INTRODUCTION
Today we will continue our study on the Tabernacle and we will talk specifically about the types and symbols of being covered by God.
The Roof Coverings
Four layers were used to cover the wooden structure from the howling winds of the desert, the sudden rains, and the intense heat and each of the four coverings had a distinct purpose.
• The Inner Linen – was for decoration and cleanliness.
• Spun Goat’s Hair – helped soundproof & insulate the Tabernacle from the desert heat.
• Ram’s Skins dyed red – also insulated from noise, wind, rain and intense heat.
• Porpoise Skins (Outer Covering) carefully sewn together – served to waterproof the Tabernacle.
The Door Into The Holy Place
The was a curtain made of cloth and suspended on five pillars. It led from the courtyard into the Tabernacle and served as an entry way, and also protected the interior from the weather.
Exodus 26:36-37 Amplified Bible
• Jesus identifies Himself as the door we must all enter so that we might find abundant life, overflowing with joy.
“I am the Door; anyone who enters in through Me will be saved (will live). He will come in and he will go out [freely], and will find pasture. The thief comes only in order to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance (to the full, till it overflows).
John 10:9-10 Amplified
• The Five Pillars speak of the gifts that Jesus gave to the Body of Christ to perfect and equip the saints for the work of the ministry until we all attain oneness in the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God. These gifts are the Five-Fold Ministries of the Apostle, Prophet, Evangelist, Pastor & Teacher.
Ephesians 4:11 Amplified
The Promise of Protection
Today we will focus on the promise of God’s protection as a vital part of the covenant that God makes with His people. The following Scriptures all relate to the spiritual significance of the protection God promises each one of us.
• Isaiah 4:5-6 Amplified
• Psalm 27:4-5 Amplified Bible
• Colossians 3:1-3 Amplified Bible
TODAY WE WILL FOCUS ON THE COVERINGS WHICH SYMBOLIZE
OUR PROTECTION WITHIN THE COVENANT OF GOD
I. First Inner Covering: White Linen
The first inner covering was white linen richly embroidered in blue, purple, and scarlet designs of cherubim, giving splendor to the ceiling.
A. Fine White Linen is a type of The Righteousness of Christ.
2 Corinthians 5:18-21 Amplified
18 But all things are from God, Who through Jesus Christ reconciled us to Himself [received us into favor, brought us into harmony with Himself] and gave to us the ministry of reconciliation [that by word and deed we might aim to bring others into harmony with Him].
19 It was God [personally present] in Christ, reconciling and restoring the world to favor with Himself, not counting up and holding against [men] their trespasses [but cancelling them], and committing to us the message of reconciliation (of the restoration to favor).
20 So we are Christ's ambassadors, God making His appeal as it were through us. We [as Christ's personal representatives] beg you for His sake to lay hold of the divine favor [now offered you] and be reconciled to God.
21 For our sake He made Christ [virtually] to be sin Who knew no sin, so that in and through Him we might become [endued with, viewed as being in, and examples of] the righteousness of God [what we ought to be, approved and acceptable and in right relationship with Him, by His goodness].
1. The colors embroidered into the linen signify His:
a. heavenly origin (blue),
b. His kingliness (purple), and
c. His redemptive work on the Cross (red).
B. The cherubim in the design were angelic creatures that are guardians of the holiness of God.
1. They are holy ones who are the attendants of the throne of God, and
2. Their song is given to us as “Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty.” Revelation 4:8.
C. Ezekiel 1:4-11 goes on to say the cherubim were living creatures, which had four faces depicting the fourfold character of the person of the Lord Jesus Christ.
1. The face of a man speaks of His perfect humanity;
2. The lion speaks of His kingship and power;
3. The ox is the symbol of sacrifice and service, and
4. The eagle speaks of the ability to see great distances, and therefore speaks of omniscience.
• All of this the believer sees in the Lord Jesus Christ, once he has entered by faith into Christ, and into the more perfect Tabernacle by way of the altar and by way of the blood.
• To the outsider, all this glory is completely hidden, and they cannot comprehend how the Believer can become so enamored, enraptured and infatuated with the loveliness of the all-sufficient beauty of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
II. Second Layer: Goats’ Hair Curtain
The second layer of the roof of the Tabernacle was made of goats’ hair. Exodus 26:7.
A. These goats’ hair curtains were placed over the linen curtains, and extended down completely “covering” the sides and back of the Tabernacle entirely to the ground.
1. A goat in the Bible is a picture of Christ as our sin-bearer.
B. On the Day of Atonement, the priest took two goats.
1. The first goat was slain at the altar and his blood poured out at the base of the altar, symbolic of the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ in His death. – Leviticus 16:19-22 Amplified
“As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.” Psalm 103:12.
a. Jesus took our sins, in order that we might become the recipients of His righteousness. This is taught by the death of the first goat which was to be slain on the Day of Atonement at the door of the Tabernacle.
2. The second goat remained alive and after having the sins of the people transferred upon him, by confession and the laying on of hands of the priest, is sent into a desert land to never ever return.
a. By this we see Jesus Christ, our sin-bearer, our Substitute who became the “scapegoat” for us by bearing our sins in His own body on the tree.
Therefore, My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again. No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This command I have received from My Father. John 10:17-18
C. Because of His great love for us Jesus took our sin, our guilt, and our iniquity to Calvary where He paid the greatest penalty of all for our sins.
