THE ARK AND THE HIGH PRIEST
[p. 84] THE ARK AND THE HIGH PRIEST
Exodus 25:10 - 16; Exodus 28:1 - 5; Isaiah 42:1 - 8; Hebrews 3:1
My thought is to show the connection between the ark and the high priest. I wish to dwell upon each separately, and in pointing out the contrast between them, to show also the connection that exists between them.
The ark, as most of us here know, has reference to Christ, and the high priest in Israel represented Christ. It is in that way that they become of such interest; indeed, it is thus that the Old Testament becomes of such interest to those who love Christ, I doubt whether any one reads the Scriptures with heart interest until he loves Christ; you may dwell upon the type, but your heart is engaged with the antitype, and I desire, beloved friends, that that may mark our meeting now; that whilst I seek to engage you for the moment with the types, your hearts, by the Spirit, may be engaged with the antitype; that is, with Christ. No type can exceed in interest the ark of the testimony, and in one point it is very like that of the high priest, for it represents Christ with something in His heart; the law of God; whereas that which the priest had in his heart was the saints. I wish you to bear this in mind for we have to take account of the Lord here in this world in connection with the will of God, and then we have to take account of Him in connection with the saints. The high priest had the saints in his heart; I refer to the breastplate as you will understand. That was one great feature of the high priest, that he represented Christ as having the saints’ in His affections.
What I would point out as to the ark is that the [p. 85] predominant feature of it is not exactly that it was heavenly; whereas the predominant feature of the priest was; the type suggests to us that the priest is heavenly. You will all remember that Exodus 28 is taken up almost entirely with the description of the dress of the high priest; the colours referred to, by the Spirit, in the description of the dress convey to us the characteristics of Christ, as Man, in relation to, and as having to say to God, as approaching God, and the predominant colour is blue. There are other colours mentioned which have reference to the earthly side of Christ’s official glory, but the predominant colour in the dress of the high priest is blue.
Now when you come to the ark, you are struck immediately with the fact that there is nothing said about colour at all. The point in the ark is, that it was made of shittim wood and it was overlaid with gold, and it was to contain the tables of the covenant. Now that is what I want to dwell upon. By the Lord’s help, I desire to show you, that the Lord has to be taken account of here in this world as appearing amongst men, and as the One capable of taking up the revealed will of God and carrying it into effect. I desire, that our hearts might ponder that. The great thing in view was that the divine glory might be sustained here, but evidently the shittim wood has to be taken account of. Primarily the great thing that God had in view was to have a Man here through whom He might carry out all His will. Adam had failed in that, but God would wait, and He did wait. He waited for that which the shittim wood represented. One loves to think of God waiting for that. I desire to enlist your sympathy in that respect as to God; He had His mind set upon man, but God could wait. One great attribute in God, one might say, is that He can wait. God will wait; He will wait for the suitable material for the [p. 86] effectuation of His purposes. He waited after the fall of Adam; He waited for the Man. Christ Jesus. I think of God taking Moses up to the mount; the law in principle was given to the camp below. He takes Moses up to the mount Sinai, and the first thing He speaks to Moses about is that which was in His heart; the first thing He speaks about to His servant is the ark of the testimony. It was that, that He had in His heart. He looked on to a Man here upon the earth, moving under His eye; every motive of that Man was Godward; every aspiration had God as its object; every movement of His heart had reference to God; that was a delight to God to unfold to Moses the ark. He says, “make an ark of shittim wood” and He gives the dimensions. It was a delight to God to dwell upon those dimensions, to dwell upon that wood, as representing that Man whose every movement of heart had God as its object. God speaks to us later through the prophets and He says “Behold my servant whom I have chosen, my beloved, in whom my soul has found its delight”, (Matthew 12:18). How do you take account of that? I take account of it as referring to Christ, and to what He was here for 30 years. That of which God had spoken to Moses, that material, those dimensions given in His instructions to Moses, all that, beloved friends, had taken form in a Man here on earth. Let us think of that. The wood of the ark speaks of the humanity of the Lord Jesus, and now God says “I will put my spirit upon him”; (Matthew 12:18). He can put the gold upon that vessel.
