Tag Archives: tabernacle

He Suffered Outside

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HE SUFFERED OUTSIDE

We have an altar from which those who minister at the tabernacle have no right to eat. The high priest carries the blood of animals into the Most Holy Place as a sin offering, but the bodies are burned outside the camp. And so Jesus also suffered outside the city gate to make the people holy through His own blood. Let us, then, go to Him outside the camp, bearing the disgrace He bore (Heb. 13: 10-13).

What a vivid picture of God’s redemption!

Every time an animal was slaughtered and its blood sprinkled on the Atonement Cover on the Ark of the Covenant on the Day of Atonement, it pointed to and spoke of another Lamb whose blood would provide atonement for the sin of the whole world. Daily, the smoke of the burnt offering would rise to God as a reminder of sin and of the price that had to be paid to atone for sin. The priests who ministered in the tabernacle, were permitted to eat their portion of the meat of the daily sacrifices.

Like them, we have a sacrifice of which we are permitted to partake because we have acknowledged the price of our sin and the value of the blood that atoned for it.  We partake of a different altar, not literally eating the flesh of the Son of God and drinking His blood, as some would have us believe but, through faith in Him, acknowledging His sacrifice, participating in the benefits of His death and identifying with Him in His death and resurrection.

Those who ministered in the tabernacle and ate the flesh of the sacrifices, did not have an automatic right to partake of the sacrifice of Jesus unless they, too, were part of the believing community. Being a priest in the Levitical order did not qualify them to participate in the “altar” of Jesus’ sacrifice. There is only one criterion for anyone to share in His sacrifice – repentance from dead works and faith in Him as the true Lamb of God – turning from sin and turning to God. Jesus said:

Very truly I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him (John 6: 53-55).

If we were to take these words literally, we would be in real trouble. How is it possible to eat the flesh and drink the blood of Jesus without inventing some kind of crazy doctrine about God doing magic? No, that is not what Jesus meant. In keeping with the Hebrew mind-set, they would have asked, “What does the flesh and blood of Jesus do?” Just as we take in food nourish our physical bodies and provide energy to live, so by faith we take in the death of Jesus to nourish our spirits and enable us to live godly lives in a sinful world.

Animal blood, offered by Levitical priests, cannot do that. Only faith in the death of Jesus can atone for sin and provide life for our spirits.

Since we are part of a citizenship that is not of this world, we must stand with Jesus in spite of the hatred and persecution that loyalty to Him brings. Like the bodies of animals that were burned outside the camp, Jesus suffered outside the city. Symbolically it reminds us that He was rejected by His own people. They would have no part of the forgiveness and reconciliation He provided through His death. They threw Him out and killed Him.

When we take our stand with Him, we become outcasts like Him. It may seem like a disgrace in the eyes of the world, just like His death was a disgrace in the eyes of His people, but we wear that disgrace like a badge of honour because it is His death that gives us acceptance and access to the very throne of God, just as the blood of the sacrificial goat gave the high priest access to the presence of God in the Holy of Holies.

Since we are invited to share in His salvation, we are also urged to share in His disgrace. He did not consider the shame of His suffering enough reason to turn away from it.

Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before Him, He endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God (Heb. 12: 1b-2).

Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

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No Blood, No Forgiveness

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NO BLOOD, NO FORGIVENESS

When Moses had proclaimed every commandment of the law to all the people, he took the blood of calves, together with water, scarlet wool and branches of hyssop, and sprinkled the scroll and all the people. He said, ‘This is the blood of the covenant, which God commanded you to keep.’ In the same way he sprinkled with the blood both the tabernacle and everything used in the ceremonies. In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness (Heb. 9:19-22).

Blood as a cleansing agent? Sounds contradictory, doesn’t it! Blood is one of the most difficult stains to get out of fabric. Forensic scientists know that, even after a murder has been committed and the blood cleaned up, the evidence remains. A substance called Luminol, sprayed on the place where blood was spilt, will cause the stains to glow in the dark, revealing the crime that the murderer tried to conceal. Blood spilt by a murderer will still cry out even when the stain has been washed away. It’s a bit like the blood of Abel, isn’t? His blood cried out from the ground for vengeance and God heard.

But blood within the body, both human and animal, serves a different purpose. Blood is vital for life. Without blood, nothing can live. Blood has many functions within the body. It forms an efficient transport system, carrying oxygen and nutrients to the remotest cells in the body. It can flow through tiny tubules no bigger than a hair, its red cells moving in single file to do their work.

Blood also has a unique function as a cleansing agent. Where there is an injury, it rushes cells to the spot to plug the hole, stop the bleeding and transport soldier cells to fight invaders that would move in to contaminate the entire body. Its transport system also does an efficient job of removing waste products from the cells via the lungs and kidneys. A build-up of the waste products of breathing, eating and burning fuel will kill as surely as an assassin’s bullet, without the blood.

But human and animal blood cannot cleanse the soul of the pollution caused by sin. God’s covenant with Israel gave them clear instructions about living God’s way but it also made provision for failure. And fail they would because their hearts were tainted with the rebellious nature of Adam. No amount of self-effort would satisfy God’s perfection. His standard demanded nothing less than perfection. There had to be provision for forgiveness for their sheer inability to live up to His holiness.

