Biblical Typology #typology101 #bibleschool #sounddoctrine #bibleteaching #bibletypes #biblicaltypes

[0:00] Tonight we're really majoring on the tabernacle so we'll just cue that video and run that now.

[0:30] This is how to relate with God. After delivering the Israelites from slavery in Egypt, God gave them detailed instructions on how to build this dwelling. Once constructed, the Lord descended on the tabernacle in a pillar of cloud.

[0:46] Curtains separated the whole tabernacle from the rest of the Israelite encampment. In this courtyard was the tabernacle's largest piece of furniture, the altar. A wooden box covered with bronze. The altar was shaped as a square, measuring approximately 7.5 feet long and 7.5 feet wide.

[1:08] From top to bottom it stood about 4.5 feet. Hollow space inside the box allowed priests to insert coals. Above was a bronze grating where priests would lay animals for sacrifice.

[1:20] A horn of one piece with the altar stood at each corner. Four bronze rings under the ledge allowed one to insert carrying poles so the Israelites could transport the altar.

[1:36] Between the altar and the tent of meeting was a bronze laver. Priests had to cleanse their hands and feet here before offering sacrifices or entering the tent. Within the inner tent stood one of the most recognized elements of the whole tabernacle, the menorah.

[1:54] A lampstand with three branches that rose on each side to create a total of seven lamps. This solid gold lampstand weighed about 75 pounds.

[2:05] Each lamp was a small cup that the priest would fill with oil to fuel the light. Each branch in the middle of the shaft had almond blossoms. The menorah served a most practical purpose.

[2:17] It was the only source of light in the tent. An eternal light that was never to go out. Also in the tent stood a wooden table covered with gold. On it was to always remain the bread of the presence.

[2:31] The bread of the presence symbolizes God's desire to be with his people. Incense was to burn continuously on the altar.

[2:42] God instructed the priests to replenish the incense every evening and morning. A curtain separated the holy place from the holy of holies.

[2:54] The menorah, the altar of incense, and the bread of the presence were all in the holy place, but outside this veil. Like the curtains covering the tent of meeting, this veil was blue, purple, and scarlet, with cherubim, a kind of angel.

[3:09] Beyond the veil at the far end of the tabernacle was the ark. The ark was a wooden box covered with gold. It was nearly four feet long.

[3:21] Its width and height were about two feet, three inches. Like the altar, the ark had rings and poles so the Israelites could carry it as they traveled.

[3:31] Within the ark were the two stone tablets on which God had written the Ten Commandments. Later, it contained a sample of manna and the rod that bloomed to reinforce Aaron's leadership.

[3:44] The mercy seat was the ark's lid and features prominently on Yom Kippur, or the Day of Atonement. At each end stood a cherub facing the other with its wings outspread.

[3:59] This cover was made of solid gold. The priest would sprinkle the blood of the sacrifice on this mercy seat, symbolizing that the nation's sins were covered for another year.

[4:12] While only the high priest would see it, the mercy seat was the key symbol of atonement that God would forgive his people. Though daily sacrifices on the altar were necessary for payment of sin, it was only through the mercy seat on the Day of Atonement that the stain of sin was washed away.

[4:31] While priests had to make repeated sacrifices, one man offered a sacrifice to atone for sin once and for all.

[4:44] When Jesus the Messiah died, he sprinkled his own blood before God, securing atonement forever for all who would trust in him. Jesus cleanses us, makes us pure, and enables us to rightly approach the Lord.

[5:01] He tore the veil that kept distance between Israel and the Lord. God dwelled among the Israelites through a tent. Now, he dwells within his people through the Spirit.

[5:14] Interesting video, wasn't it? Of course, it's not our work. We acknowledge the authors of it as recorded there, but we just wanted to use that as a bit of an introduction tonight.

[5:30] So we're going to talk about biblical typology, but really with a focus just on the tabernacle tonight, and hopefully next time we might unpack a whole load more types. So typology, biblical typology, is the study of types.

[5:45] And types are various meanings and symbols that are used to represent something else. So a type is a divinely purposed illustration of some truth, a figure or representation of something to come.

[5:58] They say that a picture is worth a thousand words. And, you know, even the Bible has got different pictures of itself. It's pictured, for example, as light, as fire, as seed, as bread, as milk, as honey, as meat, as gold, as sword and hammer.

[6:16] And so we see symbols and types. That's what we're going to look at tonight. So you've almost got to put your creative thinking cap on to kind of think, well, what does this mean and that mean? So typology is a method of biblical interpretation whereby an element found in the Old Testament is saying to prefigure one found in the New Testament.

[6:35] So in the Old Testament, we see that Christ is spoken of through types and prophecies. So there's about 100 types in the Bible, over 40 types of Christ.

[6:47] For example, the Passover lamb in Exodus, it served as a type or symbol of Christ, who would later come as the sacrifice for the atonement of sins. So Exodus 12, 3, in part, it says, they shall take to them every man a lamb, a lamb for an house.

