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101 The Tabernacle Him as our perfect Substitute, in order to be clothed in His righteousness, made :fit for His holy Presence. We get a glimpse of His great love for us, of the depth of His humility, as we see Him facing the cross, in Geth- semane's garden. As He prayed there, "his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground" (Luke 22 :44). "When he had offered up prayers and sup- plications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared (i. e., trusted) ; though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered" (Heb. 5:7, 8). It was love that led Him to Calvary! He gave our :first parents an object lesson that pointed on to His cross when He provided for them "coats of skins" to take the place of the :fig-leaf aprons which they had made to cover their sin and shame. Leaves speak of profession without fruit; the coats of skins were obtained by the shedding of blood. Man may sew together the best leaves of human effort-religious, intellectual, social, and moral; but all his self-righteousness is compared by Je- hovah to "filthy rags" in His holy sight (Isaiah 64:6). No covering that man has devised can make him un- ashamed and unafraid in the presence of God. But thanks be unto Him! He has provided a robe of righteousness in Christ for all who will put their faith in His atoning blood! Christ Himself is our righteousness! When Abraham went up Mount Moriah to offer Isaac as a burnt offering, when God stayed his hand, He pro- vided, not a lamb, but a ram, caught in the thicket by his horns. This is very significant as we look for the mean- ing. The lamb speaks to us of the meek and lowly Jesus, the unresisting One, who suffered in our stead; the ram, of the strong One who steadfastly faced the cross. The
The Tabernacle that coming day "we shall be like him" (I John 3:2). As the spotless bride of the heavenly Bridegroom, we shall behold and share His glory. Then we shall count "the suf- ferings of this present time" as "not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us" (Rom. 8: 18). 2. The Covering of Rams' Skins Dyed Red. Under- neath the outer covering of badgers' skins was one of rams' skins dyed red. In all probability these skins were taken from the rams sacrificed upon the brazen altar as burnt offerings unto the Lord; for the skin of this sweet savour offering was given to the priest (Lev. 7:8). Not so the skin of the sin offering, which was burned outside the camp (Lev. 4:11, 12). As we shall see from our later study of the :five offer- ings, the whole burnt offering was dedicated to God, and foreshadowed our Lord's complete consecration to His Father's will, "even unto death." As the ram speaks to us of the vigor and strength and :fixed purpose of Christ in setting His face steadfastly toward Jerusalem and the cross, so also this covering over the Jewish tabernacle, made of rams' skins dyed red, reminds us of His sacrificial death for us on Calvary. The rams' skins had to be dyed red, even as our Saviour had to be crucified, "dyed red," as it were, in His own pre- cious blood. His sinless life could not save us. "The wages of sin is death" (Rom. 6:23); and a sinless Substitute had to die. If we had only His spotless life before us, it could but condemn us for the blackness of our sins! We could never, never, in our own strength, measure up to His per- fect standard of righteousness. Even after we are born again by His Holy Spirit, Satan all too often gets control of our lives, and makes us "grieve the Holy Spirit of God." Christ had to die--vicariously; and we have to accept
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