:38). A close look at this one verse by the Spirit of God, discloses the truth. The word sorrowful here comes from the Greek word which means to pierce through and through, even to the dividing asunder, or to the dissolving. Jesus was saying, My soul is literally dissolving even unto death: I am about to die. He WAS about to die. He was about to drink of the cup of death there in the garden, and even though He was about to die, the glorious mystery is that He was so completely in subjection to the Father as SON OF GOD that He would not even use His own power of deity to strengthen His physical body. Were He to die in the garden, He would not be fulfilling His purpose and plan to go to the cross. To some degree, this is a picture of Abraham in his offering of Isaac. Even though Abraham knew that Isaac was to be the one through whom all the promises and blessings were to come, even the Son of Man, yet Abraham had to put this in the hand of God though it meant the literal death of Isaac. When Abraham proved his obedience to God, then we hear Him saying, “Now I know that thou fearest God,” or now I know that thou art in submission, true subjection to God.

Some have thought that the battle in the garden was the drawing back of the flesh of Jesus from the Cross, but were this so, we would not be able to reconcile many Scriptures. In the twelfth chapter of John, we see Jesus teaching before He reached the garden.

Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal...If any man serve me, him will my Father honour.Now is my soul troubled; and WHAT SHALL I SAY? Father, save me from this hour: BUT FOR THIS CAUSE CAME I UNTO THIS HOUR...And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me. This he said, signifying what death he should die (John 12:24-33).

For Jesus to have taught us so much here and expressed Himself as such, and then to have expressed Himself differently in the garden would have been a contradiction. In Hebrews 5:7 we have a further key to the beating of the Gold in the garden. “Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, AND WAS HEARD in that he feared” (had pious submission). This is one of the most incredible pictures of subjection in history. He knew that He was to drink of the cup of death on the cross, not in the garden, and yet His very soul was dissolving unto death in the garden. Would not it seem logical that He would have been justified in using His power of deity to strengthen Himself? But again He subjects His own deity and places Himself at the disposal of His Father. If the Father does not let the cup of death pass from Him there, then He is willing to have the Father’s will. The Father heard this prayer. Because of His submission He sent an angel to strengthen Him that He might fulfill His purpose in going to the cross. How can we ever really know anything of this matter of what it meant for the divine Son of God to humble Himself and be obedient and subject Himself as though He had no power at all? This thought should make us hang our heads in shame at the shallowness of our humility before Him. Did the beating of the gold stop when this experience was concluded in the garden? No, it continued on at the trial and at the Cross.

The Jews answered him, “We have a law, and by our law he ought to die, because he made himself the Son of God” (John 19:7).

This was another taunt at the deity of the Son of God, at the pure Gold. This was another hammer blow on the pure Gold, but again Jesus made no answer. He did not use His power of deity to prove His Sonship of God, for this would have removed Him from the place of obedience, humiliation, and subjection.

At the Cross the Devil was not satisfied just with the suffering of the Son of Man in His agony there, as He hung there. Rather, he continued his hammering on the deity of Christ. “And they that passed by reviled him, wagging their heads, And saying, Thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days, save thyself. If thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross” (Matthew 27:39,40). The Devil always struck at the deity of Christ. At the temptation, the Devil was saying, “Prove your deity, turn the stones into bread, save thyself from death in the garden, prove your deity, come down from the Cross.” What was the motive of Satan in all this? He knew that once Jesus left the place of subjection, humility, and obedience, to prove His deity that the battle for lost souls would be ended. But Jesus knew also that if He received these blows against the pure Gold, He would be fashioned into a candlestick of glorious beauty, and we shall see the reality of this truth when we study the design that was found on the Candlestick.

III.

THE FORM OF THE CANDLESTICK

A. THE CENTRAL SHAFT

The Candlestick was to have a central shaft out of which the six branches would proceed, and be extended to and from the base or the pedestal of the Candlestick. It is most interesting to note that the word shaft is translated in Genesis 24:2 as thigh and in Genesis 46:26 as loin. The loin speaks of the seat of man’s procreative power; so, likewise, is the Living Word in the spiritual, the seat of all procreative spiritual power. “Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the WORD of God, which LIVETH and abideth forever” (I Peter 1:23). It is through the receiving of the Living Word into our hearts that we first begin to experience this spiritual procreative power from the shaft of the Candlestick, and it is as we continue to live in the Holy Place of the Word and prayer that we find an increase of this procreative power from the shaft of the Candlestick. By this I mean that the Spirit of Christ will take the seed of the truth of the Word of God and quicken it to your hearts or cause it to become alive in your spiritual garden. It is precious to realize that in Jesus is the seat of all procreative power. We cannot lay hold of the Word, we cannot understand the Word, apart from this procreative power in Him that can make the Word alive to our hearts and minds. This is the testimony of the Spirit of God through John 1:4 “In him (the Word, the shaft) was life; and the life was the light of men.”

The shaft, along with the six branches, ended in seven sockets that were to hold seven lamps. This number seven tells us of completeness. In Jesus, in the Word, was wisdom and knowledge and understanding. In Revelation we see Jesus Christ pictured most beautifully as the seven lamps: “And out of the throne proceeded lightnings and thunderings and voices: and there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God” (Revelation 4:5). Here is the Candlestick with its seven lamps before the throne of God, declared to be the seven Spirits of God, or the complete Spirit of light and truth. “And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns (complete power) and seven eyes, (complete light, wisdom, and understanding) which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth” (Revelation 5:6). Here the Word of God does not leave us in darkness as to the one that possesses these seven eyes which are the seven Spirits of God. The eye speaks of light, and it is through the natural eye that the body is provided with light. If a man loses his natural eyesight, he is obliged to walk in darkness. It is through the eye of the soul and the eye of the spirit of man that he can receive spiritual light and be enlightened. Isaiah 11:2 gives us the revelation of what the seven eyes, and the seven Spirits, the seven lamps were: “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” (Isaiah 11:2).

1. The Spirit of the LORD

“And the Spirit of the LORD (Jehovah, Redeemer) shall rest upon Him.” The word LORD comes from Jehovah, the self-existent One who reveals Himself, and is used in connection with His redemptive work. This was the Spirit that was to rest on Jesus, the One who would reveal Himself as the Redeemer.

2. The Spirit of Wisdom

This refers to the second lamp or the second eye, as it were. Remember that the Candlestick was the only light in the Holy Place. There was no natural light there. The Candlestick was the eye of the Holy Place, and the priests were to walk and minister in the light of that eye. Jesus said that if the eye were single to God, then the whole body would be full of light. What He was really saying was that if we live by the eye of the Candlestick, then our whole being would be full of its light. The eye of Jesus, the eye of the Candlestick, is the only eye that has ever been single to God. That is why the Word says, “Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding (thine own eye, thine own light). In all thy ways acknowledge him (acknowledge the eye, the light of the Word by obeying it) and he shall direct thy paths” (Proverbs 3:5,6).

3. The Spirit of Understanding

In Jesus dwelt light and understanding, for He was the Word of God. As we dwell in the light of the Candlestick in the Holy Place, we experience this understanding permeating our very beings. It was to this end that the Apostle Paul prayed for the Ephesians, “That the eyes of your understanding being enlightened that you may know what is the hope of His calling...” (Ephesians 1:18).

4. The Spirit of Counsel

This reveals to us the ministry of the fourth lamp on the Candlestick. The word counsel in the Hebrew means to give advice, advisement, or purpose. How precious when we tarry in the Holy Place and are taught from the Word, advisement and purpose! This was to be one of the Names of the LORD when He came in flesh, Counsellor (Isaiah 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.” How grateful we should be to have an high priest that has endured the beating, the hammering of the gold for the Candlestick and is therefore perfectly qualified to counsel and lead and fashion us, too, in His own likeness!

5. The Spirit of Might

This message of the fifth lamp tells us of His might, His mastery, His victory, as a Candlestick of beaten gold. This is part of the sevenfold Spirit that He has sent into the world, a part of the sevenfold eyes of Christ. Let us dwell in the Holy Place that we be formed in His likeness and learn of the mastery, the victory, the power, and the strength that comes when we have the EYE of Christ, and when we live and walk in the light and understanding of that eye. “The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power” (Ephesians 1:18,19).

6. The Spirit of Knowledge

Again, we are reminded of the Word that revealed Jesus Christ as the treasury of all wisdom and knowledge. “In whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Colossians 2:3). The word for knowledge comes from a root word in the Hebrew that means to know by SEEING. As the divine Son of God, as true God, He has seen and known all the treasures of the Godhead. How satisfying to live in the Holy Place and to learn of the lamp, the eye of knowledge, and walk in the light thereof.

7. The Spirit of Fear

This is the seventh lamp or the seventh eye of the Candlestick and by no means of lesser importance than the others, for all the lamps were to be of the same size. This is the reverent fear, the pious submission of the Living Word to become beaten gold. So we see a most precious picture of Christ in the sevenfold lampstand or candlestick. As the Candlestick was the only light in this wilderness Tabernacle and was a type of Christ being the only light for the temple of God, whose temples we are if born again, so in the New Jerusalem, the New City, Jesus will be the only light. “And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the LAMB is the LIGHT thereof (Revelation 21:23).

IV.

THE SIX BRANCHES

We have just seen how that the sevenfold lampstand or candlestick was a most beautiful picture of Christ in His complete fullness of Wisdom, Knowledge, and Understanding. Likewise, in the six branches that proceed out of the main shaft, the main loin, is a most beautiful picture of the believer and his union with Christ. There were to be three branches proceeding out of each side, making a total of six branches in all. Six is the number of man and therefore incomplete in itself, but as the branches are joined in union with the main shaft, the main loin, then his number is changed from six, or incompleteness, to the number seven, or completeness. Jesus referred to this in the fifteenth chapter of John when He declared Himself to be the TRUE VINE, or the true shaft, i.e. the true loin, that was the true seat of procreative power. Jesus showed that the branch that did not bear fruit was good for nothing except to be taken away. It is the vine that upholds the branches and supplies them with life and power. The branches are unable to do anything in themselves, seeing that the source of power and supply is on the vine, the shaft, the loin. As we move on to the decoration on the shaft and the branches, the truth of the vine and the branches will unfold more and more in beauty and splendor to our souls.

V.

THE DECORATION OF THE SHAFT AND THE BRANCHES

As we study the details of the Candlestick, we learn the importance of the smallest minute detail with God. So often people think that things are too small to make much difference one way or another, and yet it is in the Song of Solomon that the Word declares that the “LITTLE FOXES SPOIL THE VINE.” Four different times concerning the building of the Tabernacle, God cautioned Moses to be sure to make it after the pattern, which was showed him in the mount, and here concerning the Candlestick in the sight of God, for in every detail God was setting forth a pattern of truth which has thrilled our hearts in His precious love, beyond human description.

VI.

THE BOWL

The decoration on the Candlestick was to follow a threefold design. Three speaks of the number of divine perfection, and since God has told us in the Word to leave the principles of the doctrine of Christ and go on UNTO perfection (Hebrews 6:1), then it behooves us to examine the pattern of perfection laid out through the decoration of the Candlestick. The threefold decoration was to be the Bowl, the Knop, and the Flower. There were to be four of these sets of decorations on the main shaft, the loin, the vine. And remember that these decorations were formed out of the hammering, the beating of the pure gold. Four is the number of the earth, and therefore speaks of the decoration that the shaft or the vine received through the hammering, the beating, in the days of His journey on earth. There were three of these sets of decorations found on each branch. Three is the number of divine perfection and tells us of the perfection that God has planned for each branch that comes out of the vine.

Let us consider now the first part of the decoration, which was a bowl and was to be fashioned like unto an almond. To understand the message of the bowl, we have to look to the almond, after which the bowl was fashioned. The almond has been used in Scripture to picture the quickening power of the Word of the LORD. In the seventeenth chapter of Numbers when the children of Israel had questioned the authority of the priesthood of Aaron, God required that each tribe of Israel bring a rod along with Aaron. They were to lay these rods (sticks, as it were) in the Holy Place before the LORD that God might show His choice for the priesthood, and when they came again the next day, behold, the rod of Aaron had budded, bloomed blossoms, and yielded almonds. Here, a dead piece of wood was laid under the light of the Candlestick, the light of the Living Word, and over night it took on the life and likeness of the pattern of the Candlestick. This ought to encourage our hearts to live under the light of the Living Word that we, too, may be changed into His image (II Corinthians 3:18). The almond is the seed, the fruit of the almond tree. This pictures the speedy and powerful result of the light of the Living Word to change and transform. This is the almond of the new birth in Christ Jesus. If we walk in the way of holiness and perfection, we must start with the bowl, the almond, the seed of the new birth through the incorruptible seed of the Word.

In Jeremiah we perceive the quickening, the chastening of the Word of the Lord. “Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, Jeremiah, what seest thou? And I said, I see a rod of an almond tree. Then said the LORD unto me, Thou hast well seen: for 1 will hasten my word to perform it” (Jeremiah 1:11,12). God was saying to Jeremiah that He would quicken and bring to life His Word. The almond tree was called the waker by the Hebrews, for it was the first of the trees to awaken in the winter and put forth its luxuriant blossoms even as early as January. The born again experience is the waking experience from the cold dead winter of sin.

The wakefulness of the almond tree also tells us another truth set forth by the almond bowl on the Candlestick. It tells us that not only are our eyes open to Satan when born again, but also that the more we live under the light of the Living Word of God, the more wakeful we become, the more watchful we become, looking for the small ways that the world, flesh, or the Devil might hinder us in our walk with Jesus.

In Ecclesiastes 12:5, the almond tree is used as a sign for the aged, when the hair is white like an almond tree in bloom. “Also when they shall be afraid of that which is high, and fears shall be in the way, and the almond tree shall flourish, and the grasshopper shall be a burden, and desire shall fail: because man goeth to his long home, and the mourners go about the streets.” This speaks the same truth—there is a wakefulness that comes with maturity in the natural life and likewise in the spiritual. When we live in the Holy Place under the light of the Candlestick and grow in the Word, we find an increase of the wakeful spirit that Peter talks about, “Be sober, be vigilant, for your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.” (I Peter 5:8). It is just natural for children to require more sleep than do adults, but Paul said that when he became a man, he put away childish things. When we are babes in Christ, we sleep by many opportunities. We sleep by many leadings of the Spirit of God, but how wonderful to live in the Holy Place with the Word that we might grow in wakefulness to His voice and eye. It is said that the servants of the orient were so trained and familiar with the desires of their masters that the masters did not even have to speak; they only had to give a look, a nod. Splendid it is when we grow to the wakefulness, the watchfulness of the eye of our Precious Master that at the slightest nod or look from Him, we might move.

Another truth of the almond tree is related in Genesis 30:37, “And Jacob took him rods of green poplar, and of the hazel and chestnut tree; and pilled white strakes in them, and made the white appear which was in the rods.” It was really the almond rod that Jacob set before the flocks and the cattle that when they conceived they were ringstraked, speckled, and spotted. This peculiarity of appearance had nothing to do with the strength of the animals, for they were stronger than the others. Surely the children of God who live in the Holy Place and feed on the Word look peculiar to the world, but their strength will certainly be more than the other people of the world. God has declared that His people are a peculiar people and the closer we walk with God, the more peculiar we shall appear in the eyes of the world.

Moreover, the almond was eaten in two different stages: (1) in the first stage of growth, the pod and all (when the pod was tender, crisp and green, it made a choice bit of food); (2) in the last stage of growth when the fruit was fully ripe. How needful is the Word for the young babe in Christ who can eat pod and all and then in the full ripe mature Word, there is the meat for those who continue to grow in Him.

The almond bowl spoke not only of the new birth, but also of growing in the Word of God. So few press on in this realm. Remember how the truth, the Word, was quickened when we were born again. The light of the Word opens our hearts to the fact that Jesus is the fountain of all knowledge and wisdom. How thrilling are the almond bowls of truth when we live in the Holy Place with HIM. This is why life is a romance with those who live in the Holy Place with Him. Note in the Song of Solomon the growth of the Bride in her relationship with the Bridegroom. It is not until the sixth chapter of the Song of Solomon that the Bride has grown to the place where she is able to maintain UNBROKEN communion with her lover, her bridegroom. In this book we read about the three things the Bridegroom was looking for in His garden, which are none other than the threefold pattern of perfection we saw in the decoration of the Candlestick. “I went down into the garden of nuts to see the fruits of the valley, and to see whether the vine flourished, and the pomegranates budded” (Song of Solomon 6:11). The first thing that the Bridegroom was looking for was the garden of nuts with its fruits. He was looking to see how the almonds, as it were, were growing, and He was looking to see how the WORD was growing in the garden. We are His garden, may He help us to grow in His sacred Word that the almond bowl will truly grow in our spiritual gardens. As we proceed into the other two decorations, we see how they fit together with the other two things the Bridegroom looked for in His garden.

VII.

THE KNOP, THE CROWN

Each almond bowl was to be crowned with a knop. First, Jesus comes as the Living Word, the almond bowl; then we know that this Living Word, this Jesus, was crowned with suffering and death. “But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man” (Hebrews 2:9). Through suffering and death, Jesus was crowned with the glory and the honour of repairing the breach that had been made on God’s holiness by the sin of man. Why does Jesus give us the almond bowl of the Word, of a born again experience? That we might live for ourselves? Certainly not. Rather, that we, too, may be crowned with the crown of crucifixion and death to ourselves, to our wills and that we might follow on deeper with Him. The crown of death for Jesus spake of the crown of submission, of obedience, of humility. For out of the corn of wheat that fell in the ground and died, arose, or was released, new power and new life. It is true with us as we let the beaten knop, the beaten crown of humility, obedience, and death in our human will be formed, then there will come new life, new power. It is in the release of this new power, this new life from Him that we find an ecstasy in our hearts and souls to walk with Him.

Let us consider the second thing that the Bridegroom was looking for in His garden and see how the patterns of God’s Word all fit together, for they truly declare a message of the truth of the Son of God. The Bridegroom was looking to see how the vine was flourishing. He was looking to see if the tender grapes were appearing. We are all familiar with the message of the juice of the grape. When Jesus drank of the fruit of the vine at the last Passover, He declared that it was not an emblem of His own Blood, His own life that He was going to lay down for us. It is only through the crucifixion of our own wills that we can lay our life down for Jesus. It is only as we deny ourselves from our wants and our wills that we can lay them down to do His wants and His will. God never changes His pattern, whether the message is in the symbolical teaching of the Song of Solomon, or whether it is in the symbolical teaching of the Candlestick, or whether they are the very words from the mouth of Jesus Christ, the plan of perfection is the same.

VIII.

THE FLOWER

Now out of the crown or the knop was to proceed a flower. The flower speaks of the new manifestation of life. This is the bloom of the corn of wheat that fell in the ground and died, and out of its death came forth the new life, the new bloom, the new flower, the Resurrected Christ. The third thing that the Bridegroom looked for in His garden in the Song of Solomon was the bud, the flower of the pomegranate. We learn the secret of the message of the pomegranate when we compare the nine trees in the garden of the Bridegroom, which was none other than His description of the heart of His bride, to the nine fruits of the Spirit in Paul’s epistle to the Galatians. “Thy plants are an orchard of pomegranates, with pleasant fruits; camphire, with spikenard, Spikenard and saffron; calamus and cinnamon, with all trees of frankincense; myrrh and aloes, with all the chief spices” (Song of Solomon 4:13,14). “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law” (Galatians 5:22,23). The message of the pomegranates was the message of love, the flower of love. All the saints of God who have walked with Him know the reality of this truth. After the forming of the almond bowl of the Word in our hearts, after the obedience in following Him, at least in a measure of crucifixion of our wills, the knop formed, then we know of the great increase of love that follows when we obey and walk in His pattern. Is not this the same pattern we find in the three graces of Faith, Hope, and Love? Faith lays the foundation of the spiritual building, the almond bowl, the blessed Hope rears the structure of the spiritual building, the blessed Hope makes us willing to deny ourselves, lay down our lives that the spiritual building may grow, and then the “greatest of these,” the flower of love finishes the structure. “And now abideth faith, hope, and love, these three; but the greatest of these is love” (I Corinthians 13:13).

Again, we are reminded of the message of the vine and the branches. Every branch Jesus said that bore fruit, that is, every branch that had the formation of the almond bowl His Father, the husbandman, would purge it. There would be the cutting off, the death part, the knop, the crown, to the end that it might bear more fruit; to the end, that out of the purging, out of the knop might grow a new flower of love, which would produce more fruit; for at the base of every fertile bloom lies the seed of new fruit.

IX.

THE SIZE

As previously mentioned, there were two pieces of furniture in the ministry of the Tabernacle for which God did not provide measurements. One was the Laver, which stood in the court. By this, God was showing us that there is no limit to the cleansing power of the Laver of the Word, and here again in the Candlestick. God gives no measurements for the Candlestick, for He is amply showing us there is no limit to the light of the Word for us. We can live in the Holy Place all the days of our lives and not exhaust the spiritual light from God’s Word. As we grow on with Him, old truths only increase in glory and brightness, in beauty and fragrance. There is the ever opening of new flowers of truth in His Word, so that the treasury of our hearts is increased in old things and in new things.

X.

THE LIGHT

The seven lamps that were to be placed on the six branches and the shaft were to be vessels for the oil, that the lamps might give light for the Holy Place. There were some conditions discussed below to be met by the priest in order to keep the light in the Holy Place as God had instructed.

XI.

PURE OIL

In Exodus 27:20 we read that God wanted pure olive oil beaten. “And thou shalt command the children of Israel, that they bring thee pure oil olive beaten for the light, to cause the lamp to burn always.” The pure oil of the olive was obtained by beating or bruising the olive so that the oil that dropped out of them was purer and finer than that which was obtained from the olives that had been crushed in the mortar. God wanted the pure oil because it represented the Spirit of God. The Word of God will never lighten our hearts and minds except through the Spirit of God. It is the Spirit of God that takes the things of God and shows them unto men. If we would have light in our spiritual hearts and minds, then we have to look for the Spirit of God to come and fill us with His oil. The command here was that the lamp was to burn ALWAYS. Some have thought that the light was extinguished during the day, but we are taught here in the Word that the pure oil was to be brought that the Lamp might burn always.

XII.

FRESH OIL TWICE DAILY

In Exodus 27:21, God commanded Aaron and his sons to order or prepare the lamps in the evening for the night, and again in the morning for the day. What better instructions can we find than the truth of the fresh oil twice daily? This tells us of the need for going to the Holy Place in the morning, that God might pour in a fresh supply of His Spirit, His oil, for the light of the Word for the day, and again in the evening for the fresh supply again. How important was the care of this lamp with its oil! For without it, there would be no light with which the priest could minister in the Holy Place.

Again, we see the Candlestick picturing to us the right hand in the stature of Christ which represents humility and ministry. We also see that apart from the Living Word, apart from the oil of the Spirit and from the light of the Spirit through the Word, there is no real ministry. All else is just a lot of bodily exercise. How subtle Satan attacks the ministers of God, to get them so busy that they have no time in the Holy Place for the formation of the hand of the stature of the Christ, which is the only hand that knows how to serve in a manner pleasing to God. How subtle Satan is to deceive the ministers and servants of God in keeping them too busy to spend time in the Holy Place to absorb the light of the Candlestick that they might truly have light and understanding to serve in a way pleasing to God.

XIII.

TONGS

The command to make the tongs tells us of the wick that was in the lamp, even though we do not have instructions for the wick. The word tongs means snuffers or tweezers. These were used to snuff off the burnt part of the wick and to hold the coal of fire from the Brazen Altar to light them again when they were ordered or prepared. The tongs were important instruments in the care of the lamps and were to be made of pure gold too. After the lamps burned all night or all day, there was need for the tongs to snuff off the burnt part, the charred part. How true it is with us, that we need the divine tongs of God to clean up the burnt part, the charred part. Too many Christians are trying to live on the burnt part of an experience from yesterday, instead of coming to the Holy Place for a new trimming by the divine tongs of God, that they might have a fresh and new experience in the Word. Too many ministers are trying to preach and feed their people on their burnt and charred experiences in the Word of God. They need to come to the Holy Place that they might be trimmed, that new light, new oil, new wisdom, and understanding shall flow through them.

Then the tongs were used for regulating the wick in the lamps. Sometimes, the wick might be too high and produce nothing but soot and smoke. If you leave a lamp in this condition, it will blacken everything in the room and will give off a repulsive odor. How often do God’s children forget that they are just a wick that is good for nothing unless soaked in the oil of the Holy Ghost and set on fire with His divine love and zeal from a Calvary experience. They allow pride to turn up the wick so high that it is not even touching the oil so that there is much smoke but NO FIRE, no burning of the lamp of the everlasting Word. How they need a turning up by the divine tongs of God that will put them down in humility and soak them in oil so they burn with the real Holy Ghost fire!

Sometimes, the wick would be screwed down so tight that the flow of oil cannot get through, and it becomes necessary for the divine tongs to loosen. How wonderful to go to the Holy Ghost shop where the divine tongs are, for regardless of our trouble as a wick, we can be sure that God can repair it. Again, pride occasionally causes people to let their wicks be screwed down so tight that the divine oil cannot flow through. Sometimes, they are afraid that if the oil does flow through, someone will see and possibly criticize them or make fun, and their light is hindered from burning. Or maybe the wicks have been screwed down too tight by hard, condemning, judging spirits that we have developed toward others. But whatever the trouble, the divine tongs in the hands of our High Priest can and will adjust it. Sometimes, people can acquire knots of bitterness, hardness, or unforgiveness that will obstruct the oil from coming through and thereby hinder their light, but whatever the trouble, if we spend the time in the Holy Place in the morning and the evening, our lamps will always be in good condition. Jesus, as the divine Lampstand, was ever burning and shining for the glory of His Father.

XIV.

THE SNUFFDISHES

The snuffdishes were used for carrying out the refuse of the wicks, and for bringing in the fire from the Brazen Altar from which the Candlestick was to be lighted. God put the fire on the Brazen Altar, and it was from this place that all the fire was obtained for the ministry in the Tabernacle. All other fire was called strange fire, for it did not come from God. The Brazen Altar speaks of the fire of a Calvary experience. It is only from this fire that we have the privilege of lighting up the Word of God to our hearts through the Spirit of God. There are many today who profess to know great and profound truths from the Word of God, but who deny the reality of the sacrifice of the Son of God on Calvary—these are but offering up strange fire and will no doubt reap the judgment and condemnation as did Nadab and Abihu. “And Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took either of them his censer, and put fire therein, and put incense thereon, and offered strange fire before the LORD which he commanded them not. And there went out fire from the LORD, and devoured them, and they died before the LORD” (Leviticus 10:1,2).

XV.

EXAMPLES IN THE WORD

The Candlestick or the Lampstand was given for the express purpose of providing light for the priest of God to minister in the Holy Place in the things of God. We have an excellent word in the Spanish that expresses the kind of light that was furnished by the Candlestick. The word in Spanish comes from the root word alumbrar, which means to restore sight to the blind, to enlighten, to instruct, to adorn with knowledge, to dig about the roots of a vine, to bring forth. We now take each one of these definitions and find a beautiful picture of what the Candlestick, or the Living Word of God, is to our spirits and souls, which is the Holy Place of God, that He has chosen to dwell within us by faith.

A. TO LIGHT

The lampstand was to be set on fire; it was to shine and be luminous in the Holy Place. “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path” (Psalm 119:105). This was what the psalmist was conveying to our hearts through the Spirit of God. In the Orient it was a custom to use a lamp on each foot when a person was walking by night, and as the lamps burned, they cleared the way; they made the way plain. How real is this truth through the Living Word that has been set aflame in our hearts by the Holy Ghost. We cannot perfect ourselves in the flesh; we cannot bring ourselves closer to God, for we do not know how to lead ourselves down the spiritual pathway. But if we have our spiritual feet shod with the preparation of the Gospel, or if we have our feet shod with the Word that has been set aflame by the Spirit of God, we can be sure that it will direct our pathway; we can be sure it will show the next step in moving closer to our precious Saviour. We can be sure that it will reveal the obstacles of the carnal mind and the flesh that are in front of us that are always ready to hinder us in moving closer to God. We can be sure, too, that if we keep our feet shod with the Word and keep the burning of the Holy Ghost fire within that each step of the way it will burn out the many obstacles that we meet down through life’s journey. But remember, in order for the lamp to be kept burning continually in the Tabernacle, it was necessary for the priest to order the lamp twice daily, pouring in a fresh supply of oil twice daily. May Jesus help us to learn by experience the reality of coming to the Holy Place daily for the fresh supply of the Word and the Oil of the Spirit.

“For the commandment is a lamp; and the law is light; and REPROOFS of INSTRUCTION are the way of life” (Proverbs 6: 23). The Word is truly a lamp; it is truly a light that reveals reproofs of instruction for us; and it is only as we find the light of His reproofs of instruction that we find the way of life. There are many who would like to find wonderful instructions in the Word so that people would see how wise and great they are. This is no more than a proud fleshly desire that can never know the burning flame of the Spirit of God lighting up the Word to them. But when we have a sincere and humble desire from the spiritual man to find the reproofs of instruction in the Word to the end so that we can be turned from our own ways to the way of the Lord, then the Word will light up with the Holy Ghost fire and reprove and instruct us in the way of life. And with every reproof from Him comes the enlargement of the fact that we are only a WICK, that is good for nothing in itself, has no life or light within itself, and is only of value when soaked in the Oil of the Spirit, and resting in the Lamp of the Word and set on fire with the coals from off the Brazen Altar.

B. RESTORE SIGHT TO THE BLIND

The second meaning of alumbrar is to restore sight to the blind. Without the eyes of the lampstand in the Holy Place, it would have been a place of blindness and darkness. Without the Living Word, the living Lampstand in our hearts, there would be total darkness and blindness. But even when Jesus, the light, the Word, comes into our hearts, still His light will only penetrate the recesses of our spirits and souls as we yield to Him. As we spend time in the Holy Place we find the rays of the living Word penetrating deeper and deeper into the recesses of our hearts and minds, so that our understanding is enlightening constantly in Him. When light shines, then darkness flees. “This then is the message which we have heard of him and declare unto you, that GOD IS LIGHT, and in him is no DARKNESS at all. If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth” (I John 1:5,6). In other words, beloved, we can only have fellowship with God to the degree in which we have permitted the light to penetrate. The word darkness here in the Greek means sin, ignorance, misery, and imperfections. None of these things are to be found in God, but we must admit that in the flesh they still abide in us, and that they need to be penetrated by the light of the Word, the fire of the Word. The word light here means goodness, perfection, purity, wisdom, knowledge, holiness, and happiness. This is the light that is found in God, in the Word. May we seek an increase of this light for our souls and our spirits. Every new truth that is set aflame in our hearts from the Word makes us see and know how truly great is our ignorance. “The poor and the deceitful man meet together: the LORD lighteneth both their eyes” (Proverbs 29:13).

The LORD delighteth to enlighten the eyes of the poor man, or the spiritual man who is poor in spirit, humble before God. It is wonderful to have the spiritual eyes enlightened in the ways and the mind of the Lord. God also promised light for the deceitful man, the fleshly man. How deceitful is our fleshly man who has the knowledge of good and evil! How he can present himself as something good, thereby deceiving us! And we do not see the need of offering him (the fleshly man) upon the altar of sacrifice. When we are deceived by him, then we do not see the need of denying him and taking up the cross to follow on with Jesus. But when we live under the light of the Candlestick in the Holy Place, then the eyes of our natural man are opened, as it were, to truly see as the Apostle Paul said, “In my flesh dwelleth no good thing.”

To know this truth theoretically and to know it by experience in having the natural and the spiritual eyes opened by the light of the Candlestick are two different things. The fact that we still have a capacity for offense and feel injury or offense at those who treat us wrongfully only proves that the light or the eye of the Christ has not yet penetrated that part of our being, for when light comes, then darkness flees. When the light of the Candlestick has purified and crucified our flesh, then we will have the same reaction of Christ when we are evilly treated. A dead man feels no reaction to evil treatment whether it be the lash or the small pin pricks. We need to move on deeper in the crucified life with Jesus. “I lead in the way of righteousness, in the midst of the paths of judgment” (Proverbs 8:20). This is the voice of wisdom speaking in the book of Proverbs. We are blind to the ways of God. We must depend on the eye of Christ, the light of the wisdom of the Candlestick to lead us in the way of righteousness. Jesus is the way of righteousness; He is the wisdom of God and as we lean on His eye, His light, to direct us then He brings us into deeper and closer relationship with Himself. He leads us more and more into the oneness of fellowship with Him.

C. TO ENLIGHTEN

To enlighten means to make clear to the mind, to elevate spiritually. With the enlightenment furnished by the Candlestick, the priests could minister with clarity of mind and were elevated spiritually as they ministered in the holy things of God.

The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power. Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places. Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come: And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all (Ephesians 1:18-23).

I wonder if this might not be one of the longest sentences in the Bible. We did not start with the beginning of the sentence but rather in the middle and quoted to the end, but the whole sentence occupied some nine verses here in the first chapter of Ephesians. Paul was praying for the enlightening of the eyes of their understanding that they might understand the expectation or hope of His calling. Peter testified that we were called out of darkness into His marvelous light, the light of the Candlestick, that we might be a chosen generation, an holy nation, a peculiar people” (I Peter 2:9). The more our spiritual eyes are opened, the more we can see and know the expectation that Jesus has for us. He also wants to enlighten our spiritual eyes that we can see the inheritance of Christ in every saint, which is His glory. All born again believers have a rich deposit of His glory, and Jesus wants them to live under the great eyes of the lampstand that this truth might be revealed deeper and deeper in their hearts, for only in this revelation will the love of God be increased for the brethren in the Lord.

