Rabbi Schneider - The Forgiveness of Sin and the Justice of the Lord
Beloved, the tabernacle, the mishkan is a pattern for walking in intimacy with God today. In giving instructions for the tabernacle, the Lord told Moses in the Book of Exodus or Shemot in Hebrew, chapter 25 verse number 8, that it should be built, that he'd be able to have fellowship with his people. And so by paying careful attention to the different pieces of furniture in the tabernacle, we can derive spiritual application that we can apply to our life today, as we're seeking to follow the Spirit in our relationship with Messiah Yeshua. Because the same Spirit that abode over the tabernacle in the wilderness for 40 years as a pillar of fire by night and a cloud by day; that same Spirit beloved is the Spirit that's inside you and I today.
It's just that it was manifest in the physical world, in the Hebrew Bible, in the Torah, where today its in the invisible world beloved, but it's a spiritual reality that corresponds to the material copy that we see revealed in the Book of Exodus. That's where the Book of Hebrews tells us in Hebrews chapter 9, that the tabernacle was a copy of spiritual things. So by studying the earthly material copy of the tabernacle, we're able to perceive beloved, spiritual realities that help us achieve intimacy in our walk today with Messiah Yeshua, with Messiah Jesus.
Now we've gone on to great lengths already, talking about the fence that surrounds the tabernacle, how it was 150 feet long, 75 feet wide, 7½ feet tall, that there was only one door in, that's Yeshua, and the first piece of furniture that we came to beloved, once we entered in through the fence, is the alter, beloved, where the worshiper would bring an unblemished animal that would be put to death in his place for his sins. We talked about that on last week's broadcast. Today I wanna move closer to the actual tabernacle by coming to the brass laver. You see that we have a fence that surrounds the whole tabernacle area, and then we walk through the one entryway into the tabernacle. We're now in the outer court where we find the brazen altar where sacrifice for sin takes place, which I talked about in last week's broadcast. And then the next piece of furniture as one moves towards the actual tabernacle is the brass laver.
Notice the pattern here beloved. Notice the pattern, because the pattern speaks to us of progressing in our walk with Jesus. You walk through the one door in, the one door is Jesus; so we can't have a relationship with God unless first of all we receive Jesus and enter into that relationship through him, right? That's where the Lord said no man come unto God, Jesus said, but by me. That's the doorway in. And then the next thing is we come once again to the altar where the sacrifice for sin is offered, and without forgiveness for our sin beloved, there is no fellowship with God. The sin has to be dealt with. And when the Lord forgives sin, listen, it's based on justice. When the Lord forgives us for our sin, it's based on, listen now, his justice. You know the Lord tells us to forgive people.
Once again the altar inside the tabernacle, the brazen altar where the worshipper would bring the unblemished animal, lay his hands on that unblemished animal, transferring the sin into the animal, then that animal was put to death in its place, symbolizing that the soul that sins; it shall die and Leviticus 17:11: That the Lord says I've given you of the blood, and the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I've given it to you on the altar to make an atonement for your soul. So that whole rite that took place at the brazen altar was based beloved, on the innocent animal dying in the place of the guilty worshipper. That guilty worshipper's sin was transferred in to that animal, and then the animal died in the worshippers place. The animal was a foreshadow, a figure of Jesus. Hebrews chapter 9: Who took our sin in his own body in the tree and died in our place. It's for that reason beloved, that God can forgive us.
See when God forgives us, you need to hear this, when God forgives us, it's not that he's saying to us, listen, I forgive you; what you did isn't really that bad. That's not what God is saying. What God is saying is my forgiveness for your sin, listen to this now, is based on my justice. You see the soul that sins, it shall die. What God did beloved, at the altar in the tabernacle is he showed us how he was gonna be able to forgive us by causing his penalty for our sin to fall upon his Son, who took our sin in his own body on the tree. You see he can forgive us, not because our sin isn't really so bad, but because listen, but because he's already taken out the penalty for our sin on his Son. Are you getting this?
God's forgiveness and his call for us to forgive other people is rooted in its justice, that the sin, listen now, has already been punished. It was, it was, it was, the sin was punished when Jesus, who no sin, took in his own body, our sin, was beaten, whipped, spit on, scourged. His side was pierced with the sword, and then the Father turned away from him and he cried out: My God, My God, why have you forsaken me? He experienced beloved, separation from God. He experienced beloved, the penalty that you and I should have had to experience for our sin; he experienced it for us when he died in our place. So God is able to forgive us, because his forgiveness is rooted in his justice, and it's just because our penalty was taken out on Messiah Jesus.
