TABERNACLE PRESENTATION
Introduction:
Hi! My name is Bruce Woodford . My wife and I and our youngest son, Andrew, currently live in Norwich, Ontario. The last few years I've purposed to accept whatever assignments the Lord gives me without charging or placing those we serve under any obligation whatsoever. I spend most of my time cutting and trimming trees and also sharpening and installing bread slicer blades for bakeries. But what I enjoy most is gathering with other Christians in homes and teaching the Word of God. For many years I've enjoyed studying the Tabernacle, so one of my favourite occupations is talking to folks about it. So I'm glad that you're here to learn something about it!
Before we start, I'm going to ask your permission to do something throughout the course of this presentation....Would you give me permission to challenge your thinking?
You are about to invest an hour of your time, but if you go home today and your thinking has not changed, you will have wasted your time! So, if you give me permission to challenge your thinking, you will insure that your time will be well spent!
So will you give me permission to challenge your thinking? Good! Because, that's one thing I want to do!
Background:
I want you to imagine that we're travelling back 3500 years to the land of Egypt, the land of the pyramids! The children of Israel had been slaves in Egypt for over 400 years. But all that time, they had not offered any sacrifices to the Lord even though Abraham, Isaac and Jacob had been men of the altar before them! You see, the Egyptians looked upon shepherds and sheep as horrible abominations and the Israelites thought that if they offered sacrifice, the Egyptians would kill them! So they had completely left off sacrificing to the Lord. But God wanted to deliver them from Egyptian bondage and lead them out into the wilderness where they could again begin to worship Him as He wanted to be worshipped.
You'll remember how God brought Israel out of Egypt that first passover night and then lead them hrough the red Sea where the Egyptian army was destroyed. Then God lead them out into the wilderness to Mount Sinai. The Israelites, were people just like we are (they were sinners and rebels against God and they didn't like God telling them what to do!) But God is holy and cannot tolerate sin in His presence, so when God came down on Mt. Sinai to talk with Moses, He told Moses to put a fence around the mountain. If any of them even touched the mountain they would die! When God came down to speak to Moses there was thunder and fire and lightening and the loud sound of a trumpet, so the people fled away for fear!
While Moses was up on Mount Sinai, God gave him the Ten Commandments as well as the plans for the Tabernacle. Then the Israelites spent the next 12 months at Sinai while they constructed and then erected the Tabernacle for the first time. Now as soon as the sacrifices began again on the altar here, any Israelite could come right up to the Tabernacle courtyard fence and actually stand within 35 feet of the Most Holy where God's presence was manifested!
What had happened? A year before, they'd had to stand (probably miles away in fear) but now they could come without fear within 35 feet of the presence of God! What had happened? Had they become such wonderful, lovable people that God was just delighted to move in next door to them? Not likely!! They were still the same rebellious complainers they'd always been! They had not changed and come near to God, but God, in His mercy, had come near to them! This is the scriptural truth of reconciliation...people who were far off are made near because God has come near to them.
So , in Moses' day, the tabernacle was the house of God and the people of God camped around the house of God. Now, I have a question for you....How many of you went to the house of God last Sunday?
I want to challenge your thinking! Did you realize that today it is an absolute impossibility to "GO to the house of the Lord?!! Under the Old Covenant, God always had a physical temple (first the tabernacle, then Solomon's temple, then some later temples in Ezra and Nehemiah's day, and then during the earthly life of the Lord Jesus, He called Herod's temple in Jerusalem, "My Father's House". But since the Lord Jesus died at Calvary, rose from the dead and sent the Holy Spirit down, God has no longer dwelt in temples made with hands. So while Christians meet in a variety of buildings, these buildings are not houses of the Lord!
A few years ago I was in a bakery up in Owen Sound. As I walked out the door, I saw a huge billboard across the street which said, "WE DON'T GO TO CHURCH! (We ARE the church!)" I thought, somebody has their head screwed on right! During Old Covenant times, God dwelt in buildings, but now under the New Covenant, He dwells in bodies! Then, He dwelt in places, but now He dwells in His people!
