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Awesome Hands – part 97

“East to west”

February 24, 2016

We’ve been studying the various items of the tabernacle with great interest in learning the various hidden meanings behind each item. We know that the tabernacle represents Jesus Christ, and because we are a part of His body, we know that we have representation in the tabernacle as well.

In the study today, we are going to again look at various details which can easily be read quickly and overlooked but hold significant value to those who are “looking over a field and find a treasure of great price”.

Mat 13:44  Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field; the which when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field.

I hope these studies add to your joy in finding “a hid treasure in a field”.

Joh 17:12  While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name: those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition; that the scripture might be fulfilled.
Joh 17:13  And now come I to thee; and these things I speak in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves.
Joh 17:14  I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.

The tenons of God

The first verses we are going to cover in this study are found in Exodus 26:15-17.

Exo 26:15  And thou shalt make boards for the tabernacle of shittim wood standing up.
Exo 26:16  Ten cubits shall be the length of a board, and a cubit and a half shall be the breadth of one board.
Exo 26:17  Two tenons shall there be in one board, set in order one against another: thus shalt thou make for all the boards of the tabernacle.

The first noticeable attribute of this acacia boards is that they are 15 feet long by 27 inches wide if a cubit is accepted as being 18 inches in size. This is generally the accepted measurement used so we will stick with that.

The other noticeable thing of note is those these trees would be fastened together with tenons, 2 per board. Remember, the covering of the tabernacle would be laying on the top and sides of this frame. So, there are framed sections connected together with one another via tenons.

As I briefly mentioned at the end of the study last week, these tenons are almost exclusively translated as hand or hands. This is the same “yad” that started this entire series being created, pun intended 🙂

H3027
yâd
Total KJV Occurrences: 1536
hand, 1088
hands, 275

This word “yad” is translated 1363 times as yad and the remaining 173 times are a lot of different words in English. So, the word is obviously inspired to be translated as hand or hands.

Yes, the “tenons/hands” which must be twice on each board are commanded by the Lord. The placement of the tenons would correspond with the silver sockets that we will be talking about in a few minutes.

I likened this at conclusion of the last study to the wings of the cherubim being in contact with one another:

Eze 1:8  And they had the hands of a man under their wings on their four sides; and they four had their faces and their wings.
Eze 1:9  Their wings were joined one to another; they turned not when they went; they went every one straight forward.

The Lord wants us to be connected. Being that these boards are acacia wood with hands connecting them, we might start to get the idea that the Lord is trying to reveal something to us.

So, how are we all connected?

Many times you will hear us pray for one another and either sympathize or empathize with one another over the topic of the prayer request, but what connects us together in such a way that we care to pray for one another.

The obvious connecting is the Lord, but what is this connection so strong. Could it have to do with our origins and what so I mean by asking that question?

Exo 26:18  And thou shalt make the boards for the tabernacle, twenty boards on the south side southward.
Exo 26:19  And thou shalt make forty sockets of silver under the twenty boards; two sockets under one board for his two tenons, and two sockets under another board for his two tenons.
Exo 26:20  And for the second side of the tabernacle on the north side there shall be twenty boards:
Exo 26:21  And their forty sockets of silver; two sockets under one board, and two sockets under another board.
Exo 26:22  And for the sides of the tabernacle westward thou shalt make six boards.

Could it be that the dragging process, the process of the Lord dragging us to Himself, has us all being dragged in the same direction, and because of that dragging, we are able to understand the process we are going through individually?

The verses I just read above are the first examples in this tabernacles focused series of studies where we see direction or orientation being mentioned about the way the tabernacle must face. Yes, indeed even the direction is very important to the Lord!

What we have just been told in these verses is where the entrance to the tabernacle comes from, and that entrance is from the east. Why is that important?

As far as direction is concerned, the west is where the Father is. It is the direction we are heading. The Sun rises in the east and sets in the west and Jesus is the Sun of righteousness.

Depending on the direction we are heading, we are either moving towards God or away from Him spiritually speaking. We are either moving towards His throne in the heavens or we are moving away from it.

