Series: Exodus
Title: Fitly Framed Together
Text: Ex 26: 15-30
Date: September 29, 2019
Place: SGBC, NJ
Exodus 26: 15: And thou shalt make boards
for the tabernacle of shittim wood standing up. 16: Ten cubits shall
be the length of a board, and a cubit and a half shall be the
breadth of one board. 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. 18 And thou shalt make the
boards for the tabernacle, twenty boards on the south side southward. 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. 20 And for the second side of the tabernacle on
the north side there shall be twenty boards: 21 And their forty sockets of silver; two
sockets under one board, and two sockets under another board. 22 And for the sides of the tabernacle westward
thou shalt make six boards. 23 And two
boards shalt thou make for the corners of the tabernacle in the two sides.
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. 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. 26 And thou
shalt make bars of shittim wood; five for the boards of the one side of
the tabernacle, 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. 28 And the middle bar in the midst of the boards
shall reach from end to end. 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. 30 And thou shalt rear up the tabernacle
according to the fashion thereof which was shewed thee in the mount.” (Ex 26:15-30
AV)
The sides of the tabernacle
were comprised of boards of shittim wood overlaid with gold. They stood upon a base of silver sockets made
from ransom money taken from the people to remind them that God redeemed them. Then to bind the boards together, five bars of
wood overlaid in gold ran along the two sides and one end. It is estimated that there was over 5 tons of
pure silver in the sockets. That would be about $1.8 million dollars today.
Subject: Fitly Framed Together
Proposition: Like as this tabernacle was fitly framed together on
one foundation and held together by bars so we are fitly framed together by
Christ, on Christ and we are held together by Christ as his holy tabernacle.
THE BOARDS
Exodus 26: 15: And thou shalt make boards
for the tabernacle of shittim wood standing up. 16: Ten cubits shall
be the length of a board, and a cubit and a half shall be the
breadth of one board. 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…23: And two boards shalt thou make for the corners of the tabernacle
in the two sides. 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….29: And thou shalt overlay
the boards with gold,
The boards are a type of Christ’s people. Like the boards were framed together, Christ
fitly frames his people together into his holy temple. “In whom all the building fitly framed
together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord.” (Eph 2:21)
Like the shittim tree was
rooted in the earth—so we came forth in sin, rooted in this sin-cursed earth,
with a sinful nature and guilty in sin.
In order to make the boards, the shittim tree had to be cut down—likewise,
we had to be brought down by the grace of God and granted repentance from dead
works.
At the bottom of each board were two “tenons” or feet,
which fit into two silver sockets—two silver sockets for each board—God gives
us faith so that we stand on one foundation, Christ in whom our redemption is
fully accomplished. The boards were
overlaid with pure gold so that when you looked at them all you saw was pure
gold—the gold typifies Christ’s righteousness which covers us and adorns us—all
God sees when he looks upon us is the gold of Christ’s righteousness; the wood
of our humanity has been totally covered by the person of Jesus Christ and His
righteousness.
The corner boards were coupled
together beneath and coupled together above—and that is Christ’s regenerated
church. By the Holy Spirit we are coupled
together hear beneath in this earth.
In Christ we are coupled together above.
Notice, the boards were equal
in height. All of them were 10 cubits
high. God sees all his believing children in Christ as equal in his sight.
THE FOUNDATION
Exodus 26: 18: And thou shalt make the
boards for the tabernacle, twenty boards on the south side southward. 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. 20: And for the second side of the tabernacle on the north side there
shall be twenty boards: 21: And their forty sockets of silver; two
sockets under one board, and two sockets under another board.
Christ
is typified in the foundation. Each
board was set in two sockets of silver.
These sockets formed the one foundation for the tabernacle. Christ is that foundation.
Isaiah 28:16: Therefore
thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a
tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth
shall not make haste.
Matthew 16:18: [speaking of
himself Christ said to Peter] And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter,
and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not
prevail against it.
