OUR GREAT HIGH PRIEST

By J W Luman

Part 1 - A Progression of Relationship

As we share now I trust that the result will be the increase of the Lord Jesus Christ. May He be increased in each of us and also in the midst of us. Turn to Hebrews. I’m going to be dealing with the theme, "Our Great High Priest". We will be using the diagram of The Tabernacle. We want to see the relationship of The Tabernacle to The Cross. And we’re going to see The Tabernacle summed up in the High Priest, and we’re going to see The Cross summed up in the High Priest. I want us to see The Tabernacle not so much as a place or a thing, but as a Person. I want us to see The Cross not as a thing, but as a Person. I want us to see that everything that is connected to The Tabernacle is finally finished in the Person of Christ and Him crucified. There is a great deal connected with The Tabernacle, and there is a great deal summed up in The Cross. Most Christians have a very small view of The Cross. I desire that our view be greatly enlarged - seeing The Cross as it relates to The Person of Christ Himself. The Cross simply as a place does nothing for us. Two sticks of wood does nothing for us; Golgotha as a place does nothing for us. We are only affected by The Cross because of its relationship to Christ. It is HIS Cross: it is HIS death, HIS burial, HIS resurrection, and it is in that we are affected.

I want us to see this in The Tabernacle, and then in The Cross as well. OUR GREAT HIGH PRIEST! The writer of Hebrews is comparing The Tabernacle with Christ, he is comparing The Tabernacle with The Cross, and he’s using all of the aspects of The Tabernacle to do that. Here in Hebrews you’ll find all of the aspects of The Tabernacle, and in every case they are brought to a finish in Christ Jesus. Nothing is left out: if one small part of The Tabernacle is left out, then the death of Christ is in vain. We must understand that the work of our Great High Priest is a Finished Work: He is not still doing the work - He has finished the work. What He is doing is bringing us into it. We come into The Finished Work by Him. It is He who says, " I am the Way, the Truth, the Life, no man cometh...but by Me."

So in Hebrews 4:14, " Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession." Chapter 5:5,6, "So also Christ glorified not himself to be made an high priest; but he that said unto him, Thou art my Son, to day have I begotten thee. As he saith also in another place, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec." Chapter 8:1,2, " Now of the things which we have spoken this is the sum: We have such an high priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens; A minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man." Chapter 9:11, " But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building (creation)." Verse 24, " For Christ is not entered into the holy places made by hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us." Chapter 10:19-21, " Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh: And having an high priest over the house of God..." You see what is happening here; there is a progression of relationship. And notice that Paul is using The Tabernacle. He’s using the Holy Place, the Holy of Holies; he’s using The Tabernacle as The Temple of God, and he is comparing that to the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is comparing the Tabernacle’s High Priest to The Great High Priest. Here is the pattern. (See diagram) Here is the fulfillment. How shall we know what is fulfilled unless we comprehend the pattern? We say, He fulfilled it all! But what is all? He fulfilled all of the pattern! But do we know the pattern? Do we understand what He fulfilled? Do we understand our Salvation? No, we do not!

We understand that we’re saved, but what does that really mean? We understand that we are out of sin, but it means much more than that. We are talking about "going in" to something; we’re talking about being brought in by Our High Priest. Look at the pattern. Here’s The Tabernacle. Israel is camped all around The Tabernacle. Egypt is way back away from them. They came out of Egypt, through the Red Sea, through the death of Pharaoh, and by the mighty hand of God they were delivered. They came out through the blood upon the doorposts; they ate the flesh of the lamb, they were baptized into the sea. All of that was before there ever was a Tabernacle. God brought them out - that was one thing. When God brought them out we see no High Priest, we see no Tabernacle. So the High Priest and The Tabernacle is not just for getting out of something. The whole emphasis with this Tabernacle is not getting out of Egypt; they are already out of Egypt. The emphasis of this Tabernacle is getting into something! RELATIONSHIP! Knowing the Lord, having communion with the Lord - that’s what The Tabernacle is all about: bringing a people into relationship with Himself; bringing a people to be where He is, living in the midst of a people, revealing His glory in a people! That’s what The Tabernacle is all about. That’s what The High Priest is all about. That’s what The Cross is all about! Not just getting us out of sin, but bringing us into a relationship with Christ; that where He is, there we may be also. The Cross is a very great work, and we have a very Great High Priest. We are going to be looking at the pattern, and we are going to see it fulfilled in Christ crucified. (See chart) Here is The High Priest in type, in shadow, in pattern. Here is The High Priest in fulfillment and in Divine Person. The pattern is in The Tabernacle; the fulfillment is in The Person of Christ. I want us to come to a greater comprehension of Him.

We are going to be looking at two understandings of The Tabernacle. First we’re going to see The Tabernacle as The High Priest goes in. This is the comprehension of going in. This is the first understanding we must have. But not only did The High Priest go all the way in one time a year, but he also came back out. That’s the second understanding: it’s concerning The Cross, but not just The Cross as Christ relating Himself to us, but secondly understanding The Cross as it relates to His glory. Because He said about The Cross: "The hour is come that the Son of Man must be glorified." We’ll deal with that later. Look again in Hebrews - a progression of relationship. Notice in Hebrews 4:14 it says we have such a Great High Priest. Then Hebrews 5:5,6 says this High Priest is appointed of God, ordained of God - not man. So we are seeing something about The High Priest. We know that Jesus is The Great High Priest. We know that Jesus is The Son of God; that The Father has ordained Him. Everything begins with Him, and in knowing the Lord it is always The Lord who is first. First we see how great He is; that’s what this writer is doing. Why? Because the house is only as great as The High Priest. The work is only as great as The One who does it. So we don’t start out looking at the work He did, we start out looking at HIM!

This seems to be very simple, but it’s actually very profound, because most Christians don’t do that. Most Christians try to understand the greatness of their Salvation without understanding the greatness of their Savior. Your Salvation is great because He is great! But by the same truth, if He is great, then your Salvation is great. You can’t have a great Savior and a poor Salvation. We try to understand Salvation without understanding Him, and it can’t be done. We end up saying my Salvation is great because I’m no longer in sin: I no longer do this, I no longer go there. We try to make our Salvation great in this way. ‘One day I’m going to heaven.’ And it hasn’t worked. The only way we’re going to understand Great Salvation is to understand the greatness of our Savior! Why? Because He hasn’t just brought us out from some place: He has brought us into Himself! We dwell in Him: He dwells in us! That’s what makes Salvation great. So the writer here establishes first here we have a Great High Priest!

And then in Chapter 8:1 he takes it one step farther. We have a great High Priest, He sets on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven. And that’s just part of the story. That’s the part you and I know, but there’s a part that we’re missing. We see Him off somewhere in heaven, at the right hand of God. One day we hope we’ll be there. In the meantime we’re just doing the best we can. He’s in one place and we’re in another place. We sing the song, "Jesus, come and hold my hand." Come and visit with me sometime. But that’s not the real story. Look at the rest of this - the relationship grows, the understanding grows. This man is writing a letter, bringing in more understanding as he goes along. The Great High Priest, ordained of God, at the right hand of God; but now look at His relationship to you and I. Now the believer is brought into the picture. Hebrews 8:2, " A minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched and not man." Then chapter 9:11, because now in this text he goes from the High Priest to the sanctuary of the High Priest. Every High Priest has a sanctuary; and the greatness of the sanctuary is measured by the greatness of the High Priest. Do you see what the writer is doing? This old sanctuary, he says, had a High Priest. But by The Cross, by His death, burial and resurrection; by the work of Our Great High Priest, He too has a sanctuary! That sanctuary is not of man, it’s not made with hands. It is a heavenly sanctuary; it is a spiritual sanctuary, it is not of this creation, it is a New Creation. YOU ARE THAT SANCTUARY! Hallelujah!

The problem is that most of us are still waiting on a sanctuary. You are the sanctuary! How do we measure the sanctuary you are? We have this treasure in earthen vessels. Do we measure the treasure by the vessel? Or is the vessel measured by the treasure? "No flesh shall glory in His presence." We look around and we see the earthen vessel - that’s not much to get excited about, is it? But if we could see The High Priest who dwells in the vessel... I tell you, this building could not hold you - you would go out like sky rockets! You would see the greatness of the vessel, you would see the greatness of The Tabernacle, you would see the greatness of The Temple - it’s measured by Christ! And herein is our problem: we try to find the greatness in ourselves - who we are: white, brown, black, male, female, young person, old person. We look for the greatness of who we are, or we look for the greatness in where we are: what kind of a building, how much did it cost, how big is it? And no matter how large we build, there’s no satisfaction - it’s never big enough. So we look for the greatness of The Tabernacle in who we are, and that just leaves us looking at each other. So we try to be great! But that falls short. ‘For you see your calling, brethren, not because you are great, not because you are mighty. God has chosen base things, unimportant things, that no flesh shall glory.’

So the greatness is not who we are, and the greatness is not where we are. Then we look for the greatness in how many of us there are. ‘How many do you have? How many students, how many church members, how many Pastors, how many churches?’ And we try to find the greatness in numbers. That’s a false measurement. Listen - the greatness is not in me, in you; the greatness is in Our High Priest who dwells in me and in you! The greatness is Christ in you. There’s nothing greater than that. He hasn’t given you a Salvation - He is in you! And the greatness is not where we are on earth - Mexico, China. No - the greatness is we are IN CHRIST IN HEAVENLY PLACES! A sanctuary in the heavens, not of this creation. That’s the true sanctuary, and wherever you are, you are there in Him! You are there as the true sanctuary, made by Him! And it’s not how many of us, it’s the measure of Him that is in every one of us. My first concern is not how many students we have: my first concern is the measure of Christ in each one of you. My first concern is not how many people in my "Church" building, but the measure of Christ in those people. The measure of the true sanctuary is our Great High Priest. So the writer starts off by exalting The Great High Priest. Then he brings the High Priest into a connection with a Tabernacle. " But Christ being come..." Now in the Greek, the original translation says, "But Christ being..." That is Christ who is now come, Christ who is here now, present now; Christ is presently a High Priest of things that are made certain. Christ being come - He is a High Priest of a Tabernacle, a sanctuary that is certain, established in the heavens! And that Tabernacle is not of this old creation. This Tabernacle is a New Creation.

Hebrews 9:24, " For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands..." He’s not entered into the old Tabernacle made with hands, but He is entered into the heavens themselves through the flesh, through the world, through the old creation - He is entered into the presence of the Almighty. And there’s only one purpose for Him being there: He’s there for us! He is there that by Him we may enter in! Then in Chapter 10:19, " Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus," So it answers to His promise made in John’s gospel, chapter 14, "I will prepare a place for you, I will receive you unto myself, that where I am, right now, there you may be also - right now!" Christ is in you and you are in Him! And that is not a fantasy; it is reality. The eye can not see, the ear can not hear, but the Holy Spirit will open the eyes of understanding, He will open the ears that can’t hear, and He will reveal The Son of God in you, that you may know Him! Glory to the Lamb of God!

We have a Great High Priest. Remember this Tabernacle represents Christ and Him crucified, it represents A Finished Work of One High Priest. And The Cross represents The Finished Work of The Great High Priest, and you and I are the New Tabernacle that comes out from there. To understand The Finished Work, to understand the fulfillment we will look at the pattern, because the pattern is the same as the fulfillment. To know the one is to be able to see the other. Jesus said, "These are they which testify of Me." This He spoke concerning the Scripture, and The Tabernacle is the center piece of the Scripture. To understand The Tabernacle we must understand five things - five apprehensions of The Tabernacle. 1) The Law: the Law is three fold. The moral law, the civil law and the ceremonial law - that made up the Law. And the Law gives us an understanding of The Tabernacle. 2) The Tabernacle itself: the furniture of The Tabernacle. To understand The Tabernacle we have to understand the furniture: the brazen altar, the laver, the lampstand, the table of shewbread, the golden altar of incense and finally the Ark of the Covenant. 3) The Feasts of Israel: There are seven but they are summed up in the three major feasts: Passover, Pentecost, Tabernacles or the Feast of Ingathering. These three feasts give understanding of The Tabernacle. 4) The offerings: there were five Levitical offerings. All of these give meaning to The Tabernacle because they were offered right in the door. All of them were offered on the brazen altar, so they describe The Tabernacle. The five offerings are: the burnt offering, which is an offering that is totally and absolutely consumed; secondly the meat offering. Sometimes it was called the meal offering, but actually is was a grain, mixed up like flour and they made cakes out of it. Thirdly, the peace offering; fourthly, the trespass offering; fifth, the sin offering.

Here’s something to consider. You and I say at The Cross Jesus paid it all, He fulfilled all the offerings. But how much about the offerings do we understand? He paid for my sins! What about the burnt offering? That has nothing to do with sin. What about the meat offering? That has nothing to do with sin. The peace offering - it has nothing to do with sin. The trespass offering - still not sin. Only one of those offerings dealt with sin. So The Cross deals with a whole lot more than just sin.

The Cross deals with you and I in every aspect of our life! We run around looking for peace - HE IS OUR PEACE! We try to figure out how to lay down our lives - the burnt offering! We want to be totally given to God - He is our life! We have no life but Him - He is totally given to God. Here’s our problem: we think we have one life and He’s another Life. We think we have a life of our own, because we don’t know that at The Cross He was also a burnt offering; not just a sin offering. At The Cross He totally consumed me! At The Cross I died! I have no life but Christ! The issue is not me giving my life: the issue is living His Life! If we would spend all the time we use trying to figure out how to give our lives and use that time learning Him, seeking Him, that the Father would reveal Him in me, our problem would be over. It is not me learning how to give my life, it is me understanding by The Spirit of God that I have no life but Christ. He’s the burnt offering. Then 5) The Priests: the Priests define The Tabernacle. All the ministry of the Priests was around and in The Tabernacle. The Priesthood is three fold: the Levites, the Priesthood, High Priest. Christ sums it all up; it’s all summed up in Him. He is the greater Levite, He is the greater Priesthood, He is the greater High Priest, and He has made us to be a kingdom of Priests. That’s on the one side.

On the other side is the answer - Christ crucified - HIM crucified. We are not dealing with just a Cross: we’re dealing with HIM on The Cross. We’re dealing with Him - He is The Way, The Truth and The Life. He doesn’t simply show it to us, He is The Way, we go by Him; He is The Truth, The Father reveals The Son; He is The Life, He lives in me! The answer to the pattern is not just another pattern. The answer to the pattern is a Person! We are the Body of a Person! You are not the Body of a religion; you’re the Body of Jesus Christ! You are not a temple of Christianity; you’re The Temple of The Son of God! You are The Temple of The High Priest! You are the sanctuary of His ministry. It’s not just a death: HIS death, HIS burial, HIS resurrection. He says, I AM The Resurrection and The Life. And then three days: Jesus says, In three days I will raise it up. ‘Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." A New Temple, an Eternal Temple where He dwells continually! What a Great High Priest!

Part 2 - The Days of The Great High Priest

Hebrews 10:38,39. " Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul." Our relationship with Christ is one of faith. Faith is a comprehension given of God. This comprehension is given of God through revealing His Son in you, so that we walk daily in a comprehension of Christ. That is, we walk daily in accordance with our understanding of Him. All things in Christ are according to faith, according to a comprehension. For instance, my wife and I - everyday we live together according to a comprehension. I understand she’s my wife; she understands I’m her husband. We are learning what that means day by day. What if I didn’t understand she was my wife? It would be a problem, it would affect our living, it would affect our relationship. She would try to be a wife and I would say - no; because I don’t comprehend that she’s my wife.

So it is in Christ there must be a comprehension. The Lord has knowledge of us - He knows us. In that same way we must know Him. The just shall live by faith. Faith is for living. We live by knowing Him. Right now you and I are living in a certain comprehension. We are relating to one another in a certain comprehension. There is an understanding that is governing you right now - in your relationship with one another, and in our relationship with Christ. Faith is a God given understanding. The Bible says that faith cometh by hearing, and that that hearing comes by THE WORD. We’re not talking about a natural hearing, so we’re not talking about a natural word. We are talking about a spiritual hearing, and we’re talking about a Spiritual Word. The Spiritual Word is CHRIST IN YOU - He is The Word of God. The Bible says that God hath in these last days spoken in Son. What He now wants to do is reveal The Son, to reveal Him in you, to reveal Him in me, that we may know what The Father hath said; that we may have communion with Him, that we may live not as those who are ignorant, carnal; but that we may live by faith, that we may live by an understanding given of God through the revealing of His Son. That’s what this is all about. That’s what The Tabernacle is all about - that through searching the pattern we may have better understanding of the fulfillment.

Now we’ll continue with the pattern. This is extremely important. Everything that is dealt with as a pattern, as a type and shadow, as a testimony; everything that relates to this Tabernacle is fulfilled and finished in Christ through His death, His burial or His resurrection. Because that’s what The Cross is - it is Christ and Him crucified. Christ crucified is His death, His burial, His resurrection. It is one full, finished work. Look at John 2:19, "Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." Now, why three days? Why not one day? Why not one hour? All things being possible to God - why did His death, burial and resurrection occupy three days? Why three days? Something is being fulfilled. He is fulfilling a pattern. All things according to the pattern - isn’t that what God told Moses? Let’s think about that for a moment. I want you to see the fulfillment - the greatness of The Cross. God told Moses, all things according to the pattern - Exodus 25:40. What was He talking about? He was talking about everything - everything that has to do with this Tabernacle. He’s describing the Tabernacle here: The Ark of the Covenant, the Table of Shewbread, the Lampstand - everything; the priesthood, the offerings, the sacrifices, the feast days. Not so much as one piece of wood is to be out of order. Think about that!

God didn’t just say, ‘Build me a Tabernacle.’ ‘How do you want it, Lord?’ ‘Oh, I don’t care, just get it done.’ ‘Do you want a top on it?’ ‘Yes, whatever you think.’ ‘What about the altar?’ ‘Use your imagination.’ That’s the way we serve God - just get it done. But there is a pattern that the Lord accepts, and we must understand how important this pattern is. Why is it so important? Because it is governed by The Cross. This is not a pattern for my house: this is a pattern for God’s House! This is extremely important - everything included in the pattern is fulfilled in The Cross. The Cross demands this pattern. The Cross demands nothing be left out, nothing be left to guesswork, nothing be left to man, because The Cross is not up to man. I don’t determine the death - God determines the death. You and I want to determine that. The question among Christians - how dead is dead? What is the measure of death? The measure of The Cross - death is total! When He died - I died! How much? Totally! It’s not up to me; I don’t determine the measure. The measure is already determined. Moses didn’t determine the measure of the brazen altar - God determined the measure. And He told Moses, build it according to what I showed you. If it’s one millimeter off, it is not the altar. See, we don’t understand that. We think that it could be one cubit smaller and it would still be an altar - it would just be a little smaller. That’s what we think about The Cross. We try to measure our ideas, and we think that God accepts that. We think that God would come and measure this altar, and with His eye He would measure it one cubit too small and we think the Lord would say, ‘well, that’s all right; it’s the same altar, it’s just a little smaller.’ That’s not God’s mind.

God would look at it, and He would not say it’s a "small" altar. He would say it’s NOT an altar at all! He doesn’t accept our measure! We think He does, but He doesn’t. If it’s not Christ in every measurement, it’s NOT accepted of God. We think He accepts my effort, substituted for Christ - He does not! Jesus says Thou dost not find pleasure in sacrifices and in offerings, but in obedience. He was obedient unto death, even the death of The Cross. The same obedience must be in you and I. Why was the pattern so important? Because it was fulfilled in The Cross. If it hadn’t been a pattern of Christ, it wouldn’t have been so important. For instance, Moses had a house, he had a tent. Do you ever read about the measurements of it? How big it was, where the furniture was? It wasn’t important: it didn’t point to The Cross, it didn’t point to God’s House, it didn’t make any difference how big it was. The measurement was not important. The size of the house that I live in is not important. What is important is the measurement of the House that we are! That’s where Christ lives. I can’t add my measurements to it - HE IS THE FULL MEASURE OF IT. I don’t make the rules there - He is the standard. And we’re all under the same standard, because we’re all the same house. That’s why the pattern is so important. "Make sure you do everything according to the pattern."

So Jesus says three days, and He did that in fulfilling the pattern. What are those three days? Friday, Saturday, Sunday? No, they are the days that are fulfilled in His death, His burial, His resurrection. Where do we find that in the pattern? First of all in the Tabernacle itself: we have three chambers in the Tabernacle. All of the altars that had to be exactly the right size, and on every one of these altars was placed blood. We understand that the first chamber, the outer courtyard with the larger altar was where all of the offerings were presented. In two of these offerings, trespass and sin, the animal was taken out here and burnt. Why? Part of the inward was burnt here and the blood was sprinkled here. Every offering was brought here. That’s why it is such a great altar. When Solomon built it, it was great - twice the size of the first one. Why? Because it speaks of a great day, a day when all mankind, all creation, all sin, all trespasses died. You can’t come here except by His death. This is the first day. The second chamber, where there is the shewbread, the golden altar and the lampstand, represents

His burial. The inner chamber, 10'x10'x10', a perfect four square equaling 1,000 - here is His resurrection. Day one, day two, day three. Destroy this, in three days - by My death, by My burial, by My resurrection I will raise it again!

They are not natural days; they’ve never been natural days. The Pharisees looked at Him and said,’Now wait a minute. It took over forty years to build this same temple. Over forty years - how can He do it in three days?’ Because these are great days! The measure of these days is CHRIST HIMSELF! These are the days of The Great High Priest: the day of His death - out in the open where everybody can see; the day of His burial - hidden, hidden and only lighted by the Holy Spirit; the day of His resurrection - when He comes forth in the light of the glory of God. These are great days. They answer to three days - it couldn’t have been two. It couldn’t have been death and burial; there’s got to be a resurrection. It couldn’t be burial and resurrection; there’s got to be a death. It couldn’t be death and resurrection; there’s got to be a burial. ‘Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone; but if it die , it bringeth forth much fruit." In that time of burial, it comes forth as much fruit! Christ is The Resurrection - HE IS THE FRUIT! Death - burial - Resurrection. Those are the three days. They don’t have to be twenty four hour days and it doesn’t make any difference what week days, because these are not natural days.

Now, a point of fact, these days are governed by the feasts. The feasts answer to these three days, the priests do - everything answers to these three days. Why? Because these three days represent His death, His burial, His resurrection, and answers in The Tabernacle to His death, His burial, His resurrection - every piece of furniture. The whole Tabernacle being in three compartments answers to His death, burial and resurrection. Now these three days represent seven days, and seven days represents a full course of spiritual life: six days, seventh day - The Sabbath day. Seven days here in Israel, one week represents a full course of spiritual life, represents a full work of God, because in Israel every week ends with the seventh day, the day of rest, the day of completion, the Sabbath day. Every week represents this - over and over. Where do all of those weeks finally come to an end? Where are all of those Sabbaths finally fulfilled? At The Cross. But I said these three days represent seven days, and three represents godly completion - death, burial, resurrection. Where do you go from there? That’s the full. I AM THE RESURRECTION! Seven represents perfection. These three days are perfect - perfect death, perfect burial, perfect resurrection. But I got the days from the feasts; there are seven feasts. So seven feasts are fulfilled in three feasts. The feast of Passover - Passover, Unleavened Bread, Firstfruits; those are the three feasts that make up the one feast Passover. Then you have Pentecost - that’s day four, the second feast. Then you have Tabernacles - the Feast of Trumpets, Feast of Atonement, which is when the High Priest goes behind the veil, and Feast of Booths or Tabernacles, the Feast of Ingathering. Seven feasts, but they make up three major feasts. The three major feasts correspond with His death, His burial, His resurrection. Passover - the lamb is killed - His death. Pentecost -is a baptism and a burial. Tabernacles - is a resurrection and living in Him. So the feasts are fulfilled in three days.

Seven days fulfilled in three days. Over in The Cross, one full week fulfilled in three days; not natural days - spiritual days: not measured by hours - measured by Christ, measured by His death, by His burial, by His resurrection. So Jesus says, ‘In three days I will raise it up.’ It had to be three days, because the whole pattern revolved around three days - the whole pattern: the priests, the offerings, the feasts, the Tabernacle, even the law - it all revolved around three days - His death, His burial, His resurrection. Consequently all of the Tabernacle and everything that pertains to it comes to a completion, a fulfillment, and a perfection in His death, His burial, His resurrection. Look, this New Temple, the New Tabernacle of God that comes forth in the resurrection, completely fulfilled everything in the pattern. The whole law is fulfilled in Christ, and now becomes the law of the Spirit of Life! The feasts are fulfilled in Him - we eat His flesh, we drink His blood, and we do that continually: we have fellowship one with another as we eat His flesh and as we drink His blood. The offerings are fulfilled in His one offering. We have peace - He is our peace! He is our life! He is our acceptance! He is our salvation! He is our forgiveness! And the priesthood - He is the Great High Priest! He has given us His ministry as a royal priesthood, as a kingdom and a priesthood. What a Great Salvation you have because of a Great High Priest!

We will continue to look at this pattern so that our comprehension of Christ and our relation to Him may be greatly increased, and that it may be greatly increased in the knowledge of Christ. This is all about learning Him. This is not about getting new sermons for me or for you - this is about learning HIM! And I trust that what we present in the Word will create ground in our hearts for the learning of Him.

Part 3 - The Finished Work

We are dealing with the Great High Priest - the Finished Work of Christ and Him crucified. We are looking at the Tabernacle as it relates to the Finished Work of Christ. We will be using this term a great deal, "The Finished Work". Jesus said, "It is finished." And when He said it, that statement included all of the type and the pattern - nothing was left out; nothing of the law or of the Tabernacle, or of the feasts or of the offerings, or of the priesthood, nothing of the prophets, nothing of the Scripture. It is FINISHED! He brought everything into His death, His burial and His resurrection. So The Finished Work is the term we will be using while we are relating the pattern to the fulfillment. There is much teaching in Christianity today, and a great deal of it is based on something less than a Finished Work. We want to touch on some important aspects of The Finished Work. We will see them in the pattern, in the Tabernacle, and then we will see those things brought over and finished in the Lord Jesus Christ; finished in His death, in His burial, in His resurrection. So that you and I, who are His Body, The Church, are to be an expression of a Finished Work. We are to be the manifestation of a work that is completed in Christ Jesus. What a Great Salvation it is!

Now Hebrews 9:7,8. " But into the second went the high priest alone once every year, not without blood, which he offered for himself, and for the errors of the people: The Holy Ghost this signifying that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest, while as the first tabernacle was yet standing." In this ninth chapter of Hebrews the writer is comparing the Tabernacle of Moses to the Tabernacle of the Lord Jesus Christ. We have found that you are that Tabernacle. But here in the Tabernacle of Moses there is a very strong type of the Tabernacle that you are. In the Tabernacle - the outer court, the inner court called the Holy Place, and the Holiest of all - there is a very strong type of the tabernacle that you now are. In these first eight verses of Hebrews 9, the writer says that the Tabernacle of Moses represented two tabernacles. " Then verily the first covenant had also ordinances of divine service, and a worldy sanctuary. For there was a tabernacle made; the first..." In what this writer is calling the first tabernacle there is the lampstand, table of shewbread and the golden altar. But then he goes on to say that there is a veil, and behind that veil is the second tabernacle, the Holiest of all. He says that every day the priests do their service in this first tabernacle, but only one time a year the High Priest enters into the second, called the Holiest of all. And there is a reason for this. Verse 8 tells us the reason: he says this was the Holy Spirit trying to show us something. The Holy Spirit was showing us that while the first tabernacle remains, the way into the second one was veiled. The writer says every day the priests went into the first tabernacle - lampstand, shewbread, golden altar. He called that the worldy sanctuary. See what he’s doing here. The writer is using this one tabernacle as a picture of two tabernacles - this one and the one that comes forth in the resurrection, the one that you are.

So he’s using this one tabernacle, but in it he sees two tabernacles. The first one they went in every day, but the second one, The Holiest of all, behind the veil, the High Priest entered only one time a year. So in verse 8 he says the Holy Spirit is showing us that as long as the first tabernacle remains - all of it, the types, the shadows, the way into the spiritual tabernacle is never understood. But Jesus says I am the Way, the Truth and the Life! What is he saying? He’s saying as long as the tabernacle is a building, a form, a ceremony, then the real tabernacle is not understood; the way into it remains veiled upon our hearts. And the Holy Spirit was using this as a type or pattern. Now what constitutes the second tabernacle? Take away the veil and there’s just one tabernacle! Put the veil up and there are two tabernacles. As long as the veil remains, the way into the Holiest of all can not be seen, can not be understood. But at The Cross, what happened? Christ did away with the veil! The Bible says the veil is done away in Christ! He made one tabernacle - not an old tabernacle - a New Tabernacle! He took the veil away so that there’s no longer a first and a second; there is just a second.

Look at Hebrews 10:7-8, " Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do thy will, O God. Above when he said, Sacrifice and offering and burnt-offerings and offering for sin thou wouldest not, neither hadst pleasure therein; which are offered by the law..." That’s the first tabernacle, that’s the pattern, that’s the one with the veil, that’s the one where you can’t see the glory of God, that’s the one you can’t enter into fulness - God has no pleasure in that. Let me tell you, God has no pleasure in us when we hold back from Him. God has no pleasure when we stand afar off: God has pleasure when we draw nigh, when we enter in. And it is through the Person of the Lord Jesus that we have entered in! Not into an old tabernacle; we have entered in through His death, burial and resurrection into a new and living tabernacle! Look at what the scripture says - verse 9. " Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second." He takes away the first. The first what? The first tabernacle, the first law, the first feast, the first offering, the first priesthood - that He may establish in Himself a better law, a better tabernacle, a better feast - eat My flesh, drink My blood! A better communion, better offerings - ONCE AND FOR ALL! And a better priesthood - living ministry! The purpose of The Cross is not to make the first better, but to take away the first. God sees this whole thing as a veil; a veil of flesh, veil of the law, veil of religion - and in Christ the veil is done away! The veil in the pattern kept the glory of God from shining out! CHRIST TOOK THE VEIL AWAY! Christ in you! Christ in you, the certainty of glory! The glory of God! He is not behind the veil - He lives in you, a New Tabernacle, the second Tabernacle. He came to take away the first, that He may forever and ever establish the second. It is the ministry of the Holy Spirit to establish the second. It is the ministry of the Holy Spirit to bring us into the very glory of God, to the very abode of the Most High. And this has been accomplished in the Person of our Great High Priest.

Let’s go back to the pattern. We must understand that the writer is using this one tabernacle as a type, and in it he is seeing two tabernacles, and the High Priest goes in the Holiest of All. Well, we have such a High Priest. He took the veil away, and in Himself brings us into the very bosom of the Father, brings us into the very Holiest of all. What a Great High Priest! Go to John 2. I want to gather up the fragments. Later we will begin our journey of entering in. We’re going to look at each piece of furniture as they relate to the Living Christ, and as they relate to our relationship with Him. But now I want to make some general observations as to the fact that the Tabernacle is the pattern and Christ is the fulfillment. So I want to come back to the three days. I want us to see how each of the five elements we discussed before relates to the three days. We said the three days were the days of His death, burial and resurrection. John 2:19 says, " Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." We have dealt with the proof of three days - why three days. And we looked in the pattern and found why Jesus said three days. His death, burial and resurrection are those three days. I want to show you how the law is answered in the three days, the tabernacle itself is fulfilled, the feasts are fulfilled, the offerings are fulfilled, the priesthood are fulfilled. I want us to see how each of these relates to His death, His burial, His resurrection.

Remember this - you and I are in Christ only one way: we came by His death, His burial, His resurrection. To what then, are we dead? I want us to understand what is fulfilled here. To what are we buried? I want us to understand what it means to be buried with Him. Paul says, ‘For ye are dead, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.’ - baptized into His death, where we are no longer seen - Not I! What comes out of the burial? The Resurrection! See, it’s that order. Remember I said it can not be just two days. It’s not just death and resurrection. When someone dies in the natural, what is the first thing you must do after that? You bury them after they die. You don’t have a funeral for someone who is alive; you don’t try to bury someone who is not dead. This is where many Christians have a real problem. Have you ever tried to bury a Christian who didn’t understand they were dead? They always want to be seen. About the time you get them covered up... a hand sticks out! Because they are alive - to themselves. You begin to demand faithfulness and you’ve got a real problem on your hands, because they are alive to themselves. That’s the order - death, burial, resurrection.

See I wonder about things. I look at a pattern and I wonder why it’s that way. For instance, did Jesus die on The Cross? He was dead while He was on it - as dead as He ever was going to be. Burying you doesn’t make you dead - we bury you because you are dead. So on The Cross He was dead. Why didn’t God just resurrect Him right off The Cross, right out there in front of everybody? Why not? He was dead! Because there is a spiritual pattern that says He had to be buried in the ground. Everything that is earthly must go back to the earth. And for you and I He became earthly; for you and I He became a man; for you and I He became sin. Not only must He die, He must be buried, because the resurrection is from the grave. Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die it doesn’t bring forth fruit. Take a corn of wheat and lay it on the table. We leave it there for one year, three years... it’s a corn of wheat - nothing happens. Why won’t it produce? It’s got life in it. It will not produce until it’s buried. This is a spiritual law; it is a spiritual order - that which is earth must be put into the earth, and out from that God brings forth a heavenly, He brings forth The Resurrection. Not just dead: buried - and resurrected. Three days: death - burial - resurrection. You and I must follow Him in His death, in His burial, in His resurrection. You can’t skip one of them. The Holy Spirit must work this reality in our hearts if we are to function as the New Tabernacle, if we are to truly function as His Body; if we are to truly function as a New Creation. Why? Because it takes three days to raise up The New Tabernacle. If we’re going to be a Living Tabernacle, and function as a New Creation, we must have the reality worked in us of His death and His burial and His resurrection. Three days - you can’t skip one.

Let’s look at the law as it relates to these three days. The law is three fold: there is a moral law, a civil law and a ceremonial law. The moral law is primarily the Ten Commandments; the moral law relates to the first day, or His death. Why? What is the answer to the moral law? Jesus said it. One word - LOVE! Love is the answer to the moral law. All of the Ten Commandments can be summed up in love. But where is love - true love? We can say, ‘I love you Lord’, but for many of us that’s no different than quoting the Ten Commandments. We just say with our words - "I love you, I love you." We say that to one another. It is easy to say. It’s easy to say, ‘Thou shalt not steal.’ It’s easy to say ‘I love you’, but what is true love? We find true love at the brazen altar, we find true love in the death of Christ. "Greater love hath no man than he lay down his life for his friends." Death is not something you talk about, death is something that happens to you. At The Cross, with Christ, I die, I lay down my life. This is the love of God - that He gave His Son. When you and I comprehend the death of Christ - I am crucified with Christ - only then are we at liberty to love, to love without restraint, to love without thought for ourselves. What thought has a dead man for himself?

A person takes out life insurance: does he do that for himself or for others? What good is it going to do me when I die? It’s for others. When I realize I have no life, no life of my own - Christ is my life - then I am able to love. The moral law ends with a death. Don’t get upset, but I’m going to tell you how to make a Jew love a Gentile, and how to make a Gentile love a Jew. Let’s say how to make a Mexican love an Anglo, how to make an Anglo love a Mexican. You do that when you kill both of them! You eliminate both of them. THE CROSS ELIMINATES ALL OF US; it eliminates the Jew, it eliminates the Gentile. It takes away the white, black, red, brown - and love flows! ONE NEW MAN - in love with Himself! This is the only way it’s going to work. You can try to keep the Ten Commandments, but you can’t do it. Paul came to that conclusion. Finally he said, "O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" Now listen - not who shall deliver me from Egypt - who shall deliver me from myself? Who shall deliver me from the body of this death? JESUS CHRIST THE LORD! When He died - I died, you died! Our problem is we don’t seem to know that. We don’t understand that The Cross includes that. We think The Cross just cleans me up and leaves me like I am: now I’m a good, clean Anglo. No - I’m a dead one! Christ lives in me! He answers to the moral law.

He’s also the answer to the civil law. The civil law is answered on the second day; it relates to His burial. I’m going to read 2 Corinthians 5:14. Now what is this civil law? It’s the law of government, it governs how we relate one to another, it’s kind of like the law of the land - how we govern ourselves. Most all of us could get along real well if we were the only person on the earth. But bring along one more person, and we have a problem. Now we don’t just have to live - we have to live together. Now if I’m the only one in Christ, well, I’ve got no problem. But if there’s one more believer in Christ, then we’ve got to live and live together. The only way we can do that is to understand by the Spirit of God, through the revelation of Jesus Christ that we are not two - we are just ONE. There’s not two in Christ, not three, four - in Christ, there’s ONE. That’s what we’ve got to understand. ONE NEW MAN. "For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead." We thus judge - there is a judgment to civil law. We live under a judgment of civil law. Think of all the civil laws that Israel had - there were 613 laws of Moses: not 10 - 613 laws, and many of them had to do with civil conduct: how they lived together. So what did Jesus do? Did He give them 614 laws? No He didn’t - He didn’t add one law: He dealt with the Jew, He dealt with the Israelite. We thus judge, when one died... not just me, but all died.

This is not just me seeing myself dead - that’s the moral law. This is me seeing everybody dead! I’ve got the moral law all taken care of - I’m dead, I’m having no problem with me; my problem is with you! So The Cross becomes greater; it answers the civil law. Not only am I dead, I have to understand, make a judgment, that you are dead too. Not only is Christ my life, I have to understand, make a judgment, that He’s your life too. I have to realize we are ONE - not two - WE ARE ONE!

When One died, all died, therefore all are One! And we begin to function in a judgment toward one another. Now you can not learn this like you would learn the law. We only know this in Christ; we only know this as we begin to know Him, as we begin to comprehend the greatness of His death, His burial and His resurrection. Verse 15 says, " And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again." Verse 16 is the verse we’re after, " Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh: yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more." Think about this; what did Paul say? Who shall deliver me from the body of this death? Knowing no man after the flesh - not looking at you in the flesh.

Listen, most of us are greatly motivated by the flesh; not only for what we call "bad" but for much of what we call "good". Here’s a small example: I come upon a brother or a sister, and I see them in the flesh. Let’s say they look like they have some kind of a need. Maybe their clothes are not clean or their clothes are worn, so I am moved by that. And I give them some clothes, or give them some money to buy some clothes. Standing next to them is another brother or sister. Their clothes are clean and show no wear. Who really has the greatest need? Maybe this brother or sister who is dressed nice has within them a raging storm; maybe they are facing the greatest trial of their lifetime; maybe they can’t make it one more day without the help of a brother, but we judge by the flesh. So we turn to what the flesh sees, and we leave this need unanswered. I’m not saying we shouldn’t give clothes to each other, but our judgment can not be by the flesh - as white, as brown, as black, as male, as female. We can not continue to see ourselves that way, and be motivated by those things. The world is motivated by those things. We must have a greater judgment concerning one another. If you need a coat, I’ll give you a coat, but what if the need is greater? Should we not discern that? Should we not look past the flesh? This is what it means to be buried with Him. What is destroyed? What’s in the grave? The body, the flesh.

It all looks the same when it turns to dust. No longer judging after the flesh. Why? Because it’s a passing time, it’s temporal. But if any man be IN CHRIST, he is a New Creation - not flesh, but Spirit; neither male nor female, Jew nor Greek - New Creation in Christ Jesus. That’s the purpose of the burial. We won’t get to all of these elements, but I want you to understand that all of these are fulfilled in three days. If the law is, all the others are too. You can find that in the Scripture: they are all fulfilled in Christ. The law, last of all, is ceremonial - those parts of the law that deal with spiritual worship. The feasts are part of the ceremonial law, so are the offerings and priesthood as well as the Tabernacle itself. So if the ceremonial law is fulfilled in His death, burial and resurrection, then everything else is too. It is a very necessary search. The ceremonial law has to do with spiritual worship.

Galatians 2:19-21, " For I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God. I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain." What does that mean? It means that the law brings me to The Cross. So by the law bringing me to The Cross, I am dead to the law that brought me there; I’m alive unto God. That’s what I want to look at - the part that is alive unto God, because that’s the part that answers the ceremonial law. That part that is dead is me; somebody died - I died. We found that we all died. So that I died, you died - we all died. But somebody’s got to be alive! Somebody has to answer to the ceremonial law; somebody has to answer to the spiritual law; somebody has to be accepted of God. " I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet, not I, but Christ liveth in me..." Here’s the One who lives - not I - I do not fulfil the ceremonial law. I’m not the One accepted. Not I - Christ liveth in me - HE IS THE ACCEPTED LIFE! He is The Accepted Son! He fulfils the ceremonial law; the ceremonial law is fulfilled in The Resurrection, it’s fulfilled in the third day. The law that has to do with feasts, and the offerings, and the priesthood; the law of spiritual worship is fulfilled not in me, not in you - it is fulfilled in Christ - and He is in you! We are accepted in the Beloved. We are seen of God in His Son, and His Son living in us is the joy and the praise of our God. Not I, but Christ who liveth in me!

In His death, His burial, His resurrection the whole law is fulfilled. In three days I will raise it up. In three days He brought forth a greater law - "The law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death." Three days - He brings forth a greater Tabernacle, one not made with hands, one eternal in the heavens. In three days He fulfills everything in the pattern: He brings it forth in the fulness of Himself to be made manifest in His Body. You are the Body of Christ! We have need of knowing Him!

Part 4 - Entering In Through The Door

Now we will begin to enter in. We are dealing with the Tabernacle as it relates to the Finished Work of Christ crucified, the Tabernacle as it relates to His death, His burial and His resurrection. We must understand that The Cross is a finished work. It is ever ongoing in the believer, because we are ever learning Christ. He is ever abounding, but He Himself is complete. We are growing; He is complete. We are learning, He is complete; His death, His burial, His resurrection are complete. We are learning Him in His death; what His death means to us, what His burial means to us, what Christ as The Resurrection means to us. The Tabernacle gives us the pattern of this, The Cross gives us the fulfillment of this. In the Tabernacle we have the testimony. In fact the Tabernacle is called The Tabernacle of The Testimony. It’s named that because of The Ark of The Covenant; the Testimony is in the Ark. The Ark is in the Tabernacle, and the Testimony is so great that not only is the Ark identified by the Testimony, but the whole Tabernacle takes on that name of the Testimony. And in the scripture it is called The Tabernacle of The Testimony. So when we see the Tabernacle, we see a Testimony, but when we see the Cross, the real Cross, we see The Person - The Person who answers all the Testimony. And we are the Tabernacle of that Person!

The Tabernacle of the Testimony and The Tabernacle of The Person. The one speaks of the other; the one is the pattern, the other is the fulfillment - the True and the Living. Then why do we look beyond? If the Tabernacle is finished in Him, and we are in Him, why do we look for another Tabernacle? Why do we look for another temple? Is the work not finished? Is there a better temple than the one He has made? The one made without hands, the one brought forth through His death, His burial, His resurrection? The Tabernacle where He now dwells? Is there a better one? Why do we look for another when He has finished the work? Why do we not rather seek to know Him, that He may fill up His tabernacle with the glory of Himself. That’s why we join together - for the learning of Him. We are not making things up as we go along - we are searching the Truth as it is now established in Christ. We desire to know the Truth as The Truth is in Jesus.

So we’re looking at the pattern and we’re realizing the fulfillment in Christ. You and I are not in the pattern - we are in Christ! We’re going to look now at the first part of the Tabernacle. Remember the Tabernacle has three parts: the outer court, the inner court, the Holy of Holies, We’re dealing now with the outer court, we’re dealing with the door and the brazen altar. Here is where we enter. Remember this is a pattern; Christ is the fulfillment of it. Every piece of furniture speaks of Him, and the whole Tabernacle speaks of Him; but we examine the whole piece by piece, that we may better understand the whole. Turn to the gospel of John, chapter 12. We’re going to be dealing with the judgment of grace. There is one judgment - God has made all judgment in His Son. And that one great judgment is fulfilled in The Cross. And to better understand the greatness of that one judgment, we will look at the pattern because the pattern presents a three fold judgment. It’s not necessarily three judgments, but a judgment that is three fold in its nature - one judgment. Because the Tabernacle in all of its three parts presents One Salvation, One Complete Work. The Cross presents One Complete Work; it is three fold - His death, His burial, His resurrection - that’s One Work. Three days that become One Sabbath - One Finished Day - the day wherein we now live. No flesh lives there; we live there by the Spirit. We are children of that day; we are to walk in the light of that day. Walk in the light as He is in the light!

So there’s one judgment that is three fold. In the Tabernacle there are three altars - the brazen altar, the golden altar and finally the Ark of the Covenant itself. It is an altar because blood is put there upon The Mercy Seat. It is in fact the ultimate understanding of judgment. First the judgment of grace. Let’s think about that as we read. John 12:31-33, "Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out. And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me. This he said, signifying what death he should die." Now is the judgment...now is the prince of this world cast out. How many of us know that the enemy has no place at The Cross? The Cross is a place of Divine obedience; where there is absolute obedience the enemy had no place. It’s really just that simple! How did Satan get a place? Adam disobeyed. He didn’t kill anybody, but his disobedience brought about the fruit of murder in his son. Adam disobeyed. Disobedience is totally contrary to the nature of The Cross, the nature of the Lamb, the Lamb who is from the beginning. But it is said of Christ - He became obedient unto death, even the death of The Cross. The Cross is the place of Divine obedience - the enemy has no place there, the world has no place there. What did Paul say? "I am crucified to the world, and the world is crucified unto me." That’s The Cross, that’s knowing Christ in His death, His burial, His resurrection. Whose crucifixion was Paul talking about? I am crucified with CHRIST. We don’t have some little death of our own, we don’t have some cross of our own - it’s HIS Cross; His obedience working in me, His death working in me, His burial, His resurrection working in me. How? God revealing His Son in me.

That’s the only way it works. It is not me learning some death; it is me learning CHRIST - knowing Him in HIS death. And there Satan has no ground, the enemy has no place. The Cross denies him place. So there is a judgment beyond which Satan can not go. And if that judgment is in us, he has no place! We can enter into that judgment, we can enter in there by Christ. Satan can’t enter there; the judgment is against him. But what is against him works on our behalf - if we are willing to bear the judgment; because there is a cost to this judgment, there is a cost to The Cross. The cost is not mine, not yours - the cost is His, but we must bear His cost because we are His Body. We can’t make up a cost - He determined the cost, He paid the cost. If we are to know Him we bear the cost. We must understand we do not pay the cost initially - He paid the cost. But if we come by Him, we bear the cost; just like we bear the glory. Except you bear the cost and suffer with Him, you will not be glorified with Him - that’s what the scripture means. You can not come into His resurrection except you come by His death and His burial. So there is a judgment we must bear - it is the judgment of grace. It is this judgment that Peter speaks of in 1 Peter 4.

Verse 17, "For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?" There is a judgment that begins at the house of God. It is the first judgment we face. Now remember there’s only one judgment, but it’s three fold. We come to it first at the door of the house. We enter in by this judgment; this is the judgment that begins at the house. We come by GRACE. Peter asks if we have to come by grace, what will be the end of those who refuse His grace? If this judgment is necessary for us to enter in, what will be the end of those who refuse this judgment? The judgment of grace. But what is grace? There’s the great question. We have to understand it is a judgment, because every

altar is a judgment. Judgment means a number of things. First, that which divides the living from the dead; it divides flesh from spirit; that which is Christ and that which is not Christ. Judgment is a dividing factor. In that relation it means a discernment. But judgment also means crisis. Whenever there is a dividing there is a crisis; there is a passing of sentence. Until a thing is properly discerned, there is no passing of sentence upon it. Until you know what is Christ and what is not Christ there is no true sentence. So judgment divides - in our hearts; that we may know what is Christ and what is not Christ; that we may discern what is Spirit and what is flesh. And at the same time a judgment is passed: that which is not Christ is reckoned to be dead; that which is Christ is reckoned to be life. The sentence of this judgment is always death.

Flesh doesn’t get twenty years and then is turned loose. The sentence is death. We say, ‘I’ll straighten up and fly right’ or ‘I’ll try to do a little better’ or ‘God will understand and put me on probation’. No - obedient unto death, even the death of The Cross. Our Judge first bore the judgment. If we are to be a judgment in the world, we must first with Him bear the judgment. I’ll say again: the sentence of this judgment is death. What does that have to do with grace? EVERYTHING! We’ll see this as we go along. Now John 14:6, " Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life; no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." No man cometh but by Me. Here is the pattern, here is Christ and Him crucified in The Tabernacle. We must come by Him - judgment, by judgment, by full judgment. First is grace, but HE is the door of grace! ‘I AM THE DOOR.’ You have to go through a door to get to this altar. This judgment of which Peter is speaking is in Christ - it’s not outside, it’s in Him. You face this judgment in Him. It is a judgment faced by the House of God. It’s a judgment realized and discerned in the House of God. The grace of God is in Jesus Christ. He is the door; we enter in by Him, into grace. Let’s see what kind of door brings us to grace.

He is the door - what kind of door, what is the nature of the door, what is the character of the door? Is it a golden door? We all want to go through a golden door, we want our door to have diamond door knobs. What kind of a door represents Him? In the scripture, in the pattern, He is the door. Well, the fulfillment should give us some idea. Where is He the door? Where do we enter in? Through The Cross. To the flesh this door has no beauty. Isaiah said so - there is no beauty about Him that we should desire Him. We could not even look upon Him, His form was so marred. So we come to that door, and we say, surely that’s not the door! That’s the door to the Father’s House? Surely He has a better door somewhere else - I think I’ll look for another door. So we wander around in the wilderness for forty years, trying to find a better door - and there is no better door. In fact there is no other door. He is not a door, He is THE door! He never says I am a door - I am THE door. I am THE Way, THE Truth, THE life - there isn’t any other. So we come back and we look at the door again. That’s the door - to heaven, to eternal life, to resurrection, to The Father’s House? That’s it! If you would find grace, you must come by that door.

Let’s look a little closer. Genesis 4. We’re describing the door. There is something that I believe about the scripture: in my heart I am convinced that all of the scripture has one purpose - it presents Christ. It is One Testimony of Him. If that is so, and He is the door, then every reference in the scripture to "door" in some way must point to Him, because it’s a testimony. We may not understand how that word applies, but I’m convinced that it does. I’m convinced that the scripture is true, and I’m the one that’s ignorant. And if I will search by the Spirit in all the scripture, I will see The Testimony of Christ. It is that way with the word "door. We’ll look at a few scriptures, but I’m convinced we could take every reference in the Bible to the word "door" and it would lead us to The Cross, to Christ. We’re going to deal with an obvious pattern. Genesis 4:7, "If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? And if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him." I’m after the term "sin lieth at the door." Sin can not go beyond the door. This is not just an inspirational thought, this is a scriptural reality. Look where all sin comes in the pattern. It all comes to the door. It lieth at the door, but it can not go beyond the door. It must come to the door, because there’s no other way in, but sin can’t go beyond the door. What is it about the door that refuses sin? Now remember our verse in John 14:6 : no man cometh but by me, the way, the truth, the life - the door. You and I must come to the door, but there is a judgment waiting for us there, and to enter in through the door we must come by the way of judgment.

Why did He say, the Way, the Truth, the Life? It refers to His death, His burial, His resurrection. You can search that out in the scriptures. The three compartments of the Tabernacle - the Way, the Truth, the Holy of Holies - the Life; His death, His burial, His resurrection. Here’s the Way - we’re not talking about things, we’re talking about The Person - I AM the Way; He did not say I will show you some way: I AM the Way. I will not give you some Truth: I AM the truth; I AM the Life, I AM the door. So we come. Sin lieth at the door. All mankind comes by the door, but what kind of a door is it? The door that leads to grace. Let’s look at the scripture. Exodus 12:7, Here is God’s picture of the door, here is the door that His Son shall fulfill, here is the door that leads to the grace of God.

"And they shall take of the blood, and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door post of the houses, wherein they shall eat it." Verse 21,22. "Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel, and said unto them, Draw out and take you a lamb according to your families, and kill the passover. And ye shall take a bunch of hyssop, and dip it in the blood that is in the bason, and strike the lintel and the two side posts with the blood that is in the bason; and none of you shall go out at the door of his house until the morning." We could stay right here on this verse for a long time - Don’t go out until the morning - until the sun rises: walking in the light as He is in the light. Judgment has come in the nightime!

My point is the blood on the door; the condition of the door. Think about that. What is the condition of the door, of our heart? What is the condition of the door? That’s where the blood must be, that is the condition necessary. Verse 23, " For the Lord will pass through to smite the Egyptians; and when he seeth the blood upon the lintel, and on the two side posts, the Lord will pass over the door, and will not suffer the destroyer to come in unto your houses to smite you." HE PASSES OVER THE DOOR! We say He passes over the house. The scripture says He looks at the door, He passes over the door. The destroyer can not come through the door. We’re not safe because of the house; we are the house. The house is safe because of the DOOR. Not because it’s a great house. It is a great house; but the greatness of it is the door! The condition of the door testifies the condition of the house. "I will pass over the door." But before He passes over the door, something has to happen. Israel had to go through the door. You and I have to go through the door, but the door has blood upon it. The door is His death - blood signifies His death. We enter in by His death. We do not enter in by death, just some death: it is HIS death - that’s why the emphasis is upon the door. " I AM..." So everything in here is His death, His burial, His resurrection because He’s the door. We’re not entering into a thing, we’re entering into a Person! We’re not just a house, we’re HIS House!

What’s the condition of the door? It’s covered with blood: both sides and across the top. Where do you find grace? In HIS DEATH! How great is the grace? It’s as great as the death! We enter in through the door, and we are faced with the judgment of grace. In John 10 Jesus says, "I am the door." And if you try to come by some other way, we are called a thief and a robber. We are a stranger in the household of God except we come by the door. The door brings us face to face with His grace. The very first judgment we come to, the first realization, through the door is His grace - the altar of grace, the judgment of grace.

Part 5 - The Judgment of Grace

We are dealing with the judgment of grace. We come to this judgment by the door. Jesus says, "I AM THE DOOR." We are considering the condition of this door, because many Christians talk about Jesus being the door. It is the condition of the door that most do not realize. He is The Way - not just any way; He is a particular Way. He’s not just some door, but a particular door, and the condition of that door is that it has blood upon it - on both sides and across the top. So that we are entering in through His blood; we’re entering in through His death, and to face the judgment of His death. Turn to Hebrews 9:27-28, " And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment; 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." We have a picture of that in this Tabernacle. It is appointed unto men - all men - once to die. Here is the door with the blood upon it. All men come to this door, all sin comes to this door, but who will enter? Because through this door is the judgment: after this - the judgment. I didn’t just dream that up; it is according to the pattern. We can’t just go around looking for some judgment. After this the judgment - what judgment? It’s got to be found in the pattern, it’s got to be found in the scripture, or it’s not fulfilled in The Cross. See how the scripture testifies of Him. We can’t just imagine some judgment. No - show me that judgment in the scripture, in the pattern.

Obviously Hebrews 9 here is talking about The Cross. When you read that whole chapter, it’s talking about The Cross as it relates to The Tabernacle, as it relates to the priesthood and the offerings. So we’ve got to understand that the judgment here in The Tabernacle, in the pattern is the judgment that the writer of Hebrews is talking about. If not, we’ll make up our own understanding of what that judgment is. But the scripture declares a judgment - after this the judgment. Here is the door where all men die; here is the door where all sin lies. We enter in through the door, and the first thing we’re faced with is a big altar, which means judgment - the judgment of grace. We’ll look at this in the scripture. How do we understand that this judgment is grace?

Romans 5: 17-21, " For if by one man’s offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.) Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life. For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous. Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound: That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord." Where does sin abound in the pattern? Sin doesn’t abound outside; where is sin brought together and made to appear exceedingly sinful? Right here at the door. Whether it is a burnt offering, meat offering, peace offering, trespass offering or sin offering - all must come and be presented at the door of the Tabernacle of the Congregation. Here sin abounds! Sin is exposed, sin is made to appear exceedingly sinful. Think about that, because we think out in the world sin abounds - not really. I know there is sin, but where is sin made to appear as sin? Where is the cover taken off and all mankind revealed to be sinful? Good works, bad works, all works; the cover taken off - sin exposed. Where does that happen? In the world? No - it happens at The Cross! When Jesus took upon Himself all humanity, all the sin of humanity, it so disfigured Him, Isaiah says He did not even retain a human form. We think that’s because they put stripes on Him. No, putting stripes on Him wouldn’t do that. Paul was beaten three or four times, stoned - he still looked like a man. Stripes did not change His form; the crown of thorns did not change His form; spitting upon Him - that didn’t do it. What disfigured Him? What did the Prophet see that he couldn’t look upon, that he turned his head from? It was SIN. It was humanity, it was me, it was you that marred his visage, his figure. Sin made to be exceedingly sin; sin made to abound - that’s what Paul is talking about.

But where sin abounded, where all sin was gathered up, where humanity was gathered up, where all the offerings were gathered up; where sin abounds GRACE did much more abound! How did grace abound? Through His death! The measure of true grace is His death. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound. Look at Romans chapter 6. Here was the idea of the Christians when they read chapter 5: ‘Oh wonderful, if we want great grace, then we need to do a great sin!’ That’s what they thought - where sin abounds, grace abounds. But they didn’t understand what Paul said, they didn’t understand that he was speaking about sin being gathered up in the Person of Christ; sin being brought into The Cross. The law demands The Cross, the law made sin appear sinful. Here in The Cross Christ fulfills the law. Sin abounds and grace much more abounds; not out in the world - here in The Cross, where sin is seen to be sinful, the depth of grace abounds.

Look at what Paul says, "What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?" That’s not what he meant. "God forbid. How shall we that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?" How are we dead to sin? By grace! God’s grace is seen in the death of His Son, God’s grace does not permit sin to live, God’s grace says it is dead! God’s grace does not permit the sinner to live, God’s grace says you are dead! What is too great for the grace of God? What sin is too great for the grace of God? None! Why? Because we died - sin is not the question. By grace, we died! When we died, we are free from sin, and are released by grace into His life! Grace is not merely a covering for sin: it is the end of it. God’s grace is so great that He reveals it in the death of His Son. Grace can only be measured in the death of Christ - not one sin escapes, not one sinner escapes. How do we know that? Look at the pattern: show me a sacrifice that was not killed. Show me an offering that was not burnt. Not one out of all of the five categories of offerings - none of them escaped the brazen altar - not one of them! All or part of every one of them was brought to the brazen altar, was burnt upon it, and the smoke went up as acceptable to God.

What did God accept? He accepted the death. Listen, this is very important. He did not accept the offering, He did not accept the sacrifice - He accepted the death of it. If He had accepted the sacrifice, then it could have just gone on, without dying. We think that’s how God treats us. We think if we say ‘I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry’ enough, that God will say - Okay. No! We can only come by grace; we can only come by His death. He does not accept us. Look at His Son: His Son became the supreme sacrifice. What did God accept? The sacrifice? No, no! The death of the sacrifice pleased God - that’s God’s grace. We’re accepted by the death of The Son. All of us! That’s the grace of God! But there is a judgment to that grace that we must face. You can not come by grace and say I still live, I still have a life. No, the judgment of grace says you are dead - CHRIST IS ALIVE! This is the great grace of God! This is the judgment which must begin at the house of God. We are accepted in grace, we live by grace. Grace says I am dead, Jesus is my life! That’s what Paul said. How can we who are dead to sin, live any longer therein? Do you not understand? Verse 3, "Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life." What releases us to walk into the house of God? What releases us to walk into Him? This first altar - His death! No animal got beyond this altar. Think about that! You don’t see animals wandering around by the laver, drinking out of the laver; you don’t see animals roaming around in the Holy Place. Those animals represent me and you. When Israel brought an offering they had to lay hands upon it, and identify themselves with it. The grace of God says we don’t go beyond the altar. The grace of God says when you come through the door - YOU DIE! And HE LIVES! This is the judgment of grace.

2 Corinthians 12:9. Paul is speaking here concerning something that the Lord said to him. " And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me." His grace is sufficient because it is in my nothingness that He is everything. And at this altar, I become nothing and He is everything. Paul understood this and so he said, "My grace is sufficient." Let’s put it this way - "My death is sufficient’, for where you are dead, I am alive! Where you are weak, I am strong! Where you are infirm, imperfect, I am perfect! That’s Him! Wait a minute - that means I just go out here and just be weak and unfaithful. No, that’s the same as saying, well if I go sin, there will be a lot of grace. That’s not what we’re talking about. We’re talking about this judgment; we’re talking about you and I knowing that we are dead, that we are nothing, that we have come to death. And that He is made unto us - EVERYTHING! His death worketh in me and it releases the ministry of His Life in you. That’s exactly what Paul says: His death worketh in us, but life worketh in you, we live by the grace of God. What does it mean to live by the grace of God? It means I live in a judgment and that judgment is this: Not I, Christ liveth in me. I am dead - He is my Life. In that I am dead, being dead, I am dead to sin, dead to the world, dead to myself. In that I live, Christ liveth in me; by Him I live unto God. This is the judgment of grace, and it’s the first judgment we must face. We can not go beyond this altar except we die.

So we have these three elements. The door - sin lieth at the door, sin is gathered up at the door, sin is seen to be exceedingly sinful at the door. It’s fulfilled here at The Cross. Here’s the door, the door has blood upon it. The Cross - Christ crucified is the door. The three aspects of Christ crucified; the three aspects of The Cross - His death, His burial, His resurrection. Look at the pattern. The door, where all sin is brought, where all blood is shed - right there at the door. There are three aspects to the judgment - three altars: His death, His burial, His resurrection; the judgment of grace, the judgment of truth, and finally the judgment of mercy.

Who is the door to this judgment? " I AM THE DOOR", Jesus says. You can not come to these judgments except you come by the door, except you come to His death, His burial, His resurrection. We face the judgment in our hearts, and we judge - you are dead, and He is our life. And when we do that, we become a ministry of that same judgment one to another. We become ministers of a judgment - not those who go around making judgments; no, but ministers of His judgment, ministers of grace, ministers of truth, ministers of mercy. You can not minister what you have not experienced. We must come to this judgment. We must come to this understanding of Christ. We must know Him in grace, truth and mercy - in His death, His burial, His resurrection, So we’ve been talking of the door, the judgment of grace, and the ministry of grace that flows out - dealing with one another in the grace of God.

Part 6 - Facing the Judgments

We will continue now with the three fold judgment. This judgment is fulfilled in Christ and we are finding that the pattern of that is in the Tabernacle. The judgment of grace, the judgment of truth, the judgment of mercy - this is one judgment. This judgment is worked in us as we grow in the knowledge of Christ, as we come to comprehend Him in His death, in His burial, in His resurrection. I want to show you something (second diagram) that is extremely important to the understanding of Christ. THE CENTER OF EVERYTHING IS THE CROSS. When we speak of The Cross we speak of Christ and Him crucified. We are not talking about a place or a thing or a piece of wood; we are talking about what Christ finished in Himself, what He finished through His death, burial and resurrection. So when we think of The Cross, automatically we think of Christ crucified. And when we think of Christ crucified we think of His death and His burial and His resurrection - that’s the full work of The Cross. This finished work is at the very center of the plan of God. The Cross is not just a part of God’s plan - it is the beginning and the end of God’s plan. It is the very heart of God. It is in reference to The Cross that Jesus says, "I am the door." It is in reference to The Cross that Jesus says "Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it again." Those three days are in reference to The Cross; they relate to His death, His burial and His resurrection. It is extremely important that you and I understand The Cross as the center of God’s eternal plan and purpose.

It is by The Cross that we are related to Christ. There is no other way that we can relate to Him except by The Cross; that is, by His death, His burial, His resurrection - The Way, The Truth, The Life. And as we grow up in Him we come to face this three fold judgment. It’s the judgment of His death which is the judgment of grace. It is the judgment of truth which is the judgment of His burial. It is the judgment of mercy which is the judgment of His resurrection, His life. His death, His burial, His resurrection. We will go back to the pattern, the Tabernacle and see how the pattern relates to the fulfillment. We are not part of the pattern; we are part of the fulfillment. In our second diagram, on the left side of The Cross, everything that is recorded, from Genesis to Malachi is all the pattern, it is all the testimony. In the pattern there are many types and shadows, God speaks in many ways with regard to the pattern and the testimony. He uses places, people, things - the Red Sea, Jordan River, the Tabernacle, the priesthood, Israel, Israel’s enemies, Canaan. All of that is part of the pattern, part of the testimony. Jesus Himself says in Luke 24 that Moses, all of the prophets, the psalms and all scripture represent the pattern and the testimony. Think about this: it’s very important. Moses, the first five books of the Bible, all of the prophets, all of the psalms which includes all of the poetry books, and all the scripture - Jesus says represents the pattern and the testimony.

In the diagram we have The Pattern and The Testimony. But when we some to The Cross we have another word - THE FULFILLMENT and THE PERSON. It is here at The Cross where Jesus says, "It is finished." In reference to what? What is finished? Let’s look at the pattern. Solomon building the temple - David gave him the pattern, God gave the pattern to David. It was the same with Moses and the Tabernacle. But in Solomon, David instructed Solomon, as a father instructs a son; see to it that you FINISH the work according to the pattern; do all of the work. Eight times in the scripture the word "finished" is used with reference to Solomon’s temple. Eight times the scripture emphasizes that Solomon finished the temple. What was finished? What his father gave him to do. What was finished? The pattern. Part of it? No - all of it!

A greater than Solomon is come! A greater than Solomon, a greater son, a greater fulfillment, a greater finish, a greater temple! When Jesus said, "It is finished" what was He referring to? The pattern, the testimony - everything from Genesis to Malachi; Moses, the prophets, the psalms, the scripture - IT IS FINISHED! We need not look beyond the Person. There’s not going to be another Person; there’s not going to be another Cross; there’s not going to be another death, burial and resurrection - because HE FINISHED IT! There’s not going to be another temple - hear me - there’s not going to be another temple other than The Temple that He brings forth in His Resurrection - a sanctuary made without hands, The Temple of The Living God, the dwelling place of The Most High - and that’s you! Not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. IT IS FINISHED - I’m not looking for another one.

On the right side of The Cross in our diagram there’s only one thing valid: we don’t need another pattern, we don’t need another testimony. On this side of The Cross is The Church. I’m not talking about a religious system, I’m talking about The Church which is His Body, the fulness of HIM. I’m not talking about a bunch of buildings, I’m talking about The Church which is His Body, the fulness of Him who filleth all and all. I’m talking about Ephesians 1:22-23. What is This Church? Two more words - The Expression and The Witness. Now witness is the word for "martyr". See, the testimony is in word; the witness is in deed. The testimony speaks of Him; the witness is the living expression of Him. Jesus said you will be witnesses unto Me - living expression. The Church which is His Body is not words about Him, but the living expression of Him. Do you see the difference? Jesus says the scriptures testify of Me. The testimony is in word, and the words are true, but The Person fulfils the word. The Church is not to just talk and talk and talk - words and words; the Church is a living expression.

Witness in the Greek is translated as "martyr". Martyr means one who lays down his life. Where do we lay down our life? Right at The Cross - in His death, His burial, His resurrection we lose our lives. I have no life - the judgment of grace; Not I, but Christ who liveth in me. A true witness, a true martyr is one who knows I have no life but Christ. So on the chart we have: PATTERN - FULFILLMENT - EXPRESSION, Testimony - Person - Witness. That’s the full view of your Bible. Christ is not a pattern, because pattern speaks of something yet to come. HE IS COME! A pattern speaks of a something better. The Tabernacle is the pattern; the law, the tabernacle, the feasts, the offerings, the priests - that’s the pattern; they speak of something better. The book of Hebrews says He’s the better! He is not a pattern; He is the fulfillment of the pattern. He is not words (plural); HE IS THE LIVING WORD! In Him all the words are summed up. In Him all the words are finished! There’s nothing greater to be said than to say - JESUS! Not just as a name, but as The Person. It is The Person that God desires to reveal in you, and once God reveals The Person in you, that Person will answer to all of the scripture. And when you search the scripture, it will testify of The Person, but you will give witness, expression of The Person. This is extremely important.

The one side of The Cross is the pattern; the other side of The Cross is The Church. You have come to Mount Zion, you have come to the heavenly City, you have come to the New Jerusalem, you have come to the Church of the firstborn, you have come to the dwelling place of The Most High, you are raised up together, seated together, in heavenly places, in Christ Jesus! Look at this order: Pattern - Fulfillment - Expression. This is a scriptural order. I didn’t read this in a book. Jesus said the scripture is the testimony; you are the witness, I am the finish. So now look: nothing is fulfilled in the Church. Everything is fulfilled in The Person; revealed in the Church and expressed by The Church. The Church is not for fulfillment, the Church is to express all that is fulfilled in Christ. We need to know Him! We need to know Him according to the pattern, we need to know Him by the testimony, but we need to know Him in the Spirit. This is the order that is set forth in the Life. I certify you, this is a true order. You search the scripture - you can not carry the pattern over into the Church. The pattern stops at The Cross. We’re not ones who just perform a pattern, but rather a living expression of The Living Christ. Since we’re dealing so much with the pattern it’s necessary that we see that.

So let’s look back at the pattern and we’re going to look at the Holy Place, the second place. We’ve dealt with the brazen altar and the judgment of grace. Now we move to the Holy Place where the golden altar is. His death, His burial - the second day, the second altar, the second judgment - the judgment of truth. Let’s look at Ephesians 4:21. I want to reference this judgment in Christ. " If so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus." Who is this Tabernacle a pattern of? It’s a pattern of Jesus, a pattern of Christ crucified. And in Jesus we find the truth. In Him we find grace, and we have to face that judgment. But in Him we find truth as we grow up, and we have to face that judgment. The judgment of truth is a very hard judgment to face. The chamber of the Holy Place, I call it a burial chamber, speaks of a baptism. Remember we said there were three major feasts: Passover, Pentecost, Tabernacles. Passover relates to the outer court of the Tabernacle, it relates to His death - you kill the Passover Lamb, His blood is at the door.

Pentecost relates to His burial. Tabernacles, which is the blowing of Trumpets, the work of the Atonement, and the Great Ingathering, relates to His resurrection. It is true in the pattern, those three feasts actually related to these three parts of the Tabernacle. But what does it mean? That’s what we’re interested in. We’re not just interested in seeing the pattern; but we’re interested in understanding the pattern as it is fulfilled in Christ, because it is the fulfillment that affects us. We’re not part of the pattern; we’re part of the fulfillment. You and I did not come by the blood of bulls and goats; we come by the blood of Christ! Remember we’re calling this series "Our Great High Priest" and that’s what we’re still talking about. Our High Priest takes us first to the judgment of grace, then to the judgment of truth, then finally to the last judgment of mercy. We enter in by Our High Priest. In order to better understand the fulfillment we are examining the pattern.

This judgment of truth is a very difficult judgment because now we are dealt with as His Body. Let’s just reason a minute. What do you bury? You bury a body. What do you baptize? You baptize a body. The Holy Place deals with us as His Body. The symbols here are symbols of His Body: the candelabra, the shewbread and the altar of incense. All of these emblems have to do with the judgment of truth. These emblems represent His Body, but now wait - they represent a Body in transition, they represent passing from one body to another Body. It represents a time of waiting. Every day there was a priest service going on there - day after day after day. They lit the fire, trimmed the lamp, changed the bread, put fire on the incense - every day: morning, at night. And all the time they were doing this they were waiting for something. They were waiting for that one time a year that The High Priest would go beyond the veil. They were waiting for The Resurrection! The Resurrection is not a thing; The Resurrection is a Person. When we come to the judgment of truth something happens in our hearts, a discernment comes into our hearts. We understand I am not the body of Adam, the body of humanity; we are The Body of Christ! The Holy Spirit works that in us. Jesus said, "When He, the Spirit of Truth is come..." speaking of a baptism, a greater baptism that John’s. This is the baptism of the Lord Jesus Christ! This is the baptism that we enter in with Him. This baptism is set forth in the river Jordan. The pattern is in Israel, but then came Jesus, and He came to Jordan, and John, who represents the last Old Testament prophet (in John all the prophets are summed up), Jesus said there is no greater prophet than John. And in fulfillment of all the prophets, John baptized Jesus into the Jordan. But what was said? There’s a greater baptism coming! "I baptize Him, but He shall baptize you!" GLORY TO GOD!

His burial is this baptism. Our life is hidden with Christ in God. We enter into a baptism. This takes place in us, in our hearts; the Holy Spirit works this in us. A time of waiting, of expectation - for the appearing of the Lord, for the time that God reveals His Son in us as The Resurrection; a time of waiting in Spirit to hear The Voice of The Resurrection, to hear Him say, Lazarus, come forth! Waiting in this chamber for the greater comprehension of Christ; this taking place in our hearts, the Holy Spirit dealing with us according to this pattern. So it’s a time of waiting, a time of great transition, One Body - the old body is being put off; another Body, the New Body is being put on. Putting off the old man, putting on The New Man. This we do in Spirit, this we do in truth - The Spirit of Truth. The Spirit of Truth is working in us the judgment of truth. Now I’ve said it’s a hard judgment because many do not really want to be dealt with in truth.

Turn to Colossians 3:9-11, "Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds; And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him; Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all." What does the last part say? Christ is all and in all. Ephesians 1:22-23, " And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all." The truth is, and the judgment of truth that we all must face is that we are no longer the body of humanity, we are the Body of Christ. We are no longer the body of the old man, but the Body of The New Man, Christ all and in all; not Jew, not Greek, not Mexican, not Anglo - no, no, CHRIST ALL AND IN ALL! This is a hard judgment, because most of us don’t want to be dealt with that way. We want God to deal with us in the body of His death, we want God to "understand" us, but the understanding of God is in The Cross. God understands you and I according to the truth as the truth is in Christ. I want Him to deal with me as a white man, but He deals with me as a dead man, who has no life but Christ. I give Him one excuse after another, and He says, take them all to The Cross! This is a hard judgment. I want to say, ‘Well now, Lord, after all, I’m just human.’ But He sees that at The Cross all humanity died! And that The New Man is not of the flesh, not of humanity, but of the Spirit. What did Paul say? We have this treasure in earthen vessels. But the treasure is not the clay pot; the treasure is The New Man, the treasure is Christ! Not I, but Christ who liveth in me! This is the truth as it is in Christ. So Paul says, lie not one to another; quit dealing with each other as male and female, as Jew and Greek. Deal with one another in truth. And that’s a difficult thing to do, because we want to be dealt with in the understanding of the flesh. ‘I want everybody to understand my problem!’ And the Lord says - TAKE YOUR PROBLEM TO THE CROSS!

Your problem died right along with you! "What, know ye not that as many of us as were baptized into His death...that we died with Him, and that HE ALONE comes forth as our life." He is The Resurrection! But we want to be understood in the flesh. I can’t say it enough - here is the wisdom, the understanding and the knowledge of God. Those three words - in the scripture they are in that order - wisdom, understanding, knowledge. It is written in Proverbs and throughout the scripture that way. Wisdom is the first altar; wisdom gives the realization, I am dead! Do you know how to deal with somebody in wisdom? We pray, ‘Lord, I’ve got to talk to this person, give me wisdom.’ God gives wisdom at The Cross. At the first judgment we find wisdom in the grace of God. Wisdom is the understanding, Not I, but Christ liveth in me. Now you go deal with that person in that wisdom; deal with one another in that wisdom - Not I, but Christ - that’s wisdom. Wisdom is not a method, wisdom is a comprehension given of God. It comes to us through the death of Christ.

Understanding has to do with our relationship one with another: understanding one another, understanding one another as His Body, dealing with one another in the truth, understanding by the truth. Understanding is me not dealing with you as a Mexican, but as a New Creation in Christ Jesus. I don’t want you to receive this wrong, but the judgment of truth that is in me constrains me to understand I am not here preaching or teaching to Mexicans. I am here speaking to a New Creation. And I’m going to tell you the truth. I’m not going to lie to you; I’m going to speak to you according to the judgment of truth. You have entered into His burial and you have come forth in His Resurrection. We understand that if we will wait upon the Spirit, He will bring us to that understanding. And when we come to that understanding of truth, we are released from the grave, from the burial - into the comprehension Christ lives! AND HE LIVES IN ME!

But you see, many of us have problems with this judgment. How long do we stay here? You stay here until the Lord appears! You stay there until the Spirit of Truth brings us to understanding, until we come to comprehend we’re not the body of the old man, but the Body of The New, and then that New Body is raised up in the knowledge of The Resurrection! Wisdom, understanding, knowledge - those three terms equal the faith of The Son of God. You can search that out - it is a pattern, it is fulfilled in Christ. Coming to His faith, we come by wisdom, understanding and knowledge. And then we live by the faith of the Son of God. What did Paul say? "I am crucified with Christ." Death, burial and resurrection. "Nevertheless I live, yet not I, Christ liveth in me, and the life that I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of THE SON OF GOD". Wisdom, understanding, knowledge, the judgment of truth.

Before we deal with these three pieces of furniture, let’s look at the whole. In the second chamber all is in waiting. This is so wonderful because this pattern, which is fulfilled in Christ is expressed as a Bride. Who is the Bride? His Body. He’s the Head. There is a time when the Bride is in waiting to hear the voice of the Bridegroom. That’s got to be a condition in our hearts. The Holy Spirit brings us to a place, a place in Christ, a judgment in Christ, where we are waiting. Everything here is actually waiting - waiting for the High Priest to enter in. With us it is a matter of comprehension, of understanding the truth. The Spirit of Truth is come. Jesus says when the Spirit of Truth is come, you will know something. You will know that I am in My Father, you are in me and I am in you. That’s what our heart is waiting on. That’s the knowledge we are waiting on. This chamber is necessary. We can not live there, but we wait there. It’s a condition the Holy Spirit will bring about. Every fiber of your being, waiting to hear His Voice. Your soul is waiting to hear His Voice, understanding we are His Body, we are waiting to know Him in the power of His Resurrection. That’s what Paul says, "Oh, that I may know Him, in the power of His resurrection..." So all is in waiting.

Now Colossians 3, 1-4, " If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God." Paul says you are in Christ, you are risen with Him; set your heart upon those things that are in Him. "Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth, For ye are dead..." That’s the first judgment - YOU ARE DEAD. As to the old man, you are dead. That’s the judgment of grace. "...and your life is hid with Christ in God." that’s the burial - hidden. When you bury something and you cover it up, you can’t see it. It’s like a seed that must fall into the ground and be covered up before it comes forth in life. We are talking about the time of waiting - waiting in the ground, waiting in the burial - not being seen, not being heard, covered up - waiting. Faced by the truth, there’s got to be a transition here - I can not come forth as I went in. One body is buried, another body comes forth! Yes, Amen. Buried in weakness, raised in power; the weakness of my flesh, the power of His Spirit. This is what we’re talking about. There’s got to be a point in my life and in your life when I face the truth - it’s not me, it’s got to be HIM! It’s not my power, it’s got to be His Spirit! There’s got to be such a time in our lives. Buried - our lives hidden with Christ in God. A time of divine waiting.

Look at verse 4, " When Christ, who is our life, shall appear..." I want you to see this. See this in the pattern. There’s a whole priesthood here waiting, there’s a ministry waiting, there’s a whole Body waiting. We can’t dig our way out, we can’t go through the veil - we’re waiting on HIM! Unless He appears, everything is lost! " When Christ, who is our life, shall appear..." The word "appear" here means revealed in you. Where does He appear? Where did The High Priest appear in The Tabernacle? He appeared in The Holy Place and He went through the veil, and He made a way into the Holy of Holies, into the glory of The Most High! "Like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we should walk in newness of life." That’s got to be a comprehension in our hearts. It can’t just be something that is in the pattern; it can’t just be something Jesus did. It must be something that we are a part of; something that He is in us. We are His Tabernacle, He is our High Priest, and in us He comes from judgment to judgment to judgment - IN US He is wisdom, understanding and knowledge. IN US He is The Way, The Truth, The Life! That’s how we must know Him.

Knowing Him in truth, and therefore knowing one another in truth. If we bear the judgment of truth, then we will live by the judgment of truth. If the truth is in me, as it is in Jesus, then I must deal with you according to The truth. We have been dealt with according to the truth, the Lord dealt with us according to the truth. THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH IS COME - He will teach us all things. Jesus said He will take of mine and show it unto you. It’s a wonderful judgment. When He who is our life shall appear, then shall we appear, and move from the judgment of truth into the judgment of mercy. We are taken beyond the veil; in fact, the veil is taken away! And in the reality of His resurrection, we come to the final judgment, the judgment of mercy.

This is the judgment of the Throne of God. Actually there is just one judgment, but it is three fold - grace, truth, mercy - but it makes one judgment. It is an ongoing comprehending of Christ. It is you and I relating to Him as He has related to us - in grace, in truth, in mercy. The judgment of mercy is the judgment of The Throne. Let me just say this one thing about it. The Holy of Holies has one piece of furniture - The Ark of The Covenant. His Resurrection: The Way, The Truth, The Life - the judgment of mercy. Here is the Mercy Seat. In the Hebrew this is also called The Throne of God. This is Throne judgment; this is when He establishes His Throne in us. This is the greatest part of the whole judgment. This is where He and He alone is seen. Here’s where the glory of God appears. Nothing can be seen in here except the glory of God. The glory of God doesn’t show you something else, the glory of God is all you can see. Look at the pattern. When the glory of God filled the house, everybody else had to get out! The glory of God doesn’t show me something else; the glory of God is what is seen - CHRIST IN YOU, THE EXPECTATION OF GLORY. Expectation - the thing I’m waiting on! I’m in the second chamber, waiting for the glory to appear, waiting on Christ to be revealed in His full glory. And when He appears, nobody is seen but Him! He fills the Temple with the knowledge of Himself! And here is the mercy of God - everything seen in the Person of The Son!

God can’t look on flesh, so He sees us in The Son. God can’t look on many; He brought many to The Cross. So He puts many in One, and He sees One Son. This is the mercy of God. This is how we stand before the Father - in grace, in truth, in mercy. HE SEES US IN THE SON! He has brought many sons unto glory. That’s what He prays in John 17: that they may be in Me, Father, just as I am in you. And the glory that Thou hast given Me, they may see it, and be One, even as We are One. This is the judgment of mercy. When we cease to see one another and see only The Son, we deal with each other in mercy. That’s how God has dealt with us; that’s how we deal with one another.

Remember this: these three altars, these three comprehensions of Christ, this judgment - it is fulfilled in The Cross. If we are to know Christ and Him crucified, we will know Him in this judgment and we will witness this judgment in the world.

Part 7 - The Transition from one body to Another Body

We will continue on the judgment of truth. We have dealt with the judgment of truth and mercy, but I want to take a more specific look at these last two judgments. Turn to Ephesians 4:21. In our diagram of the Tabernacle we have the first altar, the brazen altar. The judgment of grace which relates to His death, relates to the Passover and relates to the first day. Then the second chamber called the Holy Place, the second altar, the golden altar is the judgment of truth. The third chamber with the third altar, the Ark of the Covenant is the judgment of mercy. We’re going to deal with these judgments as they relate to His death, His burial, His resurrection. All of this pattern comes to be fulfilled in The Cross - Christ and Him crucified.

Now we want to look specifically at these articles of furniture as they relate to His burial, as they relate to the time of waiting, to the time of transition that must take place in our hearts, where in our understanding we come from one body to another Body: that Adamic body to a New Body; the body of humanity to the Body of Christ. That transition takes place in our hearts in the judgment of truth. The pattern for that is in the second chamber. The fulfillment of that is in Christ, through the work of the Holy Spirit, bringing us to a baptism, into a burial, into a time of waiting. Now we want to look closer at this. We have dealt with this as it relates to the whole chamber, but now we want to look at each piece of furniture and see that same judgment in that furniture. We are seeking to understand the truth as it is in Jesus. This verse in Ephesians speaks of the truth as it is in Jesus. "If so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus." That’s what we’re interested in. Why? Because we are in Him; we are not a type of His Body, we are His Body. We’re not in a chamber made with hands, we are in a Tabernacle made without hands! We are not a pattern, we are part of the fulfillment. Consequently we are in Him, and our hearts desire to know the truth that is in Him. The pattern shows that, because we have entered in. All of this according to the pattern is in Christ, since this whole Tabernacle represents Christ: Christ crucified - dead, buried, resurrected.

So the pattern shows us going in. How do we go in? Our Theme is "Our Great High Priest? - we enter in by Him. But if we enter in by Him, then we must go the Way that He is; we must know the Truth that He is, and we must understand the Life that He is. He is The Way, The Truth and The Life - you can not go another way, you cannot learn another truth, we cannot live another life. The Way, The Truth, The Life, we have already found relates to His death, His burial, His resurrection. The Way is Christ in His death: He doesn’t show us a way - He is The Way. If the Way is His death, then we must come by that way. If He, Our Great High Priest comes by that way, if He comes by His death, then we must come by His death. So we come by His death to face Him as The Truth, which relates to His burial, where the old is taken off and the New is put on; where one body is laid down and another body comes forth. That’s the burial, that’s the baptism, that’s the truth.

If He is that Truth, then we must come by that truth, we must know Him in that way. And then the same for the resurrection. So our verse says knowing the truth as it is in Jesus. Look back at Colossians 3:1-4, "If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth." In a very general way these verses mean - seek what is here, If you live here, in Christ, then seek here, seek these things, not things in earth. Since you are in Christ, since you are raised up, seek the things where you are. If we live in the Spirit, let us walk in the Spirit: if we live in Christ, then let us seek in Christ. Verse 3, "For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God." Here we see these judgments. "For you are dead" - that’s the judgment of grace; you have come by way of His death. "Your life is hidden with Christ in God" - that’s the burial where I am no longer seen in the flesh, where we no longer know one another by the flesh, but rather understanding that we are a New Creation. Your life is hidden with Christ in God - that’s the judgment of truth. Then the last judgment, the judgment of mercy relating of His resurrection. "When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory." That speaks of a time element. What are we here waiting for? What is our great expectation? CHRIST IN YOU, THE EXPECTATION OF GLORY. "Beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord we are changed into that same image". What are we waiting for in our inner man? What is the Spirit of God working in us? The expectation of the appearing of Him who is our very life! And that word "appearing" refers to Christ appearing in you He appears in His Tabernacle, He appears in you, but He appears as The Resurrection, He appears as The Life, He appears as the judgment of mercy. When He, who is our life shall appear, then we are no longer hidden; then we appear in Him. It is not "our" appearing, it is HIS appearing. And we in Him. This is the mercy of God, that He appears and God sees us in Him.

Now, the transition from one body to Another Body, and the transition that we are talking about is one of understanding; it is the transforming of our minds. Look at that in Romans 12:1,2. It is a spiritual transition or transformation. " I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world; but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God." What we have just read is what we have in this pattern - living sacrifices are brought here; the transformation of our mind, coming to understand that it is not the body of humanity, but the Body of Christ that is being dealt with here. Verse 5, "So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another." This is the judgment of truth, this is the understanding given of God, that we are not many bodies. This is saying bring the many bodies, present your bodies - many bodies. Bring them - if you’re going to present them as a living sacrifice, where are you going to bring them? Where did they bring the living sacrifices in the pattern? They brought them to the brazen altar. And that is fulfilled in The Cross! Where do we bring our bodies? We bring them to His death, we bring them to The Cross, we lay them down - in our heart, in our understanding, in our comprehension. And as Paul says, we are delivered from the bodies of death. We present them, a living sacrifice, and then we are transformed by the renewing of our minds; coming to understand that we are no longer bodies, we are One Body in Christ; members one of another. That’s the judgment of truth. And that’s the only way it will work.

One other place is in I Corinthians 15:43. This thought actually begins in verse 35 and goes through verse 58, but we’ll just read verse 43-49. This is speaking of the body, and it is relating the body to Christ. This whole chapter is speaking of the Resurrection. Paul is declaring that The Resurrection is Christ Himself. In verse 35-43 there is a spiritual law of the seed. Jesus summed it up in these words, " Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone. But if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit." That’s exactly what is said in verses 35-43, but we pick up there because I want us to see the two bodies - the one that dies and the One that is raised up. " It is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power: It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body." We come as a natural body to His death, His burial, where there is a transition. And what comes forth in the resurrection? A Spiritual Body, the Body that you are - not male or female, Jew or Greek, but A New Man in Christ, The Body of The Lord Jesus Christ. A natural body - A Spiritual Body, and the difference is His death, His burial and His resurrection. .

Let’s look at it closer in verse 45, "And so it is written..." What is that referring to? The pattern, the scripture where it is written. Christ is fulfilling what is written. As it is written, so it is fulfilled - that’s what the scripture is saying here. "And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit. Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual." Remember we spoke of the first and the second. Our Great High Priest comes to take away the first and establish the second. The first is not spiritual. The first is natural; but the natural speaks of the Spiritual. The second is not natural; the second is Spiritual, but the second fulfils the first. There is no peace in the first, the first creation, the first man, the first body. There is only peace in the second, the second Man. Why is there no peace in the first, the first man, Adam? "The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven." There is no peace in the first because the first man is the man of humanity, the natural man and he is many bodies; not one body - many bodies. There’s never going to be peace among many bodies - never! There’s never going to be agreement among many bodies - never! But where there’s just One Body, and that body is not man after the natural, but a New Man after the Spirit, that second Man is the Lord from heaven: The Body is His Body and in that understanding there is peace; in that understanding there is harmony; in that understanding there is love; in that understanding there is truth.

We pass by His death, burial and resurrection, by the judgment of grace, truth and mercy; we pass from one body to another Body - in our hearts, in our understanding. We are transformed so that we are no longer many bodies, but many members of One Body. What a great difference that understanding is. That’s what the Holy Spirit works in us here in this second chamber, and we stay buried until He works that understanding in us, because only the truth will bring us forth in the understanding of Christ. So right now we are either living in that understanding or we’re not. We’re either living by the judgment of truth or we’re not. We are either comprehending that Christ is our life or we’re still waiting in the burial chamber. Now it’s not bad to be in this chamber: we all have to come to this chamber, we all have to come to this judgment, but how long will we stay there? When will we turn our hearts to see the truth? When will we quit functioning as many bodies and begin to function as One Body? When will we turn to see the Lord? When will we obey the Spirit of God? That’s the question. The question is not what Christ has done - He has finished it. The question is how much do we comprehend? The question is how much of that judgment is worked in us? Only you can answer that, but the Holy Spirit is dealing with us not on the basis of our understanding, but on the basis of His understanding. The Holy Spirit would bring us to a full judgment, the Holy Spirit would bring us to comprehend The Finished Work, that we may be witness of Him in all the earth.

Let’s look now at these three articles of furniture. First, the candelabra. In the pattern, in the books of Moses where the making of the candelabra is recorded, here is the way it is described - a candle stick having six branches. It has seven cups or bowls; there are six arms and a main stem, so there are seven bowls. This is important. In the pattern though there are seven bowls, the scripture says there are only six branches. We understand that the central stem makes up the seven. Who is the central stem? Christ - He is the vine, we are the branches; He is the lampstand, we are the branches. Six speaks of humanity - me and you. What are we speaking of in this chamber? Transformation from one humanity to a New Man. In the pattern the term "six" is used, because the pattern is not yet perfected, so in the pattern is six branches and one stem. Although they appear to be one, and they are one, beaten out of one piece, the comprehension is that they are still two. The lampstand is made out of one piece of gold, it is beaten out with a hammer, they made it having six branches, but seven bowls. I thought why didn’t it say "seven" branches? Why six branches? Because the type is not yet perfect, the pattern is not yet perfect, but it speaks of perfection. The six branches say it’s not perfect, but the seven bowls speak of perfection.

Why do I say "speak of perfection"? Because these are filled with oil, and you light it and it’s a lamp. It speaks of light, but it is not a perfect light because the oil has to be renewed every day. It speaks of a perfect light, but it is not a perfect light. It is in this chamber - waiting for the perfect light. It’s waiting for the coming of that light which is perfect. To where does that light come? Where is that light seen? Here in the third chamber. What is that light? It is not oil - that light is the glory of God! And it fills up the whole chamber! The lampstand is not that light, but speaks of that light. It is in the chamber of waiting, it speaks of the ministry of the Holy Spirit in you and I, bringing us to the Perfect Light. Where is that candelabra fulfilled? Revelation 1:12, " And I turned to see the voice that spake with me. And being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks." The emphasis here is on the number seven. Here in the fulfillment it is not six plus one; in the fulfillment it’s just seven. Seven candlesticks representing One - The Church. That’s what the pattern represents, but it represents The Church waiting for the perfect light. But in the book of Revelation John sees that the Perfect Light is come! He turned and he saw seven golden candlesticks, and nobody really knows what that looked like to him. What they looked like is not important, The One in the midst of them is important, because the candlesticks are never described, but The One in the midst of them is described!

It’s not important what we look like; it’s important what He looks like! He is the light of the candlesticks - The Perfect Light is come! "And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man..." The Perfect Light is come, and then John describes something, and he’s describing a New Man, he’s describing the Lord, but he’s describing the Lord in the midst of His Church. And yet now it is not the Church that is being seen, but the LORD that is being seen. So what do we understand? We understand that the Church is described in the Person of the Lord. If you want to see the description of the Church, then you must see The One in the midst, The One who is not naked, but fully clothed all the way down to the feet. Paul tells us that we put off the old man and put on the New, that we be fully clothed. This is the Church having the glory of God. Actually The Ark of The Covenant is the type of the Church in glory. Every one of these pieces of furniture find their fulfillment in The Ark of The Covenant - everyone of them. The candelabra finds its perfect light, the table of shewbread finds its perfect bread, the altar of incense finds its perfect praise, finds its perfect New Man - every one of these finds their fulfillment in The Ark of The Covenant. Where is The Ark of The Covenant fulfilled? It’s fulfilled in Christ! You can search this out because as it is with the pattern, so it is with the fulfillment, with Christ crucified.

So what does the candlestick symbolize? It symbolizes the Church waiting for Christ to be revealed in it. Let me explain that to you. I remember the time in my life when the Holy Spirit was dealing with me concerning a greater understanding of Christ. But I didn’t understand the dealings of the Spirit. There was a cry in my heart - ‘Oh God, there must be something more than this. I speak in tongues, I preach sermons, but my soul is hungry for something more. I pray for the sick - all of these things Lord, I do. But my soul is hungry for something more!’ I know now here’s where I was - in the Holy Place - waiting, waiting - but not really sure what I was waiting for. But the Lord knew, and the Spirit knew, and after dealing with me in this time of waiting, He brought my soul to a place where I was willing to say, ‘Lord, there must be something more! I will do nothing until you show me what it is. And it was then that the Lord began to reveal His Son in me. And I saw in Him everything that the Holy Spirit had been trying to say.

So here we have a symbol of the Church waiting for the coming of the Perfect Light Then we look at the table of shewbread. The candelabra was positioned to where it threw light on this table of shewbread. But we must understand this was not a perfect light. It cast shadows, it did not fill up this chamber, it has to be replenished. It spoke of something perfect but was not perfect. Why did it throw light on this table? Because there’s a testimony here that is waiting to be fulfilled. The shewbread - on this table there were twelve loaves of bread. Now these loaves of bread probably look like a flour tortilla. They were round and may have been a little thicker, and they were on this table of shewbread in two stacks of six. Some Bible scholars argue that there were two rows of six, but it doesn’t make any difference. Most say they were in a stack, and to me that makes sense, but it doesn’t really matter. The pattern is important, and so because of what these two stacks symbolize, it is important. I believe there were two stacks of shewbread because these two stacks represent an old man waiting to be transformed to a New Man. It’s part of the burial. You’ve got to keep the pattern right.

You can’t just go in here and begin making suppositions: there’s got to be a reason. It’s not important to me, but it’s important to God. Remember we’ve said how important the pattern was. It’s not important in itself: it’s important because it’s fulfilled in The Cross. The Cross is complete, finished: the pattern has to be correct in every way. These two stacks of six - what is the number we’re dealing with? Six! Two stacks of six: six always represents man in his natural state. What is represented here? Jew and Gentile. We can see this in a thorough search of the scripture. We can see this by how these are renewed every Sabbath day. The very fact that they are renewed every week tells me they represent Jew and Gentile - all creation waiting for transition. It is true, transition is in comprehension. We are talking about growing up in Christ, comprehending Him - one judgment to another. Finally we’re faced with the truth, and beloved, there is coming a time for you - everyone of you - when in Christ, we’re going to be faced with the table of shewbread. You are going to be faced in an inward way with Jew and Gentile. And there’s going to have to be a transformation in you from two stacks of bread, from two stacks of six - to ONE NEW LOAF! One New Bread! Even the hidden manna! Jesus says, "I am the Living Bread. You are My Body." So Paul says, You are One Bread!

Not two stacks of six - One Living Bread! Here is the place where that transition is spoken of. The Jew and Gentile are buried, and they stay buried - but A New Loaf comes forth! Every week the priesthood was faced with the shewbread. The light that they had shined upon that table, and every week they had to renew it. Every week they had to eat it, they had to become partakers of what that spoke of: you and I are going to become partakers of His burial. We are going to identify ourselves with those two stacks, so that we may come forth in The Resurrection, in Christ Jesus, in the knowledge of Him as One Living Bread! But you’ve got to face this table. It’s part of the judgment of truth. Next we’re going to deal with the golden altar - here’s where the judgment of truth is summed up.

Part 8 - The Judgment of Truth and Mercy

I want us now to deal with the golden altar. In the pattern it is called the Altar of Incense. The fire, the coal was taken from the brazen altar and the coals were brought here and put on the golden altar. That’s important - any other kind of fire would have been called of the Lord "strange fire" - fire not accepted of the Lord, strange fire. I wonder sometimes if we don’t offer the Lord strange fire. Let’s understand something - this is an altar of praise and worship. The fire had to come from the brazen altar; the incense had to be beaten and carefully prepared. Then the incense was put upon the fire, and the fragrance went up to the Lord. Everything in the pattern had to be correct. What does it mean, that the fire came off of the brazen altar? What is that altar? It is the altar of His death! It’s the altar where everything is consumed; all of the sacrifices are consumed. It is the judgment of grace, the altar of His death. Everything has to come by His death. So what does it mean, that the fire had to come from this altar and be placed upon the golden altar? It means that we only can enter here by His death. We must understand - we only enter here by His death. Whatever is offered up to the Lord, other than by The Cross, other than by the death of Christ is NOT acceptable.

What do I mean? I mean that in my flesh, I can not approach the Father. I can only come to Him as one who is dead, and has no life but Christ. Any other fire is strange fire, and the Father will not accept it. I can pray and pray and pray and pray, but except I pray as one who has no life but Christ, it can not be accepted. I can not pray in the arrogance of my flesh, I can not pray in my own name; I must come in the name of another. I must come in the understanding I have no life but Christ. I must pray in the judgment of truth or it is as strange fire, it is as the prayer of a heathen. Remember what Jesus said? He heard the Pharisees praying and He said you pray like the heathen. You think that because you make a lot of noise God hears it. But God doesn’t hear your prayers because they are loud, God hears your prayers because they are offered in the Spirit of truth. So this inner chamber affects even our prayer life, it affects our worship, it affects our praise. Those things as incense must be offered upon the fire of His death, and they must be offered in the judgment of truth. That’s why the fire had to come from the brazen altar and be placed upon the golden altar. There the incense was laid and it was acceptable to the Lord.

This incense, this prayer was the prayer of the priest. It was the priest who actually put the incense on this altar. It was prepared by the priest and put there by the priest. It was the prayer of the priest, and it was on this side of the veil. Where do we find that fulfilled in Christ? This very altar, this very prayer, this very incense is fulfilled in Christ. We find it in John 17. It’s the prayer of the Priest, it’s the prayer of the Lord Jesus. When did He pray this prayer? Just before The Cross, in reference to The Cross, just before He rent the veil, but He prayed in anticipation of doing away with the veil. This is a prayer of expectation. This inner chamber is a chamber of expectation. As the Church we are expecting Christ to be revealed in us, as the Church we are expecting His appearing! As the shewbread we are expecting; we are expecting the Resurrection, we are expecting to come forth as One Bread. As the golden altar we are expecting the glory of God!

Look in John 17 what Jesus said. This is the prayer of the High Priest. Verse 1-5, " These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven..." I want to show you something. What is the Holy of Holies? It is 10'x10'x10' - what is it a pattern of? The book of Hebrews tells us it is called the heavens, the sanctuary of God. The Hebrews writer says Our High Priest hasn’t gone into that which is made by hands, but is passed into heaven itself. This chamber represents heavenly places. When the priest gave this incense, he was in the burial chamber, but when he put the incense on this altar, the incense raised, and the High Priest looked up. Jesus lifted up His eyes; in expectation He lifted His eyes. That doesn’t mean that He just looked to the sky. It means He looked from one realm to a higher realm. This must be our expectation - to look from the realm of burial to the realm of resurrection. And we do so in expectation of glory! The glory that we are expecting is in you - Christ in you, the expectation of glory! When we pray, at that altar, we pray in expectation. Our expectation is that He shall be revealed, that we shall see Him in His glory. That’s the expectation.

Is that the way you pray? If we come to this altar, if we come to this judgment, you will pray this prayer. This will be our incense, this will be our offering to God. A prayer of expectation! FATHER, REVEAL YOUR SON IN ME! FATHER, LET ME BEHOLD HIS GLORY THAT I MAY BE CHANGED INTO THAT SAME IMAGE! FATHER, GLORIFY YOUR SON! Look at this prayer. " These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee." This is the prayer that is prayed at that altar. Verse 4, " I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do. And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was." What is His prayer? Father, glorify Thy Son. With what? With the glory that I had from the beginning. I left that glory, I came to die, I came to be buried. Now Father, bring me forth in the Resurrection, bring me unto glory - the glory that I had from the beginning. What is that glory? Father, glorify me with thine own self, that I may be one with thee; that there may be no separation, that as it is in the beginning, so now shall it be. Father, I have finished the work - glorify Thy Son! This is the prayer of the High Priest. For Himself only? No, no, not for Himself only. He had the glory, He left it. Now He says glorify Me again. Why did He leave? For you and I! That He might bring us with Him into glory! Yes, it is written that way, Hebrews 2: 9,10. It says that He suffered and died that He might bring many sons unto glory.

The Word of God came forth, was made flesh. The Word of God shall not return empty, He shall not return in vain. He shall bring forth many with Him in His Resurrection. Our Great High Priest provides The Way, The Truth and The Life, and by Him we are brought unto glory. "Where I am, there ye may be also." Look at the rest of the prayer. The first part is for Himself, but then look, verse 9. " I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine." Do you see, ‘I pray for them"? Look at the type, the pattern. Was the High Priest praying only for Himself? Or was he praying for all of Israel? Did he not carry Israel upon his very breastplate? Were not their names all written there? Do you not have a New Name in Christ? Is His name not written upon you? Is the resurrection for Him? No - He is The Resurrection! The resurrection is for you! This is a great judgment, this judgment of truth. When you pray, do you pray as an old creation or as a New? Do you pray according to the judgment of truth or the judgment of man? That’s important. We all pray, but by what judgment do we pray? That’s the question, and it’s an important question. Verse 10, "And all mine are thine, and thine are mine; and I am glorified in them." Father, glorify Me, glorify Me with Thine own self; let me be clothed upon with You! Then He says, Father, I pray for them, for I am glorified in them.

He is glorified of the Father, but where? IN YOU! So Jesus says in that day you will know that I am in My Father, you are in Me, and I am in you. When ? When the Spirit of Truth is come - the judgment of truth. Verse 17, "Sanctify them through thy truth; thy word is truth." Verse 21, "that they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one. I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me. Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world." Do you believe that God answered His prayer? ‘Father, that they may be in me, believe in me (that’s where you are), that they may be where I am." Do you believe that’s where you are? "Father, you in me and I in you, and they in us, that they may be one as we are." Do you believe that prayer was answered? Do you believe that you are One in Christ Jesus? Do you believe that as He is in the Father, you are in Him and He is in you? Do you believe that His prayer was answered?

When you pray, do you pray in that understanding, in that judgment? Or do you offer strange fire and strange incense? That’s the question. This is not a sinner’s prayer, this is the prayer of the High Priest, this is the prayer of The Son of God, this is the prayer of the believer. Is it your prayer? That’s the question. That’s the judgment. Do we pray in understanding or in ignorance? We all pray...do we pray in truth or in a lie. We just read it - may the Spirit of God give us understanding. We can draw diagrams of it - may the Spirit of God reveal the reality! Now Ephesians 4:14-15, " That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ." No more children, no more tossing to and fro, no more being deceived by man, speaking the truth. Speaking the truth in love, growing up into Him in all things, even into our Head, which is Christ - having the judgment of Christ ruling in us; dealing with one another in that judgment, dealing with the world in that judgment, praying in that judgment. This is what the Lord desires.

One last thing, looking at the judgment of mercy. That Ark of The Covenant - entering through the veil; the veil being done away in Christ, the prayer being answered. ‘Father, that they may be where I am, that they may behold my glory, that they may be one in us.’ The prayer is answered, the veil is done away - THE CROSS! Coming now to know Him as The Resurrection. This is The I AM - I AM the door, I AM the Way, the Truth, the Life - now it’s all summed up - I AM The RESURRECTION. What a judgment - it’s the judgment of The Ark of The Covenant. It is the judgment of mercy; herein is the mercy of God. Look at Hebrews 2:9,10. We must understand that the writer of Hebrews is doing what we’ve been doing here: he is comparing the pattern with the reality. All the way through that book - a better word, a better sacrifice, a better priesthood, a better tabernacle, a better mountain. All the way through that book he is showing us the pattern and then the fulfillment. That’s what we’re doing. "But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower (lower for a little while) than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man."Do you remember I said the first altar, the altar of His death, the brazen altar is the judgment of grace? The grace of God is in His death. Do you see this scripture, that He by the grace of God should taste death for every man. The judgment of grace is in His death. We’ve said that, but it goes on. " For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings." What is the purpose of His sufferings?

First of all, what is His sufferings? He suffered and died, He suffered death, He suffered burial, that He might come forth in resurrection and bring many sons with Him. The purpose of it all is to bring many sons unto glory, to bring many sons into the Father’s House, to bring many sons into the bosom of the Father, to bring many sons in Christ Jesus. You are quickened together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. This is the purpose of Our Great High Priest. Why? Look at verse 11, " For both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one..." Both he that sanctifieth - that’s Christ, and they who are sanctified - that’s us; are all of one. How so? By His death, burial, resurrection! Remember the prayer? "Father, that they might be one, as we are one - Me in You, You in Me, and they in Us": they made One, so that now He who sanctifies and they who are sanctified are One - One Body, One Head, One New Man, One New Creation!

Because of that, look at the last part of the verse, "...for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren." Because we are One with Him, because we have come by His death, burial and resurrection, He’s not ashamed to call us brethren; He’s not ashamed to say they are Mine, they are One with Me, this is My Body, I have brought them through My death, My burial, My resurrection - they are My Body, I’m not ashamed, they are One with Me! There is no shame in the Holy of Holies. Why? Because there no flesh glories in His presence, there He is the glory, there we behold Him and are changed into that same image, from glory to glory by the Spirit of the Lord. No shame in the Holy of Holies. There He appears, and he appears in us, and He takes away the shame, He brings us to the understanding that He is our Life, and we have no life but Him. He shows to us the Divine Mercy of God! Here is the mercy of God - that we are in Him and He is made unto us - all things! Here is the mercy of God - that Christ is in God, that The Father is in The Son, and that we dwell in Him, that in Him we are One according to His words, Father, that they may be One, even as we are One. Here is God’s mercy!

May God open our eyes, for we are still looking for that which is now fulfilled in Christ. Too many of our prayers are not in truth, but in the fantasy of our own carnal minds. I hear Christians pray that way all the time. Tell me something: here’s a brother, and he needs a certain thing. So you give that certain thing to him. But then in a little while, that brother is praying and you come to pray with him. Now you think that he would be offering up thanksgiving, but when you kneel by him, you hear him praying and he is still praying, crying out to God, beating the altar for the very thing you just gave him! As though he never received it! What would you think about that man? You would think about him what the Lord thinks about most of us. Why do they still pray for the very thing I have given them? Why do they not receive it and express it in all the earth, with joy and thanksgiving? Why do they pray like heathen, why do they not pray in truth, in thanksgiving? Most Christians do not understand The Finished Work. We do not understand the whole pattern is fulfilled in Christ. We are to give expression of that reality in all of the earth. To most of us Salvation is very small, but in reality Our Great High Priest has brought us into a Great Salvation!

The pattern speaks of it; Christ fulfilled it; you and I are to manifest it. When will we manifest it? When Christ, who fulfilled it, is revealed in us; when we truly know Him in His death as the grace of God; when we are truly buried with Him and know Him in truth; and when our eyes are lifted up and He appears in His glory, and we know Him in the power of His resurrection. This is the ministry, the true ministry of the Holy Spirit. If we will allow the Holy Spirit to minister to us and to minister in us, He would do so according to the pattern, He would do so according to the fulfillment. He would bring us to these judgments, He would bring us to this understanding. He would reveal The Son and we would give Him manifestation in all of the earth! Our purpose has been to look at the pattern, to search the scripture and to relate it to Christ. But the greater purpose will only be found by those who allow the Holy Spirit to reveal The Son in you. Then you will find the true purpose of this time of study, and your lives will never be the same, your ministry will never be the same.

My prayer for you and me is just this: Father, reveal Thy Son in me, that according to His prayer I may know Him, that You may be glorified, and that the world may know that Thou hast sent Thy Son. Blessed be the Lord God! These things must be shared because they are finished and we must not ignore what is finished. We must not let it slip by, but rather enter into the very fulness of God in Christ Jesus. Amen and Amen!