And so you need to understand this: when, when, when the Lord forgives you and I, when we are called on to forgive somebody else, it's not that we're saying you know what: you really didn't hurt me. It's not that we're saying to somebody that's caused us so much pain in our life; maybe a mom or a dad that's abused us, maybe people that picked on us when we were younger, maybe a spouse that's betrayed us and we can think of many more horrendous things then that. You've been robbed, cheated, steal, but you know lied to torrendous things, horrendous take place in society today. When we forgive people, it's not because we're saying what you did wasn't that bad, I forgive you. No, we're saying I forgive you, because Jesus died in your place. He died for your sin. And because Jesus died for my sins, and because he died for your sins, I forgive you because he's forgiven you, because the penalty for your sin was already taken out on him.
Are you following what I'm saying? We're not saying what you did wasn't bad. We're not saying what you did, didn't hurt me. We're not saying what you did, didn't damage many lives. We're saying I forgive you, because I'm commanded to forgive you, and I forgive you because Jesus died for your sin, just like he died for my sin. And that's the principle that we see brought to light in its primitive form in the tabernacle at the brazen altar. Now, once we get past the brazen altar, you'll notice in the overall layout of the mishkan of the tabernacle, as you continue to move toward the actual tabernacle itself, we're still in the outer court right now, because the brazen altar and the brass laver are in the outer court. We haven't actually entered into the tabernacle itself; we're just inside the fence in the outer court. And once you can see that we, we're moving towards the tabernacle from the brazen altar, the next piece of furniture that we encounter is, listen now, the brass laver.
Remember the Lord said to Moses, I want you to build me this mishkan, this tabernacle, get this now, exactly according to the pattern that I showed you. Listen, the altar is positioned where it is, and the brass laver is positioned where it is, because the finger of Yahweh told Moses this is how I want you to position it. Cause the Lord said to Moses in Exodus 25:9, I want you to build me this tabernacle, this mishkan exactly according to the pattern that I showed you on the mountain. It all speaks to us beloved, it's all significant, it's all application for our life today. So the sins are forgiven at the altar, and now we move towards the actual tabernacle structure. But before the priest could go in the actual tabernacle, and you and I are called priests today; he first beloved, had to come to the brass laver.
Now one of my favorite verses, this mysterious verse concerning the brass laver is in the Book of Exodus chapter number 38 verse 8. In Exodus 38 verse 8, the Lord tells Moses that the brass, listen now, that the brass, that the brass laver was constructed from, had to come from, get this now, the mirrors, the mirrors of the women that ministered outside the doorway of the tabernacle. This is very significant, because generally speaking, the Lord says now I want this particular piece of furniture to be made of gold, or I want this piece of furniture to be made of silver, or I want it to be died this color. But the Lord doesn't tell us exactly where to get the gold from or, or etcetera, but in this particular case, the Lord is very specific when it comes to the brass laver, as to where the brass had to come from. It had to come from, Exodus 38:8, the mirrors of the women that ministered outside the doorway of the tent of meeting or the tabernacle.
Now why would God's revelation, why would the Torah be so specific, why would it give us such specificity regarding where the brass had to come from? Its because beloved, there's something, listen now, significant about the fact that it came from the mirrors. Remember, this is a pattern of heavenly things, Hebrews 9. There's, there's some type of meaning in the fact that this brass laver had to come from mirrors. And so what could be the meaning of the fact that this brass laver had to be built from the brass of mirrors? Well, let's first of all ask ourselves, what is the brass laver? The brass laver beloved, was a basin filled with water, obviously made of brass, where the priest would come each day, listen now, to wash themselves. Listen now, to cleanse themselves before entering in to the tabernacle. It was, beloved, a piece of furniture that had to do, listen now, with washing and sanctification.
The sins beloved, were legally forgiven at the altar of, the, the altar that we met, went to when we first walked into the tabernacle. But the effects of, of living in a world of sin, and the effects of being human still sometimes leave us beloved; listen now, with the stain of sin. Sins were legally forgiven at the brazen altar, which we study. But that doesn't mean that just because we're legally forgiven, that we still don't have to be cleansed of our sin every day. That's why the Bible tells us our sins are forgiven. Yet the Bible also tells us if we confess our sins, he's faithful and just to forgive us, and to cleanse us of all unrighteousness. So there's a legal forgiveness that takes place at the brazen altar, but then there's an experiential cleansing that has to take place, listen now, at the brass laver.
You and I have been forgiven from the sins that we've committed, but we shall too be cleansed; listen now, from the effects of those sins. And we live in a world that's filled with sin. And so like the priests, every day we need to be cleansed, because of the filth and the pollution that we pick up in this world. And even from that beloved, it comes more from our own heart every day: the things that we say that we shouldn't say, the spirit that we say certain things, and the lusting, and all the different things that we need to be cleansed of on a daily basis, hallelujah. And so every day the priest had to come to the brass laver filled with water.
