Go with me if you would back
to Hebrews 9. Hebrews chapter 9 beginning in verse 1 it says, Then verily the first
covenant had also ordinances of divine service and a worldly
sanctuary, for there was a tabernacle made." Now you may remember the
last time we were in Hebrews, we looked at the first covenant
and the second covenant. And he's continuing with this
first covenant and this second covenant, explaining everything
that God gave to Moses and what that means eternally for all
of his people. And he said in this first covenant
there were ordinances given, there was a worldly sanctuary
given for there was a tabernacle made. God gave his people a tabernacle
and he gave them things that pertained to that tabernacle. Ordinances of divine service,
a worldly sanctuary. And God put so much emphasis
on that tabernacle. in his word, he put so much emphasis
on it. As we continue to go through
these scriptures, we really try to heavily, heavily be in the
word and go through the scriptures. And as we do that, we're going
to see that the tabernacle is really the centerpiece of the
Old Testament. It is all through the Old Testament. It is the constant that just
keeps running through it. God told Moses to build these
things and make these things, especially the Ark of the Covenant. And that Ark passed from Moses
to Joshua. We're in the book of Joshua.
And Joshua picked up where Moses left off. And that Ark went with
him, didn't it? And that Ark kept on going to
David. And that ark kept going to Solomon,
and Jeremiah mentions it, and it's just all through the Old
Testament. And then the New Testament keeps referring back to the tabernacle,
and the ordinances, and the ark, and all those things. And we know why. We know why. Every single bit of it is to
point us to Christ. Isn't that right? Every single
bit is to show us Christ. Now, verse 1, let's read a few
verses here again. Verse 1 says, Then verily the
first covenant had also ordinances of divine service and a worldly
sanctuary, for there was a tabernacle made. The first, meaning this
tabernacle had two rooms. in the first room, wherein was
the candlestick, and the table, and the showbread, which is called
the sanctuary. And after the second veil, or
the second room, the tabernacle, which is called the holiest of
all, which had the golden censer, and the ark of the covenant,
overlaid round about with gold, where was the golden pot that
had manna, and Aaron's rod that budded, and the tables of the
covenant, and over it the cherubims of glory, shadowing the mercy
seat, of which we cannot now speak particularly." And what
he's saying is, I'm going to stay on task and I'm not going
to get sidetracked on the details of these things. Now, when these
things were thus ordained, the priest went always into the first
tabernacle, accomplishing the service of God. They went into
that first room every day. But into the second went the
high priest alone, once every year, not without blood, which
he offered for himself and for the errors of the people, the
Holy Ghost this signifying," and that's saying the Spirit
telling us, the Spirit of God calls Moses to do this and Aaron
to do this, to signify to us. The Holy Ghost, this signifying
that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest
while as the first tabernacle was yet standing, which was a
figure for the time then present in which were offered both gifts
and sacrifices that could not make him that did the service
perfect as pertaining to the conscience. which stood only
in meats and drinks and diverse washings and carnal ordinances
imposed on them until the time of reformation. But Christ, being
come and high priest of good things to come, by a greater
and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is to say
not of this building, neither by the blood of goats and calves,
But by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place,
having obtained eternal redemption for us." I was reading this and
thinking that's what he said, that's what he's saying now,
and that's what he's about to say, and that's what he's going
to say in the next chapter. That's just what he said in the
previous chapter. That's what he said in the chapter
before that. It's almost like the apostle only has one message.
It's almost like he keeps repeating that one message. And that's
all we have in it, one message, one message, one message. But
he obtained eternal redemption for us. The whole reason for
every ordinance pertaining to that tabernacle, every single
one, was to show us a glimpse of the Lord Jesus Christ. It
illustrated Christ. Now, I just want to take a minute
and see the illustration. understand the illustration.
That tabernacle was 45 feet long. All right, it had two rooms.
The first room was 30 feet and the second room was 15 feet.
