You've probably gathered we're
doing something a little bit somewhat different this morning.
We're going to begin a study on the tabernacle. I have thought
and prayed about teaching a lesson on the tabernacle to the adults
for some time. I taught in Bible school the
tabernacle using a model just like this to the children, and
I cannot tell you When I would teach this lesson to the children,
parents and adults would see this model and they'd say, boy,
I wish I had the chance to listen to this lesson. So I hope you
meant it. I hope you don't think it's childish
or something by using this model. I think it will be a good tool
for us to kind of be able to see and understand what went
on in this tabernacle. And I do pray that it'll be a
blessing. Making this model, let me say
this before I begin, has been a real labor of love. Cecil Thornberry made all the
model and the furniture, and he was already experiencing back
pain. He did this in two days, made this for us. And Janet and
Holly painted everything here. Mom made all the coverings and
the fence and everything, and it's just been a real labor of
love, and I'm very thankful. Hope it'll be a blessing to us,
and then Tara and Janet can use it in Bible school and so forth
for the children. So I hope it'll be a blessing
to us for a long time. What I thought I'd do this morning,
before we get into all the particular things about the tabernacle,
just kind of make some general comments by way of introduction.
And then next week we'll begin looking at all the individual
pieces of the tabernacle. But I want us to understand.
Why it's so important, I feel it's important for us to study
this tabernacle. You know, scripture tells the
story of creation in two chapters. And that's something we feel
is so important, don't we? Teach our children to understand
this world didn't evolve, God made it. Well, scripture uses
10 chapters to tell about the construction and the detail of
the tabernacle. So scripture devotes some time
to it. That kind of tells me it's probably important. And
I want us to look here at first at Numbers chapter 1. Numbers
chapter 1. And we're going to see some of
the reasons that so clearly this tabernacle is given to us as
a picture of Christ. Look at Numbers chapter 1. In verse 50. But thou shalt appoint the Levites
over the tabernacle of testimony. over the tabernacle of testimony,
and over all the vessels thereof, and over all the things that
belong to us. They shall bear the tabernacle, and all the vessels
thereof, and they shall minister unto it, and shall camp round
about the tabernacle." And here the Lord calls this tabernacle
the tabernacle of testimony. Now look over a few pages at
Numbers 9. Numbers 9 verse 15. And on the day that the tabernacle
was reared up, the cloud covered the tabernacle, namely, the tent
of the testimony. Twice scripture calls this the
tabernacle or tent of testimony. Now what is this tabernacle testifying
of? Well, it's testifying of the
person and work of Christ. It's testifying of the glory
of Christ. It's testifying of good things
to come in our Lord Jesus Christ. Now clearly, Every, as we go
through this, I hope you'll see this in the coming weeks, every
stitch, every little detail that goes in, I mean from the bars
and the cords and the pin that holds the cords down, every little
detail of this tabernacle is essential to showing us a part
of the person and work of Christ, that someone's coming. This tabernacle
is constantly telling us someone's coming. Holly, when she was a
little girl in the Bible school we had, she told her mama, this
tabernacle screams someone's coming, because every little
detail is a picture of Christ. And we'll look at a lot of those
things over the coming weeks. Now, let me give you this one
little caveat. If you read a lot of the writers
about the tabernacle, they get into a lot of numerology, what
the numbers of different things mean. Now, I'm not going to do
that. If you're interested in that, get you a copy of Pink's
Gleanings in Exodus, and he'll cover all that to your heart's
content. But I'm not going to get into that. The other things
are so much, to me, more clear and just a blessing and a picture
of Christ. But if you look in John chapter
1, I want to show you this. Now, I'm not just making this
up that this tabernacle is a picture of Christ. Scripture gives us
some idea. that this is a picture of Christ,
that's what this is intended for. In John 1 verse 14, And
the word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory. The glory is of the only begotten
of the Father, full of grace and truth. And this word dwelt
is tabernacled. It means to live in a tabernacle.
