The Tent Over The Tabernacle

Grace Covenant Reformed Church

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It is a very simple thing to determine that which is most important to an individual because it will be that thing which their lives are centered around.

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For some individuals, this will be the profession that they are involved in, the work that they do on a daily basis.

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For others, it will be a desire for fame, for fortune, for money, for family, for education.

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Literally, we could go on and on. However, for the people of God, one of the things that should set us apart from the world is that the center of our lives should be

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Him. And that everything else we do should be focused on, centered around, and subject to that truth.

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That everything else in our life becomes secondary to God.

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Now, we live in a busy world, full of busy things, full of distractions that seek to pull us away from this focus.

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And as such, this life can be very difficult. It can be difficult to continue to stay focused on Him.

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But thankfully, through the grace of God and the work of Christ and the indwelling of the

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Holy Spirit, that not only do we have

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God dwelling within us, but we also have the revealed Word of God that can help us maintain this focus, even in the midst of all of the distractions of this world, that can keep us centered and focused on Him.

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Last week, as we returned to the book of Exodus and the epic historical account of the people of Israel as they made their way out of the land of Egypt, through the

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Red Sea, across the wilderness, to the feet or the foot of the Mount of Sinai.

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Encamped there at the base, God officially enters into covenant with His people.

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And then Moses is once again called upon to go up on the mountain to commune with God, to receive the specific instructions for the construction of the tabernacle, the dwelling place of God among His people.

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The importance of this structure, the importance of this reality, the importance of what this would mean to the people of Israel and to the people of God to today, cannot be understated.

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This is an extremely important reality and it is an extremely important section of Scripture that we study and understand as deeply as possible its truths.

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Our entire universe should be centered and focused on God.

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In the passages that we have before us, God giving instructions for where He was to dwell, later

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He will literally arrange the people of Israel around Himself in such a way that He remains at the center.

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Philip Rykin, theologian, writes, The heart of the tabernacle was the

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Holy of Holies. The very center, the core of that particular building, the heart of the tabernacle, was the

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Holy of Holies where God reigned in glory. The tabernacle, in turn, was at the heart of Israel with all 12 tribes surrounding it.

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And Israel, Israel, the nation of Israel, is the heart, or was the heart of the world, the centerpiece in God's saving plan for the nations.

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Although they never fully understood what this looked like, the reality is that God had chose

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His people who would ultimately go on to deliver

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His message. But as the people of God lived and moved, they saw the tabernacle on a daily basis.

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One of the realities that would have confronted them was the truth of being able to see, but entrance being very limited.

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David, writing in Psalm 15, opens up that very short psalm with a question.

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And it's an interesting question, and it's a question that creates a situation that we have to deal with.

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And so he says in Psalm 15 verse 1, O Yahweh, who may sojourn in your tent?

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Who may dwell on your holy mountain?

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Now as we first read that question, it may not seem to be all that poignant, but the reality of what David is asking is, who has the ability to enter into the presence of the

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Almighty God? You may be reminded that God specifically tells

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Moses that for him to display His full glory to Him would mean that Moses would surely die.

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But David continues on in Psalm 15 to answer the question, to give the answer to the questions that he asks.

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And as we listen to these responses, we should think about the commands of God to Moses regarding the approach up the mountain of Sinai, the warnings to the people to stay away, and then even the conversation we had last week regarding the exclusivity of ever seeing the inside of the tabernacle.

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And as challenging as the question itself becomes, the answer that David provides merely exacerbates the condition that the question points out.

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It does nothing short of magnify it to the extreme. David goes on to respond in Psalm 15, beginning in verse 2, reading through verse 5, with these words,

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In response to the question, O Yahweh, who may sojourn in your tent, who may dwell on your holy mountain?

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David says, He who walks blamelessly, and works righteousness, and speaks truth in his heart.

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He does not slander with his tongue, nor does evil to his neighbor, nor takes up reproach against his friend, in whose eyes a reprobate is despised, but who honors those who fear

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Yahweh. He swears to his own herd, and does not change. He does not put out his money at interest, nor does he take a bribe against the innocent.

