The Spiritual Significance Of Base Metals In Scripture - Carnal Babes In Christ

- Copper

Copper's Negative Application - A

Introduction

As we have seen that metals in scripture all are used to reveal to us that God's Work
in us all is a purifying process of burning out all of the dross and impurities that are
this earth in us. All metals must be taken out of the earth and refined in fire. This is
true even for the common, base metals. We have seen that the scriptures use lead
to depict our earliest experiences with our heavenly Father. Tin follows lead and is
followed by iron. We now come to the last of the base metals mentioned in
scripture. Here again are the metals of scripture:

Num 31:22 Only the gold, and the silver, the brass, the iron, the tin, and the lead,
Num 31:23 Every thing that may abide the fire, ye shall make it go through the fire,
and it shall be clean: nevertheless it shall be purified with the water of separation:
and all that abideth not the fire ye shall make go through the water.

We have two baptisms mentioned in these verses:

Mat 3:11 I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that
cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall
baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire:

We are baptized with water, the Red Sea and the Jordan, before we are truly
circumcised and begin fighting the 'giants in the land.' These 'water baptisms'
precede even the beginning of the fiery purifying of the base metals taken from the
hills of the promised land within each of us. We all live by every word of God. We all
experience John's water baptisms before we even begin Christ fire baptisms:

Mat 3:11 I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that
cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall
baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire:

What is that fiery, holy spirit baptism with fire? This will give you an idea if you have
been given eyes to see:

Luk 12:47 And that servant, which knew his lord's will, and prepared not [himself],
neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many [stripes].
Luk 12:48 But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be
beaten with few [stripes]. For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much
required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more.
Luk 12:49 I am come to send fire on the earth; and what will I, if it be
already kindled?
Luk 12:50 But I have a baptism to be baptized with; and how am I straitened till it
be accomplished!
Luk 12:51 Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell you, Nay; but
rather division:
Luk 12:52 For from henceforth there shall be five in one house divided, three
against two, and two against three.
Luk 12:53 The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against the
father; the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother; the
mother in law against her daughter in law, and the daughter in law against her
mother in law.

Do we not live by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God? Does that not
include these words:

Mat 20:20 Then came to him the mother of Zebedee's children with her sons,
worshipping him, and desiring a certain thing of him.
Mat 20:21 And he said unto her, What wilt thou? She saith unto him, Grant that
these my two sons may sit, the one on thy right hand, and the other on the left, in
thy kingdom.
Mat 20:22 But Jesus answered and said, Ye know not what ye ask. Are ye able to
drink of the cup that I shall drink of, and to be baptized with the baptism
that I am baptized with? They say unto him, We are able.
Mat 20:23 And he saith unto them, Ye shall drink indeed of my cup, and be
baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with: but to sit on my right
hand, and on my left, is not mine to give, but it shall be given to them for whom it is
prepared of my Father.
Mat 20:24 And when the ten heard it, they were moved with indignation against the
two brethren.
Mat 20:25 But Jesus called them unto him, and said, Ye know that the princes of the
Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they that are great exercise authority
upon them.
Mat 20:26 But it shall not be so among you: but whosoever will be great among
you, let him be your minister;
Mat 20:27 And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant:
Mat 20:28 Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister,
and to give his life a ransom for many.

So the fiery refinement of metals in scripture are the fiery baptisms we endure. The
refining of the base metals are our fiery baptisms in Babylon. All must be brought to
Babylon and fall into the sins of Babylon, before we can be "brought out of her my
people." There is no way to shortcircuit the system simply because "man shall... live
by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God."

God house is not Babylon. It begins there just as Israel, as a nation began in Egypt.
But God's true house, the house in which He dwells in spirit, is within His elect who
are chosen out of Babylon.

The metal that is to be refined out of the hills of the land of promise today is the
most precious metal of our Babylonian experience. It is the rarest and most valuable
of the yet common base metals. Our metal which reveals our carnal, babe in Christ,
Babylonian state, for this week is copper. It is most often referred to as 'brass' in the
King James Version.

I bought a 3/4 inch by 5 foot long copper pipe a few weeks back and had to pay
eleven dollars for that short piece of copper. That seemed to me to be highway
robbery, but it does serve to illustrate that copper is far more valuable than lead,
tin, or iron.

So what does this tell us about the spiritual significance of copper. Copper is not as
hard as iron. But it is more rare, and it is more useful, and therefore far more
valuable. The same is true of copper's availability and value as compared to lead
and tin. Tin and lead are much more abundant and much less useful and much less
valuable than copper.

And in spite of all of this, copper is still a base metal, no where near as useful to
God, or as rare and valuable as silver or gold.