[7:03] 1 Corinthians 5, 7, it says, Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us. And we can think how, for example, another type was as Moses, as he was in the wilderness, he lifted up a serpent on the brass pole, and that pictured how Christ would be lifted up.

[7:22] As we read in John 3, verse 14, And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up. Numbers 21, 9, it says, And Moses made a serpent of brass and put it on a pole, and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived.

[7:41] So we see that serpent on the pole represented Christ, lifted up on the cross. And another example is the rock from which Israel drank in the wilderness. It tells us in Exodus 17, 6, God told Moses, Thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come forth water, that the people may drink.

[8:00] And in 1 Corinthians 10, 4, it says they drank of that spiritual rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ. So you see there's a type, which is the picture, the symbol, and then you've got an anti-type, which kind of corresponds with the type.

[8:15] So for example, in those examples there, you've got the serpent on the brass, that's the type, and then the anti-type is the fulfilment of it, it's Christ lifted up on the cross. We see the type, as in the rock, that was in the wilderness, that Moses struck, that brought forth water, and then we see the anti-type is Christ, who is the rock, Christ our rock.

[8:37] So there's this correspondence of the type and the anti-type. So the type being the symbol, and the anti-type being the fulfilment. So either types or anti-types may be a person, a thing, or an event.

[8:51] Oftentimes it's messianic. So it's frequently also related to the idea of salvation. So tonight, as I say, we're just going to focus on the tabernacle, because that's big enough in itself, just to unpack some of the pictures, and symbols, and types, and meanings, the significance behind the tabernacle, and what all of those different objects that we just saw in that video clip, speak to us about.

[9:15] So about the tabernacle now. And as it's been said, a quote attributed to Augustine, is the New Testament is hidden in the old, and the old is made manifest in the new.

[9:27] And this is very true with the tabernacle. The tabernacle was this portable place of worship that they used. It was an example of heavenly things. Hebrews 8 verse 5.

[9:38] For us today, the church is that gathering for worship. So Hebrews 8 verse 5, it says, In part, the example and shadow of heavenly things. As Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the tabernacle, it talks about how he was to make it according to the pattern.

[9:54] So the strict instructions Moses had about all the different items of the tabernacle, the construction of it, the dimensions of it, the various features of it, the furniture of it, and it all had to be particularly made.

[10:08] And Hebrews 10 talks about how the tabernacle and its rituals are a shadow of good things to come. In other words, it was pointing to the salvation of Christ. It's interesting that at least 50 chapters of the Bible are devoted to the construction, the design, the significance of the tabernacle.

[10:26] Only two chapters record the creation of the earth. So you can see that God put a lot of emphasis on the tabernacle. So it's useful for us to learn about it, to kind of explore the deeper meanings, what it represents to us and what spiritual lessons we can get from it.

[10:44] So we see inside the tabernacle there just a bit of a portrayal. And of course all these pictures that we're going to show tonight are really just artist's impressions. We don't really know exactly some of the design of some of these things.

[10:58] It's only really how we would suppose they might look. So the tabernacle, it was set up as a basic system of worship in Israel. It was the place of worship.

[11:09] It was part of the spiritual code of the Mosaic law, portraying the person of Christ, the unique high priest, the unique person, the unique saviour. And the tabernacle portrays God's dwelling place, the place where man meets with him.

[11:24] And it also provides revelation of the person and work of Christ. So tabernacle means tent. It was temporary. And it's the same as with Christ's earthly ministry.

[11:35] It's interesting in John 1.14, it tells us how Christ came and he tabernacled. John 1.14 it reads, And the word was made flesh and dwelt amongst us, and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.

[11:51] The word was made flesh and dwelt. And that's the word tabernacled. I know our Greek scholars amongst us will, well, no, it's tabernacled. The word came and he tabernacled amongst us.

[12:03] So it was like a temporary stay, really reflecting his earthly ministry, which was really for a time. And then, of course, he didn't stay in that flesh.

[12:14] As the man, Christ, he didn't stay there. He was crucified, buried, resurrected, ascended into heaven, and now he's got his glorified body.

[12:26] But for a time he tabernacled amongst us. So some of the furniture, we'll come to these and explore them in a bit more detail and look at some of the significance behind them.

[12:39] And the tabernacle was given, really, as a display of God's truth. Each item in the tabernacle served as like a visual aid, like an object lesson, like a graphic picture. And all of these different components, which we'll look at one by one shortly, reminds us of God's character, of his truth, how he comforts us by his grace and he assures us of that hope that he extends to sinners.

[13:06] And someone's pictured it here. Here's a couple of representations that you can check the different meanings of the pieces of furniture as it talks about there. Really, each piece of furniture showed the sinner's need, symbolised God's temporary provision, and pointed to the greater fulfilment of the coming Messiah.

[13:25] So, as you can see, hopefully you can read those from where you're seated there. There's various representations of, for example, the cross, the blood, of sanctification, of the word of God, the Holy Spirit, of praise, of worship, of the Father's presence.

[13:43] Even, you could say, the way, the truth, and the life through the different parts of the tabernacle as you entered in and through the outer to the inner and then the very Holy of Holies.

