Hence, therefore, "the holiest of all" unfolds a truly wondrous scene.—The ark, the mercy-seat, the cherubim, the glory! What a sight for the high-priest of Israel to behold as, once a year, he went in within the vail! May the Spirit of God open the eyes of our understanding, that we may understand more fully the deep meaning of those precious types.
Moses is next instructed about "the table of show-bread," or bread of presentation. On this table stood the food of the priests of God. For seven days those twelve loaves of "fine flour with frankincense" were presented before the Lord, after which, being replaced by others, they became the food of the priests, who fed upon them in the holy place. (See Lev. xxiv. 5-9.) It is needless to say that those twelve loaves typify "the Man Christ Jesus." The "fine flour," of which they were composed, marks His perfect manhood, while the "frankincense" points out the entire devotion of that manhood to God. If God has His priests ministering in the holy place, He will assuredly have a table for them, and a well-furnished table too. Christ is the table, and Christ is the bread thereon. The pure table and the twelve loaves shadow forth Christ as presented before God unceasingly in all the excellency of His spotless humanity, and administered as food to the priestly family. The "seven days" set forth the perfection of the divine enjoyment of Christ, and the "twelve loaves" the administration of that enjoyment in and by man. There is also, I should venture to suggest, the idea of Christ's connection with the twelve tribes of Israel, and the twelve apostles of the Lamb.
The candlestick of pure gold comes next in order, for God's priests need light as well as food; and they have both the one and the other in Christ. In this candlestick there is no mention of any thing but pure gold.—"All of it shall be one beaten work of pure gold." "The seven lamps" which "gave light over against the candlestick" express the perfection of the light and energy of the Spirit, founded upon and connected with the perfect efficacy of the work of Christ. The work of the Holy Ghost can never be separated from the work of Christ. This is set forth in a double way in this beautiful figure of the golden candlestick. "The seven lamps" being connected with "the shaft" of "beaten gold," points us to Christ's finished work as the sole basis of the manifestation of the Spirit in the Church. The Holy Ghost was not given until Jesus was glorified. (Comp. John vii. 39 with Acts xix. 2-6.) In the third chapter of Revelation, Christ is presented to the Church in Sardis as "having the seven Spirits." It was as "exalted to the right hand of God" that the Lord Jesus "shed forth" the Holy Ghost upon His Church, in order that she might shine, according to the power and perfection of her position, in the holy place, her proper sphere of being, of action, and of worship.
Then, again, we find it was one of Aaron's specific functions to light and trim those seven lamps.—"And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, 'Command the children of Israel that they bring unto thee pure oil olive beaten for the light, to cause the lamps to burn continually. Without the vail of the testimony, in the tabernacle of the congregation, shall Aaron order it from the evening unto the morning before the Lord continually: it shall be a statute forever in your generations. He shall order the lamps upon the pure candlestick before the Lord continually." (Lev. xxiv. 1-4.) Thus we may see how the work of the Holy Ghost in the Church is linked with Christ's work on earth and His work in heaven. "The seven lamps" were there, no doubt; but priestly energy and diligence were needed in order to keep them trimmed and lighted. The priest would continually need "the tongs and snuff-dishes" for the purpose of removing aught that would not be a fit vehicle for the "pure beaten oil." Those tongs and snuff-dishes were of "beaten gold" likewise, for the whole matter was the direct result of divine operation. If the Church shine, it is only by the energy of the Spirit, and that energy is founded upon Christ, who, in pursuance of God's eternal counsel, became, in His sacrifice and priesthood, the spring and power of every thing to His Church. All is of God. Whether we look within that mysterious vail, and behold the ark with its cover, and the two significant figures attached thereto; or if we gaze on that which lay without the vail—the pure table and the pure candlestick, with their distinctive vessels and instruments—all speak to us of God, whether as revealed to us in connection with the Son or the Holy Ghost.
Christian reader, your high calling places you in the very midst of all these precious realities. Your place is not merely amid "the patterns of things in the heavens," but amid "the heavenly things themselves." You have "boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus;" you are a priest unto God; "the showbread" is yours; your place is at "the pure table," to feed on the priestly food, in the light of the Holy Ghost. Nothing can ever deprive you of those divine privileges,—they are yours forever. Let it be your care to watch against every thing that might rob you of the enjoyment of them. Beware of all unhallowed tempers, lusts, feelings, and imaginations. Keep nature down; keep the world out; keep Satan off. May the Holy Ghost fill your whole soul with Christ. Then you will be practically holy and abidingly happy,—you will bear fruit, and the Father will be glorified, and your joy shall be full.
CHAPTER XXVI.
The section of our book which now opens before us contains the instructive description of the curtains and coverings of the tabernacle, wherein the spiritual eye discerns the shadows of the various features and phases of Christ's manifested character. "Moreover, thou shalt make the tabernacle with ten curtains of fine twined linen, and blue, and purple, and scarlet: with cherubim of cunning work shalt thou make them." Here we have the different aspects of "the Man Christ Jesus." The "fine twined linen" prefigures the spotless purity of His walk and character; while the "blue, the purple, and the scarlet" present Him to us as "the Lord from heaven," who is to reign according to the divine counsels, but whose royalty is to be the result of His sufferings. Thus we have a spotless Man, a heavenly Man, a royal Man, a suffering Man. These materials were not confined to the "curtains" of the tabernacle, but were also used in making "the vail" (ver. 31), "the hanging for the door of the tent" (ver. 36), "the hanging for the gate of the court" (chap. xxvii. 16), "the cloths of service and the holy garments of Aaron" (chap. xxxix. 1). In a word, it was Christ everywhere, Christ in all, Christ alone.[12]
The "fine twined linen," as expressive of Christ's spotless manhood, opens a most precious and copious spring of thought to the spiritual mind; it furnishes a theme on which we cannot meditate too profoundly. The truth respecting Christ's humanity must be received with scriptural accuracy, held with spiritual energy, guarded with holy jealousy, and confessed with heavenly power. If we are wrong as to this, we cannot be right as to any thing. It is a grand, vital, fundamental truth; and if it be not received, held, guarded, and confessed as God has revealed it in His holy Word, the entire superstructure must be unsound. Nothing can be more deplorable than the looseness of thought and expression which seems to prevail in reference to this all-important doctrine. Were there more reverence for the Word of God, there would be more accurate acquaintance with it; and, in this way, we should happily avoid all those erroneous and unguarded statements which surely must grieve the Holy Spirit of God, whose province it is to testify of Jesus.
When the angel had announced to Mary the glad tidings of the Saviour's birth, she said to him, "How shall this be, seeing I know not a man?" Her feeble mind was utterly incompetent to enter into, much less to fathom, the stupendous mystery of "God manifest in the flesh." But mark carefully the angelic reply—a reply, not to a sceptic mind, but to a pious, though ignorant, heart.—"The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee; wherefore, also, that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God." (Luke i. 34, 35.) Mary, doubtless, imagined that this birth was to be according to the principles of ordinary generation; but the angel corrects her mistake, and, in correcting it, enunciates one of the grandest truths of revelation. He declares to her that divine power was about to form A REAL MAN—"the second Man—the Lord from heaven"—One whose nature was divinely pure, utterly incapable of receiving or communicating any taint. This holy One was made "in the likeness of sinful flesh," without sin in the flesh. He partook of real bona fide flesh and blood without a particle or shadow of the evil thereto attaching.