7 - STUDIES IN THE HIGH PRIEST

7 - STUDIES IN THE HIGH PRIEST

MARCH 31 1965

HENRY F. KULP

Exodus 39: 33 - 40 And they brought the tabernacle unto Moses, the tent, and all his furniture, his taches, his boards, his bars, and his pillars, and his sockets, And the covering of rams' skins dyed red, and the covering of badgers' skins, and the vail of the covering, The ark of the testimony, and the staves thereof, and the mercy seat, the table, and all the vessels thereof, and the shewbread, The pure candlestick, with the lamps thereof even with the lamps to be set in order, and all the vessels thereof, and the oil for light, And the golden altar, and the anointing oil, and the sweet incense, and the hanging for the tabernacle door, The brazen altar, and his grate of brass, his staves, and all his vessels, the laver and his foot, The hangings of the court, his pillars, and his sockets, and the hanging for the court gate, his cords, and his pins, and all the vessels of the service of the tabernacle, for the tent of the congregation, 

Here in the last two chapters of Exodus, we have the consummation of all that’s been in the book, and these last two chapters are truly beautiful. Did you ever notice how the book of Genesis closes? The last phrase of the book of Genesis is, Genesis 50: 26 a coffin in Egypt. That is a strange way to end a book—a coffin in Egypt, but Genesis is a book that gives us the entrance of sin, and the entrance of death into the world, and it does not give us the Redeemer. The book of Genesis tells us how sin comes in, and why men die, but it does not give any hope of deliverance. So the last phrase of Genesis is, a coffin in Egypt. I don’t know whether you remember the last word of the Old Testament or not.

Malachi 4: 6 And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the

heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.

The word is curse—lest I come and smite the earth with a curse. Again, that is a

strange way to end the Old Testament, but the Old Testament is the same as the

book of Genesis. It gives us the entrance of sin, it gives us the record of sin, but

no Redeemer.

1/ Exodus 39: 33 And they brought the tabernacle unto Moses, the tent, and all his furniture, his taches, his boards, his bars, and his pillars, and his sockets,

We read, and they brought the Tabernacle unto Moses.

They had finished making it. They had finished everything—it was all done—the

ark is made, the tables are made, the veil is made, the golden candlestick is

made, and so they brought it in separate pieces.

2/ Exodus 40: 1 And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,

The Lord spake unto Moses saying, On the first day of the first month shalt thou

set up the tabernacle of the tent of the congregation.

God is telling Moses to set it up—the people have already made it—they have

given it to Moses, and now God says, set it up. You will notice in the 40th

chapter that the Lord goes over the whole thing again—the tents, the coverings,

the ark, the table, down through the 15th verse and really this is the fourth time

God has given it to Moses. The Lord could have said to Moses—you’ve got the

tabernacle, set it up. But the Lord didn’t do that, the Lord told him how to set it

up. If you are going to serve the Lord Jesus Christ, you have to listen to the Lord.

The Lord doesn’t let folks serve Him anyway they want.

3/ Now let us go back to Exodus 37: 1 And Bezaleel made the ark of shittim

wood: two cubits and a half was the length of it, and a cubit and a half the

breadth of it, and a cubit and a half the height of it:

Bezaleal—Bee ZAHL ee el. This man made the ark of shittim wood. Two cubits

and a half was the length of it. Then you go down to the 4th verse, he made the

staves and the 5th verse he put in the staves, in the 7th verse he made the two

cherubims, and then you go through all that chapter down to the 23rd verse, he

made the seven lamps. The 26th verse, he overlaid it with gold—the 27th verse,

He made the rings of gold. 

Notice, all this work is described as the work of this one man. But we are told in other places how all the people helped, how God gave to certain men and certain women, wonderful gifts of needlework and handiwork, but it is all ascribed to one man. I think the teaching is this—however great, however wonderful a Christian worker is, no matter how brilliant they may be, they are only helpers—the great Worker is the Holy Spirit. This man was responsible for the whole tabernacle—God gave him wisdom and he was to teach others. So we understand the only way we’ll ever really know Jesus Christ is through the Holy Spirit.

4/ Exodus 40: 2 On the first day of the first month shalt thou set up the tabernacle of the tent of the congregation.

Notice, on the first day of the first month. They had left Egypt in the first month. God said to them, this shall be the beginning of months to you. It was the beginning of the year, and that was the beginning of the Israelitish history. They had no history up to that time. All they had had was a knowledge of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph and Moses. They had no National history. They were just a family. It was 400 years since Abraham, and they weren’t even a nation. They had no history, and when God told them to offer the lamb, He instituted thePassover. God said, this shall be the beginning of months, and that was the beginning their history.

Exodus 12: 1 - 2 And the Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt

saying, This month shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first

month of the year to you.

5/ Now notice, Exodus 40: 17 And it came to pass in the first month in the second year, on the first day of the month, that the tabernacle was reared up.

So, you see, they had been on the march for a year—just exactly one year. They had crossed the Red Sea, they had seen the manna come down from Heaven, and they were still eating it—they had seen water from the rock, they had seen Moses go up into the mountain to talk with God to get the law, they had seen the one who was to be the high priest, Aaron, made a golden calf, they had seen Moses the second time into the mount to get the law, put it in the ark, and all of that took just twelve months the first year out of Egypt.

6/ Exodus 40: 33 And he reared up the court round about the tabernacle and the altar, and set up the hanging of the court gate. So Moses finished the work.

So Moses did exactly as the Lord said. He set up the tabernacle and he finished the work. There you have the finished work—just what the Lord wanted. Moses did just exactly as God told him to do, and there is always a result when you obey God.

7/ I can see, I believe, in my mind’s eye, exactly what happened after the tabernacle was all finished. I can see the people standing around, thousands of them—as a matter of fact, three million of them all were together there in the wilderness. See them standing around in great expectation—they didn’t really understand what was going to happen next. Remember, the tabernacle was set up for a very definite reason.

Exodus 25: 21, 22 And thou shalt put the mercy seat above upon the ark; and in the ark thou shalt put the testimony that I shall give thee. And there I will meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubims which are upon the ark of the testimony, of all things which I will give thee in commandment unto the children of Israel.

God was to come down into that Tabernacle and dwell among His people, but the

people did not really understand that. You remember they had a cloud from the

time of the Passover when they left Egypt. God put that cloud over them—a cloud by day and fire by night, and we are told that it never left them. They hadthat much but they had no Shakinah glory, and I don’t think any of them could imagine what the Lord was going to do, or how He was coming down.

Exodus 40: 34 Then a cloud covered the tent of the congregation, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.

That is the answer—the glory of the Lord. When everything was done—the work was finished, the glory of the Lord filled the Tabernacle. That was what they had been waiting for. Maybe they didn’t understand it, but that was what they were waiting for. That’s why they built the Tabernacle. God came down, and from that time on they had the presence of the Lord. God had said, I’m coming down, be careful how you do things. There must not be a single thing out of place.

8/ I’d like you to notice when the work was finished the glory of the Lord filled the Tabernacle. What does this have to do with Jesus Christ?

John 7: 39 (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.)

The Lord Jesus Christ finished His work, His work was done, and sin was put away and all HIs sufferings were finished. Then God took Him out of the grave, took Him back to glory, and when Jesus Christ reached the throne, the Holy Spirit came, and at that moment, Jesus Christ was glorified. The Holy Spirit couldn’t come until Jesus had finished His work, went back to Heaven and was glorified.

9/ Of course, all of this speaks of Jesus Christ and His finished work. The words, the finished work of Jesus Christ, are not in the Bible, but He did cry on the cross of Calvary—It is finished, and of course, this Tabernacle speaks of Jesus Christ and his finished work for sin.

10/ II Chronicles 5: 1 Thus all the work that Solomon made for the house of the Lord was finished: and Solomon brought in all the things that David his father had dedicated; and the silver, and the gold, and all the instruments, put he among the treasures of the house of God.

Here you have the building of Solomon’s Temple—Solomon built the temple on a large scale—instead of one laver, he built twelve, instead of building an altar the size that God gave to Moses, he built an altar about 10 times as big. Everything was on a large scale, but there was one thing that he did according to God’s specifications to Moses, and that was the matter of the ark. This was 500 years later, but the ark was still in existence. The time came, when Solomon, having built the temple, and made it so large and so big, made up his mind that theywould have the ark in the place to have the blessing of the Lord. The ark is mentioned, ten times in this chapter.

Notice, verse 6, they assembled unto him before the ark—verse 7 brought in the ark.

Now because Solomon put the ark in the place behind the veil, the ark with its cherubims where God’s presence was, God blessed him—now look at the end of the chapter, Verse 13 - 14 It came even to pass, as the trumpeters and singers were as one, to make one sound to be heard in praising and thanking the Lord; and when they lifted up their voice with the trumpets and cymbals and instruments of musick, and praised the Lord, saying, For he is good; for his mercy endureth for ever: that then the house was filled with a cloud, even the house of the Lord; So that the priests could not stand to minister by reason of the cloud: for the glory of the Lord had filled the house of God.

It meant that God was there and where God was, the glory of God dwelt.

11/ But let us notice this day and age Ephesians 3: 16 That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man;

And here is Paul’s prayer for this age of grace. That he would grant you according to the riches of His glory to be strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith. 

There is Christ, dwelling in your heart as God dwelled in the tabernacle. You see, it is Christ, dwelling in the believer. In the Old Testament, it is God dwelling in the Tabernacle, now Christ dwells in your heart. The word, dwell, means to come in and feel at home.

12/ Remember, the Lord Jesus Christ is called the Mercy Seat in the new Testament.

Romans 3: 25 Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God;

13/ I have been wondering about the Israelites and this ark, this Mercy Seat, whether they knew very much about it. As you know, the High Priest only went in behind the veil once a year, and that with blood. But they never saw it—only the High Priest saw the ark. It was probably made in secret, and the veil was hung before it—the ark. I haven’t any doubt that they often went to the High Priest andasked him what the ark was like and what the Mercy Seat was like, and what the Holy Place was like, and he had to describe ti to them, for they never saw it.

Numbers 4: 5 And when the camp setteth forward, Aaron shall come, and his sons, and they shall take down the covering vail, and cover the ark of testimony with it:

Notice this Scripture—when the camp setteth forward, Aaron shall come, and his sons, and they shall take down the cover vail and cover the ark of the testimony with it:

And Aaron and his sons came and took down the vail, and they threw it over the ark to be sure that they didn’t see the ark. God permitted no man to look upon it.

14/ Verse 6 And shall put thereon the covering of badgers' skins, and shall spread over it a cloth wholly of blue, and shall put in the staves thereof.

Over the veil they put a covering of badger skins, for they were going to carry it through the desert, and then it says, and shall spread over it a clothe wholly of blue. Blue is the heavenly color.

15/ Now notice the 15th verse And when Aaron and his sons have made an end of covering the sanctuary, and all the vessels of the sanctuary, as the camp is to set forward; after that, the sons of Kohath shall come to bear it: but they shall not touch any holy thing, lest they die. These things are the burden of the sons of Kohath in the tabernacle of the congregation.

Here no one was to touch anything except the priests and the High Priest, and they were told to do as God told them. So they would go to Aaron and he would tell them about the area and the Mercy Seat, just as the Holy Spirit comes to tell you about Jesus Christ, for Christ is the Mercy Seat, and the Holy Spirit tells you about His ministry.

I Peter 1: 8 Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory:

We haven’t seen the face of Jesus Christ, but there is no face in the universe, so precious to you as the face of Jesus Christ. I certainly hope that you do not think that the face of Jesus Christ is anything like the pictures have portrayed Him. That is not my Christ. The face of Jesus Christ is more brilliant than a million suns. When John saw Jesus Christ in the first chapter of Revelation, he fell at His feet as though he were dead.

Revelation 1: 18 I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.

II Corinthians 4: 6 For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

And here the glory of God is in the face of the Lord Jesus Christ, and we are going to see Him someday face to face.

AMEN

3/31/1965 / #7 - STUDIES IN THE HIGH PRIEST / 10/31/2025