9 - STUDIES IN THE TABERNACLE

Photo by B Smith from patio

He led them forty years by the pillar of a cloud by day 

and by a pillar of of fire by night and they were never lost.

9 - STUDIES IN THE TABERNACLE

November 18, 1964

Henry F. Kulp

II Corinthians 5: 19 To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.

Here it tells us that God as in Christ. God was in the tabernacle. God said to Moses, Build me a tabernacle, and I will come down in that tabernacle and meet with you. 

Here Paul tells us God was in Christ. God was in the Tabernacle, so the tabernacle is a picture of Jesus Christ.

Exodus 25: 23 - 27 Thou shalt also make a table of shittim wood: two cubits shall be the length thereof, and a cubit the breadth thereof, and a cubit and a half the height thereof. And thou shalt overlay it with pure gold, and make thereto a crown of gold round about. And thou shalt make unto it a border of an hand breadth round about, and thou shalt make a golden crown to the border thereof round about. And thou shalt make for it four rings of gold, and put the rings in the four corners that are on the four feet thereof. Over against the border shall the rings be for places of the staves to bear the table. 

We have been studying the table of shewbread. It was a table made of wood and of gold, and on it were placed twelve loaves of bread—one for each of the twelve Tribes. These Twelve loaves of bread were a type of Christ, for they are called the Bread of God, they were to satisfy God first, and then after they had been there seven days, they were to be taken away and fresh bread was tin their place, and those loaves which were taken away were eaten by the priest. The priests represent the people, were feasting on that on which God had been feasting. The type is that man and God sit at the same table, feasting on Christ. Christ is everything to God, and I wonder, is He everything to you? God finds all His pleasure in Christ. I wonder if you do. God said—made a wonderful statement—when Christ was baptized, “This is My beloved Son in Whom I am well pleased.” And this could be translated—“This is My beloved Son in Whom is all My delight”. All God’s delight is in Christ. Is all you delight in Him? Man and God sit down at the same table, and eat of the same bread. That is the teaching of the Table of Shewbread.

1/ Also, the table of Shewbread speaks of fellowship with God. And our fellowship with God is because of the Lord Jesus Christ, and through the Lord Jesus Christ. The twelve loaves of bread were alike, and so no one tribe could think itself superior or separate from the other tribes, and so as we have fellowship with god, we should not think one person or ourselves to be superior or separated from another. We are bound together in Jesus Christ.

2/ Verse 25 And thou shalt make unto it a border of a hand breath round about, and thou shalt make a golden crown to the border thereof round about.

There was to be a rim of a hand breath around the table. I think that was to hold the bread in place. This table they carried in the wilderness, and so the loaves could not move, they could not shift. God is not a God of confusion.

3/ Verse 26 - 28  And thou shalt make for it four rings of gold, and put the rings in the four corners that are on the four feet thereof. Over against the border shall the rings be for places of the staves to bear the table.  And thou shalt make the staves of shittim wood, and overlay them with gold, that the table may be borne with them.

Notice that these three verses here are given over to the making of the golden rings on the two sides of the table and the staves. More description is given to the staves and to the rings than to anything else. They are used to carry the table—it was to be moved, it was not stationary. God told them how to cover it. He told them how to carry it. So let us get the picture. There was a time when the cloud began to move, and when God moved, the tabernacle was to move. It was not stationary. So for forty years the nation marched, and they always carried with them the bread of God, and that, I believe, is a picture of missionary work. We are to carry the bread of life to the world. There are millions today who are starving and who will die eternally unless we take the bread of life to them. I was amazed just the other day, I was reading a missionary folder, and it said that 500,000 villages in India are without Christ, and they said, if someone wants to preach, he can have a whole city to himself in India. Here in this land we are fighting for pulpits, over there they don’t have enough missionaries for the cities and towns and villages. But we are to take this bread of life to the world, and that means to the shop, to our neighbor’s home, that means wherever we go.

4/ Now we come down to the candlestick.

Exodus 25: 31, 32  And thou shalt make a candlestick of pure gold: of beaten work shall the candlestick be made: his shaft, and his branches, his bowls, his knops, and his flowers, shall be of the same. And six branches shall come out of the sides of it; three branches of the candlestick out of the one side, and three branches of the candlestick out of the other side:

The golden candlestick stood on the south side of the holy place, opposite from the table of shewbread. The light of the candlestick was indispensable in the service off the priest. There was no other light in the tabernacle—there were no windows provided in the pattern of the tabernacle which god showed Moses in the mount. This, to the natural man, I guess he would say it is a mistake, an oversight. But in the plan and purpose of God, it has a definite design. Remember this point, not a single ray of light was allowed to come from the outside , not a ray of light from nature. The light of nature on the outside is the light of human reason, philosophy and I suppose we could say, speculation. And God does not want us to have any speculation or philosophy or light of human reasoning. I wonder if you recognize, you know nothing about God, except by the Bible? It is the only revelation of God. You know there is a God, you have evidence of a God in nature, but you have no idea what God is like, or how to please Him, or what He expects from nature. You must go to the Bible. 

5/ There are those who say the candlestick is a picture of Jesus Christ. But here I must depart from the commentaries that I have read and studied. I do not believe the candlestick is a picture of Jesus Christ.  

Notice, according to verse 31 that the candlestick was to be made of pure gold—it was to be beaten out of a solid lump of gold, according to God’s direction. It was to be a talent of pure gold which was worth many thousands of dollars even in that day, and many more thousands of dollars in our day. They were to take the solid lump of gold, perhaps a lump of gold almost as big as a football, and beat out the candlestick, which was, perhaps four feet high, and perhaps five feet to the top where the lights awed placed.

6/ Everything else in the tabernacle was made of wood, and gold. Remember the ark was made of wood and of gold, a very lasting wood, and then they covered it with gold, and that was because everything was a type of Christ, as God the man. The wood stands for His humanity, and the gold for His deity. That is everything except the candlestick was a made of wood and gold, the candlestick was pure gold. Folks tell us that this is a picture of Christ because Christ is the light of the world, But remember, this candlestick doesn’t give any light in the outside world. This candlestick was lighted and it gave light inside the Holy Place. It wasn’t the light of the world, it was the light in the tabernacle. It was a light in the Holy Place. This candlestick was the only light on the inside. As you went into the Holy Place, you would have darkness without the candlestick, there was no other light. Heavy curtains were the outer door of the Holy Place, and when you parted these curtains and walked in, the curtain fell back together behind you, and you were in the dark unless the candlestick was lighted, so the candlestick its that which gives light to everything that is in the Holy Place.

7/ Let us go to the New Testament.

John 16: 12 - 15  I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come. He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you. All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall shew it unto you.

Here Jesus Christ taught us very distinctly about the ministry of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is a Person. For you can see this by the use of the pronoun, “He”. He will guide you into all truth. He shall not speak of Himself. Then notice, verse 14. He shall glorify Me, for He shall receive of Mine and shall show it unto you—He shall take of Mine and show it unto you. The work of the Holy Spirit is to glorify Christ. Verse 14. The former verse says He shall not speak of Himself. The Holy Spirit does not talk about Himself, He talks about Jesus Christ and glorifies HIm. Isn’t this the work of the candlestick in the Holy Place? Isn’t the work of the candlestick to light up and show all the glory of Christ that is there? The candlestick lights up and show all the glory of  Christ that is there? The candlestick is the light inside, not the light of the world.

8/ When you went into the tabernacle, you couldn’t see the bread, you couldn’t see the incense altar, you couldst’t see anything unless the candlestick itself was burning, so it is the work of the Holy Spirit to show us the things of Christ. I think the work of the Holy Spirit is very often forgotten. How often you hear people praying for power, they are praying for the power of the Holy Spirit, and I suppose that is all right, but that’s not the chief work of the Holy Spirit, the chief work of the Holy Spirit is to show us light, the glory of Christ—that is His chief work. Remember, the candlestick was made of gold which speaks of the deity and the Holy Spirit, of course, is deity—just as much as god the Father , and God the Son.

9/ Exodus 25: 32 - 34  And six branches shall come out of the sides of it; three branches of the candlestick out of the one side, and three branches of the candlestick out of the other side: Three bowls made like unto almonds, with a knop and a flower in one branch; and three bowls made like almonds in the other branch, with a knop and a flower: so in the six branches that come out of the candlestick. And in the candlesticks shall be four bowls made like unto almonds, with their knops and their flowers.

There are seven branches, and of course, seven is the perfect number. 

Revelation 1: 4  John to the seven churches which are in Asia: Grace be unto you, and peace, from him which is, and which was, and which is to come; and from the seven Spirits which are before his throne;

You notice the word, Spirits, is spelled with a capital, meaning the Holy Spirit, and the passage should be translated, to the seven-fold Spirit. It is said that the Holy Spirit is a seven-fold Spirit, showing again that the candlestick evidently is a picture of the Holy Spirit. 

10/ We have the holy Spirit today within us, revealing to us the glory and majesty and the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ, but this light is not to stay in us, Philippians 2: 15  That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world;

Notice, we are sons of God without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, that is exactly where we are—in a world in which everything is contrary to God, contrary to Jesus Christ. What are we to do? Among whom we shine as lights in  the world. That is what God has called us to do—to shine—among whom ye shine.

Charles Spurgeon once used this illustration. He had never been in the United States, but he had heard about Niagara Falls, about the tremendous amount of water going over those falls—so he said, suppose I should be standing by the Niagara River, and I should see hundreds of souls coming down the Niagara River, going over those falls to destruction, and I am standing there perfectly helpless, and I cannot do a think for them. Suppose it were possible for me to have my right arm lengthened—I would hereafter be a hideous thing to look at, but suppose by a painful operation I could have my right arm lengthened so I could reach out and save some of those who are going over the falls to destruction. He saId, would I be willing to suffer the pain? Would I be willing to stand before man as a monstrosity with an arm 20 feet long, but able to save? Now may the Lord Jesus Christ speak to us about these things. We are in this world, and we are to give light to others. Thousands and thousands of churches are entertaining, they are trying to please the flesh, but they are not shining as lights. We aren’t to do this, because the Holy Spirit dwells within us.

AMEN

11/18/1964 / 9 - STUDIES IN THE TABERNACLE / 02/07/2025

8 - STUDIES IN THE TABERNACLE

Photo by B Smith from the patio

8 - STUDIES IN THE TABERNACLE

NOVEMBER 11, 1964

PASTOR HENRY F. KULP

Exodus 25: 8 And let them make me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them.

God wanted to dwell with man, but as we said last week, in the tabernacle when God came down and met with man, He did it as a neighbor, and as we read inDeuteronomy, He was as one near to them. This is not nearly the wonderful position we hold today, of Christ in us, the hope of Glory.

1/  Everything in the tabernacle speaks of Jesus Christ. We have been studying the Holy of Holies, now we want to come to the Holy Place. In the Holy Place there are three pieces of furniture. There is the candlestick, which we will study later, then the altar of incense, over against the veil that separated them from God’s presence, then on your right was the Table of Shewbread. It was made of the same wood, and overlaid with pure gold. It was about 3 feet long, 1 1/2 feet wide and 2 1/4 feet high. It had a golden crown or molding all around the outer edge to keep the twelve loaves of bread safely upon the table, and to prevent them from falling upon the ground, and thus being defiled. There were four golden rings, two on each side of the table, through which passed two bars, two handles made of wood, and plated with gold. With these bars, the table was carried from place to place by the priests whenever they were on the move.

2/  It might be well to remember that this tabernacle was portable, because the children of Israel were ever on the march. They were in a howling wilderness. They had no abiding place in the wilderness.

3/  Exodus 25: 23, 24 Thou shalt also make a table of shittim wood: two cubits shall be the length thereof, and a cubit the breadth thereof, and a cubit and a half the height thereof. And thou shalt overlay it with pure gold, and make thereto a crown of gold round about.

Exodus 25: 30 And thou shalt set upon the table shewbread before me alway.

You will notice that the bread was to be put before the Lord. It is called in another place, the Bread of God. They made twelve loaves of bread and baked it with frankincense, and once a week they put them upon the Table of Shewbread, and that was the food of God. That bread was Christ, for He said in John 6: 33 I am the Bread of God. So that Shewbread was Christ, and it was put there for God’s food. God is delighted in it—in His Son. That bread was left there for a week and it was called the food of God.

4/  Leviticus 24: 5, 6, 9 And thou shalt take fine flour, and bake twelve cakes thereof: two tenth deals shall be in one cake. And thou shalt set them in two rows, six on a row, upon the pure table before the Lord.  And it shall be Aaron's and his sons'; and they shall eat it in the holy place: for it is most holy unto him of the offerings of the Lord made by fire by a perpetual statute.

Remember that bread was called the bread of God, and it was out there for seven days as God’s food, and then at the end of seven days the priests were to take it and it became their food. The priests, who represented the people, were to feed upon the bread that God had been feeding on. It satisfied God and it satisfied the priests and it satisfied the people. It is wonderful to realize that we have that which satisfies God. That’s the glory of Christianity. People get up from the meeting and they say, I’m satisfied with God. That is a lot. But that isn’t everything. The glory of all this is that when you are satisfied with Christ, God was satisfied with Him.

5/ Now notice, Leviticus 24: 5  And thou shalt take fine flour, and bake twelve cakes thereof: two tenth deals shall be in one cake.

Thou shalt take fine flour—all of this is a picture of Christ. He is the Bread, and He had to pass through everything it takes to make a loaf of Bread. Thou shalt take fine flour—Fine flour is a picture of the wonderful life Christ lived. You can take and run your hand through fine flour, and there are no lumps, there is nothing uneven—everything is perfectly smooth. That is the life of the Lord Jesus Christ. Everything He did pleased the Father. It was pleasing to the Father.

6/ Leviticus 24: 7 And thou shalt put pure frankincense upon each row, that it may be on the bread for a memorial, even an offering made by fire unto the Lord.

And thou shalt put frankincense upon each row that it may be the Frankincense—that is sweet incense. Something that pleases God. I am sure you remember the voice that came from Heaven at His baptism and said, Matthew 3: 17  And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.

This is My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. Christ was well-pleasing to the Father in everything He did, everything He ever said. I like to think that Jesus Christ was pleasing to God the Father when He was a carpenter. Remember, He was a carpenter when He lived in Nazareth. It was the end of His time in the carpenter shop when He came out to be baptized. For thirty years He lived at home, and He came to be baptized. God looked on Him as a carpenter, and said, He is a Son in whom I am well pleased.

7/ The important point to see here is that I am pleasing to God the Father because I am in Christ, and God is pleased with this Christ. You might do as a woman said this morning to me—I’ve done so many terrible things—that’s true, but God sees you in Christ, and He is pleased with you. He is infinitely pleased with you. It is well for us to remember that everything the Lord Jesus Christ did, pleased the Father, and He said just that in John 6: 29  Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent. I do always those things that please HIm.

8/ Leviticus 24: 7  And thou shalt put pure frankincense upon each row, that it may be on the bread for a memorial, even an offering made by fire unto the Lord.

And here it says, an offering made by fire. To make a loaf of bread, you have to take grain and grind it—Jesus Christ had to go through the grinding—how terrible was the grinding—the persecution, the hatred, the rejection of men. Then do not forget it, He had to pass through the fire. When flour is ground, it has to be baked, and here it says, an offering made by fire. He experienced the fire of God. He was consumed by the fire of God for your sin and my sin.

9/ But if you eat this bread, you will live forever. Notice, John 6: 33 For the bread of God is He which cometh down from Heaven and giveth life unto the world. Then notice, verse 50 This is the bread which cometh down from Heaven that a man may eat thereof and not die. 

Jesus Christ went through all that suffering, He went to the cross so that we might eat and never die.

10/ John 6: 51 says, That bread, that I will give is My flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.

11/ Exodus 25: 24, 25  And thou shalt overlay it with pure gold, and make thereto a crown of gold round about. And thou shalt make unto it a border of an hand breadth round about, and thou shalt make a golden crown to the border thereof round about.

Thou shalt make thereto a crown of gold round about. The crown—what does that mean? It is mentioned twice, so this crown of the tables has a meaning. And I believe this is the reason. I am sure that God is mentioning here about the two crowns of Jesus Christ.

Matthew 27: 29 And when they had plated a crown of thorns, they put it upon His head, and a reed in His right hand, and they bound the reed before Him and mocked Him, saying, Hail, King of the Jews. 

Yes, the world gave Christ a crown, but they did it in mockery. They gave Him a crown of thorns, and God hasn’t forgotten that.

12/ But there are two verses in the Old Testament that are very fitting for us to look at at this present time—remarkable verses.

Ezekiel 21: 26, 27 Thus saith the Lord God; Remove the diadem, and take off the crown: this shall not be the same: exalt him that is low, and abase him that is high. I will overturn, overturn, overturn, it: and it shall be no more, until he come whose right it is; and I will give it him.

Notice, Thus saith the Lord God; Remove the diadem. Evidently it is on the head of someone it doesn’t belong to, and God says, remove the diadem. Take off the crown. Then God says what he is going to do about it in the 27th verse, I will overturn, overturn, overturn, it: And here you have a triplet. There are not very many triplets in the Bible. You remember one, Holy, Holy, Holy, and there are several others—only about five or six. But here is a triplet that is important. I will overturn, overturn, overturn it—that is three times, and it shall be no more until He come whose right it is; and I will give it to Him. 

God is going to upset things, God is going to turn things upside-down. I will overturn. Why? Because things are wrong side up. Things are not right side up. You don’t have things right side up when you have Satan as the god of this age, controlling this world. I wonder if you remember when the world leaders said about Paul—that he had turned the world upside-down. 

Acts 17: 6  And when they found them not, they drew Jason and certain brethren unto the rulers of the city, crying, These that have turned the world upside down are come hither also;

You will have to admit that things are not right, and that is what the world needs—it needs to be upset, it is wrong side up and God said, I’ll overturn, I’ll overturn, I’ll overturn, and then I’ll give the crown to the One that is worthy of it, and of course, Jesus Christ is the One that will have the crown upon His head, but instead of the crown of thorns, He will have the crown that will give Him the right to rule the world.

13/ Exodus 25: 25  And thou shalt make unto it a border of an hand breadth round about, and thou shalt make a golden crown to the border thereof round about.

There is another thing that we might look at—and thou shalt make unto it a border of a hand-breath round about it, thou shalt make a golden crown to the border round about. 

There was to be a rim of a hand’s breath around the table. I think it was to hold the bread in place. They carried this bread into the wilderness, and God is a God of order. The six loaves on the side and six loaves on the other side, representing Twelve Tribes, and they were to be kept in place. God ordered it. These twelve loaves…so they could not move, they could not shift. We are to be solid and unmovable in Jesus Christ, we are not to shift from one thing to another, but to stand solid in Jesus Christ —unmovable.

14/ When the priests were to eat the bread, they must eat it standing up. There were no chairs for them to sit down. There was not a single chair in the tabernacle, for in this house of God, there was no place of ease, of entertainment—it was a place of constant service. The order might come at any moment to move on, and they were to be ready to pick up and to leave. And we too, are to worship on our feet, ready to heed God’s call.

15/ Exodus 25: 26, 27 And thou shalt make for it four rings of gold, and put the rings in the four corners that are on the four feet thereof. Over against the border shall the rings be for places of the staves to bear the table.

Notice these verses are given over to the making of the golden rings on the two sides of the table and to the staves. More description is given to the staves and the rings than anything else on this shewbread table. They were used to carry the table. It was to move, it was not stationary. God told them how to cover it, and how to carry it, and I believe this is a picture for us who know Christ as the Bread of Life, we are not to keep Him to ourselves. He is to be carried out into the world, we are to take the ministry of reconciliation to all men. Remember, Israel was always on the march. Whenever the cloud began to move, the children of Israel moved, the tabernacle moved. The Table Shewbread moved. Remember, for forty years they marched. They always carried with them the Bread of God. I believer this is a picture of true missionary work. When the church is standing still, it is not doing what God told us to do.

AMEN

11/11/1964 / 8 - Studies in the Tabernacle / 02/04/2025