Entering God’s Presence

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Transcript

Let’s open our Bibles this evening to the book of Hebrews chapter 8. We’re going to look at the tabernacle as a part of our ongoing study of getting that strategic grasp of the Bible and the premise. Just to remind you where we’re headed is this, that you won’t understand this book until you understand, as Jesus Christ said, they speak of Me. He said this book is all about Me. It was the Spirit of Christ, which was in the prophets as every one of these books were inspired. every part of this book is an intricate and perfectly designed and engineered picture of Jesus Christ. So, every part, but some parts are incredibly full of beauty as we’ll see in Hebrews chapter 8, Jesus in the tabernacle introduced in this great book of Hebrews.

What does it say in Hebrews chapter 8? We’re going to see that the tabernacle was the copy and shadow of heavenly things. Now, that’s what it says in Hebrews 8:3. Now, that is an amazing statement and I put a big wow up there because we’re going to take a little bit of time tonight to look at the heavenly things. That’s just an amazing thing. But start in Hebrews chapter 8. Just let me underline some verses and then we’ll go to chapter 12.

Now, this is the main point. It says in verse 1, we do have such a high priest, and of course the whole book of Hebrews of saying Christ is better. Better than everything. Better than the sacrificial system, the angels, all the prophets, Moses, better than Melchizedek, everything. But we have a High Priest who’s seated at the right hand of the throne of the majesty of the heavens, a minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord erected and not man. Now, right away we’re going what is that?

Next, for every high priest is appointed to offer gifts and sacrifices. Therefore, it’s necessary that this One should have something to offer. For if you were on Earth, You would not be a priest, since our priest who offered the gifts according to the law, who serve, look at this, here’s our premise this evening, Hebrews 8:5, the copy and shadow of the heavenly things.

Now, wait a minute. The temple in Heaven is not a souped up edition of the earthly tabernacle. The earthly tabernacle is merely a copy and a shadow of what God has in Heaven. That’s just a fascinating thought to think about.

Now look, it continues. As Moses, verse 5, was divinely instructed when He was about to make the tabernacle, and we’re going to go back there to Exodus 25 tonight. For he said, and that’s God the Father speaking to him, see that you make all things according to the pattern shown you on the mountain. God gave Moses a set of plans for a portable worship center and every detail as we’ll see tonight. Every detail from the placement of it, to the measurements of it, to the stages God describes it in. Every detail it is marvelously directed toward Christ.

Now, turn to chapter 12, and I want to show you what I mean, because the whole idea is not about how many pieces are there in the lampstand. By the way, how many pieces are there in the lampstand? Have you read the Bible closely enough to know that? Did you know the divine lampstand described exactly to the detail in the book of Exodus has exactly 66 pieces. Interesting. It speaks of the illumination of the Holy Spirit. What’s the primary way the Holy Spirit illuminates us? Through what? This book. And how many pieces does this book have? 66. Very interesting. Another one of those amazing coincidences you find all the way through the Bible.

Okay, Hebrews chapter 12, starting in verse 22. Because tonight as we study the tabernacle, we study because it is the single subject which the Bible devotes more chapters to than any other. God got the whole universe created in two chapters, but he gave us 50, 5-0. That’s amazing. That’s equivalent to about 60% of the Gospels. The whole life of Christ is only 89 chapters, 60% of the equivalent space is devoted to the tabernacle, which is another picture of Christ.

So, this evening, look at verse 22. You have come to Mount Zion. This is showing what the tabernacle is pointing to because the tabernacle was invented, planned, and designed by God to give us an insight into the worship at the very throne of God. Now, look at these elements that are in verse 22. You have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, to the heavenly Jerusalem, to the innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly in the church of the firstborn, who are registered in Heaven. I always love that. If you want a new angle to witness to people say, are you registered in Heaven?

We just recently traveled. We went through Washington D.C. We couldn’t find a hotel with any rooms, and I was so thankful that Bonnie had called ahead on the cell phone and we got a room. If you’re not registered and the hotel’s full, you can’t get in. Only those who are registered in Heaven get to go. So, those who are registered in Heaven. Continuing to God, the judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect, verse 24, to Jesus, the mediator of the new covenant and to the blood of the sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel.

What is this? The Scriptures tell us that the Church, and I love those verses, but You have come. Right now, right now, this is going on. Listen to this. You’ve come to the city of God. That’s our final destination. To the myriads of angels. Those are our faithful servants. Did you know that from before you were saved it says in Hebrews 1:14, the angels were watching over all of us who would be heirs of salvation? They were watching us. They were protecting. They were guiding. They were a part of our lives. I’m not talking about the little, this sentimental, have an angel in your pocket and around your house stuff. I’m talking about the real angels. None of them are fat and naked, so you don’t have to worry about that. Those angels that they sell, the cherubic kind, are not accurate. The myriad of angels, they are faithful servants. To the fellow believers. Those are our fellow pilgrims. To God. He is the focus of our worship. Especially tonight we’re going to focus on Him. To the Church triumphant, that is the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in Heaven.

Those are our faithful examples that have gone before us, and they’re the ones we read about in Hebrews 11, and others. The Saints since Pentecost, who are the Church triumphant, our faithful examples. And to Jesus it says there in verse 24 at the beginning. He is our beautiful Savior. Then look at this: and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things in that of Abel. That’s probably the greatest treasure, forgiveness.

It’s amazing. People have great memories. It was said that Seneca, if you know anything about Seneca, the ancient writer and philosopher, it was said that in his classes he would regularly lecture and have 200 students. He would have each of them at a normal lecture, quote one line of their favorite poetry around the room. At the end of their quoting of it, he would quote every one of their lines in the exact order backward to show the power of his memory. Augusta knew a man who could quote all of Virgil’s writings verbatim, frontwards, and backwards. That’s a great memory. I don’t have that. You know who has the best memory? God.