If ever I hear of a brother undertaking to serve Christ, to serve God, I want to know his past history. God always takes up a man in reference to his past history. Every servant of God is set apart from his birth, and all the divine dealings have reference to the gold. What God has in His mind is the gold. He intends to set the gold before men, but before [p. 87] you have the gold you must have the wood. If you have not the wood the gold would be discredited. Paul says God set him apart even from his mother’s womb, and called him by His grace. Every servant is taken account of by God from his birth, and before God, as it were, puts the gold upon the vessel, there must be the wood.
As we look at Christ, it is important that we dwell upon what He was personally. I believe it is of the Spirit that the deity of the Lord should be put into evidence in every bit of ministry. The cherubim of glory over the mercy seat suggests to our hearts that there must be a guarding of that Person. He is what He was and what He ever will be as to His Person, but let us think of the wood; think of that Man here in this world where all was opposed, where there was such absence of sympathy, even from those akin to Him in the flesh. Mary says “thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing”; (Luke 2:48) they had no idea who was there; but the Lord says, “wist ye not that I must be about my Father’s business”. (Luke 2:49) As Man here, He was personally equal to that which He was to sustain in testimony; He was to be covered with the gold. God was to set there the full weight of the divine glory, and that was to be displayed in that Man. What food there is for our souls in Christ viewed in that light here in this world; moving about in a scene that was contrary to Him, every movement of His heart had reference to God.
That is the idea I have of the ark of the covenant. It is Christ in this world where everything is contrary, sustaining the full weight of the divine glory. I have often thought that we too little consider what it was for Christ to take up God’s law; what power was required for it. We do well to consider the conditions into which Christ came, every part of the world and its whole power turned against Him. Now I say consider the power that was necessary to stand [p. 88] against that, yet, not one iota of the divine will was surrendered for a moment; it was in His heart, “Lo, I come to do thy will, O God!” (Hebrews 10:7) “I delight to do thy will O my God!” (Psalm 40:8) I say, what power was required. I have no doubt the wood, as typifying Christ’s humanity, was divinely selected. It was most durable, and hence we have in it the suggestion of the power that was in Christ inherently in carrying out the will of God here upon the earth.
Well now, God says in the Prophet, “Behold my servant whom I uphold, mine elect in whom my soul delighteth”, (Isaiah 42:1) I understand that to be the ark of the covenant; “my servant whom I uphold, mine elect in whom my soul delighteth”. Now notice, He says, “I will put my spirit upon him”. (Matthew 12:18) That is what I understand to be the gold. “I will put my spirit upon him”. You can all recall the remarkable incident of the Lord’s reception of the Spirit in the gospel of Luke. He appears in baptism, and He comes up out of the water, and He is praying. There He is; the Man who delighted in the will of God, and He is dependent upon God here. The Spirit came upon Him and Jehovah says, “I will put my Spirit upon him”, and then God says, “he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles. He shall not strive nor cry; neither shall any man hear his voice in the streets”, (Matthew 12:18,19) God puts His Spirit upon Christ, and then you have the unfolding, in testimony, of God.
Now what was the result of that, beloved friends? I appeal to you who know the Scriptures. It is of all moment to know the Scriptures. If you read this prophet Isaiah you will find the great controversy is between God and idolatry, and now that He has a Servant, now that He has a Vessel, He puts His Spirit upon Him, and the conflict is on. I want you to understand that the conflict continues.
[p. 89] There are two great forces in the world, one is lawlessness, and the other is idolatry; they are linked together, and in the ministry of Christ God has taken issue with the lawlessness of man, and the idolatry of man! I want you to consider that. God found His servant in whom His soul delighted, and He put His Spirit upon Him. “He shall not fail nor be discouraged”; that is the ark of the covenant. “He shall not fail nor be discouraged till he have set judgment in the earth”, (Isaiah 42:4) that is Christ. God took public issue, in the ministry of Christ, with the lawlessness and the idolatry of man, and if you read the gospels in the light of these two thoughts, I think you will get great help from them. Then there is a third great issue which is obvious; and that is, the issue between life and death. That issue had been raised in the garden of Eden, the question of life. Is the question of life to be solved? I want you to bear in mind that God has found His vessel, and has put His Spirit upon Him, and that now the conflict is on. Think of Christ in that position; think of the tremendous power; the almighty power that was required to carry out the divine mind. Christ was anointed of the Spirit, and He is led of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil; that was in order that it might be brought into greater evidence who and what that Man was. He returned from the wilderness the victorious One. Think of the power of Christ here in subjection to God. He bound the strong man in the wilderness, and returned in that power, in that same Spirit into Galilee, and hence the glory is shown resplendently in that wonderful ministry before men; but the conflict was on. The question of God’s rights in the heart of man had to be solved. He was the only God, the only object who deserved the adoration of man. The Lord undertook to make that evident. God had rights over man. He was the only true God. With [p. 90] what delight the Lord Jesus brought that into evidence before men. Now, in this chapter God says “my glory will I not give to another”, verse 8. You will have noticed the verse, “and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images”. You remember when Moses came, down into the camp, the glory had been changed into the similitude of an ox that eateth grass, Psalm 106:20. Such is the heart of man.
