Let's take our Bibles and turn
with me to the book of Hebrews, Hebrews chapter 9. Hebrews chapter 9. I want to look tonight at verse
1, verse 1. Hebrews 9.1 says, Then verily
the first covenant had also ordinances of divine service and a worldly
sanctuary. Let's pray together. Our Father, we thank You for
the evening, a day when we can assemble ourselves together in
your very presence. Lord, would you bless tonight.
Would you bless His Word, our understanding, our comfort. Thank you. Thank you for allowing
us to be here. For Christ's sake. Amen. The Apostle is continuing in
the teaching to these Hebrews and to us tonight. concerning
the glory of our blessed Lord and Savior to be the very substance,
to be the end of all that was set forth in that Aaronic order,
the order of Aaron. And everything that the Lord
God set forth to Moses concerning the construction. Now there was
a tabernacle that was in the wilderness. It was a sanctuary.
And everything that the Lord set forth. This is what the Apostle
was setting forth under the inspiration of God's Spirit to teach these
Hebrews. It wasn't just a place. It pointed to and magnified the
glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. It glorified God in human flesh. That's what was set forth in
that tabernacle. And as I was reading this This
passage of Scripture, I'm going just verse by verse. And this
one passage, that which stopped me, just arrested my mind, were
those last two words in this verse of Scripture, worldly sanctuary. This sanctuary that the Apostle
Paul was setting forth wasn't worldly in the sense as we would
think as being opposite of spiritual. That's not what it meant. But
it was worldly in the sense that it belonged to this temporary
earth. And it was constructed of worldly
material. but oh, what it set forth, what
it magnified, what it pointed to. That's what Paul was setting
forth. It was worldly in the sense that it was temporary,
but oh, what the Spirit of God taught us concerning the glory
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, to see something I want
you to turn with me to Exodus chapter 26. And what I'd like
to do is I'm not going to deal with every verse of Scripture,
but I'm going to take some Scripture out of this chapter, Exodus chapter
26, and I want to look at the construction of this tabernacle. and what was actually set forth. Now, the passage we looked at,
Paul set forth and he said concerning that, he said, then verily the
first covenant had ordinances, it had ceremonies of divine service
and a worldly sanctuary. Well, I want to look at that
worldly sanctuary and what was actually set forth. in the glory
of our precious Lord and Savior. Now, I'm going to start in verse
15. The reason I'm going to start
here, and I'll go to verse 1 in just a minute, but you'll understand
why I'm going to start with verse 15 in this. It's just beautiful. Now, this tabernacle that's set
forth It's actually what we're going to be talking about is
that holy place and then the holy of holies. But here's how
it was made. It was that worldly sanctuary.
It started off in verse 15, Exodus 26, "...and thou shalt make boards
for the tabernacle of Shittimwood standing up." Now, here's what
was actually there. Let me just tell you how big
this tabernacle was. I started reading in the scriptures
today on how the cubits and where it was. And it so arrested my
mind, I came here during the day and I stepped off in this
room right here, how big it was. And from about this wall, It
goes just about to the end of where you turn to go through.
Not the last two pews, but just about that end. It was 45 feet
long. It was 15 feet wide, about from
the wall to this side of the pews right here, and 15 feet
tall. Two-thirds of it was the holy
place in the veil, and the last third was the Holy of Holies.
