12 SYMBOLISM OF THE SANCTUARY SERVICE
THE religious system of the Hebrews, says the apostle, “was a figure for the time then present.” It was ordained of God, and served an important purpose in the world for a period nearly as long as what is now known as the gospel dispensation has existed. It is called in 2 Corinthians 3:7 a “ministration of death,” because under it, as a theocracy, the death penalty was inflicted upon the transgressor of the ten commandments, as they were incorporated into their civil law. Yet that arrangement was ordained in “glory.” 2 Corinthians 3:7-11. According to the declaration set forth by the apostle in that chapter, there never was anything in the world more glorious, except the gospel by which it was superseded. It had “no glory,” simply and only because something took its place which was more glorious, which was the gospel of Christ. Verse 10. It was the best that could be done for that age and people, under the circumstances then prevailing. It was the developing of God’s plans and purposes toward the one end of redemption, as fast as men were prepared to recognize, appreciate, and accept them. It deserves not neglect, but study. The ultimate object it had in view, besides its typical import, was to cultivate in the hearts of men, obedience, homage, and worship, as due from them to God. Hence the modes and forms of worship which it prescribed were calculated to beget in the mind of the worshiper, the idea that God was drawing near to him, and that he was drawing near to God, and thus foster in his heart the spirit of faith and repentance. It was designed to impress the people with a sense of their sins, and suggest to them how sins may be pardoned, and God accept the humble, reverent worship of his people. The following remarks of Hengstenberg in reference to the ceremonial laws of the Jews, will be here in point:-LUJ 99.1
“The best apology of the ceremonial law, lies in pointing out its objects, and these refute the charges brought against it; First, it served to cherish the religious sentiment. The Israelite was reminded by it in all his relations, even the most insignificant and external, of God; the thought of God was introduced into the very midst of the popular life. Secondly, it required the recognition of sin, and thus called forth the first thing essential for the reception of redemption, - a sense of the need of redemption. The law was, and was intended to be, a heavy yoke, and therefore would awaken a longing after the Redeemer. Thirdly, it served to separate Israel from the heathen, it erected between the two a wall of separation by which communication was prevented. Fourthly, many things in the ceremonial law, served, by impressions on the senses, to awaken reverence for holy things, among a sensual people. Fifthly, one principal object of the ceremonial law, lay in its symbolic meaning. The people, enthralled in visible objects, were not yet capable of vitally appropriating supersensual truth in words, the form most suited to their nature. It was needful for the truth to condescend, to come down to their power of apprehension, to prepare itself a body from visible things, in order to free the people from the bondage to the visible. Would we rather not speak at all to the dumb, than make use of signs? The ceremonial law was not the opposite to the worship of God in Spirit and in truth, but only an imperfect form of the same, a necessary preparation for it. The accommodation was only formal, one which did not alter the essence, but only presented it in large capital letters to children who could not yet read a small running hand.”LUJ 100.1
A remark by J.P. Thompson, D.D., is also worthy of notice:-LUJ 100.2
“The elaborate system of worship established by Moses was never meant to be an end in itself. Its offerings and sacrifices, its prayers and songs, its priestly mediations and absolutions, assumed an inner spirit of penitence, faith, thanksgiving, love, devotion.LUJ 100.3
The ritual was an appropriate expression in outward signs of the emotions of the heart in view of its sins and sorrows, and of the goodness and mercy of the Lord. It was a help to the understanding of promises to come, and to faith in their fulfilment. In believing hearts it nursed the expectation of the Messiah, and set forth the great doctrine of atonement through the daily sacrifice - a type of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.”LUJ 101.1
The tabernacle was erected of materials which were the gifts of the people. Every one was to give something who could do it with a willing mind. The lesson taught in this is that God can accept no gifts which are not presented in this spirit. And the alacrity with which they complied with this call for material for the sanctuary, is the first incident calculated to awaken surprise. Their abounding liberality is equally noteworthy. So bountiful were their offerings that it was impossible to use them all, and it was found necessary to restrain the people from giving further. Was there ever a parallel of this incident in any other enterprise? In this the people gave abundant evidence of thorough repentance, and a complete recovery from the apostasy into which they so lately had fallen. The materials contributed to the sanctuary were gold, silver, and brass, brought with them from Egypt; of textile fabrics, - blue, purple, scarlet, and fine (white) linen, - for the production of which Egypt was celebrated; fabrics of goats’ hair and rams’ skins, from their own flocks; badgers’ skins, to be had in abundance in the vicinity of the Red Sea; the wild acacia trees grew freely in the desert itself; oils and incense were prepared from material at hand; spices, jewels, and precious stones, were in the possession of the heads of families and tribes.LUJ 101.2
