Hebrews for 500 (Part 5)

Welcome to No Compromise Radio, a ministry coming to you from Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston. No Compromise Radio is a program dedicated to the ongoing proclamation of Jesus Christ, based on the theme in Galatians 2, verse 5, where the Apostle Paul said, �But we did not yield in subjection to them for even an hour, so that the truth of the gospel would remain with you.

In short, if you like smooth, watered-down words to make you simply feel good, this show isn�t for you. By purpose, we are first biblical, but we can also be controversial. Stay tuned for the next 25 minutes as we�re called by the Divine Trumpet to summon the troops for the honor and glory of her King.

Here�s our host, Pastor Mike Abendroth. Welcome to No Compromise Radio ministry. My name is Mike Abendroth and we are back to like this funny glow here in the studio. I have my Facebook Live camera going and then I get underneath this light that�s above me, this fluorescent light, and it messes it all up.

Hebrews 9 and the Tabernacle as a Picture of Christ

Well, you can write me, Mike, at NoCompromiseRadio .com. I just got an email today from someone and I think they wanted to fight. Theological fighting. Oh, why can�t we all get along? That�s the new tagline for No Compromise Radio.

You remember who said that? Why can�t we all get along? I think that was Rodney King and then additionally, it reminds me of Mick Jagger at Altamont Speedway 1969. Why are we fighting? Why are we fighting?

Well, I�ve been thinking about the book of Hebrews, duh, Hebrews chapter 9, and here�s the cool thing about Hebrews chapter 9. There are things in the tabernacle, in the tent, and they remind you of who Jesus is.

Now, when I first became a Christian, I would hear from people that the blue pomegranate in the temple represents, I don�t know, heaven, the third heaven, and the tent stake, the tent peg represented, I don�t know, the nails that went through Jesus� feet or something like that.

And so, I was very suspicious about that. I was suspicious that things in the Old Testament, there are too many types and too many shadows and too many, I don�t know, I don�t think I used the word �echoes� back in those days.

So, I was afraid. What�s interesting here in Hebrews chapter 9, he talks about things that were inside the tabernacle, although the temple is probably still up, he�s still tying everything back to Sinai and Moses.

So, he�s talking about the temple and tabernacle, and he�s saying, don�t these things remind you of who Jesus is, the better high priest, the better sacrifice, the one who gives you not just the earthly sanctuary, but the heavenly sanctuary.

And he�s talking about two rooms in this tabernacle, in this temple, and those rooms are the holy place and the most holy place, or as we say it, the holy of holies. If you want to emphasize something in Hebrew or in Greek, you can repeat it, the holy holy, holy of holies, and that really means the most holy, or the host moly.

I have been so tired lately, I don�t know why. I think it was the discipleship last Sunday, preaching discipleship, then the sermon, then the wedding, and then all the dancing. There was dancing, there was some swing dancing, there was some fox trotting, I think maybe even a little waltzing, waltzing with Matilda.

We had a dance class a while ago and it was on Bolero, but it didn�t really work out. Whenever the, I was going to say professor, whenever the dance instructor says, now this is how you�re not supposed to do it, and then he does some kind of dance that�s really rigid and strict and not very easy on the eyes, I think he�s looking right at me, because that�s how I do it.

There�s two sections in this tabernacle in Hebrews chapter 9, and we�re going to look through those on No Compromise Radio, and then we�ll talk a little bit about how they point to the Lord Jesus. So what�s in there?

Just for me to read this again, now even the first covenant had regulations for worship, �In an earthly place of holiness, for a tent was prepared the first section, which was the lampstand and the table and the bread of presents.

That�s the first section, and then the second is the holy of holies, called the holy place, and in there is the golden altar of incense, ark of the covenant, the golden urn holding the manna, Aaron�s rod that budded, and the tables, tablets of the covenant.

The Lampstand and the Light of the World

So we�re going to talk about what�s in the first one, and that is the lampstand. You might think of Menorah, and here we have this huge lampstand, 75 pounds of gold, and so you�ve got the base and then you�ve got the branches that extend, three on one side, three on the other.

The lampstand, you should be thinking right now, okay, let�s see, how does the lampstand remind me of who Jesus is? Knowing what we know now in scripture, and here�s a very important principle for the one person watching right now, here is the important principle, that subsequent, and you think I�m joking, but I�m not joking, this is important.

Subsequent revelation from God, later chapters in the Bible, inform antecedent revelation. In other words, oh, now looking back, because I have progressive revelation, I can see how the New Testament was interpreting and looking at, and now we have the fullness of revelation, so it�s much easier for me to look at the lampstand and think, does the lampstand remind me of Jesus?

And the answer is, it should, and I�ll tell you why in a second, but it�s not going to take you very long to think, most likely with the big Menorah behind him on the Feast of Booths, in John 7 and John 8, Jesus said what?

