The Tabernacle, Pt. 1 (11/14/1999)

Why the Tabernacle Matters More Than Any Other Single Subject

More chapters discussing this than any other single subject. And so my my premise is that if the Bible would spend that much time talking about something then you and I need to talk about it and we need to understand it.

And the tabernacle is God's complete plan and of course we know that everything in the Bible talks about Jesus Christ. There is nothing that was made that was not made by him and for him everything points to him.

So as we go through this study of the tabernacle what I want you to do and you have a very extensive outline that we've worked up for you that's there in front of you if you'll take that home with you read study discuss that I would hope with the family you will be astounded what you will see and what you will hear as you just talk about it yourself.

I'm going to share some information with you some of its familiar to you some of it you have never heard in your life as a Christian and we'll point out some things for you. And there are reasons why that is one of them is it's always good to study the Bible with a Jewish mindset.

Always now it's written for Gentiles as well but it was written by Jewish people with a Jewish culture and with a Jewish background and a Jewish way of looking at it. So if you can look at it with that mindset knowing that you are also our child of God the Holy Spirit of God will teach you things that you would normally pass up you would normally not see them.

And so we have a lot of stuff we're gonna cover today a lot of information and my wife says I put skates on when I talked and so but I'm not so concerned about what you hear everything I say because many of the things that I will not say are more important than what I do say.

There were thoughts you will have that will be more important than what I'm saying at the moment. That's what I want to do is to open windows for you. So I want you just kind of throw your mind open and and be available to to God speaking to your heart.

And we'll have some visual aids for you here and in your section. The first section we have is the introduction about 4 ,000 years ago after God had supernaturally delivered the Israelites from their many years of slavery.

How many years were there in Egypt. You recall say 400. Actually 430. Wasn't it scriptures. That's 430 years. We just say 400 but 30 is a lot of years. I mean it meant a lot to them. You know is that well 30 30 years in Egypt was a lot for those people and so but God delivered them.

And we know that God redeemed these people. He brought them through the desert toward the promised land the land which he had given them through their father Abraham and his descendants. We know that how he used Moses and I know you know all of this but he used Moses and God delivered these people by the Passover blood and also by many miracles that he performed to get them out of Egypt into what we call the exodus.

And then there came to Mount Sinai and I don't know what did God give Moses on Mount Sinai. Do you recall what did God give Moses. And I know you know this. But he gave him the Ten Commandments. What else did he give him.

See the Ten Commandments will condemn you. The Ten Commandments will show you and me that we're not right with God. He gave him the dimensions to the tabernacle which is God's way of letting man come back to him.

If he just gave us a law we condemned. None of us can approach God on the basis of law. We got to have some justification. We got to have some righteousness given to us. Now you know the first five books of Moses are called the Torah and they are extremely important.

You and I also know and I know some of you been studying Bible and Bible study at home and so forth. And so I know that you're keenly aware that the book of Genesis has the the bloom but has the bud of every major doctrine you and I will have to deal with in Scripture.

You can trace them all back to the book of beginnings the book of Genesis. Genesis is the book of election. A lot of people have problems with God electing but God has always been. Has he not a God who chooses.

God's always chosen. He could have chosen any one of a million people but he chose Abraham. He just picked him out because he wanted to. So he chose Abraham. He gave him a son Isaac and he also had a son named Jacob.

They have 12 sons who went down into Egypt and they became a nation while down there. And when they came out we know that at least 600 ,000 men just men at least 600 ,000 men were in that group that came out of Egypt a mighty mass of people.

Genesis is the book of election. Exodus is the book we say of redemption because it's through the Passover blood that they put on the lentil and the doorpost that God brought them out of Egypt and from Pharaoh's dominion.

And then just for commentation. Leviticus is the book of worship for redeemed people. They began to worship God with the tabernacle. And the numbers is a book of wandering as they were wandering around.

Is it an interesting. It was 11 days journey to the promised land and they wandered for 40 years basically from 38 years they had to wander when it was only 11 days journey. Just like mankind is never wanting to go the way God said.

So we cost ourselves all kinds of difficulty. Deuteronomy is the book of remembrance. Some people call it the second book of the law. It's actually a book of remembrance and reminds God's people of God's redemption and warns them of their forgetfulness and it also warns them about their backsliding.

