In this lesson, we continue our investigation into the elements of Israel’s tabernacle. Specifically, we look at the tabernacle building itself, the veil, the screen, the tabernacle court, and the bronze altar. We again consider the following questions: How did God want these elements to be made? What do these elements say about God? And how do these objects connect to Jesus Christ?
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for us oh there it is as Believers such distrust of God is not to typify our lives at all rebellious Israel is said to be without faith but we have come to believe and receive salvation on the basis of faith faith the same kind of Faith demonstrated by Joshua and Caleb that should be continually apparent in our lives if we are believers then we are saved by faith and therefore faith is to Mark our lives so we should not look at Israel and say huh you know we’re just like them we’re faithless all the time we ought not to be if you’re a Christian you should be living by faith because that’s what Christians do that should typify your life we do not behave like faithless Israel but we behave like Faith filled Joshua and Caleb it is possible and as Christians if we’re really Believers then we will overcome by God’s spirit questions about last week’s lesson okay one minor note uh just want to clarify something I said last week we saw last week that one of the promises that God made on Israel’s behalf was to send Hornets to drive out the Nations before them and this comes from Exodus 23 now I describe this Hornet promise as figurative but I just want you to know there’s some difference of opinion about this some say that God actually was promising literal Hornets he was sending actual Hornets to harass and confuse Israel’s enemies the argument for this is based on the other promises all being literally fulfilled God says I’m going to send my angel before you and he literally did that God said he’s going to send his Terror on Israel’s enemies and he literally did that so why should we expect the promise of hornets to suddenly be figurative certainly God was able to send Hornets so we ought not to dismiss a literal interpretation just because it’s too fantastic Matthew Henry puran commentator and John Calvin they only speak briefly about that verse and their commentaries but they do take the Hornets as literal others contend though that the Hornets are indeed figurative they see a parallel between God pro God’s promise of sending Terror which appears in the text right before the Hornets and the Hornets themselves the Hornets being an image of the Terror that God is going to send on Israel’s enemies furthermore those who take this position point out that Hornets are never mentioned in The Narrative of Israel’s Conquest now that is an argument from Silence but it is noteworthy nonetheless if God was really sending Hornets then why is it not mentioned as miraculous provision in any visuals battles or conquests John MacArthur steud Bible as well as the pulpit commentary just the commentaries that I examined they take the horn it as figurative so just want you to know about that difference of opinion anyways we come back to the Tabernacle we looked at several pieces of the Tabernacle already Ark of the Covenant table of showbread the golden lampstand and the altar of incense now all of these objects were placed inside the Tabernacle inside a tabernacle building in the Holy place and the holy of holies and these were extremely holy objects we talked about them but one thing I didn’t mention last time and I want to put it somewhere in my lesson today just so I wouldn’t forget it the Tabernacle objects ones we talked about those four they were so holy that no Layman that is anybody besides a priest or levite no Layman could touch them or even see them and this included when Israel was traveling numbers four actually outlines how the priests were to cover the holy objects and the utensils of the Tabernacle before giving them to the Levites to carry lest the people of Israel see them and die and this was no joke you may remember that at one point in Israel’s early history the Ark of God is captured it’s captured by the Philistines and through a set of um miraculous circumstances it’s returned to Israel but when it’s returned a number of Israelites die and why is that because they looked into or looked upon the Ark of God so it was a serious thing these were extremely holy objects God is making a huge point about their Holiness and he says you’re not even allowed to see them so this is helpful for when we sometimes see pictures depicting these events in the Bible we’ll try and be a little bit more accurate you see this picture on the left well hopefully you see this picture on the left there’s the Arc of the Covenant there all uncovered no that’s not as good as something like this yeah covered in blue just like the Bible says just keep that in mind when these objects were to be shielded from the eyes of Israel any of these holy objects from the Tabernacle wanted to mention that but we’re talking about other parts of the Tabernacle today you’ll want to use the handout for today’s class as we go through four other elements of the Tabernacle we’re going to be looking at the tab tle curtains and structure we’re looking at the veil and the screen looking at the Tabernacle court and then we’ll look at the bronze Altar and its offerings I’d hope that we could talk about the bronze Laver the anointing oil and the priest garments but I don’t think we’ll have time for that today so that might be something that you can study on your owns still what we have is a lot to look at but I think it’s going to be really edifying why is it important to learn about these elements of the Tabernacle first of all helps us understand the rest of the scriptures better because the Bible makes reference to these pieces of the Tabernacle and and their counterparts in the temple and when we don’t really know what they are or what they’re about we miss out on what the Bible’s talking about so it helps us understand the rest of the scriptures better second of all God ordered the parts of the Tabernacle worship very purposefully and it expressed spiritual truth related to God and man we’ve seen this in part already we don’t want to miss what God is saying about himself in the Tabernacle and third just as all the Old Testament ultimately points to Christ we want to see how the different elements of Tabernacle worship also point to and find Superior fulfillment in Jesus in doing this we don’t want to over interpret don’t want to say things mean things that we don’t necessarily know if that’s what they mean but where there’s good evidence of a connection we want to make that inference so it’s viable for us to look at the Tabernacle like two weeks ago please follow along in the chart fill in the chart we’re going to look at the description of each of these elements from the Bible then we’ll examine the object’s practical purpose what that object says about God and then how it connects to Christ let’s pray father your word is great your Tabernacle is awesome and yet what’s displayed in Jesus is even more awesome I pray that You’ help help me to be able to explain this now help us to understand and help us to be in awe of you as a result in Jesus name amen let’s start by talking about the structure of the Tabernacle itself please open your Bibles to Exodus 26 Exodus 26 this is a long section actually this only goes up to verse 31 verses 1 to 3 1 we’re not going to read this section just for the sake of time but I want you to know it’s there because I’m going to summarize the description of the Tabernacle building and it all comes from these first 31 verses in chapter 26 so again use your hand now follow along as I describe and display some text here of the description of the Tabernacle the Tabernacle building the transportable sanctuary tent of God was to be covered by several layers layers of material four layers actually and we’re going to describe these four layers starting from the innermost layer the first layer of the Tabernacle is composed of 10 linked cloth curtains that are made from blue purple Scarlet material or blue purple and Scarlet material and fine Twisted linen we see this described in verses 1 to six of chapter 26 on these cloth curtains made from these different colors and the and the linen there are to be cherabin we talked about the cheram last time remember those are those fantastic Celestial creatures they’re to be displayed on this cloth on these cloth curtains in terms of size each curtain is 28 cubits by 4 cubits each or about 42t by 6 feet so very long in One Direction and they all get linked together they’re linked by 50 blue cloth loops and 50 gold clasps so loops and clasps linking all these curtains together and when you join them all you get a cloth rectangle of about 42t by 60 ft this is going to be a covering the first layer of covering for the Tabernacle now the second layer laid on top of the first is composed of 11 linked curtains of goats hair hair second layer is goat’s hair and we see this described in verses 7 to 13 now the goats in the Middle East in Asia Minor at that time and probably today had long fine and beautiful hair and therefore these goats were often shorn and their hair made into garments was beautiful so what we have here are goat hair curtains these curtains are slightly larger than those of the first layer 30 cubits by four cubits or about 45t by 6 feet couple feet longer on one side and these curtains were linked again with 50 loops and this time 50 bronze clasps and they completely covered the first layer part of the second layer hung over the front and back of the Tabernacle and the slightly longer sides completely overlapped the first layer of curtains so completely covering the first layer so first layer of cloth these um blue purple Scarlet material and fine Twisted linen with a cherubim the second layer of goat’s hair the third layer is of ram skins dyed red now the third and fourth layers are described very briefly in verse 14 it just says and then put this on top and put that on top the third layer is Ram skins died red ESB translates it tanned Ram skins and one source I read said that the Skins themselves were actually red you didn’t have to D them red they were red or whatever it is you have red or tanned skins not hair here we’re talking about skins this is going to go on top of those other two layers and then the fourth layer also in verse 14 porpus skins okay what’s a porpus yeah it’s similar to a dolphin porpus is actually a certain kind of a sea mammal akin to killer whales killer whales are part of the porpus group I don’t think dolphins are but they’re very similar was God telling Israel to make a layer of covering out of whale skins well that’s the way the New American Standard translates it though the word is variously translated the ESV translates this covering as goat skins NIV translates it as durable leather the King James version translates it as Badger skins other translations give us sea cow skins or Violet skins so we’re not exactly sure what this fourth layer was but whatever it was it appeared to be dark and strong and it would go on time it was the fourth layer so we got a bunch of layers cloth hair skin and what’s going to hold all this up well that comes next in the text God instructs there to be a series of wooden boards vertical boards and each board is to be made out of ACAA wood and overlaid with gold each board is 10 cubits by 1 and A2 cubits or 15t tall by about 1 and 3/4 ft wide bunch of boards here very tall boards the North and South sides of the Tabernacle are to have 20 boards each uh I’ll I’ll show you a picture in just a little bit but you have a rectangle imagine the Tabernacle being like this rectangle here’s the entrance in the east side so on the the two long sides you have 20 boards each and then on the West Side the back end of the Tabernacle you have six regular boards and two special corner boards so eight on that side these boards were joined together with mortar centen and joints and silver sockets each set of boards also had five horizontal bars so we’ve got the vertical boards going up and bars going left and right These Bars were also made out of acia wood and overlaid with gold the middle bar was to be long enough to pass from end to end on its side and These Bars pass through a series of gold rings attached to the vertical boards so we have a bunch of Acacia boards covered with gold going up and then bars going left and right also of Acacia and covered with gold so what we have here is the whole description of the Tabernacle structure the curtains the coverings the boards and the bars what would this have looked like well the visual interpretations vary a little bit if we talk about the inside of the Tabernacle giving you a couple different pictures here artistic interpretations today some see the golden boards forming a golden wall that they are right next to each other that they fit right into each other and so you essentially have a golden wall on each side of the Tabernacle you the the beautiful first layer of curtains is only displayed as a ceiling so in the in the top right picture you can see a little bit that the walls are simply gold and the first covering would only be seen through the ceiling we’ll talk about the uh the veilance green a little bit later so that’s one way of seeing the inside other see the boards being more spread apart the boards and bars forming like a golden cage you can see that more in the top left example and then the first layer of covering the beautiful first layer of covering would come through the openings in the bars and Boards as well as the ceiling but anyways you have lots of gold on the inside and then that first layer of curtains coming through and then on the outside you can see the different layers of coverings kind of spread apart on the bottom left picture and then there’s a model of the Tabernacle with all the coverings one on top of the other from the outside you would only see that fourth layer or mostly see that fourth layer maybe a little bit of the layers underneath but you would not see at all the first layer you’d only see the skins on top and perhaps maybe a little bit of the the goat’s hair but you wouldn’t see that first layer at all from the outside and certainly you couldn’t see the gold pillars or boards from the outside either anyway there’s a number of different pictures of the Tabernacle building itself to give you an idea in terms of the shape of the Tabernacle you can see here that most of the Tabernacle as a box with a slightly fanned out set of sides to account for the tent pegs that would have held the coverings the four coverings on top in place now others are really strict with the box shape there’s no Fanning out at all it’s just a box rectangle and some have it triangular so that actually comes to a point at the top that’s the way Answers in Genesis depicts it in their handout and I’m not really sure why because that would require some other structural components that are not mentioned in the text you need like something to stick up all the way I don’t think it looked like that probably something like I’ve displayed in these pictures here anyways so here’s our Tabernacles Tabernacle building what is the purpose of this structure filling in our the other columns in our chart what’s the Practical purpose or purposes of this building why build it this way Eric that’s exactly right yeah this is very important the Tabernacle building provided a separate place for the holy objects as well as a separate place to meet with a holy God that’s one of the important purposes of the Tabernacle anything else about the way this is built that illustrates a practical purpose yeah Dwayne exactly it had to be portable but it also had to be strong so the way it was put together you could you could take down and put up these sets of coverings and These Bars and Boards so that when it was up it wouldn’t fall down but it could be taken down so that as Israel was traveling through the Wilderness and when it reached the promised land God’s Dwelling Place could move so those are certainly two practical purposes of this building yeah Eric MH yeah that’s a good point too we think about those outer coverings of the Tabernacle they certainly seem a lot tougher than the in the inner um coverings of the Tabernacle so that outer covering yeah Eric you’re probably right probably waterproof or definitely more resistant to the elements than would have what would have been on the inside and that’s part of keeping this structure both transportable and durable that’s a good point Eric so we see practical purposes of this building but thinking about how it’s built what does it say about God what’s one thing Eric yeah his presence right the reason that you have this building is because God is with you god actually goes with your Camp he dwells right in the midst of it he has a building he has a dwelling place it shows that God is with his people what else does it show us Danny right yeah that’s a good point Danny we’ll talk more about having to come to God in a specific way um throughout the today’s class but even though he’s with his people there’s still separation God still has to be met in a separate building and there there’s a specific way you come into that building so we’re not losing sight of God’s holiness he dwells with his people but he’s still that separate holy God and of course we also see the Lord’s Majesty once again the inner portion of this Tabernacle hopefully you’ve seen that as you as you actually get to the inside it becomes beautiful and glorious the outside it’s more about practical use but inside that’s where you see the beautiful cherubim on the covering on the curtains and that that’s where you see the gold and that’s where you see the red the blue the purple and the Scarlet material all these rich colors and expensive dyes they’re all on display inside the Tabernacle because God is glorious and so his building is going to be is going to look glorious as far as man is or with the materials that man is able to make as God instructs perhaps we could say more but certainly we can see with the Tabernacle building itself God was emphasizing I am with you but I am Holy and I am glorious we’ll talk the last category how does it connect to Christ I’m actually going to hold off on that right now until we talk about the other the next two elements of the Tabernacle because the arrangement of the Tabernacle building with the veil in the screen and the court all have to do with the same connection to Jesus so we’ll come back to that one leave it blank for now so we have the Tabernacle building but this building is going to be arranged in a certain way with specific dividers let’s talk now about the veil and the screen of the Tabernacle this also appears in chapter 26 and this time we will we will read the text this is verses 31- 37 Exodus 26: 31-37 follow along with me you shall make a veil of blue and purple and Scarlet material and fine Twisted linen it shall be made with cherabin the work of a skillful Workman you shall hang in on four pillars of Acacia overlaid with gold their hooks also being of gold and four sockets of silver you shall hang up the veil under the clasps and you shall bring in the ark of the testimony there within the veil and the veil Shall Serve for you as a partition between the holy place and the holy of holies you shall put the mercy seat on the Ark of the testimony in the holy of holies you shall set the table outside the veil and the lampstand opposite the table on the side of the Tabernacle toward the South and you should put the table on the North side you shall make a screen for the doorway of the tent of blue and purple and Scarlet material and fine Twisted linen the work of a weaver you shall make five pillars of Acacia for the screen and overlay them with gold gold their hooks also being of gold and you shall cast five sockets of bronze for them okay so we got a veil and a screen here let’s make some observations how is the veil like the inner set of curtains that we discussed with the Tabernacle building yeah Emma that’s exactly right it’s basically the same made out of the same material and also is to display cherabin blue purple Scarlet material fine Twisted linen has chair Bim and is set on four Acacia pillars overlaid with gold these pillars have golden hooks each pillar has one hook and one socket of silver silver so total of four gold hooks silver sockets now we’re told directly the purpose of this Veil what’s the purpose what does it partition the holy of holies from the holy place now the whole Tabernacle building is Holy but the most holy place is the place where the Ark of the Covenant dwells and as you know from other scriptures no man could go into that except for the priest once a year this Veil is going to serve as a partition between the holy place that is the restler Tabernacle and the most holy place the holy of holies now as an aside we’re told where the rest of the Holy objects ought to be arranged in the Holy place the ark goes into the holy of holies but the table of the showbread you think about the Tabernacle again like this like a rectangle the table of the showbread is going to go on the north side of the Tabernacle and opposite it the lampstand on the South Side not mentioned here but remember the altar of incense also is in the Holy place where does the altar of incense go just outside the veil right so in the Holy place right in front of the veil so if this is the holy of holy place in the veil right here the altar of incense would be right in front of that perhaps between or or close to between the table and the lampstand so we have the veil but we’re also told about a screen here what’s different about the screen versus the Veil they’re very similar there’s one difference what does the screen not feature no cherim no cherim on the screen though it is made of that beautiful blue purple Scarlet material and fine Twisted linen no chair Bim and this time Five Pillars and this would go right at the entrance of the Tabernacle again the pillars are made of AAA wood overlaid with gold and we have five gold Hooks and bronze sockets this time not silver but bronze now from what we know from other scriptures how often did someone pass through the screen that is the entrance to go into the holy Place how often what’s that say the veil once a year that would be the entrance into the holy of holies what about the screen yeah Rob yeah definitely at least once a week it would definitely it would be daily because it’s not just the showbread in there but also the altar of incense which was required to be burned twice a day and also the lamps then had to be maintained so daily priests and Levites would go into the holy place but into the most holy Place only once a year on the day of atonement very good okay so we have a description we have a description of um these two items in the Tabernacle and we know their practical purpose it’s told us in the text they’re serving as dividers the veil divides the holy of holies from the holy place and the screen divides the holy place from the rest of the Tabernacle complex it’s the entrance yeah Eric okay nice MH oh that’s a good point thanks Eric thanks for mentioning that I’ll repeat the comment when we’re talking about the gold and the silver and the bronze of the Tabernacle certainly as you get closer to the inside the the holiest holiest place in the Tabernacle you see more gold and there’s also silver inside and bronze more on the outside we’ll see the Tabernacle complex it all features bronze but as you said Eric it’s not just the the valuableness and the luster of the these Metals but it’s the the durability that gold doesn’t tarnish silver tarnishes somewhat but bronze can tarnish very easily and that also is um connected to God and that um not only is God beautiful and glorious but we’re talking about um a glory that does not fade so it’s appropriate that gold would be used inside her Tabernacle and silver to a lesser extent but we know the Practical purpose we can fill that in in the chart practical purpose of these is to serve as dividers but what did they tell us about God the veil and scream yeah really yeah so like we saw already yeah God’s present but because he’s present he needs to dwell separate because he’s holy it’s a physical reminder the set apartness of God on two levels it was possible to come into God’s Most Holy presence but it had to be done in a particular way once a year or you would die and there was a more limited way to come near God’s presence but there still was a veil there still was a veil God’s present with his people and these dividers are needed because he is present God’s Sanctuary must be protected from what is unclean and those who are unclean they need protection from God’s holiness and we also see again that God is majestic because of these be the beauty of the veil and the screen so God emphasized is for us his majesty his Holiness and his presence what does it have to do with Jesus again we’ll come back to that now we’re talking about the setup of the Tabernacle structure we also need to talk about the Tabernacle Court this comes in the next chapter of Exodus Exodus 27 veres 9 to9 we’re again not going to read this section but I’ll summarize with a description but it does appear starting in verse 9 in chapter 27 what was the court we see pictures there there top right and bottom bottom right what we have here is a series of pillars and hangings that wall in a Courtyard area of 100 cubits by 50 cubits by 5 cubits or 150 ft long by 75 ft wide and 7 and 1/2 ft tall approximately the hangings of the Court are to be made of fine Twisted linen probably white the material for the pillars the pillars of this court are not listed though it’s probably AAA wood as are all the other pillars of the Tabernacle though these apparently are not overlaid with gold these pillars feature bronze sockets and silver Hooks and these are how the Linens hang on the pillars there are 20 pillars on the North and South sides of the court and 10 pillars on the west side and a special setup around the east side of the Court where the entrance would be the Gate of the court is flanked by two sections of three pillars and and 15 cubits of hangings while the entrance itself is four pillars and a screen of cubits made of blue purple and Scarlet material and fine Twisted Linen in other words just like the screen of the Tabernacle same material same look the tent pegs for the Tabernacle or for the uh the hangings on the outside of the Tabernacle and even probably for the Tabernacle building itself the tent pegs are described here being made of bronze along with the other utensils for the outside of the Tabernacle now what objects are in the outer Court you can see a little bit there but uh two main objects the bronze altar you can see kind of the bottom right of that top picture bronze altar that’s where the sacrifices would be and the bronze lav positioned between the Tabernacle and the altar those would be on the outside now who’s allowed in the outer Court well the priests and the Levites for sure because they need to do the work of the Tabernacle but also ceremonially clean Israelites this is where the worshippers would be Layman were by no means allowed to enter the Tabernacle but Israelites were to come into the Tabernacle Court to present their offerings and they had to do this soberly and they had to come through the one gate had to come to the one gate on the the side of the Tabernacle complex and the laymen were not allowed to pitch their tents close to the Tabernacle or its Court instead the Levites were to surround the Tabernacle with their Dwelling Places in order to protect it but it was allowed and needful for Israelite worshippers to come into the Tabernacle Court to present their offerings let’s interpret now may have just given that away a little bit but what practical purpose or purposes did the outer court or did the court of the Tabernacle serve what’s one of the functions of this court yeah it allows for Layman to actually bring their sacrifices in and it allows a place for the sacrifices to be offered when we talk about the animal offerings they’re all taking place in this court they’re not happening inside the Tabernacle that the incense and and parts of the offerings would have um certain actions that take place inside the Tabernacle the animal sacrifices themselves took place outside took place in the court and the Israelite worshippers be bringing their animals there so it’ be like a kind of like a transition zone where the worshiper brings his animal the animal is offered there and the priest takes care of it after that what else is a function of this court yeah Eric well definitely washing is going to be um part of it as well a lav especially for the priests that’s going to be important for him to wash um I’m not sure in particular uh what other kind of Washings might take place there but the lav for sure what else yeah Ro exactly right very good Roy this is like a buffer zone this is like another layer of protection for God’s holy place place and protection from the people of God’s holiness you couldn’t just stroll in casually into God’s Court no there was a big layer of or there was a a wall of hangings and pillars so that that wouldn’t happen you could come near God’s presence even as a Layman but you couldn’t do it casually it had to be done soberly but you couldn’t come all the way so we see this court functions like a buffer zone but also Al a zone for Layman to worship and it’s also where the the sacrifices are offered now what does the setup show us about God once again we see what we see the Holiness of God right there needs to be a buffer zone to his Holiness and those who enter that zone must still do it carefully and with total ceremonial cleanness we see God is majestic there’s a beautiful Gate entrance and clean linen all surrounding his Tabernacle we do see that God is again present with his people they can come near to him even the Layman can come near but not all the way they could not enter the Tabernacle or the holy place but amazingly they could come close but the fact that they couldn’t come all the way also shows us that man needs a mediator man needs a god ordained mediator who could go all the way to God God is with his people but his presence is not directly accessible to all Israelites would have to trust their mediators ordained by God to do what they could not do for themselves yeah r yeah that’s a that’s another good point we do see the the wisdom of God in just order that there is a very specific order about how his Tabernacle should be arranged and how worshiping the Tabernacle is going to happen and part of the arrangement of the Tabernacle court goes along with that so yeah that’s a good point Roy certainly we see that God is majestic he’s holy he’s present and that man requires God’s mediator to go where man cannot ultimately go now I’ve talked about these three items what does the Tabernacle and its Veil and its screen and its Court what do all those things have to do with Christ yeah right that is true we are talking about a picture a shadow of Christ but in what way yeah yeah so we’ve talked about this a little bit with the Ark of Covenant already but we’re talking about a much greater manifestation of God’s presence God says I will dwell with you but there has to be certain restrictions but in Jesus he dwelt with us in a much greater way and we had Total Access to Jesus everyone could or he lived with us he uh he was among us he was in human flesh are you gonna say something else Danny yeah that’s a great parallel to repeat your comment John 114 apparently the word where it says the word dwelt among us literally means to pitch his tent Among Us and of course that’s sounds just like the Tabernacle but this is a Much Greater Tabernacle Jesus himself the Tabernacle dwelling among us and then there’s something that happens in Jesus’s lifetime in his ministry that should directly link us to the Tabernacle or what would have been at that time the temple which was arranged the same way or similarly to the Tabernacle yeah Eric exactly what was significant about the veil being torn into two at Jesus’s death yeah this would have been so strange to all Jewish worshippers to hear about this or to know about this that wait the holy of holies is open I mean if you saw the holy of holies open that means you could see the Ark of the Covenant that was a big no no that would mean that you would die but but Jesus is death it says that the veil was torn in two so certainly we’re talking about um Christ being a greater manifestation of God’s presence he tabernacled among us but most significantly is that the veil of the the temple first prefigured in the Tabernacle was torn into two Mark 15: 37- 38 says and Jesus uttered a loud cry and breathed his last and the veil of the temple was torn into two from top to bottom of course top to bottom being significant because that means that man didn’t do it it was done by God God tore open way fully cleansed by or let me say this Christ through his sacrifice on the cross secures for his people direct and continual access into God’s Most Holy place and fully cleansed by Christ’s work we not only get to experience intimate fellowship with God now but we have the shest and most holy hope of a dwelling of dwelling in God’s Great and holy presence forever Hebrews 6 19 to 20 says this speaking about Abraham’s hope the hope of blessing through God’s unilateral Covenant the author says this hope we have as an anchor of the Soul a hope both sure and steadfast and one which enters within the veil where Jesus has entered as a forerunner for us having become a high priest forever according to the order of melkisedek there was no entering the most holy place before except with strict limitations in sacrifice but Christ once for all sacrifice was so great that it forever and once for all carried his people inside the Veil we no longer have to remain at a distance because of the Holiness of God and our own uncleanness Christ has made us holy with his own Holiness now does this mean that God ceases to be holy no far from it we must not lose our holy fear or reverence for God but Christ’s work gives us the confidence through our justification through our positional sanctification that is being um made holy declared holy once for all we have the confidence to approach God in the most intimate way as our loving father Roy you gonna say something yeah we have the to repeat your comment we in Christ we have unique privilege to do what only the high priest could do and yet even better than what the high priest could do because he could only come in for a short time once a year and he had to come in with incense he had to come in with blood but Jesus his sacrifice was so much better that not only can we or we can come in and all of those things have already been provided I was going to say one other thing the Tabernacle showed us that God had always purposed this God had always purposed for man to be brought into God’s most intimate presence but how could that be we saw from the Tabernacle God is Holy how could he bring us into his most holy Place ah through a perfect sacrifice through his son through the sacrif of God’s son himself God had always purposed to provide a way into his intimate presence and Christ is the way questions about these or other comments about these first three elements yeah Danny yeah just repeat your comment briefly so you mentioned that text from Revelation that says that the dwelling place of God is among men or the Tabernacle of God is among men and we’re talking about the new Heaven and the new Earth what we have in Christ with the veil being torn into two is something that gives us a a beautiful reality in the present but it also points to something that hasn’t happened happen yet we do have intimate fellowship with God we’re brought into his most holy presence and yet in a in another way we haven’t yet done that we will be in God’s Most Holy presence when we when we’re there with him in heaven and when he comes back to the Earth and when he establishes his kingdom and when he creates a new Heaven and a new Earth and that will be just as Danny was reading a place without crying or pain or or sadness and there won’t even be any light because the Lamb of God is the lamp lights of everything God himself if you’re a Believer think about this wonderful truth God himself has secured for you the most intimate dwelling place with him that seems so Unthinkable when you think about or that that seemed so um hard to understand when just looking at the Tabernacle like wait God separate God separate God separate you can’t come near you can’t come that near he says I provided a way for you to come as near as my as exactly where I am it’s amazing we have to move on because we need to talk about one more thing but the the Tabernacle the veil the court all pointed to Jesus hold that to the end Rob speaking of sacrifices there one of the element of the Tabernacle I want to look at and that is the bronze altar so now going back to the beginning of chapter 27 the bronze altar let’s read that verses 1 to8 we get the description of the altar where we’re going to talk about it and we’ll also talk briefly about the sacrifices that are made on the altar verse one chapter 27 and you shall make the altar of ACAA wood five cubits long and five cubits wide the altar shall be square and its height shall be three cubits shall make its horns on its Four Corners its horn shall be of one piece with it and you shall overlay it with bronze shall make its pales for removing its ashes and shovels and its basins and its forks and its fire pans should make all its utensils of bronze make for it a grading of network of network of bronze and on the net you shall make four bronze rings at its Four Corners you shall put it beneath under the ledge of the altar so that the net will reach halfway up the altar you should make poles for the altar poles of acacia wood and overlay them with bronze its po shall be inserted into the ring so that the PO shall be on the two sides of the altar when it is carried you shall make it Hollow with planks as it was shown you in the mountain so they shall make it okay briefly observe the description of this altar altar is made out of acacia wood but overlaid with what bronze not gold bronze everything in the in the court is bronze and this is in the court this is kind of a big alter five cubits by five cubits by three cubits or about 7 and2 fet by 7 and half ft and four and a2t Tall it has horns on its Four Corners all utensils the pale for removing ashes the shovels the B the basins the forks the firep pants all to be made of bronze features a ledge and a grading Network that network network is said to be or to reach halfway up the Altar and it has four bronze Rings through which acaciawood poles overlaid with bronze were to be inserted and this altar is to be Hollow and that’s a good thing why because it’s G to be really heavy otherwise and this was to be carried by humans so needs to be Hollow what did this altar look like well I’ve given you a number of pictures of over here sorry that one’s a little bit dark actually some different interpretations of it of what it looked like what did the network look like and how did you remove the ashes from the altar people have different ideas about what that would have looked like was it was it raised did it have like a a space underneath it you see the bottom right one doesn’t really have a space underneath it so some different interpretations of that interestingly enough this altar was not the only altar that God said that they could offer sacrifices on it was to be the main altar but in Exodus 20 we hear some Provisions about God of how they can create other altars and if they do it has to be of Earthworks and if it’s made of stone it can’t be with cut tools Etc so this wasn’t the only altar Israel could use but it was to be the main Altar and certainly no altar would be allowed to be used without the priest doing the sacrifice priest had to be the one to administer the sacrifice otherwise it would not be accepted by God of course Israel violated that rule many many many times what kind of offerings were to be made on this altars well there is the topic I wish we could do a whole Sunday school lesson on because God says a lot about his offerings and there’s a lot to unravel there but we can’t talk about it right now what I’ve chosen to do instead is on the back of the chart that you have on the back of your hand now is another chart it’s my labor of love I went through what the Bible says about five different kinds of sacrifices the main offerings that Israel was commanded to give and I tried to give you the information the main information about each of those offerings the five main offerings were the burnt offering the grain offering the peace offering the sin offering and the guilt offering don’t have time to go through all the details right now but I encourage you to look at those after class I think you’ll notice some pretty interesting things but notice a few things just from glancing at this handout first of all the animal offerings those that would be offered on this altar the bronze altar they all begin the same way how do they begin if you’re offering an animal to God how does that offering begin you bring it to the doorway of the Tabernacle and then put your hands on its head as a as a as a symbol of identification with the animal and in the case of sin offerings transferring your sin symbolically to the animal and then what do you do you kill it the worshipper killed the animal he lays his hands his hands on the head of the animal at it’s at the Tabernacle doorway and he kills the animal and then the priest takes it from there priest takes care of the offering from there that’s worth noting second notice that every animal offering is to be given to god of clean animals without defect had to be a certain kind of animals cows goats or sheep and they had to be without defect perfect offerings also notice the different offerings are associated with different purposes the burnt offering is said to be about atonement it’s to make atonement in general remember atonement we’re talking about covering the grain offering this purpose is not directly stated but it appears to be offer associated with dedication or trust I know God will provide for me the peace offering is associated with Fellowship thankfulness and fulfillment of vows it was the only offering in which the worshipper himself could eat some of the meat of the sacrifice and then the sin and the guilt offerings they have the same Association they were about purification they about covering for unintentional but specific sins interestingly those offerings for unintentional sins what kind of offering could be offered for an intentional sin a defiant sin does anyone know none actually there’s no offering for a defiant a sin with a high hand it says that person is to be cut off from his people kind of interesting that’s numbers 15 verses 30 to 31 one other thing to note for the sin offering we’re talking about the if a if a priest sins or if the congregation sins there’s certain certain steps that have to be taken but while the fat is burned on the bronze altar where is most of the animal burned outside the camp the priest is to take the animal the rest of the flesh Take It Outside the camp and burning in a clean place that’s for the sin offering offered for the priest or for the congregation hang on to that question Craig so we can we could say more about the different offerings but I just wanted you to notice those few things because they’re all really relevant for when we talk about Christ but back to our chart what’s the Practical purpose of this bronze altar what’s it for it’s to give an acceptable place to offer sacrifices an acceptable offer for sacrifices to God what does this show us about God well some of the things we’ve already seen God is majestic he deserves the best God is holy man needs covering and God only accepts perfect sacrifices we also see God is merciful he has provided away for man sin to be covered for his Holiness to be um propitiated and he’s provided a way for Fellowship to continue with him and his people how do these things connect to Christ it’s pretty obvious right Christ is our offering well he’s not only the offering he’s also the priest the perfect priest who offers the offering he’s the perfect offering priest sacrif is perfectly on behalf of his people but he is also the perfect offering who once and for all obtained covering for those who believe in him and he he’s the ultimate fulfillment of each kind of offering think about the burnt offering he provides perfect atonement think about the grain offering he’s the perfect provision from God think about the peace offering he’s what brings you your reconciliation he’s what allows you to have fellowship with God pictured in the fellowship meal of the fellowship or the peace offering and as the sin and the guilt offering Jesus was taken outside the camp and offered once and for all to cleanse us of all of our specific sins Christ is the reason that God allowed animals to have any covering effect in the first place for truly there’s nothing righteous about an animal free from defect there’s no spiritual power to that it was only because these animals suited God as pictures of a greater sacrifice that God permitted temporary covering to be obtained through these we don’t have time to talk about it right now but Hebrews 10 1 to10 explains the blood of bulls and goats is never able to make one clean but God provided a better sacrifice that did it once and for all if you have other questions about the bronze altar or the different offerings come see me afterwards we’re out of time for today also again I encourage you to do your own study about the the bronze Laver the anointing oil the garments of the priests because I think you’ll discover similar things to what we’ve already talked about in today’s lesson next week we move on to year two of the answered Bible curriculum the first quarter of the second year and we’re going to pick it back up with Joshua and God’s call to Joshua if you sign up for a workbook for next quarter please see me after I pray so I can give that to you let’s pray oh Lord I want to say so much more about the offerings The Altar and the different elements of the Tabernacle but Lord I praise you for this look that’s so sweet s God that you have brought us inside the veil we didn’t deserve it we were totally unclean and you made us clean you gave us your Holiness and then you brought us into the most holy place of course God you have called us also to live holy lives in light of that we are not saved so that we can continue to sin but Lord we do thank you that a once and for all sacrifice has Justified us because we do believe in you you caused us to believe in you believe in you you made a way and brought us to yourself and you will bring us to yourself just as you prayed you wanted us to see your glory and to be with you where you are we praise you for that God let more praise and understanding ReSound this morning as we continue our service in Jesus name amen