In this sermon, the speaker discusses the story of Samuel and his encounters with God. Samuel, as a young boy, heard his name being called multiple times and went to Eli, the high priest, thinking it was him. However, Eli told Samuel that he did not call him and instructed him to go back to bed. This happened a second time before Eli realized that it was God calling Samuel. The speaker also mentions the significance of the lights that were to be kept burning in the temple and the story of Judas Maccabeus and the Syrian host. Additionally, the speaker explains the importance of the materials used in the construction of the tabernacle and the high priest's role in entering the presence of God.

Let's turn now in our Bibles to Exodus chapter 26. Now when we got into the 25th chapter of the book of Exodus, we began with the construction of the tabernacle, and first of all, God informed him concerning the furnishings that were to be in the tabernacle. And so in chapter 29, it is described for Moses how that the Ark of the Covenant is to be built, its dimensions. The mercy seat, which was the lid on the Ark of the Covenant with a two-carved cherubim. And then the furnishings for the outer holy place of the temple were to be a lampstand with seven lamps, the table, which was to have twelve loaves of bread kept on it, and then the altar of incense. Now we, as we get into chapter 26, begin the construction of the tabernacle itself. And first of all, the Lord gives instructions to these curtains that are to be over the top. Now, the tabernacle is really a tent, and thus you've got to picture it in your mind sort of as a tent. And first of all, he describes the curtains that go over the top of this tent. The bottom curtain, and there are three layers of curtains actually, and the bottom curtain is to be made of linen. And they are to take ten curtains of fine twine linen, blue, purple, scarlet, with cherubims and cunning work shalt thou make them. And the length of one curtain shall be twenty-eight cubits, or forty-two feet, and the breadth would be four cubits, or six feet, and all of the curtains are to be the same measurement. Then they are to take five of the curtains and couple them together, so that five would be sewed together, which makes now a curtain of thirty feet by forty-two feet. And so you have two then large curtains of linen. Now the interior part has got all of these neat little embroidery cherubims and fancy needlework, so that as you go into the tabernacle and you look up, you see all of these cherubim that have been woven into the fabric of this linen. Remember this is a model of heaven. Heaven is filled with angels. And so the idea of going into the tabernacle and the consciousness of the presence of the angels of God that are there in heaven. So the cherubim are all sewn in in fine needlework in this linen curtain. Then the curtains were to have these golden rings sewed on them, the loops of blue on the edge of one curtain at the selvage, a coupling like you shall make, and they were to make these loops and then these golden tacks, fifty loops and then these golden tacks, and they were to be tacked together at this loop, so that you ultimately end up with one curtain that can be taken apart and folded into the two. Now you get the idea? It is actually there to be two large curtains, thirty feet by forty-two feet, but yet they are to have these fifty loops and then golden tacks by which the loops are held together, so that when they put it over the top of the tabernacle, it makes one large curtain. But the tabernacle is to be a portable building. It is to move whenever they move. And so the thing all has to be made so that it is portable, so that it can be taken down and carried away. And just one curtain, sixty by forty-two, would be much too large to try to move. So it is clipped together in the middle so that they can take it apart and then move on with it when God indicated that it was time to move. Everything was portable. You remember when they made the ark, they had the gold rings on it and then these pieces of acacia wood overlaid with gold that went through the rings. They weren't to touch it, but the porters could just pick up the staves and they carried the ark between them. The same was true on the table of showbread. And it was all made so that it was portable. They could move it from place to place. And so it really is a well-designed, portable building that was the tent, the tabernacle, the place, and it means the place of meeting. It was where the people were to meet God. Now, somehow, along the line in history, we've gotten a wrong concept that the church is God's house. The church is not God's house. God doesn't dwell in buildings made by men's hands. When Solomon built the temple, he recognized, hey, we're not building a house really for God. For he said, the heavens of heavens cannot contain God. So it is a place of meeting. It's the place where I can come and meet God. Now, we could meet God anywhere. God will meet you wherever you want to meet Him. God will meet you on the beach. God will meet you on the freeway. You name it. God can meet you anywhere. But when we want to gather together, to meet together, to fellowship, to have a place of meeting in a corporate sense, then the building comes in handy. If we lived in Hawaii, we wouldn't need a building. We could meet the Lord under the banyan trees, and that's great. But here is a place where we gather to meet God. We don't think of this as God's house at all. Tomorrow, it's just an empty building. Tonight, it's the church, the place where the church meets. You're the church. And so this becomes the place where the church gathers to meet together in a corporate sense with God. Now, the tabernacle was the place of meeting where people would