The Tabernacle: Lesson 4

Overview

Inside the Holy Place: Lampstand, Showbread, and Altar of Incense

Moving from the outer court into the tabernacle itself, we step into the Holy Place, where three furnishings stood as shadows pointing forward to Christ. Each was crafted according to God's exact specifications, and each speaks to who Jesus is and what it means to belong to Him.

The Lampstand: Christ Our Light

The golden lampstand, described in Exodus 25, was hammered from a single piece of gold and fueled continually with olive oil. Its seven lamps—six branches with a central stem—evoke the biblical pattern of seven as completion and perfection, the same number echoed in the days of creation, the words of Christ from the cross, and the petitions of the Lord's Prayer. The priests tended it so that light never failed in that windowless room.

That tended flame foreshadows Christ Himself. "The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it" John 1:5. Jesus declared, "I am the light of the world" (John 8:12; see also John 12:46). And remarkably, He shares that light with His people: "You are the light of the world" Matthew 5:14-16. Paul reminds us that we were not merely in darkness—we were darkness—"but now in the Lord you are light" Ephesians 5:8-9, called to shine like stars in a crooked generation Philippians 2:14-16. This is why a candle is lit at baptism: Christ's light has been given to us, and we carry it into the world. The trajectory ends in glory, where "the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God is its light, and its lamp is the Lamb" Revelation 21:23.

The Table of Showbread: Christ Our Sustenance

Across from the lampstand stood the table holding twelve loaves—the bread of the Presence—described in Exodus 25:23-30. The twelve loaves represented the twelve tribes, perpetually before the Lord, and recalled God's faithful provision of manna in Exodus 16. Each Sabbath fresh bread was set out, and the previous loaves were eaten by the priests. This was the holy bread David received in his hour of need 1 Samuel 21—an episode Jesus later cited to defend His disciples and to declare Himself Lord of the Sabbath.

Jesus claimed that very imagery: "I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst" John 6:31-35. At every celebration of the Lord's Supper, when He says "this is my body," He is declaring Himself the true Bread of the Presence—tangible forgiveness, the abiding sustenance our souls require. We do not merely remember a distant gift; we receive Christ Himself, who continually sustains His people.

The Altar of Incense: The Prayers of the Saints

Standing immediately before the veil, the altar of incense Exodus 30:1-10 was tended morning and evening as Aaron dressed the lamps. The incense itself followed a precise, holy recipe Exodus 30:34-38 and was reserved entirely for the Lord. The seriousness of this holiness is sobering: Nadab and Abihu offered "unholy fire before the Lord, which he had not commanded them," and were consumed Leviticus 10:1-2. God determines how He is approached.

Scripture interprets the rising incense as the prayers of God's people. It was at this altar that Zechariah received the announcement of John the Baptist Luke 1. John's vision shows the elders holding "golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints" Revelation 5:8, and an angel offering incense "with the prayers of all the saints" so that they rise before God Revelation 8:3-4. Your prayers ascend; they are heard; they are gathered before the throne.

Drawing Closer

Each step deeper into the tabernacle drew nearer to God's manifest presence, and each piece of furniture proclaims a facet of Christ: the Light who scatters our darkness, the Bread who sustains our hunger, and the One in whom our prayers rise as a pleasing fragrance. The veil still loomed before the holy of holies—a barrier we will consider next—but already the Holy Place declares the gospel in shadow. Walk in His light. Feed on His body. Pray with confidence, knowing your incense reaches the throne.

Transcript

We thank you, Lord, for this time to gather again in your house. 3s

We ask that you would lead this time of study by your spirit, that you would draw us closer 8s

to yourself and that we would understand you better by understanding your word. 15s

We thank you for all of the shadows that you gave that pointed to Christ and pointed 20s

to salvation in Christ. 26s

We ask that we would grasp that, hold it, and cling to it today and always. 28s

Lord, we lift this to You in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen. 35s

Okay, so we're going to do a quick, quick, quick, quick review of what we've done 39s

or what we started with the temple or the tabernacle, not the temple, sorry. 46s

So all the tribes were around this large outer court. 53s

The outer court was about the size of half of a football field, so this is very, very large. 63s

