04-CHAPTER FOUR "THE TENT OF THE CONGREGATION"

CHAPTER FOUR
“THE TENT OF THE CONGREGATION”
God’s Dwelling Place “In the Midst” of His People Exodus 26:1-37; Exodus 36:8-38 IN THE first chapter of this series we mentioned the twofold significance of the “earthly sanctuary” which God told Moses to build “according to the pattern” which He showed him in the mount:

(1) As God’s dwelling place “in the midst” of His people, it foreshadowed the Person and work of the Lord Jesus, who became flesh that He might “tabernacle” among men; and
(2) As God’s dwelling place “in the midst” of His people, it also typified the church, which is the bride of Christ, His body, “an habitation of God through the Spirit” (Ephesians 2:22).

Thus this tent of the congregation became a remarkable foreshadowing of the glories of Christ, “Immanuel, God with us,” as well as a prophetic picture of the union of Christ and His church and the union of the members of His blood-bought bride one with another.

That is why the Holy Spirit wrote, in Hebrews 9:24, saying,

“Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us.”

He who nearly two thousand years ago “tabernacled” among men is now at “the right hand of the Majesty on high,” interceding for His own, praying that they may be one in Him, even as they live one with another in the bond of unity that only the redeemed souls of men can know. And in the person of His own Holy Spirit He dwells in that living temple which is His church.

There were two “holy places made with hands” in the Jewish tabernacle. These, as we have seen, were the Holy Place, into which only the priests could enter, as they ministered before the Lord on behalf of His people; and the Holy of Holies, into which only the high priest could go just once a year with the shed blood of the sacrifice that pointed on to Christ. God dwelt in that Most Holy Place, in the Shekinah Glory, literally “in the midst” of His people, Israel. The veil separated these two rooms of the tabernacle, while the door on the east of the Holy Place closed from the view of men the sanctuary where the priests ministered daily before the Lord.
The Holy Place was twenty cubits long and ten cubits wide; the Holy of Holies, ten cubits in length, in width, and in height, a perfect cube. Someone has estimated that the tabernacle was forty-five feet long and eighteen feet wide. The walls were made of boards of incorruptible acacia wood, covered over with gold, and set upright in sockets of silver. These boards were made secure by bars that connected the entire structure. Over the whole there were four coverings. And the “tent” was securely fastened by “pins,” or “nails,” driven into the ground, to which were attached cords that went over the coverings.
As we remember that much gold, silver, brass, and wood went into the making of this sanctuary; as we think of the cost of the coverings of fine linen, goats’ hair, rams’ skins dyed red, and badgers’ skins, to say nothing of the price of other materials - as we think of the value of all these, we realize that this was a very costly tabernacle. It has been estimated that not less than $1,500,000 must have been required to erect it according to the God-given pattern. That is why God had told Moses to have Israel “ask” for the jewels and riches of Egypt before they left that country on that first Passover night. Had they not earned them during their four hundred years of bitter bondage, when they had not been paid by the wicked Pharaohs of Egypt?

Costly as was this “earthly sanctuary” for God to dwell among His redeemed people, yet silver and gold could not begin to pay the awful cost to the Son of God of purchasing with His own blood “the temple” which is His church, “a people for his name”! We were “bought with a price,” the price of the blood of Jesus, God’s sinless Son and our only Saviour!

- To hold communion with God, Israel’s representative, the priest, had to go to the tabernacle.
- To have fellowship with the Lord, the sinner has to meet Him at the cross.

This is where the Man, Christ Jesus, eternal God and perfect Man, has made possible sweet communion between a holy God and His redeemed children.

There is no other way home. There is no other way of access to the Father. “In Christ dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily” (Colossians 2:9). And in Him alone sinful man finds justification and peace and righteousness and joy - forever!
This communion between God and His children was made possible when the Son of God became Man.

“For verily he took not on him the nature of angels; but he took on him the seed of Abraham” (Hebrews 2:16).
In other words, when He came into the world to redeem His fallen creatures, He did not become an angel; He identified Himself with man by being born of the Virgin Mary.

“Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; and deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage” (Hebrews 2:14-15).
When God told Moses to make “a sanctuary,” that He might “dwell” among His people (Exodus 25:8), He knew that, “in the fulness of the time,” He would “tabernacle” among men in the person of the Lord Jesus, and that He would build His church for “an habitation of God through the Spirit.” Yes, all this was in the eternal purpose of the eternal God (Ephesians 3:11).

Moreover, as Christ Jesus, our Lord, is “a sun and shield” (Psalms 84:11) - “a sun” for the dark days of trial and sorrow, “a shield” from the burning of “the burden and heat of the day” - even so the Lord God “spread a cloud” over Israel “for a covering; and fire to give light in the night” (Psalms 105:39).
May His Holy Spirit teach us today the glories of Christ as foreshadowed in the tent of the congregation of Israel, with the Shekinah Glory “in the midst.” THE FOUNDATION - SOCKETS OF SILVER
Exodus 26:19-25; Exodus 26:32 That the Jewish tabernacle was a type of our crucified and risen Lord, as well as a type of the “spiritual house” which is the true church (1 Peter 2:5), is seen in the very foundation upon which the boards which formed the walls rested. That foundation was made of silver, provided by the atonement money of the children of Israel.

There were forty-eight boards which, securely braced together by bars, rested in sockets of this silver. Each board stood firmly upon two sockets, fixed in an upright position by two tenons which were placed into their respective grooves in the silver sockets. As there were two sockets for each of the forty-eight boards and four sockets under the pillars that upheld the veil, a total of one hundred silver sockets formed the foundation of the tabernacle. As each pair of sockets weighed ninety pounds, the cost of the foundation was very great; it has been estimated that this atonement money weighed more than four tons.
The redemption money, put to this use by Moses, was doubtless in the mind of the Apostle Peter when, many centuries later, he wrote to his fellow Christians, saying that Christ had become the Foundation Stone of the church at a very costly price, even His own precious blood. This, in part, is what Peter said,

“Ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you” (1 Peter 1:18-20).
And the Apostle Paul, writing to the Corinthian Christians, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, said,
“Other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 3:11).

