Shirts or Skins?

For an impromptu game of half-court basketball or tag football, this was probably the easiest way to tell teams apart, without uniforms. Looking pass the ball? You can easily tell who is on your team and who is not.

In my brother’s autobiography (of sorts), Reflections of an American Idiot, he talk about trying be more accepting of his peers when in college by wearing fashionable clothing. My sister would tailor shirts for him to wear and he started to be a GQ kind of guy. Clothes made the man, for a while, anyway. The older I get, the more I realize that clothing really does not make the man. The older I get, the more I like to tell stories. Problem is, the older I get the more I forget. So I wind up tell the same story, over and over again, to the same people.

Up until the time that Moses penned the Pentateuch, the primary way to tell history was through oral tradition. Fathers told their children stories orally. In the case of Adam, who lived 930 years, he probably told his story a hundred thousand times. He told the story about the garden, how he met with God, how sin changed their relationship, how he ‘discovered’ his nakedness and made his own clothing from fig leaves. And when Moses wrote these words: And Jehovah Elohim made Adam and his wife coats of skin, and clothed them... (Gen. 3:21), the story was probably well known amongst the Israelites that have heard and told the story over and over.

We are not told in the text, but I believe that God performed the slaughter by blood shed. I also believe that Adam and Eve watched the slaughter of an innocent animal dying for their sin. I also believe that the entire animal, sans skins, were consumed by fire. Then the skins were provided to the man (and his wife) as a covering.

And [as to] the priest that presenteth any man's burnt-offering, the skin of the burnt-offering which he hath presented shall be the priest's for himself. Lev. 7:8

The priests got to keep the skins of the burnt offerings. I think that it was a vivid reminder to Aaron and his sons, of that story that they had heard, about how the skin was provided by God to man as a covering.

The requirements for the animal to be offered as a burnt offering is given in Leviticus chapter 1. It was the one and only voluntary offering. The animal offered was to be examined from the outside in. It had to be without blemish. The animal in its entirety, sans skins, was to be consumed by fire on the altar of burnt offerings. Skins were provided to the priests. When the priest clothed himself with the skins of the burnt offerings (i.e., when he was not on duty), it was a spotless garment.

How are we to be clothed? Paul tells us: But put on the Lord Jesus Christ (like a garment), and do not take forethought for the flesh to [fulfil its] lusts. Romans 13:14. And: For ye, as many as have been baptised unto Christ, have put on Christ (here again, like a garment). There is no Jew nor Greek; there is no bondman nor freeman; there is no male and female; for ye are all one in Christ Jesus: Gal 3:27-8

Well, what about you? Shirts or skins? Are you dressing in fashionable shirts, trying to gain the acceptance of fellow man? Or, are you clothed with skins? The skins of the ultimate burnt offering: Christ, who was examined from the outside in and found to be spotless (1 John 1:1-3), yet voluntarily died to pay the price for the guilty sinner (like me, like you)?

Let thy priests be clothed with righteousness, and let thy saints shout for joy. Ps. 132:9

Both Feet

And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things that I say? Every one that comes to me, and hears my words and does them, I will shew you to whom he is like. He is like a man building a house, who dug and went deep, and laid a foundation on the rock; but a great rain coming, the stream broke upon that house, and could not shake it, for it had been founded on the rock. (Luke 6:46-48)

…and that Rock was Christ (1 Cor. 10:4). I know that this is a misapplication of the rockin this verse...but stay with me.

Everyone that comes...hears...and does is like a house-building man that dug...went deep...and laid the foundation on rock. A foundation on rock is built to be permanent. But what if it was to be temporary house? A house that was to be moved? A house that was at rest for a while, but then had to be picked up and moved? Is the foundation any less important? Is it necessary to dig deep?

The tabernacle in the wilderness was the dwelling place (or house) of God. The tabernacle was mobile. The tabernacle was built up when camp was made and taken down when the camp was on the move.

Most, but not all, of the materials used to build the tabernacle was collected as a part of a free will offering. The silver that was used in the tabernacle came from a tax, and, as you know, there is absolutely nothing 'free will' about a tax. Every man of fighting age, whether rich or poor, had to cough up one half silver shekel. If you take the weight of a half a shekel and multiply it by the number of fighting-aged men, you realize that literally tons of silver were collected. This tax was called a ransom for his soul to Jehovah. The ancient Israelite warrior had to pay a ransom for his soul; in other words, he redeemed himself with silver. Peter probably had this on his brain when he penned: …knowing that ye have been redeemed, not by corruptible [things, as] silver or gold, from your vain conversation handed down from [your] fathers, but by precious blood, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot, [the blood] of Christ… 1Pe 1:18-9 . Then, redemption costs money; now, redemption is by the blood of Christ.

Most, but not all, of the silver were made into sockets. Each socket weighed about 100 pounds. Two silver sockets held up each board in the tabernacle. The sockets provided the foundation of the boards.

The boards were gold-plated incorruptible wood -- a type of the believer. The wood represents humanity and when one looked at the boards he saw gold...when one looks at a believer he should see Christ. The boards were 'fitly framed together' by 5 bars. Four bars going through rings on each board and the middle bar was 'shot through' all of the boards (just how they drilled so many holes so they all lined up is a mystery to me). The boards were locked in place with bars, but their foundation was the sockets that was made from the silver that was collected as the redemption tax.

Each board had two socket, each believer has two feet. Just like the boards rested on the redemption money which was a picture of Christ, each of our feet ought to be resting on the redeeming blood of Christ. Both feet grounded...not one foot on the work of Christ and one foot on our own works...not one foot on Christ's redemption and one foot in the world...not one foot on Christ, and one foot on a creed. Both feet need to be resting on the redemption provided by the blood of Christ.

Come, hear, and do by digging deep and build your foundation on the redemption provided by the blood.

The Church’s one foundation
Is Jesus Christ her Lord,
She is His new creation
By water and the Word.
From heaven He came and sought her
To be His holy bride;
With His own blood He bought her
And for her life He died. -- Samuel J. Stone