It's very interesting as we think about this as God's dwelling place. 70s

And we're going to see how it starts and it keeps getting more and more not condensed, 74s

but what? Compact? 82s

Compressed? 88s

I'll think of the word at three in the morning and send out a text. 89s

No, I'm just kidding. 93s

So, 94s

Mass group text. 97s

The word is. 100s

But every single layer has something or there is a layer until we get to the very presence 104s

of God's dwelling place. 116s

So we're going to keep getting closer and closer in. 117s

So, and it's interesting to note that in Exodus, the way that the instructions are given, 122s

it actually works from inside the holiest of holies out. 130s

So we're doing the opposite instead of working from the inside out, we're working from the outside in. 136s

No great purpose to that other than, that's how we're flowing. 143s

So, this is, this outer court is surrounded by a fence, a fence of cloth, a cloth fence, 148s

and then you have, we have the altar on which we have those sacrifices that are brought before 160s

the Lord. We then have the labor and once the priest, once the people bring their sacrifices, 166s

then the priest takes over, the priest has to wash his hands, wash his feet, be purified before 173s

entering into the most holy place. So, so now we have the most holy place. And this is on that 183s

picture that has been with the, with the announcement for this study. The picture shows this big 195s

outer court and then it shows this tent in the middle. That's the most holy place. We have the 203s

most holy place, the tabernacle where this was actually split into two, where we have 210s

most holy place and then the holy of holies. And we're gonna, we're gonna look at both of these. 216s

So, hold on a second here. Oh, yeah, I separated my pages, but they're in order. Okay, so 225s

the most holy place then, we've got, within it, we have, let me make sure I have this right. 236s

Okay, I want to make sure I have, because I remember our map is sideways, for ease of my brain, 252s

not that I can look at this, it's, I know, I know. So, we have the, the lamp stand, right over here. 259s

It's not a square, but it's a square for our purposes. That's the lamp stand. Okay, 273s

now the lamp stand, this is, it's told in, or it's the instructions are given in Exodus 25. 281s

Let's go to Exodus 25, but I don't know that will stay there long. So, in Exodus 25, 293s

it's very interesting. We find that, that this lamp stand, we don't have exact measurements on it, 301s

but we do know that it's one piece. It is all hammered out out of one piece of gold. So, 309s

there wasn't extra welding putting these things in place. You can recognize what the lamp stand 316s

looks like. It looks, so you've got the lamp stand, and this is, we don't know exactly what it looks like. 324s

And then they've got three branches coming out here, three branches coming out here, 335s

and so we've got the light, the light, the light, the light, the light, light, light. It's a menorah. 342s

It is a menorah. This is the lamp stand that was in, I've got some commentary on my menorah drawing. 350s

So, so the lamp stand was always lit. It was a single piece. There are very specific decorative 360s

aspects to the menorah. Actually, we'll keep it on here for just a second here. 369s

So, it was fueled by oil. In scripture, it talks about how it needs to be fueled by olive oil. So, 377s

this was fueled by oil instead of wax. And also, we see with the menorah, there is purpose. There's 383s

meaning behind these seven, seven lights. It has the six branches, and then that center light. 393s

And in scripture, seven often symbolizes perfection or completion. And so, we know that God created 401s

the earth and rested in seven days. So, the all of creation was completed in seven days. 412s

We know that the number seven denotes the completion at the crucifixion. You may have done a 420s

study prior or in the past on the last seven words of Christ. And so, we know that his earthly duties 427s

had come to a completion through those seven words he utters or states in agony from the cross. 436s

When Jesus was asked by his disciples how we should pray, he gives them the Lord's prayer. 445s

How many petitions are in the Lord's prayer, which is a perfect prayer. There are seven petitions 451s

in the Lord's prayer. So, seven, there is not no coincidence or just happen chance of why 458s

why we have all of those those lights burning. The priest had a very important role in trimming the 468s

wicks, making sure that the light was always burning. So, that was one of the roles that the priest 479s

would have here. And think about this. So, as you know, this is the outer court, and so the sun 486s

shines down here. When they enter into this tent, it's dark. And so, they have a light shining, 493s

and it provides light in this dark room. Well, guess what? We have, in the Christian Church, 504s

we understand the light as something very, very meaningful, as something very important. 515s

