Jonathan Edwards · 331 of 409

Exodus · Part 3

This is agreeable to what God commanded when the children of Israel were bitten with fiery serpents. Num. xxi. 8. “Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole;” in the original it is, “set it for a banner,” or “ensign,” or “upon an ensign.” In all likelihood, the brazen serpent was set up on one of the poles of the standards or ensigns of the camp, and probably on the standard of the tribe of Judah, which was a lion, and was a type of Christ, who is the lion of the tribe of Judah: so it is prophesied that Christ should stand for an ensign. Isa. xi. 10, 12. “And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek And he shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel.”

[474] Exod. xx. 24, 25, 26. “An altar of earth thou shalt make unto me And if thou wilt make an altar of stone, thou shalt not build it of hewn stone; for if thou lift up thy tool upon it, thou hast polluted it: neither shalt thou go up by steps unto mine altar.” These rules have respect to what was to be done now immediately, the altars they were to erect, and the sacrifices that were to be offered in the wilderness before the building of the tabernacle. God’s altar was to be very plain and very low, so that they might have no occasion to go up to it by steps. The heathen greatly adorned their altars with the curious works of their own hands, and worshipped in high places, and built their altars very high, thinking hereby to put great honours on their gods, and make their services very acceptable to them. But God lets his people know that their seeming adorning, by their own art and handy work, will be but polluting, and their recommending themselves by their high altars will be dishonouring themselves, and showing their own nakedness: perhaps typifying this, that whenever men ascend high and exalt themselves in their own works or righteousness in God’s service, they show their own nakedness, and pollute his worship, and render the services they offer abominable to God. Mr. Henry has this note on this rule for plain affairs: “This rule being prescribed before the ceremonial law was given, which appointed altars much more costly, intimates that after the period of that law, plainness should be accepted as the best ornament of the external services of religion, and that gospel worship should not be performed with external pomp and gaiety.”

[63] Exod. xxiii. 26. “Behold, I send an angel before thee,” &c. This does not seem to be the same angel spoken of in the 33d chap. which was a created angel, but the Son of God; for what was spoken here before was in the name of the Father.

[112] Exod. xxiv. 18. “And Moses was in the mount forty days and forty nights.” Moses being so long in the mount with God when he received his mind and will to reveal to Israel, represents Christ’s being in heaven with his Father to receive his mind and will to reveal to his church his being from all eternity in the bosom of the Father; and it may be particularly forty days, because Christ came down from heaven, signified by this mount; it was four thousand years from the beginning of time, and from the creation and fall of man, and since the covenant of grace first took place, and Christ actually became the Mediator between God and man; which, putting ten for a thousand, and every age or century for a day, answers to forty days. That mount, when Moses was in it with God, typified heaven, as the apostle teaches, Heb. viii. 5.

