Exodus 40:27-28
"And he burnt sweet incense thereon; as the LORD commanded Moses. And he set up the hanging at the door of the tabernacle."
And so on and so forth. Now when in Exodus the thing I like to emphasize, is that everything - every jot and tittle of this tabernacle set up - was a picture of the completed finished work of the Cross. In fact, if you’ve got a little imagination, you can see that the very floor plan depicts a cross. You come from the altar to the laver of cleaning to the two articles there and over to there. And everything from man comes with sacrifice toward God, but with God, the God of mercy, everything moves out this direction, toward the people. And that’s what makes Bible study so interesting. Herein is a secret then now revealed to you.
Whenever I read or hear scoffers, I feel sorry for them. You know why? Because they scoff, mock, make light of and they ridicule and they have no concept of how beautifully this whole Book is put together from Genesis to Revelation. The words I use so often are, ‘"it’s so intricate." It is as intricate as an illustration, "like a Swiss watch." Everything is in perfect harmony, everything in ways that man could never imagine, all fit, and dovetail together. And that proves that it is a supernatural revelation of the mind of God. Always keep that in mind as you study and seek God's righteousness by way of learning who Christ is. Its much like panning for gold as we're to keep panning or removing each layer like peeling an onion until we reach God's desired outcome. Our greatest effort or work is to keep on preparing the soil of our soul or heart with the aid and help of the Holy Spirit until the roots or fingers of sin are cut off and the seed as a grain of mustard can then grow to produce a mighty oak within us. This may take years in some as it did me but in others it may be but a short season. But know this that once we've started on the journey through the wilderness of learning Christ the outcome is glorious if we falter not or become slothful along the way.
This right here that we’ve been talking about should be enough to convince anybody that the very setting of all these various furnishings of this tabernacle worship was already picturing the cross and how everything spoke of the very mercy and Grace of God, moving out to meet sinful men. On the other hand, the only way sinful men could approach this Holy God was through sacrifice and the shed blood. Now we’re going to see later in this chapter, of course, that the blood of animals couldn’t take away sin nor mans guilt. All it did was a stop-gap for it, which God did not want. It was a covering but it was all looking forward to when Christ would finish that work of the Cross. And all that lead up to it as our propitiation or as the lid which covered the coffin or ark. Christ was and is the propitiator and as such is the propitious one.
Alright now let’s see, while we’re back here in Exodus, let’s just stop in at the Book of Numbers chapter 17. If you remember, we covered the rebellion of Korah. You remember how that Korah came up to Moses and said, "You and Aaron think you’re too much. After all who are you that you have to do all this. God can use any of us. I can be my own priest." Remember that? At that time we read the account here in chapter 16 of what took place. Alright now, as a follow up of that, Moses told Korah, "Alright bring all the people that are consorting with you against us and we will just see what God thinks of the whole scenario." And you know what happened. The ground opened up and all those that sided with Korah and his rebellion went down, the Scripture says, into the pit.
Alright, chapter 17 follows that. Let’s just take the time to read this, we'll just let the Scripture speak for itself.
Numbers 17:1-2
"And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and take of every one of them a rod (like a shepherd’s rod or staff) according to the house of their fathers, of all their princes according to the house of their fathers twelve rods: (In other words, one from each one of the Twelve Tribes - Judah and Reuben and Ephraim and all the rest of them.) write thou every man’s name upon his rod."
Numbers 17:3-5a
"And thou shalt write Aaron’s name upon the rod of Levi: for one rod shall be for the head of the house of their father (one rod per tribe.) And thou shalt lay them up (all twelve of them) in the tabernacle of the congregation before the testimony, where I (God says) will meet with you. And it shall come to pass, that the man’s rod whom I shall choose, shall blossom:…"
Remember, they’re starting out with dead sticks of wood. These rods are just dead sticks of wood, probably of the almond tree.
Numbers 17:5b-8
"…and I will make to cease from me the murmuring of the children of Israel, whereby they murmur against you. And Moses spake unto the children of Israel, and every one of their princes gave him a rod a piece, for each prince one, according to their fathers; houses, even twelve rods: and the rod of Aaron was among their rods. (remember Aaron’s will be a rod from the Tribe of Levi.) And Moses laid up the rods before the LORD in the tabernacle of witness. And it came to pass, that on the morrow Moses went into the tabernacle of witness; and, behold, the rod of Aaron for the house of Levi (remember will be the rod from the Tribe of Levi.) was budded, and brought forth buds, and bloomed blossoms, and yielded almonds."
Only his rod did this. Now I suppose the scoffer reads that and thinks boy, that’s pretty good story telling. But see, there’s more to it than that. This is telling us a tremendous New Testament Truth. What is it?
Numbers 17:9-10a
"And Moses brought out all the rods from before the LORD unto all the children of Israel: and they looked and took every man his rod. And the LORD said unto Moses, Bring Aaron’s rod again before the testimony, to be kept…"
Remember what the Epistle of Hebrews said? "That within the ark of the testimony was a sample of the manna, Aaron’s rod that budded, and the tables of testimony." That were in the Ark of the Covenant, in that box. Alright, completing the verse:
Numbers 18:10b-13
"…for a token against the rebels; and thou shalt quite take away their murmurings from me that they die not. And Moses did so; as the LORD commanded him, so did he. And the children of Israel spake unto Moses, saying, ‘Behold, we die, we perish, we all perish. Whosoever cometh any thing near unto the tabernacle of the LORD shall die; shall we be consumed with dying?’"
Well what did they suddenly realize? The power and the Holiness of God, that Aaron was the designated priest of the Hebrews and the rest of them dare not usurp that kind of authority. But it goes further than that. This wasn’t just a sign to Israel because, in this box that we call the Ark of the Covenant (and that’s all it was remember, it was just a box over which of course) you had the angelic beings and the gold. But in it you had Aaron’s rod that budded, the tables of the testimony and a sample of the manna. All were but a witness against Israel's unbelief. Now, if the Law, the testimony on the stones, spoke of death, then what did the budding dead almond stick speak of? Resurrection life! That spiritual thing that was still to come, but the priest's understood it not! That said what about the manna? It spoke of the flesh of Christ, the Life giving Word of God.
And so even though those tables of stone were a ministration of death in that box which was a coffin, there was also the promise of life in it, that was still to come. And when life to come came along, what do we have to sustain it? The Bread of Life! Now there’s a whole sermon for you right there in one little box! The show-bread speaks of the flesh of Christ to be eaten and the Eternal Life (the resurrection power) that is in the blood that is to be drank in remembrance of Him.
Now let’s turn up to II Corinthians chapter 3, and see if that isn’t just exactly the way the Scripture puts it. I think I mentioned it once before, when I taught this, you could almost hear a pin drop. They were so shocked when I called the Law a ministration of death. That’s all the Law could do was kill; it couldn’t save anybody. It couldn’t give life to anybody, and it still can’t nor does it. As much as people try it will never work. And that’s why Law-keepers are doomed - they are beating a dead horse. It’ll never get up and give them a ride.
Alright, II Corinthians, chapter 3, let’s just jump in at verse 6. Paul is writing. And he says:
2Corinthians 3:6
"Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life."
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