22-0918a - Transcript

1st Reader: Roger Raines

Good morning. I’ll be reading from the book of Hebrews, chapter 7, verses 26 through 27. Hebrews 7, 26 through the end of the chapter.

For it was fitting for us to have such a high priest, holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners and exalted above all the heavens, who do not need daily like those high priests to offer up sacrifices, first for his own sin and then for his own sin of the people, because he did this once for all which he has offered himself. For the law appoints men as high priests who are weak, but the word of the oath which came after the law appoints a son made perfect forever. This concludes this reading.

2nd Reader: John Nousek

Good morning. So our next reading comes from the first book of Peter, chapter 2, verses 6 and 7. That’s 1 Peter, chapter 2, verses 6 and 7, which reads, For this is contained in Scripture. Behold, I lay in Zion a choice stone, a precious cornerstone, and he who believes in him will not be disappointed.

The precious value, then, is for you who believe. But for those who disbelieve, the stone which the builders rejected, this became the very cornerstone. Amen.

Preacher: Tom Freed

Good morning. How are you all doing? All right. Well, we’re all filling in for Kevin.

So you don’t know what you’re going to get from one day to the next. Hopefully I do a good job. One of my favorite studies in the Bible is to look at different types and anti-types.

So Scott has done a few studies on this and Jim. To me, I really think it’s interesting to look at a different typology in the Bible. There are many different examples you can look at.

A type can be defined as a biblical person, thing, action, event, ceremony, structure, furniture, number, et cetera, that prefigures an anti-type of the same in the New Testament. So it’s always a little bit confusing what a type and anti-type is, I think. You almost think of an anti-type as something different.

But it’s actually the same thing. Marianne Webster has a good definition of it. A person or thing is in the Old Testament, believed to foreshadow another as in the New Testament.

So one way to think of it is the type in the Old Testament is a shadow cast by the anti-type in the New Testament. So it’s like looking into the future. The actual anti-type is in the future and the type is in the past.

So the anti-type would be an original stamp. Types would all be copies. So some examples are Adam, Joseph, Isaac, and Melchizedek.

They’re all a type of Christ who is the anti-type. He’s the original stamp. They’re all copies.

They were all shadows of the original. So another example is a bronze serpent in the wilderness and a cross. So most of the studies in typology focus on how people are similar to Christ.

The interesting thing is Jesus isn’t just the anti-type of people, but he’s also the anti-type of different material things in the Old Testament. So whenever I heard of studying the types and anti-types, I always thought it was just about people. I didn’t realize it could be about just different objects.

So I’ve been reading this book called Jesus Unmasked by Todd Friel. In one of the chapters, he talks about how Jesus is a tabernacle. So I thought this was one of the most interesting things I’ve read in a while.

And I decided to use that chapter to write this sermon. So I used a lot of what he said. I added in some of my own things.

And like I said, I really enjoy it. I hope you guys enjoy it. Todd Friel, I got it off of Amazon Kindle.

If you guys are interested in reading that. Let’s take a closer look at how Jesus represents the tabernacle. The tabernacle was very important in the Old Testament.

It was the centerpiece of the Mosaic Covenant. After Moses led Israel out of Egypt and through the wilderness to Mount Sinai, he received the Ten Commandments. During the 40 days and 40 nights on the mountain of God, God told Moses to take an offering of different materials to build a tabernacle.

So he took all kinds of different materials from the people they got from Egypt to build a tabernacle. And God laid out the whole plan for them. He told them exactly how to build it so God may dwell among his people.

Exodus 25, 8 and 9. And let them make me a sanctuary that I might dwell among them. According to all that I show you, that is the pattern of the tabernacle and the pattern of all the furnishings, just as you shall make it. So they carried it around wherever they went in the wilderness and they set it up where God told them to.

Once they entered the Promised Land, the tabernacle would be replaced by a permanent temple with a similar design. The tabernacle and temple were an integral part of the Old Mosaic Covenant because two major things happened there. First, the priests would perform their daily duties, especially blood sacrifices.

So they sacrificed animals, goats and bulls for the forgiveness of sins. One day a year, on the Day of Atonement, God’s special presence, His Shekinah Glory would fall on the Holy of Holies. He would come and dwell with his people.