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He who does these things will never be shaken. The response?

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The answer to the question of who may dwell in the presence of the Almighty God, who may sojourn on His mountain?

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None but the righteous. No one but the one that is perfect.

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None but the one that is entirely blameless. None may enter the presence of God or dwell on His mountain except he meet the condition of God.

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What a terrifying truth. I think the reality is in our culture today, this truth unfortunately doesn't have the effect on the people that it should have.

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Even as we sit within the church, this understanding should cause us to tremble.

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It causes us to tremble because it puts us in a situation that when we rightly understand this claim, immediately disqualifies all of humanity.

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It immediately disqualifies every single living person, with the exception of Christ.

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How many times are we told in Scripture that we have no ability to come to God?

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Paul writes in Romans 3, 23, For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. He goes on in verses 10 through 12 of that same chapter and says,

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As it is written, quoting not himself but quoting the prophet Isaiah, There is none righteous, not even one.

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There is no one who understands. There is none who seeks for God. All have turned aside. Together they have become worthless.

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There is none who does good. There is not even one. Isaiah 53 verse 6,

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All us like sheep have gone astray. Each has turned to his own way.

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In 64 verse 6 of the same book, For all of us have become like one who is unclean, and all of our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment, and all of us wither like a leaf, and our iniquities like the wind carry us away.

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Paul writing to the Ephesians sums it up very simply, And you were dead in your trespasses and sins.

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And God's people, sitting under the teaching of God's words, hear these words, and so many fail to tremble at this truth.

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And so we are brought again to the question that David asked. Who? Who can dwell on the mountain of God?

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Who can enter into the presence of God? Who may sojourn in your tent?

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Who may dwell on your holy mountain?

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What a difficult place to stand. What an uncomfortable position to be in.

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One in which our souls are laid bare before us, and we recognize how truly desperate our situation is.

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How hopeless our situation is.

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But then, the great truth of Scripture is that we are reminded at the moment that we are at our weakest, our lowest, our brokenness, our complete and utter inability to approach

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God, God himself made a way, and we are given the words, but God.

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In the very design of the tabernacle, God has demonstrated this great truth for us.

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That there is but one way, and only one way, to dwell with God.

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For the people of Israel, that way was the sacrificial system, in which repeatedly sacrifices must be made to make atonement for the people.

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The system was but a foreshadowing of the true and final and real sacrifice, the

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Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world. And so we are left with the one way of entry, being

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Christ, and Christ alone. Last week we saw how the curtains that formed the tabernacle proper, the white linen with the fields of cherubim, cherubim who symbolically guard the way to God, the reality of Christ's work, his nature.

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And so this week we turn our attention away from the tabernacle proper to the tent that would cover that tabernacle.

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And our text this morning comes from the book of Exodus, the 26th chapter, and we will begin in the 7th verse reading through the 14th.

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So if you would stand as we read God's holy, inerrant, authoritative, sufficient, and complete word.

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In the book of Exodus, the 7th chapter of the 26th chapter of the 7th verse, God's word says this,

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Then you shall make curtains of goat's hair for a tent over the tabernacle. You shall make 11 curtains in all.

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The length of each curtain shall be 30 cubits and the width of each curtain 4 cubits. The 11 curtains shall have the same measurements.

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And you shall join 5 curtains by themselves and the other 6 curtains by themselves.

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And you shall double over the 6th curtain at the front of the tent. You shall make 50 loops on the edge of the curtain that is outermost in the one set and 50 loops on the edge of the curtain that is outermost in the second set.

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You shall make 50 clasps of bronze and you shall put the clasps into the loops and join the tent together so that it will be one unit.

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The overlapping part that is left over in the curtains of the tent, the half curtain that is left over shall lap over the back of the tabernacle.

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The cubit on one side and the cubit on the other of what is left over in the length of the curtains of the tent shall lap over the sides of the tabernacle on one side and on the other to cover it.