There is no other way of access to a holy God than by the bloodstained cross of His only begotten Son, our Saviour.

We turn to Exodus 30:11-16 to learn how this silver for the atonement money was obtained. When the count was taken of the number of the children of Israel, the Lord commanded that every male over twenty years of age - able to go to war - should pay half a shekel of silver as the atonement money. By this act he confessed that he was a sinner and that he deserved to die, and that, by faith in the promised Redeemer, he brought to God the redemption money.

The rich were not to bring more; the poor were not to bring less than the God-appointed sum. Thus all acknowledged that they had “sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).

In the free will offerings it was not so; each man gave according to his ability. But the price of the redemption money was designated by the Lord God Himself. In this way He was teaching His fallen creatures that natural birth did not admit them into His family, that every sinner had to be “born again” (John 3:3-8), if he would enter into the kingdom of God. Even from the time God made the “coats of skins” for Adam and Eve, to clothe them, He has been teaching sinful man that “it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul” (Leviticus 17:11).

It was when Israel was being numbered that the atonement money was received for the Lord. Does this not remind us of the vital fact that we should number among God’s people only those who profess to believe in the shed blood of Christ for their salvation? Let us beware of estimating the number of Christians by the population of countries called Christian. The only true Christians are those who have been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, those who have accepted personally the ransom which the Lord has provided.
In Exodus 38:25-27 we find that the vast sum of silver paid by those who brought to Moses the redemption money was presented by 603,550 men, each paying his half shekel. This was the number of men able to go to war. They had been “saved to serve.” And is this not ever God’s plan for His own? He uses His redeemed children to do His service, to tell others and yet others of His “great salvation.”

We have seen that the tabernacle was a type of the church of Christ, and that the silver foundation foreshadowed His redemptive work on the cross. All the boards of incorruptible wood, covered over with gold, stood upon the redemption price, the atonement money of God’s people. Every board of shittim wood was tenoned and mortised into the sockets of silver, even as every member of the true church is united to Christ, rests upon Him, and cannot be separated from Him. If that is not true of you, my friend, then you are not a member of the church of the living God. You may belong to one denomination or another. But unless you are joined to Christ, unless He is the sole Foundation upon which you rest, you are not in the church of God.
The Jewish tabernacle had no other foundation than that of the silver sockets; yet it was never blown down. It braved every desert storm.

The wilderness is a place of rough winds; it is called a “howling wilderness.” But the sockets of silver held the boards upright, and the tent defied the rage of the elements. Even so the born again child of God can testify to the eternal truth that Christ, the Foundation Stone of the church, is the only sure Foundation against all the storms and shifting sands of the wilderness which is this godless world. Satan may do his worst; the church of the Lord Jesus will stand for all eternity. “The gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:18). These are the words of our living Lord!

Each board of the tabernacle was provided with two tenons - not one, but two; and each tenon was imbedded in its own socket. The word for “tenon” is “hand,” suggesting the hand of faith which lays hold upon the finished work of Christ for a standing before God.

My friend, does the hand of your faith reach out after God? Here is the divine provision for it in the work of Christ. Each board stood upon two sockets. Why two? Because two is the number of competent witness and testimony. The law of Moses said that “at the mouth of two witnesses” a thing should be established (Deuteronomy 17:6).

Under the Jewish law a murderer was stoned to death on the testimony of two witnesses. Thus two is the number of competent witness; and the two sockets for each board in the tabernacle suggest that we know that our salvation is eternally secure! Because God’s Word is “forever settled in heaven,” we may know that we are saved, for all the endless ages!

Moreover, our Lord Himself said, “If two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 18:19).

Again, as each board stood upon two sockets, so also the same, equal grace is provided for each believer. No Christian is more saved than another, however varied the capacities of the different members of the church may be. Temperaments, experience, opportunities, differ; but not the gift of God’s grace in saving the souls of men!
A groove was made in the socket for the tenon so that, when the board went down in the socket, the tenon was the exact size for the place provided for it. There is nothing that fits so perfectly the poor sinner’s need as does the work of Christ. Faith drops its hand into the place provided for it. Then, just as the tenons, imbedded in the sockets were in visible, so also the believer does not parade his own faith. It is not on exhibition, but is hidden in that upon which it rests. Now the boards were not suspended from the sockets; they did not hold on to them; they rested upon them. So also the believer is not clinging to Christ, or holding on to salvation, as though all depended upon his own strength. He is resting his whole weight upon the provision made by the Lord Jesus Himself, when He finished the work of redemption on Calvary’s cross.

Then again, one board was not resting upon the sockets of another board; each had its own socket, although the sockets were all of the same material. There must be personal faith in the same Saviour. I cannot rest upon the faith of my mother.

You must have personal dealings with the Lord, if you are to be saved, my friend. Accordingly, each man in Israel had to present his own half shekel of silver, even as the Psalmist wrote, saying,

“None of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him: for the redemption of their soul is precious” (Psalms 49:7-8).

Only the precious blood of the Redeemer can avail to purchase salvation for His fallen creatures.
In rearing the tabernacle, the Merarites, one of the three families of the Levites, first put the silver sockets in their places. No boards or bars or hangings or coverings could be put in place until the silver sockets were set in order upon the desert sand to support the whole sanctuary.

Likewise, the Lord Jesus had to die, to pay the price of redemption, in order that we might be born again. There can be no growth in grace and in the knowledge of Him until we are first new creatures in Christ Jesus.

This, my friend, is the message of the sockets of silver. He who “bare our sins in his own body on the tree” (1 Peter 2:24) is the only sure foundation; for beside Him, there is no one who can redeem the souls of men! THE GOLD-COVERED BOARDS AND BARS AND THE RINGS OF GOLD The walls of the tabernacle were composed of forty-eight boards of acacia wood, covered over with pure gold, and braced together with fifteen bars of the same incorruptible wood, covered with gold, and held in place by rings of gold.

There were twenty boards on the north; twenty on the south; and eight on the west. The hanging that was called the door was on the east. Each board stood upright in two silver sockets, while the boards were firmly held together by five bars on the north, five on the south, and five on the west.

