House of Prayer - Part 2 - Pastor Raymond Woodward

well in this series we are studying the tabernacle which is an incredibly important part of the scripture there are only two chapters about creation in the entire Bible but there are 42 chapters about the tabernacle plan and you know why we talked about it last week because it demonstrates God's original pattern for relationship and the tabernacle foreshadows basically everything else that comes later in the Word of God now God gave the original pattern for a portable tabernacle to Moses on Mount Sinai and we read in Exodus chapter 25 that this plan this pattern actually came by the voice of God God said let them make me a sanctuary that I may dwell among them according to all that I show you Moses after the pattern of the tabernacle everyone say pattern and the pattern of all the instruments thereof even so shall you make it now many many years later King David wanted to build a temple a permanent structure for the Lord it would have essentially the same floor plan but it would have some auxilary rooms and be a little expanded a little bigger but God asked David not to build that temple because David had been a man of war and he left it for his son Solomon and so in first chronicles 28 David gives the pattern for a permanent temple to his son Solomon in Jerusalem and this time the Bible says that the pattern the the plan for the temple the permanent structure came by the hand of God 1st chronicles 28 verse 19 all this said David the Lord made me understand in writing by his hand upon me by the hand of God even all the works of this pattern somebody say pattern and so there there is a pattern for this building it is the building that God designed unlike anything that man could design and centuries later again the writer of Hebrews tells us that these earthly patterns were actually based on a tabernacle plan up in heaven and so God was actually giving Moses a plan that he already had in a heavenly tabernacle Ebru says the earthly priesthood they serve under the example and shadow of heavenly things as Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the tabernacle for see saith he that thou make all things according to the pattern showed thee in the Mount Ayr was a pattern so I think we see the pattern there's a pattern to the tabernacle the tabernacle is a fourfold prophetic picture in the Word of God it's a picture of the salvation plan we talked about that a little bit last week it's a prophetic picture of Jesus we're gonna discuss that tonight it's also a lot of people miss this it's a prophetic picture of you as an individual a human being serving God and it's finally a prophetic picture of Prayer and your authority and a pattern in prayer and so the whole tabernacle we looked at all this furniture briefly last week and concentrated on three pieces but over here the the tabernacle you can see the furniture is in the shape of a cross there's a long beam and there's a short beam that that comes across in the holy place and so we're gonna talk about that a little bit tonight I thought it would be easy for some of you that are very kind of detail oriented and maybe visual oriented it might be good to chart it out and so here's the vertical beam of that cross in the tabernacle the vertical beam shows us God's plan of salvation and it includes three pieces of furniture the brazen altar the brazen Laver and way at the other end the Ark of the Covenant and they're in a straight line and if you follow those three the pattern is this that they represent three elements in God's plan blood shed on the altar water where the priests immersed their hands and washed and then finally the spirit that the Shekinah presence of God rested on the Ark of the Covenant in the Holy of Holies and so if we look at Jesus what we have is we have his death his burial and his resurrection the altar represents death the water represents burial and and the resurrection power the Shekinah glory of God on the Ark of the Covenant that represents his resurrection power and then we have in our own lives and we talked about this last week we come to an altar of repentance and we die to ourselves on the altar of repentance that's the first step you don't get anywhere with God without repentance and then secondly we experience baptism in the name of Jesus for the remission the washing away of our sins and so we are immersed into water in the name of Jesus there's nothing magic about the water there wasn't then but there was something supernatural that God enabled to happen in that water he meant the priests in the water when they washed their hands but he meets us in the waters of Baptism and then finally at the Ark of the Covenant the far end of the tabernacle we see the power of the Holy Ghost the same spirit that raised Christ from the dead it dwells in us so that's the vertical beam of the cross there's a cross in the tabernacle and then if you look Horace on telly which cuts right across the holy place in that place you have three articles of furniture there's the golden candlestick the altar of incense and the table of showbread and so the three physical elements there of course are light from the candlestick an