THE BUILDING OF THE TABERNACLE
[p. 323] THE BUILDING OF THE TABERNACLE
Exodus 35:4 - 29; Exodus 40:17 - 35
JT So that all may follow, it may be repeated that our subject is the assembly in the wilderness, and Christ as known in it in this setting. The thought is taken up from Acts 7 where Moses is spoken of as “he who was in the assembly in the wilderness”. Yesterday afternoon we dwelt on what was considered the first great feature, that is the covenant. We noted in chapter 19 the divine thought, Jehovah saying that He had borne the people on eagles’ wings and brought them to Himself, and that now, as they obeyed His voice, they would be to Him a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. Then in chapter 24 we noted that Jehovah had in His mind the thought of ascension, the thought of His people being elevated; and it may be added to what was said yesterday that this fact shows that the assembly is in mind in all these types, not Israel in the future. The thought of elevation belongs to the assembly, not to Israel, although the names of the twelve tribes are in the gates of the heavenly city. Then we noted yesterday that, as the thought of elevation was introduced, the words of the covenant were given to the people, and the people undertook to do all that Jehovah had spoken; then Moses wrote the words, and rose early, and built an altar under the mountain, and set up twelve pillars.
L Would you tell us what those twelve pillars signify?
JT What was said yesterday was that now that the element of obedience was present in the people God could proceed with the accomplishing of His thoughts, that is His service, in the altar, and the complete number which His counsels required, in [p. 324] the twelve pillars. The twelve would point to the number required in the counsels of God. God would proceed on these lines. Then the volume of the blood points to the fulness of love attested in the death of Christ, whilst the twelve tribes suggest the saints as possessed of love. God is the source, for it is said: “Hereby we have known love, because he has laid down his life for us” (1 John 3:16). And hence the fulness of the blood is the testimony to that love in the covenant here; and the basis is thus laid for material for the building.
JOS The Lord said when He instituted the Supper, taking the cup. “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you”. Would that indicate volume?
JT That is evidently what is in mind in the idea of pouring out.
Ques Have we not largely missed the relationship between the cup in Luke and Exodus 24?
JT It would seem that we should link them together. The pouring out in Luke is more towards the members of the assembly, “Poured out for you”, whereas in Matthew and Mark it is for many. Here the bearing of the covenant is seen in that Moses took the blood and sprinkled it on the people, and said, “Behold the blood of the covenant that Jehovah has made with you concerning all these words”. The covenant was with them.
L Why was half reserved for the altar?
JT I suppose to maintain the balance, the one part bearing on the service of God, and the other for the people themselves — love in their hearts. The book was also sprinkled according to Hebrews; and there are other additions in Hebrews that help. “Having taken the blood of calves and goats, with water and scarlet wool and hyssop, he sprinkled both the book itself and all the people, saying, This is the [p. 325] blood of the covenant which God has enjoined to you” (Hebrews 9:19,20).
K Would the reason for the heave offering be the sprinkling of the blood?
JT Love known in our hearts would produce the heave offering, our hearts moving towards God. Romans 5 is the application of the covenant to us substantially, the love of God shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit given to us. Then in chapter 8 there are those who love God. That is necessary for service. The heave offering is the spontaneous outgoing of the heart Godward.
JOS In chapter 35 the people’s heart is mentioned seven times in the section we read. Is that the answer in the people to the covenant God proposed?
JT That is manifestly so. What comes out in chapter 34 is the fulness of the covenant in the second giving of the law. We have spoken of chapter 24 as typical of the covenant which applies to us, but chapter 34 enlarges on that and brings out the thought of the new covenant. It is in connection with this that we have the glory shining; it is to chapter 34 that 2 Corinthians 3 alludes. It alludes to it, of course, by way of contrast, but there is the thought of the new covenant in that the glory shone; and chapter 35 is the normal outcome of the glory shining in our hearts. The thought of glory must enter into the material of the tabernacle. It was the pattern of the things in the heavens, that is to say it is Christ, not only apprehended in death, but in glory. The material all comes thence, it comes from heaven.
Ques What do the heave offerings signify for us?
JT That is the question before us now. They are material for the house of God, that is, it is heavenly. Although it is here upon earth, the [p. 326] material is heavenly. It is to be the residence of the glory, and the material is to be in accordance with this. We are said to be vessels of mercy fitted for glory. The residence of the divine glory must in itself be essentially glorious; hence in chapter 40 as each part of the tabernacle is set up it is functioning; every item is serving its part, functioning in its place. That is to say, it is a living state of things where the glory radiates, for service is to be in love; love is really the idea of the glory.
Ques Is it “Christ in you the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27)?
JT Just so.
JOS Does that involve the thought that the covenant has become formative in the affections of the people of God?
JT Yes, formation must take place, so that we should be material. To be material for the building is not simply that I have got light. Peter represents the material, and in that respect it is not a question of his name, but what he is: “Thou art Peter” (Matthew 16:18), that is, ‘thou art material for the building’.
Fr. Is that what Peter says, “To whom coming” (1 Peter 2:4)?
JT Quite so; it is living material.
RA What connection is there between this and the light unapproachable in Timothy?
