The Sockets of Silver
We have now to consider the foundation and frame-work of the Tabernacle—the sockets of silver, the boards of shittim wood overlaid with gold, and the bars with their rings of gold; or, in other words, the foundation, the walls, and that which bound the walls together.
We have seen on former evenings that the Tabernacle was the first dwelling-place of God on this earth, and that it was typical of the Church, His present habitation among men. As the glory dwelt of old within the boards and curtains of that mystic tent in the wilderness, and nowhere else on earth, even so now is the presence of God known among those who “are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit” (Eph. 2:2222In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit. (Ephesians 2:22)). There was no Gentile temple, however gorgeous or magnificent, that could claim to be the dwelling-place of Jehovah of Israel. Their pomp and grandeur might attract the kings of the earth, and draw thousands to worship around their shrine, but the chosen habitation of the God of Heaven was an humble tent constructed according to His own pattern, and ordered according to His own will―the place where His authority was owned and His commands obeyed. We read concerning the building of it, that “behold they had done it as the Lord had commanded, even so had they done it” (Ex. 39:4343And Moses did look upon all the work, and, behold, they had done it as the Lord had commanded, even so had they done it: and Moses blessed them. (Exodus 39:43)); and the response of Jehovah to His people’s obedience is recorded in the thrilling words― “So Moses finished the work. THEN a cloud covered the tent of the congregation, and the glory of the Lord filled the Tabernacle” (Ex. 40:33, 3433And 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. 34Then a cloud covered the tent of the congregation, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. (Exodus 40:33‑34)). Blessed, but solemn, is the lesson here taught us. The place where the presence and power of the Lord are manifested must be one of His own constructing and ordering. The traditions and will of man must have no place or authority there. Had there been a pin or bar awanting, or a single knop or flower too many, I verily believe that the Lord would not have sanctioned the self-will or disobedience of the people by coming down to dwell in that Tabernacle. But everything was done according to His will, and He came down and took possession of His house with all His heart. The age in which we live is one of spiritual things; the habitation of God is therefore “a spiritual house,” and built of living stones (1 Peter 2:55Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. (1 Peter 2:5)). Such is the Church of the living God. It is composed of men and women who have life in Christ, and of no other. The unconverted have no place, no portion there. This is the first essential thing―that those who compose the building be living souls, all born from above. But this of itself is not enough. They must be builded together according to God’s pattern. They must he gathered unto Christ, and according to the Word of God. The order of their worship, their ministry, and rule must be “as the Lord hath commanded,” before they can expect or count upon the promised presence of the Lord, or be accounted His house. To be God’s house, His habitation, His church, is much more than is often supposed. It is a conditional privilege, and may be forfeited (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); Rev. 2:55Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent. (Revelation 2:5)), although the ultimate salvation of the individuals who compose it never can. Moreover, the introduction of false material, either in the case of false disciples or bad doctrine being brought into the building, will defile it and bring it under the present judgment of the Lord (1 Cor. 3:16,1716Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? 17If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are. (1 Corinthians 3:16‑17); 1 Peter 4:1717For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God? (1 Peter 4:17)). May our hearts and ways be so ordered before our God, beloved, that as individuals, He can come to dwell and walk with us, and then when we gather together unto His blessed Name, He may dwell and walk among us with complacency and joy.
