We have seen that there is no communion with the Lord without blood (vs. 6) being shed and without the written word (vs.7). We also see Joshua as a soldier and as a minister.
1 ¶ And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
2 Speak unto the children of Israel, that they bring me an offering: of every man that giveth it willingly with his heart ye shall take my offering.
What is shocking here is that no one here has been quickened or ‘born again’. So Calvin was wrong because these people are obeying willingly while still in a depraved state. Free will is a Bible doctrine. The Holy Spirit isn’t said to be working on their hearts. It is their choice.
They gave their offering willingly. That’s what God wants, not some ritual commitment to your church to satisfy their imagined budget requirements. We have far too many carnal procedures in modern churches.
3 And this is the offering which ye shall take of them; gold, and silver, and brass,
The order of value is gold first and brass last. Gold pictures deity, silver represents redemption, and brass represents judgment.
4 And blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine linen, and goats’ hair,
Blue represents heaven, purple royalty, and scarlet blood. Fine linen is the righteousness of saints in the Tribulation, see Revelation.
5 And rams’ skins dyed red, and badgers’ skins, and shittim wood,
Three metals, three colors, and three animals.
6 Oil for the light, spices for anointing oil, and for sweet incense,
Oil is a type of the Holy Spirit and incense is a type of the prayers of the saints. All of these assertions will be shown throughout our study of the Bible.
7 Onyx stones, and stones to be set in the ephod, and in the breastplate.
8 And let them make me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them.
In this age, the Church Age, our bodies are the temple in which we worship God. This is where we worship God. The church building today is not the “house of God”. Christians are the house of God, the body of Christ.
Outside of getting together for fellowship, corporate worship, and focusing your money and energies to win souls and make disciples the church building has no purpose but as a drain on money that should be spent on Christ’s work. It may be a social club or a gymnasium and a chow hall but none of that has anything to do with Christ. Just because I am doing something and placing Christ’s name on it doesn’t mean it isn’t a waste of time.
The Hebrews here have a sanctuary with which to commune with God. If you are told today that you must go someplace to do that then whomever told you that is denying the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in each believer. That man is an heretic.
The reason we have so many people coming forward to say a prayer, then getting baptized, and then disappearing is because we have lost sight of what a church is or what the church is. Brick and mortar do not make a church. The church building today has no significance unless believers are united in worship there.
My point is, do not confuse the two dispensations. The greatest downfall of Christianity is to place oneself into the Old Testament and copy all of the forms for Christians. As a result you have people thinking that the church is a building and that you have to go there to commune with God so you have the “Sunday Christians” crowd who justify every sin as long as they go to church a few times a week to “get right with God”. This is why Christians have so little influence in society.
The New Testament makes it clear that my body is the Temple of the Holy Ghost. This is where I meet God 24/7. God dwells within me. In time we’ll get to all of those verses that underscore this. In the meantime you need to be reading your Bible through over and over to let God’s word speak to you. Before you read and as you read, ask Him to speak to your heart. Rightly divide it.
2Timothy 2:15 Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
9 According to all that I shew thee, after the pattern of the tabernacle, and the pattern of all the instruments thereof, even so shall ye make it.
God is going to show Moses something that already exists in heaven or in the mind of God representing His plans or an actual place. Even the pagan Plato understood that everything in the physical world first had a spiritual counterpart.
Hebrews 8:5 Who serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things, as Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the tabernacle: for, See, saith he, that thou make all things according to the pattern shewed to thee in the mount.
10 ¶ And they shall make an ark of shittim wood: two cubits and a half shall be the length thereof, and a cubit and a half the breadth thereof, and a cubit and a half the height thereof.
A cubit is a measurement we hear a lot of argument about. It may have been, and I’m not any more sure than anyone else, from the elbow to the tip of the middle finger or roughly a foot and a half. Whatever the case, when you are imagining it, be consistent and you’ll get a good idea of the size and shape of things.
The ark is a box much like a coffin.
11 And thou shalt overlay it with pure gold, within and without shalt thou overlay it, and shalt make upon it a crown of gold round about.
It has gold overlaying it on the outside and the inside and it has a crown, all symbolizing deity and kingship.
12 And thou shalt cast four rings of gold for it, and put them in the four corners thereof; and two rings shall be in the one side of it, and two rings in the other side of it.
It has rings on it for carrying it.
13 And thou shalt make staves of shittim wood, and overlay them with gold.
The poles that carry it are also covered with gold.
14 And thou shalt put the staves into the rings by the sides of the ark, that the ark may be borne with them.
This is the way it is to be carried. Uzzah found out later that God was serious about this.
