MANY of us here are interested in the subject of sanctification and consecration. Do you and I want to know how to be consecrated and sanctified? Let us pay attention to this chapter and we will see, for the way the priests were sanctified is a type of our sanctification, (ver. 3). These loaves were put into on basket: we all share in one Christ; in Him we have all the same blessing. Aaron was anointed with the oil before the blood was shed (ver. 7). Thus also Christ was anointed without blood, but we must have the blood first. The first offering was the sin offering (ver. 14). Sin must first be put away. In Lev. 1, God puts the burnt offering first and the sin offering last. We need to see the sin offering first, and thus we have it here. Notice the three offerings in the order in which they were. The sin offering outside of the gate, " He suffered without the gate." Then the burnt offering, and then the consecration offering. The blood of this, third offering, the "ram of consecration," was taken and put upon the extremity of the priest's ear, hand and foot; teaching us thus that we are consecrated to God by virtue of, and to the extent of the blood both as regards the mind, the acts and the walk. The blood of Jesus has set apart the believer thus to God, and the blood of Jesus is the measure of that consecration. In the sin offering it is the cross applied to our sin-it is borne away by it: in the burnt offering it is the cross as regards our acceptance-we are perfected forever by it. In the consecration offering it is the cross as regards our relationship to the world-we are crucified by it, separated forever from the world, and consecrated to God. Then Moses sprinkled with the blood and oil them and their garments, " and he shall be hallowed, and his garments, and his sons, and his sons' garments with him."
Bathed first (and only once) in water (verse 4); second, ' the blood applied; and thirdly, the oil. In the same way there is a three-fold sanctification. The water is here placed first-conversion; next the blood-my sins put away; and then the oil (the Holy Spirit), bringing the sweet intelligence of Christ to my soul.
Now we come to that which is most especially consecration. It is not our giving to God, but God giving to us, The Hebrew word for consecrate means to "fill the hands of." The blood shed and the oil sprinkled, the hands of Aaron and his sons were filled. Thus he was installed a priest. Then, afterward, "Thou shalt receive them of their hands, and burn them upon the altar for a burnt offering, for a sweet savor before the Lord." Now that is consecration. People talk about giving to God. What have I to give to God as a poor sinner? God gave me Christ, and the more my soul is tilled with Christ the more I am consecrated to God and separated from the things of the world. Worship is not singing and playing an organ; worship itself is the heart's pouring itself out to God and thanking Him for what Christ is. Christ must be the theme of worship. I can only draw near to God through Christ. I stand before God in Christ, and Christ Himself is my offering.
Finally, Aaron and his sons fed on the things offered to God. That is priesthood and worship. Brought into God's presence by the blood, Christ is the theme of our praise, and Christ is the food of our souls.
CHAP. 30.-THE GOLDEN ALTAR.-It was placed before the veil; incense was to be burned on this. If we come to God as sinners, asking God to have mercy upon us, it is all very well, but it is not worship. On the golden altar incense only was offered. This altar is a type of Jesus Christ in glory. He is the altar upon which our worship is offered. The incense was to be kindled with fire from the altar of burnt offering. When Nadab and Abihu offered strange fire they fell dead. If anything kindles the flame of our worship to God but the sacrifice of Christ, it is offering strange fire. The knowledge of what Christ has done must be that which enkindles worship, or it will be but a fleshly form. It was put just here before the veil, on observe. Now we thank God that the veil is rent, and our incense now is offered in God's immediate presence. Having boldness now to enter into the holiest, let us draw near and offer the sacrifice of praise continually, even the fruit of our lips, giving praise to His name.
" The veil is rent, our souls draw near
Unto a throne of grace;
The merits of the Lord appear,
They fill the holy place.'
Ver. 7. The Holy Ghost for some reason connects the burning of the incense with the lighting of the lamps? Every fresh light the Holy Ghost gives us of Christ will create a fresh burst of incense to God. That is the difference between man's teaching and Divine teaching. If I am taught of God, and learn the precious things of Christ, every fresh thing I learn of Christ will make me more of a worshipper, whereas carnal teaching will but puff me up.
