FIRST LINE OF ILLUSTRATION
From the Gate to the Mercy Seat
The gate itself, Ex. 27:1616And 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. (Exodus 27:16), was a hanging of 20 cubits long and 5 cubits high, "answerable to the hangings of the court," Ex. 38:1818And 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. (Exodus 38:18), made of fine twined linen, and wrought with blue, purple, and scarlet. This was the material of the veil, which Heb. 10:2020By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh; (Hebrews 10:20) tells us was His flesh. The three colors decorating it are the same as for the door of the building, and for the veil, but this latter has also cherubim, which are not found on the door or on the gate. Blue is the color of the heavens; purple is the Gentiles' color; while scarlet is the national color of Israel.
There is a remarkable change of color found in 2 Chron. 2:7, 147Send me now therefore a man cunning to work in gold, and in silver, and in brass, and in iron, and in purple, and crimson, and blue, and that can skill to grave with the cunning men that are with me in Judah and in Jerusalem, whom David my father did provide. (2 Chronicles 2:7)
14The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan, and his father was a man of Tyre, skilful to work in gold, and in silver, in brass, in iron, in stone, and in timber, in purple, in blue, and in fine linen, and in crimson; also to grave any manner of graving, and to find out every device which shall be put to him, with thy cunning men, and with the cunning men of my lord David thy father. (2 Chronicles 2:14), and 3:14, where Solomon employs not scarlet, but crimson upon the veil of the temple. The Chronicles narrative of the temple seems to have a millennial connection and bearing, with which this altered color specially agrees, or even indicates. Of old, Israel was in no way linked with the Gentile, and purple and scarlet did not rightly mix.
In the millennium it will be, "Rejoice, oh ye nations, with His people," Deut. 32:4343Rejoice, O ye nations, with his people: for he will avenge the blood of his servants, and will render vengeance to his adversaries, and will be merciful unto his land, and to his people. (Deuteronomy 32:43), and the nations are all to come up and keep the feast of tabernacles, Zech. 14:16-1916And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles. 17And it shall be, that whoso will not come up of all the families of the earth unto Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, even upon them shall be no rain. 18And if the family of Egypt go not up, and come not, that have no rain; there shall be the plague, wherewith the Lord will smite the heathen that come not up to keep the feast of tabernacles. 19This shall be the punishment of Egypt, and the punishment of all nations that come not up to keep the feast of tabernacles. (Zechariah 14:16‑19). So it appears in view of this that Israel will not be known by scarlet, but by scarlet tinged with purple, which is crimson; the Gentiles' purple abiding unchanged.
Now these three colors upon the gate, the heavenly, the Gentiles', and Israel's, are decorations having their counterparts in the glories of the person of our Lord; and they may be clearly seen to be analogous to His three titles: blue, the heavenly color, the Son of God; purple, the Gentiles' color, the Son of Man; and scarlet, Israel's national color, the Son of David.
His triple glory so displayed upon the linen of the gate, tells us of what was essential in His Person, as related to heaven, and to the two great divisions of mankind, for whose sake He is gate.
As we come to the gate then, we find in Him who is the true gate into "Holy Place" (the enclosure separated, i.e. holy, from the world), a distinct connection with us outside, whether Jew or Gentile, and also with that sphere of heavenly privileges inside, to which he introduces us. It is by Him alone that we get any of the advantages of Christendom. Nor ought we lightly to esteem what it is to have the common instruction in the broad truths of Scripture that surround us. It is strongly marked in 1 Cor. 7:1414For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband: else were your children unclean; but now are they holy. (1 Corinthians 7:14), a passage much debated, but simple after all.
“For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband, else were your children unclean; but now are they holy.”
It is just the difference between the two positions A and B, on our plan. Those at Corinth to whom the Apostle wrote were at first, as at A, unbelievers and in the natural darkness of idolatry. But when the gospel reached Corinth, the wife (he supposes) was brought into the privilege and responsibility of the place B on hearing the good news, and further into the place C as she owned her need and received the gift of God by faith. But what then about her husband—is he still at A? No; God sees him to be at B by reason of his wife. The news by her, however feebly carried, lands him in the position of one who hears the gospel; he is no longer in the old darkness, but is separated (i.e., sanctified) from it. He is, in the terms of this verse, a sanctified unbeliever. It has been repeatedly said that that is an unheard of thing—an impossible thing. Let us read the verse again, "the unbelieving husband is sanctified," and that while he still unbeliever. Mark the effect, too; the children are not now unclean, as children would have been who, under the law, had one parent Gentile and one Israelite; but under grace that is altered and the offspring of one converted, and one unconverted parent, are declared to be holy; i.e., separated, out from the darkness and into the light, with the privileges of knowledge, and with responsibilities as they grow up accordingly. In the language of our picture line, they are born at B.
