I'd like for you to turn with
me tonight to Exodus chapter 26. We've been looking at the
coverings or curtains of the tabernacle. The tabernacle was
a building that consisted of boards made of shentum wood overlaid
with gold. And these boards were stood upright
went into sockets. And they were held together by
pins, long stave-like pins that went through the boards. And some of those pins were visible. And one of those pins, it says,
was shot through the middle. It was totally hidden from view. And as those boards were stood
upright, then there was four hangings or four curtains that
that went up and covered the tabernacle and formed the tent. And that's what we've been studying.
These things, the tabernacle without doubt is a picture of
Christ. And that first covering from
the inside looking up was a covering of twined linen, a beautiful
covering with cherubims and all these colors woven into it, blue
and purple and scarlet. But tonight, I want us to consider
that next covering, which was goat's hair. And it was spun
into yarn, this goat's hair was. And then it was woven into a
fabric and sewed together, so many panels on one side and so
many panels on the other side. Now, let's read here in Exodus
26, beginning with verse 7. And thou shalt make curtains
of goat's hair to be a covering upon the tabernacle. Eleven curtains
shalt thou make. The length of one curtain shall
be thirty cubits, and the breadth of one curtain four cubits, and
the eleven curtains shall be all one measure. And thou shalt
couple five curtains by themselves, and six curtains by themselves,
and shalt double the sixth curtain, that is, the one which had the
six panels in it, that sixth panel, when you put it on was
to be doubled, in the forefront of the tabernacle. And thou shalt
make fifty loops on the edge of one curtain, that is outmost
in the coupling, and fifty loops in the edge of the curtain which
coupleth the second. And thou shalt make fifty tatches
of brass, and put the tatches into the loops, and couple the
tent together that it may be worn." Now, the tabernacle was
given of God to Israel through His prophet Moses, who was told
to be careful. He said, you be careful. God
showed to him the pattern of these things in the mount. And
he said, you be careful when you go down, how you instruct
the people, and you oversee their work, and what they do, that
this thing is exactly according to the pattern that I showed
thee in the mount. Now, you're going to find that's,
you can find that over in Hebrews chapter 8, verses 4 through 6. But you'll find a very similar
statement in 1 Chronicles 28. when David began to give instruction
to Solomon concerning the temple. And I'd never read it. I know
I'd read it, but I just read over it and read on with no interest
in it. It didn't speak to me. I wasn't
on that subject. And I just didn't see it for
what it says. But listen to this. 1 Chronicles 28, verse 19. All this, said David, all this,
said David, the Lord made me understand in writing by his
hand upon me even all the works of this pattern." When he was
putting together that temple, the same as Moses instructed
the people back in the wilderness, and they put together that tabernacle,
he said, the Lord made me to understand the pattern, and the
Lord made Moses to understand the pattern, and the Lord will
enable us to understand the pattern. if we give it a careful study.
And you can find that all through the book of Hebrews. It will
help us to understand that these things were all typical. And
they were to be observed by faith looking forward to the coming
Redeemer, whom these things were types and pictures, shadows of
good things to come. And these types and pictures
are very helpful to believers, helping us to understand our
Lord's priestly office and to understand His work I've got
three things this evening. Sometimes we get involved in
this, and I want you to hear these things that I read and
study. These things are very beneficial, but sometimes I forget
that I've been studying these things over and over and over
and over and over, and I come here and I just dump a whole
truckload. It reminds me of a story Henry
told about that fellow. He was the only one who showed
up that night. Preacher got up, and he preached
an hour and 30 minutes. And that fellow was grumbling
a little bit after service, and he said, well, he said, I feel
like, you know, if you show up, I'm under obligation to feed
you. He said, yeah, but not the whole truckload. It's a little
bit more than he can swallow. So I'm going to try to limit
myself tonight to just three things that I want us to consider.
as we focus on this second covering. And the first of these things
is its composition. Goat's hair. Why goat's hair? Now, we know that this is a picture,
a figure of our Lord's priestly office and His work. We know
that. So I ask this question in the
light of that, why goat's hair? We know this is a spiritual house
given as a pattern by Moses. We know it must picture something,
but what does it picture? Well, the goat was marked out
under the ceremonial law of Moses as the sin offering in the ceremonial
law. It's a sin offering for the congregation
of Israel. To make atonement, the high priest
of God must bring two sacrifices, a lamb and a goat. He was to
bring a ram He was to bring a goat. The lamb
without spot or blemish pictures the sinless Son of God. He had
no sin. He did no sin. He thought no
sin. Hebrews 9, verse 14 says that
Christ offered Himself through the eternal Spirit without spot
to God. That's what that lamb pictured.
He brought that lamb, and that lamb in particular was for the
high priest. That was His offering to the
Lord, that lamb. The goat He offered for the people. So we see our Lord in this, picturing
Himself as He offers Himself up to God. He offers Himself
up without spot to God. He is the spotless Lamb of God. And He had no sin, He did no
sin, and He thought no sin. He died the just for the unjust,
the innocent for the guilty. But there was also in this, and
Don's pointed this out several times and Henry in times past,
that no one thing could picture our Lord. No one ceremony, no
one sacrifice, no one priest could picture our Lord. He had
to use different things to picture himself. And also in this sin
offering, there was a goat. Now a goat symbolizes sinners.
When our Lord spoke of His judgment in that final day, He said the
Lord will gather all the goats on the left hand, talking about
sinners, condemned of God. And on the right hand, He's going
to gather His sheep. So you've got sheep and goats.
And goats symbolizes the sinner. And it was, listen to this. It
was goat's hair that persuaded Isaac into blessing Jacob rather
than Esau. His mama took goat's hair and
put it on him to persuade Isaac to bless him. And it was goat's
hair pillows. I don't know if you're even familiar
with this, but King Saul despised David. And he could just take
so much of him, and he'd had it. So he ordered his servants
to go get him and bring him to the throne room, and he was going
to kill him right there. And he sent his servants. And
his daughter, Michael, who loved David, took goat's hair and made
pillars, took these goat's hair pillars and formed them under
the sheets so they'd look like a man under there and told the
servants David was too sick. He couldn't come. And meanwhile,
David was going out the window and getting away from Saul. So you see here, when we're talking
about the goat, even though God overworked these things to His
good and His glory, we still see these things as things of
deception. We see the goat as the sinner.
That's what I'm trying to show you tonight. The lamb had to
do with the high priest making a burnt offering, well-pleasing
in God's sight. And the goat had to do with the
congregation of Israel and their sins. And all of this pictures
Christ being made sin for us who knew no sin. He not only was the perfect Lamb
of God, the spotless Lamb of God, but He stood there in my
place so fully that when God looked on Him, He looked on the
goat. He looked on me. And He poured
out His wrath. That goat, his throat was to
be slit. on the north side of that brazen
altar, his throat was to be slit. And I looked, Arthur Pink said
this, and I looked to see, and I couldn't find any place to
disprove him. He said the goat was the only
animal slain whose blood was poured out under the altar. You can read about it. His blood
was poured out under the altar. Now, some was taken in. It was
taken in and sprinkled on the mercy sheet and so on. But the
bulk of his blood was poured out under the altar. Our sins were laid on him. Our
sins were charged to his account. And David understood this. He
understood this when God showed him those patterns. that had
to do with this offering and his priesthood and his sacrifices. David understood this. And in
Psalm 32, verse 1, he said, Blessed is he whose transgression is
forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man unto whom
the Lord imputeth not iniquity. He won't charge him. He won't
charge him. He will not charge him with his
sin. He will not hold him in contempt, but grace marks his
path everywhere he goes. Can't you go back in time, you
that know the Lord, can't you go back in time and see the Lord's
hand of grace on you before He ever taught you the truth? I
tell you, there's a thousand times when I should have been
dead. Should have been dead. But this happened or that happened.
I used to say, as luck would have it, and luck didn't have
anything to do with it. It's grace, grace, grace, grace. Grace going before grace. He won't charge his elect with
their sins. And through time, and it's true. This is true.
Israel, God's elect, fell in Agile. born with the nature of
sin, are sinners by birth and by choice and by practice. Yet
God has never charged them with their sin. Do you think of it? Their sins were and are even
now charged to their substitute, the Lord Jesus Christ. Isaiah
said, all we like sheep have gone astray. We've turned everyone
to his own way, and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity
of us all. Now, let me give you some additional
evidence to this thing about the goat. And I hope to prove
to you by this that this is exactly what this thing stands for. Now,
if you go back and read the old writers, they varied a little
bit in their definitions of these coverings. Not a whole lot, but
especially on this one. They went to this end and to
that end on this thing. But I think Pink nailed this
thing to the barn door. He hit it right on the butt.
And I'm going to give you some additional evidence But this
is what this curtain stands for. This curtain was to be made in
two sections, one section having five panels and the other six.
Altogether, 11 panels. Now there are, under the ceremonial
law of Moses, 11 distinct places in the Old Testament. This is
what I was talking to Don about before the service started that
he wanted me to fax him and look at. But there are under the ceremonial
law of Moses 11 distinct places or situations in which the sin
offering was to be offered. And we don't have time for me
to read all these places to you, but if you're taking notes, I'll
give you the places where you can find them. The first place
is during the Passover, which is inseparably connected to the
Feast of Unleavened Bread, and you can find that over Numbers
28 Verse 15, it calls for a kid of goats for a sin offering. And then the second place is
the Feast of Pentecost. And you can read about that in
Leviticus 23, verses 15 through 19. It calls for a kid of goats
as a sin offering. And then thirdly, the Feast of
Trumpets in Numbers 29, verse 5, a kid of goats. Fourthly,
the Day of Atonement, Numbers 29, verse 11, a kid of goats. And then fifthly, the Feast of
the Tabernacle, which lasted for eight days. And upon each
day of that feast, a kid of goats was required for a sin offering. Now, these are five things that
have to do with the benefits. These are five things that Israel
celebrated. because of what the benefit,
because of what this sin offering actually purchased for them.
And through covering of their sins, they could celebrate these
things. These things were benefits of
this sin offering that our Lord offered before God. And there
was five of them. And then as this Curtin had five
panels, so this gives us here the benefits. And then the rest
had to do with the sinner and his total inability and weakness
to serve the Lord. He begins over in Leviticus chapter
4, verses 22 through 23. He talks about when a ruler sinned. When a ruler sinned, he had to
go get a goat and bring it up for a sin offering. And then
it said, as it was for the ruler, so it is for the commoner. If
a commoner sinned, he had to go get a goat and bring it. And it was offered up. And then
at the consecration of the priesthood, when the tabernacle was set up
and the priesthood was there before Israel and the consecration
began, it called for a goat. And then at the dedication of
the altar over in Numbers 7, verse 16, it calls for a goat. And then
for the sin of ignorance. You remember reading about that
in the Old Testament. There was an offering for the
sin of ignorance. What was required? A goat. They
had to bring a goat. And then at the beginning of
every month, every time they started a new month, they had
to bring a goat and offer it up for a sin offering. Eleven
places. And not only are its applications
the same as the overall number of panels, but they're also divided
the same, six and five. And if you can find another one,
good for you. But I tell you, I searched through
the books of Moses and I couldn't find them. I just flat couldn't
find them. Now somebody said five is the
number of graves, as is shown in the celebration of the feast
day. And six is forever the mark of man. It's man's number. He was created on the six days. Six is the number of days he's
required to labor. All of the time which God's given
him to accomplish the purpose of God is divisible by six. You ever notice that? There's
60 seconds in a minute, 60 minutes in an hour, 24 hours in a day. All divisible by six. And it's
six that marks the religion of the beast. Man, man, man. That's man-centered religion. And then notice this. The inner
curtain was called the tabernacle, and the goat's hair curtain was
called a covering. You remember as I read through
those verses to you a while ago? He calls this a covering. Not
called a tabernacle, it's called a covering. And David, I read
to you there in Psalm 32, blessed is the man whose sins are covered. Turn with me to Romans chapter
6. Now we're talking about the atoning blood of our sin offering,
that which covers all our sins. Romans chapter 5, verse 8. But God commendeth his love toward
us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
Much more, then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved
from wrath through him. For if, when we were enemies,
we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more
being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. That is, He
is a living hope. This is talking about the life
that He's manifested through His resurrection. And not only
so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom
we have now received the atonement. The sin offering was for an atonement. And Henry used to break that
word down to us. He said, just look at it and
it will tell you what it means, at-one-ment. He makes us one
with Him. And so the first thing I see
in this covering of goat's hair is our Lord Jesus Christ, our
great sin offering. And then the second thing I want
you to see is these brazen tatches. I have no idea. I've kind of
got a vision in my head. You know what a mushroom looks
like. I've kind of got this notion of a mushroom looking, a pin
with a mushroom head on one side and a mushroom head on the other.
And they put it in these loops and then bring the other one
over and loop it in, kind of like a button on both ends. And
attach that tent to it. But it could have just been a
simple looking hook. I don't know what it is. It just
says attaches. And it's also called a coupling. But there's
brazen tatches. Now, you remember the inside
part of that tent, the inside covering that was made out of
linen had golden tatches showing the divine work in this righteousness
and the divine work in his priestly office and all those things.
These things are for us. It's a divine work that makes
them that way. But these tatches were made out
of brass. And they were to bring these
two parts to form one tent, Exodus 26, 11. Thou shalt make fifty
tatches of brass, and put the tatches into the loops, and couple
the tent together that it may be one. Now the grace of God
that brings the benefits of God to the sinner and makes him one
with Christ, one with God. is the judgment of God satisfied
in Christ our sin offering. Now that's what he tells us in
Romans 3. I read to you all that thing
all the time. I read and quote those verses.
But these touches were of brass and therefore point to the judgment
of God. The altar before which that sin
offering was slain was a what? Brazen altar, wasn't it? Made
out of brass. Now that altar of worship inside
the tabernacle was made out of pure gold. But that altar out
there that that beast was slain on and its body burned, that
altar out there was brass. That showed the judgment of God. The cure for the bite. You remember
those fiery serpents? The Lord rained down on Israel
and they were bitten by these fiery serpents and just dying
by the thousands. They were just falling everywhere.
The Lord told Moses, He said, you tell Aaron, make a brazen
serpent and raise it up on the pole. And then in John's Gospel,
chapter 3, he draws a line straight from that brazen serpent to Christ
crucified. And if I be lifted up as that
serpent in the wilderness was lifted up. The satisfied judgment
of God through the atoning blood of our sin offering is sufficient
to cover all our sin. It's sufficient for all our celebrations. It's sufficient for all our consecrations
and all our dedications. and should be our thoughts as
we begin every month. And that's what he shows us in
that sin offering through all of those 11 things that I read
to you a while ago. And then thirdly, let me give
you some peculiarities about this covering. First of all,
this was the largest of all the coverings. And to me, that just
speaks of the preeminence of Christ. Christ accomplished a
lot of things, but the cheapest of the things that He accomplished
was His sin offering. It was His death. To this hour,
He said, came I into this world. Now, He also came into this world
to accomplish for us a righteousness. But He tells us over and over
in different places that the actual culmination of that righteousness,
the very heart of that righteousness, was His death on the cross. He
become obedient unto death, it tells us in Philippians. He become
obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. So we see the preeminence of
Christ crucified. And this thing, it was large
in its size, and it covered the back of the tabernacle and both
sides completely. Exodus 26, verse 13, it kind
of details that out for you and tells you there what all this
thing covers. The blood of Christ covers everything involved in
the salvation of sinners. Everything. And it tells us that
this covers all. One writer said it stuck out. And Christ crucified sticks out.
It covers. It speaks of His preeminence
in all things. It was preeminent in the holy
place and preeminent in the holiest of all. It was preeminent in
all directions, telling us that Christ crucified is sufficient
to cover all subjects and all times. And then secondly, it
was the only covering to extend past the front and stick out
from all these other curtains. All the other curtains stopped
right at the edge of the boards. except this covering. This covering
came out the front and was doubled up, looped back up, and went
back in. And it hung down and just made room for the priest
to enter in. It left a way in. And so when
you approach this tent, listen to how he says this here in Exodus
26.9. The six curtain, that is the panel with the six panels.
The sixth panel was to be doubled under and extend out in the forefront
of the tabernacle. And this allowed for an opening,
and it stood in full view of those who approached this tent,
declaring to them that the way into this tent, the way into
this salvation, the way into worship, the way into the holiest
of all, is through the synagogue. It was preeminent. That's what
you saw. If you actually, if you stood at the gate of the
courtyard of the tabernacle, and you was an Israelite, and
you had your sacrifice, and you was bringing it there to give
to the priest, when you stood in that opening and looked, the
only thing really that you could see, other than the badger skins
on the outside, which was the humanity of Christ, was this
sin atonement. It was in full view so everybody
could see it. Everybody could see it. And this was typical of several
things. First, the Christ our sin offering.
And I'm getting ahead of myself. The third peculiarity of this
covering is that it was made by the women. I've been telling you about this
for the last two or three weeks, and every time I go home, Kathy
says, well, what is it? Where is it? What are you talking
about? I said, I'll get to it. Well, this is it. Exodus 35,
verse 26. And all the women whose hearts
stirred them up in wisdom spun goat's hair. They spun goat's
hair. Now, they were involved in the
weaving of the linen and the coloring and the dyeing of the
materials. And they brought those things willingly and gave them
as Moses commanded. But here in particular, he tells
us all the women whose hearts stirred them up in wisdom spun
goat's hair. And this is typical of several
things. First, that Christ, our sin offering, was made of a woman.
You ever think about that? That's the first thing that came
to me when I saw it. These women spun this goat's hair and made
this cover. Christ, our sin offering, was
made of a woman. But it goes on. That's not all
that He said. He was made of a woman and made
under the law to redeem them that were under the law. He must become a goat to be a
sin offering. In Galatians 3, verse 13, it
says, Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being
made a curse for us. For it is written, cursed is
everyone that hangeth on a tree. So we see that he was made of
a woman, made under the law. And then secondly, it's typical
of the church who by faith put together the spiritual covering
by God's declaration and design. These women heard from Moses. the design, the declaration that
God intended, what He intended to do, and what He required of
them. And their hearts were stirred
up in wisdom to understand what Moses told them, and they put
it together. Now, we go in, He said, go into
all the world and preach the gospel. And God stirs some hearts
up in wisdom, and they put that thing together. They understand
what these things mean. And here's that scripture in
Romans 3 that I quote to you so often, being justified freely
by His grace through the redemption that's in Christ Jesus, whom
God has set forth to be a propitiation through faith in His blood. That is, we by faith understand
what that means. And we receive it, and we rest
in it, and we rejoice in it. And then turn with me to Romans
chapter 4. This glorious covering was above
the priests, signifying the resurrected and therefore victorious work
of Christ our Sin Offerer. Now watch this. It's talking
about Abraham, the father of faith. It says in verse 20, Romans
chapter 4, that he staggered not at the promise of God through
unbelief, but was strong in faith giving glory to God, and being
fully persuaded that what He, that is, what God had promised,
He was able also to perform. And therefore, it was imputed,
or charged to Him, for righteousness. And it wasn't written for His
sake alone that it was imputed to Him, but for us also, to whom
it shall be imputed, if we believe on Him that raised up Jesus our
Lord from the dead, who was delivered for our offenses and raised again
for our justification. Therefore, being justified by
faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ."
We see this thing. The church does. And she understands
it. And she puts it together. And
she worships God that way. God's people put this thing of
saving faith together by the revelation of God through His
prophet, and they find peace with God.