Would you turn with me to Exodus
chapter 26? I'd like to read these first 14 verses. Now, this is one of those passages
of scripture that. If somebody is reading through
the Bible, they'll try to get through this quick and wonder
what the significance of it is, but there's great significance
to this passage of scripture. There's great significance to
every passage of Scripture. Beginning in verse one, moreover,
thou shalt make the tabernacle with 10 curtains of fine twined
linen, and blue and purple and scarlet with cherubims of cunning
work shalt thou make them. The length of one curtain shall
be eight and 20 cubits, and the breadth of one curtain four cubits,
and every one of the curtains shall have one measure. It's
going to be the same. The five curtains shall be coupled
together one to another, and other five curtains shall be
coupled one to another. And thou shalt make the loops
of blue upon the edge of the one curtain from the selvage
in the coupling, and likewise shalt thou make in the uttermost
edge of another curtain in the coupling of the second. 50 loops
shalt thou make in the one curtain, and 50 loops shalt thou make
in the edge of the curtain that's in the coupling of the second,
that the loops may take hold one of another. And thou shalt
make 50 tashes of gold, and couple the curtains together with the
tashes, and it shall be one tabernacle. And thou shalt make curtains
of goat's hair to be a covering upon the tabernacle, 11 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 of one measure. And thou shalt
couple five curtains by themselves, and six curtains by themselves,
and thou shalt double the sixths certain in the forefront of the
tabernacle. And thou shalt make fifty loops on the edge of the
one curtain that is outmost in the coupling, and fifty loops
in the edge of the curtain which couple at the second. And thou
shalt make fifty tashes of brass. and put the tashes into the loops
and couple the tent together that it may be one. And the remnant
that remain of the of the curtains of the tent, the half curtain
that remain, it shall hang over the backside of the tabernacle.
And a cubit on the one side and a cubit on the side of that which
remaineth in the length of the curtains of the tent, it shall
hang over the sides of the tabernacle on this side and on that side
to cover it. And thou shalt make a covering
for the tent of ramskins dyed red, and a covering above of
badger skins. I've entitled this message, Really
Knowing the Lord Jesus Christ. Really Knowing the Lord Jesus
Christ. Now, if I have been saved by
the grace of God, I actually really literally know the Lord
Jesus Christ personally. I have a relationship with him
where he knows me and I know him. And I say that with all
to think that Christ knows my name. I think of what David said,
When I consider the heavens, the work of thy fingers, the
moon and the stars which thou hast ordained, what is man that
thou thinkest of him? And what am I? That he, the God of glory, would
know me. That's awesome, isn't it? To
think that he knows me. And I know him. Now, this is
true of every believer without exception. I just read that passage
of scripture where Paul said, I know whom I have believed. This is what is promised in the
covenant of grace. We read in Hebrews chapter eight,
verses 11 and 12, all shall know me. Now, know me from the least
to the greatest. Every one of my people will know
me. Now, when the Lord defined eternal
life, this is how he defines it. And this is life eternal.
This is John 17, 3. This is life eternal. You want to know what
eternal life is? Here it is. That they might know thee. The only true God and Jesus Christ
whom thou hast sent now this expresses the desire and the
yearning of every believer paul said oh that i might know him
i want to know the lord don't you paul don't you already know
him yes but oh that i may know him This is the heart's cry,
the desire of every believer to know the Lord Jesus Christ. I don't simply mean to know about
it. No accurate data, but I mean to know him where I know him
and he knows me. Moses said in Exodus chapter
33 verse 13, if I found grace in thy sight, show me now thy
way that I might know thee. That's what Moses wanted. That's
what Paul wanted. That's what every believer wants
to know the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, while we do know him and
while we desire to know him, we certainly want to know him
more, don't we? If you know someone. You know what they're made of.
You know what they're like. You know what they love. You
know what they hate. You know how they react to certain
situations when you really know somebody. Now, the only way you
can really know somebody is if they make themselves known to
you. The only way you're really going
to know my heart, the only way you're really going to know me
is if I bare my soul to you. And I let you know who I am.
