Exodus 26:1-30 The Tab. Coverings

Intro: We read in Heb. 10 speaking of Jesus: 5Therefore, when He came into the world, He said:

"Sacrifice& offering You did not desire ,But a body You have prepared for Me.

6 In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin You had no pleasure.

7 Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come In the volume of the book it is written of m

A)On the Road to Emmaus – Jesus shared w/ those two men all of the things concerning the Messiah was to Suffer

  1. Hearts burned w/ in them - ( Tonight)

B) God’s instruction to build this tent – tent of meeting - / Journey w/ them in the wilderness / permanently set up once they settled in the Promised land

  1. Picture for us Primarily of Jesus – John 1;14 – The word became flesh and dwelt – TABERNACLED AMONG US

C) Thru this study we learn about Christ – but we also learn some things about ourselves – those who are followers of Jesus

1) WE WHO ARE IN HIM !!!!

1 John 2:8 I write to you, which thing is true in Him and in you, because the darkness is passing away, and the true light is already shining.

D) John declares – what is true of Jesus is true of You – why? Because you are in Christ & Christ is in You – Shinning in your life

So the Tab. Is a picture of Jesus Christ but it also has much to say about you & me about the Church

A)Where we stand positionally – because we are in Christ – but also where & what we are to be because Christ is in us !!!!

What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us. -- Ralph Waldo Emerson.

B) So the Tab. Is a great illustration – some thought it to be ODD

  1. Not really – think about it – every culture / every country / every society through out History – can relate to a tent – BRILLIANT

C) Really I think you would be hard pressed to come up w/ a better analogy

  1. Figures it came from the Lord

Well in our study so far we have talked about the Tab. In a general sense of how it paralleled the person & ministry of Christ

A)Then we looked at some of the articles inside the Tent itself – two rooms – Holy of Holies & the Holy place

B) Tonight we turn our attention to the Tent itself – to the Facility Ch.26

1"Moreover you shall make the tabernacle with ten curtains of fine woven linen and blue, purple, and scarlet thread; with artistic designs of cherubim you shall weave them. 2The length of each curtain shall be twenty-eight cubits, and the width of each curtain four cubits. And every one of the curtains shall have the same measurements.

So there were 10 Curtains – 4 cubits by 28 cubits – 2 Angels or Cherubim in each Curtain for a total of 20 Angels

3Five curtains shall be coupled to one another, and the other five curtains shall be coupled to one another.

So 5 of the curtains are sown together to make one section /The other 5 are sown together to make another section – 2 big sections

Read v.4-6

So these two big pieces are brought together into one tent and are held together 1st by Blue yarn and Second by these clasp of Gold

 

Pause to consider this inner Curtain – 4 Colors of fine woven Linen

White/ Blue / Scarlet/ Purple

A)Same color was also used in making the angels –

B) So when the priest would come into the Tab. & look up at the ceiling of this tent they would see the 20 Beautifully embroidered Angels

  1. And this colorful tent

C) The 4 Colors – each have significance – Blue is the color of Heaven

  1. Purple is the color of Royalty – Royal robes – Purple – Jesus – Cruc.

Scarlet is the color of suffering & Sacrifice / White of righteousness

D) The Number 4 remind us of the 4 Gospels –Each one had a distinct purpose in revealing Jesus

  1. Matt. – Purpose – King of Kings – thus Purple would be the color that best fit Matt. Gospel
  2. Mark – Suffering servant – Scarlet – appropriate
  3. Luke – Perfect man – His humanity – White – Righteous Humanity
  4. John – Reveals Jesus Deity – His Heavenliness – God come down – Blue

So I believe what the Lord was doing in instructing that these colors were to be used in the Tab.

A)Was giving us a picture of gospel stories woven together in these curtains that make up the inside layer of the Tab.

B) NOTE ON SCARLET - The Word scarlet in Hebrew is the word Tolaith which is translated 2 ways – Scarlet & worm – why?

