Published: July 16, 2023 | Speaker: Tim Freitag | Series: God as Creator - Part 10 | Scripture: Genesis 1-2
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so last week we spent a little bit of time discussing the Sabbath rest and the Lourdes institution of the Sabbath in creation
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the temple the Tabernacle the way that God has God has governed the creation of these things in the way that we find them connecting to the mission of the church
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and there's an interesting tie in to the Tabernacle here from Sabbath rest that frankly I was not particularly aware of before I was working through this part of the study
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which is the idea of the Tabernacle and further of the temple as God's resting
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we read in Exodus 25 and again in Exodus 30 and and we'll touch on some of those passages this morning as we go through but I'm just going to read the the initial command here as we find it in Exodus 25 Exodus 25 the Lord speaking to Moses says have
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them construct a sanctuary for me that I may dwell among them according to all I am going to show you as the pattern of the Tabernacle and the pattern of all its furniture so you shall construct it
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the Lord asks Moses and entrusts workmen to build him a place a dwelling among his people
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there are parallels in the creation language and in the Tabernacle language there are parallels between the phrases and the usage here this
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um thought here comes from some of GK beale's work on this and he lays out a few parallel passages here four in particular in the commands
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and in the the way that Moses observes and some of the phrasing we see here so as you go through Exodus and the narrative as we find it in Exodus of Moses's overseeing
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of the work we read here in Exodus 39 Moses inspected the work and saw that it they had done it just as the Lord had commanded them and so Moses blessed them
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again in 39 so all the work on the Tabernacle the tent of meeting was completed and the Israelites did everything just as the Lord commanded Moses in 40 Moses set up the courtyard the
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Tabernacle on the Altar and put up the curtain and the entrance of the courtyard and so Moses finished or completed the work and then again that tail end of 39 43 as we already read Moses blessed them and
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you see a mirroring there out of Genesis in the language that we read of God's creation so he saw what was made the heavens and earth were completed the work completed the seventh day God had
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completed or finished the work he had been doing and then finally in two verse 3 God blessed them God blessed the seventh day and consecrated it and so there's a parallel in those languages
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there between Moses standing in for God in the um particular task he was given to lead his people overseeing similar I think very
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much taking up a version of what we read in the sort of creation mandate that God has entrusted this particular creative work building his Temple to Moses as a I want to use the word vicar but as a
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regent if you like standing in for him do you have a the writer of Hebrews pick some emphasizes that the true Tabernacle is one of
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those hands and we are definitely going to conclude with quite a bit out of Hebrews because once again in preparing some of this I find myself thinking could I just read the book of Hebrews this morning could we just but we will
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pick up several resources but yes built without hands and that's part of what we're getting at is
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the idea that the Tabernacle and further the temple were perhaps in some way a model of as the writer of Hebrews is going to say that the true Tabernacle the temple built without hands that that Heavenly is we're going to pick up on
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some of that in Exodus this morning so Moses is constructing of the tabernacleus is patterned after God's creation of the cosmos is the charge here Moses saw the work he completed the
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work he blessed the people that blessing upon it and then the creation in the Tabernacle there's another tie in here and this is one of those I'm not going to put a lot of weight on it I'm going to give it
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here for your information um John salehammer in his uh work on the pentateuch has this comparison between the two and he argues that there are
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seven distinct acts of Creation in the in the commands given regarding the construction of the Tabernacle and he picks up on this language of God saying
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speaking into existence the creation and God's specific commands saying to Moses do these things the issue I have with this is if you go through Genesis there are considerably
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more than seven times that God says so they don't exactly line up one for one I think it's reasonable enough to say there's a similar concept here in this in the sense that God spoke into existence in his creation
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and all of the Tabernacle is done according to God's command it was his pattern it was his oversight it was God's direct intention that's being
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carried out in both circumstances that's about as far as I would go with that personally but this is sail Hammer's suggestion that you see these parallels here so I put them on the board and if
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anybody wants to look at that in more
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and that is one of the ones that he picks up here in Exodus 31 um that's second to last one there on your screen the Lord said to Moses see I've chosen bazel son of Yuri and then he he appoints the other name is
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escaping me at the moment um thank you um that he's appointed these two Craftsmen to sort of oversee and he's given them wisdom and knowledge we see
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obviously that these two men were um obviously Craftsmen they had the skill in some respect ahead of time they were not men who were untrained in these crafts but God very particularly Picks
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Them Up and anoints them by his spirit and says I have filled them with these things and with the with the ability to accomplish this work um so yes you do see that that God's
