The TABERNACLE : A Detailed Portrait of Jesus Christ (II)

The Sacrificial System which forshadowed the perfect salvation of Jesus` Baptism and Crucifixion
Every act of God towards human beings is done out of His love for us, but we can`t see this because we are born in sin, so we don`t understand or believe in Him correctly.
However when we read God`s Word through the lens of the gospel of the water and the Spirit, we can see that He is Just and true in all His judgements.
In the Old Testament God gave the Israelites the Law which pointed out their sins and the judgement for sins, however He did not leave them in this state.
He then established the sacrificial system which permitted them to receive the remission of their daily and yearly sins by performing the laying on of hands to transfer their sins onto a sacrifice which was then killed, and its blood shed for the atonement of their sins (Leviticus 1:1-9, 16:21).
All the details of the tabernacle from the bronze laver to the utensils and even the structure itself, all foreshadowed how Jesus would come to this world and redeem us through His baptism, death and resurrection.
As the sacrificial Lamb of God, Jesus was baptized in the form of the laying on of hands by the High Priest John the Baptist in order to receive our sins upon His body. This is why He went to the cross and shed His blood to make atonement for our sins that He received at His baptism and He rose from the dead the third day.
Now by understanding the design and the purpose of the Tabernacle in relation to the baptism and blood of Jesus, we can come to believe in and dwell in the perfect love of God by receiving the forgiveness of all our past, present and even future sins!!!
We can finally confess, without any doubt, that we have become those who are without sin by faith in His righteousness, as it is written in Isaiah 53:6,
"All we like sheep have gone astray;
We have turned, every one, to his own way;
And the Lord has laid on Him (Jesus) the iniquity of us all.
Praise be to God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ!

I want to begin this review by giving a Testimony of my experience during our last evangelism in Sidcup in Kent, England. A roman Catholic Priest came up to wish me well whilst I was ministering to a young lady who attends a very large congregation here in Britain. He claimed that he believed in Jesus Christ. In response I asked him "How do you believe in Jesus for the gift of Salvation to the Humanity." He repplied " I believe and eat the body of Jesus, and drink His blood - `the Sacrament`. I was a little puzzled by his word "eat and drink His blood", so I asked him to explain what he meant. Again he repeated "eat His body and drink His blood." In response I saked him " do you mean literally eat the flesh and drink His blood." He replied "yes, I belie4ve in Jesus." I then told him that this would infer Canibalism, and that our Lord did not teach us Canibalism, but the ingredients of the Communnion were emblems of faith - to remind true believers that the body of Jesus was broken for us because of our sins and inequities, and His blood was for the remission of our sins that are past. He paused and iterated " eat the body and drink His blood - I believe in Jesus" I told him that the bible says "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge." I went on to tell him "without proper teaching and understanding, it is impossible to believe anything." He replied " I believe the Eucharist." The young Lady whom I was ministering to iterated " you may not know how to drive a car, so you can get into a car and drive it ?" He said " I believe in Jesus because I eat His flesh and drink His blood." and he left.
From this experience I can see the teaching has error, and there may be a great many people in this world who beleive this kind of teaching, and I believe it is the resposibility of true believers who walk by the faith of the righteousness of God - the faith of the Baptism of Jesus, His blood on the cross, the Holy Spirit, and His resurrection to have sound understanding of the works of Jesus Christ our Lord to be able to correct errors propagated by the evil one through his servants. That Roman Catholic Priest stil does not know that Jesus Christ washed away all the sins of the intire world in His Baptism and poured out His blood on the Cross of Calvary for the remission of the sins of all believers of His righteous works. This experience I had with this Priest is a very good example of misbelieving in Jesus and as a consequence, the missing out of the Kingdom of God on this earth even before the physical death. This situation is very sad, however, the scripture says "No man can come to me except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day." Jn.6:44. But for us who walk by faith in the righteousness of God-the Water and the Spirit: We are not of those who draw back to perdition Because of Our sins.
In looking at the series (II) of this book we note that before the priest could enter the Holy Place he must have to visit the Brazen Laver to perform act of washing his hands and feet. This Brazen Laver was pointing to the Baptism of Jesus. This was the faith to enter the Holy place. Like wise Our Lord before His death demonstrated this faith to the disciples by the washing of their feet after the last supper. The question is why did Jesus wash the disciples feet, and why was the Brazen laver placed between the Alter of Sacrfice and the Holy place. I believe that the Brazen Laver was their to remind the priest that they were all clean, and that they only neede to confess their actual sins and to have a good conscience to perform the services they were called to minister. If the priest did not abide by this faith he would consumed by the Holiness of God.
But before seeing the reason why the Lord washed the discipes feet, let us see the words of God spoken by Jesus in Mtt.7:21-23. These kind of people who professed to have been serving Jesus will not enter the Kingdom of heavaen because the Lord did not know them whilst they claim to have been serving the Lord on the earth. The Lord also says that they practiced lawlessness - unrighteousness. What does the Lord mean by saying they "practsed unrighteousness". This means they did not walk by the faith of the righteousness of God; so all they did was to misbelieve the gospels by rejecting Jn.3:5, and not understanding Mtt.3:13-15. They did not believe that Jesus came by water and Blood but preached only the blood of Jesus and not all the works of Jesus cantained in the gospel of the water and the Spirit; henc they subtract from the word of God and add their human thinking to the word of truth. We know what the word of God says about people who preach such errors. Gal.1;6-10.
Mtt.13:1-11 is the account of our Lord washing the disciples` feet after the passover feast. However, Peter did not want the Lord to wash his feet because he believed Jesus was the son of God, and he could not imagine himself who should be performing this service for the Lord to even think of the Lord to wash his feet. However, when the Lord told him "If I do not wash you, you have no part with" Jn.13:8. I believe Peter was so struck by the fearful thought of not having anything to do with the son of God from that moment and throughout his life on the earth and in the eternity, before he allowed the Lord to wash him. I believe that our Lord wanted Peter and the rest of the disciples to know and understand the kind of faith needed to be Gopd`s children and servants throughout the lives of believers on this earth. The Lord of cause told them that they would not understant why He was washing their feet, but that they will understand after this. Of cause this understanding was to come after the Lord ascended to heavaen and sat at the right hand of the Throne of God. The revelation of this truth came to the disciples after they received the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. This revelation is none other than to know that the faith of the baptism of our Lord washed our sins away once and for all times. However, our actual sins throughout our lives on this earth are remitted by puting our faith on the Baptism of Jesus and His blood on the cross, for the scripture says "without the shedding of Blood there is no remission. The reason being that because of the weaknessess inherant in the humanity the disciples and even all of us who are born of the faith of the water and the Spirit would continue to sin daily throughout our lives on this earth; the Lord wants us to walk by the faith that he has washed all our trasngretions and inequities away in His Baptism and paid the wages of sins with His life by dying on the cross after His Baptism. If we do not walk by this faith we shall be spiritually killed and will not be able to preach the gospel to save those that are perishing.
What therefore is the first lesson we gain from the Taberncle. It is that at the gate of the court of the Tabernacle, if we approach the gate of the court of God with sin in our heart, we face condemnation. However, our Lord came and was baptised by John the Baptist by the laying on of hands and made all our sins to disappear all at once. What was the benefit the baptism of Jesus and His blood on the cross? We know that Peter denied the Lord tree times and this was actual sin that Peter committed; but he was already washed becaused he believed according to the righteousness of God enshrined in the water and the spirit and unlike Judas Iscariot Peter did not draw back to perdition like Judas who did not believe in the water and the Spirit. The question is are we not like Peter, who denied the Lord three times but came to realise why the Lord had to wash his feet and did not draw back to perdition because his faith was strengthen by the Lord through the Helper and the Comforter, the Holy Spirit and continued powerfully in the work of the Ministry strenghtening the churches despite the harship and persecutions and endurance until he was matyred. Do we due to our weaknesses not sin daily even without realising we are sinning and committing inequities? Let us continue to abide in Christ by the faith of the Water and the Spirit for the Lord to use us powerfully in the Ministry of the Holy Ghost. A-men