The Moral Law and the Ten Commandments

Now in the book of Exodus chapter 20 you'll see this in your outline. There was the giving of the law. Was there not. When God redeemed Israel out of Egypt he gave them the law for their good for their guidance and for their government.

It fell into three divisions. The law has three basic divisions which became so amalgamated at the time of Jesus that you couldn't see any difference between them. When our Lord came it was just a mass of confusion almost where they were all just mingled together.

Now there were so many commentaries so many sages so many Jewish rabbis who had written commentaries on the Old Testament law that nobody really could pin anything down. There were so many rules and regulations that you read about them with the Pharisees and Sadducees.

But they just added to those things through the years. They didn't just happen at once. Everybody had some idea about it and so they would do that. And they became confused in their application. Nobody really knew what to apply and when to apply it just depend on which group you were in.

If you're in the Pharisees you did certain things. If you're in the Sadducees you did certain things. If you are Herodian you did certain things you know. And so they did that. Now the law as I say was into three sections.

The first one was the moral law. That's the first section and that's Exodus chapter 20 verses 1 to 26. Now the moral law is nothing but pure law and you need to understand that it is just pure pure law and it was given orally first of all by God to Moses on Mount Sinai and it expressed the righteous will of God.

It made no provision for priesthood. It made no provision for sacrifice. It made no provision for forgiveness. It made no provision for failure or violation. It made none of those provisions. It was just pure law stated by God just pure law.

And it is called the Decalogue. Now we call it the Ten Commandments. And of course the Bible you know never calls it Ten Commandments. It's ten words. There were ten Hebrew words that were translated and to English.

And if you put them in English then you have sentences. But they basically were not that and so they're called the Decalogue and it was the perfect whole and expressed God's righteousness and God's will for man.

You and I know that the first four deal with what. The first four deal with man's relationship to God. Exactly right. And the last six deal with man's relationship to man. Now these laws are eternal and there are a lot of people have problem with the Ten Commandments.

But the Ten Commandments are as applicable today. If I understand the Bible correctly as they have or ever have been they'll never go away. They are eternal. In Matthew chapter 5 verses 17 to 19. I mean God's law would never will pass away.

Now what is sin? Sin is the transgression of the law isn't it? Sin is transgression of the law. 1st John 3 4 says whosoever commits sin transgresses also the law for sin is the transgression of the law.

And what if you just break one commandment the Bible says what I've broken them all. You break one you've broken them all. Man doesn't like that. And you hardly ever find a church that teaches that. But you and I know that that is true.

James 2 10 says. For whosoever shall keep the whole law and yet offend in one point he is guilty of all. Now Gamaliel. Gamaliel was a rabbi who taught the Apostle Paul when he was Saul of Tarsus. Gamaliel is one of the great rabbis of all history.

Here's what he said. Let me quote him curse it is everyone who at any time breaks a single one of these laws that are written in God's book of the law said you break one of them. Then you're cursed by God.

And that's what he believed. And that's what he taught Saul of Tarsus. Romans 3 20. For by the law is the knowledge of sin. The violation of the law incurs the curse of God. Galatians 3 10 curse it is everyone that continues not in all things that are written in the book of the law to do them.

The law is a schoolmaster. We say they teach you that in school it's a schoolmaster to bring us to Christ. It's that which us to the need of a Savior that you need a Savior. All you gotta do is look at how many commandments would you have to break to be lost forever.

Wouldn't take a lot would it. And all of us are condemned by the law. And Galatians 3 13 tells us that Christ has redeemed us from the curse of all being made a curse for us. For it is written curse. It is everyone that hangs on a tree.

So the great moral law was given for who it was given to Israel. But it's for all mankind. Is it an instinct. The further this country gets away from God the worst this country gets. What have they done now.

They didn't just want the Bible out. Now they want the Ten Commandments. Now your judge puts it in his chamber now and yet every day the Congress starts with a prayer. Every day there's a chaplain that opens in prayer of the Congress.

Every day the Supreme Court sits with the Ten Commandments behind them and they will turn in and vote and say that you can't have them in your court. But they have them there. And so if God's moral law you know the scripture says that if the foundation is destroyed what can a righteous person do.

