Tag Archive: The Life


Inside the Most Holy Place

Filed under: Jesus, Tabernacle, The Golden Cherubim, The Life, The Mercy Seat, The Most Holy Place — 3 Comments
February 18, 2008

Inside the Most Holy Place

The Golden Cherubim

The Ark of the Covenant is covered with two Golden Cherubim[i], which are symbolic of the angels that surround God. Each Cherub has two of their gigantic wings overhanging and protecting the Ark[ii] and the Mercy Seat (the open space between the Cherubim, just above the Ark that is the place where God dwells[iii] – see the section on the Mercy Seat below):

And you shall make two cherubim of gold; of hammered work you shall make them at the two ends of the mercy seat. Make one cherub at one end, and the other cherub at the other end; you shall make the cherubim at the two ends of it of one piece with the mercy seat. And the cherubim shall stretch out their wings above, covering the mercy seat with their wings, and they shall face one another; the faces of the cherubim shall be toward the mercy seat. You shall put the mercy seat on top of the ark, and in the ark you shall put the Testimony that I will give you. And there I will meet with you, and I will speak with you from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim which are on the ark of the Testimony, about everything which I will give you in commandment to the children of Israel. (Exodus 25:18 – 21)

These Golden Cherubim symbolize the protection of God’s angels over the place where God dwells and over the ark and its covenant relationship with God.

The Mercy Seat

As indicated in the above scripture the Mercy Seat was the place where the high priest would enter into true communion with the Father. God communicated His commandments and instruction to the people of Israel through His servants Moses and Aaron. It should also be noted that the Mercy Seat was a most holy place and as a result, required Aaron the high priest to make special preparations prior to entering into the presence of God:

and the LORD said to Moses: “Tell Aaron your brother not to come at just any time into the Holy Place inside the veil, before the mercy seat which is on the ark, lest he die; for I will appear in the cloud above the mercy seat. Thus Aaron shall come into the Holy Place: with the blood of a young bull as a sin offering, and of a ram as a burnt offering. He shall put the holy linen tunic and the linen trousers on his body; he shall be girded with a linen sash, and with the linen turban he shall be attired. These are holy garments. Therefore he shall wash his body in water, and put them on. (Leviticus 16:2 – 4)

As you might already suspect, all of this is prophetic of Christ Jesus. Jesus is our high priest whose blood has been shed so that we may enter into the place where God dwells. It is Jesus who now sits on the Mercy Seat so that we may enter into the Most Holy place as priests of the most-high God.

Grasping the overall big picture of what the Tabernacle represents is critically important. It is the place where God dwells among His people in a covenant relationship. In this relationship God leads His people out of the evil bondage of Egypt[iv], and into their desert experience where they are purged of their unbelief and sin[v]. In this regard, the people became totally dependent upon Him[vi] prior to entering into the Promised Land. This is supported by the fact that the Lord led the people and was continuously visible in the cloud by day (that protected them from the heat of the sun) and the fire by night (that illuminated there way).

And the LORD went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so as to go by day and night. He did not take away the pillar of cloud by day or the pillar of fire by night from before the people. (Exodus 13:21 – 22)

 All of this will be continued in our next posting.  May God’s blessings be upon you.  Joe 

[i] Genesis 3:24  So He drove out the man; and He placed cherubim at the east of the garden of Eden, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life.
[ii] Exodus25:20  And the cherubim shall stretch out their wings above, covering the mercy seat with their wings, and they shall face one another; the faces of the cherubim shall be toward the mercy seat.
[iii] Exodus 25:21 – 22  You shall put the mercy seat on top of the ark, and in the ark you shall put the Testimony that I will give you. And there I will meet with you, and I will speak with you from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim which are on the ark of the Testimony, about everything which I will give you in commandment to the children of Israel.
[iv] Deuteronomy 7:8  but because the LORD loves you, and because He would keep the oath which He swore to your fathers, the LORD has brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you from the house of bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.
[v] Numbers 32:13  So the Lord’s anger was aroused against Israel, and He made them wander in the wilderness forty years, until all the generation that had done evil in the sight of the LORD was gone.
[vi] Exodus 16:35  And the children of Israel ate manna forty years, until they came to an inhabited land; they ate manna until they came to the border of the land of Canaan.
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Finding Jesus in the Holy of Holies

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February 15, 2008

Finding Jesus in the Holy of Holies

Our past four postings have been a high level review of the Tabernacle and how it is prophetic of Jesus Christ. You can review these postings by clicking on the following hyperlinks:

Jesus-is the-Life

Jesus-is-the-Most-Holy-Place

Jesus-is-the-Holy-of-Holies

Jesus-is-the-Outer-Courtyard

Today we will see the power associated with entering into a covenant relationship with God the Father.