That's about how big it was right there. Now the Scripture set
forth that within that tabernacle, now this that I'm about to describe
to you is the construction of this and we'll look at the beauty
in what this construction set forth. It had, the Scripture
said, it had boards of the tabernacle that were made of That was a
wood that I found out. It was a precious wood. It was the same wood that the
ark was made out of. And it was constructed in such
a way that verse 29 of Exodus, if you'll look at it, it says,
And thou shalt overlay the boards with gold. Make their rings of
gold for places for the bars. Thou shalt overlay the bars with
gold. Now this wood, this precious
wood, set forth the humanity of our blessed Savior, just like
the Ark of the Covenant. That Ark, that box, Shittim wood,
gold on the inside, gold on the outside. It had a mercy seat. We'll look at that later. I don't
want to get into the mercy seat yet until we get to it in the
Scriptures. But this tabernacle, it was made in such a way that
those boards were made to where they were side by side. The Scripture sets forth concerning
the glorious setting forth of the humanity and the deity. Now there's that place right
here. Twenty boards on the north side. Twenty boards on the south side. six boards on the west side and
on the east side it had columns that was opened up in a veil. Now, the framework of that tabernacle,
twenty boards on the north, twenty boards on the south, six boards
on the west side, five pillars of shidom wood, verses 22 set
forth on the sides westward six boards. Now here's the amazing
thing of the way that it was laid out. Now every time this
tabernacle was removed and set up, it had to be set up exactly
this way. Here's the framework. It was
a framework, shidom wood, overlaid with gold. The framework, the
foundation, the strength of that tabernacle was the glorious Lord
Jesus Christ, God in human flesh. That's what actually made up
the very framework of this tabernacle. Forty-five feet long, fifteen
feet wide, fifteen feet high. One side of it faced north. One
side of it, long side, faced south. The back side faced west. And the open end through which
he had to come through the veil faced toward the east, through
which the bright morning star was going to have to come through,
the true priest. And before he could get into
that tabernacle, he had to go past the brazen altar, the altar
upon which the sin offering was going to have to be altered.
And whenever that tabernacle was set up, They couldn't just
go out there and just set it up. Where do you want to set
it? Well, just set it. That tabernacle had to be set up exactly. That
long side had to face north. That other long side had to face
south. The back side had to face west. And the open end through
the veil had to point east. Had to point that which set forth
the glorious Lord Jesus Christ, our bright and morning star.
But as that framework was set up, that exactly, exactly, those
boards, 18 inches, one cubit, 18 inches, they were side by
side, tight. And that glorious tabernacle,
the framework for the tabernacle, set forth the exact requirement
that Almighty God demanded for His presence. It's going to be
this size right here. This is what it's going to take.
And no one but the Lord Jesus Christ has ever measured up. That set up God's demand for
God Almighty to tabernacle with men. This is what it's going
to take. You make it this way. You put
it in this direction. It has to be exactly this way. Concerning men, all have sinned.
and come short of the glory of God. But concerning Him, this
is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." You hear him. Those boards put together, bound
together. It had a wall. It had hooks and boards were
placed through it. Those were all Shiddam wood.
going through, overlaid with gold, everything tied together
on the back side. He had boards on the corner.
It was exactly concerning God's demand for the setting forth
of His requirement for holiness. Now the Scripture, now look at
verse 1 in verse 26. Now I said that to set forth
the framework There's the shedim wood covered with gold. There's
the framework. Now, in verse 1 of chapter 26
of Exodus, it says, Moreover, thou shalt make the tabernacle
with ten curtains of fine twined linen, and blue and purple and
scarlet, with cherubims of cunning work shalt thou make them. Now, I want you to notice something. In verse 15 that we just looked
at, the Scripture says, And thou shalt make boards for the tabernacle
of Shittim wood standing up. Make these boards for the tabernacle. And those boards of that wood
and that gold set forth the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ in strength. And verse 1 reveals the curtains
themselves. to be called the actual tabernacle. Thou shalt make the tabernacle
with ten curtains of fine twined linen. Now in that tabernacle,
what we're actually seeing, and here's what the apostle was setting
forth to those Hebrews. It wasn't just a place. It wasn't just material. It was glorious in the setting
forth of Christ. Inside, now, there's the wood
