Is there Tin Within?
I was doing some more in depth study and research on a subject that I have spent decades on, “The Wilderness Sanctuary,” and this point came up that I knew already, but I had never quite connected these dots this way. We turn to Isaiah 1:25 “And I will turn my hand upon thee, and purely purge away thy dross, and take away all thy tin.” Now Tin in the Hebrew mind set is synonymous with “Sin;” it is just one of those things that are interconnected. Now Brass is a composite of Copper and Tin. Now the Hebrew mind also connects Copper and Gold together, and often high quality Copper traded at the same rate as Gold. Now a Bell is made up of 78% Copper and 22% Tin, and at that ratio it will be strong and will have a good tone. Also Corinthian Gold is a mixture of Gold and Copper and has been at times valued higher than pure gold; even today in India it is still highly treasured in this combination.
In the daily round in the Sanctuary Service, the ashes are regularly scooped out from the Bronze Altar–the Altar of Sacrifice, and are then stored on the Eastern side of the Bronze Altar, which actually is the side facing the street or doorway, so anybody looking in can see the pile of ashes, the end result of sin. When the pile gets to a certain level this is then gathered up and taken to the correct disposal site. This ash pile ruling is found in Leviticus 1:16 “And he shall pluck away his crop with his feathers, and cast it beside the altar on the east part, by the place of the ashes.” Now Romans tell us what the wages of sin are (Rom 6:23) but if you read it this way we get a deeper meaning, Malachi 4:1-3 “For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch. But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall. And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do [this], saith the LORD of hosts.”
Here we have the same concept which is the consequences of sin, which goes to its end result of becoming ashes, and in our opening concept, God wants to smelt us down, to remove the Tin and Dross from our lives and leave behind the precious metal that is really truly the essence of what each one of us really is. If we play and develop this smelting concept, we get an interesting end result, everybody gets smelted in the furnace, Sinners are just smelted down to ash as they are only Wooden/Stubble, and there is nothing worth keeping (No God factor at all in the life is then evidenced), yet a Christian Believer has the Sin-Tin smelted out and the Heavenly Gold is left behind (much Gold and this is the evidence of much God and holiness in the individuals life.)
In a Hebrew mindset Gold=God or Godliness, hence the Most Holy Place is all gold, and solid gold for the Pure God connected pieces of Furniture, and Gold covered for the Human/God pieces of furniture. Now timber or wood has the linking of Human Flesh, so solid Gold is solid God only, Gold plated or covered, is God covering a human being (the robe of Christ’s Righteousness.) Candlestick solid gold, which is Jesus Christ, the light of the World/Universe, the Mercy Seat is solid gold and is depicted as God’s Throne. The Table of Showbread is gold covered wood and is God dining with us. The Altar of Incense is gold covered wood and is the prayers of the saints, God talking to us {Rev 8:3-4} and the Ark of the Covenant bottom half is in a Hebrew mindset synonymous with a coffin, and again is gold covered wood, if you have Mercy you live, no mercy extended has the consequence of death and ashes and being no more, but the redeemed have God’s Mercy and protection on his children.
The brass or bronze, which is copper-tin alloy is all the furniture in the courtyard and this is pointing to Jesus Christ or Christ Jesus which is the God to man connection and the man to God connection, and it also point to us, we have God characteristics, but we have sin-tin as well. As we transition into the Holy Place and then the Most Holy Place, the sin-tin is no more, it has all been purged out and we are sinless and completely God Like, or Holy.
Our humanity is depicted in the Sanctuary as the timber/wood factor in the inner two rooms of the Sanctuary. It is of interest that Jesus Christ laid off his divinity (Gold) and was clothed with Humanity (wood) so Jesus looked just like us, well until Divinity flashed through humanity, and then when he ascended to Heaven after Calvary, he was re-clothed in his divinity (Gold) so from the outside he is gold, inside he is gold but sandwiched between is his humanity.
We are humanity, so as Christians we have God within (Gold), in eternity we are also externally covered in gold (the robe of Christ’s Righteousness) so from the outside anyone looking at us, will observe that we are just pure gold of God, but Jesus and us are slightly different, in that we have a layer of humanity (wood) in between our Imparted and Imputed Righteousness. So Dear Reader; How are we getting on individually with removing Sin/Tin and getting Heavenly gold plating without and within?
