Introduction
In Exodus 27:9-19 we are given a description of the court that surrounded the Tabernacle. As with everything pertaining to this subject there are valuable truths revealed here.1. A Description
A. The court was one hundred cubits long by fifty cubits wide. It was surrounded by a barrier of fine twined linen hangings supported by pillars of brass and wood set in sockets of brass. A calculation of the amount of brass used in the Tabernacle proves that wood was used in these pillars. There were sixty of these.
B. A gate of twenty cubits wide allowed the court to be entered on the east side. This was made of the same colors and materials as the Tabernacle veils and was supported by four of the pillars.
C. Entering the gate one first saw the Brazen Altar. Moving on one come to the Laver and then to the Tabernacle itself. Even the location of things was significant.2. The Typical Significance Of The Court
A. The wall and the court protected the Tabernacle from accidental or intentional profanation. This reminds us to come reverently and thoughtfully into God's presence (Ecclesiastes 5:1-6). We are also reminded that the things of God; His church, ordinance, and worship are to be kept separate from the world.
(Solomon who was a type of Christ was protected in his slumbers while traveling by sixty soldiers. Many have supposed that the number of solders is an allusion to the sixty pillars of the Court. This reference is in the Song of Solomon 3:6-7).
B. The floor of the Court and of the Tabernacle was bare earth. This reminds us that Christ in His incarnation and human origin was a "root out of dry ground" (Isaiah 53:2). There was no earthly glory in His birth.
C. The Court typified for us the fellowship and worship saints experience in the church. Like the church which is God’s house today (I Timothy 3:15) the Tabernacle was the place where God met His people and where the gospel was pictured in symbolic ordinances. In the court God's people worshipped and offered their sacrifices (Psalm 84:1-2, 65:4, 100:1-4, 27:4-6). Believers today are all priests who should serve God through the church (I Peter 2:5).
(It is interesting to remember that the first church met for worship in the courts of the Temple as seen in Acts 2:46. No doubt the events of Pentecost occurred in the court of the Temple and not in the upper room as is often stated.)
D. The wall of the Court is somewhat difficult to interpret. Perhaps the following is the simplest and most correct.
E. The brass sockets reveal our sin as judged on the cross. The wood shadows Christ coming as a man. The silver used in the pillars was what remained of the silver collected as redemption money and used to make the sockets of the Tabernacle. It revealed the redemption purchased for us as Christ was judged for our sins. The silver upheld the linen hangings. The linen hangings pictured righteousness (Revelation 19:8). Taken all together the wall could be interpreted one of two ways:
(1) The redemption made for us by Christ's suffering upholds the righteousness of God in forgiving our sins (Romans 3:25-26).
(2) We could also see in the linen a type of the imputed righteousness of Christ that covers all who enter God's presence by faith in Christ (II Corinthians 5:21).
F. The Gate - Certainly the gate pictures Christ as the door and the way into God's presence (John 10:9, 14:6). There was only one gate into God's presence. It stood directly in front of the Brazen Altar which pictured Christ Jesus suffering for our sins.What a lesson is here. The first sight seen by those that entered was this altar. We come home by the way of the cross. The Jews entered God's presence to first come with a sacrifice to this altar. We enter God’s presence by faith in Calvary's Lamb.
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