The Hebrew word for tabernacle is Mishkan. It comes from two words, Mish, the place something happens. The root, Shkan, which means to dwell.

So when you put those words together, you have a place where God dwells. But just as God would come and dwell with his people in the tabernacle on the Day of Atonement, Jesus also came to earth to dwell with us and to atone for our sins. John 1.14, And the word became flesh, and he dwelt among us.

And we beheld his glory. The glory is of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. But just like the priests would make sacrifices for sins of the people, Jesus became our sacrifice.

And he sacrificed himself once and for all for our sins. Hebrews 7.26 and 27, For such a high priest was fitting for us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and has become higher than the heavens, who does not need daily all those high priests to offer up sacrifices, first for his own sins, then for the people’s. For he did this once and for all, he offered himself up.

But he was a perfect sacrifice. We know that animal sacrifices, they didn’t meet God’s requirements. So Christ did it once and for all.

But if we look at the theme of the New Testament book of Hebrews, it basically tells us that Jesus is better. Hebrews tells us that Jesus is better than the angels. That he is a better covenant.

The better tabernacle. That Jesus is a better everything. God himself is the architect of the tabernacle, and it is reasonable to conclude that not only the tent itself is a type shadow of Jesus, but so is each and every piece of furniture in the tabernacle.

So it’s hard to believe, but Jesus can represent even the furniture in the tabernacle. Some theologians believe we should not assign a type to each object in the tabernacle. But since Hebrews 9 lists every piece of furniture in the tabernacle, it’s reasonable to conclude that every item in the tabernacle is a picture of Jesus.

Hebrews 9, 1-5 lists the furniture in the tabernacle. Then indeed, even the first covenant had ordinances of divine service and the earthly sanctuary. For a tabernacle was prepared, the first, in which was the lampstand, the table, and the showbread, which is called the sanctuary.

And behind the second veil, the part of the tabernacle which is called the holiest of all, which had the golden censer and the ark of the covenant overlaid on all sides of gold, in which was a golden pot that had the manna and the rod that bought it in the tablet of the covenant. And above it was a cherubim of glory oversharing the mercy seat. Of these things we cannot now speak in detail.

So let’s take a closer look at the tabernacle furniture. Let’s see how the shadowy Old Testament picture of Jesus in the New Testament. First, let’s look at the entrance of the outer courtyard.

The children of Israel entered the tabernacle through the door, which always faced east, into the outer courtyard. Jesus is the door, John 10, 7-9. And Jesus said to them again, Most assuredly I say to you, I am the door of the sheep.

All who ever came before me are thieves and robbers, for the sheep did not hear them. I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved.

And he will go in and out and find a pastor. So we can see that Jesus represents the door. Through him alone is the only way to salvation, and you can’t enter heaven except through him.

So he’s the only doorway to heaven. John 14, 6. Jesus said to them, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

If we knock, he’ll open the door to us. Matthew 7, 7. Ask and it will be given. Seek and you will find.

Knock and it will be opened to you. He doesn’t discriminate. If you obey his will, he’ll open the door.

Let’s look at the laver. The laver was a water basin in which the priests washed their hands and feet daily. They could not enter the holy place without washing themselves in the act of ceremonial purification.

Jesus is the laver. John 13, 8. Peter said to him, you shall never wash my feet. Jesus answered, if I do not wash you, you have no part of me.

We can see here that Jesus humbled himself and washed and cleansed his disciples' feet. It was a common custom of our Lord to pass from sensible and temporal things to those which are spiritual and eternal. The physical washing could have been emblematic of the spiritual washing by his blood and our sins by the Holy Spirit at baptism.

So a lot of the things Jesus did that were physical and earthly had a greater meaning. If the discourse was of bread, water, leaven, father, mother, riches, etc., he immediately changed the literal sense and under the figure of these things spoke matters altogether spiritual and divine. Next, let’s look at the golden lampstand or a candlestick with menorah.

A seven-branched candlestick made of pure gold, burnt olive oil, night and day, serving as the only light in the tabernacle. Without this light, they could not see God in his holy place. In darkness, the other articles would have been impossible to see.

