The Tabernacle
190 The Tabernacle "risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept . . . even so in Christ shall all be made alive" (I Cor. 15 :20-22). Christ is the eternal Son of God; we are "sons of God" because we believe in Him for salvation. He is the First- born; we are His brethren. His Father is our Father; His God, our God. He is the Head of the body, which is His church; we are members one of another. He is the "Heir of all things"; we are joint-heirs with Him. He is the Second Adam; we are His bride. We have been cru- cified with Him, buried with Him, are risen with Him, and seated with Him "in heavenly places." He is One with the Spirit; our bodies are the temple of the Holy Ghost. He is forever glorified, restored to the eternal glory which He had with the Father before the world was; we shall one day behold and share His glory. All this is our heri- tage in Him, because we are forever united to Him by faith in His redemptive work. What a wonderful Saviour! 4. A Candlestick "of Beaten Gold." The talent of gold was ever precious in itself; but not until it was "beaten" into the thing of beauty that it became, did it typify the union between Christ and His church. He was, from all eternity, beloved of His Father, co-equal and co- eternal with Him; but not until He was "wounded for our transgressions ... bruised for our iniquities," was the church formed from His wounded side. The talent of pure gold was beaten by hand till the beautiful candlestick was fashioned; "it pleased the Lord to bruise" His beloved Son, for the Son willingly, gladly came to die! (See Isaiah 53: 5, 10.) But for the beating, there would have been no golden candlestick to light the Holy Place of God's sanctuary; but for the suffering of the cross, there would have been no bride to show forth "by the church the man-
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ifold wisdom of God," to make known the "unsearch- able riches of Christ." As the cruel nails were driven into the hands and feet of the Son of God, as the spear was thrust into His side, a righteous God was vindicating His holy law, and at the same time magnifying His holy name. On Calvary He was "just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus" (Rom. 3:26). It was this eternal verity, concerning our Lord's suf- fering for His church, to which He referred when He said, "Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit" (John 12:24). He was made for a little time "lower than the angels . that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man. For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings" (Heb. 2:9, 10). Ever morally perfect, absolutely holy in His Being; yet He became obedient to His Father, a perfect Saviour, because of the sufferings of His cross. If we love Him, we shall reflect His glory- because of the things which He suffered for us. 5. A Light Never to Go Out. God was teaching us another lesson concerning our eternal security in Christ when He said to Moses: "Command the children of Israel, that they bring unto thee pure oil olive beaten for the light, to cause the lamps to burn continually. Without the vail of the testimony, in the tabernacle of the congregation, shall Aaron order it from the evening unto the morning before the Lord continually: it shall be a statute for ever in your generations. He shall order the lamps upon the pure candlestick before the Lord continually" (Lev. 24:1-4).
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