Lecture 1: The Offerings for the Tabernacle: The Rings and Staves

The Rings and Staves

And thou shalt cast four rings of gold for it, and put them in the four corners thereof; and two rings shall be in the one side of it. And thou shalt make staves of shittim wood, and overlay them with gold. And thou shalt put the staves into the rings by the sides of the ark, that the ark may be borne with them (Ex. 25:12-14).

These rings and staves adapted the ark to the wilderness condition of God's people, so as to be in readiness to accompany them in all their journeyings. And Jesus assures us,

name, there am I in the midst of them (Matt. 18:20).

Wherever, throughout

that great and terrible wilderness {Deut. 1:19, 8:15},

the tabernacle of God was pitched, there the ark occupied its central and appointed place. So where saints are gathered according to God, there will the presence of Jesus be. But his own proper place must be reserved for him, and given to him, and God's order of gathering is, "Jesus in the midst."

And thou shalt put the staves into the rings by the sides of the ark, that the ark may be borne by them (Ex. 25:14).

When the princes of Israel offered six covered wagons and twelve oxen to Jehovah,

Moses took the wagons and the oxen, and gave them unto the Levites. Two wagons and four oxen he gave unto the sons of Gershon, according unto their service: and four wagons and eight oxen he gave unto the sons of Merari, according unto their service. But unto the sons of Kohath he gave none: because the service of the sanctuary belonging unto them was that they should bear upon their shoulders (Num. 7:1-9).

The ark of the covenant was among the vessels which were under the charge of the Kohathites. Thus the ark was to be borne upon the shoulders of the priests, the Levites, of the family of Kohath.

When David attempted to bring up the ark into the city of David, and placed it, after the example of the Philistines, on a new cart, God made a breach upon Uzza (1 Chron. 13). But when David, having discovered his mistake, put it on the shoulders of the Levites, according to God's order, God helped the Levites, and there was joy and blessing (1 Chron. 15).

So the setting forth or ministry of Christ, as God's ark, ought to be a matter of individual responsibility to God. It is not to be done by machinery. It is not an affair to be taken up by societies, formed according to the principles of men, and upon a worldly model. All this is a departure from the simplicity of the order of God, and from the examples of the early Christians under the immediate guidance of the Holy Ghost, through the apostles and prophets.

Where Christ has given the gift, whether it be of the evangelist, the pastor, or the teacher, the possession of that gift lays the individual receiving it under solemn responsibility to Christ. And woe be to the evangelist, if he preach not the gospel. Woe to the pastor if he feed not the flock of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood: and to the teacher, if he take not heed to the ministry which he hath received in the Lord that he fulfil it. And woe be to him that hinders it. On the other hand, he that receiveth a prophet in the name of a prophet, shall receive a prophet's reward; and the Lord's word is,

Occupy till I come {Luke 19:13}.

Blessed is that servant whom his Lord when he cometh shall find so doing {Matt. 24:46; Luke 12:43}.

"O happy servant he,

In such a posture found, He shall his Lord with rapture see,

And be with honour crowned."

When John Bunyan, then a prisoner in Bedford jail, was asked, If he were let free, would he promise not to preach again? his reply was, "If you let me out of prison to-day, I will preach again, by God's grace, to-morrow." He felt the pressure of the staves of the ark resting upon his shoulders.

The rings were to be of gold, and the staves of shittim wood overlaid with gold. This teaches us that the divine grace of the Lord Jesus, and also his human sympathy and tenderness, and both combined, adapt him to the need of his people in their present wilderness condition. He can condescend to the weakness of the two or the three met in his name, and can be touched with a feeling of their infirmities; but he is also present in their midst in the all-sufficiency of divine grace and strength.

The staves shall be in the rings of the ark: they shall not be taken from it (Ex. 25:15).

Not only were the children of Israel to be always ready to follow the leadings of the cloud,

to go by day or by night (Num. 9:21);

but also the ark was ever in readiness to accompany them.

Where two or three are gathered together in ‹unto, my name, says Christ,

there am I {Matt. 18:20};

not, there will I be. He is always in readiness to meet with us; we have never to wait for him, though we have always to wait upon him.

Then, again, the worship of God in this dispensation is not confined or fixed to a certain locality or localities.

The hour cometh and now is,

says Christ,

when ye shall neither in this mountain nor yet at Jerusalem worship the Father (John 4:21).

"Where'er we seek him he is found, And every spot is holy ground."