The Lord Jesus undertook in His ministry here to establish in this world, in the power of the Spirit the testimony of the true God. God could not suffer, He will not suffer, His glory to be given to another. What a solemn consideration for Christians; that the spirit of idolatry may find a place in our hearts. What does that mean? That means that God is deprived of His glory, and He will not suffer it. The Lord Jesus came into this world to set that aside, and you may depend upon it, that God will not suffer it. He established too the principle of righteousness, He established it here in Himself as Man-before God; He loved righteousness; He fulfilled it as a Man before God. Where every other had failed, He established the principle of righteousness. Where these two things are found in man, the establishment of the rights and glory of the true God, and the full absolute recognition of the righteousness which goes with it, that man is entitled to live. So the Lord Jesus has, in this world established His title to live before God. As Man personally, in the place He took here in this world, He has established His title to live before God.
I just add another word to that and it is, that, on the ground of that He dies. The Lord, personally established His title to live in the presence of God, but He died so as to establish a title for others, for men. He has annulled death and brought life and incorruptibility to light in the gospel. The apostle [p. 91] John in his writings insists uniformly upon the sonship of Christ, and that everything must depend on the Son. He says, “he that has the Son has life, and he that has not the Son of God has not life”. (1 John 5:12) Now what I understand by that is that everything is in that Person. The point is not that the persons who have life are sons, for John does not develop sonship in regard to the saints, but he does insist uniformly upon the sonship of Christ, and that everything depends upon that Person and that without that Person there is no life; he that has that Person has life.
When you come to the high priest you find the Scriptures enlarge upon his dress. You will remember the idea of the wardrobe in Scripture; Huldah was the keeper of the wardrobe. The idea of dress is extremely important and the Scriptures emphasise it. Now in the matter of the dress we are wearing we have to be brought into accord with the ark of the covenant and the high priest, and if I understand the epistle to the Romans, the point is to bring the saints into accord with the ark of the covenant. I think it is evident that everything must be made to depend upon doing the will of God, I mean upon a Man doing the will of God. Apart from that it is impossible that you can have unfolded the heavenly side of the truth. Now, the epistle to the Romans sets forth how the saints are brought into accord with Christ viewed as the ark, and I think the epistle to the Hebrews shows us how we are brought into accord with the high priest. I would ask you to consider the dress of the priest. The apostle calls upon the Hebrew Christians to “consider the Apostle and High Priest”; to consider Him well. One feels that a great cause of weakness and want of apprehension of divine things amongst us is due to the want of considering things.
We are called upon to consider the High Priest [p. 92] of our profession. Our title to divine things is not made dependent upon our state, but our enjoyment of them is entirely dependent upon our state. Paul says, “Wherefore holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling” that is the light in which we are viewed. We are entitled to take account of ourselves in that light, as holy brethren, and as partakers of the heavenly calling.