meet God. But you see, they didn't have Jesus Christ. And thus, they couldn't just meet God anywhere because God is a holy God, and if you meet God, you might just fry because of your sin and His holiness. And so, in the Old Testament period, you wouldn't dare meet God. Thus, in order to meet God, they had a place, and then they had a ritual by which you could meet God, but not yourself directly. You would come to the priest, and the priest would go before God for you, and then the priest would come back to you for God, but you just wouldn't meet God directly yourself in the Old Testament. And so they called it the place of meeting where the people could come to the priest, offer their sacrifice, and the priest would go before God for them. This was that place, the tabernacle. And this lasted actually all the way up through the reign of David. They still, at David's time, had a tabernacle. It wasn't until Solomon built the temple that the tabernacle was finally done away with. So, the first curtain over the top of the tabernacle was of linen, and basically 60 feet by 42 feet. Now, the next curtain was of goat's hair. Now, the first one is really for the ornament on the inside with the fancy needlework. Now, the next one is sort of as a protection of sorts. And the second curtain over the top of the first was of goat's hair, and there were to be 11 of these, and so it was to be a little bit bigger than the first. It's to drape down a little further over the linen one. And again, the length of one will be 30 cubits or 45 feet instead of 42, and 6 feet wide, but then they were to sew 6 of them together and 5 of them together, again making the loops and the tacks whereby they were to be tacked together. Now, these tacks, though, on the goat skins were to be of brass. Now, with the goat skins, the fact that they had to use these goat skins or goat hair indicated the death of the animal, and wherever you have the death of the animal, you're thinking now in the terms of sacrifice and the judgment for sin. Thus, wherever anything has to do with judgment, your metal becomes brass, for brass is the metal that is symbolic of judgment. So, wherever there was animal and the death of animals and so forth, brass was used, because that's a sign of the judgment against sin. So, this second curtain over the top, a little bit bigger than the first, it is 45 feet by 62, and it's to hang over both ends and down the sides and to cover completely over the linen curtain, and this is more of a protective covering. And then the third covering was of badger's or ram's skins dyed red, a covering above the badger's skins. Now, this is for waterproof. This is the outer covering, and it's the waterproof, and so there are actually three coverings over the tabernacle, and thus, as I say, it makes quite a tent. Now, there were to be these boards, 15 feet high and 27 feet wide, of acacia wood, and they were to be overlaid with gold, and then they were to make these silver sockets, and these boards were to be sort of tongue and grooved, fitting in together, fitting in the silver sockets in the bottom, and then with the rings in the sides so that they could set the boards up and then run a stave through the rings so that the boards would stand upright. And so the boards were to, and of course the tabernacle itself was to be 45 feet long and 15 feet wide. These boards, and of course the entrance at the front of it, and they describe how they were to make the entrance, but these boards are set in sockets of silver, side by side, and then over the top of it would be the hanging linen curtain, the hanging goat hair curtain, or goat skin, and then over the top of that, the waterproofing, the badger skin, over the top of that. And these big 27 inches wide boards, they're 27 inches wide, and they are 15 feet high, and with these rings, so that when they'd set them up, they could run the sticks through them, and thus they would stand upright, and the curtains then going over the top. And he describes how that they are to set them in this shape, rectangular shape, of 45 feet by 15 feet. And the tabernacle itself had two rooms in it. The outer room is 30 by 15, and then the Holy of Holies is a 15 foot cube. They're 15 feet high, it's 15 feet wide, 15 feet long, so it's actually a cube in the Holy of Holies. So as you would enter into the Holy of Holies, of course, there was no light in there, except for what they called the Shekinah, which was just a incandescent type of light, a glow that just filled the room. It was the light of the glory of the presence of God there in the Holy of Holies. No one was allowed in there, except the high priest. Now, he describes how to make these silver sockets and set the bars on the outside, in verse 26, also make bars of acacia wood, and the boards on the other side of the tabernacle, five boards for the board on the side, on the two sides, the westward, and so forth. And then the bar in the middle that would reach from end to end, so that they could run them through these golden, or through these rings, and hold the thing up. Now, separating the rooms on the inside was to be a veil. Now, there are sources in history, whether or not they are accurate, we do not know, but that when they made the veil in the temple to separate the Holy of Holies, there are some records that state that the veil in the temple itself was 18 inches thick, woven together, just really a heavy, heavy thick veil in the temple. That is the veil that was ripped, torn from the top to the bottom when Jesus was crucified. Of course, symbolic of the fact that God, through Jesus Christ, has opened the door for all man to come freely unto Him. Access to God no longer limited to just the high priests. Access to God now open to every one of us because of the rent veil of the temple. But here is described the veil that they are to make for this Holy of Holies, the inner veil. Thou shalt make a veil of blue and purple and scarlet, fine twine linen, cunning work, with cherubims it shall be made. So again, the cherubims woven into it. And thou shalt hang it upon four pillars of acacia wood that are overlaid with gold. Their hooks shall be of gold and the four sockets of silver. And thou shalt hang the veil under the tax that you may bring thither within the veil the ark of the testimony. And the veil shall divide unto you between the holy place and the most holy. And thou shalt put the mercy seat upon the ark of the testimony in the most holy place. And thou shalt set the table outside the veil, the candlestick over against the table on the side of the tabernacle toward the south. And thou shalt put the table on the north side. And thou shalt make a hanging for the door of the tent of blue and purple and scarlet, fine twine linen wrought with needlework. And thou shalt make for the hanging five pillars of acacia wood and overlay them with gold. And their hooks shall be of gold and thou shalt cast five sockets of brass for them. Because there they would come in with the blood of the sacrifices and thus the brass sockets for those particular gold overlaid acacia staves. So, I trust that you're getting sort of a mental picture of this. It's a tent. Golden boards forming the walls around it so that when you walk into the tabernacle itself you would have to go through this first veil. You would enter into this room that is 15 feet high. And as you looked up you would see the linen with the cherubims and so forth that are woven into the material. Over on your right side you would see the table of showbread. And on your left side you would see the lampstand. And in front of you would be another curtain with cherubims and all woven in it. If you would go past the second curtain in there you would see a golden box that is sitting with a golden lid on top and carved on the top of that golden lid would be these cherubims with outstretched wings. And thus you get an idea of what the tabernacle looked like on the inside. Now, on the outside they were to make a court which would be 75 feet wide and 150 feet long with curtains around it seven and a half feet high so that you have this outer court which is sort of a curtained in area 75 feet by 150 feet. So it would be just the outer court would be just about just about as large as the building here is wide. And it would be 75 which would take us back to about between the third and the fourth pillar back here that wide and picture it in the building this long. Curtains that are seven and a half feet high which makes them too high to tip toe and peek over. And these curtains were set on these posts that were set in brass sockets and so forth and the whole thing as I said was portable when they need to move they could just go in take the thing apart, wrap it up and there were certain of the tribe of Levites that were the bearers they had to carry the thing and they would take it to the next place and then they could set it up. It's like a tent is easily mobile and thus it was made very portable and able to move it around as God would lead the children of Israel. And so this court, now in the court again he follows first of all the furnishings in this court are to be a brass altar. Now so make an altar of acacia wood five cubits long which would be seven and a half feet and so it is a square. The altar of acacia wood but now it is overlaid with brass because we have the symbol of judgment where the sacrifices were to be burnt unto the Lord. And so it is seven and a half feet square on the top it is four and a half feet high and on each corner there is a horn it was carved in a horn shape coming up and so there were the four horns on each of the corners of this seven and a half foot altar four and a half feet high all overlaid with brass. And as he first of all gave you the furnishings of the tabernacle and then the tabernacle so the furnishings of the outer court and then the description of how the outer court was to be made. Now in verse 20 we get to the oil for the light and you shall command the children of Israel that they bring pure olive oil beaten for the light to cause the lamp to burn always. In the tabernacle of the congregation outside of that holy of holy veil which is before the testimony Aaron and his sons shall order it from evening to morning before the Lord. It shall be a statute forever unto their generations on behalf of the children of Israel. So they were to use olive oil in these cups in this golden lamp stand and Aaron and his sons it was their duty to keep the oil in there constantly so that the light never went out. And so as we get into history we remember the case where Samuel when he was just growing up he was brought by his mother who had dedicated him to the Lord to the priest Eli the high priest and Samuel became sort of an Aaron boy and one night he heard his name being called and he ran into Eli and he said what did you want? He said I didn't call you what are you doing here? I said I surely heard my name called now I go back to bed he went back to bed and again he heard his name called and came running in again and Eli says no I didn't call you what's going on? get back to bed and so the next time Eli said look if you hear someone calling again just say speak Lord your servant hears and so he heard his name called again and he said speak Lord your servant hears well the Lord was trying to tell him that the oil was going out someone had failed in the job there in the lights and so the beginning of his listening to the Lord and all involved this lights that were to be kept burning during the time that the temple was profaned by