It is good to have a closet in our houses, consecrated by visits from the Father and the Son, and holy communings with them; and desirable to have a suitable place where brethren in Jesus may meet together free from all distraction; but the only true consecration is that which flows from the manifestation of the divine presence, and the revelation of the glory of God in the person of the Lord Jesus, in the present power of the Holy Ghost.

The Testimony righteousness of God in him.

And thou shalt put into the ark the testimony which I shall give thee (Ex. 25:16).

The ark was to be the depository of the unbroken tables of the law. The two tables of testimony first given, through Israel's utter failure, were broken beneath Mount Sinai (Ex. 31:18; 32:19). The second tables were put into the ark (Deut. 10:1- 5).

The shittim wood, as we have seen, sets forth the incarnation of Christ, and the gold his divine glory, and botk the human and the divine combined in his mysterious and blessed person; so these unbroken tables of the law, put into the ark and kept there, point out the unsullied obedience of his life as man.

As made of a woman, he was made under the law (Gal. 4:4). And he kept it, as no other man did or could. But as Son of God, he did infinitely more.

Being in the form of God, he thought it not robbery to be equal with God: but made himself of no reputation and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross (Phil. 2:6-8).

That is, he obeyed as man, or rather as God-man, the will of his heavenly Father - a character of obedience infinitely higher, and divinely more precious than human obedience to law.

Law never demanded that the righteous should die for the guilty. Nay, law would have forbidden it. Law foreshadowed the substitution of the innocent for the guilty, and atonement by blood; and Christ by his atoning death fulfilled the shadows of the law. But in fulfilling them he went infinitely beyond the law's demands.

Law declares the righteous requirement of God from man in the flesh, and supposes in man's nature a tendency to evil, and forbids it. And hence, when brought to bear on man, it becomes the ministry of condemnation. It tests the nature and brings out its real character (Rom. 8:7). Christ's nature was pure and holy, and hence his perfect obedience to all its principles and precepts, as Son of the virgin. But over and above all this, as the eternal Son of the eternal Father he obeyed his Father's will, and through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and from that height of excellent glory he has sent down the Holy Spirit to baptize into one body in fellowship with their exalted Head all believers in him. So that now, in virtue of this oneness, the believer stands accepted in him, in all that he was and did on earth, both as the obedient Son of man and the obedient Son of the Father, in all that he suffered on the accursed tree, when he offered up himself as a sweet-smelling savour unto God, and in all that he now is, as the glorified man at God's right hand above. He himself is our righteousness, and we are made the

The Mercy Seat and 1he Cherubim of Glory

EXODUS25:17-22

half shall be the length thereof, and a cubit and a half the breadth ork shalt thou make them, in the two ends of the mercy seat. And her end: even of the mercy seat shall ye make the cherubims on the two ends thereof. And the cherubims shall stretch forth their faces shall look one to another; toward the mercy seat shall the f upon the ark; and in the ark thou shalt put the testimony that I sha with thee from above the mercy seat, from between the two cher bims which are upon the ark of the testimony, of all things which I will give thee in commandment unto the children of Israel.

The Mercy Seat

And thou shalt make a mercy seat of pure gold

The spiritual import of this is clear from Rom. 3:24, 25, where there is a manifest allusion to it by the Holy Ghost:--

Christ Jesus, whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation, [literally, a propitiatory, or mercy seat,] through faith in his blood.

The word rendered "propitiation" in Rom. 3:25, being the same word that is used in Heb. 9:5, and there translated, "mercy seat."

The Hebrew word signifies to cover over, or to make atonement, to appease, or pacify. The mercy seat, therefore, presents to us

Jesus, whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation {Rom. 3:24, 25}.

"Of pure gold," of divine excellency and glory. The ground on which God acts in divine grace and mercy, yet with all respect to holiness and justice. "Pure gold."

On this mercy seat the blood was sprinkled on the great day of atonement (Lev. 16:1, 2, 14), and it formed the lid of the ark in which were deposited the tables of the testimony.

For the exercise of divine mercy towards guilty sinners can only be on the ground of blood-shedding and atonement, and in consistency with the demands of divine and infinite holiness. Hence, the blood-stained mercy seat is erected over the unbroken tables of the law.

Iwo cubits and a half shall be the length thereof, and a cubit and a half the breadth thereof {Ex. 25:17}.

The mercy seat was of the same dimensions and extent as the ark of the covenant.

The exercise of divine mercy and grace is founded on the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, and is coextensive therewith. It has for its basis and foundation the incarnation, obedience, life, and death of him who was eternally God, and is now the risen and glorified Christ, at God's right hand above.