incense burned on the altar of incense and finally bread that was eaten by the priests from the table of showbread if you look at the life of Jesus those things represent him being the light of the world they represent him being our intercessor our great High Priest and and finally they represent him being the bread of life but if you take it into our lives which we'll do a little bit of next week we are also alight because we have Jesus in us and so that represents that golden candlesticks our witness that is the oil of the Holy Ghost pours into us like it was poured into the candlestick a light shines forth and we are a witness and then the altar of incense of course represents prayer because we also were called to intercede for people just like we did in our prayer time tonight we're called to stand in the and intercede for others and then finally the table of showbread represents your relationship with the word the bread of life the bread of God and it's very very important prayer is talking to God but the word is God talking to you and so both are very important now not everybody is familiar with the tabernacle plan what it looked like and we've got a very kind of elementary setup over here to represent it not everybody's familiar and and furthermore not everybody has the aptitude you know pastors they they're kind of weird people they they get into the the bars and the curtains and the ropes and the nails and the pegs and all of this stuff in the tabernacle normal people don't usually do that and so for all of you that you're not as familiar with the tabernacle we'll just take one more look at a little video that kind of shows you a bird's-eye view of what the tabernacle would look like in the Old Testament let's take a look [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] so that building sets up God's pattern for relationship with humanity how holy God could fellowship with sinful human beings and that's why the furniture of the tabernacle was laid out in the shape of a cross a long beam and a short beam but it wasn't just the tabernacle itself the twelve tribes camped around the tabernacle in the shape of the cross they went out four different ways and so their cross was there if you look down the bird's-eye view on the children of Israel as they were encamped in the desert but it wasn't just that you remember the story of Moses lifting up the brazen serpent in the wilderness and when he did that that was a dramatic portrayal of the cross that if you looked you could live and the brazen serpent was made of brass it was beaten brass it was in the shape of the fiery serpents that were causing the plague Jesus became sin he was lifted up and became sin for us so that we could be forgiven but it wasn't just that you remember this one - when the blood of the Passover lamb was placed on the doorposts and the lentils of the israelite homes in egypt this was when they were slaves they'd been slaves for over 400 years and they were instructed to put the blood on the doorposts and the lentils of their homes and on that night when the Death Angel came through to destroy the firstborn in every house of Egypt because Pharaoh would not let God's people go when they went out and put that blood on the doorpost of their house put it on the doorpost put it on the lintel everyone who did that they were actually doing so with the shape of the cross over their home it was the blood that caused the death angel in the plague to pass over them later when David wrote about his agony and his enemies he prophetically and precisely described crucifixion in Psalm 22 now crucifixion was a brutal form of of execution that would not be even invented for another thousand years but David wrote so precisely he wrote about he wrote about thirsting and he wrote about enemies surrounding him and he wrote about them casting Lots for his garments and he wrote about all of that it didn't happen to David he was writing prophetically and he even starts Psalm 22 with these words my God my God why hast thou forsaken me it would be a thousand years before crucifixion was invented but he perfectly described what happened to Jesus you see the cross has always been the way to God and the cross is foreshadowed throughout the Old Testament but no we're brothers and sisters no where is that picture painted any more beautifully or any more accurately than in the tabernacle plan and tonight I'm so excited to teach you this because it's brilliant and it's beautiful and it's profound the Gospel of John is my favorite gospel among the Gospels it's unique for many reasons for one thing John writes thirty years later than the other three gospel writers because they were all martyred years before they wrote in the early 60s of the first century John writes in the early 90s and so as he writes the words of his gospel he's the only surviving apostle of the first century Church and his target audience is different Matthew wrote his gospel to the Jews to show them that Jesus was the Jewish Messiah and Matthews always saying Jesus did this or said this that it might be fulfilled he's proving to the Jews Jesus was their Messiah and mark he writes to the Romans and and Mark is showing the