[PE7]
ENCOURAGING LESSONS FROM ISRAEL'S TABERNACLE

The Gate represented the death of Jesus, so also the Door and the Veil. The white linen represented the purity and righteousness of Jesus' character. Blue represents his faithfulness; scarlet represents his blood shed for all; purple represents his royalty, he was of the royal line of David, Lord of the earth, and the inheritor of all the promises of God. (2 Cor. 1:20.) There were 5 posts in the Gate. The common version reads 4, but since the Gate was 20 cubits wide, and the posts were set 5 cubits apart (Exo. 27:13-15), then there were 4 spaces, each 5 cubits square, of the curtain, and hence 5 posts would be needed to hold up the curtain, else the outer edge of the last space would have no support.

The Hebrew character for four is very similar to the character for five, and the error here may be just such a one as is mentioned in B.53 (Dawn. 2, 53). These posts may represent the five justified believers who most conspicuously held up Christ's character before the world: Matthew, Mark, Luke, John and Paul.

The posts of the Court represented the Justified believer, enveloped by the Righteousness of Christ. (The white curtain.) The cords of the Court, which tied the posts to the ground, represented the things which tie the justified believer to the earth; and there were two sets of cords and pins, one set inside the Court, the other, outside. The set outside of the Court, outside of the justified state, represented the sin in the flesh which ties the believer to the world; the set inside the Court represented the earthly things: joys, studies, music, etc., right enough in themselves, which bind the believer to the world. These are the weights. (Heb. 12:1) The silver hooks in the court, which held up the curtain, being set in the top of the posts, represented the Divine truth, by the knowledge of which the justified believer holds on to the righteousness of Christ.

As these hooks were small in size they represent the small amount of truth necessary to justify one. [PE8]

The Altar consecrated the sacrifice.

The Laver, as a whole represented the word of God, Jesus was the word; he cleanses the believer through the washing of water by the word. (Eph. 5:26.) The Laver was made of polished copper, (Exo. 38:8) representing the brightness of Jesus' perfection. As the priests looked into the laver, they could see the faces reflected in its polished surface, so the consecrated see the imperfections and failings of their own characters when they compare these characters to the bright perfection of Jesus by looking unto him.

The priests did not bathe in the Laver, but washed their hands and feet. (Exo. 40:31,32.) So we cleanse our hands that they may do the will of God, and our feet that they may walk in Jesus' footsteps, in the straight and narrow way.

The copper pitcher was of great help and convenience about the Laver. The priests could not wash in it, but it was a help to them in getting the water. So we are greatly helped by concordances, dictionaries, etc. We cannot wash in them, but they help us in getting the truth.

The cloud over the tabernacle is stated to have been a pillar (Exo. 40:34-38), and probably had its base right on the curtain over the Most Holy, seeming to say that there was a connection between the real Heaven above, where God's throne is, and its type below.

The candlestick, as a whole represented Christ and the Church giving forth their light. The central candlestick typified Christ Jesus; it had its own foundation, and its course was straight upward from the very start. On the other hand, the branches, representing the true, consecrated church, had no base of their own, their support being the main candlestick; also their course was not straight upward, but at the start they were almost horizontal, parallel to the earth, but gradually their course changed upward until at last they ran parallel to the main candlestick. So with the consecrated: We have no standing in ourselves, our support, our foundation is in Him. And at the beginning of our consecration, our course was not so very different from what it had been before; we still followed many earthly things; but as we grew in grace and in the knowledge of the truth our course bent more and more upward until at last, if we are faithful, at the end of our course, we will be going in the same direction as our blessed Master. Some of the branches were longer than others, but all held the same amount of oil in their lamps and all gave out the same light.

So there are many whose course is longer than that of others, but the shorter can shine just as brightly as the longer, and can hold as much of the Lord's spirit.

The word of God is represented in the court by the silver hooks (that portion of [PE9] the word which justifies) and by the Laver (that portion of the word which cleanses). In the Holy, the word is represented by the Shew-bread.

The two piles represented the Old and New Testaments.

Those outside the court could see its silver hooks (the unjustified can see some truths of the word, calling them to repentance); and those in the court could wash in the laver (the justified cleanse themselves in the word of God); but only the priests were privileged to see the Shew-bread, which they alone could eat. Thus only the truly consecrated can see the deep, hidden things of God's word, and feed upon them.