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You shall make a covering for the tent of ram's skins dyed red and a covering of porpoise skins above.

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Let us pray. Father, we thank you for your holy word.

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We thank you for its principles. We thank you for its promises. We thank you for its directions. We thank you for its truths.

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Father, as we come to your word this morning, let us learn more of Christ.

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Father, give us the eyes to behold our creator, to view your ability to save, to view your arms outstretched to your people.

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May we have confidence in your power, confidence in your love. May we commit ourselves to you without reserve.

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May our hearts be filled with your praises.

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Father, teach us that in attending to the things of this world, we do so with a mind focused on you, on the eternal.

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Father, help us to not only receive Christ, but to daily walk in him, depend upon him, commune with him, be conformed to him, follow him.

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Father, may it be that as we are saved by grace through faith, we continue to live by that faith, acknowledging nothing in ourselves but finding in Christ the wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and redemption for your namesake and for your glory.

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We ask all of these things in your most holy and heavenly name. Amen. As we come to our text this morning, you may have noticed that there are today in these few verses listed three distinct layers that are involved in the construction of the tabernacle, bringing the total number of layers of the construction of the building to four.

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The first, obviously, is the curtain of the tabernacle that we spoke about last week.

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The second is the first of those that we will talk about this morning. It is made in similar language or similar languages used to describe it within the text regarding its length and width.

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But overall, they were larger than the linen curtains that we find that form the walls and the ceiling.

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And so when the tabernacle was assembled, the linen curtain would be draped across wooden frames or wooden boards and we'll talk more about those next week, to form a shell that would create the walls and the ceiling.

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And then this secondary layer that Scripture describes as a tent would come down over that.

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And as they were draped across and secured, the interior walls of the fine linen would actually fall about one cubit short of the ground.

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So all the way around at the base of the tabernacle, if you were standing on the inside, you would notice that the fine linen stops short of the actual ground.

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It would be about 18 inches shy. Over this, the goat's hair curtain would be laid.

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It was fabricated larger than draped across the first curtain so that it came down and reached the ground on both sides.

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Striking indifference to the fine linen curtain, which was made of 10 panels, the goat hair curtain was made of 11 panels of the same size.

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The one additional panel would have fallen to the front of the tabernacle and that's the total height of the tabernacle was about 15 feet and the curtain itself was about four cubits, which is 72 inches, which is 6 feet.

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This would leave just a little bit around 9 feet in height. But Scripture calls for this additional panel to be doubled over.

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And so there's some disagreement about what the actual purpose of the doubling over would serve. Some would say that it is a canopy or an awning of some type over the entrance.

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Others say that it is merely to make sure that there are plenty of height to enter, although there's not a lot of 9 feet people running around in Scripture, Goliath being and the giants being the most prominent.

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They typically didn't visit the tabernacle. But the reality is we don't have a definite answer for why

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God called it to be doubled over, just like we don't have a lot of definite answers around the construction of the tabernacle, so that we don't repeat the construction.

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It's not necessary. It existed for a purpose when it existed. Above the curtain made with goat hair, though, there would be two additional coverings that are briefly mentioned in verse 14.

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Now, there are a few very significant distinctions that are made between the first two layers and the final two layers of the structure.

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The first two layers, the final two layers obviously are of still significance to the overall, but they are separated firstly in their identification.

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The first two layers are called curtains. The second two layers are called coverings. The word language that is used in the original language is a specific differentiation between the two, meaning that there is some type of difference.

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Secondly, it should be of significant note that there are no measurements given for the final two coverings.

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Now, this could be for a various number of reasons. It could be simply that the way that they were constructed.

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It could be that God says, you know what, this is just something that you don't really need to know.

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It could also be that when we see this reality is the material of the construction itself.

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The first two were made from fabricated cloths. The first being a fine linen that would have been a very tightly twisted, delicate cloth.

