And for the gate of the court
shall be a hanging of twenty cubits, of blue, and purple,
and scarlet, and fine twine linen, brought with need of work. And
their pillars shall be four, and their sockets four." Now,
two weeks ago, when we left off our study here in the tabernacle,
we were looking at the fence. And it goes all the way around
the court of the tabernacle, but it's not a complete rectangle,
is it? It doesn't go all the way around. It's not a complete
rectangle shutting men out from God. There is a way to come inside
this fence. God provided one way, and it's
the gate. There's just one way inside this
tabernacle, just one. And it's very clearly marked
with different colors. The fence is solid white, but
the gate had a lot of different colors. The entrance to the tabernacle
is very clearly marked. And that's a picture of Christ.
God hasn't shut himself off from men. In justice he could, but
in grace he hasn't. He's provided a way into his
presence. And there's just one way, and
that way is the Lord Jesus Christ. And just like this gate is clearly
marked with different colors, The way Jesus Christ is clearly
marked in scriptures. He's clearly seen in the scriptures. You know, almost everyone on
the face of the earth has heard the name Jesus. Almost everybody
has. But our job is to proclaim Christ
as who he is. What he did, why he did it, and
where he is now. So that sinners will come to
Christ. and enter into him, just like
you can enter into the tabernacle through this one gate. This gate
represents Christ, the way. Dan said it in his prayer, God's
provided one way to come before a holy God, and it's the Lord
Jesus Christ. He's the way. Our Lord said in
John 14, 6, I'm the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh
to the Father but by me. In Matthew 11, 27, he said, Neither
knoweth any man the Father save the Son, and he to whosoever
the Son will reveal him. We can only know God in the Lord
Jesus Christ, just like you can only come into the tabernacle
through this gate. Now, look over Matthew chapter
7. Christ is called the narrow way. In Matthew 7, Now do I have a volunteer to
read for me? Take one week off and everybody
gets out of practice. Now somebody, Lucy, would you
read verse 13 and 14? Stand up and read it nice and
loud, would you? Good, thank you. Now this Christ is called the
narrow gate. Did you hear the gate of the
court was plenty wide enough for anybody to enter in? It's
30 feet wide. You reckon you could fit in a
gate 30 feet wide? It's plenty wide enough for anybody
to enter in, but there's just one way. And Christ is called
the narrow way. But now Christ is plenty wide
enough for any sinner to come to God. Plenty wide enough. When
I was your all's age, I don't know why my mom and dad liked
to go to this place. I think it was in Tennessee.
It's called Rock City. I was bored out of my skull.
The whole time we were there, just a bunch of rock formations.
And the only thing I remember about that place, there was a
rock formation that narrowed down. They call it Fat Man Squeeze.
And everybody wanted to go to Fat Man Squeeze. Because if you
could fit through there, you figure, I'm not fat. Christ is
not Fat Man Squeeze. He's plenty wide enough for any
sinner to come to Him. Plenty wide enough. But, it's
for a sinner. There's no room to enter into
Christ with your own righteousness. If you're going to enter in with
your own righteousness, you've got to go through the wide gate.
that leads to destruction. This gate is plenty wide enough
for any sinner. And whenever they moved the camp
and they set the camp back up, remember the first thing they
did was set up the tabernacle. And they always pointed the gate
toward the east, where the sun rises. And that's a picture of
Christ. He's the light of the world.
But now only Moses and Aaron could come through this gate,
and the priests, unless they brought Everybody that comes
through this gate except for Moses and Aaron, who's the priest,
they had to bring a sacrifice. And we'll look at this next time,
but as soon as they come through that gate, the first thing they
see is that brazen altar. You must bring an offering. God
must be approached with the sacrifice, a blood sacrifice. When they
would, the people would see this gate, it's very colorful. It was a beautiful woven tapestry
that hung there. as a gate. And the first color,
and we don't know how the colors were arranged, so we just stitched
the various colors that were in this gate on here. But the
first color is blue, and blue is the color of heaven. Look
over at John chapter 6. Each of these colors are a picture
of Christ. God is from heaven. He's the
sovereign He's the life-giver, he comes from heaven. John chapter
6, verse 32, we'll look at this in our service this morning. Verse 32, we've got a volunteer?
