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The Tabernacle ered with go!d, were made of this same "incorruptible" wood. And m each case the shittim wood pictured the spotless humanity of our Lord. In our last lesson we saw that the brass typified judgment borne for us; whereas the gold, seen only by the priests in the sanctuary itself, was a symbol of Christ's deity and glory. None but His blood- bought children know Him as very God! But on the outside of the sanctuary, in the open court, visible to all who entered through the gate, there were the altar of burnt offering and the !aver' of brass, reminding the sinner who approached God that "the wages of sin is death," and that the defilement of sin had to be cleansed before any child of Adam might enter into the Lord's sanctuary. In the altar of burnt offering the brass was also a symbol of "the all-enduring strength" of Jesus, "The mighty God." He was, indeed, the God-Man, perfect in His humanity, without sin; at the same time eternal God, the Creator, Redeemer, and Judge of all the earth. Be- fore He was born in Bethlehem, the Angel Gabriel told Mary that He was to be the holy Son of God. When the apostles prayed, applying the prophecy of the second Psalm to Christ, as they were guided by the Holy Spirit, they referred to Him as the "Holy Child Jesus." During His earthly ministry even the demons bore testimony to the fact that He was "the Holy One of God." And both Peter and Paul said that the sixteenth Psalm was a prophecy of His resurrection; for the body of the sinless Son of Man "saw no corruption." (See Luke 1:35; Acts 4:27; Mark 1:24; Acts 2:27; 13:35.) The body of Jesus was raised from the dead! Thus Old Testament and New tell us of Christ's spotless, incorruptible life on earth-first in proph- ecy, then in fulfillment. And these passages quoted may be multiplied manifold. His life, His teachings, His mir-
The Tabernacle acles of grace, bear witness to His sinlessness. The Father's voice, His disciples' testimony, even the admission of Pilate and the centurion and the thief on the cross, declared the spotless character of Jesus, the Lamb of God. The wood of the altar of burnt offering was completely covered with brass, giving strength to endure the fire that was kept burning day and night as the continual sacrifices were being offered to God. Had the Lord Jesus been less than God, He could not have borne the anguish, the fires of testing, that He suffered on the cross. Had He been less than God, He could not have been the spotless Substi- tute for the sinner's guilt. The incorruptible wood and the brass remind us of these precious truths. "The Altar . . . Foursquare" God had said to Moses, when He gave him the pattern in the mount, "Thou shalt make an altar of shittim wood, five cubits long, and five cubits broad; the altar shall be foursquare: and the height thereof shall be three cubits" (Exod. 27: 1). It has been suggested that the altar was foursquare, _the same on all sides, to show forth completeness and equality. "God is no respecter of persons." "All have sinn~d, a_nd come short of the glory of God." Jew and Gentile, nch and poor, bond and free-all must be washed in t~e blood of Jesus, if they are to stand before a holy and righteous God. Nicodemus, the respectable, highly educated ruler of the Jews, went to heaven just as the dying thief was received into Paradise, on the merit of the atoning blood of Christ. The sinful woman of Samaria, the self-righteous Saul of Tarsus, stumbling Peter, mercenary Matthew-all
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