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spirit directly empowering the ability to complete these things
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all of that to say there is a significant amount of parallelism in the two accounts in terms of the general language used and in the referring your
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the intention of God being carried out in every detail in every particular we read again read again in each of these passages as we just looked at on this one where we see Moses looking at it and it's commented on several times in
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Moses's writing that it was all done just as the Lord had commanded that it is according to that pattern according to that Commandment that it is accomplished and carried out
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Jay blankensop and his work on the pentateuch says in light of the parallels between the creation of the world and the construction of the sanctuary the place of worship is a scaled down Cosmos and we sort of looked at this in the inverse when we were
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talking about Eden the idea that you can look at many of the details and many of the furnishings and many of the motifs that are reflected there and and sort of work backwards and argue Eden as a
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temple or as a sanctuary um so we have that idea that concept here
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additionally there's a lot of and this is another one of those places where I hesitate as I was working through these things studying this there's a lot of sevens okay and they're there there's a lot of
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sevens that show up in Exodus there's a lot of sevens obviously in the seven days of creation there's a lot of numerology that happens in the commentaries and and the various discussions and scholarly works on this
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and I have a hesitancy to lean hard on that other than to let you know these things are there so as an example um you know people want to draw a
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conclusion or comparison with the Temple of Solomon which as we read according to the actual narrative history took seven years to build it was dedicated in the
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seventh month Solomon's Prayer has seven distinct petitions there's correspondence there right so you get these sevens and and God didn't not intend for the sevens to be there
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but I'm not prepared to to build a theology other than to say generally we have seven as that number of of completeness and of perfection
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if you put yourself back into the world of Moses I think you'd be dwelling in the mystery that Paul speaks of the revelation of which doesn't actually
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work the last Adam right the new creation you're thinking about the parallels I'm not sure we could come up with it without the writer of Hebrews
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no and and I think that's that's a good point we are definitely reading these things in the light of the last Revelation right the the later senses
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don't understand don't understand the Shadow or the type we will not fully understand its anti-type it's fulfillment right so it's not that we
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can just dispense with all of that because they wouldn't have understood it anyhow and they walked by faith yeah but now we have the light of God's finished Revelation shining back on that which
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gives depth and perspective to what we now have in Christ right and I think again with the sevens if you deal with it only in the context of that ancient history
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then probably in the wrong Christ we can then speak to
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right and right and you know that I appreciate that comment it touches on on two aspects here one of which is again
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It Is by God's spirit that these things are recorded for us in the way that they are and that the sevens are there those things were in God's Providence to place them there but again we see them we understand them by the Light of the
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later things that we read in particular some of the things out of Revelation specifically where he highlights a few of those those aspects of numbers having a significance a significance Additionally you know there's a
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reasonable enough question that I haven't taken up so far this morning which is why I read about the Tabernacle at all I mean in the Tabernacle some sort of half step between uh Eden and
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then the temple and obviously the temple was greater and we have a lot more language that deals with the temple why don't we just we've already done a study in Exodus let's just get on with it right it took us forever over half the
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study to get out of Genesis and now we're only in Exodus come on Tim pick it why do we study the Tabernacles the Tabernacle has
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Tabernacle has significance for us not the least of which because it is the intermediate point between point between the Garden of Eden where God dwelt with man and the eventual dwelling in that
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permanent place in Jerusalem that he will establish additionally we talked about this in The Exodus study you look at the at the distance of time so to speak I'm not
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going to sit here and try to add them all up in my head but you look at the amount of time that goes from the fall of Man of Man to the establishment of the Tabernacle is a significant period of years a long
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time many generations pass and God does all of that that we read in the narrative between Genesis 3 and exodus 25 to get to a place that he can
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reconcile man to himself enough that he may again dwell with them so you have all of that it feels a little sacrilegious to
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describe God's work as effort but effectively that effort as he displays it for us in the narrative there that he went to to get to the Tabernacle and it will not be for many more Generations
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before we get to the Temple and I have another point to make on that as we move forward this morning of why we're in the Tabernacle and not the temple why didn't he just move to the temple I mean we had the conquest of