But none the less are they there solely through Him who took not on Him angels', but the seed of Abraham, and so became, through death, our gate into the sphere of gospel privileges.
Some confusion is at times made between the gate and the door. The latter term is rightly associated with our Lord's words in John 10:99I 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 door, by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out and find pasture." But the gate must be carefully distinguished from salvation, which needs gate and much more. While also the door of the tabernacle does not embrace so much as does the term door in our Lord's words. The door of John 10:99I 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), involves and includes the gate, but not the gate the door.
There was a difference in measure between these two hangings which we must notice. The gate is stated to be 20 cubits long and 5 cubits high; the door appears to be the size of the end of the building, or 10 cubits wide, and 10 cubits high. Each of fine twined linen, each carrying the same colors, but the gate half the height of the door and twice the width, but both of 100 cubits superficial measure.
The different meanings in scripture of the two numbers, 5 and 10 will be found exemplified in the gate and the door. Five commonly indicates some responsibility between man and man, while 10 relates rather to responsibility towards God. Thus five materials compose the image in Dan. 2, representing the highest human responsibility in the rule by man over men. Divine rule over man is expressed in 10 commandments, which epitomize man's responsibility to God. Tithes are rendered to God, but the Egyptians rendered a fifth of their produce from the land to Pharaoh, Gen. 47:24, 2624And it shall come to pass in the increase, that ye shall give the fifth part unto Pharaoh, and four parts shall be your own, for seed of the field, and for your food, and for them of your households, and for food for your little ones. (Genesis 47:24)
26And Joseph made it a law over the land of Egypt unto this day, that Pharaoh should have the fifth part; except the land of the priests only, which became not Pharaoh's. (Genesis 47:26). Ten gerahs were given for atonement money by each Israelite to God, i.e., half a shekel, Ex. 30:1212When 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. (Exodus 30:12), but when Saul would become indebted to Samuel, 1 Sam. 9:88And the servant answered Saul again, and said, Behold, I have here at hand the fourth part of a shekel of silver: that will I give to the man of God, to tell us our way. (1 Samuel 9:8), he gave him as a present five gerahs, i.e., a quarter of a shekel.
In harmony with these uses of "five" and "ten," the gate 5 cubits high, will be connected with a change of responsibility among men, and the door with such a change more distinctly towards God. Entering by the gate a man is brought into special advantages as compared with his fellows, but is not saved by them yet; brought in by Christ the door, he is saved, and has the liberty and joy of the access to God.
Inside the gate he stands in what is called "the Court of the Tabernacle of the congregation," or "holy place," Lev. 6:16, 2616And the remainder thereof shall Aaron and his sons eat: with unleavened bread shall it be eaten in the holy place; in the court of the tabernacle of the congregation they shall eat it. (Leviticus 6:16)
26The priest that offereth it for sin shall eat it: in the holy place shall it be eaten, in the court of the tabernacle of the congregation. (Leviticus 6:26). It is 100 cubits long, and 50 cubits in breadth, Ex. 27:9-189And 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: 10And the twenty pillars thereof and their twenty sockets shall be of brass; the hooks of the pillars and their fillets shall be of silver. 11And 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. 12And for the breadth of the court on the west side shall be hangings of fifty cubits: their pillars ten, and their sockets ten. 13And the breadth of the court on the east side eastward shall be fifty cubits. 14The hangings of one side of the gate shall be fifteen cubits: their pillars three, and their sockets three. 15And on the other side shall be hangings fifteen cubits: their pillars three, and their sockets three. 16And 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. 17All the pillars round about the court shall be filleted with silver; their hooks shall be of silver, and their sockets of brass. 18The 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. (Exodus 27:9‑18), standing in the midst of the camp of Israel; it is formed by white linen hangings or curtains, carried by pillars which have sockets of brass (copper), hooks and fillets of silver, and their chapiters overlaid with silver. No statement is made as to the material of the pillars, but in Ex. 26:32,3732And 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. (Exodus 26:32)
37And 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 26:37), the pillars of the door and of the veil are said to be of shittim wood, nor does there appear to be any other material among the offerings than shittim wood, of which they could be formed. The curtains were 5 cubits high, i.e.—reckoning the cubit as the Egyptian cubit about 21 inches:—they were about 8 feet 9 inches high. This would exclude all who were outside from seeing what was being done inside, and make what was truly a separated, or holy place. There is no need to confound this with the first apartment of the tabernacle building, though too frequently this name, holy place, is applied to it. In the text of our A.V. the word "place" is printed in the regular Roman type when the court is spoken of, and correctly represents the original Hebrew, but usually no article "the" is prefixed to it, (so making "holy place" a name) while "place" is printed in italics when “the holy" is spoken of, and should not be there.
