INTRODUCTION: Has God ever brought you out of some stuff! The stuff that was keeping you from being who He created you to be!
When God brings you out friends it’s to bring you to Himself!
Exodus 19:4– “You have seen what I did to the Egyptians. You know how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself.”
Two months prior God had delivered His children from Egyptian bondage. They had been in Egypt for over 400 years.
They had arrived in the Wilderness of Sinai and now God was meeting with Moses on top of the mountain giving him further instructions!
“I brought you to myself!”
Exodus 29:45-46 “Then I will live among the people of Israel and be their God, and they will know that I am the Lord their God. I am the one who brought them out of the land of Egypt so that I could live among them. I am the Lord their God.”
While Moses was on Mt. Sinai, meeting with God, God gave him two systems for the Hebrew Children to live by.
First He gave them the law!
He gave detailed instructions for moral, ceremonial and spiritual law. The most well known is the Ten Commandments.
Second He gave them a system of sacrifice!
God knew they would break His laws so he gave them a system of sacrifice that would allow the sins of the people to be covered and make is possible for them to be in relationship with Him!
God had them build a place to house this system of law and sacrifice. A place called the tabernacle.
THE PLACE GOD PROMISED TO LIVE AMONG HIS PEOPLE! THE TABERNACLE WAS BUILT IN THE HEART OF THE ISRAELITE CAMP!
All the pagan countries around them had god’s of wood, stone and clay. Israel had a personal God who wanted to be a part of their daily lives!
THE TABERNACLE
- The Tabernacle had a white linen fence around it so tall no-one could climb over and solid enough on the bottom that no-one could go under it.
On the East side of the fence around the Tabernacle was a gate made of blue, purple and scarlet linen. The gate said “come in but come in this way!”
John 10:9– “Yes, I am the gate. Those who come in through me will be saved. They will come and go freely and will find good pastures.”
- Once inside the outer court was the The Altar of Burnt Offering. An Israelite would bring a spotless animal to be sacrificed. The blood of the sacrifice was sprinkled on the horns of the altar.
An innocent animal gave his life for the sins of a person. Jesus gave His life for us on the cross as an innocent lamb who voluntarily gave up his life to make us right with God!
1 Peter 1:19– “It was the precious blood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God.”
- Also in the outer court was the Bronze Laver. Only the priest used the Bronze Laver. The water cleansed their hands and feet. It also signified that the priest had been set-apart for God’s use.
Ephesians 5:25-26– “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word,”
After the Bronze Laver the Priest would enter the Tabernacle. Inside the Tabernacle was the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies. Only the Priest could enter the Holy Place and only the High Priest could enter the Holy of Holies one time a year on the Day of Atonement.
- Inside the Holy Place was the Gold Lampstand. This was the only light in the Holy Place.
John 8:12– “Jesus spoke to the people once more and said, “I am the light of the world. If you follow me, you won’t have to walk in darkness, because you will have the light that leads to life.”
- Also in the Holy Place was the Table of Showbread. The table held 12 loaves of Bread representing the 12 tribes of Israel.
John 6:51– “I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Anyone who eats this bread will live forever; and this bread, which I will offer so the world may live, is my flesh.”
- Next was the Altar of Incense. A small altar just for burning incense. This altar of incense represented daily prayer to God! It was a type of Jesus Christ as our intercessor!
Hebrews 7:25– “So he is able to save fully from now throughout eternity, everyone who comes to God through Him, because he lives to pray continually for them.”
On the other side of the Altar of Incense was a veil that separated the Holy Place from the Holy of Holies. Once a year the High Priest entered the Holy of Holies to offer a sacrifice for the Nation of Israel.
The moment Jesus died on the cross the veil was torn in two indicating there was no longer a barrier between God and man.
- Inside the Holy of Holies was the most sacred piece of furniture in the Tabernacle. Actually two pieces of furniture.
First is the Ark of the Covenant. The ark held the tablets of the 10 Commandments, a pot of manna and Aaron’s rod.
On top of the Ark of the Covenant was the Mercy Seat which was a gold lid with two Cherubim. The Cherubim represented angelic beings associated with guarding and bearing God’s throne. They were associated with worship of the Almighty God!
The Mercy Seat on the Ark of the Covenant came between a Holy God and the broken law contained in the Ark.
On the Day of Atonement the High Priest would sprinkle blood from the sacrificial lamb on the Mercy Seat and God’s presence would fill the Holy of Holies.
This would indicate that all the sins of Israel would be covered for another year!
Romans 3:25– “God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith….”
Jesus blood made salvation possible for the whole world!
The temporary purpose of the Tabernacle in the Old Testament was to establish God as the One True God unlike the pagan god’s!
The eternal purpose of the tabernacle was to point people to Jesus Christ as the fulfillment of God’s plan for Salvation.
CONCLUSION:
- The Tabernacle says that I can’t come to God without Jesus Christ.
Hebrews 9:14– “Just think how much more the blood of Christ will purify our consciences from sinful deeds so that we can worship the living God. For by the power of the eternal Spirit, Christ offered himself to God as a perfect sacrifice for our sins.”
- The Tabernacle says to avoid God’s judgement I need someone to die in my place.
Hebrews 9:12– “With his own blood—not the blood of goats and calves—he entered the Most Holy Place once for all time and secured our redemption forever.”
- The Tabernacle says that Jesus has opened a “new and living way to God!”
Hebrews 10:19-22-And so, dear brothers and sisters, we can boldly enter heaven’s Most Holy Place because of the blood of Jesus. By his death, Jesus opened a new and life-giving way through the curtain into the Most Holy Place. And since we have a great High Priest who rules over God’s house, let us go right into the presence of God with sincere hearts fully trusting him. For our guilty consciences have been sprinkled with Christ’s blood to make us clean, and our bodies have been washed with pure water.”
- This tells me I no longer need the Old Testament Tabernacle
2 Peter 2:5– “And you are living stones that God is building into his spiritual temple. What’s more, you are his holy priests. Through the mediation of Jesus Christ, you offer spiritual sacrifices that please God.”
I no longer need the Old Testament Tabernacle because through the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ I have become the Tabernacle in which God dwells when I put my faith in the work of the cross of Jesus Christ and surrender my life to Him!
YOU ARE THE TRUE TABERNACLE!
What is the Holy Spirit saying to you through this message?