THE TABERNACLE OF WITNESS (3)
THE TABERNACLE OF WITNESS (3)
WB-s Why do you get the brazen altar before the altar of incense? You do not get the altar of incense till chapter 30.
JT The altar of incense supposes the existence of the priesthood. Priesthood is introduced in the next chapter. We have it in chapters 28 and 29.
RSS The priesthood would have reference to man’s approach to God, whereas these three chapters present God’s approach to man.
JT That is an excellent distinction. The altar of incense stands in relation to man’s approach to God. It is not the means of God putting Himself in touch with man, but man in touch with God in prayer.
RSS I suppose the same thing would apply to the brazen laver. That refers to man’s approach.
JT Quite so. These chapters set before us the things by which God places Himself in touch with man according to His own nature.
RSS The light at the end of this chapter is connected with the priesthood, so there is a connection with chapters 28 and 29. Aaron and his sons are named.
LTF Would you not regard the brazen altar as the means of man’s approach to God?
JT Yes but it appears first in regard to God’s approach to man. Whereas the golden altar is not in that connection; it comes in after the priesthood, and supposes the priests are there to approach. The brazen altar is obviously essential to the whole system.
RSS In fact it was the first object that was met in going in at the door of the court.
JT It is that in which God is [p. 37] publicly glorified.
RSS The sacrifice of Christ; it was seen outside. In connection with our brother’s remark, the way God comes out is the way we go in, so to speak, God ends with the brazen altar, but we begin with it.
JT So that God can receive you consistently with His own nature. “Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate ... and I will receive you”. 2 Corinthians 6:17. You are received consistently with the divine nature, and none can raise, a question about it, because He has been glorified publicly in regard to our sins. He is vindicated publicly.
BTF Would you say a word about the approach of man to God? What was in my mind was this, that when one entered the tabernacle the first thing that presented itself was the brazen altar. There could be no approach to God except the truth of the brazen altar were entered into.
JT It would compromise God’s character before all, were He to allow man to approach aside from the brazen altar.
MLH Would you say God has come all the way out to where we are?
JT And consistently with His nature too. That is the idea in the brazen altar.
AFM Do you base your thought on Exodus 29: 42, 43, where it says in reference to the burnt-offering, “this shall be a continual burnt-offering throughout your generations at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation before the Lord where I will meet you, to speak there unto thee and there I will meet with the children of Israel”.
JT Yes. Whereas in chapter 25 He proposes to speak from off the mercy-seat. But if He has communication with man publicly, it must be consistent with Himself, and the brazen altar secures that. It is really in the area that may be said to represent the space between heaven and earth. It is visible to all intelligences in heaven and [p. 38] also on earth.
EHT Why is an altar necessary?
JT It is a place of sacrifice. It is a very interesting subject. Heretofore God had left the construction of altars to the altar builders. In giving the law directions as to the altar are added in Exodus 20: 24 - 26.
LGM The altar is the place where all difference and distance are settled between God and man.
JT Quite so. I remarked that hitherto God had left the construction of altars to the altar-builders till chapter 20 of this book, where He prescribes that the material of the altar should be earth. And if they builded it of stone it was not to be of hewn stone. That was all He said. But in Genesis and elsewhere, the altars are left to the altar builders, because an altar would indicate the measure of the builder’s stature. It indicates one’s knowledge of God no doubt, if it is left to yourself. God of course will accept you at your own altar, even though there may be imperfection there, because God will respect the least knowledge of Himself.
AFM Jacob named his altars differently.
JT Yes. Jacob said he would let God have the tenth. God would accept that. He would appreciate it if he got ten tenths, but He would accept one tenth.
MLH Did God ever speak from the mercy-seat till the blood was put upon it?
JT God spoke in Christ before His death, but the establishment of the system necessitates His death. I think it is important to consider this altar, to contrast it with those that preceded it, because God is very particular that it should be made, like the other parts of the tabernacle, according to the pattern. If it is to be God’s altar specifically, it must in every way conform to His requirements. Whereas He allows you to build your altar.
WE So that we can rightly expect here something very large, it being God’s [p. 39] altar.
JT What you would look for is that it conforms with the divine requirements, so that when you apply it to Christ, you will find you get all the measurements in Christ.
JLJ Do you get the thought of this altar in Ephesians 1:6,7? “Wherein he has taken us into favour in the Beloved, in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of offences, according to the riches of his grace”.
JT “In whom we have redemption” is there. “Taken into favour” is higher. It takes you inside.
WB-s Is what is devoted in sacrifice connected with the altar?