If we ever destroy our total foundation then this country is gone. There's no way you can recover it. I don't care what you do. It cannot be recovered if you destroy the foundation. And the God's moral law is our foundation.

The Civil Law and the Ordinances of Worship

And then the second division of the law was the civil law. Now the Jewish people have two calendars. Don't. My people have two calendars. They have a religious calendar and they have a civil calendar.

That's about y2k. Y2k Jewish people say we don't worry about y2k. You were about 2 ,000. Our year is 5700. We ain't worried about that. So their calendars different. So they're not too concerned about it.

But they have a religious calendar and they have a civil calendar. They go by their civil rules and they go by their religious count in Exodus chapter 21 verses verse 1 all the way through 24 11 in your outline and they are called judgments.

And this law had to do with the Jewish person the Hebrews civil relationship and it's based upon the Ten Commandments. But it comes out of the Ten Commandments and it's a perfect moral standard for all human relationships.

Now this law is given to Israel and Israel only. It was not given to anybody else. But we also know that it was fair it was right it was godly and it's worthy as an example for all other laws we could base them on them and be well off by doing so as they apply today.

Now the civil laws had to do with servants. They had to do with masters. They had to do with murder manslaughter parental honor injuries property rights human rights justice charity the year rest for the soil when the soil was reconservated and consecrated to God also the Sabbath day the Shabbat.

It also was incorporated in the civil law called the judgments and the moral and civil law declared what the Hebrew should be and also what he should do. It told him what he was to be and also what he was to do.

Now when we come to the Bible this is a mistake you and I know that many Christians make. They are always concerned about doing. Most pastors preach about doing doing doing. And the reason people don't do is because they aren't.

The reason they don't do is they've never learned. Our first responsibility is to be is to become what God wants us to become. And if I would be what God wanted me I wouldn't be lazy. Would I I mean if I was what God wanted me to be then I'd be doing something for it.

And so a lot of people think by doing they can dismiss the being but you and I know that isn't true. And yet this law told them and it was a strict Jewish law and it does not apply to Gentiles today except by an example.

That's all you can use it as an example but it does not specifically apply to you today. And then the third division was ordinances very specific they constituted their religious life. This is how they worship.

This is the thing that they did that begins in Exodus 24 12 and it goes all the way down to 31 18. And it governed the religious life of Israel in that they also pointed to the Messiah. We have to remember that everything in the Bible if we can keep in our mind as we go through this study today everything and you just think about as we go through it about your relationship to Jesus Christ.

Everything points to the Messiah everything points to Christ everything honors him everything glorifies him. And anything you read in the Bible if you have eyes to see you will see him you will sense him you will know things about him.

And so they all pointed to the coming of the Messiah. And these ordinances essentially were fulfilled on the cross. They were given to Israel but fulfilled on the cross being guilty under the moral law which will say was the Ten Commandments.

Then the ordinances gave the priest a high priest as a representative of people. They needed a representative and so it provided for them the high priest and he would go and minister to the Lord. And then also it provided sacrifices for the atonement for their sin.

Now that's what the ordinances did for them. You and I know that Aaron who was the first high priest is a picture a type of we say a portrayal of the Lord Jesus Christ what Aaron did for them our Lord does for us almost identical.

I'm in typology we say type that means a picture it means a shadow it means a portrayal something that was portrayed then. That's clearer now in the Lord Jesus Christ Jesus is our atonement. And we know that was shown in the ordinances and in the sacrifices and we see them.

There are five of them basically and we know that they all have a picture of something that he does for us. And so the worship system was set up in the tabernacle. It was set up in the tabernacle. It was outlined and commanded in the ordinances.

It was set forth salvation. From where. Which direction would salvation come. God to man not man to God. Most churches and most denominations and most groups most literature today talks about man going to God.

But salvation always starts with and God came to man. And so we will find that in the tabernacle. Because when we go to the scriptures and begin looking at it we will see very quickly that the scripture starts with God.

It doesn't start with man. It starts with God and God moves from the Ark of the Covenant that you'll see in a moment and moves all the way to the gate where man is standing out there. And then from man to God once God meets man man can go to God from the gate to the Ark.

