Good morning. Would you join
me in the book of Numbers this morning? Numbers chapter 7. In
visiting this morning, a verse of scripture came up that I read
while I was on my trip. We spent some time in some of
the places that the Apostle Paul had visited many, many years
ago. One of them that truly impressed
me was the visit to Old Corinth. I really enjoyed my trip to Old
Corinth. We also enjoyed our trip up to
Mars Hill. to the Acropolis there, Paul
was there many, many years ago, to Crete where he was and where
also his dear brother and our brother Timothy was left to set
in order those things that were required. But a verse of scripture
came up and that is found in Acts chapter 17 and verse 11
about those that were at Berea were more noble than those at
Thessalonica in that they searched the scriptures daily to see whether
those things were so. It impressed me again that the
scriptures that they were searching were the Old Testament scriptures.
They didn't have what we have. They didn't have the New Testament
at that time. They didn't have Matthew through Revelation. So
when they searched the scriptures to see whether Paul was preaching
about Christ, crucified, buried, risen again for their benefit,
for their salvation, they went to the Old Testament scriptures. Thus, we go again to the Book
of Numbers Chapter 7. We'd like to read several verses
of scripture this morning. This chapter is one of the longest
chapters in the Old Testament, or in the Book of Numbers, excuse
me. It's one of the longest chapters. It's 89 verses long, but there
are 12 repetitions in it. And we may not spend our time
in every one of those repetitions, because it tells us what each
tribe was to bring for an offering. We will spend our time probably
on one of them and then we'll go to another chapter of scripture. But I'd like to read beginning
with Numbers chapter 7 verse 1 and read down through verse
17. This is the first of the offerings
that were given by the first tribe. All right. Book of Numbers
again, chapter 7. And we'd like to begin reading
there with verse 1. Chapter 7, verse 1 of the Book
of Numbers. And the scriptures share with
us this. And it came to pass on the day that Moses had fully
set up the tabernacle and had anointed it and sanctified it,
and all the instruments thereof, both the altar and all the vessels
thereof, and anointed them, and sanctified them." Now, that's
our verse of scripture that we'll spend the most of our time on
this morning, and it logically breaks up into a very set up
verse of scripture that gives us some real interesting things
to study about. But let's read on here, that
the princes of Israel, heads of the house of their fathers,
and we've been introduced to those earlier in this book, who
were the princes of the tribes and were over them that were
numbered offered. They brought their offering before
the Lord, six covered wagons and 12 oxen, a wagon for the
two of the princes and for each one an ox. So two of the tribes
went together and brought a wagon, a covered wagon, and probably
not like we think of as the Conestoga wagon though, it was a little
bit different. And they brought them before
the tabernacle, saying, Each tribe brought some oxen, and
two tribes brought a wagon. And the Lord spake unto Moses,
saying, Take it of them, that they may be to do the service
of the tabernacle of the congregation. And thou shalt give them unto
the Levites, to every man according to his service. Verse six, and
Moses took the wagons and the oxen and gave them unto the Levites.
Two wagons and four oxen he gave unto the sons of Gershon, according
to their service, and four wagons and eight oxen he gave unto the
sons of Mariah, according to their service, according to the
hand of Ithamar, the son of Aaron the priest. But unto the sons
of Kohath he gave none. because the service of the sanctuary
belongeth unto them, what was that they should bear upon their
shoulders. Very interesting verse of scripture,
and when we get there, we'll spend some time on that. And
the princes offered for dedicating of the altar in the day that
it was anointed, even the princes offered their offering before
the altar. And the Lord said unto Moses, They shall offer
their offering, each prince on his day, to the dedicating of
the altar. And he that offered his offering
the first day was Nashon, the son of Abimmedad of the tribe
of Judah. Isn't that interesting that the
first one would be of the tribe of Judah? And his offerings was
one silver charger. The weight thereof was 130 shekels.
