The Tabernacle Tour #1
(Teaching notes)
Bible study Lesson 1:
Anchor scripture:
Hebrews 9:1-10
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Hebrews%209%3A1-10&version=ESV
“I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John14:6)
Welcome to the tabernacle of Moses…
Given to Moses by God on Mt Sinai…
It tells the story of redemption…and shows us the Way to Salvation…
It is the place where God (His shekhinah glory) came to dwell among us, before he came as one of us.
(“Shekhinah” - literally means “dwelling”
The Glory of God with man.)
A walk through…
As we enter in at the east end (just as Jesus came into Jerusalem from the East gate…and will come again the same Way) we come face to face with an imposing altar: Read Exodus 27:1-7.
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Exodus%2027%3A1-7&version=ESV
This is the first place you are confronted with when you enter in…it is so noticeable you cannot avoid it. It is an appalling place…
What was its purpose?
The place of sacrifice…of bloodshed.
Every sacrifice for sin required by God is going to be made on that altar:
Read Leviticus 1:1-13.
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Leviticus%201%3A1-13&version=ESV
These animals were being sacrificed in the place of people…
Imagine the stench..the smoke...
…where the sacrificial blood never ceases to flow…
And where the fire never seems to go out!
{Leviticus 6:8-13
The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Command Aaron and his sons, saying, This is the law of the burnt offering. The burnt offering shall be on the hearth on the altar all night until the morning, and the fire of the altar shall be kept burning on it.
And the priest shall put on his linen garment and put his linen undergarment on his body, and he shall take up the ashes to which the fire has reduced the burnt offering on the altar and put them beside the altar.
Then he shall take off his garments and put on other garments and carry the ashes outside the camp to a clean place.
The fire on the altar shall be kept burning on it; it shall not go out. The priest shall burn wood on it every morning, and he shall arrange the burnt offering on it and shall burn on it the fat of the peace offerings.
Fire shall be kept burning on the altar continually; it shall not go out.}
As we read Leviticus 6:8-13, we could liken this to a picture of Hell (as described by Jesus in Mark ch.9:47-48)
‘where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.’
There are daily sacrifices, weekly…monthly…annual - multiple sacrifices!
And all basically for sin!
Who or what does this altar point to?
It either points to the vicarious atonement of Jesus Christ…or it will point to us, if we do not repent.
Every sacrifice made on this altar was for the sins of the people…and will be fulfilled (for all of us)…by Jesus’s One sacrifice on the cross
***Leviticus 6:24-30 gives us another reminder of the seriousness of sin and transgression…and paints an extremely vivid picture of Jesus Christ, the ultimate Sacrifice *** https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Leviticus%206%3A24-30&version=ESV
Our most holy offering is Jesus Christ, the Son of God himself…and when we “taste” and “eat” of him, we too are made holy. (See: Psalm 34:8 & John 6:22-69)
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John%206%3A22-69&version=ESV
{On a practical note:
Bronze is a very poor conductor of heat, making it an effective material in the structure of this altar.}
It is a great and terrible place…but you cannot enter God’s presence without going through it. …because “all have sinned, and fallen short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23)
This is our Way in…to the dwelling place of God.
Read:
John10:9 I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture.
John 14:5-6 Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
***This place is a foreshadowing of The Cross…
a confrontation of how appalling is our sin.
You could not enter the tabernacle and ignore that altar…and we cannot enter into Salvation without acknowledging our sin upon Jesus’s body…on the cross!***
(1John1:8-9)
As we go further, we see that everything in the outer court of the Tabernacle is overlaid entirely with bronze…including this altar:
Because bronze symbolizes Judgment…
Look at Revelation 1:15…his feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters.
The feet of Yeshua are described as being like burnished bronze:
Christ took the judgment for us - but also overcame our sin - for us: So now all sin - and it’s consequences, are under His feet…especially Satan, whom He crushed (A spectacular fulfillment of Genesis 3:15). Seeing the judgment of God in the feet of Yeshua, shows us exactly what He has gone through - and overcome - for us.
But, here is also a serious connotation…that those who do not receive this mercy will be crushed with Satan under this judgment - this is why Jesus’s feet still appear as bronze…burnished bronze - perfect and complete judgment. (Matthew 21:44). A sober reminder to John, and all of us, where we have come from, and what it cost The Lord to bring us out.
