Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1888-07-27
AS To THE TABERNACLE.
LESSON v, THIRD QUARTER, IN
TERNATiONAL SERIES, JULY 90.


Commentary by Rev. ID. NJ. stearns.
tCondensed from Lesson Helper Quarterly by
permission OF II. s Hoffman. Philadelphia pub
iisher.l
l. "And the Lord spake unto Moses How
often we read this sentence and how little we
are apt to think of the meaning of it or Of
the "Thus saith the Lord" of the prophets,
or the 81 say unto you" of Jesus Himself,
who was the Lord God of the prophets We
cannot give too much heed to the word of
God. nor heed it too reverently; and unless
we really hear God speaking to us in His
word it will not profit u.s.
q "On the first day of the first month"
1t was the second year verse n and Just
year since the great passover night on which
they left the land of bondage xii Q; xiii, A..
That month was ever to be a memorable
month to them because Of the great deliver
ance. Although it was the seventh month of
their civil year, they were henceforth to
count it the first month"; for it was the first
month of the first year of their history as a
redeemed people. Every Christian has two
birthdays, the day of his birth into this
world and the day of his birth as a child of
God.
1.-THE tabernacle Of the tent of meeting"
Ru VI God has delivered the nation from
the bondage of Egypt and brought them
unto Himself that they might be unto Him
peculiar treasure above all people, king
dom of priests, a holy nation xix, 8, o. to
make him name I'll Sam. vii, 23), and now
He will dwell among them by visible pres
ence in this tabernacle specially prepared for
Him txxv, 81 The tabernacle after some
500 years gave place to the Temple of Solo
mon, which, with some rebuilding, continued
until Christ came the true tabernacle (Heb.
viii, q but He being rejected by the nation,
rejected them also for time, and their tenn
pie and city and land became a ruin and des-
olate because of their rejection of their king.
When He shall return in power and glory to
sit on Davids throne and reign over the
house of Jacob forever luke i, 80, S3), and
to restore all things Of which the prophets
have spoken Acts ILL 1921, then there shall
be a new temple according to Eek. xl to
Xviii, and Jerusalem shall be city of truth
and peace and righteousness, and to it the
nations shall go up from year to year to
worship the King, the Lord of Hosts tZech.
viii and xiv, l6, Meantime, between the
scattering and regatheripg of Israel, God is
adding to the seed of Abraham from all the
nations of the earth and building temple of
living stones Eph- ii, 1922; Pet. ii, 5; Galiii,
! 2N, which, according to our golden text and the
chapter In which it is found, will come down
from God out of heaven, be a light to all the
nations of earth, and the dwelling place of
Christ and His saints in connection with this
earth when the kingdom comes.
g. 1.-The ark of the testimony" The dimen-
sions of all the vessels except the candlestck
and taper are given in previous chapters; l
can only briefly refer to the material, situa-
ton and significance of each. The ark, table
and altar of incense were each made of shit
tim or acacia wood, covered With gold, re
minding us Of the incorruptible humanity
and divinity of Christ The ark was the
only vessel in the Holy of Holes, a room ten
cubits long and wide and high, three sides of
which were boards covered with gold;
the fourth was the veil, type of
the body of Christ Heb x, 90; the
ceiling was the beautiful curtains and
the floor was the earth The cover
of the ark, called the mercy seat or
propitiatory Neb tx, 5, R. ", margin),
was of pure gold, and out of it was beaten at
each end a cherub overshadowing it Over
the mercy seat, between the cherubim, in this
Holy of Holes, was the place of the manifest
presence of God lex XIV, 1922, The ark
was made to contain the tables of testimony,
and there they were kept The people could
not keep that holy law, but Christ, the true
ark, kept it perfectly, and of Him it is writ
ten, "a body has thou prepared for me, I"
4 THE table," on which was placed every
week-every Sabbath day-twelve cakes of
bread in two rows, with frankincense upon
each row. LEV. xiv, So The table and the
bread and the incense all speak of Him
1.-The candlestick" was made of talent
of pure gold txxv, 39), and would therefore
be worth about sos. 900. 1t was more like
a lampstand than what we understand by a
candlestick Each of its seven branches held
a lamp which every day had to be trimmed
and filled with oil so as to burn continually
before the Lord Christ is the light of the
world, the true light, and He is pleased to
say to us I'VE are the light of the world =
s. 1.-THE altar of incense" On this the
priest was to burn incense every morning
and evening while he trimmed the lamps
txxx, z, y, teaching US that although moth
ing that we do can be acceptable in it.
self because of our snfulness, yet whatever
Is heartily done in His name with a sincere
desire for His glory is made acceptable by
the incense of His merits, which is ever a
sweet perfume to God
These three vessels, the table, the candle
stick and the altar of incense, were in the
holy place or first room into which the high
| priest Went every udy, out into lie uOly OF
holies he went only once year.
6, z. 1.-The altar of burnt offering and the
LAYER" These we're the only two vessels in
the outer court of the tabernacle; the first
was made of wood covered with brass, and
was just inside the gate of the court; it
speaks to us of the Goldman, our sacrifice
for sin, and tells us that if we are unwilling
to accept the blood of the Lamb as our ran
som, there is NO possibility of our coming to
God The LAYER was made out of the brazen
mirrors of the women Cxxxviii, s., and
contained water with which the priests
washed their hands and feet, reminding us
that he that is washed Tin the blood needeth
not, save to wash his feet with the water of
the world, but is clean every whit
g. "The court and gate" Curtains Of fine
linen hanging upon sixty wooden pillars
standing in brass sockets, and kept upright
by cords fastened TO brass tent pins, formed
a fence five cubits high around the court,
which was 100 cubits long by 50 broad
xxvii, 1918. The linen fence, the court
gate, the pillars with their brass sock
cts, silver chapters and books, the cords