one silver bowl of 70 shekels after the shekel of the sanctuary,
both of them were full of fine flour mingled with oil for a
meat offering, one spoon of 10 shekels of gold full of incense,
one young bullock, one ram, one lamb, of the first year for a
burnt offering, one kid of the goats for a sin offering, and
for a sacrifice of peace offerings, two oxen, five rams, five he
goats, five lambs of the first year. This was the offering of
Nashon, the son of Abimadad. And if you look at verse 18 and
24, the various paragraphs that go on through the rest of this
chapter, we have a similar offering made by different tribes. We're
going to stop there for our reading in the book of Numbers for just
a moment. But would you turn back with me to the book of Exodus
chapter 40 for just a moment. Exodus chapter 40. In Exodus
chapter 40 we have the completion of the tabernacle. Now when we
went through the book of Leviticus many years ago, we saw the building
of the tabernacle and all the things that went into it, the
finery for the priest, all of those things are described there.
But I still find it impossible to build what is described there
because I don't have the knowledge that was given to Moses and given
to those people to do that. If somebody built it today, it
would just turn into an idol for other people. So there's
a reason that God did not allow that. That tabernacle never survived. We don't need it. The true tabernacle
is Christ. He's where we find our hope is
in Christ. In the book of Leviticus, excuse
me, the book of Exodus, chapter 40, verse 17, Exodus chapter
40 and verse 17, we have this reading. And it came to pass in the first
month, in the second year, on the first day of the month, that
the tabernacle was reared up. Now, if we go back one year earlier
to this, we're in Egypt. In the book of Exodus chapter
12, where it talks about the Passover, we find that the Lord
said, this is the first month of the year to you. Now God changed
time for the Israelites. You know what? When God saves
us from our sins, it's the beginning of time really for us. That's
where we go back to measure. Now, when they ask us officially,
when were you born? We have to go back to the day
that's marked on our birth certificate. But when it comes to spiritual
things, we don't go back to a specific day, but we go back to when we
heard the gospel. I've had someone ask me one time,
when were you saved? I said, I don't know the day
or the hour, but I know this was after I heard the gospel,
because that's the way God does his business. He saves his people
after the preaching of the gospel to them, and that gospel has
not changed over time. The whole entire Old Testament
is not a separate gospel. It is a shadow of good things
to come. In that, there were still those
that God had the gospel preached to and they heard it, and God
gave them grace to believe it through the new birth, just like
he does today, saying things have not changed. So we have
here the building of the tabernacle. It was going to be used for many,
many years before the building of the temple there by Solomon. David had an interest in building
it. He wanted to build it, but all he could do was amass the
material for it, and Solomon was given the job of building
it through all those that worked for him. You know, as I think
about this, I have some observations. This tabernacle will soon be,
just as we read there in the book of Numbers chapter 7, that
first section about what the first tribe was going to bring
for a sacrifice at the completion of this tabernacle, this tabernacle
would soon be the place of much shed blood. That very first day,
you just count up the number of animals that were going to
be sacrificed that first day, and then it goes on to the second
day and the third day through 12 days of this in the dedication
of this tabernacle that was built. The tabernacle will soon be the
scene of hundreds of sacrifices, sometimes many in just one day,
as we're going to see here later in the scripture. As we pause
to think about all of them, we must ask this question. What
is the significance of them day by day, week by week, month by
month, and year by year? What is the significance of all
of these sacrifices that are going to be offered and the offering
was requested by God? The significance We must come
to this conclusion that they pictured expiation or the forgiveness
of sins, but they never accomplished it. All of these sacrifices cried
for expiation. All of these sacrifices cried
for forgiveness. As we look there in the book
of Leviticus, if you thought You had committed sin. You couldn't
even remember it. You were to bring a sacrifice.
