to Israel under the law. He's
better than the Levitical priesthood. He's better than Moses. Now,
this morning, we're going to begin to see how Christ is better
than the tabernacle that Moses built. He offered a better sacrifice
than all the sacrifices that were offered in and around that
tabernacle. And this is an important subject
for Paul to deal with as he's writing to these Hebrew believers.
I can understand how those Jews had such an affection for the
tabernacle. It was just a tent. It was temporary. But while it stood, it was the
one and only place on earth where God was worshipped. Think of
that. What a gift that God gave to
Israel. This is the one place where God's
worshipped. I can understand how they had
an affection for that place. The tabernacle was the only place
on earth where the Shekinah glory of God shone. It was the one
place on earth where God would meet with men and commune with
men. And I can understand how they
had an affection for that place. But most of the Jews became so
fascinated with that place, with the picture, that they didn't
understand, they didn't look for, they didn't appreciate the
fulfillment, the person, the Lord Jesus Christ when He came.
And I'm thankful for the place that God provides us to worship.
But we need to remember, God's not worshipped in buildings,
in places. He's worshipped in the heart.
He's worshipped in spirit and in truth. Wherever you find God's
people, that's where he's worshipped, because he's worshipped in the
heart, not in buildings. I'm thankful we've got a building
to worship in. We don't have to meet outside
somewhere, but God's worshipped in the heart. So he begins to
show us here how Christ is better than the tabernacle, the place
that was a picture of Christ. And he begins in verse 1 of chapter
9. He says, Then barely the first covenant had also ordinances
of divine service in a worldly sanctuary. For there was a tabernacle
made, the first wherein was the candlestick and the table and
the showbread, which is called the sanctuary, the holy place.
And after the second veil, the tabernacle which is called the
holiest of all, which had the golden censer and the ark of
the covenant overlaid round about with gold. wherein was the golden
pot that had manna, and Aaron's rod that budded, and the tables
of the covenant. And o'er it the cherubims of
glory, shadowing the mercy seat, of which we cannot now speak
particularly." Now, this tabernacle was just temporary. It was made
of earthly material, so it had to be just temporary. But Christ,
that the tabernacle pictured, is eternal. He's far better.
Now, God gave strict rules and regulations concerning the worship
that was to take place in this tabernacle. The tabernacle that
was built was 45 feet long, 15 feet wide, 15 feet high, separated
into two compartments. The first, the holy place, and
the second, where the Ark dwelt, the Holy of Holies. And the first
compartment, that holy place, had three pieces of furniture
in it. The first one that Paul mentions is the candlestick,
and each of these, every stitch of the tabernacle is a picture
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And these pieces of furniture
are no different. That candlestick was made from 120 pounds of pure
gold. It'd be worth over half a million
dollars in just the value of that gold alone today. And that
shows us the value of Christ and the deity of Christ. Pure
gold. It had seven arms. I don't want
to get into the numerology and numbers and things, but that's
the number of perfection. A picture of the perfection,
the perfect holiness of Christ. And when they made this candlestick,
the gold wasn't melted down and poured into a mold. It was beaten
into shape. That's a picture of Christ our
substitute. As our sin bearer, He was beaten
for our sins. And that whole tabernacle, that
candlestick was the only source of light. There were no windows.
There was no external way for light to get in there. The only
light in that tabernacle was from this candlestick. And that's
a clear picture of Christ. He is the light of the world. In the new birth, God does give
us eyes to see. And the light we see is the Lord
Jesus Christ. Not just that He gives us light,
He is our light. And the bowls at the end of those
candlesticks held oil. And that's what burned and created
the light. And the priests were constantly refilling those bowls.
with oil so they continue to have light. But you know, Christ
doesn't have to stop and refuel so that He'll continue to have
light. He is light. He's light in Himself. Look over
in Genesis chapter 1. I always love reading this. Janet teaches this to our little
ones in her classroom. She teaches them the story of
creation. In Genesis 1, verse 3, And God said, Let there be light. And there was light. And God
saw the light that it was good. And God divided the light from
the darkness. And God called the light day
and the darkness He called night. And the evening and the morning
were the first day. Now look over verse 14. That's the first
day. And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of
the heaven to divide the day from the night. And let them
be for signs and for seasons and for days and years. And let
them be for lights in the firmament of heaven to give light upon
the earth, and it was so. And God made two great lights,
the greater light to rule the day, the sun, and the lesser
light to rule the night, the moon. And he made the stars also.
And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon
the earth, to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide
the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good.
And the evening and the morning were the fourth day. Now on the
first day, God said, let there be light. And there was. He didn't
create the sun from three days later to the fourth day. That
first day, that light is the Lord Jesus Christ, the light
of the world. Now that's the beginning of creation
story of the world. Look over Revelations 21. Let's see the end. What happens in
the end? Has anything changed? Revelations 21. Verse 1, John says, 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 then these next
verses, he gives a description of that city. And look over in
verse 23. Here in this city, in verse 22,
John said, I saw no temple therein. For the Lord God Almighty and
the Lamb are the temple of it. And the city had no need of the
sun, neither of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God did
lighten it. And the Lamb, the Lord Jesus
Christ, is the light thereof. He is the light of the world,
and he will eternally be our light. That's what that candlestick
was a picture of. The second piece of furniture
in that holy place was a table of showbread. That table was
made of incorruptible wood that they covered with gold. That's
a picture of Christ, the God-man. That incorruptible wood is a
picture of his sinless humanity, incorruptible humanity. Even
when he died, his body didn't see corruption because he's sinless.
The gold is a picture of his deity, the God-man. And around
the rim of that table was a golden crown, a picture of the kingship
of Christ. This God-man is king of kings
and Lord of lords. And this table is where believers
meet. Christ is the table that we meet
around, and he's the food that we eat. He's the showbread that
was stacked up on that table. That showbread was stacked in
twelve loaves, six loaves on each side, and it was made from
the finest flour that they had. And every week, the priest brought
in twelve new loaves, and the high priest and his family ate
the original twelve loaves. Well, that's a picture of Christ.
He is the Bread of Life. And any believer will tell you
that Christ is made from the finest flour. He is the finest
bread you can eat. That's why we preach. We're just
determined to preach nothing but the Lord Jesus Christ because
He is the Bread of Life. You can't get a finer message.
You can't get a finer meal than the Lord Jesus Christ. And we
enjoy fresh supplies of Him not just every week, but every day.
His mercies are new every day. And Christ is bread for believers. That show bread was just to eat
for the high priest and his family. We looked at this last week.
Every single believer has been made kings and priests unto our
God. He is bread for the kings and priests of his people. Then
third, the third piece of furniture there was the altar of incense.
That altar was three feet high, a foot and a half square. It
was made of incorruptible wood covered with gold. It had a crown
of gold around the rim of it. And it had four horns on the
top of it. Now horns in Scripture generally
are pictures of power. And they kept coals burning on
that altar 24 hours a day. They'd always keep fresh coals
put on that thing. In the morning and evening the
priests would come in and they'd take fine sweet incense, very
fine, and put it on those coals. And a white, sweet-smelling smoke
would fill that small compartment there. And that's a picture of
the intercession of Christ for His people. His prayers of intercession.
The prayers of Christ are always based on His sufferings. That's what those coals represent.
Those hot coals represent His sufferings. How Christ suffered
under the burning heat of God's wrath against our sin. And His
intercession is always based on His sufferings. that put the
sin of his people away. And remember those four horns?
I told you a picture of power. That's the power of the intercession
of Christ. His prayers are always answered
by the Father, because His death accomplished everything that
the Father required. So that's the holy place. Now,
the second compartment was the Holy of Holies. It's 15 by 15
by 15. And in there was just one piece
of furniture. Now, it's in two parts, but it's just one piece
of furniture. There in the middle of it sat the Ark of the Covenant.
It's four feet long, two and a half feet wide, two and a half
feet deep. It, too, made of incorruptible wood covered with gold. A picture
of Christ the God-man. And inside that Ark, you'd find
three things. First, you'd find the Ten Commandments. God wrote them with His finger
on those tables of stone. They put them in the Ark. The
law, God's law, was hidden. in that ark. Well, Christ, when
He came, had God's law hidden in His heart. Look over Psalm
chapter 40. Psalm 40. Psalm 40, verse 7. Then said I, Lo, I come in the
volume of the book that is written of me. I delight to do thy will,
O my God. Yea, thy law is within my heart."
It was hidden in his heart. Just like that law was hidden
in the ark. Now man has broken God's law. God can't entrust His law to
us. We've proven ourselves untrustworthy. So God entrusted His law to His
Son, our Redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ. And He came and magnified
the law and made it honorable. He kept it so perfectly that
He magnified the law and made it honorable when He kept it
for us as our substitute, as our representative. So the law
was in the ark. Then manna in a golden pot was
put in that ark. Now that manna is a memorial
to the goodness of God to supply the need of His people. He always
supplies our need, doesn't He? Physically and spiritually. He
supplies our every need. You remember when Israel God
took them by the hand and led them out of Egypt, and there
they were in the wilderness. No food, they couldn't grow anything,
and they were hungry. And every morning, the Lord sent
them manna from heaven, miraculously feeding His people. And that's
such a clear picture of Christ. That manna was in little white
balls. From what they say, I don't know
how anybody knows this, but this is what they say, that it tasted
very sweet. Well, that's a picture of Christ.
He's white, perfectly holy. And he is the sweet-tasting bread
from heaven. If you know him, the message
of Christ is so sweet, there's nothing better to your taste
than the message of Christ. He is the bread from heaven.
Look over at John chapter 6. This is what our Lord said. In John 6 verse 48. I am that bread of life. Your
fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and they're dead.
This is the bread which cometh down from heaven that a man may
eat thereof and not die. I am the living bread which came
down from heaven. If any man eat of this bread,
he shall live forever. And the bread that I will give
is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world." So
that's Christ, our manna, the true bread from heaven. There was Aaron's rod that budded.
They put in that ark. Now, the story behind that is
there were several men who kind of rose up in rebellion against
Moses and Aaron. They wanted to be the leaders.
They said, well, Aaron shouldn't have this position by himself. We're just as qualified to be
the priests as he is. Moses went to the Lord, asking
what to do. And the Lord said, here's what
you do. You have each of those men leave their staff overnight.
When you get up in the morning, you look. Whichever man's staff
has budded, That's my priest, the one I've appointed to be
the priest. So they did what the Lord said, and when they
got up in the morning, Aaron's rod, that dead stick, you know,
they just cut it off a tree somewhere, and that's what he used as his
rod, a walking stick or something. It was dead. It had budded. And it didn't just have buds
springing up out of it. Overnight, it grew almonds on
it. Full-grown fruit. Well, that's
Christ. Our high priest, he's the rod
of Jesse. Now, at the time of Christ's
birth, that lineage, the rod of Jesse and David, looked dead.
I mean, it looked so dead. There was no king in sight. That
kingly tribe appeared to be gone. But life sprang from that dead
rod. The Lord Jesus Christ sprang
from that line, and He is the one who gives us our life, spiritual,
eternal life. One of the names given to Christ
in Zechariah chapter 6 is the branch. He is that branch. And Christ, not only does He
give us life, although He does, He makes His people not just
to blossom and bud, but eventually they bring forth fruit. Just
like those almonds grew out of that dead branch. They put that
in the ark. And then covering that ark, covering
all those items in the ark, was the mercy seat. That mercy seat
was a slab of pure gold. There was no wood in it. Pure
gold. And that shows us the pure deity
of Christ. And the very word, mercy seat,
tells us what this is for. It comes from the word that means
propitiation. A covering. That's our Lord Jesus
Christ. He covers the sin of His people
in His blood. He covers our nakedness with
His righteousness. He is our sin covering. And the
covering of that ark, the mercy seat, fit exactly over the ark. There was no overhang on it.
There was no open spots, or maybe it wasn't quite as wide in one
spot and it left a little gap. You know, when I try to cut something,
it don't work out just right. This fit perfectly. No open gaps
whatsoever. And that's Christ. He fits exactly
every sinner's need. Whatever it is your need is,
the answer is the Lord Jesus Christ. He exactly fits our needs.
The demands of God's law are far too wide, far too broad for
us to cover. But Christ, our substitute, covered
it perfectly in every jot and till. He didn't leave one thing
undone. The righteousness of Christ is
just as wide as the law of demands. One of the old writers says,
the plaster, the bandage is just as wide as the wound. He'll fit
your need exactly. And one day a year, on the day
of atonement, the high priest would take the blood of the sin
offering. He'd take that blood and he'd
crawl under the veil. And he'd take that blood, dip
his finger in there and sprinkle it seven times on the mercy seat.
Showing us that mercy from God can only come through the blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ. The only way to commune with
God. God told Moses, I'll commune with you from above the mercy
seat. The only way for a sinner like
you and me to commune with God is through the blood of the Lord
Jesus Christ, our sin covering. That mercy seat, you imagine
over the years how that mercy seat was covered with blood. That's the Lamb slain from before
the foundation of the world. And God will meet with us in
mercy in the Lord Jesus Christ, our propitiation, our sin covering.
And over that mercy seat were these golden cherubims. They
had their wings going up towards each other. covering the mercy
seat. And the Shekinah glory of God shone over the mercy seat
between those wings. Now look over at Psalm 57. There's
a couple places David mentions this. We won't look at them all. We'll just look at one. In Psalm 57, verse 1, Be merciful
unto me, O God. Be merciful unto me. For my soul
trusteth in thee. Yea, in the shadow of thy wings
will I make my refuge, until these calamities be overpassed. Now, I'm just confident the shadow
of thy wings, he's talking about here, is the shadow of those
cherubim over the mercy seat. That's where I'll put my trust,
in the mercy of our God, in the mercy and surety of the blood
of that everlasting covenant that's sprinkled on the mercy
seat. Now, verse 6, Paul says, Now, when these things were thus
ordained, the priest went always into the first tabernacle, accomplishing
the service of God. But into 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. Now,
the priest went into the holy place, that first compartment,
every day, 24 hours a day. There were priests in there ministering.
Their work was never done. They never sat down. There was
always something for them to do, to be accomplishing the service
of God. They'd burn incense. They'd keep
fresh coals on the altar. They'd keep oil on the candlestick.
They'd bring in new supplies of showbread. There's always
something for them to be doing. Well, Christ our High Priest
is so much better. He never had to redo anything. He did it perfectly the first
time, and God accepted it in our behalf. Then one day a year,
on the Day of Atonement, The regular priest didn't go in to
the tabernacle. The high priest went in there
alone on that day. He accomplished the various ordinances
that the Lord commanded him to do, and he'd take the blood of
that sin offering, and he'd go in to the Holy of Holies, sprinkle
that blood on the mercy seat. Now, that's a picture of Christ,
our high priest. And again, he's so much better
That high priest, he did go into the Holy of Holies just one time
a year. But that stood for 300 years
or more. I don't know how many years it
stood. Every year they're going in there time after time after
time because what they did last year didn't work. It wasn't effectual. It was just animal blood. It
was a ceremony. Christ went into the Holy of
Holies, went into the presence of His Father, God Almighty,
with His blood to sacrifice for sin one time. And it was good for all of eternity.
Look over a page of Hebrews 10, verse 10. By the witch will, we are sanctified
through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once. That was all it took once for
all of eternity. And the high priest went in the
tabernacle on that day alone. Just like Christ, when He went
before the Father to accomplish the eternal salvation of His
elect, my friends, He went alone. He didn't have any help. I mean,
I thought about this this morning. Even those disciples that have
been with Him all those years, even if they could have helped,
they wouldn't have. They all fled, didn't they? He was left alone.
But that's just fine. Because He's going to accomplish
this salvation alone. He needed no help. His blood,
His righteousness was enough. Now that high priest, he offered
ceremonial sacrifices. He offered first a ceremonial
sacrifice for his sins. Then he'd offer a ceremonial
sacrifice for the sins of the people of Israel. But our high
priest, the Lord Jesus Christ, had no sin of his own. He knew
no sin. He did no sin. There's no guile
found in his mouth. And he didn't offer a ceremonial
sacrifice for your sins and my sins. He offered an effectual
sacrifice, a sacrifice that did, in reality, put away the sin
of his people, something those high priests never could do.
And when he was done, he sat down, because the work was finished.
Now, verse 8, the Holy Ghost, this signifying that the way
into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest, whilst the
first tabernacle was yet standing, which was a figure for the time
then present. in which were offered both gifts
and sacrifices, which could not make him that did the service
perfect as pertaining to the conscience, which stood only
in meats and drinks and divers washings and carnal ordinances
imposed on them until the time of reformation." Now as long
as that tabernacle and later on Solomon's temple, as long
as those were in use, the way into the holiest, the way into
the presence of God, wasn't open yet. It wasn't made manifest. It was just shown in picture.
There was a thick veil that hung across the whole opening, covering
from top to bottom, left to right, covering the opening into the
Holy of Holies. That veil, from what we read,
was four fingers thick, woven, a solid piece woven, clear throughout,
beautiful piece of tapestry. And it couldn't be cut. It was
so thick and they hung it loosely. So, you know, some invader came
or somebody tried to slash that thing with a sword. It couldn't
do it. It hung loosely. They say that two pair of oxen
attached to the end of that thing could not pull it apart. It was
so strong. That's what was blocking the
way to God. And if you try to crawl under
it, try to go around it, God would kill you in an instant.
Only the high priest could go one day a year and not without
blood. But when Christ our Redeemer died, as He hung there on the
cross, He gave up the ghost, He said, it's finished. And that
veil was torn in two from top to bottom. Now, no man could
have done it. That's an act of God showing
us that now the way to God is wide open. In the Lord Jesus
Christ, you have free access to the Father. Isn't that amazing?
It's wide open. And only God could have torn
that in two. just like only God could have accomplished our salvation. And He did it by Himself. But
as long as that tabernacle was in use, the way to God was only
seen vaguely in type and pattern and shadow. The way to God has
always been through the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the only
way it ever has been. And the tabernacle just gave
us a picture of that. But that's all that tabernacle
was given for was just to be a picture It served its time
for the time that the Lord had it instituted. All the worship
that went on there, all the sacrifices, all the ceremonies, all the offerings
that they brought, were only pictures of Christ and His sacrifice. And the Jews couldn't see that
way of salvation near as clearly as we can. They had the picture.
We got the fulfillment. We had the person. I am so thankful
to live today, not the end. Because it's a clear revelation
of salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ. And all those animal
sacrifices that were offered in the tabernacle, I mean, hundreds
of thousands of sacrifices must have been offered there. But
they could never take away sin. They just kept offering them
and offering them and offering them because that animal blood
could never clear the human conscience of sin. They'd offer that sacrifice,
but their conscience was never cleared. They'd wash in that
brazen labor out there. And all they could do was make
their hands cleaner. They couldn't make their soul
cleaner. They might could wash and remove some of the dirt from
the body, but they couldn't touch the sin stain in the soul. They
couldn't touch the defilement of the soul. But the blood of
Christ, His blood does clear the conscience from sin. The
reason a believer's conscience is clear from sin is because
that sin's gone. Before the Father, that sin is
gone. We don't have to worry. Our conscience
isn't bothering us wanting another sacrifice because the blood of
Christ removed the sin. And it removed the stain. It
removed every trace of sin in God's sight. We're as holy as
Christ himself because his blood has washed our sins away. And
I thought of this this week. These ceremonies, all these external
forms of worship, were imposed on the people. Do you see the
way Paul said that in verse 10? They were imposed on them until
the time of Reformation. Christ is so much better. The worship of the Lord Jesus
Christ is not an imposition to His people. Not at all. He does
come and break our will, doesn't He? My dad used to say He saves
us against our will with our full consent. The Lord does come
and conquer His people. He breaks our will. Gives us
a new will. Makes us willing in the day of
His power to make us beg Him for mercy. We beg Him, don't
leave me alone, don't we? And He won't. But the worship
of Christ is not an imposition. And it's not external. It's internal. It's from the heart. And it's
not imposed on us. This is not a duty. This is not
an obligation. You know, if you get up in the
morning, you feel like it's an obligation. Stay home. That's all right.
Stay home. The worship of Christ. I mean,
I don't think it's best for you, but you know, it's not a duty. This is not an obligation. This
is a privilege, an unspeakable gift of God's grace. That tabernacle,
that was the one place on earth that God was worshipped. Now,
this is not the one place on earth, but I'm telling you, there's
few. This is a privilege. It's a joy to believe. This is
not an imposition. I was glad when they said unto
me, let's go to the house of the Lord. And this was imposed
on them until a time of reformation. When Christ came into flesh and
He accomplished the eternal will and purpose of His Father, concerning
the salvation of his elect, this was the time of reformation. That law was such a burden, he
said, come unto me. My yoke is easy. My burden is
light. And that word reformation means
a time of correction when things that were wrong are made perfect. We're made perfect in the Lord
Jesus Christ. We were born all wrong. We're conceived of sin, shaped
in iniquity, wrong. but in Christ we're made perfect. He is our Reformation. That word
also means, the word Reformation means to make straight or to
fix something like a bone that was broken is fixed or to make
upright. All that definition is fulfilled
in the Lord Jesus Christ. He's made all the crooked things
straight and plain. All those dark shadows and pictures
are made plain. and the Lord Jesus Christ. Shadows
flee when the sun rises, don't they? Adam, he broke union with
God. He rebelled against God and he
lost union with God for every one of his descendants. But Christ
fixed that. He made the way open eternally.
And when we are born, we're born in bondage to sin, bowed down
under the weight of sin in Christ. were made upright in Him. Now verse 11, But Christ, being
come, and a 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 into the holy
place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. When God's
appointed time came, His was born, made incarnate, born of
a virgin. Christ, our high priest, suddenly
came on the scene in the flesh. And He is a high priest of good
things. Those Aaron's high priests, they
were not a high priest of good things. It was fear and dread. That's what they were a high
priest of. Christ is a high priest of good things. He brings actual
forgiveness of sin. What better thing is there? He
brings forgiveness of sin. He brings eternal life. He brings
peace with the Father. He brings salvation. He brings
reconciliation. He brings grace and mercy. No
wonder David said, my cup runneth over. It runneth over with good
things because he is a high priest of good things that we have right
now. They were to come at one point.
We're going to enjoy more of them someday. But right now,
we enjoy these good things in our Lord Jesus Christ. He came
in a perfect tabernacle. In a perfect body that He tabernacled
among us. A body that man didn't pitch. God pitched it. His Father pitched
it. Our Lord was sinless. Separate
from Adam's seed. Separate from Adam's transgression.
He wasn't made for man's seed. The Holy Spirit moved and conceived
Him. That body, the angels called
it that holy thing in Mary's womb. And he came and offered,
in a better tabernacle, a better sacrifice. He didn't bring animal
blood. His sacrifice is not ceremonial
now. It was reality. He offered his
own precious, sinless blood. He offered that holy, sinless
body to be broken, beaten and battered and bruised under God's
wrath for our sin that was charged to him. He offered a better sacrifice. And this is the value of the
blood of Christ. He shed that blood one time. He came in a moment in time and
shed that blood one time for all of eternity. Both previous
and future. All of eternity. His blood accomplished
the eternal redemption of His people. Eternally redeemed us
from sin Redeemed us from the curse of the law. Redeemed us
from death. Redeemed us from the clutches
of Satan. Redeemed. How I love to proclaim
it. Redeemed by the blood of the
Lamb. Redeemed through His infinite, unspeakable, uncomprehendable
mercy. He's a better high priest and
a better tabernacle. Well, I hope I've blessed you.