ALL ROADS LEAD TO CHRIST
CHRIST IS IN OUR MIDST
EXODUS 25 Study Guide & Breakdown
Offerings for the Sanctuary
25 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 2 “Speak to the children of Israel, that they bring Me an [a]offering. From everyone who gives it willingly with his heart you shall take My offering. 3 And this is the offering which you shall take from them: gold, silver, and bronze; 4 blue, purple, and scarlet thread, fine linen, and goats’ hair; 5 ram skins dyed red, [b]badger skins, and acacia wood; 6 oil for the light, and spices for the anointing oil and for the sweet incense; 7 onyx stones, and stones to be set in the ephod and in the breastplate. 8 And let them make Me a sanctuary,[c] that I may dwell among them. 9 According to all that I show you, that is, the pattern of the tabernacle and the pattern of all its furnishings, just so you shall make it.
The Ark of the Testimony
10 “And they shall make an ark of acacia wood; two and a half cubits shall be its length, a cubit and a half its width, and a cubit and a half its height. 11 And you shall overlay it with pure gold, inside and out you shall overlay it, and shall make on it a molding of gold all around. 12 You shall cast four rings of gold for it and put them in its four corners; two rings shall be on one side, and two rings on the other side. 13 And you shall make poles of acacia wood and overlay them with gold. 14 You shall put the poles into the rings on the sides of the ark, that the ark may be carried by them. 15 The poles shall be in the rings of the ark; they shall not be taken from it. 16 And you shall put into the ark the Testimony which I will give you.
17 “You shall make a mercy seat of pure gold; two and a half cubits shall be its length and a cubit and a half its width. 18 And you shall make two cherubim of gold; of hammered work you shall make them at the two ends of the mercy seat. 19 Make one cherub at one end, and the other cherub at the other end; you shall make the cherubim at the two ends of it of one piece with the mercy seat. 20 And the cherubim shall stretch out their wings above, covering the mercy seat with their wings, and they shall face one another; the faces of the cherubim shall be toward the mercy seat. 21 You shall put the mercy seat on top of the ark, and in the ark you shall put the Testimony that I will give you. 22 And there I will meet with you, and I will speak with you from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim which are on the ark of the Testimony, about everything which I will give you in commandment to the children of Israel.
The Table for the Showbread
23 “You shall also make a table of acacia wood; two cubits shall be its length, a cubit its width, and a cubit and a half its height. 24 And you shall overlay it with pure gold and make a molding of gold all around. 25 You shall make for it a frame of a handbreadth all around, and you shall make a gold molding for the frame all around. 26 And you shall make for it four rings of gold and put the rings on the four corners that are at its four legs. 27 The rings shall be close to the frame, as holders for the poles to bear the table. 28 And you shall make the poles of acacia wood, and overlay them with gold, that the table may be carried with them. 29 You shall make its dishes, its pans, its pitchers, and its bowls for pouring. You shall make them of pure gold. 30 And you shall set the showbread on the table before Me always.
The Gold Lampstand
31 “You shall also make a lampstand of pure gold; the lampstand shall be of hammered work. Its shaft, its branches, its bowls, its ornamental knobs, and flowers shall be of one piece. 32 And six branches shall come out of its sides: three branches of the lampstand out of one side, and three branches of the lampstand out of the other side. 33 Three bowls shall be made like almond blossoms on one branch, with an ornamental knob and a flower, and three bowls made like almond blossoms on the other branch, with an ornamental knob and a flower—and so for the six branches that come out of the lampstand. 34 On the lampstand itself four bowls shall be made like almond blossoms, each with its ornamental knob and flower. 35 And there shall be a knob under the first two branches of the same, a knob under the second two branches of the same, and a knob under the third two branches of the same, according to the six branches that extend from the lampstand. 36 Their knobs and their branches shall be of one piece; all of it shall be one hammered piece of pure gold. 37 You shall make seven lamps for it, and they shall arrange its lamps so that they give light in front of it. 38 And its wick-trimmers and their trays shall be of pure gold. 39 It shall be made of a talent of pure gold, with all these utensils. 40 And see to it that you make them according to the pattern which was shown you on the mountain.