Almost every time I've heard people talk about the tabernacle they always start at the gate. Why. Well it's the most logical thing is that you and I go to a door. If there's a building we go to the door.

We don't go in there first and go find out what. But God was in there and that's the way God dealt with man. And so the ordinances provided a promise for a guilty man who would come to God. Now there are also three divisions in the ordinances.

And if you'll look at dry line this will be on the exam that we'll take later. Three divisions of the audience say I say you wake up all of a sudden slam exam. Listen there's one young man he already knows love me.

He and I talked about this before the service and he already has this down. He tell me exactly where it was found telling me that what book it was in. And that was interesting to me and told me why he knew it.

And but there are three divisions of the ordinances. One of them of course is the tabernacle the tabernacles where God would meet with the people. Now the tabernacle itself really it's a we say like a church building this church.

But it really isn't anything unless you were here it really is just a building. But the tabernacle was different. Everything in that tabernacle was a picture of the coming Messiah. It was a picture of God moving.

And so it was where God would meet his people. But he would only meet them through sacrifice he would not meet them any other way through sacrifice. The second division was the priesthood. Man himself couldn't do it.

God gave him a mediator and so the priesthood became a mediator. But now we know the scripture says in Timothy that there is one mediator between God and man the man Christ Jesus. But Christ had not come to the cross.

And so obviously God gave them this. And then the sacrifices guilty man could come to God. How a bloody sacrifice. Now this society which you and I live does not like that. We have been accused through the years of having a bloody religion.

They do not want to talk about blood. And now many seminaries to talk about the life. And we'll talk about that briefly in a moment I talk about the life of Christ as wonderful as the life of Christ was.

You are not saved by the life of Christ. It was by his death. It's by the shedding of his blood that you have. And we have a religion. We have a belief system that is based upon his shedding of his blood.

And so every precept of these ordinances pointed to Jesus Christ dying on the cross so that those guilty of breaking the moral law could come to God. And the scriptural account of the giving of the ordinances begin as I said it starts with the Ark of the Covenant.

It doesn't start with the outer gate. It starts with the Ark of the Covenant in the Holy of Holies. And it comes outward to the door of the outer court. That means that God begins salvation. And so what's that word we use again election that God is the one that chooses.

The Bible says no man comes to the father save the spirit draw him. The Bible says there is none that seeks after God. Man does not normally go looking for God. God comes looking for man. And if God comes looking for man there's God come looking for every man.

Obviously doesn't because not every man gets saved. So God is a God again who chooses God is a God who has a word that people do not care for. And that is the word election. Guilty man does not seek salvation of himself God.

God alone is the one that draws man to himself and makes the original approach. So the moral law pointed to man's guilt and condemnation. And the ordinances pointed to God's salvation provided in Christ.

And so the ordinances provided in the high priest a representative of the people before God. Now let me just say this lest I forget it. And I know you know this let me just say this. The Bible talks about us being a a holy nation of priests.

We are priests in the Lord. What does a priest do. A priest does essentially two things. First of all the priest goes into the presence of God on behalf of the people. And then he turns around and ministers to the people in the name of on behalf of God.

That's what you and I to do. We ought to spend time in the presence of the Lord on behalf of people. And then we're going to minister to people in the name of the Lord. Exactly what the priest in Israel did.

Exactly what our Lord did. And that's what Christianity basically is all about. And we'll talk about the high priest a little later on. But in his beautiful dress his garments were magnificent. And when you see what these people did out there in the wilderness you will ask yourself an amazement.

How did they do it. I mean the skill that God gave them the meticulous way that they wove threads and things of this nature is it's amazing and astounding that they could do this. And many people have the idea that he's a bunch of ragtag people wandering around out in the desert with no organization with no concept not at all highly intelligent people highly organized and walking under the things of God as God led them.

And so in that beautiful dress that the high priest would have it spoke of the righteousness of Christ imputed to those that were believed in no beauty of the known is outside beauty. And Christ would give them that in his offering of the sacrifice.

Then he spoke of the work of Christ. So dressed in the beautiful garments will find later on that it spoke of the person of Christ. And then the work that he did spoke of the work of Christ. For the high priest would always be appearing in the presence of God for the people.

