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149 The Tabernacle the best that they could do to make themselves :fit for His presence. But God made them "coats of skins, and clothed them" (Gen. 3:7, 8, 21 ) . He shed the blood of the inno- cent victim, in order to provide for His sinning creatures a covering. Thus He pointed them on to the Lamb of God who was to come, whose shed blood was to provide a robe of righteousness that would make them :fit for heaven and His holy presence. The crop and the feathers of the fowls sacrificed for the burnt offering were plucked, a picture of our Lord's laying aside His glory when He "humbled himself" to become Man and to die on the accursed tree, wholly obedi- ent unto His Father's will. He laid aside His glory for a time, but not His deity-no, not for one moment! He was "Immanuel," "God with us"! When the priests were set apart for their sacred office, when they :first began their ministry in the tabernacle worship, a miracle took place, in that the :fire upon the brazen altar came from God. Of this we read in Lev. 9:24: "And there came a :fire out from before the Lord, and consumed upon the altar the burnt-offering and the fat: which when all the people saw, they shouted, and fell on their faces." It was God's pleasure to consume the sacrifice, even as "it is His meat and drink to accept the work and the Person of His Son." Christ Jesus, our Lord, fully satisfies the Father's heart. Nor dared any earthly priest offer "strange :fire," lest he suffer judgment for his sin. Nadab and Abihu, Aaron's sons, tried it; and "there went out fire from the Lord, and devoured them, and they died before the Lord" (Lev. 10:1, 2). No man-made schemes for promoting worship, no man-made programs, can be pleas- ing to God. Only as the sinner looks to Jesus, the Burnt-
The Tabernaclt perfect life, His complete devotion to His Father's will all the beauties and wonders of His sinless Person-these made Him a delight to His Father in heaven. And we are "c_omplete in him," "risen with Christ," "accepted" in Him! Our lives are "hid with Christ in God"! (See Col. 2:10; 3:1, 2; Eph. 1:6.) The offerer in Israel flayed the burnt offering; and the whole was burned upon the brazen altar. Unlike the sin offering and the trespass offering, which were burned with- out the camp, the burnt offering was wholly consumed upon the altar. It was called "the bread (or 'food') of God." In it God found delight and satisfaction. It was sometimes called "the ascending offering," because the Hebrew word translated "burnt offering" means "that which ascends." It ascended wholly to God, Jehovah's por- tion, none of which was to be eaten either by the priests or by the offerer. It was presented "to God," even as "Christ • • • through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God" (Heb. 9: 14) . It was the only one of the five offer- ings pr_esented wholly unto God. Only the Father can fully appreciate the perfections of the Son! The parts of the sacrifice were washed with water; and water is used in the Scriptures as a symbol of the Word of God. Every secret thought and intent of the heart of the Son of Man, during His earthly life, could stand the acid test of the Holy Word of God. There was no sin in Him! T~e skin of the animal sacrificed in the burnt o:tfering was given to the priest. This is suggestive of the blessed truth that we are accepted before God because we are clothe~ in the righteousness of Christ, imputed unto us by His grace. Adam and Eve were ashamed and afraid of God while they wore the fig-leaf aprons t; cover their shame, for these represented the works of their own hands.
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