And it was the expectation of eventually somewhere down through
time that this sin would be forgiven. Now the sacrifice did not forgive
the sin. The blood of the sacrifice did
not forgive sin. The offering of the sacrifice
did not forgive sin. The bringing of the sacrifice
did not offer sin, but all of them pointed forward to the cross. That's what every one of these
sacrifices are going to do. They're assigned post to point
us ahead to the cross. Now, we find as we heard read
there this morning in the book of Hebrews, another passage of
scripture in the book of Hebrews shares with us, for the law having
a shadow of good things to come and not the very image of the
things can never, with those sacrifices which they offered
year by year continually make the comers perfect. As these
people came, they could never receive perfection by these sacrifices. While we were gone, we heard
many times throughout the European countries, there are so many
edifices to religion. in all over Europe. And this
one lady that we had said we needed to come back in 2025. Make an appointment to come back
in 2025 because there is an edict by somebody down in Rome that
if you walk through these four doors of this building, this
chapel, if you walk through the four doors of this, you will
have expiation. you will have the forgiveness
of sin and she's already making a plan to be there that day so
she can walk through now she walked through 25 years ago.
You know, it's just, it's a monster. Religion is a monster. Religion
is a monster created in the minds of natural man, and there's always
this drive for expiation, but you're expected to do it again,
and again, and again. And yet we find in our Savior,
the Lord Jesus Christ, this is taken care of completely and
totally at the cross, and it is no longer a monster, it is
bliss. It's just glory in Christ Jesus. Expiation, the putting away of
sin, all of these Old Testament economy sacrifices, cry for expiation,
which they could only picture and never accomplish. Every time
they brought these sacrifices, there were some people that understood
and looked forward to the cross. You know, we cry, how did they
do that? How could they do that? The same way that the believers
today look forward to Christ coming the second time. It's
by faith. They look forward to the Messiah. They look forward to Him on the
cross. They look forward to someone to take care of the sin problem.
By faith, they look forward, just as we do today. You know,
every time we take the Lord's Supper, and I apologize, we've
been negligent. Some of these things that have
gone on have just put us in a kibosh, hasn't it? But the Lord's Supper,
what are the concluding words to the Lord's Supper that the
Apostle Paul shares with us in the book of 1 Corinthians? As
often as you do this, do this in remembrance of me till he
come, or till I come. that we're looking forward to
that and the last words of the bible even so come lord jesus
we look forward to the coming of the lord jesus christ the
second time just as they look forward to him coming the first
time and then the second time the apostle or job said i know
my lord my redeemer liveth and on the earth shall stand and
though this body is decayed and eaten up i shall see him with
these eyes. So he was looking forward to
the first coming and the second coming. We look forward to him
as we read through the Old Testament of his coming, but he's already
come and he's already fulfilled all the requirements and put
away sin forever. Galatians tells us about this
Old Testament economy. It is weak and beggarly. Now
that's God's commentary on his own words to his people, Israel. It is weak and it's beggarly.
Galatians chapter 4, but now after that ye have known God,
or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and
beggarly elements where unto ye desire again to be in bondage."
Now why was this, all these chapters in the book of Genesis, when
it talks about sacrifices, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy,
why are they weakened beggarly? Why did God give this commentary
about the Old Testament law? Why did God say that about the
law when he had given the law? They are weak and beggarly because
the law could not save. There was no salvation in it.
It's weak. It can't lift anybody out of
a pit. In fact, it puts us more in a pit. How can we ever accomplish
it? How can we ever pay for it? How
can we ever fulfill it? We cannot. And so it's weak.
It cannot sanctify. You know, people use the law
to try to sanctify their lives. I'm not going to go here. I'm
not going to say that. I'm not going to do that. But that doesn't
sanctify anybody. It just makes more hypocrites
out of us. It makes us more pharisaical. The law could not sanctify. We're
not sanctified by keeping to the law. We're sanctified by
the sanctifier, the Lord Jesus Christ. He is our sanctification. That's the thing. We find that
it couldn't secure anybody. You know what happens the next
day? They had to go bring their sacrifices again. And the next
day, they brought their sacrifices again. The work was never completed.
The priests never were finished. There was always someone at their
door saying, It came to me last night that I need to offer this
sacrifice. And here they go again. There
was no security in it. There was no lifting in it. There
was no salvation in it. There was no security in it.
