If you would turn with me again
to Exodus chapter 27. We'll begin reading in verse nine tonight. Exodus 27, beginning in verse
nine. And thou shalt make the court
of the tabernacle for the south side southward. There shall be
hangings for the court of fine twine linen of a hundred cubits
long for one side. And the 20 pillars thereof and
their 20 sockets shall be of brass. The hooks of the pillars
and their fillets shall be of silver. And likewise for the
north side and length, there shall be hangings of a hundred
cubits long and his 20 pillars and their 20 sockets of brass,
the hooks of the pillars and their fillets of silver. And for the breadth of the court
on the west side shall be hangings of 50 cubits, their pillars 10
and their sockets 10. And the breadth of the court
on the east side, eastward shall be 50 cubits. The hangings, verse
14, of one side of the gate shall be 15 cubits, their pillars three
and their sockets three. And on the other side shall be
hangings 15 cubits, their pillars three and their sockets three.
And for the gate of the court shall be a hanging of 20 cubits
of blue and purple and scarlet and fine twine linen wrought
with needlework. and their pillars shall be four
and their sockets four. Verse 17, and the pillars round
about the court shall be filleted with silver, their hooks shall
be of silver and their sockets of brass. And the length of the
court shall be a hundred cubits and the breadth 50 everywhere
and the height five cubits of fine twine linen and their sockets
of brass. and all the vessels of the tabernacle
and all the service thereof and all the pins thereof and all
the pins of the court shall be of brass." Now, the courtyard
was enclosed here by a fence of fine twined linen. The fence
was actually made of this linen. And that white linen beautifully
pictures the perfect spotless righteousness of Christ. And
there were brass pillars set in brass sockets or plates, which
served as the foundation to hold up these pillars. Now, to give
you an idea of the size of the courtyard and somewhat put it
in perspective, it was almost to the foot, half the size of
a football field, if you can Imagine a football field about
half that size. A football field is 360 feet
long and 160 foot wide, and this courtyard, if I've done my math
right, and there's different variations of what a cubit is
according to who you read or ask, but this courtyard would
have been somewhere around half that size, 180, 175 feet by 80,
give or take a little. And again, I remind you that
it was God who gave these instructions to Moses. As I was reading this
again today, and I know it's not easy reading, it's hard to
understand in your mind what all these are, unless you're
looking at a picture. And I've done that quite often
in studying this. I pulled up a picture on the
computer and looked at it. Picture paints a thousand words,
it really helps. But these, instructions were
given to Moses by God. And so that first and foremost
lets us know that these things are very important. And only
God could have ordered these physical materials to so closely
picture the spiritual makeup of Christ, our tabernacle. It's
just amazing what they represent. As we've seen in our other studies
and in the furnishings, of the tabernacle. Now, again, to just
review what we just read, there were 20 pillars on two sides.
That was on the north and south side, and 10 pillars on the west
side, with 10 pillars on the east side. And these were just
like a post of a fence. And then there was a rod that
went across the top of these pillars connecting them. And
then the white fine twined linen would hang on those rods called
fillets. And this fence was about seven
and a half foot tall. As we will see, all these materials
that made up the fence of the courtyard, they mean something.
Like the rest of the tabernacle and its furnishings, they all
picture Christ. And the only way that you could
see what was in the courtyard was to be in the courtyard. I
doubt very seriously if there was anybody in Israel at that
time, may have been, but I kind of doubt it, that was eight foot
tall and it could just look over that seven and a half foot fence. You couldn't see what was in
the courtyard unless you were in the courtyard. So might our
first question be, what is the significance of the courtyard?