Okay, now you can read verse 32 and 33. Good, thank you. The bread of
God is he which cometh down from heaven. Look at verse 38. Our
Lord says, For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will,
but the will of him that sent me. He came from heaven to this earth. That's one of the most amazing
things that's ever happened. The Son of God was born a baby
in Bethlehem's manger. He came to this earth from heaven.
Isaiah 9, verse 6 says, and thus a child is born, and thus a son
is given. The Son from heaven was given
to men. That's what this blue represents.
Now, the next color was purple. Purple is the royal color. It's
the color of the king. Now, this is very important,
and I say it's very important for this reason. Most people
in our day don't know, they don't realize God's king. It's not up to us to decide whether
or not we'll accept him. He's the king. The question is,
will he accept you and me? He's king. That's the question.
It's very important for us to understand that. And every single
sinner God ever saves, he teaches them this right off the bat.
He's king. He's sovereign. He doesn't have
to save us. It's of his sovereign mercy,
if he will. God saves whom he will, when he will, because he's
king. And that's what this purple represents.
When those wise men came looking for the baby, Jesus, that was
born. They came looking for the child who was born king of the
Jews. They knew that right off. This
baby is king. The son that's given from heaven
is king. In Psalm 115, David said, Wherefore
should the heathen say, Where is now their God? Our God's in
heaven. He hath done whatsoever he pleased,
because he's king. Kings do whatsoever they please.
Nebuchadnezzar learned that. Remember King Nebuchadnezzar,
he thought he was really something. He was bragging on himself, and
God made him act like a wild animal out there in the field.
He ate grass, and his claws grew like, you know, eagles' claws,
and he was just a mess. And then one day, God let his
sense return to him, and Nebuchadnezzar said, this is what I've learned.
God's king in heaven. He doeth according to his will.
everywhere in the armies of heaven and among the inhabitants of
the earth, and none can stay his hand. Nobody can say to him,
what are you doing? Because he's king. And Nebuchadnezzar
said, I learned this. Those that walk in pride, he's
able to abase. He's king. Aren't you glad? Those of you who know Christ,
aren't you glad? Those that walk in pride, he's
able to abase. Because he'll give grace to the
lowly. He's able to embrace us, to teach us what we are, who
we are. Isaiah said, I saw a king. I saw the Lord high and lifted
up. His train filled the temple. He's king. And in the end of
the Bible, John Revelations, he saw Christ the king, the lamb
in the midst of the throne. Christ is king. Now, I'll tell
you what that means to you and me. We're to bow down before
him. Scripture says, kiss the son,
lest he be angry when his anger is kindled but a little. He's
king, bow to him. Now, the third color that was
on this gate is scarlet. Scarlet is the picture of blood,
and that theme runs all throughout this tabernacle. There must be
a blood sacrifice. Sin can only be put away through
the blood, but not just any blood. Not the animal blood that was
offered here over and over and over again. Not even the blood
of just any man. It has to be pure, sinless blood.
It has to be the blood of the God-man. And we see this all
through this tabernacle, all through this study, over and
over and over again, there's a picture of the two natures
of Christ. He's the God-man. It's the blood that maketh an
atonement for the soul. Now look at Hebrews chapter 9. Hebrews chapter 9, verse 11. Now, I need some boys
to volunteer, the girls are out. Okay, read verse 11 and 12, Brady. Good, thank you. It's the blood. He entered in
once. Those high priests, they entered
into this Every day, offering a blood sacrifice. They introduced the Holy of Holies
every year with blood. Never put away sin. They offered
so many sacrifices, you couldn't count them. Morning, noon, and
evening, every day. Christ offered one sacrifice
for sin. And His blood, you know why He
just took one? His blood put sin away. So that it doesn't exist anymore.
The blood of Christ redeems, it saves, it puts away our sin.
And the blood of Christ gives a person a new walk in verse
13. Isaac, could you read verse 13
and 14 for us? Of Hebrews 9. Good. The blood of Christ will
purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God. It gives you new life. Before the blood of Christ is
applied, You don't serve a living God.