Of the five bars on each of these three directions, four were short; i.e., two above and two below, a middle long bar that reached from end to end, and was passed through the midst of the boards, out of sight. The four short bars were put through rings of gold, which were fastened to the boards. After this manner the wall of the tabernacle was braced together.

We have seen that this sanctuary was a type of Christ dwelling “in the midst” of His church; and in these boards, bars, and rings we see some beautiful and minute details, illustrating this eternal truth.

- The incorruptible wood speaks to us of our Lord’s sinless humanity;
- the gold of His deity - two natures in one Person; for He was sinless, perfect Man, as well as eternal God.
- The boards resting on silver sockets made of the atonement money, also remind us of individual believers.

Each one rests his soul upon the redemption that Christ wrought on Calvary for his personal salvation; yet all believers are bound together by the bond of unity that is found only in Christ, even as all the boards were bound together by the gold-covered bars.

Before the boards were made ready for use in the tabernacle, they had been rooted in the earth, as stately acacia trees. When they were needed for God’s dwelling place, they were cut down, forever severed from the earth. Stripped of their natural beauty, robbed of every leaf and bough, these acacia trees were cut to the God-appointed size and shape. And then they were overlaid with pure gold, a beauty not their own.

What a picture of the child of God! When he gets a vision of Christ, he abhors himself, in all his earthly pride and self-glory. He is separated from this Christ-rejecting world; for he has set his face toward that heavenly city, “whose builder and maker is God” (Hebrews 11:10). He is “in the world” but “not of the world” (John 17:13-14).

The axe is laid to the roots of all the false hopes and glories that had been his; and, if he is yielded to his Lord and Saviour, he lets Him shape and mold him according to His own divine pattern - for a life of service now and for eternal service and glory in the life to come.

Having “put off” the “old man”:

- He puts on the “new man” in Christ Jesus. (Ephesians 4:22-24).
- He finds his satisfaction and joy in the things of God.
- He has been “crucified with Christ”;
- He is “risen with Christ”;
- He has been made to sit with Him “in heavenly places” (Galatians 2:20; Colossians 3:1, Colossians 3:3; Ephesians 1:3).

Having become a partaker of “the divine nature” in Him (2 Peter 1:4):

- He is given a glory and a beauty that only God can bestow, foreshadowed in the golden-covered boards of the tabernacle.
- He has been “accepted in the beloved” Son of the Father.

In the world, yet established upon the redemption that is his in Christ, the foundation stone of the church, his body is the “temple of the Holy Spirit” (1 Corinthians 3:16; 1 Corinthians 6:19). And thus he is a “living stone” in that temple not made with hands, eternal in the heavens (1 Peter 2:4).

Each board in the Jewish tabernacle stood upon its own sockets, even as every soul has to accept Christ as a personal Saviour and Lord, in order to be saved. Yet the boards were bound one to another by the bars that united them and held them in one firmly fixed dwelling place for the Lord God “in the midst” of His people. Likewise, the church of the Lord Jesus Christ, composed of different members, is one household of faith, one body, one bride; and each member has a responsibility to his fellow Christians. We are all, in a very real sense, our brothers’ keeper.

While the four short bars on the west, north, and south were passed through rings of gold; yet the long, middle bar was made “to shoot through the boards from the one end to the other” (Exodus 36:33). Thus it was invisible, even to the eyes of the Levites who erected this sanctuary; it was buried in the heart of the boards.

It is a beautiful picture of the Lord Jesus, “whom having not seen,” we love (1 Peter 1:8), the One in whom the believers are united one to another. Verily He is “in the midst” of His own, unseen except to the eye of faith! And verily in Him we are eternally secure! His promise will never fail:

“My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: and I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand” (John 10:27-28).

It has been suggested that the ring is the emblem of love; and that the four outward bars that held the boards together remind us of the four outward tokens of that unseen bond of Christian unity and communion mentioned in Acts 2:42 - “doctrine,” “fellowship,” “breaking of bread” and “prayers.”

When the doctrine of believers is true to our crucified and risen Lord, then we have sweet fellowship one with another, in Him, as we sit around the Lord’s Table, and offer our united petitions to the Father in His all-prevailing name.
No board was complete until it had the rings upon it, plainly declaring that no board stood for itself alone, but that it had a connection with all the others. Thus the rings remind us of the eternal link between the believer and Christ; for once the bars were passed through these rings of gold, the whole structure stood firmly fixed. Not only are we, as Christians, linked to Christ for all eternity, but we are also forever linked to one another.

The gold of these rings speaks of the divine tie; for we are “born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God” (John 1:13).

Such is the message of the golden-covered boards and bars and the rings of gold.

We were once lost sinners “in the world” and “of the world.” But we were cut down, so to speak, “crucified with Christ” - yea, “risen with Christ,” and forever placed in gold, our lives hidden “with Christ in God,” and made to rest upon Him who is the only sure foundation (Galatians 2:20; Colossians 3:1,Colossians 3:3; 1 Corinthians 3:11).

Given a ring of gold, we were eternally linked with Christ and with fellow-believers in Him. Held together by the four boards of the doctrine of the Word of God, fellowship, the Lord’s Supper and prayer; we are indwelt by the living Christ. That is why “all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: in whom” we “are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit” (Ephesians 2:21-22). THE COVERINGS

There were four coverings that went over the tabernacle, each of which holds a message for us concerning the Person and work of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The outer covering was made of badgers’ skins; or, as the Revised Version translates the word, “seal skins,” or “porpoise skins.”

Just beneath that was a covering of rams’ skins dyed red; under that, a curtain of goats’ hair; and below that, the beautiful fine twined linen curtain, embroidered with blue, purple, and scarlet cherubim.

One standing on the outside could see only the outer covering of badgers’ skins, or seal skins; the priests on the inside of the sanctuary could see only the beautiful curtain of fine twined linen with the figures of cherubim embroidered on it in blue, purple, and scarlet.

Let us begin with the heavy, outer covering, and consider in some detail the lesson each of these coverings has for us. We find them described in Exodus 26:1-14; Exodus 36:8-18.