Next read Numbers ch. 16
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Numbers%2016&version=ESV
Korah and company are guilty of the highest blasphemy against the Lord…and the instruments they used are literally being hammered into the bronze (the judgement) of the altar -
See Numbers 16:38-40…{As for the censers of these men who have sinned at the cost of their lives, let them be made into hammered plates as a covering for the altar, for they offered them before the Lord, and they became holy. Thus they shall be a sign to the people of Israel.” So Eleazar the priest took the bronze censers, which those who were burned had offered, and they were hammered out as a covering for the altar, to be a reminder to the people of Israel, so that no outsider, who is not of the descendants of Aaron, should draw near to burn incense before the Lord, lest he become like Korah and his company—as the Lord said to him through Moses.}
In the same way that our own transgressions were literally hammered into the hands and feet of Yeshua.
One could argue that this altar ✝️ is fashioned out of the sins of the people: Neither it, nor the cross that it pointed to, would exist, except for our sin.
He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. 1Peter2:24.
In Aaron, as he runs with the incense among the dying people (vs46-48), we also catch a glimpse of Jesus Christ, who not only offered himself up as a sweet aroma for our transgressions, but who stands before the Throne, constantly making intercession for us. “And he stood between the dead and the living, and the plague was stopped.” (See also Hebrews 7:23-27)
Read Numbers ch.21:4-9…https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Numbers%2021%3A4-9&version=ESV
*Serpent = the classic symbol of sin…and in Israel’s case, also a symbol of its consequences (They were being bitten by snakes)
*Bronze = judgement
*A pole = The Cross - Galatians 3:13
Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”
So the serpent on the pole is a picture - and a foreshadowing - of Jesus’s Crucifixion…John 3:14 “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up…”
Why is the altar shaped as a square?
There seems to be a lot of squares in God’s plan…the altar of sacrifice…the altar of incense…the new Jerusalem:
The square seems to be symbolic of the four corners of the earth…a phrase used more than once in the Bible…
not because they’re sporting any kind of notion that the earth is flat - but more likely referring to the four points of the compass:
With every side of the altar identical…because whether we come to Christ from N. S. E. or W. we all approach as equals…sinners;
so the significance of this altar means that all who approach it are welcomed and accepted equally and identically by the God who forgives sins.
At each of the four corners are four ram’s horns…
Signifying strength…
But also protection…
The right of sanctuary…
The strength of God that is also merciful -
not only for Israel, but to the four corners of the earth (North, South, East, West)
Because: Tied to the horns of the Alter would be the sacrifices for sin (see Psalm 118:27) - all foreshadowing the Sacrifice that would atone for the sins of the entire world - from North to South and East to West. This is why, from the mouth of John the Baptist comes the monumental declaration “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world”. (John 1:29)
See also Revelation 21:10-17 ~ the New Jerusalem: Because Salvation has become attainable for everyone, to the four corners of the Earth! https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Revelation%2021%3A10-17&version=ESV
Read 1 Kings ch.2:5-6 & 28-35…https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Kings%202%3A28-35&version=ESV
Joab, fleeing from the judgment of King Solomon, also holds on to the horns of the altar,
Joab was most definitely guilty…
He deserved to die (being responsible for the brutal and cold blooded murder of several people, including one of King David’s own sons) and he did indeed die - but…
he also knew that this altar was one of substitution - that the blood of animals - not humans - was supposed to be shed at that altar…as substitutes.
How is this a picture of us?
In order to be born again and enter God’s Kingdom, we must first embrace the Cross, facing up to our sin and acknowledging that Jesus Christ, the sinless Son of God, shed His blood in our place…so we do not have to die…
What we do need to do, is throw ourselves on the mercy of the One who did…we must cleave to the cross, binding ourselves to Jesus, as the sacrifice was bound to the horns of the altar in Psalm 118. This is our Salvation.
As we’ve already said…This is our Way in:
(Remember: John10:9 &John 14:5-6)
This is is the place of death…
Christ’s death….and ours…
because when he died…so did we:
Romans 6:1-11.
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans%206%3A1-11&version=ESV
So its a place of death, but also resurrection…where we are born again to a new life. (John3:3)
We are now entered in to the tabernacle…there should be no going back at this point… because to willfully reject the Cross, having been confronted with the reality of it, is to crucify Jesus over again (Hebrews 6:4-6)
So, back to 1John1:9…
If we confess…
He is faithful to FORGIVE…This is what has just happened at this huge altar…
and to CLEANSE…See link Lesson 2 - The laver (wash basin)
https://sarahshalom777.blogspot.com/2021/09/the-tabernacle-tour-2.html?m=1&mibextid=Zxz2cZ
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