And the only way we can know the Lord Jesus Christ is if He
makes Himself known. You can't figure Him out. Can't
you by searching find out God? No, you can't. The only way that
you can know the Lord Jesus Christ, the only way I can know the living
God is if He is pleased to make Himself known to me. If He is
pleased to reveal Himself to me. This is what he does in this
book called the Bible. He makes himself known. The only way we can know the
Lord Jesus Christ is through what he's revealed of Himself
to us in this book. And I can't even understand this
book unless He's pleased to make it known. I can't figure it out.
I'm totally dependent. Everybody is totally dependent
upon revelation. Him removing the scales from
our eyes as one of the brothers just prayed and making Himself
known. That's what I need. I need a
revelation from Him. I need Him to make Himself known
to me. Now Christ gives us the most
detailed description of himself in the tabernacle. We've been
in here for several weeks. As we see him in the tabernacle,
we'll come to know him better. And that most certainly is our
desire. And tonight we're going to consider
the curtains of the tabernacle. Now, remember this tabernacle
was a tent. It could be moved around. It
had a superstructure of boards that they put up and moved back
and forth. And it had certain materials or cloths or coverings
that covered the tabernacle. It had four different materials
that covered it. First, there was the material
that we read of made of white linen, blue, scarlet. And what's the other one? Well, the first material is blue,
purple, scarlet, and fine linen. And after that, that was one
material made of those four different threads. After that, there was
goat skin. And after that, there was ram
skin, dyed red. And after that, there was badger
skin. If you would have been standing
outside this tent, all you would see is the badger skin. I have
often thought about the Jebusites and the Hittites and the Amalekites
and all the different peoples of the nations when they would
see the children of Israel looking out over this. They say there's
a couple million of them. They'd be around this tabernacle,
this great big camp, and all they could see when they saw
this tabernacle was badger skin. It's debated as to what that
badger skin is. Some say it was some kind of
antelope. Some say it was a real badger. I don't know. But I know
this, it was brown, tan, unimpressive looking material. And they looked
at that thing and they thought, what is the attraction? What
do they see in that thing? It's certainly not impressive
to the flesh to just look at that badger skin, but you and
I know that that represents our Lord Jesus Christ in the flesh.
If you would have seen Jesus Christ in the flesh, you wouldn't
have been impressed. There wasn't anything about him
as a man as far as the way he looked, the way you wouldn't
have looked at him as anybody, any different than anybody else.
Turn with me for a moment to Isaiah chapter 53. Isaiah 53. Isaiah says, Who hath believed
our report? And to whom is the arm of the
Lord revealed? For he, the Lord Jesus Christ,
shall grow up before him as a tender plant and as a root out of dry
ground. He hath, now this is speaking
of our Redeemer, how he appeared in the flesh. He hath no form
nor comeliness or beauty. And when we shall see him, There's
no beauty that we should desire. Have you ever seen somebody you're
just impressed with? You look at that person as far
as the way they look physically and you're impressed. If you
had looked at the Lord Jesus Christ, you wouldn't have been
impressed. Just an average man. an average Joe. Nothing about
him as far as the way he looked physically said, this is the
God man. He looked just like any average Joe. Verse 3, he's
despised, he's 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. Now, this represents exactly
what they saw when they saw that tabernacle. It was covered with
badger skin and there was nothing that would have impressed these
people. But oh, underneath, underneath what glory there is
in this person. And would to God that he would
be pleased to make himself known even now and show us who he is. Now who he is, is revealed in
these different cloths Now the first cloth that is mentioned
is fine twined linen. Look back in our text in Exodus
chapter 26. Now that is bleached linen. white. Moreover, thou shalt make
the tabernacle with ten curtains of fine twined linen. Now, this is one material with
four different threads, I guess. White linen, that was bleached
linen. That's what that fine twine means.