In the epistle to the Romans, the point in regard to our position on earth is that “the righteous requirements of the law should be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to flesh, but according to Spirit”, (Romans 8:4). Now that is what I understand to correspond in the saints to the ark of the covenant. There is a great deal in that, a great deal more than you may think. The apostle speaking of himself, says, “I delight in the law of God after the inward man”, (Romans 7:22). Now that is exactly what Christ said. He delighted in the law. He loved it. The apostle says, I delight in it after the inner man and when you come to chapter 8 he not only delights in it, after the inner man, but he has a power to correspond with it in his ways. He says, “the righteous requirements of the law should be fulfilled in us who walk not according to flesh, but according to Spirit”. (Romans 8:4) That is for testimony here where the law was broken, but when you come to privilege, God would impress upon us that we have part in the heavenly calling. Look at the high priest, He wears the breast-plate. What do you understand by that? I understand by it that when Christ went into the presence of God, it was made evident, that He had the saints in His heart. He had the breastplate on. He had the saints in His affections. What did He do when He went to heaven? “Being by the right hand of God exalted and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this”. (Acts 2:33). What did He receive [p. 93] the promise of the Spirit for? Why did He ask for the Spirit? It was because of the place the saints had in His affections. What did He have down here on earth in His heart? What He had in His heart here had reference to God, the law was in His heart. Now what is in Christ’s heart up there? Do you not know it, beloved brethren? Your names are in His heart. One cannot press it too much. Every believer’s name is in the heart of Christ up there. When down here, God’s law was in His heart and He maintained it where everybody was breaking it. That is, as I say, the ark of the covenant, but up there nobody breaks it. Well, what has Christ in His heart up there? He has the saints in His heart. What encouragement! He has gone in, and the breastplate is there as He enters into the presence of God, and He asks from the Father the greatest possible gift the Father can give. He asked for the Holy Spirit and He imparted the Spirit to the saints below. Now that is our High Priest; but then that is not all. We have to consider the wonderful garments that He wears; the wonderful garments of glory and beauty, and it is from these that what is heavenly shines out. In carrying out the divine will the heavenly breaks in, so to speak.
The carrying out of the divine will here involved the cross, the lifting up of the Son of man. In John 3 for instance, the blue shone; it came into evidence that the Man, who was all the time maintaining God’s will, and delighting in it here, was heavenly. The light breaks in in the most marvellous way. Jesus said, “no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven”, (John 3:13). What a shining of the blue that was. You recall there was a robe entirely of blue on the high priest, it was woven throughout, entirely of blue; presenting [p. 94] to our hearts the heavenly character of Christ, the second Man out of heaven. As you proceed in the chapter, John the baptist recognises the blue. Nothing can exceed the moral greatness of John here; at no time does his moral greatness appear to such advantage as when He says, “He that cometh from above is above all”, (John 3:31) “He must increase but I must decrease”. (John 3:30) It is grand to see the man who was the greatest born of women, the greatest of the first order, disappear in the presence of the heavenly One.
Well, the Lord goes up, and He has the saints in His heart and He asks from the Father the promise of the Spirit, and He sheds it forth. The possession of the Holy Spirit by the saints constitutes them related to the High Priest, and if we are related to the High Priest the Lord can address us as His brethren. It is evident that to be consciously linked up with our High Priest, we must have the Spirit, and in the reception of the Spirit from a heavenly Christ we are constituted heavenly, no other family shall have the Spirit as we have Him. We have the Spirit in a peculiar way; the Spirit is given to us from the Christ in heaven, and the reception of the Spirit constitutes us members of the house of Aaron. We are thus clothed with garments of glory and beauty as Aaron’s sons were. As I have already pointed out the greater part of Exodus 28 is occupied with the description of the dress of Aaron, but when you come to the close of the chapter the sons of Aaron are also clothed with garments of glory and beauty. Beloved brethren, we are linked up with the High Priest, and thus Paul says in the epistle of the Hebrews that the sum of all he had been saying was this, “We have such an High Priest ... minister of the sanctuary and the true tabernacle which the Lord pitched and not man”. (Hebrews 8:1,2) The epistle of the Hebrews does not develop the priesthood in regard to us;
[p. 95] what it does develop is, the greatness and glory of our High Priest, in the strongest possible way, saying too, that “such an high priest became us, holy, harmless, undefiled, separated from sinners, and made higher than the heavens”, (Hebrews 7:26).
We are called upon to consider that Person, and I would close beloved brethren, with an appeal that we should distinguish in our minds between Christ viewed here in this world as carrying out the will of God, and Christ viewed as the Leader of the heavenly host. They are two distinct thoughts, they are combined in Christ, but they are entirely distinct, and they have to be maintained distinctly in our souls, I believe where we are defective is in not considering, and as I said, I would appeal to you to consider the High Priest as He is presented to us in the Scriptures, and as we understand Christ, we shall understand the nature of our calling.