God wants them to know, too, the greatness or the exceeding greatness of His power; the same power that raised up Jesus from the dead and exalted Him to the highest position in heaven, in earth, in the ages to come, in the church, in all things, He has been exalted. If He is the head and we are His body, then we will be there with Him in His exaltation. This mighty power of God raised Him from the low place of death to the highest place in heaven and earth. What a lesson for us if we would only live in the Holy Place and be enlightened with this mighty power. If we, too, will follow the footsteps of Jesus our Saviour and humble ourselves in taking our place with Him in His death, then we shall begin to experience the exaltation of being lifted into the heavenlies with Him.

“The entrance of thy words giveth light; it giveth understanding unto the simple” (Psalm 119:130). May we be enlightened with the rays from the golden lampstand.

D. TO INSTRUCT

The fourth meaning of the word alumbrar is to instruct. The living Word of God is a lampstand, a candlestick that will provide instruction for us. “I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye” (Psalm 32:8). If we tarry in the Holy Place, we will find the rays of the light of instruction shining into our hearts and minds that will teach us the way to go, the way that will be pleasing and acceptable to our dear Saviour. We shall find the guiding eye of the Word turning our steps aright, if we live in the Holy Place with the lamp of the Word.

E. TO ADORN WITH KNOWLEDGE

This shows us another form of the ministry of the living Word. God wants us to be adorned with spiritual beauty.

Whose adorning let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel; But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price (I Peter 3:3,4).

Where do we find this knowledge of a meek and quiet spirit? Jesus said, “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and LEARN of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls” (Matthew 11:28,29). The great Candlestick, Jesus, is the one who possesses the knowledge of meekness and humility. He is waiting and ready to adorn us with this knowledge of meekness and quietness. How the fleshly man strives and labors to obtain the highest place, or to have the best reputation! But the invitation of Christ is to come and let Him adorn us with His meekness and His lowliness; to come and let Him adorn us with the light of His knowledge and mind.

“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” (II Corinthians 4:6).

F. TO DIG ABOUT THE ROOTS OF A VINE

This gives us the light and the truth of the Living Word that is able to dig about the roots of the spiritual vine in our hearts to the end that He might break up the fallow ground, the hard ground, that the vine might take deeper root as the Word declares, that it might take root downward and bear fruit upward. This was the thought of the heart of Paul in Ephesians 3:17-19: “That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.” If we are to have the joy of comprehending the breadth, length, depth, and height, which is the Cross, the Crucified Way, and to know the sweet ecstasy of His love, to know of the romance with Him, then we must be rooted and grounded in love. The only way we can know this experience is for the rays of the living Candlestick to pierce our hearts and break up the hardness of pride, and indifference, and the many other things that tend to make the ground of our hearts hard. Then, as we are filled with the softness and sweetness of His love, the spiritual vine in our hearts will truly grow unto the height of comprehension of the cross.

Let us look at the word comprehension in its entirety, and we will get a clearer picture of the value of the Word of God digging around the roots of the spiritual vine. Comprehension means to take possession of, to seize, or to swallow an object so that the object is changed from something without, to something within. For example, one must chew and swallow food before the food can be changed into blood that will then become flesh and bone. In short, comprehension is assimilation. Comprehension is taking in the Living Word, the Christ. All the love, humility, grace, mercy and power of God was poured out through Jesus Christ on the cross. It is for us to be dug about the roots with the sharp Word that produces the ground of love to the end that the spiritual man may be able to literally eat, or comprehend more and more of the Calvary humility, the Calvary love, the Calvary obedience, the Calvary grace, the Calvary mercy. Is it any wonder that the Apostle Paul declared that he was determined to know nothing but Jesus Christ and Him crucified? As we enter into this comprehension of Jesus and His cross, we come to know, as Paul says, the love of Christ in a way that passeth all understanding. Our souls are lifted into a love relationship with Him in unity and harmony that is beyond human understanding. May we continue to live under the life-giving rays of the divine Candlestick, that we might be rooted and grounded in love, that we might be able to comprehend and assimilate the cross of Jesus; that we might know His love; that we might be filled with the fulness of God.

G. TO BRING FORTH

This is another picture of the ministry of the Living Word of God. In the spring when the warm rays of light from the sun begin to penetrate the soil and the seeds that are hidden within the soil, then the little embryo of life that is hidden in the seed is released to come forth or to bring forth. How true in the spiritual when we come to the written Word and have the rays of light from the Spirit of God to shine down upon it. Then, it is brought from the written page to the garden of our hearts to bring forth life and fruit in the spiritual. “For with thee is the fountain of life: in thy light shall we see light” (Psalm 36:9). This is an illuminated picture of the light of the Candlestick. As we bring the written Word to the light of the Candlestick, then we will find that in His light we will find new light coming forth to our hearts from the written Word.

CHAPTER XII

THE TABLE OF SHEWBREAD

Thou shalt also make a table of shittim wood: two cubits shall be the length thereof, and a cubit the breadth thereof, and a cubit and a half the height thereof. And thou shalt overlay it with pure gold, and make thereto a crown of gold round about. And thou shalt make unto it a border of an handbreadth round about, and thou shalt make a golden crown to the border thereof round about. And thou shalt make for it four rings of gold, and put the rings in the four corners that are on the four feet thereof. Over against the border shall the rings be for places of the staves to bear the table. And thou shalt make the staves of shittim wood, and overlay them with gold, that the table may be borne with them. And thou shalt make the dishes thereof, and spoons thereof, and covers thereof, and bowls thereof, to cover withal: of pure gold shalt thou make them. And thou shalt set upon the table Shewbread before me alway (Exodus 25:23-30).

And he made the table of shittim wood: two cubits was the length thereof, and a cubit the breadth thereof, and a cubit and a half the height thereof: And he overlaid it with pure gold, and made thereunto a crown of gold round about. Also he made thereunto a border of an handbreadth round about; and made a crown of gold for the border thereof round about. And he cast for it four rings of gold, and put the rings upon the four corners that were in the four feet thereof. Over against the border were the rings, the places for the staves to bear the table. And he made the staves of shittim wood, and overlaid them with gold to bear the table. And he made the vessels which were upon the table, his dishes, and his spoons, and his bowls, and his covers to cover withal, of pure gold (Exodus 37:10-16).

And thou shalt take fine flour, and bake twelve cakes thereof: two tenth deals shall be in one cake. And thou shalt set them in two rows, six on a row, upon the pure table before the LORD. And thou shalt put pure frankincense upon each row, that it may be on the bread for a memorial, even an offering made by fire unto the LORD. Every sabbath he shall set it in order before the LORD continually, being taken from the children of Israel by an everlasting covenant. And it shall be Aaron’s and his sons ; and they shall eat it in the holy place: for it is most holy unto him of the offerings of the LORD made by fire by a perpetual statute (Leviticus 24:5-9).

I.

THE TABLE

A. THE MATERIAL

The table was made of shittim wood and overlaid with gold. Again, this speaks of the humanity and the deity of the Christ. In the complete Tabernacle we see the twofold nature of Jesus Christ painted through the shittim wood and the gold or the shittim wood and the brass. This shows us that in the picture of the measure of the stature of Jesus Christ He is human and divine.

B. THE MEASUREMENTS

The table is to be two cubits in length, and as already explained, two is the number of union, for it is made up of one and one. This table was placed where the believer is to be brought in union with Jesus Christ and into oneness of mind and heart with Him. This table was the place where the priest ate of the meat offering or meal offering and drank the drink offering.

Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him. As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me (John 6:53-57).

Then, as the priests ate of the bread of the table, they were showing forth the truth concerning those who would eat spiritually of Jesus and be made one with Him and the Father. The table was to be one cubit in breadth; so again, we see that it is the will of God to bring the length and the breadth of the believer into union or into oneness with Jesus. The height of the table was to be the same as the Ark of the Covenant, or one and a half cubits. Not only does God want to bring the length and breadth of our beings, spirit, soul, and body into oneness with Himself, but He wants the height of our stature to grow unto the height of the stature of Christ, or the height of the Ark of the Covenant.

The Ark was the last piece of furniture in the Tabernacle and was a picture of the head of Christ, for it was here that the high priest stood with the Urim and the Thummim in the breastplate to find the mind of God from the Ark as He stood before the veil. As we grow in oneness with Him in length and breadth, we also grow up to find His mind, to receive His orders.

Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross (Philippians 2:5-8).

What does it mean to grow up into the measure of the mind of Christ Jesus? It simply means growing up into the mind of His humility. This is the greatest secret in all the universe. Jesus said, he that would be greatest, let him become the least. We have to grow in His mind of humility in order to know how to take the least part or place in our hearts before God, and He rewards us by lifting us up to see and behold treasures and jewels in His blessed Word. Few learn of this secret way, for it is hidden in the Holy Place; it is hidden from the wise and prudent and revealed to babes and sucklings. It is revealed to those who are willing to humble themselves and take the place of a babe before God; willing to humble themselves and become a suckling on the breasts of the Word of God, that they might grow in the measure of the stature of Jesus Christ. This table was a picture of Jesus; a picture of Jesus humbling Himself all the way to Calvary to become the table, the spiritual table, whereby you and I could feed and grow.

C. THE DOUBLE CROWN

The table stood in the north part of the Tabernacle and faced the Golden Candlestick on the south. The Table stood in line with the Candlestick, the Altar of Incense, to form the horizontal bar of the Cross, so to speak. Or if we were to look at the Cross with the Saviour on it, we would find the table resting in the left hand. May the Spirit of God open the eyes of your understanding in order to behold a higher vision of the blessed LORD. It is worthy to note that the bride always stands at the left hand of the bridegroom. It is the responsibility of the bridegroom to provide for the bride, to provide nourishment for the body by giving food; to provide nourishment for the soul by giving love. What a beautiful truth as we stand in the Holy Place at the Table of Shewbread and take hold of the left hand of our precious Bridegroom to find the nourishment for our spiritual bodies and find the love that nourishes our spirits so that truly we can live and move and have our being in Him. We can know the joy and the romance of walking in Him. This is the reason for the double crown on the table. Jesus was crowned with the glory and the honor of purchasing His own bride with His own life and His own blood. “But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; THAT HE BY THE GRACE OF GOD SHOULD TASTE DEATH FOR EVERY MAN” (Hebrews 2:9).

It was a custom in the Orient that the bridegroom present gifts to the bride. Jesus has given to us the greatest gift of all, Himself, that we may nourish and feed on Him, who is the Table and the Bread. “Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave Himself for it” (Ephesians 5:25). Not only was He crowned with glory and honor by giving Himself for the bride, but He was crowned with glory and honor when He arose from the dead, as being the rightful bridegroom.

Men had known different husbands, as it were, from the beginning. There was first the day of innocence in the garden that Adam and Eve knew before they sinned, and they ruled or governed by innocence until they disobeyed and sinned against God. Next there was the day of conscience, the dispensation of conscience that governed and ruled man. Later, there was the time of human government ruling man. Also there was the time that Abraham received the promises, and he was ruled or directed in his life by the promise. Finally, there was the time of the law when Israel was ruled by the law, but none of these were worthy of being crowned as the King, as the Bridegroom. Jesus has been crowned not only with the glory and honor of giving Himself for the bride, but He has been raised and crowned with glory and honor of being the rightful heir, the King of kings, the Bridegroom. He has been crowned as the one who is capable of nourishing and sustaining the bride out of His own hand. What a blessing to know Him and to have the privilege of coming into the sanctuary and eating from His own table, or eating out of His own hand!

Solomon, who was a type of Jesus Christ, is spoken of in this manner: “Go forth, O ye daughters of Zion, and behold king Solomon with the crown wherewith his mother crowned him in the day of his espousals, and in the day of the gladness of his heart” (Song of Solomon 3:11).

The Father has crowned the Son with the espousal crown, and Jesus is only waiting for the command of the Father to come and take away His bride. The high priest in the Tabernacle who was a type of Jesus Christ, wore a crown that bore the inscription HOLINESS TO THE LORD. Jesus, as our High Priest, appeared to give His life, His Blood for the remission of sins. “So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation” (Hebrews 9:28). He was crowned as priest who offered Himself, and He was crowned KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS. This is the Table of the Priest and the King, and therefore is not lacking in any good thing. Let us take our place in the Holy Place and take hold of the left hand of our Priest that can lead us and guide us in all our worship unto God. Let us take the hand of our King that can bring all enemies of our flesh under subjection. What a marvelous picture of the Bridegroom! He is priest and therefore can provide the bride with all the essence of His love that her worship might be acceptable unto the Father. As King, He can impart to the bride all power of protection to keep her from the wicked one.

D. THE STAVES AND RINGS

The staves, as all the other staves in the Holy Place, were to be made out of shittim wood and overlaid with gold. These, too, speak of the humanity and deity of Christ Jesus. They speak forth the twofold truth of the Son of Man and the Son of God who died and rose again. These are the two staves of truth, the two staves of the gospel, which we are to use to carry forth the blessed message of our precious Saviour. These staves were to rest in four rings of gold; for through these rings, the staves would be able to carry forth the Table of Shewbread. The rings were pure gold and speak to us of the divine will of God. It was God’s divine will that Jesus should die for sin. It was God’s divine will that He should rise again, and it was the divine will of God that it be the anchor, the resting place of these staves of truth to carry Jesus Christ forth as the Bread of Life.

It is interesting to note that the rings were to be in the feet of the Table, for in this manner the Table would be carried higher. If we pick up a table by the feet we can lift it higher than if we pick it up at the top, but if we pick it up at the feet, then we will have to humble ourselves more and stoop and bend toward the floor, the low place. So it is with Christ Jesus. If we would lift Him higher, then we must bend ourselves lower; we must humble ourselves more. The more, or the deeper, we humble ourselves, the higher we can lift Him as the Bread of Life. This was God’s divine plan for the Table of Shewbread to be carried forth. The priests were to be the carriers with the help of the staves and rings. God has already prepared the staves and the rings. Will you be a priest by faith in Jesus that will humble yourself and help carry the precious Bread of Life to those who are hungry?

II.

THE BREAD

The Table was called a pure table on which the bread was to be served. The bread was called Presence Bread, Bread of Faces, Bread of Ordering, The Continual Bread. It was certainly a beautiful picture of Jesus Christ being the face of God. “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” (II Corinthians 4:6). “Jesus saith unto Him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou NOT KNOWN ME, Philip? He that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father?” (John 14:9). It is noteworthy to see that the word/aces is plural. Jesus is the face of the Godhead bodily. When we see Him, we have seen the Father. The more we grow spiritually, the more of this Bread of Faces we can partake of and thereby the more we see the Father. What a privilege to go to the Holy Place and eat of the Bread of Faces! But how sad that so few take the time and pay the price to live in the Holy Place and eat of this Bread.

A. THE MATERIAL

Let us consider the material of this Bread with its preparation. Surely our hearts should be stirred to eat more of this Bread of Faces since the Father and the Son have gone to so much pain and suffering to prepare this Bread for you and me. This Bread was to be made of fine FLOUR. This speaks to us of the corn of wheat that must fall in the ground and die, in order to provide the flour. “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much FRUIT” (John 12:24). This speaks to us of the journey of the Bread to the mill to be ground and sifted.

The idea of the word fine is the idea of something being combed until all the knots are out, until all is smooth and even. We get the same results when we sift flour. The more we sift it, the smoother and finer it becomes. In order for Jesus to become Bread for you and me, it was necessary for Him to go to the mill of suffering and be ground, as it were, and then sifted through the sieve of suffering so that He would be Bread for you and me. How God wants to take out the indifference and ingratitude from the human heart that it will truly be grateful and long for more of this Living Bread prepared at such great cost!

How lightly the children of Israel esteemed the manna which was from heaven, which was a type of Jesus! They even declared that their soul loathed the “light bread.” How many Christians have the same attitude in these days! How they go for days and weeks without seeking this Bread in the sanctuary; without seeking the sustaining Word of God which is our Living Bread as the Spirit of God quickens it to us! By this attitude they show but little esteem for the Bread of Faces. But how glorious when we taste the sweetness of this Bread! Then, it seems that we ever cry out, “Precious Lord, increase the Bread of Faces to our souls.”

The Bread not only was ground and sifted, but it was also molded into cakes by HANDS. What cruel hands molded the broken body of our precious LORD in the days of His flesh! They were the hands that wielded the scourge on His back until the flesh was broken and ripped and bleeding. They were the hands that smote Him, that plucked out His beard, that pressed the crown of thorns on His brow, that drove the nails in His hands and feet, that thrust the spear in His side. What wicked and cruel hands God permitted to help mold the Bread of Faces for you and me. And yet how we weep and wail when God, in turn, desires to take us and grind us and sift us in the mill of suffering and then allow the wicked hands of people to mold us with more suffering. We forget that Jesus declared that the servant is not above the master. If Jesus, who was our LORD and Master, suffered these things without opening His mouth, without reviling, without threatening, we too are to yield to suffering for Jesus’ sake. We are called to follow in His steps, “For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that we should follow his steps” (I Peter 2:21).

The Bread was then placed on the fire to be baked or cooked when it was made into cakes. First method of baking was in the oven. This speaks to us of the hidden suffering of Jesus Christ upon the cross that mortal man will never see nor know, for the oven hid the Bread from view. As we go on with the LORD, He will place us, too, in the oven away from the view of our closest friends that we may suffer alone with Him, that we might be broken bread, brown bread, or cooked bread for His service and for His glory. This is the greatest test of human flesh, for the flesh likes to have company particularly when it is suffering flesh. But human sympathy is not good for us, for it feeds the fleshly spirit of self-pity and keeps us from dying to ourselves and our wills. Jesus always refused human sympathy and human pity.

Then charged he his disciples that they should tell no man that he was Jesus the Christ. From that time forth began Jesus to shew unto his disciples, how that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day. Then Peter took him, and began to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from thee, Lord: this shall not be unto thee. But he turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men (Matthew 16:20-23).

As long as we accept human sympathy, we shall not know the fire of the oven. If we suffer the fire of the oven, we shall learn something of the glory and power and the honor of being made brown bread for Jesus.

The second method for the cakes to be baked was in a covered pan on the fire. Here, it would be possible to see the fire, but yet not behold the suffering that was going on in the covered pan. When Jesus hung on the Cross, many could see the fire of suffering in His soul and yet the meaning of it was completely hidden and covered from them.

The third method for the cakes to be baked was in a frying pan on the fire. The frying pan signified that which was open and could be seen. When Jesus hung on the cross, surely the wounds of His flesh were in full view, and how the wicked crowd jeered and mocked at this suffering. In other words, they delighted in that which they saw. We look at this scene and ponder how wicked these people were and yet, dear reader, how often do we exhibit the same spirit toward our brothers and sisters in Christ? If we see them in the fire of suffering simply because Jesus is trying to break and mold them, and bake them to be brown bread for His service, how the carnal man gloats with joy and how we hear him say, “I told you so.” The carnal man does not rejoice because of the Bread that is being prepared, but because he is glad to see the other fellow suffer, especially if things are going well with him. Perhaps, you think you are not guilty of these little feelings in the bottom of your souls, but I invite you to examine your own hearts by the searchlight of the Holy Ghost and you may be amazed more than you think at the things that you will see and behold in your old man, the one that should be crucified and put to death DAILY.

It is indeed helpful to note in the Song of Solomon 1:5, “I am black [brown], but comely [beautiful], O ye daughters of Jerusalem, as the tents of Kedar, as the curtains of Solomon.” The testimony of the Bride here was that she had followed her beloved, and she had become brown from the rays of the sun, or the heat of the sun had made her into brown bread, as it were. Did you ever try to eat bread that was only half cooked? The taste was unbearable. It takes the heat to release the sweetness of the taste of the bread. So it is with us. It takes the fire of suffering to release the sweetness of the taste of the Bread. The fire of suffering will release and bring out the flavor of His meekness, His gentleness, His compassion, and His love. May we ever yield to be made brown bread for the service of Jesus Christ, even as He yielded to become the Bread of Faces to nourish and sustain us.

There were also some requirements of things that should be offered with this Bread. This Bread was to be mingled with oil, which speaks of the Holy Spirit. The bread of the flesh of Jesus was to be mingled with the oil of the Holy Spirit. Without the oil of the Holy Spirit, the Bread would have been tasteless. The Bread also was to be offered with salt. Salt speaks of durability, purity, fidelity, and loyalty. This speaks of the qualities of the Living Word that came down and dwelled in flesh. Jesus was not only the Bread of flesh, but He had the salt of the Eternal Word, for He was the Eternal Word manifested in flesh. How God wants us to get more of the salt of the Word in our souls that we might be bread of durableness and fidelity and purity.

Some have supposed this Bread to be a picture of Israel offering herself to God, but this is utterly impossible, for this Bread was to be offered without LEAVEN which is a type of sin and corruption. There was no leaven, no sin, no corruption in the flesh of the LORD Jesus Christ. He was that pure and holy Bread which came down from heaven. When Israel offered the wave loaves at the feast of Pentecost, then they were to add leaven to the loaves for those loaves were a type of Israel, and a type of the church with the flesh, the natural man, who has leaven or sin which is the reason we need to crucify the natural man daily as did the Apostle Paul.

This Bread was not to have honey mixed with it either. Honey speaks of the natural pleasure, the natural sweetness, and the natural attractiveness. This Bread was a picture of Jesus who was pure and holy and was accepted before God on these attributes. It does not make any difference how beautiful and attractive the flesh may look or seem, the Word has declared that it is an enemy of God, for the root of all flesh, even its good side, is self-exaltation. This is why all of our righteousnesses are declared to be filthy rags in the sight of the LORD (Isaiah 64:6). How careful God was to give explicit instructions in the making of this Bread, for it was to portray a picture of the Son of God as the Living Bread from heaven.

B.

THE NUMBER OF LOAVES

There were to be two rows of bread on the table with six cakes in each row. What a picture of our Bridegroom. Twelve is the number of Government. Jesus is the head of the church; He is the head of the Bride. When she comes to eat of His table, His Bread will work in her the nature of subjection to His government and rule. The more we eat of HIM the more we are in subjection to HIM. Notice that the Bread was to be twelve in all and then notice that the New Jerusalem, which was a picture of the Bride of Christ, was made up of no other number than TWELVE which speaks of Government.

And there came unto me one of the seven angels which had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues, and talked with me, saying, Come hither, I will shew thee the bride, the Lamb’s wife. And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and shewed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God. Having the glory of God: and her light was like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal; And had a wall great and high, and had twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and names written thereon, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel: On the east three gates; on the north three gates; on the south three gates; and on the west three gates. And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and in them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. And he that talked with me had a golden reed to measure the city, and the gates thereof, and the wall thereof, And the city lieth foursquare, and the length is as large as the breadth: and he measured the city with the reed, twelve thousand furlongs. The length and the breadth and the height of it are equal. And he measured the wall thereof, an hundred and forty and four cubits, according to the measure of a man, that is, of the angel. And the building of the wall of it was of jasper: and the city was pure gold, like unto clear glass. And the foundations of the wall of the city were garnished with all manner of precious stones. The first foundation was jasper; the second, sapphire; the third, a chalcedony; the fourth, an emerald; The fifth, sardonyx; the sixth, sardius; the seventh, chrysolite; the eighth, beryl; the ninth, a topaz; the tenth, a chrysoprasus; the eleventh, a jacinth; the twelfth, an amethyst. And the twelve gates were twelve pearls; every several gate was of one pearl: and the street of the city was pure gold, as it were transparent glass (Revelation 21:9-21).

The Bride is to be in subjection to the Bridegroom, the head, but together they rule and reign. “To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne” (Revelation 3:21). This Bread was to be offered with pure frankincense upon each row. Frankincense speaks of faith and this was to be pure frankincense, or pure faith. God wants us to grow in Jesus until we, too, like Paul, can say “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the FAITH OF THE SON OF GOD, who loved me, and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20). God wants us to be offered up and allow Him to make brown bread out of us, but even then it will be the pure frankincense or the pure faith of Christ that will make our sacrifice acceptable to Him. The Word declares that without faith it is impossible to please God. Often God lets our faith fail to show us that our faith is not pure, but the faith of Christ will never fail. May we seek to grow in the faith of Him.

C. THE RENEWAL

The Bread was to be renewed each Sabbath. It was to be set in order on the Table each Sabbath so that there would always be fresh bread in the Holy Place. Jesus is always the fresh Bread. He is always in the Holy Place to impart this Bread unto those who come to His Table. How sad to see the children of God so hungry for the Living Bread. They are running here and there looking for satisfaction, and have never learned that the Bread of Faces is not here or there, but in the HOLY PLACE with Jesus. David knew the secret of this when he said, “Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies” (Psalm 23:5). We may have enemies all around; they may wish us evil; they may try to tread us down, but they can never take away the Table, even the Table of Shew-bread.

I shall always praise my LORD for leading me to the Holy Place with HIM and showing me His precious Bread there on the Table, His Word. For here truly is the abundant overflowing life to be found. No wonder Jeremiah said, “Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart: for I am called by thy name, O LORD God of hosts” (Jeremiah 15:16). Jeremiah found the bread, the Word on the Table, and he ate it and he found that IT was joy and rejoicing in his heart. Only those who have lived in the sanctuary and truly eaten of the Word, know the reality of the testimony of Jeremiah. There is no joy or rejoicing like the quickening of the Word to our spiritual souls. Again David declared, “How sweet are thy words unto my taste! yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth!” (Psalm 119:103). David found the Word sweeter than all natural honey or sweetness, sweeter than all natural pleasure. Those who live in the Holy Place know the reality of David’s testimony.

When we find this sweetness of the Word to our souls, then we are jealous of our time for HIM; we are jealous to make every minute count, that we may be found in this place of sweetness and delight at the Table of Shewbread. The Table speaks of fellowship and communion. You can measure the depths of our love for HIM by the desire we have for communion with Him. If our love be small, then a little time of communion with Him will be sufficient. But if our hearts be enlarged by His Word, then we will find a gnawing hunger and desire to be with Him in the Holy Place even if we are there all day, our desire will be to spend the night there too. Remember this Bread was offered with the salt, and salt makes us thirsty. This Bread will make us thirsty for more of Him and more of His nature.

CHAPTER XIII

THE VAIL

And thou shalt make a vail of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen of cunning work: with cherubims shall it be made: And thou shalt hang it upon four pillars of shittim wood overlaid with gold: their hooks shall be of gold, upon the four sockets of silver. And thou shalt hangup the vail under the taches, that thou mayest bring in thither within the vail the ark of the testimony: and the vail shall divide unto you between the holy place and the most holy. And thou shalt put the mercy seat upon the ark of the testimony in the most holy place (Exodus 26: 31-34).

And he made a vail of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen: with cherubims made he it of cunning work. And he made thereunto four pillars of shittim wood, and overlaid them with gold: their hooks were of gold; and he cast for them four sockets of silver (Exodus 36:35,36).

Now we come to the third opening or the third door, as it were, in connection with the Tabernacle. The first opening being the gate of the Court, which led to the Brazen Altar and the Laver which stood in the Court. There we saw Jesus as the Way. He is the gate, the way to the place of cleansing. At the Brazen Altar the sinner was cleansed from the penalty of sin through the blood. At the Laver the priest was washed from the defilement of sin by the water. Jesus Christ is the way to the blood, and He is the way to the water of the Word that cleanses from the defilement of sin. Then, we saw the second door which was at the entrance of the Tabernacle, and here we saw Jesus as the Truth. He is the door of truth that leads us into the Holy Place, to the place of the Altar of Incense, the prayer life; He is the door of truth that leads us into the place of the Golden Candlestick, the quickening and light of the Word. He is the door of truth that leads us into the place of the Table of Shewbread, the table of Himself that feeds and nourishes us in Him. Now we see the third door, or the third vail, picturing Jesus as the LIFE. Jesus tells us in John 14:6, “I am the way, the truth, and the life; no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” The third vail served as a screen to separate the Tabernacle into two rooms; the first is the Holy Place and the last room the Holy of Holies. The vail was sometimes referred to as the second vail, and it was the second vail or hanging in the Tabernacle, but it was the third hanging or vail in connection with the whole Tabernacle.

I.

ITS NAME

The word that is used for vail here comes from the Hebrew word poreketh, which means to break or rend or separate. This vail broke or separated between the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies. In this vail we see a beautiful picture of the body of Jesus, which was rent in two, or pierced through by the spear when He hung on the Cross. The word vail also signifies something hidden. This vail not only separated the two places or the two rooms in the Tabernacle, but it also served as a screen to hide the things in the Holy of Holies and to hide the glory of God above the Mercy Seat. When Moses came down from the mount after he had been with God, he had to cover his face with a vail because of the glory of the LORD that he had absorbed while there.

And till Moses had done speaking with them, he put a vail on his face. But when Moses went in before the LORD to speak with him, he took the vail off, until he came out. And he came out, and spake unto the children of Israel that which he was commanded. And the children of Israel saw the face of Moses, that the skin of Moses’ face shone: and Moses put the vail upon his face again, until he went in to speak with him” (Exodus 34:33-35).

When the vail of the flesh of Jesus Christ was rent on Calvary, it gave us access to the Shekinah Glory, the Holy Ghost glory and power of God that can light our hearts and cause them to shine with the glory of God, even as Moses’ face shone. “But we all, with open face (unveiled face) beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord” (II Corinthians 3:18).

When the people of Israel desired to know the mind of God, the high priest would come and stand before this vail with the Urim and the Thummim, and as the rays of the Shekinah Glory came through the vail and touched the lights and perfections of the Urim and the Thummim, then he knew the will of God for the people. The picture is the same today. The vail of the flesh of Jesus has been rent in two so we have access to the throne of God, and as the power from His throne touches the light and perfection of the seed of the Word in our hearts, then we grow in the knowledge of His will. We grow in knowledge of how to please Him; how to do those things which are pleasing in His sight.

This vail meant life for Israel as the priest stood here and discerned the will and the mind of God for them. Jesus is the rent vail for us. As we come to Him, we can grow in this life of the vail.

II.

ITS MATERIAL

The vail was exceedingly costly; it was made of the same materials as the inner curtain of the Tabernacle: blue, purple, scarlet, and fine twined linen embroidered with cherubims. The Jews have said that this vail was four finger’s breadth in thickness, in order to prevent any person seeing through. Those who have had a glimpse of the Shekinah Glory of the LORD in reality will have no difficulty believing this. Think what tremendous light filled the Holy of Holies, and yet no one but the high priest could go there, and he only once a year on the Day of Atonement. Already we have mentioned the symbolical truth contained in the colors.

White speaks of the purity and the righteousness of Christ. Every time the high priest would stand before this vail to find the will and the mind of God for the people, he would be reminded of the purity and the righteousness of the Living God, the Shekinah Glory on the other side of the vail. How wonderful for us that the vail has been rent in twain and that we can come boldly through the Blood of Jesus to the throne of grace and find mercy—mercy that will impart the will, the mind, and the very life of God unto us!

Every time the high priest stood before this vail, the blue would speak to him of the heavenly origin and character of the Shekinah Glory in the Holy of Holies. He would be reminded that they were serving the true God from heaven and not just an idol made with human hands. Yet, with all their high and holy privileges and knowledge, Israel turned away from the God of heaven, and so it is even with Christians in our day. Many who have known the true life and power of the Christ from heaven are waxing cold and indifferent to His will and His mind because iniquity doth abound.

The purple would remind the priest of the royal power of the Living God in the Holy of Holies, and would provoke in him a holy fear to find the mind and the will of the King, whose subject he was. God wanted to be the King for Israel and rule them through the Urim and the Thummim. Even Moses missed God’s will and mind in this matter. He wanted God to set a man over the congregation that he might lead the people, but the LORD told him to take Joshua and set him before Eleazar, and the Word that He would speak through Eleazar would show the people how to go out and how to come in.

And he shall stand before Eleazar the priest, who shall ASK counsel for him after the judgment of Urim before the LORD: at his word shall they go out, and at his word they shall come in, both he, and all the children of Israel with him, even all the congregation (Numbers 27:21).

God had chosen Israel for a nation unto himself, and therefore desired to be their King to instruct them in His mind and His ways. God has likewise called us in Christ Jesus to be a peculiar people unto Himself and therefore wants to rule and reign over us in the person of His Son, Jesus Christ.

The scarlet of the curtain would remind the priest of the fresh blood, and the fresh life. When we stand in His holy presence we should ever offer up the thanksgiving of our lips for the precious Blood and the life of Jesus offered up for us, giving us spiritual life enabling us to stand in the presence of Almighty God.

The presence of the cherubims as discussed, speaks of the living creatures who guard the righteousness and the holiness of the Living God. How their presence would remind the high priest to walk softly lest he fail in lawful approach before the Holy One of Israel. What a need there is among the believers of the LORD in these days to take care how they approach the throne of God. Just because we have been saved by the Blood of the Lamb, does not excuse our careless spirit. Let us wait before Him in deep heart searching that the leaven of unclean things be put away. Let there be nothing to hinder the rays of the Shekinah Glory reaching the lights and perfections of the seed of the Word in our hearts, thereby lighting up the way of deeper life and knowledge in Him.

III.

