Hebrews 9:2-3
"For there was a tabernacle made; the first, wherein was the candlestick, and the table, and the shewbread; which is called the sanctuary. And after the second veil, the tabernacle which is called the Holiest of all;"
Earlier this year we posted an edited write of a book called "The Holiest of All" by Andrew Murray. We chose to do this as this book matched our life experiences almost to the letter. It is a good read if one so chooses to do so, it explains allot and may help answer some nagging questions.
Now moving on; In other words, all part of this same tent. In the outer fence there was only a gate on the East. I’m using the typical directions of North, and East and South and West. This is the way the tabernacle was always set as was the temple on the Mount in Jerusalem. Alright, so as you came in from the East through the outer gate the very first thing that was in the furnishings was the brazen altar; for the sacrifices. Then you came to the laver of cleansing, which was filled with fresh water, daily. And then you came to the first door of the tent, or the veil if you want to call it that, and this was called the sanctuary. This was the only place that the priests ministered every day of the year.
In this, we had the table of show-bread with the twelve flat loaves of bread. Next to it was the candlestick, the light for the sanctuary. And then right over next to the veil was the altar of incense, which was still in here but close enough that the aroma of the incense covered the Ark of the Covenant, which was just behind the next veil. And we’re going to look in a minute how, specifically, God told Moses to place these. And then here was the veil that most Bible readers are acquainted with, the veil that was rent when Christ died on that Cross from the top down. It was the veil behind which only once a year the high priest could go and sprinkle the blood on the Mercy Seat, which was above the Ark of the Covenant. So this is basically the floor plan.
The Temple was established years later on the same kind of a floor plan, only instead of being a temporary tent, it was made of all the materials that are part and parcel of a building. In other words, the mortar and the stone and the gold and the silver and all the rest of it. But, out in the wilderness, which Paul is dealing with here, it was just a tent. Now verse 3.
Hebrews 9:3-4
"And after the second veil, (the back room of this tent or of) the tabernacle which is called the Holiest of all; (or what we refer to as the Holy of Holiest.) Which had the golden censer, and the ark of the covenant overlaid round about with gold, wherein (that is in the Ark - this box made of wood and covered with pure gold) was the golden pot that had (a sample of the) manna (the food in the wilderness) and Aaron’s rod that budded(signifying life from death), and the tables of the covenant (or the Ten Commandments);"
Let’s go back to Exodus chapter 40. The children of Israel are now ready to set up the tabernacle. The last year has been spent getting everything ready. Craftsmen of every sort were commissioned to do the work and they must have been brilliant - to take pure gold and overlay these articles of wood, out of which everything was tremendously beautiful. And all was a shadow of the picture of Christ and this one fact is what we're to learn and have an understanding of. Why? Because it was lost on Israel's part, they got hung up on the materialism or the created things by mans hand. Verse 19.
Exodus 40:19
"And he spread abroad the tent over the tabernacle, (the various hides and cloth and so forth) and he put the covering of the tent above and upon it; as the LORD commanded Moses."
Just had the question, of whether the Lord spoke directly to Moses. Well, of course He did - with the exception of the Ten Commandments - they were written in tables of stone by God’s own finger. But all the rest of the setting up of the rituals and the appointing of the priests; that was done orally as God spoke directly with Moses and therefore through Moses. Just as He does now through His Son to us. Now verse 20.
Exodus 40:20
"And he took and put the testimony into the ark, and set the staves on the ark, and put the mercy seat above upon the ark."
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