Today is the first installment in my study from the books of Hebrews and also Exodus as it pertains to the tabernacle.The Tabernacle in the wilderness,i.e./God’s Pattern We have been studying the book of Hebrews and we have come to the place in chapters 8&9 where it talks about the tabernacle and this is the first installment in our series that we will be covering over the next few months; I believe it will take us that long, we will study the tabernacle and see how the tabernacle that Moses erected in the wilderness points in all of its aspects to the cross of Calvary and the finished work of Christ the Messiah. I do not see this as an interruption of our study in Hebrews but rather as an integral part of it This is not a departure from our study in Hebrews.. I believe the writer of the epistle was the apostle Paul as do others and he was giving this reference to the tabernacle to these Hebrew Christians as part of his exhortation to continue in their walk with God and especially to show to them that the ceremonies and types seen in the Tabernacle worship pointed to the reality that Jesus came to bring. And we know what that reality is, it is knowing Him and His sacrifice on Calvary and our salvation. We sing a song “He has opened the way to the Father”…He is the Way.

Tonight to get us started we will read from chapter 9, a good portion of chapter nine That is a lot of verses but I feel to lay down the scriptural foundation in it’s fullness before we proceed with our study. Let’s read ch.9 OF HEBREWS down to verse 15 for now. Then each session we will begin with the text verse found in ch. 8 vs. 5 here in Hebrews and it is a quote from Ex. 25:40 where it says, “ see that ye make it according to the pattern shewed to thee in the mount.” The Amplified Bible says 40And see to it that you copy [exactly] their pattern which was shown you on the mountain.(C)That is what we are about to embark on in our study….”the Pattern” or “God’s pattern”There is a point that needs to be made here in our study and that is that God came to us, He searched for us, not the other way around.
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Oh yes, He placed a hunger in our hearts for Him; He put a desire in our hearts and He placed within man a need for worship, but the initiative was on His part. I want to stop here for just a moment and ask a question. This is one of those opportunities for you to comment. Why does God place a hunger in some men’s hearts for a deeper relationship with Him than others have? Why is it that some folks have an insatiable hunger for His Word more than others do?
The songwriter penned it rightly when he said, “I was lost but Jesus found me, I was blind but now I see….Oh glory, glory hallelujah, I was bound but now I’m free” He searched for me!
1 John 4:10 from the New Century Version reads, “It is not our love for God; it is God’s love for us in sending His Son to be the way to take away our sins. Another translation, the New Living Translation reads, “This is real love---not that we loved God but that He loved us and sent His Son to be a sacrifice to take away our sins. And that is how our study in the tabernacle will begin …from the inner part called the Holy place and works outward.
God coming to us. He states in Hebrews ch. 9 vs. 2, “For a tabernacle was prepared, the first part in which was the lamp stand, the table and the showbread, which is called the sanctuary; and behind the second veil the part of the tabernacle which is called the Holiest of All….the Holy of Holies…I have passed the riven veil where the glories never fail, And I am living in the Presence of the King. Praise God we are living in the Presence of the King of kings….the Lord of lords. If you aren’t living there tonight then why aren’t you? He has opened up the way for us to enter into His very Presence tonight. Why are we not living up to the place God has prepared? Why do we go around murmuring and complaining? Why do we miss the Shekinah glory that the Old Testament priests experienced at the dedication of Solomon’s temple? You know that a person can be well versed in the Word of God but have such a critical spirit that they miss God entirely. The people of God were encamped at Mt. Sinai. Every day for six days they gazed with trembling and bated breath at the cloud covering the mountain. Ex. 24:13-18. The cloud signified that God had come down to them to speak to them. On the seventh day God spoke to Moses out of the midst of the cloud.(Read Ex.24:18. “So Moses went into the midst of the cloud and went up into the mountain. And Moses was on the mountain forty days and forty nights.” There God gave to Moses a command and instructed Moses to speak to the children of Israel to provide the necessary materials for the construction of the tabernacle. On the day that it was finally completed and erected, as they watched, “the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. ”Ex. 40:34. Read verse 35 “Moses was not able to enter the tabernacle of meeting because the cloud settled upon it, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle”NRSV… the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. I pray that we will see that again, when the glory of the LORD fills the tabernacle. I’M JUMPING AHEAD OF MYSELF SOMEWHA T. God came down to dwell with His people. He gave them the opportunity to become partakers and we also have been invited to be partakers. Hebrews 3:1 says “we are partakers of the heavenly calling” Why are we not partaking then? If that is the case? Why are we missing out? I am not going to miss it. As I was preparing these thoughts for tonight….and I have been studying this all summer in anticipation of tonight…I felt the
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Shekinah glory of God’s Holy Spirit flooding through the deepest inner recesses of my soul and I felt a joy springing up within. Does that mean I do not have trouble? Does that mean I do not have problems? Not on your sweet buffy…I have the same kind of problems and trials that are common to man….I don’t think I deserve them…at least not all of them. Some of you here tonight could tell of circumstances in your lives that would make my troubles pale in comparison. But you aren’t going to let them defeat you. Amen? We will rejoice in the Lord…in the prophecy of Habakkuk, he says in verse 17 of the last chapter (3) , “ Though the fig tree may not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines; Though the labor of the olive may fail,
And the fields yield no food, Though the flock may be cut off from the fold, and there be no herd in the stalls--- Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation.” Is that your purpose tonight? Will you be one whose rejoicing is in the LORD? That is what I want to do. Rejoice! Hallelujah! How many will join me? We’d better get back to the lesson

Ex.25:8”And let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them.” God said to Moses His servant.. ”let them make me a sanctuary……that I may dwell among them.” Praise God! Aren’t you glad He said that? Because He was setting forth a truth here, a greater deeper truth, a pattern for you and I tonight and that is that we are His dwelling place…we are the house of God! We are His dwelling place. Think of it tonight. Think of it!
Let that thought settle into your soul, let it soak into your spirit…we are His dwelling place…Hallelujah! I don’t think that we are fully aware of that truth; we haven’t quite grasped it like we should. This body of believers make up the church, don’t you agree and 1 Timothy 3:14 we are told that the church of the living God is the pillar and ground of the Truth.
The great apostle Paul asked the question of the Corinthians in 1 Cor. 3:16 “
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Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?” Peter said in his first letter, the second chapter and verses 4&5, “Coming to Him, as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious, you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” I want to tell you tonight that you will be rejected….by men. Jesus said that the servant is not greater than his master.
You and I are that house he is referring to in this passage….if we have been born again by the Spirit of God. And we will be rejected by men. The servant IS NOT GREATER THAN HIS MASTER. We might as well face it.
As we look into the subject of the tabernacle, we will be referring much to these verses found here in Ex. 25. I think we should read these first 9 verses. “Just so you shall make it.” God doesn’t want any changes from His pattern…”just so you shall make it” Only the shed blood of Jesus will be sufficient for our salvation.
We just read it in Hebrews chapter 9. Works won’t do it. We must stay with the pattern. We will talk about works in a later lesson. It is only by His grace.

(I am going to stop here and give you the rest of lesson #1 over the course of the next few days, so as not to overload you all at one sitting.)
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