27:1. “And
thou shalt make an altar of shittim wood, five cubits long, and five cubits
broad; the altar shall be foursquare: and the height thereof shall be three
cubits.”
This was the Brazen Altar
located just inside the Tabernacle courtyard. It is another type of Christ,
and it’s being of wood overlaid with brass, the metal which is the biblical
symbol of judgment, portrays Him as the One who became man, and who has
himself borne the judgment due to us. Its being the first article of
furniture encountered by the approaching worshipper reminds us that there
could be no way of approach for us had not the Lord Jesus Christ himself
been willing to take our guilty place at Calvary, bearing the judgment due
to us, and dying to expiate all our sins.
Since five is the
number of responsibility; and since length speaks of the duration of one’s
life; and breadth, of the character of the life, the truth being declared in
the dimensions of the altar is that Christ has assumed responsibility for
all our sin, and every moment of His life here on earth was for the purpose
of making complete atonement for the sins of all who are willing to trust
Him as Savior and Lord.
The five cubits of breadth
tell us that the great purpose of His life was to glorify the Father, and
redeem believing men; while the height of the altar, three cubits, portrays
the fact that the guarantee of God’s acceptance of every sinner who will
trust Christ as Savior is assured by His resurrection, as it is written,
“Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our
justification,” Romans 4:25. The Lord’s resurrection is the guarantee of
God’s justification of every sinner who trusts in Christ as his Savior. See
1 Corinthians 15:13-14, “But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then
is Christ not risen: and if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain,
and your faith is also vain,” see also verses 15-17. “But now Christ is
risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept,” verse
20.
27:2. “And
thou shalt make the horns of it upon the four corners thereof: his horns
shall be of the same: and thou shalt overlay it with brass.”
The horns were of wood
overlaid with brass, one protruding from each corner of the altar; and since
a horn is a biblical symbol of power, what is being portrayed here is the
universality of Christ’s dominion as Son of man: it embraces the four
corners of the earth, see John 5:22-23, “For the Father judgeth no man, but
hath committed all judgment unto the Son: that all men should honor the Son,
even as they honor the Father. He that honoreth not the Son honoreth not
the Father who has sent him.”
27:3. “And
thou shalt make his pans to receive his ashes, and his shovels, and his
basons, and his fleshhooks, and his firepans: all the vessels thereof thou
shalt make of brass.”
The thought of judgment
continues to be emphasized in connection with the brazen altar, for all
these implements of brass point to the judgment that was symbolically
presented in the burning of the sacrifices, each animal immolated being a
figure of the Lord Jesus Christ who would fulfill the types by His own
sin-atoning death at Calvary.
27:4. “And
thou shalt make for it a grate of network of brass; and upon the net shalt
thou make four brasen rings in the four corners thereof.”
27:5. “And
thou shalt put it under the compass of the altar beneath, that the net may
be even to the midst of the altar.”
Scholars disagree as to
the exact position of this grate, and the means by which it was suspended,
but the most widely held view seems to be that depicted in Ridout’s
Lectures on the Tabernacle, where the ring on each corner of the net
protruded through an opening half way up on each of two opposite sides of
the altar, being held in place by a stave running through these two rings on
each side.
The typological picture
seems to be of the heart of Christ set steadfastly on doing His Father’s
will, and permitting nothing to turn Him aside from the fulfillment of that
purpose, as it is written, “And it came to pass, when the time was come that
he shuld be received up, he stedfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem,”
Luke 9:51.
The four brazen rings may
also represent the four Gospel’s.
27:6. “And
thou shalt make staves for the altar, staves of shittim wood, and overlay
them with brass.”
27:7. “And the
staves shall be put into the rings, and the staves shall be upon the two
sides of the altar, to bear it.”
For the spiritual
significance of the staves see comments
on 25:30, paragraph 14.
27:8. “Hollow
with boards shalt thou make it: as it was shewed thee in the mount, so shall
they make it.”
Its being made “hollow
with boards,” rather than as a solid block, may have been to emphasize that
it was merely a type: a type of the Lord Jesus Christ’s coming into the
world in human form, for wood is used in Scripture to represent humanity.
He became man in order that He might die in man’s stead, for as God He could
not die.
“... as it was shewed thee
in the mount.” This previously given pattern is an OT declaration of the
truth that the Lord’s incarnation was foretold repeatedly in the types and
symbols of the OT scriptures.