JT We are speaking now of the light that shines, what God is as declared. 1 Timothy 6:16 is God in the absolute; that is Deity apart from all other considerations.
FJF Is that Deity considered without reference to anything else?
JT Quite so; we have to think of it as apart altogether from creation.
R I take it that what we are considering would correspond with God shining into our hearts to give us the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus [p. 327] Christ?
JT Yes, that is God shining out in Christ; that is not light unapproachable; that light invites approach. We are to draw near, whereas 1 Timothy 6 means that Deity by itself is unapproachable; “whom no man hath seen, nor can see”.
W It says, “the ... only Potentate” and “who only hath immortality”.
JT What we have in the covenant here is the shining out of the glory and the shining is, according to 2 Corinthians, in the face of Jesus. It shines in our hearts. Now in the beginning of chapter 35, so as to balance all this, there is an allusion to the sabbath, meaning that as the light comes in, as the love of God comes into us, there is to be a keeping of the sabbath. It is in that way that formation takes place, for after all it is God that works in us; we have to learn to lie fallow, to be restful in His hands. It says, “Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day there shall be to you a holy day, a sabbath of rest to Jehovah: whoever does work on it shall be put to death. Ye shall kindle no fire throughout your dwellings upon the sabbath day”. Notice that. There is to be a state of restfulness. The saints have to learn what is meant by the sabbath. If anyone will trouble to look into the subject of the sabbath, he will see that in a period of fifty years something like twenty-eight per cent of Israel’s time was devoted to sabbath keeping. There were not only sabbaths of days but sabbaths of years, and an understanding of that will help us to learn to be quiet and restful in the hands of God.
St. Why is the lighting of fire singled out here as a special thing not to be done?
JT I think it refers to energy on our side. It is energy on God’s side you have to look for now.
JOS In Jeremiah 17 Jehovah makes a promise that if the people would carry no burdens on the [p. 328] sabbath day He would bring about revival of blessing in Israel.
JT It was the sign of the covenant, and obviously it was needed. The covenant denotes active love, but there is to be a restfulness, so that God has a free hand for formation. He is the potter, we are the clay, so that we are to be in His hands as in the hands of the potter.
Ques Is it that before we can contribute we must be in restful contemplation of what is presented in Christ?
JT That is the idea exactly, so that we have to learn that we are not always to be bustling about and doing things; we have to learn to be restful in God’s hands.
Rem This sabbath is to be a time of contemplation of what has been seen in chapter 24: they saw God and ate and drank in contrast to what is not seen, as we have noted in 1 Timothy 6:16.
JT I think that is right.
Ques Did Mary have her sabbath day when she sat at Jesus’ feet.
JT Quite so.
B Is this material for the building the divine wealth secured in the hearts of the saints, as evidence of responsive affection?
JT Yes. We should bear in mind that the material is the person, not something in the person, but the person himself. “Thou art Peter”, ‘thou’ is the person.
F Is that every believer?
JT That is another matter; we have to look at the believer abstractly and in a concrete sense also. Each believer having the Spirit is potential material. The idea is set before him, and he comes to it in formation.
F He is called for that.
[p. 329] JT Yes. The point to take in in this connection is the formative side, The believer is taken up potentially. The idea is put before him. In chapter 25 God proposes the material; He gives a list of what He needs, so that they should build Him a dwelling.
FSr That means it must be there.
JT The idea is presented in chapter 25, and then following upon that much occurs that brings out chapter 34; and then you have the concrete thing in chapter 35. A list of things wanted is given in verses 4 to 19 and then in verse 20 it says, “And all the assembly of the children of Israel departed from before Moses”. That is they are now on the ground of accepted responsibility, as much as to say, ‘Lord, I understand what You mean, I am going to work that out’. The Lord will say to each young believer, ‘You are material; it is in My mind that you are to be in the building; but I want you to understand just what it is that you are to be’. And the believer answers, ‘I see Lord what You mean’; and now I go and bring this about through exercise; so that it says: “And all the assembly of the children of Israel departed from before Moses. And they came, every one whose heart moved him, and every one whose spirit prompted him; they brought Jehovah’s heave offering for the work of the tent of meeting, and for all its service, and for the holy garments”.
W Is that expressed in the willing-hearted and the wise-hearted — it says they departed, and they came?
JT Just so; it says “They came, every one whose heart moved him, and every one whose spirit prompted him”. And then it further says, “They came”. It says they departed, and they came. The return journey is the test. “They came, both men and women; every one who was of willing heart ...”.
[p. 330] Fl. Would you say there are many sabbaths between the ‘departed’ and the ‘came’?
JT I think that is the principle, things have to be worked out according to the light we have.
Ques Is that to walk in those “good works, which God has before prepared that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:10)?
JT Just so.
L Does Romans 12 — presenting our bodies a living sacrifice — correspond?
JT I think so.
Ques Does what is presented here correspond with what we have in Corinthians: when they were together each one had a psalm, had a teaching, and so on?
JT That is a question of ministry; what we are dealing with refers to our persons, what we are ourselves.
FJr Do we see a type of this in Jacob when he left Padan-Aram to go to Bethel?
