Thy Tabernacle

Psalm 61:4 “I will abide in thy tabernacle for ever: I will trust in the covert of thy wings. Selah.”

Exodus 33:21 And the Lord said, Behold, there is a place by me, and thou shalt stand upon a rock.”

These verses speak of the secret place of God where all is well, where it seems like you get so close to God that you feel absolutely like you are under the wings of a Great Big God. That place where everything seems like it will all work out for the good of my life. Where I can find the love of God and His peace and joy for me.

Thinking of such a place, I can look back and see times that I needed the Lord more than at any other time in my life. When the trials were so long and the burdens were so heavy that I had to find that Wing, that Tabernacle of God. And it was there that I have seen first hand the love of my God.

I can best understand the secret place of God by studying the tabernacle in the Old Testament, a picture of the secret and the spiritual place that is in every believer.

It is there that we find a Table, Golden Altar, and a Lamp stand. The place and the fact believers are now this temple of God and that God dwells in us. If you please, there is now a Table, Golden Altar, and a Candlestick in us. In our spiritual minds we can see that in us there is a place to find repentance, a place to clean the everyday dirt and grime from our hands and feet, and a Holy of Holies, the place and the fact that we are sealed by and that he remains in us by His Holy Spirit.

Therefore, to best understand how we are to worship or serve the Lord in our own lives, we must look at the Tabernacle in the Bible and see for ourselves the picture that God has given us. What to do and where to do it. What does the Table mean to me or Candlestick now in my life in the day of grace. To best understand this we must see Jesus in each piece of furniture and what took place at the time in his life and then use the same piece for ourselves and do what he did there at each place.

Exodus 39:1 “And of the blue, and purple, and scarlet, they made cloths of service, to do service in the holy place, and made the holy garments for Aaron; as the LORD commanded Moses.”

To do service in the holy place, each color showed a different service. The Blue for one place and for the service required at that piece of furniture. To know where they used this color code, we must look in one other place to see the use of the colors.

Numbers 4:7 “And upon the table of showbread they shall spread a cloth of blue, and put thereon the dishes, and the spoons, and the bowls, and covers to cover withal: and the continual bread shall be thereon.”

Numbers 4:9 “And they shall take a cloth of blue, and cover the candlestick of the light, and his lamps, and his tongs, and his snuffdishes, and all the oil vessels thereof, wherewith they minister unto it.”

Numbers 4:11, 12 “And upon the golden altar they shall spread a cloth of blue, and cover it with a covering of badgers’ skins, and shall put to the staves thereof. And they shall take all the instruments of ministry, wherewith they minister in the sanctuary, and put them in a cloth of blue, and cover them with a covering of badgers’ skins, and shall put them on a bar.”

Now remember that the colors were for service. The blue covered the Table of Shewbread, Candlestick, and the Golden Altar. All the other cloths covered the other pieces and there showed the service of those and what to do there.

Scarlet covered the dishes, spoons, bowls, covers, and the Bread.

Purple covered the Brazen Altar.

How then is the service different at the one from the other? How or what is the service of the blue, scarlet, or purple. You have to look at the way the Bible uses these in the life of Christ Jesus.

Blue = Through some obscured idea (unused root) = To roar, rumble, or moan.

Purple = No definition, just that it was worn by kings.

Scarlet = Worm (unused root) = A kernel of seed, corn, or grain.

The blue is the roaring, the agony He suffered in the garden and on the cross.

Proverbs 20:30 “The blueness of a wound cleanseth away evil: so do stripes the inward parts of the belly.”

Psalm 22:1 (a Psalm of David) “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring?”

The “blueness of a wound” and “my roaring” shows the areas of the blue cloth or the service of the roaring of the Lord.

The Table

The table was the place of communion.

Psalm 4:4 “Stand in awe, and sin not: commune with your own heart upon your bed, and be still.”

The heart for us is the place of communion. The service of the heart of Jesus.

Psalm 22:2 “O my God, I cry in the daytime, but thou hearest not; and in the night season, and am not silent.”

Psalm 22:7 “All they that see me laugh me to scorn: they shoot out the lip, the shake the head.”

Psalm 22:11 “Be not far from me; for trouble is near; for there is none to help.”

Isaiah 53:3 “He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.”