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the land why didn't God just wait until the temple he was obviously leading them in the cloud and in the pillar I think there's another Point here happening with the Tabernacle specifically and why God has that set up
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um so yes we are definitely reading these things in the light of later revelation and the writer of Hebrews will have some things to tell us about that a number of things actually additionally though we
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also see excuse me other places in the um the prophets remarking on aspects out of the temple and remarking on things I mean you think about the number of places you can read
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about the Ark of of the Covenant as a as a typer of a symbol the law written on tablets um the the actual holy of holies and those things are already established by
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the time we get to the Tabernacle you have these aspects that are picked up and used by the prophets according to God's Will and and message through them and so the Bible uses them and deploys
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them in particular ways hopefully we'll talk about a little bit this morning so I think it's worth it for us to to pause here and look at these so in the completion of these these sort
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of Earthly dwellings and this is where we're getting at this is the bridge between the Sabbath and why we're talking about the temple in the completion of these Earthly dwellings God takes up a resting place in them and
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he will describe it in this language in his scripture we read in psalm 132 I've bridged a couple of verses here in the middle but he says let us go into
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his Dwelling Place let us worship at his footstool arise O Lord to your resting place you and the Ark of your strength and my testimony which I will teach them
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for the Lord has chosen Zion he has desired it as his Dwelling Place saying this is my resting place forever here I will dwell for I have desired it
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taking up his rest again Levinson says the temple in the world stand in intricate and intrinsic connection the two projects cannot ultimately be disengaged
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each recounts how God brought about an environment in which he can rest again the difficulty of describing these things we can only describe them in the
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language that God uses them how can Almighty omnipotent God rest and lay down his labors but we see him using that language describing a place of rest I think we're going to connect it here
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other passages in the Old Testament though that are describing this there's a hint of it in first Chronicles 28 with some of the dedication there but again here in
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here in um Isaiah 66 he says this is what the Lord says Heaven is my throne in the earth is the footstool for my feet where then is a house that you
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could build for me and where a place that I may rest again in oh sorry in second chronicles with the with the dedication um this is one of uh near the end
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actually of Solomon's Prayer or petition now arise Lord God to your resting place you and the Ark of your might let your priests Lord God be clothed with your salvation and let your Godly ones
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rejoice in what is good so he's echoing that that language there arise to your resting place
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as the contemplation of the building of the Temple the Temple comes about again out of Solomon's mouth now the Lord my God has secured me rest on every side there is neither adversary nor
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Misfortune so behold I intend to build a house for the name of the Lord my God just as the Lord spoke to David my father saying your son whom I will put
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on your throne in your place he will build the house for my name Solomon contemplates this contemplates this comments on this decision saying that that God has given him rest on every
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side God's resting Is Not Mere inactivity it's demonstrating his sovereignty and I think we take this all the way from Genesis through here and honestly all
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the way on it's not um just inactivity it's sovereignty he's resting because he has completed the work he is resting because he has subdued the forces of chaos or in this
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case the enemies of Israel there's a lot of reference again this is another one of those places that I read many pages and chose not to write any of them down here for your benefit because
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I think sometimes this goes too far but there is a lot of reference in the near Eastern archaeological record of similar myths references of building of shrines
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for divine rests after the God quote unquote had defeated the forces of chaos or subdued some particular enemy or done some particular thing there's a lot of those parallels and again the cynic will
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claim that Moses is of course copying from those were really the later scribes who supposedly put all this together but we can obviously see that the concept of God resting after having
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accomplished after having subdued his enemies is bleeding out in that image of of man into their their Pagan ideas about him and about God so David sets
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out to build this Temple does he not when he is concluding he he has his thought to build the temple what does he say the same word that that Solomon is
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reflecting here giving him rest on every side is that not David's phrase when he says I'll build the Temple of the house of the Lord because he has given me rest on every side and then God tells him not
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you you're a man of blood you have the the blood of the the subduing of Conquest on your hands I will give it to Solomon and Solomon remembers this promise here
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promise here um in second Samuel God speaks to David giving him this message when your days are finished and you lie down with your fathers I will raise up your descendant after you who will come from
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you and I will establish his kingdom he shall build a house for my name and I will establish the Throne of his kingdom