Let's go to the gospel of John. The gospel of John, just starting right in the first chapter. 520s

This is in the New Testament, the fourth gospel. We're going to just start in chapter 1 verse 5, 529s

where it says, the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it. Let's go over to 543s

John 8, John chapter 8. And we'll go to verse 12, John chapter 8, verse 12. Again, Jesus spoke to 550s

them saying, I am the light of the world, whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have 564s

the light of life. Let's go to chapter 12 of John. Chapter 12, verse 46, Jesus says, I have come as 571s

light into the world so that everyone who believes in me should not remain in the darkness. 585s

So Jesus shines much like this menorah, even greater so than the menorah. Jesus is the light within 592s

the darkness of this world. And he didn't extinguish that light when he was crucified. That light was not 602s

extinguished. It did return in his resurrection, and it is within the church. Let's go over to the 612s

gospel of Matthew. So you're going to go backwards to the very first gospel, Matthew. And we're going to go to 621s

chapter 5. We're going to hang out in the New Testament for just a couple of minutes here. 630s

So chapter 5, verses 14 through 16, where Jesus is talking to the disciples. He says, you are a 637s

light of the world. A city bit built on a hill cannot be hid. No one after lighting a lamp puts it under 647s

the bushel basket, but on the lamp stand. And it gives light to all the house in the same way. Let your 653s

light shine before others so that they may see your good works and give glory to your father in heaven. 659s

What happens in a baptism, right? After the child or the adult is baptized, a light is lit from the 666s

Paschal candle from the Easter candle. A light candle is lit, handed to the parents if it's an 673s

infant or to that adult. And they're reminded that as a Christian people, Christ's light shines 680s

in us. And that light then shines to the world. And we don't hide that as a Christian people. So 688s

so just as this lamp stand lights that dark room, the most holy place, Christ is the light in the 697s

world and he gives us that light to be light in the world. We're going to keep with that going to 707s

Ephesians. So if you go past the Gospels, past the book of Acts, past first and second Corinthians 714s

and Romans and Galatians, you will come to or Romans first and second Corinthians Galatians, 722s

then you're going to come to Ephesians chapter five. Ephesians chapter five. If you've never done 730s

a word study on light, I encourage you to do that. If you ever as a New Year's resolution decide 738s

to do a word study and really study and hone in on one word of scripture for a year or for a month, 747s

I encourage you to do light because there is a lot on light in God's word for us and a lot of 755s

of how Jesus is the light and then he moves us through his Holy Spirit to be light in the world. 765s

So Ephesians 5, chapter five verses eight and nine, for once you were darkness, notice that 771s

does not say you were in darkness, for once you were darkness. Think about that. We are born 779s

with a nature of sin. We are born as children of wrath, as enemies of God, as blind. We were born 787s

darkness, but now in the Lord you are light. There's no question there. There is no question as to who we 796s

are in the Lord. We are light. Live as children of light. For the fruit of the light is found in all 805s

that is good and right and true. So again, we see that word of the light that is within us, that we 814s

are now light. We hold that light. We are light and we are not to keep it to ourselves. We are to 824s

bring it forth into our every day, every where. Lives. Let's go to Philippians. So it's just the very 830s

next book. We're going to go to Philippians, chapter two, verses 14 through 16, where again, 838s

under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Paul writes, do all things without murmuring and 849s

arguing so that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a 855s

crooked and perverse generation in which you shine like stars in the world. It is by your holding 862s

fast to the word of life that I can boast on the day of Christ that I did not run in vain or labor 869s

in vain. Shining light stars. And he's talking about being in the midst of this perverse dark 875s

generation. So just as the light lit that dark room, Jesus is the light of the world. He gives us 883s

His own light so that we are light in this world and we do not keep it to ourselves, but we go on. 894s

And that's not all. If we go to Revelation, so go all the way to the last book of the Bible, 900s

Revelation chapter 21. 908s

And we go to verse 23. And this is just beautiful, absolutely beautiful. And the city has no need of 914s

sun or moon to shine on it for the glory of God is its light and its lamp is the lamb. 923s

Does anyone else have goosebumps? That is just glorious, absolutely glorious. The priests of 934s

ancient crossed into the darkness and they tended to the light. Jesus came as the light and he gives 943s

us and makes us light. And so we tend to the darkness of the world through His light that is in us. 957s

And we are promised for the eternal that there will be no darkness, that it will only be light. 968s

And what is the source of our light but the lamb? The lamb who is the lamp itself. 978s

Still goosebumps. Just awesome. Okay, so we have, we have in the most holy place we have the lamp 987s

stand. And then we have, we're going to turn my map sideways. Remember, gotta do this. Okay, 995s

lamp stand. Then we have the table of show bread over here. And there we go. 1004s

So we have the table of show bread. This is found in Exodus 23, wait a second here. I think Exodus 25, 1017s

23 through 30. I have 23 through 30 but I don't think there are seven chapters on the table of 1030s

show bread. So I made a whoopsie in my notes. So Exodus 25, let's check this out and make sure. 1036s

Yep, verses 23 through 30. And so on this table was the bread of the presents. The bread of 1049s

the presents that was 12 loaves of bread that were representing the 12 tribes of Israel. And the 1060s

loaves reminded Israel of God's provision and his continual provision. If we go to Exodus 16, 1068s

we don't need to go there, we will just talk about it. So in Exodus 16, we see how God provided food 1079s

for the Israelites as they began their journey and they were grumbling and they were hungry. And so 1085s

he provided food for them. He provided mana and then he provided quail to boot. And so he, 1092s

these loaves reminded Israel and remind us of God's continued provision of food and sustenance 1099s

for his people. It's also, it reminds Israel of being in God's presence. So the bread was made 1107s

holy because it lied in the presence or was lying in the presence of God. It was in the most holy 1117s

place. And by being in that most holy place, it was before God as he manifested his presence 1124s

in the temple. And so it was a reminder that they are always before the Lord. The bread was set 1133s

regularly. Every Sabbath, new bread was placed on this table of show bread. And the other bread, 1141s

the previous week's bread, that was eaten by the priests by Aaron and his sons. So the priests 1149s

were fed by this. And it was the holy bread. This was the bread that David ate. So let's go to first 1159s

Samuel. We'll pass the pentatook. So pass Deuteronomy, pass Joshua, judges. And then we come to first 1169s

Samuel. We're going to go to first Samuel chapter 21. So this is where David is on the run. 1181s

Saul has been overcome with wickedness. He is seeking to capture David. He seeks after David. 1191s

And so David is on the run. And we pick up in verse one. I want to make sure where I am. 1199s

Oh, yeah, remind me. Oh, no, no, no, we're good. I was going to say we need to go back, but no, 1208s

we're moving forward. Okay. So verse one, David came to knob to the priest, a hemolech. A hemolech 1212s

came trembling to meet David and David and said to him, why are you alone? And no one with you. David 1220s

said to the priest, a hemolech, the king has charged me with a matter and said to me, no one must know 1226s

anything of the matter about which I send you and with which I have charged you. I have made an 1232s

appointment with the young men for such in such a place. Now then, what have you at hand? Give me 1237s

five loaves of bread or whatever is here. So David and his guys are hungry. They need some food. 1242s