The Ark and the Mercy Seat.—It Was Made of Wood Overlaid With Gold. the Mercy Seat Was a Separate Thing and Made Entirely of Gold. the Cherubim We Know Not the Shape of, but Evidently They Were of Some Angelic Form. We Are Not Left to Guess What the Mercy Seat Means. in Rom. 3:2525Whom 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), We Are Told "Christ Is Set Forth a Propitiation (or Mercy Seat) Through Faith in His Blood." Every One Who Has Faith in the Blood of Christ Finds Mercy. Thus in the Fact of the Cherubim (Which Were Symbolic of God's Presence in Government) Being of the Same Substance As the Mercy Seat, We May Learn That God's Throne Is Now a. Throne of Grace. He Has Not a Throne of Judgment Now. Christ Came Down Here to Reign, but They ' Would Not Have Him. He Came As a King, and They Refused Him; He Went to the Cross, and God's Own Throne in Heaven Is Now Sprinkled With Blood, and It Invites the Sinner Near. We Know There Is No Throne of Judgment Now, a Blessed Thought for Every One of Us. If We Are Sons It Should Make Us Happy, If Sinners Ave Should Draw Near to God. at Present It Is Grace—" God Was in Christ' Reconciling the World Unto' Himself, Not Imputing Their Trespasses Unto Them " for the Present Time God Is Not Imputing the Sinner's Trespasses to Him, but by and by Every Idle Word Shall Be Imputed to the Sinner.
Let me remark as to what was inside of that ark. We are told in the ninth of Hebrews there were three things there-the golden pot that had manna, Aaron's rod that budded, and the tables of the covenant. God gave the law the first time on the mount, but, already broken by Israel, Moses threw it down and broke it. But when God gave it the second time He took care it should not be broken (Deut. 10.). Moses was to make this ark first; and in that it was to be put. The ark of course is Christ. We had the law over our heads, but Christ had it in His heart (Psa. 40). The moment I have Christ, there is an end of the law for righteousness. He paid the penalty that I owed to the broken law. The penalty was death; He died in my stead; thus Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth. Inside of that ark, underneath the golden mercy seat, were the two tables of stone now, the mercy seat covered it, and the blood was sprinkled there. The faces of those angelic forms were towards the mercy seat to where the blood was. God gazing down, as, it were, does not see the law that curses us, but He sees the blood. There was also the golden pot that had manna there. Christ was the true manna who came down from heaven to give life to the world. But here we have the manna, not as once, lying on the sand of the desert, but in the golden pot, for the bread which came down from heaven was rejected of men, but gone back to heaven He is still the food for our souls; we have a Christ in glory for our food. There was another thing there too: there was Aaron's rod that budded, and how that came to be there we are told in the 17th chapter of Numbers. It was put there to " make to cease" their murmuring. The Israelites had been murmuring.
How did God stop it? God would have had to kin every man, woman and child in order to stop them murmuring. He did not do that, however, but He told them to take, twelve rods, and the man's rod that He chose was to blossom. Aaron's rod bore fruit.
Aaron's rod was the type of the risen Christ, who alone ever bore fruit to God. The fruit-bearing rod was then laid up in the ark to "quite take away their murmurings from me that they die not." In the 23rd chapter of Numbers we have a peculiar expression, "He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither hath he seen perverseness in Israel." God did not see the murmuring of Israel, not because it was not there, but because He gazed down and saw the blood-sprinkled mercy-seat and the food and the rod that budded. Aaron's almond-yielding rod was a type of the risen Christ, who ever lives to intercede for us. The righteous One is there. If God looks down upon me here, He sees me every day failing and failing and failing, but He looks at Christ the perfect Man before Him. The very One who shed His blood to put away my sin is now my advocate. If I am a believer I am " accepted in the Beloved." It is thus God " makes to cease our murmuring from before Him. We are told in the 2nd of Colossians, In Him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and ye are complete in Him." There is nothing short of this. In Adam we all sinned and died and shared Adam's doom, but in Christ we share Christ s blessing. First I have a common portion as a member of Adam's race, and then also in Christ I have Christ's portion. And just as Christ does not grow any more perfect, we in him do not grow any more perfect. While I am here of course I grow more in knowledge-but as to our standing in Christ our position is ever the same. The veil is rent. Through the sacrifice of Christ we have a right to go to the very place that Christ has gone; our anchor is fixed into that within the veil-the Ark of the Covenant?
We have now solved the problem with which we started, " How can God bring a poor leper from outside the camp into His own very presence, and in a righteous way so as to glorify God, and also give the poor sinner perfect peace before Him?' We have found out how it is done. He is brought in through Christ the gate, h s sins put away at the brazen altar by the blood; he has had boldness to enter the very holiest; yes, he can enter everyplace where the blood has been sprinkled.
