Today we begin Exodus Chapter 25.
For the Complete Jewish Bible, click here.
For the King James version, click here.
Let’s recall where we’re at in the Book of Exodus based on the following six divisions of this book.
-The Deliverance Narrative
-The Wilderness Experience
-Covenant & Law
-The Priesthood and Wilderness Tabernacle
-The Golden Calf Rebellion
-The Construction of the Wilderness Tabernacle
Based on the above 6-part division, today we begin the 4th division, the section dealing with the Wilderness Tabernacle and its rituals.
I imagine this is one of those sections of the Bible that is quickly glossed over at best or completely ignored at worst.
Well, that kind of ignorance has just got to go.
I don’t think there are words enough to describe just how important it is to study the tabernacle.
But I’m going to try.
Up until now, we have read and studied many key and inspiring events of the Bible.
We have read about how the Lord created the world, the creation of mankind, Adam’s fall from grace and the later flood that destroyed all of mankind save for a select few.
We have studied the story of Abraham as the first Hebrew and the story of Jacob as the founder of the tribes of Israel.
We have learned about Israel’s brutal captivity in Egypt and the miraculous Exodus that followed.
Now, as significant and inspiring as these Biblical events are, in terms of importance, they pale in comparison to what we’re about to get into, which is the study of the Lord’s earthly dwelling place, otherwise known as the Wilderness Tabernacle.
Let me try to bring the point home even more just how important it is to put forth our best efforts to REALLY understand the many details concerning the tabernacle and its ritual procedures.
In the Torah, there is a total of 50 chapters that deal with the building and service of the Wilderness Tabernacle.
An extraordinary amount of detail is given to the Wilderness Tabernacle in the Torah.
We are given meticulous instructions dealing with…
its construction,
the implements used,
the garments worn,
the cultic rituals and who was to perform them,
etcetera, etcetera.
The sacrificial system is also painstakingly explained.
Instructions concerning the following are all carefully laid out:
…which animals are suitable for which sacrifice,
the purpose of each of the sacrifices,
how a sacrificial animal is to be killed and processed,
who can partake of the meat and who cannot,
etcetera, etcetera.
However, there is one ultimate reason that dwarfs all the other reasons concerning why it is sooooooooooooooo important to study the Tabernacle.
When the Jewish authors penned the New Testament, they were operating under the assumption that their audience had an understanding of the purpose of the holy Tabernacle and the Sacrificial System.
That’s right!
It is assumed that the readers of the New Testament were ALREADY WELL SCHOOLED IN all of the following essential points:
how Israelite society functioned,
Israel’s history and traditions,
how the temple services functioned,
and
how the complex sacrificial and purification rites worked.
Now let me ask you this.
If one doesn’t have the ability to transport themselves back in time to ancient Israel, how in the world is one going to absorb all of the fundamentals and basic knowledge that is absolutely essential to properly understanding the New Testament?
Obviously, the answer is only by taking the time to study and understand the records of that society, including the Laws that the Lord established to govern it.
In other words, one has to study the Torah.
There are no ifs or buts about it.
The whole purpose of the Tabernacle and the sacrificial system is to teach us the Gospel and show us why God chose Israel in the first place.
It is also to teach us the Holiness of the Lord and the great and horrible price that would have to be paid for our sins in order to be at peace with Him.
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