The Dwelling Place of God with Man - The Coverings

The Coverings: Part A (The Badger Skins)

Text: Exodus 25:5, 26:14, 35:7, 23, 36:19, 39:34

Intro: There were two coverings for the Tabernacle, one of badgers’ skins, and the other of rams’ skins dyed red.

The Badger Skins: Badger skin is dull in appearance and has a blue/gray/brown color tone but still very earthy in its appearance. We would understand them to be neither comely nor beautiful. There was nothing in there appearance that would draw attention nor that would make them desirable. They would appear very common, ordinary, and would have been passed by without giving much consideration or thought, in a sense giving about it a despising or rejection.

It is in this covering that we see a perfect picture of our Lord Jesus Christ as He passed through the world and as His flesh was manifest in the eyes of men.

Isaiah 53:2–3 KJV 1900

For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, And as a root out of a dry ground: He hath no form nor 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.

No one who saw the Tabernacle and its outer covering of badgers’ skins would have dreamed of the wealth, the gold, the color and the absolute beauty beneath it! Seeing it from the outside you would think it as nothing...

However...

Upon entering the Tabernacle one would behold the golden table of shew bread, the golden candlestick, the golden altar of incense, the beauty of the vail, the sacredness of The Most Holy Place, the ark of the covenant, the golden mercy seat with the two golden cherubims, and the shekinal light of glory shinning upon the walls of pure, gleaming gold, the ceiling above in spotless white, byssus linen with a background displaying spreading wings of the amazing cherubims in blue, purple, and scarlet, wrought about by the rarest skills of fine needlework and embroidery; each breath breathed would contain hints of the white ascending smoke that filled the rooms with sweat fragrant incense; it is then and only then that one would see and know all of the beauty, wealth and glory contained therein.

Seeing this however, was only made possible for those who came by the way of the brazen altar at the gate of the court by blood of sacrifice offered there. Then and only then could one enter the Tabernacle and behold all it revealed of the plan, purpose, picture, and promise of the Lord.

All of this pictures our Lord: Those that saw Him, as poor, walking on highways and byways into towns, villages, and cities. The One Who testified that birds of the air had nests and foxes had holes, but He, Himself, had no where to lay His head. Seated amongst publicans and sinners, He appeared to the masses as a mere passer-by, a house-less, homeless wanderer, and seemingly without any occupation. At last rejecting Him, despising Him and treating Him with contempt.

Missing all that was just beneath His outward appearance: A man of sorrows, acquainted with the grief of the whole world, weeping, and broken over the sin of man, being moved with compassion, taking upon Himself the very sickness and infirmities of all the world. He became sin for us… God in the flesh, in human form, Creator of all things, His body being His Tabernacle, He dwelled for 33.5 years amongst men as Immanual, upholding all things by the word of His power, He was perfect, holy, sinless, and the very image and glory of God Almighty.

Yet, no one passed by and saw Him as such. No one today, would pass by and see Him as such. Nor can anyone know Him and know all He is until one can say: “I am in Christ.”

A statement that can only be made, by those that come by the way of the gate, by way of the gate, passing by the brazen altar, by way of the cross, owning and confessing the blood shed there as their own blood atonement, the blood of their redemption, then and only then will one be in Christ.

But now, in Christ, I can see all that He is, and all that I am in Him!

To those that chose another path, another way, not by the brazen altar of the cross, to those who do not enter in Him, becoming one with Him, to them, He is only badger skins, so without form and comeliness that none desire Him.