In the two temples, that at Jerusalem in the old dispensation, and that of the Spirit in the new, we see a meaning in everything within them. Hebrews 9:8, 98The Holy Ghost this signifying, that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest, while as the first tabernacle was yet standing: 9Which was a figure for the time then present, in which were offered both gifts and sacrifices, that could not make him that did the service perfect, as pertaining to the conscience; (Hebrews 9:8‑9) gives us notice of this touching the sanctuary, and shows the character of the service there; the veil being constantly down to forbid the access of the worshipper into the presence of God, or holy of holies, was the figure for the time then present. It exhibited the character of that dispensation which never, with the sacrifices it provided, gave the sinner confidence, or purged the conscience—never brought him near as a worshipper. We see the same significancy in the New Testament temple; everything said of it has a voice which tells us of the time now present, and exhibits the character of the dispensation in which we are, as clearly as the other did. In proof of this, I would look at 1 Corinthians 11, where from ver. 17 (and down to the close of chap. 14) the apostle is treating of the ordinances and worship of the house of God, or the New Testament temple. This chapter, in its latter half, assumes the saints to be in assembly or church order, and in looking at their order as detailed here, several objects strike our notice.
First, we see men and women seated together. This tells of their equal and common interest in Christ, where there is neither male nor female, as we read here, “For neither is the man without the woman, neither the woman without the man in the Lord “; for, personally considered, they have the same standing in the church of God.
Secondly, we see the man uncovered, and the woman covered. This tells us of their difference mystically considered, as we read here, “For the man is not of the woman, but the woman of the man” (8th and 9th verses). And these two things are true, not only of Adam and Eve, but of Christ and the church, so that in the assembly—where she is not permitted “to speak” (1 Corinthians 14:3434Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience, as also saith the law. (1 Corinthians 14:34)), or when prophesying, which she may do elsewhere (Acts 21:99And the same man had four daughters, virgins, which did prophesy. (Acts 21:9))—the woman is to carry the sign of subjection (i.e. the covered head) Genesis 24:6565For she had said unto the servant, What man is this that walketh in the field to meet us? And the servant had said, It is my master: therefore she took a vail, and covered herself. (Genesis 24:65), and the man to appear without it, thus mystically setting forth “Christ and the church.”
Thirdly, in the next place we see the Supper spread. This tells why the saints have come together, and the character of the dispensation into which the church is now brought; for it shows us the veil is gone. The blood of Jesus has rent it, and been brought in its stead. The table tells us of the Paschal Lamb and of the feast of unleavened bread upon it, and thus of the full remission of sins, and also of the exercise of self-judgment; and these are just what the church enjoys and observes till the Lord comes.
Thus these features in the assembly have all their signification. And, in this manner, the assembly of saints formed the New Testament temple of living stones, and, thus raised, is a blessed testimony to the time now present. Every object tells us of its character; we look into the assembly of saints, and see the great truths of the present age reflected as in a glass, just as in the sanctuary under the law there was a figure of the things then present.
All this is clear and simple; but in further meditation on the subject, observe that there is still more meaning in the covering of the woman in the congregation than I noticed before (1 Cor. 11:5, 65But every woman that prayeth or prophesieth with her head uncovered dishonoreth her head: for that is even all one as if she were shaven. 6For if the woman be not covered, let her also be shorn: but if it be a shame for a woman to be shorn or shaven, let her be covered. (1 Corinthians 11:5‑6)). This power of covering on the head is primarily to be regarded as signifying that subjection which the woman owes the man, who is her head, or the subjection which the church owes her Lord. Power, or covering on the head, was the sign of that, and therefore was suitable to the woman in the congregation, because without it she thus dishonored the man, who is her head (ver. 5).
But there is more than that, for the apostle adds, that if the woman be not covered, let her also be shorn or shaven, which he then says would be a shame to her (ver. 6). What was the shame of which the shaven or shorn state of a woman's head was the confession? This must be determined by a reference to the Law, and under it we find two occasions on which the woman was shaven, or uncovered. First, when she was a suspected wife (Num. 5.). Secondly, when she had lately been taken captive and was bewailing her father's house, not yet united to the Jew who had taken her in battle (Deut. 21.). This shaven state of a woman thus expressed showed that she was not enjoying either the full confidence, or the full joy, of a husband.
