Lately I have been thinking of the tabernacle. Maybe you have not read much about it. The details of the tabernacle are presented in the latter part of the book of Exodus and into Leviticus; you can look for yourself. The tabernacle was determined by God as the place where the people of Israel could meet with Him. The design of the tabernacle and its layout, and the sacrifices established are all shadows of Jesus. Whenever you open your Bible you are looking for Jesus. Jesus is the centrepiece of God and whether it is the Old Testament or the New the centre is no different, you are looking for Jesus revealing the grace of God. You know God is never changing, He is grace, He has always been grace and He always will be grace. When we read we are not looking for the strategy how we can do better, how we can please God more, or for the strategy to be 'like' Jesus; we look for Him and it is my hope and prayer that more and more we can seek Him, receive Him, meditate on Him, preach Him for it is as we 'see' Him we are transformed more and more to His likeness. It is not in our strategy but in our seeing Him that we are more like Him. Yes it is a progression which will have its ultimate fulfillment when we will be like Him when we see Him as He is (1 John 3: 2) but as we have the desire to be Christ-like it is in our seeing Him that we are transformed.
So the tabernacle. As we enter through the outer door of the tabernacle we arrive in the court of the 'tent of meeting' and the first item we see is the Altar of Burnt Offering. This is significant. The burnt offering sacrifice, the shadow of Jesus, Jesus THE WAY to God. To meet with God we must enter through The Way, our Lord Jesus Christ (John 14: 6).
There is significance in the construction of all the items of the tabernacle but I do not want to consider that here but you can read of the altar of burnt offering in Exodus 38. We are looking for Jesus.
So we come to Leviticus 1 and we find the prescription of the law of the burnt offering. Leviticus 1: 5 says this, 'He shall slay the young bull before the Lord; and Aaron's sons the priests shall offer up the blood and sprinkle the blood around the altar that is at the doorway of the tent of meeting.' So I am sure you can see the significance. When we meet with God the first place we come is the altar of burnt offering. The altar speaks of the claims of God on the righteousness of man. To approach God man must be righteous, nothing impure or defiled can approach God. So it is for this reason that an offering must be killed and its blood sprinkled all around the altar and its body burnt completely on the altar before the person is counted worthy to enter the presence of God.
As the Israelite stood under the cover of the sprinkled blood they could enter the meeting place and meet with God. Without the sprinkled blood they could not meet God and even when they sinned they were covered by the blood until the next time they came to meet God and brought again the sacrifice so they were again covered by the blood of the burnt offering.
Now this is a shadow of Jesus. Can you see Him? But there is a difference. The Israelite came many times under the law and always was required to come with the unblemished sacrifice. This is what they must do to find favour and meet with God.
Now I want you to rejoice with me because today if you have received Jesus as your sacrifice then the fulfillment of the shadow seen in the burnt offering is perfected for you because you sit today on the other side of the cross, you sit under the terms of the New Covenant and the burnt offering for you is perfected in Jesus Christ. If you read the book of Hebrews you will find that it is the book of BETTER, the revelation of Better with a capital 'B', Jesus Christ.
The blood of the burnt offering in Leviticus 1 speaks of the blood of Jesus. However, His blood is so much better than the blood of bulls and of goats...why?..because the blood of bulls and goats was effective only until the next time the Israelite wanted to meet with God but the blood of Jesus is EFFECTIVE FOREVER!
If you take your Bible and read Hebrews 9: 11 - 14 you will see the better offering of Jesus that in all points is better and you can rejoice that today you sit under the shed blood of Jesus as you meet with God.
Hebrews 10: 4 says that 'it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins' and yet I can sit here today and seek to encourage us all with words of truth...please receive this today.
- You can rest in Him because every single claim of God on man and the righteousness of man (there is none righteous) is COMPLETELY SATISFIED in Jesus Christ.
- God is COMPLETELY SATISFIED because of the perfect sacrifice of Jesus as our burnt offering...even if you fall into sin you can turn to the blood of Jesus.
- There is more...your sins are not just covered but by His blood they are WASHED AWAY COMPLETELY...'To Him who loves us and released us from our sins by His blood.' Revelation 1: 5
- More than that God REMEMBERS OUR SINS NO MORE! Two times in Hebrews God declares this truth within the scope of two chapters...do you think maybe He wanted us to get it? 'And their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.' Hebrews 8: 12; 10: 17
- Maybe this is enough but there is more...Jesus is our perfect offering and by virtue of His perfection WE ARE PERFECTED. 'For by one offering He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified.' Hebrews 10: 14
- Rejoice! Jesus not only sanctifies you, makes you HOLY, but He also PERFECTS you, and not only that He PERFECTS YOU FOREVER.
- So today you can enter and meet with God boldly because God sees you the way He sees His Son...PERFECT FOREVER! Hallelujah!
Now this is the first item we see when we enter the tabernacle, next time we think of the next.
Important point we must receive is that when we enter in through Jesus we enter forever. Under the New Covenant no more do we come with sacrifice after sacrifice...because Jesus is our perfect sacrifice we enter in the the presence of God once and receive His shed blood once never to go out again. We no longer come and crucify Him again and again, His sacrifice is sufficient for us to enter in through Him and be perfectly received forever. We are forever in Him, and He in us.
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