Two persons, Bezaleel and Aholiab, were called by the Lord and endowed with the Spirit of God in all wisdom and understanding, to execute all manner of skilful and marvelous work necessary for the tabernacle. The evident lesson of this is that God often has a special work to be done, and calls and qualifies those who he sees are adapted to its accomplishment. Moses was the ablest man for leader, Aaron the best adapted to the high-priesthood; but neither of them were to be compared with Bezaleel and Aholiab for the performance of the cunning work to be wrought for the tabernacle. Of these men it has been said that “they were called to be smiths;” and while their hands were engaged in forming the material into shapes of usefulness and beauty, they could feel themselves laboring just as directly in the cause of the Lord as if they had been offering sacrifices at the altar. But these men were also to teach others who were skilful and wise-hearted; thus furnishing a warrant, if any were needed, for seeking, by instruction, for the improvement of the talents which one already has as gifts from God. All the wise-hearted, in whom God had put wisdom, were to participate in this instruction. And this proves that all talent is a gift from God. As Bezaleel was a “called smith,” so there are men “called” in every other pursuit, called farmers, called merchants, called teachers, called physicians, called statesmen, or any other calling in which God has given special fitness and eminent talents to be used for him. When any one is inclined to boast of his skill, or achievements, or possessions, as if these things were accomplished by his own merits, the Lord challenges him with the question, Who giveth thee power to get wealth, or to do this or that? A great intellect is an endowment from God, as much as a holy, sanctified heart is from the grace of God. But alas, the two are not inseparably connected together. How many have the gift, but not the grace! How many are using great possessions of intellectual power and cunning skill, not to glorify God, but to work ruin to themselves and others, by the degeneracy of their lives. Better a good heart, with less intellect, than a giant mind, without the grace.LUJ 101.3
While pursuing the inquiry as to what lessons were intended to be conveyed by the materials, equipments, and services of the sanctuary, it will be well to bear continually in mind the judicious caution set forth in the following quotations. The first is from Stuart Robinson, D.D., the second from Albert Barnes:-LUJ 103.1
“It is abundantly evident that the tabernacle, and after it, the temple, were intended to stand as conveying by symbols great ideas in the scheme of redemption, to the minds of the people. For we find it interwoven with all the ideas and language of the church in after times. Yet it is plainly a mistake to attempt to find some typical or allegorical meaning in every separate part of it - many of the things being ordered for convenience, as in every other structure.”LUJ 103.2
Mr. Barnes says:-LUJ 103.3
“No one acquainted with the history of interpretation can doubt that a vast injury has been done by a fanciful mode of explaining the Old Testament, by making every pin and pillar a type, and every fact in its history an allegory. Nothing is better fitted to bring the science of interpretation into contempt, nothing more dishonors the Bible, than to make it a book of enigmas. The Bible is a book of sense.”LUJ 103.4
But very naturally certain impressive and profitable ideas would be conveyed to their minds, which it is even yet worth while for people to consider. There was but one tabernacle and one temple connected at any one time with the true worship of Israel. This, through all their history, furnished a standing testimony against the idolatries of all the countries by which they were surrounded, and where every special locality had its deity, and every hill its grove and separate solemnities of their idol worship. The acacia wood, which entered so largely into the structure of the tabernacle and most of its furniture, was a symbol of durability. It was called by the Orientals, the “lignum imputrabile,” or incorruptible wood, as indicating that it would never decay. Gold, among all people, stands for that which is glorious and beautiful. Kings and princes seek it to ornament their palaces or their persons. Silver is regarded as a symbol of purity, and brass, of strength. Coming to the woven tapestry for the coverings and hangings, did not the fine white linen speak of holiness? the blue, of the vault of heaven? the purple, of the royal robes in which kings array themselves? and the scarlet, of a free and joyful life such as God desires his children to enjoy? The whole cost of the materials used in the construction of the sanctuary, is estimated to have amounted to one and a quarter million dollars. Professor Bush suggests that the employment of so much wealth in its construction, “was twofold: (1) to impress the minds of the chosen people with the glory and dignity of the divine majesty; and (2) to convey through the gorgeousness and splendor of the external ritual, an intimation of the essential and transcendent excellence and glory of the spiritual things which were shadowed out by it.”LUJ 103.5