Now the blood of the sacrifice declared that God's sentence for breaking of the commandments had been carried away and the penalty paid. The ceremonies please remember. And I know you know this but I want to keep reminding you the ceremonies never saved anyone.

Baptism doesn't save anybody. The Lord's Supper doesn't save anybody. Church services don't save anybody. Do they? No. Ceremonies did not save anyone. The ceremonies were there and put there under the auspices of God.

But what they did do is they taught the Hebrews the way of salvation. It taught them the way of salvation. And if they believed the way of salvation that they were saved if they believe what God told them and did what God told them to do in the way God told them to do it then they would become children of God.

They would become saved. And what did he do. The first thing he had to do was come to the door of the court. That was the first thing he had to do. If you don't ever take the first step we say then you don't ever get there.

You never go anywhere without taking a step. You won't ever get there. And so we have the authority for the construction of the tabernacle. If you'll look at Exodus chapter 25 verses 8 9 why building.

What difference does it make. What difference does it make where they had one it didn't have one. The main difference is that God told them to now we are very critical many times of the children of Israel.

We are critical of the Pharisees and Sadducees. And we talk about how the children of Israel did this in the wilderness. And they did that in the wilderness. And they did this in the wilderness but they did a lot of good things there also and they were not always in rebellion against God and God told them now can you imagine here they are all these people multitudes of them right in the middle of the desert.

They're out in the wilderness and God tells them to build this. And here's what God said in Exodus 25 verses 8 9 he said and let them make me a sanctuary that I may dwell among them according to all that I will show you after the pattern of the tabernacle and the pattern of all the instruments thereof even so shall you make it.

And God said I want you to make me a sanctuary so I can dwell with you. And I'm going to show you exactly how to do it now. It is astounding whenever you go and look at the tabernacle how meticulous they were careful.

They didn't leave anything for guesswork. They didn't leave anything for their own ingenuity or creativity. They did everything exactly how God said do it. They didn't dare cross a T by themselves or dot an I by themselves.

Whatever God told them to do is exactly what they did. Now you and I know that the Old Testament as we call it contains the gospel doesn't it. We know that it contains the gospel but it's sort of hidden in a way it is in promises.

We have Genesis 3 15. Don't we Genesis 3 15 which is called the proto evangelium. It is the first promise of the Redeemer found in the Bible. Promises. We have promises through the scriptures throughout the Old Testament that talk to us about the gospel in promise.

Also there what we call types a type again is a person or event that occurs in the Old Testament and it has an immediate application but it also has a future application. It can be a picture. We say the life of Joseph in the Old Testament is a perfect picture of the life of Christ almost everything that went on in that young man's life Christ himself experienced.

So we say he's a type of the high priest is a type of or a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. And the tabernacle is the shadow of the cross. Everything in the tabernacle is a picture of pointing to what Christ would do when he would come and die on the cross and set up redemption for you and me.

And every component of it every single hook every little I mean every sliver of thread everything pointed to Jesus Christ in this magnificent structure. Now there are five names given to this tabernacle in the Old Testament.

It has five names in the scripture and I'll give you those five names. Five is the number of grace. Isn't it. First of all it's called a sanctuary. We just read that in Exodus 25 verse 8 what is a sanctuary.

It's a holy place. It's a dedicated place. It's a place where you say come into the sanctuary here come into this sanctuary. It's because it's been dedicated to a particular purpose and it's a sacred purpose.

And then in the next verse in Exodus 25 9 it's called a tabernacle. The word tabernacle simply means a dwelling place. But what was it to be. God wanted to dwell where with his people. No. No no. So what it says is God wanted to dwell in the midst of his people.

God wanted to be in the middle. God wanted to be in the center. He didn't just want to be with his people. He wanted to be in the center of his people. He wanted to be the center of attention. He wanted to be the central attraction.

He wanted to be the life spring from once everything came and everything went. And so it's called a tabernacle. And then it is called in Exodus 26 36 it's called a tent. Now what is a tent. You and I know that a tent is a temporary dwelling place not permanent.

You can pick it up and move it. And sometimes you would be forced to pick it up and move it. So what does that tell us that the people were not where God wanted them to be. We have to conclude and can conclude from the scriptures that if they had been exactly where God wanted me he'd given him a permanent one.

