Thursday, March 2, 2017

COME AS A CHILD – LESSON 159 – UNDERSTANDING THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE NUMBERS USED IN BUILDING THE TABERNACLE


THE TEN WHITE LINEN CURTAINS
 (Written by Sheila Gail Landgraf)

The wilderness tabernacle was such a divine place!  

God showed Moses the inside first.  Unlike many structures, the inside of the tabernacle was the most beautiful part. of all.  The further you went inside, the more beautiful and majestic the structure became.    

The beauty, majesty and intricate design of the inside chambers of the Tabernacle were truly amazing.  The heart of the wilderness tabernacle reflected the heart of the God it served; it had a pure, holy and righteous appearance.  

The elements in the construction of this tabernacle were lovely detailed symbols in the earth that pointed to the beautiful and true things that were heavenly.

 Can you imagine what an honor and a privilege it was to be able to walk inside?

That walk would have been an earthly pleasure and/or privilege belonging to only a few earthly priests; just as walking inside the heavenly tabernacle will one day be a heavenly pleasure that will belong to only a very few who are the making of a royal priesthood.    

The scriptures speak of those who will be entering heaven in Matthew 7:13-14; “Enter ye in at the strait gate; for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leads to destruction, and many there be which go in there at:  Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leads unto life, and few there be that find it.”

The gate, or the “way” seems to be almost hidden.  

Is it possible that the wilderness tabernacle holds some of the mystery that points to the narrow gate that leads to the way of life that everyone is seeking to find?  

I believe it does.  I think the pattern points to our Most High Priest; Jesus Christ.



Aaron; under the Levitical order of priests, became the Most High Priest of the earthly wilderness tabernacle; just as Jesus Christ, under the Order of Melchizedek  became the Most High Priest of the Heavenly Tabernacle.

The earthly reflects the heavenly.  This was God’s pattern.  He was laying out a way for us to draw closer to The Kingdom of God in this wilderness tabernacle.  The earthly was not perfect, but it pointed one to the heavenly which IS perfect.

Not just anyone could enter this earthly tabernacle.  Only the priest (Moses, Aaron and The Sons of Aaron) could go into the tabernacle beyond a certain point.  That area that only certain sanctified (set apart) people could enter was covered by ten white linen curtains, one set of five white linen curtains fastened to another set of five white linen curtains, held together with blue threads made into loops that were clasped together with golden clasps.    

In thinking of this holy priesthood mentioned above, one cannot help but recall the words of  1 Peter 2:9;  But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.

The priests, from the Aaronic tribe of Levi, served God in courses throughout the year.  This was their function as the priests who served in the earthly wilderness tabernacle.  There is, however, a heavenly priesthood.  It is of the order of Melchizedek.   Jesus Christ was born inside the flesh and blood body of a man as a member of the tribe of Judah.  He would not have been a part of the earthly, Levitical priesthood, since He was of the tribe of Judah; not Levi.  He has been given the title of Most High Priest by God the Father, and this title fell within the order of  Melchizedek, which seems to be an order of heavenly purpose.  The main difference in these two orders of the priesthood is that one is of an earthly order and one is of a heavenly order; one has an earthly function and one has a heavenly function. 

God called and chose the priesthood serving in this wilderness tabernacle to be an earthly pattern for the church which would grow out from it, and come about much later.  These wilderness tabernacle priests were to become the spiritual leadership of the nation that would first relate the ways of God to the people of the earth. 

The words of 1 Peter 2:9 were written much later in time; way beyond the times of the wilderness tabernacle, and well after the church was established by The Holy Spirit.  They were words from the Apostle Peter, based under his service to the priestly authority of Jesus Christ after the order of Melchizedek.   

It seems that the Apostle Peter is relating that the Church is being called out and chosen to be part of a heavenly royal priesthood and a heavenly holy nation that belongs specifically to God; just as the priest in the wilderness tabernacle were members of an earthly priesthood and an earthly nation that belonged specifically to God.  Both orders being set apart for God, functioning in different times, for different reasons, that were similar in nature, one shadowing the other.

