RETURN TO SYLLABUS
A STUDY OF THE TABERNACLE
LESSON #14
THE COVERINGS (THE WORK OF CHRIST)

MEMORY VERSE: EPH 1:18

• REVIEW
• WHAT THREE THINGS DOES THE TABERNACLE REPRESENT INLIGHT OF THE NEW TESTAMENT?
• CHRIST, THE CHURCH, AND THE INDIVIDUAL BELIEVER
• WHAT DOES EACH OF THE FOLLOWING REPRESENT?
• PURPLE = KING - MATTHEW
• RED = SACRIFICE - MARK
• WHITE = PERFECTION - LUKE
• BLUE = DEITY - JOHN
• SILVER = REDEMPTION
• GOLD = MAJESTY, GLORY, KINGLY
• BRASS = TESTING, SUFFERING, JUDGMENT

• THERE WERE FOUR TABERNACLE COVERINGS
• WHY DID THEY NEED FOUR?
• THEY DIDN’T NEED FOUR. THE ONLY REASON THERE WERE FOUR IS BECAUSE OF WHAT THEY REPRESENT.
• THE FIRST COVERING WAS A FOUR-COLORED CHERUBIM COVERING EXO 26:1-6 EXO 36:8-13
• IF YOU STOOD IN THE HOLY PLACE OR IN THE HOLY OF HOLIES AND LOOKED UP, YOU WOULD SEE THIS BEAUTIFUL COVERING.
• IT REPRESENTS THE UNSEARCHABLE RICHES OF CHRIST
• READ EPH 3:7-12
• "UNSEARCHABLE RICHES"
• "MYSTERY"
• "POWERS IN HEAVENLY PLACES"
• "FROM THE BEGINNING OF THE WORLD"
• WHAT IS THIS MYSTERY?
• 4 COLORS = SAME MEANINGS AS BEFORE
• 2 CHERUBIM ON EACH PANEL
• THE CHURCH AND THE WORSHIP OF GOD IS OBSERVED BY THE HEAVENLY HOST OF GOD--ANGELS REJOICE AT EACH NEW SALVATION.
• THIS COVERING HAD 2 SECTIONS (5 PANELS EACH) EPH 2:11-19
• THE 2 SECTIONS REPRESENT THE JEWS AND THE GENTILES THAT MAKE UP THE BODY OF CHRIST. THEY ARE PERFECTLY JOINED (THIS IS MENTIONED 10 TIMES IN THE NEW TESTAMENT).
• THERE WERE 50 CLASPS OF GOLD AND 50 LOOPS OF BLUE ON EACH SECTION. 1CO 1:10 EPH 4:16 COL 2:19
• THESE 50 CLASPS AND LOOPS JOINED THE 2 SECTIONS OF THIS COVERING TOGETHER.
• BLUE LOOPS = KNIT TOGETHER BY CHRIST'S HEAVENLY LOVE
• 50 = PENTECOST (LEV 23:15-21)
• THE WORD PENTECOST MEANS 50.
• THE FEAST OF PENTECOST WAS A FEAST OF UNITY IN THE OLD TESTAMENT. IT WAS CELEBRATED 50 DAYS AFTER PASSOVER.
• SCATTERED BELIEVERS BAPTIZED INTO ONE BODY BY THE HOLY SPIRIT IN THE NEW TESTAMENT ON THE DAY OF PENTECOST WHICH CAME 50 DAYS AFTER THE CRUCIFIXION. 1CO 12:13
• 50 = JUBILEE (LEV 25:8-17) WAS TO BE CELEBRATED EVERY 50 YEARS.
• IN OTHER WORDS, THAT WHICH WAS TORN APART: LAND, FAMILY, FINANCES, ETC., WAS NOW JOINED TOGETHER AND RESTORED.
• BOTH OF THESE CELEBRATIONS WAS BASED ON 50, BOTH ORIGINATE IN THE OLD TESTAMENT, AND BOTH SIGNIFY UNITY.
• THIS COVERING REPRESENTS US AS WE APPEAR IN WORTH TO GOD IN UNION WITH CHRIST EPH 1:18.
• THEREFORE, WHEN GOD LOOKS AT THE BELIEVER, HE SEES CHRIST IN ALL HIS WORTH AND GLORY.
• WHAT DOES THIS COVERING TELL US ABOUT WORSHIP PLEASING TO GOD?
• WHEN WE LOOK TO HEAVEN TO WORSHIP GOD, JESUS CHRIST SHOULD BE AT THE CENTER OF OUR WORSHIP.
• THE WORSHIP OF JESUS CHRIST SHOULD BRING UNITY IN THE CHURCH.

• THE SECOND COVERING WAS A GOAT'S HAIR COVERING EXO 26:7-13 ; 36:14-18
• A PROPHET WAS KNOWN BY HIS GOAT'S HAIR ROBES
• READ DEU 18:15-19
• JESUS IS CALLED A PROPHET 15 TIMES IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. LUK 7:16
• THE HE-GOAT WAS A SIN OFFERING IN THE OLD TESTAMENT.
• JESUS BECAME SIN FOR US WHEN HE WAS CRUCIFIED ON THE CROSS. 2CO 5:21
• THIS COVERING HAD 50 BRASS CLASPS
• 50 = PENTECOST AND JUBILEE (SAME ABOVE)
• BRASS = SIN JUDGED AT THE CRUCIFIXION.
• THERE WERE 2 PIECES OF GOAT’S HAIR COVERINGS JOINED TOGETHER = THE 2 PIECES REPRESENT THE OLD TESTAMENT AND THE NEW TESTAMENT BELIEVERS.
• THE DOUBLING OF THE CURTAIN IN THE FRONT
• ALONG THE FRONT OF THE TABERNACLE, THE GOAT’S HAIR COVERING WAS TURNED BACK TO MAKE A DOUBLE LAYER.
• THIS DOUBLING REPRESENTS THE ABUNDANCE OF THE PROPHETIC MINISTRY THAT WILL BE DOUBLED IN THE LAST DAYS. JOEL 2:28-29

• THE THIRD COVERING WAS A RAM SKIN COVERING DYED RED
• READ EXO 26:14 EXO 36:19
• THE RAM SKINS DYED RED
• THE RAM WAS THE SACRIFICE FOR THE CONSECRATION OF THE PRIEST..
• THEREFORE, THIS COVERING REPRESENTS JESUS AS OUR HIGH PRIEST HEB 4:14
• A RAM WAS DEDICATED EVEN TO THE SHEDDING OF BLOOD.
• JESUS WAS DEDICATED EVEN TO THE SHEDDING OF HIS BLOOD.
• THE RAM IS THE LEADER OF THE FLOCK
• WE CALL JESUS OUR GOOD SHEPHERD JOH 17:2 AND THE CAPTAIN OF OUR SALVATION. HEB 2:10.
• THERE WERE NO DIMENSIONS GIVEN TO THIS COVERING
• WHY? DID GOD FORGET TO TELL MOSES THE SIZE, OR DID MOSES FORGET TO WRITE IN GOD’S WORD. NEITHER.
• THE FACT THAT THERE IS NO DIMENSIONS SIGNIFIES THE UNNUMBERED SIZE OF THE ETERNAL FLOCK OF GOD’S CHILDREN.
• THE PRINCIPLES APPLY TO US AS WELL.
• THERE IS NO LIMIT TO OUR DEDICATION IN FOLLOWING HIM.

• THE FOURTH COVERING WAS A BADGER SKIN COVERING
• IT WAS A PROTECTIVE COVERING THAT PROTECTED EVERYTHING FROM THE ELEMENTS OF WEATHER.
• THIS PROTECTIVE COVERING MEANS THAT JESUS IS OUR PROTECTION, THE ONE WHO IS OVER HIS HOUSEHOLD.
• IT WAS A DARK, BLUE, ROUGH LEATHER.
• ISA 53 IS A PICTURE OF JESUS CHRIST ON THE CROSS. IT SPECIFICALLY TELLS US THAT WHILE HE HUNG ON THE CROSS COVERED WITH BLOOD, THERE WAS NO BEAUTY IN HIM. ISA 53:2
• A BADGER IS A LONE ANIMAL, NOT A HERD ANIMAL
• 5 TIMES JESUS IS SPOKEN OF AS ALONE. JOH 16:32
• A BADGER IS A VIGILANT ANIMAL.
• JESUS HAD A ZEAL FOR GOD'S LAW JOH 2:17
• THERE ARE NO DIMENSIONS GIVEN TO THIS COVERING.
• JESUS WAS IN THE WORLD BUT NOT OF IT. HE MAINTAINED HIS DISTANCE FROM SIN YET HE ATE WITH SINNERS.
• THE PRINCIPLES APPLY TO US AS WELL
• WE ARE TO BE SEPARATED FROM THE WORLD.
• TO THE WORLD WE MAY LOOK FOOLISH AND BE RIDICULED.
• WE MUST HAVE A ZEALOUSNESS FOR GOD'S STANDARDS.
• IF YOU STOOD ON A MOUNTAIN OUTSIDE THE CAMP OF THE ISRAELITES AND VIEWED THE CAMP WITH THE TABERNACLE IN THE CENTER. YOU WOULD NOT SEE THE BEAUTIFUL 4 COLORED COVERING WITH CHERUBIMS ON IT. YOU WOULD NOT SEE THE WHITE GOAT'’S HAIR COVERING, AND YOU WOULD NOT SEE THE COVERING OF RAM SKINS DYED RED. THE ONLY COVERING YOU WOULD SEE WOULD BE THE DARK BADGER SKIN COVERING.
• TO MANY PEOPLE FROM A DISTANCE, CHRIST IS NOT BEAUTIFUL. IT IS ONLY, AS YOU DRAW CLOSE TO HIM, WILL YOU SEE THAT GREAT BEAUTY IN CHRIST. AND THE MORE YOU LOOK UP IN WORSHIP, THE MORE BEAUTIFUL JESUS BECOMES.

• SUMMARY
• THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE 4 COVERINGS
• THE 4-COLORED CHERUBIM COVERING = THE UNSEARCHABLE RICHES OF CHRIST OUR KING--THE MYSTERY OF THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH.
• THE GOATS HAIR COVERING = THE MINISTRY OF JESUS AS OUR PROPHET WHO DECLARES THE TRUTHS OF GOD
• THE RAM SKINS DYED RED COVERING = JESUS AS OUR HIGH PRIEST WHO BECAME THE SACRIFICE FOR US.
• THE BADGER SKINS = THEY HIDE THE ABOVE 3 COVERINGS FROM THE EYES OF THE WORLD BECAUSE OF MAN'S OWN BLINDNESS AND HARDNESS OF HEART. 1CO 2:14

• READ
• THINK ABOUT THE MEANING OF THE DIFFERENT ITEMS THAT WE ALREADY DISCUSSED SUCH AS THE MEANING OF GOLD, WOOD, OIL, ETC. AS YOU READ:
• EXO 27:1-8
• EXO 38:1-7
• 1KI 1:50-53
• COL 1:20
• NUM 4:4-5, 15
• NUM 16:1-7, 18-20, 26-27, 31-40
• JOH 13:8-10
• EPH 5:26
• EXO 30:19-21
• EXO 38:8

• MEMORY VERSE: PSALMS 18:2