02.01. Part 1.

Part 1.

If the first four things mentioned in the above verse speak of the glories of the Son of God, Personal, Moral and Official, covering a very wide field; the fine linen into which these things were wrought, or dyed, speaks of the Man Christ Jesus in Whom all glories shine. In this fine linen, we pass in thought from the side of eternal Godhead in an eternal Person, to the side of Manhood in the same Person and behold the MAN in Whom every glory centres and indeed go beyond that to the complete unveiling of God. Of the five things mentioned, all of them except gold were to be found in the veil of the sanctuary. Here, the inwrought cherubim took the place of the gold, whereas in the ephod the gold was present but no cherubim. The holy veil hung between the holy place and the holiest of all and was suspended by golden hooks upon four pillars. This formed a doorway into the place where all was gold and every whit uttered glory. The Man Christ Jesus is in Himself the "way" into where all the deep unfoldings of God are displayed. The veil speaks of His flesh, that is, His precious body. (Hebrews 10:20); and if the four pillars be taken as expressive of the four Gospels and their writers, we can see the answer to the Holy of Holies in His Person and are led to these holy records as being the inner shrine of God’s holy book. The fact that the veil speaks of His flesh explains the reason why the gold was displaced by cherubim, for that holy Man ever displayed the justice of God which the cherubim set forth, but beyond all that "God was in Christ" a holy mystery which speaks of the heavenly grandeur which was inside the veil. With the ephod it was different. Here, Christ is prefigured as Head of a new order in resurrection. This leads in thought to the Epistles of the New Testament and particularly to Hebrews where He is seen as the great King-Priest, the Glorified Man. To supply a figure of this there-must also be gold. "He that said unto him, Thou art my Son, to-day have begotten thee. As he saith also in another place, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec." Hebrews 5:5-6. In the Gospel we see Christ in relation to God’s glory in this world, the scene of sin and man’s failure; but in the Epistles we behold Him Head of a new world, which is the domain of divine purpose where all His glorious perfections shine out, with nothing of sin to interfere.

While we dare not separate, we may profitably distinguish between the unique Personality of the Man Christ Jesus and the various features of glory and beauty that shone out in Him. There were incidents in that busy life that brought each to the front, here one, and there another, so that it might be the outshining of the gold of divine Sonship or, the simple display of the Man who stamped everything with the blue of heaven’s beauty. Again, it might be the dispensing of covenant blessings as Son of David or, the homeless Son of Man Who was the appointed Heir of all things. But besides these, there were times when He might be seen as it were in the centre of a circle, where each glory combined in such beautiful harmony in Him, as to give all in one distinctive view.

Two outstanding events, namely, the Temptation at the beginning of His ministry and the Transfiguration at the end may illustrate this. At the end of Matthew 3:1-17 the Father proclaims Him, His Beloved Son and immediately the tempter comes forward with the challenge — "If thou be the Son of God."

All this relates surely to the gold of His glory but the tempter goes on to that which relates to the blue as seen in the Man out of heaven. The first temptation takes us back to Eden and the Lord’s answer from Deuteronomy gives a sublime description of man’s place in relation to God but in an obedience peculiar to Himself. "The obedience of Jesus Christ." 1 Peter 1:2. The second recalls the scarlet by the mention of the holy city and the temple. The third recalls the purple and bespeaks His universal place as Son of Man by the mention of the high mountain and the kingdoms of the world. This is a scene of perfect moral beauty. God gets His place; man gets his place; and, for the first time in man’s history, the Devil gets his place from One who has a perfect right to all but seeks no place at all. The vision on the holy mount presents a scene of unalloyed delight, where there is nothing to oppose. We judge there is nothing absent to complete the picture which, by including the Father’s voice and the Shekinah, carries us in thought beyond the administrative order of full millennial display, to the glories of the Father’s house where sons shall be at home with the Father and the Son, in a scene pervaded by the Spirit’s power. The heavens and earth in all their departments of blessing and glory are depicted here but beyond that, the Father’s voice indicates something, which John the Apostle of love was given to bring out, and the blessed Son of the Father, Who is here rejected by man, is the centre and guarantee of all.

