Rabbi Schneider - Spiritual Applications From the Tabernacle
Beloved, we've been talking about the fact that in Exodus chapter 25 verse 8 and 9, the Lord told Moses that he wanted them, he wanted the children of Israel to construct this mishkan, this tabernacle, this sanctuary in order the Lord said, that he might dwell with them. I covered that in detail on the last several broadcasts. The Lord also told Moses there that this mishkan, this tabernacle needed to be built exactly according to the specifications that Yahweh told Moses it needed to be built by. The same pattern, the Lord told Moses, that you saw on the mountain, the Lord revealed this to Moses on the top of Mount Sinai. The Lord said the same divine pattern that I showed you; I want you to build it now on earth.
The reason that the Lord was so specific when he said to Moses: I want you to build it exactly according to the pattern that I show you, Exodus 25 verse number 9, is because every single part beloved, of this mishkan, again it's the Hebrew word for tabernacle, speaks to us of a spiritual reality, a dimension in the spirit that we must be walking in, in order to be fellowshipping with God. You see the primary reason that God gave us the instructions for the tabernacle is for fellowship. The Lord said to Moses, Exodus 25 verse number 8: in order he said that I might dwell with you. 25:8 and 9: The Lord said to Moses; build me this mishkan, Exodus 25:8: Build me this mishkan that I might dwell with you, and then in 25:9: Exactly according to the pattern I showed you on the mountain.
Understand God started with a blank slate. In other words, he started with nothing, so every piece of furniture in the tabernacle, every type of material that's used, every dimension that's there is there for a reason. God spoke it into existence out of nothing, with the blank slate. So there's a reason and there's a design for every piece of furniture in the mishkan. Now here's what I need you to hear. This mishkan, this tabernacle and all its furnishings has application for you as a believer in Jesus the Messiah. And so that's what we're doing, we're looking for the spiritual applications that'll reveal to us in the mystery of the mishkan. It's been prophesied over me several times to teach on the tabernacle. I've taught under it before, but I believe the Lord has given me a special anointing, a prophetic anointing to see the spiritual realities that are revealed in this tabernacle and to make them applicable for your life and my life today, hallelujah.
Now in last week's broadcast, I talk about the fence that surrounds the tabernacle, and about the one entrance in. I'm not gonna go into that today, except to say that fence beloved, it symbolizes separation. The fence was 75 feet wide, 150 feet long, 7½ feet high; it was designed to keep on the outside that which was in the outside. It shows us the inaccessibility to God, to the one that hasn't been redeemed through a sacrificial substitutionary atonement, which Jesus fulfilled for us. We're gonna talk about this, it's one of the principles in the tabernacle. You can't just wander in, there's a fence. The only way in is through the one entrance. And when you walk through the one entrance, who is Yeshua, the door into the tabernacle; there's only one door in, and remember, every piece of it, the Bible says in Hebrews chapter 9, listen now, is a copy of heavenly realities, and it's a copy of Messiah Jesus.
And so this fence that completely surrounded the tabernacle, beloved only had one gate or entranceway in through the fence. There was only one break in the fence that which a person could enter in. Again, the fence is designed to keep outside everything that's outside, except in the Lord's mercy; he made one entrance in and Jesus said I am the Way. You see Yeshua is the entrance, he is the fulfillment of the one way into the fence through the tabernacle and into the, into the, into the Holy Place and in the Holy of Holies. Now as you walked in through the fence, through the one way that the Lord had made, and by the way the curtain or the fabric, the veil, the gateway in through the fence beloved, it was made of beautiful blue, and purple, and scarlet materials, representing the glory and the kingly majesty, hallelujah of Messiah Jesus. And we enter in through that one way who is Messiah Jesus, he said I am the door, I am the gate, I am the way; there is no other way.
When we enter in to the tabernacle through the one gate beloved, the first piece of furniture that we come to is called, listen now, the brazen altar. You'll notice now the picture of the brazen altar on your screen, along with the Scripture reference for it in the Book of Shemot, is the Hebrew name for Exodus in Hebrew. Notice the four horns on the altars there. What happened was this: the four horns on the altar, what happened is this: an ancient Israelite beloved, would come the mishkan, they'd come to the tabernacle in order, listen, to get close to God. They realized their need to be close to God, and they realized that if they wanted to get close to God, they needed to come to the tabernacle, because that's where the visible, literal, manifest glory of the Lord dwelt. Pillar of fire over the tabernacle over forty years when they were in the wilderness by night, and a divine glory cloud by day, and the literal manifest presence of God was inside the Holy of Holies. Over the Ark of the Covenant, between the two golden cherubim that were over the Ark of the Covenant.
