Beginning this morning, I want
to kind of redirect our studies concerning these prominent men
of the Old Testament and take a look at some of these inanimate,
that is, things not living, and how these things were given to
typify the Lord Jesus Christ. And I'm not going to take these
things in any kind of order just as the Lord impresses me in my
study. This morning I want us to look
at one of the most well-known of the types in the Old Testament,
which is the tabernacle. The tabernacle that God gave
to Moses. He gave him instruction to build
this tabernacle. And If you look in Exodus, you
don't have to turn there right now, but Exodus chapter 25, clear
through the end of the chapter, almost half of the book of Exodus
has to do with the tabernacle. Now that's how prominent a type
it was in the Old Testament. This is the tabernacle of God. So what do we know about the
tabernacle? We're gonna study the tabernacle. What do we know
about it? I mean, how much time have we
given to the Old Testament and to these things to know what
this tabernacle is? When he talks about it in the
New Testament, do we understand what it is and what it's all
about? What do we know about it? Well,
we know that the tabernacle was given to Israel in the wilderness
of sin. The wilderness of sin. That's
where it appeared. That's where it was manifested.
That's when God gave it and the people saw it. In the wilderness
of sin. And we know this about the tabernacle. It was given to Israel immediately
after their idolatry was revealed. Moses went up on the mountain
to receive the law, and while he was up there, they had Aaron
make him a golden calf, and they was all down there dancing naked
around this golden calf, and just went crazy in their imaginations. And they said, we don't even
know where Moses is. He went up there, and he hadn't
come back. So here's what we're going to do. And that's always
the case, isn't it? Somebody stands up and says,
here's what we're gonna do. That's the last person you need
to listen to. But Moses came down and there
they were, right in the middle, manifesting their idolatry and
so on. So Moses went back up on the
mountain and the Lord gave him those tables of stone again,
but this time he gave him instruction for the tabernacle. So it was
given to them. I know that it came to them in
the wilderness of sin, and we know that it was given immediately
after their idolatry was manifested. And it was given at the dawning
of the priesthood. And I know this, it was given
after the pattern which God showed to Moses on the mount. He said,
you see to it, you build this tabernacle according to the pattern. that I showed you on the map. Now all of this was done to show
us this, that the law apart from the tabernacle was nothing more
than a curse. They could not walk with God
under the law of God apart from the tabernacle. The tabernacle
must be incorporated in their walk. They could not on their
own obey that law and walk with God and please God. There must
be a tabernacle. And we also learn this, that
walking with God apart from the tabernacle is an impossibility. They couldn't even last long
enough for Moses to get the law, let alone obey the law. And I
know this, that the priesthood, apart from the tabernacle, has
no purpose. It's useless. There was no need
of a priesthood without a tabernacle. Now having said that, let's look
at several things concerning this beautiful type of the tabernacle. First of all, what is this tabernacle
a type of? Well, it's a type of the incarnate
Son of God. God come into the flesh. There
was several layers of coverings on this ark, and from the outside,
it just looked like all the other tents in Israel, covered with
badger skins. It just looked like a tent. But
on the inside, it had no comparison. On the inside was gold. Everything
was overlaid with gold. On the inside was all types of
intricate patterns in the coverings that covered the interior that
you look up and saw like a finished ceiling. This is a picture of God come
into the flesh. In Hebrews chapter nine, the
Apostle Paul clearly tells us that under the first covenant
or first testament, the Old Testament, a tabernacle was made. That's
what he tells us there in Hebrews nine. In the next six verses,
he tells us what was in the tabernacle and a few things about what went
on in the tabernacle. And then in verse eight, he said,
the Holy Ghost, this signifying, This is what this ark signified. That the way into the holiest
of all was not yet made manifest while as the first tabernacle
was yet standing. So long as they went into that
tabernacle and did the service of God and the priesthood was
still in active service and all of these things, then that day
of reformation had not yet come. Now listen to this. which was
a figure or a type for the time then present in which were offered
both gifts and sacrifices that could not make him that did the
service perfect as pertaining to the conscience. These things
stood only in meats and drinks and divers washings and carnal
ordinances imposed on them until the time of reformation. And
we see so much of this. carried over into the religion
of our day. The priesthood, the special dress,
the washings. I belonged to a church one time
and they practiced foot washing. They thought that was an ordinance
just like baptism in the Lord's table. And they'd take a pan
of water and they'd get down and wash each other's feet. But all of these, and that's
what he's telling us here, all of these services, they stood
in meats and drinks, lots of religions forbid eating certain
kind of meats on certain days, holy days they call them. Meats and drinks and divers washings
and carnal ordinances imposed on them until the time of reformation. But Christ, being come a high
priest of good things to come by a greater and more perfect
tabernacle, A greater and more perfect tabernacle. What was
that? That was his body. That's his
body. And this tabernacle not made
with hands, that is to say, wasn't like that building. Not of that
building. And 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. Now I want you just to think
about something this morning. That tabernacle, within that
tabernacle, was accomplished in figuring the very atonement
for sin. You think about that. The high
priest alone, he went in beyond the veil one time a year, not
without blood, which he offered for himself and for the people.
