ALONE WITH GOD     

The altar was typical of our justification through the atonement of Christ.God has given us less specific information concerning the laver than of the other articles of furniture in the tabernacle. We are told that it was made of brass (copper), of the brazen mirrors of the women. Here the priests must wash both hands and feet before entering the tabernacle, or ministering at the altar, lest they die. Its shape and size are not given; but probably it was round in shape as was customary of such vessels. It was large enough to contain sufficient water for the washing of the priests, and probably also for the washing of the sacrifices to be burned upon the altar. The laver was located in the court between the brazen altar and the entrance to the tabernacle. It is stated of it, "And he made the laver of brass, and the foot of it of brass." This seems to imply that the foot was something separate from the laver. Some have supposed the foot was a saucerlike basin below the laver in which the feet and hands of the priests were washed and which supported the laver by a shaft rising from its center.

Typical Meaning. - That the laver had symbolic and typical significance is to be gathered from the importance attached to the washings there. Twice it is stated of the priests who washed there, "That they die not." Moreover the New Testament is quite clear as to its typcial meaning, "He saved us, by the washing of regeneration." (Tit. 3:5). The marginal reading of the Revised gives "laver" of regeneration instead of "washing." So it is translated in the Emphatic Diaglott. The same Greek word is used here as is used in the Greek Septuagint in Exod. 30:18 for laver.

This washing at the laver is not to be understood as to typify water baptism, as some have supposed. Some principles of symbolic interpretation forbid making a literal thing symbolic of a similar literal thing. Besides this was essential to entrance into the ancient house of God; but one may enter God's church before water baptism, as was evidently true of the thief on the cross, of Paul, or of Cornelius.

But the "washing of regeneration" is a cleansing that is necessary to entrance into God's church. Jesus said, "Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God" (John 3:5). The kingdom and the church are practically identical. Regeneration and the new birth mean the same. As those justified at the altar and entering that ancient house needed this washing at the laver, so we today need, not only justification from committed sins, but also regeneration of our hearts.

The laver was typical of this regeneration as the altar was of justification. The water typifies the word of God, which, in conjunction with the Spirit of God, is an agent for effecting the new birth (John 3:5). "Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you." (John 15:3). "Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth." (Jas. 1:18). "Being born again... by the word of God." (1 Peter 1:23).

Conversion is twofold in its nature. It brings the sinner into right relations with God, and effects right character in the sinner, thus enabling him to keep in right relation with God. We need to be justified or pardoned of our committed sins, and we need also to have power over the power of the indwelling sinful nature so that we can keep justified by living a holy life. Justification would be of little practical value to us without regeneration. This regeneration is variously described as a new birth, becoming a "new creature," receiving a "new heart," and as being "created" anew.

It may be well described as salvation from the reigning power of the sinful nature. We naturally have a depraved nature that impels to sin. This depraved nature is a derangement of the moral nature. It is a perversion of the affections, and a weakening of the conscience and of the will insomuch that the sinner says, "To will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not." (Rom. 7:18). Now, regeneration is not an entire removal of depravity; for it is the testimony both of the Bible and experience that depravity still remains in some sense in the regenerated. But we know that when one is born again a new power comes into his life that makes him say, "The law [power] of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law [power] of sin and death." (Rom. 8:2).

The incoming of the Spirit of the Almighty gives power over every sinful desire. "if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new." (2 Cor. 5:17). "We know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not." (1 John 5:18). "A new heart also will I give you ... And I will ... cause you to walk in my statutes, and you will keep my judgments, and do them." (Ezek. 36:26, 27).

Thank God, we are not only pardoned at the altar, Christ, but we are enabled to live well-pleasing to God by the laver of regeneration. How beautifully the process of our salvation is foreshadowed in this ancient type! It is a clearer and more systematic presentation of the method of salvation than is given anywhere in the New Testament.

THE SANCTUARY (Exod. 26:1-37; 36:8-38)

The exact dimensions of the tabernacle proper are not given, but it may be readily calculated from the size and number of the boards and curtains. It was thirty cubits, or forty-five feet, long by ten cubits, or fifteen feet, wide and as high as it was wide. It was divided into two rooms by the veil.The first room, or holy place, was twenty cubits, or thirty feet long and the second room or holiest place, was ten cubits, or fifteen feet long, making the latter room a perfect cube.

