My subject tonight is the tabernacle
of God. And for a good understanding
of our lessons, I suggest that you read and study Exodus 25-31.
All of these chapters here in the book of Exodus from chapters
25-31, all of these things speak of God's giving of the tabernacle and of the priesthood, the Levitical
priesthood of Israel. And I want to just begin tonight
by making some comments about the tabernacle in general. And
then in our upcoming lessons, we'll get down to the particular.
But I just want to make some comments here in general tonight.
And the first thing I would call your attention to is the fact
that this was not something that Israel fought up. Over and over
and over, these Israelites would come and tell the Lord about
Moses, and Moses' law, and Moses' tabernacle, and Moses did this,
Moses did... This wasn't something Moses thought
up. This wasn't something Israel thought up. This was something
given by God. And it was built according. It
wasn't built by their own ideas. He didn't just give them a rough
outline and turn them loose. But he gave them specific instructions. There wasn't anything embroidered. There wasn't anything chosen
by those individuals. It was all given to them. And
time and again, the Lord warned Moses. He said, see to it that
you build this thing exactly according to the pattern that
I give you in the map. It was given and commanded of
God to be built. Actually, once we begin to get
into this thing and you see what the tabernacle is all about,
then you're going to understand why these things were so specific
and why our Lord ordered no variations in these things. God's never
left men to themselves. He doesn't leave men to them.
If He did, we'd all go to hell. God doesn't leave men to their
own imaginations when it comes to redemption and reconciliation
and worship. Abel built an altar We're talking
about the first, here's the sons, the very first sons of Adam and
Eve. And Abel came and he built an altar. Why did he do that? You reckon he just sat around
and thought up one day and said, man, here's what to do. We'll
just gather up some rocks here and we'll build us this thing.
I know, we'll call it an altar. And then, let's see, what can
we put on? We'll go get a lamb. And we'll
cut this lamb's throat and we'll We'll take this lamb and we'll
dismember him and we'll lay him out here on this altar and we'll
light a fire and we'll burn this thing before God. That's how
we're going to worship. Now, that's what Cain did, but that's
not what Abel did. How did Abel come about this
information? How come Abel to take these stones
and build an altar and take a lamb and offer this thing to God?
How come him to do it? Because his daddy told him. how
to do it. And the reason his daddy told
him is because God came down there in the garden and demonstrated
what this thing was all about. And then, think about this. How did Noah come up with this
thing of the ark? Did the Lord just say, it's going
to rain? Them people didn't know what rain was. It never rained.
Did he just talk about a flood? They wouldn't know a flood from
apple butter. They didn't know what a flood
was. It had never rained. They had no storms. They had
no delusions. A mist came up from the ground
and watered all the plants and everything around. They had no
rain. Well, where did he come up with this idea of an ark?
Where did he get that? God gave it to him. God gave
it to him. And he built that thing. Actually,
I can't remember now exactly where I discovered this, but
the word, you keep finding all these things being made out of
the gopher wood. You see that back there, gopher
wood? What that is, is wood shaped to a specific design. That's
what that word means. And God gave him a design and
he'd take that wood and he'd shape it. And then he'd give
it to his sons and instruct his sons what to do with that wood
and they'd go assemble that thing as their father, which is exactly
what we do in preaching, isn't it? Huh? We take those things
according to God's design and God's purpose and we stand and
declare them to the people and we tell them how these things
fit. And then they take those things
and they build. And you can read the first three
chapters of Ephesians, or the first four chapters, and you
can see that. But Noah wasn't left to his own imagination to
build a vessel sufficient to preserve him and those eight