JT He had the house in his mind, but it is not till we come to Genesis 35 that we find the Jacob that is proper to the house. In chapter 28 he just anoints the pillar, but in chapter 35 he pours out a drink offering upon it. In the first place one regards oneself as having the Spirit — anointed, but in the second (chapter 35) one is conscious of being pleasing to God in His house. God actually came down and spoke to him. In chapter 28 God was in heaven and Jacob upon earth.
DrS There was a period of twenty years between the two, was there not?
JT That is good, because it confirms what we are speaking of — a period of formation. With some of us it may take only a short time, with others a long time. But in the material required here God announces that He will have His building on His own terms, with His [p. 331] own material.
JOS Do we get the thought of the material in Corinthians when Paul says: “Of him are ye in Christ Jesus”.
JT Well that is the potential side. In the first epistle new creation is hardly dealt with, or even in the second. The thought is, however, just touched in the second epistle, “If any one be in Christ, there is a new creation” (2 Corinthians 5:17).
M In the second-first sabbath in Luke do we have the material coming to light?
JT It is the second-first, an extraordinary phrase, showing that the idea of the first is in both. When we are brought to the divine thought it is one thing. It may take twenty years to bring us to it, but as formed we are suitable material.
FSr One has not paid enough heed to the sabbath if one has to walk such a long time.
JT That is the lesson to be learnt.
B Is this period indicated between the 11th and 16th chapters of Matthew; in the 11th it is things, in the 16th it is a person.
JT “Thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them to babes”; that was common to all the disciples, but the material took concrete form in Peter in chapter 16. It required the revelation as to who Christ was.
W Is there a distinction between what was brought, and the wise-hearted women who spun with their hands?
JT I think verse 25 is to bring out certain distinctions above the generality; it is more now subjective activity, so that we have the wise-hearted women spinning, and in verse 27 we have the description of the men who brought the onyx stones. These are distinctions; you always find that God makes room for what is special.
You get such activity in the apostle Paul; he had in mind that he might apprehend that for which he [p. 332] was apprehended, that is, there was great activity in a certain connection in him, so that he might reach now the divine thought in connection with himself.
Ques Would the wave offering being connected with the gold be a higher thought than the heave offering? The heave offering seems to be connected with silver and copper.
JT The wave offering, I suppose, conveys more the idea of priestly intelligence, and in it the thought of the offerer is more sustained; the action of waving enhances what he is. The wave offering is found in Leviticus 23 as typical of Christ being presented to God after He rose from the dead.
Ques When Simeon took the child Jesus in his arms, was that priestly action? Would that be appreciation of the Person of the Lord?
JT Yes, you know the value of what you have and keep it before God’s eye.
R What you are saying would give the covenant a large place after the Supper.
JT Yes. What comes in after the covenant is the dwelling. The Lord’s supper is, I think, celebrated in the court of the tabernacle; then what the saints are in themselves according to the divine workmanship comes into evidence, so that after all the parts are set up and all functioning, God as it were says, ‘I want all that for Myself’. The cloud covered the tent of meeting. God is taking it now entirely for Himself. What is He taking? Typically, all the saints as in their places in the assembly and functioning.
R You would say that of the full development.
JT Yes, they are seen in chapter 40, each in his place and functioning: for instance, in verses 20,21 of chapter 40 “he took and put the testimony into the ark, and put the staves in the ark, and put the mercy-seat above on the ark. And he brought the ark into the tabernacle”. The ark is serving its intended purpose. And then in verse 21 “he hung up the veil of separation, and covered the ark of the testimony”. That is what it was intended to do. “And he put the table in the tent of meeting, on the side of the tabernacle northward, outside the veil, and arranged the bread in order upon it before Jehovah”. That was what the table was for. “And he lighted the lamps before Jehovah”, they were to give light; and in verse 26 “he put the golden altar in the tent of meeting before the veil. And he burnt on it fragrant incense”. That was what it was for, and so right down. We come to the laver in verse 30, “he set the laver between the tent of meeting and the altar, and put water in it for washing”. That was what it was for. So that Moses and Aaron and his sons washed their hands and their feet at it. What is meant is that every christian is in his place. He is not there negatively but in a positive way before God, and all that is so pleasing to God that He covers it with the cloud, as if to say, ‘I am shutting out all else, I want this for Myself’; and then the glory fills the scene.
Ques Are these conditions to be enjoyed characteristically in every place where the saints are gathered together?
JT That is what the instruction is for; that is what we are to learn.
M Does John 12 give the ark in its place and the saints functioning?
JT That is so. The Lord is in His place in John 12. He knew what was in Bethany before He came. He had been there before. Now as He comes everyone is in his place. Lazarus sits at the table: that is his place. He was suited for this place as risen from the dead. Martha served, and Mary anointed the Lord’s feet [p. 334] with ointment.
JOS Would that answer to the previous chapter where it says, “And they made”, whereas in chapter 40 it is what Moses did?
JT Yes, their part is seen in the intervening chapters and then Moses takes all in hand.
M The odour filled the house.
JT That was like the glory filling the tabernacle.
Rem It is mentioned seven times in this section, “As the Lord commanded Moses”.