He says, look at the end of verse 24, one of the greatest possessions of all times, we have the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel. What that’s talking about is Abel’s blood cries from the ground for vengeance. The blood of the covenant says, God will remember my sins and yours never again. That’s why they’re worshiping him.

Let’s talk about Heaven for just a second. Let me give you the heavenly things, and I want you to sit back before we get to the tabernacle and just listen to this. Heaven is described in the Book of Revelation, in the book of Ezekiel. When we talk about Ezekiel and Revelation, there’s just one modern English word we can add, and that’s just, wow. It’s hard to comprehend how wonderful it is.

Let me just briefly describe it. When we think of Revelation and Ezekiel, it brings to our mind a picture of angels by the millions. It says in chapter 4 and 5 of Revelation, there are 10,000 times 10,000. They’re masked around the circular shore of a waveless sea of glass. Think about that. A glassy sea. It’s like a mirror laying on the ground and there a circular reflecting glass sea with hundreds of millions of angels around it. Then, looking around, we count 24 thrones set on the circle of this glassy sea. Each one seating a celestial man with a crown in his head. We’ve never been around hundreds of millions of people to start with, let alone a mirror big enough to have hundreds of million people standing around it, plus 24 thrones with people with crowns sitting on them.

Then, inside that ring of thrones are four magnificent creatures. Each has a distinct face. One, the face of a lion, another of an ox, another of a man, another of an eagle. Yet every inch of these creatures is covered with eyes, and this is not something grotesque. It’s gorgeous to look at these creatures. Fire moves back and forth between them. The creatures speed around like flashes of lightning going inside this circle between the thrones and the center throne. Then they’re whirring wings roar across that vast expanse and above all that you can hear the sound of their voices as in perfect cadence they proclaim holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come. By the way, if you’d like to follow along, I’ve only gotten to Revelation chapter 4 in verse 8 in this description.

Continuing, above us, if you are standing there as John was, over our heads and these living creatures hangs an awesome expanse. The Bible describes it in such a way that it seems to be like beautiful, pure crystal ice sparkling. It provides a jewel like setting and it emphasizes the throne, which is the color of emeralds. On that throne sits One who has the appearance of glowing redness and clearness, yet with red fire glowing through it and cornelian and Jasper. Then a lamb standing before that throne appearing as if he had been slain standing in the center.

Now, we’ve gotten to chapter 5 in verse 6. Then He takes the scroll from Him who sat on the throne and all fall before Him. The four great angels, and the 24 elders, and millions that are surrounding this round sea. Most of all, us because we, by chapter 5, are there, all of us tonight who are regenerated and born again. We sing with them, verse 12 of chapter 5, and that is we sing out in worship worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power, and wealth, and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory, and praise.

Truly, we see from Ezekiel and from Daniel and from Revelation that worship is almost incomprehensible to us in the heavenly realm. The size with no spatial limitations. The colors. The air crystal clear. The minerals and whatever these gems are perfect with no imperfections is more than we can understand. But worship involves the presentation of something to God.

Now, for just a moment, turn back with me to the book of Matthew chapter 2, and I want to show you what I mean by this and how profitable our study, especially of the tabernacle can be. It says in Matthew chapter 2 that when they came in verse 11, these are the Wisemen. When they came in to the house, they saw the young child with Mary, His mother, and they fell down and worshiped Him. I always like to emphasize when we’re on that verse, they didn’t worship her at all. They worshiped Him. That was the child. That’s Jesus Christ, and that is the focus of our worship. When they had opened their treasures, they presented gifts to Him and it’s very interesting what they give. When we look at Matthew, we read that these Wisemen presented to Him: gifts of gold, and frankincense, and myrrh. As we pause and consider the significance of these gifts, we understand the beauty of worship.

Gold always in the Bible when it has to do with worship, speaks of deity. That is what’s so clear from the tabernacle. Frankincense is a perfume, and it only is aromatic when it’s brought forth with fire and contacting fire. Myrrh speaks of suffering and it’s associated with death, especially with the burial of our Lord. These Wisemen, by the gifts they presented to Him with the explanation that came from all the Old Testament worship in the tabernacle, they first expressed their faith in His deity. They gave Him gold. They acknowledged the offering to a divine one. Secondly, their appreciations of the fragrance of His sinless life, which ascended as a sweet perfume. Finally, their estimation of the value of His suffering, which they showed through the myrrh.

So, we see, even in this worship, there is the presentation, but it’s a presentation as it says in verse 11, to Him in their worship, but it was one that reflects the glory of God. How do we reflect the glory of God? Let’s do a little journey this evening by way of these slides, and this journey is to the tabernacle, and this tabernacle has to do in every detail with the magnificence of God. Let me give you one example. Okay?

Why don’t you turn back with me to Numbers chapter 2. This for those of you reading through the Bible is not usually one of the favorite parts of the Bible, okay? Because it has all these names. As I found out in staff meeting recently, people aren’t prone to pronouncing them. I said, no, you have to pronounce all these names I told to our secretarial staff. I said, what you do is make short little syllables. When you come to a hard name like in chapter 2 verse 3, Nahshon the son of Amminadab. By the end of the staff time, they were all trying to pronounce the names, but we don’t like Numbers 2.

But, let me just briefly do something, and this is certainly not original with me. This has been especially discovered in the 18th and 19th century in the American Bible Conference movement when they started analyzing the significance of the details of the Bible. But let me show you something that maybe will perk up in your mind, your reading of the Bible, because every time we read the Bible, we should look for Jesus Christ.

Okay. Numbers chapter 2. Let me give you some details about the camp of is Israel. First of all, the camp of Israel is made up of the groupings of the people of Israel, and let’s look for some numbers because they’re all here. Where did they go? Come on Numbers. There we go. Every word is inspired. Every detail is inspired. It’s by design. Keep going. We’re working together tonight. What might be hidden behind the details of the camp of Israel? It says that every part of this book, it says in Psalm 40, quoted in Hebrews 10, every part of it speaks of Christ.

