"Tabernacle Studies." Lesson #8
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I. Introduction.
I. Introduction.
I know many of you have been watching our UPCI General Conference on the internet. Praise God!
I think this year, they have about 15,000 in attendance, there in Orlando Florida!
Great things are happening all over the world and here in our nation! Isn’t it wonderful to be apart of the Kingdom of God!
It is a wonderful thing to see so many of our Brothers and Sisters loving and serving and living for God!
I would have loved to stream it here this evening, and enjoy that wonderful preaching and music ministry together, but the time doesn’t quite match up and we want to get you home before it gets too late!
The services are recorded though, so if you’ve not enjoyed any of that, I would highly recommend that you do!
I believe there are many watching this on Facebook. However, the UPCI is launching a new network, of video and audio and written content called : Discipleship now. Have you heard about this? Well now you have!
I am told this will be a subscription based platform but all the General Conference content this week, is free! Check it out!
Take a look at what they have there on discipleship now! I’d love to hear what you think about it!
II. Recap!
II. Recap!
Okay, we have been talking about the Tabernacle.
“Enter His Gates with..”
“Enter His Gates with..”
We have focused on the path of travel from man in his fallen, natural state, toward the Shekinah Glory of God in the Holy of Holies.
And just like anything else worth doing, there is a process!
First, we enter into his courts with thanksgiving and with praise!
Now in this time or dispensatioin of Grace, everyone has the opportunity to approach the glory of God!
But you only get closer to Him, when you start with Thanksgiving and praise!
This is step #1!
If your prayer life is moaning and groaning or complaining about people and things, good luck getting to the Glory!
It’s not gonna happen!
But if you really want to feel God and hear his voice and gain that nearness He offers, you’ve got to do it His way!
We approach Him with Thanksgiving and with Praise!
We start our services that way!
Start your personal prayer time that way!
Here’s the secret:
Praise and worship exist and function in an atmosphere of faith!
Think about an airlock.
When you want to get into a submarine or a space station, you don’t just open a window or a door!
You need an airlock!
An airlock is a compartment with doors which can be sealed against pressure to allow the passage of people and objects between environments of differing pressure or atmospheric composition.
An airlock may be used for passage between environments of different gases or different pressures and sometimes both!
Consider how different is the world of men, our natural state from the Holy Majesty of God!
Two different worlds!
You cannot leave the one and enter the other on your own terms and just any old way!
God has a method of approach and that is Thanksgiving and Praise which can only exist in an atmosphere of faith!
Before the altar of sacrifice and brazen laver or anything else, you first gotta enter the outer court!
Faith is your airlock and entrance!
When Worship and praise find a home on your lips and in your heart, it will never be hard to approach God!
Now, if the smartest and best educated and sharpest people in our world today decided to approach God, they may try to approach God on an intellectual or rational level.
In which case, they don’t even get into the outer court!
This is why they know absolutely nothing about God!
You can have more degrees than a thermostat and still miss the mark entirely!
But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
The Brazen Altar.
The Brazen Altar.
We learned that the Brazen altar exists to adress the sin problem.
And isn’t that always the elephant in the room!
“All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God!”
Okay, we get that.
But we also understand that God is entirely righteous and perfect!
Sin cannot stand before His glory!
If you are on your way to God, you first need to get the sin out of your life!
How many of you here today, have ever fallen off a bicycle or fallen out of a tree or skinned up your knees and elbows?
The worst part is picking out the gravel and the dirt! “Mom! I’m bleeding!”
Now every house is different. Some Moms use that hydrogen peroxide stuff which has to be some of the best stuff out there!
I mean, for one it hurts, and then you see the white fizz as it eats up all the germs.
Listen, I have faith in the white fizz!
Now that stuff works!
Some moms put on the purple iodine stuff or Dettol. Good stuff!
See, Moms know that for you to be healed, first you have to remove the dirt and debris!
Listen! God wants you in His presence, but the sin needs to be removed!
Thank God that He provided a way for us to be cleansed!!!
Jesus became your sacrifice on the cross of Calvary!
He did it, because He wants you to be able to approach His Presence and His Glory!
No matter what anyone tells you: Death is necessary to meet the demand and judgement of sin!
But since God did not want you to die, He did it for you!
He first clothed or tabernacled himself in flesh, becoming man himself, so that He could die for you and gain your access to glory!
HIs Glory! His presence!
The Brazen Laver.
The Brazen Laver.
We talked about water and how that the priest on his way to the glory, here in the process, that priest had to be washed!
Same as you and I!
We need to be washed!