So the Tabernacle is far more than just a physical building in which God lived. The Book of Hebrews makes very clear that the Tabernacle was a picture, a figure , a pattern or a shadow of the true tabernacle that the Lord would put up. Since Hebrews tells us that we are the house of God, I believe that the true Tabernacle is the church today,i.e. the people who have been born again and in whom God dwells. So the Tabernacle in the OT is really a picture of the family of God today!
Just to illustrate this simply, I have a picture that I carry in my wallet. Who do you think is in this picture? That's right ,it is my family! Now is this picture really my family?? Could I put my family in my wallet and carry them in my pocket??? No! My family is real living people but this picture is just ordinary paper with an image printed on it that looks like the family. Now, I want you to think of the Tabernacle in the same way. Just as this picture is just ordinary paper, the Tabernacle is just ordinary stuff: wood, metals, cloth, skins. Just ordinary materials that provide a picture of the family of God!
Courtyard gate:
Right here in the eastern end of the tabernacle court yard God has provided a picture of His family.
Now the last time your family was all together and someone took a picture of the whole crew, who was the very first person that you looked for in that picture when you saw it for the first time? (Yourself!)I think we all do the same thing! "What did I look like this time?!"
Now, as we look at the picture of the family of God in the Tabernacle, I want you to do the very same thing...Look to see if you can see yourself in this picture!
All the details and colors in the tabernacle were designed specificly by God to provide us with a very vivid picture. Hebrew people tend to think in pictures and many of the pictures associated with these colors in scripture are very similar to word pictures in our own English language. So let's talk about these colors:
What about the red? What does the color red describe in the Bible? Almost everyone says, "Blood". And it is true that blood is found right through the whole Bible, but would you be surprised if I told you that scripture never once describes the color of blood? Now we all know that blood is red, but what does scripture actually say is red, scarlet or crimson? SIN! Yes, the prophet Isaiah in Isaiah 1:18 wrote,"Come now and let us reason together saith the Lord, though your sins be as SCARLET, they shall be as white as snow. Though they be RED like CRIMSON they shall be as wool."
How many of you have ever been taught that sin was black? We often used to sing a chorus, "My heart was BLACK with sin,until the Saviour came in..." But some years ago,we were down in the West Indies and a black sister challenged me... She said, Bruce, you have taught us that sin is black. But that isn't true! The Bible says that sin is RED! She was absolutely right and had the scriptures to prove it and I was wrong and had to change my thinking! Since that time I've had to change my thinking many times as I've discovered that many things I've been taught and have taught to others are NOT in the Book!
Since then, I've enjoyed studying scripture with a Strong's Concordance. How many of you have a Strong's? I like to encourage every believer to have a Strong's Concordance and to use it regularly. I love to do word studies in scripture and some of the things that I've learned about the tabernacle, I've learned by doing word studies.
The very first time "scarlet" is found in the Bible it is used exactly the same way as one way we use red, here in Canada. If you were in a race or competition and won first prize, what color of ribbon would you receive? RED! And the very first time scarlet is used in scripture it was given to a little fellow who won first prize in a race! In Genesis 38, a woman by the name of Tamar was pregnant and about to give birth to twins. Those two little boys were in a race to be first across the finish line. The one put his hand out and the midwife was all ready and gave him "first prize" by tying a scarlet thread on his hand. He wasn't actually the first one born, but was first across the line, so he got first prize. So the first time scarlet is found in the Bible it speaks of a FIRST ONE.
Now, I'm sure you're also familiar with the expression, "Rolling out the red carpet." Whenever some important dignitary or someone we want to honor visits a community, we roll out the red carpet for them. Well back in the time of Joshua, do you recall the two spies who went into the city of Jericho? There was a woman in that city, named Rahab. She'd been listening to reports of what the God of Israel had been doing for His people and she was convinced that Jehovah must be the true God. So she took those spies into her home, she hid them and plead with them to spare her life and the lives of her familty when the Israelites came to destroy the city. Then Rahab let those two spies down over the wall to safety with her scarlet rope. So then, because she had been faithful to them,they were faithful to her. When Israel came to destroy Jericho, Rahab and her whole family were spared. So there, scarlet speaks of a FAITHFUL ONE.
