I suppose that you've figured
out by now that I'm broadcasting tonight live from the church.
This seems a bit like a reoccurring dream that I have where I'm scheduled
to preach and no one shows up. Anyway, tonight, I'll try to
imagine each of you sitting in your normal seating, and I'll
try to preach this message as though you're here. And I pray
that God may help me as I endeavor to do just that, preach Christ
and Him crucified. Turn with me again in your Bible
to Exodus chapter 25. Exodus chapter 25. I think that
we have established and adequately shown in our studies thus far
on the tabernacle, along with all its furnishings, are nothing
less than a self-portrait of the Lord Jesus Christ. They all
picture Him. Moses starts first with teaching
us something of the tabernacle and the Ark of the Testimony,
the Ark of the Covenant. And we saw that that Ark is Christ. We see the Lord Jesus in all
that was contained in the Ark. He is the fulfillment of the
law of God, represented in the broken tablets of the law, which
we all have broken. Jesus Christ is the life that
is found in the dead wood of Aaron's rod, picturing us in
our deadness and trespasses and sin. Oh, Aaron's rod that budded
with eternal life. Christ is the only one who can
make a dead sinner alive. He's the vine and we're the branches. Also in the Ark of the Covenant
was the manna. Jesus Christ is that manna found
in the golden pot. He's the bread that came down
from heaven that if any sinner eats, they shall never hunger.
And then secondly, we saw the mercy seed. Christ is the mercy
seed upon which the sacrifice of the elect sin was made. He's
the mercy seed and he is the sacrifice. Our Lord said, Moses
wrote of me, and certainly this is concerning the Lord Jesus
Christ. That's why I love the third chapter
of Romans so much. I preached from it a couple Sundays
ago. And it so applies here in our
study of Exodus chapter 25. Let me read a verse to you. Romans
3.25. Jesus Christ, whom God hath set
forth. Now that word set forth means
foreordained. God foreordained Christ to be
a propitiation. That word means a mercy seat.
That's what the word propitiation means. And how does that propitiation
come? Through faith in His blood. This
propitiation, this appeasement, this satisfaction of God comes
one way only, and it's by the shedding of Christ's blood. It's
not possible for these Old Testament sacrifices that offered up the
blood of bulls and goats to ever put away sin. The putting away
of sin is accomplished by faith, by believing and trusting in
what Christ's precious blood did for us. The Lord of glory
said, I come. Come to do what? Our Lord said,
I come to do thy will, O God. What's the will of God? For God
the Son to take on flesh and blood. Paul tells us in Galatians
chapter 4, verses 4 and 5, For when the fullness of time was
come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the
law. Why? To redeem them that were
under the law, that we, speaking to believers, might receive the
adoption of sons. Jesus Christ is the only one
who could justly fulfill the law, justly expiate, and justly
put away every sin of all the elect. He appeased and satisfied
God by perfecting and saving His people to the uttermost,
all that come under God by Him, Hebrews 7.25. And when God sees
the blood, God's honor is vindicated. His justice is satisfied. His law is upheld. His wrath
is appeased. And He passes over that sinner
and says, when I see the blood, I'll pass over you. Oh, Lord,
I want that blood upon me. Wash me clean, Lord, with the
precious blood of Christ." Jesus Christ is the mercy seat. He's
the propitiation. He's the lid of the ark. That's
what the word propitiation means. Then tonight, we had the third
piece of furniture in the tabernacle in the wilderness, and it was
the table that held the showbread. I have so enjoyed looking at
this. Look in verse 23 with me of Exodus
chapter 25. Thou shalt also make a table
of shittum wood. Two cubits shall be the length
thereof, and a cubit the breadth thereof, and a cubit and a half
the height thereof. And thou shalt overlay it with
pure gold, and make thereto a crown of gold a roundabout. And thou
shalt make unto it a border of a handbreadth roundabout, and
thou shalt make a golden crown to the border thereof roundabout. Now when I prepare and study
for these lessons, I deliberately just have to make myself slow
down and really look and consider how the particular passage of
Scripture I'm looking at and studying relates to Christ and
Him crucified. After all, who Christ is and
what Christ did is the gospel. who Christ is and what Christ
did is salvation. And that's certainly why preaching
Christ and His substitution was all that Paul concerned himself
with. That's all that he wanted to
know among those that he preached to. And if this book is all about
Christ, and it is, then in every scripture we ought to look and
we ought to search for Christ and Him crucified. For example,
looking at what the word table means in this passage just opened
up to me many different and glorious thoughts of redemption in Christ.
