When Christ was in this world, He made known to us His Father as our Father, His God as our God, as the One to whom He would draw out the worship of His people. We get that blessed subject of worship brought before us, in type, by the Spirit of God in Ex. 30.
Section One—Golden Altar
This chapter is divided into sections. In the first section we get details of a special altar, not the altar of burnt offering, but the golden altar made of shittim wood and overlaid with pure gold. This is the altar upon which, as we read in the eighth verse, the perpetual incense was to be burned before the Lord. The perpetual incense is a type of the worship of God's people. That worship was to be maintained before Himself on that golden altar. "Thou shalt put it before the veil that is by the ark of the testimony, before the mercy seat that is over the testimony, where I will meet with thee." It was to be in the presence of God, but you will notice that the veil was between. Except for once in a year on that great Day of Atonement, the priest of God as representing the people and leading their worship, was never allowed to go within the veil.
What a difference is this present dispensation, when through the grace of God we know that as a result of the wondrous work of Christ on the cross, when He said "It is finished," God rent the veil of the temple from the top to the bottom, never to be put up again. The way into the holiest was laid open for us through the blood of Jesus, so that we can draw near within the veil, having boldness to enter into the holiest. The priest went once a year into the holiest place in the tabernacle. Through the grace of God as worshipers, we can draw near at all times into the holiest of all.
Within the holiest of all,
Cleansed by His precious blood,
Before the throne we prostrate fall,
And worship Thee, O God!
This golden altar was placed before the mercy seat, over against the ark of the testimony where God could meet with them. Here we get a wonderful figure of the place of worship of the believer, where God meets us. We draw near, through the merits of the blood of Jesus, to God Himself.
“And having a high priest over the house of God; let us draw near." Do not let us be afraid, for the very One who has gone into death for us is in the presence of God for us to present our praises in such a way that they are acceptable to Himself.
To all our prayers and praises
Christ adds His sweet perfume.
Knowing how feeble and often mixed with impurity our worship is, we might well hesitate to present it before Him, the holy God, were it not for the presence of our great High Priest before Him. Our great High Priest bears upon His miter that plate with "Holiness to the Lord" on it. The priest was to bear the iniquity of their holy things so their holy things might be acceptable before God. And so in the midst of these impurities and imperfections in our worship before Him, we remember that our Lord Jesus Christ, our High Priest is in the presence of God. Because He wears that miter where holiness shines bright, our worship is acceptable to God.
Section Two—Half Shekel
The 11Th verse begins another section. The children of Israel were to take a half shekel of the sanctuary; the rich were not to give more and the poor were not to give less. That brings before us the worshipers themselves who are fitted to draw near before God. The Israelites could only draw near to God through the priest. The veil was still up and Israel was represented before God by the priestly family whom He had appointed for that purpose. Today each believer in the Lord Jesus Christ is redeemed with His precious blood and fitted by the Spirit of God to be a worshiper of God the Father.
Half a shekel of silver for each Israelite was the price of redemption. But now we are redeemed, not with corruptible things as silver and gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, the Lamb without blemish and without spot. Unless we are redeemed in this way, we cannot worship God. The half shekel of the sanctuary had to be paid for each one. The rich were to have no better standing before God in worship than the poor brother. The poor brother was not to give less than the rich one. The price of redemption of each cannot be more or less than the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.
How precious is this redemption ground on which we draw near before the Lord Jesus Christ. Redeemed ones are those privileged to draw near before God as worshipers. We have the case of a poor worshiper in the woman of Samaria in John 4. This speaks to our hearts of what we were when the Lord took us up and the blood of Jesus redeemed us, and now we are able to draw near into His presence without a qualm of conscience because the blood of Christ has answered for our sin before God. Rich or poor, learned or knowing little, blessed be God each has the same foundation: the perfect work and the precious blood of Christ.
Although that is our place before God, the perfect ground of redemption, do we not feel as we pass through this world how much comes in to hinder us from drawing near in worship to God? We are passing through a defiling scene; the evil nature in us so answers to what is around us. The enemy is ever seeking to trip up the feet of God's saints and to defile them. How then can we draw near to God?
Section Three—Laver of Brass
In verse 17, we have the beginning of another section. "Thou shalt also make a laver of brass." Before the priests could draw near as the representatives of God's earthly people to worship God, to execute the office of their priesthood, defilement must be taken away. There was a laver of brass. Brass in the Word of God signifies divine righteousness in the judgment of evil. You will remember that in Rev. 1, our Lord Jesus Christ in the midst of the golden candlesticks had His eyes like unto a flame of fire, and His feet like fine brass. His feet trod out everything opposed to God. He had eyes like a flame of fire detecting everything contrary to God, and feet like fine brass to judge it. In the seven churches the Spirit of God pointed out what was contrary to God.