Now let me draw you another "red word picture": Perish the thought that any harm should come to you on your way home today, but imagine that you were in a bad car accident, you are badly injured, bleeding and you're lying by the side of the road. If you saw someone coming towards you with a RED CROSS on their armband, how would you feel?? You would be very relieved," Someone is coming to care for me!" Now, in Proverbs 31, we have a similar picture. In that chapter there is a lengthy description of a virtuous woman and one thing that we read of such a woman is that "she is not afraid of the snow for her household for all her household are clothed WITH SCARLET." In other words, before the snow flies, this good mother has the warm clothing ready for all of her children. Children who have a good mother are favored children. Many children do not have good mothers and are often neglected. But those who do are favored children. So here scarlet speaks of FAVORED ONES.
Now, how many of you ladies have ever received RED ROSES? What do red roses communicate to you? Yes, someone is declaring their love for you and they want you to know that you are loved. The Book of Song of Solomon could be called the Valentines Book of the Bible because it describes the love between a man and a woman. Solomon writes of the lady in his life and says, "her lips are LIKE A THREAD OF SCARLET." She speaks of him as "the altogether lovely one" and the "fairest among ten thousand". So there scarlet speaks of a FAIR ONE.
So here are 4 very positive connotations of red or scarlet: A FIRST ONE, A FAITHFUL ONE, FAVOURED ONES AND A FAIR ONE. But scarlet and red also have many negative connotations as well.
In fact, the Hebrew word translated "scarlet" in the Bible is also translated many times by the word "WORM"! A strange combination, isn't it? Actually the word is "worm scarlet" because scarlet dye in those days was derived from the body of a worm, a maggot, a larvae of a particular insect. Bodies of these worms were crushed to produce the dye for scarlet cloth.
But let me paint some red word pictures which have negative connotations:
Are any of you in business for yourself? If your accountant came to you and told you that your books were "full of red ink", it would not be very good news! You're spending more than you're making and you're deeply IN DEBT!
Then sometimes we speak of women who ply their trade in the "red light district". ...women of ill-repute and men of lust who go after them..,.speaking of DEFILED ONES.
A few years ago, I was driving down the highway and I looked in my rear view mirror and saw some red flashing lights coming up behind me! After I pulled over to the side of the road, the officer came up to my window and said, " Do you know how fast you were going back there???" He had the evidence to prove it and I was caught RED-HANDED, RED-FACED and I had a bill to pay. I'd been DISCOVERED!
So the scarlet in the tabernacle gate describes someone who is the FIRST ONE,THE FAITHFUL ONE, THE FAVORED ONE AND THE FAIR ONE, and yet one who was CRUSHED LIKE A WORM FOR THE DEBTS AND DEFILEMENT OF OTHER WHO WERE DISCOVERED IN THEIR SINS!
But what of the color BLUE? What does blue describe in the Bible? Outside of the tabernacle, it is usually the clothing of RICH OR WEALTHY MEN, merchants or captains. Then in the book of Esther, do you remember how Queen Esther put her life on the line to go in and appeal to the King for the lives of her people Israel? Well, her Uncle, Mordecai, who had raised her, was working behind the scenes...at one point, he had discovered a plot against the life of the King. He had brought the plot to light and had saved the King's life from an assassination attempt. But he had never been honored for what he had done. But after Esther came to a place of influence with the king, Mordecai was also honored by the king and given a place of rulership in the kingdom and the king dressed Mordecai in a robe of blue. So blue speaks of one who is RICH AND HAS RIGHT TO RULE.
What about PURPLE? What kind of people in scripture wore PURPLE? Yes, ROYALTY. Many times throughout the Bible Kings were dressed in purple robes.
