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Teaching And Research By: M. E. Arbaugh
Overcoming
the Enemies
of Health
THE
TABERNACLE
SUMMARY
Lesson
13
The purpose of the tabernacle was to deal with sin and to restore the people to fellowship with God. The tabernacle and all of it's furnishings were a picture of Him who was to come. The brazen altar taught of Jesus taking our place, a lamb provided by God to take our penalty. The laver taught of the cleansing of the word, as we apply it to ourselves. Jesus is called the word. The Lampstand speaks of the Holy Spirit who illumines the believers life. Jesus is the one who baptizes us with the Holy Spirit. The table of the showbread spoke of the fellowship of believers gathered around the bread of His presence and the bread spoke of Him who is the bread of life, the living word. The golden altar speaks of Jesus our high priest who ever lives to make intercession for us and of our prayers, praise and worship. The ark and the mercy seat speak of his person and His work and our communion with God. The whole of the tabernacle was designed to deal with sin and TO RESTORE MAN TO FELLOWSHIP WITH GOD.
"For thou hast created all things, for thy pleasure they are created." Man was created for the pleasure of God, that we might fellowship with Him. Sin entered the world and destroyed that fellowship. But God did not just give up on man, He had a plan which He began to reveal to the darkened minds of mankind. The tabernacle was a part of His plan of redemption, it foretold of the Messiah to come. The tabernacle and it's rituals was not the way. The rituals were to be mixed with faith in the one who was to come.
Revelation 22:17 NKJV. And the Spirit and the bride say, "Come!" And let him who hears say, "Come!" And let him who thirsts come. Whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely.
The voice of God comes from the throne, saying "Come, let him that is thirsty
come." Many have responded to that call with the words of
Hebrews 10:22 which says, "Let us draw near, with a true heart." But through
the years the voice of God has been stilled again and again, by the falling
away of the priesthood; and the putting of religious laws upon the people.
In the days of Samuel, the priesthood became so corrupt that God allowed
the ark to be taken from Israel. Samuel remained as priest and a prophet,
but the ark and the mercy seat, the symbols of God's presence, were in the
possession of the Philistines. It was one hundred years before David and
the men of Israel, went after the ark and brought it back to Jerusalem,
1 Samuel 7:2 Amp. By that time, all the other articles of worship were not
being used. Then Solomon built a temple. The only original piece of furniture,
from the tabernacle, that was placed in the temple was the ark. But even
this beautiful temple was allowed to decay until young King Josiah came along
restored it, and started worship service again.
Man has a tendency to replace God's plan with his own. Instead of approaching God thru the altar, the word, the Spirit, praise and worship: they light candles and crawl on their knees up and down stone stairs. Doing penance instead of repenting. Going to church is allowed to replace coming to God. The result, God and man are separated, fellowship is broken. If there is not a brass altar with a sacrifice upon it, the priest can not enter the Holy of Holies.
During the middle ages, God's plan was so obscured that, priests sold their forgiveness to men. In those days, if you could not come up with the money, then the church said that you could not be forgiven. The church called this indulgences.
During the 1500's the truth of God's plan for man arose again. Luther preached, "But the just shall live by his faith," Habakkuk 2:4. With this declaration of the truth came persecution, but he and other believers stood firm, and the brazen altar was restored to the church.
About two hundred years later, the Wesley boys started preaching sanctification. They were also persecuted; but the cleansing of the word, the laver, was back where it belonged. The ministry of the outer court was now restored, the brazen altar and the laver were back in the church.
The 1900's began with a great out pouring of the Holy Spirit. Those who heard and responded were persecuted. But now the church had the Lampstand and many moved out of the outer court and into the Holy Place. The gifts were once again manifested, some of these folks thought that they had arrived at the ultimate in fellowship with God; they felt favored of God above all others, but there was still more to come.
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Now as the lampstand shed light on the table of showbread, it suddenly didn't matter what church you went to. Denominations were ignored as Spirit filled believers joined hands to enjoy Jesus. The unity of the body of Christ began to take hold as we held hands and looked upon the golden table.
Somewhere in the 70's the church caught sight of the bread of His presence that was on the table. Until then believers had been gathering around the table and rejoicing, but they hadn't been feeding. A great hunger for the word of God in the church. Emphasis on teaching the word caused some of the churches to grow until they numbered in the thousands. Charismatic publishing houses, television stations and tape libraries sprang up all over the world. Again, those involved felt as if they had arrived, but there is still more. Belivers must move from fellowship and teaching, on to the golden altar of incense, (prayer, praise and worship) before we can pass through the veil and into the Holy of Holies.
Revelation 22:9-10 NKJV. Then he said to me, "See that you do not do that. For I am your fellow servant, and of your brethren the prophets, and of those who keep the words of this book.
Worship God." And he said to me, "Do not seal the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is at hand.
In fellowship we sing praises for what He did. In worship we dwell upon who He is. When this happens then the time of His re-appearing is at hand.
The Jews had the types and the word of God that pointed to Jesus. After awhile, they began to worship the rituals instead of God who gave the rituals. That still happens today, many have the form of Godliness, while denying the power thereof. We must be careful to worship the creator instead of the created. Forms, methods and words must be mixed with faith.
Acts 20:32 NKJV. So now, brethren, I commend you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified.
End: THE TABERNACLE
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Teaching And Research By: M. E. Arbaugh
January 1, 2009
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