The Tabernacle

… In which we have spoken, this is the psalm. We have such a high priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the majesty in the heavens, a minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man. Every high priest is ordained to offer gifts and sacrifices, wherefore it is of necessity that this man have comfort also to offer. For if he were there, he should not be a priest, seeing that there are priests that offer gifts according to the law, who serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things, as Moses was admonishing of God when he was about to make the tabernacle, for seeing said he, that thou may all things according to the covenant show to thee in the mouth. Now, chapter 9. The rest of it. While Christ, being come a high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building, neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the whole place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. Verse 23. It was therefore necessary that the tabernacles of things in the heavens should be purified with these, but the heavenly things themselves were better sacrificed than these. For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the truth, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us. And one last verse in chapter 10. Verse 19. Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiness by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which he hath consecrated for us through the veil, that is to say, his flesh, and having an high priest over the house of God, with a pure heart and full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water. Now before we show the picture we have to show, before we speak to the tabernacle and help us to understand it, I think it's right that we should refer to the blood of God to show the New Testament warning for returning to the tabernacle as a help for us in this brilliant dispensation. I think you would agree that but for the instruction in the Old Testament about the tabernacle, all these verses that we have read would be meaningless to us. It's necessary to have the instruction in the Old Testament to throw light upon those statements in the New. But there is a clear statement that the pattern that was given to Moses in the month was, as Paul says in the epistle to the Hebrews, a figure of the truth. The very mention of the true tabernacle which God pitched and not man is in contrast to the old tabernacle which Moses pitched. And so I believe as we look at the picture of the tabernacle and inquire into its meaning, we shall find help for us in our day. Now if anyone feels that they don't like pictures being shown, then personally I humbly apologise to you. But I feel that the showing of these pictures will help us in understanding the truth. And all that we seek to do is to show these pictures and from them draw out New Testament principles. I'm sure you have all looked at books with pictures and you say, well that's very helpful. I can understand what's meant by that picture. And so I think that a picture projected onto a screen is no different from a picture that's in a book. And we'll try, the Lord helping us, to show the truth contained in this wonderful text. Now I have to say that in the scope of four addresses it will be impossible to cover all the features of truth contained in the tabernacle. But we'll do our best, held by the screen, to give some idea of the wonderful feeling of the tabernacle. And if I give a little understanding in relation to it, then it's up to yourselves to get some books. There are plenty of books available on the tabernacle, and with your Bible, and on your knees, to get some further help on it. Now if we can get the first picture coming. Now the most important thing in the tabernacle, or I say the most important feature of the tabernacle, is the presence of God himself. We must remember that in the Old Testament, God vouchsafed his presence amongst his redeemed people. And the cloud above the tabernacle was the emblem of his presence amongst his own. Now everything in the tabernacle takes character from this important truth. God dwelling amongst his people. And needless to say, this is the most important thing today, that God dwells amongst his people. Our blessing is incidental to this, but the most important thing that we can think of is our relationship to God and how we order our lives accordingly. Now the presence of God in the midst of his people was the most important feature of this wonderful system. Now I might particularly refer to this part here called the core, and the hangings of the core. But first of all, let us give a general idea of the tabernacle and how it functions. Here is the gate of the core, and of course obviously the place where people entered in. Now the gate of the core faced towards the east. Now I feel there is a two-fold significance attached to this. When Cain went out from the presence of God, he went into the east, away from God. Now, if persons are coming into the presence of God, they have got to come this way, from the east, into the presence of God. This is the way man returns. Secondly, most of the nations of the east in their idolatry look towards the east or towards the sun rising. But those who went in to worship God, turned their backs upon the normal idolatrous practice and went in to worship God. Now, the gate of the core represents the Lord Jesus Christ as a door. The one by whom we can return to God and find blessing. Now this gate is very wide, it's 20 cubits wide, and signifies the welcome that is given to those who desire to return to God and enter into his presence as worshippers. We have time to speak in all the detail of it, but there is blue and purple and scarlet and fine linen all entwined together in embroidery. There is no mention of cherry bloom. Now, cherry bloom is the symbol of judgment. And if the gate indicates the welcome that people receive through Christ, then we can understand the absence of the symbol that indicates judgment. Persons are attracted to Christ. Him that cometh unto thee, I will in no wise cast out. And all the pictures in the gate of the core indicate the effectiveness of Christ and how he welcomes people to him and then leads them to God. Now after a person went through the gate, the first indication was the raising of the altar. If the Lord will, we will speak about this in detail some other night. But the raising of the altar represents the death of Christ first. The manhood of Christ and his effectiveness is portrayed in the gate. But the death of Christ and all the value of his work is portrayed in the raised altar. And this of course sets the person up in righteousness that he can enter into the presence of God. But then after coming to Christ and being made righteous, we often feel there are difficulties in the pathway. We often become defiled by the evil influences that are in this world. And before we enter into the presence of God, we feel the necessity of coming to the word of God and having ourselves cleansed morally as we enter into worship. And so that labor is the symbol of the word of God and how we apply it to our lives. Now we come to the door of the tabernacle. And it is on five pillars if I remember rightly. And it speaks of the features of Christ that are portrayed for us. And then inside, we have the veil which also speaks of the Lord Jesus Christ held on four pillars. In this section here called the holy place, we have the candlestick, the altar of incense, and the table of showbread. And if the Lord will, we will speak about them some other night. In the most holy place is the next most important thing in the tabernacle system to the presence of God. And that is the Ark of the Testimony, the Ark of the Covenant, a beautiful picture of our Lord Jesus Christ in his person and work. We will see pictures later about the boards of the tabernacle and their glass. Now that's a general picture of the tabernacle and what it represents. Now here, right round the corner, we have hangings of fine twine linen. Those hangings are on copper pillars. The bases in which the pillars rested were also copper. Between the two pillars, there was a connecting link of silver. And on the silver rod, the fine twine linen hung down. Now this presents for us a very important piece of Christian teaching. We are all aware that as we grow, we see a large notice, danger, keep out, or trespassers will be prosecuted. These things are quite common in our day. Now I believe that in a general way, this is what is represented in the fine twine linen hangings of the coat. This represents the surrounding enclosure that guarded this wonderful structure called the tabernacle, the