There was no life. It did not give life. The gospel
is used by God to give us eternal life. These things could not
give life. You know, we see one sacrifice
that puts away sin forever. And that is the sacrifice of
God. And they looked at these animal sacrifices, dozens a day,
hundreds a week, millions of years, and all the blood around
there. Can you imagine what it looked
like when God said, OK, we're going to move the tabernacle
to another spot? We're moving 20 miles. What did
the landscape look like around the tabernacle? It was drenched
in animal blood and not one of them ever expiated one person. But it always pointed ahead to
the one who was going to expiate us or to forgive us of all our
sin. In Hebrews chapter 10 verses
11 and 12, Would you turn there with me for just a moment? Hebrews
chapter 10. As we think about all these sacrifices,
we're going to witness in that one paragraph. I didn't count
them up, but there's a lot in that one paragraph. And then
you multiply that paragraph times 12, and that's just to dedicate
this place. That is a symbol, a picture,
a type, and a shadow of the Savior who was going to be able to do
it all at one time. Here in the book of Hebrews chapter
10, Hebrews chapter 10 verses 11 and 12, this passage of scripture. Now, we're going to spend a lot
of time in the New Testament looking at what took place over
here in the book of Numbers. Whenever you're looking at the
Old Testament, we go to the New Testament so often because here
is what God said, this all signified, this all meant. But the fulfillment
of it is in one person, one sacrifice, one expiator, one forgiver of
sin, the book of Hebrews. Hebrews chapter 10, verse 11
and 12, the scriptures share this. Hebrews chapter 10, verse
11 and 12, and every priest standeth daily ministering and offering
oftentimes the same sacrifices. Now notice the next few words,
which can never take away sins. Not one of them. I will never
forget. the man who brought me the gospel
had a TV program there in Ashton for many years. A man that had
been watching that TV program for a long time called up this
pastor and said, ''We need to have a lamb for a sacrifice.''
He read to there all those times that there needed to be, and
as the pastor was bringing out in the Old Testament studies,
the lamb, the need for a lamb. We need to have a lamb that's
perfect in all ways. And you know that pastor began
to explain to him the perfect lamb? That's what it all typified,
was the perfect Lamb of God, the perfect Son of God, the one
without sin. the one whose blood could atone,
the one whose blood could expiate, the one whose blood could forgive,
the one who could pay completely and totally for all the sins
of all his people, and that would put their minds at ease, at rest. They would not have to wake up
the next morning and say, we got to go back down there today
because I had a bad dream last night. He took away sin. Hebrews chapter 10, verse 12,
but this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever,
sat down on the right hand of God. Now that's the best news
I could ever share with anybody. This one man, Jesus Christ, by
one sacrifice, hath put away sins forever. and sat down at
the right hand of the father. No longer would there be any
other expiation needed. He would take care of all the
sins of all of his people, past, present, and future. He knew
what we would do the last breath of our life. He would know the
time between he saved us and granted us the permission to
enter into his presence and took care of everything thereto. We read that David was saved
prior to him becoming king. and yet when he was a king, he
was a rascal rat. Yet the Lord said, I'll take
care of every bit of this, and he did, and he counted this one
just like he does all of his lost sheep that he saved. a man,
a woman, after my own heart." What does that mean? We are after
his heart. We're after his salvation, we're
after his grace, we're after his life, we're after everything
about him. Tell me more about this one,
the Lord Jesus, that all these sacrifices pictured but they
could not accomplish. We heard read this morning by
Brother Craig, The law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in
of the better hope did, for the which we draw an eye unto God."