[285] Exod. xxv. 10., &c. “And they shall make an ark of shittim-wood,” &c. The ark was upon many accounts a lively type of Jesus Christ. The ark was united to the Godhead, it had the cloud of glory over it and upon it, which was the symbol of God’s immediate presence. The ark was the throne of God; Jer. iii. 17.; i. e. it was that that was his immediate seat, and where he was present in a higher manner than he was in any other place, or to which his presence was united in a more immediate manner than to any thing else. God was present in the land of Canaan, or the holy land, more than in any other part of the face of the earth. God was present in Jerusalem, the holy city, or city of God, above all other places of the land of Canaan, and he was present in his temple above all other places in that city, as a king is more immediately present in his own house than in any other part of the royal city. But God was present with the ark, which was his throne, more than in any other part of his house. So the human nature of Christ is as it were the throne of God, where God is present, more than in any other part of the whole universe. It is of all created things the highest and most immediate seat of the divine presence; that in which God resides in a higher and more eminent manner than in any other part of the highest heaven itself, that is his temple. The ark, in itself, was in some respects a mean thing for the throne of God and for the symbol of God’s most immediate presence. It was only a wooden chest; it appeared without that form and pomp which the heathen images had, on which account the heathens despised it, and the children of Israel were often ashamed of it, and had a mind to have images in the stead of it, as the heathen had. So the human nature of Christ is in itself a mean thing; man is but a worm; the human nature has no glory in itself; it is but a vessel, that must receive its fulness from something else. As this chest in itself was empty, its fulness was what was put into it. Christ, when he was on the earth, appeared without form or comeliness, without external pomp and glory. The Jews, when they saw him, saw no beauty wherefore they should desire him, and he was despised by the Gentiles; he was to the Jews a stumbling-block, and to the Greeks foolishness. Though the ark was in some respect mean, yet it was exceeding precious; though it was made of wood, yet it was over-laid with gold. So the man Jesus Christ was exceeding excellent; though he was a man, one of the mean race of mankind, yet he was a holy man, perfectly holy, endowed with excellent graces and virtues. Christ God man, Mediator, is wonderful; his name is secret, his person and offices are full of unfathomable mysteries. Hence Christ’s name is called Wonderful, as the prophet Isaiah says; and the angel that wrestled with Jacob says, “Why askest thou after my name, seeing it is secret, or wonderful?” and Isa. chap. liii. says, “Who shall declare his generation?” and again, in Prov. xxx. “What is his Son’s name, if thou canst tell?” As an ark is a thing shut up, what is in it is secret; hence secret things are called arcana. The mercy-seat was upon the ark, and never was separated from it, which shows that God’s mercy is only in and through Jesus Christ. The ark was God’s chest, or cabinet. Men’s cabinets contain their most precious treasure: which denotes the infinite dignity and preciousness of Christ in the sight of God the Father, and the infinite love the Father hath to him, and delight he hath in him. The beloved Son of God is his most precious treasure, in which God’s infinite riches, and infinite happiness and joy, from eternity to eternity, does consist. Cabinets are made to contain a treasure; so the ark contained the precious treasure of the law of God, and the pot of manna: the one signifying divine holiness, of which the law of God is an emanation and expression; and the other signifying divine happiness, for manna was spiritual and heavenly bread, or food; but food is the common figure in Scripture to represent happiness, delight, and satisfaction; or in one word, those two things that were contained in this cabinet, signified the Holy Spirit, which is the same with the divine good or fulness of God, his infinite holiness and joy. Christ is the person in whom is the Spirit of God, and therefore he is called the Anointed. In him dwells this fulness of the Godhead: he is the cabinet of God the Father in which is contained all his treasure. In him the Father beholds infinite beauty, (or holiness, which is the beauty of the divine nature,) and in him the Father has his food, or infinite delight and satisfaction.

The ark in the temple was not only God’s cabinet, containing his treasure, but it was also Israel’s cabinet; it contained the greatest treasure of the children of Israel. (See Note on Isa. iv. 5.) So Christ is the greatest treasure of his church; he is their pearl of great price; he is the church’s portion and chief good; in him is contained all the church’s fulness; of his fulness she receives, and grace for grace; all her happiness, all the covenant blessings that she hath, are bound up in Christ. The church hath the Holy Spirit, which is the sum of all her good, no other-wise than through Christ and in Christ. God hath given the Spirit not by measure unto him and from him; it flows to his members as the oil on Aaron’s head went down to the skirts of his garments: particularly it is only in and through Christ that the church hath holiness expressed in the law of God, and happiness expressed by the pot of manna.

The ark itself, considered separately from the things it contained, was only a repository and vehicle to contain other things more precious than itself. So the human nature of Christ is only a repository or vehicle to contain and convey that which is infinitely excellent and precious. In this human nature of Christ dwelt God himself. The divine Logos dwelt in it by his Spirit, signified by the law and manna. The Spirit of God never dwelt in any other creature in anywise as it dwells in the man Christ Jesus; for in him he dwells without measure, on which account also he is called Christ, or Anointed. By the Spirit of God dwelling in so high and transcendent a manner, the human nature is united to the divine in the same person. And as that human nature of Christ is as it were the container or repository of the Deity, a vessel full of the divine nature, so is it as it were the vehicle of it, by which it is conveyed to us, in and through which it might be as it were ours in possession; for it is by the Godhead being united to the nature of man, that it becomes the portion of men, as the ark of old was as it were the vehicle of the Deity to the children of Israel. It was that by which they had the Deity, whose dwelling-place is heaven, dwelling among them as their God, and by which God maintained a gracious communication with them.

The human nature of Christ had the Logos, or the Word of God, dwelling in it, as the divine eternal person of the Son is often called. This was typified by the ark’s containing the word of God in it, written in tables of stone, and in the book of the law. Christ is the light of the world, as that law contained in the ark is represented as the light of the congregation of Israel, Deut. xxxiii. 2. From his right hand went a fiery law for them. Christ is the bread of life that came down from heaven; he is that that was signified by the manna in the wilderness, as Christ teaches in the 6th chap. of John; and he is so by the Spirit that dwells in him, and that he communicates, which was typified by the ark’s containing manna, the bread from heaven.

