The Tabernacle Pattern
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Intro: I have really given much consideration and prayer concerning this Christmas season and the direction for preaching. In my pursuit for Lords leading He has done just that. I intended to focus in this month on the birth of Christ and well I believe we are going to do that, but in an entirely different manner than I originally anticipated.
Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.
God with us...
The Chaldeans answered before the king, and said, There is not a man upon the earth that can shew the king’s matter: therefore there is no king, lord, nor ruler, that asked such things at any magician, or astrologer, or Chaldean. And it is a rare thing that the king requireth, and there is none other that can shew it before the king, except the gods, whose dwelling is not with flesh.
These last several months the Lord has really been teaching me a lot concerning Christ… Maybe oddly enough, it all started in the Old Testament... There is a big difference between knowing something, and having it become part of your very being. Just as last week we established the difference between knowing about someone and actually knowing that someone. Today, we are going to consider the Christmas story, from an entirely different perspective. We are going to consider it through the eyes of the Old Testament. More specifically through what God did in the Old Testament as He began to prepare the world for the work that He would accomplish through the Lord Jesus Christ. We are going to begin in Exodus but I want to be clear, that prior to Exodus, there are certainly pictures and commands, that are in this preparation but none so clear as the building of the Tabernacle and the sacrifices that would be offered there. When you really begin to dive into the Tabernacle, you will quickly find that from the outside it is nothing more than a simple rectangle that is roughly 75’ x 155’. You will see that from the outside, it wasn’t much to look at, but that inside it was the small golden box, that was the most significant thing in the entirety of the Old Testament.
Just to be clear the physical tabernacle has no bearing on us today or our worship of the Lord. That being said, so often in our Bible, we see something in the Old Testament that is physical, and historical and is a picture of something that is spiritual in the New Testament. The Goal through this is not to hyper spiritualize something but to take a simple Bible truth that we learn through the Tabernacle and apply it to us today.
Who was the Tabernacle all about?
God; and His nation, the children of Israel. For the average person walking by, it didn’t look like much. That being said, to step inside was nothing short of miraculous. I am telling you, there more Biblical truth wrapped up in this thing than any of us could imagine.
In giving the Tabernacle to the Children of Israel, God was facilitating the place where He could dwell and Israel could have a relationship with their God. This was expressed through the many different avenues contained within the Tabernacle and the sacrifices performed there.
God and the Body of Christ the Church:
But we must understand that God’s intention for the tabernacle concerning the body of Christ is not a physical one but it is a picture of our Spiritual Relationship with God and is intended to teach us about… Ready?!? Our relationship with Him.
Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted.
Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.
When and Where?
We see in our Bibles that the Lord introduces His plan for the tabernacle to the children of Israel shortly after He brings them out of bondage in Egypt when they are in the wilderness.
According to all that I shew thee, after the pattern of the tabernacle, and the pattern of all the instruments thereof, even so shall ye make it.
The Tabernacle was the central part of Israel’s worship and would remain as such until the days of Solomon and the building of a more permanent place for God to dwell through the Temple.
What?
What was its significance?
The Tabernacle is the single greatest commodity in the entire Old Testament. Every part of its features and furnishings are jam-packed with Old Testament truth that was a foreshadowing and a picture of the New Testament truth.
2. What was its intention?
It was one of the first things and one of the main things that God did in the Old Testament to prepare the world for what He would ultimately do through His Son the Lord Jesus Christ.
How?
How was it financed?
Just to put this into perspective for us. If God asked us today to build the Tabernacle, and we were in the situation like the children of Israel where in which was that they had no way to make any money… Ready for this, in today’s economy the Tabernacle would cost, just in the precious metals somewhere around 57 million dollars.
All they had was what they left Egypt with.
And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, that they bring me an offering: of every man that giveth it willingly with his heart ye shall take my offering.
It was financed by a free will offering, through an unemployed nation of Israel. Isn’t interesting that God gave instances where God demanded people tithe and give towards certain things but He didn’t do that here. This was a choice made by each individual person. He had Moses bring everyone together, to speak of this free will offering, and then end it by essentially saying, that if you don’t want to have a part in this, no problem, its entirely up to you but for those who do, you can invest as much or as little as you would like, just understand that the more you invest, the more blessed you are going to be as a result!
Why did God do it this way? I believe simply, because He didn’t want to force them to want to have a relationship with Him. For those that wanted in, where invested and would be commited!
2. How was it to be constructed?
The children of Israel’s offering was to be...
Ex. 25:3 gold, silver brass…
Ex. 25:4 Fine linen of blue, purple, scarlet, and goats hair.
Ex. 25:5 rams’ skins dyed red, and badgers’ skins, and shittim wood.