And he offered that blood and he made atonement for all that
he represented. All whose names were written
on his shoulder and written over his heart, he went in there one
time a year. But when it comes to Christ, we got Christ going
here and going there and ascending and descending and all of this. Let me tell you something. Salvation
was accomplished in him. In him. In Isaiah 53, the Holy Ghost
tells us that God made his soul an offering for sin. Made his
soul an offering for sin, and seeing, now listen to this, seeing
the travail of his soul, he was satisfied. Where did that
take place? Huh? It took place in that body,
in that man. It took place in him. Can you
enter into that? Let me tell you something. When Israel came to the tabernacle,
there was a linen fence that went all the way around. That's
as far as they could go. Nobody could go within except
the priests. And the common priest could go
in there, and they could even go into the first section of
the tabernacle, but nobody went beyond that veil but the high
priest. They knew in letter what was supposed to go on in there,
but they couldn't see it. They couldn't see it. And so
they watched that high priest, and he went in to the tabernacle. And he was gone for a little
while, and everybody looked. And pretty soon, the high priest
came out, raised up his hands, and blessed the people. You know
they had bells on him? You know why? Because if he didn't
do things the way God told him to do, he wasn't coming out.
And as long as they heard those bells, they knew that priest
was in there and things were okay. He had bells all around
the bottom of his, garments. Christ is not entered into holy
places made with hands which are figures of the true, but
into heaven itself now to appear in the presence of God for us. We always talk about heaven being
up. I don't know. I know he ascended
up on a cloud, but I think that was for our benefit. Paul talked
about being called into the third heaven. I have no idea what that
means. I don't know. But here it talks
about him making this sacrifice in heaven itself. He was there
to appear in the presence of God for us. Did he have to do
something to appear in the presence of God? Did he have to go somewhere? Did he have to move? I don't
think so. I think everything that was inclusive
in this work was in him. In him. That whole work of salvation
was accomplished in his person. Salvation is a work accomplished
by, in, and of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now I'm talking about that work
of works done upon the mercy seat, Paul said, of which we
cannot now speak particularly. You can just go so far with this
understanding of what Christ did. You can just go so far.
And Paul was even with the type talking about the mercy seat.
He said, I can't even, we can't get into the particulars of that.
I've not yet been into the Holy of Holies. He went in and he
came out. But this much we do know, we
know that the accomplished redemption of God's saints was clearly set
forth in the tabernacle. And that Old Testament saints
understood it and believed. Now you can find that in Romans
3, verses 24 and 25. And then the second thing I want
you to consider about this type is that it was not designed to
be a permanent fixture. Lots of scientists and historians
trying to find the tabernacle. I don't think they'll ever find
the tabernacle. I don't think they'll ever find the ark. And
even if they did, they'd put a frame around it and hang it
up in a building and everybody'd go there and worship the frame. This fixture, this tabernacle,
was not designed to be a permanent fixture. Its design was to be
for a short time. The Lord Jesus Christ did not
come to abide in this world. He said, if my kingdom was of
this world, then would I fight, and my servants would fight,
but my kingdom's not of this world. He didn't come here to abide
in this world forever, nor to stay put where he first appeared. He moved from place to place
until his work was finished, and then he was carried into
heaven itself, just like the tabernacle was carried into the
promised land. All right, thirdly, being a type
of the body of Christ, the whole of the church is represented
within the tabernacle. Under the law of Moses, all Israel
was represented both by a high priest and a common priesthood. In Hebrews chapter 9, it said
their work was distinguished. It tells us about their work
and distinguishes the difference between the work of the high
priest and the common priest, and also sets forth their limitations. The common priest were to access
the first part of the tabernacle to perform daily duties assigned
to them, but into the second went the high priest alone. and
him only one time a year. And then, not without blood. It was also the duty of the priesthood
to carry the tabernacle from place to place, and that by detailed
instructions. And you all know the story of
Uzzah. David got kind of beside himself
and decided he wasn't going to let the priest carry the ark,
he was going to put it on a new wagon. And he got these oxen
together and put them behind the wagon and put the Ark of
the Covenant up there and the wagon went in a little hole or
something and jostled and the Uzzah was walking along beside
of it, reached up to steady the Ark. God killed him right on the spot. They had restrictions
as to how they were to handle this tabernacle. How it was to
be carried from place to place. As true Israel was represented
by a visible priesthood, so the true church is represented by