Now, what’s in Numbers 2? It’s numbers. That’s why they call the book Numbers. Look at these numbers. The Bible goes to excruciating detail telling us exactly how many people. If you start Judah is in verse 3. Issachar is in verse 5. Zebulun is in verse 7. Then Reuben is in verse 10. Simeon is in verse 12. All these things, look what it says. Judah has 74,000. Issachar, 54,000. This is the census, by the way. Zebulun 57,400, and all these numbers, and you can read, okay.

Not only that, it tells us groupings of them. The next slide shows us this: it says that they’re grouped in four groups, and specifically, look again in Numbers chapter 2 and verse 3. It tells us on the East side, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. It tells that grouping. Then you go down to verse 10 on the South side, down through that. Then look at verse 18, on the West side and blah blah. It goes through all these details and you go, huh. Forever, oh Lord, Your Word is settled in Heaven. What do we need that for? And that’s how we who are in a hurry and who do not think in an eastern way. We are not oriental. The Bible is oriental. We are occidental. I didn’t say accidental. Occidental. We are Westerners. We think in terms of what something does. They think in terms of what something is. We are so in need of looking at this and looking at things in such a way as to say why did God tell us that Judah was the head of a team of three that have 186,400 people? And Reuben is the head of a team of three that has a 151,400? Why does it say they’re on the North and the South and East and the West? And we should start asking those questions.

Okay, let’s go a step further. Now, we find the Scriptures continue and it talks about what you’re supposed to do, especially in chapter 3, what you’re supposed to do with all of these special pieces. Now, you can’t read all the little writing, but the Levites, one of the 12 tribes, the sons of Levi, had three groupings within them. The Gershonites, who were in charge of the tent, and we’re going to study the tent tonight. Then the Kohathites, they did the Ark and the table and the lampstand. And the Merarites, who did the boards. They put up all the framework to put it together. Then Moses and the priests that offered the kohene or the kohen as they call them, even today. In fact, you read the Jerusalem Post, a kohen is born almost every day in Israel. Those people who are saying we hope we’re of the priestly of class.

So, it says that the Levites were supposed to camp like this on the South side, the Kohathites on the North side, the Merarites. Moses, and the priests on the South side. In the center was to be the tabernacle proper. You can see the outline of it, and I’ll describe it in a minute. On the West side, the Gershonites. Okay, that’s pretty good.

Okay, let’s keep going. Now, listen to what the Scriptures say because if you read back in chapter 2, it says in verse 3, on the East side toward the rising of the sun those with the standard. Standard? What is that? They had insignias. We just blew right by that. The standard of Judah is supposed to be on the East side. Okay, that’s great. Then it says continuing, the next slide says, on the South side there’s Ruben. So, it says, Reuben’s supposed to be over on the South side, which is fascinating, and the Levites in the middle.

Now, let me ask you a question. If we were camping, we would just camp anywhere on the South out in the field or wherever. But that’s not how they went. Let’s look at the preciseness because the rabbinical records tell us that according to the rabbis, they were the teachers, that the camp of Judah had to be exactly East of the Levites. Okay? And the camp of Reuben had to be exactly South of the Levites. So, strict obedience says you cannot, and by the way, remember kosher, kosher. They did not slide into stuff and they didn’t halfway do it and they didn’t smoosh it around. They were very strict and so strict obedience would deny them anything that was Southeast. So, think about that.

Also, cardinal directions; direct East of the Levites, direct West of the Levites, direct South of the Levites would be the only thing that God would allow. So, only the width of the Levites camp was allowed. if you read the text, it says that. It told them exactly where to camp around the tabernacle, exactly where they were to place their tents and all their goods and all their accoutrements for the tabernacle. Then it says all of these tribes in specific order behind their standard were to line up. So, with that in our mind, think about that.

Look at the map now of what this looked like. This questionable area, the Southeast, that’s out… You can’t do that. So, Reuben was on the South and then on the West side we find, the next slide. Reuben is directly South and Judah’s directly East. Now, let’s look at the West side. We find Ephraim and Dan on the North. So, they would line up like this. Now, look back at your Bible. Why is it that it says in verse 9 when they were numbered, and here comes all those crazy numbers in the Bible, there are 186,400 that are on the East side. That’s fascinating, isn’t it? I bet you can’t sleep tonight when you think about that. On the South side, verse 10, going down to verse 16, there would be 151,400 that would be on the South side. Okay?

Now, this is what I love. When this was first discovered by some of the Plymouth Brethren guys years back, they didn’t have the benefit of a helicopter. But we’re going to use a helicopter tonight. Okay? So, let’s just zoom up over this and see what happens. When we get all of them in their spots, Ephraim on the West with 108,000 lining up straight, Reuben 151,000, Dan 157,000, and Judah 186,000. Now, add to it their standards. That’s the next slide. That is that specifically they had to have four, kind of like our flag, they had a standard that they marched behind because these people marched together. By the way, these were also the military groupings. The standard of Reuben was a man. The standard of Judah was a lion. The three tribes that associated with them went behind the insignia or standard, as it says in the authorized version of the line. Dan was the eagle; Ephraim was the ox.

With that in mind, let’s zoom up and look at them and extend outward the size. If you take proportionately the camp and if you are hovering over the center of the tabernacle looking down you would see that the shortest axis is the ox or those that were on the North side. Then on the South side and then on the East side and the West side. Actually, it’s west, East, North, South. The short one is on the West. The long one is the line on the East. The eagle is to the North and the man is to the South. But isn’t it coincidental when you add all that up, that if you look down, 4,000, actually, 1,446, 3,500 years ago, if you would have been hovering over the children of Israel and seen the tabernacle, if you would’ve oriented yourself East and West looking in the door of the tabernacle, you would’ve looked straight down and you have seen the camp of Israel exactly in the shape of a cross with the two long cross pieces and the even longer central piece.