15 The staves shall be in the rings of the ark: they shall not be taken from it.
16 And thou shalt put into the ark the testimony which I shall give thee.
17 And thou shalt make a mercy seat of pure gold: two cubits and a half shall be the length thereof, and a cubit and a half the breadth thereof.
18 And thou shalt make two cherubims of gold, of beaten work shalt thou make them, in the two ends of the mercy seat.
In the middle of it on top there is the mercy seat with two cherubims, one on each side. A cherubim is a winged creature, not an angel. There is a description of a cherubim in Ezekiel, chapters 1 and 10, and there is a description in Revelation 4, but without reading the verses in Ezekiel first you’ll get confused. Angels never have wings in the Bible.
19 And make one cherub on the one end, and the other cherub on the other end: even of the mercy seat shall ye make the cherubims on the two ends thereof.
These cherubim and the mercy seat are built out of one piece of gold.
20 And the cherubims shall stretch forth their wings on high, covering the mercy seat with their wings, and their faces shall look one to another; toward the mercy seat shall the faces of the cherubims be.
21 And thou shalt put the mercy seat above upon the ark; and in the ark thou shalt put the testimony that I shall give thee.
22 And there I will meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubims which are upon the ark of the testimony, of all things which I will give thee in commandment unto the children of Israel.
The Lord God will meet with them at the mercy seat. God is a spirit so they wouldn’t see Him. Today, since Christ’s resurrection, we meet with God inside us. We have God’s spirit indwelling us and we have no need of going somewhere to commune with God. Just drop to your knees and pray to God right where you are. You are never far from God. If you are unsaved you have a dead spirit and have no way of communing with God.
23 ¶ Thou shalt also make a table of shittim wood: two cubits shall be the length thereof, and a cubit the breadth thereof, and a cubit and a half the height thereof.
24 And thou shalt overlay it with pure gold, and make thereto a crown of gold round about.
25 And thou shalt make unto it a border of an hand breadth round about, and thou shalt make a golden crown to the border thereof round about.
26 And thou shalt make for it four rings of gold, and put the rings in the four corners that are on the four feet thereof.
27 Over against the border shall the rings be for places of the staves to bear the table.
The phrase “over against” means ‘on the opposite side of’. Here is the Bible definition in the following verse;
Ezekiel 46:9 But when the people of the land shall come before the LORD in the solemn feasts, he that entereth in by the way of the north gate to worship shall go out by the way of the south gate; and he that entereth by the way of the south gate shall go forth by the way of the north gate: he shall not return by the way of the gate whereby he came in, but shall go forth over against it.
28 And thou shalt make the staves of shittim wood, and overlay them with gold, that the table may be borne with them.
29 And thou shalt make the dishes thereof, and spoons thereof, and covers thereof, and bowls thereof, to cover withal: of pure gold shalt thou make them.
30 And thou shalt set upon the table shewbread before me alway.
The showbread represents the twelve tribes of Israel. There are three pieces of furniture which have a crown, representing the trinity, which we might get to a little later. The bread is laid out in two sets of six, 66 representing the word of God. There are 66 books in the Bible.
31 ¶ And thou shalt make a candlestick of pure gold: of beaten work shall the candlestick be made: his shaft, and his branches, his bowls, his knops, and his flowers, shall be of the same.
32 And six branches shall come out of the sides of it; three branches of the candlestick out of the one side, and three branches of the candlestick out of the other side:
You have seen this as a Jewish symbol. Note here in the book of Revelation what a candlestick represents.
Revelation 1:12 And I turned to see the voice that spake with me. And being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks; 13 And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle.
Revelation 1:20 The mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in my right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches: and the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches.
33 Three bowls made like unto almonds, with a knop and a flower in one branch; and three bowls made like almonds in the other branch, with a knop and a flower: so in the six branches that come out of the candlestick.
34 And in the candlestick shall be four bowls made like unto almonds, with their knops and their flowers.
35 And there shall be a knop under two branches of the same, and a knop under two branches of the same, and a knop under two branches of the same, according to the six branches that proceed out of the candlestick.
36 Their knops and their branches shall be of the same: all it shall be one beaten work of pure gold.
One piece. Isn’t that amazing. You don’t see that kind of craftsmanship today with mass production under compulsory education.
37 And thou shalt make the seven lamps thereof: and they shall light the lamps thereof, that they may give light over against it.
These lamps represent the Holy Spirit. They are the only light you see in the Tabernacle. The only real light we see is from the Holy Spirit.
38 And the tongs thereof, and the snuffdishes thereof, shall be of pure gold.
39 Of a talent of pure gold shall he make it, with all these vessels.
40 And look that thou make them after their pattern, which was shewed thee in the mount.
God showed Moses a pattern of something He had previously made or thought of representing things important to God.
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