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there's a close relation between the building of the temple and the subduing of the enemies Exodus 15 as we sort of go back to um we go back to the Exodus narrative
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picking back up with the Tabernacle in particular confirms this saying God would bring Israel quote to the the place O Lord God which thou Hast made for thy dwelling the sanctuary O Lord which thy hands
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have established the Lord shall reign forever and ever they're in the midst of that wandering and they anticipate that place where they will sit where God will reign God's dwelling in Israel's Temple
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conceived as the rest of the Divine King who does not worry about opposition he has subdued the opposition he is no longer opposed in that regard God's
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sitting in the temple is an expression of his Sovereign rest his Sovereign Reign he takes up his throne because he has established his reign it seems like what we're getting at is
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at least the major part if not the essence of rest is peace that's a very good point yes and I think that is largely what we're we're coming
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to the essence of that rest is is a state of Peace a state in which things are as they ought to be in some respect um this is underscored this idea of God
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reigning um reigning um is underscored by the repeated use of this phrase as we find it throughout the scriptures again picking up some of the prophets as well God enthroned above
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above the cherubim what does that phrase mean where were the cherubim I haven't put up my picture of the Furnishings of the temple but I think hopefully you all remember your Sunday school lesson about
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the Ark of the Covenant well enough to remember the cherubim on The Mercy Seat when Moses would go in and and meet with God it was said that he heard the voice from between the cherubim coming off of
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that we see again and again in scripture enthroned above the the cherubim we read it here in second Samuel we read it here as as hezekiah's prayer
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in Second Kings we read it out of First Chronicles similar passage and then again in the Psalms listen Shepherd of Israel who leads Joseph like a flock you
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who are enthroned above the cherubim shine forth and then also in the Psalms the Lord Reigns The Peoples tremble he sits enthroned above the cherubim the earthquakes he takes up his throne in
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reigning again out of leavens and he quotes uh an inter-testamental Rabbi Rabbi Nathan saying just as God ascended and sat in the heights of the universe to Reign after he completed the creation so he
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would Ascend to the temple and Reign from there after he subdued Israel's enemies Psalm 47 god reigns over the nation he sits on his holy throne
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this is going through all this reading this my mind couldn't help but jump ahead I think in the same vein as as the writer of of Hebrews this is accomplished by the the person the Lord Jesus Christ is it not who now
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sits enthroned sits enthroned um obviously the the psalm 110 probably comes to most Minds when we talk about these things the Lord says to my Lord sit at my right hand until I make your
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enemies a footstool for your feet uh we read in Luke one of those sparring matches with the Pharisees but he says but from now on the son of man will be seated at the
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right hand of the power of God seated Hebrews 12 tells us looking only at Jesus the originator and Perfecter of the faith who for the joy set before him endure endured the cross despising the
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shame and he is what he has sat down at the right hand of the Throne of God again out of Hebrews the very beginning as he sets these things out he is the radiance of his glory the exact
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representation of his nature and upholds all things by the word of his power when he had made purification of sins he sat down at the right hand of majesty on
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high taking up his throne seated because he has completed that work again in Hebrews quoting some of the passages we just read every priest
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stands daily ministering offering Time After Time the same sacrifices which can never take away sins but he having offered one sacrifice for sin for all
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time sat down at the right hand of God waiting from that time onward until his enemies are made a footstool for his feet the subjugation of of the enemies of God and finally out of First Peter 3
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through the resurrection of Jesus Christ who is at the right hand of God having gone into heaven after angels and authorities and Powers had what been subjected to him
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so what is that peace it is that subjugation of the enemies of God it is that completing of the work that allows God to take it up this is one of those areas where we have a certain level of the now and the not yet right you look
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at the Tabernacle you look at God taking up his position there he has completed outwork and there is more work to do we look at the temple God dwells in the temple because he has given Israel rest from our enemies it's one of those
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passages we talked about this before it's it's one of those inflection points it seems almost no sooner than Solomon has peace and God dwells in the temple everything splits apart again
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um there's more work to do here we see Jesus sitting down at the right hand of the father and yet we're told from the writer Hebrews he is still waiting for that consummation of the age
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he is still waiting for that final completion of the um the containment the eradication of those enemies in in the Lake of Fire but all of his enemies are subjected to
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him as we read here out of out of First Peter 3 there is nothing lacking in the power of God He reigns he rules over all and so Christ having completed this takes up this seat at the right hand of
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God the Tabernacle in this regard exists sort of part way on this Continuum doesn't it we talked about this a little bit and this is the other thing that I think we can see here in this context