In these pages this difference will be observed throughout, and the word place will not be used save for the court.
It is important to maintain the true character of the court. It is holy. It is not common ground, but separated from the common ground of the camp, and that not by a network curtain, but by a curtain of fine twined linen. It is the same material as that which is used for the high priest's dress, and formed an effectual screen from the camp. Whatever was taken for God's service was holy; it must be, and be kept, separate from the world. Questions as to sin, as well as worship and communion, were dealt with here, not on worldly ground. Some have set the brazen altar outside the gate, but Ex. 40:3333And he reared up the court round about the tabernacle and the altar, and set up the hanging of the court gate. So Moses finished the work. (Exodus 40:33) precludes that. Our Lord indeed tells us, "and I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto Me," John 12:3232And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me. (John 12:32), and “this He said, signifying what death He should die," verse 33. It was not upon the ground, but lifted up from it, that our Lord died, in the first heaven; and the type, to prefigure that, must put the vessel of the fire of judgment inside the gate, in "holy place.”
It was but a small enclosure, about 175 feet long, east to west, and 87 feet 6 inches wide north to south.
An idea of its actual size would be given by enclosing the two fountain basins in Trafalgar Square, which would include a space about as wide as "holy place,” but somewhat too long for the proper length of it: In an approximate proportion to this, all London would represent the camp.
The construction of the enclosure was of fine twined linen curtains, carried on cords (Num. 4:2626And the hangings of the court, and the hanging for the door of the gate of the court, which is by the tabernacle and by the altar round about, and their cords, and all the instruments of their service, and all that is made for them: so shall they serve. (Numbers 4:26)) from pillar to pillar. The pillars were 60 in all. Primarily, Christ displaying righteousness of life will be seen in the white linen, Rev. 19:88And 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), and His person human and divine in the wood and brass, while the atonement silver on the chapiters will indicate His Savior character. The number 60, which is 5x12, tells of complete administration (12) in proper responsibility towards man (5).
And what a picture this is. The Son of God in the midst of a world of evil, the faithful and true witness, in whom was no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth, perfect towards man in the spotlessness of His life, the true light that shone in the darkness, and the only one who could make atonement and be man's Redeemer.
Again, in the five twelve’s of pillars, the 12 tribes of Israel, five times repeated, may be seen as in their special position of separation from all other nations, to be witness to the one God on the earth. This was their national responsibility before all the world, as a peculiar people for God, Ex. 19:5, 65Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine: 6And 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 19:5‑6). A study of the list of the families composing the nation, given in Num. 26, will show their number to amount to 55. This, however, was at the close of their wilderness journeys, when serious failures had been seen amongst them. A reference to Ex. 6, which is at the time of their adoption out of the house of bondage, gives us four more Levitical families, and one more in Simeon; so that when God began with them they were 60 families, a number expressing complete administration in responsibility towards man, which was the exact nature of the position they were to take up in the midst of the world, not an administration of government, but of testimony for God. Accordingly the pillars are socketed on Divine power, and are maintained upright and steady by the same; i.e., brass sockets and brass pins or tent pegs. The silver on them declares their redemption, and as such they were to uphold and display the fine twined linen.
The term "filleted" has given rise to a marked difference of treatment of the pillars of "holy place," at the hands of students. Many have taken the Hebrew word, which is connected with "binding," to intimate a construction which binds the pillars to one another when set up. This they have done by carrying a silver bar from pillar to pillar all round the court. They have further utilized this by suspending the linen curtains from it. The utmost quantity of silver available for the filleting, including the silver hooks and the overlaying of the chapiters with silver, is about 2½ cubic inches to each pillar. This would not furnish even a wire of sufficient substance to be so applied, when the hooks are made and the chapiters overlaid.
