How are you, Jerry? Fine, thank you. Thank you. Before we get started, just another bit. Have you actually seen Opal at the home? No, she's with her sister. Her daughter? Her daughter, yeah. Yeah, I've been trying her, both numbers I have for her, Neither one works. Well, one's full. The mailbox is full, you know. And the other one just goes, blah, blah, blah. So that doesn't work. I'm just curious if maybe she was at the retirement home. She's not. OK. All right. Well, that in mind, how about we turn to 3, 4, 5. Everybody got it? Glorious things of thee are spoken, Zion, city of our God. He whose word cannot be broken, born thee for his own abode. On the rock of ages founded, what can shake thy sure repose? With salvation all surrounded, Thou mayest smile at all Thy foes. See the streams of living waters, springing from eternal love. Well supply thy sons and daughters, and all fear of what remove. Who can faint while such a river ever flows, their thirst to swage? Grace which, like the Lord, the Giver, never fails from age to age. Now, each habitation hovering, see the cloud and fire appear. For a glory and a covering, showing that the Lord is near. Thus deriving from their banner, light by night and shade by day. Safe they feed upon the manna which He gives them when they pray. Savior, if of Zion's city I through grace a member am, let the world deride poor pity. I will glory in thy name. Fading is a worldling's pleasure, all his boasted pomp and show. Solid joys and lasting treasure, none but Zion's children know. Well done. Very well done. Well, Jerry, would you mind leading us in prayer? Almighty God, we come here today to bow down before you to show that we love you, Lord, and we are your people. And we came here for your leading and your teaching, Lord. Bless the pastor as he teaches us today and bring us all In Jesus name, amen. Amen. Thank you. Well, who has a request? 347. 347. That sound familiar? We sang it last week. I'm just curious. Okay, we'll do it again. Everybody has it? 347. The Church's one foundation is Jesus Christ, our Lord. She is His new creation by water and the Word. From Him He came and sought her to be His Holy Bride. With his own blood he bought her, and for her life he died. Elect from every nation, yet one o'er all the earth, her charter of salvation, one Lord, one faith, one birth. One holy name she blesses, partakes one holy food. Unto one home she presses, with every grace endued. With a scornful wonder, Men see her sore oppressed, By schisms rent asunder, By heresies distressed. Yet saints their watch are keeping, Their cry goes up, how long? And soon the night of weeping shall be the morning song. The Church shall never perish, her dear Lord to defend. To guide, sustain, and cherish is with her to the end. No, there be those that hate her, and false sons in her bed. Against or foe or traitor, she ever shall prevail. Mid toil and tribulation, on tumult of her war, she waits the consummation of peace forevermore. Still with the vision glorious, her longing eyes are blessed, and the great church victorious shall be the church at rest. Yet she on earth hath union, With God the three in one, Our mystic sweet communion With those whose rest is won. O happy ones and holy, Lord give us grace that we Like them, the meek and lowly, on high may dwell with thee. We have time for one more. 634. 634. Sweet heart of prayer, sweet heart of prayer, that calls me from a world of care, and bids me at my Father's throne, make all my wants and wishes known. In seasons of distress and grief, My soul has often found relief, And oft escaped the tempter's snare, By Thy return, sweet hour of prayer. Sweet hour of prayer, sweet hour of prayer, Near joys I feel the bliss I share Of those whose anxious spirits burn With strong desires for thy return. With such I hasten to the place where God my Savior shows His face, and gladly take my station there, and wait for the sweet hour of prayer. Sweet hour of prayer. Sweet hour of prayer, Thy wings shall my petition bear, To Him whose truth and faithfulness Engage the waiting soul to bless. And since He bids me seek His face, believe His word, and trust His grace, I'll cast on Him my every care, and wait for the sweet hour of prayer. Excuse me. We backed up to chapters 25 through 30 last week and began looking at some of the, well, the tabernacle itself and some of the elements that are in the tabernacle. And we began looking at, of course, to begin with, the idea that you have an offering that's taken up by the among the people to provide for the things that were necessary for the tabernacle itself. And so I'd like for us to continue to look at first of all the tabernacle and then to look at the priesthood as well. And so as we began, as I said, looking at the tabernacle, of course, When we think of the tabernacle, it was an extension, really, or a follow-up to God's presence among the people. Remember, he had the, out of Egypt, as he was among the people, he had the fiery, the glory cloud, we call it, and the cloud covering that would lead the nation. And in other words, he was, the pathfinder, you could say. And so he was the one who led them through the wilderness. And so as God was among the people, or led the people, I should say, remember there were times where God protected them. God would get between, for example, he got between the Egyptians at the Red Sea and the Israelites encamped there by the Red Sea. Also, had