JT The altar is an abiding thing. It stood there permanently, and it refers to Christ as undergoing wrath, as having to say to wrath. It is not gold. There is no gold apparent. It is a question of having to do with the judgment of God on account of sin.
WCR Why is it made of shittim wood?
JT His humanity is there, and nowhere else, we may say, is its perfection seen more than in undergoing wrath, but at the same time He estimated the wrath. He went though it as knowing it and estimated it according to God, but never shrank from it. He went through it.
RSS It was the Son of man that was lifted up; it does not say the Son of God. I refer to our brother’s question as to shittim wood.
JT That allusion helps us as to the use of the word brass or copper. John 3:14 alludes to the brazen serpent. “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness even so must the Son of man be lifted up”. Although the Son of man is mentioned, it is in that character, as undergoing wrath, made sin really.
GAT Does the altar refer to the garden or the cross?
JT It is seen in principle in Gethsemane, where [p. 40] the Lord anticipates the forsaking of God. He faces it, saying: “not my will but thine be done”. Luke 22:42. I think the shittim wood is seen very clearly in Gethsemane. On the cross, He recognises the forsaking and justifies it.
WCR You said yesterday the shittim wood referred to durability or endurance. How does that apply here?
JT In a most marked way, that He went through everything and sustained it. He sustained the fire of God’s judgment.
WB-t You would make a difference between the altar and the victim.
JT There is a difference; it is not the victim here but the altar.
AFM But this is really the altar of burnt offerings. You have associated wrath with the altar. Now I thought that applied to the victim, burnt outside the camp, the victim for sin, Will you make a distinction between the two?
JT The sin-offering was also offered here. The point is that the altar sustains everything.
BTF Will you say a word regarding the altar in connection with the bodies of those beasts whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin, being burned without the camp? What does the burning without the camp signify in connection with the wrath of God?
JT That is to show the complete consumption in judgment of the man that sinned. The Lord was not only a Sin-bearer on the cross; He was made sin; and the bodies of the sin offerings burned outside the camp referred to the total consumption of the man that sinned.
BTF What was placed on the altar ascended to God.
JT The inwards of Christ, the affections and motives, all went up as a sweet savour to God. That [p. 41] was for His pleasure, so that He was glorified there and, as I said, the inwards of the sin offering were also burned on the altar; but the public destruction of the carcase refers to God’s abhorrence of the man that sinned. But what is to be noticed here is that all this refers to Christ personally, not as a Sacrifice, but as a Sufferer. Hence all the offerings were offered up here. Now what we get in the dimensions is of great importance in the altar. It is said to have been three cubits high and five cubits long and five cubits broad, the altar being four-square.
Ques Why do you get the four horns on the altar?
JT The four horns are made “of itself”. They are a piece with the altar. They are not conferred on Christ. They refer to the moral strength that was seen in Christ. Horns are symbols of strength. No doubt the gospels set them before us. That is to say, we have to take account of the moral strength that marked our Lord as Man here. The height of the altar was three. That is the power of resurrection. That was in Christ also.
AFM Would the moral strength you speak of answer to his exhausting the judgment in three hours?
GWH What He was prior to that.
JT What He was as Man here, the suffering One. You have the symbol of weakness; it is five cubits every way. He was crucified in weakness, but nevertheless there was moral strength in Christ as Man. He was never overcome by any circumstance. Look at Him in the presence of Pilate, in the presence of Herod, in the hall of judgment, and when they came to Him after Gethsemane. There is a moral superiority over every person and circumstance. Five is a symbol of human weakness, but there was a moral strength in Christ that made Him superior to every circumstance; and mark, it is not simply [p. 42] that He was a divine Person. It is a question of His humanity because the four horns are a part of the altar. He was always superior, as Man, to every circumstance. Look at the superiority of Christ to Pilate!
EHT I am interested in the thought that He sustains things.
JT It is worthy of development, because it brings out in a marked way what He was as Man. How that although every possible element of the world was arrayed against Him, He was never once inferior.
WB-t There never was such another Man.
LGM Always master of the situation.
WB-t If one of us had been building an altar, we would have used a different material from wood. It is very noteworthy that shittim wood should be used in something that was constantly to contain fire.
OJO This altar is as broad as it is long, what is the meaning of that?
JT It is the universal bearing of Christ’s sufferings that are in view in the foursquare.
AFM God has a voice to every man in the death of Christ.
JT God speaks there, in the light of Christianity at any rate, because we must remember the law was only a foreshadowing of good things to come, therefore we have to look at it with the light that we have. So that if God speaks there and He does, it is universal. It is to all men.
WCR He tasted death for every thing.
JT That is it; every thing.
GBM It also comes out in the “whosoever” of John 3:14 and 16.