Romans who who had many many slaves they were a brutal Empire that conquered everyone he's showing Jesus as a servant and and he uses the word straightway all the time straightway Jesus did this and straightway he went here and straightway this happened and he's showing the Romans as Jesus Jesus as a servant on a mission accomplishing something and and mark records these words of course that son of man did not come to be served like the Romans he came to serve and to give his life a ransom for many and then you've got Luke Luke writes about Jesus the Son of Man and he writes to the Greeks and the Greeks are highly educated so Luke he gives a chronological view of Jesus life and I think there's like 2,500 words in the Gospel of Luke and he lays it all out and it's it's beautiful and then Luke writes a sequel that you know is the book of Acts but John doesn't just write to the Jews or to the Romans or to the Greeks John writes thirty years after those three to the Apostolic Church as a whole and so 90% of John's Gospel is unique no parables in John but many conversations in John in in John Jesus talks with Nicodemus the Samaritan woman Mary and Martha Peter on and on many conversations and Jesus is always talking about his identity to them who he is and and what he can do and John is very selective even about the miracles he records some are unique only to him you would not know about the raising of Lazarus from the dead if it hadn't been for the Gospel of John it's not recorded anywhere else and then when John does record miracles he typically twins a miracle with something jesus said and and and puts them together and it's for example when Jesus when he resurrected Lazarus from the dead Jesus then says I am the resurrection and the life and so miracles and teaching are twinned together in John so it's a really amazing book and only in John does Jesus talk at such a length about his identity so it's a masterpiece of Revelation it identifies the one and only God the true and living God who came to earth in a body of flesh but this is so awesome there's one more reason that John's Gospel is unique and that's because as you read John's Gospel you can clearly see the tabernacle plan laid out from beginning to end in John's Gospel it's amazing and it gets started with these words and the word was made flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld his glory the glory as of the only begotten of the Father full of grace and truth now when when John says he dwelt among us he uses a very specific word scan us and and it means to tent or in camp to occupy to reside or to Tabernacle John literally starts his gospel by saying that the Word was made flesh and he tabernacled among us Jesus was the tabernacle in a body of flesh all the beauty and all the power of every implement and piece of furniture in the tabernacle it resided in Jesus John intends to show you something as you read through his gospel he intends to show you that the tabernacle of the Old Testament literally painted a prophetic picture of Jesus only in John's Gospel does Jesus say this jesus answered and said unto them destroy this temple and in three days I'll raise it up then said the Jews 46 years was this temple in building and you think you're gonna rear it up again in three days watch this but Jesus was speaking of the temple of his body it wasn't just some allegorical metaphorical sense Jesus literally was God tabernacled templed in a body of flesh that's what John's trying to prove to us and so as you walk through the Gospel of John this is so amazing I got so stuck in all of this stuff because it just keeps us like chewing gum the longer you chew on it the bigger it gets it's just amazing the first piece of furniture that you encountered when you went into the tabernacle was that brazen altar that was where sacrifice was offered and the very first thing you encounter in the Gospel of John is this declaration from John the Baptist the next day John the Baptist sees Jesus coming to him and he says behold the lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world and don't miss that lambs were sacrificed on that brazen altar right there lambs shed their blood on that brazen altar and so a lamb sacrificed is the same it's a synonym it's signaling to us that John is talking about that brazen altar that's the first thing you encounter in his gospel is this Ministry of John the Baptist and John's declaration that Jesus isn't just another prophet he's not just another teacher but this is the Lamb of God who's going to be given as a sacrifice for sin so even though you might not notice that we just encountered the brazen altar in the Gospel of John so now we go from the brazen altar and we start looking for the next piece of furniture which is the brazen Laver and sure enough the brazen Laver in type makes an appearance in the Gospel of John because the brazen Laver is where priests washed and we don't have to look very far before John just starts rapid-fire telling us several events that involve water in chapter 1 Jesus is baptized by John the Baptist and in chapter 2 Jesus turns water into wine but guess what John makes this note that Jesus uses six huge water pots that