Within the Walls of Justice

After having admitted that we are sinners, and that our course in this world was heading in the wrong direction away from God we made the determination to turn ourselves around and to adjust our course in the right direction. Henceforth we determined to dedicate ourselves to living righteously to the best of our ability.

Now through faith in Christ as represented in the entrance curtain, we take the “first step”, and pass into the “holy place” or what we call the courtyard. Passing through this doorway resulted in four things, viz.

(1) The forgiveness of sins.

(2) A tentative status of justification temporarily known as “faith justification”, thereafter,

(3) “Being justified by faith, we have peace with God” (Rom 5:1) that is we are no longer considered as God’s enemy, but rather as his friend, and as a friend we are equated certain favors, foremost of these is the opportunity to *sacrifice.

(4) Likewise we secured a provisional status as an antitypical Levite a member of the Household of Faith.

*It should be rightfully understood that all who are presently being drawn to the Father through the Son (in this the Gospel Age) are in truth only being drawn for one purpose, and one purpose only and that is to make them aware of the special privilege and offer now being presented at this time, “Now is the acceptable (or receivable) time” the acceptable time to present oneself a living sacrifice… which is our reasonable service. (2 Cor 6:2; Rom 12:1)

They have been tentatively justified by their faith just for this purpose, providing them ample time to “count the cost” once having been made aware of this special grace or favor, a favor offered only now during the Gospel Age.

Having now entered the courtyard we can now take a closer look at the courtyard curtains, the post and their various appointments to see what they were composed of and why, and likewise what they and the courtyard typify both now and in the distant future. As previously stated, the curtains of the courtyard consisted of fine woven linen, white linen; linen represents the justice of God; white represents purity and holiness. Thus, these curtains symbolized the righteousness of Christ as a “covering” or “robe” to those justified within.

To those within, this curtain represents a wall of faith, but to those without a wall of unbelief hindering their view and access to the holy things within. These curtains were upheld by wooden posts (or pillars) which stood in *copper sockets likewise suspended by silver fillets or rods which ran from one post to the next. Each post was capped with a silver chapiter or ferrule and tied to the ground by means of cords (rope) both from the inside and the outside of the curtain wall. The rope was attached to silver hooks on the post and tied to the ground by copper pins (or tent pegs).

The significance of this is this, “The posts which stood in the court and upheld the white curtains, represented justified believers…They are of wood, a corruptible material. This shows that they are not actually perfect as human beings; for since human perfection is represented by copper, these posts should be either made of copper, or covered with copper to represent actually perfect human beings. They were made of wood, but were set into sockets of copper, which teaches us that, though actually imperfect, their standing nevertheless is that of perfect human beings. It would be impossible to more clearly represent Justification by faith.” (T 113)

“The work of the Church (pictured in the posts) in the past ages and in the future is to hold up to the view of the world without (those represented in the “camp” condition) the spotless righteousness of Christ.

Hidden behind the snowy white curtain covered by this robe, standing alone by divine power, but linked together by the truth, (the silver fillets or rods) they form a long-united row, reaching down the stream of time “a glittering host in bright array” … Truly as the Apostle Paul says, we are surrounded by a “cloud of witnesses”. Within the court there were solemn mysteries transpiring, and many beautiful sights (“holy things”) which it was not lawful for those without to even catch a glimpse of. They must first see and appreciate the righteousness of Christ (as pictured in the “Entrance Curtain”). R100

And so the courtyard represents the condition of Justification entered through faith in Christ, the “gate”. The posts themselves representing these justified ones, the white linen curtain the robe of Christ righteousness, which both covers and separates them from those without in the “camp”, or unjustified condition.

Now say the posts were positioned on the outside of the curtains, (as pictured in the diagrams above),

What would this imply?

It would imply that they were no longer covered by the righteous robe of Christ that they had gone outside of the courtyard, outside “the holy place”, and back into the “camp” condition, amongst the unjustified. Remember it was the interior of this courtyard which was considered holy ground and therefore designated the “holy place”, for there in the tabernacle dwelt the presence of God, the great “I Am that I Am“, outside of this enclosure resides the world of mankind under the reign of sin and death and thus separated from the holy and righteous God by means of the linen curtains which represent His justice, His righteousness.