Isaiah 54:6 “For the Lord hath called thee as a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit, and a wife of youth, when thou wast refused, saith thy God.”

The Lord was roaring from the heart as he was being refused of the father for you and I. The blue of the table of the Lord is the suffering he did at the table, “at the heart”. His heart was broken inside Him as He was facing death and the judgment of our sins. But His HEART was broken for us as part of the service. He was pushed back from the table of the Lord. The father would not fellowship at the time he cried out, “Why hast thou forsaken me?” He suffered the lost of communion, He suffered a broken heart for you and me.

The Roaring at the Altar

The altar is the place of prayer and worship. What was Jesus doing at the moment He was praying?

Luke 22:44 “And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground.”

Isaiah 53:11 “He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities.”

Psalm 22:11 “Be not far from me; for trouble is near; for there is none to help.”

Psalm 22:19 “But be not thou far from me, O Lord; O my strength, haste thee to help me.”

And being in agony He did what? He prayed. All of these are seen as He was crying out in his agony to the Father. The broken heart says be not far from me, the agony of the soul says to pray and cry out for help.

The Candlestick

My God, my God, why?

The grief of the mind. Oppression and depression.

Psalm 22:7 “All they that see me laugh me to scorn: they shoot out the lip, they shake the head.”

Psalm 22:12 “Many bulls have compassed me: strong bulls of Bashan have beset me round.”

Psalm 22:13 “They gaped upon me with their mouths, as a ravening and a roaring lion.”

Psalm 22:16 “For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have inclosed me: they pierced my hands and feet.”

Isaiah 53:7 “He was oppressed.”

Imagine with me as all of this was unfolding at Calvary. Jesus paying for our sins hanging naked in shame in front of the whole world for you and me, and as He looked around He saw the devils from hell looking on, gaping and compassing Him. He was oppressed as He was fighting for us, the grief of mind. Darkness fills the earth as the Son of God cries out, “Why? Why?” Have you ever wanted to cry out, “Why Father?” I believe when He cried out, “Why?”, just as the light in the temple went out, I believe with all my heart that all of His discernment and all of His soundness of His mind was taken from Him and He cried, “Why?”

The Sorrow of the HEART, the Agony of the SOUL, the Grief of the MIND.

Ezekiel 23:6 “Which were clothed with blue, captains and rulers, all of them desirable young men, horsemen riding upon horses.”

Blue was worn by captains and rulers.

Hebrews 2:10 “For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.

Captain = A chief ruler, Author

Salvation = Means a rescue

Perfect = To complete, accomplish, consecrate, finish, fulfill

Jesus Himself said Father here am I send me. He came down, suffered to make or to Author a Rescue for us. To show us what we need to do in our time of trouble.

Heart = Is your heart broken? Do you feel like you have nobody to call on? Jesus himself said Father, I’ll suffer. I’ll make a way for the broken hearted. He came down, felt what it is like to suffer a broken heart, so He could make a place for us to come to when our hearts are broken.

He shows what to do when your heart is broken. Fellowship with your God. Set down at the Table of your heart, spend time with your Lord that has been where you are, and talk to Him. He authored the Table to bring us help. He suffered getting pushed from the Father’s table so we wouldn’t get pushed from His.

When your soul is full of sorrow, the pray like He did. Go to the Golden Altar and in your soul cry out to Him. Jesus suffered the agony and sorrows of the soul to make a way perfect for you to come to and find help in time of trouble. When life gets hard and the burdens get heavy, He still says cast all your cares on me. Go to the Golden Altar and there offer some thanks and praises to the Lord for all His blessings and find your help.

Even your Grief of Mind. Look at all the people in the world that walk around depressed all the time even in the churches. Of all people that should be in victory, they are bogged down with oppression and depression of the mind.

Isaiah 11:2 “And the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understand, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord.”

You need wisdom and understanding? Counsel and might? Knowledge and fear of the Lord? Then go to the Candlestick and allow the Spirit to answer the Whys in your life. Spend time with your Bible and let the Spirit shed some light on the things in your life.

II Timothy 1:7 “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.” Get your Power, your Love, and your Sound Mind back. Fellowship at the book for a while.

Notice also that it is the Heart, Soul, and Mind.

Matthew 22:37 “Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.”

Billy Watters