ITS PILLARS

This vail was to have four pillars of shittim wood overlaid with gold on which to hang. This would seem strange since the first door of the Tabernacle had five pillars on which the hanging was to rest. But God makes no mistakes. This Tabernacle was to picture to us the fullness of the measure of the stature of Jesus Christ. It is indeed interesting to note that in the gate of the court there were four pillars for the support of the gate. It is in the four Gospels that we have support of the picture of Jesus being the WAY, for Jesus is the sacrifice on the cross of Calvary for sinful man. It is in the five pillars of the first door of the Tabernacle that we see Jesus as the TRUTH. It is from the five writers of the epistles that we find the reality and the growth of spiritual knowledge of Jesus as the Truth. Then as we continue to grow in the measure of the stature of Christ Jesus, we come again to the four pillars of the Gospel that support the picture of Jesus as the LIFE. It is after we live in the epistles that we are ready to return again to the Gospels and let the Spirit of God quicken and teach us of the real LIFE of Christ. It is in the Gospels that the laws of His spiritual life are set forth and proclaimed. The fifth, sixth and seventh chapters of Matthew record the spiritual laws, the spiritual growth that governed Him in the days of His flesh. Jesus desires to write those spiritual laws, this spiritual life, on the fleshly tables of our hearts that we may be truly a living epistle for Him. But He can only do this as we yield to go all the way through the rent vail of His flesh. This He can do only as we are willing to let the vail of our fleshly hearts be rent by crucifixion even as His own precious heart was rent on the cross. How great and wonderful are the smallest details of His Word! What great truth they afford as we allow the Spirit of the LORD to quicken them to our hearts!

Already we have mentioned that the shittim wood was a picture of His humanity and the gold a picture of His deity. The whole Tabernacle was a picture of Him. The vail was Him, the pillars were Him, all was a picture of Him. These pillars were to rest on silver sockets. The whole Tabernacle rested on a foundation of metal. The court rested on the brass which spoke of the judgment that Jesus bore for our sins. We can rest on Jesus as our foundation because He bore the judgment of our sins on the Cross. The entrance to the Tabernacle likewise was of brass, but the Tabernacle proper and the pillars of the inner vail rested on silver, speaking to us of the redemptive work of the Lord. He took our judgment; He paid the price of our redemption with His own Blood. He is a solid foundation. All other foundations are sinking sand.

This vail was to hang from hooks of pure gold. The body of the LORD Jesus was hung, as it were, from the hooks of His deity, the hooks of pure gold.

IV.

THE RENT VAIL

For centuries the ordinary priest never saw what was behind the vail, and the high priest never described what he saw behind this vail. But when Jesus hung on the Cross and His body was rent, there was a strange sound heard in the temple, for the vail of the Tabernacle in the wilderness had been transferred to the temple that was built in similar fashion as the Tabernacle. There was a strange sight witnessed as the vail in the temple was rent in twain, showing that through the death of Jesus, the way had been opened up into the Holy of Holies. “And, behold, the vail of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks were rent; And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, And came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many” (Matthew 27:51-53).

All believers now have access to the throne of grace. “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; And having an high priest over the house of God” (Hebrews 10:19,21). How much have we let the pillars of access grow in our spiritual tabernacles? How much have we availed ourselves of the privilege of looking through the vail of His flesh and blood, to the hidden life and deity of the Christ? As we gaze into the hidden LIFE of deity, of power, of glory, of humility and love, we are changed into His likeness and image. Let us make use of the rent vail not only for salvation, but also as an entrance into deeper life and growth in Him. Let us look through the vail of blood and flesh and learn of the secrets of His heart within. Let us learn of the love and humility of the heart of the Christ. Let us learn of the humility of the very God in heaven who would come as a Lamb, of the Holy Spirit who would come in the form of a dove. What precious revelation of His love and humility are hidden within the vail. The vail has now been rent and the truth has been opened to those who desire to thirst and hunger after His LIFE. May He work in us His own life which will flow out in self-denial, self-sacrifice, and self-crucifixion.

CHAPTER XIV

THE ARK OF THE COVENANT

And they shall make an ark of shittim wood: two cubits and a half shall be the length thereof, and a cubit and a half the breadth thereof, and a cubit and a half the height thereof. And thou shalt overlay it with pure gold, within and without shalt thou overlay it, and shalt make upon it a crown of gold round about. And thou cast four rings of gold for it, and put them in the four corners thereof; and two rings shall be in the one side of it, and two rings in the other side of it. And thou shalt make staves of shittim wood, and overlay them with gold. And thou shalt put the staves into the rings by the sides of the ark, that the ark may be borne with them. The staves shall be in the rings of the ark: they shall not be taken from it. And thou shalt put into the ark the testimony which I shall give thee. And thou shalt make a mercy seat of pure gold: two cubits and a half shall be the length thereof, and a cubit and a half the breadth thereof. And thou shalt make two cherubims of gold, of beaten work shall thou make them, in the two ends of the mercy seat. And make one cherub on the one end, and the other cherub on the other end: even of the mercy seat shall ye make the cherubims on the two ends thereof. And the cherubims shall stretch forth their wings on high, covering the mercy seat with their wings, and their faces shall look one to another; toward the mercy seat shall the faces of the cherubims be. 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. And there I will meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from above the mercy seat from between the two cherubims which are upon the ark of the testimony, of all things which I will give thee in commandment unto the children of Israel (Exodus 25:10-22).

And Bezaleel made the ark of shittim wood: two cubits and a half was the length of it, and a cubit and a half the breadth of it, and a cubit and a half the height of it: And he overlaid it with pure gold within and without, and made a crown of gold to it round about. And he cast for it four rings of gold, to be set by the four corners of it; even two rings upon the one side of it, and two rings upon the other side of it. And he made staves of shittim wood, and overlaid them with gold. And he put the staves into the rings by the sides of the ark, to bear the ark (Exodus 37:1-5).

We now come to the Ark, which was the last or the head of all the furniture. In the measure of the stature of Christ, the Ark portrays a beautiful picture of Christ, the head. When God began with the instructions to Moses for the Tabernacle, He began with the head, the Ark, and worked out to the feet, as it were, even to the Brazen Altar. How skillful the plan of God to begin with the Ark and then work out through the inner vail to the Table of Shew-bread, the Candlestick, the Altar of Incense, on through the vail of the door of the Tabernacle, pass the Laver to the Brazen Altar, the place of the shedding of blood, and on to the final door or the gate of the court! He then says to sinful man, “Come, I have found a plan, a way whereby you might come back into fellowship with me.” It has always been God who sought sinful man. It was God who came down after Adam sinned and called, “Adam, where art thou?” Adam was not seeking God, as he hid himself trying to cover himself with the fig leaves, but God in mercy and love went out seeking Adam. And so it is with us. We were lost and undone and everyone of us turned to his own way, but the precious Spirit of Jesus Christ came to seek us and to save that which was lost. Jesus not only wants to bring us to the Brazen Altar where we experience His Blood covering our sins, but He desires to lead us on into spiritual growth until we grow up unto His very stature.

Let us desire to grow up into the head that we might learn to receive all our impulses, emotions and actions from the head, Christ Jesus. “But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ: From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love” (Ephesians 4:15,16).

I.

THE MATERIAL

The Ark was to be made of like material of shittim wood, which again speaks of the humanity of our Saviour. The shittim wood of the Ark was to be likewise covered with pure gold representing the deity of our Lord. The Ark was to be two cubits and a half in length, a cubit and a half in breadth, and a cubit and a half in height—the same height as the Table of Shewbread.

II.

ITS CROWN

The Ark was God’s throne among His people, and the crown of pure gold signifies the crown of the king, the crown of the head, the one who commands. God desired that He, Himself, would be the King and rule His people through the medium of the high priest. But Israel waxed worldly in her spirit and her attitude and wanted to be as her neighbor and so desired a king as her neighbors. This was manifested during the time of the prophet Samuel. Samuel’s sons did not walk in the way of their father. Hence, the people of Israel used this as an excuse for wanting a king.

Then all the elders of Israel gathered themselves together, and came to Samuel unto Ramah, And said unto him, Behold, thou art old, and thy sons walk not in thy ways: now make us a king to judge us like all the nations. But the thing displeased Samuel, when they said, Give us a king to judge us. And Samuel prayed unto the LORD. And the LORD said unto Samuel, Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee: for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them (I Samuel 8:4-7).

Israel had rejected the King of the Ark, as it were, to reign over them. This is a picture of how God has set Jesus Christ as King of kings and LORD of lords over the church. “That thou keep this commandment without spot, unrebukeable, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ: Which in his times he shall shew, who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords” (I Timothy 6:14,15). True in Israel, it is even truer in our day when God’s children grow cold in their love for their LORD and King, for then they want to be like the world, the unsaved people around them. In these days it is sometimes difficult to distinguish between the children of God and the unsaved, for the prince of the power of the air, the Devil, rules both and the great love and humility of the King of the Ark takes second place in hearts. Let the redeemed of the LORD seek to have the golden crown of the Ark formed in our hearts that He truly might rule and reign over every thought, word and deed.

III.

ITS STAVES AND RINGS

The Ark, too, was to be carried by the same staves and rings. The staves were to be made of shittim wood, overlaid with gold, and were to be placed in the four rings of gold. These speak of the truth of the twofold nature of our Christ Jesus, who died, was buried, and rose again the third day. These are the two staves of truth that carry the message of the King of kings and the LORD of lords to the church of the living God. The staves rested in the gold rings. The rings as we have mentioned before, signify the will of God. When Jesus became incarnate He was resting in the divine will of God. For before the foundation of the world, the will of the Father had been manifested to the Son in the matter of His coming as a ransom for the sin-cursed world.

IV.

ITS CONTENTS

A. THE COMMANDMENTS

In Hebrews 9:4 is the secret of the contents of the Ark, “Which had the golden censer, and the ark of the covenant overlaid round about with gold, wherein was the golden pot that had manna, and Aaron’s rod that budded, and the tables of the covenant” (Hebrews 9:4).

“Take this book of the law, and put it in the side of the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God, that it may be there for a witness against thee” (Deuteronomy 31:26). After God gave Moses the first tables of the covenant, he came down from the mountain and found the children of Israel worshipping the golden calf made in his absence, he was angry and threw the tables to the ground and broke them. Then, God called Moses to come up the second time with the second tables that He might again give him the tables of the covenant. It was the second fables, the unbroken tables that were placed in the Ark. This is, indeed, a true picture of Jesus Christ as the Ark of God, wherein was contained the perfect, complete, unbroken Word of the Lord. It speaks also of the perfect obedience of Jesus who had the tables written in His heart. In the prophecy of the Psalmist are these words, “I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart” (Psalm 40:8). Jesus always did the will of the Father because of the law of God, written in His heart.

In the prophecy of Isaiah 50:5, we read something of the perfect obedience of the Christ. “The Lord God hath opened mine ear, and I was not rebellious, neither turned away back.” How God wants us to grow up into the head, Christ Jesus, until He can write His words in our hearts, and then we will delight to do His will. How much the church of the Living God needs to grow unto the head. When we grow like Him, we do not then stand on OUR rights, but we delight to follow the meek and humble way of Christ — to die to the rights of the flesh. Jesus had a RIGHT to live. He did not have to die, for He was pure and holy and had done nothing worthy of death, but He died to the right of Himself because He had the Word written in His heart. The unbroken commandments in the Ark are a true picture of the unbroken law in Christ.

B. THE GOLDEN POT OF MANNA

There was also the golden pot of manna in the Ark to remind Israel that her God was the sustainer during their wilderness journey. “And Moses said unto Aaron, Take a pot, and put an omer full of manna therein, and lay it up before the LORD, to be kept for your generations” (Exodus 16:33). God wanted them to remember that He had been, and was, the sustainer of the physical life. This manna was only a picture or a type of the Living Bread, Jesus, who was to come down from heaven and give spiritual life to all those who would believe on Him. “This is that bread which came down from heaven; not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead: he that eateth of this bread shall live for ever” (John 6:58). Common bread is the supporter of the life of nature. Divine bread is the supporter of the life of God. God has pictured this truth to us through the Ark, and Jesus has declared it to us in the sixth chapter of John. Jesus is the living bread that will sustain the spiritual life in us, therefore we should continuously seek this bread. The more the Spirit of God increases our faith, the more we shall know the value of living in the Word of God and letting the Spirit of the Lord quicken the Living Bread to our inner man and thus grow into the measure of the stature of Christ.

C. AARON’S ROD

In the 16th chapter of Numbers is recorded the revolt against Moses and Aaron. Korah, who was a cousin of Moses and Aaron, conspired with Dathan and Abiram against Moses and Aaron because of their jealousy of the high place given BY GOD to Moses and Aaron. In our day we see the sins of Korah committed in the churches. If only God’s children would seek the LORD for His will for their own lives and not be concerned about the will of God for others, they would then grow more in the will of God for their own personal lives. When the LORD showed Peter what would happen to him, he immediately wanted to know what was going to happen to John. Jesus answered him that it was not any of his business. “Then Peter, turning about, seeth the disciple whom Jesus loved following; which also leaned on his breast at supper, and said, Lord, which is he that betrayeth thee? Peter seeing him saith to Jesus, Lord, and what shall this man do? Jesus saith unto him, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? follow thou me” (John 21:20-22). So first, God defended the ministry of Moses by causing the ground to open and swallow up Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, and all that appertained to them. Then God required that a rod from every tribe of Israel be brought before the LORD and that Aaron’s name be written on the rod that represented the tribe of Levi. On the morrow when they returned to look upon the rods, behold the rod of Aaron’s was budded, and brought forth buds, and bloomed blossoms and yielded almonds. Thus, through the power of God, He identified the one who was chosen by Him to be the high priest of Israel. This rod of Aaron’s was placed in the Ark to remind Israel that Aaron was chosen of God. Here again is a beautiful picture of Jesus Christ and His resurrection power. It was His resurrection from the dead that identified His office and ministry of high priest as the chosen of the Father. The Word testifying of Jesus in Hebrews says, “WHO IS MADE, NOT AFTER THE LAW OF A CARNAL COMMANDMENT, BUT AFTER THE POWER OF AN ENDLESS LIFE. For he testifieth, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec” (Hebrews 7:16,17).

Through the ages some men have declared themselves great, and many people have followed them. But not one arose from the dead and gave joy, peace and forgiveness of sins to their followers as Jesus did. We do not hear the followers of Buddha, Mohammed, or any other non-Christian leader singing the old song, “Amazing grace, how sweet the sound,” for they know nothing of this resurrection power. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, was the rod that budded with resurrection power, and because He lives, we live also, for He has granted unto us His resurrection life through faith in His Blood. He has declared Himself the resurrection power of God. “Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?” (John 11:25,26).

V.

ITS POSITION

The Ark rested in the midst of the Holy of Holies. Comparing it with the stature of Christ, it occupies the place of the head. Throughout the Word, Jesus always stands in the midst of His people and wants to be their head or their king. In Matthew 18:20 Jesus promises: “For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.” If there are no more than two or three gathered together in His name, He will be in their midst and will minister unto them as prophet, priest, and king, if they will only let Him have His way. Jesus fulfills this promise in John 10:19-21, “Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and STOOD IN THE MIDST, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you...Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you.” Jesus gave peace to their fearful hearts; then Jesus gave them peace to go forth in His name. This truth was typified by the Ark in the Tabernacle. When the priest went in and sprinkled the blood on the Mercy Seat once a year, it gave relief to the fearful hearts who waited outside to see that all went well. To see the high priest come out again meant that he had successfully carried the blood to the Mercy Seat. Then when the children of Israel went forth, the Ark went before them and as they went forth behind the Ark, they had peace and assurance that their king would give the victory. Even as the Ark stood in the midst of the Holy of Holies, so Jesus stands in the midst of His children and also in the midst of the throne in heaven, “And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth” (Revelation 5:6).

VI.

THE MERCY SEAT

The Mercy Seat was to be made to completely cover the Ark of the Covenant, for an open ark would signify a place of judgment and justice, and what hope could sinful man have if he were to stand before this Ark with the Mercy Seat. It would have meant instant death for him, for all are sinners by birth and deed. But how gracious God was to place a seat of mercy completely over the Ark so that the law would be covered by mercy and blood. The Mercy Seat was to be of pure gold, typifying that the mercy and grace of God did not originate in the flesh that He had prepared for His Son, but in the pure deity and heart of God before the foundation of the world. Gold speaks to us of the divine mercy that God had for sinful man. His mercy is divine and therefore eternal. His sweet mercy endures. Even when we are unlovely in our attitudes and dispositions to others He does not cut it off. In view of this gracious truth, how we ought to seek to obey the commandment of Jesus Christ when He said, “Judge not, that ye be not judged” (Matthew 7:1). Since Jesus Christ extends mercy even when He knows full well all about us, how we should refrain from judgment of others and especially so when we lack facts. Because Jesus extends mercy we should extend the same mercy to others. How wonderful is the mercy of Jesus Christ who can take poor sinners and clothe them so that their tattered, torn, dirty garments of sin are completely covered with His Blood.

The Mercy Seat was to have two cherubims, one on each end facing each other. They were to guard the holiness and righteousness of God. When God cast Adam and Eve out of the garden after the fall, He placed cherubims with flaming swords to guard the tree of life. They were to guard the purity, life, and holiness of the tree of life. So here their presence on the Mercy Seat tells us they are to guard the righteousness and holiness of the Word in the Ark. In I Samuel 6:19 it is recorded that there were fifty thousand and threescore and ten men smitten because they dared look into the Ark of the Lord, so that the people lamented and asked, “who is able to stand before this holy LORD God?” When the Tabernacle was to be moved from one place to another, the LORD gave orders for Aaron and his sons to cover the furniture in a particular way, then the Levites were to come and carry the pieces of furniture forward. Even THEY were warned that if they touched any holy thing they would die. How particular God is of His holiness which is not to be defiled by sinful man. Even the Mercy Seat without the blood would not have given man access to the Holy Place. So it is with us. Only through the PRECIOUS BLOOD OF JESUS can we have access to the throne of God. How we ought to give thanks every day for the Blood. How we ought to magnify the Blood of Jesus more and more, for it is the way whereby we have access to God’s throne. The righteousness of the law in the Ark, and the peace of the blood on the Mercy Seat, kissed each other. The Word says that the law came by Moses, but truth and grace came by Jesus Christ. In other words, righteousness and peace kissed each other in Jesus Christ.

VII.

THE ARK - The Head for Guidance

A. FOR REST

“And they departed from the mount of the LORD three days’ journey: and the ark of the covenant of the LORD went before them in the three days’ journey, to search out a resting place for them” (Numbers 10:33). The Ark is seen as a type of Jesus Christ who goes before the sheep. “And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice” (John 10:4). Many times, the children of the LORD do not wait for the Ark, the Head, the Shepherd, to go before, but they run ahead and take on responsibilities, cares and circumstances of life and then they find themselves in worry, strife, and fretfulness without the rest of the Lord. How wonderful it is to continually grow up unto the Head, Christ Jesus, and let Him lead us in our thoughts, words, and deeds, and then we can enjoy the blessed resting place prepared by HIM. The Ark was to be the Head, the Guide for Israel, just as Christ is the Head and the Guide of the church. Just as long as Israel respected and followed their head, they had victory and blessing and rest. The Devil frightens many Christians from surrendering their lives to Jesus Christ with the fear of what they will have to give up. The Devil deceives them and keeps them from knowledge of the rest that Jesus will lead them into. The greatest rest that man can have is rest from HIMSELF. Jesus Christ is the only one who can give this rest, and then continue on giving it.

The soul or mind of man is like a sponge, both in the conscious and subconscious. He is constantly absorbing the motions of the cares of this world about him. He constantly absorbs the emotions and spirits of the people around him, and so it is necessary that he come daily to the throne of grace and empty himself and let the Head, Christ, lead him into HIS perfect peace and rest. The testimony of David in the 23rd Psalm was, “He maketh me to lie down in green pastures.” Jesus will make us to lie down in His green and restful pasture, but we must yield and be willing to let Him lead us to this pasture. Again Jesus said, “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you REST” (Matthew 11:28). We cannot lead ourselves, but as we yield to Him daily He will lead us into new pastures of rest.

Moses desired that Hobab go with the children of Israel and lead them and be to them as eyes, but this was not the plan of God, for God Himself who dwelled above the Ark in the Shekinah Glory Cloud, wanted to lead the children of Israel since this was a task that mortal man was incapable of doing. This typifies many Christians today who want to lean on the eyes of man to guide them and to take them on in the growth of the Spirit when there is only ONE who can lead us and teach us and that is the Spirit of God. If we lean on the eyes of the Holy Ghost, we shall be quick to see the things that God wants to teach us in the Word and to a lesser degree through other brothers whom God places in our way. The ministry of REST belongs to the Head, Jesus Christ.

When they set forth the Ark, Moses said, “Rise up, LORD, and let thine enemies be scattered.” Every enemy had to flee when the Ark set forward to search out a resting place. Let us go to the LORD with our problems, our burdens and our cares and let Him lead us to the resting place in HIMSELF, then all the enemies of doubts, fears, worries, and frettings will flee before the mighty Christ.

VIII.

THE ARK -The Head Opens the Way

“Then ye shall answer them, That the waters of Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the LORD; when it passed over Jordan, the waters of Jordan were cut off: and these stones shall be for a memorial unto the children of Israel forever” (Joshua 4:7).

When Israel was ready to go over into the land of Canaan, the River Jordan stood between them and the promised land. When the priests who bore the Ark of the LORD dipped their feet in the brim of the water, the river was opened and the people passed over. Nothing can stand before us when the Ark, Christ, is leading us. The waters of trouble have to part and let us pass over; the mountains of difficulties have to flee away. Jesus Christ has rightly been called by one colored brother, “The Way Maker.” He is the One who can make a way when there is no way.

The River Jordan has always been typified as the river of death. Not only death in the natural, but also of the crucified life of the soul. We cannot work crucifixion in our own mortal mind and flesh, but as we take our place behind our Ark, our Head, then Jesus can lead us down into this river of death to the flesh, to the will, to the self and then bring us up on the other side. It is most interesting to note in the account of the children of Israel passing over the River Jordan that the Ark stood in the midst of Jordan until the people HAD ALL PASSED OVER, or until all flesh had passed over. This is, indeed, true of you and me. If we will follow our Head, our Ark, He will lead us to the River Jordan, the river of death, and stand in the midst until all our fleshly man has passed over. The length of the process depends on how quickly we yield up our will to be crucified. Sometimes, we think that our will is crucified, and then God places us in situations where we find that we are not as dead as we thought we were. How we should seek the LORD for Him to open the way and let us see the parts of our hearts and minds that have not yet passed over Jordan!

Jesus will not only open the way for crucifixion of the flesh and spiritual growth, but He will open the way for service and ministry for HIM. How we should yield to the Ark, the Head, in this matter and not run ahead of the Lord, but let Him lead us in the doors of service that are pleasing to Him and that are in accordance with His divine will. Jesus has declared Himself in the Word to be the King, the Head, the Ark that can open. “These things saith he that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of David, he that openeth, and no man shutteth; and shutteth, and no man openeth” (Revelation 3:7).

IX.

THE ARK - Giving Victory over the Enemy

“And Joshua the son of Nun called the priests, and said unto them, Take up the ark of the covenant, and let seven priests bear seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the ark of the LORD” (Joshua 6:6).

After the children of Israel had passed over the River Jordan and had come into the land, there were cities to be taken; there were enemies to be cast out. This could only be accomplished with the Ark, the Head, Christ, going before and the people following His mind and His will. They carried the Ark of the LORD around the city of Jericho every day for six days and then on the seventh day they carried it seven times and God caused the walls to fall down. How foolish in the mind of man, for a group of people to walk around the city doing nothing but just going around it with the priests blowing the trumpets of the rams’ horns, and yet what a deep spiritual truth this picture presents to our hearts. The ram was used in the consecration offerings. If we could only let God increase this to our hearts, the music, the praise, the power, that comes from consecration. And also the faith, the humility, and the patience that comes too. If we are to move on and possess higher spiritual ground, then we will have to have the seven rams’ horns or complete consecration to God, then as Jesus hears the music of these horns, He will surely give us the city.

How different the story was in I Samuel 4 when Israel was fighting with the Philistines and the two sons of Eli, Hophni, and Phinehas, who were evil in the sight of the LORD and knew nothing of the rams’ horns of consecration of God, decided to bring the Ark from Shiloh in order to help Israel win the battle against the Philistines. The efforts were to no avail, not because the Shekinah Glory was not in the Ark, for it was, but because of their lack of consecration to the Lord. The power of the Ark, the Head, Christ, was not released in their behalf. So if we would enjoy the power of the Ark, the Head, then we must consecrate ourselves completely unto the Lord. If we would go on with Him and possess higher ground in the Spirit and the Word, then we must go deeper and deeper in our consecration to Jesus Christ.

Jesus Christ will not give us victory over the enemy when we are living evilly in the sight of the LORD and doing those things which are not pleasing in His sight. And since His ways are higher than the heavens are above the earth from our ways, we must wait on Him and be taught of Him which things please Him and which do not. On many things we put our stamp of approval as good or evil, but the question is, has God put His stamp of approval on them? The more we move on with Him, the more we are made to see the reality of this.

As long as Israel obeyed God and consecrated herself to Him, then she had the power of the Ark, the power of her Head, her King, at her disposal, so to speak. But when she disobeyed God and turned to her own way, then God gave her over to the hand of the enemy. What a solemn warning to our hearts. If we keep in contact with Jesus, our Head, our King, then there is nothing that can stand before us. There is no enemy that will not have to bow, for unto Jesus Christ has been given all power in heaven and in earth. But if we forsake Him and turn to our own ways, then we shall be devoured by the enemy.

The enemies of God could not stand before the Ark. When the Ark was captured and taken into the land of the Philistines (a picture of Jesus going down to death and hell) they placed the Ark in the temple of Dagon and behold on the morrow when they looked, Dagon had fallen on his face before the Ark of the Lord. Again the Philistines placed Dagon on his feet and behold again on the morrow he not only had fallen on his face, but the HEAD of Dagon and both hands, were cut off and all that remained of Dagon was a stump. When Jesus Christ went down into death and hell, the Devil had to fall on his face and acknowledge Christ. Not only did he have to acknowledge Him, but Jesus Christ cut off his head of power and hands of service, and all that is left now is the STUMP, as far as the Devil having power over God’s children. And yet, even with this stump, the Devil seems to be doing a good job of promoting fear in the hearts of God’s children. Let us wake up and recognize the power of Christ and through this power we will be able to go up and possess the land—spiritual land, beautiful, thrilling, and fruitful. When the Ark returned to Israel, it was like unto the resurrection of the LORD from death and the grave. And David shouted, danced, and sang with exceeding joy!

Let us consecrate ourselves in the Blood and the Word, and let us take our places behind our mighty Leader, our mighty Head, and be led by HIM to new heights and new tablelands.

CHAPTER XV

THE ARRANGEMENT OF THE CAMP AND THE SANITARY REGULATIONS

And the LORD spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying, Every man of the children of Israel shall pitch by his own standard, with the ensign of their father’s house: far off about the tabernacle of the congregation shall they pitch. And on the east side toward the rising of the sun shall they of the standard of the camp of Judah pitch throughout their armies: and Nahshon the son of Amminadab shall be captain of the children of Judah. And his host, and those that were numbered of them, were threescore and fourteen thousand and six hundred. And those that do pitch next unto him shall be the tribe of Issachar: and Nethaneel the son of Zuar shall be captain of the children of Issachar. And his host, and those that were numbered thereof, were fifty and four thousand and four hundred. Then the tribe of Zebulun: and Eliab the son of Helon shall be captain of the children of Zebulun. And his host, and those that were numbered thereof, were fifty and seven thousand and four hundred. All that were numbered in the camp of Judah were an hundred thousand and fourscore thousand and six thousand and four hundred, throughout their armies. These shall first set forth. On the south side shall be the standard of the camp of Reuben according to their armies: and the captain of the children of Reuben shall be Elizur the son of Shedeur. And his host, and those that were numbered thereof, were forty and six thousand and five hundred. And those which pitch by him shall be the tribe of Simeon: and the captain of the children of Simeon shall be Shelumiel the son of Zurishaddai. And his host, and those that were numbered of them, were fifty and nine thousand and three hundred. Then the tribe of Gad: and the captain of the sons of Gad shall be Eliasaph the son of Reuel. And his host, and those that were numbered of them, were forty and five thousand and six hundred and fifty. All that were numbered in the camp of Reuben were an hundred thousand and fifty and one thousand and four hundred and fifty, throughout their armies. And they shall set forth in the second rank. Then the tabernacle of the congregation shall set forward with the camp of the Levites in the midst of the camp: as they encamp, so shall they set forward, every man in his place by their standards. On the west side shall be the standard of the camp of Ephraim according to their armies: and the captain of the sons of Ephraim shall be Elishama the son of Ammihud. And his host, and those that were numbered of them, were forty thousand and five hundred. And by him shall be the tribe of Manasseh: and the captain of the children of Manasseh shall be Gamaliel the son of Pedahzur. And his host, and those that were numbered of them, were thirty and two thousand and two hundred. Then the tribe of Benjamin: and the captain of the sons of Benjamin shall be Abidan the son of Gideoru. And his host, and those that were numbered of them, were thirty and five thousand and four hundred. All that were numbered of the camp of Ephraim were an hundred thousand and eight thousand and an hundred, throughout their armies. And they shall go forward in the third rank. The standard of the camp of Dan shall be on the north side by their armies: and the captain of the children of Dan shall be Ahiezer the son of Ammishaddai. And his host, and those that were numbered of them, were threescore and two thousand and seven hundred. And those that encamp by him shall be the tribe of Asher: and the captain of the children of Asher shall be Pagiel the son of Ocran. And his host, and those that were numbered of them, were forty and one thousand and five hundred. Then the tribe of Naphtali: and the captain of the children of Naphtali shall be Ahira the son of Enan. And his host, and those that were numbered of them, were fifty and three thousand and four hundred. All they that were numbered in the camp of Dan were an hundred thousand and fifty and seven thousand and six hundred. They shall go hindmost with their standards. These are those which were numbered of the children of Israel by the house of their fathers: all those that were numbered of the camps throughout their hosts were six hundred thousand and three thousand and five hundred and fifty. But the Levites were not numbered among the children of Israel; as the LORD commanded Moses. And the children of Israel did according to all that the LORD commanded Moses: so they pitched by their standards, and so they set forward, every one after their families, according to the house of their fathers (Numbers 2:1-34).

These are also the generations of Aaron and Moses in the day that the LORD spake with Moses in mount Sinai. And these are the names of the sons of Aaron; Nadab the firstborn, and Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar. These are the names of the sons of Aaron, the priests which were anointed, whom he consecrated to minister in the priest’s office. And Nadab and Abihu died before the LORD, when they offered strange fire before the LORD, in the wilderness of Sinai, and they had no children: and Eleazar and Ithamar ministered in the priest’s office in the sight of Aaron their father. And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Bring the tribe of Levi near, and present them before Aaron the priest, that they may minister unto him. And they shall keep his charge, and the charge of the whole congregation before the tabernacle of the congregation, to do service of the tabernacle. And they shall keep all the instruments of the tabernacle of the congregation, and the charge of the children of Israel, to do the service of the tabernacle. And thou shalt give the Levites unto Aaron and to his sons: they are wholly given unto him out of the children of Israel. And thou shalt appoint Aaron and his sons, and they shall wait on their priest’s office: and the stranger that cometh nigh shall be put to death. And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, And I, behold, I have taken the Levites from among the children of Israel instead of all the firstborn that openeth the matrix among the children of Israel: therefore the Levites shall be mine; Because all the firstborn are mine; for on the day that I smote all the firstborn in the land of Egypt I hallowed unto me all the firstborn in Israel, both man and beast: mine shall they be: I am the LORD. And the LORD spake unto Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, saying, Number the children of Levi after the house of their fathers, by their families: every male from a month old and upward shalt thou number them. And Moses numbered them according to the word of the LORD, as he was commanded. And these were the sons of Levi by their names; Gershon, and Kohath, and Merari. And these are the names of the sons of Gershon by their families; Libni, and Shimei. And the sons of Kohath by their families; Amram, and Izehar, Hebron, and Uzziel. And the sons of Merari by their families; Mahli, and Mushi. These are the families of the Levites according to the house of their fathers. Of Gershon was the family of the Libnites, and the family of the Shimites: these are the families of the Gershonites. Those that were numbered of them, according to the number of all the males, from a month old and upward, even those that were numbered of them were seven thousand and five hundred. The families of the Gershonites shall pitch behind the tabernacle westward. And the chief of the house of the father of the Gershonites shall be Eliasaph the son of Lael. And the charge of the sons of Gershon in the tabernacle of the congregation shall be the tabernacle, and the tent, the covering thereof, and the hanging for the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, And the hangings of the court, and the curtain for the door of the court, which is by the tabernacle, and by the altar round about, and the cords of it for all the service thereof. And of Kohath was the family of the Amramites, and the family of the Izeharites, and the family of the Hebronites, and the family of the Uzzielites: these are the families of the Kohathites. In the number of all the males, from a month old and upward, were eight thousand and six hundred, keeping the charge of the sanctuary. The families of the sons of Kohath shall pitch on the side of the tabernacle southward. And the chief of the house of the father of the families of the Kohathites shall be Elizaphan the son of Uzziel. And their charge shall be the ark, and the table, and the candlestick, and the altars, and the vessels of the sanctuary wherewith they minister, and the hanging, and all the service thereof. And Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest shall be chief over the chief of the Levites, and have the oversight of them that keep the charge of the sanctuary. Of Merari was the family of the Mahlites, and the family of the Mushites: these are the families of Merari. And those that were numbered of them, according to the number of all the males, from a month old and upward, were six thousand and two hundred. And the chief of the house of the father of the families of Merari was Zuriel the sons of Abihail: these shall pitch on the side of the tabernacle northward. And under the custody and charge of the sons of Merari shall be the boards of the tabernacle, and the bars thereof, and the pillars thereof, and the sockets thereof, and all the vessels thereof, and all that serveth thereto, And the pillars of the court round about, and their sockets, and their pins, and their cords. But those that encamp before the tabernacle toward the east, even before the tabernacle of the congregation eastward, shall be Moses, and Aaron and his sons, keeping the charge of the sanctuary for the charge of the children of Israel; and the stranger that cometh nigh shall be put to death. All that were numbered of the Levites, which Moses and Aaron numbered at the commandment of the LORD, throughout their families, all the males from a month old and upward, were twenty and two thousand. And the LORD said unto Moses, Number all the firstborn of the males of the children of Israel from a month old and upward, and take the number of their names. And thou shalt take the Levites for me (I am the LORD) instead of all the firstborn among the children of Israel; and the cattle of the Levites instead of all the firstlings among the cattle of the children of Israel. And Moses numbered, as the LORD commanded him, all the firstborn among the children of Israel. And all the firstborn males by the number of names, from a month old and upward, of those that were numbered of them, were twenty and two thousand two hundred and threescore and thirteen. And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Take the Levites instead of all the firstborn among the children of Israel, and the cattle of the Levites instead of their cattle; and the Levites shall be mine: I am the LORD. And for those that are to be redeemed of the two hundred and threescore and thirteen of the firstborn of the children of Israel, which are more than the Levites; Thou shalt even take five shekels apiece by the poll, after the shekel of the sanctuary shalt thou take them: (the shekel is twenty gerahs:) And thou shalt give the money, wherewith the odd number of them is to be redeemed, unto Aaron and to his sons. And Moses took the redemption money of them that were over and above them that were redeemed by the Levites: Of the firstborn of the children of Israel took he the money; a thousand three hundred and threescore and five shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary: And Moses gave the money of them that were redeemed unto Aaron and to his sons, according to the word of the LORD, as the LORD commanded Moses (Numbers 3:1-51).