1. The Covering of Badgers Skins.

This outer covering over the tent of the congregation was made of a hard, durable skin or leather, which, as we have seen, commentators call them “seal” or “porpoise skin.” In Ezekiel 16:10 God told His people, Israel, that He had “shod” them “with badgers’ skin.” From this we know that the material which was used for the outer covering of the tabernacle was durable enough for shoes or sandals, which served to protect the feet from the burning sands of the desert.
This strong, durable tent protected the other coverings, the veil, the door, the gold, and the furniture inside the tabernacle from sun and rain, from dew and desert sand.
The outer covering, visible to all from without, suggests to us the humility of the meek and lowly Man of Galilee. Possibly the brown “tent” above the sanctuary looked very much like the tents of God’s people. Likewise, the Christless world has ever considered Jesus as just another man. And His own people, Israel, saw “no beauty” in Him, “no form nor comeliness,” that they “should desire him” (Isaiah 53:2). He was the “Man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief” (Isaiah 53:3).

He was known as “the carpenter’s son.” He had nowhere to lay His head, no earthly home, no human companions who fully understood His mission of love. Even His disciples “forsook him and fled” as He was “betrayed into the hands of sinners.” And in His suffering He endured cruel scourging and mocking. They did spit upon Him in gross insult and contempt. They reviled Him and buffeted Him. In His death “his visage was so marred more than any man” (Isaiah 52:14). The Creator of all things “became poor,” that we “through his poverty might be rich” (2 Corinthians 8:9).
The unbelieving world still sees in Him just a good man, possibly a great teacher, a martyr to a righteous cause, whose life ended in defeat at the cross. But even as the priests, on the inside of the sanctuary, looked up and saw the beautiful covering that spoke eloquently of His eternal deity, His divine perfections, His matchless beauty, so also in every age only His loved ones know Him as eternal God and the holy Son of Man. None can see the glories of the sinless Saviour and Lord except those who have met Him at the cross, and have been born again by His precious blood. To these He is “the chiefest among ten thousand,” the One “altogether lovely” (Song of Solomon 5:10, Song of Solomon 5:16).

Just as the outer covering of the tabernacle protected the fine linen curtain from every stain, just as it protected the gold from the corroding power of the elements; so also the life of humiliation of the Son of Man was without a stain of sin. His deity was in no wise marred. He was “holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens” (Hebrews 7:26). Of Him His Father in heaven bore witness, saying, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (Matthew 3:17). Even the officers, sent by the Jews to take Him; and Pilate, who allowed Him to be crucified, were forced to admit: “Never man spake like this man . . . I find no fault in him” (John 7:46; John 19:4).

It was because our Lord was without sin, because He was eternal God, that He was worthy to be our Substitute, bearing the curse of the sins of the world “in his own body on the tree.”
Our own sinful natures will not allow us to enter fully into the depths of the meaning of the sufferings of the Son of God. Yet, as His redeemed children, His “temple,” we may expect to suffer shame and reproach for His name’s sake. The apostles were glad “that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name” (Acts 5:41). Moses esteemed “the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompense of the reward” (Hebrews 11:26).
For every trial our risen Lord gives grace sufficient. Even as the sandals which God provided for His people, made of this same leather that formed the outer covering of the tabernacle, separated them from the burning sands of the desert, so also the cross of Jesus separates us from this godless world. “The disciple is not above his master, nor the servant above his lord” (Matthew 10:24).
And we may expect to bear reproach from the godless world. He bore the crown of thorns for us! Surely we shall rejoice if we are counted worthy to “know . . . the fellowship of his sufferings” (Php 3:10).
When Christ returns in power and great glory to reign, then the badgers’ skins will be rolled off, as it were; and He will shine forth in all His eternal glory and uncreated beauty. Before Him “every knee” shall “bow,” and “every tongue . . . confess” that He is Lord (Php 2:10-11).

In that coming day “we shall be like him” (1 John 3:2). As the spotless bride of the heavenly Bridegroom, we shall behold and share His glory.

Then we shall count “the sufferings of this present time” as “not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us” (Romans 8:18).

2. The Covering of Rams’ Skins Dyed Red.

Underneath the outer covering of badgers’ skins was one of rams’ skins dyed red. In all probability these skins were taken from the rams sacrificed upon the brazen altar as burnt offerings unto, the Lord; for the skin of this sweet savour offering was given to the priest (Leviticus 7:8). Not so the skin of the sin offering, which was burned outside the camp (Leviticus 4:11-12).
As we shall see from our later study of the five offerings, the whole burnt offering was dedicated to God, and foreshadowed our Lord’s complete consecration to His Father’s will, “even unto death.”

As the ram speaks to us of the vigor and strength and fixed purpose of Christ in setting His face steadfastly toward Jerusalem and the cross, so also this covering over the Jewish tabernacle, made of rams’ skins dyed red, reminds us of His sacrificial death for us on Calvary.
The rams’ skins had to be dyed red, even as our Saviour had to be crucified, “dyed red,” as it were, in His own precious blood. His sinless life could not save us. “The wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23); and a sinless Substitute had to die. If we had only His spotless life before us, it could but condemn us for the blackness of our sins!

We could never, never, in our own strength, measure up to His perfect standard of righteousness. Even after we are born again by His Holy Spirit, Satan all too often gets control of our lives, and makes us “grieve the Holy Spirit of God.” Christ had to die - vicariously; and we have to accept Him as our perfect Substitute, in order to be clothed in His righteousness, made fit for His holy Presence.

We get a glimpse of His great love for us, of the depth of His humility, as we see Him facing the cross, in Gethsemane’s garden. As He prayed there, “his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground” (Luke 22:44). “When he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared [i. e., trusted]; though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered” (Hebrews 5:7-8). It was love that led Him to Calvary!

He gave our first parents an object lesson that pointed on to His cross when He provided for them “coats of skins” to take the place of the fig leaf aprons which they had made to cover their sin and shame. Leaves speak of profession without fruit; the coats of skins were obtained by the shedding of blood. Man may sew together the best leaves of human effort - religious, intellectual, social, and moral; but all his self-righteousness is compared by the Lord God to “filthy rags” in His holy sight (Isaiah 64:6).