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that is happening that does depend a little bit on the archaeological record which is Egyptian Military encampments the most exciting subject I'm sure for you all
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but there is significant historical record to suggest that the tent and the encampment of pharaoh when he would go out to battle looked an awful lot like the layout of the
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Tabernacle again the cynic will claim that that Moses borrowed or stole um accepted those senates are saying
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right it is a bit of a problem and interestingly again as I was looking into this and researching this the discovery of a so in the sort of 19th century or 20th century scholarly
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um I say scholarly Devastation wrought by people like velhausen on the the sort of idea that all of this was written by a later priest who who lived in the the
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exilic time and was sort of filling in all these details in the history for us not by Moses obviously actually has been more or less Shipwrecked by this discovery that that
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nobody really holds on to that anymore in part because we have significant record to say there were things that we looked exactly like this that are recorded for us in frescoes and cartouches and
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cartouches and the camp was a military camp and in every age the militaries of all the combatants will have a very common way of setting up their camps and going
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out into battle that's that's just history to sort of find a find a parallel in the Egyptian simply tells us that the cap of Israel was a military
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camp and you read that in Exodus right they went out in troops it's it's always amusing to read the archaeologists and the the secularists
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accidentally reinforcing the details as they find these things Aaron
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said how Moses would say arise o Yahweh and let your enemies be scattered and let those who hate you flee before you and when it rested he said return o Yahweh to the ten thousand thousands of Israel now both of them military
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property right and I think it is that aspect that Moses is in part demonstrating for us in the Tabernacle we see this idea that that quote unquote
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Divine Pharaoh lived in this tent let me go back to our layout well you're supposedly you can see it here that the um you have the courtyard these were his sons apparently this is the reception
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tent and then Pharaoh's actual tent and so you have the similar tripartite structure as you get with the outer Courtyard the uh holy place and then the most holy place the holy of holies right
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so you have a similar three-part structure and indeed many have made much of the fact that Moses's or Moses is Pharaoh's image in there was actually flanked on both sides by winged figures
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I think there were some sort of Falcon person whatever person whatever the point of all of this Moses is doing something that we read later in scripture both by the prophets
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and we read David doing it in a couple places in the Psalms he's picking up this idea and actually we saw it a lot in the plagues of Egypt or the the Miracles as we read them
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there picking up an aspect of okay you think this about your God you think this is what God's like this is what God is like God taking up
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their sort of secular image of it their their degradation of it and elevating it layering at a level that they could not possibly hope to achieve just as Divine
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quote unquote Pharaoh LED his people into battle we see again out of Moses's objuration to God to lead them to scatter their enemies Yahweh leading them from this perfect Tabernacle moving
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with them being the king in their midst as they conquered the land that he intended for them to take it is a in some respects a polemic an argument against them saying you couldn't hope
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for a conquest this way here's God in his in his headquarters in his Tabernacle in his tent it looks pretty similar to your tent just watch what
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we're going to do with it just watch what Yahweh is actually capable of that your Pharaoh can't achieve so Israel's Tabernacle is in that respect and I thank you Aaron for reading that verse it's a mobile War
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headquarters designed to move about to subjugate what to put down the opposition and so there is that respect in which God arises he moves he he
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dwells in in the Tabernacle but that subjugation is still ongoing that moving of the Tabernacle the fact that it is mobile and that it is
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um mirroring the conquest the military might of Israel is because he is leading them in the midst of them to conquer that place where he will have his name dwell permanently when he gets to
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Jerusalem and establishes those things and so I think you have that aspect of it when the enemies are defeated a more permanent dwelling is made in which God would rest in sovereignty from uh
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um and again there's a large number of these sort of near Eastern narratives regarding war with chaos or war with particular kinds of enemies or opposing deities after which there is some sort
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of creation narrative often a temporal or a Tabernacle in which that supposed deity then dwells and so we see that sort of reflection of the truth
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happening in the in the midst of the Pagan world around it I want to talk a little bit about the Tabernacle itself and and try to pick up a couple of the things that the writer of Hebrew says
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um again I was it was reading and working through this and I thought you know all right there's this all this stuff coming out of the archaeological record and and the supposed near Eastern myths and so on what does the scripture
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actually say how does the scripture deploy and use the Tabernacle itself what is its language um sorry I'll finish my thought here on the you know just again an artist rendering
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but you see the military camp and camped around it in fact we think uh the archaeological record suggests that there was a similar kind of four walled encampment of the