  1. The way that they made scarlet die in those days – they would take the Tolaith worm & grind him up – tip cloth into the Blood – scarlet color

C) Now this is interesting because in Psa. 22 that great Messianic Psalm – Prefigure the suffering Messiah – emotional side of the cross

1) Begins – My God my God why ….me - Exact words that Jesus cried

out from the Cross

D) There in that Psalm speaking prophetically of Jesus the Psalmist declared I am a worm & not a man

  1. Now this is what is most interesting about the Tolaith worm / This worm would give birth to its young by climbing a tree – Exploding

E) There upon the tree its babies would be birthed and the exploding of the worm would leave a scarlet stain on the Branch

  1. Dies in the Process of reproduction

Now according to the New International Bible Encyclo. Something amazing happens to that Red stain on the tree

A)After 3 days that Red spot – dries and then takes on a white color like flakes of snow

B) The Picture is incredible – Jesus declared I am a worm – and fastened himself upon a tree – the Cross

  1. Where His blood was shed for you and for me – that He might birth us – that we might be born again – birthed into his family

C) He sacrificed His life so that we might live

  1. And three days after His blood was shed – He rose again so that we who’s sins were red like scarlet could be made as white as snow

D) To me this is an amazing analogy – why I believe that nothing is in the Bible by accident – All of these things point to Christ & speak of Christ

  1. This is why we see in the Tab. And in the Priestly vestures a dominant color is this color of scarlet

E) It speaks to us of Christ – the Tolaith worm who gave Himself for you and for me !!!!

So they were told to use these 4 colors – Why the Angels ?

Two reasons

A)1st the Angelic Host is worshipping Him / 2nd watching us

B) First Worship Him –Isa 6 – Holy holy holy one of many passages in the Bible – in the Heavenly seen the Angels – Worship the Lord

  1. There in the heavenly scene beholding the Glory of the Lord / beholding

the Lord & all of His Holiness - Response worship

C) But Peter also tells us that the Angels are watching us – they desire to look into the things of Salvation /

  1. Amazed at the Work of Redemption and the miracle of Grace

D) What a picture of that do we have here – the Priest would come into the Holy Holies – bring the Blood –from the sacrifice / sprinkled on …seat

  1. Angels intently watching – what does this mean ?

Then they watched as JESUS was commissioned by the Father to come Tabernacle among us

A)The Worshipped at His birth – they ministered to Him after the temptation

B) They surely understood the connection to the Golden lampstand as He declared one day – I am the Light of the World

  1. And to the Showbread – another day – Bread of Life

C) Watched in horror night of His betrayal – Peter his sword – put it away don’t you know – call down a legion of angels

  1. I can see them – cheering call us Lord we are ready to rush to your side !

D) Then they watched as His blood was spilled - / all those yrs of the Blood being sprinkled began to make sense

  1. Angels desire to look into these things – Intrigued by the Fathers Choice of People like us

You know what we would be totally blown away if the Lord opened our eyes to the Heavenly realm – Angelic world =Battle going on right now

A)Like Gehazi @ Dothan – Syrians surrounding – Gehazi Freaking Elisha Elisha come quick – TROUBLE – T.

B) Elisha comes out unmoved why? – Elisha saw the unseen -

Do not fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them." 17And Elisha prayed, and said, "LORD, I pray, open his eyes that he may see." Then the LORD opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw.

C) Do you know that to be true that who is w/ You is greater than He who is against you

  1. The Lord is w/ You & His Angels – Heb. Ministering spirits – watching out for us

D) Some have some words for us – in Heaven – Who taught you how to drive ?

Like the lady who’s 4 yr. Daughter was singing the Michael W.Smith song Angels unaware –line "Maybe we are entertaining angels unaware,"

Mixed it up : "Maybe we are irritating angels unaware."

Something else I want you to see about these 10 curtains / put into 2 groups of 5

A)TEN is the Number of Human responsibility – 10 commandments – what man is supposed to do to be right in the sight of God

B) TEN PLAGUES – What came down on Pharaoh & his house because he wasn’t acting responsibly

  1. Ten is the Number of Human responsibility

C) Now these curtains were SOWN into two sections – 5 EACH but there was a gap between the two large sections -

  1. They were joined together by these 50 rings of Gold – to make a complete covering / 50 in Bible is the # of Salvation

Every 50 yrs in Israel they celebrated the yr. Of Jubilee – when the people were saved from their debts

A)All their debts were cancelled – all the property that was lost to bankruptcy in the previous 50 yrs was given back to original owners

B) To celebrate the yr. Of Jubilee they would blow the rams Horn – indicating that they were saved from Debts

C) Ark of Noah – made of Gopher wood – 50 cubit high – Ark was the instrument of salvation

D) Now here is the point in this – these two groups of 5 curtains each sown together – couldn’t come together why?

