Lesson #38

EXODUS
Lesson #38
THE STUDY OF THE TABERNACLE: CONSECRATION AND DEDICATION

• Memory Verse: Heb 9:22

• In this lesson we come to the conclusion of our study of the tabernacle and the priesthood. We have just one more aspect of the priesthood to discuss that the book of Exodus brings to our attention. Before we discuss that single aspect of the priesthood, we need a review.
• Review:
• We have examined with great detail many Old Testament prefigures that relate to us today.
• We spent many weeks studying the details of the Old Testament tabernacle.
• We saw how the Old Testament tabernacle was a model of the heavenly sanctuary where God’s throne is located.
• We saw how the tabernacle prefigured the person and work of Jesus Christ.
• We saw how the tabernacle prefigured the church and the individual Christian in the body of Christ.
• We learned about how God views the believer and what He expects from us.
• We spent a few weeks discussing the Old Testament priesthood.
• We learned that the Old Testament high priest was a prefigure of Jesus Christ.
• We learned that the details of the clothing of the high priest help us to understand the work of Christ in our present age, where Jesus is our High Priest who makes intercession for us.
• We learned through the study of the tabernacle and the study of the priesthood that the Old Testament animal sacrifices prefigured the crucifixion of Jesus Christ as our sacrifice for sin.
• We studied the Old Testament priests and how believers in Jesus Christ are a royal priesthood in this age of grace today. (1Pet 2:5,9)
• Therefore, there is much to learn from the Old Testament priesthood that relates to our responsibility before God to be New Testament priests of reconciliation. (2Cor 5:18)

• The Cleansing by the Ashes of the Red Heifer
• Read Num 19:1-22
• This sacrifice gives us another prefigure of Christ.
• This sacrifice was used for cleansing for anyone who came into contact with a dead person.
• The sacrifice is a prefigure of Christ who cleanses us from spiritual death.
• This sacrifice was used for cleansing the priests and the tabernacle and later the temple.
• The ceremony:
• The priests washed his hands over the red heifer in the same way that Pilate washed his hands of the blood guilt of Christ in Mat 27:24.
• The red heifer was beheaded outside the camp. This action symbolized sin being taken outside the community of believers.
• In the same way, Jesus became sin for us and died outside the city of Jerusalem.
• The high priest sprinkled the blood in front of the tabernacle 7 times.
• Number 7 is God’s number of completion or perfection.
• The entire animal was burned as a burnt offering.
• The burnt offering was the primary offering and represented the person of Jesus Christ, the supreme sacrifice. (Lev 1)
• Cedar wood, hyssop, and scarlet were cast into the fire.
• Cedar is the tallest tree and symbolizes the Deity of Christ.
• Hyssop is the lowest of herbs and symbolizes the humanity of Christ.
• Scarlet symbolizes the shed blood of Christ.
• The priest washed himself and his clothes.
• Ashes from the burned red heifer were mixed with water and kept outside the camp for future cleansing.
• Ashes symbolize a finished sacrifice, complete and acceptable to God. Christ is our finished sacrifice, fully acceptable to God.
• The Consecration of Priests
• The consecration of the high priest consisted of 9 specific acts (Lev 8:7-9), and the consecration of the priests consisted of 3 specific acts. It was Moses who conducted these first acts of consecration for his brother, Aaron, and the other priests from the tribe of Levi.
• The Old Testament priests were sinful humans just as we are. They needed their sins taken away before they could perform their priestly duties as intermediaries between man and God.
• Before a person can fulfill his responsibility as a New Testament priest of reconciliation, he needs his sins forgiven.
• Read Exo 29:1-4
• What does the word, consecration, mean?
• Consecration means = to dedicate to holiness.
• We have seen in our study of Exodus that man cannot approach a holy God. Therefore, the priests had to be made holy before they could perform their task of being intermediaries between man and God.
• The sacrifice for the Old Testament priests had to be something special, greater than the average sacrifice.
• A young bull for a sin offering:
• This was an expensive sacrifice used for the sins of the priests.
• The cost of this sacrifice tells us the importance of it.
• The washing of the sacrifice:
• They first had to wash the sacrifice to make sure it was clean before God.
• Two rams:
• One ram for a burnt offering.
• One ram for consecration.
• The sacrifice for the New Testament priests is something special, Jesus Christ, the Son of the Living God. His blood is greater than the blood of bulls and goats.
• Read Tit 3:5
• Believers are washed and regenerated through the blood of Christ.
• Consecration is not something believers do on their own as the Old Testament priests did. Regeneration is automatic when one is born again in Jesus Christ.
• This is the beautiful aspect we see prefigured in this chapter of Exodus. God sees the believer in Christ as immediately holy, consecrated to God. He does not see us with destroyed lives, still struggling to live the Christian life. To God we are immediately holy.
• However, the believer must dedicate himself to the holiness in which God has called us.
• Read Exo 29:5-14
• The anointing with oil:
• Oil symbolizes the Holy Spirit and the anointing signifies that the priest must minister with the anointing of the Holy Spirit and not in his own strength.
• The blood from the bull on the horns of the altar
• In our study of the tabernacle, we learned that the horns on the altar of bronze were a refuge for the sinner desiring mercy.
• We all need mercy and not justice, and therefore, Christ is our refuge. He purchased this refuge of mercy for us through his blood on the cross.
• Read Exo 29:15-18
• The transference of sins to the animal.
• In many of the sacrifices in the Old Testament, we see the believer or the priest put hands on the head of the animal.
• This action is the personal identification with the animal in order to spiritually transfer the sins to the animal.
• This symbolic actions tells us that sins must be transferred to the sacrifice by personally identifying oneself with the sacrifice.
• In other words, salvation is not automatic. While Christ died for all sinners, the believer must personally identify himself with Christ by faith, believing that his sins were spiritually transferred to Christ on the cross.
• Read Exo 29:19-28 The blood of the ram of consecration:
• The blood on the tip of the right ear of all the priests:
• This action represents cleansing by blood of everything the priests heard. The priest needed a spiritual ear to hear the Word of God.
• The blood on the right thumb of all the priests:
• This action represents cleansing by blood of everything the priests did with their hands. The priest needed dedicated hands to perform their mediatorial work.
• The blood on the right toe of all the priests:
• This action represents cleansing by blood from all the places where the priest went. The priests needed a dedicated life style.
• Two special offerings are mentioned in this passage, the wave offering and the heave offering.
• The wave offering consisted of the actions of waving the offering back and forth in joy before the Lord. It is an action of rejoicing over the cleansing from sin and guilt.
• The heave offering consisted of the actions of lifting up the offering and giving it to God as an act of presentation.
• Read Exo 29:29-37
• Notice that the priests were to eat parts of the animals sacrificed for consecration with the unleavened bread.
• For the New Testament believer in Jesus Christ to maintain holiness, we must feed on Jesus Christ as the Word of God.
• The ceremony of consecration was repeated every day for 7 days with all the offerings and rituals.
• The repetition impressed upon the priests the importance of holiness before they could fulfill their duties as priests.
• The New Testament believer should be aware of the importance of holiness before he can be an effective royal priest of reconciliation between man and God.
• Read Exo 29:38-46
• The sacrifice of a lamb in the morning and a lamb in the evening was an individual sacrifice for personal sins.
• Notice that it says this is a continual sacrifice. (38)
• God wanted the Israelites to be constantly aware of their sin and their need for a substitute.
• When we read these parts of the Old Testament, we become aware of the large number of animals constantly slaughtered every day for the covering of sin.
• The drink offering was wine poured over the offering on the altar.
• The wine symbolizes fruitfulness through the presence of the Holy Spirit.
• Application:
• The fascinating aspect of this chapter is the abundance of the shedding of blood and the application of the blood.

