Exodus: New Direction New Life #13 The Tabernacle
Text:Ex 25-27; 30:1-31:18; 35:1-40:38,
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Introduction:
We want to look at the Tabernacle and use it as a model, not
only of Israel’s coming Messiah for the Hebrews but also as a measure of our
relationship with Jesus Christ as today. We will look at the court yard and rooms of
the Tabernacle and apply these to our walking with Jesus Christ. Now I taught this as a Sunday Night Bible
Study and it only took us 6 weeks to cover the same ground we are going to try
to cover in about 40 minutes this morning. I just hope you folk don’t fall
prisoner to my ambition. We’ll see where we are at along about 2 o’clock.
Let's begin with the Outer Court.
Salvation Seen in the Courtyard
Exodus 25:8-9 8 And
let them make me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them. 9 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.
Salvation
The Wall Exodus 27:9-10
Surrounding the tabernacle on all sides was a wall made of
fine woven linen. It stood on posts made of acacia wood with bases of bronze
and capitals of silver. The tabernacle court yard was 100 x 50 cubits or 150 x
75 ft. On the east side of the tabernacle was the gate, 20 cubits wide.
The Gate: The fabric of the gate was different than that of
the wall. It was four different colored
threads embroidered together to make one cloth. The colors used in the gate
were blue, purple, scarlet and bright white. The gate was the only entrance
into the courtyard and it always faced East.
The Altar Exodus 27:1-8 As you approach the tabernacle armed
guards stand with orders to kill anyone who tries to enter anywhere but the
gate and none were allowed to enter without the proper sacrifice. They must
come to the sacrifice with a lamb, a dove or an ox in order to enter the court.
Standing just behind the entrance, imposing itself in the
courtyard, would be the Brazen Altar.
The altar measured 5 x 5 x 3 cubits (7.5 ft. around by 4.5 ft
high.) It was constructed out of acacia
wood overlaid with bronze. It was a
hollow box, with a solid bronze grate mounted halfway up on the inside. Upon this altar your sacrifices would be
offered to God. This sacrifice must be
without spot or blemish to be offered to God as an acknowledgment of sin or
thanksgiving.
The offeror would bring his offering through the gate and
then in the presence of the priest would lay his hands upon the animal’s head,
signifying it as his offering for sin.
Then he would take a knife and slit the throat of the innocent animal.
The blood that would flow from the wound would be collected and put upon the
horns of the altar.
The animal then would be cut into pieces and the pieces
arranged upon the altar to be burnt.
The Laver Exodus 30:17-18
This was a large bronze basin filled with water. There are
no dimensions given for the laver, though it would be quite large and probably
near a scale to the altar. The laver was used by the priests who would wash
themselves before they served God inside the tabernacle.
The First Stage of Our Relationship With God
The Spiritual Wall: What do we see in the picture of the
outer court? First as we consider the wall around the tabernacle we must
understand that we are separated from God by our sin. Romans 3:23 For all have sinned, and come short of the
glory of God;
The Spiritual Gate: That there is only one way into the
courtyard and we must enter in only the gate, which Jesus himself claimed in John
10:9, “I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved…”
The Spiritual Altar: Once we enter, we must then come to the
altar with our sacrifice for sin. Not a bull or a lamb but the One that those
sacrifices pointed toward, the Lamb of God Jesus Christ. He is the sacrifice
that God gave for our sin and we must put our faith in Him as the payment for
our sin. John the Baptist pointed to Jesus in John 1:29 and cried out “Behold
the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.”
The Spiritual Laver: We must also come to laver which
represents the cleansing of forgiveness through Jesus shed blood and there we
must be washed clean, white as snow by the blood of the Jesus Christ. 1 John
1:7 … the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.
The Outer Court to us represents salvation, forgiveness and cleansing
in Jesus Christ through His death on the Cross and our accepting that death as
a gift from God to reconcile us with Himself.
Outside the Courtyard we cut off from God, we are helpless
in our sin, we are under the judgment of our Creator as those who have turned
their back upon the death of His Son who was given for us. Inside the Courtyard
we are saved! We are cleansed! We are forgiven and we are in fellowship with
God the Father.