[13:56] So, they've all got some meaning which we'll look at together. I like this portrayal of the tabernacle because it's got a lot of representation of Christ in here.

[14:08] I'll just read out, for example, what it says. So, you've got the altar which shows that Christ saves. The altar as you first enter. So, you walk through that purple gate there and you head towards the sanctuary.

[14:23] The first thing you come to is the altar. Christ saves. Then we see the laver. Christ cleanses. Then as you enter in the tent, the lampstand, he gives light.

[14:35] The showbread, he fellowships. The tabernacle itself, he lives amongst us. The curtain, he's separate from us. Then, as you get closer, you see the incense.

[14:48] He hears. It talks about prayer. He hears prayer. And then the ark itself, it speaks of God's throne. So, he reigns over. So, it's Christ right through, a representation of Christ right through all of those different parts of the tabernacle.

[15:04] And the tabernacle provided for three major things. Forgiveness, by the shedding of blood. Freedom from guilt, by cleansing. And then fellowship by the very presence of God. And it's interesting, there's different materials in the tabernacle.

[15:18] And these ones stand out the most. We see there was about eight tons of gold, silver and bronze, that were used in the tabernacle.

[15:29] And it all means something. So, the bronze, the brass, it speaks of judgment. Judgment. These are the spiritual meanings behind these materials. The bronze speaks of judgment.

[15:40] The silver relates to redemption. The gold represents the deity of God or his glory. And then wood represents humanity.

[15:51] So, when you see all of these different components, you can think, oh, that's what it means. It's almost like a little code there of what they stand for. Then we see the different offerings, the five kinds of Levitical sacrifices.

[16:06] Of course, with sacrifice, it speaks to us of covenant. God enters into covenant with us by sacrifice. And so, of these five, we see the burnt offering.

[16:18] That was the one that you came to there. It was completely burnt. And it speaks of justification. So, Christ was offered himself as the perfect sacrifice.

[16:30] It's interesting that the burnt sacrifice, the burnt offerings, happened twice daily, 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. So, you have the morning sacrifice and then 3 p.m. the evening sacrifice.

[16:46] Note that our Lord's crucifixion began at 9 a.m. and it ended at 3 p.m. That's really significant, isn't it? And he is that eternal, pleasing aroma unto God.

[16:58] So, at 3 p.m., he cried out, it is finished. Of course, the veil was torn and that was the end of the old covenant. It is finished. Everything was fulfilled that Christ brought total fulfillment.

[17:09] He is the burnt offering, truly. He's the anti-type, you know, the perfect fulfillment of that type, the burnt offering. Then we see, secondly, the grain offering. You could understand it to speak of the spotless life.

[17:23] So, the grain was variously bruised and beaten and crushed and it really speaks of his suffering in Isaiah 53. We could see all of that as a type of Christ's suffering on the cross.

[17:35] And Christ offered himself as that perfect sacrifice of the highest quality. Thirdly, there's the peace offering. It talks about thanksgiving. Christ offered himself as the basis of fellowship with God because we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

[17:50] We see the sin offering, too, speaks of Christ because he was made sin for us. He knew no sin. Christ's death for sinners takes care of the root of sin. And then, fifthly, we see the trespass offering which talks about guilt.

[18:05] Christ's death atones for the injury of sin. So, all of those five different kinds of sacrifices, Christ is the fulfillment of all of them.

[18:16] So, as we look at the tabernacle from the outside, you see it's shielded by these curtains, these fine linen curtains that are outside of the tabernacle.

[18:29] These curtains represent the righteousness of God. White linen signifies righteousness as we can understand from Revelation 19.8. So, it talks of that.

[18:41] And the Levites, who God called as priests, also wore these fine white linen garments. So, the white linen curtains remind us that we are separated from God due to our sins because he is righteous.

[18:55] And this wall was 46 metres long, 23 metres wide. The curtains, it showed that separation that we're kind of outside of God, of his righteousness.

[19:08] But thank God there's a gate. We see there's a gate. There's a gate to the outer court. And so, this gate, this entrance to the outer court, was this large curtain. It was made of fine linen.

[19:20] It was coloured in blue, purple, red and white. It was one door. Now, it was really wide. It was 10 metres wide. And this large width meant that all could pass through. The material was very fine also, showing that minimal faith was needed to enter in.

[19:35] So, a weak person could push this material aside and enter in. The weakest person could enter in. There's one door, one door, one gate. There's one entrance into the tabernacle.

[19:46] And likewise, we could think as the anti-type, the fulfilment of that, who is the one way? Christ, isn't it? He's the one way into salvation. Just as there was one door into the tabernacle, there's one way into salvation.

[20:00] So, it's again, speaking of our Lord as the one and only way. So, the wall was not meant to keep people away from God, but to show the approach to God is single. Though a wall keeps out, a door lets in.

[20:12] So, we see the hope that we have, the one door, the one way. John 10 verse 9, it says, our Lord says, I am the door. By me, if any man enter in, he shall be saved and shall go in and out and find pasture.