The Cherubim

And thou shalt make two cherubims of gold (Ex. 25:18).

The forms of these cherubim ' are not here given us, but in Ezek. 1 and 10 and Rev. 4, the cherubim, or living creatures, are largely described. Wherever we read of the cherubim in the scriptures, they are always connected with the performance of the divine will, or the manifestation of the divine glory.

The first mention of the cherubim is in Gen. 3:24, and they are there evidently emblematical of angelic agency. In Ezek. 1 &c., I believe they are symbolical of prophetic agency, and its various characteristics as employed of God; and in Rev. 4, of the ministry of the redeemed in glory.

In form the cherubim on the mercy seat appear to be

simpler than those described in Ezekiel: this we gather from the expression in Ex. 25, the 20" verse, -

toward the mercy seat shall the faces of the cherubim be,

implying that there was but one face to each.

In ascertaining the spiritual import of these cherubim, I believe what is stated in scripture as to the truth of the person of Christ is our best and safest guide.

We have already seen, in the shittim wood of the ark, set forth the incarnation of the Lord Jesus; in the gold, his divine nature; in the unbroken tables, his living obedience; in the blood-stained mercy seat, his atoning death; and in the crown of gold, his resurrection and ascension glory. We now proceed a step further; for we know that, having ascended up on high, he has received gifts for men (Psa. 68:18; Eph. 4:8).

And it is this truth which is, I believe, embodied in these cherubim of glory. The ascended Christ, the risen man, receiving in his own person the fulness of the Spirit for the manifestation and extension of divine mercy, founded on his finished work.

There is a somewhat similar figure in the vision of the Lamb in Rev. 5:6:

And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne, and of the four living creatures, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent forth into all the earth.

Now what is set forth in Rev. 5, by these seven horns and seven eyes of the Lamb, is expressed by these cherubim of glory in Ex. 25. The fulness of the Spirit received and possessed by the Lord Jesus for testimony to God's mercy and grace.

The comparison of Psa. 68:18, with the quotation in Eph. 4:8, will show the beautiful accuracy of Scripture. In Psa. 68:18, we read:

Thou hast ascended on high, thou hast led captivity captive: thou hast received gifts for men; yea, for the rebellious also, that the Lord God might dwell among them.

Here it is gifts "received," and received "for men"; or, as in the Hebrew, and in the margin, "in the man. " Christ, as the ascended man, receiving the gifts in his own person, and for the benefit of men. The gifts of the Spirit as possessed by Christ, in their heavenly origin and source, this, I believe, is what the cherubim typify.

The spirit of prophecy in the Psalm goes beyond the present application to the church, which is in the Old Testament the hidden mystery, and the prophecy takes in the rebellious people of Israel, and foretells their blessing in the latter day, when God will pour on them his Spirit, and set his sanctuary in the midst of them,

Thou hast ascended on high, thou hast led captivity captive: thou hast received gifts for men; yea, for the rebellious also, that the Lord God might dwell among them {Psa. 68:18}.

In Eph. 4:8, the Spirit gives us the present application of this scripture to the church, and varies the expression thus,

When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men.

In the case of Israel, he has received gifts in his own person for them, to be dispensed in due time. In the case of the church he has given gifts to them, for present benefit and Head, the blessing, source, and while the communicator he himself remains of these the gifts. Fountain

The types of the two cherubim and the candlestick are beautifully illustrative. In the cherubim we have the gifts of the Spirit in their source above, within the vail, in the holiest of all, as received by and communicated from an ascended Saviour; in the candlestick, the gifts of the Spirit in their exercise and manifestation in the church on earth, the gifts being given for the perfecting of the saints.

The Workmanship

Of beaten work shalt thou make them {Ex. 25:18}.

There are three places in which the term "beaten" occurs. Here, in connection with the cherubim; in verse 31, in connection with the candlestick, -

Of beaten work shall the candlestick be made;

and in Ex. 27:20,

pure olive oil beaten for the light;

and in each case it is connected with that which typifies ministry, or testimony, and points out the connection between diligence and testimony, and the strength which diligence gives. As shown in the cherubim, the patient and labourious ministry of Christ on earth, preparatory to his taking his place in heaven, as the center and source of testimony in the church. The candlestick shows ministry in its exercise, having Christ for its center, a labourious and responsible work. And it is "beaten oil" which is provided for the light.

Their Position

Of beaten work shalt thou make them, in the two ends of the mercy seat. And make one cherub on the one end, and the other cherub on the other end: even of [or from] the mercy seat shall ye make the cherubims on the two ends thereof (Ex. 25:18, 19).