Then WHITE speaks of someone who is HOLY and RIGHTEOUS. So as we put these four colors together we have a picture of someone who was a FIRST ONE, A FAITHFUL ONE, A FAVOURED ONE AND A FAIR ONE, and yet one who was CRUSHED LIKE A WORM FOR THE DEBTS AND DEFILEMENT OF OTHERS WHO WERE DISCOVERED IN THEIR SINS, ONE WHO IS RICH, ONE WHO HAS THE RIGHT TO RULE AND ONE WHO WILL BE CROWNED KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.
If we were to compare this picture to all the billions of people who have ever lived on planet earth, how many people would fit this description? ONLY ONE! And what is His Name? The Lord Jesus Christ! Is He not the One who said," I am the door, by me if any man enter in, He shall be saved."? And "I am the way,the truth and the life, no man cometh unto the Father but by me."? So He is the central One in the family picture. But all the other family members are also pictured in this white linen fence.
Now let's imagine that you and I are among the children of Israel camped around the Tabernacle somewhere in the wilderness. If a stranger came into our camp and came over to your tent to ask you, "What in the world is this building? I've never seen anything like it! What is it?" You would tell them, "this is the Tabernacle, the house where God has come to live right in the middle of our camp!"
If that person got all excited and said, "Wow! I've never ever met God before! I'd like to go in and meet him!".... As he starts to stride toward the Tabernacle, what would that white linen fence tell him?
"STOP!" No sinners allowed!" You see, God is holy and can't allow sinners into His presence! But the news of that fence gets worse! All 60 of the pillars of the courtyard stand on sockets or bases of brass. Brass in the scriptures speaks of JUDGMENT. But the tops of each of these posts are capped with silver. Silver was used for money and speaks of REDEMPTION, or a price that is paid to deliver one from bondage. So not only does this fence say, "STOP, no sinners allowed!", it also declares your sin must be judged and a price for sin must be paid!
But what is the price for sin? What is the wages of sin? DEATH! Now that is awfully bad news! But is not the good news already in the gate? The Lord Jesus died and took the judgment for guilty sinners so that all who come to Him, owning their own sin, can enter in and be freely forgiven!
Now, I myself, was raised in a home where both Dad and Mom knew and loved the Lord. They read the Bible and prayed with us almost daily, they took us to church and Sunday School every time the church doors were opened. After high school, I went to Bible school and was eventually ordained as a minister and my wife, Judy, and I went as missionaries to the West Indies. But I was almost 29 years of age when a horrible truth of scripture crashed in on my heart. It was not a truth that I was unaware of, but one that I had never really taken to heart!
It was the truth of Isaiah 64:6 "For we are ALL as an unclean thing and all our righteousnesses (all the "good things" that we do) are as filthy rags and we ALL do fade as a leaf and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away."
I had professed to be saved as a young boy. I knew that everyone was a sinner, and, yes, I was a sinner. But, being raised in the home I was raised in (where Mom and Dad wouldn't let us Woodford kids do a lot of the things that other kids down the block could do, I got to thinking, "I'm just a little cut better than those other kids down the street!" Now that was WRONG THINKING! The Bible is clear, that "there is NO DIFFERENCE FOR ALL HAVE SINNED." So, when I had professed to be saved when I was eleven, I'd never really let the Holy Spirit deal with me about the awfulness of my sin. So while I had lots of religion, I didn't have Christ!
But the Lord would not let me away with it! When I was almost 29, he brought me down to realize that, in spite of all the "good things" I thought I'd done, they did not amount to anything more than a pile of filthy rags to God and so I was nothing but a guilty sinner before Him who needed to be forgiven and saved!
So on the night of the 21st of November, 1981, I came to the end of myself and took my place as a guilty sinner before God. That night, a verse that I'd learned as a kid in Sunday School came back to my heart in a very personal way. It was Isaiah 53:5 "but He (the Lord Jesus) was wounded for my transgressions, he was wounded for my iniquities. The chastisement (punishment) of my peace was upon Him and with His stripes I am healed."
That night I learned two things that I'd never known before: (1) I finally learned what it was to have peace with God, knowing my sins were forgiven. And (2) I learned what a vast difference there was between "having religion" and KNOWING CHRIST!