I.

THE ARRANGEMENT

During the sojourn in the wilderness, when the people had to be kept for a long time in a narrow space, it was necessary to assign the tribes, Levites and priests to their respective positions. And yet in every ordinary detail God showed forth spiritual truth. In the second and third chapters of Numbers, there is recorded the detailed arrangement of the camp. The camp was arranged in a threefold section, as it were. The tribes of Israel forming the outer section, the Levites forming the second section, and the priests forming the last or third section.

II.

THE ARRANGEMENT OF THE TRIBES

Everywhere in the Old Testament Tabernacle, God paints a picture of the Cross of His Son. In the arrangement of the pieces of furniture in the court and in the Tabernacle, a cross was formed. In the arrangement of the tribes with their insignias, the pattern of the cross was also formed. On the east side of the tabernacle was Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun under the insignia of the Lion. The four insignias of the camp are the same as those of the four gospels. The east side represented the Lion, or the book of Matthew. In the west side we find Ephraim, Manasseh and Benjamin, under the insignia of the Ox or the Calf, the same as the Book of Mark. In the book of Mark, we see Jesus portrayed as the servant, or ox, as it were. If we draw the connecting line between the east and the west, or between the Lion and the Ox, there is the middle bar of the cross. The height and the depth of the love of Christ are typified by the middle bar of the cross. The King of kings humbles Himself to the very depths of the cross on the east, and the exalted servant on the west. It is to this illusion that we have the same truth portrayed in the second chapter of Philippians. “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross” (Philippians 2:5-8).

Here is the King, humbling Himself even to the depths of the death of the Cross. But because of His obedience, we also see God exalting His righteous servant. “Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:9-11).

On the south we find Reuben, Simeon, and Gad under the insignia of the Man. In the book of Luke Jesus is portrayed as the Son of Man. On the north we find Dan, Asher and Naphtali under the insignia of the Eagle which represents the Son of God. In John Jesus is the Son of God. If we draw a line from the north to the south we shall have the cross bar of the cross, as it were. This is indeed important, for it gives a glimpse of the importance of the truth of the cross in the sight of God, the Father. This was the divine order of the camp when resting. This was also the divine order of the camp when marching. This was the same divine order for the names when they were engraved upon the stones in the breastplate of the high priest. If we are to have rest, then it must be under the sheltering shadows of the blessed cross. If we are to march forward in spiritual progress, then it must be under the divine light and guidance of the cross of our LORD Jesus Christ. The cross speaks of the shedding of blood. It also tells us that through the truth of the cross, we have the privilege of being engraved on the heart of our blessed high priest, Jesus Christ.

The tribes, or the outer section, made up the host of warriors. In other words, God set the warriors in order around the camp and under the sign of the cross. God has called us to be warriors. God has provided armor for us as soldiers. God has provided the crucified Lamb on the cross that we be victorious soldiers. Man has three great foes that he is commanded by God to fight and war against— the world, the flesh, and the Devil.

The first lesson that a Christian must learn is to be a good fighter. He cannot be a worker or a worshipper of the LORD until he has learned to defeat the enemy through the Blood of the Lamb, for the world, the flesh, and the Devil will destroy his work for God and his worship to Him.

The way to overcome the world is through the precious Blood of the LORD Jesus Christ. “These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I HAVE OVERCOME THE WORLD” (John 16:33).

There was no stone left unturned by our LORD Jesus Christ in securing the victory for us through His own Blood. The way to overcome the flesh, that which wars against us from within, is through the Blood of the LORD Jesus Christ. “O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body [flesh] of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin” (Romans 7:24,25).

The way to overcome the Devil, who wars against us from without, is through the Blood of our LORD Jesus Christ. “And they overcame him [the Devil] by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death” (Revelation 12:11).

Israel had her natural warriors to fight against their natural enemies, but we fight a spiritual warfare as believers of the Lord, therefore our resources and defenses are spiritual. “Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places” (Ephesians 6:11,12).

The Apostle Paul cautioned Timothy to be a good warrior, a good soldier of the cross. “Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier” (II Timothy 2:3,4).

The Apostle Paul had the testimony that he was a good soldier of the cross. “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith” (II Timothy 4:7). How beautiful indeed, to see that God arranged the tribes, the warriors in the shape of the cross. If we are to conquer, it must be through the cross of our blessed LORD Jesus Christ. No wonder Paul was determined to know nothing but the LORD Jesus and Him crucified. Paul had learned the great secret of the cross; that in the cross, Jesus has provided the Blood for every need and for every victory.

The second line of ranks was that of the Levites or the workers.

And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Bring the tribe of Levi near, and present them before Aaron the priest, that they may minister unto him. And they shall keep his charge, and the charge of the whole congregation before the tabernacle of the congregation, to do the service of the tabernacle. And they shall keep all the instruments of the tabernacle of the congregation, and the charge of the children of Israel, to do the service of the tabernacle. And thou shalt give the Levites unto Aaron and to his sons: they are wholly given unto him out of the children of Israel (Numbers 3:5-9).

The tribe of Levi was divided between his three sons: the Kohathites camped on the south side of the Tabernacle; the Gershonites camped on the west side of the Tabernacle; and the Merarites camped on the north side of the Tabernacle. The Levites were the burden bearers, the workers of the Tabernacle. The Kohathites bore the burden and the responsibility of transporting the holy vessels of the Tabernacle along with the inner veil. Since God had commanded and provided staves whereby the vessels of the Tabernacle were to be carried, the Levites had to bear the burden of these things on their shoulders. “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” (Numbers 7:9).

To the Gershonites were committed the responsibility and care of the curtains, the hangings of the door and of the court, and the cords, with all their instruments. To Gershon was given wagons and four oxen for the transportation of these articles. “Two wagons and four oxen he gave unto the sons of Gershon, according to their service” (Numbers 7:7). To the son of Merari and his sons were committed the responsibility and the burden of the boards, bars, pillars, sockets, their cords, with all their instruments. Also the LORD provided four wagons and eight oxen to help in the transportation of these articles.

“And four wagons and eight oxen he gave unto the sons of Merari, according unto their service, under the hand of Ithamar the son of Aaron the priest” (Numbers 7:8). Each one of the Levites was to be a worker, a burden bearer. God has called us also to be workers and burden bearers. We, too, have a sevenfold responsibility as a worker, a laborer, of the LORD Jesus Christ.

A.

WITNESSES

We have a responsibility and a burden to be witnesses for the LORD Jesus Christ and of His saving power. “Ye are my witnesses, whom I have chosen: that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I am he: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me. I, even I, am the LORD; and beside me there is no saviour. I have declared, and have saved, and I have shewed, when there was no strange god among you: therefore ye are my witnesses, saith the LORD, that I am God” (Isaiah 43:10-12).

Jesus promised to baptize the believers with the Holy Ghost and fire, that they might have power to be witnesses for Him. Let us seek to bear our burden and our responsibility as workers of the Lord, to testify of His saving power through His precious Blood.

B. SALT

As workers of the LORD, we have a burden and responsibility to be the kind of salt that has not lost its savor, that we might have preserving power with God and with man. “Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men” (Matthew 5:13). We have a burden and a responsibility as workers of the LORD to keep the saltiness of the Word in our hearts that we, through the salt of the Word, may cause people to become thirsty for the living Water of Life.

C. LIGHT

As workers for the LORD Jesus Christ, we have a burden and responsibility to keep the oil of the Spirit within our vessels that we might be illuminating lights for the Saviour in this wicked world. “Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid” (Matthew 5:14). We have a responsibility and burden as workers to keep all hindering spirits and attitudes cleaned out; those things that would keep our lights from burning bright and high for Jesus. “Do all things without murmurings and disputings: That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world” (Philippians 2:14,15).

D. BRANCHES

As workers of the LORD, we have a burden and a responsibility to be fruitful branches for Jesus so that we might be like fruitful boughs hanging over the wall as a fruitful testimony to those who pass by. “I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing” (John 15:5). If we would be fruitful workers for Jesus, then we must abide in HIM. We must let His life come forth within us.

E. EPISTLES

As workers for Jesus, we have a responsibility and burden to be a living epistle, written with the pen of God’s love, dipped in the oil of the Spirit, and engraved upon the fleshly tables of our hearts.

Ye are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read of all men: Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshly tables of the heart (II Corinthians 3:2,3).

What a burden we have as workers of the Lord, to be the kind of living epistle in our hearts and lives that the world might read the instructions of Christ and His gospel in us. Our lives will be the only epistle that many people will read. We have a responsibility to live in such a way that they may be well instructed through the epistle of our lives.

F. AMBASSADORS

As workers of the LORD Jesus, we have a burden and a responsibility to be good ambassadors, good representatives for Christ. “Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God” (II Corinthians 5:20). An ambassador is a person who stands in the place or in the stead of another person or country. Since we are ambassadors for Christ, we are to stand in His stead and beseech men to turn to God and be reconciled to Him. As ambassadors we have a tremendous responsibility to be like unto Him. If God was so particular with the Tabernacle and the workers that carried the burden of the things, how much more is God concerned about the workers of the LORD Jesus Christ who are serving in His behalf.

G. STEWARDS

As stewards of the LORD Jesus Christ, we also have a burden to be a faithful worker in His holy service. “As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God” (I Peter 4:10). Not only did Israel have her warriors, but she had her workers. Let us also learn to be good workers in all the different realms whereof He has called us to labor.

The third rank or third section was that of the priests or the worshippers of the LORD. Aaron and his sons, along with Moses, occupied the east section just in front of the Tabernacle. The warriors, the soldiers, stood ready for the line of battle, ready to defend against their enemies. The Levites or the workers stood ready to work, to aid the priests in the work of the sanctuary. The priests were the ones who were privileged to enter the Holy Place with the fragrant incense. Only they could behold the beautiful fragrant cloud of smoke as it ascended from the Golden Altar of Incense. Only they could behold the glory and the illumination of the Golden Candlestick. Only they could eat around the Golden Table of Shewbread. Only they could behold the beautiful cherubims on the curtains of the sanctuary. Before the workers, the Levites, could enter to carry the holy vessels, the priest first had to cover each piece according to the definite instructions given by God to Moses, so the eyes of the workers could not behold the glory of the vessels.

The priests fell heir to the wave-breast of the peace offerings and the heave-shoulder of the peace offerings. The wave-breast spoke of praise, and the heave-shoulder spoke of thanksgiving.

God has called us not only to be warriors, or soldiers, or workers in His vineyard, but also to be kings and priests to worship and minister in the spiritual sanctuary at the throne of grace. “And hath made us kings and priests unto God and His Father, to Him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen” (Revelation 1:6). “But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light” (I Peter 2:9).

As priests of the LORD Jesus Christ, we have a right through the Blood of Christ, to approach the throne of grace and offer up the sacrifices of praise and thanksgiving unto Him that sitteth on the throne. The priests belonged to the inner circle or the last circle, so to speak. They were the ones who, like John, had the privilege of leaning on the bosom of God and worshipping and adoring Him. This was the highest and most holy of all callings. It is indeed wonderful to be a soldier for Jesus. It is indeed wonderful to be a worker in His vineyard, but there is one more thing that is the most wonderful, and that is to be a WORSHIPPER in His sanctuary. There is no greater thrill in all the world than to come to His holy sanctuary and have the blessed Holy Ghost come in mighty power to help us offer the kind of praise and thanksgiving that is pleasing to the heart and the ear of the Lord. “But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is Spirit: and they that worship him MUST worship him in spirit and in truth” (John 4:23,24).

We know not how to worship the Father as we ought, but God has provided the blessed Holy Spirit that will help our infirmities. “Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered” (Romans 8:26).

How blessed is the ministry of the Spirit of God! He will help us and teach us how to worship the Father. He will help our in firmities in praying, for the Spirit knows the mind of God; He knows the heart of God. He knows all things of God, and He is the only one that can lead us as priests. He is the only one that can lead us as worshippers of the Lord. May we avail ourselves of our opportunities as warriors, workers, and worshippers of the LORD.

III.

SANITARY REGULATIONS OF THE CAMP

The encampment of Israel, being that of the LORD’s host, and with the LORD Himself dwelling in their midst as their God and their King, was ordered to keep the camp in an immaculate state of cleanliness. The twofold reason for this is that first, it was the dwelling place of God, and secondly, it was for the benefit of the health of the people of the camp.

A. THE DEAD BURIED OUTSIDE OF THE CAMP

“So they went near, and carried them in their coats OUT OF THE CAMP; as Moses had said” (Leviticus 10:5). The camp was not to be defiled with the dead within its gates, for God is the God of the living. It reminds us of the heavenly sanctuary that God has promised for those that love Him, where there will be no more pain or death within its gates.

B. LEPERS EXCLUDED FROM THE CAMP

“All the days wherein the plague shall be in him he shall be defiled; he is unclean: he shall dwell alone; without the camp shall his habitation be” (Leviticus 13:46). Leprosy is a type of sin. It was to be put outside the camp. It reminds us again of the place that Jesus took for us outside the camp at the cross of Calvary.

C. ALL LOATHSOME DISEASES EXCLUDED FROM THE CAMP

“Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When any man hath a running issue out of his flesh, because of his issue he is unclean” (Leviticus 15:2).

D. DEFILED PEOPLE EXCLUDED FROM THE CAMP

“If there be among you any man, that is not clean by reason of uncleanness that chanceth him by night, then shall he go abroad out of the camp, he shall not come within the camp” (Deuteronomy 23:10).

God was very strict about the cleanliness of the camp, for He dwelt in their midst. “For the LORD thy God walketh in the midst of thy camp, to deliver thee, and to give up thine enemies before thee; therefore shall thy camp be holy: that he see no unclean thing in thee, and turn away from thee”(Deuteronomy 23:14).

The camp of Israel as a dwelling place of God, was a type of our bodies, which are called the temples of God. If God was so strict about the uncleanness of the camp of Israel, He is much more so about our temples. “But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy” (I Peter 1:15,16).

E. ASHES AND PARTS NOT BURNED ON ALTAR TO BE CARRIED OUTSIDE THE CAMP AND BURNT

The ashes from the sacrifices along with all parts that were not burnt on the Brazen Altar were carried outside the camp and burnt. “And the skin of the bullock, and all his flesh, with his head, and with his legs, and his inwards, and his dung, Even the whole bullock shall he carry forth without the camp unto a clean place, where the ashes are poured out, and burn him on the wood with fire: where the ashes are poured out shall he be burnt” (Leviticus 4:11,12)

F. ALL EXECUTIONS OF CRIMINALS OCCURRED WITHOUT THE CAMP

“Bring forth him that hath cursed without the camp; and let all that heard him lay their hands upon his head, and let all the congregation stone him” (Leviticus 24:14).

G. ALL DUNG TO BE PUT WITHOUT THE CAMP

Thou shall have a place also without the camp, whither thou shalt go forth abroad: And thou shalt have a paddle upon thy weapon; and it shall be, when thou wilt ease thyself abroad, thou shalt dig therewith, and shalt turn back and cover that which cometh from thee” (Deuteronomy 23:12,13).

God made every law and every provision that the people might indeed keep their camp clean and holy. God has indeed made every provision through the Blood of Jesus, through the Word, and through the Spirit, whereby we might live clean and holy lives for HIM. God made all the laws for Israel for their good and for His glory. And so it is with us. He has given us His precious Word with His commandments and laws in the spiritual, for our good and for His glory. May we reverence and obey His Word.

CHAPTER XVI

THE HIGH PRIEST AND HIS GARMENTS

And take thou unto thee Aaron thy brother, and his sons with him, from among the children of Israel, that he may minister unto me in the priest’s office, even Aaron. Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar. Aaron’s sons. And thou shalt make holy garments for Aaron thy brother for glory and for beauty. And thou shalt speak unto all that are wise hearted, whom I have filled with the spirit of wisdom, that they may make Aaron’s garments to consecrate him, that he may minister unto me in the priest’s office. And these are the garments which they shall make; a breastplate, and an ephod, and a robe, and a broidered coat, a mitre, and a girdle: and they shall make holy garments for Aaron thy brother, and his sons, that he may minister unto me in the priest’s office. And they shall take gold, and blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine linen. And they shall make the ephod of gold, of blue, and of purple, of scarlet, and fine twined linen, with cunning work. It shall have the two shoulderpieces thereof joined at the two edges thereof; and so it shall be joined together. And the curious girdle of the ephod, which is upon it, shall be of the same, according to the work thereof; even of gold, of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen. And thou shalt take two onyx stones, and grave on them the names of the children of Israel: Six of their names on one stone, and the other six names of the rest on the other stone, according to their birth. With the work of an engraver in stone, like the engravings of a signet, shalt thou engrave the two stones with the names of the children of Israel”, thou shalt make them to be set in ouches of gold. And thou shalt put the two stones upon the shoulders of the ephod for stones of memorial unto the children of Israel: and Aaron shall bear their names before the LORD upon his two shoulders for a memorial. And thou shalt make ouches of gold; And two chains of pure gold at the ends; of wreathen work shalt thou make them, and fasten the wreathen chains to the ouches. And thou shalt make the breastplate of judgment with cunning work; after the work of the ephod thou shalt make it; of gold, of blue, and of purple, and of scarlet, and of fine twined linen, shalt thou make it. Foursquare it shall be being doubled; a span shall be the length thereof, and a span shall be the breadth thereof. And thou shalt set in it settings of stones, even four rows of stones: the first row shall be a sardius, a topaz, and a carbuncle: this shall be the first row. And the second row shall be an emerald, a sapphire, and a diamond. And the third row a ligure, an agate, and an amethyst. And the fourth row a beryl, and an onyx, and a jasper: they shall be set in gold in their inclosings. And the stones shall be with the names of the children of Israel, twelve, according to their names, like the engravings of a signet; every one with his name shall they be according to the twelve tribes. And thou shalt make upon the breastplate chains at the ends of wreathen work of pure gold. And shalt make upon the breastplate two rings of gold, and shalt put the two rings on the two ends of the breastplate. And thou shalt put the two wreathen chains of gold in the two rings which are on the ends of the breastplate. And the other two ends of the two wreathen chains thou shalt fasten in the two ouches, and put them on the shoulderpieces of the ephod before it. And thou shalt make two rings of gold, and thou shalt put them upon the two ends of the breastplate in the border thereof, which is in the side of the ephod inward. And two other rings of gold thou shalt make, and shalt put them on the two sides of the ephod underneath, toward the forepart thereof, over against the other coupling thereof, above the curious girdle of the ephod. And they shall bind the breastplate by the rings thereof unto the rings of the ephod with a lace of blue, that it may be above the curious girdle of the ephod, and that the breastplate be not loosed from the ephod. And Aaron shall bear the names of the children of Israel in the breastplate of judgment upon his heart, when he goeth in unto the holy place, for a memorial before the LORD continually. And thou shalt put in the breastplate of judgment the Urim and the Thummim; and they shall be upon Aaron’s heart, when he goeth in before the LORD: and Aaron shall bear the judgment of the children of Israel upon his heart before the LORD continually. And thou shalt make the robe of the ephod all of blue. And there shall be an hole in the top of it, in the midst thereof: it shall have a binding of woven work round about the hole of it, as it were the hole of an habergeon, that it be not rent. And beneath upon the hem of it thou shalt make pomegranates of blue, and of purple, and of scarlet, round about the hem thereof; and bells of gold between them round about: A golden bell and a pomegranate, a golden bell and a pomegranate, upon the hem of the robe round about. And it shall be upon Aaron to minister: and his sound shall be heard when he goeth in unto the holy place before the LORD, and when he cometh out, that he die not. And thou shalt make a plate of pure gold, and grave upon it, like the engravings of a signet, HOLINESS TO THE LORD. And thou shalt put it on a blue lace, that it may be upon the mitre,-upon the forefront of the mitre it shall be. And it shall be upon Aaron’s forehead, that Aaron may bear the iniquity of the holy things, which the children of Israel shall hallow in all their holy gifts; and it shall be always upon his forehead, that they may be accepted before the LORD. And thou shalt embroider the coat of fine linen, and thou shalt make the mitre of fine linen, and thou shalt make the girdle of needlework. And for Aaron’s sons thou shalt make coats, and thou shalt make for them girdles, and bonnets shalt thou make for them, for glory and for beauty. And thou shalt put them upon Aaron thy brother, and his sons with him, and shalt anoint them, and consecrate them, and sanctify them, that they may minister unto me in the priest’s office. And thou shalt make them linen breeches to cover their nakedness; from the loins even unto the thighs they shall reach: And they shall be upon Aaron, and upon his sons, when they come in unto the tabernacle of the congregation, or when they come near unto the altar to minister in the holy place; that they bear not iniquity, and die: it shall be a statute for ever unto him and his seed after him (Exodus 28:1-43).

I.

THE SELECTION OF THE PRIESTS

Aaron and his family were chosen for the priesthood by Jehovah and set apart by Him. Prior to the giving of the law, it was the custom for the father to act as the priest for his house or family. A priest was someone that could draw near to God through the blood and intercede for his own behalf and in the behalf of his family. But when God gave the law to Moses, He instituted the Aaronic priesthood—that is, He shut up the ministry of the priesthood to the family of Aaron.

“And he spake unto Korah and unto all his company, saying, Even to morrow the LORD will shew who are his, and who is holy; and will cause him to come near unto him: even him whom he hath chosen will he cause to come near unto him” (Numbers 16:5). Even after God had closed the priesthood to the family of Aaron, still there were those who wanted to intrude into this high and holy office, and God demonstrated to them the family that He had chosen for this ministry by permitting the rod of Aaron to bloom and bear forth fruit over night.

Aaron, the high priest, was a beautiful type of Jesus Christ, our high priest. Jesus was not called after the order of the Aaronic priesthood, for the order of the Aaronic priesthood was only temporary in that it lasted only during the lifetime of the priest. At his death the ministry of high priest was passed on to the oldest son. But Jesus Christ was made an high priest after the order of Melchisedec, who had neither beginning of days, or end of life; but made like unto the Son of God, abideth a priest continually (Hebrews 7:3). But, even though Jesus Christ came not after the ORDER of the Aaronic or Levitical priesthood, He ministered according to the PATTERN of the Levitical priesthood, for the pattern of this priesthood was given after the heavenly pattern and therefore is an eternal pattern in the economy of God.

Now of the things which we have spoken this is the sum: We have such an high priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens; A minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man. For every high priest is ordained to offer gifts and sacrifices: wherefore it is of necessity that this man have somewhat also to offer. For if he were on earth, he should not be a priest, seeing that there are priests that offer gifts according to the law: Who serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things, as Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the tabernacle: for See, saith he, that thou make all things according to the pattern shewed to thee in the mount (Hebrews 8:1-5).

A. LEGITIMATE BIRTH

God selected the sons of Aaron to serve as priests, and when two of his sons, Nadab and Abihu, were destroyed by the LORD for offering strange incense unto Him, then the priesthood was invested in the descendants of the other two sons, Eleazar and Ithamar.

In later times, the Sanhedrin inquired diligently into the genealogy of the candidates for the priesthood to see if they had been legitimately born into the Aaronic family. The ordinary priest was a type of the born-again believer in the LORD Jesus Christ, for when born again by the Spirit and the Word, we have access to the privileges of the priesthood. “Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen” (Revelation 1:5,6). Legitimate birth was the first qualification of the candidate for the priesthood.

B. PHYSICAL PERFECTION

If a man were born of the Aaronic family and had a physical defect, he could not serve or minister before the Lord. His birth entitled him to eat of the holy bread, but his blemishes would prevent him from having the privilege of ministering in the holy things of the Lord. This is a precious truth freighted with solemn warning to those who would have spiritual ears to hear. The physical defects and blemishes were pictures of the blemishes in the spirit and soul of man. We may be born-again children of God, but if our spirits and souls are blemished, we shall not have the privilege of coming near and feeling the glory and the power of the fire of His holy presence. This is why we should spend much time in the Word of the LORD that we may be constantly bathed in the purity and power of the Word. “Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish” (Ephesians 5:25-27).

Let us look at the twelve things in the physical that prevented the priest from ministering at the altars of the Lord.

And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto Aaron, saying, Whosoever he be of thy seed in their generations that hath any blemish, let him not approach to offer the bread of his God. For whatsoever man he be that hath a blemish, he shall not approach: a blind man, or a lame, or he that hath a flat nose, or any thing superfluous, Or a man that is brokenfooted, or broken-handed, Or crookbackt, or a dwarf, or that hath a blemish in his eye, or be scurvy, or scabbed, or hath his stones broken; No man that hath a blemish of the seed of Aaron the priest shall come nigh to offer the offerings of the LORD made by fire: he hath a blemish; he shall not come nigh to offer the bread of his God. He shall eat the bread of his God, both of the most holy, and of the holy. Only he shall not go in unto the vail, nor come nigh unto the altar, because he hath a blemish; that he profane not my sanctuaries: for I the LORD do sanctify them. And Moses told it unto Aaron, and to his sons, and unto all the children of Israel (Leviticus 21:16-24).

1. A Blind Man

Even though a man might be born of the family of Aaron, still if he were blind, he was considered unfit to serve at the Altar with the holy fire. How many Christians have a born-again experience and yet are spiritually blind as far as seeing the spiritual, living Word of God, and having a spiritual vision to move on to higher heights and deeper depths with Christ Jesus? How many ministers stand in the pulpits from Sunday to Sunday without the spiritual vision of growing up into the measure of the stature of Christ?

Allow me a word of personal testimony here. I was saved; I had definitely been born again. God had taken me out of the night clubs and given me a new heart and a new life, and I had learned my doctrines and thought I was making real progress. Then, one day Jesus talked with me and told me that I did not love HIM the way that I should. With this experience came the removal of the blindness of SELF-RIGHTEOUSNESS, and He anointed my eyes so I could see as I had never seen before. From that day on, He has continued to loosen the scales of self-righteousness that blind the heart and the soul to the real truth about Him. The Spirit of God warns us in Revelation of the awful condition of blindness.

I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth. Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked: I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent (Revelation 3:15-19).

It is true that many people boast of their material wealth and say they are rich and increased in goods, and have need of nothing. But even a sadder state than this is the spiritual boasting among the children of God. The attitude of many is that they are saved, sanctified, filled with the Holy Ghost, and have need of NOTHING. They are blind to realms of pride and self-righteousness that have not yet been conquered. They are blind to the spiritual vision of the heights and depths in Christ Jesus that have not yet been possessed. We may be eating bread in the Holy Place, but unless we let Jesus Christ heal our blindness, we shall miss the ecstasy of the divine FIRE of His love ministering on the altar of our heart.

2. A Lame Man

If the priest were lame or disabled in his walk, he would also be disqualified from ministering before the Lord. How many times the servants of Jesus Christ become lame spiritually! Sometimes, the sheep wander from the shepherd, and if they continue this pattern of rebellion and disobedience, then the shepherd may break their leg and carry them in his bosom that they might learn to walk in his footsteps. Sometimes, the servants of God are careless in the Word and prayer and do not keep their spiritual armor on and are wounded or lamed by a fiery dart of the Devil and become unable to minister at the altar of fire. “And make straight paths for your feet, LEST that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed” (Hebrews 12:13).

It does not matter whether we are walking in the valley or the mountain top as long as we are walking in the straight and narrow way of Jesus Christ. It is when we stray from His straight way that we stumble and fall and find ourselves lame spiritually.

3. A Flat Nose

Perhaps, these physical qualifications may seem somewhat severe. Yet we must realize that God is a holy God and that He has called us to be holy even as He is holy. We must understand our tremendous responsibility to give ourselves completely over to Him that He might work in us His own righteousness and holiness. A flat nose would hinder the sense of smell of a natural man. Likewise, the nose of the soul is the conscience, which detects that which is good and that which is evil.

“Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God” (I John 3:21). If our conscience is in a healthy condition, then it will condemn us when there is something wrong. But many children of God harden their sense of conscience by not taking heed when it warns them. Perhaps, you have caused the nose of your conscience to become flat by reason of stubbornness and ignore it when it smells something in your attitudes and disposition that is unlike the Christ. Perhaps, it told you to make an apology, to write a letter, to humble yourself in some particular way, but your carnal reasoning told you that it was not necessary. Later you found that the holy fire of the love of Jesus was not burning as it did before on the altar of your heart. It is the little foxes that spoil the tender vines.

4. Any Superfluous Thing

The indispensable condition of approach to God was holiness. The bodily defects of the priests were types of the spiritual defects and shortcomings of the heart and soul. Therefore, if a priest had any excess growth of flesh as wens, tumors, or anything of that nature, he was excluded from the ministry at the altar, for these spoke of corruption. How often do God’s children have roots of bitterness, or boils of jealousy and strife, and are excluded as far as really progressing in spiritual growth and ministry?

5. A Broken Foot

A broken foot speaks of a crooked walk, for a person with a broken foot would find it altogether impossible to walk in a straight path. The Spirit has instructed us to walk in love. “Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children; And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour” (Ephesians 5:1,2).

The humble, obedient, surrendered path of love is the straight path. Frequently the feet of God’s children are broken with foolishness, jesting, wrath, and rebellion, and therefore they do not walk in the straight path of love. It is easy to see from this pattern that if we present our bodies, souls, and spirits daily to the LORD for His work of perfection and holiness, there will not be time to judge and criticize our brothers in the Lord. May Jesus help us to ever yield and grow in the measure of His mighty stature.

6. A Broken Hand

A broken hand would disqualify the priest for service before the LORD. The hand speaks of service. God wants to give us a holy hand for a holy service unto Him. “I will therefore that men pray every where, LIFTING UP HOLY HANDS, WITHOUT WRATH AND DOUBTING” (I Timothy 2:8).

Some of the blemishes are of a kind that would render the priest repulsive in the eyes of man and thereby lead him to despise the ministry of the LORD. How true it is in the spiritual. Frequently, people are led to despise the way of Christ because of the blemishes they see in the hearts and lives of the servants of God. May Jesus Christ help us so to live in holiness and righteousness and sincerity that we may not be a stumbling block and cause people to despise us and the way of Christ. The Hebrews tell us that there were 120 blemishes in all that would disqualify the priest from the ministry of the priesthood: eight in the head, two in the neck, nine in the ears, five in the brows, seven in the eyelids, nineteen in the eyes, nine in the nose, nine in the mouth, three in the belly, three in the back, seven in the hands, sixteen in the secrets, eight in any part of the body, eight in the skin, and seven in the strength and breath.

Through the physical requirements for perfection, God has painted a picture of His standard of holiness in the spiritual. The high priest was to be a type of the spotless Lamb of God, the one who was holy and undefiled and separate from sinners. The ordinary priest was a type of the believer whom God has commanded to be holy even as He is holy. After the twofold examination of the priest as to his birth, his genealogy, and his physical fitness, he was then dressed in white raiment, and his name was then properly inscribed. It is to this illusion that the Apostle John refers in Revelation 3:5. “He that OVERCOMETH, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels.”

7. The Crookbackt

A crookbackt indicates a defect in the spinal column or the backbone. This pictorializes the human will, the backbone, as it were, of the spirit of man. Frequently we think that our wills are completely surrendered to the LORD but it is not until our spiritual eyes have been opened that we are shown through people and circumstances that our wills still have some crooks in them that need to be removed. How often as a husband in everyday life we find a crook in our will about treating our wives as Jesus has told us to treat her? How often as a wife do we find a crook in our will about being in subjection to our husbands as the LORD has commanded us to be? How often do we find crooks in our will about treating our brothers in the LORD the way Jesus has instructed us to treat them? The Word has plainly told us to esteem OTHERS better than ourselves, but we find a few dislocated vertebrae in the backbone of the will when we face the reality of this truth. Only the honest in heart receive help in crucifying the natural man, the carnal man, that the spiritual man might have room to grow and abound in the fullness of God.