[20:25] John 14, 6, we see, of course, that familiar one, Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father but by me.

[20:35] Only one way. And then, Acts 4 verse 12, it says, neither is there salvation in any other, for there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. So, it's that, again, that one door, that one way, that one entrance, Christ is the one and only way for salvation.

[20:52] There's no other way. You have to go through that gate, the gate to the outer court. Another significance is the various colours that we see and these are repeated through the different items of the tabernacle.

[21:05] We see there's four layers of material in the gate, for example. There's these blue, purple, scarlet and white and these all signify something. So, again, as you look at the tabernacle and you'll see these colours repeated over and over, it all signifies something.

[21:22] There's a meaning to it. You didn't just make them that colour for no reason. There was a meaning behind it. So, for example, the colour blue, it speaks of heaven, of the deity of Christ.

[21:33] John 20, verse 28, Thomas answered and said unto him as he saw the resurrected Christ, he says, as he bows before him, my Lord and my God. There's the deity of Christ there.

[21:45] We see purple. Purple was a colour that was expensive for people to get their garments dyed that way. So, it was more for royalty, for kings and such.

[21:56] And so, purple speaks of the kingship of Christ. As in Matthew's Gospel, we see that Jesus came and spoke unto them, saying, all power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. So, all authority.

[22:08] Christ has got the absolute authority. He's got the absolute rule and reign. Of the kingship of Christ, here we see the colour purple. And then we see the colour red. Of course, red, speaking of blood, we see it as redemptive, God's redemptive work of Christ.

[22:23] As it reads in Mark 10, 45, for even the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister and to give his life a ransom for many. We see red speaks of redemption.

[22:34] We see white, again, talks about righteousness, the righteousness of Christ. We saw when he came before Pilate, it says in Luke 23, 4, Pilate says, I find no fault in this man.

[22:46] And again, as he came in Luke 23, 14, he said to the chief priests and rulers, I, having examined him before you, have found no fault in this man.

[22:56] You know, Christ is without fault, isn't he? The righteousness of Christ. He's perfect. So these colours, they all remind us of that character of our precious Lord. This is a poem, it's kind of nice how they put it.

[23:07] The white linen tells us he is the sinless one, the heavenly blue, that he is God's only begotten son, the purple says, that he as king shall reign, the scarlet says, he for our sins was slain.

[23:20] It's interesting that those four colours all speak of Christ and his character. So we're going to start to enter in, we've gone through the curtains, we've gone through the gate of the outer court, now we're going to step in and start to see some of the items of the tabernacle and what they signify.

[23:36] So the first thing you come to is this brazen altar, this altar of sacrifice. It was situated just at the entrance in the tabernacle, so bronze, brass represents judgment.

[23:50] You could not enter into the holy place unless you'd sacrificed on the brazen altar. And a lamb was burnt at this altar every morning and every evening. And the fire burnt the sacrifice.

[24:01] So wood is a biblical figure of man as it says in Jeremiah 5.14. Jeremiah 5.14 it talks about this people wood and it shall devour them. So we see that this bronze altar was made of wood and then it was covered with bronze.

[24:17] So the application for us is that the bronze altar and the animal sacrifices are pictures of our Lord as the Lamb of God offered for the sins of the world. It speaks of his atonement of Christ's sacrifice.

[24:30] Of course as John saw him he says, Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world. That's John 1.29. This altar had four horns and horns speak of power.

[24:42] So the horns that were on each corner the horns represent power through the word of God and when we think of the sacrifice here the blood of Christ has got power.

[24:54] Amen? The blood of Christ has got power to forgive all sin. As 1 John 1.7 says, The blood of Jesus Christ his son cleanseth us from all sin. So again we see the power of the blood of Christ the power of God unto salvation.

[25:09] We see the grace of God. We see it all there pictured in the burnt sacrifice there on the brazen altar. And it also tells about our high priest in Hebrews 7.27 Who needeth not daily as those high priests to offer up sacrifice first for his own sins and then for the peoples.

[25:27] for this he did once when he offered up himself. So Christ is the fulfillment of that. Those priests of old covenant days the priests of the tabernacle they couldn't take away sin but they pictured the one who would come and be the very sacrifice when he offered up himself.

[25:43] Hebrews 7.27 The next item we come to is the brazen laver. So the brazen laver this was a large bowl a large brass bowl filled with water basically a washing basin a laver.

[25:56] Of course we get the word laver as a like to our word lavatory. So it speaks of washing. A laver speaks of washing a place of washing. And so prior to entering the tabernacle the priests would come they'd wash their hands and feet representing a confession of sin.

[26:12] Because one had to be clean to serve. And the laver shows how God's not only interested in the forgiveness of our sins as per the brazen altar but also our daily cleanliness as well in living for him.

[26:26] God wants us to live clean. And so we see God forgives us by the blood of Christ shed for us and then he gives us power by his Holy Spirit to live clean unto him. Some other significance of the brazen laver it was brass.

[26:42] Again brass speaks of judgment. Sin was judged on the cross. Water through the word of God speaks of cleansing. We could reflect it means like allies to regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit.