How could the people look forward to this? Just the same way as
we do, the coming of Christ the second time. They were saying,
they could hear, the spiritual ear could hear as every sacrifice
was offered. Oh, come sweet Messiah. Oh, come
sweet Messiah. Oh, come, take care of the problem. This is a picture of it, but
take care. Oh, come, sweet Messiah. And the people today that know
God, know Christ, have been revealed to him, the person Jesus Christ
can say, oh, come, sweet Jesus. Oh, come, Lord Jesus. Even so,
come, Lord Jesus. Oh, the hasting of the day of
the Lord, but he does not count. He does not count like we count. He must, he will, he shall wait
until the last lost sheep is saved and then He will come with
the shout and the voice of the archangel and the trump of God,
and we shall be raised with him to meet him in the sky and shall
be evermore with him. That's what all the Old Testament
saints, and we heard this morning there in the Bible class, just
a few. Well, I'll tell you what, it's
just gonna be a few in this era too, just a few. It's gonna be
called a remnant according to the election of grace, that's
what it is. Now, having said that, may we
return to the book of Numbers chapter 7 and verse 1 because
that verse of scripture is just so logically, so logically brought
forward. Book of Numbers chapter 7 verse
1. This is what Moses did. This is what Moses did when the
whole assembly was there, when every board, When every article
that needed to be cast out of gold was cast out of gold. When
every board needed to be finished was finished and put in its proper
place. All of the curtains were made, all embroidery, just as
they were required by God. Everything was set up. Here we
read in this seventh chapter of the book of Numbers, there
in verse one, this is what is said about that whole process. It said, in the day, Numbers
chapter seven and verse one. It came to pass on the day that
Moses had fully set up the tabernacle. You know, to those that were
there, that probably was quite a sight. They had watched the
workmen work all of these parts. Have you ever driven by where
they're building a house and seeing all of that material laid
out there? You know, you try to imagine
what it's going to look like when it's all put together. But
unless you've had part in it, you don't know what it's going
to look like. Well, it's going to be somebody's house. How many
bedrooms are they going to have? How many bathrooms? How big's
the kitchen? How big's the living room? We don't know. Here's all
this material. Now, there was a whole bunch
of people that did not participate in this. There were a few that
were required to participate as God called on them to participate. But many of them sat out and
did their thing. They gathered their men, they
sat around, they watched, they wondered, what's it going to
look like? That's the thing we are. We don't participate in
this. We're not going to participate
in our salvation. We're going to be a glass. We're
going to be a recipient. Participation is out. You're
not going to participate. That's what really causes a division. That's it. I've never known a
believer that wanted division in their family. We're not interested in it. I
never want to create division in my family. But you know what? When God saves you by his grace,
and you know that you did not participate, and it was all of
God, and his salvation was all of grace, and you talk to people
about that, then division comes. Because everybody wants to participate. Oh, we saw one of the most monstrosities
of building. It's still in the building,
started in 1880 by a fine architect. He died before it was near finished. They're waiting for participants
to offer money to pay for it. Last year, 4.5 million tickets were sold. And
you cannot go inside unless you buy a ticket online. 4.5 million tickets sold at 25
euros a piece. Now, a euro is just about $1.10
or something like that. I multiplied it out, that's a
million, a million four hundred, oh, twenty-five times four, four
million. It's about a hundred million
euros and they still need money to make this monstrosity. Not
enough to participate. Oh, I want to participate. The
guide says, you need to get online early so you can get your ticket
to get in here. Participation has been the name of religions
since the very beginning. I want to participate. How did
Abel participate? He was used as a symbol to present
the lamb and the rest was taken care of by the lamb. We don't
even do that. God presents the lamb. God took
care of the lamb. God will take care of the sacrifice.
God will take care of the fire. God will take care of it all.