So a worshipper in ancient Israel came to the tabernacle, because they had a desire to be close to the Lord, to meet God. When they entered in through the one gateway who represents Messiah Yeshua, the first thing they came to beloved, was this brazen altar. What the worshipper would do is he would take with him an unblemished kosher animal, an unblemished clean animal that the Lord had mandated for the purpose of sacrifice. And then the worshipper beloved, would go next to the, to the altar there where the priests were ministering, and the worshipper would be instructed to take his hands and place his hands on the head of the sacrifice that he had brought, on the head beloved, of that unblemished animal.
As the worshipper beloved, placed his hands on the head of his sacrifice of the animal, he literally, the Hebrew word there is, he literally, listen now, not only did he lay his hands on top of the animal, but the Hebrew word actually carries with of the idea of pressing into it. He literally put his hands on his sacrifice, listen now, and as he placed his hands on the head of his sacrifice, he literally listen, he pushed himself into it, he literally pushed his hands into the animal. He was transferring his sin out of his own body, into that animal, that unblemished animal that was gonna die in his place. This unblemished animal, we know beloved, was a copy, Hebrews chapter 9, of Jesus. All these sacrifices beloved, that were brought to offer to the Lord for sin in the tabernacle, they were all copies of Jesus.
Now Hebrews 9 tells us that bull or that goat, that sacrifice that the ancient Israelite brought, could never really take away sin, but it was a shadow, it was a copy, and because it was a copy; the Lord accepted it until Messiah came. Now that Messiah's come, the Bible says all those bulls, and all those goats could never really take away sin, but they were just shadows of Jesus, the innocent Lamb of God. Our sin beloved, was transferred into him, even as that worshipper placed his hands on the head of that animal, pushing his body weight into the animal, symbolically and ceremonially transferring his sin into the animal. So the Scripture teaches that our sin beloved, was transferred into the body of Jesus.
The Scripture says that he himself bore our sin in his own body on the tree. Our sin was pushed in, transferred into Jesus, then he died in our place, the guilty one dying in the place of the innocent, and because Jesus died in our place Yadid, listen, God now looks at us as completely blameless. Why? Because the sin is no longer in us. It was transferred into Jesus, and Jesus was put to death, cause the Scripture tells us the soul that sins, it shall die. And so Jesus took our sin in himself, and then he died in our place, and now we're completely blameless, innocent, holy before the Lord, because the sins not in us, it was transferred into Jesus.
That's why you can look in the mirror and say I'm holy and blameless before God according to the Book of Ephesians chapter 1 and 2. And you look in the mirror, and you say how can I say I'm holy and blameless? I know that just a few minutes ago, I had this mad thought, I was mad at my wife, or I was mad at my child, or I lost my temper, or whatever it is, you think how can I be holy and blameless. But the reason Yadid, beloved one, you're holy and blameless is because your sin: past, present and future, Yeshua's died once and for all; he took all of it, all your sin: past, present and future in his own body and then died in your place. Hallelujah, bless the name of Jesus. We bless you Lord, in his own body on the tree.
And so these, these, remember the, the tabernacle, Hebrews chapter 9 tells us is a copy of heavenly things, of spiritual realities, and of Messiah Yeshua, who's become our tabernacle. Because remember, the tabernacle was built that the Lord, Exodus 25:8: Could dwell with his people. But now the Bible says God's given us his Son, Emmanuel, God with us. And so Jesus has now become the tabernacle through his Spirit by which we have fellowship with God. It's all a copy and it's all a shadow.
Now these animals beloved, that were brought to the tabernacle in ancient Israel, they were blameless, listen now, and they were shadows, they were copies of Messiah Jesus. And when a worshipper brought the animal to the, to the, to the tabernacle and he placed his hands upon it, transferring his sin into it; the Lord accounted it beloved, as having that Israelite sin removed for the year. But yet the New Testament tells us that those animals could never really take away sin, they were just copies.
So how do we put this together? It's like a credit card. When you go to the merchant, when you go to wherever it is that you shop, and you give that merchant your credit card, your Visa, your Master, whatever it is; that merchant takes your credit card, he runs it through his machine, and he counts your goods as paid for, even though you never put any real money in that merchants pocket. You didn't hand em a 10, or a 20, or a 100, or a 50, or whatever it is. But yet the merchant takes your credit card and he counts your merchandise as paid for. Why? Because the merchant knows that that credit cards been swiped, and as a result of that, listen now, that real payment is coming.
