The curtain hung at the front of the tabernacle formed the entrance into the holy place as the veil did into the most holy. The materials were the same, but there was this striking difference in the two: no cherubim were embroidered on the "hanging for the door." If the cherubim on the veil would speak of Christ in His judicial character, their absence on the door would present Christ to us in grace. Those within the door could look without fear on that which spoke of judgment, for they were there in all the value of the blood that had been shed. Such was not the case with those without; to them judgment meant death. But God's attitude toward the sinner is that of grace, and so in His merciful provision the cherubim were not wrought upon the door. God in Christ is now reconciling sinners to Himself; those who come to God through Christ, the door, have all fear of judgment taken from them, for they know that Christ has suffered in their stead. "Shall not come into judgment," is true to such (John 5:2424Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life. (John 5:24)).
The veil was hung upon four pillars of shittim wood overlaid with gold. Pillars form the support of a house. In the address to Philadelphia (Rev. 3), the overcomers are made pillars in the temple of God; that is, a special portion and special blessing are accorded them. In the midst of weakness on every hand, Christ has been their object, and they have kept His Word and have not denied His name; all this He rewards in a marked way. The pillars supporting the veil would then speak of those who are found cleaving with purpose of heart to the Lord, and who are living epistles known and read of all men.
The hanging for the door was supported by five pillars. The number five speaks of responsibility toward man; the entrance to God's presence must be through the One who has perfectly filled this place of responsibility. The sockets, or bases, of the four pillars for the veil, were of silver, showing that those who stand for Christ, stand on redemption ground. The sockets of the five pillars, for the hanging of the door, were of brass which speaks of God's righteousness in testing man. God would have the walk of His people to be in keeping with the character of the One through whom they enter His presence-the One who so fully filled His place of responsibility toward man, and so perfectly answered to God's righteous testing.
The Brazen Altar, or altar of burnt offering
Passing from the holy place into the court, the first thing that would meet the view would be the laver. As this is a vessel used in approaching God, it is not described until after the priesthood is established. The altar of burnt offerings is next brought before us in the Word. This altar, although made of the same kind of wood as the ark and other furniture inside the golden walls, yet was unlike these pieces, for it was overlaid with brass, while they were overlaid with gold. Both of these metals are symbols of divine righteousness; the one is righteousness suited to God's nature, which is love; the other, as already noticed, is righteousness which tests man in responsibility, and must therefore be told out in judgment, for sin is ever found with man, and "The wages of sin is death." But judgment is God's "strange work" (Isa. 28:2121For the Lord shall rise up as in mount Perazim, he shall be wroth as in the valley of Gibeon, that he may do his work, his strange work; and bring to pass his act, his strange act. (Isaiah 28:21)). We get then God's righteousness told out in love, inside, where gold met the eye on every hand. Outside, where the sinner approached in his sins, righteousness is manifested in judgment, and therefore the altar is brazen. The various altars mentioned in Scripture were erected for the purpose of offering offerings, all of which pointed to the one perfect Offering. At the cross of Christ we get the substance of which other offerings were but the shadow. The brazen altar is a symbol of that cross, and this must be the meeting place for the sinner and God. When one approached the brazen altar leading an animal that was to be slain at that altar, he owned in this act that he was a sinner, and that judgment was his due. When the victim is slain and his body burned, God's righteousness in the punishment of sin is told out. Jesus, the Lamb of God, sustained the stroke of judgment for all who came unto God by Him. When atonement was made, God could not only righteously receive back and place at His right hand the One who had glorified Him as to the whole question of sin, but also in value of the "precious blood" that had been shed, He could justify the guilty sinner who would come to Jesus.
When man's hatred and Satan's venom were combined to do their deadly work, and nature's throes added to the awful gloom, the grace of that holy One shone out in strongest relief—-"Father,
forgive them; for they know not what they do." 0 wonder of wonders! "Righteousness and peace have kissed each other." God's righteousness in the punishment of sin has been told out; His deep, unfathomable love in receiving the sinner is made known, for with the yielding of that precious life, the veil is rent and peace is made. Yes, "Mercy and truth are met." Mercy is toward the sinner; truth is meted out in the judgment of sin. What grace! What love! Reader, can you say, All this for me?
"Stroke upon stroke, as God's wrath awoke,
Fell upon Thee for me."
Of the great ones who have trodden this earth, who could say, "Come unto Me"? Not one! Who could say, "I am the way"? Not one! Who among men was sinless? Not one! Who could save? Not one. The Christ of God is the only one "mighty to save," the only "way" to the Father, the only sinless One. "What think ye of Christ?"
At the brazen altar, both sin and burnt offerings were offered, but an important difference was made in the manner of offerings. In both cases the hands of the offerer were laid upon the victim; in both cases the victim was slain at the altar, but, while the burnt offering was wholly burnt upon the altar of burnt offering, the body of the sin offering, after the fat was removed, was carried outside the camp and burnt in a clean place. The burnt offering was a sweet savor offering showing the acceptableness of Christ to God; and never was that blessed One more acceptable than when, amidst the awful agonies of the cross, He was glorifying God about the question of sin. The sin offering presents another phase of the death of Christ. It is not classed among the sweet savor offerings. Sin is abhorrent to God; its desert is death. With the laying on of hands the sins of the people are confessed, and transferred to the victim. Thus "made sin," it is an unclean thing, and its body cannot be laid upon the altar. It must be carried outside the camp to be burned. "For the bodies of those beasts, whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin, are burned without the camp. Wherefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people with His own blood, suffered without the gate." Heb. 13:11, 1211For the bodies of those beasts, whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin, are burned without the camp. 12Wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without the gate. (Hebrews 13:11‑12).
