Ancient Secrets of the Tabernacle Revealed (Part 1)
Transcript
Hello and welcome to Inspiration Today. Thanks so much for the opportunity to spend some time with you today. I’m so excited to be standing here at the City of Light in front of a full-scale replica of Moses Tabernacle in the wilderness.
Thousands of years ago, God hid mysteries in the pattern of Moses’ Wilderness Tabernacle…eternal secrets waiting to be discovered…deep truths revealing the pathway into His awesome presence.
In these hidden mysteries, patterns, and messages are some incredible things that can change your life forever.
I don’t believe you‘re watching this program by accident. God has something special on His mind for you. He has scheduled this time—made this appointment with you—to bring you to a special place.
In my personal journey with God, I have learned there are mysteries and revelations hidden in His Word—mysteries He’s placed there for you and me to search out. There are patterns and pictures within His Word He wants us to see, not just words on paper.
Proverbs 25:2 says, It is the glory of God to conceal a matter: but the honor of kings is to search out a matter. So we’re about to embark on a treasure hunt together. True riches and treasure aren’t found lying around on the ground in plain sight. Whether you’re searching for silver, gold, or precious stones, you have to dig for them, mine for them, and search for them. As a side note, when you read the Bible, look for the pictures, follow the patterns, they will reveal mysteries God has hidden in His Word.
One thing is certain: Understanding God and all the mysteries and revelations of His word are inexhaustible. The more I learn or the more I think I know, the more I discover I don’t know. It’s almost like peeling an onion. Every time you peel back a layer there’s another layer underneath…there’s always more. The journey we’re about to take is like that…inexhaustible.
As I was reading the Bible one day, I came across an unusual Scripture in Ezekiel that seemed to just jump off the page at me. You know what I’m talking about; I’m sure it’s happened to you. You’re reading the Bible when all of a sudden, a particular Scripture passage or verse grabs your attention in a way it never did before.
For me, that scripture was Ezekiel 43:10 and 11 (KJV), Thou son of man, show the house to the house of Israel, that they may be ashamed of their iniquities: and let them measure the pattern. And if they be ashamed of all that they have done, show them the form of the house…and write it in their sight, that they may keep the whole form thereof, and all the ordinances thereof, and do them.
God was saying to Ezekiel, Show My house (the Temple) to the house of Israel (my people), describe it to them, help them to understand everything about it and its meaning and help them to see how far away from My pattern they’ve wandered.
Some of you women watching know what it is to make a dress from scratch. You find a piece of cloth you like, find a pattern you like and then you follow the instructions in the pattern for how to make the dress. Almost always the first step in the process is to roll out the cloth you’ve selected on a table. Then you place the pattern on top of the cloth, pin the cloth to the pattern and then begin to cut out the cloth along the lines of the pattern. Unless you have a pattern to place on top of the cloth, chances are the dress you want to make won’t turn out right and it will be unwearable.
That’s exactly what God was describing to Ezekiel. Show my house, the pattern I’ve designed for you to follow…show it to my people, the cloth I want to cut out, have them lay my pattern over their lives and see if they line up.
With this passage from Ezekiel, I started a journey that has taken me to places with the Lord I never thought imaginable. I began studying the Tabernacle. I’m still learning and uncovering hidden mysteries along the way.
We don’t have time to share everything I’ve learned in these programs, but I’ll tell you this: Every part of the Tabernacle had purpose, meaning, stories to tell, and mysteries to reveal. There are historical, prophetical, and practical applications for us today.
I believe the revelations of the mysteries of the Tabernacle are some of the greatest revelations in the entire Bible of God, of His Son, of the pathway to His very presence and the life changing, transforming relationship and place of peace, healing and provision He has planned for us.
I’m sure you’ve looked up into the night sky more than once and wondered about the incredible universe God has created. I have often. Whenever I gaze into the stars, the verse from Psalm 144:3 comes to mind, O LORD, what is man, that You take knowledge of him? Or the son of man, that You think of him?
I love astronomy. It is fascinating to me. With all of our science and technology, man has not been able to measure the extent of the cosmos. Astronomers speculate there are literally billions of galaxies. David wrote in Psalm 19:1, The heavens are telling of the glory of God; and their expanse is declaring the work of His hands. That’s one thing most scientists and astronomers agree on…the universe is expanding just as God’s Word says it is.
To say the universe is pretty big is an understatement. Have you ever stopped to think that in all of God’s magnificent creation…in the entire expanse of the universe…God created man and placed him here on planet Earth with the end in mind that this incredible creator, the God of the universe wants to have a personal, intimate relationship with you and me. It’s incredible. Amazing. Unbelievable. What is man that God is mindful of us?
