And thou shalt set the table without the vail— The table and candlestick, food and light, were to be placed opposite each other. From this description of the tabernacle, into which no light could enter, the use of the candlestick, which was lighted up every day, is manifest. The table, according to Ainsworth and others, being without the vail, signified that the twelve tribes, represented by the twelve cakes upon the table, were shut out from the mysteries of the Gospel, Hebrews 9:8-10; Hebrews 10:19 and Hebrews 11:39-40 and in respect of heaven itself, we all, in this life, are yet without, and enter in only by the anchor of hope, Hebrews 6:18-20. 1 Peter 1:4-5. 2 Corinthians 5:1-3.
A review of the tabernacle in the wilderness, considered typically.
What shall we say? Did the High and Lofty One, whose dwelling is not with flesh, who resides not in temples made with hands,—did he stand in the least need of this moveable habitation? Glorious as it was, can we reasonably think it to have been a meet apartment for the Deity, or at all adequate to the inconceivably glorious, immense, and eternal Spirit? What a contemptible idea of the true God would such a supposition inspire into the mind? Away with such a grovelling thought; so unworthy of God, and shocking to reason herself! But if we suppose, that these holy places made with hands were figures of heaven, of Christ, and of the church, and exhibited as such to the believing Israelites, then doubtless we shall be reconciled to that very particular regard which the high God was pleased to shew to the worldly sanctuary. Then we shall be able to account for that ardent affection which the ancient believers confessed on all occasions to the tabernacles of the Lord of hosts. Then it will not appear strange, that the same God who spent but six days in creating the universal frame of nature, should spend no less than forty in prescribing the little frame of the tabernacle. That these holy places made with hands, were figures of heaven, of Christ, and of the church, we are now to declare.
First then, the tabernacle of Moses was a figure of heaven itself, that glorious high throne from the beginning. For this interpretation we have the express words of an inspired penman of the New Testament, who, speaking of our great High Priest, plainly declares, that he, "is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us," Hebrews 9:24. But though the most holy place was by itself alone the most eminent figure of the heavenly sanctuary, this does not forbid us to regard the whole fabrick as an emblem of the same blissful mansion. Was the tabernacle of Moses divided into several parts? We know him that said, "In my Father's house are many mansions," John 14:2. Was it a place of great splendour and magnificence to the eye? "Glorious things are spoken of thee, O city of God," Psalms 87:3. Was it the dwelling of JEHOVAH, where the visible tokens of his presence were seen? In the heavenly mansions he unvails the brightness of his glory to all the saints around him. Did priests always officiate there? The saints in light are both kings and priests unto God. Were the curtains broidered with cherubims? In the celestial abodes are the innumerable company of angels? Was it replenished with all necessary furniture and provision? In heaven is the true light, and the living bread, fulness of joy, and pleasures for evermore. Did the voice of praise daily resound in the earthly tabernacle? The eternal regions are for ever filled with loud hosannas. Was legal purity required in all who trode the venerable courts of God's ancient dwelling-place? Nothing that is defiled can enter the heavenly Jerusalem. And, lastly, as the tabernacle was sprinkled with blood by the Jewish high priest, when he penetrated its innermost recesses once in the year, with the names of all the tribes engraven on his heart; even so the blood of Jesus Christ has consecrated that high and holy place, that sinners of the human kind might not be for ever excluded from dwelling in the beatific presence of JEHOVAH. When the everlasting gates of heaven were by sin barred for ever against us, the blood of Christ was the key which opened them again: and the believers in his atoning blood may enter into heaven itself with greater boldness, than the high priest when he went into the holiest of all, than the Levites when they officiated in the holy place, or than the people when they approached the outward court.
A second thing which the tabernacle of Moses did most undoubtedly represent, was the Person and future incarnation of the Messias himself, who was made flesh in the appointed time, and tabernacled among us, and who spake of his own body when he said to the Jews, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." Was the tabernacle a work of heavenly architecture? The human nature of our Lord was prepared by his heavenly Father, and curiously wrought, by the operation of the Holy Ghost, in the lower parts of the earth. Was it the habitation of the Deity? "In him dwells all the fulness of the Godhead bodily," Cor. Exodus 2:9. Was it anointed with holy oil? The most holy humanity of our Lord was anointed with the spirit which God gave not by measure unto him. Was it embellished with a variety of ornaments? He was adorned with every Divine grace. Was it taken down by the Levites, and removed from place to place, till at last it was conveyed to Jerusalem, where it remained in the temple? The human nature of our Lord was dissolved by death; reared up again by his resurrection; and, lastly, translated into the heavenly temple, which must contain him to the time of the restitution of all things. Was the tabernacle the place where God met with Israel? Here he communed with them; here they presented their gifts, and slew their sacrifices, and even prayed with their faces towards it, though at the remotest distance. It is easy to see here a lively figure of the one Mediator between God and man. In Christ alone we have a clear revelation of the Divine will; and by him we must present our spiritual sacrifices, and do in his name whatsoever we do, whether in word or deed.