It was 45 feet long. It was 15 feet wide. That's 9
feet, you know, 12, so 15 feet wide. And it was 15 feet high. And the outside of that tabernacle
was surrounded by a linen fence. A linen fence went all the way
around it. It made a courtyard outside the
tabernacle. And what that signified, what
that said to the people was, your sin has separated you from
your God. Here's the tabernacle and there's
a fence around it and you can't come in here. Your sin has separated
you from God said he would dwell in that tabernacle. And in that
courtyard though, that outside courtyard, that's where the altar
was. It was just outside the tabernacle
in the courtyard. And the people brought their
animals to those priests and those priests slew those animals
on that altar and the people could watch it. They could see
it happen. They could bring bring a sacrifice
for their sin and then they could watch that priest shed blood
on behalf of their sin. God ordained it so they could
have a visual. A visual of blood shed on behalf
of their sin. Now also in that courtyard was
a laver of clean water. That was a large bowl of clean
water and the priests could then wash their hands, clean themselves
up and wash their feet before they went into the tabernacle.
Now everything that was in that courtyard is the cross. The cross of Calvary. God, so thankfully, ordained
a means to give us a visual of blood shed for our sins. He gave us something that we
could see. Blood shed for our sins. That
cross is the place where our sin debt was paid. Blood was
shed. Physically shed. And that cross
is the place where we were washed white as snow, cleansed, completely
cleansed. That's the place where every
child of God, the scripture says, was justified. The law said the
wages of sin is death. Once that death happened, that's
justification. The law is satisfied. That cross
is the place where God's children were justified and sanctified,
cleansed, made pure, made holy, set apart for holy use. Soldier ran a spear up in the
Lord's side, and when he did, out flowed blood and water. Justification, sanctification. Christ is the one who paid our
sin debt, and Christ is the one who made us acceptable. He made
us clean. The psalm says, who can ascend
up into the hill of the Lord? He that has clean hands. Christ made us acceptable to
enter into the presence of God. He made us clean. Well, alright,
then the priests went inside the tabernacle and like we said
it was divided into two rooms and verse 2 says, the first,
there was a tabernacle made, the first room wherein was the
candlestick And the table and the showbread, which is called
the sanctuary, and if you have a margin you'll see it says holy.
That room was called holy. The holy. The holy place. That's what it was called. The
holy place. So there was a table inside that room and on that
table there was a candlestick that had seven candles in it. Three on each side and one in
the middle. Seven is the number of perfection, absolute perfection. That candlestick is Christ our
light. Christ our light. They had that
in there so they could see. There were no windows. And you can imagine it would
have been pitch black in there. So they had this candlestick
in there so they could see. If God ever enables us to see
these things, it is only going to be by the light of Christ. That's it. If God ever enables
us to see anything in his word, it's going to be through the
light of Christ. A man cannot see the things of God and he
cannot see God outside of Christ. That candlestick is Christ. David said, your word is a lamp
unto my feet and it's a light unto my path. So that candlestick
is Christ our light. Now also on that table, the priest
set showbread. They went in every morning and
every evening and they trimmed the lamp. They kept that light
going and they set out hot showbread. That bread is Christ. Christ our life. Christ the staff of life. We live by Him. We feed on Him. He is what sustains us. He's
our light. He's our life. Alright, well
verse 3 here says, and after the second veil, now this is
the second room, the tabernacle which is called the holiest of
all. The holy of holies. The holiest
of all. And verse 4 says, that room had
a golden censer. And that censer was used to burn
incense. And that represents the prayers
of the Lord Jesus Christ making intercession for His people.