The Boards of the Tabernacle-Exodus. 26:15-30.
Typically the tabernacle has three aspects: Christ Himself (Heb. 9:1111But 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)); the heaven into which He has passed (Heb. 9:2424For 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: (Hebrews 9:24)); and of God's dwelling here- believers ( Heb. 3:66But Christ as a son over his own house; whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end. (Hebrews 3:6)). We will consider it now in the third aspect. First, as to the boards-they were all made of wood and overlaid with gold. I do not take gold to be a type of God's righteousness' as we have in the wall of the court, but a picture of that clothing we have of God in Christ; righteousness and everything else too (1 Cor. 1:3030But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption: (1 Corinthians 1:30)). It is something, more than being merely righteous. " We are accepted in the Beloved." We are clothed in Christ's own beauty. " Ye are complete in Hun." Once these boards were each of—them trees, and God had to send some one with a sharp ax to cut it down, and shape it, and place it there. These boards are now brought here to be God's house, and clothed with gold. One board could not say that he had more beauty than the rest, for they all had the same beauty, the beauty which God clothed them with. It is a sad mistake if one believer thinks that he is above another. We ought to boast in Christ, but not in ourselves, for all we have is in Him. Now, each of these boards had two tenons, and they were not planted in the sand, but in silver sockets. Silver Is a type of -redemption-it was the atonement money (Exod. 30:16; 38:2716And 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 30:16)
27And of the hundred talents of silver were cast the sockets of the sanctuary, and the sockets of the vail; an hundred sockets of the hundred talents, a talent for a socket. (Exodus 38:27)). If placed in innocence again we should fall immediately; if under law, we are cursed; we stand on a better ground-on the ground of being redeemed by the price Christ has paid. We find- believers are all gathered together, every one of them redeemed. And God had not only each of these standing in silver, but He had another way of making them one, otherwise they might not all be together. They might be all in the same place, but nothing to join them. So there were to be five bars made for each side, and one of these bars was to pass through the midst of the boards, reaching from end to end; a bar of the same material as the boards, and that went through the heart of each board, thus giving them all the same nature, so to speak. Now what makes Christians one? Every child of God has the same nature. If I am born of God, and you are born of God, we are all one. Then there were other bars. They were of the same material, made of wood and overlaid with gold. Now each board had rings placed in it, and the rings are emblematical of divine love. In Rom. 5 we have, "The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost who is given unto us." Each one has God's love in him. There was first the rings placed in the boards, and then the bars that went through the rings. Each one having the love of God in his heart, the Spirit of God would use that love to bind us all together. "Love is the bond of perfectness " (Col. 3:1414And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness. (Colossians 3:14)). Again (Col. 2:22That their hearts might be comforted, being knit together in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ; (Colossians 2:2)), " Your hearts may be knit together in love"-that is, divine love, the love of God shed abroad in our hearts. Human love is but a poor thing; it is the love that has sought us, and found us, and brought us together, that must keep us together. And it is a poor knot if love has not tied it.
Now, if 'I stop there, we would have twenty boards together, and eight together, and twenty more together, but that God should have them all one, we have rings placed over the corners binding the whole three sides together so that there should not be three separated sides, but all one. They were gathered around a central object. The center of all God's types here is the ark of the covenant-the ark of the testimony, where God's glory was. The ark was the grand object-they were all gathered around that. God has one center for all believers, and that is Christ. Christ would have all believers around Him. If every believer in this place had Christ for a center, how long would it be before all the sects would be left to themselves? All that man has made are other centers. Now, supposing these boards had a will of their own, and they were to act on that will, just as men have acted, what would be the result? Well, one board would say: " I am tired of standing up here all the time; I want to do something. I want to be useful and join a praying band or something; I feel I can do more outside of the gate." Two more go into some other society, and four or five more go out there and have a nice good time all to themselves. That may suit them all very well, but at the same time where has God's house gone? It might suit the boards very well, but it would not suit God. Then the only company that can count upon Christ's presence in the midst, are those who are gathered to the name of Christ. I do not say others are not Christians, but they are not gathered in the name of Christ. The number of the bars has also its significance. There were five, the number of weakness. Realized weakness has a wonderful power in holding saints together.