No covering that man has devised can make him unashamed and unafraid in the presence of God. But thanks be unto Him! He has provided a robe of righteousness in Christ for all who will put their faith in His atoning blood! Christ Himself is our righteousness!
When Abraham went up Mount Moriah to offer Isaac as a burnt offering, when God stayed his hand, He provided, not a lamb, but a ram, caught in the thicket by his horns. This is very significant as we look for the meaning.

- The lamb speaks to us of the meek and lowly Jesus, the unresisting One, who suffered in our stead;
- The ram, of the strong One who steadfastly faced the cross.
- The thicket may well represent the condition of Israel when our Lord came unto His own.

God had brought a vine out of Egypt, had cast out the heathen nations from Canaan, and had planted His vine in this land of promise. He looked for it to bring forth grapes, but it brought forth wild grapes. The vineyard had become a thicket, filled with thorns and brambles, the curse of barrenness.

- The horns of the ram suggest the kingly authority of our Lord (Psalms 92:10), which furnished the occasion for the Jews, in their envy and hatred, to deliver Him up to death.

The superscription upon the cross was, “JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS.” The ram was caught by his horns in the thicket! How perfectly is the will of God shown in all this! His counsel was to be fulfilled, and the wickedness of the Jews was but the occasion for Him to show the sacrifice He had provided. Christ, in the full energy and vigor of a perfect Manhood, offered Himself as the true Sacrifice, as a covering, which Isaac could never be!
The Lord Jesus, many centuries later, told the unbelieving Jews that Abraham had rejoiced to see His day, and that “he saw it, and was glad” (John 8:56). Surely one of the times when Abraham saw by faith the day of Christ was when he offered up the ram instead of his beloved son on Mount Moriah! The ram died; his son lived. Abraham foresaw the coming Saviour; and by faith he inherited eternal life!
The rams’ skins dyed red covered God’s sanctuary without doubt pointing the sinner in Israel on to the One whose whole burnt offering on Calvary should take “away the sin of the world” (John 1:29).

Again, we remember that the tabernacle in the wilderness was a type of the church, “the temple of the Holy Spirit.” It is the blood of Christ, and that alone, which separates the church from the God-dishonoring, Christ-rejecting, Spirit-resisting world.

Yieldedness unto His perfect will and wholehearted consecration unto Him are learned only at the foot of His cross. Then one day, when we are “face to face with our Redeemer,” clothed in His righteousness, we shall better understand His unfathomable love that led Him to the cross. Of that yet future day we can sing even now, in the words of the old hymn:

“When I stand before Thy throne,
Dressed in beauty not my own;
When I see Thee as Thou art, Love Thee with unsinning heart;
Then, dear Lord, shall I fully know
Not till then - how much I owe.”

3. The Curtains of Goats’ Hair.

With explicit detail concerning measurements and design God told Moses how the two inner coverings over the tabernacle were to be made: the curtains of goats’ hair just beneath the covering of rams’ skins dyed red, and the beautiful curtains that only the priests could see on the inside of the sanctuary. (See Exodus 26:1-13; Exodus 36:8-18).
A careful reading of Exodus 26:7-13; Exodus 36:14-18 will make clear to us that the eleven curtains of goats’ hair, coupled together - “five curtains by themselves, and six curtains by themselves,” the two parts fastened together by “fifty taches of brass” - covered the entire “tent.”

Whereas the beautiful, inner covering was made of ten linen curtains, each twenty-eight cubits long and four cubits wide; the goats’ hair covering was made of eleven curtains, each thirty cubits long and four cubits wide. One of the eleven curtains of goats’ hair was doubled and hung over the door “in the forefront of the tabernacle,” while “the half curtain” that remained hung “over the backside of the tabernacle.”

Thus all of the fine linen curtains were completely covered and protected by the pure white curtains of goats’ hair.
The extra curtain of goats’ hair that hung over the door hid from the gaze of all on the outside of the tabernacle the fine linen hanging on the inside, which was called the door.

It hid also from view the golden hooks and the beautiful chapiters of the five pillars that upheld the door. Only the priests on the inside could see these beautiful materials, which speak to us of the glories of the Lord Jesus Christ.

This white curtain of goats’ hair over the door met the eye of the worshipper the moment he entered the gate. And what a reminder it was of the fact that, by faith in the coming sacrifice of the promised Redeemer, his sin had been put away!

Only by way of the door, over which hung the memorial of full atonement for sin, could the priest approach God. It was the only way into the Holy Place, and on into the Holy of Holies, where the Lord God dwelt in the Shekinah Glory.

Sometimes the daily sin offering was a kid of the goats (Leviticus 4:23, Leviticus 4:28; Numbers 28:15). And on the great Day of Atonement two goats were presented unto the Lord: one to be slain, and his blood sprinkled in the Holy of Holies, on and before the mercy seat; the other, to become the scapegoat, symbolically bearing the sins of God’s people away (Leviticus 16:5-10, Leviticus 16:15-22).

Both were typical of Christ:

(1) He is our Sin Offering, slain for us, His “blood of sprinkling” speaking “better things than that of Abel” (Hebrews 12:24);
(2) He is the one perfect Sacrifice, who bore all our sins away, remembering them no more for ever! When the high priest, on this one day in the year, entered into the Holy of Holies with “the blood of sprinkling,” he approached God, who dwelt in the pillar of cloud and fire, above the mercy seat. He approached Him on the ground of the shed blood.

The Epistle to the Hebrews makes it very plain that the Holy of Holies was a type of heaven, into which Christ, our Great High Priest, has entered “once for all,” with His own precious blood, to atone for our sins. And only upon the merit of His shed blood may we have access unto our holy God, communing with Him in fellowship at “the throne of grace.” (See Hebrews 4:14-16; Hebrews 9:11-14, Hebrews 9:23-28).
Of this “throne of grace,” the mercy seat was a significant type. Beneath it, in the Ark of the Covenant, was the broken law; for in the ark the Ten Commandments were kept. Above it was the glory of God, demanding righteousness. But upon and before the mercy seat was the sprinkled blood, foreshadowing the precious blood of the perfect Sacrifice who was to come. And the blood-sprinkled mercy seat hid from view the broken law!