I am the lampstand. No, he didn�t say that, he didn�t, he didn�t, for that one person that�s no longer watching, now they�re back. No, I am the what? The light of the world, and you�re going to see those kind of connections.

Let me read to you Exodus 25 with the golden lampstand. It must have been beautiful, it must have been incredible, and of course, if you�re inside a tent, how are you going to see? Right? You�re going to pick up your iPhone, look around.

You shall make, this is Exodus 25, you shall make a lampstand of pure gold. The lampstand shall be made of hammered work. Its base, its stem, its cups, its calyxes, and its flowers shall be of one piece with it.

And there shall be six branches going out of its sides, three branches of the lampstand out of one side of it, and three branches of the lampstand out of the other side of it. Three cups made like almond blossoms, each with a calyx and flower, on one branch, and three cups made like almond blossoms, each with a calyx and flower, and on the other branch.

So, the six branches going out of the lampstand, okay? Very particular, right? Because God ordains worship. God tells us how to worship Him. Let�s see, hammered work, lamps, etc. They should be made out of what, etc., etc.

Okay, well, there�s the lampstand. And we�ve got this provision for light in there. And you might think of the great menorah, and you ought to be thinking, how does this represent or point to or is a great shadow of the Lord Jesus?

The Table of the Bread of Presence

Well, what else is in there? The table is in there. Now, I did not know this. This is something new now on No Compromise Radio. Table comes from the word trapeza. I�m thinking, now, wait a second, trapeze artist, flipping tables all around and everything.

Trapeze is from tetra and pisa. Leaning tower, no. T-E-T-R-A and P-E-Z-A. And that is four foot. Four feet. How many feet are on a table? How many legs on a table? Well, I guess you could make it with three, but here there�s four.

And so, here�s this table of the bread of presence. It�s the table and the consecrated bread. And I think ESV tries to make it seem like there�s two separate things. There�s the table and the bread on it.

But for my scholars of language today, I�m going to give you a special little word, not just a subsequent revelation, interpret in a decedent revelation. But also, hendiatus. Isn�t that fun to say? Class.

Just look to the person next to you on Facebook and say, hendiatus. Well, hendiatus means you�ve got one idea expressed by two words or two sets of words with an �and� put in there. And that�s what we have here, the table and the consecrated bread.

It�s really a hendiatus for the table of the consecrated bread. Exodus chapter 25, it says, �You shall make a table of acacia wood, two cubits shall it be in length, a cubit its breadth, and a cubit and a half its length.

You shall overlay it with pure gold, and make a molding of gold around it, and you shall make a rim around it a handbreadth wide, and a molding of gold around the rim. And you shall make for it four rings of gold, and fasten the rings to the four corners of its four legs, trapeze.

Now, you might have to think a little bit about that trapeze. Why is it four? But I think you can figure it out if you think close enough, carefully enough. Close to the frame, the rings shall lie as holders for the poles to carry the table.

You shall make the poles of acacia wood, as we say here, acacia wood, and overlay them with gold, and the table shall be carried with these. And you shall make its plates and dishes, for incense, and its flagons and bowls, with which to pour drink offerings.

You shall make them of pure gold, and you shall set the bread of the presence on the table before me regularly. And what would happen is Aaron, every Sabbath, would bake these pieces, bake these breads, these showbreads, and they would be food for the priests.

And here we have some of this bread in the temple. And there are 12 breads. Any idea why there might be 12? Well, for one day of the month, of course. No, not. See, for the two people watching now, that's not for one per month.

That's for the how many tribes of Israel? Well, the 12 tribes of Israel. And at the end of the week, you take the loaves, you eat the loaves, and you think, you know, God is present with his people. That's the idea.

So we have loaves. Does it make you hungry for bread, bread and butter, showbread? Remember David eating the showbread? Now we move from the outside room to the inside room, from the holy room to the holy of holies.

The Veil, Access to God, and the Torn Curtain

And what's in there? Well, there has to be something to separate one room from the other. And it says in verse 3, Hebrews 9, behind the second curtain was a second section called the most holy place, a superlative, holy of holy.

So now we've got subsequent revelation interpreting antecedent revelation. We have trapeze, trapeza for four legs. And now we have superlatives. See, that's why we listen to No Compromise Radio, because we learn the English language like with grammar.

The root word for grammar is gramma, letter, right? So see, now we know. You've got a, you've got a veil. I want to say an veil, but it's not true. That's not right. Exodus 26, he shall make a veil of blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twisted linen.

It shall be made with cherubim skillfully worked into it. That would be kind of hard for me. If I had to make a veil with cherubim skillfully worked into it, I think I could work them into it. How skillfully?