dwelling place of God. If you read in the book of Numbers, you read there that the Levites were to camp round about the coat, that no one should come near to the tabernacle, and that the wrath of God should come upon them. Now this is clearly because of the presence of God and his holiness. And in the Old Testament times, no man could presume to enter into the presence of God with impunity. God and his holiness kept man at a distance, because man was not constituted righteous to enter into his presence. And so this enclosure surrounding the coat represents the principle of separation by which God kept at bay any forces of evil that might intrude into his presence. He gave specific instructions that there was a family of priests that only were to enter into his presence. No one else. Aaron and his four sons. And they were the persons who were to officiate at the raising altar, the lamer, and enter into the presence of God, and offer up the appropriate sacrifices, or do the functions that they were authorized to do. Now no other person could break into this place and function. And again I say this represents for us the holiness of God and his desire that evil should be kept at a distance. When we come to the temple, then the same principle applies. The holiness of God. It's interesting to know that in the excavations that took place in connection with Herod's temple, there was found an inscription on a stone that indicated that Gentiles were not to enter into the precincts of the temple on pay of debt. Now this was just their way of maintaining this idea in the tabernacle. Now you say, but in Christianity, things are different. God is a God of glory. God is a God of grace. God wouldn't in any way punish men by debt. But then when we come to the New Testament, we find exactly that principle maintained. You remember Ananias and Sapphira? At the very beginning of the church's history, they sinned against God. If you like, they broke through this enclosure. Something they had no right to do. And they lost their lives because of their failure. Now, when we come later on into the episodes, we find Paul speaking about failure amongst Christians. In the 11th chapter of 1 Corinthians. And he says, because some had not lived lives that were in keeping with the place they had taken as Christians, he says, some are weak and sickly, and some have been taken away. God, in his judgment, in his governmental judgment, not these persons losing the salvation of their souls, but taken away in judgment from the earth. Because of infringing the fullness of God. Now, I want to say that for us today, there are two notices here. We've been speaking about notices, trespasses will be prosecuted and so on. I believe today, in New Testament language, there are two notices for us as Christians, and we ought to take account of them. The first one is in 2 Corinthians chapter 6. Where Paul says very plainly, guided by the Spirit of God, we must not have fellowship with unbelievers. We must not in any way lower our testimony as Christians, and be joined together with persons who are not real believers in our law of Jesus Christ. Now, this is in connection only with unbelievers. It has nothing to do with our relations with each other as Christians. Paul goes on to say, what fellowship hath light with darkness, what concord hath Christ with Belial, and so on. And he's simply pointing out that those who have gathered to the name of the Lord Jesus Christ must not be connected with evil in any shape or form. And we believe that these contacts can be in marriage, in business, or in social contacts, where the testimony of a Christian is lowered by being connected with unbelievers. Now, secondly, the second notice I believe that we must take account of is found in the second epistle of Paul to Timothy. There we find a different kind of instruction. The church of God began at Pentecost, and very soon failed in their mosque. And all sorts of ideas were circulating among Christians, persons professing to be true believers. Paul says in 2 Timothy that in order to be true to Christ, to be true to the holiness of God, we must stand apart from these evil teachings and evil practices and follow the Lord of God. Now, these are not ideas that we have pulled from the Lord of God. They are the plain statements of the Word of God without guidance in these days. And morally, this is all involved in these times round about the quarter. Now, copper, I know that when you read the authorised version, it speaks about brass, but it should be, indeed, copper. Brass is an alloy, and it would soon collapse under strain or heat or stress, but copper is a very durable metal, and it can withstand different temperatures, and it can withstand stress and strain. And it typifies the believer, you and me, and other believers, holding up the fine coin linen, which is a membrane of the righteousness of God. And righteousness carried out in our lives in every feature of it, so that we as believers are responsible to display this righteousness. It can't come from anywhere else. We can't expect worldly people, unconverted people, to display the righteousness of God. It's an impossibility. But every believer in the Lord Jesus Christ is responsible to maintain the righteousness of God. Now, righteousness simply means doing right. And the righteousness of God simply means doing right according to God. Not according to your idea, not according to my idea, but according to the rights of God expressed in His Word. Now then, here we are, all the believers standing up, and we're not standing up as individuals. We are all connected to each other by silver rods, and there are silver ropes upon which the fabric hung. Now this indicates the bond that we have as persons who have been brought to our Lord Jesus Christ, and persons who enjoy something of redemption. Silver, in the Old Testament, is a well-known metal that indicates redemption. In one of the chapters in Exodus, every person, every Israelite, had to bring a half-shekel of silver for the atonement money. All that silver gathered together was melted down and was used in the various features in the tabernacle. And the silver rods and the silver ropes were made from the atonement money. And there we are, we're all here, every Christian, and we're all connected together with the silver rods. They all belong to Christ, if you remember the well-known scripture. Ye are not your own, ye have been bought with a price. Therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's. And this is the way we glorify God in this sense. It's the display of righteousness to the surrounding company. Now it would be very interesting to know that in the first curtain that covers over the tabernacle, the length of that curtain is equal to the length of the hangings round about the core. Now that first curtain was for the eye of God, for the eye of the high priest, and what was inside corresponded to the outside. Now this must be ever true in a Christian life. It's one thing to glory in the present blessing that we enjoy. Wonderful thing. But then our lives ought to be in correspondence with the way we are blessed. The outside and the inside corresponding definitely. To emphasize it, the length of the curtain was 28 roots. There were 10 of them connected together that made 280 cubits in the first curtain. Here we have 50 cubits, sorry 100 cubits. And 100 cubits is 200. 