The mercy seat and cherubim were of one solid piece of wrought gold. The cherubim formed the extension of the mercy seat from either end, and represent the provision made by God, through the Spirit, for the extension of divine mercy and grace, founded on the finished work of Christ. Christ having come, and suffered, and died, and ascended, would still have abode alone, and his work have been unavailing to man, had he not received of the Father the promise of the

Holy Ghost, and from his place in glory sent down the Holy Spirit to bear his testimony to the accepted sacrifice, and to divine mercy as now in exercise on the ground of it (Acts 2:33; John 16:7). But now the Holy Ghost, as received by a risen Saviour, is the testifier and communicator of this divine mercy and grace to man.

Here upon this mercy seat, and between these cherubim, it is that God delights to sit, and the glory delights to dwell.

This mercy seat is the throne of grace, and these cherubim are the cherubim of glory. Here grace triumphant reigns, and reigns through righteousness unto eternal life. Here every attribute of deity is glorified, even in the bestowment of mercy and grace to the guilty and undeserving.

"Hence mercy, mercy from on high, Descends to rebels doomed to die."

Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need {Heb. 4:16}.

And the cherubims shall stretch forth their wings on high, covering the mercy seat with their wings (Ex. 25:20).

Thus hovering over and shadowing the mercy seat. In contrast with the larger cherubim in Solomon's temple, described in 1 Kings 6:23-28, whose wings extended twenty cubits, touching the wall of the house on either side of the most holy place.

In Solomon's temple the cherubim represent ministry in its heavenly exercise, but in the tabernacle ministry, in its heavenly source.

And their faces shall look one to another; toward the mercy seat shall the faces of the cherubims be {Ex. 25:20}.

The number two is significant of fellowship, in this case fellowship in testimony. "The witness of two men is true,' " as showing the truth of the testimony.

"Looking one to another," "seeing eye to eye," showing the harmony or agreement of the testimony.

And both looking on the mercy seat, shows that the grand mysteries of atonement are the center truths of the testimony.

Which things (also) the angels desire to look into {1 Pet. 1:12}.

Such is the testimony given by Jesus glorified, in the power of the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven, true, harmonious, and occupied pre-eminently with the glory of divine grace, founded in its manifestation on the person and work of Christ, God manifest in the flesh, his lowly birth, his holy life, his atoning death, and his risen glory.

And thou shalt put the mercy seat above upon the ark, and in the ark thou shalt put the testimony that I shall give thee {Ex. 25:21}.

The throne of divine grace is founded on the person and work of the Lord Jesus, and all God's purposes, promises, and covenant blessings center in him. He is the true ark of the covenant, and the ark of the testimony also. All the lines of divine truth center in him, and radiate from him.

The Promise

And there I will meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubims which are upon the ark of the testimony, of all things which I will give thee in commandment unto the children of Israel (Ex. 25:22).

This is the meeting-place, and place of communion between God and those who, like Moses, receive the word from God's mouth, and give testimony from him (Ezek. 3:17). Those who

tand in the secret counsel of the Lord, who perceive an lear his word, who mark his word and hear i (Jer. 23:18).

he secret of ministry in the power of the Holv Ghost : ammunion with God. over his own word. in spirit in th holiest. God occupying the mercy seat, Jesus himself our meeting-place, while from him who has received the fulness of the Spirit for testimony, gift is not only received at first, but replenished for constant exercise.

Happy and privileged enjoyment! Yet, while this is, I believe, the interpretation of the figure, since all the promises of God in Christ are Yea and Amen to every believer, each individual Christian is permitted to claim and share the privilege of this communion with God, from off the mercy seat, concerning all the communications of his mind and will.

The Table o f Showbread

EXODUS25:23-30

Thou shalt also make a table of shittim wood: two cubits shall b e the length thereof, and a cubit the breadth thereof, and a cubit and a half the height thereof. And thou shalt overlay it with pur• gold, and make thereto a crown of gold round about. And thou shalt make unto it a border of an hand breadth round about, and t lou shalt make a golden crown to the border thereof round about. And thou shalt make for it four rings of gold, and put the rings n the four corners that are on the four feet thereof. Over against the border shall the rings be for places of the staves to bear the t ble. And thou shalt make the staves of shittim wood, and overlay u shalt make the dishes thereof, and spoons thereof, and covers there it al that elle may be born it on strd th u make them. And thou shalt set upon the table shewbread before me alway.