This incredible, amazing, indescribable God wants to dwell—to tabernacle—with you. That’s why understanding the Tabernacle is so important. Hidden within are pictures, patterns, and mysteries…revelations of how to find the peace, the stability, safety, healing, forgiveness, restoration, and prosperity the world is crying out for today.
God said in Psalm 78:2, I will speak to you in parables, I will utter hidden things, things from of old.
When you were a kid, did you ever pretend to be a pirate and make a map where “X” marked the spot to treasure buried in your back yard?
Well, the Word of God is like a treasure map, except the treasure contained in Scripture isn’t pretend…it’s pure gold! Just as a treasure map leads to buried riches, when we diligently follow the map of the Bible, we discover the amazing riches He’s buried there for us to find. But we must dig for them.
As I’ve been studying the Bible over the years, God has been revealing mysteries to me that have profoundly impacted me. God hasn’t been showing me these secrets because I’m someone special. He has shown me these deep truths because I’ve asked Him, I’ve pursued Him, and because I’ve waited and listened for His answers. My friend, He wants to share His mysteries with you, too.
Most times, the deep things of God are not clearly understood by our natural minds. He only begins to reveal the hidden treasures of His Word as we passionately search for Him, driven by a desperate hunger to truly know Him and His ways. When we dig for God’s gold buried within Scripture, He assures us, You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart (Jeremiah 29:13).
The Tabernacle wasn’t just a house of worship thousands of years ago in Old Testament times. The picture God painted for us in Scripture of the Tabernacle is for you and me today. There is a life-giving, life-changing, eternity-impacting purpose to its pattern.
In Exodus chapters 25-31, we read about the intricate plans for the Tabernacle that God revealed to Moses, including the funding, the building, the furniture, the coverings, the priests, and the sacrifices…details that even included the pegs on which the serving utensils were to hang! Every item had meaning.
Moses was with God for 40 days on top of Mount Sinai observing and learning about the pattern, and when God had revealed all the details to him that he needed to complete the task, He sent Moses back to build the Tabernacle according to the exact instructions he had been given.
However, before Moses would ever build the Tabernacle in the wilderness the children of Israel were slaves in Egypt. They had been slaves to the Egyptians for over 400 years and for most of those years had cried out to God for mercy and deliverance.
As children, many of us learned the Sunday school stories of the Exodus. We were taught how God sent Moses to Pharaoh to demand, “Let my people go,” how God hardened Pharaoh’s heart. How God sent 10 plagues against the people and land of Egypt until finally Pharaoh relented and allowed the Israelite people to leave, but there’s much more to the story…God was sending a message to Pharaoh, to the world and to His people, then and now!
Egypt at the time was the greatest political, military, and economic power on the earth. Pharaoh himself was considered a god among the people. In addition to Pharaoh the Egyptians worshiped at least ten other major gods.
The first message God wanted to deliver was this…You aren’t god. The other gods you worship are frauds. I alone am God and there are no other gods besides me.
God sent 10 plagues against Pharaoh and the Egyptians to prove this point. Why 10 plagues? What’s the mystery and significance? This significance is this, there were 10 major gods the Egyptians revered and worshipped. With each plague God brought against Egypt He would say, “By this you will know that I am the Lord.”
One of the Egyptian gods was Hapi, their god of the Nile. So when God used Moses to turn the water of the Nile into blood, He was demonstrating to the Egyptians that He was greater than Hapi, their god of the Nile.
The second of their gods was Heqet, their frog god. So when God brought the plague of frogs to overtake the land He was demonstrating to the Egyptians that He was greater than Heqet, their god of the frogs.
The third of their gods was Kheper, their insect god. So when God caused gnats to cover man and animals He was demonstrating to them that He was greater than Kheper, their insect god.
The same was true with the fourth plague, the swarms of insects God brought on them. God’s message was I’m greater than Kheper, your insect god.
With the fifth plague all the cattle died. God was showing the Egyptians He was greater than their bull god, Apis.
The sixth plague brought boils on the Egyptian people. God wanted them to know He was greater than their god of medicine, Imhotep. When the seventh plague of hail and fire came it destroyed the Egyptian crops, God’s message was, “I’m greater than Nut, your goddess of the sky.”
The eight plague brought locusts that covered the land and destroyed their crops, the plague was a demonstration that God was greater than Thermuthis, their god of vegetation and harvest.
When the ninth plague of darkness came on the Egyptian people, God was demonstrating that He was greater than one of their greatest gods, Ra, the sun god.
And when God sent the tenth plague, the death angel to kill the firstborn in the land, He was demonstrating to Pharaoh that He was greater than Pharaoh. You see, Pharaoh considered himself a god, as did the Egyptian people. His son was considered a god as well. When Pharaoh’s firstborn son died, God once again proved that He alone was supreme. Egypt had struck God’s firstborn, the children of Israel. Now God would strike Egypt’s firstborn.
