BOOK OF HEBREWS
TABERNACLES
DR. JIM DIXON
SEPTEMBER 16, 1984
HEBREWS 9:1-10
It was a beautiful portion of the earth, 3 million square miles of meadows, lakes, and woodlands with beautiful rivers and streams. It was a land filled with life with elephants and giraffes, antelope and buffalo, but people lived in small communities, and they lived at peace. They threw great banquets where the food was abundant and plentiful, but that was a long, long time ago. 8,000 years ago, geologists tell us it was a different age, and today, that same portion of the earth, that same 3 million square miles is called the Great Sahara Desert, a parched lunar landscape with 130-degree temperatures virtually devoid of life. Scientists tell us that the surface of this earth, of this planet is constantly changing, alternating between ice age and thermal age, and back to ice age again. 18,000 years ago, we are told Great Britain was covered with a sheet of ice from the tip of Scotland to where the city of London is today.
That was the last ice age H, but not the first. So we are told that there are many such ages. Meteorologists love to think of the history of this planet in terms of ages, ice ages, and thermal ages. Geologists love to see and think of the history of this planet in terms of “ages.” They speak of the Cenozoic age, the Mesozoic age in the Paleozoic age. Historians love to think of this, the history of this earth in terms of age, and they speak of the Middle Ages. They speak of the Napoleonic age, some speak of today as the thermonuclear age, pop philosophers and astrologers speak of the donning of the age of Aquarius and the sight of mankind. This earth has many ages, but you see in the sight of God. The Bible tells us this Earth only has two ages, and the Bible tells us that those ages are this present age and the age to come.
This present age is the age of sin. It is the age of fallen humanity. It is the age of man’s dominion on the earth, but the age to come is the age of righteousness. It is the age of Christ. It is the age of the dominion of Christ. It is the age when sin will be eradicated from this earth. And the author of Hebrews and our passage of scripture for today tells us that this present age and the circumstances of this present age are somehow illustrated through the symbolism of the Jewish tabernacle. Now, the Jewish tabernacle had three parts. There was the court of the tabernacle sometimes called the court of the Gentiles. It was not part of the tabernacle itself, but it surrounded the tabernacle 150 feet long, seventy-five feet wide into that court. Anybody could go. Now secondly, where there was the outer tabernacle called the holy place, it was part of the tent of the tabernacle itself.
Thirty feet by fifteen feet into the outer tabernacle, into that holy place, the people could not go, but only the priests of Israel could go. Thirdly, and finally, there was the inner tabernacle called the Holy of Holies. Fifteen feet by fifteen feet of perfect cube in the holy of Holies, in the inner tabernacle there dwelt there resided the very presence of God himself. As the glory cloud hovered over the mercy seat of the Ark of the Covenant, God was in the inner tabernacle, the holy of Holies, but into the Holy of Holies. The people could not go into the holy of Holies into the presence of God. The priest of Israel could not go into the holy of Holies, into the presence of God. No one could go except for the high priest and he, but once a year on the day of Atonement, when he took the blood of animals and sprinkled them on the and sprinkled it on the mercy seat of the arc of the covenant, hoping to atone for the sins of the people between the holy of Holies and the presence of God and the outer tabernacle called the holy place.
There was a great curtain. There was a great veil through which no one could pass. God was separated from his people and the author of Hebrews wants us to understand that this is an illustration of this present age of the world. Mankind is separated from God. Earth is separated from heaven. This age of the world has separated from the age to come.
But two thousand years ago, the Bible tells us an incredible thing happened. God came to man. Heaven came to earth, the age to come broke into this age of the world. Jesus Christ, king of heaven was born in Bethlehem. He lived a sinless life. He died on Cal’s cross, taking upon himself the sin of this present age, taking upon himself the sin of the world. And in the moment of his death, the Bible tells us a miracle happened. The curtain, the veil separating the holy of Holies from the holy place, the curtain in veil separating the inner tabernacle from the outer tabernacle was literally ripped and suddenly all who believe in Jesus Christ, who accept him as Lord and Savior. Suddenly all of those people, all who believe, have access to the holy of Holies itself, access to the presence of God, access to heaven, and begin to partake of the powers of the age to come.