We will now look at the foundation of silver. Each of the 48 boards stood upon two silver sockets. The shifting sand of the desert afforded no solid base on which to erect the shittim boards. They were built upon a foundation of God’s own providing. It was both valuable and enduring. If we turn to 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) we shall see whence this silver came. It was the atonement money of the people. In the day of Israel’s numbering, every man whose name went down in the Book of Numbers brought half a shekel of silver as a ransom for his soul. It mattered not of what tribe he was, or of what pedigree; he might be able to tell out all this with perfect clearness, yet his name could not be enrolled among the people of God until the atonement money had been paid. The evident meaning of the type is, that it is not natural birth or training that gives a man his place among the people of God, but REDEMPTION, of which this atonement silver is a type. Like the Jews in the days of our Lord’s life on earth who boasted, “We have Abraham to our father,” while they were utterly destitute of Abraham’s faith, so there are many now-a-days who make their boast in the religion of their forefathers, and garnish the tombs of the martyrs, while they reject the Son of God and deny the efficacy of His blood. But “it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul” (Lev. 17:1111For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul. (Leviticus 17:11)) and apart from that blood, and faith in Him who shed it, no name of any child of Adam can ever be written in “the Lamb’s book of life.” I beseech you to make no mistake on this point, dear friends. You are aware that all round there are men now preaching against the “blood of Christ” as that which brings the sinner nigh to God. They tell us that man is not a fallen being but that there is some good principle in him, which, if it be properly nursed and cared for, will develop and make the man all right at last. Now this would be salvation apart from the blood of Christ, apart from redemption and regeneration. It is as if one was to say, “Your name will be enrolled among the people of God without any atonement money being paid.” How utterly false is such a delusion! How awful the doom of the propagators of such a soul-destroying lie! Let us take heed and beware, lest the polluting stream come in contact with our spirits. Let God’s people turn their backs straight upon all these emissaries of Satan, and not lend their ears to such preaching, even although it may be popular and the preachers themselves fill high places in the churches and universities.
The poor and the rich were to pay alike. At other times, when the people were bringing their free-will offerings to the Lord, each gave according to his ability―the rich more, the poor less, but in the matter of atonement all were alike. It is a sweeping and a humbling truth that “there is no difference” (Rom. 3:2222Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference: (Romans 3:22)), but it is the truth of God, and men must submit to it. The prince and the beggar, the drunkard and the Church member, must be saved exactly in the same way.
It is to this atonement silver that allusion is made in 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) — “Ye were not redeemed with corruptible things such as silver and gold, but with the precious blood of Christ.” And again, “The Church of the Lord, which He purchased with His own blood” (Acts 20:28,28Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood. (Acts 20:28) R.V.). REDEMPTION, by the blood of Christ, is the foundation on which the sinner rests. As the tenon (or hand) of the board took hold of the silver socket, so does the sinner’s faith lay hold on Christ as his redemption. This is the rock on which he builds― “all other ground is sinking sand.” Let all make sure work that they are resting wholly and solely on Christ, and not partly on the sockets and partly on the sand of their own works. How easy it would have been in the bustle to slip the tenon past the socket and into the sand. Easier far for a sinner to miss Christ and build on something else. But the testing day is coming when the storm shall test every man’s foundation―and, O! what gaps may be made, even among those who were supposed to be the people of God.
In the rearing up of the Tabernacle the sockets of silver were the first part of the work. Before a board was reared or a pin put in the Merarites laid down on the bare sand of the desert the massive silver sockets. There could have been no building apart from these. Corresponding with this, we find the Apostle Paul going into the city of Corinth, when no vestige of a church was there, and preaching “Christ, and Him crucified” (1 Cor. 2:22For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified. (1 Corinthians 2:2)), as the foundation for the sinner. We read that “many believed” (Acts 18:88And Crispus, the chief ruler of the synagogue, believed on the Lord with all his house; and many of the Corinthians hearing believed, and were baptized. (Acts 18:8)), and he went on for “a year and six months teaching the Word of God among them.” This was the founding of the “Church of God which is at Corinth” (1 Cor. 1:22Unto the church of God which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours: (1 Corinthians 1:2)). The Apostle tells us in chapter 3:10, 11, that Christ was the foundation of their fellowship in the Church as He had been their salvation. The names of Paul and Apollos were not linked with Christ in the one or in the other, and this is the true foundation of the fellowship of the Church. We are “called unto the fellowship of His. Son Jesus Christ our Lord” (1 Cor. 1:99God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord. (1 Corinthians 1:9)). Sectarian names must have no part in it, nor sectarian doctrines either. These scatter and divide, but His name and His Word gather into one and build up and bind together. While we glory in His dear Name alone as the foundation of our eternal salvation, let us hold it dear also as the foundation of our fellowship one with another as the Lord’s redeemed.
