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BIBLE STUDY
                                   
                                   
 

The Covenant Confirmed; a New Covenant Foreshadowed

Having received “all the Lord’s words and laws,” Moses consecrates the people and
accompanies their leaders up Mt. Sinai to see the very God of Israel. Then Moses is
drawn close into God’s presence for forty days and nights, where he receives a very
detailed vision of the articles to be placed in the Holy of Holies within the Tabernacle of
God – a divine blueprint for a more glorious Temple to come…

Read Exodus 24 and 25.

1. Exodus 24:9-11 describes an actual encounter between the leadership of Israel

and the God of Israel. Do you find anything curious about this description? Are
there any details you expected to see, and any details given that are
unexpected? Imagine you are a friend of one of these men, left behind at the
foot of Mt. Sinai, now getting the chance to interview them about this encounter.
What questions would you ask them?

2. Why do you think the Scripture points out that these men “saw God, and they ate
and drank”?

3. On Mt. Sinai, God shows Moses the pattern for a tabernacle and its furnishings.
What is the purpose of this sanctuary (25:8)?

4. The tabernacle and its furnishings are a symbol of Jesus and his ministry to us.
Consider:

a. The ark and the mercy seat (25:10-22). “There . . . I will meet with you.”

b. The table and the showbread (25:23-30). The table is made of wood,
representing Jesus’ humanity, and gold, representing his divinity. The
bread placed on the table (literally, “the bread of the Face”) is God’s

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 presence in our lives through Christ (John 6:51).

c. The lampstand (25:31:40). Jesus is the light of the world (John 1:4, 5),
revealing God to “those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him”
(Matthew 11:27).

If the tabernacle and its contents foreshadowed Jesus, what are we to make of them
now that he has come? Let’s look at Hebrews 9.

5. In light of Hebrews 9:24, what do you make of God’s charge to Moses in Exodus
25:9 and 40 to make the earthly tabernacle and its furnishings “according to the
pattern shown”? What two things (at least) does the word “pattern” imply? In
what way was the pattern of the earthly tabernacle actually a pattern of a
pattern?

6. What are some of the ways in which the new covenant in Christ is superior to the
old covenant given through Moses? Consider:

a. Hebrews 9:7

b. Hebrews 9:10

c. Hebrews 9:13-14

d. Hebrews 9:24

e. Hebrews 9:26

7. In light of the above, what do you think Jesus, Moses and Elijah were talking
about during the Transfiguration (Matthew 17:1-7)? And what might have led
Peter to suggest building tabernacles for each of them?

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