We who are Christians live in this present age, but the veil has been broken and we begin to receive even now of the blessings of the age to come, the blessings of the holy of Holies. Now, I want this morning briefly to discuss three blessings that belong to the age to come belong to the Holy of Holies but are given an offer to us as Christians now in this present age through Christ. And these three blessings are illustrated through three pieces of furniture found in the outer or the holy place. Now this first piece of furniture I want to discuss is called the table of showbread. Sometimes it was called the table of the bread of the presence. It was in the holy place, the outer tabernacle and the priest of Israel placed twelve loaves of bread upon that table of showbread, perhaps representing the twelve tribes of Israel.
And that bread was symbolic of life for bread gives life, but this was not ordinary bread, this was holy bread for it was unlearned bread. It was the bread that comes from God. And it offered perfect life, eternal life, victory over death. And every week the priest of Israel would put twelve new loaves of bread on the table of showbrea, and they would eat the loaves from the previous week, and they would drink wine that was also placed on the table of showbread. And yet they knew, and the Jews knew, and the people knew that that Brett was not really able to offer eternal life. That bread on the table of showbread was not really able to conquer death. They knew that the real bread and the real life was not in the holy place. It was not in the outer tabernacle. It was in the Holy of Holies where God dwelt that is where the bread was us.
But we as Christians have access to that bread and that life for in Christ, the veil has been torn asunder. We have access to the true bread and the true life, the life and the bread that belongs to the age to come. And the Bible tells us that this true bread and this true life is Jesus Christ. And the table of showbread was indeed a symbol of him. He is the bread of life. Jesus said, I am the bread of life, the true bread which comes down from heaven. Your father’s bread in the wilderness and they die. Whoever partakes, whoever eats of me will live forever. And this is the bread which I offer for the life of the world, my flesh. Now clearly Jesus Christ was thinking of his crucifixion. He was thinking of his atoning death. He was thinking of the last supper in the opera room.
He was thinking of his body and his blood poured out for the sin of the world. For Jesus said, this bread is my body broken for you. This cup is my blood poured out for the sin of the world. The bread, the table of showbread is a symbol of communion. Communion through which we as Christians celebrate the life that comes from Jesus Christ. 1,900 years ago there lived a man whose name was Gaius Pius, Cassius. Second historians refer to him simply as Pliny. And for that we can be thankful. Now, Pliny was governor of Bithynia. Many historians regard him as the greatest scholar of the Roman Empire. He wrote many letters to the Roman Emperor Trajan. And in one of those letters he asked why Christians were being exterminated from the earth. Pliny was not a Christian, but he was sympathetic to Christianity. And in that letter, Pliny described for the Roman emperor Trajan, the nature of Christian worship, for he had observed it. He said that Christian worship consists of three things. It first of all consists of the singing of hymns to Christ as God. Secondly, it consists of the reading of the sacred writings, the Jewish Old Testament and the letters of the apostles. And thirdly, he says, Christian worship consists of the celebration of the bread, the celebration of the life that comes from the body of Christ, broken for us and the blood of Christ shed for us.
What was true 1,900 years ago when Pliny wrote is true today. If you are a Christian, you not only believe that Jesus Christ is a great teacher. If you are a Christian, you do not believe that Jesus Christ is simply a miracle worship worker. If you are a Christian, you do not simply believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, the creator of all things. If you are a Christian, you must believe that Jesus Christ is the bread. And in biblical symbolism, that means that you accept his body as broken for you and you accept his blood as shed for you. That means that in humility you have come to the point where you acknowledge that you needed his sacrifice for your sin. And the Bible says that when we do that, when we accept the sacrifice of Jesus Christ upon the upon Calvary’s cross for us, when we do that, in that moment, we actually partake of Jesus Christ, and he becomes life to us. He is the bread of life. He alone offers eternal life, the true bread and the true life found only in the holy of Holies, the true bread and the true life which comes only from God made possible through Christ because the curtain has been torn. Now the second piece of furniture in the holy place is called the golden lamp stand.