By the Incense Altar the church is represented in the attitude of worship. The incense is the prayers of the Saints. And as the priests, when at the Incense Altar, was nearest the Most Holy; so we, when in prayer and communion with our Father and Jesus, are nearest Heaven.

The bowing of the priest before the second vail represents our bowing in death when we pass beneath the vail. When Jesus was crucified the vail of the temple was rent in twain from top to bottom. (Mark 15:38; Matt. 27:51). This beginning at the top and rending to the bottom represents that the rending of the vail began away back in the beginning in God's mind, and it reached the bottom, the rending was completed at Calvary (Heb. 9:7,8). None could enter the presence of God before the vail was completely rent, as the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest.

Jesus' followers were represented in the court condition by three things: the posts, the brazen altar, and the laver; in the holy condition by three things: the candlestick, the table of Shew-bread, and the golden altar; and in the Most Holy condition by three things: the three contents of the Ark. The Manna eaten by the camp of Israel would decay under certain conditions and would well represent mortality; while that kept in the pot in the Ark did not decay, and would fitly represent immortality, which the church with her Lord will possess when resurrected into glory. Aaron's rod that budded represented that the church is an elect class. The tables of the law would represent their perfection. They will be able to keep a perfect law perfectly.

The boards of the tabernacle proper were put as near together as possible, and were very hard to get apart. While in the Court the justified believer is bound to earthly things by cords, when he consecrates, he cuts these cords and becomes free. The boards were not tied to the earth in any way. They were morticed into the sockets, and moisture would swell the joint and tighten it. The fact that they were joined in the same way in the Most Holy as they were in the Holy, illustrates that the union and fellowship which we now enjoy are a counterpart and foretaste of what we will have when united with our Lord.

Rings were attached to the back of the boards, and through these. [PE10] rings were put bars overlaid with gold, as were the boards, the middle bar running from end to end without a break. The shorter bars went only part way, their connection was broken. These bars may represent: 1, One Hope; 2, One Spirit; 3, One Lord; 4, One experience; 5; One Word. The bonds of hope, spirit, experience, and the word have sometimes been broken in the true church, but the headship of the Lord has never been broken in the true church.

There were four coverings over the tabernacle: 1, white linen; 2, goat hair; 3, rams' skin dyed red; 4, seal skins. These would represent four things which prevent the world from seeing the hidden conditions represented inside the tabernacle. It is not known whether the outer covering was of seal skins or of badgers' skins, or of what creature. It was a peculiar skin and this illustrates the peculiarity of God's people.

The world does not like this peculiarity and considers us a bit out of our minds.

The rams' skins dyed red imply sacrifice, and the world does not like sacrifice. The goats hair curtain would represent the remains of the old nature in us. People often do not want to associate with the consecrated because of the remains of the goat nature. This curtain was doubled over in front of the tabernacle, which may signify that when we begin our consecration we have a double measure of goat nature, but less of it later on.

The outer curtains were attached to the earth by cords and pins, showing that our disagreeable peculiarities are of the earth and are not part of the new nature, represented by the boards, linen covering, etc., which are free from the earth.

The Tabernacle was probably very ugly, like a box, and men may have wondered why it was not made attractive and beautiful like other temples. Josephus seems to have thought it improbable that it was as ugly as described, and he described it with ornaments, and a high roof, and decorations like a circus tent. The world now sees only the ugly, unattractive side of the Church, but in the Millennium they will see it cleared of all these unattractive conditions, and she will then be seen in her glory and grandeur; just as the temple, a type of the glorified church, was covered with plates of gold, there were no ugly skins.

The gate of the Court, and the other entrances, were all toward the east. The course of the priest in sacrificing was toward the west, opposite to the course of the earth in its daily rotation (west to east, so the sun appears to rise in the east). Thus the course of the church now, in the flesh, is opposite to that of the world, upward instead of downward. In returning, the priest, when going out to bless the people, went from west to east, in the same direction as the earth rotates. So [PE11] in the new world, the courses of the church and the world will be in the same direction, because the world then will be the new heavens and earth, the old world will have passed away.