And the word, the Lord Jesus Christ is made flesh and tabernacled
among us, fulfilling the picture of this tabernacle. Now look
over Revelation chapter 21. This is so good. This makes it
so clear. In Revelation 21 verse 1. And I saw a new heaven and a
new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth were passed
away, and there was no more sea. And I, John, saw the holy city,
New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as
a bride, adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out
of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men,
and he will dwell with them. He doesn't say, and it will dwell
with them, or they will dwell around it. The tabernacle of
God is a person, and he will dwell with them, and they shall
be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their
God. Now look over at verse 22. John says, in this city, New
Jerusalem, and I saw no temple therein, for the Lord God Almighty
and the Lamb, the Lamb of God. John the Baptist, what did he
say? Behold, the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of
the world. The Lamb is the temple of it, the tabernacle of it.
This tabernacle is a person. It's a picture of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Now look over Hebrews chapter
eight. The Lord gave Moses specific
instruction for how to construct and build this tabernacle in
Hebrews 8 verse 5. Who serve under the example and
shadow of heavenly things as Moses was admonished of God when
he was about to make the tabernacle. For see, saith he, that thou
make all things according to the pattern shown to thee in
the mount. And the Lord told Moses that several times. You
be sure to follow the pattern exactly that I gave you. Well,
why is that so important? Because this is a picture of
Christ, the true tabernacle, the tabernacle of God. Look up
at verse 2. A minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle,
which the Lord pitched and not man. The true tabernacle of God
is not the tabernacle that Moses pitched. It's the tabernacle
that God pitched. When he made a body, prepared
a body, a human body for his son, the tabernacle among us. And when he was made flesh and
tabernacled among us. So every detail of this tabernacle
is important. Every piece of the tabernacle
is important. Just like everything our Lord
Jesus Christ did was important, had a purpose, and was essential
to the salvation of His people. He didn't waste movement and
time and energy. Everything He did was to save
His people from their sins. And every piece of this tabernacle,
if the Lord would give His eyes to see it, is a picture of the
person and work of Christ. Now, obviously, this tabernacle
is a tent. It's made to be temporary. This
wasn't supposed to be in use forever. It was for temporary
use while the children of Israel were in the wilderness of sin
until they could construct a permanent tabernacle. Well, our Lord Jesus
Christ came to this earth incarnate, and He came in a human body temporarily. That body was just meant to be
temporary because He came in that body Not to live eternally
in that body, he came to die in that body. That's why he came,
to come and serve a time, live a time as a man on this earth,
being a substitute for his people, and then to become a sacrifice
for sin. This tabernacle was in use in the wilderness before
the children of Israel went into the Promised Land. It was in
use about 35 years. Our Lord lived as a man on this
earth about 33 to 34 years, about the same time, just temporary.
And now this tabernacle is gone. All the pieces of it are gone.
Everything about it is gone. You can't find anything about
it. It's gone because its use is finished. But our Lord lives
eternally in a glorified body, in a glorified body at the Father's
right hand. The Father has exalted him to
his right hand and given him a name which is above every name.
Because in that short time of his earthly ministry, he fulfilled
everything the Father sent him to do, and he accomplished the
salvation of his people. Salvation is accomplished and
finished, and our Lord is exalted. He's not in that same human body
now. He's in glorified flesh at the Father's right hand. But
now, if you lived at this time that this tabernacle was in use,
and you saw it from a distance, you saw it from the outside,
you would not have been impressed. Not at all. Just covered with
badger skin. You could see some of the brass
pieces of furniture on the outside and the fence and things, but
you wouldn't have been impressed with it. It just looked like
a common, ordinary tent. And the same thing is true of
our Lord Jesus. His physical appearance was not
so impressive that masses of people followed Him because He
had this great physical appearance, like a movie star or something.
When people saw Him, He looked like a common, ordinary man. That's why Isaiah said, when
we see Him, there's no beauty about Him that we desire. He
looked like a common, ordinary man. Look at John 6. When people
saw our Lord Jesus, they could not tell from looking at His
external appearance that He was the Son of God. In John 6, verse
41. The Jews then murmured at him
because he said, I am the bread which came down from heaven.