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The second would have been a goat's hair fabrication where the goat's hair would be spun into wool and then woven into a, made into a type of yarn and then woven into a fabric.

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The third and the fourth layers, however, the last two coverings were made of animal skins.

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First, the ram, skin of ram. Secondly, depending upon the translation that you have listed in front of you, in front of you it may be listed as anything from a porpoise skin to a sea cow to even the earlier translations used the term badger skins.

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The simple fact is, though, that they were made of animal skins and that may account for the reason that there are no specific dimensions given.

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But what we do know is that they would need to be large enough to protect the structure and the overall size and that's what matters.

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And Moses was given specific instructions, both verbal and visual.

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And so he would have known exactly how this was to be taken care of. Beyond this brief description, however, there are much deeper truths associated with the curtains and the coverings of the tabernacle than just what a cursory glance will give us.

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And last week as we began this conversation, I talked about how there are those who would argue that the purpose of or the significance of the tabernacle lay only in the overall construction and the purpose.

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That at the end of the day, none of the trappings, none of the directions, none of the specifications really matter.

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That what really mattered was that it was the dwelling place of God and that in and of itself is a type and a shadow that points us towards Christ and that's really all that we need to understand.

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However, I differ from that viewpoint simply because if we dismiss the remainder of what is in the text, then

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I think we are losing much of the beauty that God would have us to see in his eternal plan.

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There is the idea that has taken root in some portions of the

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Christian world and I do want to use the word Christian there loosely. Those who identify, we all know what identify means in our world today, not much, but those who identify as Christians.

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What has taken root in many of these circles is this idea that somehow

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God is responding or reacting to the decisions that we as individuals make.

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That somehow he was caught off guard by the goings on in the world.

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The work of Christ then is seen not as something that was planned before the foundation of the world, but as something that is a secondary or a plan

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B that God had to rush and scramble to put in place to respond to the decision made in the garden by Adam and Eve.

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That God was not prepared and did not understand and did not realize when he created us exactly how messed up we would be.

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But in studying Scripture, in studying all of Scripture, in studying all of Scripture properly, we see that this idea of God reacting to man is absolutely ludicrous.

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Our understanding of the eternal plan is deepened. Our faith, our certainty of the sufficiency of Christ's work is enlarged.

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We get a fuller and more robust picture that in turn strengthens our faith and solidifies our hope.

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And so in our text this morning, God calls out a very specific type of material to be used in the fabrication of the tent.

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Now you may recall last week that we talked about God makes a clear distinction in his word in Exodus 26 between the tabernacle proper and the tent.

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There are two very specific words. And so as he closes out in Exodus 26 verse 6 from last week with the words, you shall make fifty clasps of gold and you shall join the curtains to one another with the clasp so that the tabernacle would be one unit.

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Meaning that the tabernacle, the fine linen curtain draped across the frames of wood that we'll again discuss next week, was a completed unit.

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And so as we move from the tabernacle to the tent, we are now talking about a different structure.

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They all go together to create what we have come to call the tabernacle compound. But the words in the original language are different.

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In verses 1 through 6 when we see the word for tabernacle, we see the word that describes a dwelling place.

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In verse 7 when we move, instead of the word tabernacle, we see the common word in the original language for the word tent.

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Now there are those who make the argument this is simply a situation where we can use the words interchangeably.

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However, if that being the case, if that is the situation, then why provide the two different words?

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I think to approach God's word in this way slights His word. It says that you don't fully trust in His word.

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You assume that because in our day and time we'll take words, we'll chop them up, we'll do whatever we want to with them, that God would do the same.

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But the reality is that there is a different structure, there is a different thing, there is a fundamental difference, and we should approach each of these things as a separate piece.

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Just like when we talk about curtains and coverings, and we'll get to that in a few moments.

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Now the material that God chose to use to fabricate the first layer of the tent is an interesting fabric, but it is actually a fabric that is very common and still, or at least up until the last several years, was still being used by many of the

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Bedouin tribes in that same region of the world. It would exist of hair of a goat being shorn just like sheep's wool is shorn off of a sheep and then in turn twisted into a yarn that was then made into a fabric that was used and still used to adorn the walls of the tents of the people.

