THE GREAT COMPANY AS LEVITES
ONE HAS asked, "If the Levites, aside from their priests, were intended to typify the Great Company class, and if all of the Great Company class were called with the same "high calling" as those who are of the "Royal Priesthood," and all were begotten of the holy Spirit, why is this not shown in the type? Why is it that the Levites were permitted in the Court only and never entered the Holy? And why is it that they are not shown as having been anointed with the anointing oil?
Answering the last question first we would say that the anointing oil was poured upon the head of the High Priest and ran down over his body. The under-priests were not anointed separately, except in the case of the death of the High Priest, when one of them should attain to that office. The one High Priest, therefore, according to the picture, represented all of the anointed; he represented all of the members of his Body--all of the under-priests.
Considering the other part of the question, we are to remember that the Court condition and the Tabernacle condition on the Day of Atonement represented the condition of things in God's Plan at the present time, during this Gospel Age. During this time all those who leave the Camp and desire to draw near to God approach the Court, which represents the justified condition, the condition of harmony with God. Only those inside the Court can see the matters pertaining to the sacrificing and the entering into the Holy. In proportion as these take the necessary steps toward the Holy, in that proportion they draw nigh to God and experience a measure of justification, a measure of harmony, and become more prepared for complete justification and harmony with him.
Washing at the laver is an important step, and as they go on to the door of the Holy and present themselves, it implies full consecration. Then they pass beyond the vail.
Very few make such a consecration. Many prefer to stand around outside the door. And when the "harvest" time shall come (it being here now), all such shall be thrust out. As expressed, a thousand will fall away to one who will stand. These, on account of their lack of obedience to the Lord, have rejected him and thus lose their partial justification--it never becomes vitalized. Similarly, those who have made a full consecration are subjected to severe tests and, if they prove unfaithful, they will not remain members of the Royal Priesthood. But this does not prove that these will be unworthy of some opportunity for serving the Lord. These will be represented in the Levite class. All the Levites consecrated to God. But the "more than conquerors," are the selected ones, the ones who stand the tests and prove faithful. Such as fail to stand these tests, then, will be rejected from the condition represented in the Holy, which is the "gold" condition and represents the divine nature.
ONLY THE PRIESTS IN THE HOLY
Being denied the liberty accorded to the Priests, these will go out from this condition and will have merely the standing of justification, which, if they maintain, will constitute them worthy of eternal life. But that life will not be human life, because they gave that up in order to become Priests. Their failure puts them out of the Holy condition back into the Court condition. Only the Priests will be in the Holy. Only the Levites will be in the Court. But even the chosen ones, while separated in their minds, will be commingling with the others so far as their persons are concerned. The Court, therefore, in its last analysis, represents the spirit-begotten ones as separated from the world. Their vitalized justification is represented by the white raiment and the white curtains which separate them from the Camp. The Great Company class are, therefore, not represented as in the Camp, but are attached to the Priests. The white linen curtain of the Court was suspended by silver hooks. Thus this class was represented by the "silver," as in contradistinction to those who were represented in the "gold" of the Holy and the Most Holy.
NEITHER PRIESTS NOR LEVITES HAD ANY INHERITANCE
IN THE LAND
In order to have a full and complete picture of what is typified by the tribe of Levi, we must remember how they came into their position of either being priests or of [R4746 : page 22] serving the priests. They were all a part of Israel, but God separated them unto himself; he gave them no inheritance in the land. All their rights were withheld from them and they were made dependent upon the other tribes. Why was this? The answer is that they were taken by the Lord as instead of the "first born" of all the tribes of Israel. Thus the tribe of Levi became the typical "Church of the First-born". Then out of this typical "Church of the First-born" the Lord selected a priestly family, Aaron and his sons, who typified the Royal Priesthood, Christ and his Church. All of the tribe of Levi represented the Church of the First-born and the family of Aaron represented the "very elect." While the under-priests were not personally anointed, they were represented in the body of the High Priest. The anointing that the antitypical under-priests have, as members of the Body of Christ, is lost if they fail to make their calling and election sure.
RELATIONSHIP TO THE LORD NOT NECESSARILY DEPENDENT
UPON KNOWLEDGE OF EVERY DETAIL
We wish to suggest here that none should feel unnecessarily annoyed if he is not able to understand all the items of the chronology or of the TABERNACLE SHADOWS, or other minor features. Our relationship to the Lord is not necessarily dependent upon our knowledge of every detail. We are to remember that many of us were God's people before we understood any of these things, before we understood the philosophy of the Divine Plan. Hence we are to be trustful of the Lord and wait for the remainder, as he may open it to us. And we are to remember that the supreme test is loyalty to the Lord. This was the test upon our Lord Jesus: would he be loyal to the Father? And this is the test upon us. Will we be loyal to the Lord? Whoever is thus loyal is an "overcomer." He will strive to be faithful under all conditions, and will trust even where he cannot trace the Lord's providences.
The difficulty in understanding these matters seems to be in failing to harmonize what has been written on this point. Realizing the fact that all of the consecrated have been begotten of the holy Spirit, and therefore, to be perfected, must be born of the holy Spirit on the spirit plane, we see that the Great Company class must be spirit beings when they shall have been perfected. They will not be entitled to the position to which they were called, namely, the divine nature, represented in the Holy and Most Holy, because they do not make their "calling and election sure" to that glorious position. But if they hold to the Lord they still maintain their justification. This was attained, not when they began to draw nigh to God, but when they passed through the Court and made their consecration, and when the High Priest, as their Advocate, imputed to their sacrifice a sufficiency [R4746 : page 23] of his merit to make up for their imperfections. Then they were accepted. At that moment they were justified to life. They surrendered all claim to human life and received the spirit-begetting, which is the foundation of their future hope. They may cease to be of the Anointed in the sense that they cease to be of the Bride, of the Body of Christ. That all of these Levites have a heavenly inheritance is indicated in the fact that they were cut off from the earthly inheritance in order that they might have the opportunity of being of the "first-born" with Christ Jesus, the Head of the Church.
The Tabernacle picture was a temporary one, which ultimately gave place to the temple, and that temple represented the Church in its glorified condition. Nevertheless, the things in the temple represented conditions pertaining to the present time. Our access to the Holiest of all was evidently represented in the vail being rent from top to bottom. The vail represented Christ's flesh. Through that rent vail we may see into the things beyond and be ready to pass into the Most Holy.
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