And they said, is not this Jesus the son of Joseph? They didn't
say this is the son of God. They said this is the son of
Joseph, whose father or mother we know. Well, how is it then
that he say, if I came down from heaven? When they saw his appearance,
his physical appearance, they could not tell he was the son
of God. But now if you saw this tabernacle
and you had opportunity to pull the veil back, and look inside
that little building, you'd see glory. Now you'd see the glory
and value of that building, but you had to get the veil pulled
back for you to be able to see it. And if you'd been given eyes
to see, if the Lord pulled back the veil for you, I'll tell you
what he's allowed you to see, the glory. of God in the face
of Jesus Christ. That's what you see is the glory
of Christ. But in order to see it, God's
got to pull the veil back. And we could stand up here and
talk to you for the rest of your life. You won't see it unless
the Lord pulls back the veil. He gives you eyes to see. And
if the Lord gives you eyes to see, it's going to be to see
Christ. To see the glory of God in the
face of Jesus Christ. Now look over at Exodus 25. This
tabernacle is where God met men. This tabernacle is where God
dwelt with men. In Exodus 25 verse 22, and there, and he means upon
the ark and the holy of holies, there in this tabernacle will
I meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from above
the mercy seat, from between the two cherubims which are upon
the ark of the testimony, and of the things which I shall give
thee in commandment unto the children of Israel. There will
I commune with thee. There will I meet with thee.
There will I give you the ordinances. There will I give you all the
ways to worship God. Well, you know right now, that's
a picture of our Lord Jesus Christ. In Christ is the only place that
God will meet with men in mercy. Only in Christ. Mercy and truth
are met together. Righteousness and peace have
kissed each other in one person. The Lord Jesus Christ. And where
did you find this tabernacle? If you wanted to see it, where
would you find it? You'd find it in the middle of the camp
of the children of Israel. You'd find it in the middle of
God's people because that's where he dwelt with them. God dwelt
with the children of Israel. Read through Exodus. John's going
to be preaching through it. You're going to see a rebellious,
a sinful and unbelieving people. God Almighty dwelt with those
people. Why? That's the people He came
to save. Sinners. Rebellious. And He came
and dwelt with them there and gave them all the sacrifices,
gave them all the pictures of Christ who was coming who would
put away their sin. Aren't you thankful for the unspeakable
love of God that He would send His Son, that His Son would be
willing to dwell among people like us? Half the time I'm not
willing to dwell among people like us. I think I'd like to
just go off in the mountains with me and Janet and never see
anybody again the rest of our lives. I can't stand to live
around me. I like to get away from me. God's holy son came
and dwelt among his people. This is where God meets men in
the Lord Jesus Christ. And this tabernacle was the place
of worship. Well, that's a picture of Christ.
He is our soul. object of worship. Wayne mentioned
it in his prayer. He prayed we'd come here solely
to worship Christ. This is the place of worship.
And Christ isn't just a place of worship. We worship Him in
spirit and in truth. You cannot approach the Father
apart from approaching Him and the Lord Jesus Christ. And we're
here to worship Him. To worship Christ. Not worship
things about Christ. Not tell even true things about
Him. We're here to worship Christ our Savior. Not just things about
Him, but Him. And except for the silver that
uses the foundation. I can't show it to you now without
lifting up the veil. But except for the silver used
in the foundation of this building, everything that you see represented
here was given willingly by the children of Israel. Look in Exodus
25. If you're still there, look back
at Exodus 25, verse 1. Everything was given willingly. In verse 1, the Lord spake unto
Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, that they
bring me an offering of every man that giveth it willingly
with his heart. So ye take my offering, and this
is the offering which ye shall take of them. gold, and silver,
and brass, and blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine linen,
and goat's hair, and ram's skin dyed red, and badger's skin,
and chitim wood, and oil for the light, spices for anointing
oil, and for sweet incense, onyx stones, and stones to be set
in the ephod, and in the breastplate, and let them make me a sanctuary,
that I may dwell among them." And they gave all this willingly. Now look over at Exodus 35. Here
the Lord told Moses to take up this offering. Now in Exodus
35, they take up the offering. Verse 21, And they came, every
one whose heart stirred him up, and every one whom his spirit
made willing. And they brought the Lord's offering
to the work of the tabernacle of the congregation, and for
all his service, and for the holy garments. And they came,
both men and women, as many as were willing-hearted. And they
brought bracelets, and earrings, and rings, and tablets, all jewels
of gold. And every man that offered, offered
an offering of gold unto the Lord. And every man with whom
was found blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine linen, and
goat's hair, and red skins of rams, and badger skins, brought
them. And every one that did offer
an offering of silver and brass, brought the Lord's offering.