souls from the deluge of God. And so it is with the tabernacle
and the temple, and especially in the Gospel of our Lord Jesus
Christ. We're not left to guess about
these things. We're not left to guess about
these things. I've heard this. I like to have a nickel for every
time I've heard this. That's your opinion. That's your interpretation. These things are all given to
us by the Spirit of God through the gospel of Christ and through
the Word of God. And then secondly, I find it
very fitting and remember we're just talking in generalities
now about the art But I find it very fitting that the revelation
of the tabernacle should follow the revelation of the law. Have
you ever thought about that? God took Moses up on that mount,
and He gave him a revelation of His law. He gave it to him
in tables of stone, and then He gave him the instruction for
the tabernacle. Why would He do that? Because
apart from the tabernacle, the law could not be honored by Israel. No possibility. No possibility. And as it was in Israel back
in the day, so it is in the experience of grace. God first reveals to
the sinner his law. He reveals to him what this law
says. He shuts his mouth. He brings
him, you read Romans chapter 3, and when he gets done, he
said, whatsoever things the law say. They say it to them who
are under the law that every mouth may be stopped. When you
hear people talking about keeping the law, that's going to be one
of the things our Sunday school lesson this coming weekend is
about. The rich young ruler. And he approached the Lord on
the basis of his own goodness and his own righteousness. And
the first thing, the Lord just stopped him in his tracks. And
he said, why callest thou me good? There is none good but
God. Well, that's what that law, when he reveals to you what that
law is about, it cuts everybody's throat. All of us are just sitting
there before the law, quiet, without excuse, mouth shut, nothing
to say, nothing to play. Now, when God shuts a man up
like that, then you can give him the good news of the gospel,
and he'll receive it, and he'll rejoice in it, and he'll find
peace with God. And then listen to this. The
tabernacle was not created by God. God said, let there be light,
and there was light. Nobody built the sun. He created
it. Nobody built the moon. He created
it. In the beginning, God created
the heavens and the earth, but He didn't create the tabernacle.
He didn't do that. But he gave the tabernacle by
design to Israel. It was given by design. It was
given in pattern to Israel. It was to be built according
to the pattern given by God per the administration of Moses,
God's prophet, and then put together by the willing hands and hearts
of those who sought the Lord. He said, you're going to take
up an offering. And it's going to be a free will offering. Huh? He didn't say, now everybody's
going to have to pay 10% on this thing. No, that's not what he
said. Not what he said. He said, but bring it with a
willing heart. Those who are willing. Those who see the need. Those who see what it is God's
teaching. Those who begin to comprehend
and see a need for what's being built. who have an interest in
it, those who have an interest, a willing heart. I love this. Pastor Jack Shank
said, there's no portion of Scripture more perfect in its teaching
of the way of redemption than this divinely designed building,
the tabernacle. Nowhere. I don't care what it
is you go say. Well, why should we study something
like this? Because a picture is worth a
thousand words. That's why. God knows how ignorant
we are. We're every one of us ignorant.
We're dumber than a box of rocks, Donnie Belsick. He can take a
picture of this tabernacle and once he begins to show us what
these things represent, then you go back over here in the
New Testament and you read those things and then all of a sudden
you discover, well hey, he's been pointing to this thing all
along. This whole book of Hebrews is just keep pointing back at
the priesthood and the tabernacle. And you see what it was, and
why it was, and to whom it was given, and what it represents,
and all of a sudden that scripture comes alive. Now you've got this
picture in your head of what's going on. And you see what I'm
saying? And you can relate to what this
tabernacle is all about. You can relate to that high priest.
You can relate to that sacrifice. And you can see those things.
