Turn with me to the book of Hebrews
chapter 9. Hebrews chapter 9. We'll look at verses 3 to 5,
but before we do, let's ask our Lord's blessing. Our Father, it's so good to be
able to call upon You and to know that by our Lord and Savior
Jesus Christ, through His blood, we are able to enter into the
very throne of grace, that place that is only reserved
for the great high priest, but by Him and in Him we can call
upon You. I ask you to bless the service
tonight. Lord, help us to worship. Teach
us. We are needy people. Comfort
us, we ask, for Christ's sake. Amen. As we continue our study and
consideration of the tabernacle in the wilderness, Let us always remember that what
was pictured in the tabernacle has been absolutely, completely
fulfilled by the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, we know that Aaron, Aaron's
picture of Christ, you know that. Aaron was the high priest. and his lineage picture of the
Lord Jesus. But what we're studying right
now in this particular chapter is actually the furniture that
was inside the tabernacle. And that furniture that was found
within that holy place and the holiest of places is a type,
it's a revelation of the ministry of our Lord right now. Now, I know that the last time
when we were looking and considering, we started looking at that furniture
that was inside. We looked at the candlestick,
and from that candlestick, This is what we know right now. Christ is our light. What you perceive, what you understand
right now, the Spirit of God has brought back to your memory
right now, right now, right now. There are times that we start
to think, well, I've kind of grown up in this, you know. I've
learned this and I've known this. And I do understand that. I understand
that we grow in grace and we have knowledge and we go back
to those things that we've heard and been revealed. But this is
life now, right? by hearing. And right now, the
Spirit of God is doing something for God's people right now in
the prescribed way that the Spirit of God is going to speak and
going to teach. It's under the sound of the gospel.
That message that honors the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm telling
you, this is a blessing. To be able to be here. I know how easy we get to retire. I understand. I know. It's hard. You've worked all
day and you've been out in the world and you've had to deal
with people. And I realize. But I'll tell
you, it's a blessing to be able to, in like this midweek service
tonight, to come and to assemble ourselves together and be reminded
that right now the Lord is teaching us, as we hear right now, that
candlestick, the light, the understanding, the perception, what we know. That table that was in that holy
place, that sets forth that we have fellowship. We dine with
Him. He's in our midst right now.
Two or three are gathered together. As I've said, surely there's
two or three here gathered together in His name. He said, I'm in
the midst of you. What a thought! I realize I'm
standing here preaching. He's here. He knows my thoughts. He knows what I'm going to say
before I ever say it. He knows what you're going to
think before you ever think it. He knows what you're going to
ask for before you ask it. Oh, the fellowship that we have
with Him, just to understand that He's with us. The showbread
that was in that outer holy place. We feast on Him now, right now. We eat of Him. There is a food
that the soul feasts on. It feeds just like you ate supper
just a little bit ago, or you're going to eat after we go home
or something, but you're going to eat tonight. And there's a
kind of food that you eat, and it's right for the body. I mean, you need it. You need
that type of food. Well, for the soul, that regenerated,
that newly created, that new man, that new man eats and drinks
of Christ. And we eat and drink daily, hourly. I need Thee every hour. A believer,
He governs his life. based on the eating of Christ. He'll ask himself this. I've
got a decision to make. I've got something. Is this going
to honor my Lord? Is this going to be honoring
to my God? How is this going to affect? What kind of influence? You know what I'm talking about.
This consideration of that furniture is a picture of the Lord's mercies
to us now. Right now. I need light right
now. I need fellowship right now. I need to eat of Him right
now. So we consider all of those furnishings
in that place as a promise of Him, listen to this, who has
entered into heaven itself now. to appear in the presence of
God for us right now. Well, continuing this chapter,
let's look at verse 3 to 5 tonight. The apostle says, sets forth
in verse 3, and after the second veil, now what he's saying was,
and I told you how big that tabernacle was. If you were in the outer
court, back here, and just that outer the first place, the holy
place. There was a veil from the outer
court that was open to the elements. It had a veil that you had to
come through. And this first court right here, that's where
your candlestick and your table and your showbread and altar
of incense was right just before that second. But that second
veil that would have been two-thirds of the way back, there was another
veil. And that veil went into the holiest
of holies, the holy place. That's what he's talking about.