8. A Dwarf

A dwarf is a person who has been stunted in his growth and does not reach normal height or stature. How many Christians are just spiritual dwarfs? They spend their lives petting and pampering the carnal man so that he is overgrown on the one hand, and on the other hand the spiritual man has been forced into a dwarfed state of immature growth. Either the carnal building or the spiritual building will be dwarfed in us. It is up to us to make the decision. John said, “I must decrease that He (Jesus) might increase.” John could not increase and Jesus too; it was necessary that John decrease if Jesus was to increase. So it is with us. If Jesus is to increase, if the spiritual building is to reach maturity, then WE must decrease, the carnal building must decrease; it must be torn down. But we have a free will to choose even as a Christian which we desire. Let us seek HIM that we may grow and not be dwarfs; that we may have the privilege of ministering before Him in the Word and in prayer.

9. A Blemish in His Eye

If the priest had even so much as a blemish in his eye he was not allowed to come near unto the LORD in the ministry of the Altar. Often we try to minister before the Lord, but we really do not come near unto Him by reason of a blemish in our spiritual eyes. Jesus spoke of the beam in the eye.

Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye: and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye (Matthew 7:1-5).

May Jesus grant unto us a holy concern to always look for the beams in our own eyes FIRST!

10. Scurvy

The condition of scurvy is brought about through improper diet or poor food, causing the gums to bleed and sometimes the teeth to fall out as a result. A priest with this condition in the physical was not allowed to come near unto the LORD to minister at His altar. This is a picture of the spiritual condition of many of God’s children who are trying to serve at the Altar of the LORD when they have not taken the time to sit at the feet of Jesus and eat of the bread of life that has been baked under the divine rays of His countenance. If a person eats plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables that have been grown under the rays of sunlight, he will have no need to fear getting scurvy. So it is in the Spirit. If we eat of the bread and the fruit of the living Word that has been planted in our hearts and fed by the rays of the divine Son of God, we will have no need to fear spiritual scurvy. May Jesus help us to feed on the living Word that we may become healthy priests and ministers to serve before Him.

11. Scabbed

The presence of a scab on the body tells of a place that is tender, or painful to be touched. It indicates a place that is sensitive or irritated. Afflicted with this condition, the priest was not allowed to draw near in ministry before the Lord. Likewise in the spiritual realm, many Christians carry tender, sensitive or easily irritated spots in their spirits and souls and are quickly miffed or stirred with anger when someone happens to touch his sore spot, his scabby spot. What a need for God’s children to receive healing in their spirits and souls, and to be so filled with the love of Jesus Christ, and the love for His Word that they are not offended regardless of circumstances or situations. “Great peace have they which love thy law: and NOTHING shall offend them” (Psalm 119:165).

12. Broken Stones

If a priest had a hernia it would render him incapable of fulfilling the duties of the office of the priest, for his weakness would be too great. We must lay aside the weakness of the flesh and be filled with His power and His might that we may have the privilege to stand before Him in service at the altar.

II.

THE PRIEST WASHED

“And this is the thing that thou shalt do unto them to HALLOW them, to minister unto me in the priest’s office: Take one young bullock, and two rams without blemish...And Aaron and his sons thou shalt bring unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, and shall wash them with water” (Exodus 29:1-4). The outward washing of the priest was a type of water baptism. “Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost” (Acts 2:38). After the washing of the priest, came the anointing. So it was with Jesus. After He was baptized of John, then the anointing of the Holy Ghost descended upon Him.

Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John, to be baptized of him. But John forbad him, saying, I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me? And Jesus answering said unto him, Suffer it to be so now. for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness. Then he suffered him. And Jesus when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him: And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased (Matthew 3:13-17).

As previously stated, Jesus came after the order of Melchisedec, the eternal order. This is to say that His was an unchangeable priesthood. Death could not change the order of this priesthood of Jesus Christ, for He rose again to seal the eternal order of His priesthood; but He was called to minister after the pattern of the Aaronic priesthood, for this was a heavenly pattern given to Israel by God. So in the baptism of Jesus Christ He was fulfilling the divine pattern of the Aaronic priesthood.

The washing of the priest with water was the third requirement to be fulfilled in the pattern of their preparation for the ministry of the Lord. Water baptism is an outward symbol of death to the flesh, death to the old way, to the old life, and taking on the character, nature, authority of the LORD Jesus. When the priest took this step of consecration of being washed, he was saying in effect that from then on he was dead to all things except the ministry of the Lord. Whatever the life of the LORD Jesus Christ was before His baptism, even though it was of course pure and holy, yet from the day of His baptism He entered into a new life, as it were, a life given completely and wholly for the ministry of the Father.

This same teaching and pattern is for us also as priests and servants of God.

Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection (Romans 6:3-5).

What a need there is among believers today to let the truth and the reality of the symbol of baptism be made alive in hearts and minds! After the priest was washed, clothed, and anointed, he became the complete property of the LORD for ministry in HIS house. If every Christian who has received the ordinance of baptism of the LORD Jesus Christ were completely owned, as it were, by the LORD for His ministry and His service, there would be a revival that would sweep the world such as never been seen before. So even in the baptism of the LORD Jesus Christ, He fulfilled the divine pattern that He was dead to His own natural life and alive to minister and to do the will of the Father. And God acknowledged that He was well pleased with this pattern of spiritual truth as fulfilled by His own beloved Son.

III.

THE PRIEST CLOTHED

A. ARTICLES OF DRESS

The number of the articles of dress for the ordinary priest was four, but that of the high priest who was a type of Christ, were eight in number. The number eight is symbolical of the resurrection of the Lord. It was on the eighth day that He arose from the dead, which is the same as the first day if one continues to count through the days of the week. In other words, the high priest was to be clothed with resurrection power as a type of Christ. Jesus declared that He was clothed with this resurrection power, for He was that resurrection power; “I am the resurrection and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live” (John 11:25).

The dress of the high priest was his symbol of authority for his twofold ministry to make propitiation for the sin of the people (and himself, being a man and needing the covering of the blood too) and to teach the law, the Word of the Lord. Those who heard the LORD Jesus teach declared that never a man spake like Him, and that He spake with such authority.

And thou shalt take the garments, and put upon Aaron the coat, and the robe of the ephod, and the ephod, and the breastplate, and gird him with the curious girdle of the ephod: And thou shalt put the mitre upon his head, and put the holy crown upon the mitre (Exodus 29:5,6).

And he put upon him the coat, and girded him with the girdle, and clothed him with the robe, and put the ephod upon him, and he girded him with the curious girdle of the ephod, and bound it unto him therewith. And he put the breastplate upon him: also he put in the breastplate the Urim and the Thummim. And he put the mitre upon his head; also upon the mitre, even upon his forefront, did he put the golden plate, the holy crown; as the LORD commanded Moses (Leviticus 8:7-9).

1. The Coat

“And thou shalt embroider the coat of fine linen” (Exodus 28:39). “And they made coats of fine linen of woven work for Aaron, and for his sons” (Exodus 39:27). The coat of fine linen embroidered or rather woven in diaper work, the threads of one color were diapered in checkers by the ordinary weaver. It was a long coat and worn next to the skin, the sleeves of which appeared from under the robe of the ephod. The coat was made of fine white linen and typifies the righteousness of Christ. “Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints” (Revelation 19:7,8).

The white coat symbolized the holiness and the righteousness that God requires of His servants and His ministers. It speaks of the purity and the holiness of the LORD Jesus Christ, “Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth: Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously” (I Peter 2: 22,23). This robe of righteousness is granted to us through personal faith in the LORD Jesus Christ.

But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith: (Philippians 3:7-9).

Our own righteousness is likened unto filthy rags, “But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away” (Isaiah 64:6). But the righteousness of Christ is like unto the pure, white, fine linen coat. The coat was to reach to the bottom of the feet of the priest that their nakedness or flesh shall be completely covered.

In these eight pieces of clothing that the high priest wore. there is a complete picture of the nature and the character of the holiness and righteousness in Christ Jesus. In Colossians 3:12-14 we have also eight different things that Paul told us to put on as children of God, and as we fit these eight things together with the eight pieces of the garment of the high priest, the vision of the spiritual garment of the character and the nature of the Christ becomes clearer.

Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, [1] bowels of mercies, [2] kindness, [3] humbleness of mind, [4] meekness, [5] longsuffering; [6] Forbearing one another; [7] and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any. even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye, [8] And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness” (Colossians 3:12-14).

Let us consider the coat of his tender mercies, his bowels of mercies. The bowels refer to inner affection, the inner mercies that are tender. The LORD Jesus never turned away a hungry heart; He never turned away those who were sick and afflicted; He never turned away the sinners, the publicans; but always tender mercies flowed from Him. Mercy means undeserved merit. Jesus never condemned those who came to Him for help; He never drew His cloak around Him; He never shut up His bowels of mercies. How about us as children of God, who have received the tender mercies of His forgiveness of our sins and put on the coat of hardness and indifference of the flesh, the coat of judgment and criticism, instead of the spiritual robe of His righteousness that contains His tender mercies, His bowels of mercies?

If Christians would truly put on this robe of righteousness and mercy there would be the sweet harmony and unity of the Spirit in our churches, such as the LORD Jesus prayed for in His high priestly prayer in the 17th chapter of John. This, too, was the constant prayer of the Apostle Paul, “If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies, Fulfill ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind” (Philippians 2:1,2). Jesus Christ, the eternal high priest of God, came down and took on Him the robe of flesh that He might be made a merciful high priest. “Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a MERCIFUL and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people” (Hebrews 2:17).

How the servants and the ministers of God need to put on the robe of righteousness and mercy that they might truly be clothed with a merciful heart and soul. Would that we might be clothed with the spirit of mercy like unto our LORD who could look out over a city that was soon to crucify Him and weep over its lost condition. That we might be clothed with the merciful spirit of Jesus who could look out on those that were crucifying Him and cry, “Father forgive them, they know not what they do.” May Jesus help us to see the vision of our need of putting on His nature and His character. May Jesus help us to see the vision of our need of putting off the old man which is corrupt according to deceitful lusts and to put on the new man which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.

2. The Girdle

The ordinary priest, along with the high priest, was to put on the coat and then put on the girdle of the coat which was different from the curious girdle of the Ephod. The girdle for the coat was to be made of fine linen, and blue, and purple, and scarlet, of needlework: as the LORD commanded Moses (Exodus 39:29). It was the Oriental custom that anyone before entering active service of any kind must gird himself. This speaks to us of the towel-girded Christ.

He riseth from supper, and laid aside his garments; and took a towel, and girded himself. After that he poureth water into a bason, and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith he was girded (John 13:4,5).

Jesus declared that He came to minister to others and not to be ministered unto. “For even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many (Mark 10:45). The girdle was to be wrought of the same material as the outer vail of the sanctuary. The fine white linen tells us of the purity and holiness of His ministry. The blue tells us of the heavenly ministry of Christ. The purple tells us of the royal aspect of His ministry. The scarlet tells us of the fresh blood, His very life that He gave as He ministered to redeem man. As the ordinary priest wore this girdle, it was a symbol of his having been chosen to have a part in this same ministry of the Tabernacle.

The next piece of spiritual clothing that Paul exhorts us to put on in the third chapter of Colossians was the kindness. Can we look at any part or any of the colors in the girdle and not be reminded of the kindness of the LORD Jesus Christ in our behalf as He ministered?

The girdle was for the strengthening of the loins so to speak. “And I will clothe him with thy robe, and strengthen him with thy girdle, and I will commit thy government into his hand: and he shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to the house of Judah” (Isaiah 22:21).

Surely there are strength and comfort in the girdle of kindness. Often ministers, servants and missionaries find themselves tired of the service of the Lord, tired of working with people, undoubtedly because of a need for a new putting on of the girdle of kindness. A kind heart is a sympathetic heart; an affectionate heart. The Greek word khraystotace implies to furnish that which is needed. The girdle of kindness will strengthen us to supply others with the things they need, whether sympathy, affection, or comfort.

“Let, I pray thee, thy merciful KINDNESS be for my comfort, according to thy word unto thy servant” (Psalm 119:76).

Let us seek to be girded with the kindness, the nature of Jesus Christ, in the home, in the church, in our contacts with the world, that all may truly see that we are clothed with the nature and the character of our great High Priest, Jesus Christ. When we find ourselves irritable, touchy, and sensitive it is time to retire to the Holy of Holies for the Spirit of the LORD to gird us afresh and anew with His precious girdle of kindness.

3. The Robe of the Ephod

And he made the robe of the ephod of woven work, all of blue. And there was an hole in the midst of the robe, as the hole of an habergeon, with a band round about the hole, that it should not rend. And they made upon the hems of the robe pomegranates of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and twined linen. And they made bells of pure gold, and put the bells between the pomegranates upon the hem of the robe, round about between the pomegranates; A bell and a pomegranate, a bell and a pomegranate, round about the hem of the robe to minister in; as the LORD commanded Moses (Exodus 39:22-26).

The robe of the ephod was to be woven in one piece, indicating the completeness of his spiritual integrity. It was to be woven without a seam, and the opening for the head was in the middle and bound with a band to prevent the rending of the garment; for the garment was to be a picture of the heavenly character of the LORD Jesus Christ. The blue on the robe of the ephod pointed to the heavenly character of Jesus just as the tassels of blue on the hem of the robes of the children of Israel reminded them of their heavenly calling, and the heavenly law that they had received.

Speak unto the children of Israel, and bid them that they make them fringes in the borders of their garments throughout their generations, and that they put upon the fringe of the borders a ribband of blue: And it shall be unto you for a fringe, that ye may look upon it, and remember all the commandments of the LORD, and do them; and that ye seek not after your own heart and your own eyes, after which ye use to go a whoring: (Numbers 15:38,39).

The robe of the ephod was to have around its hem, pomegranates of blue, purple, scarlet, and fine twined linen or white.

The next thing that Paul tells us to put on in Colossians is humbleness of mind. The pomegranate with its pleasant and delightful odor, its sweet and refreshing juice, and large quantities of delicious seeds, point to the meekness and humility of the Christ as a source of rich spiritual nourishment for the spirit and the soul.

Jesus invited us to come and learn of Him for He was meek and lowly in heart. The only way that we can learn of Him is by testing or eating for ourselves. The love of Christ and the humility of Christ go hand in hand. As we look at the attributes of love as found in the thirteenth chapter of I Corinthians, we see that the nature of His love is humility.

The blue pomegranate tells us of the heavenly love and humility of Jesus our great high priest. It is not the false and vain humility of the flesh that we need, but the divine love and humility of the Christ that made Him leave His throne in heaven and come to the lowest place, earth, to pay the penalty of the sin of the flesh, and He paid the price of the penalty of death and hell for the sin that was ours. And yet, how ruffled human beings become within themselves when they feel they are taking the low place. How great the strivings of the carnal man even to attain the high seat in spiritual service and spiritual knowledge. How we need to seek the heavenly blue love and humility of Christ. Let us put on the love and the humility of the Christ.

The purple pomegranate tells us of the royal love and humility of our King. Even though He was King of kings, still He was clothed with the royal humility of rejection by His people and sentenced to death as an imposter. When He wore his royal robe of humility, He never opened His mouth or complained against those who unjustly accused Him. And we who deserve nothing by our own merits, complain and fret when we are unjustly accused, instead of using the opportunity to put on the humility of the Christ, to put on the royal purple pomegranates. We miss many opportunities to feed and feast on the royal pomegranates of love and meekness.

The scarlet pomegranate tells us of the fresh blood, the life that Jesus so meekly surrendered up in His ministry of redeeming sinful man. “He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth” (Isaiah 53:7).

In Philippians 2:5-8 the Apostle Paul exhorts us to be clothed with this robe of blue of the ephod that contains the precious pomegranates. “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.”

The white pomegranate speaks to us of the purity and holiness of the love and the humility of the Christ. In the seventeenth chapter of John, Jesus testifies in His prayer to His Father, “I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.” The purity and holiness of His love and humility in His ministry brought glory to the Father. If we, too, would bring glory to our heavenly Father then we must put on the robe of meekness and humility.

In between every pomegranate was inserted a golden bell, a bell of pure gold. And we now know that the pure gold speaks to us of the divine nature of Jesus Christ. When the high priest went into the sanctuary to minister before the Lord, the sound of the golden bells sent forth the sweet and joyful sound of evidence of His ministry to the people who were in the court. What a blessed truth to our hearts to know that our high priest, Jesus Christ, is in the sanctuary of heaven ministering in our behalf. The proof that He is there is the joyful sound, the sweet music of the Holy Ghost that He has sent forth in our hearts as a reminder of His ministry before the throne. The music from the golden bell was produced by the golden clapper or tongue in the bell. Jesus has sent His Spirit into our hearts, and He speaks forth with the divine music of heaven when we yield ourselves unto Him. It was necessary to have not only the clapper, the tongue of the bell, but also the bell itself. As we let the Holy Ghost form in us the divine love and humility of Jesus Christ, then when the Holy Ghost speaks through us, it is not just sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal, but the sweet music of the golden bell.

We are priests of God, chosen of Him to serve. How He wants to take our tongues and make them pure gold, pure love, pure humility, that when we speak forth the living Word of life it will be music to the ears of the sinner; it will be music to the ears of the child of God.

It is only natural that when the LORD blesses and gives unto us the sweet gifts and revelations of the Spirit, the old carnal mind should rise with spiritual pride. And for this reason we must wait before Him in the Holy Place for Jesus to truly crucify the sin of spiritual pride. Remember that at one time Satan, too, was an anointed cherub of God. He was described as being the most beautiful of all until the day that pride entered into his heart and God had to cast him out of heaven.

The sin of spiritual pride is the most deceitful of all, for truly it comes as an angel of light and deceives the mind so that in ourselves, we are unable to detect its presence and therefore we must daily put ourselves under the searchlight of heaven to search out our minds and hearts. The higher up the spiritual ladder a man climbs, the greater his need to wait before the LORD for the discerning of spiritual pride. In humbleness of mind Jesus gave all the glory and honor unto the Father.

Paul instructed us to esteem others better than ourselves, but this is contrary to the natural mind, and can only be accomplished when we let Jesus clothe us with the nature and character of His own mind. Before the high priest could enter into the Holy Place and enjoy the beauty and glory of the fellowship of the ministry there, he must be properly clothed. If we, too, would desire to go on with the Lord, then we must be properly clothed. And since Jesus is the living and true God, our spiritual clothing which is His own nature and character granted unto us, can also grow and in this manner we are transformed into the image of the Son of God.

4. The Ephod

“And he made the ephod of gold, blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen. And they did beat the gold into thin plates, and cut it into wires, to work it in the blue, and in the purple, and in the scarlet, and in the fine linen, with cunning work” (Exodus 39:2,3). The ephod means the shoulder piece. The two parts of which the ephod consisted were called shoulders. It was on the shoulders that the burden of the office rested. It was on the shoulders that the insignia of the office rested. “And the key of the house of David will I lay upon his shoulder; so he shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open” (Isaiah 22:22). “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” (Isaiah 9:6).

These are prophecies concerning the LORD Jesus Christ and how the government was to be upon His shoulders. The ephod of the high priest had also two onyx stones; one on each shoulder which carried the names of the twelve tribes of Israel. Six on the one side and six on the other side. It is important to note that the insignia rested on the ephod that was made of the blue, purple, scarlet, and fine twined linen. The authority of Jesus Christ as King of kings and LORD of lords rests upon the blue of His heavenly origin, the purple of His royal power, the scarlet of His sacrifice, and the purity and holiness of different colors. The nature of Christ was woven with the pure gold of His deity. The weaving of the gold throughout the ephod gave strength and beauty to the ephod. It is the gold of his divine nature that makes him the immovable Rock of Ages on which we can rest with peace and safety. His deity gave strength and power to the authority of His office. Jesus testified of the disciples: “While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name: those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition; that the scripture might be fulfilled” (John 17:12).

In the picture of the bride in Psalm 45:13,14, her clothing is of like appearance as the ephod of the high priest. “The king’s daughter is all glorious WITHIN: her clothing is of wrought gold. She shall be brought unto the king in raiment of needlework: the virgins her companions that follow her shall be brought unto thee.”

The ephod was to be secured or held in place by the curious girdle that was upon it, which was made of the same material, colors and work of the ephod. The next thing that the Apostle Paul has told us to put on in addition to humbleness of mind, was meekness. Humility and humbleness of mind have to do with our attitude toward God, and meekness has to do with our attitude toward man. Notice that the robe of the ephod or the humbleness of mind, was put on first. Before we can possibly put on the outward girdle of meekness, there must be the putting on of the humbleness of mind before God. If with humbleness of mind we receive with thanksgiving all trials and tribulations from His precious hand, then it will be easier to put on the girdle of the ephod of meekness toward man. The Apostle Paul instructed Timothy concerning the spiritual ephod for the servant of the Lord. “And the servant of the Lord must not strive, but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient, In MEAKNESS instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth” (II Timothy 2:24-26).

It was in the garden of Gethsemane that Jesus showed Himself to be clothed with the blue robe of humbleness of mind toward the Father. It was at the cross that Jesus proved Himself clothed with the ephod of meekness toward man, so that even the Roman soldier had to bow his head and say, “Truly this was the Son of God.” The authority and power of the LORD Jesus Christ now rests upon the meekness and humility of His work at Calvary. May we seek to have our spiritual garments woven with the beaten pieces of the pure gold of His nature. May we seek to have the weaving of the purple, the blue, the scarlet, and the fine linen of His divine nature in our spiritual garments. May we seek to always have on the robe of His ephod, as it were, when we minister for Him and in His Name.

5. The Breastplate

And he made the breastplate of cunning work, like the work of the ephod; of gold, blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen. It was foursquare; they made the breastplate double: a span was the length thereof, and a span the breadth thereof, being doubled. And they set it in four rows of stones: the first row was a sardius, a topaz, and a carbuncle: this was the first row. And the second row, an emerald, a sapphire, and a diamond. And the third row, a ligure, an agate, and an amethyst. And the fourth row, a beryl, an onyx, and a jasper: they were inclosed in ouches of gold in their inclosings. And the stones were according to the names of the children of Israel, twelve, according to their names like the engravings of a signet, every one with his name, according to the twelve tribes. And they made upon the breastplate chains at the ends, of wreathen work of pure gold. And they made two ouches of gold, and two gold rings; and put the two rings in the two ends of the breastplate. And they put the two wreathen chains of gold in the two rings on the ends of the breastplate. And the two ends of the two wreathen chains they fastened in the two ouches, and put them in the shoulderpieces of the ephod, before it. And they made two rings of gold, and put them on the two ends of the breastplate, upon the border of it, which was on the side of the ephod inward. And they made two other golden rings, and put them on the two sides of the ephod underneath, toward the forepart of it, over against the other coupling thereof, above the curious girdle of the ephod. And they did bind the breastplate by his rings unto the rings of the ephod with a lace of blue, that it might be above the curious girdle of the ephod, and that the breastplate might not be loosed from the ephod; as the LORD commanded Moses (Exodus 39:8-21).

There are more verses devoted to the description of the breastplate than to any other piece of garment of the high priest. This stresses the importance of the breastplate in the ministry of the high priest.

The breastplate was two spans, one long and one wide, but doubled, it became a square, fastened by rings and chains of gold to the onyx stones on the shoulders and beneath with the two other rings and a lace of blue to two rings in the ephod about the curious girdle. On the breastplate were fastened the twelve stones in four rows, with the twelve names of the tribes of Israel engraved according to the order of their encampment as described in the second chapter of Numbers. Inside the breastplate was placed the Urim and the Thummim which were known as lights and perfections. It has been said that when the high priest wanted to ascertain the mind of God for the people that he stood before the vail and the light and perfection of the Urim and the Thummim caused the stones of the breastplate to light up, thereby showing unto the high priest the will and mind of God. The breastplate was worn on the breast over the heart speaking of the LORD Jesus Christ carrying us on His heart, the place of love and affection. As we compare the twelve stones and their meanings with the order of the camp in the second chapter of Numbers, we see a beautiful spiritual picture of the breastplate and the things that Jesus wants to work in us.

a. The First Row—East

(1) Sardius—Tribe of Judah

The word sardius means to be red or rosy, to show blood in the face, to be ruddy. The countenance of the King in the Song of Solomon is described as being ruddy, being full of life and health. The sardius stone belonged to the tribe of Judah, and Judah means to praise the Lord. How beautiful when we go before the LORD with the Urim, the divine light of the Holy Ghost in our hearts, and the Thummim, the perfection of the Living Word in our hearts, and He causes the stone of Judah, the stone of praise to light up in our hearts, and while our countenance is rosy with praise before Him, He will cause His will and His mind to be made clear to us concerning the way in which we should walk. The Apostle Paul by and through the Spirit of God, told the Colossians to put on next in the spiritual dress, longsuffering. How we need to put on the garment of longsuffering, the precious breastplate of love and longsuffering, that we may come before the LORD and wait on Him in our personal Holy Place, that we might tarry until the Spirit and the Word cause the stone of His choice to light up. We praise the LORD with our mouths and this we are exhorted to do by the Word of the Lord, but it takes the Spirit and the Word to cause the inner praise of the spirit and the soul to be set aflame so that its mighty light and power streams forth through our being, and only then can we offer the praise from our hearts. Many Christians have apparently not yet come to the place in their personal spiritual life to where they are clothed with the longsuffering and the patience that makes them willing to present themselves before the LORD and wait for Him to light up the stone of His choice. Until we have learned that Jesus Christ is the HEAD even in our prayer life, we shall be wanting the blessing. Often when God’s children do not get the type of blessing in prayer that they desire, they go into a spiritual pout and say, “well, it doesn’t do much good to pray after all.” In order for the high priest to ascertain the mind of God, he had to come without thought of his own, and wait for whatever stone that the LORD might see fit to light up in the breastplate of longsuffering. Let us yield to Him that our countenance may always be rosy with the sardius stone and our hearts filled with the praise of Judah with whatever state that Jesus sees fit to place us in.

(2) Topaz—Issachar

Issachar with its stone of topaz was ordered on the east side of the camp along with Judah, and next in order to the tribe of Judah, under the green standard with the symbol of the lion. The word topaz conveys the idea of a pasture, a pleasant place, satisfaction, or a dwelling place. Its color was a rich yellow with a green tint. The word Issachar means to bring a reward. What a good picture of the nature and character of the breastplate of love and longsuffering of Jesus Christ in the topaz stone. Jesus is the topaz stone that provides the pleasant place, and as we feed on the yellow light of illumination of this topaz, truly we grow spiritually in the measure of His stature. Let us then put on Christ, the breastplate of longsuffering, for in His breastplate we will find the topaz stone of pleasure and satisfaction, and also the truth of the name Issachar there, for truly He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him. How precious to have Him light up the stone of satisfaction in our souls. How precious to have Him light up the rich yellow light of illumination that we might truly feed on Him, the living pasture. Let us ever seek the breastplate of longsuffering, for truly there are hidden all the precious stones of His nature and character.

(3) Carbuncle—Zebulun

The third stone in the breastplate of the high priest was the carbuncle which represents the tribe of Zebulun. Zebulun was the third tribe on the east with Judah and Issachar. The word carbuncle comes from a Hebrew word bawrekath which means burning, flashing, like lightning. Lightning was a symbol of the glorious and awful majesty of the power of Jehovah. Zebulun means a continuing city, to inclose, to dwell with. Zebulun with its stone of carbuncle would suggest a city filled with the glory and majesty of the power of God. Jesus said, “Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid” (Matthew 5:14). How excellent to let Jesus bind us to His breastplate of love and long-suffering and fill us with the glory and majesty of His power so that we can be like a city set on a hill. How glorious to put our trust in Him and come before His presence and wait for Him to light up the stones of truth that He desires to teach us about next. We have to be taught how to be filled with light and power; we have to be taught how to keep the light and the power; we have to be taught how to be a continuing city filled with the glory and majesty of His power.

b. Second Row—South

In the first row of the stones we saw on the breastplate of the high priest, the order of the camp on the east side. Now we come to the second row which gives us a picture of the tribes on the south side.

(1) Emerald—Reuben

The emerald signifies a glowing and shining stone and was thought to be either red or green. The name of Reuben means behold ye a son. How wonderful when we can lean upon the breastplate of our high priest in the Holy Place and catch a vision of the Son through the emerald stone. Possibly the Spirit of God will lighten up the red of the emerald stone and give us a new vision of the Blood of the Son of God that can deliver us and give us victory and power over the world, the flesh, and the Devil. Perhaps He will cause the green of the emerald stone to light up and show us a vision of the abundant life of the Son of God. What is more precious than to behold the SON? May God ever light the stone of the Son of God in our hearts that we may see and behold HIM!

(2) Sapphire—Simeon

The second stone in the second row of the breastplate was a sapphire, and belonged to Simeon who was the second tribe in order on the south side of the encampment. The sapphire was blue and ranged in different hues all the way from the bright blue to the deep blue, and also signifies stairs. The deep blue is a symbol of deep and hidden spiritual truths and the idea of the stairs speaks of ascent. Simeon means that hears and obeys. It is truly as we lean on the breast of our High Priest in the Holy Place that we are taught and that we can behold the sapphire stone that lights up to show us the spiritual stairway to the depths of the humility of Christ Jesus. And not only do we see and hear, but through the impartation of the meaning of the name of Simeon unto us, we can obey the Spirit of the LORD in humbling ourselves to walk in the way of Jesus Christ. May we not only see Jesus, but may we put on the LORD Jesus Christ with all the truth that the garments of the high priest imply, that the Spirit might light up the stones on the breastplate of our hearts so that others will see and behold the beauty of Christ.

(3) Diamond—Gad

The diamond is the stone that is known for its hardness; a stone that cuts and eats or engraves and it belongs to the tribe of Gad which was the third tribe on the south side. The name Gad signifies an army. When the bridegroom saw the bride in the Song of Solomon 6:4, she had grown spiritually until her appearance was like unto a mighty army. “Thou art beautiful, O my love, as Tirzah, comely as Jerusalem, terrible as an army with banners.” How God wants us to grow until we can put on the stone of hardness as an army, as a soldier, that we may go forth into the ranks of the powers of darkness and see the diamond stone eat through, as it were! How He wants us to put the diamond stone in our breastplate that when we come in contact with sinners, the diamond of the Word that is in our hearts will cut with conviction as it gives forth of its light. How God wants us to put on the diamond stone of hardness, endurance, with all its glory and brilliance, that its rays might engrave new desires on the hearts of the children of God with whom we come in contact that they might be inspired to press on in deeper depths and higher heights in Christ Jesus!

c. Third Row-West

(1) Ligure—Ephraim

The ligure was the first stone of the third row of the stones in the breastplate and fits together with Ephraim who was the first tribe of the third order, or on the west side. How beautifully the meanings of the ligure stone and the tribe of Ephraim fit together. The ligure signifies a golden yellow like the kernel of yellow corn and Ephraim means fruitful. What a picture of the corn of wheat, Jesus, who fell into the ground and died and then brought forth much fruit unto God by His resurrection from the dead. As we walk with Jesus, we shall soon be taught of the ligure stone and of Ephraim. The Spirit will surely cause this stone to light up in our hearts and show us our need of falling into the ground and dying to self that the resurrection power of the Christ might come forth within us and make us fruitful in the spiritual things of God. The Apostle Paul seemed to have the revelation of this stone daily, for he said that he died daily. It is, indeed, a mystery how that death and fruitfulness go together, but if we would truly know or experience the fruitfulness of the growth of the Spirit daily in our lives, then we must die daily, for out of death comes forth life. This is a divine law both in the natural and in the spiritual realms. And how precious it is when our eyes are opened to the light of the ligure stone and the truth of Ephraim.

(2) Agate—Manasseh

The agate was the second stone in the third row and went together with the second tribe in the western encampment, Manasseh. The agate signifies divided unto streams or flashes, striking fire, crimson fire. The word Manasseh means forgetfulness. What a need there is for the children of God to put on the stone of Manasseh with its truth. How wonderful to learn that the nature of the breastplate of our high priest is forgetfulness. He has said that when He forgives our sins that He forgets them and buries them behind His back to remember them no more. How prone are the children of God to remember little petty things instead of forgiving and forgetting. Sometimes people say that they have forgiven, but they have not forgotten. They only deceive themselves, for truly a forgiving heart is a forgetful heart. How we need to tarry in the sanctuary until we feel the burning flashing rays of the agate stone burning in our hearts and the nature of the name of Manasseh is formed in us. Many Christians worry about what they can do for Christ, but the secret is what we can BE for Christ. If we let Him clothe us in His own image and nature until we can truly BE one with Him, then we will not have to be concerned about our service for Him, for we will be of service everywhere we go and in everything we say. May the agate be formed with its flashing fire and Manasseh with his forgetfulness. “Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before” (Philippians 3:13).

(3) Amethyst—Benjamin

The third stone in the third row was an amethyst and went together with the third tribe on the west side, Benjamin. The amethyst signifies possessor and was thought to be purple. Benjamin signifies the son of the right hand. How fitting that the third stone or the amethyst should be purple which denotes royalty or reigning power, for in this the amethyst becomes a perfect stone to bear the truth of the name of Benjamin which also signifies royalty or reigning power. It is at the right hand of God that Jesus has ascended which denotes the place of power and authority. How wonderful to go on with the LORD until we see the vision of the amethyst with the name of Benjamin there. It is precious to put on this truth as the Son of the right hand, the royal King who desires to rule and reign in our lives. We cannot teach ourselves; we do not know what lesson we have need of next, but how thrilling to go to the sanctuary and wait on Him for the lighting up of the stones to our hearts that we might know what is His divine will for the next step in our spiritual building, in our spiritual walk with Him. May we seek to have the amethyst formed, the possessor, along with Benjamin, the Son of the right hand.

d. Fourth Row—North

(1) Beryl-Dan

The first stone in the fourth row was the beryl and it belonged to the tribe of Dan. The beryl stone associates its meaning with the name of Dan. The word beryl means to test, to try or to investigate, and the meaning of the name of Dan is to judge. When we come to the sanctuary and lean on the breast of our high priest, Jesus Christ, and through the Spirit of God, He judges, tests, and tries the reins of the heart, and through the spiritual light of this stone we are made to see deeper into the motives and the desires of our fleshly man, our carnal mind. We have to grow in His love in order to love and appreciate His judgment of our flesh. Many Christians run from the rays of light from this stone, for they do not want to have the flesh exposed, but the person who has lived in the sanctuary and has had the Spirit of God expose the flesh and then let HIM put it to death, knows the joy, the glory, the ecstasy that follows the ministry of the beryl stone. When Aaron, the high priest, went in before the LORD bearing the names of the twelve tribes of Israel upon his breast it showed that he was responsible for them before the Lord. This was a beautiful type of the LORD Jesus Christ who is our high priest, who bears us on His breast before the Father and imparts to us of His own nature as we are faithful to abide in Him, for He is the source of all spiritual things. He is the supply of all the graces of the Spirit. May we learn Jesus who is like unto a beryl and like Dan, the judge, the one who tries and tests.

