December 11, 2005
Can we turn to a well-known verse in I Peter 3:18; “For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit.” “For Christ also hath once suffered for sins,” that’s propitiation. “The just for the unjust,” that’s substitution. “That he might bring us to God,” that’s association. Yes, he was put to death in the body, but he rose again in the spirit. How precious to be able to claim these blessings that come to us through the One, the only One, who could accomplish such a work. He only had to do it once; we have been reminded of that this morning. We were the unjust; He was the just. He was able to come out of the grave living because he is just; we would be dead. “That he might bring us to God,” think of the purpose of it all. We needed a Saviour, God needed a people. And so He came to give a Saviour and get a people. Oh, the loss for us, for God, had He not come! He died to make us children of God.
EG Hymn 282–What a friend we have in Jesus Prayer Genesis 16:6–14 “Thou God seest me.” • God always sees you. He is watching you right now. He can see what you do. He can also see what is in your heart; He knows your motives. The human heart can be mean and unkind. There once was a family who was very poor and didn’t have much food. One night the father said to his Son, “Son, tonight I want you to come with me. We’ll see if we can get some food” That night they went down to the next farm. The father said, “Now you stand here at the road and if you see anyone coming, call me” and then he snuck down to the chicken coop. But before he got very far, his son called, “Dad, come here.” Dad ran back and looked up and down the road. “There’s no one coming, what did you call me for?” “Dad, you forgot to look up. God can see what we’re doing. Let’s go home and pray for food instead of stealing it.” The dad didn’t really want to, but his son convinced him. When they got home, the son prayed that God would send them some food. The next morning, someone knocked on the door. It was the neighbour. “I heard that you didn’t have much food,” she said, “so I brought you this roasted chicken.” After she left, the son turned to his dad and said, “See dad, God provided for us; we didn’t even have to pluck and roast it. Wasn’t that a better way?” And the dad agreed that it was. So God can see what we are doing; He can also hear us. What are some things we shouldn’t do? In the 10 commandments, we are told not to steal, bear false witness (lie), etc. The Lord took our sins on Himself on the cross, so we shouldn’t sin on purpose.
God Sees
God sees you every day and night
He sees all good and bad
He’s happy when He sees you’re good,
But when you’re not He’s sad.
God will in a soon coming day
Reward you when you’re good
But when you’re bad the Bible says,
You’re covered by his blood.
So let us seek to do His will
And do it every day,
And when our life is finished here
“Well done”, we’ll hear Him say. —G.B.Hebrews 9:1–12 • The tabernacle mentioned here is the earthly tabernacle. Our Lord had entered into heaven, the new tabernacle. The old tabernacle was here and is gone, but the new one is eternal. The interesting thing is that all that was shadowed in the tabernacle was God-given. It is marvellous to see that God’s people were the only ones in the whole world who had a sanctuary, even though it was a tent, for the living God. He saw the blood of their sacrifices as a type of the blood of His Son, yet to come. But this whole system was based on man’s obedience, and so was destined to failure. We are not obedient creatures. God created another system based on the obedience of His Son. This system also brought a people around God; he always wants his own people, whether it is in the wilderness, in the land of Canaan, now, or in Heaven. What we are reading gives us a little clip of the tabernacle arrangements. We have said that it is not the temple pictured here because that speaks of millennial times. The tabernacle was for the wilderness, which is where we are today. It also speaks from God as we go through the wilderness. The tabernacle was a picture of God among his people, with all the amazing- ness of it. We have seen how the candlestick represents Christ, the Light of the World; and how the showbread typifies Christ as the Bread of Life. But the candlestick can also show God to us: God is light. We said that the altar of incense is not mentioned because it speaks of worship, which is done today in the presence of God. V. 4 now mentions the Holy of Holies. Through the veil, in that dark room, was the presence of God, represented by the cloud of the tabernacle. When the incense was put on the censor of burning coals in the Holy of Holies, it let off a cloud that filled the room—a sweet savour of Christ’s sufferings. It was a cloud equal to the other cloud; It was all acceptable to God. Also in that room is the golden pot of manna, a picture of the humanity of Christ. The Children of Israel ate the manna as they trekked through the wilderness. We, too, should eat, meditate, have before us the humanity of Christ as shown in the gospels. It has been said that the manna wasn’t on the tree tops; it had to be gathered from the ground. It rested on the dew. The Lord came right down to the earth, and though in it, He was not of it. God gave four different records in the gospels from four different people with four different viewpoints so that we could begin to grasp it all. We as people are very limited to understand and explain all of it, but with the help of the Holy Spirit, our understanding is enlarged. When we gather our manna in a spirit of prayer, the Holy Spirit will help us. The Israelites cried out for food. Today there are many alternative foods; if we do not eat the right things we wont’ grow. In Joshua, it tells us that the manna stopped when they got into Canaan and they were fed the old corn of the land. That corn is our glorified Christ. The manna is what sustains us here. The corn occupies us with His glory and our place with Him. Then there was also Aaron’s rod that budded, which speaks of resurrection. It was dead, cut off a tree. But it had buds and fruit. Our High Priest died and was resurrected and is in the presence of God for us. Hymn–God sees the little sparrow fall, Prayer