the warning God gave when they got to Sinai itself, if you recall, where he said, don't let the people come close and touch Mount Sinai, even an animal. If an animal gets loose and it gets on Mount Sinai, they must be killed. And the reason being very simply because it's holy ground. Now, when we think of holy ground, you know, I don't know, we have trouble probably fathoming that in an experiential way. You know, think about it for a moment. You know that God was present at that bush, in the bush, the burning bush, remember at the beginning in chapter three of Exodus. And he said, Moses, take your shoes off your feet. For the ground where you stand is holy. Obviously, what made the ground holy was not the fire per se, but it was God and his presence. Well, when we think then of where God would choose to be housed among the Israelites, and bear in mind this is a temporary mobile dwelling, that the way the temple was set up as we were looking at last time, is the idea of, what shall we say, increasingly holy space. And as we talked about the temple, we mentioned that this is a function of the fall, our tabernacle, that it's a function of the, or related to the fall, isn't it? Remember in the garden, Adam and Eve did not need a tabernacle. They did not need a priest. They did not need a sacrifice. This is all prior to the fall, right? Prelapsarian. And so when they were there, they had unmediated conversation, fellowship, and that sort of thing with God. And so when we think of that, we think of the one who is, you know, completely holy, and holy meaning moral excellence and absolute purity, perfect light, but also meaning separateness, right? And so when we think of God as holy apart from his creation, in other words, to the extent he's not to be confused with it, right? He's not to be worshiped. Anything in creation would be used to worship Him. Well, here God ordains a way, a means of when, of how these fallen creatures, Israel, the people He had chosen, could worship Him, could have Him in their presence. Of course, there was a mediator that God was working through that was a prophet, functioning as prophet, and on occasion, like a priest, certainly with regard to intercession and that sort of thing. And that was Moses. But of course, the one chosen to be high priest with his family following him would be Aaron. So back to the temple then, as we think, we went through the various aspects of the temple. The temple, all of it is holy ground, all of the footprint of the temple. But as you start from the outer court, you know, and work your way inward to the holy of holies, you know, it gets increasingly more exclusive and therefore indicating holy. And so the part that was in the very core of the temple in the Holy of Holies, and that was the Ark of the Covenant, as we've said, that represented the throne of God. And there the Shekinah glory of God would dwell above the mercy seat. And I wish I'd brought it out here. I have a little model of the Ark. the Ark of the Covenant in my office. And I forgot it, sorry. But I think most of you are familiar enough with it that you've seen the way it's designed. And remember there were the cherubim that were there on the lid, you know. Well, the Shekinah Gloria, Shekinah Gloria of God was above the wings of the cherubim. And so when we think then of the various what should we say, artwork or decorations that were in the tabernacle, they were purposeful, weren't they? And so when we think of the tabernacle, you know, coming from the courtyard, and you had that in Exodus 27, 19, for example, I think you mentioned the various courts. Well, with the tabernacle you didn't have as many as you did with the temple. For example, in the temple you had, what was it, the beautiful gate? And that was the one that was just beyond the court of the women, you know, and that kind of thing. And you had these various gates, you know, and courts in the temple in Jerusalem when it was built. But in the tabernacle, not quite as elaborate. Remember, Solomon basically took everything in the tabernacle and doubled it, you know, in many ways. And, for example, the bronze laver, that's part of the furniture, I guess you'd call it, or the furnishings of the tabernacle. You ever, you remember reading, you know, in First Kings are, I mean, excuse me, Second Kings are looking in the, what is it, First Chronicles or Second Chronicles? Anyway, where you read about what Solomon did with that. I mean, they called it the sea, because it's so much bigger. But it was on top of these bronze, were they oxen, I think it was, that they were on top of, you know, and it was this enormous bronze bowl, I guess you'd say, that was used. So he really exploded the footprint. But here in the wilderness, the tabernacle was meant to be movable. And so anyway, the courtyard in 27 verses 9 to 19 of Exodus. And I'm not going to read the whole thing, obviously, It says, you shall also make the court of the tabernacle for the south side. There shall be hangings for the court made of fine woven linen, 100 cubits long for one side. And its 20 pillars and their 20 sockets shall be bronze, and the hooks of the pillars and their bands shall be silver. Let's stop for a moment. already as we're looking, we mentioned it last time, but as we follow this up today, think about the offering that was taken. When we think of offerings, you know, we think of money. But the offerings that were given, you