The tabernacle embodies this spiritual principle, and we can see the start of this principle at the very beginning of mankind’s interactions with the Lord.

Gen 3:22  And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever:
Gen 3:23  Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken.
Gen 3:24  So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.

The entrance to the garden of Eden, which was guarded by a flaming sword, was on the east side.

What we really see is the dynamic and spiritual principle of two men being dealt with in scripture, and we ALL have these two men in our lives and walks.

Even after Adam and Eve were kicked out of Eden, we see a progression of moving away from God of the old man typified in Cain.

Gen 4:16  And Cain went out from the presence of the LORD, and dwelt in the land of Nod, on the east of Eden.

When Abram and Lot’s shepherds disputed over the land for their flocks, Lot separated from Abram and choose what he thought was best for his flesh and the wellbeing of his house.
Lot went to the east away from Abram, a man of faith.

Gen 13:7  And there was a strife between the herdmen of Abram’s cattle and the herdmen of Lot’s cattle: and the Canaanite and the Perizzite dwelled then in the land.
Gen 13:8  And Abram said unto Lot, Let there be no strife, I pray thee, between me and thee, and between my herdmen and thy herdmen; for we be brethren.
Gen 13:9  Is not the whole land before thee? separate thyself, I pray thee, from me: if thou wilt take the left hand, then I will go to the right; or if thou depart to the right hand, then I will go to the left.
Gen 13:10  And Lot lifted up his eyes, and beheld all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered every where, before the LORD destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, even as the garden of the LORD, like the land of Egypt, as thou comest unto Zoar.
Gen 13:11  Then Lot chose him all the plain of Jordan; and Lot journeyed east: and they separated themselves the one from the other.
Gen 13:12  Abram dwelled in the land of Canaan, and Lot dwelled in the cities of the plain, and pitched his tent toward Sodom.

When we all start off our dragging process we desire to please the flesh and to please the Lord. We do not want there to be strife between the two. The Lord has worked out this same dynamic over and over in all of our lives.

Indeed, even after we are spiritually given a new name, like Abram being named Abraham, we still desperately try to find a balance between doing what we need to do in and for the flesh and doing what God commands us to do. We all struggle with this battle of naturally versus spiritual, old man versus new man, US versus GOD. How does that end for the flesh? Sodom and Gomorrah are consumed in fire.

What does this have to do with the tabernacle?

The entrance to the outer court was in the east. This is the concordant literal version.

Exo 27:9 (CLV)  You will make the court of the tabernacle: for the edge of the Negev southward the slung-sheets for the court shall be of corded cambric, a hundred cubits length for the one edge,
Exo 27:10  with its twenty columns and their twenty copper sockets, the hooks of the columns and their connections of silver;”
Exo 27:11  and so for the north edge, in the length of the court the slung-sheets shall be a hundred cubits long with its twenty columns and their twenty copper sockets, the hooks of the columns and their connections of silver.
Exo 27:12  For the width of the court for the seaward edge, the slung-sheets shall be fifty cubits with their ten columns and their ten sockets.
Exo 27:13  The width of the court for the eastward edge toward the sunrise shall be fifty cubits.
Exo 27:14  Fifteen cubits of slung-sheets shall be for one flank, with their three columns and their three sockets,
Exo 27:15  and for the second flank fifteen cubits of slung-sheets with their three columns and their three sockets.
Exo 27:16  For the gate of the court shall be a portiere of twenty cubits of blue, purple, double-dipped crimson and corded cambric, a handiwork of embroidery with their four columns and their four sockets.

The entrance to the outer court, in order for anyone to approach the throne of God, is from the east. As we get through the fine linen curtain gate of blue, purple and red we move on to and through the tabernacle through the EAST side if the inner tabernacle eventually ending all the up at the throne of God… the furthest point in the west setup of the tabernacle.

Notice there is a similar pattern to the inner court in that there is a fine linen veil that must be passed through but it is residing on 5 pillars, whereas the outside east only had four pillars.