The law that was put into the ark signified the righteousness of Christ, including both his propitiation and obedience. Christ’s preparedness for both, is signified in the 40th Psalm by that law, Thy law is within mine heart. God’s law was put within Christ’s heart, as the law was put within the ark. Hence he satisfied the law by his sufferings; for it was out of regard to the honour of God’s law, that when he would save them that had broken it, he had rather himself suffer the penalty of the law, than that their salvation should be inconsistent with the honour of it; and it was also because God’s law was within his heart that he perfectly obeyed it.

God was wont to manifest his glory from above the ark in the holy of holies, so it is only by Christ that God manifests his glory to his church; they see the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ; he is the effulgence or the shining forth of his Father’s glory. So God was wont to meet with the children of Israel over the ark, and there speak with them, and give forth his oracles and answers; so it is by Christ only that God reveals himself to his church. “No man hath seen God at any time; the only-begotten Son that is in the bosom of his Father, he hath declared him.”

The ark is called the ark of the covenant; the covenant that God made with the people was contained in it. The covenant that God hath made with mankind, is made in Christ. The covenant was made with him from eternity; the covenant was then committed to him from us. The promises were given us in Christ; it is he that reveals the covenant, and he is the Mediator and surety of the covenant. The book of the covenant was shut up in the ark, which denotes the mysteriousness of the things contained in this covenant, as was said before; things shut up in an ark are secret, or arcana; and especially hereby seems to be signified that the great things of the covenant were in a great measure hidden under the Old Testament, they were covered as with a veil. As Moses put a veil over his face, so he hid the covenant in the ark. The ark itself was hidden by the veil of the temple, and the book of the covenant was hid by the cover of the ark, i. e. they were as it were hidden under Christ’s flesh: the carnal typical ordinances of the Old Testament are in Scripture represented as Christ’s flesh, Rom. ii. 1, 2, 3, 4. Colos. ii. 14. The veil signified the flesh of Christ; Heb. x. 20. and so doth the cover of the ark, or the ark considered as distinct from what was contained in it. The covenant of grace was, and the glorious things of the gospel were, contained in that book that was laid up in the ark; but it was as it were shut up in a cabinet, hid under types and dark representations. Christ rent the veil from the top to the bottom; so he opened the cabinet of the ark. The faces of the cherubims were towards this ark, and the mercy-seat upon it, to pry into the mysteries of the person of Christ and of this covenant of grace; for “these things,” as the apostle Peter says, “the angels desire to look into. ”

The ark was carried on staves, on the Levites’ shoulders; so Christ is brought to his church and people in the labours of the ministers of the gospel.

It seems, by Jer. iii. 16, 17. as if the ark were a type of the church as well as of Christ; but no wonder: the church hath such a union and communion with Christ, that almost all the same things that are predicated of Christ, are also in some sense predicated of the church. Christ is the temple of God, and so is the church; believers are said to be his temple, and they together are said to be built up a spiritual house, &c. The law is in Christ’s heart, Psal. xl. As the law was in the ark, so God promises to put his law into the hearts of his people. Christ is the pearl of great price; he is the Father’s treasure, his chief delight; so the church is his cabinet, and believers are his jewels. The ark represents the human nature of Christ especially, or the body of Christ, and the church is called the body of Christ.

[475] Exod. xxv. 23-40 to the end. Concerning the shew-bread table, and the golden candlestick. These both were to stand continually in the holy place, before the veil of the holy of holies, one on the north side, and the other on the south. Each of these seems to represent both a divine person and also the church. Each represents a divine person; the shew-bread represents Christ, and was set on the south side at God’s right-hand, as Christ is often represented as being set at God’s right-hand in heaven, being next to God the Father in his office, and above the Holy Spirit in the economy of the persons of the Trinity. The candlestick, or at least the oil and lamp of it, represent the Holy Spirit, and is set at the left-hand of God’s throne. Christ is as it were the bread of God. He is so called, John vi. 33. He is the portion of God the Father, in whom is his infinite delight and happiness, and as our Mediator and sacrifice. He is as it were the bread of God; as the ancient sacrifices, that were only typical of Christ, are often called the bread of God. This bread is called the shew-bread, in the Hebrew Lechem Plannim, the bread of God’s face, or presence. So Christ, in Isa. lxiii. 9. is called Malak phannim, the angel of God’s face, or presence. This bread had pure frankincense set on it, which undoubtedly signifies the merits of Christ, and so proves the bread, that had this pure frankincense on it, to be a type of Christ. And besides this, the bread and frankincense are called an offering made by fire unto the Lord, Lev. xxiv. 7, 9. which is another proof that this bread and incense were a type of Christ offered in sacrifice to God; the bread was prepared to be as it were the food of God, by being baked in the fire, and the frankincense, when removed for new to be set on, was probably burnt in the fire on the altar of incense. There were twelve cakes of shew-bread, according to the number of the tribes of Israel, to signify that Christ, as offered up in sacrifice to God, is offered as representing his people and church, and presenting himself to God in their name. This bread represents Christ not only as presented in the presence of God as the bread of the saints, for this bread was eaten by the priests in the temple, Lev. xxiv. 9. So Christ is often spoken of as the bread of the saints. He is the bread they will feed upon in heaven, which is the holy temple of God, where the saints are all kings and priests.