Now, with that in mind, these four speak to us even of the four cherubim and the four Gospels. As you can see here, man, the perfect Son of Man, that’s how Jesus is presented in Luke. The ox, the servant of the Lord, is how He’s presented in Mark. The eagle, the divine Son of God is the Gospel by John. The lion, the King of the Jews is the theme of Matthew. Those are not only the four Gospels, those are the four faces of the cherubim. Those are also the four standards of the tribes. Another amazing coincidence. The details speak of the Lord.

Let’s continue into that tent and look at some of the details tonight that’ll help us worship because Christ is in all the Scriptures. As He said in the 24th chapter of Luke and beginning at Moses and all the prophets, this is what Jesus did. He expounded to them in all the Scriptures. All the Scriptures. I’d like to mine for you tonight, some of the less looked at Scriptures, especially in chapters 25 to 40 of Exodus, the things concerning Himself, Jesus Christ. Let’s go on a journey to the tabernacle.

The tabernacle, the Scriptures tell us in John chapter 1, verse 14, that Christ tabernacled among us. In addition to the famed two tablets of the Law, which I mentioned this morning, God wrote with His finger in stone, Moses also received what we just read in Hebrews 8:5. Moses received a set of engineering specifications right down to the 66 pieces of the lampstand, specifications for a portable sanctuary. The Scriptures devote more space, how much? Over 50 chapters to the description of the tabernacle, and that’s more than any other single subject. Isn’t that something to ponder? Why would God keep giving us chapter after chapter about this? Paul explains it to us in the New Testament, and we’ll talk about that tonight.

What does the tabernacle look like? Here’s just your Sunday school average picture of the tabernacle. It had the big wide gate in the front. The first thing you’d bump into is the brazen altar. Then you’d go into the laver. Then you went into the Holy Place, which has the three objects, the candlestick, the table of show bread, and the candle stick, and the golden altar right there, the altar of incense, which is up at the top. Then you’d go beyond the veil to the Holy of Holies. You know about the Ark of the Covenant and the mercy seat.

On the side are some of the details that are fascinating about all these little boards. Remember I said the Merarites had to carry stuff. They carried 48 boards, each was 15 feet high, 27 inches wide, and they had to put up this massive fence all the way around because there could only be one way to this thing. God designed it kind of like the Ark. Remember, Noah and the Ark, one door, one door into this.

Okay, continuing on, the next slide tells us something fascinating. Now, I don’t want you to get all worked up about this, but I want you to think about it. There are actually three parts. There’s the outer area, then there’s the inner court that you’re inside. Then there’s the Holy Place. Now, basically, if you were setting this thing up, there’s the outer area where anybody could go, then there’s the inner court, and then there’s the Holy Place. The Bible presents, I pray, God, Your whole spirit, soul, and body. There are also three parts God presents us. There’s the outer area of our lives, our body. Then there’s the inner court, our soul, and then there’s the spirit within.

You say, wait a minute, wait a minute. Sometimes the body says soul and spirit, and joints and marrow so we should be quadrinomial. When God talks about sanctification He talks of us as a three part personality. He talks about, and the very God of peace sanctify your spirit, your soul, and your body. It’s fascinating, and we’re not going to do it tonight, but the temple, what is our most often designated title by Paul in the New Testament? Know ye not that your body is the what? The temple. Temple. We are the what of God? The temple. It doesn’t say that we’re the wine press. It says we’re His temple. It’s very fascinating that when we get to it on the outside of that Holy Place, there were storage rooms that could only be accessible from the outside. When you read about the downfall of the children of Israel, it was because they began to store in the store rooms of the Holy Place, things that grieved God in His holiness.

Go to the next slide. Pictures of Christ in the tabernacle. Not only did the camp of Israel with the populations that were given in Numbers 2, but also in the whole approach, you can see the outline of a cross if you do a straight line from the brazen altar to the laver straight through to that altar of incense or the golden altar. By the way, most frequent of all the objects mentioned in the Book of Revelation, you find that prayer or that incense altar most frequently mentioned in Revelation. Remember I told you that this is just a copy on Earth of the real sanctuary. The real sanctuary is in Heaven. It’s really there. You find angels walking in and out of it. You find a great altar. You find them bringing censers and throwing coals from their altar. Very fascinating. But you can see the wonderful overview of the cross reminding us of Christ.

Continuing, this is just a description I’d like to take you through and you just look at this for a minute. First, we’ll talk about the courtyard of the temple, or of the tabernacle. It was 150 feet long, 75 feet wide. It had a single gate on the East side, and you can see it open right there. The tabernacle everywhere you look, you can see Christ. This gate was 30 feet wide, seven and a half feet high. It allowed a large number of people to enter at the same time, and that is a very vivid picture of Jesus who said, I am the way and I am the door. Just as there’s only one entrance to the tabernacle, there is only one way to God and the way is the door, Jesus Christ. Christianity is presented in the Bible as exclusive. We don’t make it exclusive. God made it exclusive, just as there is one way in as we see the bullock being brought in for the sacrifice. So, there’s only one way to God, and of course God has intentionally made his spiritual eternal Church exclusive. It can be entered only through Jesus Christ.

The first thing you’d bump into, and you can see it right there with the smoke coming out of it, is the bronze altar. The brazen altar had actually two parts. This grate that you see setting on the side was, and brazen means brass. Remember I told you that everything is intentional. Everything in the outer court speaks of fiery judgment, brass, bronze. Everything once you get inside is pure gold. Significant. What God does…

You see this underneath? The portable part there was where the coals and the fire were burned, and the grate here is where the sacrifice was put. They would place that over the top. By the way, the four horns, if you remember at our Passover Seder, I said that the Passover lamb was tied to a horn. A corner of the altar where it awaited all day long its death, just as Christ was nailed to the cross. For those six hours He hung there and finally at 3:00 p.m. said, it is finished.

But, let me tell you about this bronze altar. It was made of Acacia wood which, by the way, is a desert wood. It’s intensely hard. It’s weathered. It grows with desert winds and desert conditions. It was seven and a half feet square. It stood four and a half feet off the ground. It was topped by this bronze grate. The coals were placed underneath the grate. The sacrifice was placed on top the grate. The four corners or horns were where the animal was bound. The bronze altar, again, is a perfect picture of Jesus Christ, who Himself was the sacrifice for sin for us to think about.

