6 - STUDIES IN THE TABERNACLE

6 - STUDIES IN THE TABERNACLE

October 24, 1964 

Pastor Henry F. Kulp

Exodus 27: 1 - 5 And thou shalt make an altar of shittim wood, five cubits long, and five cubits broad; the altar shall be foursquare: and the height thereof shall be three cubits. And thou shalt make the horns of it upon the four corners thereof: his horns shall be of the same: and thou shalt overlay it with brass. And thou shalt make his pans to receive his ashes, and his shovels, and his basons, and his fleshhooks, and his firepans: all the vessels thereof thou shalt make of brass. And thou shalt make for it a grate of network of brass; and upon the net shalt thou make four brasen rings in the four corners thereof. And thou shalt put it under the compass of the altar beneath, that the net may be even to the midst of the altar.

As you come into the first enclosure of the Tabernacle through the first door, you come to the brazen altar, and there the blood was shed for sin. This altar was of brass and it was just inside the door. The outside door of the Tabernacle. Remember, that the Tabernacle proper was enclosed with an outer court, and around that outer court was a curtain abut 8 feet in height, the front of the Tabernacle was facing east—that is the sunrise, and there was the gate. The gate was made of curtains about 30 feet broad. The gate was wide enough for however many wanted to get in. The door is always wide enough for all who want to get in—but you have to be sure to come that way. You have to come by the way of the altar, because the way of the altar is by the way of blood.

I’d like to take you back to Exodus 12: 13 And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt.

There is one word in that verse that is so important, and the blood shall be to you for a token. A token is something that represents something else. A token is that which may not be of any value in itself, but it represents something of value. A token represents something of greater value than itself. I am sure that if you have ridden on buses or trollies, you know about a token. The token is a little thing, and it is not worth very much. If you lived in a big city—I don’t know about our city here—you would find that you could buy tokens to ride buses or subways—some times they represent 10 cents—the token itself is not worth 10 cents, but you can get a 10 cent ride with that token. So it is accepted for far more than it is worth. The blood of the Old Testament—the blood that was shed there in the Old Testament was a token. God says here—I have given you the blood for a token. ?What did blood of that little lamb represents better blood—it represented the blood that was yet to be shed.

1/ In the Old Testament, God accepted the blood of a lamb because that blood of that little lamb that died, was a token of a better blood—a precious blood. That was yet to be shed in the future at Calvary. All the blood on Jewish altars pointed forward to the blood of Calvary. Hundreds of offerings—thousands—for in the days of Solomon, 10,000 bullocks were sacrificed at a single feast, and all that blood of the Old Testament, was a finger of God, pointing to Calvary. God said that the blood of Jesus Christ is precious blood. God never called the blood of the Old Testament precious. It was just a token. So let’s contrast that.

I Peter 1: 19 But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:

Now God never called the blood of the Old Testament precious. It was just a token, and the blood of the Old Testament never saved anyone. Those who trusted the blood of the Old Testament were trusting Calvary, and God accepted their faith in that blood for faith in the blood of Calvary.

2/ This altar was about 8 feet square, covered the brass. Remember, it was just inside the gate. They killed the offering on the outside, and they carried the carcass inside, laid it on the altar, and burned the carcass of the offering on the altar. The blood was important, because they took the blood inside.

Exodus 27: 8 Hollow with boards shalt thou make it: as it was shewed thee in the mount, so shall they make it.

Please notice this verse. Hollow with boards shalt thou make it—notice, the word, hollow. This altar, I think was just a frame covering something. I’d like you to turn back to Exodus 20: 24 An altar of earth thou shalt make unto me, and shalt sacrifice thereon thy burnt offerings, and thy peace offerings, thy sheep, and thine oxen: in all places where I record my name I will come unto thee, and I will bless thee.

Then notice the 25th verse, And if thou wilt make me an altar of stone, thou shalt not build it of hewn stone: for if thou lift up thy tool upon it, thou hast polluted it.

God said, I want an altar of earth or stone, and if you make it of stone, don’t touch it—the moment you make God’s worship fancy, you spoil it. God’s worship is to be simple. And God said, If you build me an altar, build it of earth or stone, and if it is stone, it is to be unhewn—you are not to put a tool upon it—leave it in its rough state. I believe this brazen altar was just a frame, and wherever the people went they built an altar unto the Lord of stone, and they put this altar over it.

4/ I think we should understand the altar. It was just inside the gate. I think we can understand it better, if we look at one or two of the offerings that were laid upon it. So we can see how the altar was used.

Leviticus 1: 3 If his offering be a burnt sacrifice of the herd, let him offer a male without blemish: he shall offer it of his own voluntary will at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation before the Lord.

This is the burnt offering. First of all, notice, he shall offer it of his own voluntary will. When you come to the altar, you must do it of your own voluntary will. Your will must be in it—you must say, I receive Him as my Redeemer, my sacrifice, my substitute.

Then notice, secondly, he shall put his hand upon the head of the offering. That is identification. You identify yourself with the head of the offering. That is identification. You identify yourself with the offering— which, of course, is a picture of Jesus Christ, and, of course, this is substitution. The little animal takes your place. That animal is going to die. It is going to take your sin because you laid your hand upon that offering, your sin was transferred to that offering, and you identified yourself with that offering.

5/ Then, notice, verse 4 And he shall put his hand upon the head of the burnt offering; and it shall be accepted for him to make atonement for him.

Here is the third thing. You have to be accepted by God. God must be satisfied. God accepts the offering. Some people say, Don’t bother us, we are satisfied with the religion we have. Christian Scientists will tell you that —I am satisfied with what I have. But that doesn’t amount to anything. Is God satisfied? You must satisfy God. And God is only satisfied with the innocent substitute and the shedding of blood. Notice, it shall be accepted for him to make an atonement for him.

Notice, Ephesians 1: 6 To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.—Jesus Christ, by His sacrifice.

6/ Remember, they killed the sacrifice on the outside, and they carried the parts into the altar, and it was burned there. There was one sacrifice that was not taken into the altar. I want to show it to you.

Leviticus 4: 2 - 5 Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, If a soul shall sin through ignorance against any of the commandments of the Lord concerning things which ought not to be done, and shall do against any of them: If the priest that is anointed do sin according to the sin of the people; then let him bring for his sin, which he hath sinned, a young bullock without blemish unto the Lord for a sin offering. And he shall bring the bullock unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation before the Lord; and shall lay his hand upon the bullock's head, and kill the bullock before the Lord. And the priest that is anointed shall take of the bullock's blood, and bring it to the tabernacle of the congregation:

This is called the sin offering. The blood was the only part of the sin offering that was carried in to the altar. Now, look at the 12ht verse Even the whole bullock shall be carried forth without the camp unto a clean place, where the ashes are poured out, and burn him on the wood with fire, when the ashes are poured out shall he be burned. The sin offering was saturated with sin. It represented sin. The sins of all the people were on that animal, it was accursed of God, and God did not have it brought in. It was taken on the outside of the camp, and burned, consumed with fire. That is where Christ was crucified, outside of the city wall—there He became a cursed thing for us, where He bore our sins.

II Corinthians 5: 21 For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

Here is a verse that should be marked in every believer’s Bible. Christ was the thing that God hates—that’s sin. God hates sin, and Jesus Christ was made sin. Christ was made that which God hates. As we have told you before, Calvary was the place of the skull outside the city.

John 19: 16 - 18 Then delivered he him therefore unto them to be crucified. And they took Jesus, and led him away. And he bearing his cross went forth into a place called the place of a skull, which is called in the

Hebrew Golgotha: Where they crucified him, and two other with him, on either side one, and Jesus in the midst.

Remember, this is a place where human skulls were lying around. Where criminals had been crucified and died and the very weight of the body of the criminal would drag him from the nails, and at night jackets, wild dogs, and other wild animals would come and consume the flesh and the bone would be lying around. No one ever went to that place called Calvary—it was a horrible place. That is where Jesus Christ was crucified. It isn’t any wonder at all that His disciples wouldn’t go—His mother went, but His disciples didn’t want to go. John went and took His mother, and the woman who loved Him went, but His disciples wouldn’t go—it was a horrible place.

Hebrews 13: 13 Let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach.

7/ You will notice, Exodus 27: 2 And thou shalt make the horns of it upon the four corners thereof: his horns shall be of the same: and thou shalt overlay it with brass.

That on this altar there were horns, on the four corners of the altar. As far as anyone knows, and I’ve checked thoroughly into this, and I can’t find that they were ever used. Some of the books I’ve read say that the four horns pointed in four directions, north, east, south, and west, and this is because God wanted the great offering of Christ to be known in all the world, but actually, if I understand this properly, that is not so, because the front of the altar was facing the east, and the sides and the back were facing in other directions. But the horns were on the corners pointing north-east, south-west, south-east and south-west. Which really aren’t real directions. But there is a meaning to the horns, and I think they were there so the sacrifice could be bound to the altar, that is a sacrifice that needed to be bound. Those sacrifices were dead, and they didn’t need to be bound, but a time would come when there would be a living sacrifice to be bound to the horns of the altar.

But let us notice, something in Genesis 22: 9 And they came to the place which God had told him of; and Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood.

As you know this is the offering of Isaac. Abraham was offering his beloved son—I think the most majestic type we have in all the Bible is right here—the only type of the Father offering the Son. Abraham had to do something that was very difficult. When they came to the place which God had told him of, Abraham built an altar there and laid the wood upon it, and bound Isaac. Isaac was bound, he was a living sacrifice. He is a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ.

I want you to turn to Psalms 118: 27 God is the Lord, which hath shewed us light: bind the sacrifice with cords, even unto the horns of the altar.

That is what the horns were for, to bind the sacrifice. A dead sacrifice needed no binding, but this is prophetic, there would be a time when the sacrifice would be alive, Who would sacrifice Himself living, and here is the prophecy. Bind the sacrifice with cords, even unto the horns of the altar.

8/ Matthew 26: 36 - 39 Then cometh Jesus with them unto a place called Gethsemane, and saith unto the disciples, Sit ye here, while I go and pray yonder. And he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be sorrowful and very heavy. Then saith he unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here, and watch with me. And he went a little farther, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.

This is the Garden of Gethsemane. But notice verse 39 He went a little farther and fell on His Face.

Remember that. Jesus Fell on His face in the Garden. I don’t think we understand Gethsemane. Christ did not sit calmly in the garden and pray, Thy Weill be done. Jesus prayers the same thing over three times, and it was, Thy will be done.

Matthew 27: 40 And saying, Thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days, save thyself. If thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross.

The crowds finally came, the mocking crowd that followed Jesus, and this is what they said in verse 40. And saying, Thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days, save thyself. If thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross. 

Verse 41 Likewise also, the chief priests mocking Him with the scribe and the elders—said, He saved others, Himself He cannot save. If He be the King of Israel, let Him come down from the cross and we will believe Him.

When Christ was on the cross, they said, Come down from the cross—but He was bound—bind the sacrifice with cords. He was not bound with cords, but when He said, Thy will be done, three times to the Father, His Father led Him to the cross, and when they said, Come down from the cross, He could not come down for the cross, He was bound by God’s will to the horns of the altar. That is the meaning of the prophecies—bind the sacrifice with cords. He could not come down from the cross. He was bound—bind the sacrifice with cords, even to the horns of the altar. He was there for you and for me.

AMEN

10/24/1964 / 5 - STUDIES IN THE TABERNACLE / 9/28/2024