I hope the acoustics will be as well in the new building as they are in this room. Nice. I don't know if it's because we're all jammed up together, but same. Good.

If you will, open your Bibles with me tonight to Exodus chapter 26. Exodus chapter 26. As most of you are aware, we've been studying from the book of Exodus on Wednesday evenings for some time, and I would remind us all again that the theme of this book is redemption.

Arthur Pink makes a point of emphasizing that every book in the Bible, every book and I suppose every letter, all has a particular theme. And of course the theme that he saw, and the theme is easy to see here in the book of Exodus, God redeemed his people from Egyptian bondage by the blood of the Passover lamb.

And we know that's typical, this deliverance from Egypt by blood, by the blood of the Lamb, was typical of the redemption that Christ has wrought for all of his chosen people by his precious blood. He is the Lamb of God. As John the Baptist pointed him out, behold, the Lamb of God which taketh away the sins of the world.

It's often pointed out, I think I've already mentioned this, maybe in one message at least, that God devoted two chapters here in the Bible, speaking about creation. And actually they are pretty much repeating one another, chapters one and two. But two chapters speaking about creation. And then when it comes to the tabernacle and the services of the tabernacle, How many chapters are devoted to this?

And we know the reason is that the tabernacle and later the temple, its service, it and its services revealed in many ways the gospel. But it revealed the gospel in types and in shadows. gospel of Jesus Christ.

You know the scripture in John chapter 1 verse 14, very familiar passage, we quote it quite often. Verse one says, in the beginning, the Word was with God, the Word was God. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And then down in verse 14, and the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us.

But later in that chapter, three verses down, we are told, for the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. God gave the tides the shadows of which reveal the gospel and the law, but the Lord Jesus Christ, the truth is revealed by him coming, by his life and by his death, by his resurrection, by his effectual work of redemption for his people.

These types and shadows that we find in the law are revealed or manifested much more clearly. I mentioned in one message, because someone asked me if I planned to preach through the tabernacle, try to go through the books, the book here that speaks about all the pieces, parts of the tabernacle, and I said no.

But I did bring one message from Juan. There's seven, it's called furniture, seven pieces of furniture in the tabernacle. And I did bring a message on one of those pieces, the labor. But tonight, I want us to look at something else. I want us to look at the veil. The veil.

And so if you have your Bible open here to chapter 26 of Exodus, let me begin reading in verse 30. God speaking to Moses, and thou shalt rear up the tabernacle according to the fashion thereof which was showed thee in the mount, and thou shalt make a veil of blue and purple and scarlet and fine twine linen of cunning worth, with cherubims shall it be made. And thou shalt hang it upon four pillars of chittum wood, overlaid with gold. Their hooks shall be of gold, upon the four sockets of silver. And thou shalt hang up the veil under the thatches, that thou mayest bring in thither within the veil the ark of the testimony. And the veil shall divide unto you between the holy place and the most holy. And thou shalt put the mercy seat upon the ark of the testimony in the most holy place.

So I want us to think about this veil that was part of the tabernacle. And I have two things tonight that the veil may remind us of, and then we'll look at the one thing the scriptures tell us was represented by this veil.

But first of all, the veil can remind us of the division that is caused by sin. We see in verse 33 that we read, within the veil of the ark of the testimony and the veil shall divide unto you between the holy place and the most holy place.

We know that inside the holy place, the priest went every day. Lambs had to be trimmed every week. The show bread had to be changed on the table. of showbread and there was the golden altar of incense. Incense had to be burned every day. And the priest could go in that part of the tabernacle every day and minister, but the veil kept everyone out of the most holy place.

Only once a year did anyone ever go in there, and that was a high priest, and he always went in with the blood of the goat that was the Lord's goat, as they cast slots on two goats, remember, on that day of atonement, and one goat was slaughtered and one goat served as a scapegoat and the sins of Israel and the iniquities and transgressions the high priest confessed upon the head of the scapegoat and it was led away supposedly never to be seen again.

What a picture, right? What a picture of how the Lord Jesus Christ took our sins away. And God, according to His everlasting covenant, promises and declares their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.

But this veil separated, that's the point I'm making. And we know that sin, this could be a type or a picture to us reminding us that the one thing that separates us from God is sin. When Adam was first created and his wife Eve, they didn't need a veil. They didn't need any blood sacrifice. The scripture says the day that Adam disobeyed God, the Lord came walking in the garden in the cool of the day.

And we may imagine that however long, however much time transpired from the creation of Adam and Eve until the day he disobeyed God, it may have been the same day, I don't know. It may have been five weeks. The commentators don't believe it was long because they had no children. She was not expecting a child. So they believe the sin, the fall, took place fairly quickly.

But there was fellowship. There was no sin, so there was no division. There was no division between man and his creator. This veil served to separate because behind the veil, as we read here, they would bring in the Ark of the Covenant, the Ark of the Testimony, and then they set upon that Ark the Mercy Seat with the two cherubims.

And we know this about that place. God, the Shekinah, the manifested presence of God was there above the mercy seat. They couldn't go in there. The veil separated man from God. Sin separates us from God.