It means bleached white and blue and purple and scarlet. Now, fine twined linen, bleached
white. White is the color of purity. White is the color of holiness. White is the color of righteousness. Now, this is where we begin when
we begin with the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. We're going
to start from the inside and go from there. Rather than starting
with that badger skin, let's go from the inside, what's first
revealed. You know, you have to have faith to know this is
underneath, don't you? You'd look at him and you wouldn't
see this, but this is what's there. First is his righteousness,
his whiteness. Oh, the whiteness, the righteousness
of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is righteous. Now, this is who God is. He is
righteous. There's no unrighteousness in
Him. There's no sin in Him. There's no evil in Him. There's
no deceitfulness in Him. Because He is righteous, whatever
He does is righteous. He's righteous in His person.
And that means whatever He does because of who did it. He's altogether
righteous. Whatever He does is righteous.
Now, how many of us have got mad at Him for things He does? Every one of us have. How many
times have you been upset that the Lord didn't do this for you?
Or why has He allowed this to happen? Or why did He allow this
to happen? Or why didn't He save this person? Or why did... Every
one of us have thought thoughts like that. But they're wrong.
Because whatever he does is righteous because he is righteous. He is
altogether holy and righteous and this is how we trust him.
We couldn't trust him if he was sinful. We couldn't trust him
if he had any sin. He is altogether righteous. This is what that fine linen
represents, his absolute righteousness. Now, I love his name in first
John chapter two, verse two, these things, right? First John
chapter two, verse two or verse one. It says these things right
into you that you sin not. But if any man sin, we have an
advocate. We have a lawyer with the father,
Jesus Christ, the who? the righteous. He's no crooked
lawyer. Everything he does is altogether
righteous. Now, he makes us plead guilty.
There's no doubt about that. But our lawyer makes it to we're
absolutely righteous before God. And he does it in a way that
honors his righteousness. That's what the gospel is all
about. He is Jesus Christ, the righteous. He's called in Acts
22, verse 14, that just one. Why, even the demon said, I know
thee who thou art, the holy one of God. He's righteous, he's
just, he's holy. When the angels announced his
birth, they called him that holy thing. I love the way, even the
angels say, That holy thing, what is there to call Him? He's
altogether holy. He's altogether just. He's altogether
righteous. That's who He is. This is where
we've got to begin when we begin with the Lord Jesus Christ. He's
altogether righteous. Whatever He does is right. Shall
not the judge of the earth do right? Yes, He shall. You know His gospel. What does
His gospel reveal? Paul said in Romans 1, 16 and
17, I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it's the power
of God unto salvation to everyone that believes, to the Jew first
and also to the Greek, for therein in the gospel is the righteousness
of God revealed. Now this, the gospel, what does
it reveal? Yes, it reveals the love of God.
Yes, it reveals the mercy of God. Yes, it reveals the grace
of God. Yes, it reveals Who God is, but what is the word the
Holy Spirit uses to describe what the gospel reveals? The
righteousness of God. You see this fine linen, this
fine twine linen. Turn with me to Revelation chapter
19. And this, this is going to tell us what this linen represents.
And this is who he is to us. Revelation chapter 19. Verse seven, let us be glad and rejoice and
give honor to him for the marriage of the lamb has come and his
wife had made herself ready. That's every believer. And to
her, every believer, the church, his wife was granted, was freely
given that she should be arrayed. clothed in fine linen, clean
and white, the same linen spoken of in our text. For that fine
linen is the righteousness of saints. Now the gospel reveals,
Jesus Christ reveals the righteousness of the saints. What's this all
about? I'm simple. How can I be righteous before
God? because I'm sinful in and of
myself, because my sin was placed upon Christ. That's why God killed
him. My sin was placed upon Christ.
He put it away and his perfect righteousness is mine and I'm
righteous before God. Oh, this fine white linen is
the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, the next color
that's mentioned in our text is blue. Blue, first white. I'd love to see what this material
looked like, these four different threads. But the next color mentioned
is blue. Now, what does blue represent?