held 20 to 30 gallons apiece and they were water poss specially made because they held water that the Jews used for ceremonial washing they called it mikvah we would call it baptism it was ceremonial washing do you understand that Jesus used water that was used for baptism to make that wine at that wedding in Cana of Galilee and then in chapter 3 we come to a very famous conversation Jesus is talking to Nicodemus who's a ruler of the Jews and he says Nicodemus you must be born again of water and of the spirit or you can't enter into the kingdom of God you you've got to do it this way Nicodemus you have to be born of the water and the spirit now Nicodemus was an elder of the Jews when somebody said born of water that's a phrase that Nicodemus would immediately identify that's mikvah because they would immerse people there I've been in Israel and seeing the the mikvahs there they're like a big square thing sometimes and and people walk down stairs into them and they walk until they are completely submerged so Nicodemus knew what mikvah what ceremonial washing was he knew what baptism that's what we would call it he knew what that was he knows exactly what Jesus is talking about when he says you must be born of the water and of the Spirit that's in John now you might not see it as you just read through the Gospel of John but what we're encountering is we're starting to walk through the tabernacle we've already seen the Lamb of God that would be sacrificed on the altar of the brazen altar for our sins and we've already seen the Laver the washing in chapter 4 of John Jesus has another event that happens he tells a sinful woman at a well in Samaria I am the living water all who drink of me will never thirst again the first few chapters of John after John the Baptist makes that declaration about the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world it's just water water water everywhere in chapter 5 jesus heals a paralyzed man who was waited for 38 years for the moving of the water at the Pool of Bethesda so we have just encountered in the Gospel of John a beautiful portrait of the brazen labor and labor and now we proceed from the courtyard of the tabernacle and we go in behind the first curtain we go into the holy place and we're looking for our next piece of furniture which is the table of showbread and we don't get very far before John recounts this miracle where Jesus multiplied bread and fishes and fed the 5,000 and then like John is so want to do in his gospel Jesus just doesn't multiply bread but then he begins to teach about being the bread of life John is painting a picture of Jesus being the table of showbread John chapter 6 for the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven and giveth light life under the world and then they said to him a Lord if that's you if that's true evermore give us this bread that's where that came from the Bible ever more evermore give us this bread and Jesus said unto them you don't have to go get it or buy it I am the bread of life he that cometh to me shall never hunger and he that believeth on me shall never thirst and he continues st. chapter in verse 51 he said I am The Living bread which came down from heaven If any man eat of this bread he shall live forever and the bread that I will give is my flesh I am the bread on the table of showbread the bread that I will give is my flesh which I will give for the life of the world and so we're walking our way through the Gospel of John and we've just encountered the table of showbread and in the tabernacle in the holy place if you turned around from the table of showbread 180 degrees and look behind you you would encounter the golden candlestick and it gave light to the holy place and once again we don't have to look very far we're walking through the Tabernacle in the Gospel of John and we don't have to look very far before John recounts Jesus sermon about being the light of the world and then in addition to the sermon Jesus illustrates the sermon by opening the eyes of a man who was blind from birth John chapter 8 verse 12 then spake Jesus again to them saying I am the light of the world he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness but shall have the light of Life he said in verse 5 of chapter 9 as long as I am in the world I am the light of the world do you know why our world is so dark and messed up today it's because they have rejected the light of the world who is Jesus Christ and without his light they end up a dabbling in darkness and they end up with darkness overtaking and overcoming them now in the very next chapter John chapter 8 then John chapter 9 Jesus he doesn't just talk about being the light of the world he goes to this blind man and this man has been blind since birth and everybody wants to blame him or blame his family or blame his parents because somebody must have done something wrong if this man has been born blind and so they're looking for somebody to blame can I tell you Jesus isn't looking for anybody to blame he's looking for somebody to heal you may have only encountered people looking to blame you for what's wrong in your life Jesus isn't looking to blame you he's looking to heal you he's looking