The
foundation was made from the silver shekel of the sanctuary. In Exodus 30, we find that God required the
children of Israel offer the shekel of the sanctuary. That means it had to be the exact coin from
the mint. It could not have any silver
shaved off due to circulation from hand-to-hand. It is because the silver was melted to make these
sockets to remind the people that God had redeemed them through the Passover
Lamb. Christ came to manifest the perfect
righteousness of God. That is why the shekel
had to be the perfect, exact weight of the shekel coming out of the mint in the
sanctuary.
So the silver sockets typify redemption accomplished,
full atonement made by Christ for God’s elect alone. The good news is that justification is free
to us because it cost Christ everything, “Being justified freely by his
grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus” (Rom 3:24). But our foundation is even more sure and
more precious than these silver sockets, “Forasmuch
as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and
gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers but
with the precious blood of But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb
without blemish and without spot: Who verily was foreordained before the
foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you,” (1Pe
1:19-20)
Christ Jesus by his own precious blood paid the ransom
price for each of his elect. He
purchased us from the curse of the law. He
redeemed us and we are his own possession
It was that solid foundation of redemption that held up the entire
tabernacle. So it is Christ our
Foundation, redemption accomplished, that holds up the church of Christ.
Acts 4:11: This is the
stone which was set at nought of you builders, which is become the head of the
corner. 12 Neither is there salvation in
any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby
we must be saved.
The foundation was not sand—it was the silver sockets
firm as a rock as is Christ our Foundation and his redemption accomplished. Hear Christ’s word and God give us grace to
heed it.
Matthew 7: 24: Therefore
whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto
a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: 25: And the rain descended, and
the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not:
for it was founded upon a rock. 26: And every one that heareth these sayings of
mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his
house upon the sand:
So whatever offerings, whatever works they
did in the tabernacle, they did not add to that foundation, they did all upon
the foundation already laid. So we do
not add anything to Christ’s accomplished redemption by our works. We serve God now and are accepted by God upon
Christ our Foundation and the redemption accomplished. “For other foundation can no man lay than
that is laid, which is Jesus Christ” (1 Cor 3: 11).
Notice, the boards were ten
cubits in height. In Exodus 30 we are
told there were ten gerahs of ransom money paid (which is a half a
shekel). Ten speaks of full
responsibility. Christ took full responsibility
for his people and paid the redemption price equal to the full demand of God's
perfect law which we had been broken. Now
our acceptance and standing in Christ is equal to that perfect price he paid—hence
we see 10 gerahs of ransom paid and boards 10 cubits in height.
Brethren, the way God sees it, our leprosy is
cleansed, our sins are forgiven, and now we stand upon the solid foundation of
God's own providing. So like these
boards, we rest on the foundation—confessing it is all the merits of Christ in
whom we are made to stand.
THE BARS
Exodus 26: 26: And thou
shalt make bars of shittim wood; five for the boards of the one side of
the tabernacle, 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. 28: And the middle bar in the midst of the boards shall
reach from end to end. 29…and make their rings of gold for places
for the bars: and thou shalt overlay the bars with gold.
The bars also typify Christ. On each side there were five bars. These were boards overlaid in gold running
front to back for stability. One golden bar
ran through the middle of the boards that stood upright. Christ is the gold bar that holds his church
together. Christ has his arms of
omnipotent mercy and grace wrapped around his tabernacle at all times. He keeps us on the foundation. He keeps us upright pointed to heaven. Heeps us together.
Ephesians 4:16: From WHOM
the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint
supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part,
maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.
Like this gold bar that ran through the middle of the
upright boards, Paul said, “Christ in you the hope of glory” Peter tells us in regeneration we have become,
“partakers of the Divine nature” (2Pet.1:4).
One last thing, each bar ran
through three golden rings. Each
believer has three golden rings through which we are united by almighty grace
to God our Savior and to one another, “And now abideth faith, hope, charity,
these three; but the greatest of these is charity” (1 Cor 13:13)
Amen!