An empowered ministry and a relationship of covenant are the benefit given to the Christian who can pass through “the Life,” and into the Holy of Holies. To draw a correlation back to the  Tabernacle let us continue to read from Exodus chapter 40 and see what happened when the people of God put the components of the Tabernacle together and entered into a covenant relationship with Him.     Thus Moses did; according to all that the LORD had commanded him, so he did. And it came to pass in the first month of the second year, on the first day of the month, that the tabernacle was raised up. So Moses raised up the tabernacle, fastened its sockets, set up its boards, put in its bars, and raised up its pillars. And he spread out the tent over the tabernacle and put the covering of the tent on top of it, as the LORD had commanded Moses. He took the Testimony and put it into the ark, inserted the poles through the rings of the ark, and put the mercy seat on top of the ark. And he brought the ark into the tabernacle, hung up the veil of the covering, and partitioned off the ark of the Testimony, as the LORD had commanded Moses. He put the table in the tabernacle of meeting, on the north side of the tabernacle, outside the veil; and he set the bread in order upon it before the LORD, as the LORD had commanded Moses. He put the lampstand in the tabernacle of meeting, across from the table, on the south side of the tabernacle; and he lit the lamps before the LORD, as the LORD had commanded Moses. He put the gold altar in the tabernacle of meeting in front of the veil; and he burned sweet incense on it, as the LORD had commanded Moses. He hung up the screen at the door of the tabernacle. And he put the altar of burnt offering before the door of the tabernacle of the tent of meeting, and offered upon it the burnt offering and the grain offering, as the LORD had commanded Moses. He set the laver between the tabernacle of meeting and the altar, and put water there for washing; and Moses, Aaron, and his sons would wash their hands and their feet with water from it. Whenever they went into the tabernacle of meeting, and when they came near the altar, they washed, as the LORD had commanded Moses. And he raised up the court all around the tabernacle and the altar, and hung up the screen of the court gate. So Moses finished the work. Then the cloud covered the tabernacle of meeting, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle. And Moses was not able to enter the tabernacle of meeting, because the cloud rested above it, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle. Whenever the cloud was taken up from above the tabernacle, the children of Israel would go onward in all their journeys. But if the cloud was not taken up, then they did not journey till the day that it was taken up. For the cloud of the LORD was above the tabernacle by day, and fire was over it by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel, throughout all their journeys. (Exodus 40:1 – 38)  

Wow! The journey of Gods people out of the land of bondage in Egypt, and into God’s Promised Land was empowered by God. God’s presence was in the Tabernacle such that Moses could not even enter the Most Holy place. The people were led through the wilderness by God. God also provided the shelter from the burning sun during the day and illuminated their pathway in the darkness.

This is the reward for those of us who seek to find a deeper relationship with God by entering through the Way, the Truth and the Life that is found in Jesus. He will lead us out of the bondage of our relationship with the devil and guide us to His Promised Land that is in heaven with Him. He will give us shelter from our enemies and guide our every step. In Jesus we have the capability to enter into a relationship of grace, a relationship of empowerment and a relationship of covenant with the Father. Truly, He is the Way, the Truth and the Life.

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Jesus the Most Holy Place

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February 5, 2008

Jesus the Most Holy Place

 

In an effort to better understand what Jesus meant when He claimed to be “the Way, the Truth and the Life” we have been presenting a case that proclaims that the Tabernacle is prophetic of Jesus. This case is partially based on the fact that there are three chambers in the Tabernacle and one is named the Way, another is named the Truth and the third is named the Life. This correlation has led us to examine the contents found in the chambers behind each of these passageways. To date we have presented our examination of the contents found in the first two chambers of the Tabernacle. We have contrasted their attributes, functions and characteristics to the life of Jesus. What we have found is that the attributes, functions and characteristics of these chambers precisely predict the life of Jesus. We have therefore declared Jesus to be the Way and the Truth, and now we are preparing to present the case that Jesus is the Life by presenting the third chamber, the one that is entered by passing through the Life. We will soon present the chamber of the Tabernacle that is called the Most Holy Place.

 

Prior to starting our investigation however, we would first like to present an overview of the Tabernacle and how it is organized. In part, this will also bring everyone up to speed on the material already covered. We will achieve this overview by using a scripture from the book of Exodus as a guide, inserting our comments at appropriate places to help the reader understand how the Tabernacle is prophetic of the Life of Jesus. So here is the first portion of the scripture:

 

Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying: On the first day of the first month you shall set up the tabernacle of the tent of meeting. You shall put in it the ark of the Testimony, and partition off the ark with the veil.