Well, here there's no participation. It says Moses had fully set up
the tabernacle and had anointed it and sanctified it and all
the instruments thereof, both of the altar and all the vessels
thereof, and anointed them and sanctified them. Well, there's
some real truth to be found in this passage of scripture as
we look at this. It was fully set up. The structure's pattern
was given by another. You know who gave the pattern
for this tabernacle? God gave the pattern for this
tabernacle in the mount to one man, Moses. Now that's why we'd
find it very difficult to build one just like it, because we
don't have the pattern. and there's no reason for having
it or building it. Because the fulfillment of this
pattern is the person Christ Jesus. The fulfillment of the
tabernacle and every article of that tabernacle, and every
covering of that tabernacle, and every board of that tabernacle,
and every socket of that tabernacle is Christ Jesus the Lord. He's
the one that fulfills everything about this. So Moses as he built
it, as it's raised up and structured there, he went around and did
something that nobody else could do. God ordained him. What was the first thing he did
there? He said he anointed it. You know, this is with anointing
oil. How much did it take? How much
did he put on it? I have no idea. But he went around
to all of this tabernacle with a holy anointing oil. There is
a description of this oil in the Bible. what to put in it,
and it was not to be marketed, and it was not to be used by
anybody else. This is just God's description
of this holy anointing oil. God used Moses to anoint the
altars. God used Moses to anoint the curtains, the top, the everything. He used it to anoint it. He is
going to anoint this with oil. Moses was anointed of God when
he was made the tabernacle for it. So we have Moses was anointed
by God and he anointed this tabernacle. It was set up, it was completed,
and the structure was built by another, the structure was raised
by another, and the structure points and declares the only
one appointed, raised up, anointed, sanctified, and the only one
whose blood sacrifice could accomplish anything. And that's the person
Christ Jesus. Only one whose sacrifice could
expiate. forgive our sins. Only one. And it was anointed, it was rubbed
with oil. Moses was instructed to rub it
with oil. Thou shalt make an anointing
oil, and anoint the tabernacle, and all that is therein, and
hallow it, and the vessels thereof, and it shall be holy. That's
in the book of Exodus chapter 40. Moses was to take this special
anointing oil. You know, we find the same words
used several times in the Old Testament. One of them is when,
you remember when Saul was king and God said, I've had enough
of you? You didn't follow my instructions. That's just natural
man, isn't it? Saul was a natural man without
help. And he thought he would do God
a service and participate a bunch of animals from the Amlekites
in the sacrifice of God. He says, that's not going to
work. Mine comes from my flock, not from the Amalekites' flock.
We're not going to intermix the Amalekite religion with ours.
That's what God told him. He says, you will not be a king
any longer. Well, he told Samuel, you're going to go over to this
house, and I'm going to tell you who's going to be king. Well,
we know the first man that came in. He's tall, dark, and handsome.
And Samuel said, this is him. And God said, no, it's not. There
was a young man by the name of David that was brought in from
out in the field. And with regard to him, Samuel took the horn
of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brethren. And the
spirit of the Lord came upon from that day forward. So Samuel
rose up and went to Ramah. Now he's there out of fear for
his life. Because if Saul, he said, Saul ever hears about this,
he'll kill me. The Lord said, just go anyway.
And then get over here to Ramah. Moses anointed the tabernacle.
We find also in the book of Psalms. Would you turn with me to the
book of the Psalms as we think about this anointing? This has
a wonderful picture. There's a wonderful picture here
about Christ being anointed. Moses anointed that tabernacle
in every bit of it. And we find completely and totally
that he's pointing to Christ. Here in the book of Psalms chapter
45. Would you look there with me? Psalm chapter 45 or Psalm
45. Psalm 45, there in verse 6 and
7, it says here, Remember, O Lord, thy tender mercies and thy lovingkindness,
for they have been ever of old. Remember not my sins of my youth,
nor the transgressions according to thy mercy. Remember thou me
for thy goodness' sake. Excuse me, I read 25. I need
45. That's a good passage of scripture.
Okay, Isaiah chapter 45, verse 6 and 7. Thy throne, O God, is
forever and ever. The scepter of thy kingdom is
a right scepter. Thou lovest righteousness and
hatest wickedness. Therefore, God, thy God, hath
anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. Now
there's only one that's been anointed above his fellows. Who
is that? That's Christ. I have anointed,
now he came as a man. He looked like us. No, he looked
so much like us that when they were needing someone to identify
him, they had to pay somebody to do that. He resembled us. They all look alike. Have you
ever heard that? Well, that's what they said about the Lord.
He looks just like everybody else. He had to be identified. He was like his fellows. That's
what the scripture says. He's going to be like his brethren.
