As I said in previous lessons, the book of Hebrews is all about the contrast between the Torah Law given by Moses and the covenant of the Spirit given through the broken body and blood of Christ. Our complete focus as a New Testament priest must be on Christ, however as Paul said we can learn from the Old Covenant Law.
Hebrews 8:5 tells us that the physical temple was a copy and shadow of the heavenly things. Let me say that again. The physical temple was a copy and shadow of the heavenly things. So that means if we want to touch the heavenly realm where Christ dwells, we can look at the pattern that God displayed through the tabernacle.
Under the Old covenant you had four main periods or transitions with the tabernacle. You had the tabernacle of Moses, the tabernacle of David, which was only a 40-year period, the Temple of Solomon which was destroyed by the Babylonians and the post-exile period where the temple was rebuilt leading up to the time of Christ. Moses was told to make everything according to the pattern that was shown to him. Just as the Tabernacle had to be made in a specific way, so the priests had to perform their service in a prescribed manner, which was the pattern of worship for the priest under the Old Covenant.
As I’ve said before the book of Hebrews shows us the contrast between the Old and New Covenants pointing us to the superiority of Jesus Christ and his king priest ministry. One of the main contrasts in the book of Hebrews is a focus on the High Priest and the author goes to great lengths showing the superiority of Christ' high priestly function. In the introduction to this section, we contrasted the Aaronic priesthood to the Melchizedek priesthood. Hebrews 5:10 says that Jesus Christ was “designated by God as a High Priest according to the order of Melchizedek”. Melchizedek is one of those mysterious characters in the Bible and is first mentioned in Genesis 14 in connection with Abraham.
The book of Hebrews provides the primary scriptural basis for the study of Melchizedek and clearly shows us that Jesus is a High Priest after the order of Melchizedek. Hebrews 7:11–16 says if perfection had been attainable through the Levitical priesthood (for under it the people received the law), what further need would there have been for another priest to arise after the order of Melchizedek, rather than one named after the order of Aaron? For when there is a change in the priesthood, there is necessarily a change in the law as well. For the one of whom these things are spoken belonged to another tribe, from which no one has ever served at the altar. For it is evident that our Lord was descended from the tribe of Judah, and in connection with that tribe Moses said nothing about priests. This becomes even more evident when another priest arises in the likeness of Melchizedek, who has become a priest, not on the basis of a legal requirement concerning bodily descent, but by the power of an indestructible life.
According to the flesh Jesus was a descendant of king David who was of the tribe of Judah, but it was through his resurrection from the dead to be seated at the right hand of the Father when he became our High Priest. As our High Priest he has washed us in his blood, cleansed us through the water of his word and has sent His Spirit to aid, support, help us and indwell us. In Acts 15 we see a great turning point in the church, which clarified the words of Christ when he told the apostles that the message of the kingdom was for all nations and peoples, not just the 12 tribes of the Hebrew nation. Jesus also said that his house would be a house of prayer for all nations.
Acts 15:7–18 tells us about what has come to be called the Jerusalem Council where they had been debating the acceptance of Gentiles into the faith. It was a great transition from the church being Hebrew centric focused just on the Jewish people to the gospel for all people groups.
Peter stood up and said to them, “Brothers, you know that in the early days God made a choice among you, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe. And God, who knows the heart, bore witness to them, by giving them the Holy Spirit just as he did to us, and he made no distinction between us and them, having cleansed their hearts by faith.
Now, therefore, why are you putting God to the test by placing a yoke on the neck of the disciples that neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear? But we believe that we will be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they will.” And all the assembly fell silent, and they listened to Barnabas and Paul as they related what signs and wonders God had done through them among the Gentiles. After they finished speaking, James replied, “Brothers, listen to me. Simeon has related how God first visited the Gentiles, to take from them a people for his name. And with this the words of the prophets agree, just as it is written,
“After this I will return, and I will rebuild the tent of David that has fallen I will rebuild its ruins and I will restore it that the remnant of mankind may seek the Lord, and all the Gentiles who are called by my name, says the Lord, who makes these things known from of old.’
It is very interesting that this scripture from the book of Amos would be used because the tent or tabernacle of David was different from the tabernacle of Moses, Temple of Solomon or even the rebuilt temple in the latter days of the Hebrew nations before the temple was destroyed by the Romans in 70 A.D. Let’s look at the history of the Tabernacle since the first tabernacle was the focal point of the Law of Moses, with its sacrifices, rituals, feasts, priests and was to be the center of Hebrew life.
The tabernacle of Moses was built in the wilderness after the children of Israel were delivered from Egypt. It was the power by which they were able to defeat their enemies as the Israelites conquered the promised land under the leadership of Joshua, having God as the center of their strength. The entire life of the Hebrew nation was centered on the rituals, sacrifice system and covenant law given through Moses.
If you look at the book of Judges you will see a period of several hundred years where they were fighting the inhabitants of the land. It was a vicious cycle of victory, then compromise and defeat, so the Hebrew nation never completely fulfilled the mandate to conquer the promised land. According to Judges 18:31 the tabernacle of Moses finally came to reside in a city called Shiloh. It’s the book of Samuel that tells us the transition from this very unstable period of victory, defeat and the struggle to survive in the promised land to the period under the leadership of King David the pinnacle of the Hebrew nation’s history.
The book of Judges gives us a picture of the struggle the children of Israel had conquering the promised land. Under the leadership of Joshua, they began to conquer the promised land and were told not to make any compromises with the inhabitants of the land. Well, if you study the book of Judges, you will see that the children of Israel never fulfilled the mandate they were given because they had a history of compromising.
I know it’s easy to sit and judge them, but if you look at your own life, you will see that they experienced the same struggles with the flesh that we all deal with because the frailty of man is part of the redemptive story.
The book of Judges is the story of a collection of individuals who led Israel after Joshua’s death until the rise of the monarchy under Samuel which was a period of around 400 years. It shows us a time of failure to keep the covenant and the people turned from the Lord and began to worship other gods. As it says in Judges 17:6 that “everyone did what was right in his own eyes”. It’s not that different of a story today. In the book of Judges, a pattern repeats throughout the book. The people abandoned the Lord, God punished them by raising up their enemies to oppress them, then the people cried out to God for deliverance and God raised up a deliverer, or judge, for them.
The book of first Samuel opens up at the end of this period with the high priest Eli and his two sons Hophni and Phineas in Shiloh where the tabernacle of Moses had come to reside. It was the central place of worship for the Hebrew nation. It was during this period of time that God brought a great transition to the nation of Israel bringing them out of the chaos of the days of the judges and the Hebrew tribes being divided into the united tribes of the sons of Israel under king David.
David was a Messianic figure and walked in the roles of king, priest and prophet bringing the Hebrew nation to its greatest heights.
As I said the book of Samuel opens up telling the story of Eli the high priest and his two sons who were corrupt and had corrupted the priesthood. They would take the portion of the sacrifice that belonged to the people and keep it for themselves, so the people despised giving their sacrifice. The sons would sleep with women that came to worship at the tabernacle. The corruption went on for years and the people were demoralized until after many prophetic warnings God brought judgment to the house of Eli. God raised up the prophet Samuel who grew up in Shiloh with Eli the high priest.
The prophet Samuel was a transitional figure in the Hebrew nation’s history.
As we look at the Bible as our guide and lens by which we view the world we have to understand this one truth. The Bible does not tell us everything about world history or everything we need to know to make it through this life. The Bible is history, but it’s telling us the story of God’s redemptive history in time. It is God’s love story to humanity showing us His redemptive hand through the Hebrew people, his chosen vehicle to redeem a fallen humanity bringing us back to Himself. As I’ve said throughout this school if you keep the main thing the main thing then you will stay on course.
Covenant is the main theme of scripture from Genesis to the book of Revelation because covenant is God’s redemptive history. God made a covenant with Adam when he covered him with the freshly slain animal skins, restoring fellowship and promising future redemption through the seed of the woman. God made a covenant with Abraham and to his future generations through the sacrifice on Mt. Moriah. God made a covenant through Moses to the nation of Israel after rescuing them from the land of Egypt.
It was David who was one of the main figures, in the story of redemptive history, that prefigured the Messiah who was God that took upon himself human flesh.
The apostles over and over point to Abraham as before the law of Moses and David as a Messianic figure showing us that there is a greater reality than the Torah given through Moses. The greater reality is Christ which is God in human flesh and us identifying with his death, burial, resurrection and ascension living the cruciform life of Christ in us. If you have not listened to Lesson 5: Why the Law? of this school of discipleship I encourage you to do that for a fuller understanding of why the Torah Law is given through Moses.
Now let’s take a look at understanding the tabernacle of David that the apostles spoke of being established. It was established, as a result of the resurrection of Christ and his ascension to the right hand of the Father as our High Priest. As I said earlier, God brought judgment on the house of Eli because his sons who had corrupted the priesthood along with the tabernacle with their lewd behavior.
The sons of Eli presumptuously took the Ark of the covenant into battle against the Philistines and when Israel was defeated the ark of the covenant was taken captive by the Philistines.
Israel lost a major battle where 30,000 men perished, and the Philistines captured the Ark. When the high priest Eli heard of his sons' deaths in battle and how the Ark fell into the enemies’ hands, he fell backwards, breaking his neck and died. Eli's pregnant daughter-in-law then goes into labor and dies while in childbirth. In recognition of the tragic losses of that day, the child is named Ichabod, meaning, "the Glory of the Lord has departed."
The ark of the covenant represented the presence of God and his favor along with His Glory which had departed from Israel because of their disobedience. The Philistines kept the Ark for a short period of time. However, in every city where the Ark was taken, the people got sick and developed tumors in their secret parts.
Finally, when the Philistines could take no more pain, they put the Ark on a new cart pulled by oxen and returned the Ark back to Israel. Next, the Ark had a very brief stay in Beth-shemesh where 50,070 people died when someone decided to take a look inside and removed the mercy seat, which covered the sins of Israel. I Samuel 6:19 says that God struck the men of Beth Shemesh, because they had looked into the ark of the Lord. He struck fifty thousand and seventy men of the people, and the people lamented because the Lord had struck the people with a great slaughter. The Ark was then taken to Kiriath-jearim and stayed in the house of Abinadab for twenty years.
Now, the Bible says that during the reign of king Saul, "the people did not inquire of the Ark." However, when David became King and defeated the Philistines as recorded in 1 Chronicles 12, he held a meeting to discuss returning the Ark to Jerusalem. Everyone agrees that it’s a wonderful idea, so they plan an elaborate celebration inviting people from all over Israel to join in this historic event.
At first, Israel took a page out of the Philistines’ handbook and tried to carry the Ark back on a new cart pulled by oxen. Everything was going smooth until the oxen stumbled, causing the Ark to shift on the cart. A man named Uzzah reaches out to stabilize the Ark. But when Uzzah touched the Ark, God's wrath poured out from the Ark, killing him and ruining the national celebration. The scripture says, "David was upset." He was disappointed and perplexed about what had happened. He knew he was doing the will of God, so he did not understand the disfavor of God. Now after three months, David learns about the blessing of God upon the house of Obededom, where the Ark was left.
David searches the scriptures to find out what went wrong.
As a result David’s second attempt to bring the Ark into Jerusalem reveals important principles that he learned about carrying the ark of the covenant. The Ark represented the power, the glory, and the presence of God. David was a man after God's own heart, but he made some foolish mistakes regarding God's presence and glory. Now, David takes a Biblical approach to accomplish the task in which he had previously failed, which results in success. After failing to bring the Ark to Jerusalem, David searched the scriptures to discover the specific instructions for transporting the Ark.
David learned that the Ark was supposed to be carried by priests on their shoulders, not on cart or pulled by oxen. The Old Testament priests literally carried the presence and glory of God upon their shoulders. God had established the pattern for transporting the Ark within scripture.
So, in the second attempt, David humbled himself and did it God's way. The contrast between the two attempts is startling. While the first attempt was more like a carnival atmosphere, the second was a reverential yet joyful experience.
The first attempt was filled with pomp and fanfare. The second was filled with sacrifice and blood. David discovered the cruciform pattern of the cross. When the people recognized that the LORD was helping them to carry the ark into Jerusalem, they made a special sacrifice. And so it was, when God helped the Levites who bore the ark of the covenant of the Lord, that they offered seven bulls and seven rams. 1 Chronicles 15: 26. Then every six steps they began to sacrifice a bull and a fatted calf according to 2 Samuel 6: 13. And so it was, when those bearing the ark of the Lord had gone six paces, that they sacrificed oxen and fatted sheep.
Notice how the priests moved the ark and worshiped with sacrifice.
After the priests took six steps, they sacrificed a bull and a fatted calf. This happened several times as recorded in scripture. Showing that the road to God's presence and glory is filled with sacrifice and blood because it's always been about the cruciform path. Hebrews 10: 19 tells us, therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus. It’s all about dependence on the blood, water and Spirit. Jesus laid down His life as a sacrifice and shed his blood so that we could be redeemed and enter into the holiest of all where the ark of the covenant resides which is the presence of God. The entire second journey to Jerusalem was a bloodstained road of praise and rejoicing, worship and exalting the one true God who delivered Israel from their enemies and established the future success of the nation.
1 Chronicles 15:14-16 So the priests and the Levites consecrated themselves to bring up the ark of the Lord, the God of Israel. And the Levites carried the ark of God on their shoulders with the poles, as Moses had commanded according to the word of the Lord. David also commanded the chiefs of the Levites to appoint their brothers as the singers who should play loudly on musical instruments, on harps and lyres and cymbals, to raise sounds of joy.
At the first attempt, David was dressed as king to acknowledge his military exploits and royalty. But by the second attempt, David humbled himself in his understanding that God will never share His Glory with another. Therefore, King David refused to wear his royal garments. Instead, David wore the same linen ephod as a common priest to identify himself with Israel as a kingdom of priests. 1 Chronicles 15:27–28 says David was clothed with a robe of fine linen, as also were all the Levites who were carrying the ark, and the singers and the leader of the music of the singers and David wore a linen ephod. So, all Israel brought up the ark of the covenant of the Lord with shouting, to the sound of the horn, trumpets, and cymbals, and made loud music on harps and lyres.
The tabernacle of David was set up in the city of Jerusalem and was a tent that housed the ark of the covenant. David setup his tent in the city of Jerusalem on Mount Zion, the place where Solomon would later build the Temple. It was David the shepherd boy who played the harp who God called as a man after his own heart that gives us an example of the sacrifice of praise, prayer and worship. It’s a lifestyle of surrender to the cruciform life and giving our lives as a living sacrifice.
In Acts 15 the apostles pointed to this time as a precursor to the time that they were living in which was the opening of the true kingdom of priests from all nations inaugurated through the death, burial, resurrection and ascension of Christ to the heavenly throne of Zion. The tabernacle of David was a radical shift in the order of worship. It was a revelation that God wanted the same order of worship on earth as it was in heaven. The prayer of Christ is that the kingdom of God would be on earth as it is in heaven.
David, as a priest, was bypassing the Aaronic priesthood, where the priesthood was established by birthright and tapping into the Melchizedek order of worship accessing the very throne and presence of God.
Hebrews 12:22–24 tells us that we have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. It is for this reason that we should offer up the sacrifice of praise as David did in his tabernacle.
The worship of David’s Tabernacle was not just the sacrifice of blood covenant, but it included singing, instrumental music, standing, kneeling, bowing, upraised hands, clapping and dancing.
It’s a sacrifice of a surrendered life to the worship of a living God. Davidic worship fulfills the command of Jesus to “love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind and all your strength” (Mark 12:30). The word for Judah means, "Praise" and David was one who praised God with his whole heart. The last chapter of Hebrews encourages us, based on the one sacrifice of Christ, to "continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name" (Hebrews 13:15-16).
Just as the incense in the altar was to continually ascend up to God so He desires our hearts to continually speak, sing and shout His victorious praises. As it says in 1 Peter 2:5 that we are living stones are being built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
Let’s take a look at the word praise so we can see what type of sacrifice we are called to make. To get an accurate definition of praise from the Bible we will have to look at the Old Covenant. There are three main words in the original Hebrew language which are used for the one English word praise.
Halal : The basic meaning is to be bright, to praise, to celebrate, glorify. It is from this word that we get the word 'hallelujah' which calls for giving glory to God.
Yadah : The basic meaning is to speak out, to confess, to give thanks, to sing. The name Judah comes from this word.
Tehillah : The basic meaning is a song of praise. If we look at these words then we can see that praise means to celebrate by speaking out, giving thanks, confessing and singing songs unto God.
The word praise used in the New Covenant has not changed, since it means to praise God, to celebrate in song, or to sing songs with musical instruments.
How are we supposed to praise? The best picture of praise in the Bible is David and Acts 15:16 shows us that God has restored the ‘Tabernacle of David’ in the New Covenant. The 'Tabernacle of David' was an open tent with only the Ark of the Covenant under it.
It is through the 'Tabernacle of David' that we learn the importance of praise, prayer and worship. The significance of the 'Tabernacle of David' is that they had priests who praised and worshiped God 24 hours a day (I Chronicles 16:37). David appointed singers, with instruments of music, harps, guitars, loud-sounding cymbals, to raise sounds of joy before the Ark (I Chron. 14:16).
David was a man after God's own heart, and he taught the people to praise God with: Singing (I Chronicles 16:9). Giving of Thanks (I Chronicles 16:8). Instruments (I Chronicles 16:42). Clapping (Psalms 47:1). Lifting of Hands (Psalms 134:2). Dancing (I Chronicles 15:29). Shouting (Psalms 32:11).
Praise should be very expressive, vibrant and upbeat because it is giving our whole heart to God, a well- pleasing sacrifice.
It is by the blood, water and Spirit that we have been made one body of Christ. We are to a house of prayer out of all nations, both Jews and Gentiles and a kingdom of priests offering up our lives as living sacrifices. It’s exactly what the apostles declared in Acts 15 when they said I will rebuild the tent of David that has fallen, I will rebuild its ruins, and I will restore it, that the remnant of mankind may seek the Lord, and all the Gentiles who are called by my name, says the Lord, who makes these things known from of old.
I have given you what the Bible teaches about praise, and we should practice the word of God. However, the way you express yourself is between you, the church you attend and God. If others do things differently, then give them the liberty as long as they stay within the boundaries of the word of God. You can't make others express themselves the way you may and you shouldn’t judge others for the way they do.
God inhabits the praises of His people (Psalms 22:3).
The Ark of the Covenant is the place where God's manifest presence dwelt and as we lift up the sacrifice of praise God will manifest Himself to our hearts. As believers we have the down-payment of the Spirit in our hearts and always have God's Spirit dwelling within us (Ephesians 1:13). However, there is a difference between the abiding presence of God and the tangible or manifest presence of God that comes when we praise, worship and pray to God. Praise enthrones God to the place of highest honor so He can come and show himself in our lives and be our very present help in times of need (Psalms 46:1).
We are called to enter into the presence of God through the sacrifice of praise. In Hebrews 13:15 it says that the sacrifice of praise is the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name. The word for "GIVE THANKS' in the Greek means to confess.
Praise is simply making confessions of faith to the "Apostle and High Priest of our confession" (Heb. 3:1).
Whether we have musical instruments or not, we can still lift up our voices and begin to confess God's goodness, mercy, saving power, love towards us, etc. We can lift up shouts of triumph or just begin to sing of His grace reminding ourselves of what Christ did for us at the Cross and what He can do for us and others right now.
We can make a ritual out of anything. Praise is an offering of our hearts. Be sensitive to the Holy Spirit and don't think you have to do things the same way every time. Let the praises of God be in your heart and on your lips. Lift up the sacrifice of praise and let the power of God come into your life. When we begin to praise it is like opening up a window and allowing the wind of the Spirit to come into our hearts.
Paul the apostle encourages us to be filled with the Spirit and to "speak out to one another…offering praise with voices [and instruments]" (Eph. 5:19 Amplified). This is a place of great power as God manifests Himself to our hearts. In the next lesson we are going to discover the power of praise and how as we give our lives to this sacrifice God will make a way for us when there seems to be no way.
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Next Lesson: Lesson 26 - Part II: The Sacrifice Of Praise
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