The priest answered, David, I have no ordinary bread at hand, only holy bread, only the bread of 1249s

the presence provided that the young man have kept themselves from women. So as long as they've 1255s

been sticking in the law, David answered the priest, indeed, women have been kept from us as 1260s

always when I go on an expedition. The vessels of the young men are holy even when it is a common 1265s

journey. How much more today will their vessels be holy? So the priest gave him the holy bread 1271s

for there was no bread there except the bread of presence which is removed from before the Lord 1276s

to be replaced by hot bread on the day it is taken away. Jesus, when he is being called out 1282s

for his disciples, plucking the grains of wheat and eating on the Sabbath, Jesus tells or retells 1290s

of this story saying, David ate of the bread of the presence and it is not wrong for my men 1297s

to eat. I am the Lord of the Sabbath. So not only is he the Lord of the Sabbath, but we have the 1307s

show bread here or the bread of the presence. Well, Jesus is the bread of life. So let's go to the 1315s

gospel of John, the gospel of John, that's again the fourth gospel in the New Testament, fourth book 1323s

in the Testament, gospel of John chapter 6. And we're going to go to verse 31 or began at 31 1331s

so if you can see my notes, I have John 6, 31 through 35-ish because there's a lot about Jesus being 1345s

the bread of life in this chapter and it goes into amazing, amazing teaching on communion but I 1354s

don't think we're going to go there right now. But clearly we cannot not talk about communion with 1362s

the bread of the presence. So, okay, so John 6, 31, our ancestors ate the man in the wilderness as it 1367s

is written, he gave them bread from heaven to eat. Then Jesus said to them, very truly, I tell you, 1375s

it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but it is my father who gives you the true 1381s

bread from heaven. For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the 1385s

world. They said to him, Sir, give us this bread always, Jesus said to them, I am the bread of life. 1391s

Whoever comes to me will never be hungry and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. The 1400s

bread of life is eternal. The bread of life is sustenance this side of heaven for the eternal. 1407s

Jesus is the bread of life. When we talk about or when we have in our service those words of 1422s

institution where Jesus takes the bread, he gives thanks, the thanks that he's giving, that would be 1429s

regular thanks that a Jewish person, a Hebrew and Israelite would give before their dinner, 1435s

before the breaking of the bread. He gave thanks and then he said that this is my body. He is 1443s

saying he is the bread of life. He is the presence, the bread of the presence. We know that Christ is 1451s

the bread. Christ is the wine. The bread, the wine, are Christ's body and blood. So much like the 1461s

lampstand there is a lot to be seen in the shadow that is the table of the bread of presence, the 1475s

table of the show bread. We see that this is foretelling of the bread of life that is to come. 1483s

It is the sustenance. I know when we were doing the academy class on the sacraments and solas and 1490s

this is before COVID and I had asked the question when you don't have communion. Who misses it? 1500s

And everyone raised their hand and then we had COVID. And the one thing that I think 1509s

that we missed so dearly, I mean not the one thing because we missed a lot dearly. 1519s

We missed receiving Christ's body and blood. We need him continually sustaining us. 1527s

His body, his blood, it is the tangible forgiveness that we receive, the tangible forgiveness 1542s

that we are in the presence of God that he abides in us, we abide in him. So Jesus as the bread of 1551s

Christ and seeing who he is, we see the symbol there or the shadow of what is to come. 1570s

Then we have the altar of incense. So we have the lampstand, we have the table of show bread, 1582s

and then we have the altar of incense. Hold on, is it S? No, C. I couldn't remember which one 1589s

came first, the C or the S. So we have the altar of incense. And this right here is the veil. 1600s

We're going to talk more about this but I just want us to realize where this altar of incense 1610s

is placed. It is right before the veil. So let's go to Exodus. I'm just going to see if we need 1616s

to keep our hand here at John. We don't. Okay, so let's go to Exodus chapter 30. So this is the 1624s

second book in the Bible, second book in the Old Testament, Exodus chapter 30. 1633s

We're going to jump a little bit in here. We're not going to read all of the building details 1643s

but we are going to read some details. So we're going to start with chapter or verse 1 where it says, 1648s

you shall make an altar on which to offer incense. You shall make it of a cacia wood. And remember 1654s

that a cacia wood is that very strong, steady, durable wood. Then let's jump down to verse 7. 1660s