framework and inside, you had to go inside the framework to
see what is described in verse 1. It was curtains. Curtains of fine twine linen. There was the actual presence
of God Himself. In Christ, there is that fine
curtain of linen. There is the Lord Jesus Christ,
our Federal Head, God in human flesh, and God Himself residing
in that tabernacle. There was where the Shekinah
was inside that Holy of holies. That's where God Himself resided. But it was in Christ. How do
I know that? 2 Corinthians 5, 19, "...to wit,
that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing
their trespasses unto them." That fine linen set forth the
holiness. Those boards? Strength. All power. That's what's holding
this whole thing up. Him who is all-powerful, all
power in heaven and earth given unto me. What is going to sustain
the very presence of God with men? Christ. Christ. What do we find inside that tabernacle? We find the manifested holiness. and the righteousness of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Inside that framework, you go
inside and there was this fine twined linen. The Scripture says,
blue, purple, and scarlet with cherubims of cunning work shalt
thou make them. They're embroidered in that blue
and purple. They had cherubims. that were
embroidered inside there. That fine twined linen, that
veil was made out of the same fine twined linen, that garment
that that high priest wore, picture of the beauty of the holiness
and righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ that that high priest
wore on the Day of Atonement. And spiritually speaking, the
robe of the righteousness of the saints. Righteousness imputed
to God's people. Oh, the inside of that tabernacle. The beauty of the glory of our
precious Savior. He on earth and now seated in
the heavens. Christ Himself. Twelve years
old. Mary and Joseph couldn't find
Him. They'd gone to worship. They'd
got three days out. They realized they couldn't find
Him, and they went back to the temple, and there He was, you
know, talking to those divines. Don't you know that we've missed
you? And He said, wished you not, that I must be about my
Father's business. There is Christ Himself, the
federal head of His elect. The Scripture says concerning
Him, He increased in wisdom and stature in favor with God and
men. Oh, what a Scripture! As true
and proper man, He was our true and proper surety. for his increasing in wisdom,
not as God Himself, but He made Himself of no reputation. This is one of the most wonderful
and glorious... When I was growing up, this is the way it was. When I was growing up, If my dad or my mama, and mama,
you'll attest to this, if my mom or my dad said something
to me and I didn't, the answer, I had one of two answers, you
know. It was either yes sir or no sir. Yes ma'am or no ma'am. And I'm
telling you, man, if my dad would have asked me something, And
I'd have said, what? Well, that's scary right now,
isn't it? Huh? Man, let me tell you something. You talk about knowing where
the lines were. I knew where the lines were.
I'm telling you, I was absolutely in a position where I was going
to be submissive. Submissive. The Lord Jesus Christ, He was
made flesh. And when He was spoken to by
His parents, He was to be in subjection to them. And He obeyed. He learned obedience in the things
that He suffered. He experienced that. the federal
head and the surety of his people. Just like a child that is taught
obedience. Children, I wonder how many times
I've quoted this to my kids. Ephesians 6.1. Children, obey
your parents in the Lord. This is right. This is right. He came into this world Made
of a woman. Made under the law. Made subject
to its demands. And he learned. He walked in
absolute obedience. And the Scripture sets forth
that he increased in wisdom. Statue. He increased in wisdom. Not as God, but as a man. I bow to that and I think, Lord,
as you say, he increased in wisdom. He increased in wisdom. Went
to school. I've thought about this so many
times. Joseph, you know what I mean.
He was a carpenter. A carpenter. He said, Boy, come
here. I want to show you something.
Let me show you how to read a ruler. Let me show you where a foot
and a half is. I'm going to show you where an
inch is or whatever the measurement was. I'm going to teach you how
to read a ruler." He was talking to the One that made this world
and spoke it into existence. He was talking to God Almighty
in human flesh, and He increased in wisdom, and He just made Himself
of no reputation. He humbled Himself. And I just,
that thought just takes me away. And I bow to that. Inside that tabernacle, inside
those boards, there was that fine twined linen. It was made, the Scripture says,
of blue. Turn over, look at Exodus 24,
just one page or two back. Exodus 24, verse 9 and 10. Then went up Moses and Aaron
and Nadab and Abihu and seventy of the elders of Israel, and
they saw the God of Israel. And there was under His feet
as it were a paved work of a sapphire stone, blue, and as it were the
body of heaven in His clearness." There inside that tabernacle,