It had seven branches, and each branch contained a golden lamp and each lamp held pure oil. And by the instructions of God, the golden lamp stand, and the seven lamps were to burn continuously in the outer tabernacle. The holy place they were to give their light to the tabernacle. And the golden lamp stand indeed lit the tabernacle and it represented for the Jews, the light that comes from God. For they knew that they lived in a world of darkness. And yet the Jews also knew that the golden lampstand gave light that was physical and the true light.
The true light was not in the outer tabernacle. It was not in the holy place. It was in the Holy of Holies. The true light was in the presence of God, the inner tabernacle where the Shekinah glory, the radiance of God hovered over the mercy seat of the art of the covenant. And from that true light, they were separated. But again, as Christians, the curtain has been torn and we have access to the light which belongs to the age to come. We have access to the light of God itself. We live in this present age of darkness, but we have received the light of the age to come.
Now, this is a world of darkness. I am sure most of you have heard of the river Ganges. It is in India. It twists across the floor of India like a brown snake because it is muddy and it is dirty, filled with the garbage and the refuse of one hundred million people. It is the very essence of pollution. And yet, to the Hindus, the river Ganges is a sacred river. And every year, once a year, thousands and thousands of devout pilgrims from all over India literally crawl on their bellies doing pennants for miles until they reach the banks of the Ganges, until they reach those muddy banks. And they weighed into the river water up to their waist and they cast their arms into the air, and they begin to wail and lament and cry out hoping that somehow that sacred water will purify them from sin. They put that water in bottles and they take it back to their homes. They pour it on their wounds not knowing that it only serves to infect them. They place their diseased, their loved ones who are ill into the river Ganges believing that somehow supernaturally they will be healed.
They even place the bodies of their dead, the bodies of their dead into the river believing that somehow those sacred waters will carry their loved ones to eternal light by any standard. They are a people in darkness, spiritual darkness. And yet the Bible tells us that all the people of this world, apart from Jesus Christ, are also in darkness. For this age of the world is the age of sin. It is an age of darkness. There is moral and ethical confusion in this world. But as Christians, when you come to Jesus Christ and you receive him as Lord and Savior, that veil is torn, and we have access to the truth, the life, and the light which comes from God himself. Jesus Christ said, I am the light of the world.
He who follows me shall not walk in darkness. Now Jesus Christ has left this world. He has gone into the presence of the Father and is seated at God’s right hand, but he has not left us in darkness. Yes, sin His Holy Spirit within us as light sin His Holy Spirit into the hearts of all who believe in Jesus Christ. And he has given us his word, the Bible, the holy scriptures, a lamp unto our feet and a light under our path. Now, this is a sacred trust given to the Christian. For the light that has been given to us is not merely something that we are to read for devotion in the morning or the evening. The light that has been given to us is something that we are now called upon to obey. And it is something that we are called upon to proclaim to this world and to proclaim on this earth.
Jesus said, I am the light of the world. But he left this earth and he said, you are the light of the world. And he sends us forth as lights in the midst of the darkness and trusted with his words, empowered by his spirit, a sacred trust we have tasted, we have touched of the powers of the age to come. We have received the light of the holy of Holies of the next age, and we are to share it with this age of the world. Now thirdly, and finally, there is a piece of furniture in the holy place in the outer tabernacle that was called the golden altar of incense. The golden altar of incense was positioned just before the veil or the curtain, which separated the holy place from the holy of Holies. And the priests of Israel would bring incense and they would burn it on that golden altar.