Well, it shows us that we must be in Christ to see the provisions
that God has made for His people. Have you ever considered how
important and significant and absolutely necessary those two
words are, those two words being in Christ? I look today, it's
those two words together in a phrase are used almost 70, are used
79 times in the New Testament scriptures. So that is the significance
of the courtyard. It pictures the believer being
in Christ. What was in the courtyard? Well,
last week we saw first the brazen altar for the sacrifice. Secondly
was the labor of brass. Thirdly, you had the holy place
which housed the table of showbread, the golden candlesticks, and
the altar of incense. And then fourthly, you went into
the most holy place, the holiest of holies. And there was the
Ark of the Covenant, which contained the golden pot of manna, the
10 commandments, Aaron's rod that budded. And then you had
the mercy seat on top with the lid of propitiation. And you
couldn't see any of these things from the outside of the courtyard.
You had to be in the courtyard. to have some understanding of
what was there. And it's the same with Christ,
our courtyard. You've got to be in Christ to
see these things. God has to give you spiritual
eyes to see these things. Someone outside of Christ can't
see them. And every single one of the aspects
of God's salvation is in Christ, in the Lord Jesus, every single
one of it. His brazen altar, the first thing
you saw when you came in, where the sacrifice was made. Well,
that picture's Christ, who's our altar and who's our sacrifice. You're real close, look here
at Exodus chapter 29, verse 37. Verse 37, Exodus 29, just a couple
pages over. It says here, seven days thou
shalt make an atonement for the altar and sanctify it and it
shall be an altar most holy and whatsoever toucheth the altar
shall be holy. Christ is our altar and sacrifice
and he alone is what enables you and I, the ungodly sinners
that we are by nature, by birth and by practice to be reconciled
to God. It's in Christ that we're able
to come into the presence of God. It's in Christ that we're
made holy and acceptable unto God. That's how we're made holy,
as holy as God is, only in Christ, only in Christ. Then you came
to that labor that the priests washed their hands in before
they went into the tabernacle, into the holy place. That pictures
Christ, doesn't it? Who is our sanctification. He who washes us and cleanses
us and sanctifies us. And then when you walked into
the tabernacle, into the holy place, you'd see the golden candlesticks. That's picturing Christ, the
believer's light and revelation. In Christ our light, we see who
we are, and we see who God is, and we see our need of Him. And
it's through the light and revelation of Christ that we see that. He's
the fullness of the Godhead in a body, but you'll never see
that apart from divine revelation. And it was that body that was
crucified in the believer's place, in their room, in their stead.
And by Christ my light, I can see Christ and Him crucified.
And then there was the altar of incense. And I see in that
Christ, my intercessor, the one who represents me before the
father. Well, he's the sweet smelling
savor of life unto life for those who believe and trust in him
and are saved. And then you had the table of
showbread, which pictures God's presence. We've talked about
all these things. You know, I can enter into God's
presence only being in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's why Paul
tells us, therefore, come boldly into the throne of grace. Why?
Because Christ has made that way available for me. And then
in the Holy of Holies, the most holy place, it's just more and
more and more of Christ. Inside the Ark of the Covenant,
as you know, was first the golden pot of manna, picturing Christ,
the bread of life. Secondly, it was Aaron's rod
that budded, showing us that only God can give life to the
lifeless. Only God can make the spiritually
dead alive. He's the vine, we're the branches.
Without Him, we can do nothing. Thirdly, the Ark of the Covenant
included the tables of the Ten Commandments, revealing that
in Christ, God's law has been kept. God's justice has been
satisfied and appeased, and by the chosen sinner's substitution,
they're standing in Christ. by Christ's substitution, God's
satisfied with you. God's satisfied with you. What
an amazing thought that is, child of God. And then fourthly, there
was the mercy seat, that place where God dwelt. Christ is the
believer's mercy seat. Christ is our high priest and
he's forever making intercession for us. You know, where was the
finished work of Christ accomplished? On the mercy seat. We are told
that Over the mercy seat, there was two cherubims that were placed
facing each other, looking from two different directions. Yet
both were looking in the same direction toward the mercy seat
where that sacrifice was to be made. If you walked in the holiest
of holies, the cherubim's faces and wings would draw your attention
immediately to the mercy seat. And that's what we as preachers
endeavor to do, which we endeavor to point you to Christ. Draw
attention to Christ, the believer's mercy seat. Do you remember what
the word mercy means? It means propitiation. That propitiation
which God has provided is Jesus Christ, our mercy seat. He is
our propitiation. He is the sacrifice and the high
priest that offers it unto God. And all that God is, and all
that God has for the chosen sinner, where is it found? In Christ.