inside those boards, walk inside There's that fine twined linen
with the blue. The color of heaven. Heaven. Purple. I know that this is the
color of royalty and even in his rejection at the trial that
he suffered, John 19, 2 reveals that he was mocked. by soldiers
and his kingship was mocked. He was the king. He is the king. And they said those soldiers
that plaited a crown of thorns and put on his head and they
put on him a purple robe and they said, Hail, King of the
Jews. They mocked him who truly is the king. And then also in
that fine twined linen scarlet The color, I know, that sets
forth that which He was made. The Scripture says, though your
sins be as scarlet, in that blood that was shed,
they'll be put away. You'll be white as snow. Scarlet. There He is. He who was made
sin. that shed His own precious blood
inside that tabernacle. There is that fine twine linen,
blue, scarlet, purple. And the Scripture sets forth
back in verse 1 of chapter 26 with the cherubims of cunning
work shalt thou make them. Those cherubims. My, how much
is written of those cherubims. And I have thought, I've looked,
I've prayed and asked the Lord concerning that which is so often
written in the Scriptures. The cherubims. Cherubims. Embroidered in that curtain of
that tabernacle embroidered in the very veil itself, the cherubim. That veil, the outer door from
the outer court into the holy place and then that veil that
goes into the Holy of Holies. The cherubim. That veil that
I know was a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, His body. Hebrews 10. I'll read this for
you. 19 and 20, the Scripture says,
for having therefore, brethren, boldness 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. That veil was a picture of the
flesh of the Lord Jesus Christ, His humanity. God in human flesh. And in that veil, in that tabernacle,
in that fine linen, that blue, purple, scarlet, embroidered,
the cherubims, I know that those cherubims,
I looked at that and the first time that they're ever mentioned
is when Adam and Eve sent against God. And God cast them out of
the garden. And the cherubims were placed
at the outside with a flaming sword, the Scripture says, to
keep the way to the tree of life. The cherubims. The cherubims
were seen by Ezekiel. They were seen by Daniel. They
were seen by John on the Isle of Patmos. probably sets forth the most
glorious explanation of these cherubims is concerning the mercy
seat. Now that mercy seat, the Ark
of the Covenant, was a box. And it was made out of that wood,
the shirim wood, and gold inside, gold outside. And on top of that
ark of the covenant was the mercy seat, the lid. And it was made
out of solid gold, a piece of gold. And that mercy seat, solid gold. And made into that
mercy seat were cherubim. Two cherubim. Two cherubim. Cherub,
cherub, cherubim. And these cherubim, the wings
would touch. And the Scripture sets forth,
that God Almighty set forth, He said, between the cherubim,
I'll meet with you. Now when we consider the absolute
wonder, those cherubim, they're embroidered in that tabernacle. They're embroidered in that veil. They're on the mercy seat. You
could not. They were all made together.
You couldn't remove the cherubim without destroying the mercy
seat. They were made together. It wasn't
pieced together. It was made all of one. And we consider the cherubim
as they're set forth in this tabernacle. there inside that
glorious place of God's residence where God is going to meet with
men. And I know that the cherubim sent forth the glory, the obedience,
the power of the Lord Jesus Christ, the incarnate God. It's unspeakable. to be able to set forth. I know
that when John saw them on the Isle of Patmos, Revelation 4,
6, they were set forth as four beasts just like Ezekiel. And Ezekiel set forth in chapter
10 of Ezekiel. And he said, I knew that they
were the cherubim. Four beasts full of eyes before
and behind. Revelation 4, 7 says the first
beast like a lion, the second beast like a calf, the third
beast the face of a man, fourth beast, as a flying eagle. Hebrews 9.5 concerning the description
of the Ark of the Covenant. It says, And over it the cherubims
of glory shadowing the mercy seat of which we cannot now speak
particularly. Oh, indescribable is the glory
of our Lord Jesus Christ in human flesh, God Himself. This is where I'm going to meet
with you. I'll meet with you between the
cherubim. That tabernacle inside that Shittim
wood covered with gold set forth His perfect humanity. And then
there were three covers on the outside. Now, here's what it
is. I'm taking verse 1. of Hebrews 9, and those two words
that struck my, it was a worldly sanctuary, but oh, what that
worldly sanctuary set forth. There was the wood covered with
gold, and inside, inside was that tabernacle. But next, on
the outside, on the outer part of it, next to the Shittim wood
that was covered with gold, Exodus 26 verse 7 says this, And thou
shalt make curtains of goat's hair to be a covering upon the
tabernacle. Eleven curtains shalt thou make.
