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<2022.11> Images of Jesus to Be Found in the Tabernacle, and the Position of the Church

North American Bible Study Meeting, 2006
Images of Jesus to Be Found in the Tabernacle, and the Position of the Church
December 30th, 2006 Afternoon Lecture
For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things?  2 Corinthians 2:15-16
The Tabernacle, Testifying of the Messiah who Was to Come within the Course of History 
In the book of Exodus, we read about the method by which, and order in which God told Moses to build the tabernacle. From chapter 25 on, God explained everything beginning with the ark of the covenant and finishing with the court to chapter 27. 
Then in Exodus chapter 28, God told Moses how to make the clothes the priests were to wear. First He said to make the ephod and the breastpiece of judgment, and then the Urim and the Thummim. Then he was to make the robe of the ephod, and then the undergarments. This was the order in which he was commanded to make these items. If you look carefully at the way in which the ephod and the the breastpiece of judgment were to be made, you will see that gold, blue, purple, and scarlet yarns and fine twined linen were used—the same materials that were used when making the curtains at the entrance to the sanctuary and bottommost covering of the sanctuary. 
Twelve precious stones, representing the twelve tribes of Israel, were set in the breastpiece of judgment that the priest wore on his chest. In the book of Revelation, we find a scene in which a city comes down from heaven at the end of the history of this world, and everything is changed and renewed. This city is the new Jerusalem. There, too, we read of twelve precious stones, although they are slightly different from the names of the stones that appear in Exodus. (see 21:9-20)
The new Jerusalem is in the shape of a cube. The Bible says, “The city lies foursquare, its length the same as its width. And he measured the city with his rod, 12,000 stadia. Its length and width and height are equal” (Revelation 21:16). This city will come down, and it will be so huge that each side will be more than 2,000km in length.
The new Jerusalem itself is not the kingdom of God. The eternal kingdom of which the Bible speaks and which we will receive as a gift from God is not such a finite place. The new city of Jerusalem will come down to the new heaven and new earth with the tremendous power of life which comes from God’s infinite power of life. We read about this place in the book of Revelation where it says that the glory of God gives it light, Jesus, the Lamb, is its lamp, and the river of the water of life flows from the throne of God and of the Lamb (see 21:23-22:1). This is the testimony of the Savior, who has governed the course of the history of this world and who once came to Jerusalem.
Let’s consider through Exodus what God commanded Moses. First there were the utensils used by the priests when they offered sacrifices in the tabernacle. The altar for the burnt offerings was made of bronze. In connection with this bronze, in Numbers chapter 21 we read that in the wilderness, Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on a pole (see verses 4-9). Also, in Ezekiel chapter 24 we read that they were to slaughter an animal and boil and burn it in a pot made of bronze (see verses 3-13 NKJV). These incidents were to represent the suffering that would occur at one point in the course of history because of sin that came into the world. In the bronze altar, we find an image of Jesus in his suffering.
Then, when you went past the altar of burnt offering and entered the Holy Place, you came to the showbread through which we see Jesus Christ when he came to the world. This is the bread that Jesus was referring to when he said, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs,” and the woman replied, “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table” (Matthew 15:26-27), and, “I am the bread of life” (John 6:48). This represents the body of Jesus that was broken and torn on the cross for the sake of our sins, your sins. 
Opposite the table of showbread, there was the lampstand. This represents the light that reveals Gods infinite power and which existed in its original form and was with God before he came to the world. There was always oil in the lampstand and it burned continuously. This lampstand reveals the true image of the one who was the creator, the one who “was with the Father and was made manifest to us” (1 John 1:2).
Then when you went behind the veil, there was the ark of the covenant. Inside the ark, there were the tables of stone on which God had written, and which he had given to Moses, and a jar containing some of the manna. The manna was the food from heaven that was given to the Israelites when they were in the wilderness. The Bible says that God “fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord” (Deuteronomy 8:3). God has expressed through his word, the heart he has had from the beginning towards this world so that he might feed our spirits as we live in our sinful flesh, just as we ingest food in order to maintain the life and health of our flesh. The manna was inside the ark of the covenant to represent this.
Aaron’s staff that budded was also inside the ark of the covenant. The staff had produced almond blossoms like those carved into the branches of the lampstand (see Numbers 17:8). Aaron’s staff was placed inside the ark of the covenant to commemorate those carrying out the role of priest in this world, so that God’s lofty will might be accomplished on earth through them, as the Bible says, “Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10).