The next object as we travel through was the laver and that piece of furniture. The laver of the basin was also bronze. The priest would wash their hands and sometimes their feet. In fact, by the time you get to Solomon’s, it was big enough for the priest to immerse themselves in, which was normal back then in their preparations for them to bathe, to be holy, especially on the day of Atonement. As they went about the bloody service of sacrifice, this is a picture of Jesus Christ, our cleanser, the one who cleanses us His people. Once we receive forgiveness by His once and for all sacrifice. As I mentioned this morning, the brazen altar speaks of the sacrifice of Christ once and for all for sin. But, as we go through life, we have to constantly be cleansed. It doesn’t mean we get resaved. That’s what I love. My sweet 5-year-old, every time he really does something bad and we pray about it, he always says, Lord, will you save me again? Now, in one sense it’s true because sōzō also speaks of scrubbing as clean. That is a part of salvation, but he doesn’t quite get the idea he doesn’t need to be resaved, just go to the laver.

But this is Christ our cleanser. Once we receive forgiveness through Christ’s sacrifice, we still need His daily cleansing which alone can restore our fellowship with Him and our joy. If you’re not enjoying your reading of the Bible, if you’re not enjoying other believers, if you dread coming together you might need the Christian bar of soap. You might need cleansing. You might need to come to the laver and ask for Christ’s cleansing.

Now, backing up, taking another view, the next slide again shows us the next object we would hit would be the tabernacle proper. Now, the tabernacle is this whole object, but the sacred tent is that central piece. Now, we come into not only the plan of salvation that God has only approached through the sacrificial death of Christ and through the continual cleansing we need. Then we get to go into His holy presence. But, also each of the pieces speak so clearly of Christ.

But that tent, the tabernacle was 45 feet long, 15 feet wide, 15 feet high. The Holy Place took up two thirds, the front half with those three objects in it, which we’ll examine tonight. The back Holy of Holies took up the back third, which meant that the Holy of Holies was a perfect 15 foot by 15 foot by 15 foot cube. It was a perfect cube shape, like we see in Heaven talked about. If you look at 1500 stadia by 1500 stadia by 1500 stadia. It’s very interesting how God likes those cubes. But that place was only for the priest. There were three pieces of furniture inside of the front half, the Holy Place.

The writer of Hebrews, now it’s very interesting. If you want to go to Hebrews chapter 9, it’s interesting that he only mentions two of the pieces that are in there, and I’ll explain why. In chapter 9, verse 5:1-5 it talks about the earthly sanctuary. He only mentions if you read all the detail two of them. That’s for specific reasons. When we get to Revelation, we’ll talk about that.

Let’s look at these three objects that are described in Hebrews chapter 9. The first is the golden altar of incense. This one, by the way, is the one that’s so often mentioned in Revelation. It’s mentioned in chapter 8, verse 3. It’s mentioned in chapter 8, verse 5, and it’s mentioned in chapter 9, verse 13. It always has to do with prayer. In fact, this perpetually burning place where the incense or the frankincense was put, was ignited by coals from the altar, the burnt offering. So, our prayers are ignited by our partaking in the sacrifice of Christ by us receiving his salvation. That’s why Adrian Rogers the great Southern Baptist preacher got in so much trouble a few years ago when he said, God doesn’t hear the prayers of Jews. Oh man, they got on him. But, you know what he was going on was this, our prayers ascend before God once we have received the sacrifice of Christ once and for all for our sins. So, God only hears the prayers of believers as far as intercessory prayers, but He hears the prayer of anyone who’s crying out to Him for whosoever shall call Him the name of the Lord. But I’m talking here about intercessory prayer.

So, let me describe for you this altar of incense. This altar of incense was gold overlaid acacia wood, gold overlaid. Remember, once you get inside, everything is golden. It’s one and a half feet square, three feet high. It was ignited by the burning coals from the bronze altar in the courtyard where sacrifice was made. It pictures Jesus Christ.

Now, think about this. Think about, if you step back and look at the whole courtyard and can you flip back for a second that. I don’t know if you can go backward on these but let me just show you something. If you step back and think about Christ’s earthly work was pictured outside the Holy Place. If you think about it, Jesus Christ offered Himself as the sacrifice for our sin, and we see Him cleansing His disciple’s. Remember the whole picture of washing their feet. The whole laver, our need for daily cleansing. Jesus accomplished His sacrificial work on Earth outside God’s heavenly presence. That’s why the burnt offering and the laver are outside the tent, which shows God’s presence or speaks of it.

The outer court was accessible to all the people just as during the earthly ministry of Christ. He was accessible to all who would come to Him saved or lost. He was accessible to everybody. Did you ever think of that? Herod even could whistle for Him and have Him come. And Pilate could say, come on over to me and they would let Him over. Jesus, during His earthly ministry, was accessible to all the people, but in the heavenly sanctuary, He is shut off from the world. In fact, we don’t even today have direct physical access with Him. Although He is omnipresent, we don’t physically have access. We can’t run and walk through the fields with Him like the disciples did. But from His heavenly place, Jesus now ministers.

Now, keep going in the slides. Let me talk to you about His present ministry. He intercedes for us. That’s what this is talking about. Hebrews 7 says, Jesus ever lives to make intercession for us, but while He’s interceding, a part of His intercession is that He collects and works through our prayers. Chapter 8 of the Book of Revelation says every prayer that you and I pray, He collects. if you notice anything about the sequence of the bulls and the trumpets and all that’s going on in Revelation, it has to do with pouring out those bowls of the prayers of God saints; your prayers and my prayer are so important to God. He not only hears them, He collects them like a mother collects all those little love notes of her children when they’re going through school and write all those sweet little notes. So, this wonderful alter of incense pictures, Christ intercessory work.