(2) Onyx—Asher

The onyx stone was the second stone in the fourth row and belonged to the tribe of Asher. The word onyx comes from the Hebrew word shoham which means to blanch, to take the color out and make lustrous. God wants to bleach the self-life and take the color out of it that He might make it lustrous with His own life. He wants to fight with the flesh in our own hearts and lives until He is all in all in us, until He has made us like unto His own glorious image. May we yield to His precious will against our flesh until we truly are made lustrous and shine with His glory, His power, and His love. The word Asher means blessedness and truly the only blessedness or happiness for the human heart is when one is permitting the Spirit of God to bleach out the self-life that the life of the Christ might have full sway and full power. The Word has declared “Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful” (Psalm 1:1). How often we as Christians are walking, standing, or sitting with the self-life, the flesh or the carnal mind in our attitudes or dispositions and therefore we miss the blessed state, the heavenly joy, the heavenly happiness. Let the onyx stone be formed within us with its luster and shine. Let the blessedness of Asher be formed too.

(3) Jasper—Naphtali

The jasper stone was the third stone in the fourth row of the breastplate and belonged to the tribe of Naphtali. The word jasper comes from the Hebrew word yawshefay which signifies to polish, prevailing power, strength, and was transparent and brilliant. To polish something is to make smooth or glossy by friction. God wants to polish us through friction of trials and testings until we are transparent and brilliant in His own likeness. Someone has told of a certain place near the ocean that has such beautiful polished stones, the result of the continuous beating of the waves from the sea against the stones, the people continuously visit this particular place to collect some of the beautiful stones. What has changed these ordinary stones into stones of value and beauty? Nothing but the continuous friction from the waves of the sea. And may we say that through this similar process, the blessed Son of God takes us and puts us under the waves of testing and trial that He might make a jasper stone out of us. How glorious indeed, when we see the truth of this stone light up in our hearts, and cause us to know and discern the will of God so that we can humbly submit to the mighty waves, knowing that we shall come forth as a polished stone.

The word Naphtali means one who contends, the fighting of the enthroned one against his enemies. May we truly submit for the enthroned Christ to fight against our flesh that we might be made transparent stones of jasper for his honor and glory. The Word has declared that the Spirit lusts against the flesh and the flesh against the Spirit. The Spirit of God is busy sanding and cutting on the flesh life on every side, and as we yield and cooperate with Him, we will find the brilliancy of the jasper stone coming forth. As God, through the high priest, made known His will to Israel, so through Christ Jesus our high priest, God will make known His will for our spiritual lives. Inside of the breastplate was to be placed the Urim and the Thummim, meaning lights and perfections. In the Urim and Thummim the high priest had a medium through which God would communicate to Him in every situation in which the Israelites needed divine light in order to know how to act.

And he shall stand before Eleazar the priest, who shall ask counsel for him after the judgment of Urim before the LORD: at his word shall they go out, and at his word they shall come in, both he, and all the children of Israel with him, even all the congregation (Numbers 27:21).

With the Urim and the Thummim in the breastplate, the high priest became the judicial representative of Israel, bearing the people on his heart, not just keeping them in his mind, but having his heart blended together with them by a living sympathy. What a picture indeed of our high priest, Jesus Christ, who has the Urim or the light of the Holy Ghost and Thummim, the perfection of the Word, and bears us before the Father with a living sympathy in His heart, for He was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. It was the Urim and the Thummim that caused the stones to light up on the breastplate of the high priest, and surely it is with the Urim, the light of the Spirit of God and the Thummim, the perfection of the precious Word that God causes the truths of the stones and the names of the twelve tribes of Israel to be made alive to us. Thus, the spiritual pattern is seen whereby we can move on to deeper depths and higher heights in Christ Jesus. May Jesus help us to put on the breastplate of longsuffering that we, too, may by His Spirit, bear up precious hearts before the throne of grace.

6. The Mitre

The mitre was the headdress of the high priest and seemed to take the form of a turban or a bonnet. “And these are the garments which they shall make; a breastplate, and an ephod, and a robe, and a broidered coat, a mitre, and a girdle: and they shall make holy garments for Aaron thy brother, and his sons, that he may minister unto me in the priest’s office” (Exodus 28:4).

The word mitre means to wrap or to roll around, a diadem. The mitre was to be made of fine linen. “And thou shalt embroider the coat of fine linen, and thou shalt make the mitre of fine linen, and thou shalt make the girdle of needlework” (Exodus 28:39). The mitre was to paint a picture of the purity and holiness and righteousness of the Son of God. The mitre was to be the covering of the head which was a symbol of subjection and obedience. It is in the head that the seat of intelligence lies. To cover the head was a token of bringing or putting the intelligence into subjection. In the Word of the Lord, God has commanded that the woman be in subjection to the man and as she covers her head she shows forth this subjection.

But every woman that prayeth or prophesieth with her head uncovered dishonoureth her head: for that is even all one as if she were shaven (I Corinthians 11:5).

It is the divine plan of God through the relationship of the home to show forth the relationship of Christ and His bride.

For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body (Ephesians 5:23).

As the woman who prophesied and prayed with her head covered showed forth her subjection to her husband who was commanded to have Christ as his head, so in the mitre of the high priest we see a picture of the righteous and holy obedience of the LORD Jesus Christ unto God the Father.

But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God (I Corinthians 11:3).

Throughout the earthly ministry of the LORD Jesus Christ, He showed that He was clothed with the mitre of obedience, perfect obedience, for in all the works that He did, He acknowledged to be of the Father and out of obedience unto the Father.

“Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works” (John 14:10).

“Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the crocs” (Philippians 2:5-8).

If we put off the old man that is corrupt and put on the LORD Jesus Christ, of whom these articles of clothing of the high priest speak, then we must of necessity put on the mitre of obedience that will lead us to the cross as it did the LORD Jesus Christ until the flesh is truly crucified, and then we can say with the Apostle Paul that there is no more of the “I” life, the “self life, living in us but only the glorious life of the Spirit of God, so that for us to live is Christ. The shape of the mitre or turban was like unto the shape of the calyx of a flower, and pointed to the blooming character, or the fresh vigorous life of Him who wore it. The priest was forbidden to remove this while ministering in the holy things of God. What a delightful picture of the ever blooming flower of obedience in the LORD Jesus Christ.

The carnal man is likened unto natural flowers that bloom for a season and then pass away. “For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away” (I Peter 1:24). But how God wants the spiritual flower of obedience like unto the Lily of the Valley and the Rose of Sharon that blooms throughout eternity with the perennial freshness and vigor and yields forth the ecstasy of its perfume. The perfume of this flower is enhanced in the mill of suffering. “Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered” (Hebrews 5:8). May we yield for the LORD Jesus to wrap around our heads his mitre of obedience. May we yield to Him that He might increase the perfume of this flower, even the flower of obedience.

The Apostle Paul tells us of the next thing to put on in the spiritual realm in Colossians 3:13, and that is the forbearing of one another, or the repeated endurance or suffering of one another. When we have put on the mitre or the turban of obedience of the LORD Jesus Christ, we find the nature of the obedient One, Jesus, coming forth with His precious Spirit of forbearance. When Jesus hung upon the cross, He was still wearing the fine linen mitre of obedience and His forbearing nature cried out, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”

We cannot exhibit these attributes in ourselves, for in us is no good thing, but if we let Christ take out the self-life and show forth His own nature and life, what glory and beauty He can show forth in the garments of His own nature and life. May Jesus Christ keep wrapping the turban of His obedience and humility around our intellects and minds until all has been brought unto complete subjection.

Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the OBEDIENCE of Christ; And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled (II Corinthians 10:5,6).

Surely, it is the high thoughts, the accusing thoughts that prevent us from exercising the Spirit of forbearance to our brothers in Christ. May we cast these down, may we bring them into the captivity of Christ Jesus that we might stand in the sanctuary, the Holy Place of prayer with the garments of praise and thanksgiving before the Lord. Often God’s children wonder why they do not feel His holy presence and power in prayer; they wonder why the heavens seem as brass. They do not seem to be aware of the fact that they have let their own thoughts weave and wrap a chain about them until God seems to be a great distance from them. What a great spiritual step when putting off the old man and putting on the LORD Jesus Christ is a constant labor and work, not just a hobby that we can resort to in the prayer closet, or the study of God’s Word a few hours a day, but as Jesus directed to pray without ceasing and to be constantly watching for the coming of the Lord. It is indeed a glorious hope to have our hearts and minds set on the coming of the LORD for His saints, and yet it is also glorious to have our hearts set on watching for His coming to us through the circumstances and events of this life, for with each new service, with each new trial, we shall be looking for new ways to put on the LORD Jesus Christ. He never disappoints any heart that looks to Him in faith believing.

7. The Golden Crown

And thou shalt make a plate of pure gold, and grave upon it, like the engravings of a signet, HOLINESS TO THE LORD. And thou shalt put it on a blue lace, that it may be upon the mitre; upon the forefront of the mitre it shall be. And it shall be upon Aaron’s forehead, that Aaron may bear the iniquity of the holy things, which the children of Israel shall hallow in all their holy gifts; and it shall be always upon his forehead, that they may be accepted before the LORD (Exodus 28:36-38).

On the front of the mitre or the turban was to be placed a diadem of gold or a thin plate of gold on which was engraved HOLINESS TO THE LORD, or holy to Jehovah. The diadem was to be put on a lace of blue and then tied to the mitre.

The high priest, in virtue of the holiness of the LORD conferred upon him, was to have the power to bear or take upon himself, and so put away the sin that adhered to the people’s gifts in consequence of their impurity, in order that these gifts might become acceptable to God and they in turn enjoy His favor. Here is Jesus our high priest crowned as the eternal high priest of God who constantly takes away the sin, the defilement, from our prayers and our gifts to God so we can enjoy fellowship and blessing and favor from Him. “To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved” (Ephesians 1:6).

When God looks on the golden crown of the deity of the LORD Jesus Christ, and we are in Christ, then we are accepted in the beloved. Jesus was the only one who could ever lawfully wear the golden crown of HOLINESS TO THE LORD. The high priest was a man like unto us and had to offer sacrifices first for his own sin and then for the sins of the people, but Jesus, the spotless divine Son of God, need offer no sacrifice for Himself, for He was without sin and therefore the legal heir of the crown of deity and holiness. Through His crown of deity and holiness He is able to take away the sin and iniquity of His people. “Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them” (Hebrews 7:25). May the Spirit of God help us to put on the golden crown of the LORD Jesus Christ, even HOLINESS TO THE LORD.

The Apostle Paul instructed the Colossians to put on next in the spiritual realm the Spirit of forgiving one another, and surely when the golden crown of the holiness of Jesus rests upon our heads, we shall feel the sweet spirit of forgiveness flowing to our brothers in Christ. The spirit of forgiveness was ever flowing through the life and ministry of the LORD Jesus. Whether it was the paralytic that was lowered through the roof of the building, or the woman taken in adultery, these He forgave and caused them to be accepted in the beloved. And yet, we too who have been forgiven and accepted in the beloved, are so quick to take offense, to take up an unforgiving spirit toward others. What a need for the putting on of the LORD Jesus Christ with His golden crown of holiness. The holiness of Jesus will wash away the sin of unforgiveness. Blessed sweet Jesus, ever wash our hearts and bathe our minds in thy divine holiness that thy forgiveness might truly flow unhindered to all whom we come in contact with. Let thy holy crown be formed in us.

8. The Linen Breeches

“And thou shalt make them linen breeches to cover their nakedness; from the loins even unto the thighs they shall reach” (Exodus 28:42).

It is possible to divide into three different categories the entire wants and desires of the carnal man, namely, GREED, SEX, and FOOD. And it is indeed gratifying to realize that in the garments of the high priest God has made provision for the covering of the carnal man. It is to the head of man that the carnal heart sends the emotions of greed, and greed can appear in many different ways from evil thoughts, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, to deceit. Even Christians find this carnal emotion still present at times in their hearts. They have not crucified it through the Spirit and the Word; they have not put on the beautiful white mitre or turban of holiness and purity of the LORD Jesus Christ. How often do we see the covetous, ambitious spirits of greed among the saints of God, when each one is trying to outdo the other, either as a group or as an individual. They have not yet put on the golden crown of holiness, of obedience, of humility, and let all their ambitions, motives, and desires be brought into subjection to the purity and holiness of Jesus Christ.

What a wonderful provision God has made through the LORD Jesus Christ, in providing the white mitre of purity and the golden crown of holiness that we might have a covering for the carnal head. Let us seek to put on more and more of HIM from day to day. How gracious to see that for the region of the heart and the stomach was provided special pieces of garments.

The second desire of man is his lust for food. Jesus spoke against surfeiting or over eating. Even though man has been endowed with a higher form of intelligence than the lower animals, yet he does not seem to have the control of his desire for food as the lower animal creation has. “And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares” (Luke 21:34).

Sometimes, the hearts of men are drunk with the cares of this life; sometimes the stomachs of men are drunk with food and drink, for they are living to please themselves, to satisfy themselves rather than the Spirit of God. But praise His name, for God has provided the breastplate of the love and affection of Jesus, and this breastplate was doubled. How we need our hearts and our stomachs covered with a double portion of the love of Jesus Christ that our desires please Him in every category of our lives!

“What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s” (I Corinthians 6:19,20). Not only did God provide the breastplate, but He provided the stones on which were engraved the names of the tribes of Israel, typical of our LORD Jesus Christ. Surely as we grow in the Spirit and the Word, we will find them constituting a continual covering for the carnal man and his desires.

The third realm of the desires of man is the loin section or the sex area which is by no means the smallest. It is from this realm of emotion that we find proceeding evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, covetousness, deceit, lasciviousness, and an evil eye. It is from this realm that we find the flesh delighting to be in the presence of the opposite sex even though they may or may not be married to another. It is from this realm of emotion that the eyes are fed with lust. “Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery; BUT I SAY UNTO YOU, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart” (Matthew 5:27,28).

Surely, this is the realm that the Devil has countless times thrust his fiery darts and caused the children of God to err in the way. But how glorious it is to realize that the LORD has provided the linen breeches of holiness, even the holiness of Jesus that we may be covered in our loins with the purity and righteousness of the Christ, so when we stand before God, He will not see our nakedness; and when the Devil comes to us he will find us covered completely with the righteousness of Jesus, and thereby he will be unable to get to us with his fiery darts of temptation. It is the will of God that we first crucify or put to death the flesh, and then put on the LORD Jesus Christ that the Devil may have no opportunity to bring a resurrection of the fleshly man.

The Apostle Paul told the Colossians to put on charity, or love as the eighth thing. Glorious it is when the Christian goes on in the sweet love of Jesus until He is willing to have his whole being clothed with the LORD Jesus Christ, until his whole being radiates with the glory and the beauty of His garments, until his heart and soul is one great altar of sweet incense unto God the Father. Dear Jesus, may your love so grow and permeate our hearts until we are quick to discern the carnal man and that we may ever be quicker in denouncing him to death.

The priests were to come to the sanctuary with bare feet. If the priest had worn shoes, then they would have had contact with the skins of dead animals and it was a law that priests were not to touch any dead thing. “Neither shall he go in to any dead body, nor defile himself for his father, or for his mother” (Leviticus 21:11). They were not to defile the feet with dead skins, and the feet were to be washed at the laver before coming into the sanctuary.

As we study the Old Testament types and figures, our hearts are made to see the great necessity of holiness in every way, in the service, in the walk, in the thinking. God was constantly showing forth His divine mind and will for man in His laws of holiness. Over and over again many people are constantly asking, “What is God’s will for me?” From Genesis to Revelation we see and hear God saying to us to be holy as He is holy. This holiness is in Christ Jesus. The more we grow in faith, the more we can appropriate the life and nature of Jesus Christ in our own daily lives. This is God’s primary will for our lives.

These garments were for glory and for beauty. The word glory means to be weighty. Wonderful it is to realize that the garments of the nature of Jesus will serve as a weight and anchor for our souls so that we need not be tossed to and fro by the words and circumstances of life, but they will enable us to be strong, stedfast and immovable in HIM.

The word beauty means to glean, to be brave. God wants us to put on the LORD Jesus Christ that we might shine forth in His beauty to a lost and dying world. “That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world” (Philippians 2:15). “And for me, that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of the gospel” (Ephesians 6:19).

The Apostle Paul requested prayer that he might be bold, be brave to open Ms mouth for the sake of the gospel. How beautiful when the saints of God are clothed in a holy boldness, a holy beauty to make known the mystery of the gospel. For it is a mystery that God can take a poor lost sinner and wash him and pardon him in the Blood of the LORD Jesus Christ.

CHAPTER XVII

THE FIVE GREAT OFFERINGS AND THE
CONSECRATION OF THE PRIESTS

There are five great offerings that are described in detail in the first seven chapters of Leviticus. These five offerings can be divided into two groups. The first group is called the non-sweet savor offerings, and the second is called the sweet savor offerings. The sin and trespass offerings belong to the first group whereas the whole-burnt offering, the peace and meal-offerings belong to the second group.

It is interesting to note that in the description of the offerings in the first chapters of Leviticus, the Spirit of God started with the sweet savor offerings, including the whole burnt offering, the meal offering and the peace offering. This pictures Jesus voluntarily laying aside His glory and reputation in heaven that He might be the whole burnt offering. In the days of His humanity through sufferings, testings, and trials from the enemy, He became the fine meal offering. Then through His sweet surrender, humility, and obedience unto death, He demonstrated the perfect peace that reigned in His heart to do the Father’s will thereby proving Himself to be the Prince of Peace. These were all a sweet savor in the nostrils of God the Father. The odor that ascended to God from the offering of these sacrifices was declared to be a sweet smelling savor.

Next, we see the offerings of the non-sweet group—the sin offering and the trespass offering. Jesus Christ came in the flesh and labored in the flesh until He came to the cross of Calvary to be offered for a sin offering and a trespass offering. When God looked down and saw Jesus made sin for us, with all the sins and the trespasses of the world heaped on Him, He was pleased that His soul was bruised for the redemption of mankind.

Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand. He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities (Isaiah 53:10,11).

In the consecration offerings of the priests as described in the 29th chapter of Exodus, the priests, because they were sinners, had to start with the sin offering, then the whole burnt offering, and next the peace offering and the meal offering. Through the sacrifice of our LORD Jesus Christ, which these offerings typify, He prepared the way to God, and then He prepared the blood and the life whereby we can walk with God. Through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, we have the blood that will not only cleanse from sin, but also will consecrate and make of us a whole burnt offering. We have the blood that will take us on in the Crucified Way so we may not only know the peace of God in forgiveness of sin and deliverance from the penalty of death, but also know the peace of God that passeth all understanding by walking with Him and taking our place beside Him on the cross.

After the priests were washed, clothed, and anointed with the anointing oil, they were directed to offer up four of these five great sacrifices before they were considered wholly consecrated to the LORD. May Jesus help us as kings and priests, to grow in faith and knowledge that we may lay hold of HIM in the fullness of the truth of these sacrifices.

I.

THE NON-SWEET SAVOR OFFERINGS

A. THE SIN OFFERING

And thou shalt cause a bullock to be brought before the tabernacle of the congregation: and Aaron and his sons shall put their hands upon the head of the bullock. And thou shalt kill the bullock before the LORD, by the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. And thou shalt take of the blood of the bullock, and put it upon the horns of the altar with thy finger, and pour all the blood beside the bottom of the altar. And thou shalt take all the fat that covereth the inwards, and the caul that is above the liver, and the two kidneys, and the fat that is upon them, and burn them upon the attar. But the flesh of the bullock, and his skin, and his dung, shalt thou burn with fire without the camp: it is a sin offering (Exodus 29:10-14).

1. The Sin Offering Must be Brought Before the Tabernacle

In order for the priest to have the necessary blood to atone for sin, there must be a sin offering provided. God provided the sin offering, the offense offering, when He sent His only begotten Son into the world. Jesus was the provided Lamb of God. “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).

2. The Hands Laid on the Animal

Aaron and his sons put their hands upon the head of the bullock and by this act, they signified that they were sinners. “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).

By this act of laying on of the hands they admitted they needed the blood, the life of this animal to make atonement for their sins.

“And almost all things are by the law purged with .blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission” (Hebrews 9:22).

By the laying on of their hands on the head of the bullock they signified that their sin was being transferred to a type of the LORD Jesus Christ.

“All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all” (Isaiah 53:6).

3. The Bullock Killed

The bullock was to be killed by the door of the Tabernacle of the congregation. After the laying on of the hands, which symbolically transferred the sin to the bullock, which meant that the penalty of sin, which is death, was also transferred, the bullock gave up its life that the priests might have atonement for their souls.

“For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement” (Romans 5:10,11).

4. The Blood Put on the Horns and Poured at the Bottom of the Altar

The blood of the bullock was first to be sprinkled or put on the horns of the altar. The horns speak of the power of the gospel and the putting of the blood on the horns speaks of the union of life and power in the gospel through the LORD Jesus Christ. “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek” (Romans 1:16). The blood was applied to the horns of the altar by the finger of the priest, showing the personal touch and work of the hands of the Christ. He personally applies the blood to every believing heart who puts his trust in His shed blood. The blood was also to be poured at the bottom of the altar. This speaks of the blood of Jesus Christ that dripped to the bottom of the altar of the cross; the blood that was shed to bring life to those dead in trespasses and sins.

On the day of atonement, the high priest also took the blood from the sin offering and carried it in a bason into the Holy of Holies, placed the blood on the mercy seat and sprinkled it in the Holy of Holies.

5. The Fat on the Inwards, the Caul, and the Two Kidneys Burned on the Altar

These were the only things taken from the sin offering and burnt on the brazen altar. The fat speaks of the zeal, the love and the affection of Christ—that which burns readily when the fire is applied. The caul, the kidneys, speak of the sanctifying power of the sacrifice. Even in the midst of the sin offering, God reserved these portions to Himself to be burned on His altar. This speaks to us of the love and the zeal that Jesus had in performing the will of His Father even when He hung upon the cross, His zeal and His love endured the mocking, the scorning, and the jesting of the mob to come down and save Himself. The fire of suffering only caused His love and zeal to burn brighter and higher.

6. The Flesh, the Skin, the Dung, Burnt Without the Camp

In the sin offering, the flesh, the skin, and the dung were to be carried outside the camp and burnt with fire.

We have an altar, whereof they have no right to eat which serve the tabernacle. For the bodies of those beasts, whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin, are burned without the camp. Wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without the gate. Let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach. For here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come (Hebrews 13:10-14).

The outside of the camp was the dwelling place of lepers, sinners, and death. When a man was found cursing the name of the Lord, he was taken outside of the camp and stoned to death. “Command the children of Israel, that they put out of the camp every leper, and every one that hath an issue, and whosoever is defiled by the dead: Both male and female shall ye put out, without the camp shall ye put them; that they defile not their camps, in the midst whereof I dwell” (Numbers 5:2,3). The outside of the camp was the outer darkness because God did not dwell outside of the camp, but in the camp in the midst of His people. When Jesus went outside of the gate of the city to the cross, He went to the place of sinners, to the place of death and outer darkness. Let us follow Him there and acknowledge that we were the ones who deserved to be there. For we were dead in trespasses and sins; we were smitten with the leprosy of sin. Let us acknowledge that Jesus bore our sins, took our place, and delivered us from sin, death, and outer darkness.

7. The Ashes Outside the Camp, but the Blood Inside the Vail

Jesus not only put sin away outside the camp by His sacrifice, but He arose from the dead to take the blood into the Holy of Holies in heaven.

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: Nor yet that he should offer himself often, as the high priest entereth into the holy place every year with blood of others; For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world”, but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation (Hebrews 9:24-28).

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; And having an high priest over the house of God; Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water (Hebrews 10:19-22).

May we, every time we look at the ashes in the symbol of the cross outside the city of Jerusalem, realize that the blood is within the vail, within the very presence of Almighty God, so that we now have boldness and access with confidence. “In whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him” (Ephesians 3:12). “Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:16).

Before the priests could serve in the Tabernacle of the LORD, they must offer up the sin offering. They must be led out from darkness of sin to reconciliation with God through the blood. The sin offering prepared the way to God.

The trespass offering had to do with the injury of sin to man and in the holy things of God. The trespass offering is not required at this particular time for the priest, since the question here is their relationship and fellowship with God.

II.

THE SWEET SAVOR OFFERINGS

A. THE WHOLE BURNT OFFERING

The second offering that the priests were required to offer was the whole burnt offering which is the first of the sweet savor offerings unto the Lord. The whole burnt offering was the offering of complete consecration to the LORD. In this offering is the consecration of the life and death of the LORD Jesus unto the Father.

Thou shalt also take one ram; and Aaron and his sons shall put their hands upon the head of the ram. And thou shalt slay the ram, and thou shalt take his blood, and sprinkle it round about upon the altar. And thou shalt cut the ram in pieces, and wash the inwards of him, and his legs, and put them unto his pieces, and unto his head. And thou shalt burn the whole ram upon the altar: it is a burnt offering unto the LORD: it is a sweet savour, an offering made by fire unto the LORD (Exodus 29:15-18).

1. The Ram Must be Brought Before the Tabernacle

Jesus was the whole burnt offering who offered Himself wholly and voluntarily to do the will of the Father.

“Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father” (John 10:17,18).

The Father sent us His only begotten Son into the world to become the whole burnt offering in consecration. The name whole burnt offering comes from the Hebrew word to ascend, because the victim ascended in flame and smoke to God.

2. Aaron and His Sons put Their Hands on the Head of the Ram

Again we see by the laying on of the hands of Aaron and his sons, they signified their need for the life, the blood of this ram, to consecrate them to God. The sin offering was to make atonement for their sins; but the ram of consecration, or the whole burnt offering was to give them life and power to give their life wholly and completely to God, that their life might ascend as a sweet smelling savor to God the Father.

“Then shalt thou be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness, with burnt offering and whole burnt offering: then shall they offer bullocks upon thine altar” (Psalm 51:19). It is a precious truth for us to see Jesus as the whole burnt offering who gave Himself wholly and completely to the Father for our sins. His life was ever a sweet smelling savor in the nostrils of God the Father. Because of this sweet smelling savor of His obedience to the Father, God acknowledged different times from heaven saying, “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.”

How we too, need to come with uplifted hands, acknowledging that we need Jesus Christ as our whole burnt offering, that through His blood, through His resurrected life, we might have power to give ourselves completely and wholly to God, to be a sweet smelling savor to Him. May the sweet Spirit of God increase the longing in our hearts to also hear the “well done” from the Father.

Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children: And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour (Ephesians 5:1,2).

The only way we can walk in the love of Jesus is to give ourselves wholly to Him that He may consecrate us completely unto Himself.

3. The Whole Burnt Offering Slain

The ram was slain on behalf of Aaron and his sons. Only through death could he yield up his blood which could consecrate Aaron and his sons in the ministry of the Lord. Only through the death of the LORD Jesus could he yield up his blood, his life, whereby He could consecrate us wholly as kings and priests of the Father, Some folk say that it is impossible to live a consecrated life wholly unto the Lord, but to say this we trample the precious blood of Jesus under foot as our whole burnt offering. He was not only a sin offering to make atonement for sin, but He was a whole burnt offering to give us life and power to live a life wholly and completely consecrated to God.

4. The Blood Sprinkled

The blood from the whole burnt offering was treated differently than the blood from the sin offering. This blood was sprinkled round about the altar. The law of sacrifices does not teach that the burnt offering had any reference to the atonement of sins. The burnt offering was based upon the assumption that Israel had been admitted into a covenant of grace through the blood of the sin offering, and therefore had the privilege to consecrate themselves to God through the burnt offering. Strangers were not allowed to offer the burnt offering, for a stranger or a sinner who knew nothing of the divine forgiveness of sin through the sin offering or salvation through the precious blood of Jesus Christ, naturally was not entitled to the privilege of consecrating his life to God. The sprinkling of the blood, the life of the animal round about upon the altar was a symbol of the blood and the life of Jesus Christ that was given wholly to the Father, that He, through the sacrifice of Himself, might give unto us the power of a consecrated life.

5. The Ram Cut in Pieces

The ram was next cut in pieces. This pictures surrender. The high priest was to cut the sacrifice of the whole burnt offering in pieces. The whole burnt offering was to be completely laid open to the eyes of the high priest to see if it was a perfect sacrifice inside as well as on the outside. It speaks indeed of the One who voluntarily came and surrendered Himself to be completely laid open to the fiery darts of the Devil.

In the book of John Jesus declared Himself as the Son of God in whom the Devil could find NOTHING. “Hereafter I will not talk much with you: for the prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me” (John 14:30).

The Devil could not find the slightest blemish in Jesus, for He was the perfect whole burnt offering, giving Himself wholly to do the Father’s will unto the death on the cross. Even Pilate had to testify that he could find NOTHING in Jesus worthy of death. This picture of surrender in the whole burnt offering should be sufficient to melt every heart and move them to tears.

Here was the spotless Son of God, who knew that He was without sin, who knew there was no sin, no evil dwelling in Him, and yet He was willing for the cutting, the examination, the trial, the testing at the hands of Satan to prove to Satan and the world, His righteousness and His holiness. And here are we sinners, saved by the grace of God yet because of our carnal minds, with things that need to be brought to the light, we so often rebel against taking our place along with Jesus and being cut open for inspection so to speak. God knows what is in us. It is we who are ignorant of our own hearts. “Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do” (Hebrews 4:13). May we cry to God even as David did to search our hearts with His all-seeing eye and cut us open with the sharp two-edged sword of the Word that we might indeed become whole burnt offerings for His glory and for His honor.

“Who can understand his errors? cleanse thou me from secret faults. Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me: then shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent from the great transgression” (Psalm 19:12,13).

6. The High Priest Washed the Inwards and the Legs

Wonderful it is to see God’s provision for the needs of the Tabernacle in the wilderness. The fire that was on the brazen altar came out from the LORD; all other fire was considered strange fire. All the fire in the service of the Tabernacle was to be taken from the Brazen Altar, for this fire had come from the Lord. For this cause, God smote Nadab and Abihu, for they offered incense with fire that did not come from the altar. The water that was provided for Israel in her wilderness journey came from the Rock that followed them.

“And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ” (I Corinthians 10:4). The water that was in the laver no doubt came from this Rock also. With this water the priests washed their feet before going into the tabernacle, and with this water they washed the insides and the legs of the whole burnt offering. The water in the laver was the holy sanctifying water that represented the water of the Word of God.

Jesus as our whole burnt offering was bathed in the holy waters of sanctification. The word sanctify signifies two definite ideas—one to be cleansed, the other to be set apart unto death for the ministry of the Lord. Jesus was not bathed in the waters of sanctification from the standpoint of cleansing from sin, for He had no sin, but from the viewpoint of giving Himself wholly for the work of the Father, even unto death. “And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth” (John 17:19). Jesus set Himself apart with the water of sanctification, even unto death, that He might, in turn sanctify us from the indwelling sin of our nature, dispositions, that we, too, might be set apart even unto death for the service of the Lord. The waters of sanctification were applied to the inside or the inwards, which signify the heart and soul of man.

Jesus set aside His whole heart and soul for the will of the Father, not for His own will, even though the will of the Father included the giving up of His very own life. The heart and soul of Jesus was set aside for complete love, loyalty, and worship of the Father. When Satan tried to get Jesus to fall down and worship him there was no desire in Jesus to do so, for His worship had been set apart for the Father and for Him only. How often does the Devil come to God’s children and with some subtle temptation cause them to worship the flesh, the world, and the Devil in some small way. For that which we obey, we acknowledge to be our master, our Lord, our God. And that which we obey, we bow down to, and that which we bow down to we worship. How God wants to continue the flow of the waters of sanctification to our hearts until they be cleansed wholly and completely and set apart FOR HIM.

If we follow in the steps of Jesus Christ, then we must take our place with Him in the whole burnt offering. We must yield to Him as the Great High Priest that He might slay the flesh, that He might cut us open to the very inwards and then apply the sweet waters of the sanctifying Word to our hearts. It is to this sacrifice that Paul makes reference in the fifth chapter of Ephesians.

Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word. That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish (Ephesians 5:25-27).

The water of the Word symbolizes the work of the Spirit of God through the Word. Unless the Word has been quickened or made alive by the Spirit of God, then it will be just the written letter. It takes the Spirit of God to make the Word of God alive in our hearts. Therefore, only as the Word is quickened by the Spirit will we be able to receive the sanctifying and the cleansing POWER of the Word of God. May we pray and seek Jesus that He ever quicken His Word to our souls through the Holy Ghost to the end that we may grow unto the measure of His stature in being sanctified and set apart for God.

