Tabernacle and Its Services
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blessing. Before the mercy seat the high priest made the atonement
for Israel; and in the cloud of glory, God met with him. His stay here
beyond the accustomed time filled them with fear, lest because of their
sins or his own he had been slain by the glory of the Lord.
The daily service consisted of the morning and evening burnt
offering, the offering of sweet incense on the golden altar, and the
special offerings for individual sins. And there were also offerings for
Sabbaths, new moons, and special feasts.
Every morning and evening a lamb of a year old was burned upon
the altar, with its appropriate meat offering, thus symbolizing the daily
consecration of the nation to Jehovah, and their constant dependence
upon the atoning blood of Christ. God expressly directed that every
offering presented for the service of the sanctuary should be “without
blemish.”
Exodus 12:5
. The priests were to examine all animals
brought as a sacrifice, and were to reject every one in which a defect
was discovered. Only an offering “without blemish” could be a symbol
of His perfect purity who was to offer Himself as “a lamb without
blemish and without spot.”
1 Peter 1:19
. The apostle Paul points to
these sacrifices as an illustration of what the followers of Christ are to
become. He says, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies
of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable
unto God, which is your reasonable service.”
Romans 12:1
. We are to
give ourselves to the service of God, and we should seek to make the
offering as nearly perfect as possible. God will not be pleased with
anything less than the best we can offer. Those who love Him with
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all the heart, will desire to give Him the best service of the life, and
they will be constantly seeking to bring every power of their being into
harmony with the laws that will promote their ability to do His will.
In the offering of incense the priest was brought more directly into
the presence of God than in any other act of the daily ministration. As
the inner veil of the sanctuary did not extend to the top of the building,
the glory of God, which was manifested above the mercy seat, was
partially visible from the first apartment. When the priest offered
incense before the Lord, he looked toward the ark; and as the cloud
of incense arose, the divine glory descended upon the mercy seat and
filled the most holy place, and often so filled both apartments that the
priest was obliged to retire to the door of the tabernacle. As in that
typical service the priest looked by faith to the mercy seat which he