The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ:
Now Sunday after church, we are having a baptism!
It’s a celebration!
Someobody wants to enter covenant with God! Hallelujah!
Sister Samantha is somone who values the glory of God!!!
She is submitting herself, obeying the world of God and taking a step towards glory!
There are things that God has for her and for each of us in the Holy of Holies, and so the best thing we can do is submit ourselves to the process and the path that He has designed!
It’s going to be great!!!
Living for God is a great adventure!!!!
The Holy Place
The Holy Place
Now, once we have allowed God to deal with the our sin problem through His sacrifice, once we have been washed and made new, we are no longer a victim, or even just a worshipper.
We are no priests unto our God!
When you enter the Holy of Holies, you do so as a priest!
But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:
There is marvellous light in that Holy Place!
The Golden Lampstand represents the Spirit of God, active in us, our source of life and light!
It is marvellous!
He is the vine, and we are the branches!
“Always remember: “The Bride comes from the side!”
Also in this Holy Place, we have the nourishment of God’s Holy Word!
And now we can actually make sense of it, because there is light!!!!
Remember now, you role here is that of a priest!
The Priest offers incense on the altar.
These are the prayers of worship and intercession that you pray, which rise up toward God like the heavy, fragrant smoke of incense!
You don’t pray for yourself here. This is where you pray for others!
This then brings us to the Veil. The final partition between the Holy place of service and the Shekina Glory of God!
II. The Veil.
II. The Veil.
The veil was made of finely twined linen, seperating the Most Holy Place from the sanctuary.
Everybody say: “Seperation!”
And thou shalt make a vail of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen of cunning work: with cherubims shall it be made: And thou shalt hang it upon four pillars of shittim wood overlaid with gold: their hooks shall be of gold, upon the four sockets of silver. And thou shalt hang up the vail under the taches, that thou mayest bring in thither within the vail the ark of the testimony: and the vail shall divide unto you between the holy place and the most holy.
Cherubim were embroidered upon it in colors of blue, purple and scarlet.
Not only was this a beautiful hanging, but it was also tremendously strong!
Two teams of oxen, pulling in opposite directions could not tear it apart.
Now the thickness of the Temple Veil was 4” thick.
You can imagine how hard it would be to tear a phone book much less a veil like that!
Now here is what it does:
The veil points directly to the humanity of the Lord Jesus!
Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh;
We are clearly told here that the flesh of Jesus was the real veil, of which the veil of the Holy Place was only a symbol.
Why was it a perfect type of the humanity of our Lord?
Well, in the first place, the veil concealed the glory of God, which shone between the cherubim.
Just behind it dwelt the divine presence of the Almighty God!
From this fact, we gather that the veil was a silent prophecy that someday God, who is a Spirit, would appear wrapped in a veil of flesh!
The invisible Jehovah, was to come to earth in a visible, material form!
Ever read John 1:14? That’s what it means!
And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.
To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.
(We talked about this Sunday!)
Have you ever wondered what God looks like?
He looks like Jesus, because He Is Jesus!
For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.
Now, once upon a time, no human could look on God and live!
And yet, God wished to reveal himself to humanity!
The only way our God, who is a consuming fire, could do that, was to cover himself, hide himself even, behind a veil of flesh!
Verily thou art a God that hidest thyself,
O God of Israel, the Saviour.
The Glory of God dwelling behind the veil of the Tabernacle is one of the clearest biblical illustrations of the truth of the Incarnation!
Folks, when you really know this message, you see the revelation of the Mighty God in Christ, on every page of the Book!
Okay, check this out: Mar 9:2-8.
Now, as we read this, I know it seems as though I’ve gone off on some tangent, but hang with me!
And after six days Jesus taketh with him Peter, and James, and John, and leadeth them up into an high mountain apart by themselves: and he was transfigured before them. And his raiment became shining, exceeding white as snow; so as no fuller on earth can white them. And there appeared unto them Elias with Moses: and they were talking with Jesus. And Peter answered and said to Jesus, Master, it is good for us to be here: and let us make three tabernacles; one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias. For he wist not what to say; for they were sore afraid. And there was a cloud that overshadowed them: and a voice came out of the cloud, saying, This is my beloved Son: hear him. And suddenly, when they had looked round about, they saw no man any more, save Jesus only with themselves.
If you compare this passage with Exodus 24, you will see some interesting things:
In both stories the main characters go up on a high mountain with God.
In both cases, a cloud covered the mountain.
In Exodus 24:16, it says,”For six days the cloud covered the mountain, and on the 7th day the Lord called to Moses.”