And the smoke of the incense would rise, it would ascend representing the prayers of the people ascending to God. And it was the hope of the priests that the smoke of the incense, which filter through the veil or the curtain into the Holy of Holies itself, so that the prayers of the people would be heard by the living God. And just to make sure the high priest once a year took his censer and he scooped coals from the altar of incense. And on the day of atonement, he passed through the curtain with calls from the altar of incense that represents the prayers of the people. And he brought them upon the mercy seat of the arc of the covenant, giving them to God. But you see by this symbolism, we understand that there was something flawed in the communion, in the communication that the Jews experienced with God.
It was not complete. It was not perfect, for this age of the world was still separated from the next age. The outer tabernacle was still separated from the inner tabernacle, the veil, the curtain was still there. But again, as Christians, that veil and that curtain has been torn asunder and we now have access to God himself through Christ. Christ has gone into the Holy of Holies on our behalf and not for one day of the year, but for 365 days of the year, every day of the year, and for every second of the day. And He is our intercessor, and our prayers go directly to the throne of God. And we as Christians, though we live in this present age through prayer, we begin to taste of the power of the age to come. I hope you know that, and I hope you believe that for it is not possible for a Christian to live a victorious life in this age unless we are so immersed in daily prayer that we are constantly receiving of the blessings and the power that come from the Holy of Holies through Jesus Christ.
There is power in prayer offered to the Christians power that comes from the life to come power to heal. Many years ago, Barbara’s father had a tumor in his abdomen. It had been discovered through testing they were going to have to remove it through surgery. He went to the people of his church at Hope Union Church in Southern California, and he asked for prayer and the people pray. And that tumor was totally taken away by the power of God from the holy of Holies, the power of the next age of the world. Barb’s mother has had cancer three times over the last 20 years. She has had melanoma, carcinoma, and lymphoma. But through the power of prayer, that cancer has been healed all three times. That is the power that comes from the holy of Holies and from the age to come and is now available to Christians in this present age. And yet, prayer is not only for the purpose of healing and indeed God does not always choose to heal us physically in the way we would like him to. But prayer is also for the purpose of communion, the purpose of communication with the living God. If we are going to live life in this present world of darkness, how desperately we need fellowship with God. And that is possible through prayer. Through prayer, we begin to receive a vision, a sense of purpose, a sense of direction in this life.
On June 24th, 1,947, a miracle happened at Forest Home Christian conference grounds in the San Bernardino mountains of Southern California. Henrietta Mears was speaking; Henrietta Mears was the founder of Forest Home Christian Conference Center. She was the founder of Gospel Light publications, and we used gospel light curriculum in this church. She was the director of Christian education at the 8,000 member Hollywood Presbyterian Church in Hollywood, California. And she had built one of the greatest Sunday schools in the world. Billy Graham said that Henrietta Mears is perhaps the greatest Christian he has ever met. And Henrietta spoke that night on June 24th, 1947, at Boris home and college-aged people were at that conference from all over this nation. And the Holy Spirit was upon her as she spoke. She was anointed. And when she was done, four men, four young men came up to her and they said, Ms. Mears, we would like very much to pray with you in your cab. Now, that was late at night, but they went to her cabin, and they began to pray, and they prayed for hour after hour. And as they prayed, they began to weep, and the Holy Spirit began to convict them, and they began to confess sin.
And as they prayed, the Holy Spirit fell upon them and they began to get a vision for their life, a sense of direction and calling and purpose. They saw the college campuses of the world before them, and they saw on Jesus Christ the power to change them. And they prayed until three or 4:00 AM in the morning and they left. That room changed people with a sense of call and direction and purpose in life. Now, one of those four men was John Frank, sometimes called Jack Frank. John Frank went and became the youth minister at Fremont Presbyterian Church in Sacramento, California. And he built the largest youth ministry program in the state of California and one of the most successful in the United States. Hundreds and hundreds of college kids accepted Jesus Christ through the ministry of John Frank because he was anointed.