This bread also represents the church, who are spoken of not only as partaking of Christ, the divine bread, but as being themselves the bread of God, 1 Cor. x. 17. God’s people are very often, in both the Old Testament and the New, spoken of as God’s food, his fruit, his harvest, his good grain, his portion, &c. This seems to be one reason why the shew-bread was to be in twelve cakes, representing the twelve tribes of Israel, because the bread represented the church, as the twelve precious stones in the breastplate did. These loaves had frankincense set on them, to represent that God’s people are not acceptable food to God, any otherwise than as rendered so by the incense of Christ’s merits; the loaves of shew-bread were to be set on the table anew every sabbath, representing these several things.

1. That in God’s finishing the work of redemption, or in Christ’s finishing of it, when he rested from it Christ especially became the bread or sweet food of God, wherein he was refreshed; as God is said to have rested, and to have been refreshed, when ht finished the work of creation, so much more when Christ finished the work of redemption.

2. As the sabbath day especially is the day of the worship of Christ’s church, so on that day especially does Christ present himself as their Mediator, and present his merits as their sweet food and incense of God to recommend them and their worship to the Father.

3. Christ is, on the sabbath day, especially set forth as the bread of his church in the preaching of the word, and administration of the sacrament. On the sabbath day, the disciples came together to break bread, and it is then especially that his saints do feed upon him, in meditation, hearing his word, and partaking of the sacrament of the Lord’s supper, as the priests ate the shew-bread on the sabbath.

4. The sabbath is that time wherein especially God’s people do present themselves to God as his portion through Christ.

5. The time wherein in a most eminent manner they shall be presented by Christ, and will present themselves to God as his portion, is on the time of their eternal rest (the antitype of the sabbath) in heaven.

6. This is also the time wherein they will in the highest degree feed and feast on Christ as their bread, as the priests ate the shew-bread in the temple on the sabbath.

In the golden candlestick that stood before the throne, on the left side was a representation both of the Holy Spirit and of the church. The pure oil olive that fed the lamps is indisputably a type of the Holy Ghost; and it is evident, from Rev. iv. 5. compared with chap. i. 4. and v. 6. and Zech. iii. 9. and iv. 2, 6, 10. The burning of the lamp represents that divine, infinite, pure energy and ardour wherein the Holy Spirit consists. The light of the lamps filling the tabernacle with light which had no windows, and no light but of those lamps, represents the divine, blessed communication and influence of the Spirit of God, replenishing the church, and filling heaven with the light of divine knowledge in opposition to the darkness of ignorance and delusion, with the light of holiness in opposition to the darkness of sin, and with the light of comfort and joy in opposition to the darkness of sorrow and misery. This light being communicated from a candlestick, represents the way in which these benefits are communicated to the church, viz. the way of God’s ordinances, which are called a candlestick, Rev. ii. 5.

It is evident that the candlestick represents the church from the 4th chap. of Zech. and the 1st of Rev. and Matt. v. 13, 14, 15. and 1 Tim. iii. 15. The matter was gold, as the church is constituted of saints, God’s precious ones. The candlestick was like a tree of many branches, and bearing flowers and fruit, agreeable to the very frequent representations of the church by a tree, an olive-tree, a vine, a grain of mustard-seed that becomes a tree, the branch of the Lord, a tree whose substance is in it, &c. The continuance and propagation of the church is compared to the propagation of branches from a common stock and root, and of plants from the seed. In this candlestick, every flower is attended with a knop, apple, or pomegranate, representing a good profession attended with corresponding fruit in the true saints. Here were rows of knops and flowers one after another, beautifully representing the saints’ progress in religious attainments, their going from strength to strength. Such is the nature of true grace and holy fruit, that it bears flowers that promise a further degree of fruit, the flower having in it the principles of new fruit; and by this progress in holiness, the saint comes to shine as a light in the world. The fruit that succeeds the uppermost flower, is the burning and shining lamp, representing several things:

1. That the fruit of a true saint, or his good works and holy life, is as it were a light by which he shines before men, Matt. v. 13, 14, 15.