Antiochus Epiphanes when he offered a pig on the altar and just spread its blood around the temple Judas Maccabeus so incensed over this sacrilege put an idol of Zeus within the temple Judas Maccabeus so incensed that he gathered together some of the Israelis and they went out against insurmountable odds and wiped out the Syrian host the men of Antiochus and they then cleansed to you know rededicated the temple but they had only enough oil for one day for the lampstand now it took a process of time it took as they developed the whole thing you know after a while you get men's routines in it and you get all kinds of rules and regulations and by this time it took seven days to get this olive oil all purified by the rituals and all and so they knew that they weren't going to be able to prepare any olive oil for seven you know take them seven days before they could prepare it for the use and so miraculously as the story goes though they had only a one day supply of oil the lights remained for the eight days until the eighth day they were able to make the oil and thus you have the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah the lighting of the candles and one candle each day the eight days and so forth the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah which celebrates God's miraculous supply of oil for Judas Maccabeus at that particular period of their history now as we get into chapter 28 we now move into the priesthood we now have the tabernacle constructed at least the architecture the designs the blueprints are drawn and now getting to the priest take thou unto the Aaron your brother and his sons with him from among the children of Israel that he may minister unto me in the priest office even Aaron and Nadab and Abihu and Eleazar and Ithamar Aaron's sons and thou shalt make holy garments for Aaron thy brother for glory and for beauty and so they were to wear these these robes and thou shalt speak unto all that are wise hearted whom I have filled with my spirit of wisdom that they may make Aaron's garments to consecrate him that he may minister unto me in the priest office and so God was going to fill men with the spirit of wisdom giving them the skills to make these robes and these are the garments which thou shalt make a breastplate an ephod a robe an embroidered coat a miter or a crown and a girdle a sash and they shall make holy garments for Aaron thy brother and his sons that they may minister unto me in the priest office and they shall take gold and blue and purple and scarlet and fine linen now the ephod sort of a cloak that was worn over the shoulders and down of gold and blue and of purple and of scarlet with cunning work and it shall have the two shoulder pieces thereof joined at the two edges thereof and it will be joined together and the curious girdle of the ephod which is upon it shall be of the same according to the work thereof even of gold of blue, purple, scarlet and fine twin linen thou shalt take two onyx stones and engrave on them the names of the children of Israel so that these onyx stones were actually to tack this ephod here at the shoulders to tack it together here at his shoulders but on these onyx were the names of the children of Israel so that whenever the priest would go before God he was always bearing the names of the children of Israel that is the tribes of Israel on his shoulders whenever he would go before God there in the onyx stones there in his shoulders the tribes of Israel would be six on each shoulder being carried before God with the worker the engraver in stone like the engravings of a signet you'll engrave the two stones with the names of the children of Israel and shall make them to be set in the ouches of gold and thou shalt put the two stones upon the shoulder of the ephod for stones of a memorial unto the children of Israel and Aaron shall bear their names before the Lord upon his two shoulders for a memorial and you'll make the ouches of gold and the two chains of pure gold at the ends wreath and work shalt thou make them and fasten the wreath and chains to the ouches now the breastplate on his chest there was this breastplate that he was to wear the breastplate of judgment with cunning work the work of the ephod shalt thou make it of gold and blue and purple and scarlet of fine twine linen shalt thou make it it shall be a square and it shall be doubled four squares shall be being doubled a span shall be the length thereof and a span shall be the breadth thereof now span is the length between your thumb and your finger so a square like this this little breastplate that the priest wore on his chest and now shalt set in it the settings of stones four rows and three stones in each row the first row shall be sardis topaz, carbuncle the second shall be an emerald sapphire and a diamond the third shall be a linger an agate and an amethyst and the fourth shall be a burl an onyx and a jasper so these precious stones and they shall be set in gold in their enclosings and the stones shall be with the names of the children of Israel twelve according to their names like the engravings of a signet every one with his name shall they be according to the twelve tribes and so there is to be a golden chain holding this breastplate over his chest so that actually he was bearing now not only the names of the children of Israel on his shoulders before the Lord but over his heart the names of the tribes of Israel over his heart as they were engraved on each stone representing one of the tribes and the names of the tribes engraved under the stones so verse 29 Aaron shall bear the names of the children of Israel in the breastplate of judgment upon his heart when he goes in unto the holy place for a memorial before the Lord continually so as he comes into the presence of God he's