Jesus - The Tabernacle

Introduction

This message is serving as an introduction / overview of the series “Jesus in the Tabernacle”

Today we’re going to examine a topic that is an amazing bridge to both the Old & New Testaments and as well as our understanding.

The book of Hebrews is a unique book.

When you look at the majority of the books of the NT, you see many books written to the church. Whether it’s the church at:

Corinth

Colosse

Thessalonica

Philippi

Ephesus

Galatia

Or to Church Elders such as:

Timothy

Titus

The book of Hebrews was written to a people group. It was written to the people who God had called out a couple thousand years prior to this writing. More specifically, it was directed to those who understood the History, Law and Religion of the Jews.

It wasn’t written to get the Jews to stop acting like Jews. It was written to get the Jews to understand the true meaning and purpose of their religion.

In Sunday School this morning, we mentioned a couple Scriptures that is relevant to this lesson tonight.

The first of which is Nicodemus. (Joh. 3)

He was a sincere, Religious Jew whose mind was on the flesh

The other was the multitude who’d followed him from Tiberius in Joh. 6.

It’s the same mindset that troubled the Religious Jews of Jesus’ day. In essence, they couldn’t see the forest for the trees! They were thinking carnally when they should have been thinking Spiritually.

The writer of Hebrews tries to bridge the gap of understanding - to show the Jew that what was accomplished in the flesh in OT ordinances were a picture of something better to come - that has come to fruition in Christ Jesus!

But before we can get to the Tabernacle, we must go back and get to some of the History that led up to it. So we see first, The Plan

I. The Plan

A Conditional Covenant

After the Promise (Gen. 12:1-3)

In Gen. 12:1-3, we have the Abrahamic Covenant. This marks the beginning of the Jewish people. In this covenant you see:

God Promised to Grant Him a Land

God Promised to make a Great Nation

God Promised to Bless Him

God Promised to Promote Him

God Promised to Bless & Curse them who did unto him

God Promised to use Him to Bless Everyone

In this is a setting aside of a people and a place special unto God.

Time moves on and the COI grow till they eventually sojourn in Egypt. They sojourned until they became enslaved there.

After the Enslavement (Ex. 1)

The COI though they had these promises of God, they lived enslaved to this world.

This is (another message for another time) but Christians today have promises of God yet instead live enslaved by the world.

After 400+ years, the COI would then be Delivered from Bondage

After their Deliverance (Ex. 12)

God would bring the plagues down upon the land of Egypt to convince Pharaoh to let His people go to worship Him.

After the 10th plague, the COI would be let go, then they’d be followed, God parted the Red Sea & they walked across on dry land & escaped the ensuing army into the wilderness.

By the time Exodus 19 comes around, the children of Israel are at the foot of Mount Sinai and God offers them a covenant.

A covenant in essence is essentially in agreement between two parties. They can be unconditional such as the Abraham covenant, or they can be conditional such as the Mosaic covenant.

God Offered a Covenant (Ex. 19:5-8)

We see in these verses, that God is offering the children of Israel, a conditional covenant. Meaning that both parties had a responsibility in order to maintain the covenant.

The COI were already promised the land, the heritage. Now they were offered the priesthood. The rights to be the light to the world and the spokesmen for God.

God Dictated the Terms (Ex. 20:1-17)

In these verses, we see what God is charging the children of Israel to maintain. This is what God's expectations are of them for this covenant.

We see the Plan, now notice the Providence

II. The Providence

A Careful Supply

Thankfully, God not only gave Moses the 10 Commandments, He gave Moses the Tabernacle as well.

Carefully Considered (Ex. 20:1-17)

I say that it was carefully considered by God because God knew that the COI couldn’t uphold the Law, therefore they needed Grace. This is what the Tabernacle is all about!

The Tabernacle is God’s Provision for a sinful people. Just as Jesus is God’s Provision for a sinful people!

Carefully Planned (Ex. 25:9; 40)

Once we begin to get into the plans for the Tabernacle, we want to make note of a couple verses:

Exodus 25:9 “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.”

Exodus 25:40 “And look that thou make them after their pattern, which was shewed thee in the mount.”

God was saying: ‘Make sure Moses, that it’s made just exactly like I am telling you.

And make no mistake - God gave great detail as to how He wanted it to be. From the outer court, to the number of curtains & rings & everything!

Carefully Executed (Ex. 39:42-43)

After it’s all said and done - God had even selected specific workmen to accomplish it (Ex. 31:1-6), we see that it was made as God had intended: Exodus 39:42–43 “According to all that the Lord commanded Moses, so the children of Israel made all the work. And Moses did look upon all the work, and, behold, they had done it as the Lord had commanded, even so had they done it: and Moses blessed them.”

Carefully Confirmed (Heb. 8:5)

Then we see in the book of Hebrews that the work that was to be so specific served a purpose - and was done as God intended.

We see the Plan & the Providence. Lastly, let’s examine the Purpose

III. The Purpose

Now we need to examine the

It was an Illustration (Heb. 8:5; 9:9a; 24)

No less than 3x did the writer of Hebrews tell us that those things served as:

Example; Shadow & Figure (x2)

In other words, the Tabernacle served the purpose of giving us an illustration for our understanding.

Good preachers give illustrations. And when you’re able to give an illustration, it solidifies the truth you’re trying to convey.

Jesus was the master of the illustration. He spoke often in parables & illustrative language. (Ill.) Jesus told us the story of the prodigal son to teach us about forgiveness for the backslidden.

We can find a tremendous amount of stories throughout the OT that illustrate truths found in Jesus. I’ll give you a couple as an example:

Noah’s Ark

The Passover Lamb

And while the connections to these illustrations are obvious, they are not outrightly stated as such in the NT… but the Tabernacle is. So what does this tell us?

Demonstrates a Connection

What I mean by that is a connection between the OT and the NT.

Many see a disconnect between the OT and the NT. Many will look back and say ‘Well that was under the OT’ as if it was somehow discarded by the advent of Christ.

While I will say that we are not under the condemnation of the Law, it doesn’t mean that God’s mind about the Law has changed.

The OT and the NT are not contradictory, they are complementary

The OT is more than the foundation of the NT. They go together like hand in glove.

The OT Law was never for salvation, else God would not have given the Tabernacle!

Galatians 3:21–24 “Is the law then against the promises of God? God forbid: for if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law. But the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe. But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed. Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.”

(Like I said this morning) Jesus was not an afterthought that God ordained because man refused to keep the Law.

It wasn’t some great ‘reset’ after God threw up His Hands at mankind.

We see the coming Sacrifice of Jesus all the way back in Gen. 3!

Once again: The Law NEVER was the means for Salvation - nor was it ever a PART of Salvation. If we look in Heb. 11, we see that the writer does His best to demonstrate that righteousness in the sight of God was always BY FAITH WITHOUT THE DEEDS OF THE LAW! (Heb. 11:13; Rom. 3:19-20)

Therefore, any doctrine that teaches the Law as part of Salvation - today or any other - is false!

Demands a Comparison

Because it’s illustrative, it demands a comparison.

In other words, we should take what we know about the Tabernacle - the items, the rituals, the priesthood, etc and compare them to Jesus.

And it’s through these comparisons that we can better understand the mission & ministry of Christ.

The Tabernacle is Illustrative of Jesus.

It was Imitative (Heb. 8:1-5)

It was imitative, but only so far. It gave illustration of Jesus, but not perfection.

In other words, it illustrates Jesus as High Priest, but of a different priesthood.

The last two points speak to these differences as well.

It was Imitative

It was Insufficient (Heb. 8:6-12; 9:9b; 11-14)

One of the problems with the old testament was that it was insufficient. It served as type & shadow, but could not accomplish what Christ would.

Whereas under the blood of bulls & goats sins were temporarily covered, under the blood of Christ sins were not COVERED but CLEANSED!

It was Insufficient

It was Intermistic (Heb. 8:13; 9:10)

This means only for the interim. In other words, it was temporary.

We don’t sacrifice the blood of bulls & goats anymore.

The Condemnation of the Law and the Correction of the Tabernacle has been superceded by the Condemnation of the Law and the Cleansing by the Blood of Christ.

Conclusion