Perfect Tabernacle Series

3/16/08 – Expect More: God Created a Perfect Tabernacle – Palm Sunday

The tabernacle in the OT was more than a big tent where people came and sang. It was a killing place. Animals died there all day long, every day. The blood flowed. Sheep and cows were butchered by the Levites while the meat was cooked in great pots. It was not a pretty place. It was not a quiet place. It was not a sweet smelling place. It was a place of death. In Jesus day the only difference was that the tabernacle of Moses was replaced by the temple built in Jerusalem.

When Jesus entered into the city of Jerusalem on that day we remember as Palm Sunday he traveled the narrow streets, covered with cloaks and palm fronds laid down by the people, on the way to set up the true tabernacle. Jesus’ tabernacle was made – not of fabric, animal skins, brass, gold and silver. His new tabernacle was in the heavenly places where God dwells. It is in this perfect tabernacle that the perfect sacrifice was made – for you and for me – once and for all time.

This Palm Sunday we celebrate the beginning of the establishment of a new and perfect covenant created in a new and perfect tabernacle between God and all of his beloved children.

Palm Sunday

22 Because of this oath, Jesus has become the guarantee of a better covenant.

Hebrews 7:22

We’ve all gone shopping for a better deal on our telephone service, cell phone contract, or maybe our television service. The process can be a bit daunting trying to compare features, costs, and differences between plans.

Well, here we see the author presenting the case for a better contract – with Jesus as the deciding factor.

So what is it that makes this new covenant so much better than the old one? I mean why would you want to follow Jesus rather than something more comfortable and what you are used to?

We’ve already covered some of this but now the author is summing it up for us in a clear and powerful presentation.

It’s really very simple; with Jesus we have a better priest, serving in a better tabernacle promising a great many better promises.

Let’s take a look first at who it is we are dealing with. Jesus is a better priest.

Jesus is the Permanent Priest

23 Now there have been many of those priests, since death prevented them from continuing in office; 24 but because Jesus lives forever, he has a permanent priesthood. 25 Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.

Hebrews 7:23-25

This is one contract really has a lifetime guarantee and you can count on it because the author of the contract rose from the dead.

Answer me this: Just how good is the guarantee on a product that you buy when the builder goes out of business the day after the item is delivered by FedEx to you home?

Answer: Not very good. When the product dies – you are done. That’s it.

This product is warranted buy the maker who is going to live forever – now there is a guarantee you can trust.

Jesus is the Pure Priest

26 Such a high priest meets our need—one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens.

Hebrews 7:26

A priest is someone who mediates – or speaks on our behalf. He is our advocate, our attorney, and our friend. We need someone who can speak for us who is untainted and is not discredited by sin.

We’ve just heard this week of the governor of New York, who has been a prosecutor for the people fighting corruption and immorality for years, is now admitting that he has been corrupt and immoral in his life.

Do you want a man like this to defend you before the judge? Or do you think you might need an advocate that is unsullied by corruption and immorality?

Jesus is the Perfect Priest

27 Unlike the other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people. He sacrificed for their sins once for all when he offered himself. 28 For the law appoints as high priests men who are weak; but the oath, which came after the law, appointed the Son, who has been made perfect forever.

Hebrews 7:27-28

This present darkness – Frank Peretti talks about the black stain on a man’s heart and how it’s imp

Sin is sticky and corrosive. Sin is like a black grease that you keep having to wipe off but just keeps coming back. It’s like a horrible little booger that no matter how much and how hard you flick your fingers you can’t get off your hands.