03.02.09. Plate of the holy place and holiest of all
The Altar of Incense
DAVID provided "for the altar of incense refined gold by weight." And with this the whole altar of cedar was overlaid (1 Kings 6:20, 1 Kings 6:22; 1 Chronicles 28:18). The altar stood before the vail. CEDAR ts the type of the Lord Jesus Christ in resurrection, overlaid with GOLD, setting forth the Divine glory of His person, the One in whose name we worship, who said, "Hitherto have ye asked nothing in My name; ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full" (John 16:24). Not only is He the one Mediator between God and man in time, but He is the One through whom throughout eternity all praise, honour, and glory, in the power of the Holy Ghost, will be given to God the Father. "God also hath highly exalted Him, and given Him a name which is above every name: that at [in] the name of Jesus every knee should bow, ot things in heaven, and things in [on] earth, and things under the earth; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father" (Php 2:9-11). Worship in the ages past was paid direct to the Triune God, as in Isaiah 6:1-13, where the thrice holy, Three in One, Jehovah, is the object of adoration. But now there is One to whom a Name has been given above every name, and IN that Name every knee must bow. From that time a new order of worship has been established in the universe; and throughout the countless ages of eternity the hosts of Heaven will render all thanksgiving, glory, honour, and power to the Triune God in the name of Jesus Christ. This is what the Golden Altar in the sanctuary of God signifies.
All these varied types are shadows, the substance of which is to be found in the Person, Work, and Offices of the Lord Jesus Christ. It was God who gave the commandment, "Thou shalt make." They are the embodiment of Divine thought concerning His beloved Son. The Tables of Shewbread. IN the Tabernacle in the wilderness there was one table of shittim wood overlaid with gold, representing God’s prevision for His ransomed people in this dispensation. The twelve loaves upon that table tell of full provision for the whole family of God throughout all their wilderness days. The table sets forth the Lord Jesus as the centre and ground of communion with God, in the power of the Spirit, for the redeemed while here on earth. In the Temple of Solomon there were TEN TABLES OF GOLD, five on the one side and five on the other (1 Kings 7:48 2 Chronicles 4:8). The TABLE is a type of the Lord Jesus Christ as the centre and ground of COMMUNION in the power of the Holy Ghost. The BREAD thereon is God’s provision in Christ for all His ransomed ones when safely brought home to glory. He is the true bread which endureth unto everlasting life (John 6:32-58). THE TABLES OF SILVER.
Silver for the tables of silver" (1 Chronicles 28:16). The silver tables were probably in use in the side-chambers of the Temple and elsewhere. SILVER is not only a type of REDEMPTION, but of COMMUNION on the ground of redemption, for it was the chief circulating medium.
Temple Interior The Interior of the temple - Artist’s impression (John Ritchie) The Golden Lampstands.
"AND the candlesticks [lampstands] of pure gold, five on the right side, and five on the left, before the oracle [speaking-place] with the flowers, and the lamps, and the tongs of gold, and the bowls, and the snuffers, and the basons, and the spoons, and the censers [fire-pans or snuff-dishes] of pure gold" (1 Kings 7:49-50; 2 Chronicles 4:7, 2 Chronicles 4:20-22). In the Temple there were TEN GOLDEN LAMP-STANDS, with their SEVENTY LAMPS. The word is generally rendered "candlestick," but the word "candle " never occurs in the sacred Scriptures, neither in the Hebrew nor in the Greek; it is always "lamp" and "larnpstand." The LAMPSTAND is a type of the Lord Jesus Christ as the centre, source, and subject of testimony in the power of the Holy Ghost. The CENTRE SHAFT is typical of His own personal ministry; the BRANCHES of ministry in the Church by the evangelist, pastor, teacher. The candle is self-sufficient and self-continuing; you have only to light it, and it burns from beginning to end. Not so the lamp, which is dependent on the OIL, typical of the HOLY SPIRIT. There lies the difference between that ministry which is in the words which the Holy Ghost teacheth, and that ministry which is the result of man’s wisdom and intellect. Real ministry is dependent on the presence and power of the HOLY SPIRIT, who has come to testify of Jesus, to take of the things of Christ in the glory of the Father, and reveal them to us, and to show us things to come. In Revelation 21:23, we read, "And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light [lamp] thereof." Christ is not only the centre and source and subject of trutn in the present time, but He will continue to be so throughout eternity; light in the glory tenfold; in beauty, splendour, and truth revealed, there we shall bask in His full light. THE SILVER LAMPSTANDS.