That's where it's found. In the Lord Jesus Christ. All
that God is, is found in Christ. In Him, Christ dwells all fullness. Every blessing that God has for
the sinner is found in Him. "'Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, "'who hath blessed us with all spiritual
blessings "'in heavenly places,' where? "'In Christ.'" Ephesians
1.3, the believer counts all things but loss and counts them
but dumb that they may what? Win Christ. Philippians 3.8. And that's what we confess in
baptism when you really think about it. We were in Christ when
he died. We were in Christ when he was
buried. And we were in Christ when he
arose. So baptism pictures us being
in Christ. Our Lord said, if you abide,
where? In me, in me. Now the courtyard of the tabernacle
was the place in which the worshipers of God assembled. And it's in
Christ that we assemble and worship God. As I endeavored to pray
in the beginning, if we don't assemble in Christ around his
word, asking God to bless us in him, then we've met in vain.
And this courtyard was enclosed by this fence. Solomon wrote
these words. He said, a garden enclosed is
my sister, my spouse. The church is both a sister and
a spouse to Christ. This is where God's people worship
him. I find it interesting also that
neither the court, the courtyard, nor the Holy of Holies were paved
or had a special flooring. Remember, this is a portable
tabernacle, and I say portable very loosely, but they moved
this tabernacle with them everywhere they went. And I add that the
tabernacle was not easy to move. even though it was portable in
that sense, while the weight of those sockets and plates alone
that served as the foundation weighed several tons, so it wasn't
any easy thing to move it. But the tabernacle rested upon
the bare sand of the desert. What a contrast. The floor, so
to speak, the sand, is to the rest of the tabernacle's beautiful
furnishings. There was nothing to look downward
to. That's the point I'm trying to
make. You had to look up to see all that was glorious and all
that was beautiful. And that just simply lets us
know that there's nothing here on this earth, absolutely nothing
to satisfy our heart or thrill our souls. I've been looking
at pictures, as I said a moment ago, painted by artists of the
courtyard and tabernacle and around the court of the tabernacle
were the tents of the Levites. And then encircling them were
the group of the 12 tribes of Israel, just tents everywhere
around the tabernacle. And this made the courtyard of
the tabernacle the center of Israel's camp. Again, we have
a wonderful picture there, don't we? Christ must be the center
of our worship, or our worship is vain and of no profit. Christ
must be the object of our worship. After all, it is he whom the
tabernacle and all its furnishings picture and typify, showing us
again that he must be the object of our worship. So for a few
minutes this evening, let's discuss these materials that made up
the fence of the courtyard. First, we have the pillars. Christ and his church are typified
in the pillars that held the courtyard curtains that formed
this fence around it. I won't turn you there, but let
me read a passage in Revelation chapter 10, verse one, where
it says, and I saw another mighty angel come down from heaven clothed
with a cloud and a rainbow was upon his head. And his face was
as it were the sun and his feet as pillars of fire. That just
has to be speaking of Christ. The pillars also represent the
church that's found in Christ. Revelation 3, verse 12 says,
him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my
God. Paul in 1 Timothy 3, verse 15
calls us the church of the living God, the pillar and the ground
of the truth. And these pillars also can picture
God's preachers, God's messengers, Paul in Galatians 2 called James
and Cephas and John pillars. Christ is the way, the truth
and the life. And he dwells in every redeemed
believer of his church. And they are the pillars that
hold up the fence, the gospel, that enclosure of Christ and
Him crucified. That's what we do in preaching.