Both Matthew and Mark are careful to tell us that it was six days that Jesus took the disciples upon the mountain.
In both stories nothing happened for six days and then on the seventh day, God spoke.
In both stories God spoke from the cloud!
In both stories God’s glory appeared and changed or transfigured the appearance of the principal figures.
So, What exactly is happening here?
Well, in the scene of the Transfiguration, you are seeing the glory of Jehovah shine from behind the veil of the flesh of Jesus!
Most scholars think this took place at night, although even if it was in the day, the light that shone was so bright that this was the characteristic thing those witnesses remembered and wrote about in their gospels!
A ray of this light which had continually dwelt behind the veil, now proceeded out of the very flesh of Christ, making his garments “exceeding white as snow, so as no fuller on earth can white them!” (Mar 9:3)
That the veil, representing His flesh, was made of white linen, showed that His humanity was to be sinless! And so He was!
Okay, we understand that the unrent veil was a barrier, shutting humanity out of the presence of God.
A lot of people today, will agree that Jesus was at least a historical figure.
They will agree that he lived.
Some say He was a prophet. Others say He was just a man. A good man.
But I want you to see something:
Our approach to the Shekinah is made possible because the veil of His flesh was rent or torn, as was the veil of the Temple!
No tearing of the veil or the flesh, and you don’t get to the Glory!
The flesh of Jesus was rent when He died on the cross!
Since the veil was so strong that the oxen could not tear it apart, and since the rending or tearing was from the top to the bottom, God Himself had to have done it!
Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost.
And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent;
They very moment that the man Christ Jesus, Died, an unseen hand tore the veil of the temple!
Okay, let us picture the events of that Sacred hour:
We know that it was three O clock in the afternoon, the hour of the evening sacrifice.
The Priest was was sacrificing the Passover Lamb upon the braxen altar in the Temple courtyard.
At the same hour, Jesus, the true and ultimate Passover Lamb, was being sacrificed upon the brazen altar of the cross of Calvary!
1 Corinthians 5:7 (KJV 1900)
...For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us:
At the moment Jesus cried “It is finished,” and died, the veil of the Temple was rent in two, changing the veil from a barrier to a new and living way into the presence God.
The sinlessness of the Man showed how unfit humanity was for heaven, while the sacrifice of this Man made a way for humanity to actually access and enjoy the presence of God!
If Jesus had merely come tpo earth, lived a beautiful life beyond reproach, and then went pabck to heaven without dying upon the crooss, He woud never hand and “sons of God” to share heaven with HIm!
This grain of corn whear would have had to dwell alone!
But because the grain fell into the ground and died, (John 12:24) it was able to bring forth much fruit and Jesus was able to produce more after his own kind.
We see the same truth here as in Aaron’s rod that budded. Life really comes out of death!
Thou fool, that which thou sowest is not quickened, except it die:
Those who recognize the rent veil and accpet Christ’s sacrificial death as their only claim to eternal life are the only ones who will escape the death that is justly their due.
Okay, last point here:
When the High Priest took the blood into the Holiest of Holies on the Day of Atonement, he was not allowed to sit down or to remain in that sacred room.
There were no couches and no chairs!
As soon as he had finished the ceremony, he was to withdraw!
This shows that the sacrifice was not complete and could not perfect anyone!
But when Jesus, our High Priest, entered with His own blood into the real Holy Place in heaven (Heb 9:24) He sat down!!!!!!
Yes!!!!!
But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God;
He sat down, showing that the ultimate sacrifice was now complete!
He had accomplished what no other creature could!
For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.
Since we have such a high priest, whose own flesh was rent for us, we can now draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith!
(Heb 10:22)
And now, because of what Christ Jesus has done for you and me, we have the promise of Heb 4:16!
Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.
Hey! Nobody can keep you out!
You belong here!
It is your rightful place!
It is your rightful role!
III. Conclusion.
III. Conclusion.
I don’t have to ask Mary to intercede with Jesus on my behalf.
You and I can walk straight into His throne room!
We are a royal priesthood!
Is there something going on that you want to talk to Him about? A need? A burden on your heart?
You have access and a right to bring it directly to Him!
When you understand just who He is and how he cares for you and invites you into His presence and into His glory, you realize that not only are you truly blessed and highly favored, but you are uniquely well positioned to minister to a lost word!
He did not delegate you to a task without giving you the authority to carry it out!
He has made you a royal priesthood!
Why don’t we go there in closing tonight?
Let’s go to the veil!
Who knows what might happen....
