In God's House

[0:00] Please open your Bibles to Exodus 38. Before we read the passage, just to let you guys know, this will be a little bit different of a sermon than what we've been doing as we've gone through the book of Exodus.

[0:42] We have spent several months looking at God's description or order to Moses and the people to build certain furniture in the tabernacle and how to build the tabernacle.

[0:56] Now we've reached the point where they're doing it. And so we're going to look at the fact that they're building this. But what I'd like to do in this message is, as we go through the message, I want to look at each piece of the furniture.

[1:08] So in God's house, in the tabernacle, the furniture that's there, and remind you of how it points to Christ, how it points to heaven, the spiritual realities.

[1:18] Why are these things being made? And so we're going through a lot larger passage, Lord willing. We'll see how far we can get. And we're going to be looking at how this relates to the person of Christ and God's purpose in each piece of this furniture.

[1:35] So I know we have up Exodus 37 through 38. My plan is for us to go through all of that and even a little bit of 36. But I didn't want to start off by reading 10 minutes straight to chapters of God's word.

[1:49] So if you'll open to Exodus 38, and I'm going to tell you, because we're flipping around everything, it will not be on the screen. So just follow along in your Bible. Exodus 38, we're going to be reading verses 21 through 31 at the beginning.

[2:07] Exodus 38, 21. These are the records of the tabernacle. The tabernacle of the testimony. As they were recorded at the commandment of Moses, the responsibility of the Levites under the direction of Ithamar, the son of Aaron, the priest.

[2:25] Bezalel, the son of Uri, son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, made all that the Lord commanded Moses. And with him was Aholab, the son of Ahishmech, of the tribe of Dan, an engraver and designer and embroiderer in blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twined linen.

[2:45] Then, all the gold that was used for the work and all the construction of the sanctuary, the gold from the offering was 29 talents and 730 shekels by the shekel of the sanctuary.

[2:59] The silver from those of the congregation who were recorded was 100 talents and 1,775 shekels by the shekel of the sanctuary. A becca had, that is, half a shekel by the shekel of the sanctuary for everyone who was listed in the records, from 20 years old and upward, for 603,550 men.

[3:23] The 100 talents of silver were for casting the bases of the sanctuary and the bases of the veil. 100 bases for the 100 talents, a talent, a base.

[3:33] And of the 1,775 shekels, he made hooks for the pillars and overlaid their capitals and made fillets for them. The bronze that was offered was 70 talents and 2,400 shekels.

[3:50] With it, he made the bases for the entrances of the tent of meeting, the bronze altar, and the bronze grating for it, and all the utensils of the altar. The bases around the court, and the bases of the gate of the court, all the pegs of the tabernacle, and all the pegs around the court.

[4:09] Let's pray together. Dear Heavenly Father, we pray, asking for your Spirit's help as your Word is open today. Lord, there are probably many in the room who don't get very excited about furniture.

[4:23] But Lord, we pray that as we look at your Word today, we would see Christ in it. Lord, we would see your purpose in these things, and that our response would be one of worship of you.

[4:37] We pray this in Christ's name. Amen. So, just introduction, I want to remind you some of what we've been seeing as we've looked at the tabernacle. We have this idea of heaven on earth, that God is coming down, and He's going to make His home with His people.

[4:55] He's going to dwell in their midst again. And so, back in Exodus 25, verse 8, we saw, And let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell in their midst. So now we're at the point where they're building this tabernacle for that purpose, so that God will be with them in their midst, live among them, that they may meet with Him.

[5:16] But I also want to remind you of something else we've seen all throughout. Hebrews 8, 5 tells us, They, speaking of the tabernacle and the elements there, They serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things.

[5:32] For when Moses was about to erect the tent, He was instructed by God, saying, See that you make everything according to the pattern that was shown you on the mountain. And so, remember what we've seen is, Hebrews is telling us, That Moses is told to make it according to a pattern.

[5:50] It's not just a pattern that was told to Moses, It was the heavenly reality itself. And so the things that are made here on earth, Were meant to be a shadow and a copy of the heavenly things.

[6:03] So this tabernacle we're looking at, And again, even as I prayed earlier, I know we don't get real excited about furniture, most of us. I don't know if it's good if you do, But we don't get real excited about that.

[6:14] But understand that as we look at these elements, These are copies and shadows of the heavenly throne room. Christ there, think of the Ark of the Covenant, we'll look at, But Christ there, on His throne, surrounded by the cherubim, In the inner sanctuary, the Holy of Holies.

[6:34] And on earth there would be this copy, this shadow of it. Not as good as reality by any means, But as close as we could get, Fallen men, that we could get to God.

[6:46] And so, that means God is restoring the relationship, He's had with His people. Now we've seen that immediately, In the sense of, They've sinned with the golden calf, And God said He was going to wipe them out, If He went among them.

[7:00] Moses mediated for them, And now God is allowing them to build a tabernacle, And He's going to dwell among them. And so, He's re-establing His relationship with Israel. But understand, in terms of human history, God is re-establishing His relationship.

[7:16] Think of the Garden of Eden. We're going to look a little bit about the similarities of that, But in the Garden of Eden, God was with man. He dwelt with man there. He walked with him in the garden.

[7:29] But man's sin separated them. They were cast out of the garden. And so, they weren't able to be there in the presence of God. So now God's working to recreate Eden, Here on earth, Where He might dwell with His people.

[7:44] In Ezekiel 37, 27, God says, My dwelling place shall be with them, And I will be their God, And they shall be my people. That really is the covenant promise that we see repeated, Over and over again in the Old Testament.

[7:59] Excuse me, in the Old Testament. We've seen it recently, even in the book of Etzis. Etzis 29, 45, and 46.

[8:10] I will dwell among the people of Israel, And will be their God. And they shall know that I am the Lord, Or Yahweh, their God. Who brought them out of the land of Egypt, That I might dwell among them.

[8:24] I am the Lord, their God. And so, Think about even their salvation From bondage and slavery in Egypt. What was the purpose of that? Well, God tells us, That they may know Him, And that He might dwell among them.

[8:39] And so, We're at the point, We're seeing really the fulfillment of that. Now, I mentioned, The similarities between the tabernacle and Eden. Just quickly, A few of those that we've seen in the past.

[8:51] The entrance to the tabernacle was always east facing. And it was guarded by cherubim, Who were sewn into the fabric of the courtyard. And so, As we think about that, That's very similar to the garden of Eden.

[9:05] There was an east entrance, They were cast out east of Eden. There were cherubim guarding the way of entrance back into Eden, Which was impossible because of that guard. Even, We've seen the gold, The precious metals, And the jewels that were described, Were also spoken of as being in the garden of Eden.

[9:25] The tree of life, We're going to look in a little bit at the lampstand. But the tree of life that we saw in the garden of Eden, We haven't seen since then. We then see, In the lampstand, Similarities that point us to the tree of life, Which we then see, Reappearing, In heaven.

[9:44] I think maybe even the tree of the knowledge, Of good and evil, Is represented here in the tabernacle, By, God's law being contained within, The ark. It's God's law that teaches us, Right from wrong.

[9:58] Gives us knowledge of good and evil. It's also the law of God, That brings our condemnation. Just as the tree of the knowledge did. And so, The tabernacle, Is a shadow.

[10:12] It's pointing us back to what was had at Eden. But it's also pointing us forward, To something that's far, Far greater. So again, I want to just take some time, To look at these elements, Of the tabernacle, And remind us about this.

[10:24] And so in some way, I want to say, Our whole sermon, Past this introduction, Is going to be application. Alright, So, It's all application from here on out. We're going to look at the passages, Let's go back, I know I said chapter 37 through 38, And I'm cheating a little bit, But let's look at the end of 36, Because we saw something there last week, That I didn't have a chance to look at.

[10:44] So, Verses 35 through 38 of chapter 36. He made the veil of blue, And purple, And scarlet yarns, And fine twine linen.

[10:55] With cherubim skillfully worked into it, He made it. And for it, He made four pillars of acacia, And overlaid them with gold. Their hoots were of gold, And he cast for them four bases of silver.

[11:08] He also made a screen for the entrance of the tent, Of blue, And purple, And scarlet yarns, And fine twine linen, Embroidered with needlework. And it's five pillars with their hoots. He overlaid their capitals, And their fillets were of gold, But their five bases were of bronze.

[11:27] And so, We have here the veil, And the veil served the purpose of separating, The holy of holies, From the rest of the tabernacle, And we can say even further out, From the rest of Israel. This was the place where God dwelt, And no one could go in there, But once a year, Or they would die.

[11:44] This was the holy place. They had to make preparation, Before they didn't go there. But again, In terms of application, We see that same veil, In the temple, And then, When Christ dies, We see that veil is torn.

[11:59] Listen to Matthew 27. This is verses 50 through 51. And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, And yielded up his spirit. And behold, The curtain of the temple was torn in two, From top to bottom.

[12:13] And the earth shook, And the rocks were split. So just imagine, The tabernacle is made, And then the temple is made. This veil has separated man from God, All this time, Until the death of Christ.

[12:25] And we're told it's torn from top to bottom. And you may remember, From the description of it being made, A description of how they were to make it, That it was going to be 15 feet high, Four inches thick of fabric.

[12:41] Maybe, kids, You could think about this. If you've ever torn a sheet of paper, You know, It's not real difficult to use those big muscles, And tear a sheet of paper. But if you think about two reams of paper, A thousand pages, Four inches thick, Imagine taking that, And just ripping that in two.

[12:59] That paper that seemed pretty easy to tear, No longer is very easy. So four inches thick, Of fabric. And it had separated the Holy of Holies, From the most holy place, For over a thousand years.

[13:15] And when Christ dies, It's torn from top to bottom. Now what's symbolized there? The way for entrance into the holy place, The meeting with God, Has been opened to us by way of Christ.

[13:31] Christ has made it possible, That we could enter into the presence of God. Or to say it another way, There's no more separation. We have access, And may enjoy the presence of God, More fully than anyone ever had, Before that moment in time.

[13:47] Listen to Hebrews 10, 19 through 22. Therefore brothers, Since we have confidence, To enter the holy place, By the blood of Jesus, By the new and living way, That he opened for us, Through the curtain, That is, Through his flesh.

[14:07] And since we have a great high priest, Over the house of God, Let us draw near, With a true heart, In full assurance of faith, With our hearts sprinkled clean, From an evil conscience, And our bodies washed with pure water.

[14:21] Well you'll catch the language there, Is that of the tabernacle. Lord willing, We're going to look at the priest, In coming weeks. But we've seen already, That they had to wash themselves, Bathe themselves, In the laver, Before they could enter, Into the holy of holies.

[14:34] And so we too, Have been cleansed. Washed with pure water. But notice also, It says that, The way has been made for us, To enter into God's presence, Through the curtain, That is, Through his flesh.

[14:53] And so, Symbolically, The tearing of Christ's flesh, The giving of his body, Met the tearing of the veil. The opening of the curtain, That we might have access to God.

[15:06] And so as we look at the veil, It's not just about, The fact that it's being made, It's what symbolizes the fact, That we cannot approach God, In our sin. But Christ has paid the price, For our sin.

[15:19] He has supplied, The perfect righteousness, That we need, That we now may enter, Into the presence of God. Now once you go beyond the veil, We have the ark, Of the covenant, There in the holy of holies.

[15:31] Look with me at chapter 37, Verses 1 through 9. Bezalel made the ark, Of acacia wood, Two cubits and a half, Was its length, A cubit and a half, Its width, I'm excuse me, Its breadth, And a cubit and a half, Its height.

[15:49] And he overlaid it, With pure gold, Inside and outside, And made a molding of gold, Around it. And he cast for it, Four rings of gold, For its four feet, Two rings on its one side, And two rings on its other side.

[16:02] And he made poles of acacia wood, And overlaid them with gold, And put the poles into the rings, On the sides of the ark, To carry the ark. And he made a mercy seat, Of pure gold, Two cubits and a half, Was its length, And a cubit and a half, Its breadth.

[16:18] And he made two cherubim of gold, He made them of hammered work, On the two ends, Of the mercy seat. One cherub on the one end, And one cherub on the other end.

[16:29] Of one piece, With the mercy seat, He made the cherubim, On its two ends. The cherubim spread out, Their wings above, Overshadowing the mercy seat, With their wings, With their faces, One to another, Toward the mercy seat, Were the faces of the cherubim.

[16:47] So here we have, The ark of the covenant. And this ark of the covenant, Was really meant to symbolize, The throne of God. It's inside the holy of holies, The cherubim surround it, There's a mercy seat, And God's presence would descend, And be right there, Above the mercy seat.

[17:05] He would be enthroned, In the midst of Israel. Listen to the language, Of 2 Samuel 6, 2. And David arose, And went with all the people, Who were with him, From Baal Judah, To bring up from there, The ark of the covenant, Which is called by the name, Of the Lord of hosts, Who sits enthroned, On the cherubim.

[17:27] Or again in Psalm 80 verse 1, Give ear, O shepherd of Israel, You who lead Joseph like a flock, You who are enthroned, Upon the cherubim, Shine forth.

[17:39] And so, The language being used is, God's seated there, At the ark of the covenant. It is his throne room, And again it represents, The throne of God in heaven.

[17:51] And the mercy seat, The mercy seat was really, The covering, Which the blood, Would be spilled upon. James Montgomery Boyce, Says of it, That the mercy seat, Taught the people, Again and again, That through the broken law, That though the broken law, Requires judgment, God has provided, By the blood, Of the innocent sacrifice, A way to show his mercy, To the guilty sinner.

[18:19] And so it's expression of, Mercy. Remember what's inside, Of the ark of the covenant. I said earlier, The tablets of the law, The ten commandments are there. And so what should bring, Condemnation is covered, By the blood of the lamb.

[18:36] So it covers, The penalty of the law, Upon which Israel, Was to be judged. And again, It's symbolic of, The blood of Christ, That covers over our sins, That which should, Bring us condemnation.

[18:47] The record of debt, That stood against us, Was nailed to the cross, In Christ. And it speaks of, Propitiation, An atoning sacrifice, For God's people.

[18:59] In fact, That word propitiation, Is the same word, In the Greek translation, Of the Old Testament, Here. The mercy seat, Was a seat of propitiation, Or, Sacrificial atonement.

[19:09] We might even think of it, As the atonement covering, For the ark of the covenant. First John 2, 2 says, He, Speaking of Jesus, Is the propitiation, For our sins, And not for ours only, But also for the sins, Of the world.

[19:29] And then again, Romans 3, 25, Whom God put forward, As a propitiation, By his blood, To be received by faith, This was to show, God's righteousness, Because, In his divine forbearance, He had passed over, Former sins.

[19:45] So, The sacrifice, On the day of atonement, Sprinkled on the mercy seat, Was meant to symbolize, The sacrifice of Christ, That he one day would offer. That would cover our sins, That would bring, Atonement for us.

[20:00] He is our propitiation. And so, I've pointed you to this before, But let me say again, We think about this, Not as though, Christ is somehow, Doing what, The tabernacle, Told him to do.

[20:14] God in his sovereignty, Had planned out the sacrifice, And he sent us, Shadows of it beforehand, Foreshadowed, What Christ would do. And so, As we look on this mercy seat, It's meant to remind us, That the blood of the lamb, Covers our sin, Makes atonement for us.

[20:31] His sacrifice, Covers our sin, And the penalty of the law. Even the passage, We looked at in Romans 3.25, That sacrifice, Made every year, At the mercy seat, Temporarily, Covered, Israel's sins.

[20:49] But it had to be repeated, Over and over again. And what it could only do, Temporarily, Jesus has done eternally, For those who have trust in him. He has provided, An eternal atonement.

[21:02] An eternal redemption. We have also, The table being described, This is the table of showbread. If you look with me, Chapter 37, Verses 10 through 16. He also made, The table of acacia wood.

[21:21] Two cubits was its length, A cubit its breadth, And a cubit and a half its height. And he overlaid it with pure gold, And made a molding of gold around it. And he made a rim around it, A hand breadth wide, And made a molding of gold around the rim.

[21:37] He cast for it four rings of gold, And fastened the rings, To the four corners, At its four leads. Close to the frame, Were the rings, As holders for the poles, To carry the table.

[21:49] He made the poles of acacia wood, To carry the table, And overlaid them with gold. And he made the vessels of pure gold, That were to be on the table, Its plates, And its dishes for incense, And its bowls and flagons, With which to pour drink offerings.

[22:04] Now again, This may sound strange, We have bread, We have incense, We have drink offering, Here at this table. But the meaning of the table, Is really tied to, The covenant itself.

[22:17] Listen to Leviticus 24, 8. Every Sabbath day, Aaron shall arrange it, Before the Lord regularly. It is from the people of Israel, As a covenant forever. And so it's symbolizing, God's provision for them.

[22:31] We can think of the manna, But God's also provision, In terms of salvation, His covenant. Every day, This is being provided, This food, This drink offering. And so it points to, God's faithfulness of the covenant.

[22:42] But it also points us forward, To the Lord's table. And I encourage you, To stick around, Because after this service, We'll be taking, The table together. And so as we take the table, This is foreshadowing, The Lord's table, The Lord's supper.

[22:57] 1 Corinthians 10, 16 through 17. The cup of the blessing, That we bless, Is it not a participation, In the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, Is it not a participation, In the body of Christ?

[23:12] Because there is one bread, We who are many, Are one body, For we all partake, Of that one bread. And so we're participating, In the blood of Christ. Think again, Of this sacrifice, This offering being there, By or near to, The sacrificial blood, Being spilled.

[23:28] And it's provision, Not only did it, Point to God's provision, For the people, The priest ate of this, Weekly. It pointed to God's, Provision in sustaining, His people.

[23:40] And it showed, Their dependence on God. God supplies, All that they need. And God supplies, All that we need. And it reminded them, That he really is, What they needed most.

[23:52] And so Jesus, When he comes, And he teaches, He describes himself as, The bread of life. John 6, 32-35. Jesus then said to them, Truly, Truly, I say to you, It was not, Moses who gave, You the bread from heaven, But my father gives you, The true bread from heaven.

[24:13] For the bread of God, Is he who comes down from heaven, And gives life to the world. Jesus said to them, I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me, Shall not hunger, And whoever believes in me, Shall not thirst, Shall never thirst.

[24:26] And so, It's not Moses who gave the bread, Primarily speaking of the manna, But also of this bread, That would be on the table, Made of this manna, God provided that.

[24:39] But that's not the true bread. The true bread is the bread, That truly comes down from heaven, Not just falls like manna from the sky, But descends from the throne room of God.

[24:55] Jesus said to them, I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me, Shall not hunger, And whoever believes in me, Shall never thirst. There's provision, That doesn't need to be repeated, Weekly or daily.

[25:07] He provides for us in that way. A.W. Pink says this, He says, The table pointing to the person of Christ, As the sustainer of fellowship, Between God and his saints.

[25:18] And the bread directing our thoughts to Christ, As the substance of it. The substance of that fellowship or communion with God. And then we have the lampstand, If you look at verses 17 through 24 of chapter 37.

[25:38] He also made the lampstand of pure gold. He made the lampstand of hammered work, Its base, Its stem, Its cups, Its calluses, And its flowers were of one piece with it.

[25:52] And there were six branches going out of its side. Three branches of the lampstand out of one side of it. And three branches of the lampstand out of the other side of it. Three cups made like almond blossoms.

[26:04] Each with callots and flower on one branch. And three cups made like almond blossoms. Each with callots and flower on the other branch. So for the six branches going out of the lampstand.

[26:16] And on the lampstand itself were four cups made like almond blossoms. With their callots and flowers. And a callots of one piece with it under each pair of the six branches going out of it.

[26:29] Their callots and their branches were of one piece with it. The whole of it was a single piece of hammered work of pure gold. And he made its seven lamps and its tongs and its trays of pure gold.

[26:42] He made it all and all its utensils of a talent of pure gold. Now as we see this, Hopefully you've called in there, This lampstand is being described in the language of a tree.

[26:57] Right? It has branches coming out from it. There's the symmetrical image. And back when we were looking at this, I showed you that the way that trees were drawn or portrayed in the ancient Near East was very similar to this.

[27:13] This symmetrical parallel branches coming up. And so the lampstand is made to look like a tree. It has branches, callots, flowers, and cups that look like almond blossoms.

[27:29] And remember, it's being made after a pattern. Well, what pattern is that? Well, I've said already, but going all the way back to the garden, This is meant to represent to us a new Eden.

[27:46] This is meant to represent the tree of life here. Think about God as the light of the world. His life shining upon the world. Number 625, The Lord make His face to shine upon you and be gracious to you.

[28:00] And so this light shining forth in the tabernacle meant to represent life and light of God. But as we think about this also, I said it's meant to point us to the tree of life.

[28:15] Now, I know that's going to hurt some of your feelings because we always think of the tree as being an apple. Excuse me, not the tree of life. That's the tree of knowledge of good and evil. But we always think of an apple. Notice here, this is an almond tree that's being described.

[28:29] Okay, it just says the fruit, so we don't know it's an apple. But here we have the tree of life being portrayed as an almond tree or similar to an almond tree. But so that's back to the garden.

[28:41] We have it here in the tabernacle. But listen to Revelation 22.2. Through the middle of the street of the city, also on either side of the river, the tree of life with its 12 kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month, the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.

[28:57] So the tree appears, again, after Eden, symbolically in the tabernacle, but in its greatest form in heaven, producing fruit each month of various kinds for the healing of the nations.

[29:11] And then Revelation 22.14, Blessed are those who wash their robes so that they may have the right to the tree of life and that they may enter the city by the gates.

[29:25] And so it's pointing us back to the tree of life because there's life in Christ. There's life in God. It points back to that relationship. But also forward to those who have had their robes washed in the blood of Christ, made clean that they may eat of the tree of life.

[29:43] Jesus spoke in similar ways about that life as well as the light. John 8.12, Jesus said, I am the light of the world.

[29:54] Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life. Isaiah 9.2 kind of prophesied about this. The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light.

[30:05] Those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone. And you think about us as Gentiles outside of the people of Israel. The light of the world is shining forth to the very ends of the earth and bringing people into that light and into his life.

[30:23] Hebrews 1.3 describes Jesus. It says, He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature. And he upholds the universe by the word of his power.

[30:34] After making purification for sins, he's set down at the right hand of the majesty on high. And even the description of heaven in Revelation 21 speaks of God as that light.

[30:49] Revelation 21.23, So think about as you're going into the tabernacle.

[31:04] Remember there's these thick linen all around and it has a top to it also. The other day, just yesterday, I was going through some stuff and I found an old lantern that we use to hang in our tent.

[31:18] And our tent had those little see-through walls and we had sunlight from the moon or other places around, but we still wanted a lantern in there with us. They would enter into the tabernacle and once you go into the holy place and then into the holy of holies, it's covered, it's darkness.

[31:36] But you have this lampstand that's shining forth God's light, lighting up what would take place there inside. And so it points to that light of God, of heaven. If we can tie this even further to salvation itself, 2 Corinthians 4 says, For God who said, Let light shine out of darkness, set the creation, has shown in your hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

[32:05] So the one who spoke light into existence, who gave light for the tabernacle, who sent then Christ to be the light of the world, has shown his light in the heart of those who have trusted in him, that they might see that light in the face of Jesus Christ.

[32:20] Then we have also the altar of incense. If you look at chapter 37, verses 25 through 29. He made the altar of incense of acacia wood.

[32:37] Its length was a cubit and its breadth was a cubit. It was square and two cubits was its height. Its horns were of one piece with it. He overlaid it with pure gold, its top and around its sides and its horns.

[32:52] He made a molding of gold around it and made two rings of gold on it under its molding, on two opposite sides of it, its holders for the poles with which to carry it.

[33:03] And he made the poles of acacia wood and overlaid them with gold. He made the holy anointing oil also and the pure fragrant incense blended as by the perfumer.

[33:16] And so here we have the altar of incense and there's a specific recipe that he had to make that had to be offered to God. But also notice it says the altar of incense. And you may remember, and we're going to get there, Lord willing, if not this week at another time, but you may remember in the courtyard, there's an altar.

[33:35] The brazen altar. The burnt offering altar. And it had four horns on it. And so here in the inner area of the tabernacle, the holy place, we have a similar table with four horns proportionately sized to the size of the room just as the other altar is to the courtyard.

[33:54] And here they would offer incense. And it really was an altar of prayer. It was meant to symbolize the prayers of God's people ascending to heaven. It was placed directly in front of the mercy seat.

[34:08] Now the veil's there, so it's on the outside of the veil, but directly in front of where the mercy seat is, corresponding to it. it was directly in front of really what we might think of as the earthly throne of grace where God was seated.

[34:25] And you'd go there and you'd offer up your prayers before the throne of grace. And of course, we understand the throne of grace is where God answers prayer. Leviticus 16, 18 says, then he shall go out to the altar that is before the Lord.

[34:41] And so the incense that was there was burned before the Lord. One commentator, M.R. DeHaan, says this in his book on the tabernacle. At the brazen altar, Christ died for us, shed his blood, reconciled us to God, and made us forever secure in him.

[34:59] But at the golden altar, he lives in heaven to intercede for those for whom he has already died and who are already saved. The brazen altar speaks to the death of Christ.

[35:11] The golden altar speaks of the living, resurrected, ascended Lord Jesus Christ. The two altars, therefore, speak of the death and the resurrection and constitute the full message of the gospel.

[35:24] Now, the order we're going in, we haven't seen yet that altar in this passage. But the brazen altar you go to, you make sacrifice that you can enter into the holy place. And once you enter in, you go there to this altar and offer incense.

[35:40] And he's saying, symbolically, it's Christ who died for us. It's also Christ who's living for us, who's offering up prayers for us, who is interceding for us. So it symbolized not just that God's people would pray before the throne of God, but that Christ on his throne would pray for us to the Father.

[35:58] But before you could enter into that area to pray, atonement had to be made first. We now can go to God and pray to him in confidence.

[36:11] Hebrews 10, 19 through 20. Therefore, brothers, we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain that is through his flesh.

[36:24] And so we have confidence to enter into the holy place because the sacrifice has been eternally made. If our trust is in Christ, our sins are covered. And we can go to God then in prayer.

[36:39] And so the Father joyfully hears our prayers when we come to him on the basis of Jesus' sacrifice. Hebrews 7, 25.

[36:50] It says, Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him since he always lives to make intercession for them. And so we might think of this altar and it may remind us that we come before God the Father and he joyfully hears our prayers because we come to him on the basis of Jesus' sacrifice.

[37:15] We have entrance into the holy place. We have entrance before the throne of God in prayer. There's also this idea that the incense, this special recipe, was a pleasing aroma to God.

[37:29] I know there's probably varying opinions on this. Everybody, I mean, maybe everybody, some people have their cologne that they like or their perfume that they like. It's a pleasant fragrance to them. And occasionally you come across someone and you think, this isn't a pleasant fragrance to me.

[37:44] Right? This is a little too strong or not one that I prefer. Right? So we have this idea of things that smell good. For God, this altar of incense, this recipe, was meant to symbolize his delight in their prayers.

[38:01] It was a pleasing aroma to him. And then we have the altar of burnt offering. And that's in chapter 38 verses 1 through 7. Right?

[38:12] So we made it all the way through chapter 37. We're halfway there. The altar of burnt offering, chapter 38, verses 1 through 7. He made the altar of burnt offering of acacia wood.

[38:25] Five cubits was its length and five cubits its breadth. It was square and three cubits was its height. He made horns for it on its four corners. Its horns were of one piece with it and he overlaid it with bronze.

[38:39] And he made all the utensils of the altar, the pots, the shovels, the basins, the forts, and the fire pans. He made all its utensils of bronze and he made for the altar a grating, a network of bronze under its ledge.

[38:52] It's sitting halfway down. He cast four rings on the four corners of the bronze grating as holders for the poles. He made the poles of acacia wood and overlaid them with bronze. And he put the poles through the rings on the sides of the altar to carry it with them.

[39:08] He made it hollow with boards. Now, I've already talked a little bit about this with the last one but we understand that this is meant to symbolize where Christ was sacrificed.

[39:19] The shed blood of Jesus Christ. Hebrews 9, 22 tells us without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins. And so, that they might have forgiveness that they might enter in, atonement had to be made.

[39:33] And so we might ask the same thing for us. If there's no atonement except through the shedding of blood, what atonement for your sin are you hoping in?

[39:43] All of us have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. How is it that we could ever appear before the throne of God and find ourselves accepted by Him? It's only for those who have trusted in the blood of Christ, have received that atonement.

[40:00] Romans 3, 25, we read earlier, but God put Jesus forward as an atoning sacrifice by His blood to be received by faith. And so, Jesus' sacrifice is really the only one that saves.

[40:12] We have a greater altar than that brazen altar. We have the altar of Jesus Christ Himself. John Owen said, the altar which we now have is Christ alone and His sacrifice.

[40:25] For He was both priest, altar, and sacrifice all in Himself. And so, we need to come to that altar, to Jesus Christ, that we might be accepted by God. just as a side note, and we've seen this in past weeks, but you may have caught that this is made of bronze.

[40:42] It's described just like the other altar that's made of gold. And as we move further into, toward the Holy of Holies, we see the metals become more and more precious. Bronze in the outer courtyard.

[40:53] We see some combination of silver and gold in the holy place, and then we come into the Holy of Holies, and it says pure gold. And so, we also head out there, the bronze basin.

[41:06] Now, this is only one verse, verse 8 of chapter 38. He made the basin of bronze, and its stand of bronze, from the mirrors of the ministering women who ministered in the entrance of the tent of meeting.

[41:20] So, back in that day, you didn't have mirrors like we would have of reflective glass. Instead, you'd have metal, light bronze, polished, very bright, light, and so that you could look upon it and you see a reflection in the metal.

[41:35] And so, the women donated their bronze, and from that, they made this bronze basin, or laver, as it's sometimes called. It was just a place for sinners to wash that they may be cleaned.

[41:48] And even the priest had to do this before they could enter into the holy place. God tells them in Isaiah 52, purify yourselves, you who bear the vessels of the Lord.

[42:03] Even the priest had to purify themselves. John Curitz says, the very ones who were to operate the services of atonement and reconciliation are themselves in need of cleansing from their own sinful hearts and deeds.

[42:17] The men of the priesthood themselves, in other words, are profane and sinful. Hebrews talks all about this. They couldn't continue on in the work because they died.

[42:31] And they had to keep making sacrifices, not only for the sins of the people, but also for their own sins because they were sinners. But, we have something far different in the new covenant, don't we?

[42:44] Hebrews 4, 15. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.

[42:56] And so now we have a high priest who is sinless, who washes us clean. Hebrews, excuse me, Ephesians 5, been in Hebrews so much, Ephesians 5, 25 through 26, speaks of marriage and it says, Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word.

[43:23] And so Christ cleanses us, not by physical water, not even by baptism, though it symbolizes that truth, that reality, but God cleanses us with his word.

[43:41] And then we have the courtyard. This is chapter 38 verses 9 through 20. And he began And he made the court.

[43:56] For the south side, the hangings of the court were of fine twine linen, a hundred cubits. Their twenty pillars and their twenty bases were of bronze, but the hoots of the pillars and their fillets were of silver.

[44:08] And for the north side, there were hangings of a hundred cubits. Their twenty pillars and their twenty bases were of bronze, but the hoots of the pillars and their fillets were of silver. And for the west side were hangings of fifty cubits.

[44:21] Their ten pillars and their ten bases. The hooks of the pillars and their fillets were of gold. And for the front to the east, fifty cubits. The hangings for one side of the gate were fifteen cubits with their three pillars and their three bases. And so for the other side, on both sides of the gate of the court were hangings of fifteen cubits with their three pillars and their three bases. All the hangings around the court were of fine twine linen, and the bases for the pillars were of bronze, but the hooks of the pillars and their fillets were of gold. The overlaying of their capitals was also of silver. I'm sorry. The pillars and their fillets were of silver. The overlaying of their capitals were also of silver, and all the pillars of the court were filleted with silver. And the screen for the gate of the court was embroidered with needlework and blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twine linen. It was twenty cubits long and five cubits high in its breadth, corresponding to the hangings of the court.

[45:28] And their pillars were four in number. Their four bases were of bronze, their hooks of silver, and the overlaying of their capitals and their fillets of silver. And all the pads for the tabernacle and for the court all around were of bronze. And so we have the description of this outer courtyard. And so as we think about this again, there are three layers to the tabernacle. We have the courtyard, we have the holy place, and we have the most holy place or the holy of holies. And it really also speaks of three kinds of worshipers. Who could approach God and how far could you get? You may remember when God met, or when Moses met God at Mount Sinai.

[46:11] Moses was the mediator, and he was permitted to go into the very presence of God. And then the elders were allowed to go up the mountain, but they only went halfway up. And what were the people commanded?

[46:23] Don't even touch the mountain. Don't get close to it. And so the rest of it stay off the mountain. So too in the tabernacle we have something very similar.

[46:35] The high priest was the mediator who got to enter into the very presence of God in the most holy place. And then the priest could go, we might say, halfway. They could go into the holy place, and they could do the things that were done there, such as the incense they would offer to God in the lampstand, but not into the most holy place.

[47:00] And then the rest of the people could enter into the courtyard, but not the tabernacle. Later on when the temple's made, a further distinction is made. There's the outer courts, which the Gentiles could come into, but they could not enter into what we're talking about here, the courtyard.

[47:17] Right? So we might even think of there being four layers. The Gentiles, and then the Israelites, and then the priests, and then the high priests. And as you get closer and closer to God, the number gets smaller. It gets more limited.

[47:28] Who can enter into God's presence? And it communicates to us that God is separated from sinners. As soon as you enter into the courtyard, the first thing you'd set your eyes on was the laver.

[47:43] And then beyond that was the altar. And so you're reminded you have to be washed, and you have to be sacrificed for your sin before you can go any further. Just to enter into the courtyard.

[47:57] And so we're reminded that God is separated from sinners, and yet we also understand that the dividing wall has been broken down. That by Christ we enter into God's presence even into the Holy of Holies, the most holy place.

[48:13] the place that none of us should want to go into. I'll probably say this again with the high priest when we talk about the clothing in coming weeks, but we were, my family, we were listening to a song about the high priest, and I had one of my children ask me, would you want to be the high priest?

[48:36] And I thought, boy, that's a scary thought, isn't it? There's that part of us that says, can you imagine of all the people in the land you were the one person that got to enter into the Holy of Holies and the presence of God.

[48:50] But there's also the understanding that we're sinners. And to enter into God's presence is a frightful thing for sinful man to do. And so even the high priest is making all these preparations to go in.

[49:02] And my child, I thought, understood this so well, they said, well, at least if you died, you'd die in the presence of God. And I go, what a way to go. Right?

[49:14] It's that limited. It was that scary. I think we all want to be that high priest, but at the same time, we know our own hearts, and that is a scary proposition. Brothers and sisters, Christians, your sins are covered by the blood of Jesus Christ.

[49:31] His righteousness is given to you so that we enter into the throne room of God now by prayer through union with Christ who's seated on that throne, but one day when Christ returns, the new earth, the new heavens, we will dwell in the presence of God forever.

[49:48] That's what this is ultimately pointing us to. It's the blood of Christ that enables us to go beyond the courtyard, beyond the holy place, into the very throne room of God. So as we look at the tabernacle, we say it's representative of, we might say, the temple in heaven.

[50:03] When Christ returns, there will only be a holy of holies. There will only be that most holy place in which we will dwell in God's presence. What a way to live, not what a way to die, but what a way to live in God's presence.

[50:22] Hebrews 8, 6 tells us, but as it is, Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much more excellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is better since it is enacted on better promises.

[50:38] As we look at this and we see the symbolism of it, know that in the new covenant, we have a better covenant. We have a better mediator of the covenant, better than Moses, better than the high priest.

[50:49] And this is but a shadow. Just imagine how much more excellent must be the heavenly reality. What will eternity be like?

[51:02] The tabernacle was helpful, but it was insufficient. What Christ brings is a better covenant. But it was meant to be insufficient.

[51:15] It was meant to point us to the greater reality. It wasn't supposed to be all there was. It was supposed to say as good as this is, there's better out there. And as good as the high priest were in their work, many of whom were good, not all, but they were shadows and types of Christ who is a perfect mediator for us, who doesn't have to make sacrifice for his own sin and the sins of the people, that he has for one time made a sacrifice that is atoned for all our sins.

[51:46] So Jesus' ministry is superior because he's a superior high priest, he's a superior sacrifice, he is a superior, excuse me, where he ministers is a superior temple, the heavenly temple.

[52:04] And even as we think about this, this tabernacle later was replaced by the temple, but the temple itself was destroyed in 8070. We've seen that the curtain was torn and then the temple was destroyed in 8070.

[52:17] And so, there's some Christians today who are like, let's rebuild the temple. We don't want to rebuild the temple. The temple was a shadow, the tabernacle was a shadow.

[52:28] The reality is what we now experience in terms of union with Christ, the Holy Spirit indwells us and we are the temple of God. And there is coming a day when we will dwell in God's presence, not in a man-made building, but in a new earth, in a new heaven.

[52:46] That's what we're to long for. So, as we look back to the shadow, we don't dwell there. We're meant to look through the shadow, through the tide, to Christ who is the reality himself. So, I hope that as we've gone through this, we've looked at how they built the furniture, but it's not primarily about their artistic skill.

[53:06] Last week we saw they built it exactly to the specifications that God said and that was important. But what I really want you to see in the furniture is the temple. And even beyond that, the temple in heaven, the eternal temple of the new earth, but even beyond that is to see Christ our Savior who enables us to enter into the most holy place.

[53:27] My prayer is that as we close out that we will worship this Christ. As we sing our final hymn that it will be one of worship to him. Let's pray together. Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you that we worship not in some man-made tabernacle or temple.

[53:48] Lord, even of this tent, Lord, as glorious as it was, it was so, it's so far inferior to what we have in Jesus Christ. Lord, we pray that our trust and our faith would be in Christ.

[54:02] That with boldness we would come into your presence. Not because we're righteous, but because we have the righteousness of Christ. Not because we're sinless, but because our sin has been covered by the blood of the true Lamb.

[54:16] Lord, we thank you for our high priest who is even now interceding for us. Lord, may we worship him now. We pray that you would even use us to prepare our hearts for the Lord's table to come.

[54:29] That we would rejoice in the work of Christ, our Savior. In whose name we pray these things. Amen.