That's our hope, isn't it? The intercession of Christ on
behalf of all of us. Verse 4 says it had a golden
censer and it had the ark of the covenant overlaid round about
with gold wherein was the golden pot that had manna and Aaron's
rod that budded in the tables of the covenant. And we looked
at those things recently. Each of those things represent
Christ. And the ark itself is Christ. Everything that's kept inside
him, it's all Christ. Everything. Verse 5 says, over
it the cherubims of glory shadowing the mercy seat of which we cannot
now speak particularly. That was a lid of solid gold
and it had two cherubims made into this lid and they faced
each other, their wings were spread out to each other, but
their faces were facing down on the mercy seat. That mercy
seat is Christ. That's Christ. Christ is the
only place. Christ is the only way that God
and man can meet. God said whenever he told Moses
to fashion this mercy seat, he said, you tell Aaron and you
tell every other priest after him that that is the place where
I'll meet with you. right in between those cherubims
at that mercy seat. That's where God and man meet. That's Christ. God and man meets
at Christ. Now, I titled this message, Christ
Our Tabernacle. I could have titled this Christ
Our Altar, Christ Our Cleanser, Christ Our Priest, the one out
in that courtyard, Christ the Sacrifice. out in that courtyard. Christ the Light, Christ the
Life, Christ the Intercessor, Christ the Ark of Covenant, Christ
the High Priest, or Christ the Mercy Seat. Every single bit
of it is Christ. Every single bit of it. Alright,
verse 9 says, Which was a figure for the time then present in
which were offered both gifts and sacrifices that could not
make him that did the service perfect as pertaining to the
conscience, which stood only in meats and drinks and diverse
washings, the carnal ordinances imposed on them until the time
of reformation. But Christ being come and high
priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect
tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building,
neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood
he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal
redemption for us. For if the blood of bulls and
of goats and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean
sanctifies to the purifying of the flesh, How much more shall
the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself
without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to
serve the living God? I thought about the fact that
when the children of Israel committed a sin, And that sin started weighing
on their conscience. You can imagine, you know, they're
just like us. They do something and you feel
bad about it. The guilt of it, the shame of it, the fear of
it. As soon as they realized what
they needed to do, they had to go get a pigeon, or they had
to go get a dove, or they had to go get a goat. They had to
get an animal. And they had to bring that animal
to the priest, and they had to watch that priest slit that animal's
throat. They had to watch that happen.
And that eased the conscience of that Israelite. God demands
blood, and there it is, and that eased his conscience. That settled
him down. How long, though, do you think
it took for him to commit another sin? How long after that do you think
it took for his conscience to be stained again, and guilt to
enter into him again, and shame and fear? And you know what he
had to do at that point? He had to go get another animal. I can
see men doing this multiple times a day. Those priests were so
busy. They were so busy. They killed
and killed and killed. They never stopped slaying. They had to go get another animal
and bring it back to that priest. And the blood of those animals
could never relieve the conscience of that Israelite. Never. With every single sin that was
committed, his conscience said, that has not been paid for yet. I need to go get an animal. I've
got to go get another animal. Didn't you just sacrifice one?
Yes. I have to go get another one now. I have to. But look
at verse 11. It says, But Christ being come
and high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more
perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not
of this building, neither by the blood of goats and calves,
but by his own blood, he entered in once into the holy place,
having obtained eternal redemption for us, eternal redemption for
us. For if the blood of bulls and
of goats and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling the unclean sanctifyeth
to the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall the blood
of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without
spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the
living God. The sacrifice of the body of
Christ and the offering of His absolutely pure blood, His perfect
blood to God, that has eased our conscience forever. Forever. No more sacrifice will
ever have to be made. That has caused our conscience
to cease from dead works. We're not running back trying
to get something, trying to grab an animal, trying to get a sacrifice.
We've ceased. Verse 15 says, and for this cause,
he is the mediator of a new testament. That word testament means will. And I love this. I love what
he says right here. You know, you're going to have your last
will and testament made, right? The reading of the last will
and testament. It means a will. It means a doling out of inheritance. That's what it means. A giving
out of the inheritance. Verse 15 says, for this cause
he is the mediator of a new testament. When we see that, those two words,
the new testament, that's the new doling out of inheritance.
