from Exodus chapter 25 all the
way to Exodus 30, God gave Moses specific instructions on the
tabernacle, on making the tabernacle of God. If you've ever studied
the tabernacle in detail, you may have seen a diagram of it
or a model of it. It's a really interesting study
because One of the things that we know that God gave him a physical
tent or building or structure that later on became a permanent
one in the temple of Jerusalem. Solomon was the first one who
built that. But that tabernacle was a physical structure that
God had planned and purposed and he gave Moses every dimension,
every piece of furniture, every color, every fabric, everything
about it was planned and purposed by God. None of it was left to
the opinions or the works of men as far as designing it. God
even later on, you'll see as they're building the tabernacle,
God even miraculously gifted certain men to do the work. Because, you know, if you think
about that tabernacle and the intricate pattern of it, it would
be difficult for us to make today with the modern tools that we
have. But just think of how difficult it was back then. But God gifted
certain men and he names them to do certain works to build
this tabernacle. And this tabernacle was required
of Israel for them in a ceremonial, temporal, physical way to worship
and serve God in that covenant, that old covenant. But the most
interesting thing about this tabernacle is that every part
of the tabernacle, each material, all the materials, each element,
it's a type and a picture and a foreshadowing of the glorious
person and finished work of Christ and the salvation that he gives
to his people by which we approach God and are accepted by God on
the basis of justice satisfied, on the basis of a righteousness
that we have no part in producing, the imputed righteousness of
Christ. That's what it pictures. And in these elements and these
services, you remember how the priest You had a priesthood,
it was the priesthood of Levi. Aaron was the first high priest.
Moses and Aaron were brothers, and Moses and Aaron were from
the tribe of Levi. And God appointed the tribe of
Levi to be the priestly tribe. And so, the high priest, there
was only one high priest in each generation. You see, you didn't
have two or three high priests, you only had one. And of course,
he's a picture of Christ, our one eternal great high priest,
who appears before God for his people. And that's what the high
priest would do. He would appear before God for
the people, especially one time a year in the Day of Atonement.
And we're gonna talk about all this, how he would go into that
tabernacle, the way that it had an outer wall, And then you had
an open court there. And the first thing, when you
went into the entrance of the tabernacle, you'd see the brazen
or brass altar, bronze altar. And that brazen altar represented
God's justice, God's judgment falling upon the substitute. That's where they slew the sacrifice,
the lamb and the bullocks, spotless lambs and spotless bullocks.
and they slew it, and they caught the blood in a basin, and then
they would burn some of it, and the high priest
would take that blood, and he would go into the second chamber,
which is called the holy place. Now, all the priests could serve
at the outer court and the holy place, but only the high priest
could go into the very middle part, the central part of the
tabernacle, which is called the holiest of all. And he would
bring the blood of the sacrifice into that holiest of all, and
he'd sprinkle it on the mercy seat, which was a lid that covered
the Ark of the Covenant. Now all of this was a picture
of Christ, our great high priest, Christ, our altar, Christ, our
lamb, Christ, our mercy seat, satisfying the justice of God
and bringing forth an everlasting righteousness of infinite value.
whereby God could be just to justify the ungodly. Look at,
look at Revelation, Revelation, look at Exodus. This is a revelation
from God, it certainly is. Verse 10, now he's talking about
the tabernacle and all the elements, but I'm focusing in today on
the mercy seat. So look at verse 10. He said,
they shall make an ark of Shittim wood, two cubits and a half shall
be the length thereof, and a cubit and a half the breadth thereof,
and a cubit and a half the height thereof. See, every measurement. This is God's way. You see, Christ,
who is God manifest in the flesh, he was prepared by God, not by
man. Remember, he said through the
psalmist, a body hast thou prepared me. So Christ in his humanity
is not the work of man. And so this wood, this Shittim
wood, is a picture of his humanity, all right? And he says in verse
11, thou shalt overlay it with pure gold. The gold is a picture
of his deity. Christ, God, man. God manifest
in the flesh. One man with two natures. And
even this Ark of the Covenant was Shittim wood or Acacia wood,
some call it. It was formed according to the
measurements, and then it was overlaid with pure gold. And
that's a picture of Christ. And he says, within and without
shall it be overlaid. That is, it was all covered with
that gold. And shall make upon it a crown
of gold round about. It was like on the edge of that
there was gold fixtures. He says in verse 12, thou shalt
cast four rings of gold for it and put them in the four corners
thereof. And the two rings shall be in the one side of it and
two rings in the other side of it. And he says in verse 13,
and thou shalt make staves of Chittim wood and overlay them
with gold. Now these staves were rods that
they would put through these rings and that's how they would
carry the Ark from place to place. And thou shalt put the staves
into the rings by the sides of the ark, that the ark may be
borne by them. Verse 15, the staves shall be
in the rings of the ark. They shall not be taken from
it. They will always be there. And that will remind people that
this is how you're to carry the ark. You're not to carry it any
other way. And you remember the story about how the man, when they
were carrying it back to Jerusalem, how they stumbled and the ark
was about to fall and the man stuck his hand up there. And
the Lord killed him. I'm not gonna go into all that
today because I don't have time. But look at verse 16. Thou shalt
put into the ark the testimony which I shall give thee. Now
this is the two tablets of stone. And you know Moses broke the
first two tablets and he went back up and got two more tablets
and that's the tablets that was put inside the Ark of the Covenant,
inside the box. And a lot of times when you,
we'll read this in Hebrews 9 There were other things in the Holy
of Stoles, Aaron's rod that budded, a pot of manna that didn't rot. They weren't inside the box.