God’s order in the race must be noted that we may see how this blessed Man adapted Himself in. every way to the divine plan. The Creator puts forth His intentions for the race in one man. The character and order for the whole is set forth in the head. This works out both in regard to created status and moral condition; those connected with Adam being earthly as to creaturehood and sinful in moral condition, while those connected with Christ are heavenly in origin and holy as to condition. In all this we can see Adam as a figure of Him that was to come. Here we touch the scheme of sacred typology, the wealth of which pours itself out around the Person of this blessed MAN. This in itself is a rich study but we must remember that it is only one side, that side indeed which connects itself with the time ways of God. When we turn to the study of God’s eternal purpose, we behold our Lord as the eternal Son, marked out for incarnation and redemption. Consequently, Adam’s creation was a necessity and He, the eternal One, the great proto-type. We rightly say that at the birth of our Lord, all, including heaven, earth, and hell, were in commotion. (Psalms 90:1-17; Hebrews 10:1-39; Matthew 2:1-23; Luke 2:1-52; Revelation 12:1-17). But along with that, God required One to make known His plan and purpose. Man on earth needed a Redeemer and Satan the enemy looked on, entirely ignorant of divine resources, trying if he could, to thwart and hinder the work of the blessed God. The advent of the Son met every need, God’s perfect claims and all His desires, and man’s every need, and forever defeated and exposed all the forces of evil. That advent filled up the whole ways of God by taking up every thread of these ways, not only in type and shadow but also in promise; prophecy; government and grace; imparting a completeness to all, while at the same time going back beyond Genesis. He, the Son, linked up in Himself the whole scheme of God’s eternal purpose, that God might be made known in a triumph of glory from eternity to eternity, and the universe put on the basis, not only of omnipotence but on the stable footing of redemption which, through Calvary’s depth of woe, the depths of God found a channel to flow forth. From the above it will be seen that the Incarnation made it possible for the Spirit of God to speak of our Lord both as Second Man and Last Adam, while every thing both in nature and revelation witnesses to Him as first in cause, dignity, moral sequence and result. In coming into time, unlike Adam, He became a babe, that in every phase of human life God might be glorified. Much was called for in this world for moral disorder prevailed and all along the line outstanding individuals had tried to put things right. Being themselves part of the ruin, this was impossible. The only way things could be put right was by Calvary since man was lying under the judgment of death. He came to die that death and to redeem the creature who lay under it, but all the way to it from the manger was marked by His putting the stamp of heaven and the will of God on every detail of life here as in flesh and blood. What could be more pleasing to God? Yea, what could be sweeter to the believing heart that has drawn upon His grace and delights to worship Him? But some one will say, This involves going over ground already trodden. (See the booklets "Gold:" "Blue:" "Purple:" "Scarlet.") Our answer is, Why not? Who would lay claim to originality here? Nay — let us ask — who would desire it? If such transcendent things are to engage us forever, surely we may well continue in them now. But after all, such a fear may be groundless. Many and varied are the highways of Holy Writ. We need not travel precisely by the same route as before. There are lines of truth in this holy book of God but little known; sights and scenes within the domain of the Spirit but little frequented which will yield both honey and cream if we will but commit ourselves to the care of our great guide the Holy Spirit. He will lead us into the Messianic chambers of Holy Writ to behold Him Who preceded all; Whose will originated all, and Whose stupendous stoop put the stamp of finality upon all.

Before coming to the New Testament, let us glance a moment at the range of moral instruction wrapped up in these holy garments. Aaron was to be clothed with garments for glory and ornament. The Tabernacle had been previously set out in prescriptive order which, in type, speaks of the holy universal order and calls for a living centre who would impart life and completeness to the whole scene. The high priest is the answer. He is taken out of ordinary life and clothed with these garments of official splendour as fore-shadowing our Lord in His triumph and splendour, at the centre of redeemed creation. The ingenuity of divine device gives a present application of all this as a faith system in the Assembly, as seen in the Epistle to the Hebrews, but in the nature of things the typical significance goes on to the full issue in glory. The fine linen of the passage is the translation of the Hebrew word Shes, which signifies whiteness and supplies another colour to the group mentioned here. It would remind us of the spotless purity of the Man, Christ Jesus. It was woven of twisted threads of flax, foreshadowing the union in Him of every beauteous grace, in the power of which every detail of that perfect life was adjusted.

Two different orders of dress were called for on the part of Aaron in the exercise of his priestly duties. On the day of atonement he must lay aside the garments of glory and be clothed in fine linen only, because his duties on that day bespoke the Cross in all its magnitude of meaning for God and the creation. The garments of glory and ornament might be suitable for him to function in the whole year through but on that day, they must be laid aside. The solemn reality pictured here, the reader may see portrayed in Hebrews 9:1-28. In Hebrews 9:12, the Lord entered the holiest in virtue of His own blood, having obtained eternal redemption. This answers to the solemn time when the blood of the sin offering was taken within the veil, for upon that day the blood of the sin offering was prominent. While all the glory of God is made to rest upon our Lord in that aspect, it was not in itself a time for a blaze of glory but a time of woe. Then in Hebrews 9:24 He is seen as "gone into heaven, now to appear in the presence of God for us." These last two little words here indicate that He is there in the robes of glory. And why not? since all the woe is past. It may be further noted in Hebrews 9:12, that the Lord takes ground which we in Hebrews 10:19 are exhorted to occupy, but in Hebrews 9:24 He is gone to where we cannot go till He Himself comes to take us there. The Holy Spirit has come out to report His glory there but besides that, He leads us even now to enjoy all the blessedness of His own company within the holiest of all. Hebrews 10:19-22.

