Worship Study

[russhutto]

I'm opening this thread as a "study" on worship. Please feel free to add any thoughts or insights you might have. This thread is meant to be very scripture based, and not so much "opinion" oriented. However, I can't talk, type, read, or act without some of my "self" coming through. That being said, this study has helped me to approach "worship" in a meaningful, "big picture" way and I hope it does for you as well.

Study begins in next post.

[russhutto]

"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." (Exodus 25:8-9)

Nutshell: The Tabernacle was the place where God's presence rested. The word tabernacle roughly means to lodge over night. It was a temporary foreshadowing of God's eternal "meeting with us" through Jesus Christ. God told Moses to build a place for Him, so that He could meet with the people and with Moses. The inner place of the tabernacle is also called the "Tent of Meeting" and the Tabernacle itself, is sometimes called the "Tabernacle of Encountering."

The Tabernacle is made up of 3 distinct areas.

1) Outer Courts: The most public of the 3 areas. (outside)
2) The Holy Place (through the first curtain, inside the Tent)
3) The Holy of Holies (through the second curtain, inside the Tent)

The Tabernacle layout and the "approach" to the Holy of Holies is a beautiful picture of a lifestyle of worship. But, more importantly, it points to Jesus Christ.

In the Old Testament, the Tabernacle was designed by God to bring an awareness to the worshiper of God's holiness, and in that, bringing them an awareness of their own sinfulness. When an Israelite recognized that he had sinned, and that this separated him from his God, if he wanted to be forgiven he made his way to the God appointed place, the Tabernacle.

For us, today, it paints a wonderful picture of Jesus Christ being the "way" to that forgiveness. We don't find forgiveness in daily ritual or animal blood sacrifice, but through ONE sacrifice, that of Jesus Christ, in which He laid His life down for every man and woman.

This, however, doesn't mean that we can't look at the practices of Tabernacle worship and glean meaningful insights from Scripture.

In the next post, we'll talk about the GATES OF THE TABERNACLE.

[russhutto]

For the entrance to the courtyard, make a curtain that is 30 feet long. Make it from finely woven linen, and decorate it with beautiful embroidery in blue, purple, and scarlet thread. Support it with four posts, each securely set in its own base. (Exodus 27:16)

The entire complex was surrounded by a 7.5 feet tall white linen barrier except at the Gate. This kept all from just casually entering and wandering around the Tabernacle.

The worshiper would approach and be dazzled by the beautiful colors of the only entrance into the courtyard. The curtain which hung from this gate was identical to the one found on the door to the Tabernacle building.

Whether a sinner seeking forgiveness, or a priest ministering, all had to enter through the one gate.

Jesus revealed himself as the only "entrance" to God. The beautiful colors represent the beauty of Christ. The white linen barrier that surrounded the Tabernacle represents the righteousness of God, with only one gateway, the Blood of Jesus. No man could "get to God" because of the white linen barrier. We cannot truly worship God without going through the gate of Jesus Christ.

John 14:6 Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me."

Jesus, being the righteousness of God, keeps men from God, just as He is the only way to God. By that I mean, that Jesus Christ is the perfect standard by which God judges by. He came to fulfill the Law, which He did perfectly by living a sinless life. Mankind's righteousness appears as a filthy rag to God. The word picture here denotes the used menstrual garment of a woman. When we approach God WITHOUT Jesus we are filthy and useless. But when we approach THROUGH Jesus we become the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. God then sees His own righteousness instead of ours, and we are allowed to freely enter.

On a side note, the tribe of Judah's camping position was on the eastern side of the Tabernacle, where the only gate was. Judah typically represents praise. This also means that as the worshiper entered into the complex, they would pass by the tents of Judah, or praise.

Also, white linen typically represents the garments of the Bride of Christ. We, the Bride of Christ are wrapped in garments of God's righteousness. (Rev. 19 (http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Rev%2019;&version=31;))

[russhutto]

Exodus 27:1-5 (http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ex%2027:1-5;&version=31;)

This would be the first thing you would see and come to as you entered through the gates. This was where the worshiper would come to be forgiven of sin.

The worshiper would bring an animal that took his place, which would be violently killed, spilling the blood into a basin. It seemed incredibly cruel, but the intense visual would remain with the worshiper as it painted a clear picture of the wages of sin. Blood had to be spilled for the forgiveness of sins.

Also, there would be a clear understanding of a substitute sacrifice, before the animal was killed the "sinner" would place his hands on the head of the animal and "transfer" his sins to the animal. Again, we don't necessarily understand that in our day and time, but the symbolism is extremely straight forward. An innocent animal has the worshipers sins transferred to it, and then pays the ultimate price for those sins, death.

The blood of the animal (the sacrificial system) would suffice or cover sins until the Blood of God's Son, Jesus, was spilled to, once and for all, cover the sins of mankind.

For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. (1 Peter 1:19)

The animal would then be burned upon the altar. Jesus, Himself, bore the fire of God's wrath on the altar of sacrifice. He willingly gave His life as that substitute sacrifice for you and me (1 John 3:16 (http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20John%203:16;&version=31;)).