He's going to be like us, except without sin. There was not a
scintilla of sin in him or on him until the cross. He was anointed
with the oil of gladness above my fellows. And if you'll look
with me again in Psalm 89. In Psalm 89 as we look at this
sanctifying or this putting of blood, anointing. The Lord was
anointed and that's in fact what Christ means, is anointed one.
He is the anointed one. In Psalm 89 and verse 20, the
scriptures share this. It says, I have found David my
servant with my holy oil have I anointed him. Well, that happened
literally, yes. Samuel did that literally, yes.
We can go back and find the record of that, but there's a greater
David. David's Lord. That David was anointed with
the anointing of God. And then, if you'll turn with
me to Isaiah chapter 61, this is found in the book of Luke
chapter four, and Brother Mike went over this a couple years
ago, I think, Luke chapter four. But in Isaiah chapter 61, we
find this passage of scripture about the ministry of the Lord,
and it tells us here in Isaiah 61, can you just see Moses out
there with a bucket of oil, anointing everything? In that tavern, comparatively
speaking, it's rather large. It's going to take quite a bit
of oil. And all the articles that are in it, and all of the
mercy seat, the candlestick, the table of showbread, the altar
of incense, all of that. And then outside into the holy
place. And outside of that, into the area around How long it took
him, I don't know. How much oil he used, I don't
know. I do know this, he anointed it with oil. And here in the
book of Isaiah chapter 61, this passage was fulfilled by the
Lord himself. And he said that it was fulfilled
by the Lord himself in Luke chapter four when he was there at Nazareth
in the synagogue and preached. It says here in Isaiah chapter
61 in verse one, the spirit of God is upon me because the Lord
hath anointed me. Same word as we find what Moses
did to the tabernacle. Here's the type. Here's the anti-type. Here's the shadow. Here's the
reality. This is a picture of expiation. Here's the expiator. This is
a picture of forgiveness. This is the one who forgives.
Goes on to say, the spirit of the Lord God is upon me because
the Lord hath anointed me to do this. Now this is what that
tabernacle could ever do, never do. We might find messages about
the Lord in the tabernacle, but this tabernacle could never do
this, could never preach good tidings. The law never brought
good tidings. Good tidings to the meek, he
has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted. Boy, people came down to the
tabernacle who were brokenhearted. Look what I did, look what I
thought, look what I said, look what, look, oh, please, give
me another lamb. And here, this one is able to
take care of the problem. To proclaim liberty to the captives,
there was not one word in all the law that ever proclaimed
liberty. It always was a binding. and
the opening of the prison to them that are bound to proclaim
the acceptable year of the Lord, to the day of vengeance of our
God, and to comfort all that mourn. This is what the antitype
of the tabernacle, the Lord Jesus himself, was accomplishing in
his ministry what the tabernacle could never accomplish. The Lord
was anointed by God. And you know what he said to
those folks there in Nazareth that day? Today, this passage
is fulfilled in your hearing. Do you know what? Abel could
have said the same thing. I heard it today. Moses, I heard
it today. It was fulfilled in my hearing.
Paul, it was fulfilled in my hearing. David, Samuel, it was
fulfilled in my hearing. I know what he was talking about
when he said, forgiveness, the putting away. I know what it
is to be delivered from prison. I know what it is to have the
gospel preached unto me. I know what it is. It brought
great anguish for a moment, but all the peace that passeth all
understanding. The tabernacle was sanctified
by Moses. It was anointed by Moses and
sanctified by Moses. And when we come to this sanctification
that Moses brought to the tabernacle, we will bring that another day.
We'll talk to you again about Numbers chapter 7 and verse 1,
and then go down to the rest of that and show these sacrifices. It was so important that the
Kohathites did not get a cart, a wagon, a covered wagon, and
did not get any oxen. And it was important that the
other two priests got their wagons. God divides several among his
people. the responsibilities that he
wants each one to accomplish. And you know what? He gives him
the strength to do it. May God bless you. Brother Mike.