to deliver you he's looking to restore you and so Jesus goes to this man and he heals him and you know this story puts clay on his eyes and tells him to go wash all of that business and and and then they get this man and they say this guy that healed you he's a sinner this guy that healed you he's a false prophet this Jesus who did this supposed miracle we don't think too much of him and here's that man's answer he said whether he be a sinner or no I don't know that that's above my paygrade to answer I can't tell you whether he's a good prophet or a bad prophet whether he's the Messiah or not I can't tell you anything I can just tell you this after my encounter with Jesus that whereas I was blind now I see the light of the world came in to my life well I have a similar testimony because I may not be able to answer everybody's argumentative position or everybody's debating kind of question I might be I I might just shake my head and pull out my hair trying to do all of that but here's what I do know that this Jesus entered my life and once I was a sinner and now I'm set free once some of you were addicts and now you're free once some of you were alcoholics and today you don't even desire that anymore why because you were so good and so strong and you followed everybody's advice no you had one moment when the light of the world popped open your spiritual life and you can see that's what happened to that blind man so we have if you're paying attention we've just walked all the way through the tabernacle from the brazen altar past the brazen Laver past the table of showbread to the golden candlestick and we're in the holy place that that middle structure and and and there's one more piece of furniture in the holy place and it's called the altar of incense and it was here that the high priest of Israel prayed for that nation and as the high priest prayed for the nation he wore a special breastplate that had 12 precious stones one stone to represent each one of the 12 tribes of Israel so literally the symbolism is this that the high priest of Israel is carrying the people of Israel on his heart as he prays and so one more time John is literally painting a picture here we're intended to notice this and one more time we don't have to look very far before John begins to portray Jesus as our high priest the first element we come in contact with is in this little story in John chapter 12 when Mary took a pound of ointment of spikenard very costly and she anointed the feet of Jesus and she wiped his feet with her hair and when she did the house was filled with the odour of the ointment it was like an incense that began to float through the air and you could smell the beauty of her worship because she gave something very costly I'd like to take a little break in Bible study right now because every time we worship God it fills the room with his presence and so rather than just kind of go through a Bible study which is kind of like a little religious lecture I would like to let Jesus kind of move on some lives and hearts here tonight so if you would do what Mary did if you would just offer him something that's a little costly maybe something that puts some emotional energy under it maybe something it causes you to lift up your hands maybe something that causes you to overcome kind of your shyness and just lift up your voice in the sanctuary and bless his name because when you give him a costly praise the odor of that the incense of that the aroma of that begins to fill a room and God comes close and where his anointing is and his presence is and the incense of worship is God can do amazing things now that was a good little filler but I wasn't talking about a little filler if you could put your heart under that if you could put your mind with that if you could use your vocabulary and lift up some words to Jesus words of love and adoration and worship and praise because he is here the high priest is here the one who intercedes for us he is here tonight by boko says Samaha I worship You Jesus oh I give you praise I lift you up I pour my praise out on you I pour my praise out on you I worship you god I worship You God and you hardly get past that event when you arrive at Jesus praying after a conversation with his disciples we call it the Last Supper immediately after that Jesus goes to the Garden of Gethsemane and he prays for them and for us everyone who would ever follow him now we call his teaching and the Sermon on the Mount we say that's the Lord's Prayer when we talk about that and that's wonderful but really when Jesus taught in the Sermon on the Mount that's actually the disciples prayer he was teaching us how to pray this in John 17 is the Lord's Prayer this is where Jesus interceded for us look at this is it's so powerful and beautiful and we're just gonna hit two verses he said I pray for them I pray not for the world now that's a strange statement I pray not for the world but for them which thou has given me for they are dying do you understand that God has a special interest in you because you're his child oh he loves the world God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son so God loves the world but God has a special interest in his people and he intercedes for us John 17 verse 20 neither pray I for these alone not just the 12 disciples now 11 because of Judas betrayal Jesus wasn't just praying for them the ones that followed him in that day he said but I also pray for them also which shall believe on me through their word as one disciple preaches to another as one disciple wins another as one disciple witnesses to another and the church grows Jesus said I'm not just praying for the ones who served me now I'm praying for every one that will be believable will be believing on me and will follow me because of their word so our heavenly high priest that's who he is he's first anointed with incense by Mary then he intercedes for his disciples in the Garden of Gethsemane and finally our heavenly high priest ends up standing in judgment before the Jewish high priest it's a powerful picture of that piece of furniture right there that little tall altar the altar of incense and I've got good news for you I don't know how this works I don't understand it all but I can read scripture the Bible tells me that our Heavenly High Priest is still interceding for us to intercede means to stand in the gap for somebody that's what we do when we go to prayer God that isn't right God that person sick God that situation is harmful and so we stand in the gap and we intercede do you understand you have a heavenly high priest who is still alive today see he didn't die on the cross the writer of Hebrews says wherefore he is able also to save them to the most that come under God by him seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them there is never a situation that you will ever encounter that Jesus doesn't step in and stand in the gap for you there is never an enemy that comes against you that Jesus doesn't step up and say I'm standing in the gap for this one this is my child this is my son my daughter and Jesus intercedes for us he stands in the gap for us oh my goodness John means for us to notice this brothers and sisters that he's painting a beautiful picture that Jesus is actually the embodiment the fulfillment every piece of furniture in the tabernacle Jesus embodied that now you know this that between that holy place and the Holy of Holies that that little cube room at the end there hung a heavy veil and only the high priest could go behind that heavy veil and he could only do it on one day of the year one time on the great day of atonement of all the features of the tabernacle all the ropes and the pegs and the bars and the boards and all the furniture of all the features of the tabernacle this veil best represented the separation between a holy God and sinful mankind but I think you might remember that something happened to that veil on the day that Jesus died mark records this Jesus cried with a loud voice and he gave up the ghost and when he cried it is finished the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom no man nor machine tore that veil God took it and ripped it from the top to the bottom and pulled it open the writer of Hebrews caught the significance of it and he said this having therefore brethren boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus by a new and living way which he hath consecrated for us through the veil watch that is to say his flesh Jesus wasn't just the altar and the Laver and the candlestick and the showbread and the altar of incense Jesus was the veil his flesh when it was torn open something happened in the supernatural health and that old system of the law and that old system of sacrifices and that old system of priesthood and feast days and festivals it was like God took it and he just ripped it apart not to throw it on the trash heap but so we could enter in where before only a high priest could walk in do you understand that the church we are kings and priests unto God and you don't have to be the least bit backward about walking boldly into his presence with your worship with your prayer with your needs whatever your God Jesus wants to hear from you because the veil has been open and today you can walk right into the middle of the glory of God you can lift up your hands and feel what the high priest felt in the Holy of Holies you can lift up your hands and pray and God hears you just like he heard the high priest of Israel in that little cube room oh I wish you'd do that for a minute ha ha the veil has been rent there is no block between you and God there is no wall between you and a holy creator there is nothing left he welcomes you into his presence thank you Jesus oh my it was just dead dry boring ritual in the Old Testament but we come running for his presence in the New Testament in the Old Testament they offered animals in the New Testament we offer our whole life our bodies are a living sacrifice in the Old Testament they had all kinds of rituals to say and do but in the New Testament we give our words we don't just offer the fruit of our fields we offer the fruit of our lips giving praise to his name that's the sacrifice that we bring in the New Testament Oh so what would you ever do standing outside feeling like God didn't want you what would you ever do standing outside feeling like he didn't love you