In everything we need self-judgment with purification, and that is typified in the laver, the water of the Word. Our blessed Lord, in John 13, brought that before us when He took the water and washed His disciples' feet. That lowly Savior took that place to serve His beloved people. This is the same One who made known to the poor woman the desire of the Father's heart that we might worship in spirit and in truth, He, knowing the defilement of the way, washed the disciples' feet, Peter could not bear to see Him taking that low place. How often we need to put our feet in the hands of the Lord.
Our communion with the Father and Himself is interrupted if the defilement is not met by the washing of the water of the Word. Our worship is hindered and it is solemn for us to go into the Lord's presence when there has been defilement in our pathway. Do not let us sit down there as if it did not matter. If one of the saints of God comes with unwashed feet, it will be a hindrance to the whole assembly.
You may say, "I had better not come. I have allowed this or that, which is contrary to the Lord, and I do not want to hinder other people." If you and I have contracted defilement by the way, are we to stay away? In 1 Corinthians where sin had come in, they had to judge themselves. They had to get into the presence of God, and so eat of that bread and drink of that cup. There is the precious cleansing of the Word of God to cleanse that defilement away.
The Lord Jesus Christ is alive in the presence of God for us today. We read in Eph. 5 that Christ loved the Church and gave Himself for it that He might sanctify and cleanse it by the washing of water by the Word. By that Word, the Lord would cleanse our feet that we might not stay away. The water of the Word has met the defilement and maintains us in the presence of God as worshipers.
Section Four—Anointing
Oil
Another section begins in verse 22. "Moreover the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Take thou also... of oil olive an hin... it shall be a holy anointing oil." We have here the holy anointing oil. The holy sanctuary and also Aaron and his sons who were the ministers in that sanctuary, had to be anointed with the holy anointing oil. It typifies the anointing of God's Holy Spirit. In that lovely Psa. 133, it says, "How good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity! It is like the precious ointment upon the head, that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron's beard: that went down to the skirts of his garments.”
It is not only some of us that are anointed with that precious anointing oil, but all believers in the Lord Jesus Christ have received the Holy Spirit of God. So we may draw near before God with holy boldness for the Spirit is the power to worship in spirit and in truth. It is the Spirit that fills the heart with Christ and causes our worship to rise up to God our Father, the source of all blessing. The Spirit is thus the power of our worship in the presence of God.
Section Five—Sweet Spices
We come now to a new section in verse 34: "Take unto thee sweet spices." The Spirit of God presents what is precious to God in the thought of worship. We have come to that hymn:
The Person of the Christ,
Enfolding every grace,
Once slain, but now alive again,
In heaven demands our praise.
All the graces that meet in the Lord Jesus Christ were there in perfect balance. I believe the sweet ointment brings before us the Person of our Lord Jesus Christ. Israel was not to make the like of this sweet incense, the fragrance of which rose to God. God alone could appreciate that incense. It was for Him, although the Person of the Christ is precious to each one of us. When we think of His preciousness to God, we are in communion with God our Father concerning all the perfections of that One, who was full of grace and truth. We lack much, but in meditating on the Person of the Christ we enter into God's thoughts.
Some of the incense was to be beaten small. It was there for the fire to be put upon it. Was not that blessed Savior as He passed through the world, beaten small? He met with the opposition of Satan and the hatred of men, but it brought out nothing but good in Him. Satan tempted Him in the wilderness. What came of it? He replied in perfect dependence on the Word of God in such a way that Satan was met and defeated.
When Peter would seek to turn Him aside from the path of obedience saying, "Be it far from Thee, Lord," the Lord said, "Get thee behind Me, Satan: thou art an offense unto Me: for thou savorest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men." Though the voice of Satan came through Peter, He would have none of it. What a savor to God! Let us trace that blessed pathway further. He met with the hatred of man, and utter poverty. "The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay His head." All the pressing and all the beating small only brought out what was sweet to God. But there was more than that. It was not merely the life of the Lord Jesus Christ which was to be a savor to God; the fire had to be applied to it. The incense was beaten small and then it was laid up before God. When the moment came, the priest took the incense, and when tested by the fire the sweet savor came out to God's delight When the One who had been tested in every way during His life presented Himself to God, the fire of God's holy judgment came upon Him and brought out in full perfection all that was in Christ for the heart of God.
W. Fosbery