SHEMOT 29

12 And thou shalt take of the blood of the bullock, and put it upon the horns of the altar with thy finger, and pour all the blood beside the bottom of the altar.

The idea of an altar of sacrifice representing a personal, and divine plurality, is frequent in scripture. Thus, Jacob erected an altar at Shalem in the land of Canaan, and called it AIL-ELOHAI YISRAAIL; that is, the Strength of the Mighty Ones of Israel (Gen. 33:20): and Moses before the law was given, and in memory of the victory of Joshua over Amalek, "built an altar, and called the name of it, YAHWEH-nissi"; that is, He shall be my Ensign -- He who was symbolized by the altar (Exod. 17:15; Isai. 11:10,12; 18:3; 31:9; Zech. 9:16).

This Yahweh-nissi altar was superseded by an altar overlaid with plates of brass. These plates represented "the flesh of sin" purified by fiery trial. "Gold, silver, brass, iron, tin, and lead, every thing," said Moses,

 "that may abide the fire, ye shall make go through the fire, and it shall be clean; nevertheless, it shall be purified with the water of separation; and all that abideth not the fire ye shall make go through the water" (Num. 31:22).

The connexion of the plates with sin's flesh is established by their history. They were "the censers of those sinners against their own souls," Korah, Dathan, Abiram, and their company, two hundred and fifty of them, who rebelled against the Strength of Israel. He commanded Eleazar, Aaron's son, to melt them, and roll them into "broad plates for a covering of the altar;" and for "a sign to the children of Israel" (Num. 16:38).

The Brazen Altar, which was foursquare, had four horns of brass, one at each corner; and in sacrifice, the blood was applied to the horns by the priest's finger; and the rest was all poured beside the bottom of the altar (Exod. 29:12). These Horns represent the same thing as the Four Cherubim, the Four Carpenters, and the Four Living Ones, of Ezekiel, Zechariah, and John; only in the Brazen State, which precedes the Golden Olahm, Aion or Millennium. As Horns of Brass they "execute the judgment written," as a consuming fire; for brass and offering by fire, is the association of things in the type.

The Brazen Altar and its Horns of Brass, then, are symbolical of AIL, the Eternal Power, in Elohistic, or sacrificial and judicial manifestation in flesh. "Eloah will come from Teman," saith the prophet,

 "The Holy One from Mount Paran. Consider! His glory covers the heavens, and his praise fills the earth: and the splendor shall be as the light: He has HORNS out of his hand; and there is the covering of his Strong Ones. Before his Faces shall go pestilence, and from his feet lightnings shall proceed. He stood and measured the earth; he beheld, and caused the nations to tremble: and the mountains of antiquity were dispersed; and the hills of the Olahm did bow; the goings of Olahm are his (Hab. 3:3-6).

The Horns of the Brazen and Golden Altars are the Eternal Spirit's Strong Ones who disperse the empires of antiquity, and subjugate the kingdoms of the latter days to Him and his Anointed; so that the current of the world's affairs will be directed by his Elohim in the ensuing thousand years, or Daniel's "season and a time."

Eureka 1.5.10.

22 Also thou shalt take of the ram the fat and the rump, and the fat that covereth the inwards, and the caul above the liver, and the two kidneys, and the fat that is upon them, and the right shoulder; for it is a ram of consecration:

Jesus, with the sin of the world thus defined rankling in his flesh, where it was to be condemned to death when suspended on the cross (Rom. 8:3), came to John as the

"Ram of Consecration, "

that his inwards and his body might be washed according to the law.- Exod. 29:17, 22.

But these representations of the law and the prophets could not have found their antitype in Jesus, if, in the days of his flesh, he had possessed a holier or purer nature than those for whom he was bruised in the heel.

His character was spotless; but as being the Seed of the Woman, of whom no clean flesh can be born, (Job 25:4, ) and Seed of Abraham, which is not immaculate, be it Virgin or Nazarite, His nature was flesh and blood (Heb. 2:14), which Paul styles "sinful flesh," or flesh full of sin, a physical quality or principle which makes the flesh mortal; and called "sin, " because this property of flesh became its law as the consequence of transgression.

"God made Jesus sin for us who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him."-2 Cor. 5:21.

In this view of the matter, the Sin-Bearer of the world indicated, was a fit and proper subject of John's baptism of repentance for remission of sins. The holy and undefiled disposition of Mary's Son was granted to him for repentance in fulfilling the symbolical righteousness of the law when he descended into the Jordan to enter into the antitypical robe of righteousness with which he must of necessity be invested before he could enter into the Most Holy as High Priest after the order of Melchizedec.

In being baptized he commenced the development of a character distinguished by perfect faith and obedience. This character was his holy raiment, and was without spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing. This was the

"fine linen, clean and white"

with which he arrayed himself; or "the righteousness of the (king of) saints."-Rev. xix. 8.

It was the antitype in part of Aaron's holy garments; and he had to put it on in the same way that Aaron did,

"by washing his flesh in water, and so putting it on."

He was baptized of John into a holiness of his own, which began with obedience in the Jordan, and ended with obedience in death on the cross.