when he tore open that old ceremonial system and he welcomed every one of us in we weren't Jewish people we didn't have any claim on that building we didn't have any claim on any of that furniture those priests didn't act on our behalf those sacrifices and feast days and festivals had nothing to do with us and they went through every year sin was pushed ahead for one more year when the high priest put the blood on the Ark of the Covenant that's what they had we had none of that but God didn't just love the Jewish people he loved the whole world and so that's what Calvary did Calvary tore down the middle wall of partition that was between Jew and Gentile and when that veil was torn and when his flesh was torn we get to walk straight in to the presence of God because of the blood that was shed on the cross of Calvary that veil of separation when it was torn it signified that anyone now can enter into his presence but brothers and sisters just like in the tabernacle or the temple if you want to get into God's presence if you want to be God's child if you want to go to God's heaven you've got to follow God's pattern to get there that's what this is all about now there was only one piece of furniture inside the Holy of Holies and it was a glorious piece of furniture it was this little box the Ark of the Covenant it's a beautiful little piece of furniture it was a golden box that inside of it it contained three trophies of God's intervention in the life of Israel inside this box were the tables of stone on which the Ten Commandments were written inside this box was a golden pot containing manna now manna if you didn't eat it consumed it in one day it would spoil the only time that was different was on the Sabbath and it would keep for two days but this golden pot that had manna it had fresh manna in it for years and years and decades and decades because it was a supernatural trophy of God's intervention in Israel's life and the third thing that was in here was Aaron's rod that budded it was an old dead walking stick but when Aaron had a challenge to his leadership god he allowed the rod of Aaron to bud and that signified God's favor on on Aaron and so that was all in the Ark of the Covenant it was a beautiful box overlaid with gold but the box was not as important as the lid on the top of the box you see the Ark of the Covenant served as the only physical manifestation of God on the earth in the Old Testament because his Shekinah presence dwelt between those two golden cherubim that sat facing each other on the lid of the ark which was called the mercy seat and that lid that mercy seat that was where the High Priest one day a year would sprinkle the blood that completed the work of the tabernacle and the priesthood and the feast days and all those thousands of sacrifices one day a year he would go behind that veil and on that lid of that golden box he would sprinkle blood in his gospel John has literally taken us through the tabernacle plan I hope the next time you're reading through the Gospel of John you stopped underlying some verses and take note because he literally shows us how Jesus fulfills the role of the brazen altar and the brazen Laver and the table of showbread the golden candlestick the altar of incense Jesus even fulfills the role of the veil when it's written - and there's other things Jesus says in one place I am the door of the sheepfold he's the door to get in the tabernacle it's all there in the Gospel of John but there's one piece of furniture left and it is the most important piece of furniture and we encounter this piece of furniture in a strange place because Jesus has already been crucified and Jesus has already shed his blood and Jesus has already been taken off the cross wrapped in grave clothes taken to a tomb and buried and only then do we encounter this very last piece of furniture in the Gospel of John John chapter 20 verse 11 but Mary stood without at the sepulchre weeping and as she wept she stooped down and she looked into the sepulchre and she cieth two angels in white sitting the one at the head and the other at the feet where the body of Jesus had lain that's amazing the one at the head and the one at the feet where the body of Jesus had lain when Mary looked into the tomb on Easter Sunday morning she saw the most familiar silhouette in all of Hebrew theology in all of the Jewish religion only one other place do we find two angels facing each other sitting on a slab and it's the Ark of the Covenant it's in the tabernacle that place is the mercy seat that sits here where the blood was sprinkled and where the voice of God was heard and where the Shekinah presence of God rest do you know why the body of Jesus Christ was able to come out of the grave on Easter Sunday morning it's because his body also contained the Shekinah presence the glory of Almighty God that's why he could come out of the tomb you see on that weekend those two angels were standing guard over the place where he laid blood had seeped out of his body through those grave clothes and stained that slab in that tomb it looked exactly like this it looked exactly like that and when Mary looked in that tomb on Easter Sunday morning and saw those angels