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Egyptians protecting their their King as well but you see there of course the the courtyard the holy place in which is the most holy place the altar the the Basin
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for washing and then there's the other Furnishings inside Furnishings inside the writer of Hebrews picks up for us in chapter nine
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he says not now even the first Covenant had regulations for divine worship and the Earthly sanctuary for a tabernacle was equipped the outer sanctuary in which were the lamp stand the table the sacred bread this is
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called the holy place behind the second Veil there was a tabernacle which is called the most holy Place having a golden altar of incense and the Ark of the Covenant covered on
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all sides with gold in which was a golden jar holding the manna Aaron's staff which budded and the tablets of the Covenant above it were the cherubim of Glory overshadowing the atoning cover
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but about these things we cannot now speak in detail well thanks a lot I really appreciate all of the detail that you've given us in this Exposition but
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he does go on to tell us now when these things have been so prepared the priests are continually entering the outer Tabernacle I was telling Jenny I was like you know this is similar to his phrase where he says
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you know but I can't go into detail about these things because you are not yet prepared to to digest them to take them on I was like you couldn't have just written it down for when we are
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um when these things have been prepared no he has a point where he's going the priests are continually entering the outer Tabernacle performing The Divine worship but into the second only the high priest enters once a year not
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without taking blood which he offers for himself and for the sins of the people committed in ignorance the holy spirit is signifying this that the way into the holy place has not yet been disclosed
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while the outer Tabernacle is still standing which is a symbol for the present time accordingly both gifts and sacrifices are offered which cannot make the worshiper perfect in conscience since
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they relate only to food drink various Washings regulations for the body imposed until a time of reformation we need Jesus we need him to complete
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that work we need him to do those things that these intermediates cannot do again picking up an exodus we're not probably going to get through all the Furnishings today but I'm gonna
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take us down this road unless there's a particular question there before we move into some more of the details Moses's command or or the command given
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to Moses have them construct a sanctuary for me so that I may dwell among them according to all that I'm going to show you as the pattern of the Tabernacle and the pattern of all its furniture so you
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shall construct it there is this uh word in there that We're translating pattern it's a little bit ambiguous elsewhere when you read you know it says the form of a hand he stretchworth the form of a
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hand it's that same word it's it's a form it's a likeness it's a pattern it's a model it's it's something that looks like the thing there's enough ambiguity there that that there's argument over whether Moses was shown some kind of
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rendering in a vision or was he actually shown the Heavenly Temple and I tend to lean towards the latter personally that he was shown the the cosmos in some
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respects and given to understand how to construct that as that Earthly Tabernacle that Earthly dwelling
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um the writer of Hebrews also picks up this phrase as he he deals with the Tabernacle he says those who serve a copy in a shadow of the Heavenly things a copy a shadow of the Heavenly just as Moses was warned by God when he was
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about to erect the Tabernacle for C he says that you make all things by the pattern which was shown you on the mountain and then later in chapter nine for Christ did not enter a holy place this
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is the one Chuck was making reference to enter a holy Place made by hands a mere copy of the true one but into heaven itself now to appear in the presence of
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God for us so it is a copy it is a representation of that of that truth that is ensconced there in the um and then finally you know again out of
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uh Hebrews 9 just after the section we were reading before when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things having come he entered through the greater and more perfect Tabernacle not made by hands that is not of this
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creation and not through the blood of goats and calves but through his own blood he entered the holy Place once for all time having obtained Eternal
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Redemption that's the point here is that we no longer have the intermediate we no longer are standing on that that partially completed Jesus has made these moments we now have that entrance we
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have that access which brings us a little bit you know so again what do we do why do we care about the Tabernacle in these last couple of minutes we have here this morning why do we care about the Tabernacle why do we
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care about the Furnishings why are we dealing with all this when we could just go to Christ again I think you see the the prophets and the word of God picking up this symbol he made it for a reason
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all of these things are written for our instruction we're told when you think about the contents the Furnishings in the Tabernacle the most
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prominent one I think in the minds most is in that most holy place the Ark of the Covenant the Covenant the Ark of the Covenant of course is an ark a box covered in gold and the Ten
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Commandments written on stone tablets are in that box and covered there is a covering over them they are secured away uh and again the Ark of the Covenant is behind the veil is it not it is in that
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most holy place with very limited access and in that old Covenant the law was written on Stone and preserved in a closed box closed box but we read out of Jeremiah 31 don't we
