Why Christmas?

Have you ever wondered about Christmas? Why was Jesus born in Bethlehem and not in Jerusalem? Why did God speak to some people by angels and others in dreams? Why was Jesus born in a stable and not in a tool shed or a carpenter’s workshop? Why was Mary chosen to be His mother and Joseph His father? Why were His first visitors shepherds and why did the Magi bring Him those particular gifts and not the traditional baby gifts?

As I thought about these things I decided that I would look both into Scripture and outside of Scripture for my answers. In the next few pages I attempt to answer many of the questions why things happened the way they did and not some other way.

Jesus is unique in that He is God Immanuel. Not only was His life unique so was His birth. I hope and pray that these next few pages will make you appreciate the Christmas story even more. May we never lose the wonder of Christmas.

Immanuel

All throughout this study of the Tabernacle the word or name Immanuel has been in my mind. Isaiah said in 7:14, "Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel." The name Immanuel means "God with us." Jesus said in Matthew 11:28 "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest." The word rest is "to set a tent over" or to Tabernacle. That was evident for the people in Moses' time when there was a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night.
In the end I thought of Chris Tomlin's song Jesus Messiah.

Tomorrow

Tomorrow, Lord willing, will be our final lesson in this series on the Tabernacle. One person wrote, "The most thought provoking for me in the study of the Tabernacle is the holiness of God. I stand more amazed than ever that God invites us to come to Him saying 'Abba Father'" Another wrote, "First of all I want to say how much we have learned these last few Sundays. The tabernacle has always been a fascinating subject for me, but how you have related it to Christ's being present in it has been a real eye opener. I knew the book of Hebrews referred to Christ being superior than the old system, but I see now that the old system was always about Christ."
It has always been my goal in teaching the Old Testament to show Christ. When Jesus talked with the disciples on the road He opened the Scripture and showed them that it spoke about Him.

The Church of the Perfect Storm

Before I make my comments about this book I would like to say two things:
First, I admire the zeal of the authors of this book in finding ways to reach their generation.
Second, I do not recommend this book. Why?
This book is about experience and not about truth. Like most post-modern writers they begin with the theory that language cannot render the truths about the world in an objective way so they fall back onto experience. However, the Word of God is about language and expressing truth in that language. Paul says, "How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?" Romans 10:14
Alan Jamieson talks about leaving, getting away from the safety of the church. It is more than leaving the church because we want to experience something. It is not the church's fault but the people who make up the church including those that are leaving. What do we do when the old ways become dry and stale? It is not the time to abandon the truths but to remain. Dryness and staleness comes to all at one time or another but the key is to keep on keeping on.
Dries Lombaard says that what people want today is experiences and not words. The problem for Christians is that experiences must be base upon truth and truth is communicated by words. He also criticizes hierarchical structures and would throw it all away instead of setting it right. There are two distortions that come to mind. One is the dichotomy between the clergy and the laity in all things. The other is having no distinction between them.
Finally, the main reason I cannot recommend this book is found in the essay by Thomas Bandy on page 135. He writes, "The emerging human passion to be beside oneself reveals the yearning to be beyond oneself, to escape human limitations just enough to touch, or be touched by, the Holy. The fact that there is no consensus about the nature of that holy grail is unimportant. The conviction is all that matters."
One final thought. Most people will find this book difficult to read because in spite of the fact that the authors value experience over words they love to show off their ability to use words.

Two offerings

There were more than two different offerings but there are two that are very similar and most people do not see the difference. The first is the sin offering which deals with the principle of sin and the second is the trespass offering which deals with the practice of sin.
As Christians we need to understand the difference. Being forgiven of our sin, the sin principle if you wish, is a once and forever event while forgiveness of our sins is an ongoing process. Jesus died for both our sin and our sins. We must not reduce sin just to sinful acts. Even if we never committed a sinful act we were still born in sin and are guilty before a holy God.

The Tabernacle and Worship

The gate is the place of entry. No one can come to the Father but by Jesus.
The bronze altar is the place of reconciliation. We are reconciled to God by Jesus' sacrificial death on the cross.
The laver is the place of cleansing. We need to be cleansed, we need to cleansed by the blood that Jesus shed on the cross.
The lampstand is the place of light. Jesus said that He was the light of the world. He has translated us from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light.
The table is the place of fellowship. He is the bread of life. He desires t have fellowship with us.
The altar of incense is the place of prayer.
The Ark is the place of communion with God. He said, "I will met you there and commune with you between the cherubim."

Tabernacle books

Here are some of the books that I used in our study of the Tabernacle.