2. The Throne of Law (Remastered)

The Throne of Law

R.J. Rushdoony

Our Scripture is Exodus 25:1-11,  and our subject, ‘The Throne of Law.’ Exodus 25:1-11. 

"And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, that they bring me an offering: of every man that giveth it willingly with his heart ye shall take my offering. And this is the offering which ye shall take of them; gold, and silver, and brass, And blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine linen, and goats’ hair, And rams’ skins dyed red, and badgers’ skins, and shittim wood, Oil for the light, spices for anointing oil, and for sweet incense, Onyx stones, and stones to be set in the ephod, and in the breastplate. And let them make me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them. According to all that I shew thee, after the pattern of the tabernacle, and the pattern of all the instruments thereof, even so shall ye make it.

And they shall make an ark of shittim wood: two cubits and a half shall be the length thereof, and a cubit and a half the breadth thereof, and a cubit and a half the height thereof. And thou shalt overlay it with pure gold, within and without shalt thou overlay it, and shalt make upon it a crown of gold round about.” i

In Exodus chapters 25-31, and again in chapters 36-39, we have the law given, and the directions given the building of the tabernacle. Now, ‘tabernacle’ literally means tent. It was the tent of meeting, the sanctuary, these are various terms given to it. It is emphasised as of central importance in the law. And we have indeed a great many chapters given to it, a dozen or so chapters. It is important in Biblical Law for reasons we tend to neglect. And nowadays either we are subjected to fanciful interpretations of the significance of the Tabernacle, or it is entirely passed over.

Now as we analyze the meaning of the Tabernacle we must see, first of all, that the pattern of the Tabernacle was given by God. In other words, a blueprint. The directions, the materials to be used, were all prescribed by God. And what we read in these many chapters in Exodus, given over to the construction of the Tabernacle, are precisely the blueprints which specify the design and the materials. It is given by God. It is entirely His work. Man contributes nothing to it except the materials and the labor which he provides.

Second, we cannot understand the significance of the Tabernacle unless we see that it is the palace of the King, the palace of the King. The King is God, King of Israel. The Tabernacle, because it was a large and a very ornate tent, required a considerable amount of work for the assembly and the disassembly and the carrying thereof. At that time, because they were in the wilderness journey, God dwelt among them, even as they did, in a tent. His tent was the royal tent. When they were finally settled, King David desired to build God a permanent palace. ‘Temple’ literally means, ‘house of God’ or ‘palace of God.’ But God, while giving the pattern and the materials to David, specified that it was his son, a man of peace, who was to erect it. We are repeatedly told in the New Testament that this was to be by pattern. The house of God was of God's design, it was His palace.

Now, the fact that the Tabernacle was the palace of God is not a new fact although, unfortunately, it is a relatively unknown one in our day. Not too many years ago this was still the standard statement as we read, for example, in Vos’ Biblical Theology.ii  If you go back to the last century, Fairbairn, at great length deals with the Tabernacle as God's palace and the Temple then, later, as the permanent palace of God. iii

But in the past generation or two we have had the ecclesiastical approach applied to the Bible, that is, the churchly approach, reducing religion to the church. But the reduction of religion to the church is a modern heresy because religion, as the Bible declares it, speaks concerning every area of life; concerning church, state, school, work, agriculture, war, peace, the home and family, everything; it is total. And the reduction of religion to worship and the church is therefore a modern heresy. The Tabernacle was the palace of God the King from whence He ruled the nation absolutely. Israel was to present itself at the palace not only to worship, but to be commanded. 

This leads us, therefore, to a third point. The first, the pattern of the palace was given entirely by God. Second, the Tabernacle is the palace of the King. Third, hence, there was only one sanctuary; one God, one throne, one realm, one law. There was only one Tabernacle in Israel because there was one God. And hence it was that it was strictly forbidden of them to establish any other sanctuary, to do so was to have other gods. It was polytheism.

Now the fact that the Tabernacle was not the place of worship primarily is obvious from the fact that only thrice yearly was attendance required and then only the males of Israel, the heads of households. Now, obviously it was not primarily a place of worship, because this would be to limit worship to three times a year and for the men only who are the heads of households. The three feasts for which they were to go up are called “holy convocations.” But the word ‘holy’ does not limit itself to worship. In fact, the primary reference of the word ‘holy’ is to God. Holiness refers, therefore, primarily to God in all His ways and in all His dealings.