The inwards were not only bathed in the waters of sanctification, but the legs also. The legs speak of the walk, the service, or the ministry.

Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also: and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him. Philip saith unto him, Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us. Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father? Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works (John 14:6-10).

Jesus acknowledged that all His words and all His works came from the Father. This speaks to us of His perfect surrender and His perfect sanctification. Can we say with Jesus that every word that proceeds out of our mouths, that every step that our legs carry us come from the Father? If not, then we have room to grow in the application of the sweet waters of sanctification in the Word by the Spirit.

7. The Priest Arranged the Pieces of the Sacrifice unto the Head

All of the whole burnt offering except the skin was burnt on the altar. The skin was given to the officiating priest—in this particular instance of the consecrating of Aaron and his sons. Moses acted as high priest for God. The skin was not burnt because from the beginning, when God took the skins of the animals to make a covering for Adam and Eve after they sinned, the skin became a type of the righteousness of the LORD Jesus Christ whereby He covers the naked sinner who comes to Him in faith believing. The rest of the sacrifice was arranged in order again unto the head. The head is used as a symbol of God being the head, or the authority of the LORD Jesus Christ. The LORD Jesus Christ is declared to be the head or the authority of the church. The man is declared to be the head of the woman. Here, again, in the very arrangement of the sacrifice of the whole burnt offering we see the picture drawn of the surrender of the LORD Jesus Christ unto His head, even the Father. If we would take our place with Jesus as the whole burnt offering and allow Him to kill, cut, wash, and arrange our flesh unto His head, His authority, then we, too, can experience the glory and joy of being a whole burnt offering unto God.

But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ: From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love (Ephesians 4:15,16).

There is no other path to grow up into the measure of His stature other than through the path of sanctification, the whole burnt offering, the giving of ourselves wholly and completely into the hands of the Sanctifier that He might through HIS power make us a whole burnt offering unto God.

If all the members of the body of Christ were arranged unto the head of the body, our LORD Jesus Christ, then there would not be all the enmity and strife among God’s people, with every group and denomination trying to make itself the head, the authority, the one as having all the truth, therefore being capable of ruling. How interesting it will be when Jesus comes again to see the revelation of the body of Christ and to see the different members as GOD hath set them in the body! Will it not come to pass then the words of Jesus when He said, “the last shall be first and the first shall be last”? Will not those who have proclaimed such a high degree of authority in this world be last? Will not those who have lived humbly with no desires for the high seat indeed be first? Nevertheless, may Jesus grant unto us such a love for HIM and for His glory that we shall be conscious of only one supreme desire and that is to magnify HIM whether in life or in death.

8. The Whole Ram Burnt Upon the Altar

It seems from Psalm 118:27 that the whole burnt offering was bound to the horns of the altar. These cords would hold the meat of the sacrifice to the altar while it was being consumed by the fire.

May Jesus bind us with the scarlet cord of redemption love to His altar. May He bind us with the golden cord of divine love, that we may be fastened securely as a whole burnt offering. May He bind us with the silver cords of the hope of His coming again. May our hearts be so firmly bound with these cords that when trie fire of testing and trials come that we shall feel the mighty strength of these cords binding us to the altar.

After the arranging of the sacrifice, it was placed on the altar to be wholly consumed by the fire which came out from Himself, which God had placed upon the altar. The burning of the fire upon the sacrifice was a symbol of the acceptance by God of the sacrifice. The fire was a symbol of the presence of the Holy Spirit of God. When we give ourselves to be sanctified and cleansed by the Spirit of the Word, then the Holy Ghost fire is ready to descend and consume the sacrifice of ourselves to Almighty God, and as He burns in the heart and the soul, the sweet smelling savor rises to the nostrils of God.

I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire: Whose fan is in his hand, and he will throughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire (Matthew 3:11,12).

The only way that the sweet savor could be realized in the whole burnt offering was through the burning of the flesh of the sacrifice. When Jesus gave His flesh to be offered up in death, there was a sweet smelling savor in the nostrils of God. When we offer ourselves to be consumed with the fire of the Holy Ghost we, too, can be a sweet smelling savor in the nostrils of God.

“Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you” (John 16:7). When God put the fire on the altar, He commanded the priest to keep it ever burning. The fire was always burning on the altar and ready to consume the whole burnt offerings which were placed on it, morning and evening. The fire of the Holy Ghost is ever burning and ready to consume our hearts and souls and transfer them into a sweet smelling savor in the nostrils of the Father. Precious Jesus, ever send the fire of Thy Spirit to burn on the altar of our hearts and souls!

III.

AN OFFERING MADE UNTO THE LORD

The sweet savor offerings were called offerings made by fire unto the Lord. It was in the fire that the sweet aroma of the sacrifice was released. This speaks to us of the LORD Jesus Christ who through the eternal Spirit, offered Himself to God.

For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh: How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? (Hebrews 9:13,14).

After the sin offering and the whole burnt offering, the priests were required to offer the peace offering along with the meat or the meal offering. In the order of the sacrifices at the consecration of the priests, there is a beautiful picture of the progress of the relationship of man with God. First, he came as a sinner in need of the sin offering, and in need of a way back to God. After the relationship of Father and son has been established through the sin offering, then comes the need of sanctification of the carnal heart through the whole burnt offering. And after these two sacrifices come the peace offering and the meal offering which provide the power for communion and fellowship with God in the sanctuary, for communion and fellowship with one another, and for service in the sanctuary and in the holy things of God.

Here is another glorious picture of the work of the LORD Jesus Christ through His death, burial, and resurrection. In the sin offering we see the atonement and penalty for sin met. In the whole burnt offering we see the need of sanctification of the carnal heart met. In the peace offering and meal offering we see the need of the abundant life met. God not only had in mind that man was to be saved from his sin and to be sanctified in his heart, but that man should grow and partake of the abundant life in Christ Jesus, and thereby become transformed into the image of the Son of God, or grow into the measure of the fullness of the stature of Jesus Christ. The same pattern is expressed in the fifteenth chapter of John where Jesus says, “Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he PURGETH it, that it may bring forth more fruit” (John 15:2). The object of the purging or the sanctifying is to bring the believer, or the branch, into the experience of the abiding life, or the abundant life. And surely as we press on into the third sacrifice of the peace offering and the meal offering, we have a thrilling picture of the abiding life, the abundant life, that Jesus has purchased with His own Blood.

And thou shalt take the other ram; and Aaron and his sons shall put their hands upon the head of the ram. Then shalt thou kill the ram, and take of his blood, and put it upon the tip of the right ear of Aaron, and upon the tip of the right ear of his sons, and upon the thumb of their right hand, and upon the great toe of their right foot, and sprinkle the blood upon the altar round about. And thou shalt take of the blood that is upon the altar, and of the anointing oil, and sprinkle it upon Aaron, and upon his garments, and upon his sons, and upon the garments of his sons with him: and he shall be hallowed, and his garments, and his sons, and his sons’ garments with him. Also thou shalt take of the ram the fat and the rump, and the fat that covereth the inwards, and the caul above the liver, and the two kidneys, and the fat that is upon them, and the right shoulder; for it is a ram of consecration: And one loaf of bread, and one cake of oiled bread, and one wafer out of the basket of the unleavened bread that is before the LORD: And thou shalt put all in the hands of Aaron, and in the hands of his sons; and shalt wave them for a wave offering before the LORD. And thou shalt receive them of then-hands, and burn them upon the altar for a burnt offering, for a sweet savour before the LORD: it is an offering made by fire unto the LORD. And thou shalt take the breast of the ram of Aaron’s consecration, and wave it for a wave offering before the LORD: and it shall be thy part. And thou shalt sanctify the breast of the wave offering, and the shoulder of the heave offering, which is waved, and which is heaved up, of the ram of the consecration, even of that which is for Aaron, and of that which is for his sons: (Exodus 29:19-27).

A. RAM PROVIDED

Here again is another ram provided for the peace offering which is still another picture of the LORD Jesus Christ provided by the Father as a peace offering. The peace offerings have their root in the state of grace with its fellowship with God, in the abiding life with Jesus Christ. The treatment of the sacrifice of the peace offering, affords many streams of revelation of Christ.

B. AARON AND SONS LAY HANDS ON THE HEAD OF THE RAM

The personal laying on of the hands as already stated, signified that the offerer was claiming by faith the merits of the blood of the animal, or was claiming the very life of the sacrifice in his behalf. What a lesson to us! It is only as we claim by faith the sacrifice of the LORD Jesus that we can taste of HIM. Let us seek to grow in faith that we might lay hold in a greater way of the things that Jesus purchased for us at Calvary.

C. THE RAM SLAIN

There must of necessity be the slaying, the offering up of the animal, if his life, his blood, was to be released in behalf of the offerer. Jesus was the perfect peace offering. He loved not His life unto death, but willingly offered up His blood which was His life that we might have the blessings of the peace offering.

D. THE BLOOD APPLIED

1. On the Tip of the Right Ear

Again, it is interesting to note the different treatment of the blood of the peace offering from that of the sin offering and the whole burnt offering. The blood was first applied to the right ear of Aaron and his sons. The blood was applied to the right side as we shall see, the right ear, the right hand, and the right foot. The bride always stands on the left of the bridegroom and as we take our place on the left of our bridegroom, naturally it would make our right side be joined to the bridegroom. So in the application of the blood, a type of the blood of Jesus, there is the picture of the bridegroom. The blood is for cleansing and for life. As we take our place by our bridegroom, the LORD Jesus Christ, He will cleanse and anoint our ears with His resurrection life and with His blood, that our ears might be in tune with His; that our ears might be clean vessels to receive the many truths of the Word that He desires to impart.

All too many of God’s children live on a low plane spiritually. Their ears are filled with many sounds and many voices. The Devil has access to their ears to make them “garbage pails” much of the time. What a need for the applying of the Blood of Jesus Christ to the ear of the soul which is the memory; the ear of the spirit of man which is the channel of reverence. What a need for the ear of reverence to be consecrated with the Blood of Jesus.

All too many of God’s children are so lacking in reverence when they come to the house of the Lord. They are without a sanctified channel of reverence that makes them come with respect and honor for the house of the Lord. They talk and gossip and defile the house of the LORD and then they wonder why the abiding life, the abundant life of Christ, is not overflowing their souls. They wonder why they go away with so little of the blessing of the Spirit and the Word in their souls. They need to take their place by our Bridegroom and have Him apply the blood to their ears that they may grow in discerning His voice apart from all the other voices in the world.

The ear not only represents the individual member of the body but the region of the head, the mind, or the soul of man. How we need to grow in the union of the bride and the bridegroom, that there may be the flow of the blood and life of the peace offering into our minds, our souls, so we can experience with the Apostle Paul the peace of God that passeth all understanding. “Be careful for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:6,7).

Jesus gave Himself as the peace offering that we might grow in the abundant life, the abiding life, that we might enjoy the perfect peace, the peace of God that passeth all understanding. But this can only be experienced as the believer feeds on the blood, the life, of the peace offering until their minds are brought into perfect unity with Jesus Christ. This is indeed a large vision and can only be attained in fullness as we grow in the measure of the stature of Christ.

“Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee” (Isaiah 26:3). May we feed on the LORD Jesus Christ that we may lay hold of our legacy of peace that Jesus has provided for us.

2. On the Thumb of the Right Hand

The blood of the peace offering was to be applied also to the thumb of the right hand. The hand represents the middle portion of the body with the heart and the breast. The hands speak of ministry and worship in the sanctuary. God wants to bring this realm of our being into oneness with Himself through the blood of the LORD Jesus Christ as the peace offering. How we need to grow in the abundant life, the abiding life of Jesus Christ as our peace offering until we increase in ministry and worship to HIM. As our communion and fellowship with Him grows, we will also grow in communion and fellowship one with another.

3. Blood Applied to the Great Toe of the Right Foot

The blood was applied to the foot as a symbol of the walk of the priest being brought into oneness of relationship and fellowship through the blood of the peace offering. How precious it is when these living truths grow and take root in our hearts. We find life becomes a romance, an ecstasy, as we grow in the relationship and the fellowship of the bridegroom. “But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin” (I John 1:7). May His blood, His life, and His power be applied to our walk, that we may not walk in the vanity of our mind; that we may not walk after the desires of the carnal man, but that we may walk in love; that we may walk in light; that we may walk in liberty of the Holy Ghost.

Many of God’s children walk in envy, strife, and lusts of the flesh. How they need the experience of the blood of the peace offering applied to their feet, to their walk. We need to grow in the Word and the Spirit that we might have the vision, the revelation of the flesh, of the carnal mind, to the end that we walk not in the way of the flesh and the carnal mind, but walk in holy union and fellowship with our Bridegroom more and more.

4. Blood Sprinkled on the Altar

The sacrificial blood and life of the LORD Jesus Christ has been sprinkled on the great altar in heaven so we may have access to this blood, this life, this power of communion and fellowship. Jesus Christ is ever living at the right hand of God the Father to make intercession for us and to keep us in fellowship and communion with Him as we look to Him in faith believing. In all the blood sacrifices the blood is applied in some way to the altar showing that at the altar is power, life, and blood for atonement, for sanctification, and for fellowship and communion.

5. The Blood with the Anointing Oil was Applied to the Garments

After the application of the blood to the ear, hand, and foot of Aaron and his sons, the blood was then sprinkled with the holy anointing oil on their garments to hallow their garments. This was a symbol of the resurrection life of the LORD Jesus Christ with the anointing of the Spirit of God. The blood is the first to live in man and the last to die, therefore it is used as the symbol of the life of man, or that which survives death. When Jesus came out of the grave, He was clothed in the garments of His resurrection life along with the anointing of the Spirit of God. “But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you” (Romans 8:11).

God not only anointed our High Priest, Jesus, with the resurrection life and power of the Spirit, but He desires to anoint our garments too with the resurrection power and life of Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost.

The anointing of the high priest with the special anointing oil was a type of the sweet nature and disposition of the Holy Spirit. The oil was a special compound or composition made according to the directions of God Himself, and was not to appear on any flesh except Aaron and his sons. At first this oil was POURED on Aaron, who was a type of Jesus Christ as our high priest, and spoke of Jesus who was anointed WITHOUT measure with the Holy Ghost.

The anointing of the head of Aaron as the high priest was a type of the LORD Jesus Christ being anointed with the Holy Ghost at His baptism.

And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him: And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased (Matthew 3:16,17).

But the sprinkling of Aaron and his garments with his sons, and their garments with the blood and the oil, speaks of the double portion of the power and life that Jesus had when He arose from the dead, and shared this anointing with His sons, His children, His believers, by sending the Holy Ghost to anoint with power and with gifts.

But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ. Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men. (Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth? He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens that he might fill all things.) And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ (Ephesians 4:7-12).

When God commanded Aaron and his sons to be anointed together, He painted a beautiful picture of the fellowship and communion of the anointed Christ with the anointed believer.

6. The Fat, the Rump, the Fat on the Inwards, the Caul, the Kidneys, and Their Fat, the Right Shoulder, One Loaf of Bread, One Cake of Oiled Bread, One Wafer Out of the Basket, and Put all in the Hands of Aaron and His Sons.

Here is one of the most detailed pictures in the Old Testament. Human minds can scarcely comprehend the minute details of the holy inspired Word of God. For the peace offering and its treatment are quite different from the sin offering and the whole burnt offering.

The hands of Aaron and his sons were to be filled with the fat and the rump or the tail of the ram. It is said that of the Eastern sheep and rams, that the tails grow very large, even from twelve pounds to forty pounds and that they are considered a very tasty delicacy. As already mentioned, the fat was a type of the zeal of the heart, in that fat is first to burn on the fire. All these things were placed in the hands of the priests, and then were received from their hands and burned on the fire of the altar as a sweet savor unto the LORD.

The zeal of the LORD Jesus Christ belonged to the Father and was offered completely unto the Father. The human heart needs more than just the fleshly zeal of the heart. It needs the zeal of the Spirit of Christ, for this is the only zeal acceptable in the sight of the Father. If God accepted fleshly fat or zeal, then the flesh would have room to glory in his gift, and God has declared in His Word that NO FLESH should glory in His sight. How gracious that Jesus should die so that He might provide His zeal as a gift whereby our hands could be filled with presents for Jehovah—the kind of presents that the LORD will receive from our hands and burn upon the great altar in heaven for a sweet smelling savor unto Himself.

The caul and the kidneys as previously mentioned in the whole burnt offering were pictures of the sanctifying power of the Christ. It is through the kidneys in the natural that God has provided man with great sanctifying power for the natural body. The natural types the spiritual and thereby gives us a picture of the sanctifying power of Christ for the spiritual body, hence for this reason God reserved the kidneys for Himself. The caul and the kidneys were to be placed in the hands of the priests along with the other things, and were to be waved before the LORD and then received from their hands to be burned upon the altar as a sweet savor unto the Lord. God wants our hearts, our hands, our minds, to be filled with the sanctifying Word of the Lord, for indeed when we are full of this sanctifying Word, then we will not be lacking in gifts of praise and thanksgiving to offer in our prayer closets to the LORD.

The RIGHT SHOULDER was especially mentioned as being put in the hands of the priests, and after it was waved before the LORD it was burned as the LORD’S portion on the altar for a sweet smelling savor. Here we see Jesus Christ, the ram of consecration, standing as a peace offering between God and man. With His right hand, or His right shoulder, as it were, He took hold of God, and that was God’s portion. Later we shall see how the left shoulder was given to the priests, after it was heaved before the Lord, for their own food.

The part of Jesus Christ that touches God is constantly going up as a sweet smelling savor unto the LORD; and the part that touches us, we can feast and eat on in glorious fellowship and communion. The reality of this precious truth almost drowns my soul in wonder, love, and praise for HIM who loved us and became our peace offering.

In addition to the different parts of the peace offering that were placed in the hands of the priests, there were three different parts mentioned from the meat offering or the meal offering, that had to be added.

Let us examine the details of the meat offering. The meat offering or the meal offering was made from fine flour and could be classed into two different groups even though there were five ways that the meat offering could be offered in general.

IV.

UNBAKED MEAL OR FLOUR OFFERING

The first of the unbaked meal offerings was simply called “an offering of fine flour.” This was made of fine flour and speaks of the evenness, the smoothness, the balance of the character and nature of the Christ. When a baker wants to bake a good cake he takes the flour and sifts, or combs it, as it were, until all the lumps or the hard places are removed. So in the fine meal offering we see the LORD Jesus Christ as the One who went to the mill of suffering that His body might become bread for the whole world. “I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world” (John 6:51).

After the flour had been ground small and fine, it could be offered as such with oil poured on it. This again speaks of the anointing of the Spirit of God upon the Christ, and to this was to be added frankincense, a picture of faith. Jesus gave Himself as the fine flour anointed with the oil of the Spirit, and surely possessed the perfect perfume of the frankincense of FAITH. Let us listen to the words of the LORD Jesus concerning His faith toward His Father. “AND I KNEW that thou hearest me always: but because of the people which stand by I said it, that they may believe that thou hast sent me” (John 11:42).

The second way the meat or meal offering could be offered was with green ears of corn dried by fire or roasted, or parched corn.

And if thou offer a meat offering of thy firstfruits unto the LORD, thou shalt offer for the meat offering of thy firstfruits green ears of corn dried by the fire, even corn beaten out of full ears. And thou shalt put oil upon it, and lay frankincense thereon: it is a meat offering. And the priest shall burn the memorial of it, part of the beaten corn thereof, and part of the oil thereof, with all the frankincense thereof: it is an offering made by fire unto the LORD (Leviticus 2:14-16).

These two classes of meat offering, the fine flour, and the green ears dried by the fire, were permissible for the children of Israel but not for the priest of the Lord. The priest of the LORD must offer the meat or meal offering that was baked.

A. THE BAKED MEAL OFFERING

1. The Oven

There were three of the baked or cooked meal offerings necessary for the use of the priest. The first was the meal offering baked in the oven or “unleavened cakes mingled with oil” or “unleavened wafers anointed with oil.” The baked cake or wafer in the oven speaks of the bread being hidden away from view during the baking process. This is a picture of the hidden suffering of the Christ, the beaten gold, on which no man could look and behold. There was a suffering for the LORD Jesus Christ which no mortal eye could see and behold.

Shall we ever know the suffering that He passed through for you and me? And yet when Jesus desires to make of us bread in His same image, we complain and moan when we feel the bang of the oven door behind us and we are left alone without human sympathy and no human help in sight. We are even angry in our hearts with our friends because they do not open the door of the oven and at least let us know they are still close by. We do not realize that when God appoints the time to brown us as bread that no human hand can open a door which He has closed. In the Song of Solomon the bride has the testimony of being brown because of the rays of the heat of the sun, and there the same picture of the browned bread is shown forth again. “I am black (brown) but comely, (beautiful) O ye daughters of Jerusalem, as the tents of Kedar, as the curtains of Solomon” (Song of Solomon 1:5).

When God browns His saints with the fire of the oven, the fire of testings and trials, it seems very strange to the people of the world, but it is only that they cannot behold the hidden beauty that God is working within. Uncooked bread is not as tasty as that which has been cooked to a golden brown. So it is with the saints of God who have been placed in GOD’S OVEN (not then-own). The taste of their dispositions and their attitudes are purified and improved as they are browned in God’s oven of suffering while they partake of the fellowship of the sufferings of the Christ.

It is interesting to note the two ways the oil was used with the bread or meal offering. Sometimes the oil was mixed with the bread picturing to us the Living Word or the Living Bread being born of the Spirit. “And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God” (Luke 1:35).

The other way the oil was used with the bread or meal offering was in being POURED on, sometimes expressed by the word anointed or pour, symbolizing anointing or baptism of the Spirit upon the Living Bread, the LORD Jesus Christ. “And the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon him, and a voice came from heaven, which said, Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I am well pleased” (Luke 3:22). “And Jesus being FULL of the Holy Ghost returned from Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness” (Luke 4:1). “And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee: and there went out a fame of him through all the region round about” (Luke 4:14).

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, To preach the acceptable year of the Lord (Luke 4:18,19).

The two classes of bread baked in the oven were mixed with oil and anointed with oil.

B. UNLEAVENED CAKES MINGLED WITH OIL

“And if thou bring an oblation of a meat offering baken in the oven, it shall be unleavened cakes of fine flour mingled (mixed) with oil” (Leviticus 2:4).

Jesus entered into the oven of hidden suffering at His very birth when this Living Bread was mixed with the oil of the Holy Ghost at His birth. There was a hidden suffering in the oven of humiliation that Jesus entered into when He humbled Himself and took on Him the form of flesh, that no eyes in heaven or in the earth could comprehend, only the Father. Not only do we receive a taste of this fellowship with Christ when we become born again of the Word and the Spirit, but there are also new births of this truth all along the way as we yield to the hand of the Father to be placed in the oven of His humiliation that new attributes of His humility might be born in our hearts.

C. UNLEAVENED WAFERS ANOINTED WITH OIL

“Or unleavened wafers ANOINTED with oil” (Leviticus 2:4). So we see that the oven not only cooked the bread mingled with oil, but it also cooked the bread that had been ANOINTED with oil. Our precious Jesus was still in the oven of suffering and humiliation when the Holy Ghost descended upon Him and ANOINTED Him for the ministry and service He had been born to fulfill. The Father poured the Holy Ghost upon Him so He could offer Himself completely as a sacrifice unto God for the redemption of mankind. So it is with us. Jesus pours out the baptism of the Holy Ghost upon us that we may taste of His sufferings in the oven of humiliation that we, too, might go all the way with Him to Calvary’s cross in sacrificing the flesh and the carnal mind and be used in the great ministry of reconciliation of mankind.

D. PREPARED BAKED IN A PAN

“And if thy oblation be a meat offering baken in a pan, it shall be of fine flour unleavened, mingled with oil” (Leviticus 2:5).

Another way the meat offering could be prepared was to bake it in a pan. The word pan in the Hebrew means a griddle cake. A griddle cake is one that is baked on a flat plate in open view of all. When God sent His Son into the world it was not done in a dark corner somewhere, but all heaven and earth witnessed the sight when the Living Bread from heaven was MINGLED or mixed with the Holy Ghost in birth in the virgin’s womb. Often God tries to teach us the suffering of Christ in the form of the griddle cake when all eyes are upon us and see the humiliation we are enduring. On this fire are layers of the pride of the flesh being loosened from the depths of the heart and sent to the surface that we might see ourselves as God sees us. How frequently FEAR and PRIDE keep people from serving God or going on with Him, for they are afraid they will end up on the griddle pan as a failure where ALL may behold their suffering or their failures. Precious it is to humble our hearts and desire to KNOW HIM and to have fellowship with HIS SUFFERING whether it be on the griddle pan or in the oven, just so long as we come to a deeper and higher knowledge of His love and humility!

Notice that the griddle cake was not only to be mixed with oil, but it was to be BROKEN in pieces, and the oil to be POURED on. This speaks of Jesus who not only was mingled with the oil of the Holy Ghost at birth, but who also became the broken griddle cake upon the cross and had the oil of resurrection power of the Holy Ghost poured on HIM as He returned to heaven to become the broken Bread to provide and sustain life for those who receive Him. How often do we pray for the LORD to make us broken bread and poured out wine, meet for the Master’s use, not realizing that to be “broken bread” means we first must visit the griddle pan of suffering and be browned on both sides in the griddle pan of humility before we can experience the POURING on of the resurrection power. As the Apostle Paul said, “That I may KNOW Him and the POWER of His resurrection.” Now Paul was already saved, and had been baptized in the Holy Ghost and yet he desired a greater pouring on of the oil of the resurrection power.

E. PREPARED IN THE FRYING PAN

“And if thy oblation be a meat offering baken in the fryingpan, it shall be made of fine flour with oil” (Leviticus 2:7).

Here is another way the bread of the meat or meal offering could be prepared. It could be cooked in a frying pan. The frying pan in the Hebrew signifies a deep pan. While the oven speaks of being completely enclosed and hidden away from view of all eyes of heaven and earth, the deep pan speaks of the partial revealing of the cooking of the bread or the suffering of the Christ. Many eyes gazed upon the suffering of the Christ and yet did not understand. They saw only the outward suffering of the body and that only partially, but understood nothing of the agony of His soul. Here also the flour was mingled or mixed with the oil which takes us back to the Living Bread being mixed with the oil of the Holy Ghost at His birth. There was a part of the suffering of the humiliation of Christ at His birth which I am sure the angels of heaven witnessed as they beheld Him as the Living Bread in the frying pan of the flesh. Sometimes Jesus desires to teach us of this part of the fellowship of His suffering and how the fleshly man withdraws and always wants just the opposite of what God desires in the life. If God wants to separate us from people and put us in a place where NO ONE understands what we are going through in the oven, then the flesh wants to open the door and call to human comforters on the outside and when they do not hear then the flesh is ready to become bitter. Sometimes, God wants to put us in the frying pan of suffering that we might receive new births of the humility of the Christ within us and that is the time we want to get away from everyone for the pride of the flesh really suffers when others see the fire of suffering under the pan and especially when we cannot explain and make them understand the reason for the fire.

Jesus has called us to walk in His footsteps. He has called us to deny ourselves and take up our cross and follow Him. If we would walk on in the depths of His great love and humility, we will have to learn of the suffering in the measure of the oiled bread in the frying pan.

In Hosea the LORD spoke concerning Ephraim and likened him to a cake that is not turned. God wanted Israel to be a kingdom of peculiar people and a kingdom of priests, but they would not yield to the mighty hand of their God. “Ephraim, he hath mixed himself among the people; Ephraim is a cake not turned” (Hosea 7:8). Is not this the condition of many of the people of the LORD in this day? Are they not indeed half-cooked bread? May our blessed LORD Jesus Christ help us to go all the way with Him, to the end that we can be bread that has been well baked, that He might indeed use our lives to be food for those around us.

Three ingredients were commanded by God to accompany the meal offerings, namely, oil, salt, and frankincense. The oil as already explained, was a type of the Holy Spirit. The salt speaks of the preserving, the durability, the fidelity and the purity of the living Word of God, Jesus Christ. Not only that, but salt speaks of the purgative effect of the living Word. The salt in the Word, the salt in the bread (for part of this bread was eaten by the priest) would have a purging effect on those who ate of it. How we need the good salt of the bread within ourselves daily, that we may enjoy the purging effect from the world, the flesh, and the Devil. In our conversation we need the salt of the Word, for it will purify our hearers so that our fellowship one with another will be free from evil. “Let your speech be alway with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man” (Colossians 4:6). The frankincense as stated, was a picture of the perfect faith of Christ. Without the frankincense, no offering is acceptable and pleasing to God. “But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him” (Hebrews 11:6).

Two ingredients were forbidden of God to be used in the meal offerings. The first was leaven, a symbol of corruption, because of its rapid action. If you place a little leaven in the meal, in a little time the whole lump would be leavened. If leaven were used in the bread, it would destroy the picture of Jesus who was the pure and holy bread from heaven.

Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us: Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth (I Corinthians 5:7,8).

Secondly, the LORD forbade the use of honey in the bread of the meal offering, for He would accept no honey in the meal offering. Honey is a symbol of the natural pleasures and sweetness of the things of this world. When the little bee is collecting the honey he has a delightful time flying from one gay colored flower unto another, and tasting of all their fine delicate nectars. But even though honey is the sweetest of the natural substances, yet it can sour and be just as sour as it was sweet. So it is with the pleasures of the sin of this world. They indeed appear very sweet for a season, but there comes the day when the honey of sin turns sour. It is to this that the writer of Hebrews refers. “By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter; Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season” (Hebrews 11:24,25). The joy and sweetness of the Living Bread of life, Jesus Christ, was not to be compared to the natural honey that would soon sour, but to the sweetness and pleasure of this living bread which gives us life eternal.

The bread with which the LORD commanded Moses to fill the hands of the priest was a special kind of bread symbolizing Jesus Christ as our Living Bread. God required Moses to take the three different types of bread that was baked and put into the hands of the priests that their hands would be filled with gifts to wave before Jehovah.

1. All Waved in the Hands of the Priest Before the LORD

How full must have been the hands of the priest with the fat, the rump, the caul, the kidneys, the right shoulder, and the three different kinds of bread. The wave offering was a symbol of praise unto the LORD. In Christ Jesus, the Father feasts around the table with the believers, and the meat and the bread is none other than the beloved Son, the precious Passover Lamb.

2. These Were Received from the Hands of the Priests and Burnt upon the Altar

Part of the bread from the meal offering and part of the peace offering was reserved as God’s part and burnt upon the altar for a sweet smelling savor unto the LORD. As we come with sanctified hearts and hands filled with praise and thanksgiving of the Lamb of God, these ascend as a sweet smelling savor in the nostrils of the heavenly Father.

3. The Part of the Peace Offering for the Priests

After the priests waved the parts that belonged to the LORD of the peace offering and the meal offering and burnt it upon the fire, then their hands were filled with the portions that belonged to them. There were two special parts of the peace offering that were delegated by God to be given to the priests for their portion which after being waved and heaved before the LORD, were eaten by the priests. The breast of the peace offering was given for a wave offering. This offering was waved to and fro. The left shoulder of the peace offering was given also, and it was heaved up and down, so that in the waving to and fro and the heaving up and down of the breast and the shoulder, one sees the form of the CROSS portrayed.

The breast of the peace offering speaks of the affection, the love of the peace offering that was to be the portion of the priests for their food. It is wonderful that Jesus has left us the portion of His breast of love that we might wave it to and fro as it were, before the LORD, in praise to HIM for giving to us His only begotten Son as a peace offering for us.

The left shoulder tells of the strength and power of the peace offering, and it was heaved up and down. This suggests that as we heave the offering of thanksgiving of the Christ up to God, we will find in this thanksgiving great power and strength as food for the spiritual man. It is to this sacrifice that the writer of Hebrews refers: “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” (Hebrews 13:15).

As we come before God in the name of the LORD Jesus Christ, wave the sacrifice of praise to and fro, and heave up and down as it were, the sacrifice of thanksgiving, we show forth the cross of our LORD Jesus Christ. Our souls and spirits feast on His love through our praise to Him and also feast on the strength of the sacrifices of thanksgiving that we offer unto Him. This probably explains why many Christians are so weak and frail in their everyday lives, even though they are saved and have been baptized with the Holy Ghost. They have never really been taught by the Spirit of God the importance of waving the sacrifice of praise and heaving the sacrifice of thanksgiving.

Surely King David was taught of the wave offering of praise in the Psalms, for continually the Spirit poured through his lips in a wave offering of love and praise to God. Were there no Saviour, no Redeemer, we would have nothing to praise God about, for we would still be in our sins. But since we have a Saviour, since we have been lifted out of the miry clay of sin, since we have been made kings and priests unto God, and since a priest is to offer sacrifices to God, let us continually offer up the sacrifice of praise to our blessed Father and to His Christ.

The Apostle Paul instructed the early Christians through the revelation of the Holy Spirit, to offer up thanksgiving at all times for ALL THINGS.

Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Ephesians 5:20).

And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him (Colossians 3:17).

God’s children are often slow to offer up the sacrifice of thanksgiving when they are in trials and testings. Instead, they offer up the sacrifices of murmurings, complainings, and frettings which are an abomination in the nostrils of God and which sacrifices God will not receive. “Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer” (I Corinthians 10:10). For this reason God was angry with the children of Israel and destroyed many of them for their sacrifices of murmurings and complainings.

What is to be our attitude when we are persecuted or when people speak against us? We are to offer up the sacrifice of thanksgiving. Let us say, “Thank you, Jesus, that you suffered for me; thank you that you give me the privilege to bear your cross with you; thank you for this opportunity to humble my flesh and my mind.” What is to be our attitude when things are difficult for us, and perhaps we do not have the necessary things of life? Again, let us say: “Thank you Jesus that you are my Peace Offering; thank you Jesus that all things work together for good to those that love the Lord; thank you Jesus that you will supply all my needs.”