Another class of robes is used to designate our Lord in judgment. "Therefore his arm brought salvation unto him; and his righteousness, it sustained him. For he put on righteousness as a breastplate, and an helmet of salvation upon his head; and he put on the garments of vengeance for clothing, and was clad with zeal as a cloke." Isaiah 59:16-17. In this dress He comes forth conquering and to conquer, for — "And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God. And the armies which were In heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS." Revelation 19:13-16. In all this we may visualise the rider of Psalms 45:1-17 Who, in majesty rides prosperously because of truth and meekness and righteousness and Whose arrows are sharp in the heart of the king’s enemies. Jacob’s words about Benjamin point to the same time when, in solemn majesty, He shall devour the prey and divide the booty. This is the Man of Isaiah 63:1-19, Who comes from Bozrah, glorious in apparel, travelling in the greatness of His strength, Whose garments are stained with the Blood of His enemies. Scripture puts this as the vintage of the earth but the harvest is to follow when He shall sit upon the throne of glory — His own throne — in solemn majesty, when the nations shall be gathered before Him; the harvest of the earth gathered in and all this in view of His glorious administration when His Name shall rule throughout the multiplied distances of creation. Here again we may connect Psalms 45, where the King is seen in robes of royal splendour; where His Israel takes her proper place and the nations of the earth come in to fill up the picture.

Various other features of the character of our Lord mark the Tabernacle and its services. For example — "Take fragrant drugs — stacte, and onycha, and galbanum — fragrant drugs and pure frankincense; in like proportions shall it be. And thou shalt make it into incense, a perfume, after the work of the perfumer, salted, pure, holy." Exodus 30:34-35 New. Trans. None of these ingredients grew in Israel’s land and it is striking that to this day, it is not known for certain where they come from. May not the divine intention be to remind us that our Lord learned nothing from man, or this world’s teaching, but that all He was and did was of the Second Man out of heaven. It was said of Him, "How knoweth this man letters, having never learned?" And again. "Whence hath this man this wisdom and these mighty works?" There was nothing here to minister to Him; He grew up as a tender plant and as a root out of a dry ground. All was to be tempered together by the art of the perfumer.

Here we stand and behold with deep adoration Jesus — our Lord Jesus — in His own inimitable perfection whom none but the Father can know. Neither irreverent curiosity, nor unholy speculation will help us here for — "Jesus fills that holy place" as well as everlasting love. But if flesh cannot follow, thank God faith may and He graciously beckons us to Himself that we may behold Him, the Only-begotten Son of the Father, full of grace and truth. We know now in measure and ever shall delight to learn the wonders of His glorious Person but it must ever remain true that, "No man knoweth who the Son is." Luke 10:22. This abiding wonder must remain true within the circle of Deity to all eternity. "Ye shall not make for your selves according to the proportions of it; it shall be unto thee holy to Jehovah." If the redolence of it came out in His life, well we know that its fulness came out at the cross. It was to be beaten small and laid up before the testimony. This carries us in thought to the hour of His bruising for — "He was bruised for our iniquities, and with his stripes we are healed."

It will be recalled that the burnt and meat offerings go together, fore-showing what Christ was to God both in life and death. In the burnt offering, the carcase had to be parted in pieces but this was after death. In the anti-type, the parting all took place before He died; all the dissecting and scrutinising had to be gone through that the excellency of the offering might be proved and so the holy scrutiny of divine majesty searched Him in the hour of Calvary. The peace offering seems to amplify this for at the close of that blessed life, the Holy One of God was parted in pieces in a way beyond all our comprehension. "At a place called Calvary," holy Manhood in Him was torn to pieces in the midst of the most coarse and cruel indignities and brutalities, in a way that leaves the sufferings of the most spiritual far far behind. He was indeed led as a lamb to the slaughter for these men were so hardened under the power of Satan as to be carried beyond all the practices carried out in the execution of the vilest of criminals. "Behold and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow, which is done unto me." "They that sit in the gate speak against me and I was the song of the drunkard." But there is another side and to that we may turn. "Weeping may endure for a night but joy cometh in the morning." Leaving the pictorial scenes of the typical system, let us with reverence draw near and behold the Saviour, more directly as He is presented in the holy Gospels where, surpassingly, the inimitable grandeur of His moral glory shines forth.