The Boards of Shittim Wood
The framework of the Tabernacle consisted of boards of shittim wood. Twenty boards on the north side, twenty on the south, and eight along the western end. Each of the boards had two tenons by which it was connected with the two sockets of silver underneath.
Each of these boards represents a sinner saved by sovereign grace, who, having died as a child of Adam, has been raised from the dead, quickened into newness of life, and stands before God in Christ a member of the new creation. But let us see how all this was brought about. These boards were once in a different state. They were once stately acacia trees planted in the earth. The earth upheld them, its sap sustained them. Their roots were in and of the earth. But Jehovah had need of them for the building of His dwelling place, and the day came for the ax to be laid at their roots. They were cut down; they died to the earth; their connection with it was forever severed. And such is the case with everyone in God’s holy dwelling-place now being built upon the foundation Jesus Christ. They were once in and of the world, part of the old creation, men in the flesh. Their glory was like the “green bay tree,” their life was of the world: they minded earthly things. But the sharp and mighty ax of truth, powerful in the Spirit’s hand, fell upon the heart and conscience. It brought them low, confessing― “We all do fade as a leaf”; our hope “hath He removed like a tree” (Isa. 64:66But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away. (Isaiah 64:6); Job 19:1010He hath destroyed me on every side, and I am gone: and mine hope hath he removed like a tree. (Job 19:10)). Such is the first step in true conversion to God. There must be a “breaking down” before there can be a “raising up.” This is the unequivocal testimony of the Scriptures, and in every case of conversion to God recorded therein we find the order is the same. Sinners were broken down before God.
They were made to bow and own their lost condition. Pride was leveled and earthly glory brought to the dust. The proud Pharisee on his way to Damascus was thrown to the ground—literally, no doubt—but his boasted human righteousness and pride were brought down as well. He could say, “I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I that live” (Gal. 2:20,20I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20) R.V). “I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung” (Phil. 3:88Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, (Philippians 3:8)). Here was a breaking down, a laying of the ax at the root of the tree. See, again, the jailer at Philippi. The earthquake shook the prison; the power of God awakened the jailer and made him cry out, “‘What must I do to be saved?” (Acts 16:3030And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? (Acts 16:30)). The three thousand converted on the day of Pentecost were “pricked in their hearts,” and cried, “‘What shall we do?” (Acts 2:3737Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do? (Acts 2:37)), Such is the way of God. This element is sadly lacking now-a-days in much that professes to be the work of God. There is extremely little of true breaking down; indeed, there is little of the kind of preaching that produces it. Men in general are far too honey-mouthed and afraid to offend their hearers, to tell out the honest truth of God. There are few of the Jeremiah stamp of men, whose ministry and appointed work is “to root out and to pull down.” Seldom were they more needed. Sinners are hugged and dandled into a sound but fatal sleep of self-security. They know the Gospel in the letter, they profess to believe it to be true, but there is no cutting off from the world, no mark of Divine life in your souls. Let me put this question straight to your souls―Have you ever been brought low before God? Have you ever bowed and owned yourself a lost, ungodly sinner, fit only for the burning? Has your pride and earthly glory been brought to the dust? It matters little what you know or do if you have not come down from your dignity; you must be brought down now, or in hell. What a down coming yet awaits the proud and haughty sinner. Down in the deep darkness of a lost eternity he will find all distinctions leveled, his companions demons, his associates the vile and refuse of earth. But we would not have anyone suppose that we deem it essential to true conversion that there must be what has been called a “striking down”―followed by a period of unconsciousness. No doubt, in times of special visitation, such things have occurred, and they not unfrequently have been made use of by the devil to turn people’s eyes to such experiences and away from Christ. Lydia’s heart was quietly opened at the river-side, no outward demonstration occurred. Hundreds have in like manner quietly passed from death to life. The point we insist on is this—no matter how or where it takes place―that the sinner must go down before God. He must allow the piercing edge of God’s truth to penetrate his soul, laying him bare and bringing him down, before he can be raised up a converted man—a man in Christ.
The next point is, the tree was stripped of its boughs and cut down to the size prescribed by God.
It is after conversion that the “stripping process” begins in right earnest. As the truth of God is allowed to act on the believer’s conscience he finds there are many superfluous things about him that require to be “laid aside,” things which in the days of his worldliness he considered to be right and proper, but they must now be “put off.” They may not be “vile and refuse,” but they are not of the new creation; they are not consistent with his standing as a “citizen of Heaven”; not in concord with his pilgrim character on earth. It requires no pressure to make him lay these aside. The sanctifying power of the Word effects the change as he submits his life and ways to the truth. The truth, in the power of the Spirit acting upon him, strips and fashions him according to the will of God. This is practical sanctification; too practical to be adopted by mere professors of religion. Often have we seen such people turn suddenly round and walk no longer with us when the “stripping” and “squaring” process begins. The preaching of grace attracted them in crowds; they extolled the preacher and the preaching, but immediately that the truth was brought to bear upon their life and walk and the claims of God told out from His Word they turned on the heel, like Pilate, asking “What is truth?” and made off as quickly as possible. The men of Nazareth would listen to the “gracious words” that proceeded from the Master’s lips, but when He said, “I tell you of a truth,” they threatened to cast Him over the brow of the hill (Luke 4:22-2922And all bare him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth. And they said, Is not this Joseph's son? 23And he said unto them, Ye will surely say unto me this proverb, Physician, heal thyself: whatsoever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in thy country. 24And he said, Verily I say unto you, No prophet is accepted in his own country. 25But I tell you of a truth, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elias, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, when great famine was throughout all the land; 26But unto none of them was Elias sent, save unto Sarepta, a city of Sidon, unto a woman that was a widow. 27And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Eliseus the prophet; and none of them was cleansed, saving Naaman the Syrian. 28And all they in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath, 29And rose up, and thrust him out of the city, and led him unto the brow of the hill whereon their city was built, that they might cast him down headlong. (Luke 4:22‑29)). Thus it will be to the end wherever “grace and truth” are preached.
The boards were overlaid with gold. Their natural beauty was taken from them, and Divine beauty and glory given instead. Thus it is with the child of God. He may have no comeliness in the eyes of men, but the eyes of his God see him to be perfect in beauty, through the comeliness that He has put upon him (Ezek. 16:44And as for thy nativity, in the day thou wast born thy navel was not cut, neither wast thou washed in water to supple thee; thou wast not salted at all, nor swaddled at all. (Ezekiel 16:4)). He stands before God “accepted in the Beloved” complete in Christ. Thus board after board was cut down and raised up, passing in type through death and resurrection to fill its place in the dwelling-place of God, and thus, in far more wondrous grace, are a people now being gathered out from the world-a people who have died and risen with Christ to be builded together into an habitation of God in the Spirit (Eph. 2:22,22In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit. (Ephesians 2:22) R.V.).
The Bars
The boards of shittim wood were framed together by bars of the same material overlaid with gold.
The truth here taught in type concerns the fellowship and unity of the people of God.
Each board stood erect on its own foundation. It had an individual standing of its own independent of all others. This shows the individual salvation and standing of the saints.
Each board was bound to the one beside it and to all the rest by bars of shittim wood. This shows the fellowship and unity of the saints.
The type reveals to us how Divine unity is formed and sustained and how it may be manifested.
We are not only units, nor do our privileges and responsibilities begin and end with ourselves. We have been bound up in the bundle of life with our fellow-saints, and the grace that made us members of the family of God had laid upon us the responsibility of being our brother’s keeper. There is in the Scripture a vast, unique, and wide spreading circle of truth presenting privileges and responsibilities to the saints of the present age concerning unity, which was unknown in ages past. We are verily guilty if we allow all this to lie unheeded, under the pretext that we are more deeply concerned about our individual life and walk than in seeking the salvation of the lost. These things have their ordered places, and ought to get the prominence due to them in the minds and activities of the saints, but surely not to the exclusion of the all weighty line of truth given by the same Lord to His people concerning their fellowship and responsibilities toward their fellow-saints and brethren. Of these it truly may be said, “These ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone” (Matt. 23:2323Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone. (Matthew 23:23)).