I don't know. And you shall hang it on four pillars of acacia overlaid with gold, with hooks of gold on four bases of silver. And you shall hang the veil from the clasps and bring the arc of the testimony in there within the veil.

And the veil shall separate for you the holy place from the most holy. And by the way, when the Lord Jesus died and he had accomplished atonement and he said, it is finished and yielded up his spirit.

What happened to the veil separating the holy place from the most holy place? Well, here we're talking about the tent, the tabernacle that was out in the wilderness. And so it wasn't that particular one, but you've got a recreation of this for the temple.

And of course, the temple had a holy place and the most holy place. And that veil was rent, not from bottom to top, like you'd rip it, but from top to bottom showing all because nobody was climbing up there, that this was God ripping down the veil or ripping the veil apart.

So two things might happen. One, we might have access to God. And two, I think if you think about this a little bit, God has access to give holiness to whomever he pleases. Now, remember, you've got the holy place and the most holy place.

And here's what the writer's trying to do. The writer's trying to tell you who gets to go in there, who gets to go in behind the veil, behind the curtain, and how often does he get to go in there and what does he have to do in order to get in there?

And what does he have to be in order to go in there and stay alive and come out? Those are the questions compared to the Lord Jesus. And now we have fellowship. You can be a male or female. You can be a Levitical priest or not.

It doesn't matter. Everyone has access to the triune God because of, not the veil itself, but the Lord Jesus. And I think about the temple and his body, and we'll talk about that a little more, maybe the next show.

The Golden Altar of Incense, the Ark, the Manna, and Aaron's Rod

So what else, or what's in here? What's in the holy place? Verse four says, having a golden altar of incense. And if you look at the things, according to the Old Testament, this is going to be outside of the most holy place, but you're going to bring it in because you're going to want to make sure there's this smoke and the incense and the refracted glory clouds.

So you're not going to just get slain in the spirit. It says in Leviticus 16 to take a censer full of burning coals from the altar before the Lord and two handfuls of finally ground, fragrant incense and take them behind the curtain.

And you want to have the smoke conceal, as it were, the glory of God. I don't think it's a great illustration, but I always think about be, what do you call people that take care of bees? Bee herders, what do you call them?

Bee hive people? Bee farmers? Seriously, what do you call them? Well, I don't know what you call them, but they'll put a bunch of smoke to kind of get the bees dizzy or they're not going to sting them or something like that.

But just, it just, you know, it's dangerous. And so you need, you need some protection. The high priest enters in with this censer. So I don't think it could have been stored in there. And I think that's why the ESV rightly says having the golden altar of incense.

So, so you go to the holy place, you get this incense, and then you go in to the Holy of Holies. There you go, Wren. Thank you, bee keepers. I knew if I ask enough dumb questions, somebody in the Facebook group would tell me.

So it's not the bee herders, it's not anything, it's the bee keepers. So now the people on No Compromise Radio that will hear this only with no audio, they're going to know Wren is helpful. Wren, are you in Nebraska?

Is it flooding there in Nebraska? I've seen lots of pictures. Pat sent me Frank's house. I think they're just on some kind of island. And I don't know if there's any bee herders on that island, but we want to be very careful with that.

All right, what else is going on in there? You have, inside that Holy of Holy place, you see, you've got the censer, you bring it in. And then now what's in there? The text says the Ark of the Covenant.

What is the Ark of the Covenant? She just said, Omaha isn't bad though. I'm distracted. Thanks for distracting me, Wren. Oh, the Ark of the Covenant. So sadly, most people know about the Ark of the Covenant from Indiana Jones, right?

That's how they know about the Ark of the Covenant. And simply, it was a little chest, a little Ark covered with gold, and it was made out of acacia wood. It seems like everything is made out of acacia wood.

And it was about three and three quarters feet long by two and a half to two and a quarter feet wide and two and a quarter feet high. And they covered it with gold and it's called the Ark of the Covenant.

Now, just think about that. Okay. Ark of the Covenant. Sometimes we say things too fast and we don't think about, okay, the Ark of the Covenant. What do you mean, Ark of the Covenant? Well, it's also called the Ark of the Testimony.

And guess what? The covenant terms were placed in there. Ark of the Covenant, because what was inside of the Ark of the Covenant, and certainly what was in there were the Ten Commandments. So we have the Ark of the Covenant because you have the covenant things in there.

Well, how does this relate to the Lord Jesus? We're going to get there, but it's not going to take you very long to begin to think about mercy seat, propitiation, what the lid is, the cherubim of glory over.

Something else is in there. Golden urn with manna. Well, that's weird. A golden jar of manna. They think about two quarts of manna were placed in there. Now, manna is that white kind of coriander seedish stuff that would come down from heaven, remember?

And here's what I like about manna. While I can't say this tomorrow while I'm preaching this passage, I can say it to you and Ren and the other listener. I was trying to figure out how does manna apply to the Lord Jesus?