GAT Bringing Him before us as a Man makes us appreciate His work more.
JT The altar is a great object lesson, because it suggests to us how we are to go through things, and [p. 43] how we are to suffer. And perhaps there is nothing more difficult in suffering than to maintain a good spirit in it. You may go through it in a hard kind of way as unavoidable. We know that men do. It is wonderful what suffering men are capable of, but what you find in the altar is the moral superiority of Christ to every circumstance of suffering; His spirit was always perfect.
WE That is seen in Stephen.
JT Yes. In Stephen is set forth how the spirit of Christ may be seen in one of like passions with ourselves, because his spirit was right in the severest possible sufferings. It was the spirit of Christ.
WCR Do you see the very opposite of that in Moses when he smites the rock?
JT That is it. His spirit was not right. God makes a great deal of our spirits, and I have no doubt the four horns refer to the superiority of the kind of spirit that marked Christ in all those circumstances that closed in upon Him after Gethsemane.
PL “The Lord Jesus Christ be with thy spirit” the apostle says Philemon 25.
RSS We are to do well and suffer for it, and take it patiently.
DR You get the two thoughts in what is said of the Lord. “He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before his shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth”. Isaiah 53:7. When He got the opportunity to open His mouth He said to Pilate, “My kingdom is not of this world, if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight but now is my kingdom not from hence”. John 18:36.
WB-s The scene on the way to the cross, where the women of Jerusalem sympathised with Him, is touching. He said, “weep not for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children”. Luke 23:28.
JT And then when He prays, “Father, forgive them”. Luke 23:34. What a marvellous spirit! It seems as if [p. 44] Stephen is set there to show it is possible even in us.
JS The same outcome would be in every one that is filled with the Holy Spirit, as it was in Stephen.
JT Yes. It is in the power of the Spirit that you accept suffering, and it is remarkable in our relations with one another, how chafed we become. You are not treated as you would like to be, and things do not go as you would like to have them go. The great thing is to maintain a right spirit in such circumstances.
AB “Rejoicing in tribulation”.
PL You are viewing this from the collective standpoint, are you not? The brazen altar was at the door of the tabernacle. You cannot go in but in this spirit. There will be suffering in connection with the path of faith, and there must be strength to make you superior in it.
JT In the government of God you may be called upon to suffer wrongfully. Christ is the model, “who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously”, 1 Peter 2:23. You have there in the brazen altar, as you come in, the right kind of a spirit set before you as a model.
BTF Are the sufferings of Christ at the hand of man connected with the altar?
JT I think so. As we were saying, the altar may be put between Gethsemane and Golgotha. He is suffering either anticipatively or actually from Gethsemane to the cross and on the cross.
WB-s Will you go over those three figures again, five and four and three?
JT Five has reference to the Lord’s outward weakness. He was crucified in weakness. The foursquare refers to the universal bearing of His sufferings. The three, the height refers to the divine power, the power of resurrection. He was put to death in the [p. 45] flesh, but quickened in the Spirit. It is the power of resurrection.
RSS Do you connect three with the three days in the grave and what followed?
JT It is alluded to frequently. The Son of man shall be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. It is the death and resurrection of Christ as the witness of Cod’s power.
WCR “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up”. John 2:19. I was wondering if the scripture, “I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again”, John 10:18 would allude to this.
JT That alludes to the height of the altar.
GBM All these principles are connected with the acacia wood. I think you have helped us on an important point. Once in a while we are tempted to accept the world’s flattery of Christ. Renan said, “Socrates died like a philosopher, but Jesus died like a God”, but it was like a Man of another order acceptable to God.
GAT I need a little more help as to the spirit we ought to show. When a brother goes my way I can show him a good spirit, but when it is otherwise, it is different.
RSS The spirit of Christ is what we need. I think you often check yourself that way. You have feelings but the thing is not to harbour them.
JT No adverse circumstances can compare with His. The brethren even may be against you, or combine against you, but the circumstances are not anything like what the Lord had to face, and He was always superior.
AFM Matthew 11 would illustrate that. He rejoiced in spirit at that moment.
MLH There was nothing in His spirit but the sweetness of divine love, though all had forsaken Him.
BTF Supposing a soul is exercised as to coming [p. 46] into fellowship, you would warn him that he will not find perfection in the saints.
JT I think that is wise. It is consideration for him at any rate, so that he may not be disappointed. It is well to engage him with the altar because that is the first thing that he meets with. And indeed the apostle Paul alludes to that in Galatians, saying that Christ had been portrayed among them, crucified.
GAT What would you do if you saw a brother going wrong? Would you go direct to himself and then if he would not hear you, what then?