bearing really the names of the tribes of Israel on his shoulders on his heart now in verse 30 the Urim and the Thumim and thou shalt put in the breastplate of judgment the Urim and the Thumim and they shall be upon Aaron's heart when he goeth in before the Lord and Aaron shall bear the judgment of the children of Israel upon his heart before the Lord continually now what is the Urim and the Thumim really the words mean light and perfection I really don't know the Bible doesn't tell us what the Urim and the Thumim actually are but in years to come when they wanted to hear from God they would often times come to the priest to inquire of the Lord and the Urim and the Thumim had something to do with inquiring of God because they would come to the priest with the Urim and the Thumim and he would inquire of the Lord for them so when David wanted to know shall we go out to battle rather than just going out to battle he would come to the priest and say inquire of the Lord shall we go to battle and the priest with the Urim and the Thumim would inquire of God and say yes go and then they would continue to get directions now some believe that the Urim and the Thumim were actually two stones a black stone and a white stone and that in the inquiring of the Lord the priest would reach in and pull out one of the stones if he pulled out the white stone it was God saying yes if he pulled out the black stone it was God saying no and that is one of the most prominent theories of what the Urim and the Thumim actually were two stones by which the priest would say God you know show us shall we go now and he would pull in and if the white stone would come out yes we go now if the black stone would go out no we wait and then they would keep asking questions that could be answered by yes and no inquiring of the Lord for directions and guidance it is interesting in the New Testament the disciples were following somewhat similar kind of leading when they were wanting to choose a replacement for Judas Iscariot they sort of drew straws they cast lots now the casting of lots is much the same and this was a method casting of lots was a method used quite often by people to determine the will of God you remember Saul used the casting of lots to determine who would disobey his order he said you know we'll divide all of Israel and Jonathan and my son and we'll cast lots and the lots fell on Saul and Jonathan he said Jonathan what did you do and so the casting of lots was a method by which they sought from God answers now all of us desire to be led by God and we would like to make sure that it is God leading and we remember where Gideon put out his fleece of wool seeking that God would lead by the fleece Lord are you really in this thing let the ground be dry and the fleece be wet so that I can know that you're really in it and then the next night Lord let the fleece be dry and the ground be wet he didn't know but maybe he had stumbled on some phenomena of nature that fleece will always get wet at night and the ground even when it is dry and maybe it's just a phenomena of nature so Lord let's reverse this and see if it works the other way whereby he was seeking to be sure of the leading of God now we would love to have some way that we could be sure of the leading of God but this is almost like flipping a coin and I surely wouldn't I surely wouldn't recommend that heads I go tails I stay God let it land you know according to your will I knew of a fellow who used to seek the leading of the Lord by putting 10 pennies in his pocket and as he would pray and ask God for guidance he would take out the pennies and put them down and if they all came up all 10 came up heads he took that as a yes indication from God any other combination he accepted as a no well you know they all come up heads you are fighting some pretty good odds now the amazing thing every once in a while they would all come up heads the idea is that we would all like some kind of a sure method of knowing when God is saying yes and when God is saying no but the problem is we don't always give God all the alternatives Lord which one shall it be Matthias or Barthabas that you have chosen to take Judas' place so casting lots between Matthias and Barthabas was not good because God had a third party that they didn't even know at that time except as an enemy a zealot Jew Paul or Saul of Tarsus surely God doesn't want him never put his name in a pot you know because no way would God want him so we don't always give God all the alternatives we so often say Lord shall it be this or that well maybe it would be something entirely different from this or that something I haven't even thought of now I'm sorry that there is no sure fire way of getting a yes or a no like tossing a coin or pulling out a black or a white rock we walk by faith what I do is when I begin the day I say God my life is yours you guide in the circumstances of this day I commit this day to you bring to pass your will in my life and then I just have to trust God to do it and I accept the things that come in the day as from the Lord and the leading of the Spirit I believe that my life becomes the revelation of God's will as I submit myself to him if in all of your ways you acknowledge him he will direct your path where you get into trouble is by jumping in because you think oh man look at this good deal you think oh man don't even need to inquire of the Lord on this one, it's quite obvious such a good deal I don't even have to ask that's where I get in trouble in all your ways acknowledge him and he will direct your path the walk of faith is always a difficult walk it isn't easy as I say we would like it much better if we could get some very positive indications of yes or no it's hard to just walk by faith trusting God it can be very confusing