Notes Exodus 25 – (vv. 1-2, 9, 10, 18, 22, & 40)
Also, we will look at Ezekiel 1:5-9 …
25:1-2: The Law of Moses honored free will
25:9: The use of icons in the Church is not idol worship … For God commanded Israel to use icons in their worship … These icons were THE PATTERN OF THE TABERNACLE AND THE PATTERN OF ALL ITS FURNISHINGS … The honor given the icons in the Church passes over to the prototype – (JohnDm; BasilG) …
25:10: The first thing made for the tabernacle was the ARK OF TESTIMONY, because it foreshadowed the Mother of God with Christ in her womb (Akathist) … Christ in her womb is typified by the contents eventually placed in the ark: the pot of manna, Aaron’s rod that budded, and the Ten Commandments – (Hebrews 9:4) … For He is the heavenly manna, His death and Resurrection are life-giving, and He is the Lawgiver and the fulfiller of the Law He gave …
Hebrews 9:4: 4 which had the golden censer and the ark of the covenant overlaid on all sides with gold, in which were the golden pot that had the manna, Aaron’s rod that budded, and the tablets of the covenant;
25:18: The holy angels are members of the Church …
25:22: God does not make Himself known in His essence, for no creature can know this … God makes Himself known in intimate communion – (BasilG) …
25:40: THE PATTERN SHOWN Moses ON THE MOUNTAIN speaks of true worship in the heavenly holy of holies – (Hebrews 8:5) … The pattern speaks of Christ, the Mother of God, and the Church …
Hebrews 8:5: 5 who serve the copy and shadow of the heavenly things, as Moses was divinely instructed when he was about to make the tabernacle. For He said, “See that you make all things according to the pattern shown you on the mountain.”
Ezekiel 1:5-9: 5 Also from within it came the likeness of four living creatures. And this was their appearance: they had the likeness of a man. 6 Each one had four faces, and each one had four wings. 7 Their [a]legs were straight, and the soles of their feet were like the soles of calves’ feet. They sparkled like the color of burnished bronze. 8 The hands of a man were under their wings on their four sides; and each of the four had faces and wings. 9 Their wings touched one another. The creatures did not turn when they went, but each one went straight forward.
-Ezekiel here identifies the FOUR LIVING CREATURES as cherubim – (Ezekiel 10:9-16), the guardians of the throne of God – (Exodus 25:10-22; 3Kg 6:23-28) … Likewise those of St. John’s vision – (see also Revelation 4:6-9), they are seen by the Father to typify the Four Evangelists, while their unity in the Spirit – (vv. 12, 20 here in Ezekiel 1) illustrates the spread of the gospel …
Ezekiel 10:9-16: 9 And when I looked, there were four wheels by the cherubim, one wheel by one cherub and another wheel by each other cherub; the wheels appeared to have the color of a beryl stone. 10 As for their appearance, all four looked alike—as it were, a wheel in the middle of a wheel. 11 When they went, they went toward any of their four directions; they did not turn aside when they went but followed in the direction the head was facing. They did not turn aside when they went. 12 And their whole body, with their back, their hands, their wings, and the wheels that the four had, were full of eyes all around. 13 As for the wheels, they were called in my [a]hearing, “Wheel.”
14 Each one had four faces: the first face was the face of a cherub, the second face the face of a man, the third the face of a lion, and the fourth the face of an eagle. 15 And the cherubim were lifted up. This was the living creature I saw by the River Chebar. 16 When the cherubim went, the wheels went beside them; and when the cherubim lifted their wings to mount up from the earth, the same wheels also did not turn from beside them.
3Kingdoms or 1Kings 6:23-28: 23 Inside the inner sanctuary he made two cherubim of olive wood, each ten cubits high. 24 One wing of the cherub was five cubits, and the other wing of the cherub five cubits: ten cubits from the tip of one wing to the tip of the other. 25 And the other cherub was ten cubits; both cherubim were of the same size and shape. 26 The height of one cherub was ten cubits, and so was the other cherub. 27 Then he set the cherubim inside the inner [a]room; and they stretched out the wings of the cherubim so that the wing of the one touched one wall, and the wing of the other cherub touched the other wall. And their wings touched each other in the middle of the room. 28 Also he overlaid the cherubim with gold.
Revelation 4:6-9: 6 Before the throne there [a]was a sea of glass, like crystal. And in the midst of the throne, and around the throne, were four living creatures full of eyes in front and in back. 7 The first living creature was like a lion, the second living creature like a calf, the third living creature had a face like a man, and the fourth living creature was like a flying eagle. 8 The four living creatures, each having six wings, were full of eyes around and within. And they do not rest day or night, saying:
“Holy,[b] holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, Who was and is and is to come!”
9 Whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to Him who sits on the throne, who lives forever and ever,
PSALM 84 (85) Study Guide & Breakdown
Psalm 84 (85) is a prophecy of the Incarnation – (THE END, v. 1) … His Incarnation – (vv. 10-14) gives HOLY ONES – (v. 9) deliverance from captivity – (v. 2), the remission of sins – (v. 3), deliverance from God’s wrath – (vv. 4-6), joyous life – (v. 7), mercy – (v. 8), and peace – (v. 9) …