We hold up Christ. And all who are in Christ, the
enclosure of God's grace have life when they look to Him. Now
in verse 18, we're told about the sockets of brass. Let's consider
these sockets for a moment. These sockets picture the strength
of Christ as our Savior. They were made of brass, which
as you know, represents the judgment of God. Our Lord told Nicodemus,
we looked at this briefly last week, he said, even as Moses
lifted up the serpent, that brazen serpent made of brass, in the
wilderness, he said, even so must the son of man be lifted
up, that whosoever believeth in him, whosoever trusts in him,
shall not perish, but have eternal life. Why was that serpent that
Moses made, made of brass? because wrath represents the
judgment of God, and it pictures Christ, who is the only one who
could appease the wrath, the judgment, and the justice of
God. No mere man could provide themselves
perfect righteousness, no woman. Only the God-man could, and if
the sinner thinks that they can, the scripture says, ignorant
of God's righteousness, and they prove so by going about to establish
their own righteousness. And we say this all the time,
and I'm telling you, it's the heart of the gospel. God's law
has to be honored. The justice of God has to be
satisfied before any sinner can be justified before God. And
God can be merciful to them. It's just, it has to be, and
God has to remain just. He can by no means clear the
guilty, the soul that sinned, it must die. Why? Because God
is just. If God showed mercy and spared
one sinner without executing justice upon them, God would
cease to be just. And that's the reason that God
sent his only begotten son into the world, because being in Christ,
God executed justice on me when he executed justice on his son. because I'm in Him and you're
in Him, child of God. And that's just how important
the righteousness and the justice of God. If God's law is not upheld
perfectly by the sinner, then that sinner cannot be saved.
And we know that we cannot, in and of ourselves, perfectly keep
the law. So Christ did for it. God's judgment
is death and it's the wages of sin. Death is what our sins have
earned us. We say it in every service, but
it's the heart of our gospel. Christ honored the law for his
people. Christ satisfied God's divine
justice for his elect. And Christ bore the sin of his
people by bearing the judgment of God in their place. And that's
why he's all in all. That's why he's the believer's
everything. That's why the believer doesn't want to hear anything
else, but Jesus Christ and him crucified. Therefore, all believers
being one with Christ have been crucified with Him." I wish we
could get a hold of that. Crucified with Him. We've been
justified by Him. And we find that He's all our
strength. And the only way that we can
stand upright just as these pillars, only in Christ do we stand as
upright as the pillars of God. Then in verse 11, We have the
hooks and the fillets of silver. These fillets were connecting
rods that went from pillar to pillar. And the hooks would link
the linen curtains to the rods, just kind of like a curtain rod
when you hang curtains on them. And in the scriptures, silver
is a symbol of redemption. Remember that the silver from
which these hooks and these fillets were molded were made from the
silver that the people of Israel gave of their redemption money. Those in Israel who came to worship
the Lord would see these pillars of the tabernacle along with
the rods and all this made of silver. And they knew that they
were made from atonement money. That atonement money had been
paid, but they all rested on these silver sockets. And those
fine linen curtains securely hung from those hooks and those
rings made from that ransom money. They could see their redemption
in those things. While outside the court wall,
the wall shut them out. But once inside the courtyard,
this fence of curtains shut them in. Since the fence curtains
picture Christ's righteousness, the sinner saw that instead of
being opposed by his righteousness, that they were now surrounded
by his righteousness. And that's my comfort. Isn't
that yours? Knowing that I have the very
perfect righteousness of Christ. Not a very good illustration,
but like this coat, it's part of me. I put it on, it's part
of me. We're made the righteousness
of God in Christ. Being justified freely by His
grace through the redemption that's where? In Christ Jesus. There we go again. The redeemed
Israelite who entered into the courtyard was shut in by the
walls of righteousness that was held up by those silver hooks
and fillets of redemption. And Christ being made sin for
his people assures his people that they were made the righteousness
of God in him, 2 Corinthians 5.21. It's all about being in