the visible church, the local church. And Peter said, as living
stones you are built up a spiritual house and holy priesthood to
offer up spiritual sacrifices. acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. He tells us we're a chosen generation
and a royal priesthood. And the church visible and invisible
are both represented by a high priest who bears their names
upon his shoulder and over his heart. And what God says to the
visible church, he says to the invisible church, or local assemblies,
yet to come. Now listen to these verses of
scripture. He said, whatsoever things were written aforetime
were written for our learning that we through patience and
comfort of the scriptures might have hope. The whole of Israel
was represented by a high priest and a common priesthood, and
Paul called Titus his son after the common faith. There was a
common priesthood, there's a common faith. I'm trying to show you
here what this figure represents. Peter called the strangers that
were scattered abroad, he described them as having like precious
faith. And the Church of Christ, they
all have the same high priest, the same spirit, the same faith,
and the same activities and motives. And Paul calls it the same vocation. We're with your call. I started to tell you a while
ago that this ark was mobile. It had to be carried. In this,
the ark is kind of a picture of the gospel that we preach
and his pastors who are sent from place to place. And there's
restrictions involved. There's things involved. These
men don't just pop up somewhere and say, well, I'm a preacher. I had a guy pull up here when
we were still doing construction on the building, hand me a card,
and said he was a preacher if I ever needed any help. You remember
that? I said, I don't think I'll need any help. Send him on down
the road. No, there's restrictions. God
singled out certain men to do this. The rest were to support
them. And they did this, and they had
instructions on how this tabernacle, which is a picture of the body
of Christ, it's a picture of the church, and it's also a picture
of the gospel that we preach. And these men were instructed
on how to carry that tabernacle, how to move that tabernacle from
place to place. And I'm going to tell you something
else. He gave them instruction on how to put this thing together.
It had to be assembled. They didn't pick the whole tent
up and move it and set it down like we do today on these low
boys and things. It had to be all broken down.
It was in pieces. It was wrapped up, put different
ways and different things, carried by different men. So there was
a whole procession of priests here and they're all carrying
this thing, but when it got there, this thing had to be put together,
and listen to me, had to be put together perfect. They didn't just go out there
and say, well, I'm going to put this peg in this hole and put
this one in that hole. And then when they got done,
it didn't look right. So they moved this pole to here
and that pole to there. No, no, no, no. They were trained
in the specifics of that tabernacle how to set it before the people. And this thing of preaching,
just anything enters into your head and calling it the gospel,
huh? What if they'd have done that
with the tabernacle? God would have killed the whole outfit.
What do you think he's gonna do to these preachers who stand
up and just say anything pops into their head? And what do
you think he's gonna do to the people who are out there going,
amen, amen? All right, the fourth thing I
want us to see in the tabernacle is that it's filled with the
spirit of God. When this tabernacle was finished,
God come down and filled this tabernacle with the Spirit. Now
the Lord Jesus Christ, of whom this tabernacle is but a figure,
he received the Spirit and that without measure. He was filled
with the Spirit. And when you think of the Spirit
of God, what's the first thing that comes into your mind? The
revelation of God. If you know anything at all about
the Spirit of God, that ought to be the first thing pops in
your head when you read about the Spirit of God, the revelation
of God. He got a whole book in the Bible,
and we went through it verse by verse, called The Revelation
of Jesus Christ. What's he? He's the revelation
of God. The Spirit searcheth all things,
Paul said, yea, the deep things of God. When he's come, our Lord
said, when he's come, he won't speak of himself. We've got churches
all over our country. They've grown to massive size. And the only thing you're gonna
hear from the time you enter that door to the time you go
out the door is the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit.
That's all you're gonna hear. speaking in tongues, dancing
around the room, falling out on the floor, all this kind of
nonsense, and they're calling that being filled with the Spirit
of God, evidence of the Spirit of God, and all these kind of
things. But our Lord said when He's come, He's not gonna say
anything about Himself. He's gonna take of the things
of Christ and show them unto you. That's what He's gonna do. In 1 John 4-2 he said, Hereby
know ye the Spirit of God. Every spirit that confesses that
Jesus Christ has come into the flesh is of God. Not just the fact of it, but
the necessity of it, and the glory of it, and the purpose
behind it, and the accomplishment of it, and the hope of it. That's
what the, if God the Holy Spirit is in this thing, all you're
gonna hear about is Christ. Who is this man? Why did he come?
What did he do? Where is he now? Not gonna call
people to the front of the church, you're gonna call people to Christ. And there was in the tabernacle,
now listen to me, one spirit. And the work within that tabernacle
never changed. The bread was the bread. It was
the bread, the show bread, the first day it was put there, the
same thing applied to that show bread the last day it was put
there. It never changed. The blood sacrifices never changed. The incense never changed. The
duties of the priesthood never changed. The oil in the lamp
never changed. The light never changed. Nothing
changed in the tabernacle. It was always the same. What's
that say about our Lord Jesus Christ? Huh? He's the same. Isn't that what he told them?
Never change. Never change. Work within, never
buried, it was always the same. And even so in the church, Paul
said, we all endeavor to keep the unity of the spirit and the
bond of peace. And having said that, in Ephesians
4.3, he goes on to tell us what it means. There's one body. They're
one spirit, even as you're called in one hope of your calling,
one Lord, one faith, one baptism. Does it ever change? It never
changes. Never changes. One God and Father
of all, who is above all, through all, and in you all. And to be
in Christ, who is filled with the Holy Spirit, is to be a partaker
of the inheritance of enlightened saints. It's to be filled with
the revelation of God. Go within the tabernacle meant
you were already wearing the priestly garments, had been washed
thoroughly at the labor, and you would have been within one
of the most visible figures of Christ that ever was. Everything
in that tabernacle. You remember our Wednesday night
studies on the tabernacle. We went through piece by piece.
I showed you how every, the bread, picture of Christ. The table
upon which it was served, a picture of Christ. Everything in there,
a picture of Christ. The lamp. There was nothing ornate on the
outside of the tabernacle, but within, it had no comparison. And then fifthly, the tabernacle
alone is where God promised to commune with his people. God
got nothing to say to sinners outside of Christ. In Exodus 25, 22, he said, And
there I will 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. A little later on by the prophet
Isaiah, God tells us a little bit more about this seat. Isaiah
said, in the year King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord. Where'd
you see Him? Sitting on a throne, high and
lifted up. And His train filled the temple. Above it stood two seraphims. And all communication of spiritual
things come from the one who lived and died and rose from
the dead and now sits upon this throne of redemption, managing
the ray of grace in our day. God gonna speak, he's gonna speak
through his son. God has made his son to be unto
us wisdom. wisdom to know his will and to
know our election and to know forgiveness and learn about mercy
and grace. And then lastly, the tabernacle
was a tent that had to be assembled by the priest in order to worship. It had to be done right. Now
listen to me. You didn't have to have a perfect
understanding of the tabernacle to worship God. Some people understood
everything about the tabernacle. Those young folks didn't understand
a whole lot. But they knew this. They knew
what this thing represented. They knew that this was God's
redemption being accomplished in this tabernacle. They knew
that. But the assembly of it before the people had to be right. It had to be right. Now, I've
heard so many people say, you know, it don't matter what you
preach. Oh, yes, it does. Oh yes it does. It has to be
assembled perfectly. You know when God, here's another
type. Now I heard it. The Ark of Noah. God give him detailed instructions
of how that Ark was to be fashioned and every piece exact measurements,
exactly how that thing had to be, and they took it over there,
and they didn't know what the finished product was going to
be yet, and they took it over there, and they just kept putting
that thing together until it was done. You think God just
let him build that ark any way he wanted to? No. Everything
had to be just right. Same thing with the tabernacle,
same thing with the temple, and it's the same thing when we preach
Christ. There's a doctrine of grace.
And if any come unto you and bring not that doctrine of Christ,
don't you let him into your house and don't tell him, well, the
Lord bless you, when he leaves. Tell him to hit the highway,
get out of there. No worship in Israel apart from
the tabernacle. Paul said this, he said, if our
gospel be hid, it's hid to them that are lost, in whom the God
of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not,
lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the
image of God, should shine unto them. And that was my last point,
and I'll quit. How did God sanctify his tabernacle? How did he sanctify it? How did
he set his tabernacle apart from all the other types of worship
in this world? It says in the book of Exodus
that he sanctified the tabernacle by his glory. He came into that tabernacle,
and it was filled with the Shekinah glory of God. When Moses came
away, his face was shining. They had put a veil over his
face. He sanctified that tabernacle,
and he sanctifies his gospel by his glory. He sanctified the
work of his high priest, the Lord Jesus Christ, by his glory. and everything that god has has
uh... given us and made a tackle he
sanctified with his book and i don't care what you're to go
into if you go in there and they're not glorifying god they're not
preaching the gospel i don't care what they say god sanctifies
his gospel with his glory and that's what a man say when the
work of god accomplished in him he sees For God, who caused the
light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts. To
do what? To see the glory of God in the
face of Jesus Christ. May the Lord allow us to see
even more, even more, and that to grow every day of his glory. Thank you.