Illustration: Are you Washed in the Blood
I and most of you grew up singing a song that to someone
outside the church must have seem
unthinkable.
Have you been to Jesus for the cleansing power?
Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?
Are you fully trusting in His grace this hour?
Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?
Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?
Are you fully trusting in His grace this hour?
Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?
Refrain
Are you washed in the blood,
In the soul cleansing blood of the Lamb?
Are your garments spotless? Are they white as snow?
Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?
In the soul cleansing blood of the Lamb?
Are your garments spotless? Are they white as snow?
Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?
The song just like salvation is unfathomable from man’s view
point, what are they talking about? But once inside you understand exactly what
the song is about because you have experienced it in your soul. You have found Salvation
by grace through faith and you have been washed in the blood. It makes no sense
to a lost world anymore than how a tent in the wilderness could have the glory
of God standing above it, but to us we see God’s Son and we find salvation.
Transition
Let move quickly to the next room in the tabernacle.
Sanctification
Sanctification Lived in Holy Place
If you were a priest you would next come to the Holy Place.
Inside there are three articles of furniture. As all the things
in the tabernacle, from the smallest hook to the largest altar, they represent
the Messiah, Jesus Christ.
We see the Table of Shew or Presence bread Exodus 25:25-30
The table of shewbread was gold covered and measured 3 feet
long by 1 1/2 feet wide by 2' 3" high. Along the edge of the table top
were two rims, the top one designed as a crown.
Upon the table would be placed in two rows 12 loaves of bread. The bread represented the 12 tribes of Israel
and they were to be place in the presence of God from one Sabbath until the
next. At the time the old bread was
removed and the fresh loaves placed on the table. Upon each row of bread frankincense was to be
placed probably in one of the golden vessels which were used in the carrying
and handling of the bread and incense.
The frankincense was burnt upon the altar of incense when the bread was
changed.
The Golden Lampstand Exodus 25:31-34
If we looked directly across the room from the table of
shewbread to the south side of the Holy Room we would see the golden
lampstand. The lampstand stood 2 ft 6 in
high, 3ft 6 in wide and weighed 94 pounds. It was beaten into the shape of
almond branches from a single piece of solid gold. There was a central stem
with 6 branches growing out from the center.
At the end of each branch there was a gold cup in the shape of an
almond. This cup held the oil which was
made from freshly pressed olives. The oil was to be supplied directly from the
people and was to be fresh and from the first pressing of the olive.
The lampstand illuminated the Holy Place. It allowed the priest to be able to do the
work which he had been appointed by God to do.
To the nation of Israel it was a reminder that God would lead them and
guide them through the darkness of the wilderness.
The Altar of Incense Exodus 30:1-8
It was 1 1/2 feet square and 3 feet high. It had a rim all around the top edge and at
each corner there was a horn. The altar
was placed directly in front of the veil which separated the Holy Room from the
Most Holy Room or the Holiest of Holies.
The fire for the altar of incense had to come from coals taken off the
Brazen Altar in the courtyard. The
incense which was burned here was restricted to only here. Nowhere else in all the camp of Israel could
it be burned. The Bible says the odor of
the incense filled the tabernacle area and was "well pleasing to
God."
On the High Day of Atonement, Yom Kippor, blood from the
sacrifice was placed upon the horns of the altar of incense by the priest on
His way into the Most Holy Place.
The Second Stage of Relationship with God is Sanctification
After salvation begins our growth as a child of God.
The application of this growth is seen in the articles of
furniture in the Holy Place.
The Spiritual Table: In the table of show or presence bread
with grow by walking in the presence of Jesus Christ. His Holy Spirit a
constant reminder that he is with us at all times.
How strong and bold we become when we realize God is with
us.
Romans 8:31-37 31 What shall we then say to these
things? If God be for us, who can be against us? 32 He that spared not
his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also
freely give us all things? 33 Who shall lay any thing to the charge of
God's elect? It is God that justifieth. 34 Who is he that condemneth? It
is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right
hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. 35 Who shall separate
us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or
famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36 As it is written, For thy
sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the
slaughter. 37 Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors
through him that loved us.
