Sermon Tone Analysis

*Place: Pencoed AOG.

Date: Sunday, PM 19~/26 August 2007.*

*Text: John 1:17.

Theme: The Tabernacle.*

*Introduction:                                    Reading:* *John 1:17 *

*          “For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.”

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The Tabernacle was a structure built by the children of Israel under the supervision of Moses, around 1450 B.C.

The layout of the Tabernacle and the materials of its construction were fixed 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:

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To describe the layout, structure and furnishings of the Tabernacle.

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To relate these pictures from the book of Exodus (the second book of the Bible) 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 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).*

(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.

The Door to the Outer Court (*Exodus 27:16-17*)

The Door of the Outer Court was a large curtain, made of fine linen, coloured in blue, purple, red and white.

The curtain was supported by wooden pillars that were based in brass sockets, with silver capitals, just like the other pillars of the Outer Court curtain.

The door curtain was fastened to the pillars with gold hooks.

Each of the colours has a meaning:

*Blue** *indicates heavenly and godly: *“Behold your God” Isaiah 40:9*, pointing to John's gospel, where doubting Thomas eventually says to Jesus *“My Lord and my God” John 20:28.

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*Purple** *indicates kingship: *“Behold your King” Zechariah 9:9, *pointing to Matthew's gospel, where Jesus, the descendant of King David (*Matthew 1:1*), declares after rising from the dead: *“All authority in heaven and on earth is given to Me” Matthew 28:18.

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*Red* indicates blood: *“Behold My servant” Isaiah 52:13; 53:5, *pointing to Mark's gospel, where Jesus says He *“came to serve and to give His life as a ransom for many” Mark 10:45.

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*White* indicates purity and a right humanity: *“Behold the man” Zechariah 6:12,* pointing to Luke's gospel, where Pilate says of Jesus *“Behold, I have found not one fault in this man” Luke 23:4, 14. *

These four colours are woven together to become the complete Door, just as the four gospels combine to give a complete picture of Jesus.

Jesus Christ is pure and righteous, kingly and godly, and this is /how/ He as a man can be our ransom, the Door for us to enter into God's presence in the Tabernacle.

Jesus said *“I am the Door; if any man enters through Me he shall be saved” John 10:9 and “I am the way, the truth and the life; no man comes to (God) the Father except through Me” John 14:6.

*This claim by Jesus is unique and limited, but just look at Jesus' life and His conduct: Simon Peter (one of His closest disciples) could later say of Him *“He did no sin, neither was there any deceit found in His mouth” I Peter 2:22.*

Spend time to look at the Door.

Read the gospel accounts of Jesus and discover for yourself His character, His compassion, His carefulness.

His teaching, His power.

The Door of the Outer Court is the only way in, inviting and attractive.

The Door speaks of both the compassion and the kingship of Jesus, His nature as God and a genuine man, Son of God and son of man.

Jesus said *“I am the Door; if any man enters through Me he shall be saved” John 10:9.*

Do take a good look at the Door; then enter in through the Door.

Once you are inside the Tabernacle, you will discover so much about what Jesus meant by *“be saved”* and how this can come about in your experience, beginning at the Burnt Offering Altar and the Laver.

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The Burnt Offering Altar* (Exodus 27:1-8)*

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The Burnt Offering Altar was the first item to be seen after entering through the Door into the Tabernacle's Outer Court.

It was an impressive construction: made from acacia wood overlaid with bronze, it stood 1.4 metres high and 2.3 metres wide and broad (square).

Wood is a biblical figure of man (*Psalm 1:1, 3; Jeremiah 5:14*).

Acacia wood is a strong, high quality wood, representing the best humanity, that of Jesus.

Bronze in the Bible speaks of God's judgement, particularly His judgement over our rebellious thinking and speaking against Him (as in *Numbers 16:29-40; Jude 11).*

Since the wood is overlaid with the bronze, the Burnt Offering Altar reminds us of man under God's judgement for our rebellion against Him.

Since the wood is acacia wood, this speaks of Jesus bearing the judgement of God for us on the cross.

At the Burnt Offering Altar the priests sacrificed various Offerings to God; some offerings were for their own sins and for the sins of the people.

The point of the burnt offering was that, by it, a person might become accepted before God and forgiven (*Leviticus 1:4*).

For the burnt offering a male animal was sacrificed: a ram, a goat, a bullock or a turtle-dove (or a pigeon) (*Leviticus 1:3-17*).

The offering had to be without blemish, the very healthiest and best available.

This foreshadows the Lord Jesus, Who was examined by Pontius Pilate, who declared *“I find no fault in Him at all” John 18:38.