You serve everything but. You serve your flesh, all your
fleshly desires. But once the blood of Christ
is applied, we'll serve the living God. That's what this red represents. But you know the word that's
used for scarlet here? Look in Psalm 22. It doesn't
just mean the color scarlet. It means a scarlet worm. Scarlet
worm. To get this red, they got these
scarlet worms, some kind of worm, I don't know what it was, and
they crushed them to get this scarlet, to make this pigment.
A scarlet worm. Even that's a picture of Christ.
Look at Psalm 22, verse 6. Do I got a volunteer? Okay, so read verse 6. Good, thank you. This is the Lord speaking. Psalm
22 is the psalm of the cross. They say our Lord recited this
psalm as he hung on the cross. Why did God the Son say I'm a
worm? A scarlet worm, a maggot. Why
did he say that? He's the son of God. You and
me are maggots. We're the ones who are worms.
Why did God decide to sign a worm? Because he was made to be sin
for his people. He was our substitute, the sinner's
substitute so much, he became what we are. He became a worm. And his blood put away the sin
of his people. This scarlet tells us that salvation
and cleansing from sin in the blood of someone is coming. That's what this is saying, telling
us over and over again, someone's coming. But now this purple,
it's a royal color, the color of the king. But do you know
how you get purple? You mix blue and red. You mix
the blue and the scarlet to get purple. That's no accident. Blue
is the color of heaven. Scarlet is the color of blood,
but scarlet's also the color of man. Adam was made from red
dust, the dust of the earth, red clay. Well, that's what's
purple. It's a mixture of red and blue.
Those are the two natures of Christ. Blue, from heaven, He's
God. Red, He's also the Son of Man,
the Son of God and the Son of Man. He's the God-man. He is
as much God as if He were not man. And he's also as much man
as if he were not God. Two natures in one body. That's the theme of this whole
tabernacle. The God-man is coming. Then the last color that's in
here is white, linen. And remember, we looked at the
white linen of the fence last week. It means, or two weeks
ago, it means it's the same thing. Linen is made from flax that
grows from the ground. And that's a picture of the humanity
of Christ coming from the ground. There's a man coming from heaven. He's king of kings. He's lord
of lords. He's bringing blood to atone for sin. And he's holy. He's righteous. That's what the
white represents. His perfect righteousness. His
perfect holiness. Now, here's the game. They hang
the game of the tabernacle and the people look at it. If you're
going to come into the presence of God, if you're going to come
worship God, You have to enter in the gate. You can't stand
outside the gate and look at it. You have to enter in. You
can't stand there and admire how beautiful the gate is. You have to enter in. You can't
stand outside there and say, I know how that gate was made.
I know about all the threads. I know how they wove it, how
they put it all together, and how they hang it up. I know all
the facts about that gate. It won't do you any good. You've got to enter in the gate. This gate, remember, is a picture
of Christ. I tell you over and over and
over again, come to Christ. Come to Christ. You can't just
admire how beautiful Christ is. He's altogether lovely. But you
can't just admire his beauty. You've got to enter in. You can't
just know facts about Christ, about who he is. You can't just
know the ABCs. of salvation, you know, the technical
thing, how God saves sinners, what does all that mean? You've
got to enter in. Salvation is not knowing facts. You all know facts. That's good.
Salvation is more than just knowing facts. Salvation is union with
the person. You've got to enter in. It's
what the old timers called a vital union. And I like that term,
so I use it a lot. You know what a vital union means?