JT The Scriptures tell us plainly what to do. You do not allow things to travel too much. You take one or two more. There are two now in the secret and if he refuse to listen to them, you tell it to the assembly. That is a wider area, of course, and if he refuse to listen to it, he must be treated as a heathen man and a publican. It is public now. If you take a definite stand in regard to the brother and treat him as a heathen and publican, he is no longer regarded as of the number but it is the last resource.
WHF That would not cut him off from the assembly. It is individual.
JT Yes; so far as it goes. The responsibility is now with the assembly to act towards him.
WHF It might lead to exclusion from the assembly.
JT Quite so. If they follow it out they will have to act also.
EHT Would there be anything in taking with you a particular brother, a man with a right spirit?
JT The Scriptures say so. If it is a question of recovery, the spiritual restore him. They are in accord with the altar; “considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted”. Galatians 6:1.
MLH Could we have a word in regard to the vessels [p. 47] of the altar?
WB-s The third verse speaks of the ashes. I suppose it is in connection with the death of the victim.
JT The testimony that death took place is to be carefully preserved. The ashes are the testimony to the consumption by fire of the victim. These utensils mentioned were literally necessary and therefore they point, in the antitype, to everything being found in Christ that has reference to suffering and sacrifice.
BTF Do the ashes imply that the sacrifice was accepted?
JT I think so. There is the testimony to the fact that the victim was consumed, that God’s judgment had become effective and the ashes are the testimony to that.
WCR The ashes of the red heifer were carefully preserved.
JT You have a more detailed application of the ashes there, because it is a question of the recovery of the individual from the effect of defilement. But here we are dealing with the altar by itself, how fully everything was there that was requisite in regard to the judgment of God.
WB-t The thought of the ashes being there goes beyond the thought of death merely.
JT It is consumption. The carcase testifies to death, but there is the complete consumption by fire, so that there is nothing left. It is the total consumption by fire of that which sinned.
WE The evidence that fire had done its work.
RSS “All thy waves and thy billows are gone over me” Psalm 42:7. Not a drop left to go over us. In connection with the court the hangings were simply fine twined linen, that formed the court.
JT The court is what is public, nevertheless within the enclosure. I think it refers, if we apply the tabernacle to the present time, to that area in [p. 48] which, although we are on earth, we are not influenced by earth. We are governed by heaven. It is not the world outside, and yet it is a public thing. It refers to our position here in connection with the death of Christ as influenced by heaven. Sin is seen as judged amongst us, but we are influenced by heaven; as on the day of Pentecost, heaven associated itself with their testimony to the judgment of sin.
RSS Does the enclosure indicate that you are separate in that way?
JT Yes; although yet in view. We have not gone inside. We are morally separated from the world, but in view of the world.
RSS What separates us is the fine twined linen.
JT The pillars of the court were set in brass, in keeping with the death of Christ, the altar. The enclosure is in keeping with that, but it is a public thing. The world can see over it as it were. But then there are in the curtains, silver clasps, see verse 17; that is, in the utmost limits of the area, there is the testimony of redemption. Christ has a claim over all that sphere. He has not claimed the world outside, but the Lord does assert His right to the saints, no matter where they may be. The Lord asserts His right to you, and that is the point of the silver, the rights of Christ in redemption.
AB In Revelation 19 the fine linen is described as the righteousnesses of the saints. The linen round the courts was seen. It was public. It is practical righteousness.
JT The word for fine linen here implies, I believe, whiteness and fineness. It is the fineness and purity of the thing that is in view, and if that be so, it is the new man that you put on; “Put on the new man”. Ephesians 4:24. You have put off the old man and have put on the new. That is what is public as in Colossians. That is what the world sees.
RSS What is characteristic of Christ.
[p. 49] JT And then in that you have the testimony of redemption, that Christ has a claim over it all.
WB-t You do not get the thought of a covering, a protection; that you get inside the tabernacle.
JT No. This is more for testimony as our brother has been pointing out.
AB The fine linen alludes to the righteous acts of the saints.
RSS The sockets for the boards of the tabernacle were in twos and they were made of silver. For the court pillars there was one socket of brass. We remember what was said about the silver sockets yesterday, the two indicates witness to us, that on which we stand. But here it is brass on which the pillars stand. It is not a question of the Spirit witnessing to us here, it is rather a more public thing, that the Lord has gone through the righteous judgment of God as the Sin-bearer.
JT They refer to that in us in our public ways, which testifies that sin is judged. The foundation of your position here before men implies that sin has been judged. But then Christ owns you. You cannot belong to the world or society. You cannot be a Freemason or an Oddfellow. You cannot join any kind of a society in this world, because Christ’s rights of redemption preclude all that.