if we keep getting blocked in something we're attempting to do is it God saying no or is it Satan trying to hinder me from doing the work of God you know and so it's so difficult at times to really know when to persevere and when to realize hey I'm trying to buck God God isn't wanting me to do this I surely wish that I could have a more positive definite way of ascertaining when God wants me to move when God doesn't want me to move I don't I'm just like you are I just pray and then I trust God and then I move and then I hope I've done the right thing and I trust that God is great enough that I haven't he knows my heart he knows the sincerity of my heart and I've done the wrong thing knowing the sincerity of my heart overlook it and help me to correct it so we really don't know exactly what the Urim and the Thummim was I am convinced that I know what it wasn't I know that it wasn't what Joseph Smith said it was for with the golden tablets that he found supposedly he also found this pair of colored glasses that were magic glasses because when he put them on he could read the hieroglyphics on the golden tablets so they were magical interpretive glasses by which he could read the hieroglyphics no that's not what the Urim and the Thummim were but what they actually were we don't know now this robe of the ephod was to be all blue there was to be a hole in the top of it and in the midst and it should have a binding of woven work rounded about the hole as though it were a hole of a hammer gun and so it would not be torn so it's sort of a hem really just to keep it from being torn and beneath upon the hem thou shalt make pomegranates now this is on the bottom side of this ephod there were to be these pomegranates of blue and purple and scarlet round about the hem thereof and bells of gold between them round about a golden bell and a pomegranate a golden bell and a pomegranate about the hem of the robe all around it and it shall be upon Aaron to minister and his sound shall be heard when he goes into the holy place before the Lord when he cometh out that he die not now the purpose then around the hem of the ephod were these little golden bells and then a pomegranate a golden bell a pomegranate all the way around the hem the purpose is that when he went into the holy of holies no one could go in there except the high priest but coming into the presence of God was a really a hazardous job when the whole thing first got started they realized what a hazardous occupation they'd gotten into as priests the very first day that they started their ministry as priests two of them got wiped out Nadab and Ebehu both got wiped out the very first day because when they got the whole thing set up and they got the altar all set and the wood on the altar fire came down from heaven and the wood just spontaneously started to burn and Aaron's two sons got so excited they grabbed their little incense burners and they took the incense in them but they took strange fire and they went in to offer it before God and the fire came from the altar and consumed the two sons of Aaron it was a dangerous hazardous job you're coming into the presence of God and you better make sure that everything is right if it isn't you've had it now even the high priest in coming in before God coming into the presence of God everything had to be just right if it wasn't the high priest would get wiped out how would they know the bells would quit ringing so that was the purpose of the little bell so they would tie a rope on his foot and if the bells would quit ringing they'd take and drag him out occupational hazard and so that was the purpose of the little golden bells around the hymn is that when he was ministering before God in the actual going in into this area of coming into that area where God's presence was to meet the people things had to be right or it could mean the life of the high priest and so the golden bells so that they would know in case he died now thou shalt make a plate of pure gold the crown that the priest was to wear and on this little plate you were to engrave on it holiness to the Lord and thou shalt put it on a blue lace that it may be upon the miter upon the forefront of the miter shall it be so this miter or crown the blue crown that the priest was to wear on it this little golden plate with the engraving holiness to the Lord and it shall be upon Aaron's forehead that Aaron might bear the iniquity of the holy things which the children of Israel shall sanctify in all their holy gifts and it shall always be upon his forehead that they may be accepted before the Lord and thou shalt embroider the coat of fine linen thou shalt make a miter of fine linen and thou shalt make a girdle of needle work and for Aaron's sons thou shalt make coats and thou shalt make for them girdles and bonnets and thou shalt make for them for the glory and the beauty so they were very you know ornament it was quite I want to say ornamentation but it was very ostentatious and awesome as they would come out in these robes thou shalt put upon Aaron thy brother and upon his sons with him thou shalt anoint them and consecrate them and sanctify them that they may minister unto me in the priest office and thou shalt make them linen breeches to cover their nakedness from the loins even to the thighs so they reach and they shall be upon Aaron and upon his sons when they come into the tabernacle of the congregation or when they come near unto the altar to minister unto the holy place that they bear not the iniquity and die it shall be a statute forever and ever and to his seed after him so that when they're bearing the iniquity of the people they don't die themselves now notice that the robes were all of linen there wasn't to be any woolen garment worn by the priest for wool causes you to sweat and God didn't want any man sweating in his labor for him that's very interesting isn't it when we look at all the perspiration that goes into the work of God today so many times God doesn't want you to perspire in your work for him and that is the reason why they wore linen no wool in the garments to keep them from perspiration in their service to God. God wants our service to be inspired service rather than perspired service and if you have the inspiration it doesn't take the perspiration but if you don't have the inspiration I'll tell you even the perspiration is not going to do it and so the inspired work unto the Lord now in chapter 29 the consecration of the priest and the offerings and thus they were to take a young bullock and two rams without blemish and unleavened bread and cakes of unleavened tempered with oil and the wafers of unleavened anointed with oil of wheat flour shall you make them and thou shalt put them into one basket and bring the basket with the bullock and the two rams and Aaron and his son thou shalt bring unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation and shalt first of all wash them with water and thou shalt take the garments and put upon Aaron the coat the robe of the ephod the ephod the breastplate and dress him with that curious girdle that sash around him of the ephod and thou shalt put the crown upon his head and the holy crown upon the miter and then the holy crown upon him and thou shalt take the anointing oil and pour it upon his head and anoint him and thou shalt bring his sons and put coats on them and thou shalt clothe them with the girdles Aaron and his sons and put the bonnets on them and the priest's office shall be theirs for a perpetual statute thou shalt consecrate Aaron and his sons and thou shalt cause a bullock to be brought before the tabernacle of the congregation and Aaron and his sons shall put their hands upon the head of the bullock and thou shalt kill the bullock before the Lord by the door of the tabernacle of the congregation thou shalt take the blood of the bullock and put it upon the horns of the altar with thy finger and pour all of the blood beside the bottom of the altar and thou shalt take all of the fat that covers the inwards and that which is above the liver and the two kidneys and the fat that is upon them and burn them upon the altar but the flesh of the bullock and the skin with his dung shalt thou burn with fire outside of the camp it is a sin offering so first of all as Aaron is consecrated the oil signifying the anointing of God putting on him all of these beautiful robes and all and then anointing him with oil and then bringing because he is to be serving for the people before God he had to have his sins taken care of and so the first thing was a sin offering to take care of the sins of Aaron washing him with water, putting on these robes, anointing him with oil and then the offering of this sin offering. Now Aaron and his sons were to put their hands on the head of the bullock this is a symbolic action which symbolizes the transfer of my guilt over onto the ox as I lay my hands on the head of the ox I would be transferring the guilt of all of my sin over onto the ox so that as that ox then has its throat slit it is dying for my sins it brings me the awareness of the awfulness of sin. Sin brings death and so I see the death of that animal I see the blood shed and I realize that my sins were put on it and it was because of my sin that animal had to die and the transference of my guilt onto the animal as my hands were upon its head now the blood was to be taken with the finger and put on the horns these four brass horns that were upon this brass altar and then the fat and the kidneys were to be burned on the altar itself but the carcass and the whole thing because it was a sin offering was to be taken outside of the camp and burned now later we are told that that is the reason why Jesus was crucified outside of the city of Jerusalem led out of the camp because he was the sin offering his was the sin offering being offered to God for us and that's why it had to be outside the camp that Christ was crucified and so they led him out of the city nearby but out of the city his crucifixion out of the camp of God's people so first of all for the priest to serve God he had to have something done about his own sins and thus the sin offering offered for Aaron now one of the rams thou shalt take one ram and Aaron and his son shall put their hands upon the head of that ram and thou shalt slay the ram and thou shalt take his blood and sprinkle it round about upon the altar and thou shalt cut the ram in pieces and wash the inwards of him and his legs and put them into the pieces and unto his head and thou shalt burn the whole ram upon the altar it is a burnt offering unto the Lord it is a sweet savour an offering made by fire unto God and thou shalt take the other ram and Aaron and his son shall put their hands upon the head of the other ram then thou shalt kill the ram and take his blood and put it upon the tip of the right ear of Aaron and upon the tip of the right ear of his sons upon the thumb of their right hands upon the great toe of their right foot and sprinkle the blood upon the altar round about and thou shalt take of the blood that is upon the altar and the anointing oil and sprinkle it upon Aaron upon his garments upon his sons upon the garments of his sons with him and they shall be hallowed and his garments and his sons and his sonsons garments with him also thou shalt take of the ram the fat and the rump and the fat that covereth the inwards and the call above the liver and the two kidneys and the fat that is upon them and the right shoulder for it is a ram of consecration and so the ram for a burnt offering unto God and that's just