Psalm 100 says, “Let the whole earth shout triumphantly to the Lord! Serve the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs. Acknowledge that the Lord is God. He made us, and we are his—his people, the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise. Give thanks to him and bless his name. For the Lord is good, and his faithful love endures forever; his faithfulness, through all generations.” THE OUTER COURT of the Tabernacle was a place of Thanksgiving and Praise. No attitude fortifies relationships more fully than gratitude. Just like on Mother’s Day we say, “Thank you mom!” so we encounter God.
As one entered the tabernacle, they would encounter THE BRAZEN ALTAR. The Altar powerfully reminds us that God’s own mercy and grace is the whole basis of our relationship. We come to God by way of the cross, by way of Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God whose blood was shed for us.
Just past the alter stood THE LAVER. The LAVER reminds us, that in view of God’s mercy, our lives our to be consecrated before God. To consecrate is to dedicate, to pledge one’s conscience. Over the last several weeks we looked at the overwhelming testimony of Scripture that baptism marks a point of transition. To be baptized is to be united to Christ. It’s to take up one’s cross, to die to self, to let the old man be buried. It’s to be united to Christ in resurrection… to accept God’s invitation to wash and forgive you, to offer one’s body to God as an instrument of righteousness.
Just past the laver stood a dark inner room within the Tabernacle. In that dark room was THE CANDLESTICK. First, the candlestick was a reminder that God has not left us alone in the Darkness. God has sent forth his Holy Spirit, a Spirit of Light, and Truth and Illumination!
Second, the candlestick was a reminder that God hasn’t left us alone in Despair. The Spirit of God takes up residence in our bodies. His Spirit fills our lives with a profound sense of meaning, purpose, and value. He fills us with the fruit of his Spirit, spiritual gifts and abilities. He pours out every spiritual blessing on us available in Christ. He reminds that us that we are sons and daughters.
Third, the candlestick reminds us that God hasn’t left us alone in our Suffering, alone to face the Abnormality, all the Chaos and Calamity the world may throw at us. The Holy Spirit is a Spirit of Peace, a Spirit of what the Jewish people called “Shalom” The Spirit of God calms the wind and waves and torrent. In the Gospels Jesus breathes on his terrified disciples as he says, “Receive my Spirit… Receive my peace!”
The Candlestick reminds us that God hasn’t left us alone in an Evil World, a world filled with Cruelty. Jesus promised he would send his Holy Spirit into the world to contend with sinful man—to convict the world about sin, righteousness, and the coming judgement. And boy does the Holy Spirit ever work! God’s Spirit confronts our hearts, minds, bodies, spirits, and consciences with moral truth. We might try to suppress it, we can try to justify ourselves, but to our grave the Holy Spirit testifies against wickedness and invites sinful man to come clean before God.
We saw overwhelming testimony in Scripture last week how when a person offers themselves to God, when a person allows God to consecrate them, yes, wash him at the LAVER… yes wash him in the waters of baptism… God pours out his Holy Spirit on that person. God’s Spirit descended upon Jesus in baptism. God’s Spirit descended upon the repentant masses in Acts 2, upon their baptism. Jesus said that that markers of spiritual rebirth were to be born of Water and Spirit. Just like the signs of physical birth are you are born out through water, and breathe in your first breath…so, in spiritual birth you are consecrated by water and your first act of your new spiritual life is to breathe in the Holy Spirit!
Now in the Tabernacle, right next to the CANDLESTICK—was THE TABLE OF SHOWBREAD! On the table you would find twelve loaves of freshly baked bread! Remember how as a youngster you would be drawn to Momma’s kitchen by the aroma of freshly baked bread? Momma’s baked bread was irresistible! Every fiber of your being yearned for that bread! It’s interesting there were Twelve Tribes of Israel, and twelves loaves of bread. When Jesus miraculously fed the 5000, the Twelve disciples collected up twelve baskets of bread. Bread is a universal sign and symbol of nourishment. We don’t live without bread.
But the Table of Showbread didn’t just point to physical realities—in the wilderness the Israelites ate manna or bread from heaven. No, there is spiritual reality behind the bread. The first reality behind the bread we learn from Jesus. In Matthew 3 Jesus is consecrated in baptism, in water, in the Jordan, by John the Baptist, to fulfill all righteousness. Upon his consecration the Holy Spirit descended upon Jesus like a dove, and the Father announced his pleasure from heaven. In baptism, Jesus was offering himself to God as God’s instrument, God’s servant. And Matthew 4:1 tells us that immediately upon Jesus’ baptism he was driven out into the wilderness where he was tempted by Satan. Satan tempted Jesus with Power, with Pleasure, with Popularity. Live for the world! Live for the Flesh! Live for the applause of men—for your 15 minutes of viral fame.
But Jesus spoke those powerful words to Satan. Do you remember them? Matthew 4:4, “Man must not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.” This lesson cannot be lost upon us. We need physical nourishment. But the Spirit-filled man or woman knows he or she needs spiritual nourishment too. So, the Spirit-led person sets his appetite as powerfully on the Word of God as one might on momma’s bread. Remember what Jesus said? Matthew 5:6, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.”
You might also recall how in Exodus 34:28, just like Jesus survived in the wilderness 40 days and nights nourished by the Word of God… so Moses was sustained on the Mountain for 40 days and nights by the Word of God. Exodus 34:27-28 says, “The Lord also said to Moses, “Write down these words, for I have made a covenant with you and with Israel based on these words. 28 Moses was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights; he did not eat food or drink water. He wrote the Ten Commandments, the words of the covenant, on the tablets.”
Then again… much like the crowds that clamored after Jesus, the Israelites in the desert wilderness encountered profound hunger. What was the purpose? Deuteronomy 8:1-3 God says, “Carefully follow every command I am giving you today, so that you may live and increase, and may enter and take possession of the land the Lord swore to your ancestors. 2 Remember that the Lord your God led you on the entire journey these forty years in the wilderness, so that he might humble you and test you to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands. 3 He humbled you by letting you go hungry; then he gave you manna to eat, which you and your ancestors had not known, so that you might learn that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.”
It's quite profound to observe the Tabernacle pattern of Consecration-Spirit-Word (Laver, Fire, Bread) in the life of Moses and Israel. It’s quite profound to observe the Tabernacle pattern of Consecration-Sprit-Word in Jesus’ life (His baptism, his receipt of the Holy Spirit, then his supernatural reliance on word of God in wilderness—man does not live on bread alone!). But we see this same pattern of Consecration-Spirit-Word in the early Church!
Consider carefully Acts 2. First there is Acts 2:37-41, an account of how the crowd is struck by the mercy of God, and are commanded to be baptized, so they can be washed and receive the Holy Spirit. Listen carefully! “37 When they heard this, they were pierced to the heart and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what should we do?”
38 Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, each of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 For the promise is for you and for your children, and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call.” 40 With many other words he testified and strongly urged them, saying, “Be saved from this corrupt generation!” 41 So those who accepted his message were baptized, and that day about three thousand people were added to them.”
Yet having been consecrated in baptism (LAVER), and having received the Holy Spirit (CANDLESTICK), the Newly Born believers begin FEASTING TOGETHER! They physically nourish themselves with breaking bread in their homes. But listen again closely! Acts 2:42-46, “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and to prayer. 43 Everyone was filled {NOT WITH BREAD MIND YOU} with awe, and many wonders and signs were being performed through the apostles. 44 Now all the believers were together and held all things in common. 45 They sold their possessions and property and distributed the proceeds to all, as any had need. 46 Every day they devoted themselves to meeting together in the temple, and broke bread from house to house. They ate their food with joyful and sincere hearts, 47 praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. Every day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.”
Sadly, we don’t follow the Tabernacle, nor Christological, nor Ecclesiological pattern of Consecration/Spirit/Word, Laver/Fire/Bread. Upon baptism, so many stop breaking bread altogether. We stop nourishing ourselves in God’s word like Moses, like Israel, like Jesus, like the early Church. We act as if we can thrive breadless. But just like you physically die breadless, so in the spiritual life you die breadless. You abstain from the word, you remain empty and starved. And isn’t the biggest complaint of those who neglect the word, “I’m empty inside. I don’t feel God. I feel hunger pangs, I’m so dissatisfied, I have no joy, there is no spiritual reality within me. Foolish Christian, you need real spiritual food. Eat!
Of course, “BREAD” doesn’t just point to how the written word of God must sustain us. More deeply the BREAD points to how the living Word, Christ Jesus our Lord must sustain us. And this is the ultimately lesson. Our soul isn’t sustained on bread that comes from God, our soul is sustained by the bread that IS GOD.
In John 6:35 Jesus says, “I am the bread of life,” Jesus told them. “No one who comes to me will ever be hungry, and no one who believes in me will ever be thirsty again.” In John 6:47-51 Jesus says, “Truly I tell you, anyone who believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread that comes down from heaven so that anyone may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread he will live forever. The bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.””
Physical bread points to our need for physical nourishment. Spiritual bread points to our need for the Written Word of God to sustain us, to be our primary means of spiritual nourishment. But the Heavenly and Eternal bread is Christ Jesus Himself. Our true bread is the Living Word of God. Jesus is our eternal nourishment. He is the bread who gives Eternal Life. Partaking of Christ’s very life enables us to live forever! Ultimately the physical and spiritual should lead us to the eternal.
Remember John 15:7-10? “7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you want and it will be done for you. 8 My Father is glorified by this: that you produce much fruit and prove to be my disciples. 9 “As the Father has loved me, I have also loved you. Remain in my love. 10 If you keep my commands you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love.”
Remember the Great Commission? Matthew 28:19-20? “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. . .” Okay I got baptized. I’ve been consecrated. I’ve got the promised Holy Spirit. I’ve arrived. I’m there right? NOPE! Next comes the teaching of the Word of God. Hard core Spiritual Nourishment! “… teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you.”
Okay great, I’m all about the written word, have I arrived? NOPE. Next comes an ever-deepening encounter with the Eternal Word, Eternal Bread. Jesus adds, “And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” The teaching of the Word isn’t an end in itself… it’s a means of deeper abiding and encountering Christ!
This morning I end with an invitation!
Come to the OUTER COURTS with thanksgiving and praise
Come to the BRAZEN ALTAR and embrace the mercy of God.
Come to the LAVER… and be consecrated, be baptized, as Jesus said ye must be born again… born of water and the spirit to enter the Kingdom of God
Come to the CANDLESTICK… and receive God’s Spirit, his light, his gifts, his peace, his holy-convicting-transformative power.
Come to the BREAD… and get true nourishment for your famished soul. Physical bread yes. Spiritual Bread the Word. Eternal Bread, Christ Jesus Himself.