RSS Indicated in the silver in the hangings.
AFM And it is exclusive in character.
JT The fine workings of the Spirit are not there, although they are at the entrance, because if any one wants to come in, it is worth while showing him this fine handiwork. You get that in the entrance. But as to the casual worldling, it is no use casting pearls before swine.
MLH “I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil”. John 17:[p. 50] 15.
JT If one wants to come in you can show him the hangings!
RSS It shows the reason why there is no purple nor blue nor scarlet in the hangings round the court, but they are at the door. If any one wants to come in they speak of Christ.
AFM How could one get into the court?
JT Through exercise. It refers to an exercised soul. Why should he come in if he is not seeking the things of God?
AFM I thought that one who was not an Israelite could not enter.
JT That may be, but at the same time, God was there to be approached.
PL The man coming in among the Corinthians would say that God was amongst them, of a truth.
JT Yes, he came in, but I thought he would be an exercised person. Of course there is such a thing as false brethren creeping in unawares, and that raises the question of door-keeping, but in a general way God was there to be approached; any exercised person may come, and such persons appreciate what is seen at the entrance.
AFM What are the four pillars that supported the gate?
JT We had five at the entrance of the tabernacle. Now the five idea is seen in the height of the outer pillars and hangings. They were five cubits. See verse 18. The gate being supported by four pillars would suggest the universal bearing of the testimony towards man. It is carried on in human weakness, the height of the hangings of the court is five. Paul was weak, but nevertheless his ministry was effective. The power of God is seen in the weakness. “We also are weak in him, but we shall live with him by the power of God toward you”. 2 Corinthians 13:4.
JLJ Where does baptism put you in connection with [p. 51] the court?
JT It puts you in the court. It places you in a position which is influenced by heaven. The court was influenced by what was within.
MLH How about the family in which one parent is a believer?
JT If one is a believer, he is in touch with heaven and in that way brings in the influence of heaven into the family.
WHF Does the court indicate the sphere of profession?
JT It is a public position. In it we are under the eyes of the world. But then it was where Christ died. He died under the eyes of the world.
EHT Those at Corinth took their place in suffering when they were baptised. They were “baptised for the dead”. 1 Corinthians 15:29.
JT The court is not measured in Revelation 11, but the altar is taken into account, because no matter how small things are, suffering people will be taken account of. You can always sacrifice or surrender. But God does not take account of mere profession. The court is not measured but left for judgment, but the temple of God and the altar and the worshippers are all measured.
RSS In connection with the court, is it our responsible life there?
JT It is what is public. It is like “Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh to fulfil the lusts thereof” Romans 13:14.
RSS The common people could come in there, but the priests and the Levites only could go into the tabernacle.
WLP Can it be said that Christendom is under the influence of heaven?
JT No. Christendom is not under the influence of heaven, and therefore when God comes to measure, He is not going to measure it. That is the serious thing at the present time.
DR [p. 52] Being under the influence of heaven involves being under the influence of the Spirit.
JT Antichrist will blaspheme God and all them that dwell in heaven. That is what they are preparing for now. They say Christianity is a failure. In the early part of the Acts all were under the influence of the Spirit.
EHT Is not Christendom in the court?
JT Yes. But it is not now influenced by heaven and so God will not take account of it when He comes to measure things, but will leave it for judgment. We do not realise that enough. Still we are all in the court as far as our profession goes, but when you come to the altar, that is measured, and that is where reality is taken account of, because the altar is the test of your profession. If you profess to be a follower of Christ, how much will you suffer for Him?
MLH In the recent election in our State, the woman suffragists put out a circular amongst all the voters with this as the basis: “The great obstacle that we have to encounter is the Bible. We must have it revised”.
JT One can understand that. And there is a great deal being said now of the ineffectiveness of Christianity. It is very significant, paving the way for the time when the tabernacle of God and all the inhabitants of heaven are blasphemed.
GAT Will you say a word on the children of Israel bringing the oil, and Aaron and his sons ordering the lamp?
RSS It is remarkable that it comes in between the introduction of the priesthood and what we have been considering.
JT God would have the light shining. It suggests, I think, the exercises of the people, God would have the light through their exercises. They should bring the olive oil; it is really the fruit of the Spirit,
[p. 53] The responsibility of having it lighted lay with Aaron and his sons; that is, Christ and the assembly.
RSS The light of God is shining out in that way. The section we have been considering evidently closes with verse 19 of this chapter. The two verses at the end seem to be a link between the two sections.
JT They introduce the priesthood.