The “First Vail”, Consecration and the Real Baptism “Know ye not that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into His death?” (Rom 6:3) “The Apostle is addressing those who are already members of Christ. He says, “Know ye not that so many of you as were baptized into Jesus Christ” he does not say, so many of us as were sprinkled with water, nor so many of us as were immersed in water, but,…
The “Door” to the Tabernacle, the “First Vail” “You shall make a screen (Hebrew masak a “hanging”, singular) for the door of the tabernacle, woven of blue, purple, and scarlet thread, and fine woven linen, made by a weaver.” (Exod 26: 36) This door (the first vail) represents our Lord even as the “Entrance Curtain” to the courtyard represented our Lord, our Lord once again being shown as the only means of access to the Father. “I am the door;…
The Spiritual Divide “The Tabernacle `building,’ with its two parts, represented the two conditions of all who undergo a change of nature from human to spiritual. The first apartment, the ‘Holy,’ represented the condition of all those who (as Levites— justified believers) have consecrated their human nature to death, that they might become partakers of the divine nature (2 Pet 1:4), having been begotten of the Spirit. Its second apartment, the `Holy of Holies,’ (or “Most Holy”), beyond the `Vail’—death—represented…
The Five “W’s”, and the How Once again from the start, we entered the courtyard through faith in Christ as represented in the entrance curtain, the first step. “We see, then that justification by faith, faith in Christ, our first step toward holiness, brings us into a condition of peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ (Rom 5:1). When our sins are forgiven, or reckoned covered with Christ’s righteousness we are a step nearer to God, yet we are…
Believers, Christians, Disciples, who? There are many who profess to be believers, but, What actually constitutes a believer? “We must take the Scriptural proposition and say that a believer, from God’s standpoint, is not one who merely believes with the mind, but as the Scriptures say, “With the heart man believeth unto Salvation.” It is a heart matter, not merely a mental matter. When referring to the heart we are not speaking of feelings, these are unreliable and change with…
The Tabernacle Complete “All the Levites are consecrated to God. But the `more than conquerors,’ are the selected ones, the ones who stand the tests and prove faithful. Such as fail to stand these tests, then, will be rejected from the condition represented in the Holy (and “Most Holy”), which is the `gold’ condition and represents the divine nature. “Being denied the liberty accorded to the priests, these will go out from this condition and will have merely the standing…
The Tabernacle, “Now and Then” The Courtyard of the Tabernacle represents a condition which is not yet complete or perfected at the present time. Presently it only represents the condition of those approaching God, that is to say, “Whoever is coming near to God by believing in the work of Jesus, and who trusts in the precious sacrifice, these are in a tentatively justified position, but (reckoned as actually) justified only after they have made a full consecration to the…
The Parable of the Wedding Feast illustrates from another standpoint the imputation of the merit of Christ. It was the custom at weddings that all the guests, as they entered the house, should be handed a wedding garment. The acceptance of this implied that they would put it on and wear it. (Matt 22:1-13) Coming to the door, desiring to enter in, would imply faith in respect to the marriage. The “door” as you may have guessed is in reference…
A square, because all four of its angles and four sides are equal, is the symbol for “perfection.” Jehovah, in giving instructions to Moses with regard to the Tabernacle, told him that the altars for burnt-offering and for incense were to be “foursquare.” (Exod 27:1; 30:2) So also was it to be with the “breastplate of judgment” which, when folded (doubled), was to be “foursquare.” (Exod 28:6) And, of course, the basic measurement of the “Most Holy” was also to…
“Wolves” in the Courtyard In our previous post we discussed the “Brazen Altar” and the “Laver”, the first representing the great ransom sacrifice of Christ and the latter the means by which we cleanse ourselves from the defilements of the world through the washing of the word in preparation to entering the dwelling place of the Almighty as pictured in the Tabernacle, however what we felled to mention is how few there be who make it this far most unfortunately…