Exo 26:23  And two boards shalt thou make for the corners of the tabernacle in the two sides.
Exo 26:24  And they shall be coupled together beneath, and they shall be coupled together above the head of it unto one ring: thus shall it be for them both; they shall be for the two corners.
Exo 26:25  And they shall be eight boards, and their sockets of silver, sixteen sockets; two sockets under one board, and two sockets under another board.
Exo 26:26  And thou shalt make bars of shittim wood; five for the boards of the one side of the tabernacle,
Exo 26:27  And five bars for the boards of the other side of the tabernacle, and five bars for the boards of the side of the tabernacle, for the two sides westward.
Exo 26:28  And the middle bar in the midst of the boards shall reach from end to end.
Exo 26:29  And thou shalt overlay the boards with gold, and make their rings of gold for places for the bars: and thou shalt overlay the bars with gold.
Exo 26:30  And thou shalt rear up the tabernacle according to the fashion thereof which was shewed thee in the mount.
Exo 26:31  And thou shalt make a vail of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen of cunning work: with cherubims shall it be made:

Now we have bars introduced which helped support the boards from the outside. These bars are overlaid with gold and run horizontally. The 2 upper and 2 lower bars come from the ends and meet in the middle, but the middle bar runs from end to end. The entrance again is from the east.

So, what does this tell us about the detail of the tabernacle for which God tells us we are a part of?

If the Lord has gone through all the details of this tabernacle in order to show you that He cares about the details, then we should have the same concept transfer to our minds when we consider that the Lord takes just as much care when dealing with the details of our tabernacle in the flesh AND SPIRIT.

When we meditate on all various items in the tabernacle, and even the direction of the tabernacle the Lord has created, we should start to understand just how important we are as the TEMPLE of the LIVING God, the church of the Living God!

It is so easy to think that the Lord isn’t “with us” or that He is somehow punishing us for something we done wrong to Him in the flesh and in sin, but the Truth is that we are a BLESSED people among all those who are living.

We know the Lord is the one who has caused His decrees to come forth to us FORM the thundering and lightning on the cloud of Mt. Sinai. We are privy that the Lord will SOMEHOW bring good about from the evils we face in the trials and tribulations we endure. That is a huge blessing that the rest of the world simply does not have.

Rev 4:5  And OUT OF THE THRONE proceeded lightnings and thunderings and voices: and there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God.

Exo 20:18  And all the people saw the thunderings, and the lightnings, and the noise of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking: and when the people saw it, they removed, and stood afar off.
Exo 20:19  And they said unto Moses, Speak thou with us, and we will hear: but let not God speak with us, lest we die.
Exo 20:20  And Moses said unto the people, FEAR NOT: for God is come to prove you, and that his fear may be before your faces, that ye sin not.
Exo 20:21  And the people stood afar off, and MOSES DREW NEAR UNTO THE THICK DARKNESSWHERE GOD WAS.
Exo 20:22  And the LORD said unto Moses, Thus thou shalt say unto the children of Israel, Ye have seen that I have talked with you FROM HEAVEN.

Naturally speaking, we all want to FLEE from the lightning and thunder but that is the WORST thing for our new man. See, LIGHT comes FROM DARKNESS. As we put on the mind of Christ, we move toward “the darkness” because the Light is HIDDEN within. What looks very unappealing on the outside has tremendous wealth buried within. This is the beauty of the tabernacle that the Lord has made.

Like the empty field which has treasure hid in it, we too should cry out to the Lord for a fleshly heart that wants to “sell all of the old man” to “purchase the new man within”.

Mat 13:44  Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field; the which when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field.

Jesus says He is the door, He is the gate. He is the Light of the world. Draw near to Him and He will draw near to you as you move closer and closer to the throne within the tabernacle.

Joh 10:9  I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.

Joh 9:5  As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.

Joh 12:46  I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness.

1Pe 2:9  But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:
1Pe 2:10  Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.

Mat 10:27  What I tell you in darkness, that SPEAK YE IN LIGHT: and what ye hear in the ear, that preach ye upon the housetops.

Mat 5:14  Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.
Mat 5:15  Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house.
Mat 5:16  Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.