The hill of Calvary was outside the gates of Jerusalem, which was called "the holy city," and there the cross was set up, for Jesus, as a sin offering, might not suffer within the gate. The One "who knew no sin" was there "made sin for us" that we "might be made the righteousness of God in Him" (2 Cor. 5:2121For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. (2 Corinthians 5:21)). Here the depths of human need were met, and the heart of God was told out. Christ, made sin for us, suffered without the gate; and bearing our sins in His own body on the tree, He was forsaken of God. The unutterable love of God for the perishing sinner is seen at the cross as nowhere else-"He spared not His own Son." Here, as nowhere else, His hatred of sin is seen in His smiting that sinless One, "made sin." God must have His portion in the sin offering, for "nothing in the whole work of Jesus so marked His positive holiness, as His bearing sin. He who knew no sin alone could be made sin.... It was a total consecration of Himself, at all cost, to God's glory." God was glorified; God was honored. In order that a sweet savor should go up to Him from this offering, the fat, which is the "energy and force of the inward will," which in Jesus was wholly devoted to God, was taken from the animal before it was carried out of the camp, and was burnt on the altar. It ascended in all the preciousness of Christ to God.
The position of the brazen altar was significant; it was just inside the gate; those from the outside world entered and approached God through the altar. Christ when on the cross, had, so to speak, left the outside world. He hung between heaven and earth; "I, if I be lifted up from the earth"; the only way of approach to God is through the lifted-up One. Since the tabernacle and its vessels of ministry are spoken of as "patterns of things in the heavens," we may be warranted in comparing "the holiest" to the "third heaven," and the court where the brazen altar stood, to the "first heaven," or the "firmament above," the altar being, so to speak, between the outside world (earth) and the court (heaven above).
The Court of the Tabernacle
Hangings of fine twined linen enclosed this court (vv. 9-19). In the order in which these things are revealed to us, the court made the third division of the tabernacle. First came the "holy of holies"—the innermost room—next the "holy place," and now "the court." It was one hundred cubits long and fifty cubits broad. There were twenty pillars on each side, and ten on each end. The east end, at which the entrance was placed, had three pillars on each side of the gate, and four for the gate—sixty pillars in all. On fifty-six of these pillars were hangings of fine twined linen, and on the four for the gate, the hangings were the same as those for the door. That which enclosed this sanctuary of God would thus speak of the purity of Christ. And the bright and beautiful hangings of the gate would convey the thought that all who would approach must draw near in the sense of what was becoming to God. He had provided but one entrance, and that of such character as to speak of the glories and beauties of Christ. Many seek to climb up some other way rather than by entering through Christ, the Door that God has opened for those who will to enter. But such will never enter the courts above; they will fall back, baffled in their useless attempts. Over the gate which entered the court might be written, "I am the way"; over the door into the holy place, "I am the door"; over the veil which led to "the holiest," "the new and living way." The very common expression that all denominations are but different ways to heaven, will not stand the test of Scripture, for Jesus says, "I am the way... no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me." John 14:66Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. (John 14:6).
An ecclesiastical position, whether right or wrong, can never be a way to heaven. Christ is the way. God will have no entrance but through His Son. This is typified in the one entrance to the tabernacle.
Other blessed and important thoughts are given us in the sockets, fillets, chapiters, pins, and cords, though we will not attempt to enter into all these details. The sockets were of brass so that at the base, all around the court, was found the mark of God in righteousness, testing man. While the knowledge of this would be necessary in approaching God, fear would be removed when the one who entered would look upon the silver fillets, chapiters, and hooks, which would speak of redemption. (Exod. 38:2828And of the thousand seven hundred seventy and five shekels he made hooks for the pillars, and overlaid their chapiters, and filleted them. (Exodus 38:28).) All God's righteous testing was fully met in redemption. How blessed! God has come to man, revealing Himself in Christ, and now man can approach God through Christ.
The pins and cords also have a voice: they were used to hold the boards of the tabernacle, and the pillars of the court, in position. Looking at the boards and pillars as symbols of all Christians, the pins and cords would picture to us that needful word, "Kept by the power of God." 1 Pet. 1:55Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. (1 Peter 1:5). How could these boards or pillars stand without the cords? And how could the Christian stand in a difficult position, tempted from without and tempted from within, were he not kept by the power of God! But while kept of God, there is also a responsibility on the part of the Christian which must not be overlooked, though not prefigured in the pins and cords. God's Word is given to be the guide; and walking in the light of it the believer can say with the Psalmist, "By the word of Thy lips I have kept me from the paths of the destroyer." Psalm 17:44Concerning the works of men, by the word of thy lips I have kept me from the paths of the destroyer. (Psalm 17:4).