Christ in the Tabernacle

And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,

2 Speak unto the children of Israel, that they bring me an offering: of every man that giveth it willingly with his heart ye shall take my offering.

3 And this 7s the offering which ye shall take of them; gold, and silver, and brass,

4 And blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine linen, and goats’ hair,

5 And rams’ skins dyed red, and badgers’ skins, and shittim wood,

6 Oil for the light, spices for anointing oil, and for sweet incense,;

7 Onyx stones, and stones to be set in the ephod, and in the breastplate.

8 And let them make mea sanctuary; that I may dwell among them.

9 According to all that I shew thee, after the pattern of the tabernacle, and the pattern of all the instruments thereof, even so shall ye make 7.

10 §{ 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. Ex, xxxv.

HIS is the grandest of all the Old -~ Testament types of Christ. It was all one great object lesson of spiritual truth. In its wonderful furniture, priesthood and worship, we see with a vividness that we find nowhere else, the glory and grace of Jesus, and the privileges of His redeemed people. And as in the architect’s plan we can understand the future building better, even, than by looking at the building without the plan; so, in this pattern from the mount, we can understand as nowhere else, that glorious temple of which Christ is the corner stone, and we also, as living stones, are built up in Him a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to ‘‘ offer sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” I. The form and structure of the Tabernacle. — It was an oblong structure, about - forty-five feet long, and fifteen feet wide and high; very similarin size andproportions to the double parlors of an ordinary dwelling house. It was constructed of boards of shittim wood, a peculiarly indestructible material, overlaid with gold, and fastened with sockets and tenons of silver, brass, etc. It was covered with three tiers of skins, and a final interior lining of most costly curtains, embroidered and adorned with symbolical figures, of the highest beauty and spiritual significance. The external covering of the roof was of rough badgers’ skins, to protect it from the inclemency of the weather. The exact form of the roof is a matter of dispute, some believing it to have been pitched at an angle, and some an arched or a flat surface.

The Tabernacle itself was divided into two unequal chambers by magnificent curtains called The Vail. The inner chamber was a perfect cube, fifteen feet square. It contained the ark of the covenant, over which was the mercy seat, which was its lid, and consisted of a solid plate of gold. Then, springing from this, and formed of the same piece of solid gold, hovered the cherubim, symbolical figures representing the faces of the four typical forms of the animate creation — the man, the ox, the eagle, and the lion; while between the meeting wings of the cherubic figure shone the Shekinah, or visible Divine glory, the luminous cloud of transcendent brightness, which, perhaps, arose and expanded into the pillar of cloud and fire that hovered above the tabernacle, and led the march of Israel. This chamber was the Holy of Holies, God’s especial presence chamber and throne of grace and glory. None ever entered it except the high priest, and he only once a year.

The other division was twice as large, fifteen feet by thirty, and was called the Holy Place. It was open to the ministering priests only, but not to the common people; and it was separated from the outer court by The Door, a curtain, also of blue, purple and scarlet, which none but cleansed and consecrated priests might pass. Its articles of furniture were: the golden candlestick, which was its only light, there being no windows at all; the table of shew bread, covered with twelve loaves, crowned with pure frankincense, which were offered to God for one week, and then eaten by the priests, and renewed from Sabbath to Sabbath; and the golden altar of incense, with its accompanying censer, where pure frankincense was continually offered, and from which, once a year, on the great Day of Atonement, the high priest with the golden censer took burning coals, and ‘smoking incense in his hands, passed through the mysterious Vail, entered alone the Holy of Holies, and there made atonement for the people in the immediate presence of God.

Surrounding the Tabernacle was another court, an enclosure eighty-seven by one hundred and seventy-five feet, with an opening on the eastern side, called The

10 2. CHRISTICIN. =~

Gate. Into this court all the people might come.

Two objects of ceremonial worship stood here. Near the gate was the brazen Altar of burnt offering. Here the sacrifices of burnt offering were presented, the blood sprinkled, and. the fire kept ever burning, from which the altar of incense was supplied. All parts of the tabernacle had to be sprinkled with blood from this altar. It was the only way of access to the presence of God. Farther in was the brazen laver, a vast basin, perhaps with polished exterior, forming thus a mirror as well as a fountain, made from the metal mirrors of the women of Israel, and so enabling the priests at once to see their uncleanness in the metal, and then to wash it away in the water which it contained. It was for the purification of the priests as they entered the sanctuary, and no one could pass through the door until he had washed in. this fountain. The

gate of this enclosure’ was always open. It had no hangings, like the two inner doors. All might freely come into His courts and bring their offerings for sin and uncleanness.

Outside the gate was the camp of Israel, forming a square around the tabernacle of vast extent, three tribes on each side, the tribe of Judah being on the east, opposite to the entrance to the tabernacle gate. And just beyond, still farther out, there continually burned The Fire without the camp, where the bodies of the sin offerings were consumed, and also the refuse of the camp.

Such was this simple and wonderful structure, God’s first sanctuary, and the type of all that is sacred and precious in the person and work of Christ, and the privileges of our heavenly calling.

Il. The erection and subsequent history of the Tabernacle.~ — We find two accounts of the construction of the tabernacle in Exodus.” First, we have the tabernacle as it was plannedin heaven, and shown to Moses on the mount asa pattern. (Exodus xxv. to -xxxi.) This is the type of Christ set forth from eternity in the counsels of Divine love, our Redeemer prepared for us from before the foundation of the world, and revealed in successive types and prophecies, long before His actual incarnation and life on earth. - Moses built the tabernacle according to an actual model which God had shown him during the forty days on the mount. So Christ was born, lived, and died, in exact accordance with the prophetic picture of previous ages of revelation. Then, in Exodus, there is the dark interval of sorrow and rebellion (chapters XXxXii.and xxxiil. ), during which the people transgressed the covenant they had just entered into, and showed most painfully the need of the salvation which God had just been’ preparing. This is the type of man’s fall, and his failure under the old Dispensation. Christ had been already provided; but man must feel the need of the Divine salvation, by the actual experience of sin. It is touching beyond degree to know that all the time that man was rebelling against his God, God’s remedy was waiting in that mount of grace.

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