Was God being too demanding? Why couldn’t He just lower the standard a little, taking into account their human frailty? He cannot change His own nature and the nature of sin. His solution was to pay the penalty for sin Himself because He is the only one who can measure up to His own standard. How did He do that? He became human in the person of His Son.

Sin demands the payment of blood, but pure blood, unblemished by sin. Of course we understand that blood represents life. The life in is the blood. When blood is shed, life is sacrificed. When the life of a sinless person is given in sacrifice, the demand is met and paves the way for forgiveness.

Animal sacrifices prescribed for forgiveness under the old covenant were a picture of what had already taken place in the eternal realm – Jesus, God’s provision for forgiveness and cleansing to remove sin. The old covenant came into effect through the sprinkling of animal blood, providing ceremonial cleansing from sin. The new covenant came into effect through the sprinkling of Jesus’s blood, providing eternal redemption, the forgiveness of sins, for all sin, for all people, for all time.

How tragic that so many of God’s children have not grasped this truth. When bad things happen in their lives, the accuser cashes in. ‘God is punishing you for this, that or the other that you have done,’ he whispers, and they believe him. Satan is a liar and the father of lies. He can only speak the language of lies. Why listen to him?

God is perfectly just. Even in our human systems of justice, no one can be punished for the same offence twice. Since Jesus has paid for the sin of the whole world, God will never judge His children, not even those who do not acknowledge Him, unless they refuse to accept His forgiveness. How He must grieve that the blood of His Son has been wasted on so many who will not embrace His forgiveness and live in His love!

No blood, no forgiveness! Yes, it is true, but . . . blood has been shed, pure, unblemished human blood, for the forgiveness of sins. All it requires is acknowledgement that I, the sinner, need forgiveness and cleansing for breaking God’s law and from the pollution of my sin, and grateful acceptance of the blood of Jesus that He shed in my place so that I can go free.

Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

 

Better Ministry, Better Mediator

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BETTER MINISTRY, BETTER MEDIATOR

They serve at a sanctuary that is a copy and a shadow of what is in heaven. This is why Moses was warned when he was about to build the tabernacle,’ See to it that you make everything according to the pattern shown you on the mountain.’ But in fact the ministry Jesus has received is as superior to theirs as the covenant of which he is a mediator is superior to old one, since the new covenant is established on better promises. For if there had been nothing wrong with that first covenant, no place would have been sought for another (Heb. 8: 5-7).

“Better” is the watchword of Hebrews. Why is the new better than the old in every way? If we place them side by side, “better” is seen in two ways:

Firstly, the old system with its earthly tabernacle, human priesthood, animal sacrifices and inability to do away with sin was, in one word, incomplete. It was a never-ending cycle of rituals.  There was never an assurance that one day, one bull or one lamb would remove sin forever and that the cycle would come to an end.

Jesus put an end to this cycle of incompleteness. He is the perfect man, throughout His entire earthly life without sin. He is the deathless high priest. There is no need, ever, for a replacement. He is high priest in a new order, the order of a priesthood that has no beginning and no end. He is qualified by virtue of His divine nature, to represent God to man, and by virtue of His human nature, to represent man to God. He is the perfect and irreplaceable mediator between God and man.

But He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on Him, and by His wounds we were healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all (Isa. 53: 5-6).

Secondly, the old system was incompetent. However many sacrifices were offered, the people of God were still stubborn, rebellious and disobedient. One look at the track record is enough to convince us that all the animal blood in creation could never change their hearts. Perhaps that was why they could so easily abandon their God for idols. All they had to do was to offer their sacrifices on a different altar and give their allegiance to another god without ever being any different.

Jesus’ sacrifice paved the way for the Holy Spirit to return to God’s people, forever to be both with them and in them. His blood not only forgave sin; it removed sin and allowed the Father to receive His children back into His family with no shadow between them. His promise was fulfilled:

I will sprinkle clean water on you, adieu will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws (Ezek. 36: 25-27).

Even the tabernacle in the wilderness was built on a better model, the perfect tabernacle in heaven. Moses was given the privilege of glimpses of that heavenly blueprint of which the earthly tabernacle was only a pale reflection, as beautiful as it was. Every detail of the tabernacle in the wilderness was to be a physical replica of the heavenly reality so that the people of God would at least have a shadow of the real thing.

As magnificent as the tabernacle was, with its interior of rich embroidery and gold, the people never saw it. Only the priests were allowed into the Holy Place. Only the high priest ever gained entrance into the Most Holy Place. Even then, he was not permitted to look upon the “Shekinah” – the visible radiance of God’s presence – which was obscured by the clouds of smoke from the censor of burning incense

As Jesus uttered His last words, “It is finished!” and drew His final breath, the curtain in the temple ripped from top to bottom, leaving the “Shekinah” exposed for anyone in the temple to see. No longer was God’s presence veiled in secrecy. His arms and His heart were open and His invitation extended to all, ‘Come!’ Never before could He do that because of sin . . . sin that polluted, separated, and stained the human race.

But now . . .? Finished! Complete! Better!

Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.