FINDING CHRIST IN THE TABERNACLE PART ONE

FINDING CHRSIT IN THE TABERNACLE, PART ONE.

“For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ” John 1:17.
“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” Hebrews 8:5.

I want to share with you a picture! Men like a good cowboy, war or action film, women like a good book to read, using their own pictures. I just want to share with you a “spiritual picture” of the tabernacle and Christ Jesus! You see the tabernacle is a type of Christ. So many of the items in the tabernacle and the tabernacle itself speak of Christ Jesus.

The Tabernacle was a structure built by the children of Israel under the supervision of Moses, around 1450 B.C. Exodus 27:9-15; 38:9-17; 40:33.

The size was 100 cubits (150 feet) by 50 cubits (75 feet) by 5 cubits (81/2 feet). ONE CUBIT = 20.63 INS The layout of the Tabernacle and the materials of its construction were set in great detail to Moses by God at Mount Sinai, a few weeks after the children of Israel had left hundreds of years of slavery in Egypt (the Exodus).

The Tabernacle was a portable construction, made by wise, skilful workmen and transported by one tribe (the Levites) through the 40 years in the desert wilderness and on into the land of Canaan.

The purpose here is:
i. To describe the layout, of the Tabernacle, in the Old Testament.
ii. To relate this layout, to the Lord Jesus Christ in the New Testament.

The first five books of the Bible were written down by Moses; they are called the Torah, the Hebrew word for 'law'.
“Jesus said He had come not to abolish the law, but to fulfil it” Matthew 5:17. John, one of Jesus' disciples, tells us that “the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth (reality) came through Jesus Christ” John 1:17.

The word 'truth' here is alethia in Greek, meaning 'reality'. The 'truth' John speaks of is Jesus Christ as the Word, who was God and who became flesh and tabernacled among us, John 1:1, 14 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
And the Word became flesh and dwelt or tabernacled among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.” (The Greek word sometimes translated as 'dwelt' here is more literally translated 'tabernacled').

Therefore, the Tabernacle is a picture, a foreshadow of the Lord Jesus Christ. In the book of Exodus, when God dictates to Moses the detailed design of the Tabernacle (some 1450 years before the birth of Jesus), He speaks forth a description of just who and what the coming Messiah (the Christ) would be.

In the four gospels, particularly in John's account, Jesus shows Himself to be the reality of every item in the Tabernacle. The real Tabernacle of God with men is therefore the Lord Jesus Christ.
Curtains of the Outer Court (Exodus 27:9-19)

If you had suddenly come across the children of Israel in the desert wilderness, you would have seen a camp of over two million people, probably not unlike the refugee camps in many parts of the world today, though perhaps more orderly. The tents were probably black and brown, set in contrast with the sandy and rocky colours of the desert.

In the centre of their camp, you would see the white linen curtains of the Tabernacle's Outer Court, approximately 46 metres long (c. 150 feet) x 23 metres wide (c. 75 feet) x 2.3 metres tall (c. 8.5 feet). It was so noticeable against the surrounding rather drab colours of the camp and wilderness. It was impossible to see inside the Tabernacle from outside the camp: the tall, white, fine twined linen curtains made a separation between the outside world and the beauty that was contained in the Tabernacle.

In the Bible, white linen signifies righteousness, “And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints” Revelation 19:8.
God in His nature is right and just. He therefore expects us, His created people, to act rightly and justly: this is what righteousness means. “To declare that the Lord is upright; He is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in Him” Psalms 92:15.

This predicts that the Anointed One (the Messiah, the Christ) will love righteousness and hate wickedness. Because God is righteous, we find that the Levites, who God called to be priests to serve Him in the Tabernacle, were instructed to wear fine white linen garments (Exodus 28:39-43).

Likewise, in the New Testament, in Revelation 19:6-9 it says “And I heard, as it were, the voice of a great multitude, as the sound of many waters and as the sound of mighty thunderings, saying, “Alleluia! For the Lord God Omnipotent reigns! Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready.”

And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. Then he said to me, “Write: 'Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb!'” And he said to me, “These are the true sayings of God.”

This speaks of the “wife of the Lamb” (the bride of Christ), who is seen clothed in fine white linen. The “wife of the Lamb” composed of all those people who have accepted God's saving invitation to be joined to Him at this marriage feast and have prepared themselves (as seen by their garments): they are all dressed in fine white linen. Here it informs us that the “fine linen is their righteous acts.”

By way of contrast, in “But we are all like an unclean thing, and all our righteousness’s are like filthy rags; We all fade as a leaf, And our iniquities, like the wind, Have taken us away” Isaiah 64:6.

We read that all our “righteousness” is like filthy rags and that our sins have taken us right off course from God's righteousness. Therefore, our sins have separated us from God, “But your iniquities have separated you from your God; and your sins have hidden His face from you, So that He will not hear” Isaiah 59:2.

Just as Adam's sin caused him to be separated from God and the garden of Eden (Genesis 3:23-24), so we have all sinned and fall short of the glory of God “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” Romans 3:23. Therefore, the white linen curtains of the Outer Court remind us that we are separated from God, due to our sins, because He is righteous.

The fine white linen curtains of the Outer Court were supported by pillars, at least 56 of them. The pillars were set in base sockets of bronze and capped with silver capitals. The bronze base sockets represent God's judgement on those who sin against Him, as seen in Numbers 16:29-39; 21:4-9.

In Numbers 21, the children of Israel murmured against God. In judgement on their sin, God sent serpents into the camp of Israel and many of them died. As Moses prayed for the people, God told him to make a bronze serpent and to put it on a pole.
Anyone who looked on the bronze serpent would not perish. In his gospel, John shows us that the Lord Jesus Christ is the reality of the bronze serpent lifted up from the earth. As the crucified Son of Man, He bore God's righteous judgement for us, so that whoever believes in Him will not perish for ever but be saved from God's judgement and receive eternal life (John 3:14-17).

The capitals on top of the pillars were made from silver, symbolising the ransom price God placed on each of the children of Israel (Exodus 30:11-16). God desires to redeem people, not to condemn them, but to satisfy His righteousness a price must be paid. When Jesus was betrayed by Judas Iscariot, “the price paid was thirty pieces of silver” Matthew 26:15.
Exodus 12:1 to 13:16 shows the other side of redemption: the way to redeem the life of the first-born son was by the sacrifice of a lamb at Passover.

God sacrificed His only Son, Jesus the Lamb of God John 1:29 “The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”
At Calvary, as the final Passover Lamb (I Corinthians 5:7) during the Feast of Passover in 33 AD, in order to redeem mankind, that is to buy us back from sin and all its effects (Romans 5:6, 18).

When we see the white curtains of the Outer Court, we are reminded that “our sins have separated us from God” (Isaiah 59:2; Romans 3:23). When we read the gospel accounts of the life of Jesus, we see His compassion and love to people and we also see His condemnation of pretence and sin (John 8:10-11).

Just like the curtains of the Outer Court, the righteousness of Christ is supported by His judgement of sin and capped by His desire to redeem us, “to bring us (the unrighteous ones) back to God” I Peter 3:18. The good news is that although we start off outside the Tabernacle, separated from God, there is a way into the Outer Court, a Door, colourful and welcoming, beckoning us to come inside.

The door is the way in to the outer courts; Jesus said “I am the DOOR” John 10:9.

IF YOU KNOW NOT THE CHRIST (SAVIOUR) OF THE TABERNACLE, WE ARE HERE TO HELP YOU FIND HIM, CONTACT US AT: Internetpreachersforchrist@gmail.com

Part two coming on site soon!