The third and last thing prefigured by the tabernacle, is the church, that holy society and mystical body of Jesus Christ, which, in Scripture-style, is the house and temple of the living God, in which he dwells and walks. We shall enumerate some of the most obvious parallels between them. The tabernacle was planned by the wisdom of God himself, who condescended to adjust the minutest particulars, as the loops, the taches, and the pins, and peremptorily required, that all things should be done according to the original pattern. And who knows not, that all things in the Gospel-church are planned by the same unerring wisdom, and how much the Sovereign Architect has testified his displeasure in every age against the inventions of men in things pertaining to himself? "What thing soever I command you, observe to do it: thou shalt not add thereto, nor diminish from it," Deuteronomy 12:32. This is the law, this is the prophets, and this is the doctrine of Christ and his apostles. The tabernacle was executed by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, who rested on Bezaleel and Aholiab, to fit them for this service, without whom they were no more capable of it than other men. It was the same Spirit who descended on the blessed apostles, the wise master-builders of the Gospel-church, without which they could not have been qualified for their honourable work. Yea, it is the Holy Ghost, who, by his common gifts, makes ordinary ministers workmen that need not be ashamed. The tabernacle was composed of very different materials, as gold, silver, wood, brass, scarlet, blue, and purple cloth, fine linen, rams' skins, and goats' hair: yet all these different materials, combined by the workman's skill, conduced each in their kind to the beauty and perfection of the structure: and the gold could not say to the brass, nor the scarlet to the goats' hair, "I have no need of you," 1 Corinthians 12:21. So in the spiritual house, the materials of which it is composed, that is, the believers in Christ Jesus, are men of divers nations, different stations in life, unlike natural tempers, unequal gifts and graces, and various ministries: yet, being fitly framed together by the operation of the Holy Spirit, they grow into a holy temple in the Lord. The symmetry of the ancient tabernacle, the nice conjunction of the boards by mortises and bars, and of the curtains by loops and taches, was not so delightful to the eye of the body, as it is pleasant to the eye of the mind to see brethren dwelling together in unity, perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment, and carefully endeavouring to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. The tabernacle was covered with many coverings, with fine twined linen, with blue, purple, and scarlet, with rams' skins, and goats' hair. By this means it was rendered extremely close, and finely protected from the injuries of the weather. May not this recal to our mind the ample protection and security of the Gospel-church from the heat of God's anger, and from all worldly tribulations, by the infinite merit of the blood of Christ, and by his almighty power? For "the Lord is their Keeper; the Lord is their Shade upon their right hand: the sun shall not smite them by day, nor the moon by night: The Lord shall preserve them from all evil; he shall preserve their soul," Psalms 121:5-7. The tabernacle was ornamented with gold and silver and curious embroideries: externally it was not inelegant, but within it was magnificent. Even so, the beauty of the Gospel-sanctuary does not so much strike the eye of sense which looks at the outward appearance, as it is obvious to the spiritual sight which looks at unseen things. Would you discern the true glory of the spouse of Jesus Christ, look not at her face, because the sun hath looked upon her: but the King's daughter is all glorious within. The tabernacle was anointed with oil, when Moses consecrated it; and the church has an unction from the Holy One. The tabernacle was divided into several partitions. The outward court might denote the visible church; the holy place, the church invisible; and the holiest of all, the church triumphant in glory. By baptism we enter into the first, by regeneration into the second, and by death into he third. O death, it is thine to pull aside the vail of mortality which interposes between the holy and the most holy place! Happy they who enter by faith, and not by a visible profession only, into JEHOVAH's sanctuary, which he has sanctified for evermore: for as there was no possibility of coming at the holiest of all, but by passing through the holy place; even so it is impossible, if we are not now partakers of his holiness, to be hereafter sharers of his glory.