Vital means it's so important, you can't live without it. This
union with Christ, it's so important, you can't have salvation without
it. You have to enter in. Now, if you stood outside the
gate, and you walked around this fence, all you'd see is that
white fence, the righteousness, the holiness of God keeping you
out. But once you come in the gate, once you enter in and you
come inside the tabernacle and you're in the court, you're surrounded
by all that white, aren't you? Surrounded by the righteousness
of Christ. That's what you have once you
enter in to Christ. You're in Him. So you are made
what He is. Made the righteousness of God
in Him. By one man's disobedience, many
were made sinners. So by the obedience of one, shall
many be made righteous." And just like when you come in this
gate, you're surrounded by the righteousness of Christ. When
you believe Christ, you trust Him, you enter into Him, you're
made what He is. Not just surrounded by His righteousness,
you're made the righteousness of God in Him. Now, there are
many attributes of God that are represented in this gate. They're
all in one place in this gate. All the attributes of God are
in the Lord Jesus Christ, because He is God. For in Him dwells
all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. In Christ dwells every
attribute of God in the body, the person of the Lord Jesus
Christ. So that's the gate. Enter in
through the gate. Now our time we have left, I
want to take a few minutes and look at the different coverings
of the tabernacle. And the first one is badger skin,
and we won't take the time to read about all this, but if you
look in Exodus 26, the verse 14 verses, you can read that
this afternoon if you'd like. It tells about the instructions
for these coverings. And covering the whole tabernacle
was badger skin. Now, badger skin is actually
bluish gray. We've got this brown, leathery
looking stuff. The picture of the tough roughness
of badger skin. Badger skin was very strong.
It would stand up to all the elements, the heat and the rain
and the wind that was there in that desert. And it was very
ordinary. Badger skin is very ordinary,
almost ugly looking. If you'd seen that, it wouldn't
have made you interested in it, because it's just drab and kind
of ugly. And you'd look at that and say,
I don't want to go in there. Badger skin. And there's no measurement
given for the badger skin. covering the tabernacle. Almost
everything else in the tabernacle there is exact, precise measurements
for it all. But not for the badger skin.
We don't know the measurements. We don't even know what form
it was. Maybe it was rectangular, like we've got here. Could have
been oval. Could have been just irregular. You know, they didn't
cut off the edges, and there's just legs and heads and stuff
of badgers sticking out there. I mean, who knows what it looked
like? Just irregular. That's a good picture of Christ.
Isaiah said he has no form nor comeliness. And when we see him,
there's no beauty that we should desire him. When you see him
with natural eyes, there's no beauty that we should desire
him. That's the badger skin. Our Lord Jesus looked like a
homeless man. You see these paintings of this
hippie looking guy. Our Lord Jesus looked nothing
like that. He was a homeless man. He looked
like a homeless man because he was. He said the birds have nests,
the foxes have their holes. The son of man doesn't have a
place to lay his head. He was not an impressive looking man.
And our Lord did that on purpose. He made himself of no reputation. He was born in a manger. He worked
as a carpenter. Even other men looked down on
our Lord Jesus. That's how lowly he came. And
he looked just like a common man as he ate with publicans
and sinners. He looked like a defeated man,
a rejected man as he hung on Calvary's cross, his face marred
more than any other. Yet that man is the God of the
universe. That man hanging there on Calvary's
tree is the creator of this world. He's the ruler. He's the life
giver. He's the savior. And you can't
see his glory unless God gives you spiritual eyes to see him.
God didn't give any measurements. for this badger skin, because
it's a picture of Christ. You can't measure how far Christ
came down to be a man like you and me. Can't measure it. Half a day, he says, is the longest
trip, longest journey ever made when Christ was made flesh. You can't measure the blessings
that sinners have in Christ because he became a man. That's this
badger skin. At this tabernacle, you see this
badger skin, you'd never have any idea of the glory that's
inside this tabernacle from looking at the badger skin. The only
people that could see the glory of the tabernacle were the ones
that were in. Just like the gate, you've got
to go in. You've got to enter in Christ
and believe Him and enter into Him before you see the glory
of who He is. Then next, underneath the badger
skin, was ram skin dyed red. And the ram, in scripture, always
represents substitution. Remember when Abraham took Isaac
to the top of the mountain? He was getting ready to kill
his son, and God told him, stop. And behind him, behold, what? A ram caught in a thicket by