"And for the candlesticks [lampstands] of silver by weight" (1 Chronicles 28:15). The SILVER lampstands were probably for the use of the priests in me side-chambers of the sanctuary, and express spiritual truth held in the COMMUNION of saints, by the teaching of the Spirit of God. The Golden and Silver Vessels.
"ALSO pure gold for the flesh-hooks, and the bowls, and the cups: and for the golden basons he gave gold by weight for every bason; likewise silver by weight for every bason of silver" (1 Chronicles 28:17; 1 Kings 7:48, 1 Kings 7:50; 2 Chronicles 4:8, 2 Chronicles 4:11, 2 Chronicles 4:19). In the flesh-hooks, bowls, and covered bowls, some precious thoughts are suggested by the roots of the Hebrew words. These vessels of gold and silver were probably among the treasures of the House of God, laid up in the lower side-chambers of the Temple. Even so, God’s holy priesthood are stewards of sacred mysteries, the antitypes of these, to be the themes of adoring wonder and grateful praise to countless myriads throughout all eternity above. What more precious to the saints on earth or to the redeemed in glory than thoughts of the sufferings of Christ, His precious blood, His complete atonement! These are some of the things set forth by these instruments and vessels. The root of the Hebrew word for FLESH-HOOK is "to draw out " - suggestive of the thought of the blood-shedding of Immanuel.
"The very spear that pierced His side, Drew forth the blood to save." The root of the word for BOWL is "to sprinkle." These bowls or basons were probably employed in carrying the blood into the Holiest when the blood of atonement was SPRINKLED there. . It is the blood of Jesus which gives boldness of access within the vail. That rich atoning blood Which, sprinkled round, we see Provides for all who come to God An all-prevailing plea." The root of the word Cup - or, more properly, "cover " - is "to be hard," and, when repeated, is employed to express the scales of a fish and scale armour, giving the thought of security and defence. What a shelter for the soul is the precious blood of Jesus! Over the blood-sprinkled habitations in Egypt the destroying angel passed. What an impenetrable scale armour it affords, combining freedom of action with perfect security. The word rendered BASONS here properly signfies "covered bowls." The root of the word is "to cover, to expiate, to make atonement." This suggests ATONEMENT fully made. What treasures for the treasuries of God! What memorials for eternity! What things for angels to look into! to be explained and unfolded by those who have been the subjects of redeeming grace in the ages of eternity to come. The Two Pillars: Jachin and Boaz.
T HE pillars of brass which stood by the porch of the Temple, one on either side, are mentioned in seven places in the Scriptures - 1 Kings 6:13-21; 2 Kings 25:16-17; 2 Chronicles 3:15-17; 2 Chronicles 4:12-13; Jeremiah 52:20-23; Ezekiel 40:49. On the surface these accounts appear to vary; it requires prayerful waiting upon God, and pondering His Holy Word, to harmonise the whole. It has been found with this as with other apparent discrepancies of Scripture, that they are, in fact, Divine perfections. and the seeming diversities tend to the elucidation of the truth.
"Blind unbelief is sure to err, And scan His work in vain;
God is His own interpreter, And He will make it plain." THE HEIGHT. In two or three places the height is given as EIGHTEEN cubits apiece, the chapiter on the top ef each pillar was FIVE cubits, making the entire height twenty-three cuhits. In 2 Chronicles 3:15, we read,
"He made before the house two pillars of THIRTY and FIVE cubits high." In the margin you will find the Hebrew word rendered "high" should be "long"; the Hebrew word used for "pillar" signifies "round pillar"; the length of the round shaft was seventeen and a half cubits each pillar, the two together making THIRTY-FIVE cubits long; if we add half a cubit for the pedestal we have eighteen as the height of each. With regard to the POSITION of the pillars, the word which in 1 Kings is rendered "in " signifies "by " - " He set up the pillars by the porch of the Temple"; and this corresponds with 2 Chronicles 3:17, "He reared up the pillars before the Temple. They were cast "in the clay ground between Succoth; and Zarthan (1 Kings 7:46); they were hollow, and the thickness of the brass was four fingers" (Jeremiah 52:21). BRASS is the emblem of strength; HOLLOW expresses emptiness. Those skilled in these questions say that the proportions of thickness and sze here given are those whereby the greatest amount of strength is secured with the smallest quantity of metal. That is just like God in His perfect wisdom. THE CHAPITERS, OR CROWNS. In 1 Kings 7:16, the chapiters - .or crowns, as the Hebrew word Cotharoth signifies - are said to be five cubits high; in 1 Kings 7:19 the lily work is said to be four cubits; and in 2 Kings 25:17, "the height of the chapiter was three cubits." The truth is, I apprehend, that each of these chapiters consisted of four parts - (l) a