signified by the rending of this vail at the death of Christ, Mt 27:51. We have now boldness to enter
into the holiest, in all acts of worship, by the blood of Jesus; yet such as obliges us to holy reverence.
Another vail was for the outer door of the tabernacle. This vail was all the defence the tabernacle
had. God takes care of his church on earth. A curtain shall be, if God please to make it so, as strong
a defence to his house, as gates of brass and bars of iron. With this typical description of Christ
and his church before us, what is our judgment of these matters? Do we see any glory in the person
of Christ? any excellence in his character? any thing precious in his salvation? or any wisdom in
the doctrine of the cross? Will our religion bear examination? and are we more careful to approve
our hearts to God than our characters toward men?
Chapter 27
Chapter Outline
The altar of burnt offerings. (1–8)
The court of the tabernacle. (9–19)
The oil for the lamps. (20, 21)Verses 1–8
In the court before the tabernacle, where the people attended, was an altar, to which they must
bring their sacrifices, and on which their priests must offer them to God. It was of wood overlaid
with brass. A grate of brass was let into the hollow of the altar, about the middle of which the fire
was kept, and the sacrifice burnt. It was made of net-work like a sieve, and hung hollow, that the
ashes might fall through. This brazen altar was a type of Christ dying to make atonement for our
sins. The wood had been consumed by the fire from heaven, if it had not been secured by the brass:
nor could the human nature of Christ have borne the wrath of God, if it had not been supported by
Divine power.
Verses 9–19
The tabernacle was enclosed in a court, about sixty yards long and thirty broad, formed by
curtains hung upon brazen pillars, fixed in brazen sockets. Within this enclosure the priests and
Levites offered the sacrifices, and thither the Jewish people were admitted. These distinctions
represented the difference between the visible nominal church, and the true spiritual church, which
alone has access to God, and communion with him.
Verses 20 , 21
The pure oil signified the gifts and graces of the Spirit, which all believers receive from Christ,
the good Olive, and without which our light cannot shine before men. The priests were to light the
lamps, and tend them. It is the work of ministers, by preaching and expounding the Scriptures,