its horns. died in the place, in the stead
of Isaac. Rams are substitutes. That's
our Lord Jesus Christ. He died as a substitute for sinners. Now, you all know what a substitute
is. If you're playing a game and you're out there playing
and then somebody comes in and takes your place, they're your
substitute. Sam, you broke your arm? Somebody had to come in
and be a substitute for you. You can't play like that. Somebody
had to be your substitute. Now, on the rare occasions, when
I was in high school, and I was actually playing basketball,
normally I sat on the bench. But if I got to get in and play,
I didn't like it if somebody came in to be a sub for me and
said, go out, because I'm coming in for you. I didn't like that,
because I wanted to play. But this substitute, dear, I
love him. Oh, this substitute is my only
hope of salvation, that he took my place. that He became what
I am, that God made Him to be my sin, and He died in my place,
in my stead, so that I could live. I love His substitute. Now, who is Christ a substitute
for? Who did He die for? He died for
someone, as a substitute for someone. Well, who did He die
for? Who is He a substitute for? Well,
Scripture gives us several words. The first one is sinners. Christ died the just for the
unjust that he might bring us to God. He died for the unjust. Sinners are unjust. We're not
just. We haven't kept God's law. We're unjust. If you can find
someone who's unjust, who knows they are unjust, that's who Christ
was a substitute for. Paul said he gave himself for
our sins. He died for sins. He died for
people, as a substitute for people who are sinners. He died for
sins. Paul said Romans 4.25, who was
delivered for our offenses. He died for offenders, people
who are so sinful they're offensive, because they've broken God's
law. That's who Christ is a substitute for, for sinners. But a ram,
he's a substitute, but he's also the head of the flock of sheep.
And that's a picture of Christ. He's the head of the church.
Yet he lowered himself to be our substitute. And just like
the badger's skin, there's no measurements given for the ram's
skin, dyed red. We don't know what shape it was,
what it looked like. For this reason, you can't put
a value on the blood of Christ. The blood of Christ is more valuable
than anything we can ever comprehend. He's precious, and His blood
is precious, so precious, so valuable, that it paid for all
of the sin of all of God's people. That's the ram's skin dyed red.
And then under it were the goat hair curtains. Now goats always
refer to sin. Unbelievers, our Lord called
them goats, because they're still in their sin. He called his people
sheep, but the others he called goats. And goats were used as
a sin offering. On the Day of Atonement, they
took two goats. One goat was slain as a sin offering. The other goat was a scapegoat,
and they compressed all the sins of the people in the head of
that scapegoat, and they led that goat out, buried that sin,
never to be seen again. Those refer to bearing sin, and
that's what Christ did for his people. He made his soul an offering
for sin, for the sin of his people. And he died a horrible, horrible
death. The Holy Son of God was made
to be sin. In Psalm 22, that's the psalm
of the cross, our Lord quoted, he said, my sins have gotten
hold of me, so that I'm not able to look up. The Lord never sinned,
did he? He never committed a sin. But
why does he say it like sins? Because the sins of his people,
they weren't like they were charged to Christ. They became his. His sins. And God killed him
for it. God made him suffer like he was
sin itself. Now, you'll hear this as you
grow up. People say, God hates sin but loves the sinner. No,
he does not. God treats the sinner and sin
as if they're one. God hates the sinner. He's angry
with the workers of iniquity. He's angry every day. God treated
his son like he was sin itself and punished him and killed him
for it. That's why Christ was forsaken by the father at Calvary. God the Father's holy. He can't
look on sin. Even when that sin's on his son.
Sometimes y'all do something wrong and your parents let you
get away with it. Sometimes they do. God the Father's
not like that. I got away with it pretty rarely.
Sometimes I did. So I bet y'all do too. God the
Father never. He turned his back on his son. Now you imagine how horrible
it would be if your parents left you in some awful, horrible place
and left you alone. That'd be the worst, wouldn't
it? That's what the Father did to the Son. Because those sins
became His. He was made to be sin for His
people. And that's what this goat hair
represents. Christ died when He became a
sin offering for His people. And this goat's hair curtain
completely covered the tabernacle, just like Christ completely covers
the sin of His people. He was made to be all the sin
of His people, and He put it away so completely that God,
who knows everything, says their sins and iniquities will I remember
no more. When Christ was made to be sin
for His people, He separated our sins from us as far as the
east is from the west. Now, you know why He said that?