So, as we look at the picture of the family of God, I think you can see someone like myself pictured in that fence: a guilty sinner whose sin had to be judged and for whom a price (the price of death) had to be paid. Such a guilty sinner who comes to the door and acknowledges that Jesus died for ME, enters in and is born into the family of God! So I just have one question for you here....
How many of you can see yourself in the picture of God's family? It's great to be able to look at a family picture and be able to say without any doubt, "There I am in the picture! There was a day when I was born into that family!"
So I believe that the tabernacle court speaks of how people get INTO THE FAMILY OF GOD. Then everything else on the inside speaks of what it is like to be MEMBERS IN THE FAMILY!
So come with me as we enter through the gate and into the court yard.
(Just to get an idea of the actual size, this model is built to the scale of one inch to a cubit. A cubit is about 18 inches. So the court yard fence is actually 7.5 feet high so in comparison, a man ,like myself, who is 6 feet tall, would only be 4 inches tall if made on the same scale as this model!
So the court of the actual tabernacle was 50 cubits or 75 feet wide and 100 cubits or 150 feet long.
What does scripture tell us appeared over the Tabernacle in the wilderness and what did it manifest? (A cloud manifested the presence of God in the tabernacle.) And what was that cloud at night? (A pillar of fire.) And whenever that cloud or pillar of fire began to move, what did the children of Israel have to do? (They had to take down their tents and the Tabernacle and follow where ever God lead them.)
So, in reality, the tabernacle was a mobile home!
The Holy Place:
Now, come with me in your mind's eye, through the gate and into the court yard.
The entire area within the court was called "the Holy Place". Then the area inside the actual Tabernacle structure was called "the Holy" and then the very innermost room where the ark of the covenant was placed was called "the Most Holy."
So really, everyone who entered in through the gate was on HOLY GROUND. There is a real lesson for us who live on new covenant ground....
We have often been conditioned to think of life divided up into two separate compartments: that which is sacred and belongs to the Lord and that which is secular and belongs to us. We sometimes think that some Christians are in "Christian work" and the others are in "secular work". We sometimes think that Sunday is the "Lord's Day" and that is the day we serve and worship Him and the other 6 days we do our own work. But scripture knows no such distinctions. We are all called to live lives of holiness 24/7!
Now in this courtyard of the tabernacle, there was only one tribe out of the twelve who could be ministers. What tribe was that? (The Levites). And there was only one family who could be priests. Whose family was that? (Aaron's)
Now under the new covenant, how many believers are priests today? (All of us!)
Now how many that are here are members of the clergy?
You folks really puzzle me! A few minutes ago, most of you said that you saw yourselves in the picture of God's family and yet now, only a very small minority claim to be part of the clergy! Can I challenge your thinking again???
Our religious world has conditioned us to think of two separate classes in the church: -most of us consider ourselves as the laymen or laity. We come to church and twiddle our thumbs and expect that the clergyman is going to get up in the pulpit and "minister" to us! Isn't that how it usually works???
Then if someone is going to lead the midweek Bible study, that's the minister's job! And if someone is sick in the hospital it is the minster's job to go to visit them! Why he's paid to do the work of the ministry and that's his job, isn't it??
Would you be surprised if I told you that no such system is ever found anywhere in your New Testament? The terms laity and clergy are both found many times (LAOS, THE PEOPLE OF GOD) and (KLEROS, THE INHERITANCE OF GOD) but they are two terms that describe the very same group of people!
One example is in I Peter 5:3 where the apostle Peter is writing to the elders of the churches. He tells them that he, himself, is also an elder and then instructs the elders that they are never to lord it over God's heritage, (KJV) over God's KLEROS, God's clergy! Now if the leaders of the church are commanded not to lord it over God's clergy...who are the clergy? (All of us who are believers!)
Not many people realize it, but in North America today, there are literally thousands of pastors burning out and dropping out of the ministry altogether because of this very thing! Many pastors and their wives are some of the most lonely people on earth because of it! As a pastoral intern many years ago, I was instructed by a senior pastor, "Never ever make close friends with people in your congregation! If you do, you will be accused of "playing favourites!" As a result of this mentality many pastors and their wives have no close friends with whom they can be themselves! Will you do your pastor and his wife a favor? Will you allow them to develop close friendships among you just as each of you also has close friends with others in the gathering?
But did you know that you are not just priests and members of God's clergy...you are ministers too! I Peter 4:10 says, As each one has received a gift, even so minister the same as good stewards of the manifold grace of God." Just as member of our physical bodies are made for different functions, so too, in the body of Christ, each and every believer is gifted and equipped for a unique ministry to others.
Your eyes are not ears. Your hands are not feet. Your lungs are not kidneys but each one is vitally important to the body. So too your ministry to the church is just as vitally important as that of any other member!
But did you realize that you are ordained ministers? Don't take my word for it! Check out John 15:16. In that chapter the Lord Jesus is talking about the vine and the branches. He is the vine and we are the branches. Then in verse 16, He says,. "I have chosen you AND ORDAINED YOU, that ye should go and bring forth fruit and that your fruit should remain..."
So I just want you to realize that the ministry and priesthood that functioned in the tabernacle under the Old Covenant is radically different from the priesthood and ministry that God intends should function in His New Covenant house today! So I encourage you to find out what gifts and ministries God has given you. Then put your heart and soul into serving others with the ministries that God has given you. If you will do that your church will begin to function as God has always intended it should, it will begin to accomplish things you have never dreamed would be possible and your community will be compelled to acknowledge that you are Christ's disciples as they see you loving one another as Christ has loved you!
The Brazen Altar:
As we come into the Holy Place, we come to the brazen altar where many sacrifices were made, blood was shed and many animals died. But did you know that God made provison for any one of the common people of Israel to come right into the Holy Place and to come to the brazen altar? In Lev.4 we read that if any of the common people realized that they had sinned, they were to bring a lamb or a goat right here to the north side of the altar. For years, I thought that the priest did all the killing of the sacrifices. But Lev 4 tells us differently. The man himself, who had sinned had to kill that lamb!
Wouldn't that bring your sin home to your heart??? When I'm the one who had sinned, I'm the one who would have to take that knife, slit the throat of that little lamb and watch it die, knowing that it was dying for me! Then the priest would catch the blood in a basin, put some of it on the horns of the altar and pour it out at the base of the altar. Then, of the man who had sinned, Lev.4 makes a tremendous statment, "HIS SIN SHALL BE FORGIVEN HIM"! Out of a camp of 3 million rebels, ONE MAN got forgiveness! IT was available to all, but the only ones who got forgiven were those who came humbly confessing their sin and relying on the death of another for their cleansing.
What a picture of the way that you and I must come into the family of God! We too must come as guilty sinners trusting alone in the Lord Jesus, the Lamb of God who never sinned and yet took our place and died for us!
The Laver:
The priests and Levites who worked at the altar would get dirty continually with all the bloodshed of all those animals. But God provided the laver, a large wash basin where they were to continually wash their hands and their feet to be clean in the exercise of their ministry. Now God has not provided a big brass wash basin for us today, but what Has he provided for us so we can be washed and cleansed in our service for Him?
Paul, in Eph.5 speaks of the washing of water by the Word of God. And even David, the psalmist speaks of the same thing in Ps.119:9-11 "How shall a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed thereto according to thy word. Thy word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against thee." I John 1:9 also says, "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." Then in James 5:16 we read, "Confess your faults one to another and pray for one another that ye may be healed." So I would encourage you to read large portions of scripture every week and then meet weekly with one or two others (men with men and women with women) to confess your faults one to another that you may be healed. Many Christians live lives of continual defeat to besetting sins. (I know because I've lived in defeat!) But only recently, as I've been encouraged by others, have I begun linking the reading of scripture with the scriptural practice of confession of my faults to one or two trusted friends . In this way I've begun to realize that bondage to besetting sins can be broken! So I encourage you in such a pursuit!
Now let us consider the actual structure of the tabernacle itself:
