 Okay, welcome everyone to the worship ministry course trust you all are doing well, and I hope you've been learning something from the course Just to do a quick recap of what we've covered so far We started from the life of Abraham studied about how he was the man of altars and what God expects of us and Then we very briefly saw about how Worship was organized in the temple of Solomon and And prior to the exile and also how worship was organized after the exile and then very briefly So how worship was organized in the New Testament times and synagogues and And what the Psalms have to teach us about worship, right? So with that covered I want us to go back to the Old Testament a little bit and thought we could just Take not too deep a look but in a slightly deeper look at the tabernacle of Moses and how it was organized and why it's crucial For all of us to understand the importance and the significance of it and also the importance of the tabernacle back in their time, right? So can we go ahead? Yeah alright But what are some things that you can Share about the tabernacle of Moses that what are some other things that you know That kind of stands out to you that has stood out to you if you've studied about it before anyone this Yes, Charles, please go ahead Oh, thank you so much About the tabernacle are you I deserve that worship and formal sacrifice was very crucial and It was organized Everyone knew what to do for each particular Sacrifice as they were shipped to God because they knew That they could do not access God the Shekinah glory of This kind of growth could not come down if there was anything In in around the area, so they had it fast glues themselves And then this kind of glory would appear when there is a nursing in the camp. Thank you Yeah, thank you Charles. Yes What else anyone else Thanks, it's the place of sacrifice and worship. Thank you. I sure for sharing that someone was saying something Can I say something sir sure? God for the first time wanted to Well among his he wanted to know them that he wanted to dwell with them with the people of Israel Thank you. Thank you Yeah, thank you You wanted to dwell with them for the first time, okay? Come guys. Oh, what does I mean? whatever you've heard or know about the tabernacle anything anyone Right, okay, I'm still waiting anyone Testimony and communion says Arshab Say one more thing not only the Is it not only Moses and priests everyone had access to approach God in that tabernacle according to Exodus 33 we see where They all come out of the tents when they saw Moses going towards that Tabernacle the tent baby. He met God So everyone access that is a great thing. Thank you sir. Thank you I'm shake says once here high priest went into the holy of all these Yes You know that though it is a note recorded that this people are singing and Doing the worship we are seeing today, but you will be see the order would give me the That part that contains the food the content the furniture Order you find that everything was ordered. So even when we come to the Yes, I think a good old order so I am seeing worship Something that would be orderly Yeah, thank you chance. Yeah order. Yeah, everything was an order obedience and intimacy Forget for the forgiveness of sins of Messiah the obedience and intimacy. Yeah, I think that's Christopher anything Shreya come on whatever to prove his love and faithfulness and as everyone said the intimacy I believe and Also, I believe that He wants he also said in the book of In the Exodus and in the Deuteronomy that When you follow me, you will be the wisest people on the planet earth. So I believe that God just not want us to you know to to to have just a fellowship But because of that fellowship, God wants us to be very peculiar kind of a people on the planet earth like everybody No, God wants us to display his glory through us. That's something. Thank you. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you Shreya. Yeah, I Like the interesting choice of words to display his love and faithfulness Yeah, okay But so let's just I want to start the tabernacle actually from Let's go to Genesis chapter three, okay Let's go to Genesis chapter three Pupus of nose and region. Thank you Genesis chapter three verse eight You know, I want to start the tabernacle from here Genesis chapter three verse eight it says then the man and his wife heard The sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day By now, we know what has happened, right? They heard the Lord as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day They hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden In verse 10, he answered I heard you in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked. So I hid So I hid they hid from the Lord For the first time For the first time in their history From fellowship and communion because of sin They hid from the Lord for the first time. There is a disconnect like a dislocated shoulder You know sin separated Right sin separated them from God, right? And so from there on about From somewhere from this time Till about somewhere in exodus chapter 25 exodus chapter 25 There was no abiding place for God. There was no resting place and The historians and scholars say it's the time span is about 2500 years From the time of Adam from the time of fall and somewhere in exodus 25 For about 2500 years, you would know and then between the gap you would see a lot of characters I mean you can think of a lot of characters and stories that has happened, right taking place from Noah, Abraham and Isaac, Jacob Joseph as well And that's when we come so a lot has happened and on then you would see, okay There would be visitations, right? God would visit the people but there was no resting place That's what sin had done is sin basically it separates us, right in Ephesians chapter 2 We see that we were separated. We were dead in sin It says the Bible says And so as soon as sin entered Our spirit man was separated from God's spirit, right? We were set apart. We were separated and there was a disconnect that happened And that's why so when we when we die what happens is our spirit is separated from our body, isn't it? and And when we read John chapter 3 verse 16 the famous verse everybody knows You know whoever believes shall not perish but have eternal life right now eternal life is not uh It's not the longevity of it, but it's I am reconnect my spirit is reconnected with the spirit of God when I accept accepted him as my lord and save it because Regardless of after your physical death, you are going to continue to exist either in hell or in heaven every So eternal life is not about the longevity of your existence. You're going to continue to exist Either of the places, but it's about your spirit being reunited with the spirit of God And but originally that's exactly what happened in Genesis chapter 3 is that our spirit we were separated We hid ourselves. That's what sin makes us want to do and for the longest time Uh, the humanity didn't feel like you know Felt like they were doing okay without his presence being separated from him being without a dwelling place and whatnot And finally after everything that happens in the book of exodus when we come to chapter 25 uh, then we see Uh, and and when you read chapter 24 you see by then, uh, israelites had uh already kind of Made a golden car for themselves. They've broken the command first commandment. Uh, and whatnot Um It says here in exodus chapter 25. I just want to read from verse one Um till verse 22. So so a lot of reading. Okay. I hope you're okay with that. Are you ready guys? I hope you have your bibles with you. Yeah, give me a thumbs up or uh Yeah, okay, so exodus chapter 25 Verse one The lord said to moses Tell the israelites to bring me an offering You are to receive the offering for me From each man Whose heart prompts him to give These are the offerings you are to receive from them gold silver and bronze blue purple and scarlet yarn and fine linen Got hair Ram skins dyed red and hides of sea cows Acacia wood olive oil for the light Spices for the anointing oil and the fragrant for the fragrant incense And onyx stones and other gems to be mounted on the ephod and breast piece Then have them make a sanctuary for me And I will dwell among them Make this tabernacle and all its furnishings exactly like the pattern I will show you Okay, so quick pause there So once they give everything that I've asked them to give uh another Here god is making the same people who gave their precious jewels Gold and whatnot to build that golden calf. He's making them give As well. Okay. You invested something into some into something false Now I want you to reinvest into something that is true Okay, and have them Make a sanctuary for me the same people who made built that golden calf now I want them to make a sanctuary For me. Okay sanctuary a holy place. Uh, we get the word Sanctuary from the greek word a latin word actually sanctus sanctus. It just remains holy, right sanctuary Uh a dwelling place another word. Okay Uh The dwelling place tabernacle. They are used interchangeably. So it simply means the same Um, but we'll see much later the significance of the choice of words there Okay, uh So verse 10 onwards have them make the chest of acacia wood two and a half cubits long and a Cubit and a half wide and a cubit and a half high overlaid with pure gold With both inside and out and make gold molding around it Cast four gold rings for it and fasten them to its four feet with two rings on one side and two rings on the other Then make poles of acacia wood and overlay them with gold Insert the poles into the ring on the sides of the chest to carry it The poles are to remain in the rings of this arc They are not to be removed Then put the arc of the testimony which I will give you Make an atonement cover which is a mercy seat Of pure gold two and a half cubits long And a cubit and a half wide and make two cherubimms. Okay um Just to fast move it fast forward. Okay verse 22. Let's come down to verse 22 Verse 21 place the cover on top of the arc and put in the arc the testimony which I will give you there above the cover Between the two cherubim that are over the arc of the testimony I will meet with you And give you all my commands for the israelites Okay, I will meet With you that's exactly what the tabernacle was. It was a meeting place for the first time in about 2500 years There is a bridge between heaven and earth where divinity is meeting, you know, a humanity Okay, well this like there are two worlds colliding And that's and you can imagine the beauty of that place and how significant how awesome it would be Now finally god has a resting place a dwelling place Okay So In your notes when we see hebrews chapter 8 verse 1 2 and 5. I'm just looking at the pdf in page 16 hebrews chapter 8 Verse 1 2 and 5 it says now this is the main point of the things we are saying We have such a high priest who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the majesty in the A minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle, which the lord erected and not man Who served the copy and shadow of the heavenly things as moses was divinely Instructed when he was about to make the tabernacle for he said See that you will make all things according to the pattern shown you on the mountain Okay, so the instruction that god gave moses Was a shadow of something that was already erected by god in the heavens Right, so it's it's a blueprint. Uh, so to speak right so Um in revelation 11 19 says then the temple of god was opened in heaven and the ark of his covenant was seen in his temple um Right, so therefore the earthly tabernacle will teach us something about the true heavenly tabernacle Okay, so that's one of the reasons why we are learning about this thing is uh, you know the question says Why are we learning about the tabernacle of moses isn't the old covenant? Uh, what's the what's the need for it? What's the you know, uh, we're in the new covenant. There's no outer courts in the courts You know, we don't need all of that But I think it's just the importance of it is The god showed moses what already exists Uh, and when you read those scriptures, uh, it says who serve the copy and a shadow of the heavenly things As moses was divinely instructed Right a minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle, which the lord erected and not man um All right, so that's one of the reasons so we now we have like a uh an understanding of why we needed the tabernacle Because of sin there was no real connection between humanity and divinity God would just god show up. There would be Visitations, uh, but there was no abiding place. There was no resting place Uh, like how it was in the garden that there there was there was communion. There was fellowship They were there were as one That since separated us, uh, that was the price of sin Yes, we come out Thank you pastor pastor, uh, I just want to know as you said, um The tabernacle is a meeting meeting place There the where the god meets, uh, the people So now, uh, as you are as you shared me this revelation 11 19 Yeah, that in that isn't the same thing is in the heaven this there's ark is at the time in the heaven So I just want to know that Why the ark of covenant is in the heaven when we are directly meeting god there the ark Why the ark of covenant is needed there? So that's my question Like in the on the earth, we know that we cannot able to meet him because of our sin Uh, but in the heaven anyway, we are with him Right do we need the ark of covenant there? I just want to know that The why it is the ark of covenant more god showed to most sorry john they are in the book of revelation. Thank you Yeah, so yeah So if you go to revelation revelation chapter 11 now, uh See the ark of the covenant represented the the presence of god the glory of god Manifest presence because that's where uh, it was his throne on earth Okay, so when we look at revelation chapter 11 Okay, I want to just read from verse 15 11 15 it says the angel sound edges trumpet and there was loud voices in heaven Which said the kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our lord and of his christ And he will reign forever and ever And the 24 elders was who were seated on their thrones before god fell on their faces and worshiped god Saying we give thanks to the law to you lord god almighty the one who is who was Because you have taken your great power and have begun to reign Okay, he's talking about a different reign Here the nations were angry and your wrath has come the time has the time has come for judging the dead And for rewarding your servants the prophets and your saints and those who reverence your name both small and great And for destroying those who destroyed the earth So so it's talking about a judgment day there right the time has come Then god's temple in heaven was opened and within his temple was seen the ark of his Covenant okay, and there came flashes of lightning rumblings peels of thunder and the and the earthquake and a great hailed Storm, okay So once again verse 19 that then god's temple in heaven Was opened and within his temple was seen the ark of his covenant Now a lot of things in the book of revelation is also what metaphoric symbolic And imagery that's being used right so as I was saying that the ark of the covenant here in the tabernacle on earth was represented His throne Right his presence so every time is relevant for war For battle and whatnot The the Levites would carry the ark of the covenant And go before them that show that the god that their god is with them Right and so this basically simply means that God is in his temple as in the images we see as was seen the ark of his covenant Within his temple was in the ark of his covenant. It's simply I mean it is the way i'm looking at it is It is his manifest presence. It is him who is there and it is him You know who's reigning from his temples. That's the way I am looking at it because and when you read And why i'm seeing that it is him is because when you read john chapter one It says in the beginning was the word and what was with god and was was called and if you come down to Verse 14 just very quickly bear with me 14 the word became the word became flesh and made his dwelling Among us Word became flesh and made his dwelling that means he dwelt among his he tabernacled Among us We have seen his glory the glory of the one and only who came from the father full of grace and truth. Okay, so The tabernacle Jesus in the new testament is what tabernacle was in the old testament So he is the tabernacle You know and he also goes on to say that among you is the one who stands a one who's greater than the tabernacle right so The ark of the covenant it just comes down to that it's the imagery of god himself being present and like you said that We are going to be with him And so yeah, that's exactly that's what it means at least for me But and if there's anything else that anybody wants to add to it Feel free to Thank you pastor. Thank you. Yeah There is anything else anybody wants to add to that? Sir, shall I just read what is given by david? Music in that the ark of the covenant. Can you hear me, sir? Yes Yes, the ark of the covenant is the symbol of god's faithfulness and bestowing grace on his people And inflicting vengeance on his people's enemies It is called the ark of his covenant in the old testament This was the earthly representation of god's throne to emphasize god's faithfulness The ark refers to god's throne the place where the previously mentioned resolution will come from In my understanding I think God's covenant which he made with man stands forever Even we can see it in eternity also and it is so Gives us so much faith and strength Yeah Remembering his faithfulness. Thank you sir. Yeah, thanks. Yeah, I think it's interesting like also initially is what I think Yeshree kumar itself shared it was a display of his love and faithfulness and One of his I mean he is the god who keeps the covenant and that's you know, that means he keeps he's faithful to what he says he's faithful to who he is because That's who he is and I'm just reminded of this verse in the psalm 85 verse 10 like about the tabernacle as in psalm 85 verse 10, I think if I'm right some memory serves me right Yeah, love and faithfulness meet together righteousness and peace they kiss each other faithfulness springs forth from the earth And righteousness looks down from heaven The lord and the lord will indeed give what is good and our land will yield its harvest Righteousness goes before him and prepares the way for his steps But just that verse 10 love and faithfulness meet together Righteousness and peace to kiss each other is this a beautiful imagery of what is happening in the meeting place And what happened in john chapter 1 verse 14? If he dwelt in the tabernacle amongst us Right Yeah, so thanks rupa. Thanks. I should come up for the question um, so first to move on um, so we we see the description of the tabernacle and we we kind of know how it was, uh, you know um erected and whatnot, but um, so just to begin Every time we mention about the tabernacle we start off with the outer courts inner courts and the holy of holy So the most holy place as we say it Right, uh, but oh we miss out one of the most a very significant part of the tabernacle is the gate Right. Um, so let me just see if I can share this screen. Um, oh Some of the pictures is I'm sure we've already seen it. These are all images just from um Google right, so you you have uh the outer courts And you in the outer courts, you have two firm pieces of furniture, which is uh, the brazen altar The brazen labor. Okay, so this is where the the animals were sacrificed Uh bronze uh altar and this is bronze labor Inside it's like a tub that was uh filled with water Inside it it was filled with uh, it was made of mirrors Okay, so like I said guys, we're not going to go in the details of how it was made and all of that Okay, but uh And then you have the uh inner courts. Um, so it's Separated by a veil and when you go in There's the table of shoe bread and uh the golden lamp stand and uh What's that the altar of incense? Right and before that, uh, and after the altar of incense there was uh, there's another veil that separated the the inner courts from the most holy place or the holy of holies Okay, and this cloud represented uh Glory of god present that his manifest presence and and how many times in the old testament be time and time and see that His glory he manifested himself in the palm of a cloud, you know When the priests worshiped and sang like the cloud filled the temple. We read that last week Uh, let's see if we can get another image This is just another image because I thought it was uh It's pretty cool to see Right, it's a wonderful imagination. Um, I'm sure it's not exactly how it looked. Okay, so It's just a wonderful imagination of people. Um Hey, it must have been um awesome, isn't it? Uh, you see Like there are all these tribes around the tabernacle Right, uh, and you see the tabernacle that uh with white, uh Hand kind of a thing But And everybody in the camp of israel knew that god was present That he wanted them to know that he was holy from every side and and then when and suddenly There seemed to be only one way To enter They couldn't enter from which, you know, any side they wanted to You know, but there was only one way To enter in Okay, um, let me stop sharing that Charles, you have a question Not a question first, but um I'm seeing that every time Every time, uh, worship would be done properly in the way He wanted it God would come And the in your last statement he said that it appears that it was only one way they entered So exactly It brings us to jesus christ that he is the only one way Are worshiping the truth here. Thank you. Yeah, thank you Thanks It is one last image and I'll pause here as we continue So another imagination of the gate, um, okay, so Uh Let's I want to call this as a place of introduction Okay, uh, we every time we talk about the type of night will be directly just talk about the outer courts inner courts and the holy of holies But and leave out the gate Uh, it's crucial. It's very very crucial. Uh, right Uh, some hundred verse four says enter his gates With thanksgiving and praise Right. Thanks is related to god's goodness. We thank and we praise him for who we is and what he has done for us Uh, you know, it is at the gate. We have a revelation of who jesus is Um, and and he says in john 14 six that I am the way The truth and life no one comes to the father except through me John 10 9 says I am the gate Whoever enters through me will be saved He will come out and go out and find pasture Right. Uh, so beautiful significance very symbolic. Uh, and as you can see the the gates were made of four different colors Uh, and initially when we read from exodus chapter 25, we see that god telling Telling them to bring very specific gifts, isn't it? He he didn't say that okay Just go ahead and give me whatever you feel like giving uh and make the sanctuary The way you want to build it uh with any color or with anything that you see it fit And whatnot. So he was very specific. He was very clear, isn't it? Okay, bring me gold. Bring me silver. Bring me bronze Uh, blue purple and scarlet yarn and fine linen gold hair and skin dyed red and the hides of sea cows acacia would uh, so detailed. Uh, it's uh, it's like, you know, talk about A person, you know Who knows what they want? They god clearly knew, uh, you know, what he wanted and what he wanted them to bring Um Right. So as you can see the gate was made of four colors. Uh, and very very quickly, uh, you know You can study about colors, uh, as in the biblical meaning behind it. It's it's it's a broader study of, uh, biblical hermeneutics Because hermeneutics is yeah, you you study about the text, uh, you know the different forms of communication, right? So there's about Symbolism is just another form of hermeneutics in a way A non-verbal communications. Uh, and god seems to use that time and time again. We see that in In the language of the bible all the time, isn't it? Uh, we call Jesus as the lamb of god, uh You know the lamb that was crucified. Uh, so that doesn't mean you know, jesus became a sheep you know, it's uh It's a symbol, isn't it? And every time you see a rainbow god uses rainbow say hey, that's a symbol That means i'm a covenant keeping god and you will remember my faithfulness my goodness uh and and whatnot so Uh, when you can i'm not going to turn this class into a Studying the colors kind of a constant whatnot, but I would encourage you to uh When you find the time to study about the biblical meaning uh interpretation of the colors and hope Oh god you said but so here we see that the gate is made up of four different colors blue purple scarlet uh and fine-tuned linen uh So blue represents heavenly things uh the divinity In ezekiel chapter one verse 26 ezekiel one verse 26. Uh, it says Uh and above the firmament Uh over their heads was like was the likeness of a throne In appearance like a sapphire stone On the likeness of the throne was likeness with the appearance of a man high above it. Okay sapphire stone Uh in other scriptures exodus 24 verse 10 it says and they saw the god of israel There was under his feet As it were a payment of sapphire stone Okay, like the very heaven of clearance so Uh blue represents the divinity divinity heavenly things uh purple is a color of royalty, you know that uh It all these uh white scarlet is the color of blood red uh and white is pure You know, uh perfection Without spot and blemish it's another symbol, right? As you understand the symbols, right? I mean in modern day, you know, what some couples uh When they have to reveal the gender of the kids, uh, at least not in india abroad, you know, I think blue stands for a boy pink circle girl, I think I'll be wrong. Okay, uh But yeah, okay um So that's the thing. Okay, when you say purple was a color is a color of royalty. Uh, You don't see any kings coming up with a pink robe and stuff like that. Everybody comes has a purple robe and whatnot some of the historian scholars refer to these colors for colors of gates to the four gospels And rightly so because in the book of matthews the gospel matthews we see Jesus is presented as the king of the jews, uh, right purple and In luke we see that he is The friend of sinners a suffering and a dying king And mark we see that he is a perfect and a sinless Man and in in john we see that he is a son of god which represents blueies You know divinity So at the gate we are introduced to jesus, uh, you know, we encounter him Uh, and sometimes what happens is it is possible for us to just to get to know him and give him our life And go back and not go deeper. So this whole journey of the tabernacle is Uh, is just going deeper into uh level of intimacy in knowing Our king right so Stop this uh sharing It's so after the gate we are introduced to the outer court And in the outer court, uh, we know there are two pieces of furniture one is the brazen altar It says an exodus 27 Plus one and two you shall make an altar of acacia wood Five cubits long and five cubits wide the altar shall be square and its height shall be three cubits You shall make its horns on its four corners Its horns shall be of one piece with it and you shall overlay it with bronze Okay, so this altar or the brazen altar was the altar of sacrifice right it was When someone had committed a sin and what not they would you know The procedure with the process was that they would come and bring a spotless lamb Who will take their place on the altar? Okay, and uh, it's it's not like, okay, they would come this give this lamb sacrificial lamb and then they go away So they will have to stand there Once it's bled They will have to watch, uh, you know that until the sacrifice is done because it reminds them that I should should have been them On the altar, but an innocent lamb is taking their place Uh, so the altar is a place of sacrifice. It is uh the place of surrender and then It's also a some symbolic of the cross The jesus is our ultimate sacrifice where he laid down. Uh, he you know, he surrendered himself to the will of his father Uh, right and then he doesn't stop there. We are called Uh, and as we read in roman chapter 12 verse one We are called to live our life to offer ourselves as living sacrifices Take up our cross just as jesus did and so This is a symbolic of the cross and it's It's where reconciliation happens Right at the gate. We are introduced, uh to jesus of who he is we encounter him And then we encounter him at the cross, uh as well, you know, it's a place of reconciliation where we know that we are reconciled uh with the father right Uh, he bruised chapter 13 verse 15 and 16 at the bottom of page 17 says therefore By him let us continually offer the sacrifices of praise to god That is the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name But do not forget to do good and to share For with such sacrifices god is well pleased. Okay, most of the time we stop at this Okay, a praise to god that is the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name full stop. We stopped there Uh, but what continues, uh, which is also, uh, you know acknowledged as worship is but do not forget to do good and to share For with such sacrifices god is well pleased uh, right so One of the things about sacrifice which we've learned in the first year is Is not just giving up But uh something but it's also taking on something Right, so most of the times when we say sacrifice is oh, I'm giving up something. I'm sacrificing this so I can do this you know, I'm sacrificing uh my time of Just playing football with my friends so I can be with my family You get an idea right so what the sacrifice is But it also it's not just about giving up something but it's also means taking on something When it says do good When someone wants to uh, you know Like go with they want you to go with them for a mile you go an extra mile with them You don't have to But then you do you take you take it on right so that is also Sacrifice as well which we are encouraged to do so The altar the brazen altar is a place of reconciliation. It's uh where we meet jesus at the cross and we are encouraged to To offer up us our bodies as living sacrifices wholly and acceptable to god right so And then uh, okay, so I think we're out of time Right, I'll pause here and we'll resume after the break the second session All right You guys have a good break and I'll see you in 10 minutes