Now the woman ought not to appear with such marks on her; for the church ought not to be seen as though she were suspected by Christ, or still felt herself a sorrowing captive. This would be her shame! But the covering on her head shows the church to be in neither of these states, but, on the contrary, happy in the affection and confidence of Christ; and this is as it should be—this is her glory.
Thus the woman covered in the assembly shows out the two things touching the church—the church's present happy honorable estate with Jesus, as well as her entire subjection to Him as her Lord—i.e. both owning Him as Lord, and enjoying the cherishing presence of Christ, which puts away the sense of captivity; while on the other hand the uncovered head would be a denial of both—a dishonor to the man, and a shame to the woman, and it would bear a false witness to angels, who are learning the deep mysteries of Christ from the church (Eph. 3.; 1 Cor. 9.). Christ was seen of them first (1 Tim. 3:1616And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory. (1 Timothy 3:16)). They marked and attended His whole progress from the manger to the resurrection; and now they are learning from the church and mark her ways, and if the woman in the assembly were to appear uncovered, the angels would be learning the lesson incorrectly. The shorn head of the woman would have done for the dispensation of the Law; for then the sense of captivity was not gone, the spirit of bondage was yet in the worshipper, kindredness in the flesh was not then fully forgotten; but now “we are not in the flesh but in the Spirit,” as being joined to the Lord, and there is liberty and not bondage.
With this little view of the temples, let us consider the worship which might fill them. True worship, like true knowledge of God, flows from the revelation of Him, for man by wisdom knows not God. Worship, to be true, must be according to that revelation which God has made of Himself, and this I would trace a little through Scripture.
Abel was a true worshipper; his worship or offering was according to faith—i.e. according to revelation (Heb. 11.). The firstlings of his flock which he offered were in view of the bruised Seed of the woman, and according to the coats of skins with which the Lord God had clothed his parents.
Noah followed Abel, and also worshipped in the faith of the woman's bruised Seed; he took his new inheritance only in virtue of blood (Gen. 8:2020And Noah builded an altar unto the Lord; and took of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the altar. (Genesis 8:20)); he was therefore a true worshipper—worshipping God as He had revealed Himself.
Gen. 12:77And the Lord appeared unto Abram, and said, Unto thy seed will I give this land: and there builded he an altar unto the Lord, who appeared unto him. (Genesis 12:7); here we see Abraham following in their steps, a true worshipper. I might observe that there is strikingly an absence of self-will in Abraham; he believed God, and what was told him; he went out as he was commanded; he worshipped as then was revealed to him.
Isaac, precisely in the track of Abraham, worshipped the God who had appeared to him, not affecting to be wise and thus becoming a fool, but in simplicity of faith and worship, like Abraham, raising his altar to the revealed God (Gen. 26:24, 2524And the Lord appeared unto him the same night, and said, I am the God of Abraham thy father: fear not, for I am with thee, and will bless thee, and multiply thy seed for my servant Abraham's sake. 25And he builded an altar there, and called upon the name of the Lord, and pitched his tent there: and there Isaac's servants digged a well. (Genesis 26:24‑25)).
Jacob was a true worshipper. The Lord appears to him in his sorrow and degradation, in the misery to which his own sin had reduced him, thus revealing Himself as the One in whom mercy rejoiceth against judgment; and he at once owns God as thus revealed to him, and this God of Bethel was his God to the end (Genesis 48:15, 1615And he blessed Joseph, and said, God, before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac did walk, the God which fed me all my life long unto this day, 16The Angel which redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads; and let my name be named on them, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac; and let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth. (Genesis 48:15‑16)). Here was enlarged revelation of God, and worship following such revelation, and that is true worship.
The nation of Israel was to be a worshipper. God had revealed Himself to Israel in a varied way—He had given them the law of righteousness, and also shadows of good things to come. By the one He had multiplied transgressions, and the other provided the remedy: and the worship of Israel was according to this. There was an extreme sensitiveness to sin, with burdens to allay it, which they were not able to bear, and thus the spirit of bondage and fear was gendered. Israel had thus become increasingly acquainted with the good and evil, and their worship was accordingly. The tabernacle or temple where all the worship went on as the established worship might still be set aside, because it was not the perfect thing, and God might show out the better if He pleased in spite of it; and so He did on various occasions. Witness Gideon, Manoah, and David.