And that's the way the Lord looked at these sacrifices at the tabernacle. The blood of the bulls and the goats could never really take away sin, but yet beloved, they were like a down payment; they were like the credit card. They were a shadow of Jesus like that credit card swiped through the machine and the Lord knew that real payment was coming, that hallelujah his Son, Yeshua HaMashiach was gonna die on the cross for the sin of that ancient Israelite that was practicing their religion, the religion of ancient Judaism, according to the revelation that the Lord had prescribed to em at that time. What we learn as we study this mishkan, as we study this tabernacle; a principle beloved, once again, for having fellowship with God, the first thing that needs to happen, for you and I to have fellowship with God today, listen up now, is that your sin needs to be atoned for.
Once again, when that worshipper came to get close to God at that ancient mishkan, that ancient tabernacle and they walk through that gate, the gate representing Yeshua. The first piece of furniture they came to was the brazen altar where the worshippers sacrificed for sin was laid. And this teaches us that if you and I, if anybody in this world wants to really have communion with God; the first problem that needs to be solved is the problem of their sin. See this is what makes Jesus and our faith beloved, the Yeshua HaMashiach is the Messiah, and the only way to heaven, and the only way to enjoy divine life; the claim beloved that what we're making is, is that man's sin has separated him from God, and that the only one out of that sin, and be to be brought back into communion with God is if that person's sin problem is dealt with.
The Lord said the soul that sins, it shall die. And the Lord's manner beloved, of taking one that has sinned, and as a result of that individual sin, that person is guilty of death, even if it was just one sin. Even just one sin, the penalty for sin is death. So every man, woman and child is under the penalty of death. God's remedy for this beloved, is to cause an innocent one to die in the place of that guilty one's sin, so that one that has sinned can still be blameless before God, and walk, hallelujah, into his presence. That's why the whole theme about the Hebrew bible and the New Testament is the theme beloved, of blood, right? Beginning with Passover; remember the Israelites put the blood of the lamb on the doorpost of their houses. And when the angel of death, when the angel passed through the land of Egypt to strike down every first born in the Egyptian family, he passed over every Israelite household, and didn't bring death as long as that Israelite's household was covered by the blood on the lintel and doorpost of their home.
The blood is what allowed the angel of death to pass them over in judgment. And then we continue; Moses then leads the children of Israel out of Egypt, right? And he brings them to Mount Sinai, and Moses goes up the mountain and the Lord speaks to him there the law of God, where we get the Ten Commandments beloved, which are the bedrock of western civilization moral culture, the eternal commandments of the Lord. And God gives Moses many other instructions, and then Moses comes down from the mountain, and he reads the children of Israel the law of God, the law of the covenant. And then the children of Israel responded, whatever Yahweh says, we will do. They accept the covenant. And you know what Moses does? Listen, he sprinkles them with blood. Why does he sprinkle them with blood? It's because the first prerequisite for entering into this covenant with Yahweh beloved, is the covenant beloved, of sacrificial atonement, that their sin had to be atoned for.
And so the blood, the reason they're sprinkled with blood is cause bloodshed is the symbol of a life that's been given. The Torah tells us in the Book of Vayikra, which is the Hebrew word for Leviticus, chapter 17 verse 11: That the life of the flesh is in the blood. And the Lord says and I've given it to you on the altar to make an atonement for your soul. Once again, Leviticus 17:11: The life of the flesh is in the blood the Lord said. And I've given it to you on the altar, that's what we're studying right now in the mishkan, the brazen altar and I've given it to you on the altar to an atonement for your soul. That's why they came and pierced Jesus at his crucifixion so that the Blood poured out. It symbolized that the life had been given. When someone, it's a symbolism of a life given, that an innocent one died in the place of the guilty, thereby the guilty one goes free.
And so Moses, when he reads the law to the children of Israel, the law of the covenant, and they said all that Yahweh says, we will do. Then Moses sprinkles them with blood, in other words, they're able to have a relationship with God based on this principle of what I call substitutionary sacrificial atonement, that an innocent one has died for their sin, and as a result of that, the blood has been shed, and now they're able to walk with God in fellowship, hallelujah, with him. This same truth is seen in the what we call the highest holiday of the Jewish Year, Yom Kipper, the day of atonement where the high priest would go into the Holy of Holies, bringing the blood of the bull and the blood of the goat, and pour it on top of the Ark of the Covenant where the Ten Commandments were, covering his real sin for sinning against the Ten Commandments.
