Rabbi Schneider - God Within the Tabernacle
Jesus that knew no sin became sin. He took our sin into his own body. He absorbed our sin that we would become the righteousness of God. What I'm going to do today is summarize. I'm going to review all the different elements that we covered now over the last three plus months. First of all, the tabernacle, Beloved, the fence around it was a hundred and fifty feet long and seventy-five feet wide. It was about seven feet tall. There was only one entrance in. The point is if you were on the outside of the fence, you couldn't see what was going on inside of the fence and inside of the fence, Beloved, was the activity of the kingdom of God. In fact the Lord's literal presence dwelt inside the Holy of Holies between the two cherubim in the tabernacle.
Now if you wanted to gain access into the place that God was ministering, where God was working, you needed to get in, Beloved, through the one entrance in. The point is, is that we can't just come into the kingdom of God anyway; there was only one door into the tabernacle. All religions don't lead to the same paths. Jesus said, "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life, no man cometh to God but through me". That includes Jew, Gentile, man, woman and child. It doesn't matter what religion you are. Beloved, we need to stop being so afraid of offending somebody. Yeshua said to the Jewish people of his day, "Unless you believe that I am he, you will die in your sins". Jesus is the only way, hallelujah, and a life that is not surrendered to him, a life that is not given over to him, beloved, is not a life that is entering into the kingdom of God.
That's why Yeshua said to the rich young ruler that said, "Lord, I've tried to keep the commandments from my youth, I want to be your disciple, what must I do"? Yeshua said, "Go sell everything you have, turn and follow me and you'll become a disciple of mine". The point Yeshua is making is that we need to surrender to him, we need to surrender to his Lordship, and make him Lord of our lives, and that is the path, that is the doorway into the kingdom. Yeshua said, "I am the door, he that enters through me shall be saved".
Oftentimes the message that we hear today is, listen Beloved, we hear being preached today the Gospel of salvation. I want you to hear what I'm saying. Yeshua didn't preach the Gospel of salvation, he preached the Gospel of the kingdom. The kingdom of heaven is like this, the kingdom of heaven is like this, the kingdom of heaven is this. He didn't tell people say this quick sinner's prayer and that's all you need to do, he preached the Gospel of heaven, the Gospel of the kingdom and he said, "Unless you pick up your cross, deny yourself and follow me, you cannot be my disciple". "He that loses his life for my sake shall find it". This is the doorway in and that's why there's only one doorway into the tabernacle.
Now remember the purpose of the tabernacle was that God desired to be intimate with his people and so he said in Exodus 25, "I want you to build me this mishkan," this tabernacle, "that I might dwell with you". This is all about love. It's the tabernacle of love. God is calling us; he is inviting us in to have a relationship with him. Now once a worshipper, once an Israelite entered in through the one door, beloved, the first piece of furniture that he encountered was the altar. Now this altar, beloved, the Brazen Altar, was the place where the worshipper would take the unblemished animal, the offering, that he had brought with him to the tabernacle. He would then place his hands on this unblemished animal's head and as he placed his hands on the unblemished animal's head, he would actually push his body weight into it. He would actually press into it, leaning himself into the animal.
Symbolically the prophetic meaning of this is that he was transferring his sin into this animal and then this unblemished innocent animal would be placed on the altar, the priest would put the animal to death, and smear the blood around the altar, and this was the way, Beloved, that God was able to not hold the Israelites sin against them because an innocent one had died in his place. This is the pattern from the beginning of Scripture to the end. In order for a guilty sinner to not be guilty before Yahweh, an innocent one had to die in that guilty one's place because the soul that sins, it shall die and of course, this was all fulfilled for us in Messiah Jesus. The Bible says the Messiah Yeshua, that he that knew no sin, the Jesus that knew no sin became sin. He took our sin into his own body even as that Israelite pushed his sin into that animal. He that knew no sin became sin. He absorbed our sin in his own body on the tree that we would become the righteousness of God.
Let me say it again, Jesus that knew no sin became sin. He took our sin in himself that we might become the righteousness of God and so what happens is he takes our sin in his body, he dies in our place because he was taking the place of a guilty sinner and the guilty sinner is put to death, so he died in our place, and beloved, the only time in Scripture that I see, that Yeshua didn't refer to God as Father, he always refers to the Lord as Father, the only place he didn't refer to the Lord as Father was when he was on the cross and the Father turned away. Then he called out to him Eli, Eli, which means God, my God why is thou forsaking me? Why did he not refer to God as Father when he was on the cross, the only time in Scripture? Because, Beloved, the Father had turned away, the Father was not in relationship with him because Yeshua took the place of one that was condemned. That was the plight, Beloved, that you and I should have had to experience but Jesus experienced it for us.