And he said that by means of death, for the redemption of
the transgressions that were under the first testament, They
which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance. For where a testament is, there
must also of necessity be the death of the testator. For a
testament is a force after men are dead, otherwise it is of
no strength at all while the testator liveth. If I go to a
lawyer's office, And I draw up a will. I have him draw up a
will for me, a last will. And in that will, I decide that
I want my vehicle to go to Mary. I chose you. That's who I want
my vehicle to go to. And she's in the will. Does that
give her the right to come up to me after this service and
say, I want my vehicle? No. No. I have to die first. Isn't that right? That's what
has to happen. In order for you to get your
inheritance, I have to die first. You know, after everything is finished
with me, truly finished with me, it has to be finished. then
you would get what's rightfully yours. And that's how it is for
us with Christ. The moment I die, it's yours. The moment He died, it was ours. It was ours. That's it. Verse
16 says, For where a testament is, there must also of necessity
be the death of the testator. For a testament is a force after
men are dead, otherwise it is of no strength at all while the
testator liveth. Whereupon neither the first testament
was dedicated without blood, every bit of that was dedicated
with blood to show this, to point us to Christ. Verse 19, for when
Moses had spoken every precept to all the people according to
the law, he took the blood of calves and of goats with water
and scarlet, wool and hyssop, and I love this, he sprinkled
both the book He sprinkled all the people, saying, This is the
blood of the testament which God hath enjoined unto you. Moreover,
He sprinkled with blood both the tabernacle and all the vessels
of the ministry." Moses sprinkled everything. He covered everything
in blood. He sprinkled the book. He sprinkled
the people. He sprinkled the tabernacle.
He sprinkled all of it with the blood of Christ. He poured the
blood of Christ on everything. goats and calves representing
the blood of Christ. Verse 22, And almost all things
are by the law purged with blood, and without shedding of blood
is no remission. It was therefore necessary that
the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with
these, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices
than these. For Christ is not entered into
the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the
true, but into heaven itself now to appear in the presence
of God for us. Nor yet that he should offer
himself often as the high priest entereth into the holy place
every year with blood of others, for then must he often have suffered
since the foundation of the world. But now once in the end of the
world, hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of
himself, and as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after
this the judgment. So Christ was once offered to
bear the sins of many, and unto them that look for him shall
he appear the second time without sin unto salvation." Everything
about that tabernacle Everything, every single piece of that tabernacle
shows us everything Christ did to make an atonement for us and
to make intercession on our behalf. Every single thing. That tabernacle
shows us everything Christ did to pay our debt. That's what
atonement means. Pay our debt and make peace with
God for us again. And I love how this ends. This is a wonderful outline right
here. It ends with three appearings. These are wonderful. The middle
of verse 26 says, But now once in the end of the world, Hath
he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself? Thank
God he appeared on this earth to put away our sin by the sacrifice
of himself. Thank God. He appeared. God Almighty, the God of heaven,
appeared right here on this little bitty ball. And He appeared to
put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. Verse 24 says, For
Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands,
which are the figures of the true, but into heaven itself,
now to appear in the presence of God for us. Thank God not
only did Christ appear on this earth to put away our sin, He
appeared in the presence of God Almighty on our behalf. He stood
before God the Father to make reconciliation for us. Back to
him. And then in verse 28 it says, So Christ was once offered
to bear the sins of many, and unto them that look for Him shall
He appear the second time without sin unto salvation. Our Lord is going to appear to
this world a second time. That's just fantastic. He's going to appear a second
time, but this time it's not going to be to redeem. It's going
to be to gather his redeemed. Gather every single one of them
up, all those that he redeemed in the tabernacle of himself.
And that's why I keep saying a better tabernacle, a better,
not that tabernacle, he didn't enter into that 10 out there.
He did all this in His own self, in His own body. He offered His
own tabernacle, His own body, His own blood. And every soul
He redeemed in the tabernacle. Every soul that was purged and
atoned for in the tabernacle, he's going to receive him to
himself, and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Thank God.
Thank God. I was thinking about the fact
that I'm so thankful for this house that we have. I'm very
thankful the Lord has provided this building, but don't we thank
God that we can worship him in the tabernacle of Christ himself. We spiritually gather in the
tabernacle. We've been made clean, purged
and clean, and we're allowed. That high priest was allowed
to go in. Right? Those priests went in and made
that. And Revelation says, our God has made us kings and priests
unto him. We're allowed. That veil has
been ripped open. And he says, welcome in to the
holy of all. And thank God we can worship
Him in the tabernacle of Christ Himself. Okay, let's all stand
together.