I suppose that's why we call them pictures and types. They
picture and they typify and they show us something about our redemption
and our salvation in the Lord Jesus. They're pictures of Christ
who is our redemption and salvation. And if salvation is of the Lord,
and it is, then salvation is of the Lord Jesus Christ. For
He is Lord and He is salvation. Now, did you know that the word
table here in the original Hebrew language means a meal? Throughout the scriptures, a
table has to do with just that. Why, even the natural suggestion
of a table makes us all think of a place for food. Everybody
knows what a table looks like, and I would suppose that everyone
knows the reason for a table. Well, it's at the table where
the family meets. It's at the table where family
eats together. It's at the table that they talk
and they commune and they fellowship with one another. It is at the
table of preaching, Christ and Him crucified, that we as family
meet together. And it's at the table of Christ
that God meets with His people, His family. It's Christ, our
table, where we meet with God. And the one point that I want
to make and desire for you and I to understand is this. This table of showbread in the
tabernacle is the symbol of the presence of God. The word showbread
actually means the bread of faces or the bread of presence. The
Lord Jesus Christ is the divine presence and face of God. Where
does God's presence dwell? Why, in the Lord Jesus Christ. It pleased the Father that in
Him that in Christ should all fullness dwell." Colossians 119.
Jesus Christ is the face of God, and if you've seen Him, you've
seen the Father. John 14, 9. Oh, for God, who
commanded the light to shine out of darkness, has shined in
our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory
of God in the face of Jesus Christ. 2 Corinthians 4, 6. This is where
God communes and has fellowship with his people, at the table
of showbread, at the table of God's presence, which is Jesus
Christ. And when I think of the word
table in the scripture, my mind immediately runs to Oma Fibisheth. Oh, what a lovely picture of
that blessedness of which the king's table speaks. Lame on
both of his feet from a great fall, Mephibosheth pictures you
and I. David, desiring to be merciful
and gracious, said, Is there yet any that's left of the house
of Saul that I might show him kindness for Jonathan's sake? Oh, if God is to be merciful
to any sinner, hear me when I say that it'll only be for Christ's
sake. David showed kindness to Mephibosheth
for the sake of another. And that is certainly what God
did for us. He forgave us for Christ's sake. Please understand that there's
no love, there's no mercy, there's no grace, there's no forgiveness
outside of the Lord Jesus Christ. All that we are given from the
bounty of God's grace is in Him. Why? It's in Him that we live
and move and have our being. It's in Him that we find all
the promises of God, 2 Corinthians 1. It's in Him that we're made
the very righteousness of God. In Him we were chosen before
the foundation of the world, Ephesians 1-4. In Him dwells
all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. Colossians 2.9. And it's
in Him, in Christ Jesus, that we must put our trust. Hebrews
2.13. And how encouraging were the
words of David to this poor, lame, helpless, and self-proclaimed
dead dog. David sent and he fetched Mephibosheth. Fetching grace is what it is.
And he said, he shall eat bread always at my table. David in
Psalm chapter 23 said, thou preparest a table before me in the presence
of mine enemy. David is speaking of God's table.
God is the one that prepares it. God's the one that provides
it. And Christ is the feast that he's prepared. Christ is the
bread that God has provided. After the fall, Adam had no desire
to be in the presence of God. Adam desired no fellowship or
communion with God. That's what sin does. When Adam
heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the
cool of the day, Adam and his wife hid themselves. What did
they hide from? From the presence, the face of
the Lord God among the trees of the garden. But God is omnipresent. God is everywhere at the same
time. Adam's sin didn't change God,
but it certainly changed Adam. God's still omnipresent. God
didn't change. Adam's sin changed Adam, but
it didn't change God. And God was still omnipresent
after Adam sinned. But listen to me well on this.
Just because God is omnipresent, does not mean that we're in His
presence. That's such a sobering thought.
Adam, because of his sin and his disobedience, lost all desire
to be in God's presence. And by nature, so have we. In
our fallen state, that's what I mean by our nature, we have
no desire to be in God's presence. But Christ is the table that
God has prepared for His people in the midst of their enemies.
