Infinite Fellowship Ministries

The Tabernacle – Part 4: Sermon By Bishop Gobanga

Then the cloud covered the tabernacle of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. And Moses was not able to enter the tabernacle of meeting, because the cloud rested above it, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. Whenever the cloud was taken up from above the tabernacle, the children of Israel would go onward in all their journeys. But if the cloud was not taken up, then they did not journey till the day that it was taken up. For the cloud of the Lord was above the tabernacle by day, and fire was over it by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel, throughout all their journeys.

Exodus 40:34-38 (NKJV)

You also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

1 Peter 2:5 (NKJV)

Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?

1 Corinthians 3:16 (NKJV)

And the Lord said to Moses, Speak to the Israelites, that they take for Me an offering. From every man who gives it willingly and ungrudgingly with his heart you shall take My offering. This is the offering you shall receive from them: gold, silver, and bronze, Blue, purple, and scarlet [stuff] and fine twined linen and goats’ hair, Rams’ skins tanned red, goatskins, dolphin or porpoise skins, acacia wood, Oil for the light, spices for anointing oil and for sweet incense, Onyx stones, and stones for setting in the ephod and in the breastplate. Let them make Me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them. And you shall make it according to all that I show you, the pattern of the Tabernacle or dwelling and the pattern of all the furniture of it. 

Exodus 25:1-9 (AMP)

No priest was allowed to minister in the sanctuary until he washed himself with the brazen laver found in the Outer Court.

The Holy Place:

The Holy Place is also referred to as the Inner Court. It was a section of the Tabernacle accessible by the Levites.

The first thing to the right of the Holy Place was the table of the Shew Bread or the Bread of Presence.

You shall make a table of acacia wood. Two cubits shall be its length, a cubit its breadth, and a cubit and a half its height. You shall overlay it with pure gold and make a molding of gold around it. And you shall make a rim around it a handbreadth wide, and a molding of gold around the rim. And you shall make for it four rings of gold, and fasten the rings to the four corners at its four legs. Close to the frame the rings shall lie, as holders for the poles to carry the table. You shall make the poles of acacia wood, and overlay them with gold, and the table shall be carried with these. And you shall make its plates and dishes for incense, and its flagons and bowls with which to pour drink offerings; you shall make them of pure gold. And you shall set the bread of the Presence on the table before me regularly. 

Exodus 25:23-30 (AMP)

It had 12 loaves of bread representing the 12 tribes of Israel. It was bread made of light flour and sprinkled by Frankincense. The Levites were allowed to eat it once a week.

The bread represented Jesus and was to be replaced every week. The bread was to be replaced to show us that there is a proceeding word you need for today or your current season that may not apply tomorrow or in the next season.

Do not be fixated on the revelation you have received today. God wants to give you something new today, tomorrow, next year. We need to pursue on higher.

There are aspects of the revelation of the person of Christ that you move into progressively.

There is a word you get to day and another you get tomorrow.

But He replied, It has been written, Man shall not live and be upheld and sustained by bread alone, but by every word that comes forth from the mouth of God. 

Matthew 4:4 (AMP)

In Christ are hidden the treasures of wisdom for you to draw from each and every day.

The Table of the Shew Bread was made of Acacia wood (representing the humanity of Christ) and overlaid with Gold (Divinity of Christ).

Jesus is the Bread of Life. We need fresh bread for every season.

Jesus then said to them, I assure you, most solemnly I tell you, Moses did not give you the Bread from heaven [what Moses gave you was not the Bread from heaven], but it is My Father Who gives you the true heavenly Bread. For the Bread of God is He Who comes down out of heaven and gives life to the world. 

John 6:32-35 (AMP)

God wants you to adjust you to be able to receive that which is fresh, that which proceeds from the mouth of God^.

And Jesus replied to him, It is written, Man shall not live and be sustained by (on) bread alone but by every word and expression of God. 

Luke 4:4 (AMP)

The work of Christ on the Cross needs to be applied and actualized in your life. It is the only way His word will be activated in your life.

The Holy Place also had the Altar of Incense.

And you shall make an altar to burn incense upon; of acacia wood you shall make it. A cubit shall be its length and a cubit its breadth; its top shall be square and it shall be two cubits high. Its horns shall be of one piece with it. And you shall overlay it with pure gold, its top and its sides round about and its horns, and you shall make a crown (a rim or molding) of gold around it.You shall make two golden rings under the rim of it, on the two ribs on the two opposite sides of it; and they shall be holders for the poles with which to carry it. And you shall make the poles of acacia wood, overlaid with gold. You shall put the altar [of incense] in front and outside of the veil that screens the ark of the Testimony, before the mercy seat that is over the Testimony (the Law, the tables of stone), where I will meet with you.And Aaron shall burn on it incense of sweet spices; every morning when he trims and fills the lamps he shall burn it. 

Exodus 30:1-8 (AMP)

Incense prophetically represents prayer and intercession. Aaron was mandated to ensure that the Altar of Incense always had incense burning upon it.

Jesus, our High Priest, is prefigured in the Old Testament as Aaron.

But He holds His priesthood unchangeably, because He lives on forever. Therefore He is able also to save to the uttermost (completely, perfectly, finally, and for all time and eternity) those who come to God through Him, since He is always living to make petition to God and intercede with Him and intervene for them. 

Hebrews 7:24-25 (AMP)

This nullifies the doctrine of Mariology. There is no typification of Mary in the Tabernacle. Jesus makes intercession for the saints in heaven.

The present work of the resurrected Christ is one where He prays for the saints. This is prefigured in the Altar of Incense.

There is only one mediator between man and God and that is Christ. Not anyone else. Christ is the One who makes intercession for the saints.