Let me point out a few verses of Scripture to show us that God resided, if you please. It was the throne of God, that mercy seat. God manifested His presence there above the mercy seat. Let me show you a few verses of scripture. Look back to chapter 25 of Exodus. Chapter 25 and verse 22, we read, And this is God speaking to Moses, 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. That's where God said, I will meet with you. That's where God's manifested presence was. It's called the Shekinah.

And let's look at it in Numbers, Numbers chapter seven. And the last verse, I believe it is in this, yes, number seven in verse 89. And when Moses was gone into the tabernacle of the congregation to speak with him, who's he going to speak with? With God. When he was gone into the tabernacle of the congregation to speak with him, then he, Moses, heard the voice of one speaking unto him from where? from off the mercy seat, from off the mercy seat that was upon the ark of testimony.

And then also one other scripture in 1 Samuel chapter 4. 1 Samuel chapter 4. And I've got to move on, but 1 Samuel 4 and verse 4. So the people sent to Shiloh that they might bring from thence the ark of the covenant of the Lord of hosts, which, that refers back to the Lord of hosts, which dwelleth between the cherubims. In other words, the mercy seat with the two cherubims, the Lord dwelt between the cherubims from above the mercy seat.

What is it that separates men from God? It's sin, isn't it? In Isaiah, we have this text in Isaiah 59 in verse two, which says, but your iniquities, your iniquities have separated you, separated between you and your God. And this veil that divided between the most holy place and the holy place, it was made of fine twine thread. And the Jews, we don't read this in the scripture, but according to the Jews, this was six times double. It was four inches thick. This veil was four inches thick. What a picture. What a picture of how sin has separated man from God.

When the Lord Jesus Christ died, we know this in the New Testament, that veil, as thick as it was, it was rent by the hand of God, I should say. It was rent from the top to the bottom. And it made picture to us that our sins that had separated us from God had been expiated, had been atoned. And now we have access into the very presence of God.

Look at this verse in Hebrews chapter 9 with me. You know, we're all getting close to this time called Christmas and people are thinking about the birth of Christ. And I'm thankful that the world acknowledges his birth, don't you? But you know, I wonder just how many people realize why he came, why he came. But here in Hebrews chapter nine, I want to bring this out, verse 26. The writer said, for then must he, that is Christ, often have suffered since the foundation of the world, but now once in the end of the world, that is the end of that Jewish world, once in the end of the world, hath he appeared, why did he come? Why did he appear? He appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. Yeah, that veil separated, but Christ appeared to put away sin of his people so that we might have access unto God.

Another thing that this veil can picture to us is the darkness of that old dispensation. I've already said that the gospel was revealed in the tabernacle by types and shadows. So we could say that, yes, the gospel was there, but it was veiled. It was veiled to a certain degree. When the Lord Jesus died and that veil was rent, the truth of these shadows and types was manifested to all of us. And we see more clearly. I think everyone here, you're familiar with the word of God, the Bible, and you know You've read the Old Testament and you know, you've heard me say it, you've seen it, the gospel's there. It's there. But you would also say tonight, it's much clearer now with the New Testament. We can talk about the tabernacle and what went on there. These things have been fulfilled. We can look back and see much clearer. But the law revealed the gospel. It was manifested, the law that was given through Moses.

Let me show you an example in Leviticus. Turn with me here to Leviticus chapter 19. I was thinking about this verse. Leviticus chapter 19. God speaking, this is, you know, the first five books of the Bible, at one time, that was just one book. They were all included in one book, the book of the law, Moses. And the book of the law includes all five of these books. Sometimes people think, well, the law, that's just the Ten Commandments. No, it included much more than just the Ten Commandments. Yes, it did. But anyway, look here in chapter 19 of Leviticus and verse 19. God said, you shall keep my statutes. Thou shall not let thy cattle gender with a diverse kind. Thou shall not sow thy field with mingled seed. Neither shall a garment mingled of linen and woolen come upon thee.

Now it's very clear that that verse is speaking about a division, a division between the cattle and between the seed that is sown and between the cloth that a person would make his robe out of, his clothes out of. But what does that tell us about the gospel? Or does it tell us anything about the gospel? Yes, it does. The Gospels not to be combined is not rather the combined work of man and God, or God and man. The Gospel is the work of Christ and Christ alone. You know, at the Reformation, those four solas, those four solas, the Scriptures alone, Scriptures alone, grace alone, Christ alone. And that hasn't changed, has it? It's never going to change. But the Bible is very clear when it talks here about mixing things. God said, you shall not mix these things together. And we're reminded in the word of God in the New Testament that works and grace don't go together. Either salvation, Paul puts it very clearly, doesn't it, in the letter of Romans, that salvation is either all of grace or it's all of works. But you can't mix the two. And that's the danger and that's the thing that so much false religion tries to do. It tries to mix what God said you're not to mix. God's salvation is strictly, exclusively by the grace of God. And men bring in their free will and they bring in a number of things, baptism and start adding things along. No, no, it's Christ and Christ alone. You're not to mix these things together.