He's the one and only mediator between God and men, and the
only means by which men and women could have communion and fellowship
with God again. That which we lost in Adam is
restored to us in Christ. God's presence is His favor. His favor is Christ's face shining
upon me. Listen to this scripture, Psalm
44, verse three. Speaking of Israel in the wilderness,
the psalmist wrote, for they got not the land in possession
by their own sword, neither did their own arms save them. but
thy right hand, and thine arm, and the light of thy countenance,
thy presence." That's what that's talking about. Because thou hadst
favor unto them. You see, God's presence, His
countenance, is His favor. Oh, if he shines that upon me,
what favor that is. No wonder David said, cast me
not away from thy presence. Your favor, your mercy, your
grace, and your forgiveness. Oh, take not that away from me,
Lord. What good is our meeting together,
even the way that we are tonight by internet? What will it profit
us if God is not in our presence? When we partake of the Lord's
table, often called communion, is a symbol of our fellowship
with God in Christ, our sacrifice. We partake of Christ, the bread
of life, and we drink from that fountain which is filled with
the precious blood drawn from Emmanuel's veins. represented
by the wine, and that shows forth His death, His payment for sin,
that we might be reconciled to God. Christ is our substance. He is the one who sustains us. Christ is the food of God. And
if you don't feast upon Him regularly, you'll spiritually starve today. God has prepared a table, a feast. Christ is that feast. He's prepared
a table before us in the midst of our enemies. And he says,
take and eat. This is my body that was broken
for you. This is my blood that was shed
for your sin. You know, I was thinking today
that hell is nothing more than eternal separation from the presence
of God. Just the same as heaven is forever
to be in God's presence. Hell will be hell because I'm
separated from God and heaven will be heaven because I am in
fellowship and communion with Him. Let me show you something
else about the presence of God. Would you turn over a few pages?
with me to Exodus chapter 33. Exodus chapter 33. We'll come back to Exodus 25,
so hold your place there if you would. Israel had just made and
worshipped the golden calf. We all know the story. And they
had attributed their deliverance to this dead God that they had
just fashioned with their own hands. And Moses was angry, but
let me tell you, God was angry. God told Moses to depart and
go into the land that he had given Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
But in verse three, notice what he said. He said, I will not
go up in the midst of thee. God said, I won't be in your
presence when you go. I'll still give you the land,
but I'm not going with you. Now there's so much we could
say about these verses in this chapter. What a rich chapter
this is. Exodus 33, but these verses tonight,
we're talking about the presence of God. For God to not go up
with them meant that he would not be in their presence. That's
what I want you to see. Now look down at verse eight,
Exodus 33, and it came to pass when Moses went out into the
tabernacle, that's what we're talking about, the tabernacle.
the tabernacle and the wilderness, that all the people rose up and
stood every man at his tent door and looked after Moses." They
watched Moses until he was gone into the tabernacle. And it came
to pass, as Moses entered into the tabernacle, the cloudy pillar
descended and stood at the door of the tabernacle, and the Lord
talked with Moses. Now remember, Christ is the tabernacle. It's in Him that the Lord speaks
with us and to us. And it's in Christ alone that
God communes and walks with us in our daily lives. As Danny
Bruce often prays. I can just hear Danny say that
right now. Lord, be with us and walk with
us in our daily lives. You see, the believer always
wants to be in His presence. Verse 10, and all the people
saw the cloudy pillar stand at the tabernacle door. And all
the people rose up and worshiped every man in his tent door. And
the Lord said unto Moses face to face, oh, face to face with
Christ my Savior. Face to face, the Lord spake
unto Moses as a man speaketh unto his friend. Look at what
Moses said in verse 15. Moses said, if thy presence go
not with me, carry us not up hence. If you don't go with us,
Lord, I don't want to go and I'm not going. If Christ, the
presence, the face of God doesn't go with us, beloved, then we
don't want to go. I was thinking before I left
the house tonight to come out to the church and endeavor to
deliver this message. Lord, if you don't go with me,
I don't want to go. David prayed, cast me not away
from thy presence. Psalm 51 11. Isaiah tells us
that our iniquities have separated us and our God. And our sins
have hid his face from us that he will not hear. Our sins have
separated us from God. Let me say that even better,
our sin. Sin is what we are, not just
what we do. We sin because we're sinners.