  1. The law is perfect it is beautiful – but it doesn’t come together – it only shows you & me there is a separation

E) As wonderful as the Law is we can’t keep it !!! The Law is perfect but we are not

1) Two groups of 5 speaks of the Law -

So the law just shows us our need of what ? SALVATION – The 50 rings of Blue Yarn & 50 rings of Gold – clasp two together

A)Blue = Heaven / Gold = deity / - this tells us that the work of salvation originated in heaven and is a work of God

B) The ring is an emblem of Love & Cov. – God in His love – provided a way for us to be saved

 

Move on to the 2nd Covering V.7,8

7"You shall also make curtains of goats’ hair, to be a tent over the tabernacle. You shall make eleven curtains. 8The length of each curtain shall be thirty cubits, and the width of each curtain four cubits; and the eleven curtains shall all have the same measurements.

So over the first Covering was this one - goat’s hair –

you wouldn’t see from inside –

A) "The goat was pre-eminently the animal used in the sin offerings,

B) In fact, in connection with Israel’s great feasts under the law, when the people were collectively represented before God,

1)it was the only one used in their sacrifices for sins.

C) And on the annual Day of Atonement, when a special sin-offering was appointed. This consisted of two goats; the one being slain,

  1. The other having the sins and iniquities of all Israel confessed upon it, then being led away into a land not inhabited (Lev 16).

D) The goats skin –prefigured Christ as the great sin-offering for the iniquities of his people.

  1. He who knew no sin was made sin for us (2 Cor 5:21)

 

Now notice that the covering of goats skins was a little bigger than the Lines 30 cubits vs 28 cubits – 11 skins vs 10 curtains / Goat hair Blk

9And you shall couple five curtains by themselves and six curtains by themselves, and you shall double over the sixth curtain at the forefront of the tent. 10You shall make fifty loops on the edge of the curtain that is outermost in one set, and fifty loops on the edge of the curtain of the second set. 11And you shall make fifty bronze clasps, put the clasps into the loops, and couple the tent together, that it may be one.

So sown together – two groups – one w/ 5 pieces other w/ 6

A)6 = # of man - 5 is # of grace/ 11 is # of disorder

B) So you have 11 curtains – brought together by 50 ( 50= salvation ) brass rings / Brass = JUDGEMENT - ALTAR OF BRASS

1) REV. BRASS FEET

12The remnant that remains of the curtains of the tent, the half curtain that remains, shall hang over the back of the tabernacle. 13And a cubit on one side and a cubit on the other side, of what remains of the length of the curtains of the tent, shall hang over the sides of the tabernacle, on this side and on that side, to cover it.

Now – 6th skin overlaps – entrance – folded back – see the black skin

  1. Now here is what we need to see these on inside WAS this beautiful angelic tapestry
  2. Which Speaks of Jesus inside perfect righteousness and beauty

    3. 1)Yet He who knew no sin – who never sinned was made sin for us

  3. He who was beautiful became sin – when hung on cross HE took your sin and my sin – so ugly black – Father turned away
    1. Why Jesus cried out that day – My God my God why hast thou forsaken me

D) Sky turned – black – Jesus became black

Now That 11th curtain was always scene – when looked at flap – when looked at that bit of black

A)11 which is the number of DISORDER and DISHARMONY Man was in disorder

B)Jesus Christ became OUT OF HARMONY with the Father on the cross

When He took my sin

1)So that I can be IN HARMONY with God

C) God in His grace sent son – to die – to take judgment - brass – become black – bring order to lives!

D)How much was seen 1/11th of curtain –

Christ lived 33 years – how long public ministry?

  1. 3 years - 1/11th of his life! / Rest we don’t know

14"You shall also make a covering of ram skins dyed red for the tent, and a covering of badger skins above that.

Next 3rd covering – Ram’s skin died red
  1. Rams died red – suffering

    2. B)Ram – Gen 22 – Abe Isaac – showed Ram

    Same hill - God will provide himself

  2. Why year of Jubilee Ram’s horn

Ram’s skin -God’s grace

4th skin – Badgers skin – ugly – visqueem

  1. Now This or part that is seen
  2. His outward form – go get handsome guy

 

If I were constructing the Tabernacle, I would have put something eye-catching on the outside

Not Something ORDINARY.... unattractive

But God isn't interested in what is on the outside

But On the inside was the important things

The ARK, the furniture, the curtains, and the Shekinah Glory of God

THAT is what was fabulous

So too with Jesus

ORDINARY externally BUT He was God in a tent of humanity

C) Transfiguration – inside broke out

 

why did Jesus go up to the Mt.? TO PRAY

  1. Now this is a point that is easy to pass over - but I think it is important to note - and we will touch on this point again later.

3RD WHAT HAPPENED ON THE MOUNTAIN - v. 29 As He prayed, the appearance of His face was altered, and His robe became white and glistening.