Turn with me to Hebrews chapter 9. I'm not going to get into
a lot of specifics tonight, but just continue to speak in generalities. And with that in mind, let me
give you three things to consider as we begin this study. And the
first thing I want you to understand is that this building was designed
and given to Israel by Moses as a type of the person and work
of Jesus Christ. I'm going to show you that in
the scripture. Hebrews chapter 9, let's begin reading with verse
1. Then verily the first covenant
had also ordinances of divine service, and 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. And after the second veil, the
tabernacle, which is called the holiest of all, there was a building. I think it was 15 feet wide and
45 feet long, if I remember right. And it's sectioned off into two
sections. There's a front section where
the common priest and all these priests, all the Levitical priesthood
assigned to those duties could go in there. They had to maintain
bread on that table representing Christ, our bread. And there
was a candlestick there and they had to keep the oil in the candlestick. That candlestick gave light inside
to those priests and gave light inside this sanctuary. Christ
is our light. And the oil representing the
Holy Spirit of God. And that's what he's talking
about here. sanctuary that they went into, but between that sanctuary
and the Holy of Holies, or the holiest of all, hung this huge
thick veil, hung down. And not even the common priest
could go in there. There was only one person allowed
inside that Holy of Holies, and that was the high priest. And
not even he could go in there without blood. He had to take
blood. both for himself and for the
people. And he'd go beyond that veil one time a year, all their
names written on his breastplate, written upon his shoulders to
bear them up before the Lord. And he'd take that blood and
he'd take that incense and he'd go down beneath that thing and
he'd pour that blood out on the mercy seat and he'd put that
incense on them hot coals and that sweet Savior, that sacrifice
would rise up to God. Well, that's what Paul is talking
about here. Into the second went the high
priest alone, verse 7, once every year, not without blood, which
he offered for himself and for the heirs of the people. Now
listen, the Holy Ghost, that is the author and inspiration
of this book, the Holy Ghost, this signifying, that the way
into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest while the first
tabernacle was yet standing. So long as these priests offered
sacrifices, so long as that Levitical priesthood existed, that signified
that the way in, the way in to the holiest of all was not yet
made manifest. Which was, verse 9, a figure
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, which stood only
in meats and drinks and divers washings and carnal ordinances
imposed on them until the time of reformation. But Christ, now
listen, Christ being come, and 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, entered in once into the holy place, having obtained
eternal redemption for us." And then also in verse 23, he refers
to this as patterns of things in the
heavens. Verse 24, figures of the truth. And then in chapter 10, verse
1, shadows of good things to come. This is a type. Let that
be established in your mind and your heart that God has given
this thing to Israel as a picture for them. Christ did not come
yet. But he symbolized that Christ
and that work that he would accomplish in this tabernacle. And nothing
that he gave to them more perfectly illustrates that than this tabernacle.
All right, here's the second thing. I'm going back now to
generalities. The tabernacle was a picture
of Christ in its appearance. In its appearance. This tabernacle was not large.
We went up to Washington, D.C. years ago and I went over there
and saw the National Cathedral, this big Catholic cathedral.
We had to back up a block and a half to get that thing in our
camera so we could even take a picture of it. This wasn't
that big. It wasn't large and imposing. It wasn't something that enthralled
men when they seen it. They didn't do that. They saw
this tabernacle. Turn with me to Isaiah chapter
53. It was just a simple structure,
very common on the outside, maybe even a little unattractive. I
get a hint of that in the Scripture. Isaiah 53, 1. Who hath believed
our report? And to whom is the arm of the
Lord revealed? For he shall grow up before him
as a tender plant and as a root out of dry ground. Listen now,
he hath no form or comeliness. And when we shall see him, there
is no beauty that we should desire him. He is despised and rejected
of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we
hid as it were our faces from him. He was despised, and we
esteemed him not. Looking upon the tabernacle from
the outside, there was just nothing to see. Not even a hint much
of the glory that lie inside. It was just old, drab, gray badger
skins or whatever color those things were. Nothing to see out
there. And the only thing that even
hinted that this tabernacle was of God was this huge linen fence
that circled the courtyard all the way around that thing. And even so with our Lord, that
which should have been sufficient to satisfy his rejecters was
his perfection of life, which he lived right before their eyes.
Was he not surrounded by a white fiend? You couldn't see anything
but perfection in him. He said, which of you convinces
me of sin? Why then don't you believe my
words? Listen to this. He said, for
the works which the Father hath given me to finish, the same
works that I do bear witness of me that the Father hath sent
me. So it was a figure of Christ
in its appearance. You walk up to it and it was
a common building. It looked just like everything
else in Israel. It looked just like all the other tents from
the outside. But boy, it had a different appearance
on the inside. It had a different appearance.