Instead of a judgment throne, demanding the penalty of the broken law, to be executed upon the sinner; instead of a judgment throne, demanding righteousness from the sinner, whose guilt necessitated a verdict of death; it was a mercy seat, a “throne of grace,” where the high priest, as the representative of a guilty people, could find pardon and peace.

- Not that God’s holy law was not vindicated; it was, in the death of His Son!
- Not that it was not magnified; it was, in the willing sacrifice of the only One who could be a sinless Substitute!

Israel deserved to die; the guilty Gentile world deserves to die. But by the blood of Jesus, applied to the guilty heart by faith, the sinner is accepted before God on the merit of His death, whose blood, shed for the remission of sin, paid all the debt of a guilty world. God’s holy law is forever vindicated. He is “just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus” (Romans 3:26). And the pardoned sinner, redeemed by the perfect Sin Offering, is no longer afraid to meet a holy God. Of this blessed truth the curtain of goats’ hair, which hung over the door of the tabernacle and above the fine linen curtain, speaks in no uncertain terms. When the priest placed his hands upon the head of the scapegoat, and sent him away into the wilderness, he was portraying, in shadow and in type, what our Lord did for us when He bore away “the sin of the world.” (See Leviticus 16:21-22; John 1:29). Hear what His Word tells us of His full and complete forgiveness, freely offered to the penitent sinner who accepts Him as his perfect Sin Offering:

“I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions, and, as a cloud, thy sins: return unto me; for I have redeemed thee” (Isaiah 44:22-23).

“Thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back” (Isaiah 38:17).

“Thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea” (Micah 7:19).

“As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us” (Psalms 103:12).

“I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more” (Jeremiah 31:34; Hebrews 10:17).
As we bear in mind the fact that our Lord Jesus was the Lamb of God, “without blemish and without spot,” we realize that He was worthy to become our Substitute on Calvary. Of His holy, sinless life the pure white curtains of goats’ hair plainly spoke. His Father in heaven bore witness to His sinlessness when He said, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”

The Son could say, without fear of contradiction, “I do always those things that please him” (John 8:29). John the Baptist, Jesus’ own works, His teachings, the apostles, the whole Word of God - all these prove finally and forever that Jesus of Nazareth was the holy Son of God. This is why the Holy Spirit could say of Him, through the Apostle Paul, as He became our Sin Offering,

“He hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him” (2 Corinthians 5:21).

4. The Beautiful Curtain of Fine Twined Linen.

In an earlier lesson we observed that the hangings which formed the gate, the door, and the veil of the tabernacle were of the same material as that of the inner covering above this tent of the congregation - fine twined linen, embroidered with cherubim of blue, purple, and scarlet. All of these hangings and curtains speak to us of the glories of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. And again we are reminded of the fact that the priests in the Holy Place and the high priest in the Holy of Holies could see nothing but these beautiful foreshadowings of our blessed Lord - these and the gold, which also pictured His deity.

Not only so; but no one other than priests could behold these things of glory and beauty. Even so, in this Christian era, only the believer-priests; the born again children of God, can see in the lowly Jesus of Nazareth all the divine perfections of His eternal deity and matchless glory. The unbelieving world sees Him only as a man; His loved ones see Him as the God-Man, the one “altogether lovely.”

We turn to Exodus 26:16; Exodus 36:8-13 for the Holy Spirit’s description of the beautiful covering which the priests within the sanctuary saw as they looked up.

Five curtains were coupled one to another in one piece; five in another; while the two sections were fastened together by golden clasps which took hold of loops of blue. The pure white linen of these curtains suggests to us our Lord’s perfect humanity. There was no flaw in His Being; there was no coarseness. He was altogether without sin! His own Holy Spirit led Him into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil, not to see if He would sin; but to prove to men, angels, demons, and the devil himself that He could not sin!

Cherubim of blue, purple, and scarlet were embroidered upon this fine twined linen for the gate, the door, the veil, and the inner covering above the tabernacle.

Blue is the heavenly color, and is suggestive of Christ’s deity. He repeatedly told the Jews, when He was on earth, that He had come down from heaven, that He and the Father were one, that He was the great “I AM” who had spoken to Moses from the burning bush. (Read the book of John for many of these references). He willingly received worship, allowing His disciples to call Him “Lord” and “God.” He was ever the all-powerful, all-wise Creator, the Lord God!

Scarlet speaks to us of sacrifice. Our Lord came down to earth to die for sinners. He was “the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world” (Revelation 13:8). He shed His own precious blood for guilty man, that He might lead “many sons unto glory” (Hebrews 2:10), that they might share with Him the joys of heaven and eternal life.

Never can we forget the scarlet thread of sacrifice that runs throughout the inspired Word of God. The coats of skins which God provided for Adam and Eve; Abel’s lamb slain; Abraham’s offering of Isaac; the Passover lamb; all the blood shed on Jewish altars - these speak to us of the precious blood of Jesus, the Lamb of God. And when we see Him in the glory, we shall see “the print of the nails in His hands” and His wounded side. The Lamb on the throne is the Light of heaven. And only by faith in the blood of His cross shall His redeemed be there, forever with Him.

Purple is a mixture of blue and scarlet; and it is the color of kings. The eternal God had to become a Man, in order to die. He had to be God all the while, in order to be the sinless, all-powerful Saviour. He was very God and perfect Man. And He will one day be acknowledged as King of kings and Lord of lords. “Every knee shall bow” before Him.

He it is whose voice shall raise the dead; and He it is who is the “Judge of all the earth” (John 5:19-30; cf. Genesis 18:25).
The cherubim are symbols of our Lord’s majesty and power.

Cherubim execute His holy will, both in mercy and in judgment. As the priests within the Lord’s sanctuary beheld the beautiful cherubim of blue, purple, and scarlet above and on the door and the veil, possibly with outspread wings, they must have worshipped with songs in their hearts akin to those the Psalmist sang:

“I will abide in thy tabernacle forever: I will trust in the covert of thy wings” (Psalms 61:4).