And of course, it's very simple in John 6, I am the bread of life. And I'm going to work through that passage, I think next show, but I'm the bread of life. But I wanted to see how Jewish people with the midrash and rabbinic things and Talmudic things and what's that thing that Madonna's into, Kabbalah stuff.

What do they think the manna meant? And what did it represent? Of course, here in New England, it's the manna, right? Manna. Manna. Well, here's something weird. Are you ready for the weird? You'll be glad you turned into No Compromise Radio today for subsequent revelation interprets antecedent revelation, hendiatus, superlatives, and now beekeepers.

And additionally, manna. Since manna, some Jewish scholars say, and this is behind the scenes, you can't get this, this is unfiltered right here, you can't get this on Sunday morning, you'll see why in just a second, manna bypassed the fall because God created it supernaturally and it came down from heaven, right?

It wasn't like, you know, crops grown and corn, beans and stuff like that. Therefore, since it was so perfect, when people ate it, it was perfectly digested, completely digested. And if you eat food and it is perfectly absorbed and perfectly digested and perfectly kept by bees, guess what happens?

You don't go to the bathroom. And so the text would say with these, with some of these Jewish writers, no defecation in the wilderness. Okay. Thanks. Aren't you glad you tuned in? Subsequent revelation, interpreting antecedent revelation, hendiatus, two words or groups of words put together with an and, superlatives, beekeepers, and perfect food, manna.

Hey, if I could only get some of that manna, we can have a new manna diet, right? I think that would sell, right? People love to go to Old Testament Ezekiel four breads and the Weigh Down Diet. Remember that lady?

Was it Gwen? Gwen Shamblin? Was that right? I think that was her name, Denied the Trinity, Gwen Shamblin, does that seem right? And I knew people that said, I don't care if she denies the Trinity, I just want to lose some weight.

Oh, they're Joseph, not Joseph, Stephen said the manna keepers. Now that would really sell. I could probably find somebody who could put a pretty good book cover together for that, the manna keepers. Stephen, by the way, I just signed a contract with S. Lewis Johnson's son named Samuel for the Colossians commentary.

So I think I've got it now, since I signed my name to it, I better get a move on. So hopefully there'll be something with the Colossians commentary soon. So we have today class on No Compromise Radio.

We have subsequent revelation interpreting antecedent revelation, right? For instance, with the garden, Genesis chapters one, two, and three, in Genesis two and three, it doesn't say the word sin, but we know Adam sinned.

It doesn't say the word covenant, but you can see what's going on there. It doesn't say Adam federal head, but with revelation, excuse me, Romans chapter five, we realize that Jesus is federal head and so is the first Adam, a federal head.

Therefore subsequent revelation interprets antecedent revelation. You have a words together with an and that's a hen diet is, and then you have superlatives. You have beekeepers, you have promise keepers, and you have now manna keepers, manna keepers, and you have the perfect food, manna.

What else is in there? Aaron's staff. Well, that's interesting. Why would Aaron's staff be in there? Now I could think, okay, when I'm thinking about the Lord Jesus, as I'm looking at what's in the temple and then the tabernacle, well, if there's a lamp stand, I'm thinking I'm the light of the world, John eight.

If there's manna, I'm thinking I'm the bread of the world. I'm the bread of life, John chapter six, but what an arc of the covenant, the propitiation, the mercy seat, and how Jesus makes propitiation and he assuaged the wrath of God.

So I get those, but what about the staff that buds? What's that all about? Does that make me think about the Lord Jesus? Why is the author talking about that? At least in general, he says I could wax eloquently for a long time about it, but it's interesting because remember number 17, Korah rebels, who's going to be God's choice to be priest?

We'll find out. Everybody set up their rods and which one buds, Aaron's. That's interesting. Who's God's choice to be the high priest? Well, that lends itself wonderfully and beautifully and to me, awesomely.

Who's God's choice for the great high priest? It's Hebrews chapter five. He didn't make himself. This is God the father says, today you are my son, right? I mean, you are my son today, I have begotten you.

And then you finally have the tablets of the covenant and we know the Lord Jesus perfectly obeys those, right? We break those, he obeys those. So that's what I've got today for No Compromise Radio. At least I learned something new.

We learned that we have bee keepers. They just keep them and that works out pretty well. So we'll see you just in a few minutes. No Compromise Radio with Pastor Mike Abendroth is a production of Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston.

Bethlehem Bible Church is a Bible teaching church firmly committed to unleashing the life transforming power of God's word through verse by verse exposition of the sacred text. Please come and join us.

Our service times are Sunday morning at 1015 and in the evening at six. We're right on route 110 in West Boylston. You can check us out online at bbcchurch .org or by phone at 508 -835 -3400.