It seems, therefore, far more probable that the binding was not that of pillar to pillar, but rather the binding round of the upper part of each pillar, where, in hot sun, wood posts are liable to split open. The suspension of the curtains is fully provided for by the cords of the curtains, which are distinct from the cords of the pillars. Compare Num. 4:2626And the hangings of the court, and the hanging for the door of the gate of the court, which is by the tabernacle and by the altar round about, and their cords, and all the instruments of their service, and all that is made for them: so shall they serve. (Numbers 4:26) with verse 22. Indeed this provision excludes the thought of silver bars supporting the curtains.
Once more, taking a single pillar, we have a picture of an individual established in Divine power, with the helmet of salvation on his head, standing before the world for the display of Christ in practical righteousnesses of life. This is one of the chief reasons for which a Christian is left on earth after his conversion. He is fit for heaven, Col. 1:1212Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: (Colossians 1:12), for Christ and Christ alone, is his fitness; it is not therefore that he may gain fitness to enter heaven's gate that he still lives here, but being fit to enter, he is allowed the further privilege of being an instrument in whose mortal body the life of Jesus may be manifested, 2 Cor. 4:10, 1110Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. 11For we which live are alway delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh. (2 Corinthians 4:10‑11); Phil. 1:2020According to my earnest expectation and my hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life, or by death. (Philippians 1:20).
A careful following of the text in Ex. 27 as to the pillars will give us, first on the south side 20; then on the west, 10, etc. This would make a commencement at the east end of the south side with the first pillar, and the curtain must continue from it towards the west, the second, third and remainder succeeding each other, until the twentieth pillar was set up, not at the corner of the court but short of it by the length of curtain which extended from one pillar to another.
The total length was 100 cubits of curtain, Ex. 27:99And 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: (Exodus 27:9), this divided by 20 will give 5 cubits for the distance of the pillars apart, and our twentieth pillar will be 5 cubits short of the corner. At the corner will stand the first pillar of the 10 on the west side, the tenth running northward, will again be set up, not at the north-west corner, but 5 cubits short of it, and at the corner itself the first pillar of the north side will stand, and its twentieth will be 5 cubits short of the north-east corner.
The same with the divisions of the east side, the first pillar is set at the angle, and the third is 10 cubits south of it, having 5 cubits of white linen curtain stretching to the first pillar of the gate. The fourth pillar of the gate will be 15 cubits south of the first, and beyond it, 5 cubits length of the gate curtain will extend to the first pillar of the three on the south side of the gate; then the third of these will stand 5 cubits short of the corner where the first pillar had been set up for the, south side. In this way, an unvarying distance of 5 cubits will be the space of each pillar from its neighbor, all round the court. Many have doubled the pillars at the corners, and at the two ends of the gate, but this makes an irregularity and confusion which cannot be true. It is a Divine ordering, and "God is not the author of confusion," 1 Cor. 14:3333For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints. (1 Corinthians 14:33). The curtain all round is 5 cubits high as we have before seen, so that each pillar carries 5 cubits square, that is its responsibility; such also is ours, who through grace have believed. It is written in 2 Cor. 3:33Forasmuch 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 fleshy tables of the heart. (2 Corinthians 3:3), "Ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ." The world looks at us and rightly expects consistency and righteousness in our life-the display of Christ. If we fail they charge that on us as Christians. They read a blotted "epistle." But if each one abode in Christ by occupation of heart with Him, beholding His face unveiled, 2 Cor. 3:1818But 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. (2 Corinthians 3:18), he would be changed into His image from glory to glory, and Christ would be manifested in our mortal flesh. Read that 18th verse, "But we all beholding the glory of the Lord (His) face unveiled, are transfigured into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Lord, the Spirit.”
Only so shall we display Him; it will not be by laborious efforts at consecration, but by accepting the blessed truth that we are already (and by God's act, not ours), saints, sanctified by His will and by His Spirit, and then looking steadily and ever at Christ, we shall become morally like Him, and re-express Him in life without effort.
