With redemption silver under our feet plus the gold rings of divine care, what else will He do?
We mentioned in our last study that there were three rows of rings but five bars that held the tabernacle sides upright. This was because the middle bar extended all the way across each wall; the top and bottom bars were divided in two. What might these five bars picture in their unifying influence for God’s people? C.W. Slemming (Made According to the Pattern, pp 54-55) suggests they represent the five ministries that the risen Christ gave His Church, found in Ephesians 4:11, “And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers.” Slemming writes: “The first two ministries are represented by the two lower bars—‘built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets’ (Eph 2:20).…The center bar, reaching from end to end, would remind us of the center ministry stated, that of the evangelist. What an extensive work is his, how far reaching! ‘Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature’ (Mk 16:15). The evangelist having done his part, then come the labors of the pastor and teacher….” He adds, “To say that these bars thus speak of church ministry is no speculation, for if we read on in Ephesians 4…we shall find that both the bars and the gifts were given for a similar purpose.” “For the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith…that we should no longer be…carried about with every wind of doctrine,…but…may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ—from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love” (vv 12-16).