Justice is the foundation of God’s Throne. The whole superstructure of His Kingdom is built upon justice. He will not do less than justice, and this is what He requires of every creature. Nothing less than absolute justice will be permitted. Because of Adam’s sin, justice is calling for the death of the whole world, and that is the reason the whole world is a dying world. Nevertheless because of his great love for his creation He has provided a way out a way in which he can be just and yet justify (Rom 3:26) He has shown us what that way is: that being our Lord Jesus, the way, the truth, the life. (See What Pastor Russell Said, Q387:1)

Nor is it possible to hold both positions at the same time, one cannot serve both God and mammon (the world) at the same time, that is be a part of the justified as represented in the courtyard and at the same time a part of the unjustified as represented in the “camp”, “one cannot serve two masters”, simultaneously, thus any presentation of the post which shows them integrated into the curtain walls themselves (as pictured above), exposed from both within and without the courtyard would likewise be a faulty depiction of the type, not to mention the fact that the posts, the silver chapiters (capitals), fillets and hooks along with their copper sockets were all considered as part of the “holy things” of the Tabernacle, things which the children of Israel were forbidden to look upon, thus placing them outside the curtain wall or integrated into the walls of the curtains in the typical sense would be a serious breach of God’s word and as such would bring about the death of everyone within eyesight.

The posts hidden behind the white linen curtain pictures the covering of our sins with the robe of Christ’s righteousness; however should they be pictured as being exposed whether fully or partially outside of these curtains walls this would imply that one had “put off” the robe, and was now standing in the filthy rags of their own self- righteousness. (Matt 22:11; Isa 64:6)  It is only when the posts are pictured as abiding within the curtain walls surrounded by this “wall of justice, of righteousness” separating them from the world that the true lesson is taught, any other depiction other than this is erroneous and speaks volumes as to the author’s knowledge and understanding of the “deep things” of God.

*Copper:

“All the pillars of the court round about shall be fastened together with [rods of] silver; their hooks of silver, and their bases of copper.”

Exod 27:17 Darby Bible Translation

The foregoing is the proper translation, however most translators render what should be copper as “brass” or “bronze”,

Copper is a pure metal with a distinct reddish or orange tint, with a metallic luster. The cubic crystalline structure is face-centered, and reflects only red and orange colored light from the visible spectrum, giving it the familiar reddish hue. Compared to adjacent metals in the periodic table, copper is harder than zinc but softer than iron. The metal is malleable, meaning that it can be elongated with pressure and molded into different shapes. Copper is also ductile, which enables it to change form and be stretched into long thin structures without breaking. Pure copper’s melting point is 1,981°F (1,083°C, 1356°K). Its most important properties include superior heat transfer, electrical conductivity and corrosion resistance.

Brass is a combination of two metals, primarily copper and zinc. Brass was first known to exist in about 500 BC. Brass is stronger and harder than copper, but not as strong or hard as steel. It is easy to form into various shapes, a good conductor of heat, and generally resistant to corrosion from salt water, with a low melting point (900 c), all this makes it a good choice for use in the tabernacle and probably the reason why many translators use it.

Bronze is a metal alloy consisting primarily of copper, usually with tin as the main additive, but sometimes with other elements such as phosphorus, manganese, aluminum, or silicon. Bronze dates to about 3500 BC., it’s hard and brittle, melts at 950 centigrade but depends on amount of tin present. Bronze resists corrosion (especially seawater corrosion) and metal fatigue more than steel and is also a better conductor of heat and electricity than most steels, likewise a good choice.

God however chose copper for a very specific reason being that copper is a pure metal unlike brass or bronze and more accurately pictures the lesson which he intended to teach in the tabernacles shadow. Copper is the reflection of Gold, Gold representing the divine nature, copper the perfect human nature, even as the perfect man Adam was created pure (holy and perfect), an earthly image or reflection of his Creator.

We shall continue our look at the posts and their spiritual significance in our next post.