Heavenly. Heavenly. The Lord Jesus Christ
is altogether heavenly. He is other. He is not from the
earth. He is utterly unique. He is heavenly. He's not like anybody else. There's
nobody on this planet that we can compare Him to. There's nobody
that can be compared to Him. He's altogether heavenly. He's other. He is the God from
heaven. Turn with me to John chapter
8. Hold your finger there on the text and turn to John chapter
8. Verse 23. And He said unto them, You are
from beneath. I am from above. You are of this
world. I am not of this world because
he's altogether heavenly. I said, therefore, unto you that
you shall die in your sins. For if you believe not that I
am notice that he is an italics. He's not saying so much. I am
he, if you believe not that I am who's I am. Remember when Moses
said, what's your name? What am I going to tell the children
of Israel when you tell me to go to them? What's your name?
What am I going to tell them? He said, Tell them, I am that I am. I am hath sent thee. So when
we're talking about this blue, or when the Bible's talking about
this blueness, it's talking about the I am-ness, the deity, the
heavenliness of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now listen real carefully.
I couldn't say anything any more important than this. Jesus Christ
is God. You believe that? You know what
I think is neat is it doesn't matter whether you do or not.
He's still God. That's who He is. Jesus Christ is altogether
heavenly. He is God. All that God is, He
is. Is God all-powerful? Jesus Christ
is all-powerful. He said, all power is given unto
me. Is God sovereign? Is He in control
of everything? Well, of course He is. He's God.
Jesus Christ is sovereign. Is God all-wise, omniscient? Yes, He is. All that you say
of God is found in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. He's
blue. He's altogether heavenly. We read in Colossians chapter
2 verse 9, In Him, in the Lord Jesus Christ dwelleth all the
fullness of the Godhead. in a body. He's to be worshipped,
isn't he? He's to be bowed down to. He's
altogether blue. He's heavenly. And what is the
next color that's mentioned in Exodus 26? First we read of the
white linen, fine twine linen, blue and purple. Purple is the
color of royalty. He is the king of kings. He is King Jesus, the one who
absolutely rules and reigns. He's the King of kings, according
to the scripture, and the Lord of lords. A king has a throne.
The scripture says regarding his throne, this king who sits
on a throne, and that's how you see the Lord Jesus Christ if
you see him. You see him sitting on a throne, ruling and reigning.
We read in the Psalms that justice and judgment are the habitation
of his throne. absolute justice. But not only
is this a just throne, it's a throne of grace. I love that verse of
scripture, let us come boldly under the throne of grace, that
we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
He's a king who sits on a throne. He's a king who has subjects.
All of his people are his willing subjects. I'm one of them right
now. I'm a subject of King Jesus. He's my king. He's my Lord. A
king rules and reigns. The Lord Jesus Christ rules and
reigns. I hate it the way people present
him as if, you know, he's got a right to rule and reign. It's
such a shame we kicked him out of the schools. It's such a shame
we kicked... He reigns. Nobody kicked him out of anything.
He's in control. He always has been, always will be. That's
the way it is. He's the king of kings and the
Lord of lords. You know, what... How did they...
Under what office did people crucify? What was it they hated
him for? Did they hate him for healing
the sick? Did they hate him for being merciful to people? No,
what was written over the cross, remember? This is Jesus of Nazareth,
the King of the Jews. The cry of humanity is, we will
not have this man to reign over us, but Doesn't matter, he reigns. Because he is the king of kings
and the Lord of lords. God said to him, thy throne,
O God, is forever. God the Father said to him, yet
have I set my king on my holy hill of Zion. He is the king. I love the color purple. And
then we read of the color scarlet. that or red, that has to do with
his precious blood. Now, Peter said you were not
redeemed with corruptible things. such as silver and gold from
your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers,
but with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish
and without spot. Now, understand this. Jesus Christ
cannot be known apart from his precious blood. Do you ever get tired of hearing
of the blood of Christ? Now, His blood represents His
death. It's not just the physical blood. If His physical blood touched
you, it wouldn't do you any good. It's what His blood represents.