God met with the high priests of Israel from above the golden mercy seat that covered the ark of the covenant and between the two cherubim that faced each other on the ark. The Bible tells us that God said he would speak with them there. (see Exodus 25:22)
Through these things, we can see that the tabernacle shows us exhaustively the nature of the Messiah who was to come within the course of history and that this was the place prepared for the Messiah to come to this world and suffer. The tabernacle was a prophetic place that testified of these matters in advance.
Another Priest after the Order of Melchizedek
In Exodus chapters 28 and 29, we read about the clothing worn by the high priest. In the tabernacle—the place where God dwelt—the high priest carried out the work of dealing with the price of the sins of the people on behalf of the Israelites. The sons of Aaron, from generation to generation, carried out the duties of high priest, and they were assisted by the tribe of Levi.
In Hebrews chapter 7, it says, “another priest . . . after the order of Melchizedek, rather than one named after the order of Aaron” (verse 11). Also, in the Psalms it says, “You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek” (110:4). In Hebrews chapter 8, it says, “For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion to look for a second” (verse 7). If we had been able to be perfected before God through the commandment that is related to the flesh, why would God have raised up a priest after the order of Melchizedek who was not of the tribe of Levi and had never officiated at the altar? The Israelites knew the Old Testament and had entrusted their sins to the priests in accordance with the words of the Old Testament, but when they realized who Jesus was, the apostle who wrote the letter to the Hebrews explained to them that they will realize everything they had known up to that point was a shadow of the true things that had been in God’s heart. 
Melchizedek received a tithe from Abraham, the forefather of the Israelites. This is explained in the letter to the Hebrews where it says, “He is first, by translation of his name, king of righteousness, and then he is also king of Salem, that is, king of peace. He is without father or mother or genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but resembling the Son of God he continues a priest forever” (7:2-3). Also, in the book of Isaiah it says, “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace” (9:6). It says here, “Prince of Peace.” This Prince of Peace is the mysterious person who stood before Abraham. He humbled himself and was born into this world through the body of a woman, and we refer to him as Jesus, our Savior.
When Melchizedek brought out bread and wine, and Abraham gave him a tenth of everything, this was a prophetic incident provided so that we would be able to find Jesus, the original priest—the true priest—who came to this world for the sake of man’s sin. Jesus was not like the priests who continually offered sacrifices in the course of the history of Israel, only to be replaced by another priest when they died. As it says in the letter to the Hebrews, he came to the world, offered up his body once, achieving the forgiveness of sins, having been made perfect forever. (see 7:26-28) Through his own body, he offered a true sacrifice, much greater than any of the sacrifices offered up by the other priests who offered sacrifices for the sins of the Israelites under the law and according to the commandment related to the flesh. And then he rose from the dead. This is important. The reason Jesus is our high priest is not just that he died, but the he also rose from the dead.
Up from the grave He arose, 
With a mighty triumph o’er His foes; 
He arose a victor from the dark domain.
Jesus rose a victor from the dark domain. Through God’s power of life that was in Jesus Christ, Jesus swallowed up death and broke its chains, and then he stood in this world once more. The marks of the spear and the nails that had pierced his body (which was the same as our sinful bodies when he was in the world) remained in his resurrected body. After that, Jesus ascended into heaven, where, even now, he is seated at the right had of the throne of God. All the priests stood as they offered sacrifices, but Jesus sat down because he had brought to an end the offering of all the sacrifices. And now he is always there making intercession for us. Even now, he is beside the throne of God as the priest who has accomplished eternal redemption.
This is not just a spiritual matter. Jesus is actually there beside God; it is just that this is not physically visible to us right now; we believe it through the words of the Bible. It is as the Bible says, “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1).
From time to time, we hear in the news about the death of some famous person. But how do we believe this fact? We believe it because it was announced in the news. Similarly, we believe through the Bible that Jesus came to this world to fulfil the words of God the Father, and he lived and died in accordance with God’s words. We believe that God the Father who asked all these things of Jesus also raised him from the dead. 
Through the Bible we also find that Jesus is waiting to come to this world once more. He is your Savior. The 39 books of the Old Testament explain to us that he is the high priest who has covered eternally all the sins we have committed yesterday and today, and even the sins we will commit tomorrow.
There are people who have the role of priests as they live in this world as Jesus commanded. Those people collectively are referred to as “the church.” Just as the priests slaughtered an animal and took its blood into the sanctuary for the sake of their own sins and those of the people, the church must open its lips and proclaim the blessing that God has promised to the many people in this world who do not know God or Jesus. We can consider this matter through the duties of the priest. The duties of the priest and the priests themselves form a system that appears in the Old Test
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