Christ is the lampstand. Then Jesus spoke to him again, saying, I am the light of the world. He who follows me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.

John 8, 12. John 1, 4. So we can see that Jesus is the light. Jesus is the word and we need to use the word to light our path.

Psalm 119, 105. If you are a Christian and walk in the light, your sins are cleansed. 1 John 1, 7. But if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another.

In the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanses us from all sin. So what’s next that we can look at? The table of shewbread. The table with shewbread was to the right as one entered the holy palace.

On it were twelve loaves of bread representing God’s covenant people, Israel. The table was a place of communion and fellowship between God and people. Jesus is the shewbread.

John 6, 32-35. Then Jesus said to them, Moses, surely I say to you, Moses did not give you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.

Then they said to him, Lord, give us this bread always. And Jesus said to them, I am the bread of the Lord. He who comes to me shall never hunger, and he who believes in me shall never thirst.

We can see that God represents the bread. We break the bread and honor him in the Lord’s Supper every single week. Next let’s look at the golden altar, the altar of incense.

The golden altar was used to burn incense. Its fragrance wafted across the mercy seat and above the other furniture. The incense burned on the altar continuously.

The incense on the altar represented prayer and speak to us on intercession. Coal of the heathen’s offer came from the altar of sacrifice, and the blood of the sacrifice dripped on them. This was God’s supremely holy altar.

Christ is the altar of incense. Hebrews 7, 25-26. Therefore he is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through him, because he always lives to make intercession for them.

For such a high priest was fitting for us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and has become higher than the heavens. So we can see that Christ intercedes for us. Next let’s look at the veil.

The veil was a very thick curtain made of blue, purple, and scarlet, fine and twined linen. No priest could enter the Holy of Holies to approach the Ark of the Covenant except through the veil. If a priest passed through the veil without being sacrificially clean, God would strike him dead.

God cannot have sin in his presence. Jesus is the veil. Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holy of Holies by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which he consecrated for us, through the veil that is his flesh.

Hebrews 10, 19-20. So when he died on the cross, the veil was split in two. Matthew 27, 51.

Then behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom, and the earthquake and the rock split. The separation between Jews and Gentiles was now abolished, and the privilege of the high priest was now communicated to all mankind, so he had access to his throne. Next let’s look at the Ark of the Covenant.

This special trunk-like box was the centerpiece of the Holy of Holies. On top of the Ark was a lid called the mercy seat. Hovering above the mercy seat were two cherubim with outstretched wings.

The Ark contained two tablets of the Ten Commandments, the pot of manna, and errands around their buttocks. One time a year on the Day of Atonement, the blood of a goat was placed on the mercy seat to cover the sins of the people. It was there above the mercy seat that God hovered in the pillar of cloud and offered propitiation for the people.

Christ is the mercy seat, Romans 3, 24 and 25, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed. We have redemption through His blood. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of His grace, Ephesians 1, 7. What else was He? He was also the priest.

The priests were the mediators between God and man. The high priest was the head priest. Jesus is the high priest, Hebrews 7, 26.

Such a high priest was fitting for us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separated from sinners, and has become higher than the heavens. He is a priest in the order of Melchizedek, Psalms 110, 4. The Lord has sworn and will not relent. You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.

So Christ, He couldn’t officially become a priest because He wasn’t a Levite, but He was a priest in the order of Melchizedek. He was not the high priest in the time of David, nor could He be a priest as the order of Melchizedek until after His death, burial, and resurrection. He is our eternal priest with no beginning or ending, and like Melchizedek He abides perpetually.

Without father, without mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but made like the Son of God, remains a priest continually, Hebrews 7, 3. What about the sacrifice? Yearly an unblemished lamb was slaughtered for the covering of sins of the individual. The priest would place their hands on the lamb, symbolically transferring the sins of the people to the lamb that would be slaughtered for the covering, but not the forgiveness of sins. But Christ was the sacrifice.

The bulls and goats could not take away the sin, Hebrews 10, 4-5. For it is not possible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. Therefore when He came into the world, He said, I have sacrificed an offering you did not desire, but a body you have prepared for me.

So the body prepared was Jesus. He is a perfect sacrifice. Hebrews 10, 10.