The bars are five in number. They are first described generally, then particularly. Special attention is directed to the middle bar. We read in chapter 26, verse 28, “And the middle bar in the midst of the boards shall reach from end to end,” and in further explanation of this we read in chapter 36:33― “And He made the middle bar to shoot through the boards from one end to the other.” The middle bar would thus bind all the boards together. The many boards by it were framed into one tabernacle, and thus formed a manifest visible unity. An onlooker could see the outward unity of the board but not the bar that formed and sustained it. It was hid within the heart of the boards where no rude hand of man could break or displace it. And thus it is with that which binds together and unites the saints of God. The saints of God are one-one with Christ and one with each other. No power on earth or in hell can pluck the feeblest lamb from the Shepherd’s bosom or wrench the feeblest member from the body of Christ. The deep mysterious oneness that exists between the Risen Head and His members is Divine and eternal. So is the union of the members one with another. The Church, viewed as the body of Christ, embraces every child of God throughout the world. It includes all who have life in Christ, and excludes all who are dead in sin.
But there is another aspect of the Church presented in the Scriptures: that is, as gathered together unto Christ on earth, as God’s witness in a dark and evil world. It is concerning the Church in this aspect that the type before us speaks. We see here how a company of the people of God are divinely gathered and fitly framed together. Such was the Church which was at Jerusalem (Acts 8:11And Saul was consenting unto his death. And at that time there was a great persecution against the church which was at Jerusalem; and they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. (Acts 8:1)), the Church of God which was at Corinth (1 Cor. 1:22Unto the church of God which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours: (1 Corinthians 1:2)), and the Churches of Galatia (Gal. 1:22And all the brethren which are with me, unto the churches of Galatia: (Galatians 1:2)). They were composed of believers only, and they were gathered unto God’s center and united in God’s way. They are the Divine pattern of Churches of God. As the bar in “the midst” of the boards united them all, so does the Lord “in the midst” unite His gathered saints. Once in cold contempt and scorn they crucified Him with robbers, “on either side one, and Jesus in the midst” (John 19:1818Where they crucified him, and two other with him, on either side one, and Jesus in the midst. (John 19:18)). On that center cross every eye was fixed. The Holy Sufferer there was the object of derision, and upon Him alone the mob did vent their hatred and their scorn. By and by, when the ransomed throng, completed and glorified, shall gather around the throne, the “Lamb in the midst” shall be the object of their worship and the theme of their song. “Jesus in the midst” of that bright glory shall be their center, and His dear, uniting Name alone shall beam on every brow. Other names and other bonds of union shall have no place there. Down below on the earth, the “outcasts of Israel” and the “dispersed of Judah,” so long scattered and peeled, will be gathered in blessed union, their envies and their jealousies gone, united by the same endearing Name, for “Unto Him shall the gathering of the people be” (Gen. 49:1010The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be. (Genesis 49:10)). During the present age of His rejection by the world, the promise is yea and amen to us, that “where two or three are gathered together in My Name, there am I in the midst” (Matt. 18:2020For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them. (Matthew 18:20)). This is the center and the rallying point for the saints of God, and where His Name and His Person alone are sought unto there will be unity blessed and Divine. It was so in the beginning. Sects and parties bearing different names had no place in the early Church.
“The Saints were of one heart and soul,
And love Divine inspired the whole.”