Our sin has separated us from God. But rejoice, dear believer,
there's a table of showbread where I can come and feast upon
the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ is that table and Christ
is that bread. And like the Ark of the Covenant,
the table of shewbread was made of acacia wood, a shittum wood,
and overlaid with pure gold. And again, this shows us the
union of deity and humanity in the person of the Lord Jesus
Christ. And both the ark and the table
were the same height, the only pieces that were so. They were
both ornamented with a crown of gold. They were both provided
with rings and staves showing us something of God's holiness,
showing us that no sinner can in and of themselves come near
to God or even reach out to touch God without a mediator. Both
the ark and the table had something placed upon them. The ark had
the mercy seat, and the table had the showbread. And both of
those things point to the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, the
God-man, who's the reason and the cause His people can have
communion and fellowship with God. Let me say it again. There is no communion with God
apart from Jesus Christ. No doubt the showbread pictures
and typifies Christ in the fact that God said in verse 30, that
it should be before him always. That proves God's acceptance
of the bread, which foreshadowed the person of Christ. Christ
is the one in whom the father has always found to be his delight. Now back in Exodus chapter 25,
I want you to look at verse 24. Exodus 25, 24. And thou shalt
overlay it with pure gold, and make thereto a crown of gold
round about, and thou shalt make unto it a border of a handbreadth
round about, and thou shalt make a golden crown to the border
thereof round about. Now here, the crown of pure gold
speaks of the crown of Christ's glory. God exalted Him and made
Him both Lord and Christ. Christ has been crowned by God
as the universal monarch. He's the King of kings and the
Lord of lords. And God has given Christ power
and dominion over all flesh that He might give. He's the one to
give. eternal life to all His elect
and redeemed ones. Oh, be sure you don't fail to
see the place where the table of showbread stood. The table
of showbread, the bread of presence, stood in the holy place on the
tabernacle before the presence of the Lord always. Oh, and the
bread was symbolically set before God Himself. It stood there before
the Lord God continually as bread fit for God, offered to God,
honored by God, and accepted by God. Christ being perfect
and fit, that word means worthy, worthy to stand before God. He's
the one and only substitute and sacrifice that will suffice. But Christ is the only offering
that God will accept because it must be perfect to be accepted. And Christ was certainly that.
Look at verse 26, and thou shalt make for it four rings of gold,
and put the rings in the four corners that are on the four
feet thereof. And over against the border shall
the rings be for places of the staves, to bear the table. Now God has made a wonderful
provision for His people here. What was that provision? The
provision of feeding upon Christ as we pass through this wilderness
of a world. Wherever God led the Hebrews,
His table accompanied them. Whenever God leads us, we have
great assurance that there will be a precious Christ for us to
feed upon and commune and have fellowship with. What a great
grace and privilege that is. Oh, I hope we never take for
granted the fellowship that we have with Christ and meeting
together. I think what has transpired over
the last few days makes us more aware and conscious of that than
ever. Hold your place here in Exodus
25, and if you wouldn't, turn with me to Leviticus chapter
24, verse five. I wanna show you something about
the show bread. Leviticus 24, verse five. And thou shalt take
fine flour and bake 12 cakes thereof. Two-tenths of deals
shall be in one cake, And thou shalt set them in two rows, six
on a row, upon the pure table before the Lord. And thou shalt
put pure frankincense upon each row, and it shall be on the bread
for a memorial, even an offering made by fire unto the Lord. And every Sabbath he shall set
it in order before the Lord continually, being taken from the children
of Israel by everlasting covenant. And it shall be Aaron's and his
sons, and they shall eat it in the holy place. For it is most
holy unto him of the offerings of the Lord, made by fire by
a perpetual statute. Now concerning these twelve cakes,
I looked up that word in Young's Concordance, and it speaks of
these cakes as perforated or punctured cakes. I don't know
if that was done so that the bread was cooked more thoroughly,
through, evenly, I don't know. But I sure know what it pictures
spiritually. It pictures the Lord Jesus Christ
who had been pierced and put through the fire. In the Messianic
prophecy of Psalm 22, verse 16, the Lord said, For dogs have
come past me, and the assembly of the wicked have enclosed me,
and they pierced my hands and my feet. In order that prophecy
might be fulfilled and that not a bone of the Lord on the cross
was broken, the soldier pierced his side with a spear and out
came blood and water. Oh, friends, Christ was pierced
and put through the fire of God's wrath. Verse 5 speaks of the
fine flour that was made in the form of perforated and punctured
cakes being baked by the fire of the oven. And that points
to the Lord Jesus being exposed to the fire of God's holy wrath
and justice and judgment when on the cross He was made sin
for His people. God's wrath, judgment, and justice
was exhausted. I love to think about that. When
Elijah made an offering on Mount Carmel, God, the wrath and judgment
of God consumed everything. But on Christ, God's judgment
fell and God's anger and God's judgment was appeased. Christ
cried, it was finished. You know why? Because it was.
