The Tabernacle Tour #7

Lesson 7

Beyond The Veil…

“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.”(Matthew 5:17)

Anchor scripture: Hebrews 9:11-15

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Hebrews%209%3A11-15&version=ESV

What was the Ark of the Covenant?

Read Exodus 25:10-22

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Exodus%2025%3A10-22&version=ESV

What was in the Ark?

The tablets of The Ten Commandments - representing the whole Law of God…the law that no one was able to keep! (Read Matthew 5:17-48)

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%205%3A17-48&version=ESV

So this wooden chest, of slightly larger dimensions than the Table of Shewbread, is the holding place of the broken Covenant of God…if you like…the hiding place for the record of man’s sins, away from Satan the accuser, and reserved for the judgment of God alone.

(Read John 8:1-11)

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John%208%3A1-11&version=ESV

But, The One who is The Judge, is also The One who will stay His Hand of judgment…

Holding Israel in protective custody, until He can grant them mercy…

Hiding the record of their sins within His holiness, beneath the cherubim and under a temporary blood covering (applied by the High Priest once a year) until He can cancel this record permanently.

See Colossians 2:13-15

And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses,

by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.

He disarmed the rulers and authorities[a] and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.

Through the veil, Aaron would carry the fragrant incense…into the Holy of Holies:

The incense (signifying the finished work of the Cross - see lesson 5) would arise as a fragrant offering before the Ark of God’s glory, effectively shielding Aaron from judgment while he applied the Blood…Mercy

When the blood is applied atop of the Ark, the broken Law is appeased…covered…and it becomes the Mercy Seat.

Without the blood on the ark, the broken Law is exposed and it becomes the Judgement Seat.

Read Leviticus 16:11-14 (& Revelation 11:19)

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Leviticus%2016%3A11-14&version=ESV

Seven times Aaron would sprinkle blood upon the ark: symbolic of completion…the finished work of the Cross.

(John 19:30; Gen. 2:2-3)

Aaron could not approach the Ark without substitutionary blood. Otherwise according to the broken Law, his own blood would be required - he would die. Aaron and his descendants must continue to apply the Blood until …

Hebrews 9:11-12

Jesus the Great High Priest will shed his actual physical perfect blood. A perfect substitutionary atonement - Forever!

Ironically, this brings to mind another “ark” that held someone in protective custody until sin had been dealt with…See Genesis 7.

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis%207&version=ESV

The Cherubim. This Covenant and the Blood are guarded by cherubim, just as is the Tree of Life, only this time it is different: They are guarding both:

The broken Law

And the blood covering…

Against the accuser…Satan the destroyer

Until the ultimate sacrifice, to end all others, will be made.

For more on how Satan accuses Israel see: https://sarahshalom777.blogspot.com/2021/06/reference-read-daniel-ch-101-21.html

What else was in the Ark?

Go back to read Hebrews Ch. 9:3-4

Behind the second curtain was a second section called the Most Holy Place,

having the golden altar of incense and the ark of the covenant covered on all sides with gold, in which was a golden urn holding the manna, and Aaron's staff that budded, and the tablets of the covenant

1 The Manna from Heaven…

Think back to the Table of Shewbread (Lesson 4):

This is representative of His death…His crucifixion - and ours (Read John ch. 6)…

Jesus the bread of Heaven…He who is without sin (leaven)…will become sin for us…then He will defeat it! (This is also represented through the brazen Altar of Sacrifice - lesson 1)

2The Budding Staff…

Think back to the Lamp Stand (Lesson 3):

This represents his resurrection - and ours…

Jesus the High Priest who finished the work (Remember the Altar of Incense)

~This staff that budded, blossomed and produced fruit all at once, is full and complete resurrection:

Beginning from Christ, who is the First Fruit…

to the final harvest of souls (Jew and Gentile) at the end of days - the fulfillment of the Feast of Tabernacles.~

***Jesus has fulfilled every feast, from Passover to Tabernacles - First to Last - beginning to end!***

Both these things contained within the Ark, are guarantees that the righteous requirements of the Law will be fully met…

And together with the tablets of The Law, they tell the story of God’s Covenant with mankind…the Gospel:

The Law…humanity is sentenced to death.

The Manna…Jesus (the Son of Man) faces death on our behalf.

The Staff…Jesus (The Son of God) overcomes death on our behalf.

(The Staff also points to The Shepherd - see Psalm 23 & John 10:11-18)

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John%2010%3A11-18&version=ESV

This is The Ark of The Testimony of God!

(Revelation 21:6-7)

Transporting The Ark

Read 2Samuel 6:1-8

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2%20Samuel%206%3A1-8&version=ESV

Why was David angry when Uzzah was killed?

David had forgotten what the ark was - the Mercy Seat - a place of protective custody…

- what was inside it - the weight of their sin - which MUST be carried by the sinner.

(Exodus 25:13-14; Numbers 4:15; 7:9)

But, like a trophy, they put it on their very best, brand new cart.

Question: Is this any different to Adam and Eve sowing together fig leaves to hide their guilt?

Or like the Philistines, attempting to appease the Lord, again by using a brand new cart? (1Samuel 6)

By our own hands we have sinned. How can we by our own hands try to cover it? It doesn’t matter how new or well made our cart is!

No,

The Levites, representing the people, MUST carry the ark on their shoulders - a foreshadowing of Jesus Christ -

who will carry the weight of the broken Law all the Way to judgment and death…then He will satisfy it.

Going back to 2Samuel ch.6 - All of them had completely forgotten what the ark was - they were treating it like a trophy- but sin in the hands of a holy God is no trophy.

The only one with the authority - and the ability - to hide our transgressions is God Himself…and this He did: first under the blood of bulls and goats (beginning at Gen 3:21), then under the Blood (the Life) of His own Son.

Isaiah 1:18

“Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord:

though your sins are like scarlet,

they shall be as white as snow;

though they are red like crimson,

they shall become like wool.”

Why blood?

Read Hebrews 9:19-22

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Hebrews%209%3A19-22&version=ESV

Leviticus 17:14 tells us that the life is in the blood…

it’s not the blood that God wants…

It’s the life - our (redeemed) lives…this is why Jesus shed his blood…

gave His life in exchange for ours!

If you like, this is a journey that really began in earnest at the River Jordan (See Joshua ch.3):

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Joshua%203&version=ESV

When, under Joshua, the Israelites finally learned obedience to God, the waters parted and they carried the broken Law of God to The Place where it’s righteous requirements would finally be met, and where Atonement would, once and for all be made - approximately 1,400 years later - on a hill called Golgotha - on a Cross!

And it is there that God will hide our sin - bury it with Christ…but in order for Him to do that, we must first come out of hiding (Genesis 3:8-10) and into the Light: we must fully take to heart 1John1:8-9.

Because the Sacrifice has been made on our behalf, we can enter in to the Holy of Holies…we can dwell with the fullness of God…beyond the veil which was torn…within the shekhinah glory.

This is the heart of God…The Covenant He made…to dwell with the people He made…FOREVER