Jesus: Our Complete High Priest and True Tabernacle

The high priests stand daily the book of Hebrews says we'll come to that verse later on they stand daily the tabernacle does not have a chair there is the mercy seat where God presences himself but it's not a chair as such it's just a slab of gold but there is nowhere for them to sit they have to stand all the time and what does that mean it means the work is never done there's always sacrifices that need to be made but Jesus he says having made this once for all sacrifice has sat down meaning the work done and so he has completed the work therefore he can rest from his labor. [00:13:48]

And so now he's introducing the fact that Jesus is the king that he is seated in a throne he's not just seated in a lazy boy or any kind of chair he is seated in the throne of God and so he is God he is the king now remember in the previous chapter we saw Melchizedek who was made after Jesus what was distinctive of Melchizedek that was that was unique to him that was not true of any other priest that he was a king and a priest the king of Salem and he was the king of peace and so and then he was the priest of the most high God and so he was both a priest and a king remember we said that no priest in the Old Testament no Levitical priest no priest after Aaron ever was a king and no king ever was a priest. [00:15:00]

And so he's gotten us saved but now he needs to keep us saved he needs to sanctify us he needs to get us into and so he is continuing to do the work of saving not in the sense of paying the price for our sin but in the sense of interceding for us pleading our cause before the Father and so he's still a servant in that sense and he is a servant now of the sanctuary and the true tabernacle so now he's introducing another thought it's going to come back to the heaven but the sanctuary and the tabernacle. [00:21:13]

God shows him a pattern in the mountain when Moses is up in the mountain for 40 days 40 nights one of the things that God shows him there is the pattern for the tabernacle now we don't know exactly what that means did God show him a drawing a blueprint or maybe God showed him a model but he was shown how it needed to look and then God gives him very specific instructions we'll see that in a moment that he needs to build it exactly according to the pattern that he had seen according to the model or the plan or the blueprint that God had shown him. [00:22:10]

There are many who say that there is a that the tabernacle that Moses built and remember the temple later on was built on the same pattern uh the same uh but much bigger uh different in some respects but the same concept with the outer court and the holy place and the holiest of all with the same furniture and so on um now there are those who then say that this tabernacle that Moses built is a is a copy of a tabernacle in heaven and that there is such a tabernacle in heaven which is reflected by the one that Moses built and they base it on this verse and so he is a minister of the sanctuary and the true true tabernacle. [00:25:41]

The altar of sacrifice was a picture of the cross those animals that were killed every animal that was killed every blood that was timed blood was shed it was pointing to Calvary pointing to the ultimate and final sacrifice so so Calvary the cross becomes the the altar all right so what is that tabernacle and I believe the answer is in John chapter 2 verses 19 and I'm going to skip over verse 20 and go to verse 21. Jesus answered and said to them destroy this temple remember this was the accusation that was brought against him at his trial he said he's going to destroy this temple that Herod had built destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up but he was speaking of the temple of his body. [00:28:23]

It was to bring men into the presence of God that was the only purpose it was not primarily a place to teach our our our understanding today is different the church is not the means through which we come into the presence of God I know many Christians both in traditional religions and in evangelical circles and charismatic circles believe that this is where we come to meet with God no we don't meet with God here you should be walking with God every moment of the day he lives within us so why do we come together well we come to worship and we come to be taught those are the main things. [00:29:56]

What gives us access into the presence of God not the church but the broken body of the Lord Jesus and that was the significance to remember that when the when he died the veil was torn from top to bottom indicating that access was now available into the very presence of God and the book of Hebrews is going to come back to that thought uh later on and so what gives us present access into God's presence Jesus is a broken body later on in chapter 10 I think it say he'll he'll say to us that we have access by a new and living way through his body and through his blood. [00:32:32]

I believe that when he is saying the true tabernacle he's meaning Jesus because Jesus spoke of himself as that tabernacle now when it says true and I'm I'll finish on this verse remember I said that the true is juxtaposed it's put opposite the shadow so when you have a man in the in the bright sunlight there is a shadow that is not the true that is the shadow the man is the true is the real thing the rest of the shadow so what did the Old Testament tabernacle then speak of I've said it gives us access into the presence of God but the Old Testament tabernacle was a picture of Jesus every aspect of that tabernacle was a picture of Jesus. [00:33:43]

Every time you came to that altar it was pointing to Jesus remember that the altar was made out of bronze overlaying wood speaking of the judgment of God the rest of the tabernacle was made out of the furniture the the the lamb stand was solid gold but the altar of sacrifice of incense and the table of showbread and the um the ark of the covenant were made out of wood overlaid with gold wood is common gold speaks of heaven Jesus is both man and God the veil itself was made out of blue and red and white and purple speaking red speaking of his earthly nature remember Adam's name is called Adam which means red or earth and so Jesus the red in that in that veil speaks of his humanity the blue speaks of his divinity blue always refers to heaven. [00:36:11]

The purple is both royalty but also a mixture of blue and purple blue and red if you mix blue and red you get purple so Jesus is the perfect man God God man but he's also royalty the white speaks of his sinlessness and so all of these things speak about the Lord Jesus and so the earthly tabernacle was a shadow of the real the real is not a sanctuary in heaven as such the real is Jesus Christ the sanctuary in the Old Testament was the place where you can say God met with them where the high priest entered into the presence of God but that wasn't really the presence of God Jesus is the presence of God. [00:37:11]