Most of the children of Israel never learned in their wilderness journey to give the sacrifices of praise and thanksgiving to the LORD, for despite all that God had previously done for them in showing them His mighty arm strong for deliverance in their behalf, they nevertheless murmured and complained with each new situation instead of praising and thanking the LORD and waiting to see new manifestation of His power in their behalf.

Remember that regardless of whatever situation you are in, God is waiting for you to offer up the sacrifices of praise and thanksgiving, and then He will do abundantly above all you ask or think.

As we wave the wave offering of praise to and fro before the Lord, the Spirit of God melts our wills and brings them into a state of clay in His hands, thus forming the middle bar of the cross. When Jesus sees that we are willing to have our will nailed to His will, then He will indeed take us on in the crucified life. He will take us on in the joy of the peace offering that we may know the peace of God that passeth all understanding. The middle bar of the cross in our lives will be formed out of thanksgiving for the will of Jesus.

“In EVERYTHING give thanks: FOR THIS IS THE WILL OF GOD IN CHRIST JESUS CONCERNING YOU” (I Thessalonians 5:18). Let the Holy Spirit of God be the judge in our lives of the many ways and the many times that we fail in the heaving up of the sacrifice of thanksgiving for all things. People are constantly asking, “what is God’s will for me?” First and foremost, if God can get us into the place of such surrender and humility that at all times we wave the sacrifice of praise and heave up the sacrifice of thanksgiving, we shall surely find our souls on fire for HIM and in all things we shall be a blessing, a testimony, an epistle of His love read of all men. Only the souls who have truly had the Spirit of God offer up the sweet sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving, will know the glory and the joy whereof I speak here.

And thou shalt sanctify the breast of the wave offering, and the shoulder of the heave offering, which is waved, and which is heaved up, of the ram of the consecration, even of that which is for Aaron, and of that which is for his sons: And it shall be Aaron’s and his sons’ by a statute for ever from the children of Israel: for it is an heave offering: and it shall be an heave offering from the children of Israel of the sacrifice of their peace offerings, even their heave offering unto the LORD (Exodus 29:27,28).

The sacrifice of the wave offering and the heave offering was to be a statute forever, God said. The ante-type meets the type in the LORD Jesus Christ.

4. Aaron and His Sons Eat of the Meat and the Bread

“And Aaron and his sons shall eat the flesh of the ram, and the bread that is in the basket, by the door of the tabernacle of the congregation” (Exodus 29:32). After the meat of the breast offering was waved and the shoulder of the heave offering was heaved, then God said that Aaron and his sons could sit down together, as it were, around the table of the meat and the bread. This pictures the sacred communion table of the LORD Jesus Christ when, after we have judged our hearts as Paul said and offered up our praise and thanksgiving, we sit down in precious communion with the meat and the bread. Communion is sweet with the Lord; communion is sweet with one another.

It is blessed to sit around the table of the Living Word with our Living LORD and have Him break unto us the meat and the bread of the Word. The peace offering reveals the abundant life of peace that Jesus has purchased for us with His own Blood. As we follow in the paths of its truth and light, we find spiritual life and growth arising in the inner man that will prepare us to eat of the meat of the Word, the Bread of the Word. What a tragic situation these days when so many of God’s children feed on the milk diet of the Word, and sometimes even skimmed milk. May God help us to arise out of our sleep and seek the abundant life of the peace offering, Jesus, that we may grow in grace and knowledge of Him.

This was the constant cry of the Apostle Paul in his day, for then as now, few were laying hold of the Word to the end that they might grow.

And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able. For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men? (I Corinthians 3:1-3).

The presence of envy, strife, and divisions in our hearts only disclose our babyhood.

For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat. For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe. But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil (Hebrews 5:12-14).

The Christian who is growing up unto the LORD Jesus Christ is going to have his senses exercised to discern good and evil in his own temple, that is, discern between the flesh and the Spirit. Paul testifies that when he became a man (spiritually mature), he put away childish things, such as envy, strife, jealousy. The growth into spiritual maturity is not easy and is not accomplished overnight. But it is certain that if we press on in the Word, the Spirit, and prayer, we shall realize it is well worth the effort when we are rewarded with the meat, the bread, and the fellowship in this present life to say nothing of the glorious things He has in store in the world to come for those who are overcomers.

For seven days Aaron and his sons were to remain in the tabernacle, eating and feasting on the sacrifice of the peace offering, then their consecration was declared to be completed. God was satisfied with nothing less than complete consecration from Aaron and his sons who were to be his ministers in the sanctuary. God was satisfied with nothing less than complete and perfect consecration from our LORD Jesus Christ, who was to be the high priest of the sanctuary of heaven. God is satisfied with nothing less than complete consecration from you and me. May we live in the sanctuary, feasting on the peace offering, all the days of our pilgrim journey here in this world, that this life may be wholly and completely consecrated to HIM and for HIS glory.

Praise be unto God for the LORD Jesus Christ, who is the sin offering, the trespass offering, the whole burnt offering, the peace offering, and the meat or meal offering. The linen breeches were to conceal the flesh or nakedness, the parts having to do with the secretions of the body. They were to conceal the seat of the procreative power of man. It is interesting to note as we proceed with the dressing and the consecration of the priests, that God made provision for a complete covering for them from the top of their head to the bottom of their feet. The parts of the body that were not covered with clothes are covered with the anointing of the blood. Praise Him for His Blood, which all these offerings typify.

CHAPTER XVIII

THE ANOINTING OF AARON WITH THE HOLY ANOINTING OIL

“Then shalt thou take the anointing oil, and pour it upon his head, and anoint him” (Exodus 29:7). The anointing oil was a special oil that God gave the formula for unto Moses to prepare for the use of anointing Aaron and his sons. The record of this formula is in the thirtieth chapter of Exodus.

Moreover the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Take thou also unto thee principal spices, of pure myrrh five hundred shekels, and of sweet cinnamon half so much, even two hundred and fifty shekels, and of sweet calamus two hundred and fifty shekels, And of cassia five hundred shekels after the shekel of the sanctuary, and of oil olive an hin: And thou shalt make it an oil of holy ointment, an ointment compound after the art of the apothecary: it shall be an holy anointing oil. And thou shalt anoint the tabernacle of the congregation therewith, and the ark of the testimony, And the table and all his vessels, and the candlestick and his vessels, and the altar of incense, And the altar of burnt offering with all his vessels, and the laver and his foot. And thou shalt sanctify them, that they may be most holy: whatsoever toucheth them shall be holy. And thou shalt anoint Aaron and his sons, and consecrate them, that they may minister unto me in the priest’s office. And thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel, saying, This shall be an holy anointing oil unto me throughout your generations (Exodus 30:22-31).

I.

PURE MYRRH

The holy anointing oil was to be a type of the Holy Spirit describing His nature and His graces. The pure myrrh was a symbol of meekness and humility. In Galatians 5:22 we read that the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness and temperance. It is the nature of the Spirit of God to be meek and humble. Jesus was anointed with a double portion of the Holy Spirit.

A. HE WAS ANOINTED AS PROPHET AND PRIEST

“And John bare record, saying, I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it abode upon him” (John 1:32).

Jesus had a twofold anointing as prophet and priest, and then when He arose from the dead by the anointing of the Holy Ghost, we see Him anointed as King of kings and LORD of lords. God gave the Spirit unto Jesus Christ without measure. “For he whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God: for God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto him” (John 3:34). The anointing of the head with oil was a ceremony performed for those who were to serve as prophet, priest, or king. It is to this anointing that David refers: “Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over” (Psalm 23:5). When the head is anointed with the holy oil of the Holy Ghost, then truly the cup of joy runs over. This, too, was the experience of the Lord: “Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows” (Hebrews 1:9).

How precious the truth that in the holy oil was the ingredient of the myrrh, the humility, the meekness. So few have learned of the oil of gladness or of the oil of the myrrh, the oil of humility. Only the soul that has been taught and brought to the humble place before God and the meek place before man knows of the joy and gladness that is contained therein.

There is no joy or gladness for the one who is constantly striving for the high place, or for the one who is constantly striving to keep the high place. But what blessed peace, joy, and gladness for the soul that, as Jesus said, is willing to take the LOWEST room at the feast and wait for the Master of the feast to do the exalting in saying, “come higher friend.”

The anointing oil was poured lavishly on the head of Aaron so that the oil ran down on his beard even to the hem of his garments, for it was portraying the picture of the anointing of Jesus Christ by the Holy Ghost. “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity! It is like the precious ointment upon the head, that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron’s beard: that went down to the skirts of his garments” (Psalm 133:1,2). There is only one thing that prevents believers from being in perfect harmony with the LORD; there is only one thing that prevents believers from being in perfect harmony with one another and that is the LACK of the holy anointing oil with the ingredient of the myrrh, the humility, and the meekness.

In all the life of our Saviour, we see the myrrh of meekness and humility running down, as it were, from His head to the hem of His garments. “Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls” (Matthew 11:29). May Jesus help us to have a divine passion and desire to learn of His meekness and lowliness.

II.

SWEET CINNAMON

The sweet cinnamon was a picture or a type of the fruit of goodness. The word cinnamon comes from the Hebrew word qinnamown (kin-naw-mone), which means to erect, upright. The goodness of the Spirit is always erect; it never bends nor stoops to envy. It never bends to grieve because of another who possesses a greater portion of earthly, intellectual, or spiritual blessings. The goodness of the Spirit will anoint you with the desire that prefers the other to get the blessing.

Jesus was anointed with the sweet cinnamon, the sweet goodness of the Holy Ghost. “How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him” (Acts 10:38).

Because Jesus was anointed with the oil of the Spirit, the sweet perfume of the goodness of the Spirit permeated all His deeds, all His words, and all of His attitudes. How we, too, need the sweet anointing of the cinnamon, the sweet goodness of the Spirit, to the end that we may do good and not evil with our tongues, with our deeds and attitudes.

III.

SWEET CALAMUS

The sweet calamus was a symbol of the fruit of gentleness. The word calamus comes from the Hebrew word qaneh (kawneh), which means a reed. The sweet calamus was a species of sweet cane, and it was very fragrant when it was bruised. Jesus was anointed with the sweet spirit of gentleness. The sweet spirit of gentleness is tender and compassionate in itself, and kind, and obliging to others. It is mild and benign. It creates trouble for no one. The sweet anointing of the spirit of gentleness ever permeated the ministry of the Christ. Even when the enemy came to take Him from the garden and Peter in his anger, smote off the ear of the servant of the high priest, Jesus with His divine compassion and gentleness reached out and healed the man’s ear.

We are instructed, too, as servants of God, to be anointed with the same sweet calamus, the same sweet gentleness. “And the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient” (II Timothy 2:24). The testimony of the Apostle Paul shows that he, too, was anointed with the sweet spirit of gentleness. Since gentleness is a characteristic of the nature of the Spirit of God, we find it in connection with all of His ministry and His work. “But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy” (James 3:17).

IV.

CASSIA

The word cassia comes from the Hebrew word qiddah (kidnaw) which means to bend the neck or the head, and represents surrender. The anointing of the holy oil of the Holy Ghost will anoint us with a spirit of surrender and subjection. Our blessed Saviour was anointed with the Spirit of surrender and subjection. “He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth” (Isaiah 53:7). The Word of the LORD exhorts us to follow in the steps of the LORD Jesus Christ. If we follow in His steps, then we shall have to have the anointing wherewith He was anointed.

For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps: Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth: Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously: (I Peter 2:21-23).

How the church of the living God needs the anointing of the sweet cassia ingredient of the Spirit, the sweet surrender and subjection, the same with which our LORD was anointed.

“Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble” (I Peter 5:5). Jesus was so anointed with the cassia of surrender and subjection that his own will was fragrant with the sweetness of surrender to the Father’s will. May we grow in the anointing of the cassia of surrender and subjection.

V.

OIL OLIVE

This anointing oil was to be mixed with the olive oil. The olive oil throughout the Word is used to express the sweet nature and work of the Holy Spirit of God. The olive oil was also used to beautify the skin. There is a heavenly beauty in the anointing of the Holy Ghost. “And wine that maketh glad the heart of man, and oil to make his face to shine, and bread which strengtheneth man’s heart” (Psalm 104:15). The olive oil helped to release the fragrance and beauty of the other ingredients of the anointing oil.

The olive oil was used for the healing of the body and the skin. It is to this that David refers: “Let the righteous smite me; it shall be a kindness: and let him reprove me; it shall be an excellent oil, which shall not break my head: for yet my prayer also shall be in their calamities” (Psalm 141:5).

Part of the great ministry of the Holy Ghost is to reprove and rebuke. The oil of reproof and rebuke will bring healing to the mind and the spirit, if we will only receive its gentle soothing flow. If we wait before HIM daily for a fresh anointing, and be so anointed with His sweet graces, even they will be a rebuke to the many spirits of the flesh with which we come in contact daily. The best rebuke for a proud spirit is the manifestation of the sweet humble spirit of Jesus Christ. The best rebuke for a stubborn and rebellious spirit, is the anointing of the sweet spirit of surrender of the Christ. The best rebuke for the harsh and unkind spirit is the sweet anointing of the gentleness of the Christ. The best rebuke for a selfish spirit is the sweet anointing of the sweet goodness of the Spirit of God. May the precious Holy Spirit anoint us until our faces shine with His humility, goodness, gentleness, and surrender.

A. THE OLIVE OIL WAS ALSO USED FOR FOOD

“Thus wast thou decked with gold and silver; and thy raiment was of fine linen, and silk, and broidered work; thou didst eat fine flour, and honey, and oil: and thou wast exceeding beautiful, and thou didst prosper into a kingdom” (Ezekiel 16:13). How many times have we heard the expression “you are what you eat”? And rightly so, if we eat the proper food, if we provide the body with the natural resources, then the body will convert the resources into rich red blood that will feed the whole body, thereby producing strong bones and muscles. Likewise, in the Spirit, if we feed on the spiritual resources of the oil of the Spirit, we shall have a healthy growth in the Spirit as a result.

Many Christians are busy FEEDING on the faults, the sins, and errors of their brothers in Christ, thereby fattening THEIR own carnal nature, feeding their own fleshly man. Let us be zealous to feed only on the sweet graces and nature of the Holy Spirit. Jesus never fed on the evils of those round about Him, but He fed on the things of God, He fed on the sweet will of God, for He declared that His meat, His food, was to do the will of the Father.

The olive oil was used for light, for illumination. The olive oil was a symbol of the fresh oil, the living flow. It tells us that the Spirit of God does not come from a dead reservoir of oil, but from the living olive trees.

And the angel that talked with me came again, and waked me, as a man that is wakened out of his sleep, And said unto me, What seest thou? And I said, I have looked, and behold a candlestick all of gold, with a bowl upon the top of it, and his seven lamps thereon, and seven pipes to the seven lamps, which are upon the top thereof: And two olive trees by it, one upon the right side of the bowl, and the other upon the left side thereof (Zechariah 4:1-3).

Here is a picture of the LORD Jesus Christ as the candlestick, fed with the living oil, the living Spirit from the two trees, the Father, and the Holy Ghost. We have access to the living supply of oil and the supply is everlasting, limitless. It matters not how much you draw upon its strength, its nourishment, its illumination, there is always a fresh supply flowing in.

The other ingredients of the anointing oil needed the beauty, the strength, the nourishment and the illumination of the olive oil. These ingredients were blended into one anointing oil for the sacred purpose of consecrating the holy things, the Tabernacle with its vessels unto God, along with Aaron, the high priest, and his sons who were also priests.

God was zealous of this anointing oil and forbade any person to make any like unto it, for through this anointing oil He purposed to portray the blessed Holy Ghost. This anointing oil with its sweet fragrance was reserved ONLY for use by the priests. If it was placed on any stranger, that person would be cut off from the house of Israel. God has reserved the blessed Holy Ghost especially for His children, for the believers, and no stranger, no sinner, will ever be able to taste of the sweetness, the power, the glory of the Holy Ghost unless he repents and comes to the Blood of Jesus Christ for cleansing from his sin.

Upon man’s flesh shall it not be poured, neither shall ye make any other like it, after the composition of it: it is holy, and it shall be holy unto you. Whosoever compoundeth any like it, or whosoever putteth any of it upon a stranger, shall even be cut off from his people (Exodus 30:32,33).

And, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me. For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence (Acts 1:4,5).

But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth (Acts 1:8).

And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance (Acts 2:1-4).

Reader, have you tasted the sweetness of the baptism of the Holy Ghost? There is no joy in all the world like unto the filling of the blessed Holy Ghost. Truly the cup of joy overflows in the soul when lifted into the heavenlies with Christ Jesus by His Spirit. It is our birthright; it is our privilege as believers to be anointed with the divine oil of the Holy Ghost. This anointing was necessary before the priests were allowed to serve and minister in the sanctuary of the LORD.

CHAPTER XIX

THE PILLAR OF CLOUD

And the LORD went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them the way; and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light; to go by day and night: He took not away the pillar of the cloud by day, nor the pillar of fire by night, from before the people (Exodus 13:21,22).

And on the day that the tabernacle was reared up the cloud covered the tabernacle, namely, the tent of the testimony: and at even there was upon the tabernacle as it were the appearance of fire, until the morning. So it was alway: the cloud covered it by day, and the appearance of fire by night. And when the cloud was taken up from the tabernacle, then after that the children of Israel journeyed: and in the place where the cloud abode, there the children of Israel pitched their tents. At the commandment of the LORD the children of Israel journeyed, and at the commandment of the LORD they pitched: as long as the cloud abode upon the tabernacle they rested in their tents. And when the cloud tarried long upon the tabernacle many days, then the children of Israel kept the charge of the LORD, and journeyed not. And so it was, when the cloud was a few days upon the tabernacle; according to the commandment of the LORD they abode in their tents, and according to the commandment of the LORD they journeyed. And so it was, when the cloud abode from even unto the morning, and that the cloud was taken up in the morning, then they journeyed: whether it was by day or by night that the cloud was taken up, they journeyed. Or whether it were two days, or a month, or a year, that the cloud tarried upon the tabernacle, remaining thereon, the children of Israel abode in their tents, and journeyed not: but when it was taken up, they journeyed. At the commandment of the LORD they rested in the tents, and at the commandment of the LORD they journeyed: they kept the charge of the LORD, at the commandment of the LORD by the hand of Moses (Numbers 9:15-23).

There is no record of the origin of the Glory Cloud that covered the Tabernacle that led the children of Israel through the wilderness. The visible cloud over the Tabernacle was the manifestation of the invisible God who lived above the Ark of the Covenant in the Holy of Holies, to which place no one but the high priest had access, and even he, only once a year. This portrays our LORD Jesus Christ who was made visible to the world and was the image of the invisible God. Jesus was the visible manifestation of the Godhead. “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth” (John 1:14).

Always the order and arrangement of the camp was such that all Israel could keep their eyes on the Glory Cloud that hung over the tabernacle. When they were encamped, all the tents were turned facing the Glory Cloud. When they were marching, the Glory Cloud went before and led and guided them.

Nowhere in Scripture do we have such a picture of Jesus Christ and His complete ministry as we do in the Tabernacle. For in every part, both small and great, we are instructed through the types and the pictures of the ministry of Jesus Christ. Here is an admonition that all Christians should keep their eyes on the LORD Jesus. The eyes of their spirit, the eyes of their soul, and the natural eyes should be stayed on the living Word of the LORD. “If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth” (Colossians 3:1,2). The ability of Israel to walk in the will of God depended on her setting her eyes toward the Glory Cloud and following it. How true this is of believers today. If they covet the ability to walk in the center of His will, they must seek the living Christ above and follow in all the ways that He directs.

I.

ITS MATERIAL

A. CLOUD

When you look at the clouds in the sky, they seem to be mountains of strength, but when you sail into them, or fly into them, you discover that they are only heaps of vapor and mist. This represents the humanity of Jesus Christ who came down from heaven and took upon Him the form of a man or flesh. The Word of God has always likened the flesh of man to something that is weak, for surely there is no strength in human flesh. “Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, (mist, cloud) that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away” (James 4:14). Notice that the clouds in the sky are constantly changing their shape and size. So it is with man; he appears for a little time and then passes away, like the clouds of the sky. And in the cloud we see something of the humanity of Jesus Christ.

B. PILLAR

The word pillar signifies strength and power to support. Jesus was not only human, but He was also the divine pillar of God. “Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high” (Hebrews 1:3).

Jesus Christ is the eternal Rock of Ages, the divine pillar that upholds all things by His mighty power and strength. And even though Israel was just poor weak flesh, yet with this divine Pillar of Cloud leading them, they experienced great miracles and power from God. We, too, are just weak flesh, and yet with the eternal Pillar of Cloud within us, Jesus Christ, we can experience His miraculous working power also.

1. Its Guidance

And the LORD went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them the way; and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light; to go by day and night; He took not away the pillar of the cloud by day, nor the pillar of fire by night, from before the people (Exodus 13:21,22).

The Pillar of Cloud was to be the guide, the leader, the conductor, the director, for the children of Israel to bring them into Canaan’s land. Jesus Christ is our guide and our conductor to bring us into the spiritual growth of the measure of His stature. In order for a person to be a guide, other people must surrender to the leadership of the guide, and they must acknowledge his ability to guide. If we would enjoy the thrill of marching under the Pillar of Cloud, Jesus Christ, then we must be in subjection to Him and let Him guide us where He wills. We must acknowledge His supreme ability to guide. He is capable of guiding because He is the divine Pillar; He is God and has conquered all power of the Devil. He is capable of guiding because He is the Cloud. He was made in the likeness of man, and therefore He is acquainted with all our weaknesses of the flesh. “For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin” (Hebrews 4:15). “And when the cloud was taken up from the tabernacle, then after that the children of Israel journeyed, and in the place where the cloud abode, there the children of Israel pitched their tents” (Numbers 9:17).

Here we see the cloud moving and guiding. It did not make any difference how bad the location, when the cloud tarried, the people tarried also. They were being led by the Pillar of Cloud and not by their own likes or dislikes. How God desires His children to learn this valuable lesson of subjection and humility. When He permits us to abide in unpleasant circumstances, we should do so without murmuring, fretting, or complaining. It did not matter how delightful the place, or the location in which they were resting, when the Pillar of Cloud moved, they had to break camp and move with the cloud. They were not guided by the carnal man who would choose to stay in the delightful places which are satisfying to the flesh, but when the cloud moved, they moved with the cloud. May Jesus Christ help us to so live and move in Him that we will not be moved in our flesh, or by that which is delightful, but may our eyes be on the Cloud and may our supreme motive be to move when He moves, and so fulfill His will in our lives.

2. Its Shelter

The pillar was to be a cloud by day. God is for His children who follow Him. If you have ever been in a place where you have felt the tremendous heat of the sun, then you will know how gracious God was to provide a cloud by day from the burning heat of the sun, and best of all, God Himself was going to be this cloud for His people. God WAS their cloud! He WAS their shelter from the heat of the sun. What the LORD was to Israel, so is Jesus Christ to His church today. When we feel the heat of testing and trials, let us keep our eyes on the Glory Cloud, and then He will come and stand between us and the heat. He will provide shade when we are in need.

“The LORD is thy keeper: the LORD is thy shade upon thy right hand. The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night” (Psalm 121:5,6).

3. Its Light and Fire

The Glory Cloud was to be light and fire at night, that they might have power to walk in the terror of the night season. It seems that in the darkness of night many creatures come forth to utter their voices of terror and fear; but when the light appears, they seem to vanish. So it is with the children of God when they walk in the light and fire of God; the terror and fear of the night season vanishes. “Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life” (John 8:12). Jesus Christ is the Glory Cloud of light and fire. If we walk after Him, we shall have the light in the night season.

King David knew what it was to walk in the light and fire of the LORD. “The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the LORD is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?” (Psalm 27:1). What is there to fear? What is there to be afraid of if we are walking in the light and fire of the Holy Ghost? Even though Israel was passing through a strange place, still in the night season she would have the light and fire of the Glory Cloud that would dispel all gloom and darkness. There is no darkness in Christ Jesus; there is no darkness under the cloud of His Glory. “He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler. Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day” (Psalm 91:4,5).

4. Its Protection

The LORD is ready to protect us on all sides—even in the back when we are following Him and doing His will. When Israel followed the Pillar of Cloud and Fire, it led them to the Red Sea, with mountains on either side, the sea in front, and the enemy behind. But if God had never led them here, they would have never known the thrill of the Glory Cloud removing and standing behind them, protecting them from the enemy. They would have never known the precious song of deliverance which came after the LORD opened up the Red Sea and let them pass over.

And the angel of God, which went before the camp of Israel, removed and went behind them; and the pillar of the cloud went from before their face, and stood behind them: And it came between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel; and it was a cloud and darkness to them, but it gave light by night to these: so that the one came not near the other all the night (Exodus 14:19,20).

The Egyptians could not draw near unto Israel because of the presence of the Glory Cloud. Again, we see the Glory Cloud of Fire by night to protect Israel from all wild beasts of prey. “And on the day that the tabernacle was reared up the cloud covered the tabernacle, namely, the tent of the testimony: and at even there was upon the tabernacle as it were the appearance of fire, until the morning” (Numbers 9:15). The presence of a fire will always keep away the wild beasts of prey. If we live under the Glory Cloud of the Holy Ghost and fire, the wild beasts of Satan will be frightened away, they will not come to destroy and devour.

And it shall come to pass, that he that is left in Zion, and he that remaineth in Jerusalem, shall be called holy, even every one that is written among the living in Jerusalem: When the LORD shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and shall have purged the blood of Jerusalem from the midst thereof by the spirit of judgment, and by the spirit of burning. And the LORD will create upon every dwelling place of mount Zion, and upon her assemblies, a cloud and smoke by day, and the shining of a flaming fire by night: for upon all the glory shall be a defence. And there shall be a tabernacle for a shadow in the daytime from the heat, and for a place of refuge, and for a covert from storm and from rain (Isaiah 4:3-6).

God promises here that upon all the glory shall be a defense. We notice that in order to have this Cloud of Glory and Fire, there must first be the washing away of the filth. If we will only let Jesus Christ continue to wash away the filth of the carnal mind, then we will experience a greater revelation from day to day of the Glory Cloud of Fire that will be to us a defense and a protection against the working of the enemy.

5. Its Warfare

The Pillar of Cloud was not only able to defend and protect against the enemy, but it was able to declare war upon the enemy.

And it came to pass, that in the morning watch the LORD looked unto the host of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and of the cloud, and troubled the host of the Egyptians, And took off their chariot wheels, that they drave them heavily: so that the Egyptians said, Let us flee from the face of Israel; for the LORD fighteth for them against the Egyptians (Exodus 14:24,25).

When we follow Jesus Christ He will not only defend us, but He will fight the enemy for us. He has already fought with the enemy of death and hell and has gained all victory and power over them. He is able to impart to His followers this power and this victory.

And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last: I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death (Revelation 1:17,18).

Since Jesus Christ has gained victory over these two great enemies, He is able also to war against any other enemies that Satan might try to throw against us as children of God, if we take our place under His power and glory and put our trust in Him and let Him fight the battle for us.

6. Its Judgment

This Pillar of Cloud was not only a source of blessing for Israel, and of fightings against her enemies, but it also was a place of judgment for those in Israel who rebelled and murmured against the LORD. “And when the people complained, it displeased the LORD: and the LORD heard it; and his anger was kindled; and the fire of the LORD burnt among them, and consumed them that were in the uttermost parts of the camp” (Numbers 11:1).

If there is one thing that stirs God’s anger it is surely the sin of murmuring and complaining, both in the natural and in the spiritual. Many people spend their lives murmuring and complaining about their material and natural needs, and when not murmuring about their own needs, they are murmuring about the needs of others who have obtained more from the LORD then they. Let us live under the Glory Cloud of the Holy Ghost and Fire, and find the LORD measuring out to us just as much as we can contain, and more than that, He will enlarge our spiritual heart so we can contain more of His glory and power and Word from day to day. The sin of murmuring never begets anything other than judgment from the Cloud of Fire. When we murmur and complain, we are not trusting the Lord. And when we are not trusting the Lord, then we are sinning, for the Word has declared that whatsoever is not of faith is sin. Let Jesus Christ judge your murmuring and fretting and then you will receive the blessing.

When the company of Korah of the Levites tried to take to themselves the ministry of the priesthood when God had given the priesthood to the family of Aaron, there came a fire out of the cloud and destroyed them. “And there came out a fire from the LORD and consumed the two hundred and fifty men that offered incense” (Numbers 16:35). Sometimes, the children of God, through pride and ambition, try and take to themselves offices and works for the LORD that He has not ordained for them to do. In that day when they stand before the Glory Cloud of Fire at the judgment seat of Christ, they will find that the fire will judge and devour the wood, hay, and stubble. “Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is” (I Corinthians 3:13). What a solemn warning to wait on the Spirit of the LORD in the Word and prayer so we may serve according to His leading and His following, and our works shall be able to abide the fire of His presence in that day!

Again we find this Glory Cloud judging the sin of Miriam because she spoke against the servant of God, even Moses.

And the anger of the LORD was kindled against them; and he departed. And the cloud departed from off the tabernacle; and, behold, Miriam became leprous, white as snow: and Aaron looked upon Miriam, and, behold, she was leprous (Numbers 12:9,10).

This happened to Miriam, but many times this same condition is repeated in the spiritual. When the children of God get this spirit toward one another, or toward another group, then they become possessed with the leprous spirit of strife and envy, and the Glory Cloud of the LORD departs from their tabernacle. We have seen people start out for God and be running well in the race, until they let the spirit of gossip and evil speaking overtake them and then the Glory of the LORD departed from their tabernacles. God is a mighty God to bless His people, but He is also a mighty God to judge His people when they get out of line. “For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?” (I Peter 4:17).

As we watch the journey of the children of Israel under the Pillar of Cloud, we notice that God was always judging the sins among His people. May we wait before Him and let Him judge us. The sin of many Christians in these days is that they judge their own selves with their own carnal minds, and therefore the spirit of pride will always make man think that he looks well. Let us wait on the LORD, the Holy Ghost, and let Him judge and cut to the end that we may grow and enlarge our spiritual borders in Him.

7. Its Supply
a. Sweetened Water

“And he cried unto the LORD; and the LORD shewed him a tree, which when he had cast into the waters, the waters were made sweet: there he made for them a statute and an ordinance, and there he proved them” (Exodus 15:25). It was under the canopy of the Glory Cloud that they had the experience of the bitter waters being made sweet. This is indeed a most precious truth. In our journey here below we frequently come to the bitter waters of circumstances of life and we are unable to drink, but if we let the sweetness of the humility of Jesus be cast into the waters, they will indeed become sweet. Bitter waters of life are hard for human pride to swallow, but when we let Jesus put His humility, gentleness, and love into the waters, we find they become sweet so that we can drink and rejoice and praise the LORD for having led us through the bitter water.

b. Bread

“Then said the LORD unto Moses, Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a certain rate every day, that I may prove them, whether they will walk in my law, or no” (Exodus 16:4). It was under the canopy of the Glory Cloud that God imparted bread to the children of Israel.

So with us, if we would enjoy the living bread from our Saviour, then we must live under the canopy of the Word and the Spirit. Bread is the support, the pillar, of the natural life, and the LORD shows Himself here to be the very pillar and support of natural life. Jesus declared that He is also the pillar and support of spiritual life; “I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world” (John 6:51).

I personally believe that the manna came out of the Pillar of Cloud to sustain the natural life of Israel, but it is certain that our spiritual bread comes out of the Pillar of Cloud, Jesus Christ.

c. Water out of the Rock

“Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb; and thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink. And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel” (Exodus 17:6).

As the children of Israel followed the Glory Cloud, they received water out of the Rock to quench their thirst. How glorious to know that as we follow the LORD Jesus Christ, He will satisfy the spiritual thirst with the living water of the Spirit and the Word. “Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled” (Matthew 5:6).

It is wonderful to note in the vision of Ezekiel, chapter 47, when he prophesied of the restoration of the sanctuary, that he had the experience of being brought through the waters that flowed out from under the sanctuary.

Afterward he brought me again unto the door of the house; and, behold, waters issued out from under the threshold of the house eastward: for the forefront of the house stood toward the east, and the waters came down from under from the right side of the house, at the south side of the altar. Then brought he me out of the way of the gate northward, and led me about the way without unto the utter gate by the way that looketh eastward; and, behold, there ran out waters on the right side. And when the man that had the line in his hand went forth eastward, he measured a thousand cubits, and he brought me through the waters; the waters were to the ankles. Again he measured a thousand, and brought me through the waters; the waters were to the knees. Again he measured a thousand, and brought me through; the waters were to the loins. Afterward he measured a thousand; and it was a river that I could not pass over: for the waters were risen, waters to swim in, a river that could not be passed over (Ezekiel 47:1-5).

In his first experience he was brought through waters to the ankles. In his second experience he was brought through waters to his knees. In his third experience, he was brought through waters to the loins, and in the fourth experience, he was brought through waters to swim in. How our vision should be increased through this portion of the Word of God. As we live in the sanctuary, under the Pillar of Cloud, there will be an increase of the living water from the rock, from the cloud, that will satisfy our innermost being. “Behold, he smote the rock, that the waters gushed out, and the streams overflowed; can he give bread also? can he provide flesh for his people?” (Psalm 78:20).

Reader, if you are thirsty, and you should be if you are getting the living salt of the Word, then get close to the spout of the Glory Cloud where the living waters are flowing continuously and drink abundantly.

THE END