In the person of one representative, all speak, preserving the decorum truly fitting for the saints. In this also they become for those after them a model of prudence and admirable propriety. It was not fitting for all at once to speak aloud before the Teacher, indiscriminately and in rivalry, unseemly interrupting one another. Rather, they had to yield prudently to those who held the higher place in discernment and rank. Therefore Paul also says, "Let two or three prophets speak, and separately" (1 Cor 14:29, 27). He did not permit them to speak without order because they had been granted the grace of prophecy. Since they were holy, he commanded them to speak to their hearers with still greater propriety. Thus it was an act of decorum fitting for the saints to allow one to answer for all, namely the one who held the highest place among the Apostles. "To whom," he says, "shall we go?" This means: who can initiate us into anything like this? Or: to whom shall we come and find something better? "Thou hast the words of eternal life." They are not hard, as those men say, but lift us up to what is best of all, to unceasing and eternal life, free from all corruption. From these words also it must be plain to us that we ought to follow Christ alone as Teacher. We must remain constantly and inseparably with Him and have Him as our guide, for He perfectly knows how to lead us to endless life. In this way we shall ascend to the heavenly and divine court. Entering the Church of the firstborn, we shall enjoy good things beyond the human mind. That the desire to follow Christ alone and always to be with Him is good and saving is something the very nature of the matter can assure us. Yet we can also be convinced of it from the most ancient Scriptures. When the Israelites had been delivered from the cruelties of the Egyptians and were hastening to the land of promise, God commanded them not to march in disorder. The Lawgiver did not allow each one to go wherever and however he wished. Had they done so, having no guide, they would undoubtedly have gone astray. Therefore, again as an example for us, it is written in the book called Numbers: "On the day when the tabernacle was set up, the cloud covered the tabernacle, the house of witness. In the evening it was over the tabernacle like the appearance of fire until morning. So it was always: the cloud covered it by day, and the appearance of fire by night. When the cloud was taken up from the tabernacle, then the sons of Israel set out. In the place where the cloud halted, there the sons of Israel encamped. By the command of the Lord the sons of Israel shall set out, and they shall keep the watch of God. They shall not set out until the voice of the Lord. By the voice of the Lord they shall encamp, and by the command of the Lord they shall set out" (Num 9:15-20). You see how they are commanded to follow and begin their journey when the cloud departs. Conversely, they are to halt with it and remain at rest. Thus, to be with the guide was then saving for the Israelites, just as it is now saving for us not to be separated from Christ. He was prefigured of old as tabernacle, cloud, and fire. But the historical sense must again, so far as possible, be applied spiritually. When "Wisdom," as it is written, "built Her house" (Prov 9:1), and raised the truest tabernacle, that is, the temple from the Virgin, then God the Word came down into it in a manner inaccessible to our understanding and befitting God. He is in the bosom of God the Father, and He became man (Jn 1:14, 18). He did this so that, for those already enlightened and walking "as in the day," according to Paul (Rom 13:13), He might be a cloud overshadowing and destroying the heat of the passions of our weakness. For those who do not yet know and are wandering, passing life as in darkness and night, He might be fire, enlightening and transforming them into the fervor of the Spirit. For we believe that those who are virtuous are fervent in spirit. Thus, I think, for no other reason than the one indicated above, the cloud appeared over the tabernacle by day, and fire by night. The command joined to this, not to travel by one's own will, but to set out with the tabernacle and halt with it, was again given in type. It was so that you might understand what Christ said: "If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there shall My servant be also" (Jn 12:26). Firmness in following and constancy of abiding are shown by walking inseparably with Him. Walking with Christ the Savior and following Him are not, of course, understood bodily. Rather, this is accomplished through works of virtue. The wise disciples fixed their mind on virtue and rejected departure backward with the unbelievers as a ruinous thing. Therefore they rightly cry, "To whom can we go?" This means: we shall always be with Thee, hold fast Thy commandments, and receive Thy words. We shall not accuse Thee of anything. We shall not, with the ignorant, consider hard what Thou speakest mystically. Rather we cry: "How sweet are Thy words to my throat, sweeter than honey to my mouth" (Ps 119:103). This is the meaning of the passage being interpreted. That the tabernacle was for the ancients a type of Christ, we shall learn again if we direct the sharpness of our mind to what was said about it to holy Moses. Though speech about this may seem to someone a digression, it will bring no small benefit. I think it must be examined carefully and in detail, despite the groundless objections of our accusers. The divine revelation concerning the tabernacle is as follows. We shall set it forth separately and explain, as far as possible, the shadowed letter. "And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: On the first day of the first month, at the new moon, thou shalt set up the tabernacle" (Ex 40:1-2). One of the studious may reasonably ask what moved the Lord of all to command that the tabernacle be set up in one day, not in two or three. Why at the new moon? Why not