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The T abernaclt ."Belo~ed,. think it not strange concerning the fiery tnal wh1ch IS to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you: but rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy" (I Peter 4:12, 13). The Beauty of the Candlestick-only for the Priests to See Not only was no one allowed in the Holy Place except the priests; but when Israel was on the march, through the wilderness, the beautiful golden candlestick was care- fully protected from the gaze of men. None but the priests could behold its beauty, or walk in its light. When God wanted His people to rest, the Shekinah Glory stood still, and the tabernacle was erected by the Levites; but when He wanted Israel to resume her journey, the pillar of cloud and fire lifted from above and within the Holy of Holies, and moved on before them. Then it was that the priests and the Levites prepared to carry on the march the sacred things of the sanctuary. And this is what God told them to do concerning the golden candlestick: "And when the camp setteth forward, Aaron shall come, and his sons.... And they shall take a cloth of blue, and cover the candlestick of the light, and his lamps, and his tongs, and his snuffdishes, and all of the oil vessels thereof, wherewith they minister unto it: and they shall put it and all the vessels thereof within a covering of badgers' skins, and shall put it upon a bar , . • afte~ that, the sons of Kohath (Levites) shall come to bear 1t: but they shall not touch any holy thing, lest they die" (Lev. 4:5, 9, 10, 15). No outsider could see the beauty of this golden lamp- stand; nor can any but believer-priests today know the beauty of the Lord, or His union with His church.
199 The Tabernacle "The natural man (i.e., the unsaved man) receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, be- cause they are spiritually discerned" (I Cor. 2:14). The outsider saw only the covering of badgers' skins, pos- sibly like that of the tents of the people. To the unregen- erate heart the Lord Jesus was just a good man-not the eternal God who became Man, that He might save sinners. The skeptic sees no beauty in Him. But the believer be- holds His uncreated glory-now by faith; one day by sight. Someone has also suggested that, insofar as the six branches of the golden candlestick represented the church, we are to be covered, as it were, during our earthly pil- grimage, with a "cloth of blue," remembering that "our citizenship is in heaven"; and with the "badgers' skins," ever realizing that we must walk humbly with our God. One day, many centuries ago, the Roman Emperor, Titus, destroyed Jerusalem; and with it, the temple with all its furnishings. His soldiers, in the year 70 A. D., bore away the golden candlestick, which had the same sym- bolism as did that article iJ.1 the Jewish tabernacle. God permitted that; for "the law" of Moses was but a shadow "of good things to come" in Christ (Heb. 10: 1). Before Titus bore away the golden candlestick, the glorified Son of Man, crucified and risen from the dead, was walking "in the midst" of the seven golden lampstands, keeping watch over His own. For the lampstand in the temple He had no further use. In Him the symbolism was forever done away! And when we get to heaven, my Christian friend, we shall see that there they need no light from the sun, moon, or stars; for "the Lamb is the light thereof" (Rev. 21:23).
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