The law was. And so now that law, remember
what the law was for. It was to show them their sinfulness,
their depravity, the impossibility of salvation based on anything
but the grace of God through the righteousness of Christ.
And so that testimony was gonna be put in there, verse 17. Thou
shalt make a mercy seed of pure gold, two cubits and a half shall
be the length thereof, and a cubit and a half the breadth thereof.
Thou shalt make two cherubims of gold, now this mercy seed
of pure gold, and this was a lid that was to set over the ark,
to cover the law. And This is the most important
part. This is the most significant
part of the picture here of Christ and salvation by Him. Because
without that mercy seat, well, what is a mercy seat? Well, it
pictures the seat of all mercy, where God shows mercy based on
a just ground, the law fulfilled in Christ. If there was no mercy
seat, What would the priest be facing? Only the broken law,
and that would be death. So you see, this mercy seat was
invaluable. This mercy seat was necessary,
and he says, verse 18, thou shalt make two cherubims of gold of
beaten work, shalt thou make them in the two ends of the mercy
seat. A cherubim, you remember, was an angelic being, angel you
might say and the the angelic being was first introduced back
in Genesis 3 24 you remember when he cast out Adam and Eve
out of the garden and he set the two cherubims there with
flaming swords to keep man out and what they are is messengers
and And these two cherubim, they represent God's preachers, God's
witnesses. And each one of them had two
wings going over the ark, facing each other, looking down on the
mercy seat. And that's a picture of God's
preachers who always look and point to the mercy seat, which
is Christ. And that's what that's all about.
And look at verse 19. He says, and make one cherub
on one end and the other cherub on the other end. Even of the
mercy seat shall you make the cherubims, the two ends thereof.
And the cherubims shall stretch forth their wings on high, covering
the mercy seat with their wings. And their faces shall look one
to another toward the mercy seat shall the faces of the cherubims
be. In other words, their heads are
pointed towards each other, but they're looking down at the mercy
seat. Now here's verse 21. Listen to this. He says, and
thou shalt put the mercy seat above the ark, covering the ark,
and in the ark thou shalt put the testimony that I shall give
thee. That's the law. And verse 22, here's the significance
of it. And there I will meet with thee. There I will commune with thee
from above the mercy seat from between the two cherubims which
are upon the ark of the testimony of all things which I will give
thee in commandment unto the children of Israel. This is the
place that God would meet with sinners. That's the significance
of it. The significance of the ark.
took place involving the mercy seat. This is the Shekinah glory
of God. The word Shekinah is a word that
means the presence of God. And this is the, the Shekinah
was the greatest manifestation of God's nature and glory and
character that could be found in any place. And right here
it is. above the mercy seat. You can
see the glory of God in the heavens, in the sky, in the sun, in the
stars. You can see the glory of God
in the sea and in the rivers and in the beautiful landscape
and in the creation. You can see His glory, but nowhere
can you see the full manifestation of all the glory and majesty
and nature of God except right here. That's what He's saying.
And it's summed up in how God is just to justify the ungodly. This pictures and typifies and
foreshadows the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
Christ is the embodiment of the glory and the manifestation of
the glory of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. For
in him dwelleth all fullness, the whole fullness of the Godhead
bodily, and you're complete in him. And that's the real significance. Now look over at Hebrews chapter
nine with me. Now this gives us a good commentary
on all of that. Verse one, he says, then verily
the first covenant had also ordinances of divine service and a worldly
sanctuary. Now that worldly sanctuary, he's
talking about this tabernacle. It was physical, okay? It had a great significance,
but the tabernacle itself was not eternal, was not spiritual. That earthly high priesthood
and the priesthood could not save anybody from their sins.
The blood of bulls and goats could not take away sin, but
it pictured and typified and foreshadowed one who could and
did do that, Jesus Christ, the Lord our righteousness. Verse
two, for there was a tabernacle made. The first wherein was the
candlestick. Now the candlestick, that was
in the holy place, and that represented Christ, the light of his people.