Herald of the Kingdom and Age to Come, March 1855

24 And thou shalt put all in the hands of Aaron, and in the hands of his sons; and shalt wave them for a wave offering before Yahweh.

Activity

This was the feature of the wave offering as distinguished from the other sacrifices. There was action; and the nature of the action is betokened by the unleavened bread, oil and cake, and wafer waved with it: "righteousness and holiness".

These were all consumed by the altar fire: all taken into Spirit-nature. Popular theology thinks of the saved state as a state of passive "bliss". It is evident from the type before us that the life of Spirit-nature will be a life of active service in holiness.

This is confirmed by what is testified concerning the angels with whom the saints are to be raised to equality:

"Bless the Lord, ye his angels that excel in strength, that do his commandments, hearkening to the voice of his word. Bless ye the Lord, all ye his hosts, ye ministers of his, that do his pleasure".

This is a charming prospect. We are liable to think of the Kingdom as a place of rest. This it will truly be, but not the rest of inaction. Nothing is more irksome to a state of strength than inactivity. It is only infirmity that delights in the ease of the couch:

"They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; they shall walk, and not faint" (Isa. 40:31).

Immortal energy will want suitable scope, though doubtless allied with the ability of a perfect self-composure when required. And this scope it will find, to the constant joy of its possessors. What will be its forms of activity in detail we cannot know in advance, except that they will have to do with the government of men and the worship of God.

... "The unleavend bread, the oiled cake and wafer", tell us of joy in righteousness, holiness, and kindness, whose forms will be infinitely diversified in a perfect and holy state.

Law of Moses Ch 19.

30 And that son that is priest in his stead shall put them on 7 days, when he cometh into the tabernacle of the congregation to minister in the holy place.

The (golden walls of) the holy place

These walls were formed by the inner surfaces of the gold-plated boards, which supplied the frame-work of the tabernacle. Presumably, the gold-plating of the boards would be polished. The interior would therefore be resplendent with the glory of a burnished surface reflecting the light of the seven-branched lit candlestick--itself gleaming with a similar radiance, as also the incense altar and table of shewbread.

The splendour of such an interior would be softened a little by the veil at one end, and the entrance curtain at the other, and also by the roofing of similar material thrown across, and by the earth-floor of the apartment.

Still, the general effect would be dazzling; and when we consider the spiritual significance of the material yielding this lustre, the glittering interior of the holy place becomes a speaking parable of the mental condition that renders men acceptable to God--without which, it is pointedly declared, "it is impossible to please God" (Heb. 11:6)--a faith true as gold, precious as gold, shining as gold.

...no man is acceptable to God who is not characterised by an unhesitating faith in all God's declarations and appointments; or, to put it positively, that the anti-typical holy place is composed of men and women whose first and most powerful moral characteristic is implicit, cordial and childlike belief in the word of God, and resultant conformity to its requirements

...The essentiality, the indispensability of faith is proclaimed not only by the shining gold in every part of the Mosaic Tabernacle, but by the vision of the Holy City to John in Patmos, "which was pure gold, like unto clear glass"

Law of Moses Ch 15

43 And there I will meet with the children of Israel, and the tabernacle shall be sanctified by my glory.

He took hold of a nation for Himself. See what He did with them? First of all, having delivered them with His own naked hand, manifest in direct works of power, in the destruction of Egypt, and their own miraculous rescue from mortal peril, He "humbled them and proved them." He led them in a great and terrible wilderness and taught them. What did He teach them? Science? No. Of what good to show them how He has made things? Political economy? No. The art of legislation, which being interpreted means self-government by count of human wills, whether wise or foolish?

No, no, man is not capable of self-government. See what a miserable pass it has brought him to after 6,000 years fair experiment. He requires the government of God. He requires God to tell him what to do, and to compel him to do it by power governmentally applied. What God taught Israel was the art of worshipping God and serving man. This was the essence of the Law of Moses. It was taught in many rites and ceremonies, but this was the thing taught. God was in all things and in every way to be exalted as an object of reverence and fear, and love on the basis of fear. Holiness was the perpetual exhibition.

"I, Yahweh thy God am holy."

"Thou shalt fear before Me."

Bro Roberts - THAT GOD SHALL BE SANCTIFIED

46 And they shall know that I am Yahweh their Elohim, that brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, that I may dwell among them: I am Yahweh their Elohim.

That God should dwell with men at all was esteemed by Solomon a great condescension on the part of a Being to whom it is humbling Himself

"to behold the things that are in heaven, and in the earth" (Psa. 113:6).

That He should dwell with unclean and rebellious man seemed contrary to the fitness of things. In a sense it was so, as is shown by the reservations by which the condescension was safeguarded.

The erection of the Tabernacle was an intimation of His willingness to be approached by man for mercy, but not at the sacrifice of His holiness, or His authority, or His majesty. Hence, familiar and indiscriminate approach was not invited:

"I will be sanctified in them that come nigh me",

He would be approached in a consecrated and concealed recess, and that only once a year, and that only by blood shed, and that only presented by a man of His own choice, assisted by men of His own appointment, and attired in a way prescribed by Himself.

Bro Roberts