  1. Now Picture this scene here Luke says that His face was Altered - meaning it was Changed - there was a visible change on His face
    1. And His clothes began to glow -
  1. Listen to Matt. & Mark’s description - Matt. He was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became as white as the light.

D) This was truly ONE INCREDIBLE MOMENT

Now the word Transfigured ( we get our word Metamorphosis from it describes a change on the outside that comes from the inside.

  1. In the place of prayer - Jesus gets alone on the top on a Mt. & begins to communicate w/ His father - change begins to take place.
  1. And that is where the Lord so works in our lives - we go to the Father in prayer - & as we are in His presence - Beholding His glory
    1. That Change begins to take place in us
  1. The Transfiguration is a practical demonstration of what Jesus wants to do in our lives as we deny self / die to self - work of transformation.

1)The Lord has placed His Spirit in our hearts - & as we yield ourselves

VERSES 15-25

Here we come to the boards that made the sides of the Tabernacle

Some very important things to see

A)They are to be made of Acacia - Interesting

Acacia is really gnarly

B)In order to be used it must be cut down and then cut up

Wood speaks of humanity

1)This is speaking of US

C) We are GNARLY- If God is going to use us, He needs to cut us down

EXAMPLE: Saul of Tarsus

1) Doing his thing in all of his self will and pride

D)God cut him down with a blinding light - "Who are you Lord?"

Even after we are brought low, God needs to cut away the GNARLINESS- Make straight the rough edges

NOTICE: VERSE 19

A)This acacia wood sit in SILVER SOCKETS

B)This tent is unlike any other tent in the wilderness

It was NOT staked into the ground

C)It stood ABOVE the ground- It sat in sockets

 

This ACACIA WOOD used to have ROOTS in the desert sand

A)BUT - Now it has been cut down and made smooth and sits ABOVE the desert sand

B) What a picture of OUR salvation- We once had roots in this world

1) He brought us low and is now joining us together into a holy habitation

Eph. 2:21- 21in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, 22in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.

C) NOTE: IF you have your roots in this world you can NOT be a part of the Tabernacle of the true and living world

1)We are IN the world but we are NOT OF the world

1John 2:15

15Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world

D)Just as these ACACIA boards were still in the desert but they were above it

1)So too, we are to live ABOVE this present world

Eph. 2:6 And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:

 

 

These boards were seated in SILVER SOCKETS

A)SILVER in the Old Testament is associated with REDEMPTION

B)How do we stand before the Lord- In the sockets of redemption

1) THAT is our place of security and stability before the Lord

C)We do NOT stand before the Lord on the basis of our spirituality

D)We would be fallen boards if we tried to stand in that way before God

Let's back up for a minute -There is something interesting for us in the dimensions of these boards

VERSE 16 Ten cubits shall be the length of a board, and a cubit and a half shall be the width of each board.

A)This is an UNWHOLE and UNBALANCED number

B)So in the next verse the Lord says that this UNBALANCED board is to be linked together with another board that is a cubit and a half thus making 3 cubits making a whole number

C) The believer is NOT intended to live out his Christian experience ALONE - We are being FIT together Paul said

D)The PATTERN of the Tabernacle tells us that you should be LINKED to another believer

1)THAT is where strength is

E) IF I'm linked to someone I find that I come to a place of STABILITY in those UNSTABLE areas of my life

 

VERSES 26-30

Not only were the boards linked together one by one

A)On every side of the Tabernacle there were 5 huge boards that went from one end to the other to keep all of the boards in-line and give structural integrity

B) WHAT are those 5 boards

Eph. 4:11-13 And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God

C)The PURPOSE of these ministries is the STABILIZING and STRENGTHENING of the body

  1. Apostles – sent ones – Governing
  2. Prophets – Guidance
  3. Evangelist – Gathering
  4. Pastors Shepherds Guarding
  5. Teachers – Grounding

D)There are those who say: I'm tied together with my brother... I don't need to go to church - WRONG

The Lord Himself ordained 5 boards that went from one end to the other to KEEP STRAIGHTNESS and give STRUCTURAL INTEGRITY

We need the ministry of these offices within the Body of Christ

Without the ministry of the PROPHET saying "Thus saith the Lord..."

Without the ministry of the spiritual statesman who plants churches

Without the voice of the EVANGELIST calling us to the Gospel so we don't leave or lose our first love

Without the PASTORAL TEACHING explaining the Word of God to us giving us stability in the Word and in the Lord

We CAN NOT have STABILITY

Thank God for the Church