His blood represents His death. This one I'm talking about who's
altogether righteous, who's King of kings and Lord of lords, who's
altogether heavenly. What did He do? He died. They nailed Him to a cross and
He died. Now, why? That's the question
that has to be answered. Why did He die? I mean, He's
God. He never sinned. Why did He die? Well, the Scripture tells us
in 2 Corinthians 5, verse 21, we read, For He hath made Him,
God the Father made the Lord Jesus Christ to be sin. who knew no sin, he never sinned,
that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. Why did he die? There's only one reason for death,
sin. There are no other reasons for
death, sin. The wages of sin is death. The
sins of God's elect became his, so that he cried My sins are
more than the hairs of my head. It was just read. Was it weird? Where was Psalm 40 read back
there or up here? I don't remember, but somebody read Psalm 40 and
in that Psalm. Turn there. I want you to see
this Psalm 40. Verse 6. Sacrifice and offering
thou didst not desire. Psalm 40, verse 6. Mine ears hast thou opened, burnt
offering, and for sin offering thou hast not required. Them
said I, lo, I come in the volume of the book. It's a written of
me. I delight to do thy will, O God. Yea, thy law is within
my heart. Now, we know from Hebrews chapter
10, these are the words of the Lord Jesus Christ. Yes, David
wrote this, but who's the primary speaker? The Lord Jesus Christ. Now look what he says in verse
11. This is still Christ speaking. He says, withhold not thou thy
tender mercies from me, O Lord. Let thy loving kindness and thy
truth continually preserve me, for innumerable evils have compassed
me about. Mine iniquities have taken hold
upon me. so that I'm not able to look
up. They're more than the hairs of
my head, therefore my heart fails me. Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver
me. O Lord, make haste to help me."
Have you ever prayed that? Oh, my iniquities have taken
hold upon me. They're a heavy burden that are
too heavy for me. I'm not even able to look up.
I know exactly what David felt, but this is the words of the
Lord Jesus Christ. My sin actually became his, to
where he cried out, my iniquities are too heavy for me. Now that's
why he died. Now what did he accomplish by
that death? Oh, I love to think of him raped. His last words,
it is finished. He died. He's in that tomb for
three days. God raises Him from the dead
because He did whatever it was the Father gave Him to do. He
put away the sins of everybody He died for. He was raised from
the dead and everybody He died for, they're justified, they're
perfect in God's sight. And you can't really know Him
apart from His blood. His blood reveals who He is.
It reveals the whole character of God. So this first covering,
isn't this a beautiful covering? Made of white, blue, purple and
scarlet. And these, I think there were
10 curtains coupled together. They had those blue loops. He
said, what, what holds him together is altogether heavenly. It was
made of that blue material that represent this, this is of God.
This is God's gospel. So that's the, the first covering
this made of four different materials. And the second covering was made
of goat's hair. Well, let me back that. There were cherubims embroidered
in this first covering. Cherubims. Now, what are cherubims?
I don't know. Were they angels? I don't think
they were what we generally call angels. I don't know much about
this, but I know that they were described in Isaiah 6, Ezekiel
and Revelation chapter 4. They had, according to Revelation
4, the face of a man that has something to do with intelligence,
an ox, strength, a lion, courage, an eagle, swiftness to obey. Some think they represent aspects
of the Godhead. I don't know. But I know they
were also over the mercy seat. They were living creatures according
to the Scripture. Are there cherubim? Yeah. What they look like? I don't know. But I know they
look toward the mercy seat and their purpose has something to
do with the work of Christ in the mercy seat. So in this first covering or this first curtain
we had these cherubims and that tells us that God is using all
events to be subservient to this end of the Lord Jesus Christ.
So that's the first covering. The second covering was made
of goat's hair. Goat's hair. Now, goat's hair
is what we know as cashmere. Soft and comfortable. Anybody have any cashmere sweaters?
I believe that cashmere is about the softest, most comfortable
material that I've ever experienced. I love to feel a cashmere sweater. I had a cashmere sweater for
the first time this year. Lynn got me some. Man, I can't
go back to wool. I like cashmere. It's so comfortable. And the goat's hair, it's the
underbelly of a goat's hair. It's what cashmere is made of.