know, for the tabernacle were what were necessary to make it, you know. And so when you're thinking of bronze, you know, and gold and silver and thinking of linens and that kind of thing. As we mentioned, you know, all of that was provided by what the Egyptians gave the Jews. I think, frankly, saying, here, take this and leave, please, you know, kind of a gift to leave. But it was God providentially preparing the way for this very event, this very need. And so he goes through the links anyway, he's very specific in everything that was described. And it goes into the distances and all that's involved, but there's a court in other words, and it has a curtain that's there. And then when you get to the tabernacle itself and you think of how it was made, You find the holy place, for example, described in chapter 26, verses 31 to 35. And again, you see that all of this was prescribed at a particular size and a particular proportion, especially as it was made. And so to go within, out of the court, in other words, well, even to a degree into the court, but to go out of the court, and then, of course, what was between the holy place, not holy of holies, but holy place and the court, what was there between? The altar and that bronze labyrinth, but the altar, right? So coming to the altar and going beyond the altar, especially now we're getting to the point of holy ground, aren't we? And so who are the ones who are allowed to come that far? Well, there were occasions where there were laymen that were allowed to come near the altar, but it was priests only. Now, by the way, there were not just Aaron and his sons perpetually. Aaron was a high priest, his sons ministered, yes. But beyond them, remember there were there was an order of 24 orders of priests. And I'll go through the qualifications required in a minute, in a few minutes, maybe. But to go on about this, it's just, there were severe punishments. If someone were to go function at the altar, beyond the altar in the holy place, you know, without being ritually clean, everything about it done as it's described. For example, later on, you read in Nadab and Abihu, you know, two of the sons of Aaron, and they offered, remember what's called strange fire, that God was very specific where he took the fire, the coals from, you know, excuse me, where he took the coals from for the altar of incense. And they took the coals from the wrong place. They were careless about it. And you recall what happened to them, right? And that God struck them dead. And it was a tragic thing. We're not there yet, but I mean, if you were to note that in the text, Aaron's even forbidden by God to mourn his sons. I mean, that would be difficult. So think of, that's how seriously God takes his holiness. of God's holy presence. And so anyway, when we're thinking of this tabernacle, you know, and you go to the, there were four coverings in the temple, I guess I should mention. The one that was of the sea cows, remember that? Do you remember that? Any of you have any, you know, sea cow hides in your home? No. Okay, well, I didn't think so. What is a sea cow? A seal. That's as good a guess as anybody. I think so, yeah. Where would they get that in the desert? They used to have manatees in the Red Sea. What's that? There used to be manatees in the Red Sea. Well, I don't think it came from the Red Sea. I think this is part of what they got when they left Egypt. You know, the Egyptians were there on the Mediterranean. Could come from the Red Sea, I don't know. Crocodile skins. Not crocodile skins, no. Could be porpoise skins. Could be porpoise, yeah. Anyway, that's what the outer part was to be made of, was the roof and that kind of thing made from that skin. Now, of course, you can see why. That would be waterproof. I don't think there'd be much need for that in the wilderness, but thinking long-term, right? That this was weather-resistant. And so then you had beyond that, there was, of course, also layers of ram skins dyed red. So when you think of the ram skins, and then finally, or thirdly, there was a ram's hair. Okay, so this was used, you know, so increasingly it's getting, you know, less and less weather resistant, I guess you'd say. But notice that the ram skins were dyed red. And so you've got the sea cow skins, and you've got the ram skins, and now the ram's hair, and that, or the goat hair, I should say, that's in the, there to protect the contents of the building. And there were other things that were in there, though. The innermost curtain was something that was, it says, finely twisted linen, blue, purple, and scarlet, with cherubim on them. That's there as you look, where we've been in verse one. Was that chapter 20? Sorry, I've lost my way when I got turned to looking at the other things. I'm sorry, I didn't get the reference exactly right. I just wrote verse 1. So it's in there, verse 1. Just look at every verse 1. OK. Anyway, the point here being that the curtain is from the inside, its color was blue. Isn't that neat? From the inside, the curtain would be blue. And then you had, of course, the reds we've already mentioned, and purple. So blue, red, and purple were the colors that were used in the temple. Now, when you get to the priest garments, anyone remember what colors those were? Yeah, we'll get to that. You know, you had the breeches and you had the, or do you say breeches up here? I'm sorry, it's spelled breeches. We usually, where I'm from, if