[26:55] It talks about the washing of the word as well. So we could see various pictures here without hopefully confusing. There's different ways of looking at what the significance of the water is of the word.

[27:08] It talks about the washing of water by the word. Ephesians 5.26 it tells in Psalm 119.9 Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way by taking heed thereto according to thy word.

[27:19] So the word itself has a cleansing effect. And of course we know the cleansing from sin of the precious blood. Revelation 1.5 talks about how he's washed us from our sins in his own blood.

[27:30] And Titus 3.5 talks about he saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost. So again you could see maybe multiple pictures there of washing. The washing of the word.

[27:41] The washing of the blood. The washing of regeneration. Before we can have fellowship with God we have to confess our sins. And so we can see like that the confessing of sins.

[27:53] We see that they were dealing with their daily cleansing. Their daily getting right with God here. Of course 1 John 1.9 tells us if we confess our sins he's faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

[28:08] So we see the picture there cleansing there at the brazen labor. Now as we get closer to the sanctuary like the little tent inside the tabernacle complex it's got various coverings on it.

[28:20] Various coverings. And the roof had these various coverings various layers. So you see the badger skin. We can see that that represents humanity. This was the dull outer covering.

[28:32] Look ordinary. Not attractive from the outside. We could reflect how it could relate to how our Lord he had no comeliness of himself. It talks about that in Isaiah 53.2 that he he hath no form nor comeliness and when we shall see him there's no beauty that we should desire him.

[28:50] So from the outside Christ was just really there wasn't anything significant about how he looked. He was just an ordinary looking man as far as to look upon.

[29:02] And so we see that picture there in the badger skin. Then the next layer underneath that was the ram skin dyed red. Red again. Redemption. Then we see the woven goats here.

[29:13] It signifies how the sinless one was made sin for us. Sinlessness. Apparently that was quite a white colour the woven goats here. And then they had the cherubim embroidered covering which was the innermost one.

[29:25] It had those four colours again. Blue, purple, scarlet and white. They had these cherubim motifs on it. So numbers of things had the cherubim motif like a picture of a representation of a cherubim.

[29:40] And cherubim were placed east of Eden in Genesis 3 when man fell and man was shut out of the garden. And the cherubim were placed there to guard the way.

[29:54] So they couldn't come back into the garden. And cherubim were also those creatures in heaven who bowed before the Lord. Genesis 3 24 it says So he drove out the man and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden cherubims and a flaming sword which turned every way to keep the way of the tree of life.

[30:15] So the garden of Eden and the tree of life was guarded. On the east side the cherubims were there. And someone's highlighted that it's interesting the significance of the orientation east.

[30:29] And we see also likewise how the tabernacle is situated too. So when Adam and Eve are exiled from the garden from access to the tree of life they're sent out eastward to re-enter the garden and have to travel west to get back in to come past the cherubim and the flaming sword.

[30:45] It's interesting in Ezekiel's vision that God's glory comes from the east and enters the temple from the east. So to go east is to move away from God to go away from his presence to move from the east to the west is to come back to his presence.

[30:59] It's just that thought there. And it's interesting both with the tabernacle and the temple they're always set up this way to approach God you've got to go from east to west. So they're all orientated this way.

[31:10] Again you could reflect that pictures that as well. And it's in this direction that as you enter the tabernacle you go through the altar of sacrifice the basin for cleansing then you enter the tent and then through the various items into the very holy of holies.

[31:25] So it's kind of symbolic the tabernacle could reflect that by its orientation that it's symbolic of a return to Eden. As we know Psalm 103.12 says as far as the east is from the west so far has he removed our transgressions from us.

[31:42] And it's interesting when Christ came to be our sacrifice at Calvary on the triumphal entry we just had Palm Sunday haven't we? That he came from the east to the west so he entered again he came in.

[31:56] We step next into the holy place and we go through the door next thing which is facing east. So again it's a picture of these things as we go into closer and closer to the holy of holies to the presence of God we're going from east to west we're going back to God you know back to the fellowship that we had in the garden that we've been shut out from we were sent east now we're coming back back back back back to God's presence like they had in the garden of Eden.

[32:24] So hopefully you're following all that it's just some of that's almost like it just makes you think that could reflect that. So here we come to the door to the sanctuary and so back to the sanctuary which is the little tent in the middle of the tabernacle complex and you could reflect that the sanctuary is a picture of the church and it had the four colours again this door had those four colours we won't repeat that so then when you step in you enter in there's various items that you see the first one is the table of showbread and this was in the holy place it was made out of acacia wood overlaid with gold and laying on top of the table was the showbread twelve loaves one for each of the tribes the twelve tribes except Levi the loaves were made of fine flour without leaven baked with frankincense and baked in fire and the bread reflects fellowship the fine flour the righteousness of Christ the fact that it wasn't leavened reflects that there's no sin so all of these are pictures of

