Title: The Ram and
Badger Skin Covering
Text: Exodus 26:14
Date: September 22,
2019
Place: SGBC, NJ
God told Moses
concerning the children of Israel—"Let them make me a sanctuary; that I
may dwell among them” (Ex 25:8). The
children of Israel were the one nation in the world amongst whom Christ dwelt. The tabernacle was the one place in the world
where God dwelled. It typified how the
one people amongst who God dwells is his spiritual Israel—the church. And the one place where God dwells amongst us
is Christ Jesus the true tabernacle.
Matthew 1: 23: Behold,
a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call
his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.
2 Corinthians 5: 19…God
was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their
trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.
Hebrews 9: 11: Christ
being come…by a greater more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is
to say, not of this building, 12: Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but
by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained
eternal redemption for us.
This earthly tabernacle Moses built is but a sketch of the
Tabernacle Christ himself is. But Christ’s
person and work is so glorious that it takes many things to typify him. No one
priest, no one sacrifice, no one offering could typify his person and work. So it is with the tabernacle. It takes everything about the
tabernacle to typify the Lord Jesus Christ and the redemption he accomplished
for his people—the materials, the frame, its furnishings, its ceremonies—all are
used to typify Christ’s person and work.
Today, we will see
Christ in the last two of the four coverings of the tabernacle. We have seen how the first two coverings
picture him. The fine-twined linen, which
is the inner most covering called the tabernacle, typifies Christ’s inward,
sinless holiness and the unity we have in him.
The goat’s hair covering typified Christ, who knew no sin but was made
sin for his people, whereby he carried our sins far away never to be remembered
by God again.
Today, our subject: The Ram and Badger Skin Coverings
Exodus 26: 14: And thou shalt make a covering for the
tent of rams’ skins dyed red, and a covering above of badgers’
skins.
We will look at these
last two coverings together. The
covering the went over the tent, that is, the tent of goat’s hair was a
covering of ram’s skins dyed red. The
covering above the ram’s skins—the outer most covering which covered all the
others—was a tough covering of badger’s skins; this is the only covering that
people on the outside would see
Propositions:
The ram’s skins typify Christ’s consecration
to God while the badger skins typify Christ’s humility.
Divisions:
1) The covering of ram’s skins: Christ’s consecration 2) The covering of
badger’s skins: Christ’s humility
THE RAM’S SKINS
Where do we get the idea that the ram’s skins typify
Christ’s consecration, devotion, fidelity to God? One, is the ceremony when the priest was
consecrated to God in Exodus 29. Two
rams were used called “ram of consecration.” The ram pictures Christ’s consecration to God,
with the red dye on the ram skins picturing Christ’s consecration even unto death. As
our High Priest he made us holy, he consecrated us by his blood as priests,
unto God. We see it typified by Aaron
the High Priest and his sons the priest consecrated to God by two rams which
die in their place and their blood applied to them
Exodus 29: 1: And
this is the thing that thou shalt do unto them to hallow them, to
minister unto me in the priest’s office: Take one young bullock, and two rams
without blemish,…15: Thou shalt also take one ram; and Aaron and his sons shall
put their hands upon the head of the ram. 16: And thou shalt slay the ram, and
thou shalt take his blood, and sprinkle it round about upon the altar. 17:
And thou shalt cut the ram in pieces, and wash the inwards of him, and his
legs, and put them unto his pieces, and unto his head. 18: And thou
shalt burn the whole ram upon the altar: it is a burnt offering unto the
LORD: it is a sweet savour, an offering made by fire unto the LORD. 19: And
thou shalt take the other ram; and Aaron and his sons shall put their hands
upon the head of the ram. 20: Then shalt thou kill the ram, and take of his
blood, and put it upon the tip of the right ear of Aaron, and upon the
tip of the right ear of his sons, and upon the thumb of their right hand, and upon
the great toe of their right foot, and sprinkle the blood upon the altar round
about. 21: And thou shalt take of the blood…and sprinkle it upon Aaron,
and upon his garments, and upon his sons, and upon the garments of his sons
with him: and he shall be hallowed, and his garments, and his sons, and his
sons’ garments with him. 22…it is a ram of consecration:..
Another reason we say the ram’s skins typify Christ’s
consecration to the Father is because of Genesis 22. When God tested Abraham to
prove Abraham’s consecration to God by offering up his only son Isaac, when Abraham bound Isaac on the altar and raised
his hand to slay him, God provided a ram.
Genesis 22: 11: And
the angel of the LORD called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham,
Abraham: and he said, Here am I. 12: And he said, Lay not thine hand
upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest
God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me. 13: And
Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold behind him a ram
caught in a thicket by his horns: and Abraham went and took the ram, and
offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son. 14: And Abraham
called the name of that place Jehovahjireh: as it is said to this day,
In the mount of the LORD it shall be seen.