The secondary meaning of holy is; ‘all things done in the Lord's name and to His glory and according to His Word.’ Holiness, therefore, is not equivalent to worship. A home, a family that is fully dedicated to God is holy in all its operations. But all its operations are not worship. Worship, therefore, was not the primary function of the Tabernacle. The place of worship in the Old Testament was in the home. The father functioned as the priest. It was his jurisdiction to lead the family week by week in worship on the Sabbath. 

This may come as a surprise to you, but this was not too remote a thing to America in that there are many peoples still living for whom this was the routine pattern. For example, throughout the West, in ranching country, in most of Texas, churches were many many miles away. And until the advent of the automobile, people did not get to church. It was something that was rarely done but they still had regular weekly worship in the home conducted by the father. This was routine and normal. So it was in the Old Testament, worship was local, it was centrally and essentially in the home. There was only one Tabernacle and it was the palace of the King, it was not the worship center.

Fourth, this means, therefore, that the Tabernacle or the Temple had or have no counterpart in the church. We cannot see the church as a continuation of the Temple or the Tabernacle, there is no comparison between the two. With the death of Christ, the work of the Tabernacle or Temple an earthly palace of God was ended. The veil of the temple was rent in twain. The new Temple was Jesus Christ who declared Himself to be the true temple of God. He ascended into Heaven and Hebrews declares that there is the true sanctuary of the true throne. The earthly sanctuary was the Temple or palace of God among His people, His covenant-people. But now that palace is in heaven, the throne is there. 

It is true that believers are spoken of as “temples of the Holy Ghost.” And the Church is spoken of, that is all believers everywhere, as a spiritual body as the Temple or house of God, but this is in a secondary sense. Hebrews makes it clear that the true Temple, the sanctuary is now in Heaven. And hence it is that Jesus Christ commanded His disciples declaring, "All power, all authority, all kingship," in other words, "in Heaven and in earth is now Mine, given unto Me. Go ye therefore, unto all nations, and make disciples of them." 

The command was therefore given for imperialism; Christ as King commands his disciples to go out and command the earth, to bring it under godly law and order. To go forth and convert men and nations to the true King, Jesus Christ. The throne is in Heaven and all the world is summoned into the kingdom by the Great Commission.

Fifth and finally, as we analyse the Tabernacle we understand the significance of God's throne. The throne is the ark. And extensive directions are given for the construction of the ark of wood overlaid with gold. But the ark is an unusual throne. It is not primarily a chair. Now, a throne is a chair. But the ark is primarily a chest, a repository. And a repository of what? The two tables of the law. The ark sat in the Holy of Holies, the inner chamber of the Tabernacle and the Temple, the Most Holy Place, the throne room of God. The Ark as the repository of the law set forth the fact that the throne of God is His Law. This, then, is a most significant fact. God did not make the Altar His throne. The Altar was in the outer chamber. The Altar set forth the fact of atonement as salvation through the blood of the Lamb. The Altar, standing in the middle and behind it the door, was, as it were, the door to God, but it was not His throne. So it was that Jesus the King declared, “I am the Door, by My act of atonement I am the Door even as I am the Priest and the Sacrifice and also the King.” The entrance to the throne room was only past the door, the Altar. Thus, however, basic atonement is, it is not the heart of God's rule, it is not His throne. The Altar is the door to His kingdom, the Law is the heart of it. And therefore, Hebrews declares concerning Christ, that the cry of His being was, as He came into this world, “Lo, I come to do thy Will, O God.” He, himself, was the lawkeeper in perfection. And, having ascended into heaven, reigns from the throne of Law. 

Hence it is that the Tabernacle and its construction are so important to a study of the Law. Hence it is that so much of modern evangelicalism is guilty of serious heresy in that it speaks at great lengths on the typology of the Tabernacle and of the Ark, and never mentions that it is a palace and that the Ark is the throne and that the throne of God is His Law. This has not changed. God’s throne is here, set forth symbolically. Christ from Heaven rules on His throne today as always for He is the same yesterday, today, and forever, is His law. Hence it is that the study of the Law is of such great importance. 