That's what he did later with a temple. He gave them a permanent place because when they got into the Holy Land. But why would he you know if they're not in the promised land why give them a permanent establishment.

No they had the temporary establishment which was the tent and so God was leading them to promised land. And then in Exodus 29 verses 42 to 44 it is called the tabernacle of the congregation. We said congregation.

What does that mean. That means God's people meet with God. God's people meet with God. That's why and I'm gonna say this that's why I really have a problem sometime with naming churches the way people do.

I've come down a highway and I saw one called that church. I mean well I don't know anything about him. But I just think you know you don't find anything like that in the New Testament. You don't find anything like that in the first two or three hundred years of Christianity they would call them congregations.

They would call them assembly of believers. They would call them things of that nature. But you didn't find Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian, Episcopalian, Roman Catholic, Catholic. You didn't have that.

You didn't have that because they were more focused on God being the center than they were themselves or the things that they were involved in. So it's called the tabernacle of the congregation where God would meet with his people.

And then in Numbers chapter 1 verses 50 to 53 it is also called the tabernacle of testimony. Now what's a testimony. A testimony is a witness. It was a witness of God's grace and God's power because they couldn't have done it without God.

It was God who brought them out of Egypt not themselves. It was God who gave them the provisions that they needed not themselves. And it was God who told them how to build this wonderful structure. And those five names will give you the purposes of the tabernacle.

You wonder why God gave them that as best we understand it. God authorized it to show them that he would dwell in the midst of his people. If they would do what he said he would dwell with him. Is that what God tells people.

You do what I tell you and I'll walk with you. But you can't pick and choose with me. They had to do what God said that he would dwell in the midst of his people. Also it was an evidence of God's oneness with his people where they were.

He was where he was. They were a oneness with their people. God wanted to be identified with his people and also to teach Israel the holiness of God. That was the first thing they had to understand about this that God is extremely holy.

God is perfectly and purely holy. God is holy. And the angels will not let sin arrive into the presence of God. You recall the Holy Seraphim. They stand in the presence of very God himself. And they hide their eyes.

And they cry out night and day from all eternity past eternity. They cry out holy holy holy Lord God Almighty the holiness of God the holiness of God. And it was to recognize these people's minds the holiness of God.

And if they recognize the holiness of God what does that do. The holier I see God. The more I see I am the more of a gap I see that exists between men God. And that's why people don't want a holy God.

They want a God like they are. They want a God that kind of is a friend. He's a buddy. It's like young people. They won't mom and dad. They don't want a parent. They want a buddy. And we're free best first thing you gotta do is got to be a parent.

And God is a parent. But God is separate from us. God is not coming down and be like we are. God is not like that. I hear a lot of counselors don't. And I've read all the counseling books and taking courses and all.

And some of you have. And yet they're always talking about how God is like your father. No he's not. You know anything like my dad. I mean my dad. Nothing like God. And I never met one. That was. And I sure I'm not.

No. God is far beyond that. Isn't he. God is such a perfect holy being. But it was to teach them also that the only way they could approach God was through a priest. And through a sacrifice. They couldn't.

They had to have a substitute somebody beyond themselves. And also they had to have a sacrifice. Now let's think about these people for a moment. These people had a sacrifice for everything you don't have you ever thank God for God's goodness to us in the New Testament realm where you don't have to have that he's made a sacrifice.

But they didn't have one for everything. I mean every time they turned around. And yet that's the way they came to God. And also one of the purposes of Tabernacle was to teach Israel that the basis of every relationship with God and the basis for every spiritual blessing that they can have in their life was the precious blood of a substitute.

No fellowship out with God without blood without blood. And we know that is the precious blood of the Lamb. We know that that is the precious blood of the Messiah the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what it's looking to.

That's what God's teaching because you and I as Christian people we have come through. Haven't we. We've studied the Old Testament we've tied in with the New Testament and we've watched. I mean this is just a picture for these people at this time in history.

But we've watched how God just moved their thinking and how God just marched through the prophets and how God just walked all the way into the New Testament. Whenever Jesus was born and then died on the cross we saw how God was painting a picture.