The Spiritual Lampstand: In the Lampstand we grow in the
knowledge of Jesus Christ. Just as the oil provided light to the tabernacle so
also Jesus provides light in our life. Through Him we see what we are, where we
are and where we are going. Jesus said, in John 5:39 Search the
scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which
testify of me.
The Spiritual Altar of Incense: In the altar of incense we
see your relationship with Christ grow though prayer. It is only through the
intercession of Christ on our behalf that we were saved and that we continue to
grow in the grace of God. It is through our offered prayers that we can continue
our growth in Christ.
Philippians 4:6 Be
careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with
thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.
Illustration: What all preaching comes down to
You know what we see in the Holy Place really comes down to
the same tried and true message that any good preacher will exhort his flock to
do Sunday after Sunday. Walk with Jesus, read of him in your Bible and
pray. You might hear it as go to church,
read the Bible and pray but what it comes down to is what we see in the Holy
Place, growing in the grace that began in the outer court and is now applied to
every aspect of our lives in a deepening relationship to Jesus our Savior.
Transiton:
Only final place is left to us in the Tabernacle and it is
the place of full surrender.
Surrender
Full Surrender In the Most Holy Place
Submission Shines in the Most Holy Place
The Veil Exodus
26:31-33
If you were the High Priest of Israel once a year you would
enter into the Holiest of Holies. This smallest room was just past the altar of
Incense and behind a thick veil that divide the two rooms. The veil stretched
from wall to wall and floor to ceiling.
It contained the same colors as the gate, these colors red, blue, white
and gold once again all point to Jesus. Different
from the outer gate though was the embroidery work of the veil, for woven into
the fabric were intricate, and cunning embroidery of cherubim, angels that stood
at the entrance of the Garden of Eden and attend the Throne room of God.
The Room
The Most Holy Place measured 15' by 15' by 15'. The boards which made up its walls were acacia
wood covered over in gold. They were fastened together with rings and rods to
form a solid wall. The pillars of the
most holy were also covered with solid gold. Entering into the Most Holy Place
would be like walking into a room with walls of gold and a ceiling filled with angels.
The tabernacle and later the temple were meant to be representations of heaven,
and this room was the representation of the throne room of God. Gold
representing the presence of deity and the presence of angels would be
everywhere.
The Ark Exodus
25:1-22
The Ark of the Covenant stood in the center of the Most Holy
Place. It was the most significant piece of furniture in all the tabernacle. It measured 2 1/2 cubits long, 1 1/2 cubits
wide and deep. It was a box constructed
from acacia wood overlaid inside and outside with pure gold. Along the top edge of the ark a crown would
go around the box forming a raised rim.
A gold ring was fastened to each corner of the ark and a gold overlaid
pole would be inserted there for carrying the ark. On top of the ark the mercy seat was
placed. This would be the exact dimensions
to form a lid upon the top of the ark.
It was constructed of solid gold not overlaid wood. Two figures of cherubim, one on each end,
knelt on top of the mercy seat. They
faced each other with their wings spreading up and over the mercy seat itself. Inside the ark, God instructed Moses to place
three items, the ten commandments, Aaron's rod and a pot of manna.
The Censor Leviticus
16:12
In addition to the things that stayed inside the Most Holy
Place, there was an article that entered into the room with the priest. This was a censer used to carry live coals
from the Brazen Altar into the Most Holy Place, once inside the high priest
would pour finely ground incense upon the coals in the censer. This was to cover the mercy seat with smoke
from the incense. Aaron would then
sprinkle the blood from the offering of atonement upon the mercy seat.
The Third Stage in My Relationship With God is Full Surrender
To enter into this stage of maturity and to walk with God at
this level, there are 5 aspects of God that I must be be aware of in my
relationship with God.
God’s Person, God’s Power, God’s Priest, God’s Pardon, and God’s
Presence
First, God's Person.