The Altar has many facets and can be studied much more deeply than this, but I wanted to just provide a summary study. The bottom line is that the bronze altar points to our ultimate need for Jesus, and as we enter into relationship with God through His sacrifice, we learn to lay our lives down for Him and for others.

[russhutto]

Exodus 30:17-21 (http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ex%2030:17-21;&version=31;)

The bronze laver was made from the bronze mirrors of the women of Israel. It would be the second thing you would see, and as a priest, it would be the second thing you could approach.

The laver was not for everyone, only the tribe of Levi, or the appointed priests, could use it. It was created so the priests could wash their hands and feet while ministering in the Tabernacle complex. They were commanded to wash continuously throughout their service.

The laver was positioned in between the altar of sacrifice (bronze altar) and the door to the Holy Place. God would be approached by the way of sacrifice (blood) and then cleansing (water). The priest would stop by the altar and sacrifice for his sins as would any Israelite. He would then move to the laver where he would prepare himself for service, either at the altar of sacrifice, or in the Holy Place.

As the priest approached the Holy Place, where there were vessels of worship that represented God himself, he dare not be unclean. Priests (and all of Israel) were commanded by God to "Be holy, as I am holy."

The priest also washed on the way out. After ministering in God's presence, he would then visit the laver again.

Symbolism:

a) Washing of the hands - this represented what they did, their work, their service and ministry, and everything they put their hands to.
b) Washing of the feet - this represented where they went, how they walked, their ways, and basically who they were.

The bronze altar points to the death (sacrifice) of Jesus. Blood taken represents death. The bronze laver points to the life of Jesus. Water speaks of life given.

Jesus is Life. The living Word of God, Jesus, is Life. Jesus says that we are clean because of His Word. Just as the priests would wash their hands and feet while coming into the presence of God (gold) and when going back into the world (bronze), the Word of God cleanses us from the corruption of the world. Physical water brings natural life, and Spiritual Water (through Jesus) brings God's eternal spiritual life.

Ezekiel 36:25-27 "Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them."

John 15:3 "You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you."

Titus 3:5 "...not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit..."

Hebrews 10:22 "Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water."

John 7:38 "He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water."

The beautiful picture that we need to grasp is although the common Israelite could not approach the laver, WE CAN! Through Jesus Christ we have all become servant priests ministering to God and others through and in the power of God. So, we need to know that as worshipers we are not only coming before God to "get rid of" our sins, but also to minister reconciliation and forgiveness to others while ministering in reverent adoration and worship to God Himself.

[russhutto]

The Tent itself was a very symbolic structure. On the outside it was covered by four different types of "curtains" or coverings (Exodus 26:1-14 (http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ex%2026:1-14&version=31)).

1) Finely woven linen with blue, purple, and scarlet thread woven throughout. 10 of these were all joined together and made ONE large covering that enclosed the entire structure. It was attached with gold clasps

It may be a symbolic representation of Jesus' prayer: "I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one." (John 17:20-22) - as the separate curtains are joined together to make one.

There were also cherubim, representatives of God's righteousness and holiness woven into the walls on these curtains (on the inside). When the priests performed ministry within the Holy Place, they were always reminded of God's holiness by seeing the Cherubim.

2) Goats hair. This covering was slightly larger. It was attached using bronze clasps. This points to Jesus as the scapegoat. Once a year ALL the sins of the nation of Israel were transferred to a "scapegoat" who was then led out into the desert to die. This symbolically represented the sins of the nations being forgiven and "taken away" by a substitute or a scapegoat.

3) Ram's skin dyed red. This 3rd covering was the first of the 2 outer weather proof coverings. Rams were used for sacrifice. We see this in the account of Abraham and Isaac (http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=1&chapter=22&version=31). This points to Jesus as our substitute as well, just as the ram was the substitute for Isaac when Abraham was lifting the knife.

4) Badger skins. Did I just say badger skins? Yes. The final covering was made of badges skins. These might have been actual badger skins, but also might have been the skins of sea cows (dugongs) which at the time were commonplace swimming along the shores of the Red Sea.

The reader of these accounts may think of the outer covering as weird or even ugly. As the passerby during the time might have as well. But this outer covering has an extremely profound significance symbolically. The outer appearance of the tabernacle would have been dull, plain, and even ugly, especially when compared to the beautifully woven inner layers. But as you notice, when going from inside to out, the progression goes from very beautiful to unattractive.

Symbolically this works on 2 different levels. A simple explanation could be that the further from God's presence we get the less beauty we find. And that as we move closer and closer to the "center" of where God is, we find more and more beauty.

Also, this points to Jesus in that He was a typical Jewish man, who probably looked no different than any other man. We do know that he had a beard, because it was plucked out, but as we see these 4 coverings of the Tabernacle we see that on the outside, to the normal eye one couldn't imagine the depth of beauty and holiness on the inside. We see this as well when Jesus walks the earth. Sure there were people who recognized that He was the Son of God, but most people saw only what was on the outside, a common Jewish man of a common family.

Isaiah 53:2-3 "For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, and as a root out of dry ground. He has no form or comeliness; and when we see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him. He is despised and rejected by men, a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; he was despised, and we did not esteem Him."