That will be pillars carrying white fine twined linen curtains. It was once a blessed exhibition in His own person on earth some three-and-thirty years; now, it is for His saints to reproduce it out of hearts engaged with Him. No settled faith in atonement, no creed of security, no breaking bread every Lord's Day, no correctness of dispensational knowledge, will produce this; nothing short of personal love to a personal Christ holding the eyes of our hearts (Eph. 1:1818The 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, (Ephesians 1:18), lit.) fixed on Him, can ever effect it. But that will. How often has it done so in souls whose knowledge of truth has been feeble indeed.
Return Now to the Position B
We have seen that inside the gate is not mere common ground, but it is holy, i.e., separate from the general camp representing the world, and it is so separated for the purpose of observing ordinances of Divine appointment, and also for the erection of the tabernacle which would be God's habitation in the midst of His chosen people.
But that habitation and those ordinances while serving their object for the time being towards Israel, were intended to be, as we have already seen, types for us. So that the court, while it was the meeting place of the worshipping Israelite with the Jehovah of the covenant, and the scene of governmental dealings both as to persons and as to the entire nation, was at the same time a foreshadow, in its -ritual, of the spiritual worship of this present hour, and also of the marvelous ways in which government and grace together, deal now with our souls, whether looked at individually or as a spiritual house, built together and indwelt by the Spirit of God.
It is here that eternal love and wisdom testify free pardon upon the ground of sacrifice, to any and every rebel that truly owns the sin of his rebellion. It is the place where God testifies such an accomplished righteousness, that He can be just and yet justify the guilty; where sinners shall find that an infinite satisfaction has been rendered to His throne which they had infinitely dishonored. It is where eternal love, acting out of its own nature and desire, offers to its enemies blessings so rich that they shall reverse all their thoughts of God the Giver, and be won over to His side forever. It is where God offers "joy in God," instead of His justly dreaded wrath; peace instead of "troubled sea;" life instead of death; a conscience purged, instead of a "conscience of sins;" and an assured hope of eternal blessedness and glory, instead of "judgment to come," and "everlasting punishment." In short, He offers the fullness of Christ, God's all; Him in whom all grace and gift are treasured up, making all secure because "in Him," yet none the less the believer's own, now, to-day, to-morrow, through life, and for eternity.
Observe, too, that this offer is made to all, without distinction of persons. Num. 15:14-1614And if a stranger sojourn with you, or whosoever be among you in your generations, and will offer an offering made by fire, of a sweet savor unto the Lord; as ye do, so he shall do. 15One ordinance shall be both for you of the congregation, and also for the stranger that sojourneth with you, an ordinance for ever in your generations: as ye are, so shall the stranger be before the Lord. 16One law and one manner shall be for you, and for the stranger that sojourneth with you. (Numbers 15:14‑16), shows that strangers had the same liberty of approach to the altar as had the Israelite; one law was to be for all.
See also Lev. 22:18; 17:8, 10, 1318Speak unto Aaron, and to his sons, and unto all the children of Israel, and say unto them, Whatsoever he be of the house of Israel, or of the strangers in Israel, that will offer his oblation for all his vows, and for all his freewill offerings, which they will offer unto the Lord for a burnt offering; (Leviticus 22:18)
8And thou shalt say unto them, Whatsoever man there be of the house of Israel, or of the strangers which sojourn among you, that offereth a burnt offering or sacrifice, (Leviticus 17:8)
10And whatsoever man there be of the house of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn among you, that eateth any manner of blood; I will even set my face against that soul that eateth blood, and will cut him off from among his people. (Leviticus 17:10)
13And whatsoever man there be of the children of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn among you, which hunteth and catcheth any beast or fowl that may be eaten; he shall even pour out the blood thereof, and cover it with dust. (Leviticus 17:13). So in grace to-day; "there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon Him, for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved," Rom. 10:12,1312For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him. 13For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. (Romans 10:12‑13). Is there a condemned criminal, whom human government can no longer allow to live, and who is reviling the Lord of glory upon the cross? Let him turn and own that blessed One as "Lord," and the instant response is—"To-day thou shalt be with Me in Paradise." Is there an intelligent, cultivated Pharisee, trained in the highest quarters, zealous with a good conscience for the religion of his forefathers, carrying credentials from the high priest, on a persecuting crusade against those who have already trusted Christ? The revelation of that same Person to himself, turns his enmity into such devoted attachment, that henceforth, to him to live was Christ. This is the marvelous gospel so freely offered, that is the subject and purpose of the brazen altar and its sacrifices, which are straight before us on entering the gate.