In the Ark of the
Covenant God told Moses to place the tablets of stone that contained the Ten
Commandments of God toward His people.
These were not the entire code of law, but a compacted, intensified
summary of what the full law would spell out in detail. They also were a revelation of God's
attributes and character to the Israelites. Through the Ten Commandments they
would begin to see who God was.
If I am to ever walk
closely with God, I must know who God truly is.
This knowledge is first glimpsed through the law where I see the
Holiness and righteousness of God, but to see the Love and Grace of God, I must
know the Son of God who came to earth to give us the full picture the complete
portrait of God in Heaven. If we are to know more of God then we must know more
of Jesus Christ.
Paul's in Philippians 3:8-10 8 Yea doubtless, and
I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus
my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but
dung, that I may win Christ, 9 And be found in him, not having mine own
righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of
Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith: 10 That I may know
him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings,
being made conformable unto his death;
Secondly, next know God's Power.
God's power was
symbolized in the ark by the pot of manna. Jesus tells us that the manna was a
symbol of Himself. He was the true bread
of life. John 6:32-33 Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto
you, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven; but my Father giveth you the
true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he which cometh down from
heaven, and giveth life unto the world..
The passage in John 6 followed Jesus multiplying the loaves
and fishes for the multitude. What does
the New Testament event share with God's provision of manna in the Old
Testament? In both the Old Testament
manna and the New Testament loaves and fishes, God was providing for those who
followed him. His power was demonstrated in provision.
Notice how Paul
reveals this in Philippians 4:11-13. Not
that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am,
therewith to be content. I know both how to be abased, and I know how to
abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be
hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ
which strengtheneth me. That is truly knowing the power of God!
Thirdly, Know God's Priest.
Aaron's rod was also
kept inside the Ark. This rod was a proof that Aaron and his sons were the
family through which God would establish His priests. The rod was an undeniable token of God's will
for Aaron to be the mediator of the tabernacle sacrifices.
To us as Christians who would enter into the Most Holy Room in
our relationship with God, there must be a preeminent concept of Jesus as our
High Priest, the mediator of the New Covenant written not on stone this time
but upon our hearts. This reality is vital for it brings us to a total dependence
upon Jesus as our only means of approaching, dwelling and growing with God. This first occurs at salvation but should
continue with each day of life, finding through Christ more and more of God's
love, grace and peace. I will not have
more of God by any of my own abilities, but only as I trust more, lean more,
and cling more to Jesus, as my high priest.
Fourthly, Seek God's Pardon.
One cannot come to
the Most Holy Place without touching on the action that took place here once a
year. It was upon the Day of Atonement
the Aaron would come with the censor and the blood and as the smoke of the
incense filled the room he would sprinkle blood from the Brazen Altar upon the
mercy seat and then upon the ground before the mercy seat. This is the vivid picture of Jesus pouring
out His own life's blood upon the cross before God, that we might receive His
righteousness and be reconciled to God.
A forgiveness which by it's very nature is so powerful and so complete
that it could never be undone nor redone. Once you have found the grace of God
you can never lose it anymore than Jesus would once again be put to shame on
the Cross. Hebrews 7:25 says, "Wherefore he is able also to save them to
the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession
for them.
In the Most Holy
Place a Christian knows that He does not leave forgiveness and mercy after
being saved. Forgiveness is a daily,
hourly event of turning from sin and self and to the one who shed His blood for
us. The Christian, at this level of
relationship with God, yearns to dwell with "clean hands and a pure
conscience" in the presence of God's holiness, therefore he constantly and
sincerely seeks forgiveness.
God's Presence
The most outstanding
characteristic of the Most Holy Place was not the gold, the intricate
workmanship of the furniture nor the vail and its embroidered angels, it was of
course the presence of God, which dwelt above the mercy seat and between the
cherubim. It was God's presence in the
room that made it the Most Holy Place.
In Him it was a place of reverence, a place of power and a place of
wonder in the majesty of the most high God. Most Holy Place Christians are
those who have come to a place in their Christian life in which they truly
grasp the spiritual reality of the presence of God in their daily
existence. This is not a manifestation
of the Shekinah glory, nor is it a mystical experience or vision, it is the
clear and powerful acceptance of God's presence through the Holy Spirit in our
hearts and the change that such an existence must make in us.