And then the Scripture said that Jesus descended, Beloved, into the lower parts of the earth. I believe this is where hell literally exists right now. Jesus went to hell for you and I, Beloved, that's where we should have had to go to but he went there to experience what we should have had to experience, the torment that felt like it was going to go on forever, and ever, and ever, and ever, and then God raised him, Beloved, from the dead through the lower parts of the earth, to heaven where he sits right now for you and I, Beloved, making intercession as our Savior. Beloved, we are in heaven, those of us that know him, because of the Lamb of God that died for us, and shed his blood for us, and this was all foreshadowed in the innocent animal dying on the altar which was the first piece of furniture that one encountered when they entered the tabernacle.
The next piece of furniture that one encountered, as they were going through the processing of walking through the space of the tabernacle, Beloved, was the Brass Laver. Now the Brass Laver was made from the mirrors of the women that ministered outside the doorway of the tabernacle. It's really interesting to me because oftentimes the Lord will say make it out of acacia wood, or make it out of silver, or make it out of gold but oftentimes he doesn't say we'll make it out of the gold from this source but in this particular case he actually told us where the brass had to come from, that it had to come, Exodus 38:8, from the mirrors.
Why did he tell us that the brass had to come from the mirrors? Because he was teaching us something that this Brass Laver, which was the place where the priest cleansed themselves every day, it was a ceremonial cleansing, beloved, so they could be clean before the Lord. It had to be made of mirrors, and I believe prophetically what the Lord is saying to us is, is you allowed me to hold the mirror up to your life. As you allow me, I'm speaking to you and to me, as you allow me, the Lord is saying to show you who you are as a mirror, and you will agree with me about what I am showing you, confessing your sin to me, agreeing with me that I'm right about what I'm showing you about yourself, instead of trying to justify yourself, making excuses, practicing self-preservation, trying to hide from your guilt, if you'll instead allow me to hold the mirror up to your life, and agree with me, and say yes, you're right, I'm wrong, forgive me, then the Lord said I'll change you and cleanse you. He's faithful and just to forgive us and cleanse us of all our sins when we confess them, and it's only when we have forgiveness that takes place at the altar and then cleansing that takes place at the Brass Laver that we're prepared, Beloved, to enter in, hallelujah, to the mystery of a relationship with God. From there we actually go in to the Holy Place.
Now inside the Holy Place there were three pieces of furniture. Remember, every piece of furniture, Yadid, Beloved One, was orchestrated and architected by Yahweh himself. In other words, every piece of furniture was shown Moses on the mountain. The Lord said, Moses, in building the tabernacle I want you to build it exactly according to the pattern that I'm showing you. Inside then, the Holy Place, were three objects that the Lord showed Moses. There was number one, the Golden Menorah, the Golden Lampstand; number two, Beloved, the Altar of Incense; and number three, the Table of Showbread. Now the Golden Menorah, the Golden Lampstand was made from one pure piece of gold that had been hammered out to form seven different sticks with flames coming out of each one, seven flames. I believe, Yadid, Beloved One, this is a prophetic shadow of the Holy Spirit.
We read in the Book of Revelation, chapter number 1 that the Lord says before his throne are the seven spirits of God. I don't believe there's seven individual spirits but they're one Spirit manifesting seven different flames because, Beloved, seven is God's number of perfection, completeness, wholeness, and perfection and the Lord is showing us if you're going to walk with me, because remember, the tabernacle is all about walking with God, having intimacy with God, knowing his love. The Lord is telling us that if you're going to walk with me, you're going to need how to come into relationship with me through my Spirit. We're born again; not by the will of man nor by the will of flesh but by the Spirit of God.
The Book of Romans tells us: As many as are led by the Spirit of God, Romans 8, these are the sons of God. You and I need to get back to the simplicity of walking with God and that involves, Beloved, being led by and relying on his Spirit. Also in the Holy Place was the Altar of Incense. I believe, Beloved, that the Altar of Incense is the prophetic shadow of the prayer life of the saint. We read there that the Altar of Incense, Beloved, had to be burning perpetually, that the priest needed to keep this incense burning perpetually. It speaks of a ceaseless prayer life, just as the New Testament tells us.
Our prayer life, Beloved, it's not just concentrating on the superficial, it's not just concentrating on our material needs, it's not just, Beloved, consisting of words that are spoken out loud but the depth of our prayer life needs to be silent and interior. It needs to be the motivation of our heart that we want to consciously continually being thinking about God. This is prayer, communion with God, and if you want to know how to pray, Beloved, study the prayers in the Bible that are prayed, that God would strengthen us with divine might, and with fire, with Aish, by his Spirit in our inner man, that he give us a spirit of wisdom and revelation to know him, Beloved, that we'd be strengthened by his Spirit, that we could take a hold of him by faith and thereby, Beloved, become steadfast and experience the love of God.