Now listen, it was made from the mirrors. What is a mirror used for? A mirror is used for what? To look at one's self, right? If you wanna see what you look like, what do you do? You stand in front of a mirror. You don't use a mirror to see what somebody else looks like, right? You use a mirror to see what you look like. And so God was telling us, I want this brass laver to be made from mirrors, because there's a principle here, and the principle is this: as we look at our lives, listen now, through the gaze of the Holy Spirit, we're looking at ourselves, that's why it's a mirror. We're looking at ourselves. Lot of times people get trapped, they're always judging other people, but Jesus said take the log out of your own eye, before you try to take the speck out of somebody else's.
How many times have we heard the story of somebody hearing a sermon, and they're hearing the sermon, and it so directly applies to their life; and yet all the person that's hearing the sermon can think of is how that sermon affects their brother-in-law, and their mom, and their neighbor, and so-and-so at work, rather than seeing that the sermon is meant for them. And so we look in our lives beloved, through the lens of the Holy Spirit. Every day the priest in the tabernacle would come to the brass laver, and as they came to the brass laver that was filled with water, and leaned over that brass laver filled with water in that extreme desert sun; what do you think they saw in the brass through the water? They saw hallelujah right, a reflection of themselves. And God is saying to you and I: if you wanna enter into deep intimacy with me, if you wanna enter into deep and abiding fellowship with me, you're gonna need to look at yourself. You're gonna need to allow me to show you who you are in my eyes, and you're gonna need to agree with me about yourself.
One thing I've learned beloved, is that when you and I are confronted with truth; we're gonna react one of two ways. Either we're gonna try to defend our self, and point our finger at everybody else, condemning everybody else, or we're gonna say yes, that's true; forgive me Lord and cleanse me. In other words, when somebody holds what? A mirror up to her own face, and points something out to us about an issue that we have, about the way that we've handled a situation. We have a choice, are we gonna, are we gonna humble ourselves and allow the Holy Spirit to hold up a mirror in front of our face, and agree with them in saying: yes Lord, your right. I'm guilty, forgive me and as a result of that, be cleansed. Like that sinner that beat his hands against his chest and said Lord, forgive me a sinner, and Yeshua said that man went home justified.
When the Lord holds up a mirror to our face, just like those priests saw when they leaned over the brass laver in the tabernacle. When the Lord puts that mirror up to us and talks to us about the way we talk to our dad, the way we handle our mom, the way that we're handling our children, the way that we're handling criticism, whatever it might be; are we gonna allow ourselves to say yes Lord, I agree, I did mishandle that situation? Help me Father God, forgive me, cleanse me, forgive me for my pride, cleanse me of my insecurity, help me to control my temper, I was wrong. Are we gonna do that, and as a result of that be cleansed, and transformed, and be brought into intimacy with God, or are we gonna say you know, I know I did that, but it's because he did this? I know I said that, but the reason I said that is because she did that. Are we gonna make our excuses and judge other people, or are we instead gonna accept responsibility for our own sin at the brass laver of the mirror of the Holy Spirit and say God, forgive me, I'm guilty? Please cleanse me, and change me Lord, and make me whole. Beloved, intimacy with God can only be achieved beloved, when we'll humble our self and allow the Holy Spirit to hold his mirror up to our face and agree with him.
I had a dream several years ago that deeply affected me and changed me. In this dream my wife and I were on a journey together. And as we were on this journey together in the dream, we were traveling across the United States somewhere, and all of a sudden half way through the journey in the dream, I came to my old Martial Arts instructor's home. And I was gonna stay at his home that night, rather than going to a hotel. And I walked into my Martial Arts instructor's home in the dream, and I told him I was traveling, and could my wife and I sleep here for the night? And he said yes you can. And he was escorting us to the room that we'd be staying in upstairs, but before he escorted us to the room that we were gonna stay in upstairs, he first of all brought us to the bathroom. And we walked into the bathroom together: my Martial Arts instructor, my wife, and myself. And the Martial Arts instructor opened up the toilet for us, and we looked inside the toilet bowl, and inside the toilet bowl it was all blue with that blue sanitation fluid that you clean toilets with.
And all of a sudden, the next that happened to the dream is that as my Martial Arts instructor, who's about six foot two; all of a sudden he jumps up in the dream from the ground, and he dives right into that toilet bowl, and now he's inside that little toilet bowl. He becomes about this big inside the toilet bowl in this translucent egg surrounded by all this blue sanitization fluid. But I see him inside this translucent egg in the toilet bowl, surrounded by all this blue sanitizer and he's all happy, and he's all joyful in this translucent egg inside the toilet bowl. And then all of a sudden we're looking at him in there in amazement; all of a sudden he comes back out of the egg, outside of the toilet bowl, and all of a sudden bam, he's right next to me again full size.