And what the reference to is this is the comfort of the gospel. Now, we are said to wear the Lord
Jesus Christ, put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, put ye on that.
You put him on like clothes. And I, I, you know, we read of
that, uh, to, to the, to the bride was granted that she should
have this Wedding garment, fine linen, clean and white. Turn
with me to Matthew chapter 22 for a minute. You know, Christ
is called a garment of salvation. Matthew chapter 22. Verse 1, And Jesus answered and
spake unto them again by parables, and said, The kingdom of heaven
is like unto a certain king, which made a marriage for his
son. You won't understand the kingdom
of heaven. Listen up. He sent forth his servants to
call them that were bidding to the wedding and they would not
come. And again, he sent forth other servants, tell them what
you're bidding. Behold, I've prepared my dinner. My oxen and
my fatlings are killed. All things are now ready coming
to the marriage, but they made light of it. and went their ways,
one to his farm, another to his merchandise. And the remandment
took his servants and treated them spitefully and slew them.
But when the king heard thereof, he was wroth, and he sent forth
his armies and destroyed those murderers and burned up their
cities. Then saith he to his servants, the wedding is ready,
but they which are bidden were not worthy. Go ye therefore into
the highways, as many as you shall find, bid to the marriage.
So those servants went out into the highways and gathered together
all as many as they found, both bad and good. And the wedding
was furnished with guests. And when the king came in to
see the guests, he saw their man, which had not on a wedding
garment." Now, evidently in those weddings, and this is true, you
were supplied a wedding garment. You didn't come in with your
own clothes. There was a wedding garment given to you when you
walked into the door. And this fellow who comes in
without a wedding garment, evidently he, maybe he made one that he
thought was just as good. And he thought, this is just
as good. I can get in with this wedding garment. And he somehow
bypassed the wedding garment, the only thing that would make
him acceptable into this wedding feast. Now let's go on reading. And when the king came in to
see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding
garment. And he said unto him, Friend,
how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment? I mean,
it was provided if you would have taken one. I mean, there's
a way you can't come in without one. What are you doing in here
without a wedding garment? And this fellow was speechless.
Then said the king to the servants, bind him hand and foot and take
him away and cast him into outer darkness. There shall be weeping
and gnashing of teeth. For many are called, but few
are chosen. Now for me to come into this great banquet, I have
to have a wedding garment. Now what is this wedding garment?
What is it that one wears that will bring him into this great
feast? How can I come into the very presence of God with this
wedding garment? Well, what is this wedding garment?
It's the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's His merit. We've already read Revelation
19. This fine linen, clean and white, this is the righteousness
of the saints. Now, the way I can come into
God's presence and be accepted is because I'm clothed in the
very righteousness, the obedience, the law-keeping of Jesus Christ.
And when God sees me, all He sees is righteousness. Now, this righteousness we're
speaking of is not a cover-up, and I'm still unclean underneath
it all. No, my sin was put away by the
Lord Jesus Christ. And His righteousness is not
just an outer garment. I'm righteous through and through,
outside and inside, through the work of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And I come in to God's presence in His obedience, in His righteousness. And I tell you what, this is
so comfortable. You ever heard the term, the clothes make the
man? You always thought that was a stupid thing. No, they
don't. I mean, you are what you are, whatever kind of clothes
you got on. But here's the one time that this statement is true.
The clothes make the man. The clothing I wear is what makes
me. The righteousness and the merits
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, that's so good. Comfortable? Comforting? And I think this
is interesting. As you read in this passage of
scripture, if you'll remember the first material, it had a
gold pin that went through the tashes that kept it all together.
It had a gold pin. Deity. Blue loops. A gold pin. Deity. That's what held it all
together. But when we talk about this comfortable covering, it
was a brass tash that held it together. Not gold, brass. Why is that? Well, brass is an
alloy made of tin and copper. It represents the two natures
of the Lord Jesus Christ. He's God, He's man. And that's what comforts me.
That's why this is so comfortable. As God, He's able to save me.
