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Wanted to mention a couple of things again before the meeting tonight.
There are some here that probably weren't here last night and just wanted to kind of explain the exercise of the the booth in the back here as we consider the the Tabernacle. Our desire was to.
Have a round table discussion about the Tabernacle and.
Mark's exercise has been to capture that in a video so that it can go out to a broad audience. There's a lot of need out there for these truths to be brought forth. So that is the reason for the booth. There's a need to try and prevent sound, bounce and things like that. I would also like to just.
Re express that none of us that are involved in this exercise are experts on the subject of the Tabernacle.
It's something that the Lord has laid on our hearts and and as we consider these things, we've been overwhelmed by the level of of detail that's there that present our Lord Jesus and all of his beauty and majesty and we feel very inadequate.
And so we appreciate your prayers and we welcome feedback if we say something that's amiss.
There was some feedback given that was helpful last night after the meeting. And so we we would ask that you would approach us with those things. With that, let's look to the Lord for his help before we begin the meeting.
Again, Father, we thank thee so much for this opportunity to consider.
The Tabernacle again tonight. And Father, we feel our weakness.
Our need of Thy help as we consider that which Thou has given to us, that display the majesty, the glory of Thy beloved Son.
Father, we feel keenly that we are on holy ground.
And we just look to the for the help tonight that they spirit would have the liberty to direct our hearts and our words that I will be honored and glorified as we.
Seek to bring out.
The beauties of thy beloved Son, but just count on thee, our God and Father, for thy help.
They asked us in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.
Welcome to another Tabernacle talk on the table around the A table here with four guys and it's good to have.
Three others with us here. I'm just going to quickly roll through. Got Josh.
And Nate, thanks for coming back.
Good to have you back. And of course, Tim and we've got a beautiful topic here to talk up, talk about and that is is coming into the holiest of all and we're going to start there. I'd like to go ahead and just go ahead and put up a solo shot of of the Tabernacle. We saw this last.
Time where we see the Tabernacle laid out there with a fence around it. There's a gate out in front and for this session we're going to go ahead and go inside of the actual Tabernacle and start from the holiest of all coming back. But I came across this picture. I thought that was beautiful here where this is a night scene of what it could have been depicted as where the Shekinah glory is shining down and.
The the Cloud of Fire.
Was above the Israelites. That's his grace towards them. The desert can be very, very frigid out there, and He and he and his mercies and grace towards them. He gives a fire above them to keep them warm at night.
Last time we also talked about some Tabernacle keys which are going to become very important. Today. We talked about blue, we talked about purple, we talked about scarlet and fine linen. And so those are going to be very key to as we move into today's talk.
We also have 3 metals in the Tabernacle, pure gold and gold, deity of right Christ and a divine righteousness, Silver being, redemption, the blessings of atonement, and then brass, divine righteousness and judgment, Divine power, the price of atonement. We're going to find out tonight that some metals are being used inside and some metals are being used outside.
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And so let's go ahead and.
Roll this out. I'm going to roll it over to you. Josh here. Second here.
And.
Well, Josh, we have the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies here.
Mike there too and explain a little bit too as we go into this here, explain a little bit of a priest coming through.
What would they find 1St as they come through, right? And maybe before I do that, if I could have the liberty to just correct myself from yesterday. I am thankful for a discussion that we had with a brother that pointed out some very helpful things for us, and one of which.
That he brought to my attention was that I had the copper in the brass backwards. So I I wanted to correct that. I thought I had it right on the slides, but I didn't. So I just want to correct that. The brass is what we have in the King James Version and in the new translation of Jane Darby, it's actually copper and I think I stated that backwards. So I just wanted to point that out.
And copper.
Being meaningful because it has a, it has a higher threshold of, of, of being able to withstand the heat and brass is, is an alloy of copper. So hopefully I, I, I got that right now.
The other thing he he pointed out too and I, I just want to bring this out. It might sound like it's splitting hairs, but it it is important to delineate these things and and and see the distinction in scripture.
And I'm not, we don't have time to go into it right now, but I think I'm probably the first offender.
In using the the phrase the the righteousness of Christ being applied to us as believers, but he helpfully pointed out that it's actually the righteousness of God and the righteousness of Christ is never spoken of as being in connection with the believer. It's the righteousness of God. So there's that verse that he have made him to be sin for us.
Who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. So we can't, we don't have time to go into that. And hopefully maybe when we talk about the actual Tabernacle itself, the the building, we can touch in on that 'cause I think there's some really nice thoughts there. But so to your question Mark as the priest would go into the Tabernacle. I think it's good to get that perspective.
But before we do, Tim had mentioned this in his prayer.
That we are treading on holy ground here and we can't help but feel.
Our our lack in in the ability really to.
Properly present these things.
I mean, we are talking about divine subjects here, which are very deep. And I think this hymn that we sang together tonight is going to read the first stanza, the holiest we enter.
Peace with God through whom we found our center in Jesus and his blood. Though great may be our dullness and thought and word and deed I I feel that's very relevant here. We glory in the fullness of him that meets our need. So with the Lord's help, we will hopefully bring some of these things out.
As best as we can. But as you enter the Tabernacle itself, there's two compartments, isn't there?
Inside, baby, unless I'm going to open up the camera on the on the bottle that you have in front of you here.
So the first compartment here is is what held, I guess, if that's the way to put it, the table of showbread on the right hand side, the golden Candlestick on the left hand side, and then right before the veil which separated the holy place.
From the Holy of Holies, where the Ark of the Covenant was and the mercy seat was the golden altar of incense. So, as I say, in that second compartment which the priest only entered once a year on the Day of Atonement, which we read about in Leviticus 16, there is where the mercy seat and the Ark resided, and where God's presence was.
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So it's our desire tonight to.
Take up the furniture within. It might be good to start off with, I guess reading the scriptures and I think what we'll do here is we'll just kind of.
Read the scriptures that are are relevant to the first piece and then we'll we'll make some comments and then go forward on on that basis. And I think we we pointed it out last night too, is that God starts from his own perspective to come out to man.
And that's, that's where we're starting. We're going to start in the holy place, the Holy of Holies. Excuse me.
Where the Ark is and so we can read Exodus 25.
And we can read verses 10 down to.
Verse 22, Nate and and just for introduction, I have up on the slide. This is what we're going to be reading about, right? The that's the arc of the covenant and the mercy seat. That's what we're going to be reading about here.
Five, sorry I'm not sure if you heard that. Exodus 25 verse 10.
And they shall make an arc of shittimwood 2 cubits and a half shall be the length thereof, and a cubit and a half the breadth thereof, and a cubit and a half the height thereof. And thou shalt overlay it with pure gold within, and without shalt thou overlay it, and shall make upon it a crown of gold roundabout. And thou shalt cast four rings of gold for it, and put them in the four corners thereof, And two rings shall be in the one side of it, and two rings in.
The other side of it. And thou shalt make staves of Shittimwood and overlay them with gold. And thou shalt put the staves into the rings by the sides of the ark, that the ark may be born with them. The stave shall be in the rings of the ark, they shall not be taken from it. And thou shalt put into the ark the testimony which I shall give thee. And thou shalt make a mercy seat of pure gold. 2 cubits and a half shall be the length thereof.
Cubit and a half the breadth thereof.
And thou shalt make 2 Cherubims of gold a beaten work. Thou shalt make them in the two ends of the mercy seat, and make one cherub on the one end and the other cherub on the other end. Even of the mercy seat shall you make the cherubims on the two ends thereof. And the cherubims shall stretch forth their wings on high, covering the mercy seat with their wings, and their faces shall look one to another.
Toward the mercy seat shall the faces of the cherubims be.
And thou shalt put the mercy seat above upon the ark, and in the ark thou shalt put the testimony that I shall give thee. And there I will meet with thee. And I will commune with thee from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubims which are upon the ark, of the testimony of all things which I give thee in commandment unto the children of Israel.
All right. Thanks, Nate.
So I guess the question is, is what does this speak to us of are the obvious question right? And we pointed it out yesterday that the Tabernacle is is a type of the glory of Christ, the glories of Christ and the holiness of God and.
We can see in it something that God would seek to illustrate to us.
Regarding his character, the person of his son, the work that he has done and so on.
And in this first piece we see in the Ark a picture of our Lord Jesus Christ, and Mark had touched in on the Tabernacle keys how important they are to the the interpretation of of what we have before us. And what we have here is.
A vessel that is made of wood and overlaid with gold.
Now we notice that in our keys. That pure gold really speaks to the deity of Christ, doesn't it?
And would would speak of his humanity. These are two vital things in connection with our Lord that we need to hold near dear and protect guard as God does, that is.
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His humanity, that he was holy man, and that he was holy God.
And this is a wonderful thing that we see in the in this wonderful vessel. It says that there is a, a border or a crown of gold roundabout. And I think it kind of speaks to to that point that God would guard the the truth.
Of his beloved son concerning his person and it's a vital to our faith.
Isn't it?
There are some verses in John that speak to those truths. John chapter one might read those real quick.
As to the deity and humanity of Christ, it speaks in John chapter one.
That first one in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
Is divinity and then a little bit later it says.
That.
Put my finger back on the verse here, and the Word was made flesh, verse 14. Yeah, the Word was made flesh, verse 14, and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory. The glory is of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. So these aren't just types that are seen in the Old Testament. They're truths that are borne out in the New Testament as well. It's important to see that.
Would you say that?
We know the Lord has many different titles. Would we see in this the title of the Son of God and also the Son of Man? Definitely.
So there were rings of gold in the four corners of this vessel in verse 12.
And there were staves of Chittim wood that were put through those rings. Now I might mention too, while I'm thinking of it, that apparently Schittam wood, if I understand it right, is also known as Acacia wood. Now I'm not up to speed on all the details of the wood itself, but I understand from the writers that this was.
Basically an incorruptible wood and you could see the the beautiful type in.
What we have here concerning the humanity of Christ, that He had an impeccable humanity, perfect, holy, spotless, and He was the perfect man, wasn't He?
And with respect to the staves as they went through these rings, it would really speak to us, I think, of, of the wilderness journeys of, of the people of God. They were to carry this ark as they were to carry these other vessels through the wilderness with them. And I think we, we see something here that is so beautiful to to bring before us the fact that.
The Lord Jesus.
Is with us wherever we go, isn't he personally? And he's promised that at the end of Matthew. I believe it is. He says, lo, I am with you even unto the end of the age. Amen. And what a comfort that is that it's it's not.
Let me restate this. The staves were through the rings and I think there's there's probably a couple thoughts there with the rings, but.
A ring doesn't have a beginning, nor does it have an end.
And I like to think of it in a couple of ways. And that is the Lord Jesus.
Is not only with us, we take him with us, he is with us where we go, but it is the eternal God, the Person of Christ that goes with us and and what a comfort that should be for his people. And some have suggested too, that the ring speaks of eternal love. And so here we are in the Holy of holies.
That you and I now enter in freely and we will get into that truth at a later date.
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But it is true that while the high priest could only enter into that room once a year, we as believers have access, free access 24/7. And the Lord Jesus is with us where we go. The eternal God himself goes with us. So there is some wilderness truth here, isn't there?
Just to jump in on that, in First Kings 8 where the the ark is put into the temple, the staves are removed at that point.
And why is that? The wilderness journey is over, right?
And then to further that too is is when the Lord Jesus hung on the cross.
The veil was rent from top to bottom, giving us that free access. You're Speaking of Josh? Exactly.
It might be good to make the distinction of why. What's the difference between the Tabernacle and the temple is. I'm not sure if we've done that yet, but the temple speaks of the millennial glories of Christ. And that ties in with what you just brought out me, that the staves were removed because it was at a place of rest at that point. So.
There are a lot of similarities.
But they have a completely different meaning because they're looking at the millennial glories.
Going to talk about the mercy, I think so that's the that's pretty important, isn't it? Maybe give us a few words on that, Tim. So this this is one that just really.
As I considered these things.
I mean, every aspect of the Tabernacle really brings before us Christ but a mercy seat.
Maybe it's truest and deepest sense and it is truly holy ground and.
The holiest of holiest really speaks of heaven, of heavens, right? And God's throne. They're in that place and he.
Was to meet with the children of Israel.
At the mercy seat between the chair of us and.
As you pointed out at the beginning, Scripture gives us the perspective of God's approach to man.
And the only way that that could happen was there at the mercy seat with blood on the gold. And the Lord Jesus was both the sacrifice priest and he's the one that that signifies that atoning sacrifice on the mercy seat and often.
Mercy seat is in the New Testament rendered in place of propitiation and we kind of mentioned that a little bit yesterday that.
The mercies the mercy seat really does bring before us. Propitiation. What is propitiation? Propitiation, the big word. But it really brings before us God's satisfaction with the sacrifice that was provided.
You know, I think of the worst in Isaiah chapter 53 that says he shall see of the travel of his soul and be satisfied. There's more to it than that. And I'll have I'll ask you brothers to chime in. But really what it speaks to us of is.
God's satisfaction as to his holy claims against sin and.
That could only happen through blood on the mercy seat.
We could read one of the verses I think you're referring to in Romans chapter 3.
And we'll start with verse 24.
We could start with verse 23. Really you could read the whole chapter, but verse 23 For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God has set forth to be a propitiation. I think this is one of the verses you mentioned that propitiation could be translated mercy seat.
Through faith in his blood to declare His righteousness for the remission of sins that are passed.
Through the forbearance of God.
The thing that makes it a mercy seat is the fact that there's blood on it.
If there was number blood on the mercy seat, it would be sure and instant judgment for the people of God of Israel in the wilderness.
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And you can just get in your mind's eye that picture of this slab of gold.
That speaks to us of the character of God, of his righteous claims.
And overshadowing it.
Were two cherubs.
The cherubs in scripture, I believe, ring before us Gods executors.
Or executors really of His righteous judgment, and those wings outstretched, ready to act rapidity instant.
Judgment was awaiting and their faces looking down.
Which the faces, I think would speak to us of intelligence. And so God's executors of his judgment do it in an intelligent way. But and as they are looking down, what do they see? Blood.
And that is a picture of what we have read here.
He is the mercy seat through faith in his blood. God's righteous holy claims against sin have been totally, totally satisfied through the death of our Lord Jesus Christ and through his shed blood. And again, as Tim said, propitiation is something that I believe is His heart has been little understood and has been.
Has been confused.
And I think it's good that we restate these these truths that have come to light in the New Testament, and we trust we have.
Gotten ahold of it, at least in part.
But Simply put, and I think Tim, not to repeat what he has said, but.
Propitiation has to do with the offense that sin has brought to God.
The offense, right? And that's what propitiation is. And so that's why God can go out to the world.
With the gospel and say come, all things are ready.
You can go to the highways and to the byways, to the rich and to the poor, and he can say come.
And it's because of the propitiatory work of Christ, because God has been satisfied.
The other side to this is man's responsibility in terms of substitution and side of the cross. I should say that that he has to accept that as his own and and to receive the good of of of it so that he might have his sins forgiven and washed away. But that deals with the guilt side of things, that substitution substitution deals with the guilt of our sins. And that's.
But sin as it has come into God's creation, sin as the root, sins as the fruit. God has been offended by this.
And the offense of sin had to be dealt with in the Lord. Jesus answered for that, didn't He at the cross?
A very good picture of that because.
If you could connect the the arc with the mercy seat because there are two pieces of of the same thing, is that right? The the mercy seat was like a lid to the ark. What was inside the ark?
The 10 commandments, right, Right. The 10 commandments were God's standard for His people. And what happened when those 10 commandments were first given? They had failed so bad that those tables had to be broken before they could be brought into the camp. Otherwise judgment had to come. So they were broken.
And you might ask the question, why didn't judgement come?
And Moses went back up. He got two new tables of stone.
Were they diluted because of what happened? Were they toned down? Did God lower his standard?
Not a bit. It's the same, the same 10 commandments, the difference.
Leading up to this is that when those tables of stone were put into the ark, that lid, the mercy seat was put on top and the bloodshed, as you mentioned and applied to the mercy seat once a year. There was a remembrance of sins every year and the.
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This, God's moral standard in the Ark, could only be accessed by going through the lid.
Mercy seat.
Yeah, that.
That throne of God is a throne of holiness, of righteousness, and of grace.
But grace because of the blood and like Josh was pointing out, the other side of propitiation is substitution. Well, where was the brazen altar was on the east? And this is a thought I shared with Josh earlier that I enjoyed from one of the writers in regards to this thing that we have before us. We have the brazen altar on the east, which was substitution and the sacrifice for sin, the cross on the left side.
We have the mercy seat God's.
Holy claims satisfied, and it brings before us that verse and Psalms 103, verse 12. Let's read that real quick.
Phones 103 and verse 12. As far as the east is from the West, so far hath He removed our transgressions from us. So from the east we have substitution, from the West we have propitiation, and that in the middle is reconciliation, because of that work of atonement. So this vessel being, you might say, the throne of God.
In the midst of His people.
I think of this verse in Psalm 89, verse 14, Justice and judgment.
Are the habitation of thy throne, and that has been satisfied that it doesn't change the fact that God still is a God of justice and judgment and and holiness, but his holy claims have been satisfied through the work of our Lord.
I'd like to just go back to what Nate was talking about and just take it real simple. The the the Moses came down with the tablets. This is just to re emphasize Nate, what you're saying. Moses came down with the first set of tablets that God had written on. And the reason why Moses had to break the tablets was because the camp was sitting.
And the implications of that right, they were in idolatry. They're in idolatry and so that's important to to get a hold of because it goes to show how how much God's law impacts me how much man fails they're immediately they are not even able to.
Live up to anything of the law as it's just coming down from the mountain and the people are sitting. And what is that called? When when Moses breaks the tablets, is that mercy, right? I mean, they're not going to be consumed because the law is being broken.
Like you said, Nate, he goes back up and gets the commandments again and brings them down. And what's being said here is puts them into the ark and a covering is put on top the mercy seat. And there were three things in the in the in the arc, weren't there? And you read that in Hebrews Chapter 9 and verse 4, verse three. And after the second veil, the Tabernacle, which is called the holiest of all, which had the golden sensor.
And the Ark of the Covenant overlaid roundabout with gold, wherein was the golden pot that had manna and Aaron's rod that butted and the tables of the covenant. Not sure we have a lot of time to get into those three things, but just as a reference point.
It's good to to notice those things. I think you know you have the Lord Jesus.
In Psalm 40, he is he's the one that fulfilled the the law of God, didn't he in his life perfectly? He was the the perfect man.
And Aaron's raw that butted. I think we have a little picture of resurrection, don't we and fruitfulness to God because of the resurrection of Christ. And then the pot of manna was was wilderness food for the people and and that manna spoke of Christ, the bread of heaven. And that's what we have in the ark. Did we talk about the Shekinah glory dwelling on the on the mercy seat? No, but it did and give us a few words on that brother. All I'm saying is is.
All I want to take it to when the priest came in once a year, right?
Right once a year he came in to my what I understand it was dark in there, this little room, the Holy of Holies, and there unless.
Dark because it wasn't dark because of the Chicano. Right, Right. Right. But there's no, there's no, no windows and no windows, no windows in this, in the Holy of Holies, no windows. And so the priest is bringing in blood to sprinkle on the mercy seat alone. Right. That's the beautiful thing about this. Yeah. And what I enjoyed too, and just this is my Moses and Aaron were the only two that could go into that holy of Holies.
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Right, that beautiful. Yeah, now Moses had free access.
It seems like.
Out of grace, the Lord allowed him free access for communication purposes. Aaron could only go in once a year, on the day of until Leviticus 16.
I probably should get moving along here. We're we're losing time, but I think to maybe tie the ark and the mercy seat off. I think it's beautiful because because of the bloodshed, God satisfied. Verse 22 Says and there I will meet with thee.
Wonderful, Now there's communion.
Restored, if you will, there, there's, there's the ability now to commune with God, the Holy God, And I will commune with thee from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubims which are upon the ark of the testimony of all things, which I will give thee in commandment unto the children of Israel.
Beautiful.
Go ahead. And that's what he was looking for the whole time, to commune with them, right? But it had to be on a righteous basis, you know, and that.
That being the the basis of the work of his son.
To just maybe tie that up.
I turn to Hebrews chapter 10 real quick because.
For Israel, they had access to that place once a year, though the priests daily were in the holy place.
They only had access to that throne of God once a year. We have free access. Free access. These are well known verses.
Hebrews, chapter 10.
Verse 18 Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way.
Which she hath consecrated for us through the veil, that is to say, his flesh. And having a high priest over the House of God, let us draw near.
With true heart and full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience in our bodies, washed with pure water, let us hold fast the profession of our faith and so on. Full access without fear, boldness. That was not something that Israel enjoyed. We were. Josh and I were talking about this earlier. I can't wrap my mind around what it must have been for, for Aaron to go into that place. He didn't have the knowledge.
God that we have, and I cannot imagine walking into God's throne room with a sacrifice for sin, recognizing fully that if that was not accepted as a dead man.
We don't have that.
Onto the table of Showbread. Yeah, go ahead and read verses 23 to 29, Eight or thirty. Sorry, Exodus 25.
And verse 23 Thou shalt also make a table of shittimwood, 2 cubits shall be the length thereof, and a cubit the breadth thereof, and a cubit and a half the height thereof. And thou shalt overlay it with pure gold, and make thereto a crown of gold roundabout. And thou shalt make unto it a border of a handbread thrown about. And thou shalt make a golden crown to the border thereof roundabout.
And thou shalt make for it four rings of gold, and put the rings in the four corners that are on the four feet thereof. Over against the border shall the rings be for places, places of the staves to bear the table. And thou shalt make the staves of shittim wood, and overlay them with gold, that the table may be borne with them. And thou shalt make the dishes thereof, and spoons thereof, and covers thereof, and bulls thereof to cover with all.
Of pure gold shalt thou make them.
And thou shalt set upon the table showbread before me alway.
So what does that speak to us of?
Oh, is that Josh?
Can you give us a few words on the table of Showbread? What? What do we have in in in in that in general?
So again.
The table is constructed of **** and wood overlaid with pure gold. Vanity and deity of Christ again.
It was also carried with staves as was mentioned before. It also had a crown roundabout on the top. It had a hands width border and.
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You know, so again it brings before us the humanity indeed of Christ.
But a little bit different perspective this time having to do with communion, right? Right. So.
Yeah, there's something here of the thought of fellowship communion with God and that and again, we we mentioned this, let's it's good to restate it, but that that we can't be too dogmatic on, you know, one way of looking at this because there are multiple applications of the type I believe. And I do think that, you know, we do see here Christ as the basis of our fellowship.
And he sustains his people.
And and and keeps them in order, you might say, you know, we're talking a little bit about the.
Of eternal security this morning and I like to think of kind of that crown and that border that went around this table as.
As as it kind of secured those loaves on that table that we might see in it in that a little bit of a thought of of of God's.
Glory in the protecting.
Securing of His people and and their eternal security.
And of course, I think that we do get something of Christ himself again as the food and nourishment of his people. But but also, you know, the people themselves, us, we can see, I think in the in these lobes, can we not?
Yeah, there were 12 loaves, Is that right? Right. So there's 12 tribes of Israel, a loaf for each tribe. You have the the unity of the nation there. And then to apply that to today, we have there is one body you have when we remember the Lord, there's one loaf. And that strikes a chord with me, Nate, because because of the fact that.
Unity is everything, and this is one of God's principles throughout time and with these Israelites out there.
He wants to dwell in the center and he's going to have all 12 loaves representing the 12 tribes. And later on when Israel is divided, he still sees it as 1212 stones up on Elijah's altar, etcetera. Right. And like you said, I just want to reiterate this. It's a beautiful thing when we have the loaf before us on a weekly basis to speak of the entire body of Christ. He sees the body of Christ, despite all the factions, as one.
Amen.
And these loaves were eaten by the priest. Is that right? So, you know, today all believers are priests and you're mentioning how the loaves could be a picture of Christ as as the people's food or here Christ is the food of the priests.
As priests, we feed on Christ.
Yeah, it's interesting. I was kind of mulling over this this afternoon and I can't say I have a perfect thought on it, but I I just enjoying.
Yeah, the thought that, you know, in the in the pot of manna that was in the Ark.
And for anybody who hasn't done a study on the manna, I would encourage you to do so. It does speak of our Lord Jesus.
As the bread of heaven coming down its wilderness food, the people were to gather it every day.
And and and feed on it and you know the Lord Jesus.
We should consider him in his in his all his beauty, but as as a holy man going through this world as the Son of God, all of that, that you know, we we can partake of that, that that wilderness food, if you will. But but then we also have him. I, I believe seen here as food for the priests where it's in it's in the holy place now and I I don't know again, I don't have a perfect thought on it, but.
I just wonder if there's if there's a little bit different aspect of of this nourishment that he's providing to his people, not only through.
The wilderness and his life and who he is, but also in terms of of heavenly truth and things that we can enjoy.
On the heavenly side of things, because this is where the priests served, and they were in and out in this first compartment.
And, you know, caring for the the Candlestick and, and making, you know, the high priest making sure it was lit and the trim, the the Wicks were trimmed and changing out the bread and.
00:45:01
High priest offering on the golden altar of incense and And so it was a place of activity and, and and yet it was a place where.
Where their food was and I really think that.
There's something here for us as believers as to, you know, what are we feeding on? Are we feeding on the junk food of this world or are we feasting on heavenly things?
It's a real challenge and, and you know, we made some comments this morning on on how the world is so insidious through technology and, and the like that, you know, before you know it, we are feeding on things that are just feeding the flesh and it comes upon us slowly and creeps in. It's a slow creep and we need to be very careful about that. But but really God's ideal and, and, and what is going to feed the, the new nature?
And keep us spiritually healthy is heaven's food.
Christ and, and, and, and all the truth that we have in the word of God. It's been pointed out that there was only one ingredient in this, and that was the fine flour. There was no leaven. There was no honey, which speaks of natural sweetness. It was just a fine flower which again brings before us Christ. And there was anointed with frankincense, which.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe frankincense brings before us the the moral glories of Christ in his life.
Here and so that's what the priests were to feed on him. To your point, Josh, again, not fully developed on my side either by sinking kind of the same thing. What was the purpose of this show? But it wasn't just basics sustenance like the mana. This was a place of communion and blessing and it was, you know, think of that version, Ephesians, that we've been blessed with all heavenly blessings and spiritual places.
This these loaves of showbread were.
Two homers, right? The daily provision of mana for an Israelite was one. So it was double portion for the priests. I I wonder if that might speak of the the the blessings that we have as priests in the heavenly places and all the the fragrance and beauty of Christ rests upon his people.
Beautiful. And so in Leviticus 24, I believe it is, is where we read of the the showbread being the food for the priests. Again, we don't have time to go into it, unfortunately. I wish we did, but our time is we might have to go a little bit longer here, but we got to pick it up. Yeah.
Yeah, let's go to the Candlestick. And before we do, again, we have communion with the Lord through the wilderness. The stage we they were to carry this table with them through the wilderness.
We can have fellowship with God throughout our wilderness journey here.
As believers. So Nate, why don't you read up on the On the Candlestick, Chapter 20, Exodus 2531?
39 to 39.
And thou shalt make a Candlestick of pure gold. Of beaten work shall the Candlestick be made. His shaft and his branches, his bowls, his knobs, and his flowers shall be of the same. And six branches shall come out of the sides of it, three branches of the Candlestick out of the one side, and three branches of the Candlestick out of the other side. Three bulls made like unto almonds, with a knob and a flower in one branch, and three bowls made like almonds, and the other branch with an op and a flower.
So when the six branches that come out of the Candlestick, and in the Candlestick shall be 4 bowls made like unto almonds, with their knobs and their flowers. And there shall be a knob under two branches of the same, and a knob under two branches of the same, and a knopf under two branches of the same. According to the six branches that proceed out of the Candlestick, their knobs and their branches shall be of the same. All it shall be one beaten work of pure gold. And thou shalt make the seven lamps.
And they shall light the lamps thereof, that they may give light over against it, And the tongs thereof, and the snuff dishes thereof shall be of pure gold, of a talent of pure gold. Shall he make it with all these vessels.
Maybe read verse 40 as well and look that thou make them after their pattern which was showed thee in the mount. It's a verse that we have over and over again.
There's something missing.
Oil wood, wood, there's there's no wood in this vessel. And as we know, the wood speaks to us of the humanity of our Lord Jesus. But here we don't have his humanity brought in. It's pure gold. And and the Candlestick, while its purpose was what it was to give light, wasn't it right.
00:50:15
And so it was that which lit up the the holy place.
The first compartment, and it's shone upon the loaves, it's shone upon that table of showbread, it's shone upon the golden altar.
Of incense, and it enlightened that compartment.
And so, you know, there there's, there's some beautiful thoughts here.
Can I, can I just, I want to jump in and just reiterate exactly what you just said, Josh, because it's important. When they walked in, when the priest walked into the holy place here, you would have on the, he would have on the right hand side the table of showbread, which we just saw, right. And then on the left side would be this Candlestick, right? And then I believe there's a gold gold wall. If I'm not mistaken. It was gold.
In there on that wall, what I believe is happening and we're going to get to the other going straight ahead, going straight ahead into the holy of holies. There's going to be another piece of furniture we're going to talk about here in a little bit, but that's I just from a visual standpoint, when you walked in the the table, showbread was on the right, the Candlestick was on the left, right, and then the golden altar of incense straight ahead, front of the veil, correct before it went.
In Before the Holy of Holies, what the article is right.
So there's there's a number of thoughts here, I think and.
Again, I don't think we have time to.
Yes, bring them all forward, but.
This is Christ as the light of his people, generally speaking, Christ as the light of his people. And, and So what we have here is we've got oil. And this really was a lamp stand, right? And it was fed oil to the lamps that sat on top of their seven lamps.
And really, that oil is a picture of the Spirit of God. And and what I enjoy about this so much is that.
The light it says in verse 37, And thou shalt make the seven lamps thereof, and they shall light the lamps thereof, that they may give light over against it, it being the Candlestick or the lampstand so.
The Candlestick held the light, the oil fed the light. The Spirit of God gives testimony to Christ, doesn't he? That's his, his, his can I say his job? And we don't read about it here, but other than by inference that there's tongs and snuff dishes. So obviously there were Wicks and, and, and so that oil would feed.
Feed those Wicks.
And and and those Wicks, basically.
Issued the light, if you will not being the light themselves, but but kind of held that light forward so.
And I think those Wicks would be a picture of us as believers, isn't it?
So just on this note, and this is the the salient point here is that that the Spirit of God gives testimony to Christ it and let's read about that just quickly. I think in John 16, right? I think it speaks of it there. This is in verse 13.
How be it when He, the Spirit of Truth, has come? He will guide you into all truth. For you shall not speak of Himself, but whatsoever He shall hear, that shall He speak, and He will show you things to come.
He shall glorify me. That was lighting it. How does it go giving light?
Over against it.
He shall glorify me, for he shall receive a mind, and shall show it unto you. Now how does the Spirit of God?
Enlighten his people. It was shown over onto the the the the table of showbread over against that as well. He does it through the scriptures. The scriptures that we're reading tonight really reveal to us Christ and the Spirit of God takes the word of God and he makes these things good to him to our souls as Christians and he reveals.
Christ to us and these heavenly truths, doesn't He?
This this implement the Candlestick was only.
Serviced by Aaron and.
00:55:02
I wonder if that doesn't speak to us a little bit as you says, you know the the Wicks if if you will, of these candles.
Being a type of a Christian giving light to this world.
As testimony to Christ, Lord Jesus, as our great high priest maintains that testimony, he comes in and there was a time where maybe there was drops on the candlesticks that didn't shine as bright, so the high priest had to scoop it out and clean it and.
And so there's a work there that's applicable as well. Yeah, yeah. And so it's through his priestly care that you and I, his priestly care and intercession, that you and I are able to shine unhindered for his glory in this world and that. And so there is corrective ministry that that the Lord uses others to help adjust us or adjust our thinking.
And and and all of this comes.
Through his his care for his people on high as our high priest to make sure that we continue to burn.
And and shine brightly for him because we are called to be lights in this world. So we are we you know, it's it's but again, it's the Spirit of God that that is giving testimony to Christ. And he gives that clear testimony, doesn't he?
So when those Wicks are trimmed and kept up looking at them as a as a picture of us as believers.
If you could just imagine being one of those Wicks, it might hurt a little bit when when it's trimmed, but it's for the maintenance of the light to go forth. And you know, if that didn't happen, you could say that the oil would be would quench the light, the spirit would be quenched.
So in meet you're touching on it right now, how what's a practical point for a believer in trimming the Wick, right. There's a there there is that we have to do in our own life to maintain testimony. Maybe the Lord's doing it. Josh, I think you mentioned kind of mentioned that Lord can come through and trim things in our lives. But then there can be also a personal exercise too. We can trim as well. There would be self judgment. Is that what you're getting at? Yes, yeah, no, it's it's a it's a practical truth, right.
Here in this, in this portion, I believe, would you also say that that priest coming in and doing that work might pertain a little bit to Hebrews chapter 12?
Now no chastening, for the President seemeth to be joyous, but grievous nevertheless. Afterward it yielded the peaceful fruits of righteousness unto them which are exercise thereby, and not righteousness. Giving display of his testimony, Yeah.
I maybe I missed it here in our chapter, but what came to mind in Numbers 8, where we have this again? And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto Aaron, and say unto him, When thou lightest the lamps, 7 lamps shall give light over against the Candlestick. And Aaron did so. He lighted the lamps thereof over against the Candlestick, as the Lord commanded Moses.
In this work of the Candlestick was of beaten gold.
I don't believe there's a member. There's no measurement of this thing, is there? There's no measurement on this, Yeah. And there's a nice scripture to go along with that, that God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto him and so.
There's perhaps there's a thought there, but beaten gold, you know, the reason why the Spirit of God can render a testimony in this world is by virtue of the death of Christ. We cannot separate his sufferings, which perhaps we might see in the beaten gold.
From from this now this testimony that's able to go forth and and and be held forth by his people. So it says, beaten gold unto the Shafter of unto the flowers thereof was beaten work again. Here's that expression according.
Unto the pattern which the Lord had showed Moses. So he made the Candlestick. So if the beaten gold would speak of Christ's death, but would the buds, the flowers, and the almonds speak of resurrection and fruit for God? Because of that work, did you say?
So the Lord Jesus has produced fruit for God through his work and and we're in a room full of, of, of of just that. We are, we are his, his.
His workmanship and and what he has produced for God and more than that to just.
Infinitely more than that.
01:00:03
We should probably move on to the final one in Exodus 30 being the.
The altar of incense. Exodus 31. And thou shalt make an altar to burn incense upon. Of Shittimwood shalt thou make it. A cubit shall be the length thereof, and a cubit the breadth thereof. Foursquare shall it be, And two cubits shall be the height thereof. The horns thereof shall be of the same. And thou shalt overlay it with pure gold. The top thereof and the sides thereof roundabout. And the horns thereof. And thou shalt make untuit a crown of gold roundabout.
And two golden rings shalt thou make to it under the crown of it, by the two corners thereof. Upon the two sides of it shalt thou make it, and they shall be for places for the staves to bear it withal. And thou shalt make the staves of Shittimwood, and overlay them with gold. And thou shalt put it before the veil, that is, by the ark of the testimony before the mercy seat, that is over the testimony where I will meet with thee.
And Aaron shall burn their own sweet incense every morning.
When he dresses the lamps, he shall burn incense upon it, and when Aaron lighteth the lamps at even, he shall burn incense upon it, a perpetual incense before the Lord. Throughout your generations. Ye shall offer no strange incense thereon, nor burnt sacrifice, nor meat offering, neither shall ye pour drink offering thereon. And Aaron shall make an atonement upon the horns of it once in a year, with the blood of the sin offering of atonements once in the year shall he make atonement.
Throughout your generations it is most holy unto the Lord.
So I think what we have here is Christ.
The power and the way of our worship to God. He is our.
He, I guess, provides us that ability to come with worship. And really what does God give us? He gives us Christ and we we present Christ back to God. And this is what we have, I think with the this golden altar of, of incense and that sweet incense going up is really the fragrance of Christ, isn't it? That God delights in as do we as as his people.
And I also like to bring forth to the fact is, is.
The coals came off of the brazen altar, which we have yet to cover, which is on the outside. And so the priest was to bring coals from that brazen altar, bring it in, and apply those coals onto this altar of incense. And there's beauty in there because God is a God of order. And the coals have to come from a specific place, the brazen altar, not anywhere else.
You might say that the fire from the sacrifice.
Forth the aroma, right? Yes.
And just to go back, and I think we talked about this last time, was that the two priests of Aaron that brought in Kohl's from another place, right? Or slain because of that, right? God is a God of order. But this is beauty. The sweetness and the incense going up in that, in that holy place there is absolutely beautiful to walk in there. The golden Candlestick on the left and the incense rising right before the veil.
I wonder if I could just read.
A couple of verses in Revelation 8 that sort of relate to this a little bit.
A Revelation 8 and verse three. And another Angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden sensor, and there was given unto him much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of All Saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense which came with the prayers of the Saints, ascended up before God out of the angel's hand.
So I think we sung tonight to all our prayers and praises. Christ adds a sweet perfume. I think these verses would go along with that thought. So I think there's a couple of thoughts here. And, and again, because of time, I don't think we can develop it much, but I think there's there's definitely worship and there probably is something of intercession here.
And so God has has brought us in.
As purged worshippers able to OfferUp.
Sacrifices, spiritual sacrifices. And, and we can offer him praise, Thanksgiving, worship. And, and I think this is really what what we have here in this, this, this piece of furniture. Is that right? Yeah. There's the thing that's interesting too about this is this altar had four horns. And on that day of atonement, the high priest would sprinkle blood on those four horns. That's the only other time anything, any other offering was made on this altar.
01:05:09
There's no meat offerings that clearly said that, and so sacrifice and worship are inseparable, right?
Mm-hmm.
So the the warning here in verse nine, you shall offer no strange incense thereon.
Which it was Nate ABBA he right that that did that is really to offer up to God anything else but the work of Christ is is that right? And and and so I guess what I'm saying is that the only thing that God accepts is is is the work of his son and the person of his son and and we can't bring him anything else.
Otherwise that would be considered strange fire.
And that's relevant to our day, right? There are things that are brought out.
Stated as worship that in no way follow God's order for worship. And not only are they not pleasing to Him, but they positively dishonor His name because they don't bring His Son before Him and his and his glory. And we don't have time to go into it either. But you have the the anointing oil and the sweet spices later on in the chapter described.
I think part of it too is not to.
Make it yourself and make it a common thing. It was reserved for one purpose.
So I think as we round out this this little talk tonight, it's interesting to me and I think it just really dawned on me lately that that there were no windows. And maybe Tim, you mentioned this already, I can't remember, but forgive me if you did. But there were no windows in the Tabernacle. So there was no natural light that was allowed into that.
That sanctified place and when we take up with the things of God.
Again, and I think we mentioned this yesterday, that the mind of man has no place. Everything should emanate from the mind of God and his perspective, his valuation, everything to do with with what concerns himself should be something that.
That we cherish and and and really guard, you know, and not allow the the world and its ideas to penetrate in because there was no natural light that was allowed into.
Into these places it was all. It was all divine. It was all divine.
The other thing that might be worth mentioning here is that that holy place was a place that was a normal place for the for the priests to be.
The court.
People came with their sacrifice and there was a there was a work that was done out there from the sacrificial perspective, but the holy place, Speaking of the heavenlies, was the normal place of operation.
For priests, and as you said, Josh, it was, it was lit by the Lord. There was no natural light. There was, there was a Candlestick reflecting off the gold walls. I'm sure there was no dimness in that, in that room. I was fully, fully lit. And one other thing is that, Mark, you mentioned that there was a certain metal that sat outside and there was and that metal was, was brass or copper.
It wasn't found inside, but it was just gold.
And because the copper dealt with.
Bands responsibility in judgment according to His divine righteousness. But that was had outside. This is the place for those who are initiated. You might say it was for those who have been saved. If we can speak in typical terms, those who are now priests and have free access to God, there is no judgement connected to them.
But it's all God's righteousness, divine righteousness, and the splendor of it that illuminated that wonderful sanctuary inside. And they got to see, they got to see all the beauty of it. The world didn't see it from the outside. We'll get into the coverings and I think it's the next meeting. The world didn't see the beauty. And they have no appreciation for Christ or divine things and.
The natural man understands not the things of the Spirit of God because they are foolishness unto him. Neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned, First Corinthians tells us, but it is for those who are his that can come in. And now behold His beauty. And the priests were limited, because this was just types and shadows. We have the real thing.
01:10:18
Those verses to connect that Josh are the those verses from Isaiah 53. From the natural perspective, there's no beauty that we should desire him but for those that are His own.
His altogether lovely and that's reserved for those that have been sheltered by the blood and that appreciate it because that appreciation is so important to God.
Well, we're wrapping things up, but we had mentioned early on in our planning of this is to really look at two questions at the end of every session and those that are listening perhaps can think about and contemplate it. Question number one is So what glory or beauty of Christ did I see today in the Tabernacle We've had we've gone over quite a few glories and beauties, whether it's the the beat and gold of the Candlestick and and the no measurements of the Candlestick or the bread.
This table of showbread or the altar of incense, so many glories and beauties there. And as as, as as Josh was just mentioning here too is the idea too that there's although there was only gold inside of of of the Tabernacle as well for that purpose. The second question is also more of a practical question. What might these glories of Christ impact my walk for for him today, right. And so and we just mentioned here in the last few minutes.
That the priest was the only one to get in to be able to see this. And you and I, if we have known, if we know the Lord Jesus as our Savior, we're going to get into this as we go, go further, we will have access if we know the Lord Jesus as our Savior. And yet, while we have access, there's a certain kind of walk that the Lord Jesus would want us to have as well. And so we're going to talk later in the week about the priests, the garments that the way they would walk in there.
But the priest would enter into this holy place and I just want to wrap this up with the fact that they, they smelled the incense burning. They saw the light shining on the golden wall. We didn't mention the veil itself was, I think it was linen or something with the cherubims on it, right? And the bread was there. The priest would eat of the bread. Just a beautiful thing. But these glories do can and should impact my walk today as well. And there's, and God is a God of order and he loves us.
And yet at the same time, there's absolute light that He, he wants. His love constraints us, right as we consider these things, as we consider the sacrifices, we see this throne of grace that's only approachable because of the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. The response should be devotion and worship.
With a sense of our privilege. What's up with a sense of our privilege? Yeah, Absolutely. Yeah. And responsibility. Responsibilities.
So with that, I think we have the quite a bit of of meditation for the time here and we appreciate the time that we spent and may, May God richly bless each and every soul that comes in and digs into this for themselves because it is an eternal wealth of, of measurements.
And I'm going to close with this one thought. This is a beautiful thing. Is there that the level of the mercy seat was the exact same height as the height of the table of Showbread?
And it's going to be the exact same height of another article that we cover next time. And we're going to talk about that future as to how beautiful this is, to see God lay things out in accordance with these pieces of furniture here.
I would just like to say as well in closing, we've talked about this often as we didn't even come close to scratching the surface of these things. And I would just like to encourage everyone to take these things up for themselves because I, I would say that there's an infinite level of, of consideration to be had in these things and.
If we would have had one meaning on each of these articles, we still would not have covered every single aspect of it.
And so the only way anyone can really get the fullness of what is here is to take this up for themselves. Very good. All right. Well, now, close it for right now and we'll see you next session.
01:15:02
Our God and Father, we just thank Thee that we've been able to have Thy word open tonight for a short time, and we would just pray that each one would benefit from being under the sound of it. We pray that we might have an interest in Thy things for ourselves and just to think of these types and shadows and all that we have.
Knowing thy Son is our Savior, we just thank you that we have a boldness to enter in.
To the holiest by the blood of Jesus.
We just commit our evening to the.
In Jesus name, Amen.