The dream continues. My wife and I go and sleep in the bedroom that night, in my Martial Arts instructor's home. We wake up the next morning to continue on with our journey, make the bed, straighten up, we go downstairs and I thank my Martial Arts instructor for allowing me to stay there that night, and, and then we're gonna be on our way. He says well wait a second, before, before you leave let's go take a look at the room and, and make sure that, that it's clean. And I'm kind of thinking you know what, what's going on in the dream. So we walk back up the steps with him, we go to the bedroom where we had slept, and he pulls a dresser off the, one of the walls. The bed's on one wall over here, and there's another wall over here; the Martial Arts instructor pulls this big huge dresser off the wall over here, and he takes a toothbrush and he starts scrubbing behind this big dresser that he pulled away from the wall by, between the dry wall you know, that had been painted and the baseboard.
You know he's, he's take, he's going everything, over everything with this little brush. And he says you're not, you're not ready to leave yet, you haven't cleaned back here yet, you haven't scrubbed this out yet. And I'm scratching my head, in my mind I'm thinking what, what's he talking about; all we did was sleep in his room for one night. Does he think I got it dirty back there, behind the dresser, by the baseboard? But he's wanting, he's wanting me to scrub every little nook and cranny; things that I felt why would I have to do that, I didn't make that dirty, I didn't, I didn't get it dirty back there. Then he tells me that there's this, then the next thing in the dream is that there's this little wire coming out from behind the dresser. It was about coming, it came out of the ground, it was about the position approximately where you would see a wire coming out of a tele, of a telephone jack. About you know, five inches off the ground you have a little telephone jack with the wire.
Well that's what it was, a little wire that came out of the ground, about five-six inches off the ground, and it had a strange looking little gizmo at the end of this wire. I don't, I couldn't really recognize what it was. It was a kind of a strange shape. And the Martial Arts instructor tells me I want you to reset that, speaking of that little kind of gizmo thing that was at the end of that electrical wire. And I look at it, I don't know what he's talking about, so I get on my knees to reset it. I see that there's one button on the side of it, I think I don't know, I push the button and as soon as I push the button, he says to me: no, you're not doing it right, you're not thinking. And then the dream was over. Or no, it wasn't over. Then what he did was, he said you're not doing it right, you're not thinking.
Then what he did is he got down on his knee, and he opened up that strange looking gizmo. I didn't even realize it could be opened up. And he opened it up and there were all these other little buttons inside, and he started pressing all the other little buttons inside, then he closed it back up and then the dream was over. And I thought Yadid, a lot about that dream, because I very strongly believe it was the Lord. The Martial Arts instructor, you know was someone that you know. Marital Arts, you know you think of a Martial Arts kind of having mastery over life. And by the way, he was a Christian Martial Artist; it wasn't any New Age or eastern religion Martial Arts. He was just a symbol, that's all he was, was a symbol. And what the Lord was revealing to me is you know you're on this journey, and if you wanna continue on your journey, cause remember when we came downstairs and told him we were ready to go, he said no, before you go, let's go upstairs and see what the room looks like if you're ready to leave yet?
What the Lord was telling me was this: that he wants to sanitize me more. The dream began when my Martial Arts instructor went into the toilet bowl, and he was inside this translucent egg around all the sanitization fluid, and yet he looked really joyful, and then he came back out. The Lord was telling me I wanna clean you up more. God was telling me I wanna clean you up from the world. You know I was in the world for 20 years before I became a Christians, I'm 52 now, but the Lord said no, I wanna cleanse you more. And then he moved that dresser off from the back wall and he wanted, he went through by the baseboard with a brush.
God was telling me I wanna go deeper with you, you think that you're clean, cause you've taken care of a lot of stuff, but I wanna go deeper, I want you to begin, listen now, to examine every thought. Cause remember, the little gizmo at the end of the wire? I believe that gizmo represents our minds, and the Bible tells us we need to learn how to take every thought captive, because as a man thinks it so, he is. And the Lord told me, you're just on autopilot, you just went down there and pushed that button without thinking about it and your Martial Artist instructor said no, you're not doing it right, you're not thinking. God is saying to you and I beloved, he wants to cleanse us so we can deeper with him. And that means allowing him to show us more deeply the things in our heart, and to more accurately examine our thoughts, allowing him beloved, to cleanse us in the process. And as we do beloved, we're gonna enter into the deep, deep love of Jesus.