you're breeching something, it's a wall when you're attacking. But anyway, breeches, breeches, whatever you call, pants. And then you had the ephod, right? Then you had the robe or the mantle for the ephod, and then you had the breastplate, and then you had the turban, and then you had what was called the crown, or in other words, it was two fingers wide, it was a golden placard on the front that says, holy to the Lord, right? All of those things were what the priests wore, and he had this, like a blue band around this turban-like affair that he would wear. Well, The colors were, he would have, I think they were pomegranates on the fringe of the ephod that were blue, red, and purple. It's the same colors as the temple. And that band was blue, the ephod was blue, the linen was white. And so anyway, when you look at these things, I think it's fascinating. The Lord is putting together these colors Purple, of course, is always holy. Blue, think of the blue of the sky. Red, the red of the blood of sacrifice. Anyway, so the Lord has them put together this tabernacle. I just wanted to be sure we understood that it's not an ugly affair. It's a pretty affair. And when we think of the menorah, gold, with the branches having what kind of blossoms again in gold? Almond. Almond blossoms are the fruit or blossoms on the branches of the menorah. Then you had the table of showbread and then the altar of incense overlaid with gold. And then within the curtain, there's a curtain that divides, right? And so on the curtain were cherubim embroidered, right? and then the Ark of the Covenant within, the law of God and the bowl of manna, and ultimately the staff of Aaron that budded there in the Holy of Holies with those two chairmen. Well, it's been said, and I think it's pretty good evidence for this, is this was patterned after, by the way, inside the the tabernacle you would also see embroidered around there would be cherubim and there would be these these idyllic setting where it looked like a garden and The whole point here being that it's probably God's patterning in after the Garden of Eden And so when when God is is here among his people, you know, you've got this presence of God here, a hearkening back to what was at one time unbroken fellowship, now broken, but bridged, a reconciliation available, but on an ongoing basis at great expense, and that was the sacrifice that was continuing, morning and evening sacrifices, as we'll see with the priests, There was a bull and two goats that were necessary to sanctify the priest and that sort of thing. But even the tabernacle shows access to God is not for everyone, doesn't it? The access to God is only for the priests. Think for a moment, you and I, as we worship the Lord, there are differences. Yes, similarities, but I mean fulfillment differences. For example, you and I, how many of us can come and bring our sacrifice to the Lord? Did you bring your sacrifice this morning? And so you brought your sacrifice. Spiritual sacrifice. Well, spiritual sacrifice, okay. But we don't bring sacrifices, why? Because Christ died once for all time as the ultimate sacrifice. And by the way, how about our mediator? You say, well, I have to go over there to, let's say, Nadab. I gotta go over there, you know, and maybe he can help me. And here's my problem. And you confess to him everything you've done. And you say, well, let's get the sacrifice on the way and put your hands on the sacrifice. You know, depending on various things, there are five different offerings we're gonna look at, not today. But, and they were for various things, you know. But you could go to him, and that's as far as it got. At that altar, that's where it was taken care of. And on the Day of Atonement even, you could watch the high priest disappear. into the holy place and know that he's going into the holy of holies, but you couldn't watch that, right? And you're thinking of the outer court here in the tabernacle. So in other words, everything was at a distance. Even for the high priest, remember, he comes to that veil and there are two cherubim, not embroidered, I gotcha, but what's the message? Think back to the garden. After sin, God blocked the way to the garden and the tree of life, you know, so that they couldn't eat that and continue in this state. Anyway, so blocking the way, and who did he put there? Well, he put a cherub there with a flaming sword that was pointing in every direction to keep him from getting in. And so, you see, here's, a picture that's hearkening back to the original blessing. And in the Old Covenant, as they had these, the tabernacle and the priesthood, who's in between you and God, and the sacrifice, which would die, right? Now the sacrifice, there were wave offerings and other things, but you know, oblations and stuff. But I mean, for blood sacrifice, the sacrifice would die. And He carried the blood in, you know, on the Day of Atonement and deal with everything like that and the nation was reconciled to God. But it had to be redone and redone and redone and redone. What was wrong with it? Well, all of it was a type and a shadow. It was not the reality. That's, by the way, a good deal of what we're looking at today in the sermon, in the text in Colossians, at least part of it. And when we think then, of the tabernacle, what does that represent besides, oh, I can't get, how do I ask it without giving it away? Who else does it represent? Put it that way. Jesus. Jesus