250 behind, that's 250. And 50 here and 50 there, that's 50. That makes it 280. So in measurement, they correspond. Now there's just this little difference that here the curtains are spoken of as length and breadth. Now we can understand this because this is covering the breadth. Here it is spoken of as the length and the height, because this has to do with something standing up as a witness and as a protection. Now we can see here a very important principle for us. And it's binding upon every believer to see that he is answering to this position in representing God in divine righteousness. As we said a few moments ago, the unconverted people cannot do this. They haven't the power and they haven't the intelligence. But we have the power in the Holy Spirit and we have the intelligence in the Word of God. So as acting upon these principles and being governed by them, and this is an important thing, to be governed by the truth that we know, we are able to display to the world something for the pleasure of God. Now there are vases of copper. And this indicates the firm foundation that we have in standing in a durable sense against all that is against us in this world. Now I think that will suffice for that picture. But if any of the brethren have any questions to ask before we leave it, we'll try and answer them if we can. Perhaps some brethren have some difficulty, something you would like to ask, and we'll be only too patient if we can. You said, Mr. Wallace, that only heir out of these four sons would enter into the gates, yet there's more people inside the cross. Well, it may have been that this was the time for taking down the tabernacle. In the functioning of sacrifices, only Aaron and his sons were authorised by God to do this. Now when it came the time that the cloud removed off the top of the tabernacle, that was an indication to the people of God that they had to leave that locality and move to another place. Then the Levites, under the direction of Aaron and his sons, took down the structure, covered it, some of it was placed in wagons, some of it was placed on the shoulders of the bearers, and they went to another place and re-elected the governor. That confirms what I was going to ask, how the wall had been put up, because I thought there was certainly quite a lot of activity there. Yes, well, after I have mentioned it, shall we have another question? Yes, we shall have another question. Now the Carthaginians, they laid over the boards of the tabernacle, and they put bars that bound them together to form a solid building. Now here we see the boards standing up, and here we see the bases of silver. These boards were made of chipping wood, or acacia wood, and they were covered over with pure gold. They had two pins, a bead if you like, and they fitted into the bases here of silver. The length of the board was ten cubits, that would be roughly fifteen feet high, a considerable height. The breadth of the board was one and a half cubits. We don't know the thickness. Now each of the bases was made of silver, and the weight of each base was a tonne, one hundred and fourteen pounds of solid silver, which lay on the sand of the desert, and then the board was firmly placed into the two bases. And then we see another picture later where the boards were bound together by five bars. Now this, we believe, indicates the personal blessing of each believer as set up before God in divine righteousness, and able to express to God the features of a pleasurable doing. Now the acacia wood, or the chipping wood, was a tree that grew in the desert. It's wood was extremely durable and could withstand great stresses and strains. It had no visible means of nourishment in the desert, and yet it grew. And because of this was a beautiful type of the perfect humanity of our Lord Jesus Christ, the one who lived in this world without any visible means of support or resource. All of this support being transmitted to God, and able to live in this world entirely apart from its evil and was here for the pleasure of God. You remember his own statement? I do like to do the will of God. I do always the things of pleasing. And this was the type of humanity that brought joy to the heart of God. A man totally apart from the evil that was in this world, and on the other hand, doing the things that brought pleasure to the heart of God. His resource was not in the things of men, or in the power of Satan, but in God himself. Now a believer who accepts the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior, receives the gift of the Holy Spirit, and because of that gift and the new nature that he receives, he is able to live in the way Christ lived. Not drawing his resources from anything in this world, but drawing his resources from God himself in the power of the Holy Spirit. And this is the type that is presented to us in the boards of the Tabernacle as representing believers standing up before God in Divine Righteousness. Now gold is the emblem of Divine Righteousness. There is nothing better than Divine Righteousness. The Epistle to the Romans is a whole book devoted to instruction to believers, telling them that before God they are righteous. And this is what the Bible represents. Covered with the gold and in fact meaning for us that we are righteous before God. There is nothing more wonderful to realize that this is how God looks upon us. We so often get down in our hearts and in our minds, and we are occupied with our failures, and our difficulties, and our problems. And we think this is how God views us, but he doesn't. Once we have accepted Christ as our Saviour, the Bible speaks about us being in Christ Jesus. That is the place where God views us, secure in his well-beloved Son. Now, there are 48 wards all around here, forming the Tabernacle. When we study Paul's writings, we find that 48 times he refers to believers in Christ Jesus. So in Paul's ministry at least, we have a perfect setting point of the believer's position in Christ, which is outside the sphere of responsibility, and indicates to us the wealth of our blessing. Now this can never change. It can never alter. It's the place of security, the place of divine blessing. It's the place that we have in Christ forevermore. Now how do we reach this? In the Epistle to the Romans, in the end of chapter 4, Paul describes how the principle of faith brings us into this place of blessing. That Christ having been delivered for our offenses, and raised for our justification, by believing in this, we have justified before God, and we have peace with him. I believe that the two feet or hands resting securely in those sockets of silver, indicates the faith that we have in these two great features of the work of Christ, delivered for our offenses, raised again for our justification. If we hold of these things in faith, those two things will bring home to our hearts the blessedness of being justified before God. And it's faith that apprehends this, and gives us the secure standing before God. Now, there were two boards, one at the corner here, at each corner, and they were for strengthening. There was a great deal of controversy about how those strengthening boards functioned, as to how they were fitted into the structure of the Tabernacle, and I don't suppose anyone will ever know how exactly they fitted into the structure. But they were there for strength, to stand the stresses and strains of the building in the wilderness. And this is God's desire, that we might all stand up firmly based in redemption, because again, this is what the silver represents, the silver base, the redemption, which is in Christ Jesus. In the chapter 3 of Romans, this is what Paul says, being justified freely by his grace in the redemption which is in Christ Jesus. Now, we don't want to talk about the pillars, this is the holy place, this is the most holy place, the most holy place formed at a complete square. The same in the temple, it too was a complete square of ten cubits. Now, I think we should move on to the next picture, lying about God. Sorry, I didn't ask if anyone wanted to ask any questions about the last picture. Did anyone want to say anything? Something perhaps that we forgot to say that ought to have been said? There's five pillars there, I notice. Yes. Five pillars. There's five at the beginning here. I think it has been suggested that we enter in all the value of the teaching concerning Christ in the Bible of the Epistles, that appropriating all the teaching that they gave, then we are fully equipped to be worshippers in the presence of God. This is one suggestion. Another suggestion with the four pillars is that we enter in through the veil, and the veil represents the humanity of Christ, and in the humanity of Christ all the attributes and nature of God are revealed. And we enter into the most holy place in all the value of the knowledge of God that Christ brought to us. The four pillars would represent the four Gospels. Now here we find the complete structure, all the boards in their place, and it says there were five bars to be made, and here we find this person's conception, the person who drew this, his conception of the five bars. One there, one there, one there and one there. Now the reason why he's done this is because it says that the middle bar went through the midst of the bars. Someone suggested that a hole was bored at the end of the bars, and then this middle bar was placed right through them like a connecting bar unseen and so uniting all together. Now this has been discounted on the basis that it would be sound construction. To bore a hole in a relatively thin plank would greatly weaken the structure right through, and the first stress that came on it would break. And again, we've got to remember that there's one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, twenty of them I think, twenty bars, and they're a cubit and a half, that's thirty cubits, and thirty cubits would be roughly four to five to fifty feet long. You