And every man with whom was found shit and wood for any work of
the service, brought it. And all the women that were wise-hearted
did spin with their hands, and brought that which they had spun,
both of blue, and of purple, and of scarlet, and of fine linen.
And all the women whose hearts stirred them up in wisdom spun
goat's hair. And the rulers brought onyx stones,
and stones to be set for the ephod, and for the breastplate,
and spice, and oil for the light, and the anointing oil, and sweet
incense. And the children of Israel brought a willing offering
unto the Lord. Every man and woman whose heart
made them willing to bring for all manner of work, which the
Lord had commanded to be made by the hand of Moses. And they
brought all this willingly. Now look over chapter 36. Here's
the blessing. They brought all this willingly.
In verse 4, in all the wise men that brought all the work of
the sanctuary, came every man from his work which they made.
And they spake unto Moses, saying, The people bring much more than
enough. for the service of the work which
the Lord commanded to make. And Moses gave commandment, and
they caused it to be proclaimed throughout the camp, saying,
Let neither man nor woman make any more work for the offering
of the sanctuary. So the people were restrained
from giving. Can you imagine some of these
evangelists out there on TV telling you, Don't send me any more money.
Now, if you do, I'm going to send it back. You're restrained
from giving. That's how willing the Lord made
these people. They had to be restrained from
giving. For the stuff that they had was sufficient for all the
work to make it, and too much. They brought too much. That's
how willing the Lord made them. Now, I have to tell you, when
I read that, and anytime I read about people giving, and the
generous hearts that the Lord gives His people, I always think of you. This is
the most generous people that I know, that is filled with grace.
And the Lord did it. The same Lord that made these
people so willing and generous is the same Lord over His people
today that made you that way. And I'm so thankful. Scripture
says the Lord makes His people willing in the day of His power.
Solomon said the king's heart is in the hand of the Lord as
the rivers of water. He turneth it withers whoever
He will. And you know that applies to the king who might be the
enemy of God and His people too. The Lord makes His people willing.
And when God moves in grace and power, a dead sinner suddenly
has life. He's the opposite of the way
he was born. When God moves in power, a rebel, just a rebel
who's declared war on God is suddenly submissive. You find
him at the feet of the master begging for mercy. That's God
making him willing. But mainly this is a picture
of Christ who willingly became our substitute. He wasn't forced
by that mob to be taken to the judgment hall. He wasn't forced
to go to the cross. He wasn't forced to submit to
the beating and misuse of those Roman soldiers. He went willingly. He proved it. All he had to do
was say his name, say I am. And that whole mob that came
to take him fell backward on their back. They couldn't take
him. They were just like Pilate. They had no power over him except
the power that the father gave to accomplish his purpose of
redeeming his people. Look over at John chapter 10. John 10 verse 17. Therefore does my father love
me because I lay down my life that I might take it again. No
man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power
to lay it down and I have power to take it again. This commandment
have I received of my father. Nobody took his life from him.
He willingly gave it up. And the amazing thing is he willingly
gave that up for the likes of you and me, for his people. He
willingly, what did he do in order to save his people? He
willingly was made what we are. The Holy Son of God was made
what we are. He was made sin to suffer the
wrath that we deserve, to suffer the hell that His people deserve,
because He loves His people. That's willing. He was willing
to become the Savior of His people. And our willing Savior is the
all-sufficient Savior. The men told Moses, we've got
too much. We've got more than enough to
complete the work that the Lord told you to do. Our Lord Jesus
Christ is the sufficient Savior. He shall save His people from
their sin. His blood is able to cleanse
His people from their sins. To cleanse us from the guilt
of it and from the filth of it. I don't care how long you scrub.
I don't care what you scrub with. I don't care how many things
that you think that are sinful that you quit doing and give
up in the name of making yourself righteous. You cannot wash. The guilt and the stain of sin
away. That stain has gone too far.
The blood of Christ is sufficient to wash that stain away. To make
you white as snow. Christ is sufficient. More than we'll ever need. Oh
yes, we're great sinners. We have a great sin-dead. He's
able. He's sufficient to put that sin-dead
away. He's sufficient to give us everything
we ever need. Honestly and truly. If you have
the Lord Jesus Christ, you have everything. Wisdom, righteousness,
sanctification and redemption. He's sufficient, more than enough
to give us everything that we'll ever need. And when our Lord
cried from the cross, it is finished. Brethren, it's finished. It was
completely finished. The Father said that sacrifice
is sufficient. The debt's paid. Why don't we offer Him more sacrifices
for sin? The Father said it's sufficient.
That one sacrifice for sin was sufficient. Now there's no more
offering for sin because our Lord is sufficient. And I'll
tell you, that makes Christ precious, both to the Father and to the
redeemed. He is precious. And that's what
this tabernacle is a picture of. In order to construct this
tabernacle, they collected 1,500 pounds of gold, 8,500 pounds
of silver, and 8,000 pounds of brass. In today's money, that's
worth between $27 and $28 million. That is about $40,000 a square
foot. Now, I'm not a real estate genius, but I know that's a lot.
$40,000 a square foot. And that doesn't count the linen,
and the red, and the purple, and the blue, and the precious
stones. That's just the gold, silver,
and brass. And you wouldn't be able to tell the value of this
tabernacle from looking at it from the outside. Like I said
a little bit ago, somebody's got to pull that veil back to
let you see the value of what's in this tabernacle. Unto you
therefore which believe, he is precious. Oh, he's precious.
But who's he precious to? You who believe, who've been
given, God-given faith to see him. And once you see him, I
promise you, he is preciousness. Preciousness personified. I thought I was going to have
about 15 minutes of material here. I'm about out of time.
Let me give you this and I'll quit. The last thing here I'll talk
about this morning is the layout of this camp. was laid out to
the children of Israel. Every time they moved, they laid
out the camp exactly the same. Each tribe gets a assigned spot
and the tabernacle in the center. Now, they might go to a wilderness
spot and the cloud stops and here's where they're going to
camp. Well, how do I know where I'm supposed to pitch my camp?
First thing I've got to find out is where's the tabernacle?
Once I know where the tabernacle is, I know where I'm supposed
to be because I have my prescribed spot around this tabernacle. Once you know where the Lord
Jesus Christ is, you know where you're supposed to be. To a believer,
once you know where He is, you know where you're supposed to
be. Because just like the camp was organized by the tabernacle,
the believer's life... I want to say this right. It's
not just your life. The believer's existence is organized by the
Lord Jesus Christ. Christ is more. than just the
center of a believer's life. It grates on my nerve, my last
nerve, like fingernails on a chalkboard when I hear people say, Jesus
wants to be number one in your life. That's blasphemous. Honestly,
that's blasphemous. Our Lord does not want anything. Not one thing does He want. Whatever
He pleads, that did he. It's not he wants to do. Whatever
he pleased, that did he. And heaven, the earth, the sea,
and all deep places. Whatever he pleased is done.
He doesn't want anything. Christ is number one in a believer's
life. But it's so much more than that.
Christ is our life. That's more than him being number
one, isn't it? He is our... He's the whole list. The list
is one. Christ. He is our life. And I do worry when I see people
regularly, all the time, finding other things to do other than
worship. That's not a good sign. I promise
you, I find the time and the place to eat. I like to eat and
I need to eat. The same thing's true about worship,
but it's more than just keeping an appointment. I'm not just
talking about, you know, I'm not talking about people who
go on vacation and those things. I'm talking about a consistent
thing here. When Christ is your life, the worship service is
more than an appointment to keep on Sundays and Wednesdays, isn't
it? It's your life. It's where you have your sustenance
from. And this is not just a Sunday
and a Wednesday thing. Christ is your life. It's a daily
walk with Him. The living a life of prayer.
and reading His Word, walking in righteousness and holiness.
You see, that's more than just having your life centered around
Him. That's Christ who is your life. And the last thing about
this layout, and I'll quit. Each camp, like I said, had its
assigned spot around this tabernacle. Here at the eastern end of the
camp, outside the gate here, Judah always camped right here
outside this gate. If you're going to go to this
tabernacle, or you're going to go from the tabernacle, you're
going to pass through Judah, the tribe of Judah. You know
why? The Messiah is coming from Judah. Just like Jacob prophesied, the
Messiah is coming from Judah. Even the places where the Lord
told the different tribes to camp are pictures of Christ. It's every detail. So, the next
few weeks, like I say, we'll look at more of that, and I hope
and pray it'll be a blessing to you, okay?