12. Silver Sockets Keeping The Boards...
CHAPTER TWELVE
SILVER SOCKETS KEEPING THE BOARDS FROM FALLING
“Thou shalt make forty sockets of silver under the twenty boards” (Exo 26:19).
WE have seen in a previous chapter that the tabernacle is a symbol of Christ and also of His Church. We cannot separate the head from the body. A board of acacia wood overlaid with gold is a type of Christ in His twofold nature.
Before we meditate on the framework of the tabernacle as a symbol of the Church of Christ and its individual members, I want to draw your attention to the solid foundation of the tabernacle.
Each board of the frame rested with its two tenets in two sockets of silver. This was absolutely necessary. If the two tenets had not been sunk deeply into the socket, the board would never have been able to stand; it would have fallen. These were dovetailed together, and Josephus says that all the sockets closely put together made the impression as if they were one solid foundation of silver. Each of the sockets weighed about an hundredweight and represented the value of about three hundred pounds.
This money was the redemption money which every Israelite over twenty years had to pay as ransom for his, soul - no difference was made between rich and poor.
Before God all men are sinners (Rom 3:23) and had to be ransomed. No one could enter the army if he had not paid his ransom, which was the same amount for all - half a shekel.
Six hundred and three thousand five hundred and fifty Israelites paid half a shekel; the whole amount came to an hundred talents and 1,775 shekels, so that each of the sockets cost a talent and, therefore, each board needed the ransom of 12,000 men. “Ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, as a lamb without blemish and without spot” (1Pe 1:18-19).
Every Israelite had to pay the ransom money himself. The two tenons connected it with the silver foundation and separated it from the sand of the desert. It is through faith that we accept the Saviour as our sin-bearer. Faith is a personal matter.
The mother cannot believe for the daughter nor the father for his son. You can neither eat nor drink for anybody else. Our Lord says: “He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him” (John 6:56).
Desert sand is no suitable foundation for the tabernacle of God and, therefore, the Lord Himself laid the foundation in Zion - a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation; he that believeth does not flee.
Silver socket! You speak to the heart of the believer of the keeping power of our Lord. We could not save ourselves - we discovered that. We cannot sanctify ourselves either. We learned that gradually. Have we learned that we cannot keep ourselves either? Board of acacia wood, listen!
Apart from the silver socket you are nothing. You cannot keep yourself either. God never intends us to do what He has reserved for Himself.
Oh, for our fruitless efforts! The Holy Spirit will sanctify you; the Lord Jesus will keep you. He is able to keep that which you commit unto Him, the deposit which you commit to His care (2Ti 1:12).
Put the keeping of your life into the hands of your Saviour. He is such a faithful, such a reliable guide. He will be true to His trust. You never will be sorry, acacia tree, for having your two tenets in the silver socket.
He is able to keep. However, He can only be responsible for what you commit to His keeping. You have some, valuable pictures, and you are going abroad. You feel they might be stolen during your absence, so you bring them to the bank. They are in safe keeping there. You can sleep peacefully and prepare for your voyage.
But what about your silver, your table-service? You have had it for so many years now. They were wedding presents from dear friends. Shall you leave them in the house? Shall you ask the manager of your bank to look occasionally in the house to see if all valuables are still there?
You are conscious that he would decline such responsibility. He can only be responsible for what you put into his safe keeping. If you commit only a part of your possessions, he will be responsible for a part only. Many of God’s children commit only part to the keeping of the Lord. I do not wonder that they often feel anxious and troubled. Commit all to your Lord and keep nothing back. It may perhaps seem a venture of faith to you at first. If you put the direction of your life in His hands, you may wonder where He may lead you.
Do you think you can trust Him? Those who trust Him fully will find Him wholly true.
Experience will show that all is perfectly safe with Him. His bank is in heaven where neither rust nor moth corrupt, where thieves do not break in and steal. The more you entrust to Him, the better you will know Him. The result will be a perfect confidence in your keeper.
You will be able to say: “I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day” (2Ti 1:12).
The joy bells will begin to ring in your heart, for I feel sure real joy, joy of the Holy Ghost, will come only when all is committed, all is deposited in the pierced hands of your risen Saviour.
“He is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy” (Jude 1:24).
Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable gift; thanks be to Him for the silver socket for the board of acacia wood.
Board of acacia wood, you need not be afraid that the silver socket weighing a hundred-weight will not be able to hold you. Let your whole weight full on it, so that you get as near as possible to the silver.
A lady missionary to India had been visiting with her native Bible woman one day - one Zenana after the other. Everywhere she had to answer numberless questions. She was not yet used to the climate and felt very weary. She could hardly continue her Bible-reading. The native sister noticed it, and taking a seat behind the missionary, asked the missionary to lean against her. The sister hardly liked to let her whole weight rest on the slender native woman. “If you really love me, you must lean hard.” Dear reader, have you some heavy burden now to bear?
Perhaps you are praying for the salvation of one of your dear ones and the answer does not seem to come; your husband is unemployed; your business goes back; your health is failing; listen to the voice of your Saviour who loved you enough to die for you. Listen, what He says to you: “If you love me, lean hard.”
LEAN HARD Child of my love, “lean hard,” And let me feel the pressure of thy care.
1 know thy burden, child; I shaped it, Poised in Mine own hand, made no proportion In its weight to thine unaided strength; For ever as I laid it on I said, - “I shall be near, and while she leans on Me, This burden shall be Mine, not hers; So shall I keep My child within the circling arms Of Mine own love.” Here lay it down, nor fear To impose it on a Shoulder which upholds The government of worlds. Yet closer come, Thou are not near enough; I would embrace thy care. So I might feel My child reposing on My breast.
Thou lovest Me? I know it. Doubt not, then, But, loving Me, lean hard.
- Selected
~ end of chapter 12 ~