2. That in a way of holy practice, and by progress in holiness, the saints obtain the light of spiritual comfort.

3. That in the way of going from strength to strength, and making progress in holiness, they come at last to the light of glory.

The lamps were fed wholly by oil constantly supplied from the olive-tree, representing that the saints’ holiness, good fruits, and comfort, are wholly by the Spirit of God, constantly flowing from Christ. The oil that was burnt in the lamps before God, was an offering to God; so God is the prime object of the grace and holiness of the saints, their divine love flows out chiefly to him, as Mary’s precious ointment was poured on the head of Christ, but ran down to the skirts of his garments. Their good works are acceptable sacrifices to God through Christ, and are not of the nature of Christian works, if not offered to God, as if there be nothing of a gracious respect to God in them. The saints’ light shines before God, their gracious and holy practices are pleasant to him, and of great price in his sight, as the light is sweet; and the light shone around and filled the temple, as the odour of Mary’s box of ointment filled the house. The inhabitants of the temple had the benefit of the light of the candlestick, as the saints of God have especially the benefit of the good works of the saints.

The propagation of the church through successive generations is sometimes represented in Scripture by the gradual growing of a tree, and shooting forth its branches. And when the church is represented as bringing forth fruit as a tree, by her fruit is sometimes meant her children, or converts; and therefore one thing that may be intended by fruit and flowers succeeding one another in this candlestick, may be the continuance of the church and gradual increase, her bringing forth fruit, and that in order to the bringing forth more fruit, until she hath reached the latter-day glory, when God shall bring forth her righteousness as the light, and her salvation as a lamp that burneth; then shall she come to a state of glorious light, of truth, knowledge, holiness, and joy.

[143] Exod. xxviii. 30. “And thou shalt put in the breastplate of judgment, the Urim,” &c. Called the breastplate of judgment, because in matters of judgment that were too hard for the judges, they were to come to the priest, who was to inquire of God by Urim and Thummim, in the breastplate, for a determination, according to Deut. xvii. 8, 9.

[476] Exod. xxx. 7, 8. When the high priest lighted and dressed the lamp, then was he to burn incense on the golden altar of incense; signifying; that the sweet and infinitely acceptable incense of Christ’s merits was by the Holy Spirit signified by the lamp, (see No. 475.) It was by the eternal Spirit that Christ offered up himself without spot to God. It was by the Holy Spirit many ways. It was by the Holy Spirit that the human nature of Christ was united to the divine Logos, from which union arises the infinite value of his blood and righteousness. It was by the eternal Spirit that Christ performed righteousness. It was by the Spirit of God that Christ was perfectly holy, and performed perfect righteousness. It was by the Holy Spirit not only that his obedience was perfect, but performed with such transcendent love. It was by this Spirit that his sacrifice of himself was sanctified, being an offering to God in the pure and fervent flame of divine love which burnt in his heart, as well as in the flame of God’s vindictive justice and wrath into which he was cast. And it was by this that his obedience and sacrifice were offered with such a love to his people, for whom he died, as implied a perfect union with them, whereby it was accepted for them.

[441] Exod. xxxii. xxxiii. xxxiv. There are many things in the circumstances of this second giving of the law that we have an account of in these chapters, that are arguments that these two transactions did represent the two great transactions of God with mankind in the covenant of works and covenant of grace.

It was in this last covenanting of God with the people, especially, that Moses appeared as a mediator, to which the apostle has respect, Gal. iii. 19. It was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator, when the people had broken the covenant given at first with thunder and lightning; the law then was made use of as a school-master to convince them of sin. God threatened to leave them, and not go up with them, and when the people were overwhelmed by it, and mourned when they heard the evil tidings, God then further awakened them and terrified them, sending such a message as this to them, “Ye are a stiff-necked people; I will come up into the midst of thee in a moment, and consume thee; therefore now put off thy ornaments from thee, that I may know what to do unto thee.” Thus this awful threatening was given forth with some hope and encouragement that peradventure they might live, given in that last clause, that I may know what to do unto thee. By thus applying the terrors of the law, God brought the people to put off their ornaments, which were typical of their own righteousness. chap. xxxiii. 5, 6.