All right, and then thirdly, the tabernacle is a figure of
Christ in general as to its proportions. Christ is designed, or this building
is designed, I should say, expressly for the salvation of sinners.
That's what it was all about. It wasn't there to recognize
men, to recognize man's holiness or brag on his glory. This building
was designed every wit for sinners, for the salvation of sinners.
In 1 Timothy 1, verse 15, Paul said, this is a faithful saying,
faithful to the God of all grace, faithful to the glory of His
character, faithful to the gospel. This is a faithful saying, one
which all those who believe will confirm. This is a faithful saying
and worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the
world to save sinners of whom I am chief. And he said, not
only that, but God made an example out of me. He went down to the
bottom of the barrel and got me. And he did it so you could have
hope. That's why he did it. This tabernacle provided all
that was necessary to save those who had come unto God by that
high priest to the uttermost. Think about this. You didn't
come here for faith and go somewhere else for instruction. You found everything you needed
at the door of that tabernacle. Every time God gave instruction
to Israel, He called Moses and Aaron to the door of the tabernacle.
He'd fill that thing with His Shekinah glory and He'd speak
to them and they'd stand at the gate and tell the people. You don't come here for faith
and go somewhere else for instruction. And you know, Moses and Aaron,
they received their instruction from God and gave it to the people
right there. The Scripture tells us that Christ
is the door. He's the door, isn't He? That
which God opens and no man can close, and God closes and no
man can open. He's the door. And all the washings
and sacrifices and the eating of meat and bread, those things
were all done within the tabernacle. All of it. I don't have a great
deal of light concerning all the measurements except to say
this, They were given in such detail and not to be overlooked
or compromised at all in this building. And as it was given
to Moses to the people, the Lord cautioned him. He said, now you
be careful. You be careful. Don't you turn
these men loose building this tabernacle. You oversee the work. I don't expect you to build it.
I don't expect you to put all the nails in, the pins and the
pegs and all that. But you oversee this work and
you see to it it's done exactly the way I give it to you in that
pattern on the mount. They were not to take liberties
or make changes or add things or take things away. And neither
was it to simply ignore certain things because it offended folks.
He was to declare to them and oversee the work according to
the Word of God. Exactly according to the Word
of God. And this is the job of every
preacher. He's to preach the whole counsel of God to men.
You come in here and you don't, you're just not a works man.
You're just not going to believe in works even when it's taught
in its right character. Well, what should I do? Just
skip over works? Not preach on it? Be scared I'm
going to offend you? No. Let God be true and every
man a liar. I'm going to preach these things
exactly as I see them. And the door opens both ways.
You can leave as easy as you can come. This is the job. We preach the
whole counsel of God concerning His Son, and we oversee the work
of faith as men begin to work out their salvation in fear and
trembling. I'm to come to you and reject
certain things. If I see you going down the wrong
way, I'm going to say, now wait a minute. Wait a minute now.
That's not what I'm preaching. That's not what I'm telling you.
You're going down the wrong road. I'm going to rebuke you. That's
part of what my job is. I'm going to exhort you. I'm
going to commend you on certain things. But I'm going to rebuke you on
certain things. We're to reprove them and correct them and instruct
them according to the doctrine of Christ. And I believe he gives
references to this over in 1 Corinthians 3, 9, saying to his hearers,
he said, you're God's building. And I, by the grace of God, have
laid the foundation. God hath appointed me the wise
master builder. I'm an apostle." Now Paul said, be careful how
you build. Be careful about the material
you select and be warned. These things should be tried
in the fire of trials. I wish I could convince everybody
that come to hear me that God does not suggest a way and then
leave men to imagine what they will. I have dear loved ones. I'm not going to call anybody's
name, but I have loved ones that I preach to and talk to and they've
told me over and over. Now, this Bible says different
things to different people. No, it don't. No, it don't. It says one thing. That's all
it says. If it didn't say one thing, how
could there be a judgment? How could there be a salvation?