Copper, like all metals, signifies the work of the holy spirit in our lives, and must
therefore go through the furnace of fire before it can be cleansed of the earth from
which it is taken. We have already noted that even base metals must be refined in a
furnace of fire. But going through that furnace, as hot and as purifying and as
purging as that furnace of fire may seem to be, does not make this metal any the
less common or base. Copper is still associated in scripture, with the line of Cain:

Gen 4:22 And Zillah, she also bare Tubalcain, an instructer of every artificer in brass
[Hebrew - copper] and iron: and the sister of Tubalcain was Naamah.

Again, what is this telling us spiritually? We have covered this so many times that I
am going to start referring to this spiritual lesson as the John 8 and the 1
Corinthians 3 lesson:

Joh 8:30 As he spake these words, many believed on him.

Joh 8:31 Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in
my word, [then] are ye my disciples indeed;
Joh 8:32 And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
Joh 8:33 They answered him, We be Abraham's seed, and were never in bondage to
any man: how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free?
Joh 8:34 Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth
sin is the servant of sin.
Joh 8:35 And the servant abideth not in the house for ever: [but] the Son abideth
ever.
Joh 8:36 If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.
Joh 8:37 I know that ye are Abraham's seed; but ye seek to kill me, because my
word hath no place in you.

1Co 1:2 [Paul] Unto the church of God which is at Corinth, to them that are
sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all that in every place call upon
the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours:

1Co 3:1 And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto
carnal, [even] as unto babes in Christ.
1Co 3:2 I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able
[to bear it], neither yet now are ye able.
1Co 3:3 For ye are yet carnal: for whereas [there is] among you envying, and
strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?
1Co 3:4 For while one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I [am] of Apollos; are ye not
carnal?

Christ's words have no place in our lives while we are yet in our carnal, 'copper,'
common, base metal, spiritual babes in Christ, condition, where we still want to kill
Christ in our brothers who we hate:

Joh 8:44 Ye [who believe on Me and yet want me dead] are of your father the devil,
and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning,
and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he
speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.

Who is a murderer? We are all murderers. We all live by every word which proceeds
out of the mouth of God.

1Jn 3:15 Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no
murderer hath eternal life abiding in him.

So copper is far superior to all the other base metals that are used to tell us where
we are in our purifying, refining journey. Copper is used in scripture to show us the
very best that a "carnal babe in Christ" has to offer in service to God:

Exo 25:1 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,

Exo 25:2 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.
Exo 25:3 And this [is] the offering which ye shall take of them; gold, and silver, and
brass,

We do not start out giving God an offering of gold. Yes, gold is mentioned first, but
so too is the burnt offering. God often speaks to us from His own perspective of
what we become in Christ. But we start off as a sinner who is not a sweet smelling
savor and we become a burnt offering which is a sweet smelling savor. We start off
in God's service as copper. We later become a golden pillar in His temple, through
which all men will come into the presence of God.

Where Copper Is To Be Found In Most Abundance - The Brazen Altar And

All Of It's Implements
"All the vessels of the tabernacle in all the service thereof... shall be of
brass"

Exo 27:1 And thou shalt make an altar [of] shittim wood, five cubits long, and
five cubits broad; the altar shall be foursquare: and the height thereof
[shall be] three cubits.
Exo 27:2 And thou shalt make the horns of it upon the four corners thereof:
his horns shall be of the same: and thou shalt overlay it with brass.
Exo 27:3 And thou shalt make his pans to receive his ashes, and his shovels,
and his basons, and his fleshhooks, and his firepans: all the vessels
thereof thou shalt make of brass.
Exo 27:4 And thou shalt make for it a grate of network of brass; r it and upon
the net shalt thou make four brasen rings in the four corners thereof.
Exo 27:5 And thou shalt put it under the compass of the altar beneath, that the net
may be even to the midst of the altar.
Exo 27:6 And thou shalt make staves for the altar, staves [of] shittim wood,
and overlay them with brass.
Exo 27:7 And the staves shall be put into the rings, and the staves shall be upon
the two sides of the altar, to bear it.
Exo 27:8 Hollow with boards shalt thou make it: as it was shewed thee in the
mount, so shall they make it.
Exo 27:9 And thou shalt make the court of the tabernacle: for the south side
southward there shall be hangings for the court of fine twined linen of an hundred
cubits long for one side:
Exo 27:10 And the twenty pillars thereof and their twenty sockets shall be
of brass; the hooks of the pillars and their fillets [shall be of] silver.
Exo 27:11 And likewise for the north side in length there shall be hangings of an
hundred cubits long, and his twenty pillars and their twenty sockets of brass;
the hooks of the pillars and their fillets of silver.
Exo 27:12 And for the breadth of the court on the west side shall be hangings of
fifty cubits: their pillars ten, and their sockets ten.
Exo 27:13 And the breadth of the court on the east side eastward shall be fifty
cubits.
Exo 27:14 The hangings of one side of the gate shall be fifteen cubits: their pillars
three, and their sockets three.
Exo 27:15 And on the other side shall be hangings fifteen cubits: their pillars three,
and their sockets three.
Exo 27:16 And for the gate of the court shall be an hanging of twenty cubits, of
blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen, wrought with needlework: [and]
their pillars shall be four, and their sockets four.
Exo 27:17 All the pillars round about the court shall be filleted with silver; their
hooks shall be of silver, and their sockets of brass.
Exo 27:18 The length of the court shall be an hundred cubits, and the breadth fifty
every where, and the height five cubits of fine twined linen, and their sockets [of]
brass.
Exo 27:19 All the vessels of the tabernacle in all the service thereof, and
all the pins thereof, and all the pins of the court, shall be of brass.