Aaron shall offer fragrant incense on it every morning when he dresses the lamps, remember the lamp 1669s

that he's tending to that. He shall offer it. And when Aaron sets up the lamps in the evening, 1675s

he shall offer it. So twice a day that incense is being offered, a regular incense offering before 1681s

the Lord throughout your generations. You shall not offer unholy incense on it or a burnt offering 1688s

or a grain offering and you shall not pour a drink offering on it. So remember out here, 1696s

we have that altar on which the offerings are made. The grain offerings, the burnt offerings, 1703s

this is where the people bring their offerings. This is another place but this is the altar of 1710s

incense. This is not to have unholy fire upon it. This is where, well we'll get to that in just 1718s

a second. So there's a very, we're going to stick in 30 right now. There's a very specific 1728s

recipe that we have Exodus 30. We're going to jump down to verse 34. So Exodus 30, 34 through 38. 1733s

The Lord said to Moses, take sweet spices, stalk tea and onika and galbanum, sweet spices with 1742s

pure frankincense, an equal part of each and make an incense blended as by the perfumer, 1753s

seasoned with salt, pure and holy and you shall beat some of it into powder and put part of it before 1759s

the covenant in the tentative meeting where I shall meet with you. It shall be for you most holy. 1765s

When you make incense according to this composition, you shall not make it for yourselves. 1771s

It shall be regarded by you as holy to the Lord. Whoever makes any like it to use as perfume 1776s

shall be cut off from the people. So this incense is for the Lord only. It was not to be used as 1783s

something to please man. It was not to be anything other than the exact recipe of what he gave them, 1793s

of those very specific oils and spices and exactly what he wanted. So in Leviticus, if we go over to 1803s

Leviticus, Leviticus chapter 10, so it's just a very next book, Leviticus chapter 10 1814s

in verses 1 through 2, Aaron's sons, Aaron's sons, Nadab and Abihu each took his sensor, put fire on it 1829s

and laid incense on it and they offered unholy fire before the Lord such as he had not commanded them. 1840s

And fire came out from the presence of the Lord and consumed them and they died before the Lord. 1848s

God gave them very specific instructions exactly what to place before the Lord and they had it in 1856s

their mind that they would place what they wanted to before the Lord. So they brought forth their 1864s

unholy fire and they were consumed. They had gone against God's direct command. In Luke, it's kind 1871s

of nice that we have this during the Advent season in Luke, the first chapter where Zechariah and 1887s

his wife Elizabeth have been offering up prayers. Well Zechariah was a priest and he was at the time 1893s

tending to the altar of incense when the angel appeared to him and said, we've heard your prayers. 1902s

The Lord has heard your prayers and that's where he tells Zechariah that Elizabeth is going to 1910s

have John and so that is exactly where he was. He was before the Lord and the incense is oftentimes 1916s

referred to as the prayers of the people. So when in a modern church, if there is incense, that is 1927s

representative of this, that is representative of the prayers to the Lord, the prayers of the faithful. 1935s

We go over to Revelation. So last book in the Bible again, Revelation chapter 5 verse 8, 1942s

Revelation chapter 5 verse 8, when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the 24 1950s

elders fell before the lamb, each holding a harp and golden bowls full of incense, which are the 1957s

prayers of the saints. Let's go over to chapter 8 of Revelation, chapter 8 verses 3 and 4, another angel 1963s

with a golden sensor came and stood at the altar. He was given a great quantity of incense to offer with 1972s

the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar that is before the throne and the smoke of the 1978s

incense with the prayers of the saints rose before God from the hand of the angel. So we see that 1984s

the prayers of the saints, the prayers of the faithful, the priests are coming before the Lord. 1992s

They are coming before the Lord to bring a pleasing odor to bring the prayers of the people to 2000s

represent the people before the Lord. It was right in front of this veil and this veil was what 2008s

absolutely separated God's dwelling place, God from the people. This, this here is the holy of 2019s

holies. This is where God's name dwelt. So next, not next week, next week, you can't come in here 2029s

and sit and look at this either. Next week, we get to see the kids share the nativity story with us. 2038s

They are going to teach us the story of Christmas. So next week, we're going to be in the family 2045s

life center. The week after that will be back in here and we're going to end with the holy of 2050s

holies looking at the Ark of the Covenant, the Mercy's seat and the priest. Okay? And then, of course, 2057s

who the real priest is. So anyway, I look forward to that and God bless. 2066s