Resting on Redemption: Exodus 26:17-30

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We have spoken of how we are made the righteousness of God in Christ, and of our perfect standing in Him. It is so natural for us to be occupied with ourselves, and with our own unworthiness, that some might wonder how we could be brought into such a wonderful place of favor. A couple of weeks ago a young man was talking to a friend about the way of salvation. He told him that he was sure he was suitable to go straight to heaven to be with the Lord if he died. His friend replied, “You mean to say that you have been sinning for over forty years and that you can go straight to heaven: I don’t believe it.” The young man was able to tell him that his only title to glory was the blood of Christ which had cleansed him from all sin (1 John 1:77But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. (1 John 1:7)). This is exactly what was typified in the sockets of silver in which the boards stood.
The Silver of Redemption
The silver used to make these sockets was obtained from the redemption money about which we read in Exodus 30:11-1611And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, 12When 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. 13This they shall give, every one that passeth among them that are numbered, half a shekel after the shekel of the sanctuary: (a shekel is twenty gerahs:) an half shekel shall be the offering of the Lord. 14Every one that passeth among them that are numbered, from twenty years old and above, shall give an offering unto the Lord. 15The rich shall not give more, and the poor shall not give less than half a shekel, when they give an offering unto the Lord, to make an atonement for your souls. 16And 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 30:11‑16). Silver, therefore, speaks to us of the cost of our redemption. Now, of course, we know that we are “not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold ... but with the precious blood of Christ” (1 Peter 1:18-1918Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; 19But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: (1 Peter 1:18‑19)), and this is what the silver typified. Each board stood upon two sockets of silver into which were fitted two tenons, or hands, which held the boards upright. How beautifully this typifies the two hands by faith laying hold of what the Lord Jesus Christ accomplished for us at Calvary. We are utterly unworthy in ourselves, but it is through Christ’s mighty work of redemption and through the value of His shed blood, that we are now in a place of perfect acceptance and favor before God. Surely the thought of this makes us want to sing what another wrote many years ago,
“This is my story, this is my song
Praising my Saviour all the day long.”
Uniting Bars
When these boards were set up we have noticed that they were held in their places at the bottom by standing in these sockets of silver. In addition to this there were five bars of shittim wood overlaid with gold running along the sides, and there were loops of gold in the boards there, through which these bars passed. The standing was on silver (redemption ground) alone, but the five bars above kept them in their places according to God’s plan. Five speaks to us of weakness, and perhaps these boards would typify to us the gifts which an ascended Christ has given to the church for our edification and blessing (Ephesians 4:11-1611And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; 12For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: 13Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: 14That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; 15But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ: 16From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love. (Ephesians 4:11‑16)). God has given us the written word of the apostles and prophets, and we rejoice that there are still those who are gifted to evangelize, as well as pastors who care for the saints, and teachers to instruct them in the truth.
When the Lord saved us He did not want us to become independent of all other believers, any more than the boards of the tabernacle were independent of one another. When we accepted Christ as our Saviour we became members of the one body of Christ — “members one of another” (Rom. 12:55So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another. (Romans 12:5)). Undoubtedly the precious truth of this has been lost to many of God’s dear children, but God’s purpose is that all the gifts should be working together, though in a sense of their own weakness, like the five boards, to “keep the unity of the Spirit, that the building may be “fitly joined together,” (overlaid with gold and with bars of gold) according to the character of God.
Further Meditation
1. What does the silver teach us?
2. One of the bars was twice as long as the other two. Which one and why?
3. The Glories of Christ by H. F. Witherby gives some wonderful and very simple instruction on the tabernacle that would help in studying it further.