02.06. The Holiest, etc.

The Holiest, etc. To the holiest we must now turn. This was at the west end of the Tabernacle, curtained off from the outer chamber by a veil of blue, of purple, of scarlet, and of fine twined linen, with Cherubim on it, the work of cunning workmen. This stretched across the structure, and effectually screened off the holiest, so that no priest could see into it. What that veil typified Heb. 10. 20 makes plain to us, even the flesh of Christ; its colours, and the Cherubim telling us, as we have before remarked, something about His history with which all men should be acquainted. On His death God rent the veil (Matt. xxvii. 51). But whilst it hung intact by Divine appointment, the way into the holiest was not made manifest; so Aaron the High Priest could only enter once every year, in the way, and for the purpose prescribed in the sixteenth chapter of Leviticus. Where exactly in the Tabernacle the veil hung, attached by hooks of gold to four pillars of shittim wood overlaid with gold, has not been made plain to us in Holy Writ, unless we are meant to understand from Exodus xxvi. 33, by "under the taches," exactly under the junction of the two sets of curtains which formed the roof. For, according to Exodus xxvi. 3, these ten curtains were coupled five together, and joined the one five to the other five by fifty taches, or hooks of gold. If we understand then by "under the taches,"* the hooks by which the two sets of curtains were joined, the veil must have hung about midway in the Tabernacle. Tradition, however, makes the holy of holies to have been a cubical area of ten cubits every way. This is in harmony with the proportions of Solomon’s temple, and probably of Ezekiel’s also.

{*The word keres; a "tache" is only used of the hooks joining the two sets of curtains, both the parti-coloured ones, and those of goat’s hair.} *************

Within the holy of holies but one sacred vessel was found - that was the Ark of the Covenant - a chest of acacia wood of two cubits and a half in length, a cubit and a half in breadth, and the same in height, overlaid with pure gold within and without, and having a crown or rim of gold upon it round about. Its top, or lid, was the Mercy-Seat, made of pure gold, with two Cherubim of beaten gold, one at either end which had their wings outstretched, and so covering it, and their faces towards it, looking down on it. In this Ark were deposited the two Tables of the Law. And four gold rings at its feet, two on each side, in which the staves of acacia wood covered with gold were to be placed, for it to be carried aloft on the shoulders of the Kohathites, completed this sacred chest. This Ark with the two Tables of the Law was typical of the Lord Jesus with the law within His heart (Ps. xl. 8). It was the symbol of God’s presence too, as we shall see clearly further on. On, or between the Cherubim, God was said to sit (Ps. lxxx. 1). So the Mercy-Seat was the place of His throne, from which He gave Moses commandments (Ex. xxv. 22; Numbers vii. 89) for the children of Israel. And on the Mercy-Seat the Blood of Atonement was sprinkled once every year, the cloud of glory, the token of Jehovah’s presence, shining thereon.

Into this chamber no common priest could enter. Aaron only was permitted to visit it once a year, though probably Moses, as Mediator, had at all times access to it (Ex. xxv. 22, xxxiv. 34, 35); for the prohibition in Lev. xvi: 2, ran in this form, "Speak unto Aaron, thy, brother, that he come not at all times into the holy place within the veil.’’ Not a word was here said of restriction to Moses. With him, years after God declared, He would speak mouth to mouth, and the similitude (or form) of the Lord he should behold (Num. xii. 8). Within that chamber only one voice that we read of was heard by human ears; that was the voice of God (Num. vii. 89). Within the veil only one service was conducted, and that on the day of atonement, when Aaron, having entered with the blood of the sin-offering sprinkled it on the Mercy-Seat and before it, and then retraced his steps in silence; for no prayer, that we read of, escaped his lips, nor was any needed; yet a voice, we may say, was heard that day, though not by Aaron. For it was not the voice of God addressing him, or speaking to the Mediator, Moses, but the voice of the blood speaking through the type to God, and speaking better than that of Abel (Heb. xii. 24).

Within the holiest of all the living God dwelt. No light was needed to burn therein. The cloud of the divine presence illuminated it, and the blood of the bullock and of the goat, sprinkled on the Mercy-Seat by Aaron, remained, as he put it, to be by night and by day under the eye of God. And as the Cherubim, the supporters of the throne, gazed down upon it, the action of that throne, which must otherwise have been displayed righteously in judgment, could be displayed towards Israel in grace. For on behalf of them alone was atonement made. And just as none could, nor can fully understand, what the burnt-offering going up all night was to God, none could, none can understand, what that blood on the Mercy-Seat was to Him. Foolish then is it for any soul to remain in suspense about its acceptance, because it cannot fully appreciate the value of that blood. It never can; nor is it asked to do that.

We are to know now, and to rest rejoicing in the knowledge of it, whose death, and whose blood it was, that were thus typically represented annually before God. Still, who but God can tell, what the surrender to death, and the blood of His only begotten Son are to Him. This, however, we see, that, though to enter the sanctuary we must leave the brazen Altar behind, we can never be before God on His throne, where that precious blood does not confront us. Nothing higher can there be for a creature to approach than God upon His throne (Heb. xii. 23). No higher place has a creature where he can stand, than before that throne. Of this the Tabernacle was a type, the holy of holies being a figure of the highest heaven. And if the reader for a moment conceives of the Tabernacle as placed on its end, its eastern side being the base, he will apprehend this, ascending in thought through the holy place up to the holiest before the Mercy-Seat. Beyond that, there was nothing. Higher than before the throne of God no mere creature can reach. And, as it were, on that throne remains ever before God that precious blood, by which all that He is has been glorified and harmonised.