sitting just like that one at the head and one at the foot where the body of Jesus had lain she suddenly understood something that this Jesus he wasn't just her rabbi and he wasn't just her teacher he wasn't just a prophet or a miracle worker that literally was God robed in a body of flesh and I close with this scripture the writer of Hebrews many years later picks this up and he says this the Holy Ghost this signifying that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest while the first tabernacle was standing as long as this Tabernacle was standing and as long as they were still going through all these rituals and as long as they were still coming to each piece of furniture and doing everything they did with all of those pieces of furniture as long as this Tabernacle was still standing it wasn't open for us that was the Jewish Tabernacle the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest because the first tabernacle was still standing the Old Testament was still in force God only had turned his attention to the Jews it was a figure for the time then present in which were offered both gifts and sacrifices that could not make him which did the service perfect as pertaining to the conscience even the priests that did that even the priests that were part of that it couldn't make them perfect think how little it could do for an average person in the nation of Israel if it couldn't even make the people that were offering the sacrifices perfect they stood only in meats and drinks and divers washings and carnal ordinances imposed on them until the time of reformation there came a moment when God totally reformed that old Tabernacle system and he did something new and we know what it is but Christ being come and high priest of good things to come by a greater and more perfect Tabernacle not made with hands that is to say not of this building neither by the blood of goats and calves but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place not every year not every day for the daily sacrifice not every one of seven annual feasts no not any of that he entered in once into the holy place and he obtained eternal redemption for us and that is why you can see the cross everywhere in the Bible it's because it took thousands of lambs it took thousands of priests it took thousands of feast days and all of the festivals over many many decades and centuries it took thousands of them and it never accomplished anything perfect but it took one Savior one crucifixion one cross of Calvary and that blood is enough to heal anyone to save anyone to deliver anyone to free anyone to redeem anyone that blood is enough to take everybody in this building and in every other building in this city to heaven if they will serve God and trust him because the blood is enough and I thank God that I'm not locked up in some ritual some religion that takes me way back this would have been glorious I'm sure it was very impressive but I'm glad I'm not here trying to offer something on an ark of the covenant and then have to walk out and never come back for a year that's what that Old Testament priests did he walked out of the Holy of Holies and he couldn't see that glorious presence of God for a full year and all he could do was describe it to the other priests and describe it to the Levites and describe it to his family and describe it to his neighbors because he was the only one ever allowed to see that little gold box and that presence of God that lit up the Holy of Holies not so in the New Testament church in the New Testament church we don't have a box with God's presence on it we have a heart with God's presence in it we don't have a temple with a bunch of sacrifices we have hands that we can lift up and mouths that we can open and give God a sacrifice anytime anywhere for any reason undone would you lift up your hands and would you lift up your voice one more time and at the end of Bible study would you give Jesus praise because he came and tabernacled among us when we didn't have anything but walls and fences between us and God between us and heaven between us and holiness he came and he tabernacled among us he became our tabernacle so we don't get to him through a ritual we don't get to him through a priest we don't get to him through a ceremony we get to Jesus through him through his flesh through his blood would you stay and let your hands keep going and fill this room with praise one more time at the end of Bible study would you do that just give Jesus honor and glory and he's so worthy of your brains thank you God are they both go yeah denna boss just summoned a camera Baja Monday led the locus of a harakiri Baba I worship You Jesus I worship You Jesus I worship you Jesus I give you praise I'll give you praise

Channel: Capital Community Church

Views: 8,111

Rating: 4.9187818 out of 5

Keywords: capital, community, church, fredericton, nb, new, brunswick, canada, upc, upci, united, pentecostal, international, apostolic, christian, preaching, sermons, sermon, raymond, woodward, jack, leaman, matthew, bible, study, biblical teaching, house, of, prayer, house of prayer

Id: GYaJ0vJQ7LY

Length: 51min 13sec (3073 seconds)

Published: Wed Jul 15 2020