After the second veil, the tabernacle which is called the holiest of
all. Now that's that place where the
high priest only could enter. And that only one day a year
and not without blood. That was the very place that
God resided. That's where He would meet with
men. That's where He told Moses. He
said, I'll meet with you between the cherubims. That's where the
Shekinah was. That's where that pillar, that
smoke, that pillar of a cloud rested. Right there in that place
where God was pleased to dwell. that is actually set forth as
the very presence of the Lord. That veil that was right in front
of the Holy of Holies. That was the veil when the Lord
Jesus Christ died on Calvary. The moment of His death. 1,500 years. That sacred place. Well, first of all, It was only
the priest that could even see the veil there. But going behind
that veil was only the high priest. And that, as I said, one time
a year, one day a year, not without blood. To go into that place
without blood? Death. Death. And on the day that the
Lord Jesus Christ died, the Scripture sets forth, that that veil that
had stood for 1,500 years as a separation because of sin that
had separated between God and men, that veil was rent from
top to bottom and just opened up right there to be viewed by
the shedding of His own blood He finished that work of redemption
and opened to His people, in Him, a new and living way right
into the very presence of God Himself. I want you to turn over
to Hebrews 10 and 19. Let's look at this. Let's turn
a page right there, more than likely. Look at this, 10 and
19, "...having therefore, brethren, boldness." liberty to enter into
the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which
He hath consecrated for us through the veil, that is to say, His
flesh. And having a high priest over
the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full
assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from evil conscience
and our bodies washed with pure water. Think about the fear. Think about the awesomeness of
the thought of one of those Jews thinking about that place. To
be able to go into the very presence of God Himself. I mean, that
was unthinkable. I mean, that was suicidal. To go into the very place where
God's holiness resided, and there the Scripture says, having the
boldness, the liberty. When we pray, even now, having
been made kings and priests unto God by Him, through Him, that
we can now, by prayer, enter into the very throne of God. into the very presence of God
when we pray. In the Old Testament, they had
to have a priest to approach God for them. You couldn't just
enter in. No. We have a priest. We have a high priest right now
in the very presence of God. And by His blood, That which
once separated us, sin, He put away. Made sin. Cast it as far as the east is
from the west. Oh, the wonder of being able
to pray. How we were lost in that. And then when I was out in Mississippi
the other day, I was talking with Brother Bruce Gresham. And
he was telling me that when he was in school, the college that
he went to, he said he had an old professor that really helped
me a lot. And they got talking about prayer
one day. And that old professor asked
him, he said, Bruce, have you ever noticed that when you pray,
how much you start thinking about polar bears. And Bruce said,
what's that? What do you mean? He said, things
that you would never think about. He said, you start to pray. And
he said, thoughts that come up. Where did that come from? Oh,
the wonder that he remembers that we are dust. That he's long-suffering. That the Spirit of God would
pray for us with groanings that cannot be uttered, that the Lord
Jesus Christ is there interceding while we even pray, His own blood
answering. I paid for that. I put that guilt
away. I shed my blood even when we
pray. As I said last week, if the Lord
would mark iniquity, who could stand? Who could stand before
Him? After the second veil, verse 3, the tabernacle which is called
the holiest of all, verse 4, which had the golden censer and
the ark of the covenant overlaid round about with gold, wherein
was the golden pot that had manna, an erudite rod that budded in
the tables of the covenant. Oh, I'm telling you the blessings
of those blessed shadows and types that have been fulfilled
in Him. He talks about inside that holy
of holies. It said it had the golden censer. That golden censer was not part
of the permanent furniture that was in the holy of holies, but
it was taken into the holy of holies only on the Day of Atonement. I want you to turn to Leviticus
16. Leviticus 16, and I want you
to consider just a second on that golden censer. Like I said,
now remember, everything that we're looking at right here concerning
all of this furniture, everything, this golden, it's a picture of
Christ and His blessings to us right now. Back in the Old Testament
in the wilderness, that high priest once a year, He'd go in
with that golden censer. This is what would happen. In
Leviticus 16, verse 12, talking about on the Day of Atonement,
He shall take a censer full of burning coals of fire from off
the altar before the Lord, and His hands full of sweet incense,
beaten small, and bring it within the veil. And He shall put the
incense upon the fire before the Lord, that the cloud of the
incense and they cover the mercy seat that's upon the testimony
that he die not. Every other day of the year,
that priest, Aaron, he ministered before the altar of incense. Now, that altar of incense, it
was an altar It was made of that same precious wood. It was made
of shidom wood. It was covered with gold. And
it stood right in front of the veil that was just before the
Holy of Holies, that altar of incense. And that altar would
burn that sweet incense, speaking of the glorious intercession
of Christ, there was a brazen altar. Now, that brazen altar,
when you came in, there was a wall that was all the way around the
whole outer court. And there was a door that came
in to that outer court. Now, when I say the outer court,
I'm talking about the court that was open. Not inside the tabernacle
of the holy place and the holy of holies, but this outer court.