Ten false gods. Ten plagues sent by the true God. Ten times God showed to the people He was more powerful than everything else they worshipped. Over and over again, God was saying, I alone am God. There is none besides me! (Isaiah 45:5)
The book of Exodus tells us, Go to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart and the heart of his servants, that I may perform these signs of Mine among them, and that you may tell in the hearing of your son, and of your grandson, how I made a mockery of the Egyptians, and how I performed My signs among them; that you may know that I am the LORD.
When each of these plagues came against the land and people of Egypt, not ONE of them touched the land where the Israelites were living. Not their crops. Not their animals. Not their families.
Throughout the Bible and still today God intends for His people to be distinct and set apart. In Exodus 8:22 and 23 God said, But on that day I will set apart the land of Goshen, where My people are living, so that no swarms of insects will be there, in order that you may know that I, the Lord, am in the midst of the land. And I will put a division between My people and your people.
God delivered His people from more than 400 years of bondage and slavery in Egypt in a powerful way. His messages to the world and to His people were these…
I alone am the one, true, all powerful God. My people are to be separate and distinct from the world. What touches the world won’t touch you. I will provide a way of deliverance from your bondage and slavery. And when you leave I will bless you with riches, wealth, and provision.
When Israel left Egypt, and God led them to Mount Sinai He gave Moses the instruction for building the Tabernacle. It looked very much like the replica you see standing behind me. God told Moses to erect the Tabernacle in such a way that the main entrance to the Tabernacle would face the East. It was another hidden message.
Remember, the “greatest” god the Egyptians worshipped was the sun god Ra. We all know the sun rises in the East and sets in the West. God was saying to His people, When you approach me, when you come into My presence, turn you back on ALL other gods! You can’t approach Me staring in the face of any other god.
You know, many of us are like the Egyptians. We may not worship 10 or more different gods, but if we’re honest with ourselves we worship at the altar of more than one god.
The Hebrew word used in the Old Testament for “worship” means to “stoop, crouch, bow low, fall down flat in an act of submission or reverence before royalty or God.” The Greek word for “worship” used predominantly in the New Testament means to prostrate, bow down, show reverence for, adore.”
So what is it we worship more than God? Our job, money, power, fame, a particular relationship? What is it we adore or revere or bow down to, or spend more time with more than God? Is it watching television, or time we spend on the Internet or consumed in video games? You know, anything we place over and above our relationship with God could be considered a god in our lives.
God says, “If you want to approach Me, if you want an intimate relationship with Me in your life, if you want to experience and encounter My presence and power in your life, then turn your back on ALL other gods!”
Thousands of years ago, God hid mysteries in the pattern of Moses’ Wilderness Tabernacle…eternal secrets and deep truths waiting to be discovered…In these hidden mysteries, patterns and messages are some incredible things that can change your life forever.
The word “Tabernacle” literally means to dwell, to live with. One of the greatest messages from God to the world is that He wants to dwell—to tabernacle—with you.
That’s why understanding the hidden mysteries of the Tabernacle is so important. Hidden within are pictures, patterns, and mysteries…revelations of how to find the peace, the stability, safety, healing, forgiveness, restoration and prosperity the world is crying out for today.
God said in Psalm 78:2, I will speak to you in parables, I will utter hidden things, things from of old.
He said in Jeremiah 29:13, You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.
Proverbs 25:2 says, It is the glory of God to conceal a matter: but the honor of kings is to search out a matter. So today we’ve begun a treasure hunt together. We began with Ezekiel 43:10 and 11, where God was saying to Ezekiel, Show My house (the Temple) to the house of Israel (my people), describe it to them, help them to understand everything about it and its meaning and help them to see how far away from My pattern they’ve wandered.
We talked a bit today about sowing a dress, unless you have a pattern to place on top of the cloth, chances are the dress you want to make won’t turn out right.
Some of the messages hidden in the story of the Exodus we talked about today are these. God is saying to us, I alone am the one, true, all-powerful God. There is none besides me. My people are to be separate and distinct from the world. What touches the world won’t touch you. I have provided a way of deliverance for you. On the way to the place of promise I have for you I will bless you with riches, wealth, and provision.
Perhaps most importantly today God says, “If you want to approach Me, if you want an intimate relationship with Me in your life, if you want to experience and encounter My presence and power in your life, then turn your back on ALL other gods!”
PAUSE AND REFLECT
Father, your Word says, “It is the glory of God to conceal a matter, but the glory of kings is to search out a matter” (Prov. 25:2). As I begin this study of the Ancient Secrets of the Tabernacle, I pray that your Holy Spirit would lead me into truth, as Jesus promised (John 16:13).