consider the difficulty of trying to weave a bar through holes, it would be a considerable job. And so this idea has been discounted. Now we talk about, in our own language, about someone drove a car through the midst of some people. That doesn't mean the car went through the middle of each person. It's only a way of describing a certain pattern. Now I think this is as good an idea as any, because it's perfectly sound from a constructional point of view, the rings of gold, and the bar of acacia wood, or chitin wood, again covered with gold, going right through the rings, and holding all firmly together. Now this is the idea in the bars, to unite all the boards together, that they might be able to stand stress and strain. I think you will agree with me, dear brethren, that the greatest failure that is expressed in the work today of those Christians is the terrible division and separation that exists. True Christians, true believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, holding right doctrine and desire to walk right before the Lord, are separated everywhere. They don't move together, they don't put fellowship together, they're in their own little companies, and they're all scattered and divided. Now I think you will agree with me that the NMA has been extremely successful in bringing this divided condition among the people of God. And I want to use very strong language and say it's the crying scandal of the present day. It's even more serious than the terrible moral upheaval that exists in the world, the failure that exists amongst the people of God. Now God's original intention, and he has never moved from it, is that all Christians should be together in unity and fellowship, and work together, and pray together, and worship together, and wait for the Lord together. Now unfortunately, for many reasons, this doesn't exist at the present moment. But God's desire was that all the saints should be together, and it's set forth in type here. Now there are many suggestions giving this to this. One of the most popular is that the four bars represent the four things that are mentioned in Acts 2. They continue steadfastly in the Apostles' Doctrine, the Apostles' Doctrine and Fellowship, the breaking of bread and prayers, and then the second bar representing the Holy Spirit, the power by which all this was effected. Another suggestion is the four gifts that were given to the assembly mentioned in Ephesians 4. He gave some apostles, prophets, pastors and teachers contained in one gift, and evangelists, and again the middle bar representing the Holy Spirit, the power by which those gifts functioned, and all this is described as for the edifying of the people of God. Now these are excellent suggestions, and if all those things were maintained, then the people of God would have been kept together for the glory of God. Unfortunately, there was failure in the path of man, and these things were not maintained. Now I want to suggest humbly another four, another four, another five, features that if they had been followed, would have bound the saints together. The apostle speaks about endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the uniting bond of peace. You can be sure if this is effective amongst the saints of God, peace at the expense of righteousness, eventually it will only create dis-peace. But if peace is secure, on the basis of righteousness, it will be a lasting peace. Paul spoke about the uniting bond of peace. Now if that principle had been maintained amongst the saints of God, there would have been no division. Then he speaks in the epistle to the Colossians, I think it is, about love being the bond of perfection. Now I want to refer to this, centered by the largest one of all, as the one that would typify this feature of the bond of love. You remember how often the Lord Jesus said to his own, before he left this world, A new commandment I give to you, that ye love one another. Now love in the Bible is not a mausoleum idea. Love, it represents the true feature of affection, secured in the saints in the power of the Spirit, and is a love like Christ. And if that love, and the Lord enjoined it upon his saints so often, if that love had been operative amongst the people of God, there would have been no division. Love is the bond of perfection or perfectness. Now there are features of truth too, in fellowship. Now if fellowship had been active in the true sense of the word, again, difficulty would have been avoided amongst the saints. Fellowship means simply, common and equal partaking. Partaking in responsibility. Partaking in blessing. What would you think of a business partnership, if one partner said, I'll provide some money for the partnership, but I'm not going to work, and I'm not going to be responsible for any losses that are incurred, but I certify my share of the profits. Well, you wouldn't think very much of a partner like that. And yet, how true is this, that this principle can be active amongst the people of God. We can be in fellowship, so to speak. Of course, every Christian is in fellowship. There's only one fellowship that God recognizes. The fellowship of God's Son. And every Christian is in fellowship. And because he is, he is responsible to take his share of responsibility, as he is glad to take his share of blessing. So fellowship, inactive, would prevent many sorrows amongst the saints of God. Now there are two features of the assembly that clearly indicate the saints united together. One is the figure of the body, and the other is the figure of the house. The body, all our members are acted together. In a normal body, every member is necessary, and the scripture says that they're compacted together, and they operate together by the nourishment that every joint supplies. So here we find a picture of truth operating amongst the saints that keeps them together, because nobody would willingly deprive themselves of their arms or their legs or their eyes, because, for me, they realize how necessary it is to have every member. I know it is, brethren. How necessary it is that we all have each other in fellowship, to work together and express the truth of this wonderful thing. Then one brick here and one brick there doesn't make a house but form a house. So here we have another quick figure of the assembly where we're all dependent upon each other, and we all give strength and blessing to each other. Now I want to suggest that this also could be suggested in these five bonds. The uniting bond of peace, love, the bond of perfection, the truth of fellowship, the truth of the body of Christ, the truth of the house of God. Now I see our time is gone. I don't want to keep you any longer. But before we close, anyone has anything to suggest or ask, my brethren, we'll be very pleased to hear it or answer any questions. Is the roof of the tabernacle a pent roof or is it flat? In the first illustration it seems it's flat. Yes, it's still flat. This here is covered over with the first curtain. There are four curtains, and they cover over the tabernacle to form a perfect covering for the valuable material that's inside. And this, of course, is the truth of what we spoke at the beginning, the truth of separating. Now I know that sometimes you get a little irritated when someone mentions the word separating. There are two dangers of separation. One, that we might not separate according to the mind of God. The other is that we might separate according to the mind of man. Now both of them are wrong. If we don't add up to the idea of God's separation, then we're failing. If, of course, we fall into the snare of man's abomination, and we've lived to see this, man describing certain things as separation which are foreign to the word of God. Now these things we don't want to have anything to do with. But we do want to follow the principle of separation from evil because it's in order to guard the precious things that are inside. It's not a question of keeping out evil, although that's true, but the main thing is to guard the precious things that are inside. And we know that to be right. Whenever any feature of truth is given up in relation to separation, then something of the precious things of God suffers, and irreparable damage is done to the truth of God. And that's the whole principle. The high wall in the book of Revelation that surrounds the city isn't only to keep evil out, it's to protect the precious things that are inside. And that's the positive feature that we want to see. Now those white lines across there, those ropes, I suppose, they also hang down at a distance from the face of it. Yes, I think that these are some give the picture of ropes connected with things that keep the structure stationary and then the curtains go over the top. There are various ways in which this is presented, and this is where they could get lost in a mass of detail, and a mass of detail in which no one can state things with any measure of their truth. Thank you. Advancing number 73. The Lord of light, the red of lame, the dear small child of sin, and the Lord from guilt of crime and sin, arise, precious God, and raise to me number 73. …