27:9. “And
thou shalt make the court of the tabernacle: for the south side southward
there shall be hangings for the court of fine twined linen of an hundred
cubits long for one side:”
Since the south is the
scriptural direction associated with faith, this beginning of the pattern
with the south side seems to be to emphasize the imperative of faith as a
prerequisite to the understanding of the Bible’s symbolic language. As
discussed already, apart from obedient faith in the Lord Jesus Christ as
Savior and Lord, there can be no understanding of biblical typology.
The fine twined linen, as
always in Scripture, speaks of righteousness, and in the present instance,
of the sinless perfection of Christ; and inasmuch as length speaks of the
duration of life, it represents the whole of the Lord’s earthly life. The
hundred cubits, factorizing to 10 multiplied by 10, points to His perfect
obedience to His Father’s will, for ten is the biblical number of
Divine government, as expressed for example in the The Ten Commandments.
That curtained wall
however, speaks also of the righteousness of Christ which clothes every
believer; and inasmuch as it was that which first met the eye of those who
approached, it teaches the truth that we are responsible to display His
righteousness in our daily lives. God would have men see Christ in us, for
the Church, His bride, is described in Revelation 19:8 where it is written
concerning those who comprise that mystical bride, “And to her was granted
that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine
linen is the righteousness of saints.”
27:10. “And
the twenty pillars thereof and their twenty sockets shall be of brass; the
hooks of the pillars and their fillets shall be of silver.”
Since those twenty pillars
were an integral part of the wall of the Tabernacle they also represent
Christ, and also His Church. First as a type of Him, they portray Him in
their number twenty, which whether factorized as 2 multiplied by 10, point
to Him as the perfect Man under the dominion of the Father; or 4 multiplied
by 5, depict Him as manifesting under testing that He fulfilled perfectly
His responsibility as man in relation to God.
Their being of brass, and
standing on sockets of brass, the metal that speaks of judgment, declares
that His obedience extended all the way to death, for He took our sins upon
Him, and died in our guilty stead, bearing the judgment due to us, thus
laying a basis of perfect righteousness on which God can come out to
repentant believing sinners, pardoning all their sins, and bestowing His
gift of eternal life.
The hooks of the pillars,
and their fillets (rods), both being of silver however, set them before us
as types of redeemed men - silver being the emblem of redemption. Believers
are those whose judgment Christ has borne, and who are therefore redeemed
from every claim of God’s violated law, the silver hooks and fillets (rods)
of the pillars resting on brazen sockets, representing them as being
redeemed and therefore beyond all judgment: the judgment is under them,
i.e., behind them, God’s assurance being that, “There is therefore now no
condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh,
but after the Spirit,” Romans 8:1.
27:11. “And
likewise for the north side in length there shall be hangings of an hundred
cubits long, and his twenty pillars and their twenty sockets of brass; the
hooks of the pillars and their fillets of silver.”
The north is the direction
that speaks of intelligence, the context indicating whether it is
intelligence working in harmony with God or against Him; and here it refers
to the intelligence which is the partner of faith, for the more we study
Scripture the more it becomes clear that faith and intelligence are
spiritual Siamese twins. It is the height of folly to dismiss God’s Word as
a thing of little worth. It is the fool who says in his heart that there is
no God, see Psalm 14:1.
27:12. “And
for the breadth of the court on the west side shall be hangings of fifty
cubits: their pillars ten, and their sockets ten.”
The west side was the back
of the Tabernacle, and it is instructive to consider that throughout
Scripture a movement westward speaks of approach to God, as a movement
eastward portrays departure from Him, note e.g., that when Adam and Eve were
expelled from Eden they went eastward, see Genesis 3:24, as did also Cain,
see Genesis 4:16. It is significant too that the entrance to the Tabernacle
was on the east side: God graciously placed the way of return where man in
his rebellion had departed, thus making it easy for him to return. The type
was fulfilled when the Lord Jesus Christ came down to earth where rebel man
was, He by His vicarious death becoming the Way, the Truth, and the Life by
which man could return to God, and be eternally blessed.
Fifty, a multiple of
five, the number of responsibility; and ten the number of Divine
government, combine to declare the truth that that western wall of the
Tabernacle is a symbolic picture of the Lord Jesus Christ, Who as the last
Adam, perfectly fulfilled man’s responsibility to God, so that all who trust
Him as Savior and Lord may return to God to enjoy even richer blessing than
that forfeited by the rebellion of the first Adam.