And when you walked into that outer court, there was that brazen
altar. And that was the first thing
that you were going to see when you came into that outer court. That's where that burnt offering
was offered. And coals from that brazen altar
was taken and it was placed on the Day of Atonement inside. Now that brazen altar, that was
a picture of that sacrifice, that burnt offering that was
given as a sweet savor unto the Lord Himself concerning the sacrifice
of the Lord Jesus Christ that appeased God Himself. God Almighty,
the Scripture says, the Lord was bruised for our iniquities.
It pleased the Lord to bruise Him. Why? In the putting away
of our guilt. That's the way God was going
to redeem His people. It pleased the Lord. It was His
pleasure in the redemption of His elect to bruise the substitute. God's a just God. And they would
take coal. from that altar, that brazen
altar. And they would take those coals
and they'd put it in that golden censer. And on the Day of Atonement,
the coals that spoke of that sacrifice that was made before
God Himself concerning the satisfaction and the putting away of our guilt,
those coals were in that golden censer, The high priest would
take that incense and he would sprinkle it on those coals and
the savor of that sacrifice would just cover, the Scripture says,
the mercy seat. Blood from that same sacrifice
would sprinkle on that mercy seat and the sweet fragrance
of satisfaction. God smelled it. It was a sweet
savor to him. that sin was put away, justice
was served, the law was honored, and God Himself set forth in
those precious times His satisfaction in Christ toward us. Right now,
right now, the sweet savor that was pictured by that golden censer
and that incense on those coals, right now, right now, by His
blood, by His sacrifice, there is therefore now no condemnation
to them that be in Christ Jesus. He ever liveth right now to make
intercession. That golden censer was setting
forth the merit and the righteousness of Him who appears in the very
presence of God for us. He is. He is. precious, glorious angel. Turn to Revelation. This is just
a look at this. I mean, we've studied through
this. It does us so much good. Revelation 8, verses 1 to 4. John seeing the glorious revelation
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Revelation 8, 1 to 4. When He
had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven about
the space of a half hour. And I saw the seven angels which
stood before God, and to them were given seven trumpets. And
another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden
censer. And there was given unto him
much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of
all saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne.
And the smoke of the incense which came with the prayers of
the saints ascended up before God out of the angels' hands.
No other. than the Lord Jesus Christ Himself.
Picture right there. No other than the high priest
could offer that. No other but Christ Himself. Oh, the glorious offering of
our Lord and Savior given unto God for a sweet-smelling savor. And then also back in Hebrews
chapter 9, that golden censer. And then it says, "...in the
ark of the covenant overlaid round about with gold wherein
was the golden pot that had manna. Manna was Israel's food from
Egypt to Canaan. Forty years. Forty. Forty years. God rained down manna out of
heaven. Every morning they would go One
day's supply except the day before the Sabbath. They get two days'
supply. That man, a glorious picture
of our Lord and God's provision and food for the church. The sustenance of our soul. Oh,
how we feast on Him. I'm telling you, a believer understands
this. They understand it. It's good.