Gideon worshipped according to a new revelation of God in spite of Shiloh and the tabernacle; his rock became the ordered place, or the anointed altar, just because of this revelation and command of God (Judg. 6:14-2614And the Lord looked upon him, and said, Go in this thy might, and thou shalt save Israel from the hand of the Midianites: have not I sent thee? 15And he said unto him, Oh my Lord, wherewith shall I save Israel? behold, my family is poor in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father's house. 16And the Lord said unto him, Surely I will be with thee, and thou shalt smite the Midianites as one man. 17And he said unto him, If now I have found grace in thy sight, then show me a sign that thou talkest with me. 18Depart not hence, I pray thee, until I come unto thee, and bring forth my present, and set it before thee. And he said, I will tarry until thou come again. 19And Gideon went in, and made ready a kid, and unleavened cakes of an ephah of flour: the flesh he put in a basket, and he put the broth in a pot, and brought it out unto him under the oak, and presented it. 20And the angel of God said unto him, Take the flesh and the unleavened cakes, and lay them upon this rock, and pour out the broth. And he did so. 21Then the angel of the Lord put forth the end of the staff that was in his hand, and touched the flesh and the unleavened cakes; and there rose up fire out of the rock, and consumed the flesh and the unleavened cakes. Then the angel of the Lord departed out of his sight. 22And when Gideon perceived that he was an angel of the Lord, Gideon said, Alas, O Lord God! for because I have seen an angel of the Lord face to face. 23And the Lord said unto him, Peace be unto thee; fear not: thou shalt not die. 24Then Gideon built an altar there unto the Lord, and called it Jehovah-shalom: unto this day it is yet in Ophrah of the Abiezrites. 25And it came to pass the same night, that the Lord said unto him, Take thy father's young bullock, even the second bullock of seven years old, and throw down the altar of Baal that thy father hath, and cut down the grove that is by it: 26And build an altar unto the Lord thy God upon the top of this rock, in the ordered place, and take the second bullock, and offer a burnt sacrifice with the wood of the grove which thou shalt cut down. (Judges 6:14‑26)). Manoah turns what he had supposed a repast into a sacrifice, because the Lord had revealed His wish that it should be so (Judg. 13:15, 1915And Manoah said unto the angel of the Lord, I pray thee, let us detain thee, until we shall have made ready a kid for thee. (Judges 13:15)
19So Manoah took a kid with a meat offering, and offered it upon a rock unto the Lord: and the angel did wondrously; and Manoah and his wife looked on. (Judges 13:19)). David at the bidding of the Lord turns from the ordained or consecrated altar to another, which was in the unclean inheritance of a Gentile, where, however, as at Bethel of old mercy had rejoiced against judgment, and where accordingly God had built Himself another house. “This is the house of the Lord God,” says David (1 Chronicles 22). Thus, then, these three instances were cases of true worship, though manifestly a departure from God's own established worship.
The healed leper was a true worshipper, though in like manner he departed from the established, the divinely established, order, just because without a command he apprehended God in a new revelation of Himself (Luke 17:11-1911And it came to pass, as he went to Jerusalem, that he passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee. 12And as he entered into a certain village, there met him ten men that were lepers, which stood afar off: 13And they lifted up their voices, and said, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us. 14And when he saw them, he said unto them, Go show yourselves unto the priests. And it came to pass, that, as they went, they were cleansed. 15And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God, 16And fell down on his face at his feet, giving him thanks: and he was a Samaritan. 17And Jesus answering said, Were there not ten cleansed? but where are the nine? 18There are not found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger. 19And he said unto him, Arise, go thy way: thy faith hath made thee whole. (Luke 17:11‑19)). The healing had a voice to the ear of faith, for it was only the God of Israel who could heal a leper (2 Kings 5:77And it came to pass, when the king of Israel had read the letter, that he rent his clothes, and said, Am I God, to kill and to make alive, that this man doth send unto me to recover a man of his leprosy? wherefore consider, I pray you, and see how he seeketh a quarrel against me. (2 Kings 5:7)). This was more excellent even than the same kind of faith in Gideon, Manoah, or David. J. G. B.