27:13. “And
the breadth of the court on the east side eastward shall be fifty cubits.”
The width of the east
side, where the way of approach to God began, declares in its width of fifty
cubits that man is responsible to be reconciled to God through faith in
Christ, if he would enter heaven.
27:14. “The
hangings of one side of the gate shall be fifteen cubits: their pillars
three, and their sockets three.”
27:15. “And on
the other side shall be hangings fifteen cubits: their pillars three, and
the sockets three.”
The factors of these
dimensions are three multiplied by five, the three
speaking of resurrection; and the five of responsibility, the lesson
symbolically taught in this being that those who would hope to enter heaven,
God’s dwelling place, are responsible to have experienced here on earth a
resurrection out of spiritual death by accepting the Lord Jesus Christ as
Savior.
The reference to the two
sides of the gate points to the fact that in the OT age as in the New, the
only way for men to enter heaven has been, and still is, to trust Christ as
Savior.
27:16. “And
for the gate of the court shall be an hanging of twenty cubits, of blue, and
purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen, wrought with needlework: and
their pillars shall be four, and their sockets four.”
See comments on 26:31 relative to
the spiritual significance of the blue, purple, and scarlet, and fine twined
lined.
The four pillars seem to
represent the four Gospels, which as already noted, present Christ as the
King in Matthew; as the perfect Man in Luke; as the perfect servant in Mark;
and as the Son of God in John.
27:17. “All
the pillars round about the court shall be filleted with silver; their hooks
shall be of silver, and their sockets of brass.”
Since silver is the
biblical emblem of redemption; and brass of judgment; and “filleted with
silver” is generally understood to mean that the pillars were joined
together with silver or silver-plated rods, and since the pillars represent
believers, the lesson being taught is that all believers stand on the common
ground of having been redeemed by the precious blood of Christ. Their
standing on sockets of brass, the emblem of judgment, declares that judgment
for the believer is past, Christ having borne his judgment at Calvary.
27:18. “The
length of the court shall be an hundred cubits, and the breadth fifty every
where, and the height five cubits of fine twined linen, and their sockets of
brass.”
Since five and
ten are the factors common to both 50 and 100, and since five
speaks of responsibility; and ten of Divine government; and since
fine linen represents the righteousness of saints, the truth being declared
here continues to be that that wall of the court represents believers
responsible to display the righteousness of Christ in their daily lives; and
since brass represents judgment, these brazen sockets announce the truth
that for the believer judgment is past, Christ having borne it at Calvary.
27:19. “All
the vessels of the tabernacle in all the service thereof, and all the pins
thereof, and all the pins of the court, shall be of brass.”
“pins”
is a general term which includes nails, stakes, pegs, tent-pegs, etc.
The fact that all of these
items were of brass declares symbolically that every activity of the
believer’s life is under the scrutiny of God, and is ultimately subject to
His assessment of its eternal worth, as it is written, “For we must all
appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the
things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good
or bad,” 2 Corinthians 5:10.
27:20. “And
thou shalt command the children of Israel, that they bring thee pure oil
olive beaten for the light, to cause the lamp to burn always.”
As has been discussed already,
the beating of the olives to obtain the oil may represent the “beating” of
the Lord Jesus Christ at Calvary, apart from which the Holy Spirit could not
have come.
Olive oil is one of the
biblical symbols of the Holy Spirit; and light is a scriptural synonym for
witness or testimony. The only way to maintain an undimmed lamp of
testimony is to live so as not to quench or grieve the Holy Spirit. He is
quenched when we refuse to do what He commands; and grieved when we do what
He has forbidden.
27:21. “In the
tabernacle of the congregation without the veil, which is before the
testimony, Aaron and his sons shall order it from evening to morning before
the Lord: it shall be a statute for ever unto their generations on behalf of
the children of Israel.”
The “testimony” was the
name for the Ten Commandments inscribed on the two tablets kept in the Ark.
The keeping of the ritual
“from evening to morning” rather than “from morning to evening,” follows the
pattern used in Genesis 1 relative to the six days in which God renovated
the earth, and the lesson is the same: God always moves from darkness to
light, as in the Gospel He calls upon men to come out of nature’s darkness
into the light of eternal spiritual life through faith in the Lord Jesus
Christ as Savior, He Himself declaring, “I am the light of the world: he
that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of
life,” John 8:12. In contrast, the terrible fate of those who die in
unbelief is that they will dwell for ever “in the blackness of darkness,”
Jude 13.