… Exodus, chapter 37, Exodus chapter 37, and verse 1. And Bezalel made the ark of cubit wood, two cubits and a half was the length of it, and a cubit and a half the breadth of it, and a cubit and a half the height of it. And he overlaid it with pure gold within and without, and made a crown of gold through it round about. And he cast for it four rings of gold, to be set by the four corners of it, even two rings upon the one side of it, and two rings upon the other side of it. And he made staves of cubit wood, and overlaid them with gold, and he put the staves into the ring by the sides of the ark to bear the ark. And he made the mercy seat of pure gold, two cubits and a half was the length thereof, and one cubit and a half the breadth thereof. And he made two cherubim of gold, beaten out of one piece made he then, on the two ends of the mercy seat, one cherub on the end of this side, and another cherub on the other end of that side. Out of the mercy seat made he the cherubim on the two ends thereof. And the cherubim spread out their wings on high, and covered with their wings all of the mercy seat, with their faces one to another, even to the mercy seat where the faces of the cherubim. Last night, we considered a little the creation altar, or the altar of burnt offering, and the labor. We saw that those two articles of furniture were made of copper, and were immediately facing the person who entered them through the gate of the court. Now tonight, we want to engage a little with the ark, the piece of furniture that is the most important in the tabernacle system. It was made of gold, pure gold, and was in the most holy place, the place where the presence of God was known and seen. Because the cloud entered into the most holy place and dwelt upon the mercy seat. And precisely God said, there will I meet with thee, there will I commune with thee. It's a striking fact that in the Old Testament, in the portions that deal with the ark, we find often that God himself is connected with it. We don't find this in relation to the candlestick, or the altar of incense, or other portions of the tabernacle, but we get expressions like these, arise oh God, and the ark of thy strength. And we haven't the slightest doubt that the ark indicates in a very vivid way the Lord Jesus Christ. The ark is a perfect copy of the Lord Jesus. And just step by step, we want to go over this portion and see something of the glories of our Lord Jesus. Now again, the first thing that is mentioned in relation to it is that it was made of chitin wood, or acacia wood. We have said so often in these meetings, but we believe that it bears repeating, that it represents the incorruptible humanity of the Lord Jesus Christ. That durable wood that grew in the wilderness, apparently unsustained by things that could be seen, and in this sense was a beautiful type of the manhood of Christ, sustained by God and he, impervious to all the attacks of the enemy, and remaining at the end of his life free from any pain of corruption. The acacia wood, the chitin wood, represents the humanity of our Lord Jesus Christ. But then the ark that was made was overlaid with pure gold. Very often in the tabernacle system, where we get portions of it that represent the Christians, then we find that the chitin wood is overlaid with gold. But where we find types of the Lord Jesus Christ, we find the Spirit of God emphasizes his greatness and glory by saying the chitin wood was covered with pure gold. And we believe that this represents the deity of our Lord Jesus Christ. And this is one of the fundamental truths of Christianity. It has been assailed at every turn. There was one night at a time when the Lord was here, a person denied that he was the Christ, the Son of God, that he was equal with God, that he was God. And of course when the church period began, then Satan continually attacked this fundamental truth. All the New Testament teachers emphasize the deity of Christ. The Gospels express it, Paul does, John does, Peter does. They all emphasize that the Lord Jesus Christ, although a man, was also God. And we believe, dear friends, that this is under attack today, continually, that there are men who would deprive us of the Christ that we worship and adore. If he is only a man like ourselves, how can he possibly be our redeemer? How is he competent to bear the burden of all that pertains to the assembly? How can he manage the universe? How can he do the things that are predicated upon in the New Testament if he is only a man as we are? But the Bible teaches clearly that the person who was here in subject Lord and manhood was also God himself. And of course this is absolutely central to the whole plan of salvation, to the whole working out of divine things as we know it today. So then, let us resolutely defend the glory of Christ whenever it is attacked and persons would tell us that he isn't God. Then let us stand up for what the Bible says, in the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, the Word was God, the same was in the beginning with God. When the Lord Jesus here upon earth said that God was his father, the Jews took up stones to stone him. They said that he blasphemed because if God was his father, he made himself equal with God. And we know there are many other passages that refer to the deity of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now we believe that the shiven wood, the acacia wood covered with pure gold is the way the Spirit of God in this time emphasizes to us the deity of Christ. Now along here we find what is referred to in the portion that we read, a crown or a border. And we believe that this on the constructional side was to strengthen this ark because various things were to be contained in it. Now if we make a box or a building and we put a strengthening part on it, it obviously means that that box or that building is going to be subjected to some kind of strain or is going to contain something valuable. Now we believe that this is so in the construction of the ark. It was to contain the stones of testimony or the tables of the law that Moses received from the hand of God. Later on it was to hold the golden pot of manna and also Aaron's rod of the body. So it had to be strong. Now we believe that when we come to the New Testament we find various references to the greatness and glory of Christ that strengthen our belief in him as the one who is competent to maintain everything for God. We find for instance in the Gospel by John, the Spirit of God using statements like these, the Father loved the Son and has given all things into his hands. Now immediately we are impressed with the competence of the Son of God to hold the things that belong to his Father. No wise Father would ever give into the hands of his Son things that were important if he thought that his Son wasn't competent to deal with them. Now similarly in the Scriptures we find the Father giving all to the Son because he knew only too well that the Son was competent to hold these things and effect them for the glory of his Father. So the strengthening that we find around the outside of the act is to remind us of the ability of the Son of God to do all that is pleasurable to his Godly Father. And there are many Scriptures like this. Take for instance the first chapter of Colossians where the Apostle says we give thanks unto the Father who has made us meekly partakers of the inheritance of the saints in life because he has translated us from the power of authority in the darkness into the kingdom of the Son of his love. Then he goes on in a wonderful unfolding of the glories of Christ to show the competence of the Son of God to order the universe, to eventually reconcile the whole universe to God and in the meantime as the head of the body of the assembly to provide all that is necessary for the Christians in this present day. Scriptures like these strengthen our belief in the competency, in the ability of the Son of God to do things for God. So we believe that this crown or strengthening border round about the top of the act is just to have this in our mind to strengthen our belief in the competency of the Son of God. Now rings were placed on the sides of the ark and these rings had staves in them and these