“Be merciful unto me, O God . . . for my soul trusteth in thee: yea, in the shadow of thy wings will I make my refuge” (Psalms 57:1).

“Because thou hast been my help, therefore in the shadow of thy wings will I rejoice” (Psalms 63:7).

“He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust” (Psalms 91:4).

Someone has said that the three outer coverings over the tabernacle suggest to us rest of conscience, while the beautiful covering is symbolic of rest of heart. The work of Christ speaks peace to the guilty conscience; the Person of Christ speaks peace to the heart. We thank Him for His great salvation; we love Him for His glorious Person. If faith takes hold of these marvels now, “what shall it be when we see Him!”
The ephod of the high priest was made of this same beautiful material. Herein we are reminded of the Christian’s adornment with the righteousness of Christ. Aaron’s robes of glory and beauty cost him nothing! And our robes of righteousness are the free gift of God’s grace! We are crucified with Christ, risen with Him, identified with Him in His death and resurrection, even as we shall reign with Him in glory forevermore.
As we meditate upon the glories of Christ as seen in these beautiful hangings and linen curtains, our hearts reecho the doxology of the aged John, who saw the risen Lord on the Isle of Patmos many centuries ago:

“Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen” (Revelation 1:5-6). THE PINS AND CORDS

Pins of brass and cords of linen held the tabernacle and the outer court securely in place. These pins, or nails, were driven into the ground; the cords were fastened to them, and passed over the outer covering of badgers’ skins, tying down the coverings of the tent, as well as holding in place the linen curtain in the outer court. (See Exodus 27:19; Exodus 35:18). The word “pin” is also translated “nail” (Judges 4:21; Judges 5:26); and “stake” (Isaiah 33:20; Isaiah 54:2).
For the typical teaching concerning the pins and cords of the tabernacle, we quote some striking paragraphs from the pen of the late I. M. Haldeman, D. P.:

“The pin or nail is a symbol of our Lord. He is called a Nail - ‘A nail in a sure place.’ This is set forth in a remarkable scripture in Isaiah 22:20-25. The Lord speaks of a certain Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah, as His servant. He says He will commit His government unto him.

“Then he makes this far-reaching promise:

“ ‘And the key of the house of David will I lay upon his shoulder; so he shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open. And I will fasten him as a nail in a sure place; and he shall be for a glorious throne to his father’s house. And they shall hang upon him all the glory of his father’s house.’

“After His death, His resurrection, and ascension into heaven, our Lord Jesus Christ applied this scripture to Himself. In a letter which He sent through the Apostle John to the church in Philadelphia, a city in the province of Asia, He said, ‘He that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of David, he that openeth, and no man shutteth; and shutteth, and no man openeth . . .’ (Revelation 3:7).”

Then Dr. Haldeman goes on to enlarge upon this Scripture, making clear that our Lord Himself is “the nail in a sure place,” to whom this far-reaching prophecy refers. As such, He is the Prince of the house of David, and will one day take the throne of His father, David, and rule over the house of Jacob forever! (See Luke 1:32-33).
In this prophecy quoted from Isaiah 22:25 Dr. Haldeman cites further a significant reference to the Antichrist, who will pose as “the nail in a sure place,” but will be a counterfeit from the devil himself. We know that he will make a covenant with the Jews during the seventieth week of Daniel’s prophecy; and we know that he will be “removed, and be cut down, and fall,” even as the Holy Spirit plainly tells us in this passage. His doom will be sealed when the Lord shall return in glory, to set up His millennial kingdom, delivering His ancient people, Israel, from this false Christ, this Satan-inspired impostor. Then the beast and the false prophet shall be “cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone” (Revelation 19:20).
The pins, or nails, of the tabernacle were made of brass; therefore, they did not rust. As they withstood every desert storm, even so Christ’s holy life withstood every onslaught of Satan. How minutely do the many details of this God-given pattern for the tabernacle in the wilderness foreshadow the glories of our crucified and risen Lord!
The cords suggest the drawing and holding power of Christ. He binds us and holds us eternally secure with His cords of love! Again, “the pins and cords went together.” Even so the Person and the work of Christ must go together. He is our Surety; He is the Anchor of our souls. In Him we are forever safe! (See Hebrews 6:19-20; Colossians 2:7). THE DOOR - THE WAY INTO THE HOLY PLACE The beautiful hanging that was called the door was up held by five pillars of acacia wood overlaid with gold and set upright in sockets of brass. (See Exodus 26:36-37; Exodus 36:37-38). This hanging was fastened to the pillars by hooks of gold. The chapiters “with their fillets” must have been beautiful, visible only to the priests within the sanctuary. Here, as elsewhere in the tabernacle, the brass sockets speak of judgment upon sin; the gold symbolizes Christ’s deity; the fine linen suggests His perfect humanity; while the blue, purple, and scarlet cherubim remind us of all the glories of our Lord in His deity, His sacrifice, His royalty, and His divine authority and power to execute His holy will.
The ordinary Jew could not enter through the door into the Holy Place; only the priests had this privilege of fellowship and communion with God. “The way into the holiest of all” had not yet been opened - not while “the first tabernacle was yet standing” (Hebrews 9:8).

“The way into the holiest,” even heaven itself, had not yet been opened by the blood of Jesus’ cross; that is why only the priests, the representatives of God’s children, could enter this holy sanctuary, which was a type of heaven and the presence of God.

All the other believers in the promised Redeemer could enter through the gate, and present the sacrifices at the brazen altar, acknowledging their faith in the Saviour to come. But that was as far as they could go. They were saved by faith in the blood of Jesus, which was to be shed for sinners of all ages. But only the finished work of Christ on Calvary opened the way to perfect fellowship and communion with a holy God.
When the Lord Jesus was on earth, He said plainly: “I am the door of the sheep . . . by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture . . . I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep” (John 10:7, John 10:9, John 10:11). My friend, do you know the Lord Jesus Christ as the only Way to heaven and eternal life? You may know about Him, yet not know Him as your personal Saviour and Lord. Receive Him into your heart by faith; become a believer-priest, a member of His bride, His church; and you will enter into His presence now by faith, and in the endless ages to come you will share and behold His glory. Christ is the Door!
The story is told of two men, one of whom knew only about Christ, the Good Shepherd; the other knew Him as a personal Saviour and Friend. The first was a young actor; the second, an elderly saint of God. They were both sitting among friends one evening when the young man was asked to read “The Shepherd Psalm.”