Christ. It's what it's all about, being
in him. Then in verse 19, we have the
pins of brass were told these pins of brass, which were actually
long stakes to which cords were attached and held the fence curtain
in place. Christ is our nail in a sure
place. Isaiah chapter 22, verse 23,
God speaking says, and I will fasten him, speaking of Christ,
as a nail in a sure place. And he shall be for a glorious
throne to his father's house. As we make our journey through
this wilderness of a world, and that's what it is, Christ is
our stake. He's our nail in a sure place. He's our anchor. that keeps us
standing. And as silver typifies redemption,
God's saints are bound together by the common binder of Christ's
particular redemption of each of his people. Christ is the
church's one foundation. We looked at that Sunday, wasn't
it? Built on a rock. The foundation in the tabernacle
was silver and it pictured redemption accomplished. And likewise, you
and I, the believer, are held together by the silver binder
of redemption accomplished by our Lord, who is our strength. Without Him, we can do nothing,
but with Him, we can do all things. Salvation's of the Lord. Salvation
is in, by, and through our Lord Jesus. And then lastly, we come
to the curtains, the curtains of fine twined linen that the
fence was made of. And as I've already mentioned,
what a picture of Christ's perfect righteousness they are. Those
spotless white walls surrounded the tabernacle on every side.
And they were a standing witness to the holiness of the one whose
dwelling this tabernacle was. What a striking contrast to the
dingy, dark covering found on the surrounding tents. Those
tents that the 12 tribes and the Levites dwelt in were made
of dark goat's hair, more than likely. There's a reference found
in Song of Solomon, which says, I am black, but comely, O ye
daughters of Jerusalem, as the tents of Kedar, as the curtains
of Solomon. The Christ perfect righteousness
covers our sins. Those, I can just see in contrast
to those dingy tents, that white curtain. Christ covering our
sins, actually more than covers them, puts them away and makes
us righteous and accepted of God, freely given to us in Christ. His righteousness can never be
taken away from us. I had someone ask me not long
ago, I know you're Baptist, do you believe in what's saved always?
I wish I had a dollar for every time somebody asked me that.
The truth of the matter is if Christ saves a sinner and gives
them his perfect righteousness, yes, always saved. Christ freely gave us his perfect
righteousness. It's not something that we take
on and off like I do this COVID. It's not something that Christ
conditionally gives and then conditionally takes away. We
are made the righteousness in God, in Christ. His righteousness
is what we are. And not only is Christ our righteousness
before the law, but Christ is the end of the law for righteousness
to everyone that believe. That means that our righteousness
is not conditional on what we do or what we don't do. Christ
is that righteousness imparted to us in the new birth, in the
new creation. Old things are passed away, behold,
all things have become new. and which after God is created
in righteousness and true holiness, Ephesians 4.24. That fine twine
linen went all the way around the tabernacle, separating the
courtyard from the rest of the world. And it's Christ our righteousness
who separates his people from this world. It's his righteousness
that guarantees that he'll protect us, that he'll not lose one whom
he's justified. All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me, and not a single one of them will be lost." There's
just one entrance into the courtyard. Christ is that door. Only one
way to Christ, the altar. Only one way to wash in Christ. Only one way into the holy place. Only one way into the most holy
place. Only one way to the throne of
God, and that's through Christ. Only one way to God's table of
presence. One way to eternal life. Only
one way to the mercy seat. Only one way to be accepted of
God. Only one mediator between God
and men, the man Christ Jesus. Christ is that way. He said,
enter ye in at what? The straight gate. All God's
people will, you can count on that. God has promised that all
that he gave to Christ shall come to him. And I don't want
to be long. because straight is the gate,
and narrow is the way which leads unto life, and few there be that
find it." But thank God it says few. It doesn't say none will
find it, does it? There'll be few who find it.
There's a remnant according to the election of grace. And that's
only because few are chosen. You know, there are many called,
but only a few chosen. Many hear the gospel, but only
a few believe it. But if you believe it, thank
God, because it's He that revealed it to you.