staves were there for carrying the ark to the wilderness. They were not to be taken out, they were to be left there in readiness for the Kohathites, the family of Levites who were responsible to carry this ark. Now I can imagine that the Kohathites who carried this ark knew their service with the greatest delight and sense of honour and privilege that they were privileged to carry such an important piece of furniture. It was the most important piece in the tabernacle system. As we have said it was in place when God said he would meet with his people. And you can imagine the pride of these men as they lifted the ark onto their shoulders, covered with the appropriate coverings. The veil of the holy place covered the ark first, then the badger skins, then a covering of brood and then they carried it through the wilderness. Now this represents for us the immense privilege and honour that belongs to us in this world of maintaining in our affection that we move in a hostile scene the glory and the greatness of Christ. Now there are persons who go about and they say that Christ is not God. Meant to be precise, members of the Jehovah's Witnesses cult will turn up their bible, their new testament, their new confession and they will point out to a part of that, the verse that I quoted in 1 John verse 1 and they will say that Jesus is a God. Just a God like any other God but not the God and they reduce in our minds the deity of Christ. Now this is a false cult and their attack is against the deity of Christ. They are not alone in this. There are many others who attack the personal glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now if we are to be true Cothites, if we are to carry the ark through the wilderness, then we maintain the distinctive glory of Christ that he is God. We preserve this at every time. Now Cothites were responsible to guard the ark, to see that no harm came to it, to carry it through the wilderness so that it might be ready and available to find its true place in the tabernacle when it was erected. So we every day of our lives as true Cothites are responsible to carry this ark. Now before we say any more about their carrying, we must remember that on the top of the ark, what is referred sometimes as the lid or the mercy seat, this was placed upon. Now this was formed out of one piece of gold, the mercy seat, and it covered the ark completely. It was a lid that was made and then out of the lid was made those two cherubim, two cherubs. Cherubim is simply the plural of cherub. I know in a lot of Cothites this is cherubims, but it should really be cherubim. And they are on the top of the lid and their faces are gazing down towards the mercy seat and their wings are covering it. Now this was made of solid gold and I believe that it represents for us the person of our Lord Jesus Christ as the one who maintained in every detail the righteousness of God. We are made the righteousness of God. It is imputed to us because of our faith in the death of Christ. But then we weren't always that. There was a time when we were lost and in our sins. But Christ was always the righteousness of God. He always expressed this. He always showed it forth. And the pure gold of the mercy seat with the cherubim upon it is a reminder to us of the perfection of his life and all that he presented in himself as the righteousness of God. Now if you want an interesting study, get out your concordance, a good concordance and find out all the references that refer to the Lord Jesus Christ as the righteous one. And you will find it will cover a comprehensive study of his glorious person. And you will come across one verse that says Jesus Christ the righteous. Now here on the lid of the mercy seat of the ark we have the type that indicates to us that Jesus was the one who maintained the righteousness of God in his life and more so in his death. You remember it says of him in Hebrews 1, he loved righteousness and he hated iniquity. We don't often associate hate with the Lord Jesus Christ but this hatred was as perfect as his love. And he loved righteousness and in order to maintain it he died in order that he might maintain the thing that he loved and remove forever from before the eye of the Lord the thing that he hated. He loved righteousness and he hated iniquity. Now cherubim in scripture refer to the beings and just beings created by God who are the executives of his judgment. They do his will and perform his judgment. Now to prove this from the bible I think it is always wise to prove what we say from scriptural quotations. We move down to Genesis chapter 3 and find there that when Adam and Eve sinned and were expelled from the garden God placed cherubim with flashing swords at the entrance to the garden. They were expelled and the presence of the cherubim prevented them from re-entering into the garden. When we come to other portions in the Old Testament we find expressions like these, God riding upon a cherubim and in the context of that expression it is a context of judgment. In the book of Ezekiel when the presence of the glory of God left the temple because of the wickedness of the nation of Israel it says the glory of God departed on the cherubim. So it is quite easy to see from these quotations that the idea of judgment is connected with the cherubim. Now here the two cherubim with their wings overshadowing them are looking down upon the mercy and we might well ask what are they looking at? And we know when we read the Old Testament that on the great day of atonement that speaks of the death of Christ the blood of the sacrifice was taken right into the most holy place and placed upon the mercy seat. And the cherubim look down upon the blood of the sacrifice and by this figure judgment is stayed, righteousness is satisfied and blessing can circulate amongst the people. Now can't we see that this is a beautiful picture of what has been secured for us in the death of Christ. The epistle to the Hebrews teaches us clearly that the sacrifices of all could never take away sin, it says so precisely. But it does say that the one sacrifice of Christ that he by his own blood put away sin forever, God's righteousness was satisfied once and forever and blessing is now the portion of all. So this beautiful figure is a picture of the death of Christ, God's righteousness satisfied, his holy claims met because of the blood, speaking of the blood of Christ upon the mercy seat. Now then, can we find anything in the Bible that says this precisely? And we do, we find this in the third chapter of Romans. Those of you who are Mr. Darvish Newton's patient will find that instead of propitiation in Romans 3 he uses this word mercy. The righteousness of God is set forth in the mercy seat, the New Testament antitype to the Old Testament type, Jesus Christ himself. There the righteousness of God is expressed and is available for all those who have faith in the person and work of Christ. Now dear brethren, you might feel that I am just going over the ground and you know perfectly well and I am reiterating things that you know, but these things are the very fundamentals of Christianity. If we are not thoroughly based in the understanding of the death of Christ and all that it means to God first and all that it brings to us secondarily, then we will fail to understand the whole fabric of Christianity that is reared upon this fundamental truth. Now the whole tabernacle system would be valueless without the ark and the mercy seat. This can be proved from many scriptures. You remember in the beginning of Samuel the nation of Israel was in a very bad state. Morally we were right with God, the priesthood was corrupt, the nation was corrupt, the men who were looking after the tabernacle weren't doing their job properly because God gave instructions about the candlestick that the light was never to go out and yet the book of Samuel tells us that the lamp was going out. Now if the very leaders of the nation were failing in their service, what must have been the condition of the rank and file? And it was a sad, sad moral. Now the children of Israel, they presumed to fight their enemies with the ark along with them and they ignored their moral condition. They were overcome by their enemies and the ark of God was taken by their enemies. There was a woman who was giving birth to a child and when she heard that the enemies of Israel were victorious and that the ark of God was taken, she called the name of her child Ichabod and then she died. And Ichabod meant that their glory had departed. Not simply that they had been defeated in battle, that was bad enough, but for the ark of God to be in the hands of the enemies of God's people meant that