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of a time that is anticipated when the law is not written on Stone but it is written on our hearts written on flesh and so in the New Covenant that stone is replaced with flesh the law is written on and
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preserved in US so in the Ark of the Covenant the law was recorded stored preserved for the people of Israel to have for time immemorial God is telling us and God has
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accomplished through us that that is now you your life is now what the Ark of the Covenant once was it is that place where God's law is preserved immemorial
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the covering on the ark that Mercy Seat the cherubim we've already talked about um it's represented as God dwelling it's represented as a place of atonement
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the meeting between Moses and God again as we read in Exodus 25 and again you think of Hebrews 9 as we just read it
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here you know talking about that meeting that God has entered in that Christ has moved into that that most holy place and and therein secured access for us the Throne of God where we talk to him
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where his grace is dispensed to us again The Mercy Seat previously only accessible once a year only accessible by the blood that first had to be offered for the priest and then for all
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of the people all of that has been done away with not because it wasn't necessary but because Christ has satisfied all of it in every particular so you have that entrance you have that
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um that dwelling in fact um I didn't put it up on the slide here for some reason but I'm going to read in second Corinthians
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second Corinthians 3 Paul tells us Ministers of a New Covenant it's entitled in my my scripture but um or my copy of the scripture I should say he tells us in First Corinthians 3 17 now the Lord is the spirit and where
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the spirit of the Lord is um no I missed my thought here thought here maybe it was seven not seventeen
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right letters engraved on Stones came with Glory so that the sons of Israel could not look intently at the face of Moses because of the glory of his face fading as it was how will the ministry of the spirit fail to be even more with
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Glory for if the ministry of condemnation has Glory much more does the ministry of righteousness abound in glory for indeed what had glory in this case was no glory because of the glory that surpasses it
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for that which Fades away was with Glory much more a hint out of Chuck's sermon last week much more that which remains easy and Glory therefore having such a
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hope we use great boldness in our speech and are not like Moses who used to put a veil over his face so the sons of Israel would not look on them would not look intently at the end of
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what was fading away but their minds were hardened for until now this very day the reading sorry at the reading of the old Covenant the same Veil remains
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unlifted because it is removed in Christ but to this day whenever Moses has read the veil Lies over their heart but wherever a person turns to the Lord the veil is taken away
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so we have that entrance we have that coming to The Mercy Seat we have that boldness to go before the throne again as we read in Paul and we'll read
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elsewhere and we'll probably have to pick up the rest of the Furnishings next week but these things are used this entrance past the veil this recognition of these components is used and deployed throughout scripture so hopefully it's
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it makes sense to you all why we would spend our time thinking about this Shadow this type that God created and put into his narrative history for us for a reason to instruct us
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you know I I think it's it's similar to what Paul does here I've always appreciated the way the writer of Hebrews does it in his writing in his communication of these things he's always very careful never to denigrate Moses he's always highlights just how
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wonderful these things were how much an act of Grace it was for this to exist at all that the that the law was there that they could know what the law of God was that The Mercy Seat was there that there
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was a time of atonement where previously not accessible not available all of these things are are gracious to them a mercy of God bestowed upon his people and yet then he says similar to what
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Paul says here how much more this one compared to the glories in that one so we appreciate we appreciate the steps that lead us here because if you recognize them for the glory for the
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grace they are hopefully it increases our appreciation appreciation of the grace of the glory of what has been done for us through Christ let's close in prayer as we turn our
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attention to worship this morning Our Father we do thank you for your revelation we thank you for your son for
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his shed blood for all of the things that he has accomplished on our behalf those things that we were utterly powerless to do he has done all of this and more we thank you that we have so great a
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Salvation we thank you that we were not left so to speak merely saved but that you have given us your Holy Spirit to indwell us to dwell with us these
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Earthly Tabernacles that we inhabit that you minister to us Moment by moment daily with us on our walk that you have not left us even here but
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you have given us the fellowship of Believers given us the one and others to Bear up to Bear one of those burdens to magnify your name together to glory in what you have done to boast
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only in Christ father we thank you for so many manifold blessings we ask your presence with us in a very special and
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evident way this morning as we worship your name that it would be acceptable in your sight in a a balm a blessing to your people that we would be encouraged and our souls would
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find rest in you this