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And so it was a plentiful resource. I don't know how many of you have ever had experience with goats, but goats have a lot of hair, and long -haired goats have even more hair.

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And so there were plenty of long -haired goats running around, so there was no shortage of the material.

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It was in plentiful supply. And so the tendency is that because it is a commonplace material that is readily available, that it carries no significance, but I ask if that is the case, again, why bother to identify the specific material that is to be made of?

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If any material would do, any commonplace material would do, why wouldn't God just say make a tent covering of these specific specifications?

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But that's not what he did. Now it is interesting to note that when one begins to look at the overall structure of the sacrificial system, of the way in which

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God commanded the Israelites to go about atoning for their sins, then the reasons begin to become a little more clear.

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To be sure, an ancient Israelite standing here looking at these tent coverings would not have understood them the way we can, because we stand on this side of the finished work.

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But as we look throughout the law, we did throughout the law of God, we see no less than 11 different situations where goats are spelled out and used specifically for sacrifices.

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And when goats are used, it is predominantly for the sacrifice of sin.

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As we begin to look at this, the most important moments in the life of Israel are celebrated by feasts.

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We have mentioned several of these feasts as we have worked through the book of Exodus, some of which we have not mentioned, but will come about later in their life.

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But their year began with probably the most well -known of their feasts, even to this day, and that is

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Passover, or the Feast of Unleavened Bread. And so even today, again, they continue to celebrate the deliverance of the people of Israel from bondage in Egypt in this way, and they utilize very specific instructions known as a

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Seder. But in Numbers 28 verses 17 through 22, we read regarding this particular feast, the sacrifices and offerings that are to be made.

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The Word of God says this, And on the fifteenth day of this month shall be a feast.

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Unleavened bread shall be eaten for seven days. On the first day shall be a holy convocation.

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You shall do no laborious work. And you shall bring near an offering by fire, a burnt offering to Yahweh, two bulls from the herd and one ram and seven male lambs, one year old.

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They shall be for you without blemish. Now as for their grain offering, you shall offer fine flour mixed with oil, three -tenths of an ephah for a bull and two -tenths for the ram.

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A tenth of an ephah you shall offer for each of the seven lambs and one male goat for a sin offering to make atonement for you.

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Following the Feast of Unleavened Bread or Passover is the

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Feast of Weeks or the Days of Pentecost, the fifty days that they would count in which Leviticus 23 verses 15 through 19 gives us these instructions,

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You shall also count for yourselves from the day after the Sabbath, from the day when you brought in the sheaf of the wave offering, there shall be seven complete

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Sabbaths. You shall count fifty days to the day after the seventh Sabbath. Then you shall bring a new grain offering near to Yahweh.

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You shall bring in from your places of habitation two loaves of bread for a wave offering made of two -tenths of an ephah.

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They shall be of fine flour baked with leaven as first fruits to Yahweh. Along with the bread you shall bring near seven one -year -old male lambs without blemish and a bull from the herd and two rams.

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They shall be a burnt offering to Yahweh with their grain offering and their drink offering, an offering of fire of a soothing aroma to Yahweh.

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You shall also offer one male goat for a sin offering.

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The Feast of Trumpets, detailed in Numbers 29 verses 1 through 5,

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Now in the seventh month on the first day of the month you shall also have a holy convocation. You shall do no laborious work.

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It shall be to you a day for blowing trumpets. And you shall offer a burnt offering as a soothing aroma to Yahweh, one bull from the herd, one ram and seven male lambs, one year old without blemish.

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Also their grain offering, fine flour mixed with oil, three -tenths of an ephah from the bull, two -tenths for the ram, one -tenth for the seven lambs, and offer one male goat for a sin offering to make atonement for you.

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The greatest of feasts would be the next feast that they would celebrate. Within that feast was the

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Day of Atonement. In the Day of Atonement there were not one but two goats that were used.

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Leviticus chapter 16 specifies these things, but if we focus in on chapter 6 through 11 we find the following,

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Then Aaron shall bring near the bull for the sin offering which is for himself, that he may make atonement for himself and for his household.

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And he shall take the two goats and present them before Yahweh at the doorway of the tent of meeting.

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And Aaron shall cast lots for the two goats, one lot for Yahweh and the other lot for the scapegoat.

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Then Aaron shall bring near the goat on which the lot for Yahweh fell, and he shall offer it as a sin offering.

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But the goat on which the lot for the scapegoat fell shall be presented alive before Yahweh to make atonement upon it and to send it out into the wilderness as a scapegoat.

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Then the final feast of the year is the Feast of Tabernacles or the Feast of the

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Ingathering. This feast is detailed for us in Numbers chapter 29, but the feast here is a little different than other feasts.

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Most of the other feasts occurred over a single day or even if there was a multiple day event, there would only be one day of offering in this feast.

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Each sacrifice is repeated daily, Numbers 29 verses 12 through 19.

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Then on the fifteenth day of the seventh month you shall have a holy convocation, you shall do no laborious work, and you shall celebrate a feast to Yahweh for seven days.

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And you shall bring near a burnt offering, an offering by fire as a soothing aroma to Yahweh, thirteen bulls from the herd, two rams, fourteen male lambs, one year old, which are without blemish, and their grain offering, fine flour mixed with oil, three -tenths of an effa for each of the thirteen bulls, two -tenths for each of the two rams, and a tenth for each of the fourteen lambs, and one male goat for a sin offering.

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Now when you read Numbers chapter 29, and specifically the section that deals with this particular feast, what you will find is that for eight days this sacrifice is repeated.

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For eight days the people of Israel sacrificed according to these words.

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In addition to these five, there are at least six other occasions when sacrifice is specifically mentioned to be goat for sin offering.

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The first is when a ruler sins in Leviticus 4 verses 23, or if his sin which he has committed is made known to him, he shall bring for his offering a goat, a male, without blemish.

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When common people sin, Leviticus again chapter 4 verses 27 through 28, now if any one of the common people sins unintentionally, in doing any of the things which

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Yahweh has commanded not to be done, and becomes guilty, or if his sin which he has committed is made known to him, then he shall bring for his offering a goat, a female, without blemish.

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During the consecration for priests for their sins, in Leviticus 9, they take a one -year -old goat, a male goat, for a sin offering.

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During the dedication of the altar of the princes in Numbers chapter 7, Yahweh says to Moses, let them bring their offering near one leader each day for the dedication of their altar.

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Then it describes that dedication including one male goat for a sin offering.

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When the sin of ignorance is committed in Numbers 15, 24 through 27, even if it is done unintentionally, hidden from the sight of the congregation, that all the congregation shall offer one bull from the herd for a burnt offering as a soothing aroma to Yahweh with its grain offering.

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Then the priest shall make an atonement for all of the congregation of the sins of Israel so that they will be pardoned.

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And also if a person sins unintentionally, then they shall bring near a one -year -old female goat for a sin offering.

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And finally, on the first day of each month,

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Numbers 28, 11 through 15 records this. Then at the beginning of each of your months, you shall bring near a burnt offering to Yahweh, two bulls from the herd and one ram, seven male lambs, one -year -old without blemish, three -tenths of an effa of fine flour mixed with oil for a grain offering for each bull and two -tenths of fine flour mixed with oil for a grain offering for the one ram and a tenth of an effa of fine flour mixed with oil for a grain offering for each lamb for a burnt offering of a soothing aroma, an offering by fire to Yahweh.

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And their drink offerings shall be half a hen of wine for a bull and a third of a hen for the ram and a fourth of a hen for a lamb.

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This is the burnt offering of each month throughout the months of the year and one male goat for a sin offering to Yahweh.