their glory had departed and everything was lost. Now this has a very deep lesson for us today. We can't presume as Christians to fight the battles of the Lord and hold up the glory of the Lord unless our lives are in correspondence with the things that we are attempting to do. There is no use attempting to fight the Lord's battles if we are not morally consistent with the truths that we believe in. And this is very important. So often we shall find that we will be defeated and instead of honour to the Lord, there will be dishonour. So we find that this very important feature of the truth of the ark runs through the Old Testament and is the most important feature in the tabernacle system. There is one other thing I want to draw attention to and this is the fact that God is often described as sitting between the children. Here again I ask the young people, that is all, for good service, get out your concordance, a good concordance and search out the scriptures where it says that God sits between the children. You will find it extremely interesting. Now it seems to me that this is the throne of God dwelling in the midst of his people. This is why we say the ark is the most distinctive piece of furniture in the tabernacle. It is the throne of God. It is the place where God sits amongst his people. And every time you find this quotation, and there are quite a few, it brings out some definite feature of God, some precise glory of God amongst his elite people. Now I want to refer to one, I don't know if you will agree with me or not, but at least this is what I think, that it is the finest verse in the Old Testament. You will find it in the 7th chapter of Numbers and it is the last verse, I think it is verse 89, it is the last verse in the chapter, a very long chapter. But there it says that Moses went in and sat before God, or rather spoke to God, the one who sat between the children, and it says God spoke with him. Now we have God speaking with Moses and we have Moses speaking with God and it is all at this place, the place where the ark of the covenant was. Why do you think that is the finest verse in the Bible? Because it prefigures for us that God in Christ will eternally dwell with man. It is the Old Testament prefiguring of the New Testament statement that we find in the book of Revelation, God dwelling with man. It indicated that Moses could enter into the immediate presence of God and speak to him without fear, without distance, without any sense of reservation, he was free to speak to God and God spoke to him. What a conversation it must have been, but then think of it dear brethren, a mere man speaking to God, what a wonderful privilege, what a wonderful blessing, and the only way that Moses could do this was because the ark was there and this is what God promised. Therefore I meet with thee, therefore I speak with thee. What does this mean for us today? When we bow our knees in the privacy of our homes or in any situation whatsoever and speak to God, how do we do it? On ourselves, because of anything that attaches to ourselves, we know this is impossible. The only way that we can speak to God is because we know that Christ has died for us, that his blood has cleansed us, and that we have the right to converse with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. No intelligent Christian would ever pray to God without attending that prayer through the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. This is the way that we can commune with God only through Christ. He is our high priest, he is our mediator, he is our advocate. We offer up praise to God by him. We cannot presume to serve God, speak to God, worship God, apart from our Lord Jesus Christ. Christ is the one who makes this wonderful privilege possible to speak to God and also to allow God to speak to us. You remember there was a time when the children of Israel said, we don't want to hear the voice of God, we'll perish, we'll be destroyed. Moses, you go and speak on our behalf. Oh how wonderful to see this little picture at the end of the seventh of Numbers. Jesus speaking with God, and God speaking with him, and all in connection with the Son. Now, the act is referred to as the act of the testimony. We said at the beginning that inside the act was placed the tale's testimony, God's testimony to the nation. We know this was the law. There are ten commandments that form the whole basis of God's relationship with him as a covenant-keeping God. Now what does this represent for us? That the person of our Lord Jesus Christ is the sole basis, his personal work, for our relationship with God. He was the one who maintained the testimony for God when he was here. Every other man had broken the law and had brought dishonor to God. But here was one blessed man in his manhood who maintained the law, he made it honorable, he fulfilled it. Do you remember he said, I have not come to destroy the law, but to fulfill the law. And he fulfilled it in every detail for the satisfaction of God. If it hadn't been this, he wouldn't have been the confident mercy that he is today. He wouldn't have been the perfect antitype to the Old Testament type of the act. But he maintained the law, he made it honorable, and because of this, and his personal work, he is the link that we have with God, and dear brethren, we have no other link with God apart from this. Now we want to refer to a few occasions where the act is clearly indicated as a type of our Lord Jesus Christ. When the children of Israel were marching through the desert from one point to another point, they engaged with the tribes and all their allotted places. If I remember rightly, the tribe of Judah was the tribe that was to go first. Well then, they went through the structure, they took it down under the supervision of Aaron and his sons, and then the ark of God moved forward, and in the 10th chapter of Numbers, we find that Moses said, Arise, O Lord. Now I'm quoting you wrong. The first thing is, the first quotation that Moses makes is in connection with the enemies of the people of God, let them all be scattered. And then the other quotation that he makes is that the ark was to rest, and God was to be there in presence. And the ark went before them to search out a place for the people of God to rest. Now there's guidance, and there's victory, and there's rest, and they're all connected with the ark. Now it's very easy to connect this with our Lord Jesus Christ. As Christians, we bow our knees and we ask him to guide us. Even in matters of employment, in matters that affect our daily lives, in things that we feel we need guidance in, we bow our knees and we ask him to guide us. And he certainly does. If we wait upon him in humility, we will find guidance from him. And of course in spiritual matters, he only is the one who can help us. Paul says to Timothy, Timothy, you pay attention to what I'm saying, and the Lord will give you understanding in all things. The Lord can give guidance. And victory? Well, what could we possibly hope to achieve without the strength and help that Christ gives us? Paul says, I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me. And rest? Well, he is the one who brings us into rest. Timothy said to his own disciples, come apart. Rest a while. Don't always be rushing here, there, and everywhere. For such a thing as rest, just give me the opportunity to speak to you. I want to tell you something. And you can't understand them here. You can't take them in here. Far too much coming and going. Too busy. Just rest a little while. There's something I want to say. And of course the Lord does this for us, and he helps us in this way. Now, there was a moment in the history of the ark when it wasn't amongst the children of Israel. It was in the hands of the Philistines. And they said, here's this golden ark, we'll place it beside our gods. And they took it into the house of Dagon, and they gave it a very common place. And in the morning, when they went in, Dagon is dying. Well, it's that peculiar. They took him up again to the place where he was before. And they took Dagon back up to his sack. And they go away, and they sleep, and they come back the next morning, and they find at this time that God has broken in pieces. And eventually it dawns upon them that the ark of the covenant, this piece of furniture that belonged to the Israelites, was something that was powerful, mysterious, it had caused the destruction of their God, and they said, we've got to get rid of this today. And they make a new ark, and they do milk time to it, and they send the ark away back to the land of Israel. And contrary to nature, because their calves were lowing for them, the milk time