in any month at all, but in the first? All this truly requires proper and careful inquiry from us, since nothing in the divine Scriptures is said in vain. Let us hold to our former thoughts on this. The tabernacle being set up signifies the holy Body of Christ and, so to speak, the erection of His precious tent. In it all the fullness of the Godhead was pleased to dwell bodily (Col 1:19; 2:9). He commands it to be set up "on one day." This is very wise and providential, so that by one day you may understand the present age. In this age alone He became man. By the new moon we should understand nothing other than the coming of the Savior, which renews us. In it "the old has passed away, and all things have become new" (2 Cor 5:17). A new time has dawned for us in Christ. It drives away the oldness of service under the Law by Gospel teaching and changes us into a new and renewed life. It renews into original righteousness those who had grown old through sin and were near destruction (Heb 8:13). It destroys the oldness of corruption that had crept in. By the renewal of incorruption, it gladdens those who ascend through faith to eternal life. "For if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation," as it is written (2 Cor 5:17). He commands the divine tabernacle to be raised "in the first month." Then the charm of the spring turning shines forth, as though washing away the gloom of winter. The earth is gently warmed by the brighter and purer rays of the sun. The vineyards bloom, the farmer is gladdened by the fragrance of flowers, the valleys are clothed with green. "All the fields bristle with the tips of ears of grain," as one of the Greek poets says. Then "the winter is past," as it is written, "the rain is gone with it," and "the time of pruning has come" (Song 2:11-13). But you must understand all this spiritually. By the disappearance of winter and the ceasing of the rain, understand the temptations that burden us from the devil's tyranny and cruel dominion over all. For in the days of Christ the rule of demons came to an end, and the bright Sun shone upon us. This is the very One of whom God the Father says: "The Sun of Righteousness shall rise for you" (Mal 4:2). He warms those chilled by sin with the heat of the Spirit unto righteousness. Likewise understand the vineyard spiritually, the flowers spiritually, and by the ears of grain understand the saints. They are distinguished by manifold piety toward God and bear the fruit of many forms of virtue. To speak briefly, spring adorns everything with flowers and makes the earth bring forth grass. It crowns the meadows with young growth. It makes young again the trunks that were dry because of the unbearable harshness of winter. It brings them into a better state, clothes them with their usual green foliage, and generously grants nature's gifts to the laboring farmer. Something like this, as we shall see, happened also to us. Once we were dry because sin reigned over us, and we lacked the fruits of virtue. Through Christ we blossomed with righteousness and now bring to the Farmer of spirits the newly appeared and fresh fruit of faith. In this way we find it right to understand what was said by one of the holy prophets, as though in the person of Christ: "I Myself am He who spoke: behold, I am present, like the season upon the mountains" (Isa 52:6-7). What the "season," that is, the springtime, does upon the mountains, we have already clearly said above. It is therefore most beneficial that He commands the tabernacle, which is a type of Christ, to be set up "on one day." By this you may understand of Him that He died only once in this one present age. He will not be born again, nor will He die again. He was born once, died once, and rose from the dead. Resurrection had necessarily to follow death, and it was like the erection of the holy tent. It is at the new moon because we have a new age in Christ, and all creation is new in Him. The first month is chosen to indicate the renewal of human nature from death and corruption to life and incorruption. It also indicates the passage from barrenness to fruitfulness, and deliverance from diabolical tyranny, like winter ceasing and disappearing. Then again, in another way, as in type and allegory, He points us to Emmanuel in the words: "Thou shalt put in the ark of the testimony, and cover the ark with the veil" (Ex 40:3). In the preceding ordinance, the Word was pictured for us as in the whole tabernacle. The holy Body of Christ was the house of God who dwelt in Him. Yet He is no less indicated for us particularly through the ark. It was made of incorruptible wood, that you might understand His incorruptible Body. It was entirely overlaid with pure gold, as it is written, within and without (Ex 25:9-10; 37:2). Everything in Him is most precious and royal, both the divine and the human. In all things He has preeminence, according to Paul (Col 1:18). Gold is taken as an image of honor and superiority over all. The ark, made of incorruptible wood and overlaid with gold, had the divine Law placed within it. This was an image of God the Word dwelling in and united to the holy flesh. For the Law also was a word of God, though not hypostatic as the Son is. The ark is covered with the veil because God the Word, when He became man, was as though invisible to many. He had His Body as a covering and was hidden in His flesh as in a veil. Because of this, some did not recognize His divine dignity. At one time they tried to stone Him, accusing Him because, being a man, He called Himself God (Jn 10:33). At another time, without any shame, they said: "Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How then does He now say, I came down from heaven?" (Jn 6:42). Thus the covering of the ark with the veil indicated that Jesus would not be known by many. In this way the ark was His type. Therefore it also went before the Israelites in the wilderness, then taking the place of God, for it was the guide of the people.
THEOSIS