1. He was forsaken by Almighty God Himself and laid down His life as a sacrifice to cleanse us of our sins.
III. Third Covering: Ram Skins
The third layer forming the roof of the Tabernacle was made of leather, rams’ skins tanned and dyed a deep crimson red color, and coupled together to make one large covering which was placed over the lower two coverings of the linen and goats’ hair curtains.
Exodus 26:14
A. A ram was used as an offering of consecration, which was a whole burnt offering (Leviticus 8:22-24).
1. The red ram’s skins picture the blood of Christ which blots out the blackness of sin (represented by the second covering of goat’s hair).
a. In Genesis 22, we find God asking Abraham to take Isaac, his son to Mt. Moriah to be sacrificed upon an altar.
“lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns.” Genesis 22:13.
B. The Great Exchange!
1. The Great Exchange occurred at the Cross! Jesus Christ came to take the place of condemned men and women. He took the sinner’s place upon the Cross of Calvary, that the believing sinner might take his place in the Father’s house. It is why Paul wrote in Galatians 6:14:
“But God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.”
2. The great exchange at the cross bought us both provision and blessing. It is entirely the grace of God. The mercy of God is seen in the following passage:
“All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him [Jesus] the iniquity of us all.” Isaiah 53:6
a. In the Old Testament the word “iniquity” means two things which are closely related:
i. first, rebellion; and
ii. second, all the evil consequences and judgments that come with rebellion.
• In this passage we see that God visited upon Jesus the evil due to us so that the good due Jesus would come upon us. From whatever perspective you view the cross, you see this truth of a divinely-ordained exchange. It springs from God’s heart of grace, mercy and provision.
C. Some of the aspects of The Great Exchange are:
1. Jesus was punished for our sins so that we could be forgiven. “For the wages of sin is death…” Romans 6:23
2. Jesus was physically wounded that we might be physically healed. “By His wounds we are healed.” Isaiah 53:4-6
3. Jesus was made sin with our sinfulness so that we could be made righteous. “God made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” 2 Corinthians 5:21
4. Jesus died our death so that we could have eternal life. “But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, that He, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone.” Hebrews 2:9
5. Jesus took our poverty that we might share His abundance. “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich.” 2 Corinthians 8:9
6. Jesus was rejected by God the Father that we might have acceptance. Jesus died of a heart broken by rejection. “And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying ‘My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” Matthew 27:46
7. Jesus has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us. “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus.” Galatians 3:13-14
IV. Fourth Covering: The Porpoise Skins
The porpoise skins had no colorful beauty; they were drab, dull and bluish gray. It was the only covering visible to the outsider, and had nothing appealing about it at all YET IT PROTECTED THE TABERNACLE FROM THE SUN, RAIN, STORMS AND ELEMENTS OF THE DESERT. – Exodus 26:14
A. In building the Tabernacle, God asked the Israelites to give up the porpoise skins as an offering. (Exodus 25:3-8). These porpoise skins were transported from Egypt where porpoises were found in abundance in the Nile and the Red Sea.
1. The skins provided shoe leather for their journey into the desert. When God asked the Israelites for their porpoise skins, they literally gave the shoes off their feet for the service of God.
2. In essence, God was asking the Israelites to trust Him with another great exchange: “Give Me your shoe leather and I’ll take care of your feet. I’ll give you something better and more wonderful than new shoes. I’ll give you shoes that won’t wear out.”
Deuteronomy 29:5 bears this out: “I have led you forty years in the wilderness; your clothes have not worn out upon you, and your sandals have not worn off your feet.”
B. The Porpoise Skins were a picture of the humanity of Jesus as He gave Himself as the sin-bearer for all mankind.
1. His deity was veiled by His humanity. It’s all the unbeliever can see of the Lord Jesus Christ until the revelation of Calvary is opened to them.
a. This is why evangelism and mission work is so important!
Romans 10:14-15
14 How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?
15 And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!
2. There is no attraction to Christ without a revelation of what He did for us.
a. It was the storms of human hate that hung His body on the tree and placed a crown of thorns upon His Head.
b. It was His visage that bore the spittle, the blows and the scourging of bitter envy.
c. It was His body that He willingly gave over to the wrath of men who pierced His hands and feet as His blood poured out in love for you and me!
d. He bore in His person the heat of God’s judgment on sin, and in doing so He continues to protect us from the sentence of eternal death.
e. This is the meaning of the porpoise skins and we see it vividly described in Isaiah 53:2-6 written hundreds of years before the crucifixion (a pattern of things to come).
D. Israel trusted God and was not disappointed. If we are willing to turn over everything to His care and trust Him completely, He will never fail us, but be with us according to His promise in Isaiah 52:7:
“How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of Him who brings good news, who proclaims peace, who brings glad tidings of good things, who proclaims salvation, who says to Zion, “YOUR GOD REIGNS!”
CLOSING CHALLENGES:
1. God is calling His Church to once again embrace World Evangelism and Mission Work!
This means “Across the Street and Around the World.”
2. God is calling to every sinner under the sound of my voice today, both in house and over our various media outreaches.
• Jesus says, “Come unto me all ye who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest.”
• The sinner says, “I can’t my sins are too bad…”
• Jesus says, “Come On, I’VE GOT YOU COVERED!”