Christ, right. And so when you look at Jesus Christ, in the description, we like John, don't we? John's one of those that gives us the most theological answers to all of these things. You know, He's set up that way. Anyway, in the very beginning, you know, in verse 14, when we talked about the Word, it says in the Word, literally translated, the Word tabernacled in our midst. You know, we beheld His glory. So we beheld Him. We beheld His glory. Like they beheld the glory in the wilderness. The glory is of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace, and truth, okay? And in verse 18 it says, no one has seen God at any time, but the only begotten Son who's in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him, right? So John is dealing with these things and saying, and then in chapter two, we go over to chapter two, Christ cleanses the temple, remember, and casts them out and the leaders, the chief priests and the like come over and they find Jesus and say, but what authority do you do this? Right? And give us a sign. We want a sign that tells us what right you have to do this. Jesus says, I'll give you a sign. He says, tear down this temple. Of course, the temple was what the, you know, the follow up to the synagogue, right? Excuse me, to the tabernacle. And so the temple, tear down this temple. And in three days, I'll raise it up again. They said, what? I mean, you know, it took 46 years for us to build this temple, and you'll build it in three days? And so the whole thing was taken as nonsense and used at his trial as an accusation, et cetera. But then it gives the rest of the description. It says, this spoke he about what death he would die. And they understood after he died what it meant, that he would be rising again. His temple, his body was the temple. And so we're looking then at Jesus Christ, all of these facts like the tabernacle itself and everything in the tabernacle is in one way or another pointing to him. And Christ is the temple. Now, by the way, Christ died on the cross, and that was the end of it. Just like the sacrifices in the Old Testament, they died, that was the end of it, right? Well, of course not. And this is another thing. Of course, what's different? We've mentioned it. Of course, it's God incarnate. You know, that's different. And he's resurrected from the dead, of course. But that resurrection from the dead is important in many ways. But think of this. Every sacrifice that was made, every one of them died and stayed dead. It wasn't able to cleanse people and bring eternal life, was it? It was an animal and it didn't bring life. It makes the point in Hebrews chapter seven, let's read it maybe, talking about the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. It makes a point about his priesthood, by the way. His priesthood, it says in verse 12, the priesthood being changed of necessity, a change of the law. Why? For he of whom these things are spoken belongs to another tribe from which no man is as officiated at the altar. In other words, Jesus Christ of the tribe of Judah is not of the priestly tribe of Levi. So, That's why it introduces the idea of Jesus Christ serves after the order. It means order of priests, right? After the order of Melchizedek. Melchizedek wasn't just a priest. What was he? A priest king. And so that's the whole point it's making here. And verse 14, for it is evident our Lord arose from Judah, of which tribe Moses spoke nothing concerning the priesthood. And it is yet far more evident if in the likeness of Melchizedek, there arises another priest. Now listen to 16, who has come not according to the law of fleshly commandment, but according to the power of endless life. It goes on in the next verse, talk about weaknesses and all of that, better hope in the next verse. But you see, There's a huge distinction. This sacrifice rose again from the dead, and this sacrifice is the power of endless life. Chapter nine of Hebrews makes a difference, another difference. It says that the blood of lambs, bulls, and goats, and the ashes of a heifer is only good for the cleansing of the flesh. It says, but Christ is the one who can cleanse the conscience. Now, how can he cleanse the conscience? How does that relate? Forgiveness of sins. What is that ultimate promise of the new covenant? I will remember your sins no more. That's it, I will remember your sins no more. So in Christ we are justified, right? His righteousness put to our account, our sins satisfied and everything in his death. And so the whole point here being that as we're looking at these things, we must also look forward to Jesus Christ. He was the temple who, you know, came as the embodiment, Emmanuel, God among us or with us. And then the idea of he's the sacrifice. as we saw in Colossians 2.9. This one who's the sacrifice is the same one who's creator, is the same one who's the fullness of the Godhead in bodily form. Not a little Godhead in bodily form, or a little deity, but the fullness of the Godhead in bodily form, and he's the one who died in our place. That too is coming today. We'll return to it when you already know it. But what else? Priesthood. It says in verse 725, I'm in Hebrews already anyway, 725, therefore he's able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through him since. This is the other part about him continuing to live. He ever lives to make intercession for them. So the sacrifice that Christ resurrected as he is, is