It had the wood inside, it had the fine twined linen, excuse
me, linen with the cherubim embroidered. And then on the outside of the
wood, It had three curtains, three covers that went over it.
The first one right on top of the wood, it said, curtains of
goat's hair. The goat was the animal. Numbers 28. Numbers 28. It sets forth this. And for the
sake of time, I'll just read this one verse of Scripture.
The goat. Numbers 28. Verse 22 says forth,
and one goat for a sin offering to make an atonement for you.
The glorious, preciousness, holiness of our Lord Jesus Christ where
God Almighty was going to meet with men between those cherubim,
sin is going to have to be put away. Sin is going to have to
be toned for. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
one great sin offering for His people. That outer right on top
of that wood. Goat skin. And then verse 14
of Exodus 26 says this, Thou shalt make a covering for the
tent of ram's skins dyed red. There was the goat skin right
on top of the wood. Inside the wood, the linen. the
wood right on top of it, the goat skin. On top of that, it
was the ram's skin dyed red. The ram was the sacrifice that
was used in the consecration, the setting forth, the dedication
of the priest. Exodus 29-26, Thou shalt take
the breast of the ram of Aaron's consecration wave it for a wave
offering before the Lord, and it shall be Thy part." That ram's
skin died red. Let me tell you how you can get
a good picture of that obedience and that substitution. You remember when Abraham took
Isaac up on the mountain? And Isaac said, he said, Father,
You know, here's the wood and here's the fire. Where's the
lamb? Where's the lamb? And he said
those words that we so thankfully quote. He said, My son, God will
provide Himself a lamb. And he put Isaac on that altar. And that boy, the Scripture sets
forth, didn't struggle. And Abraham raised that knife.
And the Scripture says that God stopped him. He stopped him. He said, Abraham, I've seen your
obedience. He knew. He knew. He said, there's
a ram. He called in the thicket. He
said, you take that ram and put that ram on the altar. Right
on top of that goat's skin, there was the ram's skin dyed red. glorious picture of our blessed
substitute, the Lord Jesus Christ. He said, I must work the works
of Him that sent me. And He laid down His life for
us. And then lastly, in verse 14,
this was the latter part of what I read, Thou shalt make a covering
for the tent of ramskins dyed red. And then on the very top,
it says, And it says it's going to be a covering above of badger
skin. Badger skin. That was the only covering that
you could look at from the outside. That was the only covering that
you could actually see. When someone looked at that tabernacle,
not from the inside, only the priest, And spiritually, you
know this, we've been made kings and priests under God in Him.
We see His glory, Mitch. We can see by faith the glory
from the inside. The beautiful, glorious picture
of our Savior. But from the outside, if you
looked at it, there was the wood. There was the fine twined linen
on the inside. There was the goat's hair curtain
that covered that. The ram's skin dyed red on top
of that, and then on top of that it was just badger skin. It was
just badger skin. From the outside, all you could
see was what it looked like everybody else had their tents covered
with. Just rough badger skin. Nothing outside that was beautiful. Because setting forth that He
made Himself of no reputation. There was nothing beautiful that
we looked on, the Scripture says, that we should desire Him. He looked just like, to the men
of this world, He looked just like anybody else. He looked
just a man. He looked like everybody else,
but oh, the beauty of Him when we look upon Him with eyes made
to see. The beauty of our blessed Savior
that laid Himself down, made Himself no reputation. Paul said in that first verse
of Hebrews 9, The first covenant had also ordinances. It had ceremonies of divine service
and a worldly sanctuary. Oh, it was made of worldly things. It was linen. It was wood. It was really gold. It was really
goat's hair. It was really ram's skin dyed
red. It was really badger skin. But oh, the beauty that we see
by faith in Him who made Himself likened to His brethren. May
the Lord Jesus Christ bless these words to our heart as we behold
Him by faith and praise Him and thank Him that God Almighty,
the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, tabernacled among us,
that He might seek and save that which was lost, that He might
redeem those that God Almighty has everlastingly loved and chosen
in Him. And one day we're going to see
Him face to face and behold Him as He is. O Lord Jesus, come
quickly, for Christ's sake.