The table and the showbread, that represented Christ, the
bread of life, which is called the sanctuary. That's the holy
place where all the priests could go. Verse three, after the second
veil, the tabernacle, which is called the holiest of all. That's
the holy of holies. Now this is where the Ark of
the Covenant and the Mercy Seat were. Which had the golden censer,
there was a golden censer there, the Ark of the Covenant overlaid
round about with gold, wherein was the golden pot that had manna.
You remember we read this in the manna that God told Moses
and Aaron to get a bill of that manna and put it in a golden
pot? You know that manna didn't last over a day. But this was
manna that lasted throughout their generations. And that picture,
again, Christ, our manna. Aaron's rod that budded, there's
another story about that, but Aaron's rod, you remember the
rod he had in Egypt? Moses' rod that he gave to Aaron?
This rod was budding, it had life in it. Christ is the rod
of life. And the tables of the covenant
were inside the ark. Verse five, over it the cherubims
of glory overshadowing the mercy seat of which we cannot now speak
particularly. I believe what the writer here
is saying is I don't have time to go into all the significant
issues of this because my point is to show you how this has been
abolished by way of fulfillment. Verse six, now when these things
were thus ordained, the priest went always into the first tabernacle
accomplishing the service of God. All the Levitical priests,
they went into the first part of that tabernacle, into the
first, the outer court, and they went into the second place, the
holy place, where the table of showbread and the golden laver,
you remember washing the golden laver? Well, that was right before
the holy place, but they'd wash. And of course, that's pictured
being washed in the blood of Christ. In there, there was also
an altar of incense, that's the intercessory work of Christ.
And so, verse seven. But into the second went the
high priest alone. That's the holy of holies. Only the high priest alone. Once
every year, one time a year on the day of atonement. That's
the only time he could go in there. Remember there was a veil
that God instructed them to put up there. And the only one who
could go behind there was the high priest. Now you remember
King Uzziah in the days of Isaiah? A lot of people say that he tried
to go into the holiest of all. I don't know that he tried to.
He went into the holy place right before there, the holiest of
all, and maybe had in his mind to go all the way in, but he
didn't get past the holy place. The second, remember you've got
the outer courts, got the brazen altar. You go up and there's
another tent inside. You have the washed laver, and
then you go into the holy place, only Levitical priests could
go in there. And who did the Levitical priests
picture? They picture God's people who
are washed in the blood of Christ, clothed in his righteousness,
who can worship God acceptably. And King Uzziah, he went into
the holy place, and like I said, he may have had in mind to go
further, but he didn't get any farther. God struck him with
leprosy, and he lived the rest of his days as a leper. So understand that. But only
the high priest could go into the holiest of all one time of
year. That's a picture of Christ, our
great high priest, going into the very presence of God by virtue
of the merits of his blood. He is our mercy seat, you see. Well, look at verse seven again,
into the second, went the high priest alone, once every year,
not without blood, not without blood. Justice has to be satisfied. Righteousness has to be established,
see, to approach God. And he says, which he offered
for himself and for the heirs of the people. Now some people,
who today have bought into the heresy of Christ having been
made a sinner, as per 2 Corinthians 5.21, or is trying to say that
2 Corinthians 5.21, which says Christ was made sin, to say that
that was more than by imputation, they'll use this verse, saying,
well, the high priest had to offer for himself and for the
errors of the people. And that high priest did have
to do that. And you know why that high priest
had to do that? Because that high priest was
a sinner. He needed the blood. He needed the mercy seat just
as much as the people he was representing. But that human
high priest only typifies Christ high priesthood in a limited
way just like every type in the Bible. Every type has its limitations. There is no type in the Bible
from Genesis to Malachi that you can say, well, that type
represents Christ in every point. No, it's always limited. For
example, well, I'll show you that in just a moment. I'll give
you another example there. The Bible says, well, for example,
in Daniel 9 and verse 24, it says, Messiah will be cut off.
And it says, but not for himself. Christ didn't go before God pleading
His own blood for His own sins. Now our sins, now there is a
sense which legally you can say our sins became His, but only
in one way if you want to honor God and honor Christ. And that
is our sin debt was laid to His charge by imputation. They became His. And that's why
you'll read passages in the Psalms Like, for example, Psalm 40 and
Psalm 69, where it pictures the Messiah saying, my sins are surrounding
me, overwhelm me. Well, they were his only by imputation. They did put it on my account.
Our debt became his, but he didn't become a sinner. He did not have
to appear before God pleading the merits of his blood for his
own sins. He had no sin. 2 Corinthians
5.21 says that. He who knew no sin was made sin
for us. So when people go to this verse
here, And they say, well, see there, he had to go in for himself.