square ledge on the top, half a cubit thick, on which were the pomegranates; (2) a similar ledge at the bottom; (3) a bowl of pommel of one cubit deep (1 Kings 7:41); and (4) a belly of protuberance of three cubits (1 Kings 7:20); the two last together, covered with LILY WORK, would make the FOUR cubits, and two ledges would complete the height of FIVE cubits. The chapiters also were covered with a NETWORK or CHEQUER work, expressive of TEMPERANCE and SELF-CONTROL (1 Kings 7:17-18). THE POMEGRANATES. The number is variously given; the pomegranates were in two rows, TWELVE in a row, TWENTY-FOUR on the upper ledge of each pillar, and TWENTY-FOUR on the lower ledge, fronting the four winds (Jeremiah 52:23) - that is, fronting the east, west, north, and south---- forty-eight on each pillar, ninety-six together, one pomegranate at each corner of the ledges, makng ONE HUNDRED round about on each ledge, two hundred on EACH pillar. The number on the two pillars was four hundred. The pomegranates and lily work speak of the FRUITS and GRACES of the SPIRIT. THE CHAINS. The SEVEN CHAINS of WREATHEN work on each pillar tell of entire subjection, and that which it results in, fulness of honour. In the English translation there is a constant confusion between the network or chequer work and the chain work or wreaths - seven chains suspended on each pillar. The confusion is not in the Hebrew Scriptures, which are perfectly clear and distinct - but in the translation. It is only from the Hebrew originals it is possible to harmonise these various discrepancies.
POSITION AND NAMES.
Solomon "reared up the pillars before the Temple, one on the right hand, and the other on the left; and called the name of that on the right hind Jachin [‘He will establish’], and the name of that on the left Boaz [‘In Him is strength’] (2 Chronicles 3:17). They are silent but eloquent testimony-bearers of the great truths of ESTABLISHMENT BY GOD and STRENGTH IN CHRIST. The truths thus declared are .expressed by the Holy Ghost in 2 Corinthians 1:21 - " Now He which stablisheth us with you in Christ, and hath anointed us, is God; who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts."
We learn from the sacred Scriptures that God foresaw that the creature could not stand in its own strength, could not sustain itself by its own strength, and for this He made provision from all eternity. As He foresaw, so it came to pass. Angels, and one evidently of the mightiest order, fell and kept not their first estate. Man, placed at the head of the lower creation, made in the image of God, tempted by Satan. likewise fell. Thus corruption and defilement entered the creation of God, through angels into its height, and through man into its depth. It is in this sense that, as we read in Job 15:15, " The heavens are not clean in His sight." The same infinite wisdom which foresaw all this provided a remedy in the Son of God Incarnation, redemption, resurrection, the gift of the Holy Spirit received by Christ in ascension, and bestowed on men, are God’s means. This is a chain linking time with eternity and God with man. The first wondrous link we find in the INCARNATION, God manifest in flesh. On that emptied and dependent One the Holy Ghost rested, the Spirit of Jehovah was poured without measure. In Heaven there is a throne set, and One sitteth on the throne. Man lost Paradise by having a will ot his own. In Gethsemane we see the surrender of :he will of the Perfect Man, who said, " Not My will, Lut Thine be done" (Matthew 26:36-44). So, as sin entered by man having a will of his own, God counteracted it by a perfect and surrendered will. "It pleased the Father that in Him should all fulness dwell; and, having made peace through the blood of His cross, by Him to reconcile all things unto Himself; through Him, I say, whether they be things in earth or things in heaven" (Colossians 1:19-20). Thus a link has been formed, by the atoning work of Christ, between the reconciled creature and the Creator. He "became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross; wherefore God also hath highly exalted Hm, and given Him a name above every name; that in the name of Jesus every knee should bow" (Php 2:9-11). Henceforth every ascription of honour and glory and power must be given to the Father through the Sun, IN (Greek) His name must every knee bow. Since Jesus Christ has been constituted the Head of the creation of God, and is the firstborn from among the dead, the security of the universe is headed up in Christ, the second Man, the Lord from Heaven (see Ephesians 1:9-10). Here is at once the foundation Cornerstone and the Head-stone of universal security. It is laid deep, low in Bethlehem’s manger, deeper still at Calvary’s cross and Joseph’s new tomb. In th, finished work of Christ is laid the deep foundation of the security of the creation of God; and in a risen and glorified Christ is seen the keystone of the arch - God the Father establishing in Christ the Son, and crowning the whole with the graces, gifts, and perfection of the Divine Eternal Spirit.