The next piece that we look at is the golden lampstand. It had seven branches. Each was filled with the purest of olive oil. Jesus said in John 9, in verse 5, while I’m in the world, I’m the light of the world. But when He left the world, the world was left in darkness. Only for us believers is He the light of light. He is the light that directs our paths. He is the one through His Spirit, remember the promised Spirit? He says I won’t leave you alone. I’ll give you the Spirit. Through the promised Spirit, He illumines our minds to understand spiritual truth. He, through the indwelling Spirit, guides us in this world. He is our light. But, interestingly enough, if you look at that lampstand and you read, it was made of one piece of beaten gold, but it was made in 66 individual parts. There is one message of this book. There is one theme of this book, the Lord Jesus Christ. That is seen and illumined and brought to us from 66 different vantage points, just like the one light of that golden candlestick as it illumined the center of the Holy Place.

The next piece we see is of course the table of showbread, the table on which the sacred bread was left. By the way, if you’ve ever read showbread, especially in the authorized King James, it says shew, SHEW. Actually, it’s literally, it’s the bread of the face. In Hebrew, it’s the bread of the face. The idea was that as it was set there, the 12 tribes were represented by the 12 loaves in the tabernacle and temple. God was saying, I’m on one side and you’re on the other. When you come to that table, you are before my face. That’s why I mention that when we have communion, it is that God invites us to suffer. A supper commemorating His Son and He wants us to come face to face with Him and to worship Him and to thank Him for our great salvation.

More about the table of sacred bread. It was like the base of the altar. It was made of acacia wood. It was overlaid with gold. It was three feet long, 18 inches wide, two and a fourth feet high. Every Sabbath, 12 new loaves were set on it, one for each of the 12 tribes. At the end of the week, the priests and only the priests could eat the loaves that had been in God’s presence all that week.

What it teaches to us is that Jesus is our sustenance. He is our table of sacred bread. He is the one who wants to feed us every day if we’ll just come up to the table. I don’t know if you realize this, God is a lot more eager for you to read His Word and the Lord Jesus Christ is a lot more eager than we would ever know, or we would come more often. He wants to feed us. He eagerly prepares those pastures for us to come and to rest and to refresh ourselves and to lie down and to feed. Not just to gulp it, but to use that as reflection. You should not merely just read, read, read the Bible, but you should do like the 40-20 where you read for 40 minutes and meditate on it for 20, or some type of reflective where we can let this digest into us.

But He is the one who feeds us every day. He sustains us through His Word. The Word is our only food, but it also is our light to guide us. As the oil, the Holy Spirit lights the Word for us. The altar of incense pictures Jesus interceding for us. So, this table portrays for us the perfect sustenance Christ wants to have for us.

The next slide takes us into that next part, which is the back part, which there at the back of the tent, which you can’t see very well, is the Holy of Holies. Let’s study that a little bit more because behind that sacred veil, I think the next slide will take us, there was that ark of the mercy seat. You say, is that very important? Let’s take a second to go to Romans chapter 3 and verse 25, because I want to show you the very word from the Old Testament is the key word that the Apostle Paul grabs for us. Romans 3:25, whom God has set forth as a propitiation, hilastērion. That is exactly the word that the Jewish people used in the Septuagint to translate mercy seat. We can’t even pronounce propitiation. We have trouble. You want to know what it means? It’s that seat right there. It’s beneath the gaze of those cherubim, who always with eyes bent downward, looked at the blood, looked at the place where the blood was offered as the hovering presence, the Shekinah glory of God was above their wings and over that spot. They could not look at the glory of God. They looked down at the blood.

But, it’s interesting. God’s glory was there, but underneath, inside that box were the tablets of the Law. But what kept God from judging on the basis of the Law? It was the blood covered over the offenses of the Law. This is a picture of what Jesus does for us. His blood causes God to not look at our breaking of His holy Law. It causes God to look at the sacrifice and perfections of Christ. That’s what our propitiation means. You don’t need five theology books. God gave you the best picture in the world when He made this mercy seat where the blood was to be sprinkled.

Let me explain it a little bit, because beyond the second veil, the tabernacle, which was called the Holy of Holies, which only the high priest could enter once a year on the Day of Atonement. This was the holiest spot on Earth and there was only one piece of furniture in there, the Ark of the Covenant, which you see on that slide. There were three precious articles, a golden jar holding manna which reminds us that Jesus is the one who is the bread of God come down from Heaven. Even there, it was a foreshadowing of His coming. Aaron’s rod, which budded, which shows God chose that specific line. God was superintending even the arrival of Christ in the fullness of time in this perfect way. Finally, the tables of the covenant.

By the way the pot of manna, speaking of Christ’s earthly ministry in feeding, and the sustenance, the rod, which was the rod that Moses carried, which speaks of the whole prophet, and then the Law which was to be ordained by the king. It is a very clear picture of the prophet, the priest, and the king, even in the three objects that are stuck inside of there, which is a threefold office of Christ, which I won’t get into tonight either. But, everything, it’s all intertwined.

But this Ark of the Covenant was made of acacia wood, again overlaid with gold. It was three feet nine inches long, two feet three inches wide, two feet high. On the lid was the mercy seat, which had these cherubim of glory, angelic figures, solid gold they were made of. Between their wings, where they looked down, was the mercy seat and that’s what’s interesting.

I want to show you this, turn to Exodus 25 because this is fascinating. You want to get a buzz out of what Jesus did for us. It was prefigured in the Old Testament and it says in chapter 25 of Exodus, that boring old book. Verse 22 or verse 21, you shall put the mercy seat, Exodus 25:21 on top of the Ark. In the Ark, you shall put the testimony I will give you. That’s the Law. Look at verse 22. There I will meet with you and I will speak with you from above the mercy seat, from between the cherubim, which were on the Ark of the testimony about everything which I give you in commandment to the children of Israel. Wow! Where did God speak? He spoke through the picture of the sacrificial propitiation of Jesus Christ. That’s how God speaks to us. That is our access. That is our entrance. That is our boldness, Hebrews 4:15. So, we can come boldly before His throne.