Boards and Bars. - The framework was of boards of shittim wood one and one half cubits, or twenty-seven inches, wide and ten cubits, or fifteen feet, Long. These stood on end, edge to edge, twenty on each side and six at the rear, besides two corner boards. These boards were overlaid with gold inside and outside and set in sockets of silver with two sockets under each board and two tenons on the bottom of each board running down into these two sockets. To hold the boards in position, five bars of shittim wood overlaid with gold were provided for each of the two sides and as many for the rear. Rings were made on each of the boards, and through these four of the bars were passed. The fifth bar, "the middle bar in the midst of the boards, shall reach from end to end'; and "he made the middle bar to shoot through the boards from the one end to the other." It seems to have been mortised through all the boards from edge to edge.

Typical Significance of the Boards and Bars. - As we have already shown the sanctuary was typical of the church as God's dwelling-place, so it is proper to interpret the typical meaning of the various parts in harmony with that of the whole. It is not unreasonable to believe that the individual parts that made up the Mosaic tabernacle were typical of the individual parts that compose the church of the New Testament. "Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular." (1 Cor. 12:27). "But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him." (v. 18). "The church, which is his body." (Eph. 1:22, 23). From these texts as well as from the meaning of the original term for church it is certain that the church is composed of all the truly converted people. Therefore the individual board in the tabernacle typified the individual Christian, as collectively that house typified God's present house, "whose house we are." (Heb. 3:6).

That this interpretation is correct is evident from various texts that speak very definitely on the subject. "In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: in whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit." (Eph. 2:21, 22). This represents Christians as being "fitly framed together" as were the boards composing God's ancient house. "Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house." (1 Peter 2:5). Here the same idea is set forth although the figure of stones is used instead of boards, probably referring to Solomon's temple.

That which the bars are said to typify must also be in harmony with the antitype of the tabernacle as a whole and the other parts with which they are related. The detailed description given of these bars and their important function in the tabernacle are both good reasons for our expecting to find something analogous to them in the antitypical sanctuary. What, then, unifies and relates to each other the members of God's spiritual house as the bars held together and solidified in one the boards of that ancient house? Jesus prayed in that notable prayer recorded by John as follows: "Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; that they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me."(John 17:20, 21). That the unity of Christians is important enough to be typified in the tabernacle is evident from this fact stated by Jesus that it should be an evidence to the world of his divinity. Also on such an occasion with the gloom of Gethsemane already gathering about him and the horrors of Calvary immediately before him, we can not think of Jesus praying about unimportant things.

Let us look in Paul's great unity chapter, the fourth of Ephesians, for the unifying agents of God's church typified by the golden bars of the tabernacle. "Endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace." (v.3). "And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: till 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." (vs. 11-13). Here we have two kinds of unity, a "unity of the Spirit" of God, and a "unity of the faith." So likewise we have one interior and four exterior bars for the boards of the tabernacle. Probably the number of boards and bars have no typical meaning, but are such as its physical construction required.

As that golden bar passed through the midst of the boards uniting them together from within, so the Holy Spirit in the hearts of all his people makes them one in a very real sense. The saved in Christ not only have kindred spirits, they not only have common aspirations and desires, but they all have one Spirit, the Spirit of God in them.

This unity of the Spirit is beautifully set forth by Paul in the twelfth chapter of 1 Corinthians under the figure of the human body as representative of the body of Christ, the church. As the hands, the feet, and every part of the human body cooperate under the direction of the one indwelling and animating human spirit, so the members of the church of Christ, in each of whom his Spirit dwells and moves, all work together in unity and harmony.

This indwelling of the one Spirit in all the members is the ground of the holy fellowship that normally exists among God's saints, and which is so blessed that even the hardened sinner looking on is convinced that they have something he does not possess. "By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another." (John 13:35). They "were of one heart and of one soul." (Acts 4:32). "There is one body." (Eph. 4:4). It is also the basis of the true organization and government of God's church. During the long ages of apostasy this unity of Christians by the rule of the indwelling Spirit was practically lost, but the time has come when devout hearts everywhere are seeking for that oneness which characterized the early church, and Christian unity, the oneness in the body of Christ, is again becoming a practical reality.

But let us again notice that unity of the faith symbolized by the four exterior golden bars. An invisible, interior unity is maintained by the inner bar, but the other bars are needed for outward unity. This is to result from the labors of the various classes of ministers mentioned in Eph. 4:11. By their faithful preaching of the Word of God, their hearers will attain to this unity. Probably we are not to understand an absolute unity of comprehension of the details of religious truth or the interpretation of every portion of Scripture, but rather a unity of comprehension of those fundamental and practical truths that are necessary to the perfecting in Christian experience and to the bringing to the "measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ." What we know we know alike.

Typical Meaning of the Silver Sockets. - The Scriptures speak quite clearly concerning the meaning of the silver sockets. In Exodus 38:25-28 we are told that these were made from the silver half-shekels which the men twenty years old and upwards gave when they were numbered, as a ransom for their souls that they be not stricken with plague. In chap. 30:11-16 it is called "atonement money." Each man must give this exact amount, which was equal to about sixty-two cents. The rich must not give more nor the poor less, signifying that God, not men, must determine the necessary atonement for sin. God's church, his redeemed people, rest on the atonement of Christ. His life's blood is the ransom price of every member of God's spiritual house, who were represented by the boards that rested upon the costly silver sockets of atonement money. Probably the apostle had this very atonement silver in mind when he wrote, "Ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, ... but with the precious blood of Christ." (1 Peter 1:18, 19).

The Curtains. - Four coverings were placed over the framework of boards. An inner covering of ten magnificent curtains four by twenty-eight cubits, of fine linen (with cherubim in the royal colors blue, purple and scarlet inworked), and fastened together at the sides, covered the walls and ceiling inside. Over this and covering the frame work outside were eleven curtains of goats' hair, four by thirty cubits, and fastened together at the sides. The length of one of these curtains was exactly enough to reach across the top and down each side of the tabernacle outside. The inside curtains seem to have been hung cross-wise of the tabernacle in some manner. Over the curtains of goats' hair was spread a covering of rams' skins dyed red, and over this one of badgers' skins, or, as the Revised translates it, of seals' skins.

Typical Meaning of the Curtains. - These beautiful curtains of fine white linen inwrought with heavenly figures in kingly colors of blue, purple, and scarlet doubtless contain a lesson for us in the "true tabernacle." This find white linen was a covering for the gold-covered boards, which gold symbolized the glory of the Lord. This clothing for the boards was probably in the Revelator's mind when he said of the church, "To her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of the saints." (Rev. 19:8). Divine righteousness, the righteousness of Christ, is the covering of every member in God's church. The royal colors blue, purple, and scarlet seem to signify the exalted honor which is the portion of those in God's church. Theses are a "royal priesthood" (1Pet. 2:9), and, as they exclaim in Revelation 5:9, 10, "Thou ... hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth." "And hath made us kings and priests unto God" (Rev. 1:6). "They ... reign in life" (Rom. 5:17). The cherubs or angelic figures are characteristic of God's presence throughout the Bible. They appear in Isaiah's vision (Isa. 6:2), and the golden cherubim were on the mercy-seat nearest to God's presence. On the curtains and the veil they doubtless signify the heavenliness of the condition of those in God's house today. God's people now "sit together in heavenly places" (Eph. 2:6). They have come "to an innumerable company of angels,to the general assembly and church of the first-born." (Heb. 12:22, 23).

The Two Veils and Two Rooms. - At the entrance of the tabernacle was a hanging of blue, purple, and scarlet of fine linen, suspended upon five pillars of shittim wood overlaid with gold and set in sockets of brass. Twenty cubits beyond this was the second veil of fine linen, with figures of cherubim in the same gorgeous colors as those on the curtains. The veil hung upon four gold-plated pillars of shittim wood set in sockets of silver.

Typical Meaning of the Two Rooms. - No feature of the tabernacle is more prominent than the two divisions of it - the holy and the most holy place. This twofold aspect is seen, not only in the two rooms, but also in the first and second veil admitting them respectively; in the two altars, the brazen altar before the first veil and the golden altar before the second veil; and in the two applications of blood, the first on the brazen altar and the second on the golden altar. Something of very fundamental importance must be foreshadowed by this oft-repeated double aspect in type.

Some interpreters have understood this second room to represent heaven. They get this idea from the statement in Heb. 9:24, where Christ is said to have entered, not into the holy places in the literal tabernacle, "but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us." It should be noted, however, in interpreting this verse, that the analogy is not being drawn here between places merely, but especially between the service of the high priest's entering into God's presence in that ancient house to intercede for the people and Jesus' entering into God's presence in heaven to make intercession for sinners. The presence of God is the essential thing, the place is merely incidental. For all others than the high priest, "the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest, while as the first tabernacle was yet standing." (Heb. 9:8). Even he could enter only on the day of atonement, once each year, in the capacity of intercessor for the people. Therefore his intercession there was typical of Christ's intercession before God in heaven. But as a type of Christian experience, or in relation to the common priests, it represents a state of grace that may be obtained in this life, according to Heb. 10:19. A second reason why the holiest place is not a proper type of heaven is that a literal place cannot be a type of a literal place even though that place be heaven. The laws of symbols forbid this. A place more appropriately typifies a spiritual state. A third reason is that in the twenty-fourth verse of Hebrews nine the holiest place is not mentioned, but the "holy places," including the entire house, both the holy and the holiest place. But we have already fully proved that the tabernacle was typical of the church, the house of God, "whose house we are" (Heb. 3:6).(See also Heb. 8:2; 9:11; 1 Cor. 12:27; 1 Tim. 3:15). A fourth and very positive reason is that in Heb. 10:19-22. "Brethren" are urged to enter this holiest, which would be meaningless if used of heaven, which is not entered voluntarily - we can only will to be ready, and we already are prepared when we are "brethren."

But what is the antitypical inner room? Is there such a thing in the process of coming to God as two distinct degrees of holiness? Do some of those in God's church possess a distinctly superior degree of holiness? Is there an experience in divine grace that is obtained by an application of the blood as at the golden altar subsequent to the experience obtained at the brazen altar and at the laver, which admits into the first room?

According to both the Bible and the experience of multitudes of the most spiritual Christians, these questions must be answered in the affirmative. The first room typified the regenerated state of believers, and the second room the state of entire sanctification which is received at the time of the Holy Ghost baptism subsequent to conversion.

Jesus prayed, "Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth." (John 17:17). This prayer Jesus prayed for his disciples, who belonged to God and had "kept" his word (v. 6), who were "not of the world" (vs. 9, 14, 16), who had been sent to preach (Matt. 10:7), whose names were written in heaven (Luke 10:20), who had believed on him (Matt. 16:16) and were therefore born of God (John 1:12, 13). Now, to sanctify means to make holy. Therefore these who had been regenerated needed to be made more holy than they were already. So in John 15:1-6 a purging or cleansing of those who are already branches of the true vine, Christ, is promised, that they may be the more fruitful. Again, Paul prays for his newly converted Thessalonian brethren, "And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." (1 Thess.5:23).

"Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it [the church]; that he might sanctify and cleanse it [the church] with the washing of water by the word." (Eph 5:25, 26). Here the church, those already regenerated, are to be sanctified, having been already cleansed at the laver of water. The Greek word here for washing is the same as that used in Exod.38:27 in the Septuagint which we translate laver. There is a cleansing of those already in the church. This is accomplished by the Holy Ghost at the time of his baptism (Acts 15:8, 9). That the baptism by the Spirit is after the time of conversion is exemplified in the apostles (John 14:17; Acts 2:4), the Samaritans (Acts 8:12-16), the Ephesians (Acts 19:2-6), and others.

This sanctification is a restoration from the depravity of the nature. That the derangement of the nature continues in the regenerated has been the experience and belief of Christians generally. But in entire sanctification by a second application of the blood of Jesus at the golden altar we are able to enter through the veil into the holiest place, the place of perfect holiness, where we are pure "as he is pure." This and this only is perfect redemption from sin. Under the ancient tabernacle, entrance into the holiest place was not possible except for the high priest; but now it is open to whosoever wills to enter. Then let us "enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus ... having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience [at the brazen altar], and our bodies washed with pure water [at the laver which admits into the holy place]" (Heb. 10:19, 22).

Typical Meaning of the Veil. - Both the hangings at the entrance, the first veil, and the second veil, typified Christ. That the second veil typified him is plainly stated in Heb. 10:20, where it is said we enter the holiest "by a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh." It is only by Christ's atonement, which he made by coming in the flesh, that perfect holiness is possible. This also throws light on the rending, from top to bottom, of the veil in the temple by unseen hands, at the death of Jesus. It signified that the atonement was now completed and full redemption from sin is possible, so we can go into the very presence of God, into the place of perfect holiness.

Under the symbol of a sheepfold Jesus states that he is the door (John 10:9). Therefore the door or veil at the entrance to the ancient house of God typified Christ. "For through him we both have access to one spirit unto the Father." (Eph. 2:18). Only through Christ can we be saved.

Typical Meaning of the Golden Pillars. - Four golden pillars supported the second veil and five the hanging at the entrance, or the first veil. In the Galatian letter Paul writes, "And when James, Cephas, and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given unto me, they gave to me and Barnabas the right hands of fellowship." (Gal. 2:9). "Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out." (Rev. 3:12). As the pillars in that first temple of God were supports for it and held up the veils which typified Christ, so the faithful minister of the gospel upholds Christ and the interests of the church. The three leading apostles at Jerusalem were pillars in this way. Not only ministers, however, but all who are faithful and who overcome temptation may become pillars.