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The blood of the offering was poured out round the base of the altar, foreshadowing the Lord Jesus, whose precious blood flowed out when His side was pierced on the cross by a Roman spear (*John 19:34; I Peter 1:19*).*

*Some enlightenment may help to understand God's viewpoint in the Bible.

In *Ezekiel 18:4,* God says *“All souls are mine...

The soul that sins shall die.”*

*“The penalty of sin is death” Romans 6:23.*

This then is the legal position: we belong to God, He made us and we are His by right.

But we have done our own thing, lived our own life without God: we have sinned.

\\ We always try and make out that our sinfulness is not /so/ bad.

However, in God's eyes everything matters, every last little thing.

According to the righteous requirement of the law, we should die for our sin.

However, there is a provision: *“the life of the flesh (of a burnt offering or sacrifice) is in the blood, and I have given it you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul” Leviticus 17:11, 8.*

So, either you must die, or the offering can die in your place, a life for a life.

If the offering dies, then (through its life-blood) there is atonement for your soul, at-one-ment, restoration to the God to whom you belong (*Leviticus 1:4*).

This is God's way, His provision.

This is acted on in faith: believing in God's provision, when we can do nothing for ourselves.

As Abraham told Isaac in faith *“God Himself will provide a lamb for the burnt offering” Genesis 22:8,* and He did: a male lamb hanging on a tree (*Genesis 22:13*) within eye-shot of Mount Moriah (*Genesis 22:2,14*), which is where the Temple Mount still is today, in Jerusalem.

In fulfilment of all of these indications, God did not withhold His only Son (*Genesis 22:16; John 3:16*), the Lord Jesus Christ, who was the lamb provided by God: He was crucified within eye-shot of Mount Moriah at the Feast of Passover in 33AD, *“the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” John 1:29.*

Believe in Him.

Seeing Jesus die, even the Roman centurion declared: *“Truly, this man was the Son of God” Mark 15:39.*

After its blood was poured out, the burnt offering was entirely consumed by burning, the only products being ashes and aroma.

The ashes were removed from the camp to a *“clean place” Leviticus 6:8-13.*

The burning offering was a pleasing, sweet aroma to God (*Leviticus 1:9, 13, 17*) to make the person accepted before God and forgiven (*Leviticus1:3-4).*

In *Ephesians 5:2*, Paul shows us clearly that the burnt offering was an exact picture of the Lord Jesus Christ, who *“loved us and gave Himself up for us”* on the cross, *“an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma.”*

The carrying of the ashes to a 'clean place,' came as Jesus' dead body was taken down from the cross: *“in the place where He was crucified there was a garden and in the garden a new tomb, in which no one had yet been laid.

They laid Jesus there” John 19:41-42.*

John, an eye-witness to all this, wrote *“he who has seen bears testimony, true testimony, so that **you** also may believe” John 19:35.*

Jesus tells us *“I am the Good Shepherd” John 10:11*, to help us to enter through the Door.

Furthermore: *“The Good Shepherd lays down His life for the sheep” John 10:11*, so Jesus is the offering at the Burnt Offering Altar as soon as we get through the Door.

Rightfully we belong to God: we are His people and the sheep of His pasture, the flock in His care, hearing His voice (*Psalm 95:7*).

The normal destiny of any sheep entering into the Tabernacle was certain death.

However, Jesus has laid down His life in our place, for us His sheep.

In Jesus' own words *“I am the Good Shepherd; and I know My sheep, I lay down My life for the sheep” John 10:14-15.*

This is the good news of the Burnt Offering Altar: whether we are Jew or Gentile, we are all under God's judgement because of our evil thinking, speaking and doing.

However, the Lord Jesus, *“Who did no sin, neither was there any deceit found in His mouth” I Peter 2:22* became the offering slaughtered in our place.

By believing in His death, *“carrying up our sins in His body onto the tree” I Peter 2:24,* we can be made acceptable to God, restored to the Shepherd and to His flock (*I Peter 2:25*).

A lamb was burnt at the Burnt Offering Altar every morning and every evening (*Exodus 29:38-42*).

Learn to come to this altar every day to confess your sins to God and to remember (by offering thanks and praise, *Hebrews 13:15*) that the Lord Jesus died in your place to forgive you and to cleanse you from all sin by His blood (*I John 1:7-9; Hebrews 8:12; 9:14*), so that you might live not for yourself but to Him (*2 Corinthians 5:15*).

The Laver (*Exodus 30:17-21*)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Laver was a large bronze basin containing water.

The Bible does not record its size or dimensions.

Having entered through the Door into the Tabernacle's Outer Court, the priests had to wash their hands and feet at the Laver before they could either enter into the Sanctuary Building or make any offering to the Lord at the Burnt Offering Altar.

God warned Moses that if the priests did not wash they would die (*Exodus 30:20-21*).