If God and man were to meet, they could only meet at the mercy seat, the central part. In fact, the only thing in the Holy of Holies was this Ark. This Ark represents Jesus Christ. He is our mercy seat. When we meet Jesus Christ as Savior, we are ushered into the very presence of God. That’s why soul winning is so wonderful. When you sit next to someone, when you share the Gospel, when you say, do you see that we all are sinners? Do you see that Jesus Christ is your only hope? Do you see that it is a free gift that you cannot earn? Then, would you like to receive Him? Would you like to call out to Him?

You want to have a great ministry? Ask people when’s the last time you verbally shared the Gospel of Jesus Christ with someone? You know what you’ll find out? Most people never talk about Christ to other people. They talk about Him to believers; they don’t talk about Him to other people. But, do you want to have one of the greatest joys on Earth? Be next to someone when you watch them and hear them cry out to Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of their sins.

What happens? At that moment they are ushered into the presence of God. They come into the true Holy of Holies and God communes no longer between these cherubim on a gold mercy seat. He communes with us through His Son because that’s the picture of the veil being torn, the access to God is open. We come, and let’s go back to the book of Hebrews to close tonight, by a new and living way.

Let’s look at how the writer of Hebrews, this could well be Paul’s 14th epistle. Doesn’t matter. There are a lot of reasons why it could be. This is what he says, we have the access to God. Chapter four, we don’t have a high priest who can’t sympathize, verse 15, with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are. Let us therefore come boldly to His throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. We come to Jesus Christ because He, chapter 2 verse 18, has suffered. He comes to our aid and He has become our mercy seat. He suffered and bled and died. The instant that we come to salvation, we come into what the mercy seat portrayed. We come by a new and living way, and we come in the basis of the blood of Jesus Christ. Jesus, our mercy seat is the one that gives us access to God.

That’s a quick tour of the tabernacle. We’re going to look in the days ahead at how beautifully God uses the workmanship, the materials, the objects, even the colors, to portray one thing, Jesus Christ. He is, as 1 John 2:2 says, which is another use of this mercy seat, He is the mercy seat for our sins, not for ours only, but for the sin of the world. He offers Himself and says, come unto Me all the ends of the Earth and be saved. We’re supposed to be messengers telling everyone we meet that good message.

Let’s rejoice that as we bow our hearts before Him right now, we get to meet with Him face to face. We come before You tonight, oh Father, with thanksgiving. Thank You that we have access, that You met with one man once a year at the mercy seat, the high priest, but now You meet with each of us anytime we want to come. I pray we would come often, we would come boldly, we would come reverently, we would come purely. And we would come to seek help in our time of need. May we seek help to flee sin and pursue righteousness. May we seek help to be messengers. May we capture the spirit of the Apostles as they could not cease but to speak of You and they earnestly desire to tell every creature. Most of us tell few creatures about You. You said to go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature. Help us, by Your grace, to long to see men and women and boys and girls be able to come to the mercy seat and come face to face with You, our Creator. We pray that we’ll be faithful till You come or call. Thank You for tabernacling among us and letting us worship You. In the name of Jesus we give thanks, Amen. God bless you as you go.

 

Notes

Tonight we study the Tabernacle because it is the single subject to which the Bible devotes more chapters than to any other. The Tabernacle was invented, planned, and designed by God to give us an insight into worship at the very Throne of God.

Let’s go there by way of Hebrews 12:22-24. Please stand and seek our God as He speaks to us.

The Scriptures tell us that in the Church “you have come” (right now!) to these seven sublime realities:

• To the City of God, our final destination
• To myriads of angels, our faithful servants
• To fellow-believers, our fellow pilgrims
• To God, our focus of worship
• To the Church Triumphant, our faithful examples
• To Jesus, our beautiful Savior
• To forgiveness, our greatest possession!

Heaven as described in the books of Revelation and Ezekiel, brings to our minds a picture of angels—millions of angels—“ten thousand times ten thousand”—massed around the circular shore of a waveless sea of glass that reflects those countless hosts from its mirrored surface.

• Looking around we can count twenty-four thrones set in a circle, each seating a celestial man wearing a crown.
• Then inside that ring of thrones are four magnificent seraphim. Each has a distinct visage—a lion, an ox, a man, and an eagle—and yet every inch of each of them is covered with eyes. Rather than grotesque, the effect is gorgeous. Fire moves back and forth among them, and the creatures speed to and fro like flashes of lightning. The sound of their whirring wings roars across the expanse, but above that rises their call:

Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come. (Revelation 4:8)

• Above us and over the heads of the living creatures hangs an awesome expanse—sparkling like ice, providing a jewel-like setting for the emerald throne. On the throne sits one who has the appearance of glowing jasper and carnelian. Then appears “a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing in the center of the throne” (5:6). He takes the scroll from the right hand of him who sits on the throne, and all fall prostrate before him—the four great angels, the twenty-four elders, and the millions around the sea—and most of all, us! And we sing with them:

Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise! (5:12).[1]

Worship[2] is a presentation of our gifts to God.  In Matthew when we read that these wise men “presented unto Him gifts, gold, frankincense and myrrh,”  we need to pause and consider the significance of these gifts.  Gold speaks of Deity, as a study of the Tabernacle makes plain.  Frankincense gives forth its perfume only as it is brought into contact with fire.  Myrrh speaks of suffering, and is associated with the death and burial of our Lord.  Thus these wise men, by the gifts they presented to Him, expressed first, their faith in His essential and eternal Deity; second, their appreciation of the fragrance of His sinless life which should ascend, as a sweet perfume, to His Father; and third, their estimation of the virtue and value of His vicarious sufferings, by which the redemption of humanity should be accomplished.