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It shall be offered with its drink offering in addition to the continual burnt offering.

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Now, eleven different times within Scripture, at a minimum, a goat is described as being what is required for the sin offering of the people.

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If we go outside of the sacrificial system repeatedly within Scripture, when goats are used, they are typically predominantly linked to evil.

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For example, think of Rebecca using goat hair to fool Isaac. Joseph's brothers using goat blood to deceive their father.

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Michael using goat hair to deceive Saul. And certainly, in what should not be counted as the least of these examples, although it is the last that I will mention, when we read in Matthew's Gospel in the 25th chapter, verses 31 through 34, we read this,

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But when the Son of Man comes in glory, and all the angels with Him, then

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He will sit on His glorious throne, and all the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.

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And He will put the sheep on His right, and the goats on the left.

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Then the King will say to those on His right, Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom which has been prepared for you from the foundation of the world.

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Do you see? Do you see now that this mention of goat's hair is much more than it being a common material?

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Now again, truly as they stood and watched, they would not gain or see the greater significance.

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However, would they not be reminded as they saw the goat's hair curtain draped across the tabernacle, that entry into the tabernacle came at a cost?

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Can we, not now, looking back at the goat hair curtain, at the sacrifices that are required through the sacrificial system, and see that they point forward to the greatest and the final sacrifice?

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That of Christ on Calvary's cross. In the time of ancient

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Israel, they had to continually sacrifice so that their sins would be forgiven.

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For us, we only need to look to the

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Christ. The one true offering, the Lamb of God, slain before the foundation of the world for the sins of His people.

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Paul, writing to the church at Corinth, in what we call the second letter to the

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Corinthians, although it was likely the fourth, in the fifth chapter in 20th to 21st verse writes this,

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So then, we are ambassadors for Christ. As God is pleading through us, we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.

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He made Him who knew no sin to become sin on our behalf so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

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Isaiah, speaking God's word to God's people, said this in the 53rd chapter of Isaiah, But Yahweh was pleased to crush

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Him, putting Him to grief. If you would place His soul as a guilt offering,

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He will see His seed, He will prolong His days, and the good pleasure of Yahweh will succeed in His hand.

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Further down in verse 12, the fulfillment recorded, Therefore I will divide for Him a portion with the many, and He will divide the spoiled with the strong, because He poured out

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His soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors.

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Yet He Himself bore the sin of many and interceded for the transgressors.

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I wonder, did you note there the phrase,

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He poured out His soul to death?

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If you did, I would then point you to the words of Leviticus 4 verse 25 where Moses records for us the words of the

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Lord and he says, Then the priest shall take some of the blood of the sin offering with his finger and put it on the horns of the altar of burnt offering, and the rest of its blood, its blood being the blood of the sin offering, he shall pour out at the base of the altar of the burnt offering.

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This pouring out of the blood in relationship to the sacrifice is only mentioned for the sin offering.

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The other times the blood was sprinkled. Isaiah said in 53 verse 12,

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He poured out His soul to death. Christ's blood was poured out at Calvary's cross.

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The one, the true, the final offering for sin for all those who would believe.

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Scripture is so beautiful in that it always ties back to itself. A few weeks ago we were sitting here talking about Jesus' question to Martha.

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Do you believe this? The reality is the question comes right back to us.

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Do you believe? Do you believe that as we look from the tabernacle to the cross, we can see that the goat hair curtain points us toward the greatest work in all of human history, the only work that can reconcile

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God and men, the finished work of Christ on Calvary's cross.

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The last thing that Scripture shows us here in this passage regarding the coverings of the tabernacle is simply that there were two additional coverings.

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Verse 14 is a very brief verse and it simply says, You shall make a covering for the tent of ram skins dyed red and a covering of porpoise skins above.

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It is necessary, however, that we mention each of these as they are still contained within the text of Holy Scripture and as such they are still profitable to the people of God.

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A .W. Pink made this observation, In a word, these external coverings on the outside of the goat's hair curtains give us a two -fold view of Christ enduring the judgment due, the sins of His people.