keeps going on because of the power of God, and they take the ark back to its proper people. Now, what does this represent for us? Simply, that alongside the glory of Christ, we can place no other man's glory. It just won't work. I remember once in Edinburgh, you know, each September they have a festival of music and art, and along the Princes Street, that great broad street in Edinburgh, they had the names of composers, and great persons of literature, many persons world famous because of their place in art. And it just struck me very forcefully that I was glad that the name of Christ was there, because that would place him on the same level as the other people, or bring them up with his level, and this is unthinkable. When we come to the Lord Jesus Christ, we must not allow any other glory to detract from his glory. There is no other man that can be placed alongside him. Now, there is a thought in so-called Christian circles today, that say, well, there's Buddha, and there's a Confucius, and there's Ptolemy, and there are all sorts of other teachers, now they've all got something to say, they've all got something good to say, oh yes, we recognise that Christ is something distinctive, but let's bring them all together, and take something from each of them, and you'll have a religion that will embrace all mankind. Well, it's very suspicious kind of thinking, but when we come to the Bible, it just won't do. Peter thought along these lines, he says, well, let's make three tabernacles, one for Moses, one for Elias, and one for the Son of God, and God said, no, none for Moses, none for Elias, this is my son, hear him, and hear him only. And of course, when Paul was writing to the Colossians, he said exactly the same thing, he says, in all things, Christ must have the pre-emptives. And so the picture of Dagon, the fish god of the Philistines, lying broken in the presence of the earth, is to remind us that God will have no rival to his Son. Christ must be pre-emptive. There was another time in the history of the land, when it was in the house of a man called Obed-Edom. It had been recovered from the Philistines, since a very significant figment, but God blessed the house of Obed-Edom because the ark was there. And for those of us who have homes, this is a very encouraging scripture. To realize that the finest blessing that a home can have is to have the presence of Christ. A place where Christ is honored, where the interests of Christ are maintained, where the Lord's people are welcomed, where the glories of Christ are spoken about and maintained. I don't think when we come to this, but I'm sure that when we come to the judgment seat of Christ, we won't be carrying arrows for the other things, and perhaps we have prided ourselves in our homes. The thing that will really matter to God is how much was Christ honored in that home. God blessed the house of Obed-Edom because the ark was there. And God will be pleased with our homes in the measure we make it available for Christ and the interests of Christ. I am perfectly sure from experience and from the word of God that the happiest homes in this world are the homes where Christ is given a place. And given THE place, not just secondary, third or fourth place, but THE place in the home. And not simply by adding a text in the wall and saying Christ is the head of this home, but in actual practice, where day by day, Christ is really the most important place in the world. Now David said, well, it's all very well for the ark to be in the house of Obed-Edom, and God has certainly blessed the house of Obed-Edom, but that's not the divine mind. The tabernacle was constructed and the ark should have been in the tabernacle. That was God's center, the divine place for the ark. And David said, it ought to be back inside the tabernacle. And we would all say, Amen. I am sometimes perturbed about Christians who say they worship God better in their homes. They don't need to come together with other Christians to remember the Lord, or to read the Bible, or to pray. They can get on better in their homes. Thank God they do get on in their homes, but the divine has built it. The ark goes back all the way. Thank God for that. David said, let's make a new ark, a new camp. And they made a new camp, and they put the ark on it, and the oxen stumbled. And David said, well, leave it. I'm not going to be responsible for dealing with this. Just leave it. And then we find later on, David realises that the mistake had been made, and he says, brethren, you know what was wrong? We didn't seek God after the Jew order. And he says, the Prophets were the persons who ought to have carried the ark. And in two chapters, I think it's 1 Chronicles 15 and 16, we find two chapters that are so taken up with the bringing of the ark back into the place that was prepared for it, and I advise you to read those chapters. 1 Chronicles 15 and 16, and you'll find that there are a host of spiritual suggestions surrounding the return of the ark in the Jew order. And the Jew order was not on the new ark, but upon the shoulders of the Coatanants. God's original instructions were the instructions that should have been followed. And David went back to the commandment of Moses, the man of God, and the ark was carried back, and it was put in its proper place. And then we find there is blessing from God, there is blessing from the people, there is satisfaction all around, and there's a general tone of praise and worship to God. You see what happens when Christ gets his true place? When things are done according to the word of God and not according to the expediency of man. We're so prone to think that arrangements that we make should be ratified by God, and so very often these specious arrangements might be contrary to the word of God. But when David got things on the right footing, when he got back to the word of God, when in fact Christ received his true place, then worship and blessing and satisfaction was realized by all. Now lastly, when we come to the temple, we find that the ark is placed there in its proper place, and instead of the testimony and the manna and the rod that buried belonging to Aaron, instead of these things being in the ark, the scripture said there was nothing in the ark save the two tables of stone. Now why does it mention this? Because the wilderness pathway was over and over forever. No longer the danger from enemies, no longer the danger of being taken by me, by wicked hands. The manna was God's provision for his people in the wilderness. The rod that buried was the testimony to God maintaining the priesthood of Aaron in the face of opposition. The mediatorial position of Christ necessary for his people passing through the wilderness. Now when we come to the temple, we think of a settled, fixed condition of things where the battles are all fought, no enemies round about, they were all subdued by David and Solomon, and a time of peace and prosperity is prevailing. A picture of the Lord will come when Christ will have subdued all the enemies of God and there will be a display of righteousness for God. And the central person or figure in the Old Testament title that we are referring to was the ark. Figuring for us, or prefiguring for us, the Lord Jesus Christ, the center of a reconciled universe for God. In that day we won't need to feed upon Christ as he was here in his mandarin, typifying the manna. We won't require his priestly service as center in the rod that buried. All this is gone forever, but forever there will be the testimony that Christ was the one who maintained all for God and who is the center of a reconciled universe. And all around we find praise and worship and offering up to God, a responsive world for God. And it all is hidden upon Christ. The ark is the central figure of all the scriptures that we have quoted, all the incidents that we have referred to. When the ark was in its place, everything was right. And can we not see it so clearly, so simply, that when Christ is in his right place in the affections of his people and recognized by the world, then there will be a scene of unparalleled blessing and peace and prosperity. I am sure every heart would say, hasten that day. Now I advise you, again, to look up your concordance, find out the dimensions of the ark, and just dwell upon it. I trust, dear brethren, that the few things that I am saying will create an appetite on your part to search these things out for yourself. I am not competent and I am not able to go into all the details, but again I say, I trust it creates an appetite on your part to search these things out and find for yourself those wonderful glories concerning our Lord Jesus Christ. Thank you. …