 

The Ark of the Testimony is also called the Ark of the Covenant. While we will cover it in more detail in subsequent sections let us provide an outline of it here. The Ark was a golden box which contained the Tablets of the Ten Commandments, the Pot of Manna and the Rod of Aaron. These objects represented various components of the covenant relationship with God. The Ten Commandments represented the laws that were to be followed for the people to remain in a covenant relationship with God. The Pot of Manna represented God’s provision to His people during their exit from the bondage of Egypt and their entry into the Promised Land. Finally, the Rod of Aaron represented God’s selection of Aaron as the royal priesthood for the Tabernacle.

 

As we progress in subsequent sections we will find is that Jesus is the Ark of the new covenant, one in which His sacrifice on the cross has paid the price of our transgressions. Therefore, using the model of the Tabernacle as a guide, our obligation is to do as He commanded us to do.

 

As we progress, we will also find that Jesus is our spiritual Pot of Manna. We find this to be true when we eat His body and drink His blood as He commanded us. Again, using the Tabernacle as a guide, He therefore is the source of our provision on our journey to the Promised Land.

 

In addition, we will also uncover that Jesus is our Rod of Aaron in that He is our new high priest, eliminating all of the priestly duties at the Tabernacle in His single sacrifice on the cross.

 

Summing up these three major aspects of the Most Holy Place we conclude that we as Christians must come through Jesus for our relationship with God. In Him is eternal Life.

 

Our next posting will summarize the material that we have already covered out the Tabernacle. Namely we will review what we have covered in our discussion of the Holy Place.

 

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Jesus Is The Life

Filed under: Jesus, Tabernacle, The Life, The Most Holy Place — Leave a comment
January 25, 2008

Jesus Is The Life

Our initial premise has been that in order to develop a closer relationship with Jesus we must to come to a better understanding of His statement: “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life.” In our previous writings we have been successful in connecting this statement to the Tabernacle built by Moses. The core of this case can be demonstrated by looking at the diagram below. What you should be able to see there is that the entry points to the chambers of the Tabernacle are called: “the Way, the Truth and the Life.”

This picture along with additional information about it can be found by referencing the following link: http://www.tgm.org/URTheTempleOfHS.html

Our writings to date we have addressed the Court of the Tabernacle which is entered through the Way, and the Holy Place, which is entered through the Truth. We now turn our attention to the Most Holy place which is entered through the Life. As in previous discussions, we will start by taking a detailed look at the structure and components of the Tabernacle.

Again, by looking at the chart above we can see that the Most Holy Place is separated from the Holy Place by the veil that is called “the Life”. Since there is no other entrance to the Most Holy Place it must be entered from the Holy Place (For more information about the Holy Place please reference Passing-from-the-Way-and-into-the-Truth/.)

The Most Holy Place is the very sacred dwelling place of God. Entry was restricted to the High Priest who could enter only once each year.

As we proceed we will present all the marvelous things that we find in the Life. We will then correlate their attributes, nature and purpose to the attributes, nature and purpose of Jesus.

So we begin our presentation with the proposition that Jesus’ claim to be “the Life” was a claim to be the veil of the Most Holy Place of the Tabernacle. This being the case, then Jesus is stating that through Him we have access to the most sacred relationship possible with the Father, a relationship of covenant. Anyone who enters into the Most Holy Place enters into God’s covenant and therefore is cared for and protected by God. Here is a supporting scripture:

And He said: “Behold, I make a covenant. Before all your people I will do marvels such as have not been done in all the earth, nor in any nation; and all the people among whom you are shall see the work of the LORD. For it is an awesome thing that I will do with you. Observe what I command you this day. Behold, I am driving out from before you the Amorite and the Canaanite and the Hittite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite. Take heed to yourself, lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land where you are going, lest it be a snare in your midst. But you shall destroy their altars, break their sacred pillars, and cut down their wooden images (for you shall worship no other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God),” (Exodus 34:10 – 14)

This preamble lays a foundation for a deeper look at the objects found in the Most Holy Place. We therefore plan to take a look at the Ark of the Covenant, which is foundational to God’s covenant relationship with man. More importantly, we will look at the objects found inside the Ark and present them in an effort to gain a deeper understanding of what this covenant is all about.

For example, we will investigate the covenant stones (upon which the Ten Commandments are transcribed) and find God’s law which is a part of the covenant agreement. We present the pot of manna that fed the nation during its journey through the wilderness. The pot represents God’s covenant of provision. Thirdly, we will introduce the Rod of Aaron which communicates God’s choice for a royal priesthood.

In addition, we will look at the covering of the Ark, namely the Golden Cherubim and the Mercy Seat. The Golden Cherubim represent the presence of angels to protect the covenant. The Mercy Seat is the place where God dwells and the place we man can talk to God face to face.

All of this will start with our next posting where we will start to build our case that the Most Holy Place of the Tabernacle is prophetic of Christ Jesus.

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