David reflects on
this in Psalm 139:1-24 1 O LORD, thou hast searched me, and known me. 2 Thou
knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar
off. 3 Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with
all my ways. 4 For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O LORD,
thou knowest it altogether. 5 Thou hast beset me behind and before, and
laid thine hand upon me. 6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is
high, I cannot attain unto it. 7 Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or
whither shall I flee from thy presence? 8 If I ascend up into heaven,
thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. 9 If I
take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; 10 Even
there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me. 11 If I
say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about
me. 12 Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as
the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee. 13 For thou
hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother's womb. 14 I
will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy
works; and that my soul knoweth right well. 15 My substance was not hid
from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts
of the earth. 16 Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect;
and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were
fashioned, when as yet there was none of them. 17 How precious also are
thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them! 18 If I should
count them, they are more in number than the sand: when I awake, I am still
with thee. … 23 Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my
thoughts: 24 And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the
way everlasting.
This is the presence of God and it is a hallmark of a Most
Holy Room Saint. They realize that the presence of God was not left in a tent
in the wilderness but through the grace of God, the sacrifice of Christ and the
gift of the Holy Spirit, that presence is with us at all times and we are
constantly walking with God.
Illustration:
The Most Holy Place is an ideal, a goal a place where the
mature believer who has experienced God seeks to enter and stay.
This is not completely possibly until we sit in the real
throne room of Heaven with the Father, Son and Spirit for all eternity, yet if
the slightest taste or the smallest touch of God's presence here on earth can
transport us even for a moment into this Most Holy Place, then we long, as a
man in the desert thirsts for water, to experience the fullness of God in every
aspect of our lives until we do dwell with Him in that tabernacle made without
hands.
"Experiencing God" by J.I. Packer.
"Not many of us, I think, would ever naturally say that
we have known God. The words imply a definiteness and matter-of-factness of
experience to which most of us, if we are honest, have to admit that we are
still strangers. We claim, perhaps, to have a testimony, and can rattle off our
conversion story with the best of them; we say that we know God- this, after
all, is what we are expected to say; but would it occur to us to say, without
hesitation, and with reference to particular events in our personal history,
that we have known God? I doubt it, for I suspect that with most of us
experience of God has never become so vivid as that."
Yet, for the Most Holy Room Christian it is this "vivid
experience" of God that they strive for in their relationship with God.
Conclusion:
Where are you today?
Do you stand outside the tabernacle, outside of a
relationship with Jesus Christ who came and died for you? Then for you the gate
stands open, come in and find your sin forgiven and your soul made new in
through the blood of Christ.
Or do you stand in the outer court, a child of God saved by
Jesus our savior and you have been washed in the Blood? Then rejoice in your
salvation, praise God for his grace and set your eyes upon the Holy Place.
And if you would stand in the Holy Place the remember you
must be illuminated by His light, touched by His presence in you and guided by
his intercession for you. You must seek to see him in the word, know him
through prayer and walk in his presence.
Finally, would you this morning dare to stand in the Holy
Place? Would you seek a relationship with God that goes beyond the normal,
every week Sunday to Sunday experience of our Chrisitan life? The you must come
to full surrend to God and then experiencing His love and presence in your life
everyday?
Where ever you stand it must be your daily commitment to
strive to grow in your relationship with God for only in then can we truly find
all that He would be to us.
Finally, let me ask if there are any here who stand outside
the walls of the tabernacle? Any who have not go in at the gate, any who have
not made Christ their sacrifice for sin? I pray that you will see in your heart
a separation from God as real as those who stood outside the gates of the
tabernacle in the wilderness. That you will understand you are apart from God,
lost in your sin and one day will be eternally separated from Him. Please it’s
time, go in at the gate, bring with you the Jesus Christ the lamb of God that
taketh away the sin of the world and you will find the gate and God’s love, open
wide.