He didn't say as far as the North is from the South, did he? Because
if you go North long enough, eventually you'll start going
South. There's a place where North meets South. It's a North
Pole and a South Pole. But if you go East, you'll never
meet West. As long as you go East, you'll
always be going East. And as long as you go West, you'll
always be going West. God has separated the sins of
His people from us so far, we'll never touch them again. And then
last is the linen curtain. Now this, again, linen is grown
from flax, made from flax, grown from the ground, a picture of
the humanity of Christ. But it's white. He's righteous
and holy. This is telling us a man is coming
who will be holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners. Our Lord
could eat with publicans and sinners and not be defiled. He was still holy. He could touch
a leper, and instead of him being defiled, the leper was cleansed.
He's holy and righteous. But now Christ is more than just
holy himself, and more than just his personal righteousness. Christ
is the righteousness of his people. He is. Now, you and me are sinners. Our righteousness is what we
think is our best, our righteousness is filthy rags. There's nothing
like this white, holy linen. And the only way sinners like
you and me are ever made righteous is in Christ, this God-man who
is perfectly righteous. Now, we didn't put it on here,
but this thing had embroidery on it, all the different colors,
the purple and the red and the blue, all woven through there,
and there were cherubims on here. When you think of a cherubim,
everybody thinks of that chubby, cute little child that's got
wings on it, right? Because that's the pictures we
see at Christmas time. People decorate with them, and they
put them on calendars, this chubby, cute little kid with wings. If
you look in Ezekiel chapter 1, I know I'm way past my time,
but I want you to see this. A cherubim is not this picture
that we have in our minds, this cute little kid. In Ezekiel 1,
verse 5. Ezekiel sees some cherubims,
and he describes them. He said, "...also out of the
midst thereof came the likeness of four living creatures." These
are cherubims, and this was their appearance. They had the likeness
of a man. Everyone had four faces, and
everyone had four wings, and their feet were straight feet,
and the sole of their feet was like the sole of a calf's foot.
and they sparkled like the color of burnished brass. They had
the hands of a man under their wings on their four sides, and
they four had their faces in their wings. Their wings were
joined one to another. They turned out when they went.
They went every one straight forward. As for the likeness
of their faces, they four had the face of a man, the face of
a lion on the right side. They four had the face of an
ox on the left side, and they four also had the face of an That's not a real cute little
kid with wings, is it? That's a scary-looking creature.
Kind of frightening, really, if you think about it. I don't
want that on my Christmas tree or on my calendar or something.
They're awe-inspiring. Cherubims that were embroidered
on this represented judicial power. That means the power of
God as judge to execute righteousness and judgment. This is the judicial
authority of God. It was the cherubim that guarded
the Garden of Eden after Adam was thrust out. And at the end
of time, cherubims are the ones that are going to execute judgment
on the earth. And priests, when they went in
here to operate and do their job every day, they operated
under those cherubims above their head, reminding them of the power
and authority of God that they were serving. But they were in
there playing games. The worship of God is serious
business. Serious business. You know, I
hope you all enjoy yourself when you come here. I really do. And
I love you. I like talking to you. I like
being with you. But we come here to worship. And it's serious
business. Worshipping God is serious business.
And those priests were reminded that every day. when they looked
up at those wings of those cherubim embroidered in this thing that
was above their head. And this is telling us Christ
the God-man is coming with all authority. He has the keys of
death and hell. He's got all authority. And we
operate under his all-seeing eye, under his power. We preach,
we believe, we worship by his power, because he said so. It's
his power. But in order to see this white
linen with all those beautiful colors and the cherubim's embroidered
on it, where'd you have to be? Had to be inside the tabernacle.
Couldn't stand outside and see it, could you? All you saw was
the biker's can if you stood outside. If you're going to see
the white righteousness of Christ and love it, love Him for who
He is, Not just because He is righteous, but because He is
your righteousness. You've got to be inside the tabernacle.
You've got to be in Christ. You've got to come to Christ
and believe Christ and trust Him and rest in Him. If we're
going to see Christ as He is and love His holiness and His
beauty, you've got to be in Christ. Let me tell you one more time,
this won't be the last. Come to Christ. Salvation is
in here. Alright, well, Lord bless you,
until next time.