It's good. David said it's good to be in
the house of the Lord and to feast upon His glorious body
and blood. We had the Lord's Supper last
week. I don't know. I can't explain
the wonder of God's blessing upon eating and drinking together
with God's people. But I do know this. The breaking
of that bread is a picture of his broken body, the drinking
of that cup, his precious blood. He said, this do in remembrance
of me. God Himself set forth in that
beautiful picture right there, that place, that Ark of the Covenant
overlaid round with gold, wearing with the golden pot that had
manna. Lord, give us this day our daily
bread. Lord, let us eat. Physically,
yes, I do understand that. We do. We thank the Lord for
what we've received today. I'm thankful for that. The Lord
give us to eat of you once again. Christ Himself in the very presence
of God for us. The bread. And also it says Aaron's
rod that budded. There was a revolt that took
place back in the wilderness. And Korah and some of his followers
decided that they would take God's man to task, obviously,
more than once. And the Lord judged from on high
concerning who God Himself would set forth to be his priest. And what they were going to do
is they told, the Lord told Moses to take a rod, staff, from each
of the tribes with the name of the head of that tribe written
on it. Aaron's name was written on the
tribe And those rods were placed before
the Lord in the tabernacle. And the Lord set forth that that
rod that blossomed, that budded, that would be the man that God
had set forth. And it didn't matter what core
or anybody else said. But the man of God's choosing
was the man that God was going to put in the bush type. And
Aaron's rod butted. And here we see our precious
Savior typified as a dry stick. It was just a staff. It was just
a stick brought forth, a rod. Just like the Scripture sets
forth that he was a root out of dry ground, the branch of
the root, Jesse, our great high priest, God's elect in whom we're
chosen, God Himself. Turn back to Hebrews 5. Think
about the Scripture that we're about to read right now. God
set forth His choice on who the high priest was going to be. Look at Hebrews 5, verses 4 and
5. Speaking of the high priest,
no man taketh this honor unto himself, but he that is called
of God, as was Aaron, so also Christ glorified not himself
to be made a high priest. But he that said unto him, Thou
art my son today, have I forgotten thee? I mean the wondrous glory
of being chosen in the One who was God's chosen, God's elect,
and we chosen and elected in Him. God Himself, the Lord Jesus
Christ, set forth in that rod that budded. And then lastly,
concerning that in verse 4, inside that ark, it says, and the tables
of the covenant. Here we see what our Lord and
Savior has done for us. He's honored God's law, made
it honorable. Of the Lord Jesus Christ alone
it is said, Lo, I come in the volume of the book. written of
me, I delight to do thy will, O my God." What we could not
do in that the flesh is weak. Christ sent His own Son, made
in the likeness of sinful flesh, without sin, and lived before
God Almighty. Those two stones, God's law written
on stone, representing two things. Number one, the hardness of our
hearts and the inflexibility of God's law. Christ Himself
satisfied it. Christ lived before God. And what that law demanded, Christ
paid. That law demanded absolute holiness
before God. That's my beloved son. I'm well
pleased. But that law demanded satisfaction
too. The soul that sinneth is going
to die. Paul said under the inspiration
of the Spirit of God, I was crucified with Christ. Yeah, in Him, all
of His people were there on that day. I know and understand perfectly
well, physically, no, but spiritually, we were in Him, crucified with
Him, died with Him under the judgment of Almighty God in Him. And God Himself did just exactly
what God said He was going to do. He was going to judge sin. You talk about mercy and grace,
that God could be just in putting away and paying the debt of sin
and justify a sinner. Only God could do that. There
was that law. Satisfied. And then lastly, Verse
5, and we'll stop with this, "...and over it the cherubims
of glory, shadowing the mercy seat of which we cannot now speak
particularly." Or Paul said actually that last, not speak particularly,
it means now is not enough time or the time to speak in detail. You know, we've talked about
those glorious cherubim. mysterious. I'm lost in the wonder
of those cherubim that guarded, the Scripture says, flaming sword
there at the garden when Adam and Eve was cast out to keep
the way. And I honestly believe, as Robert
Hawker says, and I think rightly so, I believe so, not to keep
men from it, but to keep the way to it. to life itself. Those cherubim that Ezekiel and
Isaiah and Daniel and John saw on the Isle of Paton, those glorious
cherubim, going no further than the Scripture allows, sets forth
those glorious creatures that I truly believe are emblematic
of the Godhead Father, Son, and Spirit that cannot be known,
that cannot be seen, that cannot be perceived. God is Spirit. And what God Almighty eternally
purposed in that everlasting covenant of grace, set forth
by the Son, the Word Himself. I believe that is what those
cherubim set forth. But Paul, under the inspiration
of God's Spirit, said, This is not the time or the length of
time to deal with them, but it was those cherubim. That's where
the Lord said that those cherubim on top of that mercy seat. He
said, that's where I'm going to meet with you. I'll meet you
between the cherubim in that place that God has been pleased
to reveal. that everlasting covenant of
grace in electing, redeeming, quickening, preserving grace. Oh, the wonder of that precious
furniture that was in that tabernacle that sets forth what's going
on right now. You know, that makes it more
than just history, doesn't it? It makes it alive. Realize right
now what we know right now. He just taught us right now.
He just brought it back to our mind right now. Well, you just
ate. It's good to eat. It's good to
feast. We thank the Lord that He has
allowed us the privilege to meet together again and feast upon
the wonder of our precious Savior. I pray the Lord might bless these
words to our heart for the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ in our
good. Amen.