At first he hesitated; then he agreed to do it if, afterward, his elderly friend would read this priceless Hebrew poem and song of praise. When the young actor had finished reading the Psalm, there was a burst of applause from the circle of friends, so beautiful was his expression.

Then the old man rose to his feet; and in a quivering, piping voice, made feeble by many years, he too, said the twenty-third Psalm. But what if his voice was thin and weak! His face was aglow! His heart was singing “The Shepherd Psalm”!

When he sat down, there was no applause, but there was not a dry eye in the room. The young actor then spoke again; and this is what he said, “My friends, I know the Psalm; but this man knows the Shepherd!”
Do you, my readers, know the Shepherd in all His beauty and loveliness and grace? Enter today through the Door, into the sheepfold. Then you, too, will love the sound of His voice; you will love to follow Him, wherever His will may guide you now, and on into His presence and glory forever. THE VEIL - A TYPE OF “HIS FLESH . . . BROKEN FOR US” In Exodus 26:31-33; Exodus 36:35-36 we read the description of the veil, which separated the Holy Place from the Holy of Holies. We have already observed that it was made of the same beautiful materials as were the gate, the door, and the inner covering above the tabernacle. Nor do we need to dwell longer here upon the significance of the fine linen and the cherubim embroidered in blue, purple, and scarlet; for in all of these hangings and curtains the symbolism was the same, foreshadowing the glories of the Person and work of Christ.
The veil was hung by golden clasps upon four pillars of acacia wood, overlaid with gold, and set upright in sockets of silver. Again, the incorruptible wood speaks to us of Christ’s sinless life on earth; the gold, of His deity; the silver, of His finished redemption.
The Holy Spirit does not leave us to question the significance of the veil which separated the two rooms of God’s earthly sanctuary; for in Hebrews 10:20 we are told plainly that “the veil” was “his flesh” - the broken body of our Lord Jesus, through whose death we have access unto the Father. Listen to His Word:

“Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest 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 [Jesus] over the house of God; let us draw near . . .” (Hebrews 10:19-22).
The unrent veil in the Jewish tabernacle, and later in the temple in Jerusalem, closed “the way into the holiest of all” from the gaze of men. Only the high priests, as we know, could enter the Most Holy Place, where God dwelt in the Shekinah Glory; and even the high priest could enter there but once a year, on the Day of Atonement, not without the blood of the sacrifice which pointed on to Christ.

In all this God was saying to His people something like this:

“Stay back; do not draw near My Holy Presence, lest ye die. The one perfect Sacrifice has not yet shed His blood. Full atonement for sin has not yet been made. Only the high priest, as your representative, may draw near for a moment, as it were; but even he may not sit down - the work of redemption is not finished. And even he may approach Me only because of the blood-sprinkled mercy seat, which hides from view My broken law.”
But the day came when Jesus died! And as He hung upon the cross, “the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom” (Matthew 27:51; cf. Mark 15:38; Luke 23:45).

God did that! They tell us that “the veil was so woven together that two pairs of oxen attached to either edge and driven in opposite directions could not tear it asunder. It was not stretched, drawn tight and fixed. It hung in a loose fold. It could not be cut or torn by a direct stroke; it was too soft and yielding for that” (I. M. Haldeman).

Josephus, the great Jewish historian, tells us that the veil was six inches thick. God rent asunder that veil - from top to bottom; not like man, from bottom to top. They tell us that the unbelieving Jews sewed the rent veil together again; but their vain attempts could never, never close “the way into the holiest of all,” even heaven itself, which had been forever opened by the broken body and shed blood of the Son of God!
The veil was rent in twain while hanging between earth and heaven, even as Christ was crucified, lifted up between heaven and earth on a Roman cross. When He cried out in triumph over sin and death, saying, “It is finished!” - even at that hour the Passover lamb was being sacrificed upon the brazen altar in the temple court (See Matthew 27:46, Matthew 27:50; John 19:30).

It was the time of the evening sacrifice; and Christ Himself was the Passover Lamb!

Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John - all are careful to tell us that He was crucified on the feast of the Passover; and Paul says plainly that “Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us” (1 Corinthians 5:7).
By the rending of the temple veil, God was saying to His redeemed children something like this:

“Draw near unto Me, My children, even unto the throne of grace. Do not be afraid. Above the broken law is the blood-sprinkled mercy seat; for your Passover Lamb has sprinkled His own blood before the throne of grace. Your perfect Substitute has died in your stead. A full atonement has been made for sin - ‘once for all.’ No longer need you go to an earthly priest; the priesthood has been done away. Christ is your Priest - your Great High Priest. His blood is efficacious to cleanse from all sin. His prayers at the throne of grace avail! He is dealing gently with you. My children, draw near unto Me by faith, through prayer and worship and praise, ‘through the veil . . . that is to say, his flesh’!”

Standing in His presence, by faith, we are unafraid; our souls shall never die; for the broken law is covered by His precious blood. And one day we shall see Him “face to face” - to worship Him forever for His unspeakable love!

“What a wonderful Saviour!”

“Let us draw near . . . Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 10:22; Hebrews 4:16).

SAVED TO SERVE As we bring this lesson to a close, we are overwhelmed at the thought of the goodness and the grace of God.

We have but touched the fringes, as it were, of the depth of spiritual truth, foreshadowing the glories of our Lord Jesus as set forth in the Jewish tabernacle. Doubtless when we get to heaven, we shall still be finding out, from all these things, hitherto unfathomed truths concerning God’s grace.

But to know even now, in this world of sin and tragedy and sorrow, that God dwells “in the midst” of His own - this gives peace and joy that “none but His loved ones know.”

As we praise Him for His grace, may His Holy Spirit empower us for His service, that we may tell others, and yet others, of His never-dying love!

~ end of chapter 4 ~

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