The Christian’s Reasonable Service / Vol. 4 - Quotes

[Grant]

Often on PB, these ceremonial items get brought up during RPW debates. As such, I think the below will serve as a good reminder for us not to forget what these ceremonial types actually highlight in our Savior! Brakel draws some conclusions on OT Ceremonial Types, which I found particularly delightful and warming this Lord’s Day:

Pg. 426 The Candlestick

In the holy place the candlestick, the table of shewbread, and the altar of incense were found.
The candlestick stood on the north side.17 It was made out of one piece of pure gold, had six tubes (three on each side), the upright shaft being the seventh one. At the top of every pipe there was a lamp which was filled daily with pure olive oil. They were lit in the evening and extinguished in the morning, having snuffers and snuffdishes made of pure gold. The Lord Jesus is the candle, the light, the sun, and the morning star who illuminates His church. He is the pillar and ground of truth. He is the candlestick who always has light within Himself and manifests it, He being lit by the Holy Spirit, with whom He is anointed.

Pg. 426 The Table of Shewbread:

The table of shewbread stood on the south side.18 It was made of shittim wood, was overlaid with pure gold, had a golden crown roundabout, and had a border of a handbreadth round about the table which in turn was surrounded by another golden crown. The table was two cubits long, one cubit wide, and one-and-one-half cubits high. It was covered with vessels, dishes, spoons, and covers—all made of pure gold. Loaves of bread, placed in two rows, were always on this table and were replaced every Sabbath with fresh loaves. The Lord Jesus is the Bread of Life, who by way of the precious gospel is always displayed and offered. Whoever wills may come and eat of His bread by faith and be satisfied.

Pg. 426-427 The Altar of Incense:

The altar of incense was positioned centrally, a bit further into the holy place, and opposite to the ark of the covenant which stood behind the veil. It was made of shittim wood, overlaid with pure gold, and had a golden crown roundabout. It was square (each side being one cubit), and was two cubits high. Each morning after the lamps had been extinguished, cleaned, and refilled with oil, the incense was lit on this altar. This also occurred in the evening when the lamps were lit. When Christ, by the eternal Spirit, offered Himself as a sin offering upon the cross, He was seen by everyone. While upon earth, however, He more often offered prayers for His own in secret—just as He does presently in heaven, where He prays for His own without being seen. Our prayers and thanksgivings, offered before God in Christ, are as incense laid and ignited upon the golden altar which is before the throne, and are thereby pleasing to God. He who desires to go to heaven must go to the congregation of the Lord. There he will find Christ, who dwells there as within His temple. There he will receive light, be strengthened, and enjoy sweet comforts unto his refreshment.

 

[Grant]

Brakel on the Suretyship of Christ during the Old Testament period, pg. 452:

(1) The sacrifices were types of Jesus in His making satisfaction by way of suffering and dying. When a sinner came to the temple with a sacrificial animal, surrendering it to the priest for sacrifice, the sinner would lay his hands upon the sacrificial animal, signifying thereby that he laid his sins upon the future Messiah who was typified by that sacrificial animal. That animal would then be put to death in the place of the sinner, and consequently he would go home justified. By way of the sacrifices there was an absolute transfer of sins to the Messiah. Here faith was exercised in the Messiah—it being a certainty that He would render payment. Here justification by faith occurred—faith which must have truth as its object. Thus, in the Old Testament, Christ was a vicarious Surety in the absolute sense of the word.

 

[Grant]

The context is Brakel refuting the view that the Ceremonial Law was given as a form of judgment for the Golf Calf sin.
Pg. 499:

“Thou ... gavest them right judgments, and true laws, good statutes and commandments” (Neh 9:13); “To keep the commandments of the Lord, and His statutes, which I command thee this day for thy good” (Deut 10:13). In substance the ceremonies and sacrifices consisted of the flesh and blood of animals; the apostle therefore calls them carnal commandments. The ceremonies were given in order to be united with the antitype, Jesus Christ, and constituted the gospel by which Christ was both proclaimed and offered. However, they were not given to exist and to be performed independently—that is, divorced from the antitype—and in order thereby to bring about atonement. They were too weak and ineffectual to accomplish that. They did not have the inherent ability to make alive; else it would have been unnecessary for Christ to have died. United with the antitype, however, they were both necessary and beneficial.

 

[Grant]

The below is a little longer than normal, but a very helpful explanation of Romans 9:6-8. In my younger days I was also taught that this passage points to Gentiles, but Brakel seems to say
not so fast, pg. 511-512

Question: “Not as though the word of God hath taken none effect. For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel: neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children: but, in Isaac shall thy seed be called. That is, they which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God: but the children of the promise are counted for the seed” (Rom 9:6-8). Is not the apostle here referring to the believers among the Gentiles as Israel?

Answer: Not at all; the apostle does not speak here at all of the Gentiles, but strictly of the Jews. His objective is to prove that God has not annulled His covenant with Abraham and his seed, even though the majority of them have rejected the Messiah, have not believed in Him, and have been disobedient to the gospel. “Not as though the word of God hath taken none effect” (Rom 9:6). God has not annulled His promises and covenant, for not all who descended from Abraham were partakers of the covenant and the promises. Ishmael and the children of Keturah did not belong to the covenant, but only Isaac. Furthermore, all of Isaac‟s children were not partakers of the covenant and the promises. Esau was cast out as an unholy one, but the covenant and the promises were Jacob‟s. And so it goes on, for even though many of Jacob‟s descendants were unbelievers in whom God had no pleasure, nevertheless God‟s covenant remains steadfast with him and his seed in his believing descendants, who are accounted as that seed. And thus they are not all Israel which are of Israel, that is, of Jacob. Furthermore, the conversion of the Gentiles did not constitute the confirmation of the covenant of Abraham and his seed, for then the covenant with Abraham and his seed would have been confirmed even if none of his natural seed had been converted. This would be absurd. Paul is speaking of his kinship according to the flesh and God‟s covenant with them, demonstrating that the covenant remains steadfast with them; that is, with the converted among them, even though many remained unbelievers. Thus, this text neither speaks of Gentiles at all, but only of Jews, nor does it call the New Testament church Israel.

 

[Grant]

This one will end Vol.4 for me folks, it has been a 2 year paced journey, but I have finished TCRS 4 volumes. From pg. 530 - 531, Brakel gives a brief summary of his belief that the scriptures not only teach a mass conversion of the Jewish Nation, but also that this nation will be blessed with a returning to Canaan upon their turning to Christ.

The Return of the Jews to Canaan Proven from Various Old Testament Passages
One more question remains to be answered: Will the Jewish nation be gathered together again from all the regions of the world and from all the nations of the earth among which they have been dispersed? Will they come to and dwell in Canaan and all the lands promised to Abraham, and will Jerusalem be rebuilt?

We believe that these events will transpire. We deny, however, that the temple will be rebuilt, and that therein the previous mode of worship will be observed, which prior to Christ‟s coming was of a typifying nature and would then be of a reflective nature. We also deny that Israel will then have dominion over the entire world—and other such things which the Jews imagine and some Christians dream about. Rather, they will be an independent republic, governed by a very wise, good-natured, and superb government. Furthermore, Canaan will be extraordinarily fruitful, the inhabitants will be eminently godly, and they will constitute a segment of the glorious state of the church during the thousand years prophesied in Rev 20.