As God, His righteousness, it's the very righteousness of God,
but it's a man. who saves me. It's a man who
put away my sins. It's a man who's touched with
the feeling of my infirmities. It is a man who represents me
in glory. It's the man Christ Jesus, God
and man. And that's where the comfort
comes from. You see, it wouldn't give me any comfort if all Jesus
Christ was God, because that wouldn't do me any good if that's
all He was. But He's man. My sin became His. He died. Only man could die. God can't
die. Man can't satisfy. The God-man did both. That's
what the Lord Jesus Christ did. That's what He did on the cross.
And that's my comfort. Oh, this goat's cashmere hair
or whatever it is, oh, it's so comfortable. This is the righteousness
that every believer appears before God in. And I have such confidence
because I don't stand in my own righteousness. I stand in the
righteousness of Jesus Christ, the goat's hair. Now, the third
covering that's mentioned is found in verse 14 of our text. But back in Exodus 26. First, you had this white, blue,
purple and scarlet material with the cherubims embroidered in
it, then over that you had a goatskin covering, and verse 14, and thou
shalt make a covering for the tent of ramskins, dyed red. And we've talked about the glory
of the Lord Jesus Christ in the first covering, His person, and
then the comfort of it in the second covering, but you can't
talk about the Lord Jesus Christ without talking about the blood
of the Lamb. The ramskin, that's a male lamb. The ramskin died
red. I have no doubt that this is
the covering that God covered Adam with in the garden. Remember
how he, after he fell, all of a sudden he knew he was naked.
And he made an apron of fig leaves to cover himself. And that's
what every natural man does. They try to come up with a covering
that they think that can cover them before God, a covering of
their works, fig leaves. But the Lord, in his mercy, the
first blood shedding, he slew a lamb and he covered Adam. with that land, which represents
the death of Christ and your sins being covered by Him, being
covered by His righteousness. You can't see the Lord Jesus
Christ apart from His work. There's no understanding of Him
apart from what He did on Calvary's tree. I love to think of the blood
of the Lord Jesus. I love to think of my covering.
I have a perfect covering before God. Now, when you saw the tent
though, what did you see? You saw badger skins. You didn't see all this stuff
underneath it. All you saw was badger skins. All you saw was
a man. And if somebody saw the Lord
Jesus Christ, all they saw was a man. A man. An unimpressive
man. You know, people didn't get it. He grew up with brothers and
sisters. And they didn't get it. God was
in their house. And they didn't know. They thought
He was a kid just like them. You think about the youth of
the Lord Jesus Christ, Him growing up. People didn't get it. I want people to see Christ in
me, don't you? I do. But they didn't see Christ
in Christ, did they? They really didn't. All they
saw was badger skin. Very plain. Very ordinary. Nothing that would be appealing
to the flesh. And, you know, that's a very
important point. You know, in our gospel, there's
nothing that's appealing to the flesh. If our gospel was appealing
to the flesh, everybody would enjoy it. All of Lexington would
be here. But there's nothing in our gospel
that's appealing to the flesh. It gives all the glory to Jesus
Christ the Lord and none to man. And there's just nothing appealing
to the flesh. But I tell you what, it's appealing to the believer,
isn't it? Can't you see the beauty of the
Lord Jesus Christ in this glorious picture of who He is? Now, I
know Him. I'm describing somebody that
I personally know, and I know Him from His Word. I've never
heard His voice audibly. I've never heard Him say anything
to me audibly. I've never seen Him physically, but I've seen
Him in His Word, and I know Him. And how I described Him, that's
the one I know. He's altogether righteous. He's
altogether heavenly. He's the King of kings. And,
oh, His precious blood. His cashmere, oh, it's so comfortable
to wear Him. His ramskins dyed red, that's
His bloody death on the cross and what it accomplished. But
it takes faith to see all that. You have to know that from the
Word of God or you'd never know it. Like I said, the Amalekites,
the Hittites, that bunch, they'd look, they'd say, what is the
attraction? They didn't know that within that tent was the
very Shekinah glory of God. And that is our Lord Jesus Christ. Isn't He a glorious Savior? Let's
pray together. Lord, we