The Tabernacle, thus, has central significance to Biblical Law. For it declares to us that the throne of Law governs the world.

Let us pray.

* * *

Our Lord and our God, we thank thee for thy Word. And we thank thee that the world is under thy Law, that they kingdom is of Law, that the men and nations of our day that despise thy law and seek to make it null and void shall feel the judgement of thy Law. Our Lord and Our God, in terms of thy Word, we stand and wait for thy judgement. Prepare us, O Lord, to rebuild in terms of thy Law. Make us strong in the day of adversity that we may be more than conquerors through Him that loved us, even Jesus Christ our Lord. In His name we pray. Amen.

* * *

Are there any questions, now?

[Audience member] The Bible talks about the throne of God. Could you expand upon the meaning of that throne, what is it? iv

[Rushdoony] Yes, well of course, the throne here is given symbolically, the tabernacling presence of God, the Holy Spirit was, in part, in The Holy Place but there was no physical, material body, sitting on the throne. Now, what this throne, the Tabernacle, sets forth is not that there is a literal throne in Heaven, but that God's throne is His Law. So that this literal picture of somebody on a throne…

[Audience member] I’d like to have a picture in my mind as to what God’s doing. v

[Rushdoony] Well, first, we cannot think of God in terms of man. The Greek religions, because they were anthropocentric, that is, humanistic, had literally material bodily gods and goddesses and so on, and this has infected the Western mind to a great deal. But God is the absolute Lord of the universe, a spirit, [He] is beyond our imagination. Therefore, for the mind of man fully to grasp what God is and what He is doing moment by moment other than the total government of the world, is beyond the mind of man. Now, the second person of the Trinity, Jesus Christ, through His incarnation, has declared Him, has exegeted, has explained Him. He is a perfect revelation of God, but He is not a total, absolute revelation. He is a true revelation. In other words, God can never be totally comprehensible, He is incomprehensible. It would take a mind equal to God's to comprehend God. So that always God is beyond our comprehension and Christ is beyond our comprehension. We can know Him truly, but we cannot know Him totally.

[Audience member] So that we don’t become gods as some religions say.

[Rushdoony] Never. This is humanism, the idea that man's destiny is to become a god.

Yes?

[Audience member] Could you speak a little more on the meaning of the image of God in man?  vi

[Rushdoony] Yes, we were created in the image of God and then various verses throughout the Bible make it clear to us what the image of God is; knowledge, righteousness, holiness and dominion. This is what constitutes our image of God. 

Yes?

[Audience member] Could you comment on the fact that some say that they can be perfectly sanctified in this life? vii

[Rushdoony] No one, yes. No one in this life can follow Christ perfectly, there is no such thing in this world as perfect sanctification. Only Christ was the perfect man. But this does not mean we cannot follow Him truly, and we cannot be pleasing to Him. Now, our children are far from perfect, but that does not mean they cannot be pleasing to us. We can be very happy with our children, delighted in them, and yet know that they have many, many frailties and shortcomings. But as long as their direction is godly, is obedient, they are a delight. So that in this life indeed, while there is no perfect obedience, this does not mean there are no Christians, this does not mean we are not pleasing to Christ.

Yes?

[Audience member] Could you speak more on the ‘two tables’ of the law? I’m a little bit fuzzy on what that all means.

[Rushdoony] Yes, a very good point. Both the first five and the second five commandments were one table, as it were. Perhaps one on one side the other on the other. So that instead of five being on one and five being on the other, the two had all ten and were duplicate copies of each other. It was the treaty with God; one was God's copy and the other was Israel's copy, both were placed in the Ark. Now, it has become a convention to speak of the first five as the ‘first table’ of the Law and the second five as the ‘second table.’ This should not mean that they are two separate tables, but it is a convention; one, the duty towards one's neighbor, and the other the duty towards God. Of course, all ten are our duty to God, but the second is coventionally spoken of as our duty to our neighbor. We'll deal with that more as we get to it. 

Yes?