Ex. 25:6 oil and spices.
Ex. 25:7 precious stones.
How was it to be laid out?
And let them make me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them. According to all that I shew thee, after the pattern of the tabernacle, and the pattern of all the instruments thereof, even so shall ye make it.
God told Moses that it was going to be after a pattern, but what pattern?
Who serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things, as Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the tabernacle: for, See, saith he, that thou make all things according to the pattern shewed to thee in the mount.
Moses is the General Contractor so to speak and his blue prints are given by God.
It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.
Notice that heavens is plural? Well how many heavens are there? The Bible indicates that there are three…
Paul is 2 Corinthians 12:2 speaks of being caught up in the third heaven. If there is the be a 3rd of anything means to me that there must also be a first and a second.
1st heaven - court yard
2nd heaven - holy place
3rd heaven - most holy place
There, we have a pattern of the heavens...
Then there is the pattern of the true tabernacle in heaven.
A minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man.
But Christ being come an 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;
1st court - heavenly places
And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:
2nd throne room -
Where the seven lamps of fire are burning. (Rev. 4:5), where the word of God is settled. (Ps. 119:89), and the golden vials full of odours are found here. (Rev. 5:8)
3rd part throne itself, where God’s presence is fully manifest.
And immediately I was in the spirit: and, behold, a throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne.
The pattern after the heavens, and the pattern in heaven.
The Tabernacle on earth was 3 sections as well.
Court - Brazen altar and the Brazen Laver
Holy Place - Contained the seven branched Golden Candlestick, the Table of Shewbread, and the Altar of Incense.
Most Holy Place - Contained the Ark of the Covenant and the Mercy Seat.
Lastly it was to be made after the pattern of Christ.
But Christ being come an 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;
Listen here, just as the physical, literal tabernacle here on earth was the declaration of a more glorious tabernacle in heaven, Jesus came in a physical and literal body and was the manifestation of God and dwelled inside His earthly tabernacle and was the declaration of a more glorious tabernacle in heaven.
No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.
And here we come to this wonderful conclusion. That all of the features and the furnishings of the tabernacle in the Old Testament were made after the pattern of Christ, to picture Him, and to picture God’s purpose through Him.
The Fence that made up the court yard was a picture of Christ:
The Gate was the entrance into the court:
I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.
Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
The Brazen Alter was a picture of Christ
The Brazen Laver was a picture of Christ
The Table of Shewbread was a picture of Christ
The 7 Branched Candlestick was a picture of Christ
The Alter of Incense was a picture of Christ
The Veil was a picture of Christ
The Ark of the covenant was picture of Christ
The Mercy Seat was a picture of Christ
Why?
God dwells in the third heaven in a place that is beyond description. It is the place that God deserves to be, and if He so willed it, He could have stayed in that place entirely separated from us and no one would have known or expected Him to do anything different.
Once God formed the nation of Israel and brought them out of bondage in Egypt. God told the nation of Israel that is totally and absolutely mind blowing...
That although God had His place in heaven, He also wanted to have a place on earth, where He could dwell with them...
He didn’t want to be a God off in the distance, or a God that way out there...
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, of all things which I will give thee in commandment unto the children of Israel.
What we have here is this:
We have God’s incomprehensible desire to meet with us!
Closing:
Here is the goal of this study, or series or whatever we want to call it. It is to unlock the fullness of God’s desire that God has to meet with us. Every single morning when we open our eyes, do we understand that God desires to meet with us, can you fathom that?
The fact is, with that incomprehensible reality that is available and waiting for us, our attitude is sometime… I ain’t got time for that…
SAY WHAT!?! Are you kidding me.... If we don’t have time to meet with the Holy, all powerful God that desires to meet with us, let me ask us this question. Who do we have time to meet with?
Do you realize that God wanting to meet in the Old Testament with the Children of Isreal is completely incomprehensible. And that it was nothing more than a picture of what is an absolute reality for you and I in Christ.
What if we looked at the lessons learned through the Old Testament Tabernacle which pictures our relationship with Christ. What if we used this as a pattern for our life as we meet with God on a daily basis. I am not talking legalism, we are not adding law here… He bore every aspect of it in His tabernacle. All of the requirements that were on man, He took upon Himself.
I do believe it is transforming!
Just think of how it would change your life, if everyday, you woke up and you entered into those courts and you spent time in the glorious presence of God!
Think of Mary Magdelene, and her investment in the Tabernacle of Christ.
Joseph or Aramethea and how he invested in that Tabernacle.
Or Nicodemus, who once came by night, but now was invested in the Tabernacle of Christ.
Think of how all of their lives changed...