“Blest be the tie that binds Our hearts in Christian love,” wrote John Fawcett. May it ever be!
It was not enough for the boards to have solid foundations; they must be linked to one another. “You shall make bars of acacia wood: five for the boards on one side of the tabernacle, five bars for the boards on the other side…and five bars for…the far side westward. The middle bar shall pass through the midst of the boards from end to end. You shall overlay the boards with gold, make their rings of gold as holders for the bars, and overlay the bars with gold” (Ex 26:26-29). So a series of gold rings near the top and bottom and across the middle of each board linked them together by five acacia wood bars covered in gold. This fortified each of the three sides. Three rows of rings but five bars? Yes, the middle bar extended all the way across each wall; the tops and bottoms were divided in two. So if this system for unifying the boards that were to be “standing upright” (v 15) is a picture of the believers and “the true grace of God in which you stand” (1 Pet 5:12), is it possible that the three rows speak of the three Persons who hold us fast? Here are three ringing facts to help us stand in this hostile desert world. 1. “That you may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God” (Col 4:12). 2. “Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free” (Gal 5:1). 3. “That you stand fast in one Spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel” (Php 1:27). Romans 8 links this 3-fold support. “The Spirit also helps in our weaknesses…[and] makes intercession FOR US” (v 26). Then, “If God is FOR US, who can be against us?” (v 31). And “It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen,…who also makes intercession FOR US” (v 34). Every believer can stand amid the storms, “for God is able to make him stand” (Rom 14:4).