Well, that means if he was a type of Christ, that means Christ
had to go in for himself. No, you can't make everything about
a type apply to the anti-type, to the fulfillment. Everything
about a, we can see the beauty of these types, but I want to
tell you something. Christ supersedes these types. He's much greater, and I'll show
you that in just a moment. Look at verse eight, or verse seven. But unto the second went the
high priest alone once every year, not without blood, which
he offered for himself and for the heirs of the people, the
Holy Ghost, this signifying that the way into the holiest of all
was not yet made manifest. As long as that tabernacle stood
according to God's instructions and commandments, As long as
those services were being offered and accepted in a temporal ceremonial
way by God, that was a signification by the Holy Spirit that Christ
had not yet come. The way into the holiest of all,
which is the way into God's presence, had not yet come, while as the
first tabernacle was yet standing. Now think about that. What happened
when Christ went to the cross and died? Remember what happened
in the temple? The veil was torn in two from
top to bottom. Now, that's the Holy Spirit signifying
that the way into the holiest of all, the very presence of
God, has come. So you don't need that tabernacle.
You don't need that earthly priesthood now. You don't need the blood
of animals. Now these preachers going up
and down this country telling people that they're gonna build
another temple according to God's instructions, and they're gonna
have to re-institute the priesthood and all that. My friend, it is
not scripture. In fact, it's heresy. It's a
denial of Christ. That's over. Verse nine, which
was a figure, a type, for the time then present. It was for
that time. not for a future time, not for
today, in which were offered both gifts and sacrifices that
could not make them that did the service perfect. Those earthly
things didn't save anybody. That earthly animal blood didn't
wash away one sin, but it typified Christ, the Lamb of God, who
cleanses us from all sin, his people. And it couldn't make
him perfect as pertaining to the conscience, in the court
of the conscience. Verse 10, which stood in meats and drinks
and diverse washings, carnal ordinances imposed on them. Now
look at this line, until the time of reformation. Is that
saying until time John Calvin and Martin Luther and Ulrich
Zwingli came along? No. Reformation means change. Until the time of change. And
when was that reformation? When Christ came and did his
great work. And that's what he says in verse
11, Christ being come and high priest of good things to come
by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands,
that is to say, not of this building, neither by the blood of goats
and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once. You see,
the high priest had to do it every year. Now, Those people
who take that verse up there about he had to do it for himself,
so that means Christ had to do it for himself, if they take
that logic, did Christ have to do that every year? Did he have
to die every year? No. Well, that's what they had
to do. So take the type on further if
you're gonna use that kind of faulty logic, but it won't work. This was one time. Verse 12,
neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood
he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal,
not ceremonial now, not temporal. See, that priest had to do it
every year because it kept coming back. But he obtained eternal
redemption for us, for spiritual Israel. Verse 13, for if the
blood of bulls and of goats and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling
the unclean sanctified through the purifying of the flesh, that's
in a ceremonial way, how much more shall the blood of Christ,
who through the eternal spirit offered himself without spot,
without blemish to God, purge your conscience from dead works
to serve the living God? Now back over in Exodus 25, what
you have there in that tabernacle, in this mercy seat, is a picture
of the word propitiation. And the Old Testament word mercy
seat is very much related to that word propitiation. The word
propitiation is found in the New Testament three or four times
in different forms. And in the parable of the, you
remember the parable of the Pharisee and the publican? And Luke 18,
I've got that listed here in your lesson. That's one, you remember where
the Pharisee, he prayed with himself, thus, thank God I'm
not like other men. And the publican, he beat up
on his breast and said, God, be merciful to me, the sinner. That term, be merciful, is the
same Greek word that is translated propitiation or the like. In
other words, it's like the public was saying, God be propitious
to me a sinner. I need a mercy seat. That's what
he's saying. In Hebrews two and verse 17, that term is translated
in another way. Let me find it here. I've got
it here written down in your lesson. I can't find it. Oh, it's translated
reconciliation, that's right, in Hebrews 2.17. That's what
it means. You'll find that word in Romans
chapter three, I think I have that, yeah, I've got that list,
and where Paul says, we're justified freely by his grace through the
redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God has set forth
to be a propitiation. That propitiation, now this is
what the gospel's all about, how God can be just and justify
the ungodly. That propitiation is a satisfaction
to God's justice, which brings forth an everlasting righteousness
that God has imputed to his people, the righteousness of God, the
righteousness of Christ, which demands their whole salvation. And therefore, those who preach
that most or many perish in damnation for whom Christ died, they're
denying the gospel. They're denying propitiation.
Propitiation means just to satisfy. It means righteousness established.
It means salvation, redemption, salvation, forgiveness, eternal
life is assured. And that's what God is saying
back here in Exodus 25 when he says, there I will meet with
you. That's the whole issue of God's
honor and glory in salvation. Okay.