[Audience member] How, then, do you split the two ‘tables’ up?  viii

[Rushdoony] Yes, we'll postpone that until we get to the fifth commandment. There are many who read it as four and six and many as five and five. And we'll analyse that as we get to the fifth commandment. It's a long subject and a very important one and that's why we cannot get into it now.

Another question?

Yes?

[Audience member] What is the nature of these directions to build the ark, are they typological or symbolic?  ix

[Rushdoony] No, they are literal directions for the construction in order that it might be both a throne and a repository. Last week someone brought up a question in respect to Jeane Dixon. And I was interested in the fact that last Sunday's Santa Ana Register also had her predictions concerning the U.S. Election and other events this year. So I'm going to read a portion of her column which is extremely long to give you an idea of what utter nonsense it is as well as blasphemy.

Now I quote:

“My mid-year predictions for 1968 leave me in a state of almost utter exhaustion. For as I have written many times, a vision is a revelation, a revelation is a will of God and cannot be exchanged." 

At that point, she's anti-Christian. We do not believe in further revelations. That's spiritualism, Mormonism, and a lot of occultism, it is not Scriptural. Now:

“My prediction on President John Kennedy was a revelation.” 

She's equal to Isaiah and Moses and the rest according to her. 

"My vibrations regarding the assassination of Senator Robert Kennedy did not come to me as a revelation, it was purely a physic discovery of pain through mental telepathy. It was not God's will that Robert Kennedy die, but the will of humanity." 

Now, here's she's getting into the most mixed up philosophy and theology imaginable.

Now some of her predictions. 

"What of Senator Edward Kennedy’s steamroller tactics will be used to get him on the Democratic ticket neither first nor second place. If he will resist the pressure from the people around him and leave things to God's timing, he can prolong his life." 

Well, now, is there any one of us who couldn't have said more than that? Now, to continue, still another Democrat:

“Ex-governor George Wallace founded a third party under the banner of State's rights and law and order. Civil disorder is a paramount importance with the voters and it is from this that Wallace gains his strength and importance." 

An amazing prediction, isn't it? Now, the next one. 

"The greatest steamroller attempt will be to put Governor Nelson Rockefeller over. In the final analysis this will be a test of the power of money." 

A marvelous prediction, isn't it? 

"If a political situation remained status quo, anyone might predict the outcome, but my vibrations keep telling me to sit tight as more surprises are in store and I can assure you there are." 

Then she goes on with a lot of predictions at great length about Mrs. Martin Luther King. 

"She may step into active politics, she may not." 

"I get strong vibrations that Governor Rockefeller is involved in plans which will affect and please her." 

Well, I've read the papers and I got the same vibrations out of the L.A. papers. But now to continue. There's several pages all about the same caliber and a lot much, much worse. But I'll just read three more. 

"Cuba still remains as the Russian beach-head for Latin America. But Castro's days are numbered and he will pass from the scene.” 

Now, here she comes out and says something. But of course, I've read that and about a half a dozen newspaper and magazine stories that the situation is bad there so. 

"There are missiles in Cuba stored under schoolhouses. They have been placed there so that no US attempt will be made to destroy them." 

Again, not a prophecy, it's expressions of opinion that have often been made. But this, I really enjoy. 

"A sound economy will continue. But I am getting stronger vibrations that our dollar will be devalued." 

Well, as I say, those are vibrations which you can get better by reading responsible newspapers. Then, of course, she has a horoscope at great length for Virgo and Aries and Taurus and Gemini and Cancer and Leo and so on, Aquarius, Capricorn; pure astrology. And how anyone can call her a Christian, I don't know, unless they don't know what a Christian means. But this is Jeane Dixon and her prophecies, and no doubt she will be telling you that she forecast the election this Fall. This should be enough to tell you that she is a fraud. Anyone who claims to be a Christian and goes in for astrology, anyone who makes vague predictions like this and declares she is a seeress getting revelations from God, well, I wouldn't put much stock in what they have to say.

Yes, I think your hand was up first.

[Audience member] Could you comment on the relationship between magic, occultism, and witchcraft?  x

[Rushdoony] Yes, right. Witchcraft deals, of course, with magic and with occultism and is deliberately and totally anti-Christian. Christians should have no part of it. Definitely. 