If you have been called to become a Christian, you are called to be a part of God’s royal and holy priesthood, headed by The Most High Priest called Jesus Christ, The Most High Priest of the priestly order of Melchizedek.  The scriptures speak of Melchizedek as being The High Priest who once blessed Abraham.  In Christ has come the promise of the blessing of the descendants of Abraham who are now as many as the sands in the sea and the stars in the sky.



If you are a Christian living for God today, the significance of who you are or who you can become in Christ can be seen in the shadows of these ancient Hebrew priests who ministered in this wilderness tabernacle of long ago.  All of the earthly things symbolized the coming of better heavenly things.  As a child of God born again into a holy priesthood; you need to know and understand and discern these things about the wilderness tabernacle.  They are patterns of your service to God The Father in the new Jerusalem that will one day come down from Heaven. 

Every part and piece, every color, every number, every piece of furniture and every type of cloth in this wilderness tabernacle carries meaning. 

These ancient Levitical priests were required to live holy and orderly lives.  They were to guard the Law of God.  This doesn’t mean they were not human; or that they did not make very human mistakes from time to time; but their hearts were to be purely focused on the divine things and holy ways of God, and they were called to honor the laws of God through the living out of their lives. They were to be a pattern for us to follow. 

Speaking of the law, (the ten commandments,) and how significant they were to the ministry in the wilderness tabernacle; we again emphasize the fact that there were TEN curtains and that this number ten seems to be a very significant and symbolic number. 

When we think of the number ten our first thought may be of the obvious; the fact that they covered and sheltered the place that held the Ten Commandments.  Did each curtain stand as a witness to a certain commandment?  We will have to ask God that question one day; I have found no written verification; it was simply a question that popped into my mind as I studied.  All I can say for certain is that the number ten is very significant.

The number ten, when referring to holy things, stands for divine perfection.   It signifies the perfection of divine order.

We see examples of this in many other scriptural references such as; the giving of the ten commandments, the placing of the ten elders within the city gates of Jerusalem (Ruth 4:2), the parable of the ten virgins, the story of the ten lepers who were healed, the parable of the woman with ten coins, the Passover Lamb being slain on the 10th day of the month, and the Day of Atonement being on the 10th day of the 7thmonth.  There are numerous other such examples.  All of them seem to point to the holiness of Christ in some way.



In the making of the ten fine white linen curtains we see symbolism of the divine perfection of the humanity of Christ.  He was the only perfect person to ever live in a human body.  The white of the fine linen symbolizes the purity of Christ.  This is where we get the tradition of a virgin bride wearing a dress of white linen.  The white stands for purity.  Christ was the only totally pure person who walked this earth in a human body.  He is our mentor; our example, the One we should look to when seeking holiness.  These white linen curtains are symbolic of all of His holiness.

The ten curtains were measured in cubits.  A cubit was the length of a man’s arm from the bend of his elbow to the tip of his middle finger.  This was approximately 18 inches, depending on the person doing the measuring.  The measurements of the curtains were 28 cubits long, 4 cubits wide and all 10 of them measured the same. 

Thinking of the measurement of 28 cubits we consider that 28 is the combination of 4 x 7.  Four is the number of God’s creation and seven is the number of perfection.  The number 28 reveals the perfection of God’s creation.  

The secrets hidden in God’s holy design of this tabernacle, once revealed and brought to fruition would allow men to become perfect enough to be a part of The Kingdom of God.   It wasn’t about the men themselves being perfect; but about how the covering over them was perfect. 

Everything in the Wilderness Tabernacle, starting with the outer court and going all the way into the Holy of Holies was designed to bring God’s creation (mankind) into the perfect form and shape of God’s image and likeness.  This could only be achieved by the birth, life and death of The Most High Priest of Heaven, Jesus Christ.  The Wilderness Tabernacle constantly points to Him.

We see in the wilderness tabernacle a perfect symbol of Christ at work in the lives of mankind, beginning with the nation of Israel and moving outward into the nations of all the earth. 

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