The altar is the cross, the table of God:

Heb 13:10 We have an altar, whereof they have no right to eat which serve
the tabernacle.

Here is where that altar is:

Lev 6:14 And this [is] the law of the meat offering: the sons of Aaron shall offer it
before the LORD, before the altar.
Lev 6:15 And he shall take of it his handful, of the flour of the meat offering, and of
the oil thereof, and all the frankincense which [is] upon the meat offering, and shall
burn [it] upon the altar [for] a sweet savour, even the memorial of it, unto the
LORD.
Lev 6:16 And the remainder thereof shall Aaron and his sons eat: with
unleavened bread shall it be eaten in the holy place; in the court of the
tabernacle of the congregation they shall eat it.

Lev 6:26 The priest that offereth it for sin shall eat it: in the holy place shall it
be eaten, in the court of the tabernacle of the congregation.

There is no brass or copper in this room.

And The Laver - Our First Baptism

Exo 30:18 Thou shalt also make a laver of brass, and his foot also of brass, to
wash withal: and thou shalt put it between the tabernacle of the congregation
and the altar, and thou shalt put water therein.

This, the laver and all the implements of the service of the tabernacle, is where the
copper implements of service of the tabernacle stop.

Exo 27:19 All the vessels of the tabernacle in all the service thereof, and
all the pins thereof, and all the pins of the court, shall be of brass.
This is where the Levites who are not priests, work and eat. But God's anointed eat
at another altar:

Lev 10:12 And Moses spake unto Aaron, and unto Eleazar and unto Ithamar, his
sons that were left, Take the meat offering that remaineth of the offerings of the
LORD made by fire, and eat it without leaven beside the altar: for it [is] most holy:

Lev 10:13 And ye shall eat it in the holy place, because it is thy due, and thy
sons' due, of the sacrifices of the LORD made by fire: for so I am commanded.

Exactly Where Does The Copper Stop?

There is but one place in the tabernacle where we find copper:

Exo 36:35 And he made a vail of [the holy of holies] blue, and purple, and scarlet,
and fine twined linen: [with] cherubims made he it of cunning work.
Exo 36:36 And he made thereunto four pillars of shittim wood, and overlaid them
with gold: their hooks were of gold; and he cast for them four sockets of silver.

Exo 36:37 And he made an hanging for the tabernacle door of blue, and purple,
and scarlet, and fine twined linen, of needlework;
Exo 36:38 And the five pillars of it with their hooks: and he overlaid their
chapiters and their fillets with gold: but their five sockets were of brass.

The first vail is this body of flesh in which Christ dwells. The boards were overlaid
with gold, "but their five sockets were of brass."

Heb 10:19 Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the
blood of Jesus,
Heb 10:20 By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through
the veil, that is to say, his flesh;

The veil of flesh is now our bodies in which earthen vessels He now dwells:

2Co 4:5 For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your
servants for Jesus' sake.
2Co 4:6 For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in
our hearts, to [give] the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of
Jesus Christ.
2Co 4:7 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of
the power may be of God, and not of us.
"This treasure" is these golden boards of Christ "in earthen vessels," is "but their
five sockets were of brass." This is where copper stops in God's tabernacle.

This is where we "come out of her my people." It is a process, but it begins at the
door of the tabernacle. No Levite who was not a son of Aaron was ever to go past
those first five golden boards, the five pillars, whose "five sockets were of brass."
Conclusion
We will stop here for now, but copper is mentioned many times in scripture and we
must come to see its spiritual applications in all the prophecies of God's Word.

What we have seen thus far, should demonstrate that

Exo 27:19 All the vessels of the tabernacle in all the service thereof, and
all the pins thereof, and all the pins of the court, shall be of brass.

This is where the Levites who are not priests, work and eat. This is where we all are
while we are yet immersed "in the service of the tabernacle", being prepared to be
"called out of Babylon."