By and by, men began to force their pet doctrines into undue prominence, and from among their “own-selves did men arise, speaking perverse things to draw away the disciples after them” (Acts 20:30,30Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them. (Acts 20:30) R.5). The factions thus created by these doctrines soon began to assume more definite form, and other names came to the front alongside the name of Jesus. “One saith, I am of Paul; and another, I of Apollos” (1Cor. 1:1212Now this I say, that every one of you saith, I am of Paul; and I of Apollos; and I of Cephas; and I of Christ. (1 Corinthians 1:12)). Sectarianism, created and fostered within the hearts of the saints, appeared in outward form. Sects and parties sprang bearing the names of their founders, or of their peculiar doctrines, and thus the leaven wrought until, after centuries of divisions, secessions, and disruptions, the professing Church of Christ presents to an infidel and the scoffing world, the divided, Babel-like front of several hundreds of sects, each clamoring for the mastery and the credit of being the true Church. Some of these are grossly unclean and their doctrine entirely destitute of truth. Some are more evangelical in doctrine, but miserably corrupt in practice; while others are largely composed of those who neither have themselves been converted, nor believe that anyone else can be sure of being saved. The unhappy saints who are mixed up in this mass of confusion and iniquity, groaning over the sad state of affairs, are glad to escape from their trammels at times, to get a handful of the corn of Heaven whereever they can find it. Hid among the wreckage, few of the saints know each other, and they who are to dwell together in the Father’s house forever, are all but strangers to each other here. Efforts have been often made to bring about a change, and draw the saints together. Prayer Unions, Evangelistic Unions, and Young Men’s Associations have been formed. Conferences and tea-meetings have been held, and many other schemes devised to draw together and unite the scattered sheep of the blood bought flock of God. It has been found to be profitable and refreshing thus to meet, discarding all sectarian names and ecclesiastical titles, simply as disciples of the one and only Lord. The saints have strengthened one another’s hands, and sought to encourage one another’s hearts in God, like David and Jonathan in the wood; but, strange to say, many have parted to return to their favorite sects again, and to support the creeds and associations that keep them sundered from each other. The roots of sectarianism are left unjudged, and its trammels bind them still. The saints who meet around a common tea-table to enjoy the fellowship of one another refuse to gather around the table of the Lord together. If it be so passing sweet to meet around the one dear Name on a week-day or at a conference, why should they not continually do so? The one uniting Name and Person is surely the same yesterday, today, and forever, and would gather and bind them together continually on earth as He will in Heaven. If the saints of God would judge the sin of sectarianism in their hearts and purge themselves out from the mixed multitude gathering unto Jesus Christ the Lord, they would surely prove the power and blessedness of the word, “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity” (Psa. 133:11<<A Song of degrees of David.>> Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity! (Psalm 133:1)), and under the shepherd rule of the Lord Jesus they would be made once more as one flock to lie down in green pastures by the waters of quietness.
The boards were bound together outwardly by four bars of shittim wood passed through rings of gold. In early days, when “all who believed were together,” when the saints were of one heart and soul, and when around the unseen but real presence they were gathered, we read that “they continued steadfastly in the Apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread and in prayers” (Acts 2:4242And they continued stedfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers. (Acts 2:42)). These were the outward bars that bound them together and pressed them to the center. The “Apostles’ doctrine”―as it is to be found in the Word―the faith once delivered to the saints in its entirety and purity must be held fast and submitted to, if a church is to be preserved in unity; perfectly joined together of one accord and of one mind. No part brought into undue prominence; no part suppressed. This is where the germ of division has its rise, and where associations and unions fail. An association formed on the principle that certain truths must not be mentioned is an association of sects. It is not united by the “Apostles’ doctrine,” and cannot be of God. The doctrine forms the “fellowship,” “the breaking of bread” expresses it, and “the prayers” lay hold on God for power to sustain it. The ring is the emblem of love. The truth must be held and used in love, not in pride or bigotry. “This is the love of God, that we keep His Commandments” (1 John 5:33For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous. (1 John 5:3)), and “By this shall all men know that ye are My disciples if ye have love one to another” (John 13:3535By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another. (John 13:35)).