Harry Schultz in his financial newsletter gives Jeane Dixon's name as one of his subscribers so you can see where she gets some of her prophecies. Along the same lines, someone gave me, this week, the July 9 Indicator Digest, which is a survey of stock market business and monetary indicators and stockbrokers are the primary subscribers to it. But the front page story: “U.S. Treasury now in delicatessen business building up impressive stockpile of pure baloney."

Yes?

[Audience member] Isn’t there a real reality and power with some of this occult stuff?  xi

[Rushdoony] Oh yes, there is more here than meets the eye. And there's no question that some of these people do have very unhealthy and dangerous powers. I know that, having been on an Indian reservation, and having seen some of the medicine men in operation, there is no question that some of the things there we cannot account for. But there is no question in my mind of the very fearful effect is has upon people. Because, while these people of superior intelligence, these medicine men, it had a totally destructive effect, a disintegrating effect on their life, so they were at the bottom of the scale morally, financially, in every way.

[Audience member] I recently saw an article stating that in the near future computers will replace man’s labor completely and allow men to devote themselves to art, or whatever their hobby might be. Would you comment on that?  xii

[Rushdoony] Yes, I didn't see the article, but I've seen things like this. This is nonsense. Already, of course, business firms are having serious problems with computers because a computer is totally dependent on the man who sets it and primes it. 

Now, what they are finding is this; you hire a computer expert to operate a computer, that machine does exactly what he sets it to do. And they are finding a lot of these operators are setting it to pay off to them. So that, not only is the computer doctoring the books, but it's also destroying the records of many cases so that the business comes up with a regular loss and a payoff to the man who is operating it. So there's a major headache. There was a front page story in the Wall Street Journal on the trouble the business firms are having with these doctored computers. Almost anything could happen if the person who is running the computer sets it to do so. You see, the computer has no mind. It's the mind of the operator. 

Yes?

[Audience member] I’ve heard an account of how Jeane Dixon predicted the Kennedy assassination, and it was just a matter of her being connected to people in the know, it would seem.  xiii

[Rushdoony] Well, I think most of us with any knowledge of sound economics and the political scene can predict far more effectively than Jeane Dixon because we are predicting in terms of a law-order, we are predicting in terms of knowledge about reality, and this she doesn't have. But I have no doubt that besides, and I'm glad you reminded me of that fact, subscribing to Harry Schultz's financial newsletter, she's taking a lot of political newsletters and so on and so forth so that she can make predictions because she is only giving a watered-down version of what is common newspaper reporting.

Yes?

[Audience member] Do you think that this kind of thing can be demonic, the prediction of what comes to pass?

[Rushdoony] Yes, I do believe that very often their powers are demonic. A good deal of the time they're indulging in fraud, and they are masters at fraud. But very often they do have demonic powers, they do do things that are beyond explanation. And I think it's an area where it's better not to dabble. It's very dangerous, in fact, to dabble.

I think it's interesting. Some years ago, I think about forty, forty-five years ago, a liberal scholar, in fact, a rather radical one, wrote on something which he felt would characterize perhaps more and more of the world. He said, "If Christians believe there is such a thing as ‘grace’ from above what about something we can call ‘grace’ or ‘power from below?’” And I think we are definitely seeing this sort of thing nowadays. But it's a disintegrating, destructive thing. There is a very fine book that has been written on that, unfortunately it went out of print too soon. It might be available in used form here and there by Kurt Koch, Between Christ and Satan, a German who has specialized for years and years in analyzing everything from fortune telling to various magical practices, witchcraft, everything in the field and has written two or three books in which he does describe the devastating effect upon people. 

Well, our time is up and we stand adjourned now.

i. The Holy Bible: King James Version, Electronic Edition of the 1900 Authorized Version. (Bellingham, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 2009), Ex 25:1–11.

ii. “Still another application of the idea of the presence of Jehovah in the tabernacle appears in this, that it is the place where the people offer their worship to God. It is the palace of the King in which the people render Him homage.”

Geerhardus Vos, Biblical Theology: Old and New Testaments (Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock Publishers, 2003), 151.

iii. See; Patrick Fairbairn. The Revelation of Law in Scripture. Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1869.

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