Category Archives: Gospel Message/Salvation

“Thy way, O Elohim, is in the tabernacle”

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Exodus 40:1, You set up the tabernacle. This verse implies that Moses set up the tabernacle single-handedly without any help. To what does this point prophetically? (Read Hebrews 3:3–6.)

Exodus 40:2–7, Set up the tabernacle. YHVH’s instructions to Moses to set up the furnishings in the tabernacle followed a particular order. In fact, if one traces Moses’s footsteps in doing so, it forms an interesting geometric pattern that is highly significant spiritually. Let’s explore this. 

In placing the furnishings in the tabernacle, Moses first started in the holy of holies where he set up the ark of the covenant. After this, he went into the holy place and over to the right side where he set up the table of show bread. He then moved across to the left side of the holy place and set up the menorah. Next, he moved to the center of the holy place in front of the curtain or veil separating the holy place from the holy of holies where he set up the altar of incense. After this, Moses made a straight line and exited out of the tabernacle itself into the outer courtyard we he set up the altar of sacrifice. Having done this, Moses then set up the bronze laver, also in the outer courtyard just in front of the door leading into the tabernacle. If you trace Moses’ steps and make a line in the dirt, what is the outline?

The outline of Moses’ movements makes a triangle on a cross with the base of the triangle forming the arm of a cross. The base of cross corresponds to the altar of sacrifice, while apex of the triangle corresponds to the altar of incense and the top of the cross, which extends past the apex of the triangle is where the testimony in the holy of holies is. Why did YHVH instruct Moses to set up the tabernacle’s furnishings in this order, and not another order? What is the spiritual significance of this particular pattern? How does it relate to you and me? Let’s unpack this.

The base of this arrow is at the altar of sacrifice representing Yeshua’s death on the cross atoning for our sins. Next, the arrow points us to the bronze laver picturing a believer’s next step in his spiritual walk which is baptism for the remission of sins and legally identifying with Yeshua’s death, burial and resurrection, as well as receipt of Elohim’s Set-Apart Spirit and the washing of our lives by the water of the Word of Elohim. Next we come to the menorah picturing the Spirit of life in Yeshua the Messiah as the new believer manifests begins evidencing the fruits of the redeemed life, which is the fruits and gifts of the Spirit, which shine like a light into the dark world around us. Next we come to the table of the showbread picturing the regathering and unification of the tribes of Israel around the table of Yeshua’s body in sweet fellowship and covenantal relationship. Through the Messiah of Israel, the scattered tribes are regathered and can pray to and worship Elohim together unified at the altar of incense as they prepare to enter into the eternal kingdom of YHVH Elohim’s presence as pictured by the holy of holies under the glory cloud of YHVH himself.

The way to Elohim through Yeshua the Messiah is laid out in the Tabernacle of Moses making the outline of a cross and an arrow that points heavenward. This goes to show us that the tabernacle is, in reality, a giant gospel tract that shows sinful man the way of salvation leading to his glorification as immortal sons and daughters of YHVH Elohim, our Father in heaven.

Your way, O Elohim, is in the sanctuary; Who is so great a El as our Elohim? (Psalm 77:13)

Exodus 40:34, The glory of YHVH filled the tabernacle. The glory cloud that covered the tabernacle signaled ­YHVH’s approval of the work that was done. Had the Israelites not followed all of YHVH’s minute construction instructions would he have inhabited the tabernacle? Is there a lesson to be learned from this? Could YHVH’s anointing on our lives be greater if our obedience to YHVH’s instructions were greater?

 

The Deeper Message of the Tabernacle of Moses

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The Tabernacle and the Deification or Theosis of Man

The Tabernacle of Moses from its front to back represents one’s progression in their spiritual journey starting with their initial salvation leading to the glorification of the physical body and eternal life in YHVH’s eternal spiritual kingdom. This view is from man’s perspective looking into the tabernacle through the front gate.

From YHVH’s view inside the holy of holies above the ark of the covenant in the glory cloud looking outward, the perspective is different. We’ll discus this in a moment.

In the outer court of the tabernacle, all the rituals and furnishings pointed to death, judgment, to washing or cleansing. These prophetically foreshadowed salvation through Yeshua’s atoning death on the cross, with Yeshua being the door to salvation, acceptance of his death on the cross for one’s sins followed by baptism for the remission of sins. In the set-apart (kadosh or holy) place inside the tabernacle, everything pointed to life, light, food, fragrant incense, the fruits and gifts of the Set-Apart Spirit—or life in a spiritual relationship with Elohim subsequent to one’s taking the beginning steps in the salvation process. The outer court speaks of basic salvation for the redeemed believer in Yeshua, while the holy place speaks of spiritual growth and maturity, of moving from spiritual babyhood and growing into spiritual adulthood or maturity. 

To understand this process of growing in spiritual maturity, it is necessary to comprehend the tripartite composition of man. Paul speaks of man being subdivided into three parts—body, soul and spirit (1 Thess 5:23). The tabernacle’s outer court seems to relate more to the physical or bodily realm of the person, while the holy place speaks more of the soul or intellectual, volitional and emotional aspects of man’s inner or psychological makeup. Finally, the holy of holies portrays man approaching YHVH through the realm of a person’s inner personal spirit. 

As one progresses into the tabernacle, it is as if YHVH is drawing a person into an ever deeper relational walk with him starting at the most basic level progressing upward until one is finally communing with YHVH on a Spirit-to-(human personal)-spirit level (in the most holy place). It is the Father’s desire that his children progressively grow until we are communing with him at the highest spiritual level (see John 4:23–24). 

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A great spiritual revival is coming…

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Exodus 34:1–35, Prophetic pictures of Moses’ second ascension of Mount Sinai. Moses’ second ascension of Mount Sinai is a prophetic and allegorical picture of the saints’ resurrection and glorification at the second coming of Yeshua the Messiah.

According to Jewish tradition, Moses ascended Mount Sinai to receive the second set of stone tablets containing the Ten Commandments on the first day of the sixth biblical month or 30 days before Yom Teruah, which occurs on the first day of the seventh month. Forty days later on Yom Kippur he descended from the mountain carrying with him the second set of tablets as a sign of YHVH’s forgiveness of the children of Israel after the golden calf incident. This signaled YHVH’s renewed relationship with Israel after they had repented of golden calf worship. 

We know that in biblical times a biblical Israelite bride, while waiting for her betrothed to arrive from his father’s house, would hear a shout and the sound of the shofar in the distance as her bridegroom approached (Matt 25:6 cp. Matt 24:31; 1 Thess 4:16; 1 Cor 15:51–52). If she were alert and not asleep (as were the ten virgins in Matt 25:1–13), she would have had time to put on her wedding robes, trim her lamp’s wick (an ancient version of a flashlight), and have it filled with oil and ready to light as soon as he arrived, since he would be coming at night time. 

Prophetically, the Scriptures indicate that the saints of Yeshua are to be resurrected and to meet the returning Messiah Yeshua in the air at the seventh or last shofar blast most likely on Yom Teruah (Day of the Trumpets also known as the Day of Shouting or Shofar Blasts, see 1 Thess 4:16; 1 Cor 15:52; Rev 11:15–18). From the time the saints begin hearing the shofar blasts in the distance signaling the arrival of Yeshua the Bridegroom until their ascension (at the resurrection) to meet King Yeshua in the air roughly seems to correspond to Moses’ ascension of Mount Sinai on the first day of the sixth month. That being so, then Moses’ descent with the stone tablets—the tokens of a renewed covenant between YHVH and Israel on Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement)—would correspond to Yeshua returning to earth with his just-resurrected saints. As Moses saw the glory of YHVH in the cleft of the rock the second time he ascended Mount Sinai (Exod 33:18–23; 34:5–9), and as he descended in a glorified state, his face shining with the glory of YHVH, so the saints will resurrect to meet Yeshua in the air, see his glory, and will return with him with their own glorified immortal bodies (1 Cor 15:42–54; 1 Thess 4:16–17).

First John 3:2 says, “Beloved, now are we the sons of Elohim, and it does not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.” These resurrect­ed saints are those who have heeded YHVH’s call to come out of Babylonian, golden calf-type religious systems (i.e. Christo-pagan churchianity, Rev 18:4) where paganism has been mixed with the truth of the Scriptures. These same saints are now waiting to enter into an everlasting (marital) covenant with YHVH-Yeshua (Rev 19:7–9). They are those who love Yeshua and his the Torah-commandments (Rev 12:17; 14:12).

In the end times there will be a great spiritual revival as many people are saved and come to faith in Yeshua out of the great tribulation period (Rev 7:14). Some of these new converts to Yeshua the Messiah will be native Israelites, along with many Gentiles, who have been spiritually grafted into the nation of Israel, and all of whom have repent of the golden calf worship of Torahlessness and false religious systems. If we can trust the end time prophetic chronology of the fall biblical feasts, we see that this momentous and glorious event will occur in the time period leading up to the Day of the Trumpets when many people will wholeheartedly repent and receive the covering of the blood of Yeshua for their sins, as pictured by the Day of Atonement. This will be a continuation of the process of the rebirth and reunification of the two houses of Israel (loosely speaking, Ephraim who is he church, and Judah who are the Jews) that began in the apostolic era.

The Bible likens this process to branches being grafted into an ancient olive tree, or to the unification of Jews and Gentiles becoming into the “one new man” Israel of Elohim through faith in and the blood of Yeshua the Messiah (Rom 11:13–24; Ezek 37:15–28; Eph 2:11–19; Gal 6:16).

 

Surprise, surprise! The concept of grace DID NOT originate in the NT

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Exodus 33:12–13, Grace.The mainstream church places a great deal of emphasis on the message of grace. The biblical doctrine of grace finds its roots in this chapter in the Torah and not in the apostolic writings as the mainstream church teaches. 

The noun grace (Heb. chen) is found six times in chapters 33 and 34. The adjective gracious (Heb. chanan and channuwn)as an attribute YHVH’s character is found three times in chapters 33 and 34. Six is the number of man and three is the number of Elohim. That is to say, the grace of the entire Godhead covers man completely even when his children turn away from him and give into golden calf worship. His grace for his people rejoices or triumphs over his fiery and consuming judgments (Exod 33:4; Jas 2:13; Pss 85:10; 89:14; Mic 7:18; Eph 1:7; Rom 5:8) that they deserve for their stiff-neckness and sinful rebellion against his commands (Exod 33:3).

The Hebrew word for grace is chen/IJmeaning “favor, grace, charm, acceptance.” The Hebrew word chen (found 69 times in the Tanakh), which is translated as grace, in this verse is equivalent to the Greek word charis/cariV, which is found 156 times in the Testimony of Yeshua and is translated as grace 130 times in the KJV.The equivalency of these two words is confirmed by the translators of the Septuagint (the Greek Tanakh) who used charis in place of chen when translating the Hebrew Tanakh into Greek beginning in the third century b.c. 

According to The TWOT, in the vast majority of occurrences of chen in the Tanakh, the focus of attention is not on the giver, but on the recipient. The emphasis is on the relationship of the superior to an inferior (e.g. a king to his subjects). What this teaches us is that despite sin and rebellion against him, YHVH (the king) is gracious (to humans, his subjects). Contrary to what many in the church have been led to believe, the grace of Elohim is a very prominent theme in the Tanakh. Examples of this include Noah who found grace in YHVH’s eyes (Gen 6:8), or the children of Israel although dead in their sins in Egypt and deserving of YHVH’s wrath, they were saved by the blood of the lamb. There are a number of other references to the grace of Elohim in the Tanakh as well (Gen 18:3; Exod 3:21; 33:16,17; 34:9; Ps 84:11; Zech 12:10).

 

Can you buy your redemption through charitable giving?

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Exodus 30:15 and 16, To make atonement for your souls. Some will read these verses and conclude that one can buy their redemption through charitable giving and therefore circumvent the need to place one’s faith in Yeshua’s atoning death on the cross. Does this passage suggest a theology where man can save himself from his sins by acts of charity? Let’s dig a little deeper to see what these verses are really teaching us.

In this passage, YHVH instructed the Israelites to pay an annual half-shekel temple tax. This money went, in part, toward, the service (verse 16) and constructing of the Tabernacle of Moses (e.g. Keil and Delitzsch Commentary on the OT, vol. 1, p. 459; Exod. 38:21–31), and later toward the purchase of the animals the priests sacrificed (The Temple and Its Service, by Alfred Edersheim, p. 48). In this way, the people were participating vicariously in the act of sacrificing an innocent animal as an offering or atonement for their sins. Again, the Scriptures reveal that this sacrificial system merely pointed prophetically toward the Greater Sacrifice that would come later in the Person of Yeshua, the Redeemer of Israel. (Read Isa 53.) On the point that the paying the half-shekel was a merely a temporary solution to the problem of man’s sin, Keil and Delitzsch say in their commentary on this passage,

As an expiation [atonement] for souls, it pointed to the unholiness of Israel’s nature, and reminded the people continually, that by nature it was alienated from God, and could only remain in covenant with the Lord and live in His kingdom on the ground of His grace, which covered its sin (ibid.). 

Keil and Delitzsch’s point is further strengthened in Exodus 30:16, which says,

And you shall take the atonement money of the children of Israel, and shall appoint it for the service of the tabernacle of the congregation; that it may be a memorial unto the children of Israel before YHVH, to make an atonement for your souls. (emphasis added; ibid.)

The giving of the half-shekel was a memorial to what? The Hebrew word for memorial is zikrown (Strong’s H2146) meaning “reminder, token, record.” According to The TWOT, a zikrown is an object or act which brings something else to mind or which represents something else. It reminded them of their sinfulness and pointed prophetically to a Redeemer—Yeshua the Messiah— who would come and take away their sins once and for all (Heb 10:10). For a more detailed study of this subject, please see our teaching article entitled, “The Atonement: Bloody or Bloodless? Understanding the Concept of Atonement in the Torah” located on the Hoshana Rabbah website at http://www.hoshanarabbah.org/pdfs/atone.pdf.

 

Are YOU Saved? How do you know?

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John 3:16, Everlasting life.

Salvation — What Is It and Do You Have It?

What is Salvation?

The dictionary defines the word salvation as “the deliverance from the power and effects of sin.” In a general sense, salvation is “preservation from harm, ruin or loss.” Relating the first definition, which is biblical in nature, to the second definition, which is generic in nature, we see that salvation is the deliverance or preservation from the power of sin, which causes harm, ruin or loss. Salvation and redemption are synonymous terms in biblical Hebraic thought. We will discuss the idea of redemption below.

So what is sin that it causes harm, ruin or loss, and what is being harmed or being lost such that we need deliverance? Very simply, Scripture (the Bible) defines sin as the violation of YHVH Elohim’s (the LORD God’s) Torah-laws (1 John 3:4). What is YHVH Elohim’s Torah-law? It is the instructions, precepts or teaching of YHVH as found in the first five books of the Bible, which can then be expanded to include the entire Bible or Word of YHVH. Man is commanded to live by every word found in Scripture (Deut 8:3; Matt 4:4). Man is to hear and do the Words of YHVH (Deut 6:4), place YHVH’s words in his heart (Deut 6:6), teach them to his children (Deut 6:7), and to make them the basis for all that he does and thinks (Deut 6:8). The words or laws of YHVH Elohim can be summed up as loving YHVH and loving one’s neighbor (Deut 6:5; Lev 19:18; Mark 12:30; John 14:15). The cornerstone of those laws is found in the well-known ten commandments as found in Exodus 20. They are…

  • I am YHVH your Elohim.
  • You shall have no other gods before me.
  • You shall not take my name in vain.
  • Remember the Sabbath day to keep it set-apart. 
  • Honor you father and mother.
  • You shall not murder.
  • You shall not commit adultery
  • You shall not steal.
  • You shall not lie.
  • You shall not covet your that which belongs to your neighbor.

The first five statements constitute loving YHVH Elohim, while the last five constitute loving one’s fellow man. These ten statements are but the beginning of YHVH’s laws as outlined in Scripture, which if man break, man is guilty of sin. There are 613 such laws in the Tanakh (Old Testament) and more than 1050 in the Testimony of Yeshua (New Testament). This may seem like a lot of laws for man to have to follow, but in reality, it is nothing compared to the hundreds of law books that constitute the laws of most nations on earth. Whole law libraries are established to contain them all!

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Why study about the Tabernacle of Moses?

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Exodus 25:8–9, A sanctuary … tabernacle. 

The Tabernacle of Moses

If you were the Creator of the universe, what means would you use to communicate with those that you had created through love in your likeness and image? In a remote way, it’s like a human standing over an anthill trying to communicate with the ants. How do you do it? Similarly, how does an all powerful, Spirit Being, loving Father in heaven relate to his mortal children who are but mere specks of dust without vaporizing them with his raw power? The difficulty is compounded when fearful humans don’t want to hear the voice of Elohim, which is what happened when YHVH Elohim’s voice thundered from Mount Sinai. The children of Israel begged him not to talk to them, lest they die. They asked the Almighty One to speak to them instead through Moses (Exod 20:19). 

When man sinned at the tree of knowledge, and YHVH kicked them out of the Garden of Eden, direct communications between man and his Maker were hampered, if not all but cut off. However, Elohim had a plan to restore the loving relationship he had with man before the rebellion. But if men refuse to hear you when you speak, what are you do?

For certain, the Almighty doesn’t lack for ways to communicate with men. Man is without excuse when it comes to hearing Elohim, for even the heaven’s declare the glory of the Creator and the plans he has for mankind. The visible things of this creation shout loudly about the spiritual mysteries heaven desires to reveal to its earthly subjects. Furthermore, from time to time over the millennia, Elohim has chosen to speak directly to some select servants through dreams, visions, signs, wonders, angels, and even once through a donkey! But how does he speak to a whole nation, if that nation is plugging its ears and refusing to hear its Master’s voice?

Enter into the picture the Tabernacle of Moses, which was literally a three-dimensional gospel message tract. It is the visual demonstration of the whole salvation message of the Bible in a building—the blueprint of the plan of redemption of wayward, sinful man. It was a functioning masterpiece of artwork demonstrating the Father’s love for his people, and of his desire to commune and to communicate with Israel—his treasured possession, those he had hand picked and called out from the 70 nations of the world. Not only did the tabernacle involve the sense of sight, but the other four senses as well: sound, smell, touch, and taste. It also engaged and even challenged the heart, emotions, mind and spirit of man to focus on his need to be spiritually reconciled to his Creator. The Tabernacle of Moses was a vehicle for the Creator of the universe to communicate with man using a panoply of communication devices all of which pointed to the coming Messiah, the Redeemer of mankind who would die for the sins of the world to restore man into a loving relationship with his ever-loving, gracious, and longsuffering Father in heaven.

This is the story of the tabernacle, which, in every way, resembles a theatrical play, even a pageant, containing costumed actors each performing his carefully choreographed role on cue. Even a child can comprehend the message of this play, yet it contains mysteries and truths so deep that only in eternity itself will they be revealed to those who have been initiated into higher spiritual levels through the tabernacle’s spiritual paradigms of which its rites and ceremonies were mere prophetic shadows of things to come. To understand it, is to understand the message of the whole Bible from Genesis to Revelation.

Let’s now enter into the world of the Tabernacle of Moses. Welcome! (Please note, over the next several parshiot, we will be discussing the tabernacle in great detail. Later, when we get into Leviticus, we will explore the sacrificial system as well as the other tabernacle rites and ceremonies, and we will learn how they all pointed to Yeshua and how it relates to us.)

Why Study the Tabernacle (or Temple)?

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