Looking at the ark and mercy-seat together, we may see in them a striking figure of Christ in His Person and work. He having, in His life, magnified the law and made it honorable, became, through death, a propitiation (or mercy-seat) for every one that believeth. God's mercy could only repose on a pedestal of perfect righteousness. "Grace reigns through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord." (Rom. v. 21.) The only proper meeting-place between God and man is the point where grace and righteousness meet and perfectly harmonize. Nothing but perfect righteousness could suit God, and nothing but perfect grace could suit the sinner. But where could these attributes meet in one point? Only in the cross. There it is that "mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other." (Ps. lxxxv. 10.) Thus it is that the soul of the believing sinner finds peace. He sees that God's righteousness and his justification rest upon precisely the same basis, namely, Christ's accomplished work. When man, under the powerful action of _the truth_ of God, takes his place as a sinner, God can, in the exercise of _grace_, take His place as a Saviour, and then every question is settled, for the cross having answered all the claims of divine justice, mercy's copious streams can flow unhindered. When a righteous God and a ruined sinner meet on a blood-sprinkled platform, all is settled forever--settled in such a way as perfectly glorifies God, and eternally saves the sinner. God must be true, though every man be proved a liar; and when man is so thoroughly brought down to the lowest point of his own moral condition before God as to be willing to take the place which God's truth assigns him, he then learns that God has revealed Himself as the righteous Justifier of such an one. This must give settled peace to the conscience; and not only so, but impart a capacity to commune with God, and hearken to His holy precepts, in the intelligence of that relationship into which divine grace has introduced us.
Hence, therefore, "the holiest of all" unfolds a truly wondrous scene.--The ark, the mercy-seat, the cherubim, the glory! What a sight for the high-priest of Israel to behold as, once a year, he went in within the vail! May the Spirit of God open the eyes of our understanding, that we may understand more fully the deep meaning of those precious types.
Moses is next instructed about "the table of show-bread," or bread of presentation. On this table stood the food of the priests of God. For seven days those twelve loaves of "fine flour with frankincense" were presented before the Lord, after which, being replaced by others, they became the food of the priests, who fed upon them in the holy place. (See Lev. xxiv. 5-9.) It is needless to say that those twelve loaves typify "the Man Christ Jesus." The "fine flour," of which they were composed, marks His perfect manhood, while the "frankincense" points out the entire devotion of that manhood to God. If God has His priests ministering in the holy place, He will assuredly have a table for them, and a well-furnished table too. Christ is the table, and Christ is the bread thereon. The pure table and the twelve loaves shadow forth Christ as presented before God unceasingly in all the excellency of His spotless humanity, and administered as food to the priestly family. The "seven days" set forth the perfection of the divine enjoyment of Christ, and the "twelve loaves" the administration of that enjoyment in and by man. There is also, I should venture to suggest, the idea of Christ's connection with the twelve tribes of Israel, and the twelve apostles of the Lamb.
The candlestick of pure gold comes next in order, for God's priests need _light_ as well as _food_; and they have both the one and the other in Christ. In this candlestick there is no mention of any thing but pure gold.--"All of it shall be one _beaten_ work of pure gold." "The seven lamps" which "gave light over against the candlestick" express the perfection of the light and energy of the Spirit, founded upon and connected with the perfect efficacy of the work of Christ. The work of the Holy Ghost can never be separated from the work of Christ. This is set forth in a double way in this beautiful figure of the golden candlestick. "The seven lamps" being connected with "the shaft" of "beaten gold," points us to Christ's finished work as the sole basis of the manifestation of the Spirit in the Church. The Holy Ghost was not given until Jesus was glorified. (Comp. John vii. 39 with Acts xix. 2-6.) In the third chapter of Revelation, Christ is presented to the Church in Sardis as "having the seven Spirits." It was as "exalted to the right hand of God" that the Lord Jesus "shed forth" the Holy Ghost upon His Church, in order that she might shine, according to the power and perfection of her position, in the holy place, her proper sphere of being, of action, and of worship.