the power of endless life is that which we receive from him. Furthermore, because he's risen from the dead, he ever lives, eternally in other words, to make intercession for us. Well, that being the case, when we think then of what the law is showing us, I'm bringing this up for a good reason, and that is the law was by design meant to teach us it's temporary. Yes. Yeah, in 2.12 to 17 where it says that Christ, you know, we who are far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. And he's, also it talks about he created one new man in Christ that is a Jew and Gentile. And did you want to read it for us? Oh, you're volunteering. I didn't know that. Sorry. Remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of the prophets, having no hope with and without God in the world. But now, in Christ Jesus, you grow old, far off, having been brought near by the blood of Christ. For He Himself is our Redeemer, who has made us both one, and has broken down in His flesh to divide all in hostility. Did you read 18? We're through, and we both have access in one spirit to the Father. So see, here we talk about a Trinitarian fulfillment. Because in verse 18, that it goes, everything that Christ did, and by the way, Hebrews 9 makes the same point. That it wasn't just going there and that far. to the altar, but you have God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit all mentioned as here is the fulfillment that's done in Jesus Christ. And it's extraordinary. And did you get the part he read, by the way, that we were at one time strangers, aliens in the covenants of promise without hope and without God in the world. We, who are far off, brought near, also brings the idea across, we are full covenant members with the Commonwealth of Israel, as it's worded there. We are full heirs of everything he says. So those who say, well, you're a replacement theology, that's a deliberate red herring. Either that or they're not listening. Didn't say replace. We say we're made heirs with believing Israel of the same promises. And by the way, we're not making it up. I didn't even choose passage, he chose it. And that proves, you see that one of the passages that proves that we have access to him. And one new man, I remember reading O.T. Alice in his book, what is it? The Tribulation in the Church? No. Anyway, I'll show it to you. I know where it is. It's a Brown book. Turn around and pick right there and turn back around. I know where it is. But he wrote in his introduction, I thought just the dust cover was worth the price of the book, where he talks about, he says, there are two religions. There's a religion that says, you know, that the dividing wall that was between Jew and Gentile has been broken down forever in Jesus Christ, and he's made one new man, and we are far off had been brought near. He said the other religion popular in evangelicalism is that Christ has broken down the dividing wall, but he's gonna re-erect the dividing wall at the end of his age. So you see, that's not the way they word it, but I mean, that's in effect what it is. And I thought, now there's a way I've never thought of it before. It's helpful to clarify things in your mind. So anyway, these types and shadows that we're looking at here, and that's what these are, these were not types, these were not something that were irrelevant for the Jews at the time, though. When we look at this, we need to consider it in its time. So we see in the wilderness, this is what God had ordained, that this would be sufficient for the time. But as we read the New Testament, it says, like in Galatians 3.24, it says that the law was a schoolmaster to lead us to Christ. That's what this is functioning as. You see how this leads us to Christ as the tabernacle? It leads us to Christ as... the one who is the sacrifice. It leads us to Christ, the one who is the high priest. It leads us to Christ as the one who is the light of the world and the bread from heaven on earth and the one who is the, you know, interceding at the right hand of the Father on high like the altar of incense, the one who is on the mercy seat, the one who is the Shekinah glory of God in our midst, the one who is, you know, He's our anchor within that veil, it says in the New Testament. All of these things that are here we have shown to us in all of this tabernacle worship and mediation is a picture that's like a schoolmaster, a good schoolmaster, leading us to learn more about Christ. And by the way, don't you learn more about Christ this way? Let me mention a danger. There's a danger of those that would re-erect some of this and say there's a priest. And if you got sin, you must go to the priest. And the priest is the one to whom you make confession. And the priest is the one who can forgive you in the name of the Lord. And the priest is the one who does a sacrifice. It is called, by the way, an oblation. It is called a sacrifice in the Roman Church. In case you're wondering, I can show it to you in the Council of Trent, in the writings of the Council of Trent, and in their latest catechism. So, I'm making it up. And so, you see here, you've got that Old Covenant mentality that's brought into this. And you see the dangers of not discerning between the type and shadow and seeing how it's fulfilled in Jesus Christ. And so where's our mediator now? Well, in heaven at the right hand of the Father on high. Well, how do we come to the mediator now? Well, see now in