These are the prayers that are in Scripture and when we pray these prayers, Beloved, God is sure to answer them because they're according to his will and the Lord says that every prayer that we pray that's according to his will, he will answer. That's when we come, Beloved, with our prayers and thanksgiving because we know that we're praying according to his will. He will answer. It's also interesting regarding the Altar of Incense that the Lord said there, "I don't want you to burn any foreign incense on this altar but only the mixture that I'm giving you," and I believe this speaks to us about being careful what we pray for.
God isn't wanting us to be praying to him about making us, Beloved, achieve the fame of the world. He's not interested, Beloved, in us achieving, necessarily, the American dream. He's not interested, Beloved, in pampering the indulgences of our flesh. He's interested, Beloved, in forming Messiah in us. He's interested in conforming us to the image of his Son. He's interested, Beloved, in bringing us into his peace. That's a different type of peace than the world gives. He's interested, Beloved, in strengthening us in our heart to know him and love him. Yeshua said this is eternal life, to know God and Yeshua Messiah, that he sent and as you do this, Beloved, rivers of living water, the Scriptures says, as you get to know the Lord, as your strengthened by his Spirit, rivers living water and liquid love will pour forth from your innermost being.
Also in the Holy Place was the Table of Showbread. Now the Table of Showbread is also called the Bread of Presence and the Bread of Face. The Table of Showbread consisted of twelve loaves, each loaf symbolic of the children of Israel. It was replaced every Sabbath and the priest ate it. I believe, Beloved, the Table of Showbread speaks to us number one, about the fact that God is always present with us because it's called the Bread of Presence in the Hebrew, and what this means is, Beloved, that we need to warfare to take a hold of the fact that God is with us because we live in a world and we look around, and many times we look at situations, and God doesn't seem to be involved in some of the situations that we see, people getting hurt, people dying, violent crimes, all types of atrocities and abnormalities taking place in this world because this is a world, Beloved, where Satan is also at work in a powerful way.
So we need to take a hold of the fact that even though a thousand may fall at our side and ten thousand at our right hand, no evil will befall us for God is with us. God wants us to labor to understand that he'll never leave us or forsake us. Yeshua said, "I am with you always". We need to fight the fight of faith, to lay a hold of the fact, Beloved, that even as that Bread of Presence was in the Holy Place and the Lord was always looking at it, that's why it's called the Bread of Face, God never takes his eyes off of, God is always with us, his love is always upon us, he's always protecting us as long, Beloved, as we keep, hallelujah, by your grace, Father, clinging to you.
And then, Beloved, we go from the Holy Place where we once again found the Golden Lampstand, the Altar of Incense, and Table of Showbread, we're about now to go, Yadid, Beloved One, into the Holy of Holies. Now there was a thick curtain that took many people to hang it, it was so heavy and thick that separated the Holy Place from the Holy of Holies. I believe that this thick, heavy curtain, Beloved, represents the spiritual warfare that we must press in and press through if we're to get into the Holy of Holies where the high priest literally experienced the voice of God Almighty. He experienced the presence of the Lord because inside the Holy of Holies the visible presence of God dwelt between the two cherubim.
So I believe, Beloved, that if we're going to get into that Holy of Holies, we need to press through that curtain and the curtain represents the heavy darkness, Beloved, that seeks to keep us from the power of God. You see, Yeshua, after he was baptized and he heard the Father say to him, you are my beloved Son and in you I'm well pleased, the very next thing that happened was the Spirit of Elohim, the Spirit of God, led Yeshua into the wilderness where he did battle with the devil for forty days and forty nights. Why did the Spirit of God orchestrate that? It says that the Spirit of God led him into the wilderness to do battle with the devil because God, Beloved, wanted to strengthen his Son, so that the Son could exercise authority over darkness and be the blessing and the Healer that the Father had ordained him to be to the world and so it is with you and I today.
If we're going to experience the power of God in our life and the blessing that comes with the power of God, and that is, Beloved, to experience the love of God, we're going to need to be strengthened and one of the things that God is going to use to strengthen us, Beloved, is he's going to strengthen our spiritual muscle through exercising it over powers of darkness, spiritual warfare. If we don't get engaged in spiritual warfare and learn how to combat the lies of the enemy, learn how to combat the thoughts of the enemy, if we don't allow ourselves to be trained by the Spirit of God to do spiritual warfare, Beloved, we're never going to experience the love and the power of God in our life the way the Father wants to give it to us. Even as the Israelites had to drive out the Hittites, the Amorites, the Jezubites, the Canaanites, and the Philistines, before they could enter into the Promised Land, so you and I, Beloved, you got to take authority over powers of darkness if we're going to enter in, Beloved, to the abundant land of Messiah's Spirit.