The point is that and the Lord shows us the pattern for how to have intimacy with him. He tells us by virtue of the fact that the first thing that we encounter is the brazen altar, when we walk into the tabernacle area to have, to have fellowship with them, that the first thing that needs to happen, your sin needs to be atoned for, it needs to be forgiven or you're not gonna be able to have any fellowship with me. You see in our culture today, people don't realize, do they? That they're biggest need is to have their sin atoned for. If you walked down the street today and you interviewed 30 people, and asked them what's your biggest need in life? I wonder how many out of that 30 would say my biggest need in life is to have my sins forgiven by Yahweh God. I don't think there'd be too many if any that would have that answer.
But you see when the Lord looks upon us, he sees that our first and greatest need: it's not to be happy, it's not to have money, it's not even to be in good health, although we know that good health is a gift from God and he created us to walk in health, and in heaven there'll be no sickness, or sorrow or pain. But it's not our biggest need. Our biggest need beloved, is to have our sins atoned for. And so the first piece of furniture in the tabernacle area. We're not actually in the tabernacle; we're in the outer area. We don't get into the tabernacle till we get past the brass laver, which we're gonna cover in next week's broadcast. But the first thing that has to have happened beloved, is to have your sin atoned for.
Let me ask you today; maybe you think you know Jesus, but have you really ever come to recognize that you have a problem with sin and that your sins need to be forgiven and atoned for? I'm speaking to some of you right now that have just maybe been channel surfing today. Do you know beloved, that the Bible says if you stand before God without Jesus, without the sacrifice that God has made for your sin, without having received him, if you stand before God; it doesn't matter how good of a person you are, you might be a better moral person than your passionate Christian next-door-neighbor, but you know what? If your sins are not atoned for, cause you did not receive the gift that God gave you when he sent his Son to die in your place for your sin; if you don't receive that, do you know it doesn't matter how good of a person you may think you are or what you look like to your friends, your neighbors, your, your work associate.
What you look like to the rest of the world, it doesn't matter. You know what? You will go to hell. Why? Because the Bible says the soul that sins, it shall die. The Bible says what will happen to us if we neglect such a great salvation. Beloved, Jesus loves you. He loves you so much, he died for you. And he died beloved, in your place and in my place that we would receive him into our life. That we would receive his gift of forgiveness, that we would have our sins blotted out beloved, and be given the gift of his Holy Spirit. This is the only way to eternal life. That's why there's only one door into the tabernacle. It represents Jesus. He's the only way to eternal life.
Let me tell ya, some of you have been listening to a false gospel, you've been listening to a false religion that people are calling Christianity. You've been taught that Jesus died just to make you successful, that Jesus is the way for you to achieve your destiny, that Jesus is the way for you to, you know, all these things basically making Jesus your magic genie so that you can become somebody in this world. I want you to know beloved; Jesus didn't die to make you or I somebody in this world. He died beloved, because we were wretched sinners that needed forgiveness, and outside of God's mercy, and grace, and love for, for and forgiveness for our sin; you and I beloved, would be destined to outer darkness and separation from God forever. Jesus loves you. If you have never humbled yourself and received him into your life, saying, "Jesus, I see it now, I see it now, I need to be forgiven for my sin". I wanna ask you to join me right now and get down on your knees, asking Yeshua to wash your sin away.
Lord Jesus, I realize that you died for me. That when you died on the Cross, it was for me. That my sin was in your body when you died on the Cross. And the way that I can not be judged by Father, God is by accepting you and what you did for me of your dying in my place. And I just wanna thank you right now Jesus, I wanna thank you so much, Jesus that you took my sin in your body and washed my sin away. And I receive now you; I receive you and your love, and your gift and your forgiveness. I receive you today, Yeshua, and I wanna live the rest of my life following you. Not following the false Christianity of the world that tells them that you exist, just to make me somebody in this, this world, but I wanna follow you Jesus, the way that you've asked me to. To learn how to pick up my cross, just like you picked up your cross and said not my will, but thy will be done. I wanna learn how to pick up my cross Jesus, denying my own will, denying the desires of my flesh, denying the mind of the world to follow you. I give you my heart this day Jesus, and I pray that you'll come and life inside me forever, and sanctify me in your truth.