The Covering and the Curtains
(Ex. 26:1-141Moreover thou shalt make the tabernacle with ten curtains of fine twined linen, and blue, and purple, and scarlet: with cherubims of cunning work shalt thou make them. 2The length of one curtain shall be eight and twenty cubits, and the breadth of one curtain four cubits: and every one of the curtains shall have one measure. 3The five curtains shall be coupled together one to another; and other five curtains shall be coupled one to another. 4And thou shalt make loops of blue upon the edge of the one curtain from the selvedge in the coupling; and likewise shalt thou make in the uttermost edge of another curtain, in the coupling of the second. 5Fifty loops shalt thou make in the one curtain, and fifty loops shalt thou make in the edge of the curtain that is in the coupling of the second; that the loops may take hold one of another. 6And thou shalt make fifty taches of gold, and couple the curtains together with the taches: and it shall be one tabernacle. 7And thou shalt make curtains of goats' hair to be a covering upon the tabernacle: eleven curtains shalt thou make. 8The length of one curtain shall be thirty cubits, and the breadth of one curtain four cubits: and the eleven curtains shall be all of one measure. 9And thou shalt couple five curtains by themselves, and six curtains by themselves, and shalt double the sixth curtain in the forefront of the tabernacle. 10And thou shalt make fifty loops on the edge of the one curtain that is outmost in the coupling, and fifty loops in the edge of the curtain which coupleth the second. 11And thou shalt make fifty taches of brass, and put the taches into the loops, and couple the tent together, that it may be one. 12And the remnant that remaineth of the curtains of the tent, the half curtain that remaineth, shall hang over the backside of the tabernacle. 13And a cubit on the one side, and a cubit on the other side of that which remaineth in the length of the curtains of the tent, it shall hang over the sides of the tabernacle on this side and on that side, to cover it. 14And thou shalt make a covering for the tent of rams' skins dyed red, and a covering above of badgers' skins. (Exodus 26:1‑14))
There were two sets of coverings and two sets of curtains. The coverings consisted of an outer covering of badgers’ skins and an inner covering of rams’ skins dyed red. The outer set of curtains was of goats’ hair, and the inner set of fine linen, with blue, purple and scarlet. The outer set of curtains is properly named “the tent,” and the inner set “the Tabernacle.”
We will consider them in their typical character as pointing onward to Christ, in whom the Father dwelt, also to the Church of God corporately, and the saints individually, in whom He now dwells and walks.
1. THE COVERING OF BADGERS’ SKINS. ―This was the outermost and visible covering. It was to protect from the sun’s scorching rays and from the storms of the desert. It had no form or comeliness, and there was no outward beauty to attract the gaze of men. The Tabernacle was all glorious within, with boards overlaid with gold and curtains of needle-work, but these were only seen by God’s anointed priest who stood within the Holy Place. The badgers’ skin is mentioned once again in Scripture, and there as used for sandals to separate from and to protect the feet of God’s redeemed on the burning sands of the desert (Ezek. 16:1010I clothed thee also with broidered work, and shod thee with badgers' skin, and I girded thee about with fine linen, and I covered thee with silk. (Ezekiel 16:10)). The badgers’ skin is therefore connected with the separation and earthly pilgrim character of the people of God. It gives them protection from that which would hurt them in such a character. The type had its full answer in the Lord Jesus while He lived on earth.
Fairest of the fair, “Chiefest among ten thousand,” to those who knew Him, yet despised and rejected of men, the marred visage of the Man of Sorrows presented no attraction to the eye of the world. They saw a lonely Man without an earthly home. They saw Him weep and heard Him sigh, but they desired Him not, nor cared to ask from whence He came. Enough for them to know He was “the carpenter,” the son of Mary, the Nazarene. With mocking scorn and ribald jest they hurried the Man of Sorrows to the cross. Oh that our souls may earnestly gaze upon that sight! The thorn-crowned brow, the cruel, heartless mob, the foul and base reproach they heaped upon the dear and holy Sufferer. Such was the world then, such was the treatment of the Son of God, and such is the world still and ever will be. As our souls gaze upon that blessed Face we shall grow like Him; as we grow like Him we shall suffer shame and reproach for His Name. How little of this reproach is known by the saints of God. Many are reigning now where He was cast out, and caressed where He was scorned. Is it so with you, beloved? Have you gained the world’s approving smile? Is your name in fame and esteem among His foes? Surely, if it be so, you must be very unlike your Lord. But the offense of the cross and the reproach of Christ yet remain to all who follow the despised and rejected Nazarene. Suffering and shame will attend their steps. Tears and sobs will often mark their path. The reigning time will come, and for that let us patiently wait. The Nazarene shall yet be seated on His throne, the pierced hand shall hold the scepter of universal power, and on the brow, once rudely wreathed with thorns, shall rest the many crowns. The badgers’ skin covering shall then be rolled off, and a glorious Church shall be presented to her heavenly Bridegroom.