The sacrifice for sin had been accepted by God. Now in the Twelve
Cakes, we see Christ's connection with His people. Clearly, the
Twelve Cakes suggest the twelve different tribes being represented
by the Lord Jesus. There were twelve sons of Jacob
representing the twelve tribes. There were twelve precious stones
set in gold upon Aaron's breastplate, picturing the precious people
for whom Christ interceded. There were 12 stones of the altar
erected by Joshua when they crossed over Jordan, showing the deliverance
of all God's elect. There were 12 apostles and the
12 loaves here in the holy place upon the table before God, a
pure table, Christ, our pure table. And this tells us symbolically
that the high priest had abundant supply for all whose names were
inscribed upon the breastplate. Therefore, none shall perish
for whom Christ died. A careful study here in Leviticus
24 reveals to us that these cakes of showbread were all of the
same size, weight, and quality, showing us that the smallest
tribe was represented equally with the greatest. And in spreading
them out in two rows instead of piling them up in a heap,
it allowed each cake to be seen equally as well as the others. And it's the same with all who
are found in Christ. There are no degrees or levels
with the love that's found in Christ alone. God loves all his
people the same in Christ. We see that these cakes were
made of fine flour in which there was no grit or unevenness in
the texture. And this pictures the moral perfections
of our Lord as He tabernacled among us. Verse 7 reveals that
pure frankincense was placed upon this fine flour and how
beautifully this Frankincense pictures Christ, our sweet-smelling
savor of life unto life, and shows us that our acceptance
with God is in Christ alone. Every Sabbath these cakes were
remade and were before the Lord constantly and continually. Oh,
this bread which has been before Jehovah seven days was then enjoyed
by the priestly family, Aaron and his son. and all in the family
of God are free to partake of Christ, the bread of life. And
the 12 cakes reveal how Christ identified with His covenant
people. It's in Christ that we are fed
and at the same time are in communion and fellowship with our Father.
In our Father's house, there is bread enough and to spare,
Luke 15, 17. The eating of this showbread
on the Sabbath indicates the believers partaking of Christ
our Sabbath day rest. So let me say it again. The tabernacle
and everything in it pictures the Lord Jesus Christ. I love the passage of scripture
that tells us that those who endure until the end shall be
saved. And then it says, Christ, having
loved his own, which were in the world, he loved them unto
the end. My only hope of loving Christ
unto the end and being saved is that he love me unto the end. We love him because he first
loved us. I love how the scriptures clarify
that God loves his elect, which were in the world. You see, it's
in this wilderness of a world that Christ, our tabernacle,
our Ark of the Covenant, our mercy seat, our table, and our
showbread, it's He who enables us to come face-to-face with
God and to speak with God as a friend with a friend. To be
in Christ is to be in God's presence. What is this book, the Holy Bible,
without God's presence? What is worship without God's
presence? What's preaching without God's
presence? What's prayer without God's presence? What is life without God's presence? What's death without God's presence? His presence is our salvation. How can one who knew no sin be
made sin? You ever thought about that?
Now I know that our finite minds can't fathom that, but I'll give
you my answer. How can one who knew no sin be
made sin? Only voluntarily. God's holy
law has no claim on Christ. God's holy justice can't punish
a perfect man. Christ is everything that we
are not, and He voluntarily justified us freely. That means without
a cause, that no flesh should glory in His presence. Yet many
do, but not God's people. We take our place in the dunghill,
and we simply trust Christ to set us among princes. Oh, may God be pleased to add
His blessings to His Word.