CHAPTER 27

(1491 B.C.)

THE BRAZEN ALTAR

¹And you shall make an Altar (typified the Cross) of Shittim Wood (the Humanity of Christ), five cubits long (7 and 1/2 feet long), and five cubits broad; the Altar shall be foursquare (it is the same Gospel for all of mankind, whether north, south, east, or west): and the height thereof shall be three cubits (4 and 1/2 feet).

²And you shall make the horns (speaks of total dominion over sin, which would be purchased at the Cross) of it upon the four corners thereof (signifying that Salvation is the same for all): his horns shall be of the same: and you shall overlay it with brass. (This Altar of indestructible wood was to be overlaid with copper. Until the metallurgy of the not-too-distant past, copper had a greater resistance to fire, even than gold or silver. It would consequently protect the wood, that it would not catch fire and be consumed. Pink says: The copper plates on the Altar protected it from the fervent heat and prevented it from being burned up; so Christ passed through the fires of Gods wrath without being consumed. He is mighty to save, because He was mighty to endure.)

³And you shall make his pans to receive his ashes (ashes from the sacrifices which were burned), and his shovels, and his basons, and his fleshhooks, and his firepans: all the vessels thereof you shall make of brass. (Ashes testified to the thoroughness of the fires work in having wholly consumed the Offering. They also witnessed to the acceptance of the Sacrifice on behalf of the offerer, and so they were to him a token that his sins were gone. The Words of Christ from the Cross expressed the fulfillment of this detail of our Type: It is finished announced that the Sacrifice had been offered, accepted, and gone up to God as a sweet savour Pink.)

⁴And you shall make for it a grate of network of brass; and upon the net shall you make four brazen rings in the four corners thereof (the rings were for the moving of the Altar from place to place).

⁵And you shall put it under the compass of the Altar beneath, that the net may be even to the midst of the Altar (somewhere alongside the middle of the Altar, there seemed to be a protrusion all the way around, on which the Priests could stand, in order to properly attend the Sacrifices).

⁶And you shall make staves for the Altar, staves of shittim wood, and overlay them with brass. (These staves were for moving the Altar. When Israel moved, everything had to be moved. This teaches us that there never comes a period in the Christian life where the Atoning Blood of Christ, of which this Altar was a Type, can be dispensed with.)

⁷And the staves shall be put into the rings, and the staves shall be upon the two sides of the Altar, to bear it.

⁸Hollow with boards shall you make it: as it was shewed you in the Mount, so shall they make it. (Once again, the Pattern must be followed minutely.)

THE OUTER COURT

⁹And you shall make the Court of the Tabernacle (this was at the front of the Tabernacle, facing the east): for the south side southward there shall be hangings for the Court of Fine Twined Linen of an hundred cubits long for one side (using 18 inches to the cubit, it was 150 feet long and 75 feet wide; the linen typified the Perfect Righteousness of Christ):

¹⁰And the twenty pillars thereof and their twenty sockets shall be of brass (copper); the hooks of the pillars and their fillets shall be of silver (the copper spoke of Judgment, which Jesus took on our behalf, while the silver spoke of Redemption, which came forth from the Judgment).

¹¹And likewise for the north side in length there shall be hangings of an hundred cubits longs, and his twenty pillars and their twenty sockets of brass; the hooks of the pillars and their fillets of silver.

¹²And for the breadth (width) of the Court on the west side shall be hangings of fifty cubits (75 feet): their pillars ten, and their sockets ten. (There were 60 pillars placed at intervals of five cubits all around the Court. This, as well, speaks of the Grace of God. Verse 10 seems to indicate that the Pillars were made of copper; however, in the original Hebrew, in which this was written, there is indication that the modifying clause of copper refers only to the sockets and not to the Pillars. Possibly the Pillars were made of Shittim Wood, the same as the Pillars for the Door and for the support of the Veil. Once again, this all speaks of the Perfect Humanity of Christ.)

¹³And the breadth of the Court on the east side eastward shall be fifty cubits.

¹⁴The hangings of one side of the gate shall be fifteen cubits: their pillars three, and their sockets three.

¹⁵And on the other side shall be hangings fifteen cubits: their pillars three, and their sockets three.

THE GATE

¹⁶And for the gate of the Court shall be an hanging of twenty cubits (the Gate which led into the Outer Court was 30 feet wide), of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen, wrought with needlework: and their pillars shall be four, and their sockets four. (This is the gate at the front of the Outer Court, facing the east, through which all Israelites came, in order to offer Sacrifices.)

¹⁷All the pillars round about the Court shall be filleted with silver; their hooks shall be of silver, and their sockets of brass. (The Court was as far as the Israelites, other than the Priests, could come, at least as it regards the Tabernacle, and then only so far as the Brazen Altar. But everything about the Outer Court, as well as the Tabernacle, spoke of Christ in His Atoning, Mediatorial, or Intercessory Work, even down to the small pins, which were of brass. As always, the latter spoke of the Judgment that He would undergo on our behalf.)

¹⁸The length of the Court shall be an hundred cubits (150 feet), and the breadth (width) fifty everywhere (75 feet), and the height five cubits (7 and 1/2 feet high) of fine twined linen, and their sockets of brass.

¹⁹All 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 (copper).

THE OIL

²⁰And you shall command the Children of Israel, that they bring you pure oil olive (there was no source of light in the Tabernacle, with the exception of the Golden Lampstand; this portrays Christ as the Light of the world, but, as well, portrays the Work of the Holy Spirit within His Heart and Life, which was to a degree not known by anyone else) beaten for the light (the word beaten emphasizes the fact that this particular oil did not come easily; the crushing of the olives was typical of the price paid by Christ for our Redemption), to cause the lamp to burn always. (This light was to never go out, inasmuch as the Light of Christ is never extinguished.)

²¹In the Tabernacle of the congregation without the Veil, which is before the Testimony (Ark of the Covenant), Aaron and his sons shall order it from evening to morning before the LORD (twice a day Aaron and his sons, and those who would follow him in that order, would replenish the oil in the Golden Lampstand, and trim the wicks; it was commanded by God that this be done into infinity): it shall be a Statute for ever unto their generations on the behalf of the Children of Israel. (The sadness is, the Lamp is going out presently in many Churches.)