“Thou too shalt reign, He will not wear His crown of joy alone,
And earth, His royal Bride shall see, beside Him on His Throne.”
2. THE COVERING OF RAMS’ SKINS DYED RED.―This is the type of consecration unto death. The ram was used for sacrifice, notably so in the consecration of the priesthood (Lev. 8). As the lamb typifies the meek and lowly Jesus submissive unto death, so the ram speaks of the vigor and strength of the Lord, and of that fixed purpose of heart which led Him on in the path of unreserved devotedness to God even unto death. The ram’s skin put upon the Tabernacle reminds us of the setting apart of the Church unto God; as the blood put upon the ear, the hand, and the foot of the priest reminds us of our members being redeemed and cleansed by Him. Consecration is a very real and intensely practical thing. It is not an outward action, but a deep-seated fixed purpose of heart. It includes a great deal more than is attached to the term by those who speak of “entire consecration.” It is very easy for the lips to sing―
“My all is on the altar” and
“Take my life and let it be;
Consecrated Lord to Thee.”
but are we in truth prepared for this? We learn the meaning of “entire consecration” by the side of the cross. That holy, devoted One who” set His face steadfastly “to the place of death,” despising the shame,” is the example and measure of “entire consecration.”
“Unmoved by Satan’s subtle wiles,
By suffering, shame and loss;
His path, uncheered by earthly smiles,
Led only to the Cross.”
We are called to follow in His steps and to yield ourselves to God. An Apostle once could say, “I am ready to die for the Name of the Lord Jesus,” and he suffered the loss of all for Christ. This is an easy-going age. Grace is preached, but its demands are little heard of. The claims of Christ as Lord are deemed to be “non-essential,” and true devotedness is branded a legality. Blessed it is to know that our Lord can duly estimate, and will one day own that true consecration which brought upon His loved ones here the merciless judgment of their carnal brethren and the calumny and scorn of the world. His hand shall yet roll off the badgers’ skin that covers it now, and for this let us patiently wait.
3. THE CURTAINS OF GOATS’ HAIR. ―They were the memorials of atonement made. The daily sin-offering was a kid of the goats (Num. 28:1515And one kid of the goats for a sin offering unto the Lord shall be offered, beside the continual burnt offering, and his drink offering. (Numbers 28:15)); and for the cleansing from sin―the goat was the chosen victim (see Lev. 16). The double curtain hung above the door may indicate that the only ground of approach to God was by sin being put away, and that the memorial thereof was continually before the eye of the priest as he entered the sanctuary of God. The curtains were coupled together by loops of goats’ hair and taches of copper. This reminds us that the only unity approved of God must be in righteousness and holiness. There must be no conniving at holiness or trifling with sin.
4. THE CURTAINS OF FINE LINEN. ―They were only visible to the priest within the Holy Place. They represent the glories of Christ in resurrection and of His saints as risen with Him. The fine linen speaks of purity and righteousness. The blue is Heaven’s own color, and tells of the heavenly character of the Son of God. The scarlet is the color of earth, and reminds us of His earthly glory as Son of Man. The purple is the combination of blue and scarlet, and points on to that time when the glory of the heavenly and the glory of the earthly shall have their center and manifestation in His blessed Person. The cherubim tell His majesty and power. The curtains were coupled and “joined” together by loops of blue and taches of gold, and thus the several curtains were made to form “one Tabernacle.” The saints as risen with Christ are all united now and “perfectly joined together” in Divine and heavenly union. The full display and manifestation of this will be seen in glory, but faith even now discerns it while in communion with God within His holy temple, and seeks to own and rest upon it in subjection to His Word amid the discord and division of the present time, “Endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (Eph. 4:44There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; (Ephesians 4:4)).