We have said, we never get beyond where the blood confronts us. It is important to be clear as to this. As worshippers, part of the holy priesthood (1 Peter ii. 5), Christians have access to the holy place, and the veil being rent, can enter the holiest as well. Our place then is there before the Mercy-Seat, on the ground sprinkled with blood (Lev. xvi. 14, 15), and not before the brazen Altar. At the Altar was set forth the need of the death of the sacrifice, and substitute. At the Mercy-Seat was declared God’s perfect satisfaction with that precious blood, and people being accepted on whose behalf propitiation had been made. To be waiting for pardon, to be praying now for a sacrifice to meet one’s need, would be virtually to stand at the Altar and not before the Mercy-Seat. Is not this where too many are found, instead of accepting God’s gracious invitation to draw near with boldness into the holiest? Are we not then to confess our sins, some may ask? Surely we are. Scripture teaches us that (1 John i. 9). It is one thing, however, to confess as a child, who knows the link of life, and of relationship never can be broken, and quite another to continue taking the place of an unpardoned sinner, who needs yet the wrath of God to be averted from him. Such an one is virtually at the Altar in the court, and not at the Mercy-Seat in the holiest. To return. This Ark made by Bezaleel was the only material Ark of the Covenant that ever existed, which God accepted. It was, too, the only vessel of the Tabernacle which had a place in Solomon’s Temple. For nine centuries that Ark remained as the place of God’s throne on earth. The Ark, which had been with the people in all their wanderings from Sinai to the land, was the Ark which only entered into its rest in the reign of Solomon, the type of the Prince of Peace. On the Cherubim, which belonged to the mercy-seat, the Lord of Hosts sat in the midst His people, till, Solomon’s Temple being destroyed by Chaldeans under Nebuchadnezzar, the Ark disappeared, where and how is, we believe, unknown. In the second Temple it was one of the five important things wanting. In Ezekiel’s Temple there is no mention of one being required. Neither Ark, nor Veil, nor Candlestick, nor Table of Shew bread, nor Laver are hinted at as being called for. But an Altar of Burnt-offering will be required for the court, and an Altar, called the Table of the Lord, will be found in the holy place. For the atoning death of Christ, and the sweet savour His merits will always be had in remembrance throughout the millennium.

One thing more must be noticed in connection with Solomon’s temple. In its oracle the king made according to the pattern revealed to David (1 Chron. xxviii. 11-19) two large Cherubim, which with their wings outstretched spanned together the width of the holy of holies. Each Cherub was ten cubits in height, equal to about 15 feet, and from wing to wing ten cubits in breadth. Their faces looked down the house, for so the word "inwards" (2 Chron. iii. 13), really means, and were not turned downwards like those on the Mercy-Seat. So in that oracle, when the Ark had been carried thither into its place, there would have been seen two Cherubim looking down the house, and two looking still on the Mercy-Seat. Another intimation this seems to be of the transitional nature of that Temple, viz., a looking forward to the time when, Israel enjoying the benefit of atonement, the Cherubim would no longer need to be gazing on the blood, that judgment should be withheld; and also an acknowledgment by those two then gazing on it, that the perfect sacrifice had still to be provided.

We must now turn to the Tent of the Tabernacle, of which mention has been already made. The Tent was formed, of eleven curtains of goat’s hair; for Ex. xxvi. 7, if rightly translated, states, "Thou shalt make curtains of goats hair for a Tent, Ohel, over the Tabernacle, Mishchan." Each curtain was thirty cubits in length, and four in breadth, about three feet longer than the parti-coloured ones which formed the roof of the Tabernacle. Ten curtains were ordered for the latter, and eleven for the former. Gold taches coupled the two sets of parti-coloured curtains, brass taches coupled the two sets, the one of five and the other of six of the goat’s hair curtains, the sixth curtain being doubled over in the forefront of the Tent, Ohel (see Revised Version). And on each side of the Tabernacle, as well as on the back, west side, those curtains of goat’s hair covered it. A covering of ram’s skins dyed red over them, with a covering of badger, or perhaps sealskin, as tachash probably here means, completed the tent.

We have noted what the different colours of the veil and curtains of the Tabernacle would teach us. Have the curtains, which formed the Tent and their coverings, any symbolical meaning, it may be asked? We must speak with caution, and without dogmatising here, for it can be but a matter of deduction. We find that Elijah was clad in a garment of hair (2 Kings i. 8), and later on that kind of garment was the assumed dress of a Prophet (Zech. xiii. 4; Matt. iii. 4). We know that the ram was the animal selected at the consecration of the Priests, and all can understand how suited the seal, or dolphin skin covering would be to keep out the influences of the weather. Hence it may be that, as the parti-coloured curtains of the Tabernacle give us the history in connection with earth of the Lord Jesus Christ, a history, we would again remind the reader, as yet unfinished; so the coverings over the Tabernacle may have prefigured the character of His life in ministry down here, indicating His prophetic service, who was wholly devoted to do God’s will (John viii. 29), and who could pass through this scene uninfluenced by the current of things around. For those then inside the Tabernacle there was prefigured the Lord’s personal history. For those in the court, who looked at the Tent, His character in ministry was set forth. It was Christ, we must again say, not the Church, or Christians, which the Tabernacle prefigured. So to enter the court Christ was the way. To meet the sinner’s need Christ was the sacrifice. To enter the holy place Christ was again the way. To enter the holiest, He had to die. Above and around, inside and outside, Christ in one way and another was prefigured, and yet none of those types, nor all of them together, could furnish a full history of Him that was to come. They were shadows, the body being of Christ (Col. ii. 17). There was more in Him than they could set forth.

We must, to complete this sketch of the Tabernacle, look at it when on the march, and call to mind the movements of the Ark.