THE OUTER COURT

Exodus 27:9 (NASB) "And you shall make the court of the Tabernacle. On the south side there shall be hangings for the court of fine twisted linen one hundred cubits long for one side;

10 and its pillars shall be twenty, with their twenty sockets of bronze; the hooks of the pillars and their bands shall be of silver.

11 "And likewise for the north side in length there shall be hangings one hundred cubits long, and its twenty pillars with their twenty sockets of bronze; the hooks of the pillars and their bands shall be of silver.

12 "And for the width of the court on the west side shall be hangings of fifty cubits with their ten pillars and their ten sockets.

13 "And the width of the court on the east side shall be fifty cubits.

14 "The hangings for the one side of the gate shall be fifteen cubits with their three pillars and their three sockets.

15 "And for the other side shall be hangings of fifteen cubits with their three pillars and their three sockets.

16 "And for the gate of the court there shall be a screen of twenty cubits, of blue and purple and scarlet material and fine twisted linen, the work of a weaver, with their four pillars and their four sockets.

17 "All the pillars around the court shall be furnished with silver bands with their hooks of silver and their sockets of bronze.

18 "The length of the court shall be one hundred cubits, and the width fifty throughout, and the height five cubits of fine twisted linen, and their sockets of bronze.

19"All the utensils of the Tabernacle used in all its service, and all its pegs, and all the pegs of the court, shall be of bronze.

The Tabernacle was encircled by a fence made of fine white linen. Remember that they had gotten all of these goods when they left Egypt. The fence was 5 cubits (7 1/2 ft.) tall. It speaks of the righteousness of God. The courtyard was 100 cubits (150 ft.) long and 50 cubits (75 ft.) wide. The white linen was the finest of linen. Anyone who approaches God must face the righteousness of God.

The first thing that people came face to face with was this beautiful white linen curtain. This is a picture of our body. The first thing people see is our righteousness. The righteousness our lives exhibit or are supposed to exhibit since our rebirth.

Revelations 19:8 (NASB) And it was given to her to clothe herself in fine linen, bright and clean; for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.

It says that God is holy and righteous. Man cannot approach Him without facing His righteousness.

Isaiah 64:6 (NASB) For all of us have become like one who is unclean, And all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment; And all of us wither like a leaf, And our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.

7 And there is no one who calls on Thy name, Who arouses himself to take hold of Thee; For Thou hast hidden Thy face from us, And hast delivered us into the power of our iniquities.

These are not qualities which God has, but things which He is. Jesus is the righteousness of God and one cannot approach God without going through Jesus. To approach God, you will face His holiness and righteousness.

The linen curtain was supported on sixty pillars which sat in sockets made of brass. The entire Tabernacle was collapsible and portable. Nothing in the Tabernacle was too big to move because you never knew when God was going to change His location. God may have you in one spot today and tell you to move tomorrow. Where ever He leads is where we want to be.

Each pillar had a capital, which was overlaid with silver, and also a silver hook from which the curtains hung. There were twenty, equally spaced pillars on the south side, twenty on the north side and ten on both the east and west sides. They were all united by a silver connecting bar called a fillet. Each pillar was made secure by cords fastened to brass tent pegs, called pins. Upon these pillars hung 490 ft. of fine twined linen, to which was added 30 ft. of blue, purple, scarlet, and fine twined linen. This made an entire enclosure; the 30 ft. of colored fabric, being in the center of the east end of the court, became the gate of entrance. This gate hung from four of the pillars. What was its purpose? It had several.

1. It was a barrier. It prevented unlawful approach to the sacred building, setting it apart.

2. It was a protection. It kept wild animals out.

3. It was a distinct boundary. It kept the camp outside and the Tabernacle inside. A great lesson is to be learned here. God has called for a positive mark of separation between the church and the world. Man desires mix the world and the church, while at the same time he seeks to set up very high barriers of denominationalism; the difference being, God has put the barrier between the world and the church and called for a life of separation, but man has moved it and put it between himself and fellow believers, thus breaking the fellowship of saints.

4. It was to create a way of approach. Man cannot come as he thinks. There is one way; God has provided it; and only by that way shall we ever approach God. That way is fully revealed as we study the furniture.

Only the priests could enter the Holy Place, and only the high priest could enter the Holy of Holies. Yet anyone who wanted to could enter the Court, priest and layman alike, those of high and low degree, the young and old, the rich and the poor, the reason being that it was the place of sacrifice and without the shedding of blood there was no remission of sins.

Lets take a look at the typology of the court. How the white linen of that court must have stood out in contrast to all the hundreds of black-goat hair tents pitched on every side of it. Surely a picture of Christ's righteousness in the midst of a perverse and crooked generation.

The court is a wonderful picture of the Word of God, for the Word reveals how sin has been judged and put underfoot (brass sockets). It holds up as its head (silver chapiters) the redemptive work of Christ and , at the same time, displays on every hand the righteousness of God.

The linen curtain said to the world - keep out and it said to the one who wanted to approach God - come here. If I approach in faith in the righteousness of Jesus Christ, if I went through the gate and came in, the place became a place of safety to me. It was a marked out place. You couldn't meet with God anywhere else. The only way to God is in Jesus Christ. Even in the wilderness there was a way to approach God. It doesn't matter where you are, there is a Holy Place right there.

The desert was a rough place. It was extremely hot in the day and freezing at night. There were snakes and various hostile animals there. In the middle of the hostile environment was a place to meet with God.

The linen was the dividing wall between Holy God and sinful man. Anyone who approached it, must acknowledge it. If you picture the linen as the righteousness of God, then the pillars were the upholders of righteousness. Jesus is spoken of in the Songs of Solomon as having legs as pillars of marble -

Songs of Solomon 5:15 (NASB) "His legs are pillars of alabaster Set on pedestals of pure gold; His appearance is like Lebanon, Choice as the cedars.

Jeremiah was told by God that He was going to be an iron pillar and a brazen wall before His people.

Jeremiah 1:18 (NASB) "Now behold, I have made you today as a fortified city, and as a pillar of iron and as walls of bronze against the whole land, to the kings of Judah, to its princes, to its priests and to the people of the land.

Peter, James, and John were said to be pillars in the early church. The Church is spoken of in 1Timothy 3:15 as the pillar and ground of the truth.

1 Timothy 3:15 (NASB) but in case I am delayed, I write so that you may know how one ought to conduct himself in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and support of the truth.

The Overcomer in Revelations is spoken of as a pillar in the temple of God.

Revelation 3:12 (NASB) 'He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he will not go out from it anymore; and I will write upon him the name of My God, and the name of the city of My God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God, and My new name.

The pillar is the upholder of the standard of God's righteousness. We are not here to change the world, but to demonstrate the Nature of God in the midst of the world. We are demonstrate the character of God in an unrighteous world.

The Remnant has always been the group that has held up the righteousness of God.

The pillars or posts sat in sockets of brass. The scriptures do not tell us material the pillars were made of. They did not touch the sand. The pillars that uphold the righteousness of God rest on the judgment of God which is always represented by brass. Brass and bronze always speak of judgment. We stand on the brass, the judgment which God has poured out on His own sacrificial Lamb is Jesus. The scriptures speak of the heavens being shut up and as brass when one sins. In Revelations, Jesus is pictured as walking on feet of burnished brass.

Revelation 2:18 (NASB) "And to the angel of the church in Thyatira write: The Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire, and His feet are like burnished bronze, says this:

In Mica 4:13, the Church walks on feet of brass.

Micah 4:13 (NASB) "Arise and thresh, daughter of Zion, For your horn I will make iron And your hoofs I will make bronze, That you may pulverize many peoples, That you may devote to the LORD their unjust gain And their wealth to the Lord of all the earth.

We are pictures of the pillars which uphold this righteousness.

Brass speaks of judgment.

Numbers 21:5 (NASB) And the people spoke against God and Moses, "Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we loathe this miserable food."

6 And the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died.

7 So the people came to Moses and said, "We have sinned, because we have spoken against the LORD and you; intercede with the LORD, that He may remove the serpents from us." And Moses interceded for the people.

8 Then the LORD said to Moses, "Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a standard; and it shall come about, that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, he shall live."

9 And Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on the standard; and it came about, that if a serpent bit any man, when he looked to the bronze serpent, he lived.

This is a shadow of the cross. Look to the cross to see the judgment of your sins.

John 3:14 (NASB) "And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up;

15 that whoever believes may in Him have eternal life.

The pins and cords were made of brass which speaks of judgment.

Exodus 27:19 (NASB) "All the utensils of the tabernacle used in all its service, and all its pegs, and all the pegs of the court, shall be of bronze.

The cords speak of God's love for us and the grace which gives us strength and stability. The judgment of God gives us stability through Christ. The cords and pins hold a tent.

Silver speaks of redemption. Silver curtain rods were used to hold up the linen curtain. The silver came from the money used to redeem the people when Moses took a census. This money said that I belong to God. The whole curtain of God's righteousness rests on redemption. Redemption holds it together. All the believers are connected and stabilized by redemption.

Jesus was betrayed by thirty pieces of silver. This was the cost of a slave. All of the first born belonged to God. God said that you could buy them back with redemption money. When Joseph and Mary took the infant Jesus to the temple to pay the taxes, they were saying - God we know that He is Yours, but we are buying Him back. We are redeemed from being slaves to sin to become slaves to God. Jesus must not only be declared as savior, but as Lord. We were bought and paid for not with silver and gold, but with the blood of God's lamb - Jesus. The money was just a picture until the reality came.

1 Peter 1:18 (NASB) knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers,

19 but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ.

1 Timothy 2:5 (NASB) For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,

6 who gave Himself as a ransom for all, the testimony borne at the proper time.

Each pillar was crowned with a silver cap. We are also crowned with the redemption of God. Jesus was crowned with the curses which is represented by the thorns so that we could be crowned with redemption.

Galatians 2:9 (NASB) and recognizing the grace that had been given to me, James and Cephas and John, who were reputed to be pillars, gave to me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship, that we might go to the Gentiles, and they to the circumcised.

THE GATE

Exodus 27:14 Curtains fifteen cubits {That is, about 22 1/2 feet} long are to be on one side of the entrance, with three posts and three bases,

15 and curtains fifteen cubits long are to be on the other side, with three posts and three bases.

16 "For the entrance to the courtyard, provide a curtain twenty cubits {That is, about 30 feet} long, of blue, purple and scarlet yarn and finely twisted linen-- the work of an embroiderer-- with four posts and four bases.

In front of the Tabernacle, in the center of the court, facing east, was the gate. They pitched their tents facing the east. We also are always looking for the coming of the Son. Beams from the rising sun would fall on the gate, revealing it's color and the way to God.

There was only one way to get into the court - The Gate. Christianity is narrow. There was only one gate. Jesus said that He is the door.

John 10:7 (NASB) Jesus therefore said to them again, "Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep.

8 "All who came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them.

9 "I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.

He said if you try to get in any other way, you are a thief and robber exhibiting the traits of your father the devil.

John 10:1 (NASB) "Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter by the door into the fold of the sheep, but climbs up some other way, he is a thief and a robber.

2 "But he who enters by the door is a shepherd of the sheep.

The gate said that man could come in, but only in God's way. There is one Mediator between God and man and that is Jesus. The scripture says - broad is the way that leads to destruction and narrow is the way to salvation.

Matthew 7:13 (NASB) "Enter by the narrow gate; for the gate is wide, and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and many are those who enter by it.

14 "For the gate is small, and the way is narrow that leads to life, and few are those who find it.

The way to salvation is narrow and yet is can accommodate all who come.

The were four post which held the gate up. The number four speaks of the world. This says that the gate is open to the world, to any who will come. The gate was beautifully colorful in a drab desert. It was thirty feet wide and very distinctive. It was obviously marked out. Jesus was marked out by the approval of the Father. It was constructed of linen. The Gospels are the entrance to the person of Jesus Christ. God helped the writers to remember certain things about Jesus Christ. The fine linen speaks to the righteousness of Jesus, the book of Luke portrays Jesus as man. The color blue speaks of heaven, His divinity. The book of John speaks to this. The scarlet speaks of the sacrificial blood, the blood that was painted on the door posts, the suffering servant. The Son of God came as servant. The book of Mark speaks to this. The red and blue mixed together give you purple, the color of royalty which is addressed in the book of Matthew, the kinsman redeemer.

In the gate with it's material and colors, we see a fulfillment of Philippians. Philippians 2:6-11, Who being in the form of God (blue), but thought it not right to be equal with God (White - righteousness, purity). He humbled Himself in verse 5 speaks to the sacrifice and all of it together speaks of the Kingship of Jesus in verse 9.

Philippians 2:6 (NASB) who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped,

7 but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men.

8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

9 Therefore also God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name,

10 that at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE SHOULD BOW, of those who are in heaven, and on earth, and under the earth,

11 and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Jesus is the only access to God the Father.

God correlated the four Gospels with the Cherubim. One reason for this was that there were four kinds of people in the world at that time. There were the Jews which Matthew wrote to and spoke of the King of Israel. Then there were the Romans who were in power. To them, God sent the book of Mark which explained servanthood. The there were the Greek who looked for purity with all their art forms. To them, Luke wrote of the perfect Man. There were also the Christians who could read through the book of John, the perfect God - Man. From the four faces that Ezekiel had seen, to the four camping spots, to the four types of people, to the four colors in the gate, it all fits together.

In the complete Tabernacle, there were really three gates - one in the courtyard, one to the Holy Place, and one the Holy of Holies. Jesus said that He was the Way, the Truth, and the Life. He was these three gates. The curtain to the Holy Place and the veil to the Holy of Holies were ten cubits by ten cubits, or one hundred square cubits. The gate was five cubits by twenty cubits, or one hundred square cubits. The shape of the gate was wide to allow more people to enter. Only the priests could enter the Holy Place and only the High Priest could inter the Holy of Holies.

All of these were shadows and we have come to something better. We have come to the reality. Amen