Temple: Rev. 7.15; 11.19; 14.15,17; 15.5,6,8; 16.1, 17; 21.22

Ark: 11.19

Censer: 8.3,5

Golden Incense Altar: 8.3; 8.5; 9.13

Only two chapters in the Bible are devoted to the creation story, whereas some fifty chapters focus on the Tabernacle (see especially Ex. 25-40). The Tabernacle is important and demands attention in our study, because it is a giant portrait of Jesus Christ. Everywhere you look in the Tabernacle you can see Him.

• THE COURTYARD OF THE TABERNACLE was one hundred fifty feet long and seventy-five feet wide. Its single gate, on the east side, was thirty feet wide and seven and a half feet high, allowing a large number of people to enter at the same time. It is a graphic picture of Jesus Christ, who said, “I am the way” and “I am the door.” Just as there was only one entrance to the Tabernacle, there is only one way to God-the only Way and the only Door, Jesus Christ. Christianity is exclusive, not because Christians make it so but because God has made it so. Throughout the centuries, of course, Christians have made the earthly church exclusive in many wrong ways. But God has intentionally made His spiritual, eternal church exclusive. It can be entered only through Jesus Christ.
• The first article of furniture in the outer court was THE BRONZE ALTAR. It was made of acacia wood sheathed with bronze. It was seven and a half feet square, stood four and a half feet off the ground, and was topped with a bronze grate. The coals were placed underneath the grate and the sacrifice was placed on top. On the four corners of the altar were horns, to which the animal was bound when it was being sacrificed. The bronze altar is again a perfect picture of Jesus Christ, who Himself was a sacrifice for sin.
• The next piece of furniture in the court was THE LAVER or basin, also made of bronze. In it the priests would wash their hands, and even sometimes their feet, as they went about the bloody services of sacrifice. Here is a picture of Jesus Christ as the cleanser of His people. Once we have received forgiveness for our sins through Christ’s sacrifice of Himself, we still need His daily cleansing that restores fellowship and joy.
• Still moving west across the courtyard, we come to THE TABERNACLE proper-forty-five feet long, fifteen feet wide, and fifteen feet high. The holy place took up two-thirds of this area, which means that the holy of holies was a perfect fifteen-foot cube. Only priests could go into the Holy Place, in which were three pieces of furniture. The writer of Hebrews mentions only two, because, as he says, he cannot speak in detail (9:5). 
• The Holy Place. On the left, as the priest entered, was a solid GOLD LAMPSTAND having seven branches, each filled with the purest olive oil. “While I am in the world, I am the light of the world,” Jesus said (John 9:5). When He left the world, the world was left in darkness, and only for believers is He the light of life. He is the light that directs our paths, the One who, through the Spirit, illumines our minds to understand spiritual truth. He is the One who, by the indwelling Spirit, guides us through the world of darkness. He is our light.
• On the right was THE TABLE on which was THE SACRED BREAD, or show-bread. This table, like the base of the altar, was of acacia wood overlaid with gold. It was three feet long, one and a half feet wide, and two and a quarter feet high. Every Sabbath twelve loaves of fresh bread were set on it, one for each of the twelve tribes. At the end of the week, the priests, and only the priests, were allowed to eat the loaves. Jesus is our sustenance. He is our table of sacred bread. He is the One who feeds us every day, who sustains us with the Word. The Word is not only our food but our light. And the oil is the Spirit of God, who lights the Word for us. The altar of incense pictures Jesus interceding for us, the perfect Sacrifice becoming the perfect Intercessor.
• Farther in and to the center of the Holy Place was THE ALTAR OF INCENSE. It, too, was of gold-overlaid acacia wood, one and one-half feet square and about three feet high. On this altar were placed the burning coals from the bronze altar in the courtyard, where sacrifice was made. These three pieces of furniture also picture Christ. Everything in the outer courtyard was connected with salvation and the cleansing of sins.

• Jesus accomplished His sacrificial work on earth, outside God”s heavenly presence.
• The outer court was accessible to all the people, just as Christ is accessible to all who will come to Him.
• But in His heavenly sanctuary He is shut off from the world, temporarily even from His own people.
• From His heavenly place now, Jesus lights our path (pictured by the golden lampstand), He feeds us (pictured by the table of sacred bread), and He intercedes for us (pictured by the altar of incense).

• The Holy of Holies. Behind the second veil, there was a tabernacle which is called the Holy of Holies, into which only the high priest could enter, and that but once a year, on the Day of Atonement. In this holiest of earthly places was only one piece of furniture, the ark of the covenant. In it were three very precious articles: a golden jar holding manna, Aaron’s rod which budded, and the tables of the covenant. Made of acacia wood overlaid with gold, it was about three feet nine inches long, two feet three inches wide and two feet high. On the lid was the mercy seat, on which were the cherubim of glory, angelic figures made of solid gold. It was between the wings of those angels, on the mercy seat, that God met men. “And there I will meet with you; and from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim which are upon the ark of the testimony, I will speak to you about all that I will give you in commandment for the sons of Israel” (Ex. 25:22). If God and man were to meet it could only have been there. The central, in fact the only, thing in the Holy of Holies was THE ARK, which represents Jesus Christ, the true mercy seat. When we meet Jesus Christ as Savior, we are ushered into the presence of God, into the true Holy of Holies. God no longer communes with men between the wings of cherubim on a gold mercy seat. He communes with men in His Son, by whom the veil was torn in two. Jesus Christ is the mercy seat. Only on the basis of the blood of a goat would God have fellowship with Israel, and only on the basis of the blood of Christ will God have fellowship with men. John, in using the term “propitiation,” in 1 John 2:2, relates Jesus to the mercy seat, since that very word is used for mercy seat in the Septuagint translation of Exodus 25:17[3].

[1] Hughes, R. Kent, Preaching the Word: Hebrews Vol 1&2—An Anchor for the Soul, (Westchester, IL: Crossway Books) 1998, c1993.

[2]  A. P. Gibbs, Worship, p. 45

[3]MacArthur, John F., The MacArthur New Testament Commentary, (Chicago: Moody Press) 1983.