• “And thou shalt take of the blood that is upon the altar, and of the anointing oil, and sprinkle it upon Aaron, and upon his garments, and upon his sons, and upon the garments of his sons with him: and he shall be hallowed…”

(Exo 29:21)

• We discussed previously the beautiful garments of the high priest and the clean, white robes of the priests. However, they were not holy until oil and blood was sprinkled on them.
• When the high priest took the blood into the Holy of Holies on the day of Atonement, he threw blood on everything including the beautiful cherubims covering and curtains.
• “And thou shalt receive them of their hands, and burn them upon the altar for a burnt offering, for a sweet savour before the LORD: it is an offering made by fire unto the LORD.”

(Exo 29:25)

• God says that these offerings were a sweet smell to Him.
• To man, blood has an awful smell. It stains clothing that must be removed carefully or the stain becomes a permanent. How can something so foul as blood be an agent for cleansing and pleasing to God? Man would never use blood to cleanse anything.
• The answer to this question is that God’s ways are not man’s ways.
• Read Heb 9:11-14
• Jesus Christ, our High Priest, took his own blood, the final sacrifice, into the heavenly tabernacle and sprinkled it on the mercy seat for our eternal forgiveness.
• The Significance of all the Cleansing
• A preparation to minister in holiness.
• As New Testament believers, we cannot possibly minister as priests of reconciliation without living a holy life.
• To make us a new royal priesthood.
• We need to do a better job as priests than the Old Testament priests did. A holy life is the greatest testimony to a lost world.

• The Dedication of the Tabernacle:
• Read Exo 40:1-33

HOMEWORK
EXODUS 32
This is a self-study. Please do not send homework answers to the teacher forcorrection.

• Application of the Study of the Tabernacle:
• As New Testament believers, we have learned that we are priests of reconciliation.
• How clean is your life as a priest bringing people to the Lord and bringing the Lord to other people?
• If the Holy Spirit convicts you of any sin, repent and accept the Lord’s forgiveness.
• Make a determination to walk holy with the Lord.

• Preparation of Exo 32
• Read Exo 32:1-6
• Why do you think the people fell so easily into idolatry?
• Read Exo 32:7-14
• On what basis did Moses base his prayer for mercy on behalf of the people? (12-13)
• Read Exo 32:15-20
• Of what significance was it that the people had to drink the idol mixed with water?
• Read Exo 32:21-29
• Read Exo 32:30-35
• What do you think it means to be blotted out of the book?
• Memory Verse: Psalms 13:5