It has already been noticed that the tabernacle was first erected as a movable building, and as such must have been constructed in just the manner it was. “Therefore,” says Fairbairn, “to seek for some deeper and spiritual meaning for such things as the boards and bars, the rings and staves, the different sorts of coverings, the loops and taches, etc., is to go entirely into the region of conjecture, and give unbounded scope to the exercise of fancy.”LUJ 104.1
The candlestick was formed after the fashion of the almond-tree, the first to awaken from the sleep of winter and show the leaf and buds of spring. Its trunk and branches alternated with golden flowers and fruits, intimating that God seeks for a like living and fruitful character in his people. The light shed by the lamps of the candlestick, was a beautiful symbol of the spiritual illumination which God ever desires to shed upon his people. The anointing oil and incense were of careful and costly preparation, and were not to be imitated for any secular purposes, showing that nothing common or profane would mingle with the work or worship of the Lord. Incense was the emblem of prayer. The law was placed inside the ark, but over it was the mercy-seat, which is the central idea of the gospel. This shows that the law and gospel always go together. They cannot be divorced. To destroy the law would render the gospel uncalled for and useless; to destroy the gospel would leave mankind to destruction. But there is still another lesson to be learned from what is here said about the law. When directions were given for the erection of the tabernacle, the first object described was the ark, which was made expressly as a receptacle for the law. So in coming to Christ, the sinner has first to do with the law; for it is the law which convicts of sin. He must believe that God “is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him,” and that consequently he will leave to their own fate, all who will not seek him. Not till he is thus seized and slain by the law, will he see the need of the remedy provided by the gospel. But when, thus awakened, he seeks help in Christ, he does not then find the law standing at the threshold of the temple of divine grace, as if it would say to him, First comply with my demands, and then you may go in and seek mercy from God, but he finds an invitation to him to come in, and then he shall be provided with grace to keep the law. He now finds the law enshrined in the innermost apartment, and the first things that now meet his gaze, are the PICTURE AND TEXT
altar, the sacrifice, and the priest, through whom he may obtain that righteousness which will bring him into harmony with the law, the lack of which is the source of all the trouble. He may come without any righteousness of his own, and must come in that way; for he has none to bring; but he must have a hungering and thirsting for righteousness; and then these provisions of mercy say to him, Enter freely in, and find the grace you seek, to keep the law. And so the law comes to be at last enshrined in the inner sanctuary of his heart and affections; and then “the righteousness of the law is fulfilled” in him, as says the apostle, and with him he can then say, “I delight in the law of God after the inward man.” Romans 8:4; 7:22.LUJ 104.2
On the table of showbread, the twelve loaves would suggest a continual banquet of the Lord with his people, and a continual supply of his grace for all their needs. The high priest’s vestments, also, contained features suggesting comfort and encouragement for the people of God. The ephod of gold, blue, purple, scarlet, and fine twined linen, was suggestive of royal robes, and indicated the exalted position of him who ministered as high priest for the people. The robe of the ephod, a longer garment, of heavenly blue, bore about its lower hem a row of pomegranates, the king of Eastern fruits, with bells, the sound of which the people could hear, and thus know that he who was ministering for them before the Lord, had not perished, but that his ministration for them had been accepted, and they were safe. To the ephod there were two shoulder-pieces, set with onyx stones, upon which were engraven the names of the twelve tribes of Israel, indicating that their minister bore them upon his shoulders, as a symbol of strength. The breastplate also contained the names of the children of Israel engraved upon twelve different kinds of precious stones set therein; but this he was to wear upon his breast over his heart when he performed the great work of atonement for the people. This suggested that the world’s great High Priest has strength to bear his people upon his shoulders, strength to sustain them, and love to enshrine them within his heart. The urim and thummim, signifying “light and perfection,” was the divine light that shone through the precious stones of the breastplate, in response to the petitions which the high priest presented before the Lord. This showed forth the divine guidance which he grants to those who seek to walk in his ways. And lastly, a plate of purest gold upon the miter of the priest, was engraved with these solemn words, “Holiness to the Lord.” This certainly would be a constant reminder to them of the great object to be attained by means of all this service, and the character which should be sustained by that people who sought to compass the altars of the Lord.LUJ 106.1
Thus everything connected with the Hebrew worship was suggestive of Christ, was calculated to raise their minds to high and holy things, to conduct them to the truth, and to be to the world the great highway to lead them forward to the coming of Him who should in due time appear as the light and life of men.LUJ 107.1