In the mount of the Lord it was seen. Christ Jesus was holy and consecrated to God in
total perfect devotion. As a Child it
was the Father’s business which occupied Him (Luke 2:49)—“I must be about my
Father’s business.” His entire spirit throughout his ministry was “I
must work the works of Him that sent Me” (John 9:4). Christ devotedness to
God was even unto the death of the cross.
He is the ram caught in the thicket with the crown of thorns on his head. He gave himself to be offered up for a burnt offering
in the stead of his people—he made us holy and consecrated his people to God.
John 10: 17: Therefore
doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again.
18: No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay
it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of
my Father.
Our consecration is far from perfect in the way we devote
ourselves to God. But Christ is our
perfection of consecration. In him we
served God in perfect holy consecration.
THE BADGER’S SKINS
We say that the badger’s skins typify Christ’s humility because
this is a dark, drab outer covering that was not appealing at all.
Isaiah 53: 2: For he
shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground:
he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty
that we should desire him.
Christ being born in
a manger, brought up a despised Nazarene, working at the carpenter’s bench, these
were examples of what the rough and unsightly badgers’ skins foreshadowed. We see natural man’s esteem of him in them
saying, “Is not this the carpenter’s son?”; “As for this fellow, we know
not from whence He is” (John 9:29). Natural
man saw no glory in his death on the cross.
Isaiah 53: 4: Surely
he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him
stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. 5: But he was wounded for our
transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our
peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.
LESSONS FROM THE COVERINGS
First, notice, that contrasted
from the white curtains and the goats’ hair curtains, no dimensions are given
of these two outer coverings. There was a depth in our Savior’s devotedness to
God and in his humiliation before men which it is utterly impossible for us to
measure. Salvation can never be by our works because Christ did for his people
what no sinner could possible do. That is
why God makes us behold Christ as our only Wisdom, and Righteousness, and Sanctification
and Redemption. Look nowhere but
to Christ alone. Believe on him
alone. It is by him alone that sinners
are saved.
Two, natural born sinners cannot see the glory of
Christ. Natural man saw nothing comely to
make them desire him—only badger’s skins.
Yet, that was by design—He “made Himself of no reputation” (Philippians
2:7). It was so that it would be
evident that those who followed him did so to the praise of the glory of God’s
grace because God had given them spiritual eyes and faith to believe. It shows that God uses nothing but the
preaching of the gospel to draw his people to Christ and that Christ will have us
use nothing else to attract his people. Brethren
do not try to do as this vain religious world does. They say, “I want the world to see Christ in
me.” Natural man did not see Christ in Christ.
When Christ says, “Let your light so shine before men, that they may
see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven” (Mt 5:16),
the good works are us doing nothing to be seen of men while we hold forth the
word of life. We know that because only
a regenerated man will glorify your Father which is in heaven and God only
regenerates his people through the preaching of the gospel. Christ is our Light. We let our light shine before men by
declaring Christ the Light in the gospel and by doing nothing to distract man’s
attention from Christ to us.
That lesson is true because of this lesson: God looks on
the heart. While man saw nothing comely about Christ, God
saw the holiness of Christ’s heart—the fine twined linen. God saw his willingness to be made sin for
his people—the black goat’s skin. God
saw his devotedness/consecration unto death—the ram’s skin died red. God saw his willingness to humble himself—the
badger skins were beautiful in God’s sight.
He said, “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well-pleased.” God looks
on the heart. When God sent Samuel to
call David, “the LORD said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on
the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the LORD seeth not
as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh
on the heart (1Sa 16:7). This is why
we must be born-again—we must have the Spirit of God create in us a clean heart
with pure motives. Until then we cannot
believe on Christ; until then we cannot love the brethren; until then we can do
nothing pleasing to God. But after we
are born of God then God receives us because we believe on Christ and love our
brethren with unfeigned faith and love. This
is by the blood of Christ making us holy and consecrating us in the new birth—he
is our Holiness, our Sanctification by whom we are consecrated to God in faith.
Another lesson, only when you entered in through the door
of the tabernacle could you behold the glory within. The only way to behold Christ’s glory is to
enter in through Christ the Door by faith and Christ is the only door.
John 10: 1: Verily,
verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold,
but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. 2: But he
that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. 3: To him the porter
openeth; and the sheep hear his voice: and he calleth his own sheep by name,
and leadeth them out. 4: And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth
before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice. 5: And a
stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the
voice of strangers. 6: This parable spake Jesus unto them: but they understood
not what things they were which he spake unto them. 7: Then said Jesus unto
them again, Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep. 8: All
that ever came before me are thieves and robbers: but the sheep did not hear
them. 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. 10: The thief cometh not, but for to steal,
and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they
might have it more abundantly.
May God give grace and draw some lost sheep to Christ
today that he might enter through Christ the Door by faith. He is our Life more abundant. Believe on him and you shall be saved.
Amen!