[33:29] Christ as being all of that and frankincense speaks of propitiation fire speaks of judgment so all of these things pictures Christ again it's Christ here the priests ate the loaves after they'd been shown for one week and eating represents an intake of bible doctrine we know we should eat the the words shouldn't we it talks about actually eating the bible in that sense of taking it in and digesting it each loaf was placed under a crown so there was a crown there that again reflects the kingship of Christ so some scriptures that kind of relate to the showbread we could say for example John 6 35 our lord says i am the bread of life he that cometh to me shall never hunger and he that believeth on me shall never thirst think about a table a table is where friends get together and fellowship while they're eating we could think about the lord's table as kind of reflective of that as we break bread together as we fellowship so it's a kind of fellowshipping a communion with god a communion with god's people the table of the showbread next item we'll go a bit further into the holy place so we've got the golden candlestick so this was in the holy place it was made of solid pure gold and the candlestick represents christ as the light of the world he says to us in john 8 verse 12 i am the light of the world he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness but shall have the light of life this candlestick had these seven lamps these seven lights and the six would branch off the central stick three on either side now we could talk a lot more and maybe we'll explore this in future sessions about numbers and bible numerics

[35:22] I know there's a whole lot of interest in that some of us are pretty interested in that but just in a simple way six is the number of man seven is god's number so again we can think of christ he's man and he's god he's all he's both very man and he's very god so he's both the six and the seven it's an analogy there of and again for us man is made perfect in christ interesting that the lampstand the candlestick was permanently lit it was the only light in the holy place so it speaks of spiritual illumination that christ is the light isn't he and god uses the analogy of a lampstand in revelation one talks about the seven golden candlesticks the seven stars are the seven angels of the seven churches the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches so again picture of the church there as well we see that the fuel in the candlestick was oil oil represents the holy spirit and this candlestick it weighed some over 20 kilos and was beaten out of one piece of gold it was very valuable this solid piece of gold think of the preciousness of our lord and it was a gold that was beaten so you could also reflect how christ was beaten not only is he precious but he was beaten of his suffering for us again the light of the world next item is the altar of incense and this was located just outside the holy of holies and it represents intercessory prayer again it was made of gold but it's overlaying wood and it was in the form of a crown so this altar the altar of incense was for one purpose only to burn incense not sacrifice and the incense that they required was this special

[37:09] God prescribed formula! and it incense pictures prayers to God in Revelation 5 verse 8 it talks about the 24 elders fell down before the lamb everyone having them harps and golden vials full of odors which are the prayers of saints in Revelation 8 3 it talks about an angel came and stood at the altar having a golden censer and there was given unto him much incense that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne so we see in heaven as we see pictured here the 24 elders we see the people praying the prayers of the saints incense pictures the prayers of the saints and so back to our notes here the high priest burned incense upon this altar morning and evening he would go to the brazen altar pick up the coals pass through the and the fumes coming forth represents prayer the incense odor represents prayer in

[38:18] Psalm 141 verse 2 it says let my prayer be set forth before thee as incense and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice so the altar of incense represents access to God through prayer and when they took these coals from the brazen altar it showed that the basis for effective prayer is the death of Christ an unbeliever cannot pray effectively without really accepting Christ as their saviour the only person who could obtain the coals was a priest representing a believer of course for each one of us here we're all priests as well it's not some special priest class like there was in the old covenant days or some churches make out of a priest class every single believer we believe in it's a doctrine called the priesthood of every believer so every one of us can enter in just as the high priest every one of you as God's people there's not some select class you're not outside of any there's no privileged class every believer has the same privilege the same access there's the priesthood of every believer we're all kings and priests as it were and so there is that wonderful privilege that we have to come and pray now it's interesting with this altar of incense that it had a crown around it see that there it has a crown as pictured there this crown shape around the edge and the crown again it's significant as the cross comes before the crown the crown speaks about

[39:52] Christ the king priest after the order of Melchizedek and fire speaks of judgment the judgment of the cross being the basis for effective prayer so notice also the altar also had horns as we talked about horns speak of power yeah who's listening horns speak of power alright so again when we saw how the horns on the altar burnt sacrifice speaks about the power of the blood the power of the salvation and here it speaks about the power of prayer as well the altar of incense the horn speak of power when we pray in the name of our high priest the lord jesus there's power in his name amen there's power in the name of jesus and it brings a pleasing aroma unto god so when we pray the incense represents prayer and praise praying always talks about how this incense was continually there it was a continual thing of course it tells us we should be praying!

[40:50] always and the incense that they used it had to be this special formula that was sweet pure holy and fragrant next we come as we get closer and closer now the excitement is building as we come to the veil so this veil divided between the holy place and then the holy of holies the very holy holiest place the holy of holies and the veil it pictures man's separation from God and his colors there four colors as we talked about at the beginning the four colors again one could only pass through this curtain one time once per year you had to be the high priest of the day and only on the day of atonement where they brought the blood of the sacrificed goat to sprinkle on the lid of the Ark the antitype what that means for us today the fulfillment of that veil is

[42:04] Christ Christ's body is the curtain or the veil through which we approach God and because of his sacrifice we can enter the most holy place so for us today Christ is the believer's access to God the veil represents him in his humanity and how Christ's body was broken for us Hebrews 10 verse!