We come to Christ for intercession because He alone is able to save us.

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Take fragrant spices—gum resin, onycha and galbanum — and pure frankincense, all in equal amounts, and make a fragrant blend of incense, the work of a perfumer. It is to be salted and pure and sacred. Grind some of it to powder and place it in front of the ark of the covenant law in the tent of meeting, where I will meet with you. It shall be most holy to you. Do not make any incense with this formula for yourselves; consider it holy to the Lord. Whoever makes incense like it to enjoy its fragrance must be cut off from their people. 

Exodus 30:34-38 (NIV)

God is protective and jealous of things that belong to Him. This formula was not to be replicated for personal use. God desires a particular fragrance of your life as a worshiper and intercessor to be given to Him alone.

The words of reverence that we offer unto God should not be used to refer to someone else. God wants you to have an attitude where you offer praise, thanks, worship and prayer unto Him all day. There are certain principles that God has ordained in the place of Worship that are only for Him.

He does not share His glory with any person. The word of reverence we offer to God belong to Him alone.The Bible says that we pray without ceasing it means that we ought to have the right heart attitude towards God. The spirit man needs to be trained how to pray.

This needs a right attitude of the heart of prayer in your spirit regardless of your environment. You need to be in tune with heaven. It will help you to discern evil in your midst, to discern where to go and where not to go.

The lamp stand was in the Holy Place.

Make a lampstand of pure gold. Hammer out its base and shaft, and make its flowerlike cups, buds and blossoms of one piece with them. Six branches are to extend from the sides of the lampstand—three on one side and three on the other. Three cups shaped like almond flowers with buds and blossoms are to be on one branch, three on the next branch, and the same for all six branches extending from the lampstand. And on the lampstand there are to be four cups shaped like almond flowers with buds and blossoms. One bud shall be under the first pair of branches extending from the lampstand, a second bud under the second pair, and a third bud under the third pair—six branches in all. The buds and branches shall all be of one piece with the lampstand, hammered out of pure gold. “Then make its seven lamps and set them up on it so that they light the space in front of it. Its wick trimmers and trays are to be of pure gold. A talent[f] of pure gold is to be used for the lampstand and all these accessories. See that you make them according to the pattern shown you on the mountain. 

Exodus 25:31-40 (NIV)

It was made from pure gold. This represents a purely divine thing representative of the deity of Christ.

The lamp stand had 7 light sticks and was the only source of light. It represents Christ, the light of the world. The lamp stand is representative of the word of God.

Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. 

Psalm 119:105 (AMP)

To attain to the stature of Christ, your source of light must be derived from Christ, the word of God.

As long as God’s word becomes your light, you will never fall short of direction. Where is your source of light? Your source of direction and counsel?

When I go to school, is the knowledge I am getting influencing me more than the word of God?

In the Holy Place there was no other source of light other than the lamp stand.

The law of the Lord is perfect, restoring the [whole] person; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the Lord is pure and bright, enlightening the eyes. The [reverent] fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever; the ordinances of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, even than much fine gold; they are sweeter also than honey and drippings from the honeycomb.

Psalm 19:7-10 (AMP)

The Holy Place had no window. No natural light permeated the place.

God wants you to come to a place where His word will bring you the revelation of Himself and clarity about the person of Christ.

The lamp stand is a picture of the word of God. The 3 branches and centrepiece of the candlestick had three cups, three buds, flowers and blossoms. It had 66 decorations. The Bible has 66 books signifying the entire lamp stand. As a Christian, you need to embrace the whole counsel of God, all the books of the Bible. Pet Bible verses reveal immature Christianity.

Don’t get excited over certain Scriptures (pet Bible verses) for the wrong reasons. Desire the foundation, the whole counsel of God (the whole Bible) to give you counsel and deliver you from bondage.

The blessings of God are conditional. God will not bless you when you walk in disobedience. Your life is your responsibility. His word will work in your life if you walk in holiness. Disobedience creates a vacuum that incapacitates the word of God over your life.

You will not fulfill your purpose if you walk in disobedience to the word of God. You will not amount to anything. You will simply exist.The word of God will only grow in the right soil of obedience and humility not rebellion and disobedience.

God wants to bless you but His word works in accordance to principles set in heaven.The dimension of prophetic word is that it will preserve you in the day of trouble. If you have heard the prophetic word of God in your life but it has not come into fulfillment, ask yourself if there has been disobedience or if there is pride.

The light of the lamp stand was to be filled with Olive oil so as to continually burn. Aaron was to refill the oil. Oil represents the Holy Spirit. Only the Holy Spirit will ensure the word of God is illuminated in your life. The Spirit of God will give you capacity, knowledge and wisdom. It is the Holy Spirit that brings the word of God alive for you. The letter of the law kills but the Spirit of gives life. It is the Spirit that gives life to logos turning it into Rhema. The revelation you get brings wisdom and life to you.

Desire many in-fillings of the Holy Spirit. Be filled with the Holy Spirit every now and then. There are levels of God that He desires you to go deeper into. There needs to be a continuous supply of the Holy Spirit (oil) He needs to saturate you.

[For I always pray to] the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, that He may grant you a spirit of wisdom and revelation [of insight into mysteries and secrets] in the [deep and intimate] knowledge of Him, By having the eyes of your heart flooded with light, so that you can know and understand the hope to which He has called you, and how rich is His glorious inheritance in the saints (His set-apart ones), And [so that you can know and understand] what is the immeasurable and unlimited and surpassing greatness of His power in and for us who believe, as demonstrated in the working of His mighty strength.

 Ephesians 1:17-19 (AMP)