SHEMOT 30

6 And thou shalt put it before the vail that is by the ark of the testimony, before the mercy seat that is over the testimony, where I will meet with thee.

The Vail

Why was it there? As a literal element of the tabernacle, we know that it was there to provide a concealed recess for the symbols of the divine presence in Israel's midst; but the question now concerns the significance of the veil as part of the Mosaic shadow. Why was there a veil?

We see the answer when we ascertain what it represents. This we ascertain from the circumstance recorded by Matthew, that when Jesus died,

"the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom" (Matt. 27:51),

considered in connection with the exegetical remark of Paul in Heb. 10:20, that there is a

"new and living way which Jesus hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh".

The veil, then, stands for the flesh of present mortal nature, as possessed by Christ in his natural days. This nature veils off or stands between us and the glorious realities signified by the golden ark-throne in the Holiest of all. It was natural, therefore, that in a structural prophecy of good things to come, there should be a counterpart to this time of waiting and preparation.

The veil divided the two apartments; the veil of the flesh divides the two states.

The veil had to be torn asunder that we might enter from the one to the other. This was done in Christ. It could not be done in any other; for while any man could have been crucified, any man could not, under the law of sin and death, have risen to glory, honour and immortality.

Any one could have died, but mere death was not passing through the veil. The inner side of the veil was the immortal state, and this is not entered except by resurrection. If Christ had not risen, his death would have been in vain, as Paul teaches (1 Cor. 15:17).

A successful rending of the veil required the righteousness of a perfectly obedient man, which existed only in Christ. Therefore, the veil, while standing for the flesh-nature, stood particularly for the Christ form of that nature--through which only could the new and living way be opened.

The concurrence of the rending of the Temple veil with the death of Christ might seem to indicate death simply as the rending: and so it might be considered in the case of Christ, in which it was the completion of a perfect course of obedience.

The resurrection sequel was ensured, and was only a question of a few days. He could exclaim,

"It is finished",

though resurrection and many other things remained to complete the glorious programme of the divine work in him, because all was secured by the course completed in his death.

So the rending of the Temple veil could proclaim the opening of the new and living way, though resurrection had to follow crucifixion before the opening was actually achieved.

Law of Moses Ch 14

10 And Aaron shall make an atonement upon the horns of it once in a year with the blood of the sin offering of atonements: once in the year shall he make atonement upon it throughout your generations: it is most holy unto Yahweh.

The altar of incense represents the sacrifice of prayer offered with Christ-fire on the gold-plate foundation of faith, without which it is impossible to please God (Heb. 11:6). The presence of this altar in the Mosaic Holy and the daily consumption of incense upon it is a powerful inculcation of this truth from God, which is otherwise so often declared in the Scriptures, that men are not acceptable to Him who do not "pray without ceasing", and in "everything give thanks", offering "the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name" (Heb. 13:15)--"a perpetual incense before the Lord throughout your generations".

No strange incense was to be used. Only God's own promises and God's own commandments must be breathed in prayer. God's own truth is the only acceptable basis of approach. Man's thoughts and inventions are odious to Him. This is only natural, as we might say; great men can only be acceptably approached by inferiors on the basis of the great men's own views of what is proper. How much more must man conform to God. "I will be sanctified in them that come nigh me", was His comment on the destruction of Nadab and Abihu when they presumed to offer strange fire.

The altar of incense, though wholly a symbol of prayer, was associated with atonement, in being touched once a year with" the blood of the sin-offering" slain and offered outside (Exod. 30:10), which is an intimation that prayer is not acceptable except at the hands of those who have come into contact with the sacrifice of Christ in the way appointed--the understanding, belief and obedience of the gospel, in being baptized into his death.

Men who worship apart from this are worshippers on the outside of the tabernacle, and invoke death in presuming to come near without the blood of the sacrifice required. The altar of incense had no relation to the stranger in any sense or way. It was in the holy which no stranger dare enter, and it was both anointed with the holy oil and sanctified with the atoning blood, with which the stranger has not come in contact.

Also it was to be served only by the priests, with whom the stranger has no connection. It is only those who have submitted to the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus that are "a royal priesthood", qualified to acceptably "show forth the praises of him who hath called them out of darkness into his marvellous light: which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God" (1 Pet. 2:9).

Law of Moses Ch 14

12 When thou takest the sum of the children of Israel after their number, then shall they give every man a ransom for his soul unto Yahweh, when thou numberest them; that there be no plague among them, when thou numberest them.

ALL FLESH

I regard no one natural simple element as the principle of life. Oxygen alone, diluted or undiluted with nitrogen; nor ruach or pure spirit; nor blood, separately considered, is the principle of life. It requires all three to vitalize flesh such as sin's body is composed of.

Chemical decomposition is the beginning of life, as observed in the phenomena of digestion. By this process, added to respiration, living blood is generated; and becomes the soul or life of the heart, liver, lungs, brain, and all other parts of the body, which are collectively styled 'sin's flesh,' and sometimes simply 'flesh.'

It is the immortal-soul theory that vitalizes the body by a single principle—a physiology well befitting the science of old Egypt, but worthy of no respect since many have run to and fro, and knowledge has been increased - Dan 12: 4.

A child lives by the life-development of its maternal flesh; an existence which is continued after birth, not by being born with an immortal vital principle hereditarily derived, or by the inrush of an immortal spirit with its first breath, but by the same process that continues in being 'the soul of all flesh,' from man to a mouse.

Herald of the Kingdom and Age to Come, Dec 1852

25 And thou shalt make it an oil of holy ointment, an ointment compound after the art of the apothecary: it shall be an holy anointing oil.

The Eternal Spirit (Heb. 9:14) as Creator, is necessarily before all things, and is, therefore, the "Theos," and the "Logos" of John 1:3, where it is testified that

"all things were made on account of Him; and without Him was made not one thing which exists."

This same Eternal Spirit was effluently in Noah, in Moses, in David, and all the prophets, in Jesus and the apostles. One Spirit in these many persons. In the Mosaic system the Effluence of the Eternal Power was represented by "an oil of holy ointment," or "a holy anointing oil" an unction that was not to be commonly used upon pain of death (Exod. 30:25; 1 John 2:20, 27). It was compounded of myrrh, sweet cinnamon, sweet calamus, cassia, and olive oil, after the art of the perfumer.

The tabernacle with all it contained, with the altar of burnt offering and all its vessels, the laver and its foot, were all anointed with it, and thereby became most holy, so that whatsoever touched them became holy. Aaron and his sons were also consecrated with it when "the diadem of the anointing oil of his Elohim" was said to be "upon him" (Lev. 21:12). The holy anointing oil was not to be used apart from these, for "upon man's flesh," saith the Law, "it shall not be poured."

The Cherubim were anointed with the most holy unction, by which also they became most holy. It was one holy anointing oil for many things, which in and of themselves differed nothing from that which was common.

This principle of "One in Many" is thus foreshadowed in the law and the prophets -- One Eternal Spirit-Power which "shall be" in the "mighty ones of Israel" as it was and is in Jesus of Nazareth -- "Thou," Eternal and Anointing Spirit, art "He" in "the Mighty Ones of Israel," the "Theos and the Logos creator of the heavens and the earth."

The "Holy Anointing Spirit-Oil," is styled by Peter in 1 Peter 1:11, "the Spirit of Christ which was in the prophets": because "Christ" signifies "Anointed," and the Spirit that was poured out upon Jesus and constituted him anointed also, anointed them; hence it was said of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, "touch not Mine anointed, and do My prophets no harm" (1 Chron. 16:22).

Phanerosis - Yahweh manifested in the cherubim