But the one thing, here's the last part of my message, the one thing that we know that this veil did picture, we know it because the scriptures tell us, it tells us. Look with me in Hebrews chapter 10. This is the one thing that this veil in that old tabernacle we know did picture, Hebrews chapter 10. and beginning with verse nine. Hebrews 10, verse nine. Then said he, lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second. By the wish will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once. And every priest ended daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God, from henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool, for by one offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. The word sanctified, you know it means set apart, right? God set some people apart in the eternal election. He did. Scripture's very clear.

Whereof the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us, for after that he had said before, this is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord. I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them, and their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. Now where remission of these is, there's no more offering for sin.

Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by new and living way, which he hath consecrated, or new made for us through the veil, that is to say, his flesh. His flesh. His flesh was represented by that veil. What do we mean by His flesh? Well, we mean His humanity that was offered in that sacrifice. The Word, the eternal Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. And the veil in the temple, in the tabernacle first, and then the temple, was typical of Christ.

And notice it was finely twined. This linen was finely twined. What does that mean? I looked it up. And it means to weave, I guess, would be a good, and you think about there's two, it has to be two, at least two threads woven together makes one. And we know, we see his divinity, his Godhead, and his humanity come together to make one person. Finely twined Lennon. And Lennon in Revelation is spoken of as righteousness of the saints. And we know that Christ was the righteous one, the holy one.

We enter into the holiest, that is into the presence of God. Having brethren boldness we have boldness to enter into the holiest. That priest, that Old Testament high priest, don't you know he was shaking in his boots? And that veil, as I've already said, it was thick. He'd have to pull that thing up and he had to be carrying blood and he had to be carrying a censer somehow too. And just fill that holy place with incense, with smoke, and then sprinkle the blood. upon the mercy seat and before the mercy seat.

And I've read this and I've heard other men say that there were bells on the garments of the high priest, but that couldn't be true. It sounds good. It sounds good. And they could hear the bells tinkling. making a noise as he was ministering in there in the holy place. But if you read in Leviticus chapter 16 about that day of atonement, he didn't wear that high priestly robe when he went in there before God. He dressed very simply, very plainly in a linen cloth. But I still believe He went in there with fear and trembling.

But now you, you bow your head right where you are. You don't even have to bow your head. Call upon your Father. Speak to your God. You're in His presence. And you can come bold, but why? Because you know your sins are gone. Because He's taken them away. That high priest, you know, before he put the blood of the goat on the mercy seat for the sins of the people, remember, he took blood in there first of an ox, a bull, rather, for his own sins. Because he was sinful. But our high priest, he had no sin. He's holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners.

Ah, what a wonderful high priest we have, giving us access into the very presence of God. And that boldness, it doesn't mean a haughty way, does it? Oh, no. Yeah, we go into the presence of God with reverence. We remember who He is and who we are, where He is and where we are. Amen.

The veil of the of the fine twine thread pictured the holiness of his human nature, the stiffness of that veil pictured his strength and his courage and his devotedness to do the will of God by that strength that was in that veil.

Remember we read the scripture here in Hebrews 10, lo, I come, and the volume of the book it is written of me, to do thy will, O God. There's one verse, I believe it's in Luke's Gospel, that says, he set his face like a flint to go to Jerusalem. They told him, they told him, or he told his disciples what awaited him in Jerusalem, but he was not deterred, right? No, no, he set his flint to go to Jerusalem, to go to the cross, to finish the work which his father had given him to do.

The colors of that veil were blue, which is the color of the sky, reminding us he came from heaven, purple and scarlet, which may speak of his wounds that he suffered for us.

You know that verse in Isaiah 52 tells us, as many were astonished at thee. If you had seen him, what was left of his body that day, when Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus had taken that body down, could that be a man? Many were astonished that his visage was more marred, more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men."

It's always amazed me when I think about three days later when he came out of that tomb. He wasn't in a marred body, was he? All the marks were still in his hands and his feet. But he was in a glorified body. And my body and your body, if the Lord doesn't come in our lifetime, we know it's going to be put out somewhere and his worms are going to eat on it. It's going to turn back to the dust. But oh, when Christ comes again, with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and the dead in Christ shall rise. We're going to come out with a new body, aren't we? A glorified body, just like he did. And just like his body, the scripture said.

And that color scarlet and purple, that's the color of royalty. And we know that he certainly was royal, the king of kings and lord of lords.

One other thing. On that veil was embroidered those cherubim. on the mercy seat to the ends of the cherubims, on the door into the tabernacle, which was made of the same type of cloth. The cherubim were embroidered. Up above the covering, up above, there were cherubims.

You know, those cherubims represent His people, you and I, one, one with Him. That union that exists between Christ and His people. It's an eternal union. God chose and gave us unto Him before the foundation of the world. And that's how Paul could say, I'm crucified with Christ. How was he crucified with Christ? He was one with Christ. Paul said, we're seated in the heavens with Him. How is that possible? Because our head is there. We're members of his body. There's that union, that vital union that exists between the branch and the vine. There's not going to be any fruit if it's separated.

Well, there's so much here. I like to preach from this passage. Let's leave it to him and then we'll be dismissed tonight.