Luminescence, Volume 3. C. K. Barrett

a twinkle in his eye. He has set more people singing for sheer joy than any one on earth.

At our sacred service of Holy Communion we sing, “Here, O Lord, I see Thee face to face,” and we do eat and drink of the “feast of love.”9 There we softly sing of those who have passed from the sight of our eyes and who “see Him as He is,” who “sat down at the marriage supper of the Lamb.” So, I dare to attest that . . .

      NOTHING IN THE FAITH FORBIDS THE FEAST

      The vision of God is consistent with and consecration of the engagements of life. Religion is not the grave of joy, but its satisfaction. In God’s presence, there is fullness of joy and at His right hand are pleasures for evermore. Break forth unto joy and song together for the Lord hath comforted His people. Behold your God regards your lowly estate and is coming to save the fallen and cheer the faint. It is good that we should make merry and rejoice. And a minister can say, “God bless you and your happy homes.” And He will.

      Only remember the right order. The revelry follows the revelation. The vision of God comes first. You have not kept Christmas if you have not beheld His glory. First of all, “O come let us adore Him.” If you follow that order the revelation will sanctify the rejoicing. Let me say bluntly what I mean. No man who really sees God this Christmas will get drunk. Of course not! But selfishness and greed and grudges, just as much, must not take place. When we see God, we know that pride and prejudice, unforgiveness and uncharity, have no place in His presence. When we truly see Him, we become like Him and enter into the joy of our Lord.

7. He is referring to F. W. Boreham, a British Baptist evangelist, and his book The Luggage of Life, published in 1912.

8. A line from Charles Wesley’s Hymn “Hark the Herald Angels Sing.” There is a humorous story in regard to the title. Charles had originally had the first line as “hark how the welkins ring” (a welkin is a bell). Fellow Methodist George Whitefield didn’t think that rang any bells, and so he suggested the change to the first line we now all know.

9. A hymn of the same title by Horatius Bonar (1855).

      “THE FIRST SANCTUARY AND ITS FURNITURE”—Exodus 25.21, 22

      (Preached twenty-three times from West Burton to Sileby, dated from Hadley 7/13/38 to Caledon St, Pleck 11/1/42)

      Exodus 25.21, 22 “And thou shalt put the mercy seat above upon the ark; and in the ark thou shalt put the testimony; that I shall give thee. And there I will meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from above the mercy seat.”

      At first glance, it may seem unnecessary, a waste of your time and the preacher’s strength, to prepare and deliver a sermon on the erection and furnishing of Israel’s first sanctuary. At best, it was only a tent temple to be superseded when the Jews were settled in their own land. Though the ark was transferred to Solomon’s Temple, it was lost and all traces of it disappeared during the Great Captivity. Besides, it belonged to a dispensation long since over, while we have entered into a new covenant. To us has come the higher, clearer revelation of the way God tabernacles with men. The Temple has given way to the church, and there is open to all believers a new and living way into the true Holy of Holies. I am not likely to forget these things. Gladly I admit them. The primitive sanctuary, its ritual, and its furniture these all belong to that which is “in part,” and when “that which is perfect” is come, that which is in part is done away. Men who know the living way will never rebuild the old temple or restore its ritual.

      But we shall greatly err, and to our own impoverishment, if we fail to see here the eternal behind the ephemeral, the essential behind the transient, and the spirit behind the form. Here at least is the first intimation that God will in very deed dwell with men and find His rest in the sanctuaries they consecrate to Him. He is not far from anyone of us, but will have His tent pitched by the side of ours. There begins here that which found its consummation when “the Word became flesh and tabernacled among us.” From the consecration of His first sanctuary comes the most comforting and inspiring truth that God is with us, “familiar, patient, condescending, and free.”

      There is more than an interesting and suggestive beginning. The very material furniture speaks to us of something that is essential in the nature of intercourse between God and trusting souls. It states the first and last terms in which God and men may live in communion. These primitive and outworn articles suggested to the devout Jew what should be in our minds every time we come up to the House of the Lord. They suggest something that our churches should stand for in this and every age. From this point of view, it will be no waste of time or strength to see the significance of the first sanctuary and its furniture through the eyes of a spiritually minded Jewish worshipper.

      THE ARK AND THE TESTIMONY

      First of all, let us note that an ark, or coffer, of acacia wood was to be given a central place in the sanctuary. There was nothing unusual in that. Sacred chests were often placed in Egyptian temples. They usually contained emblems or images of some deity. But the primary object of this ark was to enclose the tablets of stone on which was inscribed the Law of God. “Thou shalt put into the ark the testimony that I shall give thee.”

      The first step, then, in the preparation of a shrine for God on earth was the enshrining of His will. The supreme thing to be proclaimed was the supremacy of the Divine will. That is what the Law expressed. And at every service, though he did not actually enter the holy place, the devout Jew would be reminded of a will higher than his own, of a Law that was to be a standard of living. You can see the spirit behind that form, the truth that is greater than the symbol.

      One of the great services that our modern sanctuaries have to render is to remind men of God’s will and of the Law which contains the laws of life. In the world, it is so fatally easy to magnify our own will and depend on our own judgment, to accept the world’s standards, conform to its fashions and live according to its laws. More than a few of us have yielded and taken the easy way.

      The tablets of stone gave place to the scroll of the law, the scroll has given way to the printed and preached word, but the fact abides. The sermon may be dense and the service poor, but ever there stands the Law of the Lord—Thou shalt have none other Gods before me—Thou shalt not steal, bear false witness, commit adultery, or covet thy neighbor’s possessions. The sanctuary stands for the creation and recreation of the Divine standard, it rebukes our sins and calls us to obedience. It is a continual reminder of the Divine Law which it is our duty and our life to keep.

      THE CALL ON GRATITUDE

      Then the ark, according to Hebrews 9, was to hold Aaron’s rod and a golden pot filled with manna. Those were the relics and reminder of the deliverance and mercies by which God claimed obedience. No Israelites could be reminded of the deliverance from bondage and the guidance on the way to the promised land without realizing the depth of his obligation and the reasonableness of obedience.

      Here, too, is part of the service the modern sanctuary has to render. Outside, the Law may seem stern and forbidding and religion an exacting and unreasonable service. Inside, there are tokens and reminders of the love which is the other side of Law and which turns statutes into songs and duty into delight. Some can point to the very place where kneeling the light broke into their minds and the peace of pardon came into their hearts. There is the place where you stood and plighted your troth in the comradeship that has been one of God’s best gifts to you. Yonder the seat you occupied when God comforted your soul in sorrow. You can people the pews with those godly folk who for Christ’s sake, provided the restraints and imposed the constraints which have kept you straight.

      If we come reverently to the House of God what thoughts are stirred by hymns and psalms? They tell of the goodness and mercy, the grace and the patience, which have