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236 The Tabernacle This is the Holy Spirit's commentary upon the typical significance of the Most Holy Place, into which the high priest in Israel could enter but once a year, not without blood. It is a clear, irrefutable explanation which the Spirit of God gives us in the Epistle to the Hebrews. The Holy of Holies was a type of heaven itself; the high priest who ministered there, a prophetic picture of Christ, our Great High Priest before "the throne of grace." All was glory and beauty in the Holy of Holies of the Jewish tab- ernacle. All is glory and beauty in that "city ... four- square," that city "which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God" (Rev. 21: 16; Heb. 11: 10). "The length and the breadth and the height of it are equal. ... The wall of it was of jasper: and the city was pure gold, like unto clear glass. And the founda- tions of the wall of the city were garnished with all manner of precious stones. . . . And the twelve gates were twelve pearls; every several gate was of one pearl: and the street of the city was pure gold, as it were transparent glass" (Rev. 21:16-21). Dear Christian friend, there is a real place called heaven. Jesus, our Great High Priest, is there to intercede for us before "the throne of grace," His own blood having paid the price of our redemption "once for all." And to- day, as we look into the Most Holy Place of the Jewish tabernacle, verily we are treading upon holy ground; for that sanctuary was but a "pattern" of the New Jerusalem, of which the much loved hymn speaks: "In the land of fadeless day Lies rthe city foursquare'; It shall never pass away, And there is rno night there'."
The Tabernacle 2. The Shelunah Glory-rThe Light Thereof." There was no window in the Holy of Holies of the Jewish taber- nacle; the Shekinah Glory, even the pillar of cloud and fire, was "the light thereof." There was no candlestick, as in the Holy Place. Only "the God of glory," above the mercy seat and between the cherubim of gold, shone forth in His uncreated beauty. As the aged John saw the vision of the celestial city many centuries ago, he wrote, saying, There was no artificial light in the Holy of Holies of the Jewish tabernacle; and there will be no artificial light in heaven. When Peter, James, and John saw the face of our Lord transfigured on the mountain, they bore witness that it "did shine as the sun" (Matt. 17:2). When John saw the risen Lord on the Isle of Patmos, he also testified, saying that "His countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength" (Rev. 1: 16). The "eternal glory" which He had -w-ith the Father "before the world was" shines from within His very Being, and fills heaven with its light. By His grace, we shall one day behold and share His glory; and uwe shall be like him"! He has gone "to prepare a place" £or us-and what a glorious place it is, and will be for all eternity! rryhere they need no sunshine bright, In that rcity foursquare'; For the Lamb is all the light, And there is 'no night there'." "And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof ... there shall be no night there" (Rev. 21:23, 25).
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