Finally, once we're gaining entrance into the Holy of Holies through learning how to take authority over Satan through the Word of God, and through praying that God will strengthen us with divine might in our inner man that we would rise up, and take authority, and drive darkness out, and drive demons out, and bind them behind us, Beloved. As we enter into that Holy of Holies, Beloved, we find the Ark of the Covenant, and inside the Ark of the Covenant was Aaron's rod. It speaks of learning how to trust God by submitting to authority. You can get the entire teaching on this. It's a very important lesson. God is a God of authority, Beloved, and if we're going to learn how to walk with him, we're going to learn how to recognize his authority on earth through his delegated authorities.
Also, in the Ark of the Covenant, Beloved, was an omer's worth of manna and this speaks of God's supernatural vision, the supernatural manna that the Lord provided for the children of Israel for forty years in the wilderness, a jar of it was kept inside the Ark of the Covenant to remind them of the Father's supernatural vision, and if you and I are going to learn how to step out with God, if you and I are going to learn how to do the impossible, Yeshua said, all things are possible for those that believe. If you have faith as a mustard seed and say to that mountain be moved and cast into the sea, it shall be done and nothing shall be impossible to you.
If we're going to experience, Beloved, the glory of God and the supernatural activity of the Lord in our life today, then we're going to need to love and to trust him for supernatural results. As long as you're in the will of God, God will bring into your life supernaturally everything you need to fulfill your destiny even as he gave the children of Israel when the Spirit of God was leading them through the wilderness. Now once the children of Israel got into the Promised Land, no more manna on the ground because they didn't need it that way anymore and so it is with us. If God can supply our needs through other means, more natural means, he will but if you're ever in a place where you're following God and there is no natural means by which your need can be supplied, the Father will supply it to you supernaturally even as he's done for me many times as you're in his will.
And then also, Yadid, Beloved One, inside the Ark of the Covenant was, the final piece was the Ten Commandments known as the Ten Words in Hebrew written by the finger of God. These Ten Commandments had become the bedrock of Western civilizations moral code. God delivered a world out of barbarianism by writing his ten ethical commands on these two tablets. Understand that, Beloved, the Ten Commandments and applying them to your life today, it's not about legalism because the Ten Commandments reflect the nature of God, they reflect something about his character. They were given out of love. The Lord said to Israel, "I'm the one that called you out of Egypt because I love you, therefore obey these words because I love you and I want what's best for your life".
Well, Yadid, Beloved One, over the Ark of the Covenant was the altar where the blood was poured out once a year on Yum Kippur for the sins of Israel. Now that Yeshua has died on the cross, according to Hebrews, chapter 8 and 9, it's no longer necessary to offer the blood of bulls and goats because Yeshua once and for all has made atonement for our sins. Between the two cherubim that were above the Ark of the Covenant, above the altar on the Ark of the Covenant was the visible presence of God.
We read in Matthew 27, verse 50 and 51 that when Messiah Yeshua died on the cross that veil that separated the Holy Place from the Holy of Holies, that separated mankind from experiencing God's presence, that abode between the two cherubim over the Ark of the Covenant, that veil that separated mankind from his glory, it was ripped in two. This is verified in the Talmud, Beloved, a non-Christian writing, that the veil between the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies ripped in two a generation, Beloved, or forty years before the temple was destroyed. That would put it at the same time of Yeshua's death. God was showing now that my Son has died he has made a way for you to have entrance into my presence. That's why the Lord says to the believer, "Come boldly now before the throne," hallelujah, "of grace".
Now Beloved, for forty years the children of Israel camped around this tabernacle in the wilderness. God had an order to it. He had each one camping a certain a direction, and he had each one get up in a certain order when it was time to move on, and they camped in one spot as long as the Spirit of God abode over that spot manifested as the pillar of fire by night and the cloud by day, and God had them in this difficult experience, Beloved, in the wilderness for so long, if you think about it, how many meals did they spend in the wilderness, Beloved? Forty thousands meals they had in the wilderness. They spent fourteen thousand nights in the wilderness. It was a long, painful time but, Beloved, the reason God had them in the wilderness was to strip them of relying on every earthly crutch.
The Lord was teaching them in Deuteronomy 8 that man shall not live by bread alone but by every Word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. He was stripping them of every earthly tie, Beloved, that he could make them completely united to himself, that when he brought them into the Promised Land and blessed them that they'd be able to receive it from the hand of God and truly be blessed by it. And so it is with you and I today, Beloved. Before God can lead us and bring us into the fullness of the blessing he has for us, he first, Beloved, brings us through a wilderness experience where he tests us, tries us, and teaches us to be completely dependent upon him and we thank you, Father God, even for the wilderness because you're disciplining us even as a man disciplines his son. God bless you, Yadid, and shalom.