stood the ark and the mercy seat. None but the high priest was allowed to enter into the

holiest of all.

The Tabernacle itself was constructed of planks of shittim wood overlaid with gold,

which planks were placed upon silver sockets and fastened together by long rods. Inside

were woven tapestries containing embroidered cherubim, and outside were successive

layers of curtain of goats' hair, rams' skins dyed red, and badgers' skins. Before the door

of the Tabernacle stood the brazen altar and the laver, and the whole was surrounded by

the white curtained court. Disposed around this Tabernacle were the priests, the tents,

and the tribes. Rabbinical tradition has it that each tribe carried as a sign one of the

twelve constellations of the Zodiac. These twelve signs, beginning with the sign of the

virgin (Genesis) and ending with the sign of the lion (Revelation), depict the whole story

of redemption.

The twelve tribes were distributed according to the four points of the compass, the

whole forming a wondrous picture--all Israel grouped around the ark, the mercy seat,

and the pillar of cloud or fire, setting forth the day when God shall be all in all. The order

here referred to is given in full details in Numb. 2: and The Companion Bible,

Dispensation Truth (page 106), and Newberry's supplement to The Englishman's Bible

set the whole before the eye in a diagram. It is of interest to note that the tribes that

occupied east, west, south, and north had as their signs the lion, ox, man, and eagle, so

that both at the centre (the mercy seat) and at the circumference (the standards) the

cherubic pledge of restoration was remembered.

In Exod. 25: 8 immediately following the enumeration of the materials necessary

for its building, God gives the primary purpose of the construction, "Let them make Me a

sanctuary that I may dwell among them". "The tents of Shem" were from the days of

Noah destined to be the dwelling place of God (Gen. 11: 27), and it is the purpose of

redemption and atonement to make the sons of men fit for God to dwell among them.

The climax of the book of Revelation is expressed in the words:

and when this takes place tears, death, sorrow, crying, and pain, the close attendants upon

sin ever since paradise was lost, shall for ever pass away. This blessed time of restoration

is expressed in the typical Tabernacle of Israel.

A tabernacle is a tent, a dwelling place that belongs to pilgrims. It speaks of the

wilderness and its wanderings rather than the kingdom and its peace. Consequently it has

an application all down the age to all companies of the redeemed who are pressing on to

the hope laid up for them: