Please turn in your Bibles this evening to Exodus chapter
24 as we continue our study through the Word of God. As we have
seen, the children of
VERSES 1-3
Moses was able to speak to God and hear from God directly, while the other 73 men, the elders could only go so far and then the rest of the people stayed at the base of the mountain. And as Moses came down with the Covenant, the people all agreed to obey and yet, within 40 days they would break this Covenant by making a golden calf to worship God by. Folks, apart from God’s Spirit enabling us to live holy lives, we too will fail, no matter how hard we try. It is as Paul said in Galatians 5:16-18, “I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.”
VERSES 4-8
So Moses writes the words of this Covenant down and he also read these words of the Covenant before the people. These words were not based on tradition, but they were written down so they could not be changed or altered! And once again the people agreed to obey the Lord. You see, these words were good, there was nothing wrong with them, there was nothing evil about them, but man apart from God cannot keep them. And even then, with God’s help, he falls far short of perfection!
These young men, possibly the firstborn of each family, (Exodus 13:1-11), are acting as priests here since the Levitical priesthood was not established yet. And at the altar the blood was shed, speaking of salvation for without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sins! And it is only after our salvation, by receiving the shed blood of Christ into our lives that the sanctification process begins as Moses sprinkles the people with the blood. It is as Paul said in Hebrews 9:12-14, “But Christ came as High Priest of the good things to come, with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation. Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?” The blood of the sacrifice was upon the altar – SALVATION, and upon the people – SANCTIFICATION, just as it is in our own lives!
VERSES 9-11
From these verses it seems that they saw God and yet, in John 1:18 we are told, “No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.” And yet, in Isaiah 6:1 we are told, “In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple.” So who is this? I believe this is none other than the pre-incarnate Christ who Moses, and these elders saw and communed with. In fact, in regards to Isaiah 6:1, John tells us in John 12:41, “These things Isaiah said when he saw His glory and spoke of Him.” Isaiah saw Jesus and I believe Moses and these other men also saw Him on Mount Sinai because no man has seen the Father!
VERSES 12-18
Moses took Joshua with him, a young man he was building up in the faith and a man who will one day led the children of Israel into the Promise Land!
As I have said in previous studies, Mount Sinai is not a volcano, as some may speculate, it was made out of granite rock! So this is not a volcanic explosion, but the glory of God shining brightly and for 40 days and nights Moses was on this Mountain with God. It is as Paul said in Hebrews 12:29, “For our God is a consuming fire.” He will consume those who have rejected Him in the fire of His judgment and He will purge out the garbage in the lives of those who love Him and believe in Him and He will do this with the fire of His sanctification!
VERSES 1-2
God instructs Moses to go before the people and let them know that there is a need for an offering to be made. They were not forced to give, they were not coerced to give, but if they “willingly” wanted to give, then God would accept their offering. We see this principle in the New Testament as Paul tells us in II Corinthians 9:7, “So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver.” Folks, God is not broke, He does not need our offering. And the reality is, it’s His anyway and He gives us an opportunity to give, not grudgingly or out of compulsion, but freely, cheerfully to Him to build the kingdom of God! We don’t have to give to God. We get to give to God!
VERSES 3-7
This is what was needed to build the tabernacle and in today’s economy, with all these materials, it would cost more than $20 million to put up this portable worship structure today!
VERSES 8-9
Why was God so particular in how this tabernacle was to be constructed? Yes, it would be the dwelling place of God, but I believe that it is more than that! In Hebrews 8:5 we are told, “who serve the copy and shadow of the heavenly things, as Moses was divinely instructed when he was about to make the tabernacle. For He said, ‘See that you make all things according to the pattern shown you on the mountain.’” In other words, this tabernacle was a copy of heavenly things, the throne of God. It was just a shadow of what was to come also, the Messiah, Jesus Christ! You see, He is the substance so don’t hold onto the shadow! Paul, in Hebrews 9:6-11 put it like this, “Now when these things had been thus prepared, the priests always went into the first part of the tabernacle, performing the services. But into the second part the high priest went alone once a year, not without blood, which he offered for himself and for the people's sins committed in ignorance; the Holy Spirit indicating this, that the way into the Holiest of All was not yet made manifest while the first tabernacle was still standing. It was symbolic for the present time in which both gifts and sacrifices are offered which cannot make him who performed the service perfect in regard to the conscience — concerned only with foods and drinks, various washings, and fleshly ordinances imposed until the time of reformation. But Christ came as High Priest of the good things to come, with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation.” Thus, God gave very specific instructions on how to build this worship center, the tabernacle!
VERSES 10-11
Now God is going to give to them the various items within this tabernacle and notice that this is from God’s perspective, from the Holy of Holies outward and when we look at it through man’s perspective, it is the opposite, there must be the sacrifice first and-so-on. And we will see this as we move on, but first what God sees.
THE ARK OF THE COVENANT
The Ark of the Covenant was a small rectangular box measuring 3 feet 9 inches long, 2 feet 3 inches wide and 2 feet 3 inches high. It was made of Acacia wood (from a shittah tree and called shittim wood), and it was overlaid with gold. There was no cover on this box yet, but God is going to show them what that cover will be and what will be placed in this box. And no, Indiana Jones did not find this Ark and it is not stored in a warehouse in Washington, but I do believe it will be found one day, when they are ready to rebuild the Temple!
VERSES 12-15
The Ark did not have handles on it so that you could lift it up and carry it with your hands; you were not to touch the Ark. It had rings on the four corners for which poles were inserted so that once again no one could touch it. Remember in II Samuel 6:6-7, as David was bringing the Ark back to Jerusalem on a cart, not the way it was suppose to be carried, and the Ark began to tip and Uzzah tried to steady it and was struck dead. You see, inside the Ark was the Law and you can’t touch the Law and live, only God’s grace and mercy allows us to live! And you remember Raiders of the Lost Ark where Indiana Jones found the Ark and the evil people tried looking inside and they were toast. That was true and you can read of that in the Scriptures, not like the movie but God had very strict rules about this box!
VERSE 16
As I have said, the Law of God, the Ten Commandments were placed inside the Ark. And According to Hebrews 9:4 Moses also placed a jar of Manna and Aaron’s rod that budded, besides these two Tablets of the Covenant!
VERSES 17-22
THE MERCY SEAT
The mercy seat was actually the lid for the Ark of the Covenant and it was made of pure gold. And, if it were 1 inch thick, it would weigh about 750 pounds! On this mercy seat were two cherubim and as God looked down from His dwelling place, meeting with the children of Israel above the mercy seat, He met with them not by the Law but my His mercy!
Paul put it like this in Romans 3:23-26, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.”
Jesus, by His death, became the substitute sacrifice for us, a propitiation. When He hung on the cross of Calvary He was judged in our place as the sins of the world were cast upon Him. Thus, the Father could demonstrate His righteousness in judgment against sin while sparing us who deserve His judgment!
The word “propitiation” in the Greek is HILASTERION (hil-as-tay’-ree-on) and it is used in the Septuagint for the mercy seat, which was the lid that covered the Ark of the Covenant where the Law of God was kept. And on the Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur the High Priest would enter the Holy of Holies and sprinkle the blood of a goat upon the mercy seat to atone for the sins of the people, Leviticus 16:15. But Jesus has come to be that perfect sacrifice and to take away, not cover our sins. It is as Isaiah 53:4-6 tells us, “Surely He has borne our griefs And carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, Smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way; And the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.”
It is as Clark said: “Here we learn that God designed to give the most evident displays of both his justice and mercy. Of his justice, in requiring a sacrifice, and absolutely refusing to give the salvation to a lost world in any other way; and of his mercy, in providing THE sacrifice which his justice required.”
You see, God does not meet with us upon the Law, which condemns us but upon His mercy seat where the high priest would sprinkle the blood on the Day of Atonement and thus, the blood covers the Law and God can have mercy on us because our sins have been paid by the blood of the sacrifice of another, a picture of what Christ would do!
In I John 2:2 we are told, “And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world.” The Amplified Bible puts this verse like this, “And He [that same Jesus Himself] is the propitiation (the atoning sacrifice) for our sins, and not for ours alone but also for [the sins of] the whole world.” And The Living Bible puts it this way, “He is the one who took God's wrath against our sins upon himself and brought us into fellowship with God; and he is the forgiveness for our sins, and not only ours but all the world's.” John is saying that Jesus is our propitiation or mercy seat for the Septuagint or the Greek translation of the Old Testament Scriptures uses the same Greek word for mercy seat in Exodus 25:17 as John uses here in I John 2:2.
VERSES 23-30
THE TABLE OF SHOWBREAD
As you looked into the Holy Place, which was outside the Holy of Holies, on the right side was the table of showbread. It too was made out of Acacia wood and overlaid with gold and its dimensions were 3 feet long, 1 foot wide and 2 feet 3 inches high. Rings were placed on the corners of this table and poles placed through them so that when it was time to move, it would not be carried by the hands of men but lifted by these poles!
The Hebrew word for “showbread” literally means “bread of faces” and the idea here is the priests would eat this bread before the face of God! There were 12 loaves of bread placed on this table representing the 12 tribes of Israel and once a week they would be replaced and only the priests could partake of this bread. (Leviticus 24:5-9).
In John chapter 6 we are told, “And Jesus said to them, ‘I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst. . . . Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me has everlasting life. I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and are dead. This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world.’” John 6:35, 47-51. Just as physical bread is needed to sustain our physical bodies, spiritual bread, partaking of Jesus is needed for our spiritual bodies, our spiritual well being and apart from Him, spiritually we are dead. And, since He is the Word, then as we partake of the Word of God, we are, in a sense partaking of Jesus, our spiritual food!
VERSES 31-40
THE LAMPSTAND
The lampstand, made of pure gold, had a middle shaft with three branches that came out of each side, so there were a total of seven lamps. And please keep in mind that this was an oil-burning lamp and not a wax candle as we see so often today. Each morning and evening the priests would tend to the wicks and the oil to keep it burning, they would not let the light go out. As you looked into the Holy Place this seven-branched oil-burning lampstand was on the left side. Now keep in mind there was no light in the Holy Place except from this lampstand and the only light in the Holy of Holies, where God dwelt was from His glory as He dwelt above the mercy seat between the cherubim!
In John 8:12 we are told, “Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, ‘I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.’” Thus, as we look to Jesus, He will guide us by the light of His Word illuminated by the light of His Spirit. In fact, in Revelation 4:5 we are told, “And from the throne proceeded lightnings, thunderings, and voices. Seven lamps of fire were burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God.” Keep in mind that the tabernacle is a picture of the throne of God in heaven also, and thus, Moses was told, “And see to it that you make them according to the pattern which was shown you on the mountain.” Also notice the 6 branches coming out of the 7. 6 is the number of man and 7 is the number of completeness, of Jesus. Our life is in Him!
Also, in the Holy Place was the altar of incense located in the middle of this room, right before the veil that separated the Holy Place from the Holy of Holies and we will cover that as we move on.
VERSES 1-6
Keep in mind this structure is being described from the inside out, but we can only approach the sanctuary from the outside in. That is interesting to me because that is how God works in our lives, inside out. Man tries to do it on his own, to clean himself up outwardly, to approach God through his good works, by doing this and doing that, but only God can transform a person from the inside out!
The tabernacle proper was 45 feet long, 15 feet wide and 15 feet high. Within this was the Holy Place and it was 30 feet long and 15 feet high and 15 feet high. There was also the Holy of Holies, which was 15 feet long and 15 feet wide and 15 feet high. The interior curtain was beautiful blue, purple and scarlet with cherubim weaved into it.
VERSES 7-13
Covering this beautiful curtain was another curtain made probably of black goats hair. This too is interesting to me because the only way you could enter into the heavenly realm, see this beautiful curtain of blue, purple and scarlet with all these cherubim on it was from the inside, as you entered through the door or the veil! Jesus is that door!
VERSE 14
Covering the black goats hair curtain was rams skins that were dyed red, and finally, covering that was another curtain made of “badger skins” or probably porpoise or sea cow skins. Thus, no light could penetrate in; the only light came from the seven-branched oil-burning lamp in the Holy Place and the Shekinah glory or the presence of God in the Holy of Holies!
VERSES 15-25
The walls of the tabernacle proper, the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies was made of acacia wood and it was overlaid with gold. The boards were held together with bars that came across them and each board rested on two sockets of silver. These sockets of silver were made with a talent of sliver or each board rested on a base of 264 pounds of silver!
Silver is the metal of redemption in the Scriptures, and thus, the foundation of the tabernacle was silver. Folks, that points us to the redeeming work of Jesus Christ, for if our foundation is not based upon His finished work, there is no redemption, the structure will fall apart!
VERSES 26-30
Like I have said, these walls were held together by a series of boards that ran through a bar, making the walls very sturdy.
VERSES 31-33
This veil separated the Holy Place from the Holy of Holies, where God dwelt. No man could enter the presence of God except the high priest and only once a year on the Day of Atonement or Yom Kippur after he was ceremonially clean!
When Jesus was crucified on the cross of Calvary the veil in the temple, during the evening sacrifice, was torn from top to bottom. And no man could do that. Some say that this veil was as wide as four fingers or some 3 to 4 inches thick! Thus, no man opened the way to the Holy of Holies, the presence of God. A place where only the high priest could enter and only once a year was now open for all of us to enter in through Jesus Christ. Paul tells us in Hebrews 10:19-22, “Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh, and having a High Priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.” We have access to the Holy of Holies, the presence of God through Jesus Christ, what a blessing we truly have, something that the Old Testament saints did not have! Tragically, many today have done what the Jewish people have done; they have sewn the veil back up by rejecting Jesus and trying to enter in by a works relationship, the Law!
VERSES 34-35
Here is just the arrangement of the furnishings of the tabernacle in the Holy Place and Holy of Holies. The Ark of the Testimony or the Ark of the Covenant was in the Holy of Holies and upon it was the mercy seat with the cherubim. Outside the veil in the Holy Place was the table of showbread on the north side or the right as you entered the tabernacle, which speaks of fellowship. The lampstand was to the south side or on the left side as you entered the tabernacle, and it speaks of illumination. And lastly, not mentioned yet, was the altar of incense, which was in the middle, between the table of showbread and the lampstand, and it speaks of prayer!
VERSES 36-37
This was the only way to enter the structure, through the east gate. It is as we are told in John 10:7-10, “Then Jesus said to them again, ‘Most assuredly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All who ever came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.” In other words, you can’t enter into heaven any other way except through Jesus. If you try to climb over the wall, climb in another way you are a thief and a robber because you are stealing what doesn’t belong to you, eternal life! You can’t possess eternal life until you enter through the door – Jesus Christ!
As we close this evening, remember that these things were a shadow of what was to come, Jesus Christ. He is the substance. Tragically, many hold onto the shadow and they do not embrace Jesus. Apart from Him we are dead in our trespasses and sins. Thus, we cannot fellowship with God, we cannot be illuminated by God, we cannot pray to God and thus, we cannot enter into the Holy of Holies, the presence of God! He is the Lamb of God who has come to take away the sins of the world!
