November 26

"And there I will meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from above the mercy-seat, from between the two cherubims which are upon the ark of the testimony, of all things which I will give thee in commandment unto the children of Israel."—Exodus 25:22.

MOSES received directions from God for the making of the tabernacle, and the various things belonging to it. There was the outer court, the holy place, and the holy of holies; and this was figurative of the Church in its natural state, in grace, and in glory. One of the principal things in the tabernacle was the ark, and this was a type of Christ. Let us here contemplate

THE TYPICAL REPRESENTATION. It may be viewed

In its materials. It was made of shittim wood, which was called eternal wood, because of its durable quality—it was almost incorruptible, no worm could penetrate it. This represents the durableness of the humanity of Christ. The ark was to be covered with gold, and this sets forth the Divinity of Christ. As the wood and the gold were united in one ark, so the humanity and Divinity of the Saviour met in one glorious Person. "His humanity," observes M-Ewen, "is like the cedar, the fruit of the earth, but not subject to corruption; and his Divinity, like the gold in the ark, embosoms his human nature, ennobles, but is not blended with it."

In its design. It was made for the purpose of depositing the two tables of the law. The law that was broken by the hand of Moses was henceforth to be preserved in the ark. Christ came into the world to keep the law in his active and passive obedience. Here we find the law written not on paper, parchment, or stone, but in the life of Christ, it was living, breathing, and walking.

In its having the two cherubims. "And thou shalt make two cherubims of gold, of beaten work shalt thou make them, in the two ends of the mercy-seat," ver. 18. This represented the two churches, the one under the Old, and the other under the New Testament. The law was a shadow of good things to come; Christ is the sum and substance of all. This may allude also to the ministrations of angels, who "desire to look into" these things; and it may regard the two ministries, prophets under the Old, and apostles under the New Testament dispensation: they both meet in Christ. It was further typical

In its being carried from place to place by the priests. This must have been a very solemn scene. Christ in the dignity of his person, the grandeur of his work, the efficacy of his atonement, the plenitude of his grace, and the final triumphs of his cross, is now carried by the ministers of the Gospel; we proclaim him as the end of the law, the substance of the Gospel, the rock of our foundation, the object of our faith, the anchor of our hope, the source of our joy, and the Saviour of the soul. The geography of the Jewish dispensation was only Canaan, among one nation; but that of the Christian dispensation includes the whole world.