A second man who came and was in that prayer group was Dick Halverson. Dick Halverson became pastor of the Fourth Presbyterian Church in Washington, dc certainly one of the greatest churches of our time today. Dick Halverson is Chaplain of the United States Senate. The third man was named Lewis Evans Jr. Today, Louie Evans is pastor of National Presbyterian Church in Washington, DC the father, church of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America. He has been pastor to presidents and senators. God has raised him up. And the fourth man in that room with Henrietta Mears was Bill Bright. And Bill Bright is the founder and the director of Campus Crusade for Christ International, an organization which literally has brought millions and millions of people to faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and savior of life. What power was in that room on June 24th in 1947. Power that came from the holy of Holies, from the inner sanctuary where God is power that comes only through prayer for Christ as intercessor.
And that same power is available to you today in this place and wherever you are, that power is available to you. If you are a Christian, you literally can receive the power that comes from the Holy of Holies through prayer. As you place your faith in Jesus Christ, he can give you a sense of direction, a sense of purpose, a sense of communion and fellowship, a call power for healing, power for direction available in this age of the world because through Christ we tap the age to come.
Many scientists (and with this we’ll conclude) believe that the lost continent of Atlantis was really the Greek volcanic island of Thera and that the people of Atlantis were really the people of the Minoan civilization who lived on Thera and the Mediterranean island of Crete. Plato wrote of the people of Atlantis i his book Timaeus many, many years ago, he described people who were culturally, educationally and even technologically advanced. And yet he described a people who were morally decadent. And it was said that the people of Atlantis and indeed the island nation of Atlantis was destroyed because of its moral decadence. Indeed, we know that in the year 470 before Christ, the Greek volcanic island of Thera erupted; it erupted violently so violently that the 4,900-foot mountain was literally taken up and cast into the sea, 1,200 feet below the surface of the ocean. It destroyed the advanced culture and people of the Minoan civilization, and the tidal ways were so great that they swept over the island of Crete, destroying the Minoan civilization.
There all that remained of the island of Thera was a hollow shell that today is called Santorini. And that shell was covered by a layer of volcanic ash, one hundred feet thick. And geologists and archeologists have dug beneath that hundred-layer surface of ash, and they have discovered the ruins of a civilization once great, once proud, and once mighty, they have discovered the ruins of a former age, which is no more. And God wants us to understand that even as the ancient Minoan civilization, the alleged people of Atlantis, even as the Minoan civilization is gone and has faded from this earth, its glory is no more. So God wants us to understand that this present age of the world is destined to pass away all fleshes like grass, all of its glory, like the flower of the grass and the grass withers and the flower falls.
The word of the Lord abides forever. The Bible says, do not love this world for the things that are in this world, for all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life is not of the Father but is of the world. And the world passes away and the desires of it. If you are a Christian, certainly you live in this present age, but you have tasted of the powers of the age to come, and your destiny is the age to come. And God wants you to view this present age which will pass away. He wants you to view it as a time of preparation, a time of preparation for the glory that is to come. He wants you to view your marriage as an opportunity to learn love and service. He wants you to view your work as an opportunity to learn responsibility and discipline.
He wants you to view life in this fallen world of darkness as an opportunity to learn obedience. And that will not happen unless we devote ourselves to the golden altar of incense. Unless we devote ourselves to prayer, unless we become a people of prayer and begin to tap the power from the holy of Holies for the veil has been cut and we have access to the power of the age to come. That will not happen unless we begin to walk in the light symbolized by the golden lampstand. We have access to the light itself, the light of God, Jesus Christ. And by that light we are called to walk in this age of darkness. That means we are to be obedient to the light, the word of God, and we are to proclaim that word to a fallen world. That is our sacred trust in our call for the people of this world. We will never leave this age of the world and journey into the next age of the world unless they accept Jesus Christ as the bread, unless they accept his body as broken for them, and his blood is poured out for them. He is the savior of the world, the bread and the source of life. Shall we pray?