really as a gift to God but then the next ram was the ram of consecration and thus the blood was placed upon Aaron and his sons on the tip of their right ear upon their right thumb and upon their big toe of their right foot remember it's the consecration I consecrate my ear to hear the voice of God I consecrate my hands to do the work of God I consecrate my feet to walk in the path of God a life of consecration unto God that I may hear his voice that I might do his work that I might walk in his path and so the life of consecration represented by the blood on the tip of the ear on the right thumb and upon the big toe of the right foot as Aaron and his sons were then consecrated their lives were to be set apart for ministry unto the Lord in this offering of consecration and then one loaf of bread and one cake of oiled bread and one wafer out of the basket of unleavened bread the bread that is before the Lord and thou shalt put all in the hands of Aaron and in the hands of his sons and shalt wave them for a wave offering before the Lord so they would take then these loaves of bread that had been baked with this oil and wheat and they were to wave them and the wave offerings could be either in an up and down or in a cross fashion but waving them before the Lord and it was called the wave offering now the wave offerings were the offerings of the meal offerings or the grain offerings that they would make these little cakes out of them and wave them before the Lord thou shalt receive them of their hands and burn them upon the altar for a burnt offering for a sweet savor baked bread what smells better than barbecued meat and baked bread and so the sweet savor unto the Lord and that's the idea of just that you know putting them on the altar the burning the ox that neat smell that you get from barbecued meat and the neat smell from baked bread and just a sweet savor unto God who doesn't like the savor of baking bread thou shalt take the breast of the ram of Aaron's consecration and wave it for a wave offering before the Lord and it shall be thy part and thou shalt sanctify the breast of the wave offering and the shoulder of the heave offering which is which is heaved up and the ram of the consecration even that which is for Aaron and that which is for his sons and it shall be Aaron's and his sons by a statute forever so the priests could eat that portion themselves it became theirs for it is a heave offering it shall be a heave offering for the children of Israel of the sacrifice of the peace offerings even the heave offering to the Lord and the holy garments of Aaron and his sons were to be anointed and verse 32 Aaron and his sons shall eat the flesh of the ram and of the bread that is in the basket by the door of the tabernacle of the congregation they shall eat those things wherewith the covering was made atonement in the Old Testament Kepar is to cover we have in the New Testament the word atonement which is entirely different word in the New Testament it is at one month it is becoming one with God only possible through Jesus Christ it was impossible we are told that the blood of goats and bulls could put away our sins all they could do is testify of a better sacrifice that was to come so they were only a substance they were only rather the shadow the substances of Christ these things were all testifying of Jesus Christ our great sacrifice the one who was sacrificed for our sins and so it was not possible they did not put away sin what they did make was an atonement Kepar or Kepar they were a covering for the sins but did not put them away it remained for Jesus to do that through his death to consecrate to sanctify but a stranger shall not eat there of because they are holy and what isn't eaten was to be burned in the fire it was just special for God's service thou shalt offer for every day a bullet for a sin offering for the covering thou shalt cleanse the altar when thou hast made the atonement for it and thou shalt anoint it and sanctify it seven days thou shalt make an atonement for the altar and sanctify it and it shall be an altar most holy whatsoever touches the altar shall be holy and so it was that is consecrated to God once it touched the altar you could not take it back it then belonged to God whatever was laid on the altar it became God have you laid your life upon the altar then it becomes God it isn't yours to take back again it isn't it no longer belongs to you now this is that which thou shalt offer upon the altar two lambs of the first year every day continually one lamb shalt thou offer in the morning and the other in the evening and with the one lamb a tenth deal of flour mingled with a fourth part of beaten oil and a fourth part of wine for a drink offering and the other lamb thou shalt offer in the evening and you shall do according to the meal offering actually of the morning and according to the drink offering thereof for a sweet savor an offering made by fire to the Lord and this shall be continual burnt offering throughout your generations at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation before the Lord where I will meet you to speak there unto thee and so that was the purpose of the tabernacle a place where God would come and meet with them and speak unto them and I will meet with the children of Israel and the tabernacle shall be sanctified by my glory and I will sanctify the tabernacle of the congregation and the altar I will sanctify also both Aaron and his sons minister to me in the priest office and I will dwell among the children of Israel and will be their God and they shall know that I am Jehovah their God that brought them forth out of the land of Egypt that I may dwell among them I am Jehovah their God now Moses is up on the mountain getting all of these instructions from the Lord