[42:25] it tells us by a have consecrated for us through the veil that is to say his flesh but Matthew 27 51 it says and behold the veil of the temple was rent in twain from top to bottom and the earth did quake and the rocks rent so it talks about the veil this curtain of the temple was torn to and it says from top to bottom it wasn't man trying!

[42:58] as Christ cried out it is finished God saw the curtain and we see as we enter through this veil we're going to enter into the holy of holies which pictures for us heaven it tells us in Hebrews 9 24 Christ has not entered into the holy places made with hands which are the figures of the tree but into heaven itself now to appear in the!

[43:19] of! God for us is where God's presence resided when he communed and talked with Moses for example in Exodus 25 22 God says and there I will meet with thee and I will commune with thee from above the mercy seat from between the two cherubims which are upon the ark of the testimony of all things which I give thee in commandment unto the children of Israel so God promises that his presence would be there he says I have to commune with thee so that's where we come to this as we come through the veil we enter in we see as we enter through the veil that was blocking the way this curtain blocked the way so that others could not enter in however the minute that the Lord Jesus died on the cross then this veil that was then in the temple was split us to come into communion with

[44:26] God and in Hebrews 10 verse 19 it tells us having therefore brethren boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus by a new and living way which he have consecrated for us through the veil that is to say his flesh so the very the veil the type that is the veil the antitype is the flesh of Jesus torn the flesh of Jesus was torn that is to say his flesh the covenant and the mercy seat was located in the holy of holies the mercy seat was the top part was the lid the cover and the mercy seat was of gold and over this mercy seat were these two cherubim these two golden cherubs which covered the mercy seat with their wings and they looked down at the top of the mercy seat so they represented

[45:28] God's glory and the ark was symbolic of God's throne in his dwelling place in the tabernacle the chest is overlaid with gold a picture of the person of Jesus fully man and fully God so you see that there there was the word represents man because the gold represents God so God and man it's again this picture of Christ fully God fully man the ark tells us about God's covenant of course the ark of the covenant basically it pictures our access to God through Christ the mercy seat was on top as I say the mercy seat that represents for us Christ's work Christ's work at the!

[46:11] where he! was! Christ's blood is on the mercy seat and Christ is our propitiation it tells us in Romans 5 verse 8 through 9 but God commended his love towards us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us much more than being now justified by his blood we shall be saved from wrath through him it's telling us that Christ died for us we justified by his blood Romans 3 25 tells us how God set forth Christ to be a propitiation through faith in his blood in other words the one who took our guilt and made the payment it says that he was made the propitiation through faith in his blood Hebrews 4 16 it tells us let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need so this mercy seat was like really a throne that God was here this was where he dwelt in that tangible form of the glory cloud we see that now the fulfilment is that we can come boldly unto that throne of grace through faith we can obtain mercy find grace to help in time of need so the mercy seat was this pure gold cover once a year as we say the day of atonement the high priest was allowed to come and enter in to this holy of holies there he sprinkled the blood of the sacrifices on the mercy seat bringing this acceptable atonement

[47:44] Leviticus 16 15 tells us then shall he kill the goat of the sin offering that is for the people and bring his blood within the veil and do with that blood as he did with the blood of the bullock and sprinkled it upon the mercy seat and before the mercy seat so now we see of course Christ's blood is the fulfilment the animal blood could only be a picture of the fulfilment of Christ's blood the animal blood didn't take away sin but we see Christ is that one that it was all pointing to and Christ fulfilled!

[48:17] It reads in Hebrews 9 26! He appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself Hebrews 9 12 says neither by the blood of goats and calves but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place having obtained eternal redemption for us so you can see pictured here that inside the ark which was like this container with the mercy seat being the lid the cover that inside this container this box there were some special items there these three objects and these three objects you could see as representing sin for example we see the tablets of the law representing transgression against moral laws of course the ten commandments we know God's requirements to be acceptable to him they were God's standards of righteousness and in Matthew 5 48 our Lord says be you therefore perfect even as your father which is in heaven is perfect how can we be perfect we can't but we have to have his work

[49:25] God has to make us clean and righteous and really in Hebrews 7 26 it shows how the Lord Jesus fulfilled all of God's requirements he took our curse on himself wasn't he he was made cursed for us and it tells us how he is a high priest he's holy he's harmless higher than the heavens this is Hebrews 7 and verse 27 of a high priest the great high priest our Lord who needeth not daily as those high priests to offer up sacrifice first for his own sins and then for the peoples for this he did once when he offered up himself so he fulfilled the law he was the fulfillment of the law another item we see there is the pot of manna manna was obviously that temporary provision that God gave through the wilderness wanderings and the manna pictures God's provision to sustain his people and of course again we think of