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They show how He then appeared to the eye of God and to the eyes of men.

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So the first of these two coverings is made of ram skins. We see the ram used in the consecration of the priests when they are set aside and devoted into service of God.

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We see the ram taking the place of Isaac when his father Abraham, in obedience and devotion to God, bound him to the altar.

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Finally we see the ram as the head of the flock, representing Christ as the head of His people.

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The red dye speaking to the obedience of Christ unto death on the cross of His blood being poured out in perfect devotion to the

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Father, submitting Himself in obedience unto even death.

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And so while the ram skins represent how Christ appeared in the eye of God, the final covering represents how

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Christ was seen and is seen in the eye of men. The claims of Christ are divisive.

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The claims of Christ are divisive. Now we could say that the claims of Christ were divisive, that as He walked this world that His claims that He is the

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Messiah, the Son of the living God, divided the ancient world. But the reality is, the truth is, is they are still dividing the world today.

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Dividing it into those who believe and those who do not.

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For the first century Jewish people He did not fit the image of the Messiah that they expected to see.

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After all, He was born to a carpenter in a barn. He didn't physically take up arms and deliver the people from Roman slavery and rule.

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Isaiah taught us in 52 verse 14, Just as many were appalled at you, my people, so His appearance was marred more than any man, and His form more than the sons of men.

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In Isaiah 53 verse 4, it says, Surely our griefs He Himself bore, and our sorrows

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He carried. Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.

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They saw Him on the cross and they mocked. Pink again writes,

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They deemed Him utterly helpless, unable to come down from the cross.

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Thus the rough and unsightly badger skins or porpoise skins over all spoke of the shame and humiliation of our precious

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Savior before man. And so as we come to a conclusion of this message, we must consider the profound realities about God's dwelling place among His people,

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His holiness, and the great cost of reconciliation through Christ.

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The tabernacle, with its coverings, with its design, pointed forward to the ultimate sacrifice in Christ, the

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Lamb of God whose blood was poured out for the sins of His people. Every layer, every material, every instruction given to us regarding the tabernacle is a shadow of His work on our behalf.

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Again, David asks us in the Psalms in the 15th chapter, the first verse,

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O Yahweh who may sojourn in your tent, who may dwell on your holy mountain.

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And the answer? The answer reminds us that only the righteous, blameless, and perfect may enter

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God's presence. By this standard, we all fail.

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But the beauty of the gospel is that Christ has fulfilled that standard for us.

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That He is our righteousness. He is our redemption.

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The coverings of the tabernacle from the linen cloths to the goat hair, from the red -dyed ram's skins to the outermost layer, all symbolize aspects of Christ's work,

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Christ's holiness, Christ's sacrifice, His devotion to the Father, and how

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He appeared to humanity. Misunderstood, rejected, yet victorious.

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So here is a question that we leave with you this morning. What is at the center of your life?

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Is it Christ? Is it the one who made a way for you to dwell with God?

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Or is it something else that truly pales in comparison?

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If it's not Christ, what keeps you from fully surrendering to Him?

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The one who paid it all for you. I would ask that you reflect on His sacrifice, reflect on the immense love that He has shown, and consider the response that we are called to give.

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As we humbly come to the cross, laying our lives at His feet, for He and He alone is worthy.

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Let us pray. Most gracious Heavenly Father, as we bow before Your throne of grace and mercy,

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Father, we give thanks for the work of Christ on Calvary's cross. Father, we give thanks that today, as we gather in worship,

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Lord, that we can do so knowing that the price has been paid, that access is available, but only through the shed blood of Christ, only by faith in Christ alone.

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Father, we pray this morning that as we depart from this place, that our desire would be that we share this truth, that we make

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You known to the ends of the earth, that we proclaim

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You. Father, we love

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You, we thank You, we praise You, we give You the honor, we give

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You all of the glory, and we ask all of this in Your most holy and heavenly name.