14 - STUDIES IN THE TABERNACLE

14 - STUDIES IN THE TABERNACLE

January 13, 1965

Henry F. Kulp

Exodus 36:1 Then wrought Bezaleel and Aholiab, and every wise hearted man, in whom the Lord put wisdom and understanding to know how to work all manner of work for the service of the sanctuary, according to all that the Lord had commanded.

In this part of the book of Exodus they are building the tabernacle. God had specified to Moses just how He wanted the tabernacle built, and they are building it according to specifications. That would be the term we use in our day. God has told them He would come down and live among them.

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

This is where God is telling Moses how to build the Tabernacle, and this Scripture says, Let them make Me a sanctuary that I may dwell among them. God said I am coming down to live among my people. Build Me a house, and then He gave to Moses the specifications for this tabernacle. The world has never had anything like that—a building that God Himself had given a complete plan for building. So the Lord said, If you build it just the way I have specified, I will come down, and the Lord did, and Israel had the Shikinah glory from the cloud in the sky over the Mercy Seat.

1/ Exodus 36: 20 - 23 And he made boards for the tabernacle of shittim wood, standing up. The length of a board was ten cubits, and the breadth of a board one cubit and a half. One board had two tenons, equally distant one from another: thus did he make for all the boards of the tabernacle. And he made boards for the tabernacle; twenty boards for the south side southward:

Now we come to the boards—the sides of the tabernacle itself. The Tabernacle was enclosed with these boards of shittim wood and they were covered with gold, and they formed the sides of the tabernacle. The tabernacle was about 15 ft. high, 15 ft. broad, and 45 ft. long. These boards made the sides and the ends of the Tabernacle. 

2/ There were 48 boards and they were made of wood, and overlaid with gold, and under them were silver sockets. These boards, most Bible teachers believe are types of believers in Jesus Christ—-those who have trusted in Him. Christ is to dwell in the believer. This is not only true in the Church age today, but it will be true in the age to come when the nation Israel experiences the millennial reign of Christ, when the Holy Spirit will be poured out upon all flesh. These boards were just plain wood—that, of course, we said, always pictures tous humanity, and then they were covered over with gold—gold is deity. That’s a picture of a believer in Jesus Christ. Just a plain man or woman, in Christ, showing forth Christ.

3/ Verse 20 And he made boards for the tabernacle of shittim wood, standing up. 

There is something here that I would like you to see. He made the boards for the tabernacle of shittim wood, standing up. We wouldn’t think that they would be any other way, but yet the Lord says it twice. I think God has a truth that He wants us to see right here. We are to stand for Him and I believe this is the believer’s business. As a matter of fact, I don’t think there is much else we can do other than stand. You may be discouraged about your work. You may be discouraged about what you are able to give, you may be discouraged not having more time taken up for the Lord, but after all, I don’t think we can get very far from the Lord in this world, but there is one thing we can do—we can stand for Him.

Ephesians 6: 11 Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.

Here God tells the Church, put on the whole armor of God that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. We are in fighting territory down here.

Billy Sunday—I can remember him clearly—used to preach and talk about driving the devil out, but no one has ever done that as yet. Satan is still here. He is the god of this age—he is the prince of the world, and there is not much you and I can do about it, but we can stand. Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand.

Then look up the 13th verse, Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.

That is just another type of standing—then notice, having done all to stand. There isn’t anything else we can do, but it does mean a lot to stand for the Lord Jesus Christ. It means a lot to let your neighbors know that you are the Lord’s. It means a lot wherever you are in any circumstance, to let the people know you belong to the Lord Jesus Christ, and above all, it is important to let Satan know that you are the Lord’s.

4/ In the 6th chapter of Ephesians they weren’t asked to go anywhere, or to get anywhere— they were just asked to stand—to take the sword of the Spirit and fight—but there is also progress in the 6th chapter of Ephesian —-only standing. I think we have a great lesson to learn. No one needs to get discouraged. What we need to do is learn to stand.

5/ Exodus 36: 24 And forty sockets of silver he made under the twenty boards; two sockets under one board for his two tenons, and two sockets under another board for his two tenons.Under each board were two silver sockets. 

Actually, the foundation was out of proportion to the building itself. The foundation, scholars tell us weighed 5 tons, and it was made of solid silver sockets. Every building depends upon its foundation, and this was founded on silver. I don’t suppose any other building in the world has ever had a silver foundation, but this building had a silver foundation-solid silver, and there in the wilderness. There were 100 silver sockets under the tabernacle. Where did they get the gold and the silver, for that is an interesting study in itself.

6/ Exodus 30: 11- 15 And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, When thou takest the sum of the children of Israel after their number, then shall they give every man a ransom for his soul unto the Lord, when thou numberest them; that there be no plague among them, when thou numberest them. This they shall give, every one that passeth among them that are numbered, half a shekel after the shekel of the sanctuary: (a shekel is twenty gerahs:) an half shekel shall be the offering of the Lord. Every one that passeth among them that are numbered, from twenty years old and above, shall give an offering unto the Lord. The rich shall not give more, and the poor shall not give less than half a shekel, when they give an offering unto the Lord, to make an atonement for your souls.

Silver here is called atonement money—which was required of every single Israelite. None were to be exempt. Failure to furnish the silver meant death and cutting off from the assembly of Israel. The amount, however, which was to be given by each individual was easily within reach of all, poor and rich alike. It was a very nominal sum—it amounted to half a shekel, or less than 35 cents for each individual.

7/ Now let us look at Exodus 30: 12 When thou takest the sum of the children of Israel after their number, then shall they give every man a ransom for his soul unto the Lord, when thou numberest them; that there be no plague among them, when thou numberest them.

Then notice, verse 13 This they shall give, every one that passeth among them that are numbered, half a shekel after the shekel of the sanctuary: (a shekel is twenty gerahs:) an half shekel shall be the offering of the Lord.

This was the time of the numbering of the people. God said to Moses, take the people by tribes, and by families and number them. Let them all pass before you, and as each man comes, he was to bring a token to show that he was a redeemed soul—that token was a little piece of silver, called a half a shekel. It was not to purchase his ransom, because he was already ransomed. For they had been redeemed by the blood of the lamb. This was simply a token —that token is your testimony. You have not paid your half shekel until you have given your testimony. But God said to Moses, when you number the people, every man that is numbered shall bring his token to show that he is a redeemed soul. That was necessary, because there were a lot of folks who had come out of Egypt with the Israelites that were not Jews at all—they were not Israelites, they were not ransomed.

8/ Exodus 12: 38 And a mixed multitude went up also with them; and flocks, and herds, even very much cattle.

There was a great host of people, probably all nationalities, and they were not able to prove that they were from any tribe. It was a very serious condition to have those people among the nation. You may say, “Why?”

Numbers 11:4 And the mixt multitude that was among them fell a lusting: and the children of Israel also wept again, and said, Who shall give us flesh to eat?

It was the mixed multitude that did that. They reminded the Israelites that they had only manna to eat, and Israel got into trouble over these folks, and God sent firery serpents among them to slay them. But remember it was the mixed multitude that did the damage. So God said to Moses, you get the people together and number them, and every man that can prove he is a redeemed soul, must bring a token.

9/ Numbers 1: 18 And they assembled all the congregation together on the first day of the second month, and they declared their pedigrees after their families, by the house of their fathers, according to the number of the names, from twenty years old and upward, by their polls.

Every man had to declare his pedigree. A man would say, I am really an Israelite, I know my family, I know my forefathers, I know what tribe I came from. Whether it was Rueben or Judah or Gad or whatever tribe it was. A man had to declare now. People ought to be able to prove that they are children of God. You say, Do you mean that everybody who is saved ought to know it? Certainly. A wonderful thing has transpired in your life.  You have been taken out of the power of darkness, into the body, the Church, and you have been saved from hell and you are on your way to Heaven, you are a heavenly people—why shouldn’t you know it?

10/ Exodus 30: 15 The rich shall not give more, and the poor shall not give less than half a shekel, when they give an offering unto the Lord, to make an atonement for your souls.

This shows that everyone in Israel in this matter of bing ransomed should be equal. There were the rich and the poor, there were the wise and the unwise, but they came the same way.

Note this 15th verse. They all had to come the same way. A man may have been extremely wealthy, but when he came to Moses and said, I am of the tribe of Joseph, or Benjamin, I can declare my pedigree—I would like to make a gift, because of this wonderful matter of being ransomed. Moses would say, no, we don’t want your gift, all we want is half a shekel, we ought to be saying that today. We don’t want your money, we want your testimony. A testimony is worth more than all your money. The important thing among God’s people is a testimony—not your half shekel.

11/ Now go back to Exodus 30: 13 This they shall give, every one that passeth among them that are numbered, half a shekel after the shekel of the sanctuary: (a shekel is twenty gerahs:) an half shekel shall be the offering of the Lord.

Notice, that, after the shekel of the sanctuary. A shekel was a common coin used in the market, and God said let every man bring half a shekel. That was his token that he was a redeemed man. That is all it was, it corresponds to your testimony—your testimony is your half a shekel. It was the shekel of the sanctuary. In the sanctuary they had a very fine scale, and they had pieces of money that were just made. When a man brought a shekel, he could not bring a shekel that had been used in the market with most of the superscription rubbed off. You heard about a thin dime? You could’t bring a thin shekel to the Lord. It had to be a shekel of the sanctuary—it must not be something that had all the superscription gone.

Actually, Modernism is that today—it is a thin dime, and it doesn’t have any testimony.

Remember, Psalm 107: 2 Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom he hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy;

That is what the Lord wants. He wants your half shekel.

12/ There is a wonderful thought about a testimony. About telling a thing. Nothing is yours unless you tell it. That is the matter of gossip, and it is a lesson we have to learn. Someone comes up and tells you something, and you don’t want to hear it, but you’ve heard it before, you knew what they were going to say, and that thing that they had told you about someone else can lie in your mind and be harmless, perfectly harmless, but the moment you tell it, you are guilty. The moment you tell it to someone else, you have made it your own, and you are guilty. So when you tell it, it is yours, and God wants you to give your testimony for Christ.

13/ To impress upon you about this ransom money--many, many years later, King David was to be painfully reminded of this lesson, for you remember, he numbered the people without token money. We remember about David’s great sin. He commanded the people to be numbered, and over the objections, Joab ordered a census, but failed to collect the half shekel of silver and this resulted in the death of 70,000 of the men of Israel. So the ransom money was important.

14/ But where did the children of Israel get this money?

Exodus 12: 33 - 36 And the Egyptians were urgent upon the people, that they might send them out of the land in haste; for they said, We be all dead men. And the people took their dough before it was leavened, their kneadingtroughs being bound up in their clothes upon their shoulders. And the children of Israel did according to the word of Moses; and they borrowed of the Egyptians jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment: And the Lord gave the people favour in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they lent unto them such things as they required. And they spoiled the Egyptians.

Remember, after the last plague when the first-born was dead, the Egyptians told the Jews to go—go right away. But the Israelites said, we will go if you give us your gold and silver, and the Egyptians said, take it and go. The Lord knew about the Tabernacle, because the Lord had told them to ask the Egyptians for this money.

Exodus 11: 1, 2 And the Lord said unto Moses, Yet will I bring one plague more upon Pharaoh, and upon Egypt; afterwards he will let you go hence: when he shall let you go, he shall surely thrust you out hence altogether. Speak now in the ears of the people, and let every man borrow of his neighbour, and every woman of her neighbour, jewels of silver and jewels of gold.

He knew they would need it for the tabernacle. So there was provision from Egypt.

15/ I want you to look at I Peter 1: 18 Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers;

That is a reference to the Old Testament type of redemption. Even silver. Our redemption is by blood.

Acts 20: 28 Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.

If you go into a business establishment and buy something and lay down the price on the counter then it is yours. So the Lord Jesus Christ came into this world and purchased the church with His great, red, rich, round drops of blood. You are redeemed, you are purchased, so redemption should be our speaking point—-telling forth the fact that we have been purchased by the blood of Christ.

AMEN

1/13/2965 / 13 - STUDIES IN THE TABERNACLE / 04/27/2025

13 - STUDIES IN THE TABERNACLE

13 - STUDIES IN THE TABERNACLE

January 6, 1965

Henry F. Kulp

We have been studying the roof of the tabernacle, and it is made up of four curtains, all of different materials, all of different colors. The first color we studied, in Exodus 2: 1 was a curtain made of fine, twinned linen—it was perfectly white. It was made up of 10 separate curtains. It had colors of blue, purple, and scarlet. Then it had cherubims woven in it, and the last time we studied this Scripture, we said this speaks of the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ, and we said the only way you could see this curtain was going inside the tabernacle and looking up. We do not look around, we do not look down, we do not look in, but we are commissioned to look up.

1/ Exodus 26: 1 - 6 Moreover thou shalt make the tabernacle with ten curtains of

fine twined linen, and blue, and purple, and scarlet: with cherubims of cunning work shalt thou make them. The length of one curtain shall be eight and twenty cubits, and the breadth of one curtain four cubits: and every one of the curtains shall have one measure. The five curtains shall be coupled together one to another; and other five curtains shall be coupled one to another. And thou shalt make loops of blue upon the edge of the one curtain from the selvedge in the coupling; and likewise shalt thou make in the uttermost edge of another curtain, in the coupling of the second. Fifty loops shalt thou make in the one curtain, and fifty loops shalt thou make in the edge of the curtain that is in the coupling of the second; that the loops may take hold one of another. And thou shalt make fifty taches of gold, and couple the curtains together with the taches: and it shall be one tabernacle.

The word "taches" means hooks or clasps.

We have the first curtain, that I would like to call the glory curtain, because it shows us the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. But than we go to the second curtain.

Exodus 26: 6 - 8 And thou shalt make fifty taches of gold, and couple the curtains together with the taches: and it shall be one tabernacle. And thou shalt make curtains of goats' hair to be a covering upon the tabernacle: eleven curtains shalt thou make.The length of one curtain shall be thirty cubits, and the breadth of one curtain four cubits: and the eleven curtains shall be all of one measure.

We read that the second curtain was made of goat’s hair, and 11 curtains shall thou make. Notice, there are 11 curtains. The first curtain showing the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ had 10—this has one more.

Notice the 2nd verse of Exodus 26 The length of one curtain shall be eight and

twenty cubits, and the breadth of one curtain four cubits: and every one of the curtains shall have one measure.

The length of one curtain shall be 8 and 20 cubits, and the breadth of one curtain 4 cubits. Comparing that with the 7th verse, the goat’s hair covering was to have 11 curtains. There is a meaning in that, and I want you to notice.

In the 8th verse The length of one curtain shall be thirty cubits, and the breadth of one curtain four cubits: and the eleven curtains shall be all of one measure.

The length of one curtain shall be 30 cubits—the other was 28, this is 30. The

tabernacle was 10 cubits high, 10 cubits across, and 10 cubits down on the other

side., that is 30 cubits. The first curtain was only 28 cubits, that was the glory curtain, and it did not touch the ground, the floor of the dessert, the sand. The second curtain was 30 cubits, and it did reach just to the floor, or the sand of the dessert, covering the other curtain entirely. It was a cubit beyond the other curtain—a cubit on the one side, and on the other side, and of course, there was a reason for the 11 curtains, instead of 10, so in the front and back they lapped over this other curtain. It was absolutely hidden from the outside. So you had to go inside to see this glory curtain. Just so one has to be in Christ to see the glory of Christ. No one in this world knows the Lord Jesus Christ, or knows anything about Him who is not saved and in Christ. They make many different ideas concerning Christ, but they are certainly foreign to the Word of God.

2/ II Corinthians 4: 3 But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: 

Certainly the Gospel is hid to them that are lost, and they haven’t seen the glory of Christ.

Then notice verse 4 In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.

No light, whatsoever through the blinding by Satan.

Now look at the 6th verse. 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.

Only those who have been inside, under the light of the Gospel have seen that glory, and that glory is in the face of Christ—He is the Glorious One. Satan has blinded the minds of the world, and while they talk about Christ, they have never seen Him in His true glory. Don’t you see? God made it so that not one inch of the glory curtain could be seen from outside, and you cannot understand Christ unless you are saved and in Christ.

3/ Exodus 26: 7 And thou shalt make curtains of goats' hair to be a covering upon the tabernacle: eleven curtains shalt thou make.

This covering was goat’s hair. That animal didn’t have to die—all the other animals did. When we come to the other curtains, we find that the other animals had to give their life, typical of the Lord Jesus Christ, having to die. But this curtain was made of goat’s hair, expertly woven from long white silky hair of the eastern goat. Not like our back-alley goat. The hair was clipped and woven into this curtain. It was wonderful—a beautiful curtain—and it was white.

4/ A coat in the Bible, was a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ as our sin-bearer. The

goat was a clean animal, fit for sacrifice upon the altar of burnt offering. On the Day of Atonement, the priest was to take two goats. One was slain a the altar and his blood poured out at the base of the altar, symbolic of the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ in His death.

Leviticus 16: 19 - 22 And he shall sprinkle of the blood upon it with his finger seven times, and cleanse it, and hallow it from the uncleanness of the children of Israel. And when he hath made an end of reconciling the holy place, and the tabernacle of the congregation, and the altar, he shall bring the live goat: And Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the head of the live goat, and confess over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions in all their sins, putting them upon the head of the goat, and shall send him away by the hand of a fit man into the wilderness: And the goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities unto a land not inhabited: and he shall let go the goat in the wilderness.

The live goat had the priest, who was Aaron, laying both is hands upon the head of the live goat, confessing all the iniquities of the children of Israel and their transgressions, putting them on the head of the goat and sending them away into the wilderness. So this is a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ as the sin-bearer.

Leviticus 16: 7, 8 And he shall take the two goats, and present them before the Lord at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. And Aaron shall cast lots upon the two goats; one lot for the Lord, and the other lot for the scapegoat.

There was a transference of our guilt to Him, and He paid the price of death by the shedding of blood, and He took our sins as far away at the east is from the west. So this goat’s hair curtain, speaks of Christ our sin-bearer, our substitute.

Notice, Hebrews 9: 28 So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.

All of this, therefore, is suggestive—the curtain of goat’s hair was a second covering of the tabernacle, and so therefore, we must receive Christ as our sin-sacrifice before we can see the beauty of the Lord Jesus Christ.

5/ Exodus 26: 14 And thou shalt make a covering for the tent of rams' skins dyed

red, and a covering above of badgers' skins.

This third covering was ram skin—tanned, preserved and sewed together, and it was dyed red. I am firmly convinced in the Bible that red speaks of blood. Down through the years, I have asked the Lord to give me the ability and the knowledge of how to preach the blood. In the little time that one has on this earth, we should be always talking about the blood. Everywhere in this tabernacle God puts red, and of course, the church has lost its theme—it has gotten rid of the blood of Christ. Let us just think about the ram as a bloody substitute for the lamb in death speaks of Christ, dying for us.

Genesis 22: 13 And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns: and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son.

Here in this chapter we have an illustration of a wonderful truth. Abraham is told to take Isaac, his son, to Mount Moriah to be sacrificed upon an altar, and after Abraham had bound Isaac, laid him on the altar, lifted the knife to slay his son, had the fire in the other hand, to set fire to the wood, so it would consume the sacrifice, he was suddenly arrested and interrupted by God, Who ordered him to stay his hand, and Abraham was turned from the altar, he lift dup his eyes, and looked and behold, a ram caught in the thicket by his horns, and here we are face to face with God’s ram. Here was God’s provision for Isaac, to take the place of Isaac. Isaac was under the sentencing of death. He deserved to die, but God provided a substitute. Note carefully the words, IN THE STEAD OF HIS SON, that is in the plan of his son.

Then notice Genesis 22: 14 And Abraham called the name of that place

Jehovahjireh: as it is said to this day, In the mount of the Lord it shall be seen.

Jehovah will provide a substitute for me. Two-thousand years ago, this type was

completely fulfilled in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. He came to be the

substitute and to shed His blood for a covering for sins. In the Old Testament—and as a washing away of sins in the New Testament.

6/ Now the last curtain in Exodus 26: 14 And thou shalt make a covering for the tent of rams' skins dyed red, and a covering above of badgers' skins.

These badgers’ skins had no colorful beauty, they were drab, dull and a blueish grey, for the outer covering was exposed to the sun and the rain and the storms and the sand. It was the only cover visible to the outsider. And, of course, this speaks of the humanity of the Lord Jesus Christ. The badgers’ skins represent all the world can se  in the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ, until they have been saved.

7/ The word, badger, in the original, is porpoise. This outer covering of skins was made of leather, and the skins ere taken from the porpoises. Not badgers as it is in the English translation. This was a marine animal—a sea animal, which was found abundantly in the Nile and the Red Sea. It is related to the whale and the dolphin. It’s hide made excellent leather.

8/ Israel had no trouble obtaining this leather when they were in Egypt. But here in the dessert, far from the sea, they could not obtain. Evidently, the Israelites had stocked up on these leather skins when they left the land of Egypt, and they had stocked up on them for probably a very good reason. They were to pass through a rough, and howling dessert, and this leather made wonderful material for shoes.

Ezekiel 16: 10 I clothed thee also with broidered work, and shod thee with badgers' skin, and I girded thee about with fine linen, and I covered thee with silk.

It tells us that this leather was usually put to that use. I cloth thee also with bordered work, and shod thee with badger skin. It should read—I shod thee with porpoise skins.

So this leather was used for shoe leather. Now the Lord demands that they give this precious leather—plentiful in Egypt, but unavailable in the dessert for the covering of the tabernacle and the service of God. God asked them to give up their shoe leather, literally, the shoes off their feet for the service of God. Can you imagine the nation saying, Lord, are you asking us to give you our very shoe leather? That is asking too much. How will we be able to work in this burning sand? How will we stand against the harshness of the sand? It will cut through any other covering that we have. Is God asking too much of you?

AMEN

1/6/1965 / 13 - STUDIES IN THE TABERNACLE / 4/27/2025