the new covenant, what is one of the things that's, who is the one who's introduced in clarity, greater clarity in the new covenant from the, especially from the time of of well in the gospel of John, gospel according to John, Jesus speaking from chapters 12 on. He's talking about the Holy Spirit a lot. And he says, it behooves you that I go away, but if I go away, I'll be glorified, right? And he says, I will send another helper and he will, you know, what's that? Yeah, the Pericles, the Paracletos. And so he'll be the one who will, continue to minister in Christ's stead. And so at Pentecost, what happens? From the right hand of the Father on high, from heaven, he sends the Holy Spirit. And by the way, where's the Holy Spirit now? Right, I mean, he is God, so he's ubiquitous, but I mean, especially in a very special presence that he indwells every single believer. And so when you think then of what are we called? Well, we're called saints, but we're also called a temple, right? Or a tabernacle of the Holy Spirit. And so when we're looking here at the tabernacle and all that's there, what happens is the Holy Spirit brings all of this of Christ to us. And so we can go to our mediator, how? We pray in the Spirit. That doesn't mean you blab in tongues. to pray in the Holy Spirit means that you're praying through the Holy Spirit unto God in the name and through the mediation of our Lord Jesus Christ. And so as we think of this triune way, that's why I had him read Ephesians 2.18 again. And that is the whole point that here we, in Christ, by the Spirit, come unto the Father. And so this The fact that we are the temple of the Holy Spirit now, I can't emphasize or overemphasize how significant that is. Yes, sir. Just one verse on that that I think so illustrates what the ministry of the Holy Spirit actually is. Romans 8, 16. Right. It says, the Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God. Right. In that same part in the previous verse, the verse right before it, it talks how we have the spirit of adoption. within, right? Crying Abba, Father. And so there, because in Christ, we can call, who's the only one who prayed to Abba, called God Abba in the New Testament? The Son. And here, that's the significance of this. It's saying we can pray to our Father like that. because of the adoption in Christ. And this, I want to, all kinds of things I want to do, but if I can get as far as looking at Galatians 4, and you look at that fantastic portion of scripture, verses 3 and following, where it talks about, you know, and there that It talks about in 4, you know, in the fullness of time He came forth, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem us out from under the law and all this sort of thing. And it says that, and the Father has sent the Spirit of the Son in us, crying, Abba, Father. Notice it emphasizes something. The Sonship of the Spirit of the Son, the Holy Spirit, bringing the Son His adoptive work and power in us that we can cry out as though, because we're in Christ, we can pray, Abba, Father. That's extraordinary. And you know what? It's because of this breakdown in language, I think we don't get it. Say, oh, that's an Aramaic word, isn't it? And I've heard people say, that means daddy. Oh, back off from that. We're talking to God. Let's at least say it means we have the intimacy and the privilege of station to be called children of God. By the way, notice we're adopted, not natural sons. There's only one. Yes, yeah. Sure it was, yeah. Well, how did he teach his disciples to pray? That was another thing. You know what, enough to say, our Father, He teaches us to pray that way. And so I think when we can get these things lined up in our thinking, our realizing what they were hearing and what they were used to, and then hearing what Jesus is saying, and realize how radical and revolutionary it sounded. It was blasphemous to a lot of them. of what Jesus was saying, but for us to see just how incredibly special it is. And there's the takeaway from the tabernacle. Of all you see there, you're held at arm's length from a holy God through this mediators and through all of this furniture and through all of this distance and curtains and whatnot. It says that you and I come In Hebrews chapter 10 verses 19 and following, it says to come into the holiest of all. That's the holy of holies. It says boldly to come. Not with fear, but boldly come. That's extraordinary. And it says by this new and living way. What is the new living way? Did you catch the part it threw in there? Living way. the blood of Christ. Then it goes on, the body of Christ. And it goes furthermore, and it says, with full assurance of faith. And so the tabernacle has much to teach us. Let's pray that we can garner all that we can next week. Let's close in prayer. Our Heavenly Father, as we wrestle with these few things, we find them moving us to greater gratitude for your grace. We're also mindful of the fact of how these things that people have thought to continue them now, to re-erect the types, to look again for the shadows and stop there and not see the sufficiency and the superiority. the fulfillment in toto, in Jesus Christ. Father, may we be they that would be, yes, enraptured with this worship of you in this marvelous new covenant way, but may we also be those that desire to help others to see the preeminence of Christ and what it is they're missing. Grant it to be so we ask in Jesus name. Amen.