THE SETTING UP.
Exo_25:1-9; Exo_30:11-16; Hebrews 9.
In seeking to give an exposition of the Tabernacle we do not wish to dogmatise, but humbly to follow the method of Paul as seen in his letter to the Hebrews. In referring there to the Tabernacle and the Priesthood he reveals his method of interpretation by such keynote sentences as the following: "The shadow of heavenly things" (Heb_8:5), "The patterns of things in the heavens" (Heb_9:23), "The figures of the true" (Heb_9:24), "A shadow of good things to come" (Heb_10:1). Seeing that these things were shadows, patterns, and figures of heavenly or spiritual things yet to come, I think we have sufficient warrant for taking all the spiritual teaching out of them we possibly can. The question is not, Does the Tabernacle teach this or that New Testament truth? but, Do you not see this or that spiritual truth prefigured in it?
All have not the same eye, because all have not the same light and experience. The deeper our Christian experience is the more deeply will our eyes penetrate into these dim shadows, and the more shall we praise the God who showed Moses the pattern on the Mount.
Let us come to these types, then, as Simeon came to the Temple "seeking Jesus." And unless our eyes are holden, as were those of the disciples on the way to Emmaus, we shall surely see Him, and our heart shall rejoice.
I. The Divine Request. "Let them make Me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them" (Exo_25:8). Who? Those who had been redeemed from bondage and separated for Himself. God can dwell only with a separated people. But notice that this proposal originated with God Himself. He so loves those whom He hath saved that He desires to dwell among them. This is but a fresh manifestation of a long-standing purpose in the heart of God. The great craving of the divine heart is to get an abode with man. He dwelt with man in the Garden, then in the Tabernacle, then in the Temple, then in the Person of His Son, now in believers. "Know ye not that ye are the Temple of God, and that God dwelled in you?"(1Co_3:16).
II. The Pattern. "Look that thou make them after the pattern which was showed thee on the Mount" (Exo_25:40). It was because these things had a spiritual meaning that they were to be made according to a heavenly pattern. The plan of the Tabernacle, like the plan of salvation, was all of God. Man’s opinions and reasonings were entirely excluded by the "Thus saith the Lord." The whole thing was a Revelation. Rationalism could add nothing to what was revealed on the Mount. The scheme of redemption has been showed us on the Mount of Calvary. There you and I may see Him, who is the Pattern for our lives.
III. The Materials. Where did these pilgrims dwelling in a desert get all the rich and rare materials necessary for such a costly structure? "The Lord knew that they would need these things, so He gave them all they required before they left Egypt" (Exo_12:36). When the Lord’s people are put into the possession of riches it is because the Lord hath need of them. They "offered willingly." Love is always liberal. If every redeemed one was offering to God what they have there would be no lack, no need of Church bazaars, or such questionable make-shifts (Act_4:34). Their liberality was so great that Moses had to restrain them (Exo_36:6). Instead of the people of God being restrained in these days, every art and dodge is being used to constrain them even to give a little.
IV. The Principal Workman. "See, I have called Bezaleel, and have filled him with the Spirit of God" (Exo_31:1-2). Bezaleel means "In the shadow of God." How suggestive his character-in the shadow of God. His work-in the Spirit of God-filled with wisdom and understanding in all manner of workmanship, that is, all the workmanship needed to accomplish the mind and will of God. What a beautiful type of the Holy Spirit, the great Overseer, in this present dispensation during the building of the greater spiritual Temple, "an habitation of God" (Eph_2:22). Bezaleel, like the Holy Spirit, gave to "every man his work," and not only that, but also imparted to each workman the wisdom needed to make his work acceptable to God. Only that which we do under the guidance of God’s Spirit will be pleasing unto Him, and fit for a place in the great Temple. Bezaleel alone had the right to devise (Exo_35:32). The Holy Spirit of God is sovereign in His work. We cannot limit the Holy One to old ruts and forms. "The wind bloweth where it listeth" (Joh_3:8). The work of the Tabernacle, like Christian work, had many different phases, but was all done for the glory of God under one guiding Spirit.
V. The Foundation. Seeing that this house was to be typical of heavenly and eternal things, we may be sure that something very special will be seen about the foundation.
In Exodus 30 we see that every man had to give half a shekel as an atonement for his soul. In Exodus 38 we find that this "atonement money," the price of souls, was to be made into sockets, in which the boards of the Tabernacle were to rest. The sockets formed the foundation, so that the Tabernacle literally stood upon "Atonement." Peter perhaps had this fact in view when he said, "Ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold,.. but with the precious blood of Christ" (1Pe_1:18-19). The Tabernacle had no standing apart from the atoning price of souls; neither has the Church of Christ, the House of God, any foundation at all apart from the atoning, precious blood. To deny the redeeming power of Christ’s death is to deny the only foundation laid by God upon which it is possible to build true worship and acceptable service. "Other foundation can no man lay" (1Co_3:11). "All other ground is sinking sand."
VI. The Boards. As we have seen the foundation represents the atoning work of Christ. The boards resting on and fixed in the foundation we may take to typify the believer’s relationship to Christ and to one another. Each board was fifteen feet long and twenty-seven inches broad, furnished with a tenon by which it laid hold of the silver socket (Hebrew for tenon means hand). The history of these boards may serve to illustrate the experience of many a soul. See them-
1. Cut Down. Saul had this experience while on his way to Damascus, severed from his old ways and works.
2. Dried Up. The old sap of selfishness and carnality must be dried up before much good work can be wrought on us or in us. David knew about this when he cried, "Thy hand was heavy upon me. My moisture is turned into the drought of summer" (Psa_32:4).
3. Cleansed. It is not enough to be cut off from the old life, everything about us that would hinder us from filling a place in the House of God.
4. Clothed. These boards were not only cleansed, but covered with gold. A new beauty was put upon them; so when the sinner has been cleansed he is clothed upon with the beauty of the Lord. "The righteousness of God, which is unto all and upon all them that believe" (Rom_3:22).
5. Fitly Framed Together. When planted in the foundation they were closely joined one to another. On the foundation alone could they be united together. True spiritual union can only come through our being joined together in Christ. There is a great cry for union in these days. Many of the boards want the union without the foundation."All one in Christ." Every board resting on the sockets of atonement had a point of contact and fellowship one with the other. Why should it not be so with every believer in Christ?
VII. The Bars. These strong bars encircled the golden boards like the arms of the Almighty, keeping them straight on the foundation and close to one another. What a picture of God’s care over those who rest upon the atoning work of Christ! Kept by the power of God! Every board had three rings, through which the bars ran. Each believer has a threefold connection with the keeping power of God: Faith, Hope, Love-three golden rings clasping the threefold sufficiency of the three-one God, viz., "The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost" (2Co_13:14).
VIII. The Setting Up. "On the first day of the first month thou shalt set up the Tabernacle" (Exo_40:2). So you see the Tabernacle was set up on "New Year’s Day." It was a new beginning for them, because there was now to be a new order of things. Everything had to be set up and put in order before the God of Glory could come and make His abode with them. So is it still. All we are and have must be set up before God if we would have the mighty filling of His Holy Spirit. One vessel unconsecrated would hinder the divine indwelling.
But when all was given up to God, and everything set in order before Him, He did fulfil His Word and manifest His sanctifying presence. It is always a new start when God comes by His Spirit and possesses the Temple of our body. When the glory of His presence filled the Tabernacle every vessel, curtain, board, and pin were sanctified and made holy. His Holy Spirit in us sanctifies and makes holy every gift, faculty, and member we possess.
The ten days’ experience of the disciples in the upper room also correspond to the setting up of the Tabernacle, in that there followed the powerful purifying presence of God. A new beginning was then made, a new order of things established, of which all believers have been made partakers.
IX. The Purpose. The Tabernacle was not set up as an ornament nor as an exhibition of human skill, but as a sanctuary, a holy place for God. It was "God’s House." Every Christian is to be "God’s House." "Ye are the Temple of God" (1Co_3:16). We have been set up upon the sure foundation, not that we might be saved only, but that we might become the habitation of God. The Tabernacle had three courts-the outer, the holy, and the most holy. There are three parts in man-the body, soul, and spirit. It is in the inmost court that the Spirit of God dwells. If He has possession of our spirit, then all else will be yielded up to Him. But this tent in the wilderness was also to be a witness. It is called "The Tabernacle of Witness." Like the Church of God, it was a witness in the wilderness to the reality, power, mercy, and holiness of God. But what constituted it a witness? The presence of God. Until God possessed it it was no witness for Him. Here we have the secret of true witness-bearing. We can only be witnesses for God in proportion as we are filled with God. It is not you the world needs, it is the God that’s in you. "Greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world" (1Jn_4:4). If the Holy Ghost is not filling us our testimony is but empty prattle. "Ye (not your tongues) are My witnesses" (Isa_43:10). "Ye are the light of the world" (Mat_5:14).
Autor: James Smith