Tabernacle Lesson #5?
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I. Introduction
I. Introduction
When I was in college, one of my good friends and I found ourselves caught up with school work and as it happened, both of us were off work that day, from the tire shop where we both worked after classes.
What do you do with a day off?
Well, as a single young fella with no other obligations, the answer always seems to be:“Go somewhere!”
We hit the road in in his old S10 and drove up into the Gold country of California, with our elbows and 90’s country coming out of our windows!
The natural beauty of God’s creation is so fine, the drive itself was a treat!
I recall, how hot and thirsty we were by the time that we arrived at the moanining Caverns.
Ever heard of them?
Back in the 1840s some gold miners found a hole in the ground.
Just the thing for miners!
Looking around this hole, they also found ancient arrowheads and tools.
Little did they know that under that hole, was a massive cavern system deep enough to contain the statue of liberty!
As wind would blow across the hole, it made a moaning sound that drew passersby for thousands of years.
At the very bottom, they found many bones and ancient artifacts, like a necklace buried in clay, that is estimated to be over 8000 years old! Wow! What a find!
The Gold miners who found the hole, lowered themselves to the floor of the main cavern by means of a large ore bucket on a winch.
Without modern flashlights, they used whale oil lamps for light, and what sights they saw down there!
I saw those sights myself and was amazed!
Stalagtites, stalagmites, calcium deposits and formations, it was as though we walked on a sbuterrranean, alien world!!!!
I remember being at the bottom of the main cavern with a group of visitors when the tour guide told us that the temperature always stayed the same and never changed regardless of the weather above. That was cool!
Now with all this heat we’ve had this week, I’m just about ready to go back to that cave!
It was intimidating! Terrifying! It was magnificent!
Then something happened that I will never forget!
The tour guide told us to hold our hands 1 inch from our noses and then turned out the lights!
I cannot describe the darkness that enveloped us that day!
Absolutely pitch black!
So black in fact, that if you did not already know that your own hand was in front of your face, you’d have never seen it!
So it was in the Holy Place.
PItch black!
I. The Candlestick.
I. The Candlestick.
In a prior lesson on the Tabernacle, we talked about the four coverings, the badger skins and goat skins and fine linen curtains that blocked all light from the Holy Place!
Imagine the Priest inside that place, on a mission of Holy Service, yet unable to see anything!
That would be a recipe for disaster!
I can just see the priest, falling over the table of shewbread, and knocking over the altar of incense!
But God is so good, he has a way of giving light to those who would look for it!
So it was that God included in the Tabernacle plan, the Golden Candlestick!
The Candlestick or lampstand, was beaten by hand out of pure gold.
That’s right! No welding, brazing, or any other methoc of assembling pieces, this thing was beaten from one massive ingot of solid gold!
There were seven branches in all! Perfection!
A flower was placed at the end of each branch and agolden lamp was on top of each flower.
And thou shalt make a candlestick of pure gold: of beaten work shall the candlestick be made: his shaft, and his branches, his bowls, his knops, and his flowers, shall be of the same. And six branches shall come out of the sides of it; three branches of the candlestick out of the one side, and three branches of the candlestick out of the other side: Three bowls made like unto almonds, with a knop and a flower in one branch; and three bowls made like almonds in the other branch, with a knop and a flower: so in the six branches that come out of the candlestick. And in the candlestick shall be four bowls made like unto almonds, with their knops and their flowers. And there shall be a knop under two branches of the same, and a knop under two branches of the same, and a knop under two branches of the same, according to the six branches that proceed out of the candlestick. Their knops and their branches shall be of the same: all it shall be one beaten work of pure gold. And thou shalt make the seven lamps thereof: and they shall light the lamps thereof, that they may give light over against it.
A type of Christ!
A type of Christ!
In the golden lampstand, we see a picture of Christ as our light!
Isaiah 42:6 (KJV 1900)
I the Lord have called thee in righteousness,
And will hold thine hand, and will keep thee,
And give thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles;
Do you remember how dark things were before Jesus got a hold of you?
Jesus brings light! He is light!
Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.
That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.
This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.
No one can see the confusion or the dirt in a dark room, but when the light is turned on, every deferct can be seen!
As our light, Christ Jesus first reveals to us our lost and sinful condition!
“Woe is me, I am a sinner and undone!”
But you know, light is more than just a revealer, it is a purifier!
The heat from the light of the sun kills thousands of germs that thrive in the dark.
The same Christ who reveals sin also cleanses from sin!
He then becomes our guide by lighting the pathway ahead!
The gold was to be beaten by hand.
Now let me read you a verse from the OT and one from the NT and I will let you connect those two dots!
And thou shalt make a candlestick of pure gold: of beaten work shall the candlestick be made: his shaft, and his branches, his bowls, his knops, and his flowers, shall be of the same.
But he was wounded for our transgressions,
He was bruised for our iniquities:
The chastisement of our peace was upon him;
And with his stripes we are healed.
Listen folks, without Jesus, this world is dark!
No light and no hope whatsoever!!
Everybody is stumbling around, falling and hurting themselves!
We needed light!
And Jesus is the source of that light!
Then we see that on top of all his Goodness, He has brought about the perfect tool to spread his light!
If you’re camping some time, and you decide to get up in the middle of the night, take your flashlight and put it under a gallon jug of water!
Somehowe it takes the strength of that beam and diffuses it’s power into a soft glow that covers a larger area in a very pleasing way!
A type of the church!
A type of the church!
The Golden Lampstand thus, is also a type of the church, which is now the light of the world!
For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light:
According to John, the golden candlesticks refer to the churches:
The mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in my right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches: and the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches.
Folks, do you realize that as Rome persecuted Christians, an aged John was exiled to the Island of Patmos and some say the salt mines on that island?
Was he perhaps resting in a ragged cot or on a dirty straw pallet after a day’s hard labor, when God revealed to him that which will be?
Let me share with you, something that John the revelator saw:
John saw Jesus in His priestly garments walking in the midst of the even golden candlesticks!
Just as oil flowed thorugh thte branches to make the light, so the annointing of the Holy Spirit causes God’s people to shine for Him!
And thou shalt command the children of Israel, that they bring thee pure oil olive beaten for the light, to cause the lamp to burn always.
What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?
Listen, some of the things we do, we do them because we are not to shine our own light, our own glory, but we are to reflect His!
You and I are invited to be a bill board to the saving and keeping Power of our Holy God!
According to my earnest expectation and my hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life, or by death.
When you choose to live like that, your body itself, your attitude, the way you carry yourself, is a witness and a testimony to Jesus Christ!
Be a billboard for Jesus why don’t ya?
That’s why we gotta talk right folks! and act right!
Let the light of our Holy God flow through you to a lost and confused world, dying in sin!
I’ve talked to you about brokenness before.
How that we rarely escape those broken moments and experiences where we lie broken!
But let me remind you here tonight:
A the oil was made by beating the olives, so we must be of a broken spirit to recieve the anointing oil!
For thus saith the high and lofty One
That inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy;
I dwell in the high and holy place,
With him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit,
To revive the spirit of the humble,
And to revive the heart of the contrite ones.
For all those things hath mine hand made,
And all those things have been, saith the Lord:
But to this man will I look,
Even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit,
And trembleth at my word.
Folks, the Golden Lampstand is a symbol of the Holy Spirit indwelling the church!
Without light, you cannot see!
And if your life and situation is growing darker, then you need to apply more light!
How do I do that?
Simple! Pray!!!!
When you pray, you are introducting light into shadows!
Not only do you unburden yourself to the one who most cares, but unlike your friends, He can actually do something about your needs!
Jesus can change your life!!!!!
He is a lamp unto your feet and a light into your path!
You cannot seperate Him from His Spirit and you cannot seperate Him from His Word!
We must be led of the Spirit!
That’s why this church will always be a Holy Ghost church!
It must be! Has to be!
Anything less, is not the plan of God!
The priests had to walk in the light of the candlestick to serve in the Holy Place.
And so we understand, that no one can truly minister to God’s people with worldy wisdom. Just can’t do it.
It takes the wisdom that comes from above to minister to the needs of men!
O house of Jacob, come ye,
And let us walk in the light of the Lord.
What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?
Hey, I am not my own! We are bought with a price!!!
It’s like that “property of” sweatshirt!
We are His special people! Bought with His blood!
But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.
II. The Shewbread
II. The Shewbread
The table of shewbread literally means “The table of the presence.”
It was made of wood covered with gold, and the preists placed twelve loaves of bread on it.
They also offered frankincense on this table.
The bread was renewed every Sabbath, and the priests at the old loaves.
In the Shewbread, we see a type of the Lord Jesus as “The Bread of Life.”
Jesus plainly said that HIs flesh, sacrificed for us, was the living bread that came dwon from heaven.
He called His broken body the Bread of Life, for those who feed upon this bread- eat His flesh and drink his blood shall have eternal life!
This of course refers to the celebration of communion or the Lord’s supper.
Does this sound strange to a modern listner? Sure!
But we are not talking about cannabalism!
Jesus Body is physically not here to be consumed!
And we do not believe in transubstantiation as it is not a Biblical doctrine.
The grape juice and the unleavened bread are symbolic of His body and blood!
And in their thoughtful, mindful consumption, we celebrate Jesus’ sacrifice for us!
His victory is ours!
And we celebrate in rememberance, or in memory of him.
We rememeber that He was not some mystical ghostly being, but a real man with a real body, that He chose to sacrifice to save our souls from hell!
Thank you Jesus!
Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him.
In fact, I think we are about due to celebrate Him!
As the Bread of LIfe, He is also our daily spiritual food! Ever thought about that?
In Numbers 4:7, the bread was called “The continual bread.”
Here is a statement that really challenges me:
It is the priviledge of every Christian to feed upon Christ every day and grow in Grace!
The church at Berea had a good thing going folks! “They searched the Scriptures daily.” (Acts17:11)
Makes me think of those gold miners searching for treasure!
I have decided to alter my approach to Bible reading to be more like that!
Search the Scriptures!
We celebrate His blood and his body in the Communion/the Lord’s supper.
But when you next read the Bible that rests on your nightstand, think of it in that same way!
You are ingesting truth! Ingesting Him!
“Do this in rememberence of me!”
Make it a Holy and powerful moment and it will be productive!!!!
This is not an interpretation, but there is a powerful application to made here:
Read your Word thoughtfully, searching for treasure!
Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him.
You know the very method in which pread was prepared, is suggestive of the person and work of our Lord.
The seed must first be planted in the ground and die before it can produce a harvest.
The grains of wheat are chrushed and ground between the millstones, and then the dough is baked in the heat of the oven.
Similarly, our sacrifice was prepared in the heat of great suffering.
He was the grain of wheat buried in the earth to produce a harvest of true saints.
Finally, that table itself, the table of shewbread is a symbol of the church in that its purpose was not to show itself but to exhibitthe bread.
The church is to show forth Christ, the Bread of Life, to a lost world!