By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once and for all. So He was the ultimate sacrifice. Now we don’t need a sacrifice once a year.

This sacrifice is good for all time. But it’s amazing how many different pieces of furniture Jesus represents. It’s hard to believe that He can not only represent people, but every piece of furniture in the tabernacle, among a lot of other things.

But did you notice one piece of furniture is strangely absent? Day after day, year after year, the priests entered in and out of the tabernacle to offer sacrifices. They stood on their feet hour after hour, and they never sat down because their work was never done. A piece of furniture that was missing in the tabernacle was a chair.

The old covenant priests continually offered sacrifice as a picture of the greater sacrifice that was needed. They never rested from their labor. And every priest stands ministering daily and offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins, Hebrews 10, 11.

So the sacrifices they made, they covered the sin, but they weren’t acceptable to fully forgive us of our sins. When Jesus finished His work on earth, living a sinless life, becoming the perfect sacrifice, raising from the dead and ascending into heaven, His work was done. Christ sat down.

Hebrews 10, 12-14. But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sin, he sat down at the right hand of God. Since that time, he waits for his enemy to be made his pistol, because by one sacrifice, he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.

The contrast that is here made by the apostle is well represented by Minkin as follows. The priest of the Old Testament stands timid and uneasy in the holy place, anxiously performing his awful service and hastening to depart when the service is done. It’s from a place where he has no free access and can never feel at home.

Whereas Christ sits down in everlasting rest and blessedness at the right hand of the majesty and the Holy of Holies. His work accomplished and He Himself awaiting its reward. So we can see that Jesus is now seated at the right hand of God.

Hebrews 1, 3. The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of His being, sustaining all things by His powerful word. After He had provided purification for sins, He sat down at the right hand of the majesty in heaven. That doesn’t mean He abandoned us.

He sent His helper until He returns. John 16, 7. Nevertheless, I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away.

For if I do not go away, the helper will not come to you. But if I depart, I will send him to you. But we receive the Holy Spirit after we obey God’s commands and are baptized for the forgiveness of sins.

Acts 2, 38. And Peter said, Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Christ for the remission of sins, and you shall receive the Holy Spirit. When we become a Christian, the Holy Spirit tabernacles in us.

Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? 1 Corinthians 6, 19. Christians are the temple of God, and each of us our living stone. 1 Peter 2, 4-5.

Coming to Him is to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious. You also, as living stones, are built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. But the church isn’t this building.

We’re actually the church. We’re all stones. And Jesus is the chief cornerstone.

1 Peter 2, 6-7. Therefore it is also contained in Scripture. Behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone, a lot precious, and he who believes on him will by no means be put to shame.

Therefore, to you who believe, he is precious. But to those who are disobedient, the stone which the builders have rejected can become the chief cornerstone. But we are the temple of God, and the temple is holy.

1 Corinthians 3, 16-17. Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit dwells in you? If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are.

But we are the temple of God now. The Spirit’s in us. That’s why we have to make sure we try as best as we can to avoid sin.

Or we might lose the Spirit. He cannot be in a place that’s defiled. If you’re not a Christian, you’re not part of God, and none of these things apply to you, and you’ll be cast out into outer darkness.

Matthew 22, 13-14. And the king said to his servants, Find them hand and foot, take them away, and cast them into outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, for many are called, but few are chosen.

So there are no benefits to rejecting God. But there are so many great blessings and benefits when you obey his command and become a Christian. If you’re not a Christian, why wait? Arise and be baptized and call on his name.

That’s 22-16. And now why are you waiting? Arise and be baptized and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord. You call on his name through obedience, and being baptized is part of that.

Calling on his name isn’t just calling his name out. Calling on his name, as you see here, is doing what he says and obeying his command. That’s how you call on the Lord’s name.

Not everyone that says, Lord, Lord, will enter heaven, but those who do his will. Matthew 7-21. Not everyone that says to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father in heaven.

I think everybody here is a Christian. But if you’re not, there’s no time like today to become a Christian. We’re not offered promise tomorrow.

We could die on the way home. We could die tomorrow. This could be your last chance.

This could be your last chance to repent if you’re in sin. So if you need the prayer that you want to become a Christian, come forward. Thank you.

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