[50:25] Christ as the bread of life it reads in John 6 32 verily verily I say unto you Moses gave you not that bread from heaven but my father giveth you the true bread from heaven for the bread 51 I am the living bread which came down from heaven if any man eat of this bread he shall live forever and the bread that I will give is my flesh which I will give for the life of the world so we see Christ he fulfilled the law Christ is the manna he's the bread from heaven he's the bread of life and then thirdly you see Aaron's rod authority and others rejected it at the time but it tells how he was chosen and for us it pictures how Christ is God's chosen high priest and the rod that budded we could also picture how the coming to life of this dead stick pictures for us resurrection the

[51:31] Lord's resurrection so we see Christ is the one who's chosen high priest in Hebrews 4 14 it says seeing then that we have a great high priest that is passed into the heavens Jesus the son of God let us hold fast our profession Hebrews 9 11 through 12 but Christ being come as a high priest of good things to come by a greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands that is to say not of this building neither by the blood of goats and cars but by his own blood he entered so Aaron's rod pictures that really Christ has the authority he's the chosen one that we should follow and it pictures the people sin at the time who rejected Aaron's authority so this was the ark of the covenant once a year on the feast of the atonement the blood from the slain sacrifice was brought in sprinkled on the mercy sea the blood from the brazen altar represents the death of

[52:35] Christ then we see the cherubims these cherubs they represent God's righteousness or justice as they see the blood and they're satisfied they see that it's made atonement so lots more we could say but that's just in a nutshell about the ark of the covenant just some thoughts further the high priest himself he had these garments they all meant something they all had a significance and we see Christ we probably won't unpack this too much tonight because some of this symbology will look out this typology we might unpack more types next time because there's a whole lot more types we can talk about but I don't want to give you too much in one night we see just in kind of just whetting your appetite we see the high priest the different garments the ephod was like an apron had God's people the twelve tribes the

[53:38] Urim and Thummim was like this special device to provide guidance and wisdom that was in the pocket of the garments see the robe and he had this turban and crown with this emblem on the top that said holiness to the Lord so all of these things had a significance as you could unpack it a little bit more as someone has put some thoughts there that had this kind of royalty element to it the golden clasps gold speaking of deity God's power the mitre this head dress that he had speaks of righteousness the breastplate the law the covenant the twelve jewels speaking of the twelve tribes the various garments speaking about purity the girdle speaking of service the tunic speaking of the Abrahamic covenant and the new covenant the upper robe of blue of faithfulness and on his garment fringe he had these golden bells and pomegranates so speaking of fruit the fruit of his sacrificial work the high priest is the type

[54:51] Christ is the anti type Christ is the fulfillment and Christ brought all of these truths to fulfillment in his very person we could read on of the temple the temple of Solomon was really a permanent structure and was based on the pattern of the tabernacle so again we won't unpack that tonight this is just whetting your appetite we'll look more at the temple some of the other meanings that we can get from that but just lastly one thing that was really important of course in the tabernacle really the most important thing was the glory cloud now some call it the Shekinah glory in fact I've heard it put that it's really not biblical to call it the Shekinah glory it's not biblical the Shekinah is not a biblical word people got the wrong idea calling it the Shekinah glory I know that's the common popular thing to call it but it's the scriptural words it's the pillar of cloud pillar of fire and it was God's glory it was above the mercy seat what mattered most really in the tabernacle was God's presence was there in Exodus 25 22 as he promised

[55:55] I will meet with thee I will commune with thee from above the mercy seat so we see that God promised to be there to be present and of course as we read before to Hebrews 4 16 the fulfillment the fulfillment of that type is that for us it tells us Hebrews 4 16 let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need of course we can't go to a physical structure where there's a glory cloud but we have the reality in that we have that communion with God by faith don't we that we've got his presence and as New Testament believers he lives within us that we have the Holy Spirit the pillar of cloud by day the pillar of fire by night it represented the Holy Spirit God's presence and protection and provision Exodus 13 verse 21 through 22 it says and the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead them the way and by night in a pillar of fire to go by day and night he took not away the pillar of the cloud by day nor the pillar of fire by night from before the people so they had this constant presence of God

[57:03] God is with them constantly and this pillar guided the Israelites during those times as they made their exodus from Egyptian bondage as they travelled through the wilderness as they had that fire leading them they could travel by day or by night and it's a picture of God's faithfulness that the fire was always there the pillar of cloud was always with them showing us that God never leaves us nor forsakes us but the tabernacle acts as this signpost for us doesn't it you see all of those things all those pictures and really we've just we've just scratched the surface really there's so much more but at least hopefully you've got some little pointers of those like the different colours the different meanings of the metals and such and the different items the different materials and some of the significance of it that we see the type there and we see the fulfilment in Christ and it pictures Christ pictures his salvation it pictures for us like a picture story that we can see yeah I can see how that's happening for me now that I've got communion with God now that I've got his fellowship now that I've got

[58:09] Christ the living bread I've got Christ the fulfilment of the law I've got Christ the great high priest we don't need to go to some ritual of slaying animals anymore because Christ has been slain once and for all he's the fulfilment of everything that was shown before and so really it's the true fulfilment of all these signs and symbols is our Lord isn't it so amen