How could you teach? You might as well take teaching
out of it if it says something different to everybody who reads
it. There's no teaching, how can you teach? There's no basis.
I guarantee you go down here to college and let one of these
worldly teachers stand up there, one of them professors, and go
teaching you something in a math class and you say, now wait a
minute, that's what that means to you. That don't mean that
to me. You're out of here. It's my way or the highway. That's
what he'd tell you real quick. But when it comes to religion,
they want to apply different rules. God doesn't suggest a
way and then leave all men to imagine what to will. He doesn't
commend something and then leave us to our own evil imaginations
to design something that's personally appealing to us. He dictates
both details and designs. And then fourthly, let's look
at the tabernacle from a distance. If you stood off in Israel, now
we're talking about 2 million people. We're talking about something
the size of San Diego, Los Angeles. And you're standing off here
in the distance and you look down there and everything all
looks alike, all but this one building. And you look down there
at that thing and that thing has a 450 feet long, 7 1�2 feet
tall, snow white fence. All the way around it. All the
way around it. That was the first thing that
those who came to worship and seek God ran into. That seven
and a half foot tall snow white fence. It was put there as a
solemn reminder of the holiness and justice and righteousness
of God. You're not going to worship God
until you deal with His holiness, His righteousness. You're going to have to deal
with it. You're going to have to deal with it first. Well,
Brother Darwin, I deal with this thing down the road. Oh, no.
No. You're not going to go down the
road. You're going to have to come to the gate of that great
white fence. And there you're going to have
to commune with the priest. That's the only way you're going
to get any farther along than what you are. It's just a solemn
reminder to me of God's holiness and justice and righteousness.
It marks the way of sinful men who have come to God. Sinful
men, even the elect of God, came no further than the gate of this
fence. Think about that. You're not going any further
than that does. We want to. Man wants to. He wants to take
his works. I tell you, you ever read that
confession of Satan over in Isaiah? He said, no, no. He said, I'm
going to sit in the seat. I'm going to sit upon that seat
before the great congregation. I'm going to do that. No. No,
you're going to come to the gate. That seat is not assigned to
you. That seat is assigned for Christ. You come to that gate and everything
from that point on was to be carried out by a sanctified priesthood
and the great high priest himself. And I say this, what a picture
this is of the church and their great high priest today. Peter
said, you are a royal priesthood. You are a royal priesthood, a
holy nation, a peculiar people. Why? To show forth the praises
of Him who has called you. Who called you out of darkness
into His marvelous light. It is the church, not this world
or conscience, that is the pillar and ground of the truth. It's
the church. I Peter 2, verse 5 says, is lively
stone. We're built up a spiritual house,
a holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable
to God by Jesus Christ. What's all this mean? What's
all this saying? What's God saying in this thing? There's an order
to this, and you'll notice it as we go through. There's a divine
order in everything God does. He doesn't do anything apart
from order. Well, what's all this order about?
What's He doing here? He's establishing his means. Well, I don't think I'll go to
the tabernacle. I think I'll just go out there and build me
an altar. You're not going to worship God. You're not going to worship God
out there. I'll tell you what you're going to do out there.
You're going to start a city like Cain did and live in the
land of Nod. That's what you're going to do
out there. You're going to worship God. You're going to worship
God according to the means that He's dictated and designed. It's not a matter. People tell
me all the time when I preach on the necessity of gospel preaching. I hear this over and over and
over. What? You don't think God could
save me in any way, want to? Well, of course I do. Of course
I do. But will He? Or will He save men how He said
He would? Huh? He told those folks in the days
of John the Baptist, He said God could raise up children out
of those rocks unto Abraham. Did He? No. No, He didn't. I'll tell you how He raised up
children to Abraham. He made them all come out there
in the wilderness where John the Baptist was and hear the
Gospel preached. That's exactly what He did. All
Judea, all Jerusalem, all of them, they all had to come out
there and humble down before that old man dressed in skins
out there and listen to him preach the gospel. Why? Because that's the only place
the gospel was being preached. That's God's means. And the tabernacle
was the means of the day. You didn't worship God apart
from the tabernacle. You didn't worship God apart
from the priesthood. And the priesthood has a part
The spiritual priesthood has a part in this thing. They have
a part in this thing. And if you think for a moment
that God will save sinners apart from the means He has ordained,
you need to study the history of Israel and the tabernacle. And then Paul says this over
in Romans, he said, Whatsoever things were written aforetime
were written for our learning, that we through patience and
comfort of the Scriptures might find hope. We need to go back
and look at these things. and see why these things are
put there. And see what happens when people left God's design
and left God's means. See what happens. Two or three
of them got together out there in the camp, got scratching their
head around, and you said, man, look at all these people. Moses can't handle all these
people. He can't preach to all these people. He can't watch
over them. He can't give them advice. You
have to stand in line to see them. I'll tell you what let's
do. I'll tell you what let's do.
Now, Cora, you and Abiram, and myself, I'll tell you what we're
going to do. We're going to divvy this thing
up. We're going to let Moses have
a quarter of it, and you're going to take a quarter of it, and
you're going to have a quarter of that. This is how it's done. This all sounds reasonable. Cora
and Dathan, they, yeah, sounds good to me. That's what we're
going to do. They went out and approached Moses. You know what
Moses told them? He said, everybody on the Lord's
side line up right here. Right here. Everybody on their
side go right over there and line up behind them. A bunch
of their relatives and everything went over there. Their house
and their grandkids and everybody. They went over there and stood
behind Cora Dathan in a barn. And God opened up the earth and
took them to hell with their shoes on. I'm telling you the truth. God
has means. And He uses those means. And
He's not going to vary from those means. There's no reason to vary.
God's all-wise when He gave them. He's all-seeing, all-knowing.
Nothing happened in time to make Him vary. He's going to do these
things according to His means. Somebody says, well, that just
don't fit my experience. You better leave your experience
and get back to the Word of God. That's what you better do. There are patterns of heavenly
things, shadows of good things to come, and figures of the truth.
And then as we study these things, let's look at these things and
learn by these pictures what God has manifested in Christ. And then fifthly, and I'll hurry,
let me describe for you the inside of the building itself. It consisted
of two chambers separated by this huge, heavy vase. The first
was a place where any common priest could enter into, and
the second, the high priest alone, only one time a year. And inside that thing was an
altar of incense, burning coals in this altar. And the Ark of
the Covenant lay in there, and the mercy seat which was put
on top. And then one time a year, that
high priest could enter into this holy place. And he must
be appointed by God. He must go in there exactly how
God commands him to go. He has to wear the dress that
God designed. And he goes inside this holy
place and he makes atonement for Israel. And then last of all, in closing,
let me see if I can show you that this whole thing is a work
of God's sovereign grace. I love this point, Brother Jack
Shanks. I've never heard anybody make this point before. He pointed this out, and I'll
try to do it with you, that the tabernacle is described and given
to Moses from the inside out. He read to us tonight, and what's
the first thing he told us about the tabernacle? The mercy seat. Huh? The ark of the covenant
with the mercy seat. And he tells you, that's where
I'm going to commune with you. That's where I'm going to meet
with you. And then he begins to give these
things in the tabernacle and he works from the inside out. He begins there in Exodus 25.10
with the mercy seat. Verses 17-20 it declares it to
be his throne in Israel's midst. And then the outer sanctuary
and the table and the candlestick, then the curtains and the boards
and so on all the way out. What's the significance? Well,
the significance of the order is that it shows God coming from
His throne of grace even to the outer gate. That's what it does.
Even to the outer gate. All the way out there and meets
the sinners